404 not found 5 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) editorial this special issue brings together six original articles that view language through a cognitive lens. the cognitive lens here refers to a cognitive linguistics (henceforth cl) approach to language that originated in the united states in the late 1970s and has progressed since then into a full-blown research paradigm. it is centered around two commitments, the generalization commitment and the cognitive commitment, as well as several assumptions, such as a usage-based view of language and the central importance of meaning in linguistic enquiry. the cl movement, which has been enjoying much interest since its inception, continues to encompass new areas of study. this expansion of topics in cl is evident in this thematic volume. the first article, by izabela kraśnicka, addresses the way gestures that accompany speech complement a gap in a statement, as shown in a corpus of six episodes of kawa na ławę. the paper demonstrates that there are various types of gaps in statements, as well as various relations between a word and a gesture, in the corpus under scrutiny. the paper by jarosław wiliński offers a quantitative analysis of the preposition under in the under-noun pattern. based on data taken from the corpus of contemporary american english, the paper shows that some nouns are more strongly attracted to the preposition in question than others. adopting the concept of emotional potential, the paper by magdalena zyga examines four popular songs to demonstrate that the up/down schema is used in these songs to enhance or modify emotional potential at the verbal level. departing from semantic field analysis, the paper by izabela sekścińska and agnieszka piórkowska is a qualitative corpus analysis that provides a definition of brexit. overall, sekścińska and piórkowska show that the lexeme brexit is predominately used in a negative context and embedded in emotionally laden discourse. grounded in the propositional theory of metonymy, the paper by łukasz matusz offers an analysis of the metonymic extensions of the verb see. based on dictionary data, the paper shows that the english verb see is a source of various metonymic senses. the last article, by katarzyna lach mirghani, which embraces the conceptual metaphor theory, discusses the conceptualization of success in english and polish. by investigating data taken from three corpora, the paper shows how success in conceptualized in the two languages. 6 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) this is the second volume dedicated to studies in cl in crossroads (the first was published in 2017). it is to be hoped that it will become a forum for researchers with an interest in this robust and vibrant research paradigm in the coming years. daniel karczewski 37 6 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) anna maria karczewska¹ university of białystok, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8644-4723 introduction to the special issue risk: intercultural and interdisciplinary perspectives most etymological dictionaries explain that the english word risk comes from the latin resicum, which was a nautical expression used to define a cliff or reef (donald 1874: 439), which posed danger to sailors and maritime trades. the latin word comes from the greek navigation term rhizikon, which meant “root, stone, cut of the firm land” and was a metaphor for difficulty to avoid at sea. possibly, the term rhizikon transferred to the arabic world rizk, meaning fate or uncertain outcome. in this understanding, risk cannot be totally controlled by mankind. risk in the middle ages meant danger, an act of god or force majeure, so it was understood as a natural event (kelly 2018: 21). nowadays, risks and catastrophes have taken on global proportions, and what distinguishes current risks is their artificiality; these are potential catastrophes we have brought upon ourselves. risk understood as threat and insecurity has always constituted human existence; in a certain sense this was even more the case in the past than it is today. illness or premature death, famine and plagues were greater threats to individuals and their families in the middle ages than today (beck 2009: 4). although nowadays we are more than ever preoccupied with the prospect of catastrophe: nuclear war, environmental disaster, terrorist attack, accidents and terminal illnesses, economic collapse, risk is not an invention of modernity. however, as beck claims (1992: 21), risks in the past were more personal; they had a note of bravery and adventure. they were not global dangers such as ecological disaster or atomic fallout, which ignore the borders of nations and pose a threat of self-destruction of all life on earth. 1 address for correspondence: university of białystok, faculty of philology, centre for literary studies, pl. nzs 1, 15-420 białystok, poland. e-mail: a.karczewska@uwb.edu.pl articles 7 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) according to hoydis, “[a]pproaching risk as an object of study, one faces the task of trying to differentiate between partially contrasting and overlapping risk discourses which are usually either driven by formal-normative or cultural-sociological concerns, pursue either actionor system-oriented perspectives, and can be probabilistic-technical, economic, anthropological-political, psychological-cognitive or sociological-philosophical in orientation” (hoydis 2017: 3). each scientific community or branch of research has its own understanding of risk, as there is no universal set of characteristics for describing risk (slovic 1997: 284). according to bob heyman (2012: 605), the “ubiquity of risk thinking in modern cultures challenges definitional efforts.” different concepts are used interchangeably or in opposition to define risk, and among them are: uncertainty, contingency, chance, hazard, and danger. in the 1980s ulrich beck first formulated his thesis of the ʻrisk society .̓ it provoked a debate in contemporary culture, and the use of the term has increased rapidly since then. a study of fictional literature also provides different insights into the pervasiveness of risk in its various manifestations. risk comes in many forms, and today it is conceived principally as danger, as “the tension between the vision of stability and predictability and a precarious and uncertain world” (knights & vurdubakis 1993: 730). through the selection of six articles and a book review in this volume we wish to demonstrate the diversity of approaches to risk as an object of study. maria antonietta struzziero explores physical, psychological and emotional risk in maggie oʼfarrell s̓ novel hamnet (2020), which presents a portrait of a marriage after the death of a beloved child, whose loss is attributed to the bubonic plague, and resonates with present fears and risks caused by the covid-19 pandemic. adelheid rundholz analyzes two dystopian novels: christina dalcher s̓ vox (2018) and john lanchester s̓ the wall (2019), in which risk pervades the world portrayed. the constant threat of rising waters, rising fear, rising political division, and totalitarianism have contributed to society s̓ ills depicted in the aforementioned novels. present-day risks derive from general concerns with modernization and globalization, and have been especially identified with environmentalism. corinne fournier kiss reflects on ecocatastrophy connected with the brazillian backlands (sertão). her considerations are in tune with kate rigby s̓ concept of “natural disaster”. aleksandra niemirycz analyzes m. shelley s̓, j. keatsʼ and c. k. norwid s̓ interpretations of the promethean myth. she discusses their understanding of the actions of the mythological hero who wanted to protect humans from risk and gave them safety by means of fire. hernando blandón gómez looks at the risk during the social mobilization of colombians in the city of medellín in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic. he analyses street art, which is interpreted as political action that grew as a result of social unrest. 8 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) literature has always recorded a history of patriarchy, sexual violence and resistance. silvia martínez-falquina explores the important problems facing canada s̓ and the usa̓s indigenous women. her article examines the role of literature within the missing and murdered indigenous women (mmim) movement, and illustrates the most significant features of its poetry and fiction. jacek partyka reviews #metoo and literary studies (2021), which is a collection of essays on literature that addresses rape culture and sexual violence, and takes the floor in a debate about literature that can promote justice. for years academics have been exposing and critiquing gender-based violence and male domination, but the continued power of #metoo after its 2017 explosion adds new urgency and wider awareness about the risk women face every day all over the globe. references beck, u. 2009. world at risk, transl. c. cronin. cambridge: polity press. beck, u. 1992. risk society. towards a new modernity, transl. m. ritter, london: sage. donald, j. (ed.). 1874. chamber’s etymological dictionary of the english language. london & edinburgh: w. & r. chambers. heyman, b. 2012. risk and culture. in: j. valsiner (ed.), the oxford handbook of culture and psychology, 602-624. oxford: oxford university press. hoydis, j. 2017. risk and the english novel: from defoe to mcewan, berlin: de gruyter. kelly, p. 2018. the evolution of risk management thinking in organizations. in: k. j. engemann (ed.), the routledge companion to risk, crisis and security management in business, 20-46. new york: routledge. knights, d. & t. vurdubakis. 1993. calculations of risk: towards an understanding of insurance as a moral and political technology. accounting, organizations and society, vol. 18; iss. 7-8: 729-764. slovic, p. 1997. trust, emotion, sex, politics, and science: surveying the risk-assessment battlefield. in: m. h. bazerman et al. (eds.), environment, ethics, and behavior, 277-313. san francisco: new lexington. *** anna maria karczewska is an associate professor in the centre for literary studies at the university of białystok, poland. she is a graduate in english and spanish philology. she has a ph.d. in cultural studies from the swps university of social sciences and humanities in warsaw. her current research interests revolve around latin american culture and latin american literature. anna maria karczewska1 risk: intercultural and interdisciplinary perspectives articles 37 121 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) julia szołtysek doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.39.4.08 universityofsilesia inkatowice,poland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7487-7807 nineteenth-century visions of race: british travel writing about america byjustyna fruzińska,routledge, 2021,158pp. isbn 9781032129327.£104. the title of justyna fruzińska s̓ monograph promises a refreshing and uncommon look at a topic and a period which for some time might have seemed all too well explored, and yet, she no doubt opens new research paths and poses previously unstated questions, offering complex, though not definitive solutions. fruzińska s̓ main preoccupation is with the representation of the racial/-ized other in the works of british travellers journeying to america in the time period between 1815 and 1861, and the authors she discusses include frances wright, frances trollope, thomas hamilton, harriet martineau, charles augustus murray, frederick marryat, charles dickens, and isabella lucy bird, to name a few. she points to significant convergences in their accounts, predominantly with regards to their attitudes towards slavery and a peculiar shared ambivalence towards the non-whites they encountered, noting how these similarities stemmed from both a prevalent bias of the age and a seemingly lesser fact, which she, however, proves to have been grossly underappreciated—a cross-germination among the british travellers and writers who, as fruzińska aptly observes, all read, recycled (not to say: plagiarized) and recontextualized one another s̓ works. book review https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7487-7807 122 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) for some time, it appeared as though the subject area had been exhaustively explored by scholars of various academic proveniences, approaching the subject matter—most generally, representations of race in american and british nineteenth-century literary accounts—from a wide array of angles. many higher education institutions offered courses devoted to the subject area, and by and large, these have now earned pride of place at universities worldwide. however, up until roughly the 2010s, the area felt somewhat stagnant, perhaps due to its having been thoroughly scrutinised alongside largely uniform paths. since the 2010s, a gradual revival has been taking place, most notably due to the work of scholars and academics such as kate flint and tim fulford. fruzińska s̓ monograph promises to take american and british race studies even further, and her idea of linking travel writing to the concept of the other and racial issues in 19thcentury british and american (though not exclusively) works comes across as fresh and long-called for. the concept and methodology of the volume merit praise. fruzińska brings together anglo-american travel writing and racial discourses and situates them within the sociohistorical context of the nineteenth century, offering an original take on issues well discussed, but hardly ever—if at all—approached from the angle of representation studies. this accounts for an innovative perspective filling the gap in travel writing studies that have hitherto rarely joined forces with minority discourses, and if they have, this was usually to uphold the kind of white supremacist thinking and imaging that fruzińska s̓ work seeks to dismantle. this is, by all means, an original perspective that constitutes a brave new approach to the field. the structure and order of the material are logical, assuming the zooming in/zooming out perspective to tackle the investigated issues. what should also be stressed is the ingenuity and wit with which the very table of contents is prepared—chapter titles, and the titles of the subparts within the chapters, effectively whet the reader s̓ appetite and make her curious to read on and discover what these are about. there are also some nice bits of alliteration in the chapter titles, some ʻinformedʼ puns—and these all make even the contents page itself stand out. this is not just another standard and accurate contents page but one which, while categorizing the investigated material and ordering it neatly, already manages to draw the reader into the intellectual adventure proposed by the author. fruzińska s̓ writing style is original, well-paced, and elegant, thus making up an inspiring and gratifying reading experience. it does the academic market a great favour in that the text is written in a lucid and polished manner which allows the reader to engage with it and follow the author s̓ argument, without having to work through the undue mesh of wordiness or stylistic and/or factual platitudes. one of the work s̓ great strengths is also its broad academic appeal—while primarily definitely geared at researchers and academics engaged in the field of american studies, as well as literary 123 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) scholars and intellectuals with a background in the humanities pursuing their investigations of (history of ) travel writing, and race and postcolonial studies, the book could be of interest to historians specialising in american history and its discourses, to researchers of inter/trans-cultural encounters and literary representations thereof, and, last but not least, to advanced-level students (ma, postgraduate) working towards their diploma theses on british and american literature and culture, especially in the nineteenth century. the volume contains all it needs to stir the reader s̓ curiosity and promises a stimulating intellectual adventure, delivered in an elegant style and with meticulous attention to good academic practices. the work opens with an illuminating introductory essay that lines up the chronology of british travel accounts devoted to america and explicates the significance of the emergent transatlantic relations, showing how they were not just exploits in travelling adroitness but—perhaps even more importantly—case studies of this curious new world with its unprecedented rules and laws. the rest of the material is neatly broken down into four chapters and a somewhat sparse but effective conclusion. each of the subsequent chapters—“nineteenth-century conceptions of race”, “touring the land of the unfree”, “children of the forest, noble and ignoble savages: encounters with native americans”, and “gazing at racialized bodies”—focuses on a set of key concepts related to instances of mutual observation performed by both british and american subjects (race, exclusion, discrimination, nature, gaze, and spectacle, etc.), and in every case, the discussions offered by the author are sharp and well-structured. the last chapter, “gazing at racialized bodies”, strikes a particularly strong impression and almost feels like the proverbial cherry on this well-seasoned academic cake. the chapter starts with the complexities of the gaze, of gazing and being gazed at/gazed back at, exploring the power play informing those acts. the author manages the textual balance well, juxtaposing the more descriptive passages with more factual paragraphs and supplementing all with apt quotations. further on, in the part “seeking esthetic pleasure”, the author demonstrates how travel accounts have contributed to discussions of race and whether or not and to what degree they have been fuelled by the travellersʼ craving for satisfying their curiosity, to the point of making up what they might or might not have seen. it is very interesting to follow the author s̓ reasoning and trace the intricacies of these inter-dependencies which, as the subsequent parts of the chapter show, have played a major part in shaping the projected images of the ʻsavage ,̓ ʻnobleʼ or ʻignobleʼ racial other. by focusing primarily on travel writing, fruzińska s̓ book compares very favourably with some of the competing works. the author investigates very specific features of the genre, which facilitates a painstaking inquiry into how racial discourses tie in with travel writing, in the particular time period and under the specific circumstances she positions her research. in this way, fruzińska takes the daring step of expanding the 124 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) notion of race and representation by critically comparing the travellersʼ descriptions of native americans and black slaves, thus evading significant limitations and gaining an even greater plurality of representative stances. *** julia szołtysek is an assistant professor at the university of silesia in katowice, poland. her academic interests include literary and artistic representations of the middle east, travel writing, queer theory, and opera studies. she is the recipient of the 2016 peter lang young scholars award. her monograph a mosaic of misunderstanding: occident, orient, and facets of mutual mis/construal was published in 2016 by peter lang. julia szołtysek doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.39.4.08 nineteenth-century visions of race: british travel writing about america by justyna fruzińska, routledge, 2021, 158 pp. isbn 9781032129327. £ 104. microsoft word crossroads 35.doc ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 62 grzegorz moroz1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.35.4.05 university of białystok, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9593-0224 the 1940s: a decade of modern british fiction, edited by philip tew and glynn white, london, bloomsbury academic, 2022, (pdf) x + 347 pp., isbn epdf: 978-1-3501-4303-6. £117 the 1940s: a decade of modern british fiction, published by bloomsbury academic, is the seventh book in the ‘the decades series,’ which was inaugurated by the 1970s: a decade of contemporary british fiction in 2014. the 1940s is edited by philip dew and glynn white, who open it with their “critical introduction: reappraising the 1940s.” the first three parts of this introduction (“socio-historical contexts,” “dunkirk and other propaganda,” “reappraising the 1940s”) highlight the most characteristic features of the decade from the historical, social as well as literary perspectives, pointing out its uniqueness and watershed character, as well as factors influencing the literary output of this decade, such as the overtly propagandist use of literature, paper rationing and censorship. the next three parts of the introduction are (perhaps a bit surprisingly) mini critical essays aimed at three groups of novels and novelists. the first of them, “not the usual suspects,” presents two novels by writers better known as poets: philip larkin and stevie smith. the second is “waugh time” (a pun which evelyn waugh probably would not have liked, as he did not like waugh in abyssinia), which focuses on two waugh’s wartime novels: put out more flags (1942) and brideshead revisited (1945), and concludes with the statement “that waugh and others […] were necessarily raised in the pre-war world with all the experiences that entailed” (19). “from the ranks,” the third mini-essay, is a survey of shorter fiction and novels written by gerald kersh and julian maclaren-ross. the ten chapters of the 1940s can be roughly divided into two parts. the opening part, consisting of the first three chapters, contains three surveys of the literature of the decade in question (but also, to a considerable extent, of the 1930s), while of the remaining seven chapters/essays, six are more like case studies of narrower groups of texts/writers. the three opening chapters have different focal points and perspectives. the opening chapter of the book, written by ashley maher and entitled “the finest hour? a literary history of the 1940s,” examines the decade’s “divisions and continuities from three angles: historically, through the blurring of war and peacetime, self and state; geographically, through migration and the dissolution of empire, amid the changing formation of british identity and literature; and literary historically, through the co-existence of late modernism, realism and incipient postmodernism” (38). maher’s survey focuses on both the shorter and longer fiction of george orwell, christopher 1 address for correspondence: university of białystok, faculty of philology, centre for literary studies, pl. nzs 1, 15-420 białystok, poland. e-mail: g.moroz@uwb.edu.pl ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 63 isherwood, virginia woolf, elizabeth bowen, patrick hamilton, roger mais, and victoria reid. the second chapter of the book, philip tew’s “british blitz fiction of the 1940s: another finest hour myth or propaganda?” surveys british civilians’ literary responses to and representations of the blitz in the fiction, diaries and interviews of a wide range of writers: phyllis bottome, elizabeth bowen, daphne de maurier, henry green, graham greene, patrick hamilton, james hanley, norah hoult, winifred peck, jocelyn playfair, noel streatfield, and virginia woolf. the third of the survey chapters, deborah philips’s “genteel bohemia: capable women in women’s fiction of the 1940s”, approaches novels which, even though written in the forties, were often set in earlier periods, but, as philips argues “[n]ontheless, the effects are there to be read: the experience of war necessarily permeates women’s writing of the period” (93). philips analyses such novels as mary renault’s the friendly young ladies, stella gibbons’s ticky, nancy mitford’s the persuit of love, jean rhys’s good morning, midnight, and the parasites by daphne du maurier. chris hopkins’s “the ship and the nation: royal navy novels and the people’s war 1939-45” focuses mostly on two popular novels about the experiences of servicemen in the royal navy i am a stranger here myself (1943) by anthony thorne, and very ordinary seamen (1944) by j.p.w. mallalieu. hopkins argues convincingly that “popular fiction accounts of naval crews were seen as entirely appropriate foci for discussions and relationship between ‘warfare state’ and ‘welfare state’, the character of english society and its potential for post-war reconstruction” (116). the fifth chapter, written by karen schaller and entitled “feeling political: elizabeth bowen in the 1940s,” focuses on bowen’s short stories written during this decade. ultimately, schaller claims that “[r]ather than a reality to be represented […] feelings in bowen’s writing are representations, ones that are, in that period to be performed, fine-tuned and recalibrated in order to signal, sign—and counter-sign—one’s orientation to britain, and to each other” (159). támas bényiei’s “the life of animals: george orwell’s fiction in the 1940s” is an extremely lucid and well-written essay, which is also a tribute to george orwell as an essay writer, novelist, and political thinker. the essay starts with a short survey of praise of orwell as a writer by influential critics and scholars such as richard rorty and raymond williams, and also by those who are less well known: john rodden, issac deutscher and david dwan. the profound analysis of orwell’s short piece “revenge is sour,” published in tribune in november 1945, allows bényiei to present orwell’s dilemmas and solutions on such key issues as the banality of evil and the futility of revenge, and argues that “revenge is sour” “is predicated on contrasting the mental world generated by language […] or ideas […] to the empirical world of objective experience, clearly endorsing the primacy of the latter” (165). the second part of bényiei’s essay concerns orwell’s two masterpieces, animal farm and 1984, the analysis of which is used to refute christopher norris’s statement that orwell’s belief that “the truth was just out there to be told in a straightforward, common-sense way […] now seems not merely naïve but culpably self-deluding” (quoted 167). rebecca dyer’s “masters and servants, class and the colonies in graham greene’s 1940s fiction” opens with a discussion on the presence of servants in graham greene’s ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 64 life, non-fiction and fiction to analyse the master-servant relationship as being “in some ways analogous to the power relations between colonial officials and colonized populations” (192). dyer looks into master-servant relations in the fiction of p.g. woodhouse, ivy compton-burnett, and robin maugham. afterwards, the focus returns to graham greene and shifts between the generically diverse journey without maps, the heart of the matter, “the basement room,” and the fallen idol. the eighth chapter, charlotte charteris’s “purposes of love: rethinking intimacy in the 1940s”, surveys a considerable range of 1940s texts authored by mary renault, jocelyn brooke, francis king, denton welch, nancy mitford, barbara comyns, monica dickens, and henry green. therefore, in my opinion, it would be better placed alongside the first three chapters of the book. charteris borrows the title from mary renault’s 1939 debut novel, the analysis of which introduces the key theme of the chapter: the link between intimacy, trauma and rehabilitation, questioning the privileged status of marriage, and the changing role and representation of sexuality in the context of mass observation’s 1949 ‘little kinsey’ report. the two final chapters of the 1940s move beyond the spectrum of british fiction in this decade and address it in the wider context of writers-refugees from national socialism, and transatlantic crime film connections. andrea hammel’s “no concession to ‘english taste’? refugees from national socialism writing in britain” considers a group of german and austrian writers, both relatively well-known, such as stefan zweig, and those less-known or virtually forgotten, such as robert neumann, hilde spiel, de mendelssohn, hermynia zur mühlen, and anna gmeyner. hammel’s paper ends with the conclusion that “[a]lthough the works in this chapter have generally been neglected or marginalized, their publication and readership at the time testify to the existence of wartime cultural imaginary—a heterotopian conception of the possibilities of elsewhereness—that was international” (272). glynn white’s “un-british: the transatlantic crime film connection” focuses on the connections “between popular fiction of the crime genre and the british cinema in the 1940s, particularly adaptations made in the second half of the decade of works of graham greene, james hadley chase and gerald kersh, by tracking transatlantic currents in film and literature and mapping their varied critical receptions within the context of 1940s criticism” (275). handy timelines of works, and national and international events, as well as short biographies of writers whose works appear in the book are provided at the end of the volume. overall, the 1940s: a decade of modern british fiction is a coherent volume which is potentially useful both to newcomers to the field as well as to more seasoned researchers. *** grzegorz moroz is professor of british literature at the university of białystok. he has published monographs and many articles on aldous huxley, and on anglophone as well as polish travel writing, including: travellers, novelists and gentlemen: constructing male narrative personae in british travel books from the beginnings to the second ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 65 world war (peter lang, 2013) and a generic history of travel writing in anglophone and polish literature (brill/rodopi, 2020). 5 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) bożena kucała, beata piątek house and home in literature: introductory remarks the articles that comprise this volume illustrate a spectrum of literary representations of house and home: the architecture of the house, the house as a material inscription of national history (topolovská), the house as a spatio-temporal entity preserving the past and connecting past and present (kucała), home as a space of domestic dis comfort (piątek), home as a site of individual and collective identity (dudek), the country and its geography as a hospitable or inhospitable homeland (klonowska), the politics of the house, dwellings as exteriorisations of social and ethnic divisions (klonowska, jęczmińska). although highly selective, the list testifies to the enormous potential inherent in the relatively new academic field of housing studies. the primary distinction between the concepts of house and home alone has given rise to manifold types of research. as chiara briganti and kathy mezei explain, “whereas the house is generally perceived to be a physical built dwelling for people in a fixed location, the home, although it may possess the material characteristics of a built dwelling, implies a space, a feeling, an idea, not necessarily located in a fixed place” (2012: 5). however, as these definitions imply, far from being clear-cut, the distinction also involves a significant overlap. for example, witold rybczynski’s well-known study home: a short history of an idea (1986) is underpinned by the interdependence of house and home. spanning the time from the middle ages until modernity, the author discusses types of domestic spaces, linking them not only to the material conditions of living typical of a given period in history, but also to social and familial relations and hierarchies, and to the ideas that shaped the domestic fashions, preferences and expectations of the age. house and home may be studied both synchronically and diachronically – while they are common to all human societies and have universal appeal, they are invariably “framed by time, place, and culture: the concreteness of geography and history” (bukowczyk 2002: ix). in the words of bożena shallcross, “the discourse on the home is a truly cross-, inter-, and multidisciplinary entity that has evolved simultaneously from anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, architecture, and cultural studies” (2002: 2). 6 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) a seminal study by gaston bachelard, the poetics of space (1958), is grounded in the dual perception of the house: on the one hand, it is an actual building, made of solid materials; on the other hand, it is also “an imaginary entity,” made up of memories and the shared past of its residents (moran 2006: 28). the ideal house conjured up by bachelard connotes the notions of shelter and protection. departing from bachelard’s oneiric model, joe moran points out that in practice houses have more to do with “the mundane and ongoing activities of daily life” (2006: 41). therefore, he argues that the poetics of space should be supplanted by attention to its politics (2006: 42); as he insists, the notions of house and home are inevitably connected with “history, economics and politics” (moran 2006: 27). although the house, in some measure, reflects its social environment, it also separates the public and the private, creating a space for individual identity and self-expression. originally, human dwellings as “artificial shelters” served the basic need for separation and protection from the natural environment – a function which obviously remains crucial to the concept of the house (smyth & croft 2006: 13). the architecture of houses has practical, social as well as aesthetic value. from a philosophical perspective, home has been employed by martin heidegger as a metaphor to argue that being not-at-home is an intrinsic aspect of human alienation in the world (smyth & croft 2006: 15). to extend the ramifications of these concepts, it may be demonstrated that “[m]any assumptions we make about homes are linked to cultural or national reference points” (atkinson & jacobs 2016: 2). whatever the context in which house and home are described, they signify the fundamental human need to define one’s place in the world. accordingly, the concepts of house and home, in all the range of meanings indicated above, are staple themes in literature. references atkinson, r. & jacobs, k. 2016. introduction. in: house, home and society, 1-15. london: palgrave. bachelard, g. 1994. the poetics of space. trans. m. jolas. boston: beacon press. briganti, c. & mezei, k. 2012. introduction. in: c. briganti & k. mezei (eds.), the domestic space reader, 3-16. toronto/buffalo/london: university of toronto press. bukowczyk, j. j. 2002. series editor’s preface. in: shallcross, b. (ed.), framing the polish home: postwar cultural constructions of hearth, nation, and self. athens, oh: ohio university press. moran, j. 2006. houses, habit and memory. in: g. smyth & j. croft (eds.), our house: the representation of domestic space in modern culture, 27-42. amsterdam/new york: rodopi. rybczynski, w. 1987. home: a short history of an idea. harmondsworth: penguin books. 7 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) shallcross, b. 2002. framing the polish home: postwar cultural constructions of hearth, nation, and self. athens, oh: ohio university press. smyth, j. & croft, j. 2006. introduction: culture and domestic space. in: j. smyth & j. croft (eds.), our house: the representation of domestic space in modern culture, 11 26. amsterdam: brill. acquisition of polarity items in czech children: an experimental study 39 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) linda doleží1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.30.3.03 masaryk university orcid: 0000-0003-4617-5490 petra kurfürstová2 masaryk university orcid: 0000-0002-2846-956x iveta šafratová3 masaryk university georg-august-universität göttingen orcid: 0000-0001-8437-1738 acquisition of polarity items in czech children: an experimental study abstract. the czech polarity items i and ani are traditionally treated as english even. this paper deals with the acquisition of these polarity items in czech children. these focus/scalar particles are specific for their sensitivity to probability. we aim to find out whether czech children at primary school ( junior school age) have already acquired i/ani and whether they are able to connect them correctly with alternatives on the scale of probability. the research was conducted with children from the second and the fourth grade at primary school. the paper represents an initial insight into this area since no similar research has been done in the czech language so far. keywords: language acquisition; focus particles; scalar particles; experimental linguistics; language teaching. 1. introduction the particle even has been studied for its polarity and unlikelihood properties for a long time in several languages. although many issues and questions concerning the behaviour of even still remain, it has been consistently shown that even is sensitive to the polarity of a sentence. namely, there is even that can appear only in negative 1 address for correspondence: faculty of arts, masaryk university, arne nováka 1, 602 00 brno, czech republic. e-mail: dolezi@med.muni.cz 2 address for correspondence: faculty of arts, masaryk university, arne nováka 1, 602 00 brno, czech republic. e-mail: kurfurst.petra@gmail.com 3 address for correspondence: faculty of arts, masaryk university arne nováka 1, 602 00 brno, czech republic. e-mail: safratova@mail.muni.cz 40 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) sentences, and therefore it is called negative polarity item (npi). in contrast, another even so-called positive polarity item (ppi) may occur only in positive sentences (krifka 1995). it is tough to detect this distinction in english since there is only one lexical item for even, see (1). however, there are two (or more) lexical items corresponding to even in many languages, e.g. german and slovenian, among others. the czech language also belongs to the group of languages where positive even and negative even are distinguished lexically. (1) a. even charles came to the party. b. even charles didn’t come to the party. moreover, even is a focus sensitive particle that is associated with an f-marked expression. polarity items, as well as focus sensitive particles, introduce alternatives (rooth 1985). basically, there is a set of alternatives, and the particle even picks out one alternative.4 the set of possible alternatives for the example (2-a) (repeated from (1-a) is in (2-b)). note that the focused expression is highlighted in capital letters. the particle even chooses the one alternative in a certain way. the principles under which even selects an alternative are introduced in section 1.1. (2) a. even charles came to the party. b. the set of alternatives: {charles} {jane} {richard} we have dealt with polarity and focus properties of even. in the next section we focus on even in czech, we describe two main “evens” and show how they differ from each other. in section 3 we introduce two experiments on child acquisition of english even and in section 4 we present the experiment on child acquisition of czech even and discuss the results. 2. theoretical background english even corresponds to (at least) two lexical expressions in czech, namely i and ani.5 these two items are nicely divided according to their polarity properties. the first czech 4 note that there is a requirement for the alternatives to be of the same semantic type. 5 in addition, the particles i and ani may function as conjunctions and also marginally interjections. we leave these two other usages of the expressions aside and deal with i and ani as particles only. 41 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) even is i, and it is considered to be ppi since i may occur only in affirmative sentences, and it is ungrammatical in negative sentences, see (3-a) and (3-b), respectively. (3) a. na večírek přišel i richard. to party come.3sg.pst even richard ‘even richard came to the party.’ b. *na večírek nepřišel i richard. to party neg.come.3sg.pst even richard. ‘even richard didn’t come to the party.’ the second czech even is ani. historically, i is claimed to be the basic, whereas ani is the modified version of i in such a way that ani contains the basic i and the negative element -n. (lamprecht et al. 1986). this pattern nicely explains that ani is a negative counterpart of positive i. since ani is npi, it behaves in exactly the opposite way than i; it can appear only in negative sentences and it is ungrammatical in positive sentences, see (4-a) and (4-b), respectively. (4) a. na večírek nepřišel ani richard. to party neg.come.3sg.pst even richard ‘even richard didn’t come to the party.’ b. *na večírek přišel ani richard. to party come.3sg.pst even richard. ‘even richard came to the party.’ both i and ani exhibit the same focus properties as english even. unlike in english, czech i/ani have to occur immediately before the f-marked expression in a sentence. since the occurrence of i/ani is sensitive to the polarity of sentences, they belong to the group called polarity items. therefore, they introduce alternatives just like english even. we do not go into details of the complicated theory of alternatives (for more details see rooth 1985) but some background is needed for understanding our experiment. concerning alternatives introduced by even the likelihood and entailment play a role. for simplification, only a closed set of alternatives are taken into account. since even is generally considered to work with the likelihood, the alternatives are ordered on the probability scale, i.e. it is given by the context that one alternative is more likely or less likely than the other. consequently, one alternative entails the other.6 consider the following example: 6 note that there is no entailment relationship between alternatives in some alternative sets, but still, the alternatives are ordered by probability because there is a likelihood relationship between them. 42 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (5) richard přečetl i pět knih. richard read.3sg.pst even five books ‘richard has read even five books.’ we can easily imagine that richard is a student and he has to read books for an exam. the alternative set is restricted by the context where the maximum number of books he is supposed to read is five. of course, many students do not read all the required books. the use of i in (5) indicates that richard has read the maximum number of the required books, and this is considered to be a significant achievement. the alternatives and their entailment and likelihood relationship are schematically captured in (6). (6) a. the alternative set: {1 book, 2 books, 3 books, 4 books, 5 books} b. the entailment relationship: read 5 books → read 4 books → read 3 books → read 2 books → read 1 book c. the likelihood relationship: read 5 books < c read 4 books < c read 3 books < c read 2 books <c read 1 book there is the closed set of alternatives in (6-a), and the alternatives are in entailment relationship in such a way that the proposition richard has read 5 books entails the proposition richard has read 4 books and so on but not vice versa. consequently, the alternative 5 books is the strongest alternative from the given set of alternatives since read 5 books entails all the other alternatives. at the same time, the alternative 5 books is the least likely alternative because reading 5 books is the most unlikely situation (again from the given alternative set). we conclude that i always associates with the least likely alternative and, simultaneously, the strongest alternative from the alternative set given by the context. let’s focus on ani and check whether it associates with an alternative of the same type. now, consider the example with ani. (7) richard nepřečetl ani jednu knihu. richard neg.read.3sg.pst even one book ‘richard hasn’t read even one book.’ we imagine the same context, but richard is a lazy student now. the alternative set remains the same. however, we observe that ani associates with a different alternative since we use only alternative sets where there were both entailment and likelihood relationships between alternatives, we leave the alternatives without entailment relationship aside. 43 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) than i. let’s first analyze the entailment and likelihood relationships between the alternatives before we make a conclusion. (8) a. the alternative set: {1 book, 2 books, 3 books, 4 books, 5 books} b. the entailment relationship: not read 1 book → not read 2 books → not read 3 books → not read 4 books → not read 5 books c. the likelihood relationship: not read 1 book < c not read 2 books < c not read 3 books <c not read 4 books <c not read 5 books the proposition richard hasn’t read 1 book entails the proposition richard hasn’t read 2 books and so on, but not vice versa.7 and, at the same time, the alternative not read 1 book is the least likely alternative because read 1 book is the minimum you can do. imagine that a student wants to pass an exam. then, it is more likely (and highly recommended) to read 2 books than only 1 book. consequently, the alternative not read 1 book is the strongest alternative since it entails all other alternatives and it is also the least likely alternative from the contextually given alternative set. the fact that ani associates with the strongest and the least likely alternative as well as i is caused by the presence of negation in sentences containing ani. negation intervenes between the f-marked expression and even and works as a scale reversing operator. in other words, negation reverses the scale of entailment and likelihood (for more technical details and formalizations see, e.g., karttunen & karttunen 1977 and crnič 2011). therefore, both i and ani associate with alternatives of the same type concerning entailment and likelihood, but the alternatives differ lexically. the unified type of alternatives concerning entailment and likelihood for both i and ani is well theoretically justified. moreover, šafratová (2018) focused on adults and their perception of structures with czech even and showed that czech adults treat i/ani precisely as would be expected. since even works with probability, which is part of pragmatics, the question that comes to mind is how and when adults learn how to use particles such as even. to solve this question we turned our attention to children and experimentally tested whether czech children at a certain age have already acquired the particles i/ani. note that the acquisition of i/ani is not affected by czech language education because according to two main education programs for primary education in czech (rámcový vzdělávací program pro základní vzdělávání, školní vzdělávací program), no explicit attention is paid to the particles in primary education. however, there is no study 7 we are aware of the fact that this is not true since the proposition richard hasn’t read 1 book may, of course, mean that richard has read 2 books. however, this is not relevant for explaining how the entailment and likelihood work for the particle even. for more details, we refer readers to the theory of scalar alternatives (sauerland 2004; fox & hackl 2006; spector 2007, among others). 44 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) about the acquisition of polarity items in czech children we could build our research on. that is why we follow two relevant experimental research studies on child acquisition of english even that are introduced in the next section. our experiment is presented in section 4. 3. child acquisition of english even as far as we know there are only two experimental research studies on child acquisition of english even, and interestingly, the two research studies came to different results. both experiments tested english even in both affirmative and negative sentences. to avoid confusion we call even in positive sentences simply even, and even in negative sentences not even. 3.1. kim’s experiment the first experiment was run by kim (2011). she experimentally tested english even in two syntactic positions, namely the pre-subject position (9-a) and the pre-object position (9-b). we focus only on the results of even in the pre-object position since we tested czech even in this syntactic position. (9) a. even petr ate chocolate. b. petr ate even chocolate. kim tested 30 english speaking children aged 4-5 using a “guess who game”. there were three pictures with even, and three pictures with not even, i.e. six tested pictures in total. besides, there were six filler sentences and six control sentences to distract the children. the children were asked to listen to stories with pictures in such a way that the last sentence of a story contained even/not even. there were always three characters differing in size (the smallest one, the biggest one and a character of the middle size), and the task was to show the appropriate character in the picture based on the story. for instance, there was a picture of three different-size bears trying to reach a biscuit. based on the pragmatic feature (height), children should have been able to recognize that the biggest bear has the greatest chance to reach the biscuit since the tested sentence contained not even. kim concludes from the experimental results that english children aged 4-5 have not acquired english even/not even yet. moreover, the middle characters (options) did not appear as an answer at all. the number of children who answered correctly to each item and the total percentage of correct answers is in table 1 (taken from kim 2011: 96). 45 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) table 1. the correct answers total affirmative even 41/90 45.6 % negative even (not even) 42/90 46.7 % the question that comes to mind is why do english children have a problem with the usage of even? there are (at least) three possible answers or their combination: (i) the problem is lexical. children have to learn the semantic meaning of even. (ii) the problem is syntactic. english even can stay quite freely in a sentence, unlike in czech. (iii) the problem is pragmatic. even has an unlikelihood presupposition and children have to count with the likelihood. before we try to answer the question let’s have a look at the second experiment on english even and compare the results from both experiments. 3.2. mit experiment following kim (2011), newman et al. (2018) asked the following research questions: (i) how do children think when considering sentences with even? (ii) why did none of the children choose middle options? (iii) what happens when we change scalar types when choosing different options? they tested english speaking children aged 3−6. there were 88 children participating in the experiment in total. the experiment included four different scales: reaching stories, lifting/wight stories, fitting stories, and filling/capacity stories. the scales are presented in more detail in section 4. the authors also used a “guess who game” by telling stories and pictures. there were four pictures with affirmative even and four pictures with negative even (not even), therefore eight pictures in total. moreover, the experiment contained four sample filler stories. the experiment shows the polarity effect between even and not even. children were more successful in tested sentences with not even, see figure 1 taken from newman et al. (2018). 46 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) figure 1. a plot of the rate of adult-like responses by age group, separated by polarity surprisingly, middle responses appeared in the results of the experiment, unlike the results of kim’s experiment. the results of mit’s experiment show that children answered not only the left or right option but also the middle option. middle responses also show the polarity effect, but the opposite, i.e. middle responses, appeared more in tested sentences with even, see figure 2, taken from newman et al. (2018). figure 2. middle responses decrease with age, and they decrease faster for negative even than positive even 47 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) overall experimental results show that: 1. children were more successful in tested sentences with not even; 2. middle responses appeared more in tested sentences with even; 3. children consider the likelihood, i.e. the unlikelihood presupposition, for even/not even; 4. children’s usage of not even is close to the adults’ usage of it; 5. children acquire not even at around 4 years of age, whereas they acquire even at around 6 years of age. it is evident that newman et al. (2018) gained different results than kim (2011). however, we follow both experiments in our research, especially concerning the design of the experiment. we were aware of the fact that the experimental results of czech i/ ani could differ from the results of english experiments because i and ani are lexically distinguished as opposed to only one lexical item even in english. to the best of our knowledge there is no research on children acquisition of czech scalar particles i/ani, and therefore the experiment was designed as a “mapping territory” project. 4. experiment the main focus of our experiment was to find out whether children aged 7−10 have already acquired the i/ani particles in their scalar function. 20 children from grade 2, and 20 children from grade 4 took part. as stated above, when designing the experiment, we followed similarly oriented research, in particular the study by kim (2011) and with the kind permission of the authors also the experiment developed by mit linguists newman et al. (2018). four hypotheses were stated: • children in grade 2 will not have adult-like or similar understanding of i/ani expressions; • children in grade 4 will have acquired i/ani expressions fully; • there will be middle variants of the responses, especially in grade 2 children; • there will be a difference in the acquisition of i and ani expressions. 4.1. procedure and participants we ran the experiment in two phases. in phase 1 we tested 20 adults to see whether our tasks are well designed and comprehensible and also to check whether the language phenomena we studied were fully acquired by adult speakers. in phase 2 we carried the experiment out with children (20 children age 7−10 from grade 2 and 20 children age 9-10 from grade 4). children were chosen randomly by their teachers, parents had to provide their consent. the testing ran according to the same scenario as with the adults. before the beginning they were informed about the form of the experiment – the pictures of animals in three different sizes and the task – to choose to which animal 48 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the text relates to. the participants were not aware of the fact that they are taking part in research on scalar particles i/ani, neither were shown any training pictures so that they were not biased. the accompanying text was read aloud, however, children could also read it for themselves. their answers were noted down into answer sheets without stating explicitly to the participants whether their answers were correct or not so that their answers were not influenced by this information. one experiment with one person took approximately 10 minutes. 4.2. design and material we adapted thematic story areas created by newman et al. (2018) and used the same number of items. furthermore, we profited from their experience with testing and thus avoided possible problems. we created our own unique illustrations (bukovjan 2019) and texts including the tested expressions i/ani. the experiment consisted of two parts – the first part were stories testing i/ani, the second part were filler stories that were meant to distract the participants’ attention. the individual pictures depicted animals of three different sizes in the given contextual situation (in the given thematic story) in the first experiment part. the context provided a pragmatics feature ensuring that only one animal should be chosen assuming that children interpret the sentences with i/ani pragmatically correctly. the thematic story areas were as follows: • reaching stories: the motive is the effort to reach for something/somewhere; • lifting/weight stories: the motive is to try to pick up something; • fitting stories: the motive is to fit somewhere; • filling/capacity stories: the motive is an effort to fill something (e.g. a basket). every story area contained one picture testing the i-expression and one picture testing the ani-expression, there were 8 tested pictures together. an example of the illustrations and texts can be found below in picture 1 and picture 2. picture 1: v prodejně rybiček zkoušeli, jak velká rybka se vejde do skleněného stolního akvária. bylo tak prostorné, že se do něj vešla i dona. poznáš, která rybka je dona? 49 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) ‘in a fish shop they tried how big a fish could fit into a glass table aquarium. it was so spacious that even dona could fit into it. do you know which fish is dona?’ picture 2: opice se vsadily o trs banánů, že ze země zvednou velikou těžkou kládu. kláda byla ale tak moc těžká, že ji neuzvedl ani opičák rocky. poznáš, která z opic je rocky? ‘monkeys bet a bunch of bananas that they will be able to lift a large, heavy log from the ground. but the log was so heavy that even rocky didn’t lift the log. do you know which monkey is rocky?’ in both examples of the test pictures, the accompanying text referred to the biggest animal (i.e. the biggest fish, the biggest monkey) because it is clear from the context that it is the least probable alternative (and with these the scalar particles bind). generally speaking, the correct answers, however, were not only the biggest animals but also the smallest or the middle ones in the case of fillers. this is how we prevented the participants from guessing or seeing through the experiment. in addition to tested pictures, we used four sample filler stories in the second part of the experiment. to prevent the children from observing a pattern in which the experiment works and find their own algorithm according to which they would answer, we ordered the pictures randomly so that two pictures of the same story category did not appear next to each other. all together there were 12 pictures accompanied by texts, i.e. 8 tested pictures and 4 filler pictures. 4.3. results the whole experiment was evaluated by several means ranging from the most ordinary descriptive statistics to proper statistical analyses using programming language r in rstudio. the responses were modeled in lmertest, which is not a part of rstudio but it is a standard model and it was added as a package into the rstudio. by using such a wide range of statistical tools we tried to get as many pieces of information as possible. as to the results of the research carried out on adults – they were successful in completing 50 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the task in almost 100%. only in one case did an adult make a mistake probably due to lack of concentration rather than linguistic incompetence. in children the results were as follows: 1. in the case of 100% success in all items testing i/ani as well as the fillers, the results were: • grade 2: only 25% of children were 100% successful (5/20) • grade 4: 55% of children were 100% successful (11/20) 2. the results of 100% success in tested i/ani items (all together): • grade 2: 30% of children were 100% successful • grade 4: 60% of children were 100% successful. from this perspective it seems that children in grade 4 were two times more successful than children in grade 2. we also had a look at the number of mistakes made by children. some of them made only one mistake which might have been caused by lack of attention or hesitation. in case we recalculated the results and included also the “1 mistake children” the success rate would increase a lot (especially in grade 2): • grade 2: 60% of children with almost 100% success • grade 4: 75% of children with almost 100% success 3. success rate was further analysed for every even-variant separately − i-variant and ani-variant. the results showed a higher success rate in items testing understanding i-variant in children from both grades. both variants − i/ani − were easier for children from grade 4, which might mean that they understand these expressions better. nevertheless, the i-expression success rate was 65% in grade 2, which already proves a very good understanding. on the other side, understanding aniexpression was in grade 2 only 40%, which could mean that this expression is more difficult to acquire and is thus acquired later. a) results of items with i: 100% successful: a child correctly understood all items with i • grade 2: 65% of children were 100% successful (13/20) • grade 4: 80% of children were 100% successful (16/20) b) results of items with ani: 100% successful: a child correctly understood all items with ani • grade 2: 40% of children were 100% successful (8/20) • grade 4: 65% of children were 100% successful (13/20). 4) we also compared the results according to their success rate in individual story areas. every picture was evaluated as to the success rate separately for iand ani-expressions. this comparison showed a high success rate for both expressions and children in both grades seem to understand these two expressions well. even though the partial results showed a difference between the two classes as well as the two expressions, the children responded correctly in about 80%. 51 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) table 2. the success of children in each story in sentences with i. story 1 = reaching stories, story 2 = lifting/weight stories, story 3 = fitting stories and story 4 = filling/capacity stories. story 1 story 2 story 3 story 4 in total % grade 2 17/20 17/20 16/20 18/20 68/80 85 % grade 4 19/20 17/20 18/20 20/20 74/80 93 % table 3. the success of children in each story in sentences with ani. story 1 = reaching stories, story 2 = lifting/weight stories, story 3 = fitting stories and story 4 = filling/capacity stories8 story 1 story 2 story 3 story 4 in total % grade 2 12/20 15/20 20/20 16/20 63/80 79 % grade 4 15/20 18/20 20/20 16/20 69/80 86 % the preliminary summary is the following: 1) children make fewer mistakes in sentences with i. 2) it is easier for children to understand sentences with i. several possible explanations may affect the understanding of i. first, since ani interacts with negation, it might make ani more complex to understand. second, the interaction with negation causes the reverse scale of likelihood and therefore both i and ani associate with the least likely alternative. third, the correct understanding of i and ani depends on pragmatic abilities of children. 3) children in both grade 2 and grade 4 have acquired both expressions i and ani. for getting a more detailed analysis we processed the obtained data in programming language rstudio. answers were modified as follows: • 1 – the expected responses (the least likely alternative) • 0.5 – the middle option • 0 – the opposite end of the scale (the most likely alternative). to model the data we constructed a mixed linear model that tested whether the subjects’ answers can be predicted from a condition (fixed effect) and whether the conditions differed in their statistical significance. there were following conditions: 1) 2-i: sentences with i in grade 2 2) 2-ani: sentences with ani in grade 2 8 the attentive reader may notice that there is a relatively large difference between the success in story 1 and story 3. looking at success in the stories, we see a big drop between story 1 and other stories. there is not much difference in success between other stories. since only story 1 seems to be problematic for children, we blame this story 1 for failure. even though story 1 was based on the same principle as the other stories, children may have seen a difference between story 1 and others or children just did not like the story. thanks to an anonymous reviewer for raising this point. 52 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 3) 4-i: sentences with i in grade 4 4) 4-ani: sentences with ani in grade 4. the success rate of responses depending on the conditions is between 0−1. the statistical differences between sentences with i and sentences with ani were modeled in lmertest. the model had one predictor, i.e., the reference level condition: 2-ani. the success of the other conditions was measured against the reference level condition. the output of the model is reported in table 4. the t-value states how big the difference between two conditions is, the p-value says how likely it is that the difference between the two conditions is random. as we can see from the results, no fixed effects were statistically significant. table 4. the statistical output fixed effects: estimate std. error df t value p value (intercept) 0.80000 0.05601 10.35250 14.283 3.81e-08 *** condition 2-i 0.06875 0.07754 9.60427 0.887 0.397 condition 4-ani 0.06875 0.05028 291.00007 1.367 0.173 condition 4-i 0.13125 0.07754 9.60427 1.693 0.123 --signif. codes: 0 ‘***’ 0.001 ‘**’ 0.01 ‘*’ 0.05 ‘.’ 0.1 ‘ ’ 1 box plots of the individual conditions are shown in figure 3. means and medians of each condition are in table 5. 53 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) figure 3. detailed graph: means of conditions table 5. means and medians of conditions condition means medians 2-ani 0.80000 1 2-i 0.86875 1 4-ani 0.86875 1 4-i 0.93125 1 the statistical analysis shows (i) that the mean success rate of tested sentences with i and ani was very high, (i) that there is no statistical difference between grade 2 and grade 4 in sentences with i, (iii) that there is no statistical difference between grade 2 and grade 4 in sentences with ani, and last but not least (iv) that children aged 7-10 have already acquired both expressions i and ani and they understand the scale of likelihood (the pragmatic aspect). 5. summary and conclusion the experimental results show a tendency of children aged 7-10 to have already acquired i/ani, which was proved by statistical analysis. our initial four hypotheses were not confirmed. the experimental results show that children in grade 2 understand scalar expressions. both i and ani are acquired approximately at the same time, although 54 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) children made fewer mistakes in sentences with i. the middle options were marginal, which corresponds to kim’s (2011) finding. even though there is only one lexical item even in english as opposed to czech i/ani, children have to learn the pragmatic aspect, i.e., the likelihood, in both languages. moreover, children have to learn how the likelihood changes with respect to positive/negative sentences. since the particles are generally marginally included in the methodological plan for language education at primary schools, we assume that the acquisition of expressions i/ani depends on the individual development of the child’s cognitive and pragmatic competences independently of language education. getting to know how language is acquired is crucial for many areas connected to child development. in the current czech linguistic environment and renewed interest in child language the main attention has been paid to pre-school age language acquisition, e.g. smolík & bláhová (2017); smolík & seidlová málková (2014); saicová římalová (2013); doleží (2014); mertins et al. (2014). it might seem that once children enter school there are not many things going on linguistically speaking. opposite is the case, though. with our study we tried to contribute to the understanding of how later phases of acquisition work and support it by concrete results and analyses and not impressions. the results might have interesting implications for mother tongue as well as second or foreign language teaching in understanding whether, when and how to teach or confront children with particular linguistic phenomena so that they can master them fully. to see when and how exactly the i and ani-expressions are acquired by czech children we have to pay attention to younger children and carry out further research with first grade and pre-school age children. references crnič, l. 2011. getting even [unpublished phd dissertation]. massachusetts institute of technology. doleží, l. 2014. reduction and elaboration in czech coordinate structures: an elicited imitation task. in: l. veselovská & m. janebová (eds.), complex visibles out there. proceedings of the olomouc linguistics colloquium 2014: language use and linguistic structure, 387-400. olomouc: univerzita palackého. fox, d. & hackl, m. 2006. the universal density of measurement. linguistics and philosophy 29(5): 537-586. karttunen, l. & karttunen, f. 1977. even questions. in: nels 7: proceedings of the seventh annual meeting of the north eastern linguistic society, 115-34. cambridge: mit. kim, s. 2011. focus particles at syntactic, semantic and pragmatic interfaces: the acquisition of only and even in english [unpublished phd dissertation]. university of hawaii at manoa, manoa. krifka, m. 1995. the semantics and pragmatics of polarity items. linguistic analysis 25 (3-4): 209-57. 55 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) lamprecht, a., šlosar, d. & bauer, j. 1986. historická mluvnice češtiny. praha: státní pedagogické nakladatelství. mertins, b. et al. 2014. identifikace konstituentů kompozit u předškolních děti.́ naše řeč 97(3): 146-165. newman, e., gowda, y., rosenstein, l. & hackl, m. 2018. polarity sensitivity of even in early child grammar. galana 8, indiana university, bloomington. poster. rámcový vzdělávací program pro základní vzdělávání [online]. praha: mšmt, 3-2017. available from: http://www.nuv.cz/t/rvp-pro-zakladni-vzdelavani. rooth, m. 1985. association with focus [unpublished phd dissertation]. university of massachusetts. saicová římalová, l. 2013. když začínáme mluvit... lingvistický pohled na rané projevy česky hovořícího dítěte. praha: práce filozofické fakulty univerzity karlovy, varia. sauerland, u. 2004. scalar implicatures in complex sentences. linguistics and philosophy 27(3): 367-391. smolík, f. & bláhová, v. 2017. comprehension of verb number morphemes in czech children: singular and plural show different relations to age and vocabulary. first language 37(1): 42-57. smolík, f. & seidlová málková, g. 2014. vývoj jazykových schopností v předškolním věku. praha: grada. spector, b. 2007. scalar implicatures: exhaustivity and gricean reasoning. questions in dynamic semantics 17: 225-249. šafratová, i. 2018. negation, npi and scales of likelihood: an experimental study. [unpublished master’s thesis]. masaryk university. školní vzdělávací program pro základní vzdělání zš a mš rovečné. 2015. rovečné. * * * linda doleží is a language teacher and teacher trainer. she works as an assistant professor at masaryk university language centre and at the department of czech language of faculty of arts at masaryk university. she focuses on teaching methodology, language acquisition and psychoand neurolinguistics in multilingual contexts. her current interests include language attrition phenomena and the role of emotions and trauma in language acquisition and attrition. petra kurfürstová is a graduate of upper secondary school teacher training in czech language and literature at the faculty of arts at masaryk university. in her m. a. thesis she dealt with the acquisition of scalar particles i and ani in czech children. during her studies she was interested not only in child language acquisition and in teaching methodology but also in teaching czech as a second language. 56 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) iveta šafratová is a second-year doctoral student in a joint supervision of doctoral studies at the department of linguistics at masaryk university and at the seminar for english philology at georg-august-universität göttingen. she focuses on the syntaxsemantic-pragmatic interface and she is also interested in experimental linguistics. she is working on negation, especially scalar particles and polarity items in czech. microsoft word crossroads 34.doc ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 16 khandakar ashraful islam1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.34.3.02 noakhali science and technology university, bangladesh https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0176-4518 biopolitical nomos and “bare life” in arundhati roy’s novels abstract. biopolitics—the maneuvers and stratagems employed to regulate, manage and govern people— is one of the most contested theoretical paradigms, which deals with the relation between state politics and human lives. while foucault links the biopolitical nomos with the oppressive practices which render the human body docile, giorgio agamben sheds light on the new biopolitical nomos, which applying the most draconian means, subdue people within the law. according to agamben, the arbitrary use of such sovereign power not only robs of the constitutional rights of the individuals but also denies their rights to live. agamben observes that under the new biopolitical nomos each individual is exposed to the threat of being treated as a homo sacer, whose life can be taken with impunity. focusing on foucault’s concept of biopolitics and applying agamben’s concepts like “state of exception” and homo sacer, the present paper investigates into arundhati roy’s the god of small things and the ministry of utmost happiness to argue that in present-day india; the enactment of juridico-discursive power (communal riots, lynching, and violence to the lower caste) is not only denying the human rights of the minority groups but also exposing them to a “bare life.” keywords: biopolitics, homo sacer, state of exception, riot, arundhati roy. biopolitics—one of the most contested theoretical paradigms—refers to those political actions which manipulate human lives through individualization, subjectivation, discipline and surveillance. michel foucault links the biopolitical nomos primarily with the methodological and the oppressive practices, which, establishing authoritarian relations between power and knowledge, tend to manipulate human bodies to make them docile, manageable and productive. unlike foucault, georgio agamben analyzes modern sovereignty—whose institutions are formed from the decay of monarchial rule—as a biopolitical project where sovereign power enforces its dominance “through the most draconian means, including murder of those whom it wishes to eliminate, while remaining nominally within the law” (parfitt 2009: 41). agamben argues that modern political regimes, in the name of democracy, development, and security, have radicalized the biopolitical nomos and became more repressive and violent over time. a central proposition of agamben’s argument is that modernity has led sovereign power to take ever-increasing recourse to the “state of exception”—a situation in which “the operation of the law is suspended while it remains nominally in force” (parfitt 2009: 41). those who are subjected to a state of exception are reduced to a situation that agamben terms “bare life” in which any human rights or constitutional rights, they may have had, are rendered null, and each of them are treated as homo sacer whose “life can be taken with 1 address for correspondence: noakhali science and technology university, sonapur, university road, noakhali 3814, bangladesh. e-mail: ashraf.2205@nstu.edu.bd ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 17 impunity” (agamben 1998: 71). agamben observes that the modern biopolitical projects through “exclusion from the community and deprivation of a voice” (agamben 1998: 21) have reduced the minority and the marginalized people to “animal bare life.” in the god of small things (1997), henceforth tgst, and the ministry of utmost happiness (2017), henceforth tmuh through arundhati roy’s portrayal of the violent assertion of caste and class supremacy, rise of religious extremism, spread of communal violence, lynching of minority people, execution of state-sponsored violence, it gets apparent that even in present-day india the people of the lower class, lower caste and minority groups are exposed to an ambience of agamben’s “bare life.” this paper is an attempt to argue that in postcolonial india the perpetuation of the juridico-discursive power and enactment of the repressive biopolitical nomos have left no option of living for the deprived and destitute people except a “bare life.” in discipline and punish: the birth of the prison, introducing the concept of biopolitics, foucault accentuates the rise of the “juridico-discursive” model of power (foucault 1979: 82). in this model, power is assumed to be exercised as “interdiction and repression in a framework of law (lemke 2005: 3). in fact, in tgst the violent act of kottayam police to the lower caste velutha, is a definite indication of the enactment of the “state of exception”, where the police exercised the authority that “does not need law to create law” (cited in minca 2006: 389). for agamben, the space of exception constitutes “the original nomos, the founding gesture of the political space of modernity, the ontological device that lies at the roots of the modern nation-state and its potential translation into a biopolitical machine” (minca 2006: 390). fahimeh nazari & hossein pirnajmuddin in “revisiting colonial legacy in arundhati roy’s the god of small things” remark that the way the kottayam police executed velutha without investigating the gravity of the charges brought against him by baby kochamma, that purposive action is indicative to “the forceful inflection of law” (nazari & pirnajmuddin 2013: 67). in fact, the violence perpetuated on velutha has turned him into a homo sacer. giorgio agamben in homo sacer: sovereign power and bare life, represents that homo sacer is the “originary figure of life taken into the sovereign ban, …in which it is permitted to kill without committing homicide” (agamben 1998: 83). as foucault explains, the execution of such homicidal law permits the perpetual instigation of new dominations and the staging of meticulously repeated scenes of violence. the violence over velutha is the exhibition of the supremacy of the upper caste people, where velutha becomes the victim of biopolitics. in tgst, roy depicts how the police forces, baby kochamma, comrade pillai and the other upper caste people, as agents of “repressive state apparatus,” instil hegemonic power to expand their spatial control over “what touchables fear, the fear of losing privilege, of being dispossessed, of having one’s purity and ascendancy questioned” (passos 2008: 96). in fact, velutha’s affair with ammu—the transgressor of love laws—is apprehended as an infringement in the touchable world. this transgression of caste boundary arouses unredeemable fear, “civilization’s fear of nature, men’s fear of women, power’s fear of powerlessness,” (tgst 308) which needed to be exorcised violently in order to uphold the sanctity of caste hierarchy. in the process of this exorcism, in front of rahel and estha, velutha is brutally beaten by six touchable police officers. rahel and estha are the eyewitness of the perpetuation of extreme violence on velutha. in that merciless police assault velutha’s ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 18 skull was fractured in three places. his nose and both his cheekbones were smashed, leaving his face pulpy, undefined. the blow to his mouth had split open his upper lip and broken six teeth, three of which were embedded in his lower lip, hideously inverting his beautiful smile. four of his ribs were splintered, one had pierced his left lung, which was what made him bleed from his mouth…his spine was damaged in two places, the concussion had paralyzed his right arm and resulted in a loss of control over his bladder and rectum. both his kneecaps were shattered. (tgst 310) ghina m. sumrain & shadi s. neimneh assert that in tgst “[t]he police as a reconstruct of the colonial hegemony represents india’s oppressive colonial history” (sumrain & neimneh 2016: 66). velutha’s subalternity and subsequent death at the hands of the police officers result from the perpetuation of oppressive caste and class supremacy, which in dealing with the people of the lower caste and lower class, exercise biopower with the “sovereign right to kill…to kill anyone” (foucault 2003: 260). although arundhati roy’s booker prize winning first novel the god of small things (1997) brings forth the terrible consequences of the caste and class exploitation, its sorrows and agonies seem private. by contrast, the ministry of utmost happiness— published in 2017—is about “india, the polity, during the past half-century or so, and its griefs are national” (acocella 2017: 1). in tmuh roy’s narrative exposes those sites of abusive and exploitative power—communal riots, state-sponsored violence, deprivation of minority rights, and violation of human rights—which, apart from jeopardizing the lives of those afflicted, have exposed them to a “bare life.” somak ghoshal, in his review, “a far cry from the writer’s brilliant first,” prefigures tmuh as “a gargantuan handbook to modern india and its injustices” (ghoshal 2017: 1). in tmuh, telling those individual and collective stories, roy takes “a panoramic view of violence, injustice, suffering over decades of india’s history” (ghoshal 2017: 1). in fact, roy’s writing is a counter-discourse to the official version of the “idea of india” that projects india as a stable democratic nation with unity, equality, and religious neutrality. manoj s. in “historicizing fiction: critiquing contemporary india in arundhati roy’s the ministry of utmost happiness” remarks that in tmuh, roy sheds light on those events of indian history which at times: failed the true spirit of democracy, since its inception with the indo-pak partition, spanning mainly the events of the last three or four decades. in the novel there are recurrent references to the rising tide of totalitarianism in the indian governing system and the exclusion of the marginalized classes from the centers of power. (manoj 2017: 113) suranjan das argues in “the nehru years in indian politics” that in postcolonial india, “despite certain obvious outward changes in forms of governance or employment of new political hyperboles, the indian government under jawaharlal nehru represented in many respects a continuation of british attitudes both in form and substance” (das 2001: 7). this colonial attitude of exploitation and oppression was intensified during the imposition of emergency by indira gandhi in 1975. referring to the reign of indira gandhi’s emergency period, roy in tmuh has pointed out the beginning of the “state of exception,” which through bureaucratic governance achieved permanence in india’s system of governance. the period of emergency from 25th june 1975 to 21st march 1977 is considered “the darkest period of independent india” (ghosh 2016: 2). apart from the suspension of civil rights, violation of human rights and subversion of democracy, mass imprisonment of the dissenting voices became pervasive during the ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 19 emergency period. in fact, in india the emergency period is the systematic and administrative beginning of the institutionalization of hegemonic power. during the emergency period, the “state of exception” became the rule of law. during these twenty-one months of authoritarian rule, the police were empowered with the legal right to search homes without a warrant. the police were also given the power to arrest people without any specific allegation. in tmuh, the transgender woman anjum’s gruesome experience in a wedding party—where the host and three of his guests are violently beaten and arrested without a warrant—epitomizes the power and brutality the police exercised during the emergency period to spread fear and terror. using state power and coercion, the opposing voices to authority were brutally suppressed in this period. during the emergency period civil rights were suspended, newspapers were censored, and in the name of population control, thousands of men (mostly muslim) were herded into camps and forcibly sterilized. a new law—the maintenance of internal security act—allowed the government to arrest anybody on a whim. thus, indira gandhi’s imposition of emergency (from 25 june 1975 to 21 march 1977) has laid the foundation of a monarchical type of family rule, that spreading its tentacles, not only institutionalized the oppressive biopolitical nomos but also accentuated the enactment of the abuse of power. agamben argues that hegemonic power politics, locating itself “at the very margin of politics, turns out to be the solid basis of a political body that decides not simply over the life and death of human beings, but who will be recognized as a human being at all” (cited in lemke 2005: 5). in tmuh roy depicts that the rise of the dominant political ideology is the major catalyst behind the “living dead” condition of the minority muslims in india. the graveyard symbolizes the threatened condition of the minority people in this novel. s. manoj remarks, “[t]he metaphor of the graveyard equips roy to explore the complex relationship between life and death in the context of contemporary indian life” (manoj 2017: 119). tmuh begins in the graveyard where anjum—a transgender woman—starts to live after her deadly experience in gujarat pogrom. her near death experience in gujarat massacre exposes the obnoxious political reality that perpetuates the evil practice of “domination, exploitation, expropriation and, in some cases, elimination of the vital existence of some or all subjects over whom it is exercised” (cited in rinbow & rose 2006: 198). the gujarat massacre originated from the burning of a coach of the sabarmati train at godhra on 27 february 2002. it was carrying nearly sixty hindu pilgrims returning home from “a trip to ayodhya where they had carried ceremonial bricks to lay in the foundations of a grand hindu temple they wanted to construct at the site where an old mosque once stood” (tmuh 44). the circumstantial evidence could not form any acceptable proposition about the events, which culminated in the burning of the coach. however, the allegations were pointed directly to the muslims and “the police arrested hundreds of muslims… from the area around the railway station under the new terrorism law and threw them into prison” (tmuh 44). the novel describes the event that the burnt bodies of the hindu pilgrims are brought to ahmedabad to be displayed so that the public can pay homage to the pilgrims’ departed souls. the horrific sight of the burnt bodies of the hindu pilgrims triggers the flame of hatred and instigates the desire for revenge in the hindu polity. moreover, the ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 20 hate speeches which officially held the muslims responsible for those fatalities culminated in the brutal killing of the minority muslims in gujarat. roy depicts that the butchering of the muslims in gujarat pogrom, went on for weeks and was not confined to cities alone. the mobs were armed with swords and tridents and wore saffron headbands. they had cadastral lists of muslim homes, businesses and shops…when people who had been injured were taken to hospital, mobs attacked the hospitals. the police would not register murder cases. they said, quite reasonably, that they needed to see the corpses. the catch was that the police were often part of the mobs, and once the mobs had finished their business, the corpses no longer resembled corpses. (tmuh 45) these merciless killings and violence are desperate attempts to create awe among the muslim polity. from roy’s depiction, it can be inferred that in india the people of the muslim community are living a ‘bare life’ like the homo sacer who might be killed by anyone without being condemned for homicide since he or she had been banned from the juridical-political community. while even a criminal could claim certain legal rights and formal procedures, this “sacred man” [read: a muslim] was completely unprotected and reduced to mere physical existence. (cited in lemke 2005: 5) roy puts forward that violence against the minority muslims is not a unique phenomenon in india. in fact, in the politics of india, the rise of right-wing supremacy has culminated in the intensification of the hostility against the muslims. the spread of hatred and violence against the muslims have grave political significance. the criminalities and the unchallenged atrocities against the muslims demonstrate the hegemony of the rule of majority over the minority. p. sahadevan accentuates that in the status quo of the rule of the majority, the state behaves more as an agent of the dominant/majority ethnic community.…in many cases, [the minority] is virtually taken captive by the majority group to serve its ethnic interests while minority/weaker groups face a threat of those institutions on which they rely for protection, equity and justice....the relevant intermediary institutions [such as] bodies of popular representation (parliament) and adjudication (judiciary)…function like a mere rubber-stamp of the dominant/majority community. (sahadevan 2013: 82) according to hardt and negri, biopolitics is a form of power “expressed as a control that extends throughout the depths of the consciousnesses and bodies of the population” (hardt & negri 2000: 24). staging of violence or riot is a strategy that evokes terror and fear. riot, in fact, is a mechanism of “repressive state apparatus” which through violence asserts the dominance of the powerful over the powerless and reestablishes the domination over the minority groups, rendering the message that the people of the minority groups are alive only because of the mercy of the majority. as depicted in tmuh, when these rioters were demolishing the muslims’ properties and mercilessly killing them, “thirty thousand saffron parakeets with steel talons and bloodied beaks, all [were] squawking together: musslaman ka ek hi sthan! qabristan ya pakistan! (only one place for the mussalman! the graveyard or pakistan!”) (tmuh 62). it appears that creating a reign of terror for the muslims, these rioters are in a mission of making a monolithic, monolingual, mono-religious india whose idealogues have politicized that the proper place of the muslims is either pakistan or qabristan (grave). the desperation of the right-wing fundamentalist group makes it apparent that india’s secularist political ideology has come to a dead end and, therefore, the majority of the hindus treat the ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 21 minority muslims as homo sacer. at present, this violent ideology is gaining influence at an alarming pace. it is heart-rending that in a democratic country, muslims are always prone to the threat of extermination by the extremist view of the majority. roy emphasizes that it is the present-day political outcry that muslims do not belong to india, and hence they cannot be offered anything more than a “bare life”—stripped of all individuating legal and political status and protection. in tmuh, roy underscores that, in present-day india, like the minority muslims, the lives of the dalits are also threatened and jeopardized. with the strengthening of the political dominance of the right-wing ideology, many incidents of lynching of lower caste people have taken place in india. lynching exhibits the supremacy of the dominant religious groups over the minority. in those scattered incidents of lynching, lower caste people, especially the dalits, are either killed or humiliated in the name of preserving the sanctity of the holy cow. in many places, cow protection groups (gau rakshak) are created to safeguard the cows from slaughter. to shed light on the dilapidated condition of the dalits, roy depicts dayachand as a representative of the dalit class. dayachand belongs to the chamar family—the untouchables who collect the carcass, skin them, and turn the hide for their livelihood. on the day of dussehra—a day of ceremonious celebration of the victory of lord rama (good) over ravana (evil)—dayachand, his father, and three of his father’s friends had to collect a dead cow from a brahmin’s house. while returning home, at dulina police station, they were blackmailed by the stationhouse officer, sehrawat, for his commission. it has become an unwritten practice to give a certain amount of money to the police if the chamars carry any carcass. on each carcass, sehrawat usually demands a previously agreed-upon sum. however, on that day, he claimed nearly triple of the amount he used to take earlier, which means that the chamars would have been losing money to skin that cow. sehrawat was adamant and did not pay any heed to their pleading. meanwhile, the dead cow that was collected from the brahmin’s house started to decompose in the tempo. confining the chamars, sehrawat, in fact, tried to “take advantage of the political climate” (tmuh 88) which in the name of cow protection was openly dehumanizing the dalits and the muslims. when the poor chamars expressed their inability to pay such a big amount, the police imprisoned them on the charge of cow slaughter. and kept them locked up in police custody without trial. it got apparent that sehrawat, from his position, was abusing his power to exploit the poor chamars. with the passage of time, as the stink of the decomposed cow became unbearable, there spread a rumor that some cow killers were kept arrested in the police station. eventually, the angry mob started gathering outside the police station. the dead cow in the tempo, “stinking up the whole area, was proof enough for them” (tmuh 88). moreover, the arrest amplified the severity of the incident. unfortunately, the truth never reached the agitated mob that the chamars had been taking a dead cow for skinning and been arrested for being unable to pay the desired commission to the station officer in charge. gradually as the mob started shouting “jai shri ram! and vande mataram! more and more joined in and it turned into a frenzy” (tmuh 88). in the heat of the moment, a group of “gau-rakshak” (cow protector) went inside the police station and handed the alleged cow-killers over the violent mob. at first, “[t]hey began to beat them…with their fists, and with shoes. but then someone brought a crowbar, someone else a carjack” (tmuh 88) and began to break their bones. in a frenzy, the mob, being “invigorated by ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 22 the hindu ideology of ‘gau rakhsha’, butchered the men” (mandal 2018: 126). it is heart-rending that everybody watched the killing, but nobody came forward to prevent it. as the mob finished its business, they “splashed through puddles of [dayachand’s] father’s blood as if it were rainwater...[with blood] the road looked like a street in the old city on the day of bakr-eid” (tmuh 89). this case is not reported as murder because no dead body is found there. whatever remains after the lynching no longer resembles a human body. through this story of lynching, roy has accentuated that despite the constitutional protection caste oppression is an ever-present phenomenon in india. the lynching of dayachand’s father and his fellow mates has brought to light not only the existential crisis of the low caste chamars, but also the reality that in india these minority groups will survive only by living a “bare life” as long they are not killed in the name of restoring the sanctity of “holy cow”. in tmuh, roy raises strong allegation against india’s politicians. roy criticizes them pointing out that in postcolonial india, the corrupted politicians manipulating the greater prospects of globalization—greater employment opportunity, eradication of hunger and poverty, and infrastructural development—have mercilessly exploited and dispossessed the poor, the marginalized, and the adivasi people from their lands. in many of her essays, debunking the shining image of india roy has exposed the real plights, sufferings, and challenges of indian mass people. challenging the justification of implementing the policies of globalization for indian polity, roy in “shall we leave it to the experts” asks, what is globalization? who is it for? what is it going to do to a country like india, in which social inequality has been institutionalized in the caste system for centuries? a country in which 700 million people live in rural areas. in which 80 percent of the landholdings are small farms. in which 300 million people are illiterate. is the corporatization and globalization of agriculture, water supply, electricity and essential commodities going to pull india out of the stagnant morass of poverty, illiteracy and religious bigotry?... is globalization going to close the gap between the privileged and the underprivileged, between the upper castes and the lower castes, between the educated and the illiterate? (roy 2002: 1) the questions have remained unanswered both from the sides of the politicians and the government. in practice, the arbitrary implementation of government projects like narmada project, operation green hunt and many more projects like such has continued to uproot people from their land and habitat. some have accepted this expulsion as their fate, some have resisted. some have adopted the path of armed struggle to get their land back. in fact, the lack of land reformation activities and unjust allocation of land have made many adivasi and tribals of madhya pradesh, chhattisgarh, telangana launch armed militancy against the government forces in protest. roy in tmuh depicts revathy as a victim of such a ruthless project of government—“operation green hunt”. this project’s enforcement had forcefully evicted countless adivasis and tribal people from their living place and arable lands. however, “[p]eople in mass democracies are usually slow to recognize the nature of the undeclared wars conducted by their representatives” (mishra 2001: 3). in tmuh roy has depicted those adivasi people who took arms to resist the government-sponsored aggression of the thousand of police and paramilitary who mercilessly killed unnumbered adivasis and burned their villages to hand over this vast land to the petrochemical companies for mining. revathy exclaims that during the time of the aggression of the government forces ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 23 the situation in the forest becomes very dangerous. at times police, cobras, greyhounds, andhra police launch massive attacks and kill the party workers mercilessly. therefore, for safety, these adivasis are forced to live in the forest. it is ironic that the victims who are fighting for reclaiming their land for living and farming are labeled as militants and treated as homo sacer whom the security forces have the right to kill with impunity. in roy’s remark, “[t]here is no terrorism like state terrorism” (roy ‘democracy’ 2002: 1) from the story of revathy, roy sheds light not only on the plights, sufferings and the causes of the armed struggle of the marginalized people of dandakaranya but also on the ruthlessness of the government agencies which are acting violently against the adivasis. being a victim of “operation green hunt” and losing her habitat revathy joins plga—the people’s liberation guerrilla army—to protect her people and to get their land back through armed struggle. she is the only literate woman among her fellow comrades. hence, she is trusted with some confidential works by the party. to pursue those works, she has to go out of the forest very often. as roy depicts, it is always risky for the party workers to stay out alone because usually the police keep many villagers and informers deployed to work against them. one day, while revathy was returning to the camp from the city, she was abducted by the police. as usual, her arrest is not recorded. she is given chloroform and is taken to a desolate place. when she had regained consciousness, she found herself lying naked on a table and there were six police officers around her. she was brutally tortured by those police officers. revathy delineates that horrendous experience stating that, one [started] cutting my skin with a knife-blade...if i closed my eyes they slap me. two are holding my hands and two are holding legs...they are smoking and putting their cigarettes on me. i thought they would kill me like padmakka and laxmi but they said ‘don’t worry blackie we will let you go. you must go and tell them what we did to you. you are a great heroine. you supply them with bullets, malaria medicines, food, toothbrushes. all that we know. how many innocent girls have you sent to join your party? you are spoiling everyone’… they kept on burning me and cutting me. then one man forced open my mouth and one man put his penis in my mouth. i could not breathe. i thought i would die. they kept putting water on my face. then all raped me many times...i was bleeding everywhere. (tmuh 422-423) roy gives a disturbing graphic description of the torture and sexual violence perpetrated on revathy to make the reader ponder on the horrific fact that this “is the experience of so many women in the forest” (tmuh 423). revathy emphasizes “maximum hatred police had for women workers” (tmuh 423). she delineates the horrific killing of her fellow comrades stating that, comrade nirmalakka when she was killed they ripped her stomach and took out everything. comrade laxmi also they not simply killed, but cut, and removed eyes. for her there was big protest. one another comrade padmakka they captured and broken both her knees so she could not walk and beat her so she has kidney damage, liver damage, so much damage. (tmuh 421) fortunately, revathy could escape from the police’s den, but she could not evade the consequence of the rape. revathy is not prevented from escaping to convey the message to her fellow comrades that a similar fate is in store for them. as a consequence of that gang-rape, revathy becomes pregnant with the baby of one of the six police officers. the role of the state and police is depicted in a horrendous manner in this novel. roy through her narrative accentuates that under the juridico-discursive power the police ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 24 force instead of being a shield of the afflicted have turned into perpetrators. in the mission of creating terror among the revolutionaries, the police are involved in heinous unlawful activities. the arbitrary use of state power, by the law enforcement agencies, usually gets legitimation only in a “state of exception”. tmuh exhibits that with the shelter of the state, extreme violence is perpetrated on the people who are engaged in armed struggle to reassert their right to the land of their ancestors. the causes that made the adivasis and tribal people take arms to fight for their rights are neither taken into consideration by the media nor acknowledged by the state. rather, they are allegedly termed as maoists, anti-nationals above all—a threat to india’s internal security. focusing on such incidents of state sponsored violence, roy asserts that by the state, the underprivileged and the minority sections of people are exposed to a ‘bare life’— where they are rarely given any constitutional protection. in “trickledown revolution” roy remarks: if you pay attention to many of the struggles taking place in india, people are demanding no more than their constitutional rights. but the government of india no longer feels it needs to abide by the indian constitution, which is supposed to be the legal and moral framework on which our democracy rests. as constitutions go, it is an enlightened document, but its enlightenment is not used to protect people. (roy 2010: 1) both in the god of small things and the ministry of utmost happiness, roy has explicitly expressed the consequences of the assertion of oppressive power in familial, societal and political spheres. situating the characters in the quagmire of class, caste, societal, political and state-sponsored oppression, roy renders the message that in postcolonial india in any sphere the ruthless use of biopolitical power results in the death of mass people. in tgst, the upholding of caste supremacy, baby kochamma’s hypocrisy and pillai’s political ambition have victimized four lives. veutha is killed in police carnage, ammu dies of fighting against the odds and the twins—rahel and estha—being traumatized by the violence perpetrated on velutha turn into an emblem of living dead. in tmuh anjum’s premonition that gujarat might come to delhi any day, haunts the readers with the fear of confronting another gruesome riot until the end of the novel. roy’s horrific description of the burning and killing of the minority muslims and lynching of dayachand’s father and his fellows—the lower caste chamars—make us rethink of the matrix of power politics, in which no space is left for the minority people to exist. in roy’s depiction, it gets apparent that under the practice of juridico-discursive power, in present-day india, riots and lynching have become the license for extra judicial killing. both are violent ways of enforcing power of the majority over the minority groups. like the brutal colonial domination, these violent forms of killings, creating fear and terror, reassert the supremacy of the majority and powerful groups and make the lives of the minority more vulnerable. in her novels, roy depicts that while police as an agent of repressive state apparatus take part in extrajudicial killings, the communal rioters—in the same manner—execute the persecution of the minority groups and lower caste people under the law of impunity and state protection. stretching the narrative from imposition of emergency—by indira government—to the crisis of kasmir, roy in her novels attempts to bring the myriad oppressed groups to visibility to emphasize that under the enforcement of hegemonic power and ruthless use of biopolitical nomos, people of the minority groups will live merely a “bare life” until the practice of caste supremacy, ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 25 communal hatred, religious bigotry, lynching and state-sponsored violence are “voluntarily abandoned as bad ideas” (roy ‘democracy’ 2002: 1). references acocella, joan. 2017, june 5 & 12. arundhati roy returns to fiction, in fury. the new yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/06/05/arundhati-roy-returns-tofiction-in-fury. agamben, g. 1998. homo sacer: sovereign power and bare life. usa: stanford university press. bose, b. 2017, july–september. a fearless antinovel. review biblio. das, s. 2001. the nehru years in indian politics: from a historical hindsight. edinburgh papers south asian studies 16:1, 2-35. foucault, m. 1979. discipline and punish: the birth of the prison. new york: vintage books. foucault, m. 2003. society must be defended: lectures at the college de france 197576. london: picador. ghosh, j. 2016. indira gandhi’s call of emergency and press censorship in india: the ethical parameters revisited. global media journal– indian edition 7:2, 1-15. ghoshal, s. 2017, june 6. the ministry of utmost happiness by arundhati roy: a far cry from the writer’s brilliant first—the god of small things. huffington post india. https://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/06/01/book-review-the-ministry-ofutmosthappiness by-arundhati-roy_a_22121017/ lemke, t. 2005. a zone of indistinction–a critique of giorgio agamben’s concept of biopolitics. outlines: critical social studies 7:1, 3-13. manoj, s. 2017. historicizing fiction: critiquing contemporary india in arundhati roy’s the ministry of utmost happiness. journal of literature & aesthetics 17:1, 111-120. mandal, s. 2018. a postcolonial overview of arundhati roy’s the ministry of utmost happiness. postcolonial english literature: theory and practice. india: authorpress. michael, h. & antonio, n. 2000. empire. united states: harvard university. minca, c. 2006. giorgio agamben and the new biopolitical nomos. geografiska annaler: series b, human geography 88:4: 387-403, doi: 10.1111/j.04353684.2006.00229.x. mishra, p. 2001, feb. 11. there’ll always be an england in india. the new york times company. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/11/books/there-ll-always-be-anengland-in-india.html. nazari, f. & hossein, p. 2013. revisiting colonial legacy in arundhati roy’s the god of small things. journal of educational and social research 3:1, 199-210, doi: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n1p199. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 26 parfitt, t. 2009. are the third world poor homines sacri? biopolitics, sovereignty, and development. alternatives: global, local, political 34:1, 41–58. passos, v. 2003. micro-universes and situated critical theory: postcolonial and feminist dialogues in a comparative study of indo-english and lusophone women writers. diss. utrecht. rabinow, p. & nikolas, r. 2006. biopower today. biosocieties 1:2, 195-217. ram, k. 2017. entropic fiction and its narrative strategy: a perspective on the ministry of utmost happiness. journal of literature & aesthetics, 17:1, 91-99. roy, a. 1997. the god of small things. india: indiaink. roy, a. 2002, january 31. shall we leave it to the experts. the nation, https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/shall-we-leave-it-experts/ roy, a. 2002, april 28. democracy: who is she when she’s at home? outlook (india), http://www.sacw.net/gujarat2002/arundhatiroyaug2002.html roy, a. 2010, september 11. trickledown revolution, dawn, https://www.dawn.com/news/562271/the-trickledown-revolution-2 roy, a. 2017. the ministry of utmost happiness. india: penguin random house. sahadevan, p. 2013. managing internal conflicts in india, nepal, sri lanka and myanmar: strategies and outcomes. policy choices in internal conflicts: governing systems and outcomes. new delhi. sumrain, m. & shadi n. 2016. postcolonial places as reconstructs of colonial culture: a reading of arundhati roy’s the god of small things. international review of social sciences and humanities 12:1, 58-70. *** dr. khandakar ashraful islam is an assistant professor of english at noakhali science and technology university, bangladesh. he has obtained his phd degree from osmania university, hyderabad, india in 2021. his major areas of academic interest comprise postcolonial and cultural studies with a focus on narratives of resistance. microsoft word crossroads 35.doc ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 17 shirin akter popy1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.35.4.02 noakhali science and technology university, bangladesh https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2095-1113 a politics of métissage: maxine hong kingston’s the woman warrior: memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts abstract. in her autobiographical voices: race, gender, self-portraiture (1989), françoise lionnet identifies the life writing of women of color as the reflection of their heterogeneous differences and theorizes female autobiographical narratives as métissage. métissage, nearly untranslatable, meaning “braiding,” views autobiography as an engagement of the author with history, myth, and cultures, and defines it as a braid of multiple voices and disparate forms. in the woman warrior: memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts (1976), maxine hong kingston combines numerous voices into the (auto)biographical “i” as well as various forms in the narrative to express her identity as comprising manifold, different elements. in her life writing, she neither follows the unique self-representation propagated by male writers nor validates the inner personal tradition of women. instead, breaking the fixities of thought and expression, she juxtaposes the historical with the mythical, the biographical with the autobiographical to form a language of resistance and solidarity. the present paper argues that by articulating her identity as a braid of differences, constructing self as a braid of multiple voices, and making her narrative a braid of multiple genres and traditions kingston enacts her life writing as a politics of métissage. keywords: differences, relational self, politics of métissage, maxine hong kingston, blending traditions the woman warrior: memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts (1976) is a collection of stories about growing up in an immigrant family in stockton, california, in which maxine hong kingston represents an adolescent narrator’s difficult experience that is caused by the fact of being “other,” and also conveys her own understanding of what “self” is. in the narrative, kingston constantly struggles to construct subjectivities at the intersections of racial, gender, and class identities. in the process of positing herself as a chinese american voice, she creates the “self” as a braid of multiple voices and her writing as a braid of myriad traditions. by doing so, she breaks away from the traditional concept of a “unique” and “separate” self, as well as from the western monologic concept of autobiography as a genre. focusing on kingston’s reclamation of oral culture, her articulation of differences, her construction of a dialogical self, her denial of 1 address for correspondence: noakhali science and technology university, noakhali-3814, bangladesh. e-mail: shirin@nstu.edu.bd ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 18 hierarchical dichotomy, and her blending of traditions, the present paper argues that kingston’s the woman warrior is informed by a politics of métissage or braiding. since its publication, the woman warrior has attracted a lot of critical attention. in many instances, the scholarship focuses on kinston’s exploitation of chinese myths. while the critics like frank chin, jeffrey chan accuse kingston of distorting chinese myths and stereotyping asian american reality, david li, for example, looks at it as a means of clashing dominant and minority cultures. regarding kingston’s use of chinese myths and legends, sheryl mylan notes that kingston “unwittingly constructs an orientalist framework in her book to differentiate herself from her mother and chinese culture (shu 2001: 200); quite to the contrary, stella bolaki argues that kingston claims “a place in a maternal descent line and in chinese folklores and legends” (bolaki 2009: 39). many critics highlight kingston’s boldness in creating feminist fiction. however, reading the woman warrior as an autobiography, bonnie melchior, and bobby fong tend to follow a generalized feminist perspective. in all these instances, kingston’s vision is essentialized in one way or another. the present study argues that kingston mixes chinese myths with american realities as an autobiographical strategy to articulate her multiple subject positions and heterogeneous strategies in the construction of a dialogical self. applying françoise lionnet’s theory of métissage, it argues that the construction of self is influenced by gender and other differences, and for such a construction, kingston uses a dialogic language that is not discriminatory against chinese or america. thus, the present paper reads the woman warrior as a literary manifestation of a politics of braiding differences, voices, and forms, by means of which kingston resists power structures and creates a bond of solidarity between oppositional hierarchies. in autobiographical voices: race, gender, self-portraiture (1989), accentuating the influence of cultural specificities of ethnicity, class, time, and location, françoise lionnet, a mauritian critic, sees autobiography as “the politics and aesthetics of métissage” (1), which braids “voices and textures” (95). while in french, portuguese, or spanish the word métis is used “to define racial categories” (12), lionnet is interested in its latin and greek homonyms. in latin, métis means “mixed” that “refers to cloth made of two different fibers” (14). in greek, “mëtis is the allegorical ‘figure of a function or a power,’ a cunning intelligence like that of odysseus, which opposes transparency and the metaphysics of identity” (14). lionnet uses métissage as “braiding” of different voices and forms as a strategy of breaking the unitary concept of identity and expression. therefore, métissage not only indicates the construction of an autobiographical “i” but also refers to the representational strategy. lionnet explains her formulation of métissage in the following way: [l]et me simply state that for me métissage is a praxis and cannot be subsumed under a fully elaborated theoretical system. métissage is a form of bricolage, in the sense used by claude lévi-strauss, but as an aesthetic concept it encompasses far more: it brings together biology and history, anthropology and philosophy, linguistics and literature. above all, it is a reading practice that allows me to bring out the interreferential nature of particular texts, which i believe to be of fundamental importance for the understanding of many postcolonial cultures. if […] identity is a strategy, then métissage is the fertile ground for our heterogeneous and heteronomous identities as postcolonial subjects. (8) ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 19 for lionnet, the long western tradition “conceives of writing as a system that rigidifies, stultifies and kills” its own meanings by denying fluidity of unwritten means of communication and by imprisoning thought in “the cadaverous rigidity of the written sign” (3). she believes that such fixity fails to articulate the voices of marginalized people. to give voice to the people who are pushed aside because of their differences— be it of gender, racial, national, or other differences—discourse should include the “constantly changing context of oral communication” (3) since in oral tradition interlocutors enjoy the freedom to influence each other. according to such a hypothesis, métissage is a language of novel vision. as lionnet asserts, we have to articulate new visions of ourselves, new concepts that allow [us] to think otherwise, to bypass the ancient symmetries and dichotomies that have governed the ground and the very condition of possibility of thought, of ‘clarity,’ in all of western philosophy. métissage is such a concept and a practice: it is the site of undecidability and indeterminacy. (6) that is why métissage as a concept not only disregards the metaphysical notion of self but also dismisses the possibility of a single and unique way of expressing it. as a concept of solidarity, métissage “demystifies all essentialist glorifications of unitary origin” (9). therefore, the interreferential nature of postmodern life writing can be read through the lens of métissage. in life writing and literary métissage as an ethos for our times (2009), erika hasebe-ludt, cynthia chambers, et al. take métissage as “a counternarrative to the grand narratives of our times, a site for writing and surviving in the interval between different cultures and languages […] a way of merging and blurring genres, texts, and identities; an active literary stance, political strategy, and pedagogical praxis” (9). according to lionnet and other theorists of the notion of life writing, métissage can be viewed as a research practice which braids binaries such as “colonized with colonizer, local with global, east with west, north with south, particular with universal, feminine with masculine, […] and theory with practice,” language with literacy and, last but not least, familiar with strange (hasebe-ludt et al. 2009: 9). in reading autobiography (2001), sidonie smith and julia watson divide autobiography criticism as the perspective appearing in three waves, where the latest phase is influenced by the avant-garde experiments, as well as postmodern and postcolonial theories. being inspired by derridean deconstruction, barthesian semiotics, and foucauldian analysis of the discursive regimes of power, the third wave of autobiography criticism challenges and dismantles “metaphysical conceptions of selfpresence, authority, authenticity, and truth” (132). moreover, it replaces individuality with relationality, and unity with fragmentation and referentiality. at such a point, the definition and generic stability of autobiography collapse into a bricolage. under such a construction, métissage as a theory draws on the postmodern strategies which deconstruct the boundaries of unitary origin in the postmodern autobiographical narratives. lionnet’s concept is identified as “at once a kind of culmination of feminist positions on theorizing autobiography and a beginning gesture toward theorizing multiple, non-symmetrical differences that are inflected by both the texts under study and the critic’s own cultural location” (watson 1993: 73). since lionnet identifies métissage as the braiding of different cultural forms that revalorize oral traditions and reevaluate western concepts of identity, the application of ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 20 this notion as an analytical tool to read the woman warrior draws attention to the book’s mixture of oral with the literary. kingston introduces a “talk-story” to ethnic american literature. it is basically a chinese folk-art dating back to the song dynasty, and e.d. huntley defines it as “community discourse, an inherited oral narrative tradition that incorporates family tales and genealogy, history, familiar adages, folklore, myth, heroic stories, even didactic and cautionary pronouncements that have been handed down—and embellished by successive generations within an extended clan” (66). in the woman warrior, the storytelling seems to be controlled by kingston’s mother, but in her second collection of short stories, china men (1980), she implies that her mother’s storytelling has in fact been inspired by her paternal grandfather, ah goong. the narrator claims, “mama was the only person to listen to him, and so he followed her everywhere and talked and talked. what he liked telling was his journeys to the gold mountain” (127). therefore, storytelling is neither a masculine nor a feminine practice; instead, it is a chinese tradition in which both men and women participate on equal terms. the stories are passed from one generation to another, one gender to another, creating a long gallery of mirrors, in which one individual is reflected in another. as kingston says, “looking through me looking through my mom looking at my grandfather” is a constant possibility (qtd in thompson 1983: 4). in the process of telling stories, the women prefer fairy tales, and the men share their “gold mountain” experiences.2 in the woman warrior kingston relates the former. accentuating the fact that the stories are interlocked in gendered, cultural, and ethnic/racial features, kingston in fact tells her own story of becoming a chinese american writer. by introducing such a narrative mode, she valorizes oral tradition and challenges the leanness of the western form of autobiography, as well as its concept of universality. according to julia watson, the concept of métissage assumes that “women’s differences cannot be essentialized as gynocriticism, but are inflected by cultural specificities of ethnicity, class, time and location” (watson 1993: 75). in this purview, métissage resonates with neuman’s concept of the “poetics of differences” (223) that locates the autobiographical subjectivity at “particular and changing intersections of race, nationality, religion, education, profession, class, language, gender, sexuality, a specific historical moment, and a host of material conditions,” and “such poetics would conceive the self not as the product of its different identity from others but as constituted by multiple differences within and from itself” (223-24). in kingston’s the woman warrior, the interplay of differences has been attempted by the use of the metaphors of silence. the text exhibits the narrator’s battle of overcoming several types of silence—imposed silence of her mother regarding her aunt’s story, self-imposed silence for hiding her inability to acculturate with the american language and society, and her father’s silence that kept her aloof from her ancestral history. the first story from the book starts with the imposed silence that her mother enforces as a parental warning saying, “you must not tell anyone” (3). mother imposes silence on kingston by telling her the story of the nameless aunt who killed herself jumping into the family well in china. “no name woman,” as kingston calls her, gets pregnant in the absence of her husband, who has gone to the gold mountain with other 2 “gold mountain” is a calque nickname referring to a settlement with a surge of chinese population caused by the california gold rush. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 21 male members of the family in search of fortune. since the child is illegitimate, the villagers violently react to the conception. breaking into the doors, ripping off her clothes and shoes, tearing rice sacks, slaughtering livestock, they raid the aunt’s home on the night when she is about to give birth to the child. saving herself from this rampage that night, she gives a “silent birth” (13) in a pigsty and drowns herself and the baby in the family well. the family denies her existence, saying that kingston’s “father has all brothers because it is as if [the aunt] had never been born” (3). since adultery is an outrage and shame, the family reacts to it by wiping out the woman from their memory. anh hua observes that the story is “a testimony to the power of patriarchal erasure in history—the denial of women’s sexuality and [sometimes their] existence” (79). this testimony of male power is used as a morality tale on gender roles in chinese society. therefore, kingston’s mother uses it as a warning against any sexual promiscuity, saying, “now that you have started to menstruate, what happened to her could happen to you. don’t humiliate us. you wouldn’t like to be forgotten as if you had never been born” (5). thus, the adolescent narrator is condemned to fall into gendered silence. as a child of immigrant parents, the narrator’s silence is linguistic, too. in the american kindergarten, the obligation to speak only english imposes such stress on the narrator that the inability to meet the requirement makes her completely silent during her school years. in other words, the silence is a camouflage to hide her failure. when she understands that she needs to talk to pass an exam, she becomes more helpless. the act of speaking, says the narrator, “makes my throat bleed and takes up that day’s courage” (195). soon she realizes that her silence is the effect of her myriad experiences of racial, national, and gendered otherness. as she asserts: “[t]he other chinese girls did not talk either, so i knew the silence had to do with being a chinese girl” (197). chinese girls’ silence stemming from their linguistic differences is not different from kingston’s father’s silence in china men. the narrator notes that for baba (which is her father’s proper name), language incompetence is a barrier to his success. he is hoaxed twice by gypsies, and then they accuse him of tearing new clothes. before baba can defend himself that the clothes were already rags, the gypsies call a policeman and concoct “a big story in english” (13) against him. the narrator says, “you couldn’t speak english well enough to counteract it. fell for it twice. you fell for it twice” (13). the racial and linguistic differences merge with one another since baba not only falls prey to the gypsies’ trick because of his language incompetence, but he has to hide his resistance out of the fear of deportation. kingston demonstrates that racial otherness, gender difference, and linguistic inability intersect with one another. the victimization of moon orchid— kingston’s maternal aunt— as a gendered, racial, and linguistic “other” by her husband, is a good case in point. through moon orchid’s story, kingston brings to light how, being branded by multiple forms of otherness, the aunt marks out the “play of differences” to which kingston is ultimately exposed. moon has been alone in china for thirty years since her husband left her searching for a fortune in america. although he sends money to support moon and their daughter, he betrays moon with a chinese american wife. when confronting her husband, moon cannot claim anything, “all she did was open and shut her mouth without any words coming out” (180). the “rude american eyes” (181) make the woman feel “stiff and frozen” (179). it is not only the husband who denies her rightful claims, but also the americanized husband, a successful brain surgeon, a self-made ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 22 franklinian-american man, who disregards her as a chinese “other.” here the husband’s patriarchal authority is doubly empowered with his internalized american racism, which victimizes moon for her gender and racial identity. becoming an american, the man identifies himself with supremacy and power, as a result of which the chinese wife is treated as an exotic other, as “people in a book [he] had read a long time ago” (182). thus, underscoring the points of intersectional differences, kingston exemplifies métissage as a mutable term for “the racial and linguistic complexity of diasporic […] peoples one that resonates with the linguistic, cultural, and ethnic superimposition of multiple identities” (zuss 1999: 87). depicting the aunts’ silence as well as her silence of early school years, kingston, in the woman warrior, implies that women’s differences, which are braided with the ethnic, racial, and linguistic specificities cannot be essentialized in a monolithic notion of gynocriticism. like identity, the female model of self is a métissage or braiding of multiple voices. it is in this context that lionnet critiques st. augustine’s classic concept of subjectivity or self-consciousness exposed in his confessions. she states that “augustine’s search for plenitude and coherence leads him to emphasize wholeness and completeness, whereas for the women writers, it will become clear that the human individual is a fundamentally relational subject whose ‘autonomy’ can only be a myth” (27). “[f]rom autobiographical writings” of women we can learn “a new way of listening for the relational voice of the self” (248). as she further asserts that [i]f the self must become other, must lose itself in the other’s essence, all possibilities of transformation into a third term—as happens in the métissage … — are blocked. what we have instead is assimilation, incorporation, and identification with a mirror image. (67) reflecting on the validity of lionnet’s claim, we need to remark that in the woman warrior kingston challenges the egoist american “i” that, basically, tells men’s individual stories. instead of defining herself “through individuation and separation from others” (schweickart 1986: 54), kingston has created a flexible ego boundary that defines herself in affiliation with other women. in “white tigers,” for example, she tells the story of fa mu lan—a mythical and legendary woman in chinese culture—whose back is carved with the words of vengeance. fa mu lan “took her father’s place in battle” (24). in men’s attire and haircut, she fights against the oppressive baron and returns victorious. the narrator identifies herself with fa mu lan—the woman warrior— as she says “the swordswoman and i are not so dissimilar […]. what we have in common are the words at our backs” (64). while fa mu lan carried words in her body, the narrator carries them in her first-person narrative. in “shaman,” kingston recalls her mother, brave orchid, a storyteller. she learns how, working as a doctor and exorcist, brave orchid served her people in china. by driving “the sitting ghost” out with the oil and alcohol, brave orchid relieved not only her roommates but also the entire medical school from the grip of ghost. freeing babies and grown-ups from the torments of the apparition, brave orchid saves her people the way fa mu lan has saved her village from the apparition of barons. thus, she becomes a real-life warrior woman. the immigration to america robs off brave orchid’s potential and confines her to the enclaves of chinatown. she is reduced to menial labor like her male counterparts. to earn extra income, she does her best to look young by dyeing her hair so that the “farmers would hire her” (123) and she can send money to her people ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 23 back in china. in fact, kingston’s growing up is intensely affected by her mother’s stories of both victimized and victorious women. mother creates “alternative text[s] of female vulnerability and victimization” (smith 1987: 162). in many tales, she depicts victimized chinese women in such a way that they make kingston feel “lonely and afraid” of her own limitations. the young narrator denies the stories, claiming that they show no logic and “scramble [her] up” (240). however, the “autobiographical” kingston reconciles with the mother by internalizing the mother’s power of telling stories. for the narrator, having a voice is synonymous with finding the ability to produce narratives. after many years of her early silence, when at last she gains the ability to resist verbally, she says, “i saw that i too had been in the presence of great power, my mother talking-story” (24). in her adult years, she finds herself diffused with her mother as she says, “i am really a dragon, as she is a dragon […] working always and […] dreaming the dreams about shrinking babies and the sky covered with airplanes and a chinatown bigger than the ones here” (129-130). in chinese culture, a dragon is a symbol of power and authority. by telling the stories of her people in her writing, kingston exercises power by serving her people the way brave orchid and fa mu lan did. the story entitled “eighteen stanzas for a barbarian reed pipe” introduces ts’ai yen, a woman whose words reflect the racial and gendered milieu of her childhood and teenage years. kingston adds the multivocality of “self,” reflecting both the mother and kingston herself. ts’ai is captured by the chieftain of the barbarians when she is twenty years old. making her sit behind, the barbarian chieftain “rode like the haunted from one oasis to the next” (247). ts’ai yen “fought desultorily” (247). like other captive soldiers she, “cut down anyone in her path during the madness of combat” (247). during her twelve-year stay with the barbarians, “she had two children. her children did not speak chinese. she spoke it to them when their father was out of the tent, but they imitated her with senseless singsong words and laughed” (247). then, out of ts’ai yen’s tent the barbarians heard a woman’s voice singing […] about china and her family there. her words seemed to be chinese, but the barbarians understood their sadness and anger. sometimes they thought they could catch barbarian phrases about forever wandering. her children did not laugh, but eventually sang along. (248) ts’ai yen is ingeniously projected in the last tale to serve kingston’s autobiographical purpose. after so many other stories and other characters, kingston’s endeavor to reconstruct her subjectivity achieves a meaningful mastery in the character of ts’ai yen—one, who speaks transculturally. when the poet is brought back to her people, she “brought her songs back from the savage lands, and one of the three that has been passed down to us is ‘eighteen stanzas for a barbarian reed pipe,’ a song that the chinese sing to their own instruments. it translated well” (248-49). while the poet is mythically and historically celebrated as a sign of chinese ethnocentric and patriarchal supremacy, kingston “dramatizes interethnic harmony through the integration of disparate art forms” (cheung 1988: 172). instead of her return, her return with the words—that can join “disparate art forms”—is significant to kingston. unlike ts’ai yen, kingston does not go back to china, but like ts’ai yen, kingston creates a song that connects china with america. she believes that the material of her ancestral culture has been translated well into her present language. instead of struggling against each culture’s degenerative forces, kingston celebrates the “poet who ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 24 sings to foreign music” (cheung 1988: 172). throughout the book, kingston pieces “together cultural myths and personal experiences to develop her sense of self” (patel 2019:1). it is an intersubjective self, which is dialogically related to many other women of her family, history, and myth. this dialogic engagement with her ancestry enables the author to materialize a complex, multi-layered “dynamic self-fashioning” (lionnet 1989: 68) which is “not only constructed by differences but also capable of choosing, inscribing and making a difference” (neuman 1992: 225). the characters in all five narratives seek expression through words—fa mu lan’s words of revenge, ts’ai yen’s words of anger and sadness, the mother’s words of her talk stories, and the aunt’s muffled words of denial, submerged in silence. kingston shows that instead of merging with the “other,” the self accommodates, assimilates, and identifies numerous other voices in itself. therefore, the self-consciousness she opts for is not isolated, fixed, and close-ended. rather her self-consciousness is relational, fluid, and open-ended. not only does it not break the concept of an isolated individual but also “asserts its rhythms everywhere in the community” (friedman 1998: 79). instead of asserting an autonomous individual, kingston constructs a group identity, the idea which resonates with hubert j. m. hermans’ concept of the dialogical self since it is “populated by the voices of other people, decentralized with highly open boundaries, and historically and culturally contextualized” (90). by constructing such a self, kingston posits that “subjectivity (and writing) is always already filled with the voices of others” (lionnet 1989: 68). by internalizing suppressed voices, kingston indirectly formulates bitter comments on sexism, communism, capitalism, and racism, implying that “[it is] the reporting [that] is the vengeance—not the beheading, not the gutting, but the words” (64). she retaliates against the misogynistic clichés such as “girls are maggots in the rice. it is more profitable to raise geese than daughters” (52), which in the 1970s were still prevalent in immigrant communities. her report attacks also the pervasive racism that would notoriously dehumanize the chinese people in america. she deplores america that makes her mother dye her hair to look young so that she can be hired in the field to pick up tomatoes. she vents her anger about the hardships of her family, the loss of their laundry business in the process of “urban renewal” (58) she denounces her disappointment with the american lifestyle, its racism, and the sexism she is subjected to. although she knows that the so-called normal “chinese women’s voices are strong and bossy” (204), the narrator she creates needs to resort to whispering if she wants to live up to american cultural standards. but even the muffled voice cannot save her a job. by reporting on all sorts of anomalies of the power structure, the woman warrior gives voice to the self that simultaneously constructs and reconstructs itself from multiple marginalities and differences. returning again to the key term of reference in the present analysis, we need to note that métissage is the language of solidarity which can be achieved through nonhierarchical modes of expression, and it is only by imagining nonhierarchical modes of relation among cultures that we can address the crucial issues of indeterminacy and solidarity. métissage is such a concept and a practice: it is the site of undecidability and indeterminacy, where solidarity becomes the fundamental principle of political action against hegemonic languages. (lionnet 1989: 5) ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 25 kingston pitches on such a notion of alliance in her life writing. instead of creating new modes of hierarchy, she gives equal importance to different senses of belonging and different cultures. moreover, she challenges the monocultural discourse of civility and savagery by comparing the modes of oppression her family faced both in communist china and racist america. against the violence of communist china, the narrator puts the slum violence of stockton, california, as she says, “the corpses i’ve seen had been rolled and dumped, sad little dirty bodies covered with a police khaki blanket” (62). the narrator’s adolescent adherence to american culture apparently exhibits her preference for the american promises of empowerment and freedom. however, the authorial kingston asserts that while the chinese female “i” turns the women crooked and subservient, the english “i,” considering women as “the second sex,” as simone de beauvoir famously puts it, keeps no room for her. in this connection, l.d. li claims that the english “i” is divinely empowered, and “has an alien effect on the female bearers of the language” (504). hence, the narrator of the text is silenced both by the chinese and english tongue as a woman—one enslaving her, another keeping her just unacknowledged, respectively. portraying the mother and the mythical foremothers as symbols of powerful women, kingston demonstrates that if empowerment of women is possible in america, the possibility is not completely erased in china. thus, kingston denies the monocultural hierarchical dichotomy. leaving home, the autobiographical narrator wants to embrace american individualism, dreaming the dreams of a bigger chinatown. thus, she neither places america over china nor creates a new hierarchy of china over america; rather, she forms a bond of solidarity between her different senses of belonging. finally, the strategy of braiding can be observed in the textuality of the woman warrior. lionnet identifies female textuality as métissage “that is the weaving of different strands of raw material and threads of various colors into one piece of fabric” (213). weaving different genres into a piece of life writing kingston enacts métissage of such kind: the story of the nameless aunt reads like a cautionary message, and the account of fa mu lan resembles an adventurous revenge story; the narrative of her mother brings to mind a ghost tale, and the last section of the book combines the autobiographical with the historical and mythical. kingston’s story of fa mu lan matches neither the popular culture nor her mother’s version. sau-ling wong pinpoints three major traditions on the basis of which kingston conflates the story. fa mu lan’s yarn mixes some elements of chinese martial-arts novels and their contemporary equivalents in the kung fu cinema with the stories of peasant uprisings in classical novels and the well-known legend of general yüeh fei, a general in song dynasty whose back has been carved with the words of patriotism and loyalty by his parents. in “maxine hong kingston’s genre-defying life and work,” hua hsu remarks that “bookstores labeled it [the woman warrior] fiction, nonfiction, sociology, anthropology, biography, women’s literature, chinese literature, and asian literature” (1). indeed, it is a collage of genres, it defies rigid classifications, and it is “at once a novel, an autobiography, a series of essays and poems” (blinde 1979: 52). bobby fong considers such a blend of folk legends, folk tales, essays, poems “wholly appropriate to the genre of autobiography” (123). thus, the intertextuality and genre blend in the narrative, prefiguring bricolage, a female text, and a métissage of forms (lionnet 1989: 214). ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 26 to sum up, the complex experiential history of race, gender, generation, and ethnicity anchors the autobiographical subject in multiple locations, from which kingston “meanders along the streams of chinese mythology and american culture” (ludwig & alexoae-zagni 2014: 35) to formulate her individual and collective vision. from the ever-changing narrative of chinese “talk-story,” kingston creates autobiographical narrative, where the “self” constructs and reconstructs itself, simultaneously continuing with and discontinuing from the chinese and american tradition. believing, as lionnet does, that the western form of writing imprisons meanings in a set of signs which fail to articulate the voices of minorities, kingston has made a conscious mutation of chinese oral tradition with american writing form to liberate writing from a static condition. kingston’s life writing has woven different strands into a new fabric—a postmodern autobiographical narrative—where revitalizing chinese oral culture, rewriting history are instrumental in giving voice to the “silence” originating from differences. in other words, by embracing a politics of métissage, the narrative of the woman warrior constructs a dialogical self, privileges a non-hierarchical mode of expression, and fuses various genres together. references blinde, p. l. 1979. the icicle in the desert: perspective and form in the works of two chinese-american women writers. the ethnic perspective 6:3: 51-71. bolaki, s. 2009. it translated well: the promise and the perils of translation in maxine hong kingston’s the woman warrior. melus 34:4: 39-60. cheung, k. 1988. ‘don’t tell’: imposed silences in the color purple and the woman warrior. pmla 103:2: 162-174. fong, b. 1989. maxine hong kingston’s autobiographical strategy in the woman warrior. biography 12:2: 116-126. friedman, s. s. 1998. women’s autobiographical selves. in: s. smith & j. watson (eds.), women, autobiography theory: a reader, 72-82. madison: the university of wisconsin press. hasebe-ludt, e. et al. 2009. life writing and literary métissage as an ethos for our times. switzerland: peter lang publishing. hermans, h. j. m. 2003. the construction and reconstruction of a dialogical self. journal of constructivist psychology 16:2: 89–130. hsu, h. 2020. maxine hong kingston’s genre-defying life and work. the new yorker, june 8 & 15. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/08/maxine-hongkingstons-genre-defying-life-and-work (accessed 1 june 2020). hua, a. 2013. chinese diasporic women’s writing, gender and identities: rereading maxine hong kingston’s the woman warrior for mnemonic traces. asian women 29:3: 71-96. huntley, e. d. 2001. maxine hong kingston: a critical companion. united states: greenwood press. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 27 kingston, m. h. 1981. the woman warrior. london: picador. kingston, m. h. 1989. china men. new york: vintage international edition. li, l. d. 1988. the naming of a chinese american ‘i’: cross-cultural sign/ifications in the woman warrior. criticism 30:4: 497–515. lionnet, f. 1989. autobiographical voices: race, gender, self-portraiture. ithaca: cornell university press. ludwig, s. & alexoae-zagni, n. (eds). 2014. on the legacy of maxine hong kingston: the mulhouse book. berlin/münster: lit verlag. neuman, s. 1992. from different poetics to a poetics of differences. in: m. kadar (ed). essays on life writing: from genre to critical practice, 213-230. university of toronto press. patel. n. 2019. challenging the canon: how maxine hong kingston narrates nonfiction with ghosts and talk-story. paper shell review. https://english.umd.edu/researchinnovation/journals/paper-shell-review/paper-shell-review-spring-2019/challengingcanon (accessed 1 june 2021). shu, y. 2001. cultural politics and chinese-american female subjectivity: rethinking kingston’s woman warrior. melus 26: 2: 199-223. smith, s. 1987. a poetics of women’s autobiography: marginality and the fictions of self-representation. indiana: indiana university press. smith, s. & julia w. 2001. reading autobiography: a guide for interpreting life narratives. minneapolis: university minnesota press. thompson, p. h. 1983. this is the story i heard: a conversation with maxine hong kingston and earll kingston. biography 6:1: 1-12. watson, j. 1993. toward an anti-metaphysics of autobiography. in: r. folkenflik (ed.), the culture of autobiography: constructions of self-representation, 57-124. stanford, ca: stanford university press. zuss, m. 1999. subject present: life-writings and strategies of representation. new york: peter lang publishing inc. *** dr. shirin akter popy is an associate professor in the department of english, noakhali science and technology university, bangladesh. her research articles have appeared in reputed peer reviewed journals like crossings, harvest, commonwealth review, dialogue and overtones. her area of interest is autobiography studies. she is currently involved in a research project on selected south asian women’s autobiography. 68 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) barbara klonowska1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.36.1.05 catholic university of lublin, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8327-854x australia as an (in) hospitable home in peter carey’s a long way from home (2017) abstract. the concepts of “house” and “home” constitute two poles of experience which negotiate the space between economic and emotional safety. associated with material well-being and personal relationships, they may serve as litmus-paper tests to probe the economic and personal situation of people living on a given territory. the last to-date novel by the australian novelist peter carey, a long way from home (2017), takes up the issue of australia as a metaphorical home to diverse groups of people: the white descendants of british colonisers, post-wwii survivors and immigrants, and the indigenous aboriginal inhabitants of the continent. employing the plot of the all-around-the-country car race, the novel shows how the land, seemingly homely and open to everybody, may be read as a palimpsest of trauma and pain, and quite inhospitable to many of its inhabitants. referring to the concepts of the picaresque and chronotope, this article will argue that both the metaphoric and the literal meaning of the concepts of house and home are employed in the novel to disclose and discuss the internal and immigration policy of the australia of the 1950s. keywords: house and home, picaresque, chronotope, racial and ethnic policy, postcolonialism. peter carey’s australian fiction peter carey’s fiction, well-known and widely read for forty years now, may be roughly divided into two groups of novels. one of them includes historical re-visitations and revisions of the earlier literary canon, historical past or politics, and may be illustrated by such novels as oscar and lucinda (1988), true history of the kelly gang (2000), jack maggs (1997) or parrot and olivier in america (2010). the other group comprises non-historical novels, often – though not always – set in australia and presenting contemporary portraits – again, mostly, though not exclusively – of the australian white middle class, and includes such novels as bliss (1981), my life as a fake (2003), theft (2006) and the chemistry of tears (2012). apart from this rough thematic division, one may also notice 1 address for correspondence: department of english literature and culture, catholic university of lublin, al. racławickie 14, 20-950 lublin, poland. email: e-mail: barbara.klonowska@kul.pl 69 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) that while carey’s historical novels tend to exhibit an intensive degree of experimentation and innovation (often connected with postmodernist poetics), the non-historical ones steer towards relatively more traditional, sometimes satirical, social portraits of certain groups or ways of life, thus coming closer to contemporary comedies or novels of manners. yet, both carey’s historical experiments and contemporary portraits share the tendency to be set in and to represent australia with its culture, habits, myths and legends, which are probed and tested on their pages. one may also add that until the year 2017, it was chiefly southern australia and white australia, with such places as sydney or melbourne and the panorama of characters ranging from settlers, missionaries, outlaws or bushrangers to advertising agents, hippies or painters that constituted the interest of his fiction. seen against this background, peter carey’s latest novel, a long way from home (2017), may strike one as an interesting exception to the tendencies sketched above. with its action set in the year 1953, the novel is both contemporary and historical, representing the past which is – following walter scott’s famous precept – located just “sixty years since”, that is, both safely distant to be impersonally and objectively explored and yet vivid enough to stir emotions and evoke still fresh experience. thus, the chosen time setting is a much more vulnerable and sensitive area of representation than, for instance, the previous choice of the 18th or 19th century, as in the collective memory of the people to whom it belongs this past is not yet entirely past and it is much less liable to be manoeuvred into the interplay of literary conventions or intertextual games. it is both past and present, still retaining its connections with the here and now, but not yet distant enough to become just a (his)story. moreover, the spatial setting of the story, too, marks a departure from carey’s previous novels: this time the protagonists embark on a journey from southern australia to literally tour the whole continent, including its less urbanised, less populated and less “civilised” remote parts. activating the chronotope of the road, a long way from home expands its spatial dimension to present not just a section of australia but – if it is possible – the whole country with its various landscapes, climates, habitats, vegetation and people. it is also the first of carey’s novels to take up the issue of non-white australia, as it introduces characters who represent not just the white middle class but also immigrants and first nations; it is also the first of his works that refers to the history of the country’s racism. in his review of the novel, alex preston observes that it seems strange at first that carey – surely australia’s greatest living novelist, even if he hasn’t dwelled there for decades – has taken so long to get around to the subject. in a recent interview in the australian, he said that he’d always felt that it was not the place of a white writer to tell this tale. then something changed: “you can’t be a white australian writer and spend your whole life ignoring the greatest, most important aspect of our history, and that is that we – i – have been the beneficiaries of a genocide.” (preston 2018) 70 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) by showing the encounters of the southern whites with “the other” australia and australians and their complex history of atrocities and violence, the novel posits the question of what kind of home australia makes for other than its white anglo-saxon inhabitants and how (in)hospitable a place it is for its various other kinds of citizens. in the following analysis i will argue that a long way from home may be read as a critical portrayal of australia and its then policies towards its people, especially to non-whites. the article will discuss how the novel represents indifference, intolerance and discrimination developed first at the political level, comprising the status and legal situation of non-white characters; then at the social level, shown in common and state-induced prejudice; and finally at the level of imagery, which metaphorically employs landscape and architecture to visualise the observed divisions between the two australias. referring to the concepts of house and home, treated both in a most literal and metaphoric way, the analysis will focus on how the fictional portrayal of plots and characters, along with the setting and the buildings and places the novel describes, reflects and represents complex relations within the portrayed australian society. following marilyn r. chandler, the analysis is based on the premise that “the houses in novels […] reflect not only the psychological structure of the main character [but also] the social structure in which he or she is entrapped” (chandler 1991: 3), and that the fictional houses, treated as metaphors, “construct complex analogies between house […] and social environment” (chandler 1991: 3). thus, analysing plots, characters and settings, the following discussion aims to demonstrate that carey’s novel bitterly diagnoses the past of his country as unjust and shows australia as a comfortable home (and house) to some but not to all of its inhabitants. a long way (from) home the plot of the novel involves the journey of the three main protagonists around the australian continent. wishing to improve their fortunes, business prospects, financial situation and family relations, they decide to take part in the car race called the redex race: a car reliability trial which takes standard-produced vehicles across country roads and all-terrain trails to check and prove their durability and reliability. the route takes the contestants over twenty days from the small city of bachhus marsh on the outskirts of melbourne, through sydney, up north to brisbane and townsville, then west to the kimberley plain, darwin and broome, all the way south to perth and then through the nullarbor plain to adelaide and back to sydney. the race, then, is a genuine tour de australia, bringing together both its urbanised and relatively densely populated southern areas with the barren and desert parts of the remote north and west. the thus sketched plot resembles the classical plot of the picaresque in which the characters travel across the land to experience unusual adventures and then return changed to their homes, and which presents at the same time “the actual structure of society” (frye 2000: 310). 71 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) it may also be productively analysed through the lens of the bakhtinian chronotope of the road where the space of the road becomes an area of encounters and transformations. chronotope, as bakhtin defines it, is “the intrinsic connectedness of temporal and spatial relationships that are artistically expressed in literature” (bakhtin 1981: 84) and a convenient analytical tool to investigate not just temporal and spatial relationships within a given text but also its generic classification or themes. true to form, carey’s novel may be said to employ the chronotope of the road, involving as it does the journey of the protagonists and the adventures they experience. it is thus one of the adventure stories in which “[o]f special importance is the close link between the motif of meeting and the chronotope of the road (‘the open road’), and of various types of meetings on the road” (bakhtin 1981: 98). this chronotope, as bakhtin points out, involves not just adventures but primarily chance encounters as the road is the place where “the spatial and temporal paths of the most varied people – representatives of all social classes, estates, religions, nationalities, ages – intersect at one spatial and temporal point” (bakhtin 1981: 243). in keeping with this description, carey’s novel introduces numerous plot twists and revelations which result from life-changing encounters and coincidences. the journey the three protagonists make does indeed change their lives. for the characters of irene and titch bobs, debuting small-town car-sellers, it brings the end of their happy marriage based on mutual trust and understanding; at the end of the race they grow apart and lonely. for another character, willem bachhuber, their neighbour and navigator, the impact of the journey turns out even more cataclysmic: on the road, he is forced to gradually question and then completely redefine his identity, including his race, home and family. for all of them the journey brings the end of innocence and illusion: the knowledge they gain, both about the country, its past and present, and about themselves proves to be life-changing. unknowingly and unintentionally, the characters embark on a journey of self-recognition, moving into the heart of the continent and into their own hearts. these recognitions turn out not necessarily pleasant. as one of the two alternating narrators, irene bobs states, “it was said that australia was beautiful, but not by me” (part iii, chpt. 2, loc. 2320), and she goes on to observe later that “if this was our country’s heart, i never saw anything so stony, so empty, endless, devoid of life” (part iii, chpt. 3, loc. 2421). both hearts, then, that of the country and those of the protagonists, seem rather dark, as their true identities seem to be covered with lies and secrets, which come up only later in the story. this metaphorical darkness, together with the plot construction and the revelations experienced by the characters, may intertextually echo joseph conrad’s heart of darkness with its slow and painful discoveries of atrocities, horrors and evil hidden in the african jungle. similar to conrad’s story, carey’s long way from home gradually reveals to its protagonists both the horrendous past of the ordinary-looking spaces, palimpsestically complicating the seemingly innocent map of 72 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the continent, and the country’s present, similarly still marked by violence, discrimination and inequality. at the end of the journey, the protagonists split and return separately, disappointed, embittered yet more aware of the evil man is capable of. their discoveries concern the history, present-day politics and social life of their country, and make them reconsider the supposed hospitality and homeliness of the state to which they so far unquestionably belonged. white australia policy willie bachhuber observes on numerous occasions that the undeclared policy of postwwii australia was to prevent the aboriginal population from claiming their rights to the land and to discourage other than non-white and non-british people from coming to australia as immigrants. in effect, in the novel australia seems to be a hospitable home for whites only, with the exclusion of other races and ethnicities. as the character gradually discovers, this attitude has had a long tradition. preparing for his job as the navigator in the race, he reads about the territories which in the past were idyllic green pastures for sheep, only to discover that they had been taken away forcefully by white settlers from their native nomadic inhabitants, with all the violence usually connected with such evictions. bachhuber realises that the maps show former tribal lands – and that they are “maps of murder” (part i, chpt. 17, loc. 1399); that the particular stretches of the route now called “horror stretches” owe their name not only to the driving difficulties but perhaps first of all to the “dispersal of the natives” and the ethnic cleansing that took place there in the past (part i, chpt. 22, loc. 1801). the map of the land they enter upon leaving the civilised, urbanised south, which in the initial opinion of irene bobs was “the country that killed white men; the killer country” (part ii, chpt. 1, loc. 1975), turns out to be much more multi-layered and complicated, with the present state obliterating the past events which only residually come to the surface. one of such instances is provided by the characters’ chance discovery of old human bones, uncovered, unburied and untended, which turn out to be the remains of a longpast massacre of the native black inhabitants of australia. equally horrendous in the discovery of the past genocide is the present-day reaction of the local police to whom the characters report their finding and who indifferently refuse to take any interest in it. the horrors of the past concerning the “blackfellahs” do not seem interesting to the present-day all-white administration, nor do the latter consider it necessary to treat the human remains and the place with any special respect. the discriminatory policy towards the non-white native inhabitants is also visible in the practice of social care services taking away children of mixed race from their aboriginal parents and giving them for adoption to white families in order to offer them a better life. the so-called “stolen generation” is now a well-known and much discussed traumatic episode in the australian past (cf. short 2008: 87-105) – in the novel 73 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) it is dramatised as the fate of willie bachhuber, who is confronted with the fact that, previously unaware of it, he himself happens to be such a child, pale-skinned and fairhaired, who was adopted and raised by white parents out of compassion and good intentions. one of the discoveries he makes on the road is that of his original aboriginal family and the story of his own capture and their ensuing suffering and desperation. as lochy peterson, one of the aboriginal characters of the novel sadly observes, “we done plenty crying in this camp” (part v, chpt. 6, loc. 3455); violence, rape, child-taking, protest-quenching and unfair imprisonment seem to be the constant lot of the native population. finally, the whites-only policy is also visible in the case of the post-wwii immigration to australia. although in theory all immigrants are equal, in practice some turn out to be more equal than others, and the criteria seem to be race and ethnicity. early in the novel bachhuber, then still a teacher in a provincial southern school, thus meditates on the question asked by one of the pupils about the so-called “balts”, i.e. the refugees coming to australia from post-war europe: how could i possibly “teach” him that the australian government had deliberately misnamed the displaced persons balts? that was the path by which the word had entered his vocabulary. how many weeks might it take to have him understand that the australian government were selecting light skinned “nordic types” as future citizens and that they had, for the sake of obfuscation, named them balts? (part i, chpt. 4, loc. 410) a similar policy is adopted towards people of african or afro-american origin. the character of madison lee, a demobilised wwii african-american soldier allowed to settle down in australia after the war, is one of the few exceptions to the rule which, unofficially yet efficiently, discourages such people from coming to australia. as presented in the novel, the immigration policy clearly privileges white-skinned people over dark-skinned ones, making australia a hospitable new home to the former but not to the latter. the main characters, who gradually discover all of these facts and policies on the road, react differently to this new knowledge. the bobs do not seem particularly interested at first: they are not educated people, nor do they care for education and knowledge; their neighbour who is an impressively educated man (a champion of radio quiz shows, too) becomes a sort of history teacher to them. yet, they react differently to this teaching: for titch bobs, this is merely history. “what use is this to us?” (part ii, chpt. 7, loc. 1801), he asks, dismissing history for the sake of the present. at one point, exasperated, he demands: “you tell us what is happening now. i could not give a fuck about what happened a hundred years ago” (part ii, chpt. 1, loc. 2012). for his wife irene the turning point comes with the finding of a baby’s skull – one of the victims of the massacre of the 74 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) aborigines, shot with a bullet a long time before. moved, she takes the skull with her and thus begins her own journey towards empathy and understanding of people who are not like her. bachhuber makes his discoveries first as a historian and archaeologist, a teacher and a scientist, unearthing poignant facts which – so he then believes – though terrible, have little to do personally with him. his attitude is concerned yet neutral. it is only when they travel north, where he is first recognised as a half-blood and thus discriminated against, and then when by a coincidence he finds his original aboriginal family and learns his story, that he realises that the complex racial past and present of his home country is his own story, too. his further “adventures”, after he quits the race and stays on his tribal land – involving the defence of his black family, a prison sentence, and then becoming a historian and anthropologist of his people – mark his transformation from a comfortable and unreflective white middle-class man into a much less privileged australian citizen. his son, who is the narrator of the last section of the novel (again, in contrast to carey’s remaining novels, most of which usually employ just two alternating narrators, this text adds in the last section a third, extra one, who functions as a postscript voice of the next generations), is a black aborigine who benefits from white education and claims to have the freedom unavailable to his forefathers. as he states, “impossible as this would prove to be, i did not wish myself to be known or restricted by the colour of my skin. for the longest time i was determined that this would have no effect on me at all and i was readily annoyed with anyone who suggested otherwise” (part v, chpt. 21, loc. 4599). yet, living in post-war australia, he, too, is forced to acknowledge that this freedom is a dream rather than reality and he, too, has to face the burden of the past horrors and injustice. concluding the novel, he states that “our mother country is a foreign land whose language we have not yet earned the right to speak” (part v, chpt. 21, loc. 4655). the novel, then, presents a fictional sample of representative attitudes towards the complex australian racial situation, ranging from indifference, through sympathy, to active involvement in pro-egalitarian activism. triggered by coincidences and chance, the plot events reveal resentment and prejudice as latent in australian society, deeply ingrained and hard to change, making australia inhospitable to at least some of its inhabitants. the ones hardly at home as the novel makes clear, australia treats its first nations and immigrants as thirdand second-class citizens. this attitude is expressed in the text not only by references to the official government policies but also shown by the everyday casual discrimination perpetrated by white australians, who evidently treat their non-white and non-british fellow citizens as inferior, and seem to believe they are entitled to treat them so. many episodes show how the non-whites and even non-australians are regarded as “naturally” worse. bachhuber himself, in his “first life” as a white man, is discriminated 75 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) against as being a “kraut” since his adoptive family is of german origin. in the freshly post-wwii australia the anti-german sentiment may be perhaps explainable, yet it is also extended to war refugees and immigrants, who are seen as alien.2 this is also the case of the chinese population, both in the present and in the past, when riots against and the abuse of chinese workers were frequent occurrences (e.g. the mid-19th century “lambing flat riots” described in part ii, chpt. 1, loc. 1997). despite the immigrantfriendly official rhetoric, the everyday practice positions these australians as secondclass citizens: tolerated, even needed, but far from equal and welcome. their status may be compared to that of servants in hierarchically organised households: they have their place and role in them, yet they have neither prestige nor respect. the most drastic discrimination, however, concerns native australians, whose situation is represented in the novel as the worst. at the time of the novel’s action native aborigines are hardly australian citizens: they have no voting or property rights; as the novel presents them, their social and legal position can be described as located somewhere between wild animals and slaves. limited to a given territory, they have a restricted right to move, leave or settle (unless they have a special certificate of exemption); they are also subject to local restrictions such as the curfew hours. they live in structures called “a humpy” or “a gunyah” – a shelter constructed around a tree trunk, made of bark and tree branches, or of rusting corrugated iron and cardboard, with no access to running water, toilet or bath. there is no public medical service they could benefit from or any transportation system available to them. aborigines are strictly forbidden to drink alcohol (again, unless exempted), and they are generally treated as if they were mentally retarded. this is seen in the attitude to education: they do not participate in the education offered to whites; they have one designed specially for them which involves low-quality local schools whose aim is to teach them little more than broken english for communication purposes; higher education or professional training is neither planned for them nor welcome by their employers or, more accurately, quasi-“owners.” this scheme of education is further connected with linguistic discrimination: native languages are tolerated only as a means of interfamily communication; using them in official situations is forbidden. the episodes of the novel set in the quamby downs station – a huge cattle breeding establishment – most resemble episodes in the conradian heart of darkness, with its treatment of the natives as a slave work force. “allowed” to live on the territory of the farm and given the simplest supplies, in return the aboriginal people have to work unpaid for the farm 2 the less-than-hospitable policy towards immigrants is by no means an australian feature only: one may remember the internment camps for refugees from nazi germany in europe during wwii, or the u.s. internment camps for people of japanese descent at the same time. carey’s novel, just like historical research done on this subject, brings to light this less pleasant aspect of the allies’ help, and the hardships and often humiliation the war and post-war immigration involved. 76 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) owner who indeed behaves as if he owned his “blacks”. in scenes reminiscent of the colonial past the novel shows how violence, abuse, rapes and murder are still in the 1950s the reality of native australians.3 as a reaction, native tribes develop various forms of resistance. apart from the obvious and already well described degeneration due to alcohol abuse and crime on the one hand, and the heroic attempts to maintain ancient traditions on the other, they also create secret quasi-religious opposition cults whose aim is to counter the enslavement and preserve the knowledge of the native customs, lore and religion. though politically and physically helpless in confrontation with far better organised and equipped whites, aborigines are represented in carey’s novel as actively trying to rescue their complex oral culture and to preserve their dignity despite the enslavement and brutalities inflicted upon them. the character of bachhuber becomes the chronicler and historian of this resistance and an amateur anthropologist who records shards and pieces of the culture which was designed to be demolished by the white colonisers. on the pages of a long way from home, then, australia emerges as hardly homely or hospitable to many of its inhabitants. pursuing the metaphor of a country as a home to its people, one may easily observe that in carey’s novel the australia of the 1950s is represented as comfortable and generous to whites, quite harsh and uninviting to immigrants, while to the first nations it is openly hostile and oppressive; it guards its doors and segregates insiders. these discriminatory politics and social practices, which in the story are dramatised at the level of the plot construction and characterisation, are additionally expressed and reinforced by a further element of the novel’s architecture, i.e. by a clear visual contrast that determines the construction of space and setting in the novel. spatial metaphors the spatial imagery employed in the novel may be interpreted as clearly organised in contrastive ways. the contrast metaphorically emphasises the division into two australias and is visible in the descriptions of landscape and of architecture. the novel, constructed around the plot of a journey, describes many places and landscapes, yet one may clearly notice that they may be conveniently analysed as representing two types: 3 in this context it is perhaps worth mentioning that, again, australia represents here a larger group of countries which have to deal with their colonial past and the atrocities committed then. the fate of the australian “stolen generation” reminds one of the present-day discussions surrounding canadian residential schools for first nations’ children, which in a violent and traumatic way deprived them of their families, languages, culture and not infrequently even lives (cf. the reportage by joanna gierak-onoszko, 27 śmierci tony’ego obeda (27 deaths of toby obeda) (2019)). carey’s novel, then, inscribes itself in a much broader revisionist trend of recovering the dark pages of colonial history and its still less recognised aspects (e.g. educational policy). 77 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) spaces connected with white culture and those which belong to the non-british and nonwhites. the former are located mostly in the south of australia (e.g. melbourne, sydney, adelaide, perth or bachhus marsh) and are settlements of white people whose inhabitants have never even had a chance to see an aboriginal person. they are described as spacious, ordered and well arranged, with avenues, squares and monuments. they have public services such as transportation, medical centres, schools, libraries or regular shops. they are planted with green vegetation, flowers and trees; the climate is warm but not hot, and there are no shortages of water. they are also places of peace and quiet, sometimes perhaps a little boring but safe and comfortable. the following fragment may illustrate how irene bobs describes the provincial town she lives in: no-one ever came to the marsh without thinking, what a pretty town. […] if there was a prettier war memorial than our avenue of honour, i never heard of it. every tree in the avenue was planted for a local boy who died. every trunk had its own name. the dead boys are now huge elms and they join together above the road and give a very calm impression. this is how you enter the town. you drive beneath them, up the aisle, beside the apple orchards, the shire offices, the lawn bowls games in progress. you can dawdle through the wide streets and get some glimpse of our boring life. (part i, chpt. 20, loc. 1650) serene and peaceful, with well-designed public spaces and town facilities, the provincial southern australian town of bacchus marsh may seem perhaps boring with its small-town slowness and quiet but it is certainly comfortable to and caring for its inhabitants. functionality and aesthetics seem to govern its organisation and contribute to the well-being of the citizens. this is an area of risk-free existence, stability and more than decent living standards which are provided by the state. in contrast, the native territories located in the north and west, near broome, darwin, or in the kimberley, are almost empty due to climate conditions: they are hot and dry, mostly covered by deserts, and home to little vegetation or animal life. they are represented as hostile to life – areas of survival rather than flourishing. yet, despite this aridity, the landscape turns out to be covered with a surprisingly dense network of secret trails and paths known only to the natives, sacred rocks and caves of ritual significance, and places which offer both shelter and respite. hostile to the whites, these territories are shown as familiar and safe to the aborigines, who know how to live in them and for whom they are their home. the contrast, then, which conditions the construction of space in this novel, may be said as that running between white comfort and native hardship, privilege and dispossession, culture and nature. 78 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) a similar contrast may be detected in the representation of housing in the novel. interpreting the term “house” in its most literal sense, i.e. as a place of shelter and protection from the hardships of climate and weather, and a structure tending to the physiological and psychological needs of people, one may notice once again the ideological axis structuring the representation of australian racial and ethnic policy employed in carey’s novel. as described on the pages of a long way from home, the white population lives in proper houses, usually quite nice and comfortable, cosy, furnished and well equipped. even the characters that are not rich live decently: either in rented houses or in city housing blocks, which nevertheless are comfortable and aesthetically pleasing. bachhuber thus describes the melbourne establishment his girlfriend lives in: we were entering a queens road apartment building. perhaps you know the type, always divided by a long thin garden path punctuated by blind white statues and melancholy topiary, one of those “spanish style” blocks which had previously seemed so lost and loveless to me. (part i, chpt. 17, loc. 1382) even apartments blocks, usually focused solely on the function of providing the greatest number of apartments to the greatest number of people, are visibly designed with aesthetic qualities in mind, accompanied by art (statues) and greenery (garden paths, topiary). this description shows the average standard of living as not just basic or comfortable but even pleasing and aesthetically designed. both urban establishments and the suburban or small-town houses, then, seem homely and friendly. in contrast, the descriptions of houses inhabited by immigrants show them as simple, dilapidated or ruined, lacking ornamentation or design, and poor, as in broome, where the houses are described as “one-and-two-storey timber shanties” and the pavement as just “red earth” (part iv, chpt. 3, loc. 2879). these are still houses but sub-standard ones, and the degree of difference between them and the “normal” australian houses of those times reflects the lower status of the immigrants who inhabit them. thus, the shape and condition of the houses described in the novel become an index measuring the distance between the different racial and ethnic populations of the post-wwii australian continent. finally, the dwellings inhabited by aborigines could hardly be called houses at all. as already pointed out in previous paragraphs, they are merely provisional shelters: barracks, tents and huts made of corrugated iron, cardboard, tree branches, grass and mud. they serve the most basic and primitive needs, i.e. they protect their inhabitants from weather and wild animals but offer no comfort or conveniences. as bachhuber describes it, an aboriginal dwelling is a small temporary shelter made from bark and tree branches, with a standing tree usually used as the main support. in quamby downs a gynyah is called a humpy and was not 79 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) made of bark but of rusting corrugated iron and cardboard. you could not stand up in a humpy. you could not wash inside. you had no bathroom, nothing but a single standpipe in the camp. […] in the wet season humpies leaked but then there would be a creek and a swimming hole to wash in. (part v, chpt. 6, loc. 3358) as the description shows, the “houses” of aboriginal characters hardly meet the definition of the term and should rather be referred to as shelters since they do not provide many of the functions traditionally associated with the structure called a “house”. the descriptions of both landscapes and buildings provided in the novel are detailed, accurate and precise, well reflecting the shapes, colours and design of the described spaces. on the one hand, one may believe that they quite realistically show the australia of the 1950s with its topography and atmosphere, offering a sociological record of a certain stage of its history. on the other hand, however, the construction of these spaces has clearly metaphoric functions and draws attention to other than merely descriptive values of the presented sights and buildings. spatial relations in a literary work, following yuri lotman, may be treated as reflections of a wider outside world which is their model (cf. lotman 1977). in carey’s novel, due to their contrastive structure, textual houses clearly draw attention to the contrast between white and anglo-saxon and nonwhite and non-anglo-saxon inhabitants of the seemingly common australian “home”. again, this contrast is sharp and significant: landscape, architecture and the standard of housing reflect the status of the population inhabiting them – high in the case of white colonisers, poor in the case of immigrants, and next to none in the case of the native people. in their study in defense of housing: the politics of crisis, david madden and peter marcuse observe that “[h]ousing is always more than just housing” (madden and marcuse 2016: 85), pointing to its relation-building role within the community and the establishing of power relations among inhabitants. similarly, one may treat the novelistic representation of space and houses as a fictional reflection of the actually existing power relations within the community this fiction represents, and analyse these relations with the help of the concept of house and home. thus analysed, the metaphorical reading of the landscape and housing represented in the novel indicates that australia is neither a comfortable house (in the most literal sense) nor a hospitable home (in a metaphorical one) to its other than non-white inhabitants. conclusions the analysis of the plot, characterisation and spatial relations in the novel help interpret a long way from home as a comment on and criticism of the attitude of australia as a state and of its citizens towards its non-white and non-australian inhabitants. true to its generic convention of the picaresque novel, carey’s text, while tracing the 80 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) adventurous plots of its fictitious characters, presents the structure of the society and the social relations in which they are situated. likewise, analysed with the help of the bakhtinian chronotope of the road, the novel illustrates the revelatory potential of the plot which, introducing chance encounters and surprising meetings, exposes the structure of the society seen at a particular intersection of time and space, portrayed with its various classes and ethnic groups. writing about postcolonial literatures, bill ashcroft, gareth griffiths and helen tiffin point to the “powerful metonymic force” of the theme of housing, observing that “the construction or demolition of houses is a recurring and evocative figure for the problematic of post-colonial identity in works from very different societies” (ashcroft et al. 2002: 27). set in a former colony, in a country whose colonial past is only thinly palimpsestically covered with the post-war present, carey’s novel represents australia as an heir to the history of colonial violence and atrocity. the text recollects, describes and dramatises systemic discrimination, official and casual racism, and ingrained and inherited prejudice which are exhibited both by state officials and by average white australians. it also refers to many horrors of the past revealed bitterly as practices which today can only be classified as ethnic cleansing. in so doing, it presents a critical diagnosis of the racial relations in the post-wwii australia which it exposes as based on inequality and injustice. read with the help of the concepts of house and home, the title of the novel may be thus seen as nothing short of metaphoric: thinking of the racial relations presented in it, it seems quite clear that while the australia of the 1950s ( just as in the previous decades and centuries) may seem a hospitable and comfortable space to some, to others it is at that time a place still very far from home, and the distance is not only that of space but rather of time and attitude. the novel is historical as it presents the situation of the 1950s with flashbacks going back to the 19th century, yet one may only wonder how historical, i.e. outdated, this picture has become by now. references ashcroft, b., griffiths g. & tiffin, h. 2002. the empire writes back. theory and practice in post-colonial literatures. 2nd edition. london: routledge. bakhtin, m.m. 1981. forms of time and of the chronotope in the novel. in: the dialogic imagination: four essays, 84-258. ed. m. holquist, trans. c. emerson & m. holquist. austin: university of texas press. carey, p. 2017. a long way from home. melbourne: penguin random house australia. e-book. chandler, m. r. 1991. dwelling in the text: houses in american fiction. berkeley: university of california press. frye, n. 2000 [1957]. anatomy of criticism. princeton: princeton university press. gierak-onoszko, j. 2019. 27 śmierci toby’ego obeda. warszawa: dowody na istnienie. 81 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) lotman, y. 1977. the structure of the artistic text. trans. gail lenhoff and ronald vroon. ann arbor: the university of michigan press. madden, d. & marcuse, p. 2016. in defense of housing: the politics of crisis. london: verso. preston, a. 2018. a long way from home review – peter carey’s best novel in decades. the guardian 15 january. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/15/a-long-wayfrom-home-peter-carey-review (accessed 25 may 2022). short, d. 2008. reconciliation and colonial power. indigenous rights in australia. aldershot: ashgate. * * * barbara klonowska is an assistant professor in the english department at the catholic university of lublin, poland. she teaches british literature and culture, and has published on contemporary british fiction and film. her book-length studies include contaminations: magic realism in contemporary british fiction (2006), and longing for romance: british historical romances 1990-2010 (2014). her academic interests focus on contemporary literature, literary theory, magic realism in fiction and film, and cinematographic utopias and dystopias. 49 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) karl wood1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.32.1.04 kazimierz wielki university in bydgoszcz, poland orcid: 0000-0002-4042-1307 a window into short-story construction: richard yates’ “builders” and questions of the autobiographical content of his work abstract. richard yates, most remembered for his revolutionary road (1961), was also the author of two fine and exceptionally well-crafted collections of short stories, eleven kinds of loneliness (1963) and liars in love (1981). yates was a writer of exceptional perception and unflinching clarity, yet some have criticized his work as drawing too heavily on autobiographical content. this article seeks to examine yates’ 1963 story “builders” to gain insight into this extraordinary author’s understanding of the writing process, his use of autobiographical or semi-autobiographical content, and to suggest new approaches for work on this still under-appreciated twentieth century author. keywords: richard yates, autofiction, self-narrative, short stories richard yates, an author whose name often evokes a vague sense of familiarity, is most often remembered for his 1961 first novel revolutionary road, accompanied by a sense that this was an important and fine author, yet one who remains on many bucket lists of works to be read, someday, when time permits. this is an improvement over the situation at the turn of the century, when richard ford commented that yates was a kind of “cultural-literary secret handshake” (2000: 16), with his work largely out of print, leading stewart o’nan (1999) to remark that “to write so well and be forgotten is a terrifying legacy.” over the past twenty years or so, however, prompted by the advocacy of several of his students, there has been a small renaissance in the appreciation of yates. his work is again available in print, and a somewhat modest number of studies and academic 1 address for correspondence: department of anglophone literatures, kazimierz wielki university in bydgoszcz, ul. grabowa 2, 85-601 bydgoszcz, poland. e-mail: karlwood@ukw.edu.pl 50 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) articles devoted to his work have appeared. richard yates as an author is certainly no longer forgotten, at least not entirely. yet some of the older critiques of yates as a rather traditional or old-fashioned writer, a realist writing at the dawn of postmodernism have lingered, and his subject matter – generally the less than idyllic lives of white mainstream americans behind the façade of happiness and fulfilment at mid-century – is not one that is likely to arouse much contemporary literary interest, however unflinchingly insightful (detractors may say gloomy) or masterful yates’ writing may be. there is, however, much about yates’ work that still merits attention today. one such element, which had often been regarded as a flaw in his writing, especially his later work, is that he drew extensively on his own experience in writing fiction. the contemporary rise in interest in the forms of autofiction and life writing, which have called into question the dictum that a work of art must be somehow removed from the writer’s own life, suggests a critical reexamination of yates. indeed, for yates, the use of autobiographical source material was not a mistake or flaw in his work, but rather an intentional means to create not autobiography or memoir but works of art rooted in lived experience. one can look to many of yates’ works and find traces of this technique, but none perhaps is better suited than his 1963 short story “builders”, written for and first published in the collection eleven kinds of loneliness. the story, likely a story about himself, illuminates yates’ reflections on learning the art of writing, both as an artist and on the compromises required for publication, something yates struggled with over the years. when set in the context of yates’ remarks in interviews and as an instructor, including at the iowa workshop, an image emerges of an author whose embrace of the autobiographical while seeking to form it into art partially anticipates the forms of autofiction or self-narrative. “builders” itself is a well-formed story about an aspiring young writer, robert prentice, and his commercial and creative relationship with the well-drawn character of an aspirational new york cabdriver, bernie silver. the main narrative of the story begins when prentice, in need of income to supplement his meager earnings as a financial copy desk writer at united press, answers a classified ad offering an “unusual free-lance opportunity for talented writer. must have imagination” (yates 2001: 143). after meeting silver, who had “one of the most guileless and self-confident faces [he] had ever seen” (yates 2001: 143) and hearing his proposition that he ghostwrite inspirational stories for the new york hack driver based on his experiences, prentice agreed to write one story a week for pay. silver would then collect these to submit to a magazine like reader’s digest, with the earnest belief in the fame and fortune that would surely follow. while silver was full of naïve hope and faith in his vision, prentice was entirely mercenary, lured by a perhaps willful misunderstanding of how generously he would be paid. in seeking to get the commission, he fought to hide his artistic contempt for his new patron, but 51 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) “wasn’t going to let twenty-five bucks get away from me without some kind of struggle” (yates 2001:148). this attitude of contempt – we can presume yates is reflecting his younger self here – is made quite clear in the scene in which the central metaphor and title of the story “builders” is introduced. silver tried to make sure that this new candidate for ghostwriter properly understood his ‘take’ on how stories should be written, while prentice listened on, feigning agreement with his “rapt, toadying gaze” (yates 2001:149). silver explained in a confident, self-satisfied tone how stories are built: “like building a house?” and he was so pleased with his own creation of this image that he didn’t even wait to take in the careful, congratulatory nod i awarded him for it. “i mean a house has got to have a roof, but you’re going to be in trouble if you build your roof first, right? before you build your roof you got to build your walls. before you build your walls, you got to lay your foundation–and i mean all the way down the line. before you lay your foundation, you got to bulldoze and dig yourself the right kind of hole in the ground. am i right?” (…) “so all right, supposing you build yourself a house like that. then what? what’s the first question you got to ask yourself about it when it’s done?” (…) “where are the windows?” he demanded, spreading his hands. “that’s the question. where does the light come in? because do you see what i mean about the light coming in, bob? i mean the–the philosophy of your story, the truth of it; the–” “the illumination of it, sort of,” i said, and he quit groping for his third noun with a profound and happy snap of the fingers. how this central metaphor of story construction relates to the creative process of writing has been discussed by several scholars of yates in recent years, most convincingly by kate charlton-jones in her monograph dismembering the american dream (2012). she argues how yates addresses henry james’ ‘house of fiction’ metaphor, at once satirizing it and using it as a tool to show how, when poorly understood, such advice leads to worthless formulaic work – such as the stories prentice will write for bernie), while also showing how prentice over the course of the story himself learns how to properly understand the metaphor and find his own authorial voice (charlton-jones 2012: 103-104). indeed, one can certainly read “builders” as a kind of artistic coming of age story of the author-in-text character, bob prentice (the rhyme with apprentice cannot be coincidental). he begins the story as an aspiring, but failing writer, unable to produce work of his own that lived up to his own internal sense of what would be quality writing. this is accompanied by no small degree of presumptuousness about his own artistic ability (a recurring theme for many of yates’ characters endowed with meager talent), a selfinflated sense of potential masking an insecure novice writer who has yet to produce 52 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) any high-quality work of his own. this is easily read in the contemptuous and yet selfaware tone which prentice shares with the reader how he responded to bernie’s honest but jejunely sentimental vision of the good fiction he would like to see. writing such stories for bernie, however, did not come easily, as prentice found himself ‘wasting time’ reading matchbooks and the like, with many false starts, just as if he were trying to produce his own work. the key to overcoming the block came from his wife, who chided him: “you’re trying too hard.” (…) “you’re being so insufferably literary about it, bob, it’s ridiculous. all you have to do is think of every corny, tear-jerking thing you’ve ever read or heard. think of irving berlin”2 (yates 2001: 151). initially taken as an insult, this proved to be the catalyst to get prentice started. embracing bernie’s construction metaphor as the road to producing the sought-after sappy sentimentality, “something kind of wonderful happened” (yates 2001: 151). convinced of his own artistry while detaching himself from ownership of the text, he allowed himself to freely lampoon the writing or construction process, with readers digest and bernie in mind. as he confesses with no small degree of sarcasm, how “i took that little bastard of a story and i built the hell out of it. first i bulldozed and dug and laid myself a real good foundation; then i got the lumber out and bang, bang, bang – up went the walls and on went the roof and up went the cute little chimney on top.” (yates 2001: 151-152). not to miss the most important element, the light or illumination of the story, prentice continues, “oh, i put plenty of windows in it too – big, square ones – and when the light came pouring in it left no earthly shadow of a doubt that bernie silver was the wisest, gentlest, bravest and most lovable man who ever said ‘folks.” (yates 2001: 152). prentice clearly found this contemptable, but his client/patron was enthusiastically convinced of his talent for producing just the right kind of work, paying him cash on the spot for the story. the work continued over several months, with prentice sharing, almost as if confessing, some of the stories he wrote for silver, including one he “thought was loathsome” in its drippy sentimentality of how silver saved an elderly man from despair and suicide with a small remark about geraniums, but “bernie loved it” (yates 2001: 157). yet cracks began to appear in the edifice. as prentice’s contempt for himself was reaching a breaking point, the project of writing stories about bernie (and the hope of a movie to be made) transformed into one of writing hack stories about an up-andcoming local politician. prentice could do no more and produced a story so contrived 2 yates made several references to irving berlin as shorthand for a kind of sentimentality devoid of depth, e.g., his short story “the best of everything” was in one draft entitled “all in clover” (see bailey 2003:167), a line from the song “easter parade” that figures in the story and was later used in his later novel the easter parade. song titles and lyrics evidently were something yates was well familiar with – several people remembering him posthumously recalled his fondness for singing 1940s popular songs and knowing all the lyrics to them (see berriault et al. 1993). 53 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) that even bernie found it ridiculous. the productive relationship came to an end, with prentice telling bernie he had to return to his own, ‘serious’ work. the end of the story, however, is all about prentice. returning to his own work, he begins to discover his own voice, and as the story ends, the author-narrator begins to embrace the metaphor of builders again, with a certain sense of self-irony. as he concludes the tale, telling the reader how, despite the fact that “its very walls are somehow out of kilter; its foundation feels weak” (yates 2001: 172), he is now “putting on the roof” on the story, we feel a sense of how the author has grown in self-awareness – something quite unusual for yates’ characters, whose critical flaw is often a lack of insight into themselves. hack work, however, did not teach him the tools of the trade, so to speak, but rather took his ego down a notch, not teaching him to sacrifice his notions of artistic quality, but rather to let go of his self-inflated belief in his ability to produce such quality. he speaks of his own work, the story which he has just told us, as an edifice, albeit a rickety and poorly built one. finally, in a shift of tone addressing both the reader and bernie simultaneously, suggesting perhaps that we might be more like bernie than we care to think, he concludes: and where are the windows? where does the light come in? bernie, old friend, forgive me, but i haven’t got the answer to that one. i’m not even sure if there are any windows in this particular house. maybe the light is just going to have to come in as best it can, through whatever chinks and cracks have been left in the builder’s faulty craftsmanship, and if that’s the case you can be sure that nobody feels worse about it than i do. god knows, bernie; god knows there certainly ought to be a window around here somewhere, for all of us. (yates 2001: 173) letting the light in here seems to be both something desirable and to be avoided at the same time. true craftsmanship – which yates here implies he may not have achieved – avoids the big, square windows of bernie’s vision, but at the same time, he seems uncertain of whether or not he has built any of the million possible windows that james would have him provide. bob prentice may have learned a degree of humility, which ironically, might help him to unlock his creative potential. yet we, the readers, are uncertain of the ultimate outcome. this, however, was not merely a finely rendered portrait of a kind of coming of artistic coming of age story, but strongly reflected yates’ own experience in a highly autobiographical fashion. yates’ use of autobiographical content has been a (relatively, for the still understudied author) much-discussed aspect of his work, with some critics finding this to be an essential flaw. for instance, robert tower wrote in his review of yates’ second collection of short stories liars in love (1981) that yates’ longer work, including his later novels short stories, appears to lack the ability of his early work “to escape the 54 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) prison of an (apparently) autobiographical self” (tower 1981). this was something the critic was willing to concede had been achieved in yates’ first novel revolutionary road and his stories from the 1950s collected in eleven kinds of loneliness (work all written prior to “builders”), suggesting that the ‘decline’ of yates writing came with the turn to his own lived experience. others, such as his biographer, blake bailey, argue that yates’ best work can transcend the limitation of his own experience to create works that reach to more universal value, while implicitly accepting the critique that too much autobiographical content can be a flaw (2003: 514-515). more recent work, however, suggests a different view. as sophie a. jones has recently argued, “the ostensibly illicit nature of yates’ use of his experience – usually framed as a concealment of the autobiographical within the fictional – has often been approached by his critics as a problem to be solved” (2017: 88). the most frequent solution to this has been to rely on yates’ sense of honesty and integrity as an author. as kate charlton-jones, for instance, has argued in her analysis of yates’ short story “saying goodbye to sally” that his use of his own life in the writing process was his way of “ensuring that he adhered to the truth of an experience” and “give flesh more faithfully to the emotions those experiences generated. it is primarily the human condition he is illuminating” (2014: 42). as a way of apprehending how yates “contravenes the pact” (jones 2017: 87) that would separate autobiography from fiction, sophie a. jones proposes the use of serge doubrovsky’s term of “autofiction, rather than autobiography” as a “more generative descriptive term for his work” (2017: 93), a conscious blending of elements of both fiction and biography. jones’ attempt to rehabilitate the value of yates’ autobiographical content is clearly a useful contribution. if autofiction, as in boyle’s characterization, “involves supplying indicators which suggest that the text is an autobiography, whilst at the same time contradicting these indicators by asserting its fictional status” (2007: 18), then the description might fit yates’ “builders” and his other more mature works rather well. thoughts regarding the writing process frame the narrative: it begins with an opening warning that one should never (if one hopes to be published) write about writers, and certainly not in a clichéd manner, and it concludes with the above meditation on the art, all while making clear that this is a story that the fictional author-character protagonist wrote in the first person for the reader to consider. at the same time, however, yates’ work only imperfectly meets the criteria of doubrovskian autofiction. according to schmitt, autofiction, strictly speaking, in addition to a literary style, must show “a perfect onomastic correspondence between author, narrator, and main character” (2010: 126). this is never the case in yates’ fiction: some of his characters may have been thinly veiled renditions of himself or his own experience, but never did he explicitly write about himself, whereas autofiction tends to present itself as autobiographical, yet may be partially or wholly fictitious in content. dix has argued that “[a]utofiction in effect treats the self as a form of archive”, which 55 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) could certainly be said of yates and his work, but in its practice “radically revises the notion of absolute truth, supplementing it with a critical but creative skepticism of all the distortions, digressions and departures that the acts of remembering and narrating entail” and, in fact, represents a “properly theoretical approach to representations of subjectivity and the self” (2017: 83). one might contend that some of yates’ work might be better characterized as “self-narratives” as schmitt proposes, somewhere on the spectrum between fiction and autobiography, allowing authors to draw on the “intensity and directness” of their own lived experience while retaining artistic freedom to reshape that material (2010: 130).3 it is not entirely clear how fond yates himself would have been of such a discussion, however. he was notoriously skeptical of what he felt were too theoretical approaches to writing and to his own work, and resisted categorization. while the comments he made in his final interview before his death in 1992, dismissing “slick” questions with remarks such as “i guess i’m just not smart enough to answer big questions about things like ‘themes’ or ‘purposes’ in my work” (bradfield 1992: 31), might be dismissed as the curmudgeonly responses of a terminally ill man (yates was still smoking two packs a day at this point while tethered to oxygen bottles for his ‘touch of emphysema’), they do resonate with other, more detailed and poignant remarks made twenty years before. in the 1972 interview with dewitt henry and geoffrey clark for ploughshares, yates candidly reflects on the writing process and his place within literature. while expressing how he felt the limited quantity of his work made him a bit unqualified to criticize the literary establishment, he then proceeded to do so with relish, saying “oh hell, i rant and rail against the literary establishment all the time, qualified or not” (henry et al. 1972: 76). a particular object of scorn were postrealists, whose work he found utterly unpalatable with their “endless supply of witty little intellectual puzzles and puns and fun and games for graduate students to play with” (henry et al. 1972: 76). for yates, it seems, the fault of these writers and others was not necessarily form or technique per se, but rather when the form became too ‘slick’ (a word he seemed to apply to formwithout-substance, an accusation he leveled against some of john cheever’s work); he seemed to believe that too much emphasis on technique prevents the emergence of real quality work. this he contrasted with the work of kurt vonnegut, whom he believed to have been mistakenly regarded as among the cohort of postrealists. as he saw it, in vonnegut’s best work there was “real fictional meat (…) despite the surface flippancy of his style – real suffering, real passion, real humor – especially in books like mother 3 self-narration is not unproblematic, either. schmitt in general presumes that personal experience is shown in an undisguised manner, and yet at the same time offers henry roth’s mercy of a rude stream, in which all the paratextual signposts suggest fiction (including the name of the narrator), deeper analysis reveals the how autobiographical the tetralogy may in fact be. for more, see schmitt (2010: 134-135). 56 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) night and slaughterhouse five” (which we might add, could perhaps also be regarded as exhibiting elements of autofiction). the objection he had to postrealists was that their work was “emotionally empty. it isn’t felt ” (henry et al. 1972: 76). while it might be difficult to read yates’ work as doubrovskian autofiction sensu stricto, the author’s own statements and those by people who knew him seem to support charlton-jones’ view that he regarded drawing on his own lived experience as a means of keeping himself honest, not in the sense of rendering experience in a factually accurate manner, but rather of reaching for something artistically and emotionally true. beginning, it seems, with “builders,” the use of autobiographical content was a vehicle to reach this end. yates made explicitly clear in the 1972 ploughshares interview that taking on autobiographical material was an experiment he undertook when writing “builders.” until that point, he had aspired to follow flaubert’s ideal of an “omnipresent and invisible” (henry et al. 1972: 70) god-like author. “builders” was to be a laboratory, an “experimental warmup” to writing an autobiographical novel. that final product would be his second novel, a special providence, regarded by both contemporary critics and yates himself as disappointing. “builders,” however, was different. yates offered his own assessment: “builders” (..) was almost pure personal history, with a protagonist named robert prentice, who was clearly and nakedly myself. and i think that story did work, because it was formed. it was objectified. somehow, and maybe it was just luck, i managed to avoid both of the two terrible traps that lie in the path of autobiographical fiction–self-pity and selfaggrandizement (henry et al. 1972: 70). here we can discern two main elements of how in yates’ view, his story was successful, and by extension, what constituted a successful story for him more generally. aside from a short 1981 essay in the new york times book review about writers he admired, yates did not leave behind any manifesto or essay explaining his approach to writing. he did teach throughout his career, however, most notably at the iowa workshop in the mid-1960s, and remarks made by his friends and former students after his death corroborate his interview statements and provide additional insight into what, for yates, constituted good writing. the first level, of course, is that the story was properly formed. this is not necessarily about any particular technique. as he remarked in 1992, “all fiction is filled with technique” […] “it’s ridiculous to suggest one technique is any more realistic than any other” (bradfield 1992, 31), but more about the quality of construction, that all elements of the story, every word, is properly placed to ‘do its job’ as it were. vonnegut in his eulogy of yates, for instance, spoke of his friend’s writing: 57 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) when i made a journey, a forced march, through all his books in preparation for these obsequies, not only did i fail to detect so much as an injudiciously applied semicolon; i did not find even one paragraph which, if it were read to you today, would not wow you with its power, intelligence, and clarity (1993: 14) the second element, however, reaches for yates’ critique of what he regarded as poor work – too well constructed, “slick,” but “not felt.” that feeling, as he had praised vonnegut for, had to be genuine, real, and true to experience. this is alluded to in the second part of yates’ self-assessment – avoiding both self-pity and self-aggrandizement. the work, even if autobiographical, is not about the author, but about a feeling experienced. it does seem clear that yates, especially starting with “builders” looked to lived experience as the primary source for inspiration. here, two other memories shared at yates’ new york memorial service in 1993, provide insight into the writer’s view on the use of such material. writer and journalist susan braudy recalled how yates, when pressed about the “nuts and bolts” of one of his two best novels, the easter parade, he confessed how he had mined himself for the main character, stating which characteristic candor, that the novel “was… actually… well… is… my autobiography, sweetheart. emily fucking grimes is me” (1993: 21). the autobiographical continued, together with a certain skepticism toward any insinuation of highfalutin intentional technique. as braudy complimented yates on his use of symbolism in the novel, he contradicted, asserting that he simply sought inspiration from life, claiming that he “didn’t make up any easy allegory (…) i mean, it was all there lying around [in his life] (…) but i’m the one who saw it” (braudy 1992: 22). this ability to see, to discern the interesting in real life and to render it into a wellformed story is what for yates is the rich fount of material for writing. he was under no illusion that this was an easy task. a special providence, his first novel-length attempt to do so, proved a humbling experience, revealing his limitations at extending the autobiographical into a longer work of art. as he remarked in the ploughshares interview: i think it’s a right that has to be earned. anybody can scribble out a confession or a memoir or a diary or a chronicle of personal experience, but how many writers can form that kind of material? how many writers can make it into solid, artistically satisfying fiction? (…) you have to be one hell of an artist to bring it off. to form it. (henry et al. 1972: 70-71). as examples of authors who had done so beautifully, he set the bar high, mentioning dickens, joyce, and hemingway, and of course proust. and yet, this did not appear to be an insurmountable barrier, even if he at often felt his own work did not measure up. as maura stanton recalled how when she was a young beginning writer and student at 58 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) iowa, yates encouraged her to look into the most ordinary of experiences to seek material for her own short stories. telling of a mentoring session in yates’s office in which she complained how her simple, midwestern background had given her nothing interesting to write about, she recounts how yates inspired her to see a beautiful story could be made from the rich material of her own life. after asking her a few simple questions, he learned that she had indeed been in love, “really in love,” and that while she had indeed never set foot outside the midwest, he had been on a simple trip to a modest minnesota amusement park called brainerd. hearing about the performing domestic animals there, he lit up and exclaimed: “well, hell.” mr yates smiled at me suddenly, his whole face lighting up. “there’s your story. don’t you see? my god, that’s great material.” “what?” i said. “those fucking rabbits and chickens and paul bunyan and being twenty-two and head over heels in love. put it all together. what more do you want? i wish i had that much.” i stared at him in amazement. “write about that?” “of course. you’ve got a thousand interesting things you can write about. just go for a walk on the ceiling and look down at your life and you’ll be amazed.” (stanton 1993: 51). while yates’ aspiration was clearly to bring the autobiographical to the novel, he still saw the short story as a worthwhile and valuable form, praising the stories of many writers (flannery o’connor, among others) and yet, it seems he felt it a secondary form. for instance, as an instructor in iowa, he compared in class the use of an unreliable narrator. mentioned as a praiseworthy example was eudora welty’s “why i live at the p.o.”, yet with the qualifier that “that was a short story” (as in, ‘only’). singled out for lavish praise was ford maddox ford’s the good soldier, for it sustained the effort over an entire novel (lacy 2010: 424). that he would see it this way perhaps does not surprise. for yates as a writer, the short story was a somewhat instrumental medium to hone his skills and –always an issue for yates– to earn money. throughout his early career in the 1950s, yates wrote stories for magazine publication with this very intent, a process which we see in some ways reflected in the learning period reflected in “builders.” the story contains a sweep of thirteen years, starting in 1948, precisely the years when yates was writing and polishing stories for magazine publication, and ending with work on his first novel in 1961, just as revolutionary road was nearing completion. in this period, just like prentice, yates had in fact also worked for united press.4 4 as to just how autobiographical the content of “builders” is, beyond the persona of prentice, is difficult to ascertain. blake bailey, yates’ biographer, seems to take this at face value and that yates actually did answer a classified in the saturday review of literature, but provides no direct evidence. a search of the 59 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) after a long and tortured period of producing little fiction, but including work as robert kennedy’s speechwriter, in hollywood scriptwriting (both material which yates would mine for his works), and mental breakdowns in the 1960s, in the 1970s yates began again to write prolifically. in addition to writing three novels in the 1970s, he also returned to the short story, producing the collection liars in love in 1981. these are longer and richer than the stories of the 1950s, and yet they very clearly follow in yates’ “builders” approach of mining his life for material to use in writing. what tower saw as a limitation allowed yates to produce some of his finest and otherwise most critically acclaimed work, for instance, the story of his sculptor-mother in “oh joseph, i’m so tired” or of his own time in hollywood in “saying goodbye to sally” (both topics he had tried to address in novels, a special providence and disturbing the peace respectively, with less critical success). that yates would in some ways be more successful in writing a genre he seemed to have felt was a utilitarian tool toward the end of a novel is somewhat ironic, but the stories must have been more than that to the author, for it is clear that he invested a great deal of emotional energy in them as well. while in “builders” the contempt the young yates felt for the likes of readers digest was quite apparent, this certainly does not mean he was contemptuous of all magazines. he was quite conscious of the placement of his stories, and what that would mean for his reputation. for example, when his first story “lament for a tenor” was to be purchased for the then hefty sum of eight hundred and fifty dollars in 1952, yates (self-conscious artist like prentice that he was) saw “the depressing aspect of the thing’: namely, that cosmopolitan was a ‘dead-loss prestigewise” (bailey 2003: 153). other, more prestigious magazines, such as the atlantic followed, but his ultimate goal eluded him for his entire career: the new yorker. what prevented yates from acceptance by this country club of magazines was not the quality of his work, but rather his strict adherence to his own vision of artistic expression, of what makes a good story. yates was loath to make compromises to his exactingly written work, especially regarding questions of content. one of his finest stories, a really good jazz piano waited nearly three years for publication, as the author refused to modify the grim ending to make it more ‘saleable’ (in the end he did, and the story sold). when he resumed writing short fiction in the mid-1970s, one of his goals was to achieve his long-held aspiration of publication in the new yorker. it was not to be, however. the trouble lay with editors. 1948 classifieds in the saturday review (admittedly, what is available online may not be complete) no such ad can be found. the closest thing to an ad of the kind prentice responded to is an ad from a young writer with copywriting experience seeking a freelance opportunity, which could suggest a quite different scenario. but the fact is, we do not really know. 60 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) while sam lawrence at the atlantic praised yates’ stories of the late 1970s as “magnificent” and “simply marvelous” (bailey 2003: 508), roger angell, the gatekeeper at the new yorker clearly simply did not like his work. the key seemed to be that angell, unlike many other reviewers, readers and writers, felt yates’ work to be “mean spirited” and “for effect” casting into doubt what others saw as one of his major assets, sincerity. in his final rejection letter, angell wrote that “it seems clearer and clearer to me that his kind of fiction is not what we’re looking for. i mean this without offense, and i wonder if it wouldn’t save a lot of time and disappointment if you and he could come to the same conclusion.” (bailey 2003: 508). yates had been seen by many reviewers and readers alike as bleak or grim, but this pronouncement of judgement by the new yorker that “his vision of life was repulsive” (bailey 2003: 509) seems to have cut to the bone. clearly, publication of short stories away from the pages of cosmopolitan and to the urbane new yorker would have meant acceptance for yates, confirmation in some sense of his ‘arrival’ in the club. yet admission might have well been blocked not by faulty craftsmanship or failure to dig the right foundation, but by an artistic integrity that prevented him from building in the kinds of windows that a particular highbrow editor wanted to see. yates, then, remained true to his vision of his art, even if it meant that some of his aspirations for his career as a writer went unfulfilled. seen for much of his later years as a writer whose initial great promise shown in his masterful first novel failed to materialize in subsequent works, he has gained a degree of recognition in recent years as a writer of significance. yet the success and awareness of revolutionary road (no doubt propelled also by the film adaptation by sam mendes), continues to dominate the view of yates, comparatively little attention is paid to his later novels and his short stories. perhaps what had once been seen as a flaw, yates’ use autobiographical themes and content, was in ways ahead of his times, and may in turn become a new and interesting approach to an enriched and more contemporary appreciation of this author’s more mature works. references bailey, b. 2003. a tragic honesty. the life and work of richard yates. new york: picador. berriault, g., vonnegut, k., dubus, a., conroy, f. et al. 1993. richard yates. an american writer. tributes in memoriam. new york: seymour lawrence. boyle, c. 2007. consuming autobiographies. reading and writing the self in post-war france. london: routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781351195317 bradfield, s. 1992. follow the long and revolutionary road. the independent, november 21, 31. braudy, s. 1993. remarks at the richard yates memorial service. richard yates. an american writer. tributes in memoriam, 21-23. new york: seymour lawrence. 61 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) charlton-jones, k. 2012. dismembering the american dream. tuscaloosa: university of alabama press. dix, h. 2017. autofiction: the forgotten face of french theory. word and text. a journal of literary studies and linguistics 17: 69-85. ford, r. 2000. american beauty (circa 1955). the new york times. april 9. https:// www.nytimes.com/2000/04/09/books/essay-american-beauty-circa-1955.html (6 september 2020) henry, dewitt, clark, g. & yates, r. 1972. an interview with richard yates. ploughshares vol. 1 no. 3: 65-78. doi: 10.2307/40349860 jones, s.a. 2017. richard yates’s autofictions and the politics of canonization. in: j. daly (ed.), richard yates and the flawed american dream, 87-106. jefferson, nc: mcfarland. lacy, r. 2010. richard yates in iowa. the sewanee review vol. 118 no. 3: 422-428. o’nan, s. 1999. the lost world of richard yates. boston review, october 1. http:// bos to nreview.net/stewart-onan-the-lost-world-of-richard-yates (6 september 2020). schmitt, a. 2010. making the case for self-narration against autofiction. a/b: auto / biography studies 25:1, 122-137, doi: 10.1080/08989575.2010.10815365 stanton, m. 1993. remarks at the richard yates memorial service. richard yates. an american writer. tributes in memoriam, 49-52. new york: seymour lawrence. tower, r. 1981. richard yates and his unhappy people. the new york times, november 1. http://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/01/books/richard-yates-and-his-unhappy-people. html?pag (6 september 2020) vonnegut, k. 1993. remarks at the richard yates memorial service. richard yates. an american writer. tributes in memoriam, 13-15. new york: seymour lawrence. yates, r. builders. the collected stories of richard yates, 141-173. new york: henry holt. * * * karl wood is on the staff of the department of anglophone literatures in english at kazimierz wielki university in bydgoszcz, poland, where he teaches courses in american cultural studies. his research interests and publications have included several shorter works on the work of richard yates and on twentieth century us-american culture, as well as work related to transnational spa culture in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. he is a member of the department’s team participating in the horizon-2020 digitens project, an international research consortium on forms of sociability in the long eighteenth century. 37 125 ............................................................................... crossroads.a journalofenglishstudies39 (2022) (ccby-nc-sa4.0) anna maria karczewska1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.39.4.09 university of białystok, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7487-7807 latin american documentary narratives. the intersections of storytelling and journalism in contemporary literature by liliana chávez díaz, bloomsbury publishing, 2021, 312 pp. isbn: 9781501366031. £ 64.80. themexican journalist juanvilloroclaimsthat thelatinamericanchronicle (crónica) is the platypus of prose. similarly to the platypus that brings to mind various species (aduck, anotter, abeaver) andremainsoutsideonerigidcategory, thechronicle,which resembles different genres, is in fact a genre of its own. like the novel, it narrativizes the world of characters, creates an illusion of life, and transports the reader to the centre of events; like the short story, it compresses adramatic sense into a short space, 1 address for correspondence: university of białystok, faculty of philology, centre for literary studies, pl.nzs1, 15-420białystok,poland.e-mail: a.karczewska@uwb.edu.pl book review https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7487-7807 126 ............................................................................... crossroads.a journalofenglishstudies39 (2022) (ccby-nc-sa4.0) thus implying that reality ismeaningful andspeaksa languageof its own; like the interview, it contains dialogues; like the modern theatre-play, it reorders spatial and temporal elementsof theplot-line; like thegreco-latin theatre-play, it featuresapolyphonyof witnesses (acting like a kind of chorus); like the essay, it puts forward strong opinions; and like the autobiography, it is informed by memorial tonality and a first-person perspective. the catalogue of influences can be extended almost ad infinitum (villoro 2016:n.p.).thevenezuelan journalistborismuñozmaintains that if thechronicle is like aplatypus, reportersaremore likebats, becausedespitebeingmammals likemost land animals, they fly. to fly, in this figurative sense, means to use the language to give writing a certain verbal aestheticismandauseof the imagination thatmakes it literary (muñoz2012: 630). in the 19th century, latin american writers began experimenting with hybrid forms of narrative. it was a quest for new ways of storytelling, for a hybrid form, in which, according to anibal gonzales and alejo carpentier, the journalist and the novelist became the same person. in latin american culture there is no clear definition of the chronicle.albertofuguet, achileanwriter, admits thathedoesnotknowwhatachronicle is, and that he fails to distinguishbetween journalismand fictionwhen it comes to writing, because they represent the same “gaze” (aguilar 2010: 159).what is more, the chronicle isnot theonlygenrepracticedbylatinamerican journalists.asmarkkramer says, “the genre of telling true stories goes by many names” (kramer & call 2007: xv). chronicle (crónica), reportage (reportaje), interview (entrevista), testimonio, creative nonfiction, to name but a few, all these occupy an in-between space stretching from journalism to fiction, andall of themcanbecalled theplatypusesofprose, orbetter, as lilianachávezdíazproposes, “latinamericandocumentarynarratives”. liliana chávez díaz, who specializes in contemporary latin american narrative, and who has been a cultural and investigative journalist, in her recently published book latin american documentary narratives. the intersections of storytelling and journalism in contemporary literature ventures into complex terrain to contribute to our understanding of various hybrid journalistic genres (such as testimonio, crónica, new journalism, literary reportage, non-fiction). she decides to give them one common name: “latin american documentary narratives” in the face of their hybridity and fluid boundaries, andexplores themasalatinamericanculturalphenomenon. chapter 1 constitutes a historical overview of testimonio, crónica and literary journalism, and discusses their stylistical differences. the question that arises is why the author presents only three of the hybrid journalistic genres practiced in latin america and does not take part in the discussion on the differences between reportaje, crónica, entrevista, and noticia, and does not present their history as was the case with testimonio, crónica and literary journalism. the author briefly mentions reportaje and crónica (79), and interviewandnews(112), andreturns to themlater, inchapter6.however, it is 127 ............................................................................... crossroads.a journalofenglishstudies39 (2022) (ccby-nc-sa4.0) unclearwhyshedoesnotgive themmoreattention inchapter1,whichwassupposed to constitute “a historical overview of diverse genres” (8). such prominent journalists as germáncastrocaycedo, juanjoséhoyosanddanielsamperpizano2,whodiscussed the complexities of history and the nomenclature of the aforementioned genres, are not even mentioned in chávezs̓ book. however, once chávez moves to the analysis of the primary texts, latin american documentary narratives shines. in chapter 1 the author also proposes a new reading of “documentary narratives”, which concentrates on the processofproduction, style ofwriting, ethical approach, and theencounterof the journalistswith their informants. inchapter2chávezconcentrateson twoworks: gabrielgarcíamárquezs̓the story of a shipwrecked sailor3 (1955) and rodolfo walshs̓ operation massacre4 (1957), which are credited as the first major non-fiction novels of investigative journalism and antecedents of contemporary documentary narratives. chávez undertakes their detailedanalysis. chapter 3 focuses on the life stories and works of elena poniatowska and carlos monsiváis,who isoneof the founding fathersoflatinamericannarrative journalismin the twenty-first century. chávez analyses the works of these two chroniclers of mexico city. the chapter describes their different worldviews, styles, methodology, their emotional commitment to theirwork, and therepresentationof ʻothers.̓ in chapter 4 chávez examines the narratives of argentinian writer tomás eloy martínez and the history behind them, and proposes a palimpsestic reading of martínezs̓ variousworks and visions of juanperón (peronist cycle). at a timewhen the argentine press was in crisis, journalists disappeared, and perón maintained state censorship, martínez believed that to write about argentinian reality one had to resort to fiction, which, followingwilliam faulkners̓ idea, was far “more true” than any kind of journalism(qtd inthompson1979:106).however, journalistshavegiven testimony to life in latin america, perhaps more vivid and more complex than the novel. and 4 firstenglish languageedition: 2013, translatedbydaniellagitlin. 2 for furtherdiscussion, see, forexample: juanjoséhoyos.2009.lapasiónde contar: el periodismonarrativo en colombia, 1638-2000,medellín:edicioneshombrenuevo;daniel samperpizano. 2004.antología de grandes reportajes colombianos. bogotá:aguilar. 3 theauthorof latin american documentary narratives used theoriginal titles of theseworks inspanish. the full title is the story of a shipwrecked sailor: who drifted on a liferaft for ten days without food or water,wasproclaimedanationalhero,kissedbybeautyqueens,maderichthroughpublicity,andwasthen spurned by the government and forgotten for all time. first english languageedition: 1986, translatedby randolphhogan. 128 ............................................................................... crossroads.a journalofenglishstudies39 (2022) (ccby-nc-sa4.0) although their texts often read like good novels, they are about facts. their language springs fromurgency, fromnecessity, andachievesa total representationof life. chapter 5 concentrates on social and environmental issues in the works of the mexican juanvilloro and the argentinian martín caparrós, who, according to chávez, are “two of the best chroniclers in contemporary latin america” (2022: 135). chávez analyses the research methods and literary devices used by these chroniclers in their respectiveworksthe fear in the mirror. a chronicle of the earthquake in chile (2010)anda moon. a hypertravel diary (2009), which were born out of their private writing and recount dramatic experiences in chile, in the case of villoro, and in different parts of theworld in thecaseofcaparros̓work. thepresenceofviolence in thehistoryoflatinamericahasbeencontinuousandhas manifested itself in differentways.violence is nowrecognized as a complex andmultidimensional phenomenon that permeates the core of many latin american societies, and is also interlinked with an extremely high incidence of insecurity and fear. the differentmanifestationsof violence contrast, overlapand intertwinewith eachother to form a very complex layering of multiple practices. in recent decades, latin america has also produced the highest rates of urbanization, poverty and exclusion, and it has definitely been a place where being a journalist has often been a dangerous profession (moser & mcilwaine 2004: 41). chapter 6 analyses what chávez calls “documentary metafictions”, life stories of violence published by such authors as leila guerriero (argentina), cristian alarcón (chile), arturo fontaine talavera (chile) and santiago roncagliolo (peru). the author examines the ways they represent ʻothersʼ in times of violent oppressive regimes and social crisis, and the relationship between the journalists and their sources. appendix to the book consists of transcripts of interviews chávez conducted with elena poniatowska, leila guerriero, christian alarcón, arturo fontaine, santiago roncagliolo, francisco goldman, martín caparrós, and juan villoro. it seems unclear why francisco goldman is on the list of the interviewed journalists. he is a us novelist and journalistwhocovered thewars incentralamericaandwroteanonfictionaccount of the assassination of a guatemalan catholic bishop in a 2007 book the art of political murder: who killed the bishop?, but he writes in english. shouldnʼt his journalism be analysed in thecontextofamerican journalism? although chávezs̓ analysis of different journalistic genres remains at times unclear, and becomes foggier in an international context (new journalism, reportaż zaangażowany, literary reportage, periodismo narrativo, etc.), the books̓ strength lies in the brilliant reading of the corpus of the texts. chávezs̓ work is an important study of the latin american hybrid journalistic narratives, the platypuses of prose. it is important also fromtheperspectiveofpostcolonial traumanarrativesaschávezanalyses the texts 129 ............................................................................... crossroads.a journalofenglishstudies39 (2022) (ccby-nc-sa4.0) which show interest in the experiences and sufferings of those belonging to non-westerncultures (see:craps2013). journalism is a profession at the service of the right to know, and the documentary narratives analysed in chávezs̓ book give voice to those who have suffered. they draw attention to exploitation and injustice, and describe the reality that might otherwise be unknown.victimshavearight to tell theirownstories,andtheyhavearight toberecognizedas legitimate sourcesof truth. storytellingand“narrative truth” contribute to “the processof reconciliationbygivingvoice to individual subjectiveexperiences” (borraine 2002: 152). it is also away “to speak for others and toothers” (felman1995: 14). bhabha claims that the right tonarratemeans the right tobeheard, tobe recognizedandrepresented, andcontinues that: thearts andhumanities contribute to theprocess of cultural translationbypropagating andprotectingwhat i call the “right tonarrate”—theauthority to tell stories, recount or recast histories that create thewebof social life andchange thedirectionof its flow. the right tonarrate is not simply a linguistic act; it is also ametaphor for the fundamental human interest in freedomitself, the right tobeheard—tobe recognized and represented. (bhabha2014: n.p.) suchaviewwaspropagated in the1980sby the lawand literaturemovement, and the legal storytelling movement. in the 1990s, they tried to converge studies of legal and witness testimony into a storytelling imperative, and they entered into dialogue with latinamerican testimonioand traumastudies (stonepeters 2012: 20-21). engagedstorytelling has the capacity to illuminate history, time, and experience through narratives that invite listeners to find their respective places within these stories, and to actively move beyond them. stories, to use hayden whites̓ thought, translate knowing into telling. they allow for coherence, integrity, fullness and closure, especially in the case of traumaexperience. stories transmitmessages, impose ameaningon the events, and help survivors of trauma make sense of their experiences. stories and storytelling are central to human experience and understanding. liliana chávez díazs̓ book is dedicated to it, and it also opens a lively international discussion about the many facets of latinamericandocumentarynarratives.among thepoints indiscussionsare theparallelsbetweenlatinamericandocumentarynarrativesand theirnorthamericancousin. in theperiodof the1950s-1970s therewere twoparallel literary journalisms inlatinand angloamerica.both registered the social, political, andeconomic transformations that wereoccurringonbothcontinents.amongthemorenotableauthorsofsuch journalism in the united states were tom wolfe, gay talese, truman capote, norman mailer, jimmy breslin and john sack. among those in latin america were gabriel garcía márquez, rodolfo walsh, and miguel barnet. both groups produced some of the most 130 ............................................................................... crossroads.a journalofenglishstudies39 (2022) (ccby-nc-sa4.0) compelling narrative nonfiction in their respective languages. but although their style of writing and the techniques they used were similar (recording everyday details, detailed descriptions, scene-by-scene construction, for example), the political and cultural contexts in which they wrote their stories were very different, and that is why theirnarrativeprojectsweredifferent in scopeandnature (calvi 2010: 63-64). thebookalsoopensadiscussionabout the representationof theother, truth-telling, and shows thatmore research in this area is needed, including thedocumentarynarratives from other countries in latin america. chávez shows her readers that documentary narratives form a group of interrelated genres with fluid boundaries and flimsy barriers. they are also related to others, such as travel literature, memoirs, historical andethnographic essays, and fictional or semi-fictional literature.to show thatchávez entered murky waters in taking up the topic of documentary narratives, suffice it to quote darío jaramillo agudelo about villoros̓ definition of the platypus of prose: “the platypus is much more platypus than the one villoro saw as a platypus”5 (jaramillo agudelo 2012: 16). the topic is a challenging one but the author coped with the matter extremely well, and her book is a vital contribution to the field. latin american documentary narratives, despite the aforementioned minor shortcomings, is an obligatory read for anyone interested in the subject, andgives its readersmany jumping-off points fromwhich to immerse themselves in this fieldof inquiry. references aguilar, m. 2010. alberto fuguet: en fuga. in: m. aguilar (ed.), domadores de historia. conversaciones con grandes cronistas de américa latina, 159-171. santiago de chile: universidadfinisterrae,rileditores. bhabha,h.k. ʻtheright tonarrate,̓ harvard design magazine, no. 38 (2014), available at: www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/issues/38/the-right-to-narrate [accessed: 19 february 2022]. boraine,a.2002.truthandreconciliationinsouthafrica:thethirdway. inr. i.rotberg &d.thompson(eds.),truthv. justice, 141–157.princeton:princetonuniversitypress. calvi, p. 2010. latin america's own new journalism, literary journalism studies, 2: 2, fall, 63-83. craps, s. 2013. postcolonial witnessing. trauma out of bounds, london: palgrave, macmillan. felman,s. 1995.educationandcrisis,or thevicissitudesofteaching. inc.caruth (ed.), trauma: explorations in memory, 13-44. baltimore and london: the johns hopkins universitypress. 5 “[…]elornitorrincoesmuchomásornitorrincoque loque leviovillorodeornitorrinco” 131 ............................................................................... crossroads.a journalofenglishstudies39 (2022) (ccby-nc-sa4.0) interview with juan villoro. 2016. la crónica es un ornitorrinco. charlando con juanvilloro, april 8, available at www.iletradoperocuerdo.com/2016/04/08/la-cronicaes-un-ornitorrinco-charlando-con-juan-villoro/ [accessed20february2022]. jaramillo agudelo, d. (ed.) 2012. antología de crónica latinoamericana actual, madrid: alfaguara. kramer,m.&w.call. 2007.telling true stories,newyork:aplumebook. moser c. o. n. & c. mcilwaine. 2004. encounters with violence in latin america. urban poor perceptions from colombia and guatemala,newyork:routledge. muñoz,b.2014.notasdesabotonadas. in:d. jaramilloagudelo (ed.), 627–631,antología de crónica latinoamericana actual,madrid:alfaguara. stone peters, j. 2015. “literature”, and the “rights of man”, and narratives of atrocity: historicalbackgrounds to thecultureoftestimony. ine. s.goldberg&a. schultheis moore (eds.), 19–40. theoretical perspectives on human rights and literature, new york:routledge. thompson, h. s. 1979. gonzo papersvol. 1. the great shark hunt. strange tales from astrangetime,newyork: simonandschuster. *** anna maria karczewska is an assistant professor in the centre for literary studies at the university of białystok, poland. she is a graduate in english and spanish philology. she has a ph.d. in cultural studies from the swps university of social sciences and humanities in warsaw. her current research interests revolve around latin american cultureandlatinamerican literature. anna maria karczewska doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.39.4.09 latin american documentary narratives. the intersections of storytelling and journalism in contemporary literature by liliana chávez díaz, bloomsbury publishing, 2021, 312 pp. isbn: 9781501366031. £ 64.80. 8 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) bożena kucała1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.36.1.01 jagiellonian university in kraków, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9882-9305 housing the past: victorian houses in neo victorian fiction abstract. as argued, among others, by gaston bachelard in the poetics of space (1958), a house which has been inhabited over a period of time becomes a composite of its physical structure and the mental space created by its residents’ thoughts, dreams and memories. this article analyses two contemporary novels in which houses as tangible manifestations of temporally remote experience provide a link to the victorian past. lauren willig’s that summer (2014) and kate beaufoy’s another heartbeat in the house (2015) represent the same type of neo-victorian fiction: their plots are composed of two strands, one set in the modern age and the other in the nineteenth century, and in the course of each story parallels and convergences are revealed between the two ages and the two casts of characters. the article argues that both novels are also typical “romances of the archive” – as defined by suzanne keen (2001) − in which the material legacy of the past triggers a personally motivated inquiry, leading contemporary characters to uncover certain bygone mysteries, and, crucially, to recognise the past’s continuing appeal and relevance. keywords: neo-victorian fiction, the house in literature, romances of the archive, interaction between past and present, double plot. in his seminal study the poetics of space (1958), gaston bachelard advances the concept of the house as a dwelling which transcends its material dimensions: “a house that has been experienced is not an inert box. inhabited space transcends geometrical space” (1994: 47). from his phenomenological perspective, it is the people who inhabit it that shape and reshape the identity of the house; effectively, it also becomes a mental construct capable of storing and integrating our “thoughts, memories and dreams” (1994: 6-7). the building is mentally and emotionally appropriated by its residents in the process of habitation, as they experience the house “in its reality and in its virtuality” (1994: 5). a key assumption behind his reflections is that the nebulous sphere of memories and imaginings intersects with a material entity.2 for joëlle bahloul, the accretion 1 address for correspondence: institute of english studies, jagiellonian university, al. mickiewicza 9, 31-120 kraków, poland. e-mail: bozena.kucala@uj.edu.pl 2 as joe moran argues, although bachelard refrains from describing specific dwellings, his oneiric house may in fact be linked to an identifiable kind of architecture – pre-modernist, non-urban, and capable of accommodating multifunctional spaces designed for a variety of people (2006: 29). hence, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9882-9305 mailto:bozena.kucala@uj.edu.pl 9 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of memories is a key constitutive element of the house: “the domestic and family world makes up the woof of remembrance, of memory. the house is ‘inhabited’ by memory. remembrance is moulded into the material and physical structures of the domestic space” (2012: 260).3 in her anthropological study of houses, mary douglas emphasises that a house has to be inhabited over a period of time to become a home, which she regards as a blend of space and time: “a home is not only a space, it also has some structure in time; and because it is for people who are living in that time and space, it has aesthetic and moral dimensions” (2012: 52). implicit or explicit in all the reflections above is a view of the house as a composite of spatial and temporal dimensions, as well as of the meaning attributed to it by its residents. houses play a crucial role in the neo-victorian novels4 by lauren willig and kate beaufoy. in willig’s that summer (2014)5 and beaufoy’s another heartbeat in the house (2015)6 dilapidated victorian mansions offer contemporary heroines a way of reaching out to the past. the experience of walking down the corridors, exploring the rooms and attics, examining objects and mementoes leads to the gradual revelation of the real-life stories stored within the confines of the victorian walls. importantly for the plots, this is a past that eventually turns out to resonate with the heroines’ present. however, the protagonists of willig’s and beaufoy’s novels are initially confronted with actual, material structures that mean nothing to them. to use bachelard’s formulation, herne hill in that summer and lissaguirra in another heartbeat in the house at first appear to be no more than “inert boxes,” or “geometrical spaces,” with none of the transcendent dimension acquired in the process of being inhabited. the fact that, without physically changing from the perspective of the heroines, both houses evolve and alter their identities in the course of each story validates bachelard’s claim about a house’s capacity for metamorphosing into a mental construct shaped by the experience of its residents. houses provide a material link to other people’s pasts. in the words of joe moran, houses “represent continuity and permanence: they often outlive us, and will probably have already housed people who are now dead” (2006: 33). this is precisely what the his vision of the house would appear to include victorian country houses such as those depicted in that summer and another heartbeat in the house. 3 in his essay “between memory and history: les lieux de mémoire” pierre nora contends that “[m]emory takes root in the concrete, in spaces, gestures, images, and objects” (1989: 9); memory is anchored, “crystallizes and secretes itself” in “sites of memory” (lieux de mémoire) (1989: 7). 4 the term “neo-victorian” is employed here in a broad and inclusive sense, to denote “contemporary fiction that engages with the victorian era” (hadley 2010: 4). 5 born in new york, lauren willig is a full-time writer, the author of several historical novels. cf. https://laurenwillig.com/ 6 kate beaufoy is an irish actress and a novelist. another heartbeat in the house is her second historical novel. cf. https://www.katebeaufoy.net/ 10 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) modern heroines in the two novels discover. as they are clearing out the old houses, they learn to relate objects to their proper historical context and see them for what they originally were, instead of treating them as mere curiosities.7 there is an explicit comment on the meaning of domestic objects, voiced by a victorian artist in willig’s novel. in his medievalist paintings, gavin thorne tries to invest relics of the past with the meaning they once had for the people who used them: “to me, they were the possessions of the people who had them in the time when they were made. putting them into the scene felt like … well, like returning them to the time in which they belonged” (2014: 112). the modern heroines unwittingly re-enact his attitude. in each novel, the narrative alternates between the victorian age and modern times; the tangible continuity of the nineteenth century, ensured by the survival of a victorian mansion and its contents, helps create meaningful connections between the temporally remote stories. this article analyses the process whereby in the two neo-victorian novels the material, domestic relics of the victorian age, attain significance in the eyes of the modernday heroines. the victorian houses begin to be perceived as spatio-temporal constructs, capable of forging connections between past and present. in each book, the duality of the temporal framework is constitutive of these processes: each house is gradually revealed to be a palimpsestic entity with a history stretching back over a hundred years and connecting different periods. as in mikhail bakhtin’s chronotope, “spatial and temporal indicators are fused into one carefully thought-out, concrete whole” (bakhtin 1990: 84). in each novel, the victorian house gives the modern-day protagonist access to the past by inspiring not only personal interest, but also amateur historical enquiry which ultimately yields tangible results. hence, it is argued that that summer and another heartbeat in the house may be analysed as instances of the type of fiction that suzanne keen termed “romances of the archive” (2003 [2001]) – novels whose plots are driven by archival research. the house as a palimpsest in willig’s and beaufoy’s novels alike, the process of retrieving the past originates in the materiality of the house. the “concreteness of the physical environment” functions as “an important fixing agent” (cf. moran 2006: 40), however, not so much for the protagonists’ own memories, as bachelard claimed, as for other people’s histories. on her arrival at lissaguirra, the sight of different layers of wallpaper immediately alerts the heroine of another heartbeat in the house to the build-up of history within its walls: 7 following walter benjamin, moran points out that “the afterlife of material artefacts, once they have ceased to be useful as commodities, opens them up to concealed histories and involuntary memories” (2006: 33). 11 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) a patch of damp by the window had caused a strip of wallpaper to come away, revealing a layer of amaranth purple paper, and beneath that another of prussian blue. edie picked at the edge but resisted the temptation to start pulling, because she knew that once she started she would not be able to stop. there was a word for it, she knew – a word for layers upon layers upon layers. palimp-something. it would come to her later. (2015: loc. 596-601) and, indeed, it soon does: the term is “palimpsest,” which, according to the dictionary definition she recalls, signifies “a layering of present experiences over faded pasts” (2015: loc. 620). although the notion of the palimpsest harks back to the practice of overwriting manuscripts on the same surface, it may be extended to apply, as the protagonist suggests here, to other entities which evolve by the accumulation of different strata. in his discussion of the significance of human and non-human dwellings, the anthropologist tim ingold draws an analogy between houses and natural habitats – he contends that houses are organic environments, capable of development. the inhabitants of a given house make it grow and change by “keeping it under repair, decorating it, or making structural alterations in response to their changing domestic circumstances.” hence, he suggests that “[h]ouses [...] are living organisms. like trees, they have life histories …” (2012: 34). the old houses of herne hill and lissaguirra have amassed material evidence of decades of habitation.8 both heroines discover that apparently none of the inhabitants ever threw anything away. in each novel, the mundane task of clearing out a disused house causes the protagonist to embark on a compelling and riveting investigation of the layers of remote as well as more recent history. indeed, the novels themselves are palimpsestic in the sense of staging a co-existence and interaction of two narratives. as mark llewellyn avers in his essay on neo-victorian fiction, the importance of the palimpsest lies not in its writing of new texts over old ones, but in the simultaneous existence of both narratives on the same page, occupying the same space, and speaking in odd, obscure, and different ways to one another. for it is important to remember that, as the neo-victorian text writes back to something in the nineteenth century, it does so in a manner that often aims to re-fresh and re-vitalise the importance of that earlier text to the here and now. (2008: 170-171) 8 both victorian mansions have gothic features as well, with cluttered attics, nooks and crannies, which contain both treasures and detritus. cf. bachelard on the importance of such extra spaces within a house: “thanks to the house, a great many of our memories are housed, and if the house is a bit elaborate, if it has a cellar and a garret, nooks and corridors, our memories have refuges that are all the more clearly delineated” (1994: 8). 12 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the plots of that summer and another heartbeat in the house bear a striking resemblance to each other: in each novel, the heroine’s encounter with the victorian mansion is unexpected, unsolicited and unsought, but in hindsight it appears nearly supernaturally engineered, as if the dead wanted to be contacted and redeemed by the living. indeed, the houses themselves seem to have a life of their own. in lauren willig’s that summer, julia, a young englishwoman living in new york in 2009, finds out that “[s]omeone’s left [her] a house […] in england,” as she casually puts it (2014: 1). having been whisked away to the united states by her father at a very early age, she remembers neither the house nor the aunt who bequeathed it to her. convinced that the house has nothing to do with her and is “just a house” (2014: 10), she perceives it as an unwanted gift she would rather renounce. the only value it has for her is its market value, so she travels to england determined to sell it at the first opportunity and return to new york. things, however, turn out differently. in the course of the story, julia discovers the relics of nearly two centuries accumulated in her house, a pre-raphaelite painting hidden away in a wardrobe, and a skeleton in the garden. prompted by her findings, the heroine stumbles upon a victorian story which proves to have a bearing on her own life. the past darkly glimpsed thanks to the objects she uncovers resonates personally with julia when her own lineage emerges from the recesses of the house – it is quite plausible that she is descended from the people portrayed in the painting; indeed, the murdered man may have been her great-great-grandfather. simultaneously, disjointed memories from her early childhood emerge. thanks to the recollections awakened by the house, the traumas of her parents’ split and her mother’s death in a car accident are reconfigured in her perception, to be finally successfully confronted and overcome. hence, towards the end of the novel, when the house has revealed some of its mysteries, julia also feels that “the locked room in the back of her mind was open, the demons that had hounded her for so long banished” (2014: 318). the novel is open-ended, but it is likely that rather than sell the house, as she intended, julia will keep it and make it her home, thus accepting her inheritance and her place in the filial history. from her point of view, herne hill has been transformed utterly, from an old decaying building to a space animated by the past and vibrant with prospects for the future. edie, the heroine of beaufoy’s novel, travels to an abandoned victorian house in ireland for a similar reason: one of her relatives whom she unexpectedly met at a new year’s eve party asked her to do him the favour of preparing his holiday house for sale, since he is too old to do it himself. the time is 1937, and english house owners are anxious to dispense with their property in ireland. edie’s task is clear: “packing everything to go to auction and putting the house up for sale” (2015: loc. 396). however, as in the previous novel, the moment of arrival is concomitant with the forging of an emotional bond between the house and the heroine. lissaguirra becomes personified in edie’s eyes: “edie turned to the house, and smiled. it looked back at her with the merest 13 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) hint of challenge, waiting for her to make the first move. […] the door swung open, and the house breathed out” (2015: loc. 547-551). the manuscripts and artefacts she discovers while preparing the property for sale reveal to her the richness of the human experience which the house has witnessed, and, consequently, make her anxious for it not to be demolished but, instead, to be offered a new lease of life: “edie felt a great surge of love for the house. she wanted to protect it, to cocoon it…” (2015: loc. 2429). with her newly formed attachment to the house and a sense of responsibility for its survival, edie eventually chooses suitable buyers – a young couple who appear to be genuinely impressed by the place and, unwittingly, intend to use it in accordance with the first owner’s wishes. it will be clear from the synopses above that in each novel the protagonist’s project amounts to the restoration (or partial restoration) of an unknown past. that summer and another heartbeat in the house represent the kind of neo-victorian fiction which, in the words of kate mitchell, is “less concerned with making sense of the victorian past, than with offering it as a cultural memory, to be re-membered, and imaginatively re-created, not revised or understood” (2010: 7). this view is consonant with ann heilmann and mark llewellyn’s claim that a significant part of neo-victorian fiction relies on the motif of anamnesis: the neo-victorian novel “often revolves around the re(dis)covery of a personal and/or collective history and the restitution of a family inheritance through the reconstruction of fragmented, fabricated, or repressed memories: a retracing and piecing together of the protagonist’s roots” (2010: 34). this is exactly what happens in willig’s novel: the mansion helps the protagonist reconnect both with her childhood and with her victorian ancestry. but, to a degree, it is also true of beaufoy’s story: the strong-minded, unconventional edie appears to be a twentieth-century incarnation of the female victorian writer who originally owned lissaguirra; perhaps more importantly, she also happens to be precisely the kind of appreciative editor that the unpublished novelist waited for. possessed by the past in a.s. byatt’s possession − which is arguably the best-known and paradigmatic neovictorian novel with a double plot featuring contemporary characters re-enacting, with a difference, a nineteenth-century story − the structure is underlain by serendipity, coincidence and uncanny correlations between the two strands of the plot.9 in possession, comments jackie buxton, “victorian fictions are somehow dictating contemporary realities” (1996: 210). from the moment roland michell, a contemporary literary scholar, chances upon unknown nineteenth-century manuscripts by the victorian 9 a kirkus reviewer invokes possession and peter ackroyd’s chatterton – both of which alternate two plot strands − as that summer’s “superior predecessors” (“that summer by lauren willig,” 2014). 14 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) poet randolph ash, he is driven, or possessed, by the compulsion to pursue the opaque victorian story. his research leads him to another victorian poet, christabel lamotte, and subsequently to the contemporary specialist on lamotte, maud bailey. as their joint quest becomes more and more compulsive and personally motivated, roland’s critical self-consciousness enables him to recognise his implication in a narrative of someone else’s design: “roland thought, partly with precise postmodernist pleasure, and partly with a real element of superstitious dread, that he and maud were being driven by a plot or fate that seemed, at least possibly, to be not their own plot or fate but that of those others” (2002: 421). whereas that summer and another heartbeat in the house fall short of the selfconsciousness and literary knowingness of byatt’s novel,10 they resemble it in forging ostensible correspondences between victorian and modern-day characters and stories. roland’s primal discovery takes place in a library; julia and edie make theirs in victorian houses. relics of the past not only seem to await discovery, but also they appear to foreshadow the present intervention. imogen grantham, a victorian ancestress of whose existence julia was unaware until this moment, apparently wishes to communicate with julia through her portrait. on seeing it, the contemporary heroine is struck by the life-like quality of the painting and the woman’s resemblance to her mother and to herself: … she found herself face-to-face with a woman on the wall. for a second, the dark hair, the pale skin, the flowers, made julia think of her mother, of that faded image in an old snapshot. but there was nothing faded about this picture. even dimmed with dust and neglect, there was a vibrancy about the painted image that drew the eye like a magnet. […] she looked, realized julia, as lost as julia felt. […] she felt a kinship with this unknown woman, whoever she might be […] julia took a step forward, feeling as if, if she only got close enough, those lips might whisper secrets to her. (2014: 40) seized by a desire to discover the identity of the woman, julia begins to appreciate the palimpsestic quality of her house. rather than throwing away the relics of the past prior to sale, she is prepared to investigate them: “it could be interesting. it’s like an archaeological dig, layers of history all crammed together” (2014: 69). 10 this is not to say that they are devoid of intertextual allusions. one of the characters in another heartbeat in the house is william thackeray, who models becky sharp on eliza drury, the nineteenth-century heroine of beaufoy’s novel. the unhappy marriage of the victorian heroine in that summer brings to mind dorothea’s marriage to mr casaubon in george eliot’s middlemarch. 15 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) from his or her superior vantage point, the reader can already see much more than julia: her sense of kinship with imogen grantham is not so mysterious after all, given that they are related. the book is deliberately structured in such a way as to highlight similarities in the lives of the heroines. the constant shifts between the nineteenth and the twenty-first century stories underline the parallels so that julia increasingly appears to be a contemporary embodiment of the woman in the portrait. the discovery of a hidden painting, in which that same woman is depicted as iseult, intensifies julia’s curiosity about the victorian story to such an extent that, like roland and maud in byatt’s novel, she becomes genuinely possessed by the desire to get to know the past. a strikingly similar sense of narrative determinism may be detected in beaufoy’s novel. among the miscellany of objects she is trying to sort out, edie finds a chest with the initials e.d. although they stand for eliza drury, the woman for whom the house was built in the 1840s, edie’s first association is with her own name. this association, in a sense, becomes legitimised as the story progresses. the memoirs she finds in the chest absorb edie so much that the reading takes priority over her domestic chores. the veracity of the memoirs is corroborated by the other artefacts she finds in the house – eliza’s books, her other papers, her clothes and memorabilia.11 edie is very excited; as she says to her dog (her only companion in the secluded place), “we may have found ourselves a mystery to solve!” (2015: loc. 859). indeed, it may well be the other way round – the mystery was waiting for her to solve it. her immersion in the story and identification with eliza drury grow; towards the end of the novel, edie puts on eliza’s clothes and is even mistaken for the ghost of the victorian woman. the last section of eliza’s memoirs, uncannily, seems to describe edie at the present moment: “the swans have re-emerged from the rushes. perhaps, in years to come, somebody will sit upon this window seat and watch another pair glide past on the water. i like to think that some day someone will be happy here. i like to think that some day, there will be another heartbeat in this house” (2015: loc. 5455).12 edie is determined to fulfil the author’s wishes and publish the captivating memoirs; as she explains to her superior at her london publishing house, “i 11 in fact, the written records and the other artefacts complement and authenticate each other. for instance, while perusing eliza’s manuscript, edie finds references to the garments she has found in the house, while those that have not been mentioned yet await their turn in eliza’s story: “she felt her mouth go dry and her heart pitter-pat as she reached for her notebook and ran a finger along the listed items. there! 74: a grey silk moiré evening dress. 67: a rose-pink sash with appliqué. she mentally reviewed the other garments she had found in the trunk – the riding habit, the cashmere robe, the dinner gown – and wondered what had happened to the green tabinet and the sprigged mousseline mentioned by the narrator.” (2015: loc. 1160-1165) 12 the swans, which to both heroines seem mysteriously immune to the passage of time, may be an allusion to w.b. yeats’s “wild swans at coole.” 16 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) didn’t ask to see [the manuscript] – it presented itself to me. but it was almost as if it was meant to come my way, as if it had been waiting for me to find it” (2015: loc. 5486). unquestionably, there is a degree of contrivance in the way the authors interweave the two strands of the plot so as to demonstrate the interconnectedness of the victorian and the modern stories and characters, as well as to make the twentiethor twentyfirst century story, respectively, a continuation and a variation − with a relatively happy ending − on the nineteenth-century narrative. byatt used a similar strategy in possession and chose to subtitle it a “romance,” thus overtly laying claim to some freedom from the principle of verisimilitude to which a novel supposedly adheres. one of the epigraphs in possession quotes nathaniel hawthorne’s assertion that a romance “has fairly a right to present [the truth of the human heart] under circumstances, to a great extent, of the writer’s own choosing or creation.” romances of the house inspired by her reading of possession, suzanne keen coined the term “romances of the archive” to designate stories propelled by archival research. one of the defining characteristics of the genre is the fact that the characters are professional or amateur researchers, and key scenes take place in “libraries or in other structures housing collections of papers and books” (2003: 3). taking little notice of postmodern historiographic scepticism, the questers “unabashedly interpret the past through its material traces” and, more often than not, succeed in accessing it. the romance of the archive overlaps with the genres of adventure story and detective fiction: typically, the research becomes a thrilling, sensational quest for the truth, the resolution of a mystery, the discovery of new evidence. crucial to keen’s definition of the romance of the archive is the protagonist’s desire to “connect separate time periods, deeper and nearer pasts” (2003: 4), which, when carried over into the structure of the plot, results in coincidences and repetitions (2003: 39). in a mode which, with regard to mimetic standards, is closer to the romance than to the novel, such narratives employ a stock formula for happy endings: “characters are transformed, wrongs righted, disasters averted, villains exposed, crimes solved” (2003: 4). in contrast to historiographic metafiction, the focus has shifted from epistemological problems to the effects and consequences of the acquisition of knowledge about the past. as keen has put it, “the history invoked by romances of the archive is predominantly a usable past” (2003: 5) – something is achieved, certain changes happen, the new evidence has a practical application. among the palpable results are the awards awaiting the dedicated researchers – in possession, these include “enhanced prestige, multiple job offers, cash, career changes, even better sex” (2003: 41). stressing that in a romance of the archive the truth about the past is revealed thanks to its “material traces” (2003: 52), keen points out that the results of the research may be material as well, in the form of some kind of “physical union of past and present, scholar and subject” (2003: 42). 17 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) to cite the example of possession again, the contemporary heroine discovers her “corporeal or genetic tie” (2003: 42) to the victorian poets she studies – she turns out to be their distant descendant, and simultaneously the inheritor of their manuscripts. therefore, ultimately, the enhanced understanding of the past in a romance of the archive proves beneficial in many respects (2003: 54). manifestly, that summer and another heartbeat in the house are typical representatives of the genre defined by keen. in each, the traces of the past prompt amateur research, leading to the discovery, or partial discovery, of facts which change art history, or literary history, respectively, as well as transform the lives of the questers. in willig’s novel, the twenty-first century heroine embarks on a private pursuit of the past after finding a pre-raphaelite portrait in her house, and in particular when soon afterwards she fortuitously chances upon a concealed painting of tristan and iseult, apparently by the same artist. together with another researcher, an antiques dealer with whom she becomes romantically involved in the process, they study the manuscripts found in the house, search the internet, and consult art histories and library resources. as in a typical romance, the quest bears fruit – in their small way, julia and nick rewrite art history by discovering the identity of the artist – gavin thorne, a little-known pre-raphaelite painter.13 after a promising start to an artistic career, thorne completely disappeared from the records. thanks to julia and nick, more of his paintings are revealed, and his tristan and iseult, which the tate gallery wants to buy, is likely to attain its proper place among the masterpieces of pre-raphaelite art. additionally, after a hundred and sixty years, the mystery of his disappearance is solved – he was murdered and buried in the grounds of herne hill. the reader, who is familiar with the victorian plot in the novel, can appreciate that the contemporary characters correctly surmise the painter’s romantic affair with the lady of the house. as in possession, a physical union between past and present is forged when julia realises that she is a distant descendant of the painter and his model. this genetic legacy, in turn, revives her interest in art. after several years of unrewarding work in the financial sector, and currently unemployed and adrift, julia is keen to return to university and do a phd in art history. she notes another coincidence – gavin and imogen never managed to escape to america,14 but she has come back from there to take possession of her inheritance. the victorian mansions not only enable the heroines to vicariously experience other people’s lives, but also turn out to have direct relevance to their own. julia in that summer 13 thorne is a fictitious figure, but dante gabriel rossetti and john everett millais make an appearance in the novel as minor characters. 14 the relevant passage in the novel reads: “julia found it ironic that they had been bound for new york. it was enough to make one wonder about karma. […] it struck julia strongly […] that she had wound up where gavin and imogen had intended to be” (2014: 332). 18 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) discovers yet another, more recent painting, which invokes a suppressed memory in her mind, so that the two images immediately converge. she recollects that the painting was done by her mother and identifies the little girl in the painting as herself. more long-buried memories flash through her mind, which enables her to reinterpret the lifechanging, traumatic experiences in her life. julia realises that at the time of her death in a car accident her mother was coming back to her family instead of running away from it. this new understanding brings about a reconciliation with her father, and a belated appreciation of her mother, which in turn makes her ready to start a mature relationship. she at last begins to recollect her own visits to the house as a very young child; apparently, herne hill is not as alien to her as she initially supposed. the protagonist learns from the more remote past as well: finding out about the tragic end of imogen and gavin’s affair, she is determined that her own romantic story should not end unhappily, which is why she attempts to and succeeds in resolving her disagreements with nick. because the traumas experienced by the female characters in the book are in fact intergenerational, the novel’s dual perspective helps to “address […] the past in order to deal with the present, being simultaneously retrospective and prospective,” which is typical of much neo-victorian fiction (cf. kohlke & gutleben 2011: 33). likewise, edie in another heartbeat in the house is uniquely placed to appreciate the artefacts she finds in the forsaken house. due to her expertise in literature, she can trace the connections between the personality of the manuscript’s authoress and becky sharp in william thackeray’s most famous novel. while it is well known to his biographers that thackeray travelled in ireland, the discovery of his stay at lissaguirra and his friendship with eliza drury will be edie’s contribution to literary history, as well as the revelation that through the ideas she shared and the advice she gave to thackeray, eliza to some degree co-authored vanity fair.15 and there are personal benefits awaiting edie as well. she arrived in ireland during a period of prolonged trauma in her own life, caused by the sudden death of her best friend hilly, and exacerbated by a recent stint of rather frustrating editorial work, when she waited in vain for publishable material. in fact, she is not a complete stranger to the irish house she is preparing for sale; during her present stay, she recollects holidaying at lissaguirra as a teenager, together with hilly. towards the end of the story, edie is ready to come to terms with her grief, as her happy adolescent reminiscences begin to dominate over the pain of her recent bereavement. also, with the superb manuscript she chanced upon, she is looking forward to resuming her publishing work. as in that summer, dealing with the past helps the 15 this, of course, is beaufoy’s fantasy. there are other literary references: ian fleming is edie’s eccentric, flamboyant friend, planning to become a writer of spy fiction; beaufoy also acknowledges a debt to mary wollstonecraft’s feminist ideas in the creation of eliza drury (leonard 2015). there is an echo of virginia woolf’s a room of one’s own in eliza’s insistence that in order to write she must have her own house and must be financially independent. 19 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) modern-day character face up to her own past and future, whereas the history of the house, thanks to her, will go on. conclusion considering the decades of their histories, neither herne hill in that summer nor lissaguirra in another heartbeat in the house has any stable identity or unambiguous connotations. from the perspective of particular inhabitants, the meaning of the two victorian dwellings fluctuates from a safe domestic space, an anchor for one’s identity, to a place of exclusion or even a veritable domestic prison (as is the case of imogen). therefore, the chief value of the houses resides elsewhere − in their function as an empirical residue of the past, and a storage space for the human experience lived within their walls. that is why in each novel the reader encounters intimations that the house is a living entity, responsive to the lives lived within it. thanks to their material existence, the victorian dwellings testify to the reality of the past. as julia in that summer reflects, “it was too easy to manufacture memories, to stitch together bits of books and stories and convince herself that they were real. only the solid, the physical, held any true security” (2014: 89). it is in recognition of this fact that the modern heroines in both novels are anxious to ensure the houses’ survival. to refer to suzanne keen’s analysis of the motif of archival research in a range of contemporary novels, it should be observed that both herne hill and lissaguirra may be regarded as domestic archival spaces, offering those who wish to access the past a firm promise of success, in a mode reminiscent of romance. as historical novels, that summer and another heartbeat in the house, like a substantial proportion of contemporary historical fiction, “demonstrat[e] a vivid awareness of the problematics involved in seeking and achieving historical knowledge, [but] remain nonetheless committed to the possibility and the value of striving for that knowledge. they are more concerned with the ways in which fiction can lay claim to the past, provisionally and partially, rather than the ways that it can not” (cf. mitchell 2010: 3). the modern plots in willig’s and beaufoy’s novels have cautiously happy endings, with the protagonists thinking about the future with a degree of optimism. equally optimistic is the other, implicit conclusion that each novel offers, namely that dedicated research leads to genuine knowledge of the past. rather than being merely “geometric spaces,” the victorian houses disclose to the modern questers the layers of the past contained within their materiality. references bachelard, g. 1994. the poetics of space. trans. m. jolas. boston: beacon press. bahloul, j. 2012. telling places: the house as social architecture. in: c. briganti & k. mezei (eds.), the domestic space reader, 259-264. toronto: university of toronto press, scholarly publishing division. 20 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) bakhtin, m.m. 1990. forms of time and of the chronotope in the novel: notes toward a historical poetics. in: the dialogic imagination: four essays, 84-258. ed. m. holquist, trans. c. emerson & m. holquist. austin: university of texas press. beaufoy, k. 2015. another heartbeat in the house. dublin: transworld ireland. kindle ebook. buxton, j. 1996. ‘what’s love got to do with it?’ postmodernism and possession. english studies in canada 22(2): 199-219. byatt, a.s. 2002 [1990]. possession: a romance. london: vintage. douglas, m. 2012. the idea of a home: a kind of space. in: c. briganti & k. mezei (eds.), the domestic space reader, 50-54. toronto: university of toronto press, scholarly publishing division. hadley, l. 2010. neo-victorian fiction and historical narrative: the victorians and us. basingstoke: palgrave macmillan. heilmann, a. & llewellyn, m. 2010. introduction. neo-victorianism and post-authenticity: on the ethics and aesthetics of appropriation. in: neo-victorianism: the victorians in the twenty-first century, 1999-2009, 1-27. basingstoke: palgrave macmillan. ingold, t. 2012. building, dwelling, living: how animals and people make themselves at home in the world. in: c. briganti & k. mezei (eds.), the domestic space reader, 31 35. toronto: university of toronto press, scholarly publishing division. keen, s. 2003 [2001]. romances of the archive in contemporary british fiction. university of toronto press, scholarly publishing division. kohlke, m.-l. & gutleben, c. 2011. introducing neo-victorian family matters: cultural capital and reproduction. in: m-l. kohlke & c. gutleben (eds.), neo-victorian families: gender, sexual and cultural politics, 1-42. amsterdam/new york, ny: rodopi/brill. leonard, s. 2015. kate beaufoy: lakeside lodge deserved a story, so i wrote another heartbeat in the house. the irish examiner 21 november. https://www.irishexaminer.com/ ireland/kate-beaufoy-lakeside-lodge-deserved-a-story-so-i-wrote-another-heartbeatin-the-house-366320.html (accessed 12 april 2020). llewellyn, m. 2008. what is neo-victorian studies? neo-victorian studies 1(1): 164-185. mcclements, f. 2016. another heartbeat in the house by kate beaufoy. the irish times 16 january. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/another-heartbeat-in-the-houseby-kate-beaufoy-1.2498294 (accessed 12 april 2020). mitchell, k. 2010. history and cultural memory in neo-victorian fiction: victorian afterimages. houndsmills/new york: palgrave macmillan. moran, j. 2006. houses, habit and memory. in: g. smyth & j. croft (eds.), our house: the representation of domestic space in modern culture, 27-42. amsterdam/new york: rodopi. nora, p. 1989. between memory and history: les lieux de memoire. trans. m. rodebush. representations 26, special issue: memory and counter-memory: 7-24. https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/kate-beaufoy-lakeside-lodge-deserved-a-story-so-i-wrote-another-heartbeat-in-the-house-366320.html https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/kate-beaufoy-lakeside-lodge-deserved-a-story-so-i-wrote-another-heartbeat-in-the-house-366320.html https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/kate-beaufoy-lakeside-lodge-deserved-a-story-so-i-wrote-another-heartbeat-in-the-house-366320.html 21 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) that summer by lauren willig. 2014. kirkus reviews issue 15 may. https://www. kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lauren-willig/that-summer-willig/ (accessed 12 april 2020). willig, l. 2014. that summer. new york: st. martin’s press. kindle ebook. * * * bożena kucała is an assistant professor at the institute of english studies, jagiellonian university in kraków, where she teaches nineteenth-century and contemporary english literature. her research interests include contemporary english fiction, especially the historical novel and neo-victorian fiction. main publications: intertextual dialogue with the victorian past in the contemporary novel (2012), co-edited books: writer and time: james joyce and after (2010), confronting the burden of history: literary representations of the past (2012), travelling texts: j.m. coetzee and other writers (2014), powieść brytyjska w xxi wieku [the british novel in the 21st century] (2018). microsoft word crossroads 34.doc ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 46 agnieszka stawecka-kotuła1 doi:10.15290/cr.2021.34.3.04 maria curie-sklodowska university, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3140-8861 disruptive strangeness or domesticated exoticism? some challenges of cultural translation in the polish rendition of fury by salman rushdie abstract. the unfolding hybridisation of cultures calls for a culture-oriented approach to translation that could respond to the needs and expectations of contemporary readership. the present paper is devoted to the concept of the cultural turn in translation studies and its practical implications on actual translations of contemporary literary works. to illustrate the complexities of translating cultural elements, the polish translation of fury reflecting the usual rushdian blend of voices, plots, multi-cultural hybrid and culture references is used. the paper seeks to exemplify and discuss choices made by the translator striving to acquaint the target text reader with the complex universe of the novel to the similar extent as experienced by the source text reader. the principal strategy adopted by the polish translator might be labelled as domesticated exoticism. keywords: cultural translation, domesticated exoticism, fury by salman rushdie, contemporary literary translation, translation strategies. 1. the concept of cultural translation over the last decades, we have seen various translation scholars and practitioners articulate with force a strong need for a new approach to translation that in the age of growing hybridisation of cultures should be adjusted to expectations of contemporary readership. this cultural approach in translation studies or cultural turn, as the phenomenon was originally referred to by mary snell-hornby (1990), is associated with the landmark work of susan bassnett and andré lefevere as editors, translation, history and culture, first published in 1990. it put forward a major change in the perspective, with linguistic approach serving but as a starting point to develop a culture-based standpoint: now the questions have changed, the object of study has been redefined, what is studied is the text, embedded within its network of both source and target cultural signs and in this way translation studies has been able to utilize the linguistic approach and move out beyond it. (bassnett & lefevere 1990: 12) as emphasised by dorota urbanek, their volume shifted the focus from language to culture, from translation regarded as operation on texts towards translation seen as operation on cultures (urbanek 2010: 156). since this potent paradigm shift, the 1 address for correspondence: maria curie-sklodowska university, faculty of philology, institute of modern languages and literatures, pl. marii curie-skłodowskiej 4a, 20-031 lublin, poland. e-mail: agnieszka.stawecka-kotula@mail.umcs.pl ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 47 perception of both the translation process itself and its product has been shaped by the emphasis on translation between cultures, respect for alterity and communication seen as cross-cultural dialogue. basil hatim recapitulates the cultural turn in translation by acknowledging that: “the general trend in translation studies is clearly towards cultural rather than linguistic transfer. this entails that the process be viewed not as a transcoding of products but as a process of communication” (hatim 2001: 61). as many scholars, including david katan, argue, to achieve successful intercultural communication, a dialogue between two or more cultures needs to be initiated by the translator who facilitates understanding and acts a “cultural mediator” (katan 1996: 3). the mediatory function of translation in the context of cross-cultural dialogue is discussed at length by bożena tokarz. according to tokarz, internal connections between language, culture and the individual speaking become particularly visible in artistic translation as it is a creative process fulfilling a ‘mediatory, informative and supplementary function’2 (tokarz 2006: 10). the mediatory function of translation enables the two cultures to come into contact and it is only possible when the balance between “the known” and “the unknown” is maintained. tokarz observes that “the otherness” manifests itself at the level of lexis, morphology, syntax and style. thus, as she argues, the occurrence in the source text (st) of, among others, proper names and functional variants of language3 should be preserved in the target text (tt). however, as the scholar notes, some linguistic phenomena4 require individual solutions of the translator, who cannot violate the accepted linguistic norms. hence the translator is often obliged to employ different linguistic structures than the ones used in the tt and as a cultural mediator has to make rational choices and to compromise (tokarz 2006: 10-11). in her paper, tokarz makes a fundamental assumption that unlike some translations performing colonising function by subordinating other language, culture and thought to their own, cultural translation acquaints the reader with another culture, a different set of beliefs, broadens their mental, aesthetic and intellectual horizons, teaches new sensibility and inspires them to challenge the existing culture-specific stereotypes (tokarz 2006: 14). in other words, to avoid the colonising effect and to maintain the dialogue between two cultures, the translator is obliged to respect the otherness. 2. fury by salman rushdie as a cultural translation challenge in the light of the above assumption, the obvious questions arise as to what extent the translator is both able and allowed to preserve the otherness and traces of the source culture (sc) in the target text and what strategies or procedures best serve this purpose. to tackle these questions, it seems perfectly reasonable to use an existing rendition of a culture-loaded literary work that could illustrate some of the potential challenges and traps awaiting the translator. in this respect, one of works worth analysing is fury by the india-born british author, salman rushdie. rushdie’s multifaceted identity and unique literary style coincide closely with the ideology behind cultural translation. 2 all translations are mine. 3 here, tokarz refers to such functional variants of language as colloquial, official, sloppy, literary and professional language. 4 to quote tokarz, those are polysemous expressions, neologisms, idiomatic expressions, proverbs, forms of address and wordplay. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 48 often labelled as a postcolonial author and the “other” voice in english literature, rushdie joins a host of contemporary british writers whose cultural backgrounds come from former colonies and who, to quote tim woods: […] produce fictions that interrogate not only the colonial legacies in their cultural homelands, but also question and explore the implications of multiculturalism in the uk, or the cultural, social and political effects of being non-british and non-white within a contemporary pluralist society (woods 2004: 741). however, rushdie himself prefers to be referred to as “a sort of multinational hybrid,” sharing the sense that many writers have of belonging to both cultures, which, as homi bhabha argues, subverts the narratives of colonial power and dominant culture (bhabha 1994: 85). unfortunately, the infamous fatwa, imposed on the author in 1989 by ayatollah khomeini following publication of his fourth novel, the satanic verses, proves somehow that different vantage points and cultural dissimilarities can be the reason for grave misunderstandings and that the process of merging and intercultural dialogue is still deeply flawed. most of rushdie’s novels are reflective of the metafictional trend in contemporary literary writing. the author is well known for intermingling historical facts with fictitious narration, claiming thus the right to interpret history as a subjective selection of unascertainable memories and not so much as a series of verifiable facts. his writings abound in intertextuality, cross-referenced names, vivid images and allusions to both classical works of art and mass entertainment creations. according to michael wood, other features of rushdie’s style are “garrulousness,” “melodrama,” “hyperbole” and “writing in pictures” (wood in di mauro 2000: 117). paired with extensive commentaries, lengthy digressions, and erudite reflections found in rushdie’s works, the above characteristics of his style require both a very attentive and patient reader, let alone the translator endeavouring to elicit the same response in the tt reader. having in mind the usual oriental setting of rushdie’s novels, one may be surprised by the distinctiveness of fury with most of the novel set in new york, viewed through british-indian lenses of the protagonist and the main narrator of the story in one – malik solanka. this fifty-five-year-old indian professor of philosophy and a historian of ideas turned a sophisticated doll maker and, eventually, a web designer is torn apart by his internal struggle. mysterious, unaccountable feelings of rage disrupt his otherwise peaceful existence. when his obsessions escalate into an outright fit of fury and a narrowly prevented act of violence against his perfect wife and his beloved son, he decides to flee his comfortable london life to seek refuge and much desired redemption in new york. in the novel, the city is viewed as a potent symbol of america that “insults the rest of the planet” (rushdie 2002: 6), represents imperial wealth and excess, houses debasement of moral values and encapsulates contemporary vanities and fears. it therefore proves to be a perfect setting for rushdie’s central theme of the book – fury – which in narrator’s own words “drives us to our finest heights and coarsest depths” (rushdie 2002: 30). the main protagonist’s fate is intertwined with the one of greek goddesses of vengeance, the erinnyes, i.e. the furies. they are embodied in three women of solanka’s adult life – his wife, eleanor, and his two new york lovers, the serbian mila and the indian neela. regardless of whether this literary depiction of furia is naively overromantic and brought to an unconvincing denouement for some, it accurately ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 49 reflects typically rushdian inventive blend of plots, voices, views, digressions, tales, myths, allegories, puns, magic realism, multi-cultural hybrid and historical and pop culture references. as such this multifaceted universe of fury constitutes a real challenge for the translator wishing to render the novel into polish. jerzy kozłowski took up the challenge and strived to tackle most of the translation problems of the source text. the final outcome, the polish rendition of fury, is definitely worth scrutinising to investigate the degree to which the intricate network of intertextual relations and polyphonic diversity present in the source text has been preserved in the target text and to discover what and why has been lost. 3. various approaches to rendition of cultural elements: different degrees of exoticism the primary questions to be asked while approaching the cultural elements present in the source text are whether they constitute authentic realia and whether they exist in translator’s native context. the answers to these questions should determine translator’s decisions about solutions to be adopted. the cultural perspective from which the translation of fury should be analysed entails that the process be viewed also with reference to the already deep-rooted in most translation scholars’ minds notions of foreignisation and domestication, popularised by lawrence venuti. the foreignisation/domestication model, as nathalie ramière notes, “has been acclaimed as a powerful tool to conceptualise the interface between the source culture – seen as the ‘self’ – and the target culture (tc) – seen as the ‘other’ – but has also sparked wide debate in the field” (ramière 2006). different terms such as “naturalisation,” “assimilation,” or “exotisation” have been coined later on to name the two extremes of the translation spectrum (ramière 2006). to untangle this fundamental issue, it seems pertinent to consider piotr kwieciński’s interesting view on the foreignisation/domestication scale (f/d scale). kwieciński perceives it not as an objective, binary and static division, but as a gradable scale highly dependent on skopos, co-text, context and individual subjective sensibilities. he offers his own definition of foreignisation as “a translation strategy which results in a target-text profile that is disruptive, alien and/or obscure vis-à-vis prevailing target-culture norms,” while domestication is defined by him as “the accommodation of the target text to established tl/tc norms and conventions” (kwieciński 2004: 30). having modified venuti’s definitions, kwieciński suggests that the f/d strategies, together with all the intermediate grades of the scale, are not related exclusively to the choice of translation procedures ranging from borrowing to cultural substitution. quite the opposite, in his work, he proves that the f/d scales interact dynamically, producing a host of different configurations. for the sake of clarity, kwieciński adopts the terms exotisation and assimilation as complementary, yet different from foreignisation and domestication. according to kwieciński, the latter two are strictly target-based. further, kwieciński distinguishes three groups of procedures. they are as follows: a) exoticising procedures such as borrowing, calque/semantic extension/coinage (or a combination of them), b) intermediate procedures divided into rich explanatory ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 50 categories (different combinations of exoticising procedures with intratextual or extratextual glosses) and recognised (canonical) exoticism, and finally c) assimilative procedures, for example, normalisation, deletion, covert cultural substitution, overt cultural substitution, covert/overt acculturation (kwieciński 2004: 32-33). drawing on his own investigation and in-depth analysis of various examples, kwieciński shows that one can achieve instances of domesticated exoticism, foreignised exoticism or even foreignised assimilation. it may be concluded that kwieciński tries to present a more pragmatic and less distorted image of otherness, arguing that intelligible exoticism cannot be confused with disruptive strangeness. his approach seems to respond to ramière’s doubts over the applicability of foreignisation/domestication model in practice. ramière holds the view that, in fact, the rigid taxonomies placing certain translation procedures on one or another pole of the spectrum are highly decontextualised and thus ineffective. in her own words: “it follows that most procedures are not assimilating or exoticising in and of themselves but that these potential characteristics – if relevant at all – can only be determined in context” (ramière 2006). her argument leads to the statement that the translator does not decide once and for all on how they will tackle such culture-specific items, but they make a new decision for each individual item in every single act of translating. and again, as stated earlier in this paper, the translator is allowed to work as a mediator between two cultures, negotiating self and other from their middle-ground position (ramière 2006). seen in this light, the most frequent translation procedures employed in fury will be discussed predicated on the assumption that to preserve the original allusions without hampering their target reception different shades of exoticism are the sensible approach to favour. the selection of examples was made so as to illustrate all the major translation challenges present in the novel. 4. case study: selected translation problems and solutions the first few excerpts from the novel contain names with references to music and cinema, i.e. two industries deeply rooted in american culture. the main source of the translation problems is the probable divergence between degrees of cultural relevance of certain cultural phenomena to the sc and tc audiences. consider the following extracts from the novel together with their polish translations: table 1 “thanks to her,” he raged at eleanor, “i saw l’année dernière à marienbad (1a) three times in one day. […] i’m stuck here in the blasted couloirs (1b) of french fiction and she’s in a jil sander power suit in a fortyninth-floor corner office on sixth avenue […]” (fury, 25) dzięki niej – żalił się eleanor – obejrzałem zeszłego roku w marienbadzie trzy razy w ciągu dnia. […] ja tkwię tutaj w cholernych couloirs francuskiej literatury, a ona siedzi w garsonce od jil sander w gabinecie na czterdziestym dziewiątym piętrze biurowca przy szóstej alei […] (furia, 37) malik solanka, strolling alone toward a late-night kieslowski double bill (2a) at the lincoln plaza, tried to imagine his own life as a dekalog movie (2b). a short film malik solanka, zdążając samotnie na późny pokaz dwóch filmów kieślowskiego w lincoln plaza, próbował wyobrazić sobie własne życie w filmie z cyklu dekalog. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 51 about desertion. (fury, 26) krótki film o porzuceniu. (furia, 37) there would be a broadway show – she was in discussion with all the major players in the musical game, dear tim and dear elton and dear cameron and of course dear, dear andrew (3) – and a new, bigbudget movie was also planned. (fury, 78) miał powstać musical na broadwayu – trwały rozmowy ze wszystkimi sławami świata musicalu, drogim timem, drogim eltonem, drogim cameronem i oczywiście drogim, kochanym andrew – planowano też nowy wysokobudżetowy film. (furia, 101) five-foot-nine, stacked, spoke six languages, reminded everyone of christie brinkley as the uptown girl (4), loved big hats and high fashion, could’ve walked for anyone jean-paul, donatella, dries had all begged her… (fury, 58) metr siedemdziesiąt pięć, zmysłowe kształty, władała sześcioma językami, przypominała wszystkim christie brinkley jako uptown girl, uwielbiała wielkie kapelusze i haute couture, mogła pracować na wybiegu dla każdego – jean-paul, donatella, dries, wszyscy ją błagali… (furia, 75) the first problem (1a) refers to a 1961 french film directed by alain resnais, written by an acknowledged nouveau roman author, alain robbe-grillet, found controversial due to its experimental fragmentation of both temporal and spatial linearity. although there were two official translations of the title into english, namely last year in marienbad in the uk and last year at marienbad in north america, in fury it appears in its original french version. however, presumably to spare the tt readers the sense of confusion and to help them identify the film more easily, kozłowski replaced the french title with the polish one, zeszłego roku w marienbadzie (‘last year in marienbad’), which might have dismissed, to a certain extent, the author’s original intention. the passage in question serves to complement a description of the main protagonist’s ex-wife, sara, who out of fascination for english and french literature wrote her thesis on the french nouveau roman, whose influences marked the narrative construction of the film in question. it may be assumed that the title was left in the source text in french to foreground sara’s french bias and, at the same time, to emphasise solanka’s feeling of alienation when being with her. given the solution adopted by the translator, this nuance seems more difficult to fully grasp when reading the target text. in the next example (1b), the author used another french term couloirs, corresponding to english ‘corridors, passages’. unlike in the first example, kozłowski retained the st french tinge by leaving the term untranslated in the tt. it can be argued that compared with the st recipient, the polish reader seems more privileged as the french borrowing kuluary (‘lobby’, ‘backroom’) has been in common usage in polish, which obviously facilitates understanding rendering the term more transparent for the tt reader. the second set of examples relates again to the european cinema and, more precisely, to the polish director and screenwriter – krzysztof kieślowski. in fury, the titles of his films are used to exemplify art-house intellectual cinema and might be unfamiliar to the majority of americans, exposed mainly to their home productions. being closer to the “cognitive base” of the author, the polish recipient of the novel is thus ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 52 again more privileged compared to the st readers. the problem is therefore not so much the danger of imposing foreign elements, as finding an adequate rendition of the entire expression: a late-night kieslowski double bill. it is indeed impossible to render equally concisely into polish the compact english term double bill, meaning “a cinema, theatre, concert etc performance in which you can see two films, plays etc, one after the other” (longman dictionary of contemporary english). kozłowski chose to translate it as późny pokaz dwóch filmów kieślowskiego (‘a late-night screening of two kieślowski’s films’). long as it may appear, the translation still provides a good indication of the cultural particularity in question. next (2b), krzysztof kieślowski’s dekalog tv cycle is mentioned and the expression a short film about desertion at the end of the extract refers clearly to the titles of two feature films from the cycle, i.e. krótki film o miłości and krótki film o zabijaniu and their international english equivalents, a short film about love, and a short film about killing. the films serve as an illustration of two biblical commandments: “thou shalt not kill” and “thou shalt not commit adultery,” and in the novel a short film about desertion comes to the main protagonist’s mind and provokes his pangs of conscience because of abandoning his family. yet again the allusion is clearer to the tt reader than to the st one. this somehow reverses the ubiquitous situation with originals and translations in which the otherness is above all experienced by the tt reader. the following excerpt (3) includes allusions to a number of musical and music celebrities. however, to suggest his ironic attitude, the narrator of fury mentions their first names only in diminutive forms. admittedly, the st reader seems to have much easier a task of deciphering what famous person corresponds to each name while it may be assumed that they are much less recognisable in poland, presumably except for elton standing for elton john. the rest: tim rice, a prominent lyricist, author of songs to, among others, jesus christ superstar, evita and the lion king, his collaborator, andrew llyod weber, a successful british composer of musicals, and cameron mackintosh, according to new york time, “the most successful, influential and powerful producer (of musicals) of our time,”5 are not at all obvious referents to an average tt reader. therefore, in this case, the sense of the “other” is much stronger in translation, which should not, however, entail a different, more straightforwardly “domesticating” translation strategy than the one applied by kozłowski. he preserved the original culturespecific item and motivated an inquiring reader to trace the original links. additionally, based on the kwieciński’s framework, it may be argued that owing to the selfexplanatory co-text (all the major players in the musical game, fury: 78) and the context of the passage, the plain borrowing of the st names employed in the polish rendition without any additional glosses or intratextual explanations results indeed in “fairly domesticated exoticism” (kwieciński 2004: 34) rather than “impenetrable and disruptive strangeness” (kwieciński 2004: 41). when considering the subsequent example (4), it may be reiterated that the translator’s choice was to stay in line with the original content and to preserve the sc references, however illegible they might be to the polish recipient. the example in question refers to christie brinkley, a symbol of american success and beauty. this american super model appeared on over 500 magazine covers around the world, had 5 https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/09/magazine/the-musical-is-money-to-his-ears.html ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 53 been lending her face for 20 years to the famous in the us make-up line cover girl, hosted the most profitable infomercial, wrote a fitness book and even launched her own perfume. she was often labelled by the media as “an uptown girl” because of her appearance in the music video to uptown girl, a huge hit song by billy joel, her soon-tobe husband. this immediate connection, obvious to the st reader, is by no means clear to the tt reader with more effort and research required on his part to decode the reference. unlike in the source text, kozłowski italicised the name uptown girl to indicate that it is some kind of a title. regardless of the fact that this cultural link might not be easily recognisable in the target culture and retaining the name without any sort of explanation would be normally considered overt foreignisation, based on kwieciński’s approach, one may postulate that the co-text together with the italics serve as a significant explanatory tool thanks to which the translation itself becomes a “domesticated exoticism”. thus, instead of being fully incomprehensible, it becomes accessibly foreign or exotic. another set of examples to be quoted includes overt references to both low-brow and high-brow entertainment, abundant in the narrative of fury. table 2 you still living like a guru in an ice cave? or a castaway on big brother is not watching you? (5) (fury, 111) cały czas żyjesz jak guru w lodowej jaskini? albo rozbitek z jakiegoś reality show? (furia, 138) this is the oxbridge way of speech (6) (…) (fury, 13) mowa akademików z oksfordu i cambridge (…) (furia, 13) malik solanka lived in a second-floor apartment in a building called noor ville on methwold’s estate off warden road (7). (fury, 65) malik solanka mieszkał w mieszkaniu na piętrze w budynku nur ville na methwold’s estate przy warden road. (furia, 84) (…) she preferred to quote the cartoon sex bomb jessica rabbit. “i’m not bad,” she liked demurely to purr. “i’m just drawn that way.” (8) (fury, 163) (…) wolała cytować animowaną seksbombę jessicę rabbit. „nie jestem zła – lubiła mruczeć wstydliwie – tylko ciągnie mnie do tego”. (furia, 203) in the first example listed in table 2, it is surprising to see how the polish translator substituted the st exact reference (5) for a generic term denoting the original phenomenon, that is rozbitek z jakiegoś reality show (‘a castaway on some reality television show’). it should be remembered that the very idea of big brother rule together with the expression, “big brother is watching you” comes from george orwell’s novel nineteen eighty-four. the significance of words and the underlying principle of orwell’s universe – the complete surveillance over inhabitants – were transplanted a few decades later into a commercialised context constituting a base for the reality television show, big brother. broadcast for the first time in the netherlands, the programme spread to dozens of countries, including poland. in this light, the reference in fury could be easily preserved paraphrasing the famous one-liner “wielki brat patrzy” (‘big brother is watching you’) and thus fully respecting the original intention of the passage. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 54 the following expression, the oxbridge way of speech (6), was used in the novel to comment on solanka’s fellow students’ manner of speaking, which he himself adopted perceiving it yet as artificial and pompous. in this particular case, as much as the formal faithfulness and exact rendition of oxbridge, standing for the universities of oxford and cambridge, conveys the original cultural reference, the exact wording of the polish version might be somewhat ambiguous. unlike the st term, kozłowski’s rendition into mowa akademików z oxfordu i cambridge (‘parlance of academics from oxford and cambridge [university]’) appears rather unnatural and verbose in polish. the use in the translation of the polish term mowa akademików (‘parlance of academics’) does not convey the st meaning referring to the way solanka’s peers used to speak. instead, the original flow, clarity and logic of the scene has been unintentionally distorted in the target text. the next case (7) is particularly interesting due to the twofold provenance, both real-life and fictional, of the proper names in question. firstly, it was the author himself who grew up on warden road, which as a result of decolonising of names became bhulabhai desai road. secondly, malik solanka’s boyhood address, mentioned in the extract, also coincides with yet another protagonist‘s home address, namely saleem’s home on methwold’s estate off warden road, as featured in rushdie’s earlier novel, midnight’s children. as a recurrent theme, rushdie re-introduced the warden road setting also to his later novel, the ground beneath her feet. there is no doubt that this semi-autobiographical turned fictional setting should be preserved in the translation. the translator of fury retained the st address yet for a reason difficult to account for he chose to alter the original spelling of noor ville. his decision to retain the english methwold’s estate seems easier to explain in the light of “foreignisation”/ “exotisation” strategy he consistently applied in his polish rendition of the novel. it is worth mentioning, however, that in the existing polish translation of midnight’s children, “methwold’s estate” is fully rendered into polish as “posiadłość methwolda przy warden road”6 (‘methwold’s estate/property off warden road’) without preserving the english part of the name, i.e. estate. therefore, on the one hand this intertextual literary allusion might be more difficult to decode for the tt reader, but on the other thanks to retaining the english proper name kozłowski’ translation aptly transmits the actual sense of the passage. looking at the larger context, the term estate is used in fury in its modern sense, to denote a residential area instead of “a large area of land in the country, usually with one large house on it and one owner” (longman dictionary of contemporary english), as found in midnight’s children. as in polish it would not be possible to convey the double allusion contained in the name methwold’s estate without breaking the logic of the passage, kozłowski’s solution seems fair. similarly, in the last example (8), where the lead female character of the noir comedy-thriller who framed roger rabbit, representing a hybrid genre in itself, is cited, the original reference seems distorted in the target text. since its release in poland in 1990, polish tv channels have repeatedly aired the film and the sultry animated jessica rabbit with her femme fatale style and murmuring manner of speaking has been recognised as one of pop culture pin-up girls. in the film, she is the embodiment of both a hypersexualised film noir classic dame and her pastiche. kozłowski’s quite infelicitous 6 as translated in “dzieci północy” (orig. “midnight’s children”) by anna kołyszko. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 55 translation of jessica’s famous catchphrase: “i’m not bad, i’m just drawn that way” into nie jestem zła, tylko ciągnie mnie do tego (‘i’m not bad, i’m just drawn to that’) spoils the intended effect and misrepresents the logic behind the original culture-specific item. in the book, it is the main protagonist’s head-turning wife, politically committed neela, who resorts to quoting jessica rabbit to comment on people’s perception of her standing in total contrast to her own moral sense. in the polish translation of the film, the phrase was rendered, and probably well remembered by many viewers, as nie jestem zła, tylko mnie taką rysują (‘i’m not bad, i’m just drawn that way/ they just draw me like that’). to let the st reader track the reference and grasp the actual meaning of the passage, a more justified solution would be to use the existing and already canonical translation and keep it unaltered in the polish version of the novel. this would also guarantee greater cohesion of the tt passage, which proves how much neela, who purposely keeps using the quotation, is aware of her good looks and tries, perversely, to justify and distance herself from this fact. polyphonic diversity constitutes another hallmark of style in fury and presents a serious challenge for the translator who ventures to preserve it as a way of respecting the source linguistic and cultural diversity. pieczyńska-sulik stresses that the first thing to do when attempting to render linguistic variety of individual characters is to specify their “idiolectic dominant.” the best way to render this dominant is to strive for functional equivalence which, to quote the scholar, “allows freedom in cases of interlingual incongruence” (pieczyńska-sulik 2005: 103-106). in other words, if the target language does not offer analogous means of expression to the ones existing in the source language, the translator is obliged to reproduce the original image with the use of other language structures that are available to them. in doing so they should analyse linguistic material of a given fictional idiolect taking into consideration its recurrence. pieczyńska-sulik recalls that to avoid treating literary characters as puppets one has to acknowledge their autonomy and translate in accordance with the “idiolectic dominant” (2005: 115). a problem inextricably linked with the above-mentioned idiolects is stylisation of language in fury, reflected in colloquial and slang expressions employed by several characters of the novel. this peculiar blend of styles and registers poses a serious problem for the translator willing to convey both the message and the spirit of the book. colloquial speech and different non-standard variants of language constitute an integral part of every national language and pose one of those problems in translation to which, as many concede, there is no truly satisfactory solution. one example of such a translation challenge is shown in table 3. table 3 (…) rhinehart said, and moved into his most exaggerated uncle remus manner. “and now yo’ ole lady she done had de same idea. she puttin’ de big squeeze on him, i reckon. gwine en’ up bein’ dat well-fed heifer hersel’.” (9) (fury, 112) (…) wyjaśnił rhinehart i zaczął naśladować sposób mówienia prostego niewolnika. – a teraz twoja stara wpadła na pomysł identiko. coś mi się zdaje, że się za niego wzięła i, dawaj, wyciskać. a że z niej dobrze wypasiona jałówka, to i dopnie swego. (furia, 140) ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 56 the original english passage (9) includes a clear cultural link and refers to a very well-defined style of speaking. rhinehart mimics, “the gullah,” the traditional deep southern black dialect of uncle remus, fictional slave narrator of a collection of african american folktales complied in seven the uncle remus tales books with animal stories, songs and oral folklore by joel chandler harris. the reference was omitted in the polish version of fury as kozłowski rendered his most exaggerated uncle remus manner into sposób mówienia prostego niewolnika (‘a manner of speaking of a simple slave’). given that in the novel there are several references to those famous tales, adapted into several featured films, retaining the intertextual link in the target text seems justified. nevertheless, it is worth emphasising that only traces of non-standard character of the rhinehart’s manner of speaking could be reflected in the translation as according to knauer, while the linguistic profiles of characters should be effectively retained in the tl text, the language employed to reflect the original specificity cannot be artificial nor unnatural. the scholar points out that in case of regional dialects used in the original, some translators opt for the use of the pan-polish rural dialect. however, by doing so, they risk turning the text into an unintentionally comic and incomprehensible translation. following this direction in translation might be both ineffective and linguistically unjustified and, the most important is that it could not pass the test for the authenticity and cultural competence (knauer 1996: 88-92). when analysing the translation of the excerpt in table 3, it might be argued that kozłowski tried to avoid this trap by mirroring, at least to a certain degree, the st use of careless pronunciation and non-standard constructions, without resorting to the excessively rural polish, or any other particularly strong and instantly recognised dialect, such as the silesian or the highland dialect. as knauer (1996: 87) rightly points out, such “false domestication” of the foreign language makes the polish reader perceive it from the angle of their own emotional attitude towards some polish dialects and this defeats the purpose of translation. although some might suggest that the existent translation of the passage could be improved and more suitable equivalents found, one has to realize that whatever linguistic tools are to be applied to convey the original content and spirit with reference to different idiolects present in the original text, the final outcome would always be its imperfect imitation devoid of the cultural flavour of the original. 5. concluding remarks as articulated with force by many theoreticians of translation, including mary snellhornby, susan bassnett, andré lefevere, or tomislav z. longinovic, in the age of growing hybridisation of cultures, translations have to be adjusted to expectations of contemporary readership. balancing deftly the domestic and the foreign in order to bring cultures closer constitutes one of primary obligations of today’s translator aspiring to produce a valuable target text. since the author of fury is considered to be the “other” voice in english literature, being, in his own words, a multinational hybrid drawing on rich eastern and western traditions, the analysed novel abounds in various cultural references, which determines the culture-oriented approach the translator of the text is obliged to adopt. to achieve his/her goal and succeed in initiating a cultural dialogue, ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 57 s/he must act as a mediator who benefits from his/her extensive knowledge of the st and the tt culture and language, individual experience and awareness of available strategies and methods to decide what elements of the original text should be retained and what could be modified and how the entire process of negotiating the degree of otherness introduced into the translated text, both in terms of its form and content should be managed. the above selections of excerpts from fury together with their polish translations exemplify numerous instances of the st culture-specific content that could possibly hamper the reception of the target text. in many cases in the polish translation of fury, the multilayered character of the original has been preserved in the translation thanks to conscious decisions taken by the translator. to deal with the culture-loaded items in the source text, jerzy kozłowski sought to respect the cultural unfamiliarity by preserving the traces of the unknown without resolving to “disruptive strangeness”, to quote kwieciński’s concept. examples cited in the paper prove that even in those instances when the task of mirroring the source connotations in the target text is not fully accomplished thus rendering the ideal of equal reception unreachable, the co-text, larger context and the very awareness of the reader can facilitate the understanding of cultural references to a great extent. as a result, the strangeness the target reader is exposed to often becomes “domesticated exoticism”. nevertheless, as illustrated in the paper, in some passages eliciting similar response in the target reader proved an unattainable goal. not all the original references could be tracked, occasionally intertextuality tends to be lost and the source linguistic and stylistic playfulness is no longer there, as it is often the case with translations of books inscribing themselves in the discourses of our contemporary culture. to some extent, the original spirit of the text is always more or less sacrificed for the sake of obtaining a coherent text that follows the inherent rules and limitations of the target language. still translation driven by the cultural approach proves the most sensible choice as it allows for acquainting the contemporary tt reader with a great deal of novelty, which constitutes an intrinsic feature of an enriching cultural dialogue. the polish rendition of fury is one of many examples of contemporary translations which demonstrate that the cultural turn in translation is not a purely theoretical whim of translation scholars but actual response to the tt reader’s willingness to get acquainted with the cultural specificity of the original and to explore it on their own terms. references bassnett, s. & lefevere, a. (eds). 1990. translation, history and culture. london: pinter. bhabha, h. 1994. the location of culture. london and new york: routledge. di mauro, l. (ed.) 1990. modern british literature, volume iii. detroit: st james press. hatim, b. 2001. teaching and researching translation. essex: pearson education limited. katan, d. m. 1996. the translator as cultural mediator. quaderno 96 programma 'sociologia internazionale, istituto di sociologia internazionale di gorizia, 1-19. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 58 knauer, k. 1996. między kompetencją lingwistyczną a kulturową. tłumaczenie odmian angielskiego na podstawie przekładu powieści alice walker the colour of purple. in: p. fast (ed.), polityka a przekład, 85-93. katowice: wydawnictwo śląsk. kwieciński, p. 2004. between conventional exoticism and impenetrable alterity. a tentative descriptive framework. in: o. kubińska, & w. kubiński (eds.), przekładając nieprzekładalne 2, 29–42. gdańsk: wydawnictwo uniwersytetu gdańskiego. longman dictionary of contemporary english (fifth edition). 2009. harlow: pearson education limited. pieczyńska-sulik, a. 2005. o przydatności kategorii idiolektu w przekładzie; na materiale wróżb kumaka güntera grassa. in: j. koźbiał (ed.), recepcja, transfer, przekład 3. oblicza recepcji, 103-115. warszawa: wydawnictwo uw. ramière, n. 2006. reaching a foreign audience: cultural transfers in audiovisual translation. the journal of specialised translation 6: 152-166. rushdie, s. 2002. furia. poznań: dom wydawniczy rebis. rushdie, s. 2002. fury. london: vintage books. snell-hornby, m. 1990. linguistic transcoding or cultural transfer: a critique of translation theory in germany. in: s. bassenett, & a. lefevere (eds.). translation, history and culture, 79-86. london: pinter. tokarz, b. 2006. przekład w dialogu międzykulturowym. in: f. piotr, & p. janikowski (eds.). dialog czy nieporozumienie? z zagadnień krytyki przekładu, 7-20. katowice: wydawnictwo śląsk. urbanek, u. 2010. tłumaczenie jako komunikacja interkulturowa. in: s. grucza, a. marchwiński, & m. płużyczka (eds.). translatoryka. koncepcje modele analizy, 156163. warszawa: wydział lingwistyki stosowanej uw. woods, t. 2005. postcolonial fictions. in: l. marcus, & p. nicholls (eds.), the cambridge history of twentieth century english literature, 736-750. cambridge university press. *** agnieszka stawecka-kotuła works as an assistant lecturer at maria curie-skłodowska university in lublin, poland. she holds an ma degree in applied linguistics in english and french from maria curie skłodowska university in lublin, and an ma degree in french studies from the john paul ii catholic university of lublin, where she is currently working towards a phd. she also completed a master’s degree program (master 1) in specialised translation and language engineering (french and english) at paris diderot university. her research interests centre on translation, intercultural communication, and contrastive linguistics. code-switching between arabic and english during jordanian gp consultations 4 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) etaf alkhlaifat1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.30.3.01 western sydney university orcid: 0000-0001-9831-6377 ping yang2 western sydney university orcid: 0000-0002-3646-438x mohamed moustakim3 western sydney university orcid: 0000-0002-2847-1619 code-switching between arabic and english during jordanian gp consultations abstract. this study draws conceptually on communication accommodation theory (cat) to describe and analyze conversations between doctors and patients to identify the psycholinguistic and social motivations for code-switching (cs) between english and arabic languages during medical consultations in jordan. the researchers employ a thematic qualitative approach to interpret the phenomena under study. gp doctors (n=9) and patients (n=18) were observed and video-recorded in real medical settings and subsequently interviewed. this generated a comprehensive audio and videotaped corpus of data, which revealed that doctors and patients used code-switching during the medical consultation for two main reasons: 1) filling lexical gaps and 2) accommodating the other party. jordanian bilingual doctors code-switched from english to arabic and from arabic to english to bridge lexical gaps, while both doctors and patients adapted their speech styles for the purpose of convergence. this study is significant as it investigates and examines the phenomenon of code-switching among jordanian doctors and patients from psycholinguistic and social perspectives to gain a clearly defined sociolinguistic explanation of code-switching phenomena during their clinical interaction. keywords: bilingualism; code-switching; communication accommodation theory; health care settings; thematic analysis. 1 address for correspondence: school of humanities and communication arts, western sydney university locked bag 1797, penrith nsw 2751, australia. e-mail: 18838594@student.westernsydney.edu.au 2 address for correspondence: school of humanities and communication arts, western sydney university locked bag 1797, penrith nsw 2751, australia. e-mail: p.yang@westernsydney.edu.au 3 address for correspondence: school of education, western sydney university locked bag 1797, penrith nsw 2751, australia. e-mail: m.moustakim@westernsydney.edu.au 5 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 1. background a study of code-switching is intricately tied to the study of bilingualism. a bilingual speaker can shift effortlessly between l1 and l2 (bullock & toribio 2009) under specific situations and conditions in response to linguistic, psychological, social, or pragmatic factors (nilep 2006). according to hamers et al. (2000: 6), bilinguality is “the psychological state of an individual who has access to more than one linguistic code as a means of social communication”. thus, in the case of the bilingual jordanian doctors, when communicating the details of a diagnosis or treatment, they switch between english medical jargon and the arabic language more frequently. in jordan, english has been the language of instruction in medical science since its introduction in the early 20th century (hamdan & hatab 2009). accordingly, arabicspeaking doctors are educated and trained exclusively in english, which makes all doctors in jordan bilingual (obeidat & khrais 2016). the patients, however, are mostly monolingual, as arabic is the official language in jordan (al-wer 2005). this situation can often affect the patients’ comprehension due to their limited english language skills and their constrained health literacy. furthermore, doctors find communication with their patients challenging in the clinical setting when they use medical terms in english (simmons 1998; farahani et al. 2011; o’connell et al. 2013; galanti 2014; fage-butler & nisbeth jensen 2016). they try to avoid using english and speak arabic, particularly when interacting with patients with low levels of education and socioeconomic backgrounds. however, jordanian patients speak diverse dialects in the urban and rural areas (jarbou 2010; al masaeed 2013), and this may affect their communication with their doctors, and often results in misunderstanding and confusion (links et al. 2019). jordanian doctors may switch between their languages during the conversation with monolingual patients. cs (code-switching) is commonly used by bilingual speakers, who switch from one language to another (buda 2006, as cited in dalamu 2019; taweel & btoosh 2012). according to müller et al. (2014: 50), cs simply refers to the process of “moving from one meaning-making, or symbolic system (a code) to another”. cs is caused by several factors, including the individual’s linguistic knowledge or competence, as reflected in his or her performance. with respect to the educational background of doctors, they code-switch when using medical terms and some english words (sallo 1994) in order to ensure effective healthcare communication. in health communication, communication accommodation theory (cat) explains cs between doctors and patients which is determined by their psycholinguistic and social motivations during conversation (giles 1975, 2016; giles & smith 1979; giles et al. 1991; gallois et al. 2005; giles & ogay 2007). within health communication, there are two approaches to understanding why communicators switch from one language to another: a psycholinguistic approach and a social approach. 6 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) a psycholinguistic approach is concerned with the bilingual processing of language in natural discourse in terms of language production, comprehension, and acquisition (kootstra 2015). psycholinguists attempt to gain a better understanding of how languages are stored in the brain and the encoding language process that is selected. for example, meuter (2005) suggests three main factors relevant to the selection of a language: relative proficiency, contextual cues, and monitoring ability. the subconscious nature of language selection would not preclude speakers from cs, as speakers are not always aware of the reasons for doing so. this paper posits that the primary psycholinguistic motivation for cs in the bilingual act of selecting a particular language is because of the accessibility or inaccessibility of the language due to difficulties in lexical access and gaps between the languages in the dialogue. from a social point of view, pertinent factors contribute to the use of cs in a particular situation. gardner-chloros (2009) argues that three factors can affect speakers’ linguistic behavior on whether to code-switch in their conversations. these include a) economic “market”, prestige and power relations, b) the speakers’ linguistic competence, their social status, their language ideologies and language attitudes, their self-perception and perception of others, and c) conversations where cs occurs as a tool to structure discourse of bilinguals. in this study, cs is understood as being used by bilinguals to accommodate the language choice of the interlocutor either to diverge (ahmed & bates 2016; links et al. 2019) or equalize power relations between them (scotton 1988; gardner-chloros 2009; fawole 2014). cs is thereby a natural outcome of languages in interaction (magana 2013) and is commonly observed in interactions where a minimum of two languages (or dialects or registers) within a specific genre (song, talk) are used interchangeably during a discourse occasion and regularly in multilingual settings (eastman 1992). cs has been studied extensively in the education workplace, for educational purposes (moodley 2007; al masaeed 2013; mahsain 2015) and in dialects studies (almhairat 2015; al hayek 2016). few studies have examined the cs process in the healthcare environment (alhamami 2020). singo (2014) states that cs is a strategic tool for effective communication in doctor-patient (d-p) interactions, particularly when the conversation is in the second language. it can convey the message, converge with the client, maintain interpersonal relationships, and helps ease the potential embarrassment from taboo words or topics. however, it is not the intention of this study to investigate whether cs was employed by speakers consciously or unconsciously. its purpose is rather to better understand doctors’ use of cs and motivations of cs in health communication within the medical environment in jordan. given the need to understand the reasons why cs is used in d-p interactions, the purpose of this study is to identify the extent to which the language 7 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of instruction in medical science has an impact on doctors’ communication with patients for cs between english and arabic languages during medical consultations in jordan. second, it attempts to identify the psycholinguistic and social motivations for cs between english and arabic languages during medical consultations. the doctors, as bilingual speakers based on their educational background (al-hamwan 2015), maintained the use of english terminology rather than changing to standardized arabic language, perhaps due to their habitual use of the terms and training received in english. in these situations, filling the lexical gap via cs is considered a strategy to improve communication. 2. methodology this study was conducted in a public hospital in jordan. a qualitative method was used to investigate cs instances among doctors and patients during medical consultation. this enabled the researchers to observe the fine-grained details of everyday events and the phenomena under investigation (schillinger et al. 2002; flick 2014), and to observe and gather data in the natural setting (yin 2015). data for this project were collected using semi-structured interviews that were recorded. semi-structured interviews were used as they give participants the freedom to express thoughts and feelings in the privacy of a one-on-one encounter (croucher & cronn-mills 2014). in addition to the interviews, the researchers observed and noted the interactions between the doctors and patients during the medical treatments (taiwo 2013). 2.1. participants given the bilingual educational background, most doctors speak arabic (the local dialect), english and languages other than english. moreover, they use different local dialects, the northern dialect and southern dialect. to recruit doctors who work and are specialised in general internal medicine at the public hospital in jordan from both genders, an email was sent to the clinic receptionist, who in turn sent the email to potential participants to invite them to take part in the research. nine doctors (eight males & one female) (see appendix a) participated in the study; all were bilingual (arabic, english, and languages other than english) due to their medical education. patients aged 18 years and over were invited to participate in the research by the doctors who were on board and who agreed to participate in this project. returning patients for minor or routine follow-up on non-sensitive illnesses or injuries were invited to participate in the research through leaflets which were handed to them by the receptionist. the leaflet information included contact details of the researcher for further information about the research. with regard to the time of participation, the patients were given sufficient time to make their decision. the patients received the participant information sheet and those who agreed to participate, completed 8 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and signed the participant consent form. all the patients were observed, videotaped and interviewed in real medical settings. the research participants included 18 patients (n= 18; 12 males & 6 females) (see appendix b). thirteen of them were monolingual in arabic and five were bilingual in arabic and english based on their education in english. the participants were selected according to three demographic categories (age, education, and gender) and to represent different cultural backgrounds and regions (urban or rural) in jordan. additionally, they completed a semi-structured interview in arabic that required no more than 30 minutes of their time, and they were audio recorded only. 2.2. data collection ethical approval for this research was gained from the western sydney university (wsu) human research ethics committee and informed consent was obtained from the public hospital as required prior to data collection. all the participants received an information sheet and signed a consent form acknowledging their consent to take part in the research. the information sheet contained relevant information about the project, the researchers’ contact details, avenues of support if a participant felt distressed at any time and an assurance of anonymity and the ability to withdraw at any time without having to give reasons for the withdrawal (holloway & wheeler 2013). the nature of the research questions required the recruitment of doctors and patients in real medical settings. participants were informed that their participation was voluntary. they were reassured that the information they supplied would be kept confidential. additionally, their names were omitted from the responses and pseudonyms were used to keep their identities confidential. data were stored and managed in the wsu data management system. d-p interactions were observed and videotaped in real medical settings. additionally, they completed a semi-structured interview in arabic that required no more than 30 minutes of their time. the interviews were audio-recorded only. the researchers used a video recorder for capturing verbal and nonverbal interaction between doctors and patients to develop an understanding of the cs involved and analyze the motives of such a phenomenon in the observed doctor-patient interaction. nine gp doctors and 18 patients were asked open-ended questions in the interview; this provided a wide variety of responses and detailed descriptions of their experiences. by responding to open-ended questions in the interview in their own words, the respondents were able to convey their own experiences. furthermore, this method allowed the patients to disclose vital and often “hidden facets of human and organizational behavior” (qu & dumay 2011: 246) to yield rich data. approximately 6 hours of audio-taped interviews were gathered for analysis. 9 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 2.3. data analysis we employed thematic analysis (owen 1984; braun & clarke 2006; guest et al. 2012) in an effort to understand how arabic-english cs works in relation to power and control during medical consultations. the videos ranged between 01:18 and 17:76 minutes. the average length of the videos was 5.83. the video data yields 104.86 minutes total of 18 consultations, that is about 1.748 hours of language data. the interviews ranged between 05:40 and 30:05 minutes duration. the interviews data yielded 379.59 minutes total of 6.32 audio recordings. all the interviews were transcribed and translated into english. the data collected from interviews were prepared for analysis using nvivo 12 software. the researchers read all the interview transcripts several times to become familiar with the data and to initiate coding and detect themes. nvivo facilitates connecting data and categories in three ways: visual coding, attributes, and node coding (richards 1999) while offering substantial flexibility (basit 2003; mertens & wilson 2012). this was done as a part of the first author’s phd study in linguistics and this article is focused on cs. it was helpful to generate several nodes using nvivo 12. in particular, the researchers used the framework by braun & clarke (2006). this approach is inductive and encompasses a process that includes six phases of analysis: immersing with the data, generating initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, and defining and naming themes. thematic analysis yielded cs as a main cs as a main theme with two sub-themes in table (3) as follows: table 3. final theme from coding themes sub-themes code switching motivations filling a lexical gap accommodating the other party 3. motivations behind code switching cs is a strategy used by bilinguals to signal several psycholinguistic and social functions. as the medical encounter was observed, numerous cs instances among doctors and patients were noted during the medical consultation. the study found that jordanian doctors usually code-switch for psycholinguistic and social reasons. although all of the patients preferred conversing in arabic, there were some instances of cs by bilingual doctors, who inserted english into jordanian arabic speech with participants who were addressed and supported. in this study, cs occurred for two main reasons: to fill lexical gaps and to facilitate communication. 10 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 3.1. filling lexical gaps as bilingual participants who regularly alternate between english and arabic (different dialects), the doctors used cs across the four phases of the medical encounter – obtaining medical history, clarifying information, revealing the diagnoses, and managing the condition (heath 1992). this can be seen in fragment 1. mr sami visited the hospital as he had difficulty breathing due to common cold symptoms, including cough, fever and a runny nose. mr sami described his health problem to dr salem who negotiated the information, that led to a diagnosis of flu. fragment 1 [mr. sami was a 37-year-old male patient with a high level of education, consulting with dr salem, a male gp doctor of 27 years old, educated in english.] 1 dr salem: 2 ‘when did these symptoms start?’ 3 mr sami: 4 ‘nearly, two days ago.’ 5 dr salem: 6 ‘two days ago, with the same severity?’ 7 mr sami: 8 ‘yes, the same.’ 9 dr salem: 10 ‘i mean, the um same severity of illness?’ 11 mr sami: 12 ‘yes, the same.’ while the doctor generally avoided using medical english jargons in patient consultation, in some cases, he code-switched from arabic to english, although this may not be obvious to the patient, such as using the english medical term ‘severity’ (line 5). here, the doctor was surprised that mr sami did not have his severe illness checked until two days later. nor could he believe that his patient had not realized his severe medical condition so much so that he could not help uttering ‘severity’ in english. the doctor’s paralinguistic cue such as ‘um’ (line 9) was useful to refreshing the memory bank in case of switching to the arabic language. hence, cs was inserted because of the easier accessibility and retrieval from memory. as mr sami was well-educated, he did not seem to have difficulty understanding what the english word ‘severity’ meant, given the fact he replied and confirmed his reply without hesitation (see l7 and l11). in his interaction with mr. sami, dr salem code-switched from english to arabic and used the term ‘severity’ not only to gather information about the patient’s illness but also to accommodate his speech style with him. another motivation for 11 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) cs is for the sake of confirmation. here, dr salem reiterated his question (line 9) ‘i mean, the same severity of illness?’ to stress his message. the observation shows that dr salem repeated in arabic what had already been said in english, in exact form, for emphasis and confirmed that his patient understood what had been said. this type of switch is identified by gumperz (1982a) as repetition, which “may serve to clarify what is said, but often they simply amplify or emphasize a message” gumperz (1982: 78) in fragment 1. the doctor was proficient in english and used technical terms. however, the patient was brought up in jordan with one language and was not as fluent in the medical register in english as the doctor. nevertheless, the patient’s reply showed that he had a high level of education in english as he confirmed twice ‘yes, the same’? (line 8 & 12). similarly, dr ali code-switched when interacting with mr. tamer in fragment 2. in this instance, the doctor was clarifying information about the patient’s illness and using the english terminology ‘pain’ due to the ease of retrieval of this from memory. fragment 2 [mr tamer, a male patient of 34 years old, his education level is secondary, was consulting with dr ali, a male gp doctor of 28 years old, educated in ukraine.] 1 dr ali: 2 [you put oil into your ear, and it remains up to five hours and then you turn your head to the other side? unfortunately, this oil can leave residues inside. do you dry your ear after?] 3 mr tamer: 4 ‘yes, i do.’ 5 dr ali: 6 ‘what do you use for that?’ 7 mr tamer: 8 ‘i usually dry with cotton swabs’ 9 dr ali: 10 ‘do you have a pain here?’ 11 mr tamer: 12 ‘no, i do not have’. ‘what do you mean?’ 13 dr ali: 14 ‘pain means ache.’ 15 mr tamer: 16 ‘yes, i have.’ to function effectively for better mutual understanding and to avoid misunderstanding, dr ali used the strategy of repair. tarone (1980: 427) defined ‘repair’ as “the 12 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) discoursal rules for who corrects whom, when and the correction of a linguistic form as well as negotiation of intended meaning”. dr salem deployed an immediate repair strategy after cs to ensure understanding of what had been uttered. dr ali code switched due to the lack of immediate availability of the required word or for its ease of retrieval from memory (gardner-chloros 2009). hence, he code-switched from arabic to english within talk to fill a lexical gap. english synonyms were integrated either because of habitual use of the words or for their easier accessibility or retrieval from memory. according to milroy and muysken (1995), a speaker’s choice of preference code depends largely on their life histories, which includes their social and educational factors. thus, language codes may be switched at any point in the discourse due to the bilingualism of the doctors and their language preference. this demonstrates that cs was used, where doctors filled in missing words or phrases from memory due to the psycholinguistic state of the speakers (gardner-chloros 2009; jevtović et al. 2020). an insertion of words or phrases by speakers may also correlate with the fact that the words or phrases are retrieved more rapidly in dialogue (ariffin & rafik-galea 2009; green & li 2014). this is in line with the findings of mahsain (2015) and al-hourani & qasim (2016) in their studies conducted in the context of education. 3.2. accommodating through negotiation despite the fact that the doctor and patient have social differences in relation to the power inequality (giles & ogay 2007) and interaction, the doctor made attempts to alleviate these for effective communication purposes. to achieve this, the doctor used cs when monolingual patients did not understand his message. hofstede and bond (1988) describe this as power distance, that is the extent to which a culture believes and accepts unequal power in institutions and organizations. there is an implicit desire among doctors for patients to respect them for their medical expertise and specialized knowledge and skills (cordella 2004). for example, in high power distance cultures, doctors may view themselves as having expert knowledge of patients’ health barriers, instead of valuing themselves as being equal and cooperative (lawton et al. 2015). patients in medical consultations are often powerless and are reliant upon doctors as the experts on their complaints, thereby increasing the doctors’ power in terms of their status and interpersonal roles in the clinical setting (rocque & leanza 2015). cs can also be seen as a tool to indicate accommodation between speakers. gallois et al. (2005) state that speakers vary in their speech styles either to distance or strengthen the relationship between themselves and other speakers according to their social identity. for the purpose of convergence, they adapt their speech style with others. during the conversation, participants collaborate to create a meaningful message and achieve effective communication. this study showed that participants code-switched either to converge or equalize power relations between them. 13 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in fragment 2, when the doctor used the english term “pain” to fill a lexical gap, the patient did not understand him and asked for clarification. the doctor code-switched from english into arabic [pain] to accommodate the language needs of the patient. by virtue of the doctor’s knowledge of his patient, he was able to accommodate to his patient’s level of english proficiency (wood 2019). the patient’s failure to understand the doctor’s english terminology, if not clarified, may have contributed to unsuccessful communication, potentially leading to failure in the treatment process. while doctors commonly demonstrate their patronage over their patients through using cs to meet their language needs and ensure they understand medical advice, some patients would switch to english medical jargons to seek accommodation with the doctor, as in the example below: fragment 3 [mr fadi, a male patient, 46 years old, with high level of education and an undergraduate degree in dentistry, was consulting dr amjad, a male gp, 54 years old, educated in english.] 1 dr amjad: 2 ‘what is your complaint?’ 3 mr fadi: 4 ‘i have a trauma.’ 5 dr. amjad: 6 ‘you were injured?’ 7 mr fadi: 8 ‘from lego for children.’ 9 dr amjad: 10 ‘you fell off it?’ 11 mr fadi: 12 ‘i fell off it and i did not see it’ 13 dr amjad: 14 ‘doe it have a sharp edge?’ 15 mr fadi: 16 ‘yes, right.’ in fragment 3, the patient, mr fadi, is a dentist who had experienced trauma in his foot, and during the consultation switched to the english medical jargon term “trauma” (line 3), seemingly to accommodate to the doctor. mr fadi attempted to identify himself with dr amjad as a fellow health professional. mr fadi is a dentist by profession and his use of the medical term may imply that he is not a layperson without knowledge of the medical field. bullock and toribio (2009) proposed that cs by proficient bilinguals may 14 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) occur within particular cultural groups. giles and smith (1979) argued that individuals attempt to make themselves alike and intelligible to others by lessening their typical accents, slowing down their speech, and delivering their message with the listener’s familiarity with the topic of discussion in mind. according to the cat, the patient was accommodating the doctor by adjusting his speech behavior to that of the doctor. this indicates that this patient was trying to converge and suggest affiliation with the medical membership and recommend himself as an in-group member of clinical professional. however, the doctor’s language choice distanced him from the patient (in this case, arabic). according to cat, if the speaker refuses to accommodate to the language of conversation of other interlocutors, this leads to divergence (giles & smith 1979). d-p clinical interaction is more than just one-way information flow, such as the doctor giving medical advice and the patient simply following it. in fact, some patients may be engaged in social negotiation with the doctor. fragment 4 is an example in case. in fragment 4, dr amjad advises the patient about the treatment for his trauma, but the patient mr fadi did not agree and strongly requested an alternate treatment, as observed in fragment 4. fragment 4 [dr amjadcontinued his diagnosis and provided medical advice to mr fadi.] 1 dr amjad: 2 ‘this wound needs sewing. what is your opinion?’ 3 mr fadi: 4 ‘i do not prefer sewing. i want sutures.’ 5 dr amjad: 6 ‘but it is open, it needs sewing.’ 7 mr fadi: 8 ‘a lot?’ 9 dr amjad: 10 ‘yes, it is open. it needs sewing.’ in fragment 4, the patient’s desire to converge brings familiarity and helps to create an informal environment. this can be explained using giles’s accommodation theory, that assumes that communicators adjust to a situation either to converge or to diverge from the listener. mr fadi code-switched from arabic into english by using the term “sutures” (line 3), that indicates the two important motives for convergence for him in fragment 4; one is the desire to get approval for the suggested treatment from dr amjad. the evidence is that of similarity-attraction: the more similar we are to our interlocutor, the more he or she will like or respect us, and the more social approval 15 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) we can expect to gain (byme 1971, as cited in giles & ogay 2007). second, it is possible to break the power discrepancy created by the doctor’s specialist status and bring the doctor and the patient closer (youssef 1993). this can also be interpreted in terms of diglossia that the official language could be more attractive and more rational than the local language, ferguson, cited in fasold (1984), defined diglossia as: a relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the primary dialects of the language (which may include a standard or regional standards), there is a very divergent, highly codified (often grammatically more complex) superposed variety, the vehicle of a large and respected body of written literature, either of an earlier period or in another speech community, which is learned largely by formal education and is used for most written and formal spoken purposes but is not used by any sector of the community for ordinary conversation (ferguson 1959: 336). consequently, using english terms by this patient could be considered as prestigious and as a way of expressing convergence with the doctor (singo 2014). on the other hand, dr amjad again did not adapt to mr fadi’s speech and this asserted his medical expertise and influential role as a medical professional while emphasizing mr fadi’s role as a patient under treatment. emphasizing the differences in speech leads to divergence between speakers. this is similar to gumperz’s (1982b) notion of ‘we-code’ and ‘they-code,’ in which interlocutors differ in communication behavior according to their relationship with the other interlocutors during the language interactions and its motivational factor for cs. for this reason, the cat aims to identify the motivational factors behind the variation in speech styles. when two speakers converse, convergence between them can also take place in relation to the content of what they say. speakers can defer to the listener and increase mutual clarification as they believe that the listener holds the knowledge (giles & smith 1979). for example, that was mentioned before (see fragment 3.1) in the consultation with the patient, mr sami (male, 37), the patient replied to the question, ‘severity’ with an expected adjacency ‘yes, the same’. this type of cs is motivated by the content of the preceding question. this key finding is similar to what other studies (singo 2014; wood 2019) show, i.e. that cs is a strategy used by speakers seeking to diverge and converge in their speech to accommodate the other interlocutors for effective communication. the use of cs in the accommodation situation not only enhances communication, but it also provides “the bridging of language separation” (mabule 2015: 345). cs can also improve a patient’s comprehension. if the doctors speak the patients’ language, dialect, vocabulary, or other types of speech varieties, the patients can 16 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) understand them, and that leads to a potential increase in patient adherence, confidence and overall satisfaction with the medical consultation. 4. conclusion in this article, we find that cs played the roles of filling a lexical gap and accommodating to other speaker’s talk in jordanian doctor-patient interaction. the analysis shows that cs can be identified as filling a lexical gap when participants switch from arabic to english within talk due to the unavailability of a word or phrase in their mother tongue, jordanian arabic, or for their easier accessibility or retrieval from memory. a unique function of cs was observed as the desire to bring familiarity and create an informal environment during the interaction between doctors and their patients. the study has important implications for jordanian medical healthcare services providers for professional training purposes. we have identified two useful communication strategies used by jordanian doctors and patients for effective and successful communication. the results could be used to inform the professional development needs of the doctors in jordan and medical professionals in other parts of the world. acknowledgements we sincerely thank all participants in this study including doctors, patients and the receptionist who provided us with an unsparing cooperation. the budget for conducting this study has been provided by western sydney university. appendix a. table 1. basic demographics of the doctors no. pseudonym gender education/medical education (bm, me, or higher) work experience (1 year-over 10) 1 dr amjad male english / bm expert 2 dr shadi male english / bm expert 3 dr adel male not english / bm experienced 4 dr ali male not english / bm inexperienced 5 dr hassan male english / bm inexperienced 6 dr nabeel male not english / bm inexperienced 7 dr sabri male english / bm inexperienced 8 dr salem male english / bm inexperienced 9 dr asma female english / bm inexperienced 17 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) appendix b. table 2. basic demographics of the patients no. pseudonym age gender education bilingual (arabic-english) 1 fadi 46 male higher education bilingual 2 jasser 24 male higher education bilingual 3 murad 46 male higher education bilingual 4 muneer 41 male higher education bilingual 5 sameh 37 male higher education bilingual 6 ameer 32 male diploma monolingual 7 ahmed 24 male secondary monolingual 8 qais 32 male secondary monolingual 9 sameeh 51 male secondary monolingual 10 tamer 34 male secondary monolingual 11 ma’moun 65 male elementary monolingual 12 sami 78 male elementary monolingual 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(eds.), handbook of bilingualism: psycholinguistic approaches, 349-370. new york: oxford university press. milroy, l. & muysken, p. 1995. one speaker, two languages: cross-disciplinary perspectives on code-switching. cambridge: cambridge university press. moodley, v. 2007. codeswitching in the multilingual english first language classroom. international journal of bilingual education and bilingualism 10: 707-22. müller, c., cienki, a., fricke, e., ladewig, s., mcneill, d. & tessendorf, s. (eds.) 2014. body – language – communication: an international handbook on multimodality in human interaction. berlin: de gruyter mouton. nilep, c. 2006. “code switching” in sociocultural linguistics. colorado research in linguistics 19: 1-22. o’connell, r. l., hartridge-lambert, s. k. , din, n., st john, e.r., hitchins, c. & johnson, t. 2013. patients’ understanding of medical terminology used in the breast clinic. breast 22: 836-838. obeidat, r. & khrais, h.i. 2016. jordanian physicians’ attitudes toward disclosure of cancer information and patient participation in treatment decision-making. asia-pacific journal of oncology nursing 3: 281-288. owen, w.f. 1984. interpretive themes in relational communication. quarterly journal of speech 70: 274-287. 21 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) qu, s.q. & dumay, j. 2011. the qualitative research interview. qualitative research in accounting & management 8: 238-264. richards, l. 1999. using nvivo in qualitative research. london: sage. rocque, r. & leanza, y. 2015. a systematic review of patients’ experiences in communicating with primary care physicians: intercultural encounters and a balance between vulnerability and integrity. plos one 10: 1. sallo, i.k. 1994. arabic-english code-switching at the university: a sociolinguistic study. in: r. de beaugrande, a. shunnaq & m.h. heliel (eds.), language, discourse and translation in the west and middle east, 115-132. amsterdam: john benjamins. schillinger, d., grumbach, k., piette, j., wang, f., osmond, d., daher, c., palacios, j., diaz sullivan, g., bindman, a.b. 2002. association of health literacy with diabetes outcomes. jama 288: 475-482. scotton, c.m. 1988. self-enhancing codeswitching as interactional power. language & communication 8: 199-211. simmons, m. 1998. a sociolinguistic analysis of doctor-patient communication. in: the japan conference on english for specific purposes proceedings. aizuwakamatsu city, fukushima, japan: eric documents reproduction service. singo, j. 2014. code-switching in doctor-patient communication. nawa journal of language & communication 8(1): 48-56. suleiman, s.m. 1985. jordanian arabic between diglossia and bilingualism. amsterdam: benjamins. taiwo, c.c. 2013. exploring health literacy among a selected nigerian population: an ethnographic study [unpublished phd dissertation]. university of phoenix. tarone, e. 1980. communication strategies, foreigner talk, and repair in interlanguage. language learning 30(2): 417-428. taweel, a.q. & btoosh, m.a. 2012. syntactic aspects of jordanian arabic-english intrasentential code-switching. linguistica online 1-21. wood, n.i. 2019. departing from doctor-speak: a perspective on code-switching in the medical setting. journal of general internal medicine 34: 464-66. yin, r.k. 2015. qualitative research from start to finish. new york/london: guilford publications. youssef, v. 1993. marking solidarity across the trinidad speech community: the use of an ting in medical counselling to break down power differentials. discourse & society 4: 291-306. * * * etaf alkhlaifat is currently a phd candidate at western sydney university. her current research is “a sociolinguistic study of doctor-patient interaction in healthcare settings: a jordanian perspective”. she has completed her bachelor’s degree in german and english 22 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (double major) at the university of jordan in 2002 and a masters in english language teaching and curriculum at mutah university in jordan in 2007. etaf has worked as an english teacher in the ministry of education in jordan from 2002 to 2008 and then she started her work as a lecturer in both universities king faisal university and dammam university in saudi arabia from 2008 to 2015. she has also worked as a casual lecturer and tutor at western sydney university, sydney, australia in 2017, 2018 and 2020. ping yang is senior lecturer in linguistics and an academic course advisor for the master of arts (tesol) course in the school of humanities and communication arts at western sydney university. dr yang holds a phd in linguistics from macquarie university, australia. his teaching and research areas include intercultural communication, nonverbal communication, socio-cultural linguistics, tesol teacher education, and english-chinese translation studies. dr yang has supervised phd candidates and has actively published books, book chapters, and peer-reviewed journal articles in these research areas. (https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/staff_profiles/uws_profiles/ doctor_ping_yang). mohamed moustakim is a senior lecturer in education in the school of education, western sydney university, australia. he completed a doctorate in education at exeter university in the united kingdom. before joining wsu, mohamed held academic posts in a number of higher education institutions in the uk, including, the university of east london, the university of greenwich, the college of st mark & st john and st mary’s university college. his teaching and research are focused on equity and diversity in education and he is currently supervising several phd students whose research focus is on sociolinguistics. (https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/staff_profiles/wsu/ doctor_mohamed_moustakim) 20 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) klaudia gajewska1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.02 maria curie-sklodowska university, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5796-2951 why has phonodidactics become “the neglected orphan” of esl/efl pedagogy? explaining methodologyand elf-related motives behind a reluctance towards pronunciation teaching abstract. the post-method reality of esl/efl education, in which lt is no longer perceived as a largescale enterprise based on one universal method, has encouraged theoreticians and practitioners to search for more personalised ways of l2/fl teaching. this specifically applies to pronunciation instruction, whose models, priorities and teaching procedures ought to be considered in light of the tenets of the post-method era. even though there is no disputing the fact that the influences of methodologyand globalisation-driven transformations have been generally positive in the sense that they have individualised approaches to lt and facilitated international communication respectively, they have also lowered the status of phonodidactics, which, in effect, is disparagingly referred to as “the neglected orphan” of esl/efl pedagogy. keywords: enl, esl, efl, elf, phonodidactics, methodology, globalisation. 1 rationale traditionally, pronunciation has been viewed as a subskill of the productive oral skill, speaking (e.g. chastain 1971; kreidler 1989; morley 1991; dalton & seidlhofer 1994; celce-murcia (1996); brown 2001; thornbury 2005, 2006; bygate 2009; boonkit 2010; nation 2011; waniek-klimczak 2011; brown & bown 2014). nonetheless, despite a specific 1 address for correspondence: maria curie-sklodowska university, pl. marii curie-skłodowskiej 4a, 20-031 lublin, poland. e-mail: klaudia.e.gajewska@gmail.com 21 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) linguistic norm, or standard, established and accepted by the community (or nationality) to which the end product of oral language production, that is speech, conforms, pronunciation is a highly individual phenomenon affected by distinctive non-languagerelated factors, including, inter alia, speakers’ place of residence, age, education and personal voice characteristics (nurani & rosyada 2015: 109). it is to be noted here that the aforementioned presentation of a pronunciation learning process concerns first language (l1) contexts in which phonology acquisition is determined mainly by speakers’ unique features and their immediate socio-cultural environments. if one considers second and foreign language (l2/fl) instructed settings, the issue of pronunciation learning becomes even more complicated not only under the influence of linguistic and non-linguistic learner-related determinants2 (e.g. level of language proficiency, amount and type of l2/fl and pronunciation instruction, language experience, language aptitude, age of onset, personality, identity, willingness to communicate, communicative apprehension, self-constructs, degree of motivation, expectations and future plans, learning style, aesthetic sensitivity), but also because of teacher(e.g. level of competence, ability to approximate sound system, qualifications and teaching expertise, teaching and learning materials, beliefs and attitudes towards oral language teaching, choice of actual pronunciation-oriented in-class practices, personality traits) and context-related factors (e.g. similarities and differences between l1 and l2/fl, role of the target language in the community, ethnolinguistic vitality, similarities and differences between l1 and l2/fl culture, national language policy, national core curriculum, language examinations and their influence on teaching, situational context of a speech act). given a multidimensional character of l2/fl pronunciation learning, as reflected in its linguistic, socio-cultural and emotional underpinnings, instructors’ attempts to involve learners in formal pronunciation instruction to improve the latter’s oral language competence have proven to be frequently unsuccessful. thus, motivated by a high variability of an esl/efl pronunciation learning process, the field of phonodidactics has become strongly associated with nothing else than the extreme unpredictability of l2/fl pronunciation teaching classroom procedures. this, in turn, questioned its usefulness, leading to lively discussions held by theoreticians and practitioners on to what extent the pronunciation component, taking into consideration its frequent inefficiency in instilling appropriate oral language habits, ought to be included in esl/efl courses. this has certainly not failed to influence the attitudes 2 pronunciation-influencing factors which have often been discussed by sla specialists in the context of l2/fl phonology acquisition include learners’ biological (age of onset), linguistic (significance of their native language, level of language proficiency, fl experience, language aptitude) and psychological/ emotional (wtc, anxiety, self-constructs, motivation) determinants (see e.g. carroll 1971, 1990; patkowski 1990, 1994; flege & fletcher 1992; flege et al. 1995; flege et al. 1997; kruger & dunning 1999; scovel 2000; munro & mann 2005; bundgaard-nielsen et al. 2011). 22 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) towards l2/fl pronunciation practice, which have become increasingly hostile, not only effectively diminishing the role of pronunciation, but also putting it into the background of l2/fl instructed settings. the question can be asked now whether an overwhelming number of pronunciationinfluencing factors has been the only culprit responsible for provoking widespread reluctance towards phonodidactics. the answer is, as argued below, negative. once we have briefly considered some of the possible causes underlying the notoriety of phonodidactics on the esl/efl educational stage, we would like to continue the discussion by shifting its focus to less obvious, however equally, if not more significant reasons for the controversial and, hence, problematic nature of instructed pronunciation practice. once we have carefully tracked the history of l2/fl methodology and the lingua franca role of english (elf), it is possible to identify certain tendencies which, despite their vital importance in, exempli gratia, establishing the field of second language acquisition (sla) and facilitating international communication in the sphere of commerce, politics, business and education, have more or less directly tended to weaken the position of phonodidactics. in view of the above, the aim of the present paper is to investigate methodologyand elf-related causes undermining the position of pronunciation teaching (see the term “the neglected orphan”3 coined by deng et al. 2009 qtd. in ketabi & saeb 2015). following scholars from the relevant fields (e.g. brown & yule 1983; kachru 1986; morley 1991; jenkins 2000; field 2005; kumaradivelu 2006; cruttenden 2008; szpyra-kozłowska 2015, 2018), we would like to: 1. present selected methodologyand elf-related problems underlying the continuing neglect of instructed pronunciation practice; 2. consider the potential impact of l2/fl methodology and a growing importance of english on the teaching of esl/efl pronunciation today. the objectives of the article are twofold: (1) to broaden the view on esl/efl pronunciation teaching by offering methodological and historical insights from the fields of phonodidactics and l2/fl education and (2) to demonstrate the increased sensitivity of esl/efl pronunciation teaching to a constantly evolving position of english on the international stage. 3 other revealing terms such as “the cinderella area” and “the lost ring of the chain” coined by kelly (1969) and moghaddam et al. (2012) respectively were introduced to underline the inferiority of phonodidactics in l2/fl instructed settings. 23 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 2 reasons behind the inferiority of esl/efl phonodidactics the following sections present selected methodologyand elf-related problems which, in our opinion, have put esl/efl phonodidactics in a vulnerable position. 2.1 methodological marginalisation of esl/efl pronunciation teaching a subordinate role of instructed pronunciation practice can be explained on the grounds that the study of written language used to foreshadow the analysis of speech production processes. traditionally, in the pre-method era a continuing preoccupation with written models resulted in an exhaustive investigation of the written language (brown & yule 1983). triggering from the fact, until the nineteenth century instructed pronunciation practice had mostly been a forgotten activity. according to kelly (1969), little is known about pronunciation instruction characteristic of the west up to reform movement4 in view of the fact that the mechanisms underlying speech production remained a mystery to contemporary language instructors. even though phonetic descriptions appeared before this time, they contained, as kelly (1969) claims, mistakes whereas pronunciation teaching was limited to imitation and “approximation drawn from spelling” (kelly 1969: 60). as far as the approach to the teaching of classical languages in the light of pronunciation practice is concerned, the instruction allowed only for the consideration of stress placement rules, which were judged significant for the process of verse composition whereas target language (tl) phonemes were replaced with the ones from learners’ native language (l1). even though some attempts to popularise a more welcoming attitude towards pronunciation instruction were made – for instance, different kinds of phonemic transcription and some rules based on spelling and etymology were put forward – they were so informal that, in fact, no teaching took place. such liberal attitudes continued in the consecutive period of language teaching (lt), the method era, in which phonodidactics generally evoked mixed feelings among language instructors (see rodgers 2001). amid the initial prominence of grammar and vocabulary in classical and grammar-translation methods, there appeared to be a manifest lack of attention paid to oral language production in language classrooms. the teaching of pronunciation gained prominence in the wake of world war ii, leading to the introduction of production-oriented instruction which focused on individual segments, stress patterns and intonation (brown & yule 1983: 2). to be precise, interest 4 the history of pronunciation as a scientifically relevant field of study can be dated back to 1886 when the international phonetic association was established. the origins of the nineteenth century movement can, however, be traced back to india where one thousand years b.c. sanskrit grammarians devised a phonological system which provided the basis for the european school of phonetics as late as in the nineteenth century (kelly 1969). 24 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in pronunciation aspects was revived in the period between the 1940s and 1960s with the introduction of american audiolingualism and british oral approach. they put the importance of pronunciation in the centre of classroom instruction, focusing specifically on learners’ accurate production of individual sounds, segments (atli & bergil 2012). with the arrival of cognitive code learning and designer methods, however, formal pronunciation instruction was abandoned again on the premises that students can learn it through intuitive practices by following the rules of l1 phonology acquisition. such an approach to the study of language changed with the introduction of controversial communicative language teaching (clt) which perceived language education as written and spoken communication. even though the main goal of fluency-oriented communicative tasks was to develop speakers’ ability to communicate in the tl, excessive focus on meaning most often prevented them from noticing the form of utterances (seidlhofer 2004: 488). the clt methodology was mocked by sobkowiak (1996: 19) who points out that the method, having foreshadowed the role of accuracy, or formal correctness, changed the face of efl competence, severely limiting it to the knowledge of some english tenses and strategies, including the use of gestures. table 1 below provides a brief summary of the key assumptions underlying pronunciation teaching in the selected methods from the method era. table 1. presentation of selected methodological approaches to flt in the context of the instructed pronunciation practice method / approach period assumptions about pronunciation teaching classical method / grammar -translation method up to 1800s l1 used as a means of communication in the classroom no interest in oral language production in the tl fl linguistic competence limited to the knowledge of grammar and vocabulary written translations of texts from l1 to the tl (and vice versa) direct method 1800s and early 1900s an intuitive-imitative approach to pronunciation instruction naturalistic l2/fl pronunciation teaching: no explicit information given how to produce sounds an emphasis placed on the listening skill on the assumption that students exposed to oral input internalise the tl sound system on their own 25 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) method / approach period assumptions about pronunciation teaching reform movement early 1900s international phonetic alphabet (ipa) used to provide an exact representation of speech sounds phonetic training introduced to ensure good pronunciation instruction audiolingual method/ oral approach 1940s and 1950s a decided advantage of accuracy over fluency development in formal pronunciation instruction a variety of exercises based on drills, dialogues and repetition the practice of overlearning to eliminate l1 influences decontextualised and isolated pronunciation practice minimal pairs introduced to highlight individual sounds cognitive code learning 1960s rejection of the assumptions underlying audiolingualism promotion of grammar and vocabulary teaching inductive teaching of language subsystems believed to exercise fl students’ inherent creativity no place for explicit pronunciation instruction intuitive pronunciation learning designer methods (e.g. natural approach, total physical response, suggestopedia) 1970s l2/fl teaching resembles l1 acquisition emphasis on listening comprehension no formal pronunciation teaching communicative language teaching 1980s pronunciation instruction viewed as an obstacle to communicative practice by early clt phonodidactics conceptualised as a problematic component of lt which can decrease speaker’s level of confidence (binte habib 2013: 21) departure from accuracyto fluency-oriented language tasks no drills growing importance of pronunciation in communicative competence in more recent version of clt 26 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) as evident above, “changing models of second language learning, changing foci in second language teaching, and changing models of linguistic description” (morley 1991: 485) led to the fluctuating significance of phonodidactics in esl/efl instructed settings. the contradictory nature of pronunciation instruction, however, has not been the only problem. 2.2 methodology-related challenges of esl/efl pronunciation teaching the failure of traditional approaches (and their pronunciation-based activities) to develop learners’ expertise in tl sounds and prosody dampened teachers’ enthusiasm to practice the subskill. this in turn might have constituted a source of discord between the subordinate position of pronunciation in lt and its indispensability in learners’ oral communication (see levelt 1999; burns & claire 2003; seidlhofer 2004; demirezen & kulaksiz 2015). ineffectiveness of phonodidactic classroom procedures, combined with scholars’, as brown (2002) puts it aptly, obsession with the concept of a method and their extensive, yet futile search for a set of universal assumptions which could work well with all groups of students from around the globe, encouraged researchers to stress the need for a novel kind of instruction and mark “the death of method”. given the fact that one method cannot provide effective teaching in all educational contexts, nunan (1991), brown (1994, 2002) and kumaravadivelu (2006) recommend language instructors to adjust their teaching to unique l2/fl instructed settings by following three concepts characteristic of the post-method era (kumaravadivelu 2006). they include the following: 1. particularity, which considers local, socio-cultural and political features of the educational context; 2. possibility, which explores learners’ socio-cultural and socio-political backgrounds; 3. practicality, according to which fl instructors are expected to formulate their own theory of practice based on their students’ individual needs and characteristics. following the tenets of the post-method era, esl/efl instructors are expected to adopt a two-stage approach to pronunciation teaching. this has generated lively discussions on what aspects of the tl sound system to teach and how to do in the classroom. following that line of reasoning, the decision on the what ought to logically precede any considerations of the how. otherwise, as brown (1991: 1) explains, one may end up teaching the wrong thing, that is an unsuitable model and aspect of pronunciation, using a very good methodology. 27 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in light of the above, some of the most intense debates in the field of phonodidactics have surrounded such notions as the choice of an appropriate pronunciation teaching model and the selection of instructional goals. at this point, it is to be noted that esl/efl teachers have had two paths to follow. they could work on their students’ native-like mastery of the tl sound system in accordance with the nativeness principle. nevertheless, such factors as the formulation of the critical period hypothesis and the prominence of communicative methodology gave way to the intelligibility principle, according to which l2/fl instructors may concentrate on developing their learners’ ability to produce intelligible and comprehensible speech. in the context of the principle in question, the isolation of pronunciation aspects which determine the intelligibility of non-native speakers’ utterances is a priority. the issue, however, is contentious because it is not always evident to whom the utterance should be comprehensible. traditionally, it was native speakers who were the target interlocutors that l2/fl speakers were preparing for having conversations with. nowadays, with an increasing significance of elf, this trend started to halt, with conversations with non-native speakers of english outnumbering those held with native speakers. even though the above-mentioned developments to sla and lt are more than welcome, they have not strengthened the position of phonodidactics. given increased workload involved in the processes of planning and implementation of instructed pronunciation practice, teachers’ ardour to include the pronunciation component in their courses might have thoroughly been cooled down. 2.3 elf-related problems with esl/efl pronunciation teaching the rise of elf and, ergo, the development of world englishes, further accentuated a highly unrealistic character of the objective pursued by the nativeness principle. the problem is well accounted for by ketabi & saeb (2015), who explain that “in an age when english had adopted the role of the basic channel of international communication, native-like pronunciation seemed to be an unnecessary extravagance not every learner could afford” (p. 185). given the changing character of communication in english, the transition from the nativeness to the intelligibility principle has initiated extensive research into what features of speech ought to be central in pronunciation instruction. in light of the fact that communication between non-native speakers of english had quickly become a reality, the english language ceased to be exclusively the domain of its native users (enl). the search for a universally applicable set of pronunciation teaching priorities for elf learners began. one of the important contributors to the field who made an attempt to satisfy the needs of such a group of learners is jenkins (2000). the researcher proposed the so-called lingua franca core (lfc), in which she isolated a set of core (e.g. aspiration of /p, t, k/, approximation of consonants, emphasis on vowel quantity, nuclear stress) and non-core (e.g. dental fricatives, rhythm, intonation, weak 28 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) forms) features of english. despite a growing need to acknowledge elf users, jenkins’ (2000) lfc attracted justifiable criticism. an emphasis on developing learners’ basic intelligibility was one of the arguments which effectively discredited her proposal. its unsound empirical basis, as successfully revealed by szpyra-kozłowska (2015), was another reason behind a questionable implementation of the core features into pronunciation instruction. since english is spoken in different parts of the world, discussions have also centred on how the institutional context translates into pronunciation teaching. szpyrakozłowska (2018) isolated four major types of pronunciation teaching models, including native, nativised, non-native and multiple models. their classification, as a historically motivated phenomenon, is often discussed in the context of kachru’s (1986 after szpyra-kozłowska 2018) model of concentric circle. having taken the role of english as the main criterion, kachru (1986) divides the countries into three circles: 1. the inner circle (e.g. the uk, the us, canada), in which english functions as a native language (enl); 2. the outer circle (former british colonies, such as india and the countries in africa and asia), where english is an official language used in politics, administration and education (esl); 3. the expanding circle countries (e.g. poland, germany, spain), in which the role of english is limited to the status of a foreign language (efl). kachru’s (1986) model of three concentric circles has affected the type of pronunciation instruction found preferable in given educational settings. accordingly, the inner circle adopts the native models of pronunciation whereas the outer circle opts for nativised pronunciation teaching models, with, for example, indian english being adopted in india. the introduction of nativised models of pronunciation in the outer circle countries carries fundamental implications. on the one hand, new englishes, or as szpyrakozłowska (2018: 238) explains, indigenised varieties of english, seem to be more appealing to esl teachers given a number of linguistically, psychologically and culturally-related reasons. local varieties of english are said to be easier to teach since they are deeply rooted in a given socio-cultural context, and, thus, frequently used. on the other hand, however, in contrast to standard models of pronunciation, they are simply local or regional varieties of english and, thus, they are known to a limited number of english speakers. hence, their use in communication with the speakers of english from the outside of a given outer circle country may have far-reaching consequences with regard to the success of a communication process. further, given a matter of prestige, 29 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) nativised models may evoke negative feelings among their users since they come across as inferior when compared with native models. in the case of the expanding circle, the issue under discussion is usually far from being straightforward. the choice of a pronunciation teaching model usually depends on the country’s geographical proximity to the inner circle countries as well as their political and economic relationship. decisions have been therefore usually made between two most influential pronunciation models associated with the uk and the us, that is received pronunciation (rp) and general american (ga) respectively. their introduction to fl instructed settings has not avoided criticism either. on the one hand, they have been most thoroughly described models, providing an extensively documented theoretical basis for the development of an array of teaching materials. on the other hand, they have been criticised for their unrealistic and unattainable character as well as a diminishing approach towards non-native speakers’ identity (szpyra-kozłowska 2018). a reasonable alternative to native models of pronunciation that has a potential in providing efl learners with a comprehensible and intelligible yet non-native-accented english can be offered by non-native and multiple models. as far as the former is concerned, or the non-native models, both non-native speakers of english who share their l1 with their learners as well as non-native speakers of english whose l1 differs from that of their students can be involved in pronunciation instruction. the situation in which the teacher as well as the learners have the same linguistic background is more favourable. as argued by szpyra-kozłowska (2018), “this variety of english is phonetically and culturally close to the learners who feel comfortable with it and allows them to express their l1 cultural, linguistic and national identity” (szpyra-kozłowska 2018: 239). such an argument, however, can be easily refuted if one takes into account those students who intend to achieve near native-like oral proficiency and whose esl/efl instructor provides an l1-accented a pronunciation model. the process of pronunciation teaching can become even more problematic when efl learners are exposed to a pronunciation model which is not only a non-native accented speech, but also contains traces of a language different from learners’ l1. as presented by szpyra-kozłowska (2018), such language instructors are not only at risk of being looked down upon by learners owing to their accented speech, but are also not able to predict students’ pronunciation difficulties given two distinct l1 sound systems. the latter, or the multiple models, do not focus on one variety of english. instead, they introduce, depending on the educational context as well as the instructor and learners, different native and non-native accents. while, on the one hand, such a practice is beneficial from the perspective of learners’ oral language comprehension; on the other hand, it may be the source of their confusion and annoyance given the fact that “if learning one variety is an enormous challenge, then coping with several models might be too heavy a burden” (szpyra-kozłowska 2018: 240). 30 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the information presented in table 2 gives insights into three aforementioned types of pronunciation teaching models: native, non-native and multiple models. table 2. overview of selected pronunciation teaching models (based on cruttenden 2008; kretzschmar 2008; seidlhofer 2008; collins & mess 2013; szpyra-kozłowska 2015; trudgill & hannah 2013) pronunciation teaching model type approach to pronunciation english as a foreign language (efl) native emphasis on communication with native speakers adoption of a native model of pronunciation aiming at nativeor near native-like proficiency exposure to and imitation of native pronunciation models references to tl society and culture english as a lingua franca (elf) non-native emphasis on communication with non-native speakers of english adoption of the lingua franca core (lfc) aiming at basic intelligibility (preservation of l1 features under the condition that they do not impede on intelligibility) native linguistic rules and socio-cultural norms not important native english as a lingua franca (nelf) multiple emphasis on communication with native and non-native speakers adoption of a native model of pronunciation aiming at comfortable intelligibility references to both l1 and tl socio-cultural norms 3 future directions it is difficult not to agree that the stipulated “death of the method” have revolutionised theoretical approaches to pronunciation teaching. socio-cultural, economic, political and technological globalisation-driven changes which contributed to the emergence of elf have also significantly affected the position of the pronunciation component in english language teaching (elt). 31 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the ease with selecting grammatical and lexical items according to their complexity and learners’ age, interests and educational needs (cruttenden 2008) has over the years remained a proverbial pipe dream in the field of phonodidactics. as already stated, contemporary phonodidactics involves a number of decision-making processes connected with the whats and the hows of pronunciation teaching. this, consequently, places more and more burden on teachers who need to select pronunciation teaching models and priorities by taking into consideration, inter alia, their students’ l1, age, expectations, level of proficiency as well as cultural, historical and political ties with the tl community. even though the above-mentioned information has been found crucial to successful planning of pronunciation instruction, we would like to express our concerns as to what extent teachers of english across the globe are familiar with the latest guidelines on phonodidactics of the new millennium and to what degree they can adhere to them in language classrooms. our worry has been prompted by the current situation in the polish educational context in which efl teachers’ classroom work has been driven primarily by the prospect of high-stake examinations. as far as polish instructed settings are concerned, there has been little room for pronunciation practice, and, all the more, the identification of pronunciation teaching priorities in view of the examination reforms initiated in the late 1990s. the speaking matura exam, the only oral fl examination in poland, administered at the isced5 level 3, not only assesses examinees’ pronunciation very leniently, but it is also of little significance to polish students in contrast to a written high-stake fl examination as demonstrated by zawadowska-kittel (2017) in her study conducted with secondary school students. its impact on phonodidactics is more than obvious. in the times of an increasing significance of english, the questions relating to what (and why) should be regarded as a pronunciation teaching priority have been giving researchers sleepless nights. there are, however, some other aspects which complicate the process of pronunciation teaching. what is closely connected with the points made above is the concept of a standard which evolved differently in the context of a spoken and written language. it is to be noted that while the conventions concerning grammatical rules and vocabulary for the written language have generally been accepted by the majority of educated english speakers, the lively controversy has centred on the issue of spoken language. the latter has been diversified not only by different strata of the society, but also by various geographical regions (cruttenden 2008). intelligibility, which describes the degree to which an utterance is understood by a tl user, is problematic since “just like with foreign accent, whether a given word/utterance 5 eng. international standard classification of education 32 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) is or is not recognizable will to a large extent depend on the listener, rather than on the objectively measurable features of the speaker’s phonetic output” (scheuer 2015: 140). even though it is possible for a foreign accented speech to be understood by other interlocutors, there is every likelihood that a poor quality of non-native speakers’ pronunciation will have a negative effect on the latter’s perception (cunningham-anderson 1993). moreover, certain manners of pronunciation may be more irritating than others. as a result, “listeners sometimes exhibit prejudice against particular groups of l2 speakers or against non-native accents in general” (munro & derwing 1995: 290). the criterion of aesthetics and attitudes towards accented speech, since conditioned by listeners’ likes and dislikes, is, thus, a personal issue. munro and derwing (1995) point out that the sources of bias towards foreign accented speech can also be located within social, economic, historical and political features of a given nationality. pennington and rogerson-revell (2019: 20) provide an example of filipino english, which is disregarded by the citizens of hong kong due to the contrast between the filipino, predominantly servants, and the english, a ruling class, communities. what further complicates the issue is, as dalton and seidlhofer (1994) explain, the fact that some aspects of pronunciation teaching are easy to teach, whereas some “might better be left for learning (or not) without teacher intervention” (dalton & seidlhofer 1994: 72). apart from teachabilityand learnability-centred considerations, the functional, or phonemic, load which stands for the contrasts between two, or more than two, sounds ought to be also taken into account. accordingly, the higher the functional load a given sound carries, the more important it is in the context of oral communication and speech production (cruttenden 2008: 315). in other words, the sounds which can be characterised by a high functional load constitute more minimal pairs and, therefore, their mispronunciation may result in frequent communication breakdowns, e.g. /i/ versus /i:/ as in sit and seat, fit and feet, bid and bead. last but not least, given the fact that each group of learners has its own unique characteristics, it has recently been advocated that a list of pronunciation priorities which are most suitable for a specific group of speakers should be compiled (szpyra-kozłowska 2015). accordingly, segmental and suprasegmental components of the tl sound system ought to be analysed with reference to the so-called priority evaluation. it encompasses the following criteria: 1. their influence on the intelligibility of learners’ utterances and the functional load; 2. their degree of tolerance as perceived by native speakers of the tl; 3. teachability and learnability dimensions in fl classrooms; 4. decisions made with regard to the aims of pronunciation instruction relating to basic versus comfortable intelligibility. 33 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in her publication, szpyra-kozłowska (2015) carries out an evaluation for the voiceless dental fricative /θ/. she argues that the sound ranks low with regard to the intelligibility, functional load, teachability and learnability, at the same time being characterised by a high degree of tolerance on the part of native speakers. if, however, the comfortable intelligibility is the goal, then the sound ought to be taught. 4 concluding remarks the most frequent explanation put forward to account for the underprivileged position of pronunciation teaching has lain in a plethora of linguistic and non-linguistic learner-, teacherand context-related pronunciation-learning determinants. unsurprisingly, the concept of a pronunciation error, or any deviation from the norm, has been mostly overlooked to the advantage of grammar and vocabulary practice based on the rule: the easier something is, the sooner it is taught. nonetheless, inherent problems with pronunciation teaching might have been further aggravated by a range of economic, political and socio-cultural developments that have been taking place irrespectively of classroom settings. the emergence of elf has started a heated debate over who enjoys the sole right to judge what can be regarded as correct pronunciation. a growing number of non-native speakers of english have put into question the nativeness principle. since more and more communication nowadays takes place between non-native speakers of english, native models of pronunciation have been replaced with their indigenised, non-native and multiple counterparts, following kachru’s (1986) model of concentric circle, on the significance of english in different parts of the world. in addition, a methodological revolution marked by the demise of a method has had far-reaching implications in institutional contexts. apart from the selection of a pronunciation teaching model, l2/fl teachers have been strongly encouraged to carefully analyse their instructed settings in light of the post-method era. they have been expected to make decisions with regard to what aspects of tl pronunciation to teach and how to do it most effectively. in view of the above, onerous burden has been imposed on language instructors who are obliged to: 1. firstly, be well acquainted with theoretical and practical phonetics in order to identify similarities and differences between their learners’ l1 and tl systems; 2. secondly, consider students’ english-related plans with a view to isolating pronunciation teaching priorities which ensure speakers’ basic or comfortable intelligibility in contacts with native and/or non-native users of english; 3. thirdly, select pronunciation-based classroom activities bearing in mind esl/efl students’ linguistic and cognitive abilities. 34 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) this, despite a great prominence and obvious usefulness of esl/efl oracy, proves the problematic nature of phonodidactics and provides yet another reason behind an increased unwillingness of teachers to introduce and practice aspects of the english language pronunciation in their classes. theoretical discussions and empirical research have been and definitely will be an integral part of phonodidactics. we are afraid, however, that the increasing diversity of learners of english may further exacerbate the problem of neglected pronunciation instruction. pragmatically speaking, a question needs to be asked, firstly, to what extent teachers can remain theoretically informed about the recent phonodidactic developments and, secondly, if it is really possible to determine nowadays pronunciation teaching priorities. assuming that this difficult task has been achieved, we need to remember that this is only one side of the coin. there is still great abundance of linguistic and non-linguistic pronunciation-influencing factors which relentlessly put to the test the effectiveness of the teaching process. certainly, the aforementioned overview cannot and, therefore, does not offer a complete account of the problem under discussion. nevertheless, bearing in mind an immense complexity of the phenomenon of pronunciation teaching, our determined attempt was to discuss selected methodologyand elf-related developments with a view to illustrating a high vulnerability of a pronunciation component to ongoing changes taking place not only in esl/efl methodology, but also in different spheres of human lives. they all have, as, hopefully, successfully explained above, played an important part in reducing l2/fl instructors’ willingness to teach pronunciation by complicating the selection of phonodidactic priorities, or maybe making the whole action completely impracticable. references atli, i. & bergil, a. 2012. the effect of pronunciation instruction on students’ overall speaking skills. procedia – social and behavioral sciences 46: 3665-3671. binte habib, r. 2013. 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thegreatestdangers, though, lurkednotsomuchinthe curvesandbendsof theroadas in therecessesofschwarzenbachs̓boyishlycoiffedhead.throughaclose reading of maillart s̓ and schwarzenbachs̓ memoirs of the trip (the cruel way and all the roads are open, respectively), endeavour to determine whether the journey was a means of escape from the impending doomof thewar,especiallygiven that theywerebothanti-fascists,orwhether itwas insteadanattempt to cure schwarzenbach of her addictions and help her recuperate after yet another stay at a mental hospital following a suicide attempt. relying on joseph campbells̓ mythologically-informed concepts of the hero quest and maureen murdocks̓ feminist rewriting of campbells̓ theory, the articles̓ analysis of the two womens̓ accounts of the journey also aims to probe the question of how they performed themselves and staged their travelling bodies in writing on the shaky scene offered by, on the one hand, the limited space of the speeding car and, on the other, by the seemingly boundless expanses of the route they followed. keywords: joseph campbell, ella maillart, maureen murdock, annemarie schwarzenbach, hero quest, journey, memoir, travelogue, travel writing, women on the road 1 address for correspondence: institute of literary studies, faculty of humanities, university of silesia in katowice, grota-roweckiego 5, 41-205 sosnowiec, poland. e-mail: julia.szoltysek@us.edu.pl https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7487-7807 18 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) i. when gathering material for the heroine’s journey, which later became her seminal work,maureenmurdockaskedjosephcampbellhowthewomans̓ journeyrelated to the quest of the hero, but the answer she heard was “deeply unsatisfying”: in the whole mythological tradition the woman is there. all she has to do is realize that shes̓ the place that people are trying to get to.when a woman realizes what her wonderful character is, shes̓ not going to get messed up with the notion of being pseudo-male. (murdock 2020: 2; original emphasis) what shocked murdock was not so much the narrow-mindedness of campbells̓ response as his obliviousness to the mere possibility of there being any other options available to women. on top of that, murdock also found alarming the ease with which campbell consigned women to the role of sessile penelopes, waiting—and weaving, and weeping—for the return of their heroes. baffled and disappointed, murdock set about mapping the female quest, placing the woman right at the forefront of the journey—as the traveller, not travellee, the subject, never object, and the fighter, not the one foughtover or fought for. that was the year 1981, only six years before campbells̓ passing and over thirty after the first publication of the hero with a thousand faces; campbell was already an esteemed and influential scholar and murdoch an ambitious novice and his former student. curiously enough, murdocks̓ 1981 exchange with campbell bears some resemblance to a conversation between ella maillart (1903-1997), a swiss-danish traveller, reporter, and writer, and carl gustav jung, whom maillart had paid quite a casual visit before she set off in 1939 on a trip to afghanistan with annemarie schwarzenbach (1909-1942), a swiss writer, journalist and photographer: i called on c. g. jung, hoping (very foolishly) that he could give me a key to the mentality of the so-called primitives. i offered him one of my books. he looked at it and asked: “why do you travel?” “to meet those who know how to live peacefully” was the first answer that came to my lips. but the great man looked at me with suspicion; did i look like a restless lunatic who wants to be cured? (2013: 10) it is somewhat unsettling to read these two passages which, though separated by some forty years of turbulent history, seem to strike quite similar chords. the question of womens̓ travels and generally of women-as-travellers continues to be a cause for alarm or at least for the furrowing of the brows (spare a thought for freuds̓ notorious frown); luckily enough, the stories of women like maillart, schwarzenbach, and, in fact, staggering numbers of others annul much of the stinging capital of such attitudes. none of them stopped to take heed or wavered in her resolution to travel, be it outwards or 19 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) inwards, brought down by instances of advice-giving and gaslighting. in fact, schwarzenbach and maillart loom as discordant figures, defying limitations and conventions, appropriating instead the terrains traditionally designated as male-only. what is more, their movements and transitions transcend the superficial divisions and categories—and it is predominantly these traversals that i wish to focus on in the course of the present article. while maillart seems to be embracing life and adventure, and in this senseembarkson the journeywith jouissanceandenthusiasm, forschwarzenbach, the trip appears to promise numerous chances to disembark completely in pursuit of self-annihilation, inviting risk, and offering her opportunities to gradually give up on her will to live. in an attempt to follow up on these threads, i wish to shed light on modes of departure as deliverance which schwarzenbach and maillart negotiated and which marked them as, at once, representatives of the “leisure classes” of old, and harbingers of the tragic heroes of todays̓ grey zones. both women kept journals during the trip and published their accounts; for schwarzenbach, it was actually a way of acquiring extra funds for the journey—she regularly sent out her texts in the form of feuilletons and reports to various magazines and journals, which were collected in one volume and publishedasacomplete travelogueunder the title all the roads are open onlyasrecently as 2000 (in german; first english translation appeared in 2011). maillart s̓ the cruel way: switzerland to afghanistan in a ford, 1939 appeared in 1947, and its most recent edition was published in 2013 with a foreword by jessa crispin. it feels justified to look more closely at the titles of the respective works.while both are direct quotes from the texts, they refer specifically to only one of the travellers—annemarie, yielding significant insights into her general disposition throughout the trip. when crossing the khyber pass, schwarzenbach was asked by british customs officers for her passport and car documents. she relates how befuddled they were upon finding out that she had never been there before, given how extensive her travels had been. annemarie does not feel fit to explain herself to them; rather, she seems to withdraw from the entire scene and give in to her wistfulness, noting mournfully that “certainly, all the roads are open, and lead nowhere, nowhere” (schwarzenbach 2013: 108). this is just one of the many bursts of despair and regrets she committed along the way—very symptomatic, though. contrary towhat thephraseonitsownmightappear tomean, thiswasnotanenthusiastic exclamation about the journey and the sense of joy an empty road at one of the worlds̓ great crossroads might give a driver; it was a pronouncement of resignation and sorrow which plagued schwarzenbach not only during this particular trip but throughout her whole life, tormenting her and frequently sending her over the edge. in this sense, it does actually correlate with maillart s̓ choice of title for her work. maillart, a pragmatic optimist, was experiencing quite profound emotions caused by the circumstances and mused about explaining them to annemarie in an attempt to prove to her 20 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) that one can “bring forth from my being pure and unconditioned joy . . .” (maillart 2013:72). by then she did, however, know that these thoughts would be lost on annemarie, and moved by schwarzenbachs̓ struggle, she wondered “why again and againshechose thecomplicated, cruelwayofhell.could itbe that shepreferred it toan easier mode of living? did she believe it was a quick way of exceeding the limitations of her individuality?” (maillart 2013: 72). thus, “the cruel way” becomes a definition of how schwarzenbach proceeded in the world, how she went about her life; at the same time, it rings very true with regards to the trip itself and to its larger, mythological even, implications. bodily movement, while not capable of saving annemarie from herself entirely, stillprovidedashieldagainstemotional stasis in that itoccupied thesensesand busied the muscles as well as the mind, not allowing the traveller to slide into despair and immobilizing self-pity while on the move. in fact, the “crueller” the way, the better it proved for keeping schwarzenbach in check, which is exactly what maillart s̓ work is about. curiously enough, it tells us next to nothing about maillart, the author and the traveller, placing the focus quitedefinitively on her travel companion, who emerges as the main protagonist and the sole subject of both of these accounts. the practice, though rather unpremeditated on the part of maillart, might distantly echo the devices applied by james boswell in the journal of a tour to the hebrides with samuel johnson, ll.d. (1785)—theworks̓unquestionedhero is johnson,andtheentire textmightberead as a “prolegomenon” of sorts to boswells̓ later biography of johnson. undoubtedly, the decision to write a travel journal/memoir where the focus is on a protagonist other than the writer is unusual and curious, one that seems to go against the old adage of making a travel accountaboastful recordofones̓ownadventuresand triumphsormishapsand sufferings (think of t. e. lawrence and the multifarious torments that he so prides himself on actively pursuing). ii. lately, the two women travel writers, schwarzenbach in particular, have been enjoying a renewed interest, and the rediscovery has been fuelled also by fashion and popular culture. schwarzenbach surely makes for a fitting heroine—her gender ambiguity and striking androgynous appearance, along with a penchant for cross-dressing single her out as a belated icon. in fact, her photographic appeal had already been eagerly exploredbymanyofherpeersandcompanions,maillart included. in2018, thehouseof givenchypresentedacollection inspiredbyschwarzenbach,withmodelssportinghighwaisted trousers and shorts, and silk shirts, complemented by hairstyles reminiscent of schwarzenbachs̓ hairdo. the 2018 fashion show turned out to be a celebration of inclusivityanddifferenceandapeculiar tribute toschwarzenbach, thoughmostof the“ugly” parts of her story had been painted over, perhaps quite understandably. of these there was indeed a-plenty—schwarzenbach did not in the least bit feel like an “icon” or a role 21 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) model of any sort; throughout her whole life, she battled depression, drug addiction, anxiety, and neurosis, which led her to several suicide attempts and multiple stays in recoveryclinics.herhypersensitivitymeant that shecouldnever turnablindeye toany instanceofoppression,which in turn thrusther intoadeepconflictwithher familyand did not earn her too many supporters among the social circles within which the schwarzenbachs moved. in a way, though, these circumstances make her a figure that many young people today can actually relate to and identify with, which perhaps explains the popular attention she has garnered. on top of that, schwarzenbach was a highly educated and extremely well-read person (with a doctorate in history from zurich and paris) whose talents included first and foremost writing, both creative and journalistic, photography, and driving, the latter being one of the passions which brought her close to maillart, also an avid driver. more widespread scholarly attention came with english translations—in 2011 isabel fargo cole translated all the roads are open (seagull books), and in the same year lucy renner joness̓ translation of lyric novella appeared, also with seagull books; shortly thereafter, in2012,renner jones translated death in persia, whichwaspublished in2013 again by the same publishing house. all the while, numerous blogs, websites, as well as many pinterest and instagram profiles emerged devoted to schwarzenbach, some of which are still up and running, e.g., strange flowers, run by james j. conway, or the ravaged angel. importantly, there have also been some substantial academic publications on annemarie schwarzenbach, most notable of which are sofie decocks̓ and uta schafferss̓ 2011-2012 series of articles (in german) about schwarzenbachs̓ asian and african travel journalsone of decocks̓ articles appeared in english in the 2011 issue of women in german yearbook, publishedby theuniversityofnebraskapress.utaschaffers hascontinuedherresearch into travelwriting,andasofsummer2022hasbeenworking on an edited collection of essays (in english), together with sarah schäfer-althaus and nicole maruo-schröder, with some of the confirmed contributions being sofie decocks̓ new article on schwarzenbach. the 2016 routledge companion to travel writing, edited by carlthompson, includes a shorter and more survey-like entry about schwarzenbach by david farley, who interrogates her works translated into english from the vantage of modernist travel writing, along with authors such as aime cesare and blaise cendrars. to date, there is no complete english biography of schwarzenbach. the lack is quite painful because not only are there no original biographical works in english, but translations of german, swiss or french ones are also hard to find. a curious case is that of the immensely popular italian author melania mazzucco, whose immersive fictionalized biography of schwarzenbach (lei cosi amata, 2000) has been translated into at least ten languages, includingpolish (tak ukochana, translatedbymonikawoźniak, 2006),but never into english, and, in fact, her only work to have so far appeared in english is the 2002 novel vita (translated by virginia jewiss, 2006). in other media, in 2001 22 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) schwarzenbachs̓ afghan trip with maillart was turned into an arthouse film, journey to kafiristan, directed by fosco and donatello dubini, with jeanette hain as schwarzenbach and nina petri as maillart, which, however, only a lukewarm critical and audience reception. yet another popular culture reference to schwarzenbach, one perhaps not quite obvious, is suzanne vegas̓ 2011 one-woman show carson mccullers talks about love, inwhichvegauses thewriters̓ ownwords tosingaboutmccullersʼ lifeandexperiences, the authors̓ feelings for schwarzenbach making up one track in the collection—“ song of annemarie”. iii. there still remains a lot to explore with regards to schwarzenbachs̓ life and oeuvre, but the primary sources are probably already exhausted—it is unlikely that there should be any new publications by schwarzenbach because sadly all her letters, journals, and other unfinished projects which may have been prime examples of writing on the move were destroyed by her mother renee shortly after schwarzenbachs̓ untimely death. renee felt they shed unfavourable light on the family, and they probably did because schwarzenbach was a staunch opponent and merciless critic of hitler and nazism, whereas her family, her mother in particular, openly supported the führer. this might also explain why schwarzenbach felt the urge to flee her family home and its atmosphere—she could not accept her parentsʼ political sympathies, especially given that the circle of her closest friends included, among many prominent others, the family of thomas mann, and a german photojournalist marianne breslauer. however, the strange and somewhat incongruent aspect of that is the fact that her mother was actually openly bisexual, involved in an affair with the opera singer emily krueger and others; what is more, renee raised annemarie as a boy, styling her hair boyishly and dressing her in boysʼ clothes, and her daughters̓ queerness was no secret toreneebut shestill tended touse it againstannemarie.theirswasbyallmeansa toxic and troubled relationship, and as annemarie admits, part of her drive to constantly depart had to with attempts to flee her mothers̓ stifling and damaging influence. the lack of positive female role models led her to look for female/motherly affection elsewhere, and this was what partly drew her to maillart. she may too have had a bit of a crush on maillart, but perhaps more than any physical intimacy she sought out her warmth and empathy. schwarzenbachs̓ life was short, full of drama, not infrequently self-induced, ridden by personal struggles, and marked by family trauma. despite all that—or perhaps because of that, at least to a degree—she never surrendered in her intellectual, mental, and physical efforts to be a vocal witness to injustice, evil, oppression, and beauty, which sometimes triumphed against the odds. aware of her own limitations and vices, she persevered in her attempts to see good and hope in the world that she traversed so 23 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) tirelessly across all kinds of division lines—geographical, political, religious, and cultural alike. in her struggles, she more often than not failed, at times spectacularly, succumbing to her demons—drugs, unrequited affection, family feuds, physical and mental ailments, the most tragic and ironic being the biking accident near her home in switzerland, which sent her into a coma she did not recover from.when she died at the age of thirty-four, schwarzenbach was a half-reformed addict, a published author, an acclaimed journalist and social reformer, a married woman, a seasoned traveller, an experienced driver, and, to quote her friend, breslauer, “this strange mixture of man and woman . . . not at all like a living being but like a work of art . . . the archangel gabriel standing before heaven” (2012: 132). breslauers̓ comment captures the conflictednatureofschwarzenbachand theambiguity sheexuded,eludingeasycategorizationsanddefinitions,whichsurfacesacutely in thecountlesspictures thatbreslauer took of her. breslauer was, in fact, not the only person to compare schwarzenbach to an angel—so did thomas mann and roger martin du gard; carson mccullers recalled that her face “would haunt [her] for the rest of her life” (shepland 2021: 36). in the photographsbreslauer tookofher, schwarzenbachrarely smiles; rather,herusualexpression seems to be defiance mixed with vulnerability, underrun by a passion for whatever it is that the picture catches her doing. her energy vibrates but the tremors sometimes send her over the edge. such was her condition in 1939, when she and maillart started planning the afghan trip. schwarzenbach, after a prolonged stay at a rehabilitation centre in yverdon, appeared to have recovered just enough to embark on a new escapade. she knew she had nothing to lose—she had already lost nearly everything, several times at least—and she realized that there was actually quite a lot at stake for her, including the hope of learning to take control of her life, which for long she had felt slipping away from her. understanding that being on her own she would most probably give in to morphine addiction again, she found the level-headed and compassionate maillart a perfect companion. maillart, however, was not immediately convinced, especially given that some of her friends had warned her about schwarzenbach. though she tried not to let gossip get to her, she recalls towards the beginning of the cruel way that she “was not quite easy about our enterprise” (maillart 2013: 9). schwarzenbach had her misgivings, too, but they were more about her general malaise and the sense of impending doom she felt encroaching upon her: i am thirty. it is the last chance to mend my ways, to take myself in hand. this journey is not going to be a sky-larking escapade as if we were twenty—and that is impossible, with the fear of hitler increasing day by day around us. the journey must be a means towards our end.we can help each other to become conscious, responsible persons. my blind way of life has grown unbearable.what is the reason, the meaning of the chaos that 24 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) undermines people and nations? and there must be something that i am to do with my life, there must be some purpose for which i could gladly die or live. (maillart 2013: 4) maillart could not help but be moved by such an ardent plea, to which she responded with a no less passionate “prayer” for annemarie (whom in her text maillart calls “christina” in order to avoid raising objections from schwarzenbachs̓ family): may it be in my power to help you, impatient christina so irked by the limitations of the human condition, so oppressed by the falsity of life, by the parody of love around us. if we travel together, may it be given me not to fail you, may my shoulder be firm enough for you to lean on. along the surface of the earth i shall find our way where i have journeyed before; and inwardly, where i have long ago begun to ask myself questions so like yours, may the little that i have found help you to find what each of us has to find by himself. (maillart 2013: 4) for jessa crispin (also a travel writer and a journalist; author of the memoir-travelogue dead ladies project), who wrote the introduction to maillart s̓ the cruel way, it is the bond between the two women that occupies center-stage in maillart s̓ account. indeed, as one gets deeper into the narrative, one cannot help noticing that the entire text—and actually the entire endeavour—was completely about schwarzenbach. maillart does not hide it; quite the opposite, she states point blank that her main goals “were to acquire self-mastery and to save my friend from herself” (maillart 2013: 26). reading the two accounts side by side, the striking way in which they function might seem dubious at first because whereas schwarzenbachs̓ all the roads are open offers full-on, painstaking vivisection of herself, the cruel way provides very little in terms of a similar insight into maillart s̓ sensibilities and mindscapes. rather, what is being revealed are the “bumps” along the road that schwarzenbach tended to conceal or at least downplay, and which maillart supplied with background and context, laying bare the true emotional and physical cost of their journey. they are indeed travellers of the “stereoscopic” order as defined by charles forsdick, speaking of, interestingly, a different pair of travel companions inwhichmaillart againwasoneof thecounterparts (forsdick2009:293). in an exploration of the textualisations of maillart s̓ and peter flemings̓ accounts of their 1935 journey to china, forsdick draws attention to several issues which prove significant also in the case of maillart s̓ and schwarzenbachs̓ parallel travel narratives—the self-performativity of the travel writer, the narrative representation (or lack thereof) of the co-traveller, and the “anxiety of influence” (forsdick 2009: 295) that each of the travellers/authors may be subject to. focusing on a journey undertaken by the “odd couple”, as maillart and fleming had been dubbed by maureen mulligan (mulligan 2008: 141), he also looks at the gendered 25 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) aspects of the travelling experience and the gender rivalry which also plays a part in how the authorsʼ travelogues were textualized, noting that indeed each seemed to feel compelled to challenge the other, in particular with regards to the “ownership” of the journey (forsdick 2009: 293) along the lines of the gender divide. the gender rivalry argument does not really hold for schwarzenbach and maillart—even if annemaries̓ sexual and gender identification was not normative, they were, in essence, “two women alone inafghanistan” (schwarzenbach2018:89)andhadto fight thesamebattle,at least on this ground. however, questions of their authorial self-performativity, the presence of the co-traveller in each others̓ travelogues, and the anxiety of influence may have been valid points. still, perhaps owing to the status of their relationship and their individual predispositions, the case is not so clear-cut. schwarzenbach surely takes great care of what she puts into her writing, diligently avoiding mentioning any of the crises caused by her recklessness, which may be read as an attempt at preserving the image and impression of a sturdy traveller and a rational and responsible person, but then again she does not hide her depressive moods, ennui, fear, and insecurity, at times allowing herself to wallow in self-pity and painstakingly record her anxieties. reading all the roads are open leaves one in the dark with regards to what went on “behind the scenes”; schwarzenbachs̓ mood swings are recorded but she is rather cryptic when it comes to revealing the full picture. this seems to suggest that although shewaspublishingher journeyreports regularlywhileontheroad, shewasverycareful abouthowmuchsheactually leton,signallingaveryconsciousandself-awareauthorial persona. perhaps she kept a more intimate diary or shared the many dramas of the journey in letters to friends; sadly, thesewouldnothavesurvivedhermothers̓ censorial hand. surely the travel experience was shaping her travelogue to a great extent, which had to do with the physical aspect of her engagement in the entire endeavour. what is quite striking, though, is that indeed schwarzenbach erases nearly all traces of the presence of maillart, going so far to as to refer to her rather impersonally as “my companion” or “my fellow driver” in the rare instances when she mentions her at all (schwarzenbach 2018: passim). forsdick suggests that similar practices in maillart s̓ and flemings̓ respective chinese travelogues exemplified a romanticist apotheosis of solitary travel (forsdick 2009: 295) and the cult of the solo traveler who, consequently, becomes a true master of all he surveys. regarding the afghan journey, this does not seem to be the case, and the grounds for schwarzenbachs̓ textual decisions might actually lie elsewhere, in a realm altogether much more personal and symptomatic of her condition.to put it perhaps a bit too bluntly, she might not have been particularly interested in such implications of the journey because she was far too engrossed in her own universe, to the point of sometimes seeming not to be of this world. focused inwardly, she appears to be devoted to self-vivisection, which does not require her to always consider the bigger picture. interestingly, while she erased the travel/travail parallel in 26 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) her account, maillart embraced and highlighted it. thus, it might be argued that schwarzenbachs̓ all the roads are open constitutes a selective, first-person, first-hand account of a heroines̓ journey, while maillart s̓ the cruel way becomes a companion piece to the record of her companions̓ quest. indeed, theirafghantrippossessesmanyfeatures typicalof theheros̓quest,both with regards to the reasons why they set off in the first place, and in terms of the particular stages that their journey is made up of. here, maureen murdocks̓ work comes in handy—it is shewhobuilt, orexpanded, theheroines̓ journey,extricating it fromcampbells̓ heroic quest. as murdock puts it: the journey begins with our heroines̓ search for identity.this “call” is heard at no specific age but occurs when the “old self” no longer fits. . .. it may simply happen when a woman realizes that she has no sense of self that she can call her own. (murdock 2020: 5) usually, the sense of lack, confusion, stasis, and pointlessness goes as far back as the archetype of the mother and the heroines̓ urge to separate from it to find a truer self that would be fuller and individual. this entails the separation of a woman from her actualmotherandthedeeper,morecomplexsplit requiredofher toperformat the level of the unconscious, involving body and mind. according to murdock, “geographical separation may be the only way at first to resolve the tension between a daughters̓ need to grow up and her desire to please her mother” (2020:20). having managed to acquire some safe distance, the heroine may brace herself for tackling the archetypal mother and her dual expressions—that of the good great mother, and the terrible mother, who embodies stasis, stagnation, and whose hold on the daughter petrifies her, ultimately threatening her with death. renees̓ actions are frequently hostile, but annemarie, at least half aware of their detrimental effect on her health, self-esteem, and well-being finds herself helpless and all-too-exposed to their impact. she confides in maillart that she thought “it was very foolish of me to be always acting against my mother—the person who knows me better than anyone else. i had no hope of freeing myself from her, no hope of ever being simply myself” (maillart 2013:15). maillart, while sensing schwarzenbachs̓ fearofhermother,noticedaswell thathercompanionmight justhave beenasreadyasonecanget tobreak thecircleandsplitherself fromrenee, inanactof defiance akin to taking the sword of her truth and using it to protect herself along the path of her own destiny. the first step has been made—schwarzenbach takes to the wheel of their ford, but does she have enough stamina and courage to keep at it? alone with her baggage—probably not; with an ally at her side, the chances of success grow. 27 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) thus, inanattempt to—asnotedearlier—“savechristina2 fromherself”,maillart accepts the role of the guardian and nourisher, providing schwarzenbach with models of femininity that are powerful but not threatening, unfurling before her a path which, while still full of traps, allows her to learn to use her inner strength to manoeuvre the pitfalls. iv. it remains a road of trials, with calamities and losses on the way. the second most dangerous “ogre”, after the fear of the mother, has always been schwarzenbachs̓ fragile sobriety and the temptations offered by places they pass by, especially cities such as sofia, budapest, and constantinople, or their final destination, kabul. in sofia, maillart was at first totally at a loss with regard to what might have happened; when she discovered a broken ampule in the bathroom, she quickly understood what was going on: she had succumbed once more . . .. she had done what she pretended to abhor. my presence, my confidence in her, the fear of displeasing me had no effect.what did it mean?what were we to do? (2013: 24) the transgression leaves schwarzenbach seriously incapacitated—a fact we learn, however, from maillart because annemmaries̓ account includes only a couple of cursory remarks on bulgaria, quite evasive in tone and devoted to landscapes, roads and, the availability of amenities such as fresh bread (schwarzenbach 2018: 4-7). it is maillart who reveals the gravity of the situation, but fortunately, she was not one to break down and lose her head in a crisis; even though at this particular moment she felt betrayed and dismayed, her fear over annemaries̓ health and life prevailed, and she set about making sure this would not happen again. to this end, they made a pact, an unwritten but binding contract, according to which schwarzenbach gave herself over to maillart: ʻ“i give you complete power day and night. donʼt leave me alone. if it happens again, i leave the car with you and go backʼ” (maillart 2013: 34). profound though these pronouncements were, at the end of the day they were only words, and unfortunately, schwarzenbach lost to temptation yet again, but that time her condition was even graver.the second crisis hit towards the end of their journey when they were already in kabul. at first, schwarzenbach seemed to be coming down with bad flu, but despite a high feverandseverecough, sherefused toseeadoctor.asher stateworsened,maillart foundherself feelingmoreandmoresuspiciousof thewhole thing,especiallygiventhat her travel companion did not want to talk to her, either. maillart noted with alarm that “she was ill but would not admit it; she would not relax or submit herself to the laws of 2 this is the way she refers to schwarzenbach in her narrative. 28 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) nature” (maillart 2013: 197); what she found yet more unsettling was the gnawing anxiety that she had let schwarzenbach down: i failed christina. according to our pact i was not to leave her alone whatever she might say or do. but the intensity of my desire to help her had spoilt my intention. that intensity had brought with it a kind of effort that had tired me. (maillart 2013: 198) when annemarie finally speaks, it is “a confession of her total wretchedness” (maillart 2013: 199). she admitted to having been lying all the time, going out of her wicked way to procure morphine ampules whenever they were in the vicinity of any bigger town. maillart lost it, though somehow it does not feel entirely convincing that she really had no inkling whatsoever of what annemarie had been up to, especially seeing that she forgives again, even though this was such a blatant breach of their contract which jeopardized not just the journey but their friendship and annemaries̓ life, too. despite maillart s̓ disappointment, they trudged on, though schwarzenbach was fragileandmentallyandphysicallyweak.neitherwasshe theeasiestof convalescents— she vehemently refused to see a doctor and at times seemed to take a peculiar tormented pleasure in wallowing in her afflictions. maillart, who saw through all this, began to losepatience,only tobacktrackonanynascentcriticismofher friend, starting instead to look for explanations and reasons why annemarie was that way. the level of her compassion is astounding; it is also at this moment, after annemarie wore out nearly all of maillart s̓ goodwill and care, that maillart utters what may very well be one of the most moving and saddest remarks on annemarie: “she was a sober violin whose cordshadbeenmadeofherownheart-strings:whilesheplayedshewaswearingherself out” (2013: 73). no reflection of these crises finds expression in schwarzenbachs̓ account, but one may detect her fear and internal turmoil in the violent mood swings she succumbs to. describing one of the villages they stop by, she resorts to a language of loss, defeat, and death; the settlement comes across to her as “gripped by the inexorable destruction like a contagious disease” (2018: 65); all around she sees ghosts and ruins of things that had once been and are no more: and i look about, and nothing remains, the bells are buried, the cisterns caved in, the altars cold. in this merciless land, one is tempted to believe the earth is on the verge of extinction. (2018: 66) a moment later, though, she lets herself be gripped by the nearly all-consuming beauty of their surroundings, the kindness of the people they encounter, and their humility and respect for the timeless rites of their land: 29 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and when you see a white or a light blue turban, a womens̓ red veil by day in the fields, or at noon the men who have gathered to pray outside the little mosque, or in the evening, at the entrance to the bazaar, the first warm glow of a samovar, you believe the course of a well-ordered day is assured, a well-ordered life according to laws devised for our protection, for our needs, and you feel almost sheltered. (2018: 70) another day on the road brings a new storm, unease, and listlessness from which she “wanted tobreakaway,notknowingexactly fromwhich fate, seeming tograsponly that i had been struck by calamity” (2018: 100-1). not only does she feel drained mentally; she ponders withdrawing from professional activity, too—writing becomes “a perpetual mirror of our drenched existence, which i was so loath to accept and endure” (2018: 101). the torments of travelling and writing, draining the author of the élan vital necessary to keep going, both textand distance-wise, were perhaps best expounded upon by t. e. lawrence, although despite the masochistic urges he so often succumbed to, he managed to write seven pillars of wisdom before giving in to the death drive. elaborating on lawrence and his opus magnum, zbigniew białas raises a crucial issue in his body wall. lawrence, when describing his writing method, says: “i tie myself into knots trying to re-enact everything, as i write it out. it s̓ like writing in front of the lookingglass” (lawrence, qtd. in białas 2006: 73).the condition of being “tied into knots” surely is an uncomfortable one; when applied to the process of textualizing ones̓ narrative account of the trials and tribulations of travel, it becomes even more symptomatic of how the authors̓ inclinations might exhaust him. of course, lawrence makes it yet more problematic because he relishes in all prospects of even a hint of victimization and suffering, which to an extent might be said of schwarzenbach, too, who after all also sought pain and frequently gave in to self-destructive impulses. the resemblance, however, seems to end here—lawrence pursued sexual gratification and was masochistically attracted to degradation of the body and spirit, which brought him release and satiation; schwarzenbachs̓ masochistic tendencies were always about the annihilation of the ego, which she saw as her greatest nemesis. from a different angle, lawrences̓ accounts of travels in the middle east during the great war do share some affinity with schwarzenbachs̓ narrative, fraught with the undercurrent tensions of the encroaching second world war. both of them moved and wrote under liminal circumstances, painfully aware of the potential consequences of the war in a global, as well as personal dimension. perhaps, however, the causes of schwarzenbachs̓ spleen in this instance had to do with having stayed in afghanistan too long, allowing herself to soak in the place and its circumstances—an occasion which always got to her because it seemed to foreshadow growing some roots, committing to a place and to a people, and in effect becoming “immobile” and giving in to the stasis that 30 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) she so feared. maillart, now already an expert at diagnosing schwarzenbachs̓ states, noted the mood swings with alarm: one day working hard, announcing joyfully that she was rid of her obsessive fear; the next confessing that she could not live much longer in such dismal unhappiness—it was obvious that she was not nearing a well-balanced state. furtheron,maillart confirmswhatschwarzenbachrevealed inheroutbursts,namely that “she could not bear the thought of remaining inactive, for then she felt like dying. she was afraid of immobility” (maillart 2013: 197). v. that maillart endured all the disappointments and betrayals speaks volumes about her as a person of deep compassion and empathy; however, given that the cruel way, in contrast to all the roads are open,waspublished in1947—nearlyeightyearsafter the trip and five after schwarzenbachs̓ death—maillart s̓ pensive mood might also signify her wistfulness at the course of events. schwarzenbach was publishing her travel impressionsandreportsall the timeduring the trip, submitting themtovariousmagazinesand journals without allowing herself much time to revise and edit; maillart worked on her travelogue on and off until its publication and surely benefited from hindsight, at least with regards to how she viewed her companions̓ struggle. schwarzenbachs̓ biking accident in sils in 1942, coma, and ensuing death shook maillart deeply, which may have had an impact on how she looked at her friend and what she actually put into her work. certainly, she did arrive at an empathetic understanding of schwarzenbach, the kind that neither her smokescreen homosexual husband claude clarac, nor her mother achieved. she saw annemaries̓ death drive, her pursuit of suffering and drug abuse for what they were worth, i.e., tragic attempts at what schwarzenbach called “lessening the small ego” (maillart 2013: 205)—overcoming suffering through confronting it head-on, seeking it out so as to defeat it, or at least numb it so as to make it bearable. perhaps schwarzenbach found deliverance in this; if not, then surely not damnation, either. if escape—total ʻdisembarkationʼ—was what schwarzenbach was after, travel (and travel writing) proves to be a fitting practice to become engaged in. according to karen lawrence, “travelwritingrevealsa setofalternativemythsormodels forwomens̓ space in society—against the myths of dependency, womens̓ inferiority, and romantic love”, which isachieved—andachievable—onlywhenwomenshirkoff thepreassignedrolesof “beloveds” or “homemakers” (1994: xi). that, however, does not have to mean the straightforward ʻeither/orʼ because in their performance of the parts of travellers and storytellers,womencanembodythisseeminglyexclusiveduality.throughwhat jacques derrida calls “breaking the law of boundaries”, a woman in transit—on the go—in 31 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) passage is at once “a weaver [and an] unweaver, a constructor [and a] deconstructor” (1982: 10). this new realm has been cleared for women specifically by the options that travel writing opens up through providing “discursive space for women who sometimes left home in order to write home, discovering new aesthetic as well as social possibilities” (lawrence 1994: 18). lawrence does have a point here, one which schwarzenbach and maillart prove in their respective works: both women have managed, in their unique ways, to appropriate and shape the genre so as to make it fit their own experience and answer to their own goals, in the process creating what lawrence defines as a “permeable membrane of possibilities” granted by the unknown (1994: 18), be it a concrete geographical territory or a more ʻephemeralʼ realm or inner landscape (or, in fact, all of theseatonce).eachof themseizedon thechance toapproach thatwhichhad been repressed—in schwarzenbachs̓ case, the archetypal mother and her physical emanation in the figure of renee; for maillart, the long-unvoiced but yearned-for taming of the monstrous, constantly craving ego. naturally, success in acquiring equilibriumcannotbeguaranteedand thusshouldnotbe takenforgranted;many traps lurk along the way and threaten to send the seeker—the traveller—back to square one, as it were, or worse – to have her choke on the desired object and give in to melancholia, neurosis or irreconcilable grief. still, the risk is (probably) worth taking. schwarzenbachwasneveronetoavoidrisk;quite thecontrary, sherecklesslypursued it and invited it to lead her down many a shadow-cast valley. in all honesty, she hardly evercelebratedanall-roundsuccess inherendeavours,moreoften thannot fallingprey to the perils with which the paths she chose had been strewn. yet, again and again, she rose, no matter how deep the bottom she had hit. having come precariously close to death on the afghan trip with maillart, she rebounded and came to a new reckoning with herself which she eagerly shared with maillart, proclaiming with confidence: “i know now, smoke or dope are useless . . . the drug . . . was the fatal desire to kill life, to wipe out pain and joy, the tension-source of human activity” (maillart 2013: 206). maillart cheered for her, albeit cautiously, but appeared to dare to believe this was it, the sought-for boon of success, saving annemarie from herself: hereyewasoncemore filledwith light,herbodypoised, thepastnotweighingonher.she was thinner thaneverbuthealthy. . ..thepasthad lost itsbitterness. (maillart 2013:202) maillart closes her account here, leaving schwarzenbach with her new-found balance and peace of mind.however, writing in 1947, she carried the full burden of hindsight over the later vicissitudes of annemaries̓ fate.the irony could not be bitterer. in a song she dedicated to schwarzenbach, suzanne vega aptly remarks: “annemarie . . . terror, pity, love” (vega 2011), and the order needs no reconfiguring—pity, yes; terror—constantly; love—hopelessly, recklessly, always. 32 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and schwarzenbach? she concludes all the roads are open with a poignant observation that “what staggers us, over and over again, is the morning splendour of departure” (2018: 120).touché. references białas, z. 2006. the body wall: somatics of travelling and discursive practices. frankfurt am main: peter langverlag. boswell, j. (1785) 2004. the journal of a tour to the hebrides with samuel johnson, ll.d. e-book. project gutenberg. breslauer, m. (2009) 2012. bilder meines lebens: erinnerungen. e-book. wädenswil: nimbus. campbell, j. (1949) 2004. the hero with a thousand faces. princeton: princeton up. crispin, j. 2015. the dead ladies project: exiles, expats, and ex-countries.chicago:university of chicago press. decock, s. “the loving conquest and embrace”: on peaceful heterotopias and utopias in annemarie schwarzenbachs̓ asian and african travel writings. women in german yearbook: feminist studies in german literature & culture 27: 109-130. decock, s. & schaffers, u. 2011. “als ob ich dort noch etwas zu suchen haette”: europaund orient-diskurse in annemarie schwarzenbachs erzahlung. arcadia 46 (2): 406-424. doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/arcadia-2011-0026. decock, s. & schaffers, u. 2018. die darstellung der ʻanderen frauʼ in reisetexten: eine diskurslinguistische analyse. literaturwiss linguistik 48: 775–97. doi: https://doi. org/10.1007/s41244-018-0113-7. decock, s. & schaffers, u. 2012. die suche nach bergenden raumen als reise und schreibprogramm: annemarie schwarzenbachs journalistische afrika-texte. orbis litterarum 67 (1): 1–24. derrida, jacques. 1982. choreographies. diacritics 12: 66-76. dubini, d. & fosco dubini f. (dirs.) 2001. journey to kafiristan. film, feat. j. hain and n. petri. farley, d. 2016. modernist travelwriting. in: c. thompson (ed.), the routledge companion to travel writing, 278-87. london: routledge. forsdick, c. 2009. peter fleming and ella maillart in china: travel writing as stereoscopic and polygraphic form. studies in travel writing 13 (4): 293-303. doi: 10.1080/13645140903257507. lawrence, k. r. 1994. penelope voyages: women and travel in the british literary tradition. ithaca/london: cornell university press. maillart, e. (1947) 2013. the cruel way: switzerland to afghanistan in a ford, 1939. chicago: chicago up. mazzucco, m. 2000. lei cosi amata. milan: bur. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645140903257507 33 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) mazzucco, m. 2006. tak ukochana.trans. m.woźniak.warszawa:wydawnictwowab. mazzucco, m. 2006. vita.trans.v. jewiss. london: picador. mulligan, m. 2008. ʻthe controversy still ragesʼ: ella maillart and peter fleming: forbidden journeys to china and beyond with the odd couple. in: s. clark & p. smethurst (eds.), asian crossings: travel writing on china, japan and south east asia, 141-48. hong kong: hong kong university press. murdock, m. (1990) 2020. the heroine’s journey: woman’s quest for wholeness. boulder, colorado: shambala publications. the ravaged angel. 2021. tumblr blog. on a journey the face of reality changes. https://the-ravaged-angel.tumblr.com/post/618929375872712704/on-a-journey-theface-of-reality-changes-with-the accessed 27 june 2021. schwarzenbach, a. (2011) 2018. all the roads are open: the afghan journey. trans. i. fargo cole. london: seagull books. schwarzenbach, a. 2012. death in persia.trans. l. r. jones. london: seagull books. schwarzenbach, a. 2011. lyric novella.trans. l. r. jones. london: seagull books. shepland, j. 2021. my autobiography of carson mccullers. e-book. london:virago press. thompson,c. (ed.). 2016. the routledge companion to travel writing. london:routledge. conway, j. j. 2012. death in persia. strange flowers, 15 november. https://strange flowers.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/death-in-persia/. accessed 27 june 2022. vega, s. 2011. song of annemarie. carson mccullers talks about love. recordings. *** dr. julia szołtysek is an assistant professor at the university of silesia in katowice, poland. her academic interests include literary and artistic representations of the middle east, travel writing, queer theory, and opera studies. she is the recipient of the 2016 peter lang young scholars award. her monograph a mosaic of misunderstanding: occident, orient, and facets of mutual mis/construal was published in 2016 by peter lang. https://the-ravaged-angel.tumblr.com/post/618929375872712704/on-a-journey-the-face-of-reality-changes-with-the https://the-ravaged-angel.tumblr.com/post/618929375872712704/on-a-journey-the-face-of-reality-changes-with-the https://strangeflowers.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/death-in-persia/ https://strangeflowers.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/death-in-persia/ julia szołtysek doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.39.4.02 how to disembark completely: annemarie schwarzenbach’s and ella maillart’s afghan journey (1939) 16 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) daniela francesca virdis1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.32.1.02 university of cagliari, italy orcid: 0000-0003-2819-3847 stereotyping scotland: groundskeeper willie’s illocutionary acts in the simpsons2 abstract. this article explores the scottish character of groundskeeper willie in the american animated sitcom the simpsons with a pragmatic and social-psychological approach. it firstly introduces willie’s linguistic and visual features, the sample of three episodes the analysis is based on, scottish stereotypes in lindsay’s (1997) sociological research, and searle’s (1976) taxonomy of illocutionary acts (representatives or assertives, directives, commissives, expressives and declarations). secondly, the turns uttered by the groundskeeper in the sample are classified by applying searle’s taxonomy, and his illocutionary acts are examined in their contexts and compared with the list of national-ethnic scottish stereotypes compiled by lindsay. this study demonstrates that willie’s illocutionary acts and the stereotypes they convey depict him as a figure characterised by positive traits; nevertheless, the responses his illocutionary acts are met with not only counter his pleasant aspects, but also ultimately represent the scottish groundskeeper as a ludicrous victim of his american fellow townspeople. keywords: groundskeeper willie; the simpsons; lindsay’s (1997) list of national-ethnic scottish stereotypes; stereotypes; searle’s (1976) taxonomy of illocutionary acts; pragmatics. 1. scottish groundskeeper willie and national-ethnic stereotypes in the simpsons groundskeeper willie is one of the recurring figures in the american animated sitcom the simpsons, broadcast by fox broadcasting company from 1989 to the present. willie is the head groundskeeper at the elementary school of the fictional town of springfield, in an unidentified state of the united states, which is the main setting of this humorous sitcom (weinstein 1998; cantor 1999; alberti 2003; brown-logan 2006 discuss the sitcom in general and, more concisely, the character of the groundskeeper). willie is 1 address for correspondence: university of cagliari, faculty of humanities, department of humanities, languages and heritage, via san giorgio 12, 09124 cagliari (italy). e-mail: dfvirdis@unica.it 2 an earlier version of this article was published as: virdis, d. f. 2012. friendliness, aggressiveness and coarseness: scottish groundskeeper willie’s linguistic features in the simpsons. nawa: journal of language and communication 6.1: 127-150. 17 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) a hot-tempered middle-aged man, with a nearly savage aspect and demeanour; he has his origins in scotland, as unmistakably conveyed by his flaming red beard, eyebrows and hair, and by his pronounced rhotic scottish regional accent (in the italian dubbed version of the sitcom, willie speaks with an equally broad sardinian accent: see fusari 2007; tomaiuolo 2007; barra 2008; ferrari 2009; puddu & virdis 2014). willie has been met with an enthusiastic public response, and his figure has had a significant cultural influence on the english-speaking world, so much so that the sunday times (turpin 2005) praisingly called him “scotland’s most famous character”, “an international icon of scottishness” and “the most instantly recognisable scot in the world: better known than billy connolly or ewan mcgregor, even sean connery”. moreover, in 2002 and in the first months of 2003, one of willie’s turns, dating back to 1995, became vastly popular in the anglophone world. in those days, the united states was gearing up to invade iraq, but france wanted to stop war; therefore, the american media widely employed the groundskeeper’s turn including a negatively evaluative expression referring to the french, namely “bonjourrr, yah cheese-eatin’ surrender monkeys!” (from the episode “round springfield”, code 2f32; see turner 2005: 54, 327 for further information). despite his fame, willie has a supporting role in the sitcom; given his comparatively small number of appearances and the comic text he features in, his portrayal as a scot is inevitably stereotypical (see stangor 2000 for stereotypes and stereotypical representations). as stated by turner (2005: 327), the groundskeeper “is about as unrestrained as a parody can get. [...] the parody is so over-the-top, in fact, that willie’s nationality becomes incidental: he’s much more cartoon than scot”. gray argues that stereotypes or, more precisely, national-ethnic hyper-stereotypes play a tactical part in the sitcom: in a rather high risk strategy, the simpsons employs what we could call hyper-stereotypes. from scottish groundskeeper willie and quick e mart [sic] owner apu, to the show’s depictions of japan, australia, east africa, canada, and brazil in family trip episodes, the show rounds up multiple stereotypes and jams them into one character or episode. the result, although admittedly this is a strategy that passes many by, and hence risks backfiring on itself, is to make the process of stereotyping the target, rather than the people themselves. (gray 2006: 64; original emphasis) as a result, gray and other scholars regard the process of stereotyping as one of the essential features characterising the ironic discourse of the sitcom. according to rodaway, diversity is evident within the community of springfield, yet critical debates about ethnicity are a largely neglected. two characters particularly stand out here — willie, the school groundskeeper from scotland with his absurd hyper-scottishness, and apu, the south asian owner of the kwick-e-mart mini-supermarket in downtown springfield. each are ironically 18 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) constructed as an exotic other but with a critical purchase on mainstream american society and values. (rodaway 2003: 163) in this comic sitcom, the american town of springfield is typified by high ethnic diversity, and the “exotic other” is described as linguistically and visually dissimilar from the other inhabitants. the primary function of diversity and dissimilarity is to criticise the hegemonic worldview and its prevailing tenets, that is to say to analyse and make fun of suburban and small-town america and americans. in actual fact, it is not only scotland or south asia to be depicted as the “exotic other”, but also the united states (see also beard 2003 for national-ethnic stereotypes in the sitcom). in this article, i explore willie’s representation as a scottish dramatis persona and his use of language in the parodistic discourse of the sitcom. my research purpose is to demonstrate that his stereotypical scottish national identity is constructed not only visually by means of his hair, kilt and bagpipes, but also linguistically and pragmatically by means of his conversational behaviour towards the people living in springfield (levinson 1983; grundy 2008; verschueren-östman 2009). to this end, i firstly detect all the groundskeeper’s turns and the illocutionary acts he performs (searle 1976) in three episodes of the sitcom (“principal charming”, code 7f15; “treehouse of horror v”, code 2f03; “treehouse of horror vi”, code 3f04). secondly, i match those illocutionary acts with the compatible national-ethnic scottish stereotypes recognised by lindsay (1997) in her sociological research. finally, i prove that these illocutionary acts and the stereotypes they relay contribute to shaping the character of willie as conventionally scottish and non-american, consequently as a soft target of ridicule. 2. willie’s linguistic and visual features and data for analysis the figure of willie has not been examined thoroughly in the research articles and books on the sitcom which have appeared so far, including the academic papers at the simpsons archive3; several observations made by scholars, yet, are pertinent to the aims and scope of this article. with regard to the phonological level and the groundskeeper’s scottish regional accent, armstrong comments on the phonological features of the protagonists of the sitcom, and contends that dan castellanata [sic] voices such disparate characters as homer simpson, mayor quimby and groundskeeper willie. despite the astonishing versatility and virtuosity of the voicing artists 3 the simpsons archive (http://www.simpsonsarchive.com/, last accessed december 2020) is a website containing a copious quantity of materials about the sitcom, among which a selection of book excepts and papers (http://www.simpsonsarchive.com/misc.html). 19 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in their mimicry of social-regional accents, it remains true that some accents are produced in a stereotypical way, by exaggerating certain of their most salient features. (armstrong 2004: 104) willie’s phonology is hence among those uttered in a talented but preconceived and standardised way; as such, it strengthens his stereotypical portrayal as a scot. actually, one of the “felicity conditions” (austin 1962) of the sitcom and of the performance of its humorous discourse is the fact that the representation of the groundskeeper in particular and of the “exotic other” in general is effective but not realistic. with regard to the morphological and syntactic levels, the variety of scottish english spoken by willie does not show any of the linguistic characteristics distinguished and studied by researchers (to name just a few, aitken-mcarthur 1979; dossena 2005; hughes et al. 2005). the lexical level of his regional variety incorporates very few instances of scotticisms, in line with mccrum et al.’s findings: “the majority of the scots speak standard english with a scottish accent, and write standard english occasionally flavoured with a word like loch, burn or brae” (mccrum et al. 1987: 151; quoted in mazzon 1994: 68). the two lexical scotticisms wee (adjective “small, little”) and haggis (noun “a dish of scottish origin”) occur in the sample of the groundskeeper’s turns cited in the appendix and investigated in section 4, to be more exact at turn 2.2. both scotticisms are widely-known words in the anglophone world, and are reckoned to be typical examples of scottish english. on the one hand, in mccrum et al.’s terms, their presence in the sample flavours willie’s standard english; on the other hand, they indirectly communicate that his language is not authentic and could be easily imitated, particularly by a skilled voice actor. the two scotticisms therefore reinforce the argument that the groundskeeper is depicted by the sitcom authors in a stereotypical way and seen by his audience accordingly4. with regard to the discourse level, academic research often refers to willie’s actions in the episode “homer badman” (code 2f06) (cohen 1998; horowitz 1999; mullin 1999; waltonen 2000; turner 2005). the eponymous dramatis persona of the episode and the entire sitcom, homer simpson, is unjustly charged with sexual harassment, but is cleared of all suspicion by the groundskeeper. in fact, willie recorded homer’s supposed harassment for his own entertainment or, as he put it, “my hobby is secretly videotaping couples in cars. i dinna come forward because in this country it makes you look like a pervert. but every single scottish person does it!”. the articles quoted above mostly scrutinise homer’s dependence on television; however, the groundskeeper’s hidden spare-time 4 while willie does not speak actual scottish english, he utilises a colloquial variety of standard english. among other instances, see the informal expressions “go easy on the wee one” (turn 2.2), “your da goes gaga” (2.6), “i’m coming to rescue the lot of you!” (2.7 and 2.9); see also the puns “glad to rake your acquaintance” (3.1), “you’ve mastered a dead tongue, but can you handle a live one?” (3.5), and “when i’m done with you, they’ll have to do a compost-mortem!” (3.13). 20 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) activity is also worth commenting on. firstly, he constantly breaks the law and does not seem to be fully aware of it. secondly, he maintains that his “hobby” is shared by all scots and, as such, is characteristic of his country; he thereby mentions a self-stereotype to homer and the viewers and deploys it to justify his unlawful entertainment. finally, with regard to the visual level, for the benefit of those international audiences who might be unacquainted with the scottish accent and vocabulary, the portrayal of willie is realised through non-linguistic tools: these include his red hair, eyebrows and beard, and the fact that he often wears a kilt and plays bagpipes. in the hyperbolic discourse of “treehouse of horror vi”, one of the three episodes under examination in this article, these visual scottish qualities are driven to humorous extremes: the groundskeeper is transformed into a number of diverse shapes wearing a tartan pattern, even into a tartan bagpipe attempting to murder bart and lisa simpson while playing scottish music. the scottish character of groundskeeper willie figures for the first time in the episode “principal charming” (code 7f15, the fourteenth of the second season); the first two episodes focusing on him, though, are “treehouse of horror v” (code 2f03, the sixth of the sixth season) and “treehouse of horror vi” (code 3f04, the sixth of the seventh season) (groening 2001-2010). these two episodes are a part of the treehouse of horror series, also called the simpsons halloween specials: the series is typified by horror, science fiction and supernatural scenes, and parodies these genres. willie appears in the first segment of “treehouse of horror v” and in the second segment of “treehouse of horror vi”: the former is based on s. kubrick’s film the shining (1980), while underlying the latter are w. craven’s film a nightmare on elm street (1984), the other six films in the series and their main figure freddy krueger. “principal charming” fleetingly introduces the groundskeeper into the sitcom, but he first takes a leading role and his character evolves only in the two “treehouse of horror” episodes and segments just named. consequently, and notably, willie, a character looking a stereotypical scot and speaking a stereotypical scottish english, is portrayed as a grotesque horror figure practically from his first appearance in the sitcom. 3. background and methodology 3.1. lindsay’s (1997) list of national-ethnic scottish stereotypes an article by the sociologist lindsay (1997) presents her research on english stereotypes and scottish self-stereotypes; it hence lists and explores what scots themselves perceive as their most broadly shared national-ethnic characteristics. in order to collect her data, this author asked her 220 scottish respondents to set down what they thought to be the specific characteristics of the english on the one hand, and their own on the other hand. table 1 shows the characteristics of scots reported by the respondents and, in descending order, the percentage of respondents reporting each characteristic: 21 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) table 1. proportion of respondents listing particular characteristics of scots (adapted from lindsay 1997: 8) no. characteristics of scots percentage of respondents listing 1 friendly/warm/kind-hearted 63 2 patriotic/nationalistic/proud 29 3 humorous/good fun 17 4 direct/down to earth 12 5 low self-esteem 11 6 aggressive/paranoid 10 7 honest/unpretentious 7 8 political/socialist/anti-tory 6 9 rough/brash 6 the results emerging from linday’s research suggest that the characteristics of scots listed by the respondents were both agreeable and disagreeable: “the scots seemed fairly comfortable and positive about their identity as friendly, warm, down to earth, patriotic, humourous [sic] people. the negative in their self-image was a perceived element of paranoia and low self-esteem, but these were not dominant” (lindsay 1997: 11) (see hopkins-reicher 1997 and lamont 1997 for further details about scottish stereotypes). in section 4, i identify which of these appealing and non-appealing national-ethnic characteristics are expressed by willie’s turns in the three episodes under examination. 3.2. searle’s (1976) taxonomy of illocutionary acts the groundskeeper’s speech acts in the episodes “principal charming” (henceforth pc), “treehouse of horror v” (thh v) and “treehouse of horror vi” (thh vi) (see appendix) are classified and investigated in accordance with searle’s (1976) taxonomy of illocutionary acts and the five fundamental classes representatives or assertives, directives, commissives, expressives and declarations; the subclasses of illocutionary acts employed in the analytical section 4 are mine. a number of scholars (to name just one, levinson 1983: 240) have occasionally found fault with this taxonomy; nevertheless, as asserted by sbisà (2009: 237), “searle’s classification of illocutionary acts has been by far the most influential one and has often been taken as a basis for the further investigations of particular areas”. it has not always been uncomplicated to apply searle’s taxonomy to willie’s turns. firstly, according to this researcher (searle 1976: 23), “often, we do more than one of these [basic acts] at once in the same utterance”. accordingly, all the groundskeeper’s longer utterances have been split up into two or more parts; each of them has 22 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) subsequently been attributed the most salient illocutionary act or the one most appropriate to the context. secondly, and more importantly, the sample utterances included and scrutinised in searle’s article are explicit performatives and direct speech acts with the syntactic structure “i hereby vp s”: vp is the performative verb in the main clause and s is the embedded sentence indicating the propositional content of the utterance. on the contrary, willie’s turns are usually realised by implicit performatives or indirect speech acts, with no fixed and recognisable syntactic structure or performative verb explicitly mentioned; therefore, the illocutionary acts in the groundskeeper’s turns have been classified and explored, not the syntax conveying them. finally, searle’s taxonomy was developed in the mid-1970s to examine spontaneous oral discourse; yet, as far as this is concerned, it has not been problematic to adopt the taxonomy to study the fictional discourse of the contemporary sitcom. 4. analysis: groundskeeper willie’s illocutionary acts 4.1. declarations in the three episodes under investigation in this article, willie utters 18 turns overall, which consist of 49 illocutionary acts; more precisely, as given in tables 2-6, his turns are constituted by no declarations, 7 commissives, 12 representatives, 14 expressives and 16 directives. table 2. illocutionary act: declaration no. declaration subclass description turn 1 n/a n/a n/a of the five basic classes of illocutionary acts distinguished by searle, declaration is the only one not present in the sample of willie’s turns (see table 2). declaration was defined as follows: “the successful performance of one of its members brings about the correspondence between the propositional content and reality, successful performance guarantees that the propositional content corresponds to the world” (searle 1976: 13). entailed by declaration are an extra-linguistic system of constitutive rules and an extra-linguistic institution — such as the state, private property, the law, the church — where the speaker and the hearer have a special position (searle 1976: 14). this state of matters does not apparently relate to any dramatis personae in any of the three episodes; as a result, the lack of declarations in the groundskeeper’s turns is not prominent from a pragmatic viewpoint, nor does it require interpretation from a conversational perspective. 23 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 4.2. commissives table 3. illocutionary act: commissive no. commissive subclass description turn 1 threat attempts to kill bart 3.1 2 attempts to kill martin 3.3 3 threatens parents with killing their children 3.9 4 threatens parents with killing their children in their dreams 3.11 5 promise promises to rescue bart and his family 2.6 6 promises to rescue the simpson children 2.9 7 offer offers to take homer home 2.8 the least recurrent illocutionary acts in the sample are commissives (see table 3), in other words, “those illocutionary acts whose point is to commit the speaker (again in varying degrees) to some future course of action” (searle 1976: 11). consequently, in the episodes, their communicative function is to relay what courses of action willie binds himself to; his commissives can be divided into desirable and undesirable actions for his hearers. desirable commissives are uttered in thh v (the episode parodying the shining), consist of promises to save the other characters’ lives and offers to help them (5-7), and communicate national-ethnic scottish stereotype 1 “friendly/warm/kindhearted”. undesirable commissives are said in thh vi (the parody of the nightmare series), are realised by threats to kill those very characters the groundskeeper wanted to save in thh v (1-4), and express national-ethnic scottish stereotype 6 “aggressive/paranoid”. the opposite classes of commissives willie utters and narrative roles he undertakes in thh v and thh vi are accounted for by the distinct plots and activities in the two episodes; however, both desirable and undesirable commissives represent him as a bold and dynamic protagonist putting his life at risk and devoting himself wholeheartedly to a cause, be it worthy or unworthy (see also stereotype 9 “rough/brash”). in addition, although thh vi is comically founded on the nightmare series, the personality of freddy krueger, the nightmare main figure, could not be more dissimilar from willie’s. on the one hand, in the series the former is a serial killer of children who murdered at least twenty of them and was burnt to death by their angry parents in his 24 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) hideout, a boiler room. on the other hand, the sitcom episode describes the groundskeeper as a quiet worker playing his bagpipes in the school boiler room (national-ethnic scottish stereotypes 2 “patriotic/nationalistic/proud” and 7 “honest/unpretentious”). when homer simpson thoughtlessly makes the boiler explode, willie also explodes into flame before the schoolchildren’s parents’ disregardful eyes; the parents’ dour carelessness will lead him to take his revenge by killing their children. although this cannot be held a worthy cause to dedicate oneself to, the circumstances bringing about the murders can in part excuse his wrongdoings and his daring and vigorous manners, finally winning him the affection of the public. 4.3. representatives table 4. illocutionary act: representative no. representative subclass description turn 1 assertion asserts that bart has the supernatural power of “shinning”5 2.4 2 asserts that homer has not reached his own world yet 2.8 3 asserts that he is effortlessly axed 2.9 4 asserts that martin has mastered the latin language 3.5 5 prediction predicts that bart will return to re-sod the field 1.4 6 predicts that bart will see him again soon 1.4 7 predicts that homer will go mad and kill his family 2.2 8 predicts that he will kill martin 3.5 9 predicts that he will kill bart 3.13 5 in stylistic terms, “shinning” is a lexical deviation (or neologism) ironically invented by willie so that the authors of the simpsons will not “get sued” by the authors of the shining (see turn 2.6). 25 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) no. representative subclass description turn 10 description describes what he is doing (rescuing the simpson family) 2.7 11 describes what he is doing (rescuing the simpson children) 2.9 12 explanation explains that he has private moments 2.6 searle (1976: 10) claims that “the point or purpose of the members of the representative class is to commit the speaker (in varying degrees) to something’s being the case, to the truth of the expressed proposition”. in the three episodes (see table 4), representatives carry out the communicative function of depicting reality as willie assumes it is — by means of assertions (1-4), descriptions (10-11) and explanations (12) — or as he assumes it will be — by means of predictions (5-9). assertions 1-2 and predictions 5-8 are among the groundskeeper’s most noteworthy representatives. through assertion 1, he shows to be the only dramatis persona to have realised that bart simpson has the supernatural power of “shinning”; through assertion 2, while homer is journeying back and forward in time and diverse parallel universes, willie is the first to let him know that he has not arrived in his own reality yet. with regard to predictions, he utters five in the sample, four of which (5-8) are realised. three of them (5-7) are important, since they are not fulfilled by him, but by unexpected chains of events; prediction 7 is especially interesting, because it takes place without warning6. accordingly, in contrast to the other figures in the sitcom, the groundskeeper is represented as significantly connected with the supernatural, or at least as significantly familiar with supernatural and weird circumstances. this trait is not one of the national-ethnic scottish stereotypes set down in table 1; it apparently originates from the hyperbolic discourse of the sitcom in general and the treehouse of horror series in particular, and is described as a pleasant aspect within the same scripted discourse. 6 prediction 9 — willie will murder bart — is the only one not to be realised. this is most likely on the grounds that the boy is one of the best-known protagonists of the sitcom and a great favourite with the audience; hence, killing him, although in a parodistic episode, would have made the viewers dislike his murderer. 26 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 4.4. expressives table 5. illocutionary act: expressive no. expressive subclass description turn 1 conveying pain axed to death when trying to rescue the simpson family 2.7 2 axed to death when trying to rescue homer 2.8 3 axed to death when trying to rescue the simpson children 2.9 4 burning after the boiler has exploded 3.6 5 burnt to a mere skeleton 3.9 6 conveying concern the bus is leaving 3.15 7 has left his gun on the bus seat 3.15 8 has lost his shoe 3.15 9 conveying surprise realises that bart has the supernatural power of “shinning” 2.4 10 realises that bart is employing his “shinning” to call him 2.7 11 conveying satisfaction bart has returned to resod the field 1.6 12 conveying anger bart has chainsawed part of his hedge maze 2.1 13 conveying scorn disdains the fact that homer has axed him 2.7 14 conveying fear sinking into the sand 3.14 as far as expressives are concerned, “the illocutionary point of this class is to express the psychological state specified in the sincerity condition about a state of affairs specified in the propositional content” (searle 1976: 12). their communicative function is therefore to signal the emotions and sensations willie experiences (see table 5): they range from the positive feeling of satisfaction (11), to the negative feelings of pain (1-5), concern (6-8), anger (12) and fear (14), to feelings of surprise (9-10) and scorn (8). the 27 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) different subclasses of expressives and their distribution in the three episodes can be accounted for by the narratives of those same episodes, as is the case with commissives scrutinised in section 4.2. the groundskeeper’s sole agreeable emotion (11) is comprised in pc, whereas all his disagreeable sensations occur in thh v and thh vi: they are the consequences of, among other things, being axed to death in all the three segments composing thh v, burnt to a mere skeleton, compelled to pursue a bus, transformed into a lawnmower eventually sinking into the sand, and obliged to handle homer’s madness and bart’s “shinning”. as a result, a foreigner, to be more exact a scottish immigrant, is depicted as the perfect grotesque and ludicrous victim of the community of springfield, most of all as a boy’s (bart’s) easy target. willie’s identity as a victim is strengthened by the two following facts: 1. three distinct people, including toddler maggie simpson, axe him three distinct times in the same episode, a fact he metadiscursively remarks on (see assertion 3); 2. he first features prominently in the treehouse of horror series, where victims are not only acceptable but also required by the horror genre. this portrayal of the groundskeeper as a victim results in the inversion of two national-ethnic scottish characteristics: stereotype 3 “humorous/good fun”, i.e. someone to laugh with, is turned into “foolish”, i.e. someone to laugh at, and stereotype 5 “low self-esteem” is changed into the “low esteem” the springfield people hold him in. 28 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 4.5. directives table 6. illocutionary act: directive no. directive subclass description turn 1 order orders bart to re-sod the field 1.2 2 orders bart to keep quiet 2.6 3 orders bart not to read his mind at a given time 2.6 4 orders himself to rescue bart and his family 2.7 5 orders homer to fight him 2.7 6 orders homer to carry out his instructions 2.8 7 orders the simpson children to be frightened of him 3.15 8 orders the bus driver to stop for the first time 3.15 9 orders the bus driver to stop for the second time 3.15 10 orders the simpson children to wait for him 3.15 11 suggestion suggests that bart save his strength 1.2 12 suggests that he not grow angry with bart 2.2 13 suggests that bart call him when homer goes mad 2.6 14 suggests that the simpson children not give way 2.9 15 request requests the schoolchildren’s parents to rescue him 3.6 16 requests rescue from the sandbox 3.14 29 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in the three episodes, directives are the most frequent illocutionary acts (see table 6); as such, they strongly characterise willie’s conversational behaviour. the illocutionary point of directives “consists in the fact that they are attempts (of varying degrees, and hence, more precisely, they are determinates of the determinable which includes attempting) by the speaker to get the hearer to do something” (searle 1976: 11). accordingly, the communicative function of directives is to indicate unambiguously what the groundskeeper wants his addressees to do; underpinning this class of illocutionary acts is scottish stereotype 4 “direct/down to earth”. the sample incorporates two requests only (15 and 16). by means of request 15, willie asks the schoolchildren’s parents to save his life, but he meets with a refusal, viz. a dispreferred second part in an adjacency pair: it is this declined request which sparks off the whole plot of the second thh vi segment. with regard to suggestions (11-14), they are put forward for the hearers’ benefit and, therefore, recall national-ethnic scottish stereotype 1 “friendly/warm/kind-hearted”. conversely, orders (1-10) are given for the speaker’s own benefit, and evoke stereotypes 6 “aggressive/paranoid” and 9 “rough/ brash”. suggestions and orders alike contribute to representing the groundskeeper as a self-assured dramatis persona, and orders in particular characterise him as forceful: they actually range from directions to children (1-3, 7, 10) to injunctions to adults (5-6, 8-9) and even, comically, to himself (4). in the three episodes, though, willie’s assertiveness is commonly thwarted by his younger and older addressees, who unvaryingly refuse to comply with his commands in linguistic and non-linguistic ways: this brings about the conversational pattern consisting of the groundskeeper’s orders plus the other protagonists’ dispreferred refusals of those orders. as a result, the repeated occurrence of this pattern reinforces his description as a grotesque victim and a ludicrous figure in the sitcom. 5. conclusions this article has presented a pragmatic analysis of groundskeeper willie’s turns in the three episodes pc, thh v and thh vi by applying lindsay’s (1997) list of national-ethnic scottish stereotypes and searle’s (1976) taxonomy of illocutionary acts. as demonstrated in section 2, at the phonological, lexical and visual levels, the stereotypical depiction of willie’s scottish national identity and non-american ethnic origins are conveyed by his regional accent, physical appearance and, to a lesser degree, vocabulary. this pragmatic examination has revealed that the groundskeeper’s national-ethnic scottish characteristics are also directly relayed by his illocutionary acts: in fact, they communicate the personal features of his dramatis persona in the ironic discourse of the sitcom. in the representative sample of turns and episodes utilised here, willie’s illocutionary acts credit him with positively value-laden personality traits, like fearlessness, knowledge of the supernatural and self-awareness — in lindsay’s words, the scottish immigrant is 30 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) stereotypically friendly, aggressive and rough. nevertheless, these favourable aspects are countered by the other characters’ responses to the groundskeeper’s illocutionary acts and by the narratives of the parodistic shining and nightmare episodes he is the protagonist of. these responses and narratives ultimately typify him as a comic and foolish victim of children and adults alike in the american town of springfield. how do these findings relate to the research on national-ethnic stereotypes in the simpsons outlined in section 1? as noted by gray (2006: 64), willie’s scottishness is represented as hyper-stereotypical, hence as deliberately hyperbolic and humorous; moreover, rodaway (2003: 163) observes that his major discursive function in the sitcom is to be a foil for his american fellow townspeople. several heedless or unsophisticated spectators, yet, may not be conscious that the groundskeeper’s representation and function are critical discursive strategies. accordingly, although within the comic discourse of this parodistic sitcom, the equation of an immigrant, constructed as linguistically and visually different from mainstream american identity and culture, with a ridiculous victim, consistently outsmarted not only by adults but also by children, can actually be, in gray’s (2006: 64) terms, “a rather high risk strategy”. appendix: groundskeeper willie’s illocutionary acts in the three episodes 1. “principal charming” (code 7f15) at school. bart is sodding the playground as punishment. [1.1] bart. stupid principal skinner. you gotta be kidding me, bugger. [1.2] willie. save your strength, lad [directive: suggestion]. eh, there’s a whole field for you to re-sod yet, eh eh eh eh eh [directive: order]. [principal skinner releases bart.] [1.3] bart. well, willie, you can take it from here. throws a sack of seeds at him. adiós, dude. [1.4] willie. you’ll be back [representative: prediction]! you haven’t seen the last of willie [representative: prediction]! some days later. bart is sodding the playground again. [1.5] bart. mumbles a protest. [1.6] willie. i told you you’d be back [expressive: conveying satisfaction]! (groening 2001-2010, season 2, episode 14; my transcription) 2. “treehouse of horror v” (code 2f03) first segment. outside, the camera starts high above a hedge maze and zooms down to willie watering one part of it. a chainsaw noise is heard. [2.1] bart. hey, i found a shortcut through your hedge maze. 31 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) [2.2] willie. why, you little [expressive: conveying anger] — thinking. no, no. go easy on the wee one [directive: suggestion]. his father’s gonna go crazy and chop ‘em all into haggis [representative: prediction]. [2.3] bart. what’s haggis? [2.4] willie. gasps. boy, you read my thoughts [expressive: conveying surprise]! you’ve got the shinning [representative: assertion]. [2.5] bart. you mean shining. [2.6] willie. sotto voce. shh! you wanna get sued [directive: order]? now, look, boy, if your da goes gaga, you just use that … shin of yours to call me [directive: suggestion] and i’ll come a-running [commissive: promise]. but don’t be reading my mind between four and five [directive: order]. that’s willie’s time [representative: explanation]! […] willie is watching tv in a little house. [2.7] willie. uh oh [expressive: conveying surprise]. the little fat boy and his family are in trouble [directive: order]. runs outside, throws tv in the snow. i’m coming to rescue the lot of you [representative: description]! opens door to lodge. all right, loony, show me what you got [directive: order]. homer drives an axe into his back. aw [expressive: conveying pain], is that the best you can do [expressive: conveying scorn]? collapses. […] second segment. homer arrives home again and opens the door to be greeted by willie. [2.8] willie. you’re still not in your own world, homer [representative: assertion]. i can get you home [commissive: offer], but you have to do exactly as i [directive: order] — argh [expressive: conveying pain]! maggie axes him. […] third segment. lunch lady doris catches the children escaping and walks towards them slowly with an eggbeater. [2.9] willie. hold on, kids [directive: suggestion]! i’m coming to rescue the lot of you [representative: description]! i’ll [commissive: promise] — skinner appears and axes him. argh [expressive: conveying pain]! oh, i’m bad at this [representative: assertion]. (groening 2001-2010, season 6, episode 6; adapted from the simpsons archive, available at http://www.simpsonsarchive.com/episodes/2f03.html) 3. “treehouse of horror vi” (code 3f04) second segment. in his dream, bart spots willie dressed as freddy krueger, brandishing a rake. [3.1] willie. glad to rake your acquaintance [commissive: threat]. laughs evilly, and swipes at bart, who wakes up yelling. […] in his dream, martin is dressed as a wizard. [3.2] martin. i am the wondrous wizard of latin! i am a dervish of declension and a conjurer of conjugation, with a million hit points and maximum charisma. spots a blackboard with verbs written all over it. aha! “morire”: to die. “morit”: he, she, or it dies. willie morphs out of the blackboard; martin gasps. 32 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) [3.3] willie. “moris”: you die [commissive: threat]. [3.4] martin. aah! runs off. [3.5] willie. laughs. you’ve mastered a dead tongue [representative: assertion], but can you handle a live one [representative: prediction]? his tongue shoots out of his mouth, wraps around martin, and squeezes him. in class, martin twists and screams, then collapses on the floor. […] flashback. at school, the flames in the boiler flare up. willie stops playing his bagpipes to check it out, but the boiler explodes, engulfing him in flames. willie, burning and shouting, tries to escape, but the doorknob falls off. he then tries to use the fire extinguisher, but it is empty. he breaks out of the boiler room and runs into the classroom, where principal skinner and some parents are in a meeting. [3.6] willie. argh [expressive: conveying pain]! help! please help me [directive: request]! [3.7] skinner. reproachful. willie, please! mr. van houten has the floor. [3.8] mr. van houten. er, i, for one, would like to see the cafeteria menus in advance so parents can adjust their dinner menus accordingly. burning willie sits down and waits. i don’t like the idea of milhouse having two spaghetti meals in one day. willie explodes into flame and screams for a few seconds. the parents turn to watch. [3.9] willie. aaarrrggghhh [expressive: conveying pain]!!! a mere skeleton. you’ll pay for this ... with your children’s blood [commissive: threat]! [3.10] wiggum. oh, right. how are you going to get them? skeleton power? [3.11] willie. i’ll strike where you canna protect them — in their dreams [commissive: threat]! his skeleton collapses into ashes, which are magically swept up into a dustpan and deposited in the garbage. […] in bart’s dream, willie, his giant head atop a fierce tartan lawn-mowing machine, plows through the hedge behind bart. bart cries out and runs off while willie laughs. seeing the sandbox gives bart an idea. while willie looks around for him, bart takes some clippings of grass lying in garbage bags nearby and sprinkles them over the sandbox, waters them with a hose, then stands with the sandbox in front of him and calls out to willie. [3.12] bart. hey, lawn boy! you missed a spot! motions to sandbox. [3.13] willie. when i’m done with you, they’ll have to do a compost-mortem [representative: prediction]! willie shifts himself into high gear and tromps the gas, flying toward bart and growling. when he hits the sandbox, though, his wheels turn uselessly. [3.14] willie. argh! sinky sand [expressive: conveying fear]! help me! help willie [directive: request]! morphs into several different tartan shapes before turning into himself and sinking into the sand. […] 33 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) soon afterwards, behind bart, a giant tartan spiderlike bagpipe with willie’s head on it rises from the sandbox. both bart and lisa get grabbed by willie, who is playing and sinking into the sand. all seems lost until maggie appears and blocks willie’s exit hole with her pacifier. willie tries vainly to pull it out, but he expands gradually until he explodes, raining scraps of tartan all over the place. […] the three of them walk out the front door the next morning. a bus pulls up; willie gets off. [3.15] willie. boo! hello! here i am. laughs and makes some faces and noises. 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(eds.). 2009. key notions for pragmatics. amsterdam/ philadelphia: john benjamins. waltonen, k. 2000. we’re all pigs: representations of masculinity in the simpsons. the simpsons archive, available at http://www.simpsonsarchive.com/other/papers/kw.paper. html, last accessed december 2020. weinstein, d. 1998. of mice and bart: the simpsons and the postmodern. in: c. degliesposti (ed.), postmodernism in the cinema, 61-72. new york: berghahn books. * * * daniela francesca virdis is an associate professor of english language and translation at the university of cagliari. she is a steering group member of the international ecolinguistics association. she is the author of serialised gender: a linguistic analysis of femininities in contemporary tv series and media (2012), which was awarded the italian association of english studies book prize 2013. her current research interests include ecostylistics and metaphor theory. 37 121 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) agata rozumko1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.38.3.06 university of białystok, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7718-3253 between v and t address: the translation of english address terms into polish in serial storytelling (the case of doc) abstract. this study is concerned with the translation of address terms in serial storytelling. it adopts the interpersonal pragmatics perspective on address terms and treats them as elements of fictional charactersʼ relational work, i.e. the work they do to negotiate their relationships in interaction. more specifically, this paper focuses on the renditions of the form doc as used by detective jane rizzoli to address doctor maura isles in the polish translation of tess gerritsen s̓ rizzoli and isles crime fiction series. since english and polish have different address systems (n-v-t and t-v, respectively) and there are no informal terms equivalent to doc to address a female doctor in polish, its renditions depend entirely on the translator s̓ ability to understand and recreate the charactersʼ relational interaction. the polish translators of the rizzoli and isles series showed different degrees of attention to the interactional coherence of the translation, which is why some of its parts contain inappropriate and impolite address forms. overall, the relational work done by the characters has largely been domesticated in the translation and adapted to polish speech patterns and rules of politeness. consequently, shifts in the charactersʼ address mode take place at different moments in the translation than they do in the original version, and the form doc is rendered in a variety of ways (both formal and informal) depending on the stage of the charactersʼ relational interaction. keywords: address term, doc, translation, crime fiction series, relational work, english, polish. 1 address for correspondence: university of białystok, centre for linguistic studies, faculty of philology, pl. nzs 1, 15-420 białystok, poland. e-mail: a.rozumko@uwb.edu.pl https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7718-3253 122 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 1. introduction the choice of address terms depends, among other things, on the degree of social distance between interlocutors, the nature of their relationship and the context in which their interaction is taking place (cf. e.g. braun 1988; mühleisen 2003; clyne et al. 2009). in fiction, address terms serve as indicators of social and personal relationships among characters. the range and usage of address terms differ across languages, which is why recreating relationships between fictional characters within different address systems often poses problems for literary translators (cf. kluge 2019; ton 2019; rozumko 2023). this paper contributes to the existing literature on the translation of address terms by examining their treatment in the translation of serial storytelling. it focuses on the renditions of the address term doc, an informal variant of doctor, in the polish translation of tess gerritsen s̓ rizzoli and isles crime fiction series. polish does not have a direct equivalent of the address term doc, which is why its renditions always depend on the translator s̓ ability to interpret the relationship between the characters who use it, and to find an equivalent which is suitable at a given stage of their relational interaction. this study focuses on the uses of doc by detective jane rizzoli in her interactions with doctor maura isles, a pathologist she cooperates with throughout the series, and analyses its renditions in different parts of the series as the professional and personal relationship between the characters develops. the analysis is conducted from the perspective of the pragmatics of fiction and interpersonal pragmatics, with a focus on the use of address terms as part of the “relational work” (cf. locher 2008) done by the two characters. the aim of the study is to examine how the renditions of the address term doc affect the interactional coherence of the translation and how they influence the presentation of the characters and their relationship. 2. theoretical framework: interpersonal pragmatics and the pragmatics of fiction interpersonal pragmatics focuses on the role of language in the creation and negotiation of relationships (cf. locher & graham 2010). one of the key notions in the field is “relational work”, i.e. the “work” individuals do in defining and negotiating relationships with others in interaction (locher & watts 2005; locher 2008). it involves making choices concerning the selection of address terms, greetings, politeness formulae, syntactic structures, the tone of voice, etc., by means of which interactants position themselves vis-à-vis others and construct their relationships. in the process, they also construct and negotiate their identities (locher & watts 2005; locher 2008). interpersonal pragmatics tends to adopt the postmodernist understanding of identity as “a relational and sociocultural phenomenon”, constructed intersubjectively (rather than individually) in interaction (bucholtz & hall 2005: 585). interpersonal pragmatics is primarily concerned with the relational work that takes place in real-life communication, but the framework 123 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) it offers can also be applied to the analysis of fictional works and their translations (cf. locher 2020; rozumko 2023). as explained by jucker (2015: 63), “fictional language offers a large and very rich data source for pragmatic analyses provided it is analysed on its own terms and not as a less than perfect substitute for spontaneous spoken communication”. the communicative behaviour of fictional characters is one of the areas examined within the pragmatics of fiction. this branch of pragmatics focuses on such issues as polite and impolite behaviour of fictional characters, character positioning, characterisation, linguistic variation, the role of dialogue in fiction, etc. (cf. e.g. culpeper 2001; jucker 2015, 2016; bednarek 2017; culpeper & fernandez-quintanilla 2017). while fictional discourse tends to differ from everyday communication, interactions among fictional characters need to be realistic and convincing. as observed by dynel with reference to telecinematic discourse, its creators “operate on the assumption that charactersʼ interactions should be tacitly accepted by viewers as natural relative to the socio-cultural context and should not strike them as being artificial, even if statistically infrequent” (dynel 2017: 56). this observation also applies to the presentation of relational work in written fiction. because relational work tends to be culture and language specific, recreating it in a believable way in translation is often difficult. while in reallife communication relational work is usually unmarked (situationally appropriate) and a considerable part of it goes unnoticed (locher & watts 2005), in translation it is more likely to be marked (because it is impolite, overpolite or inappropriate) and draw attention to itself (cf. e.g. rozumko 2023). inconsistency in the use of address terms and the use of inappropriate address terms in translation may disrupt the interactional coherence of the translation (cf. reiber 2016; rozumko 2023). 3. english and polish address terms in translation the translation of address terms between english and polish has already received a considerable amount of scholarly attention (cf. e.g. szarkowska 2006, 2013; woźniak 2008; sojda 2012; hołobut & woźniak 2017) and there is agreement among scholars that it requires a careful consideration of the relationships among discourse participants. however, the specific choices made by fiction translators in this area have not been studied systematically as elements of the charactersʼ relational work. many of the findings reported in previous studies are, however, relevant to the aims of this paper because they discuss the role of address terms in fictional characterization and stylization of fictional discourse. woźniak (2009) shows, for instance, that the address terms used in polish translations of science fiction films do not always correspond to their source language equivalents in terms of style and register; szarkowska (2013) notes the difficulties involved in recreating idiolects and non-standard forms of address, while hołobut and woźniak (2017) analyse the role of address terms in the archaization of the language used in english language historical films and in their polish and italian 124 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) translations. studies have also shown some general tendencies in the treatment of address terms in translation (cf. kluge 2019). sinner (2011) and brehmer (2015) report that pronominal address is often domesticated, i.e. translated according to the norms of the target language, while nominal address is more likely to be foreignized, i.e. oriented towards the norms of the source language. the specific solutions in the translation of address terms often result from the differences between the address systems of the languages concerned. in the case of english and polish, the differences occur on the lexico-grammatical as well as socio-cultural levels. both languages have pronominal and nominal address, but polish, which is a prodrop language, also expresses address by means of verbal inflections (cf. rusiecki 2008; szarkowska 2013), e.g. dokąd idziesz? [2nd p. sg present tense] ʻwhere are you going? .̓ neither of the two languages has the classic t-v distinction in their pronominal systems. the t-v model, proposed by brown and gilman (1960) with reference to the semantics of the latin address pronouns tu (t) and vos (v), works best for languages which have informal and formal address pronouns, such as french (tu/vous) and german (du/sie). english, however, has one universal address pronoun (you), while in polish pronouns only express t semantics (ty in the singular and wy in the plural). a framework which seems better suited for the study of address terms in english and polish is cook s̓ (2019) n-v-t model, which is an extended version of brown and gilman s̓ (1960) proposal, where n stands for a neutral mode of address. importantly, cook (2019) notes that t and v semantics can be conveyed by both pronominal and nominal terms of address. the meanings associated with t include: informality, intimacy, solidarity, closeness, and familiarity, while the meanings associated with v are: formality, respect, deference, distance, and politeness (bresin 2021: 1). in the absence of t and v pronouns, english expresses t and v semantics solely by nominal terms of address; in polish, all v encoders are nouns. while the n-v-t distinction is relatively straightforward when applied to address pronouns, whose number is small, it is more difficult to apply to nominal address terms as those express a whole spectrum of meanings, and indicate different degrees of familiarity and distance between interlocutors. there seems to be agreement among scholars (e.g. brown & ford 1961; leech 1999) that the most distancing address terms in english are honorifics (e.g. sir, madam), followed by titles/honorifics + last names (e.g. mr/professor jones), and last names alone (cf. brown & ford 1961). more informal address terms, associated with t semantics, include first names (full forms being more formal than short ones), familiarisers (e.g. mate), family terms (e.g. mummy) and endearments (e.g. darling) (leech 1999; cook 2019)2. in polish, v semantics is primarily expressed by the honorifics pan ʻsir/mr ,̓ pani ʻmadam/msʼ (followed by third person verb forms, 2 the term “title” is used by some scholars to include honorifics as well (brown & ford 1961; leech 2009). following clyne et al. (2009), in this work it is used to refer to professional titles, such as doctor and professor. 125 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) e.g. co pani robi?, lit. ʻwhat is madam doing?ʼ), whose status is similar to that of v pronouns in other languages (cf. braun 1988; huszcza 2005; szarkowska 2013). formal situations require the use of pan/pani in combination with titles (pani doktor ʻms doctor ,̓ panie profesorze ʻmr professorʼ). slightly less formal is the use of pan/pani with the word proszę (lit. ʻi askʼ), as in proszę pana/pani, which is the default v address when the professional titles of interactants are unknown or irrelevant. the least distancing form within the v domain is the combination of pan/pani with first names (e.g. pani agato ʻms agataʼ). in contrast to english, titles and honorifics are not normally combined with surnames in polish. unless they have a distinguishing function, e.g. when one person from a group is addressed, such combinations are usually perceived as impolite or foreign (cf. marcjanik 2009). as noted by marcjanik (2009: 32), combinations of titles and honorifics with surnames are sometimes used by non-native speakers of polish who are accustomed to such forms in their native languages. the shift from v to t requires a ritual agreement, which should be initiated by the older person, a woman (in interaction with a man) or a work superior (cf. marcjanik 2009, 2020). t forms are used among young people, friends and members of the family. the t domain is also characterised by frequent use of diminutive forms of first names, not only among family and friends, but also co-workers. both english and polish show the tendency towards familiarization and informalization in the use of address terms (cf. leech 1999; marcjanik 2002, 2009, 2020; murray 2002; lakoff 2005; bruns & kranich 2022). bruns and kranich (2022: 114) link it partly with the increasing emphasis on “the importance of equality, participation, and antidiscrimination” in modern western societies. in poland, the use of less formal address forms is also attributed to anglo-american influence on polish ways of speaking (cf. marcjanik 2009). the changes reported by scholars primarily include an increase in the use of first names and a decrease in the use of titles, but in english, the trend seems to also concern the use of clipped forms of titles, such as doc (doctor) and prof (professor). an equivalent change in polish involves the omission of the honorific panie and the use of the title alone (doktorze, profesorze), but, as observed by marcjanik (2009: 39), it is only possible with masculine forms. the only appropriate way to address a woman doctor and a woman professor in polish is thus by combining the honorific pani with their professional titles: pani doktor (ʻms doctorʼ) and pani profesor (ʻms professorʼ), respectively. in the absence of direct polish counterparts of informal variants of titles, translators must rely on their pragmatic competence to render them appropriately. 4. translations of crime fiction series as a source of data for interpersonal pragmatics crime fiction has become one of the most popular fiction genres. it owes much of its popularity to translation, through which it has become “the most globalised of all 126 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) popular genres” (mccaw 2020: 48). hopkins and seago (2018: 220) note that popular literature is now more often read in translation than high literature, which may be one of the reasons why the translation of crime fiction has received a considerable amount of scholarly attention in recent years. the quality of crime fiction translation as well as the strategies adopted by its translators depend on a number of factors. seago and lei (2020: 85) name the following: “the status of the respective languages involved, the status of the text or author to be translated, and whether the receiving culture is familiar with the genre or author.” despite its high readership and an increased interest from scholars, the genre still has a rather low status, and crime fiction series are particularly often perceived as lowbrow. as observed by mayer (2020), serial storytelling in general and crime fiction in particular tend to be valued less than stand-alone works. the association of crime fiction series with “cheap and fast” literature (cf. mayer 2020) has a bearing on the quality of its translation, though, somewhat ironically, it requires more skill than the rather low reputation of the genre may suggest. one of the reasons why crime fiction is not easy to translate is that it is highly culture specific. its translation requires the ability to use appropriate terminology and to recreate the discourse of various social groups: police officers, experts in various fields, witnesses and criminals. as summarised by seago (2014: 5), “the crime translator needs to create a believable and nuanced cultural and professional setting, handle a range of voices, register, dialect, slang and swearing to evoke distinct characters within their social context, location and interaction with each other”. equally important is the translator s̓ attention to the details and clues that lead to solving the case and make a crime fiction text coherent (cf. seago & lei 2020). maintaining “macro-coherence”, i.e. the “logical, cognitive, factual congruity” of the textual world (merlini barbaresi 2002: 120), is particularly challenging in the translation of crime fiction series, as serial storytelling requires a consistent presentation of the events, places, characters and relationships throughout different parts of the series. as observed by merlini barbaresi (2002: 122-123), charactersʼ “actions, reactions, emotions and expressions must be logically connected and internally congruent. equally important are the relationships among various characters, which must be mutually motivated at every stage of their development”. crime fiction series often have one or two main characters who enter into multiple personal and professional relationships in different parts of the series. the development of their relationships is reflected in their “relational work”, which involves address terms negotiations and shifts in address use. it is thus the relational dimension of crime fiction series that makes their translation particularly interesting from the perspective of interpersonal pragmatics. 5. material and research procedure this study examines the renditions of the address term doc in the polish translation of the rizzoli and isles series by the american crime fiction writer tess gerritsen. more 127 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) precisely, it focuses on the uses of doc by the main character of the series, homicide detective jane rizzoli (in her early thirties at the beginning of the series), in her interactions with doctor maura isles (4-5 years older than jane rizzoli), a forensic pathologist she cooperates with. tess gerritsen s̓ rizzoli and isles series consists of thirteen books published between the years 2001 and 2022. the two characters meet in the second part of the series; in the subsequent parts, they work together and gradually become friends. the relational work they do is thus an important part of their characterisation. the thirteen books in the series were translated by six different translators: jerzy żebrowski (parts 1, 3, 4, 6, 10, 11 and 13), zygmunt halka (parts 2 and 5), zbigniew kościuk (part 7), krzysztof obłucki (part 8), anna jęczmyk (part 9), and andrzej szulc (part 12). to analyse the renditions of the title doc in the polish translation of the series, i first examined the address terms used between the two characters in the original version to establish how they address each other in different contexts and how their address mode changes as their relationship develops. subsequently, i analysed the ways in which they address each other in the polish translation of the series. the analysis which follows is qualitative in character. it focuses on the renditions of the title doc as part of the relational work done by the two characters and with reference to the interactional coherence of the translation. it aims to answer the following research questions: (1) how is doc rendered by the different translators of the series? (2) are its renditions consistent with the other elements of the charactersʼ relational work? (3) how do the renditions of doc affect the presentation of the two characters and the relationship between them? 6. discussion of results 6.1. address terms used between jane rizzoli and maura isles in the original version of the series the two characters meet in the second part of the series, the apprentice, in the autopsy lab, where doctor isles is performing an autopsy on a victim of the crime that jane rizzoli is investigating. their relationship is first strictly professional. throughout part 2, maura isles addresses jane rizzoli as detective rizzoli (v address), as illustrated in (1), whereas jane rizzoli does not use any nominal forms of address and only addresses maura isles by the pronoun you (n). (1) ʻdetective rizzoli, you asked me what kind of blade he used.̓ ʻplease tell me it s̓ not a scalpel.̓ (the apprentice, p. 42) in part 3, the sinner, they spend a lot of time together and talk not only about their investigation, but also about their private lives. during one of their conversations maura isles shifts to t address, and begins addressing jane rizzoli by her first name (example 128 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 2). occasionally, she also addresses her by her surname, as in (3). jane rizzoli, however, consistently addresses maura isles by doc (example 3). it needs to be noted that even when the two characters become friends, they mostly meet in connection with the crimes they are investigating, usually at crime scenes or in the autopsy lab, where the title doc used by rizzoli indicates that their relationship continues to be professional. (2) she turned to look at rizzoli. ʻyouʼre catholic, jane. arenʼt you?ʼ (the sinner, p. 37) (3) maura isles: ʻthere s̓ nothing more to see here.̓ jane rizzoli: ʻwe just got here, doc.̓ (…) maura isles: ʻrizzoli ,̓ she whispered. ʻcan we get out of here now?ʼ (the sinner, p. 240) this non-reciprocal pattern continues until part 8, the killing place, in the course of which jane rizzoli begins addressing maura isles by her first name (example 4). she does so in a very emotional situation when maura contacts her after a long absence during which her life was at threat. however, in addition to using maura s̓ first name, jane rizzoli continues to address her as doc until the end of part 11. (4) ʻjane?ʼ the voice was close to a sob. ʻthank god you answered!ʼ (…) ʻi thought you were dead!ʼ jane blurted. ʻiʼm alive. iʼm okay!ʼ ʻjesus, maura, we had your memorial service!ʼ (the killing place, p. 291-292) it is important to note that the changes in the charactersʼ address mode are not accompanied by any meta-comments from the characters or the narrator anywhere in the series. thus, the translators could only rely on their own interpretation of the relational interaction between the characters to render the address terms appropriately. 6.2. the address terms used between jane rizzoli and maura isles in the polish translation the relational work done by the two characters in the polish translation of the series is quite different from its original version. the translators of the different parts clearly worked independently and did not always pay attention to consistency in the use of address terms or the coherence of the charactersʼ relational work throughout the series, which supports the common perception of serial storytelling and its translation as being “cheap and fast” (cf. mayer 2020). continuity is only maintained within the parts translated by jerzy żebrowski (1, 3, 4, 6, 10, 11, 13). otherwise, the relational work done by the two characters is characterised by frequent and unexpected shifts in address use, which have no counterparts in the original version and make their relational interaction illogical and incoherent. in the polish translation of the series, jane rizzoli first 129 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) addresses maura by t, from which she switches to v (parts 3-4), and then again to t (parts 5-13), but she also occasionally uses v and combinations of t and v. maura isles shifts from v to t already at the end of part 2 (even though she still uses v in the english version at the time), but in parts 3 and 4 she returns to v, which she uses interchangeably with combinations of v and t before she shifts to t for good in part 5. some of the choices made by the translators make the charactersʼ utterances impolite while they are completely neutral in the original version, which affects the presentation of the characters and their relationship in the series. for instance, in part 2 (the apprentice) jane rizzoli addresses maura isles by the n pronoun you, which the translator (zygmunt halka) invariably renders as t (the 2nd p. sg pronoun ty and the 2nd p. sg verbs), as in (5b), even though maura isles addresses her as detective rizzoli (v), as illustrated in (6b). (5a) jane rizzoli: did you x-ray the neck? (the apprentice, p. 86) (5b) jane rizzoli: zrobiłaś [2nd p. sg, past tense] prześwietlenie szyi? (skalpel, p. 84) (6a) maura isles: detective rizzoli, you are coming in, right? (the apprentice, p. 192) (6b) maura isles: detektyw rizzoli, czy pani przyjedzie? (skalpel, p. 182) such asymmetrical address is unlikely to be used in real life because it would be highly disrespectful for a detective to respond with t if a medical doctor addresses them with v. as observed by szarkowska (2006), the rendition of the neutral pronoun you as t regardless of the situational context is the most common problem in the translation of english address terms into polish. a detailed analysis of all the address terms used between the two characters in the two language versions of the series is beyond the scope of this paper, but some of them are discussed in section 6.3, which focuses on the renderings of the form doc. 6.3. renditions of the address term doc jane rizzoli does not address maura isles as doc in all the parts of the series. in parts 2 (the apprentice) and 5 (vanish) she addresses her by the pronoun you, while in parts 12 (i know a secret) and 13 (listen to me) she uses you and her first name. in the other parts, the renditions of the term are characterised by similar inconsistency as the renditions of all the other address terms used between the two characters. the only translator who attempted to recreate the shifts in the charactersʼ address mode resulting from the development of their professional and personal relationship is żebrowski, which is why his renditions of the term doc will be discussed first, followed by a discussion of the treatment of the term by the other translators of the series. in the parts translated by żebrowski, the characters first use reciprocal v (the beginning of part 3, the sinner/pol. grzesznik), then maura isles switches to v combined with 130 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) t, while jane rizzoli continues using v, until they move to reciprocal t (part 6, the mephisto club/pol. klub mefista). at the stage of reciprocal v, żebrowski renders doc as pani doktor (lit. ʻms doctorʼ) and translates the pronoun you (n) as pani in both charactersʼ utterances, as illustrated in (7a) and (7b). the translation strategy he uses is thus domestication (both in the case of nominal and pronominal address). the characters address each other more formally than they do in the original version, but their address is consistent with polish rules of politeness (cf. e.g. marcjanik 2009). (7a) ʻhey doc.̓ at the front of the chapel, a mop of dark hair popped up as detective jane rizzoli rose to her feet and waved. ʻthe vic s̓ up here.̓ maura isles: ʻdo you know what happened? what did the sisters tell you?ʼ (the sinner, p. 17) (7b) pani doktor? – w głębi kaplicy dostrzegła burzę ciemnych włosów, gdy detektyw jane rizzoli wyprostowała się i pomachała do niej. – ofiara jest tutaj. maura isles: wie pani, co się wydarzyło? co powiedziały siostry? (grzesznik, p. 19) the problem begins when maura isles starts addressing jane rizzoli by her first name (in the middle of part 3, the sinner), but jane rizzoli continues responding with doc. the relational work that they do in the original version of the novel (they show interest in each other s̓ personal lives, feelings and emotions) indicates that their relationship is becoming closer, but the change in their address mode is one-sided. while in english the distance between the informal term doc, the neutral pronoun you, and the first name is relatively small, the distance between their most straightforward polish equivalents (the v form pani doktor on the one hand and first name address on the other) is considerably greater, which makes it difficult to recreate the charactersʼ asymmetrical address mode in translation. the translator decided to solve this problem by using mixed forms (v+t), i.e. maura isles continues using the v form pani (which is the rendition of the pronoun you), but she combines it with first name address (t), while jane rizzoli still addresses maura isles with the v form pani doktor (ʻms doctorʼ), as illustrated in (8a) and (8b). (8a) ʻdoc ̓? rizzoli was standing at the other end of the hallway. ʻwhy didnʼt you call me?ʼ said maura. ʻcostas is taking this one.̓ ʻso i just heard.̓ ʻyou donʼt need to be here.̓ ʻyou could have told me, jane. you could have let me know.̓ (body double, p. 393) (8b) pani doktor? – rizzoli stała u wylotu korytarza. – dlaczego pani do mnie nie zadzwoniła? – spytała maura. 131 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) – zajmuje się tym costas. – właśnie się dowiedziałam. – nie powinna pani tu przyjeżdżać. – mogła mi pani powiedzieć, jane. mogła mnie pani zawiadomić. (sobowtór, p. 290) the problem with such mixed forms (v+t) is that they are very infrequent in real-life communication in polish, and sound rather artificial. marcjnik (2009: 40) notes that the combination of first name address with the form pan/pani is sometimes used by older and socially superior speakers to address their significantly younger interlocutors (e.g. older university professors addressing their students) to indicate a friendly attitude. this, however, is not the case in the rizzoli and isles series, as the two characters are of a similar age. maura s̓ use of the v+t form makes her appear more distant and reserved towards jane rizzoli than she is in the original version. the unnaturalness of the charactersʼ address at that stage of their relational interaction was probably the reason why the translator decided that jane rizzoli should start addressing maura isles by her first name earlier than she does in the original version. thus, in the polish version of part 6 (the mephisto club/pol. klub mefista) the characters already use reciprocal t and address each other by their first names, even though in the original version of the book their address is still asymmetrical: jane rizzoli addresses maura isles as doc, while maura isles addresses her by her first name. the translator s̓ decision to shift to reciprocal t makes their relational work more coherent; first name address is more in line with the informal greetings they use (e.g. hey/pol. witaj) and with the personal topics they discuss. however, in consequence, the term doc is either omitted (example 9b) or replaced with the first name maura (example 10b) in part 6 (the mephisto club/pol. klub mefista) and the subsequent parts of the series translated by żebrowski. (9a) ʻif youʼre looking to get warm, doc,̓ said jane, ʻyouʼre not going to find it out here. but i guess that s̓ your choice.̓ (mephisto club, p. 134) (9b) – jeśli chcesz [2nd p. sg, present tense] się rozgrzać – powiedziała jane – to nie tutaj. ale twój wybór. (klub mefista, p. 95) (10a) ʻcʼmon doc,̓ she said, climbing out. ʻweʼll get you home.̓ (mephisto club, p. 265) (10b) – chodź, mauro – powiedziała, wysiadając. – odwieziemy cię do domu. (klub mefista, p. 192) the other translators of the series mostly translate the charactersʼ address as reciprocal t, but they are less consistent and less concerned with the coherence of the charactersʼ relational work. zbigniew kościuk, the translator of part 7 (keeping the dead/pol. mumia) mostly renders you (n) as ty (t), and often omits the term doc, which is consistent with żebrowski s̓ strategy used in part 6. however, in some contexts, he renders doc 132 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) as pani doktor ʻms doctorʼ (v) and in others, he translates it using the diminutive form doktorku (t). the v form pani doktor appears during one of the charactersʼ interactions in the autopsy lab (example 11b). (11a) jane turned to maura, ʻlet s̓ get on with the autopsy, doc. we need more information to work with.̓ (keeping the dead, p. 40) (11b) jane zwróciła się do maury. – kontynuujmy autopsję, pani doktor. potrzebujemy więcej informacji, żeby zacząć dochodzenie. (mumia, p. 50) on the one hand, such a translation is inconsistent with the t forms they use throughout the novel; on the other hand, the professional context in which it occurs to some extent justifies the translator s̓ choice. the other term used by kościuk as an equivalent of doc, doktorku (example 12b) is, however, entirely inappropriate. first of all, doktorku is a masculine form and, as such, it is never used to address female doctors in real life. its use in the translation breaks both the local and macro-coherence of the textual world (cf. merlini barbaresi 2002). it is situationally inappropriate and disrupts the coherence of the charactersʼ relational work. moreover, doktorku is a diminutive with derisive and condescending overtones, which are entirely absent from the charactersʼ relational work in the original version of the series. the form was popularized in the polish translation of bugs bunny cartoons, as the rendition of doc in the well-known phrase “what s̓ up doc?” that bugs bunny uses to address elmer fudd, a character who is trying to hunt him. elmer fudd is not a medical doctor, and in the cartoon, doc functions as an informal synonym of the word man. while doktorku sounds appropriate and funny when used by the cartoon character, it is highly disrespectful when used to address a medical doctor. it is, however, the only informal variant of the word doktor available in polish, which is probably why, despite its inappropriateness, it was also used by krzysztof obłucki in his translation of the next part of the series (part 8, the killing place/pol. dolina umarłych), as shown in example (12b). (12a) hey, doc, weʼre wondering where you are,̓ said jane. ʻgive me a call, okay?ʼ (the killing place, p. 86) (12b) cześć, doktorku, zastanawiamy się, gdzie jesteś – powiedziała jane. – zadzwoń do mnie, dobrze? (dolina umarłych, p. 76) there is not much interaction between jane and maura in part 8. with the exception of the instance quoted in (12a), they address each other using their first names. in part 9 (the silent girl/pol. milcząca dziewczyna), translated by anna jęczmyk, doc is rendered as pani doktor (v) and combined with cię, the object case of the ty pronoun (t), as illustrated in (13b). 133 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (13a) ʻhey, doc,̓ called out jane, crossing towards her, the wind scrambling her dark hair, ʻi see tam finally found you.̓ (the silent girl, p. 57) (13b) cześć, pani doktor! – zawołała rizzoli, idąc w jej stronę. wiatr rozwiewał jej ciemne włosy. – widzę, że detektyw tam jednak cię znalazł. (milcząca dziewczyna, p. 49) in contrast to the t+v combination involving the use of the first name and the form pani (ms) in one utterance, employed by żebrowski in the translation of part 3, the sinner (example 6b), the v+t combination involving title + surname and the pronoun ty is, according to marcjanik (2009: 40), considered impolite in polish. marcjanik (2009) notes that such mixed address terms are encountered among people who have worked together for a long time but the distance in their professional status makes it difficult for them to shift to t address. this, however, is not the case in the analysed translation, as the characters already use t address earlier in the book. in (13b) the v form pani doktor is also combined with the informal greeting cześć (hey), which is unlikely to happen in real life, unless the speaker intends to use it jokingly. such playful use of address terms combined with the impolite forms that jane rizzoli uses in the polish version of the earlier parts make the detective appear less professional than she is in the original version of the series. 7. conclusions by analysing the renditions of the form doc as used by detective jane rizzoli to address doctor maura isles in the polish translation of tess gerritsen s̓ rizzoli and isles crime fiction series, this study has hoped to offer some insights into the translation of address terms in serial storytelling. address terms are part of the relational work done by fictional characters; they indicate the nature of relationships among them and reflect the development of their relationships throughout the series. in tess gerritsen s̓ series, jane rizzoli uses the form doc to address doctor maura isles at different stages of their relational interaction, first as the only address term and later, when they become friends, interchangeably with her first name. such use is facilitated by the availability of the neutral pronoun you in english, which can be combined with various types of nominal address. the absence of informal ways equivalent to doc to address a female doctor and the existence of the binary opposition between v and t address in polish makes recreating their address mode in translation quite difficult and requires a good understanding of the charactersʼ relational work. the six polish translators of the series showed varying degrees of sensitivity towards the issue in question, which has resulted in numerous inconsistencies in the charactersʼ address mode, unexpected shifts in address terms and the use of inaccurate and impolite forms (e.g. the disrespectful masculine diminutive doktorku). disregarding all the inconsistencies and translation 134 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) errors, the main strategy adopted by the translators was to domesticate the charactersʼ relational work and adjust their address to the polish rules of politeness. thus, doc is rendered as pani doktor ʻms doctorʼ at the initial v stage of the charactersʼ interaction, and omitted or replaced with the doctor s̓ first name when the charactersʼ relationship becomes too close to maintain v address. such findings reveal the usefulness of the concept of relational work in the study of address terms in the translation of serial storytelling, and show that both nominal and pronominal address terms undergo domestication if it facilitates maintaining the coherence of the charactersʼ relational interaction. references primary sources gerritsen, t. 2001. the surgeon. new york: ballantine books. 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[unpublished master s̓ thesis]. universität hildesheim. rozumko, a. 2023. interpersonal relationships in translation: address terms in the english and polish translations of henning mankell s̓ the dogs of riga. journal of pragmatics 206: 19-28. rusiecki, j. 2008. appellatives and verbal forms of address. linguistica silesiana 29: 2942. seago, k. & lei, v. 2020. translation. in: j. allan, j. gulddal, s. king & a. pepper (eds.), the routledge companion to crime fiction, 85-93. london: routledge. sinner, c. 2011. relaciones sociales en la traducción de la oralidad fingida: formas y fórmulas de tratamiento como dificultad y problema en la traducción. in: s. roiss, c. f. gil, m. á. recio ariza, b. santana lópez, p. zimmermann gonzález & i. holl (eds.), en las vertientes de la traducción e interpretación del/al alemán, 223-243. berlin: frank & timme. sojda, s. 2012. adresat dziecięcy w tłumaczeniach winnie-the-pooh a. a. milneʼa na język polski i słowacki. przekłady literatur słowiańskich 3 (1): 149-163. szarkowska, a. 2006. formy adresatywne w przekładzie z języka angielskiego na polski. rocznik przekładoznawczy. studia nad teorią, praktyką i dydaktyką przekładu 2: 211-221. 138 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) szarkowska, a. 2013. forms of address in polish-english subtitling. frankfurt am main: peter lang. ton, t. n. l., 2019. a literature review of address studies from pragmatic and sociolinguistic perspectives. in: kluge, b. & m. i. moyna (eds.), it’s not all about ‘you’: new perspectives on address research, 23-46. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins. woźniak, m. 2008. jak rozmawiać z kosmitami? kilka uwag o tłumaczeniu lektorskim telewizyjnych filmów fantastycznonaukowych. przekładaniec 20: 50-88. * * * agata rozumko is an assistant professor in the centre for linguistic studies at the university of bialystok, poland. her current research interests are in the areas of modality, evidentiality, discourse markers, relational work, and translation, with a particular focus on the translation of discourse markers and address terms. * * * this study was supported by the regional initiative of excellence programme of the polish ministry of science and higher education for the years 2019-2022; project number 009/rid/2018/19; the amount of funding 8,791,222 pln. agata rozumko doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.38.3.06 between v and t address: the translation of english address terms into polish in serial storytelling (the case of doc) 67 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) laura saks1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.04 university of warsaw, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3105-2458 is translating poems for children a child’s play? a linguistic analysis of the english translations of “lokomotywa” by julian tuwim abstract. the aim of the present article is to demonstrate the challenges connected with the translation of children’s poetry, and to offer a qualitative analysis of different translation strategies employed in two english translations of the polish poem for children “lokomotywa” by julian tuwim. the translation analysis is based on the translation strategies proposed by lawrence venuti and peter newmark. it focuses on the linguistic and cultural differences between polish and english, and examines the choices of the translation strategies made by the translators, and the impact they may have had on the reception of the poem in the target language. the comparison shows that although there may be some limitations in terms of the target language and culture, the translators are able to find suitable and effective solutions and simultaneously convey the source text’s form and content. the conclusions placed at the end of the paper summarise the features of both translations and emphasise those strategies employed by the translators which are effective and thanks to which the translations are likely to live up to children’s expectations. keywords: poetry translation, translation strategies, translator, poetry, comparative analysis, source text, target text. 1 introduction translation of poetry is thought to be one of the most demanding as well as rewarding challenges faced by a translator. it seems impossible to convey all elements of the form, and every feature of the original, whilst simultaneously adapting the language to the target tradition and culture. translators are often expected to approximate the rhythm, syntax, form, and content. according to newmark (1987: 70), “the translation 1 address for correspondence: faculty of applied linguistics, university of warsaw, ul. szturmowa 4, 02-678 warsaw, poland. e-mail: l.saks@student.uw.edu.pl 68 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of poetry is the field where most emphasis is normally put on the creation of a new independent poem, and where literal translation is usually condemned”. although every poem should be treated individually and requires skilfulness as well as creativity on the part of translators, there has been an urge to propose strategies which would make poetry translation as successful as possible. furthermore, various approaches to translation raise translators’ awareness regarding the most common translation problems and make the effectiveness of concrete techniques evident. the present article offers a linguistic analysis of two english language translations of “lokomotywa” by the polish poet julian tuwim, based on the strategies proposed by lawrence venuti and peter newmark. both translations constitute an interesting material to study since they were published in different centuries. the first presented translation dates back to 1939 and is ascribed to bernard gutteridge and william j. peace (julian tuwim most probably was in charge of the rhymes; tuwim 2013). marcel weyland is responsible for the most recent translation published in 2013. seventy-four years divides both texts, which seems significant from the linguistic point of view as translation studies and strategies developed in the second half of the 20th century. moreover, both translations illustrate diverse techniques applied by its authors; which make the analysis even more informative. throughout the study cultural-specific items, rhythm and rhymes, literary devices especially onomatopoeia are analysed because they play a key role when it comes to the reception of “lokomotywa”. furthermore, these elements may cause numerous translation difficulties and force translators to find optimal solutions which usually mean sacrificing one aspect for the sake of another. 2 theoretical background 2.1 translation strategies by lawrence venuti domesticating and foreignizing – these terms were coined by lawrence venuti. nonetheless, the latter is usually ascribed to friedrich schleiermacher, the 18th century theologian and philosopher. the former concept was already known in ancient rome when “translation was a form of conquest” and latin poets translated greek texts “into the roman present: they had no time for all those very personal things and names” (nietzsche 1974: 137). domesticating strategies have found their advocates among english and french translators especially since the 15th century. such conformity to cultural aspects present in the target language was particularly visible during the early modern period. domesticating is meant as adherence to literary standards, as well as contemporary situations both cultural and political. this strategy considerably contributed to the enormous success of some translations, which have become even better known than the originals (baker 1998: 324). 69 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the foreignizing strategy was developed in german culture during the periods of classicism and romanticism. schleiermacher defined it as a translation strategy which aims to preserve cultural and more importantly literal differences; whilst simultaneously trying to reject domestic values. the german philosopher was more in favour of foreignizing strategy which allowed the reader to notice linguistic and cultural differences of the source text. that is why a translator, as postulated by the proponents of foreignization, should be an erudite in order to import foreign cultural forms to make the target language more heterogenic (schleiermacher 2012: 49). 2.2 eight methods of translation by peter newmark since the two above-mentioned strategies seem too general when it comes to the specificity of literary texts, another linguist, peter newmark, decided to approach this issue from a more in-depth perspective. he proposed eight methods of translation, including word-for-word translation. as the name suggests, the sl word order of the text is preserved and the translator tries to find the most common meanings of tl words, simultaneously not taking grammar into account, out of context (newmark 1988: 45). literal translation is another popular method, in which the grammatical constructions of the original are imported to their tl equivalents, however, the lexical words are translated one by one and the context does not matter. literal translations are often used for pre-translation process (newmark 1988: 46). faithful translation “attempts to reproduce the precise contextual meaning of the original within the constraints of the tl grammatical structures. it ‘transfers’ cultural words and preserves the degree of grammatical and lexical ‘abnormality’” (newmark 1988: 46). semantic translation seems to be slightly different from the faithful translation because it pays more attention to the aesthetic value of the sl text, namely natural and beautiful sounds, “compromising on ‘meaning’ where appropriate so that no assonance, word-play or repetition jars in the finished version” (newmark 1988: 46). the translator does not focus on seeking cultural equivalents, instead he applies some culturally neutral words or functional terms and in the same time he does not urge to naturalize as much as possible. the function of communicative translation can be described as an attempt “to render the exact contextual meaning of the original in such a way that both content and language are readily acceptable and comprehensible to the readership” (newmark 1988: 47). communicative translation is certainly freer than semantic translation; it “gives priority to the effectiveness of the message to be communicated and focuses on factors such as readability and naturalness”. idiomatic translation tends to reproduce the “message” of the text and is characterized by usage of colloquialisms as well as idioms which cannot be found in the original. this method provides the reader with a natural translation (newmark 1988: 47). free translation “reproduces the matter without the manner, or the content without the form of the original”. the last type of translation is called adaptation, in 70 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) other words: the ‘freest’ form of translation, which is mainly used for plays and poetry. it preserves plots, characters and themes. when it comes to cultural-specific items of the sl language, they are converted to the tl culture (newmark 1988: 46). 2.3 poetry translation poetry translation will always entail challenges connected with an elaborate use of language which seems to be rather connotational than denotational. it means that behind the literal meaning of words, an emotional or cultural message is hidden. moreover, content and form constitute a coherent whole. as observed by raffel (1991: 95), a ‘musical mode’ of poetry is important. baker (1998) notes that poetry has its: inner rhythm, regardless of whether there is any formal metre or rhyming pattern, which is one of the most elusive yet essential characteristics of the work that the translator is called upon to translate. and in addition to the difficulties involved in accounting for content and form, sounds and associations, the translator of poetry is also expected to produce a text that will function as a poem in the tl (baker 1998: 171). another crucial aspect of poetry translation is the ability to preserve the intrinsic poetic value of the original translated into the target language. andré lefevere (1975) made an important contribution to the theory of poetry translation, particularly pertaining to the development of the idea of translation as a form of rewriting which takes into account society “which comprises categories and norms which influence the translation process with the intention of influencing the audience according to the ideology and poetics of that society” (aksoy 2001). lefevere (1975) quotes theodore savory’s (1957: 50) various expectations concerning translation which reflect many contradictions with regard to the true nature of translation. the list is as follows: 1. a translation must give the words of the original. 2. a translation must give the ideas of the original. 3. a translation should read like an original work. 4. a translation should read like a translation. 5. a translation should reflect the style of the original. 6. a translation should possess the style of the translator. 7. a translation should read as a contemporary of the original. 8. a translation should read as a contemporary of the translator. 9. a translation may add to, or omit from the original. 10. a translation may never add to, or omit from the original. 11. a translation of verse should be in prose. 12. a translation of verse should be in verse. 71 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the above-presented points allowed lefevere to distinguish seven types of translations. moreover, the aforementioned list allowed for a discerning of the difficulties of the translation process but also drew attention to the problems a poetry translator is confronted with. one must not forget that the process of translation involves the specificity of languages. an ordinary poem consists of various levels among which every seems important during the process of translation. sound is of great importance for translator which the following saying confirms: “when it’s impossible to preserve both meaning and sound, go with the sound” (landers 2001: 100). when it comes to cultural aspects of translation, it is a disputable issue whether to find an equivalent in the target language or leave the element unchanged in order to highlight the so-called otherness of the text. it is obvious that “a text produced in another language and culture makes reference to persons, objects, and institutions not readily understood by another culture” (landers 2001: 79). 2.4 translating children’s literature translating children’s literature is recognised as one of the most challenging tasks translators may face. taking into account their readership – children, the translators concentrate particularly on adapting the stylistic devices, register, and cultural as well as the linguistic aspects of the text. additionally, the translator plays the role of a storyteller, who attempts to communicate with children but at the same time wants to appeal to adults. one has to remember that language addressed to children should be distinguished by simplicity and clarity. it has been also proved that fluency and dynamics found in translations appeal to child readers. furthermore, uncomplicated and natural constructions will certainly not confuse young readers, whereas monotonous regularity and predictability may seem boring. one of the most difficult issues which should be thoroughly considered by the translator are the cultural aspects of the source text. it is impossible to omit them, that is why, domestication or foreignization strategies ought to be applied. according to venuti, “linguistic and cultural differences are domesticated” (2008: 29), which does not have to be effective in the case of children’s literature since foreignizing may play an educational role and raise children’s awareness in regards to various cultures. undeniably, translations have a great impact on how young readers perceive people from different cultural backgrounds. nonetheless, the target text should be primarily comprehensible and accessible in terms of content. cultural adaptations still remain a disputable issue; however, it has been generally agreed that translators try to find cultural equivalences in the target language. 72 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 2.5 strategies for translating children’s poetry “since children of all ages often ‘hear’ stories rather than read them, translators have a particular responsibility to produce texts that read aloud well” (lathey 2016: 38). sound and rhythm are key stylistic devices which allow children to discover the diverse world of language. children eagerly imitate sounds what contributes considerably to their development as they learn naturally. while translating sounds, a translator has to bear in mind that for young listeners a great differentiation of sounds and phrases is attractive as they resemble everyday children’s speech. “repetition, rhyme, onomatopoeia, wordplay […] are all common features of children’s texts and require a high degree of linguistic creativity on the part of the translator” (lathey 2016: 43-44). in order to find an appropriate rhythm in the target language and check what impact its sound has, it is advisable to read translation passages out loud or act them out. reading aloud enables the translator to make a constructive criticism when it comes to disharmonies. the same thing applies to onomatopoeia as the sounds in languages often differ. one option is to find the respective sound in the target language and the other veers towards foreignization whose advocates claim that it “is likely to spark interest in sound and language and enhance children’s interest in and awareness of different languages” (lathey 2016: 93). translating poetic form, rhyme, and metre poses a serious challenge when a translator attempts not to alter the semantic content of the text. “in some instances metre may have to be sacrificed in the interests of the poetic message. in verse for younger children, however, the replication of musicality, sound and form are often the translator’s primary concern” (lathey 2016: 93). it is also highly advisable to decide how important it is for the poem and what relationship between rhyme and semantic content exists. in addition to this, a translator is forced to make a choice concerning sacrificing elements of meaning to find the most suitable rhymes in terms of musicality. other researchers, such as tiina puurtinen (1994: 84), claim that translators of children’s literature may or even should manipulate the source text in order to come up with the recipient’s literary expectations present in the target country. children, unlike adults, are unable to cope with numerous foreign phrases. moreover, puurtinen believes that translating books for children belongs to the most difficult ones as the translator is expected to adjust language and form of the source text not only to the young readers but also to parents as well as publishers. 3 the author of “lokomotywa” 3.1 julian tuwim and his contribution to children’s literature julian tuwim, born in 1894 in a polish family of jewish origin, was one of the most prominent polish authors of the 20th century. he is mainly associated with a poetic group 73 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) called “skamander”, whose main idea concerned vitality and youthfulness (tuwim 1977). after the outbreak of ww2 he left poland and settled down in new york, but after the war he came back to his homeland (miłkowski & termer 2005: 1000). tuwim is famous for numerous translations from polish into russian, and satirical poems which aimed to criticize political situation in poland (karolczuk-kędzierska 2004: 1317). he is also associated with poems for children such as: “słoń trąbalski” / “trąbalski the elephant”, “zosia samosia” and, finally, the most recognized work of his – “lokomotywa” / “the locomotive” (janusz-lorkowska 2019: 6). these works, written before the outbreak of world war ii, are still popular among both children and adults. the most popular of his poems for children, which demonstrates a diverse usage of language, is “lokomotywa”, released in wiadomości literackie (1936) – a social-cultural weekly, which indicates an adult-oriented character of the work. it should be noted that this poem became famous and iconic only two years after its publication and has conquered many children’s heart till this day (janusz-lorkowska 2019: 6). zbigniew lisowski (1988: 33-43) analysed “lokomotywa” and stated that literary devices by means of which tuwim described heavy, powerful locomotive decided on its success. the author’s fascination is conveyed by vivid descriptions of the locomotive as well as by picturesque language. “lokomotywa” is a poem known not only by children in poland but also all over the world, but it is an integral icon of polish literature and culture which shapes young generations (gliński 2013). although translating the poem was not an easy challenge, “lokomotywa” can be read in many languages all over the world. translators eagerly approach the problem of rendering “lokomotywa”, which can turn out to be a major challenge because of the combination of lyricism and humour as well as the usage of diverse qualities of language, namely stylistic devices e.g.: numerous onomatopoeia and personifications. writing a poem for children does not seemingly pose a problem according to many readers. however, the author of child poems aims to use an available and understandable language for the young readers as well as piquing adults’ interest. the key role is played by the literary devices used by the poet which conjure up a powerful image. one of the most vital components is the rhythm, which creates the so-called melody of the work. the rhymed syllables make it more dynamic and its message is in effect more stressed. moreover, rhythmical patterns sound pleasant for the listener (like a music effect), aiming to draw children’s attention (tarnawska & spólnik 2019: 81). hyperbola is another literary device eagerly used by tuwim. this kind of metaphor concentrates on exaggerating the qualities of some object what allows evoking more emotions and consequently highlights the word meaning. poems for children often comprise unusual means of expression which influence all senses. one of them is onomatopoeia, namely such a use of words which aims to imitate the sounds referring to an object or an action. thanks to this literary device a reader can not only easily imagine the situation presented in the poem but they can also “hear” all the noises 74 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) appearing in the text and practice language skills by pronouncing letter blends and consonant clusters (tarnawska & spólnik 2019: 83). personification seems equally important, and it is defined as follows: “the attribution of human nature or character to animals, inanimate objects, or abstract notions, especially as a rhetorical figure” (keane 2004: 37). the above-mentioned attribution enables the reader to bring usual things to life as they widen our imagination and give a deeper meaning (tarnawska & spólnik 2019: 81). epithet is a no less important literary device on which the majority of poems rely. its role lays simply in such a describing a person or thing that they are vividly distinguished between each other. prose becomes more vibrant and images can be expressed by e.g. only word. all these literary devices make the reading of tuwim’s poems a unique an unforgettable experience because the creative process depended upon the poet’s ability to create verse in such a way that the ‘word’ may reflect even the most-difficult-to-express phenomenon with colours and smells (tarnawska & spólnik 2019: 81). 4 comparative analysis 4.1 the structure of the original “lokomotywa” by julian tuwim is one of most recognisable texts in poland, not only among children but also among adults, who find this poem entertaining. there are some reasons for this. first of all, the poem is rich in stylistic devices, the use of which constitutes evidence for the author’s great sense of humour and skill at depicting scenes which appeal to children. the poem consists of sixty six verses, which is quite unusual for children’s literature in which short, rhymed poems can be generally found. the phenomenon of “lokomotywa” lies thus in its dynamics. metre is irregular, but the key to this text is the pair rhyme scheme: aabbcc. rhymes sound natural and create an illusion to the reader that the poem is shorter than it really is. the punctuation marks also play a vital role in the reception of the poem. in the original there occur exclamations as well as question marks which put a greater emphasis on the content, highlight the dynamics, and more importantly prove to be the best tool in evoking children’s imagination. repetitions and countless numerations fulfil a similar function which enrich child reader’s knowledge and provide him with an unforgettable adventure as well as entertainment. a young recipient cannot fail to respond to the onomatopoeia which appear very often in “lokomotywa” and are so diverse that give an excellent example of how the sound influences the success of the text. the poet does not hesitate to use a number of epithets which make the poem more attractive in terms of sound and language. 75 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 4.2 comparison of the original and its translations using venuti’s strategies the first translation comes from the book entitled: lokomotywa – locomotive; rzepka – the turnip; ptasie radio – the bird broadcast by julian tuwim. the publisher, wydawnictwo ltw, informs the reader that the translation into english originally appeared in 1939. it is highly probable that this version was adapted into polish by bernard gutteridge and william j. peace, while tuwim took responsibility for the rhymes. such a thesis may be confirmed by numerous both internet (e.g. culture.pl) and paper sources such as english translations of korczak’s children’s fiction: a linguistic perspective. as far as the translators are concerned, bernard gutteridge was an english novelist and poet primarily famous for war verses. he also translated julian tuwim’s poem for children “lokomotywa” (scannell 1976: 149). little is unfortunately known about the second translator, namely william j. peace. the second translation comes from the book entitled: lokomotywa – the locomotive – die lokomotive published in 2013 by universitas, which includes the original text as well as english and german translation. marcel weyland is responsible for the english translation. he was born in poland. when he was 12 years old, his family had to flee ahead of the germans at the onset of the second world war. they reached lithuania, where they received a visa, thanks to which they could go to japan and china. finally, they decided to settle down in australia where he studied law and architecture. he began translating polish literature, which resulted in the publication of the word: 200 years of polish poetry – a collection of polish poems translated into english, including “locomotive”. his polish background and being well versed in polish as well as english were of great benefit to the quality of translation. the first step to be taken by a translator of children’s literature is to take into account the young reader’s needs. they are not as complicated as it may seem, namely: fun, simple language but at the same time attractive stylistic devices. the background of the recipient is another essential issue as the text must be comprehensible and adjusted to all cultural and linguistic factors according to the domestication method attributed to venuti. the analysis focuses on those fragments of the translations which most clearly illustrate venuti’s methods. table 1. comparison of a fragment of “lokomotywa” with the translation from 1939 lokomotywa locomotive (1939) lecz choćby przyszło tysiące atletów i każdy zjadłby tysiące kotletów, i każdy nie wiem jak się wytężał, to nie udźwigną, taki to ciężar. they are so heavy that a thousand men, as huge and strong as tall big ben, if each one ate a thousand joints, could never push them off the points. 76 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) big ben found in the 1939 translation represents domestication method. it confirms the translator’s awareness of the audience, which is an english-speaking one, among which children constitute the majority. undoubtedly, big ben – the great clock tower in london is known worldwide as well as being a symbol of the united kingdom eagerly used especially by the media. the clock tower is also recognised as the symbol of strength and grandness. table 2. comparison of a fragment of “lokomotywa” with the translation from 2013 lokomotywa locomotive (2013) w dziesiątym kufry, paki i skrzynie. a tych wagonów jest ze czterdzieści, sam nie wiem, co się w nich jeszcze mieści. lecz choćby przyszło tysiąc atletów i każdy zjadłby tysiąc kotletów, i każdy nie wiem jak się wytężał, to nie udźwigną, taki to ciężar. and in the tenth are crates with crates with tv’s, and of these wagons there’s forty all told, i can’t tell myself what they can all hold. if there came a thousand olympic athletes, and each had a thousand veal cutlets to eat, and these tried to move it, no matter what, they could not budge it, weighs such a lot! it is important to enumerate a few differences connected with cultural-specific items in both texts. some food terminology can be found “lokomotywa”, for instance: “kiełbasy”, “kotlety”. the translator probably reached the conclusion that the english audience would better understand “salamis” and “cutlets”. weyland adapted the words to the target language and replaced it with a popular one in the english-speaking countries so he used the foregnizing method. “kotlety” have several equivalents in english: “chop”, “cake”, “cutlet”, “escalope” but the translator decided to choose a word which is the most similar to “kotlet” in terms of sound, namely “cutlet”. however, the general rule applied by translators is as follows: “cultural markers do not have to be translated. a translator may decide to retain words or expressions denoting foodstuffs, cultural practices or phrases of greeting in the source language, in line with venuti’s advocacy of the ‘foreignization’ of the translated text” (lathey 2016: 41). the translator of “lokomotywa”, however, replaced the culture-specific item with a carefully researched one, which allows him to make a similar impression on the recipient. the use of the word tv in the translation also highlights its contemporariness as the first tvs in poland were massproduced in the 1950s, much later than the poem was published. instead of this term, tuwim describes the tenth wagon and mentions that there are: “kufry, paki i skrzynie” (‘trunks, parcels, chests’). once again the domestication method has been used. besides, the technique used in these sentences serves as an example of adaptation (newmark), which is thought to be the freest form of translation; as the sl culture is imported to the 77 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) tl culture. this example is an introduction to next subchapter which is devoted to other translation techniques proposed by newmark. 4.3 comparative analysis of the original and its translations using peter newmark’s strategies newmark’s strategies serve in this comparison mainly as indicators of the differences in stylistic devices between “lokomotywa” and its translations. when it comes to the anonymous translation from 1939, the reader may be slightly surprised while comparing the original with the english translation. the title contains a synonym of the word “locomotive”, namely, “engine”. furthermore, the word order as well as the content of the translation in comparison with the original are completely different. the rhythms and dynamism are, however, preserved and provide the young reader with pleasant sound effects. the freedom of the translator’s choices concerning language, stylistic devices as well as punctuation are visible at every stage of reading, for instance: table 3. comparison of a fragment of “lokomotywa” with the translation from 1939 lokomotywa locomotive (1939) i koła turkocą, i puka, i stuka to: tak to to, tak to to, tak to to, tak to to…! and still the wheels sing with their clashing rhyme, i’ve got to be there in time, in time, i’ve got to be there in time! the message of the source text was preserved, but the reader may get lost comparing both passages as the lines slightly differ in terms of length and number. the method which dominates in the poem is called adaptation; it gives freedom to the translator who rather rewrites the text in translation than wants to preserve the characteristics of the original. the main feature of this technique is the conversion of the sl culture into the tl culture. the issue of stylistic devices is also worth mentioning as “lokomotywa” abounds in: epithets, repetitions, onomatopoeia and exclamation marks. all of these aim not only to overemphasize the whole situation depicted in the poem but also to improve the dynamics. the use of these elements should be thoroughly considered because sound and rhythm help children discover the beauty of language and narrative. in addition to this, poems addressed to children usually have a didactic function in terms of not only moral values but also the imitation of sound-systems and the acquisition of words. these fragments may prove whether the translation is successful in terms of choice of stylistic devices: 78 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) table 4. comparison of a fragment of “lokomotywa” with the translation from 1939 lokomotywa locomotive (1939) najpierw – powoli – jak żółw – ociężale, ruszyła – maszyna – po szynach – ospale, szarpnęła wagony i ciągnie z mozołem, i kręci się, kręci się koło za kołem, there goes the whistle with its sudden scream, and now the engine gets up steam as the wheels turn and the axels creak with a slow, thin, grinding shriek. at first glance, it is hard to believe that the fragment on the right is a translation of the one on the left. the author of the adaptation changed the order of the events presented in the poem. major differences can be found between the content of the translation and the original. imitating sound effects demands creativity on the part of the translator. that is why, although some differences can be noted between the above-quoted fragments, the message of the poem and stylistic devices are preserved, which constitutes a confirmation that it is an adaptation. cultural-specific items, which appear in the original, can pose some problems for the translator. it is also worth reminding ourselves that the translation discussed in this chapter comes from 1939. some of the words occurring in it could be presumably better understood in the early 20th century, nonetheless, it is not tantamount to incomprehension of this text by native speakers nowadays. for the english language learners, words indicating various kinds of movements may be unclear as they rarely belong to the vocabulary widely used in an everyday speech. more to the point, discussing culturalspecific aspects found in the translation cannot be omitted: table 5. comparison of a fragment of “lokomotywa” with the translation from 1939 lokomotywa locomotive (1939) a w trzecim siedzą same grubasy, siedzą i jedzą tłuste kiełbasy, lecz choćby przyszło tysiące atletów i każdy zjadłby tysiące kotletów, i każdy nie wiem jak się wytężał, to nie udźwigną, taki to ciężar. look at this trio! each one a glutton, eating sausages of partridge and mutton! they are so heavy that a thousand men, as huge and strong as tall big ben, if each one ate a thousand joints, could never push them off the points. these examples of the use of the adaptation technique prove the skilfulness of the translator as the fragments adapted into the english language are as funny, melodic and rich in stylistic devices as the original. when it comes to the cultural items, the augmentative form found in the original, namely, “grubasy” conveys the same linguistic effect 79 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) by use of “glutton”, which in polish is “żarłok”, “pożeracz”. in subsequent verses, there appear “kiełbasy” and its english equivalent “sausages”. in order to highlight the fact that they are fat, the translator informs the reader of their “partridge and mutton” origin. when it comes to weyland’s translation from 2013, it is worth concentrating on the dominant stylistic elements appearing in each one of three texts. as far as the dynamics and sound effects of weyland’s translation are concerned, it resembles the original. the rhymes are also preserved, although the english language is quite poor in this respect. one may notice that feminine rhymes in the original are replaced with masculine ones in weyland’s translation. nonetheless, such a convention cannot be found in every fragment of the target text. in order to build similar rhymes, the author was forced to change the content as presented in the following example: table 6. comparison of a fragment of “lokomotywa” with the translation from 2013 lokomotywa locomotive (2013) stoi na stacji lokomotywa, ciężka, ogromna i pot z niej spływa: tłusta oliwa. stoi i sapie, dyszy i dmucha, żar z rozgrzanego jej brzucha bucha. a big locomotive stands at a station looming, and gleaming with hot perspiration greasy and wheezing. it’s huffing and puffing and oozing and swelling. heat’s bursting from its immense smelly belly. this fragment shows in a clear way the differences between the words chosen by tuwim and weyland. verses in the first text are short in comparison to those in the second. undoubtedly, the message and content of the original can be found in the translation, however, it was achieved by different means, namely, the translator used longer sentences and fancy verbs which reflect the sounds of the machine. this fragment is an example of semantic translation, which focuses on the aesthetic features of the source language as well as rendering expressive elements literally. furthermore, the translator does not look for cultural equivalents which may be seen in further paragraphs. in addition to this, weyland put a lot of effort into finding words which suit the poem in terms of sound and meaning and it shows what aspects of the poem seemed the most crucial according to the translator. it is also noticeable that these words are characterised by their liltingness thanks to double letters for instance: “huffing”, “puffing”, “oozing”, “swelling”, “smelly”, “belly”. the reception of such a text is certainly much more pleasant. some differences between the sl text and the tl one can also be observed while taking into consideration onomatopoeia – a stylistic device which is dominant in the poem. illustrative examples are presented in table 7. 80 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) table 7. comparison of a fragment of “lokomotywa” with the translation from 2013 lokomotywa locomotive (2013) buch – jak gorąco! uch – jak gorąco! puff – jak gorąco! uff – jak gorąco! oof – how hot is it! poof – how hot is it! oof – how hot is it! in this case the reader can easily notice that the structure of the stiches and exclamation marks are nearly the same. nevertheless, when it comes to onomatopoeias, the translator had to find the equivalents for the polish: “buch”, “uch”, “puff”, “uff”. as it can be seen, tuwim was fond of experimenting with the usage of stylistic devices. the main aim of onomatopoeia is to phonetically imitate or at least resemble the sound which is described. the translator must not omit these elements as omission results in unsuccessful translation. close rendering of stylistic devices is also characteristic of semantic translation. weyland tried to find similar onomatopoeia in english which give the same sound result. although he limited his translation only to oof and poof, his translation is successful. “poof” is “used to convey the suddenness with which someone or something disappears”, while “oof” “is a sound” mimicking “the loss of air, as if someone’s solar plexus had just been struck” (oxford english dictionary). in the original, more elaborate versions of onomatopoeia were used. this stylistic device can be applied in various ways: • in a form of neologism by using words which reflect sounds, • by means of words which roots constitute onomatopoeia, • by the use of phrase or rhythmic patterns. the above-mentioned division gives a greater freedom when it comes to the diversity of onomatopoeia, which the given example illustrates: table 8. comparison of a fragment of “lokomotywa” with the translation from 2013 lokomotywa locomotive (2013) nagle – gwizd! nagle – świst! para – buch! koła – w ruch! suddenly – woosh! suddenly push! steam – poof! wheels – move! undoubtedly, both fragments are likely to convince even the most demanding reader, whose senses the poem wishes to appeal to. monosyllabic words play a key role in the translation of poems of this kind. moreover, particular onomatopoeia such as “woosh” 81 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and “poof”, which give the effect of the sound. another interesting solution to translating onomatopoeia is presented in the fragment quoted in table 9. table 9. comparison of a fragment of “lokomotywa” with the translation from 2013 lokomotywa locomotive (2013) a skądże to, jakże to, czemu tak gna? a co to to, co to to, kto to tak pcha, że pędzi, że wali, że bucha buch, buch? […] i koła turkocą, i puka, i stuka to: tak to to, tak to to, tak to to, tak to to…! and wherefrom, and whereto, and why does it rush? what gives it, what gives it, what gives it the plush? that is huffs, and it puffs, and it whistles hisshiss? […] wheels chatter and clatter on, quicker than quick, clickety, clickety, clickety, click the last verse of the poem is evidence of the author’s linguistic awareness and knowledge. words such as “huff”, “puff”, “clickety-click”, “hiss-hiss” are not often used in everyday situations. however, they sound very well and may pique child’s curiosity. taking into consideration rhythms in the translation, they are not always compatible with the original as presented below: table 10. comparison of a fragment of “lokomotywa” with the translation from 2013 lokomotywa locomotive (2013) już ledwo sapie, już ledwo zipie, a jeszcze palacz węgiel w nią sypie. wagony do niej podoczepiali wielkie i ciężkie, z żelaza, stali, it’s hardly breathing, wheezing so heavily and still the stoker more coal is shovelling dozens of wagons are noisily coupled heavy, enormous, of all kinds of metal, these fragments make the differences concerning rhyming evident. probably, weyland sacrificed the regular structure of the poem, namely the rhythms in order to preserve the content and general message of these verses, which can signalise the usage of communicative translation. nonetheless, it is worth remembering that newmark himself claimed that there is a fine line between semantic and communicative translation, as they overlap. 82 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 5 conclusions the most important aspects of the original were retained in weyland’s translation (published in 2013), which makes its success evident. the dynamics, rhythm, stylistic devices, and more importantly, the content of the whole poem were preserved. there are some differences in length and regularity of the verses as well as cultural aspects which, nonetheless, do not seem to have a significant impact on the reception of the poem. it is also noticeable that the needs of the target audience were thoroughly considered by the translator. moreover, this comparative analysis proved that the time when the translations were published (1939 and 2013) have a great impact on the way of rendering the original. the translation from 1939 in all respects is an example of adaptation, the freest form of rendering “lokomotywa”. in my opinion, the translators mainly focused on sound effects, which does not mean that they did not preserve the essence. the authors of the translation preserved the form of the original, namely, they used all necessary stylistic devices which purpose is to convince young readership. moreover, thanks to this technique, the translator does not have to feel limited when it comes to paraphrasing fragments. freedom given to him with this method is invaluable. i suppose that this translation process provides entertainment both to the readers (children) and the translator. the comparison of the original and its english translations was conducted using the strategies proposed by venuti and newmark. the analysis demonstrates that the strategies proposed by venuti, namely, foreignization and domestication, prove to be useful by taking account of cultural-specific items of the original and its translations. with reference to these methods, it is possible to identify the general approach that the translators adopted. in the case of english translations, one published in 1939, the other in 2013, the reader can notice that both authors decided to choose different strategies. the authors of the older translation concentrated on the audience’s language – english and culture. they intentionally mentioned big ben – the most recognisable building and simultaneously symbol of the uk. in order to gain child reader’s trust and approximate their level of general knowledge, they used domestication. however, weyland, the author of the second translation applied foreignization by tackling the problem of food terminology. this technique is understandable as in accordance with the general rule concerning the translation of food items, they should remain in an unchanged form, if possible. introducing the term “tv” into the translation by weyland can also evoke some controversies as this appliance was not popular when “lokomotywa” was written. to sum up, the author did not take this aspect into account and probably his text was supposed to sound modern, so it is an example of domestication. the analysis proved that the date of translation as well as the cultural and technological development have a significant impact on the reception of the poem. 83 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) when it comes to strategies included in newmark’s a textbook of translation, they are applicable in terms of an analysis of stylistic devices. it turned out that weyland chose particularly semantic and communicative translations which overlap because of similar traits. both methods attempt to render the text in the most natural as well as comprehensible way to the audience. additionally, they aim not only at preserving the aesthetic value of the poem but they also give freedom to the translator, to whose main priorities belong the effectiveness of the message and convincing the readers – children, attempting to please their senses, understand their world perception, and come up to their needs. the translators responsible for the 1939 text accorded with one of newmark’s translation techniques, namely, adaptation. this form of translation is characterised by freedom of choice in terms of language and cultural-specific items on the part of translator. some fragments of the original were omitted, the other translated in a totally different way from the original polish poem. in conclusion, the translator has only one goal, i.e. to gain popularity among children, who want to be provided with unusual sound as well as linguistic effects, which will make this text their favourite. finally, the young readers of these poems will not compare the original and its translation. the most important thing is to make an impression on children as well as surprise them with both the form and the content. it is worth highlighting that there is no single key strategy using which a poem for children can be translated. the reasons for this phenomenon are obvious. firstly, the translator is inclined toward sacrificing the structure of the text in favour of the message. the discrepancy between the urge to preserve all the stylistic devices and to simultaneously concentrate on the message, seems insolvable. everyone should bear in mind that the translation process entails making numerous decisions which influences the quality of the target text. references aksoy, b. 2001. translation as rewriting: the concept and its implications on the emergence of a national literature. available at url: https://translationjournal.net/journal/17turkey.htm [access on january 9, 2021]. baker, m. (editor) 1998. encyclopaedia of translation studies. london and new york: routledge. borodo, m. 2020. english translations of korczak’s children’s fiction: a linguistic perspective. london: palgrave macmillan. gliński, m. 2013. „buch, jak gorąco” lokomotywa, która dyszy w różnych językach. available at url: https://culture.pl/pl/artykul/buch-jak-goraco-lokomotywa-ktora-dyszy-w-roznych-jezykach [access on march 3, 2021]. janusz-lorkowska, m. 2019. “lokomotywa” na nowych torach, czyli jak uwspółcześnia się tuwima. załącznik kulturoznawczy 6/2019: 427-450. https://culture.pl/pl/artykul/buch-jak-goraco-lokomotywa-ktora-dyszy-w-roznych-jezykach https://culture.pl/pl/artykul/buch-jak-goraco-lokomotywa-ktora-dyszy-w-roznych-jezykach 84 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) karolczuk-kędzierska, m. 2004. wielka encyklopedia polski. vol. 2. kraków: wydawnictwo ryszard kluszczyński. keane, b. 2004. skamander the poets and their poetry 1918-1929. warsaw: agade. landers, c. e. 2001. literary translation a practical guide. clevedon; buffalo: multilingual matters. lathey, g. 2016. translating children’s literature. london and new york: routledge. lefevere, a. 1975. translating poetry seven strategies and a blueprint. amsterdam: van gorcum, assen. lisowski, z. 1988. próba interpretacji „lokomotywy” juliana tuwima, zeszyty naukowe wsr-p im. g. dymitrowa w siedlcach nr 15. cz. 2. miłkowski, t. & termer, j. 2005. uniwersalny słownik literatury. warszawa: oficyna wydawnicza “delta w-z”. newmark, p. 1988b. approaches to translation. new york: prentice hall. newmark, p. 1988a. a textbook of translation. new york: prentice hall. nietzsche, f. 1974. the gay science. princeton: princeton university press. puurtinen, t. 1984. dynamic style as a parameter of acceptability in translated children’s books in: translation studies: an interdiscipline selected papers from the translation studies congress. vienna: benjamins translation library. savory, t. 1957. the art of translation. london: j. cape. scannell, v. 1976. not without glory: the poets of the second world war. london and new york: routledge falmer. schleiermacher, f. 2012. on the different methods of translating in: the translation studies reader. ed. lawrence venuti. 43–63. trans. susan bernofsky. new york: routledge. tarnawska, m. & spólnik. w. 2019. poszukiwanie muzyki w poezji na przykładzie wiersza „lokomotywa” juliana tuwima. pedagogika przedszkolna i wczesnoszkolna vol. 72 (14)/2019: 77-86. tuwim, j. 1977. kwiaty polskie. warszawa: spółdzielnia wydawnicza „czytelnik”. tuwim, j. 2003. lokomotywa the locomotive die lokomotive. kraków: universitas. tuwim, j. 2013. lokomotywa – the locomotive rzepka – the turnip ptasie radio – bird broadcast. wydawnictwo ltw. łomianki. venuti, l. 2001. strategies of translation. london: routledge. venuti, l. 2008. the translator’s invisibility. london and new york: routledge. weyland, m. 2010. the word: two hundred years of polish poetry. blackheath: brandl & schlesinger. * * * laura saks holds an ma in applied linguistics, obtained from university of warsaw, poland. in 2019 she participated in the pro-seminar in saarbrucken entitled “text und 85 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) fachtext in theorie und praxis”. her research interests focus on the translation of “untranslatable” poetry in theory and practice. _hlk43383972 _hlk74748384 _hlk74836717 _hlk27330924 _hlk27300431 _hlk54599725 _hlk32912836 _hlk27329327 _hlk27300414 _hlk77670239 _hlk77236825 _hlk77237282 _hlk77266523 samuel alaba akinwotu doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.01 a pragma-rhetorical study of selected pentecostal sermons in nigeria klaudia gajewska doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.02 why has phonodidactics become “the neglected orphan” of esl/efl pedagogy? explaining methodologyand elf--related motives behind a reluctance towards pronunciation teaching małgorzata jarmołowicz-dziekońska doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.03 the picture bride phenomenon: a reflection on photography from a cultural perspective in yoshiko uchida’s picture bride laura saks doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.04 is translating poems for children a child’s play? a linguistic analysis of the english translations of “lokomotywa” by julian tuwim magdalena żochowska doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.05 translating irony. translation strategies and techniques used by polish translators of pride and prejudice 109 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) work in progress katarzyna lach mirghani1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.31.4.06 university of białystok orcid: 0000-0002-3651-0825 selected aspects of the conceptualisation of success in english and polish abstract. conceptualisation is “the process of meaning construction to which language contributes. it does so by providing access to rich encyclopaedic knowledge and by prompting for complex processes of conceptual integration” (evans 2007: 38). concrete, non-abstract entities are easy to grasp and to conceptualise with the use of the senses. a problem occurs when the mind has to form an idea about abstract concepts that cannot be seen, heard, smelled, or tasted. linguists (evans & green 2006; gibbs 1999; kövecses 2010; lakoff 1986; lakoff & johnson 2003) proved that people share a tendency to create conceptual analogies between abstract concepts and concrete entities by mapping the properties of the latter upon the former. it has been proved (trojszczak 2016, 2017) that people share conceptualisations between languages. the primary goal of this comparative study was to examine the conceptualisation of success in two languages, english and polish, in order to identify differences and similarities. the results of the study proved that people share the conceptualisation of the analysed target domain in both languages, which means they understand success in the same terms. there is a difference in the intensity, however; some metaphors are more widely used in one language and some in the other. there is also a difference in the linguistic expressions that constitute the conceptualisations. keywords: conceptualisation, metaphor, mapping, source domain, target domain, success. 1. introduction at the beginning of the 18th century, researchers acknowledged metaphors as a cognitive tool, but a tendency to marginalise the role of metaphors in communication 1 address for correspondence: department of linguistics, university of białystok, pl. nzs 1, 15-420 białystok, poland. e-mail: lach.katarzyna@gmail.com 110 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) was widespread. in the 20th century, metaphors became the subject of numerous studies (gibbs 1999; lakoff & johnson 1980/2003; mcglone 2007; reddy 1979), and they have been proved to enable us to comprehend and verbalise abstract concepts. we use them unconsciously (lakoff 1987: 296), and we share the conceptualisations of these abstract concepts within a particular language, which makes effective communication possible. what is more, some conceptualisations are shared between languages and cultures (trojszczak 2016, 2017), which leads to the conclusion that there may be a universal way of thinking about particular concepts. the aim of this study is to compare english and polish conceptualisations of success in order to find out whether the two distinct cultures share a way of conceptualising this abstract concept. it may also be a starting point for research on the influence of certain conceptualisations on people’s attitudes towards achieving success. 2. literature review 2.1. the concept of success the concept of success has usually been approached from a practical perspective (cottrell 2003; gunz & heslin 2005; hall 2005; heslin 2005) as a goal that may be achieved by a variety of means. a study by łącka-badura (2016) focused on linguistic manifestations of success metaphors in american success guidebooks, aphorisms, and quotes. cross-linguistic research was conducted by ajimer (2004), who compared ways of talking about ability and success in english and swedish; the locus of this research was in grammar and modality, however. this study will look at the concept of success from a cognitive linguistic point of view. cross-linguistic research will be used to compare conceptualisations in two languages. 2.2. literal versus figurative meanings there have been many attempts to draw a distinction between the literal and the figurative use of language (evans & green 2006: 287-289; rumelhart 1993: 71-82; searle 1979: 117-136). all of them came to the conclusion that the distinction is never straightforward. what we think of as literal depends on a variety of factors, including the culture, context, and aim of the utterance. therefore, we must assume that it is impossible to consider an utterance as 100% literal or figurative; it is always a matter of degree. in order to analyse metaphors, some assumptions about the literality of a phrase must be made because they serve as a foundation for a figurative language interpretation. for the purpose of this paper, a phrase will be considered figurative or metaphorical if it has a more basic, contemporary meaning in the macmillan english dictionary for advanced learners (rundell & fox 2002) and the metaphor identification procedure (henceforth, mip) by the pragglejaz group (2007), which will be described further later in this paper. 111 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 2.3. metaphor the term metaphor stems from the greek metaphora, which derives from meta ‘across’ and ‘beyond’ and phora ‘to carry’ or ‘to bear’. the etymological sense is ‘to transfer from one thing to another’ (deutscher 2005: 117). aristotle considered metaphor a sign of language proficiency and mastery and claimed that “metaphor requires a special talent or genius and should be alien to most ordinary speakers” (gibbs 1999: 121). on the other hand, he considered it an embellishment or a deviation from language clarity. in the late 17th century and early 18th century, giambattista vico claimed that human beings could apprehend the world with the use of the senses and metaphors; this became a means of describing concepts difficult to capture. at the end of the 19th century, the french philologist michel bréal, in his essai de semantique, argued that metaphor was not just a discourse decoration but that it was a ubiquitous and principal device of semantic change. later on in the 20th century, linguists changed their perspectives and began to view metaphor as a communicative tool (gibbs 1999: 199; lakoff & johnson 1980/2003: 4-5; mcglone 2007: 110; reddy 1979: 306-308). michael reddy (1979) was one of the first researchers to provide us with a detailed linguistic analysis of metaphors, which he believed were not a linguistic phenomenon but rather a cognitive phenomenon. in his paper, he analysed the metaphors of language in english and found that people share a tendency to understand language in terms of a conduit that conveys ideas. he described the following complex metaphors: ideas are objects, linguistic expressions are containers, and communication is sending. as a result, he proved that metaphors do not belong solely to the realm of poetry and are widely used in everyday language (reddy 1979: 284-324). what is more, in a study that examined psychotherapeutic interviews, essays, and political debates, pollio et al. (1977) counted the frequency of “frozen” metaphors (existing in language) and those created spontaneously (“novel” metaphors). the research revealed that people used 1.8 novel and 4.08 frozen metaphors per minute of discourse. with the assumption that people engage in conversation for as little as 2 hours a day, a person would utter 4.7 million novel and 21.4 million frozen metaphors over a 60-year lifespan (pollio et al. 1977; gibbs 1999: 123). this indicates that metaphors are commonly used and are neither exotic nor literary forms of language. 2.4. conceptual metaphor theory michael reddy’s (1979) conduit metaphor proved that the locus of metaphors is in thought, not in language, but the researchers started to analyse the key aspects of conceptualisation after the publication of the first edition of the influential book metaphors we live by by george lakoff and mark johnson in 1980. many researchers soon addressed this issue, as well (gibbs 1999; kövesces 2003/2010; lakoff 1986, 1987; lakoff & johnson 1980/2003). lakoff (1987: 296) emphasised that our conceptual systems are unconsciously organised into categories and most of our thinking involves these categories. the researchers 112 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) observed that “conceptual metaphors are unidirectional” (evans & green 2006: 296). although we conceptualise argument in terms of war, we cannot conceptualise war in terms of argument. lakoff and turner (1989: 131-133) also observed that even if there are two domains that can be conceptualised interchangeably, the conceptualisations have different mappings and therefore they are different metaphors. (1) people are machines a.  he works like a robot. b.  she’s had a nervous breakdown. machines are people c.  why does my computer do that to me? d.  did your car want to start today? in (1a) and (1b) the efficiency and reliability, or lack of them, in the machines are mapped onto humans, but in (1c) and (1d) the desire and free will of people are mapped onto machines. 2.4.1. conceptual versus linguistic metaphor for most ordinary people a metaphor is a feature of a language. however, there is a distinction between a “linguistic” metaphor and a “conceptual” metaphor. the linguistic metaphor is a linguistic expression (lakoff 2003: 4). it is the articulation of an unaware conceptualisation. concepts govern our thought and our everyday functioning (lakoff 1987: 293). “a conceptual metaphor consists of two conceptual domains, in which one domain is understood in terms of another. a conceptual domain is any coherent organisation of experience” (kövecses 2010: 4). the conceptualisation is a projection (“mapping”) between a “source domain”, which is more concrete and easy to grasp, and a “target domain”, which is more abstract. the conceptual metaphor is a foundation for the linguistic metaphor. when the conceptualisation is established, language users can start expressing one domain in terms of another. the linguistic metaphors are examined in order to gain knowledge about conceptual metaphors. 2.4.2. elements of the conceptual metaphor: conceptual domains and mapping as cited above in the article by kövecses, the conceptual domain is “any coherent organisation of experience”. it can be a journey, a war, a motion, feelings, a human body, buildings, or any number of other things. two conceptual domains establish the conceptual metaphor through mapping. the mapping is a transfer of some 113 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) characteristics from one domain to another, or a set of “semantic correspondences” between two domains (kövecses 2010: 7). the domains involved in this process are the target domain and source domain. the target domain is the domain being described. the source domain is the one we use to describe the other domain. source domains are usually concrete. they emerge from our indirect experience (kövecses 2010: 18-23). target domains are the ones that we cannot grasp indirectly. they are usually more abstract (kövecses 2010: 23-28). as mentioned above, mapping transfers some characteristics from one domain to another, and therefore it emphasises these characteristics of the target domain. at the same time, it hides characteristics that people (unconsciously) do not want to highlight. let us consider the example from kövecses (2010: 91): the mind is a brittle object metaphor: (2) mind is a brittle object a. her ego is very fragile. b. you have to handle him with care since his wife’s death. c. he broke under cross-examination d. she is easily crushed. e. the experience shattered him. f. i‘m going to pieces. g. his mind snapped. h. he cracked up. the source domain focuses on psychological strength or the lack of it, which is only one aspect of the concept of the mind. it highlights this aspect, and the other aspects remain out of focus. to observe this process, we can use examples of metaphors with the same target and different source domains provided by kövecses (2010: 92): (3) a.  an argument is a container: your argument has a lot of content. what is the core of his argument? b.  an argument is a journey: we will proceed in a step-by-step fashion. we have covered a lot of ground. c.  an argument is war: he won the argument. i couldn’t defend that point. d.  an argument is a building: she constructed a solid argument. we have got a good foundation for the argument. 114 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the container metaphor in (3a) emphasises the content and basicness of an argument; the journey metaphor (3b) highlights the progress and the content; the war metaphor (3c) focuses on the control over the argument or the opponent; and the building metaphor (3d) emphasises the aspects of the construction of the argument and its strength. 3. the study rundell and fox (2002: 1434) define success as “the achievement of something that you planned or wanted to do,” and a successful person as somebody who “achieves a lot and becomes rich, famous, respected, etc.” one of the synonyms for success is victory, a word that adds a winning/losing connotation to the purport of the term. having assumed that being happy, healthy, or wealthy may be the aim of every human being, i will analyse phrases that indicate the fact of fulfilling this aim even if the willingness and planning aspects are not explicitly stated. 3.1. methodological framework in this study, the cognitive linguistic theoretical framework (croft & cruse 2004; evans & green 2006) and corpus-based research approach (mcenery & hardie 2012) have been combined. the conceptual metaphor theory (lakoff & johnson 1980) has been adopted as a fundamental approach to metaphors. in order to determine the figurativeness of a phrase with the use of the mip (pragglejaz group 2007), the macmillan english dictionary for advanced learners (rundell & fox 2002) has been used; all of the definitions come from this dictionary. polish definitions, when needed, were also taken from a corpus-based dictionary, namely, słownik języka polskiego pwn (drabik et al. 2018). all of the example phrases come from corpora, and the examples of phrases in polish have been translated with the use of the leipzig glossing rules (comrie et al. 2015). 3.2. corpora in this research three corpora have been used: the british national corpus (bnc), the corpus of contemporary american english (coca), and the national corpus of polish (ncp). the bnc and the ncp are “reference corpora”, which means that texts are no longer added to them. all the corpora are available online for researchers. the bnc is a corpus of more than 4000 written (90%) and spoken (10%) british english samples. the number of words totals 100 million (aston & burnard 1998: 28). the ncp is a collection of polish written and spoken samples (przepiórkowski et al. 2012: 8). the coca is a corpus of spoken and written american english that was established in 2008 by mark davies. it is regularly updated (davies 2010: 447). each year texts containing 20 million words are added; at the end of 2017, the corpus consisted of more than 570 million words (available at https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/). https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/ 115 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) to extract linguistic data online, browsers have been used. both the ncp and the bnc have been accessed through the hask browser created by piotr pęzik (available at http://pelcra.pl/hask_pl/ and http://pelcra.pl/hask_en/). the ncp data have also been extracted through the official corpus browser (available at http://nkjp.pl/poliqarp/). the coca has been browsed using its online interface by brigham young university (available at https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/), which provides the bnc corpus search engine, as well (available at https://www.english-corpora.org/bnc/). the expressions used in the research have been compiled with the use of the “searching for target domain vocabulary” and “searching for source domain vocabulary” strategies (stefanowitsch 2006: 2). the former was the first step in the research, and it allowed the author to find metaphorical collocations with the word success and its synonyms. the latter provided the author with the set of metaphorical expressions that linguistically do not stem from the lexeme success or its synonyms. they are expressions with the lexical units from popular source domains such as food and motion. the corpora were not only used as search tools; all of the example sentences for each metaphorical expression were taken from them. because they are collections of authentic language, corpora depict the use of the metaphors realistically. in order to determine whether a phrase is metaphorical or not the mip of the pragglejaz group (2007) had to be used. however, because it is a method for identifying metaphors in discourse, it had to be adjusted so that it fulfilled the research needs. the procedure by the pragglejaz group is as follows: (4) 1. read the entire text–discourse to establish a general understanding of the meaning. 2. determine the lexical units in the text–discourse. 3. a. for each lexical unit in the text, establish its meaning in context, that is, how it applies to an entity, relation, or attribute in the situation evoked by the text (contextual meaning). take into account what comes before and after the lexical unit. b. for each lexical unit, determine if it has a more basic contemporary meaning in other contexts than the one in the given context. for our purposes, basic meanings tend to be • more concrete (what they evoke is easier to imagine, see, hear, feel, smell, and taste); • related to bodily action; • more precise (as opposed to vague); • historically older. • basic meanings are not necessarily the most frequent meanings of the lexical unit. c. if the lexical unit has a more basic current–contemporary meaning in other contexts than the given context, decide whether the contextual meaning contrasts with the basic meaning but can be understood in comparison with it. http://nkjp.pl/poliqarp/ https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/ https://www.english-corpora.org/bnc/ 116 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) d. if yes, mark the lexical unit as metaphorical. (pragglejaz group 2007: 3) as may be seen in (4), the first step was supposed to be reading the entire text, which is impossible while researching the corpora, so this step had to be omitted. the first step of the research involved gathering the phrases concerning the target domain by means of the already mentioned methods. then, it had to be determined whether they were metaphorical or not. in order to do that, the definition of the components of the phrase had to be analysed by searching for more concrete, more precise, historically older lexical units within the phrase or for meaning as related to body action in the lexical units within the phrase. if it was possible to find a basic meaning, and the contextual meaning contrasted with this basic meaning, the lexical unit was categorised as metaphorically used. the phrases were then categorised according to mappings. the stepby-step procedure of the research is shown in table 1 below. table 1. the research procedure (based on pragglejaz group 2007: 3) 1. search for a target domain vocabulary. 1.1. gather the target domain vocabulary using a dictionary. 1.2. search the corpora for collocations of the target domain vocabulary. 1.3. establish the meaning of each phrase. 1.4. establish the meaning of each lexical unit within the phrase to search for the meaning that is: 1.4.1. more concrete or precise; 1.4.2. historically older. 2. search for a source domain vocabulary. 2.1. gather the source domain vocabulary using a dictionary. 2.2. search the corpora for collocations of the target domain vocabulary meaning by which it is connected to the source domain. 2.3. establish the meaning of each phrase. 2.4. establish the meaning of each lexical unit within the phrase to search for the meaning that is: 2.4.1. related to bodily action; 2.4.2. historically older. 3. group phrases that have a metaphorical meaning according to mappings. 4. extract the examples of the phrases from the corpora. 5. translate and gloss polish example phrases. 117 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 3.3. glossing the comparative analysis of metaphors in two languages requires the translation of phrases. lexical units must be translated from polish to english. in order to fully represent metaphorical expressions, some units had to be translated lexeme by lexeme or morpheme by morpheme. the glossing rules developed by the researchers of the department of linguistics of the max planck institute for evolutionary anthropology and of the department of linguistics of the university of leipzig were used. they may be accessed at https://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/pdf/glossing-rules.pdf (comrie et al. 2015). in order to translate lexemes properly, there was a need to use grammatical labels, a list of which may be reviewed in the appendix. 4. results 4.1. metaphors of success 4.1.1. being successful is being high up one of the most widespread conceptualisations of the analysed target domain is success is up. there are many examples of this metaphor in both english and polish. they are in agreement with the orientational, generic metaphor more is up. it manifests in english phrases such as upwardly mobile, to come up in the world, to be at the top of the heap, to do something with flying colours, to be flying high, and to reach/to be at one’s peak. upwardly mobile (5a) is an adjective that describes a person who “moves into a higher social class by becoming richer and more successful” (rundell & fox 2002: 1582). to come up in the world (5b) means “to become richer, more powerful or more successful than before” (rundell & fox 2002: 272). to be at the top of the heap (5c), according to rundell and fox (2002: 1582), means to be “in the highest position in a society or organisation.” in this particular definition, we can also see the highest position, which is in agreement with the success is up metaphor. we can also do something (especially, pass an examination) with flying colours (5d), which means “very successfully” (rundell & fox 2002: 543), and we can be flying high (5e), which means to be “very successful” (rundell & fox 2002: 542). the word peak in the phrases to reach one’s peak and to be at one’s peak (5f) is “a time when someone or something is most successful or powerful” (rundell & fox 2002: 1044). to rise can also mean “to achieve success or power” (rundell & fox 2002: 1226), as in the phrase rise to the top (5g). (5) a.  the children of many working-class parents have been upwardly mobile socially. b.  kaz had come up in the world from the lowest ranks to the highest. c.  … from aerosmith, which was at the top of the heap around the middle of the decade, to deep purple, black sabbath, and grand funk railroad. https://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/pdf/glossing-rules.pdf 118 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) d.  … she passed with flying colours. e.  engineers … have been flying high recently. f.  mr. wise … felt that he had reached his peak at reuters in 1987. g.  testosterone can help explain which men rise to the top. there are similar metaphors in polish, such as piąć się w górę, górować nad kimś, przewyższać kogoś, osiągnąć szczyt, być na szczycie, wznieść się na wyżyny, and być ponad innymi. the basic meaning of piąć się w górę is to ‘climb up’, but its metaphorical meaning is to ‘become more successful’ (6). it is worth noting that in polish, the preposition w górę, which means ‘up’, is a metaphor itself, because its glossing is up the.mountain; example (6). (6) zaczął piąć.się w górę, jako jego kochanek. start-2-m-past climb-refl up the.mountain as his lover as his lover, he started to become more and more successful. the verb piąć się, or its perfective aspect wspinać się, also collocates with a corporate or social ladder, as in example (7): (7) mieli nadzieję szybko wspiąć.się have-pl-past hope-n fast climb.up-prt-refl po drabinie społecznej on the ladder social they hoped to climb up the social ladder fast. the next two phrases (8a) and (8b), górować nad kimś and przewyższać kogoś, literally mean “to be taller or higher” or “to be in a higher physical spot” than somebody else, but they also mean “to be successful and superior to somebody else” or “to have an advantage over somebody (usually the enemy, the opponent)” (drabik et al. 2018: 241, 784). (8) a.  jestem w stanie znów górować nad innymi be-1-prs in a.state again mountain-v-inf over the.others i’m able to outdo the others again. b.  nie tylko dorównał horacemu, lecz nawet go przewyższył not only equal-v-2-past horacy but even him over. high-v-2-past not only did he equal horacy, he even outdid him. 119 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the primary, literal meaning of the phrase być na szczycie is ‘to be on the peak’. the metaphorical meaning is ‘to be successful’ or ‘to be on the top’ (9), which is analogous to the phrase in (5g). (9) wyniesiony oklaskami na niejaką wysokość, rise-3-m-prt by.applause to some heights uwierzył że jest na szczycie believe-3-m-past that be-1-m-prs on the.peak risen to the heights by the applause, he believed to be on top. in the example above there is also the novel metaphor to raise someone (by applause) to the heights, a phrase that is not commonly used in polish; it is in agreement with the being successful is being high up metaphor; a successful performer gets much applause that can be a measure of his/her success. what is more, the society and the career can be collocated with the word ladder, as in social ladder or career ladder (in polish, drabina społeczna or szczeble kariery); the higher on the ladder people climb, the more successful they are. there is also a phrase stanąć na wysokości zadania, which can be translated into english as ‘to fulfil the task successfully’ and can be used as in example (10). (10) jonathan davis z kolegami stanęli na wysokości zadania jonathan davis with friends stand-3-pl-m-prt on the.height of.the.task jonathan davis and his friends fulfilled the task… 4.1.2. being successful is moving forward being successful is also conceptualised as moving forward. both in english and polish, if you are ahead of the rest, you are more successful. these metaphors may have derived from sports and racing, fields in which the fastest person gets ahead of the competitors, wins, is successful. the phrase to get ahead (11a) means “to be more successful than other people” (rundell & fox 2002: 594). the phrase to be ahead of the pack (11b) has a similar meaning; the pack can be “main group of people following behind the leader in a race or competition” or “a group of people who do something together” (rundell & fox 2002: 1019). to lead the way (11c) is similar and means “to be the first to do something, especially to achieve success” (rundell & fox 2002: 807). there are also polish phrases such as wyprzedzać kogoś (12a) and przodować (12b) that mean the same as the english expressions “to get ahead of somebody”or “to be ahead”. 120 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (11) a.  we were go-getters and we wanted to get ahead. b.  hewlett-packard company is well ahead of the pack in fitting out its unix machines… c.  to see butler lead the way in sunday’ 2-0 win against the haughty giants… (12) a.  europa wyprzedzała resztę świata.   europe get.ahead-3-f-prog-past the.rest of.the.world   europe was getting ahead of the rest of the world. b.  za wszelką cenę chciał przodować we wszystkim. for all cost want-3-m-past be.ahead in everything. he wanted to be ahead in everything at all costs. the next three verbs that have a metaphorical meaning of wanting to succeed are to coast (13a), which means, according to the dictionary, “to achieve success very easily” (rundell & fox 2002: 260); to cruise (13b), which means “to achieve success early in a race, game, or competition” (rundell & fox 2002: 335); and to storm (13c), which can mean “to quickly become very successful” (rundell & fox 2002: 1414). (13) a.  lisa low coasted to victory. b.  they cruised into a three-goal lead. c.  … by the skilful portuguese, who scored three goals in eight minutes and then stormed on to victory. to “talk about progress or success” (rundell & fox 2002: 504), we can use the phrase to get far (14a) or to go far (14b). in polish, the equivalent phrase is zajść daleko; example (15). (14) a.  he won’t get far with those infinitive verbs he uses at the moment. b.  i never went far with languages before… (15) joakim może w koszykówce zajść daleko. joakim can-3-pres in basketball go far joakim can get far in basketball. 121 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 4.1.3. being successful is swimming another conceptualisation is that being successful is swimming. it is used in both english and in polish, but there are more diverse linguistic expressions in the former. this may be due to the fact that england is an island country with a maritime culture. being on the crest of the wave (16a) means “enjoying a period of great success” (rundell & fox 2002: 329); the polish equivalent of the phrase is być na fali (16b). (16) a.  they’re selling the work of artists who are on the crest of the wave in the market. b.  zespół zaczął być na fali, wygrał kilka ważnych spotkań. the.team start-3-m-prt be-inf on the.wave win-3-m-past. a.few important meetings the team won a few important matches and started riding the crest of the wave. the idiom sink or swim (17a) means “to be left on your own to succeed or fail” (rundell & fox 2002: 1334).the phrase to swim means “to succeed” and the phrase to sink means “to fail”. if something is done swimmingly (17b), it is done “in an extremely satisfactory or successful way” (rundell & fox 2002: 1453). another adjective is buoyant (17c). according to rundell and fox, “if the economy [or business] is buoyant, it is successful and seems likely to remain successful” (2002: 180). (17) a.  it was sink or swim for noreen o’neil. b.  obviously, if a business is going really swimmingly, then it may be easier to… c.  while the business was buoyant, there was a living in it for many small shops… 4.1.4. success is food/beverage another conceptualisation is that success is food/beverage. it is heard in both languages. you can be hungry for success (18a) (in polish, głodny sukcesu) (19a) or spragniony sukcesu (19b) (‘thirsty for success’). you can enjoy the sweet smell of success/victory (18b). the polish equivalent, słodki zapach zwycięstwa (19c), may be a borrowing from english because there is only one hit in the corpus and no mention in the pwn dictionary (drabik et al. 2018). there can also be a recipe for success (18), or przepis na sukces (19d) in polish. there is also the polish phrase upojony sukcesem (19e), which means ‘drunk with success’. (18) a.  i am hungry for success again. b.  celebrate the sweet smell of success at a shrimper’s family feast. 122 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) c.  we found a recipe for success… (19) a.  wciąż jestem bardzo, bardzo głodny sukcesu. still be-1-pres very very hungry for.success i’m still very, very hungry for success. b. jak nikt byłem spragniony sukcesu, chciałem medalu. like nobody be-1-past thirsty for.success want-1-past a medal i was hungry for success like nobody else, and i wanted a medal. c.   dobrze jest czuć słodki zapach zwycięstwa.  good be-3-pres smell-v-inf sweet smell-n of.the.victory   it’s good to enjoy the sweet smell of success. d.  dobry pomysł czyli przepis na sukces good idea so a.recipe for success   ‘a good idea’; in other words, a recipe for success. e. upojony sukcesem wyborczym i medialnym drunk with.success electoral and media-adj gerhard schröder zapowiadał zmniejszenie liczby bezrobotnych. gerhard schröder announce-3-m-prt the.decrease number of.unemployed gerhard schröder, buoyed up with the media and electoral success, announced a decrease in the unemployment. 4.1.5. success is fruit and work is a plant in the metaphor success is fruit, our work is a plant that can bear fruit (20a), or in polish, przynosić owoce (21c). you can enjoy the fruit of your labour (20b), or in polish, zbierać plony (21a) or owoce ciężkiej pracy (21b). the metaphorical meaning of the phrase to bear fruit (20a) is “to have a successful result” (rundell & fox 2002: 571). the polish equivalent is przynosić owoce (21c) or przynosić plony (21d). przynosić means in polish ‘to carry something to a place’ but also ‘to be the cause for something’. after the work bears fruit, you can zbierać plony (21a), which means ‘to harvest’. (20) a.  the chancellor’s policies are not expected to bear fruit until the spring. b.  the canal treaties he signed with jimmy carter were the fruit of his long labours. 123 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (21) a.  w tej chwili dopiero zaczynam powoli at this moment just start-1-pres slowly zbierać plony swej działalności. collect the.crop-pl my activity i‘m just starting to take the fruit of my labour. b.  zbieramy owoce ciężkiej pracy – wyjaśnił coach byron scott. collect-3-pl-pres the.fruit of.hard of.work – explain-3-m-past coach byron scott we collect the fruit of our labour explained coach byron scott. c.  …ich walka zaczęła przynosić owoce. …their struggle-n start-3 bear-inf fruit …their struggle started to bear fruit. d.  upór i skoncentrowane działanie zaczęły przynosić plony. stubbornness and concentrated work start.to-3-f-pl-prt bear crops stubbornness and concentrated work started to bear fruit. 4.1.6. success is a flower and an enterprise is a plant in the metaphor success is a flower and an enterprise is a plant, if an enterprise is successful, it blossoms, blooms, or flowers. in polish, there is an adjective, kwitnący, which means ‘blossoming’. to bloom (22a) means ‘to develop successfully’ (rundell & fox 2002: 137); to blossom (22b) means ‘to develop and become more successful’ (rundell & fox 2002: 137); and to flower (22c) means ‘to become more successful and completely developed’ (rundell & fox 2002: 540). in polish, if a business is kwitnący (23) (‘blossoming’), it means it is very successful. (22) a.  relationships have been blooming since the show first began. b.  …summer of 1967 that birthed activists, artists, and a blossoming hippie movement. c.  what these two towns shared was an intellectual flowering in improbable places. 124 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (23) kwitnący biznes metalowy. blossoming business metal-adj the blossoming metal business. 4.1.7. success is a (locked) building the metaphor success is a building or a locked building implies that you can acquire the key to get into the room and gain success. the key to success (24), or klucz do sukcesu (25) in polish, is the most critical factor in achieving success. (24) the real key to success is tailoring the system to fit the end users. (25) dobry pomysł to w supraślu klucz do sukcesu. a.good idea it in supraśl the.key to success a good idea is the key to success in supraśl. in both languages, success can also be conceptualised as a building per se. the phrase murowany sukces means it is sure the success will be achieved. the literal meaning of murowany (26) is ‘made of bricks’, but metaphorically it can mean ‘absolutely certain’. in english, we can build success on a foundation (27a) and (27b). (26) ty i ja — murowany sukces. you and me — made.of.bricks-adj success. you and me — a certain success. (27) a. to build success, parents and mentors should help children develop their natural talents. b. preschool can provide children with a solid and lasting foundation for success later in life. 4.1.8. being successful is being big there are a large number of metaphorical expressions that describe a successful person in terms of the metaphor being successful is being big. “a person that is important, powerful, and successful” can be called a big cheese (28a), a big gun (28b), a big beast (28c), or a big boy (28d) (rundell & fox 2002: 123). the phrase to make something big (28e) means “to make something successful” (rundell & fox 2002: 122). in polish, the nouns 125 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) szycha (29a) (literally, ‘a big cone’) and gruba ryba (29b) (literally, ‘a fat fish’) can mean ‘an important, powerful and successful person’. (28) …remember chris licht; he used to be the big cheese over here. what’s a big gun like burt becker doing in a burg like this? the last of the “big beasts”, kenneth clarke, has finally been shuffled off the stage. but ultimately, general kelly is a big boy. legent corp is aiming to make it big in systems management. (29) a. bo pani była szycha. because you-f-fr be-3-f-past a.big.cone because you were very important and successful. b. …gruba ryba. w światowym showbiznesie. … a.fat fish in global show.business … a very important and successful person in global show business. 4.1.9. success is a container if success is full (30), it means the aim of the person striving for success has been fulfilled completely. in this case, the metaphor is success is a container. it also functions in polish; success can be pełny (31). (30) whilst this requires considerable political and structural change to achieve full success. (31) trudno osiągnąć pełny sukces. hard-adv achieve-inf full success it’s hard to achieve full success. 4.1.10. success is a loud thing the adjective resounding (32a) can be “used for emphasis on how successful someone or something is” (rundell & fox 2002: 1206). something can also be a roaring success (32b), which means it is “very successful” (rundell & fox 2002: 1229). to do something with a bang (32) means to do it “in a very exciting or successful way” (rundell & fox 2002: 95). in polish, success can be głośny (33). 126 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (32) a.  …it was all such a resounding success so i was regaled with all the details… b.  the final week of hamlet was a roaring success. c.  it’ll go up with a bang i think! (33) …przyniosła mu pierwszy głośny sukces. …bring-3-f-prt him the first loud success she brought him the first resounding success. 5. conclusions the above analysis shows that success, understood as achieving something that was intended, is conceptualised in both languages in a similar way. the reason that the metaphors in both languages are comparable may be that people share some perception schemas. in all conceptual metaphors that have been analysed, success is understood in terms of physical entities, such as a fruit, flower, or building, and actions and states, such as being in a specific place or performing an action. the properties of success are identified in terms of these entities, and this makes the abstract concept easier to understand. the metaphors being successful is being high up and being successful is moving forward rely upon our orientation in space and are connected with a cultural experience. polish speakers, as well as english speakers, share the conceptualisation of a positive evaluation in association with the upward or forward orientation. the being successful is being high up metaphor in english was more often associated with flying, whereas in polish, the majority of metaphors were connected to mountains and highlands. the metaphor being successful is moving forward stems from the fields of sports and racing, in which the faster one moves forward the more successful the person is. being successful conceptualised as swimming stems from the maritime culture of england; it may be that because poland is a landlocked nation, there are not many linguistic examples for this conceptualisation in polish. in the metaphors success is food/beverage, success is fruit and work is a plant, and success is a flower and an enterprise is a plant, a nonphysical, abstract entity gains physical features; it can grow, bloom, and be eaten or drunk by a human. if it is achieved to the fullest extent, success can also be conceptualised as a container: it is full. this conceptualisation highlights the state of completeness but does not map all the states between being full and empty. if the achievement does not work out as planned, we do not say that it is half empty or half full. in european culture, a successful person is set as an example for others and is often admired. in the metaphors being successful is being big and success is a loud thing, a successful person can be 127 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) easily distinguished among others because of his or her metaphorical size or loudness. success is also something that everyone desires, but it is not easily achieved. this difficulty is emphasised in the success is a locked building metaphor. the metaphorical key to success is an essential factor in achieving what one wants. the study of two indo-european languages of two distinct families seems to prove that people may, to some extent, share conceptual systems and verbalise these conceptualisations similarly, but the proof needs further research. it also indicates that the same conceptualisations may be found in other languages. it would be worth researching what similarities and differences occur between more distant languages. further research may focus on the relationship between a conceptualisation and the attitude toward the concepts to see whether there is dependency between the prevalent use of certain metaphors and conscious and unconscious behaviours. appendix label meaning n noun v verb 1 first person 2 second person 3 third person f feminine m masculine inf infinitive prs present tense past past tense prt preterite (perfective-past) refl reflexive prog progressive pl plural sin singular adv adverb fr honorific references aijmer, k. 2004. the semantic path from modality to aspect. in: h. lindquist & c. mair (eds.), corpus approaches to grammaticalization in 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(eds.), corpus-based approaches to metaphor and metonymy, 1-17. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. trojszczak, m. 2016. selected aspects of conceptualization of ‘insight’ in english and polish. in: i. czwenar, d. gonigroszek & a. stanecka (eds.), foreign languages and cultures: contemporary contexts, 57-68. piotrków trybunalski: naukowe wydawnictwo potrkowskie. trojszczak, m. 2017. ‘problem solving’ in english and polish – a cognitive study of selected metaphorical conceptualizations. in: j. t. waliński & p. pęzik (eds.), language, corpora, and cognition, 200-219. frankfurt am main: peter lang. * * * katarzyna lach mirghani is a master’s student of linguistics at the university of białystok, poland. her research interests include cognitive linguistics and computational linguistics. her current research focuses on conceptual metaphors. 37 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) beata piątek1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.36.1.03 jagiellonian university in kraków, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1048-6991 ireland’s “broken” homes in the novels of tana french abstract. this paper argues that tana french effectively uses the figure of house and home in order to comment critically on the state of the nation in her irish crime novels. the analysis focuses on three selected novels: the likeness (2008), broken harbor (2012) and the searcher (2020). it demonstrates that in the likeness, french uses the historical and literary tradition of the big house to comment on the economic and class tensions during the period of the economic boom known as the celtic tiger.2 in broken harbor, she employs the gothic mode of writing in her portrayal of the consequences of the credit crunch. and finally, in the searcher, she debunks the myth of rural ireland as a pastoral retreat and safe haven. the paper applies susan fraiman’s notions of “shelter writing” and “alternative homemakers” (2017) in order to show how french uses domestic space and domestic rituals in order to problematize gender stereotypes and undermine conservative expectations about the nuclear family. keywords: irish crime fiction, tana french, house and home, celtic tiger, domestic rituals, shelter writing. this paper aims at analysing the role of home in the portrayal of modern ireland in the work of tana french, a contemporary irish writer, who has achieved popular success and is gaining increasing critical acclaim as the author of police procedurals set in and around dublin.3 french’s first novel, in the woods (2007), received the edgar allan poe award for best first novel, the macavity award, the barry award and the anthony award, all in 2008. her fourth novel, broken harbor (2012), was awarded the los angeles times book prize for mystery thriller and the irish book award in the category of crime fiction. 1 address for correspondence: institute of english studies, jagiellonian university, al. mickiewicza 9, 31-120 kraków, poland. e-mail: beata.piatek@uj.edu.pl 2 celtic tiger is a term applied both to the economy of the republic of ireland during the period of its unprecedented growth between the mid-1990s and the late 2000s and to the country itself. it alludes to the exceptionally high rate of growth, matching only that of east asian nations. 3 tana french has published eight novels so far. all have sold millions of copies and been translated into many languages (including polish), but the critical acclaim is a relatively new development. in 2014 the oldest american academic journal devoted to the study of detective fiction, clues, honoured her with a special issue. critical inquiries into irish studies, a journal published by seton hall university in the us, is planning a volume devoted to the critical analysis of french’s work for autumn 2022. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1048-6991 38 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) critics and reviewers who have registered a veritable boom of irish crime fiction observe that it coincided with the economic growth which took place in the final decades of the last century (o’toole 2011; clark 2013; gregorek 2014; schaffer 2014; mannion 2016). fintan o’toole explains this phenomenon by pointing out that the economic prosperity of the 1990s brought about a crisis of moral authority in ireland. the investigations and subsequent reports into sex scandals in the church, child abuse in religious schools, the abuse of women and children in the magdalene laundries, all in full view of politicians, seriously undermined moral, religious and political authority in the country (2011). thus, according to o’toole, “boom-time ireland reproduced social conditions that created crime fiction as a mass genre” (2011: 359). what is more, the critic goes on to claim that crime fiction is “the nearest thing we have to a realist literature adequate to capturing the nature of contemporary society” (2011: 360). the opinion that irish crime fiction in the 21st century offers a particularly accurate portrayal of the lives and anxieties of the irish has been endorsed by several other critics (clark 2013; mannion 2016; peterson 2016). the preoccupation with the economic realities of the celtic tiger and its aftermath in the novels of tana french has already been discussed to some extent (casey 2014; gregorek 2014; reddy 2014; peterson 2016). maureen reddy very persuasively demonstrates that french actually writes rather pessimistic state-ofthe-nation novels (2014). the present paper offers a detailed analysis of three novels selected from different stages in french’s writing career: the likeness (2008), broken harbor (2012) and the searcher (2020) in order to demonstrate the centrality of the figures of house and home in her fiction. while houses and domestic space are highly prominent in all her novels, i have selected the above three titles to illustrate how throughout her writing so far the author has effectively used the figure of a house to comment on the state of affairs in the home of ireland. in the likeness, french uses the motif of the big house to reach to irish history and link the past with the present. in broken harbor, a ghost housing estate allows the author to comment on the economic and social cost of the housing crisis. in the searcher, french resorts to antipastoral mode to debunk the myth of rural ireland as a safe home. these three novels also illustrate the generic evolution of french’s writing: from a typical police procedural to a psychological thriller with elements of murder mystery.4 4 in the police procedurals (from her debut, in the woods to the trespasser (2016)) tana french uses an interesting narrative technique in order to create a relationship between the readers and her detective and offers a double perspective on the action of the novels, i.e. in each novel the investigation is conducted by a pair of officers from the dublin murder squad. we see the action from the perspective of one officer, but in the next novel the other officer (the sidekick) will conduct the investigation, often reflecting on the previous case and his or her colleague. in this way the readers learn to notice that the first-person narrators may be unreliable. additionally, she always makes her detectives vul39 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) reaching to the past − big house in the likeness tana french’s third novel was written at the height of ireland’s economic boom and is set in the first years of the 21st century. its characters, in the words of one critic, “seem to embody the central problem of celtic tiger ireland − the past cannot simply be rejected in favour of a blank slate of modernity” (casey 2014: 94). the dominant themes of the novel are class tensions and anxieties over home ownership and financial independence persisting at that time. cassie maddox, who had left the dublin murder squad after traumatic experiences in her previous case, is persuaded to take part in an undercover operation when the body of her lookalike is found in an abandoned cottage in a village a few miles from dublin. cassie assumes the victim’s identity. as lexie, she pretends to have miraculously survived the stabbing and returns home, to a slightly dilapidated country house, which she shares with four other graduate students of english literature. cassie’s task is to discover who murdered lexie and why. in order to do that she must persuade all the inhabitants of whitethorn house (daniel, abby, justin and ralph) that she is lexie, albeit with impaired memory following the trauma and drug induced coma. whitethorn house is a historical big house, i.e. a country house on a large estate belonging to the “protestant ascendancy” and as such deeply rooted in the history of the struggle of the catholic tenants for land rights in the 19th century, the trauma of the great potato famine, and reprisals against the protestant landlords in the years following the anglo-irish treaty of 1921.5 as otto rauchbauer states in his introductory sketch in the big house in anglo-irish literature, “for more than two centuries, the big house has been a setting, a subject matter, a symbol, a motif [and] a theme in irish fiction” (1992: 17). in setting the action of her novel in a big house, tana french not only draws on this literary tradition, but she uses it to mark a clear link between the past and the present. what is more, the house is more of a character than a setting, as it seems to be endowed with a power to enchant people and is an object of love so powerful that its inhabitants are prepared to murder one of their alternative family when she threatens the future of the house and their commune. french explains this seemingly uncanny power of the house in economic terms: inheriting whitethorn house has provided daniel march with economic freedom and enabled him to offer the same to a carefully selected group of friends. once he made a legal donation of the house in equal parts to nerable and constructs them so that their past experiences are somehow reflected in the case they are investigating. 5 in the polish edition of the novel, which was translated as lustrzane odbicie and published by albatros, the picture on the cover shows a dilapidated wooden cottage resembling a polish “szałas” of the kind you see in the tatra mountains, or a ramshackle house from a western movie. it is an unfortunate choice as it sends a completely wrong paratextual message to the reader. 40 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) all the members of the group, they became liberated from financial anxieties and tied into becoming an alternative family. jean gregorek points to the similarities between the attitudes and internal dynamics of daniel’s group and the bloomsbury group. she observes that like virginia woolf and her friends, daniel march and his friends cherish the newly gained economic freedom, which allows them to lead authentic, intellectual lives and to contest the materialistic and consumerist values of their generation (2014). unlike the artists and intellectuals of the early 20th century, the inhabitants of whitethorn house reject modernity. they insist on restricting the use of modern technological devices to a minimum. with no screens in the house, they type their essays on an old-fashioned typewriter and spend their evenings reading and listening to vinyl gramophone records. there is an economic and class paradox involved here. the young people may show contempt for their peers, whom they see as enslaved by their employers, and to ralph’s businessman father, only because through daniel’s inheritance they have come into possession of valuable real estate. thus they become members of the privileged class, and historically their financial comfort derives from a great deal of suffering and exploitation of the dispossessed. troubled irish history is first evoked by the fact that lexie’s body is found in an abandoned famine cottage, and as if that was too subtle a hint, french makes a detour into a historical sub-plot of illicit romance between a village girl and a young man from the big house. cassie finds documents which at first lead her to believe that it is a typical story of seduction, illegitimate child and suicide, only to frustrate her and the reader’s expectations when she discovers that the young woman a hundred years ago was more of a victim of the bigotry of her community than of the cruel landlord. nevertheless, the local community in the contemporary plot bring up the memory of the girl’s suicide in order to blame it on the current inhabitants of the house. the animosity between glenskeyhy village and whitethorn house bears an uncanny resemblance to the historical conflict between the tenants and the landowners. like the landowners of the past, the students are portrayed as members of a superior social class who can afford to pursue the life of leisure. whereas the inhabitants of the village, who seem to have been bypassed by the economic boom of the celtic tiger, rely on benefits and see the students’ refusal to sell the house and develop the estate into a hotel and golf course as an act of selfishly cruel arrogance. the students’ insistence on preserving the house and the grounds in its entirety rules out what the villagers see to be the only chance for employment in the area. from the point of view of the village, the big house today stands for the same degree of aloof arrogance and disregard for their needs as it did a hundred years before. thus, it comes as no surprise that at the end of the novel whitethorn house is burnt down, like so many big houses in the past and in irish fiction, and like in many big-house novels “the fate of the family is tied up with 41 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the house” (norris 2004: 114), so the group break up and are forced to face the material reality which they had been trying to avoid. the relationship between cassie maddox and whitethorn house is carefully constructed by the author and used as a pretext for reflections on the state of irish society. early on in the novel, cassie offers a historical explanation for the housing boom of the celtic tiger: the country’s passion for property is built into the blood, a current as huge and primal as desire. centuries of being turned out on the roadside at a landlord’s whim, helpless, teach your bones that everything in life hangs on owning your home. (french 2008: 53) however, she remains unaffected by this “passion for property”; she lives in a rented bedsit and refuses to enter the property market as she considers the new houses to be overpriced and of low quality. therefore, she will have no difficulty in identifying with daniel’s anticapitalist rant later in the plot. in this context, the emotional attachment which cassie develops for whitethorn house is highly significant. like the narrator of du maurier’s rebecca, she falls in love with the house at first sight, she is smitten by its architecture and setting, by the fact that the building seems to be part of the landscape: “it looked like it had grown there” (french 2008: 127). gradually, as she feels more secure in her role as a member of the group, she becomes enchanted by the house as a mental construct. she taps into all the emotions and hopes that her housemates have invested in this space. like the other members of the group, she derives comfort and strength from the routine of domestic rituals which they have developed. the communal cooking and eating, as well as working on renovation and interior decoration during the weekends contribute to the growth of a family atmosphere which cassie (orphaned in childhood) finds hard to resist. she sees the students as a family, “the comforting kind that go on for years …” (ibid.: 188). there are extensive sections in the novel which could fit into the critical category of “shelter writing”, which susan fraiman defines as “a post-traumatic mode of realism” where “hyperinvestment in homemaking [functions] as compensation for domestic deprivation or difficulty” (2017: 20). fraiman identifies this mode of writing in the narratives of social outcasts or castaways, people for whom domestic endeavours become urgent and precious, a form of self-expression and a means of survival (2017). all the inhabitants of whitethorn house (including cassie and the deceased lexie) fit into fraiman’s description; the emotional investments which they make in the house are made all the more believable by their troubled family histories. when at some point the undercover operation becomes too risky and cassie’s superiors want to pull her out of the house, she insists on staying on, fantasizing about all the domestic pleasures she would have to forsake. towards the end of the novel we see cassie seduced by daniel’s charm and the fantasy of the ideal home which he created in whitethorn house, only 42 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) to discover that the “comforting” family was only a delusion, with the group trapped by the financial arrangement into a relationship whose dynamic was ridden with secrets and power games. the action develops very fast from the night when cassie/lexie kisses daniel. the kiss confirms his suspicions about her identity, and what could have been a love affair becomes a power struggle between two antagonists. cassie discovers that lexie was pregnant and planned to sell her share of the house to start a new life, a decision which the group saw as betrayal, even though, as cassie discovers, they did not share daniel’s obsession with the house, especially after lexie’s stabbing in a group fight. in the end cassie is shown to admit to herself that she fell for daniel’s charisma and for the old-fashioned way of life in whitethorn house, which obfuscated her better judgement of the whole situation. jean gregorek draws a controversial conclusion about the message of the likeness when she says that “the frame of cassie’s […] rehabilitation clearly implies that a working-through and rejection of the past − and with it, the anachronistic values of whitethorn house − is a necessary part of the process of healing and moving ahead” (2014: 162). conversely, if we take into account the relationship between whitethorn house and glenskeyhy village, the novel maintains that the working through of the historical traumas is as necessary as acknowledging that the old class divisions were replicated in the ireland of the celtic tiger, where the old “land question” was merely replaced by access to qualifications and jobs. although in the end it turns out that lexie was not murdered by a man from the village, the relations between the village and the inhabitants of the big house remain tense till the end. tana french seems to indicate that the economic and class barriers of the past still exist in the ireland of the celtic tiger and that the big house remains a symbol of privilege in the twenty-first century. critical account of the present − housing crisis in broken harbor the publication of broken harbor in 2012 with its focus on the economic and psychological consequences of the collapse of the celtic tiger is a logical step in tana french’s artistic progression. in the likeness her characters expressed serious doubts about the future of those who were investing in overpriced, shoddy houses. in broken harbor we witness the detective, michael kennedy, reconstructing the history of one family who had made that very mistake. although the novel still displays some elements of a police procedural, french clearly moves in the direction of the psychological thriller. kennedy cannot identify obvious villains. there are no criminals who could be convicted for the murder of the spain family, and there is no relief of justice for the readers. instead, or maybe rather, therefore, french accuses the system: the government, the bankers and the developers. they emerge as the only agents which may be held responsible for the violent crime committed in the housing estate of brianstown. the location of the 43 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) fictional crime fits the description of the estates which were most susceptible to the effects of the banking crisis according to a government report published in 2013: “the areas most affected [by the crash] were in the commuter belt that experienced the most rapid development towards the end of the boom. most of these areas are about one to one and a half hours’ commute from the capital where the bulk of ‘ghost estates’ are located” (o’brien 2013 online). kennedy is investigating the murder of an entire family, inhabitants of the abandoned housing estate: two children have been smothered in their sleep, the father, patrick spain, died from stab wounds, and the mother, jenny, has been taken to hospital with life threatening injuries. as kennedy’s investigation progresses, he discovers that the spains are victims of the economic crisis and that the failed investment in the house lies at the centre of their tragedy. it is no surprise, therefore, that the “ghost estate” and the dream home, which turns into a horror trap, is the main focus of the narration. maureen reddy observes that pat and jenny spain are “irish everypeople” (2014: 88), they are a typical nuclear family with jobs in the new economy of the celtic tiger and ambitions to move up socially, which they try to realize through investment in real estate. they fall for the developer’s pompous slogans, like the one on the signboard at the entrance to the estate: “welcome to ocean view, brianstown. a new revelation in premier living. luxury houses now viewing” (french 2012: 12-13), only to find after a few months that the developers have abandoned the estate without completing the building work, with no roads, no street lighting, no shops or any other facilities. in consequence, they have ended up in “the village of the damned” (french 2012: 13), with a house whose value has plummeted so that it cannot be sold, and a huge mortgage which they cannot pay off because pat has been made redundant and jenny is a stay-at-home mum. kennedy talks to the family, friends and neighbours of the spains, and finally, after he gains access to pat’s computer search history, he reconstructs the story of the psychological and emotional strain of the couple fighting with financial difficulties. he discovers that the spains were too embarrassed to reveal the extent of their financial problems to their family or friends, and too ashamed to ask for help. they fell into a chasm of social isolation exacerbated by the conditions on the “ghost estate” where they lived. as pat developed a psychotic obsession with a mysterious animal, which he believed to be hiding in the attic, jenny focused on protecting their children from the knowledge of their financial ruin and of their father’s deteriorating mental health. in the end, jenny also suffers a nervous break-down. when the children start talking about the animal, she discovers that she has failed to protect them from the knowledge. she decides to murder her family rather than have them face the humiliation of their insanity. tana french draws on the literary tradition of the gothic in order to create an antinarrative of domesticity in which the “trophy house” turns into a curse which drives the spains to ruin and insanity, to eventually become the house of horror and the scene of 44 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) a bloodbath. as brian mchale observes: “nothing is more domestic, more normal than a middle-class house, so nothing is more disruptive than other-worldly agents penetrating and ‘taking over’ a house” (1987: 77). to the spains the house is haunted: pat believes that his house is infested by a wild animal, but jennifer (rightly) suspects that the house is visited by an intruder while they are out. both spains are possessed by the house. when they lose control and break down, they act their anxiety out in the house. in both cases their actions are marked by excess, which is one of the most effective narrative strategies of the gothic (becker 1999). pat and jennifer perform an excessive or distorted form of the rituals assigned to the genders in a conservative nuclear family. pat becomes a preposterous protective father. he is so obsessed with keeping his family safe that, in his attempts to catch the imaginary animal, he sets traps, installs baby monitors and eventually breaks holes in the walls, thus making life in the house unbearable for his wife and children. jenny, in turn, tries to compensate for their dire straits by overinvesting in housekeeping. she keeps on frantically cleaning and arranging the ornaments, she produces meals they can ill afford, and in the end she tries to “arrange” the children so that they “make daddy happy” (french 2012: 321). her frenzied instructions on how the children should act when their father comes home produce a truly gothic effect, which “foregrounds the hidden horrors of a unifying, universalising image of woman” (becker 1999: 6). by showing the evolution of a perfect suburban housewife into a gothic monster, the author also subscribes to “the shattering of apparently sacrosanct notions of the benign and nurturing femininity” (fogarty 2000: 64) in irish fiction. freud’s remarks on das unheimliche, another trope characteristic of the gothic, resonate with the psychological situation created in the novel. according to freud: “this uncanny is in reality nothing new or alien, but something which is familiar and longestablished in the mind and which has become alienated from it only through the process of repression […] something which ought to have remained hidden but which has come to light” (1953-74: 241). indeed, the excesses of the spains and their eventual mental break-downs result not only from the insidious trauma of constant stress, but from their insistent repressing of their financial predicament. while they are both prepared to go to great lengths to conceal their plight from family and friends, they do not admit even to themselves that they have lost control of their situation. maureen reddy claims that “jenny’s secrecy suggests that she thinks troubles are not fully real unless they are publicly known, an attitude which links her to […] the central role of repression in irish cultural memory” (2014: 89). finally, the estate of brianstown and the house of the spains display gothic features, albeit with a 21st-century twist, i.e. there is a sharp contrast between their appearances and reality, or between what had been promised in the developer’s brochures and what became of the house. instead of the “self-contained haven with all the premier facilities of cutting-edge luxe living on your doorstep” (french 2012: 64), the spains end up in a 45 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) “ghost estate,” with no facilities, no public transport and abandoned construction sites. even the police officer, kennedy, finds it disturbing: “ocean view looked worse every time. […] i half expected feral dogs to slink up around the car when i stopped, last survivors to come staggering and moaning out of skeleton houses” (ibid.: 317). the unfinished houses provide shelter to the stalker, jenny’s former boyfriend, who begins to spy on the family out of genuine concern, but unwittingly contributes to jenny’s nervous break-down. the fact that the glass wall of the “kitchen-cum-dining roomcum-playroom, running the whole back wall of the house” (french 2012: 20), which was meant to offer luxury views of the sea to the inhabitants of the house, exposes them to prying eyes and makes them vulnerable to the intruder, is a gothic transformation. in a similar twist, the baby monitors, which pat had placed around the house to catch the sounds of the animal which he is convinced lives in the attic, cross-circuit with the baby monitor in the house of the neighbours, and all the embarrassing details of the spains’ spiral of insanity become available to the spiteful gogans. the fact that the gogans do not try to help, or even feel sorry for the spains, is symptomatic of the lack of community spirit on the estate − that “traditional irish society [is] communitarian and caring” (fogarty 2000: 64) is yet another myth shattered by the realities of the celtic tiger and its aftermath. in her very insightful analysis of the likeness and broken harbor, jean gregorek criticizes tana french for her preoccupation with “anxieties of the troubled middle class”, which she condenses “into a quarantine-able threat with a recognizable human face” (2014: 72). according to the critic: “the generic demands of the procedural call for the identification and removal of an individual offender and not an analysis of a complex system. the impact of the criminogenic structures of postmodern finance capitalism may be registered, but these structures themselves remain beyond scrutiny” (ibid.: 72). however, i believe that such reading of these two novels fails to take into account the relentless attack on the capitalist mechanisms behind the housing bubble and the economic crash of 2008, which french clearly blames for the human tragedies she describes. the reader is left with a strong sense that the order in the home of ireland is distorted so badly that a highly commendable desire for a house of your own, which so many of us share, may lead individuals to take drastic actions. the searcher − “the skull beneath the skin of the countryside” 6 tana french’s latest novel to date is a departure from her previous work, since it is the first to be set outside dublin or its immediate suburbs, and the first with an american 6 macfarlane, robert. “the eeriness of the english countryside.” the guardian, 10 apr. 2015, www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/10/eeriness-english-countryside-robert-macfarlane. 46 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) principal character. it is also unusual in that it uses third-person narration (only one other of her novels, the secret place, is not narrated by the voice of the detective). it is not a typical police procedural as the main protagonist, cal hooper, has retired from chicago pd and bought a ramshackle cottage in the west of ireland to recover from the break-up of his marriage and the stress of working in an increasingly violent and racist environment. he is, therefore, deprived of the privilege of his badge and free from the constraints of working for law enforcement. the novel is stylised as a western: the central plot pattern is that of a stranger who comes to a small town. the title alludes to the searchers, a classic western from 1956, directed by john ford, starring john wayne in the role of a civil war veteran who tries to find his abducted niece. cal hooper is approached by a teenager, trey reddy, who persuades him to use his skills and experience to find out what happened to brendan, trey’s 19-year-old brother, who went missing six months before. the reddys are a dysfunctional family. sheila, brendan’s mother, cannot cope with providing for her four younger children, so she prefers to assume that her son has left for dublin or london. trey cannot persuade the indolent local police force, the garda, that this cannot be the case simply because brendan would not abandon them like their father before. cal starts making inquiries, pretending that he needs brendan to help him rewire electricity in his cottage, only to discover that various hitherto friendly neighbours become hostile and clearly mind his nosy questions. by the time cal finds brendan’s body and solves the case, he discovers that his initial assumptions about the rural idyll of ardnakelty, and ireland in general, were completely wrong. he suspected that brendan got into trouble with gangsters from dublin who were selling drugs in the area, but it comes to him as a shock when he discovers that brendan’s killing, and a whole campaign of violence which was supposed to warn him and trey off the investigation, was orchestrated by his friendly neighbour, mart lavin and his cronies, who are sheep farmers in daytime but turn into cruel vigilantes at night. rural ireland in the searcher is a lawless country; like the american frontier in the westerns, ardnakelty is too far from the centre of power for the police or other state institutions to operate there. mart lavin sees the modern world as particularly dangerous to young men: ‘when i was a young lad, we knew what we could want and how to get it, and we knew we’d have something to show for it at the end of the day. a crop, or a flock, or a house, or a family. there is great strength in that. now there’s too many things you’re told to want, there’s no way to get them all, and once you’re done trying, what have you got to show for it at the end? […] the women do be grand anyway; they’re adaptable. but the young men don’t know what to be doing with themselves at all. […they] are hanging themselves, or they are getting drunk and driving into ditches, or they are overdosing on the aul’ heroin, 47 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) or they are packing their bags. i don’t want to see this place a wasteland, every farm looking the way yours did before you came along: falling to wrack and ruin, waiting for some yank to take a fancy to it and make it into his hobby’. (french 2020: 358) he takes it upon himself to protect the local community from the dublin gangsters. when brendan tried to open a lab and produce synthetic drugs for them, mart and his cronies decided to beat him up, but the boy hit his head on a metal gas cylinder and died on the spot. like a classic western, this novel is about a moral code and justice. mart’s sense of morality and justice is perverse; his form of protecting the community cannot be justified. however, he is not a stereotypical cold blooded patriarch. he puts on the act of being a garrulous country bumpkin, but he offers cal short lectures on eu farming regulations, and on the benefits of irish antibiotics-free bacon, as well as gay rights and gay marriage (which he voted for). he is a homemaker who cooks elaborate exotic dishes, distinguishing between the taste of italian and spanish olive oil, which comes as a surprise to cal, given mart’s penchant for pink meringue cookies. tana french undermines gender stereotypes: trey reddy, whom cal first encounters as a wild, almost feral teenager, with a shaven head, wearing a dirty track suit, turns out to be a girl, who, nevertheless, shows a talent for carpentry and shooting. her mother is far from nurturing and caring. at some point, under pressure from mart, she subjects her daughter to a ferociously brutal beating. as if to redress the balance in the community, french also introduces the figure of a middle-aged widow, helen, who is surprisingly reasonable, honest and in control of her life. but the chief homemaker in the village is cal. he treats the tasks of renovating the house as therapy first for himself, then, when he senses that he is dealing with a troubled child, for trey. the detailed descriptions of their harmonious cooperation in the restoration of the wooden desk evoke a healing ritual, in which the slow process of polishing wood has the effect of soothing the troubled mind. susan fraiman, in her book entitled: extreme domesticity, proposes to “claim domesticity while wrenching it away from such things as compulsory heterosexuality, selfless maternity, class snobbery, racial purity, the wanton display of stuff, and the illusion of a safely barricaded life” (2017: 4). for that purpose she focuses on “alternative homemakers” whom she defines as “outsiders of normative domesticity” (ibid.: 5). although houses and alternative homemakers feature prominently in the searcher, like in all french’s other novels, what is of interest for this paper is the focus on the rural countryside as home and french’s antipastoral mode of writing about rural ireland. tana french engages in a debate with the myth of rural ireland as a “site of idyllic pastoral retreat” (o’connor 2017: 91), which, according to maureen o’connor, had been perpetuated by the british since the 18th century (2017). what is more, since the 1950s, 48 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) “when ireland stepped up development of its critically important tourist industry, eager to welcome visitors, especially those with well-lined pockets, tourist board promotional material constructed an idyllic ireland filled with pastel-coloured villages and friendly natives” (schofield 2013: 1176)7. by focalising the narration through the eyes of an outsider from a big american city, tana french can lead her readers through various stages of his encounter with the irish countryside. he admits complete ignorance about the country: “the west of ireland looked beautiful on the internet …” (french 2020: 2), but he falls in love with the beauty of the landscape and surrounding nature: the sky, dappled in subtle gradations of grey, goes on forever; so do the fields, coded in shades of green by their different uses, divided up by sprawling hedges, dry stone walls and the odd narrow back road. away to the north, a line of low mountains rolls along the horizon. cal’s eyes are still getting used to looking this far, after all those years of city blocks. landscape is one of the few things he knows of where the reality doesn’t let you down. (ibid.: 2) any seasoned reader of tana french novels will guess that cal must be wrong to believe that just because he has moved to a small and beautiful place he can assume that it is safe and peaceful. the author complicates the notions of retreat and haven, employing a truly anti-pastoral mode of writing, thus offering a corrective to the myth of rural ireland as an idyll. the descriptions of beautiful landscapes and bucolic scenes, like “mart’s dog trotting beside the sheep as they plod peacefully towards their pen” (ibid.: 4), are accompanied by cal’s careful observations of nature: “the rooks have got hold of something. […] whatever the thing is, it’s on the small side and still moving. […] the thing on the lawn twists wildly, shaking the long grass. a big daddy rook jumps closer, aims one neat ferocious stab of his beak, and the thing goes still” (ibid.: 1). when cal tries to win the rooks over by offering scraps, the birds “yell” and “laugh” (ibid.: 1) at him. as glenn harper comments, the birds are anthropomorphized “as a microcosm of the local natives and yet are also ruthless in the totally natural manner of the animal kingdom” (2020 online). the parallels between the violence and cruelty which cal 7 interestingly enough, this image of ireland on the big screen was first promoted in another john ford film with john wayne. the quiet man, released in 1952, was a very loose adaptation of the taming of the shrew, with wayne in the role of the returned yank (an emigrant returning from america). the film was shot in ireland and “stimulated cultural and ‘roots’ tourism” (schofield 2013: 1191). it also popularised the figure of the returned yank, which has since then served in popular culture to explore (among others) the tensions between rural and urban life, since his urban, materialistic american ways allow his irish compatriots to define themselves in contrast as “authentically rural, communal and old-fashioned” (schofield 2013: 1183). 49 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) observes in nature and in the community of ardnakelty will only intensify as the story progresses. at night cal hears the sounds of the owl and the fox hunting, but these are soon accompanied by the sounds of “the engines revving” (ibid.: 4) at 3 a.m., which turn out to be those of the gangsters from dublin racing their hummers in the fields. then more sinister events take place: farmers have their sheep killed and horribly mutilated, and then cal is given a warning by the locals to stop asking questions about brendan’s disappearance, which he ignores until trey’s mother is forced to beat her daughter to a pulp, and when this does not help, cal is attacked by masked men with hurling sticks. if you pay close attention and count all the mentions of violent attacks on strangers trying to stop badger baiting, the instances of bullying at school, domestic violence, suicide, fights among teenagers, extortion and vigilantism, then the excess of brutality in this small community reaches preposterous proportions. since these events are either hinted at, or recounted in a dark-humorous tone, their implications do not strike the reader immediately, especially that french does not exploit violence for the sake of violence or for melodramatic effects. in her plot she offers an explanation which is at the same time an accusation of the indolence of the state and its institutions. the west of ireland is shown as a lawless place, where rural poverty threatens the lives of children, where schools, social services and garda have failed the local population, and the beauty of the landscape cannot disguise this brutal reality. when cal discovers the grip that the dublin gangsters have on the local youth he reflects on how the landscape has misled him into an idealised perception of the place: the morning has turned lavishly beautiful. the autumn sun gives the greens of the fields an impossible, mythic radiance and transforms the back roads into light-muddled paths where a goblin with a riddle, or a pretty maiden with a basket, could be waiting around every gorse-and-bramble bend. cal is in no mood to appreciate any of it. he feels like this specific beauty is central to the illusion that lulled him into stupidity, […] if all this had happened in some suburban clot of tract homes and ruler-measured lawns, he would have kept his wits about him. (ibid.: 320) in the searcher, french reaches beyond the confines of the urban and suburban environment, only to leave the reader with equally dark conclusions about the social reality of ireland as she did in the previous novels. what is new and original here is the ecocritically informed diagnosis which maureen corrigan succinctly presented in her review of the searcher in the washington post: “by the novel’s end any place − even the grimiest, meanest streets of hard-boiled crime fiction − seem preferable to the sinister and silent watchfulness of the lush irish countryside” (2020 online). in her venturing out of the metropolitan centre to the countryside, french constructs characters who focus on homemaking and domesticity even in the most unlikely of circumstances. 50 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) conclusions although tana french is widely acclaimed as the author of popular page turners, she has managed to construct a very elaborate critique of the state-of-the-nation within the criminal plots of her novels. she has done so by domesticating crime, that is by consistently presenting the danger and threat as coming from within the family or the close community and by linking its causes to unresolved class tensions, and the failings of the state and public services, in other words, by insisting that the problems of irish society always originate at home. thus she proves to be a highly perceptive observer of, and commentator on, the social and economic anxieties of modern ireland. in view of the above, it is hard to overestimate the role of the house and of the domestic rituals of homemaking in the novels of tana french. houses are desired, fought over, defended and lost, while homemakers may be obsessed, desperate and violent. in the likeness, nostalgia for the past evoked through the beauty of whitethorn house is undermined by the proximity of the ruins of a famine cottage. the novel’s protagonists express serious doubts about the economic viability of the housing market, which establishes a direct link with the plot of broken harbor. in both novels the houses are endowed with agency and exert uncanny powers over their inhabitants in keeping with the gothic convention. of the three novels discussed here, only the searcher depicts the house as a shelter; a place where homemaking offers comfort and solace to the troubled protagonist. indeed, the house is a much needed safe haven in view of the threat of violence looming in the pristine countryside outside. that violence is attributed to the underlying economic crisis which drives young men away from the land or into criminal activity. while in the likeness and broken harbor, the author alludes to the big house novel and the gothic novel respectively, in the searcher she draws on the popular motif of migration. in all three novels the house and home lie at the centre of the plots. tana french builds suspense by frustrating her readers’ expectations of conventional domesticity, while offering them the unexpected satisfaction of dialogue with irish literary and cultural tradition. references becker, s. 1999. gothic forms of feminine fictions. manchester: manchester university press. clark, d. 2013. mean streets, new lives: the representations of non-irish immigrants in recent irish crime fiction. in: p. villar-argaiz (ed.), literary visions of multicultural ireland: the immigrant in contemporary irish literature, 255-267. manchester: manchester university press. corrigan, m. 2020. tana french’s the searcher nods to john ford’s famous western with a story of a loner on the hunt for a lost teen. washington post 5 october, https:// www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/tana-frenchs-the-searcher-nods-to51 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) john-fords-famous-western-with-the-story-of-a-loner-on-the-hunt-for-a-lostteen/2020/10/05/17de293a-06a4-11eb-a166-dc429b380d10_story.html. fogarty, a. 2000. uncanny families: neo-gothic motifs and the theme of social change in contemporary irish women’s fiction. irish university review 30(1): 59-81. fraiman, s. 2017. extreme domesticity: a view from the margins. new york: columbia university press. french, t. 2020. the searcher. london/new york: viking. french, t. 2012. broken harbor. london/new york: penguin group. french, t. 2008. the likeness. london/new york: viking. freud, s. 1953-74 [1917-19]. the uncanny. in: the standard edition of the complete psychological works of sigmund freud. translated from the german under the general editorship of james stratchey, vol. xvii, 219-53. london: hogarth press. gregorek, j. 2014. fables of foreclosure: tana french’s police procedurals of recessionary ireland. in: j. h. kim (ed.), class and culture in crime fiction: essays on works in english since 1970s, 149-74. jefferson nc: mcfarland. harper, g. 2020. closeness and cruelty: on tana french’s the searcher. los angeles review of books 29th november, https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/closeness-and-crueltyon-tana-frenchs-the-searcher/. macfarlane, r. 2015. the eeriness of the english countryside. the guardian 10 april, www.theguardian.com/books/ 2015/apr/10/eeriness-english-countryside-robert-macfarlane. mannion, e. 2016. introduction. a path to the emerald noir: the rise of the irish detective novel. in: e. mannion (ed.), the contemporary irish detective novel, 1-16. london: palgrave macmillan. mchale, b. 1987. postmodernist fiction. london/new york: routledge. norris, c. 2004. the big house: space, place and identity in irish fiction. new hibernia review 8(1): 107-121. o’brien, c. 2013. commuter belt regions worst hit by downturn, survey finds. irish times 5 january, online. o’connor, m. 2017. green fields and blue roads: the melancholy of the girl walker in irish women’s fiction. critical survey 29(1): 90-104. o’toole, f. 2011. afterword: from chandler and “playboy” to the contemporary crime wave. in: d. burke (ed.), down these green streets: irish crime writing in the 21st century, 358-361. dublin: liberties press. peterson, s. 2016. voicing the unspeakable: tana french’s dublin murder squad. in e. mannion (ed.), the contemporary irish detective novel, 107-120. london: palgrave macmillan. peterson, s. 2014. murder in the ghost estate: crimes of the celtic tiger in tana french’s broken harbor. clues 32(1): 71-80. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/closeness-and-cruelty-on-tana-frenchs-the-searcher/ https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/closeness-and-cruelty-on-tana-frenchs-the-searcher/ 52 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) rauchbauer, o. 1992. the big house and irish history: an introductory sketch. in: o. rauchbauer (ed.), the big house in anglo-irish literature, 1-17. dublin: lilliput press. reddy, m. t. 2014. authority and irish cultural memory in faithful place and broken harbor. clues 32(1): 81-93. schaffer, r. 2014. introduction. tana french and irish crime fiction. clues 32(1): 9-12. schofield, a. 2013. the returned yank as site of memory in irish popular culture. journal of american studies 47(4): 1175-95. * * * beata piątek is an assistant professor in the institute of english studies at the jagiellonian university in kraków. her main research interests are memory and trauma in contemporary british, irish and american fiction, the influence of film on fiction, and ecocriticism. 37 62 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) aleksandra niemirycz ¹ doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.37.2.04 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4380-7256 promethean struggle: shelley, keats, and norwid in search of rescue in the risky world abstract. the myth of prometheus sacrificing his freedom to give men authority over a powerful element of nature despite the will of the gods has, in modern times, inspired authors of different languages who kept transforming it according to their views. both western and polish poets of romanticism favoured the promethean idea. in their promethean – or messianic – visions mickiewicz and słowacki emphasized the importance of armed or spiritual struggle for polands̓ independence against tsarist russia, while english language poets praised the individuals̓ rebellion in the face of the oppressive society. cyprian norwids̓ interpretation of the myth combined the individual and the collective. he saw prometheus as a craftsman whose gift, fire – ʻteacher of all artsʼ is a tool for ultimate salvation through beauty incorporated in masterpieces. norwids̓ philosophy is profoundly rooted in christian soteriology. according to the poet, the revival of both his nation and of the individual is possible only through arduous work, through creative effort understood as cooperation with christ the saviour in the attainment of salvation leading to both individual and national resurrection. keywords: norwid, keats, shelley, byron, beauty, truth, promethean struggle. human fear of death and suffering – the never-ending story the human struggle for domination over nature, and sometimes for mere survival, continues to be one of the key themes of european literature and theological thought. we find it reflected in the bible. in the first book of moses, commonly called genesis, god, who created man “in his own image […] male and female he created them, said to his supreme creature: be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing 1 independent scholar, e-mail: aniem@wp.pl https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4380-7256 63 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) that moves upon the earth”. soon the abuse of this dominant power brought the danger of destruction of humankind because of human disobedience and lack of responsibility. the fear of death and annihilation of the world has accompanied us since the beginnings of philosophical reflection and is one of the founding themes of religious ideas, even if we replace strictly religious belief with confidence in science as a remedy to all pain and risk. we believe in science, which will let us find a radical solution, be it an alternative energy source, a miraculous vaccine or medication, a super anti-tank missile, or space missions aimed at conquering the universe. we tend to forget that the earth is and will remain our only home. immersed in the chaos of conflicting thoughts and feelings, exposed to dangers not known to our ancestors, living in a world threatened with wars and diseases and in a parallel world of digital existence with all the multiplying information mingled with massive amounts of fake news, we go back to the sources of our culture to find out what went wrong. on the grounds of poetry, we recall the ancient myth of a prometheus – rescuer whose gift helped humankind cope with all the risks and find safety against the hostile environment. ancient roots of the promethean ideas philosophers and poets of ancient greece, who were able to contemplate stars in the unpolluted sky or the flow of clean waters in unpolluted rivers, gained profound knowledge of the nature of things and of man. aristotle and plato have inspired all their subsequent followers and opponents on the grounds of philosophy; homer, sophocles, euripides continue to fertilize poetical visions. the idea of human impact on earth and of human wrongdoings permeated the greek and roman myths, in which the gods continued interacting with the people and interfered in their fate, either supporting or preventing their actions. the myth of prometheus is of special importance because of its universal and multifaceted value. carl kerenyi, who devoted many years to studying the myth of prometheus and wrote the most comprehensive study based on the original texts and analyses of images on grecian urns, found out that the famous research carried out by the polish ethnologist bronislaw malinowski gave an example of the myths̓ universality, since “the role of mythology among the inhabitants of the triobrand islands fits in exactly with the mythologem of the sacrifice of prometheus, the primordial sacrifice of the greeks” (kerenyi 1963: xx). remaining on the grounds of the mediterranean culture and its most powerful scripture, we read that the people very soon distorted the divine plan for them and took the risk of being smashed “from the face of the ground” by god, who “saw that the wickedness of man was great, and the lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart”. according to the bible, people got another chance thanks to the righteous noah, who “found favour in the eyes of the lord”. so, he was able to build 64 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the ark, rescuing gods̓ creatures because of gods̓ will. the act of prometheus was so much different – he acted against the will of the gods, who punished the people by making them struggle by themselves with no divine assistance. the mythical figure of prometheus has been a theme for literary works and comparative religious studies since the earliest known mention by hesiod in his works and days, written in the eight century bc, although the myth itself is older. m. l. west, author of a worthy translation of hesiods̓ works into english, noted that “we now know that it was not the product of hesiods̓ savage fancy but a hellenized version of an oriental myth, other versions of which are represented in a hittite text of the thirteenth century bc and the babylonian poem of the eleventh” (west in hesiod 1988: xi–xii). however, we should appreciate hesiods̓ creative contribution even if he was not the original author of the myth, like we do in the case of shakespearian themes, to refer pars pro toto to the greatest genius of literature. with attention paid to minor details of his narrative, hesiod was, for example, specific in describing the trick which prometheus used to steal fire from the gods: “the noble son of iapetos stole it back for men from zeus the resourceful in the tube of a fennel (hesiod 1988: 38). the same motif appears in prometheus bound”, the tragedy written three centuries later by aeschylus, who gave the figure of the rebellious ancient god inspiring strength. his prometheus was aware of the meaning of his gift of fire, as well as of the inevitable punishment the gods doomed him to suffer: i, poor i, through giving great gifts to mortal men, am prisoner made in these fast fetters; yea, in fennel stalk i snatched the hidden spring of stolen fire, which is to men a teacher of all arts, their chief resource. and now this penalty of that offence i pay, fast riveted in chains beneath the open firmament. (plumptree 1894: 97) prometheus gave people some protection in a hostile world, so they could live quite safely, but soon the promethean sacrifice was wasted. his brother epimetheus brought “a disaster to men who live by bread, since he was the original one who received the moulded maiden from zeus for a wife” (m. l. west in hesiod 1988: 18). epimetheus willingly accepted treacherous gift from the gods. his wife pandora, prometheusʼ sister-inlaw, opened the notorious box. who can prevent a woman from being curious? like eve from the old testament, pandora did not obey the godsʼ order. unrestrained female curiosity unleashed all the calamities known to humankind since then: wars, diseases, floods, fires, and volcanic eruptions. one is temped to add climate change, but the ancients did not use the term, and, of course, they knew nothing abut the covid 65 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) pandemic. zeus forced pandora to seal the jar up before hope could escape. in dantes̓ divine comedy only those entering hell were to give up any hope: lasciate ogni speranza, voi che̓ntrate, while in the ancient myth humans could not enjoy any hope on earth. but prometheus gave them fire, ʻtheir chief resource,̓ not only as protection against wild animals and cold weather, but also as a tool for creative work. thanks to prometheus, people gained what had been previously restricted to hephaestusʼ forge. promethean inspirations in modern literature the myth of prometheus gained special importance as a literary theme since miltons̓ paradise lost. we encounter its echoes in the writings of poets and thinkers writing in different languages, including the most prominent authors like goethe, maria konopnicka, julian ursyn niemcewicz or franz kafka, who transformed the myth most radically. carl kerenyi emphasizes that “we usually come to mythology through the poets, and the best approach to it is through the poets who are closest to us. by their treatment of the material, they can communicate to us not only the content of the myths but also the experience of mythology” (kerenyi 1963: xxiii). in his fascinating book prometheus. archetypal image of human existence kerenyi focused on goethes̓ vision of prometheus, the lord of the earth, while shelleys̓ name is barely mentioned in the index. it may be assumed that kerenyi chose goethe as a pars pro toto example of a modern “mythológos who put his own thoughts, the product of intense experience, into the traditional mythological figure” (kerenyi 1963: 6). most probably he did not know any poems by cyprian kamil norwid (1821 – 1883), the polish poet and thinker who had the most profound understanding of the essence of the ancient myth, of the figure who – according to kerenyi (1963: 3) – “presents a striking resemblance and a striking contrast to the christian saviour”. if he had known norwids̓ writings, he would have focused on his ideas not less carefully than on those of goethe, the only poet he included in his most profound analyses. the figure of prometheus was especially popular in romantic and post-romantic poetry. the great and most influential author of the time, george gordon lord byron, refers frequently to promethean inspirations. the memory of aeschylusʼ prometheus bound, read during his schoolyears at harrow, remained vivid in his mind. in his poem prometheus byron contained the essence of the myth and its importance for posterity: of thine impenetrable spirit, which earth and heaven could not convulse, a mighty lesson we inherit: thou art a symbol and a sign to mortals of their fate and force. like thee, man is in part divine, 66 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) a troubled stream from a pure source. (ra 2006: 888) byrons̓ fascination with aeschyluss̓ hero transferred to mary shelley, who gave her most famous novel, frankenstein, subtitle the modern prometheus. the idea of drafting the story originated from lengthy discussions with byron and her future husband, percy shelley, held in geneva in 1816 during the excursion of the group of young and, by all their contemporariesʼ standards, immoral poets. however, mary shelley decided to follow miltons̓ view of the rebellious hero; she used a quotation from his paradise lost as a motto for her novel about the unfortunate scientist who wanted to be like the gods. miltons̓ prometheus is luciferian. the one who stole fire for people wanted them to become equal to the gods; fire was a pre-condition for any progress, for safety against the cold and wild animals, but fire could also mean destruction, so maybe the greek gods considered it too risky to allow humans use it. were they right? mary shelleys̓ character, victor frankenstein, who believes in the progress of science at any price, reminds us of the dangers associated with stealing divine supremacy over nature – and of disasters released from research laboratories, like, for example, the awful consequences of the intense work of physicists involved in the manhattan project, or, most recently, virologists from wuhan and other well-hidden places. success in science attained despite all the moral limitations may only bring destruction and unhappiness in the world of humans. both milton and mary shelley depicted the dark side of prometheus. marys̓ husband, percy shelley, one of the best-known romantic rebels, saw it differently. despite his loudly proclaimed atheism, he created his prometheus as a figure echoing christ, who sacrificed himself for humanity. we can find interesting parallels in his greatest literary achievement, so much appreciated by the young poland poet jan kasprowicz, in the masterpiece worth reading today, when environment protection and sustainability concerns prove to be of critical importance for the future of our world. shelley begins his prometheus unbound – conceived as a “supplement” or “equivalent” of one of the two missing parts of the aeschylean trilogy – with an extensive introduction in prose, presenting his sources, his writing method, and his goal, assuring readers: “i have […] a passion for reforming the world. […] id̓ rather be damned with plato and lord bacon than go to heaven with paley and malthus” (ra 1094). william paley, a thinker now quite forgotten but famous in his time, was in favour of the usefulness of the idea of hell to control morals. thomas robert malthus argued that wars, diseases, and famines were necessary to control the growth of the population, and his name is remembered in the context of neo-malthusian thoughts which emerge now and then, being either praised or condemned as the malthusian trap. shelleys̓ irony in contrasting the great thinkers of the past with his contemporaries veils his profound knowledge of philosophical ideas and their consequences for people; he was aware of the danger of theories and their consequences not dreamt of by the authors. 67 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in shelleys̓ tragedy, the suffering earth, one of the “dramatis personae, cries in despair: misery, oh misery to me […] howl, spirits of the living and the dead, / your refuge, your defence lies fallen and vanquished”. the earth is put at risk, but in the poets̓ vision neither prometheus, nor humankind are doomed; there are the seals, stronger than destruction’s strength: gentleness, virtue, wisdom, and endurance. interpreting shelleys̓ promethean visions, one must mention his reception by representatives of philosophies which proved to be dangerous for the world. friedrich engels tried to translate shelley into german, and karl marx appropriated his ideas in a completely distorted way. it seems that only mahatma gandhi appreciated shelleys̓ ideals of non-violence and respect for nature. however, researchers who claimed that gandhis̓ vegetarianism stemmed from shelleys̓ dietary attitude were completely wrong. not eating meat and not doing harm to any living creature is one of the fundamental principles of buddhism and other indian beliefs constituting the whole background of the rich culture of the country colonized by england. anyway, as morton rightly stated, (2006: 41), “nowadays, shelley is seen as prescient about health, nutrition, and the future of the planet”. of the poets fascinated by prometheus who gained appreciation during their lifetime, robert seymour bridges, poet laureate, deserves special attention in the context of norwids̓ poetry, and not only because of the merit of publishing the poetical heritage of gerard manley hopkins, to whom norwid is compared by some researchers who find similarities in both christian thinkersʼ originality and innovative approach to the style and language of poetry. bridgesʼ poem prometheus the firegiver: a mask in the greek manner, written in 1883, the year of norwids̓ death, presents the aspect which was most important to the polish poet: the creative power stemming from prometheusʼ gift. bridgesʼ prometheus gives people not only fire, but the ability to transform the earth in a creative way: now give i thee my best, a little gift to work a world of wonder; ʻtis thine own of long desire, and with it i will give the cunning of invention and all arts in which thy hand instructed may command, interpret, comfort, or ennoble nature […] with geometric hand, true square and careful compass he may come to plan and plant and spread abroad his towers, his gardens, temples, palaces, and tombs. […] thy mind 68 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) can picture what shall be: these are the face and form of beauty, but her heart and life shall they be who shall see it, born to shield a happier birth right with intrepid arms, to tread down tyranny and fashion forth a virgin wisdom to subdue the world, to build for passion an eternal song, to shape her dreams in marble. (bridges 1912: 23, 26) the ideas presented by bridges correspond with norwids̓ beliefs. shaping the earths̓ dreams in marble was norwids̓ dream in the years when he studied sculpture in florence and admired the genius of his predecessors in this area of art. it seems that beside philosophical attractiveness, the myth of prometheus contained an idea that was especially appealing to poets who in their lifetime could not count on othersʼ understanding or appreciation for their sacrifices made. in her poem felicia hemans, letitia elizabeth landon gave a clear expression of that: the fable of prometheus and the vulture reveals the poet's and the woman's heart. unkindly are they judged--unkindly treated— by careless tongues and by ungenerous words; while cruel sneer, and hard reproach, repeated, jar the fine music of the spirit's chords (ra 1454) byron and the poets unkindly treated: shelley, keats and norwid among those unkindly treated we find poets of different languages, and three of them: percy bysshe shelley, john keats and cyprian kamil norwid shall be discussed here. unlike byron, the celebrity of the romantic era, the three poets, rejected by their contemporaries for different reasons, gained recognition only posthumously thanks to the efforts of their future grandsons – if mary shelley, the editor and propagator of her husbands̓ writings, can be included in this category, and if we forget about the reflected fame shelley enjoyed thanks to his friendship with byron, who attended his very romantic burial ceremony at the seashore. as shelleys̓ schoolmate and biographer observed, “there is scarcely a great poet from the time of milton, down to the present day, who has not proved a mark for the invidious malice of his contemporaries. but among all authors of a past or present age, none has been more unjustly handled than shelley” (medwin 1847: 359). at least shelley had a spectacular burial ceremony; his body, drowned in the 69 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) sea, was cremated on a beach near viareggio. prometheuss̓ gift, fire, consumed the earthly remnants of his admirer. zygmunt krasiński, one of the polish romantics and once norwids̓ close friend, when suffering in rome from the poor condition of his heart, wrote jealously in his letter to august cieszkowski: “kto je spali, gdy pęknie, i zachowa popiół z niego? czy napisze mi kto na urnie jak shellejowi tu na cmentarzu: cor cordium?” (krasiński 1988: 92) ʻwho will burn it when it breaks, and save its ashes? will anybody write on my urn, like they did for shelley, the heart of hearts?.̓ well, krasiński was not a rebel like byron, shelley or norwid, who, paraphrasing norwids̓ own words, newer bowed to circumstances, and never told the truths to stand behind the door. john keats also did not compromise on his vocation and praised the truth. he, like norwid, was raised by his grandmother after the death of his parents, and, unlike byron or shelley (the latter being expelled from oxford for his rebellious acts), could not have any formal classical education and struggled hard to study literature and art by himself, from books and through visiting collectorsʼ galleries. ian jacks̓ fascinating book keats and the mirror of art helps us understand how individual paintings or the sculptures of the parthenon marbles, robbed by lord elgin in athens and exhibited in london, influenced the poets̓ writings and his concepts of art, which saves the most important treasures of human existence – the truth and the beauty: “a vase or an urn was sometimes ʻthe shape of beautyʼ that helped him to escape from mundane reality and disturbing thoughts” (jack 1967: 216). keats originated from a poor family. though appreciated as a would-be physician, he rejected financial stability and gave up medicine because he knew that poetry was his real vocation. having made friends in literary circles, he managed to have a few of his works published, but then, as a low-class cockney poet, was faced with mistreatment “at the hands of the hostile critics […] and unlike shelley, could not sustain the abuse with which his creations were met” (scrivener 1982: 273). researchers found out that there were also political reasons contributing to the harsh critical opinions of keats. the poet challenged the class structure of british society and praised those who struggled against oppression. as evert walter noted in aesthetic and myth in the poetry of keats, the poets̓ “political liberalism found something to admire, without distinction as to nationality or specific circumstance, in all who had ever risen grandly to the challenge of tyrannyʼ (sonnet ʻto kosciuszkoʼ)” (evert 1965: 78). beside being poor and criticized as a poet by influential critics, keats suffered from the then lethal illness called consumption, later known as tuberculosis. his friend, painter joseph severn, decided to take him to italy, in search of a healthier climate, but the travel difficulties contributed to a worsening of keatsʼ health condition. after the long sea journey, the ship from england stayed even longer in port. based on italian regulations, all the passengers had to remain in quarantine for a couple of weeks. the health authorities were afraid of typhus, which was taking lives in england, and wished to avoid the risk of spreading the disease in italy. likewise, after the poets̓ death, they 70 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) burnt all his belongings and all the furniture in the house today known as the keatsshelley museum and ordered that the funeral be held in sanitary conditions. we know the system too well, living in our “safer” time. norwid, deaf, half blind and ill, died in a home for polish veterans run by the polish sisters of charity of saint vincent de paul at ivry – then a suburb of paris, and today part of the city accessible in fifteen minutes thanks to the fully automated metro line, but in his times the location meant an exile, making the poet feel abandoned and lonely. after his death, norwids̓ body was laid in a grave paid for five years only. afterwards, the ashes were exhumed from the ivry cemetery and put in a cheap common grave at montmorency. it is painful when one remembers that norwid so tenderly cared for his poor living and dead compatriots. he designed and sculpted several polish tombs at three cemeteries in paris. norwids̓ prophetic poem about the great heroes appreciated only long after their deaths is, in a sense, autobiographical. nevertheless, norwid strongly believed in his future fame, and he was not the only one who cherished such hopes. timothy morton (2006: 35) rightly observed: “romantic poets were acutely aware of their afterlives, and their works reflect that”. and one must admit that they were right. unlike byron, whom todays̓ researchers and readers seem to forget, the three unkindly treated poets keep fascinating subsequent generations, gaining not only sophisticated critical editions of the whole of their writings (shelley and norwid had to wait for that till the twenty-first century), but also increased admiration among the public. film makers and rock stars of our times take inspiration from their lives and poetry, just to mention mick jagger reading aloud shelleys̓ adonais, devoted to the death of keats, in memory of his friend brian jones at a concert in hyde park, or czesław niemens̓ unforgettable music written for bema pamięci żałobny rapsod, written by cyprian norwid in memory of general józef bem, the national hero of poland, hungary and turkey. norwid – the polish grandson of prometheus cyprian kamil norwid, the polish poet, sculptor, painter, engraver, and thinker so profoundly immersed in the sources of our culture, studied the ancient authors so intensely that he was able to depict ancient rome in his quidam as if he himself had lived there among our greek and roman ancestors. norwid admired george gordon, lord byron and byrons̓ promethean ideas turned into life experience so much that – like adam mickiewicz – he decided to translate some of byrons̓ poetry into polish. it is worth mentioning that norwid, like shelley, was a devoted translator of those whom he admired – of the greatest authors of all centuries. therefore, his choice of byron – beside homer, horace, ovid, michelangelo, shakespeare, dante, tasso, or psalms, is meaningful, as mieczysław giergielewicz observed in his essay on norwids̓ translation of moses’s prayer (see: giergielewicz in günther 1962: 190). norwids̓ admiration for byron did not lead, however, to any attempt to imitate byronic style or motifs. the 71 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) polish poet was so much “himself” in his writings while remaining a careful reader of all the most important sources of western culture, both ancient and contemporaneous. norwid included byron among the greatest not so much because of don juan or childe harold’s pilgrimages, but primarily for his ability to sacrifice his life in defence of the greeksʼ fighting for independence, which was promethean to the full extent. norwids̓ fascination with byron, reflected in his letters, is well known; literary researchers have analysed many aspects of it. george gömöri (1973) presented the importance of “the myth of byron in norwids̓ life and work”. grażyna halkiewicz-sojak wrote the most in-depth analysis of byrons̓ recollections in norwids̓ writings. she noticed that norwids̓ contribution to creating the byronic legend may seem surprising because “trudno na pozór znaleźć w xix wieku dwie tak odmienne osobowości twórcze jak byron i norwid” (halkiewicz-sojak 1994: 5) (ʻapparently, one could hardly find two creative personalities who would be so different as byron and norwidʼ). norwid himself emphasized, and was proud of, the fact that his birth (1821) coincided with byrons̓ death in missolonghi in 1824. the death of byron – a celebrity of the romantic era – was known and remembered all over europe in the context of the greek war of independence. norwid did not know that the deaths of the two poets less known during his lifetime, percy bysshe shelley (1822) and john keats (1821), coincided with the date of his birth even more precisely. the house in rome where young keats was dying of tuberculosis is located less than 200 metres from the house at 123 via felice (today via sistina), just behind the holy trinity church at the top of the famous spanish stairs, where twentyfive years later the young norwid had his atelier for two years until january 1849, when he moved to paris, the main centre of polish emigration after the defeat of the november uprising of 1830-1831. shelley had also lived in italy, and both keatsʼ and shelleys̓ mundane remnants lay in the protestant cemetery in rome. so, the three poets were close in time (by the death-birth vicinity) and in space, and most probably norwid himself would have considered it important. both english poetsʼ resorting to the moral values which may prevent catastrophe, and to art, which is stronger than death, resounds with norwids̓ thoughts transferred to his poetry, his prose, and his letters. in his writings norwid expressed ideas so valid today, when thousands are wandering round the globe escaping from wars and hunger, or simply in search of a better future. being europeans – living in our secure, welfare world for decades since the atrocities of world war ii, all of a sudden we have been faced with not only the threat of another great war, but also with the challenge of being torn between utmost compassion and unbearable fear associated with all the risks associated with the strict application of the command left by christ – to accept the needy in ones̓ own home – in the situation when those in need may undermine our safety by bringing in not only helpless women and children, but also the cruellest terrorists acting on behalf of evil. such dilemmas were not alien to people in the times of norwid, he himself being an emigrant fleeing from 72 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the oppressors who occupied his country, poland, then divided into three partitions by russia, prussia, and austria. he himself as a student was arrested and sent to jail in berlin, accused of conspiracy against the authorities; he lost his health there and suffered from deafness in later years, when he lived in rome, paris, new york, and london, a poor emigree trying hard to make a living as a sculptor, painter and engraver, and to gain recognition among his compatriots as a poet and thinker. but very few of them could understand him, and fewer appreciated or accepted his innovative poetry. he objected to the commonly accepted rules and superstitions and never tried to please his readers by satisfying common tastes at the cost of compromising his artistic message; so, like shelley and keats, he could count on posthumous appreciation only. in his letter to joanna kuczyńska of 1 february 1869, cyprian norwid wrote (norwid 1971: 388): jestem przeciwny systematom spółczesnym, które głoszą: „europe aux européens !” selon moi – madame ! – il nʼy jamais eu des européens, car nous tous nous sommes venus ici de la̓sie – de ce pays qui nous reste maintenant sur le̓mbryon de notre intelligence comme un rêve du paradis ! ja pochodzę of jafetowego wnuka, co przykowany był na szczycie kazbeku w kaukazie – od dziada mego prometheusa. ja jeden przeczę temu systemowi krwi i ras. ja jeden – ale cóż robić! – to moje mniemanie takie. moim zdaniem europa nie jest rasą, ale principium! – bo gdyby by ka rasą byłaby azją!!! (norwid 1971: 388) [“i am against the contemporary systems which preach: “europe for europeans!” i think, madame, that there have never been any europeans, since we all came here from asia – from the country which now remains in the embryo of our identity like a dream about paradise. i originated from jafet s̓ grandson, from the one who was bound to the peak of the mount of kazbek in the caucasus – from my grandparent prometheus. i am the only one who opposes the system of dividing the blood and the races. i am the only one – but what can i do, this is how i think of it. in my opinion, europe is not the race, but principium! because if it were a race, it would be asia!!!”] (translated by aleksandra niemirycz) driven by the same feeling of compassion and belief in the equality of all humans, norwid opposed slavery and racism in his poem: do obywatela johna brown. taking the risk of straying from the point, one should mention that norwids̓ verses, with their multi-layer meanings, plays on words, and depths of interpretation, constitute great difficulty for their readers in the original, so it is easy to understand translatorsʼ unwillingness to cope with the task, and the resulting scarcity of available – and acceptable – 73 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) translations from norwid, continuously collected and analysed by agata brajerska mazur. only the bravest undertook the challenge, from the “pioneers” jerzy peterkiewicz and adam czerniawski to danuta borchardt and walter whipple. unfortunately, there are too many poetical masterpieces by norwid, not to mention his prose and letters, which have not yet been rendered in english. however, there are a few quite successful translations of the poem addressed to john brown; i consider peterkiewiczs̓ version quite adequate. the poem attracted translatorsʼ special attention not only because of its international recognition, but also because of the ending lines presenting the poets̓ creed. norwid wrote it in 1859 during the hectic efforts undertaken to save john brown. the polish author was among the europeans who, like victor hugo, tried to prevent the hanging of the brave man who fought against injustice and the sufferings of the blacks in america, “the land of the free” (norwid 2000: 33), where john brown was eventually killed. without a literal reference, norwid praises the promethean deed of the american hero, who gave his life in defence of the equality of people. john brown, like prometheus, opposed the ruling “gods” – the owners of black slaves in the american south. browns̓ raid on the federal arsenal at harpers ferry in the state of virginia, the courageous act aimed at the initiation of the liberation movement, was like the blessed crime of the mythical fire-giver. the american abolitionist leader, like prometheus, wanted to provide helpless humans with weapons against the misery and dangers of life in darkness of slavery. but beside the sacrifice, norwid alludes to the promethean ideas dearest to him, to the saving power of art: so, till the shadows – kościuszko and washington – tremble, accept the start of my song, john – since before song matures man often dies. before song dies, nation must first arise. (norwid 2000: 33) norwids̓ spiritual grandfather prometheus sacrificed himself for all men, without differentiating between races; the only division he objected to was the division between the almighty gods and the poor humans left abandoned on earth as prey for frost and wild beasts. norwid could see much more profoundly into the theme. he saw divisions in society, and injustices and cruelties caused by humankind. the idea of the equality of all human beings as well as of the goal of history is the topic of his poem socjalizm [socialism], numbered iii in the volume vade-mecum: ludzie – choć kształtem ras napiętnowani, z wykrzywianymi różną mową wargi – głoszą, że oto źli już i wybrani, że już hosanna tylko albo skargi… 74 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) – że pyton-stary zrzucon do otchłani: grosz? – ze symbolem już, harmonią?... – targi! oh! nieskończona jeszcze? dziejów praca – jak bryły w górę ciągniecie ramieniem: umknij – a już ci znów na piersi wraca, przysiądź, a głowę zetrze ci brzemieniem… – o! nieskończona jeszcze dziejów praca, nie-prze-palony jeszcze glob, sumieniem! (norwid 2004: 16) [ʻpeople – though branded with the shape of races – preach with lips distorted by varying lingos – that the evil ones and the chosen are in their places, from now on either hosanna or weeping are their shares, that the old python has been sent to limbo penny? – just a symbol now, and harmony? … the fairs! oh! history s̓ work has not yet been completed – it is like hauling up a block of stone with your arm you slip away – it gets back to your breast to hit it sit down, and the load will smash your head and harm… oh! history s̓ work has not yet been completed, the globe has not been burnt with conscience!ʼ] (translated by aleksandra niemirycz) in this poem the myth of prometheus is combined with that of sisyphus – like in the text by the polish poet maria konopnicka, but the most important phrase of the poem refers not to myths but reflects norwids̓ views in relation to hegels̓ lectures on the philosophy of history, congenially developed and sometimes opposed by august cieszkowski, the polish philosopher, norwids̓ friend and benefactor. georg wilhelm friedrich hegel considered jesus christ, the incarnation of god, and his teaching the attainment of the goal of human history; cieszkowski thought that the incarnation of god in a mortal human, christ, was just a turning point: god became a man, and the people gained a share in god(see: cieszkowski 1972: 305). cyprian norwid, late grandson of jan iii sobieski, the famous polish king, known as a defender of christianity, believed, like cieszkowski, in humanitys̓ responsibility for the work of history in its continuous course. he would never have agreed with francis fukuyamas̓ prophecies contained in the end of history and the last man, saying that the achievement of the goal of humanity, a fair social system of democratic liberalism, meant the end of wars and political turmoil on earth. norwid strongly believed that history – the centuriesʼ work – has not ended yet, because the globe has not yet been 75 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) burnt out with conscience. burning the globe through with conscience refers again to a purely promethean idea of fire as the indispensable factor enabling the growth of humankind. the one who stole fire for people wanted them to become equal to the gods; fire was a pre-condition for any progress, not only for safety against the cold and wild animals. but fire could also mean destruction. yet burning through the globe with conscience, although risky, is a conditio sine qua non for the attainment of final salvation, so the labour of ages must continue. norwids̓ promethean idea goes far beyond that, and beyond the visions of byron of shelley. he would not recommend or praise stealing power from the gods or sacrificing oneself for the salvation of humanity – one cannot do more than christ. his idea is different – he demands that people “cooperate” with the saviour gods̓ mission – people need to save themselves throughout history, in their earthly dimension. mickiewiczs̓ famous vision of poland – christ of nations from dziady [forefathers’ eve] emphasized the messianic aspect of polands̓ suffering; słowacki found another promethean symbol, the swiss hero winkelried, and so in his kordian poland is “a winkelried of nations”. both concepts give poland a unique place among the nations – as a country which sacrifices itself for others. norwid considered such ideas false or even blasphemous. being a faithful christian, he wanted to follow christ s̓ teaching, and so he was against such national hubris and lack of individual responsibility of everyone. mickiewicz and słowacki appealed to the collective identity of the poles; norwid put the emphasis on individual effort and struggle for salvation, both in the personal and national dimensions. so, the norwidian prometheus would not fight with the gods to either protect or doom people; he would rather fight with humans against the shortfalls of their nature, against what he referred to as brak, the polish word meaning a lack, a missing of some part of the whole, of the entirety, a shortfall taking revenge on the individual for his or her inefficiencies. norwids̓ prometheus encourages people to save themselves and their nation through hard creative work, because, as the poet wrote in his poem język ojczysty (ʻthe native languageʼ), it is not the sword or the shield which defend the nations̓ language – its identity – but only masterpieces. to make it short, norwid thought that prometheus should be incarnated in every human being, and especially in the artist. prometheus – not god, not one of the titans, not the hero suffering for people, but prometheus – the craftsman, the artist, the one who helps humans become human, to transform idle marionettes into industrious creative beings able to cooperate with christ their saviour in the deed of salvation. salvation is possible through beauty, which for keats is tantamount to truth, and for norwid, is the shape of love, and is attainable only through work in the sweat of ones̓ brow. the work must be of the utmost difficulty, must cost the hardest pains – to pave new paths for human existence and its highest expression – art. we are all called to 76 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) participate in the beauty of gods̓ plan for humanity, every one of us humans. as we read in promethidion, norwids̓ most important poetical treatise on beauty and art, każdy w sobie cień pięknego nosi i każdy – każdy z nas – tym piękna pyłem. (norwid 2011: 106) [ʻevery man in him has beauty s̓ shadow / and each—each one of us is beauty s̓ dustʼ] (translated by aleksandra niemirycz) arduous work is necessary in the service of beauty and truth to achieve the perfection of the ancient greeks and of the greatest artists. those who have suffered most in this struggle for a more complete human being, though never understood by their contemporaries, left us the pattern we need to follow. beauty and truth are redeeming values and are to be strived for. we find these values materialized in statues carved by michelangelo, in chopins̓ music, in words more durable than those carved in stone – and not only those of poets like horace or sapho, but of roman codes of law, of egyptian art of engineering, in the highest achievements of different nations. in promethidion norwid specially addresses his compatriots and their dreaming of polands̓ salvation. he believes that his countrys̓ revival is possible only through art. norwids̓ promethean idea was far from that proposed by mickiewicz, who identified the suffering poland with the crucified christ, and who offered his homeland the role of a “christ of nations.” norwidian thought is much more profound – and much more demanding. we, humans, must grow and mature – like the song-seagull sent to john brown across the ocean – to reach beauty’s shadow, which is inherently associated with our nature – created to be the image of god. the essence and nature of beauty, the theme so important to cyprian norwid, fascinated john keats, the poet who lived so briefly, but left so much beauty enshrined in his perfect poems. he saw the beauty of nature, believed that opposite to mortal humans, the poetry of earth is never dead. keats, like norwid, believed in the redeeming power of beauty, and of art. in endymion he expressed his conviction that beauty has a moral value which never disappears: a thing of beauty is a joy for ever: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness […] some shape of beauty moves away the pall from our dark spirits” … (ra 1344) 77 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) keatsʼ words of beauty being truth resound with those of norwid, for whom beauty constituted a shape of love. keats, like his friend shelley, like norwid, and a few other visionaries of the romantic and post-romantic times, fortune-told the future of humankind with a warning that people must change themselves, be more compassionate to others and to the chain of being. norwid and shelley came to similar ethical conclusions, despite the major difference concerning religion – norwid being a roman catholic of strong faith, and shelley declaring himself an atheist. also, they both – like john keats with his unforgettable praise of the grecian urn – believed in the redeeming power of art. byron focused on slightly other aspects of promethean heritage. he evokes the pantheistic feature and loneliness of the rebel prometheus in the famous scene from manfred. his hero complains upon the cliffs of the mountain of the jungfrau: the spirits i have raised abandon me the spells which i have studied baffle me, the remedy i recked of tortured me; i lean no more on superhuman aid, it hath no power upon the past, and for the future, till the past be gulfed in darkness, it is not of my search. my mother earth, and thou fresh-breaking day, and you, ye mountains – why are ye beautiful? i cannot love ye. and thou, the bright eye of the universe that opens overall, and unto all art a delight – thou shins̓t not on my heart. (ra 903) the idea of the idleness of beauty does not resound with norwids̓ thoughts, but byrons̓ bright eye of the universe inevitably makes us think of one of the most beautiful – and most philosophical – of norwids̓ poems, the one numbered vi in vade-mecum, w weronie, in which the artist s̓ – painters̓ view permeates the image evoked by words: w weronie nad kapuletich i montekich domem spłukane deszczem, poruszone gromem łagodne oko błękitu – patrzy na gruzy nieprzyjaznych grodów na rozwalone bramy do ogrodów, i gwiazdę zrzuca ze szczytu – cyprysy mówią, że to dla julietty, 78 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) że dla romea, ta łza znad planety spada, i groby przecieka, a ludzie mówią i mówią uczenie, że to nie łzy są, ale że kamienie, i – że nikt na nie… nie czeka! (norwid 2004: 19) [ʻin verona over the capulet and the montague houses thunder-shaken, rinsed with rain which douses mild eye of the heavenly blue – looking at ruins of unfriendly castles and smashed gates in the gardensʼ rustle, throws from the high a star leaking through cypresses say that this heavenly tear is for julliet and romeo whose tombs are near that the tear falls to wet their bones but people say in a scholarly tone that these are not tears but minerals alone and – no one awaits these … stones! ʼ] (translated by aleksandra niemirycz) in this poem norwid – unlike the byronic hero – expresses his profound trust in nature. even if the people lose the feeling of transcendence, or even if they cease to believe in the redeeming power of eternal poetry – shakespearian heroes are referred to as its representatives – the cypresses, trees of great symbolic meaning, will speak on behalf of human culture, like the evangelical stones which were supposed to praise the glory of the lord if humans were silent. another image gets associated with norwids̓ “star thrown by the mild eye of the blue”, and of byrons̓ bright eye of the universe. it is t. s. eliot s̓ eagle from his choruses from the rock which “soars in the summit of heaven while the hunter with his dogs pursues his circuit.” in eliots̓ vision the two orders, the heavenly and the earthly, are separated, and the idea behind it is pessimistic. eliot, like norwid, asks fundamental questions associated with our human condition – since we are creatures torn between the safety and dangers of life, between the lie and the truth, between the beauty and the waste, the divine and the profane: the endless cycle of idea and action, endless invention, endless experiment, brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness. knowledge of speech, but not of silence. 79 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) knowledge of words, but ignorance of the word. all our knowledge brings us nearer to death, but nearness to death no nearer to god. where is the life we have lost in living? where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? where is the knowledge we have lost in information? (eliot 1988: 148) all these sad statements make us ask the question of whether the risk of ultimate sacrifice – be it that of prometheus, of christ, or of an abandoned and suffering artist, misunderstood by his contemporaries – is worth taking if the people remain ungrateful, forgetful, lost in the universe, and sometimes evil. norwid gave us his answer. it is a statement and an appeal at the same time, expressed in his poem bohater [hero], so profoundly understood by the polish pope-poet john paul ii, the greatest of norwids̓ late grandsons, and the most careful of his readers and interpreters: heroizm będzie trwał – dopóki praca, praca? – dopóki stworzenie!... (norwid 2004: 93) ʻheroism will last – until there is work, work? – until there is creation!...̓ references the bible containing the old and new testaments. revised standard version translated from the original [based on the traditional king james version]. 1967. westlea, swindon: british and foreign bible society. bridges, r. 1912. poetical works of robert bridges excluding the eight dramas. london: henry frowde, oxford university press. cieszkowski, a. 1972. prolegomena do historiozofii, bóg i palingeneza oraz mniejsze pisma filozoficzne. ed. j. garewicz & a. walicki. warszawa: państwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. eliot, t. s. 1988. selected poems. poezje wybrane, transl. a. piotrowski, m. sprusiński, j. zagórski, w. dulęba. warszawa: instytut wydawniczy pax. evert, w. 1965. aesthetic and myth in the poetry of keats. princeton, new jersey: princeton university press. giergielewicz, m. 1962. norwidowska “modlitwa mojżesza”. in: w. günther (ed.), norwid żywy, 191-205. londyn: b. świderski. gömöri, g. 1973. the myth of byron in norwids̓ life and work. the slavonic and east european review, 51(123): 231-242. jack, i. 1967. keats and the mirror of art. oxford: oxford university press. 80 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) halkiewicz-sojak, g. 1994. byron w twórczości norwida. toruń: towarzystwo naukowe w toruniu. kerenyi, c. 1963. prometheus. archetypal image of human existence, transl. ralph manheim. london: thames and hudson. krasiński, z.1988. listy do augusta cieszkowskiego, edwarda jaroszyńskiego, bronisława trentowskiego. ed. z. sudolski. warszawa: państwowy instytut wydawniczy. medwin, t. 1847. the life of percy bysshe shelley. london: thomas cautley newby. morton, t. 2006. receptions. in: t. morton (ed.). the cambridge companion to shelley, 3542, cambridge: cambridge university press. norwid, c. 2011. dzieła wszystkie iv, poematy 2. lublin: towarzystwo naukowe katolickiego uniwersytetu lubelskiego jana pawła ii, biblioteka narodowa. norwid, c. 1971. pisma wszystkie. listy 1862 – 1872. ed. juliusz w. gomulicki. warszawa: państwowy instytut wydawniczy. norwid, c. 2000. poems – letters – drawings, edited and translated by j. peterkiewicz (poems in collaboration with ch. brooke-rose and b. singer). manchester: carcanet press. norwid, c. 2004. vade-mecum. edited by j. fert. lublin: towarzystwo naukowe katolickiego uniwersytetu lubelskiego. plumptree, e. h. 1894. the tragedies of aeschylus. a new translation with a biographical essay, and an appendix of rhymed choral odes. boston: d. c. heath and co., publishers. romanticism. an anthology [ra]. 2006. third edition. edited by duncan wu. malden, oxford, carlton. blackwell publishing. hereinafter referred to as 2006 ra scrivener, m. h. 1982. radical shelley. the philosophical anarchism and utopian thought of percy bysshe shelley. princeton, new jersey: princeton university press. *** aleksandra niemirycz is a polish researcher, poet, philosopher, literary translator and conference interpreter. in the past she worked as an editor, a journalist and a high school english and polish teacher. she graduated from the university of warsaw (m.a. in philosophy 1988, m.a. in polish studies 1989; interdisciplinary postgraduate studies in translation and interpreting), and continued her literary education in the institute of literary research of the polish academy of sciences. in november 2016 she earned her doctorate at cardinal stefan wyszyński university in warsaw. aleksandra niemirycz 1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.37.2.04 promethean struggle: shelley, keats, and norwid in search of rescue in the risky world 66 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) izabela sekścińska1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.31.4.04 łomża state university of applied sciences orcid: 0000-0002-9974-0513 agnieszka piórkowska2 łomża state university of applied sciences orcid: 0000-0003-4890-8790 does brexit mean brexit? an analysis of the semantic field of the lexeme brexit abstract. the article presents the results of a discourse analysis of the contextual uses of brexit.3 based on corpus-driven internet samples, the research employs the method of semantic field analysis devised by robin (1980) and her team of researchers from the saint-cloud political lexicography center. according to robin, in order to find the meaning of a word, the context of its use must be analysed, as well as its lexical relations with other linguistic units. for this reason, we have divided the elements of the co-text of the lexeme brexit into six groups, which represent various connections of linguistic items with the subject, i.e. the lexeme under scrutiny. subsequently, in compliance with kłosiński’s approach (1994), we propose the definitions of the subject which reflect the meanings featuring the actual usages of the lexeme brexit and which integrate the key words from the semantic field of the concept in question. keywords: brexit, semantic field, corpus, context, definitions. 1. introduction the term brexit, or rather brixit, as it was used initially by the financial press in 2012, stands for britain’s exit from the eu and is a blend of an adjective and a noun (cf. davis 2017; 1 address for correspondence: wydział nauk społecznych i humanistycznych, państwowa wyższa szkoła informatyki i przedsiębiorczości w łomży, ul. akademicka 14, 18-400 łomża, poland. e-mail: isekscinska@pwsip.edu.pl 2 address for correspondence: wydział nauk społecznych i humanistycznych, państwowa wyższa szkoła informatyki i przedsiębiorczości w łomży, ul. akademicka 14, 18-400 łomża, poland. e-mail: apiorkowska@pwsip.edu.pl 3 please, note that the article had been prepared for publication before brexit came to fruition. 67 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) fontaine 2017). chosen as the word of the year 2016 by collins dictionary (stolworthy 2016), brexit entered the oxford english dictionary (the oed henceforth) as early as in november 2016 (line 2016).4 the oed offers a more detailed account of the phenomenon as it provides a twofold meaning. first and foremost, brexit is regarded as “the proposed withdrawal of the united kingdom from the european union, and the political process associated with it” and, secondly, the term is used “with reference to the referendum held in the uk on 23rd june 2016, in which a majority of voters favoured withdrawal from the eu” (ibid.). the dictionary meaning of brexit can be detected in theresa may’s catchphrase “brexit means brexit”, which was followed by her forceful promise: “we are going to make a success of it. there will be no attempts to stay within the eu […] we must leave the eu” (cowburn 2016). however, with the departure process extending over a prolonged period of time, the word brexit has gained new meanings. brexit no longer means only the scheduled withdrawal from the eu but may also be used as a verb to refer to “the act of telling everyone at a gathering (party, meeting, etc.) that you are leaving but actually staying” (web 2), or as a cat’s name to describe the cat’s indecisive nature (stone 2019). brexit discourse is often imbued with emotionally-charged expressions that betray speakers’ attitudes, opinions and feelings towards this political event. this affective meaning inherent in the semantics of the lexeme brexit is not, however, reflected in the dictionary entry. the dictionary meaning of the word seems to be semantically impoverished as it does not show that brexit is a sharply polarized concept, which everyday language use clearly indicates. we aim at providing a thorough definition of brexit that is based on the actual uses of the analysed word and which can be found in pieces of knowledge about brexit gathered from individual language users. part of the purpose of the paper is also to evaluate robin’s method of semantic field analysis (robin 1980) and to test its applicability to linguistic research. though not well-known within the field of language study, robin’s approach seems to constitute a useful tool for linguistic analysis as it emphasizes the importance of context in the meaning of a lexical item, which is also the case in cognitive linguistics. robin’s (1980) syntagmatic approach to meaning appears to be consistent with the assumptions of cognitive linguistics, according to which “there are no stable word meanings, rather meanings of words are dynamic, context-sensitive and construed on-line” (paradis 2012: 3357). due to limitations of space, only robin’s method of semantic field analysis will be discussed in detail and contrasted briefly with the cognitive approach to lexical meaning. 4 more recently, brexit has been announced the 2019 children’s word of the year as a result of a competition hosted by bbc radio 2 breakfast show in partnership with oxford university press. the analysis of children’s short stories submitted for the competition revealed that the use of the word increased by 192 percent since the 2018 competition. frequently, children used the word as inspiration for inventing new names for different types of leaving, e.g. clexit ‘class leaving the school’ (web 1). 68 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 2. semantic field analysis by régine robin (1980) similarly to firth (1935: 37), who claims that “the complete meaning of a word is always contextual, and no study of meaning apart from a complete context can be taken seriously”, robin (1980) emphasizes that the meaning of a word cannot be studied in isolation from other linguistic elements. she defines the semantic field of a word as a network of lexical items which co-occur in real-world situations and which influence and contribute significantly to the meaning of the key element, i.e. the subject (robin 1980). the hub of the entire network is the analysed word, which is either syntagmatically or paradigmatically related to other linguistic elements in the network. robin (1980) suggests that the linguistic elements be divided into six different categories, but that any necessary changes to the classification of lexical items can be introduced if need be. according to robin (1980), linguistic samples should be grouped as follows: i. equivalents – expressions synonymous to the key word; ii. oppositions – antonymous expressions; iii. descriptions – expressions which are used to characterise the term in question; iv. associations – words which are somehow connected with the key term; v. actions of the subject – what the subject, i.e. the analysed word, does or what impact it has upon other entities, etc.; vi. actions towards the subject – how the subject is influenced/affected; what actions are performed upon the subject, etc.5 all those linguistic elements constitute the semantic field of a given lexical item and contribute to the meaning of the key term, the definition of which can be worded, in keeping with kłosiński’s (1994) proposal, in the following vein: the lexeme under scrutiny (i.e. the subject), that is [equivalents], as opposed to [oppositions], is described as [descriptions]. it is associated with [associations], causes/makes/performs [actions of the subject ] and undergoes/is subject to [actions towards the subject ].6 in the convention used: all caps are used for the subject of the analysis; italics are used for corpus data; italics in bold are used for conjunctions; 5 translation by the authors. 6 translation by the authors. 69 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) bold font (to occur in the brexit definitions) is used for extra commentary of the authors resulting from the contexts in which the corpus examples appeared or were deemed necessary for stylistic purposes, but never interfering with the original meanings. kłosiński’s suggestion, pursuant to robin’s postulate, to employ the expressions coded in particular relational networks so as to construe the broad and aspectual definitions of the term under scrutiny, is open to modification depending on the requirements of individual analyses (see the discussion in fatyga et al. 2014: 2).7 fatyga et al. (ibid.) claim that robin’s method is a flexible analytic tool and, while adapting it for their study of public discourse on copyright, they added to it an evaluation of the emotional temperature of linguistic expressions that co-occur with prawo autorskie ‘copyright’. they assign the samples into four groups: positively-charged expressions, negatively-charged expressions, neutral and ambivalent expressions. in doing so, they refer to the psychological notion of affect, which is an integral part of human attitudes and can be defined as an elementary assessment of the state of affairs with reference to the positive-negative scale. in our analysis, we embrace the alterations of both kłosiński (1994) and fatyga et al. (2014) and as a result, apart from the main definition of brexit, we put forward two emotionally-marked definitions which synthesize the co-text expressions of brexit that involve positive and negative attitudes, respectively (see the discussion in section 5). prior to this, we provide a detailed classification of the corpus samples based on the application of robin’s method (see section 4). each category into which lexical co-items of the key word were classified is briefly characterised and illustrated by means of selected examples from the corpus. the summary of the data collection procedure, as well as a brief description of the corpus is provided in the following section. 3. data collection procedure and the characteristics of the corpus the present study is a qualitative corpus analysis for which linguistic samples have been retrieved via webcorplive which, as is stated on the website (web 3), “allows access to the world wide web as a corpus – a large collection of texts from which facts about the language can be extracted” (2019-09-06). webcorplive allows its users to find a word or a phrase in its own textual environment by means of such search engines as faroo, bing and the guardian open platform. it generates concordance lines which show every occurrence of a particular word/phrase in the corpus on a single results page. the authors of the paper used faroo search engine as it operates on peer-to-peer technology to crawl the world wide web and provides a real-time search. all faroo users contribute to the world-wide peer network, and the ranking of results is based 7 cf. paul & kisilowska (2016); ziarko (2017). 70 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) on user behaviour tracking and the popularity of webpages. the more often a web page is visited by faroo users and the more time they spend browsing a given page, the higher in rank the webpage is. the linguistic data extracted by means of a distributed search engine appear to reflect browsing habits of faroo users – there is no optimisation or positioning involved, which influence the visibility of a website or web page in popular centralised search engines. the search was conducted on april 8, 2019. limited to the english language, the case insensitive search generated 2060 concordances showing the word brexit in the context of 100 characters. webcorplive successfully accessed 92 web pages and 15 websites. wikipedia.org and youtube.com generated the greatest number of concordances as these are the pages which are the most frequently visited sites not only by faroo users.8 table 1 shows the distribution of concordances between the visited websites. it is important to underline that, as far as youtube.com is concerned, the search took into account only the written language, i.e. titles, descriptions of films, comments made by viewers, etc. apart from wikipedia.org, and youtube.com, pages such as dailymail.co.uk, news.yahoo. com or bbc.co.uk were also searched, to find the word of interest, i.e. brexit. the least frequently visited websites were telegraph.co.uk, theguardian.com, and mashable.com. table 1. the distribution of concordances between the websites no. website title number of concordances concordance percentage 1 bbc.co.uk 87 4.22% 2 bbc.com 54 2.62% 3 cnbc.com 26 1.26% 4 dailymail.co.uk 167 8.11% 5 en.wikipedia.org 718 34.85% 6 express.co.uk 72 3.50% 7 mashable.com 14 0.68% 8 nakedcapitalism.com 29 1.41% 9 news.yahoo.com 89 4.32% 10 nytimes.com 21 1.02% 11 reuters.com 67 3.25% 12 telegraph.co.uk 12 0.58% 13 theguardian.com 14 0.68% 8 according to similarweb ranking of the biggest websites based on the number of visits in june 2019, youtube.com is the second largest and wikipedia.org is the fifth largest website in the world (routley 2019). 71 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) no. website title number of concordances concordance percentage 14 xinhuanet.com 24 1.17% 15 youtube.com 666 32.33% 2060 100.00% the first mention of the word brexit in the generated corpus dates back to january 1, 2016. the number of concordances appears to correspond to political events, and therefore, in the years 2016 and 2019, a significant increase in the interest in brexit-related issues can be observed. the majority of concordances occurred in texts published in 2019 – 1619 (78.59% of all the concordances in the corpus) and in 2016 – 228 (11.07%). 2017 and 2018 saw a significant drop in matters pertaining to brexit, as there are only 30 (1.46%) and 85 (4.13%) concordances from those years, respectively. for 98 concordances (4.76%), the publication date remains unknown. 4.1 identifying the semantic field of brexit the purpose of this section is to present the analysis of the semantic field of the concept brexit which was conducted in accordance with robin’s approach (1980). as advocated by robin (1980), linguistic elements from the corpus have been assigned to appropriate categories and each group of words contributing to the meaning of brexit is briefly described in the subsections below. 4.1. equivalents the network of equivalents of brexit comprises a collection of expressions which relate to the meaning of the notion in question and includes: phrases that relate to the idea of the uk leaving the european union, as illustrated by the examples in (1a); those expressions that additionally evoke the notion of time connected with the upcoming brexit (see the examples in (1b); and those that apart from the basic meaning (cf. [1a]) carry an additional emotional/subjective9 component, as illustrated by the samples in (1c). (1) a.  leave; leaving the eu; britain’s withdrawal from the eu; the uk’s exit; britain’s departure from european leaders; uk divergence from eu; b.  the planned withdrawal of the uk from the eu; the uk’s scheduled exit; c.  the troubled plan for britain to quit the eu; the confusing and deeply nightmarish hellstorm 9 by “subjective” we mean elements of discourse which concern “expression of self and the representation of a speaker’s (or, more generally, a locutionary agent’s) perspective or point of view”, as worded by finegan (1995: 1). 72 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) that britain’s attempt to leave the eu has become; britain’s great exit; britain’s great escape; split with europe. 4.2. oppositions the phrases identified as oppositions of brexit were divided into two main groups. the first group constitutes expressions that are direct opposites of the term or indicate ideas opposite to leaving the eu, as the examples in (2) illustrate. the second group (see the data in [3]) comprises expressions which refer to various scenarios that brexit is contrasted with: all types of alternative scenarios like britain having another referendum in which people would reconsider their choices concerning staying in or leaving the eu, or britain leaving the european union without a deal because of parliament’s lack of acceptance of the withdrawal agreement negotiated by prime minister may. (2) remain; remain +; bremain; the remain inside the eu; continued membership; not leaving at all; (3) a.  norway-style soft brexit and second referendum; b.  to have another vote on brexit; c.  a no-deal brexit; crashing out without a deal; d.  reveal brexit plan b; arrive at a consensus brexit plan within any future time frame; e.  rejecting a no-deal brexit and failing to reach a consensus for any alternative options. 4.3. descriptions the description network, according to robin (1980: 255), refers to a variety of means of characterising the subject. as for the way users of the english language characterise brexit, expressions that show their negative attitude towards the phenomenon (see the examples in [4a]) clearly prevail over those that code the positive attitude (cf. [4b]).10 negative assessment is also salient in a group of expressions that refer to the way brexit was or is being handled, as illustrated by the examples in (4c). (4) a. brexit was a mistake; brexit is a bad idea; brexit is bad from every single angle; a catastrophically stupid decision; b. brexit is good for working people; brexit is a very big step; brexit is the only sensible choice; 10 the terms “positive/negative evaluations” are used in the sense of fries (1992: 25-56), who maintains that evaluations expressed, for example, by adjectives like good or bad require for their interpretation the concept of both a scale and understanding that speakers’ assessments of this kind involve gradation. 73 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) c.  brexit has been a story of party management over the national interest; it’s like the playground; a comedy of errors; brexit: malice or incompetence? a large collection of words referring to brexit are expressions, mainly adjectives, that describe the event with respect to the legal aspects of the british withdrawal from the eu and can be organized around two ideas: leaving with a deal or leaving without a deal. brexit, in view of the deal scenario, is usually described as “orderly” or “soft” (see the data in [5a]). expressions used to refer to brexit without a deal tend to evoke the ideas of abruptness and volatility, as the instances in (5b) show. (5) a.  soft brexit; a “softer” brexit; orderly brexit; “slow brexit”; b. a disorderly brexit (without an agreement); an “accidental disorderly” no-deal brexit; worst-case brexit; hard brexit; painful brexit; a rapid brexit; cliff-edge brexit; a clean# brexit; blindfold brexit; c. the “have cake and eat it” mentality brexit; cherry-picking brexit; a green brexit; a red, white and blue brexit; white brexit. the senses in (5c) are usages whose interpretation is metaphorically grounded. on the one hand, there are “have cake and eat it” mentality brexit and cherry-picking brexit, which both indicate the disapprobation of the attitude of the british towards the process. namely, the british are often criticized for wanting their exit to be an escape from the problems of the eu without losing the privileges and benefits arising from the membership. on the other hand, there are “colourful” brexit adjectives: a green brexit that stands for brexit and its potential benefits for environmental protection in the uk; white brexit that stands for a partial brexit, with britain retaining its membership in the uk customs union of a single market; or a red, white and blue brexit that stands for an ambitious deal with the eu from which all british subjects shall benefit once it takes place. 4.4. associations another group of expressions are items that belong to the association network of brexit. by associations we mean syntagmatic relations motivated contextually (see robin 1980: 254). the expressions classified as associations can be sorted in the following vein. first, a substantial number of corpus expressions are associations that relate to brexit taking place (6a), or expressions associated with procedural difficulties in handling brexit (6b). the latter idea is also present in (6c), but in the case of these associations, an additional focus is on the timeline of brexit and the duration of the process. following this, there is a variety of names that we consider to be associations relating to people engaged 74 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in brexit or affected by brexit, so that the group includes both people in favour of it and those against it (6d). (6) a.  the brexit referendum; the leave campaign; the exit deal; “divorce bill”; b.  consensus brexit plan; toxic brexit debate; the brexit withdrawal agreement; impasse over brexit; the betrayal of brexit; trice-rejected divorce deal; c.  a b “flextension”; an extension to brexit; a postponement of brexit; a further brexit delay; d.  a fan of brexit; brexit ally; the eu “brexit” illuminati; leavers; adherents of the leave campaign; ardent brexiteers; brexit camp; brexit supporters; mr brexit; remainers; remoaners. one of the more conspicuous groups of associations of the subject are phrases that bring to light the chaos and uncertainty prompted by brexit. consider the data in (7). (7) rising brexit uncertainty; to solve brexit chaos; to escape brexit troubles; to put lipstick on the pig of her brexit mess. importantly, a whole set of expressions are associations that relate to all sorts of brexitinduced consequences. presented in (8), they are either corpus instances that show that brexit is frequently associated with its impact (8a), or examples which more specifically relate to the impact of brexit in the realm of economy and finance (8b). it has to be noted that the majority of these associations correspond to the downsides of brexit. (8) a.  the impact of brexit on the eu; britain’s self-inflicted brexit crisis; damage of brexit to the british economy b.  the savings on brexit; the financial benefits of brexit; economic effects of brexit; estimates of the cost of brexit; the real price of brexit. 4.5. actions of the subject in robin’s approach, two more groups of phrases relate to the verbal network: those which encode actions of the subject and those which encode actions towards the subject. according to fontaine (2017: 8), brexit is a complex nominal, the meaning of which “encodes both the meaning of exiting as an event and the cognitive meaning of who/what will be doing the exiting”. in view of the above characteristics, we decided that the actions of the subject can be divided into two groups: those which indicate that brexit is an event, as in the case of the data in (9) and (10); and those which show that brexit itself may be a trigger for various consequences, as in (11). such a division 75 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of linguistic samples is based on the meaning of verbs which are used to convey information on brexit actions/influence. the neologism brexit, as underlined by fontaine (2017: 2), carries an event-oriented meaning and, therefore, it is said to occur, happen or take place (9): (9) brexit is taking place; brexit may not happen; brexit won’t happen without a compromise on both sides; no-one thinks brexit will work; as illustrated by (10), the lexeme brexit may also be considered in terms of accomplishments, which constitute a subtype of the event, in line with wilhelm’s (1999: 45) observation that “accomplishments have an initiation point as well as an endpoint. they take a certain (long or short) time to be completed, and are not completed before this time has elapsed”. (10) brexit could slip away as crunch week looms; brexit could “slip through our fingers”. the actions of the subject, however, refer mostly to the consequences connected with britain’s withdrawal from the eu (see the examples in [11]). although the actual leaving has not taken place in the time frame of this article being written, brexit has already exerted considerable influence upon different spheres of human life, international politics, and european union stability. 7.6% of all the linguistic examples in which brexit is used in the subject position and is the trigger for the actions described refer to the past, 31.6% to the present, and 60.8% to the future. significant as it is, a great number of examples that are future-oriented express hypothetical situations, worries or threats. fontaine (2017: 12) even underlines that this hypothetical meaning is “implicitly encoded in the term brexit [… which] is not derived from the blend itself but from the context of situation and how it came to be coined”. the samples describing the impact of brexit have been divided into four topic-related categories that include: political consequences of brexit, the impact of brexit on business, economy and finance, social consequences of brexit, and other consequences. the corpus usages of the lexeme brexit used in the subject position and catalogued within these four categories were most numerous among the data in the study and therefore, a limited number of them were selected for the sake of presentation (11). 36.7% of all the samples describing brexit as a cause of consequences can be interpreted as referring to political consequences of brexit, mainly potential and anticipated. the group is illustrated with the examples in (11a). equally, many corpus instances indicate consequences which are economic and financial in nature (11b). 13.9% of the samples are concerned with the social consequences of brexit, as some of them included below in (11c) show. finally, 12.7% of the samples are cases which were classified as other consequences of brexit (11d). 76 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (11) brexit raised issues around sovereignty for gibraltar; brexit threatens good friday agreement; eu referendum: brexit would spark “constitutional crisis” for uk; a.  brexit has already hurt eu and non-eu exports; brexit will redirect our nation’s cash-flow; the no deal brexit could create economic pain across europe, with no winner; b.  brexit poses challenges for uk higher education and academic research; *the brexit destroys own country and people;11 brexit would deplete the national health service (nhs) workforce; c.  a no-deal brexit would have dire consequences; a hard brexit would deliver a shock; brexit would result in a “lose-lose situation” for both the uk and the eu. in all the examples listed above, the term brexit is used in the subject position. however, there are also examples in which the action of the subject is implicitly conveyed. brexit is frequently used as a noun modifier or part of a noun modifying phrase. as a result, it is not the brexit as such that is the “causer” of certain actions but phenomena strictly related to it, and therefore, it is the brexit referendum itself that damaged the economy, or the brexit vote that may spark recession. consider more examples in (12): (12) brexit-induced reductions in migration; every move in the pound has been tied directly to brexit news; the 27 are frustrated with all the brexit wrangling. similarly, the data in (13) refer to a brexit-induced impact with the lexeme brexit featuring in these examples as a prepositional complement. in some cases, as in: what can america learn from brexit?, brexit itself is the phenomenon that leads to certain consequences. in others, however, as in: the country at large remains deeply polarised over the terms of brexit and even whether to depart at all; brexit is, in general, the factor leading to certain consequences. (13) almost all uk regions are systematically more vulnerable to brexit than regions in any other country; the end of british austerity starts with brexit. 4.6. actions towards the subject for clarity, actions towards the subject have been divided into seven topic-related categories. they reflect external influence exerted upon the subject, i.e. what is done to brexit or with brexit, and how it is affected by some actions. apart from the phrases in which brexit is used in the object position, examples in which the key term functions 11 our corpus contains non-standard usages of spelling and grammar of english, which we indicate with asterisks where necessary. 77 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) as a noun modifier (nm) or a prepositional complement (pc) have been included as well, as they still describe actions directed at the subject. first and foremost, brexit is subject to actions which are either to prevent it from happening (14) or which are to ensure that it will take place (15). (14) to unilaterally halt brexit; to stop brexit; take brexit off the table and stay in the eu; “kiss goodbye” to brexit (pc). (15) leaving “no stone unturned” to try and resolve brexit; to navigate brexit; to nail brexit; to secure brexit; to have another vote on brexit (pc). still other examples can be grouped on the grounds that they seem to indicate the awareness of the speakers as to the obstacles leading up to brexit (16) or actions towards the subject that are destructive for it (17). (16) there is now a danger that brexit could be lost; is may set for total brexit surrender? (nm); to fail to deliver on brexit (pc); there was a risk of brexit slipping further from grasp (pc). (17) destroying brexit in the process; “terrible collaboration” between eu and uk mps to hijack brexit; rees-mogg attacks pm for killing brexit. while the examples in (17) show the negative or destructive impact upon brexit, others contain verbs or phrases which signify that brexit is a source of confusion and disagreement, as in (18) below: (18) brexit was sold through hysteria; *brits poke their eyes out with brexit. they are a neverending monty python show! (pc); parliament wrestles with brexit (pc). with a global-scale impact, brexit attracts a great deal of attention and its updates occur regularly. hence, a significant portion of the corpus shows actions which are to influence the reception of brexit or which inform about recent news releases. consider the data in (19): (19) trevor noah roasts brexit using multiple british accents; mark blyth, who accurately predicted brexit and trump explains in clear language how globalisation and capitalism are failing people. 78 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) finally, the examples in (20) refer to the actual departure of britain from the eu and, to be more specific, to the extension to the withdrawal date, often referred to as “brextension”: (20) to delay brexit; to kick brexit a year more down the road; to postpone brexit; a flexible brexit extension (nm); to grant the uk more time over brexit (pc). 5. definitions of brexit on the basis of the corpus analysis and kłosiński’s (1994) formulation of the definition which stems from semantic field analysis (see section 3 of the article), it was possible to arrive at a broad definition of brexit. may’s statement “brexit means brexit,” in view of real language use, could thus be rephrased as follows: definition 1: brexit that is leave, the uk’s scheduled exit, as opposed to remain, continued membership but also in contrast to other alternative scenarios, such as not leaving at all, putting brexit to a second referendum [...] with a view to cancelling it or to an “accidental disorderly” no-deal brexit, rejecting a no-deal brexit and failing to reach a consensus for any alternative options, is described both as a mistake and the only sensible choice, bad from every single angle and good for working people, as well as soft and hard, orderly and disorderly, either a success or a failure, green, white, or red, white and blue. brexit is associated with its own proceeding, as in the brexit referendum, the leave campaign, a consensus brexit plan, a series of brexit options, the brexit withdrawal agreement, a brexit impasse, brexit day, a flexible brexit extension; brexit is also associated with the people engaged in the process, like leavers, pro-brexit members, pro-brexiteers, brexit-backing ministers, but also with hardline eurosceptic conservative lawmakers, or remainers, as well as with its multiple consequences including the impact of brexit on the eu, economic effects of brexit, the real price of brexit, brexit uncertainty, brexit chaos. brexit happened and it has become so toxic; it sparks chaos, threatens to eat up more of the eu’s time; it may not happen, or “slip through our fingers” as it won’t happen without a compromise. brexit would have a “knock-on effect in europe and in the world” and would result in a “lose-lose situation” for both the uk and the eu. it raises questions: if it could create a crisis at the irish border; what the implications of brexit for agriculture and farming will be; whether “brits are going to be worse off” because of it; if our democracy is under threat over brexit. brexit undergoes actions which are to prevent it from happening, such as voting to cancel brexit, stopping brexit, taking brexit off the table, or which are to ensure that it will take place, such as navigating brexit, finding a way out of a brexit impasse, arriving at a consensus brexit plan or debating the way forward on brexit. people are anxious about 79 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) brexit, as in brexit might not be delivered at all or could be lost as time is running out for brexit to be secured. brexit is being sold through hysteria and surrounded in chaotic uncertainty and undergoes attacks which attempt to wreck it, thwart it, kill it, hijack or destroy it. most of all, however, brexit is being debated, explained, updated, roasted, and spoofed, and the way it came about and has been prosecuted is a tragedy. in analysing the corpus data, the next step was to sort linguistic samples into groups according to their emotional charge. brexit discourse, especially the samples classified as “actions of the subject” and “actions towards the subject”, appeared emotionally-marked to a large extent, covering extreme attitudes of the speakers towards the phenomenon, from fierce opposition to absolute approval with total disregard for the complications that britain’s withdrawal from the eu may result in. in accordance with the suggestions of fatyga et al. (2014),12 we divided the samples into four categories by assigning to them positive, negative, neutral or ambivalent values. the assessment was carried out in such a way that we focused on those elements of the utterances that indicated the speaker’s subjective and intersubjective evaluations of the states of affairs, like expressions of emotional attitude, or boulomaic modality, which, according to nuyts (2006: 12), is typically coded by means of lexical means such as predicative adjectives, adverbs, and the main verbs. in our data, positive or rather a positive attitude is illustrated by the samples in (21a), while those in (21b) exemplify neutral senses. utterances such as those in (21c) and (21d) were interpreted as ambivalent and negative or rather negative, respectively. let us note at this point that, after the convention of nuyts, the expression of emotional attitude involves scalarity, with the speakers’ opinions varying from absolute liking, through neutral, to absolute disliking. therefore, we assume the boundaries between the categories below to be fuzzy, rather than clear-cut. (21) a. brexit is causing summer package holiday prices to europe to drop; to save brexit; b. article 50 – the legal mechanism through which brexit is taking place; to propose options for brexit; c. brexit beckons; may offers to compromise on brexit; d. brexit will hurt the economy; mps voting to seize control of brexit from ministers has only fuelled the demands. in the case of the actions of the subject, the majority of the examples (65.5%) exhibit mostly negative emotions. the neutral value was assigned in about one quarter 12 cf. the discussion in section 2. 80 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of the examples, while ambivalent or positive values were assigned in 5.5% and 4.8% of cases, respectively (see figure 1 below). figure 1. emotional bias as exhibited by samples classified as “actions of the subject” likewise, actions towards the subject have been analysed according to their emotional charge. figure 2 visualizes the division of linguistic examples into positive, negative, neutral and ambivalent, and gives their percentage distribution. from the pie chart, it is clear that the majority of examples are negative or neutral, with just 9.87% difference between the two. only a small fraction of linguistic samples is positive (8.01%) whereas 21.6 % is considered ambivalent. figure 2. emotional bias as exhibited by samples classified as “actions towards the subject” 81 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) taking into account the above considerations, the authors propose the formulation of two more definitions of brexit, that is the positive one (see definition 2) and the negative one (definition 3). depending on language users’ experience with the phenomenon of brexit, may’s definition of brexit could be completed in the following vein: definition 2: brexit, that is the planned withdrawal of the uk from the eu, the uk’s scheduled exit, britain’s great escape, as opposed to alternative options, such as norway-style soft brexit and second referendum, is described as soft, orderly, and good for working people. it is a very big step and the only sensible choice. brexit is associated with its own proceeding, as in the brexit referendum, the exit deal, a consensus brexit plan, a series of brexit options, the brexit withdrawal agreement, and with the people engaged in the process, like a fan or supporter of brexit, pro-brexit members, pro-brexiteers, as well as with its consequences which include the savings on brexit, and the financial benefits of brexit. brexit will redirect our nation’s cash-flow, and wages for british workers will rise in the event of brexit. it is causing summer package holiday prices to europe drop and the end of british austerity starts with brexit. brexit undergoes actions whose aim is to try and resolve brexit (leaving ‘no stone unturned’), to nail and agree on it, to conclude a brexit deal, or grant the country an extension to it. definition 3: brexit, that is the troubled plan for britain to quit the eu, the confusing and deeply nightmarish hellstorm that britain’ attempt to leave the eu has become, as opposed to alternative scenarios like rejecting a no-deal brexit and failing to reach a consensus for any alternative options, crashing out without a deal; is described as a mistake, a catastrophically stupid decision, a story of party management over the national interest and a comedy of errors. it is hard, disorderly, painful, bad from every single angle, and it is like the playground. brexit is associated with its own proceeding, as in the impasse over brexit, the fundamental problem with brexit, the betrayal of brexit, trice-rejected divorce deal; with the people engaged in the process, like remoaners, the eu “brexit” illuminati and infuriated brexit supporters, as well as with its consequences, as in brexit uncertainty/chaos/mess or troubles; brexit betrayal, budget cuts and damage to the british economy. brexit, among other things, threatens to eat up more of the eu’s time, while other issues demand attention; it will strengthen all authoritarians and would spark ‘constitutional crisis’ for the uk. it has already hurt eu and non-eu exports, and poses challenges for uk higher education and academic research as it could cost uk science millions in lost research funding. it will have immediate and longer-term effects on the economies of the uk and would have an adverse impact on health in the uk under every brexit scenario as it would deplete 82 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the national health service (nhs) workforce. brexit destroys own country and people and is damaging their brains. brexit undergoes actions whose aim is to unilaterally halt brexit or hijack and kill it; to reverse it, to stumble toward it or to destroy it. brits poke their eyes out with brexit, and people/politicians lash out over it, clash on it, roast or spoof it, and parliament wrestles with brexit, whereas mps vote to seize control of it as they will not let theresa may “surrender” to a soft brexit. they talk about nothing else but brexit, and the bbc is biased against it. the definitions above reflect the extreme positions that speakers assume when expressing their assessment and attitude towards brexit, and bring to light the political divide over the issue of brexit. apart from the dictionary meaning, they contain contextinferred elements of cultural knowledge, as well as personal experience-based knowledge of language users, who vary in their opinions of brexit. emerging from the analysis of real language use, the definitions show that the meaning of a concept is reliant upon other linguistic elements, and its semantic field reflects its network of relations with other contextually-bound lexical units. hence, the word brexit does not merely mean ‘the british exit from the eu’, but also, as definitions show, the scheduled exit or the planned withdrawal, and at the same time, britain’s great escape or the confusing and deeply nightmarish hellstorm. may’s sentence: “brexit is...” appears to have multiple endings because brexit means something different for each of us, as the meaning of the concept is highly dependent upon our background knowledge and experiences with the term under discussion. 6. cognitive approach to the meaning of brexit similarly to the syntagmatic approach represented by robin (1980), “the cognitive approach to meaning is usage-based” (paradis 2012: 3357) and, as evans and green (2006: 160) emphasize, “words do not represent neatly packaged bundles of meaning (the dictionary view), but serve as ‘points of access’ to vast repositories of knowledge relating to a particular concept or conceptual domain”. this set of cognitive domains evoked by an expression is called a conceptual matrix by langacker (2008), who also claims that it is essential to activate encyclopedic knowledge for proper understanding of a concept. in langacker’s vein (2008), the conceptual matrix for the word brexit will thus incorporate such basic domains as space, time and force (lakoff & johnson 1980), and some abstract domains which are reflected in metaphorical usages of the lexeme brexit. as the analysis of the brexit corpus revealed, the term is largely used in negative contexts and is perceived mostly as a threat or disaster, which the selected examples in (22) and (23), respectively, demonstrate: 83 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (22) brexit is a threat brexit: the unexpected threat to peace in northern ireland. brexit will reinvigorate the armageddon synonym industry by freeing it from the constraints of brussels red tape. brexit would threaten calais border agreement. (23) brexit is a disaster *the brexit destroys own country and people. brexit would be a disaster for uk science, say scientists. almost all uk regions are systematically more vulnerable to brexit than regions in any other country. never-ending brexit talks, replete with sheer hatred and bile, turn the political scene into a battlefield, and brexit appears to be the object of fighting/war (24): (24) brexit is fighting/war i’m waiting for may to move brexit “red lines”. she fought off a plot to delay brexit. the foreign secretary immediately went on the attack over brexit… such mixed feelings over the uk’s withdrawal permeate speech and language, in general, and influence public attitude towards the inevitable split with the eu. interestingly, brexit is not only perceived as a bone of contention but also as a victim (25), which the following examples illustrate: (25) brexit is a victim may has wrecked brexit, and wrecked the country. may launched talks with him in a last-ditch bid to save brexit. may to blame: rees-mogg attacks pm for killing brexit – all rests with her! fierce disagreement over the terms of the withdrawal, verbal abuse among politicians, as well as bitter hostility between pro – and anti-brexit protesters result in talking about brexit in terms of chaos, as indicated by the examples in (26): (26) 84 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) brexit is chaos may attempted to put lipstick on the pig of her brexit mess. britain’s thriving art scene strangled by chaos. the chaos over brexit will likely have done irreparable damage to public confidence in our political system. as is often emphasised, 23 june 2016 has changed the world forever and undermined european integrity. brexit-resultant political and economic instability and insecurity are predicted to drag on for years, and the costs of brexit are likely to increase significantly. hence, brexit is often portrayed metaphorically as a cost, which is illustrated by the examples in (27): (27) brexit is a cost the real price of brexit begins to emerge. brexit vote may spark recession. brexit will likely reduce the uk’s real per capita income. brexit has been the buzzword on everyone’s lips since the referendum, and “has inspired far more metaphors than it has solutions” (tapper 2019). compared to a cup of peppermint tea, escaping from prison, eating a chocolate orange, ordering at a restaurant, a divorce or failed marriage, brexit refers to an excruciatingly prolonged process that is difficult to grasp or explicate, and which arouses long-standing controversy, which figurative language tends to illuminate. though it is not our aim to analyse all the metaphors connected with the key term, we are convinced that it is worth mentioning just a few of them, as they undeniably bring to light certain aspects of the brexit phenomenon. they provide a window into human cognition and reveal how people conceptualise and reason about this political phenomenon. the inductive approach to metaphor analysis enabled us to identify domains against which the concept is understood and characterised. in contrast to robin’s method of analysis, which enabled us to arrive deductively at the definition of brexit, the cognitive approach to semantics illuminates which bodies of knowledge are activated during the process of meaning construction. it concentrates mainly on the conceptual level, as opposed to robin’s, which focuses on the syntactic level of language and analyses linguistic samples which may have influence upon the meaning of a lexical item. obviously, robin’s approach to lexical semantics cannot be treated on a par with langacker’s encyclopaedic view as they represent different, but not exclusive, approaches to the analysis of a word’s meaning. however, it goes 85 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) without saying that cognitive assumptions may contribute significantly to a deeper understanding of the key concept. 7. conclusion this paper set out to provide a definition of brexit which resulted from the analysis of instances of the occurrences of the key term in the generated corpus. we adopted robin’s method of semantic field analysis to divide linguistic samples and made use of kłosiński’s (1994) and fatyga et al.’s (2014) assumptions to provide a more thorough usage-based analysis of the lexeme brexit. we also showed that, on the basis of the analy sis of emotional temperature, apart from the broad – neutral definition, we may formulate positive and negative ones to present polar views about the term under discussion. finally, we noted that the cognitive approach to lexical semantics may contribute significantly to the analysis of a word’s meaning, as it brings to light aspects of encyclopedic knowledge that are essential for the concept to be properly understood. although robin’s approach seems to provide a well-designed division of linguistic samples, it is effortful and time-consuming and therefore, may be inappropriate for the analysis of large corpora. however, it seems quite useful for specifying synonyms, antonyms or collocations of a concept, or for determining grammatical features of a lexeme. in addition, robin’s analysis of semantic fields, applied together with kłosiński’s (1994) definition of the subject, reveals how the analysed concept is portrayed by language users and provides us with a compilation of views about the lexeme. as has already been posited, brexit discourse is florid and emotionally loaded, frequently aggressive and disrespectful, and the term itself is largely used in negative contexts, the trend being well-captured in the positive and negative definitions of the lexeme that the authors develop. references cowburn, a. 2016. theresa may says ‘brexit means brexit’ and there will be no attempt to remain inside eu. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-maybrexit-means-brexit-conservative-leadership-no-attempt-remain-inside-eu-leave-europe-a7130596.html (3 september 2019). davis, g. 2017. the language of brexit. https://www.open.edu/openlearn/languages/english-language/the-language-brexit (1july 2019). evans, v. & green, m. 2006. cognitive linguistics. an introduction. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. fatyga, b., kietlińska, b., michalczak, k., michalski p., piotrowski m. & tomanek, p. 2014. raport końcowy z badania dyskursu publicznego o prawie autorskim w polsce w latach 2012–2013. 86 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) https://prawokultury.pl/media/entry/attach/fundacja_nowoczesna_polska-raport_ ko%c5%84cowy-badanie_dyskursu_prawa_autorskiego.pdf (25 april 2019). finegan, e. 1995. subjectivity and subjectivisation: an introduction. in: d. stain & s. wright, (eds.), subjectivity and subjectification. linguistic perspectives, 1-15. cambridge: cambridge university press. firth, j. r. 1935. the technique of semantics. transactions of the philological society 34(1): 36-73. fontaine, l. 2017. the early semantics of the neologism brexit: a lexicogrammatical approach. functional linguistics 4(6): 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40554-017-0040-x (15 january 2020). fries, n. 1992. wartościowanie. aspekty językowe i pojęciowe. in: g. falkenberg, n. fries & j. puzynina (eds.), wartościowanie w języku i w tekście na materiale polskim i niemieckim. warsaw: wydawnictwa uniwersytetu warszawskiego. kłosiński, marek. 1994. semantyczna analiza pojęć ‘bezrobocie’ i ‘bezrobotny’ (‘bezrobotni’) w wypowiedziach prasowych. kultura i społeczeństwo 3: 151-162. lakoff, g. & johnson m. 1980. metaphors we live by. chicago: university of chicago press. langacker, r. w. 2008. cognitive grammar. an introduction. new york: oxford university press, inc. line, h. 2016. oxford english dictionary offers definition of brexit as it adds new words. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/brexit-definition-oxford-englishdictionary-add-new-words-2016-a7476271.html (6 september 2019). nuyts, j. 2006. modality: overview and linguistic issues. in: w. frawley (ed.), the expression of modality, 1-26. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. paradis, c. 2012. lexical semantics. in: c. a. chapelle (ed.), the encyclopedia of applied linguistics, 3357-3356. wiley: blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405198431. wbeal0695 paul, m. & kisilowska, m. 2016. czym jest czytanie? intuicje i definicje. kultura popularna 4(50): 16-34. http://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media//files/kultura_popularna/kultura_popularnar2016-t-n4_(50)/kultura_popularna-r2016-t-n4_(50)-s16-34/kultura_popularna-r2016t-n4_(50)-s16-34.pdf (12 december 2019). robin, r. 1980. badanie pól semantycznych: doświadczenia ośrodka leksykologii politycznej w saint-cloud. in m. głowiński (ed.), język i społeczeństwo, 252-281. warsaw: czytelnik. routley, n. 2019. ranking the top 100 websites in the world. https://www.visualcapitalist. com/ranking-the-top-100-websites-in-the-world/ (8 september 2019). stolworthy, j. 2016. collins dictionary’s 10 words of the year, from ‘brexit’ and ‘snowflake generation’ to ‘jomo’. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/ news/collins-dictionarys-10-word-of-the-year-from-brexit-and-snowflake-generationto-jomo-a7395121.html (5 january 2019). 87 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) stone, j. 2019. france’s eu minister names her cat ‘brexit’ because ‘he meows loudly to be let out but won’t go through the door’. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/ world/europe/brexit-france-theresa-may-deal-nathalie-loiseau-cat-a8828026.html (4 september 2019). tapper, j. 2019. the many metaphors of brexit. https://daily.jstor.org/daily-author/ james-tapper/ (1 january 2019). wilhelm, a. 1999. event structure and syntax: german*. calgary working papers in linguistics 21(winter): 44-65. ziarko, j. 2017. framing w nowych mediach jako narzędzie manipulacyjnego oddziaływania na społeczeństwo, na przykładzie budowania dyskryminującego obrazu uchodźców. bezpieczeństwo. teoria i praktyka 4: 65-83. https://btip.ka.edu.pl/ pdf/2017-4/btip2017-4-ziarko.pdf (26 january 2020). web pages: web 1 – bbc media centre. https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2019/childrens-word-of-the-year (19 january 2020). web 2 – urban dictionary. http://www.urbandictionary.com (21 december 2019). web 3 – webcorplive. http://www.webcorp.org.uk/live/guide.jsp (8 april 2019). * * * izabela sekścińska is a lecturer at łomża state university of applied sciences. her main teaching areas are descriptive grammar of the english language and comparative linguistics. she obtained her ph.d. degree in linguistics from nicolaus copernicus university in toruń. her current research is in the area of neuroscience and psycholinguistics. agnieszka piórkowska holds a ph.d. in linguistics, and works as a lecturer at łomża state university of applied sciences. her research interests include cognitive investigation of modality and emotional attitude, as well as methodology of teaching english to young learners. 86 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) magdalena żochowska1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.05 maria curie-skłodowska university, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8818-6828 translating irony. translation strategies and techniques used by polish translators of pride and prejudice abstract. this article presents the results of a comparative analysis of two polish translations of pride and prejudice by jane austen. the authors of the translations are anna przedpełska-trzeciakowska and magdalena gawlik-małkowska. attention is given to rendering irony, which is the novel’s characteristic feature. the analysed excerpts illustrate the main translation strategies and techniques used in the polish translations. a comparative analysis shows that techniques applicable to rendering humour and culture-bound elements can be used to translate irony as well. the polish translations convey irony, but there are differences caused by the translators’ interpretations and by their choice of strategies and techniques. przedpełska-trzeciakowska often uses the strategy of foreignization, but she tries to guide the reader so that they can perceive the implicature. gawlik-małkowska’s translation is more literal and more modern, and its irony is more covert. keywords: jane austen, translation, translation strategy, translation technique, literary irony. 1 introduction many scholars dealing with translation studies agree that full equivalence between the source text (st) and the target text (tt) can never be achieved (munday 2010: 37, 43). the concept of equivalence appeared in the work of vinay and darbelnet, ‘stylistique comparée du français et de l’anglais’ (1958); equivalence was enumerated as one of the procedures used in translation (vinay & darbelnet 1958: 8). the term was then described by roman jakobson (1959: 139) who wrote about the equivalence of words and meaning, and by many other scholars. for example, baker (1992) identified various kinds of equivalence occurring on different levels: grammar, pragmatics, etc. the notion of 1 address for correspondence: maria-curie sklodowska university, pl. m. curie-skłodowskiej 5, 20-031 lublin, poland. e-mail: magdaz3636@gmail.com 87 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) equivalence is important while conducting a comparative analysis of translations. tt should be faithful to the original on each level and preserve its style and message. when the meaning is implicit, as in the case of irony, the task becomes more complicated. perceiving literary irony requires more attention from the reader than noticing the irony in someone’s speech, when additional signs can be noticed, suggesting the right interpretation (tone of voice, facial expression, various gestures) (wilson & sperber 2012: 123). noticing irony in jane austen’s novel poses additional problem: the text and its humour is dated. pride and prejudice was first published in 1813 and contains many caustic and bitter remarks aimed at mocking the society of the regency era. certain customs and situations which are ironical can be unclear for the contemporary reader from both the united kingdom and poland. therefore, reading such a novel requires some specific knowledge not only from the translator, but also from the readers. translator has to choose between bringing the text closer to the contemporary foreign reader or relying on their knowledge of the famous author and her culture. the aim of this paper is to analyse jane austen’s use of irony and its rendering by two polish translators: anna przedpełska-trzeciakowska and magdalena gawlikmałkowska, in order to show how particular strategies and techniques can be used to render the implied ironical message and whether they make irony more or less overt. some of the techniques analysed were found useful by vallès (2014) in rendering humour. hejwowski’s (2006) techniques for translating cultural aspects are also considered since irony is culture-bound. the differences found in the approaches adopted by the translators answer the question whether these strategies and techniques, used by the translators, can be successfully adopted and whether they preserve the ironical as well as the literal meaning of jane austen’s text. irony is the prevailing attitude adopted by the narrator of pride and prejudice, hence its importance. anna przedpełska-trzeciakowska is the author of the first polish translation of pride and prejudice, the first edition of which appeared in 1957, published by państwowy instytut wydawniczy. the translations by magdalena gawlik-małkowska were published by prószyński media (earlier: prószyński i s-ka). the third polish translator of the book is katarzyna surówka. her version is omitted here, as it is the least popular, published only two times by zielona sowa2. 2 irony as a literary device in the broader sense, irony refers to the variety of verbal expressions, as well as to the situations expressed in ways different than verbal (østergaard 2014: 449). one of the first definitions of this phenomenon was formulated by the ancient greek philosopher 2 data presented in the paragraph are taken from the online catalogues of national library (katalog biblioteki narodowej, access: 15.08.2020). 88 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) aristotle (384–322 bc), and described as a person’s attitude (an “understatement”); it was adopted for example by socrates, who used irony while convincing others to his beliefs (allemann 1986: 228). nowadays, scholars look at the phenomenon of irony from different perspectives. oxford dictionary distinguishes between a linguistic definition: expressing one’s meaning with the use of the words meaning the opposite; figurative meaning: “a state of affairs” contrary to what is expected, which evokes an amused feeling; and a “literary technique” used originally in ancient greece, when the significance of the character’s actions was known to the audience, but not to the character himself (oxford dictionary: irony). irony can be dependent on the speaker performing a certain speech act or on the external factors, so called “fate”. irony can also be defined simply as “a contrast between reality and appearance” (khalaf 2017: 70). when the spoken and the written word is concerned, this phenomenon is “an insincere statement, where the speaker intends the listener to perceive it as insincere and where the statement constitutes a misfit with some aspects of the context” (østergaard 2014: 449). this definition contains one of the main features of irony, namely, insincerity. irony is often seen as “the subtlest comic form” (chowdhury 2007: 9). it is confused with sarcasm and satire; the first being a more obvious, exaggerated (chowdhury 2007: 9) and aggressive form of irony (attardo 2000: 795); the second attempting to ridicule human weakness to advocate reform (chowdhury 2007: 10). the main features of irony are: ambiguity, lack of hurtful aim and lack of moralistic attitude (chowdhury 2007: 8; chakhachiro 2009: 33). irony is also often associated with humour, although it co-exists with tragedy, as well (chowdhury 2007: 24). irony carries emotional values (attardo 2000: 794). therefore, it can be positive or negative, although in both cases it is critical since one can pretend to criticise while implicating praise or, more often, pretending to praise while criticising. it is witty, intelligent and always contains a feeling, judgement or attitude of a disapproving kind (garmendia 2010: 401). still, it can be jovial (kaufer 1986:319), as is jane austen’s irony. as an ironist, she presents a disillusioned albeit sympathetic outlook on human nature and society (chowdhury 2007: 171-172). in the words of her character elizabeth she presents her view on that issue: i hope i never ridicule what is wise or good. follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies, do divert me, i own, and i laugh at them whenever i can (austen 2004: 57) furthermore, the aesthetic value of the ironists’ witty remarks is for them of a great importance. when analysing irony as an interpretive form, a significant aesthetic role can be attributed to binary oppositions, which are pairs of mutually-exclusive terms or concepts (kaufer 1986: 321). in pride and prejudice these are, for example, knowledge 89 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and truth, intentions and expectations, self-perception and the way others see us (chowdhury 2007: 4-5). irony in pride and prejudice is humorous, gentle, ridiculing the society, but with no intention of reforming it (chowdhury 2007: 11, 24, 27, 29). it is implicated in the narrative, but also revealed in the characters’ words (chowdhury 2007: 11, 41). the proper characterization of austen’s use of irony is important in order to preserve its original style in translation. 3 translating literary irony while translating irony, the key issue is to render the implied ironical message and the narrator’s attitude to the world. as skorov observes: if an entire book is pervaded by irony, then irony itself is the book’s most important message. as a consequence, it is irony that must be, above all, conveyed in the translation of such a book – at the expense, sometimes, of literal accuracy (skorov 2009: 102). it can be difficult because the cultural differences occur also on the level of employing and understanding humour and irony (chakhachiro 2009: 32-33). in muir’s opinion, english humour is “a variety of irony”, connected with english free and individualistic culture (see chakhachiro 2009: 33). translating irony requires implication of more strategies than those typically used for translation. the first task is to perceive irony. grice’s conversational maxims can serve as a useful reference here. grice identifies four maxims that illustrate the assumptions made by listeners, or here: by readers. irony is often perceived as a violation of the first maxim of quality (chakhachiro 2009: 43), which states that a speaker should not say what they believe is not true (grice 1991: 27). perceiving this violation should make a translator aware that he or she should search for an implicature. an interpretation, however, should be made along with the exploration of the context in which a violation occurs (chakhachiro 2009: 43-44). chakhachiro (2009) claims that translating irony is highly dependent on the translator’s interpretation and reformulation. he proposes to consider nida’s notions of formal and dynamic equivalence and newmark’s semantic and communicative translations, for the purpose of translating irony (chakhachiro 2009: 32). hutcheon’s markers of irony, e.g. questions, understatements, echoic mentions, misrepresentation, pretended advice, euphemism also can be helpful while identifying irony in the text (hutcheon 1995: 153). it is important to remember that the product of the translation should enable readers to perceive the ambiguity of the original ironical message, that means, literal meaning should be accessible as well as the non-literal one, as according to the indirect negation view theory, irony requires the existence of both literal and implied meanings (attardo 90 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 2000: 799). producing a text that lacks the ambiguity of the original can be considered a mistake. mistakes can occur as a consequence of overused literal forms of translation, erroneous interpretation, wrong realisation of the tt or lack of awareness of the principles of translation (hejwowski 2006: 125-126). chakhachiro, skorov and many other scholars who examined literary irony for the purpose of translation focus mostly on the irony itself, on perceiving and decoding it. the same can be said about birkelund. in “translating the implicit”, she carries out an analysis of the existing danish translations of pride and prejudice, focusing on rendering the message implied in the text (birkelund 2016). after analysing these studies, a conclusion can be drawn that the most important task while translating the implicit message is to perceive it and decode it, determining its meaning in the text. 4 translation strategies and techniques in her article, zohre owji (2013) states that the term “translation strategy” is widely used by the scholars in various contexts and with different meanings. in general, translation strategies are used by the translator when he or she encounters a problem with a literal translation (owji 2013). various strategies enable the translator to produce the equivalent text in the target language. molina and albir differentiate between the “strategies” that are about finding the way to translate a unit, and “techniques” that are the solutions “materialized”, used in practice (molina & albir 2002: 508). the first to classify translation “procedures” as they called it, were vinay and darbelnet (see molina & albir 2002: 499). in their work, stylistique comparée du français et de l’anglais (1958), they classify them into two broader categories of direct (literal) and oblique (free) translation, and identify more specific procedures accompanying them (vinay and darbelnet 1972: 46-54). another scholar, nida (1964), proposes three techniques of adjustment: additions, substractions and alternations (nida 1964: 226-238). he classifies footnotes as an adjustment technique (nida 1964: 238). other scholars who deal with translation strategies and techniques are for example: vázquez ayora (1977), newmark (1988), delisle (1993), molina and albir (2002). the universal models and strategies that enable the analysis and rendering of irony are limited (chakhachiro 2009: 37). still, the article will show that many general translation strategies are applicable to the translation of irony, as well. when translation techniques are concerned, especially important will be the classification provided by the polish scholar hejwowski, as his techniques are connected with translating cultural aspects of the text. hejwowski distinguishes: • reproduction without explanation – importing the foreign word into the tt. the spelling can be slightly adapted in order to fit the target language; • reproduction with explanation – a short explanation is added in order to draw the expression closer to the reader and enable him or her to classify and reconstruct it; 91 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) • syntagmatic translation without explanation – a literal translation; • syntagmatic translation with explanation – a literal translation with explanation enabling readers to understand the meaning of the utterance in the source culture; • established equivalent – e.g. the translation of the names of the institutions or of the geographical names; • functional equivalent – a name or an allusion to something not widely known in the target culture is changed for a name or an allusion known better; • hypernym – using the word of a broader meaning; • descriptive equivalent – description or definition is used instead of the word; • abandonment – leaving out a certain element (hejwowski 2006: 76-83). hejwowski’s techniques are important while translating irony, a cultural phenomenon. still, due to the space limitation, other strategies and techniques will serve as a basic structure for the analysis of the translations of pride and prejudice. these will be: • domestication and foreignization • substitution of an ironic expression • replacement of an expression by an idiom • omission • correcting original phrase. domestication and foreignization are considered to be general strategies adopted by the translators (hejwowski 2006: 76). identifying them in the first place will help to perceive the attitude adopted by the translators. the terms were coined by venuti on the basis of the schleiermacher’s claim that the translator can either move the reader towards the writer (foreignization) or move the writer towards the reader (domestication) (venuti 1995: 19-21). when the translation of a dated text is concerned, the choice between the archaic and the transparent language can be also mentioned here, as connected with the previous terms (munday 2008: 144-145). the archaic language will be preferred along with the foreignization, the transparent language – along with the domestication. the issue of the translation of irony makes the choice between the two even more difficult. irony is highly culture-bound; it exploits stereotypes and social habits that can be obscure to the target reader. margot claims that there are three cases when the cultural adaptation can be justified: when the certain item is not known in the target culture (then, the classifier can be used), when the background is historical (a linguistic rather than cultural translation is proposed) and when the text should be adopted to the specific situation (molina & albir 2002: 503). the text analysed in this article, pride and prejudice, aims to ridicule the english society of the early 19th century, so the translator should preserve the style of the author by using a slightly archaised language and using classifiers in order to explain the meaning or application of certain items of the source culture. 92 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the techniques following these two strategies: substitution, replacement and omission are identified by chiaro (2006) and used by vallès (who calles them “procedures”) in his study of the translation of humour (vallès 2014: 46). the first one is called the substitution of an expression. original sentence can be substituted partly or wholly in order to fit the tt and preserve its ironic meaning for the tt readers (this specific technique overlaps with the more general strategy of domestication). a sentence can also be replaced by an idiomatic expression of a similar meaning. where necessary, an ironical expression can be omitted and, to preserve the general tone, can be implied in a different part of the text where originally it did not occur (vallès 2014: 46). vallès (2014: 46) also uses techniques enumerated by delabastita (1993: 39), which encompass the three already mentioned: paraphrasing (rewording), amplification, explication, reduction, omission or even word-for-word translation. these techniques, although used by vallès with reference to the humorous text, are important also when the translation of irony is concerned, which is why they will be analysed in this article. the last case analysed here is correcting the original phrase, which is considered to be a translator’s mistake (lievois & schoentjes 2010: 20). it can be found in the polish translations of pride and prejudice. it is important to remember that the tt should enable readers to perceive the ambiguity of the original ironical message, that means, the literal meaning should be accessible, as well as the non-literal one. irony should not be explained in the tt, so that the tt readers will have the possibility of noticing and discovering irony themselves. however, as zabalbeascoa observes, due to the problems connected with rendering humour (and irony) it seems to be rather popular among the translators to explain the humorous parts of the text so that the translations are often more overt than originals (zabalbeascoa 2005: 9). it usually happens when the irony is verbal, since irony of a particular situation does not pose great difficulty: it is more the matter of plot than language. verbal irony is more subtle. it can be missed, reduced (as was already mentioned) or even corrected as a writer’s mistake (lievois and schoentjes 2010: 20). but there are also cases when the translator carries “ironic reading too far” (booth 1975: 193). 5 a brief summary of the novel before proceeding to the analysis of the translations, it is useful to briefly describe the novel. pride and prejudice is the ironical depiction of the life of gentry at the turn of the 18th and 19th century. the history of the bennet family is followed: mrs. bennet, a narrow-minded woman and a victim of her husband’s irony; mr. bennet, a private ironist sharing his amusement only with elizabeth; jane, the oldest daughter and a sweet-heart; elizabeth, a witty ironist and the voice of jane austen in the novel; mary, the middle sister, whose pretentions to be seen as well-read and skilled present an 93 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) ironical contrast with her appearance as self-righteous and boring; kitty and lydia, the youngest daughters, described as infantile and silly. when a wealthy bachelor, mr. bingley, along with his sisters and his friend, mr. darcy, arrive to the neighbourhood, the local girls start thinking about marrying the gentleman. mr. bingley and jane develop interest in each other, while seemingly proud and supercilious mr. darcy is attracted to elizabeth, who dislikes him. elizabeth’s objections regarding mr. darcy are stirred by wickham, an officer, who has been acquainted with darcy since childhood. another ironically presented character is mr. bennet’s cousin, pompous clergyman called mr. collins, who arrives with the intention of finding a wife. the characters encounter troubles and learn that the first impression is often misleading. at the end, three of mrs. bennet’s daughters marry, which is enough to make the mother happy; jane and elizabeth succeed in finding true love: mr. bingley and mr. darcy. 6 study methods a close analysis of the texts is carried out, following the order presented above in the bullet point list. the excerpts from the book and its translations are chosen subjectively, in order to match the strategy described, but they are representative of the whole translations. all of the examples contain irony. the excerpts are compared in search for the differences made by the various strategies and techniques which were adopted by the translators. 7 the analysis of the translation strategies and techniques firstly, the general strategies adopted by the translators will be analysed, followed by a comparative analysis of the particular strategies they used. domestication and foreignization table 1. domestication and foreignization (example 1) austen przedpełska-trzeciakowska gawlik-małkowska “there is a very fine old saying, which every body here is of course familiar with – ‘keep your breath to cool your porridge,’ – and i shall keep mine to swell my song (austen 2004: 25). – jest taki stary morał, który wszyscy dobrze znają: “błogosławieni, którzy nie mając nic do powiedzenia, nie ubierają tego w słowa”. nie powiem już nic więcej, by oszczędzić tchu na moje pieśni (austen 2005: 24). – […] istnieje stare, mądre powiedzenie […] “zachowaj oddech do studzenia owsianki”. ja oszczędzę swój na me pieśni (austen 2012: 24). 94 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) domesticating strategy can be observed in the translation of a proverb cited by elizabeth in her witty response to darcy. the “fine old saying”, namely: “keep your breath to cool your porridge”, is explained in the free dictionary as “focus on yourself and your life, rather than other people’s lives and issues” (farlex dictionary of idioms: keep your breath to cool your porridge). dictionary.com refers to it as the “idea of not expending one’s breath to say something another person doesn’t want to hear” (dictionary.com: save one’s breath). the literal meaning already suggests this interpretation: keep your breath in order to use it for your benefit. elizabeth tries to tell mr. darcy that he is wasting his breath talking to her, while she is not going to do the same: she is going to use her voice to sing to the delight of the company. in the wider context, she intends to stop the conversation with mr. darcy, as she was asked by her friend to perform a song. but she does not stop it overtly. she tries to suggest to mr. darcy that the talk is over. it is possible that she does it with an ironic tone of voice, as the meaning of her sentence seems to be dismissive. translating the proverb into polish is not an easy task. there is no proverb in the target language which would correspond to its meaning. the phrase “save your breath” or “keep your breath” can be translated as “oszczędź sobie” (‘spare yourself’) or “daruj sobie” (‘save it’). this is, however, a very direct and overt statement, rather colloquial. it would not fit the style and manner of the book and the character. the translators, therefore, had to find a proverb that would be the closest to the original meaning, or translate it literally. the first choice carried the risk of losing the coherence of the sentence: if the proverb chosen does not contain the word “breath” or any other referring to the second part of the utterance, then the second part will not fit it. it would have to be changed in order to preserve the reference to the proverb, or left as it is, losing its connection with the proverb. gawlik-małkowska decided on translating the proverb literally (syntagmatic translation without explanation). although “zachowaj oddech do studzenia owsianki” is not a proverb in the polish language, its meaning can be deduced from the context. “porridge” is here translated as “owsianka” (“oat porridge”), so a more general word is translated as a specific one (a hypernym is used). in poland, oat porridge is a popular simple dish eaten usually for breakfast and the word “porridge” itself has no direct equivalent. what gawlik-małkowska did here can be called foreignization. she translated the english proverb literally, uprooting it from its original historical, cultural and language context and using it in this form in the target language. consequently, the proverb does not belong to the target culture and is not identified as such by the polish readers. they distinguish it as foreign, even though they are able to understand its meaning. przedpełska-trzeciakowska, on the contrary, decided on using the domesticating strategy and found a polish equivalent, although not a proverb. the sentence used by her: “błogosławieni, którzy nie mając nic do powiedzenia, nie ubierają tego w słowa” 95 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (‘blessed are those who, having nothing to say, do not put this into words’) has a biblical etymology. its form is based on the beatitudes – biblical blessings, which are familiar to a polish person, as polish culture is rooted in christianity. but it is not the translator who modified the original version of the blessings. przedpełska-trzeciakowska paraphrased the words written by a well-known polish poet, julian tuwim: “błogosławiony ten, co nie mając nic do powiedzenia, nie obleka tego faktu w słowa” (‘blessed is him who, having nothing to say, does not put this fact into words’) (tuwim 1955: 545). it is an ironical parody of the blessings, intending to dismiss the people who talk much, even though they have nothing interesting or important to say. although tuwim is wellknown, this particular quotation is not that popular as to be used in everyday language. przedpełska-trzeciakowska, using the words of a national poet in lieu of the original proverb, makes them sound familiar, although they are probably recognised more often as a parody of biblical words, not as the words of tuwim. still, elizabeth paraphrasing tuwim can be perceived as an erudite. the only problem here is that, strictly speaking, tuwim was born in 1894, 81 years after pride and prejudice was published. leaving those details behind, it is true to say that przedpełska-trzeciakowska succeeded in rendering the proverb, making use of the domesticating strategy and putting the words in the national, polish context, understandable to the target readers. the translated sentence is still ironic and can be interpreted as dismissive. table 2. domestication and foreignization (example 2) austen przedpełska-trzeciakowska gawlik-małkowska it was next to impossible that their [catherine and lydia’s] cousin should come in a scarlet coat, and it was now some weeks since they had received pleasure from the society of men in any other colour (austen 2004: 65). nie było możliwe, by kuzyn ich [katarzyny i lidii] pojawił się w szkarłatnym wojskowym mundurze, a od wielu tygodni nie znajdowały przyjemności w towarzystwie mężczyzn w ubraniu innej barwy (austen 2005: 58). prawdopodobieństwo, że kuzyn [catherine i lydii] przyjedzie w szkarłatnym mundurze, graniczyło z cudem, a od paru tygodni ich aprobatę zyskiwali wyłącznie mężczyźni w stroju tej właśnie barwy (austen 2012: 57). another example contains the element that can be perceived as a part of the english culture. scarlet coat was a part of the soldiers’ regimentals. in poland a coat of this colour carries the connotations with the kings or rulers, not soldiers. in the excerpts presented in table 2, however, the object of catherine and lydia’s interest are the soldiers. the narrator ironically states that mr. collins’ forthcoming visit was of no appeal for the youngest bennet ladies, as the only men they were interested in were the soldiers who were stationed in the nearby town at the time. what is ridiculed here is the girls’ affection for soldiers, which can be called superficial, based only on their appearance and 96 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the charm of their occupation, simply speaking: their “colour”. colour plays an important role here and, in the source language it helps the readers to identify the men as soldiers. gawlik-małkowska translated this phrase literally (syntagmatic translation without explanation) as “szkarłatny mundur” (‘scarlet coat’), relying on the readers’ knowledge of whom the colour indicated. reading the novel, the reader is familiar with the sisters’ choices concerning men, therefore the explanation may not seem necessary. still, przepełska-trzeciakowska decided to add the adjective “wojskowy” (‘military’), while preserving the colour of the coat in the translation (syntagmatic translation with explanation). the phrase “szkarłatny wojskowy mundur” (‘scarlet military coat’) clearly specifies the kind of men that caught catherine and lydia’s attention, still describing a part of british regimentals. both of the translators chose the strategy of foreignization here. nonetheless, przedpełska-trzeciakowska made an attempt to “move the writer towards the reader” and facilitate understanding the phrase. przedpełska-trzeciakowska tends to produce more literal translation, while gawlikmałkowska paraphrases the original. what can be observed here, on a side note, is przedpełska-trzeciakowska’s domesticating strategy with translating names, while gawlik-małkowska preserved the foreign spelling. table 3. archaisation (example 3) austen przedpełska-trzeciakowska gawlik-małkowska to be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love; and very lively hopes of mr. bingley’s heart were entertained (austen 2004: 11). jeśli znajduje przyjemność w tańcu, to, oczywista, łatwo mu przyjdzie się zakochać. wszystko to krzepiło nadzieje w sercu pani bennet (austen 2005: 11). taniec dzielił przecież od zakochania tylko krok, i niejedna panna miała nadzieję, że zdobędzie serce pana bingleya (austen 2012: 11). the strategy of archaisation, connected with the strategy of foreignization, can be noticed in the two translations, although gawlik-małkowska tends to use more fluent and contemporary language. the example of using rather archaic words occurs in przedpełska-trzeciakowska’s translation presented in table 3. the example from the novel regards the hopes that aroused after mr. bingley had declared coming to the next assembly in the neighbourhood. the ladies who were looking for a husband, as well as mrs. bennet, who was eager to get her daughters engaged, gave this piece of news more emphasis than it deserved. they expected dance to lead to a romance and, consequently, to a wedding. in these words, the narrator echoes and ridicules the contemporary society’s way of thinking and the attitude towards romance and husband-seeking. the use of archaic or modern words does not change the overall ironic tone of the excerpt, but it is helpful while identifying the time of the events. the chosen fragments are also 97 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) representative of the strategies used by the translators in this context. przedpełskatrzeciakowska uses archaic words to render jane austen’s sentences: “certain” is translated as “oczywista”, where it would be more natural to say “oczywiście” in present-day polish. “krzepiło nadzieję” (‘got (her) hopes up’) is also rather literary and oldfashioned. the language, however, is certainly more contemporary than it would have been, had pride and prejudice been rendered in the times when it was first published in the original. gawlik-małkowska, in her turn, used modern and natural language here and made the sentence shorter, rendering the sense rather than the original syntax. this example is representative of the whole approach of gawlik-małkowska to the translation of the novel. to sum up, przedpełska-trzeciakowska uses a rather archaic language, but makes use of the domesticating strategy, in order to bring the source culture closer to the polish readers. she uses syntagmatic translation with explanation and the adjustment technique of footnotes (not presented here) so she is also trying to preserve the original elements, but in a way that will be understandable for the reader. gawlik-małkowska’s translation is more precise, moderately modernised. she preserves the original elements using syntagmatic translation without explanation, but she also uses hypernyms in order to make certain expressions more understandable. substitution of an ironic expression table 4. substitution (example 4) austen przedpełska-trzeciakowska gawlik-małkowska to be sure it would have been for the advantage of conversation, had miss lydia bennet come upon the town; or, as the happiest alternative, been secluded from the world, in some distant farm-house (austen 2004: 299). prawdę mówiąc, rozmowy w salonach byłyby o wiele ciekawsze, gdyby panna lidia bennet przeszła na utrzymanie parafii lub gdyby – w najlepszym wypadku – trzymano ją do końca życia w zamknięciu na jakiejś odległej farmie (austen 2005: 249). [sąsiedzi] [b]yliby zapewne bardziej przejęci, gdyby lydia powróciła do domu panną lub – jeszcze lepiej – została skazana na pustelniczy żywot na jakimś odludziu (austen 2012: 241). an interesting example of the substitution of an ironic expression in the analysed translations of pride and prejudice is the case presented in table 4. the excerpts describe lydia’s return, after she escaped with wickham, and the couple were found and persuaded to marry. lydia came home as a married woman, but the marriage was preceded by a scandal. the narrator tries to ridicule the small community’s quest for gossip, the more scandalous, the better. narrator ironically suggests that the news about lydia’s 98 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) return were not dramatic enough, therefore the gossip was too boring. the event would have been more appealing for the neighbours if something more remarkable and tragic had happened to lydia. in the original sentence, austen uses the euphemism “come upon the town”, which, according to the footnote in the quoted edition of the novel, means “become a prostitute” (austen 2004: 299). the narrator suggests that if lydia had become a prostitute, instead of marrying a soldier, the news would had been more interesting. jane austen’s humour is well-manifested here. it is witty and bold in exposing the small community’s weaknesses, even if she used a euphemism in order to convey the intended message. euphemism can be called one of the stylistic devices that convey irony (skorov 2009: 92). the use of it should make the reader aware that an ironic intention can be implied by it. the euphemism is, however, archaic, therefore its meaning could have been misunderstood, missed or changed intentionally. regardless of the reason, both the translators decided on substituting the phrase. przedpełska-trzeciakowska translated it as “przeszła na utrzymanie gminy” (‘started being supported by parish’). the meaning of this phrase is rather obscure for the modern reader. in the 19th century, parishes were obliged to take care of the poor of their area (mitchell 2009: 91). przedpełskatrzeciakowska’s phrase means that lydia became poor, maybe excluded from her family. the original meaning is removed, but the sentence can be still perceived as ironic. therefore, the irony is conveyed not only by the euphemism, although its use is helpful while identifying the implicature. still, the intention to ridicule the community is visible regardless of the dramatic events that are perceived as more interesting for the gossiping neighbours. the translated phrase, however, does not have any connotations with an occupation that can be considered as taboo. the humour, therefore, is less daring. gawlik-małkowska replaces the examined phrase with “powrócić do domu panną” (‘come back home as a maiden’), which carries a meaning opposite to both being a prostitute (as in the original) and being a married woman (which is what really happened to lydia in the novel). as the opposite to the events from the book, it creates a contrast, which can be perceived by the reader as ironical. moreover, it suits the context. it would have been scandalous, if lydia had come back without the man with whom she escaped. the cited phrase is no longer a euphemism and lacks the taboo connotations, still, the ironic implication is visible. therefore, the strategy of substituting the original phrase can be successfully used, even though the literal meaning is not preserved. still, the original allusion in the example analysed was in some aspects weakened. 99 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) replacement of an expression by an idiom table 5. replacement of an expression by an idiom (example 5) austen przedpełska-trzeciakowska gawlik-małkowska “in point of composition” said mary, “his letter does not seem defective. the idea of the olive branch perhaps is not wholly new, yet i think it is well expressed.” (austen 2004: 65). – z punktu widzenia kompozycji – wtrąciła mary – list ten nie wydaje się błędny. pomysł z gałązką oliwną nie jest może zupełnie nowy, ale tu znalazł się, moim zdaniem, bardzo na miejscu (austen 2005: 57). – w kwestii kompozycji – powiedziała mary – jego list wydaje się bez zarzutu. idea niesienia gałązki oliwnej zapewne trąci myszką, lecz moim zdaniem została wyrażona jak należy (austen 2012: 57). the cited example may not be the most suitable, but it clearly illustrates the strategy of the replacement of an expression by an idiom. it is not the most suitable in the case of representing the translation of irony, since the choice of the phrases here does not influence the reader’s perception of the character described. the irony here is situational: mary comments on the pompous letter written by mr. collins, a thoroughly humorous character ridiculed by the narrator, as well as by the witty characters in the novel (lizzy and her father). while the mentioned characters, elizabeth and mr. bennet, do not seem to treat the letter and their author seriously, mary analyses the writing and comments on its language. mary tries to come across as intelligent and knowledgeable, while her family does not pay attention to the form of the letter, but to the character and intentions of its sender. her words are, therefore, shallow and stilted. mary comments on one of the expressions used by mr. collins: on the phrase “olive branch”. he used it probably with the same intention with which mary shares her comments: in order to come across as intelligent and erudite. she calls this phrase “not wholly new”, even though she approves of its use in the context. mary’s simple words are translated by gawlik-małkowska with an idiom understood nowadays, but made up of semantic archaisms: “trącić myszką”. the meaning of the idiom is the same as of the original phrase, therefore it does not change the literal meaning of the sentence. mary’s use of the idiom, however, strengthens the pompous character of her words, as they sound less natural in everyday speech. in gawlik-małkowska’s translation, mary’s words are even more misplaced than in the original and the irony of the situation is more visible. przedpełska-trzeciakowska’s translation is also presented here, but it will not be analysed, since she used the literal translation. the only reason for placing them both in the table is to enable the comparison. it also enables perceiving the subtle difference in the tone of mary’s utterance, based on the chosen translations of the phrase analysed. 100 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) omission table 6. omission (example 6) austen przedpełska-trzeciakowska gawlik-małkowska […] the young ladies […] were usually tempted tither three or four times a week, to pay their duty to their aunt, and to a milliner’s shop just over the way (austen 2004: 29). [..] co najmniej trzy razy w tygodniu, znęcone ciekawością i pokusą drobnych zakupów, szły z wizytą do ciotki i modniarki, której sklep wypadał im po drodze (austen 2005: 27). […] bywały tam trzy lub cztery razy w tygodniu z wizytą u ciotki oraz zaglądały do znajdującego się po drodze sklepu modystki (austen 2012: 27). the translator can also omit an ironical expression. it can be compensated later by adding an ironical expression where it does not originally occur. the ironic meaning of the expression was for instance left aside by gawlik-małkowska, as the example in table 6 illustrates. meryton was a nearby town, where an aunt of the bennet daughters lived. the narrator ironically states that kitty and lydia visited the town to see their aunt, and the other kinds of entertainment, for example shopping, were only a bonus. in fact, it was obvious that visiting the aunt was merely an excuse, and the bonuses were the main reason for the girls’ trips. przedpełska-trzeciakowska’s translation suggests, equivalently to the original sentence, that the “milliner’s shop” (‘sklep modniarki’) was only an interesting stop on the way to the aunt’s house. the translator, however, as if trying to make the motives of the young bennets clear for the reader, adds the information (amplification technique) that they were tempted to visit meryton by their curiosity and the prospect of shopping: “znęcone ciekawością i pokusą drobnych zakupów”. by interposing this piece of information, przedpełska-trzeciakowska exempts readers from making their own judgement on the bennets’ behaviour and intentions. the ironical tone of the sentence is therefore weakened, as the reason for the girls’ trips is overtly stated and the internal contradiction of the utterance is less visible. in gawlik-małkowska’s translation the ironical statement is reduced to simple information. girls visited their aunt and, on their way to her house, they visited the milliner’s shop. the sentence is not ironical, as there is no implied meaning here – the ironical sentence is omitted and it no longer conveys a subtle judgement of the bennet sisters’ character and behaviour. the narrator, therefore, is not ironizing here, as he or she does in the original. 101 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) correcting original phrase table 7. correcting original phrase (example 7) austen przedpełska-trzeciakowska gawlik-małkowska “why, i must confess that i love him [darcy] better than i do bingley. i am afraid you will be angry.” (austen 2004: 361). – no więc… przyznam ci się, że kocham go bardziej niż ty swojego narzeczonego. boję się, że się będziesz gniewać (austen 2005: 301). – boję się, że będziesz zła. muszę wyznać, że kocham go bardziej niż bingleya (austen 2012: 291). the last case mentioned involves the correcting of the original phrase. it is not a desirable situation, as the translator does not perceive the irony, interprets the original phrase as being wrongly formulated and decides to correct it. hence, an ironical expression is amended and may lose its original implicated meaning. such a case can be found in przedpełska-trzeciakowska’s translation. example presented in table 7 is elizabeth’s confession made to her sister, jane. they converse about elizabeth’s surprising decision to marry mr. darcy. jane does not know how mr. darcy succeeded in gaining elizabeth’s respect and feelings and is sure she disliked him. she expresses surprise and tries to question lizzy in order to be sure, whether her sister really loves the man she agreed to marry. during the conversation, elizabeth playfully assures jane that she really has feelings for mr. darcy. in the source text, elizabeth tells jane that her feelings for darcy are stronger than what she feels for bingley. since elizabeth is supposed to marry darcy and jane is engaged to bingley, this is the normal and expected state of affairs. however, elizabeth suggests that this confession can make jane angry. elizabeth probably makes an ironical reference to jane’s great love for bingley. she is “afraid” that her sister expects her to also admire bingley, and being in love with darcy can come across as insulting – darcy is considered to be an unpleasant gentleman by the whole bennet family. this assumption is, of course, absurd. elizabeth enjoys prolonging the tension with ironical remarks, before she decides to reveal the truth to her sister (the truth about mr. darcy’s virtues which she discovered in his character). the utterance is meant to annoy jane, while elizabeth is clearly enjoying the situation, when she knows the truth and her sister is puzzled. przedpełska-trzeciakowska probably perceived the unusualness of elizabeth’s statement and decided on correcting it. instead of focusing on elizabeth’s feelings, she decided to make a comparison between both of the sisters and the amount of their love for their fiancés: “kocham go bardziej niż ty swojego narzeczonego” (‘i love him more than you love your fiancé’). elizabeth seems to playfully compete with her sister, at the same time assuring her that she loves mr. darcy and that her feelings are stronger than 102 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) jane’s. it can be perceived as underestimating her sister’s bond with her fiancé, but when it is analysed as a humorous remark, it cannot be considered derogatory. indeed, this statement is also humoristic and seems more logical. still, jane austen was supposedly aware of her use of words and the implicatures they hold. therefore, amending the original text does not seem necessary. gawlik-małkowska’s translation will not be analysed here, as it is a literal translation and preserves the meaning of the sentence: “kocham go bardziej niż bingleya” (‘i love him more than i do bingley’), leaving it to the reader to comprehend this seemingly obvious statement. 8. conclusions it is a challenge to render irony in pride and prejudice. irony needs to be preserved in its omnipresence in the novel, but it is dated and highly culture-bound. still, the polish translators succeeded in converting an ironical tone of pride and prejudice for the target readers to notice. a detailed analysis of their translations reveals how different approaches they adopted and how differently they interpreted various passages. anna przedpełska-trzeciakowska’s translation is more literal and archaic. she used the strategy of foreignization, but to a limited extent. in comparison with the other translation, przedpełska-trzeciakowska more often made attempts to explain certain aspects of the source culture. still, she enabled a reader to perceive its foreigness and historical context. magdalena gawlik-małkowska made her translation more precise and contemporary. some aspects of the source culture are preserved here without being explained. the ironical message connected with the cultural aspects is therefore more covert. the techniques enumerated by delabastita (1993) and those identified by hejwowski (2006) could be found in both translations, along with the strategies of foreignization and domestication. they were succesfully adopted to translate irony. the particular technique used by the translators did not determine the ironical meaning of the utterance, as long as the irony was perceived and preserved, but it influenced the overtone of the utterance. irony can be preserved as long as the translated text has both the silent and the implied meaning. it cannot be too overt, since the reader has to discover the irony himself or herself, in order to truly appreciate it. references allemann, b. 1986. o ironii jako o kategorii literackiej. pamiętnik literacki: czasopismo kwartalne poświęcone historii i krytyce literatury polskiej 77: 227-242. attardo, s. 2000. irony as relevant inappropriateness. journal of pragmatics 32: 793-826. austen, j. 2004. pride and prejudice. new york: barnes & noble. 103 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) austen, j. 2005. duma i uprzedzenie. warszawa: hachette polska. 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[unpublished phd thesis], university of north bengal, siliguri. http://hdl.handle.net/10603/148114 (3 february 2019). delabastita, d. 1993. there’s a double tongue: an investigation into the translation of shakespeare’s wordplay, with special reference to hamlet. amsterdam: rodopi. garmendia, j. 2010. irony is critical. pragmatics & cognition 18: 397-421. grice, p. 1991. studies in the way of words. cambridge/london: harvard university press. hejwowski, k. 2006. kognitywno-komunikacyjna teoria przekładu. warszawa: wydawnictwo naukowe pwn. hutcheon, l. 1995. irony’s edge: the theory and politics of irony. london/new york: routledge. jakobson, r. 1959. on linguistic aspects of translation. https://web.stanford.edu/~eckert/ pdf/jakobson.pdf (09 march 2021). kaufer, d. s. 1986. ironia, forma interpretacyjna i teoria znaczenia. pamiętnik literacki: czasopismo kwartalne poświęcone historii i krytyce literatury polskiej 77: 315-326. khalaf, l. 2017. irony and feminism in jane austen’s novel pride and prejudice. international journal of english research 3: 70-73. lievois, k., & schoentjes, p. 2010. traduire l’ironie. linguistica antverpiensia 9: 11-23. mitchell, s. 2009. daily life in victorian england. wesport, connecticut/london: greenwood press. molina, l. & albir, a. h. 2002. translation techniques revisited: a dynamic and functionalist approach. meta: journal des traducteurs / meta: translators’ journal 47: 498-512. munday, j. 2010. introducing translation studies. theories and applications. london/new york: routledge. 104 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) nida, e. 1964. toward a science of translating: with special reference to principles and procedures involved in bible translating. leiden: e.j. brill. owji, z. 2013. translation strategies: a review and comparison of theories. translation journal 17. https://translationjournal.net/journal/63theory.htm (24 august 2020). østergaard, s. 2014. the definition and processing of irony. not published in a journal. https://www.sdu.dk/-/media/files/om_sdu/institutter/isk/forskningspublikationer/ rask/rask+40/oestergaard.pdf (20 november 2020). skorov, p. 2009. translating literary irony: elements for a practical framework. vertimo studijos 2: 88-103. tuwim, j. 1955. jarmark rymów. in: dzieła. warszawa: czytelnik. vallès, d. 2014. applying juliane house’s translation quality assessment model (1997) on a humorous text: a case study of “the simpsons”. new readings 14: 42–63. venuti, l. 2008. the translator’s invisibility: a history of translation. london/new york: routledge. vinay, j. p. & darbelnet, j. 1972. stylistique comparée du français et de l’anglais: méthode de traduction. paris: didier. wilson, d. & sperber, d. 2012. meaning and relevance. cambridge: cambridge university press. zabalbeascoa, p. 2005. humor and translation, an interdiscipline. humor – international journal of humor research 18: 185-207. web pages: web 1 – irony. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/irony (19 december 2018). web 2 – keep your breath to cool your porridge. https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/ke ep+your+breath+to+cool+your+porridge (24 august 2020). web 3 – save one’s breath. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/save-one-s-breath (24 august 2020). * * * magdalena żochowska is a graduate of philology, english in business and translation at siedlce university of natural sciences and humanities, poland. she is nearing completion of her master’s degree in journalism and social communication, and in english studies. her research interests include 19th-century literature and its translations as well as readers’ self-representation in social media. the psycholinguistic background of l1 polish students of l3 spanish 69 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles martín testa university of warsaw the psycholinguistic background of l1 polish students of l3 spanish abstract. the study was aimed at exploring the psycholinguistic background of polish students of l3 spanish. two groups of students (b1 and b2) were asked to fill out a survey with questions related to proficiency, self-confidence, language identity, usefulness, prestige, stress, sound, and frequency of use. the last part of the survey included some questions about psychotypology, as well. in terms of foreign language anxiety, spanish was ranked by most of the students as the most stressful language. a follow-up session was carried out with them in order to try to discuss the reasons behind their choices, and their feedback helped to shed some light on the topic and raised further questions about the role and impact of polish teachers of spanish in poland. keywords: sociolinguistics, stress, foreign language anxiety, l3 spanish, third language acquisition, multilingualism, psychotypology. 1. introduction the following study was aimed at exploring the psycholinguistic background of polish students of l3 spanish from a multilingual point of view. that is why, the study begins with a short summary of the the situation of english both in europe and, more precisely, in poland in order to give a general picture of the linguistic situation in which the participants of this study grew up. the next section deals with the impact of positive attitudes on language learning and a short review of dewaele’s (2010) findings in terms of foreign language anxiety (fla). our study consisted of two groups who had to fill out a survey (see appendix) with questions related to proficiency, selfconfidence, language identity, usefulness, prestige, stress, sound, and frequency of use. furthermore, the last part of the survey included some questions about psychotypology, i.e. the perception of linguistic distance between languages. the study was motivated, in the first place, by many observations with regard to the way polish students seemed to relate to the languages they studied: before carrying out this study, we were pretty much convinced (especially after poland’s joining the eu in 2004) that english had become an increasingly “stressful” language, basically because it is mostly associated with work, business, and obligations. on the other hand, spanish seemed to be mostly associated with holidays, leisure time, and fun. that is why it was surprising when spanish was ranked by most of the students as 10.15290/cr.2018.22.3.04 70 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles the most stressful language; because of that a short interview session was carried out with the participants in order to discuss what it was that they found stressful about (learning) spanish. 2. the status of english in europe and in poland many authors have explored the impact of english as a lingua franca, both in europe (e.g. cenoz & jessner 2000; james 2000; jessner 2006; otwinowska 2016; ringbom 2007) as in the rest of the world (e.g. cenoz et al. 2001; hoffman 2000; jessner 2006) and several authors (e.g. hoffman 2000) have already started to talk about (language) identity with english. aronin & singleton (2008: 4) put it quite clearly: “a patterned regularity is discernible in the fact that multilingualism is spreading to all parts of the world, that english has become a world lingua franca and that language use is diversifying”. although neither bilinguism nor multilingualism are new phenomena by any means, hoffman (2000) argues that this type of bilingualism is indeed something new in the way that “being proficient in english does not mean that one has to be bicultural: (…) there is no need to develop feelings of dual identity and shared loyalties. in this, too, the european bilingual with english differs from members of bilingual families or communities”1 (p. 20). this seems to prove quite true for most european countries and, since poland’s joining the european union in 2004, bilingualism with english seems to be gaining ground all across the country, both in big and small cities, in the academy and on the streets, in upper, middle and lower classes. however, in contrast to most european countries, poland is characterized for being a strikingly monolingual country (kucharczyk 2018; otwinowska 2016) and, as otwinowska (2016: xi) points out, “this monolingualism often shapes the way languages are viewed and taught in poland”2. kucharczyk (2018: 44) suggests that most of the contact poles have with an l2 or l3 takes place at school while, on a daily basis, polish language learners are not surrounded by neither cultural nor linguistic diversity. although this may be true in most cases, it is also true that most poles are able to understand at least basic english words or sentences, to a certain extent. the impact of music and movies in english, as well as the use of english for working purposes and also to communicate with speakers from both english-speaking and other european countries has clearly influenced the linguistic landscape in post-2004 poland. when one walks the streets of warsaw, one can easily observe how poles talk to other poles in polish but almost immediately switch to english whenever they find out that their interlocutor is not polish; this may be in part because of their will to practise their english, but also because of the long-held myth that foreigners “do not speak nor understand polish”. although true that, in otwinowska’s words (2016: 26), “during the communist period, english symbolised freedom and modernity to poles, and since 1989 it has quickly become the most prestigious foreign language across the society”, most of the students who took part in our survey 1 for a deeper analysis of the position of english in europe, see jessner (2006: 5). 2 for a detailed account of poland’s linguistic history, see otwinowska (2016: 24-28) and kucharczyk (forthcoming). 71 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles were born in the early 1990s and have experienced (during the 2010s) a less emotional and more functional rapport with the english language: global english identity will thus be related to instrumental aspects of english language use, i.e. the oughtto l2 self, as opposed to the ideal l2 self, related to hopes, aspirations and needs. more people learn english because of the attributes they ought to possess in their professional lives, developing their oughtto english selves. therefore, english connected with the ‘global english identity’ becomes a survival skill of purely utilitarian, or functional nature (otwinowska 2016: 23-24). that is why it had been hypothesized in the first place that english was changing its status in poland from that of the language of freedom and modernity to one of obligations and stress. 3. the impact of positive attitudes there is growing agreement among researchers about the importance of emotion as a very important factor which can play a decisive role in language learning and, more specifically, in language performance. in dewaele’s words (2010: 21): emotion is thus at the basis of any learning, or absence of learning. when a stimulus is positively assessed in a learning situation, it will have a positive effect on the amount of attention and effort a learner will be prepared to devote to it. it will also encourage the learner to approach similar stimuli in the future. however, when a stimulus is negatively assessed in a learning situation, less attention and effort will be devoted to it, and negative affective assessment may promote avoidance in the future. (…) table 1. fla when speaking in public (adapted from dewaele 2010). variable level of fla variable level of fla chronology + l5 l4 l3 l2 l1 network of interlocutors + strangers colleagues all friends family age of onset of acquisition + 18+ 13-18 8-12 0-2 3-7 total language knowledge + bilinguals trilinguals quadrilinguals pentalinguals context of acquisition + instructed naturalistic mixed trait emotional intelligence + low tei medium tei high tei 72 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles variable level of fla variable level of fla frequency of use + yearly or less monthly weekly daily all day age + twenties teenagers thirties fourties fifties sixties+ socialisation in the fl + very weak weak moderate strong education + a-level ba ma phd a good classroom atmosphere might enhance students’ desire to create and preserve these particular social affiliations. on the other hand, a bad atmosphere might be interpreted by students as threatening and might push them toward ending their membership of that classroom community. in his book emotions in multiple languages, dewaele studied the impact of different variables (i.e. chronology, age of onset of acquisition, context of acquisition, frequency of use, socialisation in the fl, network of interlocutors, total language knowledge, trait emotional intelligence, age and education) on foreign language anxiety (see table 1). he found that among the most stressed are speakers in their twenties of a lately acquired fl (usually after the age of 18), who have learned their fl exclusively in a classroom setting and use it very seldom, who hardly ever use their fl to socialize and use it mostly with strangers, who have a very limited repertoire of languages, low tei and lack higher education. dewaele’s research mentions students in their twenties, thirties, fourties, fifties and sixties+, but does not include any information about children and adolescents. wang (2015: 168), on the other hand, commented on the reasons between child-learners being more successful than older learners, arguing that “adolescent-learners have difficulties in participating in language interaction and many of them are reluctant to read aloud and are fearful of failing or looking and sounding foolish. sometimes, they try to avoid answering questions or communicating with others. these might explain why adolescents (…) are less successful in english learning”. on the other hand, children “enjoy taking part in every kind of language activity, and enjoy language interaction. they can speak loudly, they can ask questions anytime, and they are not worried about making mistakes” and all these result “in their enough exposures to l2 and more practice in their speaking and listening skills” (wang 2015: 168). the role of the teacher and the impact of the rapport between the students and their teachers was also explored by mettewie (2004) who found that the rapport between students and their teachers sets the tone for their attitudes toward their fl, especially if the fl is not mainstream, as is the case with spanish in poland (cf. dewaele 2010: 139). moreover, poulisse (1997: 63) underlines the benefits of positive interaction in the shape of communicative tasks (e.g. interviews), in which “subjects where able to obtain feedback and help from the interlocutor, and where the 73 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles physical setting and the linguistic context contributed to the clarity of strategies”. kacper & kellerman (1997: 5) agree with this view when they say that “the most effective source of input seems to be conversational exchanges in which learners engage – either together with other l2 learners or native speakers – and in which they negotiate (referential) meanings” and, discussing larsenfreeman and long (1991), they say that all types of communication strategies “are helpful because they enable learners to keep the conversation going and thereby provide more opportunities for input”. according to them, increased stress and less student participation result not only in less output, but also in less input, and would hinder students’ attempts at developing a full range of abilities regarding their tl production. 4. the study although some research has been carried out in terms of cognate recognition and metalinguistic awareness by polish students (e.g. otwinowska-kasztelanic 2011; otwinowska 2016), the way polish students relate to the languages within their linguistic repertoire in terms of identification, preferences and beliefs has not been very much explored. moreover, the present study will try to gain some insight on the position of spanish in the students’ linguistic repertoire. 4.1. methodology in order to explore the students’ psycholinguistic background, a survey was created with questions regarding to age, motivation type, hometown, linguistic experience, type and quantity of exposure to the l2 and l3, and psychotypology (see appendix). a follow-up session was carried out one week after the participants took part in the survey in order to provide triangulation and thus explore the reasons why they had chosen spanish as either the most or second most stressful language. a 5-minute interview was carried out individually with each student, in which they were asked to answer the following question: ¿qué es lo que te estresa con respecto al idioma español? (eng. ‘what do you find most stressful about (learning) spanish?’). no feedback other than backchanneling cues were provided so as not to interfere with their answers. 4.2. study 1: spanish l3, b1 group 4.2.1 subjects the survey was conducted in a spanish b1 course at the university of warsaw at the end of the winter semester 2016/2017. 17 polish students took part in the survey (13 female students and 4 male students); the ages ranged between 19 and 25, with an average of 21.58 years. they were given a total of 40 minutes to complete the task. before starting the task, we spent about 10 minutes going over the questions in order to make sure that everything was clear and that they knew exactly how to fulfill the task. 9 students claimed to be learning spanish for personal reasons, 1 student because she had to, while the rest (n = 7) said that they were taking classes for both reasons. as for the students’ city 74 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles of origin, 9 were from cities above 400,000 (warsaw), 5 from towns under 100,000 (krosno, pisz, sędriszów and bełchatów), 2 came from cities between 100,000-400,000 (lublin and płock), and 1 from a village (cegłów). students were asked to order all the languages they knew and used in terms of the age they were at the time they started learning them and the results were the following: polish was the students’ l1 (n = 17) and english was their l2 in most of the cases (n = 13) but for 3 students whose l2 was german. spanish appears as the students’ l3 in 6 cases, as their l4 in 10 cases, and as an l5 only in 1 case. regarding english, the average age of onset was 6.76 years (min. 3, max. 13). as for spanish, the average age of onset was 18.18 (min. 13, max. 23). 4.2.2 psycholinguistic background 100% of the students (n = 17) stated that polish was the language they felt more comfortable with (their l1), as well as being the language they claimed to know best. in terms of proficiency, their l2 turned out to be english (n = 14), followed by german (n = 2), and italian (n = 1). regarding spanish, it was most students’ l3 in terms of competence (n = 11), followed by german (n = 3), english (n = 1), and french (n = 1). students also spoke (to a lesser degree) russian (n = 2), arabic (n = 1), dutch (n = 1), and portuguese (n = 1). students were later asked about which language they felt more identified with, and which one reflected their personality best. polish was chosen by most of the students (n = 13), while 2 chose english, 1 spanish, and 1 italian. in the second place, english was chosen by 9 students, polish by 3, spanish by 3, and german by 2. spanish prevails only as a third option in 8 cases. next, we asked students to order the languages they knew in terms of those which helped them best when it came to expressing their feelings, wishes and fears. most students chose polish (n = 14), but surprisingly 3 students chose english. once again, spanish prevails as l3 (n = 11), right after polish and english. in terms of usefulness and convenience, english was chosen by most students (n = 13), while only 4 opted for polish. spanish prevails as the second most useful language in 9 cases, mostly after english. among the least useful languages, we found polish (n = 7). regarding the issue of social prestige, english was highly regarded by 13 students, followed by spanish (n = 2), german (n = 1), and french (n = 1). in most cases, polish was perceived by the students as the least prestigious language (n = 15). the point which raised many questions during the survey and which was shocking to us was the question related to stress. shockingly, spanish turned out to be the most stressful language among the students (n = 6), closely followed by german (n = 5), and russian, arabic, english, italian, and french with 1 vote each. moreover, spanish was also chosen as the second most stressful language in 9 cases, which means that in 15 cases was spanish chosen among the two most stressful languages. on the other hand, almost everyone (n = 16) chose polish as the least stressful language, except for 1 student who said that it was actually the most stressful one for her. later, students were asked to rank the languages they knew and used in terms of their sound. the best sounding languages turned out to be english (n = 8), closely followed by spanish (n = 6), 75 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles polish (n = 2), and italian (n = 1). interestingly, polish was chosen in 8 cases as the worst sounding language, followed by german (n = 4), english (n = 3), russian (n = 1), and also only 1 student rated spanish as the worst sounding language. as expected, polish turned out to be the language that 88,23% of the students (n = 15) used most often, while the rest (n = 2) said that it was english. the second most used language was english (n = 10) and, to a lesser degree, polish (n = 2) and german (n = 2). then again, spanish prevailed as l3 in 11 cases. 4.2.3. psychotypologies the final part of the survey consisted of two sets of questions aimed at evaluating the way in which the students perceived the linguistic distance (psychotypology) between the languages that they know and use. in the first set, the students were asked to say which language, in their opinion, is the closest to polish, in respect of its different subsystems — vocabulary, phonology, grammar, syntax and morphology. when it comes to vocabulary, spanish and english turned out to be the most similar to polish with 4 votes each. 4 students also said that none of the languages they knew was very similar to polish, while the rest opted for german (n = 3), russian (n = 1), and latin (n = 1). phonologically, spanish was ranked as the most similar to polish (n = 10), followed by english (n = 2), none (n = 2), italian (n = 1), russian (n = 1), and german (n = 1). regarding grammar, students also ranked spanish as being the closest to polish (n = 6), followed by english (n = 4), none (n = 4), russian (n = 1), german (n = 1), and latin (n = 1). as for syntax, spanish was perceived by the students as being the most similar to polish (n = 9), followed by none (n = 4), english (n = 3), and russian (n = 1). finally, spanish also ranked first (n = 6) with respect to morphology, closely followed by none (n = 5), english (n = 4), russian (n = 1), and german (n = 1). in the second set of questions, the students were asked to say which language (polish or english), in their opinion, helped them the most in order to learn spanish, in terms of its different subsystems — vocabulary, phonology, grammar, syntax and morphology. firstly, english was perceived as being most helpful when it comes to learning spanish vocabulary (n = 15), followed by polish (n = 2). however, polish was perceived as being more similar to spanish with respect to phonology (n = 12), followed by english (n = 4) and none (n = 1). most of the students found english to be more similar to spanish in terms of grammar (n = 11), followed by polish (n = 5) and none (n = 1). with respect to syntax, 9 students found english to be more helpful in learning spanish, while 7 of them said polish was, and 1 student said that none of them. finally, english ranked first (n = 10) with respect to morphology, followed by polish (n = 4) and none (n = 3). 76 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles 4.3. study 2: spanish l3, b2 group 4.3.1. subjects the survey was conducted in a spanish b2 course at the university of warsaw at the end of the winter semester 2016/2017. 17 polish students took part in the survey (16 female students and 1 male student); the ages ranged between 19 and 25, with an average of 21.29. they were given a total of 40 minutes to complete the task. before starting the task, we spent about 10 minutes going over the questions in order to make sure that everything was clear and that they knew exactly how to fulfill the task. regarding motivation (see table 2), 10 students claimed to be learning spanish for personal reasons, 1 student because he had to, while the rest (n = 6) said they were taking classes for both reasons. as for the student’s city of origin, 10 were from cities above 400,000 (warsaw), 5 from cities between 100,000-400,000 (elbląg, sosnowiec, bielsko-biała, bydgoszcz and rzeszów), and 2 came from towns under 100,000 (chełm and świdnik). students were asked to order all the languages they knew and used in terms of the age they were at the time they started learning them and the results were the following: polish was the students’ l1 (n = 17) and english was their l2 (n = 17). spanish appears as the students’ l3 in 14 cases and as their l4 in 3 cases. regarding english, the average age of onset was 5.59 (min. 3, max. 8). as for spanish, the average age of onset was 15 (min. 12, max. 22). 4.3.2 psycholinguistic background 100% of the students (n = 17) stated that polish was the language they felt more comfortable with (their l1), as well as being the language they claimed to know best. in terms of proficiency, their l2 turned out to be english (n = 12), followed by spanish (n = 4), and portuguese (n = 1). regarding spanish, it was the students’ l3 in most of the cases (n = 12), followed by english (n = 5). students also spoke (to a lesser degree) german (n = 5), italian (n = 1), portuguese (n = 1), russian (n = 1), japanese (n = 1), and mandarin chinese (n = 1). table 2. comparison of the participants in both groups. background b1 group b2 group number of students 17 17 age 21.58 y/o. (min. 19, max. 25) 21.29 y/o (min. 19, max. 25) motivation intrinsic (n = 9) both (n = 7) extrinsic (n = 1) intrinsic (n = 10) both (n = 6) extrinsic (n = 1) 77 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles background b1 group b2 group city of origin 400,000+ (n = 9) 100,000-400,000 (n = 2) under 100,000 (n = 5) villages (n = 1) 400,000+ (n = 10) 100,000-400,000 (n = 5) under 100,000 (n = 2) villages (n = 0) age of onset (english) 6.76 y/o (min. 3, max. 13) 5.59 y/o (min. 3, max. 8) age of onset (spanish) 18.18 y/o (min. 13, max. 23) 15 y/o (min. 12, max. 22). students were later asked about which language they felt more identified with, and which one reflected their personality best. as we expected, polish was chosen by 15 students and only 2 chose english. in the second place, english was chosen by 9 students and spanish by 6. spanish prevails only as a third option in 11 cases. next, we asked students to order the languages they knew in terms of those which helped them best when it came to expressing their feelings, wishes and fears. practically everyone chose polish (n = 16), while only 1 student chose english. once again, spanish prevails as l3 (n = 13), right after polish and english. in terms of usefulness and convenience, the results were tight between english (n = 9) and polish (n = 8). spanish appears only both as a second option in 8 cases and as a third option in 8 other cases, just after english and polish. regarding the issue of social prestige, english was highly regarded by 13 students, followed by spanish and polish with 2 votes each. as for spanish, it was chosen 11 times as the second most prestigious language. what was interesting was the fact that polish was placed last in 14 cases — in other words, 82.35% of the students chose polish as the least prestigious language among the ones they know. table 3. psycholinguistic background (%) psycholinguistic background b1 group n psycholinguistic background b2 group n proficiency polish 17 proficiency polish 17 language identity polish english spanish italian 13 2 1 1 language identity polish english 15 2 78 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles psycholinguistic background b1 group n psycholinguistic background b2 group n expressiveness polish english 14 3 expressiveness polish english 16 1 usefulness english polish 13 4 usefulness english polish 9 8 prestige english spanish german french 13 2 1 1 prestige english spanish polish 13 2 2 stress spanish german russian arabic english italian french 6 5 1 1 1 1 1 stress spanish german english polish italian japanese chinese 6 4 2 2 1 1 1 best sounding english spanish polish italian 8 6 2 1 best sounding polish spanish english portuguese 6 6 4 1 used most often polish english 15 2 used most often polish 17 just like the results from the b1 group, the point which drew most of our attention during the survey was the one related to stress. shockingly, spanish turned out to be the most stressful language (n = 6), followed by german (n = 4), english (n = 2), polish (n = 2), italian (n = 1), japanese (n = 1), and chinese (n = 1). moreover, spanish was also chosen as the second most stressful language in 6 cases, which means that in 12 cases spanish was chosen as one of the two most stressful languages. on the other hand, polish was chosen as the least stressful language in all cases (n = 15) but 2, precisely in those cases where it was chosen as the most stressful one. later, students were asked to rank the languages they knew and used in terms of their sound. the best sounding languages turned out to be polish (n = 6) andspanish (n = 6), followed by english (n = 4), and portuguese (n = 1). interestingly, polish was chosen (n = 5), along with german (n = 5) and english (n = 5), as the worst sounding languages. no student rated spanish as the worst sounding language. as expected, polish turned out to be the language that the students used most often (n = 17). the second most used language was english (n = 12) and, to a lesser degree, spanish (n = 3). then again, spanish prevailed as l3 in 14 cases. 79 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles 4.3.3 psychotypologies the final part of the survey consisted of two sets of questions aimed at evaluating the way in which the students perceive the linguistic distance (psychotypology) between the languages that they know and use. in the first set, the students were asked to say which language, in their opinion, is the closest to polish, in respect of its different subsystems — vocabulary, phonology, grammar, syntax and morphology. when it comes to vocabulary, spanish turned out to be the most similar to polish (n = 7), followed by english (n = 4), none (n = 3), german (n = 1), russian (n = 1), portuguese (n = 1). table 4.perceived linguistic distance in terms of polish (%) b1 group n b2 group n vocabulary spanish english none german russian latin 4 4 4 3 1 1 vocabulary spanish english none german russian portuguese 7 4 3 1 1 1 phonology spanish english none italian russian german 10 2 2 1 1 1 phonology spanish none english german russian japanese portuguese 7 5 1 1 1 1 1 grammar spanish english none german russian latin 6 4 4 1 1 1 grammar spanish none english german 7 5 4 1 syntax spanish none english russian 9 4 3 1 syntax none spanish english german 6 5 5 1 morphology spanish none english russian german 6 5 4 1 1 morphology spanish none english german 7 7 2 1 phonologically, spanish was also ranked as the most similar to polish (n = 7), followed by none (n = 5), english (n = 1), german (n = 1), russian (n = 1), japanese (n = 1), and portuguese (n = 1). 80 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles regarding grammar, students also ranked spanish as being the closest to polish (n = 7), followed by none (n = 5), english (n = 4), and german (n = 1). as for syntax, none of the languages known by the students was perceived as being the most similar to polish (n = 6), followed by english and spanish with 5 votes each, and german (n = 1). finally, spanish ranked first (n = 7) with respect to morphology, along with none (n = 7), and followed by english (n = 2) and german (n = 1). table 5.perceived linguistic distance in terms of spanish (%) b1 group n b2 group n vocabulary english polish 15 2 vocabulary english polish both 14 2 1 phonology polish english none 12 4 1 phonology polish english none 12 4 1 grammar english polish none 11 5 1 grammar english polish none 14 2 1 syntax english polish none 9 7 1 syntax english polish none 11 4 2 morphology english polish none 10 4 3 morphology english polish none 13 2 2 in the second set of questions, the students were asked to say which language (polish or english), in their opinion, helped them most in learning spanish, in terms of its different subsystems — vocabulary, phonology, grammar, syntax and morphology. firstly, english was perceived as being most helpful when it comes to learning spanish vocabulary (n = 14), followed by polish (n = 2) and both (n = 1). however, polish was perceived as being more similar to spanish with respect to phonology (n = 12), followed by english (n = 4) and none (n = 1). most of the students found english to be more similar to spanish in terms of grammar (n = 14), followed by polish (n = 2) and none (n = 1). with respect to syntax, 11 students found english to be more helpful in learning spanish, while 4 of them said polish was, and 2 students said that none of them. finally, english ranked first (n = 13) with respect to morphology, followed by polish (n = 2) and none (n = 2). 4.4. follow-up session as for the b1 group, 7 students (s2,s6,s9,s12,s13,s16,s17) did not know or decided not to give any feedback. 81 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles 6 students ranked spanish as being the most stressful language (s1, s2, s7, s9, s10, s14) and suggested the following: s1 said that she found grammar very stressful since there are lots of irregular forms. s7 claimed that the most stressful thing for her was speaking because she did not feel confident about her vocabulary and grammar and she added that she was not able to express as much as she would like to. s10 said that the subjunctive mood was the most difficult thing about spanish, because he felt he still did not know the rules. s14 claimed that the most stressful thing for her was speaking because she did not do it often and that she felt she mixed spanish with italian (note: she had a spanish speaking boyfriend but with whom she communicated in italian). other 9 students ranked spanish as the second most stressful language (s3, s4, s5, s6, s8, s11, s12, s15, s16). s3 said he had been learning spanish for two years, and because of that he did not have a lot of experience (which made him feel insecure), and he felt negative transfer from german to spanish (although he said that spanish is more similar to polish). s4 — one of the strongest students— said that she had started to get confused between spanish and italian. she said she had attended a bilingual high school, where she had had both polish teachers (“more severe… taught only grammar and grammar was the only thing they talked about”) and native speakers (“they taught history... but the classes were very natural, we could talk about anything”). s5 stated that speaking was the most stressful thing about learning spanish and that she felt she did not have enough time to practise. s8 claimed that her level was once better than at present. she added that she knew what she wanted to say but that she did not know how to say it. during high school, she had had native speakers as teachers who provided a very good atmosphere in class. s11 felt his vocabulary was limited. during high school he had had two teachers: one from uruguay — who provided a very good atmosphere in class — and the other one from poland. s15 found speaking very stressful, mainly because she didn’t feel confident enough. she believed that her level was not very strong. in high school, she had had a polish teacher of spanish whose level was “so so”, but who created a very positive environment in the classroom. in the b2 group, 5 students (s18, s25, s28, s29, s32) did not know or decided not to give any feedback. 6 students ranked spanish as being the most stressful language (s22, s24, s25, s27, s30, s32) and commented on the following: s22 claimed that she had troubled remembering verbs. she added that she knew what she wanted to say but had trouble with finding the right words. the student also stated that she did not think her high-school prepared students well — students did not feel a sense of belonging to the group. moreover, she emphasized the fact that the polish teachers of spanish only helped those who were fascinated with the hispanic world, and that the rest of the students were ignored. s24 said that the most stressful thing about spanish was speaking with natives. she said that she was afraid of running out of words and that she had an intense fear of making mistakes. s27 felt that her vocabulary had become poorer (we believe that this was in part because of the little time she had to participate in a sixteen-people group). her level was, however, quite high. s30 said that she was afraid of making mistakes and looking ridiculous. she said that she had attended a bilingual school, where she had both spaniards and poles as teachers and that 82 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles the atmosphere among the spanish (native) teachers was very positive because students felt they could talk openly about different issues, whereas the polish teachers of spanish did not let them make any jokes in class. other 6 students ranked spanish as the second most stressful language (s18, s19, s20, s29, s31, s33) and stated the following: s19 said that grammar was the most stressful thing because she felt she was not “a very organized person”; s20 claimed that the most difficult thing for her was speaking, that she would always get nervous before speaking and her mind would go blank; s31 underlined the fact that he felt he could not express himself as he wanted because of a lack of words. he said he had attended a bilingual high school, where his spanish teacher from spain was good, but the polish teachers of spanish could not care less (“les daba todo igual”); s33 said she was afraid of not remembering verb conjugations and making mistakes (“at school, we were all afraid of making mistakes because the atmosphere with our polish teacher was very negative”). she added that she had also had a native speaker as a teacher who provided a positive atmosphere in class. the rest of the students (s21, s23, s26, s34) commented the following: s23 said that speaking in a different language always stressed her out and she felt that her accent in spanish was “just horrible” — which in fact was not true, she was one of the strongest students in the class. she had attended a bilingual school during her teenage years, where she had had five different teachers. she underlined the fact that when classes were taught by native speakers they were nice and “chaotic”, while polish teachers had, in her opinion, a terrible accent and a very pessimistic attitude. s26 said she found it difficult to speak, mainly because she had the impression of not speaking spanish correctly and that she was in fact speaking “portuñol” (a mixture between portuguese and spanish) — indeed, both in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary, portuguese seemed to have a big influence on her spanish. she said she had also attended a bilingual school and that the atmosphere provided by the polish teachers was a very severe one. s21 argued that grammar and tenses were the most difficult. at school, she had had both a polish teacher (who “instilled fear among the students”) and a native speaker (“positive guy”). finally, s34 said that she did not quite understand how and when to use the subjunctive mood. she had also attended a bilingual school, where she had classes with a polish teacher who “had her favorites”, which was something that the rest of the students did not like at all. 5. discussion the survey was carried out in order to explore the students’ background in terms of learning environment factors (e.g. de angelis 2007; gibson and hufeisen 2011; otwinowska 2016; vildomec 1963), affective factors (e.g. cenoz 2003; dewaele 1998; gibson and hufeisen 2011), recency and frequency of use (e.g. cheung et al. 2011; de angelis 2007; dewaele 1998), perceived linguistic distance (e.g. corder 1983; kellerman 1977; odlin 1989; otwinowska 2016; otwinowska-kasztelanic 2011; ringbom 2007; sanchez 2011; singleton 1987, 2016), as well as multilingualism and language constellations background (e.g. aronin and singleton 2012; cenoz 2003; de angelis 2007; jessner et al. 2016; herdina and jessner 2002; mesthrie 2010; otwinowska 2016; vildomec 1963). all of 83 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles these factors seem to play a decisive role in the learners’ performance in their fls and, in dewaele’s words (2010: 37): “there is growing acceptance within the sla community that learners’ feelings and reflections on their learning process, language use and changing identity offer valuable insights into aspects traditionally overlooked in sla”. the fact that spanish was chosen either as the most stressful or as the second most stressful language in both groups (b1 and b2) raised many questions because initially we had expected english to take that place, given its associations with work, obligations and the current emphasis on business english. at the beginning of this study, we were convinced that spanish had very low levels of fla among the students, since they probably associated it with holidays, leisure time, music, soap operas, etc. this is why the results were shocking and a follow-up session was very much needed in order to explore the reasons behind their choices. the data recollected during that session was also surprising: among the 31 students who decided to give feedback during the follow-up session, 12 of them (s4, s8, s11, s15, s21, s22, s23, s26, s30, s31, s33, and s34) pointed to their polish teachers of spanish as the source of their foreign language anxiety (fla). on the other hand, they felt that the native spanish speakers who had been their teachers had a more positive approach and encouraged them to participate actively in class. this drew our attention to the importance of the role of the teacher when it comes to language learning in formal settings. we feel that we should take notice of the impact teaching methods have, as well as setting a class atmosphere which encourages active participation if we do not want to hamper students’ performance in the target language, since increased foreign language anxiety could act as a hurdle on their path to successful language learning. another interesting fact is that our results in terms of psychotypology do not seem to echo those of otwinowska (2016), who, having posed the question are polish and english closely related?, reported: “it turned out that the vast majority of students (94-97% in each group), with no regard to their knowledge of english and the number of languages known, did not perceive the two languages as closely related” (2016: 147). in our study, however, although english is nevertheless perceived as a distant language, an average of about 20% of the students seem to perceive some resemblance between english and polish (see table 4). moreover, regarding her question: which systems of english are easiest for a pole to master: grammar, vocabulary, phonology? (2016: 148), over one third of all her students opted for vocabulary, while our b1 group also ranked grammar and morphology, along with vocabulary, and our b2 group ranked syntax first. nevertheless, we should bear in mind that in our survey we did not formulate the question in the same way and, in fact, students had to choose among the languages they knew, which might lead to the difference in our results. finally, otwinowska-kasztelanic (2011: 12) found that “multilinguals strongly agreed that crosslinguistic similarities helped them with language learning (95% positive answers) and strongly pointed to lexical similarities (64%) as the most helpful. interestingly enough, they did not see phonological similarities as relevant for language learning”. this may suggest that, even though spanish ranked first in terms of phonological similarities, this might not be perceived as a 84 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles facilitator when it comes to learning spanish. our results seem to confirm this since the majority opted for english as being the most similar to polish in terms of vocabulary, pointing out that they may fail to see lexical similarity between polish and spanish, despite their perception of phonetic similarity. this could be explained by more cumulative learning experience in the case of english, resulting in more awareness in terms of crosslinguistic similarity (cf. otwinowska 2016). however, the fact that polish was often ranked as the least prestigious language raises the question whether students may be able to make use of positive crosslinguistic information3 coming from their knowledge of polish (it scored the highest in terms of proficiency and frequency of use, besides from being the students’ l1) while learning spanish. 6. methodological limitations it is important to acknowledge certain limitations regarding our research. first of all, and because our study was conducted among university students, we should bear in mind that there is clearly an over-representation of highly educated, female, polyglot participants and, therefore, the data resulting from this research might not reflect the situation of every single student of spanish in poland. moreover, given the fact that this study deals with cross-sectional data, we are not able to see how the perceived linguistic distance (psychotypology) evolves from the very early stages to more advanced ones of spanish learning. as far as we know, there is no study of this type to date. 7. acknowledgments the author would like to thank all the polish students from the b1 and b2 spanish courses who agreed to take part in the survey and without whom this study would have been impossible. moreover, he would also like to thank prof. jacek perlin for the inspiration provided during countless seminars and personal communications; joanna falgowska for her great help in the translation of the survey into polish; and the anonymous reviewer of this article for comments and suggestions. references aronin, larissa and david singleton. 2008. multilingualism as a new linguistic dispensation. international journal of multilingualism 5(1). 1-16. aronin, larissa and david singleton. 2012. multilingualism. amsterdam and philadelphia: john benjamins. cenoz, jasone. 2003. the role of typology in the organization of the multilingual lexicon. in: jasone cenoz, britta hufeisen & ulrike jessner (eds.), the multilingual lexicon, 103-116. new york: kluwer academic publishers. cheung, anna s.c., stephen matthews and wai lan tsang. 2011. transfer from l3 german to l2 english in the domain of tense/aspect. in: gessica de angelis y jean-marc dewaele (eds.), 3 for example, spanish me gusta is structurally (though not exactly the same semantically) more similar to polish podoba mi się than to english i like it. 85 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles new trends in crosslinguistic influence and multilingualism research, 53-73. clevedon, uk: multilingual matters. corder, stephen pit. 1983. a role for the mother tongue. in: susan gass & larry selinker (eds.), language transfer in language learning, 85-97. rowley, ma: newbury. de angelis, gessica. 2007. third or additional language acquisition. clevedon, uk: multilingual matters dewaele, jean-marc. 1998. lexical inventions: french interlanguage as l2 versus l3. applied linguistics 19(4). 471-490. dewaele, jean-marc. 2010. emotions in multiple languages. london: palgrave macmillan. gibson, martha and britta hufeisen. 2011. perception of preposition errors in semantically correct versus erroneous contexts by multilingual advanced english as a foreign language learners: measuring metalinguistic awareness. in: gessica de angelis and jean-marc dewaele (eds.), new trends in crosslinguistic influence and multilingualism research, 74-85. clevedon, uk: multilingual matters. herdina, philip and ulrike jessner. 2002. a dynamic model of multilingualism: perspectives of change in psycholinguistics. clevedon: multilingual matters. hoffmann, charlotte. 2000. the spread of english and the growth of multilingualism with english in europe. in cenoz, jasone and ulrike jessner (eds.), english in europe: the acquisition of a third language, 1-21. clevedon: multilingual matters. jessner, ulrike. 2006. linguistic awareness in multilinguals: english as a third language. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. jessner, ulrike, manon megens and stefanie graus. 2016. crosslinguistic influence in third language acquisition. in: rosa alonso alonso (ed.), crosslinguistic influence in second language acquisition, 193-214. bristol: multilingual matters. kasper, gabriele and eric kellerman (eds.). 1997. communication strategies: psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives. new york: longman. kellerman, eric. 1977. towards a characterisation of the strategy of transfer in second language learning. interlanguage studies bulletin, 2(1), 58-145. kucharczyk, radosław. 2018. nauczanie języków obcych a dydaktyka wielojęzyczności (na przykładzie francuskiego jako drugiego języka obcego). lublin: wydawnictwo werset. larsen-freeman, diane and michael long. 1991. an introduction to second language acquisition research. london: longman. lewaszkiewicz, tadeusz. 2015. wpływ języka niemieckiego na system gramatyczny języka ogólnopolskiego (na tle wpływów innojęzycznych). in: sonja wölke and hauke bartels (eds.), einflüsse des deutschen auf die grammatische struktur slawischer sprachen, 90-120. bautzen: domowina-verlag. mesthrie, rajend. 2010. sociolinguistics and sociology of language. in: bernard spolsky and francis m. hult (eds.), the handbook of educational linguistics, 66-82. singapore: wileyblackwell. 86 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles mettewie, laurence. 2004. attitudes en motivate van taalleerders in belgië (attitudes and motivation of language learners in belgium), unpublished phd dissertation, free university of brussels. odlin, terence. 1989. language transfer. cambridge: cup. otwinowska, agnieszka. 2016. cognate vocabulary in language acquisition and use. attitudes, awareness, activation. bristol: multilingual matters. otwinowska-kasztelanic, agnieszka. 2011. awareness and affordances: multilingual versus bilinguals and their perceptions of cognates. in: gessica de angelis and jean-marc dewaele (eds.), new trends in crosslinguistic influence and multilingualism research, 1-18. clevedon, uk: multilingual matters. poulisse, nanda. 1997. compensatory stategies and the principles of clarity and economy. in: gabriele kasper and eric kellerman (eds.),communication strategies: psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives, 49-64. new york: longman. ringbom, håkan. 2007. cross-linguistic similarity in foreign language learning. clevedon: multilingual matters. sánchez, laura. 2011. ‘luisa and pedrito’s dog will the breakfast eat’: interlanguage transfer and the role of the second language factor”. in: gessica de angelis and jean-marc dewaele (eds.), new trends in crosslinguistic influence and multilingualism research, 86-103. clevedon, uk: multilingual matters. singleton, david. 1987. mother and other tongue influences on learner french. studies in second language acquisition 9(3), 327-345. singleton, david. 2016. cross-lexical interaction and the structure of the mental lexicon. in: liming yu and terence odlin (eds.), new perspectives on transfer in second language learning, 51-62. bristol: multilingual matters. vildomec, věroboj. 1963. multilingualism. netherlands: a.w. sythoff-leyden. wang, meihua. 2015. a study on the relationship between age onset of english learning and english achievement. theory and practice in language studies, 1. 164-169. 87 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles appendix ankieta wstępna 1. wiek: 2. motywacja: a) wewnętrzna (dla samego siebie): b) zewnętrzna (egzaminy, praca, itp.): c) wewnętrzna/zewnętrzna: 3. miejsce urodzenia: 4. doświadczenie lingwistyczne: oceń języki, które znasz pod względem niżej wymienionych kryteriów: 4.1 oceń, który język znasz najlepiej (5), a który najsłabiej (1). 5 4 3 2 1 4.2 z którym językiem identyfikujesz się najbardziej (5), a z którym najmniej (1)? który język odzwierciedla twoją osobowość? 5 4 3 2 1 4.3 który język jest najbardziej przydatny (5) do wyrażania twoich emocji, potrzeb, strachu, a który jest najmniej przydatny (1)? 5 4 3 2 1 88 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles 4.4. który język jest najbardziej przydatny (5) w komunikacji, a który najmniej (1)? 5 4 3 2 1 4.5. w twojej opinii, który język jest najbardziej prestiżowy (5), a który najmniej (1)? 5 4 3 2 1 4.6. który język przysparza ci najwięcej stresu (5), a który najmniej (1)? 5 4 3 2 1 4.7. który język brzmi dla ciebie najprzyjemniej (5), a który najmniej przyjemnie (1)? 5 4 3 2 1 4.8. którego języka używasz najczęściej (5), a którego najrzadziej (1)? 5 4 3 2 1 4.9. w jakim wieku zacząłeś/aś uczyć się tych języków, które znasz? 5 4 3 2 1 5. typ i ilość ekspozycji na język docelowy: 5.1 hiszpański: 5.1.1 typ nauki: 5.1.2 czas nauki: 5.1.3 częstość używania języka: 89 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles 5.1.4 czy kiedykolwiek byłeś/aś w krajach hiszpańskojęzycznych?: 5.1.5 czy masz przyjaciół/rodzinę hiszpańskojęzycznych?: 5.2 angielski: 5.2.1 typ nauki: 5.2.2 czas nauki: 5.2.3 częstość używania języka: 5.2.4 czy kiedykolwiek byłeś/aś w krajach anglojęzycznych?: 5.2.5 czy masz przyjaciół/rodzinę anglojęzycznych?: 5.3 (w przypadku jeśli angielski nie jest twoim drugim językiem): 5.3.1 typ nauki: 5.3.2 czas nauki: 5.3.3 częstość używania języka: 5.3.4 czy kiedykolwiek byłeś/aś w krajach, gdzie używa się tego języka?: 5.3.5 czy masz przyjaciół/rodzinę, którzy używają tego języka?: 6. dystans lingwistyczny: 6.1. z języków, których używasz, który jest najbardziej zbliżony do języka polskiego? w słownictwie: w fonetyce: w gramatyce: w składni: 90 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles w morfologii (w słowotwórstwie): 6.2 który język – angielski czy polski – pomaga ci bardziej w nauce hiszpańskiego? w słownictwie: w fonetyce: w gramatyce: w składni: w morfologii (w słowotwórstwie): 37 96 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) grzegorz moroz1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.39.4.06 university of białystok, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9593-0224 cucumbers and creeps: errors in translation studies and in the polish translation of robert macfarlane’s the old ways2 in memory of krzysztof hejwowski (1952-2019), the dearest friend and my guide to the world of translation studies abstract. forty years ago, andré lefevere wrote a paper in which he exposed some of the ʻhowlingʼ errors made by american translators of berthold brecht and declared the theme of errors to be unconstructive in the field of contemporary translation studies. krzysztof hejwowski, a polish translation studies scholar, believed that the notion of errors should not be forgotten, no matter which way translation studies are heading. this paper is both a homage to hejwowski and his ʻconservativeʼ agenda and an attempt to map the errors in the polish translation of the old ways by robert macfarlane. keywords: lefevere, hejwowski, translation studies, errors, robert macfarlane. translation studies and errors in 1982, in the early days of translation studies as an academic discipline, andré lefevere published an article entitled “mother courages̓ cucumbers: text, system and refraction 1 university of białystok, faculty of philology, centre for literary studies, pl. nzs 1, 15-420 białystok, poland. e-mail: g.moroz@uwb.edu.pl 2 this article is a slightly altered version of a paper delivered on 7 july 2022 at the university of tartu, estonia, during borders & crossings: transdisciplinary conference on travel writing. i am aware of the fact that, with its focus on errors in one particular translation, it goes against the mainstream of translation studies, but at the same time i hope that even though it may be read as a confrontational erratum in itself, it will begin a discussion on the problems translators face, as well as on strategies and techniques which they use while approaching narratives of travel. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9593-0224 97 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in a theory of literature”. over the next few years lefevere was to become one of the leading scholars (together with theo hermans and susan bassnett) responsible for ʻthe cultural turn in translation studiesʼ and “mother courages̓ cucumbers” has become one of the most often anthologized pieces of the rapidly developing academic discipline. it is included, for example, in the translation studies reader, edited by lawrence venuti (1997) and, in polish translation, współczesne teorie przekładu: antologia [contemporary theories of translation: an anthology] edited by piotr bukowski and magda heydel (2009). “mother courages̓ cucumbers” opens with lefeveres̓ statement that “translation studies can hardly be said to have occupied a central position in much theoretical thinking about literature” and that he will try to show “[…] how translations or, to use a more general term, refractions, play a very important part in the evolution of literatures” (2012: 203). in the long second paragraph, lefevere at first clearly cherishes describing errors american translators committed rendering bertold brechts̓ mutter courage und ihre kinder into english; for example, he shows how in the translation of h. r. hays, “the prayer book mother courage uses to wrap her cucumbers becomes transformed into a ledger, and the innocent cucumbers themselves grow into an imaginary town, gurken3, supposedly the point the last transaction was entered into that particular ledger” (2012: 203). having described a few such errors, “howlers” as he refers to them (2012: 204), lefevere announces: “i have no desire, however, to write a traditional ʻbrecht in englishʼ type of translation-studies paper, which would pursue this strategy to the bitter end” (2012: 204). instead, he declares, “translations can be used in other, more constructive ways” (2012: 204), and argues that “[a] writers̓ work gains exposure and achieves influence mainly through ʻmisunderstandings and misconceptions,̓ or to use a more neutral term, refractions. writers and their work are always understood and conceived against a certain background, or, if you will, are refracted through a certain spectrum” (2012: 204). lefeveres̓ treatment of translations as refractions in which “misunderstandings and misconceptions” are inevitable became dominant in the burgeoning translation studies, and, as a result, translation errors have for a long time been thought of as belonging to the old, pre-theoretical and ʻlinguisticʼ period of the development of translation studies. one of the few scholars who opposed this approach was krzysztof hejwowski. in his translation: a cognitive-communicative approach (2004), he tackled head-on lefeveres̓ “more constructive approach” from “mother courages̓ cucumbers”. he argued that the “howlers” lefevere quoted do not stem from “any refraction through a certain spectrum” but from the translators̓ mistakes. he added that “[s]uch mistakes can (and should) be pointed out and rectified” (2004: 199). in iluzja przekładu (2015), hejwowski (2015: 289) claimed that in lefeveres̓ (and hermanss̓) approach, some of the old, key 3 the german gurken means cucumbers. 98 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) questions of translation studies (about equivalence, translation errors, translators̓ competence, freedom, and responsibility) are unnecessarily “annulled”. hejwowskis̓ ʻtraditionalʼ approach to translation errors and his taxonomy of these errors prove to be particularly useful when we approach translations in which the frequency of errors as well as their variety are truly excessive, and i am strongly convinced that the polish translation of robert macfarlanes̓ the old ways is such a case. the polish translation of the old ways in 2019, while working on a book, the working title of which is the socio-cultural dynamics of translating anglophone travel books into polish, i read closely, sentence by sentence, the old ways by robert macfarlane, first published in 2012, and its polish translation, by jacek konieczny, published in 2018 as szlaki by wydawnictwo poznańskie. as my list of notes on mistranslations of various kinds in szlaki was growing surprisingly quickly, i was growing more and more curious about the translator himself, suspecting at first that he must be a novice in his trade and that, for some reason, the editor of the book, as well as the proof-reader, did not do a satisfactory job either. i was surprised to learn that jacek konieczny is a very experienced translator, with more than fifty books translated, and that in his interview for dwutygodnik, he answered the question of whether the fact that he graduated in sociology and does not hold a degree in english is not detrimental [in his job as a translator] by saying that it is not detrimental, because “the command of the foreign language is not the most important [thing]. it is the faculty of being able to write in ones̓ own language which is more important, and so i owe much more to my teacher of polish in the primary school […] than to a hypothetical english department” (my translation g. m.).4 unlike konieczny, i am firmly convinced that in order to be a competent translator one has to possess a very firm command in l1 and l2, and i will try to prove my point by providing some examples of what i consider to be errors in the polish translation of the old ways, most of which could have been avoided. my present version of the notes to the chapter on the polish translation of the old ways is more than fifty pages long, even though i still have not started with the theoretical considerations on the more general nature of the mistranslations in szlaki. however, because of the limits on the length of the present paper i will provide here only a sample of the problems i have detected, organized according to a taxonomy of errors that follows the one presented by hejwowski in translation: a cognitive-communicative approach. at this point i would also like to express thanks for lively discussions and brainstorms to piotr kozłowski, a former student of mine, who (under my supervision) defended (in july 4 “nie, bo znajomość języka obcego nie jest najważniejsza. istotniejsza jest umiejętność pisania we własnym języku, więc znacznie więcej zawdzięczam mojej polonistce ze szkoły podstawowej, […] niż hipotetycznej anglistyce” (https://www.dwutygodnik.com/artykul/7236-dwa-zale.html). 99 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 2021) his m.a. dissertation entitled ʻtranslating travel. robert macfarlanes̓ the old ways in jacek koniecznys̓ translation.̓ translating the title gérard genette, in his influential study paratexts: thresholds of interpretations (1987, trans. to english 2001), coined the term ʻparatextʼ to refer to the territories of the book— like titles, forewords, epigraphs or footnotes—which mediate between text and readers. the crucial role of paratexts in travel writing has been recognized by many travel writing scholars.5 in this section i will focus on just one example of paratext mistranslation in szlaki: that of the very title of the book. the full title of robert macfarlanes̓ book in the original is the old ways: a journey on foot. in jacek koniecznys̓ it becomes szlaki: opowieści o wędrówkach. i am convinced that both parts of the title in translation are wanting. let us start with “the old ways”. “way” is used in the title in the meaning of a road/path/route which people used a long time ago, like “the icknield way” or “the pilgrimsʼ way”, which appear numerous times on the pages of the book. the word “szlaki”, which is usually translated as ʻroutes,̓ could be used in this context if it were preceded by the adjective “stare” (“old”) [with “dawne” (also “old”) as a weaker alternative]. but i am convinced that there is a better word in polish to use in this context: the word “trakt” (“way”, “road”). in the region of podlasie, where i live, there are several “trakty napoleońskie” (“napoleons̓ ways”), country dirt roads, leading more or less from west to east, on which napoleons̓ grande armee, at least in the collective memory of the regions̓ inhabitants, walked in 1812 on their way to russia, and also, in a less organized fashion, on their way back a few months later. there are numerous “trakty królewskie” (“royal ways”) in poland, the most famous of which is the one in warsaw that originally led from the royal castle in the old town of warsaw in a southerly direction. therefore, “stare trakty” seems to be a better solution than “szlaki” for the first part of the title. the ʻextendedʼ title of macfarlanes̓ book is “a journey on foot”. konieczny renders it as “opowieści o wędrówkach”, which literally means “stories (tales) of wanderings (trips)”. this time i would like to challenge both words of the translation and suggest that one more word should have been used in the translation of this part of the title. there is no word for “stories” in the original title and i do not see any reason why it should be introduced in the translated title. the word “wędrówki” (wanderings, trips) is in the plural, while in the original we have “a journey”, which is one journey. why did robert macfarlane decide to use “a journey” in the title in the singular even though in the sixteen chapters of his book he described eleven separate journeys/trips? presumably, 5 see, for example, a. watson, the garden of forking paths: paratexts in travel literature. in : j. kuehn & p. kuehn (eds.), new directions in travel writing studies, london: palgrave macmillan, 2015, 54-70. 100 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) he wanted to convey the meaning of all his external wanderings being, in fact, ʻone (internal) journey.̓ there are numerous references to and musings on this external and internal nature of his “journeys” in the old ways, the first of them at the very beginning, in one paragraph paratext entitled “authors̓ note”, when he states: “above all, this is a book about people and place: about walking as a reconnoitre inwards” (macfarlane 2013: xi). i think that the best polish word to use in this situation is the word “podróż” (journey), which could carry similar ʻexternalʼ and ʻinternalʼ connotations [“wędrówka” in the singular could also be considered as an alternative for “podróż”]. whereas “opowieści” is an unnecessary addition, “on foot” remains untranslated in the polish title. even though two chapters (number 5 “water—south” and number 6 “water—north) are about sea trips during which the narrative persona used feet to a very limited extent, the overall title is “a journey on foot”. the first two sentences of the above-mentioned “authors̓ note” reads: this book could not have been written by sitting still. the relationship between paths, walking and imagination is its subject, and much of its thinking was therefore done— was only possible—while on foot. (macfarlane 2013: xi) therefore, leaving this important phrase “on foot” untranslated seems to be an error. the polish phrases which are usually used to cover “on foot” are “pieszo” or “na piechotę”, and therefore the second part of the title, if i were to translate the book, would be “wędrówka piesza”, and the whole title “stare trakty; wędrówka piesza”, a long way from koniecznys̓ “szlaki; opowieści o wędrówkach”. titles are, obviously, very important paratexts. the decision to change the phrase “the old ways” into the simple “szlaki” not only ʻweakensʼ the title itself and makes it blander, but it also influences (in a negative way) those moments, and there are plenty of them in the old ways when macfarlane plays with this phrase in various manners. the first example of this can be found on the second page of the first chapter, “track”: so, macfarlane calls the route he walks in the first chapter “the path”, but it also becomes “a young way”, in clear contrast to the old ways which he will be walking in the following chapters. had konieczny decided to use “stare trakty” (old ways) for his title, it would be easy to use the phrase “młody trakt” (young way) in contrast to “stary trakt” (old way), and in this way he would have also preserved the oxymoronic effect (which this is the path iʼve probably walked more often than any other in my life. it s̓ a young way; maybe fifty years old, no more. (macfarlane 2013: 6) żadną inną ścieżką nie przeszedłem w życiu tyle razy. nie jest specjalnie stara. ma najwyżej pięćdziesiąt lat. (macfarlane 2018: 14) 101 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) i am convinced was intended by the author) of “a young way” (“młody trakt”). instead, he comes up with the phrase “nie jest specjalnie stara” (it is not particularly old), which misses not only the oxymoron but also the fact that macfarlane used two different words about the same object: “the path” and “a young way”, whereas in translation we only have “ścieżka” (path). errors of syntagmatic translation i will start with some basic lexical problems i have detected while comparing the english original of the old ways with the polish translation. the lexical mistranslations in szlaki begin at the level of misreading, the translator translating not the english word macfarlane used, but another english word, with just one letter different from the original. the list here consists of four pairs: copse-corpse, parson-person, haunting-hunting, county-country. i consider the copse-corpse misreading as the most ʻhowlingʼ or ʻspectacularʼ of them: this is part of a description of northern france written down by edward thomas in a letter to a friend in february 1915; thomas was sent there to fight in the great war. for some reason the translator thought that the word used by thomas and later by macfarlane was “corpses” rather than “copses”, so we get this surrealistic description of the country thomas likes with great ploughed fields and a few corpses (sic!) on the hilltops. however, the word “copse”, when it appears some twenty-five pages later in szlaki, is correctly translated as “młodniak” (macfarlane 2018: 401). i like the country we are […]. it s̓ open hilly chalk country with great ploughed fields and a few copses on the hilltops. (macfarlane 2013: 329) podoba mi się kraina, w której się znajdujemy […]. jest to otwarty, pagórkowaty, kredowy krajobraz z wielkimi zaoranymi polami i nielicznymi zwłokami, leżącymi na wierzchołkach. (macfarlane 2018: 374) these practices have their parallels elsewhere in the country: in the line of white marker stones that used to run across bodmin moor from watergate to five lanes, for instance, set there in the mid-1800s by a parson who wished to traverse his trackless and often fog-bound parish without getting lost or enmired. (macfarlane 2013: 144) odpowiedniki tych praktyk możemy znaleźć w innych częściach kraju; w linii białych kamieni, która biegła przez kornwalijskie wrzosowisko bodmin moor z watergate do five lane, ustawionych w połowie xix wieku, przez osobę, która chciała móc pokonywać ten pozbawiony dróg i często spowity mgłą obszar, nie ryzykując, że się zgubi albo wpadnie w bagno. (macfarlane 2018: 165) 102 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in the original the person who put up white stones is a “parson”, meaning a rector or a vicar of a protestant church. the “parson” was translated as “osoba” (person). almost, but not quite. as this person is not a parson in the polish translation, the parish is not necessary, and therefore it disappears in the translation. here, “haunting” becomes “polowanie”, that is “hunting”, even though in the text of the chapter there are almost two pages on ʻhauntingʼ and no reference to ʻhuntingʼ at all. in the polish translation this golf course is the most exclusive “w kraju”, meaning in the country. it should be “najbardziej luksusowe pole golfowe w (tym) (naszym) hrabstwie” (the most exclusive golf course in our county) or “hrabstwie cambridgeshire” (in cambridgeshire). the translator also had problems with the word “county” in this fragment: the phrase “revealing continents within counties” was translated as a separate sentence which literally means: “they reveal continents within continents”. while in the previous example “county” became “country”, here it becomes “continent”. the more typical kinds of lexical mistranslations are the result of the situation when the translator decides on the wrong one out of a few different meanings of a word or a phrase. in this category, in my opinion, the most ʻspectacularʼ mistranslation in szlaki happened with “the creep”: haunting and fear (macfarlane 2013: 305) polowanie i strach (macfarlane 2018: 347) […] the county’s most exclusive golf course. (macfarlane 2013: 8) […] najbardziej luksusowe pole golfowe w kraju. (macfarlane 2018: 16) such moments are rites of passage that reconfigure local geographies, leaving known places outlandish or quickened, revealing continents within counties. (macfarlane 2013: 78) takie chwile są rytuałami przejścia rekonfigurującymi geografię danego regionu, za którym znane miejsca zaczynają się wydawać obce albo przesunięte. ujawniają kontynenty ukryte w obrębie kontynentów. (macfarlane 2018: 92) 103 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the translator here translated the word “the creep” as “tych skurwieli” which means, more or less, “these motherfuckers”, which is as vulgar as it is ridiculous. the whole phrase “wystrzeliwania tych skurwieli” in polish is not only a mistranslation; it is also ambiguous. the phrase used by konieczny literally means “shooting these motherfuckers”, and “these motherfuckers” could be either germans or shells. this is a surprising mistake, as the word “creep” appears in the previous sentence, the beginning of which reads “the offensive will begin with the creeping artillery barrage – the ʻhurricane bombardmentʼ” (macfarlane 2013: 333), and the translator managed this bit quite well “ofensywa zacznie się od postępującego ostrzału artyleryjskiego—ʻhuraganowego bombardowania […]” (macfarlane 2018: 377), where the phrase “creeping artillery barrage” is more or less correctly translated as “postępujący ostrzał artyleryjski” (literally ʻadvancing artillery barrage”, although polish military historians usually translate this phrase more literally as “pełzający wał ogniowy”6). why did the translator not connect “creeping barrage” with “the creep” in the next sentence and decide to translate the singular noun “the creep” as “tych skurwieli” (“these motherfuckers”)? probably because of the combination of two factors: a not very firm grasp of english, and translating in a hurry. the translators̓ problems with the english word “estate” resulted in a series of mistranslations: here, “an estate land rover” becomes “land rover kombi” in polish, which, when retranslated back to english renders “land rover estate”. the translator here mistakenly took the expression “an estate land rover”, meaning a land rover car belonging to the estate, as “a land rover estate”, that is a land rover station-wagon (to use the american term for this type of car). the word “estate” appears in the next sentence of the description “a mile further we passed the estate shooting lodge” (macfarlane 2013: 189). this is translated as “chata myśliwska”, that is “hunting lodge”; so this time the “estate” is left 6 see, for example, http://www.historycy.org/index.php?showtopic=50168&st=135. the timing and aiming of the creep has to be precise: synchronized between batteries […]. (macfarlane 2013: 333-34) moment i kierunek wystrzeliwania tych skurwieli należało zgrać z niezwykłą precyzją. (macfarlane 2018: 378) the sound of an engine behind us, then the honk of a horn: an estate land rover bounced past, hardly slowing to let us leave the track. (macfarlane 2013: 189) warkot silnika za naszymi plecami, potem ryk klaksonu: land rover kombi przetoczył się obok nas w podskokach, nie zwalniając nawet zbytnio, żeby dać nam czas na uskoczenie z drogi. (macfarlane 2018: 216) 104 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) untranslated. when the term “estate” appears for the third time in the very same paragraph: “i was glad to get away from the estate roads and out onto the unmetalled footpaths […]” (macfarlane 2013: 189) the phrase “the estate roads” is translated as “prywatne tłuczniowe drogi” (macfarlane 2018: 217), that is “private gravel roads”. so, in the polish translation, there is absolutely no connection between “estate land rover”, “estate hunting lodge” and “estate roads”; no idea of the narrator describing a specific estate with a land rover car, a shooting lodge and its own roads. the translator had problems with the word “feather”, used by macfarlane in two different chapters of his travel book to refer to the same ʻstructureʼ: the strange ʻstructureʼ described by macfarlane, made by his friend steve dilworth out of dolerite and whalebone, is “a feather”. the word is repeated twice in the first sentence and then used once again some ten lines later. in the polish version, it becomes “skrzydło”, which is a ʻwing.̓ the word is repeated twice. but by the time the translator gets to the next “feather” he has ʻlearntʼ to translate it (correctly) as a “pióro”. so the same object is first “skrzydło” (wing) to be transformed into “pióro” (feather), which obviously confuses polish readers. when, seventy pages later, the narrative persona picks up another feather, he makes this comment. this time dilworths̓ ʻfeatherʼ is described by the persona as a “dolerite and whalebone structure”; while the translator has apparently forgotten about this object, which he called both “skrzydło” (wing) and “pióro” (feather) earlier. here, he probably thought that there are two objects being referred to (even though the noun “structure” is used in the singular in the original): “doleryt dilwotha i rzeźby przedstawiającej kość wieloryba”, which literally means “dilworths̓ dolerite and a sculpture representing a whalebone”, rather than one “structure” made by dilworth of dolerite and whalebone. when i picked it up it weighed almost nothing: an inverse echo of dilworth’s dolerite and whalebone structure. (macfarlane 2013: 256) podniosłem je, wydawało się nic nie ważyć, odwrócone echo dolerytu dilwortha i rzeźby przedstawiającej kość wieloryba. (macfarlane 2018: 290) it was a feather, a foot-and-a-half-long stone feather, made of a polished black rock with green flecks. […] the feather was cool in my hands and impossibly heavy. (macfarlane 2013: 175) było to skrzydło, półtora stopowe kamienne skrzydło, wykonane z wypolerowanej czarnej skały poprzetykanej zielonymi drobinkami. […] pióro było chłodne w dotyku i absurdalnie ciężkie. (macfarlane 2018: 200-201) 105 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) sometimes, using too general terms (hypernyms) may lead to some cultural misunderstanding: a flask is a type of bottle but not exactly a “butelka” (bottle). in english the term “hip flask” often gets shortened to “flask”, as is the case here. the equivalent in polish is “piersiówka”. the word derives from “pierś” (breast), suggesting an alternative placement of such a useful implement. yet “flask”, although a type of “bottle”, differs from an ordinary bottle in that it is usually much smaller than a standard bottle (of whisky). it is handier because of its flat shape and is usually made of some durable stuff, like stainless steel, and for all these reasons it is much more practical to carry on you (either on your hip or your breast) than an ordinary bottle. although macfarlane makes it clear on several occasions in the old ways that he is not a teetotaller, he probably would not want to be seen by his polish readers leaving his cambridge house late on a december evening carrying a bottle of whisky on his hip. sometimes, the translators̓ lack of precision is not so culturally poignant, and merely clumsy: the word “golfers” is translated as “zawodnicy”, a word which means “competitors”; this word is much more general and not precise in the sense that not all “golfers” take part in “zawody” (competitions). so, it should be translated as “golfiści”, a word which means “golfers”, or alternatively as “gracze” (players). sometimes, such too-general terms result in a loss of comprehension: robert macfarlane describes here a golf putting green (although it is now not green, but white, because it is covered by snow) with “a flagstick” in its centre. konieczny translates the term “flagstick” as “maszt” (mast), which is not only not precise, but also misleading. […] edited of its golfers by the darkness […] the countys̓ most exclusive golf-course […]. (macfarlane 2013: 8) […] pozbawione, jak to nocą, zawodników […] to najbardziej luksusowe pole golfowe w kraju […]. (macfarlane 2018: 16) south and uphill where i stood, big humps surrounded what appeared to be a small lake with a flagstick in its centre. (macfarlene 2013: 7) na południe, czyli w górę zbocza, zobaczyłem wielkie białe garby otaczające, jak się zdawało jeziorko z zatkniętym masztem po środku. (macfarlane 2018: 16) an hour later i went for a walk with a flask of whisky to keep me warm. (macfarlane 2013: 6) godzinę później wyszedłem na spacer z butelką whisky; chciałem mieć coś na rozgrzewkę. (macfarlane 2018: 14) 106 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) what we have here is a long stick with a flag on top; such a “flagstick” stuck in a hole is a very characteristic feature of golf courses. konieczny, instead of using a descriptive term like “(długa) tyczka z flagą na szczycie” ([long] stick with a flag on top) or “kij z flagą pokazujący położenia dołka” (a stick with a flag showing the position of a hole)7, uses a hypernym, “maszt”, usually reserved for taller and more substantial vertical structures. moreover, he ʻforgetsʼ about the “flag”. in this way, whereas it is clear from macfarlanes̓ original fragment that he is describing “a golf putting green”, even though he does not use the term, and the green is not green but white or grey in the moonlight, konieczny, through a wrong selection of words, makes the description distinctively less clear and confusing to readers. finally, the translator felt free to move far beyond the range of meanings connected with a given word/phrase, for example: “ennui” is translated as “uwznioślenie”, which means “ennoblement”. realization errors sometimes in szlaki lexical mistranslation is probably the result not of a lack of linguistic competence but, most probably, of too quick and perfunctory reading of the original, and working under the pressure of time, a similar phenomenon which has been suggested above in the case of pairs of words like ʻcopse-corpse.̓ here are some more examples: the last sentence in translation means “ian waved the greeting, they answered the same way”. whereas in the original they did not answer in the same way, that is they did not wave, but merely “nodded back”, quite a different reaction. in fact, the narrator goes 7 see, angielsko-polski słownik golfowy (english-polish golf dictionary), www.golfowy.pl/slownik_golfowy. […] mix of excitement, incompetence, ennui, adventure and epiphany. (macfarlane 2013: 31) […] mieszanina podekscytowania, niekompetencji, uwznioślenia, przygody i epifanii. (macfarlane 2018: 42) they looked at us, unsmiling [...] they knew the boat and they knew ian, but the implication was clear enough: keep away, this is our day, our rock. ian waved the greeting, they nodded back. (macfarlane 2013: 136) spoglądali na nas nie uśmiechając się […] znali łódź, znali iana, ale ich sylwetki sugerowały wyraźnie jedno. “trzymajcie się z daleka, to nasz dzień, nasza skała.” ian pomachał im na powitanie, oni odpowiedzieli w ten sam sposób. (macfarlane 2018: 157) 107 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) quite a long way to describe this tense, even if brief, meeting between the guga hunters and ian (with his crew), and the effect is spoilt at the end in the polish translation. the optimal pace for the human mind to function in the translation is changed from “three miles an hour” in the original to eight miles per hour; definitely a trot, rather than a “pedestrian pace”. two dolphins from the original become “trzy” (three) dolphins in the translation. in a similar manner: “[a] single white stone” becomes “dwa pojedyńcze białe kamyki” which means “two single white pebbles”. the word used by the translator for “stone” is “kamyk”, which is a diminutive of “kamień” (stone). so, “kamyk” is a small stone, something like a pebble, a word which shouldnotbeusedinthecontextofastonethesizeofanostrichegg.howasinglewhitestone has been translated as two single white pebbles is beyond my comprehension. one more comment, “przeglądając plażę”, is not a good translation of “scouring the beach”. the polish word “przeglądać” (to survey, to browse, to scan) does not connote well with “the beach”. i would go for “przeczesując plażę, odkryłem […]” (while combing the beach i discovered […]). with finlays̓ help i managed to confirm more facts about manuss̓ stones and the man who had laid them. manus had indeed lived as a crofter […]. (macfarlane 2013: 149) dzięki pomocy finlaya udało mi się potwierdzić kolejne fakty na temat kamieni manusa i ludzi, którzy je ustawili. manus rzeczywiście był zagrodnikiem […]. (macfarlane 2018: 171) scouring the beach, i discovered a single white stone, the size and shape of an ostrich egg. (macfarlane 2013: 111) przeglądając plażę, odkryłem dwa pojedyncze białe kamyki o rozmiarach i w kształcie strusiego jaja. (macfarlane 2018: 130) […] two yellow-striped dolphins broke water […]. (macfarlane 2013: 106) […] trzy pokryte żółtymi pasmami delfiny wyskoczyły nad wodę […]. (macfarlane 2018: 123) kierkegaard speculated that the mind might function optimally at the pedestrian pace of three miles per hour [...]. (macfarlane 2013: 27) kierkegaard wysunął tezę, że umysł funkcjonuje optymalnie w czasie wolnego spaceru z prędkością ośmiu mil na godzinę. (macfarlane 2018: 37) 108 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in the original we have three nouns in the singular. the narrator states that finlay helped him to confirm facts about “manuss̓ stones”, that is about one person named manus, and that he also confirmed more facts about “the man who had laid them”, that is about this man called manus. and the next sentence gives one more confirmed fact about manus (that he had lived as a crofter). in the polish translation the fact about manuss̓ stones is translated correctly, but afterwards we have “i ludzi którzy je ustawili”, which means “and the men who laid them”, the plural noun (ludzi) with the plural ending for the verb (ustawili). and then we move to the correctly translated phrase that manus had really been a crofter. so, whereas in the original it is clear that manus laid manuss̓ stones, in the polish translation some mysterious “men who laid them” appear. seventeen acres of rough marshy pasture becomes “siedem akrów” (seven acres). the polish translator sent edward thomas not to the western front, but the eastern front (“na froncie wschodnim”). while the narrative persona passed at least two shirtless “elderly spanish men”, in the translation he passed just one “starszy hiszpan” (an elderly spanish man). thus, bariton is moved from the border of sussex to the border of essex. i passed the elderly spanish men, shirtless in the noon heat. (macfarlane 2013: 256) minąłem starszego hiszpana, który w południowym upale rozebrał się do pasa. (macfarlane 2018: 291) when edward thomas travelled to fight on the western front, […] (macfarlane 2013: 198) kiedy edward thomas pojechał walczyć na froncie wschodnim […] (macfarlane 2018: 228) they had an acre of the land behind the house which ran up to the treeline of the forestry and seventeen acres of rough marshy pasture […]. (macfarlane 2013: 193) dziadkowie mieli akr ziemi wznoszącej się ku skrajowi lasu oraz siedem akrów nierównego, bagnistego pastwiska. (macfarlane 2018: 222) near bariton, near the county border with sussex. (macfarlane 2013: 313) pod bariton, na granicy hrabstwa essex. (macfarlane 2018: 354) 109 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) mistaking two sl syntagms or verb frames in szlaki, mistranslation of a syntactical and/or grammatical nature is not as common as mistranslation caused by lexical complexities of words and phrases, but it is not particularly rare. here are some examples: this is the beginning of the quotation macfarlane used from a book by a. r. b. haldane, the drove roads of scotland. the first sentence was translated as “brązowe żagle statków z bydłem wypływały z cieśniny minch” (“the brown sails used to go from the strait of minch”), misunderstanding the “have gone”, which here means, “have disappeared” and translating the sentence in the past tense with the verb “wypływały” (sailed out of). it is not only an example of mistranslation, but also of clumsy polish, for in the first sentence it is not the ships themselves, but their brown sails which “wypływały z cieśniny minch” (sailed out of the minch). of course, this sentence does not connect with the second one in the polish translation. the first one is about the cattle ship which sailed out of minch, and the second correctly uses the present tense and conveys the idea of “thrift growing undisturbed”. the next example shows a problem that is partly grammatical, concerning the third conditional and the fact that it refers to the past, and is partly culture-bound: macfarlane uses the third conditional here, referring to the past, and referring to a well-known 1859 novel by wilkie collins, the woman in white, which opens with walter hartright, one of the novels̓ narrators, describing his meeting at night on the road outside london with the ghost-like figure of “a woman in white”. konieczny changes the conditional to the present, and his sentence means: if the broomway did not exist, wilkie collins could invent it. which does not make much sense in view of what has been written above. the polish sentence “gdyby nie istniała broomway, wilkie collins byłby zmuszony ją wymyślić” refers to the past, and the fact that collins might have been forced (“might have had to”) to invent it. however, without the knowledge of collinss̓ novel, this sentence in polish is pretty enigmatic. should a translators̓ footnote be if the broomway hadnʼt existed, wilkie collins might have had to invent it. (macfarlane 2013: 60) gdyby broomway nie istniała, mógłby ją wymyślić wilkie collins. (macfarlane 2018: 70) the brown sails of the cattle boats have gone from the minch. on slipways and jetties from skye to kintyre, thrift grows undisturbed in the crannies of stones […]. (macfarlane 2013: 191) brązowe żagle statków z bydłem wypływały z cieśniny minch. pochylnie i mola, od skye do kintyre, porasta zawciąg zapuszczający korzenie w szczelinach pomiędzy kamieniami […]. (macfarlane 2018: 219). 110 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) added here? how many more translators̓ footnotes should be added to hundreds of macfarlanes̓ footnotes? it is an open question. the kind of question i would prefer to be asking rather than complaining about errors. omissions (elisions) hejwowski is strict about omissions. he declares that they “are hardly ever justified – in translations of more ambitious literary works probably never” (2004: 226). it is individual words, short phrases, and whole sentences which are omitted in szlaki. i will start with two examples in which whole sentences are elided, in an attempt to show the detrimental effect omission has on comprehension: on one july evening in 1932, 16,000 people boarded special scheduled southern railway trains in london to follow a moonlit walk over a stretch of the downs, gathering to watch sunrise from the ring. but then in 1987 the great storm blew in and wrecked chanctonbury. it s̓ now missing most of its main trees, and its interior has reverted to a sprout scrub of ash and bramble. (macfarlane 2013: 317) for some reason, in the polish translation the whole sentence “but then in 1987…” is left untranslated. this sentence is important in this paragraph, as it ʻconnectsʼ the first and third sentences of the quoted fragment. without it, the whole paragraph is not logical and lacks clarity. the whole short sentence “there were no casualties” is left untranslated, which changes the perception of the fragment considerably. moreover, the next sentence is not very clear because there is one word which is unnecessary and the sentence is not grammatical. “że ale żeby zostać ostrzelanym” means “that but to come under fire”, the unnecessary word is “że”, which here means “that”; this “że” is probably some overlooked remnant of an earlier version of this sentence. sometimes the elision of a phrase is only a part of a sentence, but such phrases in macfarlanes̓ precise, even though poetic, prose are rarely redundant: they were shot at from the banks. warlordism was rife here. there were no casualties. but to come under fire before theyd̓ even reached the mountain […]. (macfarlane 2013: 268) zostali ostrzelani z brzegu. w okolicy roiło się od watażków. wszystko rozumiem, że ale żeby zostać ostrzelanym zanim w ogóle dotarło się pod górę […]. (macfarlane 2018: 302) 111 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the phrase “finlay being one” is left untranslated. this might seem not a very crucial deletion if we look at this sentence only. but this sentence comes at the end of a long paragraph devoted to finlay macleod, “naturalist, novelist, broadcaster, oral historian, occasional selkie-singer and seal-summoner and an eloquent speaker in both english and gaelic” (macfarlane 2013: 144-45), and therefore the omission of the “finlay being one” markedly reduces the rhetorical passion of the narrative persona. the simile used by macfarlane here of segovia and ely, a cathedral town in the fens some fifteen miles north of cambridge, is left untranslated. besides, the pronoun in the polish translation should be “je” rather than “ją” as it refers to the word “miasto” (town), which in polish is neuter in gender and should have the pronoun “je”, not the feminine pronoun “ją”. the elision of the simile with ely and the fens is similar to another elision in the sentence “the house has been recently constructed on morrisian principles” (macfarlane 2013: 338), where “morrisian principles” is elided in the polish translation. it is difficult to assess to what extent these two examples are the result of some conscious “domesticating strategy” of the translator, or whether they point to the haste in which he was translating the old ways. sometimes, the elision of just one word causes a profound change in the meaning: the polish translation literarily means: “this convention—born of a region which was not subjected to centuries of feudalism and therefore has not inherited a separate class of landowners.” it is not an inheriting “landowning class” which is crucial in the original this convention—born of a region that did not pass through centuries of feudalism, and therefore has no inherited deference to a landowning class […]. (macfarlane 2013: 16). obyczaj ten—zrodzony w części świata, która nie została poddana wielowiekowym wpływom feudalizmu, a przez to nie odziedziczyła odrębnej klasy posiadaczy ziemskich […]. (macfarlane 2018: 23-24) yet, it still seems to sail upon the flatlands that surround it, as ely does upon the fens. (macfarlane 2013: 257) mimo to miasto wydaje się żeglować po otaczającej ją równinie. (macfarlane 2018: 291) the event had outraged the sabbatarians on the island (of whom there were many) and delighted the secular modernizers (of whom there were fewer, finlay being one). (macfarlane 2013: 145) zdarzenie to wzbudziło oburzenie ludzi fanatycznie czczących świętość niedzieli (których było wielu) i uradowało świeckich zwolenników postępu (których było mniej). (macfarlane 2018: 166) 112 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) but an inherited “deference to a landowning class”. there is no “deference” (szacunek) in the polish translation. one word is missing but the meaning is changed a lot. translation of culture-bound items and, finally, just two examples of mistranslation in the category of culture-bound items: here the translator did not recognize that “a bed & breakfast” means a pension, a cheap hotel, and he translated the phrase as “now and then i treat myself to a night in bed and to a breakfast”. here “camino” becomes “droga świętego jana” (“the road of st. john”). why st. john and not st. james? why did the translator not leave the latin/spanish word “camino”, used also in english and polish, but instead venture out on his own little translational pilgrimage, changing saints on his way? final remarks there are many more instances of what i consider errors in szlaki; they have not been presented because of the editorial limits on the length of the present paper. i am convinced that the selection of errors presented and discussed is comprehensively representative of the whole range of problems present in this translation. while embarking on the theme of problems encountered in polish translations of anglophone travel writing, i imagined that i would be focusing mostly on slightly more ʻsophisticatedʼ issues connected with the translation and publication of travel writing, such as the extent to which translatorsʼ and/or editorsʼ footnotes should be used to help polish readers with specific issues. it turned out, instead, that while working on the polish translations of the old ways by robert macfarlane (as well as on the road to wigan pier by george orwell), i was making longer and longer lists of items i considered to be errors, many of which are of a relatively basic, rudimentary nature. at the beginning of my travel/translation research, i came across a statement elżbieta tabakowska made in the chapter entitled a former student of mine, matt lloyd, had walked the full camino one autumn, with a knapsack and a ukulele. (macfarlane 2013: 243) jeden z moich dawnych studentów, matt lloyd przeszedł jesienią całą drogę św. jana z plecakiem i ukulele. (macfarlane 2018: 275) now and then i treat myself to a night in a bed & breakfast […] but mostly i sleep just wherever i am walking. (macfarlane 2013: 313) od czasu do czasu pozwalam sobie na spędzenie nocy w łóżku i śniadanie […] ale zazwyczaj śpię tam, gdzie akurat dojdę. (macfarlane 2018: 355) 113 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) “polish tradition” in mona bakers̓ routledge encyclopedia of translation studies, that after “the political upheaval of 1989 […] [i]n addition to international best-sellers a large number of substandard books began to appear in equally substandard polish translations” (1998: 529). then, i was taken aback by the boldness with which the (slightly bizarre) dichotomy was constructed between “international best-sellers” and “substandard books”, and also by the apparent relish with which the derogatory label “substandard” was used twice in the same sentence to refer both to books and to their translations. i still believe that such labelling and dichotomising should be avoided by researchers at all costs, but i now see that a serious problem exists in this area. wydawnictwo poznańskie, a renowned polish publishing house of long-standing, published a travel book by a renowned british writer that few scholars or critics would call ʻsubstandard.̓ the graphic layout of the translated book, with a photo by filip springer, a celebrity writer, and photographer, is fully professional, with all the appropriate blurbs by the appropriate celebrity writers. but then, despite two “series editors”, sylwia smoluch and bogusław twardowski, one book editor, piotr chojnacki, one proof-reader, anna gradecka, (whose names and functions are listed on page 2), we get a translation riddled with errors at various levels, making the complex, poetic and artistic prose of robert macfarlane, at many points, clumsy and difficult for the polish reader to comprehend. it is not directly a problem of jacek koniecznys̓ lack of a degree in english. obviously, such a degree helps but is not necessary to have a firm grasp of the language from which one translates. konieczny, despite his lack of an english degree, is convinced that he is a competent translator from english, particularly considering the fact that he has translated and published more than fifty books. my working hypothesis, which i would like to test and/or develop, is that with this huge increase in the number of books translated from english into polish after 1989 (including travel books), there has been a great increase in the number of professional translators making their living out of it. but the book market in poland has not increased much in size, which means that with literally thousands of new books published each year, many of them translations from foreign languages, the average number of copies of a given title sold is diminishing, although this is only a supposition because such data are considered confidential. as translation costs constitute a considerable part of the expenditure encumbered by publishers, it is natural that publishers try to reduce these costs by paying translators as little as possible. this, in turn, means that translators, in order to survive, must ʻproduceʼ many, many pages of translation a day. this means that they make mistakes, at least some of which they would not have made if allowed to work at a more relaxed pace. and then three editors and a proof-reader employed by wydawnictwo poznańskie also work so quickly and perfunctorily that they let all these errors remain, together with such misspellings as “należąy” (instead of “należący”), “takih” (instead of “taki”) or “śmieci” (instead of “śmierci”) (macfarlane 2018: 252, 255, 367). 114 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) another hypothesis worth venturing is that the translation of anglophone non-fiction travel books (travel writing) offers, on average, more challenges to a translator than the translation of a love story, fantasy novel, or thriller. the combination of complex, ʻartistic,̓ often poetic language, yet grounded in a non-fictional paradigm often supported by many discourses—in the case of the old ways such discourses include: naturalistic, geological, sporting, tourist, academic—is prone to result in mistranslation on a much larger scale than the same translators commit while translating, for example, popular detective fiction. references genette, g. 1997. paratexts: thresholds of interpretations, trans. by jane e. lewin. cambridge: cambridge university press. hejwowski, k. 2004. translation: a cognitive-communicative approach. olecko: wydawnictwo wszechnicy mazurskiej. hejwowski, k. 2015. iluzja przekładu: przekładoznawstwo w ujęciu konstruktywnym. katowice: śląsk. lefevere, a. 2009. ogórki matki courage, trans. by a. sadza. in: p. bukowski and m. heydel (eds.), współczesne teorie przekładu: antologia. kraków: wydawnictwo znak, 223-46. lefevere, a. 2012. mother courages̓ cucumbers: text, system and refraction in a theory of literature. in: l. venuti (ed.), the translation studies reader: third edition. london/new york: routledge, 203-19. macfarlane, r. 2013. the old ways: a journey on foot. london: penguin books. macfarlane, r. 2018. szlaki: opowieści o wędrówkach, trans. by jacek konieczny. poznań: wydawnictwo poznańskie. tabakowska, e. 1998. polish tradition. in: routledge encyclopaedia of translation studies, m. baker, london/new york: routledge, 523-32. watson, a. 2015. the garden of forking paths: paratexts in travel literature”. in: j. kuehn & p. smethurst (eds.), new directions in travel writing. london: smethurst, palgrave macmillan, 54-70. funding this study was supported by the regional initiative of excellence programme of the polish ministry of science and higher education for the years 2019-2022; project number 009/rid/2018/19; the amount of funding 8,791,222 pln. *** grzegorz moroz is professor of british literature at the university of białystok. he has published monographs and many articles on aldous huxley, and on anglophone as well 115 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) as polish travel writing, including: travellers, novelists and gentlemen: constructing male narrative personae in british travel books from the beginnings to the second world war (peter lang, 2013) and a generic history of travel writing in anglophone and polish literature (brill/rodopi, 2020). grzegorz moroz doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.39.4.06 cucumbers and creeps: errors in translation studies and in the polish translation of robert macfarlane’s the old ways 37 59 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) beata kiersnowska1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.39.4.04 university of rzeszów, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9810-8148 cycle touring and the middle-class consumption of nature. anti-urbanism in h. g. wells’ the wheels of chance and cycling press reports of the late nineteenth century abstract. the article aims to discuss the cultural significance of cycle touring for the victorian urban middle class in the context of the growing significance of leisure and recreation to englands̓ working population and the burgeoning mass tourist industry. cycle tourism in the countryside is presented as a leisure activity reinstating an organic link between man and nature that was severed by the progress of industrial capitalism in victorian cities. the remarkable popularity of bicycle tourism in the last decade of the nineteenth century was induced mainly by its perception as an essentially rural recreation, allowing cyclists to immerse themselves in the unspoilt nature of england's pastoral countryside. as such, the activity corresponded with victorian attitudes to nature, their idealisation of the country, nostalgia for the wholesomeness of rural existence and denunciation of the city. the discussion of the phenomenon is illustrated with references to numerous press publications promoting cycle touring in the countryside and extolling its benefits, and herbert george wells' bicycling novel the wheels of chance: a bicycling idyll (1896). keywords: bicycle, touring, cyclist, nature, country, tourism, landscape, herbert george wells. 1 address for correspondence: the department of english studies, the institute of modern languages, university of rzeszów, al. mjr. w. kopisto 2b, 35-315 rzeszów, poland. e-mail: bkiersnowska@ur.edu.pl https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9810-8148 60 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) introduction the article discusses cycle touring in the countryside in the cultural context of anti-urban feelings in late victorian britain, cherishing rural beauty, and acknowledging its beneficial influence on urban residents. the onset of industrial capitalism brought about profound economic, technological and social transformations in victorian britain, and engendered the cultural climate of the period perceptibly characterised by polar attitudes to the consequences of industrial progress for human beings. on the one hand, it produced a fascination with scientific and technological advances, which transformed the nature of work and penetrated every sphere of human existence; on the other, it evoked concern about the detrimental effects of industrialisation on urban populations. the latter view was expressed by the growth of anti-urban attitudes and appreciation of rurality and unspoilt nature. noticeable changes in peoples̓ mindset resulting from these conflicting tendencies revealed themselves in their attitudes to work and leisure, and the growing realisation of the importance of recreation for the well-being of human beings. these changes, combined with the arrival of the railway and working hours legal regulations, proved conducive to the development of mass domestic and overseas tourism. one of the inventions of the period which played a pivotal role in britains̓ burgeoning tourist industry was the bicycle. as “one of the technological marvels of the victorian era” (rubenstein 1977: 48), the bicycle in a unique way fused both of the abovementioned opposite attitudes, simultaneously satisfying the victoriansʼ thirst for technological progress and becoming an instrument of physical and psychological liberation from the relentless effects of industrialisation in the city. this means of personal transport offered possibilities for unrestrained movement and enabled its users to vent pentup longing for the wholesome pastoral atmosphere of the country and natural scenery. the present paper has been informed mainly by scholarly works on social history and leisure studies of the victorian period, particularly those examining the role of cycling and tourism, as well as victorian attitudes to the country and nature. references to numerous press cycling reports and herbert george wellsʼ bicycling novel of 1896, the wheels of chance: a bicycling idyll, demonstrate the indubitable popularity of cycle tourism in britain in the last decade of the century. they support the argument that this mode of tourism fitted into the anti-urban mood of the period and corresponded with the appreciation of the country as the antithesis of the city. pastoral values of the country admired by cycling tourists augmented rural sympathies and helped urban residents rediscover nature. h. g. wells, himself an enthusiastic cyclist, often ventured on cycling trips in the home counties2 (james 2008: 41). the 2 i.e., the counties surrounding london: buckinghamshire, surrey and berkshire. the term is also applied to the counties of kent, hertfordshire and essex. 61 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) author s̓ personal experience and familiarity with the region were translated into insightful and affectionate literary descriptions of pastoral landscapes through which the main protagonist s̓ itinerary led, their impression on him, and the felt psychological and emotional effects of cycling in the country. the implicit nostalgia for unspoilt nature and idyllic rustic scenery perceptible in wellsʼ novel evinces the novelist s̓ “deep love of rural england” (hammond 2001: 87). similar affection for rural england and the beauty of the english countryside can be inferred from the study of press reports of cycling trips in the countryside and articles promoting cycling. the authors of these pieces fervently recommend cycle touring in the country to city residents, regarding it as a hobby which, by subjecting cyclists to the beneficial effects of nature, could bring relief from the frustrations of existence in late-victorian cities. perception of nature and anti-urbanism in victorian england historically, ruralism has been a salient factor in english culture, affecting the perception of human-nature relations, moulding the nation's lifestyles and pastimes, and leaving an imprint in the country s̓ literary tradition. the pastoral ideal, having its roots in classical times, found its various manifestations in english literature, which since the sixteenth century frequently utilised the pastoral convention in poetry, drama and the novel. for centuries, the country ethos was also cultivated by the landed elite, whose income was intertwined with land ownership, who took pride in their country mansions and estates, and enthusiastically pursued rural recreations such as horse-riding and hunting. a cultural turn in the perception of what natural rustic beauty and pastoral ideal consisted in occurred in the eighteenth century, when the english aristocracy, under the influence of the popular grand tour and landscape painting, were persuaded to adopt a new standard of natural beauty. it resulted from a close relationship between art and nature, and was convincingly translated into a new, more informal and natural gardening style—the english landscape park. starting in the 1720s, when william kent introduced an arcadian ideal of a more naturalistic composition in garden designs, until the early nineteenth century, when humphry repton applied ideas of the picturesque and the sublime in his romantic landscapes, the skills and artistic genius of english landscape architects and gardeners helped transform numerous country estates into seemingly natural representations of perfect rural scenery. english landscape-park style reached its most excellent refinement around the mid-eighteenth century when the most renowned landscape gardener, lancelot ʻcapabilityʼ brown, started creating minimalist natural ʻgardenlessʼ landscapes surrounding englands̓ finest country houses and estates (von trotha 2009: 7-9; jarrett 1978: 10-15). browns̓ designs established a lasting model of natural rural scenery that the victorians and future generations regarded as the essence of english scenic beauty. 62 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in his lecture on the cultural significance of land and landscape, jonathan bate argues that the perception of the countryside, the characteristics and values ascribed to it, are a cultural product—the result of certain circumstances, beliefs and ideas (2002: 47). the victorians largely owed their appreciation and understanding of the natural world to the romantics, whose perception of nature as a dwelling place of god, a purifying but mysterious force inspiring awe and solace, gave a new dimension to the pastoral ideal long embedded in the english cultural and literary heritage. the romantic legacy underscored the vitality of retaining an organic human-nature link (kaur, “god and religion”; kiersnowska 2020: 55) and aroused awareness of the positive influence of nature on man. such beliefs were fundamental to nineteenth-century sensibility and social thought, prompting ameliorationist civic reforms and campaigns for establishing recreational grounds, public parks, and open spaces in industrial cities. in victorian times, idealisation of the country, where the beneficial effects of nature on humans were fully manifested in the simple, wholesome life of country folk, and where landscapes retained their pre-industrial unspoilt beauty was at the root of an antagonistic dichotomy between the city and the country. the ʻnaturalʼ country perceived through the prism of a rural ideal possessing a divine element and offering moral and physical benefits to man was the antithesis of ʻmans̓ creationʼ—the town, with all the social and moral inadequacies resulting from industrial capitalism (bate 2002: 48). such ideas engendered a climate of anti-urbanism discernible in social and intellectual thought, which permeated the public discourse (kiersnowska 2020: 55). arguably, a significant contributory factor to the growth of rural sympathies was the rapid progress of urbanisation attendant on the advance of industrial capitalism. the development of manufacturing production in towns combined with economic changes in the countryside induced a massive migration of the impoverished rural population into new urban industrial centres. in consequence, by mid-century, the urban population exceeded the rural one, and england became the first urbanised country in the world (williams 1973: 2; thompson 2016: 28-31; kiersnowska 2020: 54). however, the progress of urbanisation came at a social and environmental cost. recurring epidemics of cholera and other contagious diseases afflicting urban communities crammed in dirty, narrow and poorly ventilated streets, air pollution, environmental degradation and industrial ugliness resulting from haphazard urban development came in for criticism from the enlightened members of society. while social problems resulting from abject poverty and dire living conditions in industrial cities created widespread concern and apprehension for the future, the wholesomeness and simplicity of the rural lifestyle were increasingly appreciated. the observations of a well-known physician and social reformer, doctor james philips kay-shuttleworth, based on his visits to manchester slums and published in the moral and physical condition of the working classes employed in the cotton manufacture in manchester (1832), made a direct 63 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) link between the poor physical and moral constitution of working-class city dwellers and the deploring living conditions in england's manufacturing cities. they were further corroborated by the publication of an official report, the sanitary condition of the labouring population of great britain (1842), by sir edwin chadwick, an influential secretary to poor law commissioners. both publications reinforced the anti-urban argument and triggered a national debate on improving the quality of life of city residents by promoting urban green areas conducive to healthy outdoor recreation and propagating outdoor leisure activities in out-of-town locations. although anti-urban attitudes reached their climax in the 1840s, when the deplorable conditions of life in industrial cities were most acutely manifested, the deprecatory stance on towns and town life persisted until the century s̓ end (machlow 1985: 97-98; macmaster 1990: 118119; burchardt 2002: 47; kiersnowska 2020: 55). cycling revolution and mass tourism cycling began in england in the late 1860s when the velocipede, the ancestor of the bicycle, entered england from france. the first machines were produced in 1868 by josiah turner and james starley in their coventry sewing machine company. their business decision established coventry as the cradle of british cycle manufacturing in the nineteenth century and inadvertently prepared the ground for a bicycle mania that swept across the country in the mid-1890s (reid 2015: 247; norcliffe 2016: 8). the first bicycle was a heavy contraption with wooden wheels, a solid metal frame, and metal tyres that promised the user a comfortless and bumpy ride; hence, it was rather appropriately nicknamed the 'boneshaker' (mackintosh & norcliffe 2007: 157). however, continuous technological advances combined with high market demand fuelled the rapid evolution of the bicycle as manufacturers regularly launched improved, lighter, safer and faster models. it is tenable to argue that the introduction of the 'safety' bicycle fitted with two equal-sized wheels, dunlops̓ pneumatic tyres and pedal-and-chain drive in the 1880s was a milestone in cycling progress. it helped transform the machine from a costly fashionable sporting contrivance for risk-loving individuals into a more manoeuvrable and easy-to-use device universally adopted by casual riders, both men and women (dauncey 2012: 12). until the 1890s, the bicycle tended to be perceived as a class-related status symbol because the prohibitive price of both new, and second-hand machines made cycling virtually inaccessible to the lower-middle and working classes. like many other forms of leisure and recreation at the time, it was characterised by strong social and gender delineations (norcliffe 2016: 4-5; kiersnowska 2019: 88-91). nevertheless, despite the high prices, the number of cyclists on the roads and bicycles sold in britain proliferated. in 1889 alone, more than 300,000 new bicycles were sold (reid 2015: 248). in the mid-1890s, when the safety bicycle became the dominant model, a growing market in 64 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) much cheaper, older second-hand models made cycling available to the less affluent (flanders 2007: 454). the cycling mania which erupted in england in the 1890s owes as much to the victorian britonsʼ fascination with modern technological achievements as to the increased leisure time and the rise of mass participation in recreation observable in the last quarter of the century. higher wages, larger disposable income, a shorter working week, holidays—including paid bank holidays from 1871—and an expanded railway network were conducive to the development of the mass tourist industry in the british isles (reid 2008: 753-756; mcnee 2021: 62). the primary beneficiaries of these developments and social changes were skilled manufacturing workers and the lower middle class. shop assistants, warehouse workers, domestic servants and bank and office clerks could join the ranks of the well-off tourists and travel, visiting different parts of the country (mcnee 2021: 62). the expansion of popular tourism and outdoor recreation was also spurred by the growing awareness of the recuperative powers of rest and healthy outdoor exercise to improve the city population's physical condition. it gave rise to numerous initiatives such as establishing public parks in towns and cities, campaigns and legislative measures to preserve green areas, and public footpaths in the neighbourhood of metropolitan centres. such policies were intended to provide urban residents access to healthy recreation such as rambling in the open (flanders 2007: 437; daunton 2008: 50). railway companies taking multitudes of manufacturing workers and lowermiddle-class employees from industrial cities for inexpensive day trips to the burgeoning seaside resorts also fitted into the atmosphere of promoting open-air recreation and accelerated the expansion of the tourist industry (poole 1983: 81; churchill 2016: 43). package tours to famous sites in the british isles and overseas, pioneered by thomas cook, became the kernel of the flourishing mass tourism. amidst these changes, in the last decade of the century, the bicycle became a significant instrument of tourism, and cycle touring climbed to a prominent position among these modes of mass recreation and healthy outdoor leisure. pleasure and freedom of riding as cycling became more accessible and affordable in the final decade of the nineteenth century, it began to lose its class-related status and was increasingly popular with a new group of less affluent users—young men from the lower middle class—as a cheap and sociable form of recreation (mcnee 2021: 67). in h. g. wellsʼ cycling novel the wheels of chance: a bicycling idyll (1896), the main character, mr. hoopdriver, represents this new and quickly growing group of lower-middle-class bicycle users—office clerks, teachers and shop assistants—who have sufficient funds and leisure to go cycle touring. hoopdriver works as a draper's assistant in putney, london, and decides to spend his holidays travelling along the south coast. to this end, he purchases a second-hand bicycle—"a 65 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) machine with a past", "an antiquity", "perfectly sound, if a little old fashioned"—and starts practising the skill of riding (wells 1913: 29-30). on the first day of his holidays, dressed in his fashionable cycling apparel of a brand-new brown woollen norfolk jacket and thick chequered stockings, and equipped with a change of clothes and "a road map of the south of england" (wells 1913: 15), hoopdriver sets out on his journey. as cycle mania swept across the country, some novice cyclists joined numerous existing cycling clubs and, as members, participated in organised excursions; others, like mr. hoopdriver, undertook longer cycling holidays or just short out-of-town trips on their own. longing for the respite and pastoral pleasures the country offered, weekend and day-trippers ventured from the cities by their thousands, riding the latest models or much cheaper second-hand machines. the popularity and ubiquity of cycle touring are evidenced in numerous press accounts from that period, such as the weekly cycling reports in the manchester weekly times, whose correspondent offers the following observation from one of his bicycle excursions: “away down the familiar road to altrincham there were hundreds of cyclists travelling in both directions. machines of all sorts of types, and riding of many styles, were in evidence” (may 17: 1895). like the railway, which transformed the victoriansʼ geographical experience, the bicycle was also a “geographically liberating” machine (norcliffe 2001: 23), playing an instrumental role in altering the relationship between the hitherto distant country and the city (choi 2015: 252). it was unsurpassed in enabling the late victorians an inexpensive means of escaping from the city and taking refuge in the country. urban topography, with its network of streets lined with high buildings, dark backyards and narrow alleys, was physically and psychologically confining. the townscape, juxtaposed with the wide-open countryside offering limitless possibilities of moving about, appeared to restrict man's physical mobility and the ability to experience a full range of emotions and achieve spiritual welfare. thus, the bicycle as a unique means of personal transport harboured the potential of offering much-needed freedom and release from the oppression of urban life—its noxious atmosphere, frantic pace of life and industrial production, human and traffic congestion, demanding work schedules, and coercive class division. cycling advocates emphasised the wholesome character of riding a bicycle, arguing that it was “a sedative and refreshment to jaded nerves and spirits” (cycling june 12, 1897), and helped offset the adverse physical consequences of sedentary work. therefore, the activity was particularly recommended to “men who are tied to a desk or confined to a warehouse all day” (manchester courier and lancashire general advertiser june 28, 1890), and to tired city residents who were looking for a way to relieve the daily stress of urban life: “this is change, this is rest, this is a holiday; and the tired man who hungers for a laze will never find a better means to this end than his cycle” (cycling august 4, 1894). 66 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) unlike railway passengers or package trip tourists, cycle travellers were unencumbered by timetables, itineraries or fixed routes (withers and shea 2016: 3-4; chen 2017: 610). the joy, excitement and pleasure resulting from unrestrained movement across the country on ones̓ two wheels were frequently emphasised in cycling journals and the press of the period to weigh in favour of cycle touring. for instance, readers of the tourist section in cycling could find the following argument highlighting the superiority of individual cycle touring over other forms of tourism, such as a guided package trip: “one of the charms of a cycle tour is that one is not bound to do anything, or be anywhere, at any fixed time, but to scorch, loaf, or change ones̓ route at ones̓ own sweet will or at the command of a stiff head wind” (may 8, 1897). on that account, cyclists were not merely passive consumers of mass tourism but autonomous creators of their touristic experience. they enjoyed complete liberty to roam and explore the countryside and had full command of the choice of their destination and the pace of their movement. the pleasure that cycling provided was one of the chief incentives for adopting it as a hobby (horton et al. 2007: 6). the feeling may have stemmed from different aspects of riding a bicycle—satisfaction from mastering the machine, developing cycling prowess, appreciation of the fine scenery, or the sensation of speed and freedom. in the anti-urban discourse of the late victorian period, these emotions were frequently quoted to promote the beneficial effects of experiencing and exploring rural settings in an unmediated way. the exponents of anti-urban opinions tended to identify cycle touring as the best way of discovering the beauty and merits of the country, providing the urban cyclist not only with much needed physical exercise but also with a positive emotional release and sensory input. press accounts of bicycle trips and articles praising the joys of cycling highlighted pleasure and freedom as the singular sensations experienced by the cyclist when touring the country on a fine day: how sweet a thing it is to turn out in a fair and bright, but breezy, day and turn one s̓ front wheel to the wind already faintly laden with maytime fragrances. as the long rhythmical sweep and roll of the machine bears the rider onward, he and his wheels cleave the opposing air, and it rushes past him with a swish that is pleasant to his ears. (manchester weekly times may 17, 1895) similarly, an article in cycling (august 4, 1894) highlights a range of sensations experienced by a cyclist during different stages of their ride: “the exhilaration experienced in rapidly passing through beautiful scenery”, the “gaiety” of halting in towns one passes through, and the “quiet and repose” of resting in a country inn. ultimately, all of these emotions filled one with a sense of excitement and pleasure inextricably connected with the freedom of moving across rural scenery. thus, the bicycle not only facilitated 67 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) movement through the country but also enhanced the tourist s̓ delight in perceiving the surrounding scenery. the sense of pleasure gained from cycling in the country is also evinced in wellsʼ descriptions of hoopdriver s̓ movement across southern england in the wheels of chance. as soon as he leaves london, the young man is filled with relief and captivated by the charming rustic landscapes and rich vegetation, which are entirely new and refreshing to him: “the hedges and trees and the open country were all glorious to his town tired-eyes" (wells 1913: 38). the superiority of cycling to provide excitement when enjoying rural scenery is attested to further in the novel, for example, when hoopdriver converses with a fellow cyclist during a chance meeting at ringwood. the latter, a clergyman on a tricycle, enthusiastically declares: “i can imagine that, with a properly oiled machine, there can be no easier nor pleasanter way of seeing the country” (wells 1913: 281). all the emotions that cycling in the country and being surrounded by nature provide are in stark contrast to the humdrum of city life, its boredom and confinement. unsurprisingly, then, riding to the south coast becomes for hoopdriver an exhilarating break from his regimented life in london and an exciting adventure engendering the feeling of “joie de vivre!” (wells 1913: 28). hoopdriver s̓ cycling trip is a literal and symbolic escape from the city. as soon as he leaves the city behind, he feels liberated from his repressive london existence and his poorly paid, dead-end job in the draper's shop. in london, he has little control over his life and highly supervised work, in which the prospect of ever rising in the professional hierarchy seems elusive. when his cycling trip commences, he feels that: “all the dreary, uninteresting routine drops from you suddenly, your chains drop about your feet. all at once you are lord of yourself” (wells 1913: 17). the further away hoopdriver rides from the city, the more self-confident and independent he becomes, both as a cyclist and a man. he enthuses at the sudden realisation that he can go wherever he pleases and is in complete control of his actions and choices: “call none sir or madame, have a lapel free of pins, doff your black morning coat, and wear the colour of your heart, and be a man” (wells 1913: 17). riding through the vast expanse of the open country enables hoopdriver to be freed from his constricting social and mental framework, as if all the constraints that restrained him in london suddenly disappeared, allowing him to develop a new, more mature identity. a servile draper s̓ boy “bowing you out with fountains of civilities” (wells 1913: 4) is supplanted by a daring, adventurous cyclist, a countryside explorer, and a chivalric knight errant who goes to great lengths to rescue a fellow cyclist—the young impressionable jessie milton (the young lady in grey)—from the predicament she found herself in, and boldly defend her honour. at a deeper level then, the cycling trip becomes for hoopdriver a symbolic rite of passage into manhood, which might have been much delayed in the urban environment. 68 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the bicycle journey to the south coast in wellsʼ novel is also a kind of escapism from the class-ridden urban community, where hoopdriver s̓ inferior social status moulded by his economic circumstances is evident, into the world of cyclists, where seemingly one s̓ social class is irrelevant. he is acutely aware of how insignificant and “how little he was noticeable” (wells 1913: 2) in the london draper s̓ shop. by the time wellsʼ novel was published, bicycling had democratised and almost lost the aura of social exclusivity, yet some of its early associations with a sport for the socially privileged lingered. it is probably this aura of social exclusivity that once surrounded cycling that appealed to hoopdriver and made him believe that this hobby could be a means to discard his lowermiddle-class status, even if momentarily, and become equal to gentlemen cyclists. thus, dressed in his brand-new fashionable cycling costume and adopting a fake accent, which in his opinion disguises his humble social background, hoopdriver joins the ranks of the men of leisure: “the draper hoopdriver, the hand, had vanished from existence. instead was a gentleman, a man of pleasure” (wells 1913: 26). in the late victorian period, the availability of reasonably-priced mass-produced daily and recreational clothes—for example, special bicycling outfits—to the lower social classes made class-related dressing codes less readable (james 2008: 40-41). therefore, hoopdriver s̓ projection of an elevated social status deludes some people he encounters during the journey—the heath-keeper, jessie milton, and a ʻscorcherʼ he meets in esher. the young man smugly registers that the last one speaks to him “as his equal” (wells 1913: 47). the fact that they all take hoopdriver for a gentleman boosts his self-esteem and increases his confidence. the only ill-fitting element of hoopdriver s̓ gentleman-cyclist image is his old battered bicycle, the most expensive component and the one that may reveal its owner s̓ true social standing. this is what happens during a chance meeting with bechamel, the proud owner of an expensive, top-of-the-range ʻsafetyʼ complete with pneumatic tyres. bechamel rudely responds to hoopdriver's greeting and projects an aloof and superior attitude throughout the encounter. he instantly sees through hoopdriver's façade and reads his true identity as a “greasy proletarian” (wells 1913: 49). to him, hoopdriver is an imposter, an encroacher into the realm of what some still regard as a gentlemanly recreation. as mentioned earlier, cycle touring had achieved a degree of egalitarianism by the end of the nineteenth century. nevertheless, some old class prejudices were still in evidence, as exemplified by the incident mentioned above. however, the social character of this recreation, bringing into direct contact cycling aficionados from different rungs of society, prompted some modern scholars researching victorian modes of leisure to view cycle touring as a sort of social bridge (kern 2003: 216; so 2006: 39). away from the pervasive professional and class divisions affecting all forms of social contact in an urban environment, cycle touring in the country arguably created ample opportunities for informal class interaction. seemingly, 69 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) it wiped out class distinctions as all bicycle users were simply fellow cyclists united by a shared passion. at the peak of bicycling popularity in the 1880s and 1890s, bicycles were so ubiquitous on british roads that a cyclistsʼ recreational subculture developed. demonstrating a mass-participatory character, the brotherhood of cyclists united cycling devotees over class and gender divisions. many bicycle users congregated in bicycling clubs to tour the countryside or race. the first clubs appeared as early as 1870 (mccrone 2006: 181), and the rise in their number was so rapid that in the 1890s london alone had 300 active bicycling clubs (huggins 2004: 38). by that time, many cycling clubs had also relaxed their restrictive admission rules and had discarded their gender and class exclusivity (mccrone 2006: 181; norcliffe 2016: 12). like many subcultures whose members are identified by a unique style, jargon and ritualistic behaviour, victorian cyclists also manifested certain attributes of belonging to a specific cultural group. their shared passion, experience, clothing style and manners were powerful bonding factors and identity markers, providing a sense of belonging. in conversations with fellow wheelmen or entries in visitors' books in pubs and hotels, cyclists would use a specialised argot characterised by phrases like: “ʻroad scorchers,̓ ʻfellow wheelmenʼ and ʻmud-pluggingʼ through ʻbeastly wetʼ conditions” (mcnee 2021: 67), which to them was perfectly natural and understandable. maintaining certain rituals when passing a fellow cyclist was expected and conducive to sustaining an invisible bond uniting all cyclists. that is why when hoopdriver passed bechamel, throwing a greeting and a due remark on the quality of the road surface, he felt “a pleasing sense of having duly asserted the wide sympathy that binds all cyclists together, of having behaved himself as becomes one of the brotherhood of the wheel” (wells 1913: 49). in the victorian period, urban populations—often migrant and lacking cohesion—were believed to be deprived of community spirit; therefore, the bond that united cyclists was unique and appreciated. it was reminiscent of pre-industrial, rural, close-knit communities that used to be united by common goals, needs and experiences. picturesque tourism and appreciation of nature the expansion of mass tourism in victorian britain was conjoined with the landscape's cultural importance inherited by the victorians from romanticism and its perception as an essential constituent of national identity. eighteenth-century philosophical treatises on the 'sublime' and the 'picturesque' moulded aesthetic appreciation and sentiment for domestic scenery. edmund burke's ideas of landscape's 'curiosity' and 'sublimity', articulated in his essay a philosophical enquiry into the origin of our ideas of the sublime and beautiful (1757), were complemented by the third aspect—the 'picturesque'—popularised by william gilpin, a pioneer of picturesque touring, in his essay on picturesque beauty (1792) and uvedale price in essays on the picturesque (1794). the beautiful, the sublime, 70 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and the picturesque formed a famous triad against which scenery was aesthetically and emotionally assessed in the romantic period and victorian times (williams 2008: 21-25). price enhanced the picturesque mode of perceiving a landscape by identifying 'curiosity' as its vital element. curiosity was both a chief reason for and the felt effect of surveying picturesque scenery: “the effect of the picturesque is curiosity; an effect, which, though less splendid and powerful, has a more general influence” (1810: 88). voracity for experiencing at first-hand the spectacular effects of foreign and domestic natural beauty spots and historical sites was a key motive for the eighteenth-century picturesque tourist and the victorian individual and package traveller to venture to foreign lands or explore domestic scenery. traditionally, the beauty of the scenery was associated with harmony, tranquillity and smoothness. however, picturesque tourists expected more from the landscape they viewed than just a brief satisfaction of their aesthetic needs. a picturesque site ought to have the potential to bring about a strong emotional reaction evoked in the observer by the roughness, irregularity and ruggedness of the perceived scenery. they sought landscapes that could stir up a kind of painterly experience. implementing the technique of looking at the surrounding nature promulgated by gilpin, the romantic tourists and their victorian successors would usually take a stance in a high vantage spot allowing a broad birds-eye vista over the surroundings and enabling them to conceptualise the scenery into a picture. this way of surveying the scene created the feeling of control and mastery over nature, while at the same time having the impression of being its integral element (morgan 2001: 47, 59; austin 2007: 633-634; williams 2008: 26-28). by the late nineteenth century, there had been a redefinition of what constituted the essence of the picturesque. the category was not solely applied to vacant, rough and rugged landscapes and awe-inspiring irregular monumental castles and ruins described in the gothic novels, but also started to be used for isolated pastoral, rustic areas, winding streets and irregular buildings in small towns and villages. collective nostalgia and a yearning for the simplicity and peacefulness of rural existence accumulated from century-long intensive industrialisation were fed by the appreciation of such simple picturesque scenery (austin 2007: 644-645). raymond williams argues that it was quite natural that “a feeling for unaltered nature, for wild land” (1973: 128) should develop as a consequential response to the forces of the agrarian and industrial revolutions. this new perception of the picturesque was reflected in the growing body of tourist guide books, newspaper editorials, tourist columns, and literary works where 'green language' was employed to describe rural scenery, the weather, lighting, the sounds of nature and botanical and animal life. such a writing mode characterised many press accounts of cycle tours whose authors appealed to the picturesque sensitivity of their bicycling readers. they promoted aesthetic consumption of nature when riding in the countryside by applying gilpins̓ 71 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) technique of looking at the scenery from an elevated spot. numerous examples of such a style can be found, among others, in a series of articles promoting cycle touring around cheshire, lancashire and yorkshire. they started to appear in the manchester weekly times in 1892, and in the summertime of 1895 became a regular weekly feature of the paper, introduced to satisfy the growing demand of its cycling readership for reliable, professional information on roads and routes suitable for cycling trips. extensive reports, illustrated with sketches of historic buildings or picturesque spots, written by an experienced cyclist, included not only much needed practical particulars on the difficulty and length of recommended routes, surface quality, and pubs and inns providing service for cyclists, but also detailed descriptions and the historical background of places and landmarks passed on the way. the factual accuracy and historical details that one would typically find in tourist guide books were supposed to provide wheelmen and wheelwomen with some prior knowledge on the historic sites they would pass, stir up their interest, and encourage them to stop for a visit. thus, an account of a cycling trip to wharfdale in yorkshire recommends cyclists to visit adel church near leeds, "which is admitted […] to be the most perfect miniature specimen of norman ecclesiastical architecture in england” (july 26, 1895). in a report recommending to manchester cyclists a long itinerary through several counties down to somerset, there is a compelling description of the history and the present state of malmesbury abbey in wiltshire, an edifice of “ancient grandeur” and a supposed resting place of king athelstan (september 20, 1895). similarly, cyclists who choose to travel in cheshire from adlington to macclesfield are informed that a stretch of marshy wasteland they will pass on their way, known as danes moss, was the site of a fierce battle between the saxons and “their ruthless foes, the scandinavian hordes” (may 12, 1893). detailed references to places of historical significance in the described routes undoubtedly spoke to the antiquarian interest of a sizeable part of the educated victorian public. however, their inclusion in the cycling reports was likely aimed predominantly at provoking the curiosity of the less cultured cyclists, providing intellectual stimulation, and maximising their experience of an out-of-town wheel journey. thus, a cycling trip promised a unique blend of athletic exercise in natural scenery and a desirable touristic effect produced by visiting places of historical and cultural significance. such a conjecture can also be made based on the fact that in the wheels of chance, wells included an educative stopover on hoopdriver s̓ journey in the “charming old town” of guildford (1913: 63). an entry in the guidebook informs the young draper s̓ assistant that the town has a “delightful castle” worth a visit, and a tudor guildhall, “very pleasant to see” (wells 1913: 63). his interest spiked, hoopdriver ascends the castle tower and, from this elevated spot, like a proper picturesque tourist, looks down and over at the town and the surrounding scenery (1913: 65). 72 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) while the touristic attractiveness of cycle touring in the countryside had its relevance, it was the possibility of experiencing nature in its complete form that was crucial to the cyclists. the bicycle provided an incomparably better way of admiring the landscape and an unmediated perception of nature than any other means of transport used by tourists in the nineteenth century. the railway undoubtedly offered unmatched speed of covering long distances but, as douglas burgess argues, it detached the passengers from the surroundings they were passing through (2016: 10). enclosed in the confined space of the carriage, the passengers could only passively gaze at the quickly changing scenery without the possibility of pausing and reflecting upon it or relating to it emotionally. the perception of nature on the part of cyclists was an act of volition, and they adjusted their cycling speed accordingly, slowing down or even stopping to contemplate a beautiful vista. like romantic picturesque tourists, the wheelmen and wheelwomen often chose an elevated vantage point that offered a broad birds-eye perspective. many press articles recommending particular cycle routes suggested where to stop to take in the vast expanse of the surrounding area and gain the maximum effect of the grandeur and beauty of the landscape. in a piece describing the macclesfield to buxton itinerary, the chronicle strongly advises pausing after a strenuous uphill ride at the cat and fiddle pub, from where there is a magnificent view over the moorlands, the mountains beyond them and the town of buxton in the valley (june 9, 1899). similarly, those cyclists who decide to follow the manchester weekly times’ recommendation and visit wharfedale ought to halt at an elevated vantage point, look down, and marvel at the magnificent sight of: “the silver stream of wharfe […] winding its way along the centre of the valley for miles” and the “fine configuration of the distant hills towards ilkley” (july 26, 1895). h. g. wells, too, when describing the glories of southern englands̓ landscape as seen through the eyes of hoopdriver, appears to frequently utilise william gilpins̓ technique of scanning the landscape as if from above. he allows the reader s̓ eye to gradually travel from the shrubs and trees lining the road further and further away to distant hills, woods, and other scenery features, creating the impression of a broad panorama. the description of the landscape contemplated by hoopdriver during the cobham to ripley leg of his journey provides an apt illustration of this method. wells directs the protagonist s̓ gaze first at the “fine mossy trees and bracken” on either side of the road, and then beyond them at a stretch of “an open country […] covered with heather and set with pines, and a yellow road running across it” (wells 1913: 51). similarly, when riding from haslemere towards portsmouth, hoopdriver observes with delight "the wide blue hill views and pleasant valleys […] on either hand of the sand-scarred roadway" (wells 1913: 91). this perspective of looking at the surroundings creates the impression of a vast expanse of open land stretching before hoopdriver s̓ eyes. moreover, the character of 73 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) landscape descriptions in the novel creates the impression that its bicycling protagonist dynamically perceives the surrounding scenery. he first notices the nearby features, and then, gradually, his gaze travels further to discover the more distant landscape elements. thus, the cyclist becomes an active and conscious consumer of the scenery and one with the surroundings. cycling in the countryside enabled urban residents to rediscover nature, develop a close relationship with it, and experience the animated and non-animated natural world with all their senses, without an intermediary. this widely held belief was confirmed by numerous press accounts of bicycle journeys, offering detailed descriptions of the botanical and animal variety observed by the cyclists, and nature s̓ colours, smells, sounds and beauty. for example, the regular cycling correspondent for the manchester weekly times adopts an almost poetic language to render the multi-sensory impression that the road from adlington to macclesfield and the surrounding scenery left on him: the air is sweet with the odours of the spring blossoms; the birds are twittering in every bush and thicket; from the distant copse the soft dreamy note of the cuckoo tells us the harbinger of summer has arrived […] and the poet lark rains down his melody from the cloudless blue above. the fragrant hedgerows, on which the hawthorn bloom is shadowing, separate the dusty road from the verdant meadows that stretch away on either hand, their banks are studded with star-like blossoms of the wild hyacinth. the flower-laden chestnuts are in the pride of their summer glory, and the bright green and yellow of the limes and newly foliaged oaks present a marked contrast to the sombre hue of the firs and conifers. (may 12, 1893) in another press piece on country cycle touring, it is argued that the study of wayside plants and bird and animal life enhances not only the recreational aspect of riding but also develops one s̓ knowledge and the faculty of observing nature and storing "quaint and curious information" about it (cycling june 12, 1897). the reporter maintains that the discovery of the natural world may turn into an enjoyable hobby whose pursuit will give the urban cycling bourgeoisie purpose and a “raison d’être to [their] wheel excursions” to the country (cycling june 12, 1897). this argument is corroborated by one of the characters in the wheels of chance, a middle-aged cyclist at esher, who declares that he rides not only for exercise, but to observe the scenery and “botanise” (wells 1913: 42). conjoining cycle touring with the consumption of leisure and nature is given proper relevance in hoopdriver s̓ journey in the wheels of chance. as the main hero progresses in his trip to the south coast, wellsʼ descriptions of the rural scenery become more detailed, accentuating its serenity and picturesqueness. this creates the impression that the further away from london hoopdriver cycles, the more details of the landscapes passed on the way he notices, and the more aware of nature and receptive to its 74 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) influence he becomes. the protagonist s̓ riding pace becomes more leisurely, and he becomes more observant of the scenery. he often pauses and loiters, “generally ʻmucking aboutʼ” (wells 1913, 93), to appreciate the idyllic pastoral landscape: cornfields “glorious with poppies”, “surly dun oxen”, “little cottages, and picturesque beer-houses with the vivid brewersʼ boards of blue and scarlet, […] a broad green and a church” (wells 1913: 95). immersion in the vastness and tranquillity of the rural landscapes exerts a powerful influence on hoopdriver. he takes more and more pleasure in the leisurely relaxing pace of his journey, enabling him to admire lush vegetation and enjoy the greenery and peace of the country, which is in stark contrast to the constant haste, harassment and nagging he was subjected to in the city. he dismounts his bicycle to paddle in the clear water of a pebbly rivulet, gathers wildflowers, and like a self-discovered botanist admires their different shapes and colours, and wonders at their names “for he had never heard of any” (wells 1913: 93). wellsʼ descriptions of soft, bucolic southern landscapes evoke a nostalgia for the romanticised bliss of ʻold englandʼ rusticity and fit into the climate of idealisation of the country as the antithesis of the city. such ideas were given prominence in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as homely rurality, particularly associated with the south of england, was viewed as the essential element of english culture and national identity (tebbutt 2006: 1125). therefore, the ascendancy of cycle touring over other forms of contemplating the countryside cannot be overestimated. press accounts and wells' novel testify that it created unique opportunities for a fusion between the cyclist and the surrounding nature. press reports from cycle journeys often contained descriptions of country scenery that had impressed their writers. they were detailed, offering a broad perspective of a particular beauty spot. more often than not, they had a literary or even poetic quality—clearly appealing to the readers' sensitivity and nostalgia for pre-industrial unspoilt rural landscapes, and entreating them to pause and experience nature. attention to the details of natural life in landscape descriptions in these press articles and the wheels of chance also confirms the ubiquity and dominance of anti-urban discourse in late-victorian britain. by aptly suggesting the psychological and physical benefits of cycle touring in rural areas, wells and the authors of the aforementioned press pieces indicate the country's superiority over the city. thus, they are the exponents of anti-urban tendencies defining the social and cultural climate of the period. conclusion cycling in its leisure forms provided not only much-needed athletic exercise to the sedentary urban middle class but was also an aesthetic activity continuing the picturesque tourism tradition. though essentially a machine of speed, the bicycle also provided victorian tourists with a valuable means of exploring the country freely and in a manner that enabled the cyclist and nature to come together in a kind of fusion that no 75 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) other means of transport allowed. gentle and unhasty riding made one acutely aware of the surrounding scenery, providing continuous stimulation to all senses. press accounts of cycling tours in the country undertaken by readers and reporters, and h. g. wells' literary references to the effect rural surroundings exerted on the novel's main character corroborate the above view. picturesque expanses of rustic landscapes marked by various topographical features, historic landmarks, and verdant nature were unfamiliar to the city cyclist and filled the cycling tourist with wonder. while beautiful forms and colours of inanimate nature provided visual aesthetic pleasure, the sounds of birds and the tranquillity of the rustic scenery offered pleasing aural stimulus. this multi-sensory exposition to the surroundings engendered a unique experience and evoked an emotional reaction to it on the part of the perceiver. cycle tourism then induced a composite response to nature, elevating the cyclist from a passive consumer of scenic beauty to a conscious actor involved in a deliberate act of participation in sensual human-nature harmony. recreational cycling was not merely a way of sightseeing utilising technological advances of the period in the burgeoning individual and organised tourist industry. it was a means of rediscovering the country and restoring the link between man and nature that industrial capitalism and urbanisation had severed. cycle touring reinforced the polarity between pastoral values traditionally associated with the country, and the victorian cultural construct of the city as the representation of modernity and coercive dehumanised industrialism. it evoked nostalgia for the gone-by bliss and serenity that had been wiped out by industrial capitalism in the city but could still be found and felt in the rural environment. thus, the activity fitted into the anti-urban mood of the epoch as it offered a welcome release from the stifling routine of the urban work-life cycle, and provided one with all the health, physical and mental benefits that direct contact with rurality and immersion in the natural world provided. the bicycle as a 'vehicle of liberation' enabled a physical and symbolic escape from the urban environment. it opened up the possibilities of almost unrestricted mobility, not subjected to physical or temporal constraints beyond the cyclist s̓ control but ensuring complete command over the range and speed of one s̓ movement. the sense of freedom experienced by recreational cyclists in the country was the natural consequence of leaving behind city topography's physical and psychological limitations and stifling urban social circumstances. societal rigours and constricting conventions resulting from the conspicuous class structure in the city were particularly intensely felt by members of the working lower-middle class, whose professional position often involved servile, restraining conditions and induced a dependency-based relationship with their superiors. at the end of the nineteenth century, the democratisation of cycling created a sense of community uniting all bicycle aficionados, in which class divisions appeared to have lost relevance. this development in bicycle culture was 76 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) particularly appreciated by the urban middle class, many of whom experienced alienation and anonymity in large human aggregates in victorian metropolises. 77 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) references primary sources chadwick, e. 1842. the sanitary conditions of the labouring population of great britain. a supplementary report on the results of a special inquiry into the practice of interment in towns. made at the request of her majesty's principal secretary of state for the home department. london: w. clowes and sons. https://archive.org/details/reportonsanitary00chaduoft/page/30/mode/2up. accessed 18 august 2021. cycling. august 4, 1894. cycling. may 8, 1897. cycling. june 12, 1897. kay-shuttleworth, j. p. 1832. the moral and physical condition of the working classes employed in the cotton manufacture in manchester. london: james ridgway. https:// archive.org/details/moralphysicalcon00kaysuoft. accessed 2 june 2021. manchester courier and lancashire general advertiser. june 28, 1890. manchester weekly times. may 12, 1893. manchester weekly times. may 17, 1895. manchester weekly times. july 26, 1895. manchester weekly times. september 20, 1895. price, u. [1794] 1810. essays on the picturesque. london: j. mawman. https://archive. org/details/essaysonpictures01priciala/page/n3/mode/2up. accessed 10 september 2021. the chronicle. june 9, 1899. wells, h. g. 1913. the wheels of chance: a bicycling idyll. new york/london: the macmillan company. secondary sources austin, l. m. 2007. aesthetic embarrassment: the reversion to the picturesque in nineteenth-century english tourism. elh 74 (3): 629-653. doi: 10.1353/elh.2007.0021. bate, j. 2002. reshaping the landscape rethinking the land (part ii). rsa journal 149 (5501): 47-49. burchardt j. 2002. paradise lost: rural idyll and social change since 1800. london/ new york: i. b. tauris. burgess, d. r. 2016. introduction: annihilating space. in engines of empire: steamships and the victorian imagination, 7-17. stanford california: stanford university press. chen, e. 2017. its beauty, danger, and feverish thrill: speed and cycling women in fin de siècle fiction. mfs modern fiction studies 63(4): 607-627. 78 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) choi, t. y. 2015. the railway guide's experiments in cartography: narrative, information, advertising. victorian studies 57 (2): 251-284. https://www.jstor.org/stable/ 10.2979/victorianstudies.57.2.251. churchill, d. 2016. living in a leisure town. urban history. 41 (1): 42-61. dauncey, h. 2012. french cycling: a social and cultural history. liverpool: liverpool university press. daunton, m. 2008. introduction. in m. daunton (ed.), the cambridge urban history of britain vol. iii 1840-1950, 3-58. cambridge: cup. flanders, j. 2007. consuming passions. leisure and pleasure in victorian britain. london/ new york/toronto/sydney: harper perennial. hammond, j. 2001. a preface to h. g. wells. harlow: longman. horton, d. & p. rosen & p. cox. 2007. introduction. in d. horton, p. rosen and p. cox (eds.), cycling and society. aldershot: ashgate. huggins, m. 2004. the victorians and sport. london/new york: hambledon. james, s. j. 2008. fin-de-cycle: romance and the real in the wheels of chance. in s. mclean (ed.), h. g. wells: interdisciplinary essays, 34-48. newcastle upon tyne: cambridge scholars publishing. jarrett, d. 1974. the english landscape garden. new york: rizzoli. kaur, j. god and religion in romantic era. https://www.academia.edu/. accessed 12 august 2021. kern, s. 2003. the culture of time and space 1880-1918: with a new preface. cambridge: harvard university press. kiersnowska, b. 2020. the city vs. the country: a climate of anti-urbanism in elizabeth gaskells̓ mary barton. crossroads. a journal of english studies 29: 53-66. doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.29.2.04. kiersnowska, b. 2019. female cycling and the discourse of moral panic in late victorian britain. atlantis journal of the spanish association of anglo-american studies. 41 (2): 85-103. doi: 10.28914/atlantis-2019-41.2.04. mackintosh, p. g. & g. norcliffe. 2007. men, women and the bicycle: gender and social geography of cycling in the late-nineteenth century. in d. horton & p. rosen & p. cox (eds.), cycling and society, 153-77. aldershot: ashgate publishing ltd. macmaster, n. 1990. the battle for mousehold heath 1857-1884: ʻpopular politicsʼ and the victorian public park. past & present 127(1): 117-154. malchow, h. l. 1985. public gardens and social action in late victorian london. victorian studies 29 (1): 97-124. mccrone, k. e. 2006. the ʻlady blue.̓ sport at the oxbridge womens̓ colleges from their foundation to 1914. in j. a. mangan (ed.), a sport-loving society. victorian and edwardian middle-class at play, 153-78. london/new york: routledge. mcnee, a. 2021.the new tourists. history today 8: 62-69. beata kiersnowska doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.39.4.04 cycle touring and the middle-class consumption of nature. anti-urbanism in h. g. wells’ the wheels of chance and cycling press reports of the late nineteenth century 23 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) jarosław wiliński1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.31.4.02 siedlce university of natural sciences and humanities orcid: 0000-0002-3136-6529 the preposition under and its noun collocates in the under-noun pattern: a quantitative corpus-based investigation abstract. this paper adopts a usage-based perspective on grammatical structure (goldberg 2006, 2013) and the attraction-reliance measure (schmidt 2000; schmid & küchenhoff 2013) to gauge the reciprocal interaction between a noun and the preposition under in the under-noun pattern: in other words, to determine strongly attracted nouns of this preposition. on the basis of the data extracted from the academic part of the corpus of contemporary american english (coca), this paper seeks to show that there are nouns that are more strongly attracted to the preposition under than others and that the co-occurrences of particular nouns with this preposition are more significant than others. in addition, the results of the analysis seem to suggest that the mutual associations between particular nouns and this preposition depend upon different senses of under and are therefore motivated by conceptual metaphors, metonymies, and/or image schemas. keywords: construction grammar, coca, attraction-reliance measure, corpus-based approach. 1. introduction english prepositions have generated considerable research interest among cognitive linguists (e.g., lakoff 1987; brugman 1988; lindstromberg 1996, 2001, 2010; tyler & evans 2001; evans & tyler 2005; radden & dirven 2007). this research interest is stimulated by increasing recognition of the importance of prepositions when structuring a sentence and in marking special relationships between persons, objects, and locations, coupled with evidence that prepositions are one of the most difficult areas of acquisition for second language learners, and sustained by the fact that the semantic nature of many prepositions presents a number of problems for both teachers and learners. 1 address for correspondence: institute of linguistics and literary studies, siedlce university of natural sciences and humanities, ul. żytnia 39, 08-100 siedlce, poland. e-mail: jaroslaw.wilinski@uph.edu.pl 24 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in particular, numerous researchers (brugman 1988; dewell 1994; boers 1996; tyler & evans 2003; evans & tyler 2004a,b; brenda 2014) have focused on applying insights from cognitive linguistics (cl) to the semantics of english propositions to determine cognitive motivation for their meanings. brugman (1988), for example, offered a detailed semantic analysis of the preposition over as a radial category, whereas tyler and evans (2003) and evans and tyler (2004a,b) examined various aspects of english prepositions from a cl standpoint and argued that cognitive linguistics findings, which systematize and link the multiple senses of prepositions, offer a more systematic account of the semantics of english prepositions than the more traditional accounts that currently underpin the majority of pedagogical grammars. by focusing on various senses associated with particular prepositions in a systematic way, evans and tyler (2004a,b) explored the semantic network of prepositions and proposed perceiving prepositions on the basis of their association to proto-scenes (highly schematic spatial scenes or the primary meanings related to specific prepositions). hence, prepositions and their uses are represented as a coherent network of related senses. evans and tyler (2005: 15) provided a model of english prepositions in which “the various senses are represented as gestaltlike conceptualizations of situations or scenes which are systematically connected, rather than a series of discrete dictionary-type definitions strung together in a list”. many scholars (lindstromberg 1996; boers & demecheleer 1998; littlemore 2009; evans & tyler 2005; archard & niemeier 2004; cho 2010; song et al. 2015) have adopted a cognitive linguistic approach to teaching english prepositions with the argument that the multiple uses of prepositions can be perceived as related in systematic ways, which carries important pedagogical implications. for example, lindstromberg (1996) argued in favor of employing lakoff’s (1987) prototype theory for teaching prepositions. from this perspective, prepositions are assumed to have a small number of related meanings, among which one is prototypical (i.e., spatial or physical). in addition, some of the literal meanings of a preposition are extended by metaphors and metonymies to create another small set of related senses. therefore, some figurative meanings can be explained by extending their prototypical meaning. however, little or no attention has hitherto been paid to the quantification of nouns co-occurring with a particular preposition in a specific pattern, the statistical corroboration of their co-occurrence in academic discourse, or the empirical substantiation of previous hypotheses about their use. previous empirical research has provided little statistical information about the frequency of occurrence of english prepositions and nouns and their distribution in different types of discourse or corpora and are thus restricted either in scope of interest or quantitative data investigated. for example, boers’s (1996) corpus-based study into english prepositions associated with the up-down and the front-back dimensions only aimed at comparing british and american corpora regarding the dimensions used to describe given abstract relations by focusing 25 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) on providing the overall distribution (in numbers of instances) of the prepositions over the three corpora (the l.o.b. corpus, the brown corpus, and the corpus of english conversation), and on giving the relative contribution of literal and figurative senses. no previous study has attempted to investigate the mutual association between nouns and prepositions in a particular pattern and to identify nouns associated with the preposition under scrutiny. the aim of this paper is therefore to show that the preposition under displays a marked tendency to co-occur with particular categories of nouns in the under-noun pattern, and the co-occurrence of specific nouns with this preposition is more significant than their use in other constructions. the following portion of this paper is organized into five sections. section 2 outlines the theoretical assumptions of cognitive linguistics relevant for the discussion of the preposition over, and it presents a corpus-based method for identifying the most strongly attracted nouns of the under-noun pattern. section 3 describes the corpus, the data, and the tools, as well as the statistical procedure adopted in this investigation. section 4 addresses semantic properties of the preposition under followed by a brief overview of the research related to the preposition under from a cl perspective. section 5 integrates the theory and practice by incorporating the findings of the quantitative analysis into a semantic description of nouns collocating with the preposition under. the article concludes with a few remarks about the results of this study, observations about the efficacy of using a quantitative corpus-based approach for analyzing prepositions and their noun collocates, and suggestions for future experimental research on prepositions. 2. theoretical and methodological background the investigation is founded on the concepts and theoretical assumptions that pertain to usage-based construction grammar (goldberg 1995, 2006, 2013), a cognitive approach to metaphor and metonymy (lakoff & johnson 1980; kӧvecses 2010; kӧvecses & radden 1998), and the theory of image schemas (johnson 1987; oakley 2007; mandler & pagán cánovas 2014). the usage-based concept of grammar (bybee 2010; goldberg 2006; hilpert 2014; langacker 2008) rests on two fundamental principles. first, linguistic structure consists of constructions. a construction is a complex linguistic sign that links a specific structural pattern with a particular meaning or function (see diessel 2015, 2017). the expression under control, for instance, instantiates a phrasal construction consisting of the preposition under and a noun that combines with this preposition (under-noun). second, language use and linguistic development are shaped by the same cognitive processes as other, nonlinguistic forms of cognition and social behavior (e.g., conceptualization, social cognition, and memory and processing). one aspect that plays a pivotal role in shaping linguistic knowledge is frequency of occurrence. since frequency determines the representation of grammatical knowledge in memory, it enhances the activation 26 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and processing of lexical items, categories, and constructions, which in turn can influence the development and structure of the linguistic system (arnon & snider 2010; bybee & hopper 2001; bybee 2006, 2007, 2010; goldberg 2006). the conceptual theory of metaphor (kövecses 2010, 2015, 2016) rejects the idea that metaphor is solely a figure of speech, or a rhetorical device that is peripheral to language and thought. instead, the theory assumes that metaphor is fundamental to our conceptual system and therefore fundamental to language. conceptual metaphors are shared by members of a linguistic community and play an important role in structuring and understanding abstract concepts. from this perspective (kövecses 2010), metaphor is defined as understanding one concept in terms of another (usually a more concrete concept). for example, as lakoff and johnson (1980) noted, the abstract concept control can be understood by means of the spatial orientation up-down (the source concept), thus reflecting the two orientational metaphors: having control or force is up and being subject to control or force is down. the phrase under control is a highly conventionalized metaphorical expression, and its meaning is dependent on the conceptual metaphor in question. recent research, however, has shown that metaphorical meaning is not only a matter of cognition but is also dependent on a multitude of contextual factors, including situational, discourse, and conceptual-cognitive contexts (see kӧvecses 2015, 2016), and therefore should be interpreted from a linguistic, cognitive, discourse-functional, and socio-cultural perspective (gonzálvez-garcía et al. 2013). a cognitive approach to metonymy (kövecses 2010; kӧvecses & radden 1998; radden & kӧvecses 1999) rests on the premise that metonymy is a cognitive process in which the vehicle (thing, event, property), a conceptual element or entity, is used to provide mental access to the target, which is another conceptual entity such as a thing, event, or property within the same frame or domain (kövecses & radden 1998: 39). this can be conceptualized as “within-domain mapping,” where the vehicle entity is mapped onto the target entity (kӧvecses 2006: 99). thus, for example, given the age domain, the sentence if you prove the baby is his and prove the girl was under age when the baby was conceived, that’s statutory rape directs attention, or provides mental access, to the conceptual element 18 years old (target) through the use of another conceptual element age (vehicle) that belongs to the same frame. in this case, age is used metonymically to stand for a specific number (eighteen). the theory of image schemas is a semantic theory associated with the works of johnson (1987), lakoff (1987), hampe (2005), oakley (2007), and mandler and pagán cánovas (2014). the term image schema refers to “a recurring dynamic pattern of our perceptual interactions and motor programs” that organizes and structures our experiences (johnson 1987: xiv, xvi). in other words, image schemas are embodied preconceptual structures that derive from, or are grounded in, human recurrent bodily movements through space, perceptual interactions, and ways of manipulating objects 27 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (hampe 2005: 1). the up-down schema, an orientational schema discussed by lakoff (1987: 267), is an example of an image schema relevant to the discussion of the preposition under and its noun collocates in the current study. this schema arises from sensory and perceptual experience: that is, our physiology (the vertical axis of the human body) and the presence of gravity give rise to meaning as a result of how we interact with our environment. according to lakoff and johnson (1980), the up-down schema provides the basis for abstract concepts by virtue of serving as the source concept in metaphorical correspondences. the methodology applied in this study is based on quantitative corpus linguistics. the method referred to as the attraction-reliance measure (schmidt 2000; schmid & küchenhoff 2013) is employed to determine the mutual association between nouns and the preposition under in the under-noun pattern. attraction measures the extent to which the pattern under scrutiny attracts a particular noun, while reliance gauges the degree to which a given noun appears in this pattern versus other patterns in the corpus (schmid & küchenhoff 2013: 548). the first calculation involves dividing the observed frequency of occurrence of a noun with the preposition under in the pattern by the total frequency of all nouns in this pattern, whereas the latter entails dividing the frequency of occurrence of a noun in the pattern in question by its frequency of occurrence in the whole corpus (schmid 2000: 54). the results of these calculations are then expressed as percentages by multiplying the observed frequency of a noun in each case by one hundred. in this study, both computations were performed in microsoft excel. the percentage provided by both calculations was used as an index of attraction and reliance: the higher the percentage, the stronger the attraction and reliance. strictly quantitative and objective as this corpus-based technique might seem with respect to the way in which the reciprocal interaction between a noun and the preposition under in the construction in question is determined, the quantitative findings are assessed qualitatively and subjectively. in other words, noun collocates that exert the strongest attraction to the preposition under can be grouped semantically according to the different senses the preposition conveys, while the cognitive motivation behind the use of the preposition with these nouns can be explained by means of conceptual metaphors, metonymies, and/or image schemas. 3. corpora, data, tools, and statistical procedure the data under investigation were retrieved from the academic part of the corpus of contemporary american english (coca), a database of texts covering the years between 1990 and 2016. this sub-corpus is composed of more than 103 million words from approximately 100 different peer-reviewed journals. a search engine in this corpus allowed for the extraction of noun collocates for the preposition under in the academic section. the retrieval, however, was restricted to two places to the right of the search 28 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) word (i.e., two words), since it was impossible to extract all rare occurrences of nouns with the preposition under within a larger span position to the right. this technical difficulty arose when the minimum frequency of collocates of the search word was set to one occurrence. after the retrieval of nouns, each occurrence of a specific noun in the pattern under study was manually examined to identify genuine combinations. all false hits were eliminated from further analysis, and the observed frequencies of the remaining instances of nouns collocating with under were calculated manually by reading concordance lines. then, all the frequencies necessary to compute the degree of the mutual association between nouns and the preposition were entered into an excel worksheet and subjected to schmid’s arithmetic measures of attraction and reliance. the percentages resulting from these computations were used as indexes of association strength, so the percentages showed a noun’s strength of attraction to or repulsion from the preposition under: the higher the percentage, the stronger the attraction to, and reliance on, the preposition. the procedure for this quantitative investigation consisted of three stages. at the first stage, the observed frequencies were calculated. with respect to the noun conditions in table 1, all occurrences of this noun in the under-noun pattern were first identified from the corpus, which yielded 2080 results. then, the total frequency of the noun (conditions) in the corpus was determined, yielding 26,725. finally, the total frequency of all nouns in the pattern was calculated, resulting in 29,522. these three figures were extracted from the corpus manually by reading concordance lines and counting all the occurrences of the nouns under scrutiny. table 1. co-occurrence table for a quantitative analysis noun a x e attraction reliance conditions 2080 29522 26725 7.05% 7.78 % note: a = frequency of noun (e.g., conditions) inthe under-noun pattern; x =total frequency of all nouns in the pattern; e = total frequency of noun (e.g., conditions) in corpora at the second stage, measures of attraction and reliance were computed. to this end, the frequencies mentioned above were entered into an excel spreadsheet and submitted to these arithmetic tests. as shown in table 1, the percentages obtained from the computation of attraction and reliance for the noun conditions are very high in direct comparison with other nouns (see table 2 for a comparison of scores): 7.05 % and 7.78 %, respectively. this means that the noun occurs in 7.05% of the uses of the construction in the 29 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) corpus. in other words, the word conditions is highly significant because it is a very strongly attracted lexeme of the under-noun pattern. in addition, 7.78% of the occurrences of the same noun are found in this pattern, which means that the lexeme conditions relies on other patterns in the corpus to a larger extent, in a proportion of 92.22%. at the final step, the nouns were ranked according to their strength of attraction, and the results were interpreted qualitatively and subjectively. the results revealed that there are indeed nouns that are significantly attracted to the preposition under in this pattern, and the results show that the reciprocal interaction between particular nouns and under is determined by different senses, which in turn appear to be motivated by conceptual metaphors, metonymies, and/or image schemas. the preposition under and its senses even a cursory examination of corpus data reveals subtle semantic differences in the use of the preposition under with its noun collocates. the following examples retrieved from the academic section of coca illustrate the co-occurrence of this preposition with an array of nouns: 1. he sat down under a tree that was standing by the road. 2. under this agreement each head of household received 100 acres for his or her family. 3. the educational options grouped under this rubric are not coded separately. 4. the lone female was tonia selley, who went under the name of karla krimpelien. 5. ninety-one percent of children with rotavirus were under two years of age. 6. subsequently, under the influence of outside islamic extremists, it was “claimed” by muslims. 7. accordingly, there was no room for constitutional limits under patriarchal government. 8. the cognitive processes that facilitate this transition are still under investigation. 9. under circumstances that are not yet fully clear, iraqi warplanes were flown to iran. as shown in the above examples, the preposition under carries multiple senses and collocates with nouns referring to a physical entity (e.g., a tree), an agreement, a rubric, a name, a particular age, influence, government, investigation, and circumstances. in (1) the preposition is used in a spatio-geometric sense to imply ‘directly below something’. in example (2) it denotes ‘according to a particular agreement’, and in (3) it designates ‘where something can be found’. in (4), the preposition under is applied to mean ‘using a particular name in an official situation’. in (5) under means ‘younger than a particular age’. in (6), it denotes ‘being affected or controlled by a particular action or situation’. in (7) under is used for stating that a particular government is in power or control. in example (8) it designates ‘in the process of being affected by an action’, and in (9) it represents ‘in the situation when something happens or exists’. 30 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the definitions of the preposition under in the macmillian english dictionary (2nd edition) and the usage examples confirm these meanings. the dictionary, edited by rundell (2007: 1625), offers the following explanation about the semantic properties of the preposition under, accompanied by the illustrative examples: 10. 1. below or covered by something 1a. directly below or at a lower level than something: ○ we took shelter under an oak tree. 1b. covered by something: ○ she was wearing a money belt under her sweater. 1c. moving to a place that is below something or that is covered by it: ○ i think the ball rolled under the sofa. 1d. passing below something from one side to the other: ○ we drove under the bridge and came out into the high street. 1e. below the surface of water: ○ the ducks kept diving under the water to catch fish. 2. less than a particular amount, or younger than a particular age: ○ there is a working holiday scheme for british citizens, but you have to be under 26. 3. affected by something in the process of being affected or controlled by a particular action, situation, or state: ○ a number of proposals are under consideration. ○ police claim the situation is now under control. 4. when particular conditions exist used for saying that something happens when particular conditions exist: ○ the un inspectors would be allowed access to the eight sites, but only under certain conditions. 5. according to a rule according to a particular law, agreement, or system: ○ the boy is considered a minor under british law. 6. when sb is in power or control used for stating that something happens when a particular person or government is in power: ○ some former conservatives are returning to the party under the new leader. 7. using a particular name using a particular name in official situations, often a name that is not your own: ○ carson had been travelling under a false name. 8. where something can be found if something is under a particular section, word, letter etc., this is where it can be found: ○the tickets should be under the name ‘carlson’(…). as the dictionary entry for under in (10) reveals, the preposition under has a common tendency to collocate with nouns denoting a physical entity (e.g., tree, sweater, sofa, bridge, or water), a specific age, a law, a section, control, leadership, consideration, and conditions. in the first definition and example, which is a concrete one, we can distinguish between five different subsenses (1a-e), or more specific senses being derived from, included in, or closely related to the basic spatial meaning ‘below something’. in this concrete sense, the preposition can be used to specify a location, a motion along a path, and a motion to an end-point (radden & dirven 2007: 313). the remaining senses seem to be figurative extensions of these concrete subsenses pertaining to a vertical orientation and movement (cf. boers 1996). for example, sense 2 is a metaphorical extension of the concrete sense ‘below or covered by something’, whereas the preposition in the expression under 26 reflects the metaphor less is down. the sense of the 31 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) preposition under in 3 is motivated by the metaphor control is down, an orientational metaphor discussed by lakoff and johnson (1980) in the now-classic metaphors we live by. the semantics of the preposition under in english has received much attention among cognitive linguists in recent years. the role of the cognitive motivation underpinning the use and comprehension of this projective preposition has been the subject of both extensive linguistic analysis and empirical research (e.g., boers 1996; tyler & evans 2003; lindstromberg 2010). boers’s (1996) study, for example, revealed that the bulk of uses of the preposition are constituted by figurative extensions of the spatial sense, and only approximately 25% of the instances of under primarily activate the domain of the physical space. the remaining instances are metaphorical extensions based on numerous conceptual metaphors: less is down, being subjected to control is down, cognition is perception, etc. lindstromberg’s (2010) study also provided valuable insight into the semantic nature of the preposition under by identifying its basic spatial meanings and metaphors (e.g., powerless is down, a situation is a kind of covering, unpleasant experiences are burdens). finally, tyler and evans (2003: 121-127) found that all meanings of the preposition under are systematically grounded in the nature of human spatio-physical experience, and the original proto-scene provides the foundation for the extension of meaning from the spatial to the more abstract. tyler and evans treated the preposition under as being comprised of related concepts that form a semantic network of senses related by degrees, with some senses being more central (protoscene and the ‘down’ sense) and others more peripheral (the ‘less’ sense, the ‘control’ sense, the ‘covering’ sense, and the ‘non-existence’ sense). for example, the ‘less’ sense and the ‘control’ sense are extensions of the ‘down’ sense, while the ‘covering’ sense and the ‘non-existence’ sense derive from the proto-scene (tyler & evans 2003: 121-127). given the semantics of the preposition, we could expect that under is a polysemous preposition co-occurring with a multitude of closely related nouns (i.e., nouns associated with control) in academic discourse, and the reciprocal interaction between the preposition under (its different senses) and its noun collocates can be motivated by conceptual metaphors, metonymies, and/or image schemas. the application of the corpus-based method allows us to corroborate or refute such pre-set expectations and assumptions. this approach can be employed to uncover and substantiate the existence, and degree, of semantic and distributional differences in the use of the preposition, its collocability with nouns, as well as the semantic restrictions the preposition imposes on the nouns. this substantiation may be provided by virtue of indicating the nouns that co-occur more or less frequently with the preposition. 32 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) findings and discussion the data excerpted from the corpus included 2790 types of nouns derived from a multitude of semantic domains, out of which 1450 occurred only once in the pattern. due to space limitations, this section will solely report the results for the most strongly attracted nouns of the combination. table 2 below exhibits the results of the measures of attraction and reliance for the 30 most strongly attracted nouns of this pattern. it also provides the observed frequency of nouns in the pattern under study, the total frequency of all nouns in the pattern, and the frequency of their occurrence in the whole corpus. table 2. the results of attraction and reliance for the 30 most strongly attracted nouns a = frequency of noun (e.g., conditions) in the under-noun pattern; x = total frequency of all nouns in the pattern; e = total frequency of noun (e.g., conditions) in corpora rank nouns a x e attraction reliance 1. conditions 2080 29522 26725 7.05% 7.78% 2. circumstances 1313 29522 8127 4.45% 16.16% 3. control 1043 29522 50704 3.53% 2.06% 4. pressure 871 29522 14435 2.95% 6.03% 5. law 845 29522 37705 2.86% 2.24% 6. section 612 29522 23982 2.07% 2.55% 7. influence 460 29522 24102 1.56% 1.91% 8. age 454 29522 38252 1.54% 1.19% 9. rule 446 29522 12140 1.51% 3.67% 10. auspices 439 29522 500 1.49% 87.80% 11. consideration 383 29522 12037 1.30% 3.18% 12. direction 362 29522 9430 1.23% 3.84% 13. leadership 361 29522 15536 1.22% 2.32% 14. study 345 29522 117059 1.17% 0.29% 15. supervision 312 29522 3003 1.06% 10.39% 16. attack 299 29522 6439 1.01% 4.64% 17. title 285 29522 6640 0.97% 4.29% 33 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) a = frequency of noun (e.g., conditions) in the under-noun pattern; x = total frequency of all nouns in the pattern; e = total frequency of noun (e.g., conditions) in corpora rank nouns a x e attraction reliance 18. years 278 29522 89313 0.94% 0.31% 19. investigation 256 29522 7943 0.87% 3.22% 20. stress 245 29522 14131 0.83% 1.73% 21. discussion 222 29522 21722 0.75% 1.02% 22. scrutiny 212 29522 1699 0.72% 12.48% 23. rubric 199 29522 1161 0.67% 17.14% 24. review 199 29522 24139 0.67% 0.82% 25. guidance 199 29522 5851 0.67% 3.40% 26. construction 192 29522 10352 0.65% 1.85% 27. development 181 29522 68049 0.61% 0.27% 28. president 174 29522 24047 0.59% 0.72% 29. name 174 29522 14825 0.59% 1.17% 30. threat 169 29522 9541 0.57% 1.77% the results shown in table 2 are sorted according to the measure of attraction. the top of the table includes relatively common nouns, such as conditions, circumstances, control, pressure, or law. the most logical explanation for this is that the total frequency of these nouns in coca overall is likely to exert a profound effect upon the likelihood of their occurrence in the pattern under investigation. for example, conditions (attraction score 7.05%) and circumstances (attraction score 4.45%) obtained much higher scores for attraction than name (attraction score 0.59%) and threat (attraction score 0.57%), as conditions and circumstances occurred much more frequently in the pattern than name and threat. by contrast, the list for reliance comprises much higher scores for less common nouns occurring in the pattern, such as auspices (reliance score 87.80%), supervision (reliance score 10.39%), and scrutiny (reliance score 12.48%), since the formula employed for the calculation of reliance takes the total frequency of each noun in the corpus into consideration. for instance, although the noun conditions occurs much more frequently in the pattern than auspices, the latter achieves a much higher score for reliance because its overall frequency of occurrence in the corpus is much lower (500 occurrences). 34 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) consequently, the reciprocal association between auspices and the preposition under also appears to be more significant (87.80%). the results support the predictions that the semantic relationships between different uses of the preposition under and its noun collocates are based on specific metaphorical correspondences, metonymies and/or image schemas. furthermore, the suggestions concerning the co-occurrence of the preposition with specific categories of nouns are also confirmed. the findings reveal that some nouns occur more frequently with the preposition under than others. the two most strongly associated nouns are conditions and circumstances. the percentages resulting from the calculation of attraction for these lexemes are high in comparison to other lexemes: 7.05% and 4.45%, respectively.the use of these nouns with under can be illustrated by the following sentences: 11.  the latter predisposes one to brain hemorrhage, particularly under conditions of anticoagulation. 12.  under such circumstances, reliability and validity of assessment become crucial. in these examples, under is used to say that ‘something happens when particular conditions exist’. this sense seems to be a metaphorical extension of the ‘covering’ sense: conditions and circumstances limiting or affecting something are construed as objects covering something. in other words, the preposition encodes the spatial relation of covering, while the abstract concepts conditions and circumstances are conceptualized in terms of this relation, thereby making reference to the situations are coverings metaphor, a metaphor lindstromberg (2010: 164) mentioned, in which situations and states such as circumstances and conditions are conceived as coverings. the second set of the most strongly attracted nouns collocating with the preposition under consists of lexemes pertaining to being subject to force, power, control, law, or rules. its leading lexeme control, ranked third, is accompanied by law, influence, rule, auspices, direction, leadership, supervision, guidance, and president in ranks 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 25, and 28. in such combinations, the preposition under is used in the ‘control’ sense as a metaphorical extension of the ‘down’ sense. in addition, under refers to the up-down image schema and the force image schema: entities being down are affected and controlled by some forces being up. the preposition under encodes the up-down spatial relation between two entities, and then this relation is used to understand the abstract concept control, hence activating the lack of control is down metaphor (lakoff & johnson 1980; kӧvecses 2010), which is also referred to as powerlessness is down (lindstromberg 2010) or as being subject to control or force is down (boers 1996). if we consider all significant combinations of nouns with the preposition under in the pattern, it turns out that the nouns mentioned above in fact constitute the most strongly 35 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) associated nouns occurring with the preposition in the ranking list. the scores of attraction and reliance reveal that the noun control accounts for 3.53% of the uses of all nouns co-occurring with under in the academic section of coca, and 2.06% of uses of the same noun are found in the pattern. the lexeme is thus attracted to the pattern in a proportion of 3.53% and relies on the pattern in a proportion of 2.06%. hence, control is one of the most significant lexemes collocating with the preposition. the following examples are provided to illustrate the use of the preposition under reflecting the general metaphor being subject to control or force is down: 13.  under prior law, the distance test was 35 miles. 14.  the pakistani drone program may not long remain under the auspices of the cia. 15.  obama once said about the prospects for health reform under his leadership. since under is associated with downness, it figures in many expressions of the systematic metaphor whereby being subject to control or force is considered being down. for example, the expression under prior law in (13) designates ‘being subjected to a law passed by a parliament’, whereas under the auspices of the cia in (14) is used to denote ‘to be under the supervision, control, or management of an organization or a country’. the phrase under his leadership in (15) refers to ‘the rules or people controlling a country or organization’. other uses of the preposition reflecting the same metaphor are as shown in (16) and (17) below: 16.  foster came to him that day with a suspicion that zopatti was under the influence of some substance. 17. they were much higher than they are under president obama. in (16) under means ‘affected’, while the whole expression refers to ‘being affected by a substance’. in (17), under collocates with president obama, a noun that can be conceptually interpreted with reference to the metonymy a ruler for the period of his rule. president obama metonymically stands for the period of his authority. the third group in the ranking is constituted by a range of nouns denoting unpleasant experiences. its main lexeme pressure (attraction score 2.95%) ranked number four and is followed by attack, stress, and threat in ranks 16, 20, and 30, respectively. pressure and attack obtained much higher scores for attraction (2.95% and 1.01%) than stress (attraction score 0.83%) and threat (attraction score 0.57%), since they occurred much more frequently in the pattern. stress and threat obtained lower scores for reliance (1.73% and1.77%, respectively) than pressure and attack (6.03% and 4.64%), as they occurred more frequently in other contexts. 36 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the preposition under collocating with this set of nouns conveys the sense of ‘being affected or controlled by a particular action, situation, or state’, thereby reflecting the general metaphor being subject to control or force is down in the sense of being affected by unpleasant experiences. in other words, the abstract concepts stress, threat, pressure, and attack, which are associated with unpleasant experiences affecting or controlling someone, are understood in terms of downness. this usage of under also seems to be related to the up-down schema and the contact schema, which are consistent with the physical experience of carrying a burden. hence, this sense of under can be additionally interpreted with respect to the metaphor unpleasant experiences are burdens (see lindstromberg 2010 for a detailed discussion of this metaphor), whereby unwelcome states and events (such as pressure, stress, or attack) are construed as something oppressive and heavy that weigh down the subject (sufferer) from above. the corpus data in (18), (19), and (20) below serve as illustrations of this phenomenon: 18. khartoum is increasingly coming under pressure from all sides. 19. table one is a brief list of important basic facts in dealing with children under stress. 20. the vincennes was never under attack by iranian aircraft. in (18), under pressure is used to denote ‘being made to feel forced to do something by arguments, threats’, etc. under stress in (19) means ‘affected by a worried or nervous feeling’, while under attack in (20) designates ‘affected by an enemy attack’. this last expression may also refer to ‘strong criticism’. the next category comprises section, title, rubric, and name in ranks 6, 17, 23, and 29. in these combinations, the preposition under is used for stating that ‘something can be found under a particular section, title, name’, etc., thereby evoking the up-down image schema, where written discourse may be conceived as a subdomain of physical space. it is two-dimensional and its vertical axis is determined by cultural conventions (boers 1996: 45). the uses of under with these nouns can also be interpreted with reference to the metonymy a part for the whole, where a title or heading is used metonymically to stand for the text (a piece of written discourse). the corpus data in (21), (22), and (23) illustrate this point. 21. social workers can remove people from their homes under section 47 of the national assistance act 1948. 22. he has published a novel under the title my memorial. 23. hence, the courses described earlier are listed under the rubric cscl. in (21), the phrase under section denotes ‘found under a piece of writing that may be considered separately’, and it occupies the highest position among the terms 37 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in this category. section is attracted to the pattern in a proportion of 2.07% and relies on this construction in a proportion of 2.55%, which means that the lexeme section is used more frequently (in a proportion of 97.45%) in other contexts. by comparison, title and rubric are less significant lexemes of the pattern (attraction scores 0.97% and 0.67%) but rely on the pattern to a larger degree (reliance scores 4.29% and 17.14%). the term title is used to denote ‘the title of a novel written at the top of a page or piece of writing’, whereas rubric refers to ‘the name of a particular section under which particular courses are listed’. the expression under name can be motivated by the metonymy the whole for its parts, in which the category (social studies) stands for its members (geography and history), since those members (parts) can be found under that category (the whole), as shown in (24): 24. presently, however, geography is taught together with history under the name of social studies from the 1st until the 7th grade. according to boers (1996: 50), a piece of written discourse can serve as a mental construct to define a particular category, while under can be employed to locate members of that category. other nouns that are strongly attracted to the preposition in question are terms that refer to growth and quantity, such as age and years. age, ranked eighth, is a more strongly attracted lexeme (attraction score 1.54%) than years, which ranked 18th. note that age relies on the pattern to a higher degree (reliance score 1.19%) as compared to years (0.31%), which means that this term appears more frequently than years in the pattern with under. examples showing the use of the preposition with these nouns are listed below: 25. about 20,000,000 children under age 17 have never seen a dentist. 26. most abusive fractures are in children under 3 years. in these examples, under conveys a conventional meaning of ‘less’, a sense that results from an experiential correlation between a vertical orientation and quantity. being down directly implicates possessing less of something. hence, this sense rests on the metaphor less is down, which operates with two notions: quantity and verticality (cf. lakoff & johnson 1980; kövecses 2010), where quantity is understood metaphorically in terms of verticality. more specifically, age and years reference the concept of scale, which can be conceptualized either as a vertical or horizontal axis and both mean ‘younger than a specific age’. the metaphor less is down has a metonymic basis 38 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) here, since vertical extension can be used to stand for growth within the source domain of physical space (cf. boers 1996: 46). among the most significant lexemes in both lists, there are also terms such as consideration, study, investigation, discussion, scrutiny, and review. the first lexeme is attracted to the preposition in a proportion of 1.30% and relies on the preposition under in a proportion of 3.18%. in contrast, terms such as scrutiny and review seem to be much less important nouns collocating with under since their scores for attraction are lower (attraction scores 0.72% and 0.67%). some examples illustrating the co-occurrence of these nouns with under are presented in (27), (28), and (29) below. 27. remedial matters such as relocation and compensation were under consideration. 28. the cognitive processes that facilitate this transition are still under investigation. 29. the course of true love was under intense scrutiny in postwar america. the preposition under collocating with these nouns conveys the meaning ‘in the process of being affected or controlled by a particular action, situation, or state: more specifically, in the process of being discussed, considered or investigated’, thus reflecting the being subject to control or force is down metaphor in the sense of ‘being subjected to analysis’. this meaning seems to be a metaphorical extension of the ‘down’ sense: objects of study that are placed down or under a microscope are controlled and examined very carefully from the perspective of verticality. thus, the up-down orientation can also be used metaphorically to understand target concepts related to the process of examining something. finally, the ranking list in table 2 contains nouns such as construction and development, which occupy ranks 26 and 27, respectively. examples illustrating the use of these nouns with the preposition are presented in (30) and (31) below. 30. nearby, three villas for foreign archaeologists are under construction. 31. the mechanical subsystem (ms) of the alpha tool has been under development by nikon. in such uses, the preposition encodes a metaphorical extension of the down sense and denotes ‘in the process of being affected or controlled by a state, situation, or action’, hence being based on the general metaphor being subject to control or force is down in the sense of ‘being subjected to the process of change or improvement’. under construction in (30), means ‘being in the process of building’, and can be considered to be directly motivated by a specific subtype of the general metaphor being subjected to the process of building is down. in (31), under development means ‘being in the process of creating a new system’, which can be seen as being motivated by the 39 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) sub-metaphor being subjected to the process of change, growth or improvement is down. concluding remarks in conclusion, the quantitative investigation of nouns co-occurring with under in the under-noun pattern indicated that there are indeed nouns that demonstrate strong associations with the preposition under, and the mutual attraction between under and its noun collocates seems to be determined by the different senses of this preposition used in specific contexts, which are motivated by conceptual metaphors, metonymies, and/ or image schemas. for example, as noted in section 5, the ‘control’ sense of the preposition in combinations such as under control, under law, under leadership, or under president is highly motivated by the metaphor being subject to control or force is down. thus, under tends to collocate quite frequently with a range of nouns associated with some kind of control, power, force, or law. the most obvious finding to emerge from this study is that there are several groups of nouns that are closely related semantically and are strongly associated with the preposition under in the under-noun pattern. more specifically, the results indicate that in academic discourse the preposition displays a strong tendency to occur with nouns pertaining to physical situations (e.g., conditions, circumstances), control and law (e.g., influence, rule, auspices, leadership, supervision, president), unpleasant experiences and situations (e.g., pressure, attack, stress, threat), a title and heading (e.g., section, title, rubric, name), a particular age and amount (e.g., age, years), or cognition and perception (e.g., consideration, study, investigation, discussion, scrutiny). also, the co-occurrence of the noun auspices with the preposition under is more significant than its use in other constructions. the results also revealed that terms (e.g., influence, pressure, section, consideration) that are closely associated with, or directly related to, control or law, unpleasant experiences or situations, titles or headings, and cognition or perception constitute the bulk of the most strongly attracted lexemes in the ranking list. a possible explanation for the co-occurrence of those nouns with the preposition under in academic discourse may be the semantic restrictions imposed by the preposition (i.e., the kinds of meanings conveyed by the preposition in particular contexts) and the nature and specificity of the academic register. for example, in (27), (28), and (29), under bears the meaning ‘in the process of being discussed, considered or investigated’, thereby introducing semantic restrictions upon the types of nouns with which the preposition collocates. consequently, its collocability in these contexts is restricted to the nouns associated with the act of investigating or examining something. in academic discourse, such combinations are used to present, interpret and/or comment on the results of studies such as in reference to the process of attempting to discover all the details or facts. 40 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the frequent occurrence of the preposition under with nouns such as stress, threat, conditions, and consideration confirms the prediction that the preposition under demonstrates a marked preference for nouns referring to abstract notions that mainly carry figurative meanings. the results of the quantitative analysis indicate that the figurative senses of under pertaining to conditions and circumstances, control and law, titles and headings, unpleasant experiences and situations, as well as cognition and perception predominate in the academic section of coca. these findings support boer’s (1996) conclusions regarding the occurrence of under in three types of corpora. boers (1996: 40) found that from a statistical standpoint, figurative senses are more frequent than literal ones in the l.o.b corpus, the brown corpus, and the corpus of english conversation. more precisely, out of 1374 instances of under, literal senses accounted for approximately 25% of all the instances, or 352 total occurrences: 164 in the l.o.b corpus, 175 in the brown corpus, and 13 in the corpus of english conversation. a cursory glance at the ranking list in table 2 reveals that the frequency of figurative senses of under in academic discourse substantially exceeds the frequency of occurrence of literal senses. after a careful examination of the results, it can be concluded that a quantitative, corpus-driven approach can provide detailed statistical description of the nouns collocating with under in the pattern in question and identify minor distributional differences in the occurrence of these nouns in the pattern under study. the quantitative method adopted in this study proved to be a useful technique allowing for the determination of frequent and rare occurrences of nouns in the pattern, so it can be successfully employed for the investigation of nouns collocating with other prepositions. future research might focus on comparing and contrasting nouns co-occurring with prepositions such as underneath, beneath, below, down, above, over, or behind. finally, given that the current investigation was limited to the academic sub-corpus of coca, it would be worthwhile to carry out a comparative study of nouns co-occurring with the preposition under in other sections of coca and across different types of written and spoken registers due to the possible existence of slight variations in their occurrence. such a quantitative analysis could reveal subtle distributional differences in the occurrence of nouns in the pattern under consideration. references achard, m. & niemeier, s. 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(ed.). 2007. macmillan english dictionary for advanced learners. 2nd ed. oxford: macmillan education. 43 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) schmid, h.-j. 2000. english abstract nouns as conceptual shells. from corpus to cognition. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. schmid, h.-j. & küchenhoff, h. 2013. collostructional analysis and other ways of measuring lexicogrammatical attraction: theoretical premises, practical problems and cognitive underpinnings. cognitive linguistics 24(3): 531-577. tyler, a. & evans, v. 2001. reconsidering prepositional polysemy networks: the case of over. language 77(4): 724-765. tyler, a. & evans, v. 2003. the semantics of english prepositions. spatial scenes, embodied meaning and cognition. cambridge: cambridge university press. data sources the corpus of contemporary american english (coca). available from https://www.corpusdata.org/purchase.asp * * * jarosław wiliński is an assistant professor at the institute of linguistics and literary studies at siedlce university of natural sciences and humanities. he is the author of several articles and book chapters on applications of cognitive linguistics in onomasiological lexicography and on the use of quantitative methods in linguistic research. his areas of interest include cognitive and corpus linguistics, lexicology, phraseology, and onomasiological lexicography. his current research focuses on applications of cognitive linguistics in the compilation of thematic reference works and on a quantitative corpus-based investigation of grammatical constructions, collocations, and metaphors. https://www.corpusdata.org/purchase.asp 37 18 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) tatiana szczygłowska1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.38.3.02 university of bielsko-biala, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5051-4080 the lexico-phraseological profile of professional film reviews published by the british media: a corpus-linguistic study abstract: using corpus linguistic techniques, this exploratory study is intended to provide a descriptive insight into frequent lexical bundles, keywords and key terms as well as selected lexical markers of style used in a corpus of professional film reviews. the research material includes 210 domain-specific texts from the years 2020-2021, extracted from the websites of six british newspapers, magazines and institutions offering guides for moviegoers. the results show that the analyzed reviews make frequent use of general cinematic terms and more specific lexis denoting the different types and (sub)genres of cinematic productions represented by the reviewed films. other salient lexical features include a high concentration of referential but low concentration of stance bundles, though attitudinal items, particularly evaluation adjectives, significantly enrich the lexical inventory of the reviews. the presented data may have important pedagogic applications in the area of teaching authentic english to future film reviewers and film journalists. keywords: corpus linguistics, film reviews, keywords, key terms, lexical bundles. 1. introduction film reviews can be defined as short texts which provide basic information about a film, while simultaneously assessing its various merits and weak points. those written by professional reviewers seem to be particularly interesting to the public, as their authors are usually among the first to see new films. in the us, for instance, eight out of ten viewers declare they consult film reviews when making a film choice (ford 2014). as gemser et al. (2007: 44) claim, “film reviews can actively influence consumers in their 1 address for correspondence: akademia techniczno-humanistyczna, instytut neofilologii, ul. willowa 2, 43-309 bielsko-biała, poland. email: tszczyglowska@ath.bielsko.pl https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5051-4080 19 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) selection process” but they also “forecast whether a movie will become a success or not”. the impact of film reviews is thus twofold: they assess the value of a film for audiences, which influences their decision process, and pre-shape opinions about that film, which influences the films̓ box-office performance. topa-bryniarska (2020: 237) claims that there has been relatively little research so far on the genre of film reviews, though as bieler et al. (2007: 76) suggest, the genre “has become relatively popular in computational linguistics”, which mostly aims to classify “an entire review as either positive or negative”. admittedly, reviews have been studied to establish that the critical ones affect late and cumulative box office receipts, but seem to have no effect on early box office receipts (eliashberg & shugan 1997). reviews have also been reported to be different from pieces of film criticism (e.g. o'regan & walmsley-evans 2015), to have become standardized and taxonomic to the detriment of their essayistic value (grue 2006), to possess persuasive traits typical of advertising discourse (topa-bryniarska 2020) and to be composed of a fixed number of components (bordwell 1989). it seems that less attention has been devoted to the lexical and phraseological aspects of reviews, though some passing remarks on the language and style of film reviews can be found in clayton and klevan (2011), who are critical of larding the texts with superlatives, hyperbole and well-worn adjectives; on multi-word verbs, in zelenka (2017), who concludes that the written reviews make frequent use of prepositional verbs and the spoken ones rely mainly on phrasal verbs; and on premodification, in paul (2019), who lists adjectival classifiers and descriptors as the most common types of premodification in film reviews. added to that is zheltukhina et al.̓s (2020) study of the verbal specifics of american film reviews from the magazines esquire and gq. this paper aims to identify and examine salient lexical and phraseological units in a specialized corpus of professional british film reviews, attempting to classify these units semantically and functionally as well as to analyze their naturally occurring patterns of use. the focus is on recurrent lexical bundles, keywords and key terms, and additionally, on the high frequency keyword film and three lexical markers of style (i.e. but, why, don’t). it is hoped that the findings of this research will not only offer a better insight into the lexico-phraseological profile of professional film reviews published in the british media, but also provide authentic descriptive data in the area of domain-specific language and style, familiarity with which may be sought for by those studying to become film reviewers, critics or journalists. 2. the film review genre the film review is a journalistic genre which provides a brief description of a film – usually a new one – and states the reviewers̓ opinion on it. it is thus subjective in its nature, as the author uses their own “knowledge, taste, artistic familiarity, intellectual level and sensitivity” not simply to evaluate the film, but rather to comment of the films̓ 20 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) merits and weaknesses (jelonkiewicz 2010: 312, translation mine). apart from its informative, analytical and evaluative value, the film review also serves as an effective tool of persuasion which can either attract or repel viewers from particular films. the latter is possibly the reason why film reviewers are sometimes considered “as adjuncts of the film marketing process” whose recommendations can contribute to the box office success of movies (mcarthur 1985: 81). this seems to be particularly the case with professional reviews, which have been selected as the focus of this study and which are written by trained journalist or professional film critics, not by ordinary members of the audience. despite the common goal of providing an accurate summary of a film that helps to understand its meaning and technical virtuosity, according to many scholars, film reviewing should not be confused with film criticism (e.g. o'regan & walmsley-evans 2015; maras 2020). generally, reviews are more informative in their nature, as well as more consumer-oriented and sensitive to the audiencesʼ immediate tastes and preferences, whereas pieces of criticism are more elitist in their nature, also in terms of the films chosen for analysis, as well as more concerned with the aesthetic, cinematic and cultural criteria (holbrook 1999: 148). the former, as forms of journalistic criticism, are usually shorter and reactive, as well as written with the use of more general vocabulary and printed in newspapers; the latter, as forms of scholarly criticism, are typically longer and reflective, as well as written with the use of academic lexis and printed in journals and magazines (see brown 1978: 32 and grue 2006: 44). yet, as bordwell emphasizes (1989: 21), it is has to be remembered that “film criticism was born from reviewing, and the earliest prototypes of the ʻfilm criticʼ were journalists charged with discussing, on a daily or weekly basis, the current output of the film industry”. o'regan and walmsley-evans (2015) attribute the rhetorical origin of film reviews to 19th century theatre criticism, which they explain by common circumstances of both art forms, such as “mass circulation daily and weekly publications, national circuits and defined seasons, and an interest in discussion of the object in advance of, and subsequent to, its performance/exhibition”. the literature on the topic is less definite about the candidate for the first film review. iampolski (1998: 58) writes about new york timesʼ “first article on a motion picture”, which was the 1909 review of d. w. griffith's film adaptation of robert browning's play pippa passes, but does not make it clear whether it was actually the first review ever. roberts (2010: 20), writing about american cinema, points to the new york times anonymous piece from 1896 reporting on the first public exhibition of a film at koster and bials̓ music hall in new york. in turn, o'regan and walmsley-evans (2015) claim that in the context of australian cinema, the very first film review was written even earlier – it reviewed a private screening of edison kinetoscope films and was published in 1894 in the sydney morning herald. what, however, raises no doubt is that film reviews were first published in newspapers, which made them 21 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) function as “a type of journalism”, with “a sort of news value” and publication regularity (bordwell & thompson 2011: 54-55). regarding the formal characteristics of the genre, bieler et al. (2007: 75) argue that a typical review contains formal and functional elements. the former are characteristic for the genre and include a conventionalized constellation of linearly ordered details, such as the title, the name of the reviewer, list of cast and copyright notice. the latter are closely linked with the communicative goal of the writer whose intention is to present the contents of the film to the reader and offer a personal evaluation, both of which are provided in the main paragraphs of a review. bordwell (1989: 38) summarizes the typical structure of a review in the following way: “open with a summary judgment; synopsize the plot; then supply a string of condensed arguments about the acting, story logic, sets, spectacle, or other case-centered points; lace it all with background information; and cap the review by reiterating the judgment”. he elaborates further on this issue, adding that the plot summary should highlight pivotal moments without revealing the ending; background information about the film should indicate its genre, source, director, stars and anecdotes about production or reception; whereas the advanced arguments should be concise and compelling, and followed by a clear recommendation. depending on the place of publication, film reviews may range in length and detail, as for instance, bull (2010: 335-336) advises that a typical review should be around 500 word long, whereas brown (1978: 34) reports that the majority of reviews are between 500 to 1000 words. the latter seems to be true for the reviews analyzed here, which are on average 731.53 word long, with the longest consisting of as many as 1374 words and the shortest, of only 281 words. some additional details that can be discussed in a review include the cinemas̓ resources (e.g. lightning or camera placement and movement) (mcarthur 1985), photographs or trailers of the film (gemser et al. 2007), or even “prematurely dismissed pictures or those that could not find immediate audiences” (roberts 2010: 12). what helps the reviewer to cover all essential features of a film are its multiple viewings, accountability to the audience as well as familiarity with the art form reviewed and good writing ability2. for a review to be effective, it definitely takes the use of the right language and style. in their analysis of film reviews published in the esquire and gq, zheltukhina et al. (2020: 13) conclude that reviewers rely heavily on nouns (46%) and adjectives (28%) as well as on “epithets, comparisons, metaphors, lexical repeats, homogeneous members of the sentence, various grammatical structures, and other expressive means”. corrigan (2015: 129-134) explains that successful writing about film is largely dependent on 2 the hints on how to write a film review can be found on websites dedicated to this matter, specifically: how to write film review (n.d.), 9 tips for writing a film review (2017) and 7 tips for writing a film review (nichol 2007-2021). 22 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) concreteness, that is, on the accuracy with which a writer linguistically visualizes a films̓ scenes or sequences. he adds that other rhetorical tools include the skilful use of denotations and connotations, precision of meaning, avoidance of empty words like thing or aspect, employment of a moderate amount of professional terminology, adoption of a tone devoid of sarcasm, irony or blatant humour, finding a balance between a casual and formal voice, restraint in using clichés and repetitions other than those involving key words, reliance on varied vocabulary and sentence structures, remaining economical and focused on the main purpose of the review, which is to inform about and evaluate a film. topa-bryniarska (2020: 240-243) also emphasizes that film reviews constitute a form of mock dialogue between the writer and the reader and should, therefore, contain strong evaluative lexis, questions and direct reader appeals. 3. material and methodology the present study is part of an ongoing project aimed at disentangling the intricacies of recurrent lexis and phraseology in professional review texts that has so far investigated restaurant reviews published in british and american newspapers (szczygłowska 2021). capitalizing on the approach adopted in this earlier work, here the focus is on film reviews published by the british media. in addition to keywords, key terms, and lexical bundles, all of which have been analyzed in the previous work, in this study attention is also devoted to three lexical markers of style (i.e. but, why, don’t) and the high frequency keyword film. the research material encompasses a specialized corpus of 210 professional film reviews extracted from six british internet websites: the platform bbc culture (bbc), the british film institute website (bfi), the spectator magazine (ts), and three newspapers: the guardian (tg), the telegraph (tt) and the independent (ti). these sources were selected to ensure that the reviews were authored by film critics and film journalists working as regular columnists, as confirmed by their online profiles, not by ordinary members of the audience. for this reason, however, multiple reviews by the same authors had to be included in the corpus, as the above mentioned media institutions employ a fixed number of professional reviewers. each source contributed 35 reviews: 15 from the year 2020 and 20 from 2021. the movie genre factor was not considered, similarly as reviews devoted to several films simultaneously. multiple reviews of the same film (i.e. two reviews – each culled from a different source) constituted only 10 per cent (21) of all the corpus texts, and the remaining 90 per cent (189) were devoted to different films. the corpus size is 153,622 word tokens (18,523 word types), which yields a standardized type/ token ratio of 49.64, indicating a reasonably diverse vocabulary (baker 2006: 52). the small size of the corpus may help to closely “reflect contextual features”, thus giving “insights into patterns of language use in particular settings” (koester 2010: 67). additionally, the english web 2020 (ententen20), containing over 36 billion words crawled from the internet, was used as a reference corpus. 23 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the research methodology also involved the extraction of frequent lexical bundles (lbs) with the help of wordsmith tools 6.0 (scott 2012). the focus was on 4-word sequences3 occurring at least 4 times in the research corpus. following hyland (2008: 8), bundles of this length are more common than 5-word items and represent clearer structures and functions than shorter strings. the initial list included 123 items and was filtered out to remove fragments of film titles (e.g. a call to spy) and bundles which did not reach the distribution threshold that was set at 4 texts. the remaining 75 bundles were classified into functional (sub)categories, some of which were taken from biber et al. (2004), while others were created to reflect the specific functions performed by them in the analyzed texts. additionally, the analysis involved the extraction of keywords and key terms (i.e. multi-word expressions, typically noun phrases or nominalizations), that is, lexis occurring with unusual frequency in the target corpus, compared to the reference corpus. such lexical items “provide information about the keyness or specificity of a given corpus in terms of what it is about” (szudarski 2018: 25). they were identified using sketch engine (kilgarriff et al. 2014), with the minimum frequency set at 5, the focus value set at 0.00001 and the keyword attribute defined as word. considering the relatively small size of the corpus, the criterion of range (i.e. frequency understood as the number of texts an item appears in) was not applied, mainly because some of the items occurred in only one or two corpus texts. this decision was motivated by the belief that if such low-range items were excluded from the analysis, some of the semantic categories to which they were assigned would be reduced to a minimum. this could make that certain interesting aspects of the analyzed reviews would be lost, such as references to film characters or details of the storyline, both of which tend to be unique, often typical of a single film. yet, to signal that some of the discussed keywords and key terms may possibly be of idiosyncratic nature, those that occurred in only one review were italicized. top frequency items (by keyness) were scanned to remove proper names, which are often incidental to the analyzed texts (scott 2012), and compile two refined lists of the most common 100 keywords and key terms. these items were then classified into semantically and functionally related categories of words and terms, typical for the research corpus and its domain, that were developed intuitively after examining the relevant concordances. the discussion of keywords and key terms is supplemented by a closer scrutiny of the grammatical and collocational behaviour of the high frequency keyword film and three lexical markers of style: but, why and don’t. 3 following the approach adopted by kim (2013), the apostrophes used for contracted and possessive forms are treated as a separate unit, which means that sequences such as and there’s a as well as is the film’s are treated as 4-word bundles. 24 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 4. results and discussion 4.1. lexical bundles drawing on the functional typology proposed by biber et al. (2004), 75 target lbs, totalling 431 tokens, were assigned to three categories: referential, discoursal and expressing stance. these categories were further modified by incorporating more specific subcategories to closely reflect the specificity of the studied film reviews. the lbs were categorized based on their primary functions fulfilled in most of the contexts in which the they occurred. referential bundles constitute the largest category comprising 50 items (66.67%), totaling 290 tokens, which were used to convey content by referring to concepts, entities and ideas, as well as their attributes. referential bundles served seven distinct functions shown in table 1. table 1. referential bundles in film reviews subcategory freq no bundle identification/focus 81 14 is one of the, one of the most, this is a film, and theres̓ a, the film is a, one of the film, one of the great, is a film that, is the films̓, it s̓ one of, then theres̓ the, theres̓ also a, there is also a, ʻs adaptation of the attributes of the film 57 7 of the films̓, written and directed by, of the film is, is written and directed, the film doesnʼt, a film that is, the film isnʼt specifying attributes 56 9 the rest of the, much of the film, a bit of a, in the form of, to the point of, as a kind of, in a state of, is a bit of, of the same name referring to the plot 43 9 at the centre of, the centre of the, the film begins with, the story of a, a film about the, at the heart of, film is set in, is based on the, the film is set temporal 25 6 at a time when, and a half hour, for the first time, over the course of, two and a half, in the middle of location 24 4 in the films̓, in a film that, in one of the, into the middle of multifunctional 4 1 at the end of 25 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) film reviews are dominated by identification/focus bundles, which help to point out important aspects on which the author wants to elaborate, such as specific film scenes (1) or people involved in filmmaking (2). some bundles also direct readersʼ attention to key points, including the reviewed film itself (3), its characters (4) or their character traits (5). (1) in one of the most affecting scenes, fern talks to a friend named swankie, a woman in her seventies in failing health, […] (bbc_15 sept 2020) (2) but bong has never made a straightforward film in his life – that’s why he’s one of the great masters of the cinematic game […] (ti_6 feb 2020) (3) this is a film of quiet, cumulative power, which has much to say about serial sexual predators in the harvey weinstein mould, […] (ts_2 may 2020) (4) then there’s the park family, settled in a quiet suburban home that’s halfway between an art installation and a fortress. (ti_6 feb 2020) (5) but there’s also a strange sense of empowerment in claire’s ability to un-write and then rewrite her life at will, […] (tg_12 apr 2020) bundles referring to attributes of the film identify its main filmmakers (6), title (7) or such partly overlapping details as various qualities (8), characteristics (9) and aspects (10). (6) the film is written and directed by chinonye chukwu, a nigerian-american and the first black woman to win the grand jury prize. (ts_18 jul 2020) (7) the same can be said of the film’s title: while fire will come suggests a prophecy or a threat, the galician o que arde simply means “that which burns”, […] (bfi_20 mar 2020) (8) the film isn’t realistic in the sense that we can say any of it happened, yet it’s otherwise intensely realistic. (ts_27 mar 2021) (9) the film doesn’t reinvent the spy genre, but uses it effectively, creating suspense and nearmisses whenever the nazis approach. (bbc_4 nov 2020) (10) a highlight of the film is the meet-cute at a friend’s wedding between her and matt […] (bfi_23 nov 2021) bundles specifying attributes describe various characteristics of the entities mentioned in film reviews, including their type (11), part (12), quantity (13), condition (14), manifestation (15) or some other details (16). attributive bundles are the most popular referential expressions in the corpus, both in terms of the number of distinct forms (n = 16) and their cumulative frequency of use (freq = 113). (11) waves rapidly descends into a repetitive cycle of black trauma, playing horror as a kind of cruel irony. (ti_16 jan 2020) 26 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (12) and will the rest of the community support her? (ts_23 may 2020) (13) much of the film is shot in natural light, with plenty of sensual close-ups of sweat and grime. (bbc_2 sept 2021) (14) in fact, no – it simply left us in a state of permanent suspense about his fate. (tt_21 sept 2021) (15) meanwhile, reality intrudes in the form of a nationwide fuel shortage: […] (tt_30 dec 2021) (16) alma, his father’s housekeeper, even to the point of a drunken attempted rape. (ts_18 apr 2020) bundles referring to the plot indicate various details linked directly with the main events of a film, such as the specific time (17) and location (18) where the story happens or the films̓ main theme (19), opening scene (20) and background inspiration (21). interestingly, the bundles at the centre of, the centre of the and at the heart of, which give the impression of referring to location, are also concerned with aspects of the plot, as illustrated by (22) and (23). (17) the film is set in 1870, as kidd travels from town to town reading newspapers aloud to groups of people who drop coins in a bucket to hear him. (bbc_11 dec 2020) (18) the new disney-pixar film is set in and around an idealised riviera village, a rustic paradise of trattorias, vineyards, and crumbling town squares with fountains in the middle. (bbc_16 jun 2021) (19)waves is a film about the rapid and shocking destruction of an upper-middle-class black family, written and directed by a white man. (ti_16 jan 2020) (20) the film begins with a voiceover from murray over a black screen. (bbc_25 sept 2020) (21) military wives is based on the true story of an ensemble of servicemen’s spouses who formed a choir and later enlisted the help of tv choirmaster gareth malone. (tt_25 feb 2020) (22) at the centre of the story is selah’s relationship with her young new protégée […] (bfi_1 jun 2020) (23) but at the heart of the film is the developing relationship between mahiro and the father she believes is her father but isn’t, […] (ts_4 jul 2020) two less common subcategories of referential bundles include time/place reference. those tied to the concept of time indicate the duration of a film (24) or refer to particular points in time mentioned in the review, as in (25). in turn, location bundles mark either particular places (26) or more abstract locations, such as the film itself (27), its scenes (28) or even script (29). 27 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (24) but over the course of two hours, the flaws are all too visible. (bbc_26 feb 2020) (25) it's possible that some more magnetic actors might have helped, but for the first time, marvel's sharp eye for casting has gone awry. (bbc_24 oct 2021) (26) a lonely, spoilt girl is plonked into the middle of a decaying estate, left to explore its corridors and its secrets. (ti_22 oct 2020) (27) steadman and dave johns are mostly wasted in a film that’s less a pleasant meander than a gruelling hike. (tt_24 sept 2020) (28) their differences are stated out loud in the film’s final scene, as they drink and clink glasses. (bbc_6 oct 2020) (29) the question of what initially compels robert to consider firing into his own ranks by taking on the case as a class-action suit is never quite crystallised in the film’s script, [...] (bfi_26 feb 2020) the subcategory of multi-functional bundles comprises only one item, which either indicates location (like gatsby mesmerised by the light at the end of daisy’s dock) or time (film was shot around the city’s san fernando valley suburbs at the end of last year). discourse-organizing bundles include 15 items (20%), totaling 79 tokens, which served two main functions shown in table 2. table 2. discourse-organizing bundles in film reviews the majority of discourse organizers are concerned with topic clarification or elaboration. this may involve paraphrasing the authors̓ opinion about a film (30), making it harsher (31), more argumentative (32) or more detailed (33). an interesting bundle is at the same time, which despite its direct reference to time, expands on a topic, as in (34). (30) […] you’ll have a fair idea of what to expect from charlie kaufman’s i’m thinking of ending things. to put it another way, you won’t really know what to expect at all, because kaufman’s films are always weirder, gloomier, and more unsettling than you might assume, […] (bbc_1 sept 2020) (31) this being a kaufman film, though, nothing is as it should be. it’s not that anyone behaves outrageously or threateningly. it’s just that everything is... wrong. (bbc_1 sept 2020) subcategory freq no bundle topic elaboration/ clarification 74 14 but it s̓ a, turns out to be, as well as the, but it s̓ also, out to be a, at the same time, it s̓ just that, on the other hand, or to put it, put it another way, to do with the, to put it another, turned out to be, what to do with topic introduction 5 1 when it comes to 28 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (32) it's not as if you get to watch surreal, avant-garde rock operas very often. on the other hand, you might think that that's for the best. (bbc_7 jul 2021) (33) the murder scene itself is expectedly horrific, but it’s also short. (ti_28 jul 2020) (34) it is a testament to thomasin mckenzie’s performance that she manages to maintain a lightness while at the same time suggesting a woman who could also be slipping into madness. (bfi_31 oct 2021) the subcategory of topic introducing bundles comprises only one item, which serves as a signal implying that the author is about to undertake a new idea, as in (35). (35) whatever small contrivances or inconsistencies might dwell in this story of a husbandʼs secrets […], they melt away as soon as the camera cuts to the face of its star. when it comes to convincing an audience that the terror is real, a horror film can try all the tricks in the book […] (ti_20 aug 2021) stance bundles constitute the least numerous category, with 10 items (13.33%) shown in table 3, totalling 62 tokens, that have been grouped into four subcategories. they all express attitudes and judgements towards the information presented in film reviews. table 3. stance bundles in film reviews it is not surprising that evaluative bundles are the most popular in the research corpus, since one of the main aims of any review is to “evaluate the product” (blank 2007: 8). such bundles usually convey attitudes towards the film (36), its story (37) or actors (38). (36) it’s hard to imagine a terence davies film that’s not deeply personal in some way, […] (tt_15 oct 2021) (37) annette bening and bill nighy star as a british couple whose 29-year marriage has run dry – yet it’s hard to make ourselves care. (tt_27 aug 2020) subcategory freq no bundle attitudinal/modality – evaluative 28 4 it's hard to, ʻt help but feel, it feels as if, it s̓ as if epistemic 14 3 i donʼt know, iʼm not sure, may or may not attitudinal/ modality – obligation/directive 13 2 don't have to, you donʼt have attitudinal/modality – ability 7 1 canʼt help but 29 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (38)the actor’s so present, so enthralling, that it’s as if she’s beckoned the audience to climb inside another self with her and have a look around. (ti_1 oct 2020) in the subcategory of epistemic stance bundles, two items are personal and serve to express the authors̓ uncertainty regarding some aspects of the film under review, as illustrated by example (39). there is also one bundle that is concerned with possibility (40). (39) i don’t know why stanfield wasn’t nominated for his role. (ts_13 mar 2021) (40) as for enrico, he may or may not understand the truth about his wife – but we, the audience, understand the terrible irony. (tg_23 jul 2020) bundles expressing obligation convey the lack of necessity on the part of viewers to do something to gain a specific impression about a film (41), which is also the case with the bundle expressing ability (42). (41) you don’t have to analyse the camera angles or edits to feel that immediacy […] (bbc_6 oct 2020) (42) […], this is set in a rural, remote part of the country amid a farming community who are just about getting by but do wear great knitwear, you can’t help but notice. (ts_23 may 2020) 4.2. keywords top 100 keywords (in order of keyness), totalling 1978 tokens, were assigned to nine semantic-functional categories shown in table 4. table 4. semantic-functional categories of keywords in film reviews subcategory freq no bundle general cinematic keywords 972 8 screenplay, off-screen, film, voiceover, filmmaking, rereleased, camerawork, big-screen film (sub)genres 220 7 biopic, thriller, melodrama, dramas4, psychodrama, romcom, drama 4 the list was not lemmatized, following bakers̓ (2004: 355) claim that “a lemma-based analysis may not always be a useful strategy as particular word forms can contain specific collocations or senses that would be lost when combining word forms together.” 30 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the analysis revealed that film reviews are marked by the frequent mention of general cinematic terms, that have been developed for professional and disciplinary needs. the category comprises eight words, including the most frequent content word in the corpus: film (905 occurrences in 199 texts). its direct left-hand modifiers, identified by analyzing the concordances of the noun, serve to evaluate the film (e.g. best, little), refer to its version (e.g. new, latest, previous, first, second), type (e.g. feature, original, debut) or (sub)genre (e.g. horror, political, action, war) as well as to denote its country of origin (e.g. french) or the location of the festival where it premiered (e.g. london,sundance, cannes, venice). in the latter case, the keywordfilm is actually part of the name of a film festival, as illustrated by example (43). (43) now the film of the play – directed by regina king (…) – has premiered at the venice film festival. (bbc_8 sept 2020) subcategory freq no bundle evaluation keywords 215 31 watchable, fascinatingly, enjoyably, dreamlike, disturbingly, undemonstrative, weirdly, hallucinatory, creepy, gripping, queasy, eerily, nightmarish, wistful, likeable, eerie, empathetic, outlandish, blandly, crass, descriptors 144 18 claustrophobic, cinematic, curdled, traumatised, climactic, slow-burning, sombre, wide-eyed, heavy-handed, well-intentioned, sinewy, glib, selfconscious, real-life, doomed, black-andwhite, middle-aged, ripped-from-theheadlines people in film industry 105 9 writer-director, cinematographer, non-actor, screenwriter, film-maker, co-writer, mime, non-professional film types 93 6 satire, blockbuster, fairytale, remake, must-watch, arthouse film elements 92 9 lashback, set-piece, monologue, trope, close-up, shoot-out, meet-cute, shtick, backstory references to a film character 79 4 heroine, protagonist, matriarch, merpeople other 58 8 conceit, grout, knitwear, fictionalised, contrivance, charisma, clichés, blah-de-blah 31 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) additional information about the discussed keyword can be obtained by exploring other typical lexico-grammatical patterns in which it is used that are presented in figure 1. the visualization has been generated using the word sketch function of sketch engine that summarizes the grammatical and collocational behavior of the selected word. as can be seen in figure 1, the noun film typically takes be, do, have and begin as its predicates as well as often serves as the object of the verbs make, be, set and shoot. it also commonly functions as the head of such prepositional phrases as of film, in film, film of and film about, takes his and her as its pronominal possessors, and modifies the nouns: version, land and review. figure 1. common lexico-grammatical patterns of the keyword film in film reviews other clearly domain-specific categories of keywords include film type and (sub) genre that determine the class of cinematic productions to which a given film belongs. what the words denoting film (sub)genres have in common is their close link with the “conventions, iconography, settings, narratives, characters and actors” as well as aesthetic approach, main theme or even the films̓ audience and emotional response to it (grant 2007: 2). two probably less familiar words in this category are biopic and 32 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) romcom, where the former is a clipping for a biographical film (44), whereas the latter is a blend for a romantic comedy (45). by comparison, the words classified as film type involve a more general reference, which may be related to the films̓ artistic form (e.g. satire, fairytale), version (e.g. remake) or merit (e.g. blockbuster, must-watch). (44) the geiger counter is ticking moderately for this forthright biopic of marie curie, born maria skłodowska: […] (tg_15 jun 2020) (45) this thin romcom rejects meaningful speeches in favour of throwaway comments, but fails to compensate for its lack of profundity with laughter or charm. (bfi_21 feb 2020) keywords labelled as film element, people in film industry and reference to a film character are also markedly domain-specific. terms such as cinematographer, filmmaker or set-piece, which is a part of a film designed to have an imposing effect, raise no doubts as to their connection with cinematography. in the case of some of the other words this link becomes clear upon a close examination of their context and co-text, as illustrated by the examples below. (46) the sensibility of this piece, though, comes more from co-writer/director will sharpe, a bafta-winning actor […] (tt_30 dec 2021) (47) the film is written and directed by chinonye chukwu, […]. it opens with our protagonist, bernadine (woodard), preparing for an execution. (ts_17 july 2020) (48) when the other band members accuse him of pandering to the white owner of the studio, he launches into the film’s central monologue. (bbc_20 nov 2020) evaluation keywords and descriptors, mainly adjectives, constitute two most diverse, but also relatively frequent categories which comprise terms that despite being universal, give an excellent idea of the lexical variety of the analyzed film reviews. both sets of keywords refer either to a given film (49), or to its different aspects (50), yet the former convey opinion that is usually positive (51) and only sometimes negative (52), while the latter simply denote some attribute. (49) oscar-winning chloé zhao directs the latest marvel superhero movie, which is watchable but ultimately unmemorable. (bbc_24 oct 2021) (50) sangok is a middle-aged, smartly dressed sometime actress. (bfi_4 aug 2021) (51) as otis, peters is his usual gripping presence on screen. (bbc_10 jun 2020) (52) indeed, what separates this film from its predecessor is exactly what you’d expect of hollywood – it’s more sensational and, in parts, more emotionally crass. (ti_1 oct 2021) 33 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the least frequent is the category comprising other keywords, the contextual use of which was too general to assign them to one of the more specific categories. this is best illustrated by example (53), where blah-de-blah is used to mean ʻand so on, and so forth,̓ implying simultaneously that those additional details are only chatter rather than something of substance. (53) it’s now up to raya to find the last surviving dragon, sisu (awkwafina), and heal all divisions and blah-de-blah you know the rest. (ts_6 mar 2021) 4.3. key terms top 100 key terms (in order of keyness), totalling 447 tokens, were assigned to ten semantic-functional categories shown in table 5. table 5. semantic-functional categories of key terms in film reviews subcategory freq no bundle film types 113 19 new film, feature debut, debut feature, origin story, live-action remake, directing debut, first film, character study, father-daughter story, first feature, chamber piece, british film, third feature, new adaptation, film of the year, movie in the series, story of a woman, kind of film, directorial debut film elements 70 16 set piece, opening scene, final act, action scene, third act, action sequence, musical sequence, single scene, opening moments, sex scene, opening shot, plot twist, final scene, plot strands, rest of the film, part of the film general cinematic key terms 53 11 running time, production design, streaming platform, film review, cinematic universe, awards buzz, visual style, other films, film version, small screen, course of the film film (sub)genres 49 12 period drama, superhero movie, rock opera, political thriller, war movie, crime thriller, family drama, indie dramas, action movie, political film, horror movie, action film 34 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) seven of the above categories coincide with those distinguished for keywords, hence the key terms included in these sets mostly record more subtle aspects of the cinematic world. this is particularly noticeable in the category of film (sub)genre, where semantic distinctions are made between different types of drama (e.g. period, family, indie), thriller (e.g. political, crime) or movie (e.g. superhero, war, action). a similar tendency is observed in some other of the shared categories. for instance, regarding film type, details are added to the nouns film (e.g. new, british, of the year), feature (e.g. first, third) or story (e.g. origin, father-daughter, of a woman); regarding film element, mention is made of different kinds of film scenes (e.g. opening, sex, final), sequences (e.g.action, musical) or fragments (rest of the, part of the); regarding reference to a film character, such general words as heroine, figure or character become more specific, owing to their frequent modifiers which are, respectively, young, historical and iconic. the latter mechanism is also visible in the category of people in film industry, where the word director is supplemented with such fine-grained details as working (today) and exhilarating. other interesting cinematic details can be found in the category of general cinematic key terms, with items referring to the films̓ duration (e.g. running time, subcategory freq no bundle details of the storyline 50 12 price of milk, inner life, righteous fury, moral panic, second world, black trauma, lakeside retreat, suburban home, police brutality, nuclear holocaust, age gap, holiday park references to a film character 37 10 male colleague, russian assassin, young heroine, blackjack player, historical figure, iconic character, leading man, middle-aged woman, young daughter, fashion designer people in film industry 31 8 director working, exhilarating director, mime artist, production designer, black woman, exhilarating director working today, director working today, first black woman other 26 8 period detail, grout drama, great knitwear, resonance today, talking heads, working today, skin colour, sort of way types of acting role 9 2 central performance, lead performance places related to filmmaking 9 2 recording studio, other studio 35 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) course of the film), overall look (e.g. production design) or medium through which it is made available (e.g. small screen, streaming platform). regarding the three categories of key terms that do not overlap with those applied to keywords, it becomes clear that the cinematic universe depicted in the film reviews under scrutiny would not be made complete withoutawards buzz for thecentralor lead performanceof actors starring in thedirectorialor feature debuts filmed in arecording or some other studio. in other words, film reviewing is not simply limited to specifying the films̓ type or (sub)genre, just as it does not end with devoting some attention to various technical aspects of a film or people responsible for its production. in a captivating film review, the reviewer “reveals the stars, the director, the sets, and the plotline, in addition to his or her own overall assessment of the film—details that can bring viewers to the theaters or cause them to stay away” (boatwright et al. 2007: 402). obviously details of the storyline may sometimes involve police brutality, nuclear holocaust or black trauma, but at other times they may be more concerned with something more mundane like the price of milk or a holiday park. in any case, however, film reviewing “should provide some useful entrée into the experience and textual meaning of a movie” (hodsdon 2001: 145). 4.4. lexical markers of style in film reviews since both keywords and key terms are prominent in the research corpus in relation to a general language corpus (i.e. ententen20), they reveal not only what the authors of the analyzed film reviews actually focus on, but also how they formulate their ideas. according to della giusta et al. (2021: 77), these items can be thus “considered useful indicators of topics and style”. yet, as charteris-black (2012: 154) argues, what actually provides true insight into rhetorical style are those words that relate to “the purpose of explaining and arguing”, such as but, why or donʼt. they were not identified as keywords by sketch engine but can be found on the wordlist generated by wordsmith, where butwas ranked as high as 15th (1991 tokens), why – 163rd (92 tokens) and donʼt – 181st (82 tokens). but is a coordinating conjunction that combines two contrasting ideas and most often appears in the corpus in the pattern but it s̓/it is (61 tokens). its role is to build an argument by highlighting the unexpectedness of what is introduced after but in view of what precedes it, as in (54); by softening one, often critical, comment with another, as in (55); or by combining positive and negative comments in one sentence, as in (56). (54) settlers isn’t perfect: some of the storytelling beats aren’t hit as clearly as they could have been. but it’s a quietly impressive piece of work. (tg_28 jul 2021) (55) the film feels like a circuitous, effortful mess, but it’s usually deliberate. (tt_30 jan 2020) (56) this death-row film is certainly a tough watch but it is also a masterwork. (ts 18 jul 2020) 36 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) why helps to create a dialogic style that enables the authorial voice to engage with the readers but also compels authors to respond to their own comments, owing to which they can introduce their own explanations and arguments in support of the expressed opinions (charteris-black 2012: 157-160). in more than one third of its occurrences (35 tokens), why is used to ask a rhetorical question through which the author tries to persuade some viewpoint while simultaneously attracting the readersʼ attention by making them think about how they would answer the question. this can be seen in example (57), where the author expresses a critical opinion about the dubbing in a film rather than expects any answer. a more explicit way of promoting the reviewers̓ own views is illustrated in example (58), where the author rhetorically poses a question to simply answer it in a sentence that follows. (57)why are the actors so overdubbed? (ts 25 may 2020) (58) you may have noticed that the phrase “the film we need right now” is being thrown around by critics these days on a near-weekly basis. why? well, for one thing, we currently need a lot more films than usual: […] (tt 20 oct 2020) donʼt is a contraction of do and not which obviously accompanies many different words in the research corpus, but it is frequently found in the clusters you donʼt (14 tokens) and i donʼt (11 tokens). the former phrase is concerned with addressing the readers – often to suggest that the viewer will easily form the same opinion as the reviewer, as in (59). the latter phrase, in turn, “conveys conviction and represents the firm stance of the speaker”, which makes it persuasive (patrick and hagtvedt 2012: 393). in the corpus, it most often appears in the sequence i donʼt know, whose role is to declare insufficient knowledge on the part of its user. i donʼt know is often pragmatically motivated by “a concern to save the face of self and other” that is achieved by averting potential contradictions from addressees (tsui 1991: 607). the authors of reviews use it to admit their lack of knowledge of some specified matter and simultaneously make a conjecture about it, as in (60), which is achieved owing to the use of but in the same sentence. the sentence seems to convey the reviewers̓ reluctance to make a definite statement that could easily be put into question by the reader, thus they use i donʼt know as a kind of hedging device that is meant to soften their opinion so as to avoid potential criticism. (59) you don’t have to analyse the camera angles or edits to feel that immediacy. (bbc 6 oct 2020) (60) i don’t know what the best lyric is but ‘harry, my ginger-haired son, you’ll always be second to none’ has to be up there. (ts 9 oct 2021) 37 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 5. conclusion this exploratory study employed corpus linguistic techniques to examine the lexicophraseological profile of professional british film reviews. the results revealed a marked presence of lexis representing general cinematic terms, which is a very frequent category of keywords and key terms, though not particularly diverse. the importance of domain-specific vocabulary for the analyzed text variety is enhanced by the recurrent reference to a number of aspects which make up the cinematic universe, particularly film types and (sub)genres as well as people and locations involved in film production, but also characters, scenes, roles and details of the storyline. this densely woven web of movie vocabulary is linked together by discourse-organizing bundles that facilitate the logical development of argumentation. film reviewers establish a discursive dialogue with the readers, as part of which they promote their own comments – positive and negative – often indirectly through whys and i don’t knows. it seems that by asking questions which the readers may answer themselves and by admitting gaps in knowledge which potentially may be filled in by the readers, film reviewers attempt to show they are not forcing their own opinions through. yet, this apparent objectivization of the cinematic experience is implicitly counteracted by a wide lexical range of assessments and evaluations, mostly in the form of adjectives and surprisingly infrequently in the form of longer sequences like stance bundles. it generally seems that reviewers try to embrace the totality of the reviewed films, aiming to help diverse viewers decide whether to see the movie or not, even if they may be inclined to honour “the known proclivities of their audience by anticipating what its members would like and making recommendations accordingly” (holbrook 1999: 148). inevitably, the present study has its limitations. first, somewhat different results might have been obtained with a different reference corpus and sample of film reviews. second, the semantic-functional categories applied to the analyzed lexis were developed intuitively and thus in a somewhat subjective manner, based on a careful reading of context and co-text, rather than by adopting any potentially existing taxonomies. third, due to the limited scope of this study, only three lexical markers of style were examined more closely. despite these shortcomings, the reported findings may have pedagogical implications. they can inform the design of authentic teaching materials for film reviewers, critics and journalists who try to gain expertise in domain-specific vocabulary, phraseologies and persuasion patterns. the investigated lexical means can constitute the focal vocabulary of various activities intended to develop the lexico-phraseological inventory needed to present the nuances of the cinematic arts. teachers can also instruct novice review writers to analyze texts similar to the ones explored here in order to identify four-word lexical bundles and the discourse functions performed by them. after familiarizing themselves with these salient lexical items, students can then be instructed to write their own reviews and reflect on their own texts to gain a deeper 38 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) understanding of the practice of film reviewing. future research can extend the present study by exploring the co-text of selected lexical items with respect to preferred co-occurrences and grammatical structures. it could be also worth examining whether the lexico-phraseological profile of film reviews is dependent on the (sub)genre of the reviewed films. references 9 tips for writing a film review. 2017. 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[the film review as a tool of persuasion: rhetorical and pragmatic aspects of the genre]. academic journal of modern philology 10: 237246. tsui, a. b. m. 1991. the pragmatic functions ofi don’t know. text 11: 607-622. zelenka, t. 2017. colloquial language in film reviews. [unpublished bachelor thesis. university of pardubice. at: https://dk.upce.cz/bitstream/handle/ 10195/68842/colloquial_language_in_film_reviews.pdf?sequence=1&isallowed=y (11 march 2022). zheltukhina, m. r., slyshkin, g. g., gumovskaya, g. n., baranova, e. a., sklyarova, n. g., vorkina, k. s., & donskova, l. a. 2020. verbal features of film reviews in the modern american media discourse. online journal of communication and media technologies 10(3): 1-16. *** tatiana szczygłowska works at the institute of neophilology, university of bielsko-biala, poland, where she lectures on translation theory and text analysis to students of english philology. her main research and teaching interests lie in linguistics and translation with a special focus on academic discourse and corpus linguistics. she has also conducted studies in the area of studentsʼ attitudes to target language culture and pronunciation. https://portal.upce.cz/portal/studium/prohlizeni.html%20(29 https://portal.upce.cz/portal/studium/prohlizeni.html%20(29 https://portal.upce.cz/portal/studium/prohlizeni.html%20(29 https://portal.upce.cz/portal/studium/prohlizeni.html%20(29 tatiana szczygłowska doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.38.3.02 the lexico-phraseological profile of professional film reviews published by the british media: a corpus-linguistic study microsoft word crossroads 35.doc ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 28 dominika romaniuk-cholewska1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.35.4.03 university of białystok, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9920-1050 an introduction to a machine translation post-editing (mtpe) course abstract. this article introduces a machine translation post-editing (mtpe) course intended for universities educating translation trainees. the aim of the course is to accelerate the adaptation of translation education to the current requirements of the european master’s in translation (emt) competence framework 2017 and the needs of translation students. the course is firmly grounded in existing research on mtpe and studies of translation didactics. the author assumes that mtpe as a process should include most of the contemporary translation tools such as cat computer-assisted tools, tm terminology management, ml machine learning, mt machine translation and its variations, ai artificial intelligence, tqm translation quality management. the course is divided into 15 meetings of 1.5 hours each, with the syllabus structured in such a way that the trainees systematically learn and improve the mtpe process and develop an understanding of mt tools. therefore, it can be treated as a means to achieve the goal set by emt. keywords: mtpe course, translation didactics, emt competence framework, machine translation postediting, translation technology. 1. introduction this article introduces a proposal for a course in the field of translation technology, namely post-editing of machine translation (mtpe). the mtpe course is intended to be implemented in the second year of a master’s degree in translation studies or as part of a postgraduate programme. it was designed to meet the formal requirements of translation programmes offered in polish institutions, but, possibly with some modifications, it can also be delivered to translation trainees in other countries. its implementation is likely to accelerate the alignment of the education of future translators with the european master’s in translation (emt) competence framework 2017, market demands and student needs. one of the five skills identified by the emt is technological literacy. the author assumes that mtpe as a process should encompass most of the currently used technological translation tools, such as cat computer-assisted tools, tm terminology management, ml machine learning, mt machine translation and its variations, ai artificial intelligence, tqm translation quality management. the mtpe course proposal offered in the present paper builds on earlier research and developments in the field of machine 1 address for correspondence: university of białystok, faculty of philology, pl. nzs 1, 15-420 białystok, poland. e-mail: d.romaniuk-cholewska@uwb.edu.pl ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 29 translation. in view of the above, it may contribute to adapting translation studies in poland to the pace of technological development and related changes in the image of the contemporary translator. this work may also serve as an inspiration for further research on mtpe issues in the global scope. the present paper is organized into five sections. section 2 provides a rationale for including an mtpe course in the translation curriculum in higher education. it draws attention to the problem of insufficient consideration of the ongoing changes in the translation discipline and the way modern translators work. section 3 presents a review of the literature on the subject. it discusses the most important findings of researchers investigating mtpe and presents the development of the field in the last two decades. section 4 provides a description of the mtpe course proposed in this paper. it presents its objectives, methods, intended learning outcomes, the participant profile, and contains a detailed description of the course structure. section 5 offers some conclusions, and indicates the challenges that the implementation of the course may involve. 2. rationale the pace of development in many areas of life is often very intense and therefore demanding. the transformation also affects scholarly disciplines such as translation studies, where technological solutions are increasingly influencing the work of translators. despite some resistance on their part, innovations often prove to be helpful. many micro-and macro-level studies described in post-editing of machine translation: processes and applications by o’brien et al. (2014) indicate that the appropriate application of innovative solutions, such as machine translation, facilitates, accelerates and improves the translation process. for this to happen, however, a key factor is required: proper training, including that of machine translation post-editing (mtpe), which this paper focuses on. although machine translation (mt) is not a new phenomenon, interest in this area has increased significantly only over the last decade (folaron 2019: 430 f.). however, the amount of attention given to it in the process of educating future translators is still limited. the problem of inadequate attention to ongoing changes in the translation discipline was raised in european master’s in translation (emt) competence framework published in 2017. the european master’s in translation network underscores the need to fill the educational gap in the field of technology in translation studies. of the five competencies described, ‘technology’ ranks third. others are ‘language and culture’, ‘translation’, ‘personal and interpersonal’ and ‘service provision’. interestingly, apart from ‘technology’ competence which encompasses it, mt and cat tools, the skills of mt pre-editing and mt post-editing are also outlined in the description of ‘translation’ competence. the authors argue that these are “essential for access to the translation industry and to the wider labour market” (2017:4). the need for consistency and precise guidelines in the education of future translators is further confirmed by nikishina (2018) and tomaszkiewicz (2019). in a similar vein, esfandiari et al. (2019) argue that translator training programmes should be prepared to ensure that there is no discrepancy between the competencies of graduates and the actual demand on the market. such observations provide a justification for developing new courses related to machine translation, such as the mtpe course proposed in this paper. preliminary research shows that out of thirteen institutions providing ba and ma english language and translation studies in poland, eight include computer-assisted tools ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 30 (cat) in their curricula, of which only four introduce machine translation (mt) and two mtpe. while cat is present in five postgraduate programmes, mt and mtpe have been entirely omitted. interestingly, in almost every case, mt is a part of the computerassisted tools laboratory that, in general, encompasses 30h. however, it should be mentioned that the jagiellonian university in krakow offers cat tools & post-editing, and the university of warsaw provides machine translation and post-editing (cholewska 2021:19f.). given that, according to perspektywy university ranking 2021 (online 2021), these are the two best universities in poland, the result is auspicious. it points out that the trend for teaching post-editing is already present but still leaves considerable scope for improvement. most universities offering translation studies in poland have not yet sufficiently considered the impact of technology on the work of the translator in their education offer. one of the reasons for this situation might be the lack of an appropriate course in machine translation post-editing. the proposal offered in this paper is intended as a step towards enhancing the process of introducing mtpe in higher education, both in poland and in other countries. 3. literature review a promoter in the development of mtpe research is undoubtedly sharon o’brien, professor of translation studies at the school of applied language and intercultural studies at dublin city university, who in 2002 published “teaching post-editing: a proposal for course content”. next, belam (2003) introduced a workshop on pe guidelines in a machine-assisted translation course. further, kliffer (2008) presented pe teaching as part of the mt programme for translation trainees. later, depraetere (2010) investigated a corpus of texts post-edited by ten translation students and concluded a distinct demand to expand the students’ understanding of specific mt errors. pym’s (2013) research is particularly noteworthy, as he presented a list of ten skills organised into three categories: “learning to learn, learning to trust and mistrust data, and learning to revise with enhanced attention to detail” as guidelines for technology-adapted translation education. flanagan and christensen (2014) highlighted competency gaps that may cause difficulties in interpreting pe guidelines and consequently proposed training activities to address these gaps. another step towards adapting translation technologies into translation studies was doherty and kenny’s (2014) study on developing and evaluating an smt curriculum for postgraduate students in translation studies at dublin city university. however, one of the more recent studies and in line with the topic of this article is that of guerberof arenas & moorkens (2019), who presented a description of a machine translation and post-editing course including an mt project management module. among polish scholars, it is worth referring to świątek (2015), who discussed the potential and limitations of statistical machine translation. she concluded that the computer is not an adversary but a tool in the hands of the translator and that translation automation will develop positively. similar conclusions may be drawn from witczak’s (2016) study, which stated that translation automation could not exist without an essential participant in the process – the translator. witczak also conducted a study on translation students’ perspectives towards the introduction of a post-editing component to a computer-assisted translation course. the results show that while mt in the case of technical texts brought “positive surprise”, in the case of journalistic texts, it was described as “some disappointment”. however, witczak stressed the need to give ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 31 translation education a direction in line with technological developments. similarly, research by two other scholars, nikishina (2018) and tomaszkiewicz (2019), highlighted the lack of consistency and precise guidelines in the training of future translators. tomaszkiewicz (2019) further emphasised the need for emt-compliant education. brożyna-reczko (2020) also investigated digital tools in translation didactics, stating that technological tools for proofreading, glossaries and corpora, which translation students can use to improve the translation process, facilitate the translator’s work and therefore deserve a place in education. overall, it is clear that the translation community is unanimous in calling for research into standardising translation curricula in line with available technologies, which is also the aim of this study. 4. the mtpe course proposal 4.1. objectives the purpose of the course is to accelerate the alignment of translation education with both the current requirements of the european master’s in translation competence framework 2017 and the needs articulated by translation trainees themselves2. since, as mentioned above, mtpe as a process includes most of the modern translation tools, this course, in addition to introducing theoretical knowledge, provides guidance on using these instruments. it further aspires to equip translation students with skills that meet the needs of the market and the currently changing image of the translator. finally, the programme also aims to encourage students to reflect on the future of post-editing machine translation and the role of the translator in this process. 4.2. teaching approach and directions as noted by esfandiari (2019), there is still disagreement over teaching models in the field of translation didactics. the beginning of the 21st century marked a shift away from the productor teacher-centred teaching model (esfandiari 2019:4). hence, the course proposed in this study employs a student-centred and process-oriented approach to achieve the intended learning objectives. according to gonzales-davies (2004: 16), the student-centred approach assumes an active role of the student in the process of acquiring knowledge and skills, while the teacher acts as a guide in this trajectory. additionally, the process-oriented approach to teaching translation includes a problem-solving methodology that requires cooperation between teachers and learners as well as learning procedures that are suitable to the actual social situation in the classroom where learning takes place (fox 2000: 115). as gonzales-davies (2004: 14) underscored, these classroom dynamics corresponds to a ‘transformational’ approach, where “a student and learning-centred context that focuses on collaborative study and exploration of the translation process with the teacher acting as guide and where procedures that bridge class work and extramural practice have a place”. to embrace the abovementioned directive, both inductive and deductive directions are used. prince and fedler (2006: 126) support this view, suggesting that “learning invariably involves movement in both 2 the results of the study “machine translation post-editing (mtpe) from the perspective of translation trainees: implications for translation pedagogy” that indicates translation trainees’ positive attitude towards mtpe as a part of the educational programme were presented at mt summit 2021 (the paper may be accessed at: https://aclanthology.org/2021.mtsummit-up.15/). ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 32 directions, with the student using new observations to infer rules and theories (induction) and then testing the theories by using them to deduce consequences and applications that can be verified experimentally (deduction).” 4.3. methods the course is based on an analysis of existing research devoted to mtpe and studies on translation didactics. the methods selected for the course correspond to three areas of student learning outcomes: acquiring theoretical knowledge, developing skills and reflecting autonomously on the studying subject. table 1 presents the above methods in a detailed way. table 1. methods of the mtpe course acquiring theoretical knowledge brainstorm, discussion, individual work, teamwork, video watching, reading, writing definitions, phrase-picture association, matching developing skills brainstorm, individual work, teamwork, interactive game, translation, word-chain, worksheet, quiz, glossary implementing, project, back-translation, working with guidelines, post-editing of website mt content, reflecting on the subject of study discussion, essay methods used to obtain students’ feedback on the course itself are discussions and essays written after it is completed. 4.4. learning outcomes the course is designed to achieve a specific set of student learning outcomes. after completing it, students should possess rudimentary knowledge on the following topics:  various mt tools;  three types of machine translation methods;  the dynamics of change and trends in the mt sphere;  the errors that may occur in mt;  the principles implied in pre-editing: controlled language (cl) rules for mt;  cat tools (software, online versions);  the working environment of cat tools;  cat functions;  translation memories (tm);  terminology management via cat tool;  the possibilities of implementing glossaries into cat tools;  the concept of quality assurance (qa);  the possibilities of the qa tool in view of cat; ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 33  the post-editing of mt;  guidance and evaluation tools of mtpe. further, students should demonstrate the abilities to:  assess the quality of the various mt tool outputs and estimate the amount of post-editor work;  distinguish between different mt methods;  assess which tool is most valuable and future-proof for translator’s profession;  identify errors in mt outputs and distinguish between different types of errors;  apply cl rules to texts from different disciplines;  adapt appropriate vocabulary;  prepare a glossary in order to facilitate the mt process;  translate in a high-speed manner;  evaluate mt outputs and correct them;  perform mtpe in the website environment. additionally, the course will enable students to strengthen their abilities to work in a team, test their knowledge acquired during the course; evaluate the possibilities of computer-assisted literary translation (calt), and whether mt empowers lt; make a comparative analysis of the workload of a traditional form of translation with technologyassisted translation; analyse the quality of the output of ht and mt. cat tools, as mentioned above, are already present in eight of the thirteen higher education institutions offering translation programmes in poland. nevertheless, since the aim of this paper is to contribute to the standardising mtpe training, this part was also included. this study adopts the definition of mtpe which considers this translation method as a process consisting of pre-editing, machine translation and post-editing, and therefore covers the tools that facilitate the translator’s work in this field. finally, each section can be adapted to individual needs for both research and teaching. 4.5. participant profile the course is designed to teach translation students who are preferably in their second year of ma studies or a postgraduate programme. therefore, it is essential that participants have acquired a thorough knowledge of translation theory and a high level of linguistic skills prior to undertaking the course. mtpe programme participants develop their skills in text/translation editing to adapt to the culture-specific features of the target language, to correct linguistic and logical errors, choose the translation method most suitable for the project, etc. for this reason, they should demonstrate considerable knowledge of each of these aspects. the level of expertise in the above factors may impact the outcomes of the course. it is thus advisable to conduct the course in the final year of translation studies to achieve better results. 4.6. course modality the format and structure of the course allow for both traditional classroom settings as well as an online class. a dual-mode may be fundamental in light of the current ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 34 coronavirus pandemic and how it has impacted education. if the course is held in the classroom, certain conditions must be met. namely, classes should be conducted in a classroom equipped with computer stations for each participant, with access to the internet and beamer. 4.7. the structure of the course the course covers 15 meetings of 1.5 hours each, which is the standard length of courses offered by polish universities. one lesson scenario corresponds to one session. the tasks are arranged in such a way that the trainees systematically learn and improve the mtpe process. upon completing the course, the participants should be equipped with basic knowledge of the discussed field and skills that will enable them to work independently in processing machine translations within various fields. the mtpe programme is structured to include an introduction, the three stages of the mtpe process, time for exercises to consolidate and test the knowledge and skills acquired, as well as a discussion on the future of post-editing and students’ evaluation of the course. the first part, lessons 1 and 2, introduces mtpe and different mt methods. the second stage, consisting of lessons 3, 4 and 5, focuses on the first phase of the mtpe process, pre-editing. students are introduced to different types of errors that occur in mt outputs and rules of controlled language for mt. they also learn the basics of developing glossaries. in the next part of the course, students are guided through a computer-assisted tool, cat, with a machine translation function. due to the complexity and variety of possibilities offered by cat software, this part of the course consists of 5 meetings (lessons number 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10), during which students acquire knowledge and skills concerning translation memory, terminology management, introducing glossaries into cat software and quality assurance. lesson 11 covers the post-editing component, where students are introduced to post-editing guidelines and assessment tools. in the next part, students test and train their newly acquired skills by creating a project (lesson 12) in a cat programme, taking part in a human translation versus machine translation of a literary text competition (lesson 13), and translating a website in wordpress interface (lesson 14). the last class (lesson 15) is devoted to discussing the future of post-editing and the implications for its development. it also includes participants’ essays evaluating the course, which allows assessment of the effectiveness of the course from the participants’ perspective and helps to improve it. the subjects of the lessons are as follows: 1. introduction to mtpe process: mt tools 2. three types of mt tools. rules-based machine translation, statistical machine translation, neural machine translation. 3. mt finding and naming errors. 4. controlled language (cl) rules for mt: create your own list of pre-editing rules. 5. pre-editing: creating a glossary 6. introduction to cat: possibilities, different tools 7. cat part one: creating cat project ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 35 8. cat part two: creating and implementing glossary 9. cat part three: working on a project with implemented glossaries 10. cat part four: downloading texts and checking 11. cat part five: translation memories 12. creating a new project with glossary and tm 13. competition: human vs mt 14. website mt translation 15. mt spoken translation – implications for future development. 4.8. procedure accordingly to the approach stated above, the procedure of lessons consists of the following components:  pre-activities – acting as an introduction to the topic of the lesson or a warm-up activity;  whilst-activities – consisting of exercises and activities devoted to the topic of a lesson;  post-activities – acting as a summary and consolidation of the acquired skills and knowledge from the lesson. table 2 provides a comprehensive overview of the components, including activity descriptions and materials. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 36 table 2. procedure of lessons: a detailed overview lessons materials pre-activities whilst-activities post-activities lesson 1 file: lesson 1 text, a blackboard/ whiteboard/ beamer. brainstorm (5 min): the participants are asked to provide their associations with mt. the teacher writes them all on the blackboard. then the students elicit all mt tools from the list. discussion (15 min). the participants are asked to answer the following questions, and the teacher completes missing information:  what is machine translation?  have you ever used a machine translation tool?  which tool do you use most often and why?  have you ever postedited mt output before?  in your opinion, does post-editing of mt output require different skills than traditional translation? do you task 1 (20 min): the participants are given lesson 1 text and are asked to use four mt tools (e.g. google translate, deepl, systran, yandex). then, they assess translations in groups and choose the best one/s in their opinion. the participants are asked to justify their choice/s. task 2 (20 min): in groups, the trainees make a list of features that the translations they have chosen fulfil and a list of mistakes and corrections that should be made in order to improve the quality of translation. quick individual-work project (20 min project and 10 min evaluation): the participants work individually for 20 min. they are asked to correct the discussed text by implementing the list of corrections they outlined in the previous task to the mt output of their choice. after completing the task, the participants read their post-edited translations and listen to the comments of the rest of a group. students are also asked if their views on mtpe have changed after the completion of the tasks. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 37 consider post-editing a meaningful way of producing translation? lesson 2 files: lesson 2 pictures, lesson 2 three texts, lesson 2 definitions. phrase-picture association (10 min). the teacher presents trainees with three pictures. the first depicts a dictionary of grammar and language rules, the second presents statistical diagrams and the third – neurones. the teacher asks the participants to guess the connection between these pictures and mt. all guesses are written on the blackboard, and then the teacher tells the participants the subject of the class. task 1 (30 min): definitions. the participants work in three groups. each group receive one definition of the mt method and then formulate two incorrect definitions to make it difficult for the other group/s to guess the correct one. then each group read all three definitions. the other groups have to choose the correct one. after all groups have read their definitions, they exchange the correct ones once again. task 2 (20 min): discussion. the participants work in the same groups and choose one of the three mt methods and justify their choice. the teacher puts the names of the three methods on the board and notes student’s arguments pro and against them. task 3: (30 min). three texts evaluation. the participants receive a worksheet presenting one text translated by three different sources. based on the worksheet, they guess which mt methods could have been implemented in which text and assess which text they think reads best and why. then they share their views with the group. lesson 3 spell checker poem (1992) by jerrold h. zar, files: lesson 3 errors for students, lesson 3 errors for teachers, lesson 3 three poem (10 min). as a warm-up activity, the teacher provides trainees with the spell checker poem (1992) by jerrold h. zar. the trainees are to find spelling errors in the poem. then a volunteer presents errors and reads the poem aloud. the teacher provides the participants with task 1 (30 min): the participants are given a set of sentences, each containing one type of error (based on michael d. kliffer post-editing machine translation as an fsl exercise) and are asked to find and name these errors. task 2 (30 min): in pairs, the trainees compare their findings. then they receive a set of cards representing the types of errors according to kliffer and task 3: (20 min): the participants work individually. they receive three short extracts from different fields (e.g. medical, technical, journalistic) and try to find and identify the types of errors that occur. then the results are discussed together. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 38 texts. the background of the poem as an example of the imperfect functioning of machines and explains the subject of a class — finding and naming errors that can occur in mt outputs. try to match these types with sentences. they also evaluate their performance in the previous task. next, each type of errors is discussed by the whole group. lesson 4 controlled language optimised for uniform translation (clout) by uwe muegge (2002); worksheet lesson 4 worksheet. list composing (20-30 min). the participants are asked to compose a list of 3 principles that could be helpful when pre-editing the text. the first group write their rules on the board, and the next group are invited to give arguments for introducing these rules. then the roles change, and the second group state their rules (as long as they are not repeated), and the first group support them. if there is an odd number of participants and, therefore, an odd number of groups, the teacher distributes the tasks in such a way that each group have a chance to support the principles of the other group. task 1 (15 min): the participants are given a form of controlled language optimised for uniform translation (clout) by uwe muegge (2002) containing free space for additional students’ notes and are asked to familiarise themselves with these rules. they also assess whether the list contains their principles or not and rewrite the rules from the blackboard that do not occur on the formal cl list. task 2 (20 min): the participants work individually. they are given a worksheet containing a text in english (st) and a table divided into four categories: selected sentences from st; mt of selected sentences, sentences corrected according to cl, and mt of a corrected version of sentences. first, the students are asked to read the text and select five sentences they find most problematic and write them in the first column of the table. the students then enter mt of, e.g. deepl and assess the readability of the output. summary (25 min): the last task to sum up the cl topic is to correct the sentences from task 2 according to the rules provided (clout) and entered in task 1. then they translate the corrected sentences and compare outputs with the sentences in the second table. the participants are asked to give their opinion on the tasks completed and assess the usefulness of using cl. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 39 lesson 5 printed cards from the file lesson 5 the world’s most difficult word to translate – cards, file for students lesson 5 terms for students and answers for teachers lesson 5 terms for teachers, worksheet with texts lesson 5 worksheet game (10 min). “the world’s most difficult word to translate”. the participants take turns to pick one english word from the list and translate it into their native language as quickly as possible. task 1 (20 min): students are handed a list of english terms divided into three categories: medical, eu and technical terms. each category contains terminology specific to a given field. they first assess their knowledge and ability to translate phrases from the list without using any tools. then, they assess which tools would be most helpful in preparing translations of terms from each group separately. finally, the teacher suggests reliable knowledge sources, prepared respectively for each category (diseases: dictionary medicine; european union: https://europa.eu/europeanunion/documents-publications/languageand-terminology_pl; technical instructions: english-polish dictionary of science and technology) and with the help of these sources, the participants prepare the translation of the phrases. task 2 (30 min): the participants receive a worksheet with three short texts from different disciplines (medical, eu, technical) and choose one. they then extract from the st words, phrases and concepts which, according to them, may be problematic during translation. after selecting the vocabulary, students justify why the wording they have task 3 (30 min): the participants work independently. the assignment is to translate the text from the previous exercise. the task is divided into pre-editing, i.e. following the cl rules from class 4, and post-editing, i.e. correcting problematic phrases from the mt output using the glossary prepared in task 2. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 40 chosen might be a barrier to machine translation. then, they group according to the chosen category of the text and examine whether their choice was justified, i.e. they attempt to mt the phrases. then, they check the exact phrases with the help of suggested sources and evaluate the correctness of the mt output. lesson 6 a picture depicting a cat lying in front of the computer/monitor (lesson 6 cat picture), a word file with an article on cat tools (lesson 6 abstract from bowker, lynne & fisher, desmond 2010. computeraided translation), a form created by sdl limited now part of the rws group picture riddle (10 min). the teacher shows the participants the picture depicting the cat lying in front of the computer/monitor (lesson 6 cat picture) and asks them to guess this class’s subject. the person who guesses first answers the questions (written on a blackboard): 1. what is cat? what does cat stand for? then the rest of the group join in answering the following questions: 2. have you ever used cat? if yes, which one? 3. do you know how to operate a project in a cat environment? task 1 (10 min): the participants receive a what is a cat tool? form by sdl limited now part of the rws group (lesson 6 what is cat tool) and tick the statements they think are true. task 2 (25 min) the participants watch an introductory video on cat software (https://youtu.be/5ghx1xa_vsa) or read ‘what is a cat tool? video transcript' (https://www.trados.com/solutions/cattools/translation-101-what-is-a-cattool.html). after watching/reading, the participants review their answers from ‘what is a cat tool?’. the participants are asked if they have any questions so far. task 3 (40 min): the participants start working with a cat programme of the instructor’s choice, in this case, smartcat.com free online cat platform. the participants create a free account on discussion (5 min): the participants evaluate their experience with the cat tool and comment on task 3. it is also time for any questions the participants may have after using the cat tool. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 41 (lesson 6 what is cat tool) smartcat.com and, with the help of the teacher, become acquainted with the different functions of the platform in the following steps:  open ‘my tasks’  click ‘create project’  click ‘select a file’  choose a file named lesson 6 abstract from bowker, lynne & fisher, desmond. (2010). computer-aided translation. (created and distributed by the teacher in advance, the file is a word document containing an abstract from an article on cat tools of approx. 250 words)  click ‘open’  click ‘next’  write project name or leave suggested name  define source language as english (united kingdom)  define target language as polish  tick ‘use machine translation’  tick ‘use for free with feedback’  click on ‘setting on the left’ ( )  from the list of mt, choose every possible option to see the differences later ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 42  click ‘save’  click ‘finish’  under the segment documents, click ‘open’ next to the name of the created project  translate the first unit using mt suggestions on the right  confirm the translation by pressing ctrl+enter lesson 7 game (10 min): if this is the answer, what’s the question? – the participants form questions to the following answers (all connected with previous class) and create a project on smartcat:  click ‘select a file’,  tick ‘use machine translation’ and choose from the list, then click ‘save’  click ‘open’ next to the name of the created project  by pressing ctrl+enter example answers: how to add a file to a project? how to implement mt to a project? task 1 (35 min): the participants open their projects from the previous lesson on smartcat.com. the teacher guides the participants through the platform, briefly discussing the various functions:  confirm all segments  go to the next unconfirmed segment  go to a segment by number  undo the last action  redo the last action  copy source to target  clear target  insert a special character  change the case  insert a tag  segment length limit  revert the segment to the previous stage  open the custom dictionary  concordance search discussion (5 min): the participants enumerate functions they have used during their work on the project. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 43 how to open a project and start working on it? how to confirm a segment?  merge the segments  split the segment  search in source  search in target  case-sensitive  replace  remove all filter  refresh segments  filter (and its options)  history  qa check  comments (segment, document)  in-context preview  view options  download the participants may ask questions during and after the tour on smartcat. task 2: (40 min): the participants try to use the discussed functions to translate the remaining segments and finish the project. lesson 8 a video (https://youtu. be/mmsbe7bi tg4), lesson 8 translation memory form by sdl limited, tmx file word-chain (20 min). the teacher gives the first participant a letter; the participant has to say a word beginning with that letter, the participants who follow repeat the word and say another word beginning with the last letter task 1 (20 min): the participants receive a lesson 8 translation memory form and are asked to tick the statements as they watch the video (https://youtu.be/mmsbe7bitg4). task 2 (25 min) creating definitions. the participants work in groups of four. as there are 15 tm terms, the teacher task 4: (5 min): discussion: the participants evaluate their experience with tm, how it may influence their translation work and answer if they are willing to start using it. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 44 of the first participant’s word (e.g. lecturer says ‘m’, the participants one says ‘machine’, participant two says ‘machine and engine’, participant three says machine, engine and energy’ and so on). then, the participants answer the question:  what is necessary to master this activity? (the expected answer is ‘a good memory’) then, the teacher explains the subject of the class: tm and says that they have already created their first tm by completing the project on smartcat.com. the participants then open their projects and download the file in tmx format, which is the tm. the teacher explains that they can use this file for their next translation project. divides terms evenly, e.g. if there are three groups, each obtains five terms. the task is to write one wrong definition to each term. the list of terms includes 100% match, alignment, autopropagation, autosuggest, concordance, context match, field, fuzzy match, lookahead, penalty, pre-translation, segment, tmx, translation unit, uplift. when all groups are ready, they read definitions (correct and wrong), and other groups have to choose, in their opinion, the correct one. after all groups have read their definitions, they exchange correct ones once again. task 3 (20 min): the participants go to the smartcat platform and, with the help of the teacher, learn how to implement tm to a project by following these steps:  open my tasks  click ‘create project’  click ‘select a file’  choose a file named ‘first cat project’ (used previously)  click ‘open’  next to the segment translation memories, click ‘add’ and choose the previously downloaded tmx file  click ‘open’ ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 45  click ‘next’  write project name as tm check  define source language as english (united kingdom)  define target language as polish  click ‘save’  click ‘finish’  under the segment documents, click ‘open’ next to the name of the created project  evaluate how tm changed the translation in comparison to the first project without tm lesson 9 game on wordwall (https://wo rdwall.net/play /15920/911/92 7) or printed (lesson-9-tmquiz.pdf), a video (https://www.y outube.com/w atch?v=acw9 vfdwmww), files lesson 9 tm terms, lesson 9 glossary cat project file wordwall quiz (5 min). as a warm-up activity, the participants play a quiz in pairs. they receive a link to the game on a wordwall (https://wordwall.net/play/159 20/911/927) or printed (lesson-9-tm-quiz.pdf), where they have to choose the right one out of 4 possible alternatives. when all the participants are finished with the game, they answer whether it is challenging to choose the correct word knowing the context and having the hints. task 1 (20 min): to better familiarise the participants with the topic of the lesson, they watch the first 5 minutes of the video “what is terminology management?” prepared by sdl limited, which is now part of the rws group (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac w9vfdwmww), and note answers to the questions:  what are the three key elements of the terminology management process? answer: identifying, storing and managing terminology.  what is the name of the place where terminology can be discussion (5 min): the participants evaluate their experience with the terminology management process, how it may influence their translation work and are asked if they are willing to start creating their own term bases. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 46 stored? answer: termbase  is the termbase multilingual? answer: yes.  are termbase and translation memory similar? answer: the former stores single words and short phrases, while the latter even stores whole sentences, longer fragments. task 2 (60 min) the next task addresses the question: what does terminology management mean in practice? the participants start working on creating a glossary in the cat work environment and follow the instructions below:  log onto https://smartcat.com/workspace  go into ‘my linguistics assets’  click ‘glossaries’  click ‘create glossary’  enter glossary name as demo 1  set language 1 as english  set language 2 as polish  click the sign ‘+’ and choose language 3 as german  click ‘save’  then click ‘add entry’  enter the terms from file lesson 9 tm terms  after adding each of the terms, ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 47 click the tick sign to confirm your entry  then click ‘back’  create a new project on smartcat with the file lesson 9 glossary cat project file  go to ‘linguistic assets’  tick glossary named ‘demo1’  go back to the project and open it  to translate the file use suggestions from the implemented glossary. phrases from the glossary (demo1) are highlighted, in the bottom right part of the page, click cat infoglossary demo1 go to term  finish the project lesson 10 files: lesson 10 scenario fast translating, lesson 10 scenario fast translating – glossary, website https://help.sm artcat.com/hc/ enscenarios discussion (15 min). scenarios to discuss:  a client sends in a socalled draft text on the reorganisation of the company’s work and asks for it to be translated on short notice, assuring that it does not have to be perfect but fast. task 1 (reading 10 min + project 60 min): the participants open the website: https://help.smartcat.com/hc/enus/articles/115002017352-qualityassurance and read the content. then they receive a scenario for the project:  a client sends a short text that she wants to quote in her article on the impediments to astronomical research and measurement due to external task 2: (5 min): discussion: the participants evaluate their experience with the qa, how it may influence their translation work and are asked if it facilitated their performance. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 48 us/articles/115 002017352qualityassurance  question for the participants: what will the translator do?  a similar situation —a client sends a text, also a draft, this time concerning side effects of a new drug and again asks for it to be translated on the spot, at the same time assuring that it does not have to be perfect, but fast.  question for the participants: what will the translator do?  do both situations require the same or a different approach to the translated text? interference. the client also reports that she has tried to use mt for translation but does not know why the tt is unintelligible. she is very anxious about time as the deadline ended a week ago. fortunately, a translator (here participants of the course) has worked with this topic before, so he/she has a glossary ready. the participants log onto smartcat. they receive two files: one with a text in english to translate into polish, the other with a pre-prepared glossary needed for the project. first, they go to my linguistic assets, create a new glossary, and then click uploadchoose fileimport. they create a new project called scenario – fast translating. they are allowed to use mt of their choice and perform task independently, but still, the teacher assists if needed. they are asked to remember about assigning the glossary to the project. lesson 11 files: lesson 11 st the us president invites king hassan of morocco, back-translation (30 min). the participants are divided into row a and row b. each person receives two short texts translated into polish: one is the so-called raw mt output, task 1 (15 min): the participants receive light and full post-editing guidelines and familiarise themselves with each. then, in pairs, they discuss what the differences are between light and full post-editing. each team gives task 3: (5min): discussion: the participants evaluate their experiences with lpe and fpe, compare this stage of the mtpe process with pre-editing and translation, and estimate their workload for each step. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 49 lesson 11 light and full post-editing guidelines, lesson 11 a b the us president invites king hassan of morocco (pl), lesson 11 worksheet light and full post-editing and the other is the post-edited version. in row a, the first text is the raw version, while in row b, the exact text is the post-edited version, and in turn, the second text in row a is post-edited, and in row b, the same text is raw. now, the participants are asked to backtranslate the texts into english. afterwards, students from row a compare their versions with students from row b. they answer the questions:  are the backtranslations from row a and row b different? in what way?  what was more accessible to backtranslate – the postedited or raw version?  what are the conclusions? two examples in which situations light and full post-editing can be used. task 2 (40 min): the participants receive a worksheet with mt output and, without the st, do light post-editing according to the light post-editing guidelines. then they receive the source text and perform a full post-editing, but also following the guideline. lesson 12 files: lesson 12 article: is the internet killing our brains translation chain (10 min). the participants are divided into groups of four. the teacher informs students about the warm-up rules: task 1 (15 min): the teacher gives the students a scenario for the lesson: you work in a translation agency, and your team specialises in mtpe. each person in the group is responsible for a particular stage of the mtpe process: discussion (5 min): the teacher asks the participants how they evaluate the teamwork on the project. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 50  person a expresses in english his/her view on the statement that the internet is killing our brains.  person b summarises a’s view to person c in polish.  then person c repeats b’s summary to person d in english.  finally, person d refers received information to person a.  then person a assesses the level of agreement between his/her opinion and what he/she heard from person d. summarising the exercise, the teacher asks each group how they assess the level of agreement of the final version of person a’s statement.  person a assesses the original and makes the necessary corrections to the sentences of the st so that the text is more accessible to mt,  person b assesses the text for vocabulary and prepares a glossary,  person c receives the corrected text of the st and the glossary and carries out the machine translation,  person d deals with the postediting of the text without seeing the st. the participants in the group divide themselves into roles, with a hint that they can also use the draw of lots (provided by the teacher). the translation is carried out in any environment, e.g. on the smartcat platform. lesson 13 files: lesson 13 literary translation. find the match (10 min) participants, working in groups of two, are asked to match english proverbs with task 2 (60 min): competition: students are divided into two groups: group a and group b. group a is to translate the first page of the file provided (an extract from task 3 (15 min): evaluation of translation and discussion: group a compares their translations of two passages with group b’s translation. together they evaluate which ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 51 their polish equivalents. next, they receive a list of the same proverbs, but translated using mt, and evaluate the possibilities of machine translation in relation to such elements characteristic of literary translations. the untranslated book malcolm x: a life of reinvention by manning marable) using ht, i.e. without mt and cat tools, but are allowed to use dictionaries, including online dictionaries; group b translates the same fragment using the calt method with the help of mt, e.g. on the smartcat platform. both groups have 30 minutes to complete the task. after the time is up, the groups swap roles. group a translates the second page of the file using the calt method with the help of mt, while group b performs ht. the participants in the group divide themselves into roles, with a hint that they can also use the draw of lots (provided by the teacher). the translation is carried out in any environment, e.g. on the smartcat platform. method in a given situation (literary translation) was better for them and why; they also evaluate the quality of the translated passages in terms of the differences between machine-assisted and human translation. lesson 14 website launched for the purpose of this course https://www.te st30148.future host.pl/mtpe/ the details to log onto the website would be provided to task 1 (15 min). the participants answer whether they use mt of websites, e.g. with the help of google website translator. they then familiarise themselves with this function by going to https://www.visitqatar.qa/en/th ings-to-do/wellness-spa and activating the website task 2 (60 min): the participants are introduced to the lesson scenario: the visit qatar organisation has commissioned you to analyse and improve mt (from english to polish). follow these steps to start your postediting work:  log onto https://www.test30148.futurehost .pl/mtpe/wp-admin/ according task 3 (15 min): the participants evaluate the quality of mt made by the weglot plugin and their work on the mtpe of the website. the teacher asks the participants how they imagine the future of translation. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 52 participants by email, each participant would have a separate account. translation function (right mouse buttonprzetłumacz na język polski (translate into polish). the participants read the mt of the mentioned page and rate on a scale of 1 to 5 the quality of this translation (1 means very poor and 5 excellent). to the details sent by the company,  go to the weglot plugin  click on edit my translations  then click on total translated words  analyse the phrases that require your intervention, and then apply corrections. lesson 15 task 1 (15 min). the participants work in pairs. their task is to write down what qualities they think a post-editor should have and how this role differs from the traditional role of a translator. then each pair shares their thoughts. task 2 (45 min): discussion: the participants are asked to address issues related to the development of mt:  mt limitations —will postediting solve all problems of mt?  indigenous, regional, minority languages and mt —what does it look like?  is post-editing in literary mt the answer to books that should have been but were never translated?  mt and democratisation  what does the future hold? task 3 (30 min): the participants are asked to write an essay in which they evaluate the mtpe course they have taken and how prepared they feel to be an independent posteditor. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 53 supplementary sources of information the lessons were also supplemented with the following additional sources of information:  bowker, l., & fisher, d. 2010. computer-aided translation. in handbook of translation studies (vol. 1, pp. 60–65). john benjamins publishing company. https://doi.org/10.1075/hts.1.comp2  clarke, b. 2008. malcolm williams. translation quality assessment: an argumentation-centred approach. cadernos de tradução, 1(21). https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7968.2008v1n21p161  computer-assisted literary translation conference calt2021@swansea. (2021, may 11). book of abstracts. retrieved 11 may 2021, from https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2pacx1vrwaagopmcwqgnixjaulzcra1e4we2u7lqj53e7qbknighvjlgm hrwlsqbqcjcqiwj11tztjqvmxmu6/pub  forcada, m. l. 2010. machine translation today. in handbook of translation studies (vol. 1, pp. 215-223). john benjamins publishing company. https://doi.org/10.1075/hts.1.mac1  hu, k., & cadwell, p. 2016. a comparative study of post-editing guidelines. proceedings of the 19th annual conference of the european association for machine translation, 34206--353. https://aclanthology.org/w16-3420  kliffer, m. d. 2008. post-editing machine translation as an fsl exercise. porta linguarum revista interuniversitaria de didáctica de las lenguas extranjeras. https://doi.org/10.30827/digibug.31745  muegge, u. 2008. controlled language: an introduction to the use of a controlled language. muegge.cc. http://www.muegge.cc/controlledlanguage.htm  roturier, j. 2004. assessing a set of controlled language rules: can they improve the performance of commercial machine translation systems? translating and the computer 26.  rws holdings plc, & goldsmith, e. (n.d.). an introduction to translation memory management by trados [e-book].  sdl*. (n.d.). your questions answered – terminology management and sdl multiterm [e-book]. 5. challenges to implementation and concluding remarks there may be several challenges to the implementation of the course. meeting all the stated objectives and outcomes will be a challenge as it assumes that each lesson will follow the outlined structure without interruptions. unexpected situations, such as questions from the participants, the need to repeat material, spontaneous discussions during the lessons, may result in modifications to the programme. a related issue is time estimation. the author also assumes that there may be different results for classroom training and remote modes of course delivery. in addition, the discrepancy in results may be related to the students’ level of expertise, which may affect the course outcomes. finally, the very structure of the course may be subject to revision due to the pace of ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 54 development in the field of translation technology. in conclusion, during the implementation and delivery of the course, teachers must remain vigilant and relatively flexible. they are required to consider many factors such as unexpected situations, technological developments, and participants’ reactions. further research based on the individual elements of the course is recommended. lesson 3 (mt – finding and naming errors) could be expanded to include a broader analysis of errors since, as depraetere (2010) notes, a clear demand to expand students’ knowledge of specific mt errors should be addressed. given the emphasis that nikishina (2018) and tomaszkiewicz (2019) place on consistency and precise instruction in the training of future translators, it is worth adapting lesson 4 (controlled language rules for mt: create your own list of pre-editing rules) to explore supplementing guidelines specifically designed for specific language pairs, in this case, pl-en. finally, lesson 13 (competition: human vs mt), which is grounded in rybicki’s (2021) observation that the difference between human and machine translation is becoming less and less apparent in light of the progressive development of neural machine translation, may inspire further research into the problem of the changing image of the modern translator. in conclusion, this study can be a valuable resource in both translation didactics and translation studies, providing an impetus for further consideration of the topic of mtpe. references cholewska, d. 2021. machine translation post-editing (mtpe) from the perspective of translation trainees: implications for translation pedagogy [unpublished ma thesis], university of bialystok. belam, j. 2003. buying up to falling down: a deductive approach to teaching postediting. mt summit ix workshop on teaching translation technologies and tools (t4 third workshop on teaching machine translation), 1-10. brożyna-reczko, m. 2020. narzędzia cyfrowe w dydaktyce przekładu: zasoby leksykalne oraz narzędzia korpusowe do edycji tekstu. roczniki humanistyczne 68: 181-193. davies, g. m. 2004. multiple voices in the translation classroom: activities, tasks and projects (benjamins translation library) vol. 53. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins. depraetere, i. 2010. what counts as useful advice in a university post-editing training context? in eamt 2010: proceedings of the 14th annual conference of the european association for machine translation, 1-9, saint-raphaël, france. doherty, s. & kenny, d. 2014. the design and evaluation of a statistical machine translation syllabus for translation students. the interpreter and translator trainer 8(2): 295-315. emt board. 2017, december. the european master’s in translation competence framework 2017. ec.europa.eu. retrieved 6 december 2021, from https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/emt_competence_fwk_2017_en_web.pdf ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 55 esfandiari, m. r., shokrpour, n., & rahimi, f. 2019. an evaluation of the emt: compatibility with the professional translator’s needs. cogent arts & humanities 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2019.1601055 flanagan, m. & paulsen christensen, t. 2014. testing post-editing guidelines: how translation trainees interpret them and how to tailor them for translator training purposes. the interpreter and translator trainer 8(2): 257-275. folaron, d. 2010. translation tools. in: y. gambier & luc van doorslaer (eds.), handbook of translation studies vol. 1, 429-436. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins. fox, o. 2000. the use of translation diaries in a process-oriented translation teaching methodology. in: c. schäffner & b. adab (eds.), developing translation competence, 115-130. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins. guerberof arenas, a. & moorkens, j. 2019. machine translation and post-editing training as part of a master’s programme. the journal of specialized translation issue 31: 217-238. kliffer, m. 2008. post-editing machine translation as an fsl exercise. porta linguarum: revista internacional de didáctica de las lenguas extranjeras 9: 53-68. nikishina, m. 2018. mt-assisted tm translation: the future of translation or just a fad? applied linguistics papers 25/4: 91-100. o’brien, s. 2002. teaching post-editing: a proposal for course content. in: proceedings of the 6th eamt workshop teaching machine translation, 99-106. manchester: european association for machine translation. o’brien, s., balling, l. w., simard, m., specia, l., & carl, m. (eds.). 2014. post-editing of machine translation: processes and applications. cambridge: cambridge scholars publishing. perspektywy. 2021, june 22. perspektywy university ranking 2021. ranking.perspektywy.org. retrieved 6 december 2021, from http://ranking.perspektywy.org/2021/ranking/university-ranking prince, m. j., & felder, r. m. 2006. inductive teaching and learning methods: definitions, comparisons, and research bases. journal of engineering education 95(2): 123-138. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2006.tb00884.x pym, a. 2013. translation skill-sets in a machine-translation age. meta: translators’ journal 58(3): 487-503. rybicki, j. 2021. stylometry 0, machine translation 1. deep learning based mt scores important away win. in: book of abstracts calt 2021 https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2pacx1vrwaagopmcwqgnixjaulzcra1e4we2u7lqj53e7qbknighvjlgmhrwlsqbqc jcqiwj11tztjqvmxmu6/pub. świątek, j. 2015. the potential and limits of statistical machine translation. społeczeństwo. edukacja. język 3: 187-195. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 56 tomaszkiewicz, t. 2019. ewolucja kształcenia tłumaczy zawodowych w kontekście wyzwań współczesnego przekładoznawstwa i wymogów rynku pracy. między oryginałem a przekładem 25(44): 199-216. witczak, o. 2016a. tłumacze kontra maszyny, czyli o tłumaczeniu wspomaganym komputerowo. in: b. whyatt, z. nadstoga, a. chmiel, p. korpal, t. kościuczuk, i. mazur, m. perdek, k. stachowiak, m. turski, m. tymczyńska & o. witczak (eds.), tłumacz – praktyczne aspekty zawodu, 201-232. poznań: wydawnictwo naukowe uam. witczak, o. 2016b. incorporating post-editing into a computer-assisted translation course. a study of student attitudes. journal of translator education and translation studies 1: 35-55. *** dominika romaniuk-cholewska is a graduate of the university of białystok, majoring in english philology and translation studies, and currently a phd student in linguistics. her research interests oscillate between foreign language didactics and translation studies. she is particularly interested in the problem of integrating modern technological tools into the work of teachers and translators. her current research concerns technological competence in translation didactics. 37 28 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) adelheid rundholz¹ doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.37.2.02 cankaya university, turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9965-3156 unwelcome consequences: christina dalcher’s vox and john lanchester’s the wall abstract. the bulletin of the atomic scientistsʼ doomsday clock, first introduced in 1947, recently moved the fictional clock forward; it now rests at 100 seconds to midnight, or 100 seconds from destroying ourselves. the numerous threats posed by nuclear weapons, pandemics, weaponized technology, and catastrophic climate change create an ʻenvironment of miseryʼ in which all action—and all inaction—is fraught with risk. two recent novels employ dystopian visions of the united states and britain, respectively, and explore the consequences of social engineering that takes place to minimize (perceived) risks and increase safety. dalcher s̓ vox (2018) and lanchester s̓ the wall (2019) are two novels that are a commentary on a world in which risk is pervasive and in which (in)action can exacerbate dire circumstances. at the same time, the novels highlight that local (national) action is doomed to fail if it does not also consider the global interconnectedness of challenges and risks. keywords: contemporary fiction, dystopian, risk, authoritarianism, oppression. introduction in his memoir from 2018, wolfgang ischinger notes that “nobody has created so much chaos and insecurity in the world as president donald trump did since he took office in january 2017” (ischinger 2018: 14). the former german ambassador to washington, d.c. continues to say that “nobody could predict that the new american president, of all people, would be the one person to question all of the status quo—free trade as much as the canon of western values, or the reciprocal assurances of safety, which are anchored in article 5 of the nato treaty” (ischinger 2018: 14)². for the former diplomat, the greatest dangers that result from trump s̓ erratic and unpredictable words and actions are a fundamental sense of loss of trust (ischinger 2018: 34) among nations and, importantly, the inability to make any valid prognosis in the context of diplomatic and international relations (ischinger 2018: 36). not being able to make predictions increases uncertainty, 1 address for correspondence: p.o. box 49591, charlotte, nc 28277, e-mail: aeubanks@jcsu.edu 2 unless otherwise noted, translations are my own. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9965-3156 29 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) risk and danger, and, simultaneously, minimizes a sense of well-being and safety. due to the former president s̓ behavior, the particular risk that americans were and are perceiving is a threat to the very essence of the united states, to its democracy. the 2019 freedom house report confirms that democracy is in retreat in the united states, and michael abramowitz, the organizations̓ president, points to an environment in which assaults on the rule of law, demonization of the press, self-dealing, and attacks on the legitimacy of elections are essential factors that contribute to this decline of democracy.³ the former american president s̓ impact on american society looms large in christina dalcher s̓ novel vox (2018), but there are other geographies in which perceived risks—risks posed by nuclear weapons, weaponized technology, catastrophic climate change, and a devastating global pandemic—lead to division and partisanship within a country and to leadership by so-called ʻstrongmenʼ who are on a path to reshaping their nations according to their idiosyncratic visions and ideas. while he does not single out a particular leader, it is an amorphous yet dictatorial state machinery that began shaping citizensʼ lives in john lanchester s̓ the wall some time before the protagonist was born, and the state s̓ isolationism may allude to britain s̓ vote to leave the eu, to brexit⁴. read together, the novels are a commentary on a world in which risk is pervasive and in which, vexingly, both action and the lack of action can equally exacerbate dire circumstances. in vox, two female characters are contrasted to illustrate the constant need for a citizen s̓ vigilance toward the government, on the one hand, and the pernicious results of a decision to not become involved, on the other hand. the wall explores how very specific actions—to construct and protect a wall that surrounds the british isles—are doomed to fail when local interests and plans do not also consider future consequences and the global interconnectedness of challenges and risks. in a short essay, george orwell explores the question of why writers write. he asserts that the writer s̓ “subject matter will be determined by the age he lives in,” and claims that the purpose of writing is political, driven by a “desire to push the world in a certain 3 abramowitz links the state of american democracy to trump s̓ presence in american politics, which he describes as “straining our core values and testing the stability of our constitutional system. no president in living memory has shown less respect for its tenets, norms, and principles” (abramowitz 2019: 25). see also zachary b. wolf, who wonders “if this whole america thing is teetering on the edge of collapse” (wolf 2020: n.p.), and neil steinberg, who sees the us senate as an “echo” of the roman collapse (steinberg: 2020: n.p.). the issues at stake are explored in how democracies die (2018), where steven levitsky and daniel ziblatt, two scholars of constitutional democracies, feel compelled to compare the american situation with other (failed) democracies they study—most notably europe in the 1930s and latin america in the 1970s. 4 in an interview with john lanchester, james kidd comments that “[t]he entire planet, it seems is uniting to help lanchester promote the wall. immigration, globalization, brexit, trump, a mounting refugee crisis, environmental collapse—you name it, it informs lanchester s̓ dystopian fable” (kidd 2019: n. p.). 30 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) direction, to alter people s̓ idea of the kind of society that they should strive after” (orwell 1946: n.p.). orwell s̓ own fiction demonstrates how utopian/dystopian fiction is particularly well suited to engage a political purpose because, as szabo notes, such fiction has “a referential present as a starting point, [and] the utopian world is presented as augmented reality” (szabo 2018: 130). conversely, the dystopian work presents a regressed or undesirable world. both vox and the wall are counter-utopias in h. g. wellsʼ definition of counter-utopia as “a subgenre of dystopia, [whose] main function [is] to warn, to describe negative scenarios regarding the future of mankind” (szabo 2018: 131). sociologist patricia leavy, in an interview on the links between fiction, feminism, and qualitative research, confirms that “[f ]iction […] promotes empathetic engagement and compassion” on the part of the reader with the fictional world (leavy 2019: n. p.). importantly, as jan váňa asserts, “literature is more than just a product of allegedly more fundamental social forces. literature is to a considerable extent autonomous. literature has agency and the potential to ʻmobilizeʼ” (váňa 2020: 2). the same scholar holds that “[f ]ictitious accounts of the social world can help to investigate new connections between personal experiences and social structures, with the dystopian genre serving as a particularly good example here” (váňa 2020: 7). both vox and the wall are counter-utopias or dystopias that weave a general sense of unease, uncertainty and dread into the respective cautionary visions. in doing so, the novels invite associations with current events that readers on both sides of the atlantic are familiar with and also, perhaps, inspire them to imagine a different world, a different society, as orwell has it, to strive after. studying these particular novels presents a very different kind of risk. they are both contemporary literature, which gupta defines as “the literature of our time, or of the present” (gupta 2012: 2). in the same place, gupta speculates that “we probably choose to read contemporary literature because we expect it to be directly relevant to our lives and our world. we hope to find in it expressions and issues with which we are familiar” (gupta 2012: 2). since both novels are recent, it is uncertain if either one is strong enough to withstand the test of time and readersʼ tastes. yet this risk must be taken, because both texts are creative attempts to interpret a world that many find disturbing and frightening.⁵ 5 another problem when dealing with contemporary literature stems from the fact that it may be very recent. reviews on vox and the wall and interviews with the authors are readily available, but a scholarly corpus on the novels is still scarce. see, for example maria pinakoulia s̓ “female struggle and negotiation of agency in christina dalcher s̓ vox,” which focuses on the female body as a site of (male) violence and power relations. kirsten sandrock studies how shakespeare functions as an intertext in the wall in “border temporalities, climate mobility, and shakespeare in john lanchester s̓ the wall.” 31 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) risk6 since the publication of ischinger s̓ memoir and dalcher s̓ and lanchester s̓ novels, the world has, unfortunately, encountered many new and not so new hazards. the final two years of trump in office have surpassed the ambassador s̓ stark assessment of the 45th president and include two impeachments and his thwarted attempt to disrupt the democratic process on capitol hill on january 6, 2021. natural disasters—wildfires in california and elsewhere, floods, draughts, etc.—appear to be becoming ever more frequent, costly and disastrous in many places around the globe, and are routinely linked to climate change. finally, the world has been subjected to the covid-19 pandemic for more than two years and with no clear end in sight. it is apparent that the natural, political, environmental, economic, societal, and individual aspects of the world do not only harbor big risks and few securities, but that the perception of these risks increases while a sense of security is being eroded for many people. one might suspect that the american transcendentalist ralph waldo emerson would empathize with this summary of the ʻstate of the world ,̓ for he writes in his essay “the scholar” (1863) that “[a]s soon as there is life there is danger” (bosco & myerson 2005: 301). the question arises with regard to what distinguishes emerson s̓ perception of danger from ours, and an obvious difference between the 1860s and the 2020s is that instant access to tragic news nowadays greatly diminishes the sense of safety globally. the scholarly study of risk has permeated many disciplines, and in the introduction to his social theories of risk and uncertainty, jens o. zinn argues that the proliferation of studying risk is part of so many disciplines that it is hard to discern specific methods, approaches or results. however, he notes that “[t]he most general assumption shared by all approaches on risk is the distinction between reality and possibility” (zinn 2008: 3). “as long as the future is interpreted as either predetermined or independent of human activities,” he writes, “the term ʻriskʼ makes no sense at all” (zinn 2008: 3). rather, he contends, “[t]he concept of risk is tied to the possibility that the future can be altered— or at least perceived as such—by human activities. it might be that we can directly control the occurrence of an event or that we can at least make provisions for the aftermath” (zinn 2008: 3). 6 the complete etymology of the term ʻriskʼ is uncertain and disputed; the oxford english dictionary does not trace it back to beyond the medieval greek risicon and the post-classical latin risigum. from the latter develop rischio (in thirteenth-century italian), the french risque (since 1578) and, finally, risk, which has been in use in english since the early seventeenth century. remarkably, the meaning of ʻriskʼ has remained stable across languages and centuries, and the term is defined by the oxford english dictionary as a “danger or inconvenience, predictable or otherwise,” or as a “possibility of harm, an unpleasant consequence.” interestingly, all these languages already had other words to capture the basic attitudes—such as harm, chance, luck, adventure, danger, fear, etc.—and thus did not ʻneedʼ the term risk. 32 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the two dystopian novels of interest here are christina dalcher s̓ vox, published in 2018, and john lanchester s̓ the wall from 2019. both the american writer, dalcher, and the british writer, lanchester, are interested in experiments in willful social engineering that are led by a powerful few and imposed on everybody else. in both novels, unwelcome consequences ensue, but they do for different, even opposite, reasons. in vox, the first-person narrator and main protagonist comes to realize that she has increased her personal risk and that of her family by neglecting to act when there was still time and, possibly, meaning for action. thus, risk here results from acts of omission or, put simply, passivity. in the wall, another first-person narrator understands that he was born into a situation that seems irrevocable and that had begun with his government taking action, being proactive, precisely to avoid an increase in risk and calamities for an entire nation. when read together, these novels suggest that there is a qualitative difference to risks (and safety). put differently, concrete risks can be experienced (wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, industrial accidents, plane crashes, etc.) either in person (although one would hope not) or via news outlets or social media. such catastrophes typically entail investigations that seek to uncover causes to help prevent repeats of the events and so minimize risk. an example is the devastation of new orleans during and after hurricane katrina in august of 2005 compared to the much more minor destruction wreaked by hurricane ida in august of 2021. after the 2005 disaster, in which the storm broke flood walls and levees, the city invested in improving barriers and hoped to avoid another flooding. the actions taken by the city matched the findings of 2005 and had the desired effect, that is, to minimize risk, 16 years later. the risks that the protagonists deal with in vox and the wall are qualitatively different types of risks, because they are invisible.⁷ invisible risks are insidiously dangerous, that is, they are harmful in ways that escape the attention of their sufferers until it is likely too late to remedy the situation. the german sociologist ulrich beck is credited with coining the phrase ʻrisk societyʼ in his eponymous book from 1986, and he expanded the concept in his 2008 publication, world risk society. beck s̓ earlier publication coincides with the beginnings of the ʻgreen movementʼ (later, the green party) in germany and focuses on how the risks in industrialized civilizations differ from those of earlier civilizations because today s̓ risks, he insists, “escape perception and are localized in the sphere of physical and chemical formulae (e.g. toxins in foodstuffs, or the nuclear threat)” (beck 1986: 28). in beck s̓ view, today s̓ risks, such a climate change, the hole in the ozone layer, ionizing radiation, or the contamination of food by pesticides tend to be “invisible” (beck 2007: 104). according to beck, these risks can only be ʻseenʼ and measured by scientific methods and culturally represented by scientific and media knowledge systems. in other words, beck s̓ 7 33 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) observations in risk society, subsequently expanded to the transnational or global view in world risk society, emphasize a dramatic shift in how risk is both produced and perceived: from direct, tangible, and experiential to invisible, pervasive, and often irreversible (atomic energy, gene technology, microelectronics). since beck s̓ works have been published, the list of ʻinvisibleʼ risks has grown if one includes phenomena like biological engineering, artificial intelligence, or intentionally partisan public discourse via news media or social networks. it is useful to turn one s̓ attention to the present moment because, as zinn says, “[r]isk discourse and theorizing is linked to historical constellations. it is inevitably confounded by ʻzeitgeistʼ (spirit of the age)” (zinn 2008: 3). what stands out in our time is that “defining and negotiating risk has a lot more to do with emotions” (zinn 2008: 14). zinn specifies that emotions relating to risk are “not concerned solely with worries, concerns and fears, but also with the physical experience of risks. it might be embodied in excitement, [. . .] or in social suffering” (zinn 2008: 14). significantly, emotional responses increase as a sense of stability decreases. as a consequence of increased liberation and individualization, the absence of ʻmaster narrativesʼ leads to insecurities. as zinn writes, “[t]here are no longer unquestioned traditions available, referring to the nature of men and women. instead family relationships, gender roles, and the division of labor have to be negotiated and justified. we can no longer apply them unquestioned” (zinn 2008: 32). as the control over one s̓ biography becomes a subject of negotiations (and such control, indeed, may still not be achievable), there may be an inclination to be swayed (or not) by public discourse.⁸ in other words, an individual s̓ biography may unfold in response to public discourse, which they embrace or oppose based on personal inclinations. as a consequence, a person s̓ (or citizen s̓) reaction to and stance toward (polarized) public discourse becomes a responsibility. being aware of this responsibility is at the heart of dalcher s̓ novel. vox arguably, vox and the wall are texts that address an ʻinvisibleʼ risk, especially that of harmful and manipulating public discourse, in order to show how it can lead—intentionally or not—directly to a dystopian nightmare. christina dalcher is a theoretical 8 much has been made, for example, of trump s̓ appeal to his supporters being based on his rhetoric and his confirmation of beliefs espoused by a fundamental base. berlatsky, for instance, asserts that “donald trump ran an openly racist campaign for president, calling mexicans rapists and criminals, regularly retweeting white supremacists and at least initially balking at repudiating former ku klux klan leader david duke” (berlatsky 2020: n.p.). see also terry smiths̓ whitelash: unmasking white grievance at the ballot box, which traces racist voting strategies and also makes a case for racist voting to be illegal. trump s̓ rhetoric translated into policies once he came to office. uyeda cites his anti-immigrant agenda: family separation at the border and travel bans from muslim-majority countries (uyeda 2020: n.p.). 34 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) linguist by training and known for her short stories and flash fiction (i.e., very short pieces) that have appeared in journals worldwide. vox is her first novel and was written in the space of two months.⁹ at the time, donald trump had not yet finished half of his term in office. although dalcher says in an interview that she avoided overt parallels to american public figures so as not to ʻdateʼ her work, the allusions are sustained throughout the book and are inescapable for any reader who followed the news at the time.¹⁰ she notes that we are living in dangerous times and that divisions have resulted in attempts to silence each other; she stresses that under such ʻtribalʼ conditions, free speech and exercising one s̓ right to free speech are more crucial today than ever. the novel s̓ premise is a change in government that took place about a year and a half prior to the events of the plot. a conservative and misogynist president, head of the pure movement, is surrounded and supported by his fans, who are also followers of the fundamentalist reverend carl corbin. the objective of this movement was (and is) to recreate their (fantasy) version of a 1950s america in which society is predominantly white, straight, and in which the only acceptable form of living together is the family.¹¹ within the family, moreover, the man works and the woman s̓ place is at home. resurrecting this nostalgic image of america by a few dedicated fanatics is appealing to some at first and then spreads quickly. jean, the main protagonist, explains that “[s]omewhere along the line, what was known as the bible belt, that swath of southern states where religion ruled, started expanding. it morphed from belt to corset. but the corset turned into a full bodysuit, eventually reaching all the way to hawaii. and we never saw it coming” (dalcher 2018: 17). letourneau compares the world view of trump s̓ base with the confederate world view, according to which “the democratic process cannot legitimately change the established social order, and so all forms of legal and illegal resistance are justified when it tries” (letourneau 2017: n.p.). the same writer contends that the nostalgia for the (imagined) stability and social order of the (monochrome) 1950s is a response to “the intertwining fears about changing demographics, immigrants, 9 some reviewers have pointed out parallels that exist between vox and margaret atwoods the handmaid’s tale (1985). both texts deal with a totalitarian hold on people s̓ lives and the loss of freedom— especially for women. through atwood s̓ character offred, the reader follows subtle and subversive strategies of resistance in gilead. in vox, the main character is quickly freed from her restrictions and the plot moves to how the oppressive government is overturned and how life returns to ʻnormal .̓ despite apparent similarities, the two novels are not suited to be compared to each other. 10 the interview aired on france 24 on international women s̓ day, 8 march 2019. less than a year after the novel s̓ publication, vox had already been translated into 17 languages. 11 see berlatsky, who notes that “trump made it clear in his campaign that ʻmake america great againʼ meant that america was greater when white people s̓ power was more sweeping and more secure” (berlatsky 2020: n.p.). 35 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) muslims, women, lgbtq, globalization, the impact of the great recession, the decline in religious affiliation and racism” (letourneau 2017: n.p.). thus, according to letourneau, the trump votes come from a “confederate” mindset and have to be read as a reaction to what this mindset considered to be (threatening) changes to their preferred social order. underlying vox is the “confederate world view.” some twenty years prior to the pure movement s̓ taking over, jackie, jean s̓ college roommate, places white men (and some women) at the heart of an anger that erupted when the (white man s̓) world became a liberal environment that diverged from social norms they believed to be both natural and inviolable: the straight white dude [. . .] is angry as shit. he feels emasculated. [. . .] it s̓ gonna be a different world in a few years if we donʼt do something to change it. expanding bible belt, shit-ass representation in congress, and a pack of power-hungry little boys who are tired of being told they gotta be more sensitive. [. . .] and donʼt think theyʼll all be men. the becky homeckies will be on their side. (dalcher 2018: 20) one of the “becky homeckies” speaks up during a televised interview. the woman, identified only as someone wearing a blue cardigan, formulates her thoughts about the twenty-first century: we donʼt know who men are or who women are anymore. our children are growing up confused. the culture of family has broken down. we have increases in traffic, pollution, autism rates, drug use, single parents, obesity, consumer debt, female prison populations, school shootings, erectile dysfunction. that s̓ just to name a few [factors that are examples of a culture that has broken down]. (dalcher 2018: 39-40) the juxtaposition of jackie s̓ and the woman s̓ viewpoints underscores how the opposed opinions are extreme and irreconcilable. moreover, each perceives the other side as an enemy who threatens their safety. the worlds that are thus created in and through discourse are a risky place for all.¹² jean and many others did not see the implications of the rhetoric of the fundamentalist fanatics, and they now find themselves prisoners in their own country, because women are no longer issued passports. like jean, who used to be a cognitive linguist 12 threats can emerge from within one ʻcamp ,̓ too. the evangelical pastor robb ryerse wrote in early 2020 that he was not going to vote for trump in 2020, because he believed trump s̓ pro-life stance to be mere pandering to his base instead of coming from genuine conviction. ryerse notes that his published opinion provoked name-calling, insults, and other vitriol directed at him. he concludes that the general (political) situation has “normalized hatred in defense of president trump” (ryerse 2020: n.p.). 36 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and researcher, women are also confined to being housewives after having been removed from their jobs by force. all females—grown, children, and even infants—are forced to wear ʻwrist counters .̓ the devices, which men euphemistically call bracelets, count the number of words that the wearer speaks. any word that exceeds the one-hundred-word daily limit causes an electric shock that becomes stronger with each infraction and can even be lethal. women are not only rendered practically speechless, but they are also forbidden to engage in any kind of reading (newspapers, books, and even recipes for cooking are forbidden) and writing. they are allowed to watch television, where they can choose from sports channels or propaganda channels that repeat ad nauseam the new hierarchy: god, man, woman. in this society, which white men engineered in accordance with what serves them and makes them feel safe, women have become powerless and silent. everyone who does not fit is deported to labor camps and wears wrist counters set to zero. unsurprisingly, such individuals include gays and lesbians, (female) adulterers, non-whites, and single women. jean s̓ old roommate, jackie juarez, is one of the women forced into a labor camp, who can no longer utter a single word. while her name is mexican and she is also a lesbian, one can suspect that the actual reason for her imprisonment is the fact that she had been an outspoken activist and feminist before the pure movement gained control of government. jackie and jean had been roommates in college but have not spoken in twenty years. their relationship grew distant because jackie, ever eager to entice jean to help collect signatures for/against various causes or go on street protests against growing gender inequalities in politics, the judicial system, and academia, eventually grows tired of jeans̓ resistance. jean prefers to stay home and study; in other words, she remains passive and uninterested in what is going on around her. jackie accuses her of “living in a bubble,” and the last words she says to jean are: “think about what you need to do to stay free” (dalcher 2018: 16). the two young academics do not experience a conflict regarding their respective general values. their emotional responses, however, are at odds because, perhaps, of their priorities and (academic) interests at the time. jackie is training to become a sociologist and thus acutely perceives the risks to women when the congressional, senatorial and judicial presence of women keeps shrinking. jackie s̓ perception of risk escapes jeans̓ awareness completely, because jean is not only pursuing academic studies in a different field (cognitive linguistics), but she had recently begun dating her future husband and is thus more focused on romance than social causes: “[t]hat semester was the beginning of the end for jackie and me. i d̓ started dating patrick and preferred our nightly discussion about cognitive processes to jackie s̓ rants about whatever new thing she had found to protest” (dalcher 2018: 96). for the individual, risk assessment, it seems, depends on many different (and unpredictable) factors and determines what event(s), therefore, may stand out. jeans̓ passivity is connected to new-found love and her inability (disinterest) to see things from jackie s̓ perspective. for jackie, everything 37 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) feels like a danger to womens̓ rights and liberties, and she is compelled to act. while the plot of the novel confirms that jackie s̓ worries were indeed justified, the problem that is highlighted by the young university students is that the future can never be known. the elements that pose risks in the present can only be identified in the context of an imagined future whose arrival needs to be either ushered in or prevented. it is likely fair to assume that every individual s̓ imagined future—and hence current awareness of risk—is as unique as they are for jackie and jean. in hindsight, jean realizes that her ignorance (and that of many others like her) enabled the pure movement, that is, those who had very particular ideas about shaping the american society, and that her silence then has led to women s̓ permanent silence now. in jean s̓ thoughts to herself: “[g]ood work, jean. you gassed up the car and drove it straight to hell. enjoy the burn” (dalcher 2018: 93). the (older) jean here voices regret at the choices her younger self did and did not make, and anger at herself for finding herself trapped in a situation that appears irreversible. one s̓ voice and language, of course, are central to vox. the novel s̓ title is a latin word that means “[t]he human voice” and “[a] spoken utterance” (glare 2004: 2104). in addition to the one-hundredword-limit imposed on all females, language is the sole focus of jean s̓ research when she tries to find a cure for aphasia, which results when the wernicke area in the brain is damaged. the government, in the meantime, wishes to find a way to create aphasia— whether the drug will be used as a biological weapon against foreign enemies, or to render selected ʻundesirableʼ citizens not only speechless but incapable of coherent speech, or both, is never explicitly stated. either scenario, however, inspires great horror. language becomes a topic in many places in the novel. jean wonders, for instance, if her daughter sonia, who is a first-grader, will ever be able to acquire a ʻnormalʼ person s̓ linguistic skills, and she has a scathing comment after she meets with her (male and incompetent) head of the research project. she had wanted him to authorize sending a dose of the cure for aphasia to italy (where her mother is suffering from the illness). morgan denies her request by saying that “[r]elations between us and europe are—he searches for a word—ʻnot good .̓ just like morgan. of all the english terms he has to pick from—ʻtenuous ,̓ ʻstrained ,̓ ʻproblematic ,̓ ʻtense ,̓ ʻadverse ,̓ ʻhostile ,̓ ʻunpropitiousʼ—morgan chooses ʻnot goodʼ” (dalcher 2018: 230). jean s̓ evaluation here implies that language is a tool that needs to be used and that, moreover, needs to reflect some sophistication if the speaker wishes to be clear or persuasive. while there is, ultimately, a ʻhappy endingʼ to the plot, dalcher s̓ text insists on the importance of exercising the rights and obligations that come with the gift of having a language and a voice: to pay attention to the language of others and to use one s̓ own voice to contribute to the conversation. neglecting the latter comes at the peril of losing the privilege altogether. 38 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the wall john lanchester, born in germany and one of the most renowned writers and intellectuals in england today, strikes a very different tone in the wall. this novel s̓ title, too, immediately evokes specific connotations for contemporary readers. writing for the guardian, johanna thomas-corr notes in the month of the novel s̓ publication that the text is “a calculated extrapolation of our present [british] anxieties about rising sea levels, anti-refugee populism, post-brexit scarcity and intergenerational conflict” (thomas-corr 2019: n.p.). two months later, on the other side of the atlantic, alec nevala-lee states: “ʻthe wallʼ arrives at a moment in which the definition of a wall is a matter of national debate, and it actively invites such associations” (nevala-lee 2019: n.p.). nevala-lee is making a reference to trump s̓ controversial building of a wall to keep immigrants from crossing into the united states from its border with mexico. in addition, a reader may think of the berlin wall, which was a tangible reminder of the iron curtain and the cold war until 1989. whichever association comes to mind, they all have in common the idea that a wall separates two sides; it creates a world in which there is an inside and an outside, an ʻusʼ and ʻthem,̓ and lanchester uses the wall in this sense in his fifth novel. the main protagonists of the wall are all young men and women in their early twenties. they have no memories of what the world was like before it drastically changed under the watch of their parentsʼ generation. the exact reasoning about who made what arguments in favor of building a wall around the entirety of the british isles, and the logistics, remain vague. rather than a fixed date, the “change” came as the result of a process: the change was not a single solitary event. we speak of it in that manner because here we experienced one particular shift, of sea level and weather, over a period of years it is true, but it felt then and when we look back on it today still feels like an incident that happened, a defined moment in time with a before and an after. there was our parentsʼ world, and now there is our world” (104). rising sea levels in britain and elsewhere appear to have caused two distinct but related problems. on the one hand, britain needed a wall to protect itself from the rising water. on the other hand, elevated sea levels forced many other people to migrate. many of those seem to want to go to britain, and the country wishes to protect itself from a wave of “others.” to ʻprotectʼ its citizens from an invasion by refugees, the government decided to build the wall. the risks they did not consider involve thinking about what happens to an isolationist country in a globally interconnected world, and one result is scarcity. an example is the availability of food. hafi, the main protagonist s̓ companion, recollects what she has read in “old” books, from times before the change, 39 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and these records strike her as if people were living in paradise: “[t]he produce you could get before the change [. . . .] everything, all the time. tomatoes and fruits, hams from you name it, meat whenever you liked, all of it all year round, anything you wanted from anywhere at any time” (lanchester 2019: 73). the absence of any trade (or any contact) with the rest of the world means that now “[e]verybody grows their own food” (lanchester 2019: 136) and is limited to what kinds of food can thrive on british soil. another example of an outcome that many did not necessarily anticipate is that making a fortress of britain and the isolationist policies created enmities that cannot be overcome. as one character assesses the motives, they were “[a] selfish, self-interested turning away from the world. a refusal to our responsibilities. […] you canʼt argue with people who want you to drown, to be overrun, to be washed away” (lanchester 2019: 106). in the interests of protection, the lives and threat to the lives of others do not matter. as long as it does not happen in britain, it is acceptable when others on the outside do not survive so long as those on the inside do. the world as joseph kavanagh knows it is a place where everything is always the same, nothing resembles things as they used to be,¹³ and there are no individual choices. as he notes, “everything about the wall means you have no choice” (lanchester 2019: 4). the novel begins with a focus on the wall and josephs̓ first day of required service as a “defender”, and creates an atmosphere that is dominated by (external and internal) frigidity: “it is cold on the wall. that s̓ the first thing everybody tells you, and the first thing you notice when youʼre sent there, and it s̓ the thing you think about all the time youʼre on it, and it s̓ the thing you remember when youʼre not there anymore. it s̓ cold on the wall” (lanchester 2019: 3). these are the thoughts of the first-person narrator as he is starting his tour of duty on the wall that had been built to encircle and protect the british isles by those who came before him. put differently, the fortification (whose official name is the “national coastal defence structure;” lanchester 2019: 21) separates ʻusʼ from ʻthem,̓ and guarding this separation is so serious that every young man and woman is drafted to serve his or her two years on the barrier. the wall reminds those serving there that life has become reduced to a very simple but limiting format: “[n]o leeway, no space, nothing but black and white, the rulebook or anarchy, nothing but the wall and the others and the always waiting, always expectant, entirely unforgiving sea.” (45) aside from permanently unpleasant and windy temperatures, the notion of ʻcoldʼ suggests other things, too. before he was born, kavanagh s̓ government implemented a strategy of total isolationism to keep the homeland s̓ population number stagnant and to keep the british people safe from terrorists and migrants. this strategy becomes more 13 the young people on the wall do not have first-hand experience of how things used to be. but like haifa reads about food items no longer available in old books, they can also listen to older people talking, or watch films in which people travel to foreign destinations and walk on beaches. 40 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) cruel and violent as time passes. until about ten years ago, “others [that made it across the wall] who showed they had valuable skills could stay, at the cost of exchanging places with the defenders who had failed to keep them out” (lanchester 2019: 44). to keep a steady number of citizens, the rule is: “[o]ne in, one out: for every other who got over the wall, one defender is put out to sea” (lanchester 2019: 34). this cold valuing of a skilled newcomer over a ʻfailedʼ defender, however, does not suffice to keep the country safe, because ʻword got outʼ and enticed many other others to follow suit. “now,” as kavanagh explains, “others who get over the wall have to choose between being euthanized, becoming help [slaves owned by the state], or being put back to sea” (lanchester 2019: 44). there are no exceptions, and nobody can escape, because all (rightful) citizens have an implant, a chip that verifies belonging or unmasks otherness: “[n]o biometric id, no life. not in this country” (lanchester 2019: 170). serving as a defender is a harsh and cold duty, and also an experience that changes people s̓ personality. the desire to get away from the wall is so great for some that they succumb to the government s̓ lure, which is a permission to leave in exchange for agreeing to produce children. as kavanagh sees it, there is a paradox that ensues from the country s̓ total isolation and an unwillingness on the part of many to bring children into an unbearable world. the paradox is thus that there may not be enough defenders to continue to protect the country. “to have ʻdefenders ,̓” kavanagh thinks, “people need to breed. but people donʼt want to breed, because the world is such a horrible place. so as an incentive to get people to leave the wall, if you reproduce, you can leave. you breed to leave the wall” (lanchester 2019: 33). clearly, the relationship between the parents of these (potential) children and their offspring will be difficult: the children may well ask them what they were thinking to expose them to a world with no options, which is the accusation that joseph kavanagh makes to his parents. if future relationships between parents and children are thought to be potentially dysfunctional, those between joseph kavanagh and his friends and their parents is already beyond repair. “it s̓ guilt: mass guilt, generational guilt. the olds feel they irretrievably fucked up the world, then allowed us to be born into it. it s̓ true. that s̓ exactly what they did. they know it, we know it. everybody knows it” (lanchester 2019: 53) is how kavanagh summarizes the phenomenon. the implicit reproach is that the parent generation went along with the government s̓ proactive measures, did not think enough for themselves, and did not protest; the result is guilt and broken communication with the next generation. kavanagh confirms that “none of us can talk to our parents. by ʻusʼ i mean my generation, people born after the change” (lanchester 2019: 53). kavanaghs̓ attitude toward each of his parents leaves little hope for the generation gap to be bridged: my mother is hard going. she just feels guilty all the time; her expression in repose, whenever iʼm in the room, resembles a grieving sheep […] my father is worse than my 41 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) mother. the thing about dad is he still has the emotional reflexes of a parent. he wants to be in charge, to know better, to put me straight […] i donʼt want to know their advice or to know what they think about anything, ever. (lanchester 2019: 55) kavanagh s̓ government, with the intent to increase its citizensʼ safety, had not anticipated the risk of these citizens losing their familial bonds, their humanity, or their sense of even being a human being. at a particular moment, kavanagh thinks about the notion of home (after having served some time on the wall) and realizes that “the whole concept of home was strange, a thing you used to believe in .... home: the place where when you have to go there, they have to take you in. … but once you had spent time on the wall, you stop believing in the idea that anybody, ever has no choice but to take you in. nobody has to take you in. they can choose to, or not” (lanchester 2019: 52). the (pro)active measures of the government, meant to keep its population safe, has produced a ʻhomelessʼ and ʻinhumaneʼ citizenry which has to struggle for survival every day—be that on the wall or within its parameters. kavanagh s̓ perspective changes when he begins to see what he is doing from the viewpoint of the others: “[w]e were cold but the others were colder. we were bored and tired and uncomfortable and anxious, they were angry and frightened and exhausted and desperate […] how we must seem to them! we must seem more like devils than human beings” (lanchester 2019: 63). the isolationist policies of his government, however, have been in place too long and are functioning too well for kavanagh to develop thoughts of resistance. instead, he retreats inward in an attempt to ascertain his individuality: “[a]t the same time i was in the middle of my friends and peers and colleagues, my fellow defenders, i was privately scheming to get away from them, to become somebody else” (lanchester 2019: 71). kavanagh, like his peers, is not accustomed to thinking and acting for himself—they are expected to ʻfunctionʼ—and his attempts at ʻbecoming somebody elseʼ only lead to doubts: “maybe there isnʼt a real self, just different versions of us we wear in different settings and with different people” (lanchester 2019: 75). before the protagonist can resolve his internal struggle, he and his colleagues are arrested when some others are able to cross the wall one night. kavanagh, hifa and others are cast out to sea, and the remainder of the story involves their struggle for survival in a place that is ʻno place .̓ when they find a cliff and join their little boat to others already there, they become members of a small community that tries to do its best with very limited resources. the experience allows kavanagh to shed uncertainties he had felt about the world in which he grew up—especially the separation of outsiders from insiders: “if i was an other and they were others perhaps none of us were others but instead we were a new us. it was confusing” (lanchester 2019: 188). kavanagh s̓ insight that “nothing before the sea was real” (lanchester 2019: 201), however, comes 42 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) too late. the proactive risk to isolate the country from the rest of the world that was taken before he was born resulted in a reality for kavanagh and his friends that precludes any organized resistance. there is no ʻhappy endʼ for this dystopia, because the situation has progressed too far to be reversible. kavanagh, hifa and the others will remain adrift on the sea. at the same time, it is clear that this kind of existence will not be sustainable. the denouement of the dilemma occurs abruptly and through a sleight of hand on the narrator s̓ (kavanagh s̓) part. hifa asks him to tell her a story. as he tries to think about a story, kavanagh remembers that stories are supposed to have happy endings, and these are the last lines of the wall: “i said this to myself over and over again, that s̓ what a story is, something that turns out all right, and then it came to me, and what i said out loud began like this: “it s̓ cold on the wall.” (lanchester 2019: 254). the very last sentence, i.e., the beginning of the story he will tell hifa, is identical to the first sentence of the wall. this repetition points to the fact that there is no exit from this dystopia. however, the repetition also invites the reader to speculate that the nightmarish events of the novel (hopefully) may have been ʻjustʼ a story. conclusion if one thinks of risk and safety in the context of an emotional reaction to what is perceived as such, it comes as no surprise that both vox and the wall are first-person narratives. in both cases, the protagonists can only rely on themselves. while jean regrets not having seen the signs of risk when she could have, maybe, done something about it, joseph kavanagh needs to find ways to understand circumstances that have always been beyond his control. vox ultimately stresses the need for the individual to stay engaged with and participate in (public) discourse, while the wall reminds the reader that stories have the power to both delight and teach. johan wolfgang von goethe once commented that “[t]he dangers of life are infinite and among them is safety.” by showing the desire to be and feel safe (at least for white men, in vox), dalcher and lanchester point to the risk that lies at the heart of precisely such desire.¹⁴ these counter-utopian/dystopian imaginings provide an impetus to think about the risky world we live in. as such, they are a contribution to a discourse that concerns all and that, simultaneously, underscores the important role that literature 14 many sources observe how in the united states white supremacy discourse has moved from being on the periphery of political discourse to have more recently become part of mainstream politics. clark simon, from the center for american progress, states that white supremacist discourse “seeks to rehabilitate toxic political notions of racial superiority [. . .] and attempts to build a notion of an embattled white majority which has to defend its power by any means necessary” (simon 2020: n. p.). john blake comments on “white masculinity that allows some white men to feel as if they ʻcan rule and brutalize without consequenceʼ” (blake 2021: n. p.). as he cites examples of white men having been acquit43 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) continues to play. as mark william roche notes in his why literature matters in the 21st century, “[t]he purpose of the literary prophet is to be proven wrong, that is, to motivate action in the present, such that the worst-case scenario of the future not take place” (roche 2004: 240). literary prophets or not, one can only hope that dalcher s̓ and lanchester s̓ scenarios will be proven wrong. references abramowitz, m. 2019. freedom in the world 2019. democracy in retreat. https:// freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2019/democracy-retreat. beck, u. 1986. risikogesellschaft. auf dem weg in eine andere moderne. frankfurt am main: suhrkamp taschenbuch verlag. beck, u. 2007. weltrisikogesellschaft. frankfurt am main: suhrkamp taschenbuch verlag. berlatsky, n. 2020. trump voters motivated by racism may be violating the constitution. can they be stopped? january 17. https://apple.news/a2wpnwpibtpoikvz6vou_jq. blake, j. 2021. there s̓ nothing more frightening in america today than an angry white man. november 21. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/20/angry-white-mentrials-blake-cec/index.html. bosco, r. & j. myerson (eds.). 2005. the selected lectures of ralph waldo emerson by ralph emerson. athens, ga: university of georgia press. clark, s. 2020. how white supremacy returned to mainstream politics. july 1. https:// americanprogress.org/article/white-supremacy-returned-mainstreampolitics/. dalcher, c. 2018. vox. new york: berkley. france 24. 2019, ʻvoxʼ by christina dalcher: a novel ripe for the #metoo era [video]. youtube. march 8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq4cxxel6xw. gupta, s. 2012. contemporary literature. the basics. london: routledge. glare, p. g. w. (ed.). 2004. oxford latin dictionary. oxford: clarendon press. hutchinson, p. (ed.) 1998. johann wolfgang von goethe. maxims and reflections. transl. e. stopp. london: penguin books. ischinger, w. 2018. welt in gefahr: deutschland und europa in unsicheren zeiten. hamburg: econ. kidd, j. 2019. john lanchester on walls, brexit, trump, climate change and his latest novel. february 15. https://thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/books/johnted of violence against their (non-white) victims, he is compelled to state that “[l]aws [. . .] not only protect white vigilante violence but, in some cases, seem to embolden vigilantes” (blake 2021: n. p.). in britain, supporters of brexit argue that democracy in the eu is failing and that, importantly, brussels has undermined british autonomy. in addition, they refer to the adverse impact of the euro, the migrant and climate crises, and thus embrace isolationist attitudes. see for example, robert tombsʼ recent this sovereign isle: britain in and out of europe (2021). https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/20/angry-white-men-trials-blake-cec/ https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/20/angry-white-men-trials-blake-cec/ https://americanprogress.org/article/white-supremacy-returned-mainstream-politics/ https://americanprogress.org/article/white-supremacy-returned-mainstream-politics/ https://americanprogress.org/article/white-supremacy-returned-mainstream-politics/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq4cxxel6xw https://thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/books/john-lanchester-on44 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) lanchester-on-walls-brexit-trump-climate-change-and-his-latest-novel1.826098. lanchester, j. 2019. the wall. new york/london: w. w. norton and company. leavy, p. 2019. fiction, feminism, and qualitative research: an interview with dr. patricia leavy. november 20. https://tqr.nova.edu/2019/11/20/fiction-feminismand-qualitative-research-an-interview-with-dr-patricia-leavy/. letourneau, n. 2017. dear trump voters the 1950s arenʼt coming back. july 5. https:// washingtonmonthly.com/2017/07/05/dear-trump-voters-the-1950s-arentcoming-back/. levitsky, s. & d. ziblatt. 2019. how democracies die. new york: crown publishing group. mcmanus, d. 2020. trump is stuck in a time warp on race. june 14. https:// www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-06-14/trump-is-stuck-in-a-timewarp. nevala-lee, a. 2019, march 5. rising seas, migrants, war: a timely novel from john lanchester. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/books/review/johnlanchester-wall.html. orwell, g. 1946. why i write. https://srjcstaff.santarosa.edu/~mleydon/ whywrited.pdf. risk. oxford english dictionary. www.oed.com. pinakoulia, m. 2020. female struggle and negotiation of agency in christina dalcher s̓ vox. ex-centric narratives: journal of anglophone literature, culture and media 4: 193205. roche, m. w. 2004. why literature matters in the 21st century. new haven: yale university press. ryerse, r. 2020. i questioned the sincerity of donald trump s̓ pro-life stance. the response from my fellow evangelicals was troubling. february 17. https://apple. news/ah3koqi50ry-mfl7ixnhzcg. sandrock, k. 2020. border temporalities, climate mobility, and shakespeare in john lanchester s̓ the wall. journal of modern literature 43.3: 163-180. smith, t. 2020. whitelash: unmasking white grievance at the ballot box. cambridge: cambridge university press. steinberg, n. 2020. crumbling us senate echoes roman collapse. february 3. https:// apple.news/ak7fzrrhzrfgxc2rpjxnkxg. szabo, l.-v. 2018. utopia and uchronia from thomas more to h. g. wells. transylvanian review 27.4: 129-139. thomas-corr, j. 2019, january 15. ʻthe wallʼ by john lanchester review—dystopian fable for our time. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/15/the-wall-byjohn-lanchester-review. tombs, r. 2021. this sovereign isle: britain in and out of europe. devon: allen lane. https://thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/books/john-lanchester-onhttps://tqr.nova.edu/2019/11/20/fiction-feminism-andhttps://tqr.nova.edu/2019/11/20/fiction-feminism-andhttps://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/07/05/dear-trump-voters-the-1950s-arent-cominghttps://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/07/05/dear-trump-voters-the-1950s-arent-cominghttps://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/07/05/dear-trump-voters-the-1950s-arent-cominghttps://www.latimes.com/politics/ https://www.latimes.com/politics/ https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/books/review/john-lanchesterhttps://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/books/review/john-lanchesterhttps://srjcstaff.santarosa.edu/~mleydon/whywrited.pdf https://srjcstaff.santarosa.edu/~mleydon/whywrited.pdf https://www.the 45 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) uyeda, r. l. 2020. the trump administration just expanded its efforts to strip naturalized citizens of their status. february 27. https://apple.news/ axjkvnkrcqpyklqjenwog1w. váňa, j. 2020. more than just a product: strengthening literature in sociological analysis. sociology compass 14 (6) n.p. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12789. wolf, z. b. 2020. is it time to freak out about america? what s̓ next after impeachment. february 2. https://apple.news/awu0dcxjttc-mocsoedyv_q. zinn, j. o. (ed.). 2008. social theories of risk and uncertainty. an introduction. oxford: blackwell publishing. *** adelheid rundholz is a native of cologne, germany, and a professor of comparative literature and french. she has presented papers and published on world literature, literature of migration, graphic novels, and cinema. her research interests are comparative literature, literary theory, literature of migration, genre, and translation. https://apple.news/ https://apple.news/ https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12789 adelheid rundholz1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.37.2.02 unwelcome consequences: christina dalcher’s vox and john lanchester’s the wall 37 103 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) silvia martínez-falquina¹ doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.37.2.06 university of zaragoza, spain https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8054-095x missing is not a destination: bringing the indigenous woman home in mmiw literature abstract. this article underscores the relevance of literature within the current missing and murdered indigenous woman movement, which denounces the high rates of violence suffered by indigenous women in canada and the usa. as i argue, mmiw literature is a particularly useful form of activism because it makes the problem more visible as it offers a diversity of images that challenge the settler colonial silencing, dehumanizing and pathologizing of the indigenous woman. literary texts examine the multiple layers of the mmiw issue and its settler colonial sexist/racist roots, and simultaneously search for an emotional response that boosts engagement. the article offers a contextualization of literature within the mmiw movement in connection to activism, it reflects on the challenges of approaching the issue from a non-indigenous perspective, and it engages in a close reading of works by tanaya winder and linda legarde grover to illustrate the most significant features of mmiw poetry and fiction. both authors challenge the western narrative of survivorism, moving beyond the passive or guilty victim roles in settler colonial representations, and positing relationality as a key value to refute the silencing and invisibility of indigenous women. keywords: missing and murdered indigenous women, settler colonialism, survivorism, artivism, relationality, marcie rendon, tanaya winder, linda legarde grover. the mmiw movement and literature² the present article examines the relevant role of literature within the missing and murdered indigenous women (mmiw) movement³, a contemporary grassroots 1 address for correspondence: universidad de zaragoza, departamento de filología inglesa y alemana, calle pedro cerbuna 12, 50009 zaragoza, spain. e-mail: smfalqui@unizar.es 2 the author gratefully acknowledges the support of the spanish ministry of economy, industry and competitiveness (mineco) and the european regional development fund (dgi/erdf) (code ffi2017-84258-p); the government of aragón and the european social fund (code h03_20r); as well as prof. john mcleod and the school of english at the university of leeds. 3 more recently, the movement has expanded to include violence against girls (mmiwg), two-spirit https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8054-095x 104 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) coalition aimed at raising awareness about the high rates of violence suffered by indigenous women in canada and the us⁴. this violence takes many forms, including sexual abuse, murder, trafficking, or forced disappearances. the term “epidemic” is commonly used to refer to the mmiw crisis, but it is also contested since, as sarah deer claims, this is not “a contagious disease,” but “a crime against humanity” (2015: x). mmiw activists organize marches, compile information, promote legal change, and assist the affected communities. the most representative symbol of the movement is the red handprint across the mouth, which stands for the silence in the face of violence against women and the suppressed voices of those who have gone missing. frequent catchphrases vindicate presence (“notinvisible”), resist the missing womens̓ exclusion from history (“you are not forgotten”) or focus on the impact of violence on communities (“no more stolen sisters”). artistic creativity plays a fundamental role in supporting mmiw activism, the most representative example being jaime blacks̓ redress project, an installation consisting of red dresses hanging in open spaces to symbolize the missing women which started in winnipeg in 2010 and has since traveled in canada and the us⁵. as mmiw activists often claim, indigenous women go missing several times: first and foremost, at the hands of the perpetrators; but also, subsequently, in the media, in data, in the justice system. they are not considered newsworthy (barker et al. 2022), and “[o]ver 95% of mmiwg are never covered by the mainstream media” (ficklin et al. 2022: 59). in 2015, the absence of official statistics moved annita lucchesi, a member of the southern cheyenne tribe, to create the mmiwg2 database, hosted by the sovereign bodies institute. as she says, “[f]or too long, data has been about other people telling native people who we are… its̓ time that we tell the world who we are, and the world [to] actually listen to us” (bayona-strauss 2020). as for the lack of justice, problems of jurisdiction due to the tribesʼ lack of legal sovereignty have been noted in various studies, starting with one by amnesty international (2007). all in all, missing women are not considered full citizens with basic human rights and are treated as ungrievable, precarious lives (butler 2004) or “wasted humans” (bauman 2004). when indigenous women are represented by others, their presence is more often than not buried under the prevalent dehumanizing images imposed on them. the peoples (mmiwg2s), transgender (mmwg2st), queer, questioning, intersex and asexual people (mmi–wg2slgbtqqia). both this article and the literary representations of violence it examines are focused on indigenous women, so i will be using mmiw throughout my text. 4 since the publication of amnesty internationals̓ maze of injustice in 2007, and the canadian national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in 2019, most of the texts about the different facets of mmiw start with an account of the outrageous levels of violence that indigenous women are subjected to. see, as recent examples, ficklin et al. 2022, heim 2022, joseph 2021, luoma 2021, mack & naʼputi 2019, myers 2022, parsloe & campbell 2021, or presley 2020. 5 see jaimeblackartist.com/exhibitions. presley 2020 offers more examples of mmiw art. 105 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) stereotype of the promiscuous indian woman, who is prone to deviance and incapable of controlling her impulses, is determining in the victim-blaming processes that are activated whenever an indigenous woman goes missing⁶. furthermore, indigenous women are all too often pathologized and deprived of agency. in fact, the use of the passive voice is commonly associated with settler colonial accounts of mmiw, a tendency which downplays perpetrator violence and accountability, thus obscuring the responsibility of the state and its institutions (de bourbon et al. 2022). needless to say, it is extremely important for indigenous women to take control of the images concerning them, to represent themselves from their own personal and tribal perspectives. this is relevant because, as miranda offers, “without a voice, one remains a victim; with a voice, one becomes a survivor. […] [b]y telling our stories, native women can move past survival and into the role of healers” (2010: 105). hence, we can argue that the major objectives of the mmiw movement are twofold: to make the problem of violence against indigenous women visible, and to make the problem not the only thing that is seen or known about these women, so as to avoid re-victimizing them. this is very efficiently achieved through literature. by mmiw literature i refer to indigenous literary works that engage directly and explicitly with the mmiw movement, becoming a way of activism in their visibilization of the problem and their decolonial motivation. in spite of recent contributions to the field, it still deserves more critical attention, especially that produced in the us⁷. as i argue in the next section, approaching mmiw literature from a non-indigenous perspective is challenging, and there are some ethical considerations to make concerning the risk of simplification and essentialization. for one thing, in order not to fall into further simplification or stereotyping—or, to use chimamanda adichies̓ well-known term (2019), the “single story” of the disappearance of these women—it is essential to offer a diversity of images and stories from indigenous perspectives. this is the first step in rebelling against the dehumanization brought on by the forces of settler colonialism. hence, in this article i offer an overview of the main characteristics of mmiw literature by delving into two of its most relevant examples: the poems of tanaya winder and the fiction of linda legarde grover. these authors belong to different traditions— duckwater shoshone nation and bois forte band of the minnesota chippewa tribe, respectively—and they resort to a variety of literary genres and forms, but they show a common motivation in their denouncing of the mmiw crisis. 6 see, for example, mortons̓ analysis (2016) of the billboards warning indigenous women against hitchhiking in the highway of tears, a particularly dangerous region in canada, and her exposure of the way they are perceived as engaging in risky behavior—therefore, being willing victims and wrongdoers— without analyzing the reasons why they have no other options of mobility. 7 for previous studies of us literature in connection to mmiw, see bowers 2017, macklin 2021, martínezfalquina 2020 or heim 2022. a good analysis of canadian mmiwliterature is offered by hargreaves 2017. 106 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) similarly to other kinds of mmiw artivism (see presley 2020), literature is capable of offering data—still very much in need of attention—as it aims at provoking an emotional response⁸. yet, literary language is quite unique in the way it not only reflects reality, but also contributes to shaping it, and this makes it particularly useful to provide a complex and multi-layered vision of the situation. mmiw literature privileges the active voice, offers a diversity of voices and stories, and honors the lives of the missing women, going beyond the victimizing event that took their lives, reclaiming their right to belong as grievable citizens, and vindicating their place both in the community that mourns them and in society at large. hence, it contributes to the recovery of the voice of the missing and murdered women, offering an outlet for grief and thus a possibility of healing. furthermore, as cécile heim claims, “literature is instrumental in understanding and building resistance to this violence thanks to its capacity to perform indigenous epistemologies” (2022: 21). as i will argue, the most relevant value that is articulated in these texts and which both connects to indigenous traditions and challenges settler colonial structures is relationality. “don’t tell me you don’t see indians here”: approaching mmiw literatures through relationality on one occasion in 2015, when white earth anishinaabe poet, fiction writer, playwright and activist marcie rendon was scheduled to speak at a spoken word show at the loft literary center of minneapolis, she realized that her intention to read all the names from the missing and murdered indigenous women in the recently published rcmp inquiry was too much for her three-minute slot (rehagen 2018). after all, “[t]heir names, single spaced, cover 90 pages” (rendon 2020). instead, she wrote a poem, “trigger warning, or genocide is worse than racism,” where each of the seven names that appear represents dozens of stories of women who went missing, were murdered, and did not find justice: “lacey feather. 17 years old”; “tina michelle fontaine, 15”; “angela poorman, 29-year-old mother of three”; “brandy wesaquate, 28”; “pamela napoleon, 42” ; “freda goodrunning a 35-year-old mom of six”; “cindy gladue, 36 years old” (rendon 2020). the womens̓ identity, age or origin may vary, but they all share a similar, tragic fate: “no arrests have been announced”; “no charges have been laid”; “a jury found bradley barton not guilty.” moreover, the number of such deaths “increases daily,” it is the same story again and again, and not surprisingly, says the poetic speaker, “sometimes, sorrow consumes my soul.” the poet is grieving, as the world is, and it is through this connection that the grievability of the lost women is vindicated⁹: 8 the combination of data and emotion to connect with readers is exemplified in ficklin et al.̓s 2022 article, which provides a complete and up-to-date account of the reasons, statistics and activist manifestations of mmiw together with the presence of specific womens̓ names and stories. 9 on the politics of grief representation, see granek 2014. 107 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) sometimes the wind isn’t lonely, it’s a cover for the bodies on the rise call the winds of grief to sing your healing into being sometimes the wind isn’t lonely, it’s a cover for the bodies on the rise the destiny of all these women is marked by their being indigenous females living in a settler colonial state. to make this point, the poetic speaker looks her implied reader in the eye and states: don’t tell me you don’t see indians here your only wish is that we would silently disappear by pointing to his/her wish for native americans to quietly disappear, the addressee is held accountable and identified with settler colonial institutions, moved by what patrick wolfe theorized as the “logic of elimination” (1999, 2006), which “strives to replace indigenous society with that imported by the colonizers” (1999: 27). this wish should also be understood within a larger set of strategies imposed on indigenous peoples, such as the forced assimilation in boarding schools, the massive adoption of native children outside their communities or the enforced sterilization of indigenous women. the prevalence of crimes against indigenous peoples or the lack of appropriate action on the part of the authorities are reminders that “settler colonialism is an ongoing structure, eschewing periodization” (mack & naʼputi 2019: 366). this is an idea we should not lose sight of when dealing with the mmiw issue. marcie rendons̓ poetic lines also warn readers against making the lost womens̓ racial identity invisible or unimportant. doing so would prevent us from finding a viable solution for the violence, for it would not allow us to see that it has been based on a strategic combination of racism and sexism that has determined native and non-native relations ever since europeans set foot on the american continent. as various critics have convincingly argued, indigenous women posed a threat for the colonial project insofar as natives showed alternative ways of structuring gender relations. “most tribes,” mihesuah states, “were egalitarian, that is, native women did have religious, political, and economic power—not more than the men, but at least equal to mens̓” (2003: 42). hence, the colonial system supplanted “women-centered societies with patriarchal, oppressive structures that condone and thrive on violence as a way to control and oppress members of marginalized communities” (deer 2015: xiv). key to this process was the objectification and degradation of indigenous women, who were not only sexualized and demonized, but also considered inherently violable, just like the lands (smith 2005: 12; mihesuah 2003: 59). it is thus no wonder that “sexual violence against native women 108 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) was common after invasion” (mihesuah 2003: 59), and that it continues as long as native people live in lands coveted by government or corporate interests (smith 2005: 107). very clearly, then, “[w]hen a native woman suffers abuse, this abuse is an attack on her identity as a woman and an attack on her identity as native” (smith 2005: 8). hence, as rendon demands, we cannot pretend we “donʼt see indians here.” rendons̓ lines thus connect to relevant issues to consider when writing about mmiw literatures, or about the mmiw issue in general for that matter. as mack and naʼputti warn us, “challenging colonial logics is necessary to resist gendered violence in modernity” (2019: 364), which is why they call on us not to appropriate, commodify or extract knowledge from or speak authoritatively about mmiw, but to “radically de-center our voices as critics and center indigenous knowledge about resisting gender violence in settler colonial nation-states” (365). in turn, ficklin et al. encourage both indigenous women and allies to become word warriors and to speak of mmiw with respect, to recognize “the importance of listening to and learning from indigenous voices” (2022: 72). they remind non-indigenous people that they do not need saviors, and reclaim ownership of efforts for mmiwg and asserting sovereignty of tribal people, rather than adding invisibility. furthermore, re-centering native worldviews changes victimization narratives about native women—restoring the sacred space women originally occupied in many tribal worldviews. decolonization reclaims disenfranchised outlets for addressing ambiguous grief and loss by creating a sense of ceremony—often through communitybased and creative efforts that enhance sustainability of grass-roots movements. decolonization also repairs rifts in kinship networks, creating a sense of community and strengthening the bonds among native peoples. (71) also significantly, allison hargreaves argues that we urgently need a critical analysis of the representation of violence against indigenous women at a time when violence is “misrepresented in ways that pathologize indigenous women while normalizing systemic colonial violence in their lives” (2017: 26). we should be aware that it is not the missing women who should be considered lacking or guilty in any way. it is the settler colonial structures that need to be scrutinized and challenged. in this respect, an analysis of mmiw should attend to the settler colonial idea of survivorism, which is, in the words of sarah ropp, “an ideology centered around claiming the identity of survivor through the denial of ones̓ own vulnerability” (2019: 132). this is based on the binary opposition between survival and victimization, where the notion of survival has been constructed ideologically in the highly individualistic culture of the united states “as the positive assertion of personal agency that allows one to overcome the passivity associated to victimhood” (132). according to ropp, the most destructive aspects of survivorism are “the reliance on a sacrificial victim in order to 109 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) assert ones̓ survival and the inability of victim-blaming in order to believe in the myth of ʻdeservedʼ suffering (and thus escape the guilt otherwise brought on by inaction against anothers̓ suffering)” (132). ropp suggests that survivorism is “a core habit of whiteness” (134), and offers as an example the compulsive urge to interpret us texts that feature child protagonists, particularly poor, ethnically marked children—like esperanza, from the house on mango street, or esch, from salvage the bones—within the context of redemptive survival, which “undermines our capacity to fully respond, either affectively or politically, to the suffering of less triumphant members of their communities” (133). in her view, this is connected to a typically american worldview where one should not delve into grief and adversity needs to be overcome. as ropp offers, a critical awareness of survivorism as an inherited, pervasive ideology “helps the reader learn to honor the one who survives without blaming, depersonifying, or dishonoring the one who does not” (133). this idea is essential for my analysis of mmiw literature, where i intend to bring to the fore the way the texts avoid the destructive aspects of survivorism, resisting the trap of victim-blaming or reliance on a sacrificial victim, and vindicate both survivors and non survivors through the essential value of relationality. irrespective of differential tribal traits, indigenous cultures generally interpret being as being-with, and a relational way of being is “at the heart of what it means to be indigenous” (wilson 2008: 80). in fact, as winona laduke put it, it is “our relations to each other” that bind native cultures together (1999: 2). such understanding of the self as inextricable from its relations is articulated in direct connection to the land, understood as the environment and all its creatures. people, glen coulthard claims, are “an inseparable part of an expansive system of interdependent relations covering the land and animals, past and future generations, as well as other people and communities” (2014: 63). in this view, the land is not only central to material survival and individual and communal identity; it is also “an ontological framework for understanding relationships” (60, original emphasis). coulthard theorizes this as “grounded normativity,” an ethical framework provided by the land as a mode of reciprocal relationship, which focuses on egalitarianism, sharing, respect, and the recognition of obligation to others and to the world. the land teaches us how to live “in relation to one another and our surroundings in a respectful, nondominating and nonexploitative way” (60). not surprisingly, settler colonialism has striven to break native americansʼ relation to the land, to such an extent that the continued dispossession of indigenous peoples is largely about breaking those connections. this explains why, especially in recent years, the recovery and nurturing of relations as the pervading principle of life is one of the most clearly decolonial strategies of indigenous writers, artists and activists. as we will see in the following sections, it is by articulating the fundamental value of relationality that mmiw literature rejects the settler colonial view on indigenous women as wasted and vindicates them as grievable lives and complex, sovereign human beings. 110 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the search for words to heal the missing woman in tanaya winder’s poetry tanaya winder is an author, poet, singer, songwriter and educator from intertribal lineage—southern ute, pyramid lake paiute, diné and shoshone—and an enrolled citizen of duckwater shoshone nation. her heritage also includes african american. acknowledging where she comes from is important to her, for it establishes her place in a web of relations: “i do this to ground myself but also to respect my ancestors; i believe we carry them, their light, and their love wherever they go” (2018c: 268). relationality is essential to her work: whenever she visits a school and establishes that relationship with the youth, she states, “i leave with a commitment to that community; i will always be responsible and accountable to them because now we are connected” (268). she claims that “[o]ne of the ways we are related is through shared pain as a result of historical and ancestral trauma” (269), thus pointing to the shared vulnerability of indigenous peoples under settler colonialism. living with ptsd—which she re-defines as “post-traumatic settler disorder” (2020: 188)—“means seeking ways to survive” (188), and there is surely much to be done in reclaiming and rebuilding the ruptures brought on by colonialism and capitalism—the trauma from historical genocidal acts committed against us. from relatives being taken away from their homes and families to be forced into boarding school to our women, girls, and two-spirit relatives being stolen, history is inscribed on our bodies. when our women and children go missing, it is our responsibility to seek justice. when the world is silent about our struggles, art can be an act of resisting that silence. (188) storying—“excavating our ancestorsʼ stories” (188)—is an act of survivance as well as an exhibition of creative sovereignty. and very importantly, in that act of excavation she finds love, the epitome of relation and the key to understand winders̓ work at large: “our ancestorsʼ love flows through our veins. i imagine it as moments of impact, connection, and a web of light woven through each heart we encounter on our paths” (2018c: 271). winders̓ activist work in support of mmiw includes the co-founding of the sing our rivers red (sorr) collective of indigenous artists, poets and activists to raise awareness of the issue. sorr promoted national mmiw awareness day—established on may 5ᵗʰ 2017—as well as a traveling exhibit composed of earrings donated by the families of missing or murdered women, which has been presented in various states in the us and canada (carr 2017). the original exhibit included 1,181 single earrings, and like rendons̓ poem, or like the red dresses hung by jamie black, it resorts to beauty and the 111 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) emotional impact of art as it focuses on representativeness: each earring stands for a lost indigenous woman, but it is also one of a pair, the second one missing, thus engaging with the tension of presence and absence. these ideas also play a relevant role in winders̓ poetry, one of the most interesting examples of recent mmiw literature. in “missing more than a word” (2018a), she ponders the lack of language to apprehend the statistics: someone once asked me, what are the words i do not yet have— … … … verbs that will story our bodies into something more than missing, more than squaw or lost, beyond statistics: 1 in 3 native women will be raped in their lifetime. (220) the sets of three suspension dots indicate ellipses—the lack of words, the missing women, the single story of the indigenous woman—which, in turn, become patterns on the page, the dots bringing the words together, the silences creating the space for a muted beat. the poetic speaker digs, layer after layer of settler colonial history, laws, injustice: […] i dig until mud and earth find home underneath my fingernails. iʼll plant something new in the absence burn vanish underreport [.] (220) her mission is to reach the place where indigenous women will not be erased, and this is only found in the deep connection to the land: let us poem a place where you cannot erase us into white space. … … … let us dig to remind ourselves our roots are ancestral and there is nothing deeper than these sacred, dirt-covered hands. (220) in “extraction: seeking ways to survive,” the poetic speaker engages in a dialogue with her grandmother, who teaches her to embroider and knit, as well as songs and “words,/ in ʻindianʼ as she says” (2020: 186). for generations, tongues were pierced with 112 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) needles, boarding school is “where people go to die,” in a system where the colonizers “saw our bodies as land full of resources / waiting to be extracted and exploited” (186). the women are still looking for words to heal from exploitation: can we un-suicide, un-pipeline, un-disappear our dear ones? there is no word for undo but many ways to say return. we never get to go back to before[.] (187) disappearance takes many forms: drugs into their veins—“alcoholism is the symptom not the disease” (186)—fathers “evaporating” (187) and mothers “flooding themselves/ into unglobable rivers because their mothers were taken long ago” (187). there is a continuity in the loss, and there is a continuity in the search, which does not stop: we are still searching dragging rivers red until we find every body that ever went missing. for as long as i can remember, weʼve been stolen: from reservation to industrial boarding schools and today our girls, women, and two-spirit still go missing and murdered. i could find no word for this. (187) the weaving—of stitches, of words—is the way to healing: “who taught us/ to sew new memories into old scars, fingers threading needle/ so precise in its recorded pain?” (187). even when hands fail, the poetic speaker asserts, “my mouth wants to tell the story” (187). the story recurs, as in “love lessons in a time of settler colonialism” (2018b), where strategic enjambment points to fluidity and fragmentation simultaneously: […] as an indigenous woman silence is deadening. there is danger in being seen, our bodies are targets marked for violence. we carry the earths̓ me too inside us, a howling wind, our mothers & their mothers swallowed these bullets long ago. (221) the reference to the global metoo movement points to the connection of the violations on the land and women. both are the victims of settler colonial violence, and being visible to those shooting eyes is undesirable, for their bodies are what bullets are aimed at: the voices ricochet i wish i were invisible i wish i were invisible i wish echoes in my eardrums—we know what it s̓ like to live in fear. (221) 113 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) having an indigenous body, no indigenous woman is safe. they live with the constant fear that they may be the next ones to go missing. statistics prove such high probability of rape that mothers even prepare their daughters for it, as louise erdrich famously noted when commenting on her 2012 novel the round house: when i found out that native mothers prepare their daughters to be raped, how to behave when it happens, you know, that it s̓ sometimes considered unavoidable, and that—heres̓ how weʼre going to behave and respond, it felt like a small devastation of my spirit. (in tharp 2014: 28) the poetic speaker of “love lessons” also prepares herself, as shown when she says: […] should i go missing: donʼt stop searching; drag every river until it turns red and the waters of our names stretch a flood so wide it catches everything. and we find each other whole and sacred, alive and breathing and breathing and breathing. (2018b: 221) in “sonnet mxlcxxxi” (2021), winder converses with two of the most traditional western literary forms—the sonnet and the elegy—to honor the missing women while emphasizing the vulnerability of both survivors and victims. the title embodies representativeness once more: 1181 women were taken, and one sonnet should be written for each of those women. the basic knowledge that we would expect to have in order to honor a dead persons̓ life in an elegy is not always available, like that concerning the form of death: “not when nor where but how, did we lose you,/ in between last seen_ the words become elegy/ echoing sidewalks and streets” (25). a strategically situated comma—“how, did we lose you”—creates a caesura that points to disruption, to language interrupted. a similar strategy is used in line 9—“are we invisible if nobody knows, why?” (25)—which opens various possibilities for questions, all unanswered: why are we invisible?; why does nobody know?; or even, does nobody know why? as visibilized in the poem, women are denied proper attention on the part of authorities, the police, the justice courts. as a consequence, the missing woman is exposed: pictures are handed out to strangers, posted on bulletin boards, categorized under the m-word—“missing/ as if it were destination, a place one goes/ to disappear in invisible cities” (25)—which does not let the individual be seen as an individual, for “theres̓ no hero like/ in the movies. no ads, mainstream coverage, or tv shows/ to show our story” (25). the blame falls not on the women, of course, but on society, which has been desensitized, does not see—does not want to see—the problem: “when 1,181 women were 114 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) taken, did eyes cease to have vision/ or pay attention to a body being swallowed up?” (25). answers will not be found within the structures of settler colonialism, but in the ones who are left behind, whose sense of communal mission is replacing that of conventional heroes of the american tradition, becoming an endless search of the cities in which we loved (and love) you. we will never forget. we demand for you action, words, even a poem that ends: your lives matter, too. (25) the ones who are left behind are the ones who are grieving—an expression which becomes a political act—and they are on a mission to search endlessly and to never forget. relationality—at the basis of the dialogues between “we” and “you,” the past, present and future—is extended to solidarity across racial borders—the last line pointing both to black lives matter, which shares similar issues with mmiw (myers 2022: 32) and to poems in the african american tradition like langston hughesʼ “i, too” (1926). all in all, there is nothing that suggests justified or deserved suffering here; survival is not redemptive, there is no direct equivalence between agency and survival vs. passivity of those who are victimized. they all demand a voice, they all vindicate the rehumanization and reindividuation of the missing women, who should not be blamed for what happened to them, but honored as important members of their communities. alleviating loss through connection in linda legarde grover’s in the night of memory¹⁰ in the night of memory (2019) is the most recent novel by linda legarde grover, an enrolled member of the bois forte band of the minnesota chippewa tribe, and professor of american indian studies at the university of minnesota duluth. set in the fictional mozhay point reservation in northern minnesota—familiar to readers of grovers̓ previous fiction—in the night of memory is focused on the childhood, adolescence and early adulthood of rainfall dawn and azure sky, whose mother loretta gallette—who had a troubled childhood and adolescence which ended in alcoholism and poverty—was compelled to turn them over to the county and later disappeared. after the traumatic experience of separation and physical and sexual abuse in several foster homes, the two sisters are reclaimed, through the indian child welfare act, by their mozhay point family, who bring them home to raise as their own. the novel examines the dissociative effects of loss and abuse, legitimizes the grief of disenfranchised peoples, and theorizes about the influence of the past in the present, focusing on 10 a preliminary version of some of the ideas in this section were presented at the 2020/2021 conference of the european association of american studies (university of warsaw) and the 9th international conference on language, literature and culture (university of bialystok). 115 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) memory as both a traumatic haunting and restorative process. the text also offers relationality and an ethics of care as an antidote to the absence, violence and dispossession imposed on indigenous peoples by the ongoing structures of settler colonialism. grover significantly dedicates her novel “to the missing native women / and all who grieve them.” moreover, directly connecting the text to mmiw artivism, the author contributed two pieces to the bring her home: stolen daughters of turtle island exhibition, featured in the minneapolis all my relations gallery from february 14 to june 27, 2019¹¹. as specified in the exhibition flyer, bring her home artwork joins the mmiw awareness campaign to stop sexual exploitation, showing visual stories of the affected women and their families. resonating throughout the artwork is the plea to know where the missing women are and the wish to bring them home. the intended effect is the visibilization of the magnitude of the mmiw problem as well as the honoring of individual womens̓ lives. the specific artwork authored by linda legarde grover and her late sister susan legarde menz is titled “red ribbons for loretta #1 and #2,” and it features two pictures of a woman in a red plaid jacket in a wooded area, who, turning her back on the viewer, walks alone in an undetermined direction. each of the two photographs— taken by susan legarde menz—is surrounded by red ribbons with handwritten text from in the night of memory. as the exhibit label reads, “susie and linda endeavored to communicate a sense of vulnerability and danger in the midst of beauty. ʻweweni, weweni; walk carefully,̓ we are saying to all native women. ʻtake care; we love you and need youʼ” (2019). these pieces acknowledge the vulnerability of indigenous women whilst addressing them directly, thus pointing to inclusivity and relation. another relevant claim is made by the exhibition curator, angela two stars (sisseton wahpeton sioux), who warns against reducing the issue to a statistic. as she states, my story is only one of many… i was nine years old when my grandma disappeared. i remember how my family searched for her for months. […] i remember when her body was found, and the horrific way in which she died. i donʼt want that to be the only thing i remember about her… […] i donʼt want her to lose her identity to the violent act that took her life. (“bring her home” 2019) the frequency of the mmiw problem is such that it is not unusual for most indigenous peoples to have been touched by it more or less directly. but as two stars claims, in line with the mmiw movement at large, it is important not to let the terrible events of these womens̓ disappearances and/or deaths be the only thing that is known about them. 11 see http://www.allmyrelationsarts.com/portfolio_page/bring-her-home-stolen-daughters -of-turtle-island-2019/ the artwork for the 2020 bring her home exhibition can be found here: http://www.allmyrelationsarts.com/portfolio_page/bring-her-home-sacred-womxn-ofresistance/ 116 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) similarly, in the night of memory weaves several narratives around the disappearance of loretta, and by transforming absence into presence through writing, the novel functions as an excavation of memories to honor the lost woman, to come to terms with the grief caused by her loss, and to reestablish belongingness for her relations. individual and family trauma—the grieving for lorettas̓ disappearance—cannot be disentangled from american indian unresolved trauma and disenfranchised grief. in this respect, elder auntie girlie, one of the characters of the novel, states: as lorettas̓ auntie in the indian way, i will tell you that there is more to lorettas̓ story than her disappearance and more to her disappearance than the story. stories like lorettas̓ were and are sadly so common that it didnʼt even merit mention in the news, that an indian woman who lived a rough life had lost her children to the county and dropped off the face of the earth without anyone even noticing for the longest time. loretta was one of those women, one of how many we will never know, and just as it was with loretta it was for them, that the story is more than any individual lost womans̓ failings, more than speculation about the mystery, surely more than rumor and gossip and any satisfaction that it was her own fault, or that what goes around comes around, that you reap what you sow, that people get what they deserve. it s̓ our history, the loss of land, of course, but theres̓ more to it: the old indians, they knew how to live in the good ways but then so much became lost, with everything that was happening—people getting moved all over the place, the indian schools and the families that lost their children, and then the drinking, the wrecking of lives—it leads directly to all that is indian country today, including the disappearance of indian women, who the creator intended to be the heart and spirit, the continuity of the people. that includes loretta. (21) the novel deals with trauma, but it would not fit a conventional trauma novel structure. in other words, we do not have a sequence of acting-out behavior followed by partial or complete working-through of traumatic symptoms¹². instead of a sequential or linear kind of narrative—which, irrespective of the order in which it were presented would provide some sort of initial situation, climactic moment(s) and final resolution— stories are related in multifarious and interactive ways, time is fluid and characterization is decentered and communal. unity is achieved through the web of characters, the protagonist being a community which is being observed from different angles. the tapestry of this extended family and their relations is visualized in a family tree at the beginning of the novel, which is introduced as follows: 12 on the applicability of trauma theory to native american literatures, see martínez-falquina 2017. 117 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) gakina awiya— all who are here bound by blood, by name, by love, by spirit to loretta gallette and her daughters, azure sky and rainfall dawn the web of relations around loretta and her daughters is organized by place, including “laforce relatives and friends of mozhay point reservation lands,” “other laforce family and friends,” “gallette relatives and friends of the miskwaa river settlement,” “extended family and friends in duluth, minnesota,” and “friends from minneapolis, minnesota.” several first-person narrators—most notably the two girls and other relatives—speak, and lorettas̓ voice is thus not completely lost but kept alive, remembered and evoked, albeit indirectly. her daughter azure laments that she has forgotten her mothers̓ voice but, as she says, my mother still whispers to me: when it starts to rain and drops of liquid quench the thirst within the sparse leafiness of the old maple tree in the front yard, the wet patter deepening on saturated leaves, rolling water onto the dryness of exposed roots. she whispers to me in the absence of rain, on days that the wind picks up and scatters dried leaves across a sidewalk; in the braking of a city bus or in the weighty freedom of northern lights in the night sky. (4) the most resonant symbol in the novel is that of the northern lights, part of the memory in the title that refers to a moment before loretta lost the girls to the council. this memory accompanies them all their lives, keeping them united: “waawaate,” she says. “waawaate; it s̓ the northern lights.” […] “biizindan, little sweethearts; shhhh . . . can you hear them?” pulled close, closer, our heads lift like our mother s̓ to listen to the low rumble that is the singing wind of waawaate. rising, loretta pulls the edges of the blanket from the floor and wraps them around me and rain, then turns to face the lights. she sways, and then she is dancing in the style of ojibwe traditional women, hands on hips and feet kneading the fire escape floor, its boards softened with age and weather, pivoting half-circles left to right, right to left, lifting the invisible eagle feather fan in her left hand to return the song of prayer that is the creatorgiven gift of waawaateg. (6-8) the waawaate/northern lights scene points to the dynamic nature of memory, to its connection to storytelling, and to its healing function by integrating past and present. the lost mother becomes a ghost to her daughters, but as she transcends the worlds of 118 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the tangible to become one with the stars, she provides them with the cultural referent of her ojibwe dancing. showing the relational emphasis made by the novel, after loretta loses the girls to the county, they are separated and moved to various foster homes, a traumatic experience for both of them. besides suffering from foetal alcohol syndrome, which determines her development and physical traits, rains̓ face is permanently marked by a blow administered by a foster mother, who told them “that [they] were blasphemers who were nothing but fodder for hell” (120). azure, on her part, suffers from sexual abuse from a foster parent at a very young age. luckily for them, they are eventually placed in a home together, and once they are reunited, they can pretend that they can return to their younger selves again, “wounded and battered but each beginning to brighten a little more every day, reflecting the others̓ light” (202). in fact, the two sistersʼ connection—they have become “two halves of one sister” (5)—works as a strategy of survival and as an antidote to their grief. in the eyes of some foster family children, who cannot see the differences between the two girls, they become azurerain (60), and they embrace this name and the strength it gives them. luckily, the girls are not completely lost, and when they are fourteen and almost thirteen, they are told that they are going to another home “because of the indian child welfare act. […] somebody we were related to had requested us” (73) and they are brought back to their mozhay point extended family. as is later explained to the girls, this federal law, passed in 1978, gives tribal governments exclusive jurisdiction over tribal children in matters of custody. still, “[t]he indian people are in grief for the loss of so many of our children” (91), a result of settler colonialism made manifest in the loss and abuse of children in boarding schools, or the foster adoption system, so that the past still has “an influence on the present and, in fact, never goes away” (23). soon after they are settled in with junior—a vietnam veteran suffering from ptsd— and his mother dolly johnson, the girls are taken to a powwow where they go through an informal symbolic adoption ceremony. elder auntie girlie, a “magical old woman” (111), holds the girlsʼ hands in hers, stands and remains “upright between the warmth and youth of the girls who, found, would link the generations before me to the generations after them” (117). for the community, the recovery of the girls is a way to bring back loretta, her absence “shift[ing] shape into a love and care showered onto her daughters, azure sky and rainfall dawn” (150). for the girls, this means the possibility to heal and find a place in the world, as azures̓ words show: each time, whether i am dancing or watching from the side, my heart lifts with happiness and gratitude at being a part of this, but i cherish the early memory of the sobriety powwow at the coppertop church the most dearly. it was there that auntie girlie told rain and me that we look like our mother—her gift to loretta and to us that acknowledged and 119 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) clarified our right and proper place in the laforce and gallette families, and in the world, as surely as the order of women dancers at grand entry. (106) loss can be alleviated through connection, but grover refuses to offer a redemptive or conventionally happy ending to the novel. it is made very clear that some people cannot be found or saved, like loretta, or like rain, whose degenerative illness—connected to the consequences of historical unresolved grief—makes her move backwards as azure moves forward. the younger sister wonders, what makes one child survive and one not? and at what point in the heaviness of grief did rain stop moving forward and fall behind as i continued to run? […] she looks like the child to whose beginnings she is returning in her dementia. this could be her second chance at childhood; not many get to do that, and i hope that the revisit will wipe out some of what surely is left in her soul from the first. stroking her hair i think that if i absorb her traumas into myself, she will be at peace, that i must have space for them somewhere and will never be at peace myself anyway. (200-201) rains̓ voice is gradually silenced, but azure does not let her fall into a secondary or victimized position. both survivors and non-survivors are honored in this novel, the difference being that whereas some have their voices stolen, those who do not take it upon themselves to speak up for those who cannot. conclusion as the works by tanaya winder and linda legarde grover show—albeit with different strategies in correspondence to the poetic and novel genres they each choose to articulate their message in— mmiw literature avoids the most destructive aspects of survivorism, refusing to blame victims or rely on a sacrificial victim to emphasize the triumph of an individual, and thus further developing the indigenous value of relationality. as ropp stated, “[s]urvivorism depends on the shutting down of ones̓ access to ones̓ own vulnerability and full affective range” (2019: 145). this costs people their capacity for intimacy, authenticity, and a sense of connection. hence, [i]f there is a “choice,” an agency discoverable in the pursuit of survival, it is the choice between asserting survivorism—straightening up and allowing the other to lie prone—and inclining toward one another in a posture of mutual openness and caretaking. (147) the works analyzed in this article show victims or less triumphant members of the community who are not blamed or silenced but cared for, honored, made ever-present in spite of the gaps in their lives and representations. as a result, there are no 120 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) ungrievable or wasted lives here. both survivors and non-survivors are seen as part of a community who struggle to regain agency and a voice for self-definition. doing so requires a recognition of vulnerability, which should not be seen as a sign of weakness but of strength, for it is at the basis of relationality, which, we could argue, is not only the most useful quality to live, but the only way to actually live. on another note, although there is no question that, in order to understand the current mmiw crisis, we need to examine the history of settler colonialism in america, we should never lose sight of the fact that it is the present conditions of sexism and racism that can and should be changed. the work of indigenous writers and poets is particularly relevant insofar as they engage with the past to dig into the roots of the contemporary situation, at the same time as they offer new ways of looking not only at the problem but at indigenous women in general, stressing their humanity, vulnerability and resilience, and offering options for a better future. these writersʼ creative process is inherently political, a form of activism, for unfortunately, what they represent through words is still too solidly based on the real world, which is unequal and unfair. in response to the mmiw crisis, anishinaabe writer and critic leanne simpson articulated her rebellion by emphasizing presence—“i am not murdered. i am not missing” (in fahs 2020)—and making the decision to honor the missing women, continue their work, and fight for indigenous nations and a relation with the state “that is no longer based on violence, heteropatriarchy and silence.” as she claims, and as the texts analyzed here also prove, “[t]his is co-resistance. this is community.” references adichie, c. 2009. the danger of a single story. ted talks. https://www.ted.com/ talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=es amnesty international. 2007. maze of injustice: the failure to protect indigenous women from sexual violence in the usa. http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/ issues/women-s-rights/violence-against-women/maze-of-injustice barker, b. et al. 2022. media involvement in the missing and murdered indigenous women/ girls (mmiwg) epidemic. shareok, university of oklahoma. https:// shareok.org/handle/11244/335245 bauman, z. 2004. wasted lives: modernity and its outcasts. cornwall: polity. de bourbon, s., k. gomez & b. san juan. 2022. is active voice enough? community discussions on passive voice, mmiwg2s, and violence against urban indigenous women in san josé, california. genealogy 6: 37. https://doi.org/10.3390/ genealogy6020037 bowers, m. a. 2017. literary activism and violence against native north american women: the urgency for sovereignty. wasafiri 32.2: 48-53. https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=es https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=es http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/women-s-rights/violence-against-women/maze-of-injustice http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/women-s-rights/violence-against-women/maze-of-injustice https://shareok.org/handle/11244/335245 https://shareok.org/handle/11244/335245 https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy6020037 https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy6020037 121 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) bayona-strauss, a. 2020. #mmiw: the life and death of stolen sisters. the order of the good death. november 25. https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/article/ mmiw-the-life-and-death-of-stolen-sisters/ bring her home. 2019. all my relations gallery. http://www.allmyrelationsarts. com/bring-her-home/ butler, j. 2004. precarious life: the powers of mourning and violence. new york: verso. carr, j. 2017. sing our rivers red: tanaya winder. jacket 2, march 17. https:// jacket2.org/commentary/sing-our-rivers-red coulthard, glen. 2014. red skins, white masks: rejecting the colonial politics of recognition. minneapolis: u of minnesota p. deer, s. 2015. the beginning and end of rape: confronting sexual violence in native america. minneapolis: u of minnesota p. fahs, b. (ed.). 2020. burn it down! feminist manifestos for the revolution. london: verso. ficklin, e. et al. 2022. fighting for our sisters: community advocacy and action for missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. journal of social issues 78: 53–78. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12478 granek, l. 2014. mourning sickness: the politicizations of grief. review of general psychology 18.2: 61-68. grover, l. l. 2019. in the night of memory. minneapolis: university of minnesota press. hargreaves, a. 2017. violence against indigenous women: literature, activism, resistance. waterloo, on: wilfrid laurier university press. heim, c. 2022. representing and resisting violence against indigenous women and girls through the rougarou, deer woman, the windigo, and bʼgwus. [unpublished ph.d. dissertation], université de lausanne. joseph, a. s. 2021. a modern trail of tears: the missing and murdered indigenous women (mmiw) crisis in the us. journal of forensic and legal medicine 79: 102136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jflm.2021.102136 laduke, w. 1999. all our relations: native struggles for land and life. chicago: haymarket books. luoma, c. 2021. closing the cultural rights gap in transitional justice: developments from canadas̓ national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. netherlands quarterly of human rights 39.1: 30-52. mack, a. n. & t. r. naʼputi. 2019. “our bodies are not terra nullius”: building a decolonial feminist resistance to gendered violence. women’s studies in communication 42:3: 347-370. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2019.1637803 macklin, r. 2021. natural violence, unnatural bodies: negotiating the boundaries of the human in mmiwg narratives. interventions 23:8: 1089-1105. doi: https://doi.org/ 10.1080/1369801x.2020.1816848 https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/article/mmiw-the-life-and-death-of-stolen-sisters/ https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/article/mmiw-the-life-and-death-of-stolen-sisters/ http://www.allmyrelationsarts.com/bring-her-home/ http://www.allmyrelationsarts.com/bring-her-home/ https://jacket2.org/commentary/sing-our-rivers-red https://jacket2.org/commentary/sing-our-rivers-red https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12478 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jflm.2021.102136 https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2019.1637803 https://doi.org/10.1080%e2%80%8b/1369801x.%e2%80%8b2020.1816848 https://doi.org/10.1080%e2%80%8b/1369801x.%e2%80%8b2020.1816848 122 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) martínez-falquina, s. 2017. re-mapping the trauma paradigm: the politics of native american grief in louise erdrichs̓ “shamengwa.” in: m. j. martínez-alfaro & s. pellicer-ortín (eds.), memory frictions in contemporary literature, 209-230. london: palgrave macmillan. martínez-falquina, s. 2020. my body not my own: an intersectional view on relationality in fiction by toni morrison and louise erdrich. lectora: revista de dones i textualitat 26: 117-132. mihesuah, d. a. 2003. indigenous american women: decolonization, empowerment, activism. lincoln: university of nebraska press. miranda, d. a. 2010. “saying the padre had grabbed her”: rape is the weapon, story is the cure. intertexts 14.2: 93-112. morton, k. a. 2016. hitchhiking and missing and murdered indigenous women: a critical discourse analysis of billboards on the highway of tears. canadian journal of sociology / cahiers canadiens de sociologie 41.3: 299–326. https://doi.org/10.29173/ cjs28261 myers, l. l. 2022. decolonizing humans, ending gender abuse, and sexual violence, from discovery to the twenty-first century and beyond. [unpublished masters̓ thesis], university of oklahoma. national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. 2019. reclaiming power and place: the final report of the national inquiry into missing and murdered women and girls. https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report/ parsloe, s. m. & r. c. campbell. 2021. “folks donʼt understand what it s̓ like to be a native woman”: framing trauma via #mmiw. howard journal of communications 32:3: 197-212. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10646175.2021.1871867 presley, r. 2020. embodied liminality and gendered state violence: artivist expressions in the mmiw movement. journal of international women’s studies 21(7): 91-109. rehagen, t. 2018. their names cover 90 pages: indigenous poets confront an epidemic of missing and murdered women. poetry foundation, oct., 8. https://www.poetry foundation.org/articles/148001/their-names-cover-90-pages rendon, m. 2020. trigger warning, or genocide is worse than racism. about place journal 6.2 (october). https://aboutplacejournal.org/article/trigger-warning-orgenocide-is-worse-than-racism/ ropp, s. 2019. troubling survivorism in the bluest eye. melus 44.2: 132-152. smith, a. 2005. conquest: sexual violence and american indian genocide. boston: south end press. tharp, j. 2014. erdrichs̓ crusade: sexual violence in the round house. studies in american indian literatures 26.3: 25-40. wilson, s. 2008. research is ceremony: indigenous research methods. halifax & winnipeg: fernwood publishing. https://doi.org/10.29173/cjs28261 https://doi.org/10.29173/cjs28261 https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report/ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/148001/their-names-cover-90-pages https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/148001/their-names-cover-90-pages https://aboutplacejournal.org/article/trigger-warning-or-genocide-is-worse-than-racism/ https://aboutplacejournal.org/article/trigger-warning-or-genocide-is-worse-than-racism/ 123 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) winder, t. 2018a. missing more than a word. poetry 212.3 (june): 220. winder, t. 2018b. love lessons in a time of settler colonialism. poetry 212.3 (june): 221. winder, t. 2018c. words as seeds. poetry 212.3 (june): 268-272. winder, t. 2020. extraction: seeking ways to survive. borderlands 19.2: 185-188. winder, t. 2021 (2015). sonnet mxlxxxi. worlds like love. albuquerque: university of new mexico press: 25. wolfe, p. 1999. settler colonialism and the transformation of anthropology: the politics and poetics of an ethnographic event. london: cassell. wolfe, p. 2006. settler colonialism and the elimination of the native. journal of genocide research 8.4: 387-409. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623520601056240 * * * silvia martínez-falquina is associate professor of us literature at the university of zaragoza, spain. a specialist in ethnic and native american womens̓ fiction, she has published indias y fronteras: el discurso en torno a la mujer étnica (2004). she has also coedited, with gordon henry and nieves pascual, a collection titled stories through theories/theories through stories: north american indian writing, storytelling, and critique (2009), and with bárbara arizti, she has coedited the collection on the turn: the ethics of fiction in contemporary narrative in english (2007). her latest articles and chapters have appeared in michigan state university press, roczniki humanistyczne, lectora: revista de dones i textualitat, atlantis, iperstoria, humanities, and palgrave macmillan. her coedited special issue (with silvia pellicer-ortín and bárbara arizti) on the new developments of feminism in transmodernity was published in the european legacy in 2021. from 2018 to 2021, she was chief editor of miscelánea: a journal of english and american studies (literature, film and cultural studies). since 2003, she has been a member of the contemporary narrative in english research group at the university of zaragoza, and she is currently working on the research project “literature of(f) limits: pluriversal cosmologies and relational identities in present-day writing in english” (limlit). https://doi.org/10.1080/14623520601056240 silvia martínez-falquina1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.37.2.06 missing is not a destination: bringing the indigenous woman home in mmiw literature 7 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) izabela kraśnicka1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.31.4.01 jagiellonian university orcid: 0000-0001-6746-780x meaning in multisemiotic messages – functions of gestures accompanying speech as elements of utterance structure abstract. the topic of the article will be the discussion of the issue of how gestures accompanying speech may complement a gap in a statement. the considerations will cover particular ways of filling such a gap, both semantically and taking into account the place of the gesture in the syntactic structure of the sentence. the subject of interest will be the analysis of spontaneous statements of interlocutors, which will allow for the isolation of word-gesture wholes; it will likewise describe the relationship between the two modes ahead of recounting the functions of gestures in the structure of the entire utterance. the analysis is based on commentaries from one of the journalistic programs hosting politicians in poland. keywords: gestures accompanying speech, multisemiotic, embodiment of meaning, metaphoric gestures. 1. introduction observing people engaged in a discussion, involved in a dialog, including, or perhaps even, in particular, politicians talking in front of cameras in a tv studio, leaves no doubt that their gesticulation is an integral part of the utterances made. gestures made while speaking are so strongly related to the uttered words that an attempt itself to separate these two modes of semiotic expression, even only for descriptive purposes, tends to be extraordinarily difficult. while the formal difference between an auditory and a visual mode is obvious, the meaning of an entire statement is of a multisemiotic nature and it should be understood as such. david mcneill’s concept of growth point takes as its starting point the assumption that a dialectic relationship between two semiotic modes, “dual semiosis” (mcneill 2016: 21), is the core of expression (mcneill 2016: 11-15, 21-22). 1 address for correspondence: wydział polonistyki uj, katedra teorii komunikacji, ul. gołębia 20, 31-007 kraków, poland. e-mail: izabela.krasnicka-wilk@uj.edu.pl 8 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the meaning created in a dynamic mode of interaction is therefore the result of a total combination of both semiotic modes, while the one transmitted by gestures is not redundant in relation to the semantics of linguistics expressions (although it is sometimes so defined in situations where the linguistic and extra-linguistic content is expressed in the same way, cf. müller et al. 2013: 66; karpiński et al. 2008: 93), but is of a different character (e.g. goldin-meadow & mcneill 1999). the issue to be discussed here will hence be the occurrence of gestures accompanying speech, which, as part of the whole “usage event” (cienki & iriskhanova 2018: 26)2 also fills in the gap in a speech act at the syntactic level. the ways in which the verbal and gestural components of an utterance make up this multimodal whole will be the subject of this paper, as well as a reflection on the concept of “grammar of gesture” developed by a group of german researchers (müller et al. 2013: 707-732; müller 2014a: 138-140), which as it seems, has much in common with the discussed issue. the combination of two semiotic modes raises a question about functions of gestures in a situation when pauses appear while speaking3 – when the speech act is paused for a moment to accommodate the speaker’s search to find a proper word or use a gesture relevant in the given context, in order to communicate the intended semantic potential. whether, and if so, how, this “moment” in sometimes dynamic discussions and emotional statements is filled with gestures, whether it is possible to indicate specific words that would fill this gap – these are the main questions that i will be looking for answers to in the analyzed material. 2. what is the “grammar of gesture”? german gesture researchers, especially cornelia müller, jana bressem, silva h. ladewig, ellen fricke, have adopted the assumptions of adam kendon, a pioneer of form-based gesture research (müller 2014a, kendon 2004), developed and presented issues related to a formal and functional side of gesture behaviors in their works. for example, müller discusses the concept of four modes of gestural representation4 (but notes that in principle they are reduced to two5), which are expressed in gesture. while in the case of an artist’s depiction of a landscape, what matters is the medium chosen to depict it (pencil sketch, oil painting, photography), since visual thinking takes place “»through« 2 “set of verbal and non-verbal (gestural, in our case) behaviors that interlocutors find relevant for their communication and choose to focus on” (cienki & iriskhanova 2018: 26). 3 interesting research on the function of pauses in colloquial speech as well as a comprehensive review of literature on pauses can be found in majewska-tworek’s paper (2014). 4 these are: molding, drawing, acting and representing (see e.g. müller 2014: 1691 for details). 5 acting and representing: “in the acting mode, the hands mime themselves, while in the representing mode they mime other entities” (müller 2014: 1696). 9 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and »with« the ‘modes of representation’” (müller 2014: 1688), in the case of gestures the speaker can draw iconic images, sculpt them with their hands or use their body to replace a described object (e.g. the hands as an imaginary book) and thus present the content in different ways, in different modes. this approach based on the form of a gesture is also reflected in the concept of “recurrent gestures”6, which in turn form groups of conventionalized gestures, belonging to individual families because of the common semantic axis which they have been grouped around (fricke et al. 2014: 16301640). for example, the palm up gesture family is united by the concept of “offering, showing, or receiving some object” (müller 2014a: 137). the issue of gesture families is important for the theme of grammar of gestures (müller et al. 2013: 718) – recurrent gestures form families on the basis of common formal and semantic features; they are subject to the process of conventionalization (like the away gestures family discussed by the researchers) and in this sense they are elements of the “grammar of gestures”7. researchers, therefore, understand this term as, firstly, a collection of formal and structural features of gestures and secondly, as a relation of substitution between linguistic and non-linguistic components of statements. “notably, the term »grammar of gesture« refers to the basic form properties of gestures and their structures. it does not imply, however, that co-verbal gestures have anything like a grammatical structure. the formulation »towards a grammar of gestures« underlines two aspects: first, co-verbal gestures show properties of form and meaning which are prerequisites of language and which – in case the oral mode of expression is not available – may evolve into a more or less full-fledged linguistic system such as a sign language or an alternate sign language […]. second, when used in conjunction with speech, co-verbal gestures may take over grammatical functions, such as that of verbs, nouns, or attributes pointing towards a multimodal nature of grammar […]” (müller et al. 2013: 711). therefore, the term “grammar” refers to various types of formal regularities that characterize the gestures accompanying speech, but also touches upon an important issue – the function of gestures in the syntactic structure of a sentence, another issue that was also investigated by ladewig (2014). her research showed that gestures can replace nouns and verbs in utterances (ladewig 2014: 1665-1668). such approaches move in the direction of grammar as a multimodal phenomenon (müller et al. 2013: 65), which treats gestures as a part of language, which is also the main premise of mcneill’s work (2016) – verbal and gestural actions of a human being form an inseparable whole that conveys meanings. 6 “in recurrent gestures, gestural form features are not random, by definition, but recur across speakers and contexts whilst sharing stable meanings” (bressem & müller 2014: 1577). 7 see also the conception of the “grammar of color” in t. van leeuwen’s and g. kress’ perspective (2013: 229-257), in which the authors consider the term “grammar” in relation to color as a semiotic system. 10 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 3. material and method the ladewig study (ladewig 2014) showed that gestures can replace concrete words, but taking into account the observations of antas (2013), the question arises as to what the gestures illustrate. taking an approach based on the form and concept briefly discussed above, the answer could go in the direction of concrete words that are demonstrated by gestures, but antas notes: “contrary to popular judgments about what gestures illustrate, they never show the words spoken, but the meaning of the concepts behind them” (antas 2013: 92; see also: załazińska 2012)8. “apart from the fact that icons provide additional information about the described activity or objects used during its execution and not those contained in a verbal course, they usually precede and initiate the content to which they are related (thus, somehow announcing it)” (antas 2013: 64). if iconic gestures “precede and initiate the content” they refer to, the question is posed as to how they fit into the semantic and syntactic structure of an utterance. six episodes (table 1) of one of the opinionated news programs, “kawa na ławę” [lay it on the line], were selected for observation (access: https://www.tvn24.pl/kawana-lawe,59,m). the choice of the program was made based on the following factors: it involves several people talking, it enables spontaneous utterances even though they are recorded, and allows for the possibility of emotional involvement of speakers, sometimes to an extreme degree. this combination, in turn, provides conditions for effortless gesturing that accommodate observation of the embodied conceptualization of concepts and how they are expressed in a multimodal message. table 1. dates and duration of the episodes date of episode duration 17.02.19 57:00 24.02.19 56:55 03.03.19 59:50 10.03.19 1:00:45 17.03.19 58:29 24.03.19 57:36 the elan program was used for the observations, which enables, among other things, a significant slowdown in playback and thus the accurate identification of the place 8 it is worth noting that we are talking about gestures accompanying speech, four types of which are distinguished by mcneill (1992): iconic, metaphoric, beats, deictic — and not about emblematic gestures, which are of a completely different nature (cf. ekman & friesen 1969), where iconic and metaphoric gestures can generally be regarded as iconic, as they differ only in the referent (see cienki 2008: 8). below, however, i will use the original mcneill’s distinction of iconic/metaphoric gestures. 11 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) where verbal expression is interrupted by a pause not always heard well during the standard pace of conversations. in the paper, the basis for determining the degree of dependence of gestures on speech is the so-called gesture continuum (mcneill 2013: 483), including gesticulation – language-slotted – pantomime – emblems – sign languages. the further we move on the scale to the right, the lower the dependence of gestures on speech, and at its last point we are dealing with independent systems of languages expressed only through gestures. the gestures that have been noted in the political discussions under analysis here are rather at the beginning of the above continuum, since their relation to speech is very close. however, since the boundaries between the different levels of the continuum are not sharp, in many cases it is not possible to unambiguously place the gestures i have observed. as mcneill (2016: 5) notes, the closest to them are language-slotted gestures which in combination with speech, form some “gesturespeech syntactic hybrids”. in the dynamic polylogue i observed, mainly of a persuasive nature, there was a certain difficulty to separate sentences with a gap and accompanying gestures from the gesture spectacle, which the audience witnessed9. on the one hand, it included many statements that sometimes gave the impression of being “designed” according to the ideological expectations of parties where there is no place for “stops” or hesitation, and on the other hand – there were emotional reactions to the statements of the previous speaker, open and dynamic quarrels between the two speakers that interrupted the statements of interlocutors. therefore, this multilateral dialog was also characterized by the fact that speakers rather filled in the gaps in speech, so the pauses were usually filled with retardations – the cases of total replacement of words with gestures were few, although the material enabled me to excerpt and describe the examples. an almost complete lack of iconic gestures, and the excess of beats and deictic gestures, as well as gestures structuring discussion and interaction, confirmed the assumption that the concentration of speakers on persuasive interactions (instead of narration/description, as it happened in the case of materials studied by e.g. cienki and iriskhanova (2018) would impact the way they employed gestures. the material observations, which are the basic method of work, allowed for the identification of such examples of gestures that fill the gap in an utterance in a differentiated manner, which is implemented in several ways. the research attention was therefore focused on separating the types of gestures made, and not on the description of individual cases. these separate gestures are what will be discussed below. 9 the observations were also more difficult to analyze because of changes in the field of view of the camera and the bars covering the lower part of the screen – although only to a certain extent, because the gestures were still visible. 12 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 3. discussion of examples example 1 gesture accompanying an utterance: …osobiście odniosłem wrażenie, bezpieczeństwo gdzieś było na… na i to…no o to chodzi... [i personally got the impression that safety was somewhere on... on10... and that... well, it’s about that ...] (17.02.2019) fig. 1. removal from the focus area during his speech, the speaker made a gesture as if he were pushing an object away from himself, outside the area of his conscious attention. interestingly, he made the gesture at the moment when the preposition na (on) was repeated, but he did not finish speaking – the sentence structure lacks a term that would determine where the safety he was talking about was located. therefore, a gap emerges; however, filled in with redundancies, which is accompanied by a gesture without its verbal equivalent. but it has its specific place in the utterance structure, so one can point to the part of a sentence that is missing in a statement, but complemented by non-linguistic behavior. the whole is legible only when a recipient can see the speaker – because then it is possible to complement the missing part of the sentence with the content expressed with the gesture – safety was somewhere (on the side) – because this is the place located to the left of the central gesture space11 that the speaker indicated. on the other hand, the gesture clearly refers to the notion of insignificance – this is a kind of hand waving that i have written about previously (kraśnicka-wilk 2018: 75-87), and which connotes such meanings as lack of attention, disregard – i move it aside = ‘it is insignificant’ (the gesture of waving one’s hand will also be discussed below – it has several variant forms that change the meaning of the whole statement). it can be assumed, therefore, that the speaker does not verbalize thoughts, leaving an incomplete sentence without an adverbial12, because the whole concept has already been included in the gesture which is closely linked to the auditory mode and demonstrates the conceptual metaphors important is central, unimportant is peripheral mentioned by kövecses (2011: 309). it can be considered a prototypical example of a gesture-speech hybrid, 10 phrases accompanied by a gesture are underlined. 11 gestures space after karpiński et al. 2008: 94. 12 in polish: okolicznik. 13 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) i.e. mcneill’s language-slotted gesture, because it co-creates the whole semantically and syntactically with the verbal statement. the presence of both modes of semiotic expression is necessary for the sentence to be understandable, so one can talk about the “grammar” of the complete verbal-gestural whole, the “expression package”, whose semantics is the result of complementing the verbal part of the statement with a gesture. example 2 gesture accompanying an utterance: ...w jakiś sposób tutaj yyymm tą pedofilię zzzwww udelikatniamy no że tak powiem, jest jest większa możliwość no tak tak uważam … [somehow here, uhh, mmm, we soften this pedophilia of shshshsh, so to speak, there is a greater possibility, so, yes yes, this is what i think...] (10.03.2019). fig. 2. a sequence of gestures searching for the word: i – w jakiś sposób tutaj yyymm [somehow here, uhh, mmm]; ii – tą pedofilię [this pedophilia]; iii – udelikatniamy [we soften]; iv – jest większa możliwość [there is a greater possibility] the speaker has a clear problem with finding an appropriate word; his utterance is incomplete, torn, unclear, and he makes several significantly different gestures (fig. 2) – he starts with a balancing gesture (i), he imitates the movement of pushing an object on a slope (ii), and afterward he makes a sharp cut with his whole hand (iii) (as in the case of negation; cf. antas 2013, antas & gembalczyk 2018: 50), and at the end of the utterance there is again the balancing gesture (iv). there is still an impression that the word soften is not the word the speaker was looking for, because the chosen gesture does not confirm this conceptualization. it is rather about a certain concept expressed with gestures at the beginning and the end of the utterance: balance. fig. 3. balance gesture this movement resembles an examination of the land, seeking for proper support, something solid; the speaker’s hands press on something from above, alternately 14 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) seeking for something. it is accompanied by breaks in an expression filled with retardations, which “support the extraction of words from the mental lexicon of the speaker” (majewska-tworek 2014: 192). it is difficult to mark gestures accompanying words in the recording of a statement; rather the opposite is true – the gesture performance is accompanied by words, sought by the speaker looking for the right one. in the verbal structure of the statement, there is no object (as a part of the sentence) – the listener does not know what the greater possibility refers to, and even the first part of the statement seems a bit illogical: …w jakiś sposób tą pedofilię udelikatniamy [...somehow we soften this pedophilia] – given that a recipient who could not see the speaker would be left alone with this statement. thus, taking into account the grammatical structure of the sentence, one can observe a complement to the word – a gesture – jest większa możliwość… [there is a greater possibility...] (+gesture) because it appeared in the place of a lexicalized pause, but the semantics of the whole remains unclear until the end. although the broader context of the statement may lead the recipient to guess its meaning as a whole, the gesture does not specify the meaning in such a clear way as in the case of example 1 – it is impossible to point to a single word that would complement a word gap. the gesture rather indicates in which direction the interpretation of the statement should go – it is about a certain fluidity, a balance between two values, but also – lowering the value (a gesture imitating sliding down) or even negation (a sharp cutting gesture); it is about expressing the concept, not a particular word. the word udelikatniamy ‘we soften’ is not, as it seems, the choice that the speaker meant to convey. in this example, the gestures are combined with the speech in an extremely sophisticated way – three different gestures of the speaker are to convey one notion, in front of the audience there is an explicit search for the most appropriate word – delivered through a nonlinguistic mode. therefore, we can say that example 2 is strong proof that gestures replace concepts, rather than individual words in the course of a statement in which the speaker is involved, but they are also its essential “syntactic” part, appearing at the moment of a verbal break. example 3 gesture accompanying an utterance: …czy będziemy im pro…proponować to, co dzisiaj wielka brytania przeżywa, czyli ten y… absurdalny w swojej istocie brexit.... […are we going to pro... propose to them what great britain is experiencing today, namely this mm... brexit, absurd in its essence] (10.03.2019). fig. 4. scheme of “exit from...” 15 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the first gesture appears with the following words: czyli ten y… [namely this mm…]; it is a definite movement with both hands to the left, limiting a certain imaginary sphere. what has been conceptualized here is a scheme of movement appearing in a place where the utterance was interrupted with a short but clear pause. carrying on with the statement, the speaker made another gesture with both hands in front of him, gently drawing a semi-circle when he said: absurdalny w swojej istocie brexit [brexit, absurd in its essence]. while the iconic gesture of a semi-circle, a sphere, is a pattern repeated in various verbal environments (cf. antas 2013: 148-153), and conceptualizing a “closed set” or a “whole” – in this case the closed set is absurdalny brexit [an absurd brexit] (a metaphoric gesture), yet the first gesture has a different function here. it is also metaphorical, but it accompanies not words, but a short pause, conceptualizing a thought that is not verbally expressed. the politician talks about a certain proposal for future generations, accompanying it with gestures illustrating an exit, a shift, and afterward he draws the semi-circle. if we omitted the fragment with a gesture showing the pattern of movement (exiting from..., exiting outside...), it would sound like this: czy będziemy im proponować to, co dzisiaj wielka brytania przeżywa, czyli ten (y…)13 absurdalny w swojej istocie brexit [are we going to propose to them what great britain is experiencing today, namely this (mm…) brexit, absurd in its essence], so it would be a syntactically complete whole, but characterized by a certain illogicality – because the sentence would suggest that brexit will be proposed to poles who had been mentioned a moment before. the speaker most probably wanted, however, to outline a dangerous vision of a decisive and sudden (precise and fast movement) exiting from, exiting outside as the most unfavorable decision dla naszych wnuków i prawnuków [for our children and grandchildren] (previous fragment of the statement), and replacing the gesture with a word (are we going to propose to them ? an exit) would not have the equivalent force of expression – the word exit does not connote an image as negative in this case as the gesture itself, a sudden shift out of the area of attention. the second gesture depicted a closed, finished whole (a sphere, a circle) and was accompanied with the words absurdalny w swojej istocie brexit [brexit, absurd in its essence]. the difference between these two types of gestures is described by mcneill: “language-slotted gestures look like gesticulations but differ in the manner of integrating with speech. they enter a grammatical slot, semiotically merge with speech, and acquire syntagmatic values from it; gesticulation in contrast to gesture is co-produced obligatorily with speech but semiotically opposed to it” (mcneill 2013: 483). although in this example it is generally difficult to speak of a “grammatical slot”, only a momentary pause in the statement is a place that is complemented by a gesture expressing the concept of exit. 13 intentional crossing out, as a sign of omitting a fragment. 16 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) example 4 gestures accompanying an utterance: …i zarówno jeśli chodzi o spółkę, czy państwo yyy rządzi tymi yyy… jednostkami, wspólnotami… [...and both in terms of a company or state, mmm ... these mmm... individuals, communities, are governed by...] (03.03.19) fig. 5. scheme of “being over” fig. 6. scheme of a whole in the statement, apart from the initial gestural enumeration, which will not be the subject of description here, two gestures appeared, and both during the articulated pauses ( yyy). the first one started during the pause when the speaker sought for a proper word to express his thought. this was a broad circle with an open hand with fingers spread out, pointing down at a certain area in front of the speaker and finally emphasizing the word tymi ‘these’ with a short downward motion, as in figure 5. it seems that the speaker’s hesitation expressed in a pause was supported with the gesture – the concept of governing was conceptualized in gestures as being over14, but the speaker found the missing word, although a little later, because the main phase of the gesture, the stroke, falls at the moment of the pause. the movement of the hand pointed to a way of understanding the concept of governance, but the gesture itself is not a part of the syntactic structure of the sentence, because there is a verbal complement to it that is appropriate in the given context: rządzi ‘governs’. the second gesture also occurred during the pause, but it also ended during the pause, because the speaker returned to the initial position of his hands15 when he spoke 14 etymologically speaking, governing means to align, order, organize, watch something, take care of something, manage, administer (after: wielki słownik języka polskiego, https://wsjp.pl/do_druku. php?id_hasla=23823&id_znaczenia=0), so not necessarily the “superiority” which is a metonymic conceptualization in the gesture described above. 15 constituent elements of non-verbal behavior called a gesture after kendon 2004. 17 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the words: jednostkami, wspólnotami [individuals, communities]. the notion of a semicircle, expressed in a non-linguistic manner, refers to the word wspólnoty ‘communities’ – more than to the word jednostki ‘individuals’ spoken earlier. imaging by gestures might have guided the speaker to another word, which he used afterward, as a self-correction: …jednostkami, wspólnotami [...individuals, communities]. therefore, it can be postulated that a sentence structure is clear and correct without a gesture, even though the utterance itself lacks a little bit of fluency, which is suggested by short pauses, where notions hidden under the uttered words are represented by gestures. in semantic terms, however, the sentence is complete only when the multisemiotic character of this statement is taken into account – the conceptualizations of concepts: governance as being over and community as a circle, a “closed set” is “received” by the recipient in a visual mode. example 5 the gesture accompanying an utterance: …więc yy już tam yy, mniejsza o… o… semantykę y... [so mm… in any case mm…, it’s not about about semantics mm...] (10.03.19) fig. 7. throwing away gesture this example is particularly interesting because of the fact that the gestural phraseologism machnąć na coś ręką16 ‘forget about it’ is non-verbally depicted here (cf. jarząbek 2016: 250; in detail on the gestural phraseology krawczyk 1983; kozak 2007; kraśnickawilk 2018, 2018a). the gesture appears at the moment of a short pause of the speaker and a broken utterance yyy już tam yyy [so mm… in any case mm…], and afterwards it is repeated during the next articulated pause o… o… [about… about…]17. as other material observations have shown (kraśnicka-wilk 2018), speakers usually make a gesture when speaking a gestural phraseologism; for example, a speaker states: machnijmy na to ręką [let’s forget about it] – and they actually make the gesture of a waving hand/ throwing away, therefore embodying its meaning. this notion, which is the subject 16 this expression can be regarded as a gestural phraseologism only in the polish language, because in the english-language idiom – forget about it – there’s no specific “description” of a gesture, which is a characteristic feature of such phraseologisms. 17 in the original polish-language utterance, only the vowel “o” was repeated. 18 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of a separate research, is presented in a slightly different light in the discussed example, because the speaker only says the words mniejsza o [it’s not about], making the throwing away gesture twice in front of him, thus verbally and bodily, almost at the same time representing the notion of insignificance (important in the context of the whole utterance about a small mistake by the politician, which he, however, admitted to during the discussion). he does not utter the phraseologism machnijmy na to reką [let’s forget about it], but in his multisemiotic message, he stresses that what was said earlier should be considered invalid and therefore rejected. this is an example of the away gesture family: “an imaginary topic of the talk, sitting in the palm of the hand, is dismissed by throwing it away” (müller et al. 2013: 719). the verbal statement lacks some fluency, there is still an impression that the words are rushing through its course; but, supplemented by a gesture, it seems to have illocutionary force, appropriate in this context. the gesture complements it both syntactically and semantically – a wave of the hands complements the phraseologism expressed in the sentence, only in a shorter, variant form: mniejsza o… [it’s not about] instead of machnijmy na to ręką [let’s forget about it]. conclusion the studied material allowed for placing the observed gestures between gesticulation and language-slotted gestures, taking into account the fluidity of borders between different categories. gesticulation – … in the structure of utterance there are shorter or longer pauses, often filled with e.g. retardations accompanied by gestures the gesture precedes the concept, which is afterward verbalized – ex. 4 “community”, “govern”, ex. 5 “it’s not about” ... there is a gap in the sentence structure that can be accompanied by a pause/s – what is depicted in the gesture is not a substitute for a specific word/expression that says, “the word disappears but the thought remains” (antas 2013: 121) – ex. 2 “soften” … the sentence structure can be supplemented by a specific, easily identifiable word that is only expressed by gestures – ex. 1 “security” – ... language-slotted ... although the studies were not quantitative, it could be observed that gestures appeared relatively often in retardation pauses filled with the most frequently repeated vowels. during pauses, the speakers made gestures illustrating conceptualizations of concepts such as: governance (raised hands illustrated a plane), community (hands outlined a circular shape), longer perspective (the speaker gestured to extend the distance marked with 19 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) one hand: an example not mentioned above), insignificance (waving his hands, pushing the object out of the area of attention). in the case of this kind of relationship between gestural and linguistic imaging, the gesture was ahead of the concept which it referred to, and afterward, it was verbalized (govern, communities, it’s not about...). the second relation between the word and the gesture during pauses in an utterance was that the gap in the utterance was filled only with gestures – the speaker could not find the right word to replace what was depicted with gestures. an example is the balance gesture, repeated twice at the beginning and end of the statement, even though the sentence has been “supplemented” with words, expressed in the grammatically correct form (apart from hesitations and breaks in the statement). however, a repetition of the gesture at the end of the statement would indicate that it was this conceptualization, expressed only with gestures, bodily, that was relevant for the speaker in the given context. antas concludes: “the subject uses the name as the closest to the term. and when he feels that the name does not fully reflect the meaning that he imposes on the concept, or even »the word disappears«, but the thought remains – he uses a gesture” (antas 2013: 121). in this case, it would be difficult to find the right word to complement the structure of the sentence, since the balance gesture, the search for balance remained only in the form of thought, while the word was used here as an “indirect supplement” – spoken, but, as it seems, significantly different from gestural conceptualization. the third type of relationship would be substitution, where the meaning expressed in a gesture can be supplemented with an easily identifiable word, so the meaning is contained in “gesture-speech syntactic hybrids” (mcneill 2016: 5). in this case, the gestures complement the statement not only on the semantic level, but also indicate what kind of gap they fill on the syntactic level – in the example discussed here, the gesture performs the function of an object (...safety was somewhere [+gesture – a hand stretched out from the central gestural sphere to the left]: on the side]) which is not verbalized. the material presented in this paper has shown that there are several kinds of “gaps” in statements – from the most common ones, pauses filled with retardations, during which the speaker hesitates in order to choose the most appropriate word, and encounters “a temporary difficulty with verbalization of thoughts (»how to call it«, »how to express it«) and [may] have difficulty in extracting from memory any more or less accurate word” (majewska-tworek 2014: 192-193), to those during which the speaker creates the whole gestural representation, in the end failing to access the right word. the mere recognition of certain gestures such as entering a language is therefore completely conventional; since, as the observations have shown, this “entering” takes place on different levels and differs in degree, which in turn depends on the purpose and function of the statement on which the speaker is focused. further research 20 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) may, therefore, move in the direction of seeking regularity in the occurrence of the above-mentioned word-gesture relationships to answer the question of whether there is a limited repertoire of such regularities. an interesting issue concerning the examined material is also the gestural conceptualization of the concept, which precedes its verbalization. the question arises as to how the semantics of multimodal expression can be studied when a gesture is not accompanied by a linguistic pause and the verbalization of meaning occurs only later – and if the structure of the gesture itself can be described quite accurately by dividing it into phases (cf. kendon 2004); it seems that the reference to the linguistic layer, which does not coincide with the gesture temporally, remains rather on an intuitive level, though sometimes obvious. however, this issue requires a separate, broader discussion and further research. the term “grammar of gesture” in relation to the material analyzed above will refer to the whole verbal-gesture unit in which the gesture takes a place equal to its verbal components – it is justified to talk about the “grammar of a multisemiotic message”18 rather than the grammar of gesture in the case of the approach i proposed. it is not so much the form of the gesture itself that is important, but its place in the structure of verbal expression, which is emphasized by the above-mentioned researchers, who speak of the multimodal character of grammar. as cienki and iriskhanova point out, gestures form a partially dependent semiotic system that “co-exists with language in a mutually beneficial symbiosis” (2018: 33). a necessary dependence in this “symbiosis” is not only the fact that gestures “support” the information transmitted through language, but that language in an interactive manner utilizes the semiotic and semantic potential of gestures. references antas, j. 2013. semantyczność ciała. gesty jako znaki myślenia. łódź: primum verbum. antas, j. & gembalczyk, s. 2018. człowiek negujący – multimodalne studium cielesnych wyrazów negacji towarzyszących mowie. in: a. załazińska & j. winiarska (eds.), multimodalność komunikacji, 47-56. kraków: księgarnia akademicka. bressem, j. & müller c. 2014. a repertoire of german recurrent gestures with pragmatic functions. in: c. müller, a. cienki, e. fricke et al. (eds.), body, language, communication. an international handbook on multimodality in human interaction, vol. 2. (38.2), 1575-1591. berlin/boston: walter de gruyter. cienki, a. 2008. why study metaphor and gesture? in: a. cienki & c. müller (eds.), metaphor and gesture. amsterdam: john benjamins. 18 i formulated this conclusion together with prof. jolanta antas during the discussion on the “grammar of gesture”. 21 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) fricke, e., bressem, j. & müller, c. 2014. gesture families and gestural fields. in: c. müller, a. cienki, e. fricke et al. (eds.), body, language, communication. an international handbook on multimodality in human interaction, vol. 2 (38.2), 16301640. berlin/boston: walter de gruyter. ekman, p. & freisen, w. v. 1969. the repertoire of nonverbal behavior. categories, origins, usage, and coding. semiotica 1(1): 49-98. goldin-meadow, s. & mcneill, d. (1999). the role of gesture and mimetic representation in making language the province of speech. in: m. c. corballis & s. lea (eds.), evolution of the hominid mind, 155-172. oxford: oxford university press. iriskhanova, o. k. & cienki, a. 2018. the semiotics of gestures in cognitive linguistics: contribution and challenges. voprosy kognitivnoy lingvistiki 4: 25-36. jarząbek, k. 2016. słownik mowy ciała polaków. katowice: wydawnictwo uniwersytetu śląskiego. karpiński, m., jarmołowicz-nowikow, e., malisz, z., szczyszek, m. & juszczyk, k. 2008. rejestracja, transkrypcja i tagowanie mowy oraz gestów w narracji dzieci i dorosłych. investigationes linguisticae 16(december): 83-98. kendon, a. 2004. gestures: visible action as utterance. cambridge: cambridge university press. kozak, k. 2007. polska frazeologia gestu: od informacji somatycznej do idiomu. etnolingwistyka 19: 253-265. kövecses, z. 2011. język, umysł, kultura. praktyczne wprowadzenie. kraków: universitas. kraśnicka-wilk, i. 2018. między słowem a gestem – frazeologia gestyczna w ujęciu kognitywnym. in: m. gębka-wolak, i. kaproń-charzyńska & j. kamper-werejko (eds.), języki słowiańskie w kontekstach kultur dawnych i współczesnych, 75-87. toruń: wydawnictwo naukowe uniwersytetu mikołaja kopernika. kraśnicka-wilk, i. 2018a. gesty zachowane w języku. relacje między językowymi i niejęzykowymi sposobami wyrażania znaczeń na przykładzie analizy semantyki frazeologizmu gestycznego podać komuś rękę. in: j. winiarska & a. załazińska (eds.), multimodalność komunikacji, 57-71. kraków: księgarnia akademicka. krawczyk, a. 1983. frazeologizmy mimiczne i gestyczne (na materiale gwarowym). socjolingwistyka 5. ladewig, s. h. 2014. creating multimodal utterances: the linear integration of gestures into speech. in: c. müller, a. cienki, e. fricke et al. (eds.), body, language, communication. an international handbook on multimodality in human interaction, vol. 2 (38.2), 1662-1677. berlin/boston: walter de gruyter. leeuwen van theo, k. g. 2013. kolor jako system semiotyczny: wstęp do gramatyki koloru. in: a. duszak & g. kowalski (eds.), systemowo-funkcjonalna analiza dyskursu, 229-257. kraków: universitas. 22 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) majewska-tworek, a. 2014. niepłynność wypowiedzi w oficjalnej odmianie polszczyzny. propozycja typologii. wrocław: quaestio. mcneill, d. 1992. hand and mind. what gestures reveal about thought. chicago: the university of chicago press. mcneill, d. 2013. the co-evolution of gesture and speech, and downstream consequences. in: c. müller, a. cienki, e. fricke et al. (eds.), body, language, communication. an international handbook on multimodality in human interaction, vol. 1 (38.1), 480-512, berlin/boston: walter de gruyter. mcneill, d. 2016. why we gesture? the surprising role of hand movements in communication. new york: cambridge university press. müller, c. 2014. gestural modes of representation as techniques of depiction. in: c. müller, a. cienki, e. fricke et al. (eds.), body, language, communication. an international handbook on multimodality in human interaction, vol. 2 (38.2), 16871702. berlin/boston: walter de gruyter. müller, c. 2014a. gesture as deliberate expressive movement. in: m. seyfeddinipur & m. gullberg (eds.), from gesture in conversation to visible action as utterance, 127-151. amsterdam: john benjamins. müller, c., bressem, j. & ladewig, s. h. 2013. towards a grammar of gestures: a form-based view. in: c. müller, a. cienki, e. fricke et al. (eds.), body, language, communication. an international handbook on multimodality in human interaction, vol. 1 (38.1), 707-733, berlin/boston: walter de gruyter. poprawa, m. 2009. telewizyjne debaty polityków jako przykład dyskursu publicznego. kraków: universitas. załazińska, a. 2012. metoda analizy środków niewerbalnych pojawiających się podczas wypowiedzi (na podstawie programu „kuba wojewódzki”). in: j. wasilewski & a. nita (eds.), instrukcja obsługi tekstów. metody retoryki, 253-269. sopot: gdańskie wydawnictwo psychologiczne. * * * izabela kraśnicka is an assistant professor at the communication theory department of the faculty of polish studies at the jagiellonian university. the author’s research interests focus primarily on gestures accompanying speech, their role in creating and transmitting meanings, as well as gestural phraseology as a category illustrating relations that combine two semiotic modes – speech and gesture – into a semantic whole. she is the author of the book mówiące ciało [the talking body], in which the issue of the cognitive view of the polish language phraseology is discussed. 37 58 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) taofeek o. dalamu7 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.38.3.04 anchor university, lagos, nigeria http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5494-4854 ke yang nanjing xiaozhuang university, nanjing, china pr http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7357-2454 advertising linguistic framework: an instrument for teaching grammar in efl university classrooms abstract. this study explored the employment of advertising texts as tools for teaching grammar to foreign learners of english, as their constituent organisation is assumed to enhance the understanding of some grammatical details. ten advertisements of beverages, banks, telecommunications, condiments, cream, and soap served as the research material. after the application of the grammar of interaction to the communicative components, the tables and graphs functioned to calibrate the grammatical mnemonics and semantic resources of the clauses. this study analysed the use of orthographic clauses, six countries, six voices, and one song; alphanumeric clauses, dial *966*911# to stop debit transactions on your account; and compounding, dataplus, smartphone as qualities of advertising. one also observed novel constructions such as eazybanking and souper; acronyms, as in uba united bank for africa; and hash-tag as in #eachforequal, as well as the deployment of interspersed and splintered grammatical entities such as starting from 17:59, olympic gold medalist, cheers to those who came before us and pledge to drink right. the authors suggest that applications of the textual devices characteristic of advertising in the university classroom might encourage learners to practise the grammar of english. keywords: advertising, grammar, interaction, mood, teaching. 7 corresponding author: department of english and literary studies, anchor university, ayobo, lagos, nigeria. email: tdalamu@aul.edu.ng http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5494-4854 http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7357-2454 59 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 1. introduction the goal of advertising is a factor that shapes communication between advertisers and their audience. domains of advertising such as politics, entertainment, films, cosmetics, and fast moving consumer goods impel publicists to construct frameworks that have the prowess to motivate the target audience to consumption. different modes operate in this pleading inventiveness. in respect to that, the discourse of advertising plays significant roles in the business of persuasion. one might also note that language is a key element of advertising, assisting in unravelling the information of the entire framework. language, in this quest, pinpoints sentential constructions in different facets of simple and complex forms. when one mentions the concepts of discourse and sentence, it also becomes significant to also refer to grammar. this is because in discourse and sentence styles, the matter of grammar is sacrosanct. perhaps one might say that grammar is the axiomatic principle entwined around discourse and sentence (williams 2005). it appears unarguable that without grammar there will be no discourse, even of images (kress & van leeuwen 2021). in a simple term, grammar represents the heartbeat of discourse (haussamen 2000). as a golden rule, the persistent manner in which advertisers frame grammar to sensitise the target audience stimulates the consideration of advertising as a viable tool of acquiring english grammatical details. advertising is a channel of conveying messages to viewers in the atmosphere of pleasantness. such an objective tends to influence advertising specialists to source for communicative materials that can, in no time, inspire the audience to buy the advertised products. manufacturers, having considered advertising as an apparatus of economic growth, bloom advertisements (henceforth: ads) everywhere to dominate human affairs. in that spirit, grammar functions as an instrument of creativity, sometimes also engaging advertisers in serious intellectual exercises. these instances rest on the competition in the market and the intention of conviction. for the sole aim of consumer satisfaction, the employment of specific grammatical constructions creates a positive relationship between the product and the consumer. this study defines grammar as the collection of language mechanisms which elucidates the structures of the sentence (sledd 1996; fromkin et al. 2003). in other words, grammar depicts all elements of the sentence, observed through some guiding principles. consequently, the fundamental grammatical rules assist interactants to generate adequately-appropriate meaning potential from interactions. that standpoint motivates halliday and matthiessen (2014: 10) to consider grammar as a: system, enabling us to show grammar as a meaning-working resource and to describe the grammatical categories by reference to what they mean. this perspective is essential if the analysis of grammar is to be an insightful mode of entry to the study of discourse. 60 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) meaning-making is germane in employing grammatical elements. one might argue that meaning-making compels the featuring of text in advertising. following halliday and matthiessens̓ (2014) account, the taxonomical appreciation of grammatical devices could only be a discernment in evaluating the discourse of an event, if such classification disseminates meaning as its end product. in that regard, ads in their variegated propagations are embodiments of texts with grammatical features. as these devices are used specifically for persuasion, one is convinced that the constituents will be distinctive. it is in this sense that this study has considered the elements of the grammar of advertising as worthwhile instruments of teaching in university classrooms. the scale of teaching english at universities is phenomenal (rodríguez & larrea-espinar 2019). this is owing to the hegemony of english and the inevitable-cum-leading roles that the language plays across the global world in telecommunications, sports, aviation, film, science and technology, and world organisations. there are no doubts that perspectives of teaching english are enormous (fry et al. 2009; moreno rubio 2009; ko et al. 2014). thus, among other studies, bušljeta (2013) and silva (2017) discuss audiovisual-cum-auditory materials and oral influences in phrases; while martínez and de zarobe (2017), and liendo and massi (2017) explore the metacognitive reading strategy and a didactic academic literacy, genre and competence models for efl candidates. as george and salgado-robles (2018) and kapranov (2018) consider teachersʼ beliefs and attitudes, and studentsʼ awareness of grammatical forms; so also liddicoat (2019) and alcaraz-mármol (2019) examine intercultural appreciation and oral skill linguistic meditation as good teaching strategies. the proposals of aliasin and abbasi (2020) and cancino (2020) focus on metacognitive emotional intelligence as well as language eliciting as modalities of enhancing efl learnersʼ participation. the present study contributes to the existing research by identifying the utilisation of grammatical structures in advertising texts. this investigation thus pinpoints the random selection of english grammatical components communicated to make up persuasive clauses. the authors have employed halliday and matthiessens̓ (2014) account of grammar of interaction to elucidate the linguistic structures. the theoretical modelling has assisted in indicating and describing the configured fragmented and fullfledged clauses used in advertising. such behaviour, in the researchersʼ point of view, might support students in learning the nitty-gritty of english grammar. 2. literature review 2.1. utility of grammar english has become a global communication device, so the understanding and analysis of english grammar are of the utmost importance. the interpretation of its inherent systematicity, in kleins̓ (1986) and schulze s̓ (1998) opinion, is what is known as the 61 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) grammar of english. for the fact that grammar is a system of wording of language, and there are many languages of diverse systems in the world, one must expect numerous perspectives on the concept of grammar. for a reason of subjectivity, greenbaum (1996: 25) argues that the perspective of a theorist determines a definition of grammar, as a theory explains the elements of a language. moreover, hartwell (1985) and simpson weiner (1992) describe grammar as the formal structures of a language, a linguistic facility, and a subject studied in schools. as huddleston (1995) explains, grammar is a notion of representing the form, content and meaning of clauses, extending grammar as a channel to understand subfields of sentences. according to celce-murcia and larson-freeman (1999), grammar is an apparatus that accounts for structural constituents of a language in a contextual situation. quirk et al. (2004) locate grammar in the domain of the classroom subject exploring speakersʼ meaning potential. greenbaum and nelson (2002) earlier limit grammar to penetrating rules guiding the formation and organisation of sentences. significantly, kolln et al.̓s (2015) theorisation of grammar bears some burden of grammatical description as being a cognitive system of rules, formal descriptive rules and linguistic device with social implications. figure 1 illustrates the nature of the linguistic entity called grammar. figure 1. english language communicative framework figure 1 positions grammar at the centre of the linguistic framework. by implication, grammar dictates the operational space of other levels of linguistic applications. in other words, other linguistic concepts tap resourceful currency from grammar in order to exist in their various descriptions. one might recapitulate that grammar can be understood as: • an arm of linguistics, indicating a system of wordings (halliday & matthiessen 2014); • an element of operational analysis, containing functional elements, with meaning potential (thompson 2014); • indicating the style of writing, entwined in cohesion in order to demonstrate aesthetics (carter & nash 2013); 62 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) • revealing regional dialects and varieties of english as well as deviant interferences (yule 2020); • showing user s̓ breadth of knowledge in terms of the mechanics application and formality observations (crystal 2003). the important functions that grammar performs in communicative exercises inform theorisations of its contents (mulroy 2003). one might consider the notions and theories of grammar using the following labels: (i) traditional grammar; (ii) structural grammar; (iii) tagnemic grammar, transformational grammar and functional grammar. to the best of the authorsʼ knowledge, traditional grammar and structural grammar are notions; whereas transformational, tagnemic, functional grammars accommodate theoretical facilities. as this study adopts a functional perspective, it is useful to enumerate the following functional theories: generative functionalism (prince 1991), dik s̓ functional grammar (dik 1997), and role and reference grammar (van valin & lapolla 2002). other kinds are systemic functional grammar (butler 2003; fawcett 2000), west coast functionalism (givon 2001), and cognitive grammar (fawcett 1980; langacker 1987). because the domain of interest of the authors is an aspect of systemic functional linguistics (sfl), known as the grammar of interactions, it is described in more detail in section 2.2. as the advertising case is, creativity has become an inevitable norm, as a mechanism of persuading the target audience to consumption. such a motive, in leechs̓ (1966) and gieszinger s̓ (2001) view, influences advertising practitioners to deploy an advertising style of discourse as direct and indirect constructs. the pungent nature of persuasive clauses informs the deletion of linguistic elements in advertising frameworks, as observable in the findings of myers (1994) and dalamu (2018b). in spite of the ellipsis in advertising styles, most of the clauses and sentential systems are in the form of imperative terms, as a channel of commanding viewers to patronise goods and services (brierley 2002), leaving consumers seemingly without any alternative option. according to vestergaard and schroder (1985), the structure of advertising usually gives preference to nominal groups. that indicates that some verbal elements and groups are uncommon in advertising communications. dalamu (2018a) considers the prevalence of nominal structures, unavoidable in advertising domains. the findings of geis (1982) and cook (2001) notably revolve around the y-adjectives (such as dreamy, gravy, creamy, meaty, and buttery) and splintered constituents (such as secret weapon, your deal facewash, and everywhere you go). research has also pinpointed further that publicists employ creative forms, compounds, alphanumeric codes, and disjunctive substances to convince receivers to consumption of advertised products (dalamu 2018c, 2021, 2022; dalamu & ogunlusi 2020; hermerén 1999; ogilvy 2013). 63 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) significantly, putting the highlighted characteristics of advertising together, among other features, under some course units in the undergraduate and postgraduate classrooms could assist foreign learners of english to have the knowledge of advertising discourse. the advertising professionalsʼ manipulation of grammatical components of english will expose foreign learners to the detailed constituents of english. as this study focuses on the grammatical nature of advertising communications, the authors have employed a combination of quantitative and qualitative insights to explicate the meaning potential and its implications in the efl classrooms, explicable with the following questions. • what kinds of grammatical expressions are obtainable in the ads to fascinate readers to consumption? • are there implications of advertising grammatical interactions for efl candidates? • what is the nature of grammatical mnemonics that the publicists employ to persuade readers? • how have the advertisers utilised semantic resources to generate meaning potential in the ads? 2.2. theoretical framework there are three distinctions encircling systemic functional linguistics (sfl), expressed as textual, interpersonal and ideational metafunctions (halliday & matthiessen 2014). by implication, textual metafunction transposed as theme/rheme, represents the grammar of organising texts (bloor & bloor 2013), while ideational metafunction, transposed as transitivity, depicts the grammar of content meaning of interaction (eggins 2004; martin & rose 2013). interpersonal metafunction is the grammar of interaction, as the terminology expresses a sort of exchange operational between one speaker or the other (ravelli 2000; thompson 2014). the present investigation considers the grammar of interaction as appropriate because of its capacity to explain the individual grammatical component of the clause in clear terms. that being said, one might state that the grammar of interaction manifests meaning potential of the clause in three approaches: (i) mood – a combination of subject and finite; (ii) mood – grammatical structure; and (iii) semantic resourcesʼ system. mood of the clause, as bloor and bloor (2013) exemplify, is an embodiment of subject and finite, leaving predicator, complement, and adjunct at the sphere of residue. in thompsons̓ (2014) sense, the combination of mood and residue generates a mnemonic result of sfpca within the systemic semiotic slots. the grammatical structure, following butler s̓ (1985) and fontaine s̓ (2013) realisations, reveals the clause of english in the form of declarative, imperative, interrogative, and modulated interrogative. halliday and matthiessen (2014) deduce that speaker s̓ grammatical structures explicitly crystalise four pieces of meaning potential parameters. as a result, semantic resources locate 64 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) giving goods-&-services (offer), giving information (statement), demanding goods-&-services (command), and demanding information (question) in the speaker s̓ communicative constructs. in retrospect, offer and command are ancillary communicative panaceas; whereas statement and question are constitutive communicative facilities (thompson 2014). 3. methodology 3.1. measurement and research design the images of the analysed ads were collected in lagos metropolis, where advertisers place their communications in sensitive domains; the other sites of adsʼ collections are the punch newspaper and the internet. the analysts employed a stratified sampling procedure as a reliable method, adoptable to select suitable ads for analysis (cf. keyton 2006). the stratified sampling method is a good option because the design allows the authors to quickly make meaningful decisions on the available advertising communications. besides, the stratified sampling reduces expenses as well as augmenting the accuracy and speed of the investigation (cf. patton 2015). as this method permitted the authors, using the concepts of population, sample, strata and subject, to choose a relatively small number of ads from a large group, the researchers divided the total of 30 ads into 10 sub-groups. in respect to that, a samsung camera wb50f® and hp 2000® laptop were the electronic tools involved in the process. the authors employed the camera to capture some advertising frameworks in the streets and the punch newspaper, and used the laptop to download the ads from the internet. the ads were subsequently adjusted into the required shapes and sizes via the microsoft picture manager®, before being transferred into appropriate places in the paper. 3.2. procedure before the final selection of 10 ads as the subject of analysis from the total of 30 ads, the researchers considered the textual organisations, clause patterns, and semantic implications as factors for the 10 choice ads. the 10 ads serve as a mini-corpus for analysis. as shown in figure 2, the grammar of interaction (cf. halliday & matthiessen 2014) assisted in processing the advertising textual configurations. tables 2 and 3, and figures 3 and 4 display the outcomes of the systemic analysis, as drawn from maxwell (2013), and riffo et al. (2019). therefore, the theoretical application, shown in figure 2, and the quantitative expressions, demonstrated in figures 3 and 4, have facilitated the discussion. the analysis further indicates the group structures in term of mnemonics of: p = predicator; c = complement; a = adjunct; f = finite; conj. = conjunction; and s = subject. these are elements of below the clause – groups (thompson 2014). 65 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 3.3. data presentation table 1 displays the textual devices of the 10 ads. the grammatical frameworks are in clauses, as deployed in each ad – either as full clauses, fragmented components, or splintered structures. table 1. textual devices in the 10 ads the analysis of the textual elements is presented in figure 2. ad product textualdevices 1a sixcountries. 1b sixvoices. 1c one song. 1d start strong 1e finishstrong 1f its allstarts witha nescafé 2a keep youraccount safe with*966# eazybanking 2b dial*966*911# to stop debit transactions onyour account 2c ifyour card is lost or account details compromised 2d more details 3a dataplus 3b airtelthe smartphone network 3c *154*2# 4a ubaunited bank forafrica 4b today, we celebrate youfor allyoudo everyday 4c happyfather's day 5a big stoutfor n100 5b starting from 17:59 5c offer valid for 2 hours onfriday,aug. 3, 2018 at selected bars. 5d terms & conditions apply. 5e happyinternationalbeer day 5f drink responsibly 6 maggi you're a souper woman 7a new niveacare 100% nourishment0% greasiness 7b tessa virtue canadianice dancer olympic gold medalist 8a she adds great taste to allshe does 8b happyinternationalwomen's day 8c #eachforequal 9a let your skin tella freshstorywithasepso antebacterialsoap 9b cleanliness for healthyskin 10a cheers to those who came before us 10b pledgeto drink rightrightage right right way 10c mustbe 18 years or older 10d enjoyguinness responsibly 10e guinness made of more royco asepso guinness nescafé zenithbank airtel uba guinness nivea 66 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 3.4. data analysis figure 2 summarises the analysis of the grammatical structures of the 10 ads. this is where the study has shown the group elements that make up the clauses of the advertising linguistic frameworks. the mnemonics, as illustrated earlier, follow after sfls̓ insight of groupsʼ identification – below the clause (halliday & matthiessen 2014; thompson 2014). 1a sixcountries 1b sixvoices 1c one song 1d start strong c c c p c 1e finish strong 1f it all starts witha nescafé p c s f:present p:start a 2a keep your account safe with*966# eazybanking c p a 2b dial *966*911# to stop debit transactions onyour account p c a a 2c if your card is lost or details compromised 2d more details a s f p conj s p c 3a dataplus 3b airtel the smartphone network 3c *154*2# c s c c 4a uba united bank forafrica s c a 4b today we celebrate you for allyoudo everyday a s f:present p:celebrate c a 4c happyfather's day minor clause 5a big stout for n100 5b starting from 17:59 c a p a 5c offer valid for 2 hrs onfridayaug3 2018 at selected bars s c a a a 5d terms & conditions apply s f:present p:apply 67 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) figure 2. analysis of the grammatical structures of the 10 ads this study further translates the analysis in figure 2 into tables 2 and 3, and figures 3 and 5, pinpointing the outcomes of the grammar of interaction, as halliday and matthiessen (2014) have espoused. 4. results this segment responds to the rqs 1-4 in terms of grammatical expressions, implications to efl classrooms, nature of grammatical mnemonics, and their semantic resources. 5e happyinternationalbeer day 5f drink responsibly minor clause p a 6 you 're a souper woman s f c 7a new niveacare 100% nourishment 0% greasiness s c c 7b tessa virtue canadianice dancer olympic gold medalist s c c 8a she adds great taste to allshe does s f:present p:add c a 8b happyinternationalwomen's day 8c #eachforequal minor clause c 9a let your skin tell a freshstory withasepso antibacterialsoap s p c a 9b cleanliness for healthyskin c a 10a cheers to those who came before us p a 10b pledgeto drink right rightage rightamount right way s c c c 10c must be 18 years or older f p c 10d enjoy guinness responsibly 10e 10eguinness made of more p c a s p a 68 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 4.1. obtainable grammatical expressions this study reveals a mixture of full clauses (it all starts with nescafe) and punctuated clauses nivea care 100% nourishment) (ad1 & ad7) in the analysed ads. there are unchecked capitalisations of words such as nescafe; big stout for n100; and happy international women’s day (ad1, ad5 & ad8). one also observes orthographic clauses as in six countries (ad1), small capitalisation of lexemes as in one song (ad 1), and the application of an unnecessary-ungrammatical determiner as in with a nescafe (ad1). the right to freedom of expressions (poetic licence) keep your account safe with *966#, business compounding words, eazybanking, dataplus (ad3 & ad4), and wilful replacement of letters in the form of novel constructions such as eazy instead of easy and souper woman instead of super woman (ad2 & ad6) are obvious. as the publicist eliminates subject and finite from the clause, airtel the smartphone network (ad 3), there are interspersed structures, big stout for n100 starting from 17:59 (ad 5), application of symbols, terms & conditions (ad5), and removal of logical conjunctive devices, tessa virtue canadian ice dancer olympic gold medalist (ad7). ad4 and ad5 employ minor clauses as in happy father’s day and happy international beer day. other communicative constructs are: abbreviation of structures, you’re a souper woman; employment of the hash tag, #eachforall; demonstration of a suggestive imperative clause with a subject, let your skin tell a fresh story (ad9); and punctuation of a predicate from a command structure, cheers to those who came before us (ad10). 4.2. implications of grammatical interactions advertising reveals to efl students the characteristics of the clause system of english, such as the imperative (dial *966*911to stop debit transaction), declarative (she adds great taste to all she does), disjunctive declarative (must be 18 years or older), interrogative, and que-declarative. these clauses are not always linear from left to right; some are splintered and interspersed. there is creativity with linguistic elements as in *154*2#, appearing as a tree in ad2 as well as learning modalities of clause economy, using one or two words to convey appropriate meaning. further implications are observable in the boldness of lexemic typology/graphology in fonts to indicate emphasis – safe, father’s day, and souper woman; knowledge of sfl model of realising finite and predicator from a single process e.g. celebrate in ad 4; and conversion of time into a particular year, 17:59 to 1759. significantly, efl candidates will be introduced to neologisms – asepso, royco, airtel, and maggi, and personification of an inanimate entity, e.g. let your skin tell a fresh story. 69 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 4.3. interpersonal mnemonics of sfpca table 2 and figure 3 illustrate the interpersonal mnemonics regarding the constituents of the textual devices of the 10 ads. table 2. interpersonal mnemonics of the 10 ads s f p c a 1a 0 0 0 1 0 0 1b 0 0 0 1 0 0 1c 0 0 0 1 0 0 1d 0 0 1 1 0 0 1e 0 0 1 1 0 0 1f 1 1 1 0 1 0 2a 0 0 1 1 1 0 2b 0 0 1 0 2 0 2c 2 1 2 0 1 0 2d 0 0 0 1 0 0 3a 0 0 0 1 0 0 3b 1 0 0 1 0 0 3c 0 0 0 1 0 0 4a 1 0 0 1 1 0 4b 1 1 1 1 2 0 4c 0 0 0 0 0 1 5a 0 0 0 1 1 0 5b 0 0 1 0 1 0 5c 1 0 0 1 3 0 5d 1 1 1 0 0 0 5e 0 0 0 0 0 1 5f 0 0 1 0 1 0 6 1 1 0 1 0 0 7a 1 0 0 2 0 0 7b 1 0 0 2 0 0 8a 1 1 1 1 1 0 8b 0 0 0 0 0 1 8c 0 0 0 1 0 0 9a 1 0 1 1 1 0 9b 0 0 0 1 1 0 10a 0 0 1 0 1 0 10b 0 0 0 3 0 0 10c 0 1 1 1 0 0 10d 0 0 1 1 1 0 10e 1 0 1 0 1 0 total 14 7 15 28 20 3 mood residue interpersonalmnemonics clause minor clause 70 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the analysis further interprets table 2 as figure 3, below, being the graphical representation of the computed constituents of the interpersonal mnemonics in the ads. figure 3. graphical representation of the interpersonal mnemonics of the 10 ads apart from the appearance of the minor clause, figure 3 demonstrates five elements of the interpersonal mnemonics in the form of sfpca. complement tends to record the highest point of 28, as seconded by adjunct of 20 points. predicator and subject score 15 points and 14 points respectively. nevertheless, finite and minor clause are the least, representing seven and three points apart. obviously, the communicative strengths of the 10 ads rest on complement-cum-adjunct and predicator-cum-finite. by implication, the issue of grammatical timing is not a concern of the publicists unlike a focus on concrete nominal entities. one might quickly remark that communicators deliberately deploy tangible and palpable grammatical facilities in terms of place, person, thing, and abstract elements to fast-track consumption. 4.4. semantic resources of offer, statement, command and question table 3 and figure 4 illustrate the semantic resources of the 10 ads, as analysed earlier in figure 2. interpersonal mnemonics s f p c a minor clause frequency 14 7 15 28 20 3 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 fr eq ue nc y interpersonal mnemonics 71 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) table 3. calibration of the semantic structures of the 10 ads as shown above, table 3 calibrates the semantic resources of the grammar of interaction, regarding the 10 ads. however, the researchers projected figure 4, being the graphical elucidation of the 10 adsʼ meaning potential. grammaticalstructure offer statement command question minor clause 1a 0 1 0 0 0 1b 0 1 0 0 0 1c 0 1 0 0 0 1d 0 0 1 0 0 1e 0 0 1 0 0 1f 0 1 0 0 0 2a 0 0 1 0 0 2b 0 0 1 0 0 2c 0 1 0 0 0 2d 0 1 0 0 0 3a 0 1 0 0 0 3b 0 1 0 0 0 3c 0 1 0 0 0 4a 0 1 0 0 0 4b 0 1 0 0 0 4c 0 0 0 0 1 5a 0 1 0 0 0 5b 0 1 0 0 0 5c 0 1 0 0 0 5d 0 1 0 0 0 5e 0 0 0 0 1 5f 0 0 1 0 0 6 0 1 0 0 0 7a 0 1 0 0 0 7b 0 1 0 0 0 8a 0 1 0 0 0 8b 0 0 0 0 1 8c 0 1 0 0 0 9a 0 0 1 0 0 9b 0 1 0 0 0 10a 0 1 0 0 0 10b 0 1 0 0 0 10c 0 0 1 0 0 10d 0 1 0 0 0 10e 0 1 0 0 0 total 0 25 7 0 3 clause 72 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) figure 4. graphical representation of the semantic resources of the 10 ads the semantic resources of the grammatical structures of the ads, drawing from bloor and bloor (2013), consist of four items: offer, statement, command and question. minor clause becomes imperative because the terminology operates in its own set class. figure 4 shows that statement, being declarative, and command, being imperative, occur 25 times and seven times in the computation. thus offer, being a modulated interrogative, and question, being interrogative, are collapsed subjects in the grammatical structures of the ads. the minor clause appears as an object of felicitations. therefore, the communicators motivate readers with declarative clauses, some of them punctuated, and imperative clauses, making statements and commands, in order to sensitise the target audience to purchase goods and services. the application of the grammar of interaction explicates the configuration of the elements of the sentences in terms of lexemic operations in the ads; and the semantic resources of the sentences. the implication is that the illumination of these linguistic elements could assist the l2, in the university classroom, to quickly understand the organisation and the mode of connections, as functional in advertising frameworks. figure 3 and figure 4 list the parts of speech in terms of their grammatical components that are operational in the analysed ads. familiarising both undergraduate and post-graduate efl students with the frequencies of the word classes and their phrases in the ads may also be helpful as it draws their attention to the most common structures used in advertising. moreover, students should easily grasp the most frequent clause structures, which will help to enhance their knowledge of the grammar of english. grammatical structure offer statement command question minor clause frequency 0 25 7 0 3 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 fr eq ue nc y semantic resources 73 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 5. discussion the study of the english language in the university domains seems to embrace the grammar of english, as discussed earlier, as being its core value. this is owing to the fact that grammar immensely assists in the knowledge of the numerous aspects of the language. it is not out of course to exclaim that the understanding of grammar is crucial to the understanding of the major segments of the english studies, at least to a large extent. in that regard, the analysts have pursued the understanding of this unit from the discursive point of the structural details and the meaningful resources associated with the texts. the matter of creative relationships, as to how such universe generates meaning from each communication, plays an indispensable role in deducing meaning from the plate. however, the investigation relies heavily on halliday and matthiessen (2014), thompson (2014), kress (2010), and kress and van leeuwen (2021) as the channels of propagating meaning from the frameworks. ad 1 there are six clauses in the nescafé® ad. ad 1a, 1b and 1c are punctuated statements, whereas 1d and 1e are full-fledged declarative clauses. six countries. six voices. and one song. are chopped up linguistic constituents each ending with a full stop. this behaviour of grammatical mechanism positions the structures as being orthographic (cook 2001). as shown in figure 2, the constituent six countries is complement as well as six voices and one song. the complements tend to be the remainders of the fragments of the clauses. however, start strong; finish strong and it all starts with a nescafé are full clauses in the category of two imperatives and one declarative structure. start strong and finish strong have their constituents as predicator and complement respectively. the declarative clause, it all start with a nescafe, has subject (it all), finite (present), predicator (start) and adjunct (with a nescafe). though the fragmentation found in clauses 1a, 1b and 1c is a usual trait of advertising, one might comment that a nescafé is seemingly a deviant construct because the publicist classifies nescafé as a count nominal item. ad 1 employs musicians to promote the consumption of nescafé in africa. this is a probable reason for describing the promotion 74 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) as involving six countries of africa and six voices of musicians. the deployment of one song appears to imply that the song is about nescafé and its consumption. three modes of a speaker, a pair of glasses, and a giant cup of nescafé support the message. the speaker and a pair of glasses connote an instrument and an appearance of a musician. the enormous cup of nescafé is at the centre of the other modes in order to demonstrate the main focus of the ad, making all the other elements of the framework to play supportive roles for the nescafé consumption (kress 2010). the ideas of start strong and finish strong reveal a kind of strength that nescafé gives its consumers from morning till night. that might influence the ad s̓ conclusion thus: it all starts with a nescafé. the counsel here is that individuals who require some strengths to properly function, must commence the activities of the day drinking a cup of nescafé. ad 2 ad 2 contains four clauses. two of them are imperative, commanding readers on a financial security concern. the remaining two clauses are declarative, in which the last clause is fragmented. keep your account safe with *966# eazybanking has its grammatical mnemonic as being pca. thus, keep…safe is the predicator, your account is the complement, and *966# eazybanking is the adjunct. as the message sensitises the target audience to protect their accounts at zenith bank®, observations pinpoint four significant distinctions in the grammar. first, the advertiser distributes the predicator, keep…safe, across the clause. second, there is an input of *966# numerical code in the clause. third, eazy is a deviant construct, replacing the usual lexeme, easy. four, eazybanking is a compounding construction – a combination of eazy + banking (booij 2007; denham & lobeck 2013), which are separate entities in grammar. in a simple term, 75 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) *966#, assists in the security of the customer s̓ account. this operation relies on the customer, projecting the exercise as being a user friendly task. 2b, dial *966*911# to stop debit transactions on your account, contains predicator (dial), complement (*966*911#), adjunct (to stop debit transactions), and adjunct (on your account). the command is a directive, instructing readers on the procedure of preventing fraudsters from tampering with the customersʼ accounts. 2a introduces *966# as the authentic code of zenith to prevent interference; *966*911# in 2b elaborates the modality of such an achievement. clauses 2a and 2b mix numerical codes with wordings to influence readers. the researchers might label these kinds of grammatical etiquettes as being alphanumerical clauses in spite of separate recurrence of numerical codes and words in the constructs. the structural inclinations of the adverbial clause of condition, if your card is lost or details compromised, are adjunct (if), subject (your card), finite (is), predicator (lost), conjunction (or), subject (details), and predicator (compromised). the situation created further informs recipients about the importance of the code, *966#, being the core of ad 2. consequently, the publicist culminates the message with more details. this is a complement, informing viewers that there are other pieces of information, regarding *966# that are not available in the ad. those people, interested in using *966# for securing their accounts at zenith bank, should seek sufficient information, perhaps, from the bank s̓ online activities. the modes of a young lady and a handset are probable indicators of *966# applications. ad 3 the airtel® ad displays three disjunctive clauses. these are: dataplus, as 3a, airtel the smartphone, as in 3b, and *154*2# as in 3c. as the texts appear, the researchers might classify their grammatical constituents as being complements all through. it is only 3a 76 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) that employs airtel as the subject. dataplus represents a compounding word from data and plus (zapata becerra 2000). drawing from thompsons̓ (2014) insight, one might suggest the complete clause as [airtel provides] dataplus [to subscribers]. the advertising stylist has removed the subject, finite, and adjunct from the construction, expecting readers to supply the missing communicative facilities. pushing dataplus to readers is a way of briefing the audience that airtel is presently giving subscribers excess data to communicate with family and friends. airtel the smartphone network reveals the subject (airtel) and the smartphone network (complement) as the communicative constituents. nevertheless, the full clause could be airtel [has] the smartphone network. the finite, has, has no place in the text; perhaps the ad does not need the finite to convince readers, compared to a need for nominal elements. the smartphone network is seemingly a slogan to airtel in this regard. salient in the dotted text is another compound word, smartphone (sugioka 2011), created from two independent words: smart and phone. *154*2# can be classified as a splintered communicative device. this is owing to the fact that some linguistic elements are already lost in the structure. by employing malleability, one could mention that [dial] *154*2# [to enjoy dataplus] is the entire clause in the advertiser s̓ perspective. the matter of economy-cum-memorability (leech 1966) might have informed the application of disjunctions in the framework. in all, 3a, 3b, and 3c are declarative clauses, making some statements to persuade subscribers to purchase a sizable number of recharge cards for their smartphones. the image of a lady holding a tree-like object, with seven branches, is the obvious mode of the ad. the lady raises the branches up, illustrating a branch for each code of *154*2#. as the code, being the password, is an open channel to enjoy dataplus, the root where the branches emanate could be airtel. the seven branches of completeness are the network devices that promote *154*2#. the boldness of *154*2# signifies the code as the area of concentration of ad3. ad4 77 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) there are three clauses in the uba® ad. figure 2 analyses 4a, uba united bank for africa and 4b, today, we celebrate you for all you do every day as declarative clauses. the grammatical mnemonics of 4a are subject, complement and adjunct; whereas 4b has adjunct, subject, finite, predicator, complement and adjunct as its constituents. there is no finite in 4a in spite of its statement s̓ characteristics. as a result, one might advocate uba [is] united bank for africa as the intended clause. the littered nature of the text positions united bank for africa as the full meaning of the acronym, uba. so, uba = subject, united bank = complement and for africa = adjunct with the omission of the finite, is, in the configured contextual fragmentation. the statement in 4b utilises the complete grammatical cues of the english systemic analysis in the form of sfpca. however, the structural prompts are today = adjunct, we = subject, celebrate = f/p, you = complement, and for all you do every day = adjunct. besides the recurrence of adjuncts two times at the beginning and end of the clause, the study explores celebrate as a systemic device of finite and predicator (bloor & bloor 2013). finite/predicator distributions for celebrate represents one of the peculiarities enshrined in halliday s̓ (1995) sfl. by celebrate, the advertising professional refers to a solemnity of rites, accompanied with joy and respect in a certain situation. ad 4 points to such a sacrament in order to join the league of men in the world, and particularly nigerians, to perform the yearly ceremony labelled as the father’s day. the communication framework explicates the festivity with the minor clause, happy father’s day. historical reports, including simpson and roud (2000), indicate that the father’s day is a global phenomenon. the catholic enthusiasts commenced the celebration in europe in the middle ages in consonance with the instruction that god gave the patriarchal abraham that all nations shall be blessed through your seed (heesterman et al. 1992; roud 2006). however, the gregorian calendar elaborates that there is no fixed day for the celebration of fathers. the recognition of fathers is on a sunday of a stipulated month as a country desires such as in march, may, june and july (ferguson 2007). uba propagated this ad on june 16th, 2019. the images of the father and daughter, exchanging pleasantries are modes reflecting paternal ideology (van de vliet 2017; pinho & gaunt 2020). the daughter, as ad 4 manifests, kisses the fore-head of the father, and in return, the father bursts into laughter. 78 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) ad 5 six clauses elicit the messages of ad 5. first, there are two interspersed structures, that is, big stout for n100, starting from 17:59, as in 5a and 5b. the structure of 5a relies on complement (big stout) and adjunct (for n100); whereas 5b has predicator (starting) and adjunct (from 17:59). the disjunctive grammatical values can be considered as being declarative because the elements of full textual facilities could be big stout [is sold] for n100 and [the sales is] starting from 17:59. in that sense, the communicators have espoused finite and predicator, and subject, finite from the two natural declarative statements. the ad illumines two specific concerns of the purchasing price of the big stout as well as the commencing time, 17:59, of its obtainment. in addition, 5c, offer valid for 2 hrs on friday aug 3 2018 at selected bars, is another disrupted clause. keen observations show that the finite, is, is not part of the clause. that is the motive for figure 2 to indicate scaaa as the constituent aide-mémoire of the clause. the whole clause ought to be: offer [is] valid for 2 hrs on friday aug 3 2018 at selected bars. in conjunction with specified goals stated earlier, the duration of purchasing the product, the exact date and the locations are significant in this text. perhaps these desires influence the elliptical structure in 5c. second, terms & conditions apply, as in 5d, contains subject (terms & conditions), finite (present), and predicator (apply), as the grammatical hints of the declarative clause. this implies that there are other justifications that qualify consumers to enjoy the promotion. third, ad 5 felicitates with guinness consumers in the day of celebrating the consumption of beer. that encourages the set structure, happy international beer day. fourth, as the special day is trans-national, the guinness publicist culminates the message with drink responsibly. the imperative clause is a means of calming the temper and drinking enthusiasms of consumers. it appears that the advertiser understands the behaviour that some consumers might demonstrate that day. the command, drink 79 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) responsibly, cautions consumers to drink without any guilt, as individuals are accountable for any negative influences of alcohol in their senses. the guinness foam, splashing above the glass, is the major mode of ad 5. the foaming attitude alerts readers to consumption. ad 6 you’re a souper woman, besides the logo of maggi®, is the only clause in ad 6. the grammatical nod operates in the form of subject (you), finite (‘re), and complement (a souper woman). grammarians welcome the abbreviation of the copula are to ʻre even in formal settings. nonetheless, the lexeme, souper, is striking because the feature is deviant in grammatical considerations. two words are contentious in the linguistic pattern. these are soup and souper. the soup implies a dish, made up of a combination of water and other liquids, mixed up with ingredients such as vegetable, fish and meat. the maggi cube, in the approach of the advertiser, is an axiomatic item, stimulating edibility and pleasantness in other ingredients. maggi stands as a craving material in the soup augmenting deliciousness. the notion of souper refers to a wonderful entity, exemplifying awesome qualities. in corollary, the advertiser creates a personal communicative terminology, souper, from soup and super to entice readers. the formation procedure replaces suin super with souin soup in order to generate souper. this process is a sort of blending despite that the initial “morpheme” of the word is substituted for the initial “morpheme” of another word (haspelmath 2002). as a result, one might conclude that souper is a qualifier for a woman, who uses maggi in her cooking applications, making the cook an extremely excellent individual. the salutation of a mode (a man standing replicating a military gesture) testifies to the cook s̓ exceptional quality, which maggi enhances. the woman and dishes in ad 6 are also significant. as the woman is happily looking at viewers, the foods are on the table waiting for human consumption. one might suggest that it is 80 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the preparation of the foods on the table that inspires the man to appreciate the woman in a military posture. the mans̓ heartily gratitude could connote the metaphor (and the proverb) that “the way to a mans̓ heart is through his stomach”. ad 7 ad 7 exhibits two disintegrated clauses of new nivea 100% nourishment 0% greasiness and tessa virtue canadian ice dancer olympic gold medalist in 7a and 7b. figure 2 unveils new nivea as subject, 100% nourishment as complement, and 0% greasiness as another complement of the construction. as a usual behaviour of advertising, the finite has and the conjunction and are the obliterated textual units. thus the full declarative clause is probably new nivea care [has] 100% nourishment [and] 0% greasiness. the features of new nivea are the selling point in the ad, highlighted as 100% nourishment and 0% greasiness. by implication, new nivea is a healthy product that nourishes the human body with adequate nutrients. it implies that the nutrients from new nivea prevent the body from experiencing oily surface; the cream only charms the human body. the other interposed structure has a connection with the mode of a young lady in the framework. the advertising guru expresses the personality of the image as being tessa virtue. it is the combination of the scattered structures that generates a splintered declarative clause of tessa virtue canadian ice dancer olympic gold medalist. positioning the clause in its fullness, one will have tessa virtue [is a] canadian ice dancer [and an] olympic gold medalist. after the punctuation of finite and article (is and a), and conjunction and determiner (and and an), the construct signals tessa virtue as subject, canadian ice dancer as complement, and olympic gold medalist as a complement recurrence. ad 7 fraternises with a known star, tessa virtue, as a channel to market new nivea. the body of the young lady demonstrates a replica of what the cream will do in human bodies. as the body of tessa virtue is nourished so will the body of its consumers. the sports-lady further motivates readers through her manner of laughter, as the 81 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) individual displays new nivea to the public, intimating that new nivea care actually overhauls to maintain nourishing people s̓ bodies. ad8 there are three communicative clauses in ad 8 with peculiar disjunctions. 8a, she adds great taste to all she does, is declarative. 8b, happy international women’s day, is a minor clause. 8c, #eachforequal, is a hash-tagged disjunctive construction. the grammatical cue of 8a commences from subject (she) to finite (present), predicator (add), complement (great taste), and adjunct (to all she does). the investigation could deduce salient concerns from the statement in 8a – (i) great taste and (ii) to all she does. great taste, as appeared in the advertising plate, communicates to illustrate some semantic implications in the form of a count noun and uncountable noun. on the one hand, as a countable noun, the constituent points to a boundless and unlimited sensation that the human tongue responds to being a feeling of royco’s® chemical compound. the mental excessive aesthetic influences consumers to give preference to adding the condiment to their food preparations. on the other hand, great taste tends to be figurative, decorating royco as a small substance that adds flavour, for instance, to a big pot of soup. as a result, the entire ingredients of the soup experience the presence of royco in its fullness. it is the abundance diffusion of the condiment, as functional anywhere it locates itself, that the communicator explicates as great taste. the omission of the indefinite article, a, is a pointer, informing the analysts to consider taste as a noncount noun. if the constituent is countable, the lexemes will definitely appear as a great taste. as mentioned earlier, happy international women’s day is a minor clause signalling a set structure of english. one might also add that ad 8 intends to elicit women, across the globe regarding their day. 82 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the concept of #eachforequal is probable meaning potential enlightening women about the common access that everyone has in consuming royco without impediments. the communication places every woman in a similar measure in the kitchen, accessible to royco. the researchers consider #eachforequal as complement despite the compounding formation of each + for + equal (bauer 2001; lieber 2010). in a declarative essence, the full clause could be [royco represents #eachforequal]. before royco, every woman is equal, which could mean: equal right to the kitchen, equal right to use royco for food preparations, and equal right to put food on the family s̓ tables. the mode of a woman carrying out a marital responsibility endures the claims above. ad 9 two clauses are operational in the asepso® ad. the first is imperative, while the second is a splintered declarative. let your skin tell a fresh story with asepso antibacterial soap is a command; whereas cleanliness for healthy skin is a dotted statement. going by a constituent configuration, let your skin is subject, tell is predicator, a fresh story is complement and with asepso antibacterial soap is adjunct. although it is quite uncommon for an obvious subject to operate in the imperative clause, one observes such occurrence once in a while. in this context, let your skin, is the subject, functioning in a suggestive class (thompson 2014). the communication proposes a desire to readers in order to permit their skins to respond to the quality of asepso. this could happen if individuals buy and use the soap consistently. there is no doubt that the skin is part of the human body; it does not represent a whole human body. the advertising stylist personifies the skin, projecting it to talk like a person (long 2018). having considered the skin as an animate object, every human being should be quiet. in essence, the story in this context is not the usual one. the narrative connotes the appearance of the skin to neighbours and neighboursʼ assessments. 83 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the ad employs a fresh story as a strategy to compare the status of the skin in the past when using other soap to the present when using asepso to bath. moreover, the framework reveals another characteristic of asepso as being an antibacterial soap. this locates asepso as a probable drug that inhibits skin germs. in a simple diction, asepso kills skin diseases. that is the logical intention for employing the appositive facility, antibacterial soap, to recapitulate the quality. 9b, cleanliness for healthy skin, contains complement and adjunct. the stretch of the fragment could be [asepso gives] cleanliness for [a] healthy skin. the image of a young lady, joyfully displaying her skin for viewers, is the mode that demonstrates the skin’s fresh story campaigned in ad 9. individuals, who use asepso, in the publicist s̓ point of view, will appear as the young lady in happiness. ad 10 the analysts have classified the dispersed text of ad 10 into five clauses. the first is cheers to those who came before us. the grammatical mnemonics are predicator (cheers) and adjunct (to those who came before us). the full clause could have been [give] cheers to those who came before us. the imperative clause deploys cheers to represent a normal toast, obtainable when drinking a beer in an esteemed company. notably, those who came before us implies a reference to the seeming brewers and consumers of the black is beautiful global beer (pityana 1972; snail 2008; taylor 2016; ortega 2018). the appreciation, one might remark, is a voice of consumers, who presently enjoy guinness® that is made of more. the ad also displays, in a dark form, illustrating guinness black with a throng of consumers jubilating in the background. the second is pledge to drink right at the right age with the right amount in the right way. for the researchers to explore the entirety of the punctuated clause, it could be [the] pledge to drink right [involves] right age, right amount [and] right way. the concept, pledge, is a solemn promise to drink guinness cautiously-appropriately. engaging one in such a drinking fraternity could succour someone to escape the life-threatening 84 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) alcoholic substance in the content. in order to avoid excessive alcohol thrilling, the third clause asserts that [a consumer of guinness] must be 18 years or older. 18 years “is” the minimum age requested for anyone in nigeria to drink any alcoholic beverage. the disjunctive grammar realises finite (must), predicator (be) and complement (18 years or older). it is salient to deploy a finite in a clause without the subject. must is assertive, laying emphasis on certainty and compliance of rules, highlighted in reference to age, amount and way (hermerén 1999). these are unbending requirements for a deliberate satisfaction derived from guinness. in conclusion, the fourth clause summarises that the lovers of this beer should drink guinness responsibly because the beer is not ordinary rather guinness [is] made of [much] more palatable ingredients incomparable to other beers. a relevant mode decorated in this communication is a chopped up arm, exhibiting a guinness black bottle to recipients, as a thematic image much more pronounced than all the other modes – the text, picture and colour. this is an indicator that the guinness beer is the only reason for displaying ad 10 for readersʼ consumption. 6. conclusion this investigation upholds that advertising can function as a tool for teaching the english language to foreign students. the reasons presented are that advertising frameworks seemingly have no restrictions in constructing persuasive texts. one might also submit that the intention and need to inspire readers to consume ads and advertised products motivate publicists to be creative in their communication strategies. consequently, this study reveals grammatical mnemonics in order to demonstrate the communicative elements of the analysed ads. within the spheres of sfpca, the notions of orthographic clauses, six countries; counting of uncountable nouns, with a nescafe; and creative structures, eazybanking and souper are obvious in the advertising plates. dataplus representing a morphological compounding, *966*911# projecting an alphanumeric constituent, and #eachforequal exhibiting the hash-tag notion are functional facilities of the communications. the advertisers are shown to use statements, e.g. today, we celebrate you…; commands, keep your account safe; and minor clauses, happy women’s day, happy international beer day, and happy father’s day; some of the constructions are interspersed and splintered phenomena. some of the disjunctive elements are more details, big stout for n100, cleanliness for healthy skin, and airtel the smartphone network. further observations establish flashback, as in cheers for those who came before us and oath taking as in pledge to drink right. engaging efl students in the analysis of these advertising features is likely to enhance their understanding of the constituents and grammatical challenges of the clauses. it may also create a wider understanding of grammatical distinctions in 85 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) learners to enable them identify grammatical and ungrammatical configurations of the textual features of ads. references alcaraz-mármol, g. 2019. developing efl oral skills through linguistic mediation in the secondary education classroom. elia, 19: 15-40. aliasin, s. & abbasi, s. 2020. the relationship between iranian efl learnersʼ emotional intelligence and metacognitive reading strategies use. jle 6(2): 31-43. bauer, l. 2001. morphological productivity. cambridge: cup. bloor, t. & bloor, m. 2013. the functional analysis of english. abingdon, oxon: routledge. booij, g. 2007. the grammar of word: 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(eds.). 1992. the oxford english dictionary. [cdrom]. oxford: oup. sledd, j. 1996. grammar awareness in time of class warfare. the english journal 85(7): 59-63. snail, m. 2008. the black consciousness movement in south africa: a product of the entire black world. historia actual online 15: 51-68. sugioka, y. 2011. nominalization affixes and multi-modularity of word-formation. philadelphia: jb. taylor, p.2016. black is beautiful: a philosophy of black aesthetics. new york: wiley blackwell. thompson, g. 2014. introducing functional grammar. abingdon, oxon: routledge. 89 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) van de vliet, b. 2017. valentine s̓ day 14 february. directory magazine. retrieved on 17 june 2020 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313823928_the_story_of_ saint_valentine. van valin, r. jr. & lapolla, r. 2002. syntax: structure, meaning and function. cambridge: cup. vestergaard, t. & schroder, k. 1985. the language of advertising. oxford/new york: basil blackwell. williams, j. 2005. the teacher’s grammar book. mahwah: lea, inc. yule, g. 2020. the study of language. cambridge: cup. zapata becerra, a. 2000. handbook of general and applied linguistics. mérida, venezuela: tap. *** dr. taofeek o. dalamu, a senior lecturer, obtained a ph.d. in english language from the university of lagos, akoka-yaba, lagos, nigeria. as a faculty member, he currently teaches english at the department of english and literary studies, anchor university, lagos, nigeria. this individual specialises in systemic functional linguistics, as applicable to discourse analysis, multimodality, social semiotics, and digital humanities in relation, mostly, to advertising communications. as a functional social semiotician, dr. dalamu exhibits a variety of over two scores of publications in reputable international journals across the globe. see: www.researchgate.net.cdn/taofeekdalamu dr. ke yang obtained a ph.d. (ed.d.) in english education from hong kong baptist university, kowloon tong, hong kong; and m.a. english linguistics at university of nottingham. however, he teaches cross-cultural communication and advanced english reading at the college of english, nanjing xiaozhuang university, nanjing, china pr, east asia. some of his publications are available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/ke-yang-18. email: 16447093@life.hkbu.edu.hk https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313823928_the_story_of_saint_valentine https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313823928_the_story_of_saint_valentine taofeek o. dalamu doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.38.3.04 ke yang advertising linguistic framework: an instrument for teaching grammar in efl university classrooms the world of english teachers in a facebook common-interest group 9 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles agnieszka dzięcioł-pędich university of białystok the world of english teachers in a facebook common-interest group abstract. in view of the fact that teacher discussions in professional online communities are not frequently researched, the author decided to conduct a small scale study with the aim to analyse discussions held by members of two facebook groups for english language teachers. the findings show that members of both groups want to know how they could help their students, and discuss their own professional and personal needs. moreover, members of both groups show their appreciation not only towards practical solutions, but also towards the theoretical content suggested by others. furthermore, the analysis has revealed that language teachers need to be constantly motivated, inspired and reassured that they are doing their job well. finally, the findings show that, apart from creating their own personal learning networks in facebook groups, their members treat them as arenas for promoting their products, services, or events. keywords: language teachers, facebook groups, professional development, personal learning networks, self-promotion. 1. introduction social media are a type of online communication during which its participants create, share and/ or exchange content, collaborate or network in virtual communities (rouse 2016). social media include, among others (foreman 2017): • social networks, for instance, • linkedin, a social network for professionals who want to find new career opportunities (nations 2018); • twitter, a site where people communicate in short messages called tweets creating a stream of quick updates from friends, family, scholars, news journalists, experts, etc. (gil 2018). • media sharing networks, for instance, • instagram, an application for sharing photos and videos from a smartphone; • youtube, a free video-sharing service where users watch, like, share, comment on, and upload any videos they deem to be interesting. • discussion forums, for instance, • quora, a question-and-answer site; • digg, a news aggregator which features user-submitted news stories which are then voted up or down by the user community. 10.15290/cr.2018.22.3.01 10 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles • bookmarking and content curation networks, for instance, • pinterest, a web-based pinboard (moreau 2018), where users save images they found on the internet to different boards which are used to categorize one’s collection of images; • flipboard, a platform which aggregates articles, video, and social media into a personalized digital magazine (willson 2017). • blogging and publishing networks. they include, among others, • wordpress most popular tool for creating websites which range from simple blogs to professional business sites (biglione 2016). • tumblr a microblogging platform. each user has their own tumbleblog where they can publish short texts, images, quotes, links, video, audio and chats (gunelius 2018). interestingly, social media are have attracted attention of scholars from various disciplines: “from psychiatrists to education scholars, from biologists to mathematicians, it seems that the potential (and drawbacks) of social media are debated across disciplinary lines” (velestianos 2016: 5). in language education teachers are encouraged to make social media a teaching tool as children and teenagers frequently turn to them by default (gibson 2012). according to alrubail (2017), instagram, twitter, facebook, tumblr, and even snapchat are used by students, and can be introduced to language classrooms to develop students’ overall communication, micro-writing and writing skills with the emphasis on, for example, tone, writing conventions, and levels of formality (king 2017). moreover, social media offer students a richer target language input, greater and more varied interaction and feedback opportunities(golonka et al. 2014, in: xodabande 2017), greater opportunities for meaningful and authentic language use than are available in the classroom (richards 2015, in: xodabande 2017), and promote autonomous learning of selected language aspects (xodabande 2017). however, apart from becoming an effective teaching tool, social media can support teachers in their professional development. for instance they can provide educators with a free, in the majority of cases, access to resources which teachers cannot afford or obtain due to financial and/or location constraints (dede et al. 2009, in: carpenter and krutka 2015: 31). furthermore, thanks to social media it is easier for teachers to combat the feeling of isolation (hoskins 2015) and find partners for communication and collaboration (vavasseur & macgregor 2008; wesely 2013, in: carpenter and krutka 2015: 31): “(…) with such a wealth of opportunities to connect with and learn from fellow educators on platforms such as twitter, it would seem to make sense to include social media in your professional development toolkit” (hoskins 2015). the aim of this article is to briefly characterize the largest social networking site in the world (santos and rogers 2012), i.e. facebook, and its use in language learning and teaching, and to analyse in details the posts from two groups for english teachers to see what content theirmembers share, what questions they pose and what answers the seek and how all these issues reflect their professional and personal needs as well as their development as language teaching professionals. 11 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles 2. facebook in language teaching and learning facebook was launched in 2004 and since 2006 anyone who turned 13 can create their own facebook account. one of its best known features is the like button introduced at the beginning of 2009. facebook members use it to show that they appreciate and support specific comments, pictures, wall posts, statuses, or fan pages (rouse 2010). in 2006 facebook introduced five more reactions buttons called “love,” “haha,” “wow,” “sad,” and “angry.” which “are meant to help its 1.44 billion users show empathy in the instances where leaving a ‘like’ may not feel like the most appropriate response” (heath 2016). facebook’s public features include (rouse 2014): • pages – they allow its users to create and promote a public page devoted to a specific topic; • events – they allow facebook users to create and publicize an event, invite audience and track who plans to participate; • market place – it enables users to buy and sell items in their area; • presence technology – it lets facebook users see which contacts are online and chat with people they befriended; • groups – they allow their members to come together around a common cause, issue or activity e.g. to organize events, share their opinions, look for and share advice, post photos or other related content (black 2017). groups can be set up and managed by any facebook user and one person can join up to 6,000 groups. originally created for socializing, facebook, just like other social media sites, is gradually being acknowledged by subject and language teachers who appreciate its value as a resource and sharing tool (bissessar 2014: 122). facebook has been used, for instance, to investigate whether it could help undergraduate students improve their english language proficiency, critical thinking, comprehension, skills, and motivation (faryadi 2017), whether it could be integrated into a universitylevel english writing course (yu 2014), whether it could support collaborative activities in higher education (amasha and alkhalaf 2014), or whether it could encourage learners’ participation in information-sharing (omar et al. 2012). language teachers can also use facebook in simpler ways in language classrooms. according to pappas (2013), the most professional way to establish online classroom community is by creating a facebook page or group. contrary to a page which can be accessed and liked by anyone, a group can become a more intimate place where students meet. to encourage stronger bonds and protect the privacy of its members the group should be “closed” (ibidem). in the first place, a facebook group could be used asa ‘broadcast’ account (britland 2012). this one-way communicationenables teachers, among others, to remind students about their homework assignments, upcoming deadlines, test dates, etc. (100 ways to use facebook in education 2017). a facebook group set up for the purposes of a given language course can also be used as a platform for sharing resources. teachers can post links to, for instance, educational videos or concepts that students are currently discussing. a facebook group can also become an archive of classroom 12 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles materials that students can access when they missed class or want to revise before a test or exam (100 ways to use facebook in education 2017). a facebook group enables teachers to extend their classrooms and augments face-to-face interaction (using facebook in your teaching 2018). if a lively discussion is taking too much classroom time, students can be asked to continue it on facebook, and the lesson can move on. apart from extending their classrooms and making learners more involved in their lessons, subject and language teachers use facebook groups to socialize and cooperate with each other, to express their concerns, to search for and give advice, etc. in other words, teachers initiate and manage their own professional development in an online milieu (van bommel andliljekvist 2015). as bissessar (2014: 121) observes: “at the click of a mouse, teachers are communicating and receiving ideas on curriculum issues, improving their instructional delivery, design and methodology, dealing with classroom issues, discussing topical issues globally and regionally, disagreeing with each other, and improving their personal development”. manca and ranieri (2014) identified two main types of facebook groups for teachers: generic and thematic. in generic groups teachers share their experiences related to education in general while in thematic groups they discuss specific issues, e.g. special educational needs. interestingly, teachers who engage in collegial discussions and share their professional experiences on facebook do it more publicly than in any other arena of professional discussion (lantz-andersson et al. 2017). furthermore, teachers who seek but also share support, ideas and inspiration in facebook groups create their personal learning networks (pln). however, further discussion of this issue is beyond the scope of this article. 3. the study lantz-andersson et al. (2017) argue that teacher discussions in professional online communities are still relatively unexplored. in the literature review on social media in teacher professional development presented by greenhow et al. (2018) it is twitter that seems to be the most frequently researched platform. furthermore, there is a dearth of studies devoted solely to the role of membership in facebook groups for english teachers and its significance for professional development. that is why a decision was made to conduct a small scale research project with the aim of analysing discussions held by members of two facebook groups for english language teachers. the following research questions were asked: • what categories of posts can be found in the two groups? • what is the content of the posts shared by members of both groups? the analysed posts in the study come from two generic facebook groups for english teachers, which were found through facebook’s internal search engine, with the search term “english teachers”. in order to ensure the anonymity of their members, the groups will be labelled as group a and group b. as of april 2018, group a had 227 972 members and 3 administrators, while group b had 95 167 members and 5 administrators. to assess the activity of participants in the facebook groups examined for the purposes of the study the author of the article joined both groups, but 13 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles did not publish, comment, share, or like any of the posts over the duration of the study. the posts were gathered for the first two weeks of march 2018 and a total of 240 posts (120 posts from each group) were subjected to quantitative and qualitative analysis. the author decided against quoting posts directly to better preserve the anonymity of the group members. 3.1. analysis of the results 3.1.1 categories of posts the author analysed the posts from the two groups (differing in size) to see if there are any differencesin the post categories. the analysis has shown that the groups share 8 similar categories but with a varied number of posts. the categories are: posts in which the members ask a language or teaching question, posts in which members share motivational posters for teachers, posts in which they look for pen pals for their students or project partners, posts where they publish different types of questionnaires, posts in which they share links to websites that might be of interest to language teachers, posts which are shared from other facebook groups or personal or organizational pages, post with links to videos and posts with links to events such as workshops or conferences. additionally, in group b (the smaller one) there is a group of posts in which members share posters explaining or illustrating in a visual way the meaning of different language expressions. table 1. categories of posts in the analysed sample. topics group a number of posts topics group b number of posts 1. asking for advice/ asking a question 27 1. asking for advice/ asking a question 24 2. links to websites 29 2. links to websites 37 3. posts shared from fb pages/groups 36 3. posts shared from fb pages/groups 19 4. motivational posters for teachers 4 4. motivational posters for teachers 11 5. looking for pen pals/partners 5 5. looking for pen pals/partners 3 6. questionnaires 3 6. questionnaires 2 7. links to videos 13 7. links to videos 7 14 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles 8. links to events/ courses 3 8. links to events/ courses 1 9. posters illustrating meaning of words and phrases – 9. posters illustrating meaning of words and phrases 16 total 120 total 120 3.1.2 content of the posts a) asking for advice/asking a language question professional development is, among others, an evolving process of self-disclosure, reflection and growth (diaz-maggioli 2003). for language teachers growth means, apart from the enhancement of all aspects of the person (iannone 2017) and the development of teaching skills, also the improvement of their language skills. facebook groups are a good place to ask questions related to professional development, as contrary to participation in language or methodology courses, group membership carries no cost. moreover, questions are usually answered quickly and pooled teaching experiences, skills and language knowledge of group members will probably not leave a problem unsolved. the analysis of the posts has shown that overall questions asked by members of both groups can be divided into the following categories: aspects of language teaching (this category is present in both groups and comprises questions concerning materials for students, materials for one’s own development and questions concerning teaching approaches and techniques), general education issues (this category is present only in group a) and linguistic issues (this category is present only in group b). in the analysed sample there are no questions that could be labelled as relating to personal aspect of one’s growth. interestingly, in both groups questions received the greatest number of comments of all posts in the sample: in group a there were 27 questions and 222 comments altogether, while in groupb there were 24 questions and 205 comments. table 2. questions asked in group a. asking for advice /asking a question1 likes comments shares aspects of language teaching 1. posting a poster – types of reading (intensive reading vs extensive reading) have you contemplated about this pic? 41 19 4 1 this column contains quotes from fb posts. the original grammar and spelling have been preserved. 15 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles asking for advice /asking a question likes comments shares 2. how do you teach reported speech in context? 31 21 3. fresh ideas to introduce past simple to young learners and teenagers? 21 16 1 4. activities to teach present perfect tense to intermediate level esl students? 20 15 5 5. good book to improve my academic writing? 22 13 1 6. short course (one week or so) on english methodology this summer in the uk; a webpage i can have a look at? 11 13 7. fun/creative ways to teach conditional type 2? 14 11 8. books with sounds to teach english to a 4-year-old boy who has never learnt english? 10 10 1 9. what might be the objectives of a listening lesson? 7 10 10. what do you have printed on the walls of your classroom? 5 9 11. highly immersive programme to make students learn english informally. i’m thinking of playing some songs and encourage ss to guess the lyrics and then sing them aloud? is “perfect” a suitable song? 5 9 1 12. what materials to use to conduct an interesting lesson on homophones? 14 8 13. how to motivate my students for a reading comprehension lesson? 13 8 14. when lesson planning do you recommend making a plan for the week or each day? lessons are “circle time” of 10-15 min (pre-school teachers). 2 7 16 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles asking for advice /asking a question likes comments shares 15. nursery rhymes for the 4 seasons to teach children aged 2-5; copyright free materials and available online needed; write a few rhymes and share them with me! 5 6 1 16. how to make the class interactive with the lesson “parallelism”? 9 6 17. how to present a lesson on internet slang to low-intermediate students? 18 6 18. creating a unit for 9th grade: artworks and the representation of historical events in the united states. 19. i would like to test project-based learning. ss will have to choose and work on an artwork to present it to the class as part of an exhibition. ideas for the works of art and their handling? 4 4 20. what different approaches to language teaching do you know (for example ppp, tbl)? which one is the most useful? 1 4 21. how to make a big scale activity (game) for kids about dental hygiene? 1 3 22. need to evaluate students’ speaking skills; no time to do it in class individually; record a video or audio in groups of 3; can you share a fun activity to perform? 2 3 23. different forms to work with music in the class? 9 2 24. games or activities on which i can practice or show multicultural competencies and the cultural diversity to 19-21 years olds? 2 2 25. a good method or technique to teach recount text to the beginners? 7 2 17 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles asking for advice /asking a question likes comments shares 26. a lesson to my classmates about adjectives (order and comparison). any games? any ideas? 9 1 27. i’d like to teach my 16 years students something about english culture, focussing in particular on henry and meghan royal wedding (…) any ideas? 4 general education issues 28. 5-year-old boy in first grade. homework: unscramble the words with a school objects vocabulary. the boy is just beginning to read and write. 29 17 table 3. questions asked in group b. asking for advice/asking a question2 likes comments shares language teaching methodology issues books to improve teaching techniques? 32 25 any interesting ideas to teach oliver twist and great expectations at high school? 18 16 if you have the choice, what are the grades that you will select to teach? 3 13 ideas to teach adverbs of frequency? 18 12 reading materials for beginners? 15 11 short stories for eslkids (pre-school first graders); stories with simple vocabulary for beginners? 8 10 i’m an english student at university planning to teach english. any suggestions for teaching tips and skills? 1 10 how to prepare students for toefl exam? any tips? any useful pages? 54 9 2 this column contains quotes from fb posts. the original grammar and spelling have been preserved. 18 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles asking for advice/asking a question likes comments shares books or references about suggestopedia, the use of technology, community language learning? 6 9 websites to learn phonics? 8 8 what kind of lessons do you suggest for someone who would like to improve his speaking skills? 5 8 ways of proving the listening and speaking of students in grade 6 and 8? 3 6 can you suggest me a latest grammar book? 4 6 a mega project that should go on for an entire term; activities for the project? 6 5 how to find pdf from new basic survival macmillan? 5 (reactions) 5 literary pieces for dramatic monologue / interpretative reading? 4 4 how to establish a richness of the article? 3 suggestions for teaching ss to write a cover letter? 3 2 how can i find english material to study from it for teaching english but with no common rights and attribution? 1 2-day english camp tamil-speaking trainee teachers who will be working in the state sector; no it, maybe electricity; activities that would develop their teachingskills but also student-centred learning activities; i’d be particularly interested in the activity which most struck a chord when you did your own teacher training. 3 websites to download some paper revision for an adult who is learning english (he is french)? linguistic issues meaning of no 1 and no 2? 14 (reactions) 16 19 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles asking for advice/asking a question likes comments shares meaning of shingles? 9 23 while writing address in a letter we don’t give a comma after “to”; why? 1 3 the analysed questions are varied: there is no single issue that dominates the discussion in either of the groups. furthermore, they suggest a varied length of professional experience of those who pose them. the teachers who ask, for example, about the objectives of a listening lesson or books to improve their teaching techniques are probably new to the profession, while those who want to find fresh ideas on teaching past simple to young learners and teenagers or fun/creative ways to teach second conditional are likely to be old-timers. the analysis of problems posted by the supposed novice teachers leads us to suspect that they lack basic knowledge of methodology and/or teaching skills. the question is whether this is due to the poor quality of training they had received or the fact that they were allowed to teach with no qualifications. it should also be stressed that the teachers’ queries include problems to which solutions can be found in methodology textbooks, and questions which can be adequately answered by experienced instructors, as well as unusual and unorthodox problems. it would be interesting to interview teachers with such an unconventional approach to developing their learners’ skills about who or what motivates them to do so. there are very few language questions in the analysed sample. however, one only needs to use the search term “meaning of ” to find more linguistic issues that teachers in both groups struggle with. the three language questions in group b (table 3, items 22, 23, 24) concern three different problems and therefore no general conclusions can be drawn about the linguistic needs of members of both groups. the general education question (table 2, item 27) is not connected with language teaching. however, language teachers need to know development characteristics of different age group to effectively choose and/or design activities and plan lessons. for that reason they should be able to assess whether unscrambling words (school objects vocabulary) is appropriate homework for a 5-year-old boy who is just beginning to read and write. as mentioned earlier, in both groups the questions received the greatest number of comments in the whole sample. the analysis of the comments is beyond the scope of this article, but it could reveal how useful these pieces of advice are, as well as how different or similar teachers’ approaches to solving one problem are. 20 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles b) links to websites nowadays teachers are not restricted to the participation in offline training courses to pursue their professional development. a wide availability of online materials: articles, webinars, training films, means that teachers can improve their skills whenever and however they want. on the one hand this abundance offers teachers limitless development opportunities, on the other hand, however, it is easy to feel overwhelmed or lost while searching for the latest and mostvaluable sources of information. turning to facebook groups while looking for adequate materials might be a good idea, as the information that their members share is pre-selected and if someone is recommending, for example, a worksheet or an article, they might be of more usefulness. in the analysed sample of posts there are links which take teachers to websites with articles they might use tobroaden their knowledge of language teaching methodology and refresh their teaching skills. in group b there are 23 such links and 18 of them were posted by the group administrator. some of these pre-selected articles are more theoretically angled, e.g. item 4 in table 5, and some suggest practical solutions, e.g. item 22 or 12 in table 4. collaborative learning is the issue that appears in both groups, and in group b it was highly popular: it received 54 likes (perhaps due to the fact that it was free and elt journal usually offers only paid access). table 4.links to websites in group b. link to website/article title likes comments shares posts shared by the group administrator www.tes.com – what does an inclusive classroom really look like? 29 2 www.edutopia.org – good news for teachers: exercise builds brain power, too 15 2 www.fluent.com – 3 exciting ways the grammar-translation method is still great for language teaching 13 4 www.teachthought.com – 10 reasons to use inquiry-base learning in your classroom 13 1 www.teachthought.com – how to teach students to research without google 11 1 www.teachthought.com – are students doing projects or learning through project-based learning? 10 4 21 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles www.teachthought.com – learning is an experience. everything else is just information 10 1 www.edutopia.org – 7 grading tips for new teachers 9 1 1 link to: www.eslspeaking.org – esl speaking lesson plan template 9 link to: www.teachingchannel.org – how to teach ss the difference between cooperation and collaborative learning 8 link to: www.edutopia.org – the 7 characteristics of a good leader 6 1 www.clareseltcompendium.wordpress.com – 5 worksheet-free vocab revision 6 www.teachingchannel.org 7-step vocabulary strategy to help you teach vocabulary to esl(video) 5 2 https://www.teachingenglish.org. uk/ – english language and medium of instruction in basic education in low – and middle-income countries: a british council 5 www.edutopia.org – using the rule of three for learning 4 www.teachthought.com – 6 strategies for creating an inquiry-driven classroom 3 www.eflieas.com – esl/efl speaking activity: role play debate 2 www.teachthought.com – 31 surprising facts about learning 1 post shared by other group members www.davlae.co.uk – website full of free resources 10 https://www.wikipedia.org/ – list of countries by english-speaking population 4 2 22 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles www.linguapress.com – reading for advanced students on stephen hawking 3 1 www.english.com – how to bring soft skills into the business english classroom www.coursers.org – advertising a course: emerging trends & technologies in the virtual k-12 classroom in group a there were only four such posts (see table 5). table 5. links to websites in group a. link to website/article title likes comments shares https://academic.oup.com/eltj (elt journal) – collaboration 54 31 https://itdi.pro/itdihome/ (international teacher development institute) – collaborative learning 8 1 www.eflmagazine.com 6 a link to moroccan english – 7 engaging articles on language teaching methodology 1 these posts are rarely commented on (21 comments in group b and no comments in group a) and almost never shared, except from the free article on collaborative learning from elt journal (31 shares), but the teachers show their appreciation towards the content the links take them to by liking the posts (159 likes in group b and 69 likes in group a). a different question is how many teachers liked the post because they read the suggested article, and how many expressed their positive attitude only because they liked the title. group members also share links that take their colleagues to websites, websites with in-built blogs and blogs they created themselves3. in group a there are 25 such posts with 337 likes, 6 comments and 266 shares altogether while in group b one can find 14 similar links with 36 likes, 3 comments and no shares. unlike links to external websites, links to websites and blogsmanaged by members direct people to more practical contents. in group a the links take other group members, among others, to: a free book with texts to improve learners’ grammar, free board games, bingo games, a treasure hunt, activities for one on 3 in order to ensure the anonymity of the group members the author of the article decided not to reveal the links. 23 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles one tutoring, free printables, courses for teachers, e.g. the profitable organized english teacher, lesson plans based on podcasts, lesson plans developing students’ digital literacies and critical thinking skills, tools for creating own online courses, information on events, e.g. efl talksinternational women’s day, books written by the group members, etc. in group b, if the group members follow the links they will find, among others, lesson plans based on youtube videos, homemade worksheets, teacher and language development courses, e-learning courses/skype courses, purchasable board games and free board games, picture books designed for parents/teachers to read aloud with children, skype lessons, focusing on listening and/or pronunciation, etc. the most popular post – 109 likes – was the one where its author offered other group members a free book with texts to improve learners’ grammar. the second most popular one – 66 likes – was posted by the same author but this time group members were presented with two downloadable games to practise past simple. none of the posts in group b was as popular as the one with 109 likes. the most popular post here received only 9 likes and its author was “advertising” a lesson plan devoted to st patrick’s day. as mentioned before, group a has more links to personal websites, websites with in-built blogs and blogs than group b which is probably caused by the fact that group a is almost three times as big as group b hence the greater likelihood of attracting visitors which is especially importantas some of them offer purchasable products and services. it should be stressed that contemporary consumers turn to social media with an increasing frequency to search for information and to make their purchasing decisions (lempert 2006; vollmer & precourt 2008, in: mangold and faulds 2009: 360). the bigger the group, the greater the likelihood of people sharing the links and spreading the news to their friends and other professionals. a large number of shares might result in an even greater amount of traffic, i.e. customers interested in buying the offered products and services, and, if the website or blog is very popular, advertisers willing to cooperate with the owners. c) posts shared from fb pages/groups in both groups their members shared posts from their personal facebook pages, from facebook pages belonging to institutions they work for, from facebook pages whose contents they liked or from other facebook groups. in group a there are 36 such posts including 22 posts which are shared from members’personal pages while in group b there are 19 similar posts including 7 posts which are shared from members’ personal facebook pages. the probable reason why there are three times as many posts from personal pages in group a is its larger size. these shares from personal pages can be treated as a form of self-promotion and the bigger the group, the more people will see the link and visit the website. just like with links to personal websites, a big volume of website traffic is likely to attract, for instance, advertisers, and some visitors can become customers. the links to personal posts in group a also received a greater number of likes and shares, i.e. 179 and 44 respectively, than links to similar posts in group b 37 and 4 respectively. 24 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles usually, such a post in both groups contains a link to a website with a theoretical article on language teaching, an article with practical teaching tips, a film explaining intricacies of the english language, a film with tips on how to, for instance, deal with anxiety, a filmpresenting real-life events with a question on how it could be used in a language classroom, a lesson plan, a worksheet, information about an event, a selection of interactive classroom tools, etc. group members also share posts with a poster or a video illustrating a language aspect, a funny gif or ecard illustrating teacher’s life. the most popular post in group a was a link to a film about a boy who turned a subway platform into his therapy office – it received 102 likes. the group members were also asked how they would use it in their classrooms. the most popular link shared from a personal page was the one with a link to a youtube film about a speaking challenge – it received 37 likes. in group b the most popular post was the one with a film about a japanese kindergarten with no walls titled kids need a small dose of danger – it received 96 likes. the most popular link shared from a personal page was the one with an article on interactive tools such as pie simulator, countdown timer or a classroom timer. d) motivational posters for teachers praver and oga-baldwin (2008: 1) observe that the motivation level of the teacher is one of the most frequently overlooked aspects of second language acquisition. they further stress that teachers do not find it easy to maintain their intrinsic motivation to work with students due to such factors as, for example, the work environment or student response to instruction. it is no wonder then that members of both groups publish posters whose aim is to motivate and inspire their colleagues. the motivational posts received 584 likes, 35 comments and 134 shares. in group b there are 11 posts with motivational and information contents; 6 of them were posted by the group administrator and their titles are as follows: • growth happens when you … • great teachers do … • the purpose of education is (a quote by robert m. hutchins) • what students remember most about teachers • types of student inquiry • every child needs a champion. the first three posts in this category received a similar number of likes: 51, 50 and 47 respectively which suggest that teachers need more than learning new teaching techniques or familiarizing themselves with the latest theories of language teaching. the remaining posters from this category can be divided into three groups: • student-related posters • how creativity gets killed • cultivating literacy by growing young readers 25 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles • teacher-related posters • six traits of life changing educators • spring break for teachers • general content • the meaning of mothers in your life. in group b there are four inspirational and informational posters – two of them are related to teachers’ emotional needs: • the day you really become a teacher. this post received a remarkable 283 likes which further corroborates the previous statement on teachers’ emotional needs. this post was also shared by 83 and commented by 26 people. • how integrated technology is in your classroom. the other two might be related to any profession: • a poster with a quote on feedback by bill gates, • a poster with a quote by nelson mandela with a motivational text underneath on teaching and methodology. fig. 1. motivational poster from group b. 26 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles e) looking for pen pals/partners teaching english in an environment where students cannot put into practical use what they have learnt might be difficult. what is more, if students do not use the language, their skills will deteriorate. in the analysed sample of posts there are 8 posts by people looking for pen pals for their students, conversational partner or project partners. the posts received 133 likes, 78 comments and 4 shares. in group a there are 4 posts by people who wanted to find: 1. penfriends for students aged 11 so they could develop their writing skills. this post received the greatest number of likes and comments, i.e. 42 and 31 respectively. this indicates that the project was appreciated by the group members. this is possibly related to the fact that it is difficult to teach writing in a meaningful context, especially to young teenagers. 2. conversational partners for students 11-14 who want to improve their english through skype interviews; 3. “snail mail” pen pals for non-native english speaking students aged 10/11; 4. pen pals for students aged 9/10 years to discuss different types of food around the world. one request for partners was posted by a person who wanted to cooperate with other teachers in an etwinnig project about “the conquest of space through mythology and astrology”. this post received only one like, perhaps due to the esoteric nature of the project. in group b one post was written by a person who was searching for pen pals from different countries for korean students aged 10-15. the second posts was by a member who was looking for partners to a project on renewable energy taking place in a turkish vocational school. the third request was written by a teacher who wanted to get in touch with other teacherswho do “little” projects with kids to exchange ideas and the effects of their work. it was this post that received the greatest number of likes and comments, i.e. 30 and 17 respectively. this suggests there are teachers who work with children this way and would like to share their experiences. f) questionnaires facebook groups for teachers are an excellent arena for promoting one’s or company’s educational products and services. additionally, the sheer number of members, their different teaching experiences and the educational settings they work in attract researchers who post: larger samples are a source of more data and provide a better picture for analysis. in the analysed samples of posts there are 5 questionnaires: 3 in group a, and 2 in group b. all the questionnaires in group a were created with the help of googledocs. the aim of the first questionnaire was to gather information on art, dance, games and music in different countries. the obtained data would be used to develop a curriculum for primary school teachers to broaden their awareness of cultural variety around the world. the second questionnaire was posted by a b.a. student who was researchingthe reception (the naturalness) of selected phrase and sentences by native 27 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles speakers of english. the third questionnaire was posted by a student of industrial design who wanted to learn how often teachers of english use presenter devices and what their presenter habits are. in group b the first questionnaire was also developed with the help of googledocs and was devoted to the use of ict in the language classroom. the second questionnaire in group b was created with the help of facebook tools for creating polls. its creator it wanted to see which course books english teachers found most interesting while working with adult language learners. the number of questionnaires in the analysed sample is small but it is enough to use the search term “survey” to find more than 30 surveys in each group posted by, for example, professional researchers or ba or ma students. g) videos apart from sharing links to websites or post from other facebook pages or groups, members of both groups share links to videos. some of these links take group members to professional youtube channels created either by an individual group member or by an organization, e.g. a publisher. just like with links to members’ own websites, the author of the article decided not to reveal the links in order to ensure the anonymity of the group members. in these youtube channels one can watch videos with teaching tips, e.g. how to plan group work effectively, how to conduct discussion activities, vocabulary lessons, e.g. how to use phrasal verbs or how to talk about fruit and vegetables (such lesson usually take place in real-life context, for example in new york or in a supermarket) grammar lessons based on disney movies, a grammar lesson on english articles, etc. there are also amateur videos showing lesson fragments, e.g. how to work with an interactive whiteboard, how to write complete answers to questions or amateur videos devoted to selected language aspects e.g. how to pronounce letter “a” in different words.moreover, one can find a link to a youtube playlist with a films devoted to most common mistakes in english, a film with a south-african sharing her views on the pros and cons of living in new zealand, or a video with a song the aim of which is to help students remember gerunds and infinitives. a link to one’s own websites, facebook pages, youtube channels or lessons can become a tool for self-promotion. h) advertising events/courses due to their large memberships with varied needs, facebook groups can become an advertising board for different events and courses. the posts in group a received 134 likes, 6 comments and 14 shares while the only post in group b received neither of them. in the analysed sample in group a there are three such posts: • a link to a teaching course for non-native teachers in russia. 124 people liked this post which might suggest how needed such courses are in certain parts of the world; • a link to a sign-up form for vii annual round table on modern approaches to foreign language teaching in tenjo, columbia; 28 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles • a link to a one-day workshop for teachers – empowering english teachers in language teaching in lima, peru. in group b there is one post advertising an event devoted to best practices in teaching foreign children in primary and secondary education. the event was held in milton keynes. i) language posters apart from asking language questions, members of group bpost posters which explain the meaning of language expressions (mostly vocabulary). there are 16 such posts in group a; 13 posts contain one poster, one post contains 3 posters explaining the meaning of “for” and “since”, another one contains 19 posters with different business expressions and yet another one contains 4 posters showing relations between family members. members of group a greatly appreciate these posters, which is reflected in the number of likes they received: 514. the most popular one in terms of “likes” was the poster illustrating the meaning of prepositions with 90 likes (see figure 2), and the least popular one was the poster explaining the meaning of the idiom “eye candy” (see figure 3). fig. 2. poster illustrating the meaning of prepositions of movement. 29 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles fig. 3. poster illustrating the meaning of the idiom eye candy4. it would be interesting to analyse why these posts were so appreciated by the teachers: whether it is because teachers still struggle with similar issues or whether they would like to use them in their language classrooms. it is also intriguing that there are no similar posts in group b. this might be due to the nature of the two groups’ membership, but it is impossible to say for certain without more thorough examination. 5. conclusions the findings of the study show that members of both groups publish posts in which they ask how they could help their students, as well as those in which they discuss their own professional and personal needs. as for the teachers’ professional needs, members of both groups show their appreciation not only towards practical solutions, but also towards the theoretical content suggested by others. the findings also show that, apart from creating their own personal learning networks in facebook groups, their members treat them as arenas for promoting their products (e.g. books, worksheets, games, training videos, video lessons for students), services (e.g. training courses), or events (e.g. conferences or workshops). as mentioned before, the larger the group, the greater the likelihood of attracting visitors to one’s personal website or blog and turning them into customers. interestingly, an insight into both groups has shown how a group administrator might affect the type of published content not only in terms of removing offensive posts and comments or moderating discussions, but most of all by promoting certain types of theoretical approaches to teaching or practical classroom solutions. 4 the poster was accompanied by the following text: “eye candy means something beautiful to look at, pleasing to the senses”. 30 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles similar studies, but on a larger scale, could be conducted by course developers. by observing a large and varied number of facebook groups for teachers they would be able to redesign their curricula so as to adequately respond to teachers’ theoretical and practical needs: it might be assumed that in an increased number of posts recurring issues will appear. teachers could also be trained how to promote themselves in professional way in an online environment, i.e. how to create easy to navigate websites or record good quality films, or create professional event or 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krainer andn. vondrová (eds.), cerme 9 – ninth congress of the european society for research in mathematics education: proceedings of the ninth congress of the european society for research in mathematics education. 29302936. van gilder cooke, s. 2011. walls have eyes: how researchers are studying you on facebook. time. accessed at: http://content.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,2099409,00. html?iid=sr-link3 [27.03.2018]. velestianos, george. 2016. social media in academia. networked scholars. new york: routledge. using facebook in your teaching. 2018. queen mary university of london, e-learning unit. https://elearning.qmul.ac.uk/enhancing-your-teaching/using-social-media/using-facebook-in-your-teaching/ [26.03.2018]. willson, jeffrey l. flipboard (for android). pcmag, march 2017, https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406226,00.asp, [13.09.2018]. xodabande, ismail. 2017. the effectiveness of social media network telegram in teaching english language pronunciation to iranian efl learners. cogent education 4(1). 1-14. doi: https://doi. org/10.1080/2331186x.2017.1347081. yu, li-tang. 2014. a case study of using facebook in an efl english writing class: the perspective of a writing teacher. jalt callsig: forum 10 (3). 189-202. 100 ways to use facebook in education. 2017. teach thought. https://www.teachthought.com/ technology/100-ways-to-use-facebook-in-education-by-category/[26.03.2018]. microsoft word crossroads 35.doc ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 57 book reviews daniel karczewski1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.35.4.04 university of białystok, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8255-6018 foreign language pedagogy in the light of cognitive linguistics research (series second language learning and teaching), edited by grzegorz drożdż and barbara taraszka-drożdż, cham, switzerland: springer, 2020, 131pp. isbn: 978-3-030-58774-1. eur 48.14 the volume under discussion includes a collection of papers that use insights from cognitive linguistics (cl) to illuminate various issues in language pedagogy. the book is divided into two parts, each comprising several chapters that focus on two different sub-themes, such as cognitive underpinnings of language teaching and pedagogical applications of cognitive theories. as such the collection of studies reviewed here reflects a wider trend in scholarship that investigates the intersection of cl and language pedagogy within the realm of an applied cognitive framework. the first part of the book opens with a discussion by paul wilson and barbara lewandowska-tomaszczyk on how the presence of a native or non-native teacher in an l2 class can affect students’ emotions. the chapter begins with a concise summary of studies on emotions, such as shame, fear, hopelessness, anxiety, anger, and pride, with respect to l2 learning and highlights how these emotions might influence l2 students. some of the negative effects include withdrawal and avoidance tendencies, lower grades, or a decline in working memory performance. the results of the questionnaire-based study conducted by the authors seem to indicate that in the native versus non-native scenario it is the former that would elicit more negative emotions, anxiety in particular. the statistical analysis, however, showed no significant differences between these two scenarios in respect to the remaining emotions that were examined. in the second chapter, katarzyna kwapisz-osadnik employs the langackerian (1987) notion of imagery to propose her own theoretical model, referred to as global visualization grammar, with a view to showing how to teach tenses and moods in french more effectively. the model outlined proposes that students must be made familiar with some basic concepts, such as imagery, conceptualization, scene, or the theory of mental spaces (fauconnier, 1985), before proper teaching can begin. the model assumes the simultaneous presentation of all tenses and moods with the help of drawings. in the last 1 address for correspondence: university of białystok, faculty of philology, centre for linguistic studies, pl. nzs 1, 15-420 białystok, poland. e-mail: dakar@uwb.edu.pl ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 58 section, kwapisz-osadnik summarizes the advantages of the model, which, for instance, prevents “the automatization of the so-called prototypical tenses and moods” (p. 26) and thus allows learners to be more flexible in their constructional repertoire. the first part of the book concludes with a chapter by grzegorz drożdż, who takes advantage of some of the notions in langacker’s cognitive grammar (cg); they include epistemic distance, granularity and scope in presenting tenses, and conditional clauses in a unified account. the bulk of the chapter concentrates on a comparison of the past and present uses of the constructions, present simple, present continuous, past simple, and past continuous, to achieve this goal. the chapter also discusses several pedagogical implications that stem from the treatment of the constructions in question in a unified manner, and this might be helpful in overcoming some general challenges that esl/efl learners face when mastering tenses. on the whole, the chapter convincingly illustrates that a handful of cl concepts has the potential to improve the treatment of this troublesome aspect of english grammar. the second part of the book commences with a chapter by agnieszka kaleta, who puts the cognitively oriented treatment of post-verbal complementation to the test to determine its effectiveness. given the fact that the body of literature on the topic is peppered with inconsistencies, i would consider the chapter’s succinct presentation of the cognitive linguistic account of verb patterns to be one of its strengths. the empirical part of the chapter focuses on the research study design, participants recruited, and results, which are underpinned by some statistical evidence that strengthens the validity of the findings. kaleta showed that the experimental treatment (cl-style intervention) was more effective than the standard treatment in the control group; however, it remains to be seen whether the results can be extrapolated beyond the sample studied. the following chapter by barbara taraszka-drożdż—the only lexically oriented study in this volume—discusses a lexical technique that aims to help “grasp the nuances of meaning that are revealed by a linguistic unit in different contexts” (p. 82). the chapter begins with a discussion of the cg account of polysemy and is followed by an explication of the five-step technique that is embedded in langacker’s (1987) network model. the technique, which can be used in foreign language classes when learners encounter unfamiliar words, is illustrated with three case studies of french lexical units accompanied by visually pleasing illustrations. the last part of the chapter addresses the advantages of the technique, one of which is that it encourages learners to reorganize their word association networks, which can be of value to foreign language learners. the penultimate chapter by aleksandra paliczuk proposes an alternative to teaching italian prepositions to polish learners whereby a relationship between a preposition and objects or concepts is brought to the fore. the study takes its theoretical inspirations from langacker’s cg (1987), the notion of imagery in particular. the first part of the chapter addresses the standard treatment of prepositions in italian grammar with its focus on formal classifications of objects and adverbials. then, paliczuk lays the cognitive foundations for the alternative treatment of prepositions in italian by discussing in turn spatial, temporal, and abstract uses of prepositions. the discussion is exemplified with the diagrams illustrating relations between a given preposition and objects or concepts. the final part of the chapter comprises sample exercises (gap-fills and a translation task) that could be used to address the shortcomings of the standard teaching of italian prepositions. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 59 the last chapter in this volume, by łukasz matusz, argues that teaching phonetics and phonology at the university level could benefit from the implementation of some elements of the conceptual metaphor theory (cmt). this idea is first explored from the theoretical standpoint by means of a literature review, which shows that cmt has played an important role in various areas of language pedagogy. then various extensions of the metaphor language is music are presented to demonstrate their potential for teaching phonetics and phonology. more specifically, by showing analogies between two domains, language and music, students will better understand phonetic and phonological notions. the empirical part of the study discusses a research design that uses a questionnaire as a data collection tool. seventy-three students were requested to provide definitions of some notions such as phonemes, stress, or intonation, and as a result, the questionnaire collected 438 definitions. the results of the study showed that 11 students came up with 22 definitions in which manifestations of the language is music metaphor can be identified. more than a decade ago, pütz (2007: 1143) predicted that two cl theories, langacker’s cg and lakoff and johnson’s theory of metaphor (1980), would be likely to emerge in the applied cognitive framework. by looking solely at this volume, one can say that this prediction came true. five out of seven chapters in this book are grounded in the most comprehensive theory of grammar within the cl enterprise, and the cognitive view of metaphor provides a theoretical account for another one. interestingly, if we take a cursory look at the last decade of research investigating the effectiveness of cl-style interventions on grammar and vocabulary that is available on the scopus and web of science databases, this prediction also fares well. therefore, on the one hand, the comprehensiveness of these two theories has been proved, and on the other hand, it has also been proved that each theory is “an important empirical test” (langacker 2008: 8). from a cognitive linguistic perspective, language is seen as “systematic and governed by regular processes” (tyler 2017: 75). this assumption manifests itself quite strongly in the contributions in this volume: the studies here emphasize the meaningdriven approach to language teaching and learning rather than rote memorization. hopefully, in the long run this assumption might lead to a reduction in the dogma of arbitrariness looming over the classroom. the studies in the present volume also do well in terms of the visual representation of meaning in the drawings and diagrams that they utilize. this is perhaps the most perceptually salient reflex of embodiment (tyler 2017: 77) in cl-oriented l2 learning, which tends to rely on diagrams and drawings to facilitate, for instance, the discovery of schematic grammatical meanings. the effectiveness of this type of instruction has been demonstrated by some scholars (e.g., tyler, mueller & ho 2010), thus giving support to the dual coding theory (paivio 1986); however, it requires further empirical testing. another assumption, which manifests itself to a lesser degree in this volume, is the need for explicating “the differences between the target language and the learner’s first language” (pütz 2007: 1151), which, as soffritti and dirven (2004) argue, might facilitate language learning. in consequence, by allowing learners to grasp the cross-linguistic contrasts between the target language and the first language, l2 learning might become easier for them. following achard (2018), the editors of the volume under review note in their introduction that applied cl research “is still below its potential” (drożdż & taraszka………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 60 drożdż 2020: vii). curiously, a comment along similar lines was made by luo (2021: 264), who, following pütz (2007), states that “applied cl is still in its infancy.” one might wonder why, despite more than thirty years of applied cl research, sentiments like these are frequently expressed. to my mind, an answer to this question was elucidated by several scholars (boers 2013; littlemore 2009; tyler 2017), who argue, for instance, for the need for longitudinal rather than small-scale studies or distributive learning to determine the effectiveness of cognitively inspired l2 research. others (e.g., boers 2011), based on their assessment of cl-oriented studies, offer a ready-made checklist of methodological flaws that bring studies’ conclusions into question. some of the flaws include the absence of (1) pre-tests, (2) delayed post-tests, or (3) detailed quantitative data. although boers (2011) evaluated only cl-oriented vocabulary research, the list of the identified shortcomings could be used as a checklist for grammar-oriented interventions, as well. taking the above into account, only two of the studies in this volume, one by wilson and lewandowska-tomaszczyk and another by kaleta, employed any statistical methods to determine the validity of their hypotheses. i believe that some of the claims and arguments expressed in the remaining chapters might be strengthened by adopting a more experimental approach to the phenomena under investigation and thus take the studies to a new level of refinement. this is a much needed development if applied cl research is to reach its maturity and fulfill its full potential soon. to sum up, foreign language pedagogy in the light of cognitive linguistics research covers a wide range of topics that could be of interest to researchers working at the intersection of cl and language pedagogy. one of the strengths of this volume is its inclusion of chapters by researchers investigating cl-oriented learning in languages other than english. it is my hope that future work will also explore the role of l2 teachers, who are often unfamiliar with applied cl research, to promulgate its ideas. references achard, m. 2018. teaching usage and concepts: toward a cognitive pedagogical grammar. in: a. tyler, h. lihong, & h. jan (eds.), what is applied cognitive linguistics? answers from sla research, 37-62. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. boers, f. 2011. cognitive semantic ways of teaching figurative phrases: an assessment. review of cognitive linguistics 9(1): 227-261. https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.9.1.11boe boers, f. 2013. cognitive linguistic approaches to teaching vocabulary: assessment and integration. language teaching 46(2): 208-224. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444811000450 drożdż, g., & taraszka-drożdż, b. (eds.). 2020. foreign language pedagogy in the light of cognitive linguistics research. cham, switzerland: springer. fauconnier, g. 1985. mental spaces: aspects of meaning construction in natural language. cambridge (united kingdom)/new york/melbourne: cambridge university press. lakoff, g., & johnson, m. 1980. metaphors we live by. chicago/london: university of ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 61 chicago press. langacker, r. w. 1987. foundations of cognitive grammar:vol.1: theoretical prerequisites. stanford, california: stanford university press. langacker, r. w. 2008. the relevance of cognitive grammar for language pedagogy. in: s. de knop & t. de rycker (eds.), cognitive approaches to pedagogical grammar, 7-35. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. littlemore, j. 2009. applying cognitive linguistics to second language learning and teaching. basingstoke: palgrave macmillan. luo, h. 2021. cognitive linguistics and second language acquisition. in: x. wen & j. r. taylor (eds.), the routledge handbook of cognitive linguistics, 556-567. new york/london: routledge. paivio, a. 1986. mental representations: a dual coding approach. new york: oxford university press. pütz, m. 2007. cognitive linguistics and applied linguistics. in: d. geeraerts & h. cuyckens (eds.), the oxford handbook of cognitive linguistics, 1139-1159. oxford/new york: oxford university press. soffritti, m., & dirven, r. 2004. comparing languages: language classification, typology, and contrastive linguistics. in: r. dirven & m. verspoor (eds.), cognitive exploration of language and linguistics, 231-268. amsterdam: john benjamins. tyler, a. 2017. second language acquisition. in: b. dancygier (ed.), the cambridge handbook of cognitive linguistics, 73-90. cambridge: cambridge university press. tyler, a., mueller, c. m., & ho, v. 2010. applying cognitive linguistics to instructed l2 learning: the english modals. aila review 23 (december 2010), 30-49. https://doi.org/10.1075/aila.23.03tyl *** daniel karczewski is an associate professor in the center for linguistic studies at the university of białystok, poland. he was the prize winner of the polish cognitive linguistics association competition for the best ph.d. dissertation in cognitive linguistics in 2014. he is the author of generyczność w języku i w myśleniu. studium kognitywne (genericity in language and thought. a cognitive study). his current research interests include the generic overgeneralization effect and the phenomenon of normativity. 62 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) book review justyna wawrzyniuk1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.32.1.05 university of białystok, poland orcid: 0000-0002-7359-0617 oppliger, p. a., & shouse, e. (eds.) the dark side of stand-up comedy. palgrave macmillan, 2020, 320 pp, ebook isbn: 978-3-030-37214-9, hardcover isbn: 978-3-030-37213-2, hardback 96,29 € the reason [people make dark jokes] is they are trying to bring a level of humanity—laughter—back to a moment that seems to lack it: tragedy. they’re trying to make you, the individual, laugh in your moment of sadness so just for the briefest of seconds, you have a minor moment of respite where you forget how shit things are and you get to have a giggle with yourself. but what that does manifest itself as is… they say fucked-up things. daniel sloss, jigsaw (2018) daniel sloss, a scottish stand-up comedian, in his opening bit of the netflix special jigsaw (2018), admits to having “evil thoughts” and proceeds to describe the joy he feels when he imagines a young boy tripping and falling on his face. although his audience does not share his views, they still laugh at the absurdity, or rather immorality, 1 address for correspondence: faculty of philology, university of białystok, pl. nzs 1, 15-420 białystok, poland. e-mail: j.wawrzyniuk@uwb.edu.pl 63 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of the pleasure he describes. sloss then tries to redeem himself in his audience’s eyes and says that “evil thoughts don’t make you evil; acting on them does.” this stance could be well translated as a perception of dark humor, which, for many, seems to be a significant characteristic of stand-up comedy. telling dark jokes does not mean a comedian is troubled (or traumatized). moreover, darkness and trauma can be both causes and results of dark humor. these points are proven in one of the most recent volumes of the palgrave studies in comedy series. the dark side of stand-up comedy, edited by patrice a. oppliger and eric shouse, is a collection of articles and essays that look at the darkness of stand-up from both within and outside of the comedy scene. the authors, who include scholars and stand-up comedians, tackle the troubled comic trope and discuss the theories of the stereotype. they explore the lightness and darkness of stand-up comedy from various aspects, often focusing on angles that do not evoke such connotations; the darkness ranges from the “usual” tragic and gruesome themes of death, suicide, and abuse to the surprising, but equally dark, aspects of physical violence, sacrifice, and monotony. even avid enthusiasts may not be aware of the latter themes. the book is divided into two parts. the first part, with eight chapters, is devoted to the workings of stand-up comedy and its association with dark humor. scholars examine the darkness using the benign violence theory (mcgraw & warren, 2014) and discuss professional comedians’ lives and their connections to dark humor. the second part, with seven chapters, focuses on amateur and lesser-known comedians and their struggles to engage in the stand-up comedy scene. in the first chapter, eric shouse discusses comedians’ personal lives, comic stage personas, and acts. he addresses the darkness of death, suicide, and drug addiction in stand-up comedy through the work and biographies of george carlin, richard pryor, and robin williams. these “founding fathers of stand-up comedy” are excellent examples of the troubled comedian trope, but the author comes to the conclusion that the darkness comes from different sources and is reflected differently, therefore should not be generalized. in other words, dark humor does not automatically indicate mental health issues or substance abuse. the second chapter discusses changes that george carlin had to make in his “i kinda like it when a lotta people die” bit in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. steven s. kapica explores how carlin’s approach to the routine allowed for catharsis in a time of tragedy and uneasiness among his audience members. as sloss says, bringing laughter to a moment of sadness, even with the best of intentions, requires tact and taste, and carlin was able to do that well in his routine. the third chapter explores childhood trauma as a reason for and source of comedy and comedic style. sean springer takes a close look at steve martin’s work and its connection to his relationship with his emotionally distant father. he shows how trauma influences 64 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) a comedian’s choices and how, at the same time, the choices can be an attempt to stand in opposition to the darkness within a comic. philip scepanski, in the fourth chapter, scrutinizes how alcohol addiction and its repercussions can be turned into a humorous monologue. he looks at craig ferguson’s biography and work and shows that ridiculing celebrities who suffer from addiction and mental health problems is morally questionable at best. this chapter describes the comedic catharsis that comes from a comedian’s own “darkness,” as opposed to the catharsis analyzed in the second chapter, which was an answer to tragedy happening in the world. as the editors comment, “whether one agrees with ferguson’s point that it is morally suspect to mock ‘vulnerable people,’ it is a different question entirely whether doing so should be illegal” (p. 43). in the fifth chapter of this part, christelle paré looks at the court case mike ward v. the quebec human rights commission. the case and its origins create a sort of paradox of darkness: mike ward, a comedian known for his charitable work for and support of physically challenged people, repeatedly made fun of a disabled teenager. ward claimed that his jokes had a different objective than ridicule. this case and similar ones beg the question of defining the moral and legal limits of stand-up comedy. notably, if many limitations were imposed, they would eventually take the form of censorship. in the sixth chapter, carey marie noland and michael hoppmann uncover the dark humor of jim gaffigan’s seemingly clean jokes, which frequently include the glorification of food addiction and morbid obesity. the darkness present in gaffigan’s work is another instance of paradoxical darkness. it becomes more apparent upon scrutiny; the dark layer of his humor is hidden behind the light-hearted jokes. as the authors state, “[t]he interplay of self-deprecation and the dark topic allow him to transform the pain and danger of food addiction into laughter” (p. 238). noland and hoppmann use the benign violence theory to illustrate how gaffigan, as well as gabriel iglesias and others, admit to norm violation and make a joke out of it. the seventh chapter is especially important in the wake of the #metoo movement. while stand-up comedy scene has come a long way from the “women are not funny” stereotype (krefting 2014), it is still a male-dominated arena. female comics are still subjected to sexism and sexual misconduct by male colleagues and audience members. in this chapter, patrice a. oppliger and kathryn mears use communication theories to examine how humor can be used to cover and uncover immoral behavior. they give the examples of bill cosby, al franken, and louis c.k., all of whom behaved inappropriately and were excused by the public for a long time but now have been made accountable. the last chapter of this part revolves around the topic of mental health. kathryn mears, eric shouse, and patrice a. oppliger explore the work and comic persona of maria bamford. in her comedy, bamford openly talks about being bipolar, and therefore, she successfully opens a discussion of a topic that still may be considered taboo. 65 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the authors question the validity of the benign violence theory (mcgraw & warren 2014) as it might relate to bamford’s work. all in all, she views the darkness of mental illness with a new perspective (or, ironically, in a new light). as i mentioned before, the first part of the text is made up of contributions by scholars discussing the dark humor in stand-up comedy from the perspectives of philosophical, psychological, and humor research. here, unsurprisingly, dark humor is associated with death, addiction, terrorism, disability, and child and sexual abuse, topics that are traditionally, and rightfully, “unlaughable.” if a convention is broken and jokes do involve these topics, they are considered dark. however, the notion that dark humor originates from dark and twisted minds is a gross simplification of stand-up comedy. what is more, this notion is based on the work of comedian-celebrities, who are a tiny fraction of the vast number of comics on the comedy scene, especially in the united states. that is why it is even more fascinating that the second part of this book is devoted to lesser-known comedians who treat stand-up more as a hobby than a job (most of them have full-time jobs that allow them to make a living so they can do comedy on the side). it consists of discussions, reports of interviews, and essays with responses coming from scholars and people who have experience in stand-up comedy. as it turns out, the darkness in stand-up is more than tragedy: it can often take the least expected form of perfecting the craft or the passage of time. in the first chapter of the second part, sheila lintott tackles the “troubled stand-up stereotype” and its “mad scientist” origins. the paradoxical darkness of that trope lies in the notion that comedians are thought of as truth-bearing, honest, and sometimes even rebellious, and that their act on stage is the same as their “act” offstage. as a matter of fact, the studies show that most amateur comedians are far from being dark or troubled and that a successful performance requires a lot of time and effort in order to seem effortless and spontaneous. if done right, stand-up comedy looks easy; when something goes wrong, however, the audience’s rejection feels very personal. the next chapter follows the mechanisms of stand-up comedy and defines and highlights the distinction between a person and a stage persona. edward david naessens discusses how, in his experience, an audience does not take into account the years of crafting but rather mistakes in an act of the persona of for the comedian’s true personality. the following chapter describes the real and very physical danger of performing comedy. stand-up comedy is often considered shocking and vulgar in the first place (brodie 2014), but if fuel is added to the fire in the form of dissatisfied audience members who may be drinking alcohol, the feelings become intensified. eric shouse reports on his interviews with stand-up comedians who relate that heckling and threats are widespread reactions but that physical violence (provoked or not) is just as common. a feeling of defenselessness on the part of amateur comedians is an often overlooked dark side of stand-up comedy. 66 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in the following chapter, blayr nias tells the story of a drunk audience member who harassed her when she was on stage and sexually assaulted her afterward. nias reframes the story and changes the perception of her character from a victim to a protagonist, thereby bringing light to the darkness of being a female comic in the male-dominated stand-up comedy scene. subsequently, in a powerful essay, “the ethics of rape jokes,” cait hogan reflects on the importance of comedy in processing traumatic experiences and how transforming tragedy into comedy takes courage and a certain risk that is hard to calculate. standup comedy’s first and foremost goal is to entertain (brodie 2014), but this can be done while also being vocal and asking difficult questions. the only caveat may be that the comedian must have an awareness of what can or should not be said so as not to alienate the audience or bring back the trauma for the comedian and audience members. fortunately, there is a wave of change coming; hannah gadsby, iliza shlesinger, daniel sloss, and many more comedians speak about their experiences of sexism and sexual misconduct openly even though this may affect their connections to the comedy industry. what is more, and paradoxically for comedians, they could not be more serious when speaking about these topics. the second-to-last story shows the enormous sacrifices that lesser-known comedians have to make to fulfill their dreams of performing for a couple of minutes at a bar full of inebriated people. louis bishop gives an excruciatingly detailed description of his work as a mortuary assistant, showing how far an aspiring comedian is willing to go to earn a living and also pursue something that resembles a career in show business. the final chapter is a stark reminder that comedian-celebrities are a minority who are lucky enough to make money from their hobby; this is not a given for lesser-known comics. larry fulford talks about something that an average audience member does not take into account when thinking about comedians: how much time it takes to hone a routine. stand-up comedy is a heavily one-sided interaction but an interaction nonetheless (brodie 2014). a comedian cannot perfect a set without an audience, and countless gigs and open mics are needed to do this. the darkness of this aspect is associated with the realization that time must be regularly “wasted” to derive a few moments of joy from doing what a comedian loves. the ultimate darkness, however, comes from understanding that the longer a comedian stands on a stage, the more the hobby turns into a job. the dark side of stand-up comedy offers a nuanced yet essential insight into the darkness and workings of the stand-up comedy scene. the editors’ goal was to tackle the oft-repeated trope of the “troubled comedian.” they managed to do so in a way that can be of use not only to scholars but also to regular fans of stand-up comedy. the language and theory supporting the arguments are presented in a clear way that does not require prior knowledge of the humor research field. the main value of the book is its attempt to include and discuss the perspectives of both famous and lesser-known comedians. 67 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) frankly, the latter are underrepresented in the research despite being the majority in the vast industry of stand-up comedy. in conclusion, this collection successfully sheds light on the paradoxical and multidimensional aspect of the darkness of comedy, which is as incongruous as humor itself. references brodie, i. 2014. a vulgar art: a new approach to stand-up comedy. university press of mississippi. krefting, r. 2014. all joking aside: american humor and its discontents. baltimore: johns hopkins university press. mcgraw, a. & warren, c. 2014. benign violation theory. in: s. attardo (ed.), encyclopedia of humor studies, 75-77. thousand oaks: sage publications, inc. oppliger, p. a. & shouse, e. (eds.). 2020. the dark side of stand-up comedy. london: palgrave macmillan. sloss, d. (creator). 2018. jigsaw. [video file] retrieved from http://netflix.com * * * justyna wawrzyniuk is a phd student and a research assistant at the faculty of philology of the university of bialystok in poland. her doctoral thesis is a metaphor-led discourse analysis of gender construction in stand-up comedy. 37 9 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) maria antonietta struzziero¹ doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.37.2.01 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3783-6832 “caught in a web of absence”: risk, death and survival in maggie o’farrell’s hamnet abstract. maggie oʼfarrell s̓ hamnet (2020) is a reimagining of the death of shakespeare s̓ only son, and the existential havoc that the event causes in the protagonistsʼ life. however, the title is slightly misleading because the novel s̓ central character is hamnet s̓ enigmatic mother, agnes hathaway, better known as anne. the narrative oscillates between two timelines: the present begins on the day the plague first afflicts hamnet s̓ twin sister judith and soon after takes away the boy himself, a trauma that risks breaking both the family bonds and fragmenting the individual psyche. the past swings back to agnes s̓ meeting her future husband about 15 years earlier. though hamnet died of unknown causes, oʼfarrell attributes it to the bubonic plague that raged throughout the country at the time with devastating consequences, an aspect of the story that is highly topical due to the covid-19 pandemic. hamnet is a text crossed by a number of deaths, both in the family of the dramatist and of his wife. as such, it is argued, the novel explores various forms of risk: physical, psychological and emotional. at the same time, it examines the different strategies that the human psyche activates to heal its wounds. keywords: plague, risk, death, trauma, survival, safety. introduction “the words exist, if you know how to listen” maggie oʼfarrell, hamnet maggie oʼfarrell s̓ hamnet (2020) is a reimagining of the death of hamnet, william shakespeare s̓ eleven-year-old only son. the tragic event ripples through the calm surface of the protagonistsʼ daily lives, tips over into psychological devastation, and has far-reaching emotional, domestic and artistic reverberations. 1 independent scholar. e-mail: mstruz@hotmail.it https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3783-6832 10 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the title, however, belies its real subject because, though the text is permeated with hamnet s̓ presence, even as an eerily, ghostly creature long after his death, both in the family and in the pages of his father s̓ theatrical production, the protagonist and pulsating heart is the boy s̓ mysterious mother, anne hathaway, in the novel called agnes which, as oʼfarrell explains, is the name that appeared in her father s̓ will. actually, the two names, “agnes and ann were simply treated as versions of the same name” (2008: 10), germaine greer maintains in shakespeare’s wife (2008), adding that scholars found dozens of examples “where agnes, pronounced a̒nnis ,̓ gradually becomes a̒nnʼ” (greer 2008: 10). so, “the child born agnes hathaway grew up to be ann shakespeare” (2008: 11)². at the same time, the famous playwright is somehow relegated to a secondary role, never named directly but only variously referred to, in relation to the other characters, as “the son”, “the latin tutor”, “her husband”, “the father”. actually, he is one of the many ghosts that haunt the text, moved to the periphery of the novel s̓ geographic world. he is seldom at home in stratford-upon-avon, where the story takes place, and his life in distant london is little known even to his family; he mostly exists in the memories that his wife and children cherish of him, a presence kept alive by his letters to them. hamnet is a text crossed, and punctuated, by a number of risks to face and deaths, both in the family of the dramatist and of his wife, shadows that loom large in their lives and make their presence felt throughout the book. as such, the article argues, the novel explores various forms of risk: physical, psychological and emotional, the latter ones triggered by the trauma of loss and grief. at the same time, it examines the different strategies that the human psyche activates to overcome and survive a traumatic event and re-emerge on relatively safe existential ground. in addition to this, at its core, hamnet is also a tender study of motherhood and family life; an exploration of marriage, as well as an insightful look into the creative process itself. a restless boy, a witchy forest girl and a kestrel hamnet is a third-person present tense narrative, for the most part focalized through agnes s̓ female eyes, but inhabiting different minds. the novel moves to centre stage the almost obscure figure of shakespeare s̓ wife, as well as hamnet, so overlooked and forgotten by scholars, giving both of them a personality and a voice, and giving voice to their silenced story. oʼfarrell s̓ is an important shift of perspective because, as the writer herself asserts in an interview with sarah hughes for the guardian, anne hathaway is usually given no agency, and “there s̓ so much hostility and misogyny towards her. the narrative is that she was illiterate, that she was a peasant, that he hated her, that she forced him into 2 the article will refer to anne hathaway as agnes in discussing maggie oʼfarrell s̓ novel. germaine greer uses the form a̒nn,̓ a spelling that is retained when quoting from her text. 11 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) marriage” (hughes 2020). a malicious view of her finds space even in james joyce s̓ ulysses (1920), voiced by stephen dedalus. in the ʻscylla and charybdisʼ episode, he refers to her as “the ugliest doxy in all warwickshire, […] a boldfaced stratford wench who tumbles in a cornfield a lover younger than herself ” (2011: 244). then stephen goes on to add that as soon as the dramatist realized he had made a mistake, he “got out of it as quickly and as best he could” (2011: 243), leaving her behind to escape to london, thus becoming a ghost for his family. scholars have frequently used “the distorting lens of what he expressed through his characters or the speaker of his sonnets” (shapiro 2006: xvi) as ʻsourcesʼ to have access to the dramatist s̓ feelings and fill the silences and opacities of his life. to argue their point and support the narrative that shakespeare s̓ was an unhappy marriage, critics also invoke the famous will, in which he left only his “second-best bed” to his wife, as also stephen dedalus does, defining it “the swansong […] wherein he has commended her to posterity” (2011: 260). however, they tend to ignore that in elizabethan times the ʻbest bedʼ was usually kept on view downstairs for visitors to admire. william left the marital (second best) bed to his wife. that bed surely had more emotional value than the showpiece bed. on this critical tendency, james shapiro aptly observes that “the plays are not two-way mirrors” which can offer a window into the dramatist s̓ feelings where he left no other documents, such as letters or diaries, to refer to, a critical methodology that is characterized by “circularity and arbitrariness” (shapiro 2006: xiv). in her recent the private life of william shakespeare (2021), lena cowen orlin acknowledges that “the nature of shakespeare s̓ emotional relationship with anne […] is a privacy that will remain intractable” (49); however, she asserts that there was purpose in the union and that it suited him, even though “the very idea that shakespeare could himself have made a positive life choice flies in the face of settled opinion” (49). in fact, she concludes, marriage freed him from a planned indenture and an unwanted life in trade, and set him free to become a poet and playwright. as for the long debated issue of the bed left to his wife, cowen orlin claims that “all shakespeare s̓ bequests hint at the possibility that there was a sentimental significance in the second-best bed as well” (194). peter ackroyd is also very critical of the speculations that anne hathaway had coaxed an inexperienced young man into bed and trapped him into “a mésalliance or forced marriage” which, instead, he considered “an eminently sensible arrangement” (2006: 83). the whole narrative of their unhappy married life, he argues, is “an insult to anne hathaway who, like many of the silent wives of famous men, has endured much obloquy” (2006: 84). in the novel, a disparaging view of agnes is voiced by shakespeare s̓ mother, mary. being somehow both puzzled by, and even afraid of, her ability “to look at you, right into you, right through you” (oʼfarrell 2020: 206)³, mary considers her daughter-in-law a 12 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) “sorceress [who] bewitched and ensnared her boy, lured him into a union. this, mary can never forgive” (207). however, oʼfarrell maintains, “there s̓ not a single shred of evidence for any of that” (allardice 2021) and, as a counter-argument, she adds, “when he retired, he could have lived anywhere. he was incredibly wealthy but he chose to go back and spend his retirement with her in stratford. this doesnʼt suggest to me a man who hated his wife or regretted his marriage” (allardice 2021). actually, in her meticulously researched shakespeare’s wife, germaine greer, sifting through the archives, wills and birth records of people whose lives ran parallel to the young shakespeares, traces, and exposes, the evolution of the fantasy narrative concerning them. she offers a corrective to all the male biographers who manipulated the meagre facts known about shakespeare to construct misogynistic narratives about anne hathaway. greer pointedly observes: “by doing the right thing, by remaining silent and invisible, ann shakespeare left a wife-shaped void in the biography of william shakespeare, which later bardolaters filled up with their own speculations, most of which do neither them nor their hero any credit” (2009: 4). this tendency resulted in biographies mostly built on fanciful hypotheses: “all biographies of shakespeare are houses built of straw, but there is good straw and rotten straw” (greer 2009: 8). she goes on to add that anne was “like so many young women of her age in being unmarried” (34), and that “it is her husband who is the exception to the rule, being himself a minor” (88). oʼfarrell acknowledges germaine greer s̓ book as one of the many influences on her portrayal of agnes, along with a series of additional sources that she researched in preparation for the book and to inscribe her ʻotherʼ narrative. oʼfarrell retrieves anne hathaway from obscurity and the disparaging obfuscating sexism of scholars and scriptwriters of oscar-winning films, and brings to life a fascinating female portrait of an unconventional, free-spirited creature who seems to be endowed with special, mysterious gifts. hamnet is divided into two parts, the caesura between the sections being represented by hamnet s̓ death. the novel oscillates back and forth between two timelines and the opposite poles of ʻriskʼ and ʻsafetyʼ that punctuate both trajectories. the present narrative, which actually opens the novel, begins in 1596, on the day the plague stealthily enters the safe world of the playwright s̓ household, bringing death and devastation. the past narrative swings back first to agnes s̓ recollection of her childhood, then the meeting with her future husband while he is tutoring her stepsiblings, william s̓ courtship and their marriage, followed by the birth of their three children. though risk, loss and death are introduced at the very beginning of the novel, on the day the plague appears in the shakespearesʼ lives unexpectedly, they also accompany 3 further references to this book are given after quotations in the text. 13 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the protagonistsʼ past. so, first the article will focus on the past time axiswhich is gradually presented through a series of flashbacks that alternate with the present narrative threadboth to take readers back into the youthful stage of agnes s̓ and will s̓ life, their respective problematic family relationships, and their encounter, and, above all, because old traumas shed light on the protagonistsʼ psychology in their adulthood. agnes s̓ past story starts almost as a fairy tale: “there used to be a story in these parts about a girl who lived at the edge of a forest” (45), the narrator recalls. it is a tale that suggests a deep connection between humans and the natural world and that, repeated from teller to listener, appears to conceal “a promise, […] a hint that something is about to happen” (45). the story recounts “the myth of agnes s̓ childhood” (51), and the special, fond relationship she had with her mother, who profoundly doted on her baby girl. agnes s̓ safe idyllic life is abruptly interrupted by the death of her beloved mother while giving birth to her third stillborn child, one of the many deaths punctuating the text. she vividly recollects the appalling sight of her mother s̓ bed soaked in blood, “a room of carnage, of violence, of appalling crimson” (55), in her arms the dead baby child with a waxy, wizened face wrapped in a bundle, a priest muttering strange words over both mother and baby. it is an event that seriously jeopardizes agnes s̓ psychological integrity and almost threatens to fragment her self, as “reality-testing has shown that the loved object no longer exists” (freud 1917: 244). the child agnes feels that “the world has cracked open, [and] the sky above her could, at any moment, split and rain down fire and ash upon them all” (56). she retreats into the forest to give free vent to her suffering, piercing her skin with thorny brambles, as if the self-inflicted physical pain might help attenuate the emotional wound left open by her loss. alone with the trees, she cries out her anger at the god of the church they go to every sunday: “she calls on him, she bawls his name. you, she says, you, do you hear me, i am finished with you” (56). this wound disrupts her safe childhood world and affects her so deeply that she no longer believes in god; it is a trauma that she will relive with even more excruciating pain when hamnet dies. agnes is left alone to cherish the tender, vivid memories of her mother, missing her hand “that held agnes s̓, to stop her from falling, and it was warm and firm” (51). she does not find the same source of safety and emotional support in her stepmother, “the woman in the house” (56) that her father marries after some time, joan, a name “that made agnes think of a howling dog” (52). joan has no patience with the children, and shows no affection for her and her younger brother bartholomew, who agnes loves profoundly. she hits agnes with a shoe when she is angry with her, “leaving purple blotches on her skin” (53), a pain that is “so surprising, so unfamiliar” (53) to the child, who learns the art of invisibility so as not to draw her stepmother s̓ notice to her and thus avoid being beaten. at this stage the girl s̓ existential trajectory abruptly swings from the warm safety of family affection to deprivation and risk. there follows “a time 14 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of confusion, of the seasons following hard upon each other” (53) for agnes, whose personal and emotional world has been emptied, leaving only a void, an absence. however, she forces herself never to cry, but simply keeps asking everyone when her own mother would come back, unable to accept the idea that she is lost forever. except for the old apothecary s̓ widow, everyone denies that she had another mother; she canʼt understand why they tell lies, because she remembers everything about her and does everything not to erase her presence from the family and keep her memory alive at least in bartholomew. deprived of the security of maternal affection, agnes grows up yearning for an other to fill the void that threatens to engulf her, counteract the death drive that pushes her towards the brink of the abyss, and save her. so, when she first meets eighteen-year-old william at hewlands, the hathawaysʼ residence, where he is latin tutor to her halfbrothers, she recognizes a kindred soul: both abused by one of their parentsagnes by her stepmother, william by his bossy father; both misfits, with something special inside they want to share with the other. she finds emotional safety in him, viewing in him the ideal signifier that can help her reconstitute the texture of the self on safer grounds. will glimpses agnes from the window of the schoolroom at hewlands, unaware that she is the farmer s̓ eldest daughter; he mistakes her for a young man as she emerges from the forest “with a brand of masculine insouciance or entitlement, covering the ground with booted strides” (33), holding a kestrel on her outstretched fist. the themes of mistaken identities, gender-blurring and affinity between girl and boy twins are some of the shakespearean themes blended in oʼfarrell s̓ novel, and that at one point will have a pivotal role with momentous consequences. in the neighbourhood agnes has a reputation for being a free-spirited young woman, by many considered to be “strange, touched, peculiar, perhaps mad” (37). she is often seen talking to bees or wandering by herself through the forest to collect plants that she uses “to make dubious potions” (37), so a sort of witchy, quasi-mythical creature. even at home they look upon her with suspicion as they believe that, being a gifted herbalist, she is very good with potions and curses. indeed, her stepmother feels at risk, and “lives in terror of the girl putting hexes on her” (37), especially after her husband, the girl s̓ father, dies. he bequeaths his daughter a substantial dowry in his will, an endowment that, giving agnes a degree of social safety and financial independence, makes her a more attractive party than many women of her time, who had to rely on paternal permission when choosing their future husband. yet, she is generally thought “to be too wild for any man” (37), so probably difficult to marry. however, when the restless young william begins to talk to her, he is strangely intrigued by the fanciful tales circulating about her, and confused by her combination of contrasting attributes: dressed like a servant but speaking like a lady, boldly meeting his 15 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) eyes like a man would and yet distinctly feminine in her figure and form. there is an immediate palpable chemistry between the two, which they do not hide from each other; almost bewitched by her, he touches her arm and feels her shiver. she finds his hand and “her fingers grip the flesh between his thumb and forefinger” (43), holding it as if she wanted to decipher something in the complex text of his mind. when he asks her name, he mishears her saying “anne” (42), which reminds him of his dead sister by the same name, an echo of the ʻghostʼ of the dead haunting the life of the living. soon after, however, she corrects him, saying that her name is “agnes” (44), but pronounced differently, “ann-yis. agn-yez” (44), a linguistic slipperiness that appears to hint at the deceptively mysterious nature of her identity. then, unexpectedly, she kisses his mouth, leaving him dizzyingly stupefied, and after turns to go away. when the reader meets agnes and will next, they are in an apple storage room on the farm, the same place where they had exchanged their first kiss. it is a marvellous scene of the couple s̓ first breathtaking lovemaking, a passionate scene of youthful sex and one of the most original lovemaking scenes in literature. oʼfarrell revises the traditional misogynistic narrative of the canny older woman trapping the inexperienced young boy into an unwanted marriage. in the novel, will, with his disgraced father and his uncertain prospects, is no catch for agnes, who is socially respectable and financially independent. in this perspective, it is she who takes a risk by making the poorer match with a boy considered to be “penniless and tradeless, not to mention rather young to be courting a woman who is of age” (73), both by the local community and by agnes s̓ stepmother, who speaks openly and contemptuously against the possibility of their marriage. a significant difference with the predominant traditional narrative of their life-story is that in the novel there is an indisputable attraction between the two; they are passionately in love with each other and want to spend the rest of their life together. it is a certainty that both of them have from their first meeting, each one feeling safe in the other and trusting the other unconditionally. somehow, the reader perceives that it is the meeting of two special individuals who confront and complete each other. visible absences and invisible enemies the present time axis in the novel, as mentioned before, begins on the day the plague reaches the village and creeps into the shakespearesʼ life, putting the safety of the family, and of entire communities, at risk. oʼfarrell attributes hamnet s̓ death at the age of eleven, whose real causes are unknown, to the bubonic plague, which is plausible as the black death actually raged through the country at the time. it first makes its presence manifest with the ominous marks it leaves on hamnet s̓ twin sister judith. soon after, however, while judith gradually recovers and is safe, it is hamnet who falls into its baneful grip and dies, an event that has momentous emotional and psychological 16 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) consequences, and threatens to break all family bonds, leaving them traumatized and overcome with grief. the novel closely follows the spread and devastating consequences of the virulent pestilence in a section in which oʼfarrell charts how the plague reached agnes s̓ children, reconstructing “the chain of random events and haphazard encounters that could have led the fatal bacterium yersinia pestis to the shakespeare house” (greenblatt 2021: 2). the description of the progression of the plague is an astounding narrative sequence, “a tour de force of contact-tracing” (greenblatt 2021: 2), of the kind we have become familiar with out of necessity. oʼfarrell follows two separate sources of the plague – a glassmaker in murano and a cabin boy on a merchant ship – that at one point will meet. the pestilence makes its way from alexandria, egypt, via fleas, a monkey, cats, rats, and a cabin boy to infected rags wrapped around a glass necklace from murano, italy, that will reach a seamstress in ely street where judith gets infected unwrapping the box containing the millefiori beads. it is a narrative that, in this historical moment, resonates with tragic topicality; as we still live in the ghastly shadow of the global covid 19 pandemic and its succession of risky variants, despite scientistsʼ constant efforts and progress to track the contagion and prevent its riskier mutations, we are gripped by a growing sense of precariousness and insecurity, deprived of the certainty of a safe future to look forward to. however, the topicality of the novel should not mislead readers into thinking that it was oʼfarrell s̓ deliberate attempt to capitalize on the surge of interest in books dealing with epidemics. it is pure coincidence that hamnet was published when the world was in the grip of covid-19; actually, the novelist had begun researching for the novel three years before, and would never have imagined that “a fatal disease could at any moment be sweeping towards you, from far off continents” (oʼfarrell 2020), and change people s̓ daily life. oʼfarrell also traces to the cataclysm of hamnet s̓ death and its traumatic aftermath the source of inspiration for shakespeare s̓ hamlet (1603), a tragedy written four years later in which the playwright, looking for his dead son everywhere and fathoming the depth of his grief, at last finds him in the alchemy of his most famous play. if shakespeare s̓ loss of his son is behind the composition of his most famous play, it is not to be easily ascertained. some critics feel confident that, unlike ben johnson, who left poems on the death of his children, shakespeare s̓ failure “to memorialize hamnet betrays a much deeper grief; others, a comparative callousness”. maybe his silence is simply evidence that “he did not write autobiographically” (cowen orlin 2021: 6). however, the correlation established by oʼfarrell between hamlet and the child s̓ death as the source of inspiration for the composition of his play is persuasive. first of all, it rests on the similarity between the two names, hamnet and hamlet; they were “in fact the same name, entirely interchangeable in stratford records in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries” (greenblatt 2004: 3), according to both steven 17 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) greenblatt and germaine greer, scholars who are also quoted by oʼfarrell in the novel s̓ foreword. furthermore, it is implausible to think that the playwright was unaffected by the boy s̓ death, which, according to greenblatt, “could have caused a psychic disturbance that helps to explain the explosive power and inwardness of hamlet” (2004: 17). in ʻthe death of hamnet: an essay on grief and creativityʼ (2009) eugene mahon goes beyond the similarity between the dead child s̓ name and the play s̓ title, focusing instead on the language of hamlet. he observes the presence of frequent linguistic twinning and variations on the theme of doubling which, he contends, are unconscious references to the dead twin, whose loss is even accentuated by the presence of the living sibling. surely, the child s̓ loss “was a brutal, existential assault on the playwright s̓ psyche” (2009: 426); language, then, is “a supreme act of sublimation” (2009: 425) used “as an attempt to repair the broken heart through the dual ministry of mourning and art” (2009: 435). greenblatt openly traces the composition of hamlet back to the playwright s̓ experience of grief for the loss of his only son, a traumatic event that seems also to be reflected in shakespeare s̓ other works of the period, specifically among them king john (1596). in this play there is the portrayal of a mother, constance, who is so frantic after her son s̓ death that she tears her hair and even contemplates committing suicide: “pand. you hold too heinous a respect of grief. const. he talks to me that never had a son. k. phi. you are as fond of grief as of your child. const. grief fills the room up of my absent child, lies in his bed, walks up and down with me, puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words, remembers me of all his gracious parts, stuffs out his vacant garments with his form”. (iii.4.90-97) peter ackroyd observes that, even though it is impossible to gauge the effect that hamnet s̓ death had upon the dramatist, in the period immediately following the loss of his child shakespeare rewrote king john, and constance s̓ lament on the untimely death of her young son was one of the additions to the play. in such cases, ackroyd maintains, “it may not be appropriate to draw strong lines between the art and the life, but […] it defies common sense to pretend that constance s̓ lament has nothing whatever to do with shakespeare s̓ loss of hamnet” (2006: 271). the idea that there is a connection between shakespeare s̓ tragic hero, hamlet, and his dead child is also at the heart of a contemporary avant-garde play, hamnet (2017), cowritten and co-directed by two irish dramatists and directors, bush moukarzel and ben 18 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) kidd, staged by the irish theatre troupe dead centre, in dublin, to rave reviews. in the play, hamnet actually hopes to meet his father and, in an effort to impress him and gain his approval, he is “learning the most famous speech in the world” (moukarzel & kidd 2017: 12), the soliloquy from hamlet. then, when the dramatist finally shows up via a video apparition, symbolically crossing the threshold separating life and death, he asks his son to stop haunting him, a request to which hamnet retorts: “but you’re haunting me” (44) (emphasis in the original). the boy also reproaches his father for having neglected him and never been with him, so actually being a ghost in his life. oʼfarrell s̓ novel opens with the image of the adolescent hamnet, who “is coming down a flight of stairs” (3); he moves through his family s̓ empty apartment, then on to the street and into his grandparentsʼ neighbouring house, puzzled by the unusual silence and absence of life in all the rooms. at first, the reader is unaware of what the boy is searching for; after a few pages, there are textual traces that gradually tilt the apparent tranquility of the scene into an atmosphere of tension, hinting at something that is amiss: “if this were a normal day” (10), the narrator remarks, implicitly suggesting the opposite. other dark forebodings of risk are sown in a short paragraph standing by itself, where a third person external narrator observes events and comments on them: “every life has its kernel, its hub, its epicentre, from which everything flows, to which everything returns. this moment is the absent mother s̓: the boy, the empty house, the deserted yard, the unheard cry” (8). it is a cluster of words pointing to some impending crisis. after a few pages the reader discovers that hamnet is in a frantic search for help because his beloved twin sister, judith, is unwell, and he is utterly confounded to be so alone in a house that is usually teeming with life and activity. he keeps calling out the names of all the family members, especially his mother, but nobody answers, so he runs back to his house, where judith lies on the pallet, sick and feverish, with a pair of buboes showing at the base of her neck and her shoulder. the narrator s̓ eyes linger on the description of the girl, almost a copy of hamnet: “they are as alike as if they had been born in the same caul” (15). there is a constant insistence on the similarity and deep affinity between the two, of oneness, so much so that they like tricking people, “exchang[ing] places and clothes, leading people to believe that each was the other” (200). this will reach a tragic climax when hamnet himself is seized with the plague, and the last membrane of separation between the two seems to be lacerated to tragic effect. seeing his beloved sister s̓ swollen neck and shoulder, he decides to go and look for the physician; he is somewhere else with another patient, and hamnet walks back home in very low spirits, hoping that, in the meantime, his mother has come back. “but there is nothing: only silence” (27). hamnet s̓ thought of his mother shifts the narrative onto agnes, who is, “in fact, more than a mile away” (16), intent on her routine activities in the fields, tending to her bees. 19 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) yet, small, almost imperceptible, signals appear to intrude upon and disturb the peaceful atmosphere of the place: “there is a sensation of change, an agitation of air” (17). the agitation turns into “an incoming storm” (18), and sends the reader s̓ attention back to “the unheard cry” (8) that agnes has not heeded and that will haunt her for the rest of her life because of what would happen shortly thereafter. swapping places to trick death when agnes comes back home at last, she sees that judith has a high fever. hamnet, shaking, his face stricken and wet, reproaches her angrily for her long absence, and looks at her with an inquisitive expression to find confirmation of what he is dreading, aware that his twin sister s̓ life is at risk. however, though agnes can see into people s̓ mind and read their future, at this critical moment she fails to notice that hamnet himself is not well, so she sends him out to call his sister susanna and his grandmother mary for help. when hamnet enters his grandmother s̓ cookhouse he is overwhelmed by the unbearable heat, which conjures up in his mind the “fumes from the gates of hell”, and he has a weird vision: “he sees, or seems to see, just for a moment, a thousand candles in the dark, […] goblin candles” (126), though they soon disappear once he blinks his eyes. susanna, on seeing him, frowns as she vaguely senses that there is something wrong with him; she is puzzled by his appearance, “white-faced, shocked, quite unlike himself ” , so she tries to attract her grandmother s̓ attention. mary herself is caught by surprise and is frightened by the boy because he “look[s] like a ghost” to her (127). while attending to her sick granddaughter, mary remembers her own psychological devastation at the loss of three of her children, other ghostly presences in the novel. the view of judith in bed, full of buboes, inevitably brings back to her mind her own dead daughter, anne, who also died of the pestilence when she was only eight, “covered with swellings and hot with fever, her fingers black and odorous and rotting off her hands” (128). she fears that judith will be added to the other losses in the family, as she knows all too well that “cruelty and devastation wait for you around corners”, and “the trick is never to let down your guard. never think you are safe” (195-96), because nothing is given to us to possess forever. on seeing that judith s̓ condition is very serious and convinced that the girl will die, she decides to send a message to her son in london, urging him to come back home before it is too late. for her part, being acutely aware that the layer separating the world of the dead and of the living is frail, almost “indistinct from each other, rubbing up against each other” (129), agnes seems to perceive the presence of the dead anne in the room. she even addresses the child in her mind and has a silent conversation with her, repeating to herself that “she will not let judith cross over” (129) into the other world, to convince herself that things are not as bad as they appear to be. 20 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) ghosts have a central role in the text: they are powerful signifiers of the ever-present risks in human life, metaphors of lost futures, as well as a way of representing the turmoil of dramatic, psychological conflicts. above all, their presence in the novel can be decoded in light of jacques derrida s̓ notion of hauntology formulated in spectres of marx (1994) which, interestingly, begins with a reference to shakespeare s̓ hamlet. derrida considers the ghost as a metaphor that pushes at the boundaries of thought, flouts established certainties, and challenges basic binary oppositions. so it is a deconstructive figure hovering between life and death, presence and absence, “always a revenant. one cannot control its comings and goings because it begins by coming back” (derrida 1994: 11). the ghosts in the novel pervade and disrupt every aspect of the protagonistsʼ life; they are a ʻpresenceʼ in their unconscious that cannot be silenced or ignored, and that testifies to the weight of an unacceptable, unprocessed loss. attending to these ghosts becomes a sort of ethical injunction, an otherness that the protagonists are responsible for preserving. when the physician arrives at last, he refuses to enter and remains on the doorstep to avoid contagion; to hamnet, he is “a terrifying sight, a creature from a nightmare, from hell, from the devil” (146). cloaked all in black, to protect himself against the risk of the pestilence the physician wears on his face “a hideous, featureless mask, pointed like the beak of a gigantic bird” (146), a sight that makes hamnet scream. the mask is a precautionary measure we have come to know all too well, used both by people at large and by nurses and doctors in hospitals against risks of infections, and nowadays part of our daily attire when going out. none of the family members, concerned about, and focused on, judith s̓ conditions, observe hamnet closely. at one point, unnoticed by the rest, the boy decides to lie down; he is not well and his head is filled with a strange, confusing kind of pain that makes his head “enormous, significant, bigger than him” (198). after some time, with a tremendous effort, he crawls from his bed and makes his way down the stairs to be with his mother and judith, who has been moved close to the fire. unable even to speak, he crouches next to the little girl. seeing that she is worse, he begins to cry because he feels death s̓ presence in the room, ready to snatch his twin sister away and leave him fractured by his unbearable loss. when judith tries to comfort him, murmuring “you shall be well”, he grips her fingers in anger: “i shall not. […] iʼll come with you. weʼll go together” (199). it is at this point, in his feverish last hours, that “the idea strikes him” (200) and the novel reaches the eerie climax of the first part. thinking of their playful ability to swap places, hamnet imagines he can hoodwink death into believing that he is judith, and take her risk on himself to save her. he slides into judith s̓ place and pulls the sheet over their bodies, so that “it will be easy for death to make a mistake, to take him in her place” (201). he breathes his own life and strength into judith s̓ ear, whispering to her “you will stay, […] and i will go. […] i want you to take 21 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) my life. it shall be yours. i give it to you” (201). and that is exactly what happens: by an extraordinary, mysterious act of will, and an extreme gesture of love, he saves judith s̓ life and he himself dies. hamnet s̓ is a form of love in which, as kristeva observes, “the individual is no longer indivisible and allows himself to become lost in the other, for the other” and, she adds, in such psychological conditions, “a risk that might otherwise be tragic is accepted, normalized” (kristeva 1987: 4). facing the loss the pages recounting the family s̓ gradual awareness of hamnet s̓ true condition foreground with great emotional impact one of the central themes of the novel: how, by ignoring or failing to see an imminent risk at the edge of a person s̓ vision, devastation and tragedy can unfold against the banal everyday routine, and lay bare the fragility and precariousness of the edifice on which human life rests. the section is dominated by the same hushed atmosphere that opened the book, a tone of “great soundlessness [that] falls over the room” (251), to signify the silence of death into which hamnet has fallen. in this section, oʼfarrell s̓ narrative perspective resembles “the way a film might use a camera, stealing up on scenes from unexpected angles” (allfree 2020), shifting in and out of the different charactersʼ minds, both to allow us to closely follow their thought processes and give a direct insight into their fears, and to draw the reader into the emotional and psychological turmoil provoked by the tragedy that befalls the family. this is also rendered visually, adopting a perspective that resembles the technique of some painters; agnes wakes up abruptly, when “it is the deepest part of the night, the most lethal hour” (244), a darkness which is the objective correlative of her state of mind. she has dreamt of being whipped by the great, invisible force of the wind, a symbol of her subconscious fear for judith s̓ condition. she lights a candle and its flame slowly pushes back the darkness in the room and illuminates the scene, an image that has an almost caravaggesque touch, and mirrors the process by which the truth gradually surfaces in the individual consciousness. agnes approaches judith s̓ pallet and at first is befuddled by the image confronting her: she sees a strange intertwining of feet and clasping of hands that she cannot understand, “two judiths, curled up together, in front of the dying fire” (245). then she realizes that it is hamnet and his twin sister, fused into each other, their body parts switched and mixed up. when she uncovers them, she understands that judith has been spared but, in exchange, hamnet s̓ life is at risk and “a strange, dementing confusion starts up inside her” (246). she reproaches herself for having been such “a fool, a blind idiot, the worst kind of simpleton” (248), falling into the cruel trap that fate had set for her; she feels irrationally responsible for her child s̓ present state, having failed as a mother to protect him. none of the potions she keeps giving him seems to pull him back and 22 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) restore him to life because, unbeknownst to her, her son has tricked death into taking him in place of his twin. the image of the reversal of the twinsʼ conditionsthe one slowly returning back to life, the other slipping away into the clutches of eternal darknesspoignantly renders how vital it is to be constantly aware that risk, devastation and death are just one step away from safety and life, and closely interknit. holding hamnet in her arms, agnes s̓ mind reflects on how vicious the plague is and how it manifests itself on the child s̓ body: “it has wreathed and tightened its tendrils about her son, and is refusing to surrender him. it has a musky, dank, salty smell. […] it feeds on pain and unhappiness and grief. it is insatiable, unstoppable, the worst, blackest kind of evil” (249). it is another narrative segment that, at this historical moment, has gained accidental pertinence and reverberates with great emotional impact on readers who still have in their eyes the sight of the many lives that have been, and still are, snatched away by covid 19. agnes realizes that her son is actually beyond the precipice upon which human life teeters: “her son s̓ body is in a place of torture, of hell” (249), and there is nothing more she can do for him, if not comfort him. hamnet s̓ final moments see him struggle between opposite pulls: on the one hand, his need “to lie, to surrender himself ”, covered by the white blanket of the “snow […] falling, softly, irrevocably, on and on” (250) and rest “in his place of snow and ice” (251). this section, with its cluster of images and range of lexical choices, echoes the final paragraphs of james joyce s̓ short story “the dead”, from dubliners (1914). on the other hand, the pull of life is still strong: “he is not going to sleep, he is not. he will carry on” (251); yet, he is too weak to struggle, “he needs to rest, for a moment” (251), and at last “he takes his last breath” (252). the first part of the novel ends with the moving image of hamnet cradled in his mother s̓ arms, as when he was a baby: “in the room in which he learnt to crawl, to eat, to walk, to speak, hamnet takes his last breath. […] then there is silence, stillness. nothing more” (252), words that clearly echo the last words from hamlet: “the rest is silence”. a ‘new’ hamnet the second, shorter, part of the book is dominated by the central theme of grief, of how different family members try to cope with the trauma of loss, its terrible costs, its enduring emotional wounds and psychological damage. it opens with the scene of all the family gathered to mourn hamnet, the only exception being william who is still on his way to stratford. as disease and death haunt the country, bartholomew urges the motionless agnes to wash and lay out the body of her dead son who must be buried quickly, as decreed by the town authorities, for fear that the plague might spread with enormous risks for the whole population of the village. it is a devastating scene that sees agnes losing touch with both herself and the people around her; actually, the narrator introduces her as “a woman” curved over “the body of a child” (257-58) lying on a 23 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) wooden surface, a condition of existential and psychological alienation that takes hold of her and plunges her into utter anguish and grief. hamnet s̓ death opens a void that puts a serious strain on the bond between husband and wife, because agnes s̓ despair is mixed with anger at her husband for not being there to support her. the whole family seems to fall apart, no longer held together by the boy s̓ presence, all of them fragmented, shattered, each one trying to retrieve a semblance of life. agnes, tormented by guilt, “is a woman broken into pieces, crumbled and scattered around” (277). so, she falls prey to depression and melancholia, a psychological condition that lasts for years and that can be analyzed in light of what kristeva writes in black sun: “those who are racked by melancholia, [try] to address an abyss of sorrow, a noncommunicable grief that at times […] lays claim upon [them] to the extent of having [them] lose all interest in words, actions, and even life itself ” (1989: 3). the ʻblack sunʼ of melancholia pins her down “to her bed, for the first time in her life” (345) and deprives her of any will to live. in fact, agnes s̓ is a “devitalized existence that […] is ready at any moment for a plunge into death” (kristeva 1989: 4); she faces the emptiness of psychic space and the failure of language to voice, and compensate for, the loss. she searches for her son for weeks and months, goes outside in the yard and calls his name aloud, but her call is lost in silence. susanna, instead, finds it hard to be in a house that has become a living memorial to hamnet s̓ presence, and with her mother who is “adrift in her life, […] unmoored, at a loss” (299), disconsolate and aphasic, who weeps even for the most irrelevant reason. so, in order to save herself, susanna spends her time helping her grandmother. judith, like her mother on the one hand, looks for and feels hamnet s̓ ghostly presence around her; on the other hand, she finds her own way of continuing to be together with her twin by taking refuge in a “gap” (295) between two walls, a place that was always theirs when they were children. then, when the family moves to the new house that her father has bought for them, the midwife tells her that at night, along henley street, she has seen a figure “running like the wind” (337), between the old and the new house, hinting that it was hamnet. from that moment on, without telling anyone else in the family, at night judith slips out of the house and waits for him, all by herself, begging him to come and let her see him “even if only for the last time”, because she is “only half a person without [him]” (337). to all the family, hamnet is a “non-present present, [a] being-there of an absent or departed one” (derrida 1994: 5); his absence is actually a presence at least as powerful as when he was alive, and each one seems to be waiting for his materialization. each one, then, has her own strategy to survive and keep the self safe. as for the father, he continues to feel his sons̓ presence everywhere he turns; every object, gesture reminds him of his dead son. feeling “caught in a web of absence” (281), which he finds intolerable, shortly after hamnet s̓ burial he decides to return to london, 24 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) leaving his wife furious to wonder how he can even think of departing from his family at such a moment, when they need him most. during the first year, in distant london, he fears he may run mad, and keeps wondering where his child is, bent on looking for him everywhere, “to find him, or a version of him” (315), and bring him back to life. and, four years later, he does it in a way that shocks his wife at first. at home in stratford, agnes sees the london playbill of a tragedy written by her husband that bears the name of her dead son. she cannot understand how this is possible and is so upset that she takes to her bed, refusing to get up and eat, or look after herself. she manifests the distinguishing psychological features that sigmund freud discusses in ʻmourning and melancholia,̓ where he argues that “a profoundly painful dejection, cessation of interest in the outside world, […] inhibition of all activity” (1917: 244) are the reactions to the loss of the loved object, whose existence is psychically prolonged in memories. according to freud, in normal mourning one introjects the dead, that is, one s̓ mind takes the dead into itself and assimilates them, a process that involves the idealization of the deceased person. what judith butler observes on mourning sheds further light on agnes s̓ long-prolonged psychological dejection and vulnerability after hamnet s̓ death. butler maintains that when we lose “some of the ties by which we are constituted, we do not know who we are or what to do” (2004: 22) because these ties compose us and we are transformed forever by such severances. so, she adds, we do not simply lose someone, but we go missing as well. in fact, this is what happens to agnes, who is so splintered and even diminished by her loss as to be other both to herself and to the rest of the family. at last, she decides to leave for london, to see the tragedy for herself and confront her husband who, to her, is proving to be callous in his exploitation of their intimate family tragedy for mass entertainment. once in london, she goes to the playhouse, where oʼfarrell sets the climactic and cathartic scene of the second part of the novel. during the performance, agnes only begins to concentrate when a ghost appears on the stage, actually her husband in disguise, and an actor calls the dead man “hamlet” (362). disgusted, she decides to leave the theatre but is transfixed when a boy, actually a young man, arrives on stage, and “the king addresses him as ʻhamlet, my sonʼ” (364). to her great shock, she realizes that, though her own son is dead, “yet this is him, grown into a near-man, as he would be now, had he lived, […] talking in her son s̓ voice, speaking words written for him by her son s̓ father” (364-65), a revenant that has taken on human form in her son s̓ body. her husband has ʻresurrectedʼ their child in hamlet, even schooling the boy actor to move like him and speak in his voice. the hamlet she sees on the stage “is two people, the young man, alive, and the father, dead. he is both alive and dead” (366). as she watches, agnes realizes that her husband “has changed places with his son. he has taken his son s̓ death and made it his own; he has put himself in death s̓ clutches, resurrecting the boy in his place” (366). it is, she thinks, “what any father would wish to 25 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) do, to exchange his child s̓ suffering for his own, to take his place, to offer himself up in his child s̓ stead so that the boy might live” (366). so, at last agnes realizes the emotional toll their child s̓ death has taken on her husband, and that the boy may be gone, but he is not forgotten. by writing the play, using the miraculous power of his art, her husband has pulled off the very feat that is impossible in ordinary life and redeemed himself; he has brought back the dead child in the only possible way he could, offering both of them a safe outlet for psychic survival, and also saving their marriage. hamnet s̓ memory lives on in the play and, through the ghost, speaks his final words in the novel, looking straight at agnes and meeting her gaze: “remember me” (367). at this point, the family can gradually leave behind a season of grief and mourning, and move forward to a safer season of change. conclusion “he is dead and gone, lady, he is dead and gone; at his head a grass-green turf, at his heels a stone”. hamlet, act iv, sc. v the article has offered an in-depth analysis of oʼfarrell s̓ novel and identified various forms of physical, psychological and emotional risks. all of them, it has been argued, are connected to a loss that traumatizes the protagonists, takes time to be healed, and confronts them with a double terrible existential truth: the rapidity with which life can be extinguished when least expected, and the awareness that the selfsame act of loving another also demands an inevitable confrontation with death. at the same time, the discussion has also identified the various forms that resilience can take, and has examined the individual strategies that different characters activate to face and overcome the ensuing trauma in order to resume their life and re-emerge on relatively safe existential ground. the most notable, and enduring, form of working-through mourning in the novel is the artistic process that in the end leads shakespeare to the composition of hamlet, a terrifying psychic and creative journey that enables the dramatist “to reinforce his inner representation of the deceased son and to nourish their ongoing relationship” (bray 2008: 107). it is a cathartic act of creation through which he delves deep into his psychological and existential crisis and emerges from it. this critical hypothesis is corroborated by what freud writes about hamlet in his the interpretation of dreams (1900), where he observes: “it can, of course, be the poet s̓ own psychology with which we are confronted in hamlet”, remarking that he is trying “to interpret only the deepest stratum of impulses in the mind of the creative poet” (51). freud also infers a 26 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) connection between hamlet and hamnet as, he adds, “it is known, too, that shakespeare s̓ son, who died in childhood, bore the name of hamnet (identical with hamlet)” (160), and suggests that the creation of the play was a therapeutic process for the dramatist. kristeva s̓ observations on the process of creation will help draw the conclusion of the article: in black sun, talking about the mood of sadness connected to separation, she observes: “literary creation is that adventure of the body and signs that bears witness to the affect”, in the case of “sadness as imprint of separation and beginning of the symbol s̓ sway”. she goes on to add: “but that testimony is produced by literary creation in a material that is totally different from what constitutes mood. it transposes affect into rhythms, signs, forms” (1989: 22), imprints of an affective reality. in oʼfarrell s̓ hamnet, that is what shakespeare does when composing hamlet, succeeding in transmuting grief into richly evocative rhythms and signs, and transforming loss into artistic creation of the highest form. and that is what oʼfarrell s̓ text also does, the paper maintains, by using the power of language and imagination to extol the salvific power of love even while speaking of risk, loss and grief. references ackroyd, p. 2006. shakespeare: the biography. london: vintage books. allardice, l. 2021. maggie oʼfarrell: ʻsevere illness refigures you – it s̓ like passing through a fire. the guardian, 27 march. https://www.theguardian.com/books/ 2021/mar/27/maggie-ofarrell-severe-illness-refigures-you-its-likepassing-through-a-fire. accessed 10 october, 2021. allfree, c. 2020. book review: hamnet by maggie oʼfarrell. evening standard. 19 march. https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/books/hamnet-by-maggie-ofarrellreview-a4392241.html. accessed 26 september, 2022. bray, p. 2008. men, loss and spiritual emergency: shakespeare, the death of hamnet and the making of hamlet. journal of men, masculinities and spirituality. vol. 2, no. 2, june: 95-115. butler, j. 2004. precarious life: the powers of mourning and violence. london: verso. cowen orlin, l. 2021. the private life of william shakespeare. oxford: oxford university press. derrida, j. 1994. specters of marx, transl. p. kamuf. new york and london: routledge. freud, s. 1917 [1945]. mourning and melancholia. transl. j. strachey. in: the standard edition of the complete psychological works of sigmund freud. vol. xiv. london: the hogarth press. freud, s. 1900. the interpretation of dreams. https://psychclassics.yorku.ca. accessed 28 june, 2022. 27 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) greenblatt, s. 2004. the death of hamnet and the making of hamlet. the new york review 21 october. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2004/10/21/the-death-ofhamnet-and-the-making-of-hamlet/. retrieved 26 september, 2022. greenblatt, s. 2021. a wisewoman in stratford. the new york review 14 january. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2021/01/14/hamnet-shakespeare-wisewoman-stratford/. retrieved 27 january, 2021. greer, g. 2008. shakespeare’s wife. london: bloomsbury. hughes, s. 2020. maggie oʼfarrell: ʻmy children s̓ feedback could be pretty brutal .̓ the guardian, 12 december. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/dec/12/ maggie-ofarrell-my-childrens-feedback-could-be-pretty-brutal. retrieved 28 december, 2020. joyce, j. 2011. ulysses. london: penguin classics. kristeva, j. 1987. tales of love. transl. l. roudiez. new york: columbia university press. kristeva, j. 1989. black sun. transl. l. roudiez. new york: columbia university press. mahon, e. j. 2009. the death of hamnet: an essay on grief and creativity. the psychoanalytic quarterly. vol. lxxviii, n. 2. 425-444. moukarzel, b. & b. kidd. 2017. hamnet. london: oberon books. oʼfarrell, m. 2020. how disease has shaped life as we know it. the guardian, 6 april. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/06/maggie-ofarrell-howdisease-has-shaped-life-as-we-know-it. retrieved 28 june, 2022. shapiro, j. 2006. a year in the life of william shakespeare: 1599. london: faber and faber. *** maria antonietta struzziero is an independent scholar. she completed a phd in linguistic and literary studies at the university of salerno with a doctoral dissertation on jeanette winterson and the love discourses in some of her novels. she has published several articles and book chapters on different topics and authors, and given papers at italian and international conferences. her main fields of study include: modernism; post-modernism; gender studies; auto/biographical writing; feminist theories; trauma studies. her current research interests focus on experimental life-writing in two contemporary memoirs by hilary mantel and maggie oʼfarrell, as well as on the rereading of mythology in some recent novels by pat barker and madeline miller. she has co-edited “voci ed echi: quaderni di letteratura comparata” and translated two novels. maria antonietta struzziero1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.37.2.01 “caught in a web of absence”: risk, death and survival in maggie o’farrell’s hamnet 37 116 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) peter foulds1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.39.4.07 university of białystok, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0874-7750 the commodification of james joyce consuming joyce: a hundred years of ulysses in ireland, by john mccourt, bloomsbury academic, 2022, 288 pp. isbn: epdf: 978-1-3502-0583-3. £65. since its publication in 1922, james joyces̓ ulysses has been mined by critics more than it has been read by the general public. for several decades academic work on the novel was largely carried out by american scholars, much to the chagrin of irish academics, and lambasted by everyone from the irish press and politicians to joyce family members, and perhaps most of all by the roman catholic establishment, which in the years after the formation of the irish free state operated almost as an arm of the government. john mccourts̓ highly readable monograph study describes, decade by decade, the reception not only of ulysses, but also of joyces̓ other works in ireland, and analyses the growing commodification of joyce, charting the growth of the ʻjoyce industryʼ from the early bloomsday celebrations held by half a dozen enthusiasts to the modern day festivities attended by thousands of revellers, most of whom are happy to admit that they have barely opened joyces̓ magnum opus. mccourt focuses on three aspects of the consumption of ulysses: book sales and the early difficulty of obtaining copies of the book; scholarly exploration and critical reception at home and abroad; the use and abuse of joyce and his work by vested interests, including the irish government, private businesses, and the irish tourist industry. a fourth and hitherto under-researched thesis is that joyces̓ self-imposed exile is central to any interpretation of ulysses. mccourt argues that joyce was influenced by his life away from ireland, especially in trieste, much more than is acknowledged by most joyceans. 1 address for correspondence: university of białystok, faculty of philology, centre for literary studies, pl. nzs 1, 15-420 białystok, poland. e-mail: p.foulds@uwb.edu.pl book review https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0874-7750 117 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) though banned in the united kingdom and the united states, ulysses was never banned in ireland. indeed, the only work of joyce to be banned in ireland was stephen hero, the posthumously published version of what was to become portrait of the artist as a young man, which fell foul of the censors from 1944 to 1951, the year in which the censorship of publications board banned 539 texts out of the 717 over which they cast their disapproving eye. in 1924, two years after its publication, w. b. yeats, who described ulysses as a work of genius, told ezra pound that copies were on sale in ireland, though booksellers were reluctant to advertise their stock. the irish bookshop in dublin had a copy in the window, but this was unusual. this is hardly surprising as the vilification of joyce and ulysses was vitriolic, even hysterical at the time and later, for example: “unspeakable heap of printed filth” (the nation), “irish scum” and “filth” (catholic bulletin, the latter comment from a jesuit from clongowes wood college, joyces̓ first school). that was the kind of backlash that ulysses faced, and mccourt cites many instances of irish pearlclutching during the 1920s, including those from across the atlantic, e.g. in the irishamerican newspaper the advocate, where the novel was described as a “cesspool”. ten per cent of buyers of the first edition of ulysses were irish, but some of those closest to joyce were embarrassed to own a copy. his aunt josephine, of whom joyce was fond, locked her copy in a drawer and burned letters, but others were supportive. apart from literary figures like eliot and pound, the great irish tenor john mccormack, who had bought a first edition (joyce also gave him a signed copy in paris in 1922), defended the book repeatedly. mccormack was made a papal knight in 1928, and a privy chamberlain the following year, and this shows the ambivalence with which joyce and his work were met by the hierarchy of the wider church. it is remarkable that as late as 1963, easons̓ bookshop in dublin was selling ulysses wrapped in brown paper, but in 1989 irish president patrick hillery, on a visit to the vatican, presented the library of st. isidores̓ franciscan college with a three-volume facsimile copy of the book. joyce had many influential and generous friends, not least of whom was the new york lawyer john quinn, who regularly funded the little review, a literary magazine that serialized ulysses, and fought the censors hard on joyces̓ behalf, as he had done for lady gregorys̓ touring company when it ran into trouble in the us for producing the work of john millington synge. quinn championed several irish writers, and was ready to help joyce in any way he could, including money for the treatment of joyces̓ eye condition. otherwise, ulysses was vilified both by the irish community and powerful censors like the notorious john s. sumner, vice secretary of the new york society for the suppression of vice, whose 1921 trial saw the censoring of the little review s̓ ulysses chapters. it was not until judge john m. woolseys̓ landmark 1932 ruling that the book was not obscene that ulysses was free. 118 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) mccourt follows the reception of ulysses more in terms of its critical reception among scholars, especially in the united states, where academics soon took the lead in joyce studies. time and again, american universities acquired joyce's manuscripts when they could have been bought by irish institutions. in 1930, in the irish statesman, frank oʼconner wrote that joyce was, “a writer to be studied rather than read”, which reflected the fact that the general reading public were simply not interested in ploughing through the huge and difficult volume. mccourt cites umpteen examples of both praise for ulysses among (mostly american) academics, and obloquy heaped upon the work by (mostly irish) churchmen, politicians, and journalists afraid of provoking the ire of the shadow state, which the roman catholic church seemed to have become in ireland. when joyce died in 1941, his friend mary colum was unable to find a priest to say a mass for joyce, and eamon devalera was against sending an irish official to joyces̓ funeral in zürich. lord derwent, the british minister to bern, gave an admiring and generous speech at the graveside, but it would be a mistake to see irony in this; joyce had many admirers as well as detractors in england, and had been awarded £100 from the royal literary fund as early as 1916. richard ellmanns̓ magisterial joyce biography was met with some hostility from irish joyceans when it appeared in 1959. l. a. strong saw “those gis̓ of joycean scholarship, the footslogging americans in search of d.phs̓”. it seemed that in ireland writers interested in joyce preferred to publish memoirs rather than academic studies, and while these books are enlightening, the academic heavy lifting was done in the united states. mccourt pays tribute to the work of american joyceans without omitting that there was a steady increase in irish academic interest. he suggests that irish academics were perhaps somewhat intimidated and irked by the groundbreaking work being done across the atlantic. it was in the 1960s that joyce finally began to be better appreciated in ireland. throughout that decade and into the 1970s, successful adaptations, on screen and on stage, were met with enthusiasm, and the late 1960s saw academic symposia discussing joyce seriously, although the efforts of scholars were not always welcomed. in 1962 in new york, mary manning said, “criticism in this field is no longer criticism; it is vivisection”. it was an untypical view, especially stateside, but there had always existed, and will always exist, a view that joyces̓ work should be simply read rather than analysed. donʼt dissect it to understand it, some say, but mccourt argues that you simply have to. to get the most out of reading ulysses, a knowledge of irish history, irish idiom, and irish life is required. joyce paid his readers the ultimate compliment of not condescending to them. he required intelligence and education from his readers, and those that apply both are rewarded most. the commercialization of joyce—what has become known as the joyce industry—is an element of his popularization, and mccourt takes the view that while sometimes 119 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) crass, no publicity is bad publicity. the martello tower in sandycove was opened in 1962, thanks to donations by john huston and the support of t. s. eliot, samuel beckett and others, and it became the focal point for bloomsday celebrations until the james joyce centre finally acquired its north great george st. premises in 1982. joyces̓ rehabilitation was not seamless, and joseph stricks̓ 1966 film adaptation of ulysses was banned in 1968 amid sometimes hysterical criticism. the ban in ireland was lifted in 2000. nevertheless, joyces̓ status was finally being recognised, and his tourist potential was increasingly exploited. mccourt sees joyces̓ 100th birthday celebrations as the turning point in dublins̓ and irelands̓ acceptance of their controversial son. although no statue was erected, american express paid for a bust in st. stephens̓ green. the ceremony was not attended by joyces̓ increasingly litigious and notoriously bad-humoured grandson, stephen, whose many grumpy, mean-spirited shenanigans are simply laid out by mccourt throughout the book with an air of weary resignation rather than rancour. bunting was put out above the streets, and the irish department of foreign affairs released £30,000 to fund posters, films and lectures abroad. the joyce industry was born. a second bust, to be displayed in university college, was paid for by royal tara china from galway, nora joyces̓ birthplace. perhaps the clearest sign of ireland making its peace with james joyce was when taoiseach (prime minister) charles haughey hosted a birthday reception in dublin castle, at which the literary, cultural and political great and good were in attendance (including, surprisingly, paul simon and art garfunkel). apart from american express, irish companies have sponsored joyce-associated events and artworks, including guinness, which commissioned twelve artworks from gerald davis for the wine of the country exhibition. other firms have jumped on the joyce bandwagon with less taste, but the celebration of joyce remains generally joyous and harmless (blooms̓ hotel, the anna livia departure lounge, dublin airport, an irish ferries ship named ulysses). in 1987, an idea for a blooms̓ pillar was mercifully rejected, but in 1990, marjorie fitzgibbons̓ joyce statue, wistful and with his trademark cane, appeared in north earl street and gave rise to the now famous dublin penchant for giving commemorative works amusing titles. the statue was locally named the prick with the stick, and the anna livia pool and fountain, moved from oʼconnell street to make way for the spire, is known variously as the floozy in the jacuzzi, bidet mulligan, viagra falls, and the hoor (i.e. whore, pronounced hoower) in the sewer. in 1997, an bord fáilte (irish tourist board) announced that joyces̓ “presence is central to their marketing strategies”, and while some have decried what they see as the tasteless commercialization of the great author, others are less inclined to look a gift horse in the mouth. john daly, in 1988, described joyce as the “love-child of michael collins and jack charlton”, a quote which sums up the ambivalent attitude to joyce held by the irish, a people well able to make fun of themselves. 120 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) buildings associated with joyce have been marked by plaques, and some might wonder why. leopold blooms̓ fictional birthplace, 52 upper clanbrassil street, has a plaque on its wall commemorating an event that never took place. the plaque outside joyces̓ birthplace in rathgar certainly makes sense, but there is a tendency to take these things too far. some joyceans, including professor mccourt, were upset to say the least when it was announced in 2021 that the building at 15 ushers̓ island, where joyces̓ the dead is set, was to be redeveloped as a backpackersʼ hostel. the building was rented by joyces̓ great aunts, and joyce visited them often, but in recent years the place has fallen into disrepair, and the planning authorities decided to allow the redevelopment as the best way to preserve the building, whose structure will remain unaltered. by the time joyce left ireland, his family had inhabited no fewer than twelve houses. if joyceans were to preserve each and every one of them, a substantial property portfolio would have to be looked after. perhaps, in twenty or thirty years, the ushers̓ island house will again come up on the market, and a benefactor will fund its restoration as a joyce museum. mccourt argues that “joyce could simply not have been joyce if he had stayed in ireland”. escaping from the suffocating parochialism of edwardian ireland (an image that is perhaps over-egged), joyce embraced continental europe as his real home. this was especially so during his years in trieste and paris, where he formed many real and lasting friendships, e.g. with italo svevo (one possible inspiration, along with alfred hunter and leopoldo popper, for the character of leopold bloom) and paul léon. joyces̓ sister eva claimed that her brother often said that he would have liked to return, but mccourt argues that joyces̓ life had moved on so far that he could never have returned to the place he felt had spurned him. to sum up, mccourts̓ consuming joyce: a hundred years of ulysses in ireland is a welcome addition to joyce studies, and proves that the joycean mine is nowhere near exhausted. joyce famously joked that ulysses would keep the professors busy for a hundred years. in that, he was conservative in his estimate. this monograph about his major novel, highly readable, erudite but with a light touch, full of anecdotes old and new, should find a ready home on the bookshelves of all joyceans. *** peter foulds is an academic teacher at the university of bialystok, poland. he teaches academic writing, cultural studies, and general english skills. his academic interests include james joyce, and english literature in general. peter foulds doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.39.4.07 the commodification of james joyce 4 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) felix bayode oke doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.32.1.01 anchor university, lagos state, nigeria orcid: 0000-0002-8577-224x ezekiel opeyemi olajimbiti1 federal university lokoja, nigeria orcid: 0000-0002-5263-0149 the pragmatics of promotional features and discourse strategies in postgraduate school prospectus in nigeria abstract. this paper extends the frontier of research in the marketisation of higher education institution by investigating the pragmatics of promotional features and discourse strategies in the postgraduate school prospectus. the data for the study is the university of ibadan postgraduate school prospectus (2015 edition) downloaded from the university website (http://www.postgraduateschool.ui.edu.ng). insights were drawn from bhatia’s genre analysis, an aspect of hallidayian’s systemic functional linguistics, for the analysis. the theory accounts for promotional features, linguistic features and discourse strategies in the discourse. four promotional features: offer, commodification, incentives and clients were marked off by modality, epistemic and deontic linguistic features while strategies of self-promotion, implication, promotional tact and evocation to considerateness are tactfully employed to project the superiority ideology to the prospective students. the study concludes that the academia is no longer solely informative but promotionally oriented. keywords: commodification, marketisation, genre analysis, promotional features, evocation to considerateness. 1. background to the study research in higher education institution (hei) discourses has increased greatly as a result of globalisation, particularly on how universities package their programmes in form of promotional values to showcase what they offer in terms of quality and core values. recently, attention has been paid to the marketisation of higher education from different perspectives (bhatia 1993, 2007; askehave 2007; brown 2015; kheovichai 2014; 1 corresponding author. address for correspondence: federal university lokoja pmb 1154 lokoja, nigeria. e-mail: opebukola56@gmail.com 5 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) han 2014; xion 2012) on institution’s prospectus, websites and course contents, among others; which have been explored from the perspectives of genre analysis, cda and educational policy. in nigeria, to the best of our knowledge, there is little or no attention paid to the discourses of higher education as a market enterprise. the closest studies are on the aspects of abstracts and call for papers in academic genre of higher education discourse (olaniyan 2013; odeneye 2014). the current research does not only fill this gap but also extends the frontier of research in the marketisation of education institution by looking at the promotional features and discursive strategies in university of ibadan postgraduate prospectus. this attempt will unearth the rhetorical features and examine the discourse strategies employed in the postgraduate prospectus as a form of marketisation. traditionally, the university prospectus is expected to be informationally oriented as it is an academic document, but the promotional dimension projecting the marketisation of higher education has become a paradigm shift to higher education documents. 2. studies on higher education institutions (hei) studies on higher education institutions abound, especially in international scholarship (bhatia 1993, 2007; askehave 2007; brown 2015; kheovichai 2014). some of them are reviewed in this section to situate the present study. askehave (2007) investigated the impact of marketisation on higher education genres using the international student prospectus. the paper highlighted the practice of marketisation at the level of discourse in higher education. from cda and genre analysis perspectives, the study described students’ prospectus as a highly promotional genre in reflecting the values and forces of free market. through ‘rhetorical moves’, askehave’s paper clearly concluded that students’ prospectus is used to construct both the image of the university and the students thereby presenting innovative products to demanding clients. the foregoing becomes the footing path for the present study. in his paper, brown (2015) examined the marketisation of higher education from the policy perspective, where he considered the paradoxes in a market-driven higher education system in the united kingdom. similarly, kheovichai (2014) packaged a study on marketised university discourse by looking at the synchronic and diachronic comparison of the discourse construction of employer organisation in academic and business job advertisements. the study employed transitivity analysis and modality to point out the discursive construction of organisations in a promotional manner such as businesses, entrepreneurs, service providers and still maintaining their identity as educational institutions. in china, han (2014) examined the concept of marketisation of public discourse using universities documents. he established through cda and critical genre analysis that marketisation facilitates the institutional restructuring and transformation of universities in china. while the studies reviewed above have examined the concept of marketisation in higher education institutions, the concept has not been adequately investigated in the 6 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) nigerian context. few studies on educational institutions in nigeria have captured historical, facility, programme and policy related issues (fafunwa 1970; ogunu 2000; ekundayo & ajayi 2009). therefore, investigating marketisation phenomenon in higher education institutions in nigeria becomes significant because such attempt will place nigerian higher education in the same prestige in analysing the marketing values of education content especially the higher education prospectus. 3. theoretical orientations the study draws insights from systemic functional linguistics, focusing on genre analysis as representation of ideological construct. genre analysis is a multi-disciplinary activity attracting attention from discourse analysts, communication experts and rhetoricians, linguists just to mention only a few. the theory can be defined as typifications of social and rhetorical action (miller 1984), regularities of stages (berkenkotter & huckin 1995), goal oriented social processes (martin 1993:100), consistency of communicative purposes (swales 1990; bhatia 1993:15). it underscores situated linguistic behaviour. bhatia (1993: 15) argues that “although much of the work on genre analysis has been primarily motivated by applied linguistic concerns… go beyond such concerns in an attempt to redefine the conventional boundaries of applied linguistics”. as a model, a generic description is used as a representative, typical, or ideal example of generic construct as input for learners to analyse, understand and to exploit in writing to innovate and respond to novel situations. as a resource, the focus shifts from the textual description as a model to the knowledge of procedures, practices and conventions that make the text possible and relevant to a particular socio-rhetorical context. this is similar to halliday’s (1975: 32) generic potential, which enables one to make appropriate decisions as to the choice of lexico-grammatical as well as generic resources to respond to familiar and not so familiar rhetorical situations. genres are given typical names, yet different members of discourse communities varying perspectives on and interpretations of them, which sometimes are contested (candlin & plum 1999; bhatia 1999). in the literature, two approaches have been identified in genre analysis: textual analysis of genres and the social context or discourse community of genre analysis (freedman & medway 1994). in sum, bhatia (2002:5), in what is considered as the goal of the theory, discusses that genres as forms of consistencies in communicative events, emphasising the amount to which the complexity of the world of discourse affects generic research. she further argued that instead of proscriptive model, generic description should be viewed as a resource for ‘the knowledge’ of procedures, practices, and convention that make the text possible and relevant to a particular socio-rhetorical context. therefore, the main goals of genre theory are: to represent and account for the seemingly chaotic realities of the world, to understand and account for the private intentions of the author, in addition to socially recognised communicative purposes, to understand how 7 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) language is used shaped by socio critical environment and to offer effective solutions to pedagogical and other applied linguistic problems. 4. methodology the data for the study is the university of ibadan postgraduate school prospectus (2015 edition) downloaded from the university website (http://www.postgraduateschool.ui.edu.ng). the university of ibadan, established in 1948, is located in ibadan, oyo state nigeria. it is known as the premier university, being the first university in the nation and one of the leading universities in africa. the university postgraduate school is the largest in africa and the flagship of postgraduate education in nigeria, as it produces the much required human resources for the entire nigerian university system. the prospectus is written in english as it targets both nigerians and foreign prospective students. only three broad sections of the prospectus were sampled for analysis. they are: introduction, admission requirements and guidelines for filling application forms. these sections were purposively selected with emphasis on both sub-headings and contents because they constitute relevance to the objective of the study. insights were drawn from genre analysis to drive home the study’s objectives. as well, the study adopted descriptive research design to handle the qualitative nature of the research in a discourse-pragmatic approach. this methodology accounts for promotional features, linguistic features and discursive strategies in uipgsp. 5. analysis and findings the analysis interfaced promotional features, discourse strategies and ideological implications as identified in the university postgraduates prospectus. the promotional features which are captured in advertising genre are similarly identified in academic genre as offer, commodification, incentives and clients. these suggest a blend of academic and advertising genres with a view to promoting the flagship of postgraduate education (as claimed by the uipg prospectus). traditionally, university prospectus is expected to be formally informative but due to competitive market, the university employs advertising genres designed to ‘sell’ the university to potential applicants (askehave 2007). hence, the primacy for promotional function in academic genre as a blend of two genres; academic and advertising is important to meet up with contemporary realities. this study identified four promotional features in the sampled prospectus: offer, commodification, incentives and clients. they are discussed in turns. 5. offer offer relates to the presentation of what an organisation or institution does in terms of services or products for the interest of those that would like to have them or use them. through an offer, buyers manifest a desire to buy whatsoever is packaged by the seller. 8 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in higher education discourse, an institution is seen as the seller of programmes while the students are the buyers. the offer in this regard is presented in different forms and layers to appeal, persuade and convince the buyer of the good product, that is, what the institution wants to offer the prospective students. these stages are presented in the university of ibadan postgraduate school student prospectus sections on introduction, admission types and application forms. the excerpts below exemplify this. excerpt 1 today, the university has a total enrolment of about 20,000 students shared among different faculties… about 40% of the enrolment is postgraduate students excerpt 2 available research degree programmes (a) doctor of philosophy (ph.d), master of philosophy (m.phil), master of public health (m.p.h.), degree of master (m.a., m.sc., m.ed, ll.m), these are available in the following faculties and disciplines: the texts in (1) and (2) describe what the university does and offers the general public. (1) captures what the university is capable of doing, by proudly stating that forty percent of the entire enrolment is postgraduate students. this gives credence to the chances of any interested member of the public in the offer. to specify what the institution offers, the prospectus states the available research degree programmes (ardp) in (2) above. two contexts best described the contents of (1) and (2) as offers. they are contexts of education and marketing. these two broad contexts represent two different perspectives but are recontextualised to draw symbiotic relationships of the two perspectives. in textual analysis of the prospectus, the grammatical aspect focuses on the clausal elements with emphasis on the features of modality. modality system construes the region of uncertainty that lies between ‘yes’ or ‘no’. three modal features are exemplified in the text, namely, probability (epistemic), obligation (deontic), and ambivalence (mixing ‘possibility’ with ‘permission’). there are instances of high-affinity epistemic modalities expressed as lexical verbs modals. also, the deontic modalities expressing obligational meaning of the modal verbs are prevalent. in instantiating modality features in the text, modal operators are used. the entry for this prospectus has some major contents. specifically, meanings of requirement and obligation and formal lexical realisations are significant to the promotional features. in the entry column, the introduction section orients to providing the applicants with a clear and first-hand information about the university such as founding year, students enrolment, high ranking, etc. the lexical features employed at the clause level provide the applicants with the following: 9 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) i.  that the university is the first higher educational institution in nigeria (the university of ibadan was founded in 1948...), ii.  that the university operates autonomously outside the university college london in 1962 iii.  the number of enrolment geometrically rates 20,000 students with 40% postgraduate students today, iv.  above all, the high ranking of the university indexed her to be the best in nigeria and africa. two promotional features characterise the introductory entry, namely, offer and incentives. the university through the information provided offers the applicants a wide range of opportunities if they apply for any programme. the university explicitly ‘sell’ the name of the school, her achievements and the benefits the applicants stand to gain. besides, the positioning and arrangement of entries in the prospectus put the ‘buyer’ to read this section first thereby packaging the ‘product’ to meet the desire and demand of the ‘buyer’. also, the product, that is, the degree programmes serves as offer from the university. this is based on the academic needs of the applicants for postgraduate studies. this entry, though with phrases and minor clauses, lacks overt or explicit obligatory meanings (these are available in the following faculties and disciplines) as well as backgrounds requirement. the strategy deployed here is self-promotional strategy. this relates to self-evident by stating what one has capacity to do drawing inferences to antecedent. self-promotional involves self-praise in advertising goods and services and in this case, how the university of ibadan postgraduate school pontificates achievement as an evidence of what it can offer the potential or prospective students. 5.2. commodification this implies the literal transformation of things into commodities. to commodify means to make commercial something that was not thought of as a product; i.e. how they are subjected to monetary value or made available for the public. it is a marketing strategy, a monetisation of different spheres. here we consider how the university commodifies the programmes it offers: available of research degree programmesareas of specialisation and admission requirement, method of application; available professional degree programmes, admission to higher degrees and postgraduate degrees and areas of specialisation. excerpt 3 application forms requests for application forms into higher degree programmes of the university are normally made every year. the procedure for obtaining application forms is available at www.pgschool.ui.edu.ng. 10 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) application forms cost n15,000 for academic programmes and n18,000 for professional programmes. applicants for the degree of master and postgraduate diploma are to pay an extra #2,500:00 for test of proficiency in english language. the text in (3) captures the commodification of the entry criterion which is the application form. as the practice in the context of marketing, the university makes public the prices of application forms for different programmes she offers. the commodities that are on sale here are the application forms thereby blending the contexts of education with context of marketing in order to make money from what the university offers. the section of guidelines for filling application forms is considered here in the prospectus entry. this section situates the promotional features of commodification in university prospectus. the commodity for sale, that is, the degree programmes is presented as services in monetary form in which applicants/buyers could easily access. the obligational meanings are nominalised (requests for application forms into higher degree programmes of the university are normally made every year). the passive verb is agentless with the nominalisation (requests) so that the potential applicants are absent. with reference to the cost of purchasing the forms, the overt representation of prices for each programme becomes a matter of advertising genre. instead, the lexical verb ‘cost’ may be worded to be ‘may cost’, an explicit obligational meaning with backgrounded requirement by the applicants. also, the agentless passive verb (applicants for the degree of master and postgraduate diploma are to pay an extra #2,500:00 for test of proficiency in english language) does not present the institution as the agent responsible for collecting the fee as well as conducting the test. in relation to the modality features, there is a preponderance use of obligation and permission meanings. instances are: i.  applicants would be informed electronically…, (obligation) ii.  if the registrar of an applicant’s university will provide an official copy to the school directly…, (obligation) iii.  applicants must enclose along with the application an unofficial or student’s copy of the transcript…, (permission) iv.   applicants should make adequate arrangements with their registrars to provide transcripts…. (permission) for the first instance, the subjective obligational meaning is stated explicitly with the use of the modal verb ‘would’ in example 1 while the use ‘must’ in example 2 provides the applicants the permission to enclose a student’s copy as part of the requirement. this is backgrounded. the strategy of implication (inferring to implicit information) is employed here. it captures how an institution gives implicit information about the 11 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) commodities and such can be purchased by the interested customer. the competitiveness of postgraduate academic products by many competitors, informs why any institution for instance will make explicit information about the commodities it offers. this strategy characterises commodification feature advertised to the public; because the success of any money-mediated market is dependent on the functionally specific type of communication. 5.3. incentives incentives are to appeal emotionally to prospective students discursively using rhetoric of corporate advertising. here we consider benefits programmes highlighted by the prospectus such as workshops, scholarships and so on. the excerpts below explicate the promotional concept as it is practiced in advertisement. excerpt 4 in order to encourage postgraduate students endowed with outstanding research potentials to undertake full-time research leading to a phd of the university of ibadan, the postgraduate school has established two schemes, namely: (a) the university of ibadan postgraduate school scholarship scheme (b) the university of ibadan postgraduate school teaching and research assistantship scheme excerpt 5 funding support to academic units for the publication of learned journals; no less than 15 academic journals are supported annually within marketing context, incentives are forms of inducements to entice buyers. the university in the context of education adopts the practice of context of marketing to entice members of the public to be interested in its offers amidst other universities who offer similar services in the spirit of competition. three incentives presented in the excerpts above are postgraduate scholarships, teaching and research assistantship and funding support. the incentive promotional feature identified under the introductory section of the entry appeals to the applicants/buyers’ emotions of what they stand to gain for their choice. characteristically, there are instances of overt/explicit obligational meanings without requirements from the applicants. in terms of agency or authority, the university presents the applicants with potential benefits by providing funding support and scholarship. also, their needs are attracted by the provision made and not by what the institution stands to gain. the marketing of products by the university through the instantiation of what the applicants would benefit such as scholarships, workshops and publication outlets puts the university as the service provider. the strategy that characterised this feature is promotional tact. promotional tact entails schemes put in place by a seller or service provider to encourage, induce and motivate buyers to be interested in the offer 12 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of such institution. it is a packaging tact relating to the penetrative powers of the price system and the spread of analogous relations into every aspect of social life, especially of the customer. the aim is to stimulate customers to take action towards a buying decision. 5.4. clients clients are synonymous to customers, buyers and purchasers. they are individuals who get goods and services from a professional body or an institution in exchange for payment. they are clients in the context of marketing but students or prospective students in the context of education. the excerpts below explicate this further. excerpt 6 the information contained herein is intended as a guide to prospective applicants for admission. candidates are advised upon admission to consult departmental and faculty brochures as they relate to their respective programmes and courses of study. excerpt 7 (c) a candidate may apply to only one department or programme. (d) applicants are to upload their relevant credentials and submit along with their application electronically (e) acknowledgement of application applicants would be informed electronically (through the e mail addresses provided in the electronically filled application form) of progress in the processing of their forms. to prevent delays, applicants should make adequate arrangements with their registrars to provide transcripts before the stipulated deadline. the excerpts above represent clients as ‘candidates’, ‘applicants’, ‘prospective students’. these are the ones who patronize what the university offers. the institution offers good value and service to customers. the clients are expressed in the postgraduate school prospectus of the university. another section of the prospectus entry is the admission requirements as characterized through the promotional feature of client, that is, the requirements the clients/ customers/buyers/prospective students must fulfill before getting admission. in the entry, meanings of obligation and permission are utilized explicitly as exemplified through the obligation and permissive verbs (qualified candidates with written evidence of sponsorship shall be given preference and graduates of the programme will be equipped to work...) while the first positioned the clients (applicants) as recipients and the university as under obligation to provide the service, the agent is passive, that is, there is no mentioning of the institution who will give the preferences to the candidate. another 13 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) instance is the second modal ‘will’ with the implicit obligational meaning of who equips the candidates. emphasis is on the benefits/gains of the clients. in the same vein, the obligational meanings of modal features extend to that of permission with the permissive verbs of ‘will’. the institution being the implicit agent permits the applicants referred to as beneficiary from the programme in these two instances (...the applicant will be able to pursue creditably a programme... and students will also be expected to register on the university of ibadan website simultaneously). instances of ambivalence of modal features occur in the entry. the use of the epistemic or probability (final selection will be based on written examination and oral interview of short-listed candidates) provides the applicants with the knowledge established by the institution on the selection process but backgrounds implicitly the agent (institution) who conducts the examination. also, the use of possibility (but with recognised equivalent professional membership may be considered for admission) places the applicants in a near-reality of seeking admission without any binding role on the institution. evocation to considerateness is the strategy that marks off this feature. it connects to the attitude of being customer friendly. it essentialises how service providers or sellers project certain considerations towards their prospective buyers. this strategy marks off how the university of ibadan postgraduate school prospectus relates with prospectus students as clients; as such evoking to the nature of being considerate as to encourage them to prioritize the institution over others. essentially, the foregoing characterise superiority ideology as the university positions herself better than other universities; thereby making her product the best to be patronised by the general public especially prospective students. this is projected in this “…above all, the high ranking of the university indexed her to be the best in nigeria and africa”. claiming to be the best university in nigeria and africa is a way of asserting superiority over universities in terms of what she offers. this ideological construct seems important because of the competitiveness of postgraduate education among nigerian universities. therefore, information packaging in showcasing what a particular university can offer prospective students determines the patronage such a university would get eventually. 6. conclusion this study has critically identified promotional features as forms of marketisation in academic discourse. the prospectus provides applicants with vital information through the classification or division of entries but this process now manifests high sense of advertisement aptly characterised through the promotional features of offer, incentives, commodification and clients. these are further instantiated by modality features of obligation (deontic), probability (epistemic), and ambivalence (possibility and permission). proportionately, the discursive promotional strategies of self-promotion, 14 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) implication, promotional tact and evocation to considerateness deployed underpin the prominence of careers information on the production of prospectus. the preponderance use of obligational meanings portrays the institution has authority (agent) that provides information on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. also, the entrepreneurial institutional identity through the incentives and offers strategically places the institution as the best choice over others in terms of research and human capacity development. in sum, the discourse of prospectus genre considered is an admixture of the traditional informationally oriented genre and that of advertising. through this, the institutional goals and objectives are achieved by giving primacy to the promotional function of advertising which is designed to ‘sell’ the university to potential applicants even in a competitive market. it also situates the institution on prestige or corporate promotion. references askehave, i. 2007. the impact of marketization on higher education genres – the international student prospectus as a case in point. discourse studies 9 (6): 723-742. bhatia, v. k. 1993. analysing genre: language use in professional settings. london: longman. bhatia, v. k. 1999. integrating products, processes, purposes and participants in professional writing. in: c. n. candlin & k. hyland (eds.), writing: texts, processes and practices, 21-39. london: routledge. bhatia, v. k. 2002. applied genre analysis: a multi-perspective model. aelfe 4: 3-19. bhatia, v. k. 2011. a generic view of academic discourse. in: v. k. bhatia (ed.), academic discourse, 31-49. london: routledge. brown, r. 2015. the marketization of higher education: issues and ironies. higher education policy 1(1): 1-9. candlin, c. n. & plum, g. a. 1999. engaging with challenges of interdiscursivity in academic writing: researchers, students and tutors. in: c.n. candlin & r. hyland (eds.), writing: texts, processes and practices, 193-217. london: routledge. ekundayo, h. t. & ajayi, a. i. 2009. towards effective management of university education in nigeria. international ngo journal 4 (8): 342-347. fafunwa, a. b. 1970. a history of nigerian higher education. lagos: macmillan. fairclough, n. 1993. critical discourse analysis and the marketization of public discourse: the universities. discourse and society 4(2): 133-168. halliday, m.a.k. 1975. learning how to mean. explorations in the development of language. london: edward arnold. han, z. 2014. the marketization of public discourse: the chinese universities. discourse and communication 8(1): 85-103. 15 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) kheovichai, b. 2014. marketized university discourse: a synchronic and diachronic comparison of the discursive constructions of employer organisations in academic and business job advertisement. discourse and communication 8(4): 371-390. martin, j. r. 1992. english text: system and structure. amsterdam: john benjamins. martin, j. r. 1993. a contextual theory of language. the powers of literacy – a genre approach to teaching and writing. pittsburgh: university of pittsburgh press. miller, c. r. 1984. genre as social action. quarterly journal of speech 70: 151-167. ogunu, m. 2000. introduction to educational management. benin city: mabogun publishers. okemakinde, t. 2014. transformation of higher education towards enhanced quality education in nigeria. european journal of humanities and social sciences 29 (1): 35-47. swales, j. 1990. genre analysis: english in academic and research settings. cambridge: cambridge university press. swales, j. 2004. research genres – explorations and applications. cambridge: cambridge university press. xion, t. 2012. discourse and marketization of higher education in china: the genre of advertisement for academic posts. discourse and society 23(3): 318-337. * * * felix bayode oke is a doctoral student in the university of ibadan and a lecturer in the department of languages, anchor university, ayobo, lagos state, nigeria. he has published a number of peer-reviewed articles in his area of scholarship in reputable journals. ezekiel opeyemi olajimbiti (phd) teaches in the department of english and literary studies, federal university lokoja, kogi state, nigeria. he is a member of professional bodies such as pragmatics association of nigeria (pran), english scholars’ association of nigeria (esan) and others. he specialises in children’s representation in the media, media studies and political discourse. he has published in reputable journals. his research interest covers pragmatics, discourse analysis, semantics and sociolinguistics. 36 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) literature sercan öztekin7 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.32.1.03 kocaeli univesity, turkey orcid: 0000-0003-1021-8460 subversion of gender stereotypes in wilkie collins’s the woman in white and mary elizabeth braddon’s lady audley’s secret abstract. victorian sensation fiction strives to go beyond its time through issues and characters that do not conform to nineteenth century social norms. the novels of this genre depict the sensational lives with deceits and crimes which shocked the readers of their time, and they increase the reader’s tension with sensational narratives including untraditional matters and portrayals. along with scandalous and criminal subjects, these works sometimes offer unconventional depictions of femininity and masculinity in the victorian age. accordingly, this paper discusses wilkie collins’s the woman in white (1860) and mary elizabeth braddon’s lady audley’s secret (1862) focusing on male and female characters challenging traditional gender stereotypes. it examines how these novels describe characters rather dissimilar to the ones in the traditional fiction of the era through their cunnings, intrigues, and unconventional attitudes with regard to marriage, power, and gender roles. keywords: victorian sensation fiction, subversion, gender, femininity, masculinity. 1. introduction the victorian novel is generally identified by attempts for realistic descriptions of difficult situations in which middle class and urban society struggle, together with portrayals of traditional gender roles. however, some novels, especially of sensation fiction in the 1860s, strive to go beyond their time through issues and characters that do not 7 address for correspondence: kocaeli universitesi, korfez yerleskesi, yabancı diller yuksekokulu, atalar mah. bağdat cad. no:83, korfez/kocaeli, turkey. e-mail: sercan.oztekinn@gmail.com 37 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) conform to nineteenth century social norms. these novels depict the sensational lives with deceits and crimes which shocked the readers of their time. d. a. miller states that they represent “the first instances of modern literature”, as they include sensational narratives including untraditional subjects and portrayals (1986: 107). along with scandalous and criminal subjects, these works offer unconventional depictions of femininity and masculinity in the victorian age. concerning subversions of gender stereotypes, this paper discusses wilkie collins’s the woman in white (1860) and mary elizabeth braddon’s lady audley’s secret (1862) which are among the most prominent examples of sensation fiction. they describe the characters rather dissimilar to the ones in the traditional fiction of the era through their cunnings, intrigues, and unconventional attitudes with regard to marriage, power, and gender roles. as a result of their revolutionary and modern contents compared to strict moral codes of the victorian age, sensation novels were harshly criticized for being indecent and outrageous. ross g. forman points out that the antagonistic critical responses against sensation novels manifest not only male unease about female writers and readers, but also anxieties about unconventional portrayals of gender and marriage in these works (2011: 415). emily allen emphasizes “the sensations novel’s shocking and scintillating representation of women and men gone off the rails of proper gender: manly women, effeminate men, and most variants in between” (2011: 401). these novels attempt to shatter the patriarchal order and sexual inequality, which could be seen in the regulations of certain acts that granted women significant rights in the second half of the nineteenth century. actually, the domestic female ideal started to be challenged before the popularity of sensation fiction. the matrimonial causes act of 1857 (or the divorce act) for the first time gave neglected or mistreated middle-class women right to sue their husbands for divorce, so they could legally leave their houses where they were supposed to be the ‘angels’. additionally, the married women’s property act of 1870 allowed women to control their own property and fortune (allen 2011: 404). sensation novels reflect on these social transformations and trigger them as well, for they display unconventional matters and question traditional gender conventions and identities. these works also criticize and deconstruct strict heterosexuality and gender stereotypes of the victorian period. the terms “homosocial” and “homoerotic” are used in this paper, as there are not obvious same-sex relationships in the two novels studied, but the same-sex desire could be relatively observed in some certain characters. eve kosofsky sedgwick, in between men: english literature and male homosexual desire (1985), defines homosociality as any kind of the social bonds between people of the same-sex. however, she mostly applies this term to men due to the control of patriarchal system over unusual relationships between men in order for this system to emphasize heterosexuality. the boundaries between homosocial and homosexual relationships could be blurry, so patriarchal system develops a homophobic language in order to eliminate male 38 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) homosexuality. sharon marcus, in between women (2007), an allusion to sedgwick’s work, focuses on the relationships between women in the victorian age. she accepts segdwick’s proposition that female homoerotic relationships did not get as much attention as male homoeroticism, and she states that these female bonds need more critical investigation. additionally, paul hammond describes the difference between homoerotic and homosexual: “homoerotic” refers to feelings, but not exactly to sexual acts addressed from one man to another; these feelings may never be set in motion as they would in a “homosexual” involvement (1996: 5). in the works discussed in this paper, these homoerotic overtones can be read as a form of subversion of traditional male and female identities. 2. subversion of traditional female identity one of the most important atypical subjects in victorian sensation fiction is the masculinization of some female characters. it can be recognized more obviously in the woman in white which is one of the earliest examples of sensation fiction with its serialization started in 1859. it starts with the story of a painting teacher walter hartright who goes to limmeridge house to teach laura fairlie and marian halcombe, the stepsisters. an heiress to her late father’s property, laura is promised to sir percival glyde who turns out to be after her fortune. walter hartright, with marian’s help, traces sir percival and his ally count fosco to save laura from her marriage and the stealing of her fortune. marian halcombe is described as a masculine and ugly woman in the first scene where walter meets her. she is an “ugly” lady with “a large, firm, masculine mouth and jaw” (24), and this description is maintained through the depiction of her head’s contradicting with her “masculine form” (25) and body. this narration goes far even to describe “almost a moustache” (25) on her upper lips, and that makes her masculinity definite once again. this could be regarded as disturbing because she is in striking contrast to usual figures of submissive women which were social constructs in the victorian age. in addition to her masculine physical appearance, marian is also a strong and courageous character compared to figures of traditional women who are generally dominated by male power in victorian fiction. she is often identified with masculine definitions which stand for transgression of gender identity. as miller points out, her curios case of having a masculine body “gives all the hints of containing a man’s soul” (1986: 125). she is a mentor and protector to laura at home even after her sister gets married. rational thinking is embodied in marian while laura is incapable of doing anything alone without marian’s help. marian has a great influence on some incidents throughout the story. in the beginning, she is the one who decides that walter cannot stay in their house anymore because of his attraction to laura, and she gets him to leave in a very short time. laura is saved by marian after she is kept in the asylum in place of anne catherick. as laura’s health is heavily affected by the events, marian takes an active parental role in her caring. furthermore, after getting alarmed by the danger of 39 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) being found, she moves laura to another place even though walter is not there to help them. as observed, marian’s identification on gender terms is vague even when count fosco asks, “can you look at miss halcombe and not see that she has the foresight and the resolution of a man?” (291). as carolyn dever points out, marian’s gender identity and features are ambiguous, and “her sexuality is also open to interpretation” (2005: 166). accordingly, her relationship with laura and her gender identity not conforming to victorian norms evoke female homoerotic overtones which prevail in the novel. homoerotic intimations in the woman in white are strengthened through marian’s masculinity and characterization. anyone would suspect the peculiarity of the relationship between marian and laura because they are depicted as being extremely close to each other despite being totally different in character and appearance. their intimacy is so apparent that it must have been confusing and inconvenient to the victorian society. peter barry states that homosexual implications can be a metaphorical allusion to the act of exceeding the limits and “resistance to the established norms and boundaries” (2002: 148). therefore, this issue is dealt with in the novel as a means of being different and unconventional in a very conservative period. the fact that there are no parents in their life, but only an uncle who keeps himself closed in a dark room, implies the idea of freedom for these female characters and their homosocial bonds. they have nothing to limit them and this freedom has possibly made them quite intimate and dependent on each other. in spite of their differences, marian says “i won’t live without her and she can’t live without me” (27). this shows their unusual relationship when she talks as if they were two passionate lovers who can’t be without each other. marian continuously indicates her hate for sir percival and she describes laura as her “own love” (171). she does anything for laura, so she is not afraid of taking risks. thus, this desire and love for each other suggest more homoerotic overtones rather than mere homosociality in sedgwick’s term. marriage does not have any significance to marian, and she does not have any intention of marrying someone. as laurel erickson points out, she breaks away from the predestined life of a single young woman caught in marriage plot (1999: 100). as there is no authority to make her get married to a baronet or a socially higher aristocrat, she takes it for granted to live with her half-sister. besides, the reader is not presented any hints of her interest in the opposite sex, for she is totally committed to her half-sister. while marian does not trouble herself about not getting married, her half-sister has to marry sir percival due to her promise and loyalty to her dead father. nonetheless, they promise each other to live together after laura gets married, and she even gets marian to “repeat the promise to live with her when she was married” (159). in a totally depressing mode, they spend the night together in the bed before laura’s marriage. the bond between them seems inseparable because marian is always present in laura’s two marriages, the one with sir percival and the second one with walter. 40 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) marian’s attitude and remarks about men represent the unconventionality and refusal of male oppression explicitly: no man under heaven deserves these sacrifices from us women. men! they are enemies of our innocence and our peace – they drag us away from our parents love and our sisters’ friendship – they take us body and soul to themselves, and fasten our helpless lives to theirs as they chain up a dog to his kernel. (159) her severe reaction to men and their selfishness could be recognized as a form of rebellion by any attentive reader. with respect to collins’s fiction, lyn pykett postulates how society is sometimes “threatened by an ‘emasculating’ primitive womanly nature, by women who do not know– or who refuse to accept– their assigned place in society; by feminized men, or by coarse brutal masculinity” (2005: 124). marian is rather conscious about helplessness of her life unlike any other victorian women who accept to be controlled by men. she considers men as enemies of their freedom and their peace. as there are not any parent figures, she means her sister’s love even when she mentions parents’ love. a dog in chains as a metaphor for a woman under male control is also quite shocking for the conservative victorian norms. anne catherick’s mother is another significant figure in this regard, though she is not seen much throughout the story. she has been cheated by percival and made to plot on behalf of him, so she becomes his accomplice. then, she becomes a threat to percival, and he is forced to support her financially. society considers her a fallen woman, and her husband just abandons her because she is believed to have had an affair with percival. however, she is an arrogant and dominant woman who does not care about what people think of her. she does not cry or beg her husband not to leave her, and she does not try to make people believe that she is not guilty either. she is a significant representative of a non-conformist female in a traditional society. in a similar vein, mary e. braddon’s lady audley’s secret tells the story of an unconventional woman and makes a very formidable female character central to a sensational story. while lady audley’s past, being left with a child by her husband, represents the traditional phase of victorian femininity, her later marriage with mr. audley is her struggle against women’s misery caused by male domination. in natalie schroeder’s words, braddon’s “sensation novels are especially significant today for what they reveal about victorian women’s resistance to conventionally prescribed social norms” (1988: 87). in the novel, helen talboy cannot bear anymore being a desperate mother waiting for her husband to come back from australia. for this reason, she fakes her death and changes her name to lucy graham in search for a different life and a rich husband. she gets married to mr. audley, a rich but old gentleman. when her ex-husband shows up 41 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) with her new husband’s nephew coincidentally, she enforces her limits in order not to disclose her secret past. like marian halcombe, lady audley has countless unconventional attributes with regards to her power to achieve what she desires. she is intelligent and brave enough to change her identity and make a new start in her life. besides, she is fearless when she pushes her former husband, george talboy, into the well and burns an inn down with the aim of killing the owner of the place. while doing so, she gets help only from another female, her maid phoebe, not a man. likewise, laura receives the greatest support from marian till walter gets involved in the case. besides unorthodox attributions to her, she is also described as a representation of evil with abundant descriptions in the novel due to her irrepressible anger. hansson and norberg state how the relation between her and evil is clear in her portrayal and she is associated with the devil through certain metaphors (446). the “flame in her eyes – a greenish light, such as might flash from [...] an angry mermaid” (347) and the “horrible demoniac force” (351) present her like a monstrous creature. in a way, lucy reacts against the male dominated victorian norms by committing bigamy. as these suggest, “women offer a formidable, and frequently insurmountable, challenge to heterosexual male figures in victorian fiction” (dever 2005: 171). lucy cannot wait for a husband whose whereabouts are unknown, and acts for herself in order to have a better life by changing her name and marrying another man. furthermore, marriage is a controversial issue in the novel in comparison to traditional social aspects. lucy gets married only in an attempt to climb socially and have a more comfortable life, most importantly to be free. she regards marriage as a way to freedom because she can get whatever she wants in this way. mr. audley does not have any sexual relationship with her; in addition, she does not have passion for that. homoerotic overtones between lady audley and phoebe raised by schroeder are not as obvious as in marian and laura’s relationship. although lucy’s opposition to phoebe’s marriage to luke can be associated to their affection, there is another important reason for her refusal. she does not want this marriage because luke is extremely abusive, and she does not want phoebe to be oppressed by him. as all these circumstances signify, lady audley violates gender, social, and moral codes and she is eventually put into the asylum by a consensus in a patriarchal order (klein 2008). that also shows how untraditional female characters are not tolerated in victorian society, which could be related to her demon-like depiction in some parts of the novel. 3. challenging victorian masculinity together with unusual female characters, male characters are presented as incapable of controlling women and displaying manly features as opposed to expectations. victorian masculinity is open to interpretation in these two novels because male characters are 42 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) deconstructed through their weakness and incapacity. in the woman in white, walter hartright is usually presented as less capable than marian and in need of her help. marian regards walter as feminine, and often urges him to act like a man: “don’t shrink under it like a woman [...] trample it under foot like a man” (59). this posits a total contrast between these characters who are supposed to possess social characteristics of their sex. marian’s statement indicates walter’s weakness at the same time. he belongs to the lower-middle class, which signifies his weakness compared to financially superior women around him. however, he eventually manages to get married to laura at the end. walter is a socially inferior man to his beloved laura and undertakes an amateur detective position for the sake of the re-establishment of her identity. when laura is saved from the asylum, and her social identity and position are assured, walter gets married to her and becomes the “heir of limmeridge” (569). it can be inferred that marian only accepts walter as laura’s husband because of his lower social position and fragility. furthermore, they will also live together and marian will possibly never get married. in this way, walter becomes a conduit in their relationship and he will always feel inferior because of their different social status. that means marian can dominate and control the couple, for laura is still psychologically and physically weak after all the traumatizing experiences. described as a rival to walter and marian, sir percival is not a very dominant and strong man, as he cannot get laura to sign a document about using her fortune. although he is an upper class gentleman, he does not possess virtuous merits and attitudes supposed to be in a so-called aristocrat and educated man like him. he can lose his temper easily for which count fosco criticizes him and advises him to be more rational. however, sir percival is a representative of fake aristocracy who does not have that virtues belonging to upper class gentility. he cannot even think rationally when it comes to the obsession to keep his secrets hidden. as ross g. forman proposes, sir percival’s “bullying, bad temper, and disrespect for honor mark him as outside the bounds of appropriate manliness for his class”, and also as opposite to traditional standards of being a gentleman for the middle class readers. (2011: 417). what is more, he is incapable of thinking sensibly and making plans in contrast to marian whose nerves are strong. sir percival’s ineffectiveness as an unusual aristocrat makes his masculinity and sexuality questionable. emily allen describes him as “the novel’s whipping boy of effeminate and hysterical masculinity, the ineffectual patriarch whose malignant selfishness dooms the woman in his charge” (2011: 407). when laura and sir percival come back from their honeymoon, laura’s depressed mood gives the hints of sexual abuse or glyde’s indifference to laura sexually and emotionally. he does not show any affection to laura, which shows his ambition for financial gain in this marriage. furthermore, his previous connection to mrs. catherick whom he used for creating his fake aristocracy is questionable. although his attachment to mrs. catherick was identified as an 43 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) illicit love affair by the villagers, it is later understood that it does not contain sexual matters. sir percival uses mrs. catherick in order to forge his parents’ marriage record to legalise his heirship for his father’s inheritance. thus, he takes advantage of these accusations about him and mrs. catherick. there are two other eccentric male characters in the novel that stand for subversion of masculinity. philip fairlie is laura’s uncle and he never gets out of his room because of his illness. he is deliberately described as a fragile and feminized man with no physical or masculine strength. he is totally careless for what goes on about his nieces, and he cannot perform any parental or masculine help for the sisters. furthermore, count fosco is a really flamboyant man with his exaggeratedly polite and effeminate manners. he has a bizarre interest for his birds and flowers, which contrasts with the figure of a masculine gentleman. although these two men seem socially and financially powerful, they do not have many qualities and features considered to be typical of men. in other words, they do not perform the characteristics of independent and strong upper class gentlemen in their actions and decisions. in addition to these subversions of masculinity, lady audley’s secret displays homoerotic overtones between two male characters more obviously than any other sensation novel, and this has often been analysed in queer studies. gero bauer highlights the homosocial bonds between george and robert, and robert’s affection for george is observed in “his eroticised search for his friend” (2016: 158). moreover, sedgwick relates homophobia to patriarchal system which dominates not only women but also homosocial bonds between men; that is, it oppresses both women and homosexuality to reinforce male power in society (sedgwick 1985: 3). therefore, mary e. braddon explicitly challenges the patriarchal order by employing a non-conformist woman and homoerotic bonds between men, both of which were harshly judged in the victorian age. she depicts uncommon forms of masculinity with a homoerotic relationship and demasculinized men deliberately deconstructing masculinity in order to react against the mainstream victorian patriarchy and sexual inequality. robert audley, sir audley’s nephew, functions as an amateur detective to find george talboy and the secrets of lady audley. the things that make him a remarkable character are the homoerotic overtones associated with him and his relationship with george talboys throughout the novel. in the initial presentation of robert, he is concurrently depicted as both lethargic and obscurely effeminate. braddon writes that he is a “handsome, lazy, care-for-nothing fellow of about seven and twenty” who likes “reading french novels” (36). he wears a blue silk handkerchief around his neck and his apartment is decorative, with flowers and birds in cages, which is alike to count fosco’s extravagant dressing style and interest in birds. therefore, braddon forms a connection between robert’s refusal to adjust to strict gender conventions and his flamboyant manner of dress and fondness for french literature, a symbol of sexually immoral material. 44 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) jennifer s. kushnier emphasizes the significance of eton college as an implication for the nature of robert and george’s relationship because it is a renowned place of homosexual relationships among young men, and it gives signs “to her readers that this school was instrumental in creating the homosocial-homoerotic robert audley” (kushnier 2002: 62). in addition, richard nemesvari indicates that such elite schools for male students “form the homosocial bonds at the heart of british patriarchal power” (1995: 521) by excluding females. regarding these earlier implications and background about robert’s sexuality, his close relationship with george talboy is doubtful and questionable. when george talboy comes back from australia and learns that his wife has passed away, he meets his friend robert audley from eton college, and they spend about a year together in robert’s place. during their time of being together, robert endeavours “to act for another” (44) and makes sure of his companion’s comfort, becoming the helper “which […] guided [george] through the darkest passage of [his] life” (477). additionally, robert cannot think of a life without george even after his marriage. he always includes george in his dreams about living in a villa where george “shall lie on the deck and smoke while my pretty one plays her guitar and sings songs to us” (40). hence, george is always present even when robert is imagining his future wife is entertaining them. robert tells lady audley, “i had a friend [...] whom i loved very dearly, and since i have lost him i fear that my feelings towards other people are strangely embittered” (153). here, he obscurely admits his love of a man, which would not be recognized by the victorian reader. he has resentful feelings toward other people, and he cannot love another person, especially a woman, because of the power of his affection for george. he later bemoans, “who would have thought that i could have grown so fond of the fellow [...] or feel so lonely without him? [...] i would freely give up all [...] if [...] george talboys could stand by my side” (176). the intensity of his emotions could be observed in these words. in the beginning of their friendship, their intimacy and robert’s interest could be related to george’s emotional fragility because of his lost wife. nonetheless, robert’s emotions in this passage imply a stronger bond between the men. when george is lost after his encounter with lady audley, robert is absorbed in thoughts of george and he is “flurried and anxious [...] about his missing friend and [...] walking fast. ‘i haven’t walked fast since i was at eton,’ he murmured” (90). robert remembers him in every second after george is lost. performing a quasi-detective position, he sacrifices his own comfort for the sake of finding his beloved companion. this intimacy between the two men is identical to the strong bond between marian and laura in many ways. robert’s relationship with george’s sister clara also gives the signs of his overwhelming affection for george. clara’s similarity to george prompts robert to regard her as a companion when they meet because she is “like the friend whom he had loved and lost” (220). it is inevitable to recognize that robert’s emotions for clara deepen as he observes more of george in her appearance and personality (kushnier 2002: 68). he 45 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) does not have any sexual or emotional intentions for clara, which hints his devotion to george and his indifference to clara. in addition to his eccentric personality, his hatred for women, similar to marian’s hatred for men, emphasizes the complicated nature of his sexuality. his lack of interest in women is very apparent when he says “i hate women […] they’re bold, brazen, abominable creatures, invented for the annoyance and destruction of their superiors” (227). this is very similar to marian’s discontent with the strength and domination of men. thus, robert’s remarks about women once again suggest that his relationship to clara is emptied of sexual and emotional content. robert complains about “how these women take life out of our hands. helen maldon, lady audley, clara talboys, and now miss tonks--all womankind from beginning to end” (258). this explanation by robert is again comparable to marian’s thoughts on male dominancy and control over women. this could be seen that weaker men could be disturbed by female malevolence just like the degrading effects of patriarchy on women. braddon subverts the patriarchal order by presenting a female character challenging this authority who could be a disturbing figure as much as men. robert also states that women “are the stronger sex, the noisier, the more persevering, the most self-assertive sex” (227). robert’s comment on the strength of women over men is materialized in the novel. braddon shows lady audley as a stronger woman with her wit and cunningness in order to survive in a material and patriarchal society through several plots and intrigues. after disguising herself as a governess which is one of the few jobs for victorian women, she can wisely display virtuous features as a way of getting married to sir michael audley. in addition to robert, lucy’s second husband, “sir micheal is femininized to a certain extent” and is not described as a strong and bad-tempered oppressor (hansson & norberg 2013: 445). sir michael is entirely reliant upon his younger wife who controls him in all aspects. with his marriage to lucy, he stops being an independent and powerful aristocrat. in addition, even when lucy’s secrets are revealed, he just leaves home and goes abroad with his daughter. therefore, both george and sir michael seem to be unfortunate victims of female subtlety, while robert obviously only evades a similar situation as a result of his indifference to women (klein 2008) towards the end of both novels, the subversions of social constructions of gender and sexuality are sustained with unconventional depictions of marriage which include a third person involved. braddon concludes the novel with george, robert, and clara in a “fairy cottage” (478), in spite of no obvious sexual intimacy between the men. sedgwick explains that these marriages with a third individual use women as conduits to show heterosexual relationships in the eyes of society for the sake of cementing patriarchal order (sedgwick 1985: 25). here, the conduit is clara who unconsciously enables the continuity of robert and george’s relationship. this is very similar to the situation of walter and laura and their marriage including marian as an indispensable part of their 46 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) life, as the sisters promised to each other. in a similar manner to sedgwick’s proposition, sharon marcus foregrounds the role of heterosexual marriage in securing the homosocial bonds and friendships between women in the victorian age (2007: 193). the traditional heterosexual marriage faces a challenge through the ambiguous figures of marian halcombe and george talboys. this shows that homoerotic predilections are still maintained in the house under the disguise of a heterosexual marriage. by presenting these marriages in the two novels, they defy conventional understandings of sexuality and marriage in the victorian age. 4. conclusion wilkie collins’s the woman in white and mary elizabeth braddon’s lady audley’s secret overthrow and reinterpret conventional constructions of gender. unusual characters like robert audley and marian halcombe do not conform to the traditional stereotypes of masculinity and femininity; however, they are not criticized or portrayed as antipathetic characters, which suggests the intention of the writers to subvert these social and sexual conventions (klein 2008). marian is never judged and condemned because of her masculinity; in contrast, she is described like a heroine who resolves a lot of troubles in the story. with his quest for revealing the truth, robert audley is also a sympathetic character despite his homoerotic predilections. on the other hand, lady audley is justified because of having been left alone by her first husband and having no other choice. moreover, she transgresses moral and social boundaries by committing crimes and climbing socially through marriage. her being punished and put in the asylum symbolizes the excessive victorian morality and intolerance for unconventional women. as observed, the woman in white and lady audley’s secret are not mere stories of how patriarchy is threatened and overpowered, but they should be recognized as subversions of gender stereotypes. male characters are depicted as feeble while some women are shown to be strong and they generally control men in addition to merely resisting patriarchy. that is to say, these works complement portrayals of unordinary women with the pictures of peculiar men by defying conventional understandings of femininity and masculinity. being radical examples of sensation fiction, they make the best of their genre and make a difference in terms of gender and sexuality in a very conventional age. they destabilize sexual and social conventions presenting characters who challenge the perception of what is typical of a certain social class or gender. consequently, these works transgress gender boundaries and react against mainstream victorian literary and social traditions by introducing uncommon issues and characters. references allen, e. 2011. gender and sensation. in: p.k. gilbert (ed.), a companion to sensation fiction, 401-413. oxford: blackwell publishing. 47 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) barry, p. 2002. beginning theory: an introduction to literary and cultural theory. (2nd edition) manchester/new york: manchester university press. bauer, g. 2016. houses, secrets, and the closet: locating masculinities from the gothic novel to henry james. bielefeld: transcript verlag. braddon, m.e. 2012 [1862]. lady audley’s secret. london: penguin english library. collins, w. 1994 [1860]. the woman in white. london: penguin books. dever, c. 2005. everywhere and nowhere: sexuality in the victorian fiction, in: f. o’gorman (ed.), a concise companion to the victorian novel, 156-179. oxford: blackwell publishing. erickson, l. 1999. “in short, she is an angel, and i am – ”: odd women and same-sex desire in the woman in white. in: m. demarest button & t. reed (eds.), the foreign woman in british literature: exotics, aliens, and outsiders. westport, ct: greenwood press. forman, r.g. 2011. queer sensation. in: p.k. gilbert (ed.), a companion to sensation fiction, 414-429. oxford: blackwell publishing. hammond, p. 1996. love between men in english literature. new york: st. martin’s press. hansson, h. & norberg, c. 2013. lady audley’s secret, gender and the representation of emotions. women’s writing 20:4: 441-457. klein, h.g. 2008. strong women and feeble men: upsetting gender stereotypes in mary elizabeth braddon’s lady audley’s secret. atenea 28:1: 161-174. kushnier, j.s. 2002. educating boys to be queer: braddon’s lady audley’s secret. victorian literature and culture 30:1: 61-75. marcus, s. 2007. between women: friendship, desire, and marriage in victorian england. princeton/oxford: princeton university press. miller, d. a. 1986. cage aux folles: sensation and gender in wilkie collins’s the woman in white. representations 14 (spring): 107-136. nemesvari, r. 1995. robert audley’s secret: male homosocial desire in lady audley’s secret. studies in the novel 27:4 (winter): 515-28. pykett, l. 2005. wilkie collins. oxford: oxford university press. schroeder, n. 1988. feminine sensationalism, eroticism and self-assertion. tulsa studies in women’s literature 7:1 (spring): 87-103. sedgwick kosofsky, e. 1985. between men: english literature and male homosocial desire. new york: colombia university press. * * * sercan öztekin is a lecturer of english at kocaeli university, turkey. he received his bachelor’s degree from dumlupınar university, turkey, the department of english language and literature, and master’s degree from granada university, spain. he obtained his ph.d. degree in istanbul aydin university in 2019. his ph.d. study is on 48 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 32 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) victorian social constructions of crime, criminality, and the legal system with their representations in the novels of wilkie collins, charles dickens, and charles reade in the 1850s. his research includes victorian literature and culture, crime fiction, and the history of crime and the police. microsoft word crossroads 34.doc ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 4 christopher hansen1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.34.3.01 saginaw valley state university, michigan, usa https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3320-1365 the monstrous feminine: ungoliant, shelob, and women in tolkien’s middle-earth2 abstract. this article seeks to provide an analysis of tolkien’s portrayal of feminine figures by emphasizing the roles of ungoliant and shelob, the monstrous spiders which tolkien codes female, and finding how these sexual and procreative beings fit into tolkien’s theological and gender essentialist views of women, and then how this reflects on other women within tolkien’s legendarium, arguing that far from any of tolkien’s women being empowered, they are instead always subservient to his essentialist understandings of women, that they are biologically and intellectually usually inferior to men and have specific gendered roles in tolkien’s very catholic gender binary, and so his literary women are in fact not empowered but fit into his restrictive sense of gender roles between men and women. keywords: j.r.r. tolkien, the lord of the rings, middle-earth, women, femininity, ungoliant, shelob. 1. introduction the works of j.r.r. tolkien have sparked numerous debates over various questionable aspects of their contents, leading to controversies from racism to sexism, and his depictions of women in particular have gained wide attention from various literary scholars (reid 2015: 13-40). these issues largely stem from the often quite enigmatic depictions of women within his works, with defenders of tolkien usually citing figures such as éowyn and yavanna, while those levying accusations of sexism have accused tolkien’s characters, even éowyn, of being one-dimensional characters. as a result, a consensus on whether or not tolkien could, or should, be considered to have been sexist or racist is nonexistent with academics being by and large divided into three primary camps: those who view tolkien as a sexist (hatcher 2007); those who view tolkien as non-sexist (flieger 2017: 90-99) or borderline feminist (maddox 2018); and those who have argued that his portrayals of women border on ambiguous (łaszkiewicz 2015). in recent conversations on tolkien’s portrayal of women, however, the roles of shelob and her mother ungoliant have been quite often overlooked or relegated to only 1 address for correspondence: saginaw valley state university, 7400 bay rd, university center, mi 48710, usa. e-mail: cmehans2020@gmail.com 2 i would like to thank the anonymous peer reviewers and my closest friend, a master of critical theory, for their constant critiques and ideas, which led to this article. it would not have been accomplished without them. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 5 brief discussion, and discussion on the place which they occupy in tolkien’s middleearth in regard to the feminine has been underdeveloped as a result.3 however, they are still well worth exploring since they are the only examples of feminine evil within tolkien’s middle-earth, and so within the silmarillion and the lord of the rings as a result. the fact that ungoliant and shelob are coded female, and their acts create an antithesis to yavanna, the creator of the two trees of valinor. their sexual reproduction is seen as a monstrous and hideous activity. ungoliant and shelob, as a result, are integral to the study of femininity and women’s places within the world of middle-earth, as they stand in stark contrast to figures often discussed. 2. terminology in this discussion, i will be discussing the “monstrous feminine” and “women” broadly. the two terms will overlap and so it is prudent to first discuss what is meant by them. the “monstrous feminine” is the form a woman takes in middle-earth when they have exited and are not (or cannot be) rehabilitated into patriarchal gender roles of subservience, obedience, and docility. ungoliant and shelob, as will be discussed below, are not horrific by quality of them being spiders for tolkien—he had no such qualms or inherent fears of spiders, contrary to some popular claims (carpenter 2000: 217). instead, their monstrosity is because of their sexual freedom, which violates the tolkien’s natural order. their lack of subservience to men and their lack of strict monogamy makes them monstrous, not their outward appearance. as such, the monstrous feminine is a manifest instance of “woman” in tolkien’s work. it is the form the “evil woman” is embodied in, while the “proper woman” is defined by her acceptance of catholic binary gender norms: subservience to the husband, monogamy, sexual restraint only for procreative activity, etc. to be clear, women and the monstrous feminine are not separate beings. the monstrous feminine are women, ungoliant and shelob are women. but they are a specific form of women: they have fallen and are thus evil and monstrous in form. notably, men do not become monstrous when polyamory or unacceptable relationships are taken up, nor are the women whom the men choose. it is only when the woman initiates sexual encounter, and when men fail to have power over her, that she becomes monstrous. 3. sexuality, reproduction, and female spiders any discussion of the sexual nature of shelob and ungoliant is incomplete without first exploring tolkien’s own conceptions of sexuality and its place within the world. tolkien was a devout catholic, and the literature which has been written on how this influenced middle-earth is quite endless.4 as far as sexual intercourse went, tolkien was quite explicit in his letters and drafts that it was only acceptable within the confines of 3 the most intensive discussion of shelob is abbott’s article “tolkien’s monsters” (1989), though the ties to women and the feminine in this article only touch on the issue in relation to grendel’s mother. see also briefly łaszkiewicz’s discussion of shelob (2015: 16-17). 4 richard purtill’s j.r.r. tolkien: myth, morality and religion (1984). various other authors have also contributed on this matter in recent years (kreeft 2005; coutras 2016). ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 6 explicitly christian marriage. in addressing c. s. lewis’ christian behaviour (1943), tolkien wrote: there you will observe that you are really committed (with the christian church as a whole) to the view that christian marriage – monogamous, permanent, rigidly ‘faithful’ – is in fact the truth about sexual behaviour for all humanity: this is the only road of total health (including sex in its proper place) for all men and women. (carpenter 2000: 60) [italics original] thus, sexual intercourse was only an acceptable practice within the boundaries of a faithful christian (specifically catholic for tolkien) marriage. this is made all the more explicit in a 1941 letter to michael tolkien, his son, wherein he further writes: in this fallen world the ‘friendship’ that should be possible between all human beings, is virtually impossible between man and woman. the devil is endlessly ingenious, and sex is his favourite subject. […] this ‘friendship’ has often been tried: one side or the other nearly always fails. later in life when sex cools down, it may be possible. it may happen between saints. (carpenter 2000: 48) even having a platonic friendship between men and women, for tolkien, was near impossible due to the nature of sex and sexual attraction, and the desires for a non-sexual friendship between man and woman was an idealistic concept that “no one can count on” (carpenter 2000, 48). as “sex is [the devil’s/satan’s] favourite subject,” it takes on a devilish or satanic undertone which then gives sex this sinister characteristic. therefore, tolkien’s concept of sex is that it has an appropriate place, but only within a christian marriage. sex was permissible in that context, but outside it was something which impeded the ability of men and women to have friendships, and even more so, it was sinister due to the temptations it caused. when thinking of tolkien’s idea of sex, then, the roles of shelob and ungoliant may be argued to represent a “monstrous feminine” in more ways than one. from his own catholic worldview, they would take on a “monstrous” undertone from their sexual liberty, their freedom, which is in violation of tolkien’s view of how the righteous minded should carry themselves. in a more literal sense, the way that their sexual nature is described by tolkien in the silmarillion and the lord of the rings is also monstrous. tolkien writes of ungoliant: with their [the balrogs’] whips of flame they smote asunder the webs of ungoliant, and she quailed, and turned to flight, belching black vapours to cover her; and fleeing from the north she went down into beleriand, and dwelt beneath ered gorgoroth, in that dark valley that was after called nan dungortheb, the valley of dreadful death, because of the horror that she bred there. for other foul creatures of spider form had dwelt there since the days of the delving of angband, and she mated with them, and devoured them; and even after ungoliant herself departed, and went whither she would into the forgotten south of the world, her offspring abode there and wove their hideous webs. of the fate of ungoliant no tale tells. yet some have said that she ended long ago, when in her uttermost famine she devoured herself at last. (tolkien 2001: 81) here the act of sexual reproduction itself is seen by tolkien as this an horrific event in the history of arda, as ungoliant’s mating with the other spiders then leads to the creation of horrible offspring, of which shelob is one. her offspring (the “horror that she bred”) are the result of an improper union, one which then leads to evils throughout the world. this theme of improper union is consistent throughout the works of tolkien, and they always have terrible results for those involved. for example, finwë’s dual marriages to míriel and indis lead to the rivalry and evils committed between his sons, ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 7 especially by fëanor, whose displeasure with the marriage between finwë and fëanor’s stepmother indis is seen as an inciting event for the evils which fëanor later commits (tolkien 2001: 65). more overtly, the marriage between brother and sister nienor and túrin turambar becomes the inciting incident for their final doom in the children of húrin, the most improper of unions (tolkien 2007: 240-259). this parallel is more direct since nienor was also then pregnant with a child of incest. the next example of improper union is that of maeglin, who desires to have idril and then betrays the location of gondolin in the hopes that he could have her (tolkien 2001: 241-245). the notion of improper sexual unions, be they outside of wedlock or from improper marriages, is a monstrous act. monogamy, as the proper state of being for tolkien, must be upheld and violations thereof alienate one from the natural order. in the case of these examples, most figures only have one improper union, while shelob and ungoliant have “many,” which further alienates them. in the case of ungoliant, her offspring plague middle-earth from its beginnings until the end of the third age, when the elves finally depart, and the lord of the rings closes. there are a few other occasions where ungoliant’s children and descendants are mentioned, and in all cases, they are described in various monstrous terms by virtue of being her offspring. they are her “foul offspring” (tolkien 2001: 121), the “fell creatures of ungoliant” (tolkien 2001: 132) and in earlier manuscripts they are, again, her “foul offspring” (tolkien 2002: 15), “foul broods” (tolkien 2002: 194) or simply “foul brood” (tolkien 2015a: 297). in earlier versions, her sexuality is still this act of horrific evil which leaves a terrible mark upon the history of arda. the unbridled sexual intercourse and improper union of ungoliant with other spiders is what grants her the qualities of being monstrous, as it alienates her from the proper order. she is not monogamous. it is not the mere fact that she has spider form, for her spider mates are pitied as “unfortunate.” it is her sexuality that is the cause of this monstrosity. when we next hear of ungoliant’s progeny in the silmarillion in any major fashion, it is during beren’s journey to doriath to reach lúthien. to reach doriath he travels through nan dungortheb and ered gorgoroth, and ungoliant’s brood is once again mentioned: terrible was his [beren’s] southward journey. sheer were the precipices of ered gorgoroth, and beneath their feet were shadows that were laid before the rising of the moon. beyond lay the wilderness of dungortheb, where the sorcery of sauron and the power of melian came together, and horror and madness walked. there spiders of the fell race of ungoliant abode, spinning their unseen webs in which all living things were snared; and monsters wandered there that were born in the long dark before the sun, hunting silently with many eyes. (tolkien 2001: 164) what exactly happened within the dungortheb is unknown in the legends, since tolkien does not recount it in detail; however, the two towers at least gives one detail: there agelong she [shelob] had dwelt, an evil thing in spider-form, even such as once of old had lived in the land of the elves in the west that is now under the sea, such as beren fought in the mountains of terror i doriath, and so came to lúthien upon the green sward amid the hemlocks in the moonlight long ago. (tolkien 2004: 723). the result of ungoliant’s sexual intercourse is something which leaves beren with a post-traumatic stress disorder, wherein he cannot even fathom the thought of reliving his memories of her “brood” which he fought in the dungortheb (tolkien 2001: 164). sexual intercourse of this “foul” kind in middle-earth (to use tolkien’s words) is ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 8 not withheld only to ungoliant, but additionally to her daughter shelob, for the reproduction by these feminine creatures only leads to more horrors in the world, through their polyamorous sexual relationships. in the two towers, shelob is notable for a number of reasons. firstly, the construction of her name makes it clear what she is: a she-spider (english fem. prn. she + lob or “spider,” from o.e. loppe). shelob, in name and in physical nature, is defined by her femininity and monstrosity,5 something which has prompted a comparison to grendel’s mother by some commentators (abbott 1989: 42). furthermore, she is defined by the fact that she is sexual and has children which, like ungoliant’s, haunt the world of middle-earth. tolkien writes in the two towers: far and wide, her lesser broods, bastards of the miserable mates, her own offspring, that she slew, spread from glen to glen, from the ephel dúath to the eastern hills, to dol guldur and the fastnesses of mirkwood. but none could rival her, shelob the great, last child of ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world. (tolkien 2004: 723) again, her “broods” are the result of this improper sexual activity, “bastards of miserable mates” as tolkien writes, and so the sexuality of shelob, like her mother ungoliant this act of horror. this echoes tolkien’s views on sex as improper outside of roman catholic monogamous marriage. the mere act of them engaging their natural bodily functions, like reproduction, is itself wrong because of this. it is the case that all those who have offspring in a “proper” fashion are always married in a monogamous relationship, even when there is little character development or romantic chemistry between the characters in question, as in the case of éowyn and faramir. the place of the woman is in an acceptable marriage, and then to give birth, but not to give birth outside of marriage. this is further evidenced by another letter of tolkien’s where he writes, in talking about how “the sexual impulse makes women” more inclined to pursue men’s interests in any attempt to be servient to men: no intent necessarily to deceive: sheer instinct: the servient, helpmeet instinct, generously warmed by desire and young blood. under this impulse they can in fact often achieve very remarkable insight and understanding, even of things otherwise outside their natural range: for it is their gift to be receptive, stimulated, fertilized (in many other matters than the physical) by the male. (carpenter 2000: 49) so, the “proper” place of women in middle-earth then reflects this conception that their role is to be “fertilized” or “stimulated” in such fashion. as such, we see the courageous warrior éowyn rather forcefully (by the author) placed into marriage with faramir; similarly, arwen is to marry aragorn; lúthien is to marry beren; and samwise is to marry rosie cotton; and these are only a few examples. there are not “friendships” between women and men, for that is unable to occur due to the nature of sexual attraction and its use by the “devil” as his “favourite subject,” and so sexual intercourse in noncatholic marriages (like finwë’s second marriage) or outside of wedlock to create “bastards of miserable mates” (like ungoliant and shelob) leads to the monstrous feminine in the world of middle-earth. therefore, shelob and ungoliant thematically stand as warnings to those who are sexual but not within christian marriage and of a 5 tolkien seems to have decided on this name as early as 1944 when he consulted his son christopher on the matter (carpenter 2000: 81) ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 9 christian morality.6 additionally, as feminine figures not receptive or servient to men, but instead dominant, they occupy more than just thematic warnings but positions of horror. they occupy what women should not be in tolkien’s catholic worldview. that the women (and men for that matter) are sexual beings is something to be quite actively restricted in marriage in middle-earth. when, especially, the feminine have sexual intercourse outside of this, they become monstrous and their “broods” are monstrous, so that they plague the lands of middle-earth ever after, in ways which other evils do not. morgoth and sauron both leave their marks, but ungoliant’s uncontrolled feminine and sexual being7 is so great that it leaves even morgoth afraid (tolkien 2001: 76). their bodies are described in grotesque fashions and the act of their natural bodily functions is an evil. 4. the gender essentialism of the monstrous given the above notions of sexuality, womanhood, and the monstrous feminine we have seen in tolkien’s work, it is worth exploring one very notable juxtaposition between “evil” feminine beings in middle-earth and the “good” ones, specifically the thematic opposites of ungoliant and yavanna, since their roles both mirror each other in rather notable ways: primarily their being females and their primary roles being productive. as noted above, tolkien was intensely gender essentialist, in that sex and gender are rather identical entities for tolkien and carry biologically determined characteristics.8 frederick and mcbride argue that tolkien was “uncomfortable” in allowing women to occupy the space of evil within middle-earth (2001: 109), concluding this from what they deemed a lack of apparently evil women in his world. however, it does not appear that he was uncomfortable with their being in a thematic place of evil. instead, it is that they occupy a specific place in his essentialist views of sex and gender. that his views on women cross into a biological essentialism is made clear by his own admission of deriving his thoughts from the work of julian huxley (in his draft letter responding to lewis): from the biological-sociological point of view i gather (from huxley and others) that monogamy is probably highly beneficial to a community. (carpenter 2000: 62) here, tolkien considers huxley’s arguments in comparison to other species, such as birds, suggesting that the human species should be adoptive of monogamy as “examples of proper relations” (bartley 1995: 95). however, it is notable that tolkien’s writings to lewis and michael do not indicate his defense of equality among sexes, something which huxley did emphasise (bartley 1995: 99). however, huxley’s work and 6 as tolkien writes to lewis, “christian marriage is not a prohibition of sexual intercourse, but the correct way of sexual temperance – in fact probably the best way of getting the most satisfying sexual pleasure, as alcoholic temperance is the best way of enjoying beer and wine.” (carpenter 2000: 60). 7 it is worth noting that they are both beyond the powers sauron and morgoth. of shelob, tolkien writes “his cat he [sauron] calls her, but she owns him not” (2004: 724), “own” being used in the archaic sense to mean “acknowledges” here. in the silmarillion, ungoliant turns on morgoth and binds him so that only his balrogs could save him from his utter end (tolkien 2001: 80-81). 8 gender essentialism essentially holds that differences in social dynamics between people of differing genders is a result of an innate “nature” or biological/psychological “realities” of their being, meaning that these are intrinsic and immutable (heyman and giles 2006), aside from potentially evolutionary processes. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 10 tolkien’s catholic faith form a biological essentialist view of gender. there is a binary, man and woman, with specific roles to which they belong and to which sexual behavior belongs. man and woman have sexual traits and attitudes which are specific to them, because of the nature of their biology. thus, for tolkien, “unspoiled” women are bound to want “to become [a] mother” (carpenter 2000: 50). we can see how this essentialist view of gender plays out in middle-earth and how it relates to the monstrous feminine. in the silmarillion, yavanna is portrayed as the creator of the two trees of valinor, two of the greatest and most splendid creations in all of arda, and they give light to the world. in addition, she gives life to all things which grow, plant-life, trees, and so on. her role in his mythos is procreative in nature. likewise, she is also properly wed, for her husband is the smith and maker aulë, who creates the dwarves. in doing so, her creations likewise become servient to her husband’s, as the dwarves will destroy her trees for timber. yavanna is therefore the proper procreative and subservient wife. as she answers to manwë and all answer to the male coded eru, the god of the world and creator of the valar, she is rightfully confined to her role as well. ungoliant stands as a stark contrast to her. she hates and consumes light, spinning forth webs of darkness, which light cannot enter, and she vomits up a black vapor. again, in juxtaposition to yavanna, ungoliant was originally conceived of as the incarnation of a primeval spirit of the night called moru (tolkien 2015b: 151-152), and so stands as the primeval opposite of the trees and the light of yavanna. furthermore, ungoliant answers to no man, and she is, in all ways, uncontrolled by them. it is notable and perhaps prudent to then draw attention to the fact that the two trees of valinor are killed by ungoliant’s poisons, and their light is forever diminished: the uncontrolled sexual and grotesque feminine monster destroys the works of the “properly” married and therefore “properly” procreative woman. in this, we can parallel tolkien’s christian conception of women in the fallen nature of the world. tolkien wrote, once again in his letter to michael: the woman is another fallen human-being with a soul in peril. but combined and harmonized with religion […] it can be very noble. / […] before the young woman knows where she is (and while the romantic young man, when he exists, is still sighing) she may actually ‘fall in love’. which for her, an unspoiled natural young woman, means that she wants to become the mother of the young man’s children, even if that desire is by no means clear to her or explicit. […] but they are instinctively, when uncorrupt, monogamous. (carpenter 2000: 49-51) thus, ungoliant and shelob are therefore “corrupt” and “spoiled” women. they have not been “combined and harmonized with religion,” and they embody the evil woman, who is uncontrolled and “unstimulated” by men. as such, they function as a counter to those women who do get married properly in middle-earth, those who do not have “bastard” offspring by “miserable mates.” ungoliant and shelob have given into fallen natures, and denied what is natural in a righteous way, and become evil by way of their femininity. while ungoliant stands in direct contrast to yavanna, an antiprocreation to yavanna’s righteous procreation, shelob is juxtaposed to figures such as goldberry and arwen: she too hates the light, lives in darkness and creates horrid offspring which trouble mirkwood, all in mimicry of the acts of her mother. goldberry and arwen are bright, receptive to men, married, and servient. on the wider topic of women in tolkien’s legendarium, weronika łaszkiewicz argues that lobelia sackville-baggins and éowyn stand as potential “examples of female ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 11 empowerment” (2015: 18), but in the light of tolkien’s writing on sex and gender, this does not seem to be the case. lobelia’s depiction in the lord of the rings is arguably not empowering, given the antagonistic role that she occupies in the narrative (specifically as antagonizing the male heroes bilbo and frodo). it is true that éowyn takes up arms to defend her home and those whom she loves, but it must be recognized that her most empowering moment, the defeat of the witch-king of angmar, is only accomplished by merry’s aid in stabbing the witch-king prior to her, allowing her to make the final blow. arguably, this is not an example of female empowerment but a theme of hobbits being overlooked and ignored by evil forces, until they accomplish great feats, similar to bilbo, samwise, and frodo. likewise, éowyn’s ultimate fate is to become docile, placed into proper marriage with faramir and to abandon those elements which violated her gender role as a woman. łaszkiewicz also argues that the portrayals of arwen, galadriel, and goldberry (as well as a few other figures) as wise and high-status figures are also empowered women (2015: 19). in the case of galadriel, this seems strained, since she more accurately parallels eve, as she is seeking redemption for having fallen, being tempted by the words of fëanor. notably, it is galadriel’s desire for power and to rule, specifically to have status, which is the cause of her remained exile (tolkien 2001: 8384). as such, galadriel’s seeking empowerment is a stain on her character, and so the fact that she “can humble herself for her husband” (łaszkiewicz 2015: 19) is an acknowledgement that in her youth she should not have sought empowerment at all. and with goldberry, she defers to the male authority of her husband in subservience. arwen’s fate, likewise, is dictated entirely by that of aragorn’s as well, and so the argument that she is an empowered figure is debatable. furthermore, in tolkien’s work, women’s fates are more often than not tied up with those of men. melian, for example, goes into the west after thingol’s death being unable to cope without him, and because of this the enemies of doriath are able to destroy the kingdom. and departed now, she spends her time in sorrow for thingol. one can then also point to arwen and lúthien, who are prizes to be won by men after a great adventure. their fates are dependent upon the deeds and fates of their soon-to-be husbands. it is true that women can take on power and divine status, but it is only within the safe confines of their “proper” and very catholic relations with men that this happens, otherwise this power or divinity is a fault in their character or unnatural in some fashion. even when they perform daring actions it is for the sake of men. éowyn fights the witch king in order to defend her dying uncle, théoden, son of thengel (tolkien 2004: 841), and it is also notable that part of her desire to fight is connected to her attachment to aragorn. here arwen and éowyn stand in juxtaposition to each other: arwen patiently waits for aragorn as a docile soon-to-be wife, while éowyn is impatient, therefore defying the proper expectations of her gender. furthermore, éowyn, as frederick and mcbride point out, only accomplishes her feats by essentially becoming a man (2001: 113). this is not necessarily a case of gender-queerness,9 as éowyn is within tolkien’s 9 arguably, the only case where this may occur is with shelob, again, who possesses a stinger of some kind. one could see in this a phallic symbol. the stinger she has can be seen as a feminine phallus, being used to penetrate the male heroes. as such, being coded female with a penile organ, this may be argued to genderqueer in some fashion, but in this light being genderqueer would be something, too, horrific and encompassed by the monstrous feminine. the female has overtaken the role of the male. whereas tolkien wrote that the role of women was to be “receptive, stimulated, fertilized […] by the ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 12 very cis-normative legendarium. instead, éowyn must deceive men into thinking she is among them and defy her “natural” subservience to men in order to fight. for tolkien (contra hatcher 2007: 48-49) there are these specific gendered spaces and roles, and because éowyn transgresses them, this means she must either reenter her natural roles or risk becoming one of the monstrous feminine or “evil women” like ungoliant and shelob.10 through the marriage of faramir, she is able to be rehabilitated as a proper and docile catholic woman. her transgression of gender norms may have good outcomes, but it is still something which tolkien sees the need to “correct” in a sense. on the fallen but not quite monstrous side, there are other women in tolkien’s legendarium. the numenorian queen tar-ancalimë does take power, but it is a reign which is entirely immoral in the silmarillion, as she forsakes gil-galad and enters into a loveless marriage, purely out of political necessity.11 it is one which produces an heir within wedlock, and then they separate. she is said to regularly throw off suitors. as such, it is unrighteous but still monogamous and sexually restrained. as such, she does not yet become the “evil woman” embodied in shelob and ungoliant, but she has approached it. of similar note, berúthiel, queen of gondor, is portrayed as a sinister figure who watches over the men of gondor and is so loathed that her husband sends her on a ship to umbar (tolkien 2020: 425). but she too is not yet monstrous, because men still have power over her. this enforces tolkien’s gender essentialist view of women, which pervades middle-earth. women are lesser than men. they are to be humbled and subservient in comparison. they are not to be sexual outside of a proper marriage, and that marriage must be carefully tempered in a catholic fashion. the fates of “proper” women are bound up with those of men. but those who are not bound by the confines of male power, fate, and dominance, and are women of sexual freedom become the monstrous feminine. those who seek empowerment, see ungoliant and shelob at the end of their journey. male” (carpenter 2000: 49), here shelob forces frodo to become the receptive one. thus, we can see sam stabbing shelob as she thrusts her body down upon him (again potentially sexual) as him asserting masculine dominance over her (chance 1980: 111-113) and an abjection of queerness. tolkien further described shelob in notes to his publisher which were recently published, see tolkien 2021: 196. 10 of note, in the recently published the nature of middle-earth edited by carl f. hostetter, one of tolkien’s notes further elaborates that melkor, like ungoliant, became incapable of “extricating himself and finding scape in the vastness of eä (tolkien 2021: 344), which indicates that ungoliant’s horrible nature was something unavoidable to an extent as well. however, this note does contradict later published materials in the silmarillion on a number of points and so should not be viewed as definitive of how ungoliant was conceived in the more or less final versions of the mythology. 11 it should be noted that also while tar-ancalimë is the “first” queen of númenor, there were only ever three ruling queens in númenor (tar-ancalimë, tar-telperiën and tar-vanimeldë). almost nothing is said of tar-telperiën other than that she refused to get married or produce an heir, and tolkien says nothing positive of her reign. it is also indicated that she refused to give up the sceptre of the rulers and it was not taken until she died, unlike ancalimë (2020: 238). tar-vanimeldë was the last female ruler, but she, in fact, was ruler in name only as she left her duties to herucalmo (tolkien 2020: 240). thus, tolkien never presents any of the queens of númenor as positive role models. their empowerment as rulers is presented as either negative or ambivalent. notably, though, none of these women become monstrous. they are not manifestations of the monstrous feminine, because they are not sexual or still overpowered by men. tar-telperiën refuses to produce an heir, implying asexuality. tar-vanimeldë deferred to the power of her husband. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 13 they are the result of the end state of a liberated (and therefore “evil”) woman for tolkien. 5. conclusion in light of the above, even the so-called “empowered” women of middle-earth are still the servants of men. if they seek to have power of their own (galadriel, ancalimë, berúthiel), then it leads to all kinds of strife and hardship, and it is something that they are to repent of (as with galadriel), and if they go beyond this, becoming sexually active with various mates, they become monsters. tolkien does not, therefore, empower women, for even those who have an acceptable power are bound by the fate and wills of men, or are eventually put under men’s dominion (such as with éowyn). the highest of women figures in middle-earth is yavanna, who is properly married, and she is acceptably procreative by nature, but even her creations are subject to the wills of men. her opposite is ungoliant, whose sexually charged being and independence makes her arguably the greatest foe in all of middle-earth. middle-earth is gender and bio-essentialist in its nature, so that the roles of women are defined specifically by their biology and psychology. for tolkien, the “unspoiled” woman is subservient to man as a natural reality, and all female figures within middle-earth tend to illustrate this patriarchal stance. their sexual beings are to be restricted, something which is found quite notably in tolkien’s manuscript the laws and customs of the eldar, wherein he explicitly describes the place and role of sex in quite a catholic fashion, as practised by the elves (tolkien 2015a: 209-214). women who express or insinuate sexual interest in men are repudiated in middle-earth,12 but the men who show interest in women (beren, aragorn, faramir and so on.) are not met with such judgment, unless such unions are found to be evil or unnatural in some fashion (as in the cases of finwë, maeglin, and túrin). but in these male dominated relationships, no one becomes monstrous. only in those dominated by the feminine. furthermore, one can look at the women who are in positions of power and find that their portrayals are either ambivalent or negative. in the silmarillion, galadriel’s coming into middle-earth is a result of her pride and desire to rule there and is a character flaw of hers. the three queens of númenor are all portrayed either negatively or ambivalently, and it is especially noteworthy that, in the exceptionally small amount that is written about them in the unfinished tales, their choices not to enter into marriage or have children are at the forefront. the last queen, tar-vanimeldë, is lacking in so much presence that she rules in name only, since her husband truly runs the kingdom. permissible aspects of sexuality and gender are strictly confined to specific gender roles in middle-earth. some women (such as éowyn) may stray from their roles and have positive effects on the world but must become confined to the subservient. women who do not become more and more hideous, especially with their sexuality. in tolkien’s gender essentialist universe, women are not empowered but are controlled by 12 when túrin saves a woman from being raped, the language she uses and which is later used about her indicates that she is sexually opening herself to túrin, who casts her aside (tolkien 2007: 104-106). ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 14 the will and fate of men. they find themselves either within a traditional gender role or occupying the space of the monstrous feminine, the evil woman. references bartley, m.m. 1995. courtship and continued progress: julian huxley’s studies on bird behavior. journal of the history of biology 28:1, 91-108. carpenter, h. 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(ed.) 2021. the nature of middle-earth: late writings on the lands, inhabitants, and metaphysics of middle-earth. boston, ma: houghton mifflin harcourt. kreeft, p. 2005. the philosophy of tolkien: the worldview behind the lord of the rings. san francisco, ca: ignatius press. łaszkiewicz, w. 2015. j.r.r. tolkien’s portrayal of femininity and its transformations in subsequent adaptations. crossroads: a journal of english studies 11, 15-28. maddox, r. 2018. flawed and formidable: galadriel, éowyn, and tolkien’s inadvertent feminism. ureca: the nchc journal of undergraduate research and creative activity 2018 edition. purtill, r. 1984. j.r.r. tolkien: myth, morality and religion. san francisco, ca: harper&row publishers. reid, r.a. 2015. the history of scholarship on female characters in j. r. r. tolkien’s legendarium: a feminist bibliographic essay. in janet brennan croft and leslie a. donovan (eds.), perilous and fair: women in the works and life of j. r. r. tolkien. altadena, ca: mythopoeic press. tolkien, ch. (ed.) 2002. the war of the jewels. the history of middle-earth vol. 11. paperback edition. harpercollins publishers. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 15 tolkien, ch. (ed.) 2015a. morgoth’s ring. the history of middle-earth vol. 10. paperback edition. london: harpercollins publishers. tolkien, ch. (ed.) 2015b. the book of lost tales: part one. the history of middle earth vol. 1. paperback edition. boston, ma: houghton mifflin company. tolkien, j.r.r. 2001. the silmarillion. second edition. boston, ma: houghton mifflin company. tolkien, j.r.r. 2004. the lord of the rings: 50th anniversary edition. boston: houghton mifflin company. tolkien, j.r.r. 2007. the children of húrin. boston, ma: houghton mifflin company. tolkien, j. r. r. 2020. the unfinished tales of númenor and middle-earth. 2020 edition. boston, ma: houghton mifflin harcourt. *** mx. christopher hansen is an english writing student at saginaw valley state university, where they focus on medieval literature and epic fantasy writing specifically. hansen has published on biblical scholarship as well, being published in several academic journals on issues pertaining to the history of jesus. outside of academia, they are an activist for women’s rights, lgbtq+ rights, and racial equality. their interests include old english literature, feminist studies, and tolkien scholarship. unseized opportunity. respelling of english words in l1 polish textbooks 23 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) elżbieta awramiuk1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.30.3.02 university of białystok orcid: 0000-0003-1769-7265 michał citko2 university of białystok orcid: 0000-0002-8136-8354 unseized opportunity. respelling of english words in l1 polish textbooks abstract. the purpose of this study is to present the results of an analysis of several polish textbooks, popular in primary schools (grades 4-6, age 10-13), to demonstrate how polish textbooks give the pronunciation of english words. authors of textbooks use their native orthographic convention for sound form signalization called respelling. it is a simple and convenient strategy for indicating pronunciation more accurately than normal spelling. however, respelling of english words poses some problems related to the use of l1 alphabet for decoding foreign language sounds, such as domestication or omitting relevant phonetic information. another problem concerns the indistinct separation of the two forms of language – written and spoken – due to the use of letters for signalling sound form. l1 classes create a perfect opportunity for students to develop their linguistic awareness. this opportunity, however, does not seem to be fully embraced by the authors of the textbooks. generally, there is a lack of wellthought-out solutions aimed at the orthoepic competence concerning phonetic transcription conventions. thus, some ways of clarification of how the sounds of spoken language are represented in written form are proposed. keywords: primary school, textbook analysis, sound form signalization, respelling, linguistic awareness. 1. introduction the awareness of basic differences between languages (e.g. concerning pronunciation, spelling or grammar) is an important factor of linguistic competence (cf. cefr: 4-5). within school education, the development of this awareness should not be restricted 1 address for correspondence: faculty of philology, university of białystok, plac uniwersytecki 1, 15-420 białystok, poland. e-mail: e.awramiuk@uwb.edu.pl 2 address for correspondence: faculty of philology, university of białystok, plac uniwersytecki 1, 15-420 białystok, poland. e-mail: m.b.citko@gmail.com 24 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) to foreign language classes only but should be shaped whenever there is an opportunity for it. one such opportunity is the presence of foreign words in an l1 class where the pronunciation of foreign words in textbooks is provided more often than the pronunciation of polish words (awramiuk 2018). also, the introduction of comparative elements is a chance to increase students’ awareness of their mother tongue as well as to develop their metalinguistic knowledge. the purpose of this study is to present the results of an analysis of six polish textbooks to demonstrate the strategies of giving the pronunciation of english words and see whether they can be used to increase students’ knowledge of the languages and general linguistic awareness. first, some remarks about the ways of representing sounds in the written form will be presented and some basic terms will be explained. then the focus will shift onto the phonemic awareness in education as well as phonetics in polish curricula. in the next section, the methodological clarifications outlined. the main body of the paper presents the results of the analysis of two popular series of polish l1 textbooks from the second cycle of elementary school. this part contains general remarks about the scope and conventions of respelling, as well as issues concerning the respelling of english words. in the discussion, three problems will be outlined. 2. theoretical background 2.1. phonetic representation of sounds the problem of clarification of how the sounds used in spoken language are represented in written form is important from the point of view of language education. there are many ways to represent sounds using written symbols (heselwood 2013) which is connected with different purposes and priorities. first of all, the main distinction between phonetic transcription and other ways of sound form signalization (sfs) should be explained. phonetic transcription is a notation system used in specialized sources. it comprises a set of special symbols linked to the theory by interpretative conventions (heselwood 2013: 25) such as those of the international phonetic alphabet (ipa) or the slavonic phonetic alphabet (spa). various systems of transcription are based on these alphabets. however, it is important that – no matter what type of transcription is used (specific or generic, broad or narrow, etc.) – phonetic transcription has established rules. other methods of sound form signalization (sfs) are used in non-specialist sources (e.g. in language teaching materials, in monolingual and bilingual dictionaries) and they are less conventionalized. one of them is respelling which uses orthographic conventions but regularizes their correspondences with sound so that, as far as possible, the same character corresponds to the same pronunciation element (heselwood 2013: 28). respelling is a strategy for indicating pronunciation more accurately than normal 25 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) spelling. the polish word krzak in the ipa is written [kʃak] and in the spa – [kšak], which requires knowledge of the phonetic value of the new graphic symbol: ʃ or š, while the form of the respelled word [kszak] is closer to the orthographic representation and its reading requires only the knowledge of the letters of the polish alphabet. respelling is used in different sorts of publications which are aimed at users who are assumed to have no specialist knowledge of phonetics. usually, it helps them with the pronunciation of single words. this type of sfs is, for instance, used in the monolingual polish orthoepic dictionary nowy słownik poprawnej polszczyzny (nspp), as well as in teaching english as a foreign language in poland (furtak 2015). respelling is much less standardised than the ipa or the spa and there is more variation between practitioners, but this method of sfs is adequate for users who are not familiar with more specialistic phonetic scripts. respelling is also used by those who want to transcribe the heard pronunciation of unknown words, e.g. in foreign language learning. 2.2. phonemic awareness in l1 and l2 education linguistic awareness is an important part of language education and phonemic awareness is one of its elements. phonetics has a primarily utilitarian value in education. the purpose of phonetic exercises in foreign language classes is to achieve appropriate phonological (the knowledge and skill related to the perception and production of the phonemes) and orthoepic competence concerning, among others, the knowledge of conventions used for the representation of pronunciation (cefr: 117-118). for obvious reasons, it is different in learning a native language. a school child can easily differentiate and manipulate native phonemes. however, phonemic awareness plays a crucial role in learning reading and writing languages with an alphabetic script, like polish or english. in fact, phonological awareness and the knowledge of letters are considered the main factors influencing literacy in those languages (national early literacy panel 2008). at later stages, phonetics serves to understand cultural texts better, and at all educational stages, it supports speaking. phonetics understood as a reflection on speech sounds, the relationship between speech and writing, and speech in the suprasegmental level, is an important element in the development of language and communication competences. the above mentioned practical aspects of phonetics constitute the functional dimension of phonetic instruction in school. functional dimension means fostering language skills (e.g. spelling and reading aloud). the second dimension is normative, which means giving importance to correct pronunciation no matter whether this contributes to fostering language skills. in poland, language education in l1 and l2 is normally separated but language awareness – which is cross-disciplinary (svalberg 2012: 377) – can be developed in school education also during mother tongue education. it is the opportunity to shape the awareness 26 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of the similarities and differences between the mother tongue and foreign languages. the benefits of such holistic education are appreciated in the finnish educational system, where the national core curriculum emphasises the similarity of language education in the mother tongue and foreign languages. the finish curriculum considers the pupils’ plurilingual competence, and it highlights the importance of communicative competence as well as language awareness (nupponen et al. 2019). 2.3. phonetics in polish curricula the provisions of the core curriculum for teaching polish as a mother tongue in recent years (cf. cc 2008; cc 2014; cc 2017) encouraged the integration of the content of education (language, literature, culture and communication), functional language education and practical use of acquired information (bartmiński 2009; kowalikowa 2014; cc 017: 18, 60, 62, 70). the conceptual network proposed in the core curricula is designed to build students’ linguistic self-awareness and develop their language skills, improve linguistic correctness and teach in-depth reception of texts. both dimensions (functional and normative) are present in the polish curricula, although the first one seems to be more prominent. the purpose of language education is, among others, to develop the skills of correct speaking and writing in accordance with the principles of orthophony and polish spelling (cc 2017: 59), as well as – in terms of formulating utterances – to improve the phonatory, articulatory and prosodic aspect of students’ speech (cc 2017: 60). in the 2017 core curriculum, the 2nd educational stage includes grades 4-6, but the provisions concern two age groups: grades 4-6 and grades 7-8. the detailed requirements concerning l1 language education for the first group include, among others, students’ understanding of the terms: sound, letter, syllable, stress, the knowledge and ability to apply the rules for stressing words and correct intonation depending on the purpose of the utterance (cc 2017: 63). when it comes to making utterances, the student should be able to deliver from memory a text with appropriate intonation, diction, stress, emotional tension and pausing, supporting himself or herself in that with relevant language knowledge (cc 2017: 64). the last provision can refer to, among others, the use of knowledge of the relationship between speech and writing (phonetic assimilation, assimilation of consonant groups and final devoicing) when mastering the correct polish spelling (cc 2017: 67-68). teaching phonetics in primary school is closely related to teaching spelling, which results from the fact that polish spelling is largely morphophonological. with respect to modern foreign languages, the core curriculum is common to all of them. in grades 1 to 6 of primary school, each student must learn one foreign language, and from grade 7 – two foreign languages. different variants of the general education core curriculum (cc 2017: 20) result from the fact that different foreign languages can be 27 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) taught to students of different grades and different levels of proficiency, but all have been developed with reference to the levels of proficiency pertaining to particular language skills specified in the common european framework of reference for languages (cefr). the core curriculum – in addition to the general provision on language awareness regarding similarities and differences between languages (cc 2017: 75) – does not suggest how the teaching of the mother tongue and modern foreign languages can be correlated. the teachers, however, recognize the mutual benefit from the interpenetration of foreign and native language content in lessons (kietlińska & awramiuk 2016). 3. methodological remarks the next paragraph gives an overview of how english words are respelled in polish l1 textbooks. our consideration is the effect of an analysis of two series (each consisting of 3 textbooks) of polish textbooks for the second stage of the primary schools (grades 4-6, age 10-12). the choice of this stage was dictated by the fact that it is considered the most natural for the functional teaching of grammar and therefore crucial for shaping language awareness. the following textbooks were selected for the analysis: między nami [between us] (mn) and teraz polski [now polish] (tp)3. the choice was determined by the fact that both series are one of the most popular textbook series in poland4 and both integrate items of reading, language education, and literature, but this integration can be understood in different ways. the textbooks are in line with the polish national curriculum and have been formally accepted by the men (ministry of education). the analysed textbooks were published in the years 2013-2018, so they were based on the core curriculum from 2008 (cc 2008), but it is worth emphasizing that the cc 2014 did not bring any changes in our area of interest. the latest cc introduced in 2017 – although it carries a significant reorganization of the education system – is still being implemented5. the differences in textbooks of the same series published in 2013-2016 and those published after 2017 are generally small and do not concern the analysed issues. in general, we believe that the identified problems are also valid in relation to new textbooks published on the basis of the latest curriculum. 3 references to specific books specify the grade, e.g. mn4 means the textbook między nami, grade 4. 4 this is a statement based on our own observations, as well as on the observation of publishers’ activity. however, it cannot be verified because publishers in poland do not provide information about their publications. 5 in the school year 2018/2019, when the textbooks were being analysed, in relation to the implemented curricular reform in primary schools, the old (pre-reform) textbooks were used for grade 6 and new textbooks for grades 4, 5, 7 and 8. 28 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the analysis of textbooks was conducted in the following steps. first, the analysis was focused on searching for places where orthographic representation changes to fulfil the needs of sfs. all foreign and polish words with signalled pronunciation were written down and quantitatively analysed. at this stage, the aim was to analyse the distribution and frequency, as well as the conventions of respelling in the textbooks. next, the respelled words identified in the analysed data were examined more thoroughly. 4. results 4.1. sound form signalization in polish l1 textbooks – general remarks there are four categories of words whose sound form is signalized in the analysed textbooks: 1. native words, e.g. “if there is a voiced sound at the end of the word, we pronounce it as a voiceless, for example sad, czyt. sat” (mn5: 346); 2. borrowings, e.g. lunch, czyt. lancz (mn6: 44); 3. foreign proper names, e.g. joe, czyt. dżoł (mn4: 343), joe [czytaj: dżoł] (tp5: 120); 4. other foreign words and phrases from foreign languages, e.g. digital painting [didżital pejnting] (tp5: 299). the differences between groups (2) and (4) should be explained. borrowings are more recent words in the polish language which have preserved their original spelling and have a high frequency in contemporary texts. “other foreign words” are foreign lexical units which are not treated as borrowings but rather as code-switching. the distribution and frequency for the four groups of words in textbooks are resumed in table 1. table 1. the distribution and frequency of respelled words in analysed textbooks (english words in parentheses) categories of words tp4 tp5 tp6 total tp mn4 mn5 mn6 total mn native words 0 2 0 2 0 43 0 43 borrowings 11 (9) 13 (10) 13 (8) 37 (27) 6 (5) 12 (11) 6 (5) 24 (21) foreign proper names 124 (95) 154 (107) 160 (83) 438 (285) 37 (22) 51 (25) 59 (46) 147 (93) other foreign words 0 4 (2) 8 (1) 12 (3) 0 1 (0) 15 (1) 16 (1) total 135 (104) 173 (119) 181 (92) 489 (315) 43 (27) 107 (36) 80 (52) 230 (115) 29 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the quantitative analysis shows that sfs in the textbooks much more often concerns foreign words (674 in both textbooks) than native (45). foreign proper names are definitely predominant. this group in tp series is related to the concept of literary and cultural education adopted in the textbooks. culture is represented by a highly diverse international set of texts. all names of the authors and the titles of their works are transcribed. more native words with sfs in mn results from the fact that there is more focus on explicit grammar (or even explicit knowledge about language) in this series. english words (430) are clearly predominant, especially in the categories 2 and 3. they amount to 63.8% of all the foreign words. sfs in the mn series appears on the margins of the textbook, and in the tp series – linearly in the texts of readings. it performs a similar function in both series. the main purpose of sfs of foreign words is to provide an approximate pronunciation of the words usually used in text extracts. the pronunciation of the most dominant group of words – foreign proper names – concerns the names of authors of text extracts, artists and their works, literary heroes, geographical locations, etc. in tp6 (p. 304) respelling was used in the main text of the textbook to signal the variance of the spelling of the latest borrowings in the polish language. these words can be written preserving their original form (e.g. weekend) or according to the polish pronunciation (e.g. dżinsy ‘jeansy’) or in both ways (e.g. aquapark or akwapark). the sound form in both textbooks is signalized using respelling. respelling is a simple and convenient strategy, but the way it is used in the analysed textbooks generates some difficulties which will be discussed in the next section. meanwhile, it should be added that only the segmental speech features (sounds) are signalized in foreign words. the ways of respelling are presented in table 2. table 2. respelling conventions adopted in the textbooks units mn tp assimilated foreign words spray – czyt. sprej (mn4: 216) musical [czytaj: mjuzikal] (tp4: 29) foreign proper names charles schulz – czyt. czarls szulc (mn4: 164) orson welles [czytaj: łels] (tp5: 213) other foreign words send on a fool’s errand – czyt. send on a fuls erent (mn6: 160) live scanner [czytaj: lajf skaner] (tp5: 313) although the authors of both analysed textbooks use respelling, they do it in a slightly different way. in the teraz polski series, the pronunciation is given in square brackets 30 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) after the word czytaj ‘read’ with a colon. in między nami, the pronunciation is signalled by the abbreviation czyt. (without square brackets), after which proper names are written with capital letters. this way of signalling pronunciation poorly separates writing and speech. 4.2. issues concerning the respelling of english words sound form signalization in the analysed textbooks takes place through the native language alphabet, which is rather natural. it is difficult for a child who recently got to know the first set of written characters (an alphabet), to understand/learn another one (a phonetic alphabet). however, there is a whole list of problems that are connected with the application of respelling in the textbooks. the list includes incorrect, incomplete, inconsistent, domesticated and mixed transcription. the first problem concerns incorrect sound identification of the respelled word, which results or may result in the wrong production. for example, the name hobbes is rendered [czytaj: hobs] (tp5: 324, tp6: 82), which gives an unpronounceable cluster of a voiced and unvoiced consonant [bs] which in reality will be pronounced either as [bz] or [ps]. another example is the word rosemary [czytaj: rozmery] (tp5: 36), in which the vowel in the stressed syllable is given as a monophthong [o] instead of a diphthong [oł]. another problem concerns the lack of stress marking in polysyllabic words in both coursebooks, e.g. scott mcvay [czytaj: skot makwej] (tp6: 73), dogtv [czytaj: dog tiwi] (tp6: 83). if the adopted convention is going to help students reach at least an approximated sound form of the word then, they not only need segmental information (concerning individual sounds) but also suprasegmental (concerning stress). the lack of stress in many cases makes it impossible to reconstruct the correct sound form. inconsistency of transcription can appear at the level of words or sounds. at the word level, it is most easily observed on the example of frequently appearing names, e.g. jack – czyt. dżak (mn6: 246), czyt. dżek (mn6: 70), joe – czyt. [dżoł] (mn4: 343), [czytaj: dżoł] (tp5: 120, tp6: 341), [czytaj: dżo] (tp4: 154). different versions can be observed even within one series. inconsistent transcription can also concern the level of sounds, i.e. the same sound can be rendered differently in different words. for example, the sound [ŋ] (velar nasal), which is present in polish but appears in a different phonetic context than in english, can be rendered as [n] in lofting [czytaj: loftin] (tp5: 326) or [ng] in painting [czytaj: pejnting] (tp5: 299) (an unlikely pronunciation, considering the fact that polish devoices final consonants). however, this type of inconsistency also occurs when there is no unambiguous equivalent of a l2 sound in the l1 phonological system and hence – no suitable letter in the l1 alphabet. in this case, the same sound could have a different graphic representation in different words, e.g. english sound [ɵ] (voiceless, fricative, dental) is represented by polish sound [f] with a slightly different place of articulation (voiceless, fricative, 31 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) labiodental) or [t] with a different manner of articulation (voiceless, plosive, alveolar)6, as illustrated by examples ethan – czyt. ifen (mn6: 58) and elizabeth [czytaj: elizabet] (tp5: 37). this problem is not only one of consistency but also of domestication. respelling poses some problems related to the use of the mother tongue alphabet for decoding foreign-language sounds since it does not allow the transfer of those l2 phonological features that do not have a distinctive function in l1, as vowel length or diphthongs in polish. this inevitably leads to domestication such as swapping sounds or omitting relevant phonetic information. several categories pertaining to domestication-related problems can be distinguished for the respelled words in the analysed coursebooks7: • swapped diphthongs, e.g. wilde [łajld] (mn6: 319), where the english diphthong [aɪ] is represented in polish alphabet by two segments: a vowel [a] and a semi-vowel [j]; similarly [ɔɪ] is swapped for [oj]: roy [roj] (tp4: 183), [eɪ] for [ej]: baker [bejker] (tp5: 76), [aɪ] for [aj]: wright [rajt] (tp5: 148), [aʊ] for [ał]: downa [dałna] (tp6: 241), [əʊ] for [oł]: ernshaw [ernszoł] (tp6: 169); • swapped consonants, e.g. ethan [ifen] (mn6: 58), where an english consonant [ɵ] (non-existent in polish) is swapped for a polish one [f]; • no vowel length distinction (long, short and reduced), e.g. fantasy [fantazy] (tp5: 123), where a short vowel (though perceptually relatively long) [æ] and a reduced (much shorter and less tense) vowel [ə] are represented by the same [a]. the last identified problem concerns mixing transcription and ortography which means an unconscious preference for the written form over the sound form. the word sherwoodzkich (a polish derivate of the english word sherwood) should be rendered [szerłuckich] in respelling because of the typical consonant assimilations in polish but it was given as [szerłudzkich] (mn6: 230), which is closer to the orthographic form. a similar rendition (close to the orthography) was provided for the word hollywodzki – czyt. holiłudzki (mn 5: 357). this approach to respelling could be confusing to students as it does not draw a clear line dividing transcription and spelling. 5. discussion the above-presented issues concerning the respelling of english words in polish textbooks can serve as a springboard for further discussion on how and to what purpose the sound form should be represented in such contexts. thus, the discussion will first juxtapose and compare two possible techniques of sfs – respelling and phonetic transcription; then it will analyse the possible extension of the aims of sfs; and finally, it will propose some solutions aimed at the improvement of sfs in l1 textbooks. 6 both dental and alveolar are articulated with the tip of the tongue. 7 all the examples below will be given in brackets. 32 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 5.1. respelling vs. phonetic transcription both analysed textbooks adopted respelling as a technique of sfs. thus, it is worth setting it against another possible solution which is the use of phonetic transcription (e.g. ipa). each solution has its advantages which at the same time are the disadvantages of the other. and thus respelling: • does not require learning an additional alphabet (both from teachers and students); this could be especially difficult with younger students (1-3 graders) who have recently been introduced to one alphabet, but even for older students introducing a phonetic alphabet, especially when it is not part of the curriculum for foreign languages, might be problematic and time-consuming; • always results in a pronunciation; the fact that students (and teachers) are familiar with the symbols (letters of the alphabet) and (perhaps more importantly) the sounds they represent gives them instant access to the sound form of a word, even if the form is not very accurate (different from the original l2 form); phonetic alphabet, on the other hand, can be problematic in this respect, due to the fact that even if students succeed at getting familiar with the graphic form of the characters they might still struggle with the production of unfamiliar sounds (not present in their mother tongue) – learning them requires instruction and training; • provides a domesticated version of the word; after all, in the context of l1 domestication is rather desired because it better serves the development of l1 better by enabling the introduction of new vocabulary into the language and strengthening the phonological awareness of l1. when it comes to the use of phonetic transcription, the following advantages can be mentioned: • it is accurate and consistent; the use of transcription ensures correct and consistent sound-symbol correspondence (which is not the case for respelling); • it signals the discrepancy between sounds and letters better; the fact that sounds are represented with a different set of symbols than the native alphabet is a stronger signal that the two forms of language (written and spoken) are not in direct correspondence; compare the two graphical representations for ethan [ifen] vs [‘i:ɵən]; • it can be useful for learning other languages; of course, if introduced, a phonetic transcription (e.g. ipa) is widely used and could be a useful tool for learning foreign languages. even though the advantages of using phonetic transcription seem to counterbalance (if not outweigh) those of respelling only the latter technique appears to be a viable option in the circumstances of the schooling system. this is probably why the authors of textbooks choose it for the purpose of sfs. 33 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 5.2. extended aims of respelling – missed opportunity as already mentioned, the main, or virtually, the only aim of respelling in the textbooks is to provide the sound pattern of words whose pronunciation could otherwise cause problems to students. however, the aims could be extended over simply providing a model of pronunciation and it could also be used as a pretext (opportunity) to develop students’ linguistic awareness. this is especially important in the context of research which shows that there is a strong correlation between competence in l1 and learning foreign languages (ellis 2015; cook & singleton 2014) or new trends in glottodidactics which favour the concept of plurilingualism (kotarba-kańczugowska 2015). the plurilingual approach emphasizes contact with various languages, developing awareness of their existence, dependence and specificity. the student “builds up a communicative competence to which all knowledge and experience of language contributes and in which languages interrelate and interact” (cefr: 4). in this sense, the plurilingual approach does not apply only to foreign language classes. explaining the pronunciation of foreign words in a mother tongue lesson is a perfect opportunity to develop pupils’ language awareness of the similarities and differences between the l1 and foreign languages and to build on pupils’ metalinguistic knowledge, to make generalizations referring to different languages, to establish connections between them and to formulate hypotheses about them. in this context respelling could be used to develop students’ linguistic awareness, e.g. with respect to (the list is by no means complete): • the phonological systems of languages – not only words in different languages are different but what they are made of; • the writing systems of languages – different languages make use of different alphabets; • the discrepancy between these two systems – spelling and pronunciation can differ to a greater or lesser extent depending on the language (the problem of transparency of writing); • the problem of domestication in foreign and borrowed words – e.g. the fact that it can take different forms: domestication of pronunciation but not writing (e.g. musical [mjuˈzikal]), domestication of both pronunciation and writing (e.g. keczup); • the articulation of individual sounds – particular sounds of both l1 and l2 require particular motor movements of speech organs which are often, if not always involuntary and unconscious (even, or especially, for l1 sounds); • the existence of various ways of transcription. the above list shows the potential use that could be made of the respelling of foreign words in l1 textbooks and in this sense one can speak of a missed opportunity. as the analysis has shown, the ways of providing pronunciation information are very intuitive, often 34 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) inconsistent or incomplete, which certainly does not foster conscious linguistic analysis on behalf of students. in addition, many analysed words lack the information on their origin which seems crucial both for the purposes of linguistic analysis and facilitating pronunciation, as the sound form of a given letter string depends on the language of the original, e.g. compare the pronunciation of the name charles in charles-gerabed atamian [szarlis garabid atamian] (tp4: 118) – a french painter of armenian origin, charles schulz [czarls szulc] (mn4: 160) – an american comic book artist, and charles perrault [szarl pero] (mn4: 323) – a french fairy-tale writer. 5.3. how to improve/clarify respelling in textbooks? since it has already been suggested that the only viable form of sfs in the context of polish educational system is the use of respelling one can think of the ways in which it can be improved to better serve the aims that were defined earlier. with respect to the first aim – enabling the pronunciation of foreign words – respelling could obviously be improved by ensuring consistency within a textbook. it has to be stressed that this one does not mean uniform rules of respelling as such, as it can be done for phonetic transcription, but consistent use of the solutions adopted in a given textbook throughout it. the consistency should concern both suprasegmental and (if possible) segmental level. another aspect in which respelling could be improved to help students pronounce foreign words is the introduction of stress marking. without it the respelled word does not serve the purpose, as the pronunciation of words over one syllable long (especially those from languages with no fixed word stress, like english) becomes random. with respect to the other aim – increasing students’ linguistic awareness – respelling could be improved in two ways. firstly, it should clearly distinguish between the two subcodes of language (written and spoken) to which aim it can use lexical as well typographical means. lexical means include introducing sfs with words like wymawiaj ‘pronounce’ or czytaj ‘read’. typographical means concern the use of brackets, which is a commonly accepted convention for signalising sound forms, e.g. in phonetic transcription. also, if the respelled forms are to distinguish between written and spoken forms they should definitely not use symbols which do not concern pronunciation, e.g. capital letters. moreover, the information on the language of origin should be provided, as this is closely linked to linguistic conclusions we can draw from a respelled form, e.g. a word can have an identical written form in two languages, but can be differently realized in pronunciation. a technique which could help in realizing the two aims simultaneously (providing pronunciation and developing linguistic awareness) could be not to provide a sound form at all but to leave the job for students by providing a gapped place to be filled in by them. 35 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) this would make students reflect on the sound form of the word and the accompanying language issues themselves. they would have to negotiate the possible sound form and discuss the aspects of language which apply in the particular context. and since respelling is a natural (and the only) tool students have at their disposal, textbooks could lead them in their thinking, allowing, however, a room for reflection and creativity, e.g. providing only the right number of gaps representing phonemes and the stress marking, as in the following example: lucky luke wymawiaj [ _ _ _ _ ‘_ _ _] the classroom methodology can have a major effect on how students learn, and this way of teaching could be an excellent opportunity for metalinguistic activity, which is currently assigned a special role in functional language education (camps et al. 2000; fontich 2014; myhill et al. 2012). more cooperative interactions would help students to better explain their intuitions. 6. conclusion both textbooks used respelling as the preferred technique for sfs. the choice seems justified taken into account the current circumstances of teaching l1 in poland. compared to phonetic transcription, it has one main advantage, namely, it comes naturally to students and teachers and does not require learning another alphabet. however, since it is based on native orthography, without real respect to the sound reality of speech, and, what is more, it is non-codified, its adaptation for the analysed textbooks raised several issues. provided that respelling is used in a systematic and consistent way throughout a textbook it can be a valuable tool for enabling students to pronounce the words which otherwise would be problematic. but not only that; the existence of foreign words in l1 textbooks could also be treated as an opportunity to increase students’ awareness pertaining to many aspects of linguistic reality balancing between speech and writing. this opportunity does not seem to be fully embraced; however, a provision has to be made. the analysis dealt with the content of textbooks, not with the content of classes (where the textbooks are actually used). obviously, an experienced teacher can use a textbook for purposes that were not devised by its authors or even if it contains some mistakes. and conversely, even the best textbook will not be much of help for a badly prepared teacher. in this context, the phrase “unseized opportunity” from the title of the article should perhaps be followed by a question mark. 36 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) references awramiuk, e. 2018. fonetyka w podręcznikach do nauki języka ojczystego [phonetics in l1 textbooks]. in: e. awramiuk & a. rozumko (eds.), z problematyki kształcenia językowego, vol. vii, 167-185. białystok: wydawnictwo uniwersytetu w białymstoku. bartmiński, j. 2014. czym w podstawie programowej jest świadomość językowa [what language awareness means in the core curriculum]. in: k. biedrzycki, w. bobiński, a. janus-sitarz & r. przybylska (eds.), polonistyka dziś – kształcenie dla jutra, vol. 3, 37-49. kraków: universitas. camps, a., guasch, o., milian, m., & ribas, t. 2000. metalinguistic activity: the link between writing and learning to write. in: a. camps & m. milian (eds.), metalinguistic activity in learning to write, 103-124. amsterdam, the netherlands: amsterdam university press. cc 2008: podstawa programowa kształcenia ogólnego dla szkół podstawowych [general education core curriculum for primary schools]. appendix no. 2 to the regulation of the ministry of science and higher education of 23 december 2008. journal of laws of 2009, no. 4, item 17. cc 2014: podstawa programowa kształcenia ogólnego dla szkół podstawowych [general education core curriculum for primary schools]. appendix no. 2 to the regulation of the ministry of science and higher education of 30 may 2014. journal of laws of 2014, no. 0, item 803. cc 2017: podstawa programowa kształcenia ogólnego dla szkół podstawowych [general education core curriculum for primary schools]. appendix no. 2 to the regulation of the ministry of science and higher education of 14 february 2017. journal of laws of 2017, item 356. cefr: common european framework of reference for languages: learning, teaching, assessment. council of europe 2011. cook, v. & singleton, d. 2014. key topics in second language acquisition. bristol, buffalo, toronto: multilingual matters. ellis, r. 2015. understanding second language acquisition (2nd edition). oxford: oxford university press. fontich, x. 2014. grammar and language reflection at school: checking out the whats and the hows of grammar instruction. in: t. ribas, x. fontich & o. guasch (eds.), grammar at school: research on metalinguistic activity in language education, 255-284. brussels: peter lang. furtak, ł. 2015. in defense of the usefulness of a polish-based respelling phonetic transcription system in the elementary to lower-intermediate efl classroom. in: e. waniek-klimczak & m. pawlak (eds.), teaching and researching the pronunciation of english: studies in honour of włodzimierz sobkowiak, 119-135. cham: springer. 37 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) heselwood, b. 2013. phonetic transcription in theory and practice. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. kietlińska, a. & awramiuk, e. 2016. szkolny polonista w dobie powszechnej znajomości języków obcych [the polish language teacher in school in the era of widespread knowledge of foreign languages]. in: e. jaskółowa, d. krzyżyk, b. niesporek-szamburska, & m. wójcik-dudek (eds.), edukacja polonistyczna jako zobowiązanie. powszechność i elitarność polonistyki, vol. 1, 557-571. katowice: wydawnictwo uniwersytetu śląskiego. kotarba-kańczugowska, m. 2015. edukacja otwarta na języki. rożnojęzyczność w teorii i praktyce [education open to languages. plurilingualism in theory and practice]. kraków: oficyna wydawnicza „impuls”. kowalikowa, j. 2014. od słowa do zdania, od zdania do tekstu – od tekstu do zdania, od zdania do słowa [from word to sentence, from sentence do text – from text to sentence, from sentence to word]. in: a. janus-sitarz & e. nowak (eds.), szkolna polonistyka zanurzona w języku, 17-43. kraków: universitas. myhill, d.a., jones, s.m., lines, h. & watson, a. 2012. re-thinking grammar: the impact of embedded grammar teaching on students’ writing and students’ metalinguistic understanding. research papers in education 27(2): 139-166. national early literacy panel 2008: developing early literacy: report of the national early literacy panel. washington. lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/nelpreport09.pdf. nupponen, a.-m., jeskanen, s. & rättyä, k. 2019. finnish student language teachers reflecting on linguistic concepts related to sentence structures: students recognising linguistic concepts in l1 and l2 textbooks. l1-educational studies in language and literature 19: 1-25. https://doi.org/10.17239/l1esll-2019.19.02.04 nspp: nowy słownik poprawnej polszczyzny [a new dictionary of correct polish], ed. a. markowski, warszawa 2000. svalberg, a. m. 2012. language awareness in language learning and teaching: a research agenda. language teaching 45(3): 376-388. analysed textbooks mn4: a. łuczak, a. murdzek, k. krzemieniewska-kleban, między nami. język polski 4, wyd. drugie, gdańsk 2018, gdańskie wydawnictwo oświatowe. mn5: a. łuczak, a. murdzek, między nami. język polski 5, gdańsk 2018, gdańskie wydawnictwo oświatowe. mn6: a. łuczak, a. murdzek, między nami. język polski 6, gdańsk 2014, gdańskie wydawnictwo oświatowe. tp4: a. klimowicz, teraz polski! podręcznik do kształcenia literackiego, kulturowego i językowego dla klasy czwartej szkoły podstawowej, warszawa 2013, wyd. drugie, nowa era. 38 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) tp5: a. klimowicz, teraz polski! podręcznik do kształcenia literackiego, kulturowego i językowego dla klasy piątej szkoły podstawowej, warszawa 2016, nowa era. tp6: a. klimowicz, teraz polski! podręcznik do kształcenia literackiego, kulturowego i językowego dla klasy szóstej szkoły podstawowej, warszawa 2017, nowa era. * * * elżbieta awramiuk is a professor of linguistics at the university of białystok. her research concentrates on knowledge about language in education, as well as phonology and spelling of the contemporary polish language. she is a founding member of arle (international association for research in l1 education) and she is engaged in the special interest group research educational linguistics (sig eduling). she has participated in several research projects focused on the early literacy development and assessment, and linguistic aspects of learning to read and write. michał citko is a doctoral student at the university of białystok. he is interested in the relationship between perception and production of speech in first and second language acquisition. his doctoral thesis will concern articulatory awareness in learning polish as a foreign language. he is a foreign language teacher of english and polish. 37 5 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) marek pawlicki1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.39.4.01 university of silesia in katowice, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3477-0831 “a stranger in a strange land”: nadine gordimer and her journey through egypt abstract. the aim of the article is to describe nadine gordimer s̓ political development in the late 1950s by analysing her travel essay “egypt revisited” (1959) and her short story “a thing of the past” (1959). in the first part of the article, gordimer s̓ political stance is explained in reference to her non-fictional texts. it is argued that in the late 1950s gordimer was torn between her liberal humanist belief in multiracialism and the awareness that this stance was becoming increasingly untenable in the changing historical circumstances. her journey to egypt in 1959 gave her a valuable opportunity to consider her political convictions in the wider context of the decolonization processes happening on the african continent. what is clear both in “egypt revisited” and “a thing of the past”—a short story inspired by her visit to egypt—is her desire to transcend the colonial perspective by distancing herself from her racial and social origins. these texts also convey her belief that the decolonization processes in african countries force the white inhabitants of the continent to redefine themselves so that they can remain politically relevant in the new reality. this belief would become the basis of the political and artistic theories that she developed in the decades to follow. keywords: nadine gordimer, travel writing, egypt, south african literature gordimer’s politics in the 1950s in 1959, one year before the sharpeville massacre, nadine gordimer published an article in which she admitted that—in common with many other white south africans— she was considering leaving her country. while she never took this radical step and went on to become one of south africa s̓ leading writers and public intellectuals, her article “where do whites fit in” (1959) gives an important insight into her state of mind at the time. gordimer was clearly torn between her hope for social and political changes 1 address for correspondence: institute of literary studies, faculty of humanities, university of silesia in katowice, grota-roweckiego 5, 41-205 sosnowiec, poland. e-mail: marek.pawlicki@us.edu.pl https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3477-0831 6 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in her country (the end of white supremacy and the beginning of a democratic system under black majority rule) and her rising sense of insecurity connected with her place— and the place of other white liberals—in south africa. her reflections go beyond the issue of legal rights and get to the heart of the matter, namely the question of belonging. to belong, she argues, is to be accepted by the wider community—a task that may take generations to bring to fruition, and may not happen in her lifetime. faced with this realisation, gordimer confesses that she is torn between “the desire to be gone . . . and a terrible, obstinate and fearful desire to stay” (gordimer 1989: 34). considering gordimer s̓ convictions in the socio-political context of her country, it can be argued that throughout the 1950s her political stance was essentially that of liberalism,2 but gordimer also referred to it as “the humanist approach, the individualistic approach” (bazin & seymour 1990: 135), adding that its essence lay in ignoring and defying the racial divisions imposed by the apartheid regime. as she commented at the end of the 1970s, back in the 1950s the intellectuals of south africa believed in the value of personal relationships—the forsterian principle of “only connect”3 (bazin & seymour 1990: 102)—and were convinced that such relationships had the potential to bring about social and political changes. this belief was shared across the racial and political divide and became the foundation of the congress alliance,4 whose members were guided by “the belief that a rampantly segregationist apartheid could be countered only and most effectively by a cross-racial or multi-racial front” (clingman 1993: 45-46). gordimer s̓ belief in multiracialism is evident not only in her novels and short stories but also in her political writings, including her article about albert luthuli, the president of the african national congress in the years 1952-1960, and undoubtedly the most influential african politician of the 1950s. published in atlantic monthly in april 1959, “chief luthuli” is an expression of gordimer s̓ deep admiration for luthuli s̓ courage and determination, but it is also a statement of belief in the liberal humanist values that guided his actions (she describes his personality as “a symbol of human dignity” (gordimer 1989: 38) and quotes from his 1952 statement “our chief speaks,” in which he 2 in the 1950s gordimer s̓ political stance was deeply influenced by alan paton, who described liberalism in the following way: “by liberalism i donʼt mean the creed of any party or any century. i mean a generosity of spirit, a tolerance of others, an attempt to comprehend otherness, a commitment to the rule of law, a high ideal of the worth and dignity of man, a repugnance for authoritarianism and a love of freedom” (blair 2012: 475). 3 gordimer is referring to chapter xxii of e. m. forster s̓ novel howards end (1910). 4 the congress alliance was an organization that included south africa s̓ major anti-apartheid parties: the african national congress, the south african indian congress, the south african coloured people s̓ congress, the south african congress of democrats, and the south african congress of trade unions. 7 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) emphasized the importance of “harmonious relations with other sections of our multiracial society” (gordimer 1989: 46)). published in the same year as “where do whites fit in,” “chief luthuli” offers a counterbalance to gordimer s̓ scepticism as to the future of white south africans, but it should not be viewed unambiguously as an anticipation of a future multi-racial society. the two essays, when read together, paint a portrait of a writer who is torn between her abiding belief in liberalism and multi-racialism, and the sense that this stance may not suffice to ensure her (and other white south africans) a place in the new, post-apartheid south africa. the late 1950s: anticipating change it is at the point when gordimer began to have doubts about the political currency of liberalism (she would abandon this stance altogether in the 1960s) that she looked beyond her immediate surroundings and considered her position (and that of other whites) in the wider context of the african continent. this opportunity was offered by her travels across africa that began in the mid-1950s and lasted throughout her life. in the years 1954-1977, gordimer visited five countries: egypt, the democratic republic of the congo (with a brief visit to the republic of the congo), madagascar, botswana, ghana, and the republic of transkei, one of the bantustans5. the africa she saw fascinated her; as she wrote about the political transformations on the continent in the 1960s, “africa, however troubled it may be, has never been more interesting than it is in this decade” (gordimer 1989: 171). in her seminal study imperial eyes, mary louise pratt argues “that important historical transitions alter the way people write, because they alter people s̓ experiences and the way people imagine, feel and think about the world they live in” (pratt 2008: 4). this general assumption is also true in gordimer s̓ case: the processes of decolonization that she observed in the aforementioned countries not only fascinated her but also profoundly influenced her perception of the continent, including her own country. while the impact of gordimer s̓ african travels on her political and artistic development is significant, if it is mentioned at all, it is usually discussed in the most general of terms. stephen clingman, in his classic study the novels of nadine gordimer: histories from the inside, rightly argues that by the end of the 1950s gordimer began to see clearly that “the ultimate current of history in south africa—past, present and future—is black, and not white: that the latter is a subset of the former” (clingman 1993: 78). clingman adds that gordimer s̓ travels in africa, “may well have had an influence on her perception of the direction in which the continent was heading” (clingman 1993: 78). that the 5 the bantustants (also referred to as homelands) were self-governing territories where much of the black population of south africa was relocated. ten in total, they existed from the midto late 20th century. 8 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) continent was heading towards change was clear to gordimer, who by the late 1950s had the growing realisation that the processes of decolonization would bring power back to the african people. the socio-political changes taking place in countries like egypt and the belgian congo were, no doubt, evident to many observers at the time; gordimer, however, took this truth both as a lens through which to look upon the african continent and a foundation on which to build her role as a writer and public intellectual. in short, gordimer s̓ belief was that the dynamically evolving political circumstances necessitated rapid change on behalf of the white inhabitants of the continent and especially those who decided to stay and contribute to the democratic transformations. gordimer herself had her part in this process of change when, by the late 1950s, she began to question her race—and race in general—as a determining factor in the shaping of her identity. indeed, in the early 1960s, she described her political development in the following words: “first, you know, you leave your mother s̓ house, and later you leave the house of the white race” (bazin & seymour 1990: 9). for gordimer, who left her parentsʼ house at the age of twenty-two,6 the decision to distance herself from her conservative, middle-class background was the first step to her political emancipation. gordimer s̓ attempt to view herself at a distance from her racial and social origins is visible in her works, including her modest but significant contribution to travel writing.7 gordimer s̓ travel essays not only give us insight into the state of the countries that she visited but also reveal her own state of mind, the “culture-specific and individual patterns of perception and knowledge” (korte 2000: 6), which as barbara korte writes, can be traced in all examples of travel writing. the image of gordimer that emerges from these essays is that of a traveler who takes “the fact of departure, initial severance from a home culture” (clark 1999: 14) as an opportunity to reflect upon her political position as a white inhabitant of the african continent. in these essays, gordimer takes the stance of an observer—“a stranger in a strange land” (gordimer 1989: 152)—who is witness to the postcolonial processes unfolding in the countries described and, more widely, on the african continent. observing the end of white rule and the consequent political marginalisation 6 this decision is mentioned in her autobiographical essay “a bolter and the invincible summer” (1963). describing her life before her early twenties, she writes about the state of intellectual torpor that she experienced in her youth: “my existential self was breathing but inert, like one of those unfortunate people who has had a brain injury in a motor accident and lies unhearing and unseeing” (gordimer 1989: 24). she adds, “i cannot understand why i did not free myself in the most obvious way, leave home and small town and get myself a job somewhere” (gordimer 1989: 24). she made this decision at the age of 22, when she enrolled at the university of witwatersrand. 7 i adopt the definition of travel writing as “first-person prose accounts of travels that have been undertaken by the author-narrator” (youngs 2013: 3). 9 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of white expatriate communities is chiefly an act of anticipating her country s̓ future— gordimer no doubt shared the hope that south africa would follow in the footsteps of the countries she visited—but it is also an exercise in humility, as gordimer predicted a future that would be politically uncertain for the white minority. in the years 1959-1977, gordimer published six travel essays: “egypt revisited” (1959), “the congo river” (1960-1961), “madagascar” (1969), “pula!” (1970), “merci dieu, it changes” (1971), and “a vision of two blood-red suns” (1977). these essays should be read not only in the wider context of gordimer s̓ essays and articles but also her fictional works, which further reflect her stance regarding the processes of decolonization in africa. discussing every essay in detail is impossible in the scope of one article; what is possible and worthwhile is to concentrate on gordimer s̓ first contribution to travel writing—“egypt revisited” (1959)—and, on this basis, to explore what casey blanton called the “relationship between self and world” (29); in gordimer s̓ case, the interplay between her political convictions and the reality that she observed during her two journeys to egypt. in the late 1950s, those views were on the cusp of an important change, as gordimer was beginning to question her belief in liberal humanism and was redefining her role as a writer and public intellectual. gordimer s̓ artistic and political development will be explored first in the context of “egypt revisited” (1959) and then the story “a thing of the past,” published the same year as the essay. “suez hangs in the air”: gordimer’s two visits to egypt egypt was the first foreign country that gordimer visited—doing so in 1954, with her husband reinhold cassirer. the second visit to egypt took place five years later, and it is this trip that she describes in her essay “egypt revisited,” first published in the london magazine national and english review in january 1959. gordimer, then, is writing primarily for a british audience, who, by the late 1950s, were no doubt curious to learn about egypt following the suez crisis. gordimer was well-qualified to give them such insight—she had visited cairo in the march of 1954, in the wake of the 1952 coup organised by the free officers and during the domestic power struggle between gamal abdul nasser and mohammed naguib (a conflict that would end in 1956 with nasser s̓ victory and the imprisonment of naguib). revisiting cairo in 1958, gordimer recalls the tense atmosphere of 1954 and describes the atmosphere of confidence, palpable after egypt s̓ moral and diplomatic victory in the suez crisis in november 1956; as she writes, “suez hangs in the air, a confidence that inflates even the meanest street-urchin chest” (gordimer 1989: 148). while gordimer does offer some insight into the political situation of the country, she takes the readersʼ knowledge of postcolonial egypt for granted, choosing instead to focus on the impact of suez on the moods and attitudes of the country s̓ inhabitants, both the colonials and the egyptian people. it is this joint interest in these two 10 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) increasingly separate social groups that yields a bifurcated vision of egypt: one which is, no doubt, closer to gordimer s̓ readers and one which remains foreign, and ultimately unknowable. the beginning of the essay suggests that gordimer is writing from the perspective of a colonial in a postcolonial country; in the first paragraph, she describes her arrival in egypt and the quizzical welcome that she received from a friend (a foreigner who had spent thirty years in the country): “it s̓ worse than ever here, it s̓ lovely” (gordimer 1989: 148). this ironic formulation, gordimer goes on to say, is expressive of a wider attitude felt among the narrow group of white colonials whose love for their adopted country (and “love” is precisely the word used by gordimer) still enables them to identify closely with that country, despite the social and political changes. anticipating her readersʼ failure to grasp the intricacies of this standpoint, gordimer declares herself to be an insider—a white african writing about other white africans. later in the essay, she makes this point even clearer, when she mentions “my emphatic identification with the dispossessed foreign community” (gordimer 1989: 152), clearly suggesting that her understanding of the moods prevalent in the foreign community is based on knowledge, experience, and shared emotion. despite declaring her empathy with the white expatriates in egypt, gordimer chooses not to follow this thread; instead, she makes it clear that her main interest is in the more elusive position of the egyptians: “[t]he hopes, fears and prides of the people of the streets” (gordimer 1989: 149), or, as she puts it more succinctly, “[t]he voice of the people” (gordimer 1989: 149). this standpoint is, as gordimer explains, considerably more difficult to grasp because of the linguistic and cultural barrier, but it can be intuited by what she describes as careful observation and “the shiver of receptivity on my skin” (gordimer 1989: 149). what is expressed here is gordimer s̓ belief in the power of the writer to reach a deeper understanding of reality by means of empathy and imagination. taking into account the central importance of careful observation in the creative process, it should not come as a surprise that gordimer not only succeeds in describing in detail the bustling life of cairo but also stages the act of observing; in one passage, she describes standing on the balcony of her apartment and watching the comings and goings of the people below: at sunset . . . i had stood on the balcony of the flat where i was staying, and had watched the people below, never ant-like as in big cities of the west, but leisured, in full cry, pushing carts, selling peanuts and roasted maize cobs, balancing coffee cups, zigzagging the hazard across hooting cars and the little red petrol tanks . . . drawn by jingling, brass-cluttered donkeys. (gordimer 1989: 152) 11 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) while gordimer privileges vision8 in her descriptions of cairo, the passage nonetheless evokes the sounds and smells of a bustling street. the vivid description, full of evocative detail, is reminiscent of gordimer s̓ early writing – the “sensuous sensibility” (bazin & seymour 1990: 195) that she identified as a hallmark of her first stories. more important in the context of travel writing, this scene is firmly rooted in the tradition of postcolonial writing. in imperial eyes, mary louise pratt famously argues that the landscapes drawn from the balconies of third-world cities are a continuation of the monarch-of-all-i-survey scenes in colonial writing: “here, like their explorer forebears, postcolonial adventurers perch themselves to paint the significance and value of what they see” (pratt 2008: 212). to illustrate this tendency, she quotes from alberto moravia s̓ which tribe do you belong to? (1972) and paul theroux s̓ the old patagonian express (1978). in contrast to moravia s̓ and theroux s̓ descriptions of “joyless cityscapes” (pratt 2008: 213) (and, for that matter, entirely empty of people), gordimer s̓ description of a street in cairo is highly dynamic, expressive of the city s̓ vibrancy. unlike the “ant-like,” hurried human traffic of western cities, the egyptians are described as confident and assertive in their day-to-day activities. it is this confidence, assertion and determination that she sees as egypt s̓ most valuable political currency. the most significant political gesture that gordimer makes in “egypt revisited” is to adopt the colonial perspective only to reach beyond it to a subject position that she calls “a stranger in a strange land” (gordimer 1989: 152). this latter identity is described by gordimer as the one that she adopts by default when travelling; indeed, it was only her visit to cairo, where she was hosted by white colonials, that evoked her short-lived “emphatic identification”. leaving cairo for upper egypt, gordimer hints at the sense of liberation, as if it was only at the point of leaving the expatriate community that she was able to direct her attention to the true purpose of her visit: observing and noting the changes in the country. she describes the culturally uneventful and uninspiring life of cairo—the result of egypt s̓ turning away from european political and cultural influences—and the formation of a new elite in the country, composed of senior army officers and their families. the main change that she detects on her second visit to the country is the mood of “national confidence” (gordimer 1989: 153), which she sees on the streets, in the museums—however dilapidated they may be (she describes visiting the cairo museum and observing schoolchildren being taught about the rich history of their country)—and, most importantly, on the building site of the aswan high dam. looking at the structure of “egypt revisited,” it is readily apparent that gordimer s̓ arrival in aswan marks both the culmination and the conclusion of her essay: it begins 8 in this tendency she is not unlike many other travel writers; as margaret topping writes, “[t]he privileging of vision as the most reliable . . . sense by which to mediate the encounter between the traveller and the world is a familiar trope of travel writing” (topping 2020: 194). 12 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) with her brief visit to cairo and continues with her journey up the nile and arrival in aswan, which, as she is quick to point out, is not only the site of the dam (in the first stages of its construction) but “also a lively arab town” (gordimer 1989: 155) (it was a city of 55,000 people when gordimer visited it in 1958). it is the people—the egyptian workers—who are the centre of gordimer s̓ description of the aswan high dam; while foreign investment is mentioned in passing, the focus is on the egyptian workmen who are charged with the construction of the hydroelectric power plant. standing atop the dam and observing the workers toiling below, gordimer describes her admiration for this communal effort, which, in her eyes, expresses the country s̓ atmosphere of hopefulness for the future. the hope, for gordimer, lies in the fact that the work is done by egyptians for egyptians: “when the power station is completed, it will be theirs to use; it does not merely feed them now, but will change their lives” (gordimer 1989: 156). in a gesture that seems oddly patronising, gordimer adds that the egyptians need not only food and better living conditions but also a sense of achievement, which is brought by the construction of the dam. the conclusion of “egypt revisited” may be the weakest point of her essay but is also worth discussing insofar as it conveys gordimer s̓ political position as it was in the late 1950s. in the article “where do whites fit in” (1959), published the same year as “egypt revisited,” gordimer anticipated the inevitable end of white supremacist rule in her country, arguing that in this new socio-political order, the white south africans who decide to stay in south africa will have to reconcile themselves to an auxiliary role in society: to use her words, they will become “foreign experts” (gordimer 1989: 36) (a phrase that she inserts in inverted commas), that is, intellectuals whose role is solely to impart technical, scientific, and cultural knowledge to black south africans, without claiming any kind of entitlement to their own role in the future of the country. the word “foreign” is crucial here, insofar as it points to the gesture that the white south africans must make, namely the ceding of power and authority in favour of their black compatriots. it is this drastically altered balance of power that gordimer addresses when—at the end of “egypt revisited”—she describes the construction of the aswan high dam. she goes so far as to erase any signs of “foreign experts” on the construction site: the investors from switzerland, germany, and austria are present as machines (“the clumsy steel giants of europe” (gordimer 1989: 155)), not as people. gordimer s̓ positive, if idealised, vision of egypt clearly deemphasizes the dangers of neo-colonialism (a topic that received ample attention in the other five of gordimer s̓ travel essays) and capitalizes on the communal effort of egypt s̓ inhabitants in the building of their country. 13 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) exploring the moods of the colonials: “a thing of the past” the unmistakable tone of hopefulness in “egypt revisited” has the effect of marginalising any of the fears and apprehensions of the white colonials who have decided to stay in egypt. the people gordimer meets in cairo are curiously (and stoically) detached from the political reality, as if they did not expect to be affected—not personally, at least —by the changes in their country. while gordimer is clearly uninterested in exploring the mindset of the colonials in her essay, she attempts this task in her story “a thing of the past.” “a thing of the past,” originally published in the british magazine encounter in 1959 and reprinted in gordimer s̓ fourth short story collection, friday’s footprint (1960), explores the mindset of white colonials, especially their growing sense of alienation from socio-political reality. set in egypt in the years following the suez crisis, the story concentrates on the lives of colonials who find themselves in a hostile political climate and are, in effect, torn between their desire to emigrate and the sense of attachment to the country in which they were raised. for irene achilet, the daughter of the wealthy achilet pasha, life in egypt consists mainly in socializing with other colonials in the cosmopolitan cities, in isolation from the socio-political reality of the country. as we learn, irene “did not belong to egypt,” although she seemed to have been conditioned by the lives of the people, of whom she had never been in the least aware, to something of their acceptance of the passing of kings and palaces and the successive waves of conquering hordes. (gordimer 1960: 164) irene s̓ ignorance of the country s̓ history results from her contention that she does not belong with “the other people” and does not identify with their historical and cultural heritage. this should not be seen as a refutation; it is, rather, a passive acknowledgment of difference between herself and the other white colonials on the one hand and the rest of the population on the other. what underlies her self-imposed ignorance is the contention that it is possible to live on the margins of history simply because this is precisely what her ancestors succeeded in doing. irene s̓ husband, max leonard, a south african by birth, shares none of her optimism, but he is similar to irene in his search for a place unaffected by the recent historical changes. when the political climate becomes more nationalistic, max is reminded of a fact that he had known long before the crisis: “they had floated like oil on the thin, poor life of the country—irene, himself, all of them. lately he had begun to struggle with a guilt like nausea at the surfeit of the life that he had lived” (gordimer 1960: 165). there is the sense that history has at long last caught up with him, in that he is once again reminded of what he had felt when living in south africa: the hostility or, as gordimer phrased it in “where do whites fit in?”, the “unwelcomeness” of africans. it seems that max s̓ growing sense of 14 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) discomfiture is not so much resultant from his feeling of guilt, but rather from the awareness that it is no longer possible to lead the same kind of life. there is the sense that if it had not been for the political changes, the feeling of guilt would not have emerged, or it would have been suppressed in an attempt to maintain a comfortable and sequestered existence. in “a thing of the past,” gordimer shows not only the ethical dubiousness of the stance represented by irene and max leonard but—more importantly—the historical untenability of such an attitude. in the background of the story is the awareness of the inevitability of change, as well as the contention that any attempt to avoid or obscure this knowledge will lead to the kind of rootlessness experienced by the leonards, who are torn between their desire to leave their country and start anew (they plan to build a villa in italy) and their attachment to the past. this conflict is clear at the end of the story, when, having made the decision to emigrate to italy, irene looks back upon her life in egypt: “i was born here, everything s̓ happened to me here. my whole life. this house—it s̓ the house my father built for me” (gordimer 1960: 177). ultimately, it is not at all clear whether the leonards will leave the country: it is equally possible that the fear of dispossession—both in the material and in the cultural sense—will make them stay. in a sense, they are caught between their desire to flee the country and an unproductive attachment to the past—unproductive in the sense that it does not give them a solid sense of identity and does not constitute the basis for the kind of constructive action that is required to eliminate the stasis of their present life. the title of the story points to this tension, introducing an ironical note to the story: the leonardsʼ peaceful life may indeed be a thing of the past, but their attachment to this life is certainly not. whether they will ultimately be able to free themselves of these sentiments and respond to the demands of the present—in their case, either to face up to the socio-political changes in egypt or quit the country—remains unclear. while “a thing of the past” has an element of historical inevitability, there is also the sense that the rootlessness and alienation experienced by its protagonists are, to some extent, self-inflicted. this interpretation is tenable in the context of the article “where do whites fit in?”, especially gordimer s̓ comment (quoted at the beginning of this article) about the sense of national belonging being shaped by one s̓ personal and political commitments. perhaps if the white protagonists of “a thing of the past” had taken the time to create social and political attachments outside of their immediate circle, they would feel a stronger sense of connection with the country, despite the political changes. as it is, they live in the ruins of the illusion that they can find a place left untouched by historical changes, where they can lead an undisturbed and peaceful existence. the gradual breakdown of this illusion comes with a strong sense of inevitability—there is the implication that historical events will sweep through colonial society, finding its members helpless and unprepared. 15 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) conclusion: embracing change in the 1960s, gordimer continued her task of exploring the attitudes of colonials in african countries, often emphasizing their sense of rootlessness and dislocation. in 1972, she collected these stories together in her sixth volume livingstone’s companions. explaining the choice of title to her british publisher, gordimer noted that the characters in this collection have in common the fact of being “livingstone s̓ companions”—and the same can be said of all the white people who live on the continent. in gordimer s̓ view, livingstone sowed the seeds of the current conflicts, which the inhabitants of the continent are still forced to confront.9 in the 1970s, those conflicts were acutely felt not only by gordimer but also by other politically-involved white south africans. in the wake of the soweto revolt, the black consciousness movement flatly rejected the liberal humanist ideal of multiculturalism and challenged white south africans to redefine their role in the country. gordimer undertook this task in “relevance and commitment,” an address that she delivered at the university of cape town in 1979. in her view, the only way that the white writer can discover that eponymous relevance and commitment is by acknowledging the position in which he has found himself: “[h]e has to admit openly the order of his experience as a white as differing completely from the order of black experience” (gordimer 1989: 139). acknowledging this difference is the starting point in the search for a new form of self-expression—one which would make it possible “to reconnect his art through his life to the total reality of the disintegrating present” (gordimer 1989: 139). anticipating the time after the end of apartheid, gordimer goes on to argue that if the white artist succeeds in changing his life and art—and is accepted in this attempt—he can claim his place in the culture of his country by doing so “in the implicit nature of the artist as an agent of change, always moving towards truth, true consciousness, because art itself is fixed on the attainment of that essence of things” (gordimer 1989: 142). in gordimer s̓ conception of art, which she developed in the 1970s, change and truth come across as two key principles that are inextricably connected. to show the truth about people living in her times is to explore how their thoughts and emotions are shaped by the changing political circumstances. while discussing this view in more detail is outside of the scope of the present article, one important thing should be noted: gordimer s̓ belief in change as a historical necessity and an artistic principle has its roots in the late 1950s, specifically in her early travels in africa. observing the processes of decolonization in egypt and other countries, gordimer grew convinced that it is only by embracing change that she could remain relevant as a writer and public intellectual. this awareness laid the grounds for her political and artistic development, leading to the creation of her finest literary works. 9 gordimer expressed this view in a letter to alan d. williams (12 march 1971). the letter is part of the gordimer archive in lilly library in bloomington (indiana). 16 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) references bazin, n. & seymour m. (eds.). 1990. conversations with nadine gordimer. jackson: university press of mississippi. blair, p. 2012. the liberal tradition in fiction. in: d. attwell, d. attridge (eds.), the cambridge history of south african literature, 474-90. cambridge: cambridge university press. blanton, c. 2002. travel writing: the self and the world. new york: routledge. clark, s. 1999. introduction. in: s. clark (ed.), travel writing and empire: postcolonial theory in transit, 1-28. london: zed books. clingman, s. 1993. the novels of nadine gordimer: history from the inside. london: bloomsbury. gordimer, n. 1960. friday’s footprint. new york: the viking press. gordimer, n. 1965. not for publication: fifteen stories. london: gollancz. gordimer, n. 1989. the essential gesture: writing, politics and places, ed. stephen clingman. london: penguin books. korte, b. 2000. english travel writing from pilgrimages to colonial explorations, trans. catherine matthias. basingstoke: palgrave. pratt, m. l. 2008. under imperial eyes: travel writing and transculturation. london: routledge. topping, m. 2020. seeing. in: a. pettinger, t. youngs (eds.), the routledge research companion to travel writing, 193-207. london: routledge. youngs, t. 2013. the cambridge introduction to travel writing. cambridge: cambridge university press. * * * marek pawlicki is an assistant professor at the institute of literary studies at the university of silesia in katowice. he is the author of the book between illusionism and anti-illusionism: self-reflexivity in the chosen novels of j.m. coetzee and articles on the works of j.m. coetzee, nadine gordimer, iris murdoch, william golding, john banville, anne enright, and colm tóibín. his critical interests include south african literature, postcolonial studies, memory studies, and ecocriticism. marek pawlicki doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.39.4.01 “a stranger in a strange land”: nadine gordimer and her journey through egypt 22 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) tereza topolovská1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.36.1.02 charles university, prague, czech republic https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2917-3135 the glass room: housing space, time and history2 abstract. this article presents the glass room (2009), a novel by the british author simon mawer set in brno, the czech republic, as a unique literary portrayal of a historical period and modernist architecture in fiction. shortlisted for the man booker prize, the novel marked a turning point in its author’s career, inspiring both theatrical and film adaptations, and, perhaps more importantly, it sparked a resurgence of interest in its model, the famous tugendhat house, a revolutionary piece of modernist architecture built between 1928 and 1930 by ludwig mies van der rohe. the narration of the novel is determined by the centrality of both the landauer house and its main living space, the glass room, and their capacity to frame the intimate histories of the characters as well as the tumultuous social, political, and cultural developments of central europe. the spatial poetics of the glass room reflects this thematic complexity, whilst expressing the key aesthetic and ethical preoccupations of modernist architecture and contributing to the novel’s role in providing a multifaceted insight into history and architecture. keywords: the glass room, simon mawer, architecture in literature, modernist architecture in literature, historical fiction, neo-historical fiction. the glass room (2009) marks both a turning point in simon mawer’s writing career and its culmination. prior to the publication of the glass room, simon mawer had had the reputation of being “a quiet stylist, a writers’ writer” (crown 2009), mainly amongst literary critics and scholars, but was otherwise little known by the general reading public. the booker prize-shortlisting of the novel marked a watershed in mawer’s career and turned him into a critically and commercially successful novelist (cooke 2012). at the same time, the glass room revisits a number of signature aspects of mawer’s works, such as a tempestuous dramatic historical period, a culturally and geopolitically highly 1 address for correspondence: department of english language and literature, faculty of education, charles university, celetná 13, 116 39, praha 1, czech republic. email: tereza.topolovska@pedf. cuni.cz 2 the research for this article was supported by the czech science foundation, project number 20 24867s “representations of space in the novels of jim crace and simon mawer.” 23 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) complex area,3 protagonists whose identities are intertwined with radical historical, social and cultural transformation and, finally, the employment of a powerful and complex central conceit, which concentrates the central dilemma of the novel and embodies the essence of its poetics. in this case, it is the eponymous glass room, a spacious room with walls made entirely of glass, which frames the course of the tumultuous twentieth century in central europe4 and shelters the histories of individuals against the backdrop of the traumatic events of the period. this article studies the ways in which the glass room develops the leitmotifs of mawer’s literary creation, i.e. his treatment of history, space and place. mawer’s approach to history, mostly recent history, inspires an enquiry into the concept of historical fiction and its contemporary understanding. the main focus of the interpretation, however, is the novel’s unique spatial poetics, which echoes the topocentric qualities of mawer’s novels whilst presenting a singular portrayal of a piece of modernist architecture during the dramatic events of the twentieth century in europe. out of a host of possible directions of research this study will take the two most prominent, firstly contrasting the aesthetic and ethical purism of the ideals behind modernist architecture embodied by the landauer house from the novel with the realities its materialisation, the tugendhat house, was forced to endure. secondly, the relation of houses and historical narratives is developed as a part of an enquiry into the spatial poetics of the glass room. the glass room from the perspective of historical fiction in spite of mawer’s thinly veiled attempts to fictionalise the setting of the glass room, the novel’s depiction of the fate of the landauer house and the family of its first owners bears a striking resemblance to the tugendhat house and its original inhabitants. the tugendhat house, which was granted unesco world heritage status in 2001, was designed by the german architect mies van der rohe between 1928 and 1930, and is considered, together with his barcelona pavilion, to be the peak of his european career and the embodiment of the ideals of the modernist conception of (domestic) architecture as well the articulation of the principles of the international style (davies 2018: 132). the impact of ww2 and its aftermath was compounded by several highly unprofessional 3 for more information concerning mawer’s treatment of historical details, see topolovská, t. 2021. through the looking glass: space and place in simon mawer’s the girl who fell from the sky. in: bubíková, š. & roebuck, o. (eds.), places and spaces of crime in popular imagination. kraków: jagiellonian university press. 4 at the time of its writing, it was mawer’s fourth venture into the area of central europe, more specifically the realm of where the czech republic is to be found nowadays, with one fiction book, mendel’s dwarf (1997) and one non-fiction work, gregor mendel: planting the seeds of genetics (2006), situated there as well, only to be followed by his latest excursion into the tormented czech past, prague spring (2018). 24 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and insensitive restorations (černá & černoušková 2011; davies 2018: 132; zimmerman 2009: 45-51).5 before extensive restoration, which took place between 2010 and 2012, the historical site was known as “one of the most grievous casualties suffered by the modern movement during its post-1933 extremity” (schulze & windhorst 2012: 135).6 mawer acknowledges the role of the tugendhat house in the conception of the novel; upon visiting it in the early 1990s he saw the house as “emblematic of the czechoslovakia of the interwar period – a place of progressive ideas, of culture, of light and openness – and the dreadful double disaster of nazism followed by soviet communism” (rawsthorn 2012). in the same interview, commenting on the reopening of the tugendhat house to the public, he claimed that given its unique qualities and its narrative capacity, “the appeal for a novelist was obvious” (rawsthorn 2012). irrespective of the inspiration for the conception of the novel and the inclusion of a number of historical details based on extensive research, mawer insists on the fabricated nature of the story, cemented by the employment of a generic toponym “město”, which simply means “town” in czech (mawer 2009: 75),7 his use of fictional names, and some degree of deviation of the landauers’ plotline from the history of the tugendhat family. in spite of these efforts, the choice of subject matter − the historical and spatial setting of the glass room − has been criticised by some of the members of the tugendhat family.8 the dispute over mawer’s treatment of history illustrates possible reservations concerning his classification amongst historical novelists and also reflects some tendencies of contemporary historical fiction. 5 the house’s jewish owners were forced to flee nazi persecution, then the house was confiscated by the gestapo, subsequently hit by a bomb and later seized by the communist government and turned into a gym. 6 nowadays, the villa has become an incredibly popular historical site, with visits needing to be booked months in advance. the popularity of mawer’s novel plays an integral part in the general renown of the place. it has inspired both a successful theatre adaptation and a less critically-acclaimed film, the affair (2019) (lodge 2021), which was shot in the villa. 7 in his 2010 interview with marek sečkař for host, mawer claimed that he was dissatisfied with the decision of lukáš novák, the author of the widely-acclaimed czech translation of the novel, to replace mawer’s neutral “město” with brno. for novák, the obvious referentiality of město to brno outweighed mawer’s desire to “keep formal distance.” 8 professor daniela hammer-tugendhat, one of descendants of greta and fritz tugendhat, repeatedly expressed her dissatisfaction with the novel, accusing mawer of robbing the family of their history. upon the occasion of her lecture “das haus tugendhat und seine bewohner” which took place in the ministry of culture in prague on 1st october 2012, she insisted that the author should have contacted and consulted the family in the first place. in any case, he should have either avoided the history of the family altogether or resisted his poetic licence and remained truthful to their actual history (hammer-tugendhat 2012). 25 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the 2009 shortlist of the man booker prize for fiction, which included the glass room, consisted entirely of works of historical fiction, testifying to the growing popularity of the genre. the media coverage of the shortlist opted for a critical perspective, accusing the judges of anglocentrism and of being “reactionary” and “backward-looking” (miller 2009). one of the judges, literary journalist and novelist lucasta miller, explained in her 2009 article defending the choice of the nominations, that the novels, in spite of being set in the 16th, 19th and 20th centuries, did not linger in the past and were considered for the prize because of the “depth of sophistication and not the genre” (miller 2009). she further declared that the quality the novelists shared was a uniquely individual voice, which contributed to the diversification of different approaches to historical fiction, and proved that although “the average historical fiction may be easier to pull off than the average novel, simply because you don’t have to invent so much. […] the best transcend genre, adding something that a nonfiction treatment could not.” texts with similar qualities have been subjected to the scrutiny of literary scholars who focus on contemporary historical fiction, such as elodie rousselot or jerome de groot. de groot is particularly interested in the nature of the narrativisation of the past and asserts that fiction, and novels in particular, are no longer perceived as merely fictitious and therefore dubious (de groot 2016: 6). quite the contrary, throughout his monographs de groot repeatedly demonstrates that narrativisation conditions the very understanding of the notion of pastness and thus different fictitious representations of the past act as highly useful tools for its investigation. in accordance with this new understanding of the role of historical fiction, mawer actively rejects the label of historical novelist (flood 2016)9 and mainly stresses the liberating properties of fiction that grant him poetic licence and allow him “to manipulate things as i choose” and even “to lie” (qtd. in crown 2009). he researches the period detail meticulously whilst simultaneously adding to the dynamism of his novels’ free reimagining of the past by mixing fact and fiction.10 he thus explores “the dissonance and displacement between then and now, making the past recognisable but simultaneously authentically unfamiliar” (de groot 2010: 3). although his work is rarely mentioned in the recently published academic overviews of contemporary british literature, mawer may be classified amongst authors who, like him, focus on historical 9 he paradoxically did so while receiving the 2016 walter scott prize for historical fiction for tightrope (2015), the critically-well received sequel to the spy novel the girl who fell from the sky (2012) (flood 2016). 10 mawer frequently projects his personal experience into his writing (pengelly 2015). as far as (auto) biographical novels are concerned, there is the semi-fictional account of living in italy in a place in italy (1992). surprisingly, he acknowledges swimming to ithaca (2006) as his only (auto)biographical work (sečkař 2010). 26 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) themes, narrativising the past and analysing and problematising the parallels between the past and the present, which echoes the preoccupation of the contemporary genre of neo-historical fiction. elodie rousselot connects the recent resurgence of historical fiction with “critical re-appraisal of specific historical periods and of their social, cultural, and political contexts” (rousselot 2014: 1). the glass room invites its readers to relive and, more importantly, review the key moments of 20th-century czech history – the first czechoslovak republic, nazi and communist rule, the relatively liberal period of the 1960s and the newly democratic 1990s. rather than stressing the difference between the present and the past, the narrative steers towards a highlighting of the parallels between them, which mawer considers to be one of the dominant concerns of his fiction since the similarities mediate an understanding of the present and condition our approach to the future: “if we do not understand where we’ve come from, then we won’t have any idea where we are going” (qtd. flood 2017). the glass room and the ideals of modernism the glass room, apart from mediating a nuanced portrayal of czech history by means of a house and a room, provides an extensive commentary on modernist architecture, its ideology and its creators, and that acts as one of the key elements of its spatial poetics. although the novel covers the time span of almost the entire 20th century, its focal point is the first czechoslovak republic, the time when the design of the house is conceived out of the desire of a newly-wed couple, viktor and liesel, both from upperclass, german-speaking industrialist families, to sever ties with tradition. they reject “this clinging to the past. this is everything our new house will not be!” (mawer 2009: 9). driven by the wish to inhabit a domestic space which would project their beliefs in progress, the future and the emergence of an unconstrained society governed by reason and democratic values, they let the (fictitious) architect, rainer von abt, build a luxurious futuristic house incarnating their beliefs: “it’ll be a revolution. […] a casting off of the past. a new way of living” (mawer 2009: 66). the exorbitant cost of the villa should not demonstrate fortune and privilege, but rather the philosophical principles of both the owners, the future inhabitants and their architect: “the whole essence of the glass room is reason. that is what viktor thinks, anyway. for him, it embodies the pure rationality of a greek classical temple, the austere beauty of a perfect composition, the grace and the balance of a painting of mondrian. […] there is nothing convolute, involute, awkward or complex. here everything can be understood as a matter of proportion and dimension” (mawer 2009: 137). in the novel, the chief spokesperson of modernism’s desire to “reshape the world” (vidler 2001: 52) by revolutionising the way people live is rainer von abt, a fictitious german architect, a “composite modernist” (vilder 2001: 52), acting as a synthesis of a number of pioneers of architectural modernism, most strikingly adolf loos (von 27 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) abt proclaims himself to be his disciple (mawer 2009: 17)), le corbusier, and theo van doesburg (mawer 2009: 17). there are both direct mentions of them in the text, most often made by von abt himself, or their famous statements are presented as voiced by von abt. von abt is portrayed as a true trailblazer in the field of the conception of architecture and the profession of architect. rejecting the label of architect, he considers himself to be “a poet of light space and form” (mawer 2009: 16), who works with “nothing but ideas” (mawer 2009: 22), “creating a work of art” (mawer 2009: 21).11 echoing loos and his abhorrence of superfluous ornaments, von abt can design nothing but “form without ornament” (mawer 2009: 23), where he encloses space into “ruled lines as sharp as razor cuts, a mathematical precision that is beyond natural” (mawer 2009: 41). architecture, in his view, had for a long time been dominated by nothing else but “cave building”, but his desire is to “take man out of the cave and float him in the air. i wish to give him a glass space to inhabit” (mawer 2009: 18). he demonstrates his embrace of the wagnerian conception of gesamtkunstwerk by wishing not “just to design a house but to create a whole world. i want to work from the foundations to the interior, the windows, the doorways, the furnishings, the fabric of the place as well as structure. i will design you a life. not a mere house to live in, but a whole way of life’” (mawer 2009: 28).12 the design of the landauer house is conceived as a universal, international project (mawer 2009: 64), which shall act, first and foremost, as a home: “it is not intended to be a sensation. it’s intended to be a home” (mawer 2009: 63). the main living space of the landauer house, the glass room, is repeatedly characterised as “open, infinitely extended, and thereby cleansed of all mental disturbance” (vidler 2001: 51). its invisible walls evoke the myth of spatial and social transparency that modernist architecture shared with the thinkers of the late eighteenth-century and creates the effect of ineffable space (vidler 2001: 54).13 however, in spite of the literal 11 “architects such as mies van der rohe and le corbusier, who looked upon their buildings as works of art, were criticized as ‘formalists’” (davies 2018: 108). 12 for more detailed information concerning the conception of architecture in the novel and parallels between rainer von abt and the masters of modernist architecture see topolovská, t. 2013. the glass room: architecture as a poetic emotion. prague journal of english studies 2(1): 65-79; topolovská, t. 2013. on the analogy between the language of architecture and language of literary work: the role of the conception of architecture in generating the poetics of the glass room. in: m. hirschová (ed.), filologické studie, 15-31. prague: karolinum. 13 in his 2001 monograph warped space: art, architecture and anxiety in modern culture, anthony vidler highlights the role of le corbusier’s fascination with the demolished parthenon in the conception of ineffable space. this sublime experience of the pioneer of architectural modernism defined his view of space. he therefore stipulated ineffability as its chief quality, dissolving walls and opening “the inside to the outside, an outside now simply framed in order to testify to its visual existence, but open more or less panoramically around the entire building. ineffable space would then be that dreamt and idealized, worked and realized experience that matched the heights of periclean greece” 28 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) transparency of their main living space, which brings and merges the inside and the outside (“[t]he inside and the outside will be the same thing” (mawer 2009: 43)), the landauers’ dreams of domestic life inside a work of art do not materialise. although viktor landauer cites andré breton’s nadja on the occasion of the housewarming party and identifies his wife liesel and himself with the house (“this glass house says who liesel and i are” (mawer 2009: 76)) and boasts that “[i]n our wonderful glass house you can see everything” (mawer 2009: 76), the lofty ideals are not fulfilled. the house and its central living space become sites of deceit, violence and neglect. in spite of its purely abstract aspirations (or at least those of its designer, rainer von abt’s), the space of the landauer house is not portrayed as an “enclosed space, a box” (mawer 2009: 308). quite the contrary, it “transcends geometrical space” (bachelard 1994: 47) as it is a lived-in space and becomes a shared experience of the characters and the readers alike. both personal and social histories intervene, and the building and the room are repeatedly depicted as silent witnesses, sometimes even victims of different types of atrocities. the glass room, in spite of its powerful sensory effect, eventually proves to be only “as rational as the people who inhabit it” (mawer 2009: 360). by employing the complex spatial conceit of the landauer house and, more importantly, the glass room, mawer is able to provide a far-reaching commentary on the moral aspirations of architecture and art. as the glass room exemplifies, “a building just is” (mawer 2009:100), it cannot directly shape its inhabitants since it should not have any “politics”, it may only inspire them by its perfect proportions and the impression of balance and classical beauty it radiates. the central spatial conceit of the novel, the glass room and its apparent indifference and neutrality, enables it to successfully frame history whilst accentuating the tragedy of “the rough tides” (mawer 2009: 100) of those years. the spatial poetics of the glass room what defines mawer’s literary creation is the role played by the setting. his novels convincingly and self-assuredly inhabit space and time while echoing the mental processes of the protagonists and accentuating the overall thematic focus of his works. both the temporal and spatial settings of mawer’s fiction are highly prone to profound transformation. therefore, their common denominator is a deep social, historical, and (vidler 2001: 55). the resulting impression of boundless, limitless, unconstrained space demonstrated its transcendent quality (vidler 2001: 54). le corbusier’s approach restricted the positive and purely aesthetic quality of such space and emphasised its terrifyingly sublime nature (vidler 2001: 55). yi-fu tuan stressed the ambiguous nature of open space in his space and place. the perspective of experience: “space is a common symbol of freedom in the western world. space lies open; it suggests the future and invites action. on the negative side, space and freedom are a threat. to be open and free is to be exposed and vulnerable” (tuan 2018: 54). 29 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) cultural change, as a result of which the protagonists’ lives suffer an enormous upheaval. in the case of the glass room, the first idyllic years of the family and their new house are contrasted with the ominous atmosphere before the munich agreement and the german protectorate. the following citation is taken from the chapter dedicated to the housewarming party and its atmospheric depiction of an impending storm, symbolising the looming war years: “they crowd into the space of the glass room like passengers on the observation deck of a luxury liner. some of them maybe peering through the windows onto the pitching surface of the city but, in their muddle of czech and german, almost all are ignorant of the cold outside and the gathering storm clouds, the first sign of the tempest that is coming” (mawer 2009: 78). the landauers are forced to flee because of their jewish origin, and their house is confiscated by the gestapo and turned into a laboratory focusing on the study of eugenics. mawer comments on the striking change of circumstances by developing an equally striking contrast by juxtaposing two expressions of appreciation of the glass room. the first one is uttered by liesel and viktor landauer, the first owners of the house, upon their visit to the almost complete room, and refers to the liberating effect created by its space and light: liesel and viktor stood and marvelled at it. it had become a palace of light, light bouncing off the chrome pillars, light refulgent on the walls, light glistening on the dew in the garden, light reverberating from the glass. it was though they stood inside a crystal of salt. ‘isn’t it wonderful,’ she exclaimed, looking round with an expression of amazement. ‘you feel so free, so unconstrained. the sensation of space, of all things being possible.’ (mawer 2009: 65) the second time the same qualities of the glass room are praised, the context cannot be more different from the first occasion. the room is being inspected by the nazi scientists who wish to transform it into a eugenics laboratory. the significance of the light and space acquires suddenly a shockingly dissimilar dimension: “gläzend! even more impressive than the photographs: a great open space of a place, almost the entire floor area of the whole building. open plan. stahl likes that. ideal for a laboratory” (mawer 2009: 218). later, the house gets almost destroyed during an air raid, and the horrors of war are followed by the stifling rule of the communist party. the landauer family first escapes to switzerland and later to the united states, while the novel portrays the fate of those who stayed behind, mostly the character of hana hanáková, the prototypical incarnation of the femme fatale of mawer’s novels, who tries to protect the house from any further harm. the spatial poetics, and in fact the whole narration of the glass room, is dominated by its double centrality. firstly, there is the centrality of the house in relation to the 30 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) narration and, secondly, there is the dominant role of the glass room within the villa. mawer employs the archetypal literary device of a building symbolising the history of a community, often employed by writers and even described as universal by some theoreticians (bachelard 1994: 6). thus, in the glass room “a real house effectively becomes the subject of a biography” (miller 2009). though the house may survive a precarious period, some of its inhabitants do not, and thus it serves as “a testimonial to our tragedies and our triumphs, to depravity and to all the soaring heights of which humans are capable” (robertson 2015: 115). the home and its most canonical, archetypal representation, a house, is closely related to the study of place as a category of both scientific research and human understanding (creswell 2015: 1). humanistic geographers who stress the mutual conditioning of the category of place and human life, such as yi-fu tuan, have been building upon the works of martin heidegger and gaston bachelard (bachelard 1994: 8; creswell 2015: 39). heidegger developed the concept of dwelling as the expression of authentic human existence: “man’s relation to locations, and through locations to spaces, inheres in his dwelling. the relationship between man and space is none other than dwelling, strictly thought and spoken” (heidegger 2001: 157), while bachelard draws parallels between the role of the house in human life and its employment in literature, stressing the decisive, defining role the house has in the way we perceive other places in life as well as in literature. one of the most noticeable tendencies in fiction is to employ (and exploit) the integrative potential of the enormously potent archetype of the house to narrate social and individual histories. the capacity of the landauer house from the glass room to represent the history of a family is “a literary device that has been employed to powerful effect to depict a building that has survived dramatic times, even as some of its inhabitants have not” (robertson 2015: 94).14 in the preface of their 2012 monograph, the house of fiction as the house of life: representations of the house from richardson to woolf, francesca saggini and anna enrichetta soccio state that the house has become a popular subject of scrutiny “to the point that in many ways houses seem to be situated at the very core of the creative, artistic and cultural domains of contemporaneity” (saginni & soccio 2012: 2). the second form of centrality the glass room takes in the novel is the role of centre within a centre. featured in almost every chapter of the novel, its prominence supports bachelard’s conception of the “house imagined as a concentrated being” (bachelard 1994: 17). the central image of the glass room simultaneously acts as the leitmotif, setting 14 robertson’s text on the parallels between the fate of the budapest glass house and that of its original owners is to be found in the 2015 monograph global perspectives on the holocaust: history, identity, legacy. it is no coincidence that the film adaptation of the glass room was screened during the london jewish festival in 2019 to illustrate the effect of the holocaust in central europe. 31 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and symbol of the intellectual and aesthetic aspirations of its creator, of its inhabitants15 and their historical periods. thus, beside demonstrating its centring ability, the glass room surpasses purely literary qualities and aspirations to historical accuracy and ventures into the cross-disciplinary realm. the following citation illustrates the need to apply a wider scope of disciplines in the analysis of the novel because of the transgressive, genre-bending parts of the work, which mix fiction with other modes of artistic expression − poetry and architecture. she dreams. she dreams of cold. she dreams of glass and light, the glass room washed with reflection, and the cool view across the city of rooftops, the cold view through the trees, the crack of snow beneath your boots. she dreams of a place that is without form or substance, that exists only in the manner of dreams, shifting and insubstantial, diffuse, diverse: space glass, walls of glass a quintet of chairs, placed with geometrical precision a sweep of shining floor – ivory linoleum white and black the gleam of chrome these things move, evolve, transform in the way they do in dreams, changing shape and form and yet, to the dreamer, remaining what they always were: der glasraum, der glastraum, the single letter-change metamorphosing from one into the other: the glass room become the glass dream. (mawer 2009: 304) the excerpt relies on a prominent employment of syntactic parallelism within the repetition of the same elements of the sentence structure, beginning with: “she dreams”, which secures the coherent form of an evocation of impressions. the middle part of the citation acts as a catalogue juxtaposing the individual elements of the imagery into a list, whose organisation clearly indicates a rhythm and marks both the oneiric nature of the sequence as well as its proximity to poetry. what is more, the textual and visual component of listing the individual parts of the spatial experience mediated by the text, e.g. “glass, wall of glass, a sweep of shining floor, a quintet of chairs” corresponds with a caption to be found in architectural plans and emphasises both the explicit and implicit architectural dimension of the text. 15 petr anténe attributes a similar function to universities and mainly their liberal arts departments. not only do they provide the setting for the novels discussed in his monograph campus novel variations: a comparative study of an anglo-american genre, but they “have often been seen as one of the pillars of this very society” (anténe 2015: 7). 32 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the highly evocative imagery of the glass room provides an apt as well as atmospheric insight into the aesthetic and ideological preoccupations of modernist architecture. its principles are repeatedly and aptly summarised by the character of rainer von abt, the fictitious architect. the qualities of modernist architecture seep into mawer’s mode of expression and the resulting text thus acts as an intermediary between the sphere of architecture and that of language. what is more, the glass room pertinently contrasts the utopic nature of the premises of modernist architecture (benton 2007: 148-223) with the realities of history and human nature. the glass room bears testimony to mawer’s capacity for apt use of poetic language to effectively communicate the spatial poetics of the novel. beside similes, the author often relies on a number of unexpected parallels (mawer 2009: 52), such as when he underlines the organic process of designing and building a house by comparing it to the development of a baby: the house grew, the baby grew. the latter was a strange and rapid metamorphosis, punctuated by events of moment: the grasp of her hands, the focus of her eyes, her first smile, her recognition of liesel and then viktor, the first time she raised herself on her hands, the first laugh. the growth of the house was more measured: the laying of steel beams, the pouring of concrete, the encapsulating of space. (mawer 2009: 52) in accordance with these tendencies, rosa ainsley described the glass room as an example of “archi-fiction” in her article for architecture and culture (2020). in her view, novels such as the glass room “look again to architecture to provide a location, to set a specific stage for the narrative, adding some notion of authenticity (this is real!) and importance (this is a highly significant building!)” (ainley 2020: 21). in terms of fiction inspired by actual architectural works, ainley proposes the term “artefactual” (ainley 2020: 21) to describe works such as the glass room in which architecture surpasses the role of mere backdrop and becomes an instrument for framing complex social, cultural, political and individual histories. this tendency is foreshadowed in the prologue, which sees liesel landauer returning to the house after more than 30 years of exile and reminiscing about one peculiar quality of the glass room, its retractable window panes. mawer employs this unique aspect of the room, and mainly its effect of “temporary equilibrium”, as a symbol of the former life of the landauers in the first czechoslovak republic and the failed liberal ideals and aspirations of the period. the slow slide of the pane downwards as though to remove the barrier that exists between reality and fiction, the fabricated world of the living room and the hard fact of snow and vegetation. there is a pause during which the two airs stand fragile and separate, the warmth within shivering like a jelly against the wall of cold outside. and then this temporary equilibrium collapses so that winter with a cold sigh intrudes, and 33 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) presumably, their carefully constructed, carefully warmed interior air is dispersed into the outside world. (mawer 2009: 4-5). conclusion the storyline of the glass room revolves around the archetypal anchoring trope of a house, in this case the fictitious landauer house, modelled upon the famous tugendhat house, situated in brno in today’s czech republic. based on its integrating properties, the microcosms of the house and the eponymous room reflect the macrocosm of the world. because of its singular, multidisciplinary character, the novel may be approached from a number of different perspectives, the two major being mawer’s vision of history and the work’s topocentric qualities. as this study determines, mawer’s stance on the depiction of historical events echoes the preoccupation of neo-historical fiction, which often narrativises the past in order to be able to critically assess it and approximate it to the present. the spatial poetics of the glass room is defined by the double centrality of mawer’s narration. the landauer house centres a narration while sheltering individual and social histories. these are placed in the glass room, which appears in nearly every chapter of the novel. another vital aspect of the spatial poetics of the glass room is its presentation of the ideals of modernist architecture. the novel provides an evocative commentary on the nature of modernist architecture, with its utopian belief in its own liberating power and its ability to promote and mediate ideas of unconstrained freedom and inevitable social and cultural progress (benton 2007: 148-223). what is more, the glass room contrasts the utopic premises of modernism, mainly its moral and aesthetic purism, with private and official histories. as a result, not only does the narration of the glass room exemplify a unique fusion of literature, architecture, history and politics, but it also provides a suggestive meditation on art, its aesthetic and ethical functions and their limitations. references ainley, r. 2020. looking back again and forward; re: review and reconstruction in writing and architecture. architecture and culture 8(1): 19-28. anténe, p. 2015. campus novel variations: a comparative study of an anglo-american genre. olomouc: palacký university olomouc. bachelard, g. 1994. the poetics of space. trans. m. jolas. boston: beacon press. bentley, n. 2018. contemporary british fiction. london: palgrave. benton, t. 2007. building utopia. in: ch.wilk, (ed.), modernism. designing a new world, 148-223. london: v&a publishing. cooke, r. 2012. the girl who fell from the sky by simon mawer – review. the guardian 4 may. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/may/04/simon-mawer-girl-fell-sky-review (accessed 6 march 2020). 34 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) cresswell, t. 2015. place: an introduction. somerset: wiley. crown, s. 2009. a life in books – simon mawer. the guardian 3 october 2009. www.theguardian. com/culture/2009/oct/03/simon-mawer-life-in-books (accessed 1 november 2021). černá, i. & černoušková, d. 2011. tugendhat – ludwig mies van der rohe’s commision in brno. brno: brno city museum. davies, c. 2018. a new history of modern architecture. london: laurence king publishing. de groot, j. 2010. the historical novel. the new critical idiom. abingdon: routledge. de groot, j. 2016. remaking history. the past in contemporary historical fiction. abingdon: routledge. flood, a. 2016. simon mawer’s tightrope wins walter scott prize for historical fiction. the guardian 20 june 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jun/20/simonmawers-tightrope-wins-walter-scott-prize-for-historical-fiction (accessed 23 october 2018). “the glass room – the play.” simon mawer’s website. http://www.simonmawer.com/the_glass_ play.htm (accessed 30 december 2021). hammer-tugendhat, d. 2012. das haus tugendhat und seine bewohner [the tugendhat house and its inhabitants]. prager gäsprache organized by das österreichische kulturforum prag, prague. heidegger, m. 2001. poetry, language, thought. new york: perennial classics. higgins, b. 2009. czech history through a glass darkly. radio prague. czech books, 22 nov. 2009. www.radio.cz/en/section/books/czech-history-through-a-glass-darkly (accessed 14 march 2021). le corbusier. 1976. towards a new architecture. london: the architectural press. lodge, g. 2021. ‘the affair’ review: architecture is the star of a muddled europudding melodrama. the variety 5 march 2021. https://variety.com/2021/film/reviews/the-affair-review-1234922610/ (accessed 30 november 2021). loos, a. 1997. ornament and crime. riverside, ca: ariadne press. mawer, s. 1997. mendel’s dwarf. london: transworld. mawer, s. 2006. gregor mendel. planting the seeds of genetics. new york: abrahams in association with the field museum, chicago. mawer, s. 2006. swimming to ithaca. london: abacus. mawer, s. 2009. the glass room. london: little, brown. mawer, s. 2010. theo van doesburg: forgotten artist of the avant garde. the guardian 23 january. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/jan/23/theo-van-doesburg-avantgarde-tate (accessed 1 december 2010). mawer, s. 2018. prague spring. london: little, brown. miller, l. 2009. the booker prize’s historical novels aren’t living in the past. the times 3 october 2009. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-booker-prizes-historical-novels-arent-living-in-the-past-s6njdl2ttp0 (accessed 14 november 2021). 35 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) pengelly, m. 2015. ‘women are more interesting than men’: simon mawer on tightrope. the guardian 1 november. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/01/simon-mawer-tightrope-trapeze-marian-sutro (accessed 6 march 2020). rawsthorn, a. 2012. reopening a mies modernist landmark. the new york times 24 february 2012. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/27/arts/27iht-design27.html. robertson, n. 2015. the glass house building as an embodiment of the changing fate of jews in budapest from 1848 to the present. in: n.e. rupprecht & w. koenig (eds.), global perspectives on the holocaust: history, identity, legacy, 93-115. newcastle upon tyne: cambridge scholars publishing. rousselot, e. 2014. exoticizing the past in contemporary neo-historical fiction. basingstoke, hampshire: palgrave macmillan. saggini, f. & soccio, a.e. (eds.). 2012. the house of fiction as the house of life: representations of the house from richardson to woolf. newcastle upon tyne: cambridge scholars publishing. sečkař, m. 2010. letting in the light. an interview with simon mawer. eurozine 2 november 2010. https://www.eurozine.com/letting-in-the-light/ (accessed 21 november 2021). the jewish film festival website. 2019. https://jewishfilmfestivals.org/films/2019/theglass-room (accessed 21 november 2021). topolovská, t. 2013. on the analogy between the language of architecture and language of literary work: the role of conception of architecture in generating the poetics of the glass room. in: m. hirschová (ed.), filologické studie, 15-31. prague: karolinum. topolovská, t. 2013. the glass room: architecture as a poetic emotion. prague journal of english studies 2: 65-79. topolovská, t. 2017. the country house revisited: variations on a theme from forster to hollinghurst. praha: karolinum press. topolovská, t. 2019. dům coby zdroj identity a historické paměti v současné britské literatuře. [house as a source of identity and historical memory in contemporary british literature]. in: p. chalupský (ed.), filologické studie, 161-178. prague: karolinum. topolovská, t. 2021. through the looking glass: space and place in simon mawer’s the girl who fell from the sky. in: š. bubíková & o. roebuck (eds.), places and spaces of crime in popular imagination, 47-63. kraków: jagiellonian university press. tuan, y. 2018. space and place. the perspective of experience. minneapolis: university of minnesota press. vidler, a. 2001. warped space. art, architecture, and anxiety in modern culture. cambridge, ma/london: the mit press. zimmerman, c. 2009. mies van der rohe. the structure of space. köln: taschen. * * * 36 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) tereza topolovská is a lecturer at the department of english language and literature, faculty of education, charles university. her research focuses on the study of spatial poetics of contemporary british literature. her other academic interests include the study of phenomenology of perception, especially in the connection with the depiction of architecture in literature. she has participated in international conferences and published articles on simon mawer, e.m. forster, iris murdoch, and j.g. ballard in academic journals and essay collections abroad and in the czech republic. she is the author of the monograph the country house revisited: variations on a theme from forster to hollinghurst (2017). 82 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) mateusz dudek1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.36.1.06 adam mickiewicz university in poznań, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5580-6760 identity and transnationalism: narrating the haitian american home in selected works by edwidge danticat abstract. in contemporary discourses, the lives of migrants are often marginalised and silenced. for this reason, bringing the theme of migrants’ identities to the foreground in literary research appears to be increasingly important. this article discusses the experiences of haitian immigrants to the us as narrated by the haitian-american author edwidge danticat. i explore the theme of making a transnational home in her novel breath, eyes, memory (1994) and short stories from the collection everything inside (2019). the analysis is based on a combination of two theories: steven vertovec’s theory of transnationalism and paul ricoeur’s philosophy of narrative identity, which enable interpreting intergenerational identity changes, certain methods of cultural reproduction, and “little” cultural cross-connectedness of “family and household” (vertovec 2009: 3-18) in the context of personal identity understood as formed through narratives. this article focuses on the transition from a haitian home to an american one as an important part of identity-formation processes. it also views a migrant’s journey as still incomplete after coming to the us and requiring “emplotting” (de fina 2003: 17) its fragmented events into stories. the article attempts to demonstrate intangible ways of creating a transnational home and domestic methods of narrating and negotiating one’s cultural identity in danticat’s fiction. i claim that danticat’s works narrate personal experiences to generate a “refigured” understanding of time and transnational ties within the family sphere. keywords: transnationalism, home, identity, haiti, storytelling, trauma. introduction for decades now, many haitians, mostly women, have been leaving haiti and migrating to the united states in the hope of improving their families’ financial situation. this article discusses the transnational identities and homes of haitian-american 1 address for correspondence: szkoła nauk o języku i literaturze, adam mickiewicz university, collegium heliodori święcicki, ul. grunwaldzka 6, poznań, poland. email: matdud2@amu.edu.pl https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5580-6760 mailto:matdud2@amu.edu.pl 83 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) immigrants as narrated in a novel and two short stories by edwidge danticat. the first is the writer’s debut: breath, eyes memory, published in 1994. the book has been very successful and sparked noticeable interest from reviewers and critics. in 1998, it became one of the oprah’s book club selections (2019/20 winner & finalists, the official website of the story prize). the other two works analysed in the article come from a collection of short stories and, at the same time, danticat’s latest work, published in 2019, entitled everything inside, which, in 2020, won the author her second national book critics circle award and her second story prize. the aim of the present article is to interpret the selected works as depicting transnational identities. in addition, the paper considers narrating one’s home as inseparable from telling a story about their identity. danticat’s works, her novels and short stories alike, allow the reader to get insight into the world of haitian-american transnational homes, which constitute a living testimony of women’s stories of identity struggles and negotiations. it appears that danticat’s perspective transforms her protagonists’ personal experiences and attempts to grasp the complex reality of living in a haitian-american home. edwidge danticat, born in 1969 in port-au-prince in haiti, emigrated from her country of origin to join her parents, who had gone to america earlier to settle down. during her school years, she was discriminated against by other children because of a hate campaign depicting haitians as infected with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (aids) (garcia-navarro 2018). in spite of difficulties, she graduated from brown university in providence, rhode island. her first collection of short stories (published in 1995) entitled krik? krak! became a finalist of the national book award for fiction in the year of publication. moreover, in 2018, danticat was awarded the prestigious neustadt international prize for literature. she remains a prolific writer and essayist. what is more, she occasionally publishes children’s picture books and novels for young adults. she is also a regular contributor to the new yorker. most frequently, danticat writes about firstand second-generation immigrants and refugees who left haiti between the late 1950s and early 1990s. it might seem to be a fairly broad time scope. the migration waves from haiti to america were caused by the terroristic methods of francois “papa doc” duvalier and his son, jean-claude “baby doc” duvalier, whose regime lasted from 1957 to 1986 (laguerre 2005: 830). the dictators reinforced their rule by organising a private militia of volunteers called “the cagoulars or the tonton-makout ” (polyné 2010: 183). fanatically faithful to the ruler, those militants terrorised the whole population by tortures, abductions, and blackmail (the tonton macoutes 2010). in her writings, danticat tries to reflect upon the difficult experiences and struggles of the families who were forced to move their homes because of financial and/or political reasons, making their way to america, “the other side of the waters” (danticat 2008: 146), as economic migrants and/or refugees. 84 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) steven vertovec’s transnationalism and paul ricoeur’s narrative identity this article places the interpretation of danticat’s works within two interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks. the combination of transnationalism (as described by steven vertovec) and narrative identity theory proposed by paul ricoeur in his monumental three-volume work entitled time and narrative (1984, 1985, 1988) provides a non-obvious perspective that allows us to look at both cultural aspects of identity formation and re-production in the contemporary world, and the self as formed through the symbolic structures of narration. such observations are possible because analysing depictions of material culture, symbols and customs can be connected with interpreting how the specific ways in which these cultural practices are narrated could construct a certain vision of one’s identity. the perspective of transnationalism suggests that diasporas are and have always been communities that experience the dynamics of living in a world where national borders do not constitute absolute boundaries. economic, political, cultural, but also family and household ties have been made stronger and, as it seems, have become more visible as happening across countries and continents (vertovec 2009: 3-4). in light of this definition, it comes as no surprise that the transnational “exemplary community” is the diaspora, whose members’ identities are formed “in-between” the place “back home” and “the new home” (2009: 4). the present analysis tends to focus primarily on the “little” transnationalisms of “family and household” and the formation of local “everyday networks” (2009: 12, 18) as bringing the global and the national to the local or domestic spheres and causing one to negotiate their identity not within a large and imaginary space of nationhood but among one’s relatives and friends. for danticat and many other diasporic writers in north america, one of the most important themes concerning transnational ties is the near impossibility of arriving at “fixity” when it comes to transcultural “transformations of identity”, which tend to be theorised around such notions as “syncretism, creolization, bricolage, cultural translation, and hybridity” (vertovec 2009: 7-8). in addition, it is crucial to notice that the problem of performative fluidity of identity is very often associated with the practices and cultural production of young generations. cultural studies researchers focus heavily on the problem of the transnationalism of “second generation” immigrants. vertovec, in his article entitled “transnationalism and identity”, acknowledges the issue by asking: [h]ow exclusive is transnationalism to the first generation of migrants? will the so-called ‘second generation’ […] also maintain […] ties of some kind […] with homelands and with co-ethnic members around the world? (vertovec 2001: 577) 85 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the ways in which danticat represents hybrid cultural phenomena and the identity positions of young members of the haitian diaspora in america may tell us how the perspective on what a home is and how a home is created changes from generation to generation. transnational homes and identities of the parents’ generation can be juxtaposed with the usually more syncretic and non-discriminatory transnationalism of the children. while the transnationalism of the parents might be theorised as focused on reproducing their country of origin’s culture in the new space, the transnational identities of the second generation are likely to tolerate and even embrace constant changes and multinational ties that are not limited to the relation between their homeland and their “new country”. vertovec suggests that the cultural “bricolage” and “syncretism” of young people may pose a threat to the traditional, largely two-dimensional transnationalism of immigrant parents. in danticat’s works, cultural practices, customs, and culture-based family habits are represented as having a direct impact on family and domestic relations. the particular ways in which those practices are revised in the course of generational shifts may constitute a substantial part of danticat’s narratives of home. it appears that paul ricoeur’s notion of narrative identity and his explication of the process of narrative “emplotment”, as well as his other remarks on the subject of narrative understanding are valuable points that prove useful while analysing works of diasporic literature. the term “emplotment” was first used by hayden white in his famous metahistory: the historical imagination in nineteenth-century europe (1973) and then reapplied by other scholars such as anna de fina (2003) and donald polkinghorne (1988). white coined the term to explain that absolute objectivity in historical writings is impossible because even the form in which a writer arranges and “tells” facts can affect the way they are perceived by the reader (white 1973: 12-13, 56-57, 142, 276). ricoeur derives the term and develops it from the aristotelian idea of muthos (emplotment), which he understands as “the active sense of organizing the events into a system” of a story (ricoeur 1984: 31-33). ricoeur emphasises the fact that aristotle’s paradigm of the plot is based on the composition of the tragedy and its symbolic holos: “completeness [and] wholeness”, which contribute to the creation of narrative “concordance” that favours logical intelligibility (1984: 38-39). being aware of the limitations of such a basic understanding of emplotment, ricoeur develops it further. the french philosopher sees human perception and one’s understanding of their self as personal attributes that need to be imagined within the temporal dimension. time in turn has to be narrated in order to be understood and processed by the human mind (1984: 52). in other words, “a prefigured time” or the practical life of a person in time becomes the basis for a plot (1984: 54; 57), in which lived experience is “configured” by the operations of emplotment and ordering (1984: 65). finally, human perception refers the understanding created in a narrative representation back to “the 86 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) time of action and of suffering” (1984: 70-74). this might mean that often incongruous events of one’s life can be mediated through a plot of a story in order to become a more intelligible narrative that a person “can take up and hold as constitutive of his personal identity” (1984: 74). in the “conclusions” to the third volume of time and narrative, ricoeur states that time has to be narrated in order to be understood (1988: 241). in ricoeur’s view, a product of the “interweaving” of the historical and fictional perceptions of time “is the assignment to an individual or a community of a specific [narrative] identity” seen through emplotted time (1988: 245-246). as hannah arendt points out, to get to know the identity of a person, it is not sufficient to ask the question about “what” someone is. it is necessary to ask “who” a person is, and this “we can know only by knowing the story of which he [a person] is himself the hero −his biography, in other words” (arendt 2018: 186). having this in mind, ricoeur explains that individuals and communities may see their identities as internally continual and integral over time thanks to emplotting time and events into a body of cultural stories and symbols (ricoeur: 1988: 247). however, the philosopher moves away from the aristotelian definition of emplotment when he admits that “narrative identity is not a stable and seamless identity” (1988: 248). according to ricoeur’s analysis, narrative identity may change due to a multiplicity of possible emplotments and interpretations of one event. ricoeur also seems to believe that a person is endowed with the task of re-examining their inner narrative self in order to construct a sense of “self-constancy” which exists as the continuous action of telling and re-telling one’s narrative (1988: 249). breath, eyes, memory in her literary debut, edwidge danticat creates a painfully dramatic story about the changing notion of home, difficulties in the relationship between a mother and her daughter, and the intergenerational trauma of sexual abuse. in spite of the complexity of the issues raised in the novel, its narrator, sophie caco, manages to emplot her life in such a way that she seems to find a new form of transnationalism for herself. she is born in haiti and goes to the united states as a young girl to reunite with her mother, of whom she has no or very little memory. on the one hand, one might call her a first-generation immigrant since she has her own connection with her country of origin, she speaks haitian creole as her first language, and her identity appears to be rooted in her aunt atie’s and her grandmother ifé’s traditions. due to being brought up by her aunt, she enjoys a special relationship with “tante atie”, who becomes a mother figure for young sophie. on the other hand, due to her mother’s prior emigration to america, sophie seems to be able to examine her haitian heritage more critically than her mother, martine. because of this, the protagonist might also be viewed as a secondgeneration immigrant, who distances herself from her parent’s attitudes and beliefs. 87 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) sophie’s first perception of home is predominantly based on her imaginary vision of haiti as the homeland of her childhood. the first five chapters of breath, eyes, memory present a “home” that becomes an abandoned girl’s story in which tante atie substitutes for her mother. one might say that they convey sophie’s image of her haitian homeland as seen through the eyes of a child who willingly absorbs haitian traditions and regional customs, such as organising potluck village gatherings or receiving blessings before a journey from the eldest member of a family. however, one must not forget that the childlike perspective is a fictional, novelistic construction. the reader may get insight into sophie’s haiti but it remains a recreated haiti, which serves the narrator as a significant point of reference. the protagonist’s narrative identity is inextricably linked with her story of “childhood homeland”. when sophie as a child dreams about reuniting with her mother she experiences unpleasant nightmares, in which martine “chases” and kidnaps her only to be entrapped with her in a photograph (danticat 1998: 8). later in the novel, the older sophie escapes her mother’s american home to become free to marry joseph and to revisit haiti with a new understanding of her homeland’s culture. when sophie goes to america, her feeling of displacement is compared to time travel. on the one hand, the girl is aware that she is going to live with her mother in a dilapidated flat located in brooklyn, new york city, and she “greet[s] the challenge” of a “new life” (danticat 1998: 49). on the other hand, her immigration to america seems to be incomprehensible for her in terms of the continuity of her life. one might say that her narrative is changed abruptly; she “age[s] in one day, as though she had been through a time machine, rather than an airplane” (1998: 49). it is also useful to note that the first american setting in the novel is flatbush: the brooklyn neighbourhood that is also called “little haiti”. its diasporic culture and economy are also mentioned by sophie, who remembers haiti express, a postal service shop “packed with haitians”, as a place that “remind[s] [her] of home” (1998: 50). in the united states, martine makes sure that sophie receives education and learns english. at the same time, sophie is sent to a haitian bilingual school and feels there “as if [she has] never left haiti” (1998: 66). in consequence, the reader may observe that martine seems to act as if she was “looking for” a haitian home in america. in an interview, danticat herself states that such nostalgia and longing for an unreachable, “abstract” ideal of home might be read as elements specific to immigrant experience (candelario et al. 2004: 72). later in the novel, martine and sophie move to “a one-family house in a tree-lined neighborhood” (danticat 1998: 65), which can be a symbol of financial success and hard-earned independence. here, in the new family space, sophie meets her future husband and experiences sex trauma inflicted on her by her mother. the supposedly safe domestic sphere full of material references to haiti becomes the place where sophie is forced to revise her perspective on haitian culture and her mother’s mode of transnationalism. 88 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) however, sophie is even closer to her haitian “home” than martine. when her husband joseph leaves home for a tour as a musician, sophie decides to secretly visit her aunt and her grandmother in haiti, taking her baby daughter brigitte with her. when martine joins them, she seems to experience being in haiti only as a renewal of her trauma of rape. she cannot sleep; she openly says that “[it]’s worse when i am here” (danticat 1998: 169). unlike her mother, sophie is able to go back to her country of origin and develop her relationship with the country and her family in a new way. she does not try to reject her heritage completely, she can still speak the language fluently, and she is eager to create new forms of transnational and intergenerational memory by taking photos of little brigitte and her great-grandmother (1998: 129). as a result, she seems empowered to confront her first identity, which is based on her memories of haiti, her relocation to america, and the traumatic experience of being “tested” for virginity by her mother. she openly asks grandmother ifé about the practice of “testing” teenage daughters’ genital organs to check if they are still virgins. sophie’s grandmother explains to her that it is a custom every mother is expected to follow to protect their daughters and themselves from being “disgraced” (1998: 156). in a certain way, it appears that martine’s trauma of rape is transformed in sophie’s narrative into the recurring event of “testing”. due to this, sophie feels that she is linked to the rape in three ways: she is a biological daughter of the macoute that raped a sixteen-year-old martine, she takes after her father, and she experiences another sexual trauma her mother inflicts on her. one could argue that the part of sophie’s narrative identity reshaped by domestic sexual trauma is what paradoxically enables her to see her transnationality within new contexts. the traumatic “testing” may only become mediated through language and “configured” into sophie’s story when she voices her resentment in front of her grandmother and mother (danticat 1998: 156-157, 170-171). sadly, sophie never reaches full recovery: she is petrified of having sexual intercourse with her husband – she experiences it as an extremely painful duty and develops bulimia as a result (1998: 130; 156; 179). nevertheless, her realisation that haitian folk culture includes elements as harmful as “testing” makes her capable of assigning new value judgements to her haitian origin and traditions. this fact brings her narrative identity closer to the characteristics usually associated with second-generation immigrants and their transnational identity negotiations (vertovec 2001: 577). although she actively reproduces her transnational ties with her homeland, she does it in a transformed way, different from her mother’s mode of transnationalism. martine’s “little transnationalism” consists in making money transfers and sending audio letters taped on cassettes and addressed to illiterate relatives. other than that, martine seems to view haiti itself as a place of trauma and suppression. even though sophie’s ties with her homeland grow out of a similar image of transnationalism, she experiences visiting her country of origin as a necessary element of her path to personal liberation. she neither despises nor idealises haiti as her “true home”. 89 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) although sophie caco’s home is a conflicted one, it is also a home that experiences reconciliation. sophie’s transnational, narrative identity negotiations happen mainly through her relationship with her mother. the two women form a transnational dyad. while still in haiti, sophie receives voice recordings from her mother from america. then, in the united states, she is the one who sends them to aunt atie to haiti. when the girl emigrates, martine becomes sophie’s only guide through her haitian family’s history as well as the american reality of new york city and the english language. in spite of their close relationship, martine becomes the one who controls sophie in an obsessive manner and “tests” her when she meets joseph. in this way, the woman reproduces the same patriarchal models that have harmed her. the mother and the daughter reconcile only after several years of not speaking to each other when they meet at grandmother ifé’s house in a haitian village called la nouvelle dame marie, and only when sophie asks her mother why she “tested” her. the motif of reuniting with one’s mother may be a form of referring narrative “configurations” of events from the sphere of her immigration story back to the realm of “practical understanding” (ricoeur 1984: 55). thanks to a new, narratively-developed awareness and comprehension of her life’s events, sophie is able to communicate with martine and make her intertwined haitian and american homes complete. the reader must also notice that sophie reconciles with her mother in haiti as if she is able to fully understand her story only after she comes back to her childhood home and experiences. in this way, sophie may connect her narrative with the practical action of reconciliation with her mother and can make her story more intelligible for herself. nevertheless, it is crucial to remember that ricoeur’s “[e]mplotment is never the simple triumph of ‘order’” (1984: 73). the narrative identity emerging from sophie’s story appears to be a dialogue or dialectic between narrative order and disruptive suffering. the reader may see the relationship between sophie and martine as an example of difficult cultural identity negotiations that happen in a relatively closed domestic sphere. martine depends on her daughter since sophie is able to understand her mother’s trauma and her post-traumatic stress: she wakes her up from recurring nightmares and symbolically becomes her mother’s saviour (danticat 1998: 81). due to this, the mother believes that their spirits become inseparable, especially as souls of women who share difficult experiences of sex abuse and immigration. despite that, sophie feels that her mother does not understand her struggle with bulimia. when martine states that her daughter “[has] become very american” one might notice that she sees the illness only as a symptom of the american culture of abundance (1998: 179). the domestic issues and their links to more general cultural phenomena and stereotypes transform the home and the family house into the realm of cultural negotiations of meaning and understanding. similarly, the family sphere becomes the ground on which the narrative dialectic of trauma and reconciliation, suffering and order, may become a foundation for ethical 90 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) criticism and re-evaluation of the haitian-american home itself. according to ricoeur, such re-examination of one’s original narrative identity is indispensable for an individual to reach a renewed kind of internal continuity (1988: 249). after all, in danticat’s debut novel the transnational home is represented as narratively (re)constructed. the changes it undergoes do not deconstruct the protagonist’s narrative identity. instead, sophie's self develops to incorporate her transnational domestic sphere as a symbol of cultural and personal re-evaluation and questioning rather than immutable sameness. another element of identity represented through sophie’s narration is the custom of haitian storytelling. the motif of telling made-up, creative stories is present in many other works by danticat, krik? krak! and brother, i’m dying being only the two most obvious examples. the author also admits that her creativity was nurtured thanks to stories told by her aunts and grandmothers (candelario et al. 2004: 70). in breath, eyes, memory, it is grandmother ifé who interprets certain aspects of the world by configuring them into the plots of haitian fairy tales. the two most important fables told by sophie’s grandmother refer to the transition between being “a girl” and becoming “a woman”. after sophie confronts her about the trauma-inducing practice of “testing” ifé tells a group of village children a story about a lark that seduces a “pretty little girl” and deceives her to kidnap her and take away her heart (danticat 1998: 124-125). the direct context of the story suggests that it is a parable referring to the rape on martine, sophie’s elopement with joseph, and more generally the belief that a young girl has to protect her virginity and outsmart men who may want to abuse her. the language used in grandmother ifé’s story may also lead to a certain ambiguity. at one point, the storyteller states that “she [the girl] gave in to the bird and let him have his way” (1998: 125). the phrase “let him have his way” may refer to the fact that the girl allowed the bird to take her “to a faraway land” as the animal wished (1998: 125); however, it may also imply a sexual undertone and thus direct the reader’s attention to the way certain men may deceive women to exploit them sexually.2 another story, described by martine and aunt atie as one of “all the unpleasant stories manman [our mother] used to tell us about the stars in the sky”, presents a simple plot about a girl who wanted to marry a star, “and then went up there and, as real as her eyes were black, the man she wished for was a monster” (1998: 165). to interpret this tale as conveying only misandry would be to oversimplify the narrative undercurrent present in the entire novel. grandmother ifé’s stories may carry a frightening suggestion that the woman is punished for her love and sexual desire. thanks to this undertone, the work addresses the problem of women’s supposed responsibility for keeping their “maidenly” bodies “whole” for men in a patriarchal 2 according to the merriam-webster online dictionary, the phrase “have one’s way with” is an idiomatic expression that may imply sexual connotations (“have one’s way with” merriam-webster.com dictionary). 91 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) society (1998: 136-137). it seems possible to suggest that such an emplotment of haitian women’s reality may close their experiences of sexual abuse and male violence in simplistic plots which reproduce feminine identities in the expectation of female deference and disrupt or completely scotch what might become a nuanced, narratively mediated identity: being oneself within a new understanding of time and traumatic events. everything inside in danticat’s latest collection, one may find an image of “a home without a house”, which is represented in a short story entitled “hot-air balloons”. lucy, the narrator of the story, is a young, first-year student. her parents come from haiti. in contrast to neah, her roommate from a rich, academic family, she has never experienced the stability of having a house. without a place to live, her parents decided to, or maybe one should say were forced to, become seasonal harvest workers, constantly moving from one place to another, literally “chasing the harvest” in various parts of the united states (danticat 2019: loc. 1375). for their daughter, this kind of lifestyle meant that she frequently changed and missed school, and could not make long-lasting friendships. on a deeper level, it resulted in the girl entering adulthood without a sense of personal safety or stability. nevertheless, lucy has always felt the support and love of her parents. although they continue working on farms and the young woman is financially independent, they still insist on sending her monthly pocket money. danticat contrasts their affection and the loving “home” they create with “a house without a home”. neah, the aforementioned roommate, cannot find inner peace because of her parents’ divorce and her father’s high educational expectations. the girl, somehow inspired by lucy, decides to join a charity organisation helping rape victims in haiti. she goes on a trip as a volunteer and is absolutely overwhelmed by the amount of suffering and poverty she sees there. while lucy is not mentally ready and does not have the financial opportunities to visit haiti, neah can always take advantage of her parents’ trinidadian ties. despite this, she overlooks her transnational trinidadianamerican relations and decides to embark upon a mission to help haitian women. even though she is forced to finish her studies, she does not want to give up voluntary work for people living in the caribbean region. the contrast between the two characters might stem from the way their personal narratives differ. although lucy has never had one physical place that she can call her “home”, her narrative identity seems much more unified than neah’s personal story. the latter’s narrative implies an impossibility of reaching “a configured time” (ricoeur 1984: 54) that could re-order her experiences in an integrating and sense-making manner. neah seems to meander without a sense of definite closure. the fact that the young students can understand each other and themselves only after wording and revealing their stories is also extremely meaningful. when they meet for 92 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the first time after neah’s charity trip, they begin narrating and exchanging their experiences. through this fragment of “hot-air balloons” danticat seems to suggest that putting one’s life into a story is a kind of coping mechanism. one understands their life in a new way when they compose a narrative that gives events a structure. the narrator of “hot-air balloons” seems to intuitively grasp the idea that the process of answering a question about identity can be seriously hindered without formulating one’s story. furthermore, the transnational “refusal of fixity” (vertovec 2009: 7) with regard to personal identity or one’s desire for home may be seen as a threat or a challenge to the identity-formation process. however, it appears that danticat’s work reinterprets the lack of fixity as an opportunity for individuals to re-tell their stories and thus view the events of constantly changing, losing, and regaining their homes and houses as invigorating and, in fact, restorative experiences, which gain their new meaning only when a narrative about them is composed and mediated to another person. in another story from everything inside entitled “in the old days” the reader encounters a narrative about a diasporic home, which is not a house but a restaurant owned by the narrator’s mother. the restaurant introduced at the beginning of the text appears to be a part of a local diasporic community, forming a crucial element in its structure. from the information provided by nadia, the narrator, the reader might infer that it is situated somewhere in little haiti in new york city. the young woman recalls that as a child she used to indulge in observing how other people’s lives unfolded before her eyes in the space of the restaurant. she remembers witnessing “baptism parties, first communion and wedding lunches, graduation dinners, wakes, and funeral repasts” (danticat 2019: loc. 552), which may be viewed as personal and cultural identity-forming events. from the way she narrates her childhood time in the restaurant, it seems as though she has never experienced or participated in similar formative events with her as the central figure. her own personal story is disrupted when she learns that her mother did not inform her father about her existence when she was born. her narrative identity experiences a major point of revision when she is about to meet her dying father who has always been absent from her life. she regrets that he has never had a chance to significantly influence her identity and “the course of [her life]” (danticat 2019: loc. 628). when she goes to miami, her father’s wife invites her to a house in which she sees pictures of her father’s friend, pastor sorel, his wife, and their daughter. in the photos, the pastor’s family is always together, celebrating important events from the daughter’s life. the “whole” and coherent narrative emerging from the photos is sharply contrasted with nadia’s having only one uncanny image of her father as “that skeletal man lying in the hospital bed” (2019: loc. 698). she never gets to know her parent and she envies his wife that the woman has someone she can grieve for. the fact that the father left nadia’s mother to return to haiti in the hope of helping to rebuild the country shows the dark 93 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) side of transnational narratives and indicates that neglected transnational blood bonds may become a source of personal alienation. when the father’s wife refers to traditional haitian rituals connected with childbirth and death, the narrator realises that she has an opportunity to become a part of her father’s last rites. thus, the composition of the narrative is framed by the family scenes nadia witnessed as a child in the restaurant and, metaphorically, it comes full circle when she can become a vital part of a family ceremony herself. at the very end, the narrator admits: “i felt […] as though i was marching at the head of a king’s funeral procession, with an entire village in my wake” (danticat 2019: loc. 785). it appears that her narrative identity has required a major disrupting event to finally reach a point at which the young woman can re-examine her life story and experience a sense of relief. in addition, the two selected stories from everything inside seem to depict a specific kind of home that is narrated as an absent homeland. in “hot-air balloons” lucy and neah never see their homelands with their own eyes. on the one hand, neah does not travel to her native trinidad but decides to visit lucy’s homeland, haiti. lucy, on the other hand, is involved in neah’s family problems and discusses the roommate’s rebellious behaviour and charity trip with her father. it seems that their private stories gain a wider context when they connect with each other’s homes and homelands. lucy may feel connected with haiti not only through her parents but also through her friend, who witnessed the dire situation in the country and shared her memories of it with lucy. despite that, haiti remains the absent homeland for the young student, who may imagine it as a place of women’s suffering. furthermore, in danticat’s “in the old days” nadia’s story seems more intelligible to her when she finds the strength to see her dying father and connect him with her family life and domestic sphere. in like manner, imagining her own family practices as linked with her haitian ancestors’ funeral customs allows her to feel close to and practically experience her homeland’s culture in her life. thus, even constructing an imagined homeland contributes to the fact that the protagonists of both short stories understand themselves and their identities in a new, reformed way when they create narratives about home and homeland, or the lack of them. conclusions referring back to steven vertovec’s doubts about the second generation’s ties with their countries of origin, one may suggest that the transnationalism of young immigrant women is more open to “planet-spanning” forms of relations (vertovec 2009: 3), which are not limited to and, in fact, are more critical towards their homeland’s culture. in danticat’s prose, second-generation immigrants experience their diasporic, transnational lives differently than their parents do. however, this transformation does not exclude the possibility of creating a truly diasporic home that cultivates its ties with its homeland. one might rather argue that along with the changes in the transnationalism 94 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of second-generation immigrants, their “homing desire” (brah 2005: 177, 189, 194) is not lost but also transformed. it becomes more and more inclusive, incorporating other ethnic and national identities and making narrative identity revisions increasingly possible. for younger generations, haiti does not disappear from the transnational map altogether. instead, it changes its place, the sources of its importance vary, and it creates new intercultural and intergenerational connections. the image of haiti as a paragon of home no longer constitutes the only possible point of reference on a microscopic haitian-american globe. haiti’s former primacy and centrality as “the home” for the protagonists is diminished due to the aforementioned vertovec’s idea of “planetspanning” relations and one’s critical thinking about their origin and domestic culture. although the bilateral relation between haitian and american “homes” is still relevant for the new transnational maps, the cultural place of haiti might be narratively “refigured” to signify one of many homes instead of the only home. moreover, danticat seems to view the transition from a haitian home to an american one as an important part of identity-formation and self-understanding processes, which inspire “emplotting”. binding and giving order to fragmented events of an immigrant’s life by storytelling or writing is a literary function that suggests an opportunity for regaining a sense of coherence and belonging. “emplotting” may also reveal the nature of transnational identities as struggling or unable to reach a narrative closure: a final point of unity and completeness. altogether, in danticat’s works, haitianamerican transnationalism may be a cause of disorientation and difficult experiences; nevertheless, it is often represented by the author as a chance, and not as a threat. all things considered, the present interpretation of danticat’s works is based on the notion that constructing one’s transnational identity is not a single event but a complex and continuous process. by constructing narratives of identity, the author manages to convey two extremely important messages. firstly, the identity of haitian-american women of different generations is neither stable nor homogeneous. secondly, events happening around a transnational home urgently require interpreting through storytelling. in the selected novel and short stories, a narrative about one’s home becomes nearly synonymous with a story of their identity. danticat’s writings demonstrate how mediating one’s life through stories, and thus giving the events a new sense of temporality, constitutes the very essence of the personal identity of immigrants. finally, due to the fact that the present article discusses works that were written at two distant points in danticat’s career, one may notice that narratives of young haitian-american women still remain the author’s primary focus. moreover, danticat’s everything inside seems to slightly move her narrative perspective in the direction where new “emplotments” of personal experiences may bring a “refigured” understanding of events, new significance of the past, and a sense of relief. neah and lucy, the main characters of “hot-air balloons”, understand each other better when they begin to share 95 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) their stories. nadia, the narrator of “in the old days”, finds symbolic closure when she is invited to actively participate in her father’s funeral even though she practically does not know the man. in danticat’s recent works, storytelling is a way to find a sense of having a home despite the struggle for narrative resolution, and reaching to the past for formative rituals provides comfort despite weakened transnational and domestic ties. references 2019/20 winner & finalists. the official website of the story prize. http://thestoryprize. org/201920 (accessed 20 march 2021). arendt, h. 2018 [1958]. the human condition. chicago/london: the university of chicago press. brah, a. 2005. cartographies of diaspora: contesting identities. london/new york: routledge. candelario, g.e.b., danticat, e., perez, l.m., chancy, m.j.a., & rosario, n. 2004. voices from hispaniola: a meridians roundtable with edwidge danticat, loida maritza perez, myriam j. a. chancy, and nelly rosario. meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism 5 (1): 68–91. doi:10.1353/mer.2004.0048. danticat, e. 1998. breath, eyes, memory. new york: vintage books. danticat, e. 2008. brother, i’m dying. new york: vintage books. danticat, e. 2019. everything inside. new york: alfred a. knopf. kindle edition. de fina, a. 2003. identity in narrative: a study of immigrant discourse. amsterdam/ philadelphia: john benjamins publishing company. garcia-navarro, l. 2018. author edwidge danticat on the immigrant experience. national public radio, january 14. www.npr.org/2018/01/14/577969701/author-edwidgedanticaton-the-immigrant-experience ?t=1553689399210 (20 march 2021). “have one’s way with.” merriam-webster.com dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/ dictionary/have%20one%27s%20way%20with (accessed 7 december 2021). laguerre, m. s. 2005. haitians in the united states. in: m. ember, c. r. ember & i. skoggard (eds.), encyclopedia of diasporas. immigrant and refugee cultures around the world, 830. new york: springer. polyné, m. 2010. from douglass to duvalier: u.s. african americans, haiti, and pan americanism, 1870-1964. gainesville: university press of florida. ricoeur, p. 1984. time and narrative. vol. 1. chicago/london: the university of chicago press. ricoeur, p. 1988. time and narrative. vol. 3. chicago/london: the university of chicago press. the tonton macoutes: the central nervous system of haiti’s reign of terror. 2010. the official website of the council on hemispheric affairs, march 11. www.coha.org/tonton-macoutes (accessed 15 november 2021). http://thestoryprize.org/201920 http://thestoryprize.org/201920 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/have%20one%27s%20way%20with https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/have%20one%27s%20way%20with http://www.coha.org/tonton-macoutes http://www.coha.org/tonton-macoutes 96 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) vertovec, s. 2001. transnationalism and identity. journal of ethnic and migration studies 27(4): 573-582. doi.org/10.1080/13691830120090386. vertovec, s. 2009. transnationalism. london/new york: routledge. white, h. 1973. metahistory: the historical imagination in nineteenth-century europe. baltimore/london: the johns hopkins university press. * * * mateusz dudek obtained his ma degree with distinction in 2020 in the field of literary studies at the department of english, nicolaus copernicus university in toruń. he continues his academic education as a doctoral student at the adam mickiewicz university in poznań. his research concentrates on analysing the issues of narrative and cultural identity in contemporary diasporic literature written in english. his publications include: “2084. the end of the world. subjectivity and power in boualem sansal’s vision of an islamist totalitarian society”, published in a post-conference volume entitled faces of crisis in 20thand 21st-century prose. an anthology of criticism (wydawnictwo uniwersytetu jagiellońskiego, 2020) and “krik? krak! and brother, i’m dying by edwidge danticat: the transnational experience of haitian refugees”, published in archiwum emigracji vol. 28 (toruń, 2020). he is interested in political philosophy, the theory of transnationalism and diaspora studies, and the works of edwidge danticat, boualem sansal, and philip roth. archibald alison, landscape painting, nature poetry and the landscape of the mind 67 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) marta oracz1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.29.2.05 university of silesia orcid: 0000-0003-3120-2214 archibald alison, landscape painting, nature poetry and the landscape of the mind abstract. the subject of this article is the landscape of the mind. at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in landscape painting and in nature poetry, the surrounding nature became an insignificant element of the artist’s or poet’s work, acting only as a trigger for introspection. in landscape painting, nature was supposed to express emotional states. the viewer was to embark on a mood suggested by the painting and immerse himself/herself in contemplation of his or her internal states. in nature poetry, such as william wordsworth’s prelude, the vision of nature was subjective: its colouring was an effect of projection of the emotions of the speaker in the poem, it was a reflection of the landscape of his mind. the theoretical context to be used in this essay for the discussion of the landscape of the mind in landscape painting and nature poetry is the aesthetic theory of archibald alison. keywords: landscape painting, nature poetry, theory of associations, feelings, projection, beautiful, sublime. 1. introduction in the late eighteenth century, landscape painting and nature poetry gradually disentangled its links with the external world; the artist, the viewer of painting, and the speaker in a poem, instead of contemplating nature, were supposed to focus on the landscape of the mind,2 i.e., on their inner feelings and associations. the gradual shift from the external to the internal world, both in visual arts and in poetry, went hand in hand with similar changes in interest in the field of aesthetic theory. in the aesthetic philosophy we observe a departure from the interest in the objective standards of beauty and focus on the inner sphere of man, man’s cognitive capacities, man’s subjective aesthetic judgement, imagination and feelings. an important proponent of the thesis that art and 1 address for correspondence: wydział humanistyczny, uniwersytet śląski w katowicach, ul. grota-roweckiego 5, 41-200 sosnowiec, poland. e-mail: marta111anna@gmail.com 2 i borrow the term “landscape of the mind” from norman lacey’s critical study of william wordsworth’s poetry wordsworth’s view of nature: and its ethical consequences (lacey 1948: 98-99). 68 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) poetry should explore the inner regions of the soul was archibald alison (1757-1839). the aim of this article is to analyze archibald alison’s studies in aesthetics with special emphasis on his views on the beauty of nature. i want to show that a similar approach to the aesthetic value of nature that alison promoted was visible in the artistic practice of his age, in the landscape painting and in nature poetry (with reference to the latter, i have chosen william wordsworth, whose poetry is the most obvious example of the new approach to nature). i want to show that aesthetic theory, landscape painting and nature poetry started to focus on the landscape of the mind rather than on the external scene. in other words, i want to show that the paradoxical tendency to divert one’s eyes from nature (i.e., the natural scene outside, the external world) was becoming a larger trend in the latter part of the eighteenth and the early nineteenth century, a trend that embraced aesthetic theory, landscape poetry and nature poetry. i have chosen alison’s theory of taste as a representative aesthetic theory of the romantic period. i compare his views to those represented in landscape painting of the same era and in nature poetry of the turn of the eighteenth century, using the example of william wordsworth’s the prelude. 2. landscape painting and the internal world in the current part of my article i discuss archibald alison’s views on landscape painting with special emphasis on his discussion of the landscape of the mind. i also present some opinions of the landscape painters themselves, who spoke in unison with alison: the painters also claimed, that instead of representing a topography of a particular terrain,3 a picture should rather inspire the viewer to explore the inner landscape of his or her soul. archibald alison, in his major work in the field of aesthetics entitled the essays on the nature and principles of taste, devotes several passages to landscape painting and explains that landscape art is, in fact, not supposed to imitate nature but to promote the viewer’s interest in and curiosity about the landscape of the mind. alison speaks against the imitative landscape painting, which was popular in britain in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. imitative painting, of which the british topographic landscape is a prime subject, is for alison inferior art, no matter how much skill of hand it demonstrates: “in the copy of a scene we can admire the skill (i.e., the mere mechanical dexterity of the artist)” but not “the genius” (alison 1790: 89-90). he calls the authors of such paintings with a contemptible name “mere copiers of nature” (alison 1790: 88) and denies them any touch of genius. furthermore, he claims that the 3 a critical study of topographic painting and tis social and intellectual context is to be found in michael clarke’s the tempting prospect. a social history of english watercolours, pp. 21-73. 69 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) works of those “copiers” are for the unsophisticated audience unversed in visual arts (alison 1790: 89).4 the weakness of imitative art, often overlooked by the uneducated viewers, is its lack of unity due to abundance of details. such an imperfection disqualifies imitative paintings in the eyes of the demanding audience. they would not enjoy “the crowd of incidents”, i.e., all the circumstantial details of a scene meticulously recreated in a picture. all the minute particulars rendered by a dexterous craftsman appear to the demanding viewers “as inconsistence or confusion” (alison 1790: 84). they prefer a painting whose motifs are carefully selected, those only which are “congenial to our emotions” (alison 1790: 84). the unity of emotion which, according to alison is a true value of a good art, is disrupted in a literal copy of nature such as, for instance, a topographic landscape painting. in external nature there is “confusion of expression […] which prevents him [a man of taste] from indulging to the full, the peculiar emotion which the scene itself is fitted to inspire” (alison 1790: 84). in other words, in a natural scene the dominant mood is often destroyed by elements which are incompatible with the overall atmosphere: “solemnity of noon” may be disrupted “by noise and bustling industry” while “the tranquillity and melancholy of evening [may be disrupted] by vivacity and vulgar gaiety” (alison 1790: 84). the uniform atmosphere of a painting is essential as it triggers an analogous mood in the viewer and encourages him or her to explore the inner state inspired by the picture. meanwhile, a spectator cannot be referred to his inner feelings by a landscape painting which is a copy of a real place, since such a painting lacks emotional coherence, with too many details disrupting the mood. pruning out from the real scene anything that hinders its emotional unity is an accomplishment of a genius. a genius selects “from a thousand scenes, the circumstances which are to characterise a single composition, and may unite into one expression, the scattered features with which nature has feebly marked a thousand situations” (alison 1790: 87). he chooses, continues alison, “the circumstances” which “give whatever force (…) he pleases to the expression he wishes to convey” (alison 1790: 87). in other words, the work of a true artist is the careful presentation of elements, not necessarily coexisting in one external scene, which are similar in their mood and which together build up an emotionally coherent whole. every detail which would interrupt the unity of mood created in the work of art is removed so as not to disturb the viewer, whose mind is set on reaching the emotional pitch tuned with the mood in the work of art. 4 a belief in a standard of good taste, in contrast to subjective taste and relativism in taste, was an element of the eighteenth century aesthetics. alison, who contrasts a good taste with a taste of the less educated viewer, is certainly a representative of the eighteenth century philosophy of beauty. however, there are also elements in his thought which suggest that he believes in relativity of taste. an indepth study of this problem was done by steven a. jauss in his article “associationism and taste theory in archibald alison’s essays.” 70 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) considering the viewer, once he or she embarks on the mood inspired by the painting (i.e., by the elements of its coherent composition and the corresponding uniform emotions), he or she utterly abandons himself or herself in a reverie of emotions that pass on, in an associated train, in the imagination. as alison puts it, when any object, either of sublimity or beauty [here, the painting representing a certain mood: solemn or cheerful], is presented to the mind, i believe every man is conscious of train of thought being immediately awakened in his imagination, analogous to the character or expression of the original object. (…) our imagination is seized, and our fancy busied in the pursuit of all those trains of thought, which are allied to this character or expression. (alison 1790: 2-3) the mood of the picture eventually turns out to be a starting point for a long process of association of feelings that occurs in our imagination; for, when we contemplate a picture, and our heart is set on a certain kind of mood, we suddenly become distracted from the painting itself and lose ourselves “amid the number of images” and passions associated with those that the artist suggested in the painting. this emotional, or, this ecstatic state, lasts for a while until we “waken from this play of fancy, as form the charm of romantic dream” (alison 1790: 3). thus the indicator of quality of a landscape painting is its ability to emotionally awaken the viewer’s emotions so as to make him or her oblivious of the painting itself, to divert the viewer’s attention from its visual beauty and to turn his or her eyes inwards to the imagination, to become involved in dreamful contemplation of his or her internal states. the painting itself, paradoxically, is a work of genius only if it acts as a trigger and is not in the centre of attention.5 the external reality is even far less important to the viewer than what the picture represents. for a truly good landscape painting, as we may infer from alison’s discourse, is not supposed to direct our attention to the external world; to recreate, in our minds, all topographical details of a particular terrain. instead, a landscape painting, ought to 5 thomas dick lauder in his “essay on the origin of taste” (written as an introduction to uvedale price’s essays on the picturesque) criticizes alison for the fact that his theory of aesthetics leads to an illogical statement that the object of art becomes, eventually, absolutely unimportant and overlooked, once a viewer is involved in his imaginative reverie. “in the long train of meditations to which mr. alison refers, in the delightful reveries in which he would make the sense of beauty consist, it is obvious that we must soon lose sight of the external object which gave the first impulse to our thoughts, and, though we may afterwards reflect upon it with increased interest and gratitude as the parent of so many charming images, it is impossible, we conceive, that the perception of its beauty, can ever depend upon a long series of various and shifting emotions.” feeling as i do, the full force of this observation, i am disposed to think that mr. alison’s error may be accounted for by the fact, that his own highly poetical and imaginative mind must have been so prone to yield to those delightful reveries of which he makes so much account, as to have led him to overlook the full influence of the primary emotions of beauty by which they were generated” (dick lauder 1842: 6). 71 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) be a gate to our internal world of sensibility. it is supposed to open up our mind’s eye to see the landscape of our soul, rather than to make our organic eye more acute to the particulars of the external world. as alison puts it, the landscape painter must employ in his work the language which is not intended to speak “to the eye, but to affect the imagination and the heart” (alison 1790: 89). the standards for landscape painting set forth by alison in his essays on the nature and principles of taste were not wholly new. several years before his theoretical work, an increasing number of painters were practising the ideas he promoted. in the latter part of the eighteenth century, romantic (or ideal, or poetic, or imaginative) landscape painting developed, of which the most important representatives were alexander cozens, his son and student, john robert cozens, thomas gainsborough, william gilpin, richard wilson and many more (hardie 1967: 76-77). cozens sr. developed a method of so called blotting, i.e., making random blots on a sheet of paper which were to unlock the artist’s imagination by suggesting shapes. by means of this exercise of fancy the artist was to be less dependent for inspiration on external nature.6 gainsborough did not look to actual, external nature for most of his ideas. discussing gainsborough’s method of painting, joshua reynolds in his discourses explains that the artist “framed a kind of model of landscapes on his table, composed of broken stones, dried herbs, and pieces of looking-glass, which he magnified and improved into rocks, trees, and water” (reynolds 1891: xiv). furthermore, he had a habit of painting by night, by candlelight (reynolds 1891: xiv). all this was done to compose a scene coherent in expression; the light of a candle was to add a particular emotional note and saturate the whole view with colour communicating dreamy atmosphere. gilpin was also reluctant to faithfully recreate an external scene in his pictures. rather, he would select from the real landscape only those elements which fitted the composition and gave uniform character to his painting (gilpin 1789: 31-32; gilpin 1792: 128-129; gilpin 1808: 166-167). gilpin, gaisnborough, and both cozenses, and many other british landscapists not only relied more on imagination than on the external nature for composition and colouring, but also believed that what was most important in their paintings was a clearly defined emotional climate, and not the accurate topography of the terrain. as gilpin says: in passing through a country you may not have opportunities of giving the exact portrait of any one particular scene, but this is not necessary; perhaps the most useful illustrations of 6 an analysis of this technique is beyond the scope of this article, whose main interest is the theory of a. alison. the blotting technique and the role of imagination is described by cozens in his manual for painters entitled a new method of assisting the invention in drawing original compositions of landscape. cozen’s imaginative approach to painting and his application of the aforesaid method is also discussed in details in kim sloan’s study alexander and john robert cozens. a poetry of landscape in chapter “teaching at eaton college and the various species of landscape, &c. in nature” (sloan 1986: 36-62). 72 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) local scenery are those which give the character of the views by pleasing arrangement of ideas taken from the general scene of the country. (gilpin qtd in hardie 1967: 77) not the topographic details but the overall character of the scene was important, insofar as it struck an emotional note in the viewer and made him or her embark on a dreamful reverie. 3. landscape of the mind in nature poetry: the beautiful and the sublime alison’s discussion of the sublime and the beautiful, the basic categories in aesthetics introduced in the eighteenth century by edmund burke, is relevant to the interpretation of william wordsworth’s nature poem the prelude. hence i first clarify burke’s concepts of the beautiful and the sublime, then consider alison’s views on these subjects and then explore how the prelude can be seen as a poetic counterpart to the romanticism of the earlier discussed landscape painters. i need to explain shortly the features of the beautiful and the sublime after edmund burke, because his study on this topic was a pioneer one; later theoreticians, including alison, followed burke when it comes to considering the qualities of the beautiful and the sublime. sublime forms are those that evoke awe and terror in the viewer and they possess such features as vastness, magnitude, obscurity. beautiful forms, meanwhile. are those which cause the feeling of love in the viewer (burke 1757: 109). their characteristic features are smallness, smoothness of outline and gradual variation in the shape, i.e., the beautiful forms are not composed of angular parts (burke 1757: 138) such as those that we can see, for instance in steep and craggy mountains. a rising sharply high and rugged peak is classified as the sublime one. as to the colours, “soft and cheerful” ones are linked with the beauty (burke 1757: 100). colours of beautiful bodies, explains burke, “must not be dusky or muddy, but clean and fair” (burke 1757: 141). such is, for instance, the colouring of a bright summer day. meanwhile, “dark and gloomy” hues are typical for the sublime aesthetics. so, for instance, the colouring of the “gloomy sky”, and that of night, is “solemn” that is to say, exciting sombre feelings and anxiety in the viewer. such characteristics, which, for burke, are inherent in the object,7 are automatically associated by the viewer with the aforesaid feelings in his mind (burke 1757: 100). 7 sublime and beautiful characteristics that arise their respective feelings of fear or pleasure, may, but do not necessarily have to be inherent in the object, according to wordsworth. sometimes the source of fear and pleasure is in the mind of the spectator and is projected on external objects making them sublime or beautiful. sometimes the sublimity and beauty are the values inherent in the objects and they evoke the correspondent feelings of fear and pleasure in the viewer. in that case, however, the viewer has a limited ability to discern either beauty or sublimity: it depends on the state of his mind. if he is 73 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) having considered burke’s evaluation of the beautiful and the sublime, we can now proceed to the discussion on the beautiful and the sublime in alison’s aesthetics of the natural scene and in william wordsworth’s nature poem the prelude. 3.1. alison – mind is the creator of the beauty and the sublime alison calls beautiful those objects which give us pleasure, while he describes as sublime those elements of landscape which awake in us fear or solemn feelings (alison 1790: 3). so, for instance, he claims, we can discern beauty in “the gay lustre of a morning in spring, or the mild radiance of a summer evening” or sublimity in “the savage majesty of a wintry storm, or the wild magnificence of a tempestuous ocean” (alison 1790: 3). we feel pleasure and awe respectively in the presence of such scenes. still, the division of landscape into either of the categories and their respective emotional values becomes more complicated as we read on in alison’s essay. this is because, despite his definitions of the beautiful and the sublime, alison also insists on the importance of individual perception. “the simple perception of the object,” explains alison, “is insufficient to awake these emotions, unless it is accompanied by this operation of the mind [i.e., the work of imagination]” (alison 1790: 2). it is the viewer’s perspective and his or her role in making a scene beautiful or sublime that i shall now discuss here in the context of alison’s essay on the nature and principles of taste. the viewer’s contribution is dependent on a number of factors: his or her mental habits; his or her state of mind, however temporary; and his or her individual history, memories and associations. considering associations, the trains of “pleasing or of solemn thought” that we associate with a scene “arise spontaneously within our minds” and charge an external scene with emotions “with which the objects before us seem to afford no adequate cause” (alison 1790: 3). alison is saying here that, because our emotions go beyond what is presented to us, we in effect become painters with our imagination, completing a scene through what our emotions suggest. the trains of associated thoughts of either kind (pleasant, solemn) are not the same in all the viewers and depend on their personal history or on the specific country and culture in which they were brought up. so, for instance, “the scenes themselves may be little beautiful” (alison 1790: 17), but we can see them as such if we project on them our sentimental memories, for instance those from our childhood or from the national history. our recollections are enriched by the association between the scene before us and our imagination and then, in turn, those recollections suffuse the scene before us. it is the associations with which our memories are enriched that give, “a kind of sanctity overwhelmed with fear, for instance, he will notice the sublime elements of the landscape, but overlook the beautiful ones. the subjective nature of sublime and beautiful in wordsworth will be explained in detail in the current part of the article. 74 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) to the place where they dwelt, and converts every thing into beauty which appears to have been connected with them” (alison 1790: 16). sublime associations projected on an otherwise neutral scene, can be those of a heroic battle. “no man, acquainted with english history,” explains alison on the nature of sublime projections of the mind, “can behold the field of agincourt, without some emotion of this kind” (alison 1790: 17). the aforesaid heroic associations in the mind of the spectator “diffuse themselves […] over the scene, and give it a sublimity which does not naturally belong to it” (alison 1790: 17). another factor that plays an important role in our creative perception of a natural scene is either the habitual or the temporary disposition of one’s mind. the state of mind, permanent or temporary may act in a different way than enriched recollections discussed above. while recollections made us adorn a scene with some objectively inexistent beautiful or sublime features, the permanent or temporary mental state we are in may make us overlook the beauty or the sublimity of a natural scene. the scene might possess the features which alison mentions as beautiful or sublime [e.g., the “gaiety of the morning” or “the savage majesty of a wintry storm” (alison 1790: 3)], but we may fail to notice them due to the selective perception determined by our personality type or our actual mood (alison 1790: 64). so, for example, “the gaiety of nature” is recognized as beautiful and discerned by a cheerful man, but it remains obscure to “to the man of sadness” (alison 1790: 64). a melancholy man, looking at a particular scene would overlook its beauty and would not be able to enjoy the pleasant feeling that someone of a positive temperament would derive from it. such selective perception, which may make us open to or blind to the beauty or sublimity of a scene, may be short-term or habitual (alison 1790: 65). “every man must have had opportunity to observe,” claims alison, “that the perception of beauty” as well as the sublime, “depends also on the temporary,” as well as on permanent “sensibility of his mind” (alison 1790: 65). to sum up, for alison, the paramount factor that makes us see a scene as either beautiful (causing pleasure) or sublime (awaking awe and solemn feelings) is our mind rather than the external features of a scene. we project our memories, associations, momentary or long-lasting emotions and it seems the most important contribution to the way we see a landscape. the landscape which we see is, to a large extent, a landscape of our mind. 3.2. the landscape of the mind in william wordsworth’s prelude i now wish to explore the landscape of the mind in the context of william wordsworth’s the prelude. i will demonstrate that beautiful and sublime character of the landscape and its atmosphere in the aforesaid nature poem is generated by the viewer’s feelings. i will make the point that nature, in the poem, arouses antithetical feelings in the speaker: at one time, pleasant, at another, fearful. 75 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) wordsworth suggests that all nature is charged with feeling. the elements of the natural scene, i.e., plants, fruit or rocks, are, he believes, “linked (…) to some feeling” (wordsworth 1850: iii 124-38). he endows the natural scene with anthropomorphic or, to be precise, anthropo-psychic features when he writes that “nature’s daily face” puts on its various expressions, ranging from “terror” to “love” (wordsworth 1850: iii 124-38). this suggests that nature adopts various expressions (“face of nature”), and wordsworth attributes to nature a body language through which it communicates its mental states or moods. these moods, namely, terror and love (which are deeper versions of the earlier discussed feelings of fear and pleasure), correspond to the two basic aesthetic categories introduced by edmund burke and elaborated upon by, among others, archibald alison. these categories are, of course, that of the beautiful (love) and the sublime (terror) (see j. b. owen “the sublime and the beautiful in the prelude”). regarding the beauty of nature, it is related in wordsworth to the feeling of love, but also that of cheerfulness. these pleasant feelings associated with the beauty of nature are discussed in book ii of the prelude, where the speaker recollects his nostalgia for the village landscape and for his infant outdoor games, after he had moved to the city. describing the rural scene of his native place (its topographic details) he immediately recollects his cheerful childhood sports (wordsworth ii 1850: 51-3). “attachment” of the beauty of a place in nature to childhood sentiments and childish pleasurable, joyful feelings is an effect of the association process, the one which i have discussed in the context of alison in his essays on the nature and the principles of taste. thus, technically speaking, wordsworth “associates” (alison 1790: 3) in his mind the native windermere landscape with the emotions characteristic of beauty: pleasant feelings of teenage period (wordsworth 1850: ii 55), the childish delight (wordsworth 1850: ii 52) and the boisterousness of his boyhood (wordsworth 1850: ii 47). it is these emotions, harboured in the speaker’s mind and projected on the particular place in nature, that make the scene beautiful. the scene itself does not need to be beautiful and there does not need to be any natural feature in the scene which is itself pleasant. it is the role of the perceiver that is paramount in creating the beauty of the landscape. no lesser importance is attributed in the prelude to the role of the human mind in making a perceived scene sublime. in wordsworth, sublimity is linked with fear, and the viewer’s fearful emotion can charge the landscape with sublimity. for example, there is the famous passage concerning the act of stealing of the boat (book one of the prelude). wordsworth brings back childhood memories and relates how he stole a boat tied to a tree. he describes his escape in the stolen vessel. the author informs us that he was aware of the unethical character of his deed. he says, it was an act of stealth and troubled pleasure. (wordsworth 1850: i 361-362) 76 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) conscious of the evil nature of his exploit, he cannot feel pure joy: his pleasure is tainted by an admixture of a sense of guilt (“troubled pleasure”). his sense of guilt is intermingled with fear of punishment. possessed by this fear he starts imagining that nature around him speaks to him in a scolding voice: “nor without the voice/ of mountain-echoes did my boat move on.” his impression is that the otherwise normal, acoustic echo-effect is a reprimand that he receives from nature, but in fact it is the voice of his own conscience. he projects his guilt on the surrounding mountains. furthermore, his fear of punishment is manifested in the following vision of the natural scene: as he pushes off the shore and starts rowing he fixes his eyes, upon the summit of a craggy ridge, the horizon’s utmost boundary; far above was nothing but the stars and the grey sky. (wordsworth 1850: i 361) as he rows on, his position changes and he can see “from behind that craggy steep” another “huge peak” start to emerge; the peak is “black and huge” (hence: ominous, dark; darkness (burke 1757:100), and large size (burke 1757: 93) being linked with the sublime) and it “upreared” its giant head “as if with voluntary power instinct.” it seems to the speaker that the huge, dark summit towered up between me and the stars, and still, for so it seemed, with purpose of its own and measured motion like a living thing, strode after me. (wordsworth 1850: i 382-385) the phenomenon that wordsworth refers to is an optical illusion, i.e., the apparent motion which results from the change of the position of the observer: as the speaker in the poem advances off the shore, having his eyes fixed in one point on the horizon, he knows that he is moving but he fears that he is not fast enough. his fear is that the mountain will overtake him. thus he attributes his own motion to the mountain. furthermore he projects his own mood on the external world endowing the mountain with ominous properties: his belief that the mountain is following him, apparently with an intention of punishing him for his deed, is a construct of his troubled mind, overwhelmed with terror. the size and dark hue of the mountain is enhanced by the extreme dread in the viewer; or rather, the viewer focusses his attention on the most sublime elements, darkest colours and enormous shapes, unconsciously ignoring everything that does not harmonize with his mood. the perception of the scene is certainly selective, tendentious, and, to a large extent, dependent on the projection by the viewer of his own mental state. here, wordsworth’s poem dramatizes the theory that alison 77 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) proposes: we chose to see and contemplate some qualities in nature, while we remain indifferent to others, “because these alone are the qualities which accord with the [our] emotions” (alison 1790: 65). a further example that emphasises the above discussed point, i.e., that the mood pervading natural scene in wordsworth’s poetry is an emanation of the perceiver’s state of emotions, is to be found in wordsworth’s poem “intimations of immortality from recollections of early childhood.” there is a short passage there which well illustrates how the mind makes a scene sublime. “the clouds that gather round the setting sun,” writes wordsworth, “do take a sober colouring from the eye” (wordsworth 18021804: 196-197).8 the tonality in the landscape (the gathering clouds, which portend the onset of darkness) is the projection of our mood; the creeping darkness, symbolically is linked with the feelings of fear, related to the sublime. this feeling is transferred from the viewer (“the eye”) to the surrounding world. it is thus the mind and mind alone that is in focus of wordsworth’s nature poetry. it is the internal landscape rather than the outside one that the speaker in the poem contemplates. the outside world is only an effect of what wing sze leng calls the “spreading” of the mind “onto the world” (sze leung 2015: 91).9 wordsworth thus creates the landscape of the mind. he echoes the alisonian rule that a state of mind, as well as the individual associations and trains of thought, determine the viewer’s response to forms in nature and, investing them with his or her mood, the viewer enjoys their sublimity or beauty. the role of the external natural scene is that of a mirror reflection of the viewer’s mind. a particular place in nature may contain forms and colours that are evocative of sublime or beautiful feelings, but it is the viewer who chooses to discern only those features of the landscape (either only beautiful ones or only sublime ones) which harmonize with his mood. at other times, the scene itself is neither beautiful nor sublime, but is charged by the viewer with the pleasant or awe-inspiring memories and associations and hence it appears to him as beautiful or sublime. 4. conclusions by the end of the eighteenth century there developed a trend in landscape painting and in nature poetry whose practitioners turned away from a mere representation of nature in itself. no matter how paradoxical it seems to be that a landscape painter or a nature 8 norman lacey refers to this fragment when he coins the phrase “landscape of the mind” (lacey 1948: 98-99) which became an inspiration for the current article. 9 sze leung borrows the metaphor of the mind spreading “onto the world” from david hume (hume, david. 1739. a treatise on human nature http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4705/pg4705.txt, 12 december 2019) and uses it also in his analysis of william wordsworth’s poetry (sze leung 2015: 91). 78 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) poet should divert his or her eyes from nature, it became an artistic practice at the end of the eighteenth and turn of the nineteenth centuries. this practice was supported by aesthetic theory. a representative of the eighteenth century aesthetic thought who defended this approach to nature was archibald alison. alison believed that the natural scene should not be an object of imitation but a trigger for inner musings, a starting point of associative process or a vehicle for projections of poet’s, painter’s or viewer’s emotions. furthermore, he believed that human perception is subjective, that man creatively manipulates nature and selects from it only those elements which can inform or augment his or her habitual or temporary mental state. such theoretical concepts as those of alison underlay the art and poetry of his era in terms of some key figures. so, for instance, such landscape painters as alexander cozens or thomas gainsborough, relied on their imagination more than on the external world. furthermore, gainsborough and william gilpin believed that a landscape painting ought not to imitate nature but should have a uniform mood so as to speak to the viewer’s innermost feelings, and, by spurring his passions, to make him, as alison puts it, fly “on the wing” of fancy, quit the visible objects, and let the external nature and the landscape painting itself subsumed by the workings of the viewer’s mind and emotions (alison 1790: 42-43). a similar tendency to focus on the inner landscape rather than on the external nature can be seen in the nature poetry of william wordsworth. in wordsworth’s prelude the natural scene is coloured by the speaker’s mind: his recollections, associations, and his emotions. his perception of nature as beautiful or sublime is an effect of what the poet’s mind puts into it. nature is a receptacle of the poet’s joys and fears. what he sees is the landscape of the mind rather than the objective natural world. the landscape of the mind seems to have been a part of the eighteenth century milieu: it became a subject of landscape painting and nature poetry, and a topic of discussion in the aesthetic theory. references alison, a. 1790. the essays on the nature and principles of taste. edinburgh: printed for j. j. g., and g. robinson, london, and bell and bradfute. andrews, m. 1990. the search for the picturesque. landscape, aesthetics and tourism in britain, 1760-1800. aldershot: scolar press. bathe, j. 1991. romantic ecology. wordsworth and the environmental tradition. oxon, new york: routledge. burke, e. 1757. a philosophical inquiry into the origin of our ideas of the sublime and beautiful with an introductory discourse concerning taste, and several other additions. guttenberg project, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/15043/15043-h/15043-h.htm#a_ philosophical_inquiry. (21 september 2015). 79 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) clarke, m. 1981. the tempting prospect. a social history of english watercolours. london: british museum publications. cozens, a. 1785. a new method of assisting the invention in drawing original compositions of landscape. london: printed for the author by, j. dixwell in st. martin’s lane. dick lauder, t. 1842. essay on the origin of taste. in: u. price, on the picturesque, with an essay on the origin of taste, and much original matter, by thomas dick lauder, bart, 1-58. edinburgh: caldwell, lloyd , and co. engell, j. 1999. the creative imagination. enlightenment to romanticism. san jose: harvard university press. gilpin, w. 1789. observations on the river wye, and several parts of south wales, &c: relative chiefly to picturesque beauty, made in the summer of the year 1770. london: r. blamire, in the strand. gilpin, w. 1792. observations on several parts of england, particularly the mountains and lakes of cumberland and westmoreland relative to picturesque beauty, made in the year 1772. london: printed for l. balmire, strand. gilpin, w. 1808. three essays: on picturesque beauty; on picturesque travel; and on sketching landscape: with a poem on landscape painting. london: t. cadell and w. davies, strand. hardie, m. 1967. water-colour painting in britain. the eighteenth century. london: b.t. batsford ltd. hipple, w. j. 1957. the beautiful, the sublime, & the picturesque in eighteenth-century british aesthetic theory. carbondale: the southern illinois university press. hume, d. 1739. a treatise on human nature http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4705/ pg4705.txt (12 december 2019). jauss, s. a. 2006. associationism and taste theory in archibald alison’s essays. the journal of aesthetics and art criticism 64(4): 415-428. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4622187 (10 december 2019). kallich, m. 1970. the association of ideas and critical theory in eighteenth-century england. a history of a psychological method in english criticism. the hague/paris: mouton & co. n.v., publishers. lacey, n. 1948. wordsworth’s idea of nature and its ethical consequences. cambridge: at the university press. owen, j. w. b. 1973. the sublime and the beautiful in the prelude. the wordsworth circle 4(2): 67-86. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24039116 (march 2020). price, u. 1842. on the picturesque. with an essay on the origin of taste, and much more original matter. edinburgh: caldwell, lloyd and co. reynolds, j. 1891. discourses on art. chicago: a. c. mcclurg and company. http://archive. org/stream/sirjoshuareynold00reynuoft#page/n9/mode/2up (20 july 2013). sloan, k. 1986. alexander and john robert cozens. the poetry of landscape. new heaven/ london: yale university press. 80 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) sze leung, w. 2015. the ethical importance of the beautiful: wordsworth’s revision of hume’s associationist aesthetics in the 1805. interdisciplinary literary studies 17(1): 86-109. wordsworth, w. 1802-1804. ode: intimations of immortality from recollections of early childhood. in: m. h. abrams (ed), 1986. the norton anthology of english literature, 209-216. new york/london: w. w. norton & company. wordsworth, w. 1850. the prelude. in: m. h. abrams (ed), 1986. the norton anthology of english literature, 227-311. new york/london: w. w. norton & company. *** marta oracz graduated from the university of silesia. in 2002 she was granted a phd degree in literature. she works at the university of silesia. her field of study is british literature and culture. she is interested in eighteenth century literature, philosophy, aesthetic theories and landscape painting. city / non-city: a preface 5 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) city / non-city: a preface acroyd’s london, dreiser’s chicago, dos passos’s new york, joyce’s dublin, pynchon’s los angeles, t. s. eliot’s unreal city… this random list provides merely a handful of examples that come to the reader’s mind when we think of the city as a setting for action or as a space for the peregrinations of a sensitive mind, and of how this setting is represented in works of literature in the twentieth century. nonetheless, it suggests a division of the literary-urban space into two basic categories – i.e., the historical/actual and the imaginary/symbolic. this contrast between these two kinds of cities can be taken together with the strategies of representation. on the one hand there is objectivity, based on the acute-andsynthesizing observations of the omniscient narrator(s), which turns into a careful description. on the other pole of the spectrum is situated a radical subjectivity manifesting itself in interior monologue and similar modernist techniques that demonstrate the workings of individual consciousness. the extension of the latter is the postmodern approach, in which the presented world is generated by the human mind or created by language itself (a “virus from outer space”, to use william s. burroughs’ metaphor), rather than reflected in the former or reproduced through the latter. such juxtapositions may be produced ad infinitum: the realistic versus the fantastic, the historical versus the imaginary, the material versus the impressionistic, showing versus telling. still, it is quite possible to challenge such easy-way-out options and look at the urban space as a hybrid, realistic-cum-fantastic organism with potential / in the process of a permanent metamorphosis: from the perfectly designed labyrinth (albeit possibly without a center) to amorphism and chaos embodied in its “nature”, from a historical city to metaphor, from an urban scene as a disciplined totality to fragmentariness and incompleteness of individual perceptions. this is the case since, as robert e. park says: [t]he city and the urban environment represent [humanity’s] most consistent and, on the whole, [its] most successful attempt to remake the world [it] lives in more after [its] heart’s desire. but if the city is the world which [humans] created, it is the world in which [they are] henceforth condemned to live. thus the city as a natural environment for humans has its inhabitants, characters who merge with the urban landscape following their vital pursuits and their desires for 6 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) social recognition and success whose trappings may be – roughly speaking – affluence, fame, and sex; or, as it happens, trying to satisfy some morbid pleasures – committing crimes or demonstrating other kinds of anti-social behavior. this may be regarded as a constant in the history of the city in literature – as kevin r. mcnamara observes, there are “social, economic, and cultural continuities between ancient, early modern, and contemporary cities.” and, perhaps it is the reason why the city is a topos which has been present in literature ever since. in fact, it is as old a literary motif as literature itself. think of gilgamesh where “the wall of uruk-heaven” was built, homer’s iliad and the siege of troy, virgil’s establishing of rome in the aeneid, and also, to focus on the epics of later cultural periods, of heorot in beowulf , of heaven in milton’s paradise lost, and of joyce’s ulysses, the latter quite rightly classified by patrick parrinder as a “work of absolute realism”, in which the mediterranean sea from the odyssey undergoes a city-change to become the modern dublin. what all these narratives have in common is that they establish a polis, whereas outside the non-human, hybrid – i.e., deformed and corrupt – monsters live: the “fatherless creatures”, the cyclops, lucifer, the sirens. * the six articles in this special issue of “crossroads” are on works published in the late 20th / early 21st centuries. to give justice to fluidity of the contemporary literary phenomena, the articles are arranged alphabetically in the order dictated by the names of the authors. the issue opens with a “negotiated reading” of mark mason’s walk the lines. the london underground, overground, in which dorota guzowska focuses on london as a human zoo, and draws parallels between this metaphor and ethnic exhibitions popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries. julia kula follows with a discussion on postmodern new york in paul auster’s ghosts to demonstrate how the dominating chronotope affects the investigation, which results in a typically postmodern anti-detective novel. magdalena łapińska explores emotional geographies of zelda lockhart’s duology (fifth born and fifth born ii: the hundredth turtle) set in new york, st. louis and rural mississippi, and explores a variety of expressions of (mostly) sexual violence within a black community. the theme of crime is overtly discussed in the article on jack womack’s random acts of senseless violence. drawing on the ecological school of criminology, klara mednis demonstrates a strict connection that exists between social disorganization and the high risk of brutal crime in the novel. jan moryń employs derrida’s concept of hauntology for the purpose of reading the gap that exists between life in the present moment and dreams of the bright future in william gibson’s “the gernsback continuum,” a short story set in 1930s in the cities of the american southwest. the last article in the issue is a reading of lisa jarnot’s poetic sequence entitled heliopolis; 7 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) here the mythical sun city becomes a scene of bizarre human actions performed by animals. mark tardi examines the ethical and social implications of the poet’s vision, also demonstrating how her stylistic strategies challenge the concept of spatio-temporal boundaries. the city gates are open. welcome home. jerzy kamionowski anna maria karczewska 4 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) samuel alaba akinwotu1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.01 adekunle ajasin university, nigeria https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2404-3094 a pragma-rhetorical study of selected pentecostal sermons in nigeria abstract. this study examines persuasion and communicative intentions in pentecostal sermons in nigeria. notwithstanding the high scholarly inputs in religious discourse, no single work has examined the devices employed to achieve persuasion and conviction as well as communicative intentions in pentecostal sermons in nigeria. this work examines twelve sermons of selected pentecostal preachers in nigeria by drawing insights from rhetoric and pragmatic act to account for persuasion and communicative intentions in the data. findings reveal that preachers strategically deploy rhetorical question; direct address and direct command; metaphor; repetition and structural parallelism; and they develop convincing arguments through logic/reason. it is also revealed that preachers share experiences with their listeners and they assume divine role by speaking authoritatively to convince their listeners into accepting their propositions. preachers perform pragmatic acts of asserting/stating, encouraging, assuring, directing, commanding, praising, etc. the study has further confirmed that pentecostal sermons can be used for public mobilisation. keywords: communicative intention, christian religious pentecostal sermons, pragmeme, rhetoric, metaphor. 1 introduction the central place which religion occupies in religious societies like nigeria makes it a matter of interest to virtually everybody in such societies. probably, this is why omotunde (2015: 85) writes that “just like language, religion is an important aspect of culture found in every human society, no matter how remote”. one of the various forms in which the christian religious discourse is realised is sermon and it is considered as one of the most important areas of worship. sermons belong to the persuasive genre and its role in information, education and instruction cannot be overstressed. as 1 address for correspondence: department of english studies, adekunle ajasin university, akungba-akoko, nigeria. e-mail: samuelakinwotu@gmail.com, samuel.akinwotu@aaua.edu.ng mailto:samuelakinwotu@gmail.com mailto:samuel.akinwotu@aaua.edu.ng 5 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) a form of religious discourse, it is a means of ideological persuasion, hence adam (2017: 22) avers that religious texts “represent a type of persuasive discourse and, as such, both create and reflect ideology” and their goal is “to persuade the audience of the veracity of the christian doctrine”. in religious cultures like nigeria, the place of worship is not just a place for people to gather for spiritual events; it is a centre for economic, political and socially wellcoordinated discourse events. the audience in this communicative action are mostly of the same society/culture with the preacher who is the active participant employing both linguistic and pragmatic resources to achieve effective communication. the way religion is structured gives preachers the power to exercise authority over their congregation. in this social context, sermons afford the preachers a measure of power over their hearers/readers who are most likely less informed/educated in matters of religion. in spite of this, however, the success of a sermon depends largely on the extent of its persuasiveness. to this end, persuasive strategies are necessarily adopted by preachers to ensure that crucial points, ideas, as well as arguments are presented in a manner to achieve conviction. this paper focuses on different ways in which persuasion is realised in christian religious sermons. it attempts to identify and categorise the rhetorical strategies and linguistic realisations of persuasion in the texts under examination. the paper also examines how credibility and intentionality are achieved/ maintained in christian religious sermons. 1.1 literature review it is important to note that scholars have always shown interest in investigating religious discourse as seen in the volume of works in this domain. existing studies include donovan (1976) which examines the features and forms of language use in religious speeches. he points out that “religious language is affective because it affects people’s feelings, enters into their imagination, influences their emotions and often gives the impression of conveying profound truth”. odebunmi (2006) examines the stylistics of religious electronic media adverts in nigeria. he observes that religious adverts are characterised by lexico-semantic, morphological, syntactic and pragmatic features, marked peculiar religious connotations which have the tendency to deceive the listener and lure him/her to act to the benefit of the advertiser. also, olaniyan and oyekola (2006) deploy stylistic tools to examine muslim sermons in south-west nigeria. they observe that muslim sermons are preoccupied by themes such as fear of allah, supremacy of allah, immorality and so on projected through morphological, lexico-semantic, syntactic and rhetorical devices. aladeyomi (2006) investigates the phonological features of electronic media sermons in nigeria. using the yardsticks of standard nigerian english, he observes that the preachers performed well but did not meet the requirement for acceptable international intelligibility. taiwo (2006) accounts for tenor in 6 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) electronic media christian discourse in nigeria. it focuses on the analysis of the role structure into which participants in the discourse fit and how this determines how they make and interpret meaning in the discourse. adeyanju (2008) is a stylo-semantic study of season’s greetings from pastor adeboye. he observes that pastor adeboye “skilfully manipulated linguistic and rhetorical resources to preach a coherent and soul stirring sermon to the members of his church via the new year greeting card”. bankole and ayoola (2014) examine the nature of propositions and how interpersonal relationships are created in a christian magazine. rajtar (2012) focuses on gender representation in the discursive practices of the jehovah’s witnesses in the former east germany. the paper examines how the egalitarian stance of the official state ideologies influences the perspectives and practices of jehovah’s witnesses on gender related issues. saddhono (2012) focuses on the structure and features of discourse, the topics, speech acts and the language form and functions in friday sermon in surakarta. again, abdel and eldin (2014) investigate the language use in amr khalid’s islamic sermons to uncover the ideological devices in the sermons using critical discourse analysis (cda) approach. omotunde (2015) examines the rhetorical devices in the letter to the hebrews in the holy bible. the study identifies appeal to pathos, logos, and ethos, and the deployment of rhetorical questions, repetition and parallelism as persuasive devices in the text. kim (2016) interrogates a dominant ideological position that excludes women from pastoral position. the paper examines the text of a religious scholar that assigns sovereign values to the interpretations that tend to propagate and legitimise this patriarchal church’s policy. the study observes that religious beliefs and doctrines often hinge on debatable and subjective interpretations of biblical texts based on the assumed mental models by presenting implicit presuppositions as unchanging and unchallengeable truths. willy and mbakop (2018) account for the pragmatic functions of ‘amen’ as used in two different religious trends, namely, mainstream protestant churches and pentecostal churches. they observe that apart from its use in traditional conclusion and gospel truth, new-born churches also employ it to maintain interpersonal relations and as power marker. although the above has shown that a lot of works exist on religious texts, the pragmatic and rhetorical resources involved in effective communication of intentions have not been adequately explored in christian religious pentecostal sermons. therefore, the significance of the present study lays in its focus on the identification and discussion of the persuasive elements and the strategies to achieve conviction in pentecostal sermons with a view to accounting for communicative intentions and how balance and effectiveness are maintained in selected sermons. 7 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 1.2 research questions the research questions of the study are the following: i. what are the linguistic and non-linguistic elements that make a piece of language persuasive? ii. what do pentecostal preachers do to make their sermons credible and potent enough to convince their addressees? iii. what are the pragmatic functions of language use performed in christian religious pentecostal sermons? 2 methodology the data for this study were mainly drawn from selected sermons of three pentecostal preachers in south-west nigeria who are popular with wide audience from diverse linguistic, ethnic and social backgrounds which necessarily makes english to be the preferred language of their sermons. they are; pastor e.a adeboye, the general overseer of the redeemed christian church of god (rccg); pastor w.f. kumuyi, the general superintendent of the deeper christian life bible church (dclbc); and bishop david oyedepo, the president of the living faith church (lfc). from over thirty sermons sampled, twelve (12) were selected (4 for each), based on their thematic focus. the list of the sermons is hereby provided under each preacher. pastor e.a. adeboye 1. put your trust in god 2. born to be a blessing 3. the almighty 4. prosperity pastor w.f. kumuyi 1. the power of prayer and praise 2. faith 3. holiness in christian daily living 4. christian giving bishop d. oyedepo 1. the greatest miracle 2. seed time and harvest 3. the exploits of faith 4. covenant wealth some of the sermons exist in electronic audio form while others are already published in books. the records containing the audios were bought from the media department of the churches while the books containing other sermons were bought from the bookshops. the researcher listened to the audios and transcribed them into the written mode. the books containing the sermons and the transcribed form were critically read and relevant aspects that reveal the discourse representations of persuasion, argumentation 8 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and the communicative intentions of the preachers were culled from the data and subjected to analysis. 3 theoretical orientation pentecostal sermon is a social process which involves a preacher and his/her listeners in a communicative interaction. usually, it is a one-way communication in which the preacher/speaker is the only active participant. listeners are not usually allowed to talk, save on rare occasions of emotional outbursts eliciting interjective responses, and when the preacher wants them to respond to a yes or no question eliciting a chorus answer and so on. even though sermons are strictly one way communication, interaction progresses on the interplay of shared grounds between speakers and listeners. sermons belong to persuasive discourse hence; preachers deploy pragmatic and rhetorical resources to achieve effectiveness in communication. therefore, a detailed analysis of pentecostal sermons would require both pragmatic and rhetorical investigation of the arguments of the preachers to be able to distil the fine details of the communication process. the pragma-rhetorical model as conceptualised in this study involves deploying a combination of pragmatic act theory and rhetoric to account for the communicative intentions and the strategies for maintaining balance and effectiveness in communication in the selected christian religious pentecostal sermons. thus, the analysis involves the identification and description of the discoursal and rhetorical elements, the strategies for sustaining arguments and, the pragmatic functions of the language use in the data. studies in persuasive discourse basically require an exploration of the art of rhetoric and argumentation. again, a theory of action such as mey’s pragmeme which recognises the place of context in discourse interpretation is also required to account for intentions in the selected sermons. thus, while rhetoric and argumentation will identify and evaluate persuasion and logic in the selected sermons, pragmeme will examine speakers’ intentions in them. as noted earlier, the engagement of the principles of rhetoric in persuading the audience to act or think in a particular way in religious communication is noteworthy. aristotle (1954) cited in roberts (2010) defines rhetoric as “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion”. persuasion involves a writer or speaker in the act of influencing an audience or a reader to adopt a belief or follow a course of action. to achieve persuasion, speakers often make use of language to appeal to their listeners’ emotion and sense of reason. according to aristotle (1926/1959), there are three general means of persuasion or rhetorical appeal (ethos, pathos and logos). thus, persuasion can be achieved by the personal character of the speaker (ethos; when the listener is made to believe that the speaker is credible), by putting the audience into a certain frame of mind (pathos; when the listener is made to feel emotionally elated by the speech) and by the proof provided by the words of the speech itself 9 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (logos; when conclusions are reached through logical presentation of truths) (see also roberts 2010: 8-9). to aristotle, the success of an oration depends not only on how well it is able to arouse the emotions of the audience but also, on the argument itself; when it demonstrates or seems to be demonstrated that something is the case. thus, an orator (e.g. a pentecostal preacher) must be credible and he must possess the capacity not only to manipulate language to sway the minds and swell the heads of his/her listeners, but also to achieve conviction depending on the topic of the sermon. aristotle further points out three kinds of rhetorical speeches: deliberative, forensic and epideictic. in the deliberative kind of speech, the speaker either advises the audience to do something or warns against doing something. the forensic speech either accuses somebody or defends self or someone; while the epideictic speech praises or blames somebody, as it tries to describe things or deeds of the respective person as honourable or shameful (see adegoju 2005). preachers often deploy persuasive devices to influence the beliefs, attitudes and forms of behaviour of their audiences through a deliberate act of producing utterances that appeal to their emotions and their sense of reason. this means that effective persuasive endeavour involves some measure of argumentation. according to van eemeren and grootendorst (2004: 1) argumentation is “a verbal, social, and rational activity aimed at convincing a reasonable critic of the acceptability of a standpoint by putting forward a constellation of propositions justifying or refuting the proposition expressed in the standpoint”. persuasion involves a speaker in the presentation of arguments in a manner to achieve conviction. thus, persuasive and argumentative capabilities of the speaker are essential to the success of any argumentative endeavour. since the aim of rhetoric and argumentation is to achieve persuasion and meaning in communication, a fusion of insights from rhetoric and dialectics frameworks will be beneficial to the understanding of an ordinary argumentation (see van eemeren & houtlosser 2002; eemeren & grootendorst 1984).this is so because, as a social activity, the making of a discourse involves that the speaker should present his/her views and opinions in such a manner that the audience will be persuaded to accept them. while it is important for a speaker to be persuasive in his/her presentation, the argument must also be logical and rational in order to convince the listeners. to a large extent, the success of a communicative enterprise depends largely on the ability of the arguer to make his/her standpoint convincing and conclusive. the second theory adopted for this study is pragmatic act theory (pat) or pragmeme. pat is a development on j.l austin’s (1962) speech act theory. mey’s disagreement with speech act is not only the idea of speech act verbs (savs) but on its abstract idealization of the intentional speaker and hearer and not on social reality. he contends that not all speech acts have corresponding sav; sometimes, they may be represented by several verbal items. pragmeme is different from speech act since it depends essentially, on the 10 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) circumstances that led to, and the situation in which the action takes place rather than the actual words being used. this implies that theory places premium on the sociocultural and societal factors in the construction and interpretation of meaning. it views communication as a dynamic process in which an individual is not only limited or constrained by societal conditions but he/she is also shaped by them at the same time. this means that the overall pragmatic meaning of an act is jointly determined by a combination of features of the context or situation of utterance in agreement with the rules entailed by such a situation or context. capone (2005: 1357) describes pragmeme as: a speech act -an utterance whose goal is to bring about effects that modify a situation and change the roles of the participants within it or to bring about other types of effect, such as exchanging/assessing information, producing social gratification or, otherwise, rights/obligations and social bonds. as in the real world, situations are not permanent; they keep changing and bringing about other types of effects. this dynamic nature of the situation is a component of pragmeme which allows for modifications such as the changing or retention of the roles of participants to achieve variants of same act/effect or an entirely different one. context and rules of language are essential features of pragmeme. by these, it is ensured that what is said and meant are within what the society allows (social constraints) in particular situations, subject to the rules of the language. stressing the role of context, mey (2001: 217) avers that, “no conversational contribution can be understood properly unless it is situated within the environment in which it was meant to be understood”. also, the rules of language provide the ground upon which what is said in context is systematically transformed into whatever is meant. pragmeme emphasises the societal and individual features in meaning construction and comprehension. thus, an individual actor or participant operates within the affordances of his/her society and the rules of engagement of the language in use. according to mey (2001: 219): the theory of pragmatic acts does not try to explain language use from the inside out, from words having their origin in a sovereign speaker and going out to an equally sovereign hearer (…). rather, its explanatory movement is from the outside in: the focus is on the environment in which both speaker and hearer find their affordances, such that the entire situation is brought to bear on what can be said on the situation, as well as on what is actually being said. in mey’s opinion, human activity is not the privilege of the individual. rather the individual is situated in a social context, which determines his/her affordances. 11 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) this is a deterministic view that limits individual initiatives with respect to what an individual can say and what he cannot say. mey explains further that no two situations in real life are ever the same, just as no two practs are ever the same with regard to the actual situation under which they are realised. at the same time, every pract is an allopract which is a variant of the same pract; a realisation of a particular pragmeme (mey 2001: 221). hence, odebunmi (2008) submits that what determines a pract is solely participants’ knowledge of interactional context. the relationship between a pract and an allopract can be likened to the relation of a general class and its sub-classes or types. in other words, a pract is the general class while an allopract is a type or variant of it. this is means that a pract includes all other variants (allopracts) of it. as a theory that emphasises the importance of participants’ knowledge of interactional context in the understanding of meaning in any speech event, pragmeme is more appropriate for this study. this is especially so, because of its ability to harness the pragmatic resources to adequately account for the intentions of the preachers in the selected sermons. 4 data presentation and analysis generally speaking, religious discourse is usually persuasive. as a type of public speech, it involves speakers in strategic presentation of their communicative intentions in a manner that will appeal to their listeners and as a result, accept their point of view. in this segment of the paper, the devices and/or strategies employed to achieve persuasion and conviction and the pragmatic functions of language use performed in the process are examined. the extracts below would serve the purpose of illustration and analysis extract (1) are you under satanic bondage? are your enemies oppressing you? are you under the bondage of sin? the almighty god is able to save to the uttermost. (sermon 1) extract (2) adultery destroys your soul. you must be a fool of the highest order to indulge in adultery. for, adulterers and fornicators are enemies of themselves and they will not enter the kingdom of god unless they repent. jesus is coming back again for a bride without spot, blemish or wrinkle. today is your day of salvation; do not let it pass you by. (sermon 1) extract (3) whenever you pray and there is no answer, check your life. sin is a barrier to answered prayers. you may hide your sins from your pastor but not from god. you cannot be living in sin and expect the grace of god to multiply in your life. righteousness qualifies you for divine attention while sin disqualifies you. there is no rest for sinners. repent today and enter into your rest. (sermon 12) extract (4) who is like unto thee oh god of heavens and earth! your works are marvellous. there is none on earth who can stop the sun in its circuit or the moon from 12 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) rising except you. there is nothing impossible before you. you are mighty to save, mighty to bless, mighty to heal and mighty to deliver. you are worthy of our worship. indeed you are very great! (sermon 9) extract (5) we have enough reasons to thank our god. he is the eyes that watch us even in darkness, the ear that listens to our petitions, and the mercy that endures forever. beloved, think of his love; think of his blessings; think of his miracles, signs and wonders in your life. you are alive today because he spares your life. he fights your battles for you and gives you victory. what more can you give him. go ahead and give him praise! (sermon 3) extract (6) god commands us to praise him in all situations. when you have so much in your pocket, praise him; when you can hardly pay your bills, praise him; when you get a new job, praise him; when you have just received your sack letter, praise him. thank him for food on your table, thank him for ability to eat it, thank him for sleeping and waking and thank him for everything. (sermon 5) extract (7) the word of god is powerful. it is your seed for a miracle. when you plant a seed, you expect it to bear fruits and when you plant the word you expect a miracle. when you plant the healing word you reap healing miracle. therefore, begin to speak to your situation now (sermon 10) extract (8) giving is getting. the more you give, the more you get. the more you invest in people through giving, and in the cause of god, the more you receive now and in eternity. (sermon 8) extract (9) god is the owner of the earth and the fullness by creation. it does not matter the nature of your problem, he is able to deliver you from it. life is a battle; it is full of challenges but our god is a great deliverer. all you need to do is to put your faith in him. power to safe and deliver belongs to him. he is exceedingly great. (sermon 6) extract (10) do not put your trust in any man; such a man can travel or even die. god will never become tired. he will never fail you. he is the only friend who can go through the valley of the shadow of death with you. he is the only friend you can trust. (sermon 7) extract (11) when god commands, it happens. he commanded and there was light. absolute power belongs to god. god is greater than the greatest doctor and his power can save and cure even supposedly incurable diseases (sermon 11) extract (12) man was created by god to live forever; but death came into the life of man after the unfortunate incident in the garden of eden. since then, man has to struggle in the midst of comfort, he became poor in the midst of abundance and finally, he must die for his sins. for, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of god is eternal life. salvation is only possible through jesus christ. give your life to christ today and be saved. (sermon 7) 13 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) extract (13) god is the sufficiency of all that trust him. he is the present help to the helpless, the controller of the universe, the everlasting one. when he opens the door, nobody can shut it. (sermon 4) 4.1 use of rhetorical question one major persuasive element that is significant in the data for this study is rhetorical question. a rhetorical question is one that does not require the readers/listeners to answer/respond to it. although it may sometimes, be framed in the nature or structure of a question, it is meant to be a statement. as revealed in the data, rhetorical questions are employed by preachers to make their listeners engage in self-reflection and by so doing, lead them into a premeditated conclusion. as can be seen in extract 1, the questions are covert means of stating the problem which is followed immediately by the solution/suggestion/advice. the rhetorical questions state the problems (satanic bondage, oppression by enemies and bondage of sin) in succession. it is assumed here that participants have the shared contextual apriori experience (ssk) of these problems from which the listener desires deliverance and to which the speaker offers a solution in the concluding sentence (the almighty god is able to save to the uttermost). this, perhaps, supports the choice of the present form of the verb ‘to be’ [is, (not was) able] which makes the statement free from time constraints. the statement that follows the rhetorical questions reveals the communicative intention of the preacher. this assertive statement is deployed to perform the pragmatic act of assuring. through this, listeners are being encouraged to have faith in god and look up to him for solution to, or deliverance from their problems. 4.2 use of direct address and direct command pentecostal preachers often talk or address their listeners directly especially when they desire to establish close bond with them. this device comes in two distinct but sometimes interrelated forms, namely, direct address and direct command. direct address and direct command involve the speaker in speaking directly to a listener in a manner that will attract his/her attention and to make him/her believe that the speaker cares or empathises with his/her situation. even though direct address and direct command are usually engaged in face-to-face communication, they are also used in written communication, especially when the writer wants to persuade his/her listeners to accept a particular proposition. it should be noted however that, while direct address may serve the purpose of informing, advising or urging listeners to take a particular step or do something, a speaker may give an instruction, directive/command or make a request through direct command. as revealed in the data, direct address and direct command are achieved through some pronominal elements such as ‘thee’, ‘you’ and ‘your’ used to restrict the applicability of the statements to the addressees. for example, 14 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the preachers in extracts 2 and 3 used the second person pronoun ‘you’ and ‘your’ to connect with their listeners directly as if they are in personal/one-on-one interactions. thus, they personalise the propositions to establish emotional link (bonding) with their listeners and legitimise themselves as a leader or one who knows better than them. operating as a leader in extract 1, the preacher asserts that “adultery destroys your soul” and warns his listeners collectively and individually, against the dangers of sin/adultery. he performs the pragmatic acts of asserting and warning. he also performs the pragmatic acts of advising/encouraging by commanding when he says “repent “today and enter into your rest”. the last sentence in extract 5 and the phrase “praise him” repeated four times in extract 6 are direct commands and they also perform the pragmatic act of directing/instructing. again in extract 4, the preacher addresses god directly using the pronouns thee, you and your to perform the pragmatic acts of praising, worshipping and adoring god while encouraging his listeners to do same. 4.3 use of metaphor metaphor (mph), which is a device for comparison, is employed to achieve persuasion in pentecostal sermons as revealed in the data. in extracts 2 and 3 above, sin and righteousness are metaphorically and symbolically juxtaposed in a manner that establishes the logical connections between them. the lexical choices such as ‘fool’ and ‘bride’ are descriptive metaphor for sinners (adulterer and fornicator) and the righteous (without spot, blemish and wrinkle) respectively. while sin is presented metaphorically as a barrier and destroyer (sin is a barrier…, adultery destroys...), righteousness is symbolically presented as a “bride” [precious, favourable, priceless (prov. 18:22 & prov. 31: 10)] without “spot, blemish, and wrinkle”. the preacher leverages on the shared religious knowledge (srk) that jesus is coming back again (john 14:3, acts 1:11) to examine these two opposing religious concepts to persuade his listeners to accept his position. he performs the pragmatic act of warning (against living in sin)as well as the pragmatic act of encouraging righteous living (righteousness qualifies you for divine attention while sin disqualifies you). another example of metaphor is in extract 5, where the preacher compares god to some sensitive and highly important and useful parts of the human body to underscore the importance and role of god in the life of man. god is compared to the ‘eyes’ that watch us even in darkness (protects/secures) and ‘ear’ that listens to our petitions (listens/hears). the first and second sentences of extract 7 are noteworthy in performing the pragmatic act of encouraging. here, the preacher uses the metaphor of farming/ agriculture (planting and reaping/harvesting) to compare the process of receiving a miracle to harvesting/reaping in farming. he compares “the word of god” to the “seed” (plant/sow) while the “fruit” (harvest/reap) is the metaphor for a “miracle”. this, perhaps, is to encourage the listeners that miracle is not a commonplace as may be perceived 15 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) by the righteous ones. as in farming, there is the time of sowing with the expectation of a harvest. the analogy is used to perform the pragmatic act of encouraging. 4.4 use of repetition and structural parallelism repetition and structural parallelism are also significant persuasive devices employed in pentecostal sermons. while repetition occurs when an element is either repeated (partly or wholly) for emphasis, structural parallelism involves a deliberate repetition of structures to express related issues in order to show the similarities or differences in them. examples in the extracts above include “mighty to” (4 times) in extract 4; “think of” (3 times) in extract 5; “the more you” (4 times) in extract 8; “when you” (4 times) and “thank him” (4 times) in extract 6. the devices are also used in extract 7 to systematically present an argument. the phrases, “when you plant…” and “you expect…” structurally interlinked to achieve emphasis and clarity. so also in extract 8,giving and getting and, investing and receiving are logically and structurally juxtaposed. the paradox of the phrase, “giving is getting”, can be better explained inter-textually with some biblical references: (a) give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. for with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. (luke 6: 38 kjv) (b) but this i say, he that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. (2 cor.9: 6 kjv) the above biblical references establish the shared religious knowledge (srk) of the principle of giving as a means to receiving supernatural abundance (the more you give / sow, the more you receive / reap) which the preacher activates to link the immediate situational experience (ssk) to perform the pragmatic act of inspiring and encouraging his listeners to give. 4.5 use of logic or reason since the essence of persuasion is to achieve conviction, preachers usually make their argument logical and reasonable. they not only present their argument in a systematic order of input and output relation (logicality) but also provide the premise or basis for their goals/positions/perspectives. for example, the argument in extract 7 is logically connected through the sequential ordering of the phrases, when you plant” (input) and “you expect” (output).also, in the first sentence of extract 2 (topic sentence), the preacher asserts that sin is destructive (adultery destroys your soul). this assertion is strengthened by the sentences that follow where the preacher further reveals the consequences of adultery and fornication. through tactical deployment of the rhetorical appeal 16 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of logos, he initiates his argument by stating the consequences (sentence 1-3) of indulging in sin and concludes by condemning and warning his listeners against sin (for, an adulterer and a fornicator is an enemy of himself and such will not enter the kingdom of god). the preacher performs the pragmatic acts of stating/asserting (jesus is coming back again for a bride without spot, blemish or wrinkle). he also performs the pragmatic act of encouraging and advising his listeners to forsake sin and avoid its consequences (today is your day of salvation; do not let it pass you by). in extract 11, the preacher develops an argument and provides a reason or evidence to convince his listeners of the truth in his proposition. the proposition (when god commands, it happens.), is supported by an evidence that god is powerful (he commanded and there was light) which he legitimises in the last two sentences (god is greater than the greatest doctor and his power can save and cure even supposedly incurable diseases). he performs the pragmatic act of encouraging/assuring. pentecostal preachers also achieve conviction by providing the premise or basis for their goals/positions/perspectives. for example, in extracts 10 and 13, the preachers tactically provide the premise/basis for their goals to encourage or assure their listeners of the unfailing presence, power and influence of god and his readiness to help in solving their problems. speaking directly to his listeners in extract 10, the preacher activates listener’s srk that “god is our refuge, and strength, a very present help in trouble” (psalm 46:1 kjv) and encourages them to have faith and trust in god. he performs the pragmatic act of advising (do not put your trust in any man) through a logical argument in which he compares god (a friend who can be trusted because he can never be tired and he can never fail) with man (who cannot be trusted because he can fail, travel or die). in the same vein, the preacher in extract 13 activates the listener’s srk about god’s ability to provide for all their needs (the earth is the lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. psalm 24:1 kjv). he performs the pragmatic acts of affirming/stating, inspiring and assuring. while arguing that sin and grace are diametrical opposites, he justifies his position that sin is a barrier to answered prayers such that whenever they pray and there is no answer, they should examine their lives. 6 discussion and conclusions this study has examined the rhetorical resources and communicative intentions in christian religious pentecostal sermons in nigeria. it has identified and discussed the significant persuasive resources and the devices and/or strategies used to achieve conviction and maintain balance and reasonableness in christian pentecostal sermons. the study has also accounted for the pragmatic functions of language use in the selected data. this study has revealed that pentecostal preachers tactically employ persuasive appeal of logos to develop clear and convincing arguments. as observed by adam 17 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (2017: 20), appeal to rationality of the audience is a major means of achieving clarity which is at the heart of aristotelian concept of logos and this can be facilitated by lexical means. in the data examined for this study, the preachers deploy lexical and rhetorical devices such as direct address, direct command, repetition, structural parallelism, rhetorical question and metaphor to facilitate the clarity of their message. to further achieve conviction, they present the basis/premise/reason for their proposition in the style of cause and effect or input and output relation. also, the language of the preachers reveals shared experiences with their listeners. quite often, pentecostal preachers assume divine/institutional voice by speaking authoritatively on issues. this can be likened to what bhatia (1999) and hyland (2005) called ‘credibility boosters’. in the case of our data, preachers employ this communicative mechanism to increase their credibility and to enhance the value of their message. in the course of preaching, they also make reference to specific passages or stories in the bible that are general/shared knowledge to their listeners and this helps in enhancing their status. according to van dijk (1998: 316-317), “discourse has a special function in the expression, implementation and especially the reproduction of ideologies, since it is only through language use, discourse or communication […] that they can be explicitly formulated”. adam (2017) perhaps has this in mind when he claims that religious communication has the basic purpose of creating, mediating and reflecting ideology. one can therefore, glean from the above that apart from persuading the audience, pentecostal preachers engage in teaching and they also use language to perform some actions or communicate their intentions. some of the pragmatic functions of language use performed in the data include asserting/stating, encouraging, assuring, directing, commanding, praising, condemning, warning and disapproving to convince their listeners into accepting their propositions and act in a preconceived way. in conclusion, it is evident from this study that persuasion is at the core of pentecostal sermons which can be used for mobilising or demobilising listeners. to a large extent, pentecostal preachers employ logical utterances embellished with quasi logical techniques of persuasion that are meant to achieve effectiveness in communication. they creatively use language to motivate and energise their audiences, and to earn their trust. the author believes that the findings of this paper will be of benefit to religious preachers in that it will help them to master the art effective religious communication. the findings will also be useful as pedagogical resources in language and communication. further research can juxtapose the pragma-rhetorical resources in orthodox and pentecostal movements within the christian religion. 18 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) references abdel, a. & eldin, t.s. 2014. critical discourse analysis of religious sermons in egypt – case study of amr khalid’s sermons. international education studies vol. 7, no. 11. url: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ies.v7n11p68 www.ccsenet.org/ies adam, m. 2017. persuasion in religious discourse: enhancing credibility in sermon titles and openings. discourse and interaction. assessed from: https://www.researchgate.net/ publication on 21/10/2020 adegoju, a. 2005. a stylistic study of the speeches of some key actors of the june 12 crisis in nigeria (1993-98) [unpublished phd thesis], department of english, university of ibadan. adeyanju, d. 2008. season’s greetings from a cleric: a stylo-semantic analysis of pastor adeboye’s new year compliments. papers in english and linguistics (pel) vol 6, 85-94. aladeyomi, s. a. 2006. phonological features of electronic media sermons. in: a. odebunmi & o. babajide adeyemi (eds.), style in religious communication in nigeria. germany: lincom. bankole, m. a. & ayoola, m.o. 2014. mood and modality in christian magazines: a systemic functional analysis of christian women mirror. international journal of humanities and social science vol. 4, no. 14: 138-149. bhatia, v. k. & bremner, s. (eds) 2014. the routledge handbook of language and professional communication. london: routledge. capone, a. 2005. pragmeme (a study with reference to english and italian). journal of pragmatics 37: 1355-1371. donovan, p. 1976. religious language. london: sheldon press. hyland, k. 2005. stance and engagement: a model of interaction in academic discourse. discourse studies 7/2: 173-192. kim, e. j. 2016. persuasive strategies in a chauvinistic religious discourse: the case of women’s ordination. critical approaches to discourse analysis across disciplines vol 8 (1): 58-83. mey, j. 2001. pragmatics: an introduction. london: blackwell. odebunmi, a. 2006. the stylistics of religious electronic media adverts in nigeria. in: a. odebunmi & a. babajide (eds.), style in religious communication in nigeria. germany: lincom. odebunmi, a. 2008. pragmatic strategies of diagnostic news delivery in nigerian hospitals. linguistik online 36, 4/08: 21-37. olaniyan, k.k. & oyekola, a.g. 2006. a stylistic study of muslim sermons. in: a. odebunmi & a. babajide (eds.), style in religious communication in nigeria. germany: lincom. omotunde, s. a. 2015. rhetorical devices in the letter to the hebrews in the holy bible. ife studies in african literature and the arts vol. 40: 85-103. http://www.ccsenet.org/ies https://www.researchgate.net/publication%20on%2021/10/2020 https://www.researchgate.net/publication%20on%2021/10/2020 19 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) rajtar, m. 2012. gender in the discursive practices of the jehovah’s witnesses in the former east germany. social compass 59: 102-119. rapp, c 2002 aristotle’s rhetoric. stanford encyclopaedia of philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-rhetoric/ roberts, w. r. 2010. aristotle’s rhetoric and poetics. new york: random house inc. saddhono, k. 2012. the discourse of friday sermon in surakarta: a socio-pragmatic study. doi:10.17510/wjhi.v14i1.53. https://www.researchgate.net taiwo, r. 2006. tenor in electronic media christian discourse in nigeria. in: a. odebunmi & a. babajide (eds.), style in religious communication in nigeria. germany: lincom. the redeemed christian church of god 2012. (rccg) at 60. the 60th annual convention programme van dijk, t. a. 1998. ideology. a multidisciplinary approach. london: sage publications. van eemeren, f.h. & grootendorst, r. 1984. speech acts in argumentative discussions. dordrecht: foris publications. van eemeren f. h & grootendorst, r. 2004. a systematic theory of argumentation: the pragmadialectical approach. cambridge: cambridge university press. van eemeren f. h & houtlosser, p. 2002. strategic manoeuvring: maintaining a delicate balance. in: f.h. van eemeren & p. houtlosser (eds.), dialectic and rhetoric: the warp and woof of argumentation analysis, 131-159. dordrecht: kluwer academic publishers. willy, a. & mbakop, n. 2018. a comparative analysis of the pragmatic functions of ‘amen’ in mainstream protestant and pentecostal churches in cameroon. springer, link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2fs41701-018-0032-4#sec1 * * * dr. samuel alaba akinwotu is a senior lecturer in the department of english studies, adekunle ajasin university, akungba-akoko, nigeria. his areas of research interest are pragmatics and discourse analysis. he has published in both local and international journals. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-rhetoric/ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-rhetoric/ https://www.researchgate.net _hlk43383972 _hlk74748384 _hlk74836717 _hlk27330924 _hlk27300431 _hlk54599725 _hlk32912836 _hlk27329327 _hlk27300414 _hlk77670239 _hlk77236825 _hlk77237282 _hlk77266523 samuel alaba akinwotu doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.01 a pragma-rhetorical study of selected pentecostal sermons in nigeria klaudia gajewska doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.02 why has phonodidactics become “the neglected orphan” of esl/efl pedagogy? explaining methodologyand elf--related motives behind a reluctance towards pronunciation teaching małgorzata jarmołowicz-dziekońska doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.03 the picture bride phenomenon: a reflection on photography from a cultural perspective in yoshiko uchida’s picture bride laura saks doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.04 is translating poems for children a child’s play? a linguistic analysis of the english translations of “lokomotywa” by julian tuwim magdalena żochowska doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.05 translating irony. translation strategies and techniques used by polish translators of pride and prejudice 53 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) kinga jęczmińska1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.36.1.04 jagiellonian university in kraków, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6975-9002 spiritual and material dimensions of home in j. m.coetzee’s age of iron abstract. the aim of the article is to analyse the living conditions presented in j. m. coetzee’s novel age of iron with reference to differences between the white and black communities of cape town in south africa. it argues that differences in the conditions of living related to social and racial divisions are also reflected in the visions of the afterlife. the protagonist of the novel, mrs curren, portrays white people as living in comfort and dying in old age due to natural causes. the moment of their death constitutes a transition from earthly life to spiritual or incorporeal existence. in contrast, black people die young in apartheid fights. the dismal portrayal of the destruction of black people’s housing corresponds to mrs curren’s naturalistic descriptions of the dead bodies of young black activists. their death does not involve a transformation into a spirit that has shed its body; death offers no relief, since their bodies and souls remain in “african hell”. keywords: j.m. coetzee, age of iron, home, house, spirituality, materialism, naturalism. j. m. coetzee’s novel age of iron from 1990 portrays the life of its main protagonist, mrs elizabeth curren, who is an elderly woman living in cape town. an important theme in the novel is the problem of housing conditions and their differences between different social and racial groups. georg gugelberger classifies the novel as “the new fiction of the unhomed”, which tackles important issues of homelessness and migrancy (gugelberger 1995: 133). he stresses the close connection between “the homeless” and “the uncanny”: the latter word “in the original sense of the german word unheimlich” means “unbehaust, without a home/heim)”, which “makes this novel so uncanny” (gugelberger 1995: 131). the problem of homelessness may be discussed in a broader context of the presentation of homes and houses of different characters in age of iron. this article will argue that differences in the conditions of living related to social and racial divisions between cape town people are also reflected in the conditions of existence of their souls after death. 1 address for correspondence: department of comparative studies in literature and culture, institute of english studies, jagiellonian university, al. adama mickiewicza 9, 31-120 kraków, poland. e-mail: kinga.jeczminska@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6975-9002 54 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) age of iron uses first-person narration with mrs curren as the narrator. it may be classified as an “epistolary novel” (woessner 2017: 154) or as written in an “epistolary mode” (worthington 2011: 115): it has the form of letters from mrs curren to her daughter who emigrated to the united states. the letters describe what mrs curren witnesses at the end of her life in south africa in the apartheid era. at the beginning of the novel, the protagonist is diagnosed with terminal stage cancer. shortly after the diagnosis, she meets a homeless man, verceuil, who came to her garden and stays in her house. mrs curren employs a black servant, florence, as a domestic help. florence’s son bheki fights, together with john and some other friends, with apartheid soldiers. in one of these fights bheki is killed, which is followed by john’s apprehension by the police. the novel ends with an ambiguous scene that may be interpreted as the moment of mrs curren’s death in her house. as noted by gillian dooley, the title of the novel refers to hesiod’s classification of ages, in which the current age of iron is preceded by other ages: golden, silver, bronze, and heroic. hesiod made no predictions concerning possible future ages after the age of iron (2016: 102-103). in hesiod’s works and days, the age of iron is described as the present era, in which “men never rest from labour and sorrow by day, and from perishing by night; and the gods shall lay sore trouble upon them” (hesiod 170, qtd. in dooley 2016: 102). according to hesiod, this age is characterised by suffering and injustice: “strength will be right and reverence will cease to be; and the wicked will hurt the worthy man, speaking false words against him […] [t]here will be no help against evil” (hesiod 170, qtd. in dooley 2016: 103). to some degree, this injustice is also reflected in differences in the conditions of living of the white and black people in south africa, as well as in the protagonist’s visions concerning their afterlives. as pointed out by olfa belgacem, colonial literature usually describes the bodies of representatives of non-white races as either imperfect, ailing, or in some other way “marked”. consequently, black people’s bodies are usually presented “as a foil to the superior, perfect” or idealised white body (belgacem 2021: 29). yet, as illustrated by belgacem, this tendency is modified in post-colonial novels such as those exemplified by coetzee’s fiction, in which white characters also suffer from malformations of their bodies. this change in the representation of white bodies can be noticed in age of iron, in which the main protagonist observes morbid changes in her body during the final stage of cancer (belgacem 2021: 33). it may be argued, however, that it is still possible to discern some contrast between the representation of the black and white races, yet it is shifted to differences between the conditions of their possible afterlives rather than their actual physical bodies. these differences are also reflected in housing conditions during the earthly lives of these two racial groups. it is possible to distinguish several categories of citizens whose conditions of living are described in the novel. these different categories include mrs curren, vercueil and black people. moreover, mrs curren often evokes 55 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the idea of imaginary souls, whose conditions of existence also reflect differences in habitation between two distinct groups of people who were their earthly embodiment. mrs curren is a representative of the white community of cape town. as pointed out by carrol clarkson, age of iron, just like life & times of michael k and disgrace, has a very highly specified location: the characters of these novels “are meticulously tracked in the recognizable co-ordinates of named towns, roads, and landmarks of south africa’s cape regions” (2009: 133). in age of iron, mrs curren’s house is located in the area of breda street, schoonder street and vrede street (coetzee 1990: 145). therefore, it may be inferred that her house is located in or near the gardens district, the inner-city suburb in cape town. this is an affluent area, which is nowadays inhabited mostly by young professionals, with a plethora of chic restaurants, pubs, shops and art galleries (minford 2018). in mrs curren’s words, this area represents the history of the domination of white people in cape town: did these things really happen? yes, these things happened. there is no more to be said about it. they happened a stone’s throw from breda street and schoonder street and vrede street, where a century ago the patricians of cape town gave orders that there be erected spacious homes for themselves and their descendants in perpetuity, foreseeing nothing of the day when, in their shadows, the chickens would come home to roost. (coetzee 1990: 145) mrs curren’s house may be perceived as a symbol of the past but also as a shelter for people who come to visit her. mrs curren is a former classics professor (worthington 2011: 115), which is reflected in her frequent references to the past, classical mythology and culture. mrs curren’s house also gives shelter to vercueil and young black boys. her home is a pleasant place that offers comfort and illustrates “mrs. curren’s daily habits of orderliness, cleanliness, and thrift”, as emphasised by derek attridge (2004: 99). the connections with the past and the atmosphere of peace which characterise mrs curren’s dwelling place are also reflected in her images concerning her possible future afterlife. while contemplating life and death, mrs curren reveals her beliefs in the existence of both material bodies and spiritual souls. as observed by jarad zimbler, the “soul” is an important concept in the novel, since the word appears at least 37 times; only in three cases does its use seem idiomatic (zimbler 2015: 173). the prevailing nonidiomatic occurrences often refer to “the transition from life to death”, in which the soul “identifies that part of the self that survives” (zimbler 2015: 173). approaching her imminent death, mrs curren consistently identifies herself with her soul rather than her body. she perceives her material parts as merely tools that can be used as long as the body functions properly. the body seems to be something alien to her. she feels as though she was forced to take care of something that she does not truly identify with. 56 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) consequently, she wonders why she should take her legs “to bed with […] [her] night after night and pack them in under the sheets, and pack the arms in too, higher up near the face, and lie there sleepless amid the clutter” (coetzee 1990: 11). likewise, she feels disconnected from her internal organs and their processes: the abdomen “with its dead gurglings” and the heart, which seems to be beating for no reason (coetzee 1990: 11). her bodily parts are not integral to her but rather something distant, since she asks: “what have they to do with me?” (coetzee 1990: 11). she feels betrayed by the body since it has developed cancer. as stated by olfa belgacem, mrs curren “experiences a certain alienation from her own body” (2021: 33). this is in line with another metaphor in the novel, in which mrs curren portrays her body as a house in which her soul lives. at the end of the novel, she says, “i will draw a veil soon. this was never meant to be the story of a body, but of the soul it houses” (coetzee 1990: 170). at the beginning of the novel, shortly after having been informed about the cancer, mrs curren tries to imagine possible destinations of souls. she compares heaven to everyday places, such as a hotel lobby and a crowded bus. the first image seems peaceful although it is simultaneously rather boring: heaven is a place of rest, in which elderly people are sitting around, listening to music, free of any pain: heaven. i imagine heaven as a hotel lobby with a high ceiling and the art of fugue coming softly over the public address system. where one can sit in a deep leather armchair and be without pain. a hotel lobby full of old people dozing, listening to the music, while souls pass and re-pass before them like vapours, the souls of all. a place dense with souls. (coetzee 1990: 22) mrs curren describes souls as immaterial, yet in her images they wear clothes, although of “an abstract kind”: clothed? yes, clothed, i suppose; but with empty hands. a place to which you bring nothing but an abstract kind of clothing and the memories inside you, the memories that make you. a place without incident. (coetzee 1990: 22) this place is a kind of waiting room, although there is nothing to wait for, which makes it similar to “a railway station after the abolition of trains” (coetzee 1990: 22). the souls lazily spend their time, contemplating memories of their earthly life: “listening to the heavenly unending music, waiting for nothing, paging idly through the store of memories” (coetzee 1990: 22). in “perversions and reversals of childhood and old age in j. m. coetzee’s age of iron” christiane bimberg recognises in this scene “romantic-escapist” elements that characterise “a carefree zone” (bimberg 2005/2006: 74). as argued by emanuela tegla, this vision of heaven corresponds to the lifestyle of affluent 57 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) social groups. tegla enumerates several features of this vision which may be interpreted as congruent with the bourgeois viewpoint on life and afterlife. first, heaven is located in a hotel, which represents “holiday, rest, comfort, respite from real, everyday life” (tegla 2012: 975). second, the hotel lobby has “high ceilings”, which are typical of “aristocratic houses” (tegla 2012: 975). third, armchairs are covered with leather, which symbolises financial prosperity and presumably “attention to style” (tegla 2012: 975). fourth, the classical music that is streamed in heaven can be associated with the traditional sense of style characterising wealthy people. fifth, the souls in this heaven do nothing: they are “dozing” so they simply relax without any obligations or duties to fulfil. these circumstances create the image of heaven as “born from a bourgeois imagination, which indulges in wishful thinking for elements of bourgeois well-being and comfort in afterlife” (tegla 2012: 975). yet, these peaceful images of heaven do not make mrs curren forget about her real home on earth. she worries about what may happen to her material house after her death. she is concerned about its condition and its future inhabitants: will it be possible to sit in that armchair listening to the music without fretting about the house closed up and dark, the cats prowling in the garden, unfed, cross? it must be possible, or what is heaven for? yet dying without succession is – forgive me for saying this – so unnatural. for peace of mind, for peace of soul, we need to know who comes after us, whose presence fills the rooms we were once at home in. (coetzee 1990: 22) later, when she sees verceuil smoking a cigarette outside her house, she starts to imagine sexual contact with him, which fills her with disgust but also makes her consider a different vision of heaven, in which people would have close contact with each other. this idea brings to her mind a portrayal of heaven in which people would stand in a crowded bus. in this afterlife people would not have any privacy and would be forced to constantly touch each other, despite having been transformed into souls: like travelling in a bus in sicily, pressed face to face, body to body against a strange man. perhaps that is what the afterlife will be like: not a lobby with armchairs and music but a great crowded bus on its way from nowhere to nowhere. standing room only: on one’s feet forever, crushed against strangers. the air thick, stale, full of sighs and murmurs: sorry, sorry. promiscuous contact. forever under the gaze of others. an end to private life. (coetzee 1990: 27) as argued by emanuela tegla, this image is much less inviting than the first one. in this vision, boundaries between individuals become blurred and they all become just parts of a conglomerate. tegla points out that the presence of others in the bus is so overwhelming that there is absolutely no privacy. even though people in the bus are 58 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) strangers to each other, everyone is merely a “part of a crowd” (tegla 2012: 976). there is no escape from the “suffocating presence of others” (tegla 2012: 976). tegla argues that this scene may symbolize the guilt and shame felt by the social group that is represented by mrs curren. in tegla’s opinion, white people in south africa may feel collectively responsible for the discrimination of the black race. just like their souls in the afterlife, citizens of the privileged class become fused and united in their responsibility for social injustice: “this holds true in real life as well, therefore the shame the protagonist feels, which derives from a sense of collective guilt” (tegla 2012: 976). not only does mrs curren compare heaven to ordinary places, but she also makes reverse comparisons, in which buildings or parts of the empirical world are compared to possible destinations of souls such as spiritual realms described in mythology or religion. when mrs curren visits john in hospital, she can see other elderly people who are ill, which makes her feel uncomfortable and overwhelmed. she starts to feel oppressed and intimidated by the vast number of ailing people who suddenly appear in front of her eyes. the hospital seems a democratic meeting place for patients that represent both racial groups (“black and white”) and both genders (“men and women”), which are united by the same condition: waiting for death (coetzee 1990: 63). yet, mrs curren, due to her privileged social status, is able to escape this place and go back to her own house, which offers comfort even when she is terminally ill (coetzee 1990: 63-64). the protagonist believes that other patients can guess that she, just like them, is facing her death: she senses that they are “catching unerringly on […] [her] smell of death” (coetzee 1990: 63). mrs curren feels almost guilty that she does not have to spend her final days in hospital but can live in her house instead. people around her seem to look at her as an “impostor” who leaves the hospital at will; they seem to be jealous and eager to draw her back to the place of their own suffering. they seem to demand from her to suffer just as they do in this disheartening institution: “don’t you know the rule? this is the house of shadow and suffering through which you must pass on the way to death” (coetzee 1990: 63-64). it seems unjust that she can come back to her cosy house whereas “none of the condemned flee back to the air, the light, the bounteous world above” (coetzee 1990: 64). in mrs curren’s eyes, the stay in hospital is an obligatory punishment for the terminally ill: “a term in prison before the execution” (coetzee 1990: 64). mrs curren compares the hospital to hades patrolled by dogs, “[o]ld hounds” resembling cerberus (coetzee 1990: 64). finally, she manages to escape this dismal place and come back to her own part of town, which fills her simultaneously with relief and guilt: “hades this place, and i a fugitive shade. i shuddered as i passed through the doorway” (coetzee 1990: 64). soon afterwards mrs curren’s comparisons become even more sinister when she witnesses the horrors of apartheid fights in south africa. when she sees the dead bodies of bheki and his friends, she fully realises the cruelty of the country she lives in. this motivates her to describe the entire african continent as hell or hades. instead of being 59 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) abstract realms, hades or hell may have an actual realization in africa. in her metaphor, her native land, with its naturally hot climate, is compared to the infernal place where people act in an evil way: hades, hell: the domain of ideas. why has it ever been necessary that hell be a place on its own in the ice of antarctica or down the pit of a volcano? why can hell not be at the foot of africa, and why can the creatures of hell not walk among the living? (coetzee 1990: 101) as argued by belgacem, when mrs curren witnesses the crimes of the apartheid era in south africa, it fills her with feelings of shame and guilt (2021: 99) since she belongs to the privileged white community. mrs curren often describes her neighbours and friends who are representatives of the white community as “full-bellied neighbors leading an easy life”, which is juxtaposed against the difficult life of black people, including florence and her husband, who have to work hard to earn their living (belgacem 2021: 143). the white people are portrayed “in scenes pertaining to holidays” whereas the black citizens are described “in scenes of labor” (belgacem 2021: 144). the white community’s privileges manifest themselves not only in better conditions of living, but also in the circumstances of death: mrs curren dies as an elderly person due to a natural disease rather than in young age in an act of extreme violence like the black boys. age of iron depicts significant differences in the conditions of living between white and black communities in south africa. it may be argued that these differences are also reflected in mrs curren’s images of the conditions of the afterlife of people belonging to these two different racial groups. on the one hand, white people enjoy affluent earthly life. moreover, in her descriptions of the afterlife of people belonging to her own class, mrs curren reveals a spiritual orientation towards death, which is treated as a threshold to another, eternal existence. on the other hand, black people suffer dismal conditions during their earthly existence, which also finds its reflection in mrs curren’s imaginings of what happens to them after death. in describing their death, mrs curren focuses on the crude, materialist aspects of their lives. she imagines that their afterlife will not offer any consolation since it will be a continuation of their earthly hardship. in his monograph j. m. coetzee. truth, meaning, fiction, anthony uhlmann compares mrs curren and verceuil’s interactions with the black community to “dante and virgil entering hell” (2020: 119). however, verceuil is not interested in being involved in the social conflict, so when mrs curren is asked by florence to come to guguletu, a black township near the city, verceuil refuses to go with them so the women have to set off alone. when mrs curren leaves cape town to get to the black township, she leaves the affluent districts that are characterised by comfortable conditions of living. the passage between areas inhabited by white people and black people is a transitional area, which mrs curren metaphorically describes as haunted by “wraiths” and “spirits”: 60 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) full of misgiving i drove on into the darkness. […] the roadside, along which, at this hour, thousands of men would ordinarily have been plodding to work, was empty. swirls of mist floated toward us, embraced the car, floated away. wraiths, spirits. aornos this place: birdless. i shivered, met florence’s gaze. (coetzee 1990: 83) in “‘where is hope?’: coetzee’s rewriting of dante in age of iron” david hoegberg describes this visit as “the most dantean section of the novel” (1998: 30), finding various correlations between coetzee’s descriptions of the scene and dante’s inferno. when mrs curren comes to the area of guguletu, she portrays the ghastly destruction of black people’s houses. hoegberg points out that the novel refers to an actual historical event – “the destruction of squatter camps at crossroads in may and june of 1986” (1998: 32). these squatter camps, called the “crossroads complex”, were “adjacent to the black township of guguletu”, and their destruction “resulted in the deaths of an estimated 100 people and in homelessness for about 70 000” (cole 1987: 146 qtd. in hoegberg 1998: 32). in guguletu as described in age of iron, black people live in shanties made of simple materials such as wood, iron and plastic. their conditions of living are rough and uncomfortable, not providing enough protection against natural threats such as flood or fire. mrs curren describes the black people’s area as a makeshift arrangement: the path widened, then came to an end in a wide, flat pond. on the far side of the pond the shanties started, the lowest-lying cluster surrounded by water, flooded. some built sturdily of wood and iron, others no more than skins of plastic sheeting over frames of branches, they straggled north over the dunes as far as i could see. (coetzee 1990: 87) she witnesses the effects of the devastation of the area in apartheid fights. the shanties did not provide permanent protection or shelter since they could be easily damaged. they were burnt by arsonists during the fights: we were at the rear of a crowd hundreds strong looking down upon a scene of devastation: shanties burnt and smouldering, shanties still burning, pouring forth black smoke. jumbles of furniture, bedding, household objects stood in the pouring rain. gangs of men were at work trying to rescue the contents of the burning shacks, going from one to another, putting out the fires; or so i thought till with a shock it came to me that these were no rescuers but incendiaries, that the battle i saw them waging was not with the flames but with the rain. (coetzee 1990: 87-88) 61 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) mrs curren compares the scene of the destruction of the shanties to a funeral ceremony. people who suddenly became homeless are looking at their destroyed houses with sorrow and grief that resemble the loss felt by mourners: it was from the people gathered on the rim of this amphitheatre in the dunes that the sighing came. like mourners at a funeral they stood in the downpour, men, women and children, sodden, hardly bothering to protect themselves, watching the destruction. (coetzee 1990: 88) hoegberg (1998: 31) argues that this passage illustrates clear analogies between the arrangement of the place and the people gathered there and the description of the circles of the inferno and the sighing and crying of the souls in dante’s divine comedy. the destruction of this provisional housing renders the situation even more dramatic for the black community in the township since they are not abstract souls condemned for their sins but flesh-and-blood humans who have to endure these poor conditions throughout their entire life (hoegberg 1998: 31). these people have no chance to improve their circumstances due to apartheid rules that regulate “the complicated system of residency and employment laws” (hoegberg 1998: 31). hoegberg stresses that although the rough conditions of living might be interpreted as a punishment in itself, the destruction of the black people’s shanties renders the situation even worse (hoegberg 1998: 31-32). therefore, hoegberg claims that “[i]n this hell of human creation physical suffering is not an allegory of a future spiritual state but a brute fact” (hoegberg 1998: 32). hoegberg also points out that mrs curren initially perceives black people’s shouting and crying as though they were made by wind and rain, “as if the wide world itself were sighing” (coetzee 1990: 87). her first impression is that the sounds she hears are of a nonhuman nature. hoegberg comments that “[f]rom a distance the sounds of black conflict and suffering” are for mrs curren at first “indistinguishable from the natural sounds of the storm” (hoegberg 1998: 34). when she comes closer to the source of the noise she starts to “distinguish […] sounds, as if a veil of naturalizing rhetoric were being drawn aside” (hoegberg 1998: 34). it may be inferred that only a closer examination enables her to become fully aware of the human suffering. mrs curren’s naturalistic attitude intensifies when she examines black people’s bodies. the dismal portrayal of the destruction of black people’s housing corresponds to her naturalistic descriptions of the dead bodies of young black activists: bheki and his friends. she gives a lot of details: concerning their clothes, the impact of weather conditions and the features of their faces, including the presence of sand in the natural bodily orifices. their bodies are described as mere physical objects: 62 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the inside of the hall was a mess of rubble and charred beams. against the far wall, shielded from the worst of the rain, were five bodies neatly laid out. the body in the middle was that of florence’s bheki. he still wore the grey flannel trousers, white shirt and maroon pullover of his school, but his feet were bare. his eyes were open and staring, his mouth open too. the rain had been beating on him for hours, on him and his comrades, not only here but wherever they had been when they met their deaths; their clothes, their very hair, had a flattened, dead look. in the corners of his eyes there were grains of sand. there was sand in his mouth. (coetzee 1990: 94) olfa belgacem stresses that although the sight of bheki’s dead body makes mrs curren “outraged and sad”, the protagonist is still capable of examining the corpse in detail (2021: 34). mrs curren is familiar with death herself, since she is terminally ill (belgacem 2021: 35). yet, the scene shocks the protagonist due to the brutality involved in the sudden end of the young boys’ lives. the account of the death of the black people contrasts with mrs curren’s perception of how white people die. as stressed earlier, mrs curren envisions some spiritual transformation in the afterlife of white people, which she does not imagine in the case of black people. there are also differences in the circumstances of the deaths of people belonging to these two different racial groups. she admits that representatives of her own race usually die in old age, mostly due to natural causes, often due to diseases. before their death, they become weak, thin or “papery” due to emaciation characteristic of senility, which makes them “burn well”: ‘i have not seen black people in their death before, mr vercueil. they are dying all the time, i know, but always somewhere else. the people i have seen die have been white and have died in bed, growing rather dry and light there, rather papery, rather airy. they burned well, i am sure, leaving a minimum of ash to sweep up afterwards. do you want to know why i set my mind on burning myself? because i thought i would burn well.’ (coetzee 1990: 114) by contrast, in the novel black people die violent deaths at a young age. mrs curren metaphorically describes them as made of “iron or lead”, which is the reason why they do not burn easily. she imagines that their unchanged bodies remain in the soil after their death, which explains why she can only imagine the materialist dimension of their death without any reference to a possible transformation into a spirit in their afterlife: whereas these people will not burn, bheki and the other dead. it would be like trying to burn figures of pig-iron or lead. they might lose their sharpness of contour, but when the flames subsided they would still be there, heavy as ever. leave them long enough and they may sink, millimetre by millimetre, till the earth closes over them. but then they 63 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) would sink no further. they would stay there, bobbing just under the surface. if you so much as scuffled with your shoe you would uncover them: the faces, the dead eyes, open, full of sand. (coetzee 1990: 114) after their death, black people’s bodies still occupy some space in the ground, which mrs curren metaphorically understands as their inability ever to leave the african hell. in her conversation with bheki’s friend, mrs curren states that “bheki is in the ground […]. he is in a box in a hole with earth heaped on top of him. he is never going to leave that hole. never, never, never” (coetzee 1990: 131). earlier, when she sees the dead bodies of bheki and four other boys displayed at the school, she also describes the black people’s spirits as strongly bonded with their bodies: “i thought of the five bodies, of their massive, solid presence in the burned-down hall. their ghosts have not departed, i thought, and will not depart. their ghosts are sitting tight, in possession” (coetzee 1990: 96). even after death their spirits do not gain freedom: they seem to be unable to escape the control of some other forces. the contrast between descriptions of the two types of bodies, black and white, is described in geographical or spatial terms, referring to different places and different dimensions. as noticed by belgacem, mrs curren indicates different destinations for the bodies. the bodies of black people are associated with the earth and “the land” to the degree that they “are pulled downwards by the law of the earth” (belgacem 2021: 163). the bodies of the white people, by contrast, are “airy” as described by mrs curren (coetzee 1990: 114) so their point of destination is “the sky” (belgacem 2021: 163). belgacem points out that in south africa the body functions as a guideline that informs us “where to find and how to recognize” people of these two different races (belgacem 2021: 163–164). therefore, she argues that the body “is a reliable historical and geographical map that has an identitarian dimension” (belgacem 2021: 164). at the end of the novel, when mrs curren runs away from her house, which was invaded by the police, who were searching for john, she loses the sense of time and becomes delusional. she spends some time lying in buitenkant street, “amid the rubble and filth” and vagabonds walking in the streets (coetzee 1990: 143). what may be significant is the etymology of the street name “buitekant”: buitekant street could be translated as “outside street” since “buitekant is the afrikaans word for ‘outside’, literally made up of buite (out) and kant (side)” (hayes 2012: 159). as explained by patrick hayes in j. m. coetzee and the novel: writing and politics after beckett, this name comes from the fact that the street “formerly marked the boundary between what was then the cape colony and the rest of africa” (hayes 2012: 159). the name of buitenkant street may symbolise a place of transgression or even transformation. at this moment of degradation and confusion, when she is outside the comfort of her own home and experiences the roughness of life on the streets, she recollects marcus aurelius’ idea of the cyclical transformations of universes, in which souls unite and dissolve to enter another cycle 64 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of life: “how is there space in the skies for the souls of all the departed? because, says marcus aurelius, they fuse one with another: they burn and fuse and so are returned to the great cycle. death after death” (coetzee 1990: 144). between the two strongly divided racial groups stands the figure of vercueil. it is significant that this character is a homeless person. as argued by georg gugelberger, vercueil is a “nomad” and “the threat of the unhoused which the order of the housed has to face” (gugelberger 1995: 130). his semi-nomadic lifestyle reinforces his image of a messenger who is to send mrs curren’s letters to her daughter after the mother’s death. although mrs curren is not sure if he will actually fulfil his promise, she sometimes symbolically juxtaposes him with a literary or mythical figure of a messenger travelling between different realms. when she refers to his habit of disappearing from time to time and leaving only his dog in her garden, she states that he is “[n]o odysseus, no hermes, perhaps not even a messenger” (coetzee 1990: 128). she describes him as a “circler-around” or “ditherer, despite the weatherworn front” (coetzee 1990: 128). what is also important in the context of south african racial divisions is the fact that verceuil’s race is actually never specified in the novel, as noticed by attridge (2004: 87, 95) and worthington (2011: 116). what can support the idea that he actually may be white is that the black boys who come to mrs curren’s house, and florence’s daughter hope, are hostile towards him (coetzee 1990: 41-42) and he refuses to visit guguletu. mrs curren describes his eyes as “strange green eyes: unhealthy” (coetzee 1990: 6). yet, although the green colour might also make it more natural for him to belong to the white race, this colour may be interpreted in metaphorical terms, for instance as reinforcing his “animality” or closeness to nature, also noticed by mrs curren when she describes his eyes as “alert, like an animal’s” (coetzee 1990: 147). it may even have a purely symbolic meaning of hope that he embodies as being involved in sending the letters to the western world to inform it about the atrocities of the war in south africa. verceuil is an elderly man who spends a lot of time with his dog, living on the street until he finds refuge in mrs curren’s house. when she sees him for the first time in her garden, mrs curren notices his shabby appearance and resemblance to an animal: he is “tall, thin, with a weathered skin and long, carious fangs” and he wears “a baggy grey suit and a hat with a sagging brim” (coetzee 1990: 3). she recognises him as a man who lives on the streets, as “one of the derelicts who hang around the parking lots on mill street, cadging money from shoppers, drinking under the flyover, eating out of refuse cans” (coetzee 1990: 3). now he has made for himself a provisional shelter in mrs curren’s garden in the form of “a house of carton boxes and plastic sheeting” (coetzee 1990: 3). verceuil is unemployed, dirty and smelly, and a drunkard. his homelessness is associated with the general repulsiveness of his appearance. since verceuil is a homeless man, he does not have proper protection against the cold, so he may perish easily. mrs curren speculates that he will die just as he lived – on the street. even after death, 65 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) his body will not have its own place – he will most likely be cremated without any special ceremony: one winter’s night, sooner or later, when the artificial fire in his veins is no longer hot enough to preserve him, he will perish. he will die in a doorway or an alley with his arms hugged across his chest […]. they will cart him off […] and that will be the end of that. no arrangements, no bequests, no mausoleum. (coetzee 1990: 29) literary critics interpret verceuil as the representation of “the other” (cf. attridge 2004: 101; vice 2010). verceuil continues to be an enigmatic figure until the end of the novel: he “remains unknowable to the end, and in that end fuses – or is fused in mrs. curren’s mind – with the equally unmodifiable otherness of death” (attridge 2004: 101). in his interview with coetzee, david attwell describes verceuil as mrs curren’s “angel of death” (coetzee & attwell 1992: 250), whereas coetzee in his response uses the term “a herald of death” (coetzee & attwell 1992: 340). verceuil’s special role is noticeable in mrs curren’s attitude towards the unexpected visitor (attridge 2004: 34). despite her doubts concerning his ability to fulfil his promise to send her letters, she describes him using religious terms. as pointed out by attridge (2004: 34), she perceives his appearance at her home as an “annunciation” (coetzee 1990: 4) and thinks of him and his dog as “fulfilling their charge, waiting for the soul to emerge” (coetzee 1990: 170). the most telling sign that she creates an image of him as an angel is her wondering at the end of the novel when he is carrying her in his arms: “when would the time come when the jacket fell away and great wings sprouted from his shoulders?” (coetzee 1990: 146). yet, attridge poses a question concerning the allegorical reading of the novel since various allegorical interpretations are possible, and in fact any interpretation of the novel, including moral or political ones, is in a broad sense allegorical (attridge 2004: 35; cf. wilm 2017: 121). it remains true that verceuil, without a permanent address or a clearly defined status in life, escapes definite classifications due to his enigmatic and obscure character. to recapitulate, age of iron may be interpreted as indicating that people’s posthumous habitats correspond to their earthly ones. the white and black people depicted in age of iron definitely differ in terms of their housing conditions in the real world. white people enjoy comfort since they are privileged socially and financially. their houses function as a legacy of the past and occasional shelter for less prosperous people. by contrast, black people’s housing is very primitive, so it does not provide proper protection against natural disasters. thus, materialist dimensions of home in earthly life are different for these two racial groups. the difference in the material dimension of home corresponds to differences in the protagonist’s images of the posthumous habitats of these two different populations. the contrast between these two communities stems from mrs curren’s different imaginings of their deaths: the bodies and souls of white people separate in 66 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the moment of death, whereas the bodies and souls of black people do not. mrs curren portrays white people’s death as a transition from earthly life to spiritual or incorporeal existence. white people’s bodies are imagined to be a temporary house for the soul, which it sheds or leaves for a better place at the moment of death. the soul’s destination is heaven, depicted as an ordinary place such as a hotel lobby or a bus. in contrast, black people’s death offers no relief, since both their dead bodies and souls remain in african hell, in which they have already spent their entire earthly life. therefore, the spiritual dimension of home is also portrayed differently depending on race. references attridge, d. 2004. j. m. coetzee and the ethics of reading. chicago/london: university of chicago press. belgacem, o. 2021. the body, desire and storytelling in novels by j. m. coetzee. new york (ny): routledge. bimberg, c. 2005/2006. perversions and reversals of childhood and old age in j. m. coetzee’s age of iron. connotations 15(1-3): 58-90. clarkson, c. 2009. j. m. coetzee: countervoices. basingstoke/new york (ny): palgrave macmillan. coetzee, j. m. 1990. age of iron. london: secker & warburg. coetzee, j. m. & attwell, d. (eds.). 1992. doubling the point. essays and interviews. cambridge (ma)/london: harvard university press. dooley, g. 2016. “hades this place, and i a fugitive shade”: classical cultures and languages in j. m. coetzee’s age of iron. english in africa 43(1): 101-108. gugelberger, g. m. 1995. “heralding” the new “age of iron”: j. m. coetzee, homelessness, migrancy, and nomadology. christianity and literature 45(1), special issue: third world literature, postcolonial studies, and christianity (autumn 1995): 129-136. hayes, p. 2012. j. m. coetzee and the novel: writing and politics after beckett. oxford: oxford university press. hoegberg, d. 1998. “where is hope?”: coetzee’s rewriting of dante in age of iron. english in africa 25(1): 27-42. minford, t. (ed.). 2018. fodor’s essential south africa: with the best safari destinations. new york (ny): fodor’s travel. tegla, e. 2012. age of iron: the collective dimension of shame and of responsibility. journal of southern african studies 38(4): 967-980. uhlmann, a. 2020. j. m. coetzee. truth, meaning, fiction. new york (ny)/london: bloomsbury academic. vice, s. 2010. truth and love together at last. style, form, and moral vision in age of iron. in: a. leist & p. singer (eds.), j. m. coetzee and ethics. philosophical perspectives on literature, 293-315. new york (ny)/chichester: columbia university press. 67 ................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 36 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) wilm, j. 2017. the slow philosophy of j. m. coetzee. london/new york (ny): bloomsbury. woessner, m. 2017. beyond realism. coetzee’s post-secular imagination. in: p. hayes & j. wilm (eds.), beyond the ancient quarrel. literature, philosophy, and j.m. coetzee, 143-159. oxford: oxford university press. worthington, k. l. 2011. age of iron (1990). in: t. mehigan (ed.), a companion to the works of j. m. coetzee, 113-131. rochester (ny): camden house. zimbler, j. 2015. j. m. coetzee and the politics of style. new york (ny): cambridge university press. * * * kinga jęczmińska received a phd in philosophy from the university of warsaw and a phd in medicine from the jagiellonian university medical college in krakow. she is pursuing a phd in english literature at the jagiellonian university, focusing on the presentation of the mind-body relation in fiction by samuel beckett, j. m. coetzee and ian mcewan. she is interested in the 19th–21st century english novel, history of medicine, philosophy of mind, cognitive science and psychiatry. the effect of personality on accent acquisition: case study of effat university students 33 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles waala hassan effat university jeddah, ksa the effect of personality on accent acquisition: case study of effat university students abstract. accent acquisition is the landmark of fluency in a second language. different factors have been debated over to be the most important in the process, such as: age and exposure (oyama 1976). personality is an additional factor that has been researched comparatively recently and has been proven to be effective (robinson et al. 1994). the current study investigated personality as an effective factor in the process of accent acquisition. participants in this study were forty-eight native speakers of arabic who study and live in ksa; a minority of effat university students who speak english with a native-like american accent. their remarkable american accent raised the question of the relationship between the type of personality and accent perfection. the accuracy of their american accent was measured by the means of: (1) semi-structured interviews, (2) reading a text in english, and (3) spontaneous talk on a topic of their choice. the researcher was assisted in the interviews by a native speaker of american english (a phd in creative writing) to evaluate the participants’ accent. following to that, three native speakers of american english (all university professors) were asked to assist in the second and third phases of evaluation process; respectively reading and spontaneous talk. the results indicated that personality is an effective predictor of native accent acquisition. age and level of exposure were not as strong predictors in the case of this study. keywords: accent acquisition, personality, second language acquisition, arabic speakers, american accent, bilinguals, fluency 1. introduction social, cultural, and cognitive variables affect second language acquisition (gardner 1985; bialystok 1991; cummins 1991). specifically, accent acquisition has long been regarded as the mark of integration into the mind of the native speakers of this language and the final part of the equation. acquiring the accent of a certain language is the proof that the process of understanding another culture is complete. this is when the speaker is indistinguishable from the group, and can partake in their identity. literature on the accent acquisition issue is controversially divided in a number of directions in which a group of linguists adopt a certain factor to be the most important in the accent acquisition process. these factors are: age, exposure, motivation, learning environment and personality. this was the departure point for this research; that is to understand what could be the reason behind the ability of the cases in study to speak american english with a native-like american accent. based on the researcher’s initial interaction with the students, it has been ascertained that a 10.15290/cr.2018.22.3.02 34 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles few students had limited experience living or studying in an english speaking country; the majority of these students had no experience studying or living outside of saudia arabia. this eliminated the element of immersion to a natural environment of the language in early age as a common denominator. additionally, the participants reported to have started learning english in varied types of elementary schools (public, private and international) which has, as well, eliminated the factor of learning environment. the questions remained: why were all these young saudi women pronouncing english with american accents, despite of their different social and educational backgrounds? was it something psychological, instinctual rather than cerebral causing some students to not only speak english fluently, but without a trace of arabic as a base language? 1.1. effat university in the saudi culture the social and academic cultures of effat university are important to mention to introduce for the role they play in shaping and affecting the personalities of its students. effat university is an expensive private english-based school located in jeddah, ksa that welcomes students from different nationalities which is not a common thing in ksa where governmental schools do not accept non-saudi students. another distinctive thing about effat university is that even though students are all females, it is a mixed environment of male and female faculty and staff members who come from a wide range of different countries. this situation has resulted in a dynamic academic environment of different cultures, languages, and colors that promotes research into different aspects of second language acquisition especially from a cultural perspective. theorists of culture and personality school that has emerged in the first half of the 20th century as a reaction against the 19th century social evolution and diffusion argue that the type of socialization one has creates personality patterns. it might shape a person’s emotions, thoughts, behaviors, cultural values and norms. similar to the interactive relation between culture and personality, culture and language also share an interactive relation. this can be summed up in byram’s definition of language as “shared beliefs, values and behaviors of a social group” (byram 2008: 60), and kramsch’s (2002) description of language as a tool that is not only used to exchange information, but also as a symbolic system that has the power to create and shape symbolic realities, such as values, perceptions, identities through discourse. departing from this interactive relation between culture and personality on one hand, and personality and language on the other hand, the researcher wanted to examine how personalities of the students who choose to join a university with such a unique dynamic culture in ksa are shaped and how this can be related to their acquisition of native-like english american accent. specifically, the researcher attempted to answer the question: what is the relationship between personal dispositions and accent procurements? specifically, the study delves into how temperament is instrumental in affecting fluency and pronunciation by the means of investigating american accent acquisition in distinguishable minority of young saudi women who speak english with indistinguishable american accent. 35 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles 2. literature on factors affecting second language acquisition literature on the acquisition of a second language in general, and its accent in specific has shown a wide range of variable factors that play a role in the process. among these are the agreed-upon factors such as: age, exposure and the closeness between the learner’s native language and the acquired one. on the other hand, more recent research has shown other factors that may be of more controversial nature, such as: attitudes toward the second language and the target language group, openness to a culture that is relatively new to the learner, individual differences, teaching methods, design of the learning environment, motivation, the conditions of learning the second language (spolsky 1989; berman 1990), interest in learning the second language as a function of the attitude of the specific learner, learning situation, instrumental and integrative motivation (abu rabia 1999; gardner 1985) and the main interest of this research, personality. 2.1. age and exposure accent acquisition is a component of a second language acquisition process that shows how far the learner is comfortable with the acquired language. it is widely believed that there is a critical age after which the learner is not going to be able to acquire the native accent (pallier et al. 1997). this age is when a learner can still learn the new phonetic system of the new language and integrate it into the phonetic system s/he already has. lennenberg (1967) claimed that this critical age is a neurological age period that ends near teenage years. oyama (1976) argued in favor of the existence of a defining age point for acquiring a native accent of a second language after investigating children acquiring second languages in natural environments, where the language is obtained through immersion. generally, it has been proven that children are better speakers than adults who have been sharing the same environment. scovel (1981) argues in favor of the importance of age over any other factor in accent acquisition. he theorizes that the age factor is neurological in nature; that acquiring an accent involves the intervention of certain nerves in the human body. learners who start learning a second language after the age of twelve will never be able to acquire its flawless native accent regardless of the amount of exposure they might get. long (1990) seconds this argument and adds that exposure to the second language that leads to a native accent acquisition has to occur before the age of six and not later than the age of twelve. on the other hand, there are linguists who hold that an accent can be acquired at any time in life depending on the level of exposure to the second language and the contact with the target group people. neufeld (1979) has found that canadian native english speakers who started learning french as adults succeeded in acquiring the native french accent. this supports the claim that acquiring the accent of the second language is possible even after the presumed critical age period. additionally, bongaerts et al. reported in (1995) that native english accent could be attained by the dutch learners who were educated in formal instructional setting after the age of twelve. the level of their accent accuracy was compared to that of the native speakers control group, also their accent was perceived as native accent by native speakers. studies on dutch people learning french 36 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles as a second language (bongaerts et al. 1997) and studies on late learning of dutch as a second language (bongaerts et al. 2000) were all supporting replications of bongaerts et al. 1995). anecdotal research has shown a case of an anglophone who became a german teacher at the university level and was a subject of moyer’s (1999) investigation. this individual was mistaken by raters for a native speaker of german; he was reported to have started learning german at the age of twenty two and was largely self-taught. the one characteristic he had and distinguished him from his peer subjects of the same study was a strong desire to sound german. much of the recent work in this regard conducted by flege and others (1997) has highlighted the importance of environmental factors on acquiring the native accent of a second language. among these is exposure; as in the period of time spent in a country hosting for the target language (riney and flege 1998). also, time spent in the company of native speakers (flege et al. 1997) was found to be a major determinant of quality of second language accent. however, klein (1993) argues that extensive and continuous exposure to the second language is an essential factor, but not enough in attaining native second language accent. high motivation to learn the language and strong desire to sound like a native speaker combined with good linguistic aptitude can lead to acquiring a native accent even after the agreed upon critical age period. 2.2. motivation motivation is another highly related factor to the acquisition of a second language. it is highly accepted that the stronger the learner’s desire to sound like a native speaker, the more s/he is likely to sound like one (pursel and suter 1980). on the other hand and in his study of sixty italian immigrants to the usa, oyama (1976) found that motivation is of no effect on accent acquisition and that it is irrelevant to the phonological system/s a speaker has. in this study, only one variable was found to predict the quality of the second language accent acquisition which is the age of arrival to the usa. however, other researchers (gardner and lambert 1972) agree that positive attitudes to the language and the target language group cause strong motivation to learn the second language and to communicate with the hosting community of the acquired language. also, suter (1976) found negative correlations between students’ attitudes to integrate with american society and their ability to pronounce words like native speakers. he tested sixty-one arab, japanese, and persian students. the variables that predicted native accent acquisition were similar phonological systems of the native language and english, the importance of accent acquisition as reported by the participants, and the importance of speaking english as natives in workplaces and schools. the last two variables showed negative correlations with accent acquisition. 2.3. the present study this study presents an investigation of native-like american english accent acquisition among arab students of a saudi private university. the purpose is to recognize how far personality, in terms of traits and preferences, is effective as a factor in the process of accent acquisition. the age 37 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles of learning english as a second language, motivation and exposure to native speakers of american english were only checked as variables, but not thoroughly investigated as factors in the process of accent acquisition. the importance of this study lies in the gap it is expected to fill in the research field of accent acquisition. specifically, the results will better portray personality as a main factor in the process of language acquisition, in general, and accent acquisition, in particular. consequently, the study can help teachers of english as a second language to achieve better results with learners, particularly arabic native speakers. 3. methodology 3.1. participants fifty-seven students were invited as participants, only forty-eight were found to have american accents that were accurate enough to investigate as native accent. the participants are native speakers of arabic who are saudi young women. at the time of the study, they were between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two. the case studies in question are a distinguishable minority of students at effat university who speak english with flawless american accent. the researcher and a native speaker american english held the interviews, then two additional judges (total of three) evaluated the participants’ accents in both reading and spontaneous talk. the judges were all native speakers of american english, two females, and one male, phd holders (one in american literature, one in creative writing, and one in sociology) and professors at effat university. 3.2. measures participants were tested individually in three different methods: (1) semi-structured interviews, (2) oral reading of a short text and (3) spontaneous talk. the interviews were meant to evaluate the sense of distinctiveness with each student’s life, their sense of both english and arabic and how this is related to culture. the students were first interviewed by a native speaker of american english, who is a phd in creative writing, to primarily evaluate the accuracy of their accents and to have an overall idea of where they stand from western culture, in general and american culture, in specific. immediately after, the students were interviewed by the researcher, in arabic, to evaluate their sense of arabic language and culture. the selected forty-eight students were asked to read a text that was about half a page from a children’s story book, composed of short and easy sentences in english. the level of the reading was deliberately chosen to be remarkably easy in order to avoid any possibility of unknown vocabulary and syntax that might have impeded the reading fluency. the text contained english sounds considered difficult for native arabic speakers; either because they do not exist in arabic or because they are pronounced differently. examples of these were: /p/, /v/, flapped /t/, /r/, /d/ etc. finally, the participants were asked to pick up a topic on their own and spontaneously talk about it for a minute at their usual speed. 38 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles 3.3. procedure participants were tested in their free time, especially during students’ activity time for the interviews parts. the testing procedure went as follows: 1. semi-structured interviews conducted in english by a phd native speaker of american english and followed immediately by an interview in arabic conducted by the researcher. the purpose of these two interviews was to evaluate the participants’ sense of both english and arabic languages as well as their perception of western culture vs. arabic culture. the two interviewers agreed previously on the structure of the interview, however none of them attended the other’s sessions with the participants. 2. a reading of a short text that was carried out in separate sessions depending on each student’s free time. they were given the reading and asked to read it a few times so as to avoid any reading-error effect. then, the participants read out loud and were tape-recorded.1 3. the reading taping was followed by a taping of the one minute spontaneous talk. for the second and third steps, participants were allowed to self-tape in private if desired to avoid embarrassment. some have done that for the spontaneous talk only, others for both the reading and the spontaneous talk. the recorded reading text and spontaneous talk were submitted to the three judges for accent evaluation. the scale was 1= very heavy arabic accent, 2= heavy arabic accent, 3= moderate arabic accent, 4= near native american accent, and 5= native american accent. each judge evaluated the tapes individually and without sharing ideas with the others. judges decided to disregard reading and/or linguistic errors and to only focus on the accent of pronunciation. the tapes were randomly delivered to the judges so that no relation can be created between the two tasks, each of which was evaluated on separate sheets. 4. after revising the results of the previous three steps, the researcher recalled the participants for a follow-up interview. this interview was designed to have a better understanding of the participants’ personalities and what they might have in common. questions of this interview were adopted from the myers-briggs type indicator (mbti) which is an online free instrument to measure personality types. the point was to develop a perspective on the participants’ preferences in specific decision-making situations to see if they have a certain type of personality in common which might have better chances in accent acquisition of a second language even if learnt after the critical age and without exposure to the hosting country environment. 4. results at the time of this study, the participants were all effat university students; the youngest of which was eighteen and the oldest was twenty-two years of age. table (1) below shows the statistics of the independent variables that the participants answered at the very beginning of the first interview. the purpose was to draw a picture that includes the participant’s age, the age when they 1 a script of the short reading is given in appendix 3. 39 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles started learning english, the importance of having american accent to them, the level of exposure they have on daily basis via media and internet and finally if they are friends/acquaintances with american native speakers (the third and fourth variables were graded by the participants on a scale of 1 – very little to 5= excessively. table (1) descriptive statistics of the independent variables independent variables mean sd no. chronological age (years) 21.6 6.27 48 age on starting to learn english 14.79 5.38 48 importance ascribed to american accent 4.97 1.20 48 level of exposure to american english 3.70 0.93 48 number of american friends/ acquaintances 2.92 3.21 48 4.1. interviews results2 the first interviews were semi-structured in design. the participants were first asked close-ended questions to set the independent variables as stated in the above section. that was followed by open-ended questions to have a better understanding of their linguistic vs. cultural sense. these questions covered issues such as the languages they would say they are fluent in, their background of english and their intuitive linguistic choice when they express themselves in different situations. this interview also covered their cultural sense in terms of their preferences with respect to music, movies and books. additionally, the participants were asked about their future plans concerning the leaving or staying in saudia arabia. finally, they were asked to express the first thing that comes to their mind when they hear certain words (foreigner and american in the english interview and arab and saudi in the arabic interview). only one out of forty-eight interviewees mentioned arabic (second to english) as a language that she is fluent in, while the other forty-seven did not even consider mentioning arabic as a language they are fluent in, even though the arabic interviews showed that if they want, they can use vernacular arabic in a perfect sense. the interviews have shown that as far as the background of english is concerned, only three of the interviewees had lived as children for short periods (one to four years) in an english speaking country (two in the uk and one in the us); ten of the participants received their elementary education in private schools, eight in international schools, twen2 a script of the full interview questions is given in appendix 1. 40 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles ty-seven in public schools. all forty-eight of the participants admitted that responding in english is their first intuition in different self-expression situations such as, anger, hurt, and laughter. in regard to the questions that targeted their cultural preferences, all forty-eight of the participants agreed that they only listen to english music, watch american movies and read books written in english. when they were asked in the arabic interview if they would listen to arabic music, read arabic books, and/or watch arabic drama, only four of them responded positively while the others completely declined this, even as a possibility. thirty-seven of the participants had tentative plans of leaving saudia arabia after graduation with no intention to come back, while five of them planned to leave to study abroad with the possibility to come back and six of them were fine with the idea of staying in saudia arabia. different responses were given to the question of how they feel about the words arab/saudi, foreigner/american. the results showed that the words arab/saudi were not synonymous to them as arab was a manifesto of how they see themselves and they had no shame in showing this identity. whereas, they saw the word saudi as a symbol of everything they long to change in their country. similarly, foreigner/american did not mean the same thing for them since they saw foreigner to mean someone who is not saudi including other arab nationalities; twelve thought of music, movies and other types of entertainment, fourteen thought of green areas and parks and twenty-two answered trump when the word american was mentioned. 4.2. reading and spontaneous talk judges’ evaluation the three designated judges were asked to give ratings (score out of 5) for the participants’ recorded readings and spontaneous talks. the ratings of the first judge was x= 4.62 on reading, and x= 4.58 on the spontaneous talk. the second judge’s rating was x=4.66 on reading, and x= 4.64 on spontaneous talk. the third judge’s rating was x= 4.44 on reading, and x= 4.40. the total mean rating of the three judges on reading was x= 4.57, and on spontaneous talk x=5.45. the descriptive statistics of these ratings are given in table (2). the statistical analysis of the judges’ evaluations showed no significant differences. all participants followed the instructions of reading out loud the given passage three times, however, forty five out of the forty eight participants exceeded the one minute limit of spontaneous talk on a free topic. table 2. means and standard deviations of the three judges’ ratings of participants on reading spontaneous talk (n=48) variables mean sd reading 1* reading 2* reading 3* total 4.62 4.66 4.44 4.57 0.88 0.82 0.81 0.68 41 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles variables mean sd spontaneous talk 1* spontaneous talk 2* spontaneous talk 3* total 4.58 4.64 4.40 4.54 0.93 0.85 0.76 0.73 *1, 2 and 3 are the evaluations of three judges. maximum score is (5.00) 4.3. follow-up interviews results3 the follow-up interviews aimed to deeply investigate the personality-based preferences of the case studies to find the common traits they had and helped them to acquire a perfect american accent. to achieve this goal, the questions in the follow-up interviews were adopted from the mbti which is an instrument to sort for personality types based on preferences, but does not measure ability, or character. participants were asked to elaborate on their answer after each of the questions that attempted to cover their preferences in: • favorite world:  do they prefer to focus on the outer world or on their own inner world? extraversion (e) or introversion (i). • information: do they prefer to focus on the basic information they take in or do they prefer to interpret and add meaning? sensing (s) or intuition (n). • decisions: when making decisions, do they prefer to first look at logic and consistency or first look at the people and special circumstances? thinking (t) or feeling (f). • structure: in dealing with the outside world, do they prefer to get things decided or do they prefer to stay open to new information and options? judging (j) or perceiving (p). participants were elaborate on their answer after each of the above questions. results of the follow up interviews showed: (1) only three of forty-eight interviewees would prefer to spend their time in extroverts’ activities; (2) all of the participants agreed that they prefer individual effort as far as studying is involved, furthermore, they have also stated that they have been working on their english skills individually not in classes; (3) for decisions, all of the participants responded that all of their decisions are made after thinking and considering rationale, and never in compensation with the society or family values; (4) four of the participants admitted that they prefer to get things decided, while the other forty-four were clear that they prefer to stay open to new information and options, however, all agreed that either way, they would hardly accept the social norms with regard to important decisions. according to mbti, the type of personality in common among the participants is: intp (logical. conceptual. analytical. objective. detached. critical. ingenious. complex. intellectual curious. loves ideas. pursues understanding. questioning. adaptable. independent). 3 a script of the full follow-up interview questions is given in appendix 2. 42 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles 5. discussion results of the first interviews and the evaluations of the three judges supported the researcher’s intuition that the students in question speak english fluently with a native-like american accent. the independent variables tested at the beginning of the interviews showed that: firstly, the immersion factor was overruled since only 6% of the case studies had a background of living in the us or the uk as children, even these few cases spent in these countries short periods of their very early childhood. secondly, the existence of critical age period in order for the native accent of the second language to be acquired was supported as all of the participants, except for one, started learning english in the early age of being less than four and not more than six. thus, even when a learner is not in the natural environment of the language, it was clear that the younger the learner, the greater the chance is to acquire a second language native accent which seconds age as a strong predictor of accent acquisition. these results accord with scovel (1981) and long (1990) who argued for a theory of an early critical age in life for one to be able to acquire a native accent. thirdly, even though exposure as a factor in accent acquisition was remotely tested in this study as an independent variable, answers of the participants have shown no significant relationship between level of exposure and accent acquisition. the results indicate that participants who reported a high level of exposure to american english via internet and media and/or actual engagement in situations where they were obligated to speak american english with other american english native speakers scored no better on native accent measures than those who reported little or remarkably less exposure to american english. however, exposure remains a controversial factor in the literature; thompson (1991) argued that exposure did not affect acquisition of the native accent and klein (1993) supported that massive and continuous exposure to second language did not affect the learner’s accent, while berman (1990) found that the level of exposure did affect the level of accent acquisition. it is worth mentioning that the current study did not have enough room to deeply investigate exposure as a factor in accent acquisition. results of the interviews also showed that the participants shared several personality and cultural preferences such as their choice to express themselves in english over arabic in different emotive, academic and other daily life situations. additionally, they have all chosen to associate themselves with american culture regarding music, movies, readings, attire and other forms of self-expression and entertainment. it is worth mentioning that all the interviewed students reported to be friends with other students who are amongst the case studies. the above mentioned common cultural and personal preferences reported by the participants were in favor to the initial hypothesis that a certain personality type, specifically in the environment of the study, is a highly important factor in language learning and particularly in accent acquisition. thus, the follow-up interviews were carried out using a specific personality scale (mbti) to draw on the participants’ personalities. the results supported the initial hypothesis that the students shared a certain personality type which seems to have made accent acquisition easier to them compared to other students with similar educational backgrounds. despite minor differences in their responses to the mbti questions, the overall results indicated all of the case studies 43 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles to be intp (logical. conceptual. analytical. objective. detached. critical. ingenious. complex. intellectual curious. loves ideas. pursues understanding. questioning. adaptable. independent). the personality type resulted to be common amongst the students (intp) can be explained within the preferences areas examined namely: case studies are introverted, intuitive, thinking and judging learners. introverted learners are reported to tend to learn better in individual independent situations that involve more of ideas and concepts than theories and premises. their strengths are their ability to concentrate on a certain task in hand as well as their self-sufficiency. the students, in study, admitted that they mostly need the urge to process ideas in their minds before speaking them out in a class room or a social gathering which is a great help, in their view, to avoid linguistic risk-taking in conversations. technology, media and internet are their most enjoyable learning tools. being intuitive learners can be explained that such learners learn more effectively from flashes of insight, using their imagination, and grasping the general concepts rather than all the details. their strengths are their ability to guess from the context, structuring their own training, conceptualizing and model building. however, they can be hindered by inaccuracy which may explain the syntactic and semantic mistakes traced in the interviews and in the spontaneous talks. the thinking learners learn better and more effectively from impersonal circumstances and logical consequences. their strengths are in their ability to analyze and their self-discipline. however, the case studies have shown a high level of anxiety with respect to their performance in english languages. they have reported that they strongly need to be fluent in english and to sound like americans in order for them to be relaxed in classes; they have even associated their self-esteem to their achievement especially in english performance. the participants of the study have been indicated as judging learners who learn more efficiently by reflection, analysis and processes that involve conclusion. these learners always want the job to get done, and in this specific case, the target of the case studies is to speak fluent american english with no trace of arabic being the base language. this may also explain the fact that those specific students prefer to spend their time on campus together in smaller groups and that they expressed that dealing with other students make them uncomfortable and suffer from linguistic ambiguity that they cannot tolerate. 6. conclusion and recommendations thus, the results of the study support the researcher’s hypothesis that in addition to well-established factors that affect language acquisition and shape the level of accent fluency, such as age and exposure, personality is a key factor in determining the learner’s success in accent acquisition. the study answers the research question that a relationship between personal dispositions and accent procurements can be traced in learners who choose to associate themselves with the culture of the learned language. such learners, as in the cases of the study, have a better chance in acquiring the native accent of this language. in addition to their cultural and social choices, the case studies of this study have shown to have similar personal preferences in learning styles 44 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles which may be helpful to be taken in consideration, especially in situations of teaching english as a second language to native speakers of arabic. even though no perspective is ever completely accurate and reliable, the more perspectives teachers have, the more clearly they can understand learners and be able to help them. in conclusion, personality traits can have a direct and indirect impact on learning and their role as predictors of our students’ learning should not be discounted. however, their impact cannot be considered in isolation, as divorced from motivation and the cognitive and cognitive-oriented factors identified at the outset of my discussion. teachers are often prompted by course administrators or educational consultants to take into account our students’ learning styles and multiple intelligences; but maybe more effort should go into equipping teachers and school staff in general (a) with a better grasp of how students’ personality type may impact their learning and (b) with effective strategies to best adapt our teaching to learner psychological needs. all the important findings of this research study should be communicated to teachers who can directly implement teaching strategies and/or to researchers who can do further research on any topic that will bring about an improvement in teaching strategies for english as a second language.this will help change the students’ attitudes toward learning the english language. for further research, i suggest using larger samples with different testing conditions, specifically, to test accents of male and female students from different arab countries who started learning english at different ages and under different social, educational, and emotional conditions. such research may reveal whether or not the native accent of a second language is authentic and achievable in a regular classroom if certain personalities were pursued and technically supported amongst students. testing accent acquisition under different conditions will uncover the possible implications of this important concept. references abu-rabia, salim. 1999. attitudes and psycholinguistic aspects of first language maintenance among russian-jewish immigrants in israel. educational psychology, 19, 133-148. berman, ruth. 1990. a dispute over the truth: between first and second language. head haolpanhakhadasha 59, 27-33. bialystok, ellen. 1991. metalinguistic dimensions of bilingual language proficiency. in ellen bialystok (ed.), language processing in bilingual children, 113-140. cambridge, uk: cambridge university press. bongaerts, theo, brigitte planken and erick schils. 1995. can late starters attain a native accent in a foreign language: a test of the critical period hypothesis. in david m. singleton and zsolt lengyel (eds.), the age factor in second language acquisition, 30-50. clevedon: multilingual matters ltd. bongaerts, theo, chantal van summeren, brigitte planken and erick schils. 1997. age and ultimate attainment in the pronunciation of a foreign language. studies in second language acquisition 19, 447-465. 45 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles bongaerts, theo, susan mennen and frans van den slik. 2000. authenticity of pronunciation in naturalistic second language acquisition: the case of very advanced late learners of dutch as a second language. studia linguistica 54, 298-308. byram, michael. 2008. from foreign language education to education for intercultural citizenship. clevedon: multilingual matters. cummins, james. 1991. interdependence of first-and second language proficiency. in ellen bialystok (ed.), language processing in bilingual children,70-89.  cambridge, u.k.:  cambridge university press. flege, james e., elaina m. frieda and takeshi nozawa. 1997. amount of native language (l1) use affects the pronunciation of an l2. journal of phonetics 25, 169-186. gardner, robert c. 1985. social psychology and second language learning: the role of attitudes and motivation. london: edward arnold. gardner, robert c. and wallace e. lambert. 1972. attitudes and motivation in second-language learning. rowley, mass: newbury house publishers. klein, elaine c. 1993. toward second language acquisition. toronto: kluwer academic publishers. kramsch, claire. 2009. discourse, the symbolic dimension of intercultural competence. in adelheid hu and michael byram (eds.), interkulturelle kompetenz und fremdsprachliches lernen. 107-124. tübingen: gunter narr. lennenberg, eric. 1967. biological foundations of language. ny: wiley publishers. long, michael. 1990. maturational constraints on language development. studies in second language acquisition 12, 251-285. moyer, alene. 1999. ultimate attainment in l2 phonology: the critical factors of age, motivation and instruction. studies in second language acquisition, 21, 81-108. neufeld, gerald g. 1979. towards a theory of language learning ability. language learning 29, 227-241. oyama, susan. 1976. a sensitive period for the acquisition of a nonnative phonological system. journal of psycholinguistic research 5, 261-283. pallier, christophe, laura bosch and sebastian galle. 1997. a limit on behavioral plasticity in speech perception. cognition 64, 9-17. pursel, edward t. and richard w. suter. 1980. predictors of pronunciation accuracy: a reexamination. language learning 30, 271-287. riney, timothy and james e. flege. 1998. changes over time in global foreign accent and liquid identifiability and accuracy. studies in second language acquisition 20, 213-244. robinson, david, norman gabriel, olga katchan. 1994. personality and second language learning. personality and individual differences 16(1), 143-157. scovel, tom. 1981. the recognition of foreign accents in english and its implications for psycholinguistic theories of language acquisition. proceeding of the fifth international association of applied linguistics. new york. 389-401. 46 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles spolsky, bernard. 1989. conditions for second language learning. oxford: oxford university press. suter, richard w. 1980. predictors of pronunciation accuracy. language learning 26, 233-253. thompson, irene. 1991. foreign accents revisited: the english pronunciation of russian immigrants. language learning 41, 177-204. web 1 – mbti http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/home.htm?bhcp=1 (30 november 2017) 47 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles appendix 1 a setting independent variables questions 1 how old are you? 2 what age were you when you started learning english? a. less than 6 years. b. between 6 – 12 years. c. more than 12 years. 3 on a scale from 1 to five state how important it is for you to speak english with a native-like american accent; 1 being very little and 5 being excessively. 4 on a scale from 1 to five state how frequently you are exposed to american english spoken by native speakers; 1 being very little and 5 being excessively. 5 how many family members, friends and/or acquaintances who are native speakers of american english do you have? a. less than 5 people. b. between 5 – 10 people. c. more than 10 people. b open-ended questions of the first interview 1 what languages would you say you are fluent in, and to what degree? 2 what is the general educational level of your parents? 3 how did you learn english? try to give a portray of the whole background? 4 which language are you comfortable using when you are in an emotional situation or when you want to express yourself best? 5 what language do you prefer to read and write in? 6 what is the language of your favorite music and entertainment shows and why? 7 do you watch arabic drama or listen to arabic music? 8 do you have future plans for your future after graduation regarding staying in or leaving ksa? 9 what would be the first image/thing that comes to your mind when you hear the words arab and saudi? 10 what would be the first image/thing that comes to your mind when you hear the words foreigner and american? 48 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ articles appendix 2 questions of follow-up interviews 1. your best spent time is: a. with family and friend enjoying the outer world. b. with your own self focusing on your inner world. • elaborate 2 your way of handling information is to: a. take in and focus on basic information given to you. b. interpret and add meaning to information given to you. • elaborate 3 your decisions are made on the basis of: a. logic and consistency. b. people and circumstances. • elaborate 4 when dealing with the outside world, do you prefer to: a. get things decided. b. stay open to options. • elaborate appendix 3 reading a book is fun. books make you smarter. they also make you a better reader. john loves to read books. he reads books on sunny days. he reads books on cloudy days, and he reads books on rainy days. john has read many books. he read his first book in second grade. his teachers were impressed. john was a good student. he had the highest grades in class. john learned a lot by reading books. he learned new words. he learned new verbs. he learned new adjectives. john reads every day. he has learned about the world. he has learned about history. he has learned about animals. he has learned about people. john loves to learn. he learns something new every day. john has many books.  he has  large bookshelves.  they are  full of books.  john collects books.  he has bought books at bookstores. john wants to read every book in the world. microsoft word crossroads 34.doc ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 59 aleksandra czajkowska1 doi:10.15290/cr.2021.34.3.05 the university of białystok, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7772-1880 “to give form to what cannot be comprehended”: trauma in kurt vonnegut’s slaughterhouse-five and martin amis’s time’s arrow abstract. the primary objective of this article is the analysis of trauma in kurt vonnegut’s slaughterhouse-five and martin amis’s time’s arrow. it is argued that through the deployment of experimental literary techniques (particularly destabilized and non-linear narratives) these two novels offer valuable insights into the mechanisms of a traumatized mind and help to understand the uncertain sense of the self experienced by those who suffer from traumatic memories. keywords: kurt vonnegut, slaughterhouse-five, martin amis, time’s arrow, trauma, ptsd, war, 20th century. the traumatic experiences of wwii and the holocaust in particular, more acutely than ever before raised the questions concerning limits of literary representation. as the comprehension of these events has always been very problematic, writers are notoriously presented with two major challenges: how to express by means of writing something that is beyond human understanding, and what form and language could be adequate for such a task. what lies at the core of that confusion and inability to comprehend and articulate genocide is the experience of profound trauma. indeed, as e. ann kaplan notes, trauma studies originally arose from the research about the holocaust; so great was the magnitude of this genocide that it warranted the use of the term in its “classical” form (2005: 1). the idea which is central to the theory of trauma is that an event “can be both experienced and forgotten,” and therefore it “divides the mind not only from itself, but also splits it in time: there’s a lag, a snatch, in the experience of the traumatized that pulls them out of linear chronology” (stonebridge 2009: 196). this elusiveness of traumatic experience may be precisely what makes writing about war atrocities so challenging. authors of fiction and non-fiction have long struggled in their search for a mode of expression adequate to the task of rendering the past too painful to be recollected and yet too formative to be ignored. consequently, as luckhurts suggests, they have been seeking forms which would be “experimental, fragmented, refusing the consolations of beautiful form, and suspicious of familiar representational and narrative conventions” (quoted in gibbs 2014: 26). 1 address for correspondence: university of białystok, faculty of philology, pl. nzs 1, poland. e-mail: aleksandra.czajk@gmail.com ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 60 in the late 1960s, a radical form of literary response to the war coalesced, and it did so perhaps most compellingly in, among others, kurt vonnegut’s slaughterhouse-five, or, the children's crusade: a duty-dance with death (1969) (crosthwaite 2009: 5). the novel’s non-linear, repetitive chronology mirrors the intricate mechanisms of trauma, which somehow disturb the flow of time and cause the sufferer to be stuck in an endless cycle of forgetting and re-experiencing the traumatic event. the influence of vonnegut and other experimental writers of that period2 continued to influence the literary generations that followed, and among the writers who in their works revisited the traumatic events of the 1940s is martin amis. with its destabilized, non-linear narrative, his 1991 novel time’s arrow, or the nature of the offence embraces the tradition of postmodernist writing and continues its search for the mode of expression adequate to the task of representation of wwii. the novel takes as its subject the events of the holocaust but, rather unconventionally, chooses to depict the perpetrator, not the victim, as a trauma sufferer. the main aim of this article is to analyze the ways in which the two novels – slaughterhouse-five and time’s arrow – approach the issue of trauma representation. the word trauma (an english alteration of trōma) derives from greek, and since it literally means “wound,” it was originally used to refer to an injury inflicted on the body. it was only later that the psychoanalytic work of freud popularized the use of it in its contemporary understanding, and suggested that the wound may be inflicted upon the mind, rather than the body (caruth 1996: 3). this psychological wound, “the breach in the mind’s experience of time, self, and the world” (4), is not simple and healable damage comparable to a bodily injury, but rather an event which is “experienced too soon, too unexpectedly, to be fully known and is therefore not available to consciousness until it imposes itself again, repeatedly, in the nightmares and repetitive actions of the survivor” (4). the first mention of trauma, or rather of a disorder called “traumatic hysteria,” can be found in the volume studies on hysteria (first published in 1895), which freud wrote in collaboration with josef breuer. the now-famous statement that “hysterics suffer mainly from reminiscences,” which appears in this essay (breuer & freud 1957: 7), already points to the fact that the symptoms of a distressful experience may be belated. according to freud and breuer, the memories of a traumatic event are not easily available to the patient, because, in contrast to ordinary memories, to encounter trauma is to encounter “a foreign body”, an alien part of our psyche, which acts as a “contemporary agent . . . long after its forcible entrance” (221). the fact that a traumatic event should impose itself on the mind of a traumatized person in the form of recurring nightmares and relivings is what perplexed freud the most since, as he stated, these night horrors do not agree with the wish-fulfilling nature of dreams, which is so crucial to freud’s theory (1961: 24). it seems that the only possible explanation for the emergence of this pathology is the psyche’s complete inability to cope with the traumatic experience and the fact that, since it defied comprehension, it had not been assigned any psychic meaning. as a result, the traumatic event forces the mind to compulsively relive the experience in order to understand it. since traumatic events often involve a direct threat to one’s life, the trauma may not necessarily be a response to these experiences, but rather to the perplexing act of survival (caruth 1996: 60). expanding 2 consider, for example, the fragmented and destabilized narratives of joseph heller’s catch-22, thomas pynchon’s gravity’s rainbow, or j.g. ballard’s the atrocity exhibition. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 61 freud’s assertion, cathy caruth defines trauma as “a response, sometimes delayed, to an overwhelming event or events, which takes the form of repeated, intrusive hallucinations, dreams, thoughts or behaviors stemming from the event, along with numbing that may have begun during or after the experience, and possibly also increased arousal to (and avoidance of) stimuli recalling the event” (1995: 4), once again bringing attention to the fact that a traumatic event is always incomplete since the psyche fails to sufficiently register it when it occurs – a person experiencing something traumatic is never fully conscious during the event’s occurrence. and because it is never fully assimilated when it happens, the event may impose itself on the mind of the traumatized and be relived with great clarity in the form of intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, nightmares, or hallucinations. the assertion may at first sound somewhat paradoxical: how can the mind repeat in exact detail an event during which one was not completely conscious? as caruth points out, “the literal registration of an event—the capacity to continually, in the flashback, reproduce it in exact detail—appears to be connected, in the traumatic experience, precisely with the way it escapes full consciousness as it occurs” (153). this perplexing contradiction stems from the fact that a traumatic recollection is not a simple memory, and it is not ordinarily encoded in the human brain (153). such a theory seems to be confirmed by the research conducted by two psychiatrists – van der kolk and van der hart – who, working with neuroscientists, argue that trauma differs from an ordinary memory in that it “has affect only, not meaning” (kaplan 2005: 34). it causes one to experience emotions such as fear or shock, but above all, it rives “the normal feeling of comfort” (34). that is so because only the amygdala, the sector of the brain responsible for sensation, is active during trauma; while the meaning-making sector, the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for cognitive processing and rational thought, remains shut down as the affect is too powerful to be registered cognitively in the brain (34). a traumatic event is never fully integrated into memory, and as psychiatrists state, it is “in a sense, timeless. it is not transformed into a story, placed in time, with a beginning, a middle and an end (which is characteristic for narrative memory)” (van der kolk & van der hart 1995: 177). a traumatized person is unable to treat the traumatic memory as an ordinary aspect of their life, as it does not fit with other experiences. this lack of integration, according to van der kolk and van der hart, results in dissociation. the idea that there may exist a breach, a lag in the experience of a traumatized person, which disengages him/her from linear chronology, is central to the present analysis of slaughterhouse-five and time’s arrow. in a 1974 interview, asked about the incentive to write about the firebombing of dresden, vonnegut explained that he “came home in 1945, started writing about it, and wrote about it, and wrote about it, and wrote about it. this thin book [slaughterhouse-five] is about what it’s like to write a book about a thing like that. [he] couldn’t get much closer” (bellamy 1988: 163). yet, finishing the book proved to be more grueling than vonnegut had expected, as it was not until twenty-four years, numerous false starts, and hundreds of pages of unpublished drafts later that the readers were finally endowed with his “famous dresden book” (vonnegut 2009: 4). in the oftcited interview for playboy, the author admits that “there was a complete blank where the bombing of dresden took place”, and that his “war buddies” did not remember it either (standish 1988: 94). he also adds that “[t]here were all sorts of information surrounding the event, but as far as my memory bank was concerned, the center had been pulled right ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 62 out of the story. there was nothing up there to be recovered — or in the heads of my friends, either” (94). the fact that vonnegut’s inability to write about dresden stemmed in a large part from a difficulty with accessing that specific memory is consistent with symptoms exhibited by persons who endure a traumatic experience. since during a traumatic event the meaning-making sector of the human brain, the cerebral cortex, remains shut down, such an event is never fully integrated into memory and cannot be accessed in the same way that an ordinary memory can (kaplan 2005: 34). likewise, dresden became part of vonnegut’s unconscious memory, as an event both too painful to recollect and too formative to ignore. the urge to write his novel can be understood as a cathartic impulse that allowed vonnegut to confront the trauma he had undergone, and act on that knowledge by attempting to narrate his traumatic experience. such a claim seems to be confirmed by his own words as, after finishing the novel, he admits that “it was a therapeutic thing. i’m a different sort of person now. i got rid of a lot of crap” (quoted in wicks 2014: 333). arguably, vonnegut’s personal experiences allowed him to create a method of communicating traumatic memories that engages the reader on an empathic level. the readers learn that slaughterhouse-five’s protagonist, billy pilgrim, like vonnegut (who shares the experiences of the book’s narrator), is an ex-prisoner of war and survivor of the dresden bombing. vonnegut’s struggle to define billy’s mental state becomes visible from the very first paragraphs of the narrative. as the title page suggests, it is a book written “somewhat in the telegraphic schizophrenic manner of tales of the planet tralfamadore” (vonnegut 2009). referencing schizophrenia is an obvious attempt to find the right words to describe billy’s condition, and vonnegut’s confusion must have been amplified by the fact that no medical discourse on ptsd existed yet, as it was only included in the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (dsm-iii) in 1980. billy experiences a range of symptoms consistent with ptsd, with the most striking one being his fractured perception of time, which he perceives as the condition of being “unstuck in time”: billy has gone to sleep a senile widower and awakened on his wedding day. he has walked through a door in 1955 and come out another one in 1941. he has gone back through that door to find himself in 1963. he has seen his birth and death many times, he says, and pays random visits to all the events in between. he says. billy is spastic in time, has no control over where he is going next, and the trips aren’t necessarily fun. (vonnegut 2009: 29) his being “spastic in time” actually refers to the fact that billy has to relive the same traumatic events of the war over and over again. what is important is the information that “the trips aren’t necessarily fun,” which points to the involuntary nature of traumatic memory, a quality that imposes itself on the mind of a person suffering from ptsd. on the level of narrative structure, billy’s time travels justify the novel’s fragmented, non-linear chronology. such a narrative organization seems to be adequate for the task of representing the uncertain and confused sense of the self as experienced by a traumatized person. employing traditional narrative modes to represent trauma may ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 63 seem unsuitable, as trauma does not conform with the typical ways of organizing a story. the episodes of time travel, then, reproduce the workings of a traumatized psyche, which often involuntarily revisits the painful memories, and consequently metaphorize billy’s state of mind. additionally, as cacicedo notes, “billy constantly circles around that central traumatic moment, almost recollecting it but, as is typical of traumatic memories, not quite managing to seize on the event” (2005: 363). consequently, despite intrusive flashbacks, the exact moment of the dresden bombing constitutes a “complete blank” in billy’s mind, to recall vonnegut’s phrase. such a description aligns with the symptomatology of trauma described earlier; since the traumatic event was never fully comprehended in the first place, it creates a breach in one’s mind and one’s experience of time (caruth 1996: 62). it appears that billy’s time-travel episodes occur at random; in fact, repressed memories of the war are often triggered by events that somehow remind him of his past. for instance, the sight of an orange and black wedding tent, which is reminiscent of german trains that transported the prisoners of war (vonnegut 2009: 88), causes billy to return to that extremely distressing moment. such a process of free association and hyperarousal is consistent with the mechanisms of a traumatic memory described by van der kolk and van der hart: “traumatic memory is evoked under particular conditions. it occurs automatically in situations that are reminiscent of the original traumatic situation. these circumstances trigger the traumatic memory” (1995: 163). among other stressors triggering billy’s memory of dresden are sounds, such as the sound of a siren, which billy associates with air-raid alarms (vonnegut 2009: 73), and certain colors (such as the aforementioned orange and black, or blue and ivory), as well as smells (mustard gas and roses). another indication of billy’s trauma is his disordered sleeping patterns. a traumatic event often resurfaces in the traumatized person’s dreams, forcing them to unwillingly relive the original experience. there are multiple passages in the novel which point to the fact that billy suffers from sleep disturbances, ranging from narcolepsy to night terrors (71, 99-100). billy’s fellow prisoners-of-war are particularly aware of his condition; apparently, during sleep billy “kicks, yells, and whimpers” (99). the readers also learn that “[n]early everybody, seemingly, had an atrocity story of something billy pilgrim had done to him in his sleep” (100). the wide range of symptoms ultimately leads billy to commit himself to a mental hospital, fearing that “he was going crazy” (vonnegut 2009: 127). however, perhaps due to the fact that ptsd was not officially recognized as a mental disorder yet, the establishment fails billy by neither providing an accurate diagnosis nor proposing any coping mechanisms (vees-gulani 2003: 298). consequently, billy needs to embark on his own path of “trying to reinvent [himself] and [his] universe” (vonnegut 2009: 128), which he attempts to achieve through resorting to science-fiction. as it transpires, the genre provides billy, as well as the novel’s author with a sense-making tool, and offers a valuable insight into the challenging task of narrativizing trauma. as previously mentioned, vonnegut struggled to find not only the right words to share his experience but also a form and method adequate for such a task. theoretically, reporting skills, which he perfected during his work in journalism at both collegiate and professional levels, should have provided him with a clear entryway into dresden, but soon he realized that in order to write about his experience, he had to find a method far less realistic (wicks 2014: 334). lacking the discourse capable of rendering trauma, the ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 64 author and his protagonist resort to science fiction to find the vocabulary and subject matter needed. as a genre, science fiction encompasses a number of styles and subject matters; in fact, as carl freedman notes “[n]o definitional consensus exists” with respect to science fiction (quoted in wicks 2014: 334). yet, it is without a doubt that the genre explores a wide range of topics that lie outside the bounds of ordinary human experience. arguably, the definition of science fiction as “literature of cognitive estrangement” (1972: 372), put forward by darko suvin, proves to be of aid here. according to him, two opposite poles meet in science fiction: the “exact recreation of the author’s empirical environment” and the “exclusive interest in a strange newness, a novum” (suvin 1972: 373). the fusion of the two concepts results in “cognitive estrangement” which allows the writer to mediate their and their readers’ empirical reality, and present that reality from a new and alienating perspective (374). in slaughterhouse-five, the cognitive estrangement is achieved through the fusion of billy’s mediated account of the dresden bombing with the science fiction alien-abduction plot. that synthesis allows the writer, as well as the reader to remove themselves from their empirical reality and move towards the fantastic. for vonnegut, the employment of science fiction elements presented an opportunity to distance himself from the horrors of dresden and reclaim his objectivity. in a way, it enables him to create a safe space, in which he could access and verbalize his trauma. in “diagnosing billy pilgrim,” susanne vees-gulani suggests that time travel episodes present in the novel exist as some kind of fantasy, providing a sort of mental escape for the protagonist: “[w]ith the help of his tralfamadorian fantasy and his idea of time travel, billy conquers his trauma in a way that enables him to function” (2003: 299). however, i choose to interpret these moments as something more than a mere fantasy and argue that billy’s travel episodes serve to literalize his condition and provide the readers with a better understanding of traumatic memory. as an experience that is not easily communicated, a traumatic event defies the bounds of a traditional narrative; the employment of time travel allows for an alternative way of representing and reproducing the traumatized mind. therefore, as amanda wicks writes, “[b]y reading the time-travel episodes as literal experiences of traumatic memory rather than as vees-gulanian fantasies, readers gain a clearer understanding of a bewildering experience that cannot be shared easily through language” (2014: 337). when billy suffers a mental breakdown, he finds a plausible explanation of his psychological condition in the science fiction novels of a fictional author, kilgore trout. trout’s book maniacs in the fourth dimension is “about people whose mental diseases couldn’t be treated because the causes of the diseases were all in the fourth dimension, and three-dimensional earthling doctors couldn’t see those causes at all, or even imagine them” (vonnegut 2009: 132). wicks notes that “[w]hen read metaphorically, the fourth dimension symbolizes the mind in that whatever trauma has occurred cannot not be seen without the use of medical technology” (2014: 335). therefore, when billy restructures his painful memories of dresden and begins imagining tralfamadore instead of germany, he clearly does so in order to regain some agency over his life; by reframing such memories as science fiction, billy is able to reflect on these moments without feeling overwhelmed or suffering a nervous breakdown. consequently, while the ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 65 psychiatric establishment and medical science ultimately fail billy, science fiction offers a structure and language that allows him to comprehend his experiences. still, the employment of science fiction elements in the novel that concerns a topic as serious as the dresden bombing may seem inappropriate to conservative readers. however, had the book consisted of the more somber moments, it would have worked against vonnegut’s staple literary style. the author had to find a way of communicating his traumatic experience in a way that would simultaneously invoke his distinctive dark sense of humor; as vonnegut himself explained, “[h]umor is an almost physiological response to fear. ... i saw the destruction of dresden. i saw the city before and then came out of an air-raid shelter and saw it afterward, and certainly, one response was laughter. god knows, that’s the soul seeking some” (2005: 3). the genre of science fiction provided the writer with tools, which allowed him to process and represent his traumatic memory in a way he had been unable to thus far. where more traditional literary modes of narration proved to be inadequate for such a purpose, science fiction moved closer to depicting and understanding a traumatic experience. with the aid of science fiction, vonnegut and his hero are finally able to verbalize their trauma and integrate the painful memories into a coherent whole. ultimately, i believe that by ceasing to transform an incomprehensible experience into the language of standard realist narrative and employing the devices and vocabulary of the science fiction genre instead, slaughterhouse-five offers a unique way of comprehending and narrating a traumatic experience in particular, as well as enriching our understanding of trauma in general. throughout history, most of the discussions revolving around the ethics and aesthetics of the holocaust representation have been primarily concerned with a particular aspect of it – that of the portrayal of the victims’ suffering and pain. indeed, for decades after wwii, it has been considered standard and even natural to approach the topic of the shoah from the victims’ point of view. however, as dominick lacapra notes, due to the holocaust’s traumatic nature, there is an effect of belatedness in relation to it, that is, certain significant facets of the event become visible only after a period of latency since earlier they were simply too painful to be even considered (lothe et al. 2012: 10). as a result, there now exist other aspects of the holocaust representation which were previously obscured, and which are yet to be extensively analyzed. one such area is concerned with a literary depiction of the perpetrators. quite understandably, in the years directly following the second world war, any attempt at portraying the agents of the victims’ suffering would be perceived as highly inappropriate since there existed a sense that “to focus critically on the perspective of the perpetrator would at best be unseemly and at worst a betrayal of the memory of the victims, surrounded by a particular sense of literary and cultural unease” (mcglothlin 2010: 213). by the early 1990s, for reasons which possibly had to do with the shifting approach of a new generation of writers to the problem of the holocaust representation, or perhaps due to “the hyper-mediated ethos of modern mass society” (spargo 2010: 6), the anxiety about the depiction of the holocaust, including aspects of it which had been previously obscured, began gradually to fade away. that atmosphere of change did not imply that the taboo of the perpetrator representation was suddenly lifted, but it certainly prompted more writers to consider a newly emerged kind of question: “how does one depict the correlative element of the atrocity, that of the perpetration of the suffering?” (mcglothlin ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 66 2010: 210). among the writers who decided to tackle this challenge is martin amis. as though in a response to the common narrative, according to which holocaust literature belongs exclusively to the victims, he comments: people say, legitimately in a way, what am i as an aryan doing with this subject? but i’m writing about the perpetrators and they are my brothers, if you like. i feel a kind of responsibility in my aryanness for what happened. this is my racial link with these events, not with the sufferers but with the perpetrators. (quoted in martinez alfaro 2008: 2) the remark, as controversial as it may seem at first, signals a certain problem, namely, that the history of the perpetrators, whether they are authentic or else fictionalized, is embedded in the wider, collective history of europe in the 20th century. therefore, even if we choose to disregard the perpetrators in the belief that they had relinquished the right to our attention, it will not change the fact that they existed in the real life, and that they will continue to exist in the text, and therefore, must be accounted for (mcglothlin 2010: 214). every effort to depict the perpetrators raises some valid ethical and aesthetic concerns. what narrative techniques can a writer employ in order to avoid encouraging identification with the perpetrator? how to depict the acts of perpetration without deemphasizing the victims’ viewpoint and suffering? or, in what ways can the writer attempt to transgress the taboo of applying notions such as trauma in the context of the perpetrators? in the following section, i examine the ways in which martin amis chose to address some of these pressing issues in his novel time’s arrow or the nature of the offense. narrated in a reversed order, the novel recounts the life of a fictional nazi doctor, odilo unverdorben, opening with the protagonist’s death and concluding with his birth. all movements are therefore inverted and “in a poetic-justice version of the turning-back topos, the holocaust itself is un-done, and auschwitz turns out to be a place where humans are taken from the air and restored to bodies, families are brought together, and the jews are returned to formerly judenrein europe” (rosenfeld 2014: 124). there are several implications of amis’s technique of backward narration. the underlying suggestion seems to be that the nazis’ inverted logic inherently called for an inverted narrative. indeed, the nazis’ paradoxical view of progress draws attention to the line between creation and destruction, as according to the nazi doctrine, extermination of millions of people was supposed to lead to racial (“aryan”) revival, and violence constituted a justifiable means to that end (harris 1999: 489). therefore, by his choice of narrative method, amis seems to be suggesting that to enter the world of auschwitz is to enter the world of fundamentally reversed logic. consequently, what transpired at the death camp can only begin to make sense if the entire process is inverted by the means of backward narration; in that way the form and content of time’s arrow become inseparable. the inverted chronology requires the readers to participate actively in the process of correcting all of the reversals; it compels us to be active interpreters of the presented events and rectify all the misinterpretations which confuse cause and effect. as a result, such narration affects the readers’ ethical response; even though in the novel the horror of the holocaust is undone, the readers are aware that the same could not possibly happen in the real world (martinez alfaro 2008: 6). ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 67 the reversal of the novel’s time’s arrow may be indicating that trauma, as an experience inherently missed at the time of its occurring, has to be repeated in the psyche’s desperate struggle to assign some meaning to it; hence the protagonist’s compulsion to relive his life backwards. this point is perhaps nowhere more poignantly articulated than in the book’s final paragraph: look! beyond, before the slope of pine, the lady archers are gathering with their targets and bows. above, a failing-vision kind of light, with the sky fighting down its nausea. when odilo closes his eyes, i see an arrow fly— but wrongly. point first. oh no, then. . .. we’re away once more, over the field. odilo unverdorben and his eager heart. and i within, who came at the wrong time—either too soon, or after it was all too late. (amis 1992: 165) the fact that the narrator can see an arrow fly “point first”, therefore, in a correct direction, and that he and odilo should be “once more, over the field” seems to be suggesting that odilo will be forced to relive his life once more, this time in chronological order. the narrator’s sigh “[o]h no, then…” could be thus interpreted as a brief moment of realization that since time flow will no longer be reversed, it will not be possible to misread the relation between cause and effect any longer, as odilo will repeat his atrocious actions and, inevitably, his trauma. yet, the reversed chronology is not the only key choice on amis’s part when it comes to his chosen narrative techniques. as the reader learns early in the story, aside from the “diseased” flow of time, the voice which is relating the events seems to be diseased as well. “passenger or parasite” (amis 1992: 8), the narrator occupies odilo’s body and although he has access to unverdorben’s feelings and nightmares, he is completely severed from odilo’s consciousness and has no way of communicating with him; what is more, odilo seems to be unaware of the narrator’s presence: “[w]e are in this together, absolutely. but it isn’t good for him to be so alone. his isolation is complete. because he doesn’t know i’m here” (14). the narrative split in the consciousness of the main protagonist seems to allude to ptsd-induced psychological dissociation on one hand, and to the psychiatrist’s robert jay lifton’s theory of psychological doubling on the other. in his research, lifton was determined to discover the motives which prompted the physicians of the third reich to violate the hippocratic oath they originally swore and, ultimately, to become the backbone of the genocidal killing process at auschwitz. the psychiatrist enumerated various such reasons, yet by far the most significant one seems to be concerned with the nazis’ biomedical vision, according to which the aryan race was suffering from a “deadly racial disease” (lifton 1986: 16), and the only solution consisted of the extermination of all jewish people. such extreme indoctrination allowed for the “medicalization of healing” (14), which led to the formation of what lifton refers to as the “killing as a therapeutic imperative”, that is, killing in the name of healing the aryan race (15). however, even the doctors most loyal to the third reich could not accede to the healing-killing reversal which occurred at auschwitz without employing certain psychological protection mechanisms. lifton describes how strenuous it was initially for the physicians to accept this paradox, and how in the process of acclimatization a split in the men’s subjectivity occurred, ultimately allowing them to participate in the killing (422). the split resulted in the creation of two selves, both of which were employed at different times; in lifton’s words “[t]he individual nazi doctor needed his auschwitz self ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 68 to function psychologically in an environment so antithetical to his previous ethical standards. at the same time, he needed his prior self in order to continue to see himself as humane physician, husband, father” (419). moreover, lifton argues that a crucial part of the doubling process which ultimately allowed the doctors to avoid the feelings of guilt was what could be referred to as “the transfer of conscience”: “[t]he requirements of conscience were transferred to the auschwitz self, which placed it within its own criteria for good (duty, loyalty to the group, ‘improving’ auschwitz conditions, etc.), thereby freeing the original self from responsibility for actions there” (421). time’s arrow could be argued to constitute an almost perfect fictional rendition of lifton’s idea of doubling: the narrator is clearly a part of odilo’s psyche, yet at the same time he is autonomous in his thoughts and seems not to remember his past; in lifton’s terms then, he is the prior self, and odilo is the auschwitz self. while unverdorben seems to be experiencing guilt and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, as reflected through his nightmares and pervasive feelings of anxiety and fear, the narrator apparently does not comprehend these emotions. most importantly though, as the story is unfolding backwards, and the readers are approaching the auschwitz section of the book, the narrator is becoming visibly closer to unverdorben, until finally, they merge together in chapter 5, which covers odilo’s time at the camp: i, odilo unverdorben, arrived in auschwitz central somewhat precipitately and by motorbike, with a wide twirl or frill of slush and mud, shortly after the bolsheviks had entrained their ignoble withdrawal. now. was there a secret passenger on the backseat of the bike, or in some imaginary sidecar? no. i was one. i was also in full uniform. . .. auschwitz lay around me, miles and miles of it, like a somersaulted vatican. human life was all ripped and torn. but i was one now, fused for a preternatural purpose. (116) since the laws of time are inverted, it indeed seems like a moment of becoming whole again in the story; however, when the passage is analyzed in the correct order, one can understand that it was precisely during unverdorben’s work at auschwitz that the doubling occurred. since the story progresses in the reversed order and the narrator is forced to relive his entire life backwards, the reader finds him constantly misreporting and misinterpreting events. the resulting misreading of the relations between cause and effect has major consequences when it comes to the interpretation of the events which take place during odilo’s past as a nazi doctor. whereas in reality unverdorben actively participated in the project of mass murder of the jewish people, in the reversed timeline he becomes a part of a drastically opposite grand plan which strives to bring millions of people back to life: “[o]ur preternatural purpose? to dream a race. to make a people from the weather. from thunder and from lightning. with gas, with electricity, with shit, with fire” (amis 1992: 120). perhaps unsurprisingly then, upon his arrival in auschwitz the narrator informs the readers that “the world is going to start making sense… now” (amis 1992: 115). yet, even though for the narrator/odilo the time spent at auschwitz seems like a moment in which everything finally begins “making sense” (115), we recognize that in fact this experience is about to scar him for life. the cost of odilo’s atrocious deeds at auschwitz is highlighted through his dissociation of the self, and the fact that even during his postwar life, odilo is unable to become whole again. the consequences of his actions haunt unverdorben for the rest of his existence, resulting in a lifelong trauma, which he is unable to address since he remains in complete denial of his ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 69 own participation in the mass killings during the holocaust. yet, even though i believe that the inverted chronology of the story, as well as the psychological doubling of the main protagonist discussed above, serve as the most important indicators of odilo’s trauma, they are not the only ones, as there exist some additional points in terms of his trauma. when odilo is first introduced to the readers (although under the alias of tod friendly at this point), he has just been brought back to life and is now in a hospital bed surrounded by doctors. the atmosphere is that of extreme anxiety, and it seems to be connected precisely with the presence of the physicians in the room. the narrator straightforwardly comments on this fact, admitting that he “hate[s] doctors. any doctors. all doctors,” whom he considers to be “life’s gatekeepers” (amis 1992: 4). the emotions connected with the presence of doctors suggest that the sight of the physicians alone constitutes a powerful trigger for unverdorben, and as such, sets the tone for the examination of his trauma. as has been mentioned earlier, one of the major symptoms of ptsd includes “increased arousal to (and avoidance of) stimuli” relating to the traumatic event (caruth 1995: 4). this symptom is prominently exhibited by odilo, and even though he chooses to continue working as a physician after the war, his consciousness lets the readers know how uncomfortable hospital surroundings make him feel. the narrator reveals that in his private life “tod doesn't use doctors; he doesn't go near doctors. ‘you don't want to listen to doctors,’ he tells irene, coming as close as he ever does to talking and smiling at the same time. ‘they'll try to get their knives in you. don't ever let them get their knives in you.’” (amis 1992: 57). what is more, the symbolic figure of the doctor repeatedly appears in odilo’s dreams which, as already mentioned, is another significant symptom of ptsd: “[t]he other people. . .. they’re lucky. i bet they don't have the dream we have. the figure in the white coat and the black boots. in his wake, a blizzard of wind and sleet, like a storm of human souls” (8). the anxiety experienced in the presence of physicians on his deathbed, as well as the omnipresent fear of the doctor-figure in general, suggest that even though doubling provided him with a temporary protection mechanism, odilo did not manage to cope with his past, and the consequences of his misdeeds remained with him for the rest of his life. another trigger that causes odilo to have a strong emotional response is the sound of german. clearly, the language subconsciously reminds odilo of the past he is attempting to suppress. more importantly, it reminds him of who he is as a person. even though tod has successfully managed to blend in with the american society, odilo cannot escape his german identity – an identity in which he once took so much pride. as mentioned earlier, the nazi ideology was rooted in a belief which presupposed the superiority of the “aryan” race; accordingly, the part of the novel which takes place during the war abounds in descriptions that underline odilo’s sense of supremacy. the narrator speaks proudly of his wife, the “german girl” (amis 1992: 151), and his daughter whom he calls their “german baby” (138); he also mentions “the faint dampness of [his] german feet” (117). on more than one occasion, he marvels at the physical beauty of the german men, as well as his own physique: “we’re perfect” (50). evidently, whereas the sense of german identity constituted a source of odilo’s great pride in the past, after the war it became a major source of shame and guilt for him; a remnant of past atrocious deeds performed as a nazi doctor. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 70 regarding other triggers, the narrator enumerates fire or, more specifically, the smell which he associates with it. although at first the narrator is clueless when it comes to the interpretation of the source of odilo’s fire aversion, the readers may already begin to suspect what its origins are. unverdorben’s strong emotional response to the smell foreshadows his “terrible secret” (amis 1992: 5), that is, his shameful role as a nazi doctor in a concentration camp. this becomes clear, as during the auschwitz part of the novel, the narrator frequently mentions that the camp’s air was filled with an allpervasive “sweet smell” (119, 134, 144). clearly, at some point, even if only for a brief moment, odilo must have acknowledged that he personally played a major role in the extermination of thousands of people, and the overwhelming feeling of guilt and shame over his actions left him traumatized for life. i have already indicated that intrusive, repetitive dreams constitute a significant symptom of ptsd, and provided examples of the images that resurface in odilo’s nightmares. however, there is one more of unverdorben’s recurring dreams which is worth addressing – that of the “bomb baby”. throughout the novel, the narrator frequently mentions that, out of all of his dreams, this particular nightmare tends to incite the strongest emotional response in odilo. the readers learn about the origins of the nightmare towards the end of the novel, that is, during the section of the book describing unverdorben’s life before auschwitz. as it transpires, the original event concerned the time when odilo, along with other ss men, discovered a group of jewish people staying in one of the warehouses; the jews were hiding behind a wall panel when their presence was betrayed by the cry of a baby – hence the name “bomb baby” (amis 1992: 142). it was odilo himself who uncovered the panel and found the hiding group; needless to say, the jews were executed afterwards. arguably, the fact that this event remained with odilo for the rest of his life and continued to resurface in his nightmares over and over again indicates that he never fully assimilated the experience in the first place. thus, the recurring dreams could be interpreted as odilo’s mental attempts at mastering the trauma retrospectively, since only through such mastery could he confront his abhorrent past. as the above analysis has demonstrated, although odilo is not a victim in the word’s standard sense, he does exhibit symptoms that are consistent with the description of post-traumatic stress disorder. unverdorben lives in a constant state of “fear and shame” (amis 1992: 8) and is haunted by recurring nightmares which repeatedly bring him back to the moments of the original trauma. he experiences strong emotional responses to certain stimuli which act as triggers for his ptsd. it is crucial to note that odilo’s trauma does not absolve him from his actions; nor does it entail “a reconfiguration of the perpetrator as a victim” (mohamed 2015: 1212). in unverdorben’s case, trauma is precisely the cost of his atrocious actions during wwii and, as the novel demonstrates, the psychological consequences of his misdeeds remain with him for the rest of his life. nevertheless, by bringing attention to the issue of perpetrator trauma, time’s arrow suggests that there exist areas of holocaust representation that demand further inquiry. among these areas are: finding an acceptable way of speaking about the perpetrators, as well as considering the applicability of such notions as trauma to them. concluding, the authors of the two novels found analogical ways of rendering the reality of trauma in literary discourse. by employing non-conventional, experimental modes of narration, both mimic the ways in which a traumatic event destabilizes one’s ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 71 sense of the self and, as a result, bring us closer to understanding the nature of a traumatic experience. vonnegut and amis propose effective ways to confront the ethical and aesthetical challenges which inherently entail trauma representation. in an attempt to “give form to what cannot be comprehended” (stonebridge 2009: 204), slaughterhousefive and time’s arrow turn narrative conventions topsy-turvy, mimicking the ways trauma disrupts one’s secure sense of the self. in such a way, both novels provide us with valuable insights into the minds possessed by traumatic experiences and invite the readers to think about trauma comprehensively, and empathetically. references amis, m. 1992. time’s arrow, or the nature of the offense. new york: vintage books. bellamy, j. d. & casey, j. 1988. kurt vonnegut, jr. in: william rodney allen (ed.), conversations with kurt vonnegut, 156-167. jackson, ms: university press of mississippi. breuer, j. & freud s. 1957. studies on hysteria. ed and trans. james strachey. new york: basic books inc. cacicedo, a. 2005. “you must remember this”: trauma and memory in catch-22 and slaughterhouse-five. critique: studies in contemporary fiction 46:4: 357-368. caruth, c. 1995. introduction. in: cathy caruth (ed.), trauma: explorations in memory, 3-12, 151-157. baltimore, md: the johns hopkins university press. caruth, c. 1996. unclaimed experience: trauma, narrative and history. baltimore, md: the john hopkins university press. crosthwaite, p. 2009. trauma, postmodernism, and the aftermath of world war ii. london: palgrave macmillan. freud, s. 1961. beyond the pleasure principle. ed and trans. james strachey. new york: w. w. norton & company. gibbs, a. 2014. contemporary american trauma narratives. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. harris, g. 1999. men giving birth to new world orders: martin amis’s time’s arrow. studies in the novel 31:4: 489-505. kaplan, e. a. 2005. trauma culture: the politics of terror and loss in media and literature. new brunswick: rutgers university press. lifton, r. j. 1986. the nazi doctors: medical killing and the psychology of genocide. new york: basic books. lothe j. et al. 2012. introduction: “after” testimony: holocaust representation and narrative theory. in: jakob lothe et al. (eds.), after testimony: the ethics and aesthetics of holocaust narrative for the future, 1-22. columbus, oh: ohio state university press. martinez-alfaro, m. j. 2008. fact and fable: ethics and the defamiliarisation of the familiar in martin amis’ time’s arrow. proceedings from the 31st aedean conference, 497-507. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 72 mcglothlin, e. 2010. theorizing the perpetrator in bernhard schlink’s the reader and martin amis’s time’s arrow. in: r. c. spargo & r. m. ehrenreich (eds.), after representation?: the holocaust, literature, and culture, 210-230. new brunswick, nj: rutgers university press. mohamed, s. 2015. of monsters and men: perpetrator trauma and mass atrocity. columbia law review 115:5: 1157-1216. rosenfeld, n. 2004. turning back: retracing twentieth-century trauma in virginia woolf, martin amis, and w. g. sebald. partial answers: journal of literature and history of ideas 2:2: 109-137. spargo, r. c. 2010. introduction: on the cultural continuities of literary representation. in: r. c. spargo & r. m. ehrenreich (eds.), after representation?: the holocaust, literature, and culture, 1-22. new brunswick, nj: rutgers university press. standish, d. 1988. playboy interview. in: william rodney allen (ed.), conversations with kurt vonnegut, 76-110. jackson, ms: university press of mississippi. stonebridge, l. 2009. theories of trauma. in: m. mackay (ed.), the cambridge companion to the literature of world war ii, 194-206. cambridge: cambridge university press. suvin, d. 1972. on the poetics of the science fiction genre. college english 43:3: 372382. van der kolk, b. a. & van der hart, o. 1995. the intrusive past: the flexibility of memory and the engraving of trauma. in: c. caruth (ed), trauma: explorations in memory, 158-182. baltimore, md: the johns hopkins university press. vees-gulani, s. 2003. diagnosing billy pilgrim: a psychiatric approach to kurt vonnegut’s slaughterhouse-five. critique 44:2: 175-184. vonnegut, k. 2005. a man without a country. ed. daniel simon. new york: seven stories press. vonnegut, k. 2009. slaughterhouse-five, or the children’s crusade: a duty-dance with death. new york: dial press trade paperback. wicks, a. 2014. “all this happened, more or less”: the science fiction of trauma in slaughterhouse-five. critique: studies in contemporary fiction 55:3: 329-340. *** aleksandra czajkowska is an english philology graduate from the university of białystok, poland. in 2021, she defended her ma thesis in the field of literary studies. her primary literary interests include literature concerned with the second world war and psychological fiction. teacher identity and agency in language teaching: adult esl instructors as explorers 77 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) anna sanczyk1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.30.3.05 university of north carolina at charlotte orcid: 0000-0001-5819-2058 teacher identity and agency in language teaching: adult esl instructors as explorers abstract. as the world becomes more globalized, various social, cultural, and historical contexts are shaping teacher identities. exploring teacher identities is essential in understanding experiences, interactions, and beliefs that influence language teachers’ practices inside and outside the classroom (farrell 2011). this narrative study, conducted in a large urban community college located in the southeastern region of the united states, engaged seven adult esl instructors in critical reflection on their assumptions, teaching, personal experiences, and an institutional environment. data collection included semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, journal entries, and classroom observations, including notes about artifacts used in the lessons. the findings of this study highlight the relationship between teacher identity and agency in teaching culturally and linguistically diverse learners. participants characterized themselves as explorers, who valued various cultural experiences and acted agentively to create culturally responsive lessons and an enriching learning environment. these findings have significant implications for language teacher training and further research. keywords: language teacher identity, language teacher agency, language teaching, adult esl, culturally and linguistically diverse learners. 1. introduction with a growing immigrant population in the united states, the number of english as a second language (esl) classes in higher education institutions has been steadily increasing. the community college consortium for immigrant education (2015) reported that adult esl instruction is the largest and fastest-growing section of the adult education system in the united states. more than 40 percent of students are enrolled in adult esl programs in community colleges across the nation. adult esl classes are culturally and linguistically diverse spaces and prepare english language learners (ells) to “acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to become productive workers, parents, and citizens” (u.s. department of education 2016: 1). while adult esl classes 1 address for correspondence: university of north carolina at charlotte, 9201 university city blvd, charlotte, nc 28223, united states. e-mail: asanczyk@uncc.edu 78 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) are increasingly popular, some researchers have asserted that limited research on successful strategies for teaching adult english language learners exists (cronen et al. 2005; burt et al. 2008; mathews-aydinli 2008; snell 2013). research in english language teaching also highlights the importance of understanding teacher identity (beauchamp & thomas 2009; buchanan 2015; farrell 2011; kumaravadivelu 2012; mockler 2011; varghese et al. 2005). for example, farrell (2011: 54) asserted that exploring teacher identities is essential in understanding “beliefs, assumptions, values, and practices that guide teacher actions both inside and outside the classroom”. a number of scholars contended that, teacher identities are shaped by various social, cultural, political, and historical contexts. thus, teacher identity is not fixed, but changes depending on different interactions, experiences, and environments (buchanan 2015; kumaravadivelu 2012; mockler 2011; varghese et al. 2005). while identity work in language teaching is currently gaining significant interest, little empirical research has been conducted on adult esl instructor identity and agency negotiation when teaching culturally and linguistically diverse learners. this research fills a void by shedding light on adult esl instructors’ identity construction and agency negotiation. it sought to answer the following research question: what is the role of teacher identity in shaping a sense of agency for teaching culturally and linguistically diverse learners? 2. literature review two concepts framed this study: teacher identity and teacher agency. teacher identity refers to how teachers construct their ideas of “how to be, how to act and how to understand their work and their place in society. it is negotiated through experience and the sense that teachers make of that experience” (sachs 2005: 15). professional identities vary among teachers and can change throughout their careers (bachanan 2015; mockler 2011; sachs 2005; walkington 2005; varghese et al. 2005). buchanan (2015) added that teacher identity is seen as both a process and a product and is shaped by multiple social, cultural, political, and historical contexts. it is created through relationships, and it changes based on interactions and various factors, such as context, experiences, policies, and school culture. kumaravadivelu (2012: 58) also highlighted that teacher identities are “constructed at the complex intersections between individual, social, national, and global realities”. therefore, buchanan (2015), kumaravadivelu (2012), sachs (2005), and walkington (2005) agree that teacher identity is how teachers define themselves through their experiences, and that teacher identity is negotiated throughout their careers. many scholars in the fields of tesol and english linguistics have theorized on teacher agency. there are many definitions of teacher agency. in this study, it is characterized as “a capacity to act that is achieved within continually shifting contexts over time” (priestley et al. 2015: 3). it helps us understand how teachers are “reflexive and creative, act counter to societal constraints, and are both enabled and constrained by their social 79 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and material environments” (priestley et al. 2015: 3). thus, teacher agency in this study is understood from the ecological perspective because it is shaped by culture, social contexts and structures, physical resources, and environment (priestley et al. 2015). for example, dadvand (2015) explored pre-service teachers’ beliefs and agency using an ecological approach. pre-service teachers, in that study, showed a strong sense of agency in “creating a more democratic classroom environment” (dadvand 2015: 87). studying teacher agency through this lens helps us recognize how “the interplay of individual efforts, available resources, contextual and structural factors” (biesta & tedder 2007: 137) constrain or enable teacher practice as they “act by means of their environment rather than simply in their environment” (biesta & tedder 2007: 137). research on language teacher agency has focused on advocacy, decision making, and accepting or resisting curricular reforms, policy environments, prescribed resources, and school practices (edwards & burns 2016; kayi-aydar 2017; lasky 2005; ollerhead & burns 2016; tao & gao 2017). a growing body of research in language teaching (beauchamp & thomas 2009; edwards & burns 2016; kayi-aydar 2015a; kayi-aydar 2015b; kayi-aydar 2017; tao & geo 2017) also illustrates the interdependent relationship between agency and identity. mockler (2011) stressed that teachers who are aware of their professional identities are better positioned to make a difference in their classrooms and in the community. this means that teacher identity influences teacher agency. in other words, how teachers see themselves through their experiences enables or constrains them to perform certain actions and to engage in instructional practices. research indicated that concerning identity, teacher agency is negotiated in various ways: through participation in continuous research opportunities (edwards & burns 2016; tao & geo 2017), incorporation of new projects and strategies in the classroom (colegrove & zúñiga 2018), enrollment in a doctoral program (kayi-aydar 2017), participation in professional development (brooks & adams 2015; edwards & burns 2016; jaar 2017), engagement in the community of practice (liu & xu 2011), and enrollment in study abroad programs (trent 2011). kayi-aydar (2015a) argued that language teachers’ life experiences and interactions with their mentors shaped their sense of agency and influenced their professional identities. in another study, kayi-aydar (2015b) explained that paloma, a language teacher, acknowledged that her agency was shaped throughout her personal and professional experiences, and affected by the social context and interactions. furthermore, in tao & gao’s (2017) study language teachers exercised a strong sense of agency for continuous learning and sustained engagement in teaching. this study adds to this body of research by providing an insight into how adult esl instructors’ personal and professional experiences and contexts shaped their identities and influenced their sense of agency in teaching culturally and linguistically diverse learners. 80 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in addition to the research affirming a strong connection between teacher identity and teacher agency, some researchers highlighted the role of power in negotiating identity and agency. teacher identity and agency formation are influenced by power structures since teachers experience educational, social, and political constraints during their teaching careers (kumaravadivelu 2012; ollerhead & burns 2016). recently, researchers in the tesol field called for more liberating education to resist current practices that promote passiveness and cultural assimilation (eyring 2014; griswald 2011; kolano et al. 2014; kumaravadivelu 2012; samoukovic 2015). morgan (2009) asserted that language teachers most often take on the identity of technicians who mainly focus on transferring knowledge and rarely exhibit the role of transformative practitioners. this is because language teachers may consider english language teaching as an ideologically neutral activity or esl teachers may feel incapable to work towards transformation. kumaravadivelu (2012: 56) explained that transformative practitioners “play the role of change agents raising educational, social, cultural, and political consciousness in their learners”. this study offers an additional insight into this debate. 3. methodology 3.1. theoretical framework drawing on critical theory, especially on paulo freire’s (1993) work, this study focuses on understanding the social, historical, and contextual conditions of teachers’ work in promoting culturally inclusive classroom environments by engaging participants in critical self-reflection. freire (1993) argued that if teachers engaged in critically examining their assumptions, experiences, and practices, they were more aware of their own purpose as teachers. accordingly, the goal of this research was to bring awareness of identity and agency construction in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms. the exploration of language teachers’ identity and agency through critical reflection via interviews and journal writing shed light on the complexities of teaching and supporting ells and the actions participants take to advocate for their diverse students. this study uses a critical lens in learning how teachers recognize that “inclusive practices are not isolated from the structural and cultural contexts of their workplace that might encourage or impede such practices” (pantić & florian 2015: 345). 3.2. study design this narrative study engaged seven adult esl instructors in critical reflection on their identities, teaching, and an institutional environment. the purpose of this narrative study, then, was to gain a deeper understanding of multiple participants’ narration of their identity and agency negotiation (creswell 2014). phillion & he (2007) underlined that a narrative study as a research methodology offers an opportunity to delve into 81 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) participants’ personal experiences and gives them a safe space for storytelling, meaning making, and relationship building. this narrative study offers a way of understanding experiences of a group of adult esl instructors and their identity construction process. in supporting a theoretical understanding of critical theory and in taking an ecological approach to agency into consideration, this narrative study provides a useful framework for studying how participants’ various contexts and experiences influenced their understandings of their identity and agency for teaching culturally and linguistically diverse learners. 3.3. setting and participants the participants of this study were seven adult esl instructors working in one community college. thus, the purpose of this narrative study was to understand the identity and agency negotiation of a group of teachers working in the same institution. this community college is located in the southeastern region of the united states and serves about 3,000 ells representing 152 countries. it has eight campuses and offers a variety of courses for ells who want to enhance their language and academic skills. ells can attend classes free of charge that are part of the following non-college-credit programs: adult esl, esl transition, family literacy, and refugee education. table 1. shows characteristics of seven participants. they differ in teaching experience, educational backgrounds, as well as locations and students they teach. the criteria for participant selection was as follows: (a) currently employed as an adult esl instructor at the community college; (b) has a degree or certificate in teaching esl; (c) has a minimum of three years of teaching experience; and (d) works with culturally and linguistically diverse students. table 1. participants’ information instructor’s pseudonym degree/ certificate teaching experience class location student english language proficiency level agnes m.a.t. in tesol 5 years on-campus high intermediate andrew b.a. in international marketing certificate in teaching adult esl 29 years on-campus high intermediate 82 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) instructor’s pseudonym degree/ certificate teaching experience class location student english language proficiency level cici b.a. in foreign language certificate in teaching adult esl 15 years on-campus multi-level mary m.a.t. in tesol 10 years on-campus intermediate suzy b.a. in spanish certificate in teaching adult esl 14 years community literacy sebastian m.a.t. in tesol 25 years on-campus high intermediate tim m.a. in history certificate in teaching adult esl 9 years community literacy 3.4. data collection and analysis in addressing the research question, data were collected through multiple methods. data collection lasted one semester (five months) and included three semi-structured interviews with each instructor, and two classroom observations, including my notes about artifacts used during the lessons. the purpose of combining these methods was to explore teacher identity and agency in more depth. each participant participated in three individual, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews. the interview protocol included open-ended questions that centered on participants’ experiences, practices, perceptions, and opinions. participants also engaged in reflective writing. they received a prompt every two weeks during the data collection period (10 prompts in total) and reflected on their personal and academic observations, experiences, and interactions in an easily accessible, password protected google document. i also observed each participant twice for an entire class to collect the data about teachers’ pedagogical practices and classroom interactions. during each classroom observation, i looked through artifacts, such as handouts and powerpoint slides and looked through texts and activities in the textbooks used during the lessons i observed. the notes on these artifacts were primarily used for triangulation purposes. all interviews were transcribed and jotted memos from the interviews and classroom observations were expanded. the interview transcripts, written reflections from 83 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the reflective journals, and expanded field notes, including notes about powerpoints and handouts were coded using an inductive, iterative process, and all data were analyzed for thematic categories. consistent with creswell (2014), a thematic analysis process involved identifying words and phrases and organizing them into meaningful categories and thematic clusters. a thematic analysis was used to discover central themes across the entries. interpretation of the data consisted of reading the texts, identifying codes, rereading the data, discerning categories, taking notes, and determining overarching themes that provided an insight into the teachers’ personal and professional experiences and practices. the thematic analysis of all data illustrated the commonalities among data and illuminated particular nuances in the data (creswell 2014). 4. results the results of this study indicated that some aspects of participants’ identities strongly relate to being explorers who pursue opportunities to learn about different people, countries, cultures, traditions, and languages. participants’ personal curiosity and pursuit for gaining various new experiences is felt in their classrooms. participants characterized themselves as explorers, who valued diverse multicultural experiences and relationships and acted agentively to create culturally responsive lessons and an enriching learning environment. four themes emerged from data analysis: (1) international connections enhance commitment; (2) transforming learning through inclusion and empowerment; (3) teaching as a conscious and continuous quest; and (4) active efforts in building community bridges. 4.1. international connections enhance commitment all participants drew on a variety of international experiences that contributed to shaping their identities as explorers. such global connections seemed to enable them to be understanding, considerate, accommodating, and committed instructors who care about addressing students’ needs. five categories developed during data analysis, such as intercultural roots, international partners, multicultural friends, international traveling, and multilingual experiences. the thematic data analysis revealed that possessing intercultural roots, such as grandparents or parents who immigrated to the united stated affected instructors’ professional identities. cici, mary, suzy, and tim shared that knowing that their relatives came from another country facilitated their efforts in relating to experiences of immigrants who learned a new language. thus, participants in this study saw the interconnection between their family history, culture, personal experiences, and their teaching. they exhibit a strong sense of agency in supporting ells because they were familiar with the hardships their relatives or ancestors went through in the past. for example, 84 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) cici reflected that her cultural heritage influenced her work with ells, and she sympathized with them. she commented, my cultural identity influences my work in that i know my roots were from another place also. i can see how both cultures play an important part in my life. i identify with a lot of ells. having a significant other from another country has also affected adult esl instructors’ teaching. agnes, cici, and tim shared that seeing what their partners had experienced as immigrants opened their eyes to the challenges immigrants face in terms of learning a new language, finding a job, and acclimating to a new community. such realization made them more understanding to obstacles ells experience, and they became agentive in supporting their students in their educational journeys. for example, agnes reflected that she decided to become an esl instructor after seeing her husband’s struggle. she explained, my husband didn’t speak any english. so that really kind of geared me towards tesol as well. seeing his struggle, what he went through that really influenced me to help others. some participants also shared that they had multicultural friends, and they built such friendships since childhood. they went to school and college with immigrants, lived in diverse neighborhoods, and had international co-workers. thus, their explorer identity is evident in continuously seeking opportunities to cultivate friendships with culturally and linguistically diverse people. all participants shared that they loved learning about other cultures and customs and have maintained close relationships with immigrants throughout their lives. such diverse connections seemed to transform their perspectives, enhanced their understanding of the ells’ experiences and needs, and strengthened their commitment to teaching ells. this indicated that their interactions with immigrants in their spheres provided opportunities for developing identity as explorers and that enhanced their sense of agency for teaching ells. for example, cici reflected that she was intentional in building international friendships by stating, i had a lot of international friends, like, you know, pretty much my whole life. so, i had a feeling for international people and sensitivity. the thematic analysis also showed that participants in this study traveled to many countries, for work and pleasure. agnes and suzy studied abroad; agnes, sebastian, and tim taught overseas; and agnes, mary, suzy, tim, and sebastian regularly took trips to various countries. for instance, tim shared in his reflection that he received his celta certificate in canada, taught english in europe, north and south america, 85 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and traveled around the world to see fascinating places and meet diverse people. suzy has also traveled to many places, and she reflected that such experiences broadened her horizons. she mentioned, i would say probably my travel background and being able to experience other parts of the world, other languages, meeting people from different places, um, helps me relate a little bit about how it feels to be somewhere totally different. some teachers expressed in their reflections that since they had an opportunity to learn a new language, they recognized the complexity of learning a second language. mary, agnes, suzy, and cici had learned spanish in college or while visiting latin america and spain. classroom observations also revealed that these adult esl instructors used spanish when teaching and encouraged students to learn classmates’ languages to facilitate learning. that finding provided evidence that participants actively promote linguistic pluralism in their classrooms. for example, mary expressed, through learning a language and study abroad opportunities, i was able to step outside my bubble and experience what it feels like to be in a very different environment. these experiences have greatly influenced my work as a teacher with ells since it helps me to better understand what it might be like to walk in their shoes, not understanding the language and how to navigate a very complicated system. participants’ accounts illustrated the intricacy of teacher identity negotiation throughout their lives and suggested that having international connections enhanced their commitment to teaching ells. their reflections and field notes indicated that participants drew on their past experiences and interactions, such as cultural heritage, diverse relationships and friendships, and traveling to other countries while narrating their identities as explorers. they constructed multiple identities, but exploration was manifested throughout their various experiences as they took active opportunities to explore diverse countries, cultures, and languages. they make deliberate choices to learn about diverse places and people, and such international connections have provided a venue for building a strong commitment to supporting immigrant students in their classrooms. in short, these findings highlight the importance of considering the multiplicity of past experiences and various relationships that have contributed to shaping a teacher’s identity as an explorer. 4.2. transforming learning through inclusion and empowerment participants in this study are also agentive in promoting transformative learning through sharing their diverse experiences and actively encouraging students to share, 86 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) compare, and contrast their perspectives and experiences. there are four categories in this theme, such as sharing own experiences, validating students’ voices, transforming viewpoints, and challenging marginalization. a few participants, such as cici and andrew reflected that they did not travel oversees but gained enriching experiences by living in diverse neighborhoods or interacting with family members or friends who came from another country. therefore, all participants have many diverse experiences that they share with students in the classroom in order to relate to students’ backgrounds. such diverse experiences influenced participants’ sense of agency in establishing close, genuine relationships with students and in delivering interesting, culturally responsive instruction. for example, andrew reflected that he openly shared his personal history with his students and his diverse experiences enabled him to empathize with them. one of his activities engaged students to share own educational, cultural, and social experiences, and he encouraged students to interrogate him about his past. he was very transparent about his diverse upbringing in the northern united states. he also explained this in his reflective journal by stating, my urban background and cultural sensitivity to people’s interactions with the struggles that life can bring helped me to understand how an individual can see his or herself within any situation, including learning new educational material or investing in an instructional session. the thematic data analysis also revealed that participants validated students’ voices in various ways. for example, they explored students’ backgrounds, interests, and needs through collaborative and communicative activities and peer sharing. such instructional strategies help students enhance their critical thinking skills by comparing and contrasting own experiences. for example, agnes considered using activities that helped students learn from each other very beneficial by commenting, i give them a chance to share in every class how the topic can relate to their lives in their home countries, as well as their lives in the united states. this allows them to get to hear from their different classmates. i feel like my students feel comfortable to share with me and their classmates. when creating a collaborative, communicative, and culturally responsive classroom environment, some participants, such as agnes, mary, suzy, and andrew go beyond learning about students’ backgrounds. they facilitate transformative learning by letting them share unique perspectives and challenges they face while learning english and living in the united states. these participants explained that they also discussed common misconceptions and generalizations about immigrants in order to transform students and fellow teachers’ views. for example, andrew shared that it was crucial 87 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) to engage students in explaining certain holidays, traditions, and customs to dismantle stereotypes. he explained, what many people think cinco de mayo is, it’s the day of independence for mexico. and a lot of the mexican people in the class who were from mexico said it’s not. it’s about a part of independence, but it has not nothing to do with the independence of mexico itself. so that’s a different perspective. and most native-born people here celebrate is as a big holiday and party all day when most mexican born people do not. so that was very different than many people in the class didn’t know that came from this reading that story. in addition, agnes, mary, suzy, and andrew actively empower students to raise concerns and dispute common power structures. classroom observations and artifacts, such as handouts with discussion prompts and icebreakers illustrated that participants promoted critical pedagogy in their classrooms. they pose problems and challenge societal and cultural norms during classroom discussions and select readings that extend students’ knowledge about discrimination. the results illuminated teachers’ strong sense of agency in offering opportunities for students to critically analyze inequalities in the society and empowering them to resist marginalization. for instance, suzy mentioned, it is important to make students aware that in the u.s., discrimination and bigotry does exist, but is not considered acceptable and is against the law. they also learn about the struggles of others including slavery, the fight for freedom and justice, the right to vote, and gender equality. many can personally relate to these issues and understand that, in many cases, these are issues that we still struggle with today. the findings of this study indicated that participants are agentive in creating opportunities to value and validate students’ experiences by allowing them to openly share and compare their stories. such an approach depicts participants’ identity as explorers because they actively promote a safe, welcoming, and inclusive classroom environment that facilitates explorative, transformative learning. this study adds to the existing literature on teacher identity by drawing attention to two ways exploration in the classroom is manifested: first, the teacher-explorers who value and validate various experiences and views, and second, the others who deliberately delve deeper into the nature of power relations and engage in social justice work. 4.3. teaching as a conscious and continuous quest in addition to sharing and validating various experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives, participants in this study actively explore in their classrooms by analyzing their 88 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) dispositions, being inquisitive, prioritizing students’ goals, creating culturally responsive materials, and adjusting instruction. participants maintain their explorer identities by evaluating their dispositions. their narratives indicated that they were reflective practitioners who regularly examined their practices, experiences, and biases (kumaravadivelu 2012). for example, all participants reflected on being aware of their privileges. they reported they did not have to go through the hardships of being a foreigner who did not enjoy the privileges of being a citizen and a native speaker of english. such awareness enabled them to be more understanding and compassionate instructors. for example, cici shared her recognition of students’ challenges and her active quest to be an empathetic teacher. she explained, my experiences are different from some ells in that some of them have lived through war, terrorism, starvation, and horrible circumstances. they have lived with majorly corrupt governments and have seen it all. i have never had to face these terrors. i am a very compassionate person though and feel deeply for other people and their experiences. the participants’ accounts also revealed that all participants were inquisitive and curious individuals who were intentional about learning about students and their backgrounds, interests, and needs. for example, adult esl instructors approached students during group work activities or formed circle times to ask students’ personal questions to engage them in deeper conversations that connected the content and language skills with their personal experiences. also, suzy explained that it was important to keep educating herself about students as their previous experiences affect their learning. she is aware of students’ complex histories and seeks ways to find out about their stories and such knowledge informs her teaching. she actively seeks to understand students’ challenging histories, feelings of marginalization, and current life circumstances. she commented, i always learn from my students. i believe we can learn from each other. they bring new ideas, different experiences, different education and i have learned a lot from my students. they bring a lot to the table. while exploring students’ experiences and backgrounds, all participants reported they prioritized students’ goals. they conduct needs assessment by talking to their students, giving them questionnaires at the beginning of the semester, and analyzing their student files. they are aware of students’ various goals and prepare lessons that address their unique needs. for example, andrew explained how he deliberately tried to address his students’ needs by commenting, 89 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) cause you know, so, i’ll have time to study a student, each student to see all their needs and how to do it and go back and say, okay, i need to do this. what happens is, uh, maybe the next semester i figure out that in some of my classes i need more vocabulary. everyday situations, common situations as opposed to, um, or i need more audio, um, exercises so people can hear the different accents of u.s. citizens. another way participants actively explore in their classrooms is through being creative in providing culturally responsive materials. in their reflections, agnes, mary, suzy, and andrew shared that their curriculum did not include diverse students’ experiences and voices and that they actively worked to expand the mandated curriculum by giving students a voice to transform perspectives. simply, they empowered ells to be active, agentive learners. instead of conforming to the required curriculum, participants are agentive in providing additional resources and designing own handouts and powerpoint slides that are more culturally responsive than prescribed materials. the notes on the artifacts used in the lessons show that participants create or bring materials that relate to students’ lives, such as conversation starters, newspaper clippings, websites, and authentic materials that connect to students’ interests and heritage. this finding supports the important argument to resist the eurocentric curricula through the incorporation of culturally responsive materials in teaching ells (gunderson et al. 2014; wiggan 2012). for example, mary explained her determination in providing materials that were relevant to students’ needs by commenting, instructional materials are contextual and need to be chosen carefully and adapted to backgrounds and capabilities of students. students must be able to relate to the ideas presented and be capable of interacting with the materials and delivery. all my materials are matched to the needs of students. i am constantly searching for new materials. i love to try out new textbooks. so anytime that anybody in the department gets their hands on a textbook, i have it. participants also reported that they adjusted their instruction if something did not work or needed more explanation. instead of strictly adhering to their lesson plans, they are agentive in being mindful, flexible, and accommodating instructors. they actively reflect on their teaching and analyze students’ progress and change their lessons instantaneously when they see the need. that shows that they are risk takers who are not afraid of changing gears and searching for other options when something does not go according to their plan. for example, tim explained, sometimes i’ll do a lesson plan and the lesson plan just for whatever reason flops and then i have to make an immediate decision and say okay this wasn’t working, you know, i missed 90 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the boat on this one and i’m going to have to focus. they’re having trouble with this particular part of the lesson plan, so i’m not going to be able to move on. i’m going to have to divert. the results of this study suggested that participants undertake an agentive expedition in their teaching by exploring own dispositions, being curious, focusing on students’ goals, creating culturally responsive materials, and adjusting instruction. therefore, the instructors’ current teaching practices represent their identities as explorers, and such conscious exploration in the classroom unveils their sense of agency in teaching diverse learners. they exhibit a strong sense of agency in exploring their students’ needs and delivering instruction that matches their goals, interests, and cultural backgrounds. this finding supported claims by borjigin (2017) who argued for providing culturally responsive teaching strategies that connected adult esl students’ backgrounds, promoted critical consciousness, and created an inclusive environment in adult esl classrooms. 4.4. active efforts in building community bridges another theme illuminates participants’ exploration beyond just teaching language and content: adult esl instructors maintain explorer identities by working diligently in building bridges between their classrooms and community. they continuously promote community resources, invite students’ food in their classrooms, organize field trips, and participate in students’ celebrations in their neighborhoods. whether it is through inviting guest speakers, promoting community events, or connecting students with community organizations, participants show a strong sense of agency in building strong partnerships that can help students integrate into society. most of the participants make efforts to connect students to the community by promoting events and organizations that could help them feel more welcomed in their neighborhoods. that implies participants’ active pursuit in advocating for their diverse ells in public spheres. for example, during the classroom observations, mary, agnes, suzy, and sebastian invited guest speakers and shared artifacts, such as brochures about upcoming events to engage students in participating in job fairs and community work. furthermore, suzy emphasized the significant contribution of local refugee agencies in facilitating students’ acclimation in their communities. she explained, refugee support services, um, they put together a lot of events and activities. so, those of us who work in the refugee community and teach the community classes, um, we also communicate with refugee support services and whenever they have some kind of celebration or activity. then we will take that information to the classrooms and let them know about it and encourage them to come. 91 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) participants also discussed how they welcomed students’ food in the classroom by encouraging them to share their dishes at the end of the semester. for example, andrew, mary, and suzy showed me pictures of the parties they organized to celebrate students’ heritage. such events offer a space for cultural validation, in which students can practice communicative skills. for instance, sebastian explained how he welcomed students’ food to create an inclusive community in the classroom, inviting students to share food from their countries is another way to create interest along with a sense of community. they have the opportunity to learn what is different, and it may help to break down cultural barriers, promote awareness of diversity, and encourage mutual respect. teacher identity as explorers is also manifested by providing enriching experiences outside the classroom. for example, some participants go beyond just teaching within the classroom walls and take students to local libraries, museums, or movie theatres. for example, sebastian shared that he had taken his students to a few places in the city, we went to the public library, uh, talked about library cards. we went to, we walked by museums and we went to the imax. and, we watched a movie, a couple of years ago, we watched about something about china panda bears. this time we watched about the nature in africa. they were totally fascinated by the imax. in addition, some instructors go out to students’ neighborhoods and join them in their personal celebrations. mary and suzy volunteered in the world refugee day festival to support their refugee students. additionally, suzy, mary, and agnes shared that they attended students’ weddings and birthday parties. ultimately, in spite of having students of varied experiences, backgrounds, and needs, all seven participants are intentional in providing welcoming, enriching, and validating experiences in and outside their classrooms. participants’ current instructional strategies and interactions elucidated their strong sense of agency of being explorers who continuously learn about their students and provide enriching instruction that helps ells be more successful students and community members. in short, exploration in the classroom goes beyond merely building close relationships since it also strengthens students’ sense of belonging and appreciation of their new community. 5. discussion the findings of this study illustrated that participants exhibited a strong sense of agency in supporting their culturally and linguistically diverse students, and their identity as explorers contributed to their strong sense of agency. participants’ past and present 92 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) experiences, interactions, and practices indicated that they were explorers because they engaged in various relationships and experiences to learn about other people, countries, cultures, and languages. they also use intentional, culturally responsive teaching strategies, such as supplementing curriculum, being student goal-focused, being constantly inquisitive, and exposing students to other experiences outside the classroom. thus, the findings of this study confirmed a close relationship between teacher identity and agency as participants’ explorer identity played a crucial role in developing their strong sense of agency for teaching culturally and linguistically diverse learners (beauchamp & thomas 2009; buchanan 2015). in addition, research on language teacher agency focuses on advocacy, decision making, accepting or resisting curricular reforms, and policy environments (edwards & burns 2016; kayi-aydar 2017; lasky 2005; ollerhead & burns 2016; tao & gao 2017), and the findings of this study provide additional insights into how multiple sociocultural influences, including the past and present personal experiences, relationships, and practices affect language teacher agency. this research study is essential in furthering our understanding of the role of identity as being dynamic and negotiated throughout teachers’ lives. thus, it contributes to the large body of research that problematizes identity as never constant (bachanan 2015; bukor 2015; day et al. 2006; miller 2008; mockler 2011; olsen 2008; sachs 2005; walkington 2005; varghese et al. 2005). participants’ identity negotiation is an ongoing process. their previous personal experiences, interactions, and current teaching practices illuminated their identities as explorers. participants have continuously explored in their individual spheres and found opportunities to explore with their students inside and outside the classrooms. thus, their past personal experiences influenced them as teachers. they became compassionate, understanding, supportive, and committed instructors because they have had opportunities to learn about diversity and inclusion in various local and international contexts. that noteworthy observation provided strong empirical confirmation that the personal lives of teachers and their professional roles in the classrooms are closely intertwined (bukor 2013; day et al. 2006; olsen 2008; palmer & christison 2007). this study drew on critical theory to investigate the role of teacher identity in exercising teacher agency in adult esl classrooms. it is timely during a debate on transforming language teacher education. kumaravadivelu (2012) and wiggan (2012) asserted that language teaching supports the reproduction of dominant cultural and societal thinking and called for engaging language teachers in critical reflection to become aware of how they are positioned in various historical, social, and institutional contexts. kumaravadivelu (2012) and morgan (2009) advocated preparing language teachers not to be merely technicians or reflective practitioners but to become transformative intellectuals. the findings of this study offer additional insight into this debate by suggesting another way teachers enact their identities: exploration. this study revealed that 93 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) some adult esl instructors, such as agnes, suzy, mary, and andrew are transformative practitioners who are change agents empowering students to challenge misconceptions, stereotypes, and marginalization in society (kumaravadivelu 2012). these instructors recognize the relations of power and dominance as well as challenge hegemonic pedagogies and hidden curriculum by promoting equitable and transformative education. but, cici, tim, and sebastian are more than technicians or reflective practitioners as they are not passive teachers but instead actively take advantage of various opportunities to explore students’ needs, backgrounds, and goals. their identities as explorers are evident in being inclusive, creative, deliberate, autonomous, and committed teachers, but they have not taken a leap into challenging power structures. the reasons may be many, and it might be a focus of further research. although agnes, suzy, mary, and andrew as explorers actively work towards social change in education, cici, tim, and sebastian are still intentional in transforming their students’ learning by exploring and supporting their ells’ needs and language goals and embracing students’ perspectives, opinions, and experiences in their teaching. that noteworthy contribution to the current literature draws attention to exploration as a crucial aspect of teacher identity. that discovery also confirmed the importance of taking into a consideration “a holistic understanding of the dominant influences on teacher identity and instructional practices” (bukor 2015: 323) as past and present personal experiences have a significant impact on language teacher teaching. this narrative study looked at participants’ language identity development by analyzing data holistically and comparing and contrasting participants’ stories. thus, analyses revealed that the common aspect of participants’ identities was exploration even though they exhibited multiple identities throughout their lives and experienced shifts in their identities. 6. pedagogical implications the findings of this study have significant implications for language teacher preparation programs, language teacher professional development, and further research. this study points to the importance of exposing pre-service language teachers to diverse experiences, for example, ensuring pre-service language teachers have an opportunity to learn about diverse learners during their clinical field experiences. this study also highlights the potential usefulness of incorporating critical self-reflection assignments in the methodology courses in which pre-service language teachers can make connections between their various experiences and teaching practices. the themes that developed in this study suggest the need to critically evaluate own dispositions, foundations of commitment to teaching diverse students, the interconnection between family history and teaching, diversity of own neighborhoods, and influence of own language learning experience on teaching practices. such critical reflection can provide an extension 94 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) to reflecting on practice and can stimulate pre-service teachers to purposefully explore multiple factors that influence their teacher identity and nurture their sense of agency. as far as professional development is concerned, this study calls for engaging language teachers in critical reflection and dialogue that facilitate sharing experiences, perspectives, and classroom practices, as well as challenging power structures and marginalization in education. such collaboration among faculty could promote exploring students’ unique stories, their living circumstances, and their various needs. the findings serve as a premise for transforming teacher professional development training in order to enhance instruction quality and improve the learning environments of culturally and linguistically diverse students. teacher training is not just about gaining new knowledge but also a factor in improving teacher agency by helping teachers build their professional identities. therefore, this study is significant because it raises awareness on deliberate, ongoing efforts in developing teacher identity and teacher agency. moreover, further research is needed to deepen knowledge about adult esl instructors’ experiences and practices. it would be beneficial to extend this study to longitudinal and comparative ways. analyzing participants’ teaching over a course of a year would help provide a more in-depth illustration of their practices. also, comparing their experiences with the students and staff’s perspectives would be helpful in understanding their institutional context. 7. conclusion this paper explored how participants’ identities affected their sense of agency. this study answers the research question by providing important insights into teacher identity playing a pivotal role in shaping teacher agency for teaching culturally and linguistically diverse learners. because adult esl instructors have had numerous opportunities to explore other cultures, countries, and traditions, they have been open, curious, committed, innovative teachers who currently exhibit a strong sense of agency for teaching culturally and linguistically diverse learners. they actively support and advocate for their ells in their classrooms and in the community. these findings are relevant to both researchers and practitioners. however, it is important to remember that this narrative study may not be generalizable to other institutions. rather, the purpose of this study was to learn about seven participants’ experiences and contexts that shaped their identity and agency. references beauchamp, c. & thomas, l. 2009. understanding teacher identity: an overview of issues in the literature and implications for teacher education. cambridge journal of education 39(2): 175-189. 95 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be a teacher. in: p. denicolo & m. kompf (eds.), challenges for teaching and learning in schools and universities, 5-21. oxford: routledge. samoukovic, b. 2015. re-conceptualizing teacher expertise: teacher agency and expertise through a critical pedagogic framework [unpublished phd dissertation]. university of iowa. tao, j., & gao, x. 2017. teacher agency and identity commitment in curricular reform. teaching and teacher education 63: 346-355. u.s. department of education. 2016. english literacy/english language education in the adult basic grant program. varghese, a., morgan, b., johnston, b., & johnson, k.a. 2005. theorizing language teacher identity: three perspectives and beyond. journal of language, identity & education 4(1): 21-44. walkington, j. 2005. becoming a teacher: encouraging development of teacher identity through reflective practice. asia-pacific journal of teacher education 33(1): 53-64. wiggan, g. 2012. education in a strange land: globalization, urbanization and urban schools; the social and educational implications of the geopolitical economy. new york: nova publishers. * * * anna sanczyk received a bachelor of arts degree in english philology from the university of bialystok, poland and a master of arts degree in english linguistics from the university of oslo, norway. she taught adult esl and was a program coordinator at central piedmont community college, usa. she recently earned a doctor of philosophy degree in curriculum and instruction: tesl from the university of north carolina at charlotte, usa. her research interests include language teacher identity, language teacher agency, culturally responsive pedagogy, and critical pedagogy. 37 5 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) natasha stojanovska-ilievska1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.38.3.01 ss cyril and methodius university, skopje, north macedonia https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1221-0999 information packaging strategies serving the communicative needs of speakers abstract.this paper presents the findings of a study of diverse information packaging strategies employed by speakers of english to better serve their communicative needs in given contexts, based on examples from the british national corpus (bnc). more precisely, the analysis centres around the information packaging possibilities offered by light verb constructions (lvcs) in comparison to their full verb counterparts. as is conventionally recognised in previous studies, lvcs formally stretch the predicate over a verbal and a nominal element (e.g. to order vs to give an order). it is precisely this fact that makes it possible for speakers to structure their utterances in various ways. thus, either all participants are overtly realized in the sentence and the communicative focus could be placed on each one of them depending on the context, or some participants are reduced, which is the preferred strategy when their identity is implied, unfamiliar, irrelevant or would rather be concealed. keywords: information packaging, information structure, light verb constructions, full verbs, argument structure. 1. introduction this paper presents the findings of a study of diverse information packaging strategies employed by speakers of english to better serve their communicative needs in given contexts, based on examples from the british national corpus (bnc). more precisely, the analysis centres around the information packaging possibilities offered by light verb constructions (lvcs) in comparison to their full verb (fv) counterparts. the study aims to identify the variations in information structuring across several subcategories of lvcs 1 address for correspondence: department of english language and literature, faculty of philology at ss. cyril and methodius university in skopje, bul.goce delcev 9a, skopje 1000, north macedonia. e-mail: n.stojanovska@flf.ukim.edu.mk https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1221-0999 6 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and to discuss the contextual and pragmatic reasons that could have potentially motivated the arrangement of sentence constituents in specific examples. the topic is important as the fairly fixed word order of english leaves little room for reordering of constituents, so addressing this issue in the context of lvcs alleviates this inflexibility to a certain degree. this paper differs from other studies in that it is entirely devoted to the exploration of information packaging possibilities vested specifically in the lvcs with give. as is conventionally recognised in previous studies, lvcs formally stretch the predicate over a verbal and a nominal element (e.g. to order vs to give an order; to explain vs to give an explanation). the term reserved for the verbal component is a light verb (lv) (jespersen 1942: 117; huddleston & pullum 2002: 290), which is suggestive of the fact that these verbs are to some extent semantically bleached. light verbs that commonly occur in lvcs are make, do, give, have, take, etc. this study investigates only the lvcs with give, as this verb enters a ditransitive sentence pattern and could potentially offer greater versatility in terms of sentence structure compared to the monotransitive light verbs. some linguists restrict their definition of light verb constructions to include only those instances of lvcs where the nominal component is a product of verb to noun conversion (jespersen 1942; wierzbicka 1982; dixon 2005). the interpretation adopted in this paper is broader and is in agreement with the views according to which the nominal component in lvcs is a deverbal noun, irrespective of whether it is a product of conversion or derivation (quirk et al. 1985; brugman 2001; allerton 2002; algeo 2006). semantically, it denotes an action or a process, i.e. it is nomen actionis as suggested by topolińska (1982: 39) and allerton (2002:115), but it could also denote a completed act, in which case it corresponds to nomina acti (topolińska 2003: 91) or it could even have an objectified interpretation. oftentimes, lvcs can be paraphrased with the corresponding full verbs (e.g. to make a contribution vs. to contribute), even though these two structures are by no means absolutely synonymous. some features of the english lvcs cannot always be adequately conveyed with the corresponding full verbs, such as the adjectival premodification of the noun within the lvcs, the aspectual meaning of lvcs when the deverbal noun is preceded by an indefinite article (brinton 2011: 568), or the distinction between a single occurrence and multiple occurrences of the action denoted by the deverbal noun. the specific bipartite structure of the lvcs makes it possible for speakers to structure their utterances in various ways, by focusing, reducing and arranging constituents in line with the demands of a particular situation. this is where the significance is information packaging is brought to the forefront. with lvcs speakers do not simply convey the propositional content of their utterances, but they employ versatile sentence patterns to formulate and frame their thoughts in a manner that is context-dependent. in addition, by adjusting the structure of their verbal messages to a specific context, 7 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) speakers demonstrate understanding of and sensitivity to the prior knowledge of the addressee and to what had previously been mentioned in the discourse. 2. literature review there is a plethora of different views among linguists regarding sentence information structure. yet, on the whole, linguists are unanimous that, to a certain degree, the linear sequence of constituents is governed by what is known/unknown to the participants in a given context.these ideas were first presented by the prague school in the 1920s, and their practical application has been the topic of much debate ever since (erteschik-shir 2007). the distinctions between topic-comment, theme-rheme, given-new, (back)ground-focus play a pivotal role in sentence information structure (vallduvi & engdahl 1996; erteschik-shir 2007). over time these have been used with slight variations among linguists, but essentially all these ideas can be condensed into two major models: (a) ones that divide the sentence into ground and focus, and (b) others that divide the sentence into topic and comment (vallduvi & engdahl 1996: 462). different as they might seem, there is still a partial overlap between these binary concepts. this is why they could be regarded as complementing each other, rather than as being isolated sets of primitives. the term information packaging was first introduced by chafe in 1976 and was later used to refer to “a structuring of sentences by syntactic, prosodic, or morphological means that arises from the need to meet the communicative demands of a particular context or discourse” (vallduvi & engdahl 1996: 460) and “the way that utterances are formulated to fit into the communicative situation as a whole, including the speech participants, the extra-linguistic context and the linguistic co-text” (grenoble 1998: 3-4). smit (2010) considers information packaging to be one of the three subdomains of information structure, alongside referent management and cohesion management. in principle, information packaging deals with alternative sequencing of constituents in sentences, such that does not alter the propositional content of sentences. these differently-structured sentences are not interchangeable in just any context. as a matter of fact, it is the actual context that determines which alternative would be felicitous in a given situation and which one would be considered less acceptable or unacceptable. finally, to relate this discussion of information packaging to light verb constructions that will be used to illustrate this concept, according to topolińska (1982: 36-37), lvcs offer the possibility for an alternative thematization of the two components, which is closely related to the altered communicative hierarchy of arguments. sentences with fvs and lvcs may be informationally equivalent, but their structural difference has major significance for the participants in the speech act and for the discourse in general. all this becomes even more important having in mind the fact that english has a relatively fixed word order, governed by the syntactic functions of the sentence constituents. this is why the structural difference between lvcs and the corresponding 8 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) fvs should not be equalled to a mere variation in the ordering of constituents on a sentence level, but its importance should also be acknowledged on a broader discourse plane, as will be demonstrated in section 4. there have been several studies thus far that have sought to explore to a greater or lesser degree, information packaging in the context of english lvcs. quirk et al. (1985), for example, analyse some types of lvcs from the viewpoint of communicative dynamism, while the study of composite predicates by brinton (1996) builds on their observations. in her analysis of several different types of multi-word verbs, claridge (2000) uses the term “syntactic spreading” to refer to the phenomenon of lvcs (or verbonominal combinations in her terminology) shifting “(parts of the) verbal predication to more prominent sentence positions” (claridge 2000: 41-42). by providing inner passive fronting examples she illustrates the syntactic flexibility of lvcs. there was also a contrastive study by dušková (2012) which compares english lvcs and their czech translation equivalents with occasional references to the similarities and differences between them in terms of their information structure. 3. research methodology this study is based on the british national corpus (bnc), which is a corpus of original english texts that contains around 100 million words and is restricted in time between 1980 and 1993. one reason for this choice is that lvcs are not encountered frequently in texts, which is especially true if we focus on lvcs with a specific verb. also, as is widely known, lvcs are typical for the spoken language, but also for the academic and administrative style. thus, another reason to opt for the bnc was the fact that it includes material from spoken language (transcribed for easier search) and texts from different functional styles. the content of this corpus is distributed among several categories: spoken language, fiction, magazines, newspapers, academic texts and more. my research proceeded in several stages: selection of lvcs to be analysed, search for these lvcs in the corpus, and finally, qualitative data analysis. each of these research phases will now be briefly addressed. the bbi combinatory dictionary of english, the oxford collocations dictionary for students of english and ltp dictionary of selected collocations were all used in the process of selection of english lvcs with give. the motivation behind my decision to analyse information packaging strategies through the lvcs with give lies in the fact that give, as a ditransitive verb, opens up more possibilities in terms of rearrangement of constituents than monotransitive verbs. only such lvcs were selected that included a deverbal noun within their structure, regardless of whether this noun was a product of conversion or derivation. then the lvcs were searched in the bnc. a total of seventy-eight different lvcs were searched in the bnc. by comparing lvcs registered in the bnc with the parallel constructions with the corresponding fvs, 9 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) various reasons for the existence of lvcs were investigated when there are near-synonymous fvs. in this sense, special attention was paid to the possibilities for different hierarchy of the arguments in the lvcs, which is closely related to the information structure of the sentence. namely, the contextually familiar participants become thematized (usually in sentence initial position), and the new ones are placed towards the end of the sentence, where the information focus of the sentence is. at the same time, the possibility for reduction of the superficially present arguments in the lvcs was investigated, which often proved to be grammatically unacceptable in the constructions with fvs. 4. results and discussion this section presents the findings of a study carried out on samples of text from the british national corpus. for ease of reference this section has been organized into three subheadings, each of which deals with a separate group of light verb constructions with give and the opportunities they offer for information packaging. these three groups of lvcs with give were formed based on the john newmans̓ (1996: 136-138, 171-176, 201205) exploration of the different metaphorical extensions in which the prototypical give has evolved over time in cultures around the globe. in a nutshell, the metaphorical extensions of prototypical give that proved to be relevant for this study are as follows: group 1 – causative metaphorical extension (give a scream / sigh / yawn / shrug) group 2 – metaphorical extension of schematic interaction (give someone apush / wash / hug) group 3 – metaphorical extension for interpersonal communication (give someone permission / advice / approval) examples from group 3 were the most prevalent in the bnc. there were more than twice as many instances of lvcs from group 3 than from group 1. examples from group 2 were considerably fewer compared to those of group 1. of all the examples with lvcs with give, for the purposes of this paper only such examples were chosen that could be used to illustrate my points with regard to information packaging. each example from the bnc is followed by a three-letter text identifier code and a sentence number within brackets. for each of these separate groups it will be demonstrated how lvcs enhance the expressive possibilities, particularly in terms of information packaging. 4.1 lvcs from group 1 (give a scream / sigh / shrug) the established order of the basic sentence constituents in english is svo (subject – verb – object) and consequently, other language structures tend to somehow fit into this predominant model. this could be one of the possible motivations for the appearance of lvcs in which the nominal component is derived from an intransitive verb. namely, 10 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) sentences in which an intransitive full verb is used are not completely consistent with the svo model. therefore, in such cases, the predication is stretched over two constituent parts: a verbal part represented by a lv and a nominal part in the position of a direct object, reserved for the nominalization derived from the intransitive verb. in this way, the requirements of the canonical word order in english are met, i.e. the sentence contains three basic elements in the svo order. this is illustrated with examples (1a) and (1b), where example (1a) contains the intransitive fv sigh, while example (1b) contains the lvc give a sigh, which fits the svo word order. 1a. elizabeth sighed. (c98 1299) 1b. elizabeth gave a sigh. (c98 952) brinton (1996: 196) claims that verbal elements in english are usually not focused, nor are they carriers of sentence stress. sentence stress usually falls on the last basic structural element in the sentence, so a simple construction of the subject-predicate type (he walked) sounds incomplete. similarly, the verb is not expected to be the carrier of the maximum communicative dynamism in the sentence, but to form a transition between the low level of communication dynamism of the theme and the high level of communication dynamism of the rheme (quirk et al. 1985: 1401). thus, by stretching the predicate in lvcs simple intransitive structures are avoided (quirk et al. 1985: 751, 1401). lvcs also allow emphasis to be placed on primarily verbal content, which in lvcs is expressed through a deverbal noun in do position. from the aspect of the functional sentence perspective, a function of the indefinite article is to introduce the rheme into the sentence structure, so that in lvcs it signals the nucleus of the sentence, i.e. it allows the action (profiled in the deverbal noun) to be placed in the sentence rheme position, as in (1b). 4.2 lvcs from group 2 (give someone a push / wash / hug) lvcs with give from this group enable the conceptualization of an event (for which there are two participants in the full verb construction) as a transfer of energy from the first participant to the second participant. thereby, a third participant is introduced in the lvc, and that is physical energy, as a created participant in the position of a do. this becomes clear if we compare sentences (2a) and (2b), which can both be used to describe the same event of punching, the difference being that in (2a) the event is conceptualized with two participants an agent and a patient, while in (2b) the event is conceptualized as a transfer of physical energy from an agent to a recipient, i.e. three participants are involved in it. 11 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 2a. a few years ago he punched me ... (cdg 1381) 2b. he gave me a punch... (kd9 849) 2c. * he gave a punch to me. as for the information structure, these lvcs allow us to place primarily verbal content in the focus, formally expressed through a deverbal noun in do position, while the recipient in the position of io, as a less important element, is usually coded with a pronoun, which is demonstrated in example (2b). an alternative with an analytical dative construction is not acceptable (2c), because in that case the focus would be on the second participant, and in english there is already a construction to focus on the second participant, and that is the construction with fv in example (2a). newman (1996: 206) considers that generally the use of the analytical dative construction suggests that the effect of the verb action on the recipient is weaker, compared to the situations where the recipient is stated immediately after the verb. in this sense, the very preference of the word order s-v-io-do in the lvcs from this group, indicates a certain degree of affectedness of the argument in io position from the action denoted by the verb, although this argument is essentially conceived as a recipient of the physical energy. in a similar vein, following the interpretation by quirk et al. (1985: 1396), brinton (1996: 197) maintains that in (3a) the focus would be on the activity, and in (3b) the focus would be on the argument in io position. but because give a kiss, unlike the simple verb kiss, is a structure explicitly created to focus the action, (3c) is preferred to (3b) when the focus should be on the recipient. brinton (1996: 197) adds that unlike (3b), (3d) focuses on marie while emphasizing kissing, and that unlike (3a), (3e) focuses on the kissing while emphasizing marie. the last two examples with a marked focus mainly serve to achieve contrast. 3а. he gave marie a kíss. 3b. ? he gave a kiss to maríe. 3c. he kissed maríe. 3d. he gave maríe a kiss (not diane). 3e. he gave a kíss to marie (not a hug). 4.3 lvcs from group 3 (give someone permission / advice) lvcs from group 3 are conceptualized as a transfer of a verbal message from an agent to a recipient. they can undergo passivization and actually appear in the passive voice quite commonly, which is not the case with lvcs from groups 1 and 2. the very possibility for passivization indicates that the status of the nominalization in do position in these lvcs is different compared to the lvcs from groups 1 and 2. it seems that in lvcs 12 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) from group 3 passivization is possible due to the fact that the semantics of the nominalization within the lvcs has diverged from the meaning of an ongoing process/activity to a certain extent, and has acquired a more resultative or even an objectified interpretation. in other words, sometimes nomina actionis semantically evolve in the direction of nomina acti (topolińska 2003: 91). in some cases, the nominalization in the lvcs of this group has become so objectified that it is perceived as a participant with a (concrete or abstract) referent in the world around us. in this sense, such lvcs resemble ditransitive constructions in which the accusative argument is an indefinite noun denoting a concrete material object, as in: she gave him a book / an apple / a cd. however, what separates lvcs from these ditransitive constructions is the possibility of a close paraphrase with the corresponding fv. for example, the policeman gave him an order to slow down has a close paraphrase in the policeman ordered him to slow down. so, the np in do position in the former sentence resembles an argument (the possibility for passivization confirms that), but it still has a notable predicative thread. because of this, it seems acceptable to regard this np as a quasi-argument (vincze & csirik 2010: 1111). the analysis has shown that in these lvcs the dative argument can be advanced to the subject position, as in example (4), but also the accusative quasi-argument, as in examples (5a), (6a) and (7a). 4. charlie couldnʼt remember when he had last been given an order, let alone obeyed one. (k8t 445) with regard to the passivization by advancement of the accusative quasi-argument, we notice several different situations that are related to the number of superficially present arguments, all of which are presented in items a-c below. a) all three participants in the transfer are overtly realized in example (5a) the author opted for the lvc give permission in the passive voice for several reasons. in journalistic texts, it is of vital importance that the texts are informative, precise and concise. knowing that topicalization is used as a means of introducing a familiar element into the discourse, from the topicalization of permission we understand that the permission refers to the aforementioned conversion of a music store into a betting shop and therefore there is no need to repeat that fact. the communicative focus is on the other two nps (denoting the recipient and the agent), which is why they are presented as new elements in the discourse within the rheme. 13 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 5a. а former music and video shop in alton high street is to become a modern betting office. permission was given to coral estates ltd. by planners at east hampshire district council... (c88 154-155) if the fv permit was used, whether in the active or the passive voice, in order for the sentence to be grammatically correct, an infinitival clausal complement should also be added, such that would specify what the permit is given for, as in examples (5b) and (5c) respectively. 5b. east hampshire district council permitted coral estates ltd [to do something]. 5c. coral estates ltd was permitted [to do something] by planners at east hampshire district council. however, that would disrupt the dense expression in the text. firstly, the text would be laden with information that could easily be retrieved from the previous sentence. secondly, this piece of information, although known, would be in a position typical for the rheme in a sentence, contrary to the rules for a neutral word order. thirdly, again contrary to the rules for a neutral word order, the sentence would start with new, rather than given information. from this we can conclude that, in certain contexts, the principles of sentence information structure call for the use of lvcs. b) two participants in the transfer are overtly realized and the agent is reduced as is common practice in passive constructions, the agent can either be reconstructed from the context, or it is implied or irrelevant. 6a. ... positive encouragement was given to artists ʻworking in new ways.̓ (a4a 153) in contrast to this passivized lvc, in principle it is possible to express the same propositional content with the fv encourage in the passive voice, as in example (6b), as such a variant would also allow the reduction of the agent. however, since the communicative focus of the sentence is precisely the np artists ʻworking in new ways,̓ it seems that in this case it is more appropriate to position this np towards the end of the sentence. this is in line with the principle of end-focus, according to which the constituent that is communicatively most important is placed in final position (quirk et al. 1985: 1398). this np can be the communicative focus of the sentence even in an active construction with the fv encourage, as in example (6c), but in this case the realization of the agent in subject position is mandatory. 14 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 6b. artists ʻworking in new waysʼ were positively encouraged. 6c. [someone] positively encouraged artists ʻworking in new ways.̓ so, in this situation a lvc in passive voice is preferred because the lvc makes it possible to focus the recipient while reducing the agent. also, stylistically, example (6a) is more acceptable than example (6b) in terms of the achievement of a structural balance in the sentence. namely, in english there is a principle according to which the longer and structurally more complex constituent should be placed in final position (known as the end-weight principle), and this same constituent would be unusual in the position of a subject (quirk et al. 1985: 1040, 1282, 1398). c) only the quasi-argument in subject position is overtly realized and both the agent and the recipient are reduced in a news article on the aftermath of a bomb blast in the londonderry area, it is not as relevant to name the giver and/or recipient of the warning, as it is to mention the issuing of the warning as a fact, as in example (7a), since the emphasis in the text is placed on the devastation left by the blast. 7a. at 10.30 last night a 300 lb van bomb wrecked the heart of the co londonderry. a ten minute warning was given. it was not until daylight broke that the scale of the devastation could be seen. nearly 20 shops and offices in broad street, just off the diamond, were wrecked. (hj4 7457-7460) there is no possibility to formulate a grammatically correct sentence with the fv warn, either in the passive or the active voice, without overtly expressing the recipient of the warning and/or the agent, as can be demonstrated from examples (7b) and (7c), respectively. 7b. [someone] was warned ten minutes before the bomb wreck. 7c. [someone] warned [someone else] ten minutes before the bomb wreck. therefore, it becomes clear that the use of lvcs is preferred when the agent and the recipient are unknown, when we do not want to reveal their identity, when they are irrelevant or implied from the previous context. because of this, lvcs are very suitable for the institutionalized administrative style or the journalistic discourse. generally, the fv approve requires an object in do position and a sentence without it would be considered ungrammatical, as is evident from example (8b). lvcs, on the other hand, allow us to reduce the argument in do position from the construction with the fv, as in example (8a). 15 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 8a. the committee reports to the faculty board, and final approval is given by the general board. (j2c 396) 8b. * ... and the general board finally approvеѕ [something]. an argument originating from the do position of the fv, evident from example (9b), will still appear on the surface of the text in the corresponding lvc through a pp dependent on the nominalization in the lvc, as in example (9a). due to its length, the pp for a series of seven experiments undergoes extraposition, but still remains an integral (though discontinuous) member of the np with the nominalization as its head. 9a. ... permission was given for a series of seven experiments... (b7j 1652) 9b. [someone] permitted a series of seven experiments. in this section it was demonstrated that lvcs generally offer speakers greater versatility when it comes to information packaging. however, even though with lvcs speakers have various optional frameworks in which they could formulate their ideas, they are still “constrained by a combination of the linguistic packaging conventions of the speech community put together with the need to communicate effectively in a given context” (leafgren 2002: 76). 5. conclusion english lvcs offer diverse information packaging possibilities that speakers can exploit depending on their communicative needs in a particular situation. the first possibility is that all participants are overtly realized in the sentence and the communicative focus can be placed on either one of them depending on the context. another possibility is that one or two sentence participants are reduced, which is the preferred strategy when the reduced participants are implied, unfamiliar, irrelevant or would rather be concealed. it is precisely because of these information packaging options presented by lvcs that they are sometimes preferred in discourse over their full verb counterparts, and occasionally their use is even required because in certain contexts when some of the participants are reduced, the use of the full verb would yield an ungrammatical sentence. by providing speakers with the syntactic means to organize their ideas in different ways, light verb constructions also allow them to express their more subtle communicative needs with greater accuracy. as english belongs to the languages “with fewer salient packaging options” (leafgren 2002: 1) compared to the languages with richer inflectional morphology and a more flexible word order, the contribution of lvcs to information packaging versatility should definitely be acknowledged. 16 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) references аlgeо, j. 2006. british or american english: a handbook of word and grammar patterns. cambridge: cambridge university press. allerton, d. j. 2002. stretched verb constructions in english. london: routledge. bnc consortium, the british national corpus, xml edition, 2007, oxford text archive, http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12024/2554. brinton, l. j. 2011. the grammaticalization of complex predicates. in: b. heine & h. narrog (eds.), the oxford handbook of grammaticalization, 559-569. oxford: oup brinton, l. j. 1996. attitudes toward increasing segmentalization: complex and phrasal verbs in english. journal of english linguistics 24:186–205. brugman c. 2001. light verbs and polysemy. language sciences 23: 551-78. chafe, w. l. 1976. givenness, contrastiveness, definiteness, subjects, topics, and point of view. in: charles n. li (ed.), subject and topic, 25-55. new york: academic press. claridge, claudia. 2000. multi-word verbs in early modern english: a corpus-based study. amsterdam: rodopi. dixon, r.m.w. 2005. a semantic approach to english grammar, second edition. oxford: oxford university press. dušková, l. 2012. vilém mathesius and contrastive studies, and beyond. in: m. malá & p. šaldová (eds.), a centenary of english studies at charles university: from mathesius to present-day linguistics. prague: univerzita karlova v praze. erteschik-shir, n. 2007. information structure: the syntax-discourse interface. oxford: oup. grenoble, l.a. 1998. deixis and information packaging in russian discourse. philadelphia: john benjamins. huddleston, r. & pullum, g. 2002. the cambridge grammar of the english language. cambridge: cambridge university press. jespersen, o. 1942. a modern english grammar on historical principles, part vi, morphology. london: george allen and unwin ltd. leafgren, j. 2002. degrees of explicitness: information structure and the packaging of bulgarian subjects and objects. philadelphia: john benjamins. newman j. 1996. give – a cognitive linguistic study. berlin: mouton de gruyter. newman, j. 1999. figurative giving. in: l. de stadler and c. eyrich (eds.) issues in cognitive linguistics: 1993 proceedings of the international cognitive linguistics conference [cognitive linguistics research 12], 113-140. berlin: mouton de gruyter. quirk, r.; greenbaum, s; leech g. & svartvik, j. 1985. a comprehensive grammar of the english language. london: longman. smit, n. 2010. fyi: theory and typology of information packaging. zutphen: wöhrmann print service. 17 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) topolińska, z. 1982. perifrastični predikatski izrazi na međuslovenskkim relacijama. in: južnoslovenski filolog xxxviii: 35-49. topolińska, z. 2003. polski-makedonski: gramatička konfrontacija. 6. sintaksička derivacija. skopje: manu. vallduvi, e. & engdahl, e. 1996. the linguistic realization of information packaging. linguistics 34: 459-519. vincze, v. & csirik, ј. 2010. hungarian corpus of light verb constructions. in: c. huang & d. jurafsky (eds.), proceedings of the 23rd international conference on computational linguistics (coling 2010), 1110–1118. beijing: tsinghua university press. wierzbicka, a. 1982. why you can have a drink when you canʼt *have an eat. language 58: 753-799. *** natasha stojanovska-ilievska is an associate professor at blaže koneski faculty of philology, ss.cyril and methodius university in skopje, north macedonia. she is currently teaching undergraduate courses in english syntax and academic writing, as well as a graduate course in contrastive linguistic studies. she has had 25 years of teaching experience and her research interests include syntax, discourse analysis, corpus linguistics and contrastive analysis of structures in english and macedonian. natasha stojanovska-ilievska doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.38.3.01 information packaging strategies serving the communicative needs of speakers lexical networks between sounds and meanings in taiwan mandarin: evidence from psycholinguistics 37 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) tzu-yi tseng1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.29.2.03 national chengchi university, taiwan orcid: 0000-0001-6691-8680 lexical networks between sounds and meanings in taiwan mandarin: evidence from psycholinguistics abstract. the present study aims to provide an outline of lexical networks between sounds and meanings in taiwan mandarin. both the phonological and semantic relations are explored by a free word association task. previous research has demonstrated a significant influence of phonology on indo-european networks and suggested the influence of semantics on languages with lexicography such as mandarin. with a new methodology in which word frequency, syllable type, syllable structure, tone structure, imageability, and parts of speech are carefully considered for the experimental stimuli, a total of 248 responses were collected from six taiwan mandarin native speakers. the results of lexical associations suggest that: 1) semantic relations show a stronger connection than phonological ones in taiwan mandarin networks; 2) rhymes present a stronger influence on associations than initial segments. the understanding of lexical organization in the human brain may contribute to further research on functions of associations and networks between human and artificial intelligence. keywords: lexical networks, lexical associations, semantic-phonological organization, taiwan mandarin. 1. introduction lexical networks represent the organization of human lexicon which functions differently regarding individual and regional variabilities as well as the constraints of languages. several methodologies have so far been implemented to explore the connections and organizations within lexical networks, such as stroop, lexical decision, word categorization, recognition memory, lexical association tasks, and speech errors. through lexical associations, the mapping and decoding process between formed concepts during perception and production can be traced by the relations between target words and responded words. for example, the ways the associated word pairs ‘peach’ and ‘pear’ in english, and 儲存 ‘to save’ [tʂʰu35tsʰwən35] and 刪除 ‘to delete’ [ʂan55tʂʰu35] 1 address for correspondence: graduate institute of linguistics, national chengchi university, taipei, 11605 taiwan. e-mail: ttseng@g.nccu.edu.tw 38 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in mandarin connect to each other can probably provide a clue of the organization of lexical networks. the lexical organization in a language can possibly be influenced by similar or identical sounds, meanings, parts of speech, etc. therefore, approaching the lexical organization in the human mind can help with the understanding of the retrieval, comprehension, acquisition and usage of the mental lexicon. previous works in the related fields have proposed some widely accepted theories and assumptions concerning lexical networks. for example, in indo-european languages, there is evidence of the phonological similarity, especially the initial segments, within the connections (e.g., dell et al. 2000; vitevitch 2008; vitevitch & goldstein 2014; beckage & colunga 2016). on the other hand, the semantic similarity in the mandarin lexicon in terms of various semantic relations such as paradigmatic and syntagmatic ones, have been suggested by a few works (e.g., huang & hsieh 2015; hsieh 2006, 2016; wan & ting 2019; tang & wan 2020). however, the target issue has not been widely researched in the mandarin lexicon. most of the studies do not consider adequate linguistic features. the objectives of the present paper are therefore to fill this research gap as well as to investigate how the phonological and semantic influences function and interact within the lexicon. to further explore the lexical networks in the aspects of the relations between sounds and meanings in taiwan mandarin, a free word association task was conducted with disyllabic nouns and verbs. during the lexical association task, the participants were required to produce the first word emerging in their minds upon a lexical item as the stimulus. the analyses and the categorizations of the responses of the free word association tasks later focused on the interaction between phonology and semantics. 2. lexical networks 2.1. influences on connections several influences have been attested to frame the structure of lexical networks, including frequency, imageability, lexical bias, part of speech, and semantic as well as phonological factors (e.g., reeves et al. 1998). besides, an individual’s language experience, culture and/or regional diversity can also affect a word’s frequency by using it in diverse contexts. a number of studies of each factor have been conducted. for example, in dell’s (1990) spreading activation model of lexical retrieval, frequency is the key factor to affect phonological errors. kittredge et al. (2008) also find evidence from aphasic picture naming in which lexical frequency has significant influences on both phonological and semantic errors. imageability indicates the concreteness and abstractness of a concept. an internal image could be more easily generated by processing words with concrete concepts, such as book, than the abstract ones, for instance, peace. rich semantic representation encoded in words with higher imageability is attested to be 39 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the reason for easier access and deeper storage in the brain. de groot (1989) finds that imageability strongly determines responses in word associations, and caplan & madan (2016) propose that imageability is one of the most important factors involved in language processing. furthermore, during the lexical access, the tendency to produce a real word instead of a novel word, i.e., lexical bias, has been supported by previous studies (e.g., dell 1985; dell & o’seaghdha’s 1991, 1992). different parts of speech determine the functions of a word in various contexts and the connections between semantic and syntactic relations. for instance, both nissen & henriksen’s (2006) and de simone & collina’s (2016) evidence support the claim that parts of speech influence the responses during lexical access and production within lexical networks. 2.2. indo-european networks phonologically related factors, another integral basis of language network representations, have been identified by a large number of studies in indo-european languages (e.g., dell et al. 2000; vitevitch 2008; vitevitch & goldstein 2014; beckage & colunga 2016). in dell et al.’s (2000) research about speech errors, the scholars find that although speech errors concerning novel words happen often, the tendency of phonotactic violations is relatively low. another major phonological influence is initialness, i.e., onsets tend to be preserved during the process of lexical access and retrieval. for instance, vitevitch (2008) presents a small portion of the english phonological network by 20,000 english words to represent word speech and neighbors of speech shown as figure 1. figure 1. a sample of english phonological networks analyzed in vitevitch (2008) the figure illustrates the phonological networks including the phenomena of initialness, in which the nodes represent words that are connected by links within the networks. the core of this example, the node for the word peach [pitʃ] has a link connecting to other representations such as preach [pɹitʃ], peat [pit], patch [pætʃ], each [itʃ], etc. 40 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the example shows the phonological similarity of words with [p] as the identical onset, and the word peach [pitʃ] is directly connected to its minimal pair pea [pi]; however, it is indirectly connected to other words, such as speak [spik] and speed [spid]. this is also further explained by beckage & colunga (2016) as “edit distance”, i.e., a series of phoneme changes required to transfer one word into another. for example, the word kit can substitute its onset into [h] for another word hit; insert another consonant [s] in the word-initial to constitute the consonant cluster [sk] for the word skit; or delete the onset [k] and remaining the rhyme to form another word it. therefore, word edited with more than one step from the target word would need more nodes to indirectly connect with others within the networks. 2.3. mandarin networks on the other hand, different linguistic constraints may alter the lexical organization. regarding the strong dependence of mandarin lexicon on its morpho-semantic system, a few of models and theories have illustrated the unique lexical networks in mandarin (e.g., huang & hsieh 2015; hsieh 2006, 2016). based on the idea of charactercentered lexical networks in mandarin, huang & hsieh (2015) review existing studies and propose that mandarin lexicon is encoded with the conventionalized semantic as well as morpho-syntactic information by its orthographic system. a pyramid structure model schematizes this viewpoint by a three-leveled representation with nodes and links connecting the concepts in mandarin as figure 2. figure 2. the pyramid structure model in hsieh (2006, 2016) 41 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) this model proposed by hsieh (2006, 2016) demonstrates the encoding of the lexicography between the process from message to lexical representations. the interactions between characters and morphemes operate in the character level. in this level, similar information groups as a cluster to map conceptual organizations into lexical representations. in the word level, words are connected to each other via different semantic relations in mandarin lexical networks. that is to say, rich sematic information encoded in both characters and words in mandarin makes its lexical networks function differently against the languages without this system. related studies of the mandarin lexicon have so far been researched mainly with insufficient linguistic features included. most of them focus on bilingual comparison in beijing mandarin (e.g., lee 2012; zhao 2013). several studies are based on the theory of remote association test by mednick (1962) to build creativity assessments (e.g., huang et al. 2012; lee 2014; chang et al. 2016). the other of them, related to associations, mostly do not consider phonological features in mandarin for experimental materials. the relations between targets and responses as well as the comparison between semantic and phonological encodings are not discussed. 2.4. research questions and hypotheses considering the crucial influence of initialness in indo-european networks and the strong encodings of lexical semantics in mandarin, the question about the tendency of lexical organization in mandarin, a tone language with a lexicographical system, has arisen. to investigate the organization of lexical networks between sounds and meanings in taiwan mandarin, the linguistic features such semantic and phonological factors should first be considered as foundations. later, the idea should be supported by experimental evidence. however, most of the research related to mandarin lexicon focuses on bilingual comparison (e.g., lee 2012; zhao 2013), or analyzes the responses to associations without linguistic features in mandarin considered as the basis. therefore, the possible influences on mandarin lexicon such as word frequency, syllable types, syllable structures, tone structures, imageability and syntactic categories are all considered as the experimental foundations in the present study to fill this gap. the present study therefore aims to provide an outline of the psychological networks between sounds and meanings in taiwan mandarin by free lexical associations with 42 disyllabic nouns and verbs as the targets. the topics to be investigated include the following: 1) the phonological influences in terms of initialness in taiwan mandarin; 2) the semantic influences on taiwan mandarin networks; 3) the interactions between these two influences in taiwan mandarin. compared to the semantic relations, the phonological relations are predicted to present weaker connections between stimuli and responses, and the rhymes instead of the initial consonants may probably show more influences due to the related encoding 42 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) systems in mandarin. regarding the previous works on the mandarin lexicon and lexical associations (e.g., zhao 2013; huang & hsieh 2015; hsieh 2006, 2016; zhang & chen 2018; tang & wan 2020), semantic encoding is expected to show stronger connections than phonology in the lexical networks of taiwan mandarin. within the semantic relations, the paradigmatic relation is presumed to dominate in the responses to noun targets as in the previous studies (e.g., nissen & henriksen 2006; zhao 2013; zhang & chen 2018; wan & ting 2019). moreover, the interactions between the semantic and phonological relations of the responses are expected to present a high proportion of semantic relation. this prediction results not only from the rich semantic information encoded in both characters and words in mandarin (see hsieh 2006, 2016 for more information), but also from the research methodology by lexical association tasks in the present study. 3. lexical association tasks lexical association is assumed to reflect fundamental connections within lexical networks. it allows the concepts to be free from the use of pragmatics for extended purposes, or breaks out of the frame of syntax as a sentence. that is to say, lexical association is believed to be a simple reflection of what prominently comes to mind. this is why it is used in the present study. 3.1. participants, materials and procedures to explore the lexical organization in taiwan mandarin, six taiwan mandarin native speakers (age mean=24, sd=2.45; 3 males and 3 females) without any explicit training in linguistics were included in the lexical association tasks. the experimental material contained 42 mandarin disyllabic words including common nouns (n=21) and activity transitive verbs (n=21)2, which are tagged with the highest frequency in academic sinica balanced corpus 3.0 (sinica corpus). this corpus was created by huang et al. (1995) and maintained by chinese knowledge and information processing group (ckip 1998)3. all the taiwan mandarin onsets (n=21), syllable structures (n=4), and tone structures (n=4) of the target words were counterbalanced with the word frequency, syntactic categories, and imageability considered. the onsets were randomly arranged into the two syllables of the 42 target words [p], [pʰ], [t], [tʰ], [k], [kʰ], [m], [n], [l], [f], [x], [tɕ], [tɕʰ], [ɕ], [ts], [tsʰ], [s], [tʂ], [tʂʰ], [ʂ], and [ʐ]. in other words, each possible onset presented only once in the 2 the selection of stimuli’s lexical categories does not include adjectives because both nouns and verbs can be modifiers in taiwan mandarin. further discussions of the related syntactic issues are not included in the present study. 3 the academic sinica balanced corpus 3.0 (sinica corpus) contains five million words with a userfriendly search interface (http://elearning.ling.sinica.edu.tw/cwordfreq_index.html). it is also the first fully pos-tagged balanced chinese corpus including 46 different tags. 43 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) first syllable and once in the second syllable of the 21 nouns, and the same arrangement was done for the 21 verbs. the criterion of the syllable structures was according to duanmu’s (1990, 2000) cvx theory. the word frequency and parts-of-speech tagging were referred from sinica corpus; imageability was determined by the highest category of the target words as physical, abstract or state in e-hownet (ckip 2009). the participants could move on to the following procedures only if they understood the objectives of the tasks as well as agreed with the data and information collection. the experiment was conducted by e-prime 3.0 evaluation version, after a five-trail practice stage for the participants first with a question section followed, the formal task presented 42 target words randomly on a laptop screen. with one visual target primed at once, the participants were requested to give an oral response, i.e., a mandarin word associating to the target immediately. 3.2. data analysis and associations since this study investigates lexical networks between sounds and meanings in taiwan mandarin, the data analysis focuses on the semantic and phonological relations and their interactions by lexical associations. 3.2.1. analysis of sounds the relation of sounds between the stimuli and the associates was analyzed by the phonological similarity. only the disyllabic responses were transcribed as ipa symbols to compare with the stimuli. a response was marked to have a phonological relation with the stimulus if they shared identical segments including an initial consonant, a rhyme or a whole syllable. example (1) illustrates a phonological relation with the similarity on the second onset between the stimulus and the response; (2) shows the shared first syllable as well as the second rhyme between the word pair. (1) 回收 ‘to recycle’ [xwej.ʂow] > 減少 ‘to reduce’ [tɕjɛn.ʂaw]4 the response [tɕjɛn.ʂaw] has the identical initial consonant of the second syllable to the stimulus [xwej.ʂow]; therefore, this word pair is considered to share a phonological relation. (2) 偵辦 ‘to investigate’ [tʂən.pan] > 偵探 ‘detective’ [tʂən.tʰan] the response [tʂən.tʰan] has the same first syllable [tʂən] and identical segments of the second syllable to the stimulus [tʂən.pan] including the nucleus [a] and the final 4 the dot (.) between ipa symbols indicates the syllable boundary. 44 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) nasal [n]; therefore, the word pair shows the similarity of both initial (syllabic level) and rhyming (segmental) positions. the identical initial consonants, rhymes, and syllables are included in the analysis of sounds based on the phonological similarity by a chi-square test from 3x2 tables to investigate the organization of the sound networks in taiwan mandarin5. 3.2.2. analysis of meanings the relation of meanings between the stimuli and the associates is illustrated by the classifications between syntagmatic relation and paradigmatic relation, which is also implemented by previous studies (e.g., entwisle 1966; nissen & henriksen 2006; sheng et al. 2006). word pairs are classified as representing a syntagmatic relation when the target and its response constitute a syntactic and semantic combination with different parts of speech, or share the same syntactic category with a clear sequential connection (e.g., bird and fly; accident and car). the paradigmatic relation on the other hand includes alternative semantic connections, such as synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy or meronymy, while targets which can be conventional or commonly regarded as a symbol are also classified to this type of semantic relation (e.g., coffee and tea; love and heart). the first example below (1a and 1b) demonstrates two types of syntagmatic relation; the paradigmatic relation is shown in (2). several categories further proposed by wan & ting (2019) are included in the classification, such as environmental relation, idiomatic relation, and nonrelation. the environmental relation indicates the interference to the response from personal linguistic experiences or the environment during the task, which is shown as example (3). the idiomatic relation refers to the idiomatic or conventional phrases in a language, as in (4). nonrelation means no semantic relations between the word pair, as exemplified in (5). (1a) 農夫 ‘farmer’ [noŋ35fu55] > 種田 ‘to farm’ [tʂoŋ51tʰjɛn35] the stimulus ‘farmer’ has a syntactic connection to the response ‘to farm’, in which the first one is a noun whereas the other one is a verb. a farmer farms, so the two words are in a syntagmatic relation. (1b) 太空 ‘outer space’ [tʰaj51kʰoŋ55] > 太空人 ‘astronaut’ [tʰaj51kʰoŋ55ʐən35] here is another example of the syntagmatic relation, in which even though the stimulus and the response share the same part of speech as nouns, there is a clear sequential connection between them for this classification. 5 the statistical analyses in the present study were computed by r (r core team, 2018). 45 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (2) 麵包 ‘bread’ [mjɛn51paw55] > 麵粉 ‘flour’ [mjɛn51fən21] the stimulus ‘bread’ and the response ‘flour’ share the same superordinate in a ‘bakery’ setting, and can be placed in the same syntactic slot in a context; therefore, they are in a paradigmatic relation. (3) 發明 ‘to invent’ [fa55miŋ35] > 豆芽菜 ‘bean sprouts’ [tow51ja35tsʰaj51] one of the participants associated the stimulus ‘to invent’ with his response as ‘bean sprouts’ because he had just watched a news programme about an invention related to bean sprouts. the association comes from the participant’s personal experience, so it is an environmental relation. (4) 模擬 ‘to imitate’ [mɔ35ni21] > 兩可 ‘to be neutral’ [ljaŋ35kʰɤ21] the response ‘to imitate’ to the stimulus ‘to be neutral’ is associated from a mandarin chinese idiom (chengyu) 模稜兩可 ‘betwixt and between’ [mɔ35 ləŋ35 ljaŋ35 kʰɤ21] to describe an ambiguous situation; therefore, it belongs to an idiomatic relation. (5) 潛能 ‘potentiality’ [tɕʰjɛn35nəŋ35] > 漁夫 ‘fisherman’ [y35fu55] the stimulus ‘potentiality’ and its response ‘fisherman’ do not show a semantic relation but are associated by the features encoded in the first character of the stimulus, which is attested by the participant. similarly, a chi-square value from 2x2 tables is evaluated with an effect size index reported to explore the general distribution between syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations in taiwan mandarin lexicon. 3.2.3. analysis within networks the analysis of the interaction between sounds and meanings applies wan & ting’s (2019) as well as tang & wan’s (2020) methodologies. the classification deals with either a semantic relation [+sem, -phon], phonological [-sem, +phon] relation, mixed relation [+sem, +phon], or nonrelation [-sem, -phon]. the semantic relation covers the syntactic as well as the paradigmatic relations shown as example (1). the phonological relation refers to the phonological similarity between the word pairs, i.e., shared initial consonants, rhymes or syllables, regardless of the syllable types, as in example (2). the mixed relation shares both the semantic connections and phonological similarities, and in example (3). nonrelation means no semantic and phonological relations between the word pair shown as example (4). 46 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (1) 麵包 ‘bread’ [mjɛn51paw55] and 愛情 ‘love’ [aj51tɕʰiŋ35] the stimulus ‘bread’ [mjɛn51paw55] and its response ‘love’ [aj51tɕʰiŋ35] have a semantic relation of the paradigmatic type due to an antonymic symbolization of physical and mental requirement respectively; however, they do not share any identical phonological segments with each other. (2) 綠色 ‘green’ [ly51sɤ51] and 過濾 ‘to filter’ [kwɔ51ly51] the response ‘to filter’ [kwɔ51ly51] is associated from the first syllable [ly] of the stimulus ‘green’ [ly51sɤ51] for its second syllable without any semantic relations, so they are in a [-sem, +phon] relation. (3) 扭曲 ‘to twist’ [njow21tɕʰy55] and 彎曲 ‘to bend’ [wan55tɕʰy55] the stimulus ‘to twist’ [njow21tɕʰy55] and its response ‘to bend’ [wan55tɕʰy55] are in a paradigmatic relation, and they also have an identical syllable [tɕʰy55] for the phonological relation. (4) 樹林 ‘woods’ [ʂu51lin35] and 衣服 ‘clothes’ [i55fu35] the response ‘clothes’ [i55 fu35] to the stimulus ‘woods’ [ʂu51 lin35] is an association from a personal experience without any linguistically semantic connections or identical phonological segments shared between two words, so it results in a [-sem, -phon] relation. 4. associations between sounds and meanings a total of 248 responses from associations were collected from six taiwan mandarin native speakers, including nine monosyllabic words, 194 disyllabic words, and 45 words with more than disyllables, in which 160 nouns, 65 verbs, and two adjectives can refer the frequency values and parts of speech in sinica corpus. 4.1. networks of sounds within the 248 responses, 194 disyllabic responses are included in the phonological analysis. in the analysis of the first syllable of the word pairs, seven initial consonants (c), eleven rhymes (r), and ten syllables (s) are identical segments; in that of the second syllable, five initial consonants, fifteen rhymes, and ten syllables are marked as the shared segments as well. the chi-square result x2 = 0.8808 (df = 2) does not reject the null hypothesis (p= 0.6438), indicating that the possibility for identical segments to present 47 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) is not directly related to the syllable positions. the visualized distribution is presented as figure 3. figure 3. the frequency distribution of the phonological similarity of the responses only about 32.47% (63/194) of the responses are found with phonological similarity to the stimuli, either the initial consonants or the rhymes. less identical initial consonants (19.05%; 12/63) present than the identical rhymes (41.27%; 26/63) do between the stimuli and the responses both in the first and second syllables. the identical syllables between the first syllable and the second one present a close distribution. 4.2. networks of meanings in this section, the 248 responses are analyzed regardless of the syllable types. they include: 126 responses with the paradigmatic relation (p), 108 of those with the syntagmatic relation (s), seven with the environmental relation (e), two with the idiomatic relation (i), and five with no relation (n) to the stimuli. two main types of semantic relations, i.e., paradigmatic (n=126) and syntagmatic (n=108) relations, are further analyzed with syntactic categories of the stimuli to discover the relationship between these two variables. the distribution of the semantic relations based on the partsof-speech is analyzed by a chi-square test as well. the result x2 = 16.875 (df =1) rejects the null hypothesis (p<.0001), indicating that the semantic relations are related to the syntactic categories of the stimuli during free lexical associations. the effect size index 𝜙 =.27 shows that the syntactic categories have a near medium effect on the semantic relations according to a traditional criterion of a medium effect (𝜙 =.30). the visualized statistics is presented as figure 4. 48 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) figure 4. bar plot and mosaic plot of the observed frequencies of the semantic relations in the bar plot, the x-axis refers to the syntactic categories of the stimuli, the y-axis indicates the value of the frequency, and the grey bars show the number of the responses with the analyzed semantic relations. more noun responses share the paradigmatic relation with the noun stimuli and more verb responses share the syntagmatic relation with the noun stimuli. the mosaic plot represents the frequency by the square areas and residuals. the observed and the expected values are presented by colors. among 50.8% (126/248) of the responses sharing the paradigmatic relation to the stimuli, 61.11% (77/126) and 38.89% (49/126) of them are responses to the nouns and verbs, respectively. on the other hand, 43.55% (108/248) of the responses are found sharing the syntagmatic relation to the stimuli, and 33.33% (36/108) of them are responses to nouns, while 66.67% (72/108) of them are responses to verbs. the residuals indicate that the positive associations occur between nouns and the paradigmatic relation, as well as between verbs and the syntagmatic relation, while the negative associations present in the opposite situations. 4.3. between sounds and meanings among the 248 responses, the semantic relation (+sem, -phon) has the highest proportion (63.3%; 157/248) among all the relations between sounds and meanings. the results also include eighty mixed relations (+sem, +phon), three phonological relations (-sem, +phon), and eight nonrelations (-sem, -phon). the visualized distribution of each type of relations is presented as figure 5. 49 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) figure 5. bar plot of the frequency of the interaction between semantic and phonological relations of the responses the results between the semantic and phonological relations indicate that the purely phonological relation of the [-sem, +phon] type accounts for 1.21% (3/248) of the data, the purely semantic relation of the [+sem, -phon] type accounts for 63.31% (157/248), and the mixed-type relation [+sem, +phon] accounts for 32.26% (80/248) of the data. similar proportions can also be observed between the responses to the noun and verb stimuli respectively. 5. conclusion this study provides an insight into the lexical networks in taiwan mandarin by a free word association task. the unknown details embedded in each segment and connection signalled in the present work are undoubtedly worthy to continue the research. previous works have already put much effort into the study of lexical access, retrieval, and organization in the mental lexicon; however, the related studies in mandarin still leave a gap for the experimental basis of possible linguistic combinations. the features insufficiently considered by the previous works are especially phonological influences including initial consonants, syllable structures, and tones. therefore, the word frequency, semantics, phonology, and parts of speech are all counterbalanced for the target words of lexical associations in the present study to fill the gap. first of all, the possibility for identical segments to present in a syllable is not statistically proved by lexical associations, which may require a further examination since only 194 disyllabic responses are available for the analysis. however, the effect of rhymes is still found with a higher proportion between word pairs. as for the semantic relations, only a few of responses are marked as unrelated, and the consistency of the syntactic categories is generally stronger with responses having nouns as stimuli. this may also result in the higher proportion of the paradigmatic relation between the stimuli and the responses regarding that more nouns are produced. similar results are shown 50 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in the previous research and the present study regarding semantic relations while the phonological networks may require a further study. finally, the result of the interaction between semantics and phonology during associations indicates that a purely semantic relation is much more frequent than a purely phonological one. the finding suggests the semantic-oriented organization in the taiwan mandarin lexicon by associations as well as the different way to access the lexical item regarding the different results against the occurrence of speech errors. several insufficiencies of the present study should be mentioned and discussed here. because of the small scale of the experiment with limited observations by few participants, the results may not authentically represent the majority. therefore, an expansion of the research is required. second, although the analyses are evidence-based, some of them, such as semantic and phonological relations, are determined without the exact example or evidence provided in the relevant literature. for instance, the interpretation of certain idiomatic or environmental usages during associations may involve a subjective viewpoint. finally, further investigations contributing to phonological networks in taiwan mandarin or other tonal languages with larger research and experiments across languages seem to be worth undertaking. references aitchison, j. 2012. words in the mind: an introduction to the mental lexicon. chichester: john wiley & sons. beckage, n. m. & colunga, e. 2016. language networks as models of cognition: understanding cognition through language. in: a. mehler, a. lücking, s. banisch, p. blanchard & b. job (eds.), towards a theoretical framework for analyzing complex linguistic networks, 3-28. berlin: springer. caplan, j. b. & madan, c. r. 2016. word imageability enhances association-memory by increasing hippocampal engagement. journal of cognitive neuroscience 28(10): 1522-1538. chang, y. l., wu, j. y., chen, h. c. & wu, c. l. 2016. the development of chinese radical remote associates test. psychological testing (63) 1: 59-81. chinese knowledge information processing group (ckip). technical report no. 93-05, academia sinica, taiwan. chinese knowledge information processing group (ckip). extended-hownet (e-hownet) 2.0. academia sinica, taiwan. de groot, a. m. 1989. representational aspects of word imageability and word frequency as assessed through word association. journal of experimental psychology: learning, memory, and cognition 15(5): 824. de simone, f. & collina, s. 2016. the picture-word interference paradigm: grammatical class effects in lexical production. journal of psycholinguistic research 45(5): 1003-1019. 51 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) dell, g. s. 1985. positive feedback in hierarchical connectionist models: applications to language production. cognitive science 9(1): 3-23. dell, g. s. 1990. effects of frequency and vocabulary type on phonological speech errors. language and cognitive processes 5(4): 313-349. dell, g. s. & o’seaghdha, p. g. 1991. mediated and convergent lexical priming in language production: a comment on levelt et al. (1991). psychological review 98(4): 604-614. dell, g. s. & o’seaghdha, p. g. 1992. stages of lexical access in language production. cognition 42(1-3): 287-314. dell, g. s., reed, k. d., adams, d. r. & meyer, a. s. 2000. speech errors, phonotactic constraints, and implicit learning: a study of the role of experience in language production. journal of experimental psychology: learning, memory, and cognition 26(6): 1355. duanmu, s. 1990. a formal study of syllable, tone, stress and domain in chinese languages [unpublished doctoral dissertation]. massachusetts institute of technology. duanmu, s. 2000. the phonology of standard chinese. oxford: oxford university press. entwisle, d.r. 1966. lexical associations of young children. baltimore: johns hopkins. greidanus, t. & nienhuis, l. 2001. testing the quality of word knowledge in a second language by means of lexical associations: types of distractors and types of associations. the modern language journal 85.4: 567-77. hsieh, s. k. 2006. hanzi, concept and computation: a preliminary survey of chinese characters as a knowledge resource in nlp [unpublished doctoral dissertation]. eberhard karls universität tübingen. hsieh, s. k. 2016. chinese semantics. in: sin-wai chan (ed), the routledge encyclopedia of the chinese language. huang, c. r., chen k. j., chang, l. p. & hsu, h. l. 1995. an introduction to academia sinica balanced corpus. [in chinese]. proceedings of rocling viii: 81-99. huang, c. r. & hsieh, s. k. 2015. chinese lexical semantics. in: w. s-y wang & chaofen sun (eds.), the oxford handbook of chinese linguistics. oxford: oxford university press. huang, p.s., chen, h. c., huang, h. c. & liu, c. h. 2009. the development of divergent thinking test of word associative strategy (dttwas). psychological testing 56(2): 153-177. kittredge, a. k., dell, g. s., verkuilen, j. & schwartz, m. f. 2008. where is the effect of frequency in word production? insights from aphasic picture-naming errors. cognitive neuropsychology 25(4): 463-492. lee, h. y. 2014. the analysis of chinese word remote associates test among high school students in taiwan [unpublished master’s thesis]. national taiwan normal university, taipei, taiwan. lee, j. 2012. a study of word association tasks about the english-chinese mental lexicon (in chinese) [unpublished master’s thesis]. xihua university, china. 52 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) mcclelland, j. l. & rumelhart, d. e. 1981. an interactive activation model of context effects in letter perception: i. an account of basic findings. psychological review 88(5): 375-407. mednick, s. 1962. the associative basis of the creative process. psychological review 69(3): 220-232. nissen, h. b. & henriksen, b. 2006. word class influence on word association test results 1. international journal of applied linguistics 16(3): 389-408. psychology software tools, inc. [e-prime 3.0]. 2016. retrieved from https://www.pstnet. com. reeves, l. m., hirsh-pasek, k. & golinkoff, r. 1998. words and meaning: from primitives to complex organization. psycholinguistics 2: 157-226. team, r. c. 2018. r: a language and environment for statistical computing. r foundation for statistical computing, vienna. tang, m. & wan, i-ping. 2020. predicting speech errors in mandarin based on word frequency. in: s. qu & w. zhan (eds.), from minimal contrast to meaning construct, 289303. singapore: springer. vitevitch, m. s. 2008. what can graph theory tell us about word learning and lexical retrieval? journal of speech, language, and hearing research 51(2): 408-422. vitevitch, m. s. & goldstein, r. 2014. keywords in the mental lexicon. journal of memory and language 73: 131-147. wan, i. p. & ting, j. 2019. semantic relationships in mandarin speech errors. taiwan journal of linguistics 17. 2: 33-66. zhao, y. 2013. comparative research about the mental lexicon between international students and native speakers. [in chinese: liu xue sheng yu mu yu zhe xin li ci hui de bi jiao yan jiu]. science & technology information 18: 62-63. zhang, j. & chen, d. 2018. an empirical study on chinese college students’ associative reaction to chinese mental lexicon. applied linguistics 4: 75-84. *** tzu-yi tseng has recently accomplished her master’s degree of art in linguistics at national chengchi university (nccu), taipei, taiwan. she is currently the head assistant of the phonetics and psycholinguistics laboratory of nccu where she is responsible for the automatic phoneme-aligned spoken corpus construction in taiwan mandarin. tzu-yi tseng also continues her psycholinguistic research about lexical organization in taiwan mandarin as well as sentimental analysis between tone languages and stress languages. polish preand upper-intermediate learners’ opinions on the significance of linguistic and non-linguistic determinants of speech in developing their efl speaking skill: a quantitative study 57 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) klaudia gajewska1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.30.3.04 maria curie-skłodowska university orcid: 0000-0002-5796-2951 polish preand upperintermediate learners’ opinions on the significance of linguistic and non -linguistic determinants of speech in developing their efl speaking skill: a quantitative study abstract. since “spontaneous verbal expression is not solely a product of knowledge and skill in using a language code” (rivers 1968: 192), many scholars have emphasised the interdisciplinarity of the ability to speak. having stressed the multifaceted character of speaking in the light of the selected linguistic and non-linguistic determinants of speech, we aim to explore polish learners’ opinions on what components underlying a speech production process influence their ability to speak english. the quantitative study that we conducted among the group of 66 polish efl secondary school and university students revealed that out of 12 linguistic and non-linguistic determinants of speech, the knowledge of fl vocabulary and culture were respectively judged to be the most and least relevant. even though some statistical differences in preand upper-intermediate students’ choices were keenly anticipated, between-group comparisons of a2 and b2 level subjects’ answers did not render any statistically significant similarities or differences. keywords: fl speaking, efl pre-intermediate speakers, efl upper-intermediate speakers, linguistic determinants of speech, non-linguistic determinants of speech, learners’ opinions, polish efl classroom. 1. introduction with the growing importance of english as a lingua franca and a high utility of speaking in communication, interaction as well as knowledge sharing and building, many researchers have underlay a decisive role of oral proficiency in efl instruction 1 address for correspondence: maria curie-sklodowska university, pl. marii curie-skłodowskiej 4a, 20-031 lublin, poland. e-mail: klaudia.e.gajewska@gmail.com 58 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (bailey 2003; boonkit 2010; brown & yule 1983; byrne 1976; chastain 1971; dakowska 2005; daszkiewicz et al. 2018; hinkel 2006; komorowska 2005; lazaraton 2001; nation 2011; thornbury 2006). nevertheless, the mastery of the ability to speak in a foreign language (fl) requires a range of issues to be addressed and explored in classroom contexts – including linguistic and non-linguistic determinants of speech, which can be further categorised into student(e.g.: knowledge of the target language, tl, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation, intercultural competence, personality traits, motivation, age of onset, exposure to the tl), teacher(e.g.: qualifications and teaching expertise, teaching and learning materials, teachers’ attitudes towards the teaching of speaking) and context(e.g.: differences between l1 and fl culture, the role of the tl in the community, language examinations and their influence on teaching) related factors – therefore, fluent and accurate production of spoken language poses many challenges to fl instructors and learners, who frequently refer to speaking as the least teachable and learnable language ability (bailey 2003; byrne 1976: thornbury 2005; pawlak 2011). for the purpose of the present paper, we would like to limit the scope of the discussion to efl learners by providing an overview of student-related linguistic and nonlinguistic determinants of speech (e.g.: bailey 2003; boonkit 2010; brown 2001; bygate 1987, 2009; canale & swain 1980; chastain 1971; erdonmez 2014; goh 2007; goh & burns 2012; levelt 1989; nation 2011; nerlicki 2011; savignon 1976; thornbury 2005; wilson 2014). in order to find out what the significance of selected factors as perceived by efl students in a polish instructional context is, we carry out a quantitative study with an intention of examining preand upper-intermediate learners’ views on the importance of the linguistic and non-linguistic aspects underlying their ability to speak english. the goal of the study is, first, to reveal which of the 12 factors is judged to be the most and least significant by the secondary school and university students, and, second, to find out whether any correlation between the age, the level of the respondents’ proficiency and their choices can be observed. the objectives of the paper are threefold: (1) to provide a literature review on speaking skill in the light of student-related determinants of fl speech, (2) to describe the results of the study conducted among secondary school and university students, and (3) to discuss pedagogical implications of our research with reference to the teaching of efl speaking in a polish classroom. 2. speaking and student-related determinants of fl speech in the literary investigations devoted to the study of fl speech, it has been a common procedure to juxtapose the productive oral skill, speaking, with its productive written sister skill, writing. the most noticeable difference between the two is said to lie in the medium used with the former, auditory, discussed at the level of phonemes 59 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and the latter, visual, requiring the use of graphemes (e.g.: bailey 2003: 48; thornbury 2005: 2). such a distinction conditions not only the temporary versus permanent character of spoken and written texts, but also their organisation which is governed by para-linguistic/non-verbal resources and punctuation respectively. some differences between speaking and writing that point to the simplicity of the former have been also identified. spoken and written texts are characterised by distinctive syntactical and lexical structures. while speech is known for a repetitive use of selected linguistic forms, the relationships between sentences are more complex, resulting in an extensive use of subordinate clauses in writing. the majority of vocabulary used by native speakers is organised at the very basic level of cognition with non-specific nouns, such as stuff, sort of or you know, constituting a large part of everyday speech (brown & yule 1983: 9). even though a seemingly less demanding structure of spoken language with regard to grammar and vocabulary seems to work to the speakers’ advantage, the complexity of a speech production process has been one of the critical issues concerning fl speaking. since the processes of planning and speaking usually take place simultaneously, the burden is placed on speakers’ cognitive and linguistic resources because, following levelt’s (1989) monolingual model of speech production, they have to, first, conceptualise, then, formulate and, finally, produce speech. oral language is produced in real time and an utterance is based on the preceding one what conditions the contingency, spontaneity, instantaneity, reciprocity, transience and temporariness of speech, ergo, speakers are expected to concurrently apply different kinds of knowledge, including the knowledge of subject matter, language as well as sounds and prosody (bygate 1987; pawlak 2011; thornbury 2005, 2006; tonkyn 2000; wilson 2014). apart from speakingversus writing-oriented considerations of the ability to speak, frequent references to speaking as a combination of different types of knowledge and subskills have been made: a description of the characteristics of speaking in a foreign language can be approached from different angles, but typically it is conceptualized in terms of two interrelated facets, that is the various types of knowledge that learners possess and their expertise in adeptly using this knowledge in real communication (pawlak 2011: 5). one of the trends concerning the analysis of fl speaking has traditionally centred on the presentation of language-related aspects of speech production. foreign language teaching (flt) theoreticians and practitioners have been unanimous in describing the role of the fl grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation in developing speaking (chastain 1971: 338-342; brown 2001: 272; bygate 2009: 565; boonkit 2010: 1306; brown & bown 2014: 61-63; erdonmez 2014: 40-41; goh 2007: 5; tarone 2005: 498; gilakjani 2011: 74; wilson 2014: 18-19). nonetheless, some have claimed that declarative 60 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) knowledge of a fl is not satisfactory in the context of oral proficiency since both accuracy and fluency underlie speaking (gower et al. 1995: 99; levelt 1989: 10; nation & newton 2009: 152)2. probably the most convincing explanation for their significance in acquiring the ability to speak is offered by bygate3 (1987, 3) who draws an analogy between an act of learning to speak and drive a car. following that line of reasoning, those who produce speech as well as those who operate a vehicle are obliged to acquire, first, declarative knowledge, for instance, how sentences are built or uttered and a car’s wheel is steered and, second, procedural knowledge how to perform these tasks in real life situations. the concept of communicative competence discussed in the context of communicative language teaching by, among others, savignon (1976) has revealed the complexity of speaking which is by no means limited to linguistic competence. apart from fluent and accurate oral performance, successful production of a spoken language requires the use of strategies, which adjusted to a culture-specific context, help speakers appropriately manage conversational turns. by way of illustration, savignon (1976) argues that communicative competence: requires much more than a knowledge of the linguistic code. the native speaker knows not only how to say something but what to say and when to say it. the linguistic features of an exchange are embedded in a cultural context which includes the role of the speaker in a particular context, the roles of the other participants and a host of non-verbal communication cues such as distance, posture, gestures, facial expressions (savignon 1976: 4)4. 2 accuracy and fluency have attracted a lot of attention in the field of flt. while the former shares some similarities with the concept of knowledge, involving the mastery of language subsystems, that is grammar, lexis and pronunciation, the latter concerns spontaneous oral language performance in which more attention is paid to the meaning conveyed in an utterance rather than its form (bailey 2003; jong & perfetti 2011; leon & cely 2010). the relationship between these two concepts is an intricate one because learners’ attempts to improve their speech in terms of grammatical, lexical or phonological correctness usually have a negative impact on their fluency. similarly, speakers’ excessive preoccupation with the communication of their message might put at stake the accuracy of their utterances. alternatively, a pair of notions, what learners know and what learners do, discussed by thornbury (2005: 1), can be applied to maintain a close link with the concepts discussed above. 3 in his more recent publication, bygate (2009: 415) divides theoretical and practical knowledge into that of phonology, lexis, grammar and discourse. the latter, or procedural knowledge, denotes knowledge “how to” and enables the processing of the former, or declarative knowledge, to take place, which, on the other hand, stands for encyclopaedic knowledge of concepts, lexis and situational discourse (bot 1992: 3). 4 canale and swain (1980: 27) make a distinction between grammatical, sociolinguistic and strategic competences in their conceptualisation of communicative competence. the first, grammatical competence – similarly to the concepts of accuracy or declarative knowledge – highlights the importance of syntactical, phonological and morphological structures in speaking. the remaining two, sociolinguistic and strategic competences, describe speakers’ abilities, first, to use appropriate language forms 61 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) goh (2007) provides a slightly different, because skills-oriented, approach to fl speaking, putting forward the concept of speaking competence and discussing it from the perspective of (1) phonological skills, (2) speech function skills, (3) interaction management skills and (4) extended discourse organisation skills. the first subcategory suggests that successful fl speakers should be prepared to operate at the level of phonemes. since the fundamental property which underlies fl speaking is the learners’ familiarity with the sound structure of the tl and the knowledge how to pronounce words, speakers are expected to know how to articulate sounds of a given language or, more importantly, use proper intonation to convey intended meanings of their communiques5. the second component, speech function skills, directs speakers attention to the goals of communication. since “in learning a second language, one must learn more than pronunciation, the lexical items, the appropriate word order; one must also learn the appropriate way to use those words and sentences in the second language” (gass & selinker 2001: 243), fl speakers ought to be equipped with the interlanguage pragmatics, the concept which stands for the pragmatic knowledge. it enables one to produce language whose form is adjusted to the function it ought to serve in a given situation. the third element of speaking competence concerns interaction management skills6. having mastered the abilities underlying the set of skills in question, speakers initiate a conversation, sustain it for a desired period of time, and, eventually, end it in an entirely appropriate manner. in a similar vein, brown & bown (2014) analyse speech from the point of view of public speaking. the scholars refer to three responsibilities of speakers, that is construction, framing and deconstruction, each of which refers to a different set of abilities to be possessed by speakers. considering the guidelines referred to by brown and bown (2014), learners are expected to construct new ideas, (1) construction, input them to general discussion, (2) framing, and, if necessary, refute other interlocutors’ propositions, (3) deconstruction, by communicating counterarguments and providing solutions. the fourth component of goh’s (2007) speaking to match the context of a given situation and, second, to handle communication breakdowns which necessitate the introduction of reformulationor repetition-based strategies. 5 tarone (2005) puts into the centre of attention fl learners’ phonology, referred to as interlanguage phonology, stating that a fl learner is obliged to learn how to correctly pronounce each individual phoneme of the tl, and, next, to be able to follow the so-called allophonic rules and appropriately change the sounds to adapt them to a given context. for instance, in british english voiced plosives /b, d, g/ are fully voiced when they occur between two voiced sounds whereas they are partially voiced in word-initial and word-final positions. native speakers of polish learning english as a fl are accustomed to devoicing the word-final voiced sounds and, thus, they find it difficult to maintain the partial voicing of sounds in word-final positions. 6 in the majority of cases, excluding instances of lecturing or giving public presentations, speaking is not synonymous with a monologue, but instead it is based on turn-taking, in which the reception of a spoken language, listening, intermingles with actual production of speech, speaking. 62 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) competence framework includes extended discourse organisation skills. it helps speakers function as competent speakers who are able to make themselves heard and understood. the very asset to the set of skills in question is that once mastered, they enable speakers to produce and structure coherent and cohesive utterances in such a way that their messages are comprehensible to other interlocutors. similarly, erdonmez (2014) foregrounds the significance of (1) mechanics, (2) functions as well as (3) social and cultural rules and norms, three prerequisites to spontaneous conversation. each of them is later divided into more specific subcategories. mechanics, for instance, involve the notions of grammar, lexis, pronunciation, expressive devices and connected speech. functions concern negotiation of meaning whereas rules and norms refer to, first, conversational rules and structure, such as turn-taking or the rate of speech, and, second, conversational strategies, including paraphrasing, approximation, asking or checking7. since an individual’s speech is instantly evaluated by other speakers, speaking is not only a linguistic matter. it, in fact, touches upon a psychological and emotional sphere of human life because “in many contexts, people judge a language user 'at face value' upon speaking skill” (erdonmez 2014: 40). as a result, it is common to make assumptions about other interlocutors on the basis of the quality of their speech8. therefore, the field of psychology has proven to be a primary source of insights into the field of second language acquisition (sla) and flt with students’ emotions, identity and personality traits claimed to determine the success or failure in learning a fl. it has been repeatedly confirmed that fl speaking is the most emotional language skill. this is exemplified in bogdanowska-jakubowska’s (2013) study carried out among ma students whose task was to prepare and present a presentation in front of their classmates and ma supervisor. what the results of the research point to is that student-presenters tend to experience the so-called stage fright since an act of performing in public is believed to be a stressful experience. one of the psychological concepts frequently investigated in the context of the productive oral skill is willingness to communicate (wtc). it originated in the study of l1 speakers’ fondness towards speaking and it is connected with both production modes, 7 a similar classification of the features of speech to that of erdonmez’s (2014) is encapsulated in brown and bown’s work (2014), who investigate the ability to speak from the perspective of debates. they discuss a variety of speech-influencing factors, including pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, grammatical accuracy, knowledge of tasks as well as sociolinguistic and cultural appropriateness (brown & bown 2014: 61-63), maintaining that it is not only linguistic, but also the socio-cultural knowledge that ensure successful speaking. 8 tarone (2005) stresses the importance of suprasegmental phonetics, or stress, intonation and rhythm, in fl learners’ interlanguage since prosodic features are frequently believed to be the main source of judgement, conditioning the perception of speakers’ linguistic proficiency. 63 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) speaking and writing in a fl (piechurska-kuciel 2011a: 239). it is defined as readiness to engage in written or oral communication which is conditioned by, among others, learners’ anxiety9, their cultural background, the topic of a written or oral assignment10 as well as the ethnolinguistic vitality11 of the tl (cf. figure 1). figure 1. willingness to communicate (wtc) pyramid model (taken from macintyre et al. 1998: 547) 9 pawlak (2011: 153) states that anxiety is a complex concept whose influence has a serious impact on learning events. acknowledging the results of previous studies as well as the findings of his own research, nerlicki (2011: 134), who investigates the topic of speaking-related anxiety among polish students of germanic studies, concludes that this problem occurs when speakers face communicative acts. goh and burns (2012: 27) also refer the problem of language anxiety, comparing an act of speaking to a considerably unpleasant and unwanted experience. 10 if it is does not match the interests of students, there is every likelihood that they will remain silent, at the same time withdrawing from the participation in the discussion (rivers 1968). 11 ethnolinguistic vitality should be taken into account while considering the level of efl wtc since it determines learners’ attitude towards the fl community. languages characterised by high ethnolinguistic vitality gain greater prestige and attract more speakers in contrast to less popular languages (macintyre 2004). nowadays, english, as a global lingua franca, outranks other less prominent languages, such as, for instance, polish. therefore, the higher status of the english language suggests that polish efl students are more likely to participate in communication in english with a view to becoming a part of a more prestigious community. 64 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) as seen in the figure above, wtc is a complex psychological construct which is highly dependent upon the speakers, context and language. this can be seen in piechurskakuciel’s (2011b) study examining the effect of self-perceived fl skills on the strength of wtc in polish efl secondary grammar school students. she found out that the subjects’ degree of wtc positively correlates with their own perceptions of the level of their fl skills. the results of the questionnaires conducted among 278 students of english demonstrate that the subjects communicate with increased self-confidence, lowered language anxiety and improved wtc provided that they report higher levels of their self-perceived fl skills. far from being exhaustive, table 1 offers an overview of selected student-related linguistic and non-linguistic factors in fl speaking. table 1. student-related linguistic and non-linguistic factors in fl speaking author(s) student-related determinants of speech chastain (1971) knowledge of fl pronunciation knowledge of fl vocabulary knowledge of fl grammar savignon (1976) communicative competence canale & swain (1980) grammatical competence sociolinguistic competence strategic competence bygate (1987) theoretical knowledge practical knowledge levelt (1989) declarative knowledge procedural knowledge gower et al. (1995) accuracy fluency brown (2001) sixteen microskills, i.e.: segmental and suprasegmental phonetics, fluency, pragmatics, knowledge of fl grammar, knowledge of fl vocabulary, cohesion, turn-taking, nonverbal clues, etc. linnebrick & pintrich (2003) self-efficacy tarone (2005) segmental phonetics suprasegmental phonetics thornbury (2005) what learners know what learners do 65 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) author(s) student-related determinants of speech goh (2007) phonological skills speech function skills interaction management skills discourse organizational skills bygate (2009) knowledge of phonological features knowledge of lexico-grammatical features knowledge of discourse features boonkit (2010) knowledge of fl pronunciation knowledge of fl vocabulary knowledge of fl collocations gilakjani (2011) knowledge of fl pronunciation nation (2011) knowledge of fl pronunciation knowledge of fl vocabulary knowledge of fl grammar sociolinguistic competence nerlicki (2011) language anxiety self-construct piechurska-kuciel (2011a, 2011b) willingness to communicate (wtc) language anxiety self-efficacy goh & burns (2012) language anxiety brown & bown (2014) knowledge of fl pronunciation fluency knowledge of fl vocabulary grammatical accuracy knowledge of tasks sociolinguistic and cultural appropriateness erdonmez (2014) mechanics functions social and cultural rules mills (2014) motivation rubio (2014) motivation self-concept self-esteem wilson (2014) linguistic correctness appropriate behaviour daszkiewicz et al. (2018) personality traits 66 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) having presented the selected student-related determinants of speech, it is justified to claim that speaking is the most problematic skill to be sharpened. the specificity of the language skill under discussion, different kinds of knowledge and subskills as well as a highly emotional character of fl speech production are said to be the main culprits responsible for posing grave problems with speaking. for the purpose of the current quantitative study, we would like to focus on 12 student-related linguistic, cultural, cognitive, psychological and socio-psychological determinants of efl speech – knowledge of fl grammar, vocabulary and culture, tl pronunciation, topic of the discussion, fear of other people’s assessment and mistakes, wtc, self-confidence as well as extrinsic and intrinsic motivation – and their importance in efl speaking as perceived by the secondary school and university students. 3. the quantitative study below there is the description of the study with regard to its goals, participants, procedure, instruments and results. 3.1. goals in contrast to a vast quantity of empirical research done with the aim of investigating the influence of linguistic or non-linguistic constructs on the production of fl speech, there is a scarcity of studies conducted with an intention of assessing their significance in speaking as perceived by students. due to the shortage of learner-centred investigations concerning their ability to speak in polish efl educational contexts, this smallscale quantitative study aimed to demonstrate the relevance of 12 linguistic and nonlinguistic determinants from the perspective of preand upper-intermediate students of english. two research questions guided this study: rq1. which of 12 factors was judged to be the most and least relevant in efl speaking as reported by the secondary school and university students? rq1. was any correlation between the age, the level of the respondents’ proficiency and their choices found? 3.2. participants the study was conducted with the learners from kazimierz wielki secondary school and the maria curie-skłodowska university (mcsu) in lublin, poland during the 2019/2020 academic year. in total, 91 polish efl first-grade secondary school pupils and first-year students from the english department at mcsu participated in the pre-study. 67 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 3.3. instruments two quantitative methods, new enterprise placement test12 and a questionnaire, were adopted. the former consisted of 100 closed-item questions which aimed to evaluate the participants’ knowledge of grammar and vocabulary as well as their comprehension of written texts. its results were later used to divide the test-takers into two groups. the aim of the questionnaire, on the other hand, was to examine the subjects’ views on the significance of selected linguistic and non-linguistic factors in their efl oral proficiency. in the first section, the respondents were to provide information concerning their schooling, age and gender. in the second part, using a five-point likert scale, they assessed their frequency of fl speech production inside and outside instructed settings and judged the relevance of student-related linguistic (knowledge of fl grammar and vocabulary, tl pronunciation), cultural (knowledge of the tl culture), cognitive (topic of the discussion), socio-psychological (fear of other people’s assessment, wtc) and psychological (fear of lexico-grammatical mistakes, fear of pronunciation mistakes, self-confidence, motivation) determinants of efl speech. the questionnaire was written in the subjects’ l1, that is polish. 3.4. procedure in the pre-study, the students were given 45 minutes to take a placement test. the maximum number of points that they could get was 100 points, including 55 points for grammar, 25 points for lexis and 25 points for reading comprehension. the majority of secondary school pupils scored between 35 to 60 points, which means that they were assigned to the a2 level group while the university students achieved more than 90 points on average and, therefore, they were allocated to the b2 level group. out of 91 efl learners who participated in the first stage of the study, 66 students, that is 33 preintermediate secondary school learners and 33 upper-intermediate university students, obtained the intended scores. the two groups differed with respect to a number of variables (cf. table 2) and comparing them was particularly interesting since betweengroup differences were expected to be found. table 2. comparison of the two groups of subjects (n=66) major differences teenage learners students of english age 14-16 years old 19-21 years old level of tl proficiency pre-intermediate (a2 level) upper-intermediate (b2 level) 12 taken from https://egis.com.pl/pl/newenterprise/placementtest 68 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) major differences teenage learners students of english amount of exposure to spoken english six hours of english lessons a week approx. 25 hours of classes conducted in english a week type of exposure one english teacher provides one speaking and pronunciation model many teachers with various speaking and pronunciation models amount of speaking practice all four language skills are practised during one class specific course devoted to speaking amount of phonetic instruction and training limited to occasional practice specific course in theoretical and practical phonetic training goal of learning basic communication with foreigners/passing the matura exam becoming englishlanguage professionals: teachers and interpreters in the study proper, the participants were requested to fill in the questionnaire. it took them approximately 10 minutes to provide answers to the questions asked in the survey. 3.5. results the respondents’ answers were counted and then analysed by means of the programme statistica. two types of operations were performed, descriptive statistics, the mean, median and sd, and inferential statistics, the nonparametric mann-whitney u test. sixty-six polish efl learners, including 41 girls and 25 boys, filled in the questionnaire. the average age of secondary school and university students was 15,2 and 19,5 respectively. their answers revealed a statistical difference between a2 and b2 level students’ frequency of fl speech production inside (p<0,01) and outside (p<002) instructed settings, with the students from the english department speaking english more often than secondary school learners. the results of the survey indicated that the knowledge of vocabulary, self-confidence and wtc were assessed to be the most significant by the subjects (n=66). slight differences between the means and medians concerning the knowledge of grammar (±0,57), self-confidence (±0,81) and wtc (±0,80) could be noticed. on the other hand, as seen in the table below, the knowledge of the tl culture and community was judged to be the least important by the polish speakers. 69 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) table 3. means, medians and sd presenting the significance of 12 linguistic and nonlinguistic factors as reported by the respondents (n=66) mean median min. max. sd f_1 – knowledge of fl grammar 4.03 4 1 5 1.01 f_2 – knowledge of fl vocabulary 4.64 5 3 5 0.57 f_3 – knowledge of fl culture 2.26 2 1 5 1.04 f_4 – fl pronunciation 4.12 4 1 5 0.97 f_5 – topic of the discussion 3,76 4 1 5 1,05 f_6 – fear of other people’s assessment 4.12 4 1 5 0.97 f_7 – fear of lexico-grammatical mistakes 3.36 3 1 5 1.24 f_8 – fear of pronunciation mistakes 3.47 3,5 1 5 1.18 f_9 – self-confidence 4.27 4 2 5 0.81 f_10 – wtc 4.39 5 2 5 0.80 f_11 – extrinsic motivation 4.21 4 1 5 0.87 f_12 – intrinsic motivation 3.48 4 1 5 1.18 figure 1 presents the respondents’ choices made with reference to their evaluation of 12 efl determinants of speech. the students unequivocally stressed the importance of lexical knowledge (f_2) and such psychological constructs as self-confidence (f_9) and wtc (f_10). the chart also clearly shows the weak position of culture (f_3) in comparison to other factors. figure 2. box plots presenting the respondents’ assessment of the significance of 12 factors 70 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) having provided an answer to rq1, it is worth drawing a comparison between the two groups of students, rq2, with regard to their perception of the 12 factors. even though some statistical differences in secondary school and university students’ answers were anticipated, the mean score comparisons did not render any statistically relevant contrasts between the respondents’ choices since u mann-whitney test was not relevant (cf. table 3). it is useful, however, to compare the answers provided by group a2 (n=33) and group b2 (n=33). as shown in table 4, the mean levels and other statistics were calculated for the two groups. first of all, the knowledge of tl vocabulary (f_2) and culture (f_3), fear of assessment (f_6) and extrinsic motivation (f_11) got similar students’ answers with vocabulary and culture being regarded respectively as the most and least relevant factors. the students mostly disagreed on the negative influence of pronunciation mistakes (f_8) and self-confidence (f_9). to be more specific, from the perspective of b2 level students, the fear of pronunciation mistakes was more significant in their efl speaking than it was for secondary school students. at the same time, secondary school students believed that self-confidence was more relevant in their efl speaking than it was for university students. table 4. means, medians, sd and between-group comparisons of the significance of 12 linguistic and non-linguistic factors assessed by pre-intermediate, a2, (n=33) and upper-intermediate, b2, (n=33) learners mean median min. max. sd p a2 b2 a2 b2 a2 b2 a2 b2 a2 b2 f_1 3.85 4.21 4 4 1 2 5 5 1.12 0.86 0,213991 f_2 4.61 4.67 5 5 3 3 4 5 0.61 0.54 0,746754 f_3 2.15 2.36 2 2 1 1 5 5 0.91 1.17 0,528660 f_4 3.97 4.27 4 4 1 2 5 5 1.07 0.84 0,275191 f_5 3.85 3.67 4 4 2 1 5 5 0.94 1.16 0,615568 f_6 3.30 3.30 3 4 1 1 5 5 1.49 1.38 0,963312 f_7 3.42 3.30 3 3 1 1 5 5 1.25 1.24 0,640024 f_8 3.52 3.42 3 4 1 1 5 5 1.23 1.15 0,741212 f_9 4.42 4.12 5 4 3 2 5 5 0.75 0.86 0,126807 f_10 4.42 4.36 5 5 2 2 5 5 0.75 0.86 0,908408 f_11 4.21 4.21 4 4 2 1 5 5 0.82 0.93 0,862564 f_12 3.61 3.36 4 4 1 1 5 5 1.12 1.25 0,504112 f_1 – knowledge of fl grammar; f_2 – knowledge of fl vocabulary; f_3 – knowledge of fl culture; f_4 – fl pronunciation; f_5 – topic of the discussion; f_6 – fear of other people’s assessment; f_7 – fear of lexico-grammatical mistakes; f_8 – fear of pronunciation mistakes; f_9 – self-confidence; f_10 – wtc; f_11 – extrinsic motivation; f_12 – intrinsic motivation. 71 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 3.5. discussion the trend that emerged in the subjects’ answers provided by them in the questionnaires is clearly indicative of their uninformed and, hence, incomplete outlook on a successful speech production process in the tl. out of the three components underlying the fl knowledge, grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, it was lexical knowledge that was assessed to be the most relevant in developing efl speaking. it is surprising that in spite of the varying levels of the respondents’ language proficiency (a2 versus b2) and the distinct type of instruction (secondary school versus university), no statistically significant difference in the means between the students’ choices concerning the relevance of pronunciation in efl speech production, 3.97 versus 4.27, was shown. since sounds are “produced in a continuous stream, with many different vocal organs involved concurrently, such that the articulation of one sound will affect the articulation of its neighbours” (thornbury 2005: 5), the key components which are said to condition learners’ ability to produce and comprehend oral language concern the mastery of individual sounds, stress, rhythm and intonation (lazaraton 2001: 103). correspondingly, fl learners’ awareness of the significance of good pronunciation, the issue of intelligibility as well as the perception of foreign accent in non-native speech by other interlocutors should be gradually increased in efl classrooms on account of the fact that poor pronunciation rather than lexical or grammatical knowledge causes the most serious breakdowns in communication (gilakjani 2011: 2; nation 2011: 448; nation & newton 2009: 75). despite the fact that fl speakers “should not only form grammatically correct sentences, but also use these sentences in appropriate social contexts taking into account the cultural background and social status of the interlocutors” (erdonmez 2014: 40), the subjects’ displayed almost complete insensitivity towards cultural aspects in their fl learning. the intricate relationship between culture, language and communication has been studied by hofstede (1991: 14), who makes a distinction between (1) small versus large power distance, (2) individualism versus collectivism, (3) masculinity versus femininity, (4) uncertainty avoidance and (5) long versus short-term orientation, each of which is believed to affect the ways in which people communicate. even though such insights provide accurate reflection of the close connection between language and culture, both secondary school and university students disregarded the role of the latter in developing their efl speaking. therefore, the clash between the respondents’ indifference towards cultural aspects in flt and their factual practical importance in communication ought to be decisive in changing students’ attitude towards the treatment of cultural aspects in efl classrooms. the participants’ tendency to assess the socio-psychological and psychological determinants of speech as considerably significant was in line with the results of research which view speaking as a highly emotional act. khan and khattak (2011) and nerlicki (2011) who investigated language anxiety explain that the fear of speaking occurs 72 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) when learners attempt to speak in a fl, concluding that there is a positive relationship between anxiety and failure in learning. in spite of the differences in the level of the efl proficiency (a2 versus b2 level), the amount of exposure to english (six hours versus 25 hours or more) and the university students’ increased production of oral output, the participants’ choices with reference to the evaluation of psychological constructs were generally consistent. both a2 and b2 level students regarded the psychological construct connected with the presence of other interactants as important in their efl speaking, proving that regardless of non-native speakers’ fl linguistic competence, speaking causes natural language anxiety. since the lower the speakers’ self-esteem, the more problems they have with communicating in a fl (rubio 2014: 48), it is necessary to exploit every classroom situation to provoke positive feelings and improve the students’ self-efficacy beliefs. 4. conclusion having enumerated some facets of fl speech production, it becomes evident that the mastery of the skill of speaking is a multidimensional, hence an intricate task for the majority of efl learners. speaking is harder and more stressful than the remaining language skills due to a number of reasons. owing to time constraints and, for instance, simultaneous processes of conceptualisation, formulation and articulation, fl speakers may suffer considerable cognitive, linguistic and emotional hardship since under time pressure they are expected to produce coherent and cohesive speech of different lengths or rates of delivery with the help of grammatical, lexical, sound and discourse structures. it can be, thus, proposed that speaking can be discussed from a variety of perspectives, including linguistic, psychological, interactionist and socio-cultural views on the process of speech production, which raise a series of issues touched on in the present paper. taking into account the instruments and procedure of the preliminary small scale study, there are certain limitations that need to be acknowledged. firstly, the measure used to collect the data in the pre-study, the placement test, did not assess the subjects’ oral proficiency. the sole criterion applied to divide the students into two groups was the results of the test which took into account the students’ linguistic competence limited to two language subsystems, grammar and vocabulary, and one language skill, reading. secondly, there is the problem of self-reported data obtained from the questionnaires whose validity can be questioned owing to the fact that no other method – for instance, open-ended questions, in which students could write their own answers, or interviews – was adopted and, consequently, no triangulation took place. the results of our study cannot be generalised. nevertheless, they provide a good account of how efl speech production was approached by the polish preand upperintermediate learners. their perception of fl speaking was highly limited since 73 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the majority of the subjects seemed largely ignorant about the key determinants of speech, including, most importantly, english sounds and prosody as well as efl culture. vocabularyand grammar-oriented instruction is necessary, nevertheless it should not occupy the whole classroom time since there is an abundance of other factors about whose influence fl speakers should be aware of. thus, we are convinced that the learner-oriented investigations of efl speaking should be further pursued in polish educational environments with an intention of raising learners’ awareness about the importance of a range of factors in developing their efl speaking skill. with the support of learner-centred insights into fl speaking combined with theoretical considerations and the results of empirical research, a more effective, conscious and successful fl education for both teachers and learners can take place. references bailey, k. 2003. speaking. in: d. nunan (ed.), practical english language teaching, 47-66. new york: mcgraw-hill companies. bogdanowska-jakubowska, e. 2013. student paper presentation – an analysis of face -related issues. in: d. gabryś-barker & j. bielska (eds.), the affective dimension in second language acquisition, 101-106. bristol/ny/ontario: multilingual matters. boonkit, k. 2010. enhancing the development of speaking skills for non-native speakers of english. procedia social and behavioral sciences 2: 1305-1309. bot, k. de. 1992. a bilingual production model: levelt’s ‘speaking’ model adapted. applied linguistics 13: 1-24. brown, d.h. 2000. teaching by principles. an interactive approach to language pedagogy. new york: longman. brown, t. & bown, j. 2014. teaching advanced skills through global debate: theory and practice. washington: georgetown 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in second language acquisition and foreign language learning, 235-251. berlin/ heidelberg: springer. rivers, w.m. 1968. teaching foreign-language skills. chicago/london: the university of chicago press. rubio, f.d. 2014. self-esteem and self-concept in foreign language learning. in: s. mercer & m. williams (eds.), multiple perspectives on the self in sla, 41-58. clevedon: multilingual matters. savignon, s.j. 1976. communicative competence: theory and classroom practice. paper presented at the central states conference on the teaching of foreign languages (detroit, michigan, april 23, 1976). tarone, e. 2005. speaking in a second language. in: e. hinkel (ed.), handbook of research in second language teaching and learning, 485-502. mahwah, n.j.: routledge. thornbury, s. 2005. how to teach speaking? edinburgh gate; harlow; essex: pearson education limited. thornbury, s. 2006. an a-z of elt concepts. a dictionary of terms and concepts. oxford: macmillan education. wilson, a. 2014. supporting speaking and listening. hoboken: routledge. * * * klaudia gajewska is a phd candidate at the maria curie-skłodowska university and an english teacher in a secondary school in lublin, poland. her research interests 76 .........................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 30 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) centre around second language acquisition and foreign language teaching with a special emphasis placed on examining the relationship between the productive skill of speaking and its subskill, pronunciation. 37 81 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) hernando blandón gómez¹ doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.37.2.05 the pontifical bolivarian university, medellín, colombia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5291-1007 street art and protest under pandemic conditions in colombia: a visual semiotic approach how does meaning enter the image? where does that meaning end? and if it ends what is beyond? (barthes 1986: 30) abstract. this article engages in a visual critical semiotic analysis of medellín street art and its interpretation as political action in the colombian social mobilisation of 2021. i explore three epistemological turns towards a descriptive and contrastive methodology to contextualize street art and its transformative potential. firstly, the spatial turn leads us to understand how space and street art function as a framework of life and conflict that challenges viewers socially and politically. secondly, following peirces̓ ideas, i reinterpreted some images. i explain how they function as theoretical objects related to indices, signs and symbols. according to mitchell's image turn, the image functions as a significant semantic unit. thirdly, i read the political turn based on rancières̓ works in which he equates the political and the aesthetic as an act of visibility, always existing together at a conceptual and substantive level, and with which emancipation is objective. the article does not try to argue whether street art has a transformative power as this has been widely discussed in the literature. the article looks at street art that appeared in the context of the social mobilisation of 2021-2022, and partially in the context of the recent pandemic as a social transformation, the fact of which was proven by the recent elections. keywords: aesthetic learning, dissensus, social mobilisation, social transformation, spatial aesthetics. 1 address for correspondence: escuela de arquitectura y diseño, universidad pontificia bolivariana circular 1 no. 70-01, bloque 10, medellín, colombia, e-mail: hernando.blandon@upb.edu.co https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5291-1007 82 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the background: nothing to lose because of its duration and amplitude, the armed civil conflict in colombia continues to affect all sides of life in the country (giraldo forero 2005; international center for transitional justice 2009; gaitán 2002; restrepo 2005). the fundamental questions of distribution of wealth, social and economic opportunities, access to health services, and questions of the dignity of life, security of life, and development, both collective and personal, are behind the conflict. any armed conflict is a question of power relations and expands in all dimensions: the state, legal and illegal military, and economic groups. it is not an abstract conflict, though. the most vulnerable social groups are affected socially, politically, economically and materially. the practice of modern states, as foucault argued, is to “exploit numerous and diverse techniques to subjugate bodies and control the population” (foucault 1990: 140). the pandemic created extreme conditions that manifested, according to giorgio agamben (2020), the growing tendency to use the state of emergency as a standard paradigm of government, enhancing and justifying the structural violence and normalising it. within these circumstances, colombia witnessed a major civil protest and its violent oppression in april-may 2021. the strike was triggered by a controversial tax reform that increased the value-added tax on public services for middleand upper-income households. coupled with the health reform proposal, it sent people into the streets on april 28, 2021. over 80 days, millions of citizens in cities like medellín, cali, bucaramanga, bogotá, pasto, and others marched against the reform proposals, social inequalities, the current government – growing together and articulating in solidarity the mechanisms, origins, and expressions of social inequality. violent oppression became the trigger, the last straw. amnesty international (2021) claims that at least 100,000 people were forcibly displaced or confined because of the ongoing conflict, particularly affecting the rights of indigenous peoples and afro-descendants in colombia. national strike 2021 raised the problem of systemic violence again. in the context of the national strike, there were numerous reports of excessive use of force by the security forces against peaceful protesters, particularly in cali. police arbitrarily detained and tortured protesters, and reportedly engaged in sexual and gender-based violence against women and lgbti people. at least 100 people sustained eye trauma due to the unlawful and excessive use of less lethal weapons by members of the mobile anti-riot squad (esmad). killings and threats against human rights defenders reached alarming levels, as evidenced by ngos and observers (e.g., https://www.temblores.org/). the protests started as pacific and gradually became better and better organized. this demonstrated significant solidarity among neighbourhoods, social and political organizations, artistic and youth groups: students, peasants, indigenous people, afro-colombians, women, and young artists, the https://www.temblores.org/ 83 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) population of the informal sector or unemployed formed the active body of the protests, people with nothing to lose. the strike was not an isolated event but another step in the worldwide counter movement to the dominating power, such as the occupy movement, for example. the strike contributed to the spatial symbolic decolonization worldwide with such actions as the demolition of the statue of jiménez de quesada on may 7 in the historic centre of bogotá by the misak, one of the indigenous peoples of colombia. from virginia to new mexico, protests over police brutality have brought hundreds of years of american history bubbling to the surface. […] the boiling anger that exploded in the days after george floyd gasped his final breaths is now fuelling a national movement to topple perceived symbols of racism and oppression in the united states, as protests over police brutality against african americans expand to include demands for a more honest accounting of american history. (mervosh, romero, tompkins 2020: n.p.) bourdieu (1997) speaks about the systemic symbolic violence that is more “pernicious” as it is well hidden in our everyday life, social architecture, and material-discursive surroundings. being able to confront it requires a certain level of sensibility and knowledge. it is challenging to confront also because of “the tacit complicity of those who suffer it and also, often, of those who practice it to the extent that one and the other are not aware of suffering or practicing it” (bourdieu 1997: 22). likewise, didi-huberman writes: to criticize violence, one must describe it (which implies that one must be able to look). to describe it, one must dismantle its artifacts and “describe the relationship,” as benjamin puts it, in which it is constituted (which implies that one has to be able to dismantle and reassemble states of affairs). (didi-huberman 2014: 35) following this line of thought, i want to focus on artivism, an artistic and socio-political approach that shows new action elements of the new emancipatory processes with their creative wall sentences and cross-border symbology. i argue that it breaks the social-political culture of representation, assuming a new constructive and social-political participatory role with practices such as strikes and barricades among artistic wall paintings, and the creation and recreation of new signs and political symbols in the colombian strike. i argue that subjectivity works together with images of the public space in citizensʼ minds, making them more aware of the political reality of socio-political emancipation. 84 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) spatial turn: street art cities are spaces of coexistence of social and political life in a territory; peoples̓ ways of living, finding their essential characteristics within a specific habitat (de certeau 1998; harvey 1996). only by walking, looking, and looking again can the urban space and the territory be understood, that is, expanding the sense of reading and interpreting the street artwork. citizen, time and space come together to allow the understanding of the urban images. in my university-level semiotics class lab, i take my students to the streets to live the city and understand it as a place of action for everyday experiences. i invite them to read and feel the city as a space that offers all types of knowledge and understanding of reality that is different from the scientific explanation. contrasting images and counterforces are explored in the discussion, contesting the existing discourses both spoken, written, said and felt. the spatial turn acts as a binder of aesthetic thought, leading it towards reflecting on the visual messages exhibited by the city and its subjective interpretations. pedragosa (2014) defines the spatial turn as a fact that is already visible in the forms of current responses to the question of how to inhabit the world, the recovery of subjective experience for the appropriation of space by an aesthetic and emotional experience through images and culture, like a living space. the spatial turn allows images to be integrated from the observation of the field of the urban area, to dominate the landscape of the plural world, where some visions do not invalidate the others; still, between them, they give each image a place in the picture collage of the reality that we want to address. the lived space is a field of representation of reality and consciousness that leads us to the recovery of subjective experiences. in this sense, the multitude of phenomena around spatial perception, awareness of space, and the value of subjective, emotional and personal elements of the experience of each one of us in public space allow the viewers to make their interpretation (pedragosa 2014: 15). based on my walking experience with my students, i can argue that the observant walker can see how the city hides layers of realities artificially constructed by differentiated spaces, divided by signs, signals, and symbols for different human groups in a temporality-determined geographic territory. the town does not refer to a specific reality but to a fact represented differently by many consciences that inhabit it and turn it into a space lived as a reality. if public space is the citizen space of representation and consciousness, one of those layers of constructed realities, full of social, emotional and political meaning, is street art. image turn understood as a visual expression of feelings and emotions (goodman 1981), urban art, like any art, can affect, influence, and change individuals and society (tunali & erdi 85 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 2021). it has a long history of being at the forefront of movements for social justice and political change; by challenging longstanding traditions, it sustains ideas, provokes different perspectives, and turns it into a space lived as the reality that inspires plural understanding. for peirce, art as a visual language is full of multiple indices, signals and signs open to interpretation, unlike symbols governed by a rule, convention or agreement between users (1974). applying street art as a medium, the artists express their ideas by creating visual codes and dialogues in which the triadic relation message-spectator-consciousness works to obtain visibility. in this sense, street art as a social practice is the most local experience of artistic expression to obtain open-air visibility. it stands for the relationship between the tangible and the intangible, and between artworks, citizens and their demands. the coexistence of street art and citizenship enables this artistic approach and an ephemeral artistic practice to become part of visual culture both as form and content – by expressing, enunciating, and/or denouncing local social and political problems, in a word, as a scene. rancières̓ notion of a scene is another useful concept for understanding arts̓ transformative work. a scene is a theoretical entity, a method of equality as it destroys the hierarchies between the levels of reality and discourse and the usual techniques for judging the significant character of phenomena (rancière 2012). the scene is the direct encounter between the particular and the universal; the complexity of levels of signification is transversal to the layers of discourse. in a scene, the thought and the image are no longer distinguished (rancière 2012: 100). different scholars (andrzejewski 2017; bacharach 2015, 2018; baldini 2018; bartolomeus 2012) emphasize how street art becomes and simultaneously generates social collective and individual dissensus – “consists in the rejection of every difference that distinguishes between people who ʻliveʼ in different spheres of existence, the dismissal of categories of those who are or are not qualified for political life” (rancière 2015: 77). colombian social mobilisation emphasizes how street artists engage in the social dialogue between the discursive elements through displaying controversial images and slogans, and facilitate and sustain it, so becoming the grassroots for critical pedagogical practice. the composition offers an aesthetic-political argument; every line, piece and colour enable visual reasoning to be profoundly and efficiently situated using its strategic location. street artists use urban commodities as a screen to elevate a graphic scream that would put in motion transformation of the viewer. this mobilisation questioned symbolic referents on which –supposedly– the society and its system have been built. in this strike, every painted wall works as a graphic scream to rethink democratic values such as justice, freedom, equity, respect and democracy, among other matters. it is a visual that enunciates a socio-political 86 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) resignification between the artist, spectators as protagonist readers versus the state normative. one action supports, encourages and explains the other. leo, a first line artist², explained how his artistic collective chooses the location for a specific reason: “visibility, personal reasons or just the strategic location of the place are of major importance.” the artistic interventions try to provoke the viewer. leo and his partnersʼ goals are to create an experience in the spectators̓ mind, provoking an intellectual or emotional reaction, transforming the space perception and its meanings, to achieve the political message in an aesthetic way to touch the conscious subjectivity that peirce (1988) defines as tradition and rancière (2012) the dissensus. according to peirce (1988), radiation is built with our beliefs and habit working together. what the pattern depends on is when and how it causes us to act. as for the when, every stimulus to action is derived from perception; as for the how, every purpose of an effort is to produce some sensible result. considering the above, it is possible to state that aesthetic protests can create dissensus between citizensʼ common sense and the political to create new understandings and political meanings. for rancière, a social actor is a multiplicity of social actors, and the critical question is to find out what they can do without a hierarchical principle. this principle of hierarchy is what rancière (2012) defines as the distribution of the sensible: “the distribution of the sensible refers to the ways of seeing, doing, saying and making visible the existence of a common and the cuts that define the places and the respective parts” (p. 100). this sharing of the sensible decides the degree of the visible or perceptible of the subject on the scene of the world, and it finds who can have or take part in the communal. the most significant aspect of this concept of visibility is the articulation between art as an aesthetic fact and politics. politics, the philosopher continues, […] happens when those who have no time take the time to present themselves as inhabitants of shared space and to show that their mouth also emits a word that enunciates the common and is not just a voice that talks pain. this distribution and redistribution of places and identities, of the visible and the invisible, noise and speech, constitute what this paper calls the distribution of the sensible. (rancière 2006: 103) politics occurs when a citizen looks into the urban space and evaluates the urban space and contexts where street artworks are exhibited, their content and aesthetic qualities as line, colour, composition, balance, tine and harmony, but also the ways a 2 one of the main actors that emerged during the situation was the so-called first line, a generally youthful popular expression that confronted the public force and the paramilitaries with stones and handmade shields that constantly attacked the mobilized society, thus generating a purpose of care of the population and its community exercises developed in various points of resistance. 87 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) street artist or a collective follow their creative processes: inspiration, imagination, idea, sketching, planning, remaking and showing. scenes for this semiotic and hermeneutic route, i will explore the wall painting signs and symbols with peirce, then with mitchells̓ (2009) ekphrastic analysis, and finish by reaching rancières̓ notion of dissensus. eco (1992) argues that the first thing an artwork says is said through the way it is made. thus, the scratch on the institutional wall and the stencil on the street seek to connect and relate to the ordinary citizen, enquiring about their feelings, social posture and, finally, overcoming the aesthetic fact, their social and political thoughts. through social exchanges, we acquire, transmit and perpetuate the knowledge, beliefs and values that allow us to share a common conception of things and others. in this sense, this reconstruction of reality, this representation of reality that takes on a truth value for each of us, is above all social, elaborated according to our characteristics and shared by a group of people who also have them. representation for peirce (1996) is an object which stands for another so that an experience of the former affords us a knowledge of the latter. there are three essential conditions to which every representation must conform. it must, in the first place, like any other object, have qualities independent of its meaning. it is only through knowledge of these that we acquire any information concerning the object it represents [...] in the second place, representation must have a real causal connection to its object. [...] in the third place, every representation addresses itself to a mind. it is only in as far as it does it that it is a representation. the idea of the representation itself excites in the mind another idea and so that it may do this some principle of association between the two ideas must already be established in that mind. [...] (peirce 1996: 306) the condition then is that the sign must be able to connect the words with the things represented; that is, if it is not possible, descriptions and consequent interpretations are not a sign. continuing with this logic, mitchells̓ image turn (2012) explains that there is no essential difference between images and words; moreover, there is no opposition between those languages: art and texts, nor between the relation between an artist (an individual that speaks and sees) and the artistic work (an object that can be seen and is mute). this relation built a meta-imagen between the image and the ekphrasis, linking both symbolic languages and significances, making visible how the aesthetic discourse is interpreted linguistically towards a reflection whose objective is a political reflection in the open urban space. 88 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) language can be used to describe representative figuration and the other way around. description, narration, exposition and other acts of speaking are not exclusive to a media; they are not specific, and do not belong to a particular medium; both languages can transform a passive image into a textual living creature and vice versa (mitchell 2012: 144). this notion incorporates the possibilities of work from the transdisciplinary, which does not imply the dissolution of its objects in those of other social disciplines, but the “construction of articulations – mediations and intertextualities – that make its specificity” (martín barbero 2002: 217). in the following section, i will present artivism and dissensus notions, and then discuss the three scenes, developing a possible semiotic interpretation of artworks cases in the social-political colombian crisis. artivism and dissensus misak avenue in the capital city bogotá, parque de la resistencia in medellín, and puerto resistencia in cali are today the icons of the resignification of those cities that are titled rebel cities, we can say now, cities that belong to rebel countries, according to harvey (1996), cities that are territories of the second independence. la calle grita [the street screams] collective painted the walls in different colombian cities in response to the violent oppression hidden by the state and its institutions. the graffiti artists focus on the nodes of social confrontation: they move from privatized spaces of the owned mass media to public areas and streets. the size of graffiti increased significantly – protesters were creating murals, reconfirming those silenced. the roads are huge messages that could be read from the helicopters that permanently surrounded the demonstrations, and harassed, monitored, and attacked people. here are some examples applying the semiotic analysis to reveal the process of the rancierian dissensus notion at resistance park. figure 1. resistance park in medellín, april 2021. at https://bit.ly/3un1ys5 89 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) pandemic artivism did not differentiate artists from non-artists. street art as a plastic expression became a form of logical, political and emotional communication. it is understood as political and aesthetic creation with a social objective: to put the political problem in the eye of the beholder, in short, a call to conscience. each image, line, letter, and drip of paint expresses the loss of future opportunities, poverty, misery and exclusion through symbolic engagement. collectives of young artists, students, workers and organizations build a scene of resistance for mobilization encoded and promoted with the murals. here are some examples: figure 2. first line: strength to the indigenous guard. author: unknown. resistance park, medellín. first line students painted these graffiti at resistant park in april 2021 (figure 2). figure 3: the assassin state speaks directly to the state as an institution that itself is criminal, guilty of man slaughter, but goes unpunished. figure 4, during an intervention made by the president at the agora convention centre in corferias, in which, when referring to the current situation in the country, he had a “lapse” and said “because that colombia with a capital p is the one we need.” polombia? social networks do not let anything go by, and president iván duque is currently the main subject of memes in the country due to his most recent mistake, so the protesters use the error in signifying what many have considered president duques̓ incapacity. 90 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) figures 3 and 4 at resistance park. authors: unknown. medellín figures 5 and 6, resistance park, medellín. a murder-state graffito and long-live resistance flyer. authors: unknown. figure 5, painted with manuscript letters, acts as an emotional testimony in the assassin state. figure 6 is a fascinating piece. the stand-up figure represents an indigenous person from misak wearing traditional costume with open wings that support the mountain ranges; the territory of the graffito closes with the arch made by the slogan “long live the resistance” that touches the sky, and clouds symbolize eternity. the message is a powerful continuity: from the ancestors to the present to the future. scene 1: the national symbols without fear this poster, created by artist juan fernando vélez, mainly circulated on social media such as facebook, twitter, instagram, whatsapp, etc. 91 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) figure 7. national strike: without fear. author: juan fernando vélez, 2021. courtesy @juanfvelezg if art seeks to create meanings, the artist puts into circulation one of the signs and symbols of colombian culture to challenge the established truths and offer a new interpretation of the image as content (eco 1992). the premise is that a picture can only be understood from a particular perspective: that of the observer. the image presents three stripes of colours referring the viewer to the colours of the colombian flag. the tricolor stripes of the image invoke the sense of belonging to a country, to a nation. the flag provokes in the viewer a call to think about the homeland. each colour stripe represents, symbolizes, synthesizes, and represents key elements of the countrys̓ wealth and national identity, which makes us colombians. yellow indicates the nations̓ gold and wealth, blue represents the two seas surrounding colombias̓ maritime borders, and red signifies passion and pride as a colombian citizen. what is interesting about velezs̓ work is that the artist proposes the decision made by the front-line protesters to invert the position of the flag and the national emblem. this decision has a socio-political meaning, reinforcing the idea of rage, tiredness and unease. starting with the pandemic and through the protests, many households and the protestors used the flag upside down to symbolize the distress and rage colombians felt. 92 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) figure 8. colombian national emblem velezs̓ artwork plays with the spectators̓ memory and citizen values, implicit within the national symbols, to indicate that something is not right, something is not working in the country, politically, socially, and much less economically. colombia is upsidedown, the state is made wrong. the scene shows an inverted flag. the red stripe covers the blue line of resources and the yellow bar of gold and prosperity; this inversion of the patriotic symbols, in moments of protest, symbolizes the bloodbath that covers the country, of the murders of social leaders, young students and women, among others; the blood is spilled over the country, evidencing the error 2021 of the state against the less favoured population in its health and tax reforms. by invoking the inverted flag tricolour, the artist confronts the observer with civic, formal and emotional content. he presents a requirement, a call to think and reflect on the homeland, the country. by the time the observer looks at the artwork, the use of the symbol claims, requests and exhorts the viewer first by an act of respect that goes through the body in the presence of institutionality. in this piece, the flag representation comes into play in the semiotic sciences of prosody, understood as the space of personal interaction with the message; kinesics refers to body movements such as the facial expressions, postures and gestures of the viewer when observing the work, and proxemics refers to the concept of personal space and the appropriate distance between work and viewer. the national flag, as a patriotic symbol, is used during critical moments of national life, making its presence mandatory; in the same way, the artist summons the citizen to participate in a solemn act. its powerful symbolic call confronts the observer to immediately think about the notion of homeland. any colombian citizen feels summoned; his 3 esmad is an anti-riot unit that was created in 1999 during the government of andrés pastrana in one of the most acute periods of the war in colombia. it reports to the police and is attached to the ministry of defence. although it was founded under a transitory decree by former president álvaro uribe (2002-2010), duque's political godfather formalized it and created the course that trains the agents of this unit. 93 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) emotion is linked to the extended object, awakening innumerable reactions, according to the empathic feeling or not with the symbol, in this case with the situation of the national strike and its demands. the artistic work presents the words paro nacional (the national strike) in the red stripe. the red colour enunciates the seriousness of the matter, and the colour symbolizes the blood spilled by the death of victims of the strike. the fact that it is located in the upper part of the artwork indicates the relevance of this stripe as a solid visual shout containing the work's title. according to the non-governmental organization temblores (2021), which carried out a verification of complaints and triangulation of information, it was established that between april 28, 2021 and june 26, 2021 at least 4,687 cases of violence by the security forces occurred, not including cases of disappearances, which are still underreported. among these cases, the organization explained, it was possible to identify 44 homicides whose alleged aggressor was a member of the security forces, 1617 victims of physical violence, 82 victims of ocular aggressions, 228 victims of gunshots, 28 victims of sexual violence, nine victims of gender-based violence, 2005 arbitrary detentions against demonstrators, 784 violent interventions in the framework of peaceful protests, and 35 cases of the use of venom weapons by esmad³. alarming figures, considering that protest is a right to which citizens should have access without being exposed to violence. the artist writes the word rabia (anger) in the blue stripe, which evokes a communal feeling. this text clarifies a national emotion, closing the circle about this socio-political situation and clearing the message. the feeling that encompasses the human rights groups that make up the protest shows their indignation and exhaustion with the excesses and abuses of a neoliberal government with pretensions of monarchy. the yellow stripe contains the words sin miedo (without fear). the artist uses exaggeration with the typographic text as a visual and conceptual resource, thus paradoxically implying that fear no longer exists, that neither the esmad bullets nor the persecution of the police, and even the fear of dying from covid 19 amid the pandemic can suppress the indignation and the right to demand justice and equity in a country dominated by a corrupt administration. finally, considering the semantics, we find in the centre of the work a hint – the words error 2021. the artist points out the year of the states̓ reform proposal as a consecutive numeral and qualifies it as an error with the date because it is not the only one there is. it is an index that adds to the different arbitrariness of the government in power against the working class. from the symbolism of colour and semantics, the work builds a 94 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) network of meanings and questions for the observer, forcing him to watch, think, and then take an ethical position, a political decision that includes agreement or disagreement; it must say that millions of colombia people agree with the government. from the pragmatic point of view, the artwork paro nacional rabia sin miedo, by juan fernando velez, relates the image-text with the spectators by confronting their social, civic and ethical values, inviting them to die for their rights without fear. at the same time, it appeals to the political by summoning expressions of citizen empathy, cooperation and solidarity so that the citizen-observers respond to this image that symbolically denunciates the socio-political malaise of the country, which is what rancière calls the dissensus. scene 2: street art, the killer state figure 9. murder state graffito, author: fuerza graffiti collective , medellín, 2021. courtesy by fuerza graffiti. see more at https://www.elespectador.com/judicial/ mural-estado-asesino-y-otros-graffitis-que-han-sido-borrados-article https://www.elespectador.com/judicial/mural-estado-asesino-y-otros-graffitis-que-han-sido-borrados-article https://www.elespectador.com/judicial/mural-estado-asesino-y-otros-graffitis-que-han-sido-borrados-article 95 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the graffiti community of medellín painted the walls of san juan avenue in medellín with the words “murder state” – estado asesino on may 3, during the demonstrations for the national strike, and police violence was denounced and documented by human rights organizations. the mural lasted less than a week, as it seems that members of the army erased it in the early morning of may 8. as well as this one, other murals mentioning the security forces were left for memory⁴. the size of the work is impressive, reaching about 800 metres. the colour range appeals to those used in patriotic symbols, such as the flag and the nation of colombia. the blue colour is replaced by black to enhance the volume of the text image and symbolize the dark panorama that the country is going through. as in velezs̓ work, the colours seek to take hold of the viewers̓ gaze, no matter whether they are in a car or walking, to urge questioning. the phrase challenges the passer-by; it forces them to take a socio-political stance; no one is spared to reflect on this statement. first with themselves and then within the political crisis. no doubt, even those who do not feel committed or called, or ignore the vast message made a political, ethical and moral decision by silence, omission, or supporting the strike. this text-image is a micro-story; it represents a country in a state of defencelessness, a people subjected to the power of the corrupt. however, what is beyond this story? there are the stories of those who participate in the political scene, no longer as protagonists but as spectators: women, men, young people, students, boys and girls who observed, listened, felt and interpreted the actions and speeches of the street artwork and who processed their interpretations of the text-image: the assassin state in the privacy of their mind, homes or offices. spectators are ethically responsible, said arendt (2007). responsibility must be differentiated from moral guilt because guilt is always personal and non-transferable, while political responsibility is collective. arendt explains that the spectator as a narrator is someone who observes reality, feels it, and judges it; that is, they interpret it from their experiences, dreams, ambitions and desires, and narrate it to create an opinion and, in some cases an adhesion to specific actions and discourses. they are a narrator acting in the public space. two conditions must be met for there to be collective responsibility: 1) the spectator embodies desire, oppression and power, 2) the spectator also manifests a critical attitude, conflictive in itself, towards politics understood as narration or discourse (arendt 2007:152). 4 at https://www.elespectador.com/judicial/mural-estado-asesino-y-otrosgraffitis-que-han-sido-borrados-article/ 96 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) figure 10. murder state. author: fuerza graffiti collective, 2021. image from a video. courtesy of fuerza graffiti. see more at https://www.elespectador.com/judicial/ mural-estado-asesino-y-otros-graffitis-que-han-sido-borrados-article the central part of this artwork is the face of the colombian president ivan duque, divided into two parts: the left part, before the word state, presents the head of a malicious pig, reminding the reader of the nickname “porky” that has been given to the president from the beginning of his government, meaning that the murderous state is the pig. the second half, which precedes the assessin text, is a figurative image of a smiling iván duque, signifying his ironic performance as the one directly responsible for the murderous state that this text image denounces. it is interesting how the shadow of the a completes the pig's right ear, configuring the literary murderous pig, among other possible understandings. the pink colour materializes the tone of the message, connoting real pig skin and trying to show the president's weakness. the aesthetics make visible from an image-text a socio-political reality in the country context. the citizen understanding exercise of all provokes the reaction with different views and opinions, expanding the interpretative and political possibility of the citizen observers and, therefore, the disagreement. the potency of the discourse of this imagetext can be interpreted in the speed with which it was erased by the city's military forces and other citizens who were questioned by this graffiti, causing both dissents as the truly political fact proposed by rancière (2012). 97 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) cali scene: the raised fist figure 11. raised left fist symbol in puerto resistencia in cali. authors: puerto resistencia community. at https://bit.ly/3qgjzae. https://bit.ly/3qgjzae 98 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the origin of this symbol or gesture is unclear. its use in trade unionism, anarchism and the labour movement had begun by the 1910s. the metaphor of a fist means that the hand is something more significant than the sum of its parts. in the united states, a clenched fist was described by the magazine mother earth as “symbolical of the social revolution” in 1914. fist-based iconography can be seen in early propaganda for labour organizations, such as in a famous cartoon of the industrial workers of the world (iww), a revolutionary american union. the general iconic idea was to show how the first mass can confront power. a first-line artist said that the vast huge raised left fist symbolizes our sovereignty as a country and is a symbol of resistance and struggles for a better nation with social justice. the monument, over 10 metres high, was built by protesters of the national strike in the puerto rellena sector, now named puerto resistencia, in eastern cali. the figure has been named “monument to the resistance” and represents the national support for the protest in colombia. the statue was made in 17 days by young people who were part of the front line; however, the boys had the help of engineers and builders. unlike the wholly closed fist, this colombian protest hand has open fingers holding the word resistance over the colours of the colombian flag as a message of unity in the feeling of indignation and struggle. people from cali built the symbolic hand. still, it also symbolizes that it was made with the support of all the colombian people, pushing at the same time a heartfelt tribute to the victims of the strike, expressed by a young man named juan⁵, spokesman of the protests in that region of cali. viewers can see over the colombian fist symbol a series of images of helmets, books that denounce the dream to access study, indigenous faces, and young afro-colombians excluded from the labour system. soccer balls appeal to the right to recreational and sporting spaces; also hanging from the fist are some rocks used by protesters to defend the territory from state forces. all these images refer to the young victims of police violence and others killed during the protest. likewise, the raised fist has around it a protective frame of shields, pierced by bullets, of some young people of the front line fallen or disappeared by the government forces in complicity with paramilitary forces. the faces of men, women and young people who have disappeared give life to the raised fist. these images cry out to stop the violence, corruption, and lack of opportunities in health, education and employment suffered by the colombian people. this community symbol evidences the dissent as a political fact against the tax and health reform. the logo expresses weariness of the neoliberal policies against people without opportunities, thus the slogan “they messed with the wrong generation,” that is to say, with those who have nothing to lose. dissensus is understood as transformation 5 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdol65z7tv0 99 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in the political culture with a new critical generation that hopes for change and believes in it. finally, the spectators can complete the idea of emancipation by realising what world they are constructing (rancière 2008). conclusions the article discussed the visible significance of selected artwork in the context of the social mobilisation in colombia in 2021. while the article mostly focused on visual representations, it is important to remember that they were part of a massive artistic mobilisation and simultaneous with other forms of expression such as musical performances, dance expressions, open-air concerts, theatre groups in the streets, artistic collectives in all modalities, symphonic concerts and neighbourhood concerts performed with the lids of pots by ordinary people expressing solidarity with the protests, the outraged citizens who came out in the silent nights to speak up, that is, the vast majority of ordinary citizens who felt that it was the moment to participate, to become visible in their demands. art mobilised, summoned, and rescued from the silence produced by fear; an immense majority expressed their discontent as active actors or spectators who acquired a civic conscience. by reading the artworks, the transient, walking spectators become “an emancipated community, a community of narrators and translators” capable of making the work of art their own and actively tracing the scope of its metaphors (rancière 2003: 11). a fact that is fulfilled with the strategic use of public spaces by street art, their dimensions, and their call for the national institutional colours that summon the filial sense for the homeland by those who have nothing to lose. that is why the essential task of critical art will not be to oppose the reality but to provide strong metaphors in a new perception and understanding of the real. a job that must not only be done in the field of an art but with society beyond any frontiers: this is where it is possible to elaborate and propose a polemic common sense that shows other links between words and things (rancière 2008: 111). the changes facilitated by artivism produce unrest, disagreement and transformation. new objects and subjects arise, altering the shared sensibility; in this way the spectator is able to experience the transformations between the public (urban art) and the private sensibility (consciousness), allowing the appearance of new rationalities and realities that question the tradition and conventional ways of thinking and being in it, and lead towards emancipation. colombia was not the exception. references agamben, g. 2020. lʼinvenzione di une̓pidemia. quodlibet. https://www.quodlibet.it/ giorgio-agamben-l-invenzione-di-un-epidemia. 100 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) amnesty international. 2021. colombia, 1 july, www.amnesty.org/en/location/ americas/southamerica/colombia/?utm_source=google&utm_medium= cpc&gclid=eaiaiqobchmi4v4juta9wivgynich3h9qrxeaayasaaegk0afd_bwe. andrzejewski, a. 2017. authenticity manifested: street art and artification. rivista di estetica 64: 167-184. arendt, h. 2007. responsabilidad colectiva. barcelona: paidós. bacharach, s. 2015. street art and consent. british journal of aesthetics 55: 481-495. bacharach, s. 2018. finding your voice in the streets: street art and epistemic injustice. monist 101: 31-43. baldini, a. l. 2022. what is street art? estetika: the european journal of aesthetics lix/xv, no. 1: 1-21. bartolomeus, l. 2012. street art in indonesian social and political life. guggenheim blogs (blog), 17 october, www.blogs.guggenheim.org/map/street-art-inindonesian-social-and-political-life. bourdieu, p. 1997. razones prácticas. sobre la teoría de la acción. barcelona: anagrama. cidob, barcelona center for international affairs. 2022. conflicto en colombia: antecedentes históricos y actores, 1 january, www.cidob.org/en/publications/ documentation/dossiers/dossier_proceso_de_paz_en_colombia/dossier_ proceso_de_paz_en_colombia/conflicto_en_colombia_antecedentes_ historicos_y_actores. ctj, international center for transitional justice. 2021. an overview of the conflict in colombia, 10 september, www.ictj.org/sites/default/files/ictj-colombiaconflict-facts-2009-english.pdf. de certeau, m. 1998. culture in the plural, transl. t. conley. minneapolis: university of minnesota press. de rosa, a. s. 2012. social representations in the social arena. london: routledge. dickinson, e. 2021. crisisgroup. www.crisisgroup.org/latin-americacaribbean/andes/colombia/090-pandemic-strikes-responding-colombiasmass-protests. didi-huberman, g. 2014. como abrir los ojos. in: farocki, h. (ed.) desconfiar de las imágenes, 13-14, buenos aires: caja negra. eco, u. 1976. tratado de semiótica general, transl. c. manzano. madrid: lumen. eco, u. 1992. obra abierta. buenos aires: editorial planeta. foucault, m. 1990. the history of sexuality, vol. 1: an introduction. new york: vintage. fuentes-navarro, r. 2008. la comunicación desde una perspectiva sociocultural: acercamientos y provocaciones 1997-2007 (“la comunicación desde una perspectiva sociocultural ...”), guadalajara: iteso. http://www.ictj.org/sites/default/files/ictj-colombia-conflict-facts-2009-english.pdf http://www.ictj.org/sites/default/files/ictj-colombia-conflict-facts-2009-english.pdf 101 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) gaitán, g. 2002. orígenes de la violencia de los años 40. in: once ensayos sobre la violencia. bogotá: cerec/centro gaitán. www.ongscolombianas.net/ gaitanismo.origenes.htm. 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33-55, madrid: historia del arte y de la arquitectura. quoted in pau, 2014:15. peirce, c. 1988. la fijación de la creencia, transl. josé vericat. navarra: universidad de navarra. www.unav.es/gep/fixationbelief.html. peirce, c. 1873. collected papers. logic. chapter 5. indiana university school of liberal arts. peirce, c. 1996. la ciencia de la semiótica. buenos aires: nueva visión. platón. 1988. las leyes. ed. josé manuel ramos bolaños. madrid: akal. rancière, j. 2003. el destino de las imágenes. paris: la fabrique. rancière, j. 2006. el odio a la democracia, transl. i. agoff. buenos aires: amorrortu. rancière, j. 2008. el espectador emancipado. buenos aires: la fabrique. rancière, j. 2012. el método de la igualdad. conversaciones con laurent jean pierre y dork zabuyan. buenos aires: bayard. temblores. 2021. informe final. www.temblores.org/_files/ugd/7bbd97_10674d3f5b324b6 abe45fad8b1083b7b.pdf. tunali, t. & g. erdi. 2019. art and the city: urban space, art, and social movements. le studium multidisciplinary journal 3, 25-30. *** hernando blandón gómez is a graphic designer who obtained his ma degree in colombian literature in 2003 and his doctoral degree with distinction in 2019, in the field of 102 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) philosophy at the pontificial bolivarian university, medellín, colombia. his research focuses on the study of the image and the meanings of spatial semiotic and political relations. other academic interests include the study of semiotic perception in art and graphic design. hernando blandón gómez1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.37.2.05 street art and protest under pandemic conditions in colombia: a visual semiotic approach 88 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) łukasz matusz1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.31.4.05 university of silesia orcid: 0000-0003-2810-5798 i will see it done: metonymic extensions of the verb see in english abstract. english verbs of perception appear to be significant generators of divergent polysemous senses. the aim of this paper is to propose a dictionary study of the verb see. it appears that many semantic extensions of the term are metonymic in nature, because they are motivated by metonymic shifts within specific state-of-affairs scenarios (sass). three distinct dictionary sources are consulted in order to identify different metonymic extensions of the verb see. the majority of the database samples appear to belong to the part for whole propositional metonymy category (a stage of sas for sas). the conceptual link between seeing and intellectual comprehension is complex and appears to require the discussion of metonymy–metaphor interaction for its fuller explanation. the analysis is followed by conclusions drawn from the database study, as well as suggestions for future research in the field of metonymic extensions of english terms of visual perception. keywords: propositional metonymy, state-of-affairs scenarios, metonymy–metaphor interaction, visual perception, see. 1. a brief outline of the propositional metonymy theory the theory of metonymy in contemporary linguistics has come a long way from the days of rising interest in the topic (lakoff & johnson 1980; norrick 1981; nunberg 1978). this has occurred through a primary focus on the referential aspects of metonymies (croft 1993; kövecses & radden 1998; radden & kövecses 1999) and also a more inclusive look at the issue, encompassing types of formal, propositional, and illocutionary metonymy (bierwiaczonek 2001, 2007, 2013; hernández 2007; panther & thornburg 1999, 2003b, 2003c; ruiz de mendoza & otal campo 2002). in his discussion of metonymy, bierwiaczonek (2013: 16) adopts a modified definition of kövecses and radden (1998: 39) to refer to metonymy as “a cognitive process in which one conceptual entity, the vehicle, provides mental access to another conceptual entity, the target, associated with it within the same single integrated conceptualisation.” this definition warrants a significantly broad understanding of the term, which encompasses, besides referential metonymy, different types of formal, propositional, and illocutionary metonymy. 1 address for correspondence: institute of english, university of silesia, ul. gen. stefana grota -roweckiego 5,41-205 sosnowiec, poland. e-mail: lukasz.matusz@us.edu.pl 89 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the focus of the present paper is on propositional metonymy, as presented by panther and thornburg (1999, 2003a, 2005, 2007) and modified by bierwiaczonek (2013). bierwiaczonek (2013: 24-26) disregards panther and thornburg’s distinction between referential and predicational types within the propositional metonymy category. instead, he proposes that propositional metonymy can be divided into propositional sentential metonymy and predicative metonymy. thus, in bierwiaczonek’s (2013: 156) definition: propositional metonymy is a metonymy in which the whole propositional content p of a sentence s is used to access either the whole icm, or another propositional content q within the same icm. if the proposition serving as the target is accessed by a sentence whose propositional meaning is completely different from the target (i.e. its subject and predicate are different), then the metonymy may be called sentential. if the propositional metonymy is limited to the predicate, the metonymy is referred to as predicative. a significant example of propositional (predicative) metonymy in action was presented by lakoff (1987: 78), who reported on the way in which the speakers of ojibwa, a native american language of central canada, refer to the activity of travelling. upon being asked how they arrived at a certain destination, ojibwa speakers would typically reply with the following english equivalents: 1. i started to come. 2. i stepped into a canoe. 3. i got into a car. what follows is that ojibwa speakers have a way of conventionally using a particular stage of the travelling script, namely the stage of embarkation, to talk about the scenario as a whole. the particular cognitive construct underlying this kind of metonymic transfer consists of five stages representing the prototypical succession of events for moving towards a destination in a vehicle: table 1. the travelling scenario (lakoff 1987: 78) 1 precondition you have (or have access to) the vehicle. 2 embarkation you get into the vehicle and start it up. 3 centre you drive (row, fly, etc.) to your destination. 4 finish you park and get out. 5 end point you are at your destination. 90 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) ojibwa speakers using the stage of embarkation to talk about travelling as a whole represents a predicative metonymy in which part of the travelling script is used to access the whole scenario (part for whole metonymy). lakoff (1987: 78) notes also that this kind of metonymy is by no means limited to ojibwa. speakers of english, for instance, often use similar predicative metonymies in which different stages of the script refer to travelling as a whole: 4.  i have a car. (precondition) 5.  i borrowed my brother’s car. (precondition) 6.  i hopped on a bus. (embarkation) 7.  i just stuck out my thumb. (embarkation) 8.  i drove. (centre) bierwiaczonek (2013: 158) notes in this context that the travelling scenario in english may also be accessed by more conceptually distant sentential metonymies, as in (9) and (10), below: 9.  my brother gave me a lift. (precondition) 10.  my sister had lent me her car. (precondition) the script presented in table 1, above, is a particular realisation of what panther and thornburg (1999: 337) refer to as a state-of-affairs scenario (sas), that is, a general script for propositional contents describing an existing (actual) state of affairs. a sas is divided into four stages developing in time, each one possessing its specific elements, as demonstrated in table 2: table 2. state-of-affairs scenario (panther & thornburg 1999: 337) 1. the before necessary preconditions: motivations, potentialities, capabilities, abilities, dispositions, etc., which can bring about the state of affairs 2. the core the existing, true state of affairs 3. the effects necessary consequences immediately following from the state of affairs 4. the after non-necessary consequences of the state of affairs in the forthcoming sections, i adopt panther and thornburg’s (1999) framework of sass in order to propose specific scripts motivating different propositional metonymies of the verb see in english. 91 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 2. methodology the aim of this paper is to propose a dictionary analysis of the verb see in english in order to identify different metonymically motivated extensions of the term. for this aim, i intend to focus primarily on the framework of propositional metonymy, as defined by bierwiaczonek (2013: 156). different propositional metonymies of the verb are presented by means of panther and thornburg’s (1999: 337) sass in their various realisations. the subsequent study is based on a database analysis involving three dictionary sources: collins cobuild advanced learner’s english dictionary (ccaled), longman dictionary of contemporary english (ldce), and the new oxford dictionary of english (tnode). admittedly, focusing the analysis solely on dictionary sources may seem controversial because it conceivably poses the risk of providing less representative results than real-life corpora-based data. however, the main goal of this analysis is to look at specific senses of the verb see in order to propose a framework on which future, possibly more representative research may be constructed. i believe that a short dictionary analysis may be sufficient for this purpose. in order to analyse different senses of the verb see, appropriate dictionary entries have been considered and representative examples are provided with their dictionary sources in parentheses. the starting point of the analysis should conceivably be to identify the basic, non-metonymic sense of the verb. ldce defines the primary meaning of see as to “notice/examine something using your eyes.” according to ccaled, “when you see something, you notice it using your eyes.” consider the following examples from the dictionary database: 11.  can you see the houses of parliament from here? (ldce) 12.  i saw a man making his way towards me. (ccaled) 13.  you can’t see colours at night. (ccaled) the primary meaning of see appears to be, thus, the one of visual perception of the object of seeing. an adequate description of human visual modality and its linguistic representation goes well beyond the scope of this paper. suffice it to say here that in visual perception, an individual experiences immediate and direct sensory data, irrespective of the intentional act of the individual’s will (miller & johnson-laird 1976: 586). thus, in the remaining part of this article, whenever i make a reference to the act of seeing, i refer to (unless otherwise specified) the act of an involuntary perception of visual data by a sentient human individual. in the forthcoming sections, i aim to distinguish different metonymic extensions of see by analysing dictionary entries for the term in order to establish which senses of the verb are underlain by possible propositional metonymic transfers. for this aim, 92 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) i refer to sass as presented by panther and thornburg (1999). the act of seeing in different sass presented below appears to be a salient stage of its respective scenarios. therefore, i expect to find cases in which the act of visual perception is a part of a larger sas (part for whole metonymy). selected sass, serving as the basis for the examples, will be presented, as well. it is conceivable that for some database examples, the analysis based on metonymic shifts within sass will not be sufficient and that for a fuller understanding of the issues at hand, the role of metonymy–metaphor interaction should also be considered. in the forthcoming analysis, i am going to focus on a number of polysemy patterns of see as they are presented and exemplified in the dictionary sources. therefore, this paper does not presume to provide the full picture of how metonymic processes operate in different senses of the verb. also, the limited scope of this paper precludes any reasonable representation of a full polysemy network for english expressions of visual perception. despite these shortcomings, i hope that the forthcoming analysis provides a reasonably informative and sufficiently representative account of certain metonymic patterns of the verb see on which future study of the issues at hand may be based. 3. part for whole metonymic patterns of see in his discussion of the metonymy-motivated polysemy of verbs, bierwiaczonek (2013: 201-202) provides numerous examples in which the act of seeing is a central component of a more complex script (part for whole metonymy): 14.  we are going to see ‘hamlet’ tonight. – seeing as part of watching for watching 15.  i’m seeing the doctor tomorrow afternoon. – seeing as part of visit for visiting 16.  tom is seeing a client. – seeing as part of meeting for meeting 17.  they’ve been seeing a lot of each other. – seeing as part of spending time with someone for spending time with that person 18.  mary is seeing john now. – part of having a romantic relationship for having a romantic relationship 19.  it’s up to you to see if the job is done properly. – part of checking and controlling for checking and controlling the categories proposed by bierwiaczonek are corroborated by numerous examples from the dictionary database. consider, for instance, the following: 93 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 20.  we’re going to see ‘romeo and juliet’ tonight. (ldce) 21.  he had been to see the semi-final of the fa cup. (ccaled) – seeing as part of watching for watching 22.  she was seen by a doctor but didn’t need hospital treatment. (ldce) 23.  you need to see a doctor. (ccaled) – seeing as part of visit for visiting 24.  mr. thomas is seeing a client at 2:30. (ldce) 25.  you may need to see a solicitor. (tnode)  – seeing as part of meeting for meeting 26.  they have been seeing a lot of each other. (ldce) 27.  they’ve seen more of each other since dan moved to london. (ldce) –  seeing as part of spending time with someone for spending time with that person 28.  is she seeing anyone at the moment? (ldce) 29.  my husband was still seeing her and was having an affair with her. (ccaled)  – part of having a romantic relationship for having a romantic relationship 30.  please see that the lights are switched off. (ldce) 31.  see that you take care of him. (ccaled) – part of checking and controlling for checking and controlling in sentences (20) to (31), the act of seeing is metonymically used to access its respective scenario as a whole. thus, i consider (20) to (31) to be examples of part for whole propositional metonymy. each of the above categories requires a specific sas in order to illustrate the metonymic transfer. consider, by way of illustration, the following watching scenario underlying examples (14), (20), and (21): table 3. the watching scenario the watching scenario 1. the before there is a certain show, play, or film y available to watch for x. x is a sentient individual capable of watching y. y carries a certain message, some information, or a meaning that can be internalized or understood by x. x wants to see y. (…) 2. the core x comes into visual contact with y. x visually perceives (sees) y. x engages in watching y. x terminates watching y. 3. the effects x has internalized or understood the message, information, or meaning carried by y. x has the experience of watching y. 94 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the watching scenario 4. the after x shares his/her experience of y with other individuals. (…) the sas of watching a show, play, film, or similar spectator event requires the event (y) being the object of visual perception for a sentient human individual (x). y is assumed to carry a certain kind of message, information, or meaning that x is able and willing to decode and internalize or understand. moreover, the individual must be willing to watch the event and undertake steps to do so. the “(…)” marking in the before stage is meant to represent any further unspecified preparatory conditions necessary for the scenario to take place, such as the need of the spectator to possess the mental or physical capacity to engage in the act of watching, or the lack of impeding forces or circumstances preventing the individual from taking part in the activity. the core of the scenario requires x coming into visual contact with y, followed by the visual perception of the spectator event. x must, subsequently, engage in the act of watching by voluntarily paying attention to y over a period of time. watching implies, thus, the act of volition on the part of the spectator. the core of the scenario is concluded with eventual termination of the watching experience. numerous elements of the effects may include x’s having internalized or understood the information carried by y, as well as having the experience of watching y. finally, the non-necessary consequences of the scenario (the after stage) may include, among numerous unspecified others, the spectator sharing the experience with other individuals. i believe that the script presented in table 3 is sufficiently representative of the watching scenario underlying the metonymic shift exemplified by (14), (20), and (21). in those cases, the core stage of x visually perceiving (seeing) y stands for the whole watching scenario (part for whole metonymy). apart from the watching scenario, similar scripts may be proposed for other categories presented by bierwiaczonek (2013: 201-202) in order to illustrate part for whole metonymic mappings within their respective sass. in all of them, the act of visual perception metonymically stands for the whole respective script. consider, by way of illustration, sentences (15), (22), and (23), which refer to a particular visiting scenario encompassing a patient’s appointment at a doctor’s office in order to receive medical attention. unavoidably, the act of visual perception of the doctor by the patient (and of the patient by the doctor) is a salient stage of the script allowing for the part for whole metonymic shift. it is important to note at this point that a feasible description of different examples from the dictionary database may require their underlying scenarios to be appropriately adjusted and modified. for instance, other kinds of visits may require distinct variations of the visiting scenario. consider the following: 95 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 32.  i will be seeing her tomorrow night. (ldce) 33.  i saw jane while i was out. (ldce) 34.  i don’t know who he is, but i’ve seen him around. (ldce) sentences (32) to (34) refer to visiting or meeting a person, presumably for personal rather than medical or business-related purposes. the act of visual perception remains a salient stage of the script, but other elements of the scenario would have to be adequately modified for a comprehensive representation of the metonymic transfer. note also that it is possible to use the verb see to metonymically stand for visiting a place or location rather than a person, as shown below: 35.  i would like to see alaska. (tnode) 36.  i want to see something of those countries. (tnode) 37.  would you like to see round the house? (ldce) sentences (35) and (36) refer to the scenario of travelling or visiting places in the sense of undertaking a recreational or touristic activity, but the context of sentence (37) is different and may involve either a meeting for personal purposes or a commercial activity in which visitors inspect a house they intend to rent or purchase. thus, (35) and (36) would conceivably require a different variation of a sas than (37) in order for their respective part for whole metonymic shifts to be illustrated. the analysis of the dictionary database suggests also that the checking and controlling scenario, underlying examples (19), (30), and (31), may have a number of varieties. for instance, certain scripts of checking and controlling involve a strong willingness to help or assist a person, thus possessing the illocutionary force of promises or offers to perform a particular activity (commissives): 38.  leave the papers with me and i’ll see what i can do. (ldce) 39.  i must see about selling the house. (ccaled) 40.  i’ll see to dad’s tea. (tnode) other examples may be used to oblige the addressee to perform an activity, thus possessing the illocutionary value of directives: 41. you should get that tooth seen to by the dentist. (ldce) another variation involves the speaker’s making sure that a person is adequately rewarded for an action or behaviour, as in (42), below: 96 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 42. just do this for me and i will see you right. (ldce) it seems safe to assume, therefore, that different categories of part for whole metonymies discussed by bierwiaczonek (2013: 201-202) exhibit a degree of flexibility. in those examples, the english verb see may metonymically stand for different realisations of complex sass of which the stage of visual perception is a particular cognitively salient part. one common metonymic category that is not discussed by bierwiaczonek (2013: 201-202) is the use of see in the sense of accompanying somebody to a location: 43.  my mother used to see me across the road. (ldce) 44.  let me see you to the door. (ldce) 45.  he didn’t offer to see her to her car. (ccaled) 46.  they’ve gone to the airport to see their son off. (ldce) 47.  security guards saw him off the premises. (ldce) i believe that such examples are instances of the part for whole metonymy relying on the accompanying scenario, as demonstrated in table 4: table 4. the accompanying scenario the accompanying scenario 1. the before • there is an individual (y) who needs to be physically accompanied to a location (l). • x is an individual capable of physically accompanying y to l. • x intends to accompany y to l. 2. the core • x and y embark on their journey to l. • x and y arrive at l. • x perceives (sees) that y is at l. • x understands that y is at l. • x terminates accompanying y to l. 3. the effects • y is at l. 4. the after • x goes back to his/her previous location. (…) the accompanying scenario requires two sentient individuals (x) and (y), and y needs to be accompanied to a location (l). x, who is capable of accompanying y and willing to do so, embarks on the journey and successfully arrives with y at l. consequently, 97 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) x visually perceives y at l and understands this fact. x then terminates accompanying y to l and may, in some cases, return to their previous location (the after stage). in the accompanying scenario, it is the stage of x visually perceiving y at location l that is used to metonymically access the accompanying scenario. it is important to note, however, that although sentences (43) to (46) possess clear metonymic qualities of physically accompanying a person to a location, sentence (47) is ambiguous because seeing off may refer either to physically accompanying an unwanted visitor off the premises or to repelling an individual from trespassing due to the sheer presence of security guards. such examples would require the study of metonymy–metaphor interplay for their explanation. this problem will be briefly addressed in the following section. another part for whole metonymy found in the database is illustrated by the following examples: 48.  we saw in chapter 16 how annual cash budgets are produced. (ccaled) 49.  elements are usually classified as metals or non-metals (see chapter 11). (tnode) 50.  see below/above. (ldce) the referential use of see, as presented above, is typical of formal written registers, such as instruction manuals or academic papers. the verb of visual perception in this context stands for referring to another part of the text in order to retrieve or check important information. note, that in sentences (48) to (50), see does not stand solely for the act of visually perceiving the appropriate part of the text; rather, it stands for the whole sequence of events required for looking up the relevant information, including searching for and retrieving the appropriate portion of the text, reading it, and understanding it. thus, i consider (48) to (50) to be yet another category of part for whole metonymy in which the act of visual perception is a salient stage of the script, and it is this stage that provides mental access to the whole sas. to conclude the discussion of part for whole prepositional metonymy patterns, consider the following database examples: 51.  i can see you’re not happy with the situation. (ldce) 52.  after a month’s practice, you should see a difference in your playing. (ldce) 53.  she went outside to see what was happening. (ldce) in sentences (51) to (53), see is used in the sense of learning or comprehending a certain phenomenon. note that in such examples, acquiring appropriate knowledge happens as a direct result of visually perceiving the phenomenon. this is hardly surprising because, as sweetser (1990: 33-35) notes, physical vision is a primary source 98 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of information. seeing, thus, appears to be a core component of acquiring knowledge in this context. to illustrate that, consider the following learning scenario: table 5. the learning scenario the learning scenario 1. the before there is a certain proposition, message, sign, or piece of information y, the knowledge of which is important to x in a given context. x is a sentient individual capable of acquiring knowledge of y. x intends to acquire knowledge of y. x is unimpeded in his/her acquisition of knowledge of y. (…) 2. the core x comes in contact with y. x visually perceives (sees) y. x acquires the knowledge of y. (…) 3. the effects x has acquired the knowledge of y. (…) 4. the after x further expands his/her knowledge of y. (…) it is well beyond the scope of this paper to adequately account for different sets of conditions and circumstances applicable to the processes of learning and acquiring information. thus, the learning scenario presented above unavoidably constitutes significant idealization and oversimplification of these processes. however, i believe the script presented in table 5 is sufficiently representative of the metonymic shift that underlies database examples (51) to (53). in the scenario, a sentient human being x comes into visual contact with the object of learning y. the knowledge of y is important for x in a given context, and x is unimpeded in the attempt to learn y. as a result of coming into contact with y, x visually perceives y. since visual perception is a primary channel of learning, x acquires appropriate knowledge of y as a result of the encounter. the effect of the scenario includes x possessing the knowledge of y. the after stage may be realised, for example, by x expanding the knowledge further for other purposes and future goals. in the learning scenario, the act of visual perception is a central component of the script for acquiring information by a sentient human being. thus, sentences (51) to (53) may be characterised as part for whole propositional metonymy. note, however, that this interpretation is possible only in cases where the effect of acquiring appropriate knowledge of y takes place as a result of x’s direct visual contact with y and where x’s visual perception of y is necessary for the acquisition of knowledge. 99 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) however, in the dictionary database, there are numerous instances where seeing is related to learning and acquiring information without the direct mediation of visual perception. consider the following examples: 54.  these chocolates are gorgeous. try some and see for yourself. (ldce) 55.  i will call him and see how the job interview went. (ldce) 56.  i saw through his excuses. (ldce) sentences (54) to (56) cannot be convincingly analysed in the light of the learning scenario because the central stage of the script, the visual perception of the object of learning, is not a necessary condition for acquiring appropriate information in this context. in fact, other sensory modalities might be more prominently involved. in (54), the relevant information is obtained primarily through the sense of taste and in (55) through the sense of hearing. on the other hand, sentence (56) refers to the speaker’s processes of thinking and mental deduction, through which a particular conclusion about a third party is reached. therefore, what appears to be the case with the use of see in (54) to (56) is a more conceptually distant inter-domain mapping. in order to analyse such samples in a convincing way, it is important to consider the role of metaphors or, more precisely, the role of metonymy–metaphor interaction in conceptualising the link between visual perception and intellectual comprehension. 4. knowing is seeing: a case of metaphor–metonymy interaction the metaphoric link between understanding and seeing was explicitly proposed by lakoff and johnson (1980: 48): 57.  i see what you’re saying. 58.  it looks different from my point of view. 59.  what is your outlook on that? 60.  i view it differently. lakoff and johnson (1999: 354-355) elaborate on that by positing that the knowing is seeing metaphor constitutes the basis of the folk theory of how the mind functions. they also point to the ubiquitous and cross-linguistic nature of the metaphor and its pervasiveness in influencing the intellectual tradition of western culture: 61. i see what you mean. 62. could you shed some light on the chaos theory for me? 63. i have a great deal of insight into social relations. 100 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 64. that’s about as obscure an idea as i’ve ever seen. 65.  we just can’t seem to get clear about gender roles. 66.  talk about a murky argument. the dictionary database analysis of the verb see reveals numerous examples in which the verb is used in the sense of mental experiencing or intellectual apprehension of a certain phenomenon for which no direct mediation of the visual component is necessary. such samples include, apart from the ones presented above in (54) to (56), the following ones: 67.  i saw through your little ruse from the start. (ccaled) 68.  you see, the thing is, i’m really busy right now. (ldce) 69.  the other officers laughed, but nichols couldn’t see the joke. (ldce) 70.  they are unimpressed with the scheme and rightly see it for what it is. (ldce) 71.  now i see that i was wrong. (ccaled) 72.  you and i see things differently. (tnode) in order to account for such instances, in this section i intend to focus on the link between visual perception and intellectual comprehension in more detail. although i agree that the relationship is metaphoric in nature, i believe that the situation is somewhat more complex than a simple cross-domain mapping and that for a more comprehensive understanding of the issue, the role of metonymic mappings and metaphors must be considered simultaneously. in order to demonstrate that, it is important to mention grady’s (1999) distinction between resemblance metaphors and correlation metaphors. resemblance metaphors result from a perceived similarity between elements of the source domain and target domain, as in achilles is a lion, where the feature of courage is canonically ascribed to the animal and mapped onto the human character. correlation metaphors, on the other hand, arise as a result of the correlation of two domains in human experience. knowing is seeing is an example of this kind of metaphor. in other words, the metaphoric transfer between visual perception and intellectual comprehension is based on the correlation of those elements in the human experience of acquiring knowledge. the nature of this correlation was, at least partly, presented in table 5. as demonstrated in the learning scenario, visual perception, due to its status as a primary source of knowledge, may be considered a core element of the script for learning by means of visual perception (part for whole propositional metonymy). observations like the one above pose serious questions concerning the relation between correlation metaphors and metonymy. this problem has sparked a considerable debate in contemporary linguistics (c.f. barcelona 2000; grady & johnson 2002; kövecses 2010, 2013; kövecses & radden 1998; radden 2002; radden & kövecses 1999), 101 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and it is well beyond the scope of this paper to address it in any detail. suffice it to say here that there appears to be compelling evidence that metonymic processes play a role in the emergence of certain metaphoric patterns. kövecses (2013), for instance, claims that most correlation metaphors derive through the metonymic stage via the processes of schematization and generalization. such is the case with understanding and seeing, which were originally a part of the same conceptual structure (metonymic relation) but have been abstracted into the metaphoric pattern linking visual perception and intellectual comprehension (kövecses 2013: pp. 81-83). therefore, in order to have a slightly more comprehensive understanding of the knowing is seeing metaphor, it is important to look in more detail at different patterns of metonymy–metaphor interaction in which the emergent metaphor is based on a metonymic mapping. a study of interaction between metaphor and metonymy for linguistic expressions in english was first proposed by goossens (1990/2002), who coined the term “metaphtonymy” as an umbrella term for such processes. when analysing his language data, goossens (1990/2002: 355-357) identifies different instances of metaphor and metonymy, as in (73) and (74), below: 73.  she barked at me and hung up. 74.  ‘oh, dear,’ she giggled, ‘i’d quite forgotten.’ sentence (73) may be classified as an example of “pure” metaphor, due to the crossdomain transfer between animal vocalisation and human sound. sentence (74), on the other hand, possesses a metonymic reading in which the speaker may have uttered specific words while giggling. in such a case, (74) represents part for whole metonymy, wherein giggling is a part of the actual human vocalisation. another interpretation is also possible for sentence (74), however, namely one in which the speaker may have uttered the words as if she were giggling (i.e., in a light-hearted, perhaps slightly silly manner). in such a case, there is a metaphoric transfer between the domains of non-verbal vocalisation and human speech. however, the conceptual link with the metonymic reading is still present there, because the kind of speech exemplified by (74) is characterised precisely by light-heartedness and silliness and may even possess some physical qualities of giggling. goossens (1990/2002) calls such examples “metaphor from metonymy”, that is, cases of metaphoric transfer that result from and are motivated by metonymic relations and in which the metonymic reading may still be present as a possible interpretation of the utterance. goossens’s approach has been reviewed and refined by ruiz de mendoza and his collaborators (ruiz de mendoza 2000; ruiz de mendoza & díez velasco 2002; ruiz de mendoza & otal campo 2002). they claim that goossens’s metaphor from metonymy category can be characterised more precisely as an instance of a metonymic domain 102 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) expansion within the source of the metaphoric mapping. by way of illustration, consider ruiz de mendoza and díez velasco’s (2002: 518-520) analysis of to beat one’s breast. this metaphoric expression is commonly used to designate an act of the open show of sorrow about a certain situation. it is based on the physical act of beating one’s breast, which metonymically stands for the whole, religiously motivated, scenario of showing sorrow. the activity of striking one’s chest area is a cognitively salient part of this script. thus, such a metonymic shift may be considered, in accordance with the discussion of the sass in the preceding section, an instance of the part for whole propositional metonymy, although ruiz de mendoza and díez velasco (2002) refer in this context to the phenomenon of domain expansion. the metonymic target is used, subsequently, to metaphorically access the target domain in which the open show of sorrow, which may in fact be a disingenuous act carried out in order to achieve one’s particular goals, is realised without the physical act of beating one’s breast: figure 1. to beat one’s breast (ruiz de mendoza & díez velasco 2002: 519) i believe that a similar line of enquiry may plausibly be applied for the analysis of the knowing is seeing metaphor, as exemplified in (54) to (56) and (67) to (72). consider the following diagram, where x is a sentient human being and y stands for the object of learning, that is, any kind of proposition, message, sign, or piece of information the knowledge of which is important for x in a given context: figure 2. knowing is seeing metaphor 103 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the diagram shown in figure 2, despite its unavoidable oversimplifications, appears to be reasonably sufficient for the purpose of presenting the basic structure of the knowing is seeing metaphoric pattern. the metaphor is based on a sentient human being’s (x’s) visual perception of the object of learning (y), which metonymically stands for the whole scenario of acquiring the knowledge of y as a result of x visually perceiving y. note at this point that this metonymic shift is congruent with the metonymic pattern shown in (51) to (53) and may plausibly be analysed as a part for whole propositional metonymic mapping within the learning scenario, as demonstrated in table 5, above. the target of the metonymic shift is subsequently used to metaphorically access the target domain, which includes x acquiring knowledge of y without the direct mediation of visual perception, as exemplified in (54) to (56) and (67) to (72). finally, an interesting side note to consider is provided by database examples that may be ambiguous between metonymic and metaphoric reading. consider the following: 75.  a lot of people saw what was happening but did nothing about it. (ccaled) 76.  i see from your appraisal report that you have asked for retraining. (tnode) 77.  let me just see what the next song is. (ccaled) in such cases, depending on the context of the utterance, the relevant knowledge may be acquired as a direct result of visual perception or without the mediation of visual input. in sentence (75), the future prediction to which the speaker is referring may have been based on direct visual observation or may have come as a result of mental deduction. sample (76) describes an appraisal report in which the need for retraining may have been explicitly stated or implicitly hinted at and successfully deduced by one’s superior. similarly, in sentence (77), the act of checking what song is forthcoming may involve direct visual observation of the display of a player device. alternatively, checking the appropriate track may involve the sense of hearing or, possibly, the speaker’s mental capacities of memory and reasoning. in all of the above cases, the reading requiring direct visual perception warrants the metonymic interpretation of the utterance of the part for whole kind, as exemplified in (51) to (53). in cases where no visual input is directly required, metaphoric interpretation is enforced, in accordance with figure 2 and examples (54) to (56) and (67) to (72). this observation sheds extra light on the discussion of metonymy– metaphor interaction and suggests the possibility of other cases that may plausibly be explained as borderline instances residing on a metonymy–metaphor continuum. conclusions english verbs of sensory perception appear to be significant generators of numerous polysemous senses. the aim of this paper was to propose a cursory analysis of certain polysemy patterns of the verb see in the light of propositional metonymy 104 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) theory. in order to achieve this, a data sample study based on three distinct dictionary sources was conducted. the sense of involuntary visual perception was established as the basic non-metonymic meaning of the term. the dictionary sources were subsequently analysed in order to distinguish different extensions of see that might be motivated by metonymic mappings. the analysis suggests that the english verb of visual perception constitutes a significant generator of divergent metonymic senses. such meaning extensions may feasibly be discussed in the light of propositional metonymy theory as presented by bierwiaczonek (2013). in accordance with panther and thornburg (1999), different metonymic extensions are analysed by means of specific context-dependent sass, of which the stage of visual perception is a cognitively salient part. the most significant metonymic category appears to be the part for whole propositional mapping. it contains the cases in which the stage of visual perception (part of the core of a sas) stands for the whole relevant scenario. this category includes conceptual patterns described by bierwiaczonek (2013: 201-202), as well as others (e.g., different metonymic shifts motivated by the accompanying scenario). in order to account for different database samples, the relevant sass must possess a degree of flexibility, allowing for variation of their constituent elements. another particularly productive conceptual link in english is the one in which the verb see is used in the sense of acquiring appropriate information or knowledge. the conceptual link between visual perception and intellectual comprehension has posed some theoretical challenges. in contemporary linguistics, the relationship is predominantly considered to be metaphoric in nature (c.f. kövecses 2013: 81-83; lakoff & johnson 1980: 48, 1999: 354-355; sweetser 1990: 33-35). however, there appears to be compelling evidence that for a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon, the role of metonymic mappings must be considered alongside metaphor. in accordance with ruiz de mendoza and díez velasco (2000: 518-519), i consider knowing is seeing a case of metonymic expansion within the source of the metaphoric mapping. the metonymic relation is congruent with the propositional part for whole metonymic shift within the learning scenario presented in table 5, and can plausibly account for cases where acquiring appropriate knowledge happens as a direct result of the visual perception of the object of learning. the metaphoric mapping, on the other hand, accounts for cases where acquiring information happens without the requirement of direct visual input, as discussed in figure 2 and exemplified by samples (54) to (56) and (67) to (72). certain database samples may be ambiguous, and, depending on the context, their interpretation may gravitate towards either metonymic reading or metaphoric reading. although the present paper discusses certain patterns of metonymic extensions of see in english and briefly touches upon the problems of metonymy–metaphor interaction in relation to the english verb of visual perception, the analysis of these issues is by 105 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) no means complete and leaves considerable space for further investigation. firstly, the analysis proposed in this paper is based on a considerably limited pool of dictionary data. the data samples include predominantly well-established polysemy patterns of the english verb of visual perception as they are presented and recorded in three dictionary sources. although this has allowed for the representation of a number of common meaning extensions of see, it does not allow for a comprehensive representation of the polysemy network pertaining to the verb. a more comprehensive study of the english verb of visual perception would require much richer and more informative data, presumably based on a more detailed analysis of corpora sources. secondly, an elaborate sample database would unavoidably require a more complex theoretical background in order for an adequate description of the issues at hand to be provided. although the propositional theory of metonymy and the notion of sass appear to be reasonably adequate tools for the description of the majority of data samples, future research might undoubtedly benefit from the use of more detailed and representative sass underlying their respective language samples. also, because of the limited scope of this paper, the database analysis carried out above largely ignores the possibility of part for whole metonymic mappings within sass. although the relationship between visual perception and intellectual comprehension was identified in the present paper as a case of metonymic expansion within the source of metaphoric mapping, a more comprehensive study of see would require the investigation of different patterns of interaction between metaphor and metonymy. a more comprehensive account of the english verb of visual perception would thus require a more detailed focus on the problem of propositional metonymy, correlation metaphors, and metaphor–metonymy interaction for the discussion of different polysemy patterns of the verb. thirdly, see is not the only verb of visual perception in english, and a more representative study of the issues at hand would require the consideration of other terms, such as observe, notice, perceive, view, and discern. this would have to be connected with a more detailed enquiry into numerous idiomatic expressions referring to the human visual modality. it may also be interesting to see what kinds of metonymy and metaphor are at work there and how they interact in the formulation of such expressions. a more comprehensive analysis of a richer pool of language data could possibly allow for the formulation of a complex semantic model pertaining to english expressions of visual perception. it is hoped, therefore, that the present paper may serve as a small step in this direction and that 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and thought, 303-332. amsterdam/ philadelphia: john benjamins. panther, k.-u. & thornburg, l. 2003a. introduction: on the nature of conceptual metonymy. in: k.-u. panther & l. thornburg (eds.), metonymy in pragmatic inferencing, 1-20. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins. panther, k.-u. & thornburg, l. 2003b. metonymies as natural inference and activation schemas: the case of dependent clauses as independent speech acts. in: k.-u. panther and l. thornburg (eds.), metonymy in pragmatic inferencing, 127-147. amsterdam/ philadelphia: john benjamins. panther, k.-u. & thornburg, l. 2003c. the roles of metaphor and metonymy in english – er nominals. in: r. dirven and r. pörings (eds.), metaphor and metonymy in comparison and contrast, 279-319. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. panther, k.-u. & thornburg, l. 2005. inference in the construction of meaning: the role of conceptual metonymy. in: e. górska and g. radden (eds.), metonymy-metaphor collage, 37-57. warsaw: wydawnictwo uniwersytetu warszawskiego. panther, k.-u. & thornburg, l. 2007. metonymy. in: d. geeraerts and h. cuyckens (eds.), the oxford handbook of cognitive linguistics, 236-263. oxford: oxford university press. radden, g. 2002. how metonymic are metaphors? in: r. dirven and r. pӧrings (eds.), metaphor and metonymy in comparison and contrast, 407-433. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. radden, g. & kövecses, z. 1999. towards a theory of metonymy. in k.-u. panther and g. radden (eds.), metonymy in language and thought, 17-59. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins. ruiz de mendoza, f. j. 2000. the role of mappings and domains in understanding metonymy. in a. barcelona (ed.), metonymy and metaphor at the crossroads, 109-132. berlin/ new york: mouton de gruyter. ruiz de mendoza, f. j. & otal campo, j. l. 2002. metonymy, grammar, and communication. albolote, spain: editorial comares. ruiz de mendoza, f. j. & díez velasco, o. i. 2002. patterns of conceptual interaction. in r. dirven and r. pörings (eds.), metaphor and metonymy in comparison and contrast, 489-532. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. sweetser, e. 1990. from etymology to pragmatics: metaphorical and cultural aspects of semantic structure. cambridge: cambridge university press. dictionary sources longman dictionary of contemporary english. 2005. 4th ed. harlow: longman. 108 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the new oxford dictionary of english. 1998. oxford: clarendon press. collins cobuild advanced learners’ english dictionary. 2005. 4th ed. kraków: express publishing. * * * łukasz matusz holds a phd degree in linguistics from the university of silesia in katowice. he is currently employed as an assistant professor at the institute of linguistics of the university of silesia. his research interests include the cognitive theory of metaphor and metonymy, as well as language taboo and the linguistic reality of swearing. _hlk509247616 _hlk503025963 _hlk503026086 _hlk504655347 _hlk37770527 _hlk37670336 _hlk501462326 _hlk41583991 _hlk511671927 _hlk57792594 _ref35546866 _hlk23781034 _hlk23781263 _hlk23781313 _hlk57795422 _hlk57796348 editorial izabela kraśnicka doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.31.4.01 meaning in multisemiotic messages – functions of gestures accompanying speech as elements of utterance structure jarosław wiliński doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.31.4.02 the preposition under and its noun collocates in the under-noun pattern: a quantitative corpus-based investigation magdalena zyga doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.31.4.03 conceptual metaphors in lyrics, vocal realization and music – reinforcement or modification of emotional potential izabela sekścińska doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.31.4.04 agnieszka piórkowska does brexit mean brexit? an analysis of the semantic field of the lexeme brexit łukasz matusz doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.31.4.05 i will see it done: metonymic extensions of the verb see in english katarzyna lach mirghani doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.31.4.06 selected aspects of the conceptualisation of success in english and polish the airstream futuropolis: hauntological reading of gibson’s “the gernsback continuum” 67 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) jan moryń1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.28.1.05 university of lodz doctoral school of humanities orcid: 0000-0002-6759-2210 the airstream futuropolis: hauntological reading of gibson’s “the gernsback continuum” abstract. this article focuses on william gibson’s short story “the gernsback continuum”, and its reading that may be arrived at through the employment of hauntology. gibson’s story happens in cityscapes of the american southwest — its urban areas are turned here into a site of struggle between the disillusioned present and the ever-recurring visions of a glorified future. among the problems tackled by this article is the nature and history of art deco architecture and design of the 1930s, the expectations that the americans of the 1930s had for the future, and the influence that the surviving relicts of the bygone period still exert on the urban dwellers. this article presents hauntology as a theory capable of producing a captivating reading of the story based on the works of jacques derrida, mark fisher, and andrzej marzec. key words: hauntology, deconstruction, literary criticism, william gibson. literature is brimming with distinctive images of cities: some of them are grim, like dostoevsky’s st. petersburg; some are corrupted, like dickens’ london; some are full of petty criminals and avant-garde artists, like bolaño’s mexico city; and some are unreal, like borges’ city of the immortals. the urban imagery that william gibson calls to life in the gernsback continuum, originally published in universe 11 and subsequently anthologized in burning chrome, is also idiosyncratic, but much different from cityscapes one may take as typical for the canadian author. gibson, the most recognizable artist writing in the cyberpunk subgenre of science-fiction, is commonly identified with vast, futuristic cities that sprawl over enormous areas and give shelter to 1 address for correspondence: university of lodz doctoral school of humanities, eleonory 12, 93-482, lodz, poland. e-mail: janekmoryn@gmail.com 68 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) massive corporations, marketing agencies, drug traffickers, and hackers. nevertheless, the gernsback continuum breaks with this trope and tells the story of an unnamed american photographer hired by british publishers by names of cohen and dialta downes to photograph relicts of the american futuristic design conceived in the 1930s. as the photographer sets out to complete his assignment, he realizes that as he exposes himself to the artifacts of the bygone era, the clear-cut border between the world that is and the world that could have been begins to flicker and dissolve. with each photograph that he takes, fragments of the futuristic designs that gave shape to the american 1930s begin to exert a more pronounced influence on the reality perceived by the protagonist. eventually, when residing in the cities of the american southwest, he becomes haunted by the elements of the urban cityscapes, ghosts of an unrealized future. seeking rescue, the photographer decides to perform an exorcism, free himself of the disturbing specters, and reclaim the ability of experiencing urban areas without being invaded by missed designs and failed expectations. the spectrality of the unrealized future lies at the heart of gibson’s story and its analysis is the central objective of this paper. the peculiar situation in which the protagonist of the gernsback continuum finds himself arises from his exposition to the artifacts of the future that never arrived. because the nature of the task forces the photographer to surround himself with items denoting a particular, never realized vision of progress, he begins to experience a peculiar disconnection from reality and gets drawn to the alternate world furnished as if the prophecies that were dominant in the 1930s came to existence. understanding the importance of the invasion of the unrealized future for the story and grasping the disturbing effect that it exerts on the protagonist may prove to be a tricky undertaking. despite the difficulty that it poses, this critical task can be accomplished through the employment of a theoretical apparatus proposed by the theory of hauntology. hauntology is a term coined by the french deconstructionist philosopher, jacques derrida. in its original, french version “hantologie” is a derridean wordplay: on one hand, it is a homophone of “ontologie”; on the other, it is a compound of a verb “hanter” (meaning “to haunt”) and “ontologie”. the seminal work that lay the groundwork for the creation and further development of this critical theory is derrida’s specters of marx: the state of the debt, the work of mourning and the new international, published in 1993. hauntology denotes a highly specific way of understanding beings as amalgams of their traces and as results of their past, their heritage, and all the other elements that constitute them. an important feature of hauntology that will reappear throughout this paper is its definition of the “past as ultimate future” (derrida 2006: 61). according to this view, the past is an absolute and can be modified neither by the present, nor by the future — in fact, every possible future can be reduced to being a function of the past (derrida 2006: 67). for derrida, living in a just way means being conscious of the fact that the 69 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) present is irrevocably haunted by the past, that the passage of time is a plexus of causal relationships where every conceivable future may be understood only through the analysis of the preceding events and circumstances. in his discussion on the character of specters, derrida states that first and foremost they need to be understood through the prism of inheritance and cross-generational exchange. one of the tasks performed by spectral beings is making us “learn to live with ghosts, in the upkeep, the conversation, the company, or the companionship, in the commerce without commerce of ghosts. to live otherwise, and better. no, not better, but more justly. but with them” (derrida 2006: 24). according to the french philosopher, acknowledging the ghostly presence plays a vital role in our lives, as through accepting the past we may effectively find a way towards growth, self-actualization, and better understanding of the surrounding world and the processes that take an active part in shaping reality. when a specter arrives, its actions are usually disturbing and rather destructive for the haunted subject, and the said subject becomes tasked with facing and exorcising the ghost. but this task is not an easy one. according to hauntological thought, specters always assume bodies that are alien to their nature: tellingly, derrida calls these bodies “technical prosthesis” (2006: 41). this elaborate veiling of the specters’ identity is aimed at obscuring the real nature of the haunting ghost and at misleading its pursuers. the process of a specter assuming a mask is fundamental for hauntology, as it forces the haunted subject to embark on a quest of understanding the specter and the events that trigger its appearance, and revealing its identity. completing these objectives is the only way through which the haunted subject can reconcile with their past, understand the reason for the haunting, and dispel the disruptive influence that the specter has on their life. the hauntological thought coined by derrida is gaining increasing popularity in the field of cultural criticism. one of the major contemporary thinkers who, based on this theory in delivering his incisive analyses of art, was mark fisher. the late british commentator was also a teacher at the department of visual cultures at goldsmiths college, university of london, and one of the first thinkers who helped in establishing hauntology as an applicable mode of cultural critique. fisher’s hauntological offensive happened mainly on his now-iconic blog, k-punk.abstractdynamics.org, and was supported with a series of other articles and think-pieces published in a number of academic and non-academic outlets. fisher’s contribution to the development of hauntological thought lies mainly in organizing the theory together with dividing it into subcategories. one of these divisions, mentioned in his article for film quarterly titled “what is hauntology?” is of vital importance for discussing gibson’s the gernsback continuum. fisher tirelessly proposed that hauntings happen whenever the present moment becomes tainted with traces and 70 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) fragments of dreams of a certain kind of future that was never realized (2008b). such an unfulfilled promise irreversibly changes the present, as it continuously lurks just below the surface of the mundane reality and causes constant distraction for those who experience it: it constantly reminds them of what was bound to happen but failed to materialize. in the article, fisher pens the following words: “what haunts the digital cul-de-sacs of the twenty first century is not so much the past as all the lost futures that the twentieth century taught us to anticipate” (2012: 16), pointing to the overwhelming lack of originality and innovativeness that plagues the present moment in the landscape of artistic creation. fisher observes that the glorious scenarios for the future that promised humans such conveniences as commercial flights to outer space, or robotic servants turned to dust. instead, we live in a culture of constant repetition, of remixes, prequels, sequels, and reboots: when the mask of the glorious future fell, what we were left with turned out to be a rather underperforming present. what is most important for the current discussion is the dichotomy of specters that fisher proposes in the discussed article: provisionally, then, we can distinguish two directions in hauntology. the first refers to that which is (in actuality is) no longer, but which is still effective as a virtuality (the traumatic ‘compulsion to repeat’, a structure that repeats, a fatal pattern). the second refers to that which (in actuality) has not yet happened, but which is already effective in the virtual (an attractor, an anticipation shaping current behavior). (2012: 19) while discussing the gernsback continuum one should focus on the second type of specters, those that arrive from the future and are shaped by our anticipations and hopes for what is yet to happen. the idea of an unrealized future is one of the main propellants of fisher’s view of hauntology, and the main theme of gibson’s story. moreover, the british critic sees the specter “not as anything supernatural, but as that which acts without (physically) existing” (fisher 2014: 39). this agency of the virtual is embodied in hauntological art through the overlapping of the present with the future, as well as through the semiotic pollution of the present through artifacts that are ahead of the time, such as futuristic buildings, car designs, or items of clothing. in one of his blog posts, recording ghosts, fisher expresses the belief that ghosts may be literally embedded in material objects, and that the presence of these objects directly causes the haunting to take place (2003). in the same post fisher discusses nigel kneale’s the stone tape and maintains that “hauntings and ghosts are particularly intense phenomena that are literally recorded by matter” (2003). the same trope of spatial haunting resurfaces in another of his posts, titled no future 2012, where the critic states that “haunting is about space as much as time – about the spaces where the time rift becomes perceptible” (fisher 2008a). these remarks point towards various ways in which hauntology 71 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) may be used to dissect the gernsback continuum. having fisher’s idea in mind, one can perceive the objects that cause the narrator to lose his sanity as futuristic artifacts equipped with an ability to overwhelm their observer and stir the unrealized dreams that so far had lain dormant in his subconsciousness. these dormant dreams are explained in a coherent way by andrzej marzec, a faculty member of the institute of philosophy at the adam mickiewicz university in poznań, poland. in 2015 he published widmontologia: teoria filozoficzna i praktyka artystyczna ponowoczesności, a reliable and comprehensive polish publication focusing on the area of hauntology. in this book, marzec comes up with an illuminating explanation of derrida’s theory. he observes that reality is similar to white light: at first glance it is just what it is, pure and white, but when dispersed through a prism it proves to be an amalgam of fragments and traces that are difficult to single out (marzec 2015: 131). hauntology operates much like a prism; it dissolves reality and allows one to observe the seemingly absent elements of which it is actually composed. in gibson’s story, cohen and dialta downes task the unnamed photographer with the mission to capture the images of “american streamlined moderne”, of “raygun gothic” (2016: 29). in essence, the photographer is hired to take pictures of the “uniquely american form of architecture” (gibson 2016: 29). when the protagonist focuses on visualizing the subject of his task, the submerged memories slowly come to the surface of his consciousness: “i found myself remembering sunday morning television in the fifties” (gibson 2016: 29). the american form of architecture — and of design in general — mentioned by downes and cohen is, in fact, ingrained in american history. the british publishers want to obtain pictures of the art deco architecture that originated in the 1930s and was widely revered for being a unique art form capable of grasping modernity and embodying the future (betsky 1993). as observed by ross, gibson’s story testifies to the “wide-eyed idealism of the thirties pulp romance of utopian things to come” (1991: 412). it should be noted that the period in which streamline designs became popular is of great significance — these sleek building facades, cars, and home appliances all heralded the advent of a better future looming just around the corner. as thousands of american citizens were still struggling with the aftermath of the great depression, this promise of a bright future was in high demand. among the main tools with which the future was actively shaped in the usa were the world fairs: large, international expositions where various countries exhibited their achievements and worked towards boosting their image and reputation. the exposition that is of importance for gibson’s story is the 1939 new york world’s fair. the idea to organize this fair sprouted in 1935 and envisioned the exposition to be a remedy with which organizers could tackle the economic and social malaise that was constantly looming over the country — this ambition was reflected in the exhibition’s slogan: “dawn of a new day” (herman 2012: 58). along with the impact of the new york world’s 72 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) fair, the elements of streamline design were populating an ever-expanding array of elements of american daily life: landscapes and cityscapes, postcards and malls, the shapes of houses and of the cars parked in front of them. as gibson puts it, she [dialta downes] was talking about those odds and ends of ‘futuristic’ thirties and forties you pass daily in american cities without noticing: the movie marquees ribbed to radiate some mysterious energy, the dime stores faced with fluted aluminum, the chrome-tube chairs gathering dust in the lobbies of transient hotels. she saw these things as segments of a dreamworld, abandoned in the uncaring present. (2016: 30) the future was reclaimed: it was simplified to the form of a single narrative that promised an idyllic age of development and prosperity that was yet to materialize. “the gleaming visions of the gernsback continuum — the streamlined rockets, teardrop cars, and sleek superhighways — took on their most concrete, corporate form” (ross 1991: 429). this optimistic colonization of the future was epitomized in the form of futurama, one of the fair’s most astonishing exhibits (herman 2012: 61). it presented a vision of the social and technological advancements that were to come within the space of the next twenty years. those who visited the exhibit were given a button that read “i have seen the future”. the americans were regaining ground under their feet, partially due to the “thirties’ progressive thinking about technology’s capacity to manufacture a better social future” (ross 1991: 432). the designers of the times agreed that sleek, teardrop shapes were platonic forms denoting progress and technological advancement. these cutting-edge designs promised to take those who embraced them to the future, and to do so fast. visionary artifacts lodged themselves in the society’s subconsciousness and, even after falling out of fashion, still managed to exert an influence on those who observed them. what is more, they even managed to repudiate the present and create an everlasting, continuous sentiment that the progress towards this idealized future was never halted (bredehoft 1995: 7). in essence, they operated as a manifestation of “a still-present alternate universe which continues to coexist next to reality” (westfahl 1992: 90). gibson seems to suggest that the eponymous continuum is an ongoing and everlasting legacy of “blindly visionary thirties’ futurism” (bredehoft 1995: 5). it does not denote a world that is behind or ahead of us, but a world that continuously manages to exert an influence on the daily life of americans. gernsback on the other hand, the name mentioned in the story’s title, refers to hugo gernsback, a science-fiction writer and editor, whose efforts in popularizing the genre helped to give shape to the way in which americans imagined the future, scientific developments, and the conquest of space. the most prestigious literary prize given in the world of science-fiction, the hugo award, is named after him. 73 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the arrival of the glorious future that was heralded in the 1930s never materialized. years went by and the shapes and forms coveted by art deco designers lost their edge: once inspiring, they turned into subjects of pastiche or mockery. the future arrived, morphing into the present, and the concrete reality debunked streamline designs as short of the mark rather than prophetic. as later put by gibson himself, the capital f future is not going to arise (gorney 2010). instead, the americans were bestowed with the disturbed, surrogate present, where the designs of raygun gothic come to life: and this is the very present that the unnamed protagonist has to explore. these failed promises about the shape of the future lie at the heart of the discussed problem. when reading critics who, in their endeavors, decided to deal with this particular story, one can clearly observe that their attitude towards the gernsback continuum is largely similar. carol mcguirk asserts that “gibson invokes the golden age intertextually only to undercut what he sees as its naive optimism about technology” (1992: 112), and veronica hollinger finds that “‘the gernsback continuum’ humorously ironizes an early twentieth-century futurism” (1991: 214). both these statements come from papers published before the appearance of derrida’s specters of marx and the establishment of hauntology, and thus their authors could not have used it to analyse the short story. nevertheless, an attempt at reading the gernsback continuum through a hauntological lens may yield interesting results and produce a captivating decoding of the story. in gibson’s story, the photographer receives an envelope full of glossies depicting possible objects of his pursuit: johnson’s wax building, winged statues from the hoover dam, and cover art from amazing stories. there is also a picture of a massive plane, shaped like a boomerang, with twelve giant propellers, a ballroom, and a squash court. when asked about the plane, downes replies: “the designers were populists, you see; they were trying to give the public what it wanted. what the public wanted was the future” (gibson 2016: 31). after cohen and downes introduce the unnamed protagonist to the objects of their pursuit, he commences fulfilling his task. when the photographer commences his work, the seeming uniformity of the daily reality and its coherence begin to dissolve. the protagonists roam the cities of california with a single thought in mind: “it is possible to photograph what isn’t there” (gibson 2016: 31). as he exposes himself to the influence of this alternate reality for a prolonged period, the artifacts of the streamline future begin to shape his perception: and one day, on the outskirts of bolinas…i penetrated a fine membrane, a membrane of probability…ever so gently, i went over the edge — and looked up to see a twelve-engined thing like a bloated boomerang, all wing… (gibson 2016: 33) 74 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) aside from seeing the plane that escaped one of the pictures and came to life, the photographer is haunted by other specters of the unrealized future. when he stops his car outside of tucson, he observes a breathtaking futuristic version of the city: spire stood on spire in gleaming ziggurat steps that climbed to a central golden temple ringed with the crazy radiator flanges…you could hide the empire state building in the smallest of those towers. roads of crystal soared between the spires, crossed and recrossed by smooth silver shapes like beads of running mercury. the air was thick with ships… (gibson 2016: 37) moreover, when standing on the roadside and marvelling at the extraordinary cityscape, the protagonist comes across a couple of residents of this futuristic america. they are both blond; they drive an avocado-shaped, aluminum car; they are both dressed in loose, white clothes; they consume food pills instead of regular meals (gibson 2016: 37-38). as the hauntings become increasingly frequent and powerful, virtually tangible, the photographer starts to worry about his sanity and blames his visions on “amphetamine psychosis”. he recognizes the severity of his condition and decides to contact a friend, mervyn kihn, a freelance journalist well versed in the “loonier reaches of the american mass mind” (gibson 2016: 33). kihn explains to the protagonist that sometimes people see these things not because they really exist, but because of a need to see them. he calls these supernatural presences semiotic ghosts, “bits of deep cultural imagery that have split off and taken on a life of their own…that plane was part of the mass unconscious, once. you picked up on that, somehow” (gibson 2016: 35). as observed by bredehoft, “kihn suggests that by focusing on architecture from this future-glorifying era, the narrator has become susceptible to hallucinations based upon such former dreams of the future” (1995: 4). thanks to kihn’s explanations and bredehoft’s remarks, one can make a straightforward connection between the story and the theory of hauntology. fisher expressed the view that ghosts may arrive from the future, that there exists a certain type of specter foreshadowing events that have not yet happened but are already effective in shaping reality. the ghosts seen by the protagonist of the story belong exactly to this type of spectral presence: they are rooted in hopes and expectations that failed to materialize but were powerful enough to affect people’s perception of reality. the fact that the photographer still manages to get enthralled by these ghosts testifies to their power, but also shows that these unfulfilled promises continuously belong to the american mass unconscious. to finish the project and deliver the pictures that cohen and downes ordered him to take, the photographer needs to get rid of the visions and to exorcise the futuristic ghosts that plague him. when shaping the theory of hauntology, derrida stated that 75 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) haunting happens when a border separating the proper interiority of a clear-cut reality from the inexplicable world of traces and echoes that happen outside gets upset: an indivisible line. and one always assumes the institution of such an indivisibility. customs, police, visa or passport, passenger identification – all of that is established upon this institution of the indivisible, the institution therefore of the step that is related to it, whether the step crosses it or not. consequently, where the figure of the step is refused to intuition, where the identity or indivisibility of a line … is compromised, the identity to oneself and therefore the possible identification of an intangible edge – the crossing of the line – becomes a problem. there is a problem as soon as the edge-line is threatened. and it is threatened by its first tracing. (derrida 2006: 11) in the case of gibson’s story, the border that separates the mundane reality of daily life from the undercurrent of dreams is located within the overlooked, forgotten fragments of reality. by pursuing the relics of the bygone era, the photographer sensitizes himself to their influence and becomes possessed. the french philosopher argues that when haunted by the spectral presence, one should take a step back and return to perceiving the reality as a uniform whole. only this action may alleviate the effects of a haunting. surprisingly, this is exactly what kihn suggests doing. the method he proposes may at first seem to be a joke, but it does its job. after the episode on the outskirts of tucson, the protagonist calls kihn and tells him all about the strange encounter. in turn, the freelance journalist offers him a remedy: “watch lots of television, particularly game shows and soaps… i’m letting you in on a trade secret: really bad media can exorcise your semiotic ghosts” (gibson 2016: 39). the photographer listens to this advice and absorbs all kinds of low-brow artistic endeavours that finally liberate him from the grasp of the futuristic ghosts. towards the end of the healing process, the photographer remarks that he “spotted a flying wing over castro street, but there was something tenuous about it, as though it were only half there” (gibson 2016: 40). quite possibly, this process of exposing oneself to bad media operates in the story as a mirroring of the solution proposed by derrida. the photographer walked the thin line between reality and expectations for too long, finally becoming overexposed to the visions of what could have been, and thus falling victim to the ghosts of the unrealized future. in order to revert back to his normal life, he had to free his mind from thinking about the media denoting a vision of the future coined in the thirties, and instead had to plunge himself into the world of the new, contemporary bad media: movies, pulp horrors films, and newspapers. “i rushed into the nearest newsstand and gathered up as much as i could find on the petroleum crisis and the nuclear energy hazard…i headed down the street with my little bundle of condensed catastrophe” (gibson 2016: 40). 76 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the gernsback continuum is a story that can be read in a variety of ways. numerous critics read it as a work that shows the futility of dreams about a utopian future, as a refutation of science-fiction that is too scientific, or even as an assessment of a dystopian nature of reality where the protagonist has to escape the utopian visions via reading articles on the atrocities of the contemporary world. nevertheless, reading this story through the derridean apparatus of hauntology manages to produce a new perspective. by deconstructing the work one can unearth and observe the mechanism that causes the appearance of the haunting specters. while gibson chose the urban cityscapes of the american southwest as the site of struggle between the present and the future, derrida and fisher provided his readers with tools allowing for understanding the importance of unrealized promises. so far, haunting ghosts have been categorized as belonging to the past — in his short story, gibson shows us that the future is also populated with haunting specters. references betsky, a. 1993. a hollywood ending for those who take this elevator to the top. la times 15 jul. 1993. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-07-15-we-13155-story.html (20 july 2019). bredehoft, t. 1995. the gibson continuum: cyberspace and gibson’s mervyn kihn stories. science fiction studies 2: 252-263. derrida, j. 2006. specters of marx. new york: routledge. fisher, m. 2003. recording ghosts. k-punk 12 nov. 2003. http://k-punk.abstractdynamics. org/archives/000818.html (20 july 2019). fisher, m. 2008a. no future 2012. k-punk 13 may 2008. http://k-punk.abstractdynamics. org/archives/010368.html (20 july 2012). fisher, m. 2008b. ghost modernism. k-punk 15 jul. 2008. http://k-punk.abstractdynamics. org/archives/010507.html (20 july 2019). fisher, m. 2012. what is hauntology? film quarterly 1: 16-24. fisher, m. 2014. ghosts of my life: writings on depression, hauntology and lost futures. london: zero books. gibson, w. 2016. burning chrome. croydon: gollancz. gorney, d. 2010. william gibson and the future of the future. the atlantic 14 sep. 2010. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2010/09/william-gibson-and-thefuture-of-the-future/62863/ (20 july 2019). herman, a. 2012. freedom’s forge: how american business produced victory in world war ii new york: random house. hollinger, v. 1991. cybernetic deconstructions: cyberpunk and postmodernism. in: l. mccaffery (ed.), storming the reality studio, 203-18. durham: duke university press. 77 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) marzec, a. 2015. widmontologia. teoria filozoficzna i praktyka artystyczna ponowoczesności. warszawa: bęc zmiana. mcguirk, c. 1992. the ‘new’ romancers: science fiction innovators from gernsback to gibson. in: g. slusser & t. shippey (eds.), fiction 2000, 109-29. athens ga: university of georgia press. ross, a. 1991. getting out of the gernsback continuum. critical inquiry 2: 411-433. westfahl, g. the gernsback continuum: william gibson in the context of science fiction. in: g. slusser & t. shippey (eds.), fiction 2000. athens ga: university of georgia press. * * * jan moryń is a graduate of english studies at the university of lodz and has completed his ma course with a thesis on a hauntological reading of selected works of american literature. he participated in exchange programmes at university college dublin and universidad de sevilla. while reading literature, he is mostly preoccupied with observing how novelists employ historiographic processes in their fiction. microsoft word crossroads 35.doc ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 4 costanza mondo1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.35.4.01 university of turin, italy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2236-4580 discontinuous homecoming and community-forging storytelling in abdulrazak gurnah’s by the sea abstract. in by the sea, written by abdulrazak gurnah in 2001, the theme of the homecoming is of paramount importance. the trajectory of the main characters’ movement is fragmented and incomplete in the sense that they end up feeling at home in a foreign country rather than choosing their birthplace, zanzibar. by referring to selected scenes from gurnah’s narrative, the present paper aims to analyse the images of home portrayed in the novel and the discontinuous character of the homecoming it depicts. in addition, the role of storytelling is investigated so as to show its importance for two related processes: homecoming and community-forging. keywords: abdulrazak gurnah, storytelling, home, homecoming, community-forging. 1. introduction in abdulrazak gurnah’s prose, images of home are recurring threads interweaving the past and the workings of memory. as the writer himself admits in an interview, the “negotiation between memory, loyalties and ideas of home” has been “both my lived experience and an important part of my writing subject” (iqbal 2019: 39). the theme of home and its various images is also one of the cornerstones of the novel by the sea, published in 2001. as the story unfolds, saleh omar and latif mahmud, the two main characters, succeed in shaping a new definition of home: as a physical and metaphorical place, which has a decisive impact on the process of their homecoming. having left zanzibar separately, in different periods of their lives, both move to the uk and after many years reunite to unravel their past and tease out the garbled story of an old, grim family feud. their journey, as it is depicted in the narrative, is non-linear and discontinuous. homecoming is a theme which is present in numerous ancient literary works. one of the elements that varies, though, is the trajectory of homecoming, which is generally circular (piciucco 2017: 47). most of the time, the trajectory represents the characters’ development as well. for instance, in sir gawain and the green knight, an anonymous chivalric romance dating back to the middle english period, the homecoming of the hero is the last step of a circular path. having successfully overcome the challenges of the 1 address for correspondence: department of foreign languages and literatures and modern cultures, university of turin, via verdi, 8 10124 turin, italy. e-mail: costanza.mondo@edu.unito.it ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 5 mysterious green knight, the valorous gawain comes back to camelot with the awareness of his fallibility, a feature which was already inside him. odysseus’s famous homecoming is similar: the hero eventually manages to return to ithaca, but prior to that he undergoes a transformation triggered by the enriching stories he hears and the adventures he experiences during the travels. since the odyssey offers an archetypical model of homecoming, references to it tellingly feature in by the sea. sometimes, the homecoming can also take different trajectories and become a spiral, as it happens, for example, in the sea by john banville, where “the curving line comes very close to the departure point, without touching it” (piciucco 2017: 47). in postcolonial literature, homecoming often involves the discovery of a safe place to live in. for instance, one character of christy lefteri’s notable novel on the syrian war, the beekeeper of aleppo (2019), says: “do you know why odysseus make [sic] his journey? […] to find his home again” (188-189). in gurnah’s narrative, homecoming is discontinuous to an utmost degree as its trajectory is fragmented, and this journey does not necessarily dovetail with the return to a physical place. in kearney’s opinion, “latif has indeed in a sense come home. however, this has only become possible in england”—a country so unlike his native zanzibar (2006: 56). this condition seems to be characteristic of many refugees’ lives and postcolonial writers’ experiences as well. as gurnah points out: “the danger of the postcolonial writer, it seems, is that it might have worked, or might come to work, in the alienation and isolation of a stranger’s life in europe” (2004: 27). nevertheless, distance is paramount to perspective and liberation, and this is also true for the main characters’ of by the sea, who manage to settle misunderstandings and put together the different fragments of an old family feud, thus getting relief from their excruciating past. this paper aims to analyse two paramount themes in the novel, namely the vision of home and homecoming, and the use of storytelling to build communities. further underlining the core role of both topics, the professions of omar and latif relate to the notions of home and story in the sense that the former is a furniture seller, the latter a poet and professor of literature. the present analysis will firstly revolve around the theme of home and homecoming as portrayed by gurnah. since in the novel stories and storytelling seem to thrive and are eventually fundamental to create homes, this paper will assess their importance in forging close-knit communities and, as a result, a sense of belonging, which sets the stage for the discontinuous character of homecoming and shapes the denouement of the whole narrative. 2. images of home and homecoming by the sea has been labeled as a novel of “departures and tentative arrivals,” providing as it does numerous examples of unsatisfactory homecomings (steiner 2009: 113). even in afterlives, gurnah’s latest novel focusing on the devastation caused by german colonial rule in east africa in the early 20th century, the topic of homecoming looms large. hamza, one of its main characters, finally comes home after a long period spent among the “askari” (african soldiers). “he […] found himself unexpectedly on the shore road. he followed that with a small thrill of recognition and walked on to look for the house where he had lived his youth, but he could not find it” (2020: 169). hamza’s homecoming takes place halfway through the novel. on the other hand, at the very beginning of by the sea, the two main characters do not consider going back to their ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 6 birthplaces; they are living in or arriving in a foreign country (even though they do not feel at home there). the novel opens with omar’s interview at the airport and his request for asylum. that he does not consider england his home is clear from a very evocative image which gurnah weaves through omar’s consultation with rachel, his legal adviser: “then she spread her papers on the table and sat down, facing the door. […] i sat opposite her, facing the window with a view of a brick wall” (2001: 63). while the door represents a world of possibilities open to rachel (a british citizen), the only future awaiting omar and other refugees like him is portrayed by an oppressive brick wall, which can either stand for his otherness from british citizens or his decision to live isolated, as he is doing when latif visits him. latif has been living in the uk for a long time. however, it is clear that he does not feel at home there, notwithstanding his prestigious position of university professor. both internal and external elements help to strengthen this impression. although latif has “spent over half his life in england and has carved himself a comfortable niche in academia” (hand 2010: 79), something worries him when he thinks that other zanzibari migrants could deem him forgetful of his roots—a behaviour which quickly takes on the hues of a betrayal, a “treacherous absence from nativity” (2001: 74). while omar is bluntly asked to provide his passport and exhibit the permit to stay in england, latif is eager to “confirm [his] credentials as a teacher of literature”, and he longs to be considered a fully-fledged “member of the tribe” (2001: 74). apart from an unusual choice of words, though, his behaviour tells a lot about his feelings. most importantly, he gets touchy when he recalls the way he managed to strike up a friendship at the college in germany: “i don’t know why i feel defensive about being ingratiating and deferential. it was a wise move, all the more so for being unreflected upon” (2001: 114). evidently, this is a soft spot for him since deep down he knows that his integration in england depends on the same attitude. as if his internal conflict and split identity were not visible enough—upon reaching england as a boy he even decided to change his name from ismail to latif—external circumstances further heighten and worsen his sense of uprootedness. when upon seeing him, a passer-by mutters “grinning blackamoor,” latif is extremely puzzled and starts to reflect on the etymology of the term, as if dissecting it to bits and pieces could make it more neutral or less harmful: “that a between black and moor bothered me at once, and habit or training made me start thinking about when it came into use” (2001: 72). instead, by riffling through dictionaries, he discovers the racial hostility is inherent in the english language (steiner 2009: 119). this episode parallels, perhaps even in an intertextual manner, frantz fanon’s experience described in his classic black skin, white masks (1952) as it accentuates the suddenness of being identified as other due to a different skin colour and the painful reflections it triggers (hand 80). it could even be read as an autobiographical reference to the verbal abuse gurnah had to endure in england: the rudeness—people felt they could say really quite unpleasant things to your face, their refusal even to try and pronounce your name and, of course more obviously negative encounters in public places, shops, etc. (iqbal 2019: 35) more generally, in the novel the concept of home, an important trope of postcolonial literature, is ambiguous and by no means unequivocally positive. far from being only a physical place, in postcolonial literature home is also metaphorical space, where characters seek shelter and find home to live in. postcolonial scholarship is ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 7 suspicious of the term itself and its potential ties with nationalism and anti-immigrant bias (newns 2020: 119). in a similar vein, the english language (the speech of excolonizers) takes on problematic contours in postcolonial literature and is the object of mixed feelings among authors. for example, while the notable kenyan prose writer ngũgĩ wa thiong'o deserted his english and turned to gikuyu, his native language, to address his third world readers in the first place (his novel caitaani mutharaba-ini, selftranslated as devil on the cross, was published in 1980, i.e., after a fourteen-year long period of the author’s career of writing solely in english), many scholars still disagree on the status of african literature and its potential to find adequate expression to the indigenous experience using native rather than european languages (adejunmobi 1999: 581; bertinetti 2010: 318; deckard 2010: 2085). by imbuing the concept of home with alternative meanings, the singular condition of refugees and their uprootedness prompt us to re-evaluate their place within the frame of migration “especially with regard to readings of home” (newns 2020: 120). in this sense, by the sea is particularly illuminating, insomuch as “gurnah’s text about forced exile obviously undermines such a positive view of ‘home’” (steiner 2009: 114). before discussing the diverse features of homecoming in the novel, however, it is necessary to shed light on the image of home itself portrayed in it. it could be stated that the characters’ lives—if not the entire novel—gravitate around a house, most specifically about the issue of its ownership. being a solid presence, the house is symbolically associated with loss not only because as result of a certain trickery latif’s father, shaaban, is forced to cede it to omar, but most importantly because a negative aura shrouds it. apart from the fact that when shaaban is violent and drunk, he shouts abuse at his wife in the rooms of the house, the house is linked to characters’ death, since many of them die while the feud over the ownership goes on. the abusive man himself is found dead in his bedroom: “living alone in that house which was always shuttered and locked, he was not discovered until two or three days after his death” (2001: 237). apart from adding a gothic detail to the novel, shaaban’s horrible death exemplifies his morbid isolation and obsessive attachment to the house. in addition, it is in his parents’ house that latif’s brother, hassan, is seduced and corrupted by the ruthless merchant, hussein, during the english lessons the merchant holds in his room. therefore, far from being imbued with heart-warming and positive feelings, the house seems oppressive and stifling, as if it were much more than a mere background to the story. as newns contends, “[i]n the novel, houses do not serve as mere settings for stories but form an integral part of their narrative machinery” (2020: 125). apart from material homes, by the sea features examples of the so-called “nonhome,” which is engrained in the concept of asylum. newns considers the detention centre in which omar is held upon reaching england a “non-home,” which obviously fails to evoke warm feelings or even the pretence of such intimate space (2022: 130-131). arguably, the term can be enlarged to include the college in kampala, which young latif attends, or even the island on which omar is imprisoned, since he is held there against his will. before managing to finally come home, both omar and latif have to pass through these different non-homes. storytelling is a recurring feature in the non-homes, and it represents a means of community-forging, the element that should not be underestimated in the present analysis. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 8 given the deleterious and chilling atmosphere surrounding houses in this novel, it comes as no surprise that homecomings are not associated with bliss and joy. one of the first examples is provided by latif’s stay in kampala, during which he befriends sefu and jamal, two of his peers. after having finished their studies, the three friends decide to spend some time in each other’s houses, starting with jamal’s. rather than strengthening their friendship, though, this homecoming eventually disrupts the close-knit group since jamal’s family is extremely impolite to his friends. even in this case, the house is not used as a mere setting but rather as an active tool to humiliate sefu and latif and to underline their condition of unwelcome guests: [i]t distressed jamal that we were housed in one of the stores […]. they were not really stores, the toilet in between them made that obvious, but rooms intended for the servant or the gardener. (2001: 174) the last straw is a joke in bad taste: jamal’s cousins throw a bucket of water on sefu and latif while they are passing under a window. as a consequence, sefu and jamal have an argument and the three friends fall out. since sefu moves to america shortly afterwards, they never reunite again. omar’s experience of homecoming is even more traumatic and heart-rending. after having been imprisoned for years, he comes home with the long-held desire of seeing his wife salha and his little daughter ruqiya again, only to be informed that they died one year after his arrest. as if that were not enough, hassan’s homecoming jeopardizes his own life in zanzibar—the callous man asks omar to pay off a debt and threatens him with imprisonment. arguably, it is precisely hassan’s homecoming that triggers omar’s home-leaving. on the last pages, the novel seems to suggest the possibility of a traditional homecoming, insomuch as latif ponders the idea of returning to zanzibar to meet his recently-returned brother hassan again. although gurnah has argued that some characters of his other novels are not prevented from the possibility of coming home (mohan & datta 2019: 3), this seems unlikely to happen for latif. the text of by the sea is interspersed with literary references, whose value goes beyond being mere quotations as they, in fact, have a profound impact on the development of the whole story. steiner places particular emphasis on two of them, herman melville’s short prose “bartleby, the scrivener. a story of wall-street” (1853) and a few folk tales from thousand and one nights: “these stories are important, as they allow us to draw direct links to the issue of migrancy, translation and the centrality of storytelling” (2009: 121). while this is certainly true, there are two other important literary references which bear the same importance when discussing the theme of homecoming, namely the odyssey and the tempest. shakespeare’s play is evoked in latif’s pensive thoughts upon discovering that someone with his father’s name has reached england and needs an interpreter: “those are pearls that were his eyes” (2001: 76). in the play, this expression is uttered by ariel, who leads one character, ferdinand, to think that his father died in the shipwreck and that his body lies at the bottom of the sea: full fadom five thy father lies; of his bones are coral made; those are pearls that were his eyes: nothing of him that doth fade but doth suffer a sea-change ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 9 into something rich and strange. (act i, scene ii) yet, ferdinand’s father is still alive and ariel is lying on prospero’s orders. in a similar vein, hearing his father’s name again induces latif to briefly entertain the thought that he might be still alive. interestingly enough, the tempest involves the homecoming of prospero and miranda as legitimate sovereigns of the dukedom of milan, from which they had been chased away years and years before. latif’s hinted-at homecoming at the end of the novel is very unlikely to take place, as evidenced by his reaction to this proposal: “‘are you suggesting i should go back too? to claim my share?’ he asked, a broad derisive grin on his face” (2001: 239). his painful childhood and the choices he has made deny him the possibility of a similar blissful and full-hearted homecoming. the novel provides readers with yet another unmistakeable intertextual reference. homer’s epic poem hinges upon the much-yearned-for homecoming of odysseus, who manages to overcome perils and reach the shores of ithaca. in the scene that later inspired gurnah, odysseus, pretending to be an elderly beggar, odysseus is hosted by penelope, who orders euryclea to wash the man’s feet. an old nurse sees a scar on his leg that a boar had inflicted on him when he was young, and reveals the beggar’s true identity: as the old nurse cradled his leg and her hands passed down she felt it, knew it, suddenly let his foot fall— down it dropped in the basin—the bronze clanged, tipping over, spilling water across the floor. joy and torment gripped her heart at once, tears rushed to her eyes—voice choked in her throat she reached for odysseus’ chin and whispered quickly, “yes, yes! you are odysseus […]. (the odyssey 2006: 405) this episode of odysseus’ undercover homecoming is echoed in by the sea, although the contextual meaning is different. young latif is hosted by two friends in germany and, after entering the house, he realizes that he has a bleeding cut on the sole of his foot. for this reason, his friend’s mother, elleke, washes his foot to clean the blood from it and avoid infection. this could be one of the “moments of relation, of small voices affirming hospitality within the violent and hostile contexts of colonial and imperialist onslaught and the exclusionary rhetoric of new african nationalisms” (steiner 2010: 125), which gurnah’s narratives frequently depict. while washing his foot, elleke asks latif: do you remember when odysseus comes home, after twenty years, and does not announce himself, and his wife penelope does not recognise him. do you remember? it is an old woman who recognizes him, eureclita or something like that, because she washes his feet to welcome him to the house. (2001: 127) according to steiner, “this kind of storytelling always leads to human connections and cross-cultural relationships, because of its nature of complicity in the telling and hearing of the tale” (2009: 113), thus touching on the subject of community-forging which will be analysed in depth in the next section of the present paper. contrary to what happens in the tempest and the odyssey, homecoming is denied to latif, who has decided to leave his family and their petty squabbles over goods. while the homeric hero hankers for ithaca, latif is eager to reach england and does not seek zanzibar homecoming. despite the fact that latif knows the episode from the ancient ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 10 epic story, he quickly dismisses any sympathy towards the homeric hero, now observed from a postcolonial perspective: “wasn’t it his idea that the greeks should build a wooden horse and trick their way into troy, and once in there to kill and maim and rape and set fire to the city?” (2001: 128). rather than blindly accepting western models, latif rejects a one-sided vision of odysseus, who in his eyes takes on the characteristics of a ruthless colonizer. other references to homer feature throughout the plotline, ranging from hospitality to storytelling; however, the relevance given to the sea is particularly noteworthy. embodying an angered divinity—poseidon—and the means through which odysseus has to travel to have his adventures in far-off islands, the sea is of paramount importance. on a more general level of critical reflection, let us add that the notions and imagery of sea and aquatic bodies play an important role in postcolonial studies. according to gilroy, the “black atlantic” world is “the stereophonic, bilingual, or bifocal cultural forms originated by, but no longer the exclusive property of, blacks dispersed within the structures of feeling, producing, communicating, and remembering” (1993: 3). in by the sea, the aquatic element is present in the very title and features in surprisingly different places, ranging from shaaban mahmud’s house to the island in which omar is held captive. interestingly, in both cases the sea is framed by and can be seen from a veranda overlooking it. not to mention the fact that the final confrontation between mahmud and latif takes place near the sea, where omar reveals to him his brother hassan’s return to zanzibar and the reasons which prompted him to abandon his country of origin. in this case, rather than being framed, the sea itself is the frame of the discussion and may represent home. as a result, it tidally brings back a surge of memories related to zanzibar, some of them particularly painful. after having recalled hassan’s homecoming and the reasons which led him to flee, omar says that: the wind off the sea was beating strongly now, and perhaps i staggered a little, because latif mahmud took me by the elbow and turned me away from the sea-front towards one of the side-streets that led back into the centre of the town. (2001: 240) the very act of leading omar away from the sea and heading together for the inner city could be read as a powerful metaphor signalling latif’s desire to subtract his interlocutor from his harrowing memories. the previously-mentioned homeric reference is a perfect cesura to introduce the second section, which is concerned with storytelling as a means that enables the discontinuous homecoming of the two main characters and as a community-forging feature. indeed, the beginning of the odyssey consists of a long flashback: odysseus is at the court of the phaeacians and is asked by king alcinous to recount his adventures and relate why he was found washed up on the shores of their island. although at first he hides his true identity (as omar does by adopting the name of latif’s father, namely shaaban mahmud), he eventually reveals his name before telling his chequered story, which creates a connection with the phaeacians, who eventually agree to escort him to ithaca. from this derives the importance of storytelling in the odyssey for the hero’s homecoming. playing a similar role in by the sea as well, storytelling allows the novel to reach its denouement. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 11 3. the discontinuous homecoming through storytelling in by the sea, storytelling has been analysed as conducive to shaping transnational identities (steiner 2009: 122). historically speaking, stories have accomplished this aim in various ways: among the most famous figures the circulation of african-american newspapers in the 19th century, which helped to forge a shared identity and identification in a community which was scattered throughout the country. as far as migrants are concerned, though, written stories seem to be a more effective means to create bonds, since migrants are constantly travelling and not necessarily planning to settle in a determined place. while in by the sea stories certainly fulfil the aim of building transnational identities (steiner 2009: 122), it ought to be noted that their presence is not limited to omar’s or latif’s final dialogue, which develops through the recollection of the stories of their families and their feud over the house. indeed, the narration is peppered with numerous stories, which mostly figure as tools to create communities. far from being linear and straightforward, omar’s storytelling is fragmented and takes a while before gaining narrative fluency. according to steiner, the nonchronological order of the novel exemplifies “the interruption and disconnection inflicted by dispossession, persecution and exile” (2009: 112). thus, interrupted stories seem to characterise migrants and the dispossessed. apart from being fragmented, though, the narration paradoxically begins with a man who refuses to recount his real story. saleh’s silence has been interpreted in different ways, for example, as a refusal to use english because it might hinder his application for refugee status (steiner 2009: 118). another plausible reason is that he does not relish the prospect of opening up and reliving the painful, heart-breaking story of his life under the cool gaze of the airport officer, who is not interested in listening. since abdulrazak gurnah cooperated with the refugee tales project, it is not inappropriate to quote a brief passage from refugee tales which perfectly exemplifies the point just made: “you’re not really going to listen. no one listens. you’re not really going to hear. no one hears. you’re not really going to care. no one cares” (“the fisherman’s tale” 2019: 94). in line with this, omar has packed his baggage with items which will be able to convey a concocted, pre-packaged story when examined: “it was not my life that lay spread there, just what i had selected as signals of a story i hoped to convey” (2001: 8). summarising both interpretations, gurnah argues that “remaining silent is a way of preserving dignity and at the same time not putting yourself into harm’s way. silence is ambivalent. it is also powerful and can be far more eloquent” (jones 2005: 39). eventually, deciding to open up and relieve himself of the burden of his past, omar designates latif as his interlocutor in a process which is beneficial for both: “storytelling is a cathartic experience: latif comes to grips with his bitterness and saleh overcomes his reclusive and threatening silence” (steiner 2009: 116). nevertheless, starting the conversation proves to be difficult and fraught with misunderstandings, since latif deems omar responsible for the loss of his home and still holds a grudge about it. in order to ease the tension, another kind of storytelling promptly comes to the rescue to establish a connection between them, namely a reference to bartleby, the protagonist of melville’s short story, which makes latif’s eyes sparkle: “’bartleby the scrivener,’ he said, grinning all over his face, the skin round his eyes creased in lines of surprised pleasure, suddenly happy” (2001: 156). in this case, storytelling lends itself to overcoming misunderstandings and fostering kinship, in that the mutually-shared literary reference ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 12 locates both in the same horizon of knowledge. far from binding only the two characters, this intertextual reference—like the many others scattered through the plot—goes beyond the borders of the novel and has the effect of forging a connection between readers as well, as gurnah underlined: “that recognition of intertextualities to some extent reintroduces us to each other as readers. we are reading the same thing, and this gives a sense of a shared textuality, and i think that’s pleasing, just in itself” (a conversation with abdulrazak gurnah 2013: 166). nevertheless, the binding action of storytelling is not limited to the final dialogue between the two main characters, but features in other meaningful passages. in his ground-breaking imagined communities, benedict anderson gives a definition of an imagined community, which is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion. (2006: 6) similarly, the novel provides thought-provoking examples of recounted communities, which are not tethered to a physical place, and whose members recognize themselves in a horizon based on stories and mutually-shared literary references. a meaningful example of these is represented by elleke, latif’s german pen friend, who turns out never to have existed. he was all a concoction, the product of jan’s and his mother’s invention, nothing more than a story: when i wrote to elleke at their home address in altonstadt, he was delighted, overwhelmed. his mother read the letter and was thrilled by it too. after he wrote his reply to me, he got his mother to check over the tone, because he was so afraid that he would get the voice of elleke wrong. then the mother too became part of the conspiracy. she read jan’s letters before he posted them, and sometimes added something, and she read my letters to elleke. (2001: 124) nonetheless, latif bonded with elleke when he thought he was a german girl, and in a similar way he bonds equally with jan and his mother, since the story brought them together. when elleke makes an allusion to romeo and juliet, latif chuckles with the aim of making it clear that he has caught the reference and “to make sure that she knew” (2001: 134), thereby highlighting again the importance of storytelling in communityforging. building communities becomes particularly pressing in dire situations, when people need to stick together and muster their strength to live through difficulties. while recounting his story, omar recalls how he used to spend time with other prisoners: “we told stories, some remembered, some invented, laughing as if we were once again the same age as when we first heard them” (2001: 232). this is particularly revealing first and foremost because it shows that stories of life cement a connection between people who were previously strangers to each other, who end up laughing together even in the excruciating experience of imprisonment. secondly, it puts the emphasis on the fact that some of those stories used to be recounted in childhood or youth, thereby implying that they are shared and ingrained in their culture, which increases the sense of belonging and community. during his imprisonment on the island, omar even witnesses storytelling as a strategy of survival. before, the british had built a sanatorium on the island which was tended and kept in order by an old caretaker, who had been living there ever since. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 13 although the sanatorium has been closed and the british doctors will never set foot on the island again, he still hopes that one day they will return. when omar engages into conversation with him, the man tells him stories of the djinn he claims to have seen dozing on the shore. it suddenly dawns on omar that for the old man the island was crowded with enchanted life, with british naval officers and british doctors and convalescing patients, and serpents and imprisoned women singing in the night air, and dark djinns that raced across the sea to rest from their immortal questing for mischief. (2001: 230) by the same token, stories are not always a force for the good, since they are used by the devious hussein to con unwary people and take advantage of them. in fact, both shaaban mahmud and omar are fascinated and charmed by his stories, which they buy entirely. eventually, it can be guessed that hussein’s stories managed to seduce hassan, so much so that they become the boy’s own and only stories: “all his stories now were uncle hussein this and uncle hussein that. did you know he’s done this or seen that or been there, and look what he gave me today?” (2001: 89). however, storytelling is therapeutic not only for the old caretaker, it is a strategy of survival for latif and omar as well (steiner 2009: 122). apart from creating continuity between their past and present—thus granting them a future—the act of telling a story enables the foreign and the familiar to be bound together, which literally happens to the two characters (99). indeed, halfway through the telling of the story, latif discovers that he is related to omar, albeit “only by marriage.” furthermore, storytelling cannot happen in isolation, insomuch as the presence of a listener is paramount (112). alone in a foreign country, omar and latif are drawn to one another through their story, which takes more than one day to be fully unravelled, thus contributing to cementing their kinship. however, storytelling goes one step further, by involving human kindness as well. in fact, friendship is possible even far away from home, since storytelling allows the two men to overcome the binary distinction of victim and perpetrator (97). by the same token, though, young latif himself acknowledged the need for a friend when he was in germany: “i had already seen that everyone had a friend, and that those who did not looked languishing and afraid” (by the sea 2001: 114). no longer at zanzibar among known relatives and friends, both men find succour and solace in their cathartic storytelling, which draws them close to the point of becoming friends. in order to imagine a future to inhabit and to come home once and for all, the two men need to overcome the past through the narration of their shared story, by filling the voids and settling misunderstandings. in this sense, storytelling becomes a translation of their experiences, which takes on the hues of self-affirmation: “the narrators are equally traumatized yet they refuse, through re-translating their experiences of past and departure, to be defined solely by others, be it as non-citizens after independence or as immigrants in the uk” (steiner 2009: 99). as a consequence, they use storytelling not only to establish their identity and dignity—an element of no slight importance in order to feel at home—but also to pre-empt the “danger of a single story” (adichie) which generally presents immigrants with monolithic, anonymous entities. if misused, “wellfitting” stories (by the sea 2001: 18) can be tightly knitted on people, a variation on fanonian white masks. while commenting on young’s conception of homemaking as narrative practice, newns uses by the sea to provide further clarification on the topic (2020: 125). indeed, it can be said that through the recollection of their past omar and ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 14 latif are finally able to come home, which had not happened until their encounter. although latif has been living in england for several years, he was curdled with bitterness and “worn out and raw, livid with sores” (2001: 207), as he poignantly confesses to omar. as far as homecoming is concerned, the ending of the novel is exemplary in portraying the two men’s changed lives and their newly-found solace. centred on the powerful image of the home, the final pages have the warm atmosphere of a cosy home and are filled with the tenderness of a hard-won friendship. rather than marking the ending of the novel, this conclusion has the flavour of a new beginning. as if to underline the physical dimension of the home, and not only its abstract meaning, omar literally guides readers through latif’s flat: i [omar] wandered around the flat, looking into nooks and crannies, opening cupboards and doors, trying out the windows to see if they opened, locating the place where he worked and wrote, looking to see if i could recognize the place where i would sleep, and while i was about it, researching the possibility of clean sheets and warm bedding. (2001: 245) 4. conclusion in conclusion, homecoming and storytelling are of paramount importance in by the sea. the author of the narrative provides readers with an interesting perspective of home—as a daunting physical presence exerting gravity, non-homes and negative homecomings— and with a discontinuous homecoming, which is ultimately possible through the therapeutic power of storytelling. this last feature becomes extremely important to give expression to past wounds and analyse them—as it did for gurnah himself, who, like his characters, experienced the cathartic power of storytelling: “it became clearer to me that there was something i needed to say, that there was a task to be done, regrets and grievances to be drawn out and considered” (nobel lecture 2021: 2). by telling the story of their lives, the migrants omar and saleh come home through a homecoming process which is fragmented and discontinuous, involving back and forth movements between past and present. considered physically, their condition of migrants enables them homecoming which can paradoxically take place only in england. therefore, the reasons for gurnah’s nobel prize can be seen already in by the sea, as he was awarded the prize in 2021 “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents” (nobelprize.org). references abdulrazak gurnah facts. 2021. the nobel prize. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2021/gurnah/facts/. accessed 20 jan 2022. adejunmobi, m. 1999. routes: language and the identity of african literature. the journal of modern african studies 37: 581-596. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 15 adichie, ch. n. 2009. the danger of a single story. ted global.: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story accessed 18 january 2022 anderson, b. 2006. imagined communities. london: verso. bertinetti, p. 2010. english literature. a short history. turin: einaudi editore. deckard, s. 2010. paradise discourse, imperialism, and globalization. new york: routledge. “the fisherman’s tale” in refugee tales iii. 2019. great britain: comma press. gilroy, p. 1993. the black atlantic. london: verso. gurnah, a. 2020. afterlives. london: bloomsbury. gurnah, a. 2001. by the sea. london: bloomsbury. gurnah, a. 2021. nobel lecture by abdulrazak gurnah. the nobel foundation. gurnah, a. 2004. writing place. world literature today 78: 26-28. hand, f. 2010. untangling stories and healing rifts: abdulrazak gurnah's by the sea. research in african literatures 41: 74-92. homer. 2006. the odyssey. robert eagles (transl.), london: penguin classics. iqbal, r. 2019. belonging, colonialism and arrival, abdulrazak gurnah talks to razia iqbal. wasafiri 34: 34-40. jones, n. 2005. abdulrazak gurnah in conversation. wasafiri 20: 37-42. kearney, j.a. 2006. abdulrazak gurnah and the “disabling complexities of parochial realities.” english in africa 33: 47-58. lefteri, c. 2019. the beekeeper of aleppo. london: manila press. mohan, a. & sreya m. d. 2019. “arriving at writing”: a conversation with abdulrazak gurnah. postcolonial text 14: 1-6. newns, l. 2020. domestic intersections in contemporary migration fiction. new york: routledge. piciucco, p. p. 2017. the flawed return: a study of the homecoming theme in john banville’s the sea. the australasian journal of irish studies 17: 46-58. shakespeare, w. 2018. the tempest. oxford: oxford world’s classics. steiner, t. 2013. a conversation with abdulrazak gurnah. english studies in africa 56: 157-167. steiner, t. 2009. translated people, translated texts. london/new york: routledge. steiner, t. 2010. writing “wider worlds”: the role of relation in abdulrazak gurnah's fiction. research in african literatures 41: 124-135. *** ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 35 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 16 costanza mondo is an ma student of modern languages and literatures at the department of foreign languages and literatures and modern cultures of the university of turin, italy. her undergraduate thesis, entitled “uses of satire in a modest proposal by jonathan swift and the cockroach by ian mcewan,” is concerned with satiric devices and the ties of the genre of satire with the historical context. she is interested in postmodernism, postcolonial literature, and ecocriticism. 37 41 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) elina paliichuk1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.38.3.03 borys grinchenko kyiv metropolitan university, ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0626-6841 cognitive “warning signs”in human trafficking media texts abstract. this paper focuses on image schema manifestations in media texts on human trafficking, which may perform the role of “warning” signals in anti-trafficking media campaigns. for this, a conceptual analysis was done to establish profiled image schemas, and a survey was conducted to measure the readers̓ response to two types of texts on human trafficking (ht), different in genre and schemata organisation. the texts were selected as experimental material representing typical human trafficking media discourse. the participants were divided into control (g1) and experimental (g2) groups according to the type of text they were exposed to. g1 read an expository text (t1) and g2 read a media narrative (t2). the respondents of g2 showed a significant tendency for a higher degree of involvement in the problem of human trafficking when reading t2 as contrasted to the responses of g1 to t1. g2 identified their reaction as a feeling being in danger. looking back to t2, it was clear that respondents reacted to verbal manifestations of prevailing containment and scale/ process/up schemata clusters. g1 gave the weaker emotional response tot1 with verbal manifestations of up, blockage, and counterforce schemata. it can be assumed that containment is the image schema organising spatial representation of human trafficking from the victims̓ perspective, conveying the feeling of being contained, being in a difficult situation, being in an enclosed space, supported with other schemata manifestations through the lens of the concept of bigness, large scale, growing process, etc. the results may be used in anti-trafficking content as a new methodology for raising awareness in a target audience vulnerable to ht. keywords: human trafficking, image-schemas, conceptual analysis, empirical study, warning signs, media texts. 1. introduction people in society today are living in a world that is more unpredictable, hostile, and volatile than ever before. fueled by social disturbances, human trafficking has become 1 address for correspondence: department of linguistics and translation, borys grinchenko kyiv metropolitan university, 18/2 bulvarno-kudriavska str, kyiv, ukraine, 04053. e-mail: e.paliichuk@kubg.edu.ua https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0626-6841 42 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) a pervasive problem across the globe, being both a latent and highly aggressive phenomenon. the latest social upheavals and crises such as wars, illegal migration surges, crossborder incursions, pandemics, and political shifts are aggravating the feeling of uncertainty and have been paving the way for the intensification of crime ring activities. in this turbulent world, human trafficking (hereinafter – ht) is a constant, affecting “5.4 victims for every 1,000 people in the world” (the scale of human trafficking n.d.). according to the latest statistics, 35 million people are becoming victims of sex trafficking daily. estimates show that, internationally, only about 0.04% of the survivors of trafficking cases are identified, while the majority of cases go undetected (bedbible.com 2022). anyone ending up in an ht situation has a clear and identifiable vulnerability that a trafficker preyed upon (ibid). for instance, many people have been “unable to build resilience to the economic effects” (trafficking in persons report 2021: 6), provoked by covid-19. in the broader sense, the social context of the problem is predetermined by criminal activities taking place in source, transit and destination countries and includes illegal migration, selling human beings for the purposes of prostitution, bonded labour or involuntary servitude, trafficking in human organs, illegal inter-country adoption of children, recruitment of illegal soldiers, coercion into illegal activities, etc. as a response to the challenges existing in eastern europe, this paper deals with ht as a research case study. the embedded patterns of soviet-like thinking in terms of job opportunities and overall life satisfaction still linger in ukrainian society and predetermine family education stereotypes. one of the consequences of such attitudes to the future is a common “better life abroad” myth, supported by framed media messages as well as tales of employment prospects circulating among members of local communities. much has changed since ukraine gained its independence, however, there is a false belief of working abroad as panacea for all woes. the foregoing situation requires that awareness be raised at various social levels, with much attention given at the pre-employment stage, which can be achieved in an academic setting. the objective of this study is to verify the potential of a cognitive theory for the prospective development of linguistic strategies to reduce ht-related risks among the youth and prevent their victimisation. as educators, we are able to increase awareness among the youth through critical reading sessions and post-reading discussions. a conducive academic environment enables us to incorporate social topics in regular reading courses of non-fiction literature in order to change the pattern of collective thinking due to innovative approaches and, thus, instill a sense of self-worth in the minds of future generations by helping them believe they are able to manage their lives and promote social change. classroom activities can encourage students to think positively about their prospective careers and develop an active prosocial position. the recent developments on ht (gulati 2010; mcintyre 2018; gonzalez-pons 2021) have advanced towards responding to ht through the lens of media narratives and 43 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) myths, anti-trafficking language in welfare services (de shalit et al. 2014; nichols et al. 2018 ) and the maintenance of a social balance to avoid polarity thinking or condemnation of victims, aid and support for the vulnerable groups in society. however, the problem is more complex and multilayered: any person coming from any walk of life may fall victim to this illegal activity. the observations based on the literature study highlight that the situation has changed in recent decades: “the treatment of trafficking has focused exclusively on prostitution, migration, and organized crime. only recently has this focus shifted slightly toward a more comprehensive approach, centered on the protection of victims” (rodríguez-lópez 2018: 61). ukraine has been a source country of a productive workforce from which waves of labour migrants flow in search of a better life for their families. the situation is grave in view of instability in border areas and temporarily occupied territories2. unemployment is another pressing problem, as many citizens have lost a stable income because of covid-19 restrictive measures, and are in search of better economic opportunities. notwithstanding success stories regarding education and subsequent career prospects obtained by a great number of ukrainian students abroad, it is, nevertheless, anticipated that the risk of getting involved in an ht scheme is increased among young people graduating from academic institutions. lacking life experience, they constitute a vulnerable category of citizen who may fall victims to these illegal practices. theoretically, as a point of departure to develop the counteraction against myths about employment abroad, a media-linguistic approach has been adopted in the sense that realities mediated through pre-constructed messages (blommaert & verschueren 1998; iyengar 2018) have an impact on peoples̓ lives through framing technologies. this is so because, there is a need to change the attitudes towards employment prospects 2 the study was conducted in november 2021 and presented at talc 4 in december, when ukraine was under the conditions of the threat of the russian military aggression. by the time the paper is submitted, the russian federation has attacked ukraine and unleashed a full-scaled war against ukrainian people. under these conditions, the situation of ht in ukraine has become even more vicious: minors are being forced to fight on the side of the enemy, women and children are being illegally displaced under the pretense of evacuation or are being taken hostage, the number of migrants and refugees is increasing, etc. the number of the refugees ranges from within 6.8-12 million people (zandt 2022; bbc news 2022). these are women and underaged children, who find themselves in the unknown circumstances with minimum sustenance. as far as men are not allowed to cross the border according to the war-time law, women go abroad without husbands. they are unprotected, vulnerable, scared, and susceptible to falling in a ht situation. these circumstances multiply the risks of sexual exploitation of women and children and forced labour. the periodical by donna m. hughes describes the traffickers as predators who are “awaiting the arrival of ukrainian women refugees.the sex buyers, pimps, and sex work advocacy groups are eager to prey on them” (hughes 2022). 44 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) within the country and develop both strong occupational competences and soft skills, required for successful competition in the national labour market. mindsets can be changed in the course of systemic and consistent exposure of students to the ht-related language material. the cognitive processing of such content would result in young people reshaping their worldviews due to critical and analytical thinking practices. the awareness of ht should refer both to volitional and subconscious domains of mental processes during conceptualisation of the information about ht. in this regard, the phrase “warning signs” used in the title of this paper conveys the idea that the specific pre-conceptual entities (image-schemas) directing information processing in a specific way may work as deterrents (analogous to safety road signs) against potentially risky actions made by potential victims. within linguistics, the aim is to verify whether there is a dependency to specific image schemas (hereinafter – is) and readersʼ responses. one should strive to identify is which contribute to a subtle rendering of a warning effect through media. according to m. johnsons̓ definition, an image schema is an abstract representation of “a recurring dynamic pattern of our perceptual interactions and motor programs that gives coherence and structure to our experience” (johnson 2013). the most discussed schemata are containment, path, source-path-goal, blockage, center-periphery, cycle, cyclic climax, compulsion, counterforce, diversion, removal of restraint, enablement, attraction, link, scale, axis balance, point balance, twin-pan balance, equilibrium. these schemata are categorized in terms of three groups: spatial motion group, force group, and balance group. other schemata also embrace such abstractions as contact, surface, full-empty, merging, matching, near-far, mass-count, iteration, object splitting, part-whole, superimposition, process, collection (johnson 2013). image schemas are “directly meaningful”, they are “experienced” and “embodied”, “highly schematic gestalts”, they are “continuous” and exist “beneath conscious awareness” (hampe 2008: 1). “brain areas formerly thought to be purely sensorimotoric are turning out to have important roles in the so-called ʻhigherʼ cognitive processes, e.g., language … language makes much more use of the brains̓ processes of spatial, visual and mental imagery than previously thought” (rohrer 2005: 165). in this regard, language preserves the traces of is, which may not only reveal an authors̓ way of reasoning, but also can be used deliberately as elements to be subconsciously recognised by the audience and thus evoke the readers sensorimotoric sensations in response to the content they are exposed to. hypothetically, the readers may experience higher involvement in the problems raised in an ht-related media text as a response to the underlying verbal representation of ht in is. therefore, the is exist not as separate pre-conceptual entities functioning as a sort of filter in the process of perception and structuring of information. instead, their 45 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) numerous combinations may provide specific reading experiences in line with certain lines of thoughts and thus stimulate a particular emotional response. in the framework of this study, the research tasks were: 1) to identify prevailing is in two contrasting (expository vs narrative) texts and explain their verbal manifestations; 2) to establish to which of the two texts (t1 or t2) the participants show higher emotional response; 3) to analyse the participantsʼ perceptions with reference to the prevailing is; 4) to find out which is can be potentially used as preventive language tools in anti-trafficking media content. 2. materials and methods this study explores the cognitive pre-requisites of warning vulnerable audiences about ht. the conceptual perspective of the study is highlighted through the lens of imageschema theory (cienki 1997; lakoff & johnson 2003; johnson 2005, 2013; rohrer 2005; hampe 2008; hedblom 2020) for identifying image-schemas (is) based on the conceptual analysis and corpus analysis of a language dataset collected from the media on ht. actuation of is in conceptualisation of ht during the reading process may be impactful in terms of shaping attitudes towards ht. in practical terms, the tradition of empirical studies maintained by a specific group of contemporary linguists is followed (paliichuk 2011; chesnokova 2016; kuijpers & hakemulder 2017; miall 2018; peer & chesnokova 2019) with a focus on the investigation of the readers̓ response. in particular, the focus was on verifying a hypothetical dependency of the readers̓ impression on the use of is-charged language units and on establishing effective is in terms of the pragmatic value of the texts. the methodological strategy includes two lines of research: conceptual analysis of media language material and empirical methods for verifying the dependency between media language actuating is and post-reading impressions. the procedure for the study embraces the conceptual analysis of the language material based on the verbal content of two texts selected for the experiment, two surveys and a presentation of statistical results based on the unified empirical datasets from two surveys. the design of the research involved the following aspects ensuring the validity of the obtained data and conclusions: a) texts: the case study material includes 2 authentic3 english language media texts taken from british (gentleman 2020), labeled as t1, and canadian (ricci 2019), labeled as t2, media. 3 the curriculum at the institute of philology of bgku is focused on the literature and media of the countries which language is being studied. 46 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the features of both texts imply that: 1) the texts represent typical ht media discourse4; 2) two media genres (news article and a media narrative) are tested; 3) t1 is used as an expository text containing factual information, mainly used for content-learning and general awareness of ht; t2 is used as a media narrative, containing analytical coverage of ht from a victims̓ perspective, with elements of a narrative, including direct speech. for the purposes of the study, the selected texts must meet the following criteria: • the texts must be about ht, but from different perspectives; • the texts must be the “news article vs analytical article” opposition, i.e. the more objective coverage is contrasted to the more subjective coverage; therefore, a news article, reporting facts and measures taken to tackle the problem, was used as an expository text for content-learning information, i.e. general awareness of ht based on a particular case study, and a media narrative was used as the content highlighting additional aspects of ht from the point of view of a victim; • the texts must be of similar size; therefore, the t1 is 717 words and t2 – 789; • the texts should be readable in one sitting (estimated reading time for t1 is 3 minutes, 34 seconds, and t2 – 3 minutes, 52 seconds); • the texts must be typical for ht discourse and represent a homogeneous information flow on ht; • the texts should enable the testing of the hypothesis that a media narrative5 induces readers to feel being inside ht situation, as well as encourage a higher level of empathy and emotional response, and should allow for the feeling of being in danger after reading the text; • the texts must have varying sets of profiled schemata. b) hypotheses: h0: the schemata-charged verbal units have no potential for evoking a greater emotional response in the reader when exposed to ht-related media content nor should it stimulate readers to experience the feeling of being in danger, the feeling of being sad, angry, disappointed, or the feeling of fear; h1: the schemata-charged verbal units have the 5 we also believe that a media narrative has potential for a transportation effect (which is another study being carried out in this regard (paliichuk 2022), which helps readers experience co-presence in the situation described or identify themselves with a victim. 4 the two different texts were selected as typical media discourse fragments on ht. this decision was made based on the previous thorough investigations and observations. for instance, the corpus of 600 english language media texts from 2000-2011 was analysed in the framework of phd thesis (paliichuk 2011). that study showed the prevalence of news articles, reporting facts and statistics, and media narratives, highlighting events from a particular point of view, where the subjective tone is achieved through direct speech elements representing the experience of a particular participant or a witness. 47 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) potential to evoke a greater emotional response in the reader when exposed to ht-related media content and stimulate the reader to experience the feeling of being in danger, the feeling of being sad, angry, disappointed, or the feeling of fear. if the alternative hypothesis is proven, the results will be meaningful for raising awareness of ht risks and designing guidelines on the deliberate use of is-charged language units in anti-trafficking campaigns. c) annotation strategy: firstly, interim linguistic observations were made, followed by preliminary manual6 identification of is based on the semantic criterion, i.e. on the meanings derived from the texts. however, this interim result may seem biased. to avoid this, a software tool to check all possible relevant occurrences of is in the texts was applied. secondly, to reduce the level of subjective interpretation of the meanings derived from the texts, the corpora of the two texts were pre-processed separately with the use of sketch engine software (https://ske.li/text_1_ws; https://ske.li/text_2_ws). for this, hypothetical key notional and functional words actuating established is were identified and the texts were verified for their occurrences and concordances to trace how such language elements shape meanings in the microcontexts. thirdly, semantically relevant examples were selected and the micro-contexts were marked in italics (corpora 1 and 2 below), as well as the verbal manifestations of is labelled with square brackets and with a number in brackets assigned to a particular is, e.g. [into] (5) slavery conditions, where [into] is a marked a verbal manifestation of containment is, labelled with (5), and slavery conditions is also marked with italics to show the micro-context actuating the concept of being in/into the ht situation. then all possible sentences or parts of sentences were collected and assembled as two unified corpora for either text, featuring all the verbal occurrences of is. after this, the number of manifestations of each is based on the quantity of numeric labels was calculated and the prevailing is in either text were thus identified. the prevailing is are considered significant, because they predetermine the concepts to which the participants have stronger responses as contrasted to other less obviously manifesting is. such an approach enabled the provision of a more accurate account of the media corpus tested. participants: the survey was conducted in two phases. the first survey was undertaken in april 2020. the participants were 76 respondents, who were the students from borys grinchenko kyiv university and the cadets from the military institute of taras shevchenko kyiv national university, ukraine (paliichuk 2021). the second phase was 6 we admit that there might be a tolerated error in exact number of is identified because of the manual approach used in the linguistic analysis at the preliminary stage, which was then modified and specified based on the results of the corpus analysis. 48 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) conducted in november 2021: 42 students from borys grinchenko university were engaged. in total, 118 undergraduates took part in the experiment. all of the participants were divided into control (g1) and experimental (g2) groups according to the type of the text they were exposed to: g1 read t1 and g2 read t2. other conditions. the questionnaire contained the items on personal and general information, for instance initial awareness of ht, reading media in english, the overall period of learning english; pre-reading and post-reading questions, and an open-answer section. the study is gender-sensitive, with 80 female humanities students and 38 male respondents, all of them aged 20-23; very often they may be thinking of careers abroad or continuing their education, and thus they represent a vulnerable social category. the survey was conducted during regular practical sessions in the framework of an academic “analytical reading” course, which is a part of the “stylistics of texts” course. the respondents were asked whether they imagined themselves being in the same situation, whether they felt sympathy with the trafficked girls, and whether they were affected by ht before and after reading the media texts; the data were processed with the use of spss 26 for windows (descriptive statistics, frequencies, independent samples t-test). the open answers are taken as qualitative data for the interpretation of the results. 3. results the designed strategy of the study was based on the principle of being conceptual and empirical to meet the objective set out above. therefore, the first line of the research focused on the conceptual analysis made on the premises of image-schema theory, whereas the second line involved the procedures of empirical study. the case study for the conceptual analysis includes the fragments of two quality papers taken from the canadian and british media. the participants were divided into two groups respectively. the general characteristics are given in table 1, where t1 and t2 stand for text 1 and text 2, g1 and g2 – group 1 and group 2, describing the main idea and number of verbal manifestations of is. table 1. general characteristics of case study texts type t1 t2 group g1 g2 title and origin number of slavery victims in london up tenfold in five years, the guardian luring of girls into sex trade reaching 'epidemic' level, police say, cbc news genre expository text: informative, news media narrative text: editorial, analytical 49 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the qualitative conceptual analysis of t1 and t2 shows the dominance of up/scale, blockage and counterforce in t1 and scale, process/up and containment in t2. the concepts of “upness”, “manyness”, “increasing”, dominating in both texts, stress the rising scale of ht, and are actuated through up, scale, process; however, they are supported with varying other schemata, affecting the totality of meanings rendered. the aim was to discover which of the two texts evoked a stronger response and which of the is identified predetermine a significant impact on the readers. before processing the empirical data, the corpus of relevant sentences from both texts were extracted, bearing the markers of the verbal manifestation of is, to analyse the conceptual and semantic features of the texts (figures 1 and 2). figure 1. verbal traces of is in t1 corpus content message reports ht across gb and in london, states the facts about growth in numbers of ht cases, the measures to be taken. intermingled with narrative elements, provides some personalised accounts of ht cases. manifestations of is up/scale =21; counterforce=15; blockage=10; containment =11; down=6; link=4; enablement=2; center-periphery=1; total=71 scale and process/up=22; containment=13; link=9; attraction=5; enablement=4; path=3; blockage=1; counterforce=1. total 58 50 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) figure 1 shows 21 relevant sentences from t1. the occurrences of is are labelled as follows: up (1), blockage (2), counterforce (3), down (4), containment (5), center-periphery (6), link (7), enablement (8), scale (9). the order of is is irrelevant, the numbers are assigned conventionally, as they appear in the text. the given combinations of is can be presumed to govern the perceptions of ht in terms of its scale, challenges and tasks, and counter measures. according to the number of the verbal manifestations (table 1 above), the dominant is are up/scale, blockage, and counterforce. there are explicit and implicit manifestations of is, i.e. both signified directly in the texts and derived from the microcontexts or actualised as word combinations. the semantic approach was used for the interpretation of the qualitative data. each is is manifested in a range of concepts, as well as in a set of key words and functional parts of speech. thus, the verbal markers of up are lexical units such as number, increase, rise, figure; comparative forms more than, greater than; the adjective tenfold; references to statistics in numbers and percentages; and adverbs three times, considerably. predominantly, up represents the rising nature of ht. close to up in its semantic nature is scale, which represents the concept of measurement of ht and actuates through the lexical unit proportion, and determiner some pointing to a certain number of organisations counteracting ht. blockage represents the concepts of difficulty and barriers in combatting ht. its explicit manifestation is traced in lexical units such as problem, difficult, challenge, and 51 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the phrasal verb face with, though its implicit manifestations are derived semantically from microcontexts in concordances, for instance: lack of funding, disappointment, pending cases, referring to ht as an unresolved problem. another prominent is manifesting in the text is counterforce. its explicit manifestation finds its particularisation in the lexical units (verbs and nouns) related to the concept of counteracting, e.g.: handle, tackle, response, combat, action, decision, strategy, priority. its implicit manifestations are expressed through word combinations denoting the importance of counterforce to ht, e.g. top priority, tough decisions, and also formally, through modal verbs should assign, should develop, needs to have a strategy, and adverbs such as urgently task. the is discussed above are the most salient in the corpus of t1, however, less frequent manifestation of other is can be seen to support the inference one could make after reading t1. as compared to contextual manifestations of up referring to the figures demonstrating the scale of the problem, the contextual manifestations of down mostly refer to the inefficiency of the measures taken and difficulty in overcoming ht cases. the relevant context refers to cuts in funding and a decrease in the number of cases where a person is identified as a victim of ht. the manifestation of down conveys the idea that governmental offices fail to counteract ht effectively. verbally, it actuates through the words bearing the meaning of falling, such as declining, failing, cutting, and statistics expressed with figures and percentages, as well as formal markers such as prepositions down from, and continuous forms of the verbs, as in has been declining. containment is manifested in the verbal units with implicit meanings of lacking freedom, being inside the ht situation. the most typical manifestation is the [modern slavery] (5) cliché, which may be interpreted as a closed entity which victims get into, but on the other hand, it may also point to “taking victims into care”, as in placing them in safe conditions, however in all cases the victims are represented as passive participants or objects. center-periphery actualises the idea that measures are concentrated in one city only, but not across the country as a whole, e.g. london-specific, and have a peripheral or sporadic character. the counter-actions are also ineffective and the rate of efficient actions declines. link represents the semantics of cooperation and coordinated activity against ht. it actuates through lexical units with the meaning of connectedness and interaction, such as coherent, partnership, and formally through preposition with in semantically relevant occasions. the occasional manifestation of enablement actuates the meaning of official possibilities, which are rather weak, through language units with the meaning of creating opportunity for victims to get support. 52 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) having due regard to identification of is in t1, we can conclude here that the bundle of is in question highlights the concept of disproportion between the nature of ht and the ways of combatting the problem. the interpretative approach to annotating the corpus of t1 allowed for the revelation of the semantic features of t1, while registering the basic concepts and dominant is subject to verification with empirical methods. figure 2. verbal traces of is in t2 corpus 53 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) figure 2 shows 25 relevant sentences from t2. the occurrences of is are labelled as follows: containment (5), attraction (10), link (7), scale (9), process+up (11), blockage (2), counterforce (3), path (12), and enablement (8). the numbers assigned to is in t1 are preserved for respective occurrences in t2, and the occurrences of new is in t2 are labelled with further numbering. the is are analysed in the order they appear in the text. alongside representation of the scale of ht through the lens of the victimsʼ stories, the main message, nevertheless, is transmitted through containment. based on the analysis of lexical and grammatical language units, the prevailing meanings were established, and respective is were identified. lexical means predetermine the conceptualisation of ht as in an enclosed space, circle or container from where there is no way out, and through the lexical units being involved in, indebted or feeling trapped. from the grammatical point of view, we observe the usage of verbs in the passive voice forms having the prefix in-, supported with the prepositions in, into, out, actuating respective is and representing the passive condition of the victims. yet, it should be verified whether such meanings stimulate the transmission of the feeling of danger to the readers of media articles. these meanings are supported with the actuation of attraction and link, which represent the semantics of engagement of potential victims, e.g.: lure, recruit, contact, approach. on the one hand, the meaning of luring is quite recurrent in the text, on the other hand, the conceptualisation of the link between participants of organised ht crime is directly or implicitly incorporated in the context of ht coverage. for instance, the phrase “master manipulators” implies how traffickers operate to make victims accept their offer and make them dependent on their traffickers. verbally, this cluster of is is manifested in lexical units, e.g.: lure for attraction, and approach, contacted – for link; and in grammatical units with prepositions (into, in, with) or the passive voice forms of verbs. scale and process/up represent the scope and size of ht, as in t1. their manifestation is predetermined by containment-related environment, i.e. by the lexical units with the meanings of level, reach process, increased, close to, number, cases, metaphorical expressions epidemic level, epidemic proportion, denoting the degree of ht and the process of growing, and adverbs. e.g.: dramatically. 54 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) another is highlighting the nature of ht is path. these are verbal utterances, e.g.: run away, lead to, end up, conveying the idea of the previous life of victims and consequences of their being entrapped. this time-and-space parameter is actuated through lexical means standing for the concept of journey/path and denoting motion as well as grammatical units, predominantly, the prepositions at, from, to, etc. this is in combination with less discussed is (contact) conveys the overall meaning of wandering of a victim throughout many places across the world and being exposed to many hardships. the verbal means of expression bear figurative meanings and actuate conceptual metaphors of journey, for instance, in the representation of the initial background of victims. most often, the way victims come through is represented as actuation of such is as path to endpoint (endpoint focus), and through the prepositions from/to/away to signify starting point, transit places, and destination point. in terms of blockage, ht manifests only once in t2, e.g. problem. there are also occasional manifestations of such is as counterforce, e.g.: fight, and enablement through the verbal means of expression denoting the struggle against or resistance ht, e.g.: assist. thus, in the corpus of t2, the dominance of such is as scale and process/up were to be enhanced by containment. this configuration of is contributes to conceptualisation of ht as a dead-end, a situation which victims are lured into. this can also be interpreted as a “blind street” metaphor which serves as a cognitive “warning sign” for potential victims. the degree of the victimsʼ engagement in ht is represented by the verbal means of expression actuating containment is standing for a closed entity or a container in the meaning of the situation a victim gets in or into. moreover, these meanings are supported with the actuation of attraction and link. t2 lacks description of a specific measure taken to stop ht, or, rather, a latent reaction towards ht prevention. again, we can observe the imbalance in the representation of ht, with the prevalence of description of the danger of getting into ht rather than how to escape the situation. hypothetically, it can be anticipated that the combination of the dominant is revealed as a result of the analysis of the corpus of t2 predetermines the perception of ht as a dangerous situation, which should be verified empirically. the second line of the research is an empirical study for measuring the degree of the readers̓ response to t1 and t2. to this end, a survey was conducted according to the procedure described in the methodology section. the preparatory stage included the development of the questionnaires for two groups of respondents. they were identical apart from the text included thereinto depending on the group. the sections were developed as follows: personal information obtained based mainly on nominal and interval scale questions; the pre-reading stage, which included the interval scale questions; and the post-reading stage, which included the interval scale and open-answer questions. 55 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the general information was processed with the help of descriptive statistics. the mean value for the respondentsʼ age is 20.5. the respondents have been studying english for more than 11 years on average. 80.5% of the respondents are aware of ht. 84.6% of the respondents read media in english, daily (33%) and once a week (33.9%), against once a month (8.9%) and very rarely (24.1%). frequency table 2 shows the distribution of the topics the respondents are mostly interested in, where among 117 valid answers, the respondentsʼ preferences are given to culture (20.5%), society (32.5%), and other topics (16.2%). politics (11.1%) and economy (11.1), crime (6.0%), and sport (2.6%) are less preferred topics in reading media. table 2. topics respondents are interested in variable figure 3 illustrates the dominance of society and culture among the respondentsʼ reading preferences. it can be predicted that the respondents are more susceptible to perceive the socially-relevant content rather than other topics. the respondents show less interest in politics and economy, crime and sport, which may partially affect the respondentsʼ perceptions of ht. frequency percent valid percent cumulative percent valid politics 13 10.7 11.1 11.1 culture 24 19.8 20.5 31.6 society 38 31.4 32.5 64.1 crime 7 5.8 6.0 70.1 economy 13 10.7 11.1 81.2 sport 3 2.5 2.6 83.8 other 19 15.7 16.2 100.0 total 117 96.7 100 missing system 4 3.3 total 121 100.0 56 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) figure 3. topics respondents are interested in variable before analysing the responses to t1 and t2 separately, the data were collected on the preliminary degree of the readersʼ involvement in ht in terms of their sympathy with victims, imagining being in the same situation, and emotional response (tables 3-5 and figures 4-5) before they read t1 or t2, depending on the group, according to the interval scale, where 1 and 2 are low indicators (absolutely not and probably not), and 3 and 4 are high indicators (probably yes and totally yes). at the pre-reading stage, the respondents were not affected by the experimental media content and showed a unified response. table 3 and figure 4 illustrate that 115 valid answers highlight that the respondents are not prone to feeling sympathy toward a victim of ht before reading the text (28.0% – absolutely not and 37.7% – probably not) and some feel a certain degree (16.1%) and a lot of sympathy (18.6%). table 3. frequency table: the sympathy before variable frequency percent valid percent cumulative percent valid 1.00 33 27.3 28.0 28.0 2.00 44 36.4 37.3 65.3 3.00 19 15.7 16.1 81.4 4.00 22 18.2 18.6 100.0 total 118 97.5 100.0 missing system 3 2.5 total 121 100.0 57 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) figure 4. sympathy before variable the degree of imagining themselves being in the same situation is rather low. we can see from table 4 and the bar chart in figure 5 that the respondents do not imagine themselves being in the same situation as the victims of ht either, with 57.6% – absolutely not and 33.9% – probably not, and 16.1% and 18.6% – probably yes and totally yes, respectively. table 4. frequency table: the imagining in ht situation before variable frequency percent valid percent cumulative percent valid 1.00 68 56.2 57.6 57.6 2.00 40 33.1 33.9 91.5 3.00 8 6.6 6.8 98.3 4.00 2 1.7 1.7 100.0 total 118 97.5 100.0 missing system 3 2.5 total 121 100.0 58 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) figure 5. imagining in situation of ht before variable the degree of being emotionally affected by the topic of the article is rather low. table 5 and the bar chart in figure 6 both show that the respondents are not emotionally involved in the topic of ht either, with 14.4% – absolutely not and 44.9% – probably not, whereas 27.1% of the respondents answered with probably yes and 13.6% – totally yes. table 5. frequency table: being emotionally affected with ht before frequency percent valid percent cumulative percent valid 1.00 17 14.0 14.4 14.4 2.00 53 43.8 44.9 59.3 3.00 32 26.4 27.1 86.4 4.00 16 13.2 13.6 100.0 total 118 97.5 100.0 missing system 3 2.5 total 121 100.0 59 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) figure 6. being emotionally affected with ht before variable both groups show low involvement in ht-related issues. however, the focus of the research was which group (g1 or g2) had a stronger response to the assigned text. these pre-reading attitudinal parameters were compared with equivalent post-reading answers. then a more effective is was established in terms of prosocial reactions based on the text to which the respondents had a stronger response. the next stage was to measure the differences in the respondentsʼ perceptions of t1 and t2 between g1 and g2. the respondents evaluated the language of the texts as not difficult (84.7% cumulatively) and the message as clear (60.7% cumulatively). apart from the general tendency to attitudinal and general emotional changes after the respondents read the assigned text, the focus turned to particular emotions such as the feeling of anger, being disappointed with the message of the text, being sad, feeling fear, and the feeling of being in danger. to this end, an independent sample t-test was conducted to measure the perceptions of t1 and t2 by respective groups of respondents. tables 6-7 show the group statistics and independent sample test significance results. according to the mean values and dependencies on reading t1 by g1 who read t2, the degree of sympathy towards victims is higher in g2, imagining being in the same situation is almost the same; the respondents of g2 state a higher emotional response to t2; also, g2 shows a greater level of anger, and danger, and there is almost no difference as to being sad or feeling fear, whereas the level of disappointment decreased. table 6. group statistics text n mean std. deviation std. error mean symafter t1 59 2.8305 1.13187 0.14736 t2 59 3.2712 0.84752 0.11034 60 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) following on from table 7, the results are significant only for dependent variables feeling sympathy towards victim of ht (mean value for t1 – 2.8305 and for t2 – 3.2712, p=0.009), being emotionally affected (mean value for t1 – 2.6780 and for t2 – 3.3729, p=0.000), and the feeling being in danger, with the mean values of the readers̓ response being higher to t2 (mean value for t1 – 2.3966 and for t2 – 3.1356, p=0.000) (figure 7). figure 7. significant dependent variables after reading imsitafter t1 59 1.9322 0.90714 0.11810 t2 59 2.1017 0.92279 0.12014 emafafter t1 59 2.6780 1.00757 0.13117 t2 59 3.3729 0.78561 0.10228 fanger t1 57 2.3509 0.99087 0.13124 t2 59 2.6271 1.06509 0.13866 fdissapointed t1 58 2.7931 0.89362 0.11734 t2 59 2.6441 0.97843 0.12738 fsad t1 58 3.0862 0.97844 0.12848 t2 59 3.0678 0.96248 0.12530 ffear t1 58 2.5517 0.97643 0.12821 t2 59 2.7288 0.92532 0.12047 fdanger t1 58 2.3966 0.97224 0.12766 t2 59 3.1356 0.68122 0.08869 61 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) table 7. independent samples test theextendedcommentingintheopenquestionsectionpostreadingt2wasanalysed.the majorityoftheanswersarecenteredaround sadness, fear, sympathy with the trafficked girl and, occasionally, condemnation. the main evaluative response given by g1 refers to the problem of ht in general, whereas the respondents of g2 show more concern about how they feel after reading the text.table 8 illustrates the summary of key words and concepts observed in typical, but statistically non-significant, answers, when the respondents are asked to comment on the content of the text they have read.the repeated concepts are given in bold. table 8. open-question section reports g1-t1 g2-t2 upset, pity, sadness, inconvenience even sadder, i feel sorry for the girl, sympathy for the girl disappointed of this and i feel some fear, insecure disappointment, sadness, shock, hopelessness and partially anger my feelings are mixed due to such a terrible situation we have to keep off the danger's way, horrible and terrifying, i hate and disrespect people who can spread this idea condemnation: it’s a victim’s fault compassion, disgust, affliction, confusion, rejection, anger over impunity i feel embarrassed because i thought human trafficking was long gone unpleasant, but we need to pronounce it afraid, concerned about acquaintances, disillusioned 62 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 4. discussion on the basis of the obtained results, it can be inferred that there is a dependency between the type of predominant is actuated in a media text and the perception of media content in terms of shifts in the attitudes, emotional state, and experience of particular feelings. the independent sample test showed that the degree of feeling sympathy towards a victim of ht rose after reading t2, which was assigned to g2. a similar tendency can be seen with regard to being emotionally affected by ht, so the emotional response of the respondents of g2 was higher. one of the important findings of the statistical analysis is that the respondents of g2 report a higher degree of the feeling of being in danger. this may be explained by the fact that the quantitatively dominating scale/up/process in both texts is enhanced with the manifestation of containment in t2, thus governing the perceptions of ht as a closed entity: a situation from which it is impossible to get out. however, the study has two major limitations. firstly, although media texts typical of ht discourse were chosen, it remains questionable whether the reactions would be statistically significant and stable, if other news articles and media narratives of the same thematic organisation and from the same perspective are taken into account. secondly, different sets of is are profiled in two different texts, which predetermines the transmission of different perspectives of ht. this requires further deep examination as to whether it is possible to trace the differences in perception of the texts of the same content, but different sets of is. the prospect for further study includes a series of surveys where the respondents would be exposed to several ht texts during a certain period of time, which will ensure a more convincing approach to ht prevention. also, printed versus video reports on ht may also be checked for the efficiency of preventive content used with the focus on prevailing is. 5. conclusions it can be ascertained that there is a dependency between the type of is manifesting in media texts and the message perceived by the audience. this has been proved with the statistically significant results of the independent sample test. firstly, the reader was found to have a higher level of response to t2 based on the data obtained from g2. secondly, in terms of spatial thinking, the is actuating the meaning of being physically contained in ht bears more potential for encouraging certain emotions in the audience. such is have proved to be the combinations of scale, up/process in both texts and containment in t2, promoting the conceptualisation of ht as a large-scale problem particularised as a closed entity which a potential victim gets into. thirdly, these is may serve as “warning signs” of danger to be reported to vulnerable citizens. the findings 63 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) can develop an innovative approach to designing a victim-oriented linguistic toolkit aimed at actuating specific is in the minds of the target audience. references bedbible.com. 2022, february 9. bedbible.com reports on 2022 worldwide sex trafficking statistics. globenewswire news room. retrieved june 17, 2022, from 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https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1633574 https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110197532.0.1 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47329-7_8 https://doi.org/10.23860/dignity.2022.07.02.01 https://doi.org/10.23860/dignity.2022.07.02.01 64 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) iyengar, s. 2018. media politics: a citizen’s guide (fourth ed.). ny, the usa: w. w. norton & company. johnson, m. 2005. the philosophical significance of image schemas. in: b. hampe (eds.), from perception to meaning: image schemas in cognitive linguistics, 15-34. berlin: mouton de gruyter. johnson, m. 2013. the body in the mind: the bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and reason. university of chicago press. kuijpers, m. m., & hakemulder, f. 2017. understanding and appreciating literary texts through rereading. discourse processes 55(7): 619-641. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 0163853x.2017.1390352 mcintyre, e. s. 2018. saviors, scandal, and representation: dominant media narratives around human trafficking in international adoption. journal of human trafficking 4(1): 92-95. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322705.2018.1423451 miall, d. s. 2018. towards an empirical model of literariness. empirical studies of literariness 8(1): 21-46. https://doi.org/10.1075/ssol.00007.mia nichols, a. j., gerassi, l. b., & snider, k. 2018. whats̓ in a name? benefits and challenges of anti-trafficking language in social service provider perspective. journal of human trafficking 4(1): 73-85. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322705.2018.1423448 paliichuk, e. 2011. linguistic and conceptual peculiarities of human trafficking situation in modern english-language media discourse [unpublished ma thesis]. national kyiv university. paliichuk, e. 2021. metaphor in human trafficking media discourse. raam14 conference book of abstracts. metaphor and space. vilnius, 148–149. https://www.raam14.flf.vu.lt/ book-of-abstracts/ paliichuk, e. 2022. a transportation effect of sensory human trafficking storytelling. ix international conference language, culture and mind, almería, spain. book of abstracts, 122-123. https://lcm2022.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/programa-lcm2022-280622.pdf peer, w., & chesnokova, a. 2019. what literature does to our emotions, and how do we know? empirical studies will tell. synopsis: text, context, media 25(1): 1-10. https:// doi.org/10.28925/2311-259x.2019.1.1 ricci, t. 2019, may 10. luring of girls into sex trade reaching “epidemic” level, police say. retrieved february 23, 2020, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ human-trafficking-toronto-1.5126939 rodríguez-lópez, s. 2018. (de)constructing stereotypes: media representations, social perceptions, and legal responses to human trafficking. journal of human trafficking 4(1): 61-72. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322705.2018.1423447 https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853x.2017.1390352 https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853x.2017.1390352 https://doi.org/10.1080/23322705.2018.1423451 https://doi.org/10.1075/ssol.00007.mia https://doi.org/10.1080/23322705.2018.1423448 https://lcm2022.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/programa-lcm-2022-280622.pdf https://lcm2022.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/programa-lcm-2022-280622.pdf https://doi.org/10.28925/2311-259x.2019.1.1 https://doi.org/10.28925/2311-259x.2019.1.1 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/human-trafficking-toronto-1.5126939 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/human-trafficking-toronto-1.5126939 https://doi.org/10.1080/23322705.2018.1423447 65 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) rohrer, t. 2005. image schemata in the brain. in: b. hampe & j. grady (eds.), from perception to meaning: image schemas in cognitive linguistics, 165-196. berlin/new york: de gruyter mouton. the scale of human trafficking. n.d. stop the traffik. retrieved june 18, 2022, from https://www.stopthetraffik.org. trafficking in persons report 2021 – world. 2021, july 2. reliefweb. retrieved june 17, 2022, from https://reliefweb.int/report/world/trafficking-persons-report-2021 zandt, f. 2022, june 2. 6.8 million seeking refuge from russian invasion. statista infographics. * * * elina paliichuk holds a phd in linguistics and works as an assistant professor, a lecturer of stylistics at the department of linguistics and translation of borys grinchenko kyiv metropolitan university, ukraine. her area of academic activity embraces a series of studies on human trafficking in media, including a thesis on frame modelling and research in the framework of whtv (warn human trafficking victim) initiative, with a particular focus on metaphor, transportation effect and narrative analysis, storytelling techniques, and image schemas, revealed in discourses and tested by empirical methods. another activity concerns the translation of legal texts and translation studies, in particular, in the role of an associate translation fellow at eu-funded project “association4u” (2017-2019) aimed at support of the harmonisation of the ukrainian legislation with the standards of eu legal documents. https://www.stopthetraffik.org https://reliefweb.int/report/world/trafficking-persons-report-2021 elina paliichuk doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.38.3.03 cognitive “warning signs”in human trafficking media texts 37 79 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) shadi neimneh1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.39.4.05 the hashemite university, jordan https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3041-5306 the humanist discourse in j. m. coetzee's waiting for the barbarians abstract. this article interrogates the humanist discourse in j. m. coetzee's waiting for the barbarians (1980), negotiating the intersections between the novels̓ narrator, the magistrate, and coetzee, the public intellectual. the ethical narrator, through the very act of witnessing and describing imperial violence, objects to the practices of torture perpetrated on captured prisoners yet feels guilty for his complicity with the torturers. the articulation of his difficult position as a humanist serving a declining empire forms the essence of a humanist discourse that corresponds to the difficulties and ambivalences experienced by the postcolonial writer/intellectual. using the work of edward said on the representations of the intellectual and coetzee's views on ethical authorship and torture, the present article locates the humanist discourse articulated by the magistrate in the center of coetzee's conception of the public intellectual. while coetzee undertakes the task of representing oppression without reinscribing it, his narrator struggles with distancing himself from the oppressors physically and psychologically, and thus achieving the relative autonomy said called for. in the process, the magistrate moves from a position of consent to one of dissent. keywords: j. m. coetzee, waiting for the barbarians, humanist discourse, ethics, public intellectualism, edward said. theoretical contexts: coetzee and public intellectualism j. m. coetzee's novels have been problematically received by critics, especially in south africa during the apartheid years, because, in the words of benita parry, they are "selfreflexive novels which stage the impossibility of representation, estrange the norms of reality, and work … to 'demythologize history'" (1998: 149). since the mode of his novels was not one of traditional social realism directly evoking historical realities, critics have expressed concerns that many of his works are "only indirectly 'about' the political and 1 address for correspondence: department of english, faculty of arts, the hashemite university, p.o. box 330127, zarqa 13133 jordan. e-mail: shadin@hu.edu.jo https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3041-5306 80 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) social struggles of south africa" (martin 1986: 4), dislocating, abstracting, and allegorizing political realities into another time and place. other critics try to justify coetzee's position and look for alternative sociopolitical relevance. the present article is a step in this direction, situating coetzee's relevance within ethical and political debates about the function and status of the intellectual (i.e., the south african writer and critic). waiting for the barbarians (1980; hereafter abbreviated as wb) engages the ethics and politics of intellectual practice and the role/function of the intellectual at the heart of many of coetzee's works. according to michel foucault, the "author function" is ideologically important in our conception of literary works because it is "characteristic of the mode of existence, circulation, and functioning of certain discourses within a society" (1998: 211). south african literature written under apartheid has often been read in terms of a specific "author function", i.e., in light of its engagement with political realities within a specific historical context. broadly speaking, coetzee's novels published before the 1990s have been seen as complex (yet often inadequate or problematic) engagements with history due to their allegorical nature or psychological and postmodern dimensions. coetzee has been criticized in south africa for avoiding full engagement with political history. mainly using the work of edward said on the representations of intellectuals, his 1993 reith lectures in particular, the present article explores the problematic position of the south african writer (artist or intellectual) confronted with violence, oppression, and a history of injustice. torn between ethical commitment and humanist values on the one hand and attempts to publicly render them on the other hand, coetzee was conscious of his role as an intellectual figure as well as the dangers of exploiting the oppression he sought to criticize. wb dramatizes the ironies, contradictions, and struggles involved in the intellectual practice coetzee has internalized in his lengthy professional career. when he was writing wb, coetzee had already published two novels (dusklands in 1976 and in the heart of the country in 1977) and numerous scholarly articles in reputable journals. he was gaining international fame as a south african writer and scholar with a solid background in language theories, literary theories, world literature, and western philosophy. the ph.d. in english he earned from the university of texas at austin in 1969 was only one asset to an accomplished academic. articulated in the first-person by the unnamed magistrate, the humanist discourse in wb manifests ethical resonances, as well as the ambivalence of resistance and complicity. coetzee's ethical and political concerns are dramatized and complicated through the magistrate, who enacts the ethical and humanist voice in the novel and disputably serves as coetzee's own alter ego. antonio gramsci's argument concerning the formation of intellectuals makes it clear that intellectuals have a social and/or political function and not only a traditional profession or academic career. this social function and/or political responsibility of organic intellectuals entails generating the ideas and hopes of their class. for gramsci, organic 81 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) intellectuals adopt the ideology of a particular party or class, and hence the independent, autonomous intellectual is a myth: "every social group, coming into existence on the original terrain of an essential function in the world of economic production, creates together with itself, organically, one or more strata of intellectuals which give it homogeneity and an awareness of its own function not only in the economic but also in the social and political fields" (1971: 5). for gramsci, all men are intellectuals, even though not all of them have a social function. in this expanded sense, gramsci argues that the organic intellectual "participates in a particular conception of the world, has a conscious line of moral conduct, and therefore contributes to sustain a conception of the world or to modify it, that is, to bring into being new modes of thought" (1971: 9). so, intellectuals exist in varying degrees of complicity and commitment. while some intellectuals side with and serve the dominant classes, others side with the less privileged and the disenfranchised. following this logic, the magistrate in wb questions his role as an imperial intellectual just as coetzee interrogates the role and function of his standing as a south african intellectual. commenting on the politicization of knowledge and the political circumstances governing the ideological production of discourse, edward said asserts: "no one has ever devised a method for detaching the scholar from the circumstances of life, from the fact of his involvement (conscious or unconscious) with a class, a set of beliefs, a social position, or from the mere activity of being a member of a society" (1979: 10). here, said not only contradicts the liberal position of true knowledge being nonpolitical, i.e., objective, but also confirms the intellectual's relative involvement in the production of knowledge in the field of the humanities and social sciences, the knowledge that is political in varying degrees and rooted in one's ideological standpoint, class affiliation, and culture/society. in the world, the text, and the critic, said expounds secular criticism and argues that texts cannot be extricated from events and circumstances, i.e., from history and "the existential actualities of human life, politics, societies, and events" (1983: 5). said goes on to assert that texts are "worldly, to some degree they are events, and, even when they appear to deny it, they are nevertheless a part of the social world, human life, and, of course, the historical moments in which they are located and interpreted" (1983: 4). said advocates reading texts in terms of the realities of power and resistance that produce and disseminate them, in terms of affiliations belonging to "culture and society" (1983: 20). hence, critics are never free from politics or political consciousness, whether related to their personal life and background or institutional politics and party life. it is in this study that said presents the intellectual's situation as a worldly one, as texts take place in life and critics exist in sociopolitical contexts. said uses the term "worldliness" to indicate "circumstantial reality" (1983: 34), a specific occasion or situation. just as texts are worldly, so is criticism. and hence, the critic is a committed intellectual for said, one concerned with alleviating different sorts 82 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of oppression: "more explicitly, the critic is responsible to a degree for articulating those voices dominated, displaced, or silenced by the textuality of texts. texts are a system of forces institutionalized by the reigning culture at some human cost to its various components" (1983: 53). said's assertion of discursive, textual politics is an invitation for us to explore ethics and politics in literary and cultural texts, which is what the present article attempts in relation to coetzee's novel wb. if we take for granted the politicization of discourse said advocates, what remains is to look at coetzee's take on the intellectual's relationship with power and authority. in his 1993 reith lectures, later published as representations of the intellectual, said suggests that the intellectual is not only an "outsider" or "amateur" but also a "disturber of the status quo" (1994: x), trying to speak "truth to power" (1994: xvi) on behalf of the unprivileged or the weak. said politicizes both discourse and the discourse writer. therefore, the intellectual has a vital public role and a necessary social mission to "break down the stereotypes and reductive categories that are so limiting to human thought and communication" (1994: xi). the intellectual has a role to universally uphold standards of truth concerning oppression, regardless of one's background, nationality, or political affiliation. this comment can be taken to mean that the intellectual should not inhabit an ivory tower—he is not a predictable or conformist figure. rather, the intellectual is the involved figure of dissent and opposition to injustice, war, and destruction: "there is always the personal inflection and the private sensibility, and those give meaning to what is being said or written. least of all should an intellectual be there to make his/her audience feel good: the whole point is to be embarrassing, contrary, even unpleasant" (1994: 12). hence, said contends that the apolitical intellectual is a myth, and adopting an apolitical stance is neither the intellectual's role nor function. of course, this does not entail a deterioration into simple propaganda or clichéd language. rather, we are entitled to look into the ways and means of achieving a political stance, which is what the present article seeks to accomplish in the case of coetzee's wb. above all, for said, the intellectual is a universal humanist with a political mission as "standards of truth about human misery and oppression were to be held to despite the individual intellectual's party affiliation, national background, and primeval loyalties" (1994: xii). in the words of said, "real intellectuals are never more themselves than when, moved by metaphysical passion and disinterested principles of justice and truth, they denounce corruption, defend the weak, defy imperfect or oppressive authority" (1994: 6). thus, the intellectual should seek solutions or alternatives to dilemmas, unmask facts, and side with the marginalized or less fortunate who are not well represented by dominant power structures, juxtaposing experiences of oppression and projecting suffering regardless of its location: "for the intellectual the task … is explicitly to universalize the crisis [of his/her people], to give greater human scope to what a 83 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) particular race or nation suffered, to associate that experience with the suffering of others" (1994: 44). accordingly, the intellectual is not objective but rather controversial and risky for mainstream politics and authorities. intellectuals are secular figures, not allowing authority figures or patrons to direct them. rather, their main task for said is to "speak truth to power" (1994: 85), and thus they need to maintain relative independence from being co-opted by institutions or policy makers. to achieve this goal, amateur attitudes are better than professional ones. freedom should be sought by intellectuals, and relative autonomy is a goal that intellectuals should seek so that they are not absorbed by institutions, governments or organizations against the principles of freedom, justice and truth. in this logic, the intellectual's attempted autonomy from institutional policies is itself a worthy political stance. within the south african apartheid context, we can talk about relatively similar historical and cultural concerns to those articulated by said: injustice, dispossession, dislocation, discrimination, and violence. the ethical and political considerations of writing and intellectualism that coetzee tackles are, in fact, related and can be better understood in the light of said's political and cultural pronouncements. for example, coetzee complains in "the novel today" that there is "a tendency, a powerful tendency, perhaps even dominant tendency, to subsume the novel under history" (1988: 2). in other words, the depiction of historical realities like apartheid and violence commonly become criteria for serious or good art. coetzee, hence, tends to favor a novel that rivals history, even "demythologizing history" (1988: 3), by operating in terms of the novelistic discourse rather than the historical one. this does not mean that coetzee advocates nonpolitical and unhistorical art; rather, he argues for a particular way of representing historical realities in literature to not reduce literary discourse to a historical one. by analogy, what said tried to achieve as a cultural critic, coetzee tried to achieve as a writer of fiction, but not without some complication and universalism. both intellectuals were concerned with the politics of representation in reaction to socio-political and historical realities. according to jane poyner, coetzee engages "self-consciously with the ethics of writing in his critical essays and all his works of fiction, often through the portrayal of the conscience-stricken white writer" and thus enters "the long-running and expansive debate about the ethics of intellectualism and the authority of the writer" (2006: 2). poyner contends that in his depiction of writer-protagonists in his novels, coetzee dramatizes a paradox in postcolonial authorship: "whilst striving symbolically to bring the stories of the marginal and the oppressed to light, stories that heretofore have been suppressed or silenced by oppressive regimes, writers of conscience or consciencestricken writers risk re-imposing the very authority they seek to challenge" (2009: 2). hence, the postcolonial author and critic should be careful not to reproduce hegemonic systems of power they intend to challenge or reimpose dominant power structures. if 84 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) postcolonial authorship is ethico-political at heart, then it should not replicate oppressive structures. accordingly, the present article explores the intersections between the position of the postcolonial cultural critic and that of the postcolonial writer, both being ideally humanist figures with ethical-political concerns. the conflation between the postcolonial intellectual and the writer is manifested in the figure of the magistrate in coetzee's wb, who becomes a mouthpiece for staging coetzee's struggles with representing politics and ethics in fiction without descending into plain propaganda or reproducing oppression. gayatri spivak once suggested that "the subaltern could not 'speak' because, in the absence of institutionally validated agency, there was no listening subject" (2002: 24). it is intellectuals and the academic world that can serve as one validating institution giving voice or lending attentive ears to the subaltern. while intellectuals and critics have a responsibility to know and reveal society's other, they should be aware of contradictions and ambivalences in their position, i.e., what spivak called "the possibility that the intellectual is complicit in the persistent constitution of other as the self's shadow" (1988: 75). ambivalently, the critic/intellectual can be hegemonic and oppositional. the potential risks of having first-world intellectuals speak for the other are serious since this other is heterogeneous. in the words of spivak, "the postcolonial intellectuals learn that their privilege is their loss. in this, they are a paradigm of the intellectuals" (1988: 82). spivak concludes that in a colonial context, the subaltern does not have access to history and cannot speak, and that "the subaltern as female" is even more marginalized (1988: 82-83). interestingly, spivak makes it clear that the elite class of privileged intellectuals shapes the image of the subaltern: "can the subaltern speak? what must the elite do to watch out for the continuing construction of the subaltern? the question of 'woman' seems most problematic in this context. clearly, if you are poor, black, and female, you get it in three ways" (1988: 90). the intellectuals as the elite class are, accordingly, complicit in the construction of the subaltern as other. accordingly, questions of representation become essential for the writer, whether representing the oppressed or the sympathetic liberal humanist as the intellectual. in this light, said's calls for the secular, worldly critic are better understood, and so is coetzee's problematic position in the context of south african apartheid politics. in both cases, questions of political relevance and commitment are at risk. in post-colonial theory, the term "comprador" has been broadly used to include "the intelligentsia—academics, creative writers, and artists—whose independence may be compromised by a reliance on, and identification with, colonial power" (ashcroft et al. 2007: 47). said's call for the independence of the intellectual from mainstream politics finds an echo in coetzee's caution to avoid the "comprador" position. for said, as for coetzee and spivak, the intellectual encounters the problem of representation and the perils of complicity. in the words of coetzee in "into the dark chamber," wb is about "the impact of the torture 85 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) chamber on the life of a man of conscience" (1986: para.4). coetzee grapples with a moral paradox: the question of how to represent torture in fiction without endorsing it or depriving the reader, how to depict history from the position of the oppressed without appropriating their voice, how not to transgress the limits of fiction into history or propaganda, how not to shy away from portraying violence, and above all how this "man of conscience" (a different label for the intellectual, author, or critic) stands in relation to power. through the figure of the magistrate, the novel dramatizes the intellectual's unavoidable relation to authority. in his reith lectures, said poses a question that is crucial to our understanding of wb: "how does the intellectual address authority: as a professional supplicant or as its unrewarded, amateurish conscience?" (1994: 83). the magistrate moves from timidity and indirect pleading for the prisoners to speaking his conscience and thus being the exiled figure of dissent, embodying the amateurish position said favors. if there is a change in the magistrate's attitude, it is from one of conformity, what said calls "professional" intellectualism throughout his reith lectures, to dissent, what said calls "amateurish" intellectualism. the ethical intellectual and humanist discourse for coetzee, the torture room metaphorically stages the uneven power relations between the oppressor and the victim, and embodies the difficulties involved in the intellectual's position. trapped between the dilemma of ignoring the atrocities of the state or reproducing them, the writer points to a real challenge: "how not to play the game by the rules of the state, how to establish one's own authority; how to imagine torture and death on one's own terms" (1986: para. 8). playing the game by the rules of the state entails complicity, which is the fate the magistrate in wb resists in imagining the torture that takes place in joll's rooms, or in his dealings with the victims of statesanctioned torture. another pitfall can be a cliched depiction of the torturer as a demonic, evil figure or simply a tool manipulated by the state. torture, to use the words of kelly adams, "creates a crisis not only of interpretation for the magistrate and the reader" of the novel, but also one of "representation for coetzee" (2015: 173). the novel's dramatization of the magistrate's questioning of the relationship between truth and language (between telling and believing) and joll's declaration that there is "a certain tone" to truth that the interrogator knows through training and practice (coetzee 2000: 5)2 all hint at the intellectual's predicament of representation that coetzee the writer and critic grapples with. while said questions the extent to which the intellectual involved in the public sphere should participate—"how far should an intellectual go in 2 all future references to coetzee's novel will be to this particular edition. page numbers are consistently given in the text. 86 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) getting involved?" (1994: 105)—the magistrate, a possible mouthpiece for coetzee, also questions the extent to which the interrogator can exercise pain in pursuit of truth (5). importantly, the magistrate questions the extent of his own involvement in imperial politics after his "easy years" of "hunting and hawking and placid concupiscence" (9). initially, he turns a deaf ear to the cries of pain coming from the granary (9). however, he goes there and sees for himself the dead corpse of the tortured prisoner (10). he talks to the prisoner's nephew and signs the false death warrant deposited by joll (6), which makes him more conscious of his complicity with the torturers. he has been tempted into the dark chamber against his conscious wish, and his questions to the guard enable him to realize the falsity of imperial claims (6). his questions to joll suggest his own inner struggle with knowing and telling the truth. the basic question for the intellectual, said contends, remains one about truth: "how does one speak the truth? what truth? for whom and where?" (1994: 88). from one perspective, wb stages the magistrate's struggles with speaking this truth to the empire he serves, as well as his gradual transformation from a figure of consent to a figure of dissent, both being intellectual positions said negotiates in his lectures on the representation of the intellectual. the pitfalls of amateur intellectualism in his reith lectures, representations of the intellectual, said defines intellectual amateurism in terms of "the desire to be moved not by profit or reward but by the love for and unquenchable interest in the larger picture, in making connections across lines and barriers, in refusing to be tied down to a specialty, in caring for ideas and values despite the restrictions of the profession" (1994: 76). professional intellectuals lose the full picture and can get absorbed in technical, abstract language. if the professional intellectual seeks objectivity and thus detachment or rewards, said contends, the amateur intellectual favors "passionate engagement, risk, exposure, commitment to principles, vulnerability in debating and being involved in worldly causes" (1994: 109). for example, literature specialists can lose interest in history or politics while conforming to employers' wishes and their political agendas. in brief, amateur intellectuals do not conform to social and academic norms. on the other hand, said defines amateurism as "an activity that is fueled by care and affection rather than by profit and selfish, narrow specialization" (1994: 82). apparently, amateur intellectuals are moved by universal values of justice and truth against the authority of power and institutional influences. coetzee s̓ novel begins with the arrival of colonel joll from the third bureau of the civil guard at the frontier settlement where the magistrate has peacefully lived for years. claiming he has arrived under emergency powers, joll begins his ruthless campaign in search of possible barbarian enemies. the magistrate, it should be stated, is also a seeker of truth, albeit of a different kind. he is an intellectual of sorts and a 87 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) man of principles, which fits said's conception of the amateur intellectual. he is an amateur writer with literary ambitions, a cartologist, a historian, a hunter, and an archeologist reading ruins and desert signs. his life in this frontier outpost—which has grown into an "agricultural settlement" in the desert (5)— away from the imperial capital has sharpened his senses. he reads the wind and the migrating birds as early signs of the arrival of spring (62). he collects and reads desert ruins in the form of wooden slips with enigmatic script (15) as an indication of an earlier settlement near the lake. his preoccupation with reading signs can be summarized in his exclamation: "how will i ever know?" (16). he reads the classics in his spare time and excavates desert ruins, trying to locate his service of the empire in the jagged history of the rise and fall of civilizations. he is a reader of imperial history and a critic of imperial practices. in brief, the magistrate conforms to said's conception of the intellectual as an "amateur" figure and as an "outsider" (1994: x) to dominant ideologies of power and oppression. the magistrate discovers that his previous life as a civil servant and "responsible official" (8) administering his duties in peace has changed once he confronts imperial power in the figure of his visitor, colonel joll. for said, intellectuals can be constrained by affiliations, parties, governments, financial considerations, and the pressures of professionalism. such factors, said maintains, can "compromise judgment and restrain the critical voice", especially when trying to please audiences or employers (1994: 68). before he sends the barbarian girl to her people months after she was left behind and after joll leaves on another border mission, the magistrate decides to write two documents, one addressed to the provincial governor explaining and justifying his visit to the barbarians as an attempt to prove his goodwill. as for the second document, he is not sure what it should be: "a testament? a memoir? a confession? a history of thirty years on the frontier? all that day i sit in a trance at my desk staring at the empty white paper, waiting for words to come" (62). such writing attempts can be seen as trying to break ties with imperial centers of power to gain the independent voice intellectuals aspire to. when words do not come, he gives up the project and leaves. his numerous talents and hobbies, however, remain in the amateurish sphere. in the words of said, "insiders, experts, coteries, professionals" who mold public opinion make the intellectual a conformist figure serving "special interests" and "corporate thinking" (1994: xiii). so, the intellectual as an amateur figure of exile remains an outsider to rules and guidance. while professionals, said holds, can act as consultants or experts trying "to provide authority with their labor while gaining great profit" (1994: xv), the amateur intellectual seeks independence from institutional or governmental pressures. nevertheless, escaping the public sphere and avoiding politics in art are difficult to achieve. when he finds warrant officer mandel in his office after the mission of sending the girl back to her people, the magistrate ponders: "it should not be so easy to attain salvation. and is there any principle behind my opposition?" (85). he 88 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) takes his status as a figure of dissent to authority for granted, and he is ready to sacrifice his freedom for his principles, yet he ethically questions his motivations for dissent. the magistrate links his inability to write to his inability to deal with this foreign woman in his bed whom the empire views as the "barbarian" girl, thus conjoining artistic and sexual impotence, which symbolically points to the pitfalls of public intellectualism and the oppressions exercised by authority. trying to leave a written statement, a history of the settlement, about the last days of the frontier town for future generations, he also fails: "what i find myself beginning to write is not the annals of an imperial outpost or an account of how the people of that outpost spent their last year composing their souls as they waited for the barbarians" (168). instead, he writes an idyllic plea on life on the frontier before border troubles. his amateur intellectualism, the "locutions of a civil servant with literary ambitions" (169), are opposed to the harsh winter approaching and the truth of expected invasion. his memorial is abortive, just like his sexual life. while taking the girl back to her people, he thinks: "too much or too little: is it she i want or the traces of a history her body bears?" (70). in his ethical crisis, he cannot tell whether his interest in her is a desire for her whole body, restored to health after the marks of torture are erased, or a preoccupation with the tortured body carrying the marks of imperial history. the difficulties the magistrate encounters in his intellectual and literary pursuits can be better understood in light of the challenges encountered by the postcolonial writer/critic, i.e., the extent of involvement and the ability to speak "truth to power" (said 1994, 85). his failures and hesitations are the intellectual's uneasy relationship with authority, trying to establish a distance from the oppressor: "i must assert my distance from colonel joll!" the magistrate interjects, "i will not suffer for his crimes" (48). the ethical humanist: complicity and resistance the magistrate's ethical dilemma begins early in this novel, once he has to mediate between the tortured prisoners and his guest arriving from the capital to investigate a possible uprising against the empire. years of service in a "lazy frontier" (8) during which the magistrate asked for a "quiet life" (8) before retirement ended with border troubles and rumors about a possible war with the barbarians. justifying the capture of a sick boy and his old uncle for assumed banditry, the magistrate says: "'no one would have brought an old man and a sick boy along on a raiding party.' i grow conscious that i am pleading for them" (4). however, his pleas on the prisoners' behalf never prevent the questioning and torture that follow and which he tries to ignore. upon their next meeting, the magistrate raises an ethical question to joll. he is concerned about prisoners being exposed to more pressure during interrogation but already telling the truth and having nothing more to offer, or simply being forced (through excessive pain) to lie to please their tormentors: "and what a responsibility for the interrogator! how do you 89 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) ever know when a man has told you the truth?" (5). while posing questions about the ethical duty of the interrogator not to inflict excessive or needless pain on the prisoner, the magistrate is still aware of his difficult position of complicity with the oppressor, serving the same imperial center: "… who am i to assert my distance from him? i eat with him, i show him the sights, i afford him every assistance as his letter of commission requests, and more" (6). according to ashcroft et al., the word "comprador" in postcolonial studies describes "a relatively privileged, wealthy and educated elite" who interact with and benefit from colonial practices and thus feel reluctant to "struggle for local cultural and political independence" (48). while the magistrate is not a native agent collaborating and benefiting from imperial structures, he still occupies the privileged and dominant part in his relationship with the barbarian prisoners. if the "comprador" class is complicit with the colonizer, the magistrate is but a colonizer/settler complicit with another colonizer (i.e., colonel joll). as the novel progresses, the magistrate will intellectually reject this complicity with the oppressor. comforting the tortured boy after the death of his uncle, the magistrate feels his complicity with the torturers: "it has not escaped me that an interrogator can wear two masks, speak with two voices, one harsh, one seductive" (8). he has mixed feelings of guilt and shame as he, like the torturer, tried to leave his marks on the barbarian girl: "whom will that other girl with the blind face remember: me with my silk robe and my dim lights and my perfumes and oils and my unhappy pleasures, or that other cold man with the mask over his eyes who gave the orders and pondered the sounds of her intimate pain?" (147-48). hence, he views this complicity with joll as "two sides of imperial rule, no more, no less" (148-49). his encounter with joll makes the magistrate ponder the very existence of the torturer, i.e. how one becomes a torturer, how torturers clean their hands afterward, and how they can break bread with others after such brutal acts: "does he wash his hands very carefully, perhaps, or change all his clothes; or has the bureau created new men who can pass without disquiet between the unclean and the clean?" (13). the magistrate's epistemological impasse about knowing if the prisoner is telling the truth (i.e., to decide when to stop torture) is augmented by another level of ontological and ethical questioning of the life and behavior of the torturer. the mentality of the torturer and the conditions that create this type of people puzzle the magistrate. on the one hand, the magistrate's ejaculations serve to heighten his humanist vision and code of ethics. on the other hand, the magistrate's ethical vision approximates coetzee's attempt to object to torture by pondering the torturer's lifestyle and mode of being. said asserts that the intellectual belongs "on the same side with the weak and unrepresented" (1994: 22). the magistrate finds it ethically difficult to side with joll, and he questions his position of complicity. his questioning of joll's violent practices aligns him with said's conception of "amateur intellectuals" who refuse to be co-opted by hegemonic power. 90 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) as a humanist, the magistrate believes in peace rather than war, "perhaps even peace at any price" (15). hence, he objects to joll sending fishing people as prisoners to be held until his return from the desert. to his mind, the empire has no external "enemies". however, his complicit stance of identification with the imperialists is manifest in his litany of complaints about their habits: "for a few days the fisherfolk are a diversion, with their strange gabbling, their vast appetites, their animal shamelessness, their volatile tempers" (20). the prisoners are made the other, the "filthy" counterpart of the civilized empire. when the interrogation process begins, the magistrate strains his ears not to hear the cries of pain and sounds of violence coming from the barracks hall. it is only when interrogation ceases that he can sleep, "away from the empire of pain" (24). the magistrate, the guardian of justice and civilized manners, is made to question his ethical values just as the liberal humanist critic/novelist has to reconsider his/her relationship to oppressive regimes and different forms of hegemonic power. gradually, however, the magistrate moves from a position of avoidance or denial to one of confrontation and dissent. as the first-person narrator, the magistrate assumes the humanist stance expected from "amateur" intellectuals, per said's account. contemplating the pain and dehumanization the torturers imposed on the girl's father before her eyes, the magistrate says: "thereafter she was no longer fully human, sister to all of us. certain sympathies died; certain movements of the heart became no longer possible to her" (89). when the main force comes back with a file of twelve barbarian captives, he is shocked that a loop of wire runs through their hands and cheeks to keep them meek. he feels disgusted at the sight: "my heart grows sick. i know now that i should not have left my cell" (113). in fact, the use of the word "cell" is illuminating as it disguises the magistrate's unconscious wish to remain in his own private state of mind rather than get involved with this public spectacle of torture. he is trapped in ambivalent feelings of not wanting to hate the victimizers and not wanting to witness the atrocity and thus hate himself. both experiences are depraving to the soul, and he decides to return to his cell to save himself from the atrocity to come: "let it at the very least be said, if it ever comes to be said, if there is ever anyone in some remote future interested to know the way we lived, that in this farthest outpost of the empire of light there existed one man who in his heart was not a barbarian" (114). the magistrate acts as the man of law and justice, the humanist who is sickened by the sight of children encouraged to flog the prisoners. he wants to pass in history as the ethical humanist who first denies being part of this depravity before he gains the courage to speak "truth to power" in said's terms. as an instance of a benevolent colonizer who "refuses", to draw on the words of albert memmi, the magistrate cannot mentally escape a difficult situation: "to refuse its ideology [i.e. that of colonization's concrete reality] while continuing to live with its actual relationships" (2003: 64). this refusing colonizer "lives his life under the sign of a contradiction which looms at every step, depriving him of all coherence and all tranquility" (memmi 2003: 64). it is only with 91 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) departing that such contradictions can be resolved, a course of action the magistrate does not pursue. a man of ethics and principles, the magistrate says he felt pained to see the settlers deceive the nomads in barter (41). in the words of memmi, the magistrate becomes a colonizer who "refuses" on ethical terms: "having discovered the economic, political and moral scandal of colonization, he can no longer agree to become what his fellow citizens have become; he decides to remain, vowing not to accept colonization" (2003: 63). hence, the magistrate's ethical dilemma persists, due to his concurrent realization of his complicity with the empire and his awareness of the empire's devious ways. when the magistrate returns to the imperial settlement and is questioned for "treasonously consorting" with the enemy, he responds to warrant office mandel by denying imperial foundations of superiority and asserting an ethic of equality: "'we are at peace here,' i say, 'we have no enemies.' there is silence. 'unless i make a mistake,' i say. 'unless we are the enemy'" (85). for said, one of the intellectual's main tasks is "to unearth the forgotten, to make connections that were denied, to cite alternative courses of action that could have avoided war and its attendant goal of human destruction" (1994: 22). despite his belief in humanist values like peace, tolerance, and justice, the magistrate embodies the intellectual's sense of bewilderment in the face of historical wrongs. his failure to capture the barbarian girl's story or adequately read her body stands for the intellectual's failure to represent oppression. conceding that comprehending torture is ethically difficult, he also realizes that representing it is equally, if not more, difficult. and when he is arrested and about to be confined, he is happy that he is now a figure of dissent: "i am aware of the source of my elation: my alliance with the guardians of the empire is over, i have set myself in opposition, the bond is broken, i am a free man" (85). he is resisting to uphold what said calls the "eternal standards of truth and justice" (1994: 5). when joll wants to use a hammer to crush the feet of the prisoners in the square, the magistrate objects, hearing the word "no!" (116) come from his throat and chest despite himself. he sustains injuries: a broken hand and nose and a wound on his face. however, he insists: "'look!' i shout. 'we are the great miracle of creation!' but from some blows this miraculous body cannot repair itself! how--! words fail me. 'look at these men!' i recommence. 'men!'" (117; emphasis original). the magistrate's humanism is founded on his opposition to torture, on pursuing the ideal of justice despite the harsh imperial stratagems. to reiterate, the novel demonstrates a shift in the magistrate's position from deliberate silence and avoidance in his encounter with torture early in the novel ("of the screaming which people afterwards claim to have heard from the granary i hear nothing" 5) to dissent as the novel reaches its climax. what said calls the intellectual's "trimming, careful silence" and "turning away" which distort the intellectual's public role (1994: xii, 100) change as the magistrate turns into an exile speaking "the truth to power" and becoming "controversial" (1994: xvi, 100). as a marginal figure of exile, the 92 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) intellectual for said stands "outside the comforts of privilege, power, being-at-homeness" (1994: 59). the magistrate's problematic relationship with imperial power is manifested in his repeated objections "no! no! no!" (116) to depraving the prisoners, and his direct and public opposition to joll can be understood in terms of the dissent he embodies as a public figure. assuming that saying "yes" entails accommodation or co-option by power, then saying "no" signifies the refusal to conform that said assigns to amateur intellectuals. exploring problems of identity and personhood in wb, adrian grafe has presented the magistrate as a "personalized" figure of "rebellion" whose guilty conscience is revealed in the aptly used first-person narrative; hence, for grafe the novel dramatizes "the opposition between justice and law" (2018: 23). the magistrate, grafe maintains, is "distinctly conscious of his conscience, and his 'growing conscious' is part of the process of his becoming a person" (2018: 25). in other words, his dynamic identity formation is contingent on his ethical pleas on behalf of the prisoners, an act which alleviates his feelings of guilt and complicity. instead of accepting imperial policies or seeking the approval of authority figures, the magistrate confronts both his intellectual objections to torture as well as his fears of authority. if words fail the magistrate and he finds the body of the tortured girl enigmatic, it is because the novel "does not recover history as a fully narratable subject, but bears witness to it by refusing to translate the suffering produced by colonial oppression into historical discourse" (craps 2007: 59). hence, the magistrate fails to read the girl's coded body just as he fails to articulate the pain of torture he is witnessing, and the magistrate's hermeneutical crisis echoes the intellectual's task when confronting oppression that is not told and cannot be told. such a spectacle of cruelty, the magistrate objects, corrupts both sides and denies innocence to children. joll, accordingly, mocks him for trying to be "the one just man, the man who is prepared to sacrifice his freedom to his principles" (124). seeking exoneration before history, the magistrate accuses joll of being the real enemy who committed "filthy barbarities" against the barbarians against the principles of civilized nations (125). with his hands tied and his body hoisted on a tree, the magistrate still thinks in humanist terms despite the pain, hoping that the children do not imitate the games of their elders, "or tomorrow there will be a plague of little bodies dangling from the trees" (133). his question to a torturer like mandel reveals much philosophical depth about attempting to understand the zone in which the torturer lives and how he eats after committing the atrocities of torture: how do you find it possible to eat afterwards, after you have been … working with people? … do you find it easy to take food afterwards? i have imagined that one would want to wash one's hands. but no ordinary washing would be enough, one would require priestly intervention, a ceremonial of cleansing, don't you think? some kind of purging of one's soul too. (138) 93 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) even when the magistrate begins to care for the tortured girl left behind, he feels that the distance between himself and her torturers is negligible, and he shudders at this realization (29). his ethical commitment to her burdens him, although he does not know what exactly to do with her tortured body. it is his awareness of being complicit with the oppressors that urges him to establish a distance from imperial ways in favor of humanist values like toleration and acceptance: "where civilization entailed the corruption of barbarian virtues and the creation of a dependent people, i decided, i was opposed to civilization; and upon this resolution i based the conduct of my administration" (41). however, his attempts at an ethical distance from the empire bring him back to doubt and skepticism associated with complicity. his conversation with a young officer joining the new conscripts in the settlement reveals his humanistic stance against constructed bias: "how do you eradicate contempt, especially when that contempt is founded on nothing more substantial than differences in table manners, variations in the structure of the eyelid?" (55). one vital task for intellectuals, said contends, is an effort to "break down the stereotypes and reductive categories that are so limiting to human thought and communication" (1994: xi). moreover, said adds that intellectuals should question "patriotic nationalism, corporate thinking, and a sense of class, racial or gender privilege" (1994: xiii). however, the magistrate's ambivalence is manifested when he questions his own ideals: "do i really look forward to the triumph of the barbarian way: intellectual torpor, slovenliness, tolerance of disease and death?" (56). his humanistic discourse is never free from imperial prejudices and stereotypes as he has been a functionary in the process for too long. such contradictions in the magistrate's position capture the paradoxical position of the intellectual who is complicit with systems of oppression or simply assuming a position of privilege against the subaltern, thus running the risk of further silencing them. while for said intellectuals are unpredictable, conforming to no rules or expectations, they remain secular figures worshipping no gods (1994: xiv). the spirit of opposition and dissent they hold is a "struggle on behalf of underrepresented and disadvantaged groups" (said 1994, xvii). due to opposing imperial authority on behalf of the captured prisoners, the magistrate is imprisoned and tortured accordingly. having struggled with overcoming a difficult position of complicity and avoidance, the magistrate becomes what said calls the "unafraid and compassionate intellectual" (1994: 101). conclusion it should be noted that for some critics the magistrate assumes a problematic position as the liberal humanist since he "tries to maintain a moral gap from foul acts of the group, yet he fails" (waham & othoman 2019: 183). however, we should not undermine his attempts at relating to the other or his attempts at opposing the authority of the empire. coetzee, like said in a sense, has pointed out the risks and pitfalls of the humanist as the 94 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) intellectual, critic, or writer. the magistrate's failures to decode the barbarian girl's body, to construct a coherent story of her pain, or to write a history of the empire's last years, all point to the failures of liberal humanist discourse in the face of historical injustice. on the other hand, we should recall that imperial agents start leaving the frontier settlement at the end of the novel, allowing the magistrate to resume some of his duties, and the empire seems to be losing against the elusive enemy it has constructed. this indicates the ultimate triumph of the ideals of humanism and justice that the magistrate represents against the oppressive authority practiced by the empire. however, the intellectual as a liberal humanist has a role to play regardless of the outcome, i.e., regardless of their ability to actually change the status quo or subvert power structures. for said, we should remember, the whole point is being controversial and active to "advance human freedom and knowledge" (1994: 17). hence, the intellectual's critical sense should be augmented at any price, a necessary value often diminished when the intellectual seeks consensus-building or society's approval. on different occasions, said experienced his public intellectualism in terms of a personal crisis. the life of coetzee's magistrate embodies those private tensions experienced by the public intellectual as the humanist. in the figure of the magistrate, coetzee found a way to negotiate ethical dilemmas and challenges faced by public intellectuals, especially those trying to speak "truth to power." references adams, k. 2015. acts without agents: the language of torture in j. m. coetzee's waiting for the barbarians. ariel: a review of international english literature 46(3): 165-177. jstor. accessed 16 september 2021. ashcroft, b., et al. 2007. postcolonial studies: the key concepts. 2nd ed. london: routledge. coetzee, j. m. 1986. into the dark chamber: the novelist and south africa. new york times 12 jan. late city final ed., sec. 7:13. accessed 6 september 2021 [http://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/02/home/coetzee-chamber.html] coetzee, j. m. 1988. the novel today. upstream 6(1): 2-5. coetzee, j. m. 2000 [1980]. waiting for the barbarians. london: vintage. craps, s. 2007. j. m. coetzee's waiting for the barbarians and the ethics of testimony. english studies 88(1): 59-66. doi: 10.1080/00138380601042758. foucault, m. 1998. what is an author? in: j. faubion (ed.), aesthetics, method, and epistemology, 205-222. new york: the new press. grafe, a. 2018. type, personalisation and depersonalisation in j. m. coetzee s̓ waiting for the barbarians. commonwealth essays and studies 40(2): 23-32. http://journals.open edition.org/ces/283. doi: 10.4000/ces.283 95 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) gramsci, a. 1971. selections from the prison notebooks. q. hoare and g. smith (eds.). new york: international publishers. martin, r. 1986. narrative, history, ideology: a study of ʻwaiting for the barbariansʼ and ʻburger s̓ daughter.̓ ariel: a review of international english literature 17(3): 3-21. memmi, a. 2003. the colonizer and the colonized. h. greenfeld (trans.). london: earthscan publications. parry, b. 1998. speech and silence in the fictions of j. m. coetzee. in: d. attridge and r. jolly (eds.), writing south africa: literature, apartheid, and democracy, 1970-1995, 149-165. cambridge: cambridge university press. poyner, j., (ed.). 2006. j. m. coetzee and the idea of the public intellectual. athens: ohio up. poyner, j. (ed.). 2009. j. m. coetzee and the paradox of postcolonial authorship. farnham, surrey: ashgate. said, e. w. 1979. orientalism. new york: vintage. said, e. w. 1994. representations of the intellectual: the 1993 reith lectures. new york: vintage. said, e. w. 1983. the world, the text, and the critic. cambridge: harvard university press. spivak, g. 1988. can the subaltern speak? in: c. nelson and l. grossberg (eds.), marxism and the interpretation of culture, 271-313. macmillan education: basingstoke. spivak, g. 2002. ethics and politics in tagore, coetzee, and certain scenes of teaching. diacritics 32(3-4): 17-31. waham, j. j. & othoman, w. m. 2019. narration as a means of communication in selected novels by j. m. coetzee: waiting for the barbarians and foe. language literacy: journal of linguistics, literature and language teaching 3(2): 178-184. doi: 10.30743/ll. v3i2.1237. *** professor shadi s. neimneh teaches undergraduate and graduate literature courses with a focus on anglo-american and european modernism as well as different manifestations of literary theory. he has published profusely on modernist literature and south african fiction. his publications include: "african american satire and harlem renaissance literary politics" in american studies today (2013), "the anti-hero in modernist fiction: from irony to cultural renewal" in mosaic: a journal for the interdisciplinary study of literature (2013), "thematics of interracial violence in selected harlem renaissance novels" in papers on language and literature (2014), "the visceral allegory of waiting for the barbarians: a post-modern rereading of j. m. coetzee's apartheid novels" in callaloo: a journal of african diaspora (2014), and "autofiction and fictionalization: j. m. coetzee's novels and boyhood" in transnational literature (2015). shadi neimneh doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.39.4.05 the humanist discourse in j. m. coetzee's waiting for the barbarians 37 94 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) katarzyna lach mirghani1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.38.3.05 university of białystok, poland http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3651-0825 thank you, sorry and please: english politeness markers in polish abstract. the aim of this study is to analyse the use of the english politeness markers thank you, sorry and please in polish. my initial hypothesis was that the politeness markers have already been incorporated into the mental lexicon of polish speakers, and are thus understood and accepted by them, but they do not have the prospect of replacing their polish equivalents because they lack the necessary pragmatic force. previous studies (terkourafi 2011; peterson & vaattovaara 2014) show that pragmatic borrowings are unlikely to do so. however, this corpus study finds a context in which a borrowing is used increasingly, namely sorry in the collocation with ale (ʻbutʼ). it seems to have started replacing its polish equivalents in this context, as it constitutes 25% of all collocations of apologetic behaviour with ale in the national corpus of polish. however, the majority of the occurrences of the analysed politeness markers in the corpus are restricted to internet-mediated communication. keywords: linguistic politeness, pragmatic borrowings, politeness markers, thank you, sorry, please. 1. introduction the study of politeness has been one of the focal points of pragmatics since the 1970s. there are three primary ways of understanding this phenomenon: politeness as social rules (watts et al. 1992), politeness as adherence to maxims (lakoff 1973; leech 1983) and politeness as face management (brown & levinson 1987; spencer-oatey 2008). recent (postmodern) approaches view it also as a discursive concept, shaped in interaction (cf. haugh 2007; mills 2011). as observed by ogiermann (2009: 1), “[w]hile pragmatic theories view politeness as a set of strategies used to redress face and culture as a factor influencing strategy choice, postmodern theories emphasise the unpredictable nature of politeness and the heterogeneous nature of culture”. this study draws from 1 address for correspondence: centre for linguistic studies, faculty of philology, university of białystok, pl. nzs 1, 15-420 białystok, poland. e-mail: k.lach@uwb.edu.pl http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3651-0825 95 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) brown and levinson s̓ (1987) theory, which is often used in cross-cultural comparisons in the field of politeness, and analyses the english and polish cultures as negative/positive politeness cultures; it also aims to investigate the social rules governing politeness (cf. watts et al. 1992). when two languages are in contact, it is inevitable that some words are borrowed (andersen et al. 2017). researchers have demonstrated that the process concerns not only lexical but also pragmatic borrowings (andersen 2014). rather than contribute to the content of an utterance, pragmatic borrowings modify the hearer s̓ interpretation by carrying linguistic and extralinguistic signals – they shape the listener s̓ interpretation by signalling “speaker attitude the speech act performed, discourse structure, information state, politeness, etc.” (andersen 2014: 17). politeness markers are among the most common items involved in pragmatic borrowing (andersen 2014; peterson 2017). having become a lingua franca, english started influencing other languages and became the source language of pragmatic borrowings for many of them (terkourafi 2011; peterson & vaattovaara 2014). this study focuses on the use of the english politeness markers thank you, sorry and please in polish. it investigates their use in the national corpus of polish to establish the degree to which they have been adapted to the polish morphological patterns and to identify the language registers and contexts in which they appear most frequently. 2. english and polish politeness researchers (e.g. brown & levinson 1987; lubecka 2000; ogiermann 2012) agree that some cultures are inherently positive or negative politeness cultures. this division is connected with brown and levinson s̓ (1987) distinction between positive and negative face. their understanding of the notion of face goes back to goffman, who defined it as “the positive social value a person effectively claims for himself by the line others assume he has taken during a particular contact” (1955: 213). brown and levinson (1987) argue that all speech acts are potentially face-threatening; hence their use of the term “face-threatening act” (fta). brown and levinson (1987: 62) associate negative face with the want that one s̓ actions be unimpeded by others, and positive face with the want for one s̓ wants to be desirable to others. in consequence, negative politeness cultures are characterized by the use of strategies involving indirectness. they aim to minimise the feeling of imposition and thus fulfil the negative face wants. in positive politeness cultures, polite behaviour focuses on the strategies that fulfil the positive face wants by focusing on appreciation and approval of the hearer which may be obtained by maintaining the feeling of being united and having some common ground (brown & levinson 1987). according to brown and levinson (1987: 129-130), in english-speaking countries, negative politeness is predominant and more developed, which means that negative-politeness 96 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) strategies, such those involving indirectness, are more elaborate. poland is said to be a positive politeness country (cf. lubecka 2000; ogiermann 2012), where the sense of camaraderie predominates over the need to be unimpeded. negative politeness in polish culture may be associated with a high degree of social distance and thus, among the members of the in-group, perceived as an indication of coldness or dishonesty. in polish, indirectness, achieved among other means by highly elaborate utterances (jakubowska 1999), which are marked as inherently polite by clark and schunk (1980), may be perceived as “bizarre”, “absent from polish culture” (wierzbicka 1985: 149), or even “manipulative” (ogiermann 2009: 38). in polish culture, politeness is achieved by different means, such as diminutives, exaggeration and exclamations (wierzbicka 1985; ogiermann 2009, 2012). 3. english-polish interactions mańczak-wohlfeld (2006: 17-42) provides a comprehensive diachronic analysis of the english-polish interactions since the 17th century. the first english borrowings were found in the magazine called “merkuriusz polski ordynaryjny” from 1661 (the examples are: lord, mylord, spiker [the assimilated form of speaker], and par). they described english realia, which according to the author, is typical for the oldest borrowings. the other group of the oldest borrowings were maritime terms (cutter, ket(ch), sloop and yacht). later, in a dictionary from 1779, the scholar found 17 borrowings all of which were within the two categories mentioned above. all 17 words were nouns, which as she states is a common tendency in all european languages. in the 20th century, the influence of english gained momentum. mańczak-wohlfeld (1994) published a compilation of 1600 lexical units deriving from this language, and sixteen years later a dictionary of english loanwords with 2000 units in 2010 (mańczak-wohlfeld 2010). looking at the growth rate over the sixteen years between 1994 and 2010, it may be inferred that the number of loanwords has certainly grown in the first two decades of the 21st century. the growth had been intense even before the increase in the use of the internet. since 2010, the internet has become one of the most common means of communication and facilitated international contacts. what is more, szerszunowicz (2020) demonstrates that american culture has influenced polish ways of communication in everyday interactions and induced the emergence of some pragmatic idioms such as miłego dnia [have a nice day]. sztencel (2009: 3) claims that the contact between polish and english is not “casual” nowadays and has reached stage 3 according to thomason and kaufman (1988) borrowing scale and should be described as “more intense”. the use of the politeness markers thank you, sorry and please in polish is also one of the indications of the intense language contact. 97 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 4. material and method this study draws from the speech acts theory (austin 1962) and politeness theories (see lakoff 1973, 1990; leech 1983; brown & levinson 1987; watts et al. 1992). it combines the study of pragmatic borrowings (andersen 2014; ogiermann 2012) with the corpus linguistics framework (see mcenery & hardie 2012). the analysed phrases, i.e. thank you, sorry and please, are formulaic expressions also called illocutionary force indicating devices (ifids) (ogiermann 2012). this study first looks at their use in english, then it examines the use of their polish equivalents and, finally, it investigates the uses of thank you, sorry and please in polish. in order to compare the usage of the selected english and polish politeness markers, and to analyse the use of english politeness markers in polish, two corpora have been utilised: the british national corpus (henceforth the bnc) and the national corpus of polish (henceforth the ncp). both of them are reference corpora and no new entries are added to them. the bnc consists of 100 million words from over 4000 samples of modern english. 90% of the corpus consists of the written sources and 10% of the spoken samples of british english (see aston & burnard 1997: 28-31). the entries are dated from 1985 to 1994. the ncp consists of approximately 1.5 billion words in polish from the period between 1988 and 2010 (see przepiórkowski et al. 2012: 8). both corpora are available online. the bnc has been accessed through the online interface by birmingham young university (see https://www.english-corpora.org/bnc/). the ncp has been accessed through the pelcra njkp browser (pęzik 2012) (nkjp is the abbreviation of the full name of the corpus in polish: narodowy korpus języka polskiego). both corpora provide researchers with the metadata about each entry so the year of each entry could be obtained. the frequencies and collocations have also been collected through the corpus tools. for the purpose of defining the analysed phrases, the dictionaries of english and polish have been used (rundell fox 2002; drabik et al. 2018). the analysis focused on the quantitative and qualitative data to establish in what contexts and how frequently the english politeness markers are used in polish. moreover, this study aims to explore the possibility of the replacement of the polish politeness markers with the english ones in some contexts. for this purpose, it was essential to analyse the frequencies and the patterns of use (the collocations) of the phrases in question in polish. the choice of the phrases with english politeness markers was not restricted in any way. the only criterium was the use of the markers in naturally occurring sentences formulated in polish, and not in translations or quotations from english. in order to obtain such search results in one particular case (thank you and thanks) some phrases with english collocates such as for and in advance had to be excluded. the translations of the polish phrases provided in this chapter have been provided by the present author; they are given in square brackets when necessary. https://www.english-corpora.org/bnc/ 98 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 5. discussion of results 5.1. thank you, sorry, and please in english speech patterns 5.1.1 thank you to thank is a performative verb that is used “to tell somebody that you are grateful for something they have done or given to you” (rundell & fox 2002: 1484). from the discourse analysis perspective, the function of thank you is interactional – its aim is to express one s̓ gratitude. the verb thank is transitive and its grammar pattern is: “to thank sb for (doing) sth” (rundell & fox 2002: 1484). according to rundell and fox (2002: 1484), thanks is also an informal interjection and can be used for “telling someone you are grateful for something they have said or done”, “politely accepting something that is offered to you”, or (when used with no) for “politely refusing something” (rundell & fox 2002: 1484). what is interesting, even when used as a performative verb, it rarely occurs with an explicit subject (the subject is implied). in the bnc, out of 9555 occurrences of thank you, there are barely 126 occurrences of i thank you. the other, more informal form of this phrase is thanks with a frequency of 6297 in the bnc. the most common collocate of to thank is you (frequency 9555) as an interjection or an ifid (ogiermann 2012: 32). the pronoun you does not collocate with the informal thanks. the most common collocates of both thank you and thanks in the bnc are: very and much. they usually appear together as in examples (1) a-e. the frequency of very in the bnc is 1314, and the frequency of much is 1332. (1) a. thank you very much. b. thank you all very much. c. thank you very much, thank you chris. d. thanks very much. e. that s̓ great, thanks very much. the next most frequent collocate of thank you and thanks is, as evidenced in the bnc, the preposition for (frequency of thank you is 1091 and of thanks 633), which may be seen in examples (2) a-e. (2) a. i havenʼt been able to write formally to thank you for the meeting… b. thank you for that… c. well thank you for your comments anyway… d. thanks for inviting me. e. thanks for pointing that out terry. 99 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) another common collocate of thank you and thanks is no which occurs in a frontal position as in “no, thanks” (frequency 318) or “no, thank you” (frequency 308) and is a polite way of refusing. other collocates of thanks are to (frequency 2456) and the (frequency 1031), but the function of such utterances is not exclusively performative – they serves as means of giving credit to somebody. 5.1.2 sorry sorry is an adjective that means “ashamed, embarrassed, or unhappy about something that you have done” or “feeling sadness or sympathy for someone because something bad has happened to them” (rundell & fox 2002: 1365). since it is an adjective, it usually follows the verb to be. the grammar pattern is: a pronoun + to be + sorry + a preposition (for/to/about). the verb to be and a pronoun may be elided, but are always inferred as in examples (3) a-c. (3) a. oh, sorry to disturb you both. b. well sorry, anne, but i know too much about you to take this drivel. c. yes. sorry, i'm not explaining myself very well, am i? in each sentence, the first person pronoun and the verb to be could be added so the first sentence could be formed as “oh, i am sorry to disturb you both”. the most frequent prepositions that follow sorry are for, to and about (rundell & fox 2002: 1365). in the bnc, they are also the most common collocates, along with i and am. (4) a. i'm sorry about that! b. i'm sorry for all that, i'm really sorry. c. i'm sorry for you but this is what democracy is all about… d. i'm sorry to have brought this down e. sorry to butt in but if anybody's got a car parked at the back f. …well, sorry to interrupt, but… as can be seen in examples (4) c, (4) e and (4) f, not only can sorry be used after an fta has been performed but it also serves as a softening tool if a speaker wants to interrupt or say something unpleasant. the clause after the ifid is then introduced with but, which is not one of the top ten collocations, but is still fairly common (frequency – 319). 5.1.3 please please is an interjection that is “used as a polite way of asking for something or of asking someone to do something” and for “emphasising a request, an order, or a statement” (rundell & fox 2002: 1081). it may be placed at the end of a clause: can i make an order, 100 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) please or at the beginning: please stop it. if it occurs in the middle, it becomes an emphasising tool: can you please stop it? another use of please is a “polite way of accepting something that someone has offered you: yes, please or please do” or for “saying that you think someone has said something silly” (rundell & fox 2002: 1081). in this meaning, the collocate will be oh as in oh, please. the common collocations in the bnc are me (usually appearing in a distance of from two to four words, as in examples (5) a-d), contact, yes, and do. the personal pronoun me occurs in the context of asking for something. its frequency in bnc is 626. the collocate contact appears in the context of asking someone to contact the speaker or another party, as in examples (5) e-g, and its frequency is 577. (5) a. will you get me the key then please? b. can somebody pass me the new potatoes please? c. let me use the tippex please phillipe. d. otherwise please send me a colour sample… e. please! please contact us at this number… f. if you have any queries, please contact the travel agent through which you booked… g. should you have any query or complaint regarding this insurance please contact hci. the collocates yes and do occur in the context of agreeing to something (as in examples (6) a-c). the frequency of yes is 308. although the frequency of the collocate do is 721 in bnc, in the majority of cases, it is used in a negative request as in example (6) e. just a few examples of the emphasised agreement with the use of do (as in example (6) d) could be found. (6) a. one of these will do? yes please, yes please, b. shall we do that now? yes. please. c. are we coming down saturday? yes, please. d. yes. please do den. e. please do not hesitate to contact me if… 5.2. the use of the polish equivalents of thank you, sorry, and please – dziękuję, przepraszam, proszę 5.2.1. dziękuję (‘thank you’) the infinitive form of dziękuję is dziękować. it is a verb that means “to express gratitude, to give thanks” (drabik et al. 2018: 180). the equivalent of thanks in polish is dzięki, which is a more informal way of giving thanks. the most common collocates of dziękuję, 101 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) as evidenced in the ncp, are bardzo and mocno, which are intensifiers meaning ʻvery ,̓as well. panu and pani are the objects in a v-form. the most common collocate of dzięki is wielkie, which literally translates into ʻbigʼ and is an intensifier. the use of an object is optional so the main difference between the english to thank and the polish dziękować is that the former is transitive and the latter intransitive. 5.2.2. przepraszam (‘sorry’) the infinitive form of the verb przepraszam is przepraszać. it is a transitive verb that means “to ask for forgiveness by explaining oneself and giving excuses” (drabik et al. 2018: 773). it may also be used to politely get someone s̓ attention. other phrases also described by ogiermann (2012) which are used for apologising are przykro mi and wybacz. the meaning of przykro mi is the closest to the english i’m sorry. wybacz means ʻforgive me .̓ the most popular collocations of przepraszać, according to ncp, are mocno and bardzo – the intensifiers that are used for dziękuję as well. przepraszać and sorry are different parts of speech so their grammar patterns are different. 5.2.3. proszę (‘please’) prosić is an infinitive form of the polish equivalent of please, proszę. it means not only “to ask somebody for something”, but also “to encourage someone to pay us a visit or to get somewhere” (drabik et al. 2018: 746). the verb is transitive and its most popular collocations in the ncp are the objects panią and pana (ʻmrʼ and ʻmsʼ). it may be used with the collocate o (ʻforʼ). prosić and please are different parts of speech, so their patterns of use differ. 5.3. thank you, sorry, and please in polish 5.3.1. thank you first of all, it is worth noting that the use of thank you, according to the ncp data, is not common in spoken communication in polish. there were no search results in the spoken part of the ncp when searching for any of the variations that appeared in the written corpus. the reason for that may be the difficulty of pronouncing the sound /θ/ because such dental fricatives do not exist in polish. that is why some assimilated forms such as tenks, tenkju or fenks emerged. furthermore, the basic form thank you (as opposed to thanks) was not very common in the written part of the ncp and in the majority of cases it was used as a citation or a part of a title. in these utterances, the phrase was surrounded by other english words. the most common collocates of thank you in the ncp were the english words very and for, and powiedzieć (ʻto sayʼ) which is a reporting verb and is used for citations in the corpus. the primary results consisted of 872 texts (1251 occurrences) in which the phrase thank you could be found. after 102 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) excluding the results with common collocates that would suggest the english context, such as for and in advance, there were 326 texts (395 occurrences) found, many of which still consisted of longer english phrases or were a part of intercultural polish-english discourse. very and much were not excluded because the phrase thank you very much could be observed in the polish context. there were just a few occurrences of thank you in the polish context and all of them were used in the internet-mediated interactive communication. the examples were as follows: (7) a. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2005: thank you very much za wysłuchanie [thank you very much for listening to me] b. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2006: ohh, thank you, ja ya, czaję bazę [ohh, thank you, (ja ya), i get it] c. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2006: thank you from the mountain; pp d. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2007 o thank you very much mankid. przynajmniej ty jedna sie ze mna zgodzilas. [oh thank you very much mankid. at least youʼve agreed with me.] the utterances in (7) show that thank you in polish was used according to the english pattern. what is interesting, example (7) c shows a humorous, literal translation of the polish phrase z góry (lit. ʻfrom the mountainʼ), which means ʻin advance .̓ thanks was used more commonly in the ncp data. the search without excluding any phrases gave 907 texts (1211 occurrences). after excluding the same collocates as with thank you, i.e. for and in advance, the search gave 450 occurrences in 404 texts. although the numbers of occurrences and texts with thank you and thanks did not differ considerably (395 vs 450 occurrences and 326 vs 404 texts), an analysis of the random selection of 10 consecutive examples of the use of thank you and thanks from the corpus showed clearly that there were many fewer examples of english or intercultural discourse in the case of thanks. as shown in table 1, there are no examples of the use of thank you in the polish context (example 8 is a metalinguistic comment), while as shown in table 2, the majority of instances exemplify the polish context (with the exception of number 4 and 6 in which thanks appeared as a part of a webpage address). table 1. an excerpt from the search results for thank you in ncp 1. benedykt xvi powiedział „ thank you ” 2. dom, czy wszystko u niego w porządku na pewno odpowie: iʻm fine, thank you … ? po dwudziestu latach pobytu za oceanem jerzy skolimowski jest 103 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) table 2. an excerpt from the search results for thanks in ncp despite the fact that there were many occurrences of thanks in the polish context in a given random selection, not many polish collocations could be found in the ncp and none of them was in the top ten in terms of frequency. the top polish collocation was 3. semsaladem 0 pkt, 34,91s; 2. claudia gisler (irlandia) thank you 0 pkt, 38,21; 3. cian oʼconnor (irlandia) 0 pkt, 35,00. 4. z miejscowymi wręcz nadużywać tych ich wszystkich: "please", " thank you " i "i'm sorry". choć to tylko forma. bez tego możesz uchodzić za 5. va bien? merci ale: obruni, obruni, how are you? iʼm fine. thank you . czyli: biały, biały, jak się masz? dobrze. dziękuję. 6. sinatra – owacja na krawędzi powstania, ale nikt nie wstał. " thank you , you can sit down" rzucił w stronę sali. i dopiero wszyscy 7. oklaski i okrzyki: "glory!"; "allelujah!"; "praise the lord!"; " thank you , jesus!"; "amen!", potwierdzają zachwyt zebranych wobec takiego 8. szukran odpowiada, że tu już nie mówi się szukran, tylko thank you . bo ta wojna toczy się też o język. 9. thank you , professor! 10. thank you , steven 104 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) góra ʻmountain,̓ which forms the phrase z góry thanks meaning ʻthanks in advanceʼ as in examples (8) a and (8) b. the phrase is an example of a hybrid, i.e. a combination of a native element with a foreign one. there were 11 occurrences of this collocation in the ncp. what is interesting, there were 29 occurrences of the expression thanks from the mountain, which is the already mentioned humorous, literal calque of the polish phrase z góry. this word combination can be noticed among the randomly selected examples in table 2 point 10. (8) a. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2000 za wszelką pomoc z góry thanks bardzo!! [for all the help, thanks a lot in advance!!] b. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2002 z góry thanks za pomysły. [thanks in advance for the ideas.] c. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2004 fenk ju so macz! [thank you so much!] d. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2007 ewentualnie trzymającym kciuki wery fenkju [to the ones whoʼll their keep fingers crossed thank you very much] e. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2005 – shadie 5 avek mi sie podoba z tych co dałas – tenkju [– shadie, i like 5 avatars from the ones that youʼve given – thank you] f. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2005 fenks za przypomnienie, zapomniałem o tym. [thanks for reminding me. iʼve forgotten about it.] g. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2003 tenks za pocieszenie. :) [thanks for comforting me. :)] as already noted, the polish language does not have the fricative sound /θ/. for a polish person, this sound is somewhere between /f/ and /t/. polish spelling and pronunciation are closely connected. if there is the sound /t/ in a word, it is represented as t in spelling. the sound /j/ that is present in you has a corresponding letter j. thus people may spell thank you and thanks with the use of the letters mentioned above. this is why variants like in examples (8) c-g, such as fenk ju, fenkju, tenkju, fenks and tenks are also present in the corpus. 105 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) apart from thank you, thanks, and the phonetically assimilated forms, in polish internet-mediated communication some abbreviated forms, such as thx and tnx could be noticed. especially the former appears to have gained some popularity. the search results for thx gave 3628 examples from 2616 texts (after excluding common english collocations, there were 3476 examples in 2513 texts); the results for tnx gave 111 examples in 99 texts. the most common collocations were similar for both abbreviations. the most frequent was the already mentioned góra and za (ʻforʼ). góra appeared 577 times in relation to thx and 12 times with tnx; za appeared 426 times with thx and 24 times with tnx. another common collocate was big (example (9) c.) which is a literal translation of the polish phrase wielkie dzięki. this collocation appeared 35 times in the corpus. (9) a. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2008 z góry thx za wszystkie opinie na ten temat. [thank you in advance for all the opinions on this subject.] b. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2006 thx za każdy komentarz… [thx for each comment…] c. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2006 …a tak a propo to big thx za odpowiedzi… […by the way, big thx for your responses…] noteworthy is the fact that, although thank you and its derivates are not very common in polish, the corpus data indicate that they are fairly often used in phraseologisms that are translated literally from polish. the examples are thank you from the mountain and big thx. 5.3.2. sorry sorry is the politeness marker that, according to görlach (2001b), has been present in polish since the 1980s. the corpus data confirm that it is used frequently in polish. there were over 20,000 examples of search results for sorry. some assimilated forms such as sory, sori, sorki, sorka and sorunia could also be found. these variants show graphemic and morphological assimilation and prove that sorry has entered the mental lexicon of the speakers of polish. similar findings have already been reported by zgółkowie (1992) and piotrowski (2003). as can be seen in chart 1, sorry is the prevalent form in written internet-mediated interactive communication while in the spoken part of the corpus sory is more widespread (chart 2). the third most common version is sorki (chart 3), which is a diminutive form of sorry. it usually appears in internet-mediated interactive communication but is visibly less widespread. moreover, sorry appears in literature and internet non-interactive 106 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) sources but in these cases, it is not used as a spontaneously uttered ifid. sori and sorka have not been included in the charts because their frequencies are too low to be graphically presented as in most of the discourse types their frequency is below 1 per 1 million words. the charts present the most significant types of discourse in which the frequency equals at least 1. 107 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) another piece of evidence for the entrenchment of sorry and its derivatives in the polish language is the fact that they are used with a number of native collocates such as ale, za, to, że, etc. the ncp and 1 occurrence in the spoken part. it may sound appealing due to the alliteration and the rhyme. the meaning of the phrase is “sorry, it is as it is” or “sorry you have no choice” accordingly like in (10) a and (10) b. (10) a. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2006 sytuacja jest jeszcze w miare zdrowa gdy akcjonariuszy jest dwóch, trzech i zasiadają oni w zarządzie ale jeśli jest ich 1000 to sorry gregory... [the situation is quite healthy when there are two or three shareholders who are on the board of directors. when there are 1000 then sorry gregory…] b. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2003 albo bierzesz zaawansowany albo początkujący. jeżeli jednak to co chcesz wybrać miałeś w szkole średniej to sorry gregory ... musisz brać poziom zaawansowany. [you take an advanced or a beginner (course of a language). if you had the language you want to choose in high school, sorry gregory, you have to take an advanced (course).] sorry, winnetou comes from an old joke, in which a child is asked who was the greatest leader in history, and, in order to get a good grade, he gives the name lenin (or stalin, or napoleon depending on a version) and then whispers to himself (or to a picture of the native-american fictional character) “sorry, winnetou, business is business”. the child uses this phrase to apologise to a fictional leader for betraying him and their common ideals because “the reality is as it is”. the profit serves as an excuse. as can be seen in (11) b, (11) c, (11) d, (11) e and (11) g, the phrase is often used in a similar context and with some equivalent of the “business is business” part. there are different ways of spelling business in (11) d and (11) e, there is a straightforward translation in (11) c, and there are different excuses such as the war in (11) b or law in (11) g. there are also examples in which there is no excuse given and the phrase is used as an embellishment like in examples (11) a, (11) f and (11) h. what is more, there are at least four spelling variations of the character s̓ name as in (11) a, (11) b, (11) c and (11) e and two variants of spelling the word business, which may be an indication, that the users of the phrase are not really fluent in english. (11) a. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2001 sorry winnetou, nawet w media markt jest tańsze… [sorry, winnetou, it s̓ cheaper even in media markt…] 108 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) b. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2002 sorry, winnetou, wojna jest, to i straty muszą być… [sorry, winnetou, it s̓ the war so there must be some casualties…] c. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2003 sorry, winetou interes to interes… [sorry, winnetou business is business] d. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2003 sorry winetou, biznes is biznes… [sorry, winetou, business is business…] e. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2007 porządność porządnością ale sorry vinnetou, business is business… [decency is decency but sorry, winnetou, business is business…] f. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2007 jeśli w twoim domu jest z tym problem, to sorry winetou, ale to nie moja sprawa. [if your family has a problem with that, sorry, winnetou, it s̓ not my problem.] g. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2008 …sorry winnetou prawo jest prawem… [… sorry, winnetou, the law is the law…] i. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2009 sorry vinnetou, ale najwyraźniej pochodzę od innej małpy niż ty… [sorry, winnetou but i, apparently, come from a different kind of monkey than you do…] winnetou and gregory are the collocates that did not, in general, occur with the assimilated forms of sorry. there were only 8 occurrences of sory, winetu, a phrase in which both words are assimilated to polish spelling rules. there are no occurrences of such collocations with other forms. among the collocates, there is one that is excluded from the analysis, namely i’m, as it suggests english context – a citation or an intercultural discourse. on the other hand, some erroneous use of this collocate could be found. the collocate i’am (12) does not appear in many examples (33 occurrences) but it shows that the calque of the whole english phrase is used by people who probably do not speak english too well. (12) a. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2003 i'am sorry ..mam awarie serwera… [iʼm sorry… there s̓ a server failure] b. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2005 to był zart...i'am sorry 2005 [it was a joke… iʼm sorry.] 109 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) c. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2006 no tak .... i'am sorry piotrze. [oh yes… iʼm sorry peter.] the most common collocate for sorry was ale (ʻbutʼ). it may suggest that sorry is used as a softening device when a face-threatening act is about to be performed. in fact, when the numbers of occurrences of the polish phrases przepraszam, przykro mi, and wybacz and the four english-derived variants were compared, it transpired that the combined number of the latter constituted more than twenty-five per cent of the ifids in this context (chart 4). it may be a signal that in situations which, according to ogiermann, may comprise one-fourth of apologetic behaviour in polish (ogiermann 2012: 35) english politeness markers have started substituting the polish counterparts. other common collocates of all variants of sorry are za and że, both of which may be translated as ʻforʼ or ʻthat .̓ they are introductory phrases after which the description of an fta or a guilt admission should follow. sorry and its derivates shared collocations such as ale and za with their polish counterparts, but they did not collocate with the most common collocates of przepraszam. there were no search results neither for the intensifiers such as bardzo or mocno, nor for the vform objects panią and pana. it suggests that sorry and the derivates are not used in a formal context and that their pattern of use is different from the polish verb. 5.3.3 please according to görlach (2001a: xxiv; 2001b: 235), in poland please is “known mainly to bilinguals and is felt to be english”. however, the corpus data suggests that it has changed. it is true that the corpus data shows please to be used less frequently than sorry, but there seem to have occurred some assimilation processes that may enhance the use of this politeness marker in the future. the use of the primary form may seem 110 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) problematic due to the ea cluster that does not appear in polish very often (and if it does it is pronounced with the sounds /e/ and /ʌ/). thus some derivate forms emerged. the first two are plis, which is a phonetic spelling, and pliska, which is a diminutive of the phonetically spelt form. another form is pliis. the addition of the vowel i (one or even more) imitates the english pronunciation of the sound /i:/ which does not exist in polish. the search results for please consisted of 5126 examples in 3245 texts. examining them confirmed that they were in fact used primarily in the english context as a citation or as a title, as their collocates included the english words reply, please, signature and upgrade etc. however, there were some examples, mainly from internet forums, in which please was used as a pragmatic borrowing. they were mainly requests for help as in examples (13) a-c. (13) a. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2006 szukam danych o jakimś zabytku z powiatu limanowa / to takie wypracowanie / więc troche wiecej tych danych potrzeba / please pomóżcie…. [iʼm looking for some information about any monument from limanową district. it s̓ for an essay so i need a bit more data. please help me…] b. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2007 dajcie chociaz z 1 przyklad:) please :) bede wdzieczny… [give me at least one example. please. iʼll appreciate (it)…] c. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2008 nikt nie jest w stanie tego zrobic? please… [is nobody able to do that? please…] what is more, the search result for the phrase please o (ʻforʼ) which is a calque of the polish phrase proszę o and may be translated into ʻiʼm asking you for ,̓ gave 16 examples of sentences in which please was used as a verb. examples (14) a-c show such use of the interjection please. (14) a. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2001 please o informacje… [i’m asking you for some information…] b. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2005 please o wiadomośc prywatna… [iʼm asking you for a private message…] c. the excerpt from an internet forum from 2006 please o interpretacje… [iʼm asking you for an interpretation…] 111 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) as one could anticipate, searching for the assimilated forms of please only gave the results in the polish context. for plis, there were about 100 search results in 39 texts, for pliska there were 198 results in 98 texts, and 52 results in 47 texts for the elongated forms from pliis to pliiiiiiiiis. all of the examples are listed in table 3. table 3. randomly selected examples of search results for the derivates of please 1. ale nie ma aplikacji. podajcie jakies inne programy niz gg rpc pliska . 2. kasienka:) kochani pliska trzyamjcie kciuki we wtorekkkk.. .bardizom plosee...boja chyba nerw 3. juz kiedys>>>jak coz wiecie na ten temacik,niom to pliska piszcie..... buzaicki i z gory dzieki 4. hmm.. i taka mała prośba.. jakby ktoś znalazł ten program to pliska .. napiszcie mi pw, bo w tych tematach rzadko siedzę i może mnie 5. nic nie zniknęło. co mam robić? jak całkowicie zresetować gadu? pliska , pomocy!!!! 6. forum o takich rzeczach nie gadac jestem jeszcze dzieciakiem. i pliska wykasujcie tego bloga!!!!!!! 7. cytat(stokrotka1500 @ 28.08.2008, 10:24) "magpis odblokuj!!!! plis " no odblokowałam cytat(stokrotka1500 @ 28.08.2008, 10:24) 8. aliase_zaczarowana dacie prawdziwy e-mail od danzela plis ja dopiero zaczęłam kolekcjonować autografy 9. autograf to zalatwia aktorow z teraz albo nigdy" to ja też chcę... plis !!!! 10. uczestników joś iv edycji chce ktoś to mogę powiedzieć" powiedz plis ! 11. aguuu(l)a plis 12. na mój bylejaki filmik dziwny ten swiat rafal oczywiscie 5 gwiazdek plis 13. [snapback]149205[/snapback] "uzywalem go ale sie troche gubi" pliis kto moze wyslac mi snickersa bez znaczenia ktora wersja na malia 14. jest... niech no mi ktoś zaspoileruje co tam można zobaczyć! pliis ! :) ) pomożecie? q 112 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the search for pliska and plis resulted in the selfsame collocates, namely odpisać (ʻreplyʼ) and pomoc (ʻhelpʼ). there were also a number of phrases with the polish preposition o (ʻforʼ) with both pliska and plis, where the assimilated forms were used as verbs. it means that please has undergone graphemic, morphological, and syntactic assimilation. 5.4. the english vs. polish markers of politeness: a comparison of functions in the national corpus of polish although the english and polish politeness markers discussed in this paper essentially serve very similar functions, i.e. they are used respectively for thanking, apologising and asking for something, they cannot be used interchangeably in polish. first and foremost, in order to use the english politeness markers, the gravity of an fta which they are supposed to soften in polish cannot be too heavy. in the corpus data, they were usually used in internet-mediated communication. in such communication the participants do not normally know each other nor can they see the recipient of the message so the importance of saving each other s̓ faces is not that high. what is more, the face threatening acts themselves are not of a very threatening nature because of the superficial relationships between the participants. this finding is consistent with the observation made by zgółkowie (1992), who note that when sorry is used in polish it is restricted to situations involving small offences. terkourafi (2011) observes that in cypriot greek, english politeness markers are ranked lower in terms of both appropriateness to be used in a formal context and their sincerity to convey feelings. the use of diminutive forms of sorry (sorka, sorki, sorunia) and please (pliska), as well as the preference of polish speakers for thanks over more formal thank you confirms the obswrvation that the borrowed politeness markers tend to be preferred in informal situations, and are less suitable for contexts involving serious face threats than the native ones. 15. lpr pliis do sądu mnie, za gebę, za ryj!!!!!!!! 16. azor, normalnie pliiis , bo mnie przepona wysiada. --moje poglądy nie są homologowane 17. jimi wrote: łał! mógłbyś napisać dokładniej gdzie? pliiis pamiętam że widziałem chyba ze dwa odcinki tego dawno temu i 18. napisana?'' [służba głoszenia] napiszesz mi, kidy to się stało? pliiis , nie ukrywaj prawdy. naprawdę zamierzasz je iszbin: 19. bądź taki, powiedz jak tam było na tej wojnie z tym perskim, plis, pliiis pliiiis, powiedz choć troche. wapniak -wysłano z 20. news:bk21as$ika$1@opal. futuro.pl... tylko nie żelazna, pliiis narpawde najlepsza, gdzie szkoli sie lekarzy pediatrów z całej 113 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) moreover, it appears that the english politeness markers can be utilised within one of the positive politeness strategies, i.e. claiming common ground with the use of jokes and humour (brown and levinson 1987: 103-125). such seems to be the function of their diminutive forms and their use in informal phrases alluding to jokes (sorry winnetou) and rhyming expressions (sorry gregory). these results confirm those of peterson and vaattovaara (2014), who also found that borrowed politeness markers serve positive politeness by positioning the interlocutors within the common ground. one of the analysed politeness markers, sorry, occurs visibly more often than the others, and was observed to be used frequently in one specific context – for introducing and apologising for an fta before it was committed. in the corpus data, the english-derived forms in the possible spelling variants were used in twenty-six per cent of phrases collocated with ale (ʻbutʼ). it may suggest that, contrary to my initial hypothesis and to the findings of terkourafi (2011), english politeness markers may replace the native ones in some contexts, as they may become even the preferred ones in the future. such findings should be tested in a newer corpus and in a corpus focusing on spoken utterances. 6. conclusions the aim of this study was to examine the use of the english politeness markers thank you, sorry and please in polish, as evidenced in the national corpus of polish. the initial hypothesis was that these politeness markers are used in polish, but they do not have enough pragmatic force to replace their polish counterparts, as they seem to be rarely used in formal contexts or to refer to situations involving serious face threats. the hypothesis of the study was largely confirmed. the english politeness markers thank you, sorry and please have been incorporated into the mental lexicon of polish speakers, and are particularly common in internet-mediated interactive communication. the corpus data shows that their frequencies differ, sorry being the most common and please the least common. the form thank you is rarely used in polish; thanks is much more common. there are numerous assimilated forms such as sorka, sorki, plis, pliska, tenk ju, fenks, tenks etc., and the abbreviation thx. such abbreviations are typical for internet-mediated communication. the use of such assimilated forms may suggest that they are no longer used by bilinguals. they are comprehensible and accepted also by monolingual speakers, who use them with polish spelling and polish pronunciation. the existence of such forms may suggest that they are likely to be used more often in the future, as it facilitates their pronunciation and makes them more familiar. this study confirms the earlier findings reported by zgółkowie (1992) and terkourafi (2011) that borrowed politeness markers tend to be used for ftas with a low estimated risk of face loss, and are preferred in informal contexts. it also supports peterson and vaattovaara s̓ (2014) observations concerning the employment of borrowed politeness markers in 114 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) speech patterns associated with positive politeness (informal humorous phrases, diminutive forms of the borrowed items). this study has also identified a context which seems to be characteristic of the use of sorry in polish, namely softening an fta that was going to be committed by introducing apologies before it happened. however, some limitations of this study should be pointed out. the analysed corpus could not show the most recent processes due to the time it had been collected. the ncp was chosen because of its size. it consists of approximately 1.5 billion words in polish from the period between 1988 and 2010 (see przepiórkowski et al. 2012: 8). it is possible that a newer corpus could exemplify a wider use of the politeness markers in question because of the rapid development of technology and the ubiquity of the internet. what is more, spoken and semi-spoken data constitutes only up to 10% of the ncp (see przepiórkowski et al. 2012). the study of pragmatic borrowings requires focusing on the spontaneously articulated utterances so more such data would be desired. this article may serve as a starting point for the future investigation of the functions of borrowed politeness markers in polish. it would be useful to perform an acceptability test similar to the one of peterson and vaattovaara (2014) to test in what contexts english politeness markers would be accepted by representatives of different social and age groups in order to analyse the more recent developments. references andersen, g. 2014. pragmatic borrowing. journal of pragmatics 67: 17-33. andersen, g., furiassi, c. & mišić ilić, b. 2017. editorial. the pragmatic turn in studies of linguistic borrowing. journal of pragmatics 113: 71-76. aston, g. & burnard, l. 1997. the bnc handbook. exploring the british national corpus with sara. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. austin, j. l. 1962. how to do things with words. oxford: clarendon press. brown, p. & levinson, s. c. 1987 [1st ed. 1978]. politeness. some universals in language usage. new york: cambridge university press. clark, h. & schunk d. 1980. polite responses to polite requests. cognition 8: 111-143. goffman, e. 1955. on face-work. an analysis of ritual elements in social interaction. psychiatry 18:3: 213-23. görlach, m. 2001. introduction. in: görlach, m. (ed), a dictionary of european anglicisms. xv-xxvi. oxford: oxford university press. haugh, m. 2007. the discursive challenge to politeness theory: an interactional alternative. journal of politeness research 3: 295-317. jakubowska, e. 1999. cross-cultural dimensions of politeness in the case of polish and english. katowice: wydawnictwo uniwersytetu śląskiego. 115 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) lakoff, r. t. 1973. the logic of politeness: or minding your p"s and q"s” in: corum, c., smith-stark, t. c. & weiser, a. (eds.), papers from the 9th regional meeting of the chicago linguistic society. chicago linguistic society 9: 292-305. lakoff, r. t. 1990. talking power: the politics of language in our lives. glasgow: harpercollins. leech, g. n. 1983. principles of pragmatics. london/new york: longman. lubecka, a. 2000. requests, invitations, apologies and compliments in american english and polish. a cross-cultural communication perspective. kraków: księgarnia akademicka. mańczak-wohlfeld, e. 1994. angielskie elementy leksykalne w języku polskim. kraków: universitas. mańczak-wohlfeld, e. 2006. angielsko-polskie kontakty językowe. kraków: wydawnictwo naukowe uj. mańczak-wohlfeld, e. 2010. słownik zapożyczeń angielskich w polszczyźnie. warszawa: wydawnictwo naukowe pwn. mcenery, t. & hardie, a. 2012. corpus linguistics. method, theory and practice. cambridge: cambridge university press. mills, s. 2011. discursive approaches to politeness and impoliteness. in: linguistic politeness research group (eds.), discursive approaches to politeness, 19-56. berlin/new york: de gruyter mouton. ogiermann, e. 2009. on apologising in negative and positive politeness cultures. amsterdam/ philadelphia: john benjamins. ogiermann, e. 2012. about polish politeness. in: ruiz de zarobe, leyre and yolanda ruiz de zarobe (eds.), speech acts and politeness across languages and cultures. linguistic insights: studies in language and communication vol. 132, 27-52. bern: peter lang. peterson, e. & vaattovaara, j. 2014. kiitos and pliis: the relationship of native and borrowed politeness markers in finnish. journal of politeness research 10(2): 247-269. peterson, e. 2017. the nativization of pragmatic borrowings in remote language contact situations. journal of pragmatics 113: 116-126. pęzik, p. 2012. wyszukiwarka pelcra dla danych nkjp. in: przepiórkowski a., bańko m., górski r., lewandowska-tomaszczyk b. (eds.), narodowy korpus języka polskiego. warszawa: wydawnictwo naukowe pwn sa. piotrowski, t. 2003. internacjonalizm sorki jako element polskiego systemu językowego. in: z. tichá & a. rangelova (eds.), internacionalizmy v nové slovní zásobě. sbornik přísĕvků z konference praha 16–18 června 2003, 182-193. praha: ústav pro jazyk český av čr lexikograficko-terminologické oddělení. przepiórkowski, a., bańko, m., górski, r. l. & lewandowska-tomaszczyk, b. (eds.). 2012. narodowy korpus języka polskiego. warszawa: wydawnictwo naukowe pwn sa. 116 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 38 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) spencer-oatey, h. 2008. culturally speaking. culture, communication and politeness theory. new york: continuum. szerszunowicz, j. 2020. new pragmatic idioms in polish: an integrated approach in pragmateme research. in: e. piirainen et al. (eds.), formulaic language and new data, 173-196. berlin/boston: de gruyter. sztencel, m. 2009. boundaries crossed: the influence of english on modern polish. e-pisteme. volume 2 (1): 3-17. terkourafi, m. 2011. thank you, sorry and please in cypriot greek: what happens to politeness markers when they are borrowed across languages?. journal of pragmatics 43 (2011): 218-235. wierzbicka, a. 1985. different cultures, different languages, different speech acts. journal of pragmatics 9: 145-178. watts, r. j., ide, s. & ehlich, k. (eds.). 1992. politeness in language. berlin: mouton de gruyter. zgółkowie, h. & t. 1992. językowy savoir-vivre. poznań: kantor wydawniczy saww. dictionaries and corpora british national corpus (from oxford university press). available online at https://www. english-corpora.org/bnc/. drabik, l., kubiak-sokół, a., sobol, e. & wiśniakowska, l. 2018. słownik języka polskiego pwn. warszawa: wydawnictwo naukowe pwn. görlach, m. (ed). 2001. a dictionary of european anglicisms. oxford: oxford university press. rundell, m. & fox, g. 2002. macmillan english dictionary for advanced learners. oxford: macmillan education. *** katarzyna lach mirghani is a phd student of linguistics at the university of białystok, poland. her research interests include cognitive linguistics, computational linguistics and pragmatics. her current research focuses on interand cross-cultural pragmatics and inclusivity in language. https://www.english-corpora.org/bnc/ https://www.english-corpora.org/bnc/ katarzyna lach mirghani doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.38.3.05 thank you, sorry and please: english politeness markers in polish 37 46 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) corinne fournier kiss ¹ doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.37.2.03 university of bern, switzerland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1077-8743 brazilian backlands (sertão) – natural disaster or ecocatastrophe? an ecocritical reading of joão guimarães rosa’s landscapes abstract.in the wake of some realist novels and of euclides da cunhas̓ os sertões [rebellion in the backlands, 1902], a body of writing known as “regionalist literature” developed in the 1930s around the sertão, the semi -arid region of the northeast center of brazil, which becomes invariably depicted as a universe of natural and human catastrophe inhabited by characters of few words, emotions or thoughts. at first glance, it seems that joão guimarães rosa should be part of this regionalist lineage: all his stories revolve around the landscape of the sertão, and his only novel is entitled grande sertão: veredas [the devil to pay in the backlands, 1956]. nevertheless, not only does guimarães rosa locate his geographical sertão in a slightly different place than the regionalists did (i.e. in the minas gerais), but his way of describing the sertão as the product of the interactions between human practices and the natural environment renders his work distinct from these authors. to better highlight this difference, we will rely on the concepts of “natural disaster” and “ecocatastrophe” as defined by kate rigby in her book dancing with disaster. keywords: sertão, paradise, regionalist literature, biodiversity, natural disaster, ecocatastrophe, ecocriticism. literary representations of brazil as a paradise on earth the west has long believed in the real and concrete existence of a paradise on earth; until the renaissance, it was convinced that this paradise, located in a place difficult to 1 address for correspondence: institut de langue et de littérature françaises, université de berne, länggassstrasse 49, ch – 3012 bern. e-mail: corinne.fournier@unibe.ch https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1077-8743 47 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) reach, somewhere beyond the oceans or on top of a mountain, would be discovered one day. as a rule, medieval maps of the world represented this paradise, even if its place varied from map to map. in visões do paraíso [visions of paradise], the brazilian historian sergio buarque de holanda shows that this set of beliefs was responsible for the production of a certain type of european discourse on brazil. when europeans first arrived in brazil in 1500, they thought that this earthly paradise had finally been found: the first reports about the new world mention a lush natural setting, a mild climate, and a wealthy land where food was plentiful, thereby conveying the image of a country where an easy life freed from hard work was possible (buarque de holanda 2000). the eden-like features characterizing the descriptions of brazilian nature during the 16th century had a long life. even once the belief in the existence of such an earthly paradise had waned, these features continued to pervade numerous accounts of brazil in the following centuries, and the identification of the country with its beautiful and generous natural setting would become a commonplace in literature – even if the descriptive accents shift across the centuries and according to prevailing literary influences. while the first literary descriptions of brazil expressed a pure and simple enchantment in the face of the splendor of tropical nature, in the 17th and 18th centuries, among the writers of a generation already born in brazil, a less naïve attitude towards nature emerged, which was reflected in the prevalence of the chroniclers̓ enumerative devices: for manuel botelho de oliveira (1636-1711) or frei manuel de santa maria itaparica (1704-1768), for example, writing about nature meant lists and descriptions of fruits, plants and animals presented as abundant and delicious products for consumption. rather than simply portraying brazil as a place of great beauty, these accounts were intended to draw attention to its capacities for yield and commercial exploitation. in the romantic period, after brazil had gained its independence and its literature separated from the portuguese, these more pragmatically driven inventories slowly disappeared to give way, as in all romantic literatures, to a grandiose and sublime nature valued for its capacity to enter into correspondence with the most extreme states of mind of the poet – as in josé de alencars̓ work, for example². as a rule, what emerges from this body of brazilian literary texts (at least until the second half of the 19th century) is a deep confidence in the everlasting beauty and productivity of the national space, able whatever happens to remain identical to itself thanks to its innate capacity of regeneration. the idea that a natural disaster could disfigure is conspicuous by its absence in the literary imagination: brazil hosts a safe landscape, in no way at risk of degradation, disappearance or exhaustion. 2 for these examples, as well as for a brief history of how brazilian literature represented nature from its origins until the early 20th century, see caravalho 2005. 48 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the emergence of a brazilian landscape of natural disaster: the sertão in the second part of the 19th century, however, a very specific brazilian landscape drew the attention of writers for reasons exactly opposite to those that were valued until that time: it is the scrubby region of the northeast center of brazil, called the sertão, whose semi-aridity worsened to desertification in the last 30 years of the 19th century as a result of successive droughts (the most memorable one being that of 1877-1879). if the sertão had already been the object of idealized descriptions and brazilian identity markers in the same way as the amazon or other tropical landscapes, this disaster with catastrophic human, animal and vegetal consequences singularizes this region and totally reverses the imaginary representations earlier attached to it. in the literature of realism, it becomes a place of natural disaster par excellence, and nature, instead of being the bountiful mother, begins to be perceived as the other, as a violent adversary animated by clearly hostile forces towards powerless human beings – as shown for example in dona guidinha do poço by manuel de oliveira paiva (written in 1892, but published posthumously in 1952), a fome: cenas da seca do ceará by rodolfo teófilo (1890) and luzia-homem by domingos olímpio (1903). the way natural disaster is represented in these novels is in agreement with what kate rigby, in her book dancing with disaster, calls the “modern myth” or “cultural narrative” of modernity (rigby 2015: 4, 16): unlike premodern narratives which conceive natural disaster as a punishment from god or an astrologically determined misfortune (influence of a bad star³), the modern narratives, while keeping the connotation of bad luck contained in the word “disaster”, construct a nature that neither acts in a predetermined way nor in the context of any morality and any consideration for human beings, but by sheer caprice or malevolence. individuals are simply victims of their natural environment. they are conditioned by it, and the reverse is not true: there is no questioning, either from the narrator or from the characters, about any possible human responsibility in this disaster. the writer and journalist euclides da cunha, who continues in his both scientific and literary book os sertões (1902) [rebellion in the backlands] to weave the pattern of a sertão marked by aridity, misery and death, brings nevertheless a breach in the “modern narrative” by introducing a new and different element in his etiology of natural disaster: in a bold way for the time, he explains the desolation of the contemporary sertão not only by way of climatic reasons and unfavorable weather conditions, but also emphasizes, in one subchapter of his book entitled “how a desert is made”, the significant role 3 as rigby points out, the word “disaster” comes from the french désastre, which contains the word astre = “star”, and signifies thus “the malign influence of an unfavorable planetary aspect or conjunction”. cf. rigby 2015: 16. 49 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) played by man with his savage methods in exploiting nature: the aboriginal forestdwellers̓ methods of trimming trees with axes and then burning them to ashes, and of cultivating these naked areas until they were completely “exhausted” and “untillable”, were copied and aggravated on a large scale by the colonizer, who planted farms (fazendas) surrounded by huge sugar cane and coffee plantations in the interior of the country. contributing to this work of devastation was the arrival of the “hardy backwoods pioneer” in search of gold or diamonds: he attacked the earth stoutly, disfiguring it with his surface explorations, rendering it sterile with his dredges, scarring it with the point of his pickax, precipitating the process of erosion by running through it streams of water from the wild torrents. and he left behind him, here, there, and everywhere, great melancholy and deserted catas [holes], tracts forever sterile now, with the intense coloring of upturned clay, shedding a vermilion glow in the midst of the wilderness––tracts where not even the humblest of plants could thrive, and which bore the suggestive appearance of enormous dead cities, crumbled in ruins. (da cunha 1944: 44) atacou a fundo a terra, escarificando-a nas explorações a céu aberto; esterilizou-a com os lastros das grupiaras; feriu-a a pontaços de alvião; degradou-a corroendo-a com as águas selvagens das torrentes; e deixou, aqui, ali, em toda parte, para sempre estéreis, avermelhando nos ermos com o intenso colorido das argilas revolvidas, onde não medra a planta mais exígua, as grandes catas, vazias e tristonhas, com a sua feição sugestiva de imensas cidades mortas, derruídas. (da cunha 1984: 33) in passages like this, da cunha shows that he understood the existence of causal links between human socio-cultural practices and the way the physical environment manifests itself: the victims produced by natural disaster are far from being just “innocent”, in the sense that human beings themselves contributed to the destruction of some landscapes. to qualify the way da cunha conceives the desertification of the sertão, and if we pursue borrowing the terminology of rigby, the word “catastrophe” or “ecocatastrophe” would be more appropriate than “natural disaster” – even if in everyday contemporary language their meanings are similar. indeed the etymology of “disaster”, as we have seen, alludes to something inescapable and preordained. the word “catastrophe”, for its part, is made up of the two greek words kata, “down”, and strophe, “turn”: it signifies a “sudden turn or overturning” which has nothing predetermined in itself and does not necessarily lead to the end of something, but rather brings about a change of direction and practices (rigby 2015: 17). this implies a human understanding of the origins of what happened and a human agency for building new paths. 50 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) whatever the case may be, a whole literature called “regionalist literature” developed in the 1930s in the wake of these works, depicting the sertão as a universe of natural and human calamity. this literature is characterized by protagonists who, as if in mimicry of the hostile and arid landscape that surrounds them, appear hostile to each other, arid in their emotions, thoughts, words. the most well-known example is certainly the novel vidas secas (1938) [barren lives] by graciliano ramos, which tells the story of a family struggling to survive in the desolate landscape of the sertão. the characters are distinguished by a difficulty in speaking and expressing themselves, mostly due to their feeling of the uselessness of any communication in such an environment-inflicted misery. discouragement and resignation reign supreme; no improvement can be expected from human acts. in these regionalist novels of the 1930s, da cunhas̓ allusions to a nature dependent not only on climatic hazards, but on what the human race does with it, went unheeded. guimarães rosa’s representations of the sertão the sertão in the novel grande sertão: veredas at first glance, it seems that joão guimarães rosa should be part of this regionalist lineage: the sense of place plays an important role in all his work, and this place reduces itself, or rather enlarges itself, to the dimensions of a whole landscape called sertão. if this word does not appear straightaway in the titles of guimarães rosas̓ numerous stories, it is, significantly, retained for the title of his main work – grande sertão: veredas (1956). the only novel ever written by guimarães rosa, it is presented in the form of an immense monologue of almost 1000 pages (uninterrupted by chapters), for the benefit of an intellectual of the city by an older landowner named riobaldo and meant to be the account of his turbulent youth as a jagunço⁴. this book has been translated into english as the devil to pay in the backlands – a quite loosely translated title, since while the original puts forwards typical brazilian landscapes, like sertão and veredas, the english one neutralizes its power to evoke brazil by using the more generic word “backlands”; besides, by introducing the "devil" in the title, the focus shifts from landscape to the demonic forces supposed to have played an important role in riobaldos̓ life. reading guimarães rosas̓ novel with a “horizon of expectations” determined by the imaginative world built by the regionalist writers around the sertão, the reader must nevertheless quickly realize that the rosanian landscape is not the same as in the 4 a jagunço is a bandit, an armed-hand hired by rich and influential people (mainly fazendeiros) in the backlands of brazil, regions (still today) badly controlled by the government; his task consists, by means of unscrupulous acts like wars and murders, in eliminating all the rivals and possible opponents of their silent partner (both other jagunços or isolated persons) to impose his will and arbitrary power. 51 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) writings of these regionalists: his sertão is not that of the northeast region of brazil, but the landscape of the minas gerais – which is an arid landscape too, but much more diversified than the “pure” sertão. as guimarães rosa himself explained to edoardo bizzarri, the italian translator of his grande sertão: veredas, the minas gerais is essentially made up of infertile and sandy chapadas (a kind of plateau) where only scrub grows – but between these chapadas there are veredas, or depressions of clay soil where all the water of these landscapes is concentrated and which, by extension, are green, fertile and animal-populated places. in common language, the paths and streams that run in labyrinthine networks in these oases are also called veredas (guimarães rosa 2003: 40-41). this diversified landscape allows guimarães rosa, unlike other writers of the sertão, to reuse all the literary commonplaces on the paradisiacal character of brazilian nature, be it in the form of praise of its magnificence and exceptionality or in the enumerations of its extreme biodiversity. hence, nature is said to be “a real delight” : “clear streams, springs, shade and sun” and “you donʼt see them like that anywhere else” (g. r.1963: 21); lists of plants and animals follow one another – prompting the translator of the novel into french to say that all these exotic terms “belong to the regional or perhaps imaginary fauna recorded by g. r. in his notebooks – not listed in the dictionary” (g. r. 1991: 57). what distinguishes these representations from the usual hypotyposes of brazilian literature, however, is the extreme sensitivity and the loving sweetness that emerge from them, and which also introduces a completely unexpected contrast with the violence and cruelty of the daily world of the jagunços. riobaldo, who, like all the other jagunços (although, as a “literate” jagunço, to a more refined degree), thinks mainly of hunting, hating and killing, is surprised to feel himself vibrating with tenderness and understanding with nature when he is in the company of reinaldo-diadorim, a jagunço towards whom he has ambivalent sexual impulses. he is literally dazzled by the beauty of the world, which he had never noticed before reinaldo-diadorim showed it to him: until that time, i had never heard of anyone stopping to admire birds just for the pleasure of it, watching their comings and goings, their flight and alighting. that called for picking up a shotgun and taking aim. but reinaldo liked to. ʻit s̓ really beautiful,̓ he taught me. on the opposite side there was a meadow and lagoons. back and forth the flocks of ducks flew. ʻjust look at them!ʼ i looked, and grew calmer. (g. r. 1963: 121) até aquela ocasião, eu nunca tinha ouvido dizer de se parar apreciando, por prazer de enfeite, a vida mera deles pássaros, em seu começar e descomeçar dos vôos e pousação. aquilo era para se pegar a espingarda e caçar. mas o reinaldo gostava: – ‘é formoso próprio...’ – ele me ensinou. do outro lado, tinha vargem e lagoas. p’ra e p’ra, os bandos de patos se cruzavam. – ‘vigia como são esses...’ eu olhava e me sossegava mais. (g.r. 2001a: 195-196) 52 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) riobaldo learns to see, and thus the animals, trees and flowers that surround him pass from the status of objects of his consumption (eating animals and fruits) or indifferent natural objects, to that of subjects-agents likely to interact with him and impact his mood and life in a positive way. if, concretely, guimarães rosa locates his geographical sertão in a slightly different place than the regionalists did, and benefits from the leisure to intercalate within his story, without a blatant disjunction with reality, scenes of paradisiac nature, the fact remains that his sertão is also, for the main part, a hellish world governed by the dryness of climate and people, as well as by outlaws, “where the strong and the shrewd call the tune” (g. r. 1963: 13). there is in the novel a landscape of disaster that coincides perfectly with the sertão of the regionalists, and even exceeds it in silence, heat and doom: in the one called the “sussuarão desert” [liso do suçuarão]: “there we were in that appalling thing: a weird, godforsaken waste, shifting under foot. it was a different world, crazy, an ocean of sand” (g. r. 1963: 38). in spite of its terrible reputation, according to which nobody has ever returned from it, the intrepid jagunços agree to follow their chief in the hope of reaching their enemies more quickly. “what nobody had ever done before, we felt ourselves able to do” (g. r. 1963: 36). the pages dedicated to their expedition reflect a world of catastrophe at all levels: that of the action (languid characters having lost the ability to speak and to move; a frozen and colorless landscape), which is mimicked by the style (short, dry and breathless sentences) and reinforced by a vocabulary of negation, lack and emptiness: “not the least sign of shade. no water. no grass […]. and we were lost” (g. r. 1963: 41). the challenge launched by this ordeal proves too great, and the weakened and defeated jagunços return to less harsh landscapes. nevertheless, it is not on this image of an inexorable landscape that the sussuarão desert has the last word: towards the end of the novel, riobaldo, now leader of his group of jagunços, takes the risk of a new attempt to cross the plateau – without preparation of any kind, but by examining it attentively and with the purpose in each step to identify all signs of plant and animal life. the experience of this dreadful world is therefore quite different from that of the first, failed crossing; as if by magic, the desert comes to life and reveals little by little its secrets. “i heard the hum of bees all the time. the presence of spiders, ants and the wild bees proved there were flowers, too” (g. r. 1963: 412-413), and indeed, if closely looked at, the plants were not just rough grass, or the fearful monks̓-head cactus […]. then came the blue-flowered treebine and the yellow sertaneja-assim and maria-zipe, dripping dew, and sinházinha whose delicate flowers are so laden with dew […]. and herbage. and berry-covered bumelias. (g. r. 1963: 413) 53 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) mesmo, não era só capim áspero, ou planta peluda como um gambá morto, o cabeça-de-frade pintarroxa, um mandacaru que assustava […]. depois a tinta-dos-gentios de flor belazul, que é o anil-trepador, e até essas sertaneja-assim e a maria-zipe, amarelas, pespingue de orvalhosas, e a sinhazinha, muito melindrosa flor, que também guarda muito orvalho [...]. e a quixabeira que dava quixabas. (g.r. 2001a: 729) they even find a pocket of drinking water, so that they “did not suffer too much from thirst” (g. r. 1963: 413). they do not suffer from hunger either, since they meet wild cattle. “it was an ugly world, exaggerated in all its features”, but this bareness “contains everything” (g. r. 1963: 412). were they “upheld by the strong arms of angels” or helped by the demon, as riobaldo likes to believe at times? whatever the case may be, the gap between the two journeys over the same landscape is striking: the immobile and implacable backdrop of the first crossing, which tightly conditions and then expels by its harshness all human beings from its territory, becomes in the second description a place that, while still terrible, can nevertheless offer the means for survival. under the willpower of careful human gazes which seek to understand and absorb, a dynamic interplay has been created between human beings and the sertão: the frozen landscape of the ecocatastrophe is brought to life and reveals unsuspected riches. the sertão in the stories of the collections corpo de baile and sagarana the narrative “o recado do morro” [“message from the hills”], a novella initially published in the collection of stories corpo de baile (1956), retraces the journey made through the sertão by a small group of men: pedro and ivo, locals, serve as guides to a german naturalist, a friar, and a rich landowner (fazendeiro). this journey, carried out by people of different origins, vocations and cultures, is also a journey through diverse types of knowledge and varying degrees of apprehension of the sertão. more specifically, there is a clash between academic knowledge, epitomized by the german naturalist (who always considers nature from an objective and external point of view), and the popular and practical knowledge of nature, embodied by the guide pedro orósio (who knows nature only by his immersion in it). thus, if like his clients pedro orósio can see the beauty of the sertão, as to other things that mr. alquiste, the friar and mr. jujuca do açude referred to – he couldnʼt understand them, without any explanation they remained out of reach for him; this was the case with their comments that everything there was a lundianian or lundlandia ⁵, 5 this is a reference to the famous danish paleontologist and botanist peter lund (1801-1880), who discovered and explored several caves in the regions of brazil crossed by the group in our story – an allusion, of course, that an uneducated person like pedro could not understand. 54 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) these kinds of names. no doubt that educated people had access to secrets; but these secrets were of no use for a farmer like him, who had only his health and sweat for his work, and gods̓ protection in everything. a field worker, leaning over the earth from sunrise to sunset, and pulling all the strength out of his body, how should he benefit by continuously thinking? and even to understand what lay next to him, he only had the power to understand them according to the necessities of life – by hate or by love. more he couldnʼt do.⁶ mas, outras coisas, que seo alquiste e o frade, e seo jujuca do açude referiam, isso ficava por ele desentendido, fechado sem explicação nenhuma; assim, que tudo ali era uma lundiana ou lunlândia, desses nomes. de certo, segredos ganhavam, as pessoas estudadas; não eram para o uso de um lavrador como ele, só com sua saúde para trabalhar e suar, e a proteção de deus em tudo. um enxadeiro, sol a sol debruçado para a terra do chão, de orvalho a sereno, e puxando toda força de seu corpo, como é que há de saber pensar continuado? e, mesmo para entender ao vivo as coisas de perto, ele só tinha poder quando na mão da precisão, ou esquentado — por ódio ou por amor. mais não conseguia. (g.r. 2001b: 28) on the other hand, pedro orósio, also referred to as pedrão chãbergo or pê-boi, is the one who knows the region best and is able to interpret the signs of the earth; that is what his different names and nicknames signify in different languages: pedro comes from pedra, “stone” in portuguese; orósio from the greek oros (ὄρος), “mountain”; chãobergo from the contraction of chão, the portuguese word for “soil”, and berg, the german word for “mountain”; and pê-boi is a combination of pé, “foot”, and boi, “ox”, an animal that, because of its strength, weight and resistance, is often associated with the ground⁷. pedro is a man of the soil and the stone produced by the sertão landscape, he is an element of this landscape constantly in dialogue with the other elements, and that is why he can reverse the famous law of the sertão, a law of vengeance and of the victory of the strongest. pedro was indeed doomed to die in an ambush perpetrated by seven individuals and organized by ivo, jealous of pedros̓ success with women – but pedro gets the protection of the sertão. a hill gives out a terrible shout, “death by betrayal” [“morte à traição!”] (g.r. 2001b: 36), that could not be heard by ordinary people disconnected from the earth, but that was captured by gorgulho, a poor dumb man with sharp senses. without understanding the meaning of what was said by the hill, gorgulho, by repeating the message and passing it on to others, manages to convey it across the sertão until it is transformed into a song by the poet laudelim and deciphered by pedro – who thus can 6 all translations of guimarães rosas̓ stories are mine. 7 i was inspired here by the analysis of the names of guimarães rosas̓ characters made by anna maria machado in o recado do nome (2003), expounded by tannús alves 2013: 26. 55 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) escape his terrible fate. as a result, for people who are deeply connected with it, the sertão has nothing to do with a locus terribilis, but plays the contrary the role of a sentient and sensitive creature sending them messages of protection and helping them to maintain suitable living conditions. as said in “estoria de amor” [“story of love”], the sertão seen from the outside is scary, but once one immerses oneself in it and finds the key with which to understand it, it is perfectly possible to harmoniously interact with it. “almost everyone is afraid of the sertão; not even knowing what the sertão is. sertanejos are wise and aware men” (g.r. 2001c: 136). “o recado do morro” shows that the unwritten law that inexorably rules the sertão, which is that of the strong, the violent, and the destructive, can be changed and has to be changed. catastrophes, ecocatastrophes, as well as human catastrophes, are not part of an irrevocable destiny, they must not occur. this story is a call to cultivate, rather than an ethic of power and physical strength, a sustainable ethos based on the alert listening to the “other-than-human” voices. “cara-de-bronze” [“bronze-face”], another novella originally published in the book corpo de baile (1956), appears as a continuation of this idea of elaborating new laws for the sertão. a landowner needs a man in whom he can have confidence to carry out a secret mission. to choose the most suitable person among his cowherds, it is not their physical performance that he puts to the test, but the degree of poetic attention they give to nature, their craft to “talk and feel until the husks of the soul softens”. part of the test was to answer this question: “is it possible to like something immediately? how is that? how can that be?” the answer that pleases him best is the one given by grivo, who did not respond with “yes” or “no”, but with a poetic comparison with the magic of nature: “isnʼt it in the lapse of a second that the silk floss tree suddenly dresses in white?” (g.r. 2001b: 103). the silk floss tree (paineira in portuguese) grows fruits which have the form of big eggs that suddenly explode to give way to a mass of fibrous matter which resembles cotton – the metaphor thus suggests that unexpected positive feelings, like unexpected transformations of nature for even more beauty, can crop up without warning. grivo leaves for two years. when he comes back, nobody could know what he went to look for, nor what the aim of his expedition was. but what is certain is that he returns enriched with a wealth of knowledge about the sertão landscape, a place where “every tree, every plant, changes its name almost at every step” (g.r. 2001b: 108). this expedition serves as a pretext for the establishment of long lists of plants and trees, even if these enumerations are not put in the body of the text itself, but consigned to notes at the very end of the narrative. guimarães rosa, as in some passages of grande sertão: veredas where we find the same type of lists (see above), seems thereby to pursue the tradition of the 17th century chroniclers eager to reveal the wealth of brazil: but at the same time, as mentioned for example by josé miguel wisnik (wisnik 2016), these enumerations 56 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) function as a way to show that the sertão is a place where language is created. gilberto freyre had already pointed out in casa grande & senzala [the masters and the slaves, 1933] that brazil has a language in constant elaboration and development, to which new words need to be frequently added because the portuguese vocabulary is not sufficient to express the complex brazilian reality. in this context, there is no doubt that guimarães rosa actively contributed to this enrichment of the brazilian language. assisted in his difficult peregrinations through the changing landscape of the sertão as well as through the moving landscape of new words by saci, a playful brazilian mythological figure and friend of nature⁸ (g.r. 2001b: 111), grivo learns to pay full attention to the diversity of things and to their living sources rather than to their inert and passive appearance. had not his master expressed the wish, already before his departure, that the “who” (and not the “what”) of things had to be found by him? (g.r. 2001b: 102) without depicting the sertão as a grandiose landscape (be it in its beauty or sublimity as in romanticism, or in its nakedness and misery as in the regionalist movement), guimarães rosa, through his character grivo, produces in this story the masterstroke of presenting this landscape as a genuine miracle thanks to its unexpected capacity for transformation, its refined diversity and its encouragement to constantly seek new words. if some rosanian stories present themselves as pure hymns to the biodiversity of the sertão and play the role of an invitation to be aware of it, others clearly express the deep concern that this biodiversity may well disappear, and that nature may become mute and withdraw from any fruitful collaboration with human beings. such is the case in “estória de amor” [“story of love”], also first published in the collection corpo de baile. in this story, the source of life for many peoples, namely the stream that supplies water to the samarra farm run by old manuelzão in the middle of the sertão, stops flowing one day for no apparent reason: when least expected, the brook stopped. it happened in the middle of a night going towards dawn, and everyone was asleep. but everybody felt, suddenly, in his heart, the snap of the silence that it made, the sharp lack of the sound, of the little noise. they woke up, spoke to each other. even the children. even the dogs barked. then everyone got up, tried to find the backyard, went out with a light to see what was not there […]. the sobbing brook had dried up with no remainder, and perhaps forever. 8 sací is one of the more popular characters of brazilian folklore. he is probably a derivation of a figure belonging to the tupi-guarani mythology (indigenous mythology), a magical one-legged child associated with nature. with the arrival of african slaves, he turned black and used to smoke a pipe. he likes to play tricks on people, especially those who are disrespectful of nature. 57 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) quando menos esperassem, o riachinho cessou. foi no meio duma noite, indo para a madrugada, todos estavam dormindo. mas cada um sentiu, de repente, no coração, o estalo do silenciozinho que ele fez, a pontuda falta da toada, do barulhinho. acordaram, se falaram. até as crianças. até os cachorros latiram. aí, todos se levantaram, caçaram o quintal, saíram com luz, para espiar o que não havia. [...] o riacho soluço se estancara, sem resto, e talvez para sempre. (g.r. 2001c: 113) this disappearance, mentioned at the beginning of the story as having happened three years previously, is a real enigma for the inhabitants of the farm, who now have to go very far to get their water supply. whose mistake had it been? where was the little brook now? although these questions punctuate the text, they are never answered. the reader, as she becomes familiar with manuelzãos̓ biography and thoughts, cannot help but interpret the event as a warning signal from nature that has to be taken seriously. we learn that four years earlier federico freyre, a rich fazendeiro characterized as the incarnation of the “power of modern money” (g.r. 2001c: 155), had fallen in love with this remote corner of the world called samara, and had acquired thousands of acres there. he then hired manuelzão to cultivate this wasteland, to tame cattle, and to run the new farm, whose location was chosen, for obvious convenience, next to the creek. and it transpires that just one year after the farm was established the creek dried up. the clearest clue in favor of interpreting the disappearance of the creek as a response to the mercantilization of nature is given in the parable of the “boi bonito” [“beautiful ox”] narrated by old camilo. in this story within a story, a landowner is in despair because he does not succeed in taming one of his oxen. he promises to give his beautiful daughter in marriage to the man who will manage to do so. one of the cowhands sets out in search of the ox, and he pursues him until he arrives in an enchanting landscape: in a field of many waters. the buritis gave the sense of altitude, with their brooms of flowers. only the grass of the vereda, which was crazy about being green – green, green, greenish. hidden underneath, in these greens, a little stream explained itself: with the frenetic water – “i am a brook that never runs dry...” – it really didnʼt dry up. everything resided in that little brook. that place didnʼt split in several parts. and this was the house of the ox. the ox, who came jogtrotting. num campo de muitas águas. os buritis faziam alteza, com suas vassouras de flores. só um capim de vereda, que doidava de ser verde — verde, verde, verdeal. sob oculto, nesses verdes, um riachinho se explicava: com a água ciririca — ‘sou riacho que nunca seca...’ — de verdade, não secava. aquele riachinho residia tudo. lugar aquele não tinha pedacinhos. a lá era a casa do boi. o boi, que vinha choutando. (g.r. 2001c: 181) 58 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) faced with this mythical and harmonious landscape untouched by man, the cowhand understands that it would be a mistake to tame this ox, and he asks the landowner to let this animal run free. what is suggested here is that otherwise this stream could well be at risk of drying up, as the stream that provided water for the samarra farm. in this story again, the protagonists are warned by voices usually unheard (voice of nature, voice of poor or marginalized people), which use the cracks opened by the ecocatastrophe to question the cultural narrative of modernity and its hostile attitude towards the natural world: human well-being is linked to that of other kingdoms, and the keys for a human-friendly collaboration with nature lie in the hands of human beings themselves. finally, some stories by guimarães rosa go even further and show not only a nature that refuses to collaborate with the new modern or colonial requirements, but a nature that is vengeful and destructive: “sarapalha” for example, one of the stories gathered in the collection sagarana (1946), takes place in an area that had been cleared many years earlier for the construction of a village and the establishment of rice plantations. in this venue, where the land has been violated and where native vegetation has been replaced by a monoculture, malaria soon arrives and settles in, decimating and driving out most of the population. “the land was no longer worth anything” (g.r. 1982: 118). what is remarkable, however, is that the village comes back to life in another form: nature and the sertão take back their rights, as countless species of flowers and animals invade the deserted village. nature had previously been mastered and organized, but as soon as the constraints disappear, it reinvents new possibilities of life and new relationships of interdependence. what is even more remarkable is that the few people left in the village manage to integrate perfectly into this new environment born in the ruins. “a better life than ours” does not exist (g.r. 1982: 122). stricken by malaria, one of the characters experiences the greatest harmony with his environment during his crises, when nature adorns itself with its most beautiful colors and manifests, as if in solidarity, the same symptoms as his (cf. “shuddering”, “quivering”, “twitches”, “tremble”, “shaking”, “convulsions”): the flowers of the mastic tree are shuddering yellow. there is a quivering in the pink stems of the frog grass. the heliotropium indicum twitches its long leaves, as long as mango tree leaves. the branches of the broom tremble, shaking their little orange stars. and the luehea divaricata drops cracked fruit, going into convulsions. – but my god, how beautiful this is! what a beautiful place to lie down on the ground and perish! estremecem, amarelas, as flores da aroeira. há um frêmito nos caules rosados da erva-de-sapo. a erva-de-anum crispa as folhas, longas, como folhas de mangueira. trepidam, sacudindo as suas estrelinhas alaranjadas, os ramos da vassourinha. a pitangueira se abala, do jarrete à grimpa. 59 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) e o açoito-cavalos derruba frutinhas fendilhadas, entrando em convulsões. – mas meu deus, como isto é bonito! que lugar bonito p’r’a gente deitar na chão e se acabar! (g.r. 1982: 137-138) the ecocatastrophe caused by monocultures and malaria has obviously given rise to transformative practices and enabled the emergence of new ways of being and dwelling for the few people not (yet) decimated: they completely immersed themselves physically and psychologically in their environment, and the distinction between the animate and the inanimate no longer applies. conclusion: the sertão as a “planetary garden” if the scientific etymology of the sertão seems to refer to the word “desert” (the first syllable would have disappeared, while the augmentative -ão would have been added), our reading allows us to interpret the word according to a second etymology. no longer as a sertão derived from desertão (that is, “great desert”), but a sertão resulting from the contraction of the verb ser (to be) and tão (so, so much)⁹. the sertão is the place where there are “so many things”, the sertão is the place of the play and interplay of the multiple, of the connection, disconnection, and networking of all veredas, the sertão is a metaphor for the whole world and the whole biodiversity of the world. we can now understand why the narrator of grande sertão: veredas defines the sertão as having no borders and being “everywhere” (g. r. 1963: 4), and ends his novel with the word “passage” [travessia] (g.r. 2001a: 872) followed by the mathematical sign for infinity ∞ (which, strangely enough, has been forgotten or omitted in the english translation of that text). from the ecocritical point of view, the greatest merit of guimarães rosas̓ texts is to show that the sertão is not a given landscape in which man is irreversibly condemned to misery, but a landscape subject to transformation depending on the way it is looked at, listened to and generally handled. if humans are unable to perceive its potential richness and diversity, if they refuse to see beyond its apparent harshness and violence – to which they have themselves contributed – and just aim to control and exploit it with the means of new technologies, the sertão will gradually turn completely mute and sterile. if, on the contrary, careful attention is paid to its voices, the sertão can then become a point of departure for an immense “planetary garden”¹⁰ functioning on the basis of a “natural contract”¹¹, that is, a contract taking into account the rights and interests of 9 cf. mônica meyer, in her book ser-tão natureza: a natureza em guimarães rosa, belo horizonte (mg): editora ufmg, 2008, had already decomposed the sertão in two words. nevertheless, her ser-tão does not mean exactly the same as mine. for her, the more the physical space of the sertão is filled with spiritual life and transcendence, the more it becomes ser-tão. 10for this expression, see g. clément 2000. 11in the sense given by m. serres 2020. 60 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) other ontologies than the human one. as in his story campo geral [“general field”], where the main protagonist miguilim, a visually impaired little boy, cannot be aware of the beauty of the surrounding landscape until he gets glasses (g.r. 2001c: 105-106), guimarães rosa invites us to look at the sertão, and by extension at the world, with a reenchanted gaze able to recognize and admire its richness – be it real, hidden or potential. where possible, this new gaze will be oriented toward the spirit of “dancing with disaster” (rigby) and thereby prevent ecocatastrophes; and where the “turning point” has already taken place and damage incurred, it will help to identify such crises and to reflect and fight for the creation and use of more sustainable practices. references buarque de holanda, s. 2000. visões do paraíso. os motivos edénicos no descobrimento e colonização do brasil. são paulo: brasiliense/publifolha. clément, g. 2000. le jardin planétaire. paris: albin michel. caravalho, f. p. 2005. a natureza na literatura brasileira. regionalismo pré-modernista. são paulo: hucitec. da cunha, e. 1944. rebellion in the backlands, transl. s. putnam. chicago/london: university of chicago press. da cunha, e. 1984. os sertões. são paulo: três. freyre, g. 2003. casa-grande & senzala. são paulo: global editora. guimarães rosa, j. 2003. correspondência com seu tradutor italiano edoardo bizzarri. rio de janeiro: nova fronteira. guimarães rosa, j. 1963. the devil to pay in the backlands, transl. j. l. taylor & h. de onís. new york: knopf. guimarães rosa, j. 1991. diadorim, transl. m. lapouge-pettorelli. paris: albin michel. guimarães rosa, j. 2001a. grande sertão: veredas. rio de janeiro: editora nova fronteira (digital edition). guimarães rosa, j. 2001b. no urubuquaqua, no pinhêm. rio de janeiro: editora nova fronteira (digital edition). guimarães rosa, j. 2001c. manuelzão e miguilim (corpo de baile). rio de janeiro: editora nova fronteira (digital edition). guimarães rosa, j. 1982. sagarana. rio de janeiro: josé olympio. meyer, m. 2008. ser-tão natureza: a natureza em guimarães rosa. belo horizonte: editora ufmg. ramos, g. 2003. vidas secas. rio de janeiro & são paulo: editora record. rigby, k. 2015. dancing with disaster. environmental histories, narratives, and ethics for perilous times. charlottesville & london: university of virginia press. serres, m. 2020. le contrat naturel. paris: flammarion. 61 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 37 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) tannús alves, a. c. 2013. a viagem em o recado do morro. construção de espaços e identidades. estação literária 10b: 20-32. wisnik, j. m. 2016. o sertão transcendental. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck r9glh-zdg *** corinne fournier kiss teaches comparative literature, with a focus on romance and slavic literatures, at the universities of bern and fribourg. her recent publications include the monograph “germaine de staël et george sand en dialogue avec leur consoeurs polonaises” (clermont-ferrand 2020), which has also been translated into polish (warsaw 2022). her main interests are literature and interculturality, literature of the fantastic, francophone literatures, womens̓ writing and the representations of space (cities, borders and gardens). currently, she is working on a project about the representation of amazonia in literature using an ecocritical approach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckr9glh-zdg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckr9glh-zdg corinne fournier kiss 1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.37.2.03 brazilian backlands (sertão) – natural disaster or ecocatastrophe? an ecocritical reading of joão guimarães rosa’s landscapes 37 34 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) tomasz ewertowski1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.39.4.03 shanghai international studies university, china https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1133-137x a scientist’s and tourist’s touch – the haptic in travelogues about the island of java (m. siedlecki and e.r. scidmore) abstract. the article explores the haptic aesthetic of selected polish and anglophone travelogues about the island of java: jawa – przyroda i sztuka (1913) by a polish biologist named michał siedlecki, and java, the garden of the east (1897) by the american writer eliza ruhamah scidmore. a comparison of texts coming from different literary traditions should yield a deeper insight into the various aspects of conceptualising the haptic in travel writing. java s̓ tropical environment provided travellers with new sensory experiences, consequently scrutinising how writers represented what they touched and felt, along with how descriptions of haptic sensations were associated with the ideological and aesthetic dimension of travel writing, can shed new light on how travel writing works and how multi-layered it is. keywords: anglophone travellers, haptic, java, polish travellers, sensuous geographies, touch, travel writing. introduction according to sarah jackson (2020: 222), “accounts of the tactile remain largely overlooked by both authors and critics of travel writing,” a statement that seems to be confirmed by two travellers who are the focus of this article, a polish biologist named michał siedlecki (1873-1940) and the american journalist and writer eliza ruhamah scidmore (1856-1928). their travelogues are dominated by descriptions of visual sensations; furthermore, they summarize their stays on java using expressions based on 1 address for correspondence: shanghai international studies university, 550 dalian road (w), shanghai 200083, china. e-mail: w1719@shisu.edu.cn https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1133-137x 35 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) seeing. at the end of her travelogue, the american writer remarks that java is “the ideal tropical island, the greenest, the most beautiful, and the most picturesque and satisfactory bit of the tropics” (scidmore 1922: 334), which “is certain soon to loom larger in the world s̓ view” (336). the polish traveller explains his travel goals in the following way: “to get to know directly this world of disparate colours, life and concepts, to see as much as possible and to learn a lot from it” (ʻpoznać bezpośrednio ten świat barw, życia i pojęć odmiennych, widzieć jak najwięcej i nauczyć się dużo.̓ 2) (siedlecki 1913: iv). even in his autobiography siedlecki referred to travelling to java in visual terms: “it is almost indispensable for a biologist to have a glance at the tropical world” (ʻjest biologowi niemal niezbędnie potrzebne rzucenie okiem na świat tropikalnyʼ) (siedlecki 1966: 68). siedlecki s̓ and scidmore s̓ focus on sight is not surprising, despite the fact that it is difficult to imagine experiencing the world without touch and haptic sensations in general (more on relations between those terms in the section 3); nevertheless, they are often neglected. “touch lies at the heart of our experience of ourselves and the world yet it often remains unspoken and, even more so, unhistoricized” (classen 2012: xi). why is it so? one of the reasons has been pointed out by paul rodaway (1994: 48): “in the everyday experience of the able-bodied adult, the haptic dimension to geographical perception is often overlaid by visual and auditory information and thus tends to be overlooked”. another issue is that while sounds and images can be recorded, tactile sensations are elusive: “most immediate and evanescent of human senses, touch could only be preserved in memory and through language” (das 2005: 114). following this line of reasoning, it can be claimed that travellers focus on what they see and hear because visual and auditory sensations are more attention-grabbing and provide more concrete information about the visited environment. yet this immediacy and evanescence of tactile sensations – which are impossible to record directly and can be only suggested with words – makes the haptic in travel writing an interesting research topic. travel experience is of course much richer than just visual consumption (podemski 2005: 9– 10), and analysing literary representations of haptic phenomena makes it possible to overcome the ocularcentric paradigm (jay 1993; urry & larsen 2011; wieczorkiewicz 2012: 133–138). the tropics provided travellers with an abundance of new sensory experience, such that scrutinising how different writers described what they touched and felt while staying on the island of java, along with how descriptions of haptic sensations were associated with the ideological and aesthetic aspects of travel writing, can shed new light on how travel writing works and how multi-layered it is. i will focus on michał siedlecki s̓ book jawa – przyroda i sztuka (ʻjava – nature and art,̓ 1913) and on eliza 2 all translations into english are my own, unless stated otherwise. 36 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) ruhamah scidmore s̓ java, the garden of the east (1897). both authors came from different literary traditions and dissimilar backgrounds: siedlecki was a male scientist and university professor; scidmore was a female journalist and world traveller. however, both visited the dutch colony in the same period, i.e., around the turn of the 20th century, which provides an opportunity for an analysis of similarities and differences in their accounts and should yield a deeper insight into the various aspects of conceptualising the haptic in travel writing. i will approach this topic in four steps. firstly, i will briefly present siedlecki s̓ and scidmore s̓ works and biography in the context of scholarly reflection on travelogues about southeast asia. secondly, various methodological concepts and definitions regarding touch, tactile sensations and the haptic will be introduced. that will be followed by a detailed analysis of travelogues, using concepts presented in the previous sections. finally, in the concluding section i will show the main contrasts and analogies between both travel accounts: a scientist s̓ (siedlecki) and tourist s̓ (scidmore) touch. scidmore and siedlecki and the travel writings about southeast asia eliza ruhamah scidmore was an american traveller, journalist, writer and photographer, the first female member of the board of trustees of the national geographic society.3 born to an upper-class family, already as a teenager she came into contact with political and diplomatic circles and attended the prestigious oberlin college in ohio. she journeyed widely in america, europe, and asia, which was partially facilitated by the fact that her brother, a career diplomat, served on various posts in asia during the years 1881-1922, mostly in japan. she published travelogues in the national geographic and the century magazine, later turning her accounts into book-length literary travel accounts and guidebooks.4 her travel can be delineated as leisure trips undertaken to fulfil curiosity, while her writing represents the sensibilities of a well-informed and intellectual tourist who used opportunities created by western expansion into colonial asia. 3 biographical information about scidmore is based on parsell (2023) and mayumi (2017). mayumi's book was criticized by diana parsell (see comment on https://www.amazon.com/eliza-ruhamah-scidmorejapan-washington/dp/1973413736, accessed 18.09.2022), the author of scidmore s̓ new biography. 4 scidmore s̓ books include: alaska, its southern coast and the sitkan archipelago (1885); westward to the far east: a guide to the principal cities of china and japan (1891); jinrikisha days in japan (1891); appleton’s guide-book to alaska and the northwest coast: including the shores of washington, british columbia, southeastern alaska, the aleutians and seal islands, the bering and the arctic coasts (1893); java, the garden of the east (1897); china, the long-lived empire (1900); winter india (1903); as the hague ordains: journal of a russian prisoner’s wife in japan (1907). 37 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) michał siedlecki was a biologist, a graduate of jagiellonian university, who also conducted research and additional studies in berlin, paris and naples5. he represents a rare synthesis of a natural scientist, a literary writer, and an activist-organizer. on the one hand he published numerous research studies on protozoology, adaptations to tropical life and marine biology, on the other he also had friendly relationships with the most important figures of the polish modernist movement (młoda polska, ʻyoung polandʼ). later in life, he became a professor at jagiellonian university and served as president of the newly re-established stefan batory university in vilnius, and was also a member of the international council for the exploration of the sea in copenhagen. his writings include not only scientific papers, but also several works which can be branded as popular science, including the verne-inspired science-fiction story głębiny (ʻthe depthsʼ). among them, the most prominent is his book on java. brilliantly written, it is a personal travel narrative that also contains plentiful remarks on natural science as well as on culture. this work is supplemented by a book of fiction opowieści malajskie (ʻmalay storiesʼ) (siedlecki 1927), in which motifs and themes present in jawa. przyroda i sztuka serve as a basis for short stories. to sum up, siedlecki travelled as a researcher and in his travelogue scientific topics play a primary role, although it also reveals his deep artistic sensibility. according to the biographical data, the two travellers never met and their trips to java were separated by more than 10 years (scidmore visited the island in the 1890s, the first edition of her book was published in 1897, while siedlecki stayed there during the years 1907-1908). there are, however, several connections between them; for example siedlecki includes scidmore s̓ book in his bibliography. even more significant is that both often refer to earlier works; the names of thomas stamford raffles (1781-1826), franz wilhelm junghuhn (1809-1864), alfred russel wallace (1823-1913) are recurrent in the analysed travelogues. both scidmore and siedlecki were intellectuals and skilful writers; however, there is one crucial difference between them: the american traveller wrote as a tourist, the pole as a scientist. of course, this divergence is not absolute, for instance scidmore quotes scholarly literature and her book has an index and, while siedlecki was travelling not only for research, but also for the personal pleasure. nonetheless a scientist/tourist dichotomy helps to characterize different ways of experiencing the world and writing about it. how can their accounts about java be localized in the wider context of scholarly reflection on 19thand early 20th-century travel writings about southeast asia? due to the comparative dimension of this article, it is worth mentioning an inspiring study about three (british, german, and chinese) travellers (ng 2002), which uses the concept 5 biographical information about siedlecki is based on fedorowicz (1966); siedlecki (1966). 38 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of habitus to explain differences in the portrayals of southeast asia. there are also works devoted specifically to travel writings about java, examining the position of the island within colonial tourism in the mid-19th century (toivanen 2019a) and the role of travelogues in the transnational politics of imperial knowledge management (toivanen 2019b). in two books, victor r. savage discusses the image of singapore in western narratives, including travel accounts (2021); and representations of the natural world of the region (1984), analysing, among many other western authors, also scidmore s̓ travelogue. one section of the latter book is devoted to the senses, even though it scrutinizes only sounds, smells and tastes (203-217). susan morgan (1996) examines writings about southeast asia by female travellers of the victorian period, but scidmore is referred to only twice, and is wrongly called a missionary (34, 44-45). scidmore s̓ book on java is also summoned incidentally as a historical source, including in articles written by indonesian scholars (cribb 1995; sunjayadi 2008; goss 2011; bender 2017; nurwulandari & kurniawan 2020). the american traveller features prominently in the articles by julia kuehn (2007, 2008); however, these are devoted to china, not southeast asia. the aforementioned works focus on sources written in western european languages from the perspective of colonising nations. because the main goal of this article is to compare one american and one polish travelogue, it is important to introduce the point of view of non-imperial nations. central european visitors to southeast asia in colonial period were a subject of an international workshop escaping kakania held in singapore in 2021 (publication upcoming). jan mrázek (2013, 2017, 2022) discussed czech accounts about colonial southeast asia, including their sensuous aspects. polish narratives about that region, including siedlecki s̓ work, have been an object of a comparative analysis that focused on representations of nature (ewertowski 2022b) and images of the island of java (ewertowski 2022a). due to the importance of siedlecki s̓ jawa, which was the first polish book devoted to the tropical island, it keeps attracting scholarly attention even now (wacławek 2014; wiatrowski 2014). siedlecki is also seen as a pioneer in the reception of javanese music, art and theatre in poland (tenorowicz 2014; martin 2016). as this short survey shows, travel writings about southeast asia have been analysed using a wide range of concepts. of utmost importance are topics connected with colonialism, since most of travellers visited the area because of conditions created by the european expansion (like siedlecki and scidmore); some were even participating in imperial activities. colonialism is also an important context for the analysis of sensory perceptions. ideas derived from postcolonial theory feature prominently, but issues such as representations of the natural world, a traveller s̓ habitus, gender studies, bodily experiences and even linguistic analysis are present, too. themes associated with the senses have also been investigated, for example, sensory perceptions of natural phenomena (savage 1984), descriptions of fruits (bender 2017), the body in relation to experiencing and knowing (kuehn 2008), and linguistic representations of sensory 39 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) impressions (wiatrowski 2014). however, such forays into the realm of sensuous scholarship were rather sideline activities, hence touch was not analysed in detail. therefore, in the next section i would like to introduce the main concepts that will form the basis for the analysis of haptic aesthetics. the haptic in the humanities in european culture, touch is indicated as one of the five senses, although this classification was criticized from an intercultural perspective, which claims that various cultures have dissimilar approaches to sensory impressions (low 2019: 621–625). furthermore, contemporary anthropology suggests that greco-roman tradition is far too reductive and arbitrary (rodaway 1994: 28). while customarily seeing with the eyes is characterized as the sense of sight and contact with the hands is associated with the sense of touch, that approach is obviously too simplistic. touch is not limited to the hand, as humans receive sensations through the whole skin and include the feeling of pressure, pain, cold and warmth. what is traditionally recognized as the sense of touch is also labelled as part of the haptic system, which includes more than cutaneous (skin) impressions. mark paterson, referring, among others, to james gibson (1966), distinguishes between tactile – “pertaining to the cutaneous sense, but more specifically the sensation of pressure (from mechanoreceptors) rather than temperature (thermoceptors) or pain (nociceptors)” – and the haptic that includes not only tactile but all cutaneous sensations (including pressure, temperature and pain) as well as kinaesthesia (the sense of movement), proprioception (the sense of bodily position), and the vestibular system (the sense of balance) (paterson 2007: ix, 2009: 768–771). the difference between the tactile and the haptic was also emphasized by marta smolińska (2022: 21–23) from the perspective of art history, the former refers to art works which are experienced via touch while the latter describes various ways of activating the haptic system, not necessarily by touch itself. moreover, smolińska distinguishes the “classical haptic” from the “extended haptic.” the former was discussed by the art historian alois reigl (1858-1905) as triggering memories of touch via looking (20). the latter is defined as the somaesthetic modality of many senses which activates the haptic system (62). smolińska s̓ emphasis on multisensory perception of art is also very useful for the analysis of travel writing. sensuous experience is processual, corporeal, based on activating many senses simultaneously (rodaway 1994: 11–12). in writing, a singular perception may be isolated and deliberated on, still it is important to read travelogues with a multisensory character of human experience in mind, because “all of the senses can be, and have been, thought of as having tactile dimensions—even sight involves eye movement” (classen 2012: xiv). even though writers paid more attention to the visual, the extended haptic still managed to enter their narratives. referring to vladimir gvozdens̓ (2011: 171) concept of aestheticization in travelogues – that is, 40 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) literary and cultural codes used to transform the material experience into a literary work – we can talk about the haptic aesthetics denoting the way in which haptic sensations are described in travel accounts. in literature studies, such a detailed description of the haptic system has been adapted to topics ranging from the first world war literature (das 2005: 20–21) to the political dimension of michael ondaatje s̓ writings (marinkova 2011: 6) or an interpretation of modernist writers (garrington 2013: 17). when looking at travel writings from a linguistic perspective, representations of sensory perceptions have a few functions: they emphasize the individual experience of the writer, stress his or her position as a reliable witness, help engage readers in a story (temmerman 2021). such an explanation corresponds with the remark that siedlecki s̓ detailed descriptions and rich sensuous vocabulary were crucial for a suggestive image of java (wiatrowski 2014). among other important concepts, “the haptic sublime” (mcnee 2014) can be singled out. it refers to the way in which 19th-century mountaineers experienced the sublime through bodily contact with the mountains and indicates that visual appraisal and haptic sensations were interconnected. discussions on pedestrianism in travel writing are also significant (dziokłazarecka 2021), for the reason that the haptic includes kinaesthetic, proprioceptive, and vestibular sensations, experienced while walking. finally, because both scidmore and siedlecki travelled to java during the colonial period, the studies over sensuous dimensions of the imperial presence of europeans and americans in asia provide a number of valuable insights (rotter 2011; low 2019: 627–631). the array of concepts forms a conceptual framework for the interpretation of siedlecki s̓ and scidmore s̓ works in the next section. dimensions of the haptic touching with hands the most obvious dimension of the haptic in siedlecki s̓ and scidmore s̓ travelogues is references to touching with the hands. garrington (2013: 18) stresses that the “human hand plays a central role in touch experiences,” while connor (2006: 106) calls the hand “the active power of the skin,” which suggestively shows the importance of grasping and manipulating objects with the hands. for example, the polish traveller described how he was touching stones while exploring volcanic areas: “i want to pick up one of them, and it crumbles and breaks into pieces like moist loam and shows in the point of break veins of small shiny crystals of iron sulphide or pyrite” (ʻchcę podnieść jeden z nich, on zaś rozkrusza się i rozpada jak ił wilgotny i okazuje na miejscu przełomu żyłki z małych błyszczących kryształków siarczku żelaza czyli pirytuʼ) (siedlecki 1913: 63). grasping objects with a hand is a way of exploring the world. he reports also that the ground was so hot that “it was almost impossible to touch it with the hand” (ʻdotknąć go ręką prawie 41 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) niepodobnaʼ) (64). in another place he writes how with a stick he investigated holes in a botanical garden, looking for animals: “if you put a stick there, you can feel it being grabbed and pulled by the claws of a scorpion” (ʻa jeśli tam zapuścić patyczek, to czuje się, jak chwytają go i ciągną szczypce ogromnego niedźwiadka, czyli skorpiona (heteromefrus javanicitsʼ) (128). in scidmore s̓ travelogue, the most attention-grabbing are remarks about touch sensations associated with opening tropical fruits, for instance: “the spiny shell [of rambutans] pulls apart easily, and discloses a juicy, halftransparent mass of white pulp around a central core of smooth stones” (scidmore 1922: 83). on the market in solo she looked for traditional blades, kris, and made a comment on the way they can be handled: “the boatshaped wooden hilts having only enough carving on the under part to give the hand a firm grasp” (259). another example of touch exploration is turning pages of rare books from the collection of a javanese aristocrat: “we had only time to turn its leaves, see the more remarkable pages, and obtain a general dazzling idea of its quality” (299). descriptions of touching have a diverse character, for they use subject-oriented verbs (“i want to pick up”) as well as object-oriented verbs (“shell pulls apart easily”). sometimes actions and feelings of the author are emphasized (“we had only time to turn its leaves”), sometimes the subject s̓ experience is generalized (“it was almost impossible to touch it”); in other cases the qualities of objects are at the forefront (“to give the hand a firm grasp”) (temmerman 2021: 86-89). handling objects provides extensive information: “we get to know through touch alone – or at times in close conjunction with vision or sound – size, texture, temperature, weight, hardness/softness, viscosity, depth, flatness, movement, composition and space” (das 2005: 21). the multisensory character of human perception is emphasized by the fact that often in one sentence there are references to several senses (scidmore s̓ description of rambutans). furthermore, while analysing representations of clutching or grabbing, a crucial difference between siedlecki and scidmore emerges: the polish traveller describes touching as a way of acquiring information, his is a scientist s̓ touch; the american writer enjoys tactile sensations and the experience of novelty they bring, hers is a tourist s̓ touch. in such a way, the importance of a travel type and habitus manifests itself in travel writing. this distinction will be revisited in my later analysis. being touched it is often remarked that touch is the most reciprocal among the senses: “for touch is unlike the other senses in this, that it acts upon the world as well as registering the action of the world on you” (connor 2006: 263). however, it is not always reflected in written representations of bodily sensations. the abovementioned descriptions of grasping emphasize the activity of the subject who is using his/her hands to manipulate passive objects. generally, the tropical world is presented as being explored by 42 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) travellers, and only in some situations are the roles reversed. siedlecki was researching animals, but sometimes he might become an object of their touch: “the beetle closes or opens its claws by moving its head, and can severely clench with them if you carelessly let it grab your finger” (ʻruszając głową chrząszcz zamyka albo otwiera szczypce i może niemi tęgo ścisnąć, jeśli nieostrożnie dać mu się schwycić za palecʼ) (siedlecki 1913: 152). but the most repulsive aspect of “being touched” by the tropics is an encounter with leeches: it enters the sleeves or behind the collar and finally reaches the skin and settles around the waist. now, with its thin and sharp jaws it saws through the skin and draws blood so gently that it cannot even be felt. having worn itself out, it falls off and leaves a small but bleeding wound. (133) wchodzi do rękawów lub za kołnierz, dostaje się wreszcie niepostrzeżenie aż do skóry i osadza się przy pasie. teraz cienkiemi i ostremi szczękami przepiłowuje skórę i ciągnie krew tak delikatnie, że nawet uczuć się to nie da. nassawszy się, odpada i pozostawia małą, ale długo krwawiącą rankę. temperature and sultriness as noted in section 3, cutaneous sensations associated with the sun and generally from experiencing the temperature are an important aspect of the haptic. das writes metaphorically about “the suns̓ touch” (2005: 159-62), obrador-pons (2007) comments on the pleasant sensations of being exposed to the sun and breeze on the beach, while paterson (2009: 780), in commenting on obrador-pons s̓ article, remarks how the beach experience could include also unpleasant sunburn. travellers in the equatorial environment of java were obviously exposed to the sun, high temperatures and extraordinary humidity. in some areas, even the sunset was not a relief from the stifling humidity: “after the sun fell the air grew heavier and hotter, a stifling, sodden, steaming, reeking atmosphere of evil that one could hardly force in and out of the lungs” (scidmore 1922: 304–305). siedlecki, as a scientist, put haptic sensations into the context of general information about the climate: “this constant warmth, combined with the humidity, creates this sultry, hothouse atmosphere that can be tiring, exhausting and annoying, and for many people is simply unbearable” (ʻta stała ciepłota, w połączeniu z wilgocią powietrza daje właśnie tę duszną, cieplarnianą atmosferę, która może męczyć, wyczerpywać i denerwować, a dla wielu ludzi jest wprost nieznośnaʼ) (siedlecki 1913: 77). “the suns̓ touch” in the tropics can be deadly, so the head must be covered with a helmet, even on rainy days. it can be noted how via haptic aesthetics siedlecki and scidmore introduce the theme of deadly tropics (arnold 2006: 42–73); however, in the americans̓ travelogue the “blessed tropics” is also present: “life is so simple and primitive, too, in the 43 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) sunshine and warmth of the tropics” (scidmore 1922: 42). considering the frequent portrayals of fruits and lush vegetation, it can be concluded that the image of tropical richness is prevalent. similarly, siedlecki (1913: 80–81) stated that not only is it possible to adapt to the tropical heat, but later it even helps with enduring the european winters. above i referred to remarks from articles by obrador-pons and paterson; to sum up the issue of temperature and sultriness, it is important to recall their conclusions as well. according to obrador-pons (2007: 138), haptic sensations can be a source of embodied pleasure that overcomes visual and political orders. touch confers a sense of authenticity and it also has ethical potential, because the haptic brings a feeling of enchantment by the natural world, not mediated by political power, symbolic inscriptions or objectification. paterson (2009: 780) criticizes obrador-pons not only for too optimistic a comment on beach experience, but also for methodological issues, namely, for capturing partially unconscious “somatosensory imagination” through a traditional interview method. for the analysis of travel writing, three important conclusions can be drawn from this discussion. firstly, in literature studies all meanings are encoded in language, so we encounter only written representations of sensations, not the full richness of patersons̓ “somatosensory imagination.” even if subjects experience the liberating sensations indicated by obrador-pons, in literature such feelings are expressed through literary conventions. secondly, despite limitations of literary representations, siedlecki and scidmore, thanks to such rhetoric devices as comparisons, metaphors and rich epithets, can evoke an embodied experience of the tropics. thirdly, obrador-pons s̓ remarks about the haptic being beyond political and symbolic order, although exaggerated, suggest that by analysing representations of such sensations in a literary work it is possible to find “cracks” in a seemingly uniform discourse (see conclusion). walking walking involves kinaesthetic, proprioceptive and vestibular sensations, while its relative slowness exposes the body to the environment. in this way senses “ground the sentient body in material reality” (dziok-łazarecka 2021: 129). this, however, has also an unpleasant side, especially in a dense tropical forest. scidmore s̓ willingness to climb the summit of mount papandyang (papandayan, papandjang) vanished quickly: “after pushing and tearing our way through bamboo-grass and bushes to the first ridge, we saw only other and farther ridges to be surmounted” (scidmore 1922: 320). siedlecki (1913: 99) makes an analogous comment: “to force one s̓ way through the rattan thicket is almost impossible, its thorns are so horrible and sharp” (ʻprzedrzeć się przez zarośla rotanu prawie niepodobna, tak straszne i ostre są ich kolceʼ). one more natural threat to which one is potentially exposed on strolls in the tropics is snakes, mentioned by siedlecki and scidmore, although they play down this danger. the volcanic nature of java was responsible for another extraordinary pedestrian experiences: “the sulphur 44 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) coolies stepped warily along the paths between the pools; our shoesoles were not proof against the steam and scorch of the heaving ground beneath us” (scidmore 1922: 319). “the ground on which i walk is soft and elastic; when struck, it responds like a vault over an empty cellar; in one place i poke a stick deeply into the soft ground; as soon as i pull it out, steam begins to gush from the hole” (ʻgrunt, po którym chodzę, miękki i elastyczny, uderzony, odpowiada jak sklepienie nad pustą piwnicą; w jednem miejscu wtykam głęboko kij do miękkiej ziemi; natychmiast po jego wyciągnięciu zaczyna z otworku buchać paraʼ) (siedlecki 1913: 64). the dangerous potential posed by volcanic activity seems much more acute when experienced while walking. however, moving around java on foot means not just unpleasant sensations. it provides a deeper involvement with the material environment, creating opportunities for a special experience. scidmore (1922: 187) describes how walking on sculptured terraces of the borobudur temple was like experiencing a picture-bible of buddhism. a stroll from the train station to the prambanan temples was a challenge because of the “deadly, direct rays of the midday sun, at the time when, as the hindus say, only englishmen and dogs are abroad” (219-220); however, on the way scidmore got a chance to witness an enchanting leisurely life in one village: there was such an easy, enviable tropical calm of abundant living and leisure in that lilliput village under brobdingnag trees that i longed to fling away my “fergusson,” let slip life's one golden, glowing, scorching opportunity to be informed on ninth-century brahmanic temples, and, putting off all starched and unnecessary garments of white civilization, join that lifelong, happy-go-lucky, care-free picnic party under the kanaritrees of brambanam. (220) likewise, siedlecki emphasized that only through walking can one really experience the tropical rainforest: “but whoever wants to really benefit from the forest, whoever wants to thoroughly experience its lushness and beauty, he or she has to get off the paths and fight one s̓ way through the thick brushwood” (a̒le kto chce naprawdę skorzystać z lasu, kto chce jego bujność i piękność poznać w całej pełni, ten musi zejść z ścieżek i przebić się przez gąszcz zarośliʼ) (siedlecki 1913: 113). referring to mcnee s̓ haptic sublime, achieved through bodily contact with the mountains, we can talk about the haptic sublime of a tropical forest: through a path cut into its vegetation wall, i entered the forest for the first time. i was overwhelmed by a green gloom and swallowed by such a dense thicket of vegetation that at first i felt lost, stunned, in the midst of this veritable temple of luxuriant life. (siedlecki 1913: 114) 45 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) zapuściłem się po raz pierwszy do lasu przez wejście na ścieżkę, wyciętą w roślinnej jego ścianie. ogarnął mię mrok zielony i pochłonęła tak zbita gęstwa roślinności, że w pierwszej chwili oszołomiony, wśród tej prawdziwej świątyni bujnego życia, nawet zoryentować się nie mogłem. kinaesthetic, proprioceptive, and vestibular sensations haptic sensations are caused not only by walking. this is how scidmore recounts a horse carriage ride from yogyakarta to borobudur: “we rocked and rolled through beautiful arched avenues, with this bare-legged boy in gay petticoat ʻgr-r-ree-ingʼ us along like mad, people scattering aside like frightened chickens, and kneeling as we passed by” (scidmore 1922: 175). it is worth noticing how the passenger s̓ experience is different from that of people passing along the way. unlike walking, this means of transport isolates travellers from the immediate material environment, even if the carriage provides uncomfortable haptic sensations of rocking and rolling. railways on java are favourably compared with the indian railways due to a greater comfort, including more pleasant haptic sensations: “the railway service of netherlands india is a vast improvement on, and its cars are in striking contrast to, the loosewindowed, springless, dusty, hard-benched carriages in which first-class passengers are jolted across british india” (scidmore 1922: 50-51). while travelling by carriage, scidmore enjoyed sightseeing, but reported also rocking and rolling; riding the train is not only more comfortable, but also provides a great opportunity for enjoyable views: “the hour-and-a-half s̓ ride from batavia to buitenzorg gave us an epitome of tropical landscapes as the train ran between a double panorama of beauty” (52). among those observations, the following excerpt is of special importance: “men and women were wading knee-deep in paddy-field muck, transplanting the green rice-shoots from the seed-beds, and picturesque harvest groups posed in tableaux, as the train shrieked by” (55). on the train, scidmore of course experienced jolting and vibrations, but those sensations are not mentioned, having been overwhelmed by the visual input of seeing people working in the rice field. it leads to an interesting contrast: readers know much more about the haptic sensations of observed farmers than about the direct experience of the traveller, who seems to be reduced to a bodiless eye. the primacy of the visual goes hand in hand with characteristic features of the industrial transport technology. scidmore s̓ writing can serve as an example of the “panoramic perception” analysed in the context of railway journeys (schivelbusch 2014: 64). for scidmore, the train was a perfect environment to enjoy the views, but vibrations and jolts caused by modern machinery could be a nuisance (schivelbusch 2014: 113-23; smith 2018: 7, 147). furthermore, the higher speed created a greater possibility for an accident. siedlecki s̓ account on the trip to islands north of java is full of admiration for the colourful beauty of coral reefs, but “suddenly the boat hit the underwater reef at full 46 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) speed; we were thrown like balls – some into the water, others to the bottom of the boat” (ʻnagle łódź w pełnym pędzie uderzyła o rafę podwodną; rzuciło nami jak piłkami – jednych do wody innych na dno łodziʼ) (siedlecki 1913: 273). the haptic put an end to the appreciation of visual sensations. the extended haptic – touching with eyes and ears “sense perception is often a product of the interplay between cognition, knowledge, memory and language” (das 2005: 35). received sensations may remind of other experiences, so seeing, hearing, or smelling may help recall tactile and other sensations even in the absence of actual touch. smolińska, in her work on the extended haptic, examines how contemporary artworks stimulate more than one sense, presenting a detailed analysis of how various senses have haptic potential. for instance, haptic vision was already elaborated on by a. riegel at the beginning of the 20th century, because sight could activate the memory of touching (smolińska 2022: 34-49). the metaphor of “touch of the eye” (garrington 2013: 7, 9, 20, 89) is often used in this context. the term “haptic visuality” allows one to distinguish a way of looking that is focused on textures and surfaces (jackson 2020: 229). many examples of such “touching looks” can be found in siedlecki s̓ account. his descriptions evoke qualities of the surface like hardness/softness: “rocks, composed of grey and hard stones” (ʻskały, złożone z głazów szarych i twardychʼ) (siedlecki 1913: 52) or recall sensations of pain: after shooting down an ant nest, the traveller observes swarms of large ants and then reminds himself and his readers that such ants bite painfully (278). scidmore, who visited java as a tourist and not as a researcher with a shorter stay there than siedlecki, seems to have been less grounded in the materiality of natural life of the island, so there are less examples of “haptic visuality” in her accounts, but her comments about ladies wearing “heavy silks and velvets of an amsterdam winter” (scidmore 1922: 34) convey such sensibility. there is also one example of an observed object arousing haptic sensations because of anxiety: “the rising mists and the solid blue vapors [sic] massing in the distances were so much actual, visible evil malaria almost in tangible form” (303). finally, commenting on a boy climbing a palm tree, scidmore writes: “[it] makes one rub his eyes doubtingly at the unprepared sight” (205), which is an example of how looking may cause a haptic reaction. another example is haptic hearing. from the perspective of contemporary neurobiology, sound can be treated as a specialized form of a haptic perception, since it depends on received sound waves, transforming them into vibrations within the ear and then converting them into nerve impulses. smolińska (2022: 185–189), following gilles deleuze, writes about “haptic resonance,” emphasizing that sounds can transform the space, haptically impacting listeners. additionally, sound can remind of specific body states associated with touch. in his book, siedlecki devotes a whole chapter to “voices of 47 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) nature” and another to “javanese music,” both of which contain examples of “touching with ears.” on java there is a whole choir of nature: wind, swoosh of trees and voices of cicadas, crickets, bumblebees, birds, frogs, lizards fill the entire atmosphere (siedlecki 1913: 231). as a biologist, he investigated the function of sounds for animals and commented on their perceptions: “for the cicadasʼ sounds, even if not distinguished in detail but only perceived as air vibrations, could be a supplement for deficiencies of the olfactory system” (ʻdla piewików głos, choćby nawet niezbyt dobrze w szczegółach rozróżniany, lecz tylko odczuwany, jako drgania powietrza, byłby uzupełnieniem braków aparatu węchowegoʼ) (230-31). while describing music, siedlecki uses artistic language to show the multisensory impact of the javanese gamelan: “such music amazes at first, then it moves, and then the whole atmosphere becomes permeated with it and it penetrates the soul, so that mind melts in its overflowing sounds and one comes to a state existing beyond earthly feelings” (ʻtaka muzyka z początku zadziwia, potem przejmuje, a potem zaczyna się nią przepajać cała atmosfera i drąży ona do wnętrza duszy tak, że w przelewnych jej dźwiękach roztapia się myśl i przychodzi się do stanu, już poza ziemskiem czuciem istniejącegoʼ) (240). figures of speech which would fit any sublime, mystical poem suggestively show the haptic impact of sounds. another important example of linking haptic, audial and visual sensations is the scene of a javanese dance, which must have been very important for siedlecki, for he portrayed it twice, once in his travelogue, and then again in a short story from his collection opowieści malajskie: these hands wriggled and bent, giving her [the dancer] strange, chimerical forms; once straight and stretched, then bent in such a way that all the joints seemed to have been torn out of their bonds; these hands were writhing like two golden serpents, to the rhythm of the constantly recurring motifs of the music. at first the listeners stood mute, then the melody, growing louder and louder, and the image of the bent dancer began to entrance them; they began to clap their hands at steady pace to the beat of the cymbals, and then, at first quietly, and then louder and louder they were speaking and shouting one word to the beat of the clapping: lekás lekás lekás – lekás… (lively – lively)… the crowd and music and dancer with a golden body melted together into one entity, vibrating with the same rhythm as the whole choirs of nature, rocking on this emerald island. (244-45) wiły się te ręce i gięły, nadając jej postaci dziwne, chimeryczne formy; to proste i wyciągnięte aż do palców, to przewijały się te ręce jakby dwa złote węże, w takt ciągle powracających motywów muzyki. słuchacze zrazu stali niemi, potem potężniejąca melodya i obraz przegiętej tancerki zaczęły ich porywać; zaczęto równomiernie klaskać w dłonie w takt cymbałom, a potem, zrazu pocichu, a wnet coraz to głośniej mówić i 48 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) pokrzykiwać jeden wyraz do taktu z klaskaniem: lekás — lekás — lekás — lekás… (żwawo — żwawo)… tłum i muzyka i tancerka o złotem ciele stopili się razem w jedną całość, drgającą rytmem tak, jak rytmem drgają całe chóry przyrody, bujającej na tej wyspie szmaragdowej this exceptional passage displays how the rhythm of sound and dance awakens not only the audial and visual systems but the whole body. kinaesthetic, proprioceptive, and vestibular aspects are stimulated, leading to a particular feeling of communion with the audience. multisensory perceptions unite the crowd, turning it into an embodiment of the whole island, however, the narrator seems to stand apart. although large parts of siedlecki s̓ travelogue are composed from the vantage point of a scientist, he was much more sensitive to the haptic dimension of music than scidmore and expressed his impressions in a more artistic way. the american traveller writes about javanese melodies and instruments without siedlecki s̓ exhilaration, although she does so in positive terms, for instance: “all the singers and musicians of the full topeng troupe, lifted up their voices to the tinkling, softly booming, sonorous airs of the gamelan and delighted us with a succession of chants ”(scidmore 1922: 297) “tinkling, mild, and plaintive melodies reached us through the trees long before we were in sight of them” (322-23). here, the spatial qualities of music are emphasized, but the haptic dimension is less evident than in siedlecki s̓. the most noteworthy representation of the “touch of sound” is given by scidmore in her account on the event she did not experience herself, but only heard about from others: the disastrous eruption of krakatau in 1883. scidmore admits she “had an insatiable appetite” for stories about it and recapitulates what she heard: “crashes and roars beyond those of the most terrific thunderstorms, the bang and boom of the heaviest artillery s̓ bombardment, and the sound of frightful explosions filled the air, shook and rocked the ground, and rattled houses” (327). the haptic dimension of sound makes it possible to convey the horrifying impression of volcanic disaster. the haptic in fauna and flora: lushness, struggles, and ruins as noted by wiatrowski (2014: 43), siedlecki wrote very suggestively thanks to detailed descriptions that employed a rich sensuous vocabulary. it may be added that they include not only references to the polish traveller s̓ sensory experiences, but also to the sensorium of animals and even plants researched by him. in siedlecki s̓ travelogue, there are numerous excerpts which can be termed as “the haptic in fauna and flora,” for instance: 49 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the thin and limp vines embrace the support with such a strong grip that they crush its tissue and penetrate its living flesh; the support and the vines then overgrow each other. some lianas hook their twisted shoots [to the support], others have long whiskers or hooked paws as grasping apparatus; once hooked to the base, the liana, growing unevenly, sometimes twists like a spring and draws itself to the base. (siedlecki 1913: 103–104) cienkie i wiotkie pnącza tak silnym uściskiem obejmują podporę, że zgniatają jej tkankę i wżerają się w jej żywe ciało; podpora i pnącza przerastają się wtedy nawzajem. jedne liany czepiają się okręconymi pędami, inne mają długie wąsy lub łapy hakowate jako aparaty chwytne; raz zaczepiona o podstawę liana, rosnąc nierównomiernie, nieraz skręca się jak sprężyna i przyciąga się do podstawy using such stylistic means as personification, combined with ample references to the senses, makes it possible to create an image of dynamic reality and overcome subjectcentered narrative conventions. it is not just the traveller, who is experiencing passive natural world, here plants are described by siedlecki as active agents, touching, grasping, embracing and hurting each other. it brings javanese reality to life for a reader. siedlecki was a biologist and devoted large parts of his book to elucidations of the natural world, while scidmore s̓ focus is different; that said, we can still find analogous passages. the most interesting example is a depiction of the damage inflicted on ruins by plants: with the conversion of the people to mohammedanism the shrines were deserted, soon overgrown, and became hillocks of vegetation. the waringen-tree s̓ fibrous roots, penetrating the crevices of stones that were only fitted together, and not cemented, have done most damage, and the shrines of loro jonggran went fast to utter ruin. (scidmore 1922: 227) via observations of the haptic in nature, both writers introduce the main topics associated with the perception of the tropics around the 1900s: lushness and plenitude but also cruelty of the darwinian-spencerian “survival of the fittest,” as well as melancholy of ancient monuments reclaimed by nature (savage 1984: 309-319; tiffin 2016: 112-149). the haptic in society: imperialism and hierarchy as noted in section 3, colonialism also had its sensuous aesthetics (rotter 2011; low 2019: 627-31). travellersʼ comments on the haptic in society reveal a lot not only about their position, but about colonial java in general. as with scidmore s̓ observations on javanese “wading knee-deep in paddy-field muck” quoted above, another one is a description of a tea plantation: 50 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the tea-pickers, mostly women, gather the leaves only when the plants are free from dew or rain. they pick with the lightest touch of thumb and finger, heaping the leaves on a square cloth spread on the ground (…) there is great fascination in watching these bobbing figures among the bushes. (scidmore 1922: 138) the contrast between visual sensations of the traveller-observer and haptic sensations of the workers is very telling in that the colonial hierarchy is vividly manifested through it. the hard work of the javanese is a source of profit for european planters and a colourful spectacle for the american tourist. a similar order of things is conveyed by the scene in which a malay6 is climbing a tree in order to fetch scidmore a coconut. it had been my particular haunting dream of the tropics to have a small black boy climb a tree and throw cocoanuts [sic] down to me (…), one afternoon, the expression of the wish caused a full-grown malay to saunter across the grass, and, cigarette in mouth, walk up the straight palm-stem as easily as a fly. the malay toes are as distinct members as the fingers, and almost as long; and clasping the trunk with the sole of the foot at each leaf-scar, that malay climber gripped the rough palm-stem as firmly with his toes as with claws or extra fingers. (91) again, we see a contrast between a tourist-spectator and the manual work of an inhabitant of java. remarks about “the malay toes” have a racial overtone, suggesting biological difference between malays and americans. furthermore, the formulation “my dream of the tropics” can be treated as an example of “the rhetoric of insubstantialization” (spurr 1993: 142) that reduces foreign lands to a background of travel phantasies. scidmore s̓ remark that the climber was rewarded well further contributes to the image of the world in which locals are paid to pander to rich westernersʼ dream; however, it can also be suggested that the whole scene is a depiction of a smart local taking advantage of rich tourists. in siedlecki s̓ case, we also observe a hierarchical relation between locals and westerners, but in the field of science. this is how he characterizes his servant, paying attention to his haptic skills: he had excellent knowledge of plants, he knew how to prepare skins from birds and mammals, he helped in the anatomical preparation, he had a sharp eye and knew how to follow animals – and above all he knew how to pack collections in jars and packs. from 6 travellers often used the word “malay” to characterize all the peoples of the indonesian archipelago and malay peninsula. 51 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) then on, he was my inseparable companion and an excellent helper in the laboratory and on trips. (siedlecki 1913: 90) znał rośliny wybornie, umiał preparować skóry z ptaków i zwierząt ssących, pomagał sprytnie przy preparowaniu anatomicznem, miał wzrok bystry i umiał śledzić zwierzęta — nadewszystko zaś wybornie umiał pakować zbiory w słojach i pakach. był on odtąd moim nieodstępnym towarzyszem a wybornym pomocnikiem w pracowni i na wycieczkach siedlecki is probably more respectful than the majority of scientists of this period, because he calls his servant by name (nong-nong) and showers him with praises (although some comments are full of paternalism); still it was he who advanced his career with publications, not his servant, who supported the polish scientist with valuable local knowledge. in colonial realities it was siedlecki who profited much more from such interactions. moreover, he remarks that nong-nong s̓ services were very cheap, because on java foodstuffs for malays were not expensive, thus reflecting his privileged position as a european. the connection between race and the haptic, implicated in scidmore s̓ remark about “the malay toes,” is made openly by siedlecki in his description of the javanese dance. the version from jawa: przyroda i sztuka was analysed above, here i will focus on the account presented in a short story from opowieści malajskie. in siedlecki s̓ case, the divide between the different narrative genres is obscured, in his collection of short stories not only we find the same themes, but even analogical situations and phrases as in his travel book. the narrator, which can be identified with the polish traveller, met the son of a german man and javanese woman. in both books, siedlecki (1913: 217, 1927: 64) remarks with some irony that although this persons̓ skin had the colour of “well-baked bread”, still there were hints of his german identity. but when they joined the crowd observing a javanese dancer (depicted in the short story in a very similar way to the excerpt analysed above), there was a change in “the german”: the same twinkle of the eyes as all listeners had, the same gaze, staring at the dancer, and his lips (…) were moving to the rhythm, whispering quietly, shyly: lekas, lekas, lekas… his own true blood, his own race came to the fore! (siedlecki 1927: 66-67) ten sam błysk oczu, jaki miał każdy ze słuchaczy, to samo zapatrzenie się w tancerkę, a usta jego (…) poruszają się w takt i szepczą cicho, nieśmiało: lekas, lekas, lekas... zagrała własna, prawdziwa krew, własna rasa! 52 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) conclusion: a scientist’s and tourist’s touch in the previous section, haptic aesthetics in the travel writings of two travellers have been analysed. firstly, i scrutinized sensations associated with touching, e.g., siedlecki examining objects with his scientific hands and scidmore enjoying opening fruits. the second subsection was devoted to reciprocity of tactile sensations, e.g., being “touched” by leeches. it was followed by remarks about bodily perceptions of tropical heat and humidity. kinaesthetic, proprioceptive and vestibular sensations caused by walking and other activities were also explored. in this context the most important was the fact that they grounded the body in material reality. besides touching with hands and other direct haptic sensations, examples of the extended haptic were examined, including “touching with eyes” and “teaching with ears,” for instance a synesthetic experience of music. last but not least, in the final two subsections i paid attention to the wildlife and society. accounts of observing haptic sensations among plants and animals demonstrate lushness, struggle for survival and the melancholy of ruins. analysing travellersʼ comments on the haptic in society revealed how class and racial differences were encoded in descriptions of sensory experiences. as this short summary shows, different dimensions of the haptic in works of both travellers have been explored above. to conclude my analysis, i will now present the differences and similarities between siedlecki s̓ and scidmore s̓ experiences. the most significant contrast is a result of the type of travel, length of stay, and the habitus. the polish traveller was a researcher who stayed a lot longer in java than the american, so haptic aesthetics in his account is dominated by a scientist s̓ touch, while in the case of scidmore the formula of a tourist s̓ touch can be used. to demonstrate various aspects of this difference, i will elaborate using a few more examples. it was shown already how the polish traveller s̓ scientific expertise manifested itself: he was exploring the tropical rainforest and volcanic areas on foot; he was able to give detailed information about the texture of rocks, and made precise observations of plants and animals. siedlecki s̓ account contains numerous other passages demonstrating how his research was inextricably connected with haptic experiences, for example: “having knocked down several of these animals, i found out easily what kind of defence they had; they were spiders of the genus gasteracantha, with a body equipped with short, sharp and hard spines” (ʻstrąciwszy kilka tych zwierząt, łatwo się przekonałem, jaką miały obronę; były to pająki z rodzaju gasteracantha, o ciele opatrzonem krótkimi, ostrymi a twardymi kolcamiʼ) (siedlecki 1913: 102). the professional, scientific character of siedlecki s̓ touch is also manifested by the fact that he often uses some instruments to manipulate his specimens: “touched or grasped with pincers, it [a phyllium] falls immediately” (ʻdotknięty lub schwycony szczypczykami za brzeg ciała, natychmiast upadaʼ) (169). the touch of the scientist is thus mediated. finally, worthy of note is how siedlecki tells the story of his first stroll in the botanical garden in bogor. he felt slightly 53 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) ashamed because he had hardly noticed any animals, while javanese boys had collected many specimens for him (128–129). it shows again that in some situations westerners were not involved in touching, as this time tactile contact was a domain of the javanese. but it also exemplifies the importance of local knowledge, as recognized by siedlecki. not only nong-nong, but also many other unnamed people helped him. scidmore s̓ tourist touch is present especially in passages concerning the joys of travels, like her multisensory descriptions of tropical fruits. she pays attention to their appearance, taste and aroma, but also to tactile sensations accompanying the opening and eating: “we made up for all previous denials and lost pineapple opportunities as we tore off the ripe diamonds of pulp in streaming sections that melted on the tongue” (scidmore 1922: 309). sharon halevi (2021: 324) remarked that in some american travelogues “the ingestion of the strawberries became yet another mode to incorporate the national landscape”; in the case of scidmore the whole process of sighting, grabbing, opening and finally tasting is yet another mode of enjoying the treasures of tropical java, for as she puts it: “our veranda was a testingand proving-ground, and there seemed to be no end to the delights and surprises the tropics provided” (scidmore 1922: 80). she even writes about “a tourist s̓ whole duty to specialties of strange places” (309). however, there is an interesting remark that shows how tourists were at the mercy of local guides, also in terms of touching fruits. it was a local servant who “gave us the name of each particular strange fruit, taught us the odd tricks and sleight-of-hand methods of opening these novelties of the market-place” (80). enjoying exotic fruits requires haptic expertise, and here tourists became pupils of the colonised people. another example of scidmore s̓ tourist touch is her account about hotels, in which haptic sensations play a key role: the bedding, as at singapore, consists of a hard mattress with a sheet drawn over it, a pair of hard pillows, and a long bolster laid down the middle as a cooling or dividing line. (…) pillows are not stuffed with feathers, but with the cooler, dry, elastic down of the straight-armed cotton-tree (…) the floors are made of a smooth, hard cement, which harbors no insects, and can be kept clean and cool. pieces of coarse ratan matting are the only floor-coverings used, and give an agreeable contrast to the dirty felts, dhurries, and carpets, the patches of wool and cotton and matting, spread over the earth or wooden floors of the unspeakable hotels of british india. (58-59) tourism is often associated with comfortable, leisurely travel for pleasure, and comfort (or lack of it) is largely an effect of the haptic. the touristic aspect is reinforced by a comparison with singapore and british india (see also her comment on railways, quoted above). scidmore the globetrotter, who was also the author of tourist guides, 54 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) compares conditions of means of transport and hotels, providing information to potential visitors. despite differences between a scientist s̓ touch and that of a tourist, several similarities can be pointed out. first, the haptic aesthetics is part of a general discourse on the tropics. in the analysed travelogues, the dominant aspect is tropical fecundity and lushness, embodied by tropical fruits enjoyed by scidmore and the verdant wildlife explored by siedlecki. nonetheless, both travellers also touched the dark side of the tropics, for they recounted the extreme temperature and sultriness, possibility of a sun stroke, volcanos; for scidmore, malaria was almost palpable in one place. it shows how the discourse on java, the garden of the east, was streaked with an undertone of anxiety. another similarity relates to comments on colonial hierarchy and race connected to haptic sensations, for often westerners were observing how the javanese worked for them. in some situations, local embodied expertise leads to a partial reversal of hierarchy, for scidmore had to be instructed on how to open fruits, while siedlecki needed help in collecting plants and animals. therefore, the most important conclusion drawn from the comparison of two travelogues is that on general level both travellers were privileged foreigners and it determined their sensory impressions and consequently their writings. apparently in colonial tropics a traveller s̓ social class and origin – not occupation, gender, or the writing convention – were the most important factors shaping travel writing. scidmore was peeling fruits, siedlecki was catching specimens with pincers, but both were experiencing tropical abundance thanks to advantages given to european visitors by the colonial system; 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(ed.) odcienie indonezji, 15–29. toruń: oficyna wydawnicza kucharski. 58 ............................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 39 (2022) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) wiatrowski, p. 2014. profesora michała siedleckiego “jawa – przyroda i sztuka. uwagi z podróży” okiem językoznawcy – w stulecie wydania. in: lesner-szwarc, r. (ed.) odcienie indonezji, 31–48. toruń: oficyna wydawnicza kucharski. wieczorkiewicz, a. 2012. apetyt turysty: o doświadczaniu świata w podróży. kraków: universitas. *** tomasz ewertowski, phd, is a lecturer at the shanghai international studies university. he graduated from the adam mickiewicz university, poznań, poland. his research interests focus on travel writing studies, especially 19th-century travels in asia. he served as a principal investigator on two grants from the polish national science center and his publications include images of china in polish and serbian travel writings (leiden: brill, 2020). tomasz ewertowski doi: 10.15290/cr.2022.39.4.03 a scientist’s and tourist’s touch – the haptic in travelogues about the island of java (m. siedlecki and e.r. scidmore) 44 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) magdalena zyga1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.31.4.03 university of szczecin orcid: 0000-0001-8901-5580 conceptual metaphors in lyrics, vocal realization and music – reinforcement or modification of emotional potential abstract. the paper seeks to examine the ways in which the emotional potential (germ. emotionspotential) rooted in the textual part of selected songs can potentially be reinforced or modified by the music and vocal realization. music and intonation provide sonic counterparts of the emotional states expressed by language. i shall consider cases where the sonic counterpart is either an analog or stands in contrast to the textual component and the affective value commonly associated with the invoked conceptual metaphor/metonymy. the research material consists of three versions of the song ride by 21 pilots, the song here comes the night time by arcade fire and die flut [the flood] by joachim witt and peter heppner. the analysis results show that salient presence of up/down image schema in verbal and musical orientational metaphors is observable, albeit not always accompanied with the most typical valence pattern. keywords: cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphors, emotions, melody and lyrics, popular music. 1. introduction the aim of the paper is to examine the emotional potential (germ. emotionspotential; cf. schwarz-friesel 2007: 212) emerging in selected songs as a result of an interplay of image schemata, conceptual metaphors/metonymies and emotionally laden lexemes or language units. the schemata, metaphors and metonymies in the songs are evoked by lyrics, vocal realization and music. thus, it is assumed that the emergent structure of meaning is created not only by linguistic but also by aural constructions, i.e. the musical component and the particular act of vocal performance by which the emotional potential contained in the text may be either reinforced of modified. with respect to the non-linguistic component, this paper focuses mainly on melody 1 address for correspondence: institute of linguistics, university of szczecin, al. piastów 4b, bud.5, pok. 104, 71-065 szczecin, poland. e-mail: magdalena.zyga@usz.edu.pl 45 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and intonation, understood as the sequence of pitches produced by a singer as indicated by the composer (cf. shrivastav & wingate 2008: 71). note that, to arrive at the overall meaning or interpretation of a given song, both cognitive and affective information need to considered (cf. sopory 2005: 452, 454). the goal of the analysis presented here is to offer possible interpretations and hypotheses rather than to offer final indisputable explanations since, as noted by morini (2013), analyses of multimodal constructs such as songs are often fraught with an inevitable degree of impressionism due to imprecision as a feature of musical meaning (cf. 2013: 290). 2. emotions, music and metaphor when discussing the affect or affective value and interplay between emotion, metaphor and music, one needs to clarify which concepts and definitions are drawn upon, because various terms and divergent definitions (even when the same term is used) can be found in the literature on the subject. the scholar who needs to be mentioned here with respect to the content and structure of emotion concepts as revealed by metaphors and metonymy is kövecses (1990). further, juslin and sloboda (2010) offered coverage of the numerous approaches defining the field of music and emotion, and zbikowski (2017a) elaborated on the issue of how musical utterances are constructed and used to communicate meaning. in this paper, we rely upon the terms concerning affect and their understanding as provided by schwarz-friesel (2007: 2015). she differentiates between feelings (germ. gefühle), emotions (germ. emotionen) and, with regard to texts, emotional potential (germ. emotionspotential). according to schwarz-friesel (2007, 2015), feelings are these aspects of emotions of which people are aware and experience introspectively, whereas emotions are to be treated as a broader phenomenon, encompassing feelings but with an addition of unconscious effects. emotions include not only conscious but also unconscious knowledge, representations and processes and physical, mental and affective conditions (cf. schwarz-friesel 2007: 55, 102; schwarz-friesel 2015: 293). hence, feelings can be perceived as discrete units that can be named, and emotions can be mixed and referred to, more generally, as being positive or negative, perhaps with details expressed verbally in a more descriptive way. emotional potential, in turn, is an inherent feature of any text that is rooted in its information structure, coherence and implicit information determined by the text’s referential and inferential potential (cf. schwarzfriesel 2015: 167). the constituent potential in the term’s name suggests that emotional potential is something that can be either activated or not. in the case of song lyrics, music or vocal intonation can be a triggering factor. the music accompanying lyrics provides sonic counterparts that can be analogs (cf. zbikowski 2009: 363) or opposites of the dynamic processes or emotional states expressed by the language. in contrast to zbikowski (2009), the focus of this paper is not 46 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) only on mapping the concepts expressed by the text onto sequences of music, such as the descending sounds matching the words denoting downward movement (also used as evaluative terms) (cf. zbikowski 2009: 360, 366 et passim), but i shall also consider cases when the sonic counterpart stands in contrast, or as if in contrast, to the verbal utterance and the affective value commonly ascribed to the evoked conceptual metaphor. the image schema that plays a crucial role in structuring not only verbal metaphors but also metaphors which are manifested via the musical mode is the up/down schema, also known as the verticality schema (cf. górska 2014: 180-181). with respect to music zbikowski notices, “the common construal of musical pitches as situated in vertical space, a construal that follows from the characterization of pitches as ‘high’ or ‘low’ with respect to one another” (2009: 360). this perception provides motivation for the metaphor pitch relationships are relationships in vertical space (cf. górska 2014: 185). moreover, typically, the up orientation is associated with positive experiences, while the down orientation is associated with negative ones, which gives rise to pairs of conceptual metaphors with a positive and negative valence attached to them, respectively (cf. górska 2014: 182; sopory 2005: 442). hence, we have widespread orientational metaphors such as happy is up – sad is down, having control/force is up – being subject to control/force is down, (cf. górska 2014: 182) or the more general good or positive is up and bad or negative is down (cf. sopory 2005: 442). in the light of the above, it can be observed, following zbikowski (cf. 2009: 366), that the mapping from the domain of text onto the domain of music makes us perceive music in a particular way. for verbo-musical metaphors, however, the opposite is also true: the music guides the recipient’s understanding of the text, e.g. the descending sounds matching – as sonic analogs – the words denoting downward movement (cf. zbikowski 2009: 366). this is also valid if the words and sonic analogs evoke the verticality schema connected with the orientational metaphors invoking emotions (cf. zbikowski 2017b: 507). furthermore, musical metonymy can play a part in the activation of emotional potential of a musical composition since, for example, an opening motto of a symphony can serve as a part which guides the understanding through its connection to the larger whole (cf. zbikowski 2018: 14). nevertheless, one should be careful when identifying and ascribing affective value to a given fragment of text or music or manner of vocal performance in a song. the risk consists, on the one hand, in identifying the conceptual metaphor evoked by the non-linguistic component and, on the other hand, in taking into account solely or focussing mainly on the valence scale rather than on both scales of a two-dimensional emotion model by valence and arousal when ascribing the affective value to a given musical metaphor. these issues are addressed by sopory (2005) and, rather indirectly, by kim and andre (2008) in their papers. sopory (2005) noticed that certain conceptual metaphors evoked by language expressions are typically attached to certain valence patterns. more is up, for instance, 47 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) is typically associated with positive valence on the basis of the experience of accumulation (having more of something rather than less) and rising (in contrast to falling) and affective information connected with such experience, which evokes the widespread metaphor positive is up. in the case of the sentence prices are skyrocketing again, however, the default valence attached to the up/down schema is overridden on the basis of our experiential knowledge, i.e. that an increase in prices is a negative phenomenon (cf. sopory 2005: 442). thus, the typically ensuing metaphor positive is up rather than the more general more is up is not the valid one here. the two-dimensional emotion model by valence and arousal (fig. 1) used in an experiment by kim and andre (2008), in turn, begets reflection on the fact that the arousal scale is not to be overlooked when interpreting affective value conveyed or evoked by music. fig. 2 (kim & andre 2008: 5) depicts on the musical emotion model the relevant musical features of songs selected by the study participants. the cues for the selection of four songs to correspond to the four quadrants of the emotion model were: song 1 – positively exciting, energizing, joyful, exuberant; song 2 – noisy, loud, irritating, discord; song 3 – melancholic, sad memory; and song 4 – blissful, pleasurable, slumberous, tender (cf. kim & andre 2008: 5). the quoted figure reflecting the participants’ song selection to prepare the setting of the experiment in which the subjects’ physiological responses corresponding to emotions were measured suggests that the same values of some song parameters, such as volume, pitch or tempo, may be indicative of the same type of arousal while evoking different valences (either positive or negative). it can be observed, for instance, that high pitch seems to be predominantly associated with high arousal, but it could also correspond to either a positive (which is more likely) or negative valence. by the same token, a fast and slow tempo, apparently mostly indicative of high and low arousal, respectively, may be valued positively or negatively in terms of valence. it should be borne in mind as well that, as kim and andre aptly noticed, “[e]motional responses to music vary greatly from individual to individual, depending on their unique past experiences” (kim & andre 2008: 5). another study concerning language, image schemata and evaluative components whose results are relevant for the analysis presented here is beate hampe’s (2005) analysis of semantically highly redundant verb-particle constructions. the researcher focuses on the phrasal verb pairs finish up/finish off and slow up/slow down to verify or falsify krzeszowski’s (1997) proposal concerning the axiological relevance of the image schemata, such as up/down, front/back, right/left, and near/far, where in each pair the elements carry opposing axiological defaults with the first element being positively and the second negatively charged (cf. krzeszowski 1997: 112-131; hampe 2005: 120-121). this plus-minus parameter is supposed to be a property of image schemata. furthermore, krzeszowski claimed that “metaphorization reinforces the axiological charge of concepts or activates latent axiological charge” (krzeszowski 48 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 1997: 156). the results of hampe’s (2005) study of corpus data showing the real usage of the four phrasal verbs did not confirm any predictions as to the evaluative value of the items made on the basis of the plus-minus parameter postulate. she is also of opinion that the earlier study by lewandowska-tomaszczyk and hanks (1996) of verbs with and without particles, such as block (up/off), finish (up/off), and close (up/down), which is said to confirm the plus-minus assumption, can actually be seen as leading to a rejection of this assumption. the researchers conceived of the plus-minus parameter as a context-sensitive device, where “the prototypical default values can be changed by the elements in the context” (lewandowska-tomaszczyk & hanks 1996: 92), which is not stated or implied in the original claim by krzeszowski (1997). hampe concluded that isolated (“primitive”) image schemata should in fact not be “considered as the locus of evaluative defaults” (hampe 2005: 115), but the positive or negative charge is rather to be viewed as a dimension of image-schema compounds that are parts of contextualized cognitive models (cf. hampe 2005: 141). it is important to note that when a given linguistic expression is used in different contexts, even if it refers to the same conceptualization from a specific domain, it may carry different evaluative properties due to the context of its use (cf. hampe 2005: 141). 3. the method and material the method of conduct in the analysis is as follows: first, emotionally laden items and their affective charge are identified in the lyrics, and conceptual metaphors are searched for in the text. however, because evaluation is a matter of entire contexts rather than lexemes (or other items) in isolation, the surrounding words/phrases will be taken into consideration, as “lexical items may tend to occur in the company of word/phrases which are themselves predominantly (and overtly) positive or negative in their orientation” (hampe 2005: 122). thus, in contrast to neary (2019), song lyrics are to be analysed separately as a departure point and not only as a last step to identify how the words interact with the melody. on the basis of lyrics analysis, some predictions are made with respect to the intonation (rising, falling, non-final) used in the act of vocal performance and to music (pitch, tempo). subsequently, the accompanying music and vocal realization, intonation in particular, is to be examined for the presence of conceptual metaphors/metonymies, as proposed by zbikowski (2009), and their compatibility with the items present in the lyrics, especially concerning the affective value, is assessed. to investigate the affective aspect and its role in the activation and possibly modification of the emotional potential of a given piece, i refer to a two-dimensional emotional model by valence and arousal, since the two scales (valence and arousal) make it possible to avoid discrete labels or words denoting concrete emotions and to take into consideration blended emotions (cf. kim & andre 2008: 4-5). in other words, if the orientational metaphors present in the accompanying music 49 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and vocal realization stand in contrast with respect to the affective value (valence) assumed to be communicated through the lyrics, the aspect of arousal is to be considered as possibly explaining the dissonance (e.g. high pitch and rising intonation accompanying pessimistic line in the lyrics). if the contrast cannot be attributed to the arousal component, then possible intentional modification of emotional potential may be suggested. limitations with regard to the possibilities of melody shaping and rhythmical regularities can account for the lyrics–music dissonance as well. the research material consists of three versions of the song ride by the band 21 pilots (21p), namely the original version; the acoustic version performed by tyler joseph (tj), the band’s lead singer; and the a capella version by pentatonix. the research also examines the songs here comes the night time and creature comfort by arcade fire and die flut [the flood] by joachim witt and peter heppner. particularly, the divergent performances of the song ride reveal the salient role of the interplay of the lyrics and the non -linguistic sonic counterparts with their affective charge in shaping the overall emotional potential of a song. 4. the analysis: ride 4.1 the lyrics with respect to the content expressed in the lyrics, the speaker in the song talks about his unrealized fantasies of suicide, which he seems to strive to resist. as a result, the emotional potential of the song seems to have both negative and positive aspects that can be activated or reinforced by the non-linguistic component. the facts that the first line, “i just wanna stay in the sun” (twenty one pilots 2015) is clearly positively charged and that the line does not finish at the end of the sentence (with “where i find”) makes the recipient expect rising (in accordance with the metaphor positive is up) or at least non-final intonation, possibly a high pitch. in the third line, which logically finishes the sentence, “pieces of peace in the sun’s peace of mind” (twenty one pilots 2015), the intonation should also rise. the line “i know it’s hard sometimes” (twenty one pilots 2015), in contrast, would harmonize with falling intonation (negative is down). the second half of the first stanza, “yeah, i think about the end just way too much / but it’s fun to fantasize / all my enemies who wouldn’t wish who i was / but it’s fun to fantasize” (twenty one pilots 2015) reveals a mixture of negative and positive affects in the song’s emotional potential, owing to which the anticipation regarding orientational metaphors may vary. “the end” mentioned in the first line about which the speaker thinks “way too much”, together with the notion of taking his time on a ride in the chorus, can be evocative of the conceptual metaphor life is a journey with the entailment death is at the end of a journey/departure. the phrase “too much”, however, may alternatively signal the metaphor more is up. therefore, either falling 50 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) or rising intonation might be selected for the vocal performance. the following and the closing line about fantasizing seem, at first glance, to be clearly positively loaded, while the line about the enemies seems to indicate a negative valence; hence, the expected intonation would be rising and falling, respectively. if one considers the whole context, in which fantasizing is clearly about death, the line may be sung with falling intonation. the chorus consists of the line “i’m falling so i’m taking my time on my ride” (twenty one pilots 2015) repeated twice and followed by the sentence part “taking my time on my ride” (twenty one pilots 2015). the notion of downward movement (falling) invites the negative is down metaphor in the melody/vocal realization. the entire second stanza generally communicates negative affective information, so the recipient can expect the negative is down metaphor in vocal realization. the only exception could potentially be the last two lines line in the sequence: “a bullet for them / a bullet for you / a bullet for everybody in this room / but i don’t seem to see many bullets coming through / see many bullets coming through” (twenty one pilots 2015). in this case, rising intonation might be applied. with respect to the last three lines in the second stanza, neutral, affectively non-marked intonation for: “who would you live for? / who would you die for? / would you ever kill?” (twenty one pilots 2015) would be the falling one for the first and the second, and the rising one for the third. to express the negative charge present in their content, the performer could, however, use falling intonation. the bridge consists of the lines “i’ve been thinking too much” and “help me”, where the former can be viewed as being clearly linked to “i think about the end just way too much” from the first stanza. consequently, for both lines, falling intonation might be predicted or alternatively rising intonation for the former in consistency with the metaphor more is up, which can be evoked by “too much”. for the latter, additionally mapping an increase in volume onto an increase in intensity (of emotions) in vocal realization is plausible as well. 4.2 21 pilots – the original version the musical opening of the song can be considered metonymic in its role, since it seems to guide the recipient’s perception of the piece as a whole. the version by 21 pilots appears as energetic and joyful due to its fast, upbeat tempo (150 beats per minute) and ascending musical sequences. the first half of the first stanza seems to confirm the predictions regarding vocal realization: the intonation pertinent to the first line is rising and for the third line is rising/non-final, while for the second and fourth (which are identical) the intonation is falling. in the second half, the intonation for the fifth and seventh line, which voices concerns regarding thinking too much about death, is falling according to expectations about the affective value. lines 6 and 8 (again identical like 2 and 4), however, draw the recipient’s attention by a rather interesting interplay of language, vocal intonation and volume. the former line about fantasizing about 51 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) death, namely, is performed with falling intonation, whereas the lexeme “fantasize”, sung for the second time, is strongly emphasised and marked with rising intonation. this results in a disruption of the stanza’s melodic pattern where in the first half every other line has the same intonation (i.e. lines 1 and 3 rising/non-final, 2 and 4 falling). such a deliberate pattern breach may suggest irony, indecisiveness or may be aimed at activating not only the negative but also the positive emotional potential inherent in the stanza. rising intonation combined with a strong emphasis on “fantasize”, i.e. singing the word louder, may, alternatively, communicate high arousal and the conceptual metaphor importance is volume entailing (more) important is loud(er). once more, mixed affective information seems to be communicated in the chorus. rising intonation is used only when the line is sung for the first time, and falling intonation is applied later. in the context of suicidal thoughts and depression expressed by the idea of falling, which can be a manifestation of negative is down, falling intonation may be expected. the rising intonation accompanying the phrase “taking my time on my ride” (twenty one pilots 2015) evoking the life is a journey metaphor may highlight the aspect of delaying death. such a shift of focus to life could then activate the positive emotional potential of the text. additionally, the ‘elongation’ in the vocal performance of the lexeme ride thus echoing the preceding “taking my time” emphasizes the duration of the event (the duration of action/event is duration of articulation). the entire second stanza is generally sung (rapped) quickly without changes in intonation. there are only short pauses at the end of the lines “but i don’t seem to see many bullets coming through / see many bullets coming through” (twenty one pilots 2015), but the intonation can be still classified as non-final rather than falling, and definitely not rising, which might seem a plausible option when focusing on the text alone. also, the question lines are sung in rapid succession such that there is no rise or fall in intonation between the questions; in other words, the two first questions finish with non-final intonation, and the intonation at the end of the last question closing the whole stanza is falling. this coincides with the fact that the lexeme kill is negatively marked, and thus its affective value may seem reinforced with the vocal intonation used. otherwise, rising intonation is common for english yes–no questions. alternate high and low pitches applied with the phrase too much in the line “i’ve been thinking too much” is repeated four times, which functions as a bridge – musically with a slower, no longer upbeat tempo – after the chorus following the second stanza seems to invoke the verticality schema with its typical valence pattern (positive is up and negative is down) to express what is commonly described as mixed feelings or possibly indecisiveness or irony on the part of the speaker. moreover, the lines are sung in a significantly higher key, possibly to mark the importance and/or high arousal, and they are followed by the line “help me” (twenty one pilots 2015) sung in lower key with the second word sung lower than the first, which is accompanied by a falling 52 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) musical sequence. the succeeding lines in the original version can be divided into pairs where the first item is performed in a higher key with rising intonation by either backing vocalists or the leading vocalist but with a computer-modified voice, and the second item is sung in a lower key with falling intonation (“help me” performed in the manner described above) by the leading vocalist: “i’ve been thinking too much [high key, rising intonation] / (i’ve been thinking too much) [lower key, falling intonation] i’ve been thinking too much [high key, rising] / (help me) [lower key, falling] i’ve been thinking too much [high key, rising] / (i’ve been thinking too much) [lower key, falling] i’ve been thinking too much [high key, rising]” (twenty one pilots 2015). this mode of vocal performance seems to corroborate the hypothesis about the alternate activation of the different emotional potential of the text (positive and negative valence) by intentionally employing the up/down schema in the manner of vocal performance. the way the chorus is sung for the last time differs significantly in terms of volume and intonation from its performance earlier in the song. the second line is articulated more loudly or even shouted out (importance is volume) and is shortened to “i’m taking my time” (twenty one pilots 2015) rather than “i’m taking my time on my ride”. moreover, the lexeme time is ‘stretched in time’, sung longer than earlier, most probably to emphasise the duration in accordance with the metaphor the duration of action/event is duration of articulation. the lexeme ride (signalling the life is a journey metaphor) in the last line is also articulated longer with non-final intonation. this might suggest that the death by suicide fantasized about by the speaker is to be significantly delayed or even not materialize at all. the original version is the only one to continue beyond the last chorus. first, the line “i’m falling so i’m taking my time on my ride” (twenty one pilots 2015) is repeated twice, the second time with rising intonation and without the final lexeme ride. subsequently, the song continues with the bridge lines (1) “i’ve been thinking too much” articulated by the leading vocalist, always with falling intonation or by the second voice (either backing vocalists or computer-modified voice of the leading vocalist) with rising intonation and a higher key, and (2) “help me” articulated by the leading vocalist with falling intonation (falling sequence as described above), thereby creating a pattern: “i’ve been thinking too much [falling] / help me [ –– ] i’ve been thinking too much [falling] / help me [ –– ] i’ve been thinking too much [rising] / i’ve been thinking too much [ falling  ] 53 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) i’ve been thinking too much [rising] / help me [ –– ] i’ve been thinking too much [rising] / i’ve been thinking too much [ falling ] i’ve been thinking too much [rising]) / help me [ –– ]” (twenty one pilots 2015). the alternate use of rising and falling intonation, higher and lower keys and two types of voices yet again activates both negative and positive aspects of the emotional potential inherent in the verbal component of the piece, which seems to serve to express ‘mixed feelings’, indecisiveness or irony/sarcasm as a conclusion of the song. 4.3 tyler joseph – the acoustic piano version the version by tyler joseph (bbc radio 1, 2018), though significantly slower and on the whole sung in the lowest key of all the three versions analysed here, also starts with ascending sequences of music, making the recipient likely to expect something optimistic to follow. the first half of the first stanza is performed in the same way as the original version, i.e. the optimistic lines 1 and 3 are sung with rising intonation, while the intonation for lines 2 and 4 is falling. in contrast to the original version, the second half of the stanza is performed according to the same intonation pattern as the first half, i.e. “yeah, i think about the end just way too much [rising] / but it’s fun to fantasize [falling] / all my enemies who wouldn’t wish who i was [rising] / but it’s fun to fantasize [falling]” (bbc radio 1, 2018). such vocal realization contradicts the expectations regarding the affective value (valence) communicated via the non-linguistic component in the fifth and seventh lines. one explanation for the rising intonation of “too much” can be the wish to signal the metaphor more is up and the state of high arousal, not necessarily positive valence. alternatively, this may suggest irony or indecisiveness. even if such modification of the emotional potential might be perceived by listeners (which would have to be confirmed in a broader quantitative study), the easiest explanation for the employed intonation is the intention to maintain the pattern present in the first half of the stanza (rising – falling – rising – falling). in the chorus, for which falling intonation was initially predicted based on the text examination and for which first rising and then falling intonation are applied in 21p, in this acoustic version the intonation is consistently rising. this may be accounted for, as mentioned above, by the intention to highlight the aspect of delaying death: “taking my time on my ride” (bbc radio 1, 2018). hence, a consistent and logical pattern of valence seems to be communicated here by the non-linguistic song component. in the whole second stanza up to the three final questions, just as in the original version, the lines are sung so quickly one after another that there is no rise or fall in the intonation between them. with respect to the questions, the acoustic performance reveals standard, affectively non-marked falling (two first questions) and rising (the last question) intonation, whereby the final lexeme kill seems to be articulated louder, 54 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) hence possibly drawing on the metaphor importance is volume. tyler joseph sings the bridge lines “i’ve been thinking too much” four times and the subsequent “help me” with falling intonation, as anticipated on the basis of the preliminary text analysis. as for the leading voice–second voice pair, however, the parts performed by the second voice (backing vocalists or modified voice of the leading vocalist) in the original version are those which remain, albeit with the intonation changed from rising in the original version to non-final intonation, while the lines sung by the leading vocalist are deleted. thus, the affective pattern of 21p seems to be changed into a predictable ‘pessimistic’ one – relatively low arousal, negative valence. the manner in which the chorus is performed for the last time, again similarly to 21p, differs in terms of volume and intonation from its performance earlier after the first and the second stanzas. in the acoustic piano version, the first verse is performed more quietly, three times and in a significantly higher key. the subsequent lines are sung in a lower key and slightly lower volume, with rise–fall intonation and the intonation clearly falling on the lexeme ride in the final line. the high pitch used for the first line together with the falling intonation employed later and concluding the piece with an additional line “help me” (same falling intonation) (bbc radio 1, 2018) appear to produce a rather atypical affective pattern. the high-pitched voice in this instance is apparently aimed at indicating high arousal rather than evoking the positive valence commonly attributed to the upward orientation in the verticality schema. this mode of performance might also serve to draw the recipients’ attention, since this provides contrast to the rest of the song and stands in line with the metaphor important is up. as regards the co-occurring decrease in volume, such a manoeuvre may be incompatible with the conceptual mapping of importance onto volume, but it is possible that this mode of performance results from the physical limitations of the leading vocalist’s articulatory capacity. the following change to a lower key, metaphorically representing downward movement typically activating the negative is down negative-valence metaphor, combined with falling intonation and relatively slow tempo, may be indicative of anxiety or sadness (cf. kim & andre 2008: 5, fig. 2). 4.4 pentatonix – the a capella cover in the pentatonix a capella cover, in contrast to 21p and tj, an extra opening and closing line “i’m falling” (nova fm 2016) is added, sung in falling intonation with the ultimate word “falling” repeated three times, each time with a lower pitch, thus creating a descending melodic sequence. consequently, in terms of affective value, the metonymical opening seems to relate to the verticality schema and the typical pattern of valence, which results in the activation of the conceptual metaphor negative is down. additionally, the tempo of the piece is significantly slower than that of the original version, which, according to fig. 2 provided by kim and andre (2008: 55 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 5), may indicate low arousal. when the overall content of the text is taken into account, pentatonix’s interpretation and the intentional activation of negative emotional potential of the text by the melodic aspect, among other things by the negative ‘framing’ in the form of the song’s intro and outro, seems legitimate. while the intonation pattern in the first half of the first stanza is, according to expectations drawn from the text analysis, the same as in the original version, i.e. rising – falling – rising/non-final – falling, in the second half of the stanza the intonation is consistently falling for all lines, also in accordance with preliminary predictions. for the chorus, somewhat contrary to expectations resulting from the notion of falling present in the lyrics, the rising intonation is selected. this, however, as mentioned above, can be attributed to the intention of shifting the focus to the aspect of delaying death, which is also reflected in the ‘elongation’ in the vocal performance of the lexeme ride, thus echoing the preceding “taking my time” to emphasize the duration of the event (the duration of action/event is duration of articulation) (cf. nova fm 2016). in this way, the positive emotional potential of the piece may be activated. the performance of the second stanza up to the final three questions is similar to 21p and tj, apart from the lines “but i don’t seem to see many bullets coming through / see many bullets coming through” (nova fm 2016), for which, as anticipated after the text examination, rising intonation is applied. for the first two questions “who would you live for? / who would you die for?” (nova fm 2016) pentatonix employs the rising intonation and deletes the last one about killing altogether, thereby apparently imbuing the lyrics with positive emotions. in the bridge after the chorus following the second stanza, for the line “i’ve been thinking too much”, which is repeated four times, alternate high and low pitches are used. this seems to invoke the verticality schema with its typical pattern of valence (positive is up and negative is down) to express what is commonly described as mixed feelings or possibly to imply indecisiveness or irony. the line “help me” is omitted by pentatonix in their cover. moreover, in the succeeding lines, which in the original version can be divided into pairs, the parts performed by the leading vocalist are deleted: “i’ve been thinking too much [high key, rising intonation] / (i’ve been thinking too much) [lower key, falling intonation] i’ve been thinking too much [high key, rising] / (help me) [lower key, falling] i’ve been thinking too much [high key, rising] / (i’ve been thinking too much) [lower key, falling] i’ve been thinking too much [high key, rising]” (nova fm 2016). 56 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) this modification seems to convert the ‘mixed-feelings’ pattern into an ‘optimistic’ pattern. albeit the intentionality of this interpretation can be corroborated by the alteration in terms of intonation earlier in the second stanza (mentioned above), it should be borne in mind that the rising intonation selected for these lines may form the activation of the more is up metaphor signalled by the phrase too much. in contrast to the original version and the version by tyler joseph, pentatonix performs the chorus for the last time the same as earlier in the piece, with the leading vocalist reaching even higher tones – possibly for dramatic effect and to impress with the vocal prowess – when singing the lexeme ride and using rising intonation in all the lines. this manoeuvre seems to, as mentioned above, activate the positive aspect of the emotional potential of the text, i.e. postponing or cancelling death (i.e. taking time on the ride) and not (the thoughts of) death (metaphorically expressed as falling). as a contrast to this part, however, an additional closing line – identical to the opening line – “i’m falling” (nova fm 2016) is added and is sung with falling intonation with the ultimate word falling repeated three times, each time with a lower pitch, thus creating a descending melodic sequence. 4.5 the three versions – a comparison when the three versions of the song ride are compared, some significant differences are observable, which may have an impact on the emotional potential of the piece. the most conspicuous feature of the song is creative play with the up/down conceptual schema and orientational metaphors with respect to non-linguistic components, especially in the original version. even though the musical upbeat, fast tempo intro of the song initially metonymically guides the recipient to anticipate a piece with optimistic affective information, 21 pilots uses alternate high and low intonation, sometimes alternately high and low voices, when singing the same textual material, e.g. the bridge line “i’ve been thinking too much” (twenty one pilots 2015), which can be interpreted as intentionally striving to ascribe varying affective value with respect to valence to communicate indecisiveness or irony/sarcasm. by drawing on the verticality schema with respect to pitch and intonation, in the course of the song both negative and positive aspects of emotional potential inherent in the linguistic component of the piece can be perceived as activated. pentatonix, in contrast, in spite of a specific ‘down-framing’ by means of the opening and closing line “i’m falling, falling, falling” (nova fm 2016) and the accompanying descending musical sequence, use rising intonation and high pitch more often and more consistently than 21 pilots in their original version. this, together with deleting some information concerning death and requesting help from the textual component, i.e. omission of the lines “would you ever kill?” (twenty one pilots 2015) from the second 57 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) stanza and “help me” (twenty one pilots 2015) from the bridge, results in prevalent activation of positive, optimistic aspects of the song’s emotional potential. the acoustic piano version by tyler joseph, in turn, with its slow tempo, prevalent low key and mostly falling intonation can be described in terms of affective information as a ‘downer’, both in terms of valence and arousal. in this context, the high-pitched line of the last chorus sung three times in a significantly higher key comes as a surprise, but this apparently intentional manoeuvre can still be interpreted as supporting, or not denying, the overall negative, pessimistic aspect of the piece’s emotional potential in that it, on the one hand, allows the performer a vocal downward motion invoking the negative is down metaphor and, on the other hand, may be evocative of a different metaphor, (more) important is up. the a capella cover by pentatonix regarding the vocal realization generally seems the most predictable one, since the intonation for almost all the lines could be anticipated based on the text analysis. the original manner of performance (21 pilots) seems to be, in a way, ‘consistently unpredictable’, since some choices regarding intonation could not be anticipated based on the lyrics alone, but can be explained as motivated by affective information to be communicated. the acoustic version by tyler joseph, in turn, could be described as not fully predictable but explicable, since the intonation patterns in the first stanza and the last chorus are not fully predictable based solely on the affective value (especially valence) communicated in the lyrics. yet, these ‘deviations’ are not unmotivated and can be attributed to the overall pattern of the stanza (first stanza) or a focus on arousal rather than valence, or signaling different metaphors. 5. the analysis: here comes the night time by arcade fire 5.1 the lyrics the musical component and the manner of vocal performance also play a salient role in modifying the emotional potential of the lyrics, or rather in correlating not the most typical pattern of affect with the textual component in the song here comes the night time. the speaker in the lyrics talks about missionaries or preachers whose teachings are motivated by the common darkness/light and outside/inside conceptual schemata with a typical pattern of affect ascribed to these schemata, i.e. the aim is to invoke the metaphorical contrasting pairs negative/pagan is dark – positive/ religious is light and negative is outside – positive is inside (cf. arcade fire 2013; also see: arcade fire 2018). therefore, they tell people to “head inside” (arcade fire 2013) when it gets dark, “when the sun goes down” (arcade fire 2013), otherwise the late-comers “will be left behind” (arcade fire 2013), so “if you want to be righteous, get in line” (arcade fire 2013). consequently, falling intonation and relatively low pitch may be anticipated for the entire stanza, except possibly for the part “you don’t mind”, 58 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) if the value of valence is to be reflected in vocal realization and music. the falling intonation and low pitch should also pertain to the line “here comes the night time”, which is repeated three times in the stanza, and the chorus consisting of the lines: “’cause here comes the night time / here comes the night time (x 4) / here comes the night / here comes the night time / look out, here comes the night time” (arcade fire 2013). in the second stanza, the missionaries are said to condemn music and place it outside heaven: “they say, heaven’s a place / yeah, heaven’s a place and they know where it is / it’s behind the gate, they won’t let you in / and when they hear the beat, coming from the street, they lock the door” (arcade fire 2013). the speaker contests this idea saying, “but if there’s no music up in heaven, then what’s it for? / when i hear the beat, my spirit’s on me like a live-wire / a thousand horses running wild in a city on fire” (arcade fire 2013). therefore, falling intonation could be expected for the lines describing the preachers’ views, and rising intonation would be a plausible match for the expression of the speaker’s views and attitude to music. in this way, the usual valence ascribed to the concepts of inside and outside seems indirectly modified by expressing the desire to stay outside where positively valued music is situated. in the line: “but it starts in your feet, then it goes to your head” (arcade fire 2013) rising intonation may be expected in accordance with the embodied experience. for the penultimate line of the stanza, either falling intonation (negative is down) owing to the phrase “then the roots are dead” (arcade fire 2013) is likely to be applied or non-final intonation since the end of the line does not coincide with the end of the sentence. the question “what is our crime?” (arcade fire 2013) in the ultimate line, if affectively unmarked, should be sung with falling intonation. the speaker may, however, wish to express irritation, frustration or use an accusatory tone, and hence use rising intonation. in the context of the speaker’s views presented in the second stanza, the following chorus consisting of the lines “here comes the night time”, “look out, here comes the night time!” and “here comes the night!” (arcade fire 2013) repeated several times is likely to be performed with rising intonation, possibly accompanied with music of a relatively high pitch and fast tempo, especially as they seem to imply high arousal connected with dancing and partying. with regard to the bridge, the choice of either of the two divergent intonations seems plausible. the line about the preachers talking “up on the satellite” (arcade fire 2013) could be sung with rising intonation owing to the preposition used. if the speaker’s evaluation of the preachers’ views is considered, however, such choice seems highly unlikely, and falling intonation can be anticipated. by the same token, for the line: “if you’re looking for hell, just try looking inside” (arcade fire 2013), due to the mental link of inside with hell, falling intonation seems a natural choice, even though in accordance with the inside/outside conceptual schema, inside commonly carries a positive axiological default. the intonation/music accompanying the closing lines: “when you look in the sky, just try looking inside / god 59 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) knows what you might find” (arcade fire 2013) is somewhat more difficult to anticipate. though mentioning the sky commonly evokes the metaphor positive is up, just as the notion of inside (in contrast to outside), the inside has already been linked to hell in the previous line. what can actually be found there is, as expressed in the last line, not predetermined. 5.2 the performance the piece starts with a relatively long instrumental intro that appears to metonymically activate a mental scenario of dancing, possibly a party. the music can be described as energetic, with a fast tempo and ascending musical sequences. shortly before the verbal part begins, the tempo slows down, and punctual ‘inserts’ of low, disturbing sounds appear. the low, disturbing sounds accompany the words down and inside in the initial lines: “when the sound goes down / when the sun goes down you head inside” (arcade fire 2013), as well as the lexeme righteous in: “if you want to be righteous / if you want to be righteous, get in line” (arcade fire 2013) where the disturbing sounds are even lower, thus apparently communicating a negative valence attached to these items in accordance with the negative is down metaphor. negative valence is also signalled by the falling intonation used throughout the whole first stanza, except for the line “here comes the night time” (arcade fire 2013), which is repeated three times with non-final intonation. additional portions of soft, high-pitch music are added to this line, which may be interpreted as a kind of foreboding of positive valence and high arousal to be voiced later in the song. the speaker’s negative attitude towards the views of the missionaries voiced in the second stanza is also reflected at the musical level. in the second stanza, for the lines describing the preachers’ views and for the expression of the speaker’s views and attitude to music, falling intonation and rising intonation are employed as expected, respectively. only for the line “but it starts in your feet, then it goes to your head” (arcade fire 2013) and the next one containing the phrase the roots are dead (arcade fire 2013), non-final intonation instead of the predicted rising and falling, respectively, is used. the question “what is our crime?” (arcade fire 2013) in the ultimate line proves to be affectively marked, as it is sung with rising intonation (accusatory tone, maybe frustration). the chorus is, each time, first preceded and then sung accompanied by ascending high-pitch musical sequences. the tempo of the song accelerates significantly at the end of the second chorus and remains fast for the bridge, which is, as predicted, performed with falling intonation and slows down again for the lines: “when you look in the sky, just try looking inside / god knows what you might find” (arcade fire 2013). the former is performed with rising intonation for both sentence parts, while for the latter, non-final intonation is selected. both lines are accompanied by relatively high pitch music but with a slower tempo. 60 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the intonation/pitch patterns and changes of tempo in the song clearly indicate high arousal connected with dancing and may invoke positive valence concerning the night time, even though darkness is commonly associated conceptually and affectively with negative, which corroborates sopory’s observations (cf. 2005: 442) about experiential knowledge of the events or processes talked about, which can override typical patterns of valence ascribed to orientational metaphors. if we look at kim and andre’s (2008: 5) fig. 2, we notice that relatively high pitch but slower tempo in the last lines may indicate a fall in arousal with a possible simultaneous shift towards negative valence. 6. the analysis: die flut [the deluge] 6.1 the lyrics in the textual component of the song, the stanzas contain lexemes invoking the darkness/light schema and the typical pattern of affect attributed to these phenomena, reinforced with other emotionally laden lexemes to express the speaker’s depressive mood, possibly his disillusionment concerning the surrounding reality. metaphorical mappings from the food and temperature domains onto the domain of emotions seem to be exploited as well, i.e. negative emotions as untasty/bitter food or negative is cold: “bitterkeit mein dunkles herz umspült (…) wenn finsternis den klaren blick verhüllt / kein sinn mehr eine sehnsucht stillt” [bitterness washes around my dark heart (…) when darkness blocks the clear view / no sense quenches the longing anymore] (heppner 2018) and in the second stanza: “gibt es dort am kalten firmament / nicht auch den stern (…) / ein dumpfes leuchten, wie ein feuer in der nacht” [is there in the cold sky / no star (…) a dull glow, like fire in the night] [all translations and emphasis mine] (heppner 2018). the last line is about a dream that will never materialize: “ruf ich mir herbei ein traum / der sich niemals erfüllt” [i summon a dream / which never materializes] (heppner 2018). consequently, falling intonation may be expected for the whole two stanzas as well as music with a slow tempo and of low key. in the bridge – in its three variations – a wish for a new, better world is expressed, which is never to be fulfilled: “doch es wird keine andere geben (or “doch es wird keine andere sein”) [but there will be no other] (heppner 2018). here again, the negative emotional potential of the lyrics would correspond well with falling intonation / low key, maybe except for the lines: “und du siehst zum himmel auf” [and you look up to the sky] and “du willst eine schönere erleben” [you want to experience a more beautiful one] (heppner 2018) where, in accordance with the embodied experience and affective value, rising intonation is also a viable option. in the chorus, however, the speaker clearly reverses the affective value typically ascribed to the phenomenon designated by the lexeme die flut ‘the deluge’ by conceiving of it as washing away all the evil that he sees on earth as a force able to transport him into better life (cf. heppner 2018). 61 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) this part consists of the question “wann kommt die flut” [when will the deluge come] (heppner 2018), which is to be sung four times, each time complemented by the parts: “über mich” [wash around me], “die mich berührt” [that will touch me], “die mich fortnimmt [that will take me]” (heppner 2018) and concluded: “in ein anderes großes leben irgendwo” [into a different, bigger life somewhere] (heppner 2018). the standard neutral intonation for suppletive questions and statements in german is the falling one, though it seems that the positive aspect of the emotional potential is activated here by invoking the metaphor spiritual/moral cleansing is physical cleansing by water, and hence application of rising intonation also seems plausible. 6.2 the performance the german piece performed by joachim witt and peter heppner, similarly to ride, involves intentional changes in pitch and intonation and alternate high and low keys (and two different voices). in terms of music, the song opening guides the recipient’s anticipation regarding affective information to be communicated as the song starts with a slow tempo and low key intro, which seems to metonymically forebode the pessimistic aspect of the emotional potential. the choice of key, pitch patterns and tempo with respect to the music clearly correspond with the intended affective information communicated by the text of the song. the stanzas are sung slowly in a low voice by joachim witt, accompanied by low-key music with a slow tempo. the intonation is non-final for all the verses except for the last, where falling intonation is applied. this seems to result not only from the standard intonation patterns for sentences in german but also that the first stanza harmonizes with the emotional potential activated in the text. the bridge, in turn, is sung by peter heppner in a higher voice, and the tempo is faster. the intonation for all the lines except for the last is falling, which is in accordance with the afore-described predictions. the line closing the bridge, however, in which the speaker states that there will be no new, better world, is sung louder with rising intonation. the affective information in this case attached to the verticality schema seems to be concerning high arousal rather than positive valence and may possibly be aimed to invoke the metaphor important is up, correlated with importance is volume (entailing more important is louder). the question in the chorus “wann kommt die flut” [when will the deluge come] (heppner 2018) is performed (four times) by both vocalists alternately (i.e. in low and high voice) with rising intonation (especially when performed at the end of the piece), whereby heppner’s voice rises on the stressed word kommt, while witt’s voice rises on the stressed flut. the second part of each question is sung by witt alone with non-final intonation, probably because the text still continues. the final chorus line: “in ein anderes großes leben irgendwo” [into a different, bigger life somewhere] (heppner 2018) is performed by both witt and heppner simultaneously with rising intonation up to “leben”, then falling with 62 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the lexeme irgendwo. such intonation pattern is clearly affectively marked, since the standard neutral intonation for suppletive questions and statements in german is the falling one. the rising intonation here in the context of the whole song seems to indicate not only high arousal but positive valence (metaphorically identifiable as positive is up), since the positive aspect of the deluge is emphasised. note that even though witt’s voice is a low one, in the chorus he adopts a noticeably higher key. rising intonation and high pitch may, furthermore, serve to evoke the metaphor having force is up (cf. górska 2014: 182) concerning the phenomenon of a deluge. 7. conclusions the analysis of the research material reveals the salient presence of the up/down (=verticality) image schema in vocal intonation and music aimed to enhance or modify emotional potential at the verbal level. the song performers employ changes in vocal intonation, combinations of alternate high and low pitch, slow and quick tempo and ascending and descending melodic lines to evoke certain metaphors and metonymies. there are cases, as noticed by sopory (cf. 2005: 442) and in hampe’s (2005) analysis, where the pattern of affect typically associated with the verticality image schema in vocal intonation and accompanying music may seem not to match the valence pattern typically available in the form of the metaphors positive is up and negative is down expressed in a given piece of lyrics. it appears, however, that the seemingly non-typical patterns of affect identified in the material examined herein (e.g. positive valence ascribed to darkness or deluge, high pitch not connected with positive valence) can, more often than not, be predicted on the basis of a thorough analysis of lyrics if the experiential knowledge available to the recipient of the phenomena/events referred to in the textual component is considered. it does not, for instance, suffice to identify the darkness/light or outside/inside image schemata at the verbal level and to assume that in accordance with the default value of valence ascribed to them, the intonation should be falling or rising, respectively. the whole context, that is the night time as the time for the speaker to party (as in here comes the night time), should be taken into account. this means including the aspect of arousal or reference to other metaphors, for example importance is volume, in the analysis. in some cases, only one, not the most typical but rather latently present, aspect of emotional potential (negative or positive) inherent in a given song may be actualized, such as the cleansing potential of the deluge rather than its destructive force. eventually, certain manners of vocal realization may result from the adopted intra-opus pattern of the song (e.g. acoustic version of ride). 63 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) fig. 1. two-dimensional emotion model by valence and arousal (kim & andre 2008, 4). (kim & andre 2008, 5) 64 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) references arcade fire. 2013. here comes the night time. in: arcade fire, reflektor. emi music ltd. arcade fire. 2018, november 25. here comes the night time [video]. youtube. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=fotau0xq5x8 (1 january 2019). bbc radio 1. 2018, november 1. tyler from twenty one pilots – ride in the live lounge [video]. youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7cbd1wu8ta (1 january 2019) górska, e. 2014. the up/down orientation in language and music. in: m. brenzinger & i. kraska-szlenk (eds.), the body in language. comparative studies of linguistic embodiment, 177-195. leiden: brill (brill’s studies in language, cognition and culture, 8). hampe, b. 2005. when down is not bad, and up is not good enough: a usage-based assessment of the plus–minus parameter in image-schema theory. cognitive linguistics 16(1): 115-146. heppner, p. [peter heppner]. 2018, april 16. witt-heppner – die flut [video]. youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvnmusvr_ni (1 january 2019). juslin, p. n. & sloboda, j. a. 2010. handbook of music and emotion: theory, research, applications. oxford: oxford university press. kim, j. & andre, e. 2008. emotion recognition based on physiological changes in music listening. ieee transactions on pattern analysis 30(12): 1-17. kövecses, z. 1990. emotion concepts. new york: springer-verlag. krzeszowski, t. p. 1997. angels and devils in hell: elements of axiology in semantics. warsaw: wydawnictwo energeia. lewandowska-tomaszczyk, b. & hanks, p. 1996. completive particles and verbs of closing in english. in: e. weigand & f. hundsnurscher (eds.), lexical structure and language use. proceedings of the international conference on lexicology and lexical semantics, münster, september 13–15, 1994, 89-103. tübingen: niemeyer. morini, m. 2013. towards a musical stylistics: movement in kate bush’s ‘running up that hill’. language and literature 22(4): 283-297. neary, c. 2019. ‘please could you stop the noise’: the grammar of multimodal meaning-making in radiohead’s ‘paranoid android’. language and literature: international journal of stylistics 28(1): 41-60. nova fm. 2016, september 4. pentatonix cover ‘ride’ by twenty one pilots [video]. youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdqbqipujls (1 january 2019). schwarz-friesel, m. 2007. sprache und emotion. tübingen: francke. schwarz-friesel, m. 2015. giving horror a name: verbal manifestations of despair, fear and anxiety in texts of holocaust victims and survivors. in: u. m. lüdtke (ed.), emotion in language. theory – research – application, 289-304. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fotau0xq5x8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fotau0xq5x8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7cbd1wu8ta https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvnmusvr_ni https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdqbqipujls 65 ......................................................................................... crossroads. a journal of english studies 31 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) schwarz-friesel, m. 2015. language and emotion: the cognitive linguistic perspective. in: u. m. lüdtke (ed.) emotion in language. theory – research –application, 157-174. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins. shrivastav, r. & wingate, j. (2008). perceptual attributes and assessment of the singer’s voice. in: m. s. benninger & t. murry (eds.), the singer’s voice, 65-78. san diego/ oxford/brisbane: plural publishing. sopory, p. 2005. metaphor and affect. poetics today 26(3): 433-458. twenty one pilots 2015, may 13. twenty one pilots – ride (official video) [video]. youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw-0pby9jeu (1 january 2019). zbikowski, l. 2009. music, language, and multimodal metaphor. in: ch. j. forceville & e. urios-aparisi (eds.), multimodal metaphor, 359–381. berlin: mouton de gruyter. zbikowski, l. 2017a. foundations of musical grammar. oxford: oxford university press. zbikowski, l. 2017b. music, analogy, and metaphor. in r. ashley & r. timmers (eds.), the routledge companion to music cognition, 501-512. new york/london: routledge. zbikowski, l. 2018. music, metaphor, and creativity. https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/326904557_music_metaphor_and_creativity doi: 10.13140/rg.2.2.10878.08004 (1 march 2019). * * * magdalena zyga, phd, is an adjunct professor at the university of szczecin (institute of linguistics). her research interests encompass translation studies, especially literary translation, cognitive linguistics and discourse analysis. in 2012, she obtained her doctorate on the basis of the dissertation idiolekte in deutschsprachigen literarischen texten [idiolects in german-language literary texts], published in 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw-0pby9jeu https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326904557_music_metaphor_and_creativity https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326904557_music_metaphor_and_creativity ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 27 agnieszka kliś1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.34.3.03 university of bielsko-biała, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9872-9497 theatricality of women’s voice: an embarrassing position by kate chopin abstract. the paper offers an analysis of an embarrassing position, the only extant and not very well-known theatre play by kate chopin. even though it is only one-act-long, the play does not only contribute to the greatness of the artistry of the author, but it also subtly and wittily raises the question of societal imbalance and women’s right to self-deciding. hence, the aim of this paper is both to expose the theatricality of women’s voice embedded in the play validating women’s stance and foretelling women’s emancipation, and to bring the play to the broader attention of academics as a unique, still underexamined, work of chopin. in order to establish this light comedy play within a serious domain of women’s rights struggle, as well as to inscribe this short piece of work into the long list of chopin’s writings which are profeminist in their overtone, the paper uses hermeneutic analysis with elements of derrida’s deconstructionist theory of différance, and employs carl jung’s idea of synchronicity. derrida’s deconstruction serves to uncover the inner inconsistencies residing within the humorous lines of the play, whereas synchronicity provides the scaffold for the play’s events that bonds the analysis elements into one meaningful whole. keywords: feminist discourse, the cult of domesticity, deconstruction, différance, synchronicity. 1. introduction chopin has been unequivocally recognised as a prolific short story writer and skilful interpreter of women’s lives, an author whose numerous short stories and two novels have been submitted to careful academic scrutiny. yet besides chopin’s most appreciated works, there is one piece of writing that seems to have eluded scholarly attention, a oneact comedy play an embarrassing position, which, therefore, this study ventures to examine and, consequently, encourage academic discussion of the play. the lack of scholarly interest in the play is an important reason but it is not the only motivation for the analysis. it is chopin’s linguistic artistry, which not only presents inconvenient truths about social imbalance and portrays women’s emancipatory pursuits, but does it in a humorous and witty manner; it is straightforward but it simultaneously avoids controversy. since chopin’s language is simple and unassuming, but also well-articulate and crisp, in voicing deep meanings and constructing multilayered messages, it calls for equally nonconventional tools to uncover the hidden message of the play and to confirm 1 address for correspondence: akademia techniczno-humanistyczna w bielsku-białej, instytut neofilologii, ul. willowa 2, 43-309 bielsko-biała, poland. e-mail: aklis@ath.bielsko.pl https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9872-9497 ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 28 the seriousness of chopin’s point, concealed underneath the humorous triviality. therefore, this hermeneutical analysis resorts to two challenging analytical tools, derrida’s theory of deconstruction and jung’s concept of synchronicity, as these two seem to have the capacity to encompass and highlight the interpretative areas addressed by chopin and, hence, to disclose the significance, and the prophetic message of the superficially cheerful and overt content of the play. as far as deconstruction is concerned, the paper mainly draws from the literary aspect of the theory and focuses on the textual interpretation of chopin’s work. hence, deconstruction is employed to follow the subtle traces of chopin’s radical ideas aimed at disruption of the rhetoric of power that reside beyond the primary concepts and basic meanings of words. also, deconstruction serves an exposure of fine incongruities that lie at different layers of the play and thus enables one to establish a new language of the play with which chopin’s words can be read out as feministically inspiring. in the course of the analysis, besides the literary dimension, the philosophical dimension of deconstruction is also occasionally addressed, as the paper seeks to expose and subvert the binary oppositions present in the play and to reveal the repressed meanings which aim at changing the hierarchy of social inequality. regarding synchronicity, its well-recognised capacity to manifest hermeneutics and to explore the text will be addressed and thus, the foundations for the play’s analysis will be established. the idea of synchronicity will connect the traces, meanings and concepts displayed by derridean deconstruction and will generate these elements into one meaningful whole thus contributing to the exposure of the play’s hidden overtone. the paper begins with setting the scene for the 19th century social relationships and the introduction of the ideology of the cult of domesticity prevailing at that time to indicate the social unacceptability and inappropriateness of eva’s, the play’s heroine, behaviour and thus, to provide the background for the further scrutiny of eva’s proceedings and ultimately, for the paper’s conclusions. after that, the key concepts of the theory of deconstruction and the idea of synchronicity are introduced. finally, the play’s gene, the title, the time, the setting, the characters’ names, the plot with particular attention devoted to binary oppositions as well as the play’s lines are analyzed. the paper closes with the presentation of the results of the analysis and conclusions. 2. the cult of domesticity chopin’s writings seem both to be shaped by and to encompass all the ground-breaking events of the 19th century, even though some of them happened either shortly before, or not long after chopin’s birth. thus, the civil war, the suffragettes movement and the first women’s rights convention, either were echoed or directly addressed in her works. all these, however, were dealt with to picture the writer’s primary concerns, women’s freedom and women’s right to self expression in all spheres of life, constrained at that time by the american cult of domesticity. the cult of domesticity was a fossilized and unchallengeable construct which delineated the private and the public for the upper-middle class. it set the rules of conduct and solidified the roles of both a woman and a man, primarily the concepts of wife and ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 29 husband, but it delimited women only. at the core of the ideological postulates of the cult of domesticity rested the idea of the pure femininity, shaped by religious rigidity and the natural biological weakness of the female sex. the embodiment of the ideal femininity in real life was the true woman, also called the light of the home, or the flawless angel of the hearth. the concept of the true woman made 19th century females submissive and obedient prisoners of social appropriateness. “if anyone, male or female, dared to temper with the complex of the virtues which made up true womanhood he was dammed immediately as an enemy of god, of the civilisation and of the republic” (walter 1966: 152). the true woman had to follow four core rules in order to earn social acceptance, esteem, and respect, namely: the rule of piety, the rule of purity, the rule of submissiveness, and that of domesticity. piety was believed to be “the most fundamental of all women’s virtues and the source of women’s strength. (...) it belonged to a woman by divine right, [and it was] a gift of god and nature” (welter 1966: 152). by the virtue of piety, women bore the single responsibility for “throw[ing heavenly] beams into the naughty world of men” (welter 1966: 152). thus, whereas a man could indulge into the materialistic pursuits offered by the boosting economy of the industrialisation era, his wife became “a hostage [left behind] to all the values which he held so dear and treated so lightly” (welter 1966: 151). the purity rule was as important as the rule of piety. women were obliged to keep the virtue of chastity until their marriage, and throughout their whole life warned against any undue familiarity with men. “[e]ven such trifle events as sitting with another man in a place that [was] too narrow; read[ing] out of the same book [showing] eagerness to see anything” (welter 1966: 155), were viewed highly improper and might have condemned a woman to social marginalization. “[a]bsence of purity was unnatural and unfeminine. without it she was, in fact, no woman at all, but a member of some low order” (welter 1966: 154), a fallen woman. the next rule that was of help in guiding women’s proper behaviour, and in shaping it in line with societal demands, was the rule of submission. submission, like the piety and purity, was considered a solely feminine characteristic, divinely instilled in women by god. by the virtue of submission women were supposed to follow men’s whims both in private and social spheres, even when they had to act against their own will. mrs. elizabeth poole sandford attempted to define women’s role in terms of submissiveness in the following way: “a really sensible woman feels her dependence. she does what she can, but she is conscious of inferiority” (welter 1966: 159), whereas another author of manuals of women’s conduct, clarissa packard, reminded a woman that she should work in silence, suppress “her talents to her husband’s good” and revere “his wishes even when [she] does not his opinions” (packard in welter 1966: 160). the fourth of the set of rules of the true woman, the rule of domesticity, upheld the contemporary state-of-the art restricting the area of women’s activity to family and her home, thus artfully excluding women from all, traditionally-viewed as men’s, spheres of civil and political life. a woman had to find “her true dignity and beauty” in household chores in her home, where she was secured “not only from the world, but from delusions and errors of every kind” (welter 1966: 162). ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 30 for the whole 19th century, the prolific prescriptive literature addressed to women maintained these highly idealised and much unattainable standards, of socially acceptable womanhood, even though they deprived women of their individuality, and hindered their pursuits for subjectivity. every 19th-century woman was expected to judge herself by the four core rules of the cult of domesticity and also was subject to the scornful judgement by others through being faithful to them. without the rules “everything was ashes, with them [a true woman] was promised happiness and power” (welter 1966: 152). all the above mentioned standards of the ideology of the cult of domesticity amount to a fine litmus paper of the analysis, and thus are applicable to detecting how far-fetched, in terms of social acceptability and the 19th century convenance eve’s behaviour is, and how much chopin challenges the social order. a night visit of a young single woman paid to a young bachelor seems to push the limits of the 19th century appropriateness and could not be otherwise delivered but in the comedy form, hence the assumption adopted in the present paper that the unduly behaviour of the heroine is not merely a misbehaviour of an inexperienced, childish young girl, yet to the contrary, it is the result of a skilful plan of the author to veil the unacceptable and render it in an amusing form. 3. deconstruction derrida’s deconstruction belongs to the classics of the contemporary philosophy and literary theory, and as such it has been one of the most thoroughly examined, described, both appreciated and challenged, phenomenon in the academic world. bearing in mind that nowadays, it appears to have been past its prime, the paper refers to deconstruction as “mature” and a bit “outmoded” theory, yet the one, which still has not said its last word (see: burzyńska 2013: 13). hence, it is the unquestionable power of the textual analysis of deconstruction which exposes the text for multilayered and versatile interpretation that drives the hitherto analysis. the textual demystification and exposure of instability of meaning, tracing the residing within texts inconsistencies, exploring the textual margins, questioning the literal message, reevaluating and provoking, help to reread the text of the play and to establish it both within and beyond the feminist perspective, in jungian realm of numinous synchronicities. apart from the literary aspect of deconstruction, the paper also draws from the philosophical dimension of deconstruction, and thus is concerned with questioning metaphysics of presence and challenging the system of dualistic oppositions that lie at the heart of the metaphysical philosophy. deconstruction aids the analysis conducted in this paper by disclosing the imbalance residing within the metaphysical system of binaries in order to subvert the unjust dichotomy which has always favored one element over the other. the major derridean tool to the practice of deconstruction, the concept of différance, is implemented to undermine the literal meaning of the text and to create the variety of possibilities, as well as to announce inherent disparities owing to which the meaning can grow to “a potentially endless chain of signifiers  polysemous, intertextual, ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 31 subject to infinite linkages (…), always differential and deferred, never present (…) original unity” (venuti 2003: 238). also, since chopin assumed the position of an objective, non-marginalizing, and careful observer, deconstruction in the analysis does not aim at questioning chopin’s statements and message, yet rather at reaching deep down to the layers in which the author could safely convey her message, without being accused of the overt challenge of the ideology of the cult of domesticity, which would have equalled to challenging god’s order. hence, the analysis ventures to call into question the superficial triviality of the play and to highlight chopin’s covert message instead, rather than chopin’s standpoint, and consequently, to make this paper a catalyst for further academic analyses. 4. synchronicity – “mutual attraction of related objects” carol jung, a german psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, the founder of analytical psychology and author of a number of major psychological concepts, coined the term synchronicity in order to give the name to the phenomenon of mutual attraction of the related objects, also known as an “acausal connecting principle”, to describe an energybased connection between an individual psyche and the external world (see: jung 1973). the concept draws from the assumption that an idea, or conviction born in one’s psyche can be materialized in real world owing to the human’s unconstrained power of creativity. it also implies that human psyche is capable of exerting its will over the matter, and further that both psychic and physical can meet, as they are not susceptible to the three-dimensional world limitations. hence, one of the basic premises of synchronicity is the psychic relativity of time and distance, which assumes that both the psyche and the material world are primarily two different forms of energy and therefore, they do not need to depend on time or space to occur. what they, however, need to rely on, is a person’s unconscious psychological processes that trigger off the events which then get materialized in the outer world. another important assumption of synchronicity is the idea of an undividable unity of matter. according to jung (1973: 103), matter is not merely a material substance but a compound of interconnected energy fields organized by a pre-existent psyche. furthermore, both the matter and the spirit co-create the so called unus mundus, or the one world, the superordinate level of reality, in which everything pursues harmony. this “unitary domain outside the human categories of space and time, and beyond [human] division of reality into matter and spirit” (van erkelens 1990: 201), presupposes the existence of a balance force in the universe that strives for stability (see: main online). moreover, since synchronicity assumes “the parallelism of time and meaning between psychic and psychophysical events” (jung 1973: 115), the divine cosmos, as unus mundus is also called, challenges the commonly-accepted “pre-established harmony, which [always existed] as a universal [natural] order” (jung 1973: 126) and arises as an empirical manifestation of its universal balance force instead. in terms of the formal foundations, synchronicity rests on the idea of collective unconscious (see: jung 1973: 33). as defined by jung, collective unconscious is a reservoir of the human psyche containing its decisive inherited elements called ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 32 archetypes. archetypes, called also “patterns of behaviours”, are a set of shared concepts existing beyond a person’s unconscious that emerge as the themes or characters of dreams, and which also manifest as beliefs, patterns of thinking, signs, myths, and legends (see: jung 1973: 20). the collective unconscious can only be accessed through the unconsciousness hence it only becomes available in the states of oblivion, such as dreams, mediation, or periods of emotional agitation. furthermore, as it is by means of affects that “a particular content [is allowed] to a supernormal degree of luminosity”, which gives “the unconscious a favorable opportunity to slip into the space vacated” (jung 1973: 29), the phenomenon of synchronicity requires the co-occurrence of two factors: “an unconscious image that comes into consciousness either directly (i.e., literally) or indirectly (symbolized or suggested), in the form of a dream, idea, or premonition, and an objective situation, which coincides with this content  the one (…) as puzzling as the other” (jung 1973: 40). thus the notion of synchronicity emerges as an extreme exemplification of the circumstantiality, whose essence can only be grasped through the subjective personal experience, the one which, however, evades any scientifical explanation. indeed, for years, the idea of synchronicity has confused scholars as resisting to scientific proof, and extended “the western world’s core conceptions of nature and the psyche” (cambray 2009: intro.) to the limits of acceptability the claims poised by synchronicity have been viewed as lacking scientific standards and deprived of academic ground. however, the situation has changed due to discoveries of the 20th century quantum physics, which both confirmed the core premises of jung’s concept and put synchronicity in a broader frame (see: cambray 2009, intro.). quantum physicists have posited that as it is the energy that creates the basis for the whole material world, things resolve in energetic fields first and only then do they acquire their material form. moreover, since everything in the universe is interconnected through energetic fields, hence the matter is an indivisible and interrelated tissue, which objects any divisions, and which always pursues unity. apart from the quantum physics findings, most recent research in the field of psychology also confirm scientificity of synchronicity, although they challenge the phenomenon’s core, once-mystical, premises. instead of the mystic numinosity of the cooccurring events new psychodynamic theories postulate the natural background of the phenomenon and associate synchronicity with “significant psychological change— transformation, transcendence, and an expansion of consciousness” (williams 2010: ix). the so called naturalistic theories of synchronicities of faber (1998) and williams (2010), rest on “the naturalistic understanding of the intricate psychological process assumed to produce (...) seemingly acausal events” (williams 2010: 108). faber (in: williams 2010: 108) posits that “[i]n synchronicities we see (experience) the return of the repressed.” for williams (2010: 108), “synchronicities function as progressive events arising out of the need for human beings to continually resolve inevitable life problems of being, doing, and becoming by connecting to their idiosyncratic creative process.” essentially, in both views, “synchronicities are intimately associated with an individual’s need to provide essential answers to ultimate questions such as who am i, what do i really want, how do i acquire such knowledge, and how best do i put it to use?” ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 33 (williams 2010:112) and as such revolve around the key notions pertinent to human’s worldly experience. hence also, they not only take synchronicity beyond the contested realm of occultism, but they also support the impact of synchronicity on shaping an individual’s experience and enhancing an individual’s progress both in psychical and social dimensions. thus it can be said that both quantum physics as well as synchronicity theories posited by the naturalist lay firm foundations for the scientificity of the phenomenon of synchronicity and facilitate its relevance to the present analysis. hence, the phenomenon of synchronicity seems applicable in the analysis twofold, on the plot plane, to found an acausal relationship between the events of the play, and further, on the semiotic plane, to establish a connection between the results of the deconstruction analysis and the reflection on chopin’s message. moreover, even though there may still be voices claiming the lack of academic verifiability of the notion of synchronicity, quantum physics theories, naturalistic synchronicities theories as well as an inexhaustible spontaneity of the intuitive experience and the dynamic of the psyche involved in the act of synchronicities alike, prove the notion useful for the purposes of the present paper. 5. the hermeneutic analysis of kate chopin’s comedy play, an embarrassing position 5.1. the play – main information an embarrassing position is a one-act play written by chopin oct. 15-22, 1891 for the new york herald drama competition. its “[e]arlier titles are: a little comedy at parkhams; an evening at parkhams; a social dilemma; an embarrassing situation. drama in one act and one scene” (seyersted (ed.) 2006: 1009). although the play did not win any award, it was published in the st. louis mirror magazine in the december 19, 1895. before that, the play had been rejected by publishers five times and as such it inscribes on the long list of chopin’s works discarded by her contemporaries. ever since, it has also been viewed as chopin’s minor work unable to compete with the author’s most appreciated works. the play was published on request since its publisher was a long-time admirer of chopin (see: shaker 2003: 97). in fact, “chopin was virtually guaranteed of reedy’s support many years before she called on it, and she might have used the mirror (...) to showcase the unorthodox politics enacted in her more daring fiction” (shaker 2003: 97). in the 1970s, along with the rediscovery of chopin as a writer, the play was published by the library of america in the collection, kate chopin complete novels and stories and although chopin’s biographers did not devote much of their attention to the play  per seyersted does not even include the play in the listing in his first biography of chopin, kate chopin a critical biography, 1980  emily toth, situates it in a rather thought-provoking context. the biographer first mentions the play as chopin’s unsuccessful attempt to receive some feedback from her first literary model, william dean howells, yet after that toth includes a commentary referring to unconventionality of chopin’s works for which “[l]iterary moralists and censors always offended kate  and they dogged her from the ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 34 very beginning of her career” (toth 1990: 192). therefore, i would dare to claim that the low interest of scholars does not merely relate to the lack of the incentive content, or the low literary value, of the play, but it is rather an effect of the mainstream focus on chopin’s works, which naturally restricts its analyses to a limited number of short stories and two novels, predominantly to the awakening. to support the view of the value of the play as an unappreciated and deserving more insightful approach piece of chopin’s writing, it is worth mentioning that in 2010, a famous american composer, dan shore, adapted the play as a 30-minute-long comic opera, which turned immediate success. apart from receiving favorable reviews as “[o]ne of the most utterly charming pieces [of the] year”, the play also received a big easy entertainment award, 2011, and won national opera association chamber opera competition, 2013 (mahne 2013: online). 5.2. an embarrassing position – genre an embarrassing position is a one-act comedy of manners, whose compact form hides a stirring content. the choice of the genre, the plot of the play as well as its length seem to be driven by the author’s major purpose of creating a favorable space for an unpopular idea, promoting women’s unconstrained right to self-determination and individual freedom, to be announced in a humorous and concise way. as a comedy of manners the play is “witty [and] cerebral in form (...) [it] depicts and (...) satirizes the manners (...) of a contemporary society. (...) [it] is concerned with social usage and the question of whether or not characters meet (...) social standards”, and the play’s plot, referred to a “scandalous matter, is subordinate to the play’s brittle atmosphere, [and] witty dialogue” (britannica: online). in the play, the author privileges the voice of women over the voice of men and plays as much on the appearances as with appearances. thus on the one hand it is the main heroine’s socially improper behaviour that needs correction; however, as the plot develops, the superficial naivety of the main heroine, eva, reveals unexpected wisdom, whereas seemingly mature experience of the main male character, willis, discloses nothing but shameful craftiness. the fact that chopin voices feminist concerns by and large makes the work also fall into the characteristic of a comedy as advocated by george meredith, the author of the most extensive debate over the comic genre of the 19th century, and thus chopin’s play can be described in meredith’s words as a related to women’s status “humor of the mind” and “a corrective laughter” used both as a means of women’s advancement and an instrument aimed at shaping a progressive society (meredith 1897: online gutenberg.org). as far as the length of the play is considered, the comedy is only one act, and as such, it does not require much time to follow, but it allows enough time to voice doubts concerning the true face of social appropriateness and to promote women’s freedoms. at the end of the play, untypically for the comedy of manners, yet typically for chopin, the author restrains herself from any pungent commentary or punch line, which could be too limiting for the play’s feministic overtone, but leaves the audience in a quandary. the play ends, but the subtle impression of a certain incongruence as for the equality of the ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 35 two sexes stays with the audience. the discrepancy between what is felt and what is believed grows to gradually undermine the basics of what has been viewed as socially proper and appropriate thus paving the way for the true recognition of the equality of the two sexes. 5.3. the summary of the plot the plot of the comedy play is set in new orleans in the 1890s in the snuggery of the suburban residence of willis parkham, a young and wealthy american bachelor, who is running for a political office. at 11:30 pm, after the “political meeting”, which parkham allegedly organized, he is visited by eva artless, a young cheerful and witty daughter of one of his friends, an army officer, mr. artless. the heroine, eva, brought up by her eccentric father “on unconventional and startling lines” (chopin in: seyersted (ed.) 2006: 164) invades mr. parkham’s privacy in the least convenient moment, since soon after her arrival, parkham has another unexpected guest. the unanticipated visitor is the reporter for the paul pry, a newspaper journalist critically commenting on the latest political affairs and sniffing about for gossips. even though parkham does his utmost to conceal the presence of eva, his efforts fall through. the scandal is about to break, so the panicky young gentleman resolves to save his political career and proposes to eva. surprisingly enough, he gets rejected, as the seemingly naive young lady has her own will and is not eager to resign from the precious freedom and self-determination about her own future. willis’s proposal immediately gets eva’s riposte, smart and reasonable: and this is an offer of marriage! i never had one before! i never want one again! so mr. willis parkham, you think that my future happiness depends upon becoming your wife. well, permit me to inform you, that you are making a curious mistake. the idea of being your wife has never entered my mind. and so little does my future happiness depend upon your society, that i intend to quit it just as soon as i can (chopin in: seyersted (ed.) 2006: 173). paradoxically for the 19th century contemporaries, in the play it is the female character, who resolves the situation, or rather leaves it unresolved, against the main hero’s wish. it is also eva, who is attributed with the fine qualities of the mind, whereas parkham arises as an emotionally unstable and indecisive individual with “varying moods”, and as a changeable person whose distractedness and feverish agitation result in excessive maladroitness. eva observes his incoherence closely, yet also empathically, and “faces him, seriously and resolutely”, with an unwavering dignity and common sense. indeed, willis’s clumsiness and lack of certain graces, juxtaposed with eva’s wit and intelligence, expressed in sharp, but not harsh, verbal agility, leave no illusions as for chopin’s standpoint. chopin advocates for women and questions social order founded on hypocrisy with the same ease and wit with which eva rejects willis’s ridiculous offer. 5.4. the title of the play the etymology of the word embarrass, which appears in the title of the play, is as follows: “1670s, ‘perplex’, throw into doubt, from french embarrasser (16c.), literally ‘to block,’ from italian imbarrazzo, from imbarrare, ‘to bar,’ assimilated form of in ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 36 ‘into, upon’ + vulgar latin barra ‘bar’anything which holds, obstructs, impedes. meaning ‘to hamper, hinder’ is from 1680s. meaning “make someone feel awkward” first recorded 1828” (etymonline.com). the noun position comes “from latin positionem (nominative positio)”, “act or fact of placing, situation, position, affirmation”, “to settle, dwell, be home”. the meaning “proper place occupied by a person or thing” is from 1540s” (etymonline.com). from the above dictionary entries of the words embarrass and position, the title of the play can be interpreted as a referral to the presupposed, righteous situation in which the characters of the play shall inevitably meet. as it can be drawn from the meanings of the words, even though the plot of the play superficially implies the loss of dignity and honor, and makes the event of the get-together in question socially frowned upon, or at least ridiculed (a woman visits a man in the middle of the night), it indeed draws on a natural behavior of a self-constituting adult to freely choose their place of stay. also, as the etymology of the word “embarrass” suggests, the position, though socially discarded, is not morally wrong, and taking into consideration that in fact a night visit can be objectively puzzling, it seems to skillfully support chopin’s subversive plan to make a fissure in the shell of the fossilized 19th century social system for women’s stance to be announced, and consequently, discerned. 5.5. the analysis of the setting – willis parkham’s snuggery according to a dictionary definition, snuggery is a “neat comfortable place, a small secluded room; to be snug [means:] to be close, to be slyly and comfortably concealed” (yourdictionary.com). thus, as the referential meaning of the word indicates, a snuggery is a place of concealment, comfortable yet, restricted and secluded. the designation of the place of concealment is to hide something that an individual wants to keep secret. however, as deconstruction prompts, the innate quality of the hidden is exposure, which implies that the hidden only makes sense, when juxtaposed with the unveiled. chopin seemingly uses the snuggery to introduce and to emphasize the concept of concealment vs. disclosure as the semantic dominant of the play: in the snuggery willis’s nature is revealed, and so is eva’s self-determining standpoint, cato’s simple wisdom is never listened to and thus remains unrevealed, whereas allegedly discovered by the prying reporter scandal, throws the light on the leading theme of the play, women’s social inequality. in fact, the meaning of the snuggery in the play’s overall design may be interpreted as a symbolical representation of the falsity of the 19th century society construct, of its hypocrisy and two-facedness in which the double standards of the cult of domesticity concealed the violence, cruelty and negligence of women with the silent public approval at convenience of the beneficiaries of the practice, men. hence, the association between the snuggery and the 19th century society seems to be chopin’s purposeful act aimed at focusing the public attention on the festering problem of women’s social inequality. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 37 5.6. the time of the play – 11.30 pm chopin carefully chooses the time of the play and sets the clock at 11.30 pm, at seemingly the most theatrical point of the time in terms of its division of cyclical time and in terms of its symbolical meaning. the dramatic contrast between day and night is the moment when binary pairs are juxtaposed: darkness and light, life and death, consciousness and unconsciousness, reason and emotions, male and female. while in the metaphysical world of dualities, daytime is symbolically related to the masculine, active principle, and to the conscious state within mankind, nighttime is related to the feminine, passive and unconscious principle, associated with fertility and potentiality (see: cirlot 2001: 228) interestingly, it is darkness that “preexists the differentiation of matter. the dualism of light/darkness does not arise as a symbolic formula of morality until primordial darkness has been split up into light and dark. hence, the pure concept of darkness (...) corresponds to primigenial chaos. it is also related to mystic nothingness, (...) a path leading back to the profound mystery of the origin” (cirlot 2001: 76-77). in the play, eve arrives at night, when the nightly mysterious concealment creates a favorable environment for synchronicity to occur. it is the night that lets eve draw from the jungian archetypal repository, otherwise inaccessible, since at night, as notices frith luton (a zurich-trained jungian analyst and psychotherapist) “[t]he world can speak to us in a completely new way. the rational, scientific façade of the world, though still present, becomes alive with the vibrancy of the presence of the numinous” (frithluton.com). the night prepares the unconscious for the moment of revelation and it is eve, the mother of all life and the patron of oneness that directs her steps to willis parkham’s house, where in the small microcosm of the snuggery, will decide on her own fate, and presumably, on the fate of all women. 5.7. the heroine’s name and surname both the name and the surname of the heroine of the play are telling and also marked. the name associates with a mother figure and the surname, basically, with positive qualities of a person’s character. thus the name eva  “[m]eaning: [l]ife, [s]ymbiosis”  connotes the mother of all life, “the biosphere; all living things” (abarim publications: online biblical dictionary) and the beginning of a new life. it also refers to the collectivity, and therefore can be broadly referred to other women, not merely to the heroine herself, which implies that the choices and the fate of the heroine can be recognised as representative for other females too. this fact is also meaningful as far as the heroine’s choices are concerned. in the play, eva can be read as the first woman to determine the female subjectivity and to voice the female’s stance. eva does not succumb to stereotypes and does not wish to commit her life to marriage. she is not an obedient girl, staying in her place, but a daring young woman who thinks for herself and who will rather look for new choices the life offers than choose marriage as a way to happiness. furthermore, since the name eva also designates the biosphere of all living things, the heroine seems to be innately compelled towards the universal balance and equity, the state in which none of the elements shall prevail. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 38 the heroine’s surname, artless, refers essentially to the character’s features and particularizes the heroine’s mental and moral characteristics. hence, the heroine can be viewed as a “person who is innocent of sin or evil”, “ingenuous” and “noble in nature, high-minded; [and] honorably straightforward” (etymonline.com). artless, meaning “innocent” but also “free-born”, suggests that the very first female, is not going to resign from her freedom, and despite being characterized by the virtues of purity and simplicity, she is equipped with the sense of autonomy and determination to decide about herself and her life. moreover, the surname, being the play of the two meanings, “uncontrived” and “lacking art, knowledge, or skill”, implies that the heroine has a sincere disposition, deprived of cunning, and is a person who wishes to earnestly act towards the symbiotic co-existence. also in terms of binary oppositions, the heroine seems to be a uniting entity attributed with metaphysical qualities valorized both negatively and positively. she is simultaneously natural, uncultured, and ingenuous, as opposed to civilized, cultured, and artful, and as such she oscillates between the centre and the margin, capable of unifying the extremities and of merging the accepted and the scorned over alike. 5.8. synchronicity of events the play rests on the foundation of empirically materialized synchronicity displayed in the form of a set of spontaneous encounters and coincidences. blizzard, an accident that caused obstruction on the road and delayed arrival of eva’s father, the startling decision of eva not to stay at her own house for the night but stay at parkham’s instead, and the unseasonal visit of a haunting for a scandal inquisitive reporter relate to one another yet, simultaneously, defy any straightforward explanation in terms of their interrelatedness. while the causal link between the blizzard and the accident on the road, and consequently, the hindered comeback of eva’s father can be drawn, it is hardly possible to establish the similar connection between eva’s decision to spend the night at willis’s house and the reporter’s unseasonal visit, which timing is striking even nowadays. in fact both of the visits, eva’s and the reporter’s, seem highly improbable, if not impossible, particularly when considered through the prism of the social rules of 19th century america. however, jungian rule of synchronicity provides a valid explanation for the two, as well as for the rest of the plot’s string of events. the events become jungian creative acts and “the continuous creation of a pattern that exists from all eternity, repeats itself sporadically and is not derivable from any known antecedents” (jung 1973: 113). chopin mirrors this continuous creation and makes the plot’s events act like guideposts that “move [characters] forward [to] a new phase of their life” (rowland 2019). characteristically for synchronicity, the events get linked to some emotionally stirring personal experience, with eva’s distress caused by her father’s hindered arrival, and willis’s agitation caused by the reporter’s undue visit. eva becomes the focus and the trigger of the chain of the events, since, as a female, she is believed to be endowed with sensitivity often inaccessible for men. in a moment of emotional upheaval, the situation eva never experienced before, when she can and should decide for herself, the heroine ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 39 gets access to the unconscious wisdom and triggers the synchronicities, which are both the results of her state and the “winks” from the universe confirming she is on the right path. at the same time willis, threatened by the perspective of getting discredited, trashes in the net of societal expectations with no relevant conclusions as to his behavior. he is too cultured and thus too rational to contact the unconscious and contest the set rules. eva and willis are subjects of the play, its hero and heroine; simultaneously they also become objects of a broader game of the universe, handy tools foretelling the inevitable transformations: eva represents the female force that announces new relations, willis embodies the outlived social construct to be revisited. yet, whereas eva follows the deeply ingrained in the synchronicity idea that there “is an energy directing [people] towards a meaningful and fulfilled life” (rowland 2019), willis remains oblivious to the signs of the universe and clings to the old structures. as a result, when the heroine releases the “creativity (…) located in the power of imagination, in the psyche, [in her] inner being (…) and [a] mysterious part of it known as the unconscious” (rowland 2019) to voice her will, willis remains stuck in social constraints. however, the basic truth that lies at the heart of synchronicity says that the universe detests inequity, and hence one might assume that the process of penetrating the artificial construct of social biases already exists in the collective unconscious and what it only needs is materialization. 5.9. the plot analysis with elements of deconstruction even though very short and hilarious, the comedy comprises four major, “disturbing” moments which, when analyzed from deconstructionists’ perspective, crack open and expose different that might be assumed content. the first disquieting moment of the play is the introduction of the characters of the comedy, when miss eva artless is described as “[b]rought up on unconventional and startling lines by eccentric father, a retired army officer” (chopin in: seyersted (ed.) 2006: 164). following the paradigm of metaphysical binary oppositions, “unconventional and startling lines” seem to be juxtaposed with “an army order”, and even though it is “order” which is privileged over the presumably disordered “unconventional and startling lines”, the overtone of the play rather suggests the latter alternative to be valued higher. moreover, it is “the startling lines”, which shaped the heroine of the play into the outspoken and daring person who, with her unwavering approach as to who should decide about her future, opens the dispute over the broader issue of what women are and what they are not allowed to. chopin blurred the roles of women and men in an attempt to emphasize the equality of the sexes. thus, an inexperienced, yet self-determined, young woman adamantly faces a mature man, who is shaken by the unexpected situation, and when the reporter arrives at willis’s house and discovers the presence of eva, she decides resolutely, willis is thrown into despair. the arrival of the reporter is the climax of the play and the last element of the chain of meaningful coincidences and also the event which most contributes to the emotional upsurge of the characters. from that moment, the plot events gather pace to find their open-ended finale. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 40 as a result of the synchronicities, parkham offers eva marriage. the explanations and cover stories aimed at excusing and concealing eva’s presence in his house preceding his proposal cast a shadow on parkham’s decency. in fact, he comes over as a hypocrite and liar. by cunning and trying to trick eva into believing that he is deeply devoted to her, willis becomes the opposite of all good virtues characteristic of eva. thus also it is parkham himself who subverts the metaphysical hierarchy disclosing the putridity of the centrality of the binary opposition man vs. woman, and little can do the explanations that he might have cared for his political career from which he had already resigned. actually, as it happens in case of works of famous authors, parkham’s indecency clouds upon the moral condition of men in general, pointing at a hypocritical, double-standard disposition of a well-respected man. when eva declines willis’s proposal without hesitation, the question arises whether she is a naive or a wise young lady. based on chopin’s allusion that the heroine has been “brought up on unconventional and startling lines,” it seems more probable that eva can be characterized as clever and self-reliant than dummy. similarly, eva’s witty ripostes and bright dissection of the situation which she faces, not only testify of her intellectual skills, but they also contribute to the comedy’s ease and grace, making the play a pleasurable performance. in either event, eva’s free way of expression is uncommon for 19th century women, who were supposed to be passive and obedient responders rather than high-lifted and intelligent interlocutors, and as such seems remarkable. in reply to parkham’s clumsy proposal, eva cries out she never wants to have a marriage offer again and she manifestly questions her future happiness as depending upon her becoming parkham’s wife. still, parkham insists on them getting married tonight. the old-fashioned spelling of “to-night”, even though obviously not striking in chopin’s times, nowadays attracts attention and partially determines the direction of the following interpretation: eva is submitted with a choice of marrying to-night or tomorrow and has to decide on her future. marrying to night (n.): “the dark part of a day”, also “absence of spiritual illumination, moral darkness, ignorance” (etymonline.com) does imply clinging to the stereotypes and deprived of true morality, traditional rules which eva ventures to break. at the same time, night is symbolically related to the feminine, unconscious and fertile, thus eva may draw from the night’s supportive energy to make up her mind and usher in a new power balance within the society. moreover, since the option of the to-morrow (a daytime symbolically points at the conscious activity related to the masculine) marriage is not presented to eva as a valid one, but rather as a word play hence one may presume twofold, that eva was a priori deprived of a legitimate choice, or that she does prefer to stick to her own instincts. the final scene of the comedy, when the play should apparently resolve, but it does not, is the most deeply ingrained in deconstruction philosophy. eva’s decision gets suspended and superficially unresolved. the play does not close up like deconstruction does not give up to encapsulation, and since there is no ultimate meaning subscribed and no ultimate reality presented, all interpretations are legitimate and possible. if eva chose to marry willis, she would conform to the social rules; if she objected, she would set an example and pave the way for a new power dynamic. however, no matter which ending succeeds, the heroine emerges as the spokesperson for other women and the catalyst of ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 41 changes that are symbolically initiated in the play and which aim at the redefinition of the social relationships. actually, eva is a genuine rebel from the very beginning of the play as she, one by one, violates all the four core rules of a true woman decalogue, without guilt or confusion. firstly, she resolves to leave her house driven by her own judgment of the situation, even though a woman should not “feel and act for herself” (welter 1966: 159), thus breaking the rule of domesticity. secondly, she arrives in a man’s house at night, which, according to the piety rule, amounts to the loss of her virtue and to the acquisition of a fille de joie status. moreover, throughout the whole play eva does not behave as a timid, submissive responder, but she acts as a man-equal, independent individual who relies more on her own guts than on another person’s opinion, and a fortiori not on social convenance. with such a behavior eva openly defies the “true feminine genius [which] is ever dependent” (greenwood in: welter 1966: 160), infringing “perhaps the most feminine virtue expected of women” (welter 1966: 159), the virtue of submissiveness. yet eva was “brought up on unconventional and startling lines”, hence the lesson taught to the 19th century american women, famous for their innocence and piety, that “in whatever situation of life a woman is placed from cradle to her grave, a spirit of obedience and submission, pliability of temper, and humility of mind, are required from her” (welter 1966: 159) must have eluded her attention, or may be, it was never taught to her. this question cannot be answered yet, what can be observed is the fact that by violating the core rules of the cult of domesticity, eva openly challenged the “stable order of society dependent upon her (woman) maintaining her traditional place in it” (welter 1966: 174) and thus she also violated “the order of the universe” (welter 1966: 159). if not for the comedy play, eva would be a tragic heroine doomed to ostracism and social condemnation. comedy lets the public turn a blind eye on her revolt and muse over the festering problem of inequality of sexes within the safe seclusion of their domesticity. 6. conclusions the paper sought no final interpretation of the one-act comedy play an embarrassing position by a well-recognised american author, kate chopin, but it aimed to present the play to the broader audience as well as to expose the theatricality of the woman’s voice in the play, and thus, to prove that via eva, the heroine of the play, chopin ventures to speak for women’s rights and subtly, yet firmly, prompts the breakthrough of the societal relationship inequality. through the hermeneutic analysis of the play, which incorporated the elements of the deconstruction theory of jacques derrida and the basics of the concept of synchronicity as defined by carl gustav jung, this paper has ventured to argue that eva is an active agent of the chain of events of the play, able to verbalize her own standpoint and capable of voicing the women’s stance. also, this paper has hoped to show that the heroine is symbolically initiating the transformation of the anticipated change of the relationships between women and men. the analysis has attempted to show that chopin skillfully employed the genre of the comedy to expose the incongruities of the established social state-of-the-art and as a result, to subtly disrupt the imbalanced social rhetoric. it has also tried to prove that the ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 42 deprived of complexity, a few-event plot of the comedy combined with the length of the play and the choice of the genre set convenient foundations for a far more complex idea than it might be expected from a short comedy play. the analysis has also endeavored to show that chopin took a single opportunity to deftly advocate the views that were subversive, and as such, hardly acceptable for her contemporaries if put straightforwardly. promoting women’s advancement and prizing female smartness and eloquence as combined with forthrightness and decency arising from the genuine, unspoiled by social convenance moral fiber, the play scorns at the dubious plasticity of social appropriateness with wit and lightness of expression. thus, when the author lets her audiences laugh at the superficial layer of the play, she simultaneously invites them to reach for the deeper, rebellious meaning of the comedy. the elements of derridean deconstruction implemented in the analysis aimed at revealing the equivocations and contradictions to be found in the text, whereas the concept of synchronicity has been introduced to provide an explanation for the chain of events of the plot and to enhance the overall message of the play. as a result, the heroine’s figure can be viewed as a dynamic and active protagonist whose behaviour, even though questionable from the point of view of the contemporary social convenance, is a positive driving force of the play and of the predicted in the play social transformations alike. as far as the plot of the play is concerned, it can be read as a message foreshadowing the transformation of the social inequitable relationships which has already germinated in energy fields of the universe and which seems to be inevitably heading for the desired symmetry until the symmetry has been reached, since the interconnectedness of the universe presupposed by synchronicity denotes that the balance already functions in human collective unconscious. concluding, taking into consideration that an embarrassing position is the only extant play of chopin and considering the results of the analysis and the potentiality residing within the play, the paper dares to argue that an embarrassing position deserves its place within other chopin’s recognised and heavily anthologized works. references burzyńska, a. 2006. anty-teoria literatury. kraków: universitas. burzyńska, a. 2001. dekonstrukcja i interpretacja. kraków: universitas. burzyńska, a. 2013. dekonstrukcja, polityka i performatyka. kraków: universitas. cirlot, j.e. 2001. a dictionary of symbols. london: routledge. cambray, j. 2009. synchronicity nature&psyche in an interconnected universe. texas: a&m university press college station. cirlot, j.e. 2001. a dictionary of symbols. london: routledge. derrida, j. 1982. derrida, “différance”, margins of philosophy, trans. alan bass chicago: university of chicago press. ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 43 faber, mel. d. 1998. synchronicity: c.g. jung, psychoanalysis, and religion, praeger publishers. gibbs, a.w. 2010. demystifying meaningful coincidences (synchronicities) the evolving self, the personal unconscious, and the creative process. jason aronson: lanham/boulder/ny/toronto/plymouth uk. gildersleeve, m. crowdenn, a. 2019. australian journal of parapsychology. volume 19. number 2, 121-142. jung, c.g. 1973. synchronicity: an acausal connecting principle, from vol. 8. of the collected works. princeton: princeton university press. jung, c.g. 2005. modern man in search of a soul. trans. dwell w.s. baynes c. london and new york: routledge. ostman, h. o’donoghue, k. (eds) 2015. kate chopin in context: new approaches. new york: palgrave macmillan. rowland, s. 2019. jungian literary criticism. london and new york: routledge. [kindle loc. 163-168]. shaker, b. j. 2003. coloring locals: racial formation in katie chopin's "youth's companion" stories. iowa city: university of iowa press. seyersted, p. (ed) 2006. the complete works of kate chopin. baton rouge: louisiana state university press. seyersted, p. 1980. kate chopin a critical biography. baton rouge and london: louisiana state university press. toth, e. 1990. kate chopin. austin: university of texas press. toth, e. 1999. unveiling kate chopin. jackson: university press of mississippi. williams, g. 2010. demystifying meaningful coincidences (synchronicities): the evolving self, the personal unconscious, and the creative process. lanham: md jason aronson. venuti, r. 2003. translating derrida on translation: relevance and disciplinary resistance, the yale journal of criticism, volume 16, number 2, 237-262. internet sources: abarim publications' biblical dictionary http://www.abarim-publications.com/meaning/eve.html#.xdaz2nxdh3f http://www.abarim-publications.com/meaning/eve.html#.xdg0v9xdh3e jung synchronicity https://archive.org/stream/223463118synchronicityanacausalconnectingprinci plejung/223463118-synchronicity-an-acausal-connecting-principlejung_djvu.txt beer g. meredith’s idea of comedy: 1876-1880: nineteenth-century fiction, vol. 20, no. 2 (sep., 1965), pp. 165-176 (12 pages) published by: university of california ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 44 press https://www.jstor.org/stable/2932544?readnow=1&refreqid=excelsior%3a08a9fff74b03f2ea30336242ca6c37f9&seq=1#page_sc an_tab_contents chopin, k. 1885. an embarrassing position. https://mohistory.org/collections/item/resource:175838?fullscreen=1&view=zoom. accessed june 2020 mahne, t. p. 2013. new orleans times-picayune. http://www.danshoremusic.com/anembarrassing-position. accessed november 2020 main, r. energizing jung's ideas about synchronicity https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/connectingcoincidence/201703/energizing-jungs-ideas-about-synchronicity meredith, g. essay on comedy and the uses of the comic spirit, first published in ‘the new quarterly magazine’ for april 1877. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1219/1219-h/1219-h.htm. accessed june 2020 miś, a. 2000. filozofia współczesna. główne nurty. warszawa: scholar. http://www.repozytorium.uni.wroc.pl/content/40284/012.pdf peat, f. d. 2014. synchronicity: the marriage of matter and psyche, pari publishing. https://www.psychreg.org/synchronicity-of-life/. accessed june 2020 welter, b. 1966. the cult of true womanhood: 1820-1860. american quarterly, 18(2), 151-174. doi:10.2307/2711179 vandenberg, p. coming to terms: deconstruction, the english journal, vol. 84, no. 2. (feb., 1995), pp. 122-123. in https://newderrida.wordpress.com/category/deconstruction-analysed/#_ftn14. accessed june 2020 van erkelens h. (1990) the unus mundus (one world) as meeting ground of science and religion. in: fennema j., paul i. (eds) science and religion. springer, dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2021-7_21 https://www.britannica.com/art/comedy-of-manners http://www.danshoremusic.com/an-embarrassing-position https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=position https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=night https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/connecting-coincidence/201703/energizingjungs-ideas-about-synchronicity https://www.yourdictionary.com/snuggery https://frithluton.com/articles/synchronicity-example-4/ https://mohistory.org/collections/item/resource:175838?fullscreen=1&view=zoom https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-009-2021-7_21 https://mohistory.org/collections/item/resource:175838?fullscreen=1&view=zoom http://www.danshoremusic.com/an-embarrassing-position.%20accessed%20november%202020 http://www.danshoremusic.com/an-embarrassing-position.%20accessed%20november%202020 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/connecting-coincidence/201703/energizing-jungs-ideas-about-synchronicity https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/connecting-coincidence/201703/energizing-jungs-ideas-about-synchronicity https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1219/1219-h/1219-h.htm.%20accessed%20june%202020 http://www.repozytorium.uni.wroc.pl/content/40284/012.pdf https://www.psychreg.org/synchronicity-of-life/ https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=position https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=night https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/connecting-coincidence/201703/energizing-jungs-ideas-about-synchronicity https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/connecting-coincidence/201703/energizing-jungs-ideas-about-synchronicity https://frithluton.com/articles/synchronicity-example-4/ https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-009-2021-7_21 ………................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 34 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 45 *** ms. agnieszka kliś works at ath university of bielsko-biała (faculty of humanities and social sciences, department of neophilology: english studies). her research interests are in the areas of translation studies, particularly regarding the specificity of translation as intercultural communication, and feminist studies, particularly feminist literary criticism. she focuses her research on the works of kate chopin to offer new modes of interpreting them and to demonstrate the writer’s uniqueness when it comes to the expression of female subjectivity and feminine experience. agnieszka kliś doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.34.3.03 seyersted, p. (ed) 2006. the complete works of kate chopin. baton rouge: louisiana state university press. seyersted, p. 1980. kate chopin a critical biography. baton rouge and london: louisiana state university press. internet sources: illusionary safe havens: the role of the city and the country in zelda lockhart’s fifth born and fifth born ii: the hundredth turtle 37 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) magdalena łapińska1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.28.1.03 university of białystok orcid: 0000-0002-7686-3086 illusionary safe havens: the role of the city and the country in zelda lockhart’s fifth born and fifth born ii: the hundredth turtle abstract. fifth born and fifth born ii: the hundredth turtle, written by the african-american author zelda lockhart, create a duology whose characters make many physical and spiritual journeys. in the story whose setting alternates between st. louis, new york, and rural mississippi, the city and rural areas both seem to be treated as a potential safe haven from the secrets and violence created and cultivated by the other place. this article explores the correlation between geography and emotion in zelda lockhart’s fifth born duology. beginning with sketching an outline of the historical context of the idea of city versus non-city in african american literature, and then briefly illustrating the notion of emotional geographies, the article explores the role which the city and the country play in connection with the characters’ abuse, focusing specifically on sexual violence. keywords: emotional geographies, city, country, abuse, sexual violence, african american literature, zelda lockhart, fifth born. geography in its universal understanding can be defined as “the scientific study of the earth’s surface, physical features, divisions, products, population, etc.[sic]” (hornby &turnbull 2010: 647). this definition aligns itself with the idea of dividing places into city and non-city areas. however, scientific research has reached the point where basic definitions are no longer enough to comprehend the surrounding world; therefore, researchers have been broadening existing definitions and putting forward new notions, one of which is the idea of emotional geographies. liz bondi, joyce davidson, and mick smith explain: “an emotional geography … attempts to understand emotion – experientially and conceptually – in terms of its socio-spatial mediation and 1 address for correspondence: the faculty of philology, university of białystok, pl. nzs 1, 15-420 białystok, poland. e-mail: magdalena.lapinska.91@gmail.com 38 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) articulation rather than as entirely interiorised subjective mental states” (2007: 3, italics in original). this article explores the abovementioned correlation between geography and emotion in zelda lockhart’s fifth born and fifth born ii: the hundredth turtle. the article attempts to illustrate the connection of the city and the country to the characters’ abuse, with the role of urban and non-urban areas in african american literature being briefly outlined. consequently, the article offers a short introduction to the theory of emotional geographies, which provides a link between geographical spaces and emotions. subsequently, the article focuses on the significance of the main character’s repeated escapes from the city and her shifting perception of the city and the country. the abuse the characters suffered is analyzed in light of the role that the city and the countryside play at certain points in the story. the analysis provides an illustration of the view that zelda lockhart seems somewhat to rebel against the traditional roles of urban and rural areas in african american literature. zelda lockhart is not only an african american writer but also a director at her story garden studio and a publisher at la venson press, occupations in which she attempts to help women manage their hardships and struggles through sharing their stories. the fifth born duology tells such a story, as it presents the hardships that odessa blackburn faces throughout her life: from the violence she experiences as a little african american girl to the emotional struggles she endures as a grown woman, lockhart leaves her own mark on one of the prevailing themes of african american women’s literature, namely that of family violence. the theme can be found amongst writing of many african american novelists, such as toni morrison’s the bluest eye, alice walker’s the color purple and bernice l. mcfadden’s the warmest december. although parallels can be drawn, especially between the bluest eye and fifth born (the first installment of the duology), each explores the theme in its own unique way. yoshinobu hakutani and robert butler point out that the notion of the urban versus the non-urban setting has a very rich history in both american and african american literature: while one of the central drives in our classic literature has been a nearly reflexive desire to move away from the complexity and supposed corruption of cities toward idealized nonurban settings such as cooper’s west, thoreau’s woods, melville’s seas, whitman’s open road, and twain’s river, very often the opposite has been true in african american letters. (1995: 9) in fifth born ii, odessa moves to the country where she finds temporary peace. however, she yearns to live in a place full of possibilities, free from the ghosts of a traumatic past, which her life in the country does not provide in the long run. her subsequent return to the city to study at university and live with her son; lamont’s move to new york; and even ella mae’s short attempt to live in the city, all seem to support the 39 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) abovementioned notion that “the main tradition of black american literature has been persistently pro-urban in vision” (hakutani & butler 1995: 9). the history of slavery suffered by african americans seems to be the predominant influence of a more negative attitude towards non-city areas; a perspective that can trace its roots to the fact that the institution of slavery was exceptionally strong in the non-urban south with its cotton plantations. as hakutani and butler remind us, even [i]n the era following the literal end of slavery, new strategies for reinslavement were devised in the south where codes of segregation and the practice of sharecropping were to make it impossible for black people to establish a positive image of rural life which could serve as a counterbalance to the pull of the cities. (1995: 11) although the city has been a vital symbol in african american literature, if a piece of literature were to reflect the entirety of black experience, rural areas would need to play as important a role as the urban sites because as priscilla r. ramsey emphasizes: from the earliest historical contact with the new world,[sic] black experience has been both agrarian and economically oppressed in nature. only with the mass migration of late nineteenth century and early twentieth century did the character of black experience evolve into one of predominantly urban character.[sic] (1995: 225) changes in setting between city and non-city areas presented in the fifth born duology coincide with important events in characters’ lives; thereby, suggesting vital roles of urban and rural landscapes in shaping the african american identity. the idea of emotional geographies is a well-suited theory for the analysis of the fifth born duology because the change of the geographical settings either cause or result in the emotional shifts the characters undergo. bondi, davidson, and smith explain that: the emotional geographies of our lives are dynamic, transformed by our procession through childhood, adolescence, middle and old age, and by more immediately destabilising events such as birth or bereavement, or the start or end of a relationship. whether joyful, heartbreaking or numbing, emotion has the power to transform the shape of our lives, expanding or contracting our horizons, creating new fissures or fixtures we never expected to find. (2007: 1) the abovementioned emotional situations not only shape how one will experience future situations, but as deborah thien claims: “shifting interpersonal and community spaces of intimacy have varying consequences for people’s sense of emotional wellbeing” (2007: 192). the places where one interacts with other people matter when it 40 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) comes to building communities or personal relationships because one comes to remember not only people but also the setting of the significant events in one’s life. bondi, davidson, and smith postulate that “[t]hrough memory – conscious and unconscious, psychic and somatic – we all carry traces of past geographies, in ways that are always emotionally coloured in hues ranging from pale to vivid” (2007: 12). the strength of emotional experiences appears to influence the vividness of the memory of places. furthermore, one could assume that in some instances the emotional highs would take over one’s memory, thus blurring the background and erasing its details as well as simultaneously forging strong links between particular emotions and a given place. the interrelatedness of emotions and places, as well as the incorporation of past geographies into oneself, is represented in lockhart’s novels. the duology is filled with journeys between urban and rural areas. at the beginning of fifth born the narrator informs the readers that the blackburn family frequently visits grandparents in the country: mama said we were likely to tear a hole in the road as much as we went back and forth between mississippi and st. louis. every summer, without fail, we took the highway south, the road thumped beneath us, and wires looped from pole to pole, landing us in a different reality, where the howdy doody show was the only thing to watch on tv, and the sound of cicadas and crickets replaced the sound of traffic. (lockhart 2002: 9) this annual trip signifies something different to odessa than it does for the rest of her family. her parents and siblings treat the holidays as an escape from the city, the time when they can relax and have fun. for odessa, however, it is a reprieve from the violence she experiences when the whole family is at home in the city. the rural area becomes a temporary safe haven where she is finally free to behave like a child, which she is unable to normally do because of the responsibilities thrust upon her coupled with the violent acts of her parents. “from my hiding place, i watched mama do the job she had left me to do at home—bathe the boys, feed them, stare at them from the front porch. she kept one eye on the boys and one eye on grandeddy, who might be looking at how wonderful a mother she was” (lockhart 2002: 144). in father-daughter incest judith herman and lisa hirschman call attention to the fact that the described transference of duties from mother to daughter is not uncommon when incest occurs: it has frequently been observed that the mother in incestuous families is ill, incapacitated, or for some reason emotionally unavailable to her husband and children. the families adapt to this stressful situation by reassigning many of the mother’s traditional obligations to the oldest daughter. the family may come to rely on this daughter for a large part of the housework and child care and for emotional support and comfort. (2000: 45) 41 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) however, in the novels under scrutiny here it is not the eldest daughter who is most burdened with the mother’s role, but odessa – the ‘fifth born’ who is not the mother bernice’s biological child. this could point to the fact that bernice may perceive odessa as the source of the abuse happening in their home and the mother’s way of punishing odessa is to shift all the troublesome burdens onto the girl. bernice’s punishment would have probably continued during the family’s vacations in the countryside if it were not for the fact that it was the grandmother who had entrusted odessa to bernice upon the child’s birth. the grandparents’ watchful eye meant that loni and bernice could not behave in the same manner as they did in the city. therefore, during the holidays, the parents pretended to be someone else, attempting to present a picture of a perfect family; whereas, when they returned home to the city, odessa’s life would revert to its bleak reality filled with violence and neglect. in his essay on the life and times of frederic douglas, robert butler remarks: “the city here is a liberating world because it not only separates the hero from a restrictive past dominated by an “old master” but also gives him the fluid, indeterminate space he needs to define himself in fresh terms” (1995: 27). butler’s observations of the city’s significance in douglas’s writing can be applied to lockhart’s work; however, in the fifth born duology it is the countryside that possesses the majority of liberating forces for odessa. her move from the city to the country, which occurs at the end of the first novel, aligns itself with the idea of freeing herself from the “old master”. unquestionably, odessa seeks an escape from the violence that permeates her life in the city where her master is her abuser. both the mother and the father are abusive towards odessa in their own unique ways; therefore, one cannot indisputably discern which parent should be perceived as the master the girl wants to escape from. i would argue that the parents taken together can be attributed the shared role of ‘an ultimate master’, a figure whose domination reaches all aspects of one’s life, which in turn is an image reminiscent of the power the owner had over his slave in the past. a stark parallel can be drawn here because odessa’s parents have complete control over how her life develops. odessa’s first rape experience shatters the fundamental trust a child has for those closest to them. a father’s violation and a mother’s anger and denial, combined with the subsequent abuse from both parents are clear indicators that it is parents’ dominance exerted in their city home that odessa flees from. she attempts to find space in the country to discover who she is away from the toxic relationships formed in the city because the rural area is the only place where the abuse ceases, at least for a time, during the holidays at the grandparents’ home. the visits provide odessa with a temporary safe haven. according to simon schema, landscapes are created in the mind before they are ever experienced by the senses (1995: 6-7). the influence of mind and memory in an individual’s experience of landscape can, to some degree, be noticed in the novels being discussed here. for example, odessa’s perception of the country as a tranquil place is 42 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) not connected with the natural aspect of the place, but rather with the memories of the grandmother and the safety she provided. in his exploration of the notion of landscape and memory, schema contemplates: “if a child’s vision of nature can already be loaded with complicating memories, myths, and meanings, how much more elaborately wrought is the frame through which our adult eyes survey the landscape” (1995: 6). when considered, it can be discerned that odessa’s traumatic experiences during her childhood caused her to perceive landscapes through a thicker emotional fog than many adults would normally experience, given a lack of abuse in their personal history or having been witnesses of violence. the emotional distortions of her perspective seem to shift the city and the country from their geographical meaning to the contrasting emotional landscapes of peril and safety. when odessa is still a little girl her grandmother dies and the family trips become much less frequent. consequently, odessa loses her temporary safe haven, a place where adults love you instead of hurt you. in time, odessa reclaims her safe haven and has space to redefine herself once she decides to move to the country. she comes to her decision after learning that her own conception was the result of her father loni’s rape of ella mae, her estranged and ostracized aunt: in ella mae’s garden, my mind did not race with wondering about home, with replaying things mama and deddy had done or said. in the garden i heard the warm, thick breeze whisper, heard the occasional slither of a lizard or a copperhead through the dry grass around the garden, felt the sun on my skin. … i was there under the sky without the noise of voices, and the silence was intoxicating. the grief had slipped away to a manageable place, even though only two months before, the grief of losing my siblings had been tangled around new home and new mother[sic] like the choking honeysuckle vine. (lockhart 2010: 18) it seems that the combination of the safety provided by ella mae and the tranquility of the country allows odessa to fully breathe, to regain balance, and with time, to start her life anew. odessa faces her problems and lives through emotions such as grief, in order to be able to move on with her life. she chooses to accept the past events for what they were, unlike her mother bernice who is rarely able to acknowledge that a bad situation had taken place. it would seem that bernice’s view of life is strongly rooted in denial as she frequently alters the real stories of uncomfortable truths so that they do not cause her any discomfort in the present and the future: ‘folks bury the things they don’t want to be lookin at inside they heads. they just find some kind of way to wipe it away or kill it so they can keep on surviving the best they can.’(...) ‘mama always changes stuff she doesn’t want to think about. i mean, she doesn’t want to 43 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) deal with it. so it’s like all of a sudden she goes from talking and laughing and being mama, to not being able to see, or hear. then all the craziness around her gets turned into one of her stories about the good times.’ (lockhart 2002: 158) bernice attempts not only to deny her feelings about certain situations but to literally deny reality by re-shaping the truth. however, not everything can be hidden behind false words. some actions produce consequences which cannot be erased. nevertheless, in odessa’s family if something cannot be erased it must therefore be hidden. in these novels, the city and the country function as hiding places for unwanted truths. ella mae is hidden in the country. she lives apart from the rest of the country folk and does not maintain contact with her family. although she was never truly close with her relatives, the distance, both physical and emotional, that now separates them is the result of violence and lies. when she was raped, her mother attempted to hide the truth by denying that the rape occurred, the very actions which bernice later mirrored. “then she said to me, ‘loni and bernice and them kids left here yesterday. now you know ain’t he or nobody else been up to where you stayin. you know better than to say that. you got to let the devil stop having your soul. on sunday you gonna go get baptized down at the river’” (lockhart 2002: 190). when ella mae learnt that the rape had resulted in her pregnancy, she found a secluded place and built herself a home where she planned to raise her child, the child she loved despite its origin. after a difficult labor, her mother lied to her and claimed that the child had been stillborn. ella mae did not fully believe the claims. “nothin was mine in this world. motha and them wasn’t gonna even let me have my baby. they had done killed it or let it die” (lockhart 2002: 195). this deepened the already existing rift between ella mae and her family. the fact that ella mae’s child was hidden away in the city amongst bernice’s children resulted in the family perpetuating the lie once told and did not allow for attempts to heal the rift. sending odessa to the city meant putting space between the lies and the truth, not only emotionally through cutting family ties but also literally through geographical distance. however, ella mae does not distance herself from her pain. she has lived in the country her whole life and despite her attempt to leave, she could not permanently relocate to the city. in spite of all the trauma she had experienced in the country, this place is marked with strong contrasting emotions because she had also experienced brief instances of happiness. ella mae’s countryside is like a mine field. she has to tread carefully in order not to touch anything that would trigger an explosion of memories tarnished with traumatic events. she manages to survive for a long time without any explosions of emotions until odessa detonates her own bombshell by revealing her abuse. odessa’s revelations seem to trigger an onslaught of memories from ella mae’s terrible past and the violations committed in the city and the country merge to tell a complete story of one family’s past filled with violence and lies. 44 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the author uses physical space as a metaphor for emotional distance and the act of wandering seems to symbolize the passage of time because odessa’s exploration of the country leads her to discover the truth about her parentage and subsequently leads to the abovementioned fusion of loni’s violent acts committed in the country and in the city: by the time i was twelve years old, i didn’t feel human any more; just felt like a raw thing bobbing around in that sea, hoping for touch. then, on the thirteenth summer vacation to grandeddy’s, some combination of my hurt, my need for ‘mama,’ and my need to survive sent me wandering off granddeddy’s land, into the field, then another, until there was no way to go back without being beaten, and no way to stay where the open land could not hide me. in that space between the lie told thirteen years before and the land that borne witness to four generations of my family’s pain, i bent down to hold my ashy ankles and cry, and i found myself coiled up in my real mother’s yard, all the while thinking she was just a long lost aunt. (lockhart 2010: 5) odessa learns not only of the circumstances of her conception but also that the grandmother whom she loved deeply had placed her in the hands of people who inflicted unimaginable harm on her. odessa’s grandmother justified her actions once she was confronted by her daughter ella mae: i done did the best i could. i been scared in this world too. there’s pains i live with every day that you don’t know nothing about. i try to send your baby away out of this life that i been livin, out of this life you been livin. ain’t no use for me no more. it was the best thing to do to leave you where the devil had already took you, and to do what was best for your child. (lockhart 2002: 199) the grandmother clearly connects the country with the hardships both she and ella mae experienced; therefore, she wanted to give her granddaughter the chance for a better life in a different place. in an analysis of toni morrison’s jazz, anne whitehead states that “the city shapes and is shaped by people’s behaviour and it acts metaphorically as a site for the renegotiation of morality, lifestyles and familial patterns” (2004: 149). one could argue that the grandmother in lockhart’s story also sees the city as a place where the familial patterns could be disrupted and she hopes that the beginning of a generational cycle of children born out of rape can be halted by sending odessa to the city, far from the place where the abuse has its origins. despite grandmother’s good intentions, odessa does not have a happy life because the sexual predator of this story travels between the city and the country freely and his violence is not contained to one place. ella mae and odessa are connected not only by their blood and the fact that loni raped both of them: mother and daughter. they were also both born out of rape, which 45 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) points to the abovementioned beginning of a generational pattern. the grandmother did achieve a measure of success in that odessa’a child is not born out of rape, but she did not prevent odessa herself from becoming a victim of rape. rape and incest is what binds ella mae and odessa so strongly: ella mae was considered the crazy heathen in our family because she was born out of her indian grandfather’s rape of her mother. rape and incest weave themselves around the pains of my life tighter than the weave in ella mae’s rag rugs. what looks like a confusion of discarded, discolored old clothes up close is really a landscape once you get some distance. (lockhart 2010: 3) the author compares emotional turmoil to a landscape and if one would try to imagine it, they would probably see uneven terrain, steep hills and winding rocky roads due to all the problems both women encounter. however, even though the past did not provide the women with the sound ground to walk through their paths of life, eventually they manage to find a place and people they can call home: their safe havens. although odessa suffers physical and emotional abuse from both of her parents, sexualized violence seems to link the city and the country in lockhart’s duology. the perception of sexual violence has changed throughout history, as b.j. cling explains: these types of what we now feel are “wrongs” seem to be part of the fabric of human society and to date as far back as there are records of human behavior. it appears that none of them were viewed as crimes against women or children until relatively recently. thus, sex with a woman without her permission, and physical harm to a wife or a child, were apparently viewed as part of a man’s allowable relationships. (2004: 7) sexual abuse amongst african americans, especially historically, has its links to the institution of slavery. during slavery, the master owned black people and could do anything he wanted to them, thus his violations were not questioned. however, violating slaves without their owner’s permission was against the law, although it was considered a violation of property rather than a violation of a person. in her novels, lockhart predominantly presents two types of sexual abuse: rape of adult women and rape of children. diana e. h. russel remarks on the distinctions between these two categories: an adult woman is more likely to have experienced trust in intimate relationships, to have a sense of who she is and what sex is before the traumatic attack. in contrast, children’s capacity to trust can be shattered. their sense of who they are and what sex is about is often totally or substantially shaped by the sexually abusive experience. (1986: 157) 46 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) zelda lockhart allows the readers to witness odessa and ella mae’s lives after their assaults. however, the fact that ella mae’s rape was her first sexual experience and she was never romantically involved with anyone prior to loni’s violation seems to bring the impact of her experience closer to that of odessa’s. in light of russel’s observations, both women have to learn how to trust others and create intimate relationships without allowing loni’s violence to distort their future experiences. even though ella mae and odessa are not the only victims presented in the novels, their stories are explored in the most detail and they are pertinent to the link between the city and the country that the blackburns and the laceys created and cultivated. erna olafson points out that, “in the victorian era, there had been strong and effective efforts to protect children from physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect, public attention that carried over into the early years of the 20th century and then, mysteriously, waned” (2004: 155). lockhart’s story takes place between the 1960s and 1980s, and odessa’s perils clearly mirror the notion remarked on by olafson because nobody attempted to aid the little girl once the abuse begun. odessa’s abuse seems particularly damaging to the process of creating one’s own self-image as she had no chance to experience an abuse-free life because she was raped by her father for the first time at the age of five. odessa knows something wrong has happened but she does not fully comprehend the situation due to her young age. she attempts to share what happened with her mother, however, she is violently stopped: she pulled the covers off, and her eyes darted around at the splotches of red that stained the sheets. her face froze, a fork of wrinkles forming on her forehead. she bit her lip and never raised her eyes to look at me. i lay there, still shaking. my eyes begged for her to hold my stiff body. when she didn’t say anything, i cried out loud, “mama!” i called out her name over and over. why wouldn’t she touch me? towanda said, “don’t touch the bird eggs in the backyard, because if you put your dirty hands on them, the mother will kick them out of her nest.” when she looked at me, i could tell that behind her lips she was gritting her bottom teeth against her gold tooth. i wasn’t sure what she was going to do, so i looked in her eyes and started telling her what happened. “deddy, deddy he came in here—” but looking in her eyes, i knew she had heard, she had heard me whimpering. she had heard because when one of us groaned with a fever, she came without waiting for us to call out, she just knew to come. “shut up! you hear me?” her big hand, still smelling like bleach from washing benson’s diapers, crashed down and stung my bruised thigh over and over, until everything went black again. (lockhart 2002: 40-41) her mother’s initial reaction is violent and what follows is her denial and re-shaping of the truth – a pattern which odessa witnesses throughout her life. everyone is informed that odessa is sick, the father seems to have no recollection of his actions due 47 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) to his intoxication and with time odessa also forgets the “incident”. bernice’s reaction created a probable reason for the shattered relationship between mother and daughter. russel suggests that “[t]here is always the possibility that a poor relationship between a mother and daughter may improve later in their lives. but father-daughter incest makes this much less likely to occur” (1986: 385). although odessa forgets her first rape until she is sexually violated again, her mother is aware of the incestuous relations the whole time, and this influences the manner in which she treats her daughter. when odessa is older she is raped by her father once again and with this act the memories of the first rape are triggered. “i remembered – like remembering to breathe when i was born – i remembered deddy’s hand pushing my nakie doll in between my five-year-old legs and ripping me” (lockhart 2002: 110). this time, odessa completely understands what has happened and no one can tell her differently as the memories do not fade away with time. the returning memories and the realization that her mother did nothing to stop loni from being able to further hurt odessa seem to permanently damage the already poor mother-daughter relationship. both of odessa’s rapes happen at home in the city; however, the rape which resulted in her conception had taken place in the country – the place which for the longest time during her childhood, she considered a safe haven. ella mae’s rape in the country points to the notion that sexual violence occurs everywhere, even in places some consider to be void of violence. russel notes that “[i]t is commonly believed that incestuous abuse occurs more frequently in rural areas” and that “[a] substantial amount of research confirms this belief” (1986: 113). although the fifth born duology provides an example of incest in the country (the grandmother’s relations with her own father resulted in the birth of ella mae), the incestuous relationship which is displayed in most detail and propels the events in the story, happens in the city. incestuous acts seem to skip a generation because ella mae’s sexual trauma is not connected to incest. no matter the place of the violence or its type, the traumatic experience and its results are concealed. as mentioned above, odessa’s grandmother attempted to hide her own daughter ella mae’s rape and so did bernice when odessa’s violation occurred. the fact that both mothers seemed to protect the perpetrator of violence at the expense of the victims may not only be a family’s approach to dealing with sexual violence, but may also be historically motivated. one of the stereotypes that emerged from slavery is that of a jezebel – a promiscuous black woman. the mothers’ silence presented in the fifth born duology may stem from not wanting to perpetuate this social stereotype. moreover, during the civil rights movement race and sexual violence were linked. danielle l. mcguire calls attention to the fact that “[b]etween 1956 and 1959, sex and sexual violence sat at the centre of the freedom struggle, and african americans deployed different strategies to carry the movement through a crucial and difficult transition, including testimony, armed 48 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) self-defense, and international pressure” (2010: 137). because of that, the silence of such mothers could be construed as socially mandated. black men had to be perceived as non-threatening in order not to perpetuate the fears of whites that african american men would harm their women, therefore “[s]urvival sometimes required that silence surround sexual violence” (mcguire 2010: 137). historical setting can, to some extent, explain the silent acquiescence of those who knew of the violations; however, morally speaking their actions should be questioned. in telling incest janice doane and devon hodges assert, “the african-american incest story, precisely because of the way it explicitly operates as a narrative that undoes boundaries and violates taboos, is a useful discursive strategy for opening up and reconceptualizing the dynamics of public power and private speechlessness” (2002: 33). as presented above, lockhart’s story clearly deals with the lack of vocal assertion where sexual abuse is concerned. however, this ends when loni’s two victims meet and share their common suffering. once the painful and traumatic stories are finally voiced, ella mae and odessa can begin to move on. the author seems to present the notion that in order for victims to restart their lives after the abuse, they need to have an outlet for their painful stories. when discussing neglect as a form of family violence, denise a. hines and kathleen malley-morrison differentiate emotional neglect, which they postulate “occurs when parents fail to attend to their child’s basic emotional needs” (2005: 135). both odessa and ella mae wanted to be loved and protected by their mothers, however, neither of them was. when ella mae confesses that she was raped and her mother openly lies in response to the accusations, ella mae knows that maintaining the pretences of one big loving family is more important to her mother than her daughter’s feelings. “about then, i looked in her eyes and knew that she done lied to me and herself, and i knew she wasn’t gonna be able to love me no more” (lockhart 2002: 190). when odessa reveals her own sexual abuse to ella mae, the validity of the confession is not questioned. it seems that the shared experience helps the women believe their respective stories, or perhaps the author wishes to relay the idea that a real or true mother always believes and protects her child. although sexual violence is not linked to one specific place, the aspects of the story connected with it come full circle: with the first rape having taken place in the country and the ultimate revelation of all the lies also happening in the country. the concept of belonging to a place is also presented in the duology. owain jones claims that “remembering being-in-place, and perhaps remembering through place, through emotions of (remembered) place are powerful elements of emotional geographies of the self” (2007: 213). the idea that places become parts of a person is briefly explored in fifth born ii. ella mae claims: “you cain’t [sic] own a person or a thing in this world, so quit trying” (lockhart 2010: 225). however, she also states: “odessa, not all my spirit is in my body anymore. it done spread itself out around here, and i cain’t take half 49 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of me away and leave the other half here” (lockhart 2010: 225). her views seem to point to the notion that whereas we cannot truly own things or places, but can only emotionally claim them and “carry” them with us, things and places can, in contrast, own parts of us. odessa reflects on this idea. “was all of my spirit in my body, or in starkville and its history or back in st louis, where the souls of my siblings scurried? maybe behind the bricks of the house on kennedy avenue, the house i could never imagine entering again of fear of flashbacks that i would never escape” (lockhart 2010: 226). it is clear to her that places evoke memories; for her, the city of st louis in particular with all its hidden violence. however, the idea that she leaves parts of herself behind at the sites of her great emotional struggles seems slightly baffling to her. the novels show that the places we visit influence us because of the people we come into contact with there, but it remains unclear whether we have a reciprocal effect on these places. in lockhart’s story the characters seem to leave pieces of themselves in places where they experienced something traumatic. due to the characters’ traumas, it seems that their emotional landscapes become labyrinths – places one can easily get lost in and have difficulty exiting without help. in the novels the only way to exit the emotional labyrinth of trauma is to leave a piece of oneself behind and try to create a new life in a new place while attempting to incorporate the pieces one had no choice but to take with them. the fifth born duology, to some extent, subverts the importance of the contrasting idea of the urban versus the non-urban so present in the canon of african american literature. the author seems to play with the perception of both places through shifting their meaning for the characters. the city and the country are contrasting emotional landscapes of peril and safety for the main character until the truth of a violent past emerges. once the truth is no longer hidden, both the city and the country are tainted with the emotional residues of traumatic experiences. the safe haven in the form of the country is lost and the opposition between the city and countryside vanishes. the illusion of safety which odessa relied on is gone and the main character turns to people, rather than places for comfort. moreover, through the depiction of one abuser whose violence reaches across the borders of both the city and the country, the author pushes the reader to search for meaning in people rather than in places, because the characters’ actions changed the perceptions of the landscape in the story. the city and the country play a vital role in the duology because they represent the notion that violence is not place-bound and that escaping from the place of trauma allows for only temporary reprieve, as true safe havens are provided by people and not geographical areas. references bondi, l., davidson, j. & smith, m. 2007. introduction: geography’s ‘emotional turn’. in: j. davidson, l. bondi & m. smith (eds.), emotional geographies, 1-16. aldershot, england; burlington, vt: ashgate. 50 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) butler, r. 1995. the city as liberating space in life and times of frederick douglass. in: y. hakutani & r. butler (eds.), the city in african-american literature, 21-36. madison: london; cranbury, nj: fairleigh dickinson university press; associated university presses. cling, b. j. 2004. sexualized violence against women. in: b. j. cling (ed.), sexualized violence against women and children: a psychology and law perspective, 7-11. new york: guilford press. doane, j. l, & hodges, d. l. 2002. telling incest: narratives of dangerous remembering from stein to sapphire. ann arbor: the university of michigan press. hakutani, y, & butler, r. 1995. introduction. in: y. hakutani & r. butler (eds.), the city in african-american literature, 9-18. madison: london; cranbury, nj: fairleigh dickinson university press; associated university presses. herman, j. l., & hirschman, l. 2000. father-daughter incest. cambridge, mass: harvard university press. hines, d. a., & malley-morrison, k. 2005. family violence in the united states: defining, understanding, and combating abuse. thousand oaks: sage publications. hornby, a. s., & turnbull, j. 2010. oxford advanced learner’s dictionary of current english. 8th edn, oxford: oxford university press. jones, o. 2007. an ecology of emotion, memory, self and landscape. in: j. davidson, l. bondi, & m. smith (eds.), emotional geographies, 205-218. aldershot, england; burlington, vt: ashgate. lockhart, z. 2003. fifth born. new york: washington square books. lockhart, z. 2010. fifth born ii: the hundredth turtle. hillsborough, north carolina: lavenson press. mcguire, d. l. 2010. at the dark end of the street: black women, rape, and resistance: a new history of the civil rights movement from rosa parks to the rise of black power. new york: vintage books. olafson, e. 2004. child sexual abuse. in: b. j. cling (ed.), sexualized violence against women and children: a psychology and law perspective, 151-87. new york: guilford press. ramsey, p. r. 1995. john a. williams: the black american narrative and the city. in: y. hakutani & r. butler (eds.), the city in african-american literature, 212-26. madison: london; cranbury, nj: fairleigh dickinson university press; associated university presses. russell, d. e. h. 1986. the secret trauma: incest in the lives of girls and women. new york: basic books. schama, s. 1995. landscape and memory. new york: a.a. knopf: random house. thien, d. 2007. intimate distances: considering questions of ‘us.’ in: j. davidson, l. bondi, & m. smith (eds.), emotional geographies, 191-204. aldershot, england; burlington, vt: ashgate. 51 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) whitehead, a. 2004. trauma fiction. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. * * * magdalena łapińska is a graduate of the university of białystok. she wrote her ma thesis on slavery-related traumatic experiences. her primary area of academic interest is african american literature with its portrayals of violence and trauma. the london human zoo in mark mason’s walk the lines. the london underground, overground 8 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) dorota guzowska1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.28.1.01 university of białystok orcid: 0000-0001-8683-8215 the london human zoo in mark mason’s walk the lines. the london underground, overground abstract. mark mason’s book about london documents the author’s urban odyssey – his ten london walks undertaken with the aim of finding the capital’s soul. the narrative key to mason’s description of london is geographical space. he walked the entire length of the tube – overground, finding the shortest routes between each station. my paper is a proposition of negotiated reading of this journey. instead of following the author to the sights along his walking routes, i focus my attention on his chance meetings with the people of london. mason defines london as “the best human zoo”. i explore conceptual similarities between his metaphorical human zoo and real-life 19th and 20th-century ethnic exhibitions. keywords: human zoo, walker, the tube, mark mason, metaphor. two factors have affected the choice of this topic. one was the 60th anniversary of the opening of the last european human zoo in brussels, covered widely in the media in april 2018. the other was my son’s fascination with the london underground, which prompted my choice of springtime reading that year. in an attempt to help myself communicate with a much-too-often monosyllabic teenager, i purchased mark mason’s book advertised as a story about london and the tube. mark mason is a journalist and writer and a walking tour guide in london. for a few pounds anyone can join him on a walk following a section of a selected tube line at street level. he has also authored a number of books about britain, which are a mix of trivia, anecdote and overheard conversation (mason 2013a, 2015, 2017). walk the lines. the london underground, overground is a documentation of mason’s urban odyssey – his ten london walks undertaken with the aim of “finding the capital’s soul” (mason 2013b: 10). anxious not to write 1 address for correspondence: faculty of philology, university of białystok, plac nzs 1, 15-403 białystok, poland. e-mail: guzowska@uwb.edu.pl 9 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) just another guide to london, he sought a framework to make sense of the city and found such a framework below street level. being a keen walker, he traversed the entire length of the tube – overground, finding the shortest routes between all 269 stations2. the project totalled 403.2 miles, 174 hours and 50 minutes over the period between june and december 2010. observations made by the author along the way create an intricate portrait of london. he walks from station to station, but it is the world between them that interests him. he muses at the urbanscapes of particular areas, the architecture, the amount of glamour and greenery, distances from motorways, housing density, quality of shopping facilities, all the while trying to understand what gives these areas a sense of londonness. the following passages illustrate mason’s spirit of narrating the spaces along his routes. this one refers to the london borough of hammersmith: [it] feels like one of those corners of london that’s trying to drag you out of the capital completely. the presence of the flyover, even when you can’t see it … pervades the whole area, never letting you entirely forget that the m4 is just a few minutes from here. so strong is the sense of westward pull that you are afraid to stand still for too long lest you be swept away, like dorothy in the wizard of oz. you could be in bristol before you know it. (127) many others focus on the apparent poverty or wealth of a described area: “turnham green is summed up by the fact that the low cost mini market has gone bust but the himalayan day spa next door seems to be thriving” (288), or: “plaistow and everywhere from here to barking remains unglamorous, unkempt, unloved, even by those who live here” (157-158). writing about the cityscape, the author usually chooses historical anecdotes as a means of introducing the sites to the reader. the royal albert hall, for instance, is described as a venue for an indoor marathon in 1909 (287). the tube is, obviously, often brought to the fore as a space-organizing factor in london. mason emphasizes its role in london’s territorial expansion in the 20th century; he writes about tracks, and tunnels, stations, and roundels, enriching the story with offbeat information such as: “maida vale [was] the first tube station to be manned without men: when it opened during the first world war the ticket collectors, porters and booking clerks were all female” (70). reading simultaneously about historical human zoos and britain’s capital city, i realized that articles about the former provided an unexpected key to interpreting the book about the latter. although mason’s book turned out to be a rich source of facts and figures i have used to impress my 13-year-old london tube expert, the most gripping were the occasional brief remarks on the behaviour or appearance of people, inserted 2 that was the number of tube stations in 2010. 10 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) into the normal spatial order of the narrative. most were short, single sentences, frozen images, as if photographs capturing a moment. they were supposed to reflect the physical activity of walking past an object, taking a cursory glance and moving on. then, about halfway through the book the reader comes across the following passage describing mason’s attitude to the world around him: ...peter called it [london – d.g.] the best party on the planet, and it is, but it’s also the best human zoo. ‘only connect,’ e.m. forster told us. ‘live in fragments no longer.’ but some of my happiest times in london... and certainly more and more as i came to accept that this was my nature – have been spent as a fragment, watching all the other fragments. (124) these words have become an invitation to read mason’s book, whose compositional idea is based on following the tube lines, along alternative “human” lines. instead of analysing the text as a guide to london, i read it as a guide to its people3. the aim of this article is thus to follow the author’s thought process about these “human exhibits” and to explore the extent to which mason’s london as a metaphorical human zoo is conceptually connected with historical human zoos. what follows is a presentation of mason’s textual images of london residents and visitors juxtaposed with the findings of contemporary scholarship on 19th and 20th-century ethnic shows and exhibitions. writing about the passers by mark mason came into contact during his london walks, he positions himself into the role of a spectator. he is, on the one hand, connected – he used to be a londoner himself; as a walker he becomes a part of the crowd around him4. on the other hand, he keeps his distance as someone who, in spite of feeling a natural bond with the subjects of his observations, chooses to stay disconnected. in many respects therefore, he resembles a 19th-century visitor to a human zoo, peering at its inhabitants as ‘articles of curiosity’. however, mason is not only a spectating walker, but also an urban travel writer, selecting stories with the greatest capacity to attract his readers. he is forced to constantly negotiate his position of a curious spectator with that of an impresario. what becomes his double objective is to enjoy the show himself as a member of the audience and also to entertain his readers with displays of individuals set against the background of the capital city. his agenda is manifestly to create a spectacle that will tell a particular story. 3 i deliberately avoid using the term londoners here because individuals portrayed by the author are not only residents, but also tourists and visitors on business. 4 mason does not appear to epitomize baudelaire’s flâneur “merging with the crowd” because in spite of sharing the status of an anonymous observer and being motivated by a similar curiosity, mason, unlike a classic flâneur, does not have time and refuses to undertake an in-depth study of absorbed images of people (baudelaire 1970: 399-400). 11 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) “exotic” or “monstrous” individuals had been exhibited in europe since the middle ages, but rapid expansion of ethnic shows began in the middle of the 19th century. “savages” brought over by explorers from africa, asia, australia and the americas were displayed amidst exotic animals in elaborate “authentic” settings to entertain european audiences. the development of new media (film in particular) is credited for why europeans lost interest in human zoos, which gradually disappeared throughout the 1930s. the world’s last human zoo was organized during the world expo held in brussels in 1958, but it was soon closed after a series of public and diplomatic protests against racist abuse directed at congolese artists and artisans who were brought over from africa to perform at the fair (kaas 2018; abbattista & iannuzzi 2016). it is estimated that between 1800 and 1958, 35,000 individuals were exhibited in various kinds of human zoos; “nearly one billion four hundred million visitors were affected by this phenomenon” (blanchard 2011: 5). commercial exotic displays that became elements of popular culture in the 19th century “served as a primary vehicle for instructing a mass public about the distinctions among ‘the varieties of mankind’” (durbach 2008: 82). mark mason’s act of observing people and their interactions seems to be following exactly the same line. it is hard to ignore his determination to see and describe the human world around him as a bizarre, varied collection of living specimens, a living cabinet of curiosities. his vision of london is that of a showcase of diversity. he makes conscious efforts to mention babies as well as centenarians, men and women, straight as well as gay couples, young professionals from the city and construction workers, waitrose and asda customers, those who speak cockney and those with heavy italian, irish, german, or jamaican accents. he focuses mostly on what ‘meets the eye’; his kaleidoscopic picture of the people of london consists largely, though not exclusively, of his visual, rather than auditory impressions. in any case, the aim is to emphasize the wealth of cultures, races, nationalities, age and status groups. on green lanes in north-east london he watches two middle-aged turkish women in traditional headscarves sit in a restaurant window making circular pide bread (mason 2013b: 272). in the city “a chinese man hoovers the marble floor of an office building” (314). in front of university college hospital, on the steps of the a&e department he catches sight of “three or four patients, one in a wheelchair, who have been sent outside to smoke” (32). on upper street he spots “a well-dressed woman …, pushing a mamas and papas buggy containing an equally well-dressed toddler …. balanced on top of the buggy is a punnet of ripe strawberries, which the woman eats with a white plastic fork” (35). elsewhere he sees “a drunk in unwashed army fatigues slumped so far forward that his head nearly meets his knees” (32). occasionally, he also resorts to eavesdropping. outside finchley central on the northern line he hears “an irish guy in his fifties saying to a younger muslim woman, ‘i don’t want a political argument, i just think he was a very, very good painter” (234). 12 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) mason’s human zoo is characterized by impressive plurality. however, while in the 19th/20th century “instructing about the distinctions among the varieties of mankind” had racist undertones and was supposed to emphasize the superiority of the onlookers (sánchez-gómez 2013: 21), the author’s approach is clearly affected by the protocols of political correctness. his metaphorical human zoo is a carefully designed product of 21st-century culture that celebrates diversity, recognizes complexity and distinctiveness of the culture of the other, commits itself to equity and does not accept overt prejudice. mason the impresario ensures that his audience is presented with an attractively miscellaneous assemblage of “exhibits”, but he also cautiously avoids transgressing the rules of contemporary diversity discourses. thus, in spite of their ontological difference, historical human zoos and mason’s are alike because they both serve as literal and metaphorical exhibitions of time-specific approaches to otherness. most of mason’s people-watching moments in london are documented in the book by brief descriptions of more or less bizarre individuals. however, the author enjoys also seeing people as parts of some collectivities or tribes, distinguishing themselves from the surroundings by their behaviour or the images they project. similar to the communities of exotic humans in “japanese villages” or “senegalese villages” of the past, certain groups of contemporary inhabitants and visitors to london make sense to the author only when spectated in their “tribal” context. their movements and actions are scrutinized by mason the spectator, but there is a noticeable difference between the assumptions underlying his gaze and that of the audiences of actual human zoos. as raymond corbey put it pointedly: “…the natives figured as categories in western representations of the self, as characters in the story of the ascent to civilization, depicted as the inevitable triumph of higher races over lower ones and as progress through science and imperial conquest” (1993: 341). mason’s favourite “savages” appear to be young professionals, his juniors by around a decade or two, whom he watches with amazement mixed with nostalgia for his own passing youth. after a visit to the city he writes: the next thing i notice is very un-whitechapel and all the more surprising for creeping up on me so insidiously. more and more of the people passing by are young men in suits, looking not unlike young men in suits in london at any point over the last century or so, except for one thing: the vertical line of the tie is absent, replaced by the diagonal line of a bag’s shoulder strap. then it dawns on me that many of these young men are accompanied by young women, also in twenty-first-century office-casual. the couples carry shopping bags full of sainsbury’s ready meals and mid-range merlots. … yes, whitechapel is being yuppified. not in the eighties sense of the word (braces, floppy hair, enormous mobiles), but in the strict, acronymistic sense: young urban professionals. twenty-five years ago it was fulham. now the tribe’s more restrained members are colonizing the east. (mason 2013b: 153-154) 13 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the author positions himself in the stalls, he does not join his specimens or stand next to them on stage. the tribe of young urban professionals is clearly “them”, not “us”, but it is the “them” that epitomizes progress, development, the future. this dichotomy becomes even more pronounced in another passage, this time set against the modern backdrop of canary wharf: “smart young professionals queue at the coffee and juice outlets; a man in his fifties stands out, with his moustache and sensible coat and tweed cap. i feel an impostor too, sitting in starbucks surrounded by a sea of ipads while i consult my paper notes about walking a tube line” (318). the 19th/20th-century binary of wilderness and civilization, with the exhibited people in their staged tribal milieu, being the representatives of the former, is reversed in mason’s 21st-century human zoo. the author does not altogether avoid opposition between modernity and backwardness, civilized and barbaric in its more colonial form. writing about westfield shopping centre, mason allows himself a rare moment of openness in expressing the feeling of superiority at the sight of its customers. without a trace of self-guilt and remorse he describes visitors to this “hideous”, “spiritless”, “grandiose”, “depressing” place in a clearly disapproving tone: “…people wander the fridge-white floors in that special slow-motion state of reverence reserved for awesome retail experience” (131); or less directly: “westfield is staggeringly, unnaturally vast, the sort of shopping ‘maul’ to which specially charted coach trips of middle-aged women pay pilgrimage” (117). the degree of mason’s snobbish disdain for westfield patrons is surprising, given that he is normally very careful not to seem rude or moralistic. paradoxically, these critical remarks appear in the only passage in mason’s book where the actual london human zoo is mentioned5. mason’s refusal to recognize westfield as a ‘natural habitat’ for some londoners and his aloofness bring him closest to the spectators in 19th and 20th-century human zoos, reinforcing “the comfortable binary of savage/civilized that encouraged even working-class audiences to imagine themselves to be members of an imperial ruling class” (durbach 2008: 83). the westfield fragment of mark mason’s narrative reveals a sense of superiority over at least some objects of his observation. this would, to some degree, explain why he found the association of london with a human zoo so appealing. just as with european and american audiences that rendered themselves “comfortably common and safely standard” in confrontation with exotic “exhibits” (garland-thomson 2008: 56), mark mason reassures himself of his “normality” when he chooses to “walk round [westfield] rather than through it” (mason 2013b: 117) and when he confesses on another occasion: “actually it would be unfair to say there isn’t a single good thing about westfield. there is: the security guard who tells me how to take a shortcut out of it” (131). 5 “part of the site used to be the white city exhibition ground, where in 1908 the attractions at the franco-british exhibition included a ‘senegalese village’, inhabited by 150 africans specially shipped in” (mason 2013b: 117). 14 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) humans who were displayed in zoos were separated from the spectators by a real or imaginary barrier (tour 2011: 7). as raymond corbey explains: “it was unthinkable that they [the exhibited people – d.g.] should mingle spontaneously with the visitors, and usually there were few possibilities for contact between parties” (1993: 344). mark mason’s fantasy human zoo stretching along the lines of the tube also features barriers. in the majority of cases they are abstract, mental walls built by the author whose nature is to be “a fragment, watching all the other fragments”. in some other instances, they are very literal – panes of glass separating the spectating walker from the people he is watching. passages relating to the latter are in fact among the most appealing in the whole book. glimpsing through the windows of houses, hotels and offices he passes on the way, the author admits “feeling unnervingly like james stewart in rear window” (mason 2013b: 78), but he still succumbs to the temptation. what he sees and then describes are pieces of somebody else’s life, tantalizingly fragmentary: “on the fourth floor a japanese man stands immobile in trousers and a vest, fruitlessly trying to work his tv remote control. directly underneath him an excited kid uses a bed as a trampoline” (78); or “a short row of georgian houses have different arrangements of shutters in place. under the top half of one set i see a couple’s four hands eating chops and peas; over the bottom half of another i see a woman peeling potatoes watched by her siamese cat, which sits on the work surface” (156). unaware of being observed (contrary to the living exhibits in human zoos), the seen do not reciprocate mason’s gaze; their lives remain secret and unknown ( just like the lives of individuals behind the fences enclosing “authentic ethnic villages” in european cities). keeping a physical distance enforced by trenches, railings or balustrades, audiences in 19th/20th-century human zoos reduced their observation to the exterior appearance of the people on display. unable, and possibly unwilling, to interact with the human exhibits behind the barriers, yet convinced of encountering authentic indigenous “savages”, those europeans constructed their own picture of the exotic. their “imperial eyes” (pratt 1992: 3) were fed with images that consolidated the stereotypical view of the colonized world as wild, uncivilized, primitive. the way mark mason looks at the living specimens in his human zoo is definitely not a typical objectifying “imperial gaze” as described by ann kaplan. nevertheless, her thesis that “the subject bearing the gaze is not interested in the object per se, but is consumed by his own anxieties” (kaplan 1997: xviii) can be tentatively employed to expose mason’s agenda. like the spectators, who despite the fences blocking their interaction with the other, flocked to “ethnic villages” in search of the authentic, mark mason collects the visual memories of anonymous lives enclosed by window frames in the belief that they represent london’s true character. the most successful human zoos of the past took care to balance sex and age among their “living exhibits”. it was believed that “the presence of women and children made a show especially attractive and gave a better picture of ‘the foreign people’s family lives’” 15 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (thode-arora 2008: 169). mason’s human zoo in walk the lines is a perfectly balanced one. my rough estimate of the number of entries mentioning women and men reveals the author’s impressive care for gender equality. even the choice of behavioral characteristics that attract mason’s attention in male and female objects is remarkably unbiased. so, as he walks past a day spa, his eyes fall upon “a semi-reclined businesswoman [gazing] vacantly out of the window as the soles of her feet are rubbed” (mason 2013b: 76) and then he notices a man in a nail clinic, who “sits with his hands on the desk, having for some reason crossed them over, a different woman working on each while a third squats to beautify his feet” (240). elsewhere he overhears a mother saying: “you’re really starting to piss me off!” to her toddler son (285), but to maintain his gender equilibrium he also reports passing “a man on an expensive mountain-bike calmly [reasoning] with his screaming daughter” (70). sarcastic comments are delivered according to the rules of gender parity, too. mason sounds acerbically when he writes: “…at goodge street station a woman of a certain age meets her friend, though because of the ‘work’ with which she’s sought to deny said age, her face is incapable of expressing emotions, so a hug is all the friend gets” (217). he appears no less sarcastic when he asks a rhetorical question: “why do people do that?” after seeing a “labourer who despite a pronounced tennent’s tummy has chosen to tuck his t-shirt in” (194). to complete the picture, the spectacle in mason’s book is enriched by a few casual glances at children. in historical human zoos children were usually exhibited along with their parents or other adults, thus providing the “knowledge” about exotic people’s caregiving practices and “supporting the idea that the exhibition illustrated an ordinary … way of life” (andreassen 2015: 89). almost all children mentioned by mason are accompanied by their parents and there is no doubt that the author’s reason for selecting particular images was identical with that of human exhibition managers. incorporating the scenes of children at play (with a trampoline, a bicycle and a home video game console), children talking or arguing with their mums and dads, children being taken care of, mason intends to give his portrait of london’s population a sense of authenticity. this is an awareness strategy which he clearly shares with carl hagenbeck and other 19th and 20th-century exhibitors. mason remembers that in a zoo it is not only the variety on show, but also the exoticism of the specimens that seduces the public. individuals who were selected to inhabit 19th/20th-century human zoos were supposed to appear strange to the spectators (thode-arora 2008: 167-168). people of unfamiliar appearance or behavior were to meet the public’s expectations of arousing powerful sensations and their desire for the spectacular, novel or bizarre (tour 2011: 10). on a visit to his london human zoo, mason appears to be particularly alert to the incongruous, always on the lookout for oddity. most examples of human behaviour in his book concern discrepancy between a stereotypical image and observed reality. in the following passage the author focuses on a spectacular incongruity between the subject’s age and appearance: 16 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the traffic lights on the far side of the palace conveniently turn red as i want to cross, halting a woman who’s seventy if she’s a day, sitting astride a huge 1970s suzuki motorbike, cigarette hanging vertically from her bottom lip. once across, i turn to see her roar away. the back of her denim jacket says: ‘the clash.’ (mason 2013b: 27) the description of the woman’s peculiar appearance is obviously supposed to add a comic touch to the narrative. as a “living specimen”, it is also possible that she was to be a dramatic example of english eccentricity. further on in the book mason once again focuses on provoking inconsistency in image. at king’s cross the author watches passengers leaving the train: “one of the alighting passengers is a monk, wearing black robes and sandals, carrying an ultra-modern plastic suitcase in day-glo green” (33). both the elderly woman riding a motorbike and the monk with neon accessories capture the spectator’s attention because the images they present are perceived as bizarre. on other occasions, the “strangeness effect” is produced by exactly the opposite; that is, the remarkable intensity of “representativeness” or “typicality”. such an example is to be had when mason experiences watching joggers near east putney station on the district line: “among the few males of the breed are two blond late-teen twins, maintaining a frightening pace; disturbingly aryan” (172). a similar mechanism of perception is triggered by the sight of a “builder putting on his boots in tooley street [and showing] the obligatory bum cleavage” (316). the word “obligatory” reveals that it is not the scene as such, but its very predictability that causes amusement, attracts attention, makes the view exotic (however self-contradictory it might appear). in her study of human exhibitions, rikke andreassen indicates that “the act of describing holds an inherent power …. those who described or staged the [human] exhibitions had the power to define the others” (2015: 3). she provides an example of african people who were often stereotypically “positioned as barbaric savages and representatives of a lower and uncivilized race” (51). this negative portrayal of the exhibited individuals was believed, paradoxically, to appeal to the white audience because of its potential to emphasize the white race’s perceived superiority. the way mark mason handles the issue of depicting the non-white – black and asian – inhabitants of his metaphorical london human zoo is a vivid testimony to the monumental change that has taken place in our understanding of “the power to describe others”. mason very carefully avoids negative ethnic stereotyping and whenever he suspects that his depiction could be interpreted as prejudiced, he immediately acknowledges being too hasty in his judgements. one example of such an approach comes from the passage referring to the author’s brief encounter with the inhabitants of a once shabby neighbourhood near tottenham hale station. it reads: “leaving the park, i see, out of the corner of my eye, a black man talking to a friend”. the author quotes the man’s words verbatim to preserve the flavor of jamaican english: 17 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) ‘they is all cheesing me off, blood, innit?’ he says. ‘they is like >what you lookin’ at?<, and i’m like >i is lookin’ at you, man<’. so there’s at least one representative of old tottenham still around. i wonder what trouble this homey from the ‘hood has been causing. … i turn to look at him. instead of low-slung jeans and copious jewellery i’m confronted with a uniform and a name-badge. he’s a security guard for next. (mason 2013b: 46-47) mason explains further that the man was not giving an account of “causing trouble” but of his attempt to prevent shoplifting. hearing the strong jamaican accent, the author had automatically identified the speaker as belonging to the group whom he subconsciously associated with “low-slung jeans and copious jewellery”. however, after taking a careful look, mason allows himself the elbow room to step back and recognize his unfair stereotypical assumptions – an activity we have almost no record of with regard to the visitors to actual human zoos in the past6. the idea of putting “exotic” people on display has luckily been abandoned, but the concept of human zoos found an interesting reformulation in the study of desmond morris titled the human zoo published in the late 1960s. the author worked as a zoo curator in london, where he studied the lives of animals confined to small cages. it inspired him to search for parallels between animal zoos and the human cities, and what surprised him most were the similarities between abnormal behaviours of the captive zoo inmates and those of highly stressed city-dwellers. mark mason does not use the term human zoo in the sense proposed by morris. his reference point is clearly the institution of historical ethnic shows as the spectacles of otherness and the sites of knowledge. containing “examples of the rare, the curious, the strange, and the precious – all expressions of the unusual and the different” (corbey 1993: 340), human zoos were meant to educate by means of “visual empiricism”7. the lesson that mark mason the impresario obviously wants his readers to learn is that to know london one must look at its people. his narrative points to the centrality of the gaze, the visual8. the many images of individuals of different ethnicities, sexes, ages and classes create a multicoloured vision. mason is preoccupied with seducing the public with an attractive show, promising that in the end they will be able to repeat after samuel johnson that “london is the school for studying life” (mason 2013b: 4). the greatest disappointment is that not much more than a predictable conclusion that london’s population is indeed exceptionally diverse appears to transpire from his 6 h. thode-arora’s analysis of late 19th-century german newspapers failed to find any negative commentaries on hagenbeck’s shows. only a few church and missionary papers questioned the principle of putting people on display (172). 7 for the significance of optical/visual empiricism see: sekula (1986). 8 for the role of visualism as a cognitive style see: fabian (1983: 141). 18 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) narrative. mason does not – to quote a famous london walker virginia woolf – “dig deeper than the eye approves” (1930: 7). his group portrait of the people of london is visually attractive, but it is not meant to provoke any unsettling questions or challenge dominant discourses of diversity and multiculturalism. mason’s readers are presented with an account of his quest for the “soul” of london, but they soon realize that they are following the author along paths that have been well trodden. designing his london zoo, mason makes no random choices – every single individual who is displayed to the reading public contributes to a coherent whole. the selection of images which are supposed to represent london’s diversity is very much in line with the foucauldian suggestion concerning the essence of observation, which is systematizing, taming the unknown and turning it into an entity that can be easily analyzed, “recognized by all, and thus given a name that everyone will be able to understand” (foucault 1994: 134). the twenty-first-century british metropolis is commonly “recognized” as a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural “entity” and mason portrays it accordingly in walk the lines. whether consciously or not, he perpetuates the dominant narrative through his authority of a london walker who has “travelled into the heart of the greatest city in the world, then back out again” (mason 2013b: 10). historical human zoos provided an opportunity to demonstrate the modernity and cultural superiority of western civilization. mark mason’s london human zoo tells the story of a population that is modern in the 21st-century sense: tolerant, cosmopolitan, non-violent, stylish, youthful, egalitarian, and whose only failing is that it succumbs easily to the allure of consumer capitalism. a conclusion that can be drawn from the reading of books such as mason’s, but also of some better known contemporary london walkers – iain sinclair (2003a; 2003b; 2017) or peter ackroyd (2000) – is that while 21st-century human zoos are no longer physical spaces in big cities, but metaphorical spaces in books about big cities, they still serve a very similar purpose, which is to mould people’s imagination and influence readers’ way of thinking through entertainment. the human shows of the past were meant to “persuade, deceive and manipulate [the public opinion into embracing] racism, segregation and eugenist ideas” (blanchard 2011: 5). their underlying objective was to justify colonization (knox 2016: 21-22). the human zoo in works such as walking the lines is the spectacle of idealized multiculturalism, with the writer playing the role of an impresario guided by the goal of constructing a narrative portrait of a perfectly harmonious, postcolonial metropolis. references abbattista, g.& iannuzzi g. 2016. world expositions as time machines: two views of the visual construction of time between anthropology and futurama. world history connected 13.3, 48 pars. https://worldhistoryconnected.press.uillinois.edu/13.3/forum_01_abbattista.html (20 october 2019). 19 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) ackroyd, p. 2000. london. the biography. london: vintage. andreassen, r. 2015. human exhibitions. race, gender and sexuality in ethnic displays. furnham: ashgate publishing ltd. baudelaire, ch. 1970. paris spleen, trans. l. varèse. new york: new directions books. blanchard, p. 2011. foreword. human zoos: the invention of the savage. exhibition guide, musée du quai branly: 5. corbey, r. 1993. ethnographic showcases, 1870-1930. cultural anthropology. august 1993: 338-369. durbach, n. 2008. london. capital of exotic exhibitions. in: p. blanchard et al. (eds.), human zoos. science and spectacle in the age of colonial empires, 81-88. liverpool: liverpool university press. fabian, j. 1983. time and the other. how anthropology makes its object. new york: columbia university press. foucault, m. 1994. the order of things: an archaeology of the human sciences. new york: vintage books. garland-thomson, r. 2008. from wonder to error: monsters from antiquity to modernity. in: p. blanchard et al. (eds.), human zoos. science and spectacle in the age of colonial empires, 52-61. liverpool: liverpool university press. kaplan, a. 1997. looking for the other: feminism, film, and the imperial gaze. new york: routledge. kaas, s. 2018. the last human zoo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9t5nqfyols (20 october 2019). knox, k. e. 2016. race on display in 20thand 21st-century france. liverpool: liverpool university press. mason, m. 2015. mail obsession. a journey round britain by postcode. london: weidenfeld & nicolson. mason, m. 2013a. move along, please. land’s end to john o’groats by local bus. london: random house. mason, m. 2017. question time. a journey round britain’s quizzes. london: weidenfeld & nicolson. mason, m. 2013b. walk the lines. the london underground, overground. london: arrow books. morris, d. 1996 [1969]. the human zoo. new york-tokyo-london: kodansha international. pratt, m. l. 1992. imperial eyes: travel writing and transculturation. london: routledge. sánchez-gómez, luis a. 2013. human zoos or ethnic shows? essence and contingency in living ethnological exhibitions. culture and history digital journal december 2(2): 1-25. sekula, a. 1986. the body and the archive. october 39: 3-64. sinclair, i. 2003a. lights out for the territory. london: penguin books. sinclair, i. 2003b. london orbital. a walk around the m25. london: penguin books. 20 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) sinclair, i. 2016. london overground: a day’s walk around the ginger line. london: penguin books. sinclair, i. 2017. the last london: true fictions from an unreal city. london: oneworld publications. thode-arora, h. 2008. hagenbeck’s european tours: the development of the human zoo. in: p. blanchard et al. (eds.), human zoos. science and spectacle in the age of colonial empires, 165-173. liverpool: liverpool university press. tour of the exhibition. 2011. human zoos: the invention of the savage. exhibition guide, musée du quai branly, 7-14. woolf, v. 1930. street haunting, san francisco: the westgate press. * * * dorota guzowska is a lecturer in british studies and british history at the university of bialystok. her research is focused on the concepts of fatherhood and emotional communities in early modern england. she has published on autobiographical writing, parental identity and aspects of seventeenth-century medical care. her interests include also: class in contemporary britain and hegemonic discourse. civilization and sexual abuse: selected indian captivity narratives and the native american boarding-school experience ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) 77 ewa skał1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2019.27.4.05 university of opole orcid: 0000-0001-7550-3292 civilization and sexual abuse: selected indian captivity narratives and the native american boarding-school experience abstract. this paper offers a contrastive analysis of indian captivity narratives and the native american boarding-school experience. indian captivity narratives describe the ordeals of white women and men, kidnapped by indians, who were separated from their families and subsequently lived months or even years with indian tribes. the native american boarding-school experience, which began in the late nineteenth century, took thousands of indian children from their parents for the purpose of “assimi lation to civilization” to be facilitated through governmental schools, thereby cre ating a captivity of a different sort. through an examination of these two different types of narratives, this paper reveals the themes of ethnocentrism and sexual abuse, drawing a contrast that erodes the euro-american discourse of civilization that informs captivity narratives and the boarding-school, assimilationist experiment. keywords: native americans, captivity narratives, boarding schools, sexual abuse, assimilation. 1. introduction comparing indian captivity narratives and writings on the native american boardingschool experience is as harrowing as it is instructive. indian captivity narratives, mostly dating from 1528 to 1836, detail the ordeals of white, euro-american women and men kidnapped by native peoples. separated from their families and white “civilization,” they subsequently lived for a time among indian tribes. such narratives can be seen as a prelude to a sharp reversal that occurred in the late nineteenth century under u.s. president ulysses s. grant’s “peace policy” of native assimilation through white education. similar to the experiences chronicled in captivity narratives, the native 1 address for correspondence: institute of english, university of opole, pl. kopernika 11a, 45-040 opole, poland. e-mail: ewa.iwona.skal@gmail.com mailto:ewa.iwona.skal@gmail.com ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) 78 american boarding-school experience separated indians, in this particular instance – children and adolescents, from their families and communities. thousands, at the behest of the u.s. government, were taken from their parents for instruction in white boarding schools – a captivity of a different sort, meant to transform the children through contact with “civilization.” the boarding-school literature that emerged from the native american boarding-school experience offers detailed accounts by native american children, whereas indian captivity narratives describe the experiences of euroamerican captives. the former focus on children who were forced to conform to ways of life favored by the “white man” and to endure extremely difficult living conditions, and often, repeated sexual abuse. such literature poses a fundamental contrast to indian captivity narratives and the experience of white victims. through examination of these two different types of narratives, this paper reveals the underlying themes of ethnocentrism and sexual abuse – drawing a contrast that erodes the euroamerican discourse of civilization underlying captivity narratives and the boardingschool, assimilationist experiment. 2. indian captivity narratives the beginning of captivity narratives is often related to a woman by the name of mary rowlandson after she published her narrative work in 1862, describing her captivity by one indian tribe. this publication created a fixed structure for every text of this genre. the main themes visible throughout the text generally focus around the feeling of help lessness of the captives, the mental struggles during their captivity, and are accompa nied by the terrifying description of the captors and their behaviour (showalter 2013: n.p.). as far as indian captivities are concerned, the negative descriptions of the captors include “stereotypes of savagery, civilization, and feminine purity that animate the dramatic action,” and are held up in contrast to descriptions of a superior white civiliza tion (johnson 2016: n.p.). they also often present readers with graphic violence, exem plified in the murder and torture of the captives. having said this, however, some exam ples of indian captivities, even that of rowlandson’s, just as often depict indians being civil toward their victims. in some cases, captives assimilate and do not wish to return to “civilization.” in 1853, samuel gardner drake published life in the wigwam, the first collection of narratives of white women and men describing conditions under indian captivity during the anglo-indian and american-indian wars. some captives were held for months or even years. some escaped or were sold by the indians back to the whites; while remained with the indians until their deaths. life in the wigwam’s first narrative is that of john oritz, presented by those who knew him well (the author is not known). oritz was captured by the apalachee tribe in 1528, in the aftermath of the spanish expedition under pánfilo de narváez, whose members considered natives little more than savages. the apalachee were southeast indians ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) 79 who lived in present-day florida (waldman 2006: 21). angry that the spanish wanted to cross their lands in search of treasure, the apalachee attacked the expedition. when they did not return, a party was sent to search for them that included john oritz, who was quickly captured. initially, the apalachee want to kill oritz. however, their chief’s daughter stands up in his favor, and they change their minds. oritz has the opportu nity to inspect the apalachee temples, in which he describes seeing human remains and body parts being eaten by animals. oritz experiences what to him is a nightmare in which he has to persevere among beasts who threaten to kill him if he does not obey. oritz escapes to a different apalachee village, where the atmosphere is much improved. no native from this village causes him discomfort, and their culture, language and spiri tual practices start to fascinate him. oritz, after some time, has no desire to return to his own people, wanting to stay with the apalachee. his appearance changes and he begins to look and speak like the apalachee. along with his adoptive tribe, oritz is ultimate ly captured by spanish men and dies of unknown causes in 1548 (drake 1853: 4, 14-20). remarkably, this early narrative provides an example of a captive who wanted to stay with the apalachee due to their kindness and respectfulness. this amounts to a reversal of what later became a cemented, standard view of indian savagery vs. white civilisa tion. oritz, in becoming accustomed to life with the apalachee, suggests that they were not savages at all, but members of a civilisation that lived harmoniously and peacefully. mary rowlandson authored what has remained the most famous captivity narra tive, “narrative of the captivity and restoration of mrs. mary rowlandson,” in 1682. it is said to have initiated the captivity narrative genre, influencing future works of this sort (skarborough 2011:121; “mary rowlandson”). rowlandson was captured during king phillip’s war, which began in 1675. at this time, english, puritan settlers began to raid the wampanoag lands in the northeast, wanting to control them. it is also important to note that the puritans believed that they had the right to control the lands in which, according to their own interpretation, natives were satanic creatures. they consoli dated this belief by saying that the natives’ dances (powwows) were, indeed, a celebra tion of satan (tetek 2010:31). puritan encroachment upon the wampanoags provoked the burning of settlers’ houses, the murdering of several people, and kidnapping. the wampanoags’ narragansett allies abducted rowlandson in present-day rhode island (waldman 2006:183). after they burned her house down and killed members of her family, she was taken captive along with her youngest daughter. in her narrative, the exact terms rowlandson uses to describe the indians are “savages, heathens, beasts” (1853: 22). the savageness of the narragansett manifests itself, in her telling, especially at times when they start chanting. she is terrified and disgusted by their appearance, dances, and everything connected with their culture: “oh the roaring, and singing, and dancing, and yelling of those black creatures in the night, which made the place a lively resemblance of hell,” she remarks. the narragansett are, in her view, ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) 80 sub-human and inferior, all that conflicts with european culture and white “civilisation” (1853: 55). rowlandson, a puritan, believes that god will rescue her. christianity was one of the prominent ideals of white “civilisation,” which rowlandson returns to through out her narrative, whereas the narragansett spiritual practices amount to satanism. rowlandson is later ransomed by and reunited with her husband. yet curiously, when the narrative concludes it is clear that the indians have not harmed rowlandson in any way, and instead have mostly been helpful and civil toward her (rowlandson 1853: 55-60). quintin stockwell was captured around the same time as rowlandson, in 1677. he was abducted by the pocomtuc during the part of king phillip’s war that occurred in present-day connecticut. in much of the colonial period, the pocomtuc were initial ly very civil with the white settlers, engaging in trade. however, these civil relations became strained as the settlers wanted to claim more land as their own. the pocomtuc, enraged at this turn of events, allied with other native american tribes to fight the english (bruchac 2011: 32). stockwell’s narrative was published in 1684. the narrator describes indian behaviour as barbaric because the captives are “staked down,” i.e. their arms and legs were tied and stretched out so that they could not move or escape (1853: 64). initially, he is beaten by them and given very small amounts of food. once, when stockwell is cold, and cannot carry wood or perform duties for the indians, the captors are very cruel to him, beating him and threatening to kill him. however, there are also instances of kindness. when stockwell is very hungry, one of the pocomtuc hides a piece of meat and gives it to him, so that he is fully fed. what is more, when stockwell is too weak and exhausted to make the journey and walk on his own, he is carried by one of the indians who stays behind to help him, saving his life in the process. eventually, stockwell ends up with the french, who buy him from the indians. not long after, he returns to new england. although initially, he was treated cruelly by the indians, whom he thought to be merely savage and sub-human because of their animal skins, temperament, and nutritional habits, later one observes that he was cared for and offered compassion while in captivity (stockwell 1853: 65). elizabeth hanson’s narrative was published in 1821. she was captured by the abenaki in 1724, along with her four children and maid in present-day maine (calloway 2015: 1). it is important to note that both the english and french were imperial rivals at the time, which resulted in tense relations. in 1601, the abenaki’s had developed amicable rela tions with the french. the two allied against the english. the english posed a great threat to the abenaki lands, culture and healthy well-being. european diseases spread throughout native american lands, and many died as a consequence. the abenakis fought in king phillip’s war, and in 1722, the dummer war began between the abenaki and the english, which lasted until 1727. during this period, elizabeth hanson was captured. in her narrative, at the outset she is very frightened of the abenakis, their spiritual practices, and eating habits. they are sometimes very cruel to her, including ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) 81 a time when the chief of the tribe strikes her and her son, which, in her telling, high lights their savage disposition. she finds great comfort in quoting the bible and prays frequently for herself and her children to survive. here, once again, christianity is mentioned as a strong contrast between civilisation and, in the settlers’ view, the savage natives. having become very weak to the point of not being able to give breast milk to her youngest child, a kind abenaki woman tells her what to feed her baby. this act reveals an example of behavior by these native americans who live in organised societ ies, and aid each other in times of need. moreover, one of the abenaki offers to carry her child for her, which surprises hanson greatly. after their last move, she is sold to the french and reunited with her husband and children. it is crucial to note that many abenakis are very generous towards hanson. she is never abused in any way, posing a contrast to the settlers view of the indians as savage (hanson 1853:121). isabella m’coy was captured in present-day epsom, new hampshire in 1747. her narrative, entitled “narrative of the captivity of isabella m’coy” is told by her friends, whose names are unknown. she was captured by the western abenaki tribe during king george’s war, which began in 1744 and ended in 1748, when the abenaki’s had once again joined forces with the french to fight the english (calloway 2015: 2). initially, sepa rated from her husband and son, she thinks of escaping but rejects the idea knowing that she might be killed. thinking that the abenaki will torture and kill her, her initial belief is that they are monsters who will want to harm her. however, although she believes that she will suffer with them, she is treated well and cared for. they provide her with food every day, and do everything to make her feel comfortable. surprisingly, she sheds her prejudices and comes to the conclusion that indians are good and gener ous. once in canada, m’coy is sold to the french, but wishes to remain with her indian captors (drake 1853:145-147). the above narratives, though diverse, offer a cross-section of the genre in which white captives often overcome preconceptions after receiving kind treatment from indian tribes. the following section looks at white-indian relations from a different perspec tive, briefly discussing the subjugation of native americans in the project of american expansionism, the reservation system, as well as the historical background behind the boarding-school assimilationist experiment. 3. native americans and assimilationist boarding schools the settler-colonial project that resulted in the indian-american wars contributed to a massive decline in indian communities from the 1800s, and a large reservation system that kept natives segregated from white society and under the control of the office of indian affairs (oia). much of white society perceived natives negatively. as andrea smith notes in conquest: sexual violence and american indian genocide, they were seen as “the dirtiest lot of human beings on earth” (2015a: 9-10). president grant’s peace ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) 82 policy, which was put into practice in 1869, sought to stem the violence of the past and promote assimilation. schools on indian reservations were run by representatives of church groups, who taught indian children how to read and write in english (smith 2015a: 35). then in 1882, the indian rights association was established with the key goal of securing the assimilation of indians into american society. they believed that the reservation system kept natives accustomed to their culture and religious beliefs, which contributed to “backwardness.”. carl schurtz, the then secretary of the interior, stated that the only solution for the natives, if they resisted assimilation, was death: “indians were confronted with this stern alternative: extermination or civilization”(qtd. in adams 1999: 15). a later commissioner of indian affairs, henry price, stated much the same sentiments: “savage and civilised life cannot live and prosper on the same ground. one of the two must die” (qtd. in adams 1999: 15). army officer richard pratt became the key figure in the process of assimilating native americans, by founding the first indian off-reservation boarding school in carlisle, pennsylvania, having beforehand undertaken a process of “civilising” impris oned indians at fort marion, florida (adams 1999: 40; peterson 2012: 3). carlisle was located far away from the reservations, which meant that indian children were unable to see their families while there. pratt stated that “the only alternative left [for the indians] is civilization or annihilation, absorption or extermination” (qtd. in adams 1995: 16). the carlisle industrial school in pennsylvania was opened on november 1, 1979. pratt recruited children from the rosebud and the pine ridge agencies in the dakotas for the school. the aspects predominantly highlighted by pratt in order to “civilise” the native children were: english reading and writing instruction, conversion to christianity, restricted or forbidden contact with their families, and strict school regulations (smith 2015a: 36; adams 1999: 52). amelia katanski claims that the struc ture of the boarding school was “culturally genocidal”; she stated that “carlisle was (...) designed to destroy tribal nations and strip native children of their cultures, languages, and religions” (2005: 2).in his autobiography, pratt stated that the goal of carlisle was “complete civilization of the indian and his absorption into our national life”; hence, in his telling, the goal of the school was to do everything for an “indian to lose his identity as such, to give up his tribal relations and to be made to feel that he is an american citizen” (qtd. in katanski 2005: 4). boarding-schools established across the united states under pratt’s blueprint were very strict and the forms of punishment they employed were often harsh. if pupils disobeyed the authorities, they were often beaten. at many schools, children also suffered from illnesses due to unsanitary conditions and lack of immunity to european diseases (echohawk 2000: 85). yet the reformer’s defining goal, was, as stated by pratt, to “kill the indian and save the man inside them” (qtd. in smith 2003: 36, 115). alongside carlisle, twenty-five other boarding schools were opened for indians in the united states. pratt ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) 83 wanted them to be opened, so as to expose their students to american life, away from their own surroundings. among them were “chemawa school” in oklahoma, opened a year after carlisle, in 1880. in 1890, “fort mojave” was opened in arizona. four new schools were opened in 1983: “fladreau” in south dakota, “pipestone” in minnesota, “mount pleasant” in michigan, and “tomah school” in wisconsin. in 1898, three new schools started recruiting in south dakota, the “chamberlain school,” “the morris school” in minnesota, as well as “rapid city” in south dakota (qtd. in adams 1999: 57-58). it is also important to note the average attendance statistics in boarding schools and off-reservation schools; in 1877 the total attendance for both schools totalled 3,598, whereas in 1900 it totalled 21,568. interestingly, at some schools, conditions were substantially different from others. at a school in albuquerque, parents were permit ted to visit their children quite frequently (qtd. in adams 1999: 57-58). however, some schools became notorious for employing teachers that were reported to have abused students, sexually or physically. in the twentieth century, indian boarding schools continued to be opened, and the abuse also continued. for instance, the wrangell institute was opened in 1932 and is said to have had instances of abuse (hirshberg & sharp 2005:11-13). at the tekakwitha orphanage, opened in 1940 in south dakota, natives also experienced frequent abuse from teachers. the school was run by father john pohlen and functioned until 1970, in 2010, the entire building was taken down (packtor 2013: n.p.). what is more, smith claims that at the “hopi day school”, one teacher repeatedly abused students without consequence. in her findings, similar incidents are said to have occurred at a north carolina government school, where a teacher was reported to have abused children during his employment from 1971 to 1985, as well as at the kaibito school (smith 2015a: 36; smith 2015b: 6;). after the implementation of the indian reorganization act in 1934, boarding schools became less strict in terms of assimilation, but they still propagated “white values” and encouraged conversion to christianity. some of the schools operated strictly on the ideals of the catholic church, which were run by priests. here, native students were taught by nuns: “it was the religious orders (...) that were responsible for operating the native american schools” (anderson 2019: n.p.). at such institutions, native children were frequently encouraged to pray and exemplify christian behaviour (smith 2015a: 37). interesting to note is the fact that some schools went by the name of orphanages, but did not really recruit orphans. instead, they recruited children whose parents were in a poor financial position. some students had even been taken from their families for unspecific reasons. the latter believed that the schools would care for the children. however, the reality was sometimes very different (woodard 2011: n.p.). the most striking thing to note is the sexual abuse that students experienced at some boarding schools, even late ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) 84 into the twentieth century (anderson 2019: n.p.).the following section will give accounts of abuses experienced by former students of selected boarding schools, namely the accounts of howard wanna and mary catherine renville, as well as severyn zephier. 4. the native american boarding school experience and sexual abuse autobiographical indian boarding-school narratives detail the “captivity” ordeals of indian children who were forced to assimilate to white ways under the policies of the united states government, and in some cases were also sexually abused. smith states: “despite the epidemic of sexual abuse in boarding schools, the bia [the bureau of indian affairs] did not issue a policy on reporting sexual abuse until 1987 and did not issue a policy to strengthen the background checks of potential teachers until 1989” (2015a: 38). stephanie woodard, an american investigative journalist and a long-time member of the native american journalists association, interviewed native americans about sexual abuse at the schools they attended (woodard 2011: n.p.; “stephanie woodard”). native american children, years after their assimilation into white “civilization,” have now opened up about their difficult experiences. at the hopi school in arizona, it is reported that students experienced frequent sexual abuse from one of the teachers. even today, the matter has not been thoroughly investigated, which, as smith claims, is a violation of human rights (2015a: 38). smith has even reported on how some native children were involuntarily sterilized; in one case, children of girls impregnated by the school’s representatives, had been murdered (2015a: 42). at wrangell institute, a school for alaska natives, hirshberg and sharp have reported on and spoken to the victims, who have confessed to being abused by teachers at the school in 1935 (2005:11-13). one former lakota student, howard wanna, who died in 2011, at the age of 60, recounts being abused by the teachers who were supposed to take care of the children at the tekakwitha school. wanna had been mistreated from the age of four. he claims that this happened to many other boys at tekakwitha as well. apart from the detailed disturbing abuse he describes, he also mentions that at bath time all the boys were scrubbed so hard that their backs were bruised when they got done bathing. this expe rience left a painful psychological mark on him, and because of it, he was unable to live a normal life. here are his own questioning words: i often wonder how so many paedophiles ended up at native american schools. father pohlen was not only a pervert; he also hired the worst of the worst, which meant none of the tekakwitha staff would protect us from the others. how did he find them? is there someone in the church ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) 85 you can call to request problem priests and nuns? was there a dual plan to hurt native americans while taking care of the paedophiles? was this genocide? it’s so confusing, but it’s also just plain evil. (qtd. in woodard 2011: n.p.) another lakota victim, mary catherine renville, recalls her assimilation at the tekakwitha school: all i remember of my earliest years at tekakwitha was being hungry and a punishment that consisted of being placed in a dark crawl space. when i was 6, they moved me from the papoose house for babies to the main building so i could start school. the nuns there would take us to their private quarters and do things to our bodies that even at that young age i knew were not right. (qtd. in woodard 2011: n.p.) another lakota, severyn zephier, was 54 years of age when he revealed his board ing-school experiences. he suffered sexual abuse at the st. paul’s mission school in south dakota. zephier’s story is unfortunately typical. he recounts that st. paul’s was terrifying for him and other students. he was beaten with a strap whenever he spoke his native tongue, and was frequently humiliated by the teachers. the students were regularly beaten in the afternoon. he said that he was extremely scared of the nuns who were supposed to have been protecting them. on the contrary, they were, as he claims “vicious” individu als who had no mercy on them. during bed-time, the nuns used to stand in the dark room so as to frighten them. however, the most disturbing part for him and his class mates was the sexual abuse: “the child-molesters would come and go, as the church rotated them among the indian missions. we children stood by each other as best we could, but for a child, it was a disturbing, sickening place to be. i have often wondered where did the nuns and priests learn those things?” (qtd. in woodard 2011: n.p.). this account adds to the weighty claims that the st. paul’s mission school also had many instances of sexual abuse. but what is more, according to accounts, the teachers did not care about the students’ well-being and treated them practically as sub-humans. such stories present a remarkable contrast to the indian captivity narratives detailed earlier in this paper. 5. conclusion both the boarding-school indian experience and indian captivity narratives deal with the experiences of captives. the boarding-school experience presents one with accounts of those who, at the time of assimilation, were merely children, whereas indian captiv ity narratives describe the life of adults forcibly taken from their families. many board ing-schools deliberately underfed and abused children, failing to care for their physical ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) 86 and mental well-being. they believed that native americans needed to be “changed” in order to survive, i.e. learn how to speak the english language, as well as learn the norms of european life, which include “victorian” clothing (consisting of uniforms in boarding schools for boys, and dresses for girls) food, table manners, agricultural skills, and the christian faith, in order to fit into a “civilised” society. indians as well as their culture were considered by americans to be savage, immoral, and uncivilised. whites generally did not accept native american languages, rituals, hunting and spiritual prac tices as civilized. on the contrary, there was widespread belief that all of these customs were savage, inhuman, devilish (their dances were considered by both the british and americans to be satanic). one of the most potent results of such attitudes was the treatment of many board ing school pupils described in this paper. the sexual abuse pupils suffered from the hands of the schools’ staff caused great pain and humiliation, leading to depression and conditions that might have been related to post-traumatic stress disorders among many native american communities. some children committed suicide afterwards. some even took their lives at school (barker 2013: 47). the experience was often much different with white captives. when considering the analysed captivity narratives, both john oritz and isabella m’coy exemplify the will ingness of europeans to stay with an indian tribe of their own free will (drake 1853: 17). the assimilationist experiment of indians into white “civilisation” and the attempt of americans to “civilize” native american children, was supported by the willingness to “brain-wash” them and make them become distant towards their own culture, fami lies and ways of life. in captivity narratives, on the other hand, natives often expressed kindness and civility towards their captives. these facts present a contrast between the white discourse of the boarding-school experience underlying the assimilation of native americans into white “civilization,” and selected indian captivity narratives. this contrast, one could argue, undercuts the very notions of “civilization” that euro americans attempted to thrust upon native peoples. references adams, w. d. 1995. education for extinction: american indians and the boarding school experience. lawrence: university of kansas press. anderson, p. 2019. native american victims of sex abuse at catholic boarding schools fight for justice. https://eu.argusleader.com/story/news/2019/05/16/native-american-sex abuse-victims-catholic-boarding-schools-south-dakota/1158590001/ (15 november 2019). barker, t. r. 2013. the psychological impact of historical trauma on the native american people. unpublished ma thesis. regis university. ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) 87 bruchac, m. m. 2011. revisiting pocomtuc history in deerfield: george sheldon’s vanishing indian act. historical journal of massachusetts 39 (1-2): 30-77. bruchac, m. m. 2002. wobanakiak = abenaki indians: linguistic notes and ethnograph ic terms for abenakis. in: g. sharrow (ed.), the abenaki of vermont: a living culture, 5-7. vermont: vermont folklife center. bureau of indian affairs. https://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3577.html (29 may 2019). calloway, c. g. 2015. abenaki. in: a. gallay (ed.), colonial wars of north america, 1512 1763 (routledge revivals): an encyclopedia, 1-2. new york: routledge. cozzens, p. 2016. the earth is weeping: the epic story of the indian wars for the american west. london: atlantic books. davis, p. e. 2009. the scalping of the great sioux nation: a review of my life on the rosebud and pine ridge reservations. ny: government institutes. drake, s. g. (ed.). 1853. life in the wigwam. buffalo: derby, orton an mulligan. echohawk, l. 2011. child sexual abuse in indian country: is the guardian keeping in mind the seventh generation? new york university journal of legislation and public policy 14 :83-127. fixico, d. l. 2018. when native americans were slaughtered in the name of ‘civilization’. his tory. https://www.history.com/news/native-americans-genocide-united-states (27 may 2019). hamby, z. 2017. king phillip’s war and hannah duston. creative english teacher website. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2084/0507/files/king_philip_war.pdf (18 april 2019). hanson, e. 1853. god’s mercy surmounting man’s cruelty. in: s. g. drake (ed.), life in the wigwam, 113-127. buffalo: derby, orton an mulligan. harjo, s. s. 2004. a native child left behind. indian country today website. http://www. senaa.org/doi/achildleftbehind.htm (27 may 2019). hirshberg, d. & sharp, s. 2005. thirty years later: the long-term effect of boarding-schools on alaska natives and their communities. anchorage: institute of social and economic research of university of alaska. homstad, d. w. 2001. abraham lincoln: deciding the fate of 300 indians convicted of war crimes in minnesota’s great sioux uprising. historynet.com. https://www.his torynet.com/abraham-lincoln-deciding-the-fate-of-300-indians-convicted-of-war crimes-in-minnesotas-great-sioux-uprising.htm (13 may 2019) hoover, h. t. 1989. the sioux agreement of 1889 and its aftermath. south dakota history 19 (1): 56-94. jackson, c. e. & galli, m. j. 1977. a history of the bureau of indian affairs and its activities among indians. university of michigan: r & e research associates. johnson, k. 2016. captivity narratives. oxfordbibliographies.com. https://www.oxford bibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199827251/obo-9780199827251-0115.xml http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3577.html http://www.history.com/news/native-americans-genocide-united-states http://www/ ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) 88 krupat, a. 2018. changed forever volume i: american indian boarding school literature. ny: suny press. laundry, a. 2016. abraham lincoln: enigmatic president, and full of contradictions. indiancountrytoday.n.pag. https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/abraham lincoln-enigmatic-president-and-full-of-contradictions-yujermz8akol_etug3jfiw/ (15 may 2019). lobo, s., talbot. s. & morris, t. l. 2016. native american voices: a reader. ny: routledge. mason, w. dale. 2009. the indigenous policy of abraham lincoln. indigenous policy journal 20.3: 1-41. peterson, r. 2012.the impact of historical boarding schools on native american fami lies and parenting roles. minds.wisconsin.edu. https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bit stream/handle/1793/66821/peterson.pdf?sequence=8&isallowed=y (19 jan 2019). reservations. nativepartnership.org. nativepartnership.org.n.pag. http://www.native partnership.org/site/pageserver?pagename=pwna_native_reservations (4 june 2019). rowlandson, m. 1853. narrative of the captivity and restoration of mrs. mary rowlandson. in: s. g. drake (ed.), life in the wigwam, 20-60. buffalo: derby, orton an mulligan. sand creek massacre. history.com. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sand creek-massacre (27 may 2019). sandefur, g. d. 1988. american indian reservations: the first underclass areas? university of wisconsin. https://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/pdfs/foc121f. pdf (29 may 2019). mary rowlandson: american colonial author. britannica.com. https://www.britannica. com/biography/mary-rowlandson (29 may 2019). over 90 years serving lakota children. https://www.stjo.org/about/history/ (12 november 2019). packtor, j. 2003. 4 of the worst orphanages in recent history. borgen magazine. https:// w w w.borgenmagazine.com/4-worst-orphanages-recent-history/#prettyphoto (12 november 2019). showalter, e. 2013. dark places. the new york times. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/ books/review/tradition-of-captivity-narratives.html skarborough, e. 2011. mary rowlandson: the captive voice. the undergraduate review 7.23: 121-125. smith, a. 2003. not an indian tradition: the sexual colonization of native peoples. muse. jhu.edu. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/44199/pdf (29 may 2-019) smith, a. 2015a.conquest: sexual violence and american indian genocide. duke: dup. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sandhttp://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/pdfs/foc121f http://www.stjo.org/about/history/ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/ ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) 89 smith, a. 2015b. indigenous peoples and boarding schools: a comparative study. https:// www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/ips_boarding_schools.pdf (14 november 2019). stephanie woodard. the times. inthesetimes.com. https://inthesetimes.com/communi ty/profile/322051 (13 may 2019). stockwell, q. 1853. narrative of the captivity of quintin stockwell, who was taken at deerfield, in massachusetts, by a party of inland indians, in the year 1677. in: s. g. drake (ed.), life in the wigwam, 60-70. buffalo: derby, orton an mulligan. taylor, t. w. 1984. the bureau of indian affairs. michigan: westview press. tetek, r. 2010. relations between english settlers and indians in 17th century new england. unpublished ma thesis. masaryk university. accessed 13 may 2019. https://is.muni. cz/th/179860/pedf_m/relations_between_english_settlers_and_indians_in_17th_ century_new_england.pdf (29 may 2019). the trail of tears. history.com: the history channel website. https://www.history.com/ topics/native-american-history/trail-of-tears (27 may 2019). the treaties of fort loramie, 1851 and 1868. north dakota studies — state historical society of north dakota. www.ndstudies.gov: https://www.ndstudies.gov/welcome north-dakota-studies (28 may 2019). waldman, c. 2006. encyclopedia of native american tribes. ny: checkmark books. woodard, s. 2011. south dakota boarding school survivors detail sexual abuse. news maven.io/indiancountrytoday/. https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/ south-dakota-boarding-school-survivors-detail-sexual-abuse-qtchblode0-ap npnqwd3qw/ (22 dec. 2018). wounded knee. history.com: the history channel website. https://www.history.com/ topics/native-american-history/wounded-knee (27 may 2019). *** ewa skał is a phd student at the institute of english, opole university, poland. her current research interests include native american literature as well as british and american culture. she received an ma in english philology (literary studies) in 2018, and a ba in english philology (business english) in 2016. her other academic interests include feminist literature and psychological novels. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/ips_boarding_schools.pdf https://inthesetimes.com/community/profile/322051 https://inthesetimes.com/community/profile/322051 http://www.history.com/ http://www.ndstudies.gov/ http://www.ndstudies.gov/welcomehttp://www.ndstudies.gov/welcomehttp://www.history.com/ preschool children’s sensitivity to the generic and non-generic distinctions 98 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles marti palla1 newbold college of higher education, united kingdom orcid id: 0000-0002-4480-8437 preschool children’s sensitivity to the generic and non-generic distinctions abstract. generics convey generalizations about kinds e.g., “fish swim,” or “birds have wings”. in contrast, non-generics express facts about specific individuals or groups of individuals, e.g., “my cat has caught two mice” or “two birds are sitting in that tree”. to interpret utterances generically or non-generically, speakers of polish use morphosyntactic features (e.g. determiners, plurality, tense and aspect), contextual cues, as well as world knowledge (grzegorczykowa 2001; karczewski & wajda 2015; karczewski 2016). the aim of the present study is to determine the extent to which preschool children are sensitive to one morphological cue in particular, i.e. the demonstrative determiner te (these) in polish. keywords: generic sensitivity, generics and non-generics, morphological cue, demonstrative determiner. 1. the definition of generic and non-generic cues generic and non-generic distinctions are made on a regular, everyday basis in speech. generalizations about categories serve the purpose of relaying information on their properties and communicating elementary, uncomplicated principles, such as the simple statement “fish swim”. these predictions are established to create linguistic comprehension, utilizing context and prior knowledge to assign attributes to particular categories of, specifically, artifacts or animals (gelman et al. 2010). generic cues express categories that focus on various classes differentiated by speech. they are used in every language, as all languages provide the means to express generics, although the ways in which they are transferred differ. they are generally used to imply properties to distinct objects, in particular contexts, and the concept of generic and non-generic distinctions is used in conversation for the purpose of relaying subjective beliefs, as well as fundamental truths. according to gelman, generic statements can be made about general categories of objects, without referring to a specific entity or an exception to a particular category. a generic utterance expresses the universal qualities of a given class, pointing to a factor that characterizes a certain group in an indicated 1 address for correspondence: newbold college st mark's rd, bracknell rg42 4an, great britain, e-mail: marti. palla@wp.pl doi: 10.15290/cr.2019.24.1.07 99 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles context. they can be construed with an understanding of social meaning, linguistic background and with a scope of common knowledge, which can be combined for the purpose of fully understanding an utterance (gelman et al. 2010). an example of this can be specifying a class of entities, and expressing the properties which are invariable, universal and permanent throughout the course of time. a generic utterance such as “trees have leaves” is not limited to only a specific situation or context, but is rather adjoined to an extensive and established fact that is accepted by the social standards of normalcy, excluding deviations. such utterances are known as “kinds” (cimpian et al. 2008). a “kind” has shared features which may appear to be obvious, even if they are hidden and cannot be directly observed. an example of this can be the utterance “some trees have needles instead of leaves”. generic and non-generic distinctions are a linguistic tool that constitutes an important element of conversation to which children are exposed at a very early age. while they hear generics in speech regularly, they start to put the concept to use by the age of 2, and learn the initial differentiations between generic and non-generic cues during the time they are in preschool. while the results of the experiment conducted for the purpose of this article show that the ability to interpret generics increases with age, some studies performed on both children and adults had similar results, even though different mechanisms are used by these age groups in the process. an example of this is a study in which adults were asked to interpret a statement and relay information on the particular category (cimpian et al. 2010). in the study, adults were asked to provide an evaluation of how much of each particular group was included in the statement about a target feature. the initial generic statement that was given was “lorches have purple feathers”. the answer given by the adults on the percentage of lorches having purple feathers was in the range of 95%, meaning that the feature was thought to apply to nearly all of the members of the group. the children included in the study also arrived at a similar conclusion to the adults, as they interpreted the generic statement as referring to all, or almost all, of the “lorches”. the results of this task provide proof that generic and non-generic distinctions can be used as a tool in understanding how children view the world from a linguistic perspective. they can provide a basis for research on a child’s linguistic development by comparing such results to those of mature test subjects, which in turn may contribute to advances in the field of child education (cimpian et al. 2010). 2. sensitivity to immediate linguistic context in order to correctly understand the differentiations between generic and non-generic cues, context must be provided for a child to assign the object to a new category or “kind” (brandone et al. 2013). similarly, for one to assign certain properties to a particular object, they have to be familiar with it and have prior knowledge about it. however, a limited amount of knowledge on a certain subject may lead to more prevalent generalizations. an example of this is a study done by gelman, ware and kleinberg in 2010, who found that by using generic language to describe a new category called the “zarpies”, preschoolers believed that the given characteristics were attributed to the entire class. a statement such as “zarpies eat a lot of popcorn”, or “zarpies have striped, orange 100 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles fur” had the same effect as the earlier study involving “lorches”. the tested preschoolers assigned the properties that they heard about the “zarpies” to the entire category, later assuming that one “zarpie” feature would be the same for all of them. these tasks conclude that upon receiving information on one specimen of a given category, the children studied were likely to consider the entire category to have the same feature. the same theory proves to be consistent when conducting tasks on other groups of children and adults, as was done by brandone and gelman in 2009. while people have varying levels of knowledge on artifacts and familiar items, more generic utterances were produced when describing new categories of animals that have been created for the purpose of the studies. while characterizing the labelled, new categories of animals, both adults and children described them generically, by stating that the entire category has the same features as the specimen shown to them. an example of this would be seeing a blue bear called a “blear” and stating that “blears are blue”, rather than saying that “this blear is blue”. interestingly, new categories of artifacts invoked a different response, as the subjects had a tendency to describe them generically significantly less often than the new categories of animals. this, however, is likely caused by “domain differences”, which show that children, similarly to adults, view artifact categories as less consistent and invariable than animal categories. a study that was conducted by cimpian and cadena in 2010 included forty-eight participants between 4-5 years of age, who were divided into two groups for the purpose of the task. the children were shown pictures of abstract articles that were labelled and described to them (e.g. “this is a dunkel. dunkels are sticky.”). they were then asked to explain the purpose of the mentioned feature in the specified artifact (e.g. “why do you suppose dunkels are sticky?”). the results of the study confirmed that the 5 year old participants were able to correctly use generic and non-generic distinctions in referring to functional properties of the artifacts more successfully than the younger participants. children have been proven to be capable of recognizing and using generic forms from an early age, but generic and non-generic distinctions pose a problem to beginning learners. the idea of generics is fathomable to adults, but is a complex concept for children to understand and may cause difficulties, as it is an abstract approach (sobel et al. 2015). the notion of generics is a challenging concept to grasp, especially considering that no language provides strict rules that are applied to the construction of generic statements, and only specific representations of a category can be presented in conversation when indicating them. there are no concrete signifiers of generic forms in linguistics, and in order to evoke a distinct example of a kind, the same form must be used when describing an entire category. this can be observed in the examples below, which have been created on the basis of gelman’s generic language in parent-child conversations: 1. psy mają cztery nogi. / psy czekają na resztki jedzenia. ‘dogs have four legs.’ / ‘dogs wait for scraps.’ 2. słoń pije wodę za pomocą trąby. / słoń uciekł z zoo. ‘an elephant can drink water by using its trunk.’ / ‘an elephant escaped from the zoo.’ 101 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles 3. wiele osób je płatki na śniadanie. / płatki były rozsypane po całej podłodzie. ‘cereal is what many people eat for breakfast.’ / ‘cereal was scattered across the entire floor.’ the sentences above are examples of why sentence construction does not strictly determine the generics of a statement, therefore complicating the process by which learners can effectively understand and master the unapparent fundamentals of generic and non-generic cues. each of the sentences contains a noun phrase (np), but only the first sentences are generic, with the second ones having non-generic distinctions. young children are capable of understanding the basics of generics by the age of 3-4 and are able to provide generic and non-generic statements with an understanding of their differences (gelman 2003). the content of generics may vary, including artifacts (e.g. “doors have knobs”), animals (“spiders have many legs”) and food (“ice cream is cold”). they can also include social kinds (e.g. “poles are very hospitable”) and inanimate natural categories (“carbon can be found in the environment”). surprisingly, generics are not consistently applied to every category, as it has been observed in records of everyday conversation conducted by adults that some kinds are considered to be more generic than others. for example, the category of animals is most often referred to in a generic manner, even species that speakers are familiar with. in comparison, categories such as artifacts, food and inanimate objects are spoken of in more non-generic terms. young children, however, are reported to have far less instances of assigning non-generic properties to generic categories, likely assuming them to be individuals rather than representations of entire kinds. the reason for this is unknown, proving that there are still many aspects of generic and non-generic cues left to uncover and research in the scope of linguistics (yoshida et al. 2005). generic expressions are conveyed through the use of plurals (e.g. laptops have built-in keyboards/the poor are often forgotten) and singulars (e.g. a chair has four legs/the dolphin is considered to be an intelligent mammal). non-generic statements also utilize plurals (e.g. more laptops are sold online than in-store/the poor women searched for jobs) and singulars (e.g. a chair was brought in by the workers/the dolphin swam past them). in some cases, in order to differentiate generic and non-generic utterances, an additional morphosyntactic cue is the basis for the analysis and proper understanding of a statement. these cues include the use of tenses, determiners, number (singular/plural) and other pragmatic cues. children are, from the very beginning of their existences, surrounded by a substantial variety of objects which fall into the category of “artifacts”. the wide array of artifacts poses the difficulty of understanding individual purposes that relate to their exteriors. children, in learning about these objects, must connect their appearances to their functions and assign them to categories, while also discerning which properties have been deliberately applied (e.g. the handle of a cup), and which have only decorative purposes (e.g. designs on a doorknob). in order to appropriate them into categories, children have the challenge of learning about the functions of various arti102 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles facts and how they are related to other objects. while some properties may be discovered by them through context and observation (e.g. when they see someone use a spoon to eat soup), others may require verbal descriptions (e.g. when they are told that a printer needs ink to work). a child must also learn the meaning of general properties, e.g. that thin objects are most often easy to tear, or that light, porous items can float on top of water. there are many specific elements that play a role in perspective, and discovering how to place certain factors into categories can prove to be difficult, especially for younger children. with age, however, there is progress and the ability to discern such contingencies increases (gelman 2008). a study conducted by karczewski and buivolova (2015) focused on extralinguistic cues in generic and non-generic meaning, one of the aims being to examine russians’ interpretations of the usage of a singular np along with two exemplars of a category, as compared to their interpretations of the usage of a plural np in the presence of two exemplars of a category. the study, which consisted of 162 russian participants, utilized pictorial stimuli portraying animals with atypical features (e.g. a camel with a green hump). each participant was shown a picture and asked a question to determine if they made distinctions between generic and non-generic meaning (e.g. “here is a camel. do camels have green humps?”). the questions were posed in the singular-singular, singular-plural, plural-singular and plural-plural conditions. the answers (each “yes” and “no”) were established as either generic or non-generic. the provided results of the study cover the answers given in each condition, e.g. that participants would give non-generic answers to the singular-plural condition. the purpose of the following studies, which have also utilized pictorial stimuli and have put a focus on generic and non-generic cues, is to reach a better understanding of the linguistic process of 3-6 year-olds regarding the nature of generic and non-generic distinctions. the tasks will be based on distinguishing whether or not preschool children are capable of observing such cues in everyday speech and if they can independently utilize them in communication. one of the aspects of the studies will be observing if the children detect a difference between generic and non-generic utterances, with visual aids that will make the process reliable and balanced for the test subjects as well as suited to their age range. the study will serve as a basis to further understand the function of generic and non-generic cues and whether differentiating them poses difficulties for children in the specified age group of 3-6 years. 3. a general overview of the conducted tasks the studies in this article have been conducted in a preschool in poland (a montessori preschool in białystok), among children between the ages of 3-6. sixty pre-schoolers participated in the study (thirty-four of them were girls), with fourteen 3-year-olds, fifteen 4-year-olds, sixteen 5-year-olds and fifteen 6-year-olds. all of the children were european, from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds, with polish serving as their first language. the tasks were conducted in polish. this specific age range was chosen so as to gain a perspective on the differentiating capabilities of preschoolers in this particular aspect, in order to compare the results to other studies conducted in this spectrum. 103 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles before the task began, preschoolers between the ages of 3-6 were asked to come in one by one and to sit in front of the examiner. after the children introduced themselves, they were told that they were going to play a game. each of the preschoolers was then asked to look at the picture shown to them and perform the specified tasks. four consecutive tasks were conducted, each lasting from one to two minutes. the testing sessions were conducted in quiet rooms in the preschool of the children participating in the study. the pictures used for the tasks were drawn by anna bakłażec and provided by daniel karczewski. the aim of the study was to determine the extent to which preschool children are sensitive to one morphological cue in particular, i.e. the demonstrative determiner te (these) in polish. the general premise of the tasks, as well as their design, was to evaluate preschooler’s sensitivity and usage of morphosyntactic features in a variety of studies. four tasks were conducted in order to gain a wide perspective and a plausible result to conclude the thesis, as one or two would be scientifically insufficient to be considered an authentic outcome. study 1 study 1 was made up of a series of questions, which deduced the children’s capability to differentiate generic and non-generic categories. the children were asked questions which were accompanied by pictures. a picture of two frogs with tails was shown with questions 1 and 2 (picture 1), and a picture of three rabbits with one ear each with questions 3 and 4 (picture 2). picture 1. picture 2. 104 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles the questions were as follows: 1. czy żaby mają ogony? ‘do frogs have tails?’ 2. czy te żaby mają ogony? ‘do these frogs have tails?’ 3. czy te króliki mają po dwoje uszu? ‘do these rabbits have two ears?’ 4. czy króliki mają po dwoje uszu? ‘do rabbits have two ears?’ the purpose of this phase was to introduce the children to the following tasks, while allowing the opportunity to observe whether they are able to discern a difference between the posed questions, which were accordingly related to the accompanying pictures. questions 1 and 4 reflected generic properties, while questions 2 and 3 were non-generic. in this task, children had the opportunity to observe a pattern of generic vs non-generic. while being shown a picture, they could either assume the questions to have been repeated two times each and not notice a difference between them, or observe that the addition of the word “these” had a specific meaning in the given context. the study was conducted individually on fourteen 3-year-olds and fifteen 4-year-olds. they were able to correctly differentiate generic and non-generic properties 49% of the time (with 42% within the group of 3-year-olds and 56% within the group of 4-year-olds). the percentage has been calculated by accounting for all of the correctly given answers in contrast with those that were incorrect. if a child, for example, was able to answer the generic question “do frogs have tails?” with “no.”, this signified that they could observe and apply their knowledge of generic properties, being conscious of the fact that the two frogs with wings in the picture of front of them were an exemption from the general concept of the visual appearance of this particular category. in order to avoid miscommunication, the second picture had three rabbits with one ear each, so that the child could answer without any confusion. the study was identically conducted on sixteen 5-year-olds and fifteen 6-year-olds. the children in both of these age groups were able to correctly differentiate generic and non-generic properties 64% of the time (with 60% within the group of 5-year-olds and 68% within the group of 6-year-olds). figure 1. the results of study 1 105 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles study 2 in study 2, the children were individually asked open questions. they were each told that they would now play a game that included a dragon puppet named “basia”. each of them was instructed that when basia was on the table, she could both hear and see them and what they were saying. however, the rules were to change whenever basia was “sleeping” under the table, because then she would not be able to see or hear the child. the child’s task was to tell the puppet about everything that they had learned when the toy was hidden. the reason for this method was to determine whether the child would be able to use morphosyntactic features while describing what they have seen in the picture, as they were told to assume that the dragon did not know what was on the picture and would need to be informed of it. if the dragon had remained on the table, the child would have been more likely to repeat what they had just heard, instead of processing it in order to relay it to basia. once basia the puppet was hidden, the child was shown a succession of pictures with the accompanying statements: 1. te żyrafy mają krótkie szyje. ‘these giraffes have short necks.’ 2. owce są białe. ‘sheep are white.’ 3. te ryby mają sierść. ‘these fish have fur.’ after each statement and shown picture, the puppet was brought out and the child was asked to tell basia the dragon what they had just learned. the child then proceeded to tell the puppet what they had seen – while the answers varied, the most uniform refrained to either an inclusion, or exclusion of the word “these”, indicating whether the child had understood the genericness/nongenericness of the statement. upon being shown a picture of two green sheep and being told that “sheep are white”, the child could answer by including a generic property, a non-generic property or a combined statement (“these sheep are white”, which would be inconclusive, as neither of the sheep in the picture were white). the third possible answer was however not given by any of the studied children throughout the course of the task. the fourteen 3-year-olds and fifteen 4-year-olds were able to correctly differentiate generic and non-generic properties 40% of the time (with 30% within the group of 3-year-olds and 51% within the group of 4-year-olds). the sixteen 5-year-olds and fifteen 6-year-olds were able to correctly differentiate generic and non-generic properties 67% of the time (with 60% within the group of 5-year-olds and 75% within the group of 6-year-olds). 106 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles figure 2. the results of study 2 study 3 during the third study, children were asked direct questions, while being shown assorted pictures. the questions were as follows: 1. ile nóg mają bociany? ‘how many legs do storks have?’ 2. jakiego koloru są owce? ‘what colour are sheep?’ 3. ile nóg mają te psy? ‘how many legs do these dogs have?’ the children could have based their answers either on the pictures they saw in front of them, on the utterance that they heard, or on a combination of both. a correct answer to e.g. question 1 of study 3 would however be based on common knowledge that the child possesses, and whether or not they know how to assign/exclude the objects in the picture from a general category, which would show a sensitivity to generic and non-generic distinctions. the fourteen 3-year-olds and fifteen 4-year-olds were able to correctly differentiate generic and non-generic properties 38% of the time (with 23% within the group of 3-year-olds and 53% within the group of 4-year-olds). the sixteen 5-year-olds and fifteen 6-year-olds were able to correctly differentiate generic and non-generic properties 68% of the time (with 66% within the group of 5-year-olds and 70% within the group of 6-year-olds). 107 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles figure 3. the results of study 3 study 4 during the final study, children were asked “yes or no” questions. the questions were as follows: 1. czy tygrysy mają rogi? ‘do tigers have horns?’ 2. czy te krowy mają pazury? ‘do these cows have talons?’ 3. czy świnki są niebieskie? ‘are pigs blue?’ study 4 was straightforward, and required the child to answer with “yes or no” as instructed, or with a full sentence. answers such as “no, but these … have/are …”/“nie, ale te … mają/są …” were also accepted, as they indicated a sensitivity to generic and non-generic distinctions. the fourteen 3-year-olds and fifteen 4-year-olds were able to correctly differentiate generic and non-generic properties 40% of the time (with 33% within the group of 3-year-olds and 48% within the group of 4-year-olds). the sixteen 5-year-olds and fifteen 6-year-olds were able to correctly differentiate generic and non-generic properties 59% of the time (with 52% within the group of 5-year-olds and 66% within the group of 6-year-olds). 108 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles figure 4. the results of study 4 4. results overall, the four studies point to a significant difference in the sensitivity to generic and nongeneric distinctions between 3and 4-year-olds collated with the results of those of the 5and 6-year-olds. while the results of the 3and 4-year-olds calculated to a total of 42% (with 32% of 3-year-olds and 48% of 4-year-olds answers correctly differentiating generic and non-generic properties), the 5and 6-year-olds achieved a result of 65% (with 60% of the 5-year-olds and 70% of the 6-year-olds answers correctly differentiating generic and non-generic properties). the percentage of answers indicating generic and non-generic sensitivity rises with each year, proving that recognizing such properties grows stronger with progressing age. the only drop observed during the course of the studies takes place in study 3, in which the tested 5-year olds reached 70% of generic sensitivity, while 6-year-olds had only 66%. the question which had the most incorrect answers in study 3 was the first question (“how many legs do storks have?”), in which children were shown a picture with two storks that each had three legs. it is worth noting that amongst the 5-year-olds, only two of them did not provide an answer indicating awareness of generic/non-generic properties, while out of the fifteen tested 6-year-olds, only six answered correctly. the two 5-year-olds that answered incorrectly replied that “storks have four legs”, while the nine of the 6-year-olds said that “storks have three legs”. the reason for why the 5-year-olds provided an answer that was not correct for either the picture or the utterance has not been researched in depth in this article, but may serve as a basis for further speculation – though one of the reasons may be a miscalculation among the children that were attempting to answer the question by focusing only on what they saw in the picture. 6-year-olds however, have a vaster knowledge of numbers than the previous group and may have, in easily 109 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles counting the number of the storks’ legs, given the answer that would showcase their abilities to count, rather than focusing on linguistic properties. in study 1, the answers of the specific age groups were relatively uniform. throughout the course of the tasks, a tendency to answer questions involving numbers has been generally observed to have a higher rate of answers discerning generic/non-generic distinctions, than e.g. questions involving colours in the age group of 4, 5, and 6 years of age (excluding question 1 in task 2, which had the best results in the age range of 4-5). the questions “do rabbits have two ears?” and “do these rabbits have two ears?” invoked a sum of 63% of correct answers among these age groups, while the questions “do frogs have tails?” and “do these frogs have tails?” were answered with a sensitivity to generics only 51% of the time. although this could be credited to the order of the questions (the questions concerning the frogs with tails being before those about the rabbits with one ear each), this does not explain the similar effect of the question “how many legs do these dogs have?”, which was the final question in task 3. this question, with 60% of correct answers in the sum of the age groups, is significantly higher than that of the other two questions in the same task (question 1 having 50% and question 2 having 51%). while to some, this conclusion may appear to be inconclusive or the result of chance, as may be the case in the tested spectrum of ages, numbers may have a role in the way that children perceive linguistic forms. focusing on numeral properties may help in increasing the speed of the process of linguistic acquisition among preschool children, as at the time of the conducted tasks, they are also in the process of learning about numbers and maths. the question that received the lowest overall percentage in each age group was in study 4: “do these cows have talons?”. this may seem surprising, as study 1 had a fairly high average of generic/ non-generic responsiveness, also including questions of a similar structure and animals with unordinary traits. the reason for this may lie in the child assuming that there is a pattern in this category, but in such an event, study 1 would have a similar effect in the answer pattern (which it did not). the trait is not one that would normally be assumed to be universal for the species in the picture, and children do not have a problem with understanding the word “talons” in polish. this too is left for further studies. acknowledgements i would like to sincerely thank and acknowledge daniel karczewski for his support and for providing the pictures used for the task, which allowed the experiment to take place, as well as anna bakłażec, who was their author. i would also like to extend my sincere thanks to the principal of the montessori preschool in białystok on świętego mikołaja 9, ewa gutowska, for allowing me to conduct studies for this paper, as well as to katarzyna walczak for her help throughout the entire process. references brandone, a. c. & gelman, s. a. 2013. generic language use reveals domain differences in young children’s expectations about animal and artifact categories. cognitive development 28(1): 63–75. 110 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles cimpian, a. & markman, e. m. 2008. preschool children’s use of cues to generic meaning. cognition 107: 19–53. cimpian, a. & cadena, c. 2010. why are dunkels sticky? preschoolers infer functionality and intentional creation for artifact properties learned from generic language. cognition 117: 62–68. cimpian, a. & cadena, c. 2011. the generic ⁄non-generic distinction influences how children interpret new information about social others. child development 82(2): 471–492. cimpian, a. & scott, r. m. 2012. children expect generic knowledge to be widely shared. cognition 123: 419–433. gelman, s. a. & goetz, p. j. 2008. generic language in parent-child conversations. in: c. fisher (ed.), language learning and development. michigan: university of michigan. gelman, s. a. & goetz, p. j. 2003. preschool children use linguistic form class and pragmatic cues to interpret genetics. child development 74(1): 308–325. graham, s. a. & nayer, s.l. 2011. two-year-olds use the generic/nongeneric distinction to guide their inferences about novel kinds. child development 82 (2): 493–507. grzegorczykowa, r. 2001. wprowadzenie do semantyki językoznawczej. warszawa: wydawnictwo naukowe pwn. hollander, m. a. & s. a. gelman. 2002. children’s interpretation of generic noun phrases. developmental psychology 38 (6): 883–894. karczewski, d. & wajda, e. 2015. perceptions of different syntactic forms of generics: an experimental study. białostockie archiwum językowe 15: 233–245. karczewski, d. & buivolova, o. 2015. sensitivity to extralinguistic cues to identify generic and non-generic meaning. crossroads. a journal of english studies 10: 4–14. karczewski, d. 2016. generyczność w języku i w myśleniu. studium kognitywne. [genericity in language and thought. a cognitive study]. kraków: universitas. sobel, d. m. & jipson, j. l. 2015. cognitive development in museum settings: relating research and practice. london: routledge. yoshida, h. & smith, l. b. 2005. linguistic cues enhance the learning of perceptual cues. psychological science 16(2): 90–95. *** marti palla holds a ba in english philology and is pursuing an ma in translation studies. her research interests include: cognitive linguistics and language acquisition. 39 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) małgorzata jarmołowicz-dziekońska1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.03 department of foreign languages medical university of bialystok, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0402-0319 the picture bride phenomenon: a reflection on photography from a cultural perspective in yoshiko uchida’s picture bride abstract. literature and photography have always encouraged critics to explore interactions between text and image. within the scope of culture, they also show significant potential in terms of their scholarly application, since the photograph becomes a practical tool for studying literary works within the cultural matrix. the paper aims to use this means of visualisation in order to examine the picture bride phenomenon illustrated in yoshiko uchida’s novel picture bride (1987), which reveals that behind the veil of apparently prosperous and lifelong marriages, there is a harsh matchmaking system which—solely on the basis of personal networking and japanese marriage intermediaries—allows for shipping prospective wives from japan to japanese immigrants who settled in the united states a few decades earlier. thus, the photograph constitutes a tool of analysis, which doubles as a tangible means of representation and a factual visualisation of metacognitive imagery. keywords: picture bride phenomenon, photography, japanese-american literature. as a growing field of inquiry, the relationship of literature to photography has always offered illuminating insights into conceptual patterns interweaving literary and photographic tissue. these “ ‘photo-textual’ experiments,” as françois brunet (2013: 12) calls 1 address for correspondence: department of foreign languages, medical university of bialystok, ul. mickiewicza 2c, 15-222 bialystok, poland. e-mail: malgorzata.jarmolowicz-dziekonska@umb. edu.pl 40 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) them, have revealed an unexplored space of meaning, which calls for further conceptualisation with a perspective of bridging the two fields in terms of their theoretical capacity. brunet, attempting “to complete the depiction of a process of hybridization” (12), simultaneously emphasises that such patterns, already present in the history of literary and photographic co-existence, concern “especially photography’s relationship to reality, presence, and representation—particularly of the self. still, this history is envisioned primarily as cultural, linking ideas and practices in an investigation of art in society” (12). hence, photography has become an instrument that enables claiming agency with regard to the reflection of a particular reality and the construction of an identity corresponding to a pictorial image, which enhances the process of identification of the self. because of the fact that photography “has become in itself a paradigm event and something of a literary genre” (31), its connections to literature have also undergone a considerable change in terms of their mutual reference. as brunet delineates, with the advent of this invention the balance between the ocular and the textual fluctuated in the interstices of their reciprocal interaction: “on one side, photography was the end of ‘literature’ in the sense of vain textual speculation; on the other, ‘literature’ in the sense of record of the imagination was the image of photography” (22). nevertheless, within the scope of criticism, photography has succeeded in carving out its own space and is regarded as an autonomous means of expression. the critic distinguishes its significance and an independent theoretical trajectory, which has earned its own conceptual field of recognition: “even though a lot of its traditional social uses remain seemingly untouched, photography’s historic alternative as a medium—to supplant literature, or to become a new literature—would seem to have been resolved in favour of the second term, especially given … literature’s own marriage to photography” (110). with an interdisciplinary lens applied to this phenomenon, critics could search for yet a deeper meaning bonding the two conceptualisations within the purview of their theoretical horizons. although the photograph is commonly perceived as a strictly visual, speaking-for-itself conveyance of representation, it is capable of creating more textual reference than meets the eye as its figurative means of parlance can transfigure the potential vectors of interpretation. thus, it constitutes a tool of analysis which doubles as a tangible means of representation and a factual visualisation of metacognitive imagery. sean ross meehan (2008: 14) points out that in spite of the fact that photography is considered to be “a crucially metonymic medium,” the process of representation and reproduction engage it in a dynamic interaction: “photography is a communication medium because it is a means for representing an image (the photographic product or photograph) and a technology, by way of photo-chemical exposure and development, for reproducing that image (the photographic process). this dynamic relation between representation and reproduction marks the complex character of the medium.” furthermore, another reference needs to be made to the characteristics of the 41 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) photograph, namely the way in which it articulates itself through the process of perfect mimicry, producing a facsimile of a subject. as stuart burrows (2010: 205) explicates, imitative representation encapsulated in mimesis, attributable to painted subjects, differentiates a photograph from a painting mainly due to its flawless emulating capacity which renders an exact image of a photographed person or object: “photographed subjects do not look like ‘something’ precisely because they are that thing. whereas a painting opens up a gap between the thing and its representation—the gap that … is crucial to the existence of mimesis, which operates via a model of original and copy— photography conflates the two, rendering the thing and its image consubstantial.” analysing distinctive qualities of the photograph, susan sontag (1973: 12) additionally expounds that the act of photographing transgresses a passive act of observation, since it requires an active involvement on the part of the non-inert photographer: “even if incompatible with intervention in a physical sense, using a camera is still a form of participation. although the camera is an observation station, the act of photographing is more than passive observing.” all the aforementioned properties of photography make it a unique vehicle of representation, which allows for a substantial extension of interpretative measures in comparison with other media of articulation. the noetic reading of photography with its hues of subjective understanding relating to inner wisdom—noēsis, as its greek etymology indicates—opens up a new space for parenthetical analysis which may extend beyond the realms of common interpretative measures. w. j. t. mitchell (1994: 2-3) emphasises the necessity of examining bipolar vectors of representation with reference to their historical frameworks: “what we need is a critique of visual culture that is alert to the power of images for good and evil and is capable of discriminating the variety and historical specificity of their uses.” however, not only historical contexts should pave the way for heterogeneous perspectives pertaining to the conceptualisation of photography theory. in fact, pierre taminiaux (2009:11) voices “the need for an aesthetic perspective on photography that goes beyond a timedelineated cultural approach.” such a view capacitates applying a more unconventional visualisation to the entire concept, which is provided within an interdisciplinary scope. david cunningham et al. (2008: 1) state that while the “field of interdisciplinary critical practice remains problematic, it also promises much of value and interest.” hence, as the critics continue, it is necessary to focus on a critical encounter between different approaches to such problems in order to enable the possibilities of research on literature and photography to be more effectively conceived and pursued. its aim is not simply to question photography’s idea of literature, nor literature’s idea of photography. rather, it seeks to trace the heterogeneity of conceptions of the intersections between the literary and the photographic from a variety of critical and historical perspectives. (1-2) 42 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the medium of photography may erode the transparency of the text and become a repository of multi-dimensional interpretations through translating the rhetoric of image and text into spatial and time experiences within cultural and historical frameworks, thus assuming different roles of representation. according to brunet (2013: 114), “the large-scale reshuffling of cultural functions between literature and photography” has already been observed, which necessitates further investigation and searching for new means of critical examination. on the part of the critic, this requires a particular sensitivity to certain cultural planes of reference. as every society has developed a set of cultural codes, according to which they function and fit into reality, a considerable disparity between occidental and oriental customs and practices can often be immediately noticed by foreigners of distinct origin, let alone cultural nuances among the inhabitants of various regions of the same country. therefore, different conceptual tools need to be applied with regard to such idiosyncratic specificities. japaneseamerican literary works need to be read from a perspective that takes into account their cultural and historical heritage in order not to be misinterpreted through far-fetched fallacies or incongruities—not uncommon for postcolonial criticism, whose weaknesses have been pointed out by edward said and other critics. expanding the discourse with this aim in mind, there is another extension that requires to be outlined with reference to the conceptualisation of self-representation. it draws from a cultural background and focuses on deploying a photograph not for the sake of aesthetic contemplation but with the purpose of constructing an informative means of intercultural communication, which will be discussed further. the established position of photography in creating cultural memory has been recognised for centuries. since, according to barbara misztal (2003:13), “cultural memory refers to people’s memories constructed from the cultural forms and to cultural forms available for use,” the photograph forges a tangible connection with the past, which grants this medium a status of autonomous representation by the means of various cultural forms. as the author continues, “[t]hese cultural forms are distributed across social institutions and cultural artefacts such as films, monuments, statues, souvenirs and so on. cultural memory is also embodied in regularly repeated practices, commemorations, ceremonies, festivals and rites” (13). for a long time, the photograph has served as an arbitrary and unmediated means of expression which, due to its ocular-centric properties, has been granted a putative role of transparency. linda haverty rugg (1997: 134) emphasises that photography immediately became the lingua franca of visual representation: “one of photography’s roles as an invention, in fact, was to invent internationalism. it is the popular assumption that images, unlike language, do not require translation, and photographs, infinitely and inexpensively reproducible shortly after the medium’s invention, could reach across both national boundaries and classes, speaking to the literate and illiterate alike.” however, it soon transpired 43 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) that the purported neutrality of the photograph is illusive and one cannot ascribe to this means a universal framework of interpretation, as the ignorance of such factors as historical or socio-cultural contexts may distort its overall meaning and intended purpose of communication. another aspect worth pointing out relates to the conspicuous entanglement of the photograph with time, which constitutes a fundamental plane of critical reference. time fluctuations reflected in the events caught in the camera’s eye during one’s lifetime are capable of rendering the exact trajectory of the subject’s life and hence, as sontag (1973: 15) explicates, a set of photographs may become a reflection of one’s internalised values and experiences, reminiscent of human impermanence and irrevocable demise: “all photographs are memento mori. to take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt.” the photograph has always been recognised as an instant vehicle of memory that enables travelling back in time, especially for family gatherings. sontag delineates that “[m]emorializing the achievements of individuals considered as members of families (as well as of other groups) is the earliest popular use of photography. for at least a century, the wedding photograph has been as much a part of the ceremony as the prescribed verbal formulas. cameras go with family life” (8). however, not only such ceremonial occasions gave an opportunity for taking photographs. the medium of photography immediately entered the world of bureaucracy and in an instant became an indispensable part of human identity, which—according to sontag—renders it a staple tool for confirmation of one’s existence in the contemporary world: the industrialization of photography permitted its rapid absorption into rational—that is, bureaucratic—ways of running society. no longer toy images, photographs became part of the general furniture of the environment—touch-stones and confirmations of that reductive approach to reality which is considered realistic. photographs were enrolled in the service of important institutions of control, notably the family and the police, as symbolic objects and as pieces of information. thus, in the bureaucratic cataloguing of the world, many important documents are not valid unless they have, affixed to them, a photograph-token of the citizen’s face. … photographs are valued because they give information. (21-22) at this point it is worth mentioning that apart from its informative properties, the photograph gained the status of a visual matchmaker and, due to its illustrative value, became an unofficial means of identification in an asian cultural background. at the beginning of the twentieth century, the japanese developed a customary practice of marriage arrangement which became known as the picture bride phenomenon. 44 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) portrait photographs of would-be-spouses were exchanged before the couple got married. although face recognition was a primary objective behind this concept, the photograph did not act as a token of artistic representation but relied heavily on introducing a prospective personal bond with a previously unknown person. thus, the first step to forging and cultivating an intimate relationship led in the contrary direction to the commonly held practices—through familiarizing with a future spouse in the photograph and then meeting him or her in person after a long-haul journey from japan to the united states. the life of a japanese picture bride, hana omija, depicted by yoshiko uchida in the novel picture bride, reveals a potent point of convergence between the past and the present, constituting an informative framework which helps to familiarise with the cultural code based on “picture brides who went with nothing more than an exchange of photographs to bind them to a strange man” (uchida 1997: 3). figuratively speaking, the whole conceptualisation is enclosed in a photograph, since only this medium serves as a tool of agency and, at the same time, constitutes a remnant of the past. rugg (1997: 156) gives prominence to the fact that photographs, acting as fragmented pieces in bodily form, present specific moments which are taken out of the time frame and translated into infinity: “like allegorical objects, photographs function as ‘fragments’ in that they are moments blasted from the continuum of time, rendered spatial and shrunk to miniatures.” the title of the novel encapsulates the picture bride phenomenon in the same way, which makes it the core trajectory of hana’s story. the japaneseamerican author delves into her ancestral—albeit fictitious—past, dedicating the work to all the unvanquished female souls who a century earlier embarked on the ship to the united states to seek a better future. an epigraph at the beginning of the novel may simultaneously double as an epitaph on a memorial monument: “in memory of those brave women from japan who travelled far, who endured, and who prevailed.” in fact, an image of a picture bride, an unidentified woman from the early 1900s, speaks to the reader from the front cover of the book. thus, the black-and-white photograph becomes a leading trope and a catalyst of the story as the novel gradually unfolds. the phenomenon would not have gained such a resonance among the japanese if it had not been for the american governmental immigration policy based on racist and discriminatory principles. according to lauren kessler (1994: 13), the beginning of the twentieth century saw the greatest wave of emigration from japan: “from 1901 to 1907 almost 110,000 japanese—most of them young, male, literate, rural and from the respectable farming class—ventured to america.” what needs to be taken into account is the fact the majority of the japanese who arrived in the united states between 1885 and 1907 were single men in their youth who wanted to earn enough money and return to their motherland. as kessler continues, “they saw themselves as dekaseginin, or temporary sojourners. their plan was simple: work hard for three to five years, saving 45 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) every penny they could; then return triumphantly to japan, to either rebuy the land they lost to taxes or expand their holdings and fund new ventures. the sacrifices would be great, but the rewards greater” (10). what is more, they were conscientiously selected citizens who, with their thorough education, were supposed to form a group of proper representatives. elaine h. kim (1982: 122-123) pinpoints the fact that due to such a broadly crafted campaign, the issei—first-generation japanese immigrants—were relatively high-spirited and eager to head for america: they had had opportunities to become familiar with the currents of western thought and modern western life; in the cities especially, information about important social, political, economic, and cultural world trends was readily available. … moreover, the japanese government not only screened immigrants carefully to make sure that they would properly represent their motherland abroad but also gave an official briefing for each immigrant, during which he could become acquainted with some of the rudiments of american life. for the most part, the issei had a highly positive attitude towards america when they left japan. over time, their optimism for a bright future often turned into disappointment as they encountered many obstacles which prevented them from achieving their goals. poverty and a lack of family in an alien country precluded their further development, which resulted in the occurrence of the so-called picture bride phenomenon. it was created out of necessity to help the japanese settle down and raise their economic and social status. indeed, the demand for asian wives was so significant that bringing in japanese women became a widely accepted and frequently noticed practice. helen zia (2001: 5-6) attributes such a turn of events to laws which were highly unpropitious for asians: “finding marriageable suitors was not a problem for women from asia. for more than half a century before world war ii, several racially discriminatory laws prohibited asian men from becoming u.s. citizens or marrying outside their race. the united states also barred women from china, india, and the philippines from immigrating. the combined impact of these prohibitions created generations of lonely asian bachelor societies in america.” the law appeared to be more lenient for the japanese as from 1907 it enabled them to ship into the united states their wives, or—in many cases— wives-to-be (which, in fact, was exercised as a loophole): according to the gentlemen’s agreement of 1907, japanese immigrants were able to bring in wives as non-laborers and to establish families in america as their chinese predecessors were unable to do, but japanese laborers were excluded from immigration. by 1924, when all japanese immigration was finally halted by law, over 14,000 japanese women had come, mostly as ‘picture brides,’ to join husbands they had seen only in 46 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) photographs. … the arrival of the picture brides helped encourage japanese men to set down roots in american society, and the presence of women and, later, children allowed them to consider family-operated farms and small enterprises. (kim 1982: 124) the picture-bride system, called shashin kekkon (denoting ‘photo-marriage’), relied on arranged marriages, which has constituted a staple of japanese cultural tradition for centuries. since marriage was a matter of not only personal but also, and predominantly, familial and community significance, it involved employing a go-between in order to select the best match for a spouse-to-be. ester mikyung ghymn (1995: 74) observes that “[a] professional matchmaker usually worked as an agent. working on commission, he or she made marriages in the manner of modern real estate transactions. the matchmaker sometimes exaggerated the qualities of the prospective mates, hoping to close a successful deal.” this practice propelled a series of mishaps which eventually led to a gruesome predicament, where love and romance did not have a voice. as kessler (1994: 36) emphasises, “romance was not, at least initially, a part of any pairing. marital matches were arranged by outside intermediaries who might take many factors into consideration, but generally not the personal feelings of those they would be uniting. … women … were supposed to sit back and wait for their families to arrange their futures.” ghymn indicates that the magnitude of the problem was significant as the prospects of a fabulous future transfigured into the greatest disillusionment of their lives: “the brides frequently became victims of false advertising. in many instances, marriage was not a state of emotional fulfilment but one of business. marriage customs were rigid and cruel, rigid in adherence to society and superstition, cruel to the individual spirit” (1995: 74). thus, many young women who fell prey to such intermediaries had to carry the burden of their contrivance for the rest of their lives. hana, the daughter of one of the last samurai, is among those females who become attracted to such an arrangement. she finds out from her uncle, serving as a matchmaker, about “the lonely man who ha[s] gone to america to make his fortune in oakland, in california” (uchida 1997: 2), and is seeking a wife from overseas. bearing in mind the fact that she “was twenty-one, finding a proper husband for her had taken on an urgency that produced an embarrassing secretive air over the entire matter” (2). her uncle pictures the man in bright colours, drawing a portrait of taro takeda as “a conscientious, hard-working man who has been in the united states for almost ten years. he is thirty-one, operates a small shop and rents some rooms above the shop where he lives. … he could provide well for a wife” (2). the thought of gaining independence speaks to hana instantly as she “felt a faint fluttering in her heart. perhaps this lonely man in america was her means of escaping both the village and the encirclement of her family” (4). the japanese women, accustomed to various manifestations of male supremacy, frequently did not and could not recognise their individuality as autonomous entities. 47 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) as kessler (1994: 37-38) expounds, the life of a japanese wife was miserable enough and hardly bearable: “isolated from her own friends and family, she lived to serve and procreate. if she was fortunate enough to bear a male heir, her status improved somewhat, but she would have little control over the household in which she lived—or, for that matter, over her own life.” for hana, a well-educated woman, in contrast to the majority of japanese female society, the prospects of remaining in japan seem to be not only a harbinger of a mundane future but, most of all, a major hindrance to her own development and creativity. her point of view finds confirmation in the attitude of her sister’s husband, who notices her individuality and firmness soon enough to give it proper condemnation. as the head of the family in a patriarchal society, he cannot bear female autonomy, even if it finds its reflection only in her words: “although he never said so, hana guessed he would be pleased to be rid of her, the spirited younger sister who stirred up his placid life with what he considered radical ideals about life and the role of women. he often claimed that hana had too much schooling for a girl. she had graduated from women’s high school in kyoto, which gave her five more years of schooling than her older sister” (uchida 1997: 4). he believes that education “has addled her brain” (4) but, in fact, it is a statement of his insecurity towards a well-read woman, who might have much broader knowledge about the world than himself. undoubtedly, such a journey required a substantial courage on the part of a female and, as kim (1982: 249) reasons, “asian women who chose to immigrate to the united states as wives and picture brides were probably more adventuresome than average. some, perhaps, were eager to escape from a shadowy past. others undoubtedly wished to escape the social strictures of their village lives.” the aforementioned individual freedom must have been a great enticement as well, but their attitudes apparently also reflected a pressing sense of frustration and constituted the last resort to change their unfavourable course of life. according to paul spickard (2009: 36), a promise of a more manageable future was for the picture brides the most appealing factor: “for their part, migration to america was attractive to some japanese women, even if they had to marry to make the trip. it was an adventure. living standards were higher in north america. sex roles were less hierarchical. responsibilities to extended kin were less onerous. in the more fluid social situation of a migrant community, a woman had a greater chance than in japan of carving out a degree of autonomy for herself.” indeed, hana’s spirit longs for independence, since she believes that only the wings of uncurbed freedom will make her a self-fulfilled woman, and she is eager to follow the wind of fate that could bring her to this destination. the sacrifice of coming to another continent seems to fade in the distance, as the reward may bring the desired fruit of satisfaction. uchida (1997: 3) offers a conscientious study of a self-aware woman who seeks a space for herself where her free will would not be subjected to constant abuse and distortion: 48 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) hana knew she wanted more for herself than her sisters had in their proper, arranged and loveless marriages. she wanted to escape the smothering strictures of life in her village. she certainly was not going to marry a farmer and spend her life working beside him planting, weeding and harvesting in the rice paddies until her back became bent from too many years of stooping and her skin turned to brown leather by the sun and wind. neither did she particularly relish the idea of marrying a merchant in a big city as her two sisters had done. since her mother objected to her going to tokyo to seek employment as a teacher, perhaps she would consent to a flight to america for what seemed a proper and respectable marriage. the only obstacle she has to overcome is the final decision of the family, as a mutual consent on the part of both families might give her a preliminary passport to a brighter future. in response, the relatives “all nodded, each of them picturing this merchant in varying degrees of success and affluence” (3). it does not need to be overtly stressed that in such a patriarchal arrangement it was the male who supervised the major decisions and directed the flow of the family life according to his will. ghymn (1995: 85) notes that this came as no surprise to the majority of japanese women, since they “were taught that they were inferior to men. as children their brothers were always favoured, and as wives they were told to obey their husbands. it was considered a woman’s duty and honour to obey her father and husband at all times.” thus, hana’s mother, after discussing the matter mostly with the male members of the family and the village priest—since “[a] man’s word carried much weight for hana’s mother” (uchida 1997: 4)—finally agrees to the further development of events: “an exchange of family histories and an investigation was begun into taro takeda’s family, his education and his health, so they would be assured that there was no insanity or tuberculosis or police records concealed in his family’s past. soon hana’s uncle was devoting his energies entirely to serving as a go-between for hana’s mother and taro takeda’s father” (4). in the subsequent period, hana and taro begin exchanging their letters and photographs. it was supposed to be the most convenient way of bringing the matter to a successful end as it saved time and the cost of travel. according to spickard (2009: 36), another relevant reason on the part of a male might pertain to the fact that he wanted “to avoid exposing himself to the japanese military draft by going home”. the exchanges between the couple are rather laconic accounts of their personal lives, without a hue of intimacy or a romantic tinge: “when at last an agreement to the marriage was almost reached, taro wrote his first letter to hana. it was brief and proper and gave no more clue to his character than the stiff formal portrait taken at his graduation from middle school. hana’s uncle had given her the picture with apologies from his parents because it was the only photo they had of him, and it was not a flattering likeness” (uchida 1997: 4). over time, the relationship does not become tighter, as neither of them is willing to 49 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) confide their innermost thoughts to the mute person in the portrait. in this case, the photograph does not assume the role of a remainder of an affectionate relationship from the past, since the person depicted in it remains a mysterious figure of non-reference— without a voice, familiar gestures or other sensory sensations. thus, instead of evoking memories to cherish every time one looks at it, the picture reveals an air of a transient sensation, which cannot form into a common sign of representation. it can be treated in terms of corporeal art, as its visual properties are the only informative clues one may acquire at the first examination. despite several consequent letters which hana receives in the meantime, the mutual emotional distance between the future spouses does not shrink: “by the time he sent her money for her steamship tickets, she had received ten more letters, but none revealed much more of the man than the first. in none did he disclose his loneliness or his need, but hana understood this. in fact, she would have recoiled from a man who bared his intimate thoughts to her so soon. after all, they would have a lifetime together to get to know one another” (5). the picture bride arrangement was focused mainly on achieving a final goal of marital union and less—if at all—on the means by which it was reached. the fact that the pair met through photographs, which rendered only physical features of a person, was one of the sufficient determinants for accepting each other and the first step towards a new life together. the future spouses, who were treated by their families like mere commodities, gazed from the photographs like lifeless mannequins on display in a store. the portrait of hana becomes a token of her only apparent freedom because she is going to pass from the hands of her family to her future husband. at least she can live with a hope of forthcoming salvation and marrying a man who will meet her expectations. according to further proceedings, after a long-distance marriage proposal had been accepted, a bride married an absent groom in a japanese ceremony in order to qualify for a passport: if the families agreed to the marriage, a mock wedding took place in the home village with a stand-in for the groom, and the woman’s name was transferred to the man’s family register. then, making use of the loophole in the gentlemen’s agreement, the new wife or ‘picture bride’ could secure a passport and journey to america to see her husband for the first time. between 1909 and 1920, when the so-called ladies’ agreement halted the immigration of picture brides, almost forty-five thousand japanese women came to america. most, like the men who preceded them, were young southern japanese from respectable farming families (kessler 1994: 39). however, this was not always the case, as in further years, american state governments ceased to recognise proxy wedding ceremonies. spickard (2009: 37) explains that the ramifications of such actions altered the course of the proceedings: “as a 50 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) result, some husbands married their wives at dockside, or in religious or civil ceremonies a few days later. some wives, feeling defrauded, insisted on returning home. some swapped husbands on the dock; others were swapped by the men who had paid their passage. but most women and men honoured the commitment they had made and quietly settled down to their new lives.” although the photographs often turned out to be outdated or fake, the majority of the picture brides humbly assumed their responsibilities and embarked on a new life. as zia (2001: 30) states, “[i]n 1900, there were about one thousand japanese women in the united states, but that number increased until 39 percent of japanese immigrants were female. … the u.s. government refused to recognize the legality of the japanese picture bride marriages, and the public derided japanese women as immoral, even though photo matchmaking was common and tolerated among european immigrants.” as a matter of fact, the photograph became a useful tool of transnational migration, since it served as a medium of transition and doubled as a mute intermediary. the camera assumed the role of a typewriter which produced a pictorial letter. however, photography treated as a source of information did not turn out to be an inerrant vehicle of representation. the elusiveness of this mode of representation was articulated in its apparent flawlessness in terms of image rendering. the picture, reconfiguring temporality, usually presented a silhouette of a fine young gentleman in his prime. blurring the boundary between the present and the past, the photograph—taken decades ago—often did not depict the actual image of the man and, in reality, the picture bride had to face a tarnished shadow of his past. in the voiceless photograph, the male image spoke for itself—ultimately triggering bitter disappointment, since the woman felt as if she was experiencing an illusion. although she could verify the portrayed man’s identity and recognise him, his aged appearance and a sense of deception placed the whole matter in a very unfavourable light. thus, the incongruity between the past and present appearance revealed that the couple had been separated not only by a spatial but also temporal distance. there is one more aspect that needs to be given attention with reference to the photograph as a means of representation. the picture gives its subjects a sense of eternal existence, which creates a timeless space of belonging. taken out of the time framework, the photographed people seem to linger in an interval between two periods of time. furthermore, sontag (1973: 11) suggests that every event captured in time is instantly rendered immortal: “after the event has ended, the picture will still exist, conferring on the event a kind of immortality (and importance) it would never otherwise have enjoyed. while real people are out there killing themselves or other real people, the photographer stays behind his or her camera, creating a tiny element of another world: the image-world that bids to outlast us all.” assuming the air of immortality, the prospective husbands presented themselves in the form of out-dated portraits, hoping that time had not worked to their disadvantage. this percept is also intriguing 51 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) from another vantage point. according to sontag, “[a] photograph is both a pseudo-presence and a token of absence” and “[t]he sense of the unattainable that can be evoked by photographs” (16) is here of particular significance. the past images of the prospective grooms turn into pseudo-present points of reference, since their existence did not find a truthful reflection in reality. thus, they became tokens of absence due to the fact that they lost touch with the present and could not be anchored in actuality. during her journey to the united states, hana is overcome with excitement and apprehensive thoughts at the same time. now her economic future is going to be totally dependent on her husband’s income, since—as she hopes—only he will be the main provider of the family: “hana wondered about the flat above the shop. perhaps it would be luxuriously furnished with the finest of brocades and lacquers, and perhaps there would be a servant, although he had not mentioned it. she worried whether she would be able to manage on the meagre english she had learned at women’s high school. the overwhelming anxiety for the day to come and the violent rolling of the ship were more than hana could bear” (uchida 1997: 5). as it transpires, the path to her dream life is paved with more obstacles than she could think of. before entering san francisco, not only is she enclosed indoors and questioned for two days, but also undergoes rigorous medical tests to qualify for permission to enter the mainland: when she set foot on american soil at last, it was not in the city of san francisco as she had expected, but on angel island, where all third-class passengers were taken. she spent two miserable days and nights waiting as the immigrants were questioned by officials, examined for trachoma and tuberculosis and tested for hookworm by a woman who collected their stools on tin pie plates. hana was relieved she could produce her own, not having to borrow a little from someone else, as some of the women had to do. it was a bewildering, degrading beginning, and hana was sick with anxiety, wondering if she would ever be released. (6) finally, she is able to depart and look for her future spouse. exhausted and with growing fearful anticipation, she is repeatedly overcome with more and more apprehension: “the early morning mist had become a light chilling rain … making the task of recognition even harder. hana searched desperately for a face that resembled the photo she had studied so long and hard. suppose he hadn’t come. what would she do then?” (6). the scene that follows is a common one among many picture brides who encountered their picture grooms for the first time. hana, staggered by the fact that taro’s appearance is far from his actual looks, seems overtly disillusioned. this is the next hindrance she must face and—most of all— accept if she wants to spend the rest of her life with the gentleman in front of her: “hana caught her breath. ‘you are takeda san?’ she asked. he removed his hat and hana was further startled to see that he was already 52 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) turning bald. ‘you are takeda san?’ she asked again. he looked older than thirty-one. ‘i am afraid i no longer resemble the early photo my parents gave you. i am sorry’” (7). the moment appears to be awkward for both of them. it seems as if the photograph of the groom-to-be has not fulfilled its task and its apparent objectivity in rendering someone’s image flawlessly is irrevocably distorted by time, since the photograph she has been given speaks for the past, not the present. the capability of constructing memory by photography exposes limits of photographic authenticity. the identity of taro is lost in the past and that is why it is almost impossible to be deciphered from the photograph. hana, taken back in time with the outdated image of the man, learns that this is a false representation of her future spouse. hence, his photo-image triggers a sense of betrayal of the fundamental principles of honesty and trust. squeezed between two images, she hardly manages to come to terms with this ‘misrepresentation,’ which is instantly noticeable for taro: “ ‘mr. and mrs. toda are expecting you in oakland. you will be staying with them until …’ he couldn’t bring himself to mention the marriage just yet and hana was grateful he hadn’t” (7). although she is familiar with the fact that the japanese men who want to attract young women to become their wives often resort to ‘ambiguous’ measures of persuasion, she did not expect on her arrival that the whole matter would be so far from the truth. kiku, who becomes her lifelong friend through good and bad times, reveals much more disappointing circumstances: hana’s anxieties still haunted her, bringing back her own first days in america. she knew what it was to travel so far to marry a strange man. she knew too that, more often than not, the first meeting was a disappointment rather than a hope fulfilled, for no man was so foolish as to tell the whole truth about himself before marriage. he sent only the best photograph of himself, and a rosy view of the future based more on hope than on actual fact. kiku knew more than one woman who had been led to believe her life in america would be one of comfort and prosperity. but often the landowner she had come expecting to marry turned out to be a poor dirt farmer who leased his land, and the car beside which he had posed for his photograph belonged not to him, but to his boss. the first months for many japanese women were a cruel and bitter disappointment. (21-22) hope turned into mirage for a significant number of picture brides who experienced the first pang of regret after disembarking the ship. kessler (1994: 43) points out that frequently they “were so distraught at seeing their new spouses—many of whom were twenty or more years older than the photographs they had sent to japan—that they pleaded (unsuccessfully) to be let back on the ship and returned home.” however, for the majority of the women, it was a one-way journey and the previously acquired consent to marriage simultaneously acted as a disclaimer. finding a common ground between the couple was often marred by a lack of mutual understanding, since forging 53 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) a relationship of trust, after having been deceived from the very beginning, verged on the impossible. for that reason, as kessler emphasises, “[t]he relationships that grew from these blind unions between young girls, who felt they had been tricked, and desperate middle-aged men, who lied about themselves and their prospects to attract a mate, were often uneasy, unhappy ones” (43). although it used to be a common pattern of relationship that was cultivated in the aftermath, there occurred some more optimistic instances which did not support such a generalisation. ghymn (1995: 76) notes that not all the married couples were doomed to a hopeless and grim future: “love was not always a part of the bargain. in fact, it was often the exception. … this is not to say that all marriages were miserable, but to point out that love in these marriages was not a given but a luxury.” it seems that hana has never been granted such a luxury, as she has to face the subsequent obstacles that come pouring into her life in significant numbers. the image of an omnipresent freedom and an idealistic life visualised by the woman becomes tarnished again when she finds out that her dream of being maintained and provided for only by her husband is another misconception. when it clashes with the reality, she has to construct her vision of the future from scratch: until that moment it had never occurred to hana that she might go to work when she came to america. she intended, of course, to help taro at his shop occasionally, but as the wife of the proprietor, she pictured herself sitting at the back of the shop knitting or crocheting in a comfortable chair. she had never once thought that she would go to the home of a white woman and do her housework for her. taro was supposed to be a successful shopkeeper, and she had come to america to be a lady, not a servant. (uchida 1997: 10) the fact that asian immigrants had to work hard and for minimum wages to maintain their families was a novelty to hana. this was another disillusionment to be digested in a short space of time. the prosperity of the family often depended on frugality and a sparing use of resources. according to spickard (2009: 39), “[t]he couples had to establish a common bond of duty, love, or resignation very quickly, for pressures were intense and resources were few. in america, as in japan, the issei had to work very hard to make even a meagre living. women found themselves working for wages outside the home or working alongside their husbands on farms or in businesses.” when hana realises this, she knows that assistance with running taro’s store will become her duty as well. hana has been haunted by doubts about her future since the beginning of her stay in an alien land. she is overcome with reservations and filled with inner regret: “but suppose all was not as it had seemed. what could she do then? she had no money with which to return to japan, and besides, she had promised to become taro’s wife” (uchida 1997: 10). quickly enough does she understand that any uniting bond will not be one 54 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of love. being torn apart between the past and the present becomes a torment she is hardly able to sustain: a mass of troubled thoughts tumbled about in her head as she prepared for bed. perhaps she had made a terrible mistake in coming to america. in her anxiety to escape the drabness of oka village, perhaps she had leaped too far and severed too many roots. now, like a tree transported beyond its native soil, she must grope for life and sustenance in an alien land, to be cherished by a stranger whose love she feared and whose life must, in the end, become her own. (26) the story gets more complex when hana falls in love with taro’s best friend, kiyoshi yamaka. even though she is not married yet, she is not capable of claiming her own right to love and resists her feelings for kiyoshi. requited love is harder to abandon as they both realise that it feels as if they have known each other forever. the sole preliminary marriage agreement makes hana keep her promise irrevocable. she would rather fall into an unhappy and loveless marriage than lose her face and dignity by breaking her word. she seems disposed to bleed for the rest of her life rather than hurt taro and make him suffer instead. moreover, any rash action would also influence their families in japan, and that was too heavy a burden to be carried on woman’s shoulders. the predicament appears to be unsolvable, as—according to her reasoning—no matter which direction she chooses, each solution will have dire consequences. hence, hana’s pondering whether she could withdraw herself before the wedding ceremony does not bring any sound resolution and she still lingers at the same starting point: she must give herself more time before making judgements, but she couldn’t help wondering if she could face the life that seemed to lie ahead. yet what were the alternatives? she could beg taro’s forgiveness and break her engagement to him. she could wait a decent interval and perhaps marry someone else. hana didn’t dare let herself think who that might be. it was clearly impossible to renege on her promise, not only for taro’s sake, but for her uncle’s. he would suffer a complete loss of face after having worked so hard to convince taro’s parents that she would be a good wife. (25) hana’s final decision to be faithful to her future husband stems from her cultural background and is a direct fruit of a japanese upbringing. her personal sacrifice seems to be natural, since she could not think of any other conceivable twist of events on her part. female servitude to men does not seem to play a more significant role than adherence to traditional japanese values, which are the cornerstone of every social relationship in japan. stan yogi (1997:132) distinguishes a few “overarching values among japanese americans: sensitivity and obligation. these values are seen in various 55 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) cultural phenomena such as giri (indebtedness), on (obligation), and enryo (reserve, constraint), which are based in empathy and interdependence.” the aforementioned set of values passed on to offspring for centuries constitutes the rudiments of japanese spiritual wisdom and is the major point of reference for the subsequent generations. an attitude of obligation which requires loyalty and obedience makes hana stick firmly to her decision. within the scope of indebtedness, she is also bound by a number of incurred obligations, which—for a person unfamiliar with japanese culture—might seem quite incomprehensible. as kessler (1994: ix) remarks, “[i]n japan you are born owing ancestral debts that can never be repaid, and as you make your way in the world you accumulate new obligations, kindness and favours owed to family, friends, colleagues, neighbours, even strangers. this web of obligation connects people in ways that both include and transcend kinship and friendship.” the entire way of reasoning is deeply rooted in an ancestral tradition since historically it derived from “a culture that stressed group identity over individualism, that emphasized, above all else, a sense of duty and responsibility to others. … the society was threaded together by osewa (aid, help or indebtedness), a meshwork that connected people to one another across families and across generations. that is how japan functioned” (54). from this vantage point, hana’s mindset is completely compatible with the expectations of her japanese community in her native land, and she does not seem willing to challenge the contemporary social construct, regardless of her personal inclinations towards individuality. before the wedding ceremony, hope blends with anxiety as the couple prepares to embark on their lifelong journey. standing in front of the altar before taking vows, each of them realises how difficult it will be to make a successful living, not only in emotional but also economic terms: now here was hana, who also had sailed far from home, trusting and full of hope, to become his wife. she was like a child coming to be led by a blind man. he felt anxious and fearful for them both, but was determined not to disappoint hana. he would work hard and try to give her a good life. perhaps one day they would have a family, and he would have enough money to rent a house on a proper street. he would see to it that hana never regretted coming to america. he owed her at least that much. (uchida 1997: 28) hana’s thrust into taro’s arms in a childlike manner is not indicative of an infantile attitude but represents a token of total confidence that a wife should evince towards her husband. ghymn (1995: 87) argues that “[b]eing childlike doesn’t imply stupidity; rather it represents the feminine way of behaving for japanese women. this master/ servant relationship for husband and wife has always been the custom in japan. the traditional wife usually obeys the husband in all matters.” again, the japanese way of thinking shapes their mutual attitudes towards the future, which finds its reflection in 56 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) female obedience and male primacy. transferring the japanese cultural matrix onto the american soil is supposed to provide them a stable and, hopefully, prosperous living. according to ghymn, only such an arrangement was regarded to be a preliminary step to fulfilment for the issei: “a woman’s loyalty to her husband has been considered one of her highest virtues. … raised on confucian standards of patience and endurance, the first-generation women were not ill-equipped to face the harsh realities of early twentieth-century america. persevering, determined to succeed, trained in discipline, the early wives started new communities” (76-77). after all, these were the virtues which for many japanese women made it possible to withstand and resist the biting winds of an uncertain future. one of the major obstacles to overcome for the newcomers was racial and ethnic discrimination. hana soon finds out from kiku that no matter how hard they try, the japanese will always be placed at the lowest rung of the social ladder, as they are offered only menial jobs and do not have any prospects for improving their position in american society. such a rejection engenders numerous reverberations which adversely affect their everyday lives: she turned hana’s face toward her and said gravely, ‘you are going to have to realize something important, hana. we are foreigners in this country, and there are many white people who resent our presence here. they welcome us only as cooks or houseboys or maids. why, even if taro’s store was twice as big and it was on the best corner in downtown oakland, still his only customers would be the japanese and the men on seventh street. don’t forget, we are aliens here. we don’t really belong. (uchida 1997: 25) their plight made them one of the most vulnerable members of american society. despite their constant struggles to maintain their interests and identity, the japanese or other asians, and later, asian americans, were prevented from speaking in their own voice. in consequence, as david leiwei li (1998: 24) underlines, all asian americans at the time were resigned to accepting their desperate predicament: “since historically asian americans were denied access to the political and cultural production of the nation, and heavily restricted in finding alternative means of propagating ethnic consciousness, they were forced in to a sorry state of dependency on the dominant definition of themselves.” due to their oriental origin and exotic looks, asian americans were deprived of equal rights for citizenship—freely granted to europeans—which rendered them social outcasts regardless of their assets. american history was caught in a vicious circle, which proved that, irrespective of an american past tarnished with slavery, skin colour still mattered. as kessler (1994: 19-20) argues, a set of external features was the only factor that made asians distinguishable from a white society. all other outstanding markers, such as language or customs, were malleable to change. 57 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) thus, their distinctive asian appearance became an indelible mark of their identity, which—in the society that despised dissimilarity—turned into a lifelong burden and stigma that condemned them to a deep-rooted sense of inferiority: welcomed by the statue of liberty, the europeans could shed the ways of the old world. they could change their speech, their customs, their citizenship, even their names. in time, they could be, if they wanted to be—as so many first-generation immigrants did—indistinguishable from others who had been in the country for generations. but the statue of liberty showed her back to the orient, and this was more than a symbolic gesture of exclusion. although arrivals from asia were sometimes welcomed as cheap labor, regardless of how long they lived in america and how westernized they became, their faces would forever mark them as foreigners. speaking in photographic terms, their origin thrust asians out of focus, which excluded them entirely from the american national scrapbook and rendered them invisible for the rest of american society. because of their disparity, they were out of frame, which rendered them invisible for the rest of american society. always in the margin and at the bottom of society, the immigrants were prevented from prospective development. all these determinants contributed to a growing sense of frustration, which has bred a desperate need for a change lasting to the present day, however in altered and less conspicuous circumstances. sau-ling cynthia wong (1993: 91) voices concern that “asian americans are forever marked by some untransformable alien element. thus an identity that has been formed like a chemical compound, in that complex, irreversible process called living, is forcibly broken apart, treated as if it were a physical mixture with readily sorted-out ingredients.” torn between an oriental and occidental world, asian-american identities have transformed into hybrids in a constant struggle, unable to determine whether the asian or american part of themselves is prevalent. the japanese immigrants at the beginning of the twentieth century were inclined to enter the flow of the american cultural mainstream as soon as possible. a number of the issei japanese tried to blend in and emulate americans in every possible way, which reflected their immediate urgency for assimilation. they comprehended that this was the only reasonable way to make them succeed in a new world. what is more, conforming to american rules often did not seem to bring much difficulty for the newcomers. although they knew that they would never be treated on a par with european immigrants, the japanese strove to achieve at least the appearance of conformity. according to kim (1982: 125), changing the way of life was not an overrated price for the reward of being accepted as equals, which—after all—did not happen at all: one of the attitudes that set early japanese immigrants apart from the chinese was their 58 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) active interest in adopting the clothing, mannerisms, and customs of anglo-americans. the early chinese, required under penalty of death to maintain their queues as signs of their obeisance to manchu rule and concerned with eventual return to their villages in china, did not generally adopt western-style clothing. the japanese, on the other hand, had their hair cut in modern european styles and attempted to dress like americans as much as possible. japanese picture brides told of being whisked from the ships by their new husbands directly to the dressmaker’s, where they would be outfitted in western clothing, including hats, corsets, high-necked ruffled blouses, long skirts with bustles, high-laced shoes, and, for the first time in their lives, brassieres and hip pads. some japanese immigrants converted to christianity and tried to learn english. the aforementioned practices are also vividly depicted in uchida’s novel. hana, after disembarking the ship, starts to feel the first pangs of acute reality. while travelling with taro by street car, she becomes “more and more aware of her conspicuous japanese clothing” (uchida 1997: 8), which makes her vulnerable to the transfixing stares of the people around: “‘my clothes are not right,’ she murmured, tucking her feet with their white tabi and zori as far beneath the bench as she could. she held her furoshiki bundle close to her chest, but there was no hiding it or her clothes, and the curious stares of the people who sat opposite her were cold and unfriendly. ‘i feel very much out of place,’ she whispered” (8). taro’s reaction was swift and comforting, he “nodded and understood. ‘mrs. toda will help you get some american clothing,’ he assured her.” as far as christian faith is concerned, taro has already converted to christianity and expects hana to take the same measure. what is more, his idea of the wedding ceremony is also accomplished and ready to be realised, without a need to consult the future wife: “taro had said he wanted to have a fine, american-style christian wedding. he wanted none of the stiff formality of a japanese wedding with a doll-like bride, bewigged and so heavily encrusted with powder that the groom scarcely recognized her. nor did he want any of the ritual of the shinto ceremony” (22). his instructions do not leave any free space for creativity even in terms of the bride’s clothing: “ ‘i want hana to wear a long white dress with a veil and carry a proper bouquet,’ he instructed. ‘i expect she will need white shoes too, and all the things that go beneath the dress’ ” (22). after a short period of time, hana is baptized as a christian, also at taro’s request. it is worth mentioning that her conversion is not the result of her personal beliefs. in fact, it is made in compliance with her husband’s will, for the sake of marital obedience on the female part: “hana agreed mainly because she felt it her duty to do so” (64). indeed, a strong sense of isolation felt by the issei generated an overwhelming social pressure within the community, which could be eased by adopting the same cultural customs or religious practices as those of the white community. as kessler (1994: 18) points out, according to some issei—adopting such measures shrank the distance between the two nations: 59 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) “while the vast majority of issei laborers kept the faith of their homeland, a number of the most successful japanese immigrants were leaving buddhism behind. their acceptance of a western faith seemed to make them more ‘palatable,’ or at least somewhat more comprehensible, to white society. it took the edge of their foreignness and gave them something in common with the dominant society in which they had to function.” as a matter of fact, the nisei—constituting the second generation of the japanese immigrants—were characterised by a much stronger inclination towards american culture, its language and customs. the process of identification with the united states occurred naturally, since it was their birthplace and a surrounding cultural background. when her daughter reaches the age of a prospective bride, hana realises that she no longer belongs to japanese culture. the only child of the takedas, mary yukari, whose double name of american and japanese origin also indicates a double identity, testifies to the fact that her mental attitude is completely disparate from her parents’ expectations and she no longer resembles an image of a japanese subservient female: she looked at her daughter and wondered what would happen if they went back to japan now. would it be too late to make a japanese woman of mary? she pictured her kneeling gracefully in a silk kimono, preparing ceremonial tea or arranging flowers. she saw her dressed in the finery of a japanese bride, her face made up with thick white paste. but even in her imagining, mary slithered quickly out of the stiff strictures of japanese clothing, and hana knew that her daughter was already too free and self-willed to become a submissive japanese wife. she already possessed the same independent spirit that had caused hana herself to leave her home so many years ago. (uchida 1997: 128) undoubtedly, the japanese set of values based on mental stamina and sacrifice has helped hana survive the most arduous hardships of her life. even her stay at two internment camps during world war ii, first at the tanforan assembly center in california and then at the topaz relocation center in utah, and the death of taro, accidentally shot by a guard on the camp premises, do not scar her endurance and a strong will to prevail. uchida, through the words of reverend nishima, reaffirms that the two former picture brides, hana and kiku, despite their advanced age, still possess the same energy and forcefulness that enabled them to travel to an unknown country a few decades earlier: “they’re strong, … both of them. they each crossed an ocean alone to come to this country, and they are going to survive the future with the same strength and spirit” (216). after 1924, the arrival of picture brides into the united states was eventually halted. even then the harshest restrictions turned out to be targeted at the immigrants of asian origin, who were still refused to be granted the right for citizenship. kessler (1994: 78-79) remarks that the annual quotas for immigrants from european countries 60 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) were in stark contrast to the ones provided for the japanese, which resulted in a significant decline of immigration from the asian continent: in 1924 congress passed an immigration quota bill, the national origins act, the purpose of which was to restrict immigrants from ‘undesirable’ areas while encouraging ‘good’ immigrants. the bill set annual quotas from various countries. from ireland (in ‘good’ northwestern europe), 17, 853 immigrants would be allowed; but from poland (in less desirable eastern europe), the limit was 6,524. the annual allowable quota from japan: 0. wives of japanese citizens already in america were no longer permitted to enter (as they had been through a ‘loophole’ in the 1907 gentlemen’s agreement). even u.s. citizens could not bring into the country their asian spouses, who were classified as ‘aliens ineligible for citizenship.’ the picture bride arrangement has been amply explored in asian american literature. it constitutes a significant and recurrent theme of asian american prose and poetry. uchida’s novel which has been chosen to portray the character and specificity of this phenomenon, was followed by a number of other works. over the subsequent decades, it has received much publicity and engendered numerous publications—to name just a few: passage of a picture bride (1990) by won kil yoon, picture brides: japanese women in canada (1995) by tomoko makabe, korean picture brides (2002) by sonia shinn sunoo, picture bride (2014) by c. fong hsiung, picture bride (2016) by mike malaghan and picture bride stories (2016) by barbara f. kawakami—which present the life stories of the asian picture brides of various descent who at the turn of the twentieth century arrive in the united states or canada to challenge their poignant destiny. in their works, the authors strike a similar chord of disillusionment with the depictions of numerous hardships awaiting the newly arrived females. more importantly, they unveil the innermost feelings of the asian women who, after confronting the harsh reality of their new lives, are able to endure and prevail despite adverse circumstances. the aforementioned subject matter is also present in asian-american novels which do not deal with the picture bride system predominantly but interweave it into japaneseamerican discourse about the history of the japanese in america. thus, one cannot get rid of the impression that this practice constitutes an indispensable and inseparable part of the japanese cultural heritage. among the novels reflecting the experiences of the contemporary japanese picture brides, the buddha in the attic by julie otsuka draws immediate attention with its specific depiction of the inherent feelings and attitudes of the japanese females. assuming a plural voice (plural in its form and unity—instead of an individual ‘i’), the women speak unanimously about the difficulties they have been suffering, which—with an array of emotive references—makes their emotional vocalisation 61 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) even more impactful and reverberating. their journey from japan starts with the moments of apprehension and uncertainty interspersed with occasional rays of hope: what would become of us, we wondered, in such an alien land? … would we be laughed at? spat on? or, worse yet, would we not be taken seriously at all? but even the most reluctant of us had to admit that it was better to marry a stranger in america than grow old with a farmer from the village. because in america the women did not have to work in the fields and there was plenty of rice and firewood for all. and wherever you went the men held open the doors and tipped their hats and called out, “ladies first” and “after you.” (otsuka 2011:7) the vision of abundance in every respect, as opposed to the poverty-stricken regions of japan, and noticeably different male attitudes towards women provoke widespread interest among the young japanese females. however, already on their arrival, the picture brides are stricken with an increasing number of disappointing events, which eventually makes them sink into despair, since all they encounter seems to surpass their intellective and emotional capacity. the outdated photographs and letters, the latter of which actually do not reflect the personalities of their husbands, due to the fact that they have been written by skilful matchmakers, place the women in front of complete strangers and trigger the first wave of disillusionment in the new land: on the boat we could not have known that when we first saw our husbands we would have no idea who they were. that the crowd of men in knit caps and shabby black coats waiting for us down below on the dock would bear no resemblance to the handsome young men in the photographs. that the photographs we had been sent were twenty years old. that the letters we had been written had been written to us by people other than our husbands, professional people with beautiful handwriting whose job it was to tell lies and win hearts. (18) otsuka’s novel discloses more details about the factual state of matters when the japanese wives are faced with the necessity to work, as the level of potential affluence of their husbands often transpires to be so low that they are on the verge of destitution. what is more, their place of habitation can hardly be called a proper home, which makes the couple struggle to earn a living for each day of their existence: “because if our husbands had told us the truth in their letters—they were not silk traders, they were fruit pickers, they did not live in large, many-roomed houses, they lived in tents and in barns and out of doors, in the fields, beneath the sun and the stars—we never would have come to america to do the work that no self-respecting american would do” (28-29). hence, they end up doing the menial housework in american houses, which seems to be 62 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the only path to career advancement for asians: “we never talked back or complained. we never asked for a raise. for most of us were simple girls from the country who did not speak any english and in america we knew we had no choice but to scrub sinks and wash floors” (44). hard labour in the fields constitutes another way of providing financial support for the household by the women: “some of us worked quickly because our husbands had warned us that if we did not they would send us home on the very next boat. i asked for a wife who was able and strong” (28). nevertheless, all the hardships that the japanese wives have to endure do not trigger as much resentment as the attitudes of their spouses towards them. their apparent ‘translucence’ is, in fact, a reflection of their passivity and social inertness, which incurs their husbands’ ignorance and emotional negligence: “sometimes he looked right through us without seeing us at all, and that was always the worst. does anyone even know i am here?” (30). all in all, the purport of the potent plural vocalisation in the novel becomes an anthem of female strength and coalescence, which resolves into a persuasive image of human endurance and evidence that even japanese women can speak their own voice. among poetic works, picture bride (1983) by cathy song,2 a poem from a collection under the same title, stands out with its sensual sensitivity and attempts to capture this phenomenon into empirical parentheses. song’s grandmother, a korean picture bride herself married to a chinese labourer, provided first-hand experience and background information concerning the practice. the author, projecting herself into her grandmother’s emotions, employs her curiosity to ask questions about her ancestor’s past ‘predicament.’ song’s incomprehensibility borders on incredulity, as getting married at the age of twenty-three to a complete stranger, thirteen years her senior, seems to be beyond her comprehension. as seiwoong oh (2007: 243) notes, the corporeal subject matter constitutes the focal point of the author’s analysis: “a poet who highly stresses visual body imagery in her works, cathy song deals with the mapping of identity by exploring the relationship of body to body and presents such imagery explicitly and symbolically.” the most nagging question that lingers in the end refers to the most intimate plane of human existence where the author wonders whether her grandmother wilfully and immediately engaged not only in an emotional, but also physical relationship with her newly-met husband. a matchmaking practice became a custom of the time where ‘mail order’ brides functioned within the framework of the objectified body and this is accentuated at the end of the poem. in the view of joseph jonghyun jeon (2012: 116), the grandmother’s image evokes alienation which does not translate into a tangible token of representation: the final image of the grandmother’s dress billowing in the smoke-filled winds from the 2 song, cathy. 1983. picture bride. new heaven and london: yale university press. 63 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) cane fields marks an arrested moment that cannot be completed and doubles the picture of her as viewed by the grandfather. in both cases, the relationship to the image is not just estranged, it is irreparably so, and the grandmother comes to function not unlike the face of the other … but a more abstract representation of alterity in general—not a particular other but otherness writ large. in short, “picture bride” bespeaks the limits of the picture. another poetic work which draws immediate attention with its poignant reference to the picture bride system is enclosed within eleven lines of a personal account. the poem daughter (1989) in the collection air pocket by kimiko hahn,3 an american author of japanese and german descent, refers directly to a generational gap and a problem of translational nature between the present and the past. through the semantic illustration of the picture bride arrangement and the use of ekphrasis in the portrayal of still life, the author reflects her incapacity to aptly render the crux of this phenomenon. she does not feel competent to translate the events which she has not witnessed herself. from the vantage point of a granddaughter, the author is incapable of a flawless and truthful representation. according to traise yamamoto (1999: 241), “hahn directly associates translation with historicity, exploring the problematics and possibilities of translation understood as a mode of cultural transmission. the poem implicitly relies on an understanding of a specific history to ground its central tension between representation and translation.” the generational gap between the grandchild and her grandmother obliges them to speak different languages as they have distinct points of reference in their lives. this lack of convergence in time creates a possibility of misrepresentation, which—as yamamoto points out—contributes to a failure in a cultural translation of the whole concept. such an attempt is doomed from the start, as—similarly to a still life—it does not reflect the complexity of the matter and does not retain its multidimensionality: hahn thus calls into question the nature of representation: like the marriage photographs that gave no hint of the subject behind the image, a carefully arranged still life is flat—a unidimensional rendering of its subject. in both cases, the fixity of the picture fails to articulate complexity; its convention of artifice only alludes to representational authenticity by assuming a fixed object. in a similar way, translating the grandmother’s language to satisfy the expectation of a seamless transmission of culture presupposes culture as inert. the translating subject herself then becomes, like a still life, a flat representation that elides subjectivity. (242) 3 hahn, kimiko. 1989. air pocket. brooklyn: hanging loose press. 64 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) what is more, still life, as its name indicates, is lifeless and devoid of emotional content unless it evokes definable emotions in the observer. thus, the plane of reference is transferred onto the viewer who reacts to the visual stimuli in an individual way. similarly, an alien world full of antagonistic attitudes towards the japanese projected onto the picture bride a set of adverse emotions which made her feel socially isolated and abandoned. as ghymn (1995: 75) elaborates, this constituted a common course of events, since the female was often left to herself and all she experienced was the initial thrill of hope which subsequently turned into disillusionment: “the discrimination and loneliness that awaited her were not foreseen. the picture bride knew almost nothing of the emotional isolation, the racial prejudice, and the harsh realities to come. the brides came with a great deal of hope only to be met by disappointment. … there was no turning back after they came here, however; they had no choice but to survive and endure.” a still life can also be viewed from another angle as far as female (non-)responsiveness is concerned. the motionless composition it depicts could be translated as female powerlessness, her passivity and inability to take action, which was characteristic of the picture brides. the japanese woman, like an inanimate object, accepted a social locus to which she was directed by the male. her place of belonging could only be compatible with that of her husband or another male member of the family. and again, according to ghymn’s reasoning, the women’s weak social position triggered severe reverberations in their lives: “social reality has meant for centuries male power and female powerlessness. in america these women met discrimination and hardship. … they also faced prejudice because all quite often the public thought that all asian women were prostitutes. … soon, the women usually had big families and nowhere to turn if they did not get along with their husbands. alienation, loneliness, rejection—the picture brides were effectively imprisoned” (75-76). their imprisonment was similar to still life objects enclosed within one framework of perception, notably—the one of the painter or the photographer. the picture brides, fitted into the frames of personal obedience, acquiesced to this imposed passivity. in this case, the role of the imperious demiurge belonged to the japanese male who arranged the further life of his wife according to his own perception. juxtaposed with the conceptualisation of the “philosopher of the photograph” (brunet 2013: 8), roland barthes, who delineated a “cultural matrix for which photography remained something of a novelty, and an intruder of sorts in the older and more serene realm of literature” (8), a conclusion that can be derived from the picture bride phenomenon leads to the conjectural overlapping of literature and photography, which reveals their significant potentials deeply enmeshed in written and printed culture. not seldom is the former the face of the latter, since each one speaks for the other in an idiosyncratic language characteristic of its particular nature. thus, reversing the angle of perception enables these two means of expression to influence each other in order to obtain a 65 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) ‘bilingual’ plane of communication permeated with a double (but not interchangeable) layer of significance, which facilitates adjusting the lens of interpretation. to recapitulate, photographic criticism lends to literary criticism a (non-)obvious tinge of signification as the photograph becomes a stylus with which the author may give a favourable, and—most importantly—meaningful, touch to his or her subject matter. references brunet, f. 2013 [2009]. photography and literature. london: reaktion books. burrows, s. 2010. a familiar strangeness: american fiction and the language photography, 1839-1945. athens and london: the university of georgia press. cunningham, d., fisher, a. & mays, s. 2008. introduction. in: d. cunningham, a. fisher and s. mays (eds.), photography and literature in the twentieth century, 1-10. newcastle upon tyne: cambridge scholars publishing. ghymn, e. m. 1995. images of asian american women by asian american women writers. new york: peter lang. jeon, j. j. 2012. racial things, racial forms: objecthood in avant-garde asian american poetry. iowa city: university of iowa press. kessler, l. 1994. stubborn twig: three generations in the life of a japanese american family. new york: plume. kim, e. h. 1982. asian american literature: an introduction to the writings and their social context. philadelphia: temple university press. li, d. l. 1998. imagining the nation: asian american literature and cultural consent. stanford, california: stanford university press. meehan, s. r. 2008. mediating american autobiography: photography in emerson, thoreau, douglass, and whitman. columbia and london: university of missouri press. misztal, b. 2003. theories of social remembering. maidenhead, philadelphia: open university press. mitchell, w.j.t. 1994. picture theory: essays on verbal and visual representation. chicago and london: the university of chicago press. oh, s. 2007. encyclopedia of asian-american literature. new york: facts on file. otsuka, j. 2011. the buddha in the attic. new york: anchor books. rugg, l. h. 1997. picturing ourselves: photography and autobiography. chicago and london: the university of chicago press. sontag, s. 1973. on photography. new york: farrar, straus and giroux. spickard, p. 2009. japanese americans: the formation and transformations of an ethnic group. new jersey: rudgers university press. taminiaux, p. 2009. the paradox of photography. amsterdam and new york: rodopi. uchida, y. 1997 [1987] picture bride. seattle and london: university of washington press. 66 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) wong, s. c. 1993. reading asian american literature: from necessity to extravagance. princeton, new jersey: princeton university press. yamamoto, t. 1999. masking selves, making subjects: japanese american women, identity, and the body. berkeley and los angeles: university of california press. yogi, s. 1997. japanese american literature. in: k. cheung (ed.), an interethnic companion to asian american literature, 125-155. cambridge: cambridge university press. zia, h. 2001. asian american dreams: the emergence of an american people. new york: farrar, straus and giroux. * * * małgorzata jarmołowicz-dziekońska, phd, is an esp teacher at the department of foreign languages at the medical university of bialystok, poland. her major fields of academic interest comprise ecocriticism, postcolonial and cultural studies with a focus on ethnicity and identity formation in the context of immigrant narratives. 67 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) laura saks1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.04 university of warsaw, poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3105-2458 is translating poems for children a child’s play? a linguistic analysis of the english translations of “lokomotywa” by julian tuwim abstract. the aim of the present article is to demonstrate the challenges connected with the translation of children’s poetry, and to offer a qualitative analysis of different translation strategies employed in two english translations of the polish poem for children “lokomotywa” by julian tuwim. the translation analysis is based on the translation strategies proposed by lawrence venuti and peter newmark. it focuses on the linguistic and cultural differences between polish and english, and examines the choices of the translation strategies made by the translators, and the impact they may have had on the reception of the poem in the target language. the comparison shows that although there may be some limitations in terms of the target language and culture, the translators are able to find suitable and effective solutions and simultaneously convey the source text’s form and content. the conclusions placed at the end of the paper summarise the features of both translations and emphasise those strategies employed by the translators which are effective and thanks to which the translations are likely to live up to children’s expectations. keywords: poetry translation, translation strategies, translator, poetry, comparative analysis, source text, target text. 1 introduction translation of poetry is thought to be one of the most demanding as well as rewarding challenges faced by a translator. it seems impossible to convey all elements of the form, and every feature of the original, whilst simultaneously adapting the language to the target tradition and culture. translators are often expected to approximate the rhythm, syntax, form, and content. according to newmark (1987: 70), “the translation 1 address for correspondence: faculty of applied linguistics, university of warsaw, ul. szturmowa 4, 02-678 warsaw, poland. e-mail: l.saks@student.uw.edu.pl 68 ................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 33 (2021) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of poetry is the field where most emphasis is normally put on the creation of a new independent poem, and where literal translation is usually condemned”. although every poem should be treated individually and requires skilfulness as well as creativity on the part of translators, there has been an urge to propose strategies which would make poetry translation as successful as possible. furthermore, various approaches to translation raise translators’ awareness regarding the most common translation problems and make the effectiveness of concrete techniques evident. the present article offers a linguistic analysis of two english language translations of “lokomotywa” by the polish poet julian tuwim, based on the strategies proposed by lawrence venuti and peter newmark. both translations constitute an interesting material to study since they were published in different centuries. the first presented translation dates back to 1939 and is ascribed to bernard gutteridge and william j. peace (julian tuwim most probably was in charge of the rhymes; tuwim 2013). marcel weyland is responsible for the most recent translation published in 2013. seventy-four years divides both texts, which seems significant from the linguistic point of view as translation studies and strategies developed in the second half of the 20th century. moreover, both translations illustrate diverse techniques applied by its authors; which make the analysis even more informative. throughout the study cultural-specific items, rhythm and rhymes, literary devices especially onomatopoeia are analysed because they play a key role when it comes to the reception of “lokomotywa”. furthermore, these elements may cause numerous translation difficulties and force translators to find optimal solutions which usually mean sacrificing one aspect for the sake of another. 2 theoretical background 2.1 translation strategies by lawrence venuti domesticating and foreignizing – these terms were coined by lawrence venuti. nonetheless, the latter is usually ascribed to friedrich schleiermacher, the 18th century theologian and philosopher. the former concept was already known in ancient rome when “translation was a form of conquest” and latin poets translated greek texts “into the roman present: they had no time for all those very personal things and names” (nietzsche 1974: 137). domesticating strategies have found their advocates among english and french translators especially since the 15th century. such conformity to cultural aspects present in the target language was particularly visible during the early modern period. domesticating is meant as adherence to literary standards, as well as contemporary situations both cultural and political. this strategy considerably contributed to the enormous success of some translations, which have become even better known than the originals (baker 1998: 324). _hlk43383972 _hlk74748384 _hlk74836717 _hlk42690332 _hlk27330924 _hlk27300431 _hlk54599725 _hlk32912836 _hlk27329327 _hlk27300414 _hlk77670239 _hlk77236825 _hlk77237282 _hlk77266523 samuel alaba akinwotu doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.01 a pragma-rhetorical study of selected pentecostal sermons in nigeria klaudia gajewska doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.02 why has phonodidactics become “the neglected orphan” of esl/efl pedagogy? explaining methodologyand elf--related motives behind a reluctance towards pronunciation teaching małgorzata jarmołowicz-dziekońska doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.03 the picture bride phenomenon: a reflection on photography from a cultural perspective in yoshiko uchida’s picture bride laura saks doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.04 is translating poems for children a child’s play? a linguistic analysis of the english translations of “lokomotywa” by julian tuwim magdalena żochowska doi: 10.15290/cr.2021.33.2.05 translating irony. translation strategies and techniques used by polish translators of pride and prejudice an exploration of the lineage of female utopian literature 21 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) emma crabtree1 doi: 10.15290 / cr.2019.26.3.02 university of buckingham orcid: 0000-0003-4593-2090 an exploration of the lineage of female utopian literature abstract. my paper assesses the effects of periodization on feminist representations of utopias. the first text acknowledged is margaret cavendish’s the blazing world, followed by charlotte perkins gilman’s herland, and concluding with angela carter’s collection of short stories entitled the bloody chamber. the paper demonstrates how one can mark the different movements within feminism throughout history as the nature of the utopian genre is that it reflects the desires of individuals within contemporary society. the utopia as a genre is becoming an increasingly diverse literary segment and one which can be described as under construction. we are moving towards new terms such as ‘ustopia’ which acknowledges that one’s utopia can be another’s dystopia. the utopian genre fuels and supports critical and satirical writing and so the method of periodization and assessing its lineage leads to illuminating details on historical movements which in this case is feminism. key words: feminism, utopmia, periodization, dystopia, gender politics. 1. introduction female writers tend to turn to the utopian or science fiction genre due to the freedom it affords them from the constrictions of realism which enables them to envisage a world wholly of their own design. the subversive nature of the genre allows writers to critique and hold a mirror up to society, exposing its flaws and injustices by writing of a world they desire. the term ‘utopia’ was coined by sir thomas more in his novel utopia, published in 1516. the word derives from the greek term ou-topos meaning ‘no place’, punning on the similar greek term ‘eu-topos’ meaning ‘a good place.’ a utopia is the presentation of an ideal society which often satirizes aspects of both the idealized society that the text portrays and indirectly, the society known to the author and intended reader. the function of a utopia is to incite “speculation, offer alternative vicarious experience, spur us as readers to re-evaluate and act upon our own world” (kessler 1995: xvii). this paper will explore the changing presentation of female utopias in connection with the gender politics and social context of each work and how they each mark or pre-empt different movements of feminism. “utopias and science fiction by women – women’s ‘literature’s of estrangement’ – constitute a continuous literary tradition in the west from the seventeenth century until the present day” 1 address for correspondence: 22 sanderling close, bicester, oxon, ox26 6wf, united kingdom. e-mail: emmacrabtree@msn.com 22 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) (donawerth & kolmerten 1994: 1). therefore, the first text to consider is margaret cavendish’s the blazing world first published in 1666, after the restoration of the stuart monarchy, in a period when gender roles and female sexuality were extremely rigid. the work presents the reader with a fantastical utopia exploring natural science, philosophy, and astrology through the powerful and dominant empress. cavendish’s bold and pioneering text engages with topics and a literary genre which was seen as strictly masculine. francis bacon’s utopia new atlantis (1627) can partially be seen as a foundation which cavendish aims to write against by pushing women and female perspectives into these male spheres. the same applies to the second text to be considered. charlotte perkins gilman’s herland was written in 1915 at a time when the first movements of feminism were emerging in america and parts of europe. at this time gender roles were slowly changing causing many discrepancies between notions of tradition and progression. in an almost opposite portrayal of a female utopia to cavendish’s, gilman writes of an entirely female society in which motherhood is seen as the epitome of womanhood. three men explore and attempt to be socialised into this world and interestingly the feminist story is unexpectedly focalized through the male perspective. in 1912 arthur conan doyle had published the lost world, which follows a similar premise in that it depicts a discovery and exploration of a forgotten land also peopled by fantastic creatures. his novel is an example of a classic masculinity fantasy of imperial conquest and domination of virgin territory. both cavendish and gilman feminize utopian fiction and push against the male creations within this genre. contrastingly, angela carter’s collection of fairy-tales, the bloody chamber (1979), has its roots in the feminine as the european fairy-tale traditionally figures the woman as the storyteller. however it is a literary tradition which male writers such as brothers grimm and andrew lang tried to mark as their own in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries through their collection, publication, and commercialisation of fairy-tales. writing at the time of the second wave of feminism, she adopts and revitalizes an archaic feminine genre to enforce her feminist message. the fairy-tale enables carter to have an unrestricted setting for her tales, allowing her to re-write traditional gender roles. she sexualises her females, they desire men, take control and can be violent. this is an alternative type of utopia to the previous texts. a utopia is a subjective creation as each person has a different view on what a utopia should entail. the utopia as a genre is becoming an increasingly diverse literary segment and one which can be described as ‘under construction’. the term ‘gynotopia’ is increasingly applied to a fictive world rid of males such as herland which also depicts both utopian and dystopian features. similarly, margaret atwood created the term ‘ustopia’ “by combining utopia and dystopia — the imagined perfect society and its opposite – because in [her] view, each contains a latent version of each other” (atwood 2011 online). given the historical context of each of these texts and the individual feminist ideas which each author held, there are dystopian aspects to each work. nevertheless, it is important to consider the texts within the time in which they were created and to consider how the authors and their publications contribute to or pre-empt the different movements of feminism. female utopias depict “how women are profoundly alienated and limited by patriarchal society; they then go on 23 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) to acquaint the reader with an alternative society in which women could feel at home and manifest their potential” (pearson 1977: 50). this potential is expressed in the specific areas of female liberation such as: education, motherhood and the removal of patriarchal ideals, and embraced female sexuality. 2. margaret cavendish, female rule and education the blazing world opens with a note to the reader which sets up the authoritative female voice governing the rest of the novel: for i am not covetous, but as ambitious as ever any of my sex was, is, or can be; which makes, that though i cannot be henry the fifth, or charles the second, yet i endeavour to be margaret the first. (124) to be a woman in the seventeenth century however was to be domestic, obedient, and silent. a woman’s place was not in discussing the current debates within the sciences and philosophy. fortunately, cavendish was not an ordinary seventeenth-century woman. she was flamboyant, bold, and ambitious as shown through the various frontispieces to her works. the blazing world was published alongside observations upon experimental philosophy, her theories about natural science. this combination is highly evocative of new atlantis, which was published with sylva sylvarum, bacon’s text on natural history. while marina leslie (1996: 9) states that cavendish is “clearly imitating bacon”, i would argue that she is not so much ‘imitating’ but forcing herself into a male domain through publishing two different texts. cavendish reacts against the notion that women must only discuss matters within the domestic sphere. to publish both a fantastical fiction and a thoughtful exploration of natural science, adds more validation to cavendish’s project than fiction alone. cavendish was a force to be reckoned with. she became the first woman to attend a meeting at the royal society of london in 1667. here she openly engaged with and critiqued the other members including thomas hobbes and rené descartes. a place where women could learn and join discussion was her utopian ideal. the empress in the text therefore establishes a scientific academy where she can grapple with her questions about natural science with other members of the blazing world. this creation “resembles and critiques both the royal society […] and its utopian inspiration, salomon’s house in bacon’s new atlantis, an academy of male elders” (trubowitz 1992: 234-5). while bacon portrays an academy of males which is evocative of the society in which he lived in, cavendish promotes sisterhood in her novel. the empress recognised that women were excluded from parts of religion in the blazing world and so she endeavoured to convert them to her religion. in this section cavendish not only promotes the feminist ideal of sisterhood, but also manages to fight against female stereotypes. the women are described as having “quick wits, subtle conceptions, clear understandings, and solid judgements” (162). this unity of women is reiterated when the empress befriends the equally independent and empowered 24 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) duchess, and both women are nearly inseparable. throughout the novel, the empress’s power is shown to be natural and innate, and the prefatory note to the reader adds: “i have made a world of my own: for which no body, i hope, will blame me, since it is in every one’s power to do the like” (124). this allows the reader to see that they too hold power. while cavendish encourages sisterhood and empowerment, one cannot ignore the domineering matriarchal figure of the empress who is given “absolute power to rule and govern all the world” (132). cavendish was a devout royalist throughout the turbulent seventeenth-century. it is therefore unsurprising that unlike gilman’s text where all the women are equal in status, cavendish chooses the “figure of absolute sovereign […] as a monarchical ideal of the independent woman” (trubowitz 1992: 231). by instating a monarch, cavendish “aligns the [utopian] form with her aristocratic nostalgia for what could be called a ‘magical’ past, for an idealized pre-civil war england” (trubowitz 1992: 231). some may read this figure who holds absolute power as a rather dystopian character especially in the seventeenth century. however, the reminder from cavendish that the world is of her own creation, gives the sense that the empress can be an ‘everywoman’ figure of anyone’s creation. while gilman emphasises the value of motherhood, cavendish distances her empress from the familial role and uses the duchess to critique the restrictions on women. cavendish allows one sentence to address the fact that the empress had children: “nor durst anyone wear jewels but the emperor, the empress, and their eldest son” (133). to focus on the empress adopting the role of the mother and wife would not be utopian, in cavendish’s interpretation of the concept. the presentation to the reader that the empress is simultaneously a mother, a ruler and engaged in current intellectual debates demonstrates cavendish’s view that there is more to women than domesticities. the voice of cavendish is focalised through the duchess who states: “i had rather die in the adventure of noble achievements, than live in obscure and sluggish security” (185). this powerful statement directly attacks the ideals of patriarchy which suffocated women in the seventeenth-century, who were forced to live in “sluggish security” leaving them “buried in oblivion” (185). in many respects, cavendish writes against the male utopias of the time. her utopia is set up as a direct opponent to these male creations, a work to be considered as wholly separate in what it represents. however, “she also seeks inclusion in male literary and philosophical canons” (leslie 1996: 7) by demonstrating both in her life and her work that women deserve a place within them. her utopia “challenges seventeenth-century concepts of identity and gender” (pohl 2003: 51). cavendish’s proto-feminist stance led her to gain the reputation of the “crazy duchess” (woolf 1996: 57-8). 3. charlotte perkins gilman and her edenic fantasy it is striking that after a distancing of the female from the domestic with cavendish, that gilman’s utopia would draw the two closer together in herland. in 1915, gilman is writing during the first wave of feminism and the first world war which both challenged gender roles. there are aspects of the novel which are problematic for the modern-day reader which now places herland within atwood’s category of the ‘ustopia’. nevertheless, considered in its historical context these 25 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) issues cannot cloud the powerful and still relevant feminist messages which gilman’s utopia offers. three years prior to publishing herland, conan doyle’s the lost world was published, and it could be said that gilman used his text as a platform to give a gynocentric perspective of the exploration of a previously undiscovered land for her feminist utopia. “choosing a utopian vehicle, five years before the passage of women’s right to vote she produced […a] rare classic edenic fantasy” (snodgrass 2006: 261-2). gilman instantly reverses the traditional gender roles of society in herland with males being inferior. the presentation of three distinctly different but stereotypical men is more evocative of male culture than if there were only one male in the novel. the focalisation of the female utopia through the male gaze and voice was an unexpected feature, but as the novel develops it is beneficial to gilman’s message. it creates a larger impact as the male voice suddenly aligns itself with the thoughts of the female reader. the strength of the patriarchal views held by men is evident as terry not only sexualised the women with his “visions of a sort of sublimated summer resort” which “he had pleasant dreams” about (9). he also assumed that he would be “elected king in no time” (11) as from his chauvinist and unreflective perspective, a land is not functional without male dominance. the benefit of having van as the narrator means that he acts almost as a mediator. he criticises terry for his views and gives the reader the presentation of an empathetic male ally: “as i learned more and more to appreciate what these women had accomplished, the less proud i [became] of what we, with all our manhood, had done” (79). gilman removes the patriarchal expectations on women, and so their appearance is entirely based on practicality as they “dress to suit health and comfort” (snodgrass 2006: 53). the men are baffled by the lack of vanity which they perceived as a feminine trait but realise is a product of the patriarchy. in the same way van is enlightened when he finds intelligent and dependable women as these were supposedly masculine traits. gilman revels in making the three men experience what women in the real-world were constantly experiencing. in chapter two, van describes that they “were much in the position of the suffragette trying to get to the parliament buildings” (30). during their imprisonment jeff notes that “they’ve given us a room – with no great possibility of escape – and personal liberty – heavily chaperoned” (38). for a female reader at this time this confined environment may have been rather familiar and is wittily evocative of the life of a married woman. the men realise that the women “needed neither protection nor service. … [they] were their guests, their prisoners, absolutely dependent” (119). for women, this was life in a patriarchal society. for the male reader this novel is designed to force them to reflect on the natural justice of the first phase of the feminist movement. georgia johnston notes that “gilman shows how the men, in a way, go back to the mother’s womb, in which they, like children, learn a new language, new customs, a new history” (johnston 1991: 58-9). they enter a land which is feminised in its description, which problematically reiterates the supposed domestic nature of women: “everything was beauty, order, perfect cleanness, and the pleasantest sense of home over it all” (25). aside from this, it is a land where “every woman values her maternity above everything else” (110). motherhood is their religion, and so the men 26 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) are engulfed in a wholly female space driven by maternity. in some way, the men do re-enter the womb and this perhaps shows gilman’s desire for society to be re-born without its prejudices. this emphasis on motherhood is interesting as gilman was writing when marie stopes embarked on her research into methods of contraception which changed the cultural approach to motherhood and female sexuality. the presentation of a sisterhood provides “a source of validation and spiritual nourishment and [is] a crucial element of female liberation” (snodgrass 2006: 493). it empowers women and encourage unification over cavendish’s empowered individual, although in gilman there is the loss of the individual which is also problematic. it is challenging as a modern-day reader to find the feminist message in the absolute emphasis on motherhood and the retreat from female sexuality. for motherhood to be the entire focus of the herlander’s lives is an interesting position given the lives of women in the real world. when gilman glorifies “female ‘instincts’ of love and service, her radical theory of feminism dissolved into a sometimes-sentimental worship of the status quo” (hill 1980: 525). however, these ideas fit in with “a turn-of-the-century feminist perspective” (miller 1983: 192-3) which came under the name of the ‘social purity movement’ of which gilman was a supporter. “the movement was driven by concepts of celibacy […] abstaining from sex was a wholly feminist cause” (kent 2018 online). followers of this movement believed that abstinence was the only way to gain equality. francis swiney stated that sexual “desire was ‘not natural’ and was likely part of the unnatural patriarchy. […] for swiney, women were destined to lead the human race to an egalitarian and asexual state” (kent 2018 online). this is a concept which in the light of herland is rather familiar where “there was no sex-feeling to appeal to” (122). the feminist movement thought that instead of relieving women of the patriarchal expectations, they would raise men to be as pure as women. when considering gilman’s work in the period in which it was written, it is absolutely deserving of its status as a utopian feminist landmark as it skilfully reverses the gender roles to critique the society at the fin-de-siècle. however, from a modern-day perspective it is perhaps less deserving of this status. 4. angela carter and sexual liberation in 2015, lindy west wrote a new introduction to herland and concluded: “my twenty-first-century herland would be, i’d hope, a little less perfect than gilman’s original – because women are people” (west 2015: xiii). the third text to be considered fulfils this idea of an imperfect world where women are returned to their natural and in some cases deeply flawed selves. for carter, allowing women to be true and imperfect was a utopian ideal. she fights against the social restraints on women which force them to become unnatural. the collection is a “catalyst of a million awakenings for readers (especially girls)” (warner 2013 online). the reinstatement of eroticism into what is seen as a genre for children, was a shocking decision by carter. through the subversion of gender roles, the stories powerfully reveal how fairy-tales participate “in constructing the boundaries of masculinity and femininity by reinforcing traditional ideas about sex roles” (seago 1999: 84). 27 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) “the tiger’s bride” instantly confronts the reader with the reality that women were viewed as mere possessions as it opens with: “my father lost me to the beast at cards” (51). the heroine in the story is coming of age, as are the majority of carter’s heroines, and therefore she is virginal which makes her more valuable. the girl finds affinity with the beast as she realises that like the beast with his mask, she is also an imitation of a human. the story is littered with references to her past where women would try to “scare [her] into good behaviour, for [she] was a wild wee thing” (56). she later adds: “i let out a raucous guffaw; no young lady laughs like that! [...] but i did. and do” (58). as she removes her clothes she removes social restrictions. through her sexual exploration with the beast she becomes her natural self: “each stroke of his tongue ripped of skin after successive skin, […] and left behind a nascent patina of shining hairs” (67). similarly in the wolfstories, the girls are shown as virginal but not overly naïve. instead they display a natural curiosity about sex. the imagery within the stories is often of blood which is simultaneously connected to animalism, menstruation and the loss of virginity. in carter’s collection, blood becomes a symbol of embraced woman hood and empowerment. the ‘strong-minded’ heroine in “the company of wolves” wears a red shawl which had the “brilliant look of blood on snow” (113). further into this description it is revealed that “she has just started her woman’s bleeding” (113). armed with a knife and her womanhood, she refuses to submit to the wolf. the story concludes with her laughing in his face knowing that “she was nobody’s meat” (118). carter empowers her heroines by depicting them as in control with the ability to make wolves ‘tender’ and yet she simultaneously aligns the girls with wolfishness. the unapologetic presentation of what is bestial in women is refreshing and puts her women in a new light in which “portray an ambiguous mixture where good and evil depend on perspective, denying the reader the reassuring certainty of approval and identification” (seago 1999: 94). carter’s females are human with desires and imperfections, she had “no interest in presenting a one-dimensional view of women” (haase 2000: 22). in stories such as “the bloody chamber”, the heroine describes her mother with “her skirts tucked round her waist, one hand on the reins of the rearing horse while the other clasped [her] father’s service revolver” (40). not only do carter’s women save themselves, but the strong mother-figures often missing from traditional fairy-tales are heroes. however, carter is careful when depicting women truthfully and this is why a presentation of the perfect sisterhood is not seen in her collection. in other stories such as “the snow child” and “the werewolf ”, women can cause each other’s destruction. in “the werewolf ” the wolf is the grandmother. not only does carter sexualise her young women, but as seen with the above description of the mother from “the bloody chamber” and with the grandmother from “the company of wolves”, she sexualises the older women as well. it is shocking for the reader to read a salacious passage of the grandmother being approached by the wolf: “his genitals, huge. ah! huge. the last thing the old lady saw in all this world was a young man, […] naked as stone, approaching her bed” (116). the uncomfortable nature of a passage like this forces the reader to acknowledge how society has taught us to view women of an older age as non-sexual beings. 28 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) carter’s writing in this collection is steeped in the feminine. as previously stated, the form of the fairy-tale is in itself inherently female. “storytelling is ‘semiotically a female art’ […] by pointing not only to women’s traditional role as storytellers but also to the ways in which they have been represented as the spinners of tales in folklore” (haase 2000: 29). the oral / aural origins of fairy-tales mean that unlike the other texts, there is no concrete male platform. it is key to note two other features of the fairy-tale genre. firstly, due to the nature of how fairy-tales were told, they naturally adapt to the “socio-cultural context at each moment of mediation” (seago 1999: 86). so, for carter to write out patriarchal views from the classic tales during second wave feminism is a stage of natural progression for the genre. secondly, carter removes the usual omniscient, third-person narrator in some of her stories to use a first-person narrator to liberate the previously suppressed female voice. although carter’s feminism is rather controversial, she demonstrates that the best an author can do is to depict the reality of being a woman. instead of being a ‘perfect’ place, carter’s utopia is where people are themselves and this is a combination of the good and the bad which aligns itself with the concept of ‘ustopia’. 5. the evolution of gender politics and female utopias although the three texts are part of the same literary genre and part of the feminist movement as a whole, they are distinctly different in the messages which they put across. this is largely due to the eras in which they were written. nevertheless the critical and satirical nature of utopian fiction provided these female writers with a free space to critique the gender politics of their time. each of the authors’ adaption of an established male literary platform adds to their feminist messages and brings the female perspective and voice into the forefront of a male-dominated art form. by reflecting on the progression of this genre which criticises contemporary social issues, one is able to mark the evolution of political views. or perhaps something more like culturally-conditioned obsessions – whereby the seventeenth century text seems preoccupied with female education, the early twentieth-century text with motherhood, and the late twentieth century text with sexuality. ultimately these texts enable us to mark key sentiments and developments within the feminist movement. the benefit of using the utopian or science fiction genre is “that gender roles can be more easily revised when the reader is estranged from her ordinary world” (donawerth & kolmerten 1994: 2). as established throughout this article, the utopian genre is diverse and is still somewhat establishing itself as it gains new terms for possible sub-genres or new names for the genre itself (ustopia, gynotopia, etc.). utopian fiction allows its authors to depict a land which is their personal idea of paradise. this element of subjectivity contributes to the emerging terms which are now being applied to these ‘utopias’. there is no blueprint for an ideal world as naturally we all have different notions of paradise and perhaps for this reason the notion of a utopia is inevitably flawed. some argue for the creation of a ‘protopia’ over a utopia which does not seek perfection but for the depiction of a society with improvements. again, one person’s improvement to society will be seen by another person as a negative step leading to the deterioration of a society. as our society becomes more self-aware of its prejudices and conscious of political correctness, 29 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) we may almost entirely abandon the notion of a utopia as we realise human nature does not go in hand with perfectibility. i believe that atwood’s term ‘ustopia’ is the most suitable term to adopt for utopian works. the act of compiling research for this article required one to adopt the new historicist approach when analysing a line of descent, connectedness or thematic or intertextual linkage. new historicists place literary texts within their historical context in order to gain a deeper understanding of the work and the author’s motivations for writing. they also force us to acknowledge that our access to the ‘reality’ of the past is itself conditioned textually, and in part constituted by our reading of fiction. not only does new historicism give a broader understanding of the individual texts, but as demonstrated it enables us to connect multiple texts to multiple eras and identify connections and patterns. for example, each of the three works discussed, successfully mark the progression of the feminist movement through the critical and satirical nature of the utopian genre itself. acknowledging the pattern / line of descent of the genre allows us to map the progression and possible future of the genre. similarly to the new historicist approach to literature, the act of periodization provides us with a framework to help us segment and understand the progression of cultural and political attitudes throughout history. a problem which arises with periodization is that the historical, political and social periods or categories into which we separate time are not so rigid in reality. throughout history, cultural and political beliefs change and evolve over a stretch of time. it is not a sudden change from one period to another which is often how periodization presents history. the following quote is a comment on periodization by jeanette winterson, voiced through her character sappho in her fiction art and lies: “all art belongs to the same period. the grecian drinking horn sits beside picasso’s bulls, giotto is a friend of cezanne. who calls whom? sappho to mrs woolf – mrs woolf to sappho. the over-and-out across time, the two-way radio on a secret frequency. art defeats time” (winterson 1995: 67). this is a key example of where liberal humanism (as perfectly captured by winterson) conflicts with new historicism: art is seeking some kind of ideal form and immortality which history presses down on it and tries to enfold and limit it within a series of time capsules. utopias are fascinating because their creation by writers in different eras are almost an admission that history is winning, as seen in these disparate creations of alternative realities where conditions for women are otherwise. the changes and developments within art are indicative of the changes within society as demonstrated through the historicist and feminist analysis of the texts of cavendish, gilman and carter. periodization can be easily applied to specific movements within history. for example, in her own periodization of feminist literary history, elaine showalter identifies three phases of feminism and feminist literary theory. the feminine phase starts in 1840 until 1880 and in this period female writers imitated dominant male literary and artistic forms. this was followed by the feminist phase from 1880 until 1920 where female writers presented more radical positions. showalter concludes with the female phase from 1920 onwards which encompasses a close analysis of the experiences 30 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) of women and their writing. these three phases allude to the issues of periodization as showalter’s divisions can be contradicted namely by the work of the female writers who make up the article. as this paper shows, in 1666 margaret cavendish was using dominant male forms to push her feminist ideals and desires into the public and male sphere. however, the term ‘feminism’ and the notion of what it stood for was non-existent in the seventeenth century. therefore, cavendish is proto-feminist and as such this means that she can be somewhat excluded from an analysis of the progression of literary feminism. periodization often causes researchers and critics to look at the past and label people and works within it with modern terminology which may be argued as an incorrect action. also, it must be acknowledged that for any labelled part of history, there will always be outliers and works to contradict the time setting as time and human nature are more fluid than periodization allows for. nevertheless, showalter’s ‘feminine phase’ seems rather limiting as in the time after 1880, as i have demonstrated, female writers were continuing to use the male literary forms as platforms to their works. this was simultaneously through the imitation of the genre the subversion of its traditions. her allusion to the radical feminist phase in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries offers another point of discrepancy. it is true that this was the time when feminism was emerging and was being acknowledged as a belief or movement. however, i argue that throughout each of the three eras and the texts i have written on, each author has put forward radical ideas both before, during and after the historical period showalter outlines. meanwhile, the third phase refers more to literary criticism than to female literature itself. in conclusion, the act of periodization in many cases is a key way to provide order and a framework to our existence which without this structure would be near impossible to work with. regardless of outliers and the blurred edges of the time periods and their associated ideologies and aesthetics, overall periodization enables us to chart developments within history as seen with the feminist movement and the utopian texts of the three female writers. each text aptly marks key moments in the process of giving women a voice and a place within society. this correlation is made clear through the act of periodization and the utopian genre which was created for the purpose of critiquing and satirising society. references primary sources carter, a. 1995. the bloody chamber. london: vintage. cavendish, m. 2004. the blazing world and other writings, ed. kate lilley. london: penguin books. gilman, c. p. 2015. herland. london: vintage classics. secondary sources anon. utopia, the british library, http: / / www.bl.uk / learning / histcitizen / 21cc / utopia / utopia.htm>, [date accessed: 12 / 11 / 2018] 31 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) atwood, m. 2011. margaret atwood: the road to ustopia. the guardian. https: / / www.theguardian.com / books / 2011 / oct / 14 / margaret-atwood-road-to-ustopia (22 october 2018). donawerth, j. & kolmerten, c. a. 1994. utopian and science fiction by women: worlds of difference. new york: syracuse university press. haase, d. 2000. feminist fairy-tale scholarship: a critical survey and bibliography. marvels and tales 14: 15-63. hill, m. a. 1980. charlotte perkins gilman: a feminist’s struggle with womanhood. the massachusetts review 21: 503-526. johnston, g. 1991. three men in herland: why they enter the text. utopian studies 4: 55-59.kent, d. 2018. early asexual feminists: the asexual history of social purity activists and spinsters. making queer history. https: / / www.makingqueerhistory.com / articles / 2018 / 6 / 3 / early-asexual-feminists-the-asexual-history-of-social-purity-activists-and-spinsters (23 october 2018). kessler, c. f. 1995. daring to dream: utopian fiction by united states women before 1950. 2nd ed. new york: syracuse university press. leslie, m. 1996. gender, genre and the utopian body. utopian studies 7: 6-24. miller, m. 1983. the ideal woman in two feminist science-fiction utopias. science fiction studies 10: 191-8. pearson, c. 1977. women’s fantasies and feminist utopias. frontiers: a journal of women studies 2: 50-61. pohl, n. 2003. of mixt natures: questions of genre in margaret cavendish’s the blazing world. in: s. clucas (ed.), a princely brave woman: essays on margaret cavendish duchess of newcastle, 51-68. aldershot: ashgate. seago, k. 1999. new wine in old bottles?: angela carter’s bloody chamber of revisioned fairy tales. metaphore 26: 7-98. snodgrass, m. e. 2006. encyclopedia of feminist literature. new york: facts on file. trubowitz, r. 1992. the reenchantment of utopia and the female monarchical self: margaret cavendish’s blazing world. tulsa studies in women’s literature 11: 229-245. warner, m. 2013. melbourne writers festival. the sunday morning herald. https: / / www.smh.com. au / entertainment / melbourne-writers-festival-20130815-2ryy0.html (25 october 2018). west, l. 2015. introduction in: gilman, charlotte perkins (ed.), herland, vii-xiii. london: vintage classics. winterson, j. 1995. art and lies. canada: vintage books. woolf, v. 1996. a room of one’s own & three guineas. great britain: vintage. *** emma crabtree is nearing the end of her ma at university of buckingham by research which discusses naomi alderman’s novel the power and its presentation of the structures of power within society, in connection with fourth wave feminism. women’s writing is of key interest to her, 32 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) especially female dystopian novels which are often driven by a critique of society through forceful feminist messages. sound design as narrative device in contemporary film: subliminal soundscape of war and terror in sicario (2015) 33 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) lidia kniaź1 doi: 10.15290 / cr.2019.26.3.03 maria curie-skłodowska university in lublin orcid: 0000-0002-6804-4750 sound design as narrative device in contemporary film: subliminal soundscape of war and terror in sicario (2015) abstract. the article provides an attempt to analyze selected characteristics of contemporary cinematic sound on the basis of the sound design in sicario (2015, dir. denis villeneuve), which encompasses a digitally-processed orchestral score with originally texturized sound effects. i elaborate on the features of the sound design in sicario in regard to production and composition. moreover, i attempt to demonstrate the ways in which sound in sicario, due to its characteristics, is outside any typical musical genre. finally, the article focuses on sound effects which are used in an unusual way, for instance, so as to reflect characters’ personalities. the analysis of sicario demonstrates that a creatively and meticulously constructed sound design in film has the power to exceed its traditional, supporting role in the narrative. key words: film score, american cinema, sound design, soundtrack, sicario, denis villenueve. 1. introduction many cinematic masterpieces come from the era of silent film: the great train robbery (1903), the birth of a nation (1915), nosferatu (1922), the covered wagon (1923), ben-hur: a tale of the christ (1925), and city lights (1931) are but a few examples. thus, one may claim that sound is not a necessary component in cinema as film is considered primarily a visual medium. in his seminal publication on film sound audiovision: sound on screen (1994), michael chion emphasizes the fact that “a film without sound remains a film; a film with no image, or at least a visual frame for projection is not a film” (143). yet, david lynch claims that “films are 50 percent visual and 50 percent sound. sometimes sound even overplays the visual” (zager 2015: 259). sound design is capable of influencing the story to a great extent and its power in film should not be 1 address for correspondence: katedra anglistyki i amerykanistyki instytutu neofilologii na wydziale humanistycznym, uniwersytet marii-curie skłodowskiej w lublinie, plac marii curie-skłodowskiej 4a, 20-031 lublin, poland. e-mail: lidiakniaz@gmail.com 34 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) underestimated. sound design in film is a tool, or, to put it differently, a narrative device which can propel the action, create interpretations of the visuals that otherwise would not emerge, and, as a result, modulate the overtone of the whole film. most commonly, sound supports narrative delivered by means of visuals. it may have a direct narrative role in the storytelling, by means of dialogs and the voiceover, or subliminal, when it is employed as a means of creating the mood and guiding the audience’s attention. for instance, the so-called background music unconsciously affects the mood of the viewers as it corresponds with the atmosphere of a given scene. according to gorbman, music in film should be invisible2 and inaudible, or rather heard unconsciously (73). largely because of its invisibility, sound can evoke the aura of suspense or drama, especially when background music and sound effects are skillfully combined. moreover, sound in film creates continuity, or links, between particular images as well as entire scenes. according to buhler et al. (2000), apart from the traditional functions of sound in film, sound is capable of achieving much more. music’s role is more complicated, or perhaps we should say more flexible. music is sometimes very much involved with speech, as in a song performance or, less obviously, in dialogue underscoring (music that accompanies speech, playing “under” it). at other times, music interacts with sound effects, as in many science fiction and action-thrillers, where music and effects dovetail to create what often seems like a single continuous strand of sound. music can also mimic sound effects (for example, percussion instruments were routinely used to generate sound effects during silent-film performances) (buhler et al. 2000: 3). in addition to interactions between music, dialogs, and sound effects mentioned by buhler et al. (2000), sound may also correlate with images in a creative way – not only in order to support what is presented on screen or imply the emotional overtone of the scene, which is in line with traditional hollywood practice mentioned above. it can propel action or supplement those elements of the narrative that are beyond the realms of cinematic possibility.3 in some ways, cinematic sound can also act independently from the film and “float in its own sphere, in effect outside the story and the physical world of the images” (buhler et al. 2000: 3). one of the interesting examples of the unusual deployment of sound in relation to imagery can be found in in the torture scene in quentin tarantino’s reservoir dogs (1992). traditionally, the music’s mood “must be appropriate to the scene” (gorbman 1987: 78) but in tarantino’s films this principle is often violated. for instance, a gruesome scene is accompanied by a happy-sounding song “stuck in the middle with you” by stealers wheel, creating the grotesque effect, which is not characteristic of neo-noir crime thrillers. thus, as the application of incongruent music in certain passages can introduce traces of other genres and strongly affect the perception of the scene as well as the viewer’s emotional 2 the author refers to the “technical apparatus” of music that must not be shown on screen, unless the director wants the music to be “naturalized” as diegetic (gorbman 1987: 73-75). 3 sound can imply different temporal and spatial planes as well as represent what is impossible to be seen (for example, a deep, manly voice representing the voice of god). 35 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) reactions (bordwell 2002: 279), skillfully modulated sound in film can often influence the interpretation of the whole feature. even though film industry evolved and developed due to various technological advances, principles concerning film sound seem to remain relatively unchanged as the traditional pattern of film sound design is used in most hollywood productions. steven shaviro argues that even though digital technologies contribute to the process of transformation of contemporary cinema, as far as sound is concerned, it “still often functions as it used to, providing added value for the moving images” in both contemporary hollywood films and independent, art films (shaviro 2016: n.p). at the same time, however, there are numerous films which employ sound in a creative way, for instance, when it serves different functions than expected or violates the principles of composition, mixing, and editing mentioned above (such as inaudibility or continuity). in this essay i intend to demonstrate how sound in film can be approached non-schematically and used as a narrative device. the article analyzes the soundscape in sicario (2015, dir. denis villeneuve), which encompasses a digitally-processed orchestral score with originally texturized sound effects. i elaborate on the features of the sound design in sicario in regard to production and composition. moreover, i attempt to demonstrate the ways in which sound in sicario, due to its characteristics, is outside any typical musical genre. finally, i focus on sound effects which are used in an unusual way, for instance, so as to reflect characters’ personalities. the analysis of sicario demonstrates that a creatively and meticulously constructed sound design in film has the power to exceed its traditional, supporting role in the narrative. by many critics, sicario (2015) is regarded as one of the best films of the year 2015, yet it did not receive any academy award. the film was nominated in three categories: best cinematography, best original score, and best sound editing. the director denis villeneuve is french-canadian and his most popular feature films apart from sicario include prisoners (2013), enemy (2013), and blade runner 2049 (2017). interestingly, villeneuve was not involved in the production of sicario’s sequel titled sicario 2: soldado (2018), which was directed by stefano sollima. sicario’s score was created by an icelandic composer, jóhann jóhannsson (1969 – 2018). apart from cinema, he composed for theater and was involved in his own music projects. his music can be characterized as neoclassical and electronic. moreover, in his productions, jóhannsson often employed dark drone sounds. he collaborated with villenueve in prisoners, where the soundtrack was dark and minimalistic. he also created the golden globe-winning score to the theory of everything. sicario has been praised by film critics who not only value its sound design but also roger deakins’ cinematography and the performance of lead actors. the film was a commercial success with a box-office gross of 46,875,468 usd (imdb). sicario was released on blu-ray with bonus content – a pulse from the desert: the score of sicario, stepping into darkness: the visual design of sicario, blunt, brolin, benicio: portraying the characters of sicario, and battle zone: the origins of sicario. sicario is an intense crime-thriller drama that is often compared to steven soderbergh’s traffic (2000), an academy award-winning drug cartel movie but is, in fact, very different. for one, sicario does not portray drug use. moreover, traffic features an all-star cast in contrast to 36 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) sicario, in which there are only three leads. villeneuve’s film is suspenseful and tension-filled and “succeeds in evoking the menace, paranoia and ambiguity of the turf ” (rotella 2015: n.p.). the storyline involves an attempt to find one of the mexican drug dealers but what audience experiences in terms of sound is neither traditional thriller or action film music, nor a typical latino music-inspired score. sicario features non-schematic, unconventional soundtrack which includes eighteen tracks the majority of which convey the atmosphere of sadness, terror and dismay. 2. research objectives in this article i am going to demonstrate how sound design in sicario can be regarded as more autonomous than in a typical hollywood movie. sicario’s originality in terms of sound pertains to the fact that the score combined with originally texturized sound effects does not only emphasize or make more precise what is seen on the screen but also reflects upon these elements of the narrative that are not yet displayed or will not be shown directly in images or dialogs. to explain this, i will first describe the general characteristics of sicario’s sound design – its composition, instruments employed, and sound production as well as the features of the score that, to an extent, are not in line with the conventional rules of the orchestral film sound. this inventiveness pertains, for instance, to the use of simple but at the same time multilayered ambient drone, achieved without synthesizers, which is unusual for this kind of sound. secondly, i will focus on the originality of sound design in the film in reference to musical genres as the scoring in sicario does not resemble a typical thriller or action movie music. next, i will describe the ways in which the function of sound effects is extended in a creative way through skillful sound editing. finally, i will analyze three selected scenes with interesting sound design: the opening sequence, the travel from mexico to the cartel, and the underground tunnel scene. sicario’s plot revolves around the escalating war on drugs on the mexican-united states border. kate macer (emily blunt) is an idealistic fbi swat agent who volunteers to participate in a secret government mission about which she knows very little. kate’s personal objective is to find people responsible for the death of several of her colleagues. she is assisted by a senior officer matt graver (josh brolin) and a mysterious mexican federal agent named alejandro (benicio del toro), who is the eponymous sicario4 they aim to catch the cartel leader, manuel diaz (bernardo saracino), his brother guillermo (edgar arreola) as well as the drug lord fausto alarcón (julio cedillo). in el paso, kate soon learns that her role in the team is not to provide tactical knowledge, as she has been told in the recruitment interview, but to testify that every suspicious action matt and alejandro take is legal and done “by the book”. kate feels isolated and morally torn as she discovers certain facts about alejandro’s assassin past and witnesses numerous law infringements 4 “sicario” is a spanish term for a professional hitman. the word is used particularly often when referring to hired killers in latin american drug cartels. sicarios, however, provide their services across americas as well as in the caribbean. 37 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) during the mission. unfortunately, in the end she is given no choice but to comply with the rules of people above her. 3. sicario’s unconventional orchestral sonic palette the first feature of sicario’s score that can be regarded as non-traditional is that it utilizes a 65-piece orchestra, relying heavily on strings and percussion (tom-toms and military snare drums with the snare turned off) with occasional appearances of low brass and woodwind to create textural moods rather than melodic ones (chagollan 2015). as mentioned by the composer in one of the interviews, there is also much of solo cello and multi-track cello and six-string bass guitar on the track which plays during closing credits entitled “melancholia” (grobar 2015). the instruments were used in an unusual way: like an aural kraken, relentless gran casa, tuba, bass trombone and melting strings peel back the earth’s surface and blanket the ears in menace. with a ritualistic, ancient-sounding beat, tracks like “the border” and “drywall” lock step to a seemingly inevitable demise, while “target” puts jóhannsson’s deft string writing on display with the striking use of brutal col legno to disturb the pervasive bass drones (armbrust 2015: n.p.). even though the soundtrack is dominated by classical instruments, it cannot be regarded as a conventional orchestral film score. due to sound processing, the composer made the score appear more modern and experimental. he modified the quality of input sounds recorded for the purpose of the film in such a way that they sound almost like signals from the synthesizer. orchestral music imitates the synthetic sound due to filters, plugins, and different effects layered over the recorded pieces. in one of the interviews, the composer explains how he achieved such non-standard sound: the palette is very much based around percussion and it’s based around orchestra, but the way i recorded the percussion and i recorded the orchestra was kind of unconventional. i recorded the orchestra in sections, and there’s a lot of editing and processing of the orchestras. it’s not like a live recording of the orchestra playing everything from bar one until the end. it was really a score that came together in the editing. so, there’s a lot of processing. all of it is live recording, but they are all processed to different degrees – processed meaning edited and manipulated sonically. (roberts 2005: n.p.) secondly, the sound in sicario is percussive and pulsing. the director wanted johannsson’s score to feel like “a threat, coming from under your feet, deep under the surface of the scorched earth of the chihuahua desert” (chagollan 2015: n.p.). this threat can be called “the beast” the name used in the score’s track list. the sound resembles a heavy heartbeat in its repetitiveness. the score is intense, throbbing, and relentless – this tension is achieved exclusively by means of 38 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) orchestral instruments as there are no electric guitars or synthetic basslines. the throbbing vibe is present from the very beginning of the film – from a barely audible sound that the audience experiences unconsciously, it crescendos to a peak pulse in the form of the swat vehicle sound crashing through the wall. 3. naturalistic ambient noise of the mexican desert another interesting feature of sicario is its naturalistic and raw vibe, both in terms of visuals and sound. villeneuve employs the technique of “dynamic realism” (desowitz 2016). in his review, the film critic asserts: “the best way to describe the score and sound design for sicario is ‘dynamic realism’ because of the calculated way in which director denis villeneuve sucks the viewer in, then slightly unnerves us with subliminal low-end bass before assaulting us with percussive hits”. at the same time, there are numerous subtle sonic atmospheres reflecting the pulse of the desert, with a low-end bass in them. the score is raw because even when it is multilayered and digitally enhanced, it always reminds the audience of something real, organic which is an actual threat. desowitz (2016: n.p.) claims that “it was over the top but was still in the realm of reality”. yet another feature that makes sicario original in terms of sound design is that it employs dark ambient drone that is unpleasant to the human ear, a design technique usually avoided in hollywood productions. sounds in sicario are either irritating or they encompass too many extremes, for instance, as between quieter and loud sounds. as film’s sound editor, alan robert murray, said in one of the interviews, the soundtrack includes sounds that are annoying: from those comparable to sounds made by insects to a dentist’s drill (desowitz 2016). the contrasts between quietness and extreme loudness are substantial. it is heard especially in the scene when the agents’ armored vehicle crashes through the walls. what precedes the sforzando-like impact is the relatively quiet pulse sound and almost complete silence in the house.5 operating on substantial contrasts makes the sound design felt in the viewers’ bodies rather than only heard. sicario’s soundtrack cannot be regarded as a typical thriller or action film sonic design. in general, as “each genre represent[s] particular conventions for editing” (dancynger 2018: 162), suspense and uncertainty are promoted in thriller films and are manifested by hitchcock-like, high-tension scoring, whereas action films rely on fast-paced soundtrack and sonic intensified continuity. sicario encompasses both genre conventions as it evokes excitement via the use of vibrating, subterranean score combined with the action film intensity of gunshots sounds. 4. scoring outside the genre in a typical thriller movie, tension and anxiety build gradually and culminate with tragic events. in sicario the tension often crescendos but does not lead to any specific dramatic moment. it slows down for a second to reoccur with double strength. in other words, the action crescendos and 5 sforzando indicates a forceful accent in music composition. for instance, it can take the form of a forte (loud) note after a sequence of quieter sounds. 39 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) suddenly stops as if to “give the audience a second to recover” but after a while “it all hits you over the head with the [final] crescendo of the scene” (james 2016: n.p.). when regarded as an action film, sicario does not follow the rules of sonic intensified continuity in a conventional form. sound design is indeed intense but in a different way. there is no denying that sicario is tense in terms of sound (as noted earlier) but it concerns the overtone it creates and the atmosphere rather than the pace of sounds. there are no abrupt changes in soundscape, except the contrast between the silence in the house and the swat vehicle crashing through the walls or the subsequent explosion in phoenix. however, it seems that continuous dark drone tune can be as intense as rapid jumping on sounds. that is why, in some sense sicario’s sound employs intensified continuity, which now is a norm in action films, but does it in a yet more unconventional way. in contemporary action films, intensified continuity is a standard and this pertains to sound as well. sicario’s sound can be characterized as entirely different since the drone is unchangeable, persistent, and moves from one scene to another. sound effects are multilayered but are still rather continuous, relatively stable, and serve predominantly atmospheric purposes.6 one may thus draw a conclusion that sound in sicario is, to a great extent, outside the musical genre. the film’s sound design is in the borderland between thriller and action film. as mentioned by the composer, villeneuve also wanted the score to be a “subtle war music” (grobar 2015: n.p.). even though the score is not an obvious thriller sound, it involves “sound textures that produce anxiety” (desowitz 2016: n.p.). owing to the fact that alejandro is the protagonist who wants to take revenge and fights violence with more violence, the film may be also viewed as a gangster movie which, to some extent, is reflected in the soundtrack since the emphasis is placed on the sound of the gunshot. bordwell (2002) mentions the beat of the gunshot as one of the characteristics of gangster productions. he claims that “in a gangster film, a machine gun’s fire creates a regular, rapid beat, while the sporadic reports of pistols may come at irregular intervals” (281). sicario’s sound design can be viewed as having certain gangster film-inspired elements. 5. sound design as a narrative tool another feature that makes the sound of sicario non-standard is the use of enhanced sound effects which reflect the characters’ personalities. sound effects are texturized in such a way that they characterize kate’s innocence and the mystery around alejandro. in one of the interviews, murray said that he wanted to keep scenes with kate isolated in order to emphasize her loneliness. when it comes to alejandro, along with revealing more facts about his background, his sound palette expands in time as there are “more undertones into his scenes in order to play to the uncertainty of his characters” (james 2016: n.p.). “customized” sounds are here able to shape the narrative and contribute to the emotional side of the character’s personalities. 6 films that employ intensified continuity, often called chaos cinema, are often multilayered when it comes to sound in order to achieve the effect of incomprehensibility and chaos. 40 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) as one of the most frequently occurring sound effects in sicario gunshot sounds also play a significant role in portraying the protagonists as they match with the character of the shooter. the film’s sound editor paid close attention to specific sound of the silencer: benicio (del toro)’s character had a silencer, but we knew, once benicio started on his secret mission, and the rage and the violence that was pouring out of him, we had to make a gunshot that would portray that even though it was a silencer. we ended up adding a lot of elements, like a synthesized bear trap to the mechanism of his gun. things that would make the gun concussive, visceral, but still keep it in the silencer mode, so it was a lot of detail on the guns and painting them to match the specific characters in the movie (blyth 2016). alejandro is a relatively silent, mysterious character and the tone of his silencer is in line with his personality. according to murray, employing individualized sound design elements “can accent the mood or the subject in the scene without being obvious” (blyth 2016: n.p.). in addition, what distinguishes sicario from the majority of traditional hollywood films is its focus on sound editing and the way it exploits its narrative and atmospheric potential. similarly to terrence malick’s red thin line (1998), where “every character’s distinctive breathing sounds were recorded for use as ambient noise” (bordwell 2002: 274), in sicario some sound effects are used in unconventional ways. the most remarkable example of such originality in sound editing is the sound of the helicopter employed as part of the musicalized, ambient noise track. in contrast to the beast’s heartbeat-like pulse from underneath, the sound of the helicopter is the pulse from beyond. distorted, science fiction-like, digitally processed helicopter sound becomes the element of the score. in other words, the sound effect “mimics” music in some way (buhler et al. 2000: 3). sicario’s sound design plays on spatial relations between sounds effects that are underground, on the surface – like gunshot sounds or armed car engines, and in the sky. sound effects that are present on the surface can be spatially divided into those that appear inside and outside. this distinction is visible especially in the mexico border crossing shootout sequence that will be discussed in greater detail later in the article. as kermode (2015: n.p.) notes, “sicario uses private planes, public roads, and clandestine tunnels to slip back and forth across borders both moral and geographical”. this vertical arrangement of narrative planes is enhanced by the use of sounds dedicated to a given spatial layer. the score consists of almost uncontainable waves of orchestral sounds and sound effects which merge into an atmospheric whole. murray’s sound editing makes the score and sound effects blend seamlessly. interestingly, the sound in sicario is present inconspicuously, yet it creates the feeling of constant threat and uneasiness which is not very common even in thriller films. while, to most viewers, the sound is often not heard consciously, undoubtedly, its connotative effects are felt distinctly (gorbman 1987). 41 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) 6. opening scene as an atmospheric prelude to terror the first passage in which sound evokes very strong emotions in an unusual manner is the opening sequence of the film. the film opens with a relatively fast but barely audible pulsating sound which appears as soon as the name of the studio and the production company is displayed. in time, the sound becomes louder and is accompanied by a digitally processed, high-frequency sound of cicadas as the viewers see the first shot. when the swat unit is moving towards the house, the sonic palette expands. next, there is a quick shot from inside of the house with the sound coming from some television program. then, in another shot, the viewers see another group of swat officers in a vehicle whose engine sound adds another layer to the sound track. it is the accelerating sound of the engine, alongside with the vibrating score, that creates the greatest tension which crescendos and reaches the highest point when the swat truck crashes through the walls. the final crescendo is preceded by a second of silence from the inside of the house which intensifies the effect of the crash, or, to put it differently, amplifies its volume. what is interesting, the tension is not completely released as the officers entering the house are loud enough to maintain it. when kate enters the room and shoots at one of the latino men, the sound of guns suddenly becomes the only sonic element in this scene. then, there is a short period of silence. isolating the gunshot sound from the rest of the soundtrack, again, is a way of intensifying the atmosphere. the pulsating vibe reoccurs when kate’s partner, reggie wayne (daniel kaluuya) notices what is behind the hole in the wall. after that, there is a shot outside the house, where the audience sees the characters vomiting which is caused by the smell of the corpses hidden in the wall. by means of sound effects and score, the tension in this fragment is consistently sustained. when the fbi officers come to the house, there is an atmospheric dark theme employed, which is audible along with the sound of the snapshots taken by the investigators who are photographing the corpses. again, there is a shot from the outside of the house which is accompanied by foley sound effects and a subtle percussive sound. after a short period of quietness, the tension rises, falls down for a short moment, and the unexpected loud sound of a bomb explosion appears. kate exits the house and what she sees is a space full of dust. the score gets darker and overwhelming with every second. it accelerates, which may suggest another explosion, but the scene ends in an abrupt way and what follows is kate’s blood-stained and terrified face in the shower. the pulse achieved by utilizing percussion appears from the very beginning of the film. even though the sound is at first barely heard, it is felt subconsciously. the opening sequence has very strong dynamics as it plays on the distinction between loud and quiet volume as well as faster and slower pace. thanks to sudden changes in volume and intensity of sounds, the quieter moments may be regarded as silent even if there is no complete silence at any point. the peak of crescendo is achieved by means of non-diegetic sound effects, rather than string section and percussion. 7. “the beast” of the us-mexico border the second scene with interesting sound design is the travel from el paso to juarez. the characters go to juarez to collect the brother of the cartel boss, guillermo (edgar arreola). the passage, 42 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) which starts when alejandro folds his jacket and places it in the bag, is accompanied by the theme piece, entitled “the beast.” it is the sound that bridges a scene which takes place in the building and the following sequence of the journey. before the visuals change, the sound already informs the audience about something which is not yet presented on the screen. what follows is the helicopter shot on the desert underscored by the subliminal low-end bass. “the beast” expands and crescendos and, at some point, the focus from beyond switches to the road and the car convoy. in other words, the sonic point of view changes from beyond to the surface of the desert roads where “the beast” is still clearly audible.7 in the exact moment when the cars cross the border, the sonic pov abruptly changes to the tense percussive score accompanied by musicalized helicopter sound and the viewers again see the road from beyond. when the convoy reaches juarez, again, the audience hears the soundscape of the city: police horns, car engines, bumps on the road, some mexican voices. when alejandro says “welcome to juarez”, the sound of his voice is definitely inside the car, as opposed to the sounds of the city outside the vehicle. those contrasts between inside vs. outside are reflected faithfully, which makes the soundtrack very convincing and attention-grabbing. when the characters in the cars stop for a second to hear the sound of the shots audible from the distance, the strong percussive loop reappears signalizing another suspenseful scene. the cars accelerate, and so does the sound. the drivers communicate via cb radio which becomes another layer of sound. moreover, in time the score is augmented with some latino-sounding brass instruments. on its way, the convoy gets stuck in a gigantic traffic jam the size of which is visible to the audience thanks to another aerial shot accompanied by the helicopter sound. inside the suvs, the officers exchange information about the traffic jam at the border crossing. at some point, there is an order to get the weapons out as the sonora cartel members are in the traffic jam too. outside, there is the sound of a barking dog and the non-diegetic, suspenseful theme piece. when the drug traffickers get out of the car, the convoy members engage in the same way. the shootout begins in which gunshot sounds and broken car windows are the only sound effects. when the intervention is over and the convoy can continue its journey, the score reappears for a while to fade out when the team reaches the prison. the shootout sequence is regarded as a “master class in the production of tension” (tallerico 2015). instead of a car race that can be expected from an action film, the audience witnesses a monstrous and static traffic jam. yet, due to seamless editing of shots by deakins and intense sound editing by murray, the seemingly static scene evokes “tortuous tension”, and, consequently, it is considered one of the most suspenseful scenes of the year 2015 (olsen 2015). in this sequence, the tension rises in time but in the moment of shooting there is a pause in the score to make the gunshot sounds resonate harder. in juarez, gunshots in a way carry the sound of the city (james 7 in film production, point of view sound reflects the perspective of a character. according to buhler et al. (2000), the use of pov sounds increases viewers’ “identification with that particular character whose hearing the sound track mimics” (78). the term “sonic point of view” is also called “point of audition” and was discussed in detail in chion’s audiovision (89-91) and altman’s sound theory, sound practice (251). 43 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) 2016). as mentioned by murray, “they had to be realistic enough so they weren’t too close, but still sound hostile at the same time” (james 2016). bullets cut through the silence but when the sound stops, the orchestral pulse reappears. such sound editing technique can be compared to holding one’s breath, if one assumes that the score is in accordance to viewers’ heartbeat and breath. when the team reaches the destination, namely the prison in mexico, the pulse stops as there are no non-diegetic sounds. 8. the unsettling pulse of the underground the third scene that deserves attention as it employs sound in an original way is the underground tunnel sequence. while it was praised by critics for its use of thermoand night vision, it is remarkably significant in terms of sound effects that are attached to each device and are layered over the throbbing score. the passage starts when the team approaches a drug tunnel located in new mexico desert. the group receives tactical information via an audio device and prepares for entering the tunnel. what accompanies the fragment are the tense string section sounds that can be compared to those present in jaws (merry 2015). when the group comes closer to the tunnel, the scene is presented from the characters’ point of view as if through the night vision goggles. at this point, the sound changes – there are no non-diegetic sounds and what the audience hears are the characters’ breaths and footstep sounds and some night vision signal. when thermographic camera is on, the audience hears quite different sound palette as the sounds are more distorted and evidently lower. there are also occasional shots from above which are also presented via the pov of thermographic camera where the sounds of pilot’s voice, satellite footage, and helicopter engine are heard. the characters enter the tunnel. in time, the throbbing, subterranean sound is audible. it becomes another sound layer, apart from night and thermo-vision sound and dialogs. when the lights in the tunnel are on, the point of view changes – so does the sound as there are no sounds connected to night vision devices. the reverberant sound of gunshots becomes the most important element of the sound track. this sound moves the action forward since the drug traffickers hear the approaching threat before even seeing it. when alejandro leaves the tunnel and shoots at the latino man, non-diegetic sounds are not present anymore and from the atmospheric, unsettling underground vibe the scene changes to the sonic realism connected to the actual confrontation with the enemy. the most powerful sound device employed in this passage is the characters’ sonic point of view, which switches depending whether night vision or thermal imaging camera is used. the sound connected to night vision can be compared to science fiction-like, distorted high-pitched signal, whereas infrared camera vision is the subliminal, low-frequency sound. the scene features a considerable amount of off-camera gunshots which reverberate through the tunnel walls. despite the limited space of a tunnel, the gunshot sounds do not lose their dynamics. murray explains how gunshots function in this passage: “[when] a shooter is off camera and then moves into view, each gunshot gets more concussive and more elements are added to the gunshot so by the time you’re close to the shooter the gun has totally changed, but you don’t perceive it as a totally 44 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) different gunshot” (james 2016: n.p.). the changeability of gunshot sounds in a relatively short underground tunnel sequence is what can be called “dynamic realism” in terms of sound (james 2016) which evokes “an increasing sense of concussive menace” (desowitz 2016: n.p.). 9. conclusion to conclude, sound design in sicario does not only provide the epistemic background as expected from a typical hollywood production but is anchored to the narrative to such an extent that it propels the action rather than functions as its accompaniment. sicario is an example of a contemporary movie where the soundscape functions as a character or narrator that adds new value to what is visible on screen. by means of raw percussive bass combined with well-chosen sound effects, the sound design in sicario reflects the dry pulse of the mexican border zone as well as personality traits of the characters immersed in the brutal reality of the drug war. the sound here interacts with visuals just as the score interacts with sound effects, which is rather unconventional for a hollywood movie. as the film presents the problem of drug trade on the borderlands from an unusual angle and attempts to present the complexities of the problem, the sound design functions in a similar way – it does not merely flow on the surface of the narrative. sicario’s evocative sound design goes deeper and creates a permeating sound core where particular gunshots and string sections are the muscles that stretch and contract in the heartbeat-like rhythm of “the beast”. this wild pulse alongside with the suppressed sound of panic and paranoia permeates the whole film, that is why it can be said that sound in sicario “exceeds narrative motivation” (mcqueen 2013). references altman, r. 1992. sound theory, sound practice. new york: routledge. a pulse from the desert: the score of sicario. 2016. short, action. armbrust, d. 2015. “jóhann jóhannsson’s relentless, ritualistic ‘sicario’ soundtrack.” wqxr (14 december 2015). http: / / www.wqxr.org / story / johann-johannssons-relentlessritualistic-sicario-soundtrack / ?utm_source=sharedurl&utm_medium=metatag&utm_ campaign=sharedurl blyth, a. 2016. alan robert murray on ‘sully,’ and creating benicio del toro’s gunshot sound for ‘sicario.’ https: / / www.yahoo.com / tv / alan-robert-murray-sully-creating-184853799. html (accessed: 16 february 2016). bordwell, d. 2002. intensified continuity visual style in contemporary american film. film quarterly 55 (3): 16–28. https: / / doi.org / 10.1525 / fq.2002.55.3.16 (accessed: 19 may 2016). bradshaw, p. 2015a. sicario review: emily blunt cracks the cartel in a white-knuckle thriller. the guardian. http: / / www.theguardian.com / film / 2015 / may / 19 / sicario-review-emilyblunt-thriller (accessed: 19 may 2016). 45 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) bradshaw, p. 2015b. sicario review – emily blunt at the sharp end in war on drugs. the guardian. october 8, 2015. http: / / www.theguardian.com / film / 2015 / oct / 08 / sicario-review-emily-blunt-at-the-sharp-end-in-war-on-drugs (accessed: 18 may 2016). buhler, j., flinn, c. & neumeyer, d. (eds). 2000. music and cinema. 1st edition. hanover, nh: wesleyan. chagollan, s. 2015. ‘sicario’s’ ominous score aims to match film’s brutality. variety (blog). september 16, 2015. http: / / variety.com / 2015 / artisans / production / sicario-score-johann-johannsson-1201594496 / (accessed: 17 may 2016). chion, m. 1994. audio-vision: sound on screen. 14th edition. new york: columbia university press. dancynger, k. 2018. the technique of film and video editing: history, theory, and practice. 6th edition. new york: routledge. desowitz, b. 2016. how they made the percussive sound and score for oscar nominee ‘sicario.’ thompson on hollywood. february 17, 2016. http: / / blogs.indiewire.com / thompsononhollywood / how-they-made-the-percussive-sound-and-score-for-oscar-nominee-sicario-20160217 (accessed: 20 may 2016). giardina, c. 2015a. how roger deakins mastered shooting in the dark for ‘sicario.’ the hollywood reporter. november 26, 2015. http: / / www.hollywoodreporter.com / behind-screen / howroger-deakins-mastered-shooting-842555 (accessed: 19 may 2016). giardina, c. 2015b. ‘sicario’ editor joe walker outlines how he cut the cartel thriller. the hollywood reporter. december 10, 2015. http: / / www.hollywoodreporter.com / behind-screen / sicario-editor-joe-walker-outlines-847890. (accessed: 5 june 2016). gorbman, c. 1987. unheard melodies: narrative film music. london: bfi pub., bloomington: indiana univ pr. grobar, m. 2015. ‘sicario’ composer johann johannsson on creating propulsive sound of drug war drama – awardsline. deadline (blog). december 24, 2015. http: / / deadline.com / 2015 / 12 / johannjohannsson-sicario-composer-oscars-best-score-1201664692 / (accessed: 25 may 2017). james, d. 2016. contender – sound editor alan robert murray, sicario. below the line (blog). february 2, 2016. http: / / www.btlnews.com / awards / contender-portfolios / contendersound-editor-alan-robert-murray-sicario / (accessed: 6 may 2016). kermode, m. 2015. sicario review – emily blunt’s star quality lifts mexican drugs thriller. the guardian. october 11, 2015. http: / / www.theguardian.com / film / 2015 / oct / 11 / sicarioreview-emily-blunt-star-quality-lifts-thriller. mcqueen, a. 2013. ‘bring the noise!’: sonic intensified continuity in the films of edgar wright. project muse 7 (2): 141–65. merry, s. 2015. stressful music, carnage and oscar buzz: why ‘sicario’ is the new ‘jaws.’ the washington post, october 5, 2015. https: / / www.washingtonpost.com / news / arts-and-entertainment / wp / 2015 / 10 / 05 / stressful-music-carnage-and-oscar-buzz-why-sicariois-the-new-jaws / (accessed: 2 july 2016). 46 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) olsen, m. 2015. tension crackles across the many borders of ‘sicario.’ los angeles times. september 17, 2015. https: / / www.latimes.com / entertainment / movies / la-et-0918-sicario-review20150918-story.html. (accessed: 23 july 2016). roberts, s. 2015. composer johann johannsson talks sicario, denis villeneuve. collider (blog). september 29, 2015. http: / / collider.com / composer-johann-johannsson-sicario-interview / (accessed: 29 may 2016). rotella, s. 2015. sicario’s dirty war on mexican cartels is not yet reality. propublica. october 23, 2015. https: / / www.propublica.org / article / sicarios-dirty-war-on-mexican-cartels-isnot-yet-reality (accessed: 2 june 2016). shaviro, s. 2016. 3.4 splitting the atom: post-cinematic articulations of sound and vision. postcinema (blog). april 11, 2016. http: / / reframe.sussex.ac.uk / post-cinema / 3-4-shaviro / (accessed: 12 july 2016) tallerico, b. 2015. sicario movie review & film summary (2015) | roger ebert. http: / / www.rogerebert.com / reviews / sicario-2015. (accessed: 3 june 2016) zager, m. 2015. writing music for commercials: television, radio, and new media. 3 edition. lanham, maryland: rowman & littlefield publishers. *** lidia kniaź is a phd candidate at maria curie-skłodowska university in lublin, poland, and a 2016 winner of the 2nd prize in poland’s contest for the best ma thesis in american studies. her research interests include science fiction music videos, afrofuturism, and sound design in film. she is currently working on her dissertation on afrofuturist music videos. the talmudic tradition in contemporary british-jewish fiction: silence versus talking 23 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles anita chmielewska university of warsaw the talmudic tradition in contemporary british-jewish fiction: silence versus talking abstract. the purpose of this article is to demonstrate that contemporary british-jewish fiction turns away from silence which is understood as a means of preventing problems in the community and that it depicts this kind of silence as harmful to family bonds. instead, as i shall argue, recent british novels draw from the long-established tradition of talmudic discussion and describe it as a method of solving intergenerational conflicts. such an approach is visible in disobedience by naomi alderman, the marrying of chani kaufman by eve harris, when we were bad by charlotte mendelson, and the innocents by francesca segal. keywords: british jews, talmud, silence, discussion, family. 1. the uniting force of the talmud the jewish diaspora has always been bound together by the talmud, the holy text of judaism. as a core of jewish culture, the talmud has been consulted by religious jews when they were searching for the answers to subjects regarding lifestyle and, above all, religion. it consists of two parts: mishnah and gemara (jacobs 2008a: 2-3). mishnah is the oral law that, as it is believed, was given to moses on mount sinai, passed down from generation to generation and written down in 200 ce (jacobs 2008a: 1-2). gemara, written around 500 ce, consists of writings that develop the thoughts from mishnah (jacobs 2008a: 3). the talmud has bound jewish people in the dispersion for more than 2000 years. not only has the talmud passed down knowledge of the laws of judaism, but also, as shwarzer notes, its organization mirrored the architectural structure of the temple, being thus a portable version of the destroyed place of worship (schwartzer 2001: 474487). however, the talmud has never been approached as a fossilized list of religious rules. jacobs points to the fact that it “constitutes reasoning processes which have received the most careful study on the part of generations of jewish scholars and have contributed more to the shaping of the jewish mind than any other factor” (jacobs 2008a: 1). the dialogue on the implementation of talmudic texts has been the central element of jewish education for ages. doi: 10.15290/cr.2018.23.4.02 24 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles 2. havruta: a discussion leading to knowledge the discussions between students and teachers tend to develop into heated disputes. it is the students who ask problematic questions who are valued most (jacobs 2008b: 7). moreover, since world war i, havruta, a traditional method of analyzing and interpreting fragments of the talmud in groups and especially in pairs has become the dominant approach to this text (arbor 2014: 213). shwartz and katz observe that havruta is considered the best method of learning as it seems to strengthen the sense of community and to protect from embarrassment, a feeling rarely absent in an individual study with a teacher, who tends to be on higher intellectual level than his student (katz and schwartz 1998: 317). a havruta partner does not have to be chosen by a rabbi, sometimes a student can do it individually. nowadays, the talmud can be studied in havruta not only in traditional talmudic schools but also via the internet or with friends at home. moreover, talmudic disputes are present in a vast body of commentaries written by generations of rabbis. the infinity of intergenerational disputes on the pages of talmudic literature seems to reflect the jewish belief in the infinity of the divine word (salfati 2009: 12). in other words, according to judaism, no question exists that would not find its answer in the talmud. interestingly, this model of learning finds its counterpart in the everyday life of many jewish families. it includes both the havruta partners’ and the teacher-student relation. according to amos oz, “while scholarship matters enormously, family matters even more. these two mainstays tend to overlap. fathers, mothers, teachers. sons, daughters, students. text, question, dispute” (oz 2007a: x). he observes that, just like the students in talmudic schools challenge their teachers, in the talmud, “sons, biological or metaphorical, constantly challenge their fathers” (oz 2007b: 36). according to the writer, “ancient hebrew texts are continually engaged with two crucial pairings: parent and child, teacher and pupil” (oz 2007b: 6). in other words, fathers may be identified as rabbis, and their children as their students. the teacher’s duty is to pass on the judaic ways of living, but he is meant also to address the challenging questions and doubts of the next generation by means of logic together with arguments that can be derived from the scripture. 3. the spirit of havruta in contemporary british jewish novels unfortunately, this centuries-old spirit of creative dispute has disappeared in the majority of contemporary orthodox jewish communities (oz 2007b: 35). curiously though, recent british-jewish novels draw from the tradition of talmudic arguments in families. such an interest is clearly visible in disobedience by naomi alderman and the marrying of chani kaufman by eve harris. a distinct echo of this preoccupation is also detected in two other novels: when we were bad by charlotte mendelson and the innocents by francesca segal. each of these books opens with a scene in a synagogue that symbolically places the texts in judaic tradition and each of them deals with the subject of british-jewish families’ dilemmas regarding lifestyle and religion. british jews, an amalgam of two distinct cultures, are a marginal but an important minority in the isles. ruth gilbert, one of the leading experts on contemporary british-jewish literature, 25 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles points to the fact that “[u]ntil quite recently there has been a pervading sense that american[jewish] writing has somewhat dominated the literary and cultural agenda” (gilbert 2008: 397). however, as she notes, “current studies are increasingly recognising the need to untangle the british experience from the american and the wider european perspectives and focus on the particularity of the anglo-jewish context” (gilbert 2008: 397, italics in the original). most importantly, in contrast to reticent englishmen, jews, for a long time have been stereotypically associated with talkativeness, and consequently have perceived themselves as “a category error” (gilbert 2008: 398). yet, the negative perception of the propensity to talk has recently started to give way to an opposite tendency. the purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that recent british-jewish fiction turns away from silence which is understood as a means of preventing problems in community, that it depicts this kind of silence as harmful to family bonds and that instead, it turns to discussion as a method of solving intergenerational conflicts. 4. overcoming differences as cheyette observes, “most recent british-jewish writers are not merely unapologetic in their jewishness but can be characterized as jews ‘with attitude’ who disrupt all conventions” (qtd. in gilbert 2008: 402). naomi alderman certainly belongs to this group. in her novel with a very telling title, disobedience, she presents a story of an orthodox jewish community stirred by the arrival of a rabbi’s daughter, ronit, who years before decided to move to new york and pursue a secular life. after a long time of absence, she flies to london for her father’s funeral. during the event, she meets her childhood sweetheart, esti, who is now married to a future rabbi, dovid. the romantic feeling between ronit and esti develops once again. ronit’s sudden arrival provokes a number of reflections on ronit’s, esti’s and dovid’s part. all three of them approach the questions they are interested in by means of talmudic discourse. each chapter is introduced by a quotation from the talmud and followed by musings associated with it. the first of them always comes from the narrator. the following, depending on the chapter, is either from ronit, dovid or from esti. together, united in the dialogue that has as its purpose to answer their doubts, they constitute a havruta group. the subjects they explore are interconnected and aim at answering one major question, namely: what is happiness? the question is embedded in long elaborations on the opposition of silence versus talking, the graveness of the former and the regenerating quality of the latter. according to ronit’s father and for a long time also dovid, certain things are better left unseen and untold. such a taboo subject is, among others, dovid’s illness, which manifests itself through sudden attacks of panic when he is facing stressful situations. ronit, on the other hand, does not ever hesitate to say what she thinks. she even colors the truth to make it more shocking for those members of the orthodox community whom she does not particularly like. when asked by them if she is in any relationship with a man, she answers that she has a female partner, and that they intend to organize a commitment ceremony and have children with some gay couple (alderman 2007: 98-99). surprisingly, this little provocation does not shock dovid, but makes him smile (alderman 2007: 99). though he knows 26 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles that ronit is not serious, he is far from being appalled by her behaviour, it simply amuses him. this reaction is significant as it shows that he is not critical of her talkativeness on subjects controversial for ultra-orthodox jews. as ronit’s therapist rightly observes, “silence is not power. it’s not strength. silence is the means by which the weak remain weak and the strong remain strong. silence is a method of oppression” (alderman 2007: 153). as the book progresses, the readers witness a gradual change in dovid’s behaviour. from a man who refuses to address things he does not know how to cope with to an assertive rabbi who decides to give voice to his wife during the funeral of ronit’s father (e.g. alderman 2007: 48, 148). quite possibly, it was the will to change his behaviour that made his wife decide to stay with him, and for ronit not to break off her contact with the community like she once did. as the following fragment discloses, “ronit thought she was running away from god, but in fact she was fleeing from silence” (alderman 2007: 221). talking is also closely connected to the notion of gossip, which is heavily criticized in chapter seven of the novel. it opens with a fragment about the danger of engaging in conversations with women, which leads to men neglecting their duty to study the talmud (alderman 2007: 122). the narrator recounts how the hendon women, when shopping, gossip about ronit’s, esti’s and dovid’s private life (alderman 2007: 124-125). significantly, what follows directly after the mentioned fragment is a description of ronit’s dream about seagulls that stand for the members of the local jewish community who constantly observe and analyze her movements: that night i dreamed of the seagulls of hendon, of the extreme sharpness of their beaks and the flexing of their claws. of the way they set their heads on one side and look at you with one, unfathomable beady eye. it was a tippi hedren sort of dream, of running away from flocks of seagulls, except that these birds weren’t doing anything, not attacking or coming down the chimney or cracking glass. they were just looking. (alderman 2007: 133, italics as in the original). the novel thus points to the need for discussion, the lack of which leads to breaking relations with other people, in other words, to separation. according to both the narrator and dovid, because it was god who created all separations, they must be essentially good (alderman 2007: 4246). they take many forms, such as kosher and unkosher food, or different spaces for men and women in synagogues. the musings on the subject of separation in chapter four open with a talmudic fragment claiming it is better to be a man than a woman (alderman 2007: 58). according to the narrator, such a statement is understandable as two people cannot be in possession of one crown (alderman 2007: 58-59). for esti, there is also the separation from ronit, and for ronit, her cutting herself off from her father. however, if all these arrangements are good, why do both ronit and esti feel that they are missing something? esti symbolically communicates her longing for her childhood friend by an act of mixing kosher and unkosher ingredients (alderman 2007: 46-47). as for ronit, it is her therapist who suggests she misses her father, though she may not be aware of it (alderman 2007: 51). their doubts 27 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles indicate that it is necessary to depart from uncritical and silent conformity to rules maladjusted to the changing needs of individual members of the community. this is especially visible in the story of a battle between jacob and an angel. as the narrator comments: “but let us not deny that, of the many things he asks, some few may perhaps seem to us not only difficult but also unjust, unfair. wrong. and, in these moments, let us never doubt that we too have a voice within us to speak, that we too, like abraham and moses, may argue with the lord. it is our right” (alderman 2007: 234). undoubtedly, all of the three, ronit, esti and dovid, approve of such an interpretation of this biblical passage. each of them is a rebel. in the synagogue, during ronit’s father’s funeral, dovid decides to stand in the ladies’ gallery, which is behaviour the community is not accustomed to. he shocks them even more when he allows his wife to speak publicly about her sexuality. as for ronit, she disobeys her father when she decides to stay in new york. just as dovid she cannot accept the previous rabbi’s attitude towards silence and neither can esti. she says that words are important, but people should use them wisely: “our words are powerful. our words are real. this does not mean, however, that we should remain silent forever. rather, we must measure our words. we must be sure that we use them, like the almighty, to create and not to destroy” (alderman 2007: 246). the narrator draws attention to the fact that according to the talmud, though the discussions humans engage in may be infinite and futile, they have been given free will and with it the right to disobey, not only other humans, but also god. such a teaching is presented in one of the talmudic stories elaborated on in the novel. it describes an argument between three prophets who cannot agree on one interpretation of a complicated point of law (alderman 2007: 249-250). even though god indicates the one who is right, they still hold to their own arguments (alderman 2007: 250). according to the narrator, “we do not hear simply the pure voice of the almighty as the angels do. we are not ruled by blind instinct like the beasts. uniquely, we can listen to the commands of god, can understand them, yet can choose disobedience. it is this, and only this, which gives our obedience its value” (alderman 2007: 213). ronit’s, esti’s and dovid’s reflections and their cooperation in the quest for answers are reflected by the novel’s arrangement which symbolically encourages discussion as opposed to destructive silence. it is worth mentioning ruth gilbert’s point that “lesbian narrative in this narrative signifies a challenge to traditional family structures that is potentially disruptive but, it is implied, also regenerative” (gilbert 2008: 394-406). this regeneration is evident in the outcome of the discussion in the novel. the marriage of esti and dovid is not destroyed, despite esti’s lesbian affair with ronit. the couple decide to continue on living together in an orthodox jewish environment, raise their child in a family that promotes discussion and gives voice to everyone, no matter whether one is a woman, a man, a heterosexual or a homosexual. 5. modernizing an ultra-orthodox community the spirit of talmudic discussion is also easily detected in eve harris’s novel, the marrying of chani kaufman. it opens with a citation from the torah: “therefore shall each man forsake his 28 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles mother and father, and cling to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (gen 2:23, 24). the book’s central theme is of jewish marriage and divorce. the marrying of chani kaufman asks questions about the extent of the parental influence on children, of how much of this influence should be approved of when the children leave home and have found their own orthodox jewish families. it also puts in doubt the notion that it is possible to live a happy orthodox jewish married life in contemporary times. however, most of, just as in the case of disobedience, the marrying of chani kaufmann argues that all these issues should be approached by means of intergenerational dialogue and discussions in havruta. at the same time, the book depicts the consequences of rejecting such a procedure and of turning to silence. in contrast to disobedience, this novel does not provide talmudic quotations at the beginning of each chapter. instead, there are numerous descriptions of orthodox jewish religious rituals, such as ritual immersion in mikveh1, and other procedures before, during and after the ceremony of marriage. there are two major havruta pairs: chani and baruch, and the rabbi and the rebbetzin. though both chani and baruch are religious jews, they want to negotiate the obligations of married life in an ultra-orthodox community. their present form is difficult to accept both for the rabbetzin, baruch and chani. nonetheless, baruch’s and chani’s dealing with the problem differs essentially from the one of the rabbetzin and her husband. the first couple choose discussion, the second, despite the rabbetzin’s plights, stay on the path of silence and consequently separate. the answer to the question on the viability of orthodox marriage in the twenty first century is therefore positive but only if critically approached by both future or present spouses. moreover, the book suggests that the institution of orthodox marriage cannot escape certain modernisations. answers regarding marriage that chani asks are provided by the rabbetzin, who is not allowed to encourage the girl to think critically. in turn, the new generation seek a modernised way of life, in which there would be fewer regulations and taboos, especially concerning their sexual life. chani and baruch create a havruta and try to find answers together; this is what makes their relationship successful. on a more general level, the novel appears to suggest that if the jewish ultra-orthodox communities refuse to critically rethink and negotiate their traditions, more and more of them will choose a secular life. this is exactly what alderman pointed to in disobedience. according to oz, “the talmud stipulated, and the haggadah2 later popularized, some family rules of discussion. it was a paradigm of intergenerational quizzing: youngsters ask questions and their elders reply” (oz 2007b: 36). this practice of intergenerational discussion, as alderman’s and harris’s novels argue, is something that jewish orthodox communities should turn back to as it may help to develop solutions to major doubts about the orthodox ways of living that the new generation is presently facing. 1 mikveh is a “ritual bathing pool in which a person immerses himself as part of the transition to ritual purity” (www.chabad.org). 2 haggadah is the “book that retells the story of the exodus, from which the passover seder is conducted” (www.chabad.org). 29 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles 6. from a goddess to a rabbi when we were bad, although it tells a story of a less orthodox community than in disobedience or the marrying of chani kaufman, just as in case of these two books, it draws attention to the regenerative potential of discussion in inter-generational relations. one of the questions that the novel tries to answer is whether a female rabbi, claudia, should accept the controversial choice by her son, adam, to marry a divorced woman. even more importantly, it explores the question of the limits of the rabbi’s influence on the synagogue’s members. the rabbi’s conflict with adam makes it possible to answer this second, even more important question. the two, claudia and adam, may be clearly identified as a teacher and a student. they do not, however, discuss a specific fragment of the talmud but the rabbi’s belief that “as its senior rabbi herself has said, community, family, is the answer. aren’t they all lucky to be part of hers?” (mendelson 2007: 9). claudia has become the only one that should be listened to in the synagogue environment, somehow effacing the central figure of god that she is meant to represent. described as an ancient statue, claudia has the air of a goddess that should be worshipped: “[she] had sat up, slick dark hair like an otter, breasts and shoulders shining: too monumental to be beautiful but beautiful all the same” (mendelson 2007: 7). with such a rabbi, adored by all the members of the local community, the critical thinking and the spirit of discussion among them has been lost. not only her son, but also other characters in the novel feel oppressed, as it may be easily sensed, above all, in the opening chapter of when we were bad (mendelson 2007: 5-13). yet despite the fear of disobeying claudia, leo decides to develop his relationship with the woman he is in love with. finally, the mother and the son reach a consensus: "because she is his mother, she knows. she says: “do you want me to say whether i could ever like her?” “well, yes.” “no,” she tells him. i could not. but she will be good for you.” (mendelson 2007: 320). the fragment suggests that claudia decides to accept her son’s decision, which wouldn’t have been possible if she refused to talk with her son. moreover, and even more importantly, in the process of coming to terms with adam’s disobedience, claudia changes her attitude towards all the members of the synagogue. from a godly figure, she becomes a human being. the intergenerational dialogue of the mother and the son brings fresh air to the whole community. the title itself suggests this shift. ‘when we were bad’ means ‘before we became good’. it thus contrasts the past state of the community with the present one. the transition between the two happened as an aftermath of the dialogue and reconciliation of claudia and adam. had they chosen silence, the situation both in the family and in the synagogue community would have continued to deteriorate. 30 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles 7. the threat of omnipotence if disobedience, the marrying of chani kaufman and when we were bad all end in a positive tone showing a happy or partially happy denouement, the innocents by francesca segal portraits the oppression that turning to silence creates. the dialogue in segal’s book had the potential to develop but did not, mostly due to the refusal to listen and to discuss by the head of the family, the “teacher”. though not a rabbi but a businessman, lawrence is the only person who should be truly obeyed in his family, which is very explicitly pointed to in the following fragment: “he was not stooping in apology – today, lawrence looked like a patriarch. tall and erect in the old black overcoat that jaffa had brushed with extra care for the occasion, lawrence had his arm around a zaftig and voluble wife he worshipped, a beautiful daughter beside him listening with respect and adoration, his prayer book in his hands as he read” (segal 2013: 394, italics as in the original). he gives the impression of being a loving, caring father who believes that one’s family‘s wellbeing should be a priority for everyone. yet, he is the one who decides how the lives of his relatives should appear, in which relationships they should engage in and in which not. his power over his daughter and her husband is symbolically depicted by lawrence’s taking photos of the couple during a family trip: “together [adam and rachel], they turned to look up at the beaming lawrence who extended his camera towards them, capturing for posterity the moment at which they arrived together, back on the dry land” (segal 2013: 204); and during the ritual of rachel’s and adam’s son’s circumcision: already in his tallit, lawrence stood in the doorway, squinting at the dials of the camera that hung on a fraying leather strap around his neck, where it had been for almost every hour of the last eight days. adam had increased the resolution on all the cameras in the family so that these first portraits could be reproduced in brilliant details, meters wide. clear enough to preserve every nuance, every moment, every cell. frowning in concentration lawrence cupped his hand over the screen, anxious to be prepared. as rachel and adam approached, hand in hand, he looked up and adam caught his eye. lawrence smiled. (segal 2013: 436, italics as in the original). when his son in law, adam, has an affair with a beautiful cousin, ellie, and wonders whether or not to leave his wife, lawrence, with the help of the family, expels ellie from their environment. the family, which seems to be very warm and caring, is described as a jury who sentences adam to a sense of guilt (segal 2013: 391-397). it should be noticed that the plot of the novel is very similar to the one of disobedience. both stories start with the return of a liberated american woman to an english jewish community. in addition, each of these characters have an affair with a married man from this very environment and in both novels the neighbourhood presented oscillates around the central male figure who is at the same time a father figure. quite significantly, adam treats lawrence as a father, his biological one having died when adam was still a child. nonetheless, in contrast to disobedience, the dialogue between the leader and other characters is never allowed to develop. not only lawrence 31 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles but also the whole family halts any progress of the discussion. the question posed in the innocents is whether it is possible for a relative who had an affair with a married man, the husband of her cousin, to return to her family. the final answer is negative, but it has not been concluded as a result of a discussion between the havruta pair of ellie and adam, together with the elders of the family and with lawrence, who should be identified as a metaphorical rabbi. instead, the answer is imposed on ellie and adam by other participants of the potential, yet not realised, dialogue. it is worth taking a closer look at the title of the novel. the term ‘the innocents’ may be extended to each character in the book, including ellie and adam. although one of them has been expelled from the family, she is not guilty, as the title suggests. perhaps her relatives would not decide to turn away from ellie if they resolved to listen to her. still, their behaviour is not a pointless act of psychological violence but rather an act defending a family and, more symbolically, a community striving to survive. if the title of the novel extends to all the characters, it may be argued that besides ellie and adam, lawrence and the rest of the family are innocent as well. the relationship between a sexually liberated woman and adam poses a threat to the structure of the family whose intentions, after all, had in view a noble purpose. however, the novel indicates that a much more serious threat to the community is the omnipotence given to a leader who does not allow any space for dialogue. lawrence only takes photographs that are meant to show a happy family but obviously, this is not the whole picture. it is very important to notice that the final paragraph of the innocents is the already quoted description of the family reunion during the circumcision ritual. what the reader is left with after closing the book is an aura of intimidation, something absent from any other novel analyzed in this article. 8. the regenerative power of discussion amos oz observed that “[p]erhaps (…) mainstream orthodox judaism had forgotten the spirit of questioning that the talmud once knew” (oz 2007b: 35). the basic premise of judaism, which is the disputative manner of finding answers to substantial questions concerning lifestyle and religion has somehow evaporated both from jewish families and synagogue communities. contemporary british-jewish writers seem to draw from the talmudic method of study, some more and some less straightforwardly. for them, this tradition is not a constraint but a chance to work though intergenerational conflicts. references alderman, naomi. 2007. disobedience. london: penguin books. arbor, joy. 2014. “shema yisrael”: listening in judaism and what it has to teach us. in: m. bernard-donals and j. w. fernheimer (eds.), jewish rhetorics: history, theory, practice, 198-214. waltham, massachusetts: brandeis university press. gilbert, ruth. 2008. contemporary british-jewish writing: from apology to attitude. literature compass 5.2. 394-406. 32 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles jacobs, louis. 2008a. the babylonian talmud: an introductory note. in: louis jacobs, structure and form in the babylonian talmud, 1-5. cambridge: cambridge university press. jacobs, louis. 2008b. how much of the babylonian talmud is pseudepigraphic? in: louis jacobs, structure and form in the babylonian talmud, 6-17. cambridge: cambridge university press. mendelson, charlotte 2007. when we were bad. new york: houghton mifflin company. oz, amos. 2007a. preface. in: amos oz, jews and words, ix-x. new haven: yale university press. oz, amos. 2007b. continuity. in: amos oz, jews and words, 1-56. new haven: yale university press. salfati, pierre-henry. 2009. talmud. enquête dans un monde très secret. paris: éditions albin michel. schwartzer, mitchell. 2001. the architecture of talmud. journal of the society of architectural historians 4.60. 474-487. segal, francesca. 2013. the innocents. london: vintage books. discourse pattern, contexts and pragmatic strategies of selected fraud spam 53 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ ezekiel opeyemi olajimbiti elizade university, nigeria discourse pattern, contexts and pragmatic strategies of selected fraud spam abstract. the thrust of this paper is the pragmatic investigation of fraud spam, the unwanted emails containing the strategic use of language with the intention to swindle money from the recipients. sixty (60) english medium email samples were collected from the author of the present paper’s email spam between july 2017 and february 2018 in nigeria. these were analysed using halliday and hasan’s generic structure potential and an aspect of fetzer’s cognitive context model. the study identified six discourse patterns: salutation, discourse initiation, enticing information, mild conscription into business, request and subscription; orienting to contexts of business and religion; manifesting pragmatic strategies of adversatives, evocation of business idea, evocation of religious affinity and evocation of messianic figure. the study, therefore, concludes that cyber-fraudsters deploy similarly familiar patterns and contexts evincing strategic persuasive language to defraud their prospective victims. significantly, the study complements existing literature on fraud discourse in linguistic scholarship. keywords: fraud spam, generic structure potential, mild conscription, messianic figure and cyber-fraudster. 1. introduction the ubiquitous nature of email fraud, the unwanted emails containing the strategic use of language with the intention to swindle money from the recipients, is a continuous social concern worthy of scholarly investigation. studies have shown that millions of people, the world over, have become and still fall victims of this form of cybercrime because the fraudsters have not desisted from sending such emails. i was almost a victim a few years ago when i ignorantly responded to one of the emails in my spam account; at the verge of taking a loan in an attempt to raise the money requested by the fraudsters, but for the intervention of one of my acquaintances who divulged to me the secrete of cyber-fraudsters. the foregoing motivated this study, the pragmatic investigation of fraud spam, with a view to determining the discourse patterns, contexts and pragmatic strategies that are often evinced in the criminally oriented and fraudulently characterised emails allegedly sent to recipients to swindle money from them. hua, abdollahi-gullani and zi (2017) aver that the issue of the victim’s vulnerability has continued to be on the increase and the reasons behind it certainly deserve further linguistic and doi: 10.15290/cr.2018.21.2.05 54 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ metalinguistic scrutiny. studies in this direction have not been widespread due to the search for appropriate methodologies. significantly, the existing studies have mostly covered linguistic discourse analytical approach (chiluwa 2009, 2013; barron 2006; orasan and krishnamithy 2002; heyd 2008). the present study, therefore, complements these studies by its adoption of a discoursepragmatic approach to email fraud (cyber fraud) in linguistic scholarship in nigeria. email (electronic mail) is one of the most frequently used services in the net. runkehl, siever and schlobinsk (1998) claim that email is quicker than ordinary post service, cheap, and can be sent to a lot of addresses simultaneously. this seemingly friendly phenomenon has been greatly abused for fraud purpose. email fraud includes fake lottery winning announcement or fake business invitation, money transfer, investment opportunity, dormant account claim invitation, money inheritance information (chiluwa 2013:1). according to him “in the last ten years, email as a form of computer-mediated communication (cmc) has increasingly become the main medium for perpetrating digital deceptions, email fraud or digital lies. fraud, according to idowu (2009: 629), is the deliberate falsification, camouflage, or exclusion of the truth for dishonesty/ stage management to the financial damage of an individual or an organization. it is the dishonesty or an act of cheating someone or business to give up possession of some lawful right (polick 2006). in their view, fadipe-joseph and titiloye (2012: 215) refer to fraud as any actions by which one person intends to gain a deceitful advantage over another. 2. related studies the continuous rise of cyber fraud cases demands serious preventive actions that would emanate from scholarly investigations. chiluwa (2009) investigates the pragmatics of hoax email business proposals; where he applies speech acts theory to the study of discourse strategies and functions of hoax email. he classifies this as “419 emails”, being the nigerian term form all forms of online fraudulent acts. his submission is that such practices have become a regular part of our internet social life since economic hardship being witnessed by the world today can force people to criminal activities. the attention of researchers has continued to be drawn to the strategies deployed by these fraudsters to swindle money from their intending victims. for instance, behman, azabdaftari and hosseini (2011) identify persuasive strategies of personalization, presupposition and lexical choices as frequently being used by fraudsters in financial fraud spam emails. in a similar vein, hiss (2015) in his study on fraud and fairy tales: storytelling and linguistic indexicals in scam emails, opines that most of us receive numerous spam emails, text that in one way or another try to convince us to engage in transactions of enormous sums of money, promising unbelievable benefits. he argues further that in the fraudsters’ attempts to get the recipients involved combining cultural indexicals, interactional roles and narrative strategies. recently, hua, abdollahi-gullani and zi (2017), explore linguistic deception of chinese cyber fraudsters. they argue that cybercrimes are on the increase in china, where fraudsters manipulate language to deceive users into revealing their bank account or depositing sums in the cheats’ account. the study adopted speech acts and politeness theories to conversations of 50 interlocutors who had already chatted with different on55 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ line cheats in china. it submits that fraudsters manipulate language to present untruth as truth using online deceptions. proffering solution, yoon et al. (2010:12) propose a hybrid spam filtering framework for email communication using a combination of contact-based filtering and challenge-response. the study performs some preliminary experiments to investigate whether plagiarism direction tools could be used as a filter form of spam emails. in a related view, leap (2007:63-64) points out that email fraud may have either one of two objectives, first, fraudulent emails techniques may be used to cover up the misappropriation or misapplication of funds. secondly, fraudulent financial statements may be issued by email writers to mislead the mail recipients. an overview of the literature, however, shows that the myriad of techniques can be broken down into four broad categories the first two are revenue based schemes and expense based schemes the two revenues are aimed at anticipating a firm current profitability as reported on the income statement. the third and fourth categories are asset-based schemes and liability-based schemes. scholars like young (2006) and dechow et al., (2011) have, however, suggested that the primary motivation for email fraud is only a small subject of cases. those fraudsters also use well-known business entities or organisations and charity instinct to deceive the recipients. 3. theoretical perspectives: generic structure potential and cognitive context 3.1. generic structure potential generic structure potential directly derives from contextual configuration (cc). according to odebunmi (2007: 88), “generic structure potential (gsp) emerges from halliday and hasan’s (1989) concept of contextual configuration, which has been added to the earlier hallidayan context of situation dimensions”. these functional linguists argue further that field is the social action or what is going on, and language is playing a significant role. it determines the register used. the tenor of discourse is the cluster of a meaningful relationship between relationships the participants in acts communication. cc gave prominence to the immediate constituents of a text, with no serious consideration to all the potentials of a genre. therefore, gsp was developed to take into cognizance, all the possibilities that can occur in a textobligatory, optional and recursive elements in possible orderings. it also refers to the staging of the genre at its attending sequencing and formalisation within the cultural experience. so it takes into cognizance all the features of texts possible by locating such within a specific genre if its structure is compatible with one of the possibilities specified by the gsp. the notations and their meanings are as follows: the dot (.) indicates more than one option in sequence, the round brackets ( ) represent optionality of enclosed elements, the square brackets [ ] show restraints of sequence, the braces with curved arrow { } indicate that the degree of interaction for elements in braces is equal, the caret sign ^ shows sequence. the choice of gsp to this study is significant in unpacking the discourse patterns of the 56 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ selected fraud emails. the structure of the theory allows for the sequences that characterise the content of email messages. 3.2. cognitive context fetzer’s contribution to cognitive context is adopted in this study. cognitive context is a structured multilayered construct which is indispensable for language processing and inferencing. it is required for a cognitively based outlook on communication as it contains assumptions about mutual cognitive environments. according to fetzer (2007: 12), “the nature of the connectedness between its constative layers and subsystems is meta-communicative and meta-systemic”. sperber and wilson (1986: 95) stress that cognitive context refers to a set of premises, namely, true or possibly true mental representations. deductive reasoning from the foregoing is that mental construct or representations on practical reasoning on language use are central to cognitive context. fetzer identifies elements of this context as mental representations, propositions and contextual assumptions which may vary in strength and factual assumptions. features of this context are deployed in accounting for the contexts the assumed cyber-fraudsters orient to by cognitively appealing to the psyche of the email recipients to defraud them. 4. methodology data for the study consist of sixty (60) english medium email samples collected from the author of the present paper’s email spam between july 2017 and february 2018 in nigeria. these emails were retrieved from the spam to show that they were sent from the unknown individuals. their contents reflect that they are crime-related manifesting money transfer, lottery, business and charity engagements. these were analysed using halliday and hassan’s generic structure potential to unpack the discourse patterns of the data and an aspect of fetzer’s cognitive context model to track the context the cyber-fraudsters orient to in defrauding the email recipients and pragmatic strategies often deployed for such intention. 5. data analysis and findings the analysis is structured into discourse patterns, contexts and pragmatic strategies. these are analysed in turn. 5.1. discourse patterns of fraud emails six discourse patterns characterise the selected fraud emails reflecting the language use of the cyber-fraudsters, namely, salutation (st), discourse initiation (di), enticing information (ei), mild conscription into business (mcb), request (rq) and subscription (sb). these are catalogued thus: [st] ^ [di] ^ [ei] ^ [mcb] ^ {rq} ^ [sb] 57 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ the catalogue shows that all the elements are obligatory as one stage sequences to another in fixed positions representing the discourse patterns of email fraud. these are analysed in turn. 5.1.1. salutation (st) salutation describes phatic communication in routine greeting addressed to the email recipients. four forms of salutation characterise selected data are polite concentration seeking method, pious greeting, polite routine observance and social tie marker. the polite concentration seeking method relates to a form of greeting addressed to the email recipients to get their attention by using honorific and polite terms like ‘sir’. an example of this is “attention sir”. pious greeting explains a christian way of showing affinity with a person. salutation like “dearest in christ” is intended to appeal to the religious minds of the recipients. polite routine observance connects to the ritual-like function of language but in this case, the cyber-fraudsters affiliate to social tie and romance markers like “friend”, “dear”, “love” to dress the positive face want of the recipients to defraud them. 5.1.2. discourse initiation (di) this elucidates how the email writers introduce themselves to their recipients, entailing self-presentation reflecting identity terms of name, sex and one’s occupation. noticeable in the selected data are the uses of pronouns: personal and possessive pronouns and fictitious personal details of the email writers. these are exemplified below. example 1 ‘i am dr takashi shimada, japanese origin ‘i am mrs mary martins, an ageing widow’ ‘my wife and i won the euro millions lottery of j53 million’ ‘my name is alice joe from uk’ the foregoing indicates first person and possessive pronouns through which email writers get themselves introduced to the recipients. such pronouns are immediately followed by fictitious names of the cyber-fraudsters, who also disclose their social identity reflecting social status and national identity. these implicate self-presentation through identity acknowledgement to authenticate the emails but such strategy constructs pragmatic nuances of deception. 5.1.3. enticing information (ei) enticing information projects persuasive narratives by the email writers with the intention to convince the email recipients to be interested in the conversation and thereby swindle money from them. such narratives revolve around business, charity, health, friendship money transfer and atm card. the following samples exemplify this further. 58 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ example 2 ‘i have some funds i inherited from my loving husband mr martins j martins the sum us &3.800.000.00. (mail 2) example 3 ‘i am … a woman who was diagnosed for cancer about 4 years ago i have decided to donate my fund ($ 2,000,000.00) (mail 6) example 4 we have voluntarily decided to donate $2,000,000.00 (two million dollars) to 5 individuals randomly as part of our own charity project. example 5 friendship is a gift. it is a blessing that only the fortunate have. i am lucky to have a friend like you… example 6 right now we have finally succeeded in getting your atm card worth of $1.5 million out of delivery your atm card with the help of adams mole attorney general of federal high court of justice benin republic… example 7 i am here to search for a business partner or friend who will help me to invest my fund in his company or country. the foregoing evinces different narratives ranging from business, charity, atm card, friendship related matters. these, though, look ordinarily convincing to engage the email recipients to initiate the process of defrauding them. expectedly, this stage of the email arouses and activates the interest of the recipients as it creates psychological prominence in their thinking faculties. 5.1.4. mild conscription into business (mcb) the mild conscription into business stage describes amiably gentle encouragement and provocation of an invitation to lure an individual into business. business in this context extends beyond buying and selling to any engagement of human beings. therefore, mcb characteristically explains an allurement, enticement, or attraction of a written request for someone’s presence or participation. its manifestation in the selected data reflects assistance often solicited from email recipients in terms of fund management, business establishment and friendship engagement. example 8 we need your assistance by representing my company in nigeria 59 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ example 9 i need a very honest and god fearing person that can use these funds for god’s work and 15% out of the total funds will be for your compensation… example 10 beloved let us join hands together to help our fellow brothers and sisters who are poor, sick and homeless so that blessings will be ours while glory goes to the lord our creator. example 11 although, i just want us to become friends maybe something more if you wish, and i want you to write me back for more discussion with you as soon as you receive this email. this trend is obviously noticeable in the sampled data. the email recipients are mildly lured into company representation, fund management and friendship as traps to engage them in further discussions that would lead to syphoning money from them. importantly, these narratives are intended to active attitudinal disposition in the recipients. 5.1.5. request (rq) this obligatory element captures the act of asking or employing email recipients to do something by responding to emails received to indicate interest or give more information on personal details with the intention to facilitate further discussions. this has been classified into two, namely, information request and inherent request. information request describes the method the cyberfraudsters deploy to know the identity and other personal details of the email recipients. examples of such include: “reply us with your resume/cv”, “reply back the message he will respond to you immediately”, “please reply me back”. these convey strategic means of getting the email recipients engaged to aid their dubious intention. interest request in the same vein shows how fraudsters want the email recipients to be committed by positively responding to the enticing information already given. this is captured in the following: “i will give you more details if you show more interest”, “please kindly get back to me as soon as possible if you are interested”, “please if you would be able to use the funds for the charity works, kindly let me know immediately”. these are politely constructed to appeal to the positive face want of the email recipients, especially with the frequent use of “please”. 5.1.6. subscription (sb) subscription signals the closure of an email as a similitude of formal correspondence. usually, it entails closing remarks and marker of authorship of the emails. three forms of subscriptions identified in this study are formal closure (“yours sincerely, dr takashi shimada, executive director”), pious closure (“your sister in the lord mrs martins”), informal closure (“best regards, alice”). one noticeable trend is that the salutation and subscription follow similar narrative features. 60 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5.2. contexts and pragmatic strategies two contexts namely, business and religion, configure the selected data. these heavily manifest in all the stages presented in the discourse pattern section. of significance is the fact that the cyberfraudsters orient the recipients of the emails to these contexts to trigger a positive response from them. these are analysed along with the following pragmatic strategies: adversatives, evocation of business idea, evocation of religious affinity and evocation of messianic figure. 5.2.1. context of business this context indexes linguistic features pointing to commercial engagement involving the production, buying and selling of goods and services and other monetary matters. fraud emails writers often orient their intending victims to fictitious economic activities like investments, company representation, lottery related matters and so on with the intention to activate psychological relevance in them. this is exemplified in the following: example 12 i am the executive director american devices and diagnostics manufacturers association (amdd), we specialize in the production of interventional cardiology product and other devices… we need your assistance by representing the company in nigeria. example 13 i am here to search for a business partner or friend who will help me to invest my fund in his company or country. example 14 ..will you like to come and work and live in the usa? in example 12, the following co-texts lexicalise business orientations: “diagnostics”, “manufacturers”, “production”, “cardiology product”, “representing” and “company” which also capture company representation. the co-tests in example 13, are “business”, “invest”, “fund” and “company” all pointing to the idea of investment. these are put together to appeal to the cognitive minds of the recipients who could relate easily to the mental representations of a business idea. mental representation is a key term in the cognitive context that explains a presentation to the mind in the form of an idea or image that can be perceived. these cyber-fraudsters conjure mental representation of huge monetary opportunity to their recipients whom they have seen indirectly as lower socioeconomic status people. two pragmatic strategies associated with this context are evocation of business idea and adversative. the former relates to creating an image of the fantastic business idea with huge monetary opportunity. significantly, the strategy configures mental representations of an ideal business world, while the recipients are expected to infer this by contextual assumptions from the contents of the emails. contextual assumptions as used in cognitive context framework refer to 61 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ meaning inferred from the stated utterances. the latter entails information packaging act for a business purpose which in most cases is to win more “customers” in a competitive business world. ong (1981: 51) argues that “‘adversatives’ is universal, but ‘conspicuous or expressed adversatives is a larger element in the business world”. this is illustrated in this example: “i would like you to handle the contract of supplying a product to my company”. in this case, the fraudsters deploy this strategy to deceive their intending victims who may want to assume that such adverts are real. 5.2.2 context of religion the context of religion relates to linguistic configuration characterised by a system of belief in a being and the activities that are connected with this belief system. in the context of this study, the christian religion is portrayed. this is evidenced by the linguistic elements in the contents of some of the selected emails. of significance in fraud discourse, is the context of religion; because it appeals more to the religious inclination of the intending victims to defraud them. all the emails with religious contents manifest charity services. the email writers deploy in this cognitively based communication religion and its associated activity of charity to seek mutual cognitive environment to perpetrate their dubious act. the following examples further illustrate this. example 15 i need a very honest and god-fearing person that can use these funds for god’s work (charity) and 15% out of the total funds will be for your compensation for doing this work of god. example 16 …i have decided to donate my fund ($2,000,000.00) to you for charitable goals…i want you to use this fund to help the orphanage homes, poor, sick ones in the hospital…proverbs 19:17: he who gives to the poor lends to the lord and the lord will reward such a person for good work. the co-texts lexicalizing the context of religion and charity services from the foregoing are: “god-fearing”, “god’s work”, “charity”, “work of god”. “donate”, “charitable goals”, “fund”, “orphanage homes”, “proverbs 19:17”, “lord”, “good work”. these items are capable of mentally constructing celestial idea within christian religion from these propositions in the minds of the email recipients, especially those who believe in this system. also, two pragmatic strategies related to this context are evocation of religious affinity and evocation of messianic figure. evocation in this situation implies that the email writers cognitively create these pictures in the emails through their use of language. the evocation of religious affinity relates to the assumption of shared religious belief through which cyber-fraudsters disguise with the intention to defraud the email recipients. this strategy is deployed by using christianity terms like “god’s work”, ‘charity work”, “your sister in the lord” and so on. they do this to orient to the religious beliefs of the recipients. 62 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ the evocation of messianic figure describes how the email writers project themselves as messiahs, philanthropists to their recipients. they deploy this strategy by mentally creating the figure of generosity to the people they want to defraud. lexical items depicting this are: “compensation”, “reward”, “beneficiary”, “you will receive 30%” just to mention a few. 6. conclusion it has been shown in the analysis and findings that six stages characterise the discourse pattern of email fraud, namely, salutation, discourse initiation, enticing information, mild conscription into business, request and subscription. through these the email writers (cyber-fraudsters) orient to the context of business and context of religion; thereby hiding under these guises to defraud the email recipients. through mental representations and propositions evidenced in the contents of the emails, recipients are expected to inferentially process the meanings via contextual assumptions. meanwhile, pragmatic strategies of adversative and evocation of business idea distinguish context of business, while those of evocations of religious affinity and messianic figure manifest in the context of religion. the preponderance configurations of business and charity instincts in the selected emails align with young’s (2006) findings. this study has also shown that there is a heavy use of polite expressions; importantly deployed to appeal to the positive face want of the recipients to yield easily to their tact. the choice of gsp and cognitive context has significantly made the study to unpack the linguistic configuration of email fraud and track the cognitive undertone of such discourse. the study, therefore, concludes that cyber-fraudsters deploy similarly familiar patterns and contexts evincing strategic persuasive language to defraud their prospective victims. the study complements existing literature on fraud discourse in linguistic scholarship. references barron, anne. 2006. understanding spam: a macro-textual analysis. journal of pragmatics 38(6), 880-904. behnam, biook, azabdaftari, behrooz, hosseini, ali. 2011. a critical analysis of financial fraud spam in english in terms of persuasive strategies: personalization, presupposition, and lexical choices. journal of english studies: islamic azad university, science & research branch 1(4), 15-26. blommaert, janson. 2005. making millions. english, indexicality and fraud. working papers in urban language & literacies 29, 1-24. chiluwa, innocent. 2009. the discourse of digital deceptions and “419” emails. 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(eds.), 84-99. orasan, constantin, krishnamurthy, ramesh. 2002. a corpus-based investigation of junk mails. proceedings of the 3rd international conference on language resources and evaluation, 29–31 may, las palmas, spain, retrieved from: http://clg.wlv.ac.uk/papers/orasan-02b. ong, walter, j. 1981. fighting for life: contest, sexuality, and consciousness. ithaca: cornell university press; amherst: university of massachusetts press. polick m.y. 2006. what is fraud? available at http://www.wisegeek.com. runkehl, jens, siever, torsten and schlobinsk, peter. 1998. sprache+und+komw munikation+im+ internet:+uberblick+und+analysen.! opladen: westdeutscher! verlag. sperber, dan, wilson, deirdre. 1986. relevance communication and cognition. oxford: blackwell. young, michael, r. 2006. accounting irregularities and financial fraud: a corporate governance guide. 3rd edition. chicago: cch. annual company reports’ narratives migrate to the web: a diachronic perspective 27 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) cinzia giglioni1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.29.2.02 università di roma “la sapienza” orcid: 0000-0001-7019-3803 annual company reports’ narratives migrate to the web: a diachronic perspective abstract. despite the dramatic innovation brought about in the field of corporate communication by the advent of the world wide web, when it comes to annual company reports (acrs), companies seem to introduce few innovative digital elements in the drafting and formatting of the narrative sections. the present study, as the last step of a long-term research project, aimed at investigating this genre from a diachronic point of view by concentrating on the transformations that acrs’ corporate narratives undergo once they migrate to the web. two standpoints emerge: the first sees companies that are highly engaged in the digital environment take advantage of several digital tools at once, while the second proposes a slightly less technological approach whereby simple acrs in pdf format are uploaded on the company website therefore lacking the most interactive functions. while radical changes in the presentation of acrs’ narratives between 2000 and 2018 cannot be traced, some companies have decided to deal with such narratives by reporting either the complete narrative or its synthesis. keywords: annual company report, corporate narrative, digital environment, genre theory, diachronic perspective. 1. introduction the internet, which was already being used by 80% of us and european listed companies ten years ago (dunne & morris 2009: 370) has become the main medium for the dissemination of financial information. since the mid-1990s in fact, company websites have been crucial in shaping consumer perceptions (crawford camiciottoli 2019: 20). indeed, printed grey literature has progressively been transferred to the virtual environment, allowing companies to both toss paper formats and also reach the lay public, who can now easily access corporate documents from a company’s website. this, however, raises questions on companies’ best practices, and long-term standards that ultimately lead to issues regarding companies’ reliability, credibility, transparency, and trustworthiness. the use of the web can potentially alter users’ perception of corporate 1 address for correspondence: department of political sciences, università di roma “la sapienza” piazzale aldo moro 5, 00185 rome, italy. email: cinzia.giglioni@uniroma1.it 28 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) discourse, as they are no longer passive recipients but rather proactive pursuers of information (madhavaram & appan 2010). based on bhatia’s definition of critical genre analysis’s aims, this study intends to move from text to context in order to enhance the understanding of the nature and function of corporate discursive practices (bhatia 1996: 40). this paper represents the last step of a long-term research project on annual company reports (acrs), which have been a fruitful field of investigation for business-oriented scholars and linguists alike. the drafting of acrs’ narrative sections (chairman and ceo’s messages) has varied over time, in response to changes in communicative circumstances, and their value has been well documented (rutherford 2002; beattie et al. 2004). drawing from ware and linkugel’s (1973) definition of apologetic strategies – i.e. transcendence, denial, differentiation, bolstering – this long-term project explored strategies’ use and distribution in acrs (giglioni 2014). results showed that companies’ poor performance is generally associated to the use of all four strategies (giglioni 2017: 33). by adopting a diachronic perspective, this last phase of the research project intended to analyze the implementation of apologetic strategies in online acrs’ narratives. however, after a preliminary survey, which shed light on the companies’ attitude towards the new digital environment, the purpose had to be adjusted. as a matter of fact, when companies transfer acrs to the digital medium, they display a common tendency: they avoid introducing radical changes and thus tend to replicate the acr’s hard copy format. nevertheless, at this point of the research, it was important to understand if all companies under analysis behave uniformly. the 2000-2010 decade was crucial for communicative practices in professional settings due to the massive spread of the web as a collaborative environment. in the decade that followed, acrs were expected to follow a trend when transferred to the digital environment. consequently, this paper aims at exploring how companies took advantage of web-based communication within a diachronic perspective. the corpus (see section 3) of the present study consists of the narrative sections of six acrs of the same number of companies, which are members of the ft30 index, that were retrieved in 2001, 2010, and 2019.2 both the ceo and the chairman’s messages, in terms of digital elements, will be commented on. the research questions this study tries to answer are the following: q1: what is the company’s procedure when transferring the acr to the web? q2: what do they want to achieve communicatively? q3: have there been any significant changes over the last two decades? 2 acrs are comprehensive reports on a company’s activities, thus the year of publishing (and retrieval) is subsequent to the report’s year of reference. listed companies usually issue their acrs in march. 29 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 2. framework in 1973, the first international accounting standards committee was established to harmonize accounting standards throughout european companies. in february 2009, the financial crisis advisory group was still discussing the topic (chalmers et al. 2008). nowadays, the international financial reporting standards (ifrs) are recognized worldwide and employed by acrs’ drafters (istrate & bogdan 2019). according to the ifrs (2018),3 which are standardized guidelines of describing a company’s financial performance, the objective of financial reporting is “to provide financial information that is useful to users in making decisions relating to providing resources to the entity” (ifrs 2018: 15). while setting the principal standards and, by default, influencing the narratives it contains (see tauringana & mangena 2006), this formalized communication system addresses an array of stakeholders, both internal (e.g. shareholders) and external (e.g. consumers). formally, acrs are divided into two separate sections, i.e. financial and narrative, the former reporting on a company’s financial performance and the latter conveying a specific corporate narrative, which is ideally aimed to explain financial data. balance sheets and non-narrative parts, in particular, are not reader-friendly, and the non-expert reader may actually feel overwhelmed by their figures and even by their so-called explanatory notes. yet, implementing and meeting international standards, which are relevant for corporate communication in general – and acrs are no exception in this sense – become pivotal for all companies. corporate communication, besides its functions, channels and processes, “is also an attitude or set of beliefs that people have about what and how to communicate and the inherent value of such efforts to communicate” (argenti 2005: 358). through acr, transparency and comparability increase, and uncertainties about a company’s future prospects decrease (purver et al. 2018: 1). research on linguistic aspects of acrs has become increasingly popular in the past two decades: for example, accounting narrative was used to shed light on language bias towards positive terms, namely the “pollyanna effect”4 (rutherford 2005); genre theory was applied to analyze macrostructure and visual elements (ditlevsen 2012) identifying annual reports as statutory documents with different communicative purposes that reflect organizational changes; the macro analysis of key words and key semantic domains was complemented by close phraseological analyses to better understand the 3 the revised conceptual framework for financial reporting (conceptual framework) was issued in march 2018. while it was immediately effective for the international accounting standards board (board) and the ifrs interpretations committee, it will be effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 january 2020 in the case of companies that use the conceptual framework. 4 rutherford conducted a corpus linguistics lexical analysis of british acrs and was able to show how the language of acrs is not neutral, rather it tends to descibe the company and its performance in positive terms. he named this aspect the“pollyanna effect” (rutherford 2005: 362). 30 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) nuances of companies’ messages (murphy 2015); variation based on lexical and syntactic markers (giglioni 2014) and the deployment of apologetic strategies in ceo and chairman’s statements (giglioni 2017) established a clear connection between corporate narrative and a company’s performance; vectors in distributed lexical representations (purver et al. 2018) propose semantic associations between financial terms and their variation in time. in light of the fact that rhetorical strategies are used and abused in corporate documents (bhatia 2008: 166), a company’s decision on how to adapt and customize its acr based on the digital environment may be viewed as an attempt ─ or lack of thereof ─ to exploit it, and companies provide different reasons for developing corporate websites (beatty et al. 2001). the relevant literature on pre-existing genres that are transferred to the virtual environment generally (giltrow & stein 2009 inter alia) focuses on: extended participation that allows the general user to retrieve the report without having to be a shareholder; distribution in terms of speed and pervasiveness; use (and abuse) of multimodal content; and changes in communicative purposes. 3. corpus as the goal of the present paper is to carry out a diachronic analysis, the investigated corpus includes acrs that had previously been studied in giglioni (2017) and were issued in 2001 and 2010, as well as acrs issued in 2019. the companies under examination are listed in the financial times index (ft 30), which is the oldest continuous index in the uk and is based on the share price of thirty british companies from a wide range of industries. in the original study, of these thirty companies, thirteen were not included in the index in 2009; one fund and three insurance companies were discarded due to their different accounting standards, and four had changed their name and probably suffered radical changes (e.g. mergers and acquisitions) by 2009. the acrs of nine companies were then analyzed: british petroleum (bp), british airways (ba), british telecom (bt), gnk (gnk), invensys (inv), marks & spencer (m&s), tale & lyle (t&l), tesco (tes), and vodafone (vod). by 2019, three of the remaining nine companies had undergone corporate changes: in 2011, international consolidated airlines group replaced ba in the index; in 2018, gkn was taken over by melrose industries; in 2014, inv was acquired by schneider electric and was replaced by arm holdings, which was later (2016) taken over by softbank and replaced by associated british foods (table 1). 31 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) table 1. corpus description5 – *acrs’ location on company websites in 2018 years company sector 2000 2009 2018 online location* bp oil & gas + + + news&insights ba air transportation + + -----bt telecommunications + + + shares&performance gnk shipping and trading + + -----inv engineering and information technology + + -----m&s clothing, home, food products retailer + + + investors t&l food & beverage + + + investors hub tes groceries / general merchandise retailer + + + investors vod telecommunications + + + investors&analysts the present paper focuses on the statements of 18 chairmen and ceos in reference to 2000, 2009, and 2018.6 in addition, digital elements such as hyperlinks, videos, and interactive pdfs, are taken into account. 4. acrs migrate to the web acrs are easily downloadable documents of varying size that users can find on companies’ websites or in pdf format by means of a quick search on a generic browser. on the one hand, the world wide web has provided companies with the opportunity to present their viewpoints to an extensive audience, on the other hand it has also led to a loss of control over information dissemination (ihator 2001). however, acrs that are transferred to companies’ websites could still be considered a form of controlled corporate communication. it has been observed that acrs are generally transferred to the digital environment in a pdf, static format as part of a reproduction process (garzone 2007:16), as a result, they are very similar to the version used in a non-digital environment, namely the hard copy. while this observation can be generally considered true, the present paper adds to it by claiming that some companies’ decision to provide acrs in a richer online format (web page) may have an impact on the disclosure of corporate 5 in the ‘references’ section of the present article, the links that are provided refer only to 2019. however, most websites have an ‘archive’ section where documents from the previous years may be found. 6 as annual reports refer to the preceding financial year, the present corpus was retrieved from the companies’ websites in 2001, 2010, and 2019. 32 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) narratives. this is exemplified by the online, abridged version of the narrative sections, where companies purposely select what information to present to their readers. in 2019, like in 2000 and 2009, two companies – bp and t&l – invited users to download the company’s acr in pdf format, thus displaying a less technology-prone attitude. in 2019, in the ‘news & insights’ section of the website, bp provided an overview of the key activities and a link for both generic users and the company’s shareholders, where they could receive a hard copy of it, free of charge, by contacting the designated office. both the chairman and the ceo’s letters are separately downloadable (in pdf format) on the annual report’s page. bp’s report increased in length, and a clear promotional style was adopted in its latest (2018) version. this acr displays a palette of bright colors, pictures, titles (including ad-hoc titles), and comprehension aids (figure 1), but unexpectedly lacks the hyperlinks that were present in 2009; that year, in particular, the ceo’s review presented a link to the ‘speech’ section of the website, where the scripts can still be read online or downloaded in pdf format. overall, it is possible to record bp’s shift towards a more visual-based communicative approach. figure1. comparison between bp’s acrs – 2000 (left) and 2018 (right) similarly, t&l presents several sections on its website: ‘investors hub’, ‘past annual reports’, an ‘interactive annual report’, and a downloadable ‘annual report’. when compared to the other companies, where the chairman’s statements are generally two pages long (in 2000, 2009, and 2018), the ceo’s reviews are five (2000, 2009) and four (2018) pages long, and the latter was augmented by comprehension aids. while these two companies do not seem to have exploited the digital environment to its fullest, others have decided to take advantage of the web-based communication differently. an interesting comparison can be made between bt (british telecom) and vod (vodafone), two companies that operate in the telecommunications sector. the first, bt, has fully embraced the communicative potentialities of the new medium by 33 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) using creative solutions such as, for instance, a single web page to navigate. it opens on an embedded video that bridges age gaps and cultural diversities by introducing the company into ordinary people’s lives. simple activities like playing, cooking, socializing, or enjoying family time convey a familiar atmosphere, thus bringing the company closer to its customers. users have three types of menu that enable them to search for content on the web page where different sections of the acr are separately downloadable. bt’s 2000 report (129 pages) was rather a formal and plain document where visuals barely appeared; the 2009 acr, on the other hand, was slightly longer (169 pages) and saw the introduction of colors, whereas the 2018 report (320 pages) is full of pictures of people and landscapes, transforming the formal account into a full visual experience. the second, vod, proposes its annual reports in the ‘investors & analysts’ section that redirects users to a separate page where a sliding menu appears. in the ‘introduction’ section, a ‘view more’ option is available; the introductory paragraph of the chairman’s message is presented (the full message is available by clicking on the ‘read more’ text box). besides navigating online, users can download the full pdf in a booklet-like format. however, no major changes may be detected among the three versions in terms of layout or use of visuals. in 2019, m&s, like bt and vod, offered two versions of the acr: a downloadable pdf and an online review that is less interactive if compared to bt’s. in the third section, ‘chairman & ceo’, two short paragraphs report on main points; no extension to the full text, script, or partial pdf download is provided. the 2009 acr website provided more texts and new-window navigation rather than a scroll down page, as well as a full report of the chairman’s statement (which is still available online). the downloadable pdfs made great use of pictures in 2000 and in 2009, where both the chairman’s statement and the ceo’s review were positioned after the financial highlights, but pictures are much less present in the 2019 version, thus conveying a more figure-based and formal approach. in the retail sector, another company, tesco, opted for placing the 2018 acr in the ‘report archive’ section, where only the pdf is available. due to its relevance, it must be noted that, a web page including two short videos (entitled ‘a short introduction from our ceo’ and ‘thoughts from our chairman’) was created for the 2019 acr. besides this innovation, it is possible to notice a recurring pattern: users are invited to download the pdf where both the chairman’s statement and the ceo’s review (2000)/ q&a (2009) / statement (2018) are at the very beginning of each report.7 visuals slightly increase in number but are minimally used. 5. conclusion 7 tes 2000, chairman’s statement p.1/32 and ceo’s review p. 2/32; tes2009, p.3/140 and p. 4/140, tes2018, p.3/160 and p.4/160 respectively. 34 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) at first glance, as regards question 3, acrs seem to have undergone minimal change in the digital environment; in fact, it is safe to claim that corporate communicators ensure the trust of their readers by uploading the digitally customized hard copy of an acr’s traditional printed version as a mere fulfillment of legal requirements. the analysis of the websites of the companies that was conducted in 2019 and is included in the present corpus showed that, generally speaking, the influence of the web-based communication on acrs remains limited. based on the analyzed dataset, which does not permit generalizations about corporate communication per se, it can be maintained that this genre of corporate discourse seems not to have undergone any significant changes, thus basically confirming the trends that had been highlighted both in 2001 and in 2010. nevertheless, some companies’ decision to create an online acr is translated into an abridged, user-friendly disclosure of the acrs’ narratives, thus underlining the document’s main aim, which is ultimately to be read by the largest possible audience. the acrs’ sizes tend to increase from mediumto long-lengths. as to question 1, the companies that exploit the digital environment more prominently allow users to both navigate the acr online and download a document in a pdf format (that is occasionally interactive) that has gained accessorial elements, such as videos, over time. as to the narrative parts, a twofold approach was implemented: the ceo and chairman’s messages are either reported in their entirety as in the acr, or are abridged (e.g. m&s), resulting in a very short summary. by and large, two main approaches emerge. on the one hand, some companies (bt, vod) seem to fully exploit the potentialities of the virtual environment by promoting innovation and dynamicity in line with the times – and possibly the industry – they operate in. they openly assign the role of an effective marketing tool to the acr. on the other hand, some companies (bp, t&l) seem to under-exploit web-based communication in the name of a supposedly higher level of credibility. ultimately, though, it is safe to claim (question 2) that all these adjustments in format that are reflected in the narrative sections of the acr powerfully contribute to the promotion of a trustworthy company image. references argenti, p. 2005. how technology has influenced the field of corporate communication. journal of business and technical communication 20(3): 357-370. beattie, v., mcinnes, w. & fearnley, s. 2004. a methodology for analysing and evaluating narratives in annual reports: a comprehensive descriptive profile and metrics for disclosure quality attributes. accounting forum 28(3): 205-236. beatty, r. c., shim, m. & jones, c. 2001. factors influencing corporate web site adoption. a time-based assessment. information & management 38(6): 337-354. 35 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) bhatia, v. k. 1996. methodological issues in genre analysis. hermes, journal of linguistics 16: 39-59. bhatia, v. k. 2008. genre analysis, esp and professional practice. english for specific purposes 27: 161-174. british petroleum. 2018. annual company report. retrieved on 30 june 2019 from https:// www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/investors/results-and-reporting/annual-report.html british telecom. 2018. annual company report. retrieved on 30 june 2019 from https:// www.btplc.com/sharesandperformance/annualreportandreview/2018summary/ chalmers, k., clinch g. & godfrey j. m. 2008. adoption of international financial reporting standards: impact on the value relevance of intangible assets. australian accounting review 18: 237-247. crawford camiciottoli, b. 2019. shades of evaluative meaning in web-based company communications: the case of fashion brands, textus xxxi (1): 19-36. ditlevsen, m. g. 2012. telling the story of danisco’s annual reports (1935 through 2007-2008) from a communicative perspective. journal of business and technical communication 21(1): 92-115. dunne, p. & morris, g. d. 2009. non-executive director’s handbook (2nd ed). oxford: elsevier. garzone, g. 2007. genres, multimodality and the world wide web. theoretical issues. in: g. garzone, g. poncini, & p. catenaccio (eds), multimodality in corporate communication, 15-30. milano: franco angelo. giglioni, c. 2014. variation in apologetic strategies in annual company reports: rhetorical function of lexical-syntactical patterns. in: p. evangelisti allori, j.a. baterman & v.k. bahtia (eds.), evolution in genre: emerge, variation, multimodality, 45-65. bern: peter lang. giglioni, c. 2017. annual reports of the ft30 index members: deployment of apologetic strategies in ceo and chairman’s statements. international journal of language and linguistics 4: 88-94. giltrow, j. & stein, d. 2009. genres in the internet. issues in the theory of genre. amsterdam/ philadelphia: john benjamins. ifrs, conceptual frameworks of financial reporting. retrieved on 25.01.2010 from https:// www.ifrs.org/issued-standards/list-of-standards/conceptual-framework/ ihator, a. s. 2001. communication style in the information age. corporate communications 6: 199-205. istrate, l. g. 2019. international financial reporting standards: a pre-/post-ifrs a d o p tion comparative analysis. the european proceeding of social & behavioural sciences, 247-256. 36 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) madhavaram, s. & appan, r. 2010. the potential implications of web-based marketing communications for consumers’ implicit and explicit brand attitude: a call for research. psychology and marketing 27(2): 186-202. marks & spencer. 2018. annual company report. retrieved on 30 june 2019 from https:// corporate.marksandspencer.com/annualreport murphy, a. c. 2015. on “true” portraits of letters to shareholders – and the importance of phraseological analysis. in: s. hoffman, b. fischer-starcker, a. sand (eds.), current issues in phraseology, 57-81. amsterdam: john benjamins. purver, m., valentinčič, a., pahor, m. & pollak, s. 2018. diachronic lexical changes in company reports: an initial investigation. 1st financial narrative processing workshop at lrec, 1-8. retrieved on 25.02.2020 from https://pdfs.semanticscholar. org/0941/b6aeb383753da8fd861ebdbdd291466343a6.pdf rutherford, b. 2002. the operating and financial review: could do better, could say more. accounting and business 5 (3): 40-41. rutherford, b. 2005. genre analysis of corporate annual report narratives: a corpus linguistics-based approach. journal of business communication 42(4): 349-378. tauringana, v. & mangena, m. 2006. complementary narrative commentaries of statutory accounts in annual reports of uk listed companies. international journal of management accounting research 8 (2): 71-107. tesco. 2018. annual company report. retrieved on 30 june 2019 from https://www.tescoplc.com/investors/reports-results-and-presentations/reports-archive/ vodafone. 2018. annual company report. retrieved on 30 june 2019 from https://investors. vodafone.com/investors-analysts/annual-reports/ ware, b. l. & linkugel, w. a. 1973. they spoke in defence of themselves: on the generic criticism of apologia. quarterly journal of speech 59: 273-283. *** cinzia giglioni holds a research and teaching position at the department of political sciences, university of rome “la sapienza”. she was a contract professor for several years in different universities in italy, teaching both ba and first level master degree students. her research interests span from second language acquisition to discourse analysis, especially in the context of lsp research. her most recent contributions focus on the linguistic aspects of corporate and political communication. she has presented papers at several international conferences and symposia, and has published the results of her research in journals and edited volumes. she regularly collaborates with various international research groups, including clavier (the corpus and language variation in english research group) and geras (groupe d’ etude et de recherche en anglais de spécialité). information structure projects in syntax: evidence from focus and modality in sinhala 11 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ m.g. lalith ananda university of sri jayewardenepura, colombo, sri lanka information structure projects in syntax: evidence from focus and modality in sinhala abstract. the major claim of this paper is that information structure related particles of sinhala are distinct functional heads and they project in syntax. this is in line with the cartographic approach to syntax which claims that discourse related features are visible for computation (rizzi 1997, 2004), a claim also supported by miyagawa, (2010), and aboh (2010), among others. the present paper seeks to validate the above claim with evidence from sinhala, motivating the argument that discourse related features lexicalized in sinhala drive the derivation, and these features are comparable to formal features in establishing an agree relation. keywords: information structure, functional heads, sinhala, syntax. 1. introduction information structure is a term first introduced by halliday (1967) to account for the distinctions of focus, presupposition, and propositional attitude toward entities in the discourse conveyed by phrasal intonation. it is mainly concerned with context-based information such as topic/ old information versus focus/new information. according to zimmermann and fery (2010: 01), information structure is that cognitive domain that mediates between the modules of linguistic l i n g u i s t i c s doi: 10.15290/cr.2018.21.2.02 12 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ competence in the narrow sense, such as syntax, phonology, and morphology, and other cognitive faculties which serve the central purpose of the fixation of belief by way of information update, pragmatic reasoning, and general inference processes. lambrecht (1995) defines information structure of a sentence as the formal expression of the pragmatic structuring of a proposition in a discourse. a proposition which has undergone pragmatic structuring is called a pragmatically structured proposition. according to him, the most important categories of information structure are (1) presupposition and assertion, which have to do with the structuring of propositions into portions which a speaker assumes an addressee already knows or does not yet know (2) identifiability and activation, which have to do with a speaker’s assumptions about the statuses of the mental representations of discourse referents in the addressee’s mind at the time of an utterance, and (3) topic and focus, which have to do with a speaker’s assessment of the relative predictability vs. unpredictability of the relations between propositions and their elements in given discourse situations (lambrecht 1995: 5-6). in his view, information structure is the result of the interaction between all meaning bearing levels of the grammatical system as manifested in prosody, semantics, and morpho-syntax which interact in various language specific ways. accordingly, the sentences subjected to his analysis are of three types. (1) constructions that express differences in the respective scope of presupposition and the assertion, differences in topic-focus structure, or differences in the cognitive status of the referents of argument expressions. all these constitute the constructions that express differences in information structure. as lambrecht himself says, his study is located between both formal and functional approaches to syntax. irrespective of the standpoint or labelling, what is evident here is the assumption that certain formal properties of sentences cannot be fully understood extraneous to the linguistic and extralinguistic contexts that apply to those sentences. sinhala1 offers an interesting case in this regard with its morphological realization of information structure in the form of particles/affixes. the aim of this paper is to explore this interaction with empirical justification from sinhala to substantiate the argument that information-structure is predetermined as such information structure related particles get computed in syntax, rather than being added in some kind of post-syntactic component. the theoretical standpoint adopted in this paper is the cartographic approach as expounded by rizzi (1997, 1999) and cinque (1999). rizzi’s seminal paper on the fine structure of the left periphery (1997) expounds a proposal for decomposition of the complementizer layer of the clause into a series of functional projections in analogy to pollock’s decomposition of the sentence eight years earlier. motivating this decomposition by the peculiarities of complementizers of italian and other romance languages, rizzi argues that interrogative and relative pronouns, topics, and foci project their own x-bar projections, and that this articulated array of projections constitutes the complementizer system (c-system). the c-system is interpreted as an interface 1 indo-aryan, sov, pro-drop, spoken by the majority sinhalese in sri lanka. 13 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ between two layers of an information system, one interfacing with the domain of discourse – typing the clause as interrogative, relative, adverbial, etc. – and the other interfacing with the domain of the sentence – expressing the content within ip, and determining its finiteness properties. accordingly, the information contained in the higher structure is called the specification of force (or force) and the lower, more inward-looking structure headed by ip, as finiteness. based on a wealth of crosslinguistic evidence, cinque (1999) builds up the argument, that natural language clause is a construct of moods, modals, tenses, and aspects. he argues that these major clause-building categories are rigidly hierarchically ordered with respect to each other. based on the distribution of adverbial phrases (advps) in italian, french, and other romance languages, cinque observes the presence of a head position of a functional projection to the immediate right and left of each such advp. then the two independently established hierarchies, the advps and the functional heads are matched systematically from left to right. the transparent semantic relation that exists between each adverb class and the contiguous head morpheme provide evidence that each advp is the specifier of the phrase projected by the corresponding functional head morpheme. the functional projection is considered to be structurally present in every language irrespective of the advp’s lack of overt morphological realization corresponding to the particular functional head in the case of certain languages. clause structure and information structure and their interaction in both root and embedded peripheries have been central in generative grammar and have been extensively dealt with over the years with a view to understanding the properties of both and finally of ug (kidwai 1999; rizzi 1997, 1998; cinque 1999; zagona 2007; aboh 2010; miyagawa 2010; ananda 2011, 2012). the extension of the x-bar schema to the functional heads –cp and tp—and the explosion of the functional domain further highlights the significance of clausal architecture and information structure in syntactic theory. though often conceived as distinct domains, both share certain common properties that may be differently represented in root and embedded peripheries. for example, the c-domain is both an information structure domain, housing topic and focus projections as well as heads that actualize key projections of the clause – finiteness and tense. chomsky (2005) notes that “basic tense and also tense like properties (e.g., irrealis) are determined by c (in which they are inherent: “john left” is past tense whether or not it is embedded) or by the selecting v (also inherent) or perhaps even broader context. in the lexicon, t lacks these features. t manifests the basic tense features if and only if it is selected by c (default agreement aside); if not, it is a raising (or ecm infinitival), lacking ф features and basic tense. so it makes sense to assume that agree— and tense—features are inherited from c, the phase head” (chomsky 2005: 10). sinhala offers fertile ground for enquiry, given its liberal use of a number of particles and lexical words to encode topic, focus, mood and modality, the consequence of which being that the morphology makes transparent the relations between information structure and clausal architecture. in addition, the role of verbal morphology in determining the particular modal, topic, focus or wh interpretation and scope relations highlights the overt interaction of morphology and syntax in clause structure and information structure. the data for the present study consist of the 14 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ grammatical judgments of native speakers of sinhala. although the researcher himself is a native speaker of sinhala, grammatical judgments of at least 10 native speakers were sought. the data presented in the following sections were first subjected to the grammatical judgments of the native speakers of sinhala for both accuracy and verification. the analysis attempted here aligns with both the existing theoretical claims and empirical arguments. the paper is structured in the following manner. section 2 presents the sinhala facts. section 3 provides data from the embedded contexts. section 4 presents previous research on the same. section 5 attempts an analysis of the sinhala facts along the particular theoretical standpoint adopted. section concludes the paper. 2. the sinhala facts the canonical word order in sinhala is sov, though other word order variations are also possible and freely used by the speakers. thus, svo, ovs, vso, vos, osv are other possibilities. sinhala is a thorough-going left branching language with all type of heads including the complementizer (kiyala) occurring as the rightmost element in phrasal and clausal architecture. sinhala is prodrop allowing the possibility of dropping elements in both subject and object argument positions. there is no subject-verb agreement in sinhala except for some focus/modal agreement where a focused element or an element under the scope of an epistemic modal marker requires the –e form of the verb (as illustrated in later sections). nominative subjects are unmarked. sinhala also uses dative, instrumental, and accusative subjects which are overtly marked. sinhala has a number of particles/suffixes to convey mood, modality, interrogative, and the information focus. as illustrated in the following sections, they can attach to any lexical category in an agglutinative fashion and take scope over the domain to the left. they can also attach at the clausal level, thereby scoping the whole clause. they are present in both root and embedded peripheries; although their distribution is not uniform in this respect, interacting as they do, with the morpho-syntax of sinhala at different levels. for example, the presence of such a mood/modal/ interrogative or information focus particle in the clause is shown in the verbal morphology in the form of an –e suffix, in the present and past tenses. examples (1-4) illustrate this phenomenon with respect to focus, evidential modality, and epistemic modality, although the same phenomenon occurs with respect to other modalities, interrogative, and negation, as well. example (1) is a neutral sentence. in (2-4), the subject, nimal, is exclusively in the (narrow) scope of the focus, evidential, and the evaluative modal particles respectively. 1. nimal kaareka seeduwa (neutral statement) nimal (nom) car-def wash (pst) ‘nimal washed the car’ 2. nimal tamai kaareka seeduwe (focus) 15 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ nimal (nom) foc car-def wash-e (pst) ‘it was nimal who washed the car’ 3. nimal lu kaareka seeduwe (evidential modality) nimal (nom) evid car-def wash-e (pst) ‘it is said that nimal washed the car’ 4. nimal ne kaareka seeduwe (evaluative modality) nimal (nom) epis car-def wash-e (pst) ‘nimal washed the car’ (speaker lacking confidence in the truth of the statement) the same particle can attach at the clausal level, and then the whole clause comes under the (wide) scope of that particle. example (5) illustrates this with the evid particle. 1. nimal kaareka seeduwa lu nimal (nom) car-def wash (pst) evid ‘it is said that nimal washed the car’ note that a crucial difference between 2-4 and 5 is that the –e suffix of the verb is absent in the latter. this differential behavior of the –e suffix highlights two things: (i) it is not simply the focus/modal particle that determines the contrastive focus/modal interpretation, but the verbal inflection also takes part in this process. (ii) it shows the scope marking potential of the focus/modal particle and the corresponding verbal morphology. that is, when the focus/modal particle attaches to any phrase level constituent, the verb inflects for –e. this creates a set of alternatives out of which one individual/entity is given saliency. but, when the same particle attaches to the whole clause, it does not inflect for the –e suffix (5). therefore, (5) indicates that the alternative set is not available in this instance. in both cases, however, there must be adjacency between the relevant particle and the scope marked constituent/clause. no other category (adverb etc.) other than another modal particle or focus particle can intervene between the two. table 1 illustrates the information structure related particles of sinhala with examples for each. table 1. information structure related particles of sinhala category particle example mood evidential -lu nimal lu gaha kaepuw-e nimal(nom) evid tree cut(pst)-e ‘it is said that it was nimal who cut the tree’ 16 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ mood evaluative -ne nimal ne gaha kaepuw-e nimal(nom) eval tree cut(pst)-e ‘nimal cut the tree’ mood epistemic -yae nimal yae gaha kaepuw-e nimal(nom) epis tree cut(pst)-e ‘it is doubtful that it was nimal who cut the tree’ mood epistemic: probability/ possibility puluwan nimal gaha kapann-a puluwan nimal(nom) tree cut-inf might ‘nimal might cut the tree’ (epistemic possibility) mood epistemic: probability/ possibility vage nimal gaha kapa-la vage nimal(nom) tree cut-ppt seem ‘it seems nimal has cut the tree’ mood int(errogative) (q) -da nimal gaha kaepuwa-da nimal(nom) tree cut(pst)-int/q did nimal cut the tree? mood conditional -nang nimal gaha kaepu-a nang mama eya-ta baninava nimal(nom) tree cut(pst)-a if i(nom) he-dat scold ‘if nimal cut the tree i would scold him’ comp(lementizer) -kiyala nimal gaha kaepu-a kiyala amma kiuwa nimal(nom) tree cut(pst)-a comp mother said ‘mother said that nimal cut the tree’ neg(ation) naeha nimal gaha kaepu-e naehae nimal(nom) tree cut(pst)-e neg ‘nimal did not cut the tree’ focus tamai nimal tamai gaha kaepuw-e nimal(nom) foc tree cut(pst)-e ‘it was nimal who cut the tree’ focus (neg) nemei nimal nemei gaha kaepuw-e nimal(nom) foc(neg) tree cut(pst)-e it wasn’t nimal who cut the tree topic -nang nimal nang gaha kaepuw-a nimal(nom) top tree cut(pst)-a ‘as for nimal, he cut the tree’ modal (root) puluwan nimal-ta gaha kapann-a puluwan nimal(dat) tree cut-inf can ‘nimal can cut the tree’ (root ability) modal (root) baehae nimal-ta gaha kapann-a baehae nimal(dat) tree cut-inf cannot ‘nimal cannot cut the tree’ (root impossibility) 17 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ ip vp table 1 illustrates a number of significant properties of sinhala discourse particles. of the epistemic modals, evidential, evaluative, epistemic (except epistemic possibility), and interrogative attach to the fully inflected verb, i.e. they attach to the present, past, future, and past participle verbal forms which may be inflected for indicative/imperative/hortative /volitive/and future/irrealis moods of the verb. with respect to focus and topic, they too show a similar distribution. but in root/event modalities, the modalities of ability and permission, only the infinitive/imperative verb forms are allowed. narrow scope marking by the modal is not possible here. 3. embedded clauses topic and focus can occur in the embedded clause. however, there are distributional restrictions. only one topic or focus particle can occur in the embedded clause. the occurrence of one in the matrix clause and one in the embedded clause at the same time is disallowed. in the same way, multiple occurrence in the same clause is not allowed. both topic and focus are incompatible with a wh-phrase. in embedded clauses, the evidential/evaluative cannot have narrow or wide scope, thus indicating that evidentiality/evaluative modality in sinhala is a root phenomenon. this is further supported by empirical facts as two evidential/evaluative particles (lu/ne) cannot occur in the clause simultaneously, one in the matrix and another in the embedded. 6. *nimal [ajith lu/ne horakam-karapu badu-wagayak] soyanne nimal [ajith evid/eval stolen-did goods-certain] look for-e it is said that nimal is looking for certain goods stolen by ajith the distribution of these information structure related particles in the embedded contexts is illustrated below. table 2. syntactic properties of focus, topic and the modals property focus topic epis modals root modals contrastive narrow scope possible x -e suffix on the verb in narrow scope x x 18 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ clausal level scope possible x occur in root clause occur in embedded clause x multiple occurrence in the same clause x x x x one in matrix and one in embedded clause simultaneously x x x x compatible with a wh in the same clause x x x x some insights that can be gained from the above table are that, in sinhala, topic and focus behave rather differently with respect to e-marking and in narrow scope marking. topic marking at clause level is also not possible. all information structure related particles occur in both root and embedded peripheries except the epistemic modals which do not occur in the embedded clause. all of them show similar distributional restrictions with respect to multiple occurrence and compatibility with a wh. 4. previous literature hagstrom (1998) discusses the wh question formation with respect to syntax, morphology, and semantics of sinhala questions. he explores the interrelation between the wh-construction and the focus construction based on the identical distribution and scope marking properties of the question particle “da” in sinhala. hagstrom maintains that the role of e-suffix is central to the understanding of the movement relation and establishing the identity of the moving particle/constituent. he proposes that e– suffix serves a scope marking function that depends on the distribution of the q particle. where q (da) is clause internal, the embedded verb is marked with –e, but a clause peripheral q (da) does not trigger –e on the verb. he identifies a strong syntactic parallel between wh and focus on the basis of the above distributional evidence. he concludes that the e– morpheme is a morphological reflection of an unchecked feature and suffixation of the q-head “da” or the focus head “tamai” can check this feature via movement. he identifies focus as an independent head. heenadeerage (2002) examines the role of the e– suffix in the context of the sinhala focus construction. he identifies three distinct types of focus in sinhala as constituent focus, predicate focus, and clause-final focus. constituent focus corresponds to morphological marking of focus with a focus particle, where a pre-verbal constituent followed by the focus marker receives focus in the discourse. in this case the verb is e-marked. predicate focus refers to the propositional focus where a focus particle occurs in the clause final position so that the whole proposition is focused. this does not trigger e– on the verb. the post verbal position (with the verb e-marked) where a constituent receives focus is identified as clause final focus. this is also identified as syntactic focus in the literature. he lists the modal particles as focus markers so that they share the same 19 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ structural position and distribution. however, heenadeerage does not attempt a cartographic analysis as his approach is lexical functional grammar. kariyakarawana (1998) investigates the focus phenomena of sinhala in the theoretical framework of government and binding (chomsky 1981, 1986a, 1986b) and attempts at a comprehensive analysis of the focus construction. his critical examination of focus includes the cleft construction, wh movement, focus particles, focus and pre-supposition, and the verb marking. he lists the particles lu (reportative), da (interrogative), ne (tag), tamai (foc) as focus markers that make any constituent immediately preceding one of them morphologically focused and observes that they attribute a contrastive meaning to the whole proposition, or a constituent that comes under the scope of such a particle thereby contributing to the propositional focus and constituent focus dichotomy. he generalizes that the different particles that encode some degree of focus and have a similar distribution are focus particles. a critical investigation of the focus/modal particles and their syntactic representation has not been attempted. aboh (2010) argues that information structure begins with the numeration itself and hence is part of narrow syntax. he shows that the functional head c which carries the wh-feature, forcing i to c movement for clause typing is in the lexicon and therefore, is part of the numeration in a wh-question. this shows that the lexicon contains discourse-related functional items that project in syntax. he further shows with respect to question-answer pairs, that even though speakers have the freedom of choice with regard to which linguistic expression to use in a particular context or discourse, the form of this expression is a product of syntax that directly relates to the numeration. for example, “that the matching answer to a wh-question contains a focused expression seems to be a requirement of the question operator in the question. accordingly, focus assignment (which in some languages, e.g., gunbe, require constituent displacement) satisfies a syntactic requirement generated in the question through clause-typing and wh-licensing” (aboh 2010: 18). aboh provides evidence from maale, an sov north omotic language spoken in southern ethiopia, lele, a chadic language, and gunbe to support the claim that information-structure related information is encoded in the lexicon. in maale, all sentence types must be morphologically marked on the verb. these discourse related inflectional suffixes mark discourse modality and therefore, he argues, should be part of core syntax. in lele, both yes-no questions and whquestions require the presence of a sentence-final question particle. lele displays both in-situ and ex-situ wh-questions, and the ex-situ construction occurs in the context of the focus marker –ba. the wh-phrase moves to the left periphery because it is focused, suggesting that focus and whmovement should be separately treated as involving two probes. the important point he raises is that this particular information sensitive information should be part of the lexicon, which the speakers acquire. gunbe offers further evidence for the same claim. in gunbe, both topic and focus are morphologically marked (wє), (ya) and both occur to the right of the complementizer ɖa. aboh suggests that these topic and focus markers are heads that project their own x-bar schema and attract the relevant constituents to spec-top and spec-foc: an argument which strongly supports rizzi’s (1997, 1998) split-c hypothesis. 20 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ miyagawa (2010) argues with respect to japanese that the topic/focus feature is a grammatical feature in discourse configurational languages which is equivalent to the phi-agreement feature in agreement languages. he proposes a separate projection – ap, above tp and below cp. the a head may also host a grammatical feature, and when there are two grammatical features – topic and topic/focus, for example – one occurs on a and the other on t, and both involving a-movements. this too supports the cartographic approach to syntax, which claims that discourse related features are visible for computation. 5. analysis information structure encoding in sinhala presents a challenge to both the minimalist assumptions (chomsky 1995) and discourse pragmatics/information structure as expounded by lambrecht (1995). according to the minimalist standpoint, the topic/focus related information is considered a pragmatic property and hence is not well motivated in the narrow syntax. lambrecht (1995) adopts a similar view with his pragmatic-grammatical orientation to the phenomena under study. for example, in the framework he has adopted, the definition of topic is related to the notion of subject in traditional grammar in line with the argument that the topic of a sentence is the thing which the proposition expressed by the sentence is about. accordingly, a “topicalized” phrase may stand either in a topic relation or in a focus relation to the proposition expressed by the sentence because the first has a “predicate focus” structure and the second “argument-focus” structure. and this clear difference in pragmatic function correlates with an equally clear prosodic difference. at the level of syntax, however, the difference is not marked (lambrecht 1995: 123). as shown above, in sinhala, the picture is different as focus/modality encoding takes place morphologically through particles. essentially then these lexical items/particles should be in the lexicon before they become a numeration, must have semantic features, and get computed in syntax. hence, in a way, information structure of the clause is pre-determined. this indicates that what drives the derivation cannot be the formal features alone, but the feature composition of the discourse particles too. therefore, the morphological encoding of focus/modals in sinhala offers further empirical justification for a cartographic approach. thus, in line with the cartographic approach adopted by rizzi (1997) and cinque (1999), i propose that information structure related particles in sinhala are distinct functional heads. their head order is determined by their order of occurrence in the clause. they are part of the numeration and that they project in syntax. also, as it will be shown below, a wh-operator cannot be focused (07), and focus and a wh do not cooccur in sinhala (08), prompting the argument that there is only one head position for both which attracts the relevant constituent to its specifier. 7) *kauda tamai gaha kaepuw-e? who foc tree cut-e ‘it is who cut the tree?’ 21 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ also, a wh and a focused constituent are not compatible in the same clause showing that there is only one landing site for both in the root clause, as in (8). 8) *kauda gaha tamai kaepuwe? who tree foc cut-e ‘who cut the tree’ (tree focused) this holds in the embedded contexts too, as a wh and a focused constituent are not compatible simultaneously in the embedded clause either, as in (9). 9) *sunil [kauda gaha tamai kaepuwe kiyala] aehuwa? sunil [who tree foc cut-e comp] asked? ‘sunil asked who cut the tree’ (tree focused) now, we must find out the structural position of the epistemic modals with respect to other information structure related particles of sinhala. taking examples from a wealth of languages, cinque (1999) proposes that epistemic modals are located higher than root modals (higher than tense as well) so that the former has scope over the latter. his hierarchy of functional heads shows that epistemic modals are outside the scope of tense but within the scope of evaluation time specified in cp (forcep). this line of argument is also in line with stowell (2004). stowell shows that epistemic modals are construed in relation to the evaluation time of their clause. stowell concludes that epistemics can have both past and present forms but are associated with the evaluation time of the clause. in line with cinque (1999), and stowell (2004) i propose that the epistemic modals in sinhala are located in the cdomain, below force. the evidence for the above claim can be presented as follows. 10) *nimal thamai lu/ne gaha kaepuwe nimal foc evid/eval tree cut(past) ‘it is nimal /as people say it is nimal who cut the tree’ 11) *nimal gaha kaepuwa lu/ne thamai nimal tree cut(past) evid/eval foc ‘nimal cut the tree as people say / indeed’ the examples show that both focus and epistemic modal particles cannot co-occur, either in narrow scope marking or in broad scope marking. this further indicates that both focus and epistemic modals compete for the same head position. 22 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ now let us further examine in what ways focus/modality/wh/q in sinhala interacts with the verbal system. we noted in the preceding sections that in narrow scope marking of the focus/epistemic modal/wh, the verb ends in –e form as opposed to neutral/declarative –a form (12-17) 12) nimal lu gaha kaepuw-e (*kaepuw-a) nimal evid tree cut(pst-e) (*past) ‘it is nimal, as they say, the one who cut the tree’ 13) nimal tamai gaha kaepuw-e (*kaepuw-a) nimal foc tree cut(pst-e) (*past) ‘it is nimal who cut the tree’ 14) kauda gaha kaepuw-e (*kaepuw-a) who tree cut(pst-e) (*past) ‘who cut the tree?’ 15) kauda gaha kaepuw-a somebody tree cut(pst-a) ‘somebody cut the tree?’ 16) nimal da gaha kaepuw-e nimal (nom) q tree cut(pst-e) ‘was it nimal who cut the tree?’ 17) *nimal da gaha kaepuw-a nimal (nom) q tree cut(pst-a) ‘was it nimal who cut the tree?’ note that in (14-15), the –e suffix is crucial for wh force/interpretation, without which the wh word simply becomes an existential pronoun (somebody). one notable feature of sinhala is its lack of agreement. the verb inflects for tense in sinhala (example 18). however, the verb does not inflect for person/number/gender agreement (phiagreement) (example 19). 18) nimal kaareka soodanava/seeduwa nimal (nom) car-def wash (prs)/wash(pst) ‘nimal is washing the car/nimal washed the car’ 19) nimal/mama/api kaareka soodanava/seeduwa 23 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ nimal/i/ we car-def wash (prs)/wash(pst) ‘nimal/i/we are washing the car’ ‘nimal/i/we washed the car’ however, the fact that the verb inflects for the –e form (soodanne/seeduwe) when there is a modal/focus/q/wh particle in the clause having narrow scope indicates some form of agreement. i propose that this constitutes modal/focus agreement in sinhala with a modalp which has features of wh, focus and modal where all are in complementary distribution with each other. this claim is also in line with miyagawa (2010) who motivates the argument that topic/focus features are computationally equivalent to phi-features and trigger agree relations. i propose that a dp moves to the spec of the modp triggering spec-head agreement. and then this whole modp moves to spec forcep to agree with e suffix of the verb (kaepuw-e as opposed to neutral kaepuw-a) which also marks the illocutionary force of the utterance (20). 20) forcep f’ modp force-e (kaepuwe) nimal epis/eval/focusq tp lu/ne/tamai/da nimal t’ vp t nimal v’ np v gaha kaeputree cut24 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6. conclusion this paper presented the argument that discourse related features lexicalized in sinhala drive the derivation, and these features are comparable to formal features in establishing an agree relation. this is in line with the cartographic approach to syntax which claims that discourse related features are visible for computation (rizzi 1997, 2004), a claim also supported by miyagawa (2010), and aboh (2010) among others. it was shown that in sinhala, wh-, focus, evidential modality, and epistemic modality are morphologically realized in the form of particles suffixed to a constituent. in such cases, a verbal argument or adjunct can come under the scope of the focus or modal particle. when such a particle marks narrow scope, the verb should take the –e ending, as opposed to the neutral –a ending. i proposed that these information structure related particles are functional heads carrying the relevant feature, they are in the lexicon, and that they become part of the numeration and they project in syntax. since focus, modal and whdo not co-occur in sinhala, there is only one projection (modp) for all which attracts the relevant constituent to its spec. i considered the –e suffix as a reflex of a discourse agree relation though in sinhala there is no phi-agreement. references aboh, enoch o., hartmann, k., zimmermann, m. (eds.), 2007. focus strategies in african languages. berlin. new york: mouton de gruyter. aboh, enoch, o. 2010. information structuring begins with the numeration. iberia vol 2.1, 12-42. ananda, l. 2011. the focus construction in sinhala. germany: lap lambert publishing. ananda, l. 2012. clausal complementation in sinhala. unpublished phd thesis. jawaharlal nehru university. chafe, w.l. 1976. “givenness, contrastiveness, definiteness, subjects, topics and point of view”. in: cn. li (ed.), subject and topic, 25-55. associated press, new york. chomsky, n. 1995. the minimalist program. cambridge, ma: mit press. chomsky, n. 1981. lectures on government and binding. dordrecht: foris. chomsky, n. 1986. barriers. cambridge, mass: mit press. cinque, g. 1999. adverbs and functional heads: a cross-linguistic perspective. oxford: oxford university press. cinque, g. & rizzi, l. 2008. the cartography of syntactic structures. ciscl working papers. hagstrom, p. a. 1993. decomposing questions. doctoral dissertation. mit. henadeerage, d.k. 2002. topics in sinhala syntax. doctoral dissertation. australian national university. halliday, m. a. k. 1967. notes on transitivity and theme in english. journal of linguistics 3, 199244. kariyakarawana, s. m. 1998. the syntax of focus and wh questions in sinhala. colombo: karunaratne and sons ltd. 25 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ kidwai, a. 1999. “word order and focus positions in universal grammar”. in: g. rebuschi & l. tuller (eds.), the grammar of focus. 213-244. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins publishing company. lambrecht, k. 1995. information structure and sentence form. cambridge: cambridge university press. miyagawa, s. 2010. why agree? why move? cambridge: the mit press. rizzi, l. 1997. the fine structure of the left periphery. in: l. haegeman (ed.), elements of grammar. 281-338. dordrecht: kluwer academic publishers. rizzi, l. 1998. on the position of int(errogative) in the left periphery of the clause. manuscript. university of siena. vallduví, e. 1992. the informational component. garland: new york. zagona, k. 2007. “on the syntactic features of epistemic and root modals”. in: luis eguren & olga fernandez (eds.), co-reference, modality and focus. 221-236. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins. zimmermann, m., fery, c. 2010. information structure. oxford: oxford university press. what developmental linguistics can offer l1 education. an example of the relation between implicit and explicit wordformation knowledge in slovak speaking children 12 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles ľudmila liptáková1 university of prešov, slovakia orcid id: 0000-0001-5639-6209 what developmental linguistics can offer l1 education. an example of the relation between implicit and explicit word-formation knowledge in slovak speaking children abstract. the paper focuses on defining the relationship between developmental linguistics and l1 education. we consider both theories and empirical research in developmental linguistics an important theoretical basis for l1 education, especially in pre-school and junior school aged children. the examples of research on child language in slovak speaking children are used to clarify the possibilities of transforming the findings in developmental linguistics into the curriculum of language learning/teaching. the dynamic interactions of implicit and explicit linguistic knowledge in l1 education is the way how developmental linguistics’ knowledge base can positively influence the results of language learning. the paper is based both on the analysis of theoretical sources and the empirical findings of qualitative linguistic research. keywords: developmental linguistics, l1 education, slovak speaking children, implicit and explicit linguistic knowledge, word-formation. 1. introduction the aim of the paper is to analyse the relation between developmental linguistics and l1 education from a theoretical point of view and by means of empirical data collected from language research in slovak speaking children in order to illustrate how the findings in developmental linguistics could be transformed into the curriculum of language learning/teaching. we consider both theories and empirical research in developmental linguistics an important theoretical basis for l1 education, especially in pre-school and junior school aged children. in our 1 address for correspondence: university of prešov, faculty of education, ul. 17. novembra 15, 080 01 prešov slovakia. e-mail: ludmila.liptakova@unipo.sk doi: 10.15290/cr.2019.24.1.02 13 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles opinion, the successful development of children’s language abilities in formal education is not possible without knowing what the course of language development looks like and how the language of adults is acquired by children. according to hoff (2001: 22-25) there are two approaches to the study of language development: the developmental approach with the basic question “what is the course of language development and how can we explain it?” and the learnability approach with the goal “to explain how it is that language is learnable by children”. this means that educational theorists and educators in the field of mother tongue education should be acquainted with the most important empirical findings within these two research approaches. in the context of language development research findings we consider it to be of paramount importance to find out how a child’s implicit linguistic knowledge could be linked with explicit language learning in school education. in the paper we focus on: outlining developmental linguistics as a part of the cognitive model in l1 didactic communication; analysing the interactions between implicit and explicit linguistic knowledge in l1 education; presenting the empirical data on slovak speaking children’s language development research; and proposing the transformation of developmental findings into l1 curriculum. our intention is also to arouse a discussion about the importance of developmental studies within the l1 curriculum. 2. developmental linguistics as a part of the cognitive model of l1 education the subject of developmental linguistics, i.e., the issue of language acquisition, comes under the broad research scope of applied linguistics (see šebesta et al. 2016: 11-13). traditionally, research on a child’s language is considered to be a subject of psycholinguistic interest, therefore this relatively independent scientific field is also referred to as developmental psycholinguistics (see slančová et al. 2008: 10). the research on child language has been carried out since the second half of the 19th century. since then, it has undergone significant methodological changes and has responded to many questions related to language acquisition. as it is known, different theories of language development have been gradually formed since the 1950s, with the most significant ones being behavioral theory, the psycholinguistic-syntactic model (nativist theory), the psycholinguisticsemantic/cognitive model, socio-pragmatic theory, and the emergentist model (see owens 2008: 31-59). as owens describes: (1) within the past several decades, five major theories of language acquisition have been proposed: behavioral, psycholinguistic-syntactic, psycholinguistic-semantic/ cognitive, sociolinguistic, and emergentist. [...] most linguists do not adhere strictly to one theoretical construct but prefer to position themselves somewhere between. this apparent fence straddling reflects the complexity of language and language acquisition (owens 2008: 58). 14 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles it should be remembered that psychologists jean piaget and lev semjonovich vygotsky belong to the most influential researchers of language development in children. both of these psychologists studied child language development in relation to the development of a child’s thinking, but each of them did so from a different methodological perspective. while piaget’s theory of cognitive constructivism (1997) focuses primarily on the internal mechanisms of language and thought development, and on the mental structure and mental representations, vygotsky’s theory of social constructivism (1970) emphasizes the social and cultural-historical determinants of language and thought, and stresses the importance of learning processes and environmental factors (see a discussion on piagetian and vygotskian work in průcha 2011: 11-12). despite the differences in acknowledging the degree of universality or socio-cultural determinants of a child’s development, these two most influential theories of a child’s psychological development agree on the relationship of individual developmental stages with the child’s ability to form concepts. currently, the interdisciplinary research of language acquisition, besides the above mentioned developmental and learnability approaches, differs from a methodological viewpoint in applying rationalist, empirical and interactive approach (see průcha 2011: 24-34). the rationalist (nativist) approach explains language acquisition based on the innate (hereditary) dispositions. the empirical approach stresses the impact of language input and the effect of a child’s communicative functions on language acquisition. the complementarity of these two approaches is present in the interactive approach, which is characterized by e. clark as follows: (2) my own emphasis is on the social setting of acquisition combined with the cognitive foundations children can build on. so i view both social and cognitive development as critical to acquisition since it remains unclear how much of language is innate or whether any specialized learning mechanisms subserve it [...]. the emphasis here is on how (and how much) children can learn from adult usage, including child-directed speech. [...] i place considerable emphasis on the developmental processes required in learning a language from the first words on and none on arguing that children know (nearly) everything from the start (clark 2009: 16). based on our own research on the language of children we prefer the interactive approach to language acquisition. because of its complexity, we also find this approach the most appropriate theoretical basis for explicit development of a child’s language skills. the interactive approach is also applied in the longitudinal research of child language, which has been systematically implemented in slovakia since the 1990s (see slančová et al. 2008, 2018). the reason for studying child language development is “its potential value to basic research into the nature of the human mind“ and also “its potential value to applied questions […] about designing education for young children” (hoff 2001: 3). thus, knowledge of the stages and regularities of language development, and the acquaintance with the most important methodological 15 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles approaches and empirical research in the field of language acquisition should become the compulsory part of professional expertise of theorists and educators in l1 education. we consider developmental (psycho)linguistics a constituent of the cognitive model in didactic communication in l1 education, together with a complex of other linguistic and pedagogical-psychological disciplines. the cognitive model (or conceptual curriculum) is the starting point of didactic communication and it represents the scientific basis of a school subject, which is organized according to teaching and learning needs (see adamčíková & tarábek 2008: 139). the cognitive model is further transformed into the form of a project and then implemented in the subject curriculum (see adamčíková & tarábek 2008: 140-141). this means that the knowledge of a child’s language development should be applied in projecting the input and output in l1 curriculum and eventually implemented in l1 classroom practice (see liptáková et al. 2015: 31-36). in this context, the fundamental question arises, i.e., how to link the implicit linguistic knowledge of a child with explicit language learning. 3. the relation of implicit and explicit linguistic knowledge in l1 education research findings on the spontaneous course of child language development (based on the developmental approach) and on how a child acquires the language of adults (based on the learnability approach) also provide information on a child’s implicit linguistic knowledge. mother tongue acquisition represents an implicit process that is supported more by experience from using the language than by explicit rules, in opposition to foreign language acquisition. implicit knowledge is defined as internal unconscious knowledge, whereas explicit knowledge is understood as external conscious knowledge. implicit knowledge is related to implicit language learning, explicit knowledge is the result of intentional and conscious explicit language learning. research in various fields of cognitive neuroscience implies that implicit and explicit learning are two different processes, that there are separate implicit and explicit memory systems in the human brain, and that there are different types of language knowledge and knowledge about language, which are located in different parts of brain (see ellis 2008: 1). the human implicit memory system processes language input automatically and it enables us to concentrate more on the meaning than on the form of communication. implicit processing of language input is connected to predictable situations. however, if the automatic processing gets interrupted, a conscious support of explicit memory system is necessary (see ellis 2005: 308). despite defining implicit and explicit language knowledge as different and dissociated processes, and despite their differentiation based on the various types of language representations and various neural systems that are supporting them, there is a dynamic interaction between them – interface (see ellis 2005: 307): (3) the interface question, at the very foundations of sla, applied linguistics, and child language acquisition, has motivated a wide range of empirical research over the last 30 16 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles years, and the weight of the subsequent findings demonstrates that language acquisition can be speeded by explicit instruction (ellis 2005: 307). (4) the central issue of the interface question is just how much influence there is in the reverse direction, how much do explicit learning and explicit instruction influence implicit learning, and how can their symbiosis be optimized? (ellis 2008: 4). the stated theses defining the relationship between implicit and explicit language knowledge and their dynamic interaction are relevant for answering the key questions in l1 education, which is also obvious from the following statement: (5) [a]lthough in native language acquisition implicit learning is primary, the development of self-awareness allows reflective examination, analysis and re-organization of the products of implicit learning, resulting in redescription at a higher level and the formation of new independent and explicit representations (ellis 2008: 4). based on the above stated definition of the relationship between implicit and explicit language knowledge, it is vital to consider the implementation of a balanced learning curriculum in l1 education (see ellis 2008: 7), which would be based on the dynamic interaction of implicit language acquisition and explicit language learning. the following part of the study introduces a proposal for linking implicit and explicit knowledge within l1 education. the proposal will be illustrated on the findings from the research on spontaneous child word-formation during the development of explicit word-formation knowledge in preschool and junior school aged children. 4. how could the findings in developmental linguistics be transformed into l1 education? our linguistic and developmental research on child word-formation in slovak (see liptáková 2000; liptáková & vužňáková 2009) proved that children have implicit word-formation knowledge at their disposal, based on which they spontaneously make derived or compound nonce-words. this research was conducted as a part of a wider research of nonce-words in spoken slovak, i.e., besides children’s nonce-words, adults’ nonce-words in common spoken language were investigated (see liptáková 2000). the process of collecting spoken nonce-words was long-lasting, since these words were not part of a conventional dictionary; they usually emerge ad hoc in an individual’s vocabulary within a unique language context and are mostly used once21. for this reason we used a long-term observation method of data collection, where we observed different types of communication situations and recorded the ensuing nonce-words, i.e., we applied the above mentioned developmental approach to the study of language development. with the help of our university students, in the period from 1992 to 2000 we collected about 500 spoken nonce-words created by 3 2 we drew from the definition of nonce-words’ features by a. g. lykov (1976) and k. buzássyová (1990). 17 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles to 15 year old children in their spontaneous language use. the collected nonce-words3 were analysed from pragmatic, semantic and structural aspects; we looked for answers to the questions why and how children produce word-formation innovations, what words they produce, and why they do not use the conventional words. in the period from 2000 till the present time we have continued with research by completing the database of observed children’s nonce-words and above all by analysing the data from the viewpoint of educational linguistics, e.g., examining how the developmental findings can be linked with language education. a) the findings regarding implicit word-formation knowledge as to the developmental aspect in our research, the analysis of the data showed that creating noncewords reflects a natural course of language acquisition for children. in the preschool age noncewords mainly fulfil the naming function because of the insufficient conventional vocabulary of children (there are lexical gaps in children’s vocabulary, see clark 2009: 254-278). in the group of junior aged children, the creation of nonce-words decreases and children use word-formation innovations more pragmatically, e.g., as a means of more pertinent and economical expression or as a means of expressing the attitude towards the named phenomenon. comparing the findings to our research of adults’ nonce-words in spoken slovak (see liptáková 2000), the creation of novel words in pre-school children is more specific due to developmental reasons, but in junior school aged children the gap between the acquired conventional words and children’s naming needs is on the decrease (see the developmental principle of conventionality, clark 2009: 133). this means that the production of nonce-words in junior school age has similar features to adults’ production. on the other hand, what similarities are there in creating innovative word-formation units within both age groups? children at pre-school and junior school age naturally apply word-formative structures and rules existing in the slovak language, i.e., they use conventional wordformation models, roots, prefixes, suffixes etc., but they combine word-formation elements in an individual and non-conventional way. for example, when deriving place nouns in slovak, the word-formation model “noun + suffix -áreň” (e.g., mliek-áreň – ‘the place where milk (mlieko) is produced’) is very productive. according to this model a child spontaneously creates the noun zub-áreň (‘the place where a dentist works’, zub = tooth), or bábätk-áreň (‘the place where babies are born’, bábätko = baby), although these words do not exist in the slovak conventional lexicon. the ability to individually combine the elements of a word-formation system enables the child by providing an immediate and subjective interpretation of reality. reflecting on basic naming needs as such and also on a child’s concrete and dynamic thinking processes (see piaget & inhelder 1997), both age groups of children produce mostly person nouns, thing nouns, place nouns and verbs within word-formation innovations. children’s spontaneous usage of word-formative models and elements present in slovak language while producing derived or compound nonce3 the list of collected nonce-word is available on the web page: http://www.indi.pf.unipo.sk/das/3.pdf 18 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles words represents the regular principle of word-formation, i.e., creating predictable derivatives or compound words while respecting word-formation rules (see fleischer 1988: 11; motsch 1988: 31), although nonce-words created by children are not a part of the conventional slovak lexicon. similarly, e. clark stresses tracking productive word-formation patterns along with adult preferences in the interpretation of word-formation innovations in english speaking children: (6) when children construct the words they need, they consistently rely on word-formation options from the language being acquired. they don’t try out just any random combination of roots and affixes. they use well-established patterns that are productive in adult speech (clark 2009: 277). yet, based on our empirical data in children’s word-formation innovations, another word-formation principle is also applied – the analogical and holistic principle, i.e., a nonpredictable wordformation based on associations with word-formation patterns (see fleischer 1988: 11; motsch 1988: 31). for example, according to the pattern of the conventional person noun sil-ák (‘a person who is strong’) a child creates the non-conventional person noun slabák (‘a person who is weak’); or according to the pattern of the conventional thing noun vianočka (‘a cake baked for christmas’) a child creates the non-conventional thing noun veľkonočka (‘a cake baked for easter’). this manner of word-formation is also present in literary texts of slovak authors, who create noncewords particularly in children’s literature (see e.g. valeková 1993). according to other experts in the field of word-formation, the analogy is an inner principle underlying each manner of word-formation (see chanpira 1966). even the basis for the regular wordformation is actually an analogy, i.e., one pair of words is created according to another one: x 1 : x 1 +suffix / x 2 : x 2 +suffix (see the concept of correlational word-formation, kubrjakova 1981), e.g., see our previous example: mlieko → mliek+áreň / zub → zub+áreň. regarding this issue, we consider it an important finding that all principles existing in conventional word-formation are applied in the child’s ad hoc word-formation procedure. accordingly, we suppose that children have implicit word-formation knowledge reflecting word-formation properties of the language being acquired. the research outcomes also proved that the nonce-words formation procedure can be linked to the stages of a child’s cognitive development, especially with the egocentric and dynamic character of a child’s way of thinking (see piaget & inhelder 1997). child cognitive egocentrism and centration are reflected for example in the spontaneous selection of a starting-point for derivation in a particular word, depending on the child’s individual experiences with persons and things in his/ her surroundings. for example, instead of the conventional noun mixér (mixer), a child creates the nonce-word húkačka (from the motivating verb húkať = to buzz); instead of the conventional noun murári (builder), a child creates the nonce-word domári (from the motivating noun dom = house); or instead of the conventional noun cigareta (cigarette), a child creates the nonce-word fajč (from the motivating verb fajčiť = to smoke). 19 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles the dynamics of the child’s being and thinking is reflected in the fluency of innovative denominal verbs and also deverbal nouns. derivation of a non-conventional verb from an individually chosen motivating noun (e.g. gitara → gitarovať = ‘to play the guitar’, hokej → hokejovať = ‘to play hockey’) is a typical word-formation process in language ontogenesis of pre-school as well as junior aged slovak speaking children. this process reoccurs in every generation of slovak speaking children and seems to be a universal process in the course of language development (compare a similar tendency in the word-formation innovations in russian or english children; see clark 2009: 268-270; čukovskij 1963). by comparing two age groups of pre-school and junior aged children we found that different cognitive structures in a child’s semantic thinking influence derived denominal verbs. in the group of pre-schoolers, the half of collected non-conventional denominal verbs has the meaning of dynamic processes, such as: “to play” (pištoľ (a gun) → pištoľ-ovať = ‘to play with a gun’), ‘to move’ (hojdačka (a children’s swing) → hojdačk-ovať = ‘to swing’), ‘to work’ (plastelína (a play-doh) → plastelín-ovať = ‘to shape something from a play-doh’). such semantic verb groups serve for expressing a child’s perception of the world as a time-space continuum (see piaget – inhelder 1997). in the group comprising older children, the ongoing cognitive development is reflected in a bigger production of causative verbs as a means of expressing an intentional activity centred on an object, i.e., children mentally divide time-space into sequences (see piaget – inhelder 1997). for example, hračka (a toy) → zahračk-ovať (‘to overfill the room with toys’); test (a test) → test-ovať (‘to solve a test’); tréma (stage-fright) → od-trém-ovať (‘to get rid of stage-fright’), etc. the dynamic character of a child’s manner of thinking is reflected also in the spontaneous selection of a starting-point for noun derivation in verb expression, although the same meaning is expressed by denominal derivative in conventional vocabulary. for instance, the conventional noun vreck-ovka (a tissue) is derived from the noun vrecko (a pocket), but a child creates the deverbal noun fuk-ovka ← fúkať (to blow) (‘a thing we use for blowing one’s nose’). b) how to link the implicit word-formation knowledge with language education when we look at the developmental findings from the educational point of view, this key question emerges: how can the word-formation fluency of pre-school and junior aged children be utilized in their language and cognitive development within formal language education? as we found out, a word-formation intuition enables children to naturally reproduce and produce word-formative structures. based on our empirical findings presented above, we consider educational activities aimed at word-formation one of the means to develop a child’s language and cognitive abilities. when developing the word-formative competence of a pre-school aged child, it is necessary to follow mainly their intuitive knowledge of word-formation and spontaneous word-formative production. methodology of language teaching/learning should respect concrete thinking of a child and their natural learning via games and exercises (see liptáková & vužňáková 2009: 155-161). how can thus the word-formative activities implemented in kindergarten follow up the spontane20 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles ous word-formative knowledge of children? based on the detected production of innovative denominal verbs with the meaning of dynamic processes, we propose to focus on the conventional representatives of verb groups such as “to play, to move, to work”. the meaning of verbs in the slovak language is easily modifiable using prefixes; for this reason we suggest focusing the educational activities on prefix verb derivatives in order to develop a child’s ability to express an action. a picture mind map seems to be a suitable method for the activity where children name pictures of various actions using the appropriate prefix verbs. teachers can also meet the children’s natural need for movement and use a so-called action mind map where the meaning of prefix verbs is expressed by performing the action (see figure 1)4, e.g., the starting point verb is liezť (to crawl) and the verbs derived with the prefix are: pod-liezť (crawl under), od-liezť (crawl away), v-liezť (crawl into), pre-liezť (crawl across), etc. these activities can also develop the cognitive processes of comparison because children compare the meaning of prefix verbs and categorisation, when they think about similar verbs belonging to the one word-formation cluster. figure 1 the illustration of the “action” word-formation mind-mapping the ability of pre-school aged children to spontaneously use the conventional wordformation models and elements (roots, suffixes etc.) while creating nonce-words can be followed up in educational activities with building children’s explicit knowledge about the binary word-formation structure (root + suffix). for example, by observing the structure of diminutives or augmentatives as productive word-formation models in the slovak language, children build their very first knowledge of the relation between form and meaning of a given suffix and the meaning of a particular word-formation model. in these activities children’s inference making also plays an important role: if dom+ček is “a small house”, any other x+ček is “a small item”; or if dom+isko is “a big house”, anyother x+isko is “a big item”. as we have mentioned above, children’s implicit word-formation knowledge is based not only on the regular but also on the analogical and holistic word-formation principle. this precondition can be used when observing and producing analogical compound words, e.g., figure 1. the illustration of the “action” word-formation mind-mapping the ability of pre-school aged children to spontaneously use the conventional word-formation models and elements (roots, suffixes etc.) while creating nonce-words can be followed up in educational activities with building children’s explicit knowledge about the binary word-formation structure (root + suffix). for example, by observing the structure of diminutives or augmentatives as productive word-formation models in the slovak language, children build their very first knowledge of the relation between form and meaning of a given suffix and the meaning of a particular word-formation model. in these activities children’s inference making also plays an im4 the author of figure 1 is tatiana bachurova, phd., from the university of prešov, faculty of education. 21 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles portant role: if dom+ček is ‘a small house’, any other x+ček is ‘a small item’; or if dom+isko is ‘a big house’, any other x+isko is ‘a big item’. as we have mentioned above, children’s implicit word-formation knowledge is based not only on the regular but also on the analogical and holistic word-formation principle. this precondition can be used when observing and producing analogical compound words, e.g., according to unusual animal compound nouns observed in a fairy-tale children’s play, which would allow children to imagine their own animal compound nouns. in this way we can also support children’s fantasy and creativity. when developing the word-formative competence of a junior school aged child, we should consider the higher level of cognitive and language development, literacy acquisition, and the possibility of its systematic stimulation through teaching of the mother tongue. however, concrete-factual thinking of a child this age also requires that the word-formation subject matter contributes to the gradual development of analytical-synthetic thinking and other cognitive processes in order to preserve a natural succession from the meaning to the form of a word motivated by the word-formation, and supported by child’s word-formation intuition (see liptáková & vužňáková 2009: 162-184). following the implicit word-formation knowledge of junior school aged children manifested by ways of their nonce-words production, we suggest building children’s explicit word-formation knowledge on both the regular and analogical word-formation principles. regarding the regular word-formation, it is possible to follow the spontaneous derivation of denominal causative verbs and focus on the specific meaning of conventional causatives with prefixes. in comparison to the similar procedure in pre-school aged children, a higher level of explicit knowledge of binary wordformation structure and word-formation cluster could be used to build a word formation model in the junior age group. furthermore, when children mentally manipulate prefix modifications of the same verb, the cognitive processes of comparison, analytic-synthetic thinking and categorisation are involved. the database of acquired conventional prefix causative verbs could be also used to improve children’s text production, e.g., in dynamic description of some work procedure such a cleaning: čistiť (to clean) – vy-čistiť (to clean up), pre-čistiť (to clean out), do-čistiť (to finish the cleaning), očistiť (to clear of), etc. following the spontaneous production of innovative deverbal nouns we can build the children’s explicit knowledge about the structure and meaning of word-formative models for deriving the conventional deverbal person nouns. in addition, the analysis of the “root + suffix” word-formative structure when observing deverbal person noun derivation in slovak could be integrated into the explicit learning of a foreign language, i.e., children compare similar derivation procedures in slovak with for instance english: učiť → uči-teľ : teach → teach-er; piecť → pek-ár : bake → bak-er; šoférovať → šof-ér : drive → driv-er; maľovať → mal-iar : paint → paint-er, etc. as it is evident from these examples, comparison of word-formative structures can also enrich pupils’ linguistic knowledge about some typological language features (compare phonological changes and reductions in slovak roots and regular english roots). regarding the analogical word-formation in junior school, we consider it necessary to observe analogical word-formative procedures within derivational and compounding formation in order 22 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles to extend and improve the academic and discipline-specific vocabulary of children. for example, in building the academic vocabulary in physics it could be helpful to follow this word-formation pattern: for measuring temperature (teplo) – teplomer is used; for measuring power (sila) – silomer is used; for measuring water (voda) – vodomer is used; for measuring pressure (tlak) – tlakomer is used; for measuring gas (plyn) – plynomer is used; for measuring electricity (elektrina) – elektromer is used, etc. the purpose of teaching word-formation at primary school is not to make pupils able to define the terms of word-formation, but to build their capacity to use their knowledge for better and more adequate text comprehension and production as well as for the development of abstract thinking. as we have illustrated above, word-formation subject matter at primary school also has an interdisciplinary function. comprehension of elementary principles and rules of word-formation can likewise make the process of learning easier in other subjects. the explicit word formation knowledge helps children improve the quality of vocabulary as well as the level of text comprehension, where word-formation presents an important means for text cohesion and coherence (oakhill, cain, elbro 2015: 54-67). for instance, the findings of research in instructional text comprehension of 4 th and 5 th graders (see gogová 2017: 27-37), conducted under our supervision, indicate that global comprehension of an instructional text is influenced by explicit recognition of the word-formative structure of terms present in the text. when pupils recognize that terms have the same root morpheme and belong to the same word-formation cluster (e.g., dýchať: dýchacia (sústava), nádych, výdych, dýchanie, vdýchnuť, vydýchnuť, vdych, vdýchnutý = breathe: breathing system, breath, breathing, breathing in, breathing out, take a breath, etc.), they have mastered the word-formation inferences and can construct lexical meaning of the terms more easily. subsequently, they better understand how to systematize the terms and how to comprehend the particular topic at hand. in sum, we believe that the framework for linking children’s implicit and explicit word-formation knowledge could be pictured in the following way: easier in other subjects. the explicit word formation knowledge helps children improve the quality of vocabulary as well as the level of text comprehension, where word-formation presents an important means for text cohesion and coherence (oakhill, cain, elbro, 2015: 5467). for instance, the findings of research in instructional text comprehension of 4th and 5th graders (see gogová 2017: 27-37), conducted under our supervision, indicate that global comprehension of an instructional text is influenced by explicit recognition of the wordformative structure of terms present in the text. when pupils recognize that terms have the same root morpheme and belong to the same word-formation cluster (e.g., dýchať: dýchacia (sústava), nádych, výdych, dýchanie, vdýchnuť, vydýchnuť, vdych, vdýchnutý = breathe: breathing system, breath, breathing, breathing in, breathing out, take a breath etc.), theyhave mastered the word-formation inferences and can construct lexical meaning of the terms more easily. subsequently, they better understand how to systematize the terms and how to comprehend the particular topic at hand. in sum, we believe that the framework for linking children’s implicit and explicit wordformation knowledge could be pictured in a following way: figure 2 linking implicit and explicit word-formation knowledge in l1 education spontaneous regular word-formation spontaneous analogical word-formation explicit learning of word-formation rules: wordformation structure, meaning, elements (root, prefix, suffix), model, cluster, procedure applying the explicit knowledge in building a common and a discipline-specific vocabulary, in l2 learning, in a different pragmatic types of text production and text comprehension recognising of word-formation patterns using the word-formation patterns in building a discipline-specific vocabulary and in a different pragmatic types of text production and text comprehension, especially in aesthetic texts figure 2. linking implicit and explicit word-formation knowledge in l1 education 23 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles 5. conclusion based on the theoretical outline and the example from the research in a partial language domain, we tried to justify the need for applying the knowledge from developmental psycholinguistics when developing language and cognitive skills of a pupil within l1 education. we understand the necessity of thorough empirical research to study the effects of the interaction of implicit and explicit language knowledge. based on the studies of n. ellis (2005, 2008), the dynamic interaction of implicit and explicit word-formation knowledge and, pars pro toto, other language knowledge can be schematically depicted as follows: impl → expl → impl2 → expl2 → impl3 → expl3 → ... 1. impl: implicit language usage (known thanks to developmental studies). 2. expl: related explicit learning instructions → practising, automatizing explicit linguistic knowledge. 3. impl2: re-organisation of the products of implicit learning, resulting in redescription at ahigher level. 4. expl2: related explicit learning instructions at a higher level → practising, automatizing → 5. a higher level of impl3 → 6. a higher level of expl3... when we reflect on ellis’ questions (2008: 4) “how much do explicit learning and explicit instruction influence implicit learning, and how can their symbiosis be optimized”, big research challenges are still open in this field. at the same time, our goal is to encourage the discussion about the relevance of the relationship between implicit and explicit language knowledge and its reflection in national curricula of the mother tongue. thus we find it necessary to conduct more comparative studies within the international discourse of educational linguistics aimed at comparing the research findings on individual aspects of child language development, as well as at finding ways to transform the findings on a child’s implicit language knowledge into the explicit language learning/teaching in schools. references adamčíková, v. & tarábek, p. 2008. didaktická komunikácia v predmetových didaktikách [didactic communication in subject didactics]. in: l. sičáková, k. vužňáková & r. rusňák (eds.), slovo o slove 14, 136–149. prešov: prešovská univerzita, pedagogická fakulta. buzássyová, k. 1990. okazionálna slovotvorba ako indikátor synchrónnej a diachrónnej dynamiky [occasional word-formation as an indicator of synchronous and diachronous dynamics]. in: v. blanár (ed.), metódy výskumu a opisu lexiky slovanských jazykov, 63–73. bratislava, jazykovedný ústav ľ. štúra sav. clark, e. v. 2009. first language acquisition (2nd edition). cambridge: cambridge university press. 24 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles čukovskij, k. i. 1963. od dvoch do piatich [from two to five] (2nd edition). bratislava: mladé letá. ellis, n. c. 2008. implicit and explicit knowledge about language. in: j. cenoz & n. hornberger (eds.), encyclopedia of language and education (2nd edition), volume 6: knowledge about language, 1–13. new york: springer science+business media llc. ellis, n. c. 2005. at the interface: dynamic interactions of explicit and implicit language knowledge. studies in second language acquisition 27(2): 305–352. fleischer, w. 1988. produktivität – akzeptabilität – aktivität. zur theorie der wortbildung (im deutschen). in: zur theorie der wortbildung im deutschen, 8–16. berlin: akademie – verlag. gogová, e. 2017. slovotvorná kategorizácia ako stratégia pri rozvíjaní porozumenia učebného textu [word-formative categorization as a strategy in developing comprehension of informational text]. o dieťati, jazyku, literatúre 5(2): 21–40. hoff, e. 2001. language development (2nd edition). wadsworth: thomson learning. kubrjakova, e. s. 1981. tipy jazykovych značenij. semantika proizvodnogo slova. moskva: nauka. liptáková, l. et al. 2015. integrovaná didaktika slovenského jazyka a literatúry pre primárne vzdelávanie [integrative didactics of slovak language and literature for primary education] (2nd edition). prešov: prešovská univerzita v prešove, pedagogická fakulta. liptáková, l. & vužňáková, k. 2009. dieťa a slovotvorba [a child and word-formation]. prešov: prešovská univerzita, pedagogická fakulta. liptáková, l. 2000. okazionalizmy v hovorenej slovenčine [nonce-words in spoken slovak]. prešov: náuka. lykov, a. g. 1976. sovremennaja russkaja leksikologija (russkoje okkazionaľnoje slovo). moskva: vysšaja škola. motsch, w. 1988. analogie und regel in der wortbildung. in: zur theorie der wortbildung im deutschen, 30–33. berlin, akademie – verlag. oakhill, j., cain, k. & elbro, c. 2015. understanding and teaching reading comprehension. a handbook. abingdon, oxon: routledge. owens, r. e. 2008. language development. an introduction (7th edition). new york: allyn and bacon. piaget, j. & inhelder, b. 1997. psychologie dítěte [the psychology of the child]. praha: portál. průcha, j. 2011. dětská řeč a komunikace. poznatky vývojové lingvistiky [child’s language and communication. knowledge of psycholinguistics]. praha: grada publishing. slančová, d. (ed.). 2018. desať štúdií o detskej reči [ten studies on child language]. bratislava – prešov: veda, vydavateľstvo sav, – filozofická fakulta prešovskej univerzity. slančová, d. (ed.). 2008. štúdie o detskej reči [studies on child language]. prešov: prešovská univerzita, filozofická fakulta. šebesta, k. et al. 2016. aplikovaná lingvistika [applied linguistics]. praha: karolinum. valeková, l. 1993. okazionalizmy v tvorbe daniela heviera pre deti [nonce-words in the children’s books by daniel hevier]. slovenská reč 58(2): 72–77. vygotskij, l. s. 1970. myšlení a řeč [thought and language]. praha: spn. 25 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles funding this study is being carried out under the auspices of the scientific grant agency of the ministry of education, science, research and sport of the slovak republic, research project vega 1/0353/18 implicit linguistic knowledge of a junior school-aged child. the project is being conducted between 2018 and 2020. institutional executor: university of prešov, faculty of education. head of project: professor ľudmila liptáková, phd. *** ľudmila liptáková, phd, is a professor at the university of prešov, faculty of education, slovakia. she works in the field of linguistics and methodology of l1 teaching/learning. her research covers the following areas:  word-formation of the contemporary slovak language; lexical and word-formation development in slovak speaking children; implicit linguistic knowledge of a child; methodology of l1 teaching/learning; stimulation of executive and cognitive functions in junior school aged children. she is a  member of the international association for research in l1 education (arle) and participated in arle conferences. the city vs. the country: a climate of anti-urbanism in elizabeth gaskell’s mary barton 53 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) beata kiersnowska1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.29.2.04 university of rzeszówj orcid: 0000-0001-9810-8148 the city vs. the country: a climate of anti -urbanism in elizabeth gaskell’s mary barton abstract. this paper aims to discuss a contrast between the city and the country in mary barton, elizabeth gaskell’s first novel. by juxtaposing negative images of early-victorian manchester with positive descriptions of rural life and scenery, gaskell reveals an anti-urban attitude prevalent among a large section of the cultivated middle and upper class. in mary barton, nature is an agent of creating an atmosphere of nostalgia for the simple and pure rural world that is disappearing, giving way to a hostile and brutal reality of industrial cities. strong bonds and human inter-reliance marking rural communities are replaced by aggregation and alienation of human beings in the city. living in a human-made environment dominated by machine technology of industrial processes, some characters in the novel try to reconnect with the natural world by cultivating rural traditions or seeking in the country an escape from the dreariness of urban existence. numerous references to nature and its importance for the novel’s characters are a testimony to its ideological significance to victorian society and an apprehension of unbridled urbanisation. keywords: country, rural, nature, pastoral, pre-industrial, city, community, industrial. 1. introduction the body of critical scholarship on elizabeth gaskell’s literary output is extensive. it ranges from presenting the author as a social problem novelist, one whose novels explore universal truths to offering a feminist critique focusing on discussing the issues of class and gender in her works. these different perspectives are represented in the critical works of kathleen tillotson (1956), miriam allott (1960), edgar wright (1965), john mcveigh (1970), wendy a. craik (1975), coral lansbury (1975), john lucas (1977), enid l. duthie (1980) and patsy stoneman ([1987] 2006). this article attempts to contribute to the scholarly discussion on elizabeth gaskell’s mary barton by offering the reading of the novel as a work that reflects a strong anti-urban climate of its epoch. while not its primary purpose, the novel attests to the anti-urban mood and 1 address for correspondence: department of english studies, university of rzeszów, al. mjr. w. kopisto 2b, 35-315 rzeszów, poland. e-mail: bea.city28@gmail.com 54 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) pervading anxiety of nineteenth-century intellectuals about pernicious consequences of urbanisation and industrialisation on the condition of city population. numerous references to the countryside and nature and their role in the novel reveal gaskell’s awareness of these concerns and her ideological stance in the discourse on the urbanrural dichotomy. the historical and cultural context for discussing mary barton as a novel which in its idealised, nostalgic depiction of nature and the country draws from the pastoral tradition in english literature and depicts economic, social and emotional consequences of agrarian and industrial capitalism on the condition of urban communities has been gleaned from such seminal works as raymond williams’ the country and the city (1973), harold james dyos’ exploring the urban past. essays in urban history ([1982] 2003), francis m.l. thompson’s the rise of respectable society. a social history of victorian britain ([1988] 2016), and richard dennis’ cities in modernity: representation and productions of metropolitan space 1840–1930 (2008). 2. urbanisation the transition from a pre-industrial economy to industrial capitalism in the lateeighteenth and nineteenth centuries was manifested not only in england’s profound economic transformation but also in social and demographic changes. the growth of manufacturing production in towns, enclosures and changes in land ownership in the country as well as the inexorable decline of the agricultural sector in economy progressing since the early seventeenth century induced demographic transformations leading to a massive rural-to-urban migration (thompson 2016: 28). this process disrupted the hitherto existing balance between the rural and urban populations in england and left its mark on the social and communal organisation. as a result, english society in the victorian period became the first predominantly urban society in the world – by mid-century urban population had already exceeded the rural one (williams 1973: 2, 217). when in 1843 a congregationalist minister, historian and writer robert vaughan, published his book the age of great cities, its title became a catchphrase used by contemporary writers and intellectuals to give a name to the unprecedented rise of large cities and the ensuing transformation in people’s lifestyle (williams 1973: 217; briggs 1990: 72). this assertion is confirmed by the fact that while in 1801, london was virtually the only metropolis in britain, three decades later, seven other large cities – manchester, glasgow, liverpool, edinburgh, birmingham, leeds, and bristol – emerged, each with the population of more than 100,000. together with london, they comprised one-sixth of the total uk population (thompson 2016: 31). one of the fastest-growing new cites in victorian england was manchester – “an urban prototype” (douglas et al. 2002: 235) of a modern manufacturing and commercial centre displaying the material and human components of the new industrial society. to the victorian society, particularly its intellectual elite, it was a “shock city” (briggs 1990: 116; thompson 2016: 34), an epitome of 55 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) unimpeded economic progress encapsulating all the entrepreneurial opportunities that industrial capitalism offered but also baring human, social and moral shortcomings of the new economic system. the rapid growth of extra-metropolitan large towns was a novel phenomenon that fascinated the victorian public. it provoked a considerable literary response, particularly in the form of the social problem novels, from such writers as elizabeth gaskell, benjamin disraeli, charles dickens and charles kingsley whose literary comment on thomas carlyle’s condition of england question (1843: 3) exposed social injustice suffered by the working population of industrial cities (stoneman 2006: ix). what inspired interest, was not only the phenomenal growth of their population but also the fact, that unlike their urban predecessors, these new cities were built as places of work – with factory chimneys, engines, mills and iron foundries, surrounded by workers’ houses constituting their central topographical features. this proximity of home and work in new manufacturing cities entrenched the dominant social relations based on the segregation of the employers and the employees and challenged the familiar notions of community life and mutual obligations (williams 1973: 220; thompson 2016: 31), supplanting them with “atomism and aggregation” (williams 1973: 231). these transforming experiences only enhanced the perceived dichotomy between the city and the country, which had its roots in classical times and persisted in english literary and intellectual tradition through centuries. in the nineteenth century, it produced a climate of anti-urbanism in which the fundamental differences between urban and rural life were revealed. the rural ideal shaped by pastoral tradition was extolled for its associations with a simple natural way of life, tranquillity, innocence and moral stature. urban life was its antithesis. despite some positive connotations with learning and achievement, the city was foremost imbued with hostile features such as moral degradation, worldliness, noise and pollution – all of which were the implications of industrial capitalism. negative attitudes to the city were further enhanced by the perception of nature as a purifying force and an expression of divinity with which man had an organic link, a view that the victorians inherited from the romantic period (machlow 1985: 97-98; macmaster 1990: 118-119; burchardt 2002: 47). 3. mary barton – an industrial novel elizabeth gaskell’s novel mary barton, labelled by most literary critics as a socialproblem novel (stoneman 2006: ix) or an industrial novel (stoneman 2006: 3) provides a humanitarian perspective on the suffering of the masses of workers in the 1840s. the writer declares in the preface to the book: “i had always felt a deep sympathy with the care-worn men, who looked as if doomed to struggle through their lives in strange alternations between work and want” (gaskell 2006). gaskell’s moving descriptions of abject poverty and atrocious living conditions in back-to-back houses and cellars in industrial 56 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) manchester corroborate the view that, like many middle-class commentators of the period, she identified industrial capitalism in the new cities as the force responsible for the plight of multitudes of manufacturing workers. she is explicit about it in a letter to mary ewart (1848): “we must all acknowledge that there are duties connected with the manufacturing system not fully understood as yet, and evils existing in relation to it which might be remedied in some degree” (chapelle & pollard 1997: 67). the setting of the novel is manchester, but gaskell mentions in the preface that her original choice was the rural scenery of yorkshire. perhaps because of this initial idea or the fact that, as she declares she lives in manchester but has “a deep relish and fond admiration for the country” (gaskell “preface” 2006), the reader can find numerous references to the country and nature in mary barton. those are either reminiscences of a childhood spent by old alice in a remote lake district village, descriptions of rural scenery near the city, or accounts of nature-related pastimes of the characters. these descriptions have a multifaceted function in the novel. they also suggest that to gaskell’s contemporaries, industrialism and urbanisation must have been a crushing experience that had left its imprint not only on nature but also on the humankind and its relation to nature. 4. the old and the new world the country in mary barton is a powerful symbol of the previous epoch or the loss of merry old england. the opening passage of the book takes the reader to green heys fields, a piece of a rural landscape near manchester frequented by city residents in good weather. like a.w. pugin’s contrasts (1836) – a graphic satire on contemporary life – which in several contrasting plates argues for the superiority of mediaeval social organisation, the beginning of gaskell’s novel signals a polarity between the old rural society and the new manufacturing urban one. it is “a symbolic threshold between the rural past and the industrial present” (gravil 2007: 29). in her rendering of the rural area and juxtaposing it with the picture of early-victorian manchester, gaskell ensures that the reader, like her characters visiting this rural spot, is prepared to feel and acknowledge “the effect of contrast in these common-place but thoroughly rural fields, with the busy, bustling manufacturing town he left but half an hour ago” (2006: 5). pastoral images of verdant vegetation, sounds of nature, descriptions of farming activities and rural occupations represent the world that is disappearing, one which “speaks of other times and other occupations than those which now absorb the population of the neighbourhood” (gaskell 2006: 5). the impression is enhanced by the use of epithets that invariably indicate the past: “an old black and white farm-house”, “old farmyards,” or “a medley of old-fashioned herbs and flowers” (gaskell 2006: 5-6). the passage and the description of carefree enjoyment of peaceful rural beauty by young workers from manchester are tinged with nostalgia for merry old england and simple idyllic existence in pre-industrial 57 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) times. thus, in this dimension, gaskell’s references to the country dispersed through the text tend to respond to a “shared, consensual, sympathetic vision” of the past that she shared with her contemporaries (ellison 2004: 495). another potent reference to the loss of the old country due to social and economic changes brought about by agrarian capitalism is made when recounting old alice’s life story. at the beginning of the nineteenth century, agriculture, particularly small farming, was declining and, as a consequence, unemployment, poverty and suffering in the country were widespread, reaching a critical level after 1815 (williams 1973: 182). this situation triggered large-scale migration from rural areas to cities. a fast developing manufacturing centre was an obvious choice for the dispossessed as it offered much better prospects of employment and stability than farming. like many other impoverished country folk, alice’s family was lured by the promise of a better life in the city, so to ease the burden on her parents, she followed her two brothers to manchester: tom […] had come to manchester, and sent word what terrible lots of work was to be had, both for lads and lasses. so father sent george first […], and then work was scarce out toward burton, where we lived, and father said i maun try and get a place. and george wrote as how wages were far higher in manchester than milnthorpe or lancaster. (gaskell 2006: 31) alice found work as a domestic servant, replicating a characteristic employment pattern of country girls who migrated into the city. although many young country women were employed in factories, a large number were recruited for domestic service or worked as seamstresses. according to alan j. kidd, in manchester in the early 1840s female workforce of around 37,779 was almost evenly distributed between cotton mills employing 11,427 female workers in 1841 and domestic service and dressmaking providing work to 9,961 and 2,251 women respectively (2002: 17). abject poverty, toil and hopelessness of the workers’ existence that glean from the pages of mary barton leave little doubt that for many incomers economic opportunities that the city seemed to offer proved elusive. nevertheless, gaskell admits that industrial capitalism also offered opportunities for achieving financial success and for some shrewd entrepreneurial individuals, the city became a springboard to fortune and upward mobility. john barton reflects upon it when he recounts the progress from rags to riches of his former employer, henry carson, and several other wealthy mill owners: “there’s many on ’em has had nought to begin wi’; there’s carsons, and duncombes, and mengies, and many another, as comed into manchester with clothes to their back, and that were all, and now they’re worth their tens of thousands” (gaskell 2006: 64). the description of green heys fields, a rural idyll still immersed in britain’s recent pre-industrial past, which existed on the doorstep of manchester, is contrasted with an image of a metropolis in development. gaskell joins a chorus of other middle-class 58 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) commentators alarmed by the unchecked growth of large manufacturing cities and presents a bleak and pessimistic perspective in her depiction of early-victorian manchester. she signals the transition from the old pre-industrial order – safe and familiar, in which man lived in harmony with nature, surrounded by its numerous animate and inanimate forms – to the new industrial world, alien and confusing. it is particularly pronounced in the description of the bartons’ and the wilsons’ return journey home from their outing to the country: “the party proceeded home, through many half-finished streets, all so like one another, that you might have easily been bewildered and lost your way” (gaskell 2006: 13). thus, in the novel, the two families’ progress home becomes symbolic of the country’s metamorphosis from the state of pre-industrial and largely rural social and economic organisation to industrial urban-centred capitalism. no other city could serve the purpose of juxtaposing the evanescence of the old preindustrial world and the onset of the new industrial order better than manchester. at the time when the novel is set, it encapsulated the forces of capitalism and urban growth and served as a model example of a new industrial metropolis. modern technologies embraced by the local industry as early as the last decades of the eighteenth century stimulated further development of the industrial base and encouraged in-migration. as a result, in the first half of the nineteenth century, manchester experienced exponential growth of its population, from the meagre 22,481 in 1773 to 235,507 in 1841 and 303,382 ten years later (kiersnowska 2017: 55). in the 1840s, it was a city still in the early stages of its development, whose local government system had just been established and had not yet achieved its full potential. manchester was incorporated as a borough on 23 october 1838, and its first borough council elected two months later began to exercise its duties in early 1840 (perrin 1857: 44-45). thus, gaskell’s depiction of manchester streets as unfinished and deprived of any distinctive features typically acquired with time, emphasizes the newness of the city. the image of a maze of streets in which one can lose its way is also a harbinger of the overpowering impression that in mary barton the city is an alien organism with which the main characters have little affiliation, it is an aggregate of human beings, houses lining dirty narrow streets and courtyards, factory chimneys and industrial buildings. the possibility of losing one’s way in a large city referred to earlier can be interpreted literally, but when considering the tragic fate of some characters in the novel, it acquires a deep symbolic meaning. concordantly with many of her contemporaries, gaskell perceived the city as dangerous (janssen 2016), particularly for young women like mary barton, whose unchaperoned journeys in the dark narrow streets made her easy prey for harry carson, a roguish mill owner’s son. mary avoided the downfall, but her aunt, esther, naively trusting the promises of a young officer, ended up as a prostitute and social outcast. john barton, broken and enraged by the injustice of the industrial capitalist system, lost his moral compass and committed murder. 59 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) a striking contrast between rus and urbs, the old and the new, pristine natural beauty of the country and ugliness and dreariness of urban surroundings, becomes even more pronounced in the description of the workers’ quarter where the bartons lived. an image of a charming farmhouse with rose bushes, lavender and herbs that the two families saw when strolling in green heys fields, is juxtaposed with a grim picture of a typical working-class neighbourhood of back-to-back houses, lacking any beauty and uninviting: “a little paved court, having the backs of houses at the end opposite to the opening, a gutter running through the middle to carry off household slops, washing suds, &c.” (gaskell 2006: 13). the novel offers numerous other descriptions of dirty streets and courtyards, shabby houses and dank cellars unsuitable for living, yet being home to poor families like the davenports. it appears that the imperfect work of the man has replaced god’s perfection of nature. william cowper’s words that “god made the country, and man made the town” ominously resonate in gaskell’s depiction of life in early-victorian manchester. 5. nostalgic perception of the country raymond williams argues that in british literature, particularly in pastoral and neopastoral poems, the country often represents the idea of happier past and innocence typically associated with childhood (1973: 46). gaskell subtly hints at this nostalgic perception of the country through the prism of childhood experience and family home in the scene when john barton invites the wilsons to supper and sends his daughter mary for victuals: “and get it cumberland ham, for wilson comes from there-away, and it will have a sort of relish of home with it he’ll like” (2006: 15). treating his friend to food from his home region, barton shows sensitivity in understanding a continuing emotional connection that migrants from rural areas, like wilson, maintain with their home villages. nostalgic overtones are quite explicit and persistent in many other descriptions of country life in mary barton; notably, in references to old alice’s family home in the lake district. when mary asks if she grew up in a pretty place, alice replies: “pretty, lass! i never seed such a bonny bit anywhere” (gaskell 2006: 32). she continues in words full of love and longing for the people and the views she had to leave behind and never see again. she reminisces of her impoverished but happy childhood in burton, spent in communion with nature, filled by its sounds, colours and smells: gray pieces o’ stone as large as a house, all covered over wi’ mosses of different colours, some yellow, some brown; and the ground beneath them knee deep in purple heather, smelling sae sweet and fragrant, and the low musing of the humming-bee for ever sounding among it. (gaskell 2006: 33) 60 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) alice recalls a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction from simple jobs like gathering “ling and heather for besoms, and it was such pleasant work [!]” (gaskell 2006: 33). from the account of her nephew, will, the reader learns that throughout her life in manchester alice nourished a dream of going back home: “she used to tell me long stories about her childhood, and we used to plan how we would go some time, please god (that was always her word), and live near her old home beyond lancaster; in the very cottage where she was born, if we could get it” (gaskell 2006: 189). for alice, the recollections of childhood have permanent significance – nature, the past and childhood are powerfully fused in her memory. a bond with nature which she established early in her life remains strong throughout her later life in the city and provides her with peace and comfort in the last moments of her life. 6. nature as a source of happiness gaskell’s allusions to the association between happiness and nature are quite persistent in mary barton. the opening scenes of the novel presenting its main protagonists when enjoying a respite in a country spot are the first and the last moment in the story when despite concern for esther, they appear to be at peace. the course of their later life in manchester is marked by anguish and distress caused by disease, death, unemployment, destitution and hunger. the connection between human happiness and nature is particularly manifested in old alice’s life story and, most notably, in the scene of her death. in her last hours, the old woman, oblivious to jem’s arrest, a calamity that caused turmoil in her household, is at peace as she is mentally transferred to the days of her childhood: “she was once more in the scenes of her childhood, unchanged and bright as in those long departed days” (gaskell 2006: 209). gaskell’s descriptions of rural areas, both green heys fields near manchester and alice’s family home in the lake district, have a painting-like quality, as, like a landscape painter, she depicts the richness of nature with its array of hues and colours. this visual quality of descriptions of nature is complemented by evoking its sounds and smells and thus leaving the reader with a full picture of a pastoral idyll that is denied the city population. the contrast between the city and the country is made even more acute by the fact that gaskell’s descriptions of manchester lack this richness of colour. they are rather monochromatic depictions of a grey and gloomy, smoke-enveloped city. it is particularly striking in the scene when mary leaves on a train for liverpool and when looking back at her hometown, all she sees are “the factory-chimneys, and the cloud of smoke which hovers over manchester” (gaskell 2006: 273). gaskell’s manchester appears to be an alien, man-made creation existing apart from nature, barren and even hostile to any vegetation: “the next evening it was a warm, pattering, incessant rain – just the rain to waken up the flowers. but in manchester, where, alas! there are no flowers, the rain had only a disheartening and gloomy effect” 61 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (gaskell 2006: 95). the rain, which in the country is a reviving force bringing vegetation to life, in the city appears to have lost this life-sustaining and rejuvenating quality. it only washes the dirt off the houses into streets and increases the hopelessness and desolation of the residents who, like the streets and buildings, are “wet and dirty” (gaskell 2006: 95). this striking contrast between the country being part of nature, a place where nature and its forces have their most complete manifestation, and the city which exists apart from nature and where natural phenomena acquire a distorted abnormal character becomes even more apparent in the description of spring. in the opening passage, gaskell offers a detailed and poetic description of a spring day in full glory in green hays fields when nature comes to life and there is an all-pervasive feeling of optimism: the softness of the day tempted forth the young green leaves, which almost visibly fluttered into life; and the willows, which that morning had had only a brown reflection in the water below, were now of that tender gray-green which blends so delicately with the spring harmony of colour. (2006: 6) this image is in striking contrast to a summary and dispiriting rendering of the season in manchester after carson mill’s fire. it is as if nature corresponded to and even enhanced the miserable mood of the residents. as the trade continued to decline and the economic downturn set in, “the cold, bleak spring came on (spring, in name alone)” (gaskell 2006: 57) and rather than bring hope for the improvement of their lot, it only enhanced the overpowering feeling of despair. 7. community bonds when discussing the issue of urbanisation in the victorian period, an urban historian, harold james dyos (2003: 9-10), maintains that in that period, no english city was completely severed from its rural connections. on the contrary, the link with the country manifested itself in various dimensions in the city. as cities grew, they gobbled up the whole adjacent villages absorbing their population with its characteristic networking and communal bonds. manchester experienced a “dormitory expansion” already in the first half of the 19th century when new extensive suburbs were established to the north and south of the city (rodgers 1962: 5). in the process, some features characteristics of closely-knit rural communities that were joined to the city were inevitably eroded and were replaced with those that came to be associated with urban life – anonymity, isolation and a sense of alienation of an individual. however, according to dyos, a visible sense of community, based on a strong feeling of shared identity, enhanced by everyday purposes of life, poverty, social injustice, face-to-face familiarity and a network of neighbourly relationships continued in the back streets and slums of manufacturing cities. such communities functioned as separate individual entities and their residents 62 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) formed a “village of a sort” (2003: 9), bound by a system of mutual experience and relations, distinguishable from other communities in the city. the rural culture was also planted in working-class communities by migrants from the countryside who came to the city looking for work. these country-bred citizens transplanted their traditions and, with the help of their family upbringing, kept them alive in an urban environment. despite living in the city, they wanted to retain the original bond existing between man and nature and experience at least a semblance of pastoral bliss. the earlier mentioned processes, attendant on urbanisation find their reflection in mary barton. elizabeth gaskell tends to emphasise rural origins of some of her characters and implies that it is this background that imbued them with certain personality traits. these characteristics are particularly evident in the depiction of old alice as a paragon of neighbourly care and helpfulness. her disinterested devotion to others and willingness to provide assistance are the features typically attributed to country folk and playing a crucial role in the development of cohesion and unity of village populations. years of living in the city did not efface the lessons she learned in her lake district family home. as her brother, george, says: “there’s none more ready to help with heart or hand than she is. though she may have done a hard day’s wash, there’s not a child ill within the street, but alice goes to offer to sit up, and does sit up too, though may be she’s to be at her work by six next morning” (gaskell 2006: 12). the shared experience of poverty and a sense of grave injustice cement workingclass neighbourhoods in mary barton. like in a village, where the relative smallness of the community and physical proximity of its members enable them to monitor each other’s lives, also in manchester, working-class districts are enlivened by the spirit of close neighbourly relations and mutual help. it is particularly evident when george wilson and john barton help the davenport family. the two men, “rough, tender nurses as they were” (gaskell 2006: 59), not only offered care and emotional support but also spent their meagre savings on food and coal for the starving family of the dying man. it was an act of compassion for other human beings but also a demonstration of communal identity and class consciousness that workers in manufacturing cities shared. also, job legh’s involvement in obtaining legal counsel for jem wilson and the support and assistance he offered to jem’s mother and mary barton throughout the trial attest to the fact that community spirit remained strong in poor working-class pockets in 19th-century manchester. while rural-like community cohesion pronounced in strong ties and a sense of responsibility for each other can be observed among manchester working population, elizabeth gaskell signals in numerous ways that such a bond does not exist between the workers and their employers. already at the beginning of the novel, she implies a deep gulf separating the poor and the rich, evident in john barton’s pronouncement: “we are to live as separate as if we were in two worlds; ay, as separate as dives and lazarus, with 63 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) a great gulf betwixt us” (gaskell 2006: 11). the chasmic character of the city (dennis 2008: 32) is demonstrated both in the physical and emotional detachment of the two classes in mary barton. the workers’ quarters are situated in the vicinity of the factories, whereas the masters’ opulent, luxurious residences are located far away from the city noise and smoke. in order to get an in-patient infirmary order for davenport from his employer, george wilson has to walk over two miles to the carsons’ house (gaskell 2006: 65). physical separation contributes to the masters’ ignorance, lack of interest in the fate of the workers and the inability to understand their demands for a pay rise (gaskell 2006: 183). this lack of consideration takes the most extreme form in a mocking cartoon that young harry carson draws when a group of emaciated workers comes to negotiate the conditions of ending the strike with mill owners (gaskell 2006: 183). thus, in gaskell’s novel, the city is a divided space inhabited by two incompatible groups of people – the operatives and the masters. 8. connection with nature although in mary barton, the city and the country represent two different worlds, constructed on the basis of oppositions – physically, the country represents everything that the city is not – as already stated, these two worlds do not exist entirely apart from each other. on the contrary, characters in the novel try to maintain a connection with nature and experience blissful effects of this contact. already in the opening passage describing green heys fields, the reader is informed that in good weather “these fields were much thronged” (gaskell 2006: 6) by groups of unmarried factory girls and young men as well as married couples with children who in the peaceful rural surroundings looked for escape and respite from the busy life in manchester. in this description, gaskell refers to the tradition of country walks popular with the city’s working population in her times. she also alludes to the popular association between the country and health and the view that nature was believed to have healing properties; therefore, close contact with it was supposed to bring moral, emotional and physical benefits (macmaster 1990: 118-119; kiersnowska 2017: 244-248). the country is not only a place for recreation, a refuge from the noise and congestion of the city, it is also inextricably connected with the power of nature which can be used for the benefit of men. two characters, alice and job legh, use nature as a source of knowledge about the world. alice’s knowledge of the natural world lacks scientific foundations; it instead represents folk wisdom and traditional lore. as her nephew says, alice knows “such a deal about plants and birds, and their ways” (gaskell 2006: 189) and she uses that knowledge for the benefit of other members of her community practising natural medicine, a skill typically attributed to country people and the one she doubtlessly learned from her mother. she roams nearby moors and with expert knowledge collects herbs to prepare infusions: 64 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) she had been out all day in the fields, gathering wild herbs for drinks and medicine, for in addition to her invaluable qualities as a sick nurse and her worldly occupations as a washerwoman, she added a considerable knowledge of hedge and field simples; and on fine days, when no more profitable occupation offered itself she used to ramble off into the lanes and meadows as far as her legs could carry her. (gaskell 2006: 16) as if trying to maintain the illusion of living close to nature, alice fills her inner-city cellar with dry and live wild plants. the only window, barely above the ground and allowing little daylight is “oddly festooned with all manner of hedge-row, ditch, and field plants, which we are accustomed to call valueless, but which have a powerful effect either for good or for evil, and are consequently much used among the poor” (gaskell 2006: 16). contrary to alice, whose relationship with nature is a natural consequence of her rural upbringing, job legh represents a more scientific approach to it. he is an example of a self-taught worker, an avid amateur natural historian with considerable knowledge, who enthusiastically collects various specimens of fauna and flora (buzard 2012: 131) to learn about the natural world. job’s passion for studying nature is shared by many other members of his class – “practical, shrewd, hard-working men, who pore over every new specimen with real scientific delight” and “who steal the holiday of a day or two when any particular plant should be in flower” (gaskell 2006: 38). passion for different branches of natural history that has many “warm and devoted followers” (gaskell 2006: 38) among manchester operatives appears to have deeper, more meaningful undertones of a longing to reconnect with nature. experiencing the effects of technology and machine-work in their daily toil in manchester mills and factories, they turn to nature to reaffirm their place in the organic world. 9. conclusions recapitulating, mary barton by elizabeth gaskell is a novel which revealed to the victorian public despicable conditions of human existence in manufacturing cities. the novelist made her aim of drawing attention to the problem more pronounced by juxtaposing the images of the city and the country. rural references in the novel are meaningful and reveal a multidimensional significance of nature to victorian society. gaskell continues a strong literary tradition of idealising the country and equating it to a blissful pastoral paradise. emotionally charged descriptions of rural and urban environment emphasise a stark contrast between the positive image of the old world and the negative one of developing industrial capitalism. her characters endeavour to feel part of the natural world and, despite living in the city, maintain a connection with it. this longing takes various forms, from nostalgic reminiscences of the family home in the country to cultivating rural traditions, pursuing a scientific interest in nature, and 65 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) seeking peace and respite in natural scenery. gaskell also upholds philosophical ideas of her age ascribing to nature beneficial and healing properties and perceiving it as god’s perfect creation. this multifaceted yet overtly positive representation of nature in mary barton reflects deep-seated anti-urban attitudes represented by the intellectual circles in the period. references allott, m. 1960. elizabeth gaskell. burnt mill: longman. briggs, a. 1990. victorian cities. london: penguin books. burchardt, j. 2002. paradise lost: rural idyll and social change since 1800. london/new york: ib tauris. buzard, j. 2012. ethnographic and narrative frontiers: the case of gaskell’s mary barton. raritan: a quarterly review 1: 118-139. carlyle, t. 1843. past and present. london: chapman and hall ltd. the project gutenberg ebook. https://archive.org/stream/pastandpresentth26159gut/26159.txt. (28 december 2019). chapelle, j.a.v. & pollard, a. (eds) 1997. the letters of mrs. gaskell. manchester/new york: mandolin. cowper, w. god made the country. https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/god-made-country (14 december 2019). craik, w. a. 1975. elizabeth gaskell and the provincial novel. london: methuen. dennis, r. 2008. cities in modernity: representation and productions of metropolitan space 1840–1930. cambridge: cambridge university press. douglas, i., hodgson, r. & lawson, n. 2002. industry, environment and health through 200 years in manchester. ecological economics 41/2: 235-255. http://www.elsevier.com/ locate/ecolecon (02 june 2018). duthie, e. l. 1980. the themes of elizabeth gaskell. london/basingstoke: macmillan. dyos, h. j. 2003 [1982]. exploring the urban past. essays in urban history. cambridge/ london/new york/new rochelle/sydney/melbourne: cambridge university press. ellison, d. 2004. glazed expression: mary barton, ghosts and glass. studies in the novel 36/4: 484-508. gaskell, e. 2006 [1848]. mary barton. new york: oxford university press. gravil, r. 2007. elizabeth gaskell: ‘mary barton’. tirril: humanities-ebooks. janssen, f. 2016. ‘c ommon rules of street politeness’? the clash of gender and social class in representations of street harassment by elizabeth gaskell and eliza lynn linton. nineteenth-century gender studies. edited by s. floyd & m. purdue. 12.3. ncgsjournal.com/issue123/issue123.htm (07 november 2019). kidd, a. j. 2002. manchester. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. 66 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) kiersnowska, b. 2017. ideologies and forms of leisure and recreation in victorian manchester. frankfurt am mein: peter lang. lansbury, c. 1975. elizabeth gaskell: the novel of social crisis. london: paul elek. lucas, j. 1977. the literature of change: studies in the nineteenth-century provincial novel. sussex: harvester; new york: harper and row. machlow, h.l. 1985. public gardens and social action in late victorian london. victorian studies 29/1: 97-124. macmaster, n. 1990. the battle for mousehold heath 1857-1884: ‘popular politics’ and the victorian public park. past & present 127/1: 117-154. mcveigh, j. 1970. elizabeth gaskell. london: routledge and kegan paul. perrin, j. 1857. the manchester handbook. manchester: hale and roworth. pugin, a. w. 1836. contrasts: or the parallel between the noble edifices of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and similar buildings of the present day; shewing the present decay of taste: accompanied by appropriate text. london: published by the author. rodgers, h.b. 1962. the suburban growth of victorian manchester. the north west geographer centenary edition. http://www.mangeogsoc.org.uk/pdfs/.../cent_17_rodgers. (25 january 2020). stoneman, p. 2006 [1987]. elizabeth gaskell. manchester/new york: manchester university press. thompson, f. m. l. 2016 [1988]. the rise of respectable society. a social history of victorian britain. london: william collins. an imprint of harper collins publishers. tillotson, k. 1956. novels of eighteen-forties. oxford/new york: oxford university press. vaughan, r. 1843. the age of great cities: or, modern society viewed in its relation to intelligence, morals, and religion. london: jackson and walford. williams, r. 1973. the country and the city. new york: oxford university press. wright, e. 1965. mrs gaskell: the basis for reassessment. oxford/new york: oxford university press. *** beata kiersnowska is an associate professor in the institute of english studies at the university of rzeszów (poland). she has a phd in english culture from maria curieskłodowska university, lublin, poland and a post-graduate diploma in british history and culture from warsaw university and ruskin college, oxford. her research interests include leisure studies in the victorian period and issues related to identity, ecoidentity and community. teacher language awareness and world englishes – where (corpus) linguistics, digital literacy and teacher training meet 28 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies jarosław krajka1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2019.25.2.02 maria curie-skłodowska university in lublin orcid id: 0000-0002-4172-9960 teacher language awareness and world englishes – where (corpus) linguistics, digital literacy and teacher training meet abstract. in the rapidly changing world of today, the role of english as a global language is not to be left unnoticed in pre-service teacher training. teacher language awareness, encompassing knowledge of language, knowledge about language and knowledge of students, needs to be expanded with the wider sociocultural context in which language education takes place in different parts of the world. at the same time, the changes in the very shape of english and the emergence of world englishes, new englishes, english as an international language and english as a lingua franca call for skilful implementation of these concepts in the practice-oriented teacher training module. the paper reports upon a study aiming at joining corpus-based investigations, student-made research into sociocultural context of english learning and use, coursebook analysis and lesson plan evaluation and adaptation into a single teaching english as an international language course included in a graduate tefl module. results of the study indicate that the experimental treatment brought about statistically significant, though small in effect size, changes in language awareness of prospective teachers in a great number of aspects. keywords: world englishes, data-driven learning, corpus linguistics, teacher language awareness. 1. introduction while most university programmes dealing with language teacher training contain courses devoted to linguistics on the one hand and digital literacy on the other, it is rarely the case that they are actually integrated with the content of professional training to a sufficient extent. at the same time, the globalized world of contemporary language classroom or translation market necessitates enlarged language competence, increased awareness of standard and non-standard english, at least general knowledge of new englishes and nativization processes happening in different parts of the world, which must involve sound linguistic background on the one hand and specific technical competences on the other. 1 address for correspondence: institute of german studies and applied linguistics, maria curie-skłodowska university, plac m. c. sklodowskiej 4a, 20-031 lublin, poland. e-mail: jarek.krajka@poczta.umcs.lublin.pl 29 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies our purpose in the present paper is to argue that corpus linguistics, digital literacy and teacher training are the three areas that should be intertwined to help increase prospective teachers’ awareness of english(es). the discussion will be substantiated by the findings from a corpusassisted teaching english as an international language component in a graduate teacher training programme, showing how to integrate the three areas into a successful instructional module. 2. teacher language awareness – towards the diversity of english(es) the issue of teachers’ language awareness of diversity of englishes has entertained quite a lot of research (e.g., carter 1995; crystal 2010; farrell & martin 2009; hazen 2001; dziubalska-kołaczyk 2005; rinvolucri 2006). harmer (2007) mentions some factors which need to be considered while choosing the model of english to be taught in the classroom: • the wishes and needs of learners, • the variety teachers themselves use, • the availability of teaching/learning materials, • education authority policy. when reflecting on what kind of language input to provide in the classroom and how to use it for assessment purposes, crystal (1999) points out that teachers may have to distinguish between production and reception skills – in terms of the former, ‘pedagogical conservatism’ is advised, which is about deciding to teach a particular variety and sticking to it. as for reception, crystal (1999) insists on ‘pedagogical innovation,’ exposing learners to as many varieties of english as possible, which these days should not be too challenging (matsuda 2003). when teaching english to non-native speakers who will use it in the english as an international language context, maley (2010) has a similar view, suggesting that the teacher should expose students to different englishes in the comprehension mode, highlight that it is only one of many varieties of english but be very clear about teaching grammar and demand the production of only its standard variety. the fact that it is only british or american english that is used for grammar instruction and assessment benchmark for oral or written production does not mean that other englishes should not be brought to light. failure to bring this linguistic diversity into the language classroom can result in, as is claimed by matsuda (2002), confusion, resistance or even astonishment of students when they are confronted with different types of english and its uses that divert from the standard english (inner circle) model. at the same time, we need to remember that teacher language awareness is not only about knowledge of which english to teach and assess against. as defined by hall (2011), teacher language awareness is the combination of three areas of knowledge: knowledge of the language (actual language facility); knowledge about the language (meta-linguistic knowledge and the ability to verbalise it) and knowledge of the students (the ability to see the effect of student characteristics on language instruction). thus, all the three components need to be brought together in an effective language teacher training programme. ideally, within a single subject, such as teaching english 30 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies as an international language as described below, the three perspectives need to be juxtaposed but also put aside to see how they are complementary rather than contradictory. 3. general picture of new englishes (crystal 2005) it is an imperative for language teachers to be up-to-date with the current changes in the language they are going to teach. failure to become aware of how english is changing and in which directions the changes might be proceeding means that teachers are likely to teach obsolete language – either the one that they acquired themselves as learners a number of years before or the one that is “pre-packaged” for them in globally-published elt coursebooks. interesting changes in the role and status of english that we are experiencing nowadays should not be unnoticed in teacher training programmes. as david crystal (2005) remarks, communities which are putting english to use are doing so in several different ways, which results in the emergence of englishes (pluralized), not only world englishes based on geographical or socio-historical criteria (countries belonging to the commonwealth, for instance), but also new englishes appearing in all those contexts in which english starts to play a paramount role in the society. according to crystal (2005), a new english is not a homogeneous entity, with clear-cut boundaries, and an easily definable phonology, grammar and lexicon. instead, it is a hybrid mixing english and native language(s), in different ways and to a different extent, ranging from single lexical borrowings, adapted or not, to several borrowings even resulting in a sentence being indistinguishable from standard english. a sentence might use so many words and constructions from a contact language that it becomes unintelligible to those outside a particular community. those varying degrees of hybridization can be even visible in consecutive sentences of particular speakers in the same conversation, where, most probably, the familiarity with the topic and easiness of expressing oneself results in more or less unconscious language choices. an interesting example of this mixed-degree hybridization is visible in figure 1 below. figure 1. english-malay code mixing (crystal 2005: 166) 31 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies in terms of vocabulary, borrowings from indigenous languages are especially noticeable, which is because the amount of borrowing from a local language is extremely sensitive to sociopolitical pressures. it is influenced by both the number of cultures which co-exist and the status which their languages have achieved (crystal 2005). a word or a phrase from a well-established variety may be adopted by a new english and given a new meaning or use without undergoing any structural change, or, on the contrary, there may be adaptation processes at work, either the ones belonging to the structural pattern of english (e.g., compounding – car lifter, luggage lifter, book lifter, distinctive prefixation/suffixation – endeavourance, ruinification, cronydom, abscondee, wheatish, scapegoatism, word-class conversion to aircraft, to slogan, to tantamount, the injureds, the deads or abbreviation, clipping and blending d/o (‘daughter of ’), r/o (‘resident of ’), admit card, by-polls) or the word formation rules of indigenous language(s). in terms of semantics, as david crystal (2005) reports, there are many instances in which a word or phrase from a well-established variety is adopted by a new english and given a new meaning or use, without undergoing any structural change (heavy in the sense of ‘gorgeous’, brutal in the sense of ‘very nice’), thus, semantic shifts can be noticed (maiden name meaning ‘given name’ applied to males or linguist meaning ‘spokesman for the chief ’). finally, there are also many words which keep the same meaning, but display a different frequency of use compared with british or american english, such as the greater frequency of jamaican bawl (‘shout’, ‘weep’). while vocabulary changes are, obviously, of interest to language teachers, they are not likely to result in much instruction going on, apart from, perhaps, the use of idiosyncratic examples for explaining word formation processes. at the same time, idiosyncratic grammatical structures appearing in new englishes video subtitles, song lyrics, newspaper articles or ad slogans require much greater attention, since the linguistic character of grammar of new englishes is more complex. on the one hand, there is little differentiation as for grammar and there is an impression of relative sameness. grammar changes are much slower to enter the language than it is the case with vocabulary, mainly because grammars are based on written language which is generally more formal, takes educated usage as its corpus basis and is much more reluctant to welcome innovations. on the other hand, as the list of examples from baumgardner (1990), kachru (1994), baskaran (1994) or mesthrie (1992, 1993a, 1993b) brought below shows, variations are noted with respect to aspect, modals, negation, concord, pronouns, complementation and several other areas. while in some cases (e.g., reduplication or word order in questions) they might be accepted by learners as indicators of colloquial language without much influence on the rules grounded in their competence, many others require confrontation with standard usage and explicit explanation pointing out its idiosyncratic nature and possible sociocultural consequences of usage by learners in l2-speaking communities. • myself i do not know him • that man he is tall • they two very good friends • i am understanding it now 32 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies • i have been singing yesterday • she is crying why? • you stay here first, can or not? • you are coming to the meeting, isn’t it? • we waited-waited for him • equipments, luggages, furnitures, damages, aircrafts • a good advice/a luggage • more better/junior than • quick-quick, now-now, who-who, big big fish what becomes evident, then, is that there arises a need to find proper procedures for student teachers to gain awareness of how to confront such non-standard usage with more established examples, what particular standard of english is actually sought in the institution where they are most likely to work, what are the attitudes towards varieties of english in the target teaching context. while encountering such non-standard examples, student teachers need to know how to cope with them both during lesson preparation (e.g., to check their frequency, to isolate the very english it comes from) and implementation (if, for instance, such examples appear in a less predictable way). 4. reconciling corpus linguistics, digital literacy and teaching skills – a training proposal 4.1. implementing corpus-based procedures in a teil class corpus linguistics and its corresponding language teaching area, data-driven learning, have been flourishing for years, and it is no wonder that they can effectively enhance the impact of teacher training within a teaching as an international language context. to quote just a few studies, we have witnessed the use of small corpora to respond to students’ needs (aston 1997) vs. large corpus concordancing (bernardini 2000; de schryver 2002); concordancing used to improve writing performance at lower (yoon & hirvela 2004; gaskell & cobb 2004) and advanced levels (chambers & o’sullivan 2004); grammar presentation (hadley 2002) and rule inferencing (st. john 2001); vocabulary acquisition (cobb 1997; cobb 1998) and foreign language reading (cobb et al. 2001; horst et al. 2005). an interesting perspective, the one which is also seen on the horizon of the present study, is learner corpus self-compilation (lee & swales 2006). even though there have been studies into the use of corpora in teacher training (e.g., lewandowska-tomaszczyk 2001; leńkoszymańska 2005; kaszubski 2006), there have been few attempts to actually combine data-driven learning procedures with context-based language instruction and buildup of global teaching skills. since, as we claim elsewhere (krajka 2015), building language teachers’ awareness and making them ready to deliver language instruction in multiple cultural contexts needs to go beyond the usual set of methodology-related concepts, ample reflection is needed on how sociolinguistics, corpus linguistics, language policy and planning and educational practice are to be effectively brought together in a teacher training programme. most importantly, as we try to demonstrate 33 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies in the present study, it is not enough to cover the usual set of concepts, theories and approaches in terms of english as a foreign/second language. more importantly, teacher trainees need to see in practice the two sides of the language teaching reality in different parts of the world – on the one hand, the linguistic aspect, namely, the knowledge of the interand intralingual influence of english on the native language and vice versa, and, on the other hand, the effect of local conditions/organizational cultures/learning habits on the way a foreign language is taught and assessed. teacher trainees might be involved in cross-linguistic analyses comparing, for instance, british and american english as inner circle countries, jamaican or singaporean english as outer circle countries or spanish english (spanglish) or saudi english as expanding circle countries. once such teacher-led investigations are done, for instance, with online corpora collected at corpus. byu.edu (see figure 2 below), teacher trainees can effectively gain searching skills based on the same query interface, yet changing corpora or subcorpora to gain different points of reference. this means not being confined to one particular corpus, but rather doing a kind of “semi-guided treasure hunt” task, in which teacher trainees are given tasks and are instructed in how to use a particular query interface (here, corpus.byu.edu), however, they are not told exactly which corpus to go to in order to find the very answers. figure 2. freely available corpora demonstrating diverse englishes collected at corpus.byu.edu 34 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies quite understandably, as regards expanding circle countries, they are not likely to be represented in the freely available corpora. for that matter, the instructor would have to compile a teacher-made mini-corpus, for instance, out of newspaper articles, literature repositories, legislation databases, specialist discussion group postings and digests, equipment manuals, encyclopedia articles, which would adhere to a clear set of criteria in terms of a regional and diachronic variety of english, text type (spoken/written, news, fiction, legal texts etc.), text register, text purpose (general reference or specific purpose) or source authority. learner training in corpus use (either ready-made, such as corpus.byu.edu, or teacher-made), might go along one of the following procedures: • the “apprenticeship model” of classroom concordancing, which aims at promoting learning by example and experience, where corpus-based activities are carried out gradually, with t giving directions and asking additional questions, while ss working in small groups and later reporting to the whole class (jones 1991); • the three-step model comprising identifying which words to investigate (in this case items on the high-frequency pet word list); giving learners access to take away lexical information in hard copy (or else most of the lab hour was spent transcribing from the screen); building in motivation for considering each word in several sentence contexts (cobb 1999); • the question-search-conclusion strategy: formulating the question: e.g., ‘which preposition can be used after orario when speaking of a timetable for something?’; devising a search strategy; observing the examples and select relevant ones; drawing conclusions (kennedy & miceli 2001). other language-related tasks successfully used in english for academic purposes studies (e.g., gaskell & cobb 2004; marinov 2013) might be as follows: • lexical cloze – completing gaps in sentences with selected options (e.g., multiple adjectives to be chosen from); • colligation – matching verbs and prepositions to find patterns; • learning more about the word – following guiding questions to find out more about selected words (e.g., how frequent it is, is it more frequent in oral or written language, is it formal or colloquial, what are its most frequent left/right collocates); • analyse the differences – scrutinizing selected concordances to make conclusions about what makes similar words different – e.g., alone and lonely or packed and crowded; • word-class gap-fill – completing texts with provided words, either giving them the nominal or verbal shape depending on the context, finding help through left/right context search in a corpus; • corpus-based error correction – providing erroneous sentences (e.g., the ones containing frequent mistakes made by polish learners of english) and a set of concordance lines (or instructions for corpus queries for students to find data themselves) to trigger correction. 35 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies figure 3. a sample corpus-based error correction task available at lextutor (gaskell & cobb 2004) depending on how advanced teacher trainees are or how quickly they grasp concordancing procedures, possible avenues to extend the study of world englishes via corpus-based tasks might encompass the following activities: 1. students compile their own mini-corpora for use with intellitext/textstat from a clearly narrowed down domain (e.g., wikipedia articles about russian pop stars in english; russian-based discussion forums in english). 2. students extract samples of language (e.g., from tabloid english-language newspapers from two different expanding circle countries) and compare them to isolate key differences in usage or frequency using lextutor’s text-lex compare or intellitext. 3. students create tasks based on language problems that are isolated by the instructor from relevant literature (e.g., characteristic features of russian english). 4. students take one another’s tasks and try to solve them assisted by glowbe corpus or a teacher-made corpus. 5. students take the tasks from step 4 and try to solve them using a different corpus than before, afterwards, they are guided to make generalizations. 6. students reach conclusions on how effective data-driven learning is for studying world englishes and for confronting their own writing pieces with either inner circle or expanding circle corpora. 36 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 4.2. framing language methodology in the sociocultural context studying the linguistic characteristics of the english used in different countries of the world, be it inner circle countries other than the uk, outer circle or expanding circle countries, is only one side of expanding the context of english language instruction for teacher trainees. the other important sphere is the awareness of the sociocultural context in which english language education is taking place in a particular part of the world. this encompasses, among others, the status of english in the country, the social distance between the british or american culture and the native culture (schumann 1976; brown 1994), the attitudes towards l2 country and its inhabitants, the mutual interrelationships between english and native languages, local preferences for learning and teaching styles and strategies, the way english language instruction is organized at schools etc. while, obviously, it is impossible for teacher trainees to gain knowledge about every single country in the world, it is important for them to see how selected countries compare in terms of role and status of the english language and the organization of english language teaching. doing individual research, finding and evaluating data sources, investigating legislation and school practice, examining discussion forums or social media grouping english language teachers from a particular country, seeking access to scientific articles on the topic, all enable teacher trainees to become independent researchers gaining awareness of the role societal and political factors play in the way a particular foreign language is taught and learnt, what status the language teacher can have, what aims can be realistically set for students to achieve. these objectives can be achieved in a teaching english as an international language class in multiple ways. most importantly, teacher trainees are to conduct research on selected countries, prepare and deliver an in-class presentation followed by discussion on the contexts of english language learning and teaching. task 1. finding out the context for language use and language learning – comparative research of selected countries • ss select two countries for individual research; • they investigate status of english, shape of english language teaching, relations between english and native languages, attitudes towards english in the country; • they gather data from various sources (country articles from world englishes journal, reports from ministries/statistical offices/school examination boards, videos from youtube); • they substantiate their discussion with examples of english-local language relationship (nativisation of english or transfer from english). for language teachers, it is imperative to understand how coursebooks are responsive to the local needs for which they are targeted, or, on the contrary, how they achieve global reference and impact with no acknowledgement of local cultures of learning. at the same time, teacher trainees need to learn how to notice the “hidden curriculum” in the coursebook, the underlying teaching 37 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies and learning philosophy, the methodology that coursebook authors adhere to. therefore, coursebook analysis for aspects of culture and language is another important task increasing teacher awareness and expanding upon their global teaching skills. task 2. building tla of wes – analysing cbs for language and culture • ss select three coursebooks for the same target audience – ideally, from different publishers, if possible, both local and global ones; • they establish their own criteria for analysis of english(es) and cultures; • they focus on the coverage of different geographical areas and social strata and isolate ingredients of the target culture; • they analyse the function of various culture-loaded elements (texts, headings, pictures, recordings, titles); • they make generalisations on the image of language and culture promoted by the coursebooks, reaching conclusions on the most globalised ones; • they put the results into an essay form, with examples/screenshots/citations, which are later distributed to other teacher trainees via class moodle for reflection and analysis. the final important element of situated language instruction as advocated in the present study is work with lesson plans. teacher-made lesson plans are a useful way for observing how methodology assumptions are operationalised into observable and comparable units. the way teachers educated in different countries use lesson openings and closings, the proportion of various forms of work (pair/groupwork vs. teacher-fronted lockstep vs. individual work), the ways grammatical structures and lexical expressions are introduced and practiced (deductively vs. inductively) or the way learners are assessed on a daily basis are best demonstrated in lesson plans. an important part of teil instruction aimed at preparing language teachers of tomorrow to meet challenges of teaching english in multicultural settings is analyzing, evaluating and adapting lesson plans. in the case of the study to follow, these were retrieved from an international mooc in which the researcher took part himself. alternatively, rather than use ready-made lesson plans, teacher trainees can be asked to make their own ones that would meaningfully exploit world englishes to either expand target learners’ comprehension skills (oral or written) or make them aware of standard/non-standard features of the phonological, grammatical or lexical system of english. 38 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies task 3. building tla of wes – evaluating/adapting lesson plans or designing lesson plans based on new englishes • ss design two different lesson plans (one focusing on listening comprehension and the other on reading skills) based on a selected new english/world english; • they use we materials in the receptive mode, not for language production; • they learn how to assess the comprehensibility of the text and how to select task/s to achieve appropriate level of difficulty; • they are careful to design tasks in such a way so as not to locate task answers in too idiosyncratic phrases/constructions. 5. the study 5.1. the aims and context of the study a small-scale study was implemented in order to verify the feasibility of the abovementioned teacher training proposal aiming at expanding future teachers’ language awareness and encompassing the sociocultural and sociolinguistic dimensions in foreign language teaching. the main objective of the study was to see whether the application of the experimental programme joining corpus linguistics and world englishes/english as a lingua franca with student independent sociolinguistic and sociocultural research and practical tasks of coursebook analysis and lesson plan design would lead to enhanced perception of different components of global teaching skills. a supplementary objective was to verify how feasible such an experimental teaching english as an international language course is, what problems or obstacles can be encountered during its implementation and what solutions can be proposed to solve or prevent them. the context for the study was a middle-sized private university in warsaw, training future teachers of english in the extramural m.a. programme in english language and literature. the participants of the study were 20 students attending the teaching specialization. all of them completed first-cycle programme in english language teaching and were seeking m.a. to obtain full teaching qualifications. the group comprised 17 females and 3 males, half being 20-25 years of age, onefourth over 35, with the remaining one-fourth spread evenly in the 26-30 and 31-35 age range. the teaching module at the university, among others, encompassed teaching english as an international language course spanning 20 hours in the winter semester of 2016/2017 academic year. the whole teaching module is visible in figure 4 below. 39 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies winter term summer term “psychology: selected issues” “pedagogical theory: selected issues” “teaching children and adolescents” “teaching adult learners” “lesson observation and evaluation” “language testing” “elt materials evaluation” “new trends in language education” “teaching english as an international language” “teaching english for specific purposes” “success and failure in language teaching” “autonomy in language learning and teaching” “information and communication technology” figure 4. full listing of tefl module components in the m.a. extramural programme the syllabus of the experimental teil course comprised the topics aimed at building theoretical knowledge of major concepts, distinctions, typologies and approaches involved in teaching english worldwide (english as an international language, teaching english as an international language, english as a lingua franca, english as an international lingua franca, lingua franca core, world/new englishes, circles of english), the practical skills of planning, delivering and evaluating instruction to multinational students (adapting materials, differentiating instruction, evaluating coursebooks, developing materials, assessing learners, investigating status of english) and attitudes (openness, tolerance, respect for diversity, adherence to standards). the full list of topics can be seen in figure 5 below: 1. sociocultural context of fla 2. english as a global language 3. changing english, world englishes, regional varieties 4. studying englishes with corpora – corpus-based procedures in teil 5. diverse contexts for elt – esl and world englishes. status of english in different countries 6. eil language teacher: skills, competences, training, materials 7. elf and culture. teaching foreign languages in an intercultural world 8. incorporating world englishes and culture in curriculum design and lesson planning 9. materials and aids in elf. culture and language in efl coursebooks 10. student presentations: reading/listening comprehension tasks based on non-british varieties/coursebook analysis of language and culture/ figure 5. syllabus for teaching english as an international language graduate course 40 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 5.2. design and procedure the study comprised teaching a teil course with the use of selected interventions as described above: corpus-based linguistic investigations, student independent research into selected countries, lesson plan adaptation and evaluation and coursebook analysis. all these were interspersed with regular topics of the course as indicated above. at the beginning of the course the participants were administered a self-assessment survey to evaluate their perceived level of abilities within different components of global teaching competence (appreciating values and cultures, seeking standards and promoting diversity, global teaching skills, selecting resources and adapting materials). the participants were supposed to assess their skills on a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 denoted “i feel completely unprepared to do that”, while 5 meant “i feel very confident about it”. exactly the same survey was repeated at the end of the course to assess possible change in the perceptions of participants and assess the impact of the course. the data were processed with spss package version 24. 5.3. results and findings as it is demonstrated in the tables below, the participants initially assessed different components of global teaching competence around the mid-point value (3) in the five-point scale (mean bt – before treatment). the mean values ranged between 3 and 4, none of the components exceeded 4.0 (the highest scores were reported for statement 5 – “i can avoid bias or discrimination in my expression on the perceived roles of males and females in the culture of my students” and statement 7 – “i can notice and appreciate my students’ experiences in their own culture and in other cultures”). the reason for that might be the focus on intercultural teaching and intercultural communicative competence in the teacher training programme at the b.a. level as well as general sensitivity to gender equality and family roles in the contemporary society. however, some areas of competence clearly fall behind – the ability to make use of historical/economical/technological factors influencing the relationship between l1 and l2 (statement 10 – 2.69), doing linguistic research (statement 13 – 2.94), noticing the gap between mother culture and target culture and predicting its consequences on teaching (statement 28 – 2.88) and designing classroom materials based on new englishes (statement 40 – 2.88). this finding shows how an experimental programme within the teaching english as an international language course needs to expand the socio-cultural context of language teaching skills on the one hand and equip teacher trainees with the practical abilities of evaluating, planning and adapting instruction (either in terms of lesson plans, materials or activities) to fit the local cultures of learning on the other. these important findings were to be used in the design of quasi-experimental treatment. 41 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies table 1. descriptive statistics (means, standard deviation before and after treatment and change) b1. appreciating values and cultures mean bt sd mean at sd change i can identify the expected variety of english in the institution where i teach. 3.37 1.63 4.13 1.09 0.75 i can recognise the value and belief systems that are a part of the culture of my students. 3.25 1.34 4.31 0.79 1.06 i can use techniques that do not reinforce stereotypes of any culture, including the culture of my students. 3.56 1.41 4.50 0.73 0.94 i can suit the expected level of participation of my students in a task to the characteristics of their culture. 3.19 1.22 3.94 1.06 0.75 i can avoid bias or discrimination in my expression on the perceived roles of males and females in the culture of my students. 4.0 1.32 4.50 0.73 0.50 i can use techniques which connect specific language features (e.g., grammatical categories, lexis, discourse) to cultural ways of feeling, thinking and acting. 3.31 1.25 4.19 0.75 0.88 i can notice and appreciate my students’ experiences in their own culture and in other cultures. 4.0 1.32 4.69 0.48 0.69 i can draw on my students’ cultural experiences by giving them an opportunity to express these in oral or written tasks. 3.56 1.41 4.38 0.72 0.81 i can withdraw from imposing a values system of either english or my own on my students. 3.25 1.06 3.88 0.72 0.63 42 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies b1. appreciating values and cultures mean bt sd mean at sd change i can identify and make good use of historical/economical/technological factors influencing the relationship between english and the language of my students. 2.69 1.08 3.81 0.91 1.12 i can promote students’ understanding of how pragmatic norms can differ crossculturally. 3.0 1.26 3.94 1.0 0.94 i can identify my students’ motivations, beliefs and practice opportunities outside class. 3.5 1.26 4.38 0.72 0.88 i can do research prior to class to investigate target students’ learning characteristics. 2.94 1.29 4.0 1.03 1.06 b2. seeking standards and promoting diversity mean bt sd mean at sd change i can use my own english in writing and speaking consistently according to one adopted standard (e.g., rp, american english). 3.88 1.09 4.25 0.77 0.38 i can evaluate my students’ oral and written performance according to the standard expected in my institution. 3.56 1.21 4.06 0.77 0.5 i can appreciate my students’ attempts to find diverse listening and reading opportunities in english. 3.56 1.21 4.31 0.87 0.75 i can explain to my students major differences between key varieties of english (e.g., between british english and american english). 3.44 1.36 4.19 0.83 0.75 43 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies b2. seeking standards and promoting diversity mean bt sd mean at sd change i can recognise the value of linguistic diversity of language input in receptive skills instruction. 3.25 1.29 4.0 0.89 0.75 i can reconcile the need for diversity with the need for establishing a standard for my students. 3.0 1.37 3.81 0.91 0.81 i can tell the difference between standard and non-standard examples of usage. 3.13 1.5 4.06 1.18 0.93 i can select appropriate examples of usage for grammar/vocabulary presentation. 3.63 1.20 4.38 0.62 0.75 i can give recognition to other languages spoken by english speakers. 3.44 0.96 4.31 0.60 0.87 i can exemplify and appreciate englishlanguage interactions of non-native speakers. 3.5 1.15 4.38 0.72 0.87 b3. global teaching skills mean bt sd mean at sd change i can set objectives that are equally achievable for students in a multi-cultural class. 3.25 1.34 4.13 0.72 0.88 i can diagnose and analyse the needs of students in a multi-cultural class. 3.13 1.45 4.13 0.72 1.0 i can present lexical or grammatical items in such a way so as to reach students coming from different cultures. 3.13 1.36 4.0 1.03 0.88 i can use organisational forms of work in relevance to the learning habits and preferences of students coming from different cultures. 3.19 1.17 3.94 0.68 0.75 44 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies b3. global teaching skills mean bt sd mean at sd change i can see the gap between my own culture and the culture(s) of my students and predict its potential positive/negative consequences on my teaching. 2.88 1.09 4.0 0.63 1.12 i can group international students in a way that assures effective learning. 3.06 1.12 4.0 0.82 0.94 i can level out possible disparities between different cultures of my students. 3.06 1.24 4.06 0.68 1.0 i can adapt my language instruction to respect the local culture of learning. 3.19 0.98 4.13 0.72 0.94 i can identify my strengths and weaknesses as a native/non-native teacher of english. 3.88 0.81 4.38 0.62 0.5 i can establish effective communication code with my students, also at lower levels (simplified l2, students’ l1). 3.56 1.26 4.25 0.68 0.69 b4. selecting resources and adapting materials mean bt sd mean at sd change i can make use of specimens of both high and low english culture in a way relevant to students coming from different cultures. 3.19 1.05 4.19 0.91 1.0 i can introduce interesting people from different ethnic groups and their views and opinions (e.g. novels, articles, news reports) as well as from british or american points of view. 3.13 1.31 3.81 0.98 0.68 i can offer opportunities for language/ cultural/critical awareness that help learners to reflect on their own use of language as well as those of others. 3.19 1.11 4.0 0.82 0.81 45 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies b4. selecting resources and adapting materials mean bt sd mean at sd change i can provide materials that expose my students to different varieties of language (e.g. social, ethnic, gender, age). 3.13 1.20 3.69 0.79 0.56 i can provide materials that offer opportunities to observe effective ways of communication with people of various backgrounds and value systems. 3.06 1.29 4.06 0.77 1.0 i can evaluate and select new englishes texts and recordings in accordance to my students’ needs. 3.06 1.24 4.0 0.73 0.94 i can design reading comprehension and listening comprehension tasks in such a way so as to make tasks based on new englishes texts achievable for my students. 2.88 1.36 3.94 0.93 1.06 on the other hand, as could be expected, the self-assessment of components of intercultural teaching competence exhibited by teacher trainees after treatment (mean at) generally rose, by a differing figure, ranging from around 0.5 to 1.12. this shows steady increase of awareness of different aspects involved in planning, implementing and evaluating situated language teaching, most notably, appreciation of values and cultures, awareness of standards and diversity, global teaching skills and materials evaluation and adaptation. this is a promising figure for future studies of experimental nature, which could use appropriate triangulation of data with teacher trainees’ selfassessment cross-checked with observation for assessment of how they actually teach. there is one figure that requires greater mention at this point – an exceptionally low increase of 0.38 was recorded for statement 14 – ‘i can use my own english in writing and speaking consistently according to one adopted standard (e.g., rp, american english)’. it is evident that greater focus on the linguistic character of english, not only new englishes, but also “old” varieties such as american english or australian english is needed in much more systematic way. the linguistic component of the m.a. in english language teaching could be the appropriate place to establish such a systematic basis on which language teaching skills could be built. apart from descriptive statistics and means data indicated above, it is essential to apply appropriate statistical calculations to see whether there is a positive relationship between the participation in the quasi-experimental programme and self-assessment of specific components of global teaching competence, and whether the increase is of statistical significance, i.e., whether it is not 46 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies attributable to chance. for this to happen, self-assessment data of participants were entered into spss version 24 program and subjected to the wilcoxon signed rank test. the test (also known as the wilcoxon matched pairs signed ranks test) is designed for use with repeated measures; that is, when the same participants are measured on two occasions, or under two different conditions. here, the same group of teacher trainees had their self-assessment of global teaching competence probed into before and after the quasi-experimental treatment. as a result, it turns out that for as many as 15 (out of 40) can-do statements from the instrument the statistical significance was equal or lower than 0.005, as indicated in the table below, which shows that the increase in the self-rating of these competences was not subject to pure chance, but was systematically motivated. while, obviously, there are certain intervening variables that could contribute to the increase in teacher trainees’ target language awareness, the participation in experimental treatment might have significantly contributed to that. moreover, it needs to be mentioned that had the significance level been set at a less stringent figure of 0.10, it is only statement 14 that would not prove to be statistically significant. this finding might also corroborate the assumption that there is a relationship between participation in research-based and skill-oriented teil instruction as described above and the increased self-assessment of global teaching skills and target language awareness. however, the effect size (cohen’s r, cohen 1988) for all of the cases above proved to be small (r ≤ 0.1), which suggests great caution needs to be taken before regarding the increase in self-assessment as high (which might be suggested only by descriptive statistics as demonstrated in table 1). 5.4. pedagogical implications and limitations of the present study the present study is quasi-experimental in nature, however, due to its certain limitations the results are to be treated with a great amount of caution as highly preliminary. most importantly, the treatment could not be randomized, with a control group as a point of reference for an experimental group due to the fact that the teaching specialization encompasses only one group in this particular university. moreover, data triangulation was not accomplished due to logistical reasons – while it would be interesting to actually observe participants using the skills acquired during the experimental treatment in instruction, undertaking classroom observation was abandoned as unfeasible since they were in the extramural programme and came from very geographically dispersed locations. moreover, not all participants were actually practicing teachers, which would make the situation of different student teachers difficult to compare. finally, the researcher bias could not be avoided at that point – due to shortage of teacher training courses at this particular institution, the present researcher is commissioned to teach not fewer than two different courses with the experimental group each semester over the period of two years. this, naturally, largely influences student involvement and their self-assessment. even though the present study had only diagnostic value, intended to check the feasibility of the experimental treatment, find organizational pitfalls and test-drive the combinatory approach adopted in the course, it does yield some interesting points for further implementation and study. 47 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 2b 2a 4 b 4 a 10 b 10 a 13 b 13 a 15 b 15 a 22 b 22 a 23 b 23 a 28 b 28 a 29 b 29 a 30 b 30 a 31 b 31 a 35 b – 35 a 36 b 36 a 38 b 38 a 4 0 b 4 0a z -3 .0 22 b -2 .8 07 b -2 .8 42 b -2 .9 13 b -2 .0 60 b -2 .8 89 b -2 .8 07 b -3 .1 45 b -2 .8 79 b -2 .8 73 b -2 .8 77 b -2 .5 98 b -2 .7 54 b -2 .7 01 b -2 .8 50 b a sy m p. si g. (2 -t ai le d) 0. 00 3 0. 00 5 0. 00 4 0. 00 4 0. 03 9 0. 00 4 0. 00 5 0. 00 2 0. 00 4 0. 00 4 0. 00 4 0. 00 9 0. 00 6 0. 00 7 0. 00 4 eff ec t si ze (r ) 0. 09 4 0. 08 8 0. 08 9 0. 09 1 0. 06 4 0. 09 0 0. 08 8 0. 09 8 0. 09 0 0. 09 0 0. 09 0 0. 07 8 0. 08 6 0. 08 44 0. 08 9 a. w ilc ox on s ig ne d ra nk te st . b. b as ed o n ne ga ti ve r an ks . table 2. wilcoxon signed rank test results for the research sample 48 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies most importantly, it can be concluded that linguistics and digital skills training can expand the teacher’s skillset for more effective instruction, while changes in the status, role, perception, shape of the english language call for ample focus on nes/wes in the language classroom. a wider view on teacher language awareness needs to be adopted in the era of increased mobility, migrations or job openings abroad. in the present case, tla is built by a combination of language data analysis, coursebook analysis, sociopolitical context and classroom materials development. thus, the integration of theoretical linguistics, sociolinguistics and foreign language methodology can be achieved to increase english language teacher’s mindset. 6. conclusion the quasi-experimental treatment revealed some important dilemmas of teaching english as an international language instruction that would need to be resolved and subjected to empirical investigation in future studies. first of all, should such courses head for teaching english as an international language, with the linguistic focus on englishes, or, on teaching english in international contexts, namely on the way methodology is adapted to fit local contexts? as a result, to what extent should instruction be focused on knowledge and attitudes and to what on pedagogical skills, with either linguistic aspects of eil/elf/we or pedagogical abilities of materials evaluation/adaptation becoming the centre of training? for most effective build-up of global teaching skills, teil focus would need to reappear in other components of the teacher training module. since the participants were taught also other teacher training courses by the same researcher, spreading teil instruction across the whole module was possible (lesson observation, elt materials evaluation, language testing). however, in other institutions this might not be the case, hence, instruction would need to be relegated to a dedicated teil class. moreover, the question arises how explicit instructors should be about expanding global teaching skills, whether such an explicitly stated purpose would actually reflect needs of participants, and how to encompass this in assessment. these dilemmas would surely continue while similar studies are executed in the future. despite encountering a certain number of limitations, it might be concluded that we have at least managed to sketch the pathway to improved teacher training, encompassing awareness of new/world englishes, research-based approach, corpus investigations and sociocultural context assessment in a single teaching english as an international language course. it is hoped that future studies would give clear answers to the questions and dilemmas posed above, and language teacher training will successfully benefit from other related disciplines such as sociolinguistics, corpus linguistics, language policy and planning for more comprehensive instruction increasing employability of university graduates. references aston, g. 1997. small and large corpora in language learning. in: j. melia & b. lewandowskatomaszczyk (eds.), palc ‘97 proceedings. the first international conference: practical 49 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies applications in language corpora, 51-62. łódź: łódź university press. http://www.sslmit.unibo.it/*guy/wudj1.htm (1 september 2018). baskaran, l. 1994. the malaysian english mosaic. english today 37: 27-32. baumgardner, r. j. 1990. the indigenization of english in pakistan. english today 21: 59-65. bernardini, s. 2000. systematising serendipity: proposals for concordancing large corpora with language learners. in: l. burnard & t. mcenery (eds.), rethinking language pedagogy from a corpus perspective, 225-234. frankfurt: peter lang. brown, h. d. 1994. sociocultural factors. in: h. d. brown (ed.), principles of language learning and teaching, 176-206. englewood cliffs: prentice hall. carter, r. 1995. how aware should language aware teachers and learners be? in: d. nunan, r. berry & v. berry (eds.), language awareness in language education, 1-15. hongkong: university of hong kong. chambers, a. & o’sullivan, í. 2004. corpus consultation and advanced learners’ writing skills in french. recall 16(1): 158-172. cobb, t., greaves, c. & horst, m. 2001. can the rate of lexical acquisition from reading be increased? an experiment in reading french with a suite of on-line resources. regards sur la didactique des langues secondes (p. raymond & c. cornaire, trans.), 133-153. montréal: éditions logique. cobb, t. 1997. is there any measurable learning from hands-on concordancing? system 25: 301-315. cobb, t. 1998. breadth and depth of lexical acquisition with hands-on concordancing. computer assisted language learning 12(4): 345-360. cohen, j. 1988. statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). hillsdale, nj: lawrence erlbaum associates. crystal, d. 1999. the future of englishes. english today 15: 10-20. crystal, d. 2005. english as a global language. cambridge: cambridge university press. (original work published 1997). crystal, d. 2010. the future of englishes: going local. in: r. facchinetti, d. crystal & b. seidlhofer (eds.), from international to local english – and back again, 17-25. bern: peter lang. de schryver, g. m. 2002. web for/as corpus: a perspective for the african languages. nordic journal of african studies 11(2): 266-282. dziubalska-kołaczyk, k. 2005. native or non-native? this is the question: which english to teach in the globalizing world? in: proceedings of ptlc 2005. london: department of phonetics and linguistics, ucl, cd-rom. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/pals/study/cpd/cpd-courses/ptlc/ proceedings_2005/ptlcp67. (30 august 2016). farrell, t. s. c., & martin, s. 2009. to teach standard english or world englishes? a balanced approach to instruction. english teaching forum 2: 2-7. gaskell, d. & cobb, t. 2004. can learners use concordance feedback for writing errors? system 32(3): 301-319. 50 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies hadley, g. 2002. sensing the winds of change: an introduction to data-driven learning. relc journal 33(2): 99-124. hall, g. 2011. exploring english language teaching. language in action. london: routledge. harmer, j. 2007. the practice of english language teaching. harlow: longman. (original work published 1983). hazen, k. 2001. teaching about dialects. eric digest. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ ed456674.pdf. (30 august 2016). horst, m., cobb, t. & nicolae, i. 2005. expanding academic vocabulary with a collaborative online database. language learning & technology 9(2): 90-110. johns, t. 1991. should you be persuaded: two samples of data-driven learning materials. english language research journal 4: 1-16. kachru, b. 1994. english in south asia. in: r. burchfield (ed.), cambridge history of the english language, vol. v. english in britain and overseas, 497-553. cambridge: cambridge university press. kaszubski, p. 2006. web-based concordancing and esap writing. poznań studies in contemporary linguistics 41: 161-193. kennedy, c. & miceli, t. 2001. an evaluation of intermediate students’ approaches to corpus investigation. language learning & technology 5 (3): 77-90. krajka, j. 2015. towards target language awareness of english language teachers – three stories of teacher education projects. journal of education 4(1): 45-51. http://journal.ibsu.edu.ge/index.php/sje/article/view/662/555. (1 september 2018). lee, d. & swales, j. 2006. a corpus-based eap course for nns doctoral students: moving from available specialized corpora to self-compiled corpora. english for specific purposes 25: 56-75. leńko-szymańska, a. 2005. korpusy w nauczaniu języków obcych. in: b. lewandowskatomaszczyk (ed.), podstawy językoznawstwa korpusowego, 221-239. łódź: wydawnictwo uniwersytetu łódzkiego. lewandowska-tomaszczyk, b. 2001. acquisition of lexis, language corpora and foreign language teaching. in: b. lewandowska-tomaszczyk & i. czwenar (eds), a new curriculum for english studies. piotrków: college press. maley, a. 2010. the reality of eil and the myth of efl. in: c. gagliardi & a. maley (eds.), eil. efl, global english: teaching and learning issues vol. 96, 25-44. bern: peter lang ag, international academic publishers. marinov, s. 2013. training esp students in corpus use – challenges of using corpus-based exercises with students of non-philological studies. teaching english with technology 13(4): 49-76. matsuda, a. 2002. ‘international understanding’ through teaching world englishes. world englishes 21(3): 436-440. matsuda, a. 2003. the ownership of english in japanese secondary schools. world englishes 22(4): 483-496. mesthrie, r. 1992. lexicon of south african english. leeds: peepal tree press. 51 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies mesthrie, r. 1993a. english in south africa. english today 33: 27-33. mesthrie, r. 1993b. south african indian english. english today 34: 12-16. rinvolucri, m. 2006. what sort of standard does english as a lingua franca (elf) need to reach? the teacher 12(44): 35-36. schumann, j. 1976. social distance as a factor in second language acquisition. language learning 26(1): 135-143. st. john, e. 2001. a case for using a parallel corpus and concordancer for beginners of a foreign language. language learning & technology 5(3): 185-203. yoon, h. & hirvela, a. 2004. esl student attitudes towards corpus use in l2 writing. journal of second language writing 13: 257-283. *** jarosław krajka, director of institute of german studies and applied linguistics at maria curieskłodowska university in lublin, poland. he has a ph.d. degree in computer-assisted language learning and a habilitated doctor degree in efl teacher training. he authored two books on call (english language teaching in the internet-assisted environment and the language teacher in the digital age) and co-authored two more on efl methodology (with hanna komorowska, monolingualism – bilingualism – multilingualism. the teacher’s perspective)  and intercultural communication (with weronika wilczyńska and maciej mackiewicz, komunikacja interkulturowa, wprowadzenie). he is the editor-in-chief of a scopus-listed journal teaching english with technology (http://tewtjournal.org).  language choice as discourse: a transitivity approach to mtn® and etisalat® advertising communicative webs in nigeria 4 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies taofeek o. dalamu 1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2019.25.2.01 department of english and literary studies anchor university, lagos, nigeria orcid id: 0000-0002-5494-4854 language choice as discourse: a transitivity approach to mtn® and etisalat® advertising communicative webs in nigeria abstract. advertising texts are significant to manufacturers to promote and skyrocket products’ consumption. this study examined kinds of textual choices in advertising, accounting for their frequencies. two advertisements each from mtn® and etisalat® – of the nigerian advertising universe – were chosen for sample analysis, employing transitivity and word-formation procedures, as the conceptual frameworks. transitivity allowed tables and graphs to compute the recurrence of textual components. the research revealed material processes of has offered, go rock (mtn); and get, pick up (etisalat) as pronounced choices. circumstances of location such as this week… (mtn); and on weeknights… (etisalat) are choices of communicative augmentations. the investigation further recapitulated creative over-generalization (yous), word play fragmentation (y’ello), and alphanumeric code (9javaganza) as communicative facilities of mtn and etisalat constructs. hence, the researcher suggested that an extensive study of language choice in advertising domains can strengthen government policies to benefit, among others, readers, researchers, manufacturers, and advertising practitioners. keywords: advertising, discourse, ideational metafunction, language choice, system. 1. introduction language, being a hub of both human activities and existence, is thus central to the notions of discourse and advertising. on that ground, one could suggest that discourse and advertising locate ways in which language resources are chosen, constructed, and disseminated to play some functional roles in societies (cook 1992; kress 2010; o’halloran & lim 2014; forceville 2017). in respect of that remark, there are some terminologies remarkable to this study as devices of language operations. the basic concepts are discourse, advertising, and language choice. (the italicized lexemes 1 address for correspondence: department of english and literary studies, anchor university, ayobo, lagos, nigeria. e-mail: lifegaters@yahoo.com , tdalamu@aul.edu.ng 5 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies are for emphasis). language choice, as a core mechanism for depicting and expressing meaning (fontaine et al. 2013), serves as the interface between discourse and advertising. the language of advertising is not short of scholarly evidence. this is because advertising, according to dalamu (2017a), is as old as man. that recognition seems to have informed the proliferation of discourses of advertising in human sciences. significantly, it is attestable in the knowledgebased industry that leech (1966) has set a linguistic pacesetter for advertising analysis, explaining the kind of language that advertising professionals utilize to convince the public. on this key language geometry, extant literature has emanated. consequently, williamson (1978) examines interchangeability in advertising frameworks, while gies (1982), vestergaard & schroder (1985), myers (1994), and forceville (1996) illuminate advertising scaffolding as the epitome of textual and imagery fabrications. such phenomenal events, for instance, in brierley (1995) and hermerén (1999), are explicated as being metaphorical, elliptical, euphemistic, denotative and connotative. nevertheless, dalamu (2018a) claims that textual devices play fundamental roles in exhibiting meaning potential of advertisements (henceforth: ads). of course, there are other insights, such as lemke (1995), geiszinger (2001), goddard (2002), fairclough (2003), dyer (2005), and carter & nash (2013), which describe advertising nuances from textual, contextual, historical, socio-cultural, semiotic, and communication points of view. however, this study, as a contribution to the existing literature, differentiates itself from earlier efforts by investigating the choices of lexemes, functional in mtn and etisalat2 advertising constructions, deployed to persuade readers to consumption. in addition to that, this study considers mtn and etisalat textual constructs as a kind of discourse for hypnotizing the audience to patronize their services in nigeria. nonetheless, halliday’s grammatical transpose of transitivity operates as the major processor of the textual facilities, channeling a way for tables and graphs to account for the frequency of the texts. the goal is to demonstrate that transitivity has the capacity to expound meaning potential of the mtn and etisalat advertising texts. as a result, one expects that such exposition will further display to readers the structural contents’ recurrence of the frameworks and semantic implications associated with the contents. 2. literature review 2.1. discourse, advertising and language choice fundamentally, the notion of discourse, possessing multidimensional and overlapping descriptions, influences scholars to express different opinions on the subject as a very wide and complex concept (schiffrin et al. 2002; jaworski & coupland 2006; van dijk 2010; gee 2011). perhaps the writer might perceive discourse in this proposal as discourse analysis (da) because scholars, including fairclough (2003), claim that discourse is synonymous with da. blommaert (2009: 2-3) expatiates discourse as (i) “linguistic structures actually used by people” and (ii) “a meaningful 2 mtn and etisalat are telecommunication operators (firms) in nigeria. 6 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies symbolic behavior”. in a similar semantic plane, fairclough (1992) illuminates discourse as social activities pleasurably conducted by language users. of significance is the functionalist perspective in which discourse is practically entwined with text in context. discourse represents a specific spoken language or any social process of communication (lemke 1995; hoey 2000). nonetheless, johnstone (2008), from a methodical point of view, explicates da as a systematic consideration of a set of broad analytical topoi and a research mechanism that can be used to answer a variety of questions. then, it seems to imply that as da is a social engagement; the notion is as well as a processing facility of human communications. thus, the present analyst has employed da in the study as an analytical tool and explanatory paradigm in alignment with johnstone’s (2008) argument. advertising plays crucial roles in today’s businesses. those tasks position advertising as a fascinating device for promoting products in different parameters to increase consumption and achieve economic growth. in addition, advertising constructs a link between language and society, society and business, and products and consumers. leymore (1975) defines an ad as a stimulant and a means of drawing consumers’ attention to something or informing people of something by provoking the consumer’s anxiety and resolving it. the mission of ads might motivate experts to produce their communications with unique language choices for the intended social interaction (dyer 2005). advertising text choices, in myers’ (1994) argument, accommodate some features such as: clever puzzles, short bursts, and being parasitic in nature. besides the ubiquitous nature of ads, one might state that the language choices are loaded with concise structures (ignis 1972). such strategies aim at attracting attention with simple constructs that contain comprehensive messages. the features of ads stated above appease to justify my interest in analyzing the language choice of mtn and etisalat advertising discourse in nigerian communicative space. the notion of language choice, as used in this paper, subscribes to certain specific tendencies, as characterized in cognitive and neuroscience (lamb 2013), sociolinguistics (putz 1997), stylistics (carter & nash 2013), and systemic practices (halliday & matthiessen 2014), in relation to cultural and contextual spheres (urbach 2013). the neuroscience claims that choice is the potential as well as the concrete selection of part of a system. these parameters invariably position a textual element to be multifunctional. the multifunctional principle pinpoints a relationship between systemic linguistics and neurolinguistics, expressed through lamb’s relational theory (gil 2013). in sociolinguistics, the term is alternatively employed either as language choice or choice of language. particularly, buda (2006: 1) argues that “sociolinguists have been long fascinated by the phenomenon of bilingualism and the complex language switching patterns that accompany it”. a bilingual could code-switch, in buda’s (2006) perspective, from one language to another. for instance, a bilingual could switch from english to yoruba, while a multilingual could switch from english to yoruba or english to igbo as the situation demands. in stylistics, scholars (o’quinn 2012; donovan 2012) have examined language choice as word choice and writer’s choice. stylistic experts seem to orient their arguments principally on the choice of words that a writer makes as the writing style. style is the lexical choices that a writer exhibits to express ideas as s/he decides for a particular communicative rationale. perhaps the 7 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies choice displays the ways in which meanings are constructed in texts to serve a rich variety of purposes (ross 1985). to this end, one might appreciate language choice as word constructions, explaining the feelings of a writer. although neuroscience, sociolinguistic and stylistic views are relevant to how advertisers deploy language choices to persuade consumers’ patronage, this approach hangs on systemic functional linguistics (henceforth: sfl) for its strong emphasis on language as choice. the explanations that sfl offers on language as a network of choices characterize the theory as a device of textual analysis (halliday 1994). that merit seems to inform kress (1981) to state that sfl, the hallidayan theoretical dais, rests on the notion of choice. in kress’s view, choice represents the crux of meaning-making in interactions. that might be connected to halliday’s (2013) reinvigorated idea that all human activities involve choice. based on that discernment, it may be difficult to engage sfl in language analyses without a reference to the concept of choice either explicitly or implicitly. kress further argues that “the speaker of a language… engaging in any kind of culturally determined behavior… carries out, simultaneously successively, a number of distinct choices” (kress 1981: 3). to kress, the cultural context of which a speaker chooses to communicate the message to the audience is still anchoring on the individual’s language choice. in language, choice manifests centrally for it is the selection made out of a range of other lexemes available to a communicator. if someone has a reason for saying something in a certain situation, by implication, the interactant could have said something else if the context has been different. in consonance with that standpoint, bloor & bloor (2013) say that language consists of systems which offer the writer an unlimited choice of ways of creating meanings. it is out of the ‘unlimited’ systemic items that a writer makes a choice. consequently, linguistic choices operate at every point in the production of writing (matthiessen et al. 2010) as context-related and contextdependent facilities. the idea of choice in sfl connects strongly to the concept of system. system, as a technical concept, is an itemized set of choices in a specific context. a linguistic system, in kress’s (1981) symbolic insight, is composed of items which have possible alternatives in that position and the domain of its utility. in the mainstream, kress (1981) mirrors a system as providing a possibility of options for a language user to execute certain communicative tasks. the terminology of choice revolves around halliday and the theory that he exemplifies. as such, choice being paradigmatic and probabilistic is not only axiomatic but a basic tenet in sfl because the thought connects language distinctively pervasively. the impression creates a contrast between what element has been chosen and what elements are left out in a communicative exchange. 2.2. advertising and language advertising and language are social enterprises that utilize the text as a means of communication. the text operates as an interface between two social actors, and can serve as an object of requesting something from readers (bourdieu 1988; barry 1997; hoffman 2002; brierley 2002; thompson 2014). language can function without advertising; nevertheless, it is probable that advertising 8 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies might not operate without language. however, goffmann (1979: 84) discusses advertising without language when he refers to “hyper-ritualization” (also in derosia 2008). that position of the image, playing a wholesome role, is rare in the advertising industry. so, the position that language occupies in advertising elevates the “local magic” (firth 1957: 185) as a bond in the creativity (textcum-image) of persuasion. perhaps it is unarguable that advertising behaviors are globally universal (mattellart 1991), but contextually, the matter of cultural affiliations influences one advertising professional from another (daramola 2008; forceville 2017). such a division and demarcation could be observed regionally, nationally, and continental-wise. to reiterate, leech (1966) considers advertising lexemes from great britain; williamson (1978) explains interchangeability and semiotics in advertising; and tanaka (1994), in her pragmatic approach, examines advertising designs of britain and japan. the perspectives of cook (1992), forceville (1996), hermerén (1999), dyer (2005), and geiszinger (2001) dominate the circle of the developed western world. it is important to state that awonusi (1998) and gully (2012) have discussed political and commercial texts. some of those texts are neither dialectical nor theoretically-systemic. however, most of these studies have succeeded in interpreting the creative nature of advertising as employed to persuade the audience. the symptom that the analyst observes in earlier efforts and seeks to address is that none of those scholars, to the best of my knowledge, has evaluated advertising texts of mtn and etisalat, utilizing the ideational metafunctional approach as articulated in halliday’s (1994) point of view. the digitization of the lexemic and registerial choices is the open window that the study intends to explore. the application of sfl has the capacity to decompose the deployed choices into grammatical constituents (wodak & meyer 2001: 3, 8), allowing technological tools to act upon the components (dalamu 2017b). this will permit textual density’s accountability-cum-computation. besides the scientific facilities revealing the nature of choices in different hierarchies, sfl processors of transitivity has unveiled the meaning potential of mtn and etisalat advertising discourse to readers. these factors position this proposal as an object of digital humanities (dh) with the potency to demonstrate significant values within the nigerian multilingual domain. 2.3. theoretical mapping this study has adopted two conceptual spheres, as applications, to analyze the texts of mtn and etisalat ads. the major one is transitivity – a grammatical transpose of ideational metafunction, and compounding and blending – some terms of morphological methods – represent the minor aspect. 2.3.1. ideational metafunction the study has considered one of the core elements of sfl’s three metafunctions as a tool of analysis owing to its resourcefulness in social semiotics and textual analysis (o’halloran 2008). on that ground, thompson (2014) indicates that ideational metafunction operates to 9 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies create functional meanings in context (also in butler 2003). one could suggest that ideational metafunction is divided into experiential and logical relations. in that respect, halliday (1994) claims that the ideational metafunction exhibits the content of the goings-on in a text. when we use language to interact, halliday & matthiessen (2014) emphasize that we use language to express either the world around us or the world within us. eggins (2004: 213-215) observes further that we use words to talk about our experience and construct the world where “some entity does something”. ravelli (2000) remarks that the external world focuses things, events qualities, etc. our internal world represents thoughts, beliefs, feelings, etc. moreover, halliday (1994: 106) describes both external and internal worlds as experience as consisting of goings-on. he adds that “the clause is also a mode of reflection… and flow of events” to explicate meaning potential in confidence. these utterances are regarded as texts that are contextually-produced in a particular content. kress & van leeuwen (2003: 47) explain that the speaker determines the content with specific meanings embedded thereof. in this regard, language possesses numerous resources that are employed to represent the entities in the world. the module of realizing and analyzing meanings from this standpoint, thompson (2004) asserts, is called the transitivity system. also, thompson (2014) suggests that the process is brought about, most times, by nominal elements (participants) involved in the event of negotiating and exchanging interactions. it is also possible that a text may have circumstantial elements to augment the information (dalamu 2017c). figure 1 below illustrates the six processes operating in the clauses of english. figure 1. six processes in english clauses (halliday & matthiessen 2014) 10 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies the content of the message is, perhaps, central to the communication function in terms of meaning potential and linguistic analysis. as a result of that remark, the contents have its distinct way of presenting both the external and internal worlds to social actors. as publicized in figure 1, halliday & matthiessen (2004: 171) argue that “material, mental and relational are the main types of process in english transitivity system” with “behavioral, verbal and existential” on the border lines. figure 1 is the cyclical posture of the six processes of the ideational metafunction, which offers descriptions to how halliday’s linguistic thoughts analyze textual nuances of communications within the schemata of the independent clause in english. 2.4.2. compounding and blending compounding is described as the joining of “two separate words to form a single form” (yule 1996: 53). blending is “accomplished by taking only the beginning of one word and joining it to the end of the other” (yule 1996: 53; also in napoli 1996: 214-223). 2.3. research questions this study has used the following questions to reveal the exploration of the mtn and etisalat choices in their advertising constructs: how has the application of transitivity conceptual model assisted in deducing meaning potential of processes of mtn and etisalat advertising choices? what kind of circumstantial elements do mtn and etisalat deploy to augment the messages of their ads? of what frequencies have processes and circumstantials function in the mtn and etisalat ads? in what ways have mtn and etisalat contributed to english through the formation of new coinages? besides the theoretical terms employed for the analysis, the researcher has utilized statistical instruments such as tables and graphs to accomplish the achievement of some of the questions. 3. method 3.1. procedure the analyst selected two ads each from mtn and etisalat communications, as advertising facilities in the punch newspaper. the choice of the advertising communications was based on the discourse patterns, contextual relevance as well as neological apparatuses of the texts. the selection’s objective was to demonstrate certain factors in consideration before advertisers deploy texts to the public space. the data presented below displays the textual choices of mtn and etisalat ads labeled as ad 1 and ad 2. the researcher has applied transitivity, a terminology from sfl, and compounding and blending, morphological terms, to process the clauses after being separated with slashes. the paper exhibits the analytical techniques in figures 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, as shown in the sub-section of data analysis. it is worth stressing here that the demarcation of clauses with double slashes and the initial capitalization of concepts characterize the tradition of sfl fathers (halliday & matthiessen 2014). a combination of qualitative and quantitative procedures, as sfl 11 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies has permitted, dominates the study. thus, after the constituents’ analysis, as stated earlier, tables and graphs operate as technological tools, computing and revealing the frequencies of systemic choices, exhibited in tables 1 and 2, and figures 7 and 8. the discussions act on the platform of these applications. the symbol, ®, references a registered company as cl is an abbreviation of the clause. ads are in british english (bre) in order to retail their lexical originality. 3.2. data presentation mtn ad 1: //mycustomer®, your smile is worth a thousand ‘thank yous’// our celebration starts with you.// for 10 amazing years you have offered us the opportunity to serve you like no other.// this week, we are celebrating a decade full of fond memories// we promise you that the best is yet to come with the continuous roll out of new look. mtn walk-in centres across nigeria.// it is always a pleasure to serve you. mtn ad 2: //mtn kulturefest lisabi// lisabi cultural festival.// let’s go rock egbaland// it’s going to be a y’ello celebration// as all egbaland honours lisabi the great.// from march 1st to 8th, you too can be part of the lisabi festival// and experience egba cultural as well as innovative mtn products and services on full display.// it’s an experience// that will surely enrich life// etisalat ad 1: //wwwherever you are// wwwhenever you wwwant// wwwhatever you need// get up to 1gb freeeee!// it’s easy with easynet.// get the internet plan of your choice with easynet// get 1 month free bonus data plan //when you buy any of our 1.5gb, 3gb or 6gb plans// bonus available instantly upon purchase// bonus available in the following months after purchase can be used only on weeknights and weekends// pick up your easynet data sim and usb modem at any etisalat experience centre// text ‘help’ to 229.// etisalat ad 2: //9javaganza// enjoy free weekend calls// get 50% of airtime spent// it’s your time to talk// from now till march 31, simply make as many calls as you wish to my network on weekends //and get 50% of the amount you spent to make free weekend calls to any etisalat line!// and you get this week after week after week// so pick up your 0809ja phone //and start calling!// it’s your time to talk! //offer opens to all new and existing easystarter and easycliq subscribers.// 12 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 3.3. data analysis 1 the analysis below demonstrates the application of halliday & matthiessen’s (2004) transitivity system to textual devices. cl1 mycustomer your smile is worth a thousand 'thank yous' carier pro.: rel. attributive attribute cl2 our celebration starts with you actor pro.: material goal cl3 for 10 amazing years you have offered us the opportunity to serve you like no other circum.: extent actor pro.: material recipient goal circum.: cause cl4 this week as we celebrate a decade of fond memories we promise that circum.: location senser mental cl5 the best is yet to come with the continuous roll out of new look mtn walk-in-centre… actor pro.: material goal cl6 it is a pleasure to serve you carier pro.: rel. attributive attribute figure 2. analysis of mtn ad 1 cl1 mtn kulturefest lisabi cl2 lisabi cultural festival participant participant cl3 let's go rock egbaland actor pro.: material goal cl4 it 's going to be a y'ello celebration actor pro.: material goal cl5 as all egbaland honours lisabi the great behaver pro.: behavioral behavior cl6 from march 1st to 8th you too can be part of the lisabi festival circum.: extent token pro.: rel. identifying value cl7 and experience egba culture as well as innovative mtn products and services of full display pro.: mental phenomenon circum.: accompaniment cl8 it 's an experience carrier pro.: rel. attrib. attribute cl9 that will surely enrich your life pro.: macircum.: manner terial figure 3. analysis of mtn ad 2 13 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies cl1 wwwherever you are cl2 wwwhenever you wwwant circum.: location carrier pro.: rel. attrib. circum.: location senser pro.: mental cl3 wwwhatever you need cl4 get up to 1 gb freeeee circum.: matter senser pro.: mental pro.: material goal cl4 it 's easy with easynet carrier pro.: rel. attrib. attribute circum.: manner cl5 get the internet plan of choice with easynet pro.: material goal circum.: manner cl6 get 1 month free bonus data pro.: material goal cl7 when you buy any of our 1.5gb actor pro.: material cl8 bonus [is] available instantly carrier pro.: rel. attrib. attribute circum.: manner cl9 bonus available in the following months after purchase can be used only on weeknights and weekends actor pro.:material circum.: location cl10 pick up your easynet data sim and usb modem at any etisalat experience centre pro.: material goal circum.: location cl11 text 'help' to 229 pro.: material goal circum.: location figure 4. analysis of etisalat ad 1 cl1 9javaganza cl2 enjoy free weekend calls participant pro.: mental phenomenon cl3 get 50% bonus of airtime spent cl4 it 's you time to talk pro.: material goal value pro.: rel. ident token cl5 from now till simply make as many calls on weekends 31st march pro.: as you wish circum.:extent material goal circum.:location cl6 and get 50% of the amount you spend to make free weekend calls to any etisalat line pro.: material goal circum.: location cl7 and you get this week after week after week actor pro.: material goal circum.: location cl8 so pick up your 0809ja phone cl9 and start calling! pro.:material goal pro.: material cl10 it 's cl11 offer opens to all new and existing easystarter and value pro.: rel. ident easycliq subscribers actor pro.: material goal figure 5. analysis of etisalat ad 2 14 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies the study, as expressed in the results section, further translates the transitivity elements of the analyses in figures 2, 3, 4 and 5 to tables and graphs. these tools display the language choice frequencies in terms of processes and circumstantials as functional in mtn and etisalat communications. 3.4. data analysis 2 below is the list of word-formation processes observed in mtn and etisalat ads. coinages foremation processes original lexemes mtn ad 1: my customer = my + customer my customer yous = you + s you '-s' mtn ad2: kulturefest = culture + fest culture festival y'ello = yello + hello yellow hello etsalat ad 1: wwwherever = ww + where + ever wherever wwwhenever = ww + when + ever whenever wwwant = ww + want want wwwhatever = ww + what + ever whatever freeeee = free + eee free easynet = easy + net easy net etisalat ad 2: 9javaganza = 9ja + vaganza nigeria extravaganza 0809ja = o8o + ja 080 nigeria easystarter = easy + start + er easy starter easycliq = easy + cliq easy click figure 6. morphological appreciations of mtn and etisalat ads 4. results this study displays the outcomes of both systemic applications and morphological processes in this section. 4.1. outcomes of systemic applications tables and graphs below reveal the transitivity constituents of processes and circumstantials of mtn and etisalat ads’ textual choices in their different recurrence capacities and patterns. 15 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies table 1. analysis of processes in mtn ads table 2. analysis of processes in etisalat ads processes processes ad 1 ad 2 total ad 1 ad 2 total material 3 3 6 material 7 7 14 mental 1 1 2 mental 2 1 3 relational 2 2 4 relational 3 2 5 behavioral 0 1 1 behavioral 0 0 0 verbal 0 0 0 verbal 0 0 0 existential 0 0 0 existential 0 0 0 mtn frequency etisalat frequency out of all the six processes found in english, table 1 reveals that only four of the goings-on are functional in the mtn ads, while table 2 indicates three operational processes in the etisalat ads. thus, the choices present material, mental, relational, and behavioral as the goings-on of the advertising communications. by implication, as verbal and existential processes are not remarkable choices in both mtn and etisalat ads, the etisalat advertiser goes ahead to eliminate the deployment of behavioral process. the process choices of the mtn ad 1 and ad 2 operate in similar frequencies. those are the motivation for material, mental, and relational processes to recur as 3, 3; 1, 1; and 2, 2 points. in addition, the behavioral term functions just once in ad 2. the textual choices in etisalat record the recurrent higher number of points because of the higher number of clauses employed in persuading the audience. consequently, the recurrent points of material processes are 7 and 7 respectively, in ad1 and ad 2. mental processes operate in the ration of 2:1, whereas relational processes recount 3 and 2 points as shown in table 2. figure 7, as indicated below, juxtaposes the frequencies of the mtn and etisalat ads’ textual choices computed in both tables 1 and 2. mtn etisalat material 6 14 mental 2 3 relational 4 5 behavioral 1 0 verbal 0 0 existential 0 0 processes frequency -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 0 2 4 6 8 fr eq ue nc y processes figure 7. graphic representation of processes’ frequency of mtn and etisalat ads figure 7 contains a table and a graph whose combination pinpoints mtn and etisalat advertising communications, utilizing material processes at the highest frequencies of 6 and 14. that choice was followed by relational processes in the two telecommunications operators with 4 and 5 points. there are mental processes recurrences of 2 to 3. although the figure points to the fact 16 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies that minor processes of verbal and existential are irrelevant choices of persuasion, mtn still employs the behavioral once as a communication point. in all these, one could infer that material processes occupy the highest relevant positions in the advertising of both mtn and etisalat, which are seconded by relational processes. significantly, these choices demonstrate the keen interest of mtn and etisalat advertising practitioners in getting things done as well as making things happen as quickly as possible. besides, another sphere of interest, as figure 7 illustrates, is how to create unbroken relationships with the target audience. table 3. analysis of mtn ads’ circumstantials table 4. analysis of etisalat ads’ circumstantials circumstances circumstances ad 1 ad 2 total ad 1 ad 2 total angle 0 0 0 angle 0 0 0 location 1 0 1 location 5 3 8 extent 1 1 2 extent 0 1 1 contingency 0 0 0 contingency 0 0 0 matter 0 0 0 matter 0 1 1 cause 1 0 1 cause 0 0 0 manner 0 1 1 manner 3 0 3 accompaniment 0 1 1 accompaniment 0 0 0 role 0 0 0 role 0 0 0 etisalat frequencymtn frequency the transitivity system, as computed in tables 3 and 4, unveils circumstantials of location, extent, matter, manner, cause, and accompaniment as augmentation facilities to inspire readers. there are no choices regarding angle, contingency, and role in the mtn and etisalat texts. alternatively, mtn does not utilize matter so also does etisalat reject cause and accompaniment as devices of manipulating subscribers. as exemplified below, figure 8 represents the comparison of the mtn and etisalat ads’ textual choices accounted for in tables 3 and 4. 17 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies mtn etisalat angle 0 0 location 1 8 extent 2 1 contingency 0 0 matter 1 1 cause 1 0 manner 0 3 accompaniment 1 0 role 0 0 circumstances frequency -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 2 4 6 8 10 fr eq ue nc y circumstantials figure 8. graphic representation of circumstantials’ frequency of mtn and etisalat ads apart from extent that records 2 points in the mtn ads, other circumstantials occur one time each. seemingly, observations show different frequencies in the etisalat ads. as the circumstantial element of location records a value of 8 and manner 3; extent and matter manifest one point each. as such, the analyst could infer, as illuminated in figure 8, that location, manner, and extent are the most fascinating choices where mtn’s and etisalat’s advertising experts utilize domain, quality, and period to sensitize recipients to consumption. 4.2. outcomes of morphological procedures moreover, the morphological procedures pinpoint combinations of letters in strange ways. these are: yous (creative over-generalization); y’ello (creative familiarization; wordplay fragmentation); and wwwant (creative association). one could recapitulate the formations as creative fallacy of some kinds because some of the lexemes serve only business purposes. there are also the formations of numbers-cum-letters such as 9ja, and 9javaganza known as alphanumeric codes. in a simple term, these are the communication choices of the ‘neological’ constructs of the analyzed mtn and etisalat ads. 5. discussion the researcher organizes the discursive patterns of mtn and etisalat ads’ textual choices along the lines of transitivity arrangements in relation to process, the core element, as well as the systemic semantic implications of the clauses. these logical parameters follow after halliday & matthiessen (2014), thompson (2014), and dalamu (2018d). 18 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 5.1 mtn ads mtn ad 1 there are six declarative clauses, as analyzed in figure 2, in mtn ad 1. clauses one and six are relational of a kind because their contents are propagated as is. the relational processes project their attributes as worth a thousand ‘thank yous’ and a pleasure to serve you. the former quantifies weight of gains that consumers receive from mtn over the years, which lead individuals to uncontrollable facial expressions. the transitivity segments the subscribers’ favorable countenance as your smile, carrier. a pleasure, as the attribute for the later, relates readers to the feelings of the mtn team in providing telecommunications services for nigerians. mental processes, starts with, have offered, and is… to come, are the goings-on of clauses two, three, and five. the advertising professional displays starts with as a pointer to the source of the acclaimed celebration operating as actor. a reference to consumers is further introduced through have offered, which is an invitation proposed as goal, the opportunity, for mtn. in that regard, subscribers have perceived mtn as capable of performing some telecommunications’ tasks useful to the people. such duties tend to treat the public well through unwavering service deliveries. a time-line of 10 amazing years signals the degree of trust that consumers bestow on mtn, which seems incomparable to a favorable chance given to any firm in the telecommunications industry. to serve you better like no other and for 10 amazing years enhance the clause to draw the subscribers’ attention to the message. the linguistic organs our, you, us, and we create strong partnerships between mtn and the public. the process, is… to come, fingers the future. the best, actor, incites recipients toward good services expected later from the firm, which is illustrated by the continuous roll out of new centers across the country. the ad proceeds in clause five by utilizing a mental process, promise, an object of emotion, to excite readers. concisely, the commitment is made during a week of festivity that mtn organizes to mark the 10 year anniversary. the affirmation, expounded earlier, is to get very close to the consumers’ reach, hence, the establishment of more satisfying sales outlets. as a strategy, before the communication appreciates the 10 years of the business existence in nigeria, the ad first and foremost acknowledges consumers’ roles in ensuring that the operations 19 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies are successful through their loyalty. that condescending allegiance informs the planting of more branches in strategic locations. as a result of that notification, the mtn team, as the ad asserts, derives some pleasures in rendering nice services to subscribers. the motivation for services, one could submit, is financial gains from subscribers rather than services rendered. in other words, the cash received through the consumers’ patronage influences mtn consistent services to consumers. mtn ad 2 as depicted in figure 3, mtn ad 2 accommodates nine clauses divided into two fragmented clauses (clauses one and two), one imperative (clause three), and six declaratives (clauses four and nine). being punctuated, clauses one and two do not have processes, which can determine the kind of participating agents of their systems of transitivity. thus, mtn kulturefest lisabi and lisabi cultural festival are labeled as participants of nominal group (ng) pertinent identifications. of importance are the constructs of kulturefest and lisabi. apart from the contextual inclinations of the two structures, kulturefest has three salient fundamentals. first, the k is an adoption phonetic sound from the consonant c (adetugbo 1997). second, fest is a pruning remnant of festival (yule 1996). third, kulturefest as a compound device is a combination of two lexemes, that is, culture and festival (zapata 2000, 2007). one can duly observe the peculiarity of the material process, go rock, in clause three with the actor, let’s. it is quite unusual for the imperative to have a subject element except in the case of let’s, which is an indicator of suggestions. besides, go rock, ‘s going to be, and will… enrich are other contents pointing readers to happening events, such as, a y’ello celebration and your life. the behavioral process, honour, in clause five pinpoints a particular activity that all egbaland, behaver, yearly participates in. the advertising communication mentions from march 1st to 8th as the week of lisabi the great’s remembrance period. can be and ‘s, relational processes, engage recipients to the cultural connection by identifying with the social commitment in terms of value, part of the lisabi festival. to the advertiser, the readers’ involvement is further classified as an experience in relation to attribute as well as mental cognition. although the ad focuses lisabi cultural festival, the communicator also offers some portions for promotional intents. the analyst observes these 20 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies goals, augmented with as well as innovative mtn products and services on full display, and surely enrich your life. the former represents accompaniment in an additive status, while the later functions as manner to demonstrate quality. in the life of an individual or a community, one can emphasize, tradition seems to be vital. the aspect of one’s background and tradition cannot be discarded with a wave of hand (goddard 2002). mtn might have discovered the certainty; and the company has in-turn fraternized products with lisabi and, perhaps, other festivals in nigeria. these various aspects of different traditional festivals are done specifically for the specific communities involved in the festivals. the mtn ad on the lisabi cultural festival is done for the egba people in abeokuta, ogun state, nigeria. mtn does applaud the egbas as a people with a rich cultural heritage. the mtn ad reminds the egbas of how lisabi has served as a symbol of protection and unity for the people. the aim of the laudatory ad is to build a harmonious relationship between mtn and the egbas of which olusegun obasanjo, wole soyinka, taofeek dalamu, etc. are in the membership board. 5.2. etisalat ads etisalat ad 1 etisalat ad 1 has twelve clauses. on the one hand, seven of the clauses are declarative and five are imperative. on the other hand, the twelve clauses organize their contents in the forms of three relational goings-on, two mental goings-on, and seven material goings-on. apparently, the dominance of meaning potential is in material processes. the constituents of clauses one and three are very germane because the linguistic organs construct internal communicative rings. first, clauses two and three possess mental processes of wwwant and need respectively, which denote desideration (thompson 2014). observations locate the second communicative ring in the utilization of you as senser(s) indicating participants of wwwant and need. even the relational process, are, accommodates you as carrier. the third ring is the choices of wwwherever, wwwhenever, and wwwhatever of location and matter representing circumstances of place, time, and condition. specifically, the www linguistic devices noticed in the constructs are connotations of the internet website resources identified as world wide web (dalamu 2018c). moreover, the ad 21 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies deploys material processes in a repetitive mode such as get up to, get, and get in clauses four, six, and seven. all these structures have their goal(s) as 1 gb freeeee, the internet plan of your choice, and 1 month free bonus data plan, pointing readers to the quantity of benefits derivable from the advertised product. freeeee is creativity as an advertiser’s language of stimulating the public to consumption. buy, can be used, pick up, and text are other contents of materiality that exhibit the sole mission of advertising in clear terms. in addition, the places where consumers can purchase the plan as well as the appropriate time of its enjoyment are demonstrated as at any etisalat experience centre and on weekninghts and weekends. these pieces of information become necessitated in order to clarify doubts on the product’s availability and to ease the consumers’ stress on the purchase of the service. the communicator consoles subscribers with clauses twelve and five. that is, text ‘ help’ to 229 and it’s easy with easynet. directing readers to 229 is perhaps an end to discomfort in purchasing the internet plan, owing to the freedom that consumers could exercise by purchasing the product online. the convenience created alleviates some worries. to further satisfy the public, it’s easy with easynet culminates the message to give readers a peace of mind. such means could make consumers relax to benefit from the campaigned etisalat data plan. etisalat ad 2 the eleven clauses of etisalat ad 2 contain one disjunctive grammar, seven imperative, and three declarative clauses. the punctuated structure, 9javaganza, is a lexical choice made up of alphanumeric code (dalamu 2018b). that is, 9 (a number) plus ja plus vaganza (words). as decorated in figure 6, 9javaganza is a leftover of the punctuated nigerian extravaganza. from a systemic point of view, 9javaganza is a disestablished participant that cannot be associated with any process of english. consequently, 9javaganza has become a non-conformist participating linguistic facility. the textual choice demonstrates the advertiser’s fantastic conduct of benevolence to be lavished on the public, though the waste or recklessness is restricted to only etisalat consumers. it is upon the intended ‘business’ profligacy, euphemized as generosity, that other ten clauses rest. the mental process, enjoy, in clause two creates emotional feelings for consumers on the 22 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies benefit of free weekend calls. communicative facilities such as get, make, pick up, starts calling, and opens to are material processes that inspire readers to consumption. ad 2 utilizes get repetitively about three times in clauses three, six, and seven as a means of sensitizing the public to gain extra 50% of airtime, obtainable in a consistent weekly basis. that is a probable reason for deploying … to make free weekend calls and …week after week as goal and circumstance of time respectively. to any etisalat line! is another circumstance, but, of place, emphasizing etisalat as a priority. the imperative markers make and pick up, in clauses five and eight, are two bedfellows. the processes inform the target audience to grasp a telephone loaded with etisalat line in order to commence communicating friends and relatives with your 0809ja phone. in that respect, the advertiser personalizes both the telephone and etisalat line as consumers’ properties. that behavior signals an ownership culture that baptizes and entwines the audience into etisalat family. it’s you time to talk, illuminated in clauses four and ten, pinpoints from now till 31-march as the duration of the proposed free weekend calls. the communicator employs opens to to indicate the people who are qualified to take advantage of the campaigned benefits. thus, actor, offer, and goal, all new and existing easystarter and easycliq subscribers display a sort of generalization of participants to be satisfied. 6. conclusion one cannot deemphasize the relevance of choice in the language of advertising. it is on that plane that the researcher demonstrates how mtn and etisalat deploy specific lexemes and registerial coinages to persuade the public to consumption. with the application of transitivity system, the study reveals that material processes (e.g. start), as demonstrated in figure 7, are the commonest choices of both mtn and etisalat advertising communications. nonetheless, relational processes (e.g. is) are next in function, which are followed by mental processes. in the domain of communication augmentation, mtn and etisalat utilize location in terms of time and place to sensitize readers. to a limited degree, the circumstance of manner and extent play some roles as choices of excitements. although the two communication firms employ similar conceptual terminologies in constructing relationships with subscribers, their lexemic choices are not the same. for instance, mtn uses go, ‘s going to be, and experience, while etisalat deploys get, get up to, and enjoy to inspire the target audience in order to patronize their goods and services. as well as innovative mtn products… and to any etisalat line! are circumstantial choices that lay some emphasis on the firms’ goals. from a morphological perspective, the ads fascinate recipients through the poetic license leading to alphanumeric codes, creative fallacies, and word plays of perhaps undefined terms and indefinite sequences. yet, one also observes dissimilarity in the freedom exemplified in their morphological mechanizations such as ‘thank yous’, kulturefest, and y’ello in mtn, and wwwhenever, 9jevaganza, and 0809ja in etisalat. the analysis has briefly offered an understanding to the nature of advertising texts in nigeria. in turn, the effort could motivate advertising professionals, young scholars, and researchers to deepen their understanding about creativity in the advertising industry in this bloc of the universe. 23 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies in addition to that, the study has demonstrated to readers the suitability of sfl as a virile and interpretative tool for advertising discourse choices. by extension, the outcomes could benefit stakeholders as recapitulated thus: to advertising professionals, the analysis could spur new choice of textual creation in the creativity industry, having obtained the knowledge of what is currently obtainable in the industry, as functioning within the nigerian context. the document could assist manufacturing companies in calibrating the influence of ads on the target audience as that affects sales, thus, operating as a yardstick to quantify sales of products. this is obtainable by realizing the nature of textual choices that assist in generating more consumption of products. the recipients of these kinds of communications will understand the recklessness of advertising as a vehicle for convincing, shaping, and swaying readers’ thoughts in a designed/certain direction. besides, the analysis will assist in the formulation of policy to adapt textual nuances as devices of leveraging an equal playing ground between communicators and recipients. the investigation could inspire government agencies to promulgate policies to regulate the activities of the advertising industry in ways that their persuasive strategies could contribute to peaceful coexistence that the world urgently needs and seeks rather than to mental-capitalize consumers. the 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(eds.). 2002. the handbook of discourse analysis. new york: blackwell publishing. tanaka, k. 1994. advertising language. a pragmatic approach to advertisements in britain and japan. london: routledge. thompson, g. 2004. introducing functional grammar. great britain: hodder arnold. thompson, g. 2014. introducing functional grammar. abingdon, oxon: routledge. van dijk, t. a. 2010. discourse and context. a sociocognitive approach. melbourne: cambridge university press. urbach, c. 2013. choice in relation to context: a diachronic perspective on cultural valeur. in: l. fontaine, t. bartlett & g. o’grady (eds.), systemic functional linguistics. exploring choice, 300-317. cambridge: cambridge university press. vestergaard, t. & schroder, k. 1985. the language of advertising. new york, gb: basil blackwell. williamson, j. 1978. decoding advertising. ideology and meaning in advertising. new york: marion boyars. wodak, r. & meyer, m. 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(18 june 2015). 27 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies *** dr. t. o. dalamu earned a phd from the university of lagos, nigeria, under a thorough supervision of prof. adeyemi daramola, with specialization in systemic functional linguistics, discourse analysis, and digital humanities in relation, mostly, to advertising communications. currently, dr. t. o. dalamu teaches english courses at anchor university, lagos, nigeria. metacognition as a superordinate concept of metalinguistics: the role in developing reading skills in a foreign language 82 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles marta kopcikova1 university of prešov, slovakia orcid id: 0000-0002-7069-447x metacognition as a superordinate concept of metalinguistics: the role in developing reading skills in a foreign language abstract. the paper provides a theoretical analysis of the relationship between metacognition and its subordinate concept metalinguistics. understanding that language and cognition are inextricably linked, the aim of the paper is to highlight the holistic nature of learning. from this perspective, metalinguistic abilities, such as phonological awareness, word awareness, form awareness, and pragmatic awareness are introduced and suggestions for activities and everyday interactions to facilitate their development are outlined. furthermore, the paper focuses on explaining the role of metacognition and metalinguistics in particular towards the development of reading skills. based on the three kinds of metacognitive knowledge, i.e., declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge and conditional knowledge, the paper provides a five-step instruction of a reading comprehension strategy, applicable for both l1 and fl reading development. keywords: metacognition, metalinguistic knowledge, metalinguistic awareness, reading comprehension, bilingualism, reading in a foreign/second language. 1. introduction the importance of attaining developed reading skills is indisputable. through reading, learners are able to access new information, new ways to achieve their goals, and new ways to solve their problems. difficulties in reading result in ensuing struggles with general academic performance. indeed, it is believed that many learning problems that students exhibit are related to the inability to use metacognitive reading strategies appropriately. poor readers in general do not possess the knowledge of effective reading strategies and are often unaware of when and how to apply the knowledge that they do possess (horner & shwery 2002). they often need specific training in metacognition in order to develop independent learning and deep engagement in reading. a large body of research has demonstrated that metacognitive processes – and metalinguistic ones in par1 address for correspondence: faculty of education (kklv), university of presov, ul. 17. novembra 15, presov 080 01, slovakia. e-mail: marta.kopcikova@unipo.sk doi: 10.15290/cr.2019.24.1.06 83 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles ticular – lead to reading success at school (woolley 2011). however, very few teachers adequately assist students in becoming independent learners by implementing training in metacognition. the aim of the paper is to outline the relationship between metacognition and metalinguistics, understood as its subordinate concept. subsequently, the paper discusses the role metacognition and metalinguistics seem to play in both the mother tongue (l1) and foreign/second language (fl/l2). this theoretical framework is further expanded to outline the possibilities for promoting metacognitive and metalinguistic reading strategies in both l1 and fl/l2 classroom environments by introducing the model of developing metacognitive awareness during reading, which takes into consideration the pre-reading, during reading and post-reading phases of a reading act. 2. metacognition as a means to monitor and reflect on thought processes generally, metacognition is understood as our ability to be aware of and regulate our own thinking. this skill is an essential part of effective learning. as neaum (2017) explains, when learning we need to be able to monitor and regulate our mental processes and draw on cognitive strategies to help us. for example, when reading a book we quickly become aware of whether or not we have understood the text. this shows that we are monitoring our thinking processes. according to pressley et al. (1987), metacognition helps learners to be consciously aware of what they have learned, recognize situations in which it would be useful and processes involved in using it. the history of metacognition dates back to the late 1970s. the term metacognition was first coined by flavell (1978), who refers to it as both an individual’s knowledge and cognition about cognitive phenomena. thanks to this understanding an individual is able to exercise conscious control over the products of their cognitive processes (tunmer et al. 1984). there is a quite straightforward relationship between metacognition and cognition. as garner (1987) points out, cognition and metacognition differ in that cognitive skills are necessary to perform a task, while metacognition is necessary to understand how the task is performed. from this viewpoint it is vital to perceive metacognition as “cognition about cognition”, which flavell (1981) explains as the ability to perform mental operations on the products of other mental operations. an individual with developed metacognition is aware of how they can control their own thought processes. in addition to this explanation, o’malley et al. (1985) assert that metacognitive strategies involve thinking about the learning process, planning for learning, monitoring of comprehension or production while it is taking place, and self-evaluation of learning after the language activity is completed. on the other hand, cognitive strategies are more directly related to individual learning tasks and entail direct manipulation or transformation of the learning materials. flavell’s hypothesis of metacognition has been developed by many researchers. as schraw (2002) sees it, most of them differentiate between two components of metacognition, knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition. the former refers to what a person knows about their own cognition or about cognition in general. it includes three different kinds of metacognitive awareness: 1.) declarative knowledge, which refers to knowing “about” things, 2.) procedural knowledge, which 84 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles refers to knowing “how” to do things, and 3.) conditional knowledge, which refers to knowing the “why” and “when” aspects of cognition (brown 1987; jacobs & paris 1987; schraw & moshman 1995). the latter component of metacognition, i.e., regulation of cognition, refers to a set of activities that help students control their learning. it includes three essential skills: planning, monitoring, and evaluation. planning involves the selection of appropriate strategies and the allocation of resources that affect performance (jacobs & paris 1987). schraw (2002) provides examples such as making predictions before reading, strategy sequencing, and allocating time or attention selectively before beginning a task. monitoring refers to an individual’s awareness of comprehension and task performance. the ability to engage in repeated self-testing while learning can serve as an example. evaluating refers to the assessment of the product and efficiency of one’s learning. a typical example includes re-evaluating one’s goals and conclusions. schraw (2002) asserts that metacognitive regulation improves performance in a number of ways, such as a better use of attentional resources, a better use of existing strategies, and a greater awareness of comprehension breakdowns. indeed, the impact of developed metacognitive regulatory skills on learning is immense. as a number of studies (cross & paris 1988; brown & palincsar 1989) report, there is a significant improvement in learning when regulatory skills and an understanding of how to use these skills are included as part of classroom instruction. studies also suggest that regulatory skills improve with training and practice (delclos & harrington 1991). moreover, schraw (2002) points out that improving one aspect of regulation (e.g., planning) via instruction may improve others (e.g., monitoring). as tunmer et al. (1984) state, an approach similar to that of flavell can be found in the proposals of brown (1978) and brown and deloache (1978). in accordance with vygotsky’s view, they refer to metacognition as the ability to reflect upon one’s cognitive functioning, which plays an important role in a child’s problem-solving abilities. also like flavell, brown and deloache (1978) claim that in different contexts, different types of awareness are appropriate, though they also affirm that there are certain metacognitive skills which are useful in practically any situation. flavell (1978) as well as brown and deloache (1978) agree that the development of metacognition during childhood has a major impact on children’s thinking. as tunmer et al. (1984) explain, they consider metacognition as the ability to reflect upon and monitor the products of the individual’s thought processes as a result of an increased awareness of the nature of cognitive functions. therefore, the development of such awareness is perceived as providing the child with much more control over their thinking. donaldson (1978) suggests that it is this development that enables children to succeed on many formal tasks used to assess their thinking, such as piagetian tasks of conservation or classification. the paper further expands on the issue of metacognition within the narrowed context of metalinguistics. this perspective highlights the holistic nature of learning: that language and cognition are inextricably linked. yet, as bialystok (2001) implies, the terms used in the field of metalinguistics are often unclear. many authors use different terms to describe the same concept of metalinguistics, such as metalinguistic abilities, metalinguistic knowledge, metalinguistic awareness, etc. 85 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles however, there is a semantic difference between metalinguistic awareness and metalinguistic knowledge. the former refers to the early stages of children becoming aware of language, while the latter refers to the later stages when children have developed explicit representations of aspects of linguistic structures (bialystok 2001). nevertheless, for the sake of this presented paper, the original terminology provided by the authors is meant to refer to metalinguistics as a broad umbrella term. 3. metalinguistics and its position within metacognitive abilities brown and deloache (1978), like flavell (1981), distinguish between several metacognitive abilities, all of which develop gradually during childhood in familiar contexts. they represent a set of specific functions, such as metamemory, meta-attention, metalearning, metasocial cognition, and metalanguage or metalinguistics, which encompass an individual’s knowledge or awareness of memory, of attention, of learning, of social cognition, and of language. all these meta-abilities equally contribute to the development of metacognition. besides the theoretical works of deloache and flavell, empirical research (e.g., whyatt 2007) also confirms a close relationship between metacognition and metalinguistics. with regard to metalinguistic abilities, tunmer and herriman (tunmer et al. 1984) affirm that metacognitive control is a more fundamental ability than metalinguistic awareness, one which is reflected in a wide range of situations and tasks, including those that require reflecting upon and manipulating the structural features of the spoken language. broadly speaking, this aspect of metacognition promotes the ability to think and talk about language (neaum 2017). as nagy and anderson (1995) see it, metalinguistics refers to the ability to reflect on and manipulate the structural features of language independent of meaning. tunmer and bowey (1984) explain that the psychological processes involved in metalinguistic abilities are both logically and psychologically distinct from those involved in language comprehension and production. similarly, the type of processing required in metalinguistic operations is also unlike that of normal sentence comprehension and production. as cazden (1975) further clarifies, language is normally treated as transparent, something to be “looked through” rather than focused upon. processing of this sort is generally referred to as “automatic”, which can be placed in contrast with “control” or “executive” processes. these entail an element of choice in whether or not the operations are performed, as well as relative slowness and deliberateness in the application of such operations. according to tunmer and bowey (1984), control processing characterizes the kind of linguistic functioning associated with metalinguistic abilities, since the latter involve deliberately reflecting on the structural features of language per se by means of a conscious analytic ability. a person does not normally notice elements such as the individual phonemes and words comprising a given utterance, or the grouping relationships among constituent words unless they deliberately think about it; that is, unless they invoke control processing to reflect upon the structural features of the utterance. 86 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles in accordance with the above stated assertion, tunmer and herriman (tunmer et al. 1984) define metalinguistic awareness as the ability to invoke control processing to perform mental operations on the products of mental mechanisms involved in sentence comprehension and production. similarly, pratt and grieve (1984) explain metalinguistic awareness as the ability to think about and reflect upon the nature and functions of language. metalinguistic awareness is manifested in a child’s growing ability to “see” the language beyond its functional use (i.e., language used in an implicit, unanalyzed way to communicate with others), to switch attention from the functional use of language and focus on the language itself. it requires that children learn to think about and manipulate the structural features of language (lightsey & frye 2004). in other words, children develop the ability to think about and play with language apart from its meaning. neaum (2017) elaborates this premise and sees metacognitive knowledge as the ability to treat language as an object composed of words and meanings. it is the ability to recognize that language has a structure, that it consists of words, that words have meaning, and that the structure of language – the words and meanings – can be examined, discussed and manipulated. tunmer and bowey (1984) offer a psychological model of sentence comprehension to express the relationship between language processing and metalinguistic operations. the model is useful in providing the basis for classifying the various manifestations of metalinguistic awareness. within it, four broad categories emerge: phonological awareness, word awareness, form awareness, and pragmatic awareness. the first two categories refer to the awareness of the subunits of spoken language (the phonemes and words). form awareness covers the structural representation of the literal, or linguistic, meaning associated with an utterance. the last category, pragmatic awareness, refers to the relationships that are obtained from a set of propositions, among which literal and intended meanings can be counted. furthermore, tunmer and bowey (1984) talk about metalinguistic development during the period from 4 to 8 years of age as the ability to reflect upon and manipulate the structural features of spoken language. they refer to treating language itself as an object of thought, as opposed to using the language system to comprehend and produce sentences. examples of such emerging metalinguistic abilities include discovering structural and lexical ambiguities, the understanding of linguistic jokes, segmentation of sentences into words and words into phonemes, separation of words from their referents, assessing the semantic and grammatical well-formedness rules, and detection of inconsistencies and communication failures. gombert (1992) provides a four-phase model for the development of children’s metalinguistic knowledge. phase one comprises the acquisition of a first set of linguistic skills. children acquire and consolidate early language, whereby language use is implicit and unanalyzed. phase two comes at the end of a child’s fifth year with the acquisition of epi-linguistic control. children organize the implicit language ability acquired in the initial phase, which results in greater functional control of the language. language rules are applied, e.g., ungrammatical utterances are shaped to become grammatically correct. phase three is characterized by the acquisition of metalinguis87 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles tic knowledge. during this phase, children become consciously aware of aspects of language, i.e., knowledge about the language (declarative knowledge) and knowledge about how to use the language (procedural knowledge). phase four covers the automation of the above mentioned processes. at the age of six or seven years, meta-processes become automated, as opposed to being consciously controlled. however, meta-processes are readily available to the conscious mind when necessary. for instance, the use of grammatically correct language becomes automated until a child misuses or does not know a word, then they need to consciously draw on meta-processes to think about the language in use. as neaum (2017) points out, children develop metalinguistic awareness in their play and everyday interactions. more precisely, to trigger and develop metalinguistic awareness or metalinguistic knowledge, the interaction with children needs to have particular features to enable children to become consciously aware of language. it is vital to use the language for learning language, to draw their attention to language in concrete and meaningful ways. children’s attention should be drawn to the details of language in our interactions, i.e., to the particular words we use, the ways in which we use them, the rules that govern them, the constituent parts of words (phonemes and graphemes), and how we build up and break down words to read (segment and blend). 4. the role of metacognition and metalinguistics in developing reading skills metacognition and metalinguistic knowledge are perceived as skills that are developed and used in many facets of life. besides others, these important internal mechanisms control other aspects during the process of reading comprehension (kusiak 2013). as neaum (2017) explains, both metalinguistic knowledge and metacognitive knowledge are necessary for building a mental model of the text that is an overall representation of the meaning. this leads to language comprehension during reading. successful comprehension involves the construction of a clear, complete and integrated mental representation of the meaning of a text: a mental model (oakhill et al. 2015). building this mental model requires that children have metalinguistic knowledge: knowledge about the structure and properties of the language (brooks & kempe 2012). zipke’s (2008) study confirms this theory and highlights the importance of metalinguistics in language comprehension. tunmer and bowey (1984) describe the role of metalinguistic ability in learning to read. as they put it, to learn to read, children must bring their knowledge of the spoken language to bear upon the written language. this requires the ability to deal explicitly with the structural features of the spoken language. the metalinguistic ability to reflect upon language seems to be an important prerequisite for being able to learn to read, since the child needs this ability to discover the properties of spoken language that are central to the correspondences between its written and spoken forms. moreover, tunmer and bowey (1984) state that the development of metalinguistic abilities in children is central to learning to read. from a metacognitive perspective, skilled reading involves four metalinguistic abilities: phonological awareness, word awareness, form awareness, and pragmatic awareness. the division is based on the understanding of reading as a set of independent 88 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles processes, and reading development as the acquisition of several component skills (calfee 1977). these metalinguistic abilities play a crucial role in the reading acquisition process. as tunmer et al. (1984) explain, the relative importance of the different types of metalinguistic ability varies according to the stage of development the child has reached and the particular subskills he has acquired in progressing from a beginner to a skilled reader. more specifically, tunmer and bowey (1984) provide the sequential order of relative importance as the child traverses this scale. their order is word awareness, phonological awareness, form awareness and pragmatic awareness. as the authors further clarify, the children’s first task as they enter the reading acquisition process is to realize that one specific spoken word corresponds to one written word, which requires the metalinguistic ability to treat spoken words as objects of thought. hence the first metalinguistic ability is word awareness. to facilitate the development of the child’s word concept, word segmentation games may be helpful. word awareness is followed by phonological awareness. according to tunmer and bowey (1984), beginner readers also discover the systematic correspondences between the subunits of written and spoken words, i.e., the graphemes and phonemes, in order to decode words that they have not seen before. to break the orthographic code, the beginner reader must discover which phonemes correspond with which graphemes. this requires the ability to recognize the units of the written and spoken language. these correspondence rules must be discovered through the child’s own self-monitoring metacognitive strategies. regarding form awareness, discovering the systematic correspondences between the subunits of written and spoken words necessitates the metalinguistic ability to segment spoken words into their constituent phonemic elements. at the same time, the child needs the metacognitive ability to detect the correspondences between these phonemic elements and the graphemic elements of written language. pragmatic ability is required to organize words into larger structural units. children notice relationships among groups of sentences and the context in which they are embedded to fully understand what they read. moreover, they need to integrate the sentences into larger structural representations, which also involves combining new information with old information. however, as tunmer and bowey (1984) stress, the transition from one stage to another does not occur at once, instantly. quite the opposite, there is a considerable overlap among the stages. as the child enters a new stage, they use their emerging metacognitive abilities to generate the strategies necessary to perform mental operations on the relevant structural features of spoken language. as soon as the particular subskill becomes automatized, the child moves on to the next stage. from a reading perspective, not only metalinguistic abilities but also metacognition as a superordinate concept is important for developing reading skills. the first dimension of metacognitive ability, knowledge of cognition (flavell 1978), involves the reader’s knowledge about their own cognitive resources and the compatibility between the reader and the reading situation. carrell et al. (2002) explain that if a reader understands what is needed to perform efficiently, then the steps can be taken to meet the demands of a reading situation more effectively. on the other hand, if the 89 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles reader is not aware of their own limitations as a reader or of the complexity of the task, then they cannot take preventative or corrective actions to anticipate or recover from problems. conditional knowledge is a component of knowledge of cognition that refers to “knowing why”, and also includes the reader’s knowledge of whether a certain strategy is appropriate. as kusiak (2013) further asserts, metacognitive knowledge seems to be a ubiquitous factor of reading comprehension, related to phonological and syntactic aspects of language processing. metacognitive knowledge about the structure and properties of language enables children to develop and use explicit strategies to shape, monitor and reflect on their reading (brooks & kempe 2012). it is dependent on the level of language proficiency (butler 2002), i.e., lower-proficiency learners demonstrate different metacognitive knowledge when compared to higher-proficiency learners. the second dimension of metacognitive ability, regulation of cognition, refers to planning, monitoring, testing, revising, and evaluating of the strategies employed during reading (baker & brown 1984). according to carell (1987), these self-regulatory metacognitive skills are present in reading in the following aspects: (a) clarifying the purposes of reading, that is, understanding both the explicit and implicit task demands; (b) identifying the important aspects of a message; (c) focusing attention on the major content rather than trivia; (d) monitoring ongoing activities to determine whether comprehension is occurring; (e) engaging in self-questioning to determine whether goals are being achieved, and (f) taking corrective action when failures in comprehension are detected. as carrell et al. (2002) see it, the key metacognitive factors, i.e., knowledge and regulation, are related to what readers know about their cognitive resources and their regulation. furthermore, regulation in reading involves the awareness of and ability to detect contradictions in a text, knowledge of different strategies to use with different text types, and the ability to separate important information from unimportant information. tunmer and bowey (1984) claim that out of cognitive skills, the one most directly involved in reading acquisition is metacognitive control. skilled readers take an active role in the learning process, since the orthographic cipher of language needs to be learned, or rather discovered through monitoring the products of their own cognitive processes, as gough and hillinger (1979) assert. 5. metacognition and metalinguistics as predictors of reading in a foreign language metacognition and metalinguistics in particular share a significant relationship with foreign language acquisition or bilingualism. historically, it has been argued that the acquisition of more than one language in childhood promotes metalinguistic awareness (vygotsky 1962). de avila and duncan (1979) were among the first to propose a possible link between fully fluent bilingualism and metacognitive development. they suggested that children growing up with more than one language acquire either simultaneously or sequentially two linguistic codes for symbolic manipulation within their environment. consequently, their metacognitive awareness is increased more so than in monolingual children. this increase in metacognition, understood as the aware90 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles ness that languages have internally consistent systems, is further explained by ben-zeev (1977) as a kind of understanding which provides a way of separating two languages from each other. according to neaum (2017), the awareness that language has a structure, that it consists of words that have meaning, and that these words and meanings are chosen and can be discussed is an essential characteristic of the linguistic perspective of children who are multilingual. children who move between languages are required to understand and use different words for the same thing, and different language structures to communicate and express meaning. as bialystok (1988) implies, this code-switching between languages improves the awareness of aspects of the structure and properties of a language. ben-zeev (1977) explains that as bilingual children develop a more analytic orientation to linguistic structures in order to separate two languages into functionally independent systems, they automatically acquire higher levels of metacognitive functioning, since cognitive control is necessary to perform metalinguistic operations. these views are consistent with the research of kirsner et al. (1980), which indicates that the two language systems of bilinguals are functionally independent. similarly, lambert (1981) reports that metalinguistic skills, such as flexibility in manipulating linguistic codes, auditory reorganization of language items and separations of words from their physical referents, are more evident in bilinguals than in monolinguals. recent studies also affirm that bilingual children show improved metalinguistic awareness in contrast to their monolingual peers (brooks and kempe 2012). what is interesting is that metalinguistic knowledge was found to be a better predictor of efl students’ academic success than linguistic knowledge (kusiak 2013). this finding stresses the role of metalinguistic knowledge in foreign language learning at the academic level. regarding reading, kusiak (2013) implies that metacognition seems to play a similar role in both mother tongue and foreign/second language. in accordance, van gelderen et al. (2004) consider metacognition a powerful predictor of both mother tongue and foreign/second language reading comprehension. as koda (2005) further explains, metacognition functions as a control mechanism that regulates cognitive resources during comprehension and is present in a reader’s dual-language development. as tunmer et al. (1984) put it, fully fluent bilingualism results in increased metacognitive/metalinguistic abilities which, in turn, facilitate reading acquisition which, in turn, leads to higher levels of academic achievement. based on the three kinds of metacognitive knowledge, i.e., declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge and conditional knowledge, carrell et al. (2002) provide a five-step instruction of a reading comprehension strategy. the first step is to explain what the strategy is, as a teacher describes critical features of the strategy or provides a description of the strategy. in the second step the teacher explains why a strategy should be learned. explaining the purpose of the lesson and its potential benefits is seen here as a necessary step for moving from teacher control to student self-control of learning. the third step is to show how to use the strategy. the teacher breaks down the strategy, explains each component of the strategy, and shows the logical relationship among the components. the fourth step covers when and where the strategy should be used, e.g., different 91 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles strategies apply in a story or informational reading. the fifth step explains how to evaluate use of the strategy. the teacher shows how to evaluate the strategy used, including suggestions for fix-up strategies to resolve remaining problems. these five steps provide a careful and complete teacher explanation of a reading comprehension strategy in both mother tongue and foreign/second language. declarative knowledge is addressed through steps one and two, procedural knowledge is covered in step three, and conditional knowledge is addressed through steps four and five. to support this model of five-step instruction of reading strategies, the research in foreign language reading described by carrell et al. (2002) reveals significant positive effects of the metacognitive strategy training when compared with the traditional approaches to instruction. actually, the relationship between metacognition, metalinguistics and reading in a foreign language is reciprocal. olsen (1988 in neaum 2017) stresses the importance of reading in developing children’s metalinguistic awareness and metalinguistic knowledge. for example, reading and discussing story and picture books support children’s metalinguistics, since these activities draw children’s attention to words and language. similar results can be achieved with activities like playing with language in the form of poems, rhymes, nonsense words, stories, riddle, jokes, puns, and puzzles. they all present excellent opportunities to alert children to language. 6. promoting metacognitive reading strategies in the classroom metacognition and metalinguistics, understood as prerequisites for developed reading skills, are believed to support reading by helping learners to take control of their own process of learning to read. thanks to developed metacognition and metalinguistics, the learners are able to monitor their reading processes. when selecting a reading task that would involve and motivate the reader, clay (1993) suggests choosing a task not too difficult or too easy for the reader, as well as one related to the reader’s interests. once a proper reading task is selected, in order to promote metacognitive strategies, teachers should intentionally and systematically encourage learners to actively engage in specific metacognitive behaviors. zimmerman (2002) provides a three-phase model of developing metacognitive awareness, which can be implemented in both the l1 and fl classroom environments. the model consists of 1) the forethought phase, which takes place before learning engagement, i.e., reading, 2) the performance phase, which takes place during reading, and 3) the self-reflection phase, which takes place at the end of the reading process. forethought phase. this phase incorporates the processes and behaviors that are introduced before reading takes place. through the exercise of forethought, learners become aware of their own capabilities and are able to make a realistic estimate of task requirements and demands. the first phase includes the sub-processes of task analysis, goal-setting, and strategic planning. teachers should lead learners to analyze a task and to set appropriate goals that provide a clear standard against which they can measure their own success (guthrie et al. 2000). by analyzing a task, learners base decisions concerning the appropriate strategy to use on their perception of 92 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles the particular task demands. moreover, based on the task analysis, learners use judgments of what may be required by a particular task to select, adapt, or even devise strategic approaches to achieve their reading goals. similarly, the types of goals that learners implement influence the selection of appropriate strategies employed while reading and, in turn, influence the type and quality of meanings developed from the text. thus, teachers should assist learners with setting clear purposeful goals that would lead to selecting appropriate reading strategies. in addition to this, horner and shwery (2002) recommend setting short-term goals. by reaching them, learners experience a sense of self-efficacy and, subsequently, are more readily engaged in activities that they believe will help them attain future task goals. performance phase. during the performance phase teachers are expected to help learners maintain self-control via promoting self-instruction, attention focusing, task strategies, self-observation, self-recording, and self-experimentation. poor readers especially need help with developing skills to monitor their own comprehension strategies and understanding (learner 1993 in woolley 2011). for instance, when developing self-observation strategy, the teacher leads learners to self-record their personal events or self-experiment to discover the related causes and effects of these events. zimmerman (2002) provides an example of such reading strategy training: imagine learners notice that they are experiencing problems in understanding a narrative text. once they are aware of the problem, the teacher leads them to experiment by trying different strategies, e.g., by referring to an illustration, by looking at the chapter heading, by comparing similar events in their own experience, or by rereading sections of the text to gain more information. thus, learners can self-monitor by tracking the efficiency of each of the strategies for their relative effectiveness and future use. the teacher’s role during reading is to guide readers by the types of questions they ask and by focusing readers’ attention on relevant features so that an integrated understanding of the story can be constructed by the reader from the available text information (alfassi 2004). moreover, the teacher should provide readers with the repertoire of compensatory reading strategies when they experience difficulties while reading, such as rereading the significant details and sections of text, noting the initial letters and shape of a word (walczyk & griffith-ross 2007), slowing reading rate, pausing, or reading aloud to enable them to recover meaning when it has been lost (rapp & kendeou 2007). the teacher should also be able to explain to learners when, how and why to use compensations. as walczyk and griffith-ross (2007) assert, without explicit metacognitive training, struggling readers are unlikely to use a wide repertoire of strategies to compensate on their own. other metacognitive reading strategies learners should adapt are updating and revising what is already known or understood. while reading a text, the revision of readers’ expectations they have constructed from earlier portions of the text help with successful comprehension of future story events. these revisions are most likely driven by automatic or conscious attentional effort. teacher instructions can promote text comprehension by focusing readers’ attention on particular elements within the text or highlighting some elements as being more prominent. 93 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles self-reflection phase. self-reflection strategies represent the essential aspects of metacognition. within the after reading phase, the teacher should encourage learners to monitor their own progress and attribute their success to how much effort has been invested (ames & ames 1984). as horner and shwery (2002) add, in this phase, the teacher should provide learners with opportunities to be actively engaged in self-monitoring and to be shown how to evaluate and monitor their own learning. self-reflection and self-evaluation are two important strategies incorporated into the structure of many effective metacognitive instructional programs. once the readers are encouraged to predict in the pre-reading phase, the teacher can model questions such as “what clues helped you predict?” and “what parts of your prediction were in the story?” in the self-reflection phase after reading. thus, the readers are able to assess their own attempts at deriving meaning. 7. conclusion the aim of the paper was to outline the theoretical framework for the relationship of metacognition and metalinguistics, as well as to define their role in developing reading skills in a foreign language. we discussed in detail the core metalinguistic abilities: phonological awareness, word awareness, form awareness, and pragmatic awareness, which play a crucial role in the reading acquisition process. based on the premises outlined in the theoretical part of the paper, we further provided a suggestion for practical application of metacognitive strategies training in both l1 and fl/l2 reading environments. the theory indicates and subsequent practice proves that an effective approach to teaching the children with reading difficulties is based on developing metacognitive principles. within this viewpoint, developing metacognitive reading strategies is of such paramount importance that teachers in both l1 and fl/l2 need to recognize it as a key focus in the goal of guiding their learners towards reading proficiency. specifically, we pointed out the necessity of teachers intentionally encouraging learners to actively engage in metacognitive behaviors 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(eds.). 1984. metalinguistic awareness in children. theory, research and implications. berlin: springer-verlag. turnbull, m. & dailey-o´cain, j. (eds.). 2009. first language use in second and foreign language learning. salisbury, uk: mpg books group. van gelderen, a., schoonen, r., de glopper, k. hulstijn, j. simis, a., snellings, p. & stevenson, m. 2004. linguistic knowledge, processing speed and metacognitive knowledge in firstand secondlanguage reading comprehension: a componential analysis. journal of educational psychology 96(1): 19–30. vygotsky, lev s. 1962. thought and language. cambridge, ma: m.i.t. press. walczyk, j. & griffith-ross, d. a. 2007. how important is reading skill fluency for comprehension? the reading teacher 60(6): 560–569. whyatt, b. 2007. the use of metalinguistic knowledge in the process of translation. report presented at linguistic meeting in poznan. woolley, g. 2011. reading comprehension: assisting children with learning difficulties. brisbane: springer science + business media. zimmerman, b. j. 2002. becoming a self-regulated learner: an overview. theory into practice 41(2): 64–70. zipke, marcy. 2008. teaching metalinguistic awareness and reading comprehension with riddles. the reading teacher 62(2): 128–137. funding this work was supported by the slovak research and development agency under grant number apvv-15-0273. 97 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles *** marta kopčíková is a lecturer at the department of communicative and literary education at the faculty of education, university of prešov. she works with pre-service teachers, her main teaching areas being methodology of teaching english to young and very young learners and the development of communicative competences in the english language. she has participated in several research projects focused on the development of metacognitive, cognitive and executive functions of underperforming students. her main fields of expertise are metacognitive reading strategies and reading competence in the english language. top seven polish science fiction novels of the communist era (lem aside) 73 articles mariusz m. leś university of białystok top seven polish science fiction novels of the communist era (lem aside) abstract. with the exception of lem’s works, polish science fiction of the communist era is largely forgotten. angloamerican readers know only fragments of lem’s literary work, and they know almost nothing about other polish science fiction writers. the aim of this article is to familiarize anglo-american audience with seven polish science fiction novels written in the communist era: farther than hatred (dalej niż nienawiść) by wojciech bieńko (1963); aspasia  (aspazja) by andrzej ostoja-owsiany (1958);  to drain the sea  (wyczerpać morze) by jan dobraczyński (1961); arsenal (arsenał) by marek oramus (1985); paradisia (paradyzja) by janusz a. zajdel (1984); the robot (robot) by adam wiśniewski-snerg (1977); imago (imago) by wiktor żwikiewicz (1985). key words: science fiction, novel, polish, communist era. is there still a need for writing about stanisław lem’s influence on polish science fiction after world war ii? is that not peculiar and actually boring that every “the very best” list anybody could imagine is filled tightly and almost completely with lem’s works? and it does not matter whether we choose novels or short stories. anglo-american readers know only fragments of his literary work, and they know almost nothing about other polish science fiction writers. consequently, i think it is worth trying to delve into the shadow cast by stanisław lem, primarily because we (readers, critics, scholars, and writers) are no longer living under it. the nearest future will bring a wave of re-evaluation of the famous writer’s oeuvre. it is already happening in reference to futurological and philosophical works. but, let us be fair, it happened, at least in poland, from the beginning of lem’s aspiring efforts in that field, just after he had made them public. it is true that lem did not compete with anybody, he was just trying—in his own awkward way—to establish a real dialogue with minds like leszek kołakowski’s. without a satisfying effect (csicsery-ronay 1964: 452). far from it. lem was genuinely disappointed. and then, the crowd (mainly “fandom”) famously crowned another king—adam wiśniewskisnerg—by selecting his novel, the robot (1973), as the best fantastic novel of the three post-war de10.15290/cr.2017.18.3.06 74 crossroads. a journal of english studies cades in poland. it was something new and quite fresh. the robot was of course followed by several lem’s novels-“loosers”. perhaps, inevitably, it was quite “lem-ish”, on the wild side of the master. and today? today stanisław lem seems to be just another entry in contemporary literary history. he is defined by solaris, cyberiad and star diaries. other works by lem matter for academics and for young adult readers, who just put them on the “to read” list, on the far end of it. actually, the throne was not taken by anyone. there were aspiring writers, of course: adam wiśniewskisnerg in the ‘70s, janusz a. zajdel in the ‘80s. yet the throne of the most influential, or even “the best”, polish sf writer remained empty, hidden in a cold dry place and covered in dust. but a radically new constellation of writers emerged in the 1990s. and it looks like one of them—jacek dukaj (kozicka 2013: 109-112), the quite “lem-ish” one—has been building his own “throne”. unlike lem, though, he does like the science fiction? genre, mainly for its experimental nature and for the immersive world-building (maj 2015: 391-391). or, it is not a matter of such things as “thrones” or “podiums” anymore. now, it is important to be in the center of the stream, to be non-stop present. the future-present orientation, characteristic of societies built on competition, prefers the promise of continuity to dwelling in the abstract past. michael kandel, a prolific translator of lem’s works, is now promoting a contemporary polish writer marek s. huberath. it is important—and ironically enough—because still requires remembering lem. huberath’s novel nest of worlds (gniazdo światów) was published recently and the publication was recorded in the milieu (huberath 2014). it received well deserved critical and readerly notice. let us come back to the earlier, shadowy landscape. the soviet regime, communist cultural and social pressure, cold war, the iron curtain and the birth of the solidarity movement defined forty years of polish literature, 1949 to 1989. my generation—people born in the ‘70s—used to think it was a very long period of time, mainly because we spent our childhood within its last phase, but that is not quite right. let us consider: 1989 happened almost 30 years ago. many have yet to make full sense of that time, in a way that would allow them to move on with new energy. many of us are still stuck in “eighties-haties”, as morrissey once called the decade1. many of us completed literary and musical self-education in those colourful years, but got ready to be overwhelmed by something really, really big. the future was unclear, and the year 2000 almost a fairy-tale. we were just “a waiting generation”. but we read a lot, and had stable preferences already “worked out”. my aim in this paper is to share my own view, perhaps nostalgic, and controversial in few cases, on those forty years when science fiction was not welcome in the polish academia (lem aside) and super-official literary institutions. my primary motivation is to unleash, discover the meaning of polish science fiction with lem “suspended”. i gathered, in memory and on my table, all polish sf novels i have read and remembered, and then took seven of them, which counted then and count now, albeit differently. these were the two conditions: the past future had to be worth reading in its own nostalgic way, or just “re-futured”, read as science fiction as it would be written today. 1 http://urbandictionary.com – haties [17.10.2017]. 75 articles so, here come seven polish communist era novels that should be, in my opinion, remembered,. some of them are being forgotten in the very moment of writing this sentence. just remember, most of them could be kicked out or down by lem’s novels, but not without discussion. and the discussion is everything i hope for. 7. wojciech bieńko: farther than hatred (dalej niż nienawiść), 1963 science fiction has been built by insiders, genre writers and genre fans. it evolved with them, got significantly better when they learned more and more about the genre’s potential, its flaws and merits, until finally they reached a point of creative distance from the genre’s center. but there were also outsiders, writers who had the comfort of looking from the mainstream, ignorance or the avant-garde. one of them, not specifically established as a writer, was wojciech bieńko. his not-so-famous novel reintroduces a discursive mode of fiction, so you can often “hear” the grinding between narration and the idea. the story of a mathematician discovering possible worlds and, through the process of discovery, turning them into real alternatives, is nevertheless still important. the narration is awkward in itself, not very well balanced between the first-person and thirdperson poles, but the flaws are not meaningless here. on the contrary. they make the complete sense. lem’s futurological and xenological treatises are the nearest references. bieńko and lem were quite close to didactic narratives, but both of them resisted banal transparency. it is fiction in itself and science fiction for its own reasons. bieńko’s effort is not even close to lem’s in terms of literary value, but it is still comprehensive in terms of cosmic and existential semiotics (when signs reveal worlds). as science fiction it still matters. the plotting is quite fine sometimes, and sometimes it seems like pulp-driven boredom. nothing is lost. remember, as samuel r. delany wrote, science fiction is a “paraliterature” and should therefore be judged by its own criteria, as idiosyncratic fiction not fond of invasive mimetic reduction. 6. andrzej ostoja-owsiany: aspasia (aspazja), 1958 this novel, though sometimes very rough in terms of style and rhetoric, offers an interesting view of colonialist wars. mars has to be explored just because it is resistant to exploration. a pack of earthmen of a subsequent rescue and exploration expedition meets a martian intellect that is seductive, alien, and so natively safe at the same time. but the human urge for knowledge is destructive. humanity is a borg-like entity assimilating every otherness it meets. martian bee-like aliens, organised in a swarm manner, are buried under a tone of proliferating theories, mirroring effects, ethical hesitancy, and indecisiveness. ostoja-owsiany took an exercise in depicting two models of the collective mind: extrovert humankind and introvert martian pseudo-society. both are stable in an illusionary way. their main goal is to keep the illusion going. ostoja-owsiany’s novel cannot be counted among the best science fiction novels because of its mediocre character and plot building, but it remains interesting and quite ahead of its times as far as thematic concerns are taken into account. it predates a gender buzz combining it with the 76 crossroads. a journal of english studies now trending idea of the collective mind. if the reader is able to separate idea and narrative, it is a must-read. 5. jan dobraczyński: to drain the sea (wyczerpać morze), 1961 dobraczyński’s novel, depicting the restoring of the catholic church after nuclear disaster, was translated into english, among few other languages. as an almost typical representative of the post-apocalyptical subgenre, it takes its chance to clarify the situation, and to introduce utopiandystopian intellectual and moral dynamics. it is an obvious counterpoint to walter m. miller’s a canticle for leibowitz. if humankind (western civilization) is to survive and grow, it has to learn a lesson and rebuild its self-esteem and moral stability. the crisis stimulates personal activity and requires order and hierarchy of beliefs. the knowledge of the past must be gathered to test the reordering power of the extreme. to drain the sea is a fine read and thorough testing exploration of values characteristic of catholic societies. it could start quite a discussion, since it is controversial in a few cases, but—after all—what is not? 4. marek oramus: arsenal (arsenał), 1985 oramus is a representative of the generation born just after the war. they came to their voice right before the martial law and strengthened their presence thanks to the dystopian subgenre accompanying the political transformations of the eighties. this sub-genre also articulated, on some level, the changes that were occurring. what is worth mentioning in the case of oramus’s novel is its vivid style, very natural, essentially satirical. the plot is not easy to recount. the novel is not a very easy read, because of the visual allegory and onirism mix projected onto traditional “first contact” plot, a tale of the totalitarian (and a bit messy) approach to the contact. polish critics of the generation were fascinated by the turn from outer space to “innerspace”, psychology and personal world-vision. the novel is original, but also dominated by an attitude close to lem’s, who became a touchstone of dark humor and pessimism, perhaps even of misanthropy. 3. janusz a. zajdel: paradisia (paradyzja), 1984 zajdel’s novel belongs to the famous—at least in poland—literary movement called “fantastyka socjologiczna”, a subgenre of dystopia born in the late seventies. very lively between 1979 and 1989, this sub-genre officially focused on universal frames of social behaviour in totalitarian states (leś 2008). most literary critics see the movement as a counterpoint to the rise of solidarity ideas, contestation of communism, and finally—the fall of socialist economics. being an allegory and a systematic analysis of repressive paradigms of power at the same time, “fantastyka socjologiczna” (polish science fiction focused on social, totalitarian system issues) is full of indirect political allusions. 77 articles the most fascinating thing in the novel, when you read it today, could be the world: grey and colourful at the same time, plain and complicated, official and hidden. zajdel was very precise in paradisia. the relation of earth to paradisia, the great lie, propaganda, and fiction form almost a “fractal” narrative, where each element reflects others and entails them. nothing is left out. paradisia is a complex analysis of transparency and opaqueness in politics, everyday life, and artificial humans in artificial worlds. nikor, the fictional science fiction writer living on paradisia, is very close to the truth. zajdel’s novel touches the very essence of fiction (including science fiction) writing. a complex, self-conscious vision, rich in allegory, irony, and metaphor. on the other end, the matter inevitably deteriorates. things change because they exist. the rust gives hope. 2. adam wiśniewski-snerg: the robot (robot), 1977 the story about the illusionary contact with an alien intellect and a robot seeking his identity is beautifully unbalanced and fiercely overdone. it has the kind of cognitive shock science fiction is meant to have. this is the novel that was leading the pack of lem’s novels in the famous voting mentioned earlier in this paper. it was fresh then, clever and wild at the same time, characteristics that became a significant part of lem’s oeuvre, as visible in futurological congress. but there was also a difference or differences. immersion. identifying with a fictional character and the world he lives in, emotional reembodiment, whatever you call this phenomenon. while reading lem’s novels i was committed to the admiration of the author’s intellect. and, when i project my feelings onto the chronological order of lem’s writings, things are getting worse and worse. the admiration became cold-hearted. the robot required the same intellectual attitude, which every skeptic or every astute reader adopts on the high-brow level, mainly the belief that there is something out there we do not know about, and very limited faith (or strong doubt) in the effectiveness and authenticity of communication. in this particular case, this attitude was emotionally undermined. you can feel the struggle. 1. wiktor żwikiewicz: imago (imago), 1985 this was a writerly story fans did not really like. it is the thickest of all the books mentioned here, originally published in two (paperback) volumes. żwikiewicz brilliantly refreshes and obscures the plotting pattern of exploration and confrontations with an alien point of view and being, but he does it in his own severely weird way. no summary can convey this weirdness, the complexity and overdose of metaphorical and tricky rhetoric. the reader takes it all, but never wins. the dense style connects living language, cognition, visions and known-unknown biology. the novel is a wonderful mix of crossword-like mysteries confronted with the reader’s rejection of enigmatic world-building. it is an exercise in cross-genre imagination, an almost mystic or, at least, psychedelic one. it may be close to lem’s solaris, but far weirder, extended, bravely deconstructed. a satisfying and memorable effort, and yes – hard to read. but, the reader’s active patience mirrored by the protagonist’s boredom should finally pay off. 78 crossroads. a journal of english studies lem aside, polish science fiction of the communist era is largely forgotten. although not really competitive with the anglo-american model of the genre, it does have its brighter (or actually darker, dystopian) side. as mentioned above, the choice of seven novels was a result of my own sentiments, but, sadly perhaps, there is not much more material to build another, totally different, list. references csicsery-ronay, istvan. 2013. the summa and the fiction. science fiction studies 3. 451-462. huberath, marek m. 2014. nest of worlds. michael kandel (translation). brooklyn: restless books. kozicka, dorota. 2013. fantastyczni pisarze, czyli o tym, jak pisarze fantastyczni podbijają polską literaturę. wielogłos, 4. 105-116. leś, mariusz. 2008. fantastyka socjologiczna. poetyka i myślenie utopijne. białystok: wydawnictwo uniwersytetu w białymstoku. maj, krzysztof m. 2015. czas światoodczucia. imersja jako nowa poetyka odbioru. teksty drugie 3. 368-394. contronymy and semantic primes 26 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ paweł dziedziul university of białystok contronymy and semantic primes abstract: contronymy, that is sense opposition invoked by one word, can pose a serious conundrum from a theoretical standpoint. nonetheless, the prime concern of this paper is to introduce the phenomenon into a broader discussion within theoretical linguistics. to be more specific, the question at hand is: what kind of comprehensive and coherent theoretical construct can be adequate for semantic representation of contronymy? it will be demonstrated that the particular sense opposition can be classified as being linked with direct negation. a theoretical vantage point will be presented that addresses the cause of opposition via the means of the natural semantic metalanguage theory. this approach may shed some light on how to deal with the problem from a cognitive perspective. the underlying methodological assumptions of the presented framework, based on the idea of semantic primes, prove to be a coherent tool for encapsulating radical sense opposition manifested by contronyms. as an addendum to this prolegomena there will also be presented a brief discussion of some of the implications of contronymy for fields such as the theory of the human mind, natural language processing, artificial intelligence, machine translations and big data structures. keywords: contronymy, sense opposition, primitive concepts, semantic primes, negation, natural semantic metalanguage theory. what is frequently assumed about natural language is that it is to a fair degree different from formal languages and formal systems in general. on an interesting opening note, as wolniewicz (1980: 7) pointed out, it can be stated that the whole opposition of natural language vs. artificial/ constructed/formal language is somewhat skewed, as the modifier ‘natural’ in the latter may imply that symbolic logic and mathematics are somehow less natural, or at least man-made. this, however, is not the case, as logical laws and their imperatives seem no less natural, in the sense that they are discovered rather than designed. this can be considered as an aspect that is shared by both natural and formal languages alike. another example of the misunderstanding is the assumption that formal languages are fully explicit whereas natural languages simply are not. yet, for example in the “language” of mathematics, polysemy is not uncommon. the symbol of minus may mean the operation of subtraction or indicate a negative number. although the two ideas are linked at least intuitively, and the syntax of a mathematical equation resolves the ambiguity, the polysemy is quite obvious. a similar idea is present in programming languages under the term operator overloading, where programmers can reassign the semantics of an operator based on certain rules. even so, what one would expect form a formal system is that one sign/word of that system would doi: 10.15290/cr.2018.21.2.03 27 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ not convey opposite meanings, especially within a syntactic context. this is, however, the case when it comes to natural languages. the phenomenon of contronymy, which is the prime concern of this paper, is based on the idea that two opposite senses may be evoked by one word. to give an example one can examine the verb ‘to seed’ and come to the conclusion that it can be used in two opposite meanings: 1) as the action of putting seeds into some sort of object, or 2) as an action that is based on removing seeds. therefore, such an instance may be used to show a strong opposition between human languages and formal languages(or formal systems in general), as contronyms, as will be shown on further pages, also preserve their particular polysemy within well-formed phrases and sentences. to show what properties a mathematical equivalent would have to possess to mimic entities like contronyms, one may consider a minus sign, ‘-’, which can be used to symbolize not only subtraction, but also an idea that would contradict subtraction, such as addition, and moreover all of that within a full blown equation. such a situation seems to be uncommon to say the least within arithmetic or formal/programming languages, and it is hardly imaginable that such singularity would be of any use. the existence of the phenomenon of contronymy leads to questions about how distant natural languages are from formal languages, and whether formal methods are suitable for the analysis of english, polish, or any ethnic language. the idea of such stark sense opposition at first may seem difficult to capture from a strict theoretical perspective. nonetheless, as will be demonstrated, contronymy may be conceptually linked to negation, and by this token can be summarized and brought together using precise terminology. the main thread depicted here will lead to conclusions on what type of theoretical approach may be adequate for the natural language, and also what kind of impact contronymy may have on disciplines other than theoretical linguistics that would demand general cohesion. to briefly show the significance of this phenomenon in a contemporary context, suffice it to say that within big data structures it is not uncommon to have contradictory objects. computer software that has as its very purpose processing such structures, or even inferring on the basis of such constructs (automated reasoning), has to somehow cope with the inconsistencies. contronyms will be presented as an example of such a predicament. any linguistic system that holds in its dictionary entries like the verb ‘to seed’ has to manifest serious consistency problems. the paper will be concluded with a brief illustration of a theoretical approach to contronyms that seems viable. natural semantic metalanguage theory (nsm), developed and promulgated by cognitive linguists anna wierzbicka and cliff goddard, considering its particular characteristics that will be depicted in the last but one section, is conceptually compelling. semantic primes employed by the discussed theory include the logical operator of negation in the form of the concept not. with the use of this elemental particle of meaning it is possible to provide explications of contronyms using the natural semantic metalanguage, an approach that by definition does not use signs/words that evoke opposite senses. additionally, the discussed framework of nsm theory enables us to look at the human mind as a coherent system, despite the existence of words that can be summed up as examples of antilogy. 28 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ contronymy within the discipline of linguistics in recent years the phenomenon of two opposite senses concealed under one lexical unit has been examined to some extent, although only from the descriptive perspective (see karaman 2008). as karaman puts it: “that such a phenomenon exists in natural language is, according to some researchers, unthinkable since it seems to be an impossibility that a linguistic sign could signify ideas which contradict each other” (karaman 2008: 173). in light of those words a question comes to mind: what type of theoretical construct can account for the contradictions embedded in one single word in a coherent way? yet, before presenting a systemic approach to the discussed singularity, the general characteristics of the phenomenon have to be brought forward. words that possess opposite senses are labelled in the literature under terms such as: ‘contronyms’, ‘antilogies’, ‘auto-antonyms’, ‘two-faced words’, ‘janus words’ and many more. all those terms are treated as synonyms, although there are substantial differences among members of this category. karaman (2008: 175) proposes labelling the whole phenomenon under the umbrella term ‘contronymy’ and dividing it into subcategories that would account for the alterations, such as contronymy based on antonymy, incompatibility, reversivity, complementarity and conversivity. this is due to a broad definition that groups all members that have the discussed sense opposition which states as follows: “contronymy is a form of polysemy that can be defined as sense opposition at the micro-level. this occurs when a minimum of two senses of a polysemous lexical item contradict each other” (karaman 2008: 175). for the purposes of this paper the presentation will be limited to a few subcategories. at interest here are sense oppositions, such as those based on complementarity, incompatibility, as well as reversivity, although it can be claimed that the results are equally adequate for all contronyms1. the first example is a contronym based on reversivity in the form of the verb ‘skinned’, which can be used in opposite senses: (1) john skinned the banana. (2) john skinned the sofa. the polysemy based on reversivity, defined here, however, intuitively, is apparent and is based on the idea of a process that has two directions, and spans two opposite terminal states (karaman 2008: 184, 185). in the first sentence the meaning of the phrase revolves around removing the skin of the banana, whereas in the second one it is applying the skin that is relevant. therefore, the verb can be used in two opposite ways: (s1) to express the removal of something, and (s2) to express applying something. to add to the general descriptive analysis conducted by karaman, i would like to signify that one meaning also indicates the negation of the other. the acceptance of the sense (s1) implies 1 for a broader presentation of typology of contronyms, also with regard to antonymy, see karaman (2008) and klégr (2013). 29 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ that the negation of (s2) is true, as applying something means not removing the very same thing, and vice versa. when it comes to sentence (2), however, it is possible to imagine that somebody is actually removing the skin from a leather sofa. therefore, for example in sentence (2), it is possible that the same sentence may describe two actions simultaneously where one implies the negation of the other. the deeper idiosyncrasy of this verb can be brought forward by analysing it in the form of a predicate-argument structure. if the verb ‘skinned’ is treated as a monotransitive verb, as in the above examples (1) and (2), both senses have the same (as it is called within linguistics) valency, with the positions for the subjects and direct objects filled accordingly. increasing the number of arguments and treating it as a ditransitive verb, by for example introducing some sort of instrument in the form of a prepositional object, will not remove the discussed opposition. therefore, there is little to say about the nature of this stark polysemy by analysing the structure of the sentence, or to be more precise, when it comes to the argument structure of the verb. this is especially evident while imagining that one sentence can be understood in two opposite ways. hence, approaches that are based upon the predicate-argument structure will suffer in situations such as the one described above. it has to be stressed that such methods are prevalent among cognitive linguistics and are frequently employed in natural language processing as well as artificial intelligence: theories such as case theory (fillmore 1968), frame semantics (fillmore 1976) or construction grammar (goldberg 1995) to name a few. it is worth noting that the combination of the two latter theories was already implemented in natural language processing and reasoning (see minsky 1975 and spranger, suchan, bhatt 2016). in this sense the idea of a frame can provide the necessary background of non-linguistic knowledge that is relevant for interpreting the language structure (what kind of instrument is proper for removing and what kind of instrument is proper for applying skin to an object, etc.). in this case the ambiguous structure is filled by praxeological knowledge. the same scenario and analysis applies to other verbs that exhibit opposition to remove/ deprive of vs. to add/yield, just like the verb ‘to seed’ mentioned in the beginning of the article. another interesting example is the word ‘screen’. it may be considered as an example of a contronym based on incompatibility. this category is defined by karaman (2008: 178) as “terms which denote classes sharing no members. this lexical element can be used regarding things that have opposite functions”. the lexeme ‘screen’ can therefore reference an object that allows a certain observer to see a particular phenomenon, just as in the sentence below: (3) the phenomenon y can be seen because of the screen. simultaneously, its opposite meaning can be detected when an object shields the observer from a phenomenon: (4) the phenomenon y cannot be seen because of the screen. 30 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ therefore, ‘screen’ may refer to things that have the function of showing something (television screen), or of shielding from something (smoke screen). within the english language the difference of meaning cannot be mapped to the morphological structure. the root of the word ‘screen’ creates inflections such as ‘screened’, where the discussed singularity also persists. (5) the phenomenon y can be seen because it is screened. (6) the phenomenon y cannot be seen because it is screened. a slightly different situation however may be observed if the word ‘screen’ in sentence (5) would be supplemented by a different preposition, as in ‘the phenomenon y can be seen on the screen’. therefore, syntax can be at work when it comes to the disambiguation of this particular unit. on the other hand, if there is insufficiency of string structure, the ambiguity arises, as in: (7) y is screened. in this case there is clear ambiguity in the form of two potential opposite senses, and yet again the first meaning implies the negation of the other, as showing something by the means of something means not concealing something using the same thing. the next few examples are based on mutually exclusive binary pairs (binary opposition). examples of such contronyms (in the sense of imposing contradiction) can be shown by employing negative affixation to certain verbs or adjectives. for instance, english safety labels often explicitly enumerate together ‘flammable’ and ‘inflammable’ warnings on combustible materials, due to the fact that the prefix ‘in-’ may be incorrectly interpreted as changing the meaning of ‘flammable’ to ‘not flammable’. such lexical entities have the meaning that can be summarised with the use of symbolic logic as x and ¬ x. another such example, one that again might be significant when it comes to machine translations, is the contronym ‘periodic’ with its low-profile ambiguity. consider the following sentence coming from karaman (2008: 181): (8) periodic outbreaks of the disease are inevitable. depending on how accustomed the reader is with the word ‘periodic’ he can interpret the instance of an outbreak either as happening regularly (s1), or in an irregular manner (s2). therefore, the relation between two senses is contradictory. again, the discussed contronym bares the character of direct negation. only after short pondering does it become hard to believe that outbreaks of disease happen at stable intervals. however, this cannot be treated as an inference based on linguistic knowledge. 31 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ the final example again comes from karaman (2008: 183). at the micro-level, contronymy of complementary is the most extreme type of sense-opposition, and this time the preposition ‘around’ can be used in two distinct senses: (9) s1: my beta fish is swimming around the bowl. (10) s2: we sat around the table. as karaman (2008: 183, 184) elaborates: “in the above examples we can observe a clear boundary between the two senses. in s1, around can be associated with ‘the satellite object is part of the pivotal object’ (i.e. ‘the satellite object is in the interior of the pivotal object’), whereas in s2 it can be associated with ‘the satellite object is not part of the pivotal object’ (i.e. ‘the satellite object is on the exterior of the pivotal object’)”. this instance illustrates the idiosyncratic character of the natural language in a very clear way. contronymy of complementarity is an example of stark binary sense opposition. the author also cites a more mathematical explication of the nature of this type: within aspect a there are the lexical elements α1, α2, . . . . α1 is complementary with α2 if from the existence of α1 the non-existence of α2, from the existence of α2 the non-existence of α1, from the non-existence of α1 the existence of α2, and from the non-existence of α2 the existence of a1 can be concluded.” (lutzeier 2007, quoted after karaman 2008: 183) again, the discussed phenomenon manifests itself in the form of negation, as for the word ‘around’ if s1 is true, it implies that ¬s2 is true, and vice versa. as shown, the discussed sense opposition is closely linked to negation. this is due to the fact that one contronym possesses two senses that are related in such a way that one is, or implies, the negation of the other. it is easy to recognize that within one database entries like ‘screen’, ‘periodic’, or ‘around’, in the way that they function in the natural language, have to lead to conflicts. it is also apparent that the risk of the logical error of equivocation, that is the situation when one term is used in two opposite senses, is therefore substantial. it has to be stressed, however, that the fact that those words can have highly fluctuating meanings (even from one extreme to the other) does not mean that those words can mean anything, or that in linguistics “everything goes”. the range of possible senses of a word still has a limited scope that can be precisely accounted for from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. contronyms and other sense relations and features contronymy is also an interesting topic from the perspective of other sense relations and their features. the phenomenon was analyzed in this manner by klégr (2013) under the label of enantiosemy. the definition of the term used in the mentioned article is: “a case of *polysemy in which one sense is in some respect the opposite of another” (matthews 1997: 122). klégr gives an elaborate explanation on exactly why this sense relation should be classified within the realm of poly32 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ semy. first of all, there are at least two meanings, therefore monosemy is excluded. the two relevant senses are without a doubt related, therefore homonymy is also not applicable. additionally, it cannot be said that vagueness is a feature of those meanings. the possible interpretations that fall under the scope of a contronym are clear. hyponymy and hypernymy, although they are also polysemous categories that can have multiple word-internal sense relations (for example ‘pear’ understood as a tree or a fruit), also logically do not seem plausible comparans, not to mention synonymy. antonymy, on the other hand, seems the most intuitively related semantic concept to contronyms. some of the types of relations are indeed shared by antonyms and contronyms (directionality, converseness, etc., see karaman 2008; klégr 2013). although the phenomenon of contronymy is word-internal compared to the typical word-external opposites, some analysis can be carried out on both levels. this is to say that typical antonymy is a sense relation between two distinct and yet opposite words like hot/cold, whereas contronymy has the same opposite sense relation, but in reference to just one word. therefore, the link between the two is there. as klégr (2013: 19) puts it: “the fact that the same set of relations operate between and within lexical items is no doubt of cognitive significance”. the question that rises is whether, and if so to what extent, contronymy can be subjected to similar analysis as antonymy. markedness would be a feature that comes to mind of antonymous pairs that could be applied. yet again, it is another example of the difficulties that one encounters during examination of contronymy. unlike in antonymy over two distinct words (hot/ cold), or with the use of morphological negation (happy/unhappy, honest/dishonest etc.), there is no difference in the form of the two meanings. therefore, the apparent differences between antonymy and contronymy may have an impact on the applicability of tests for markedness. in fact it seems impossible to examine whether one sense may be dominant or broader than the other when it comes to contronyms. lehrer (1985: 398) gave an example of a useful tool that allows the identification of a marked member of the antonymy pair. it has to be noted that here antonymy is understood in the narrow, technical sense as an example of a sense opposition that has a gradable scale between the two extremes. let’s consider the questions ‘how happy are you?’ and ‘how unhappy are you?’, which reveal that the negative form carries an additional meaning that is not present in the first. this is to say that the negative form implies that the person asked is actually unhappy, and the question is just about the level of his unhappiness. the positive form does not hold this supposition (the marked member of the relation is neutralized). sentences like ‘how custom was the service?’ (‘custom’ understood as a common practice, or a special treatment) seem not viable for such analysis. on the other hand, lehrer (1985: 399) provides a useful way of identifying the marked member of the antonym pair that can be used for contronyms. this can be done with the use of sentences that discuss proportions and ratios, as in: john is { twice half as tall as bill. *sally is { twice half as short as sue. 33 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ by applying the same device to the contronym ‘fast’ (referring to either something moving quickly or something solid and unable to move) as in the sentence: ‘john is twice/half as fast as bill’ only one meaning is preserved, and that is the one revolving around quick movement2. therefore, features of antonymy such as markedness can be, at least partially, subject to similar analysis as antonymy. on a similar note, in some cases the meaning of a contronym can be limited to only one of the possible senses by concatenating a negative prefix. for example, words like ‘to unbolt’ (with the opposition of ‘to bolt’ as in to secure/to flee) or ‘to unbuckle’(‘buckle’ connect, or break or collapse) have only one meaning. one of the meanings of the pair of opposites can also bear more distinctive features over the other. an example of such a case would be the verb ‘to skin’, already discussed in the previous section, where one of the senses may exhibit a different valency in special circumstances, and in that sense can be grammatically marked. klégr (2013: 14) provides additional information that supplements the analysis conducted earlier on the verb ‘to skin’: in some (…) verbs enantiosemy is associated with in/transitivity; the intransitive meaning of the cow milks / the wound soon skinned is connected with the absence of the object due to the incompatibility of the subject with the agentive role. the opposite meaning is associated with transitivity: this use primarily results from the meaning of the verb which determines what can function as the object. another instance would be the derivation of the verb ‘to screen’, also mentioned previously. in the polish language this derivation possesses only one sense (the verb can only be used when something is used to block some sort of phenomenon). additionally, the use of this verb is rather technical, and is therefore significantly marked by frequency. another possible emanation of contronymy that should be mentioned is the use of two opposite senses under one lexical unit as a rhetorical device or as a colloquial, euphemistic or ironic expression. an example of such a type would be the use of the word ‘amazing’ when something went wrong, or using the phrase ‘you’re bad’ in a situation when somebody achieved success. klégr comments on this phenomenon in the following words: nevertheless, there is a fundamental difference between a rhetorical figure of speech and antonymous polysemy, a trope being a contextual use based on ad hoc interaction which expresses the intended meaning by an implicature, while enantiosemy presupposes the existence of two distinct lexical units. (klégr 2013: 12). in light of the above comment, the rhetoric/ironic devices were and will be excluded from further analysis in this paper. for deeper analysis see (klégr 2013: 15, 16). 2 it has to be noted that this example of a contronym does not manifest a gradable scale compared to the word ‘custom’. for more details on markedness and antonymy see lehrer (1985). 34 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ natural semantic metalanguage theory (nsm) as mentioned earlier, the topic of contronymy has not yet been addressed via a “global” theory of language. therefore, the main aim of this paper is to employ a linguistic theory that has gained some recognition in the literature to account for the discussed extreme sense opposition, namely natural semantic metalanguage theory (nsm). it can serve as an illustration of how the phenomenon can be approached from the cognitive linguistics standpoint. the semantic primes/ primitive concepts that this theory employs may be used to explicate the meaning of contronyms without falling into contradictions. this is due to the fact that the concepts of the natural semantic metalanguage have, by definition, only one distinct meaning. in essence nsm theory defines the human mind as a system that is based on coherent and consistent units of meaning and their combinations. the dictionary of the natural semantic metalanguage, although it may express all the meanings of any ethnic language, in essence consists of fewer words than any ethnic language. the multiplicity of meanings, including those that are contradictory, can be formed by combining the meanings of the semantic primes that are in core non-contradictory. the language of thought that is composed of the elementary particles of meaning, or lingua mentalis as wierzbicka would put it (see wierzbicka 1980), in the light of nms theory is a consistent and explicit structure in that particular sense. as the proponents of this approach claim, this is a comprehensive approach to the semantics of the natural language (see goddard 2003), and therefore the use of this theory may be considered as an expansion on what already has been done within the analysis of contronymy. just to give a brief outline of this framework, suffice it to say that it is a principle of tertium comparationis for the juxtaposition of different ethnical languages. because of the fact that this theory uses primitive concepts that are supposed to be innate, it is a useful tool to circumvent the problems of ethnocentricity, and also a few other difficulties in constructing lexicons such: circulus in definiendo, and regressus ad infinitum (see wierzbicka 1996: 11; goddard and wierzbicka 2001: 183). the particular characteristics of the framework discussed here can also help to solve other issues such as those raised by the existence of contronyms. anna wierzbicka associates the main foundations of this theory with leibniz’s concept of the “alphabet of human thought”. this is to say that all languages contain a palette of elementary units of meaning that are so clear and intuitive that they do not require any definition (wierzbicka 1996: 11). for instance, the particle see, just as the particle know (which was apparent to descartes) are so elementary for human cognition that to give a satisfactory definition of this unit is unthinkable (wierzbicka 1996: 48). therefore, nsm theory postulates the existence of a finite set of universal concepts that is an intersection over the sets of all concepts of all ethnical languages. moreover, this pallet of semantic primes is stable, native among human beings, and its members may be combined to form more geometrico complex meanings. one of the more recent accounts on the set of natural semantic metalanguage units includes particles such as (goddard 2012: 712-715): 35 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ table 1. the set of nsm units i, you, someone, something~thing, people, body substantives kind, part relational substantives this, the same, other~else determiners one, two, much~many, little~few, some, all quantifiers good, bad evaluators big, small descriptors know, think, want, feel, see, hear mental predicates say, words, true speech do, happen, move, touch actions, events, movement, contact be (somewhere), there is, have (something), be (someone/something) location, existence, possession, specification live, die life and death when~time, now, before, after, a long time, a shorttime, for some time, moment time where~place, here, above, below, far, near, side,inside space not, maybe, can, because, if logical concepts very, more intensifier, augmentor like~as~way similarity 36 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ the sets of elementary units of meaning undergo evolution. however, according to leading researchers within the field, the power of this set should not exceed 100 elements (goddard and wierzbicka 2001: 185). for reasons of limited space not all units can be discussed here, and the remarks will be limited to the most important unit of nsm from the perspective of this article – namely the particle not. the concept of negation was not included in the early literature concerning natural semantic metalanguage theory (cf. wierzbicka 1980). initially, wierzbicka thought that although all the evidence pointed to the fact that the concept of negation is universal, meanings like ‘don’t want’, or the idea of ‘diswant’ should not be considered cognitively primal and primitive. wierzbicka initially sought to tie the meaning of the unit with the unit want, as that would solve many problems regarding the disproportions between the meaning of ‘want’ and ‘don’t want’ and ‘know’ and ‘don’t know’ (‘don’t want’ may mean that somebody does not want something that much, and does not have to necessarily mean that he/she does not want that something at all). however, this approach proved to be unsatisfactory in the long run. finally, the factor that tipped the scales was the evidence on how quickly and adequately children in the early stages of language acquisition use concepts related to direct negation (see wierzbicka 1996: 89-91). data pointed to the interpretation that not is used in a discreet and combinatorial way in the sense that it is separated from other concepts. to recapitulate, in essence, the particles of the natural semantic metalanguage can be understood similarly to the prime numbers in mathematics. that is the numbers that are members of the natural numbers category greater than 1, and cannot be expressed by multiplying two smaller natural numbers. and conversely, a finite sequence of the products of prime numbers may be used to form any natural number that is not a prime number. therefore, a natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. moreover, every natural number that is not a prime number can be factorized as a product of primes. consequently, prime numbers can be regarded as equivalents of the primitive particles of meaning used in nsm theory, and composite numbers as compound concepts. the aim of this section is to demonstrate that those atoms of meaning may also be used to explicate contradictory words present in particular ethic languages, and this is where the analogy between mathematics and natural language breaks down. within nsm theory, contronyms regain their clear and intuitive interpretation. this is due to the fact that by definition the units of nsm are the elementary particles of meaning, which means that they possess only one meaning, and in that sense the dictionary of this theory is consistent. the most important particle of the nsm set for expressing the sense opposition is the logical concept not. this cognitive analogue of the logical operator of negation positioned within the definition of a lexical unit can account for sense opposition as well as contradictions congenital in contronyms. for example, in regard to the word ‘screen’ in the perspective of nsm, it is possible to denote a shared set of universal particles as well as its feature that accounts for the difference in two discussed senses. that is the substantive something, mental predicate see, non-mental predicate is, and the imagination and possibility unit if… would. the difference between the 37 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ two senses comes from the innerplacement of the additional shared unit, the logical concept not that is contained in one of the possible interpretations of the word ‘screen’. in this chain of reasoning it is possible to reconstruct two compound concepts of the lexical unit that are as follows: dscreen = a. x is something b. y does see z c. if there is no x, y does not see z dscreen’ = a. x is something b. y does not see|hear z c. if there is no x, y does see|hear z although the senses of the two compound concepts are based on an antilogy, in the metalanguage they contain not only a common set of nsm units, but also, to an extent, a common set of strings of nsm units. the difference in meaning comes from two universal particles, not and see, that form a relation that is the source of polysemy. consequently, two of those senses, within the english language, may connect to different syntactic structures regarding the prepositions ‘on’ and ‘because of ’. interestingly, for the definition to be complete another unit has to be added, namely the particle hear. however, it can only supplement the second meaning of the word ‘screen’ that stands for an obstruction of sound. in other words, when it comes to auditory functions of the human body the word ‘screen’ can represent only one meaning. nonetheless, the particle not within the natural semantic metalanguage may serve to reproduce the sense oppositions of the discussed contronym. another interesting example is the contronym ‘periodic’, as its sense opposition is based on the contradiction between the concepts of ‘regularity’ and ‘irregularity’, or ‘not regularity’. the definitions are as follows: dperiodic = a. this happens b. if it does not happen for some time, it will happen c. it does not happen once or twice, but many d. if it happens now after a long time, then after that it will happen after a long time e. if it happens now after a short time, then after that it will happen after a short time dperiodic’ = a. this happens a. if it does not happen for some time, it will happen a. it does not happen once or twice, but many 38 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ a. if it happens now after a long time, then after that it will not happen after a long time a. if it happens now after a short time, then after that it will not happen after a short time as depicted by the above explications the sense opposition can again be brought together by negation. component (a) indicates that it is an event, (b) that it is not instantaneous (duration is involved),and it happens repeatedly, (c) that it happens many times, and both (d) and (e) define whether those events happen in the same increments of time or not. the preposition ‘around’ can also be analysed in this framework, although its meaning is slightly more complicated. this is due to the fact that to express the idea of roundness it is necessary to use the so called semantic molecule. while the investigations conducted within the framework of nsm theory expanded, it began to be apparent that plausible explications of many of the elements of the lexicon require the usage of more complex structures than just the primes and universals (goddard 2012: 10). this is where the notion of semantic molecules comes into play. the members of this category are still divisible into combinations of primes of nsm and may be used as stepping stones when direct explication by the atoms of meaning is not possible. nonetheless, the two opposite senses of the discussed polysemy of different types can still be reproduced with unequivocal and unambiguous primes of natural semantic metalanguage, and the differences between them can yet again be mapped to the placement of the logical concept not. this also includes morphosyntactic contronyms such as ‘inflammable’. wierzbicka (1996: 223) gives an elaborate description of the semantic molecule of fire, which if associated with some sort of object and particle, the not may also be clearly defined. due to the nature of the explications available via the means of nsm, it is feasible to assume that this approach will be successful in relation to all contronyms. conclusions this paper aimed to show the idiosyncrasies of natural language in the form of contronyms and their explication by means of sematic primes. the existence of the discussed sense opposition may prove to be problematic in the fields of not only theoretical linguistics but also natural language processing, artificial intelligence or machine translation. however, the phenomenon may be tackled by means of natural semantic metalanguage theory, which has proved to be successful on the grounds of cognitive linguistics. when it comes to nsm theory, although one can observe “a trend towards increased systematisation and formalisation” (goddard 2008: 2), it has not yet been formalized in a sufficient way to be viable in the field of computer science. however, if not this particular theory, then any other framework that would use primitive semantic carriers of meaning might prove successful. the work of the members of the so-called moscow school of semantics (see apresjan 1992, 2000; mel’čuk 1981) was based on similar principles and has already received attention in practical applications within the field of it (see fähndrich 2014 et al.). nonetheless, the outline presented in this paper may become fruitful considering the claims of the major proponents of nsm theory, 39 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ which is “arguably approaching the standard expectations of a formalized metalanguage for natural language” (goddard 2006: 544). as a side note it can be said that contronyms help position natural language against formal systems such as formal languages, for example. in this perspective the natural language tends to have sense relations that are opposite to each other concealed behind one lexeme, and this radical polysemy can also be preserved in fully fledged sentences. this is definitely not a common behaviour among formal systems and, as mentioned at the beginning of the article, can be used as an example showing the stark differences between those systems and ethnic languages. however, one interesting to note fact is that from the perspective of nsm theory, the metalanguage embedded in all ethnic languages is in those terms similar to formal systems, as in this perspective the substance of lingua mentalis is based on semantic primes that have one meaning only. in other words, from this cognitive perspective it is possible to treat the human mind, at least on the level of semantics, as a coherent and non-contronymous system that is not based on antilogy. to demonstrate the significance such entities like contronyms one may point to the project nell (never-ending language learning system). this semantic machine learning system, developed by a research team at carnegie mellon university, was programmed to mimic the way humans absorb new data. it is supposed to learn by reading the content of the world wide web. the model of inferences is based upon: “(…) an initial ontology defining categories (e.g., sport, athlete) and binary relations (e.g., athlete plays sport (x,y))” and “approximately a dozen labeled training examples for each category and relation (e.g., examples of sport might include the noun phrases “baseball” and “soccer”)” (mitchell et al.). grounded on such input the program is supposed to “(…) extract, or read information from the web to populate a growing structured knowledgebase, and (…) learn to perform this task better than on the previous day” (carlson et al.). it becomes apparent that the inconsistencies caused by the phenomenon of contronymy within the natural language, if not dealt with correctly, must have an impact on projects like nell. nonetheless, the phenomenon is undoubtedly an interesting topic, showing the intricacies not only of language itself but also of human cognition, that calls for further investigation. references apresjan, jurij. 2000. systematic lexicography, trans. kevin windle, oxford: oxford university press. carlson a., betteridge j., kisiel b., settles b., hruschka e.r., mitchell t.m. 2010. toward an architecture for never-ending language learning. proceedings of the twenty-fourth aaai conference on artificial intelligence (aaai’10),1306-1313. fähndrich, j., ahrndta s., albayraka s. 2014. formal language decomposition into semantic primes. advances in distributed computing and artificial intelligence journal 3.8, 56-73. fillmore, charles j. 1968. the case for case. in: emmon. bach & robert t. harms (eds.), universals in linguistic theory, new york: holt rinehart and winston, 1-88. 40 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ fillmore, charles j. 1976. frame semantics and the nature of language. annals of the new york academy of sciences, conference on the origin and development of language and speech 280, 20-32. goddard, cliff 2003. thinking across languages and cultures: six dimensions of variation. cognitive linguistics 14 (2-3), 109–140, doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.2003.005. goddard, cliff 2006. natural semantic metalanguage. in: keith brown (ed.), the encyclopedia of language and linguistics. 2nd edition. amsterdam/heidelberg: elsevier. goddard, cliff. 2007. semantic molecules. in: ilana mushin & mary laughren (eds.), selected papers of the 2006 annual meeting of the australian linguistic society at: http://espace.uq.edu.au/. goddard, cliff. 2008. natural semantic metalanguage: the state of the art. in: cliff goddard (ed.), cross-linguistic semantics. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins publishing company, 1-34. goddard, cliff. 2010. the natural semantic metalanguage approach. in: bernd heine & heiko narrog (eds.), the oxford handbook of linguistic analysis, oxford: oxford university press, 459-484. goddard, cliff. 2012. semantic primes, semantic molecules, semantic templates: key concepts in the nsm approach to lexical typology. in: maria koptjevskaja-tamm & martine vanhove (eds.), linguistics. special issue on “lexical typology”, 50(3), 711-743, doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/ ling-2012-0022. goddard, cliff, wierzbicka, anna. 2001. język, kultura i znaczenie: semantyka międzykulturowa. in: elżbieta tabakowska (ed.), kognitywne podstawy języka i językoznawstwa. kraków: towarzystwo autorów i wydawców prac naukowych universitas, 175-202. goldberg, adele. e. 1995. constructions: a construction grammar approach to argument structure. chicago/london: the university of chicago press. karaman, burcu. i. 2008. on contronymy. international journal of lexicography 21 (2), 173-192. klégr, aleš 2013. the limits of polysemy: enantiosemy. linguistica pragensia 2, 7-23. lehrer, adrienne. 1985. markedness and antonymy. linguistics 21, 397-429. lutzeier, peter r. 2007. wörterbuch des gegensinns im deutschen. band 1: a g. berlin/new york: walter de gruyter. matthews, peter h. (ed.). 1997. the concise oxford dictionary of linguistics. oxford/new york: oxford university press. mel’čuk, igor a. 1981. meaning-text models: a recent trend in soviet linguistics. annual review of anthropology 10, 27–62. minsky, marvin. 1975. a framework for representing knowledge. in: patrick henry winston (ed.), the psychology of computer vision, new york: mvgraw-hill, 211-277. mitchell, t., cohen w., hruschka e., talukdar p., betteridge j., carlson a., dalvi b., gardner m., kisiel b., krishnamurthy j., lao n., mazaitis k., mohamed t., nakashole n., platanios e., ritter a., samadi m., settles b., wang r., wijaya d., gupta a., chen x., saparov a., greaves 41 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ m., welling j. 2015. never-ending learning. proceedings of the conference on artificial intelligence (aaai). association for the advancement of artificial intelligence (www.aaai.org). spranger, m., suchan j., bhatt m. 2016. robust natural language processing combining reasoning, cognitive semantics and construction grammar for spatial language. proceedings of the twenty-fifth international joint conference on artificial intelligence (ijcai-16), doi: arxiv:1607.05968 (12 april 2018). wierzbicka, anna. 1980. lingua mentalis. the semantics of natural language. sydney/ new york/ london/ toronto/san francisco: academic press australia wierzbicka, anna. 1996. semantics. primes and universals, oxford,new york: oxford university press. wolniewicz, bogusław. 1980. języki i kody. in: adam schaff (ed.), zagadnienia socjoi psycholingwistyki. wrocław: polska akademia nauk, instytut filozofii i socjologii, zakład narodowy imienia ossolińskich, wydawnictwo polskiej akademii nauk. the wrestling with a pig in the mud metaphor in the service of liberal ideology: a critical analysis 37 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) katarzyna pawłowska1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2019.27.4.03 university of białystok orcid:0000-0001-8945-6781 the wrestling with a pig in the mud metaphor in the service of liberal ideology: a critical analysis metaphor to a politician is what sex appeal is to an individual: a covert way of sending out messages of desirability jonathan charteris-black abstract. metaphors are used in political discourse in order to advance one particular view of the world whilst delegitimising other ideologies and belittling political opponents. the author verifies this claim by analysing the wrestling with a pig in the mud metaphor in light of the critical metaphor analysis model and by providing broad reference to the socio-political context of the 2019 european parliament election in poland. consistent with the premises of the selected paradigm, the investigation is performed at three intermingling levels. basic categories of source domains present in the complex metaphorical structure are identified at the descriptive level. at the interpretative level, attention is directed towards mapping out correspondences between source and target domains. finally, at the motivational level, the author identifies the ideological message and political intentions embedded in the metaphor’s use. keywords: conceptual metaphor, political discourse, critical discourse analysis, critical metaphor analysis. 1. introduction cognitive science has demonstrated that to a large degree we think and communicate by means of metaphors. this view of metaphor has now been around for almost forty years, if we take the 1980 publication of lakoff & johnson’s metaphors we live by as a sort of milestone. due to the methodological developments of the framework referred to as the conceptual metaphor theory (cmt), concepts such as source and target domains, 1 address for correspondence: department of linguistics, university of białystok, pl. nzs 1, 15-420 białystok, poland. e-mail: k.pawlowska@uwb.edu.pl 38 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) mappings, entailments, invariance, topology, inference and so forth, have become familiar vocabulary for analysing not only linguistic, but other conceptual phenomena. the universality of metaphorical conceptualisation suggests that metaphor should not be seen merely as a source of knotty puzzles for readers, but rather as an enlightening and helpful carrier of meaning. steen (2004: 1298) observes that metaphorical language may be argued to simultaneously perform linguistic, conceptual, and communicative functions in discourse. “the transition of metaphor from language to thought in the old contemporary theory is being followed today by another transition, from metaphor in thought to metaphor in language, thought, and communication” (steen 2011: 43). the researcher proposes a three-dimensional model for metaphor, in which “linguistic, conceptual, and communicative properties of metaphor are examined as relatively independent and interacting aspects that may affect all kinds of processes in production, reception, interaction, acquisition, learning, maintenance, and so on” (steen 2011: 43). metaphors are highly persistent in contemporary discourse, especially in so-called mediated discourse in which they function as fundamental persuasive devices. political actors communicate with their voters as well as with their opponents for the most part through the mass media. it is in the media and through the media that metaphors are produced, continually distributed and entrenched. furthermore, it is argued that these mediated metaphors conform to particular frames which are privileged over and above other frames, thereby shaping our understanding of politics. political rhetoric cannot be reduced to metaphor alone as it is just one among many rhetorical tools used for the purpose of persuasion. however, metaphor remains important because metaphorical phrases very often become the core of argumentation. remarkably, the general intention of this study is to redress the air of neglect surrounding the perlocutionary potential of the complex cognitive phenomenon referred to as conceptual metaphor used in political persuasion. though the effects of metaphorical framing are studied from various perspectives and by making use of diverse methods, the central hypothesis that metaphorical frames influence people’s political views and decisions has gained widespread acceptance in scientific circles (e.g., charteris-black 2004, 2005; kövecses 2006; lakoff 2009; mio 1997; musolff 2004, 2010, 2014; perrez et al. 2019). consistent with the basic premise that metaphors are discursive devices used to “create social reality and guide social action” (lakoff & johnson 1980: 156), this paper in part investigates the possibilities of combining two frameworks: critical discourse analysis (cda) and conceptual metaphor theory (cmt). it is argued from a critical realist perspective that these methodologies pose different, yet complementary questions about the nature of conceptualisation and political discourse. cda scholars methodically scrutinise the interdependence between language and social structure − real-world changes, both actual or hypothetical, are examined as an outcome of communicated linguistic impact. drawing upon the premises of critical 39 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) thought as well as pragmatics, the critical metaphor analysis (introduced by charterisblack 2004) aims at reducing the methodological disparity between critical analysis and cognitive linguistics. the integrated study framework provides a dual lens which can be applied to explore qualitative data, simultaneously interpreted both as mental phenomenon and discursive practice. actually, the premises of cmt and cda may profitably inform each other. essentially, the lakoffean-johnsonian proposal opens up the possibility of tracing not only the bodily but also the cultural, historical and contextual patterns to an underlying set of metaphors. 2. critical analysis of mediated political discourse the term ‘discourse’ is wide enough to encompass all aspects that critical scientists aim to analyse as it includes “all forms of spoken interaction, formal and informal, and written texts of all kinds” (potter & wetherell 1987: 7). such an extensive spectrum of relevance results in an enormously large number of definitions proposed by various scholars. one of the first who substantially contributed to this issue was michael foucault. the french philosopher defines discourse as “an entity of sequences, of signs, in that they are enouncements (énoncés), statements in conversation” (foucault 1969: 233). more contemporary scientists emphasise contextual and cognitive aspects of discourse. for instance, tyson characterises discourse as “a social language created by particular cultural conditions at a particular time and place” that expresses “a particular way of understanding human experience” (tyson 1999: 281). van dijk, who analyses discourse from a socio-psychological perspective, defines it as “a communicative event, including conversational interaction, written text, as well as associated gestures, facework, typographical layout, images, and any other semiotic or multimedia dimension of signification” (van dijk 2001: 98). consider van dijk’s assertion (1988: 1-2): “developments in the study of discourse in such diverse disciplines as speech communication, cognitive psychology, social psychology, microsociology, and ethnography have shown that discourse is not simply an isolated textual or dialogical structure.” essentially, discourse is influenced by a plethora of diverse factors and realised in different forms that might be impossible to spot individually. in his article “multimodality”, van leeuwen states that discourse “is almost always multimodal” (van leeuwen 2015: 447), which means that “different semiotic modes (…) are combined and integrated in a given instance of discourse or kind of discourse” (van leeuwen 2015: 447).2 as a consequence, discourse analysis should not be limited to an explicit account of structures per se. still, though other modes, for instance images, may function as 2 kress & van leuveen, the leading researchers in the field of multimodal studies, define multimodality as “the idea that communication and representation always draw on a multiplicity of semiotic modes of which language may be one” (2001: 67-68). 40 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) rhetorical devices, the multimodal approach in cda does not suggest that the importance of verbal communication is being downplayed. on the contrary, it is principally language that performs the function of persuading the audience and arousing their emotional response, and for this reason critical discourse analysts predominantly concentrate on verbal forms of discourse. consistent with the theoretical standpoint adopted in this paper, let me base this analysis on the definition proposed by bischoping & gazso, who view discourse as “a web of meanings, ideas, interactions and practices that are expressed or represented in texts (spoken and written language, gesture, and visual imagery), within institutional and everyday settings” (2016: 235). since this paper is about the relationship between language, cognition and politics, let me focus on the type of interaction that has a sort of social dimension, namely political discourse, understood here as “the institutionally bound text and talk of politicians (…) produced in institutional settings” (van dijk 1997: 20). van dijk emphasises that to count discourse as political, it should be ‘done’ by politicians in professional contexts: “in a more action-oriented way, we may also say that discourse is political when it accomplishes a political act in a political institution, such as governing, legislation, electoral campaigning, and so on” (van dijk 1997: 20). it is important to note that although van dijk admits that politicians as authors of political discourse and other political practices are crucial in political science, they are not the only participants in the domain of politics. thus, from the interactional perspective, it should also include other recipients in political communicative events such as the public, the people, citizens, the ‘masses’, and other groups or categories (van dijk 1997).3 an important part of the political system is communication of information and mass media play a central role in this process. media culture is still extending and developing its forms from more traditional such as newspapers, magazines, cinema, video, radio and terrestrial television to more advanced, using coxall et al.’s terminology ‘globalized’ means, which include multi-channel satellite, cable and digital television, the internet and other embryonic modes such as mass texting (coxall et al. 2003: 156). coxall et al. (2003: 156) observe that one of their major roles is to provide “the potential for (a) person to link up with other like-minded individuals anywhere in the world to create a ‘virtual’ organisation through which they can pursue political goals.” taking a constructionist attitude, cottle argues that “[media] representations do not so much ‘distort’ reality as productively provide the means by which ‘reality’ is actively constructed and/or known” (cottle 2000: 10). van gorp (2007) provides a detailed account of how cultural frames embedded in media content (either deliberately or unwittingly) which interact with the 3 in this respect see wilson (2015), who refers to studies (e.g., liebes & ribak 1991), whose authors argue that family talk about political events could also be considered political discourse. 41 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) mental schemata of individual readers or receivers, work as a bridging device between cognition and culture and thus are a fundamental part of the dynamic process whereby social reality is (re)produced, shaped and transformed. these ways of knowing and believing form the basis of the everyday, common sense ideologies which for many people are the underlying foundations of ‘truths’ about the social world they live in and the value system that should guide behaviour in it (van dijk 1998). nevertheless, shaping the mental models of the recipients is not the objective per se – it would be meaningless if done for the sake of just doing so. from the point of view of the social actor who is engaged in such a process, it is invaluable because it may also influence future actions of the addressees. van dijk observes that mass media will generally focus on ‘facts’ that are consistent with elite political interests (1998: 184). subjects that are indeed in control of a broad range of public discourses and social events are what van dijk defines as elite institutions. van dijk puts it in the following words: “in modern societies, discourse access is a primary condition for the manufacture of consent, and therefore the most effective way to exercise power and dominance” (van dijk 1996: 102). however, van dijk stresses that sole access does not guarantee any influence over the recipients, as there are diverse forms of resistance (1995: 13): “special access to the minds of the public does not imply control (…) rejection, disbelief, criticism, or other forms of resistance or challenge may be involved and thus signal modes of counterpower.” essentially, political rhetoric is an outstanding discipline that is best-suited to go hand in hand with its counterpart, namely critical thinking − the skill that enables us to peel back the formulas, thus revealing the content of arguments resistant to manipulations, delusions, and deceptions. critical discourse analysis, which has now become one of the most extensively used discourse analysis paradigms, is the model which primarily aims at uniting linguistic analysis and ideological critique. it absorbs the research achievements of many other disciplines such as psychology, sociology, ethnology, mass media, etc. the leading figures in the field are fairclough, hodge, kress, wodak, van dijk, van leeuwen. critical approach primarily assumes a dialectical relationship between language and other social elements. for instance, fairclough explains his view of this unitary system in the following manner: “(...) language connects with the social through being the primary domain of ideology, and through being a site of, and a stake in, struggles of power” (1989: 14-15).4 most important in fairclough’s model (1989, 1995) is the correlation between text, interpretation, and context. the researcher distinguishes clearly-defined steps (or stages) along with the three dimensions of discourse when conducting studies 4 fairclough’s (1995, 2001) analytical model is composed of some critical social theories, such as foucault’s concept of orders of discourse, gramsci’s theory of hegemony, and habermas’ colonization of discourse, etc. 42 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) with the theory of cda: the description stage, the interpretation stage, and the explanation stage – the general model adopted by the critical metaphor analysis scholars. habitually, cda viewed metaphor as an element of micro-level analysis.5 it is probably due to the findings of cognitive science which recently resulted in the fact that this complex issue has received appropriate attention and is no longer treated as just a rhetoric trope, but is viewed as “central to cda since it deals with forming a coherent view of reality” (charteris-black 2004: 28), and is used to “persuasively convey evaluations and constitutes a potentially ideological property of texts” (sacristan 2005: 221). political metaphor emerges from both the physical as well as social context in which it is produced and it cannot be interpreted without the reference to personal background of discourse participants and both historical as well as situational context of use, i.e. mesoand macro-levels in fairclough’s classification.6 chilton (2004) argues that language and political behaviour should not be merely seen as instances of social practices. on the contrary, because both are fundamentally based on cognitive traits of the human mind, political discourse should be primarily understood and examined as “necessarily a product of individual and collective mental processes” (chilton 2004: 51). adopting a cognitive viewpoint, chilton considers metaphor an essential part of these processes, most of which are situated beyond the area of informed voter control. 3. conceptual metaphor and its processing metaphor, as a phenomenon, involves both conceptual mappings and individual linguistic expressions. however, the two must be kept distinct: “the locus of metaphor is not in the words themselves, but in our mental images and in the way we conceptualize one mental domain in terms of another” (lakoff 1993: 203). metaphor theorists commonly use the term ‘metaphor’ to refer to conceptual mapping, and the term ‘metaphorical expression’ to refer to the individual linguistic expression (word, phrase, or sentence) that is sanctioned by this mapping (which is what the word ‘metaphor’ referred to in traditional theories that regarded metaphors as artistic and very often deviant linguistic expressions whose meaning, if any, is reducible to some set of literal propositions). more technically, metaphor can be understood as a “cross-domain mapping in the conceptual system” (lakoff 1993: 203) which basically “has three parts: first, a fixed conceptual 5 fairclough distinguishes “three-dimension framework of studying discourse”: micro-level (at which “aspects of linguistic analysis are considered, as well as the use of metaphors and rhetorical devices”); meso-level (at which “aspects such as author of a text and its target audience” are considered); macrolevel (at which “intertextual and interdiscursive elements, along with societal currents affect the given text”) (1995: 51) (quoted after barry et al. 2006). 6 personally, i am convinced that conceptual metaphor is a linking device between all of the three levels of analysis. 43 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) domain that is the source; second, a fixed conceptual domain that is the target; and third, a fixed metaphoric mapping at the conceptual level of entities, relations, knowledge, reasoning patterns, image-schemas, and schematic structure from the source to the target” (turner 1991: 158). in the cmt model, metaphorical mapping is primary to language, which is secondary. the enormous productivity of metaphorical conceptualisation results from the unique ability of metaphor to carry over details of extensive knowledge from the source domain to the target domain.7 this knowledge is not only carried over to the target, but metaphoric mapping is also a means of shaping our comprehension of the target, which is probably the most important reason why metaphors are such valuable devices in political communication. according to lakoff (2009), political debates are metaphorical competitions or even “wars on metaphors” which become routine forms of communication (both spoken and written) totally acceptable to a broader audience who more often than not accepts the role of a passive witness. in his more recent politically focused publications, lakoff defines conceptual metaphors as “frame-to-frame mappings across conceptual domains” and linguistic metaphors as “surface reflections of those conceptual mappings” (lakoff 2012: 776). lakoff primarily focuses on the effects of linguistic metaphors on individuals’ attitudes and behaviour by means of metaphorical framing understood as “selecting some aspects of a perceived reality and making them more salient in a communication text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described” (entman 1993: 52).8 by shaping the inferences that people make about the domains described with the help of metaphorical frames, metaphors help to organise complex information. framing effects of metaphor is not a marginal issue and as such should not be overlooked as a phenomenon. however, because of space limitations, let me provide the most concise account of this complex issue which obviously deserves a more serious examination. for instance, musolff promotes the view of framing as “establishing a particular set of frames as the dominant one in the public political debate, thus setting its agenda as well as target topics and values, and influencing its outcome” (musolff 2019: 3). musolff argues that an account of framing in its “emphatic sense,” as advocated 7 lakoff refers to such “carryovers” as metaphorical entailments, which are “part of our conceptual system” (lakoff 1987: 384) and divides them into two types: ontological and epistemic. ontological entailments result from fixed ontological correspondences, which means that entities in the target domain have systematic correspondences in the source domain. epistemic entailments are a result of “correspondences between knowledge about the source domain and corresponding knowledge about the target domain” (lakoff 1987: 385). 8 the issue of metaphorical framing turns up already in metaphors we live by when the authors write: “political and economic ideologies are framed in metaphorical terms. (…) a metaphor in a political or economic system, by virtue of what it hides, can lead to human degradation” (lakoff & johnson 1980 [2008]: 236). 44 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) by lakoff, “is aimed at performing a twofold task: first, to identify and describe the existing frames for a target topic, including the emergence of a new frame and second, to diachronically analyse their discursive development through semantic-pragmatic exploitation and contestation so as to demonstrate the possible dominance of one frame or a set of frames over others” (musolff 2019: 3). it is most important to realise that metaphorical structuring is usually partial, not total: in most cases only a part of the metaphorical concept involved fits the whole mapping. this happens because the role of particular mappings is to highlight certain aspects of concepts and hide others. in reference to metaphor recognition, gibbs observes that “people often comprehend and interpret metaphors without having to recognize, either consciously and unconsciously, that an expression is of a certain type (e.g. that it is a metaphor, as opposed to a literal statement)” (1992: 577). many metaphors, which very often “resonate with latent symbolic representations residing at the unconscious level” (mio 1997: 130), might appear invisible because we understand them straight away and effortlessly and their metaphorical character usually goes unnoticed. mio further argues that people “comprehend or even recognize a metaphor without making any assessment of its aptness (i.e. its appreciation)” (1997: 130).9 however, this view is not universal. steen observes that in “the original thesis of cognitive linguistics, (metaphor was viewed as) a matter of backstage cognition, automatically but unconsciously utilizing entrenched cross-domain mappings which have been acquired during people’s cognitive and linguistic development” (2011:59).10 far from it, steen claims that “metaphor may manifest itself in communication when it is used deliberately, and then it is a matter of conscious thought by challengeable metaphorical models with a predominantly social function, as an official, contested, implicit or emerging metaphorical representation of some aspect of the world” (2011: 59). essentially, processing metaphor has to do with the system of inferences that discourse participants (more or less) habitually implement to determine what conceptual metaphors indicate about the target domain. maalej argues that in its varied manifestations, discourse guides us to old and new conceptual metaphors and “linguistic metaphors that trigger old conceptual metaphors are of the conventional kind, and do not require a lot of cognitive processing” (maalej 2007: 137). in different circumstances, more immediate, local contexts can very often prime the use of particular novel metaphors (see e.g., boroditsky 2001; gibbs 2006; steen 2011; steen et al. 2017). as with entrenchment, mutual 9 a metaphorical expression can be perceived as apt or not, depending on the quality of the cross-domain mapping (for a more detailed analysis of the issue of aptness see e.g., steen et al. 2017: 2865). 10 the most conventionalised connections are represented by primary metaphors such as affection is warmth, important is big, happy is up, intimacy is closeness, bad is stinky, difficulties are burdens, more is up, categories are containers, similarity is closeness, linear scales are paths, etc. (for details see grady 1997; lakoff & johnson 1999). 45 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) coherence, productivity, and other aspects, metaphorical conventionality is a matter of degree. kövecses calls the most conventional and deeply entrenched metaphors clichés (kövecses 2002: 30). in reference to polish discourse of politics, metaphorical clichés typically use sports, games, war, theatre, transport, furniture, and cooking as source domains for mappings (see e.g., burzyński 2013). some of them are so de-lexicalised that they already have the role and status of terms found in official studies, e.g., scena polityczna, dziura budżetowa, zaciskanie pasa (eng. the political scene, a budget hole, belt-tightening). steen et al. argue that “(w)hen a specific concept is repeatedly used figuratively, people become familiar with the intended meaning of the metaphor, and the metaphor becomes conventional” (2017: 2862).11 the investigators acknowledge the positive influence of conventional metaphors on message comprehension and they argue that conventional mappings “make a text more concrete, clear, and easy to understand” (steen et al. 2017: 2863). on the other hand, steen and colleagues admit that because “recipients enjoy it when a message allows them a new insight into something familiar” (steen et al. 2017: 2862), novel metaphors have more potential to increase attractiveness and imaginativeness of the message. due to the underlying mechanism of “affective text perception,” novel metaphors can affect people’s issue viewpoints and thus positively influence affective responses to a communicated message (steen et al. 2017). 4. critical metaphor analysis traditionally, most research in cognitive linguistics went on to argue that metaphorical conceptualisation arises to a significant extent, from recurring aspects of embodied experience (johnson 1987; gibbs 1997; lakoff & johnson 1999). people systematically characterise abstract ideas, thoughts, religious beliefs, political and ethical situations in terms of bodily movements, functions and experiences. any recurrent pattern of experience is describable by means of image schemata, i.e. embodied prelinguistic structures of experience. johnson’s (1987) and lakoff’s (1987) analyses of the role of image schemata in cognition and language showed the ways in which the aspects of experience formed at the preconceptual level organise every dimension of our reasoning and understanding. out of the basic bodily interactions, our schematic senses of object, balance, force, cycle, etc. become extended and modified. it is out of these basic cognitive tools that more complex cognitive models of reality are constructed.12 11 consistent with the premises of the career of metaphor theory (bowdle & gentner 2005), a shift in the mode of processing takes place when metaphors become conventionalised: novel metaphors are processed via comparison and conventional metaphors are processed by means of categorisation. 12 as a consequence, the main constraint of metaphoric conceptualisation, namely the invariance principle, emphasised the role of image schemata (turner 1990: 254). 46 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) and more recently, apart from addressing other points of controversy, metaphor researchers (e.g. kövecses 2015, 2017; rakova 2002) have cast doubt on the underlying issue of the embodied mind approach as emphasising the role of universal bodily experience instead of the interaction of body and context and their relationship to culture. kövecses (2017) sees context as a priming device in the production and comprehension of metaphors in discourse, where priming is understood as a phenomenon in which exposure to a stimulus, such as a word or image, influences the response to a subsequent, related stimulus.13 according to kövecses (2017: 19), priming is based on the simulation of some experience in the following contexts: situational, discourse, bodily, and conceptual-cognitive. all four of these context types can be broken down into various kinds of specific contextual factors (for details see kövecses 2015). “the metaphors based on the situational, the discourse, the conceptual-cognitive context, together with the bodily one that involves unique features of individual bodies may represent the majority of cases of metaphor use in natural communicative situations” (kövecses 2017: 26). discourse metaphors are context-related verbal expressions containing a construction that evokes an analogy negotiated in the discourse community. actually, in-depth studies of metaphors in discourse show that their use and comprehension are influenced by a large variety of contextual factors (fairclough 1995; barnden 2009; charteris-black 2004; leezenberg 2001). van dijk proposes the idea that contextual content is represented by the conceptualisers as a “context model,” i.e. “a cognitive model of the situation in which such communication takes place that comprises a number of components, including the following: setting (time, location, circumstances, props) and happening, which consists of actors (individuals or groups) and activity/ conduct” (van dijk 2009: 39). critical metaphor analysis is a paradigm that basically brings together mind, discourse, and socio-cultural context. it is defined as an “integration of cognitive, semantic and pragmatic approaches that is based on corpus evidence” (charteris-black 2004: 13). allowing for the combination of several characteristics of metaphors such as the cognitive, the rational and the historical, this model does not pose the question of whether we understand metaphor, but rather the question of how we understand it within an authentic context of use. consistent with fairclough’s pattern of analysis, summarized by liu & guo (2016: 1078) as a combination of “whatness,” “howness,” and “whyness,” cma attempts to: “identify which metaphors are chosen and to explain why these metaphors are chosen by illustrating how they create political myths (in addition to indicating) how the metaphors of one social or political group may be taken over, exploited and developed by those of another for competing ideological ends” (charteris-black 2004: 28–9). 13 within social psychology, this process has specifically come to be defined in terms of how events or actions influence the activation of stored knowledge (higgins & eitam 2014). 47 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) the model consists of three steps: description, interpretation, and explanation, which are argued “to work in a complementary fashion, with each step motivating the next one” (maalej 2007: 152). technically, at the description stage the metaphor analyst “seeks to discover a potential frame, explicit or implicit, to which metaphoric processing and/or processing metaphor are applied in view of writing the conceptual metaphors behind discourse” (maalej 2007: 152). interpretation consists of spelling out the elements of the mapping (involving two types of governing correspondences: ontological and epistemic) and making the necessary inferences that constitute a system of entailments. as a cognitive-pragmatic step, explanation “is captured through two pragmatic functions of metaphor, namely, evaluation and persuasion, which relate the conceptual, individual part of the mind to its shared, social one − or social/cultural cognition” (maalej 2007: 149). at this stage, in all probability the most interesting aspect for a critical analyst, is that the main intentions and objectives of political actors are explained. a fundamental question is: what intent drives a political actor to use a particular metaphor to describe a certain political state of affairs or reach a well-planned goal? the cma approach most usefully takes into consideration the issue of intentionality as ingrained in the use of metaphors in political communication. politicians deliberately use different discursive tools to foster the processes of othering and polarisation. van dijk (1998, 2009) defines ideologies as the underlying social beliefs and values that form the basis of the organization and control of social representations shared by members of a group, including representations of the self and others. one of the fundamental underpinnings of such ideologies is the delimitation of ‘us’ and ‘them’ in the form of the ingroup-outgroup polarisation which serves to self-represent the ingroup, organise its social practices and promote the interests of its members with respect to other social groups (see van dijk 2011). van dijk (2011: 396) argues that one of the most common strategies of “ideological control in discourse” is the well-known and widely-applied ideological square. the principles of metaphor use follow the overall goals of positive self-presentation and negative other-presentation that we can observe in the ideological square. that is, we, our people and our actions and properties tend to be described in metaphorical meanings that derive from conceptual fields with positive associations; whereas the opposite is true for the description of our political opponents or enemies. within the overall strategy of positive self-presentation and negative otherpresentation, we may thus expect that the two groups are characterised by reversed values, where the opposition is always the embodiment of evil, referred to in polish media as e.g., trup polityczny, bankrut polityczny, talibowie (corresponding in english to political corpse, political bankrupt, the taliban), while the other side is always characterised as e.g., anioł pokoju, partia boga, matka sukcesu (an angel of peace, god’s party, the mother of success), etc. essentially, as many political metaphor researchers demonstrate 48 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) (e.g., charteris-black 2004; lakoff 2009; van teeffelen 1994), the power of metaphors in the field of politics lies in its prowess to stress certain details and connections while simultaneously minimising others. 5. critical analysis of the wrestling with a pig in the mud metaphor in its political context in the 2019 european parliament election in poland, from the very beginning only two committees had a realistic chance of winning: law and justice (pol. prawo i sprawiedliwość) – the ruling party with a conservative-populist profile, and european coalition (pol. koalicja europejska) – a pro-democratic coalition consisting of five opposition parties that openly support the processes of westernisation and secularisation coming from the west. in such a context, there arose questions both about the political commitment of the polish catholic church and about the instrumental use of the church by the political right. as indicated by the number of baptised catholics (86%) and self-declared regular church-goers (38%), poland is one of the most catholic countries in the world (rozkrut et al. 2018: 114). in 1998 the vatican-poland concordat was ratified. due to the role of the catholic church in the complicated history of the country, especially during the 123-year-long period of partition and in the post-1945 communist era, catholicism is still an important component of national identity. the catholic ethical code and values are respected by the majority of self-declared catholics, who hold rigid views about social topics such as lgbt rights, abortion, euthanasia, in vitro fertilisation, traditional families, mass migration from muslim countries, and so on. what is really happening in the brains of poles is that there are two fundamentally different modes of perception of those sensitive issues; one fundamentally progressive, the other fundamentally conservative, to use lakoff’s terms (2009). this sharp division, dubbed as the polish-poland war (pol. wojna polsko-polska), is visible and audible throughout the streets of polish cities and villages, and in people’s homes is presented and reinforced by the media. three weeks before the european parliament election, donald tusk, the co-founder and ex-chairman of the biggest opposition party: civic platform (pol. platforma obywatelska), the prime minister of poland from 2007 to 2014 and currently the president of the european council, gave a lecture on “hope and responsibility. on constitution, europe and free elections” at the auditorium maximum of the university of warsaw. however, it was not tusk’s methodical presentation that became one of the most widely commented on political events of 2019 in poland. moments before tusk’s address, one of the organisers of the meeting, leszek jażdżewski, delivered his 10-minute support speech. jażdżewski is the editor-in-chief of liberté!, a member of the association of journalists and an expert on international politics. in reality, tusk’s lecture which had 49 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) been billed as the main point on the agenda, was given little, if any, media attention in comparison to the enormous interest triggered by jażdżewski’s introductory presentation. in his politically and ideologically committed manifesto jażdżewski, who is an involved political activist, strongly attacked, among others, the catholic church. the journalist referred to sexual and financial scandals involving priests, saying among other things, that nowadays the society should not look for moral values in the church, claiming that if christ were to be alive at the present time in poland he “would most likely be crucified by those who use the cross as a stick to drive the humble sheep into the pen.” essentially, metaphorical expressions permeated and dominated the whole speech and constituted the discursive backbone of its argumentative structure. however, the example which deserves special attention of both a political commentator and of a linguist is the wrestling with a pig in the mud (pol. zapasy ze świnią w błocie) metaphor, which was most probably aimed at providing an effective punch line to jażdżewski’s speech as well as ultimately paving the dedicated liberal’s way to his own political rank and success. after the speech, this metaphor was vividly discussed by the media and other political actors (as well as by the broader public), which within a couple of weeks turned jażdżewski into a political media celebrity. the persuasive goal of the liberal speaker was to emphasise the immorality and bad nature of the conservative catholic church in poland. jażdżewski based his argumentation on the common tendency to metaphorically project the attributes of animals onto different types of organisations and currently held values in human society. he used the novel expression which framed the catholic church as a ruthless, greedy animal; namely, a pig. the metaphor, which is far more entrenched in english and part of commonplace public communication in this language, has scarce tradition of use in polish linguistic culture. actually, the foremost national corpus of polish (narodowy korpus języka polskiego) mentions its use only once. wrestling with a pig in the mud is an example of a situation when a certain image – the image of a human fighting with a pig in the mud, and consequently its image-schematic structure − is part of the mapping.14 generally, image metaphors map only one image onto one other image. what an image metaphor really offers language users is the possibility of mapping some of the very rich imagistic detail of the image. it is the proliferation of detail in the images that limits image mappings to highly specific cases and makes them “one-shot” mappings (lakoff 1993: 229). apparently, image metaphors in comparison to structural metaphors may lack rich inferential structure. however, as lakoff & turner (1989: 8, 92) observe, image metaphors can trigger structural-conceptual metaphors. in fact, metaphor is capable of building up meaning all the way from the most basic levels to the most sophisticated 14 invariance is also present as the basic image schemata activated by this multifaceted mapping are object, contact and counterforce. 50 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) and creative ones (see lakoff & turner 1989; grady 1997). as a consequence, metaphorical expressions are not expressions of isolated meanings, but they represent particular levels of a hierarchical organization, in which the mappings at the lower level of the hierarchy inherit the structure of the mappings at the higher level.15 in ‘doing cda with the contemporary theory of metaphor’ maalej refers to gibbs’s (1994: 117) claim that a rich set of entailments can be drawn from any metaphor. some entailments may be specifically intended by the speaker or author of the metaphor, while other ones might be unauthorised but still understood as being reasonable (maalej 2007: 147). actually, “[w] e can invent new metaphors by figuring out the image-schematic structure of the target and finding a source that matches it” (turner 1991: 174). in the case of the wrestling with a pig in the mud metaphor, the planned persuasive effect results from what charterisblack (2004: 35) calls “a tension between a literal source domain and a metaphoric target domain.” how can wrestling a pig in the mud be used in the sense of debating with the catholic church? this is obviously accomplished via a system of metaphorical correspondences and their entailments. essentially, it is an example of a composite metaphor in which we deal with hierarchical organisation of interplaying structures. the image metaphor stimulates activation of higher-level mappings, namely basic-level structural metaphors the catholic church is a pig, (a subcategory of people are animals and the institution is an organism), argument is war, and immorality is dirt.16 in accordance with the contemporary metaphor theory, in the case of the basic conceptual metaphor the catholic church is a pig, the source is our concept of pig and the target is our understanding of church in terms of pig. the metaphoric mapping connects our concept of pig to our understanding of church in terms of pig. through the metaphor people are animals, attributed animal behaviour is mapped onto human behaviour: we can infer that the catholic church is selfish, insatiable, and as thoughtless as pigs are thought to be. actually, we cannot neglect the range of inferences provided by two generic-level metaphors, viz. the generic is specific and the great chain of being (for details see lakoff & turner 1989: 166-168; turner 1991: 167-169; and especially krzeszowski 1997: 64-74). the inferences are done by mapping attributes and behaviour characteristic of one level – animals, represented by a specific-level instantiation (a pig), onto attributes and behaviour at another level – humans (in this particular case the high-ranking members of the catholic church clergy). what is crucial in the structure 15 metaphors higher up in the hierarchy, e.g. the great chain of being (gcb), the event structure, or generic is specific, tend to be more widespread than mappings representing lower levels. gibbs claims that the event structure and similar metaphors are universal, while metaphors at lower levels are more culturally restricted (gibbs 1994:154). 16 the idea that simple metaphors interact to yield more elaborate conceptualisations has been discussed by researchers working in the cmt framework (especially see lakoff and turner’s 1989 discussion of ‘composite’ metaphors, and grady’s 1997 explicit analysis of the “unification” or “binding” of metaphors). 51 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) of the great chain of being is the fact that different forms of being are characterised by their highest level of attribute. in wrestling with a pig in the mud the correspondence on which we base the projection between the catholic church and a pig is the highest level of attribute of animals – their instinctual nature, which makes their behaviour primitive and ruthless in their struggle for survival. the mapping highlights competitiveness and aggression as features shared by humans and animals. more specifically, the rulers of the religious institution, whose beliefs are formulaically fortified against any self-doubt, are seen as acting according to the behavioural traits ascribed to a thoughtless pig. it is important to note that the particular analysed projection is unidirectional and asymmetric. goaty (2006: 34) observes that the most common animal metaphors for humans are pejorative, suggesting that it is desirable to distance ourselves from animals, both conceptually and emotionally. the researcher mentions some naturalist theories that emphasise symbiosis and cooperation between humans and animals and claim that it is natural and right to behave as animals do. yet, goaty stresses that most sociobiological approaches prove that our differences from animals are what makes us most human and notes the prescriptive character of metaphor patterns that reflect the strong tendency to regard animal behaviour as something for humans to avoid (for details see goaty 2006). actually, what jażdżewski wanted to attain by comparing a disliked and corrupt institution to a disgusting, selfish, and insensitive pig was to reduce the catholic church’s rank in the hierarchy of beings, rather than to elevate the pig’s position to the higher level occupied by humans or institutions. following lakoff & johnson’s idea that “argument is partially structured, understood, performed, and talked about in terms of war” (1980: 4-5), everyday language automatically applies warlike vocabulary such as fight, battle, struggle, defeat, survive, attack, win, etc. to any confrontational situation. still, it is political discourse that makes remarkably ample use of the deeply entrenched and thoroughly described argument is war metaphor (see e.g., ling 2010). conflicts between politicians are often understood as a physical confrontation in a battlefield and politicians are seen as fighters. in particular, election debates are framed as duels between the candidates who apply different strategies and use different types of weaponry against their opponents. jażdżewski’s example also fits into this model. it takes advantage of elements such as the physical contact between the fighters, battlefield and weaponry. the catholic church as a pig and the opposition as its human opponent are fighters who struggle in the field of mud, namely the contemporary polish political arena, understood here as a type of battlefield. in the case of jażdżewski’s example, not logically justified arguments, but invectives are weapons used to humiliate and defeat the opponent. literally, only the human participant has access to this sort of arms, as a pig is incapable of speaking. however, it has an extra weapon at its disposal, namely cloven hooves, which give it excellent traction. wrestling with the pig is a sort of fierce competition in which the human participant 52 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) is given no time to think and realise his tactics. the receiver of jażdżewski’s speech should easily infer that this sort of battle is utterly useless: it drastically exhausts the opposition and brings no ideological benefits. associated with the wrestling with a pig in the mud image metaphor is another basic conceptual structure, namely immorality is dirt and some of the actions that are its further developments, e.g. cleaning, washing. sherman & chlore (2009: 1025) claim that “more than merely a rhetorical device for moral discourse the moral purity metaphor is a deeply embodied phenomenon covertly shaping moral cognition.” the embodied symbolism of physical cleansing, which suggests a psychological association between bodily purity and moral purity, manifests itself more than ever in the sphere of religion and religious ceremonies based on the sacred functions of water. lakoff & johnson argue that the link between cleanliness and the prescribed and widely accepted moral standards can be explained by the fact that “morality is fundamentally seen as the enhancing of well-being, especially of others” (1999: 291). actually, two most prominent target domains structured by the concepts pertaining to physical cleanliness are morality and sexuality (see e.g., deignan 1997). the parallels established between the cleanliness of the body and moral purity are used to construct a major pair of oppositions: morality is purity and immorality is dirt, which share the common entailment purifying is cleansing. morality is purity is related to purity is cleanliness (for details see lakoff & johnson 1999: 307). lizardo (2012: 380) observes that apart from the fields of sports and war, the conceptualisation of immorality as dirt is also prominent in the sphere of politics, the participants of which are prone to break moral principles in order to achieve the specific goals they aspire towards. in polish political discourse, frequent collocations of cleanliness, e.g., czyste sumienie, czyste intencje, czyste ręce (literally a clean conscience, clean intentions, clean hands) reveal association of cleanliness with decent moral behaviour and are overly positive, while the connection between immoral conduct and dirt is expressed by explicitly negative expressions such as brudna robota, brudny interes, brudne ręce (dirty work, dirty business, dirty hands). the metaphorical structure guides the recipients’ moral judgment – the catholic church is highly immoral: instead of remaining pure and unblemished it is smeared with mud. at this point of the interpretation there is still a chance for improvement, as dirty items can be washed in order to bring them back to their previous state of cleanliness. lakoff & johnson (1999: 308) argue that “the question of moral rehabilitation amounts to the question of whether it is possible to clean up one’s act and restore purity of will.” however, it is doubtful whether catholic authorities are able and willing to clean their moral dirt, if it is washable at all. definitely, the metaphorical pig does not want it because it gains a lot of pleasure from brawling in the mud and especially from making itself dirty. in that sense it is anything but unemotional. 53 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) what is most important, is that the persuasive impact of jażdżewski’s metaphor does not result from its conceptual content alone. actually, it is the emotional force of the wrestling with a pig in the mud that makes it value-laden and ideologically determined. conventional mappings enable political actors to convey certain easily digestible ideas, which certainly play an important role in the ideological assimilation of a given metaphor. on the other hand, if a new frame is easy enough to catch on, due to the psychological effect of priority and freshness, it may be better remembered by a target voter. in a broader perspective, by selecting such an emotion-laden novel example, jażdżewski hoped to provoke and activate his audience. he wanted the metaphorical spectators watching the scene of wrestling with a pig in the mud to identify with the better, human side of the conflict, and eventually manifest their identification at the ballot box. 6. conclusion as vehicles of covert messages, metaphors are used by political actors with precise strategic aims. by letting us conceive complex social issues in terms of commonplace entities, events and activities, they make politics less abstract and more tangible to a broader audience. essentially, they are used in order to advance one particular view of the world whilst discrediting other ideologies and belittling political opponents. especially novel mappings become powerful persuasive tools used to support political campaigns. the wrestling with a pig the mud example was deliberately chosen by leszek jażdżewski in order to fan the flames of political conflict rather than seek consensus-based solutions and in this way activate political participation. it is the critical analyst’s role to equip the recipients of discourse with the realisation that far from being 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discourse, power and access. in: c. r. caldas-coulthard & m. coulthard (eds.). texts and practices. readings in critical discourse analysis, 84-104. london: routledge. van dijk, t. 1997. what is political discourse analysis? belgian journal of linguistics 11: 11-52. van dijk, t. 1998. ideology: a multidisciplinary approach. london: sage. van dijk, t. 2001. multidisciplinary cda: a plea for diversity. in: r. wodak & m. meyer (eds.), methods of critical discourse analysis, 95-120. london: sage publications. van dijk, t. 2009. society and discourse: how social contexts influence text and talk. cambridge: cambridge university press. van dijk, t. 2011. discourse and ideology. in: t. van dijk (ed.), discourse studies. a multidisplinary introduction, 379-407. london: sage. van gorp, b. 2007. the constructionist approach to framing: bringing culture back in. journal of communication 57(1): 60-78. van leeuwen, t. 2015. multimodality. in: d. tannen, h. e. hamilton & d. schiffrin (eds.), the handbook of discourse analysis (2nd edn), 447-461. london: john wiley and sons. van teeffelen, t. 1994. racism and metaphor: the palestinian–israeli conflict in popular literature. discourse and society 5(3): 381-405. wilson, john. 2015. political discourse. in: d. tannen, h. e. hamilton & d. schiffrin (eds.), the handbook of discourse analysis (2nd edn), 775-794. london: john wiley and sons. *** katarzyna pawłowska is a lecturer at the faculty of philology of the university of białystok. her main teaching areas are descriptive grammar of the english language, comparative linguistics and discourse analysis. she obtained her ph.d. degree in cognitive semantics from the university of warsaw. her current research is in the area of critical discourse analysis, with particular focus on deliberate usage of conceptual metaphors in political persuasion. a contribution to the implicit/explicit debate on grammar learning: the case of contrast connectors 45 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles ana luísa costa1 instituto politécnico de setúbal, portugal/centro de linguística da universidade de lisboa orcid id: 0000-0002-2529-4135 a contribution to the implicit/explicit debate on grammar learning: the case of contrast connectors abstract: in this paper, studies on language acquisition and development are seen as most relevant to grammar teaching and learning. grammar teaching may be conceived as a process of building awareness of the language used from the earliest stages, as well as a process of scaffolding knowledge depending on later language development. in this perspective, grammar instruction (including curricular orientations) must take into account what belongs to spontaneous linguistic knowledge, and which linguistic knowledge crucially depends on the richness of discourse experiences at school. data on the acquisition of contrast connectives in european portuguese will support the idea that, even assuming that some innate principles rule early language acquisition, linguistic proficiency depends on language learning experiences accumulated through years of schooling. furthermore, language development is not entirely accomplished by linguistic mastery: the ability to explain language through language may be considered a later stage of linguistic accuracy, associated with formal instruction. keywords: grammar learning, grammar teaching, implicit knowledge, explicit knowledge, metalinguistic knowledge, language acquisition, language development. 1. introduction this paper intends to contribute to the implicit/explicit debate on grammar learning and teaching through an example from language acquisition studies: the case of contrast connectives. the aim of this study is to discuss the nature of knowledge involved in grammar teaching and learning at school, within the field of educational linguistics and, in particular, within what may be referred to as grammar didactics. 1 address for correspondence: escola superior de educação do instituto politécnico de setúbal departamento de ciências da comunicação e da linguagem campus do ips, estefanilha 2914 504 setúbal, portugal. e-mail: ana.costa@ese.ips.pt doi: 10.15290/cr.2019.24.1.04 46 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles in the first sections, the conflict between pedagogical approaches, as well as the concepts “implicit knowledge,” “explicit knowledge” and “linguistic awareness” in portuguese curricular guidelines are presented through the example of a grammar topic: contrast connective words. within a transmission model, grammar contents are mainly lists of terms and concepts to be “learned by heart,” independent from children language experience. this traditional view on grammar teaching prevails in some teachers’ practices and even remains in some portuguese official syllabi (dgidc 2009b, dge 2015). such a perspective in the official guidelines has been criticized by many authors, as, for instance, rodrigues (2017) or costa et al. (2018). supporting an approach for grammar teaching where the starting point to build (explicit) knowledge about language is “in children’s heads” (hudson 1992: 10), the work by duarte (1992, 1998), hudson (1992) and sim-sim et al. (1997) had a strong influence in teacher training programs (see freitas et al. 2007; duarte 2008; gonçalves et al. 2011), as well as in former and recent curricular guidelines (dgidc 2009a; dge 2018). following this approach, grammar at school must take into account children linguistic (implicit) knowledge and use. before being able to identify and classify specific linguistic structures and processes, children need to use it successfully for communication. moreover, the ability to manipulate the target structures with some degree of consciousness is seen as the crux of the matter in grammar learning (duarte 2010). grammar at school is, then, conceived as a process of becoming aware of language knowledge and use (duarte 2008; sim-sim et al. 1997). these two extreme perspectives (the transmission model and the language awareness model), other theoretical gradients2, and teachers’ concepts have made the history of portuguese grammar teaching a “potpourri” of theoretical and methodological ideas. in this context, the concepts “implicit knowledge” and “explicit knowledge” are at stake and will benefit from some theoretical clarification (section 2). if the starting point for formal grammar learning should be the implicit linguistic knowledge children bring to school, comprising their early oral intuitions about language, studies on language acquisition and development may provide interesting cues to grammar teaching. this is the case of contrast connectives, explored in section 3. in the final sections, methodologies for grammar teaching accounting for language development are explored. again, from the portuguese educational context, an example of grammar lab (see duarte 1992, 1998, 2008) is presented, along with other methodological proposals, within an eclectic perspective in the field of grammar didactics (section 4). summarizing, section 5 highlights some characteristics that mark the difference between the former grammar teaching proposals and the transmission model. 2 in the last decade, portuguese language teachers had to deal with 4 different syllabi and curricular guidelines in basic education: national curriculum for basic educations – essential skills (deb 2001), a reference guideline until 2012; portuguese syllabi for basic education (dgidc 2009a); portuguese syllabus and goals for basic education (dge 2015); portuguese essential learning (dge 2018). 47 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles 2. the implicit/explicit debate the debate on the implicit and explicit language knowledge has filled thousands of pages on language learning research. it is easy to find summaries of this discussion in handbooks and other recent publications (see spolsky & hult 2008; ritchie & bhatia 2009; rebuschat 2015). the concepts “implicit/explicit knowledge” may address very different issues. in rebuschat (2015), arthur reber is remembered as the coiner of the term “implicit learning”, which was the title of his ma thesis from the 60’s. opposing chomsky’s nativism theory, reber’s interest was focused on communication: “children don’t learn language; they learn to communicate. it’s a social learning process” (reber 2015: vii). for the author, “implicit” is explained as a euphemism of choice for “unconscious”. following this framework, “implicit learning” means a process during which knowledge is acquired without instruction, and without subjects becoming aware of the knowledge acquired. on the other side, “the term explicit learning refers to a process during which participants acquire conscious (explicit) knowledge; this is generally associated with intentional learning conditions, e.g., when participants are instructed to look for rules or patterns” (rebuschat 2015: xiii). in other words, in a comprehensive meaning, the implicit/explicit dichotomy may be understood in terms of the unconscious/conscious nature of the process of learning. in this study, within the scope of educational linguistics, the implicit/explicit terms will specifically concern implicit/explicit grammar knowledge at school, in first language3 formal education contexts. since the focus will be on the educational process, in the field of grammar didactics, the concepts of implicit/explicit grammar are used to describe both the kind of instruction that would better support grammar learning at school, as well as the nature of the linguistic knowledge involved in grammar learning. recognizing that when children arrive at school, they already successfully use the grammar of their first language to communicate, the implicit/explicit dichotomy is also used to characterize the kind of spontaneous knowledge about grammar they bring to school, and the kind of knowledge about grammar which schooling needs to provide. as hudson (1992: 10) states, “[w]e assume, then, that children already know (unconsciously) a great deal of grammar before they reach school.” naturally, children’s spontaneous grammar is the grammar of their first oral language in family contexts, not necessarily the standard dialect teachers want them to use (hudson 1992; duarte 1998). the origin of implicit and explicit grammar knowledge is explained differently according to differing linguistic schools. yet, it is not the aim of this study to explore theoretical quarrels. it is assumed that educational linguistics is not an extension of the battlefield for linguistic theories. instead, educational linguistics constitutes an autonomous research field that interacts with other subjects, including linguistics and its branches: “we seek then not to apply linguistics, but to derive from its many branches and from other fields that study language, the knowledge that will 3 in language education, much of the available literature on implicit and explicit learning is due to research on second language acquisition, being the work by rod ellis a reference on the focus-on-forms vs. focus-on-form debate, as well as in the discussion about the goals for explicit learning in focus-formed instruction. see, for instance, ellis (2010). 48 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles help in developing the language capacity of others” (spolsky 1999: 2)4. accordingly, this study tries to investigate different perspectives that are either in full agreement or almost in agreement and that may be helpful to educational goals. karmiloff-smith (1992) proposes a model integrating results from nativism to piaget's cognitivist psychology, in a coherent cocktail of theoretical explanations for linguistic, cognitive and social development: one can attribute various innate predispositions to the human neonate without negating the roles of the physical and sociocultural environments and without jeopardizing the deep-seated conviction that we are special – creative, cognitively flexible, and capable of conscious reflection, novel invention, and occasional inordinate stupidity. (karmiloff-smith 1992:1) karmiloff-smith’s eclectic proposal has the advantage of illustrating a way to explain natural language acquisition as well as late linguistic development, and integrates concepts such as “implicit” and “explicit”, while considering different degrees of awareness of explicit knowledge. furthermore, the author indicates that what is special about the human child is the potential to analyze his own knowledge, including linguistic knowledge: “young children go beyond behavioral mastery, beyond fluent output and successful communication, to exploit the linguistic knowledge they have already stored. it is this that ultimately allows them to become little linguists.” (karmiloff-smith 1992: 48) as far as linguistic development is concerned, the representational redescription model (rr model) is a process by which implicit linguistic information, unconscious and stored in the mind, becomes progressively explicit knowledge, available to the mind to be manipulated. the child’s early internal representations are redescribed, leading to the emergence of conscious access to linguistic knowledge. the rr model includes four levels at which knowledge is represented and rerepresented: (i) implicit (i); (ii) explicit-1 (e1); explicit-2 (e2); and explicit-3 (e3). the author also states that these diverse forms of representation are not age-related stages of linguistic development. they must be interpreted as parts of a reiterative process acting in different micro-domains and through the linguistic development span. a concrete example the acquisition of french articles – illustrates how the rr model accounts for the pathway from implicit to explicit linguistic knowledge. it is assumed that children are sensitive to nominal markers in language acquisition in general. the french language marks the definite/indefinite opposition with two different articles (le/un); the indefinite article has the same form as the numeral – masculine un and feminine une (the same description holds for portuguese). in comprehension, as well as in production, children around the age of 3-years-old reach behavioral mastery for each function of this article/numeralform in separate contexts without mistakes, which may correspond to the implicit knowledge in level 1 representations. by the age of 5, data show sensitivity to differentiation of functions. for 4 moreover, spolsky claims that the relationship between linguistics and education is not a direct one: “while it is evident that linguistics is often relevant to education, the relation is seldom direct” (spolsky 1978: 1). 49 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles instance, children produce une voiture for ‘a car’ and une de voiture for ‘one car’. this degree of sensitivity (also found in comprehension contexts) illustrates the redescription of stable internal knowledge in explicit internal data, in the e1 format. this internal representation explicitly marks the relationship between an identical form and different functions. however, representations in the e1 format are not yet knowledge available to conscious access. the passage from explicitly represented knowledge (e1) to consciously accessible knowledge and to verbal report is marked by the ability to give verbal explanations about language. first, children explain their linguistic guesses on the basis of real-world knowledge (eventually without verbal report, as it would be in level e2). with later development, children become able to refer explicitly to linguistic clues (that they had already been using unconsciously) to explain verbal facts, with verbal report. again, an example from the noun determiners development is given in karmiloff-smith (1992: 59): “you must be talking to the boy because you said ‘lend me the (stressed) car’”.5 all the different levels may be activated by the speaker (child or adult) for different goals, from level i for rapid and unconscious language use to explicit metalinguistic tasks with level e2/3. although the rr model postulates four levels, the author, indeed, only refers to three, without a clear distinction between level e2 and e3, both resulting from later development and involving conscious access, underpinning metalinguistic knowledge.6 a three-level model was proposed as well to support explicit grammar teaching in portuguese curricula (sim-sim et al. 1997), where, differently from the transmission model, the knowledge of grammar should account for what develops naturally, through the language acquisition process, and what needs to be learned, and consequently, needs to be intentionally taught through formal education (see duarte 1992; sim-simet al. 1997). in this model, a recursive and non-age-related process from (i) implicit linguistic knowledge and (ii) linguistic awareness, leading to (iii) explicit knowledge explains the raising of metalinguistic knowledge. the three concepts involved may be presently found in the portuguese curricular guidelines. for a decade (2001-2012), in the portuguese syllabi, grammar was even termed “explicit knowledge of language”.7 studies on late language acquisition and on portuguese didactics support this approach for grammar teaching (see costa 2010; gonçalves et al. 2007; freitas et al. 2010). although “implicit knowledge” may be explained in terms of the nativist principles of the universal grammar (costa et al. 2017a), in teacher training programs and curricular guidelines, the definition of each concept comes from consensual assumptions in linguistic theories. the idea of “implicit knowledge” 5 for a complete contextualization of this experiment, see karmiloff-smith (1992: 32-63). 6 karmiloff-smith (1992: 23) states: “i distinguish three levels of representational format: i, e1, and e2/3. for the present purposes, i do not distinguish between levels e2 and e3, both of which involve conscious access. no research has thus far been directly focused on the e2 level (conscious access without verbal report); most if not all metacognitive studies focus on verbal report (i.e., level e3).” 7 for instance, in the portuguese language from 2009 syllabus (dge 2009a), the subject contents were named oral comprehension, oral expression, reading, writing and explicit knowledge of language. 50 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles is associated, again, with the unconscious grammar knowledge that underpins language communication; it depends on spontaneous (acquisition and) learning. the “linguistic awareness” level is a stage of consciousness that, for instance, allows young children to play with rhymes or to be sensitive to ill-formed sentences. it is also the kind of linguistic capacity that is activated during the writing process (duarte 2010). finally, by “explicit knowledge” it is meant the reflective and systematized knowledge about the intuitive system that speakers know and use; it is also the metalinguistic knowledge of the rules that organize the oral and written language systems, and it always depends on intentional teaching and oriented learning (duarte 2008). to sum up, a crucial idea arises from the implicit/explicit debate: reaching the mastery of each aspect of linguistic knowledge through the spontaneous learning process is not the end of the language development pathway. a level of metalinguistic capacity (seen as the e2/3 level in karmiloff-smith 1992), or the “explicit knowledge of language” (in sim-sim et al. 1997) guarantees a very human characteristic of language: the capacity to use language to explain and think about language. this capacity is associated with late language development and with formal instruction contexts, where grammar teaching should play a meaningful role (see karmiloff-smith 1992; simsim et al. 1997; menyuk and brisk 2005; berman 2004; costa et al. 2017a).8 3. linguistic knowledge and grammar contents: the case of contrast connectives in the previous section, a relationship between what is known about language acquisition and development and explicit grammar knowledge was made. the case of contrast connective words will now be used as an example of how grammar teaching designs should take into account what children already know when they enter school, and what needs to be fostered through intentional instruction, in order for grammar learning to become a meaningful activity. 3.1. notes on methodological issues data on the acquisition and development of european portuguese contrast connective words come from different studies on the: a. production of the first connective words in early oral spontaneous speech of three children aged 1; 5.9 to 3; 11.129 – corpus santos (2006), costa et al. (2008). b. oral comprehension, elicited production and written production of contrast connectives by children and adolescents aged 9; 3.13 to 16; 2.09 in school contexts (costa 2010). c. written production of contrast connectives in early argumentative writing by children from 2nd grade and 4th grade (costa et al. 2017b). 8 metalinguistic knowledge, associated with school experiences, as an important step in language development is also present in the idea of “linguistic literacy” (berman 2004) and in the description of maturational changes in language development through school ages (menyuk & brisk 2005). 9 representation of a child’s age in number of years; months days. 51 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles d. the effects of explicit knowledge on contrast connectives in argumentative writing skills of 9th grade students (costa 2010). as far as the educational research is concerned, data were collected within a naturalistic approach (hyland 2002). oral and written tasks were integrated into regular classroom activities, and tutored by classroom teachers, with whom the researcher established a protocol. written texts were transcribed in the childes format, in chat, in order to get a semi-automatized analysis of connective uses (frequencies and concordances), and text-oriented research was followed (hyland 2002). table 1 summarizes the data sample selected to illustrate the case of contrast connectives. table 1 –data sample study writers opinion texts words costa, carreto & cerqueira (2017b) 37 students (2nd grade) 49 1533 tokens costa (2010) 24 students (4th grade) 24 3888 tokens 55 students (9th grade) 110 19806 tokens regarding the study referred to in d), on the relationship between grammar teaching and writing skills, the design integrated (i) a pre-test, which consisted of a diagnosis for written argumentation skills; (ii) a grammar lab on contrast connectives, included in a writing project on argumentative texts; (iii) a post-test, again with an argumentative written task. grammar lab will be explained in section 4. 3.2. contrast connectives at school connective words are an example of typical grammar content. how are portuguese syllabi designed for the teaching of contrast connectors? table 2 shows this content at each level. table 2. contrast connectives in portuguese syllabi grade primary school (age 6-9) 2nd cycle (age 10-11) 3rd cycle (age 12-14) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 writing contents textualization: discourse connectors grammar contents connective adverbs: contudo, porém… (‘yet, however…’) coordination: adversative conjunctions: mas (‘but’) subordination: concessive conjunctions: embora, apesar de, aindaque… (‘although, in spite of, nevertheless…’) (see dge 2015) 52 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles regarding grammar instruction, in what seems to be implicit instruction, there is a general reference to discourse connectors integrated into writing contents from 4th to 6thgrade. explicit instruction only arrives in the 3rd cycle, after students reach the age of 12. it should be noted that the two semantic classes of contrast connectors – adversative and concessive10 – are taught separately in 7th and 8th grade. building the bridge between these two classes, which is a wise reflection to avoid connector repetitions in written texts, depends on teachers’ linguistic training. there is no reference to implicit or explicit instruction about any kind of connective words in the first three years of primary school. besides, there is no orientation to the sort of work to be done in the 9th grade. above all, there is no intended articulation between writing and grammar: tackling this area, or not, remains up to teachers’ discretion. therefore, teachers need pedagogical insights on how grammar learning works. 3.3. contrast connectives knowledge and development in a pedagogy where the starting point must come from students early and spontaneous experiences, one should consider what children know about contrast connectors before school and during school years. this is when looking at the (implicit) grammar they bring to school may provide meaningful clues to pedagogy. how does the study of the acquisition of contrast connectors help grammar didactics? what do pre-school children know about contrast connectors before they reach school? in a study on the early acquisition of connectors in european portuguese (costa et al. 2008; costa 2010), mas (‘but’) was found between the first connective words beginning from the third year of life. the order established for the subset of connective words studied is represented in (1). in (2) an example from an early use of mas (‘but’) with a contrastive meaning is given.11 (1) e > mas > porque > se ‘and’ ‘but’ ‘because’ ‘if’ (2) chi: não, é uma canoa ve(r)melh(a). mas não é do pai. (tomás, 2; 7.13) ‘no, it’s a red canoe. but it is not father’s [canoe].’ at about the same age, the same order was found in dutch, in a study by evers-vermeul (2005), represented in (3) and (4). (3) en > maar > toen > want ‘and’ ‘but’ ‘then’ ‘because’ (4) chi: slagboomgaatniet open. maarhijkanwelerdoor. (peter, 2; 8.22) ‘barrier does not open. but he can do it.’ 10 for a comprehensive study on contrast, see rudolph (1996). 11 the first production of mas (‘but’) in the corpus santos (2006) emerged at the age of 2;1.7. 53 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles a similar order of acquisition had been established for english, in diessel (2004), a study on the acquisition of complex sentences from where example (6) was taken. (5) and > because > so > but > when > if (6) chi: but… it’s raining here. (peter 2; 6) for all three languages, the adversative connective is acquired before the age of 3, and it is the only connective word used in spontaneous oral speech to express contrast for the first three years of life. however, the word but is not the single open resource used to express contrast between propositions. when do children begin to use other contrast connectives? when do subordination concessive connectives become available? in his early work, piaget (1924) concludes that before the age of 11/12 the full comprehension of these connectors is not accomplished. the idea that concessive structures are acquired later is expressed in different works, even though recent data found concessive uses (comprehension and production) by children younger than piaget’s informants. according to diessel, in english, there are “no concessive clauses marked by although or whereas” before the age of 512 (diessel 2004: 157) and the same goes for european portuguese: no concessive connector was found in the corpus santos (2006) before the age of 4. however, between then and the beginning of primary school, the first concessive word must emerge, since some children in 4th grade already understand successfully one or two concessive connectors. in figure 1, the rate of right answers in an oral comprehension task is represented: students from 4th grade reached results above 50%. figure 1. concessive connectives oral comprehension task (costa 2010) 12 diessel (2004) studied five english-speaking children aged from 1;8 to 5;11. 54 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles still, not all children use, e.g., understand and produce, the concessive connective words assessed. in costa (2010), in a study with children from different school cycles and a control group of educated adults, considering the same oral comprehension task, the comparison of hits shows that the comprehension of concessive connective words is not entirely accomplished by the end of primary school (39% of wrong answers). oral comprehension of concessive connectives grows throughout the years of schooling. the same curve may be observed in an elicitation task (fig. 2), where children had to build sentences with concessive connectives. in this task, students had results below 60% by the end of primary school. figure 2. concessive connectives elicited production task (costa 2010) looking now at the use of adversative and concessive connectors in opinion written texts in 2nd grade, and at the end of primary school, in 4th grade (fig. 3), contrast is almost exclusively expressed by the adversative connector mas (‘but’), as it should be expected because concessive knowledge is then still under development. figure 3. adversative and concessive written production (costa, carreto & cerqueira 2017b) 55 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles what pedagogical conclusions should we draw from this data? does this mean that it is useless to teach the adversative connective because it is spontaneously learned by the third year of life and it is, somehow, unconsciously used in early written speech? does this mean that it is useless to teach concessive connectives since they will be naturally learned? or, on the contrary, does this mean that only concessive connectives should be explicitly taught at school, since but is spontaneously acquired? more data, on formal writing performances, should be taken into account. considering the use of adversative and concessive connectors in the 9th grade, when students already have comprehension skills and elicited production reaches levels similar to adult behavior (see fig. 1 and 2), the implicit knowledge of concessive connectors is not being mobilized to improve writing: teenagers in a written task used almost exclusively the same connector as they had been using in spontaneous oral speech since they were two years old (fig. 4). figure 4. written production 9th grade, pre-test (costa 2010) some empirical evidence supports the idea that explicit grammar instruction may enhance the use of concessive connectors. in a case study with 9th grade students, after a grammar lab (see section 4) on the explicit functioning of adversatives and concessive sentences, in the written production post-test task the use of concessive connectors increased: as it is shown in figure 5, students used mas (‘but’) fewer times and structured more sentences with diversified concessive connective words. figure 5. written production 9th grade, pre-test, and post-test (costa 2010) 56 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles in the post-test task, textual complexity, including better syntactic fluency, semantic and pragmatic density, as well as lexical diversity were improved in written argumentation. grammar, conceived as a process of becoming aware of implicit linguistic resources, may achieve two critical goals: (i) scaffolding the awareness of linguistic structures available since early acquisition (for instance, in the case of adversative connectives) and (ii) enhancing the development of linguistic structures acquired later (e.g., the use of concessive connectives in formal oral and written registers). furthermore, there is a third good reason for grammar teaching according to this approach: it improves metalinguistic reasoning. for instance, the same 9th grade students had better results in a classification task than their colleagues in a control group who studied grammar in a traditional way. figure 6. classification task 9th grade, experimental group, and control group (costa 2010) as previously mentioned, in the study referred to, the properties of adversative and concessive connectives were taught within a grammar lab methodology in order to enhance “linguistic awareness” and build “metalinguistic knowledge”. 4. grammar teaching approaches – grammar as a reflective activity could the picture in figure 5 be the result of traditional grammar teaching instruction?13 in such an approach, as it seems to be usual in some teachers’ practices (dgidc 2008b), adversative and concessive connectors are meant to be identified and classified, as declarative contents, in the 7th and 8th grades, by applying the syllabus prescription directly. in a different way, in the gram13 costa (2010) included a control group with students from a class where a traditional approach for grammar teaching was followed. those students achieved lower results in the post-test written task than students from the experimental classes. 57 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles mar lab (costa 2010), students were involved in a contextualized grammar reflection that was integrated into a written project (jolibert (coord.) 1988). before they had to jump onto classifications, students were involved in data manipulation and description to discover functioning rules through their own linguistic experiments which involved metalinguistic reasoning. in addition to grammar lab, other methods fit into such a grammar didactics concept. two broad types of strategies of grammar teaching approaches will be referenced. both types mark a difference from traditional grammar instruction, and both may account for language development while achieving metalinguistic knowledge. in the first type of grammar lab (see duarte 1992, 1998; hudson 1992) or linguistic inquiries (see honda et al. 2010; o’neil 2010), while studying grammar, students are invited to reflect with some degree of autonomy over linguistic properties, starting from their intuitive knowledge and from their own language experiences. metalanguage is only introduced whenever it makes sense for the students’ learning pathway. the first step of a grammar lab is a question or problem. in the case of contrast connectives (costa 2010), the question was raised from the revision of the student’s written texts: how to avoid the repetition (fig. 4) of the word mas (‘but’)? then, students were invited to observe data and raise hypotheses. data were previously organized in minimum pair paradigms, built with adversative and concessive sentences. oriented through teacher’s questioning, hypotheses about the functioning of different kinds of contrast sentences were raised by students. attention was focused on properties such as verb mood, sentence position, connective position, pragmatic effects and semantic similarities and differences between sentences with different adversative and concessive connectives. in the third step of this grammar lab, students’ first hypotheses were validated by the manipulation of new sentences. the generalization of these hypotheses into grammar rules allowed for the introduction of meaningful metalanguage: classes of sentences and conjunctions were brought into metalinguistic reflection. one of the last steps – training – was done during a text revision task, in order to transform grammar knowledge into writing skills. finally, the assessment was made in two different ways: with a traditional grammar test (fig. 6) and with the analysis of a written task (fig. 5). as mentioned above, regarding these types of approaches, hudson claims that linguistic data, the material that nourishes didactic activities, are easy to obtain because they are “in children’s heads” (hudson 1992: 10). implicit knowledge is made explicit through questioning. scientific reasoning, with similar steps to a scientific experiment, is introduced, and grammar at school is conceived as a reflective activity. this type of grammar teaching approach is not committed to one specific linguistic theory, which is an excellent example of the indirect relationship between linguistic theories and educational linguistics (see section 2). the pedagogical insight underpinning both grammar lab and linguistic inquiries is brunner’s questioning and discovery learning. hudson (1992: 47) explains that “grammar is taught primarily by discovery-learning” since the “pupils are exploring what they know already, which is probably a non-standard dialect.” in wayne o’neil’s words (2010: 26), refer58 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles ring to one of his projects, the “pedagogy of the linguistic part of the curriculum was to be socratic as influenced by jerome bruner’s spiral of learning.” the interaction between the students and their teacher guiding the questioning is a central pedagogical issue. finally, duarte (1998, 2008) advocates that one of the goals of explicit grammar teaching must be the development of metacognitive skills, as the logical reasoning embedded in the scientific exploration of linguistic data, with steps moving from observing, comparing and analyzing, inferring principles, generalizing… in summary, the author claims: “i use grammar in the sense of reflective knowledge!” (duarte 1993: 53) in the last decades, empirical research on the pedagogical effects of grammar lab as a classroom activity has shown the benefits of grammar reflection with writing and reading tasks (see batalha 2018; costa 2010). a grammar lab on contrast connectives, for instance, should be in an instructional sequence of argumentative writing. furthermore, rodrigues and silvano (2010) maintain that grammar lab’s positive effects crucially depend on its discourse contextualization. in other words, there is a place for autonomous metalinguistic reflection, granted that it is integrated into meaningful discourse participation. oral communication, reading, and writing, in social interactions at school, provide the opportunities to build metalinguistic knowledge. at this point, it is worth noting that there is a triangular relationship between language use, linguistic development, and metalinguistic reflection. explicit grammar teaching, by itself, is not enough to increase language development. in the words of nippold (2004), students must actively be engaged in metalinguistic behavior, which plays a key role in later linguistic acquisitions. moreover, this comes from students’ participation in complex discourse situations. consequently, social interaction in a school context plays a critical issue in this matter: with its emphasis on literacy, schooling plays a critical role in later language development. as discussed above, education provides the school-age child or adolescent with the necessary exposure to complex and low-frequency words, multilexemic expressions, and syntactic structures. this occurs when students read or listen to complex discourse. circumstances that motivate students to actively analyze what they hear and read – to engage in metalinguistic behavior – also play a key role in the developmental process, along with the opportunity to use the new words and structures for their own communicative purposes. (nippold 2004: 5) in the second type of grammar teaching approaches, “metalinguistic knowledge emerges from social interaction” (camps 2014: 29), being that classroom interaction is a crucial context for learning (fontich 2014). collaborative reasoning among learners underpins metalinguistic reflection in classroom activities. metalinguistic knowledge is defined as the capacity that everyone has “to take language as the object of observation and the referent of discourse” (camps & milian 1999: 6). in addition, debra myhill appeals to the notions of “explicit” and “conscious” to explain metalinguistic knowledge as the “explicit bringing into consciousness of an attention to language as an artefact, and the con59 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles scious monitoring and manipulation of language to create desired meanings grounded in sociallyshared understandings” (myhill 2011: 250). within the sociocultural vygotskyan framework, metalinguistic knowledge is developed at school through metalinguistic activity (the capacity to use language to refer to and explain language). metalinguistic activity may be manifested by different means in the developmental pathway: procedural (for instance, restatements, repetitions…), with spontaneous verbalizations (with everyday language) or using scientific language, e.g., grammatical terms and concepts (see camps & millan 1999). regarding the place of grammar teaching at school, while recognizing the interdependence of language use and metalinguistic activity, it is assumed that “giving a functional value to grammatical knowledge is not incompatible with studying the grammatical system itself ” (ribas et al. 2014: 12). above all, in a balance between linguistic and education, linguistic theories are not applied to classroom activities: there is a reconfiguration of linguistic concepts for a pedagogical grammar. through instructional language learning sequences (grammar learning sequences, but also writing sequences), the natural capacity to use language to explain language is the starting point to build explicit grammar knowledge (see camps & zayas 2006). an instructional sequence may be implemented in different grades, gradually following more structured steps. as it is mentioned in fontich (2014: 16), these instructional sequences are in line with “guided induction”, where “the teacher explains a learning target and designs a sequence of activities that lead students to observe, identify and manipulate linguistic material in order to find the answer to a problem (linked to standard writing, for example)”. metalinguistic activity has been the object of comprehensive classroom research, focusing predominantly on two domains: grammar notions and terms taught at school and metalinguistic reasoning that emerges from textual production processes, mostly in collaborative writing (see fontich 2014, 2016, 2018). the seminal work by anna camps (1994) on argumentative texts and logical connectors, including contrast connectors, is an excellent example of a metalinguistic activity that underpins linguistic and discourse development with teenagers from 7th and 8th grades.14 as a final point, anna camps concludes: learning grammar notions and the possibility that they can serve as operative instruments to improve language usage requires a reflective approach in language and grammar teaching that helps students in the process that spans from information to generally applicable concepts and from these concepts to the possibility of using them when constructing and understanding discourses. (camps 2014: 38) 14 camps (1994: 281-285) found textual improvement in text superstructure, as well as in the diversity of logicalargumentative connectives after an instructional argumentative writing sequence. the author states that there is a need for further work on the characteristic forms of the argumentative text. 60 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles 5. final remarks research on language acquisition contributes to educational linguistics with an insight of what children linguistically know before entering school, and presents a different view from a tabula rasa perspective or a chaotic perspective of early linguistic knowledge. a traditional approach for grammar teaching, where terms and concepts are learned by heart, independently from the students’ previous knowledge, may be characterized through the words by vygotsky: direct teaching of concepts is impossible and fruitless. a teacher who tries to do this usually accomplishes nothing but empty verbalism, a parrot-like repetition of words by the child, simulating a knowledge of the corresponding concepts but actually covering up a vacuum. (vygotsky 1934: 150) grammar instruction guidelines must take into account what children and adolescent already (implicitly or unconsciously) know, in order to intentionally promote meaningful grammar learning. in the case of contrast connectives, the use of metalanguage to identify and classify it may fall in the vacuum without the awareness that ‘but’ is available in a child’s speech long before ‘although’ or ‘nevertheless’. furthermore, the emergence of concessive connectives depends on the opportunity to use them in the interactions granted by school discourse. again, vygotsky refers to similar data (performances with causal and concessive connectives) to explain the emergence of scientific concepts: “a child of that age [2nd grade] can learn to use because consciously since by then he has already mastered its spontaneous use. not having mastered although in the same way, he naturally cannot use it deliberately in his ‘scientific’ thinking” (vygotsky 1934-1986: 191). regarding this, teachers should consider that awareness on the use of mas (‘but’) may be enhanced earlier, in the textual revision process, for instance, before classifying adversative and concessive connectives in 7th and 8th grade (table 2). moreover, the diversification of contrast connectives (including the emergence of concessive connectors) may be improved through argumentative discourse. grammar teaching approaches that take into account language development (from mastery to metalinguistic knowledge), such as grammar lab, linguistic inquiries, or instructional sequences for metalinguistic activity, may have fundamental theoretical differences, but, contrary to the traditional method, they all claim that grammar is a reflective activity. finally, as a reflective activity, grammar instruction must aim at: i. scaffolding the awareness of linguistic structures available since early acquisition; ii. enhancing the development of linguistic structures acquired later; iii. engaging students in metalinguistic reasoning, from implicit to explicit and metalinguistic knowledge. 61 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles references batalha, j. 2018. relações entre o conhecimento explícito da língua e a competência de leitura. (doctoral dissertation) retrieved from run, nova university of lisbon http://hdl.handle. net/10362/43439 berman, r. 2004. between emergence and mastery. the long development route of language acquisition. in: r. berman (ed.), language development across childhood and adolescence, 9–34. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins. camps, a. 1994. l’ensenyament de la composicióescrita. barcelona: editorial barcanova. camps, a. 2014. metalinguistic activity in language learning. in: t. ribas, x. fontich & o. guasch (eds.), grammar at school. research on metalinguistic activity in language education, 25–41. brussels: peter lang. camps, a. & milian, m. 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.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles vygotsky, l. 1986 [1934]. thought and language. translation newly revised and edited by alex kozulin. cambridge, massachusetts: mit press. *** ana luísa costa is assistant professor at higher education college of the polytechnic institute of setúbal  (portugal) and researcher at the university of lisbon linguistics centre (clul). she teaches different courses of didactics and linguistics in training programs for pre-school and primary school teachers. her research is focused on early literacy and educational linguistics. yoruba-irish literature: intersection in the language of supernatural in yeats and soyinka 4 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles mayowa akinlotan university of texas at austin yoruba-irish literature: intersection in the language of supernatural in yeats and soyinka abstract. the present paper aims at showing the intersection that irish and nigerian (especially the yoruba) literatures share, particularly in the construction of the idea of supernaturalism, which is clearly exemplified in two of their most important works. no previous mention has ever been made of the convergence and divergence in the construction of the supernatural worlds in yeats and soyinka works, which are perfect metaphor for the two cultures representing irish and african worlds. using a descriptive textual analysis method textual evidence underpinning ideologies and narratives of the supernaturalism in these two worldviews are analysed. the paper shows, through the analyses of the language construing the idea of supernaturalism in yeats’ countess cathleen (1892) and soyinka’s death and the king’s horseman (1976), not only the similarities and dissimilarities in how irish and yoruba cultures conceptualise their worlds of supernaturalism but also how such a belief system is negotiated and operationalised in the real world. keywords: yeats ad soyinka, irish-yoruba literature, literary intersection, countless cathleen, death and the king’s horseman, supernaturalism, death and life. 1. introduction the idea to do a comparative analysis on the concept of supernaturalism in the duo works of soyinka’s death and the king’s horseman (1975) and yeats’ countess cathleen (1892) is informed by my striking contact with irish supernaturalism during my postgraduate days. according to the imperial literary canon which i read during my days in african universities, the two works belong to different cultural backgrounds. however, a careful reading of many works emanating from these two different cultures shows a rich ground of meeting point for different belief systems, such that one could suggest they may have shared histories. one of such belief systems is the similarities and dissimilarities found in the creation and representation of the supernatural world in their literary works, most notably those of yeats and soyinka. among numerous textual evidences, elements of supernatural such as the belief that divine beings and phenomena could act as a deliberate intervention in human affairs and matters, are clearly present in both works. also, supernatural associates representing death, eternity, soul, myth, afterlife, miracle, and the possibility of an doi: 10.15290/cr.2018.23.4.01 5 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles intervention of the supernatural forces onto human scheme of things are not only well explored in the works, but also operationalised as an important factor shaping the people’s daily choices in these literatures. first, in death and the king’s horseman (1975), the notion of death and soul is explored within the context of african world. death is not a final end but a medium giving a life to a soul. in other words, soul is in itself a being, a life that can be transformed by death, which shows a clear relationship between soul and death. this explains the inevitability of the king’s horseman to transform his life into a soul which will in turn allow him to perform his eternal duty of riding the horse to his eternal home. it thus suggests that death is responsible for isolating the soul from all the daily physical architectures that enclose it. so, death is not a means to an end but an end to a means. for instance, in yeats’ countess cathleen (1892), soul is seen worth much more than the human body or flesh. the human body often seeks to suppress the soul, yet only the soul will journey to eternal home. hence, yeats shows that the battle line for soul-winning is drawn between catholicism and the irish creed, while soyinka shows that of a battle between the newly imposed western christian religion (of which catholicism was at a forefront in the eastern nigeria, protestant in the southern nigeria, and islam in the northern nigeria) and the yoruba creed. according to yeats and soyinka, the new religion (i.e. the catholicism in ireland, and all the different but competing denominations in nigeria) and the traditional creed sides with the supernatural forces, which they do using different methods. as yeats shows, the medium with which the merchants conducted the soul-winning task brings about a success in which more than expected number of souls is won. also, the inability of cathleen’s spiritual foresight to prevent the steal is influential to the outcome of the play. furthermore, the ideas of the timelessness of soul and afterlife are also used as crucial narrative techniques in both works. while elesin oba will happily ride home the king’s horse after death, cathleen’s soul will be well received in heaven because of her good intentions. at the center of the two plays are affinity between life and death, body and soul, mortality and immortality of body and soul, human sacrifice, death as a cultural and/or religious duty, the interlink of human world with the supernatural world, the belief in supremacy of the supernatural world, among many other themes. it can thus be argued that if these two texts of different backgrounds can arrive at a point with many similar/same ideas, then it goes to say that this intersection should be further studied, identifying shared cultural properties and ideologies as they may influence their supernatural worldviews, and everyday lives. as there has never been any mention of this link between these two cultures, the present study aims to open up a channel of discussion in this direction. 2. supernaturalism: a thought according to pandian (2002:3), supernaturalism is the belief in the existence of non-natural beings and powers, is constituted in myth and ritual, which, as vehicle for achieving coherence, meaning, and transcendence, are ultimately rooted in mytholiminal rationality. mytholiminal rationality is 6 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles a modality or aspect of human rationality that is involved on the one hand with the production of symbolic coherence (myth) and on the other with the production of transcendence (liminality) (cf. pandian 2002: 3). i share the definition of pandian but reject his idea of stripping supernaturalism from the garment of religion. supernaturalism works in tandem with every cultural system (clifford, 1973). soyinka and yeats confirm this phenomenon in how they represent realities in their different but similar cultural worlds. for instance, soyinka situates his supernatural play within the african world, using the medium of the yoruba mythology while yeats does the same by contrasting the irish supernatural belief system with that of the catholic christian’s system which is in competition with the former. according to the two literary works under review, although they have the same substance and serve the same function, the workings of belief systems, especially those elements concerning its religion and mythology, which underpin supernaturalism, differ from one culture to another. 3. preliminary analyses and supernatural elements different elements of supernaturalism permeate these two works at hand. it is outside what is held as natural law and observable world for soul to be article for sales. soul-winning is arguably one of the tenets of christian mission which yeats and soyinka clearly engage with. one important textual evidence concerns the decision of cathleen to sell out her soul, a decision which arises as a result of a lack of material resources that develops from the loot of her treasury. cathleen’s treasury has been looted in a mysterious way and would therefore sell out her soul in order to survive. yeats intends to clearly show the connection between our physical world and the world beyond, and that actions and choices in either world certainly impact on events and order of things in the other world. this argument is further shown by the spiritual-laden interaction between aleel and the angel, the miraculous appearance of the three merchants who would later invite spirits in the same way, and cathleen’s trance. in a very similar functional purpose, cathleen’s trance is the same as that of elesin in soyinka’s death and the king horseman. soyinka and yeats construe the phenomenon of the survival and transition of soul through a fierce contest between two forces. unlike soyinka, yeats’ contest is clearly between catholicism and operationalisation of the traditional irish belief system of supernaturalism. according to the work, countess cathleen, aleel, oona, and mary are devotees of the former faith, while shemus, teig, and the hungry peasants are followers of latter faith. according to mary, the followers of the traditional irish belief system, that is, shemus, teig, and the hungry peasants follow the leadership of ‘demons.’ mary also describes the three merchants, who have brought enough food and drinks to the hungry land, as followers of demons. in soyinka’s work, mary is a perfect equivalent of the officer mr pilking who accuses elesin as a follower of barbaric yoruba traditional belief system. both countess cathleen’s camp (of the catholicism) and the merchants’ camp (of the traditional irish system) have the same primary mission of ‘winning’ souls onto their gods/vineyards. as yeats argues, the great famine caused many irish believers to backslide, selling up their souls to 7 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles the merchants in return for food and drink, which amounts to some sort of ‘salvation’ from physical death. the backsliders could not trust the pathway to eternal salvation being promised by the catholicism, which is further complicated by the famine. soyinka does create a similar supernatural world as well. elesin’s delayed death is forced through by olohun-iyo’s invocation. on seeing the corpse of his son, olohun-iyo, who is elesin’s father, facilitates the death of his son through invocation. to olohun-iyo, doing so is an highly rewarding soul-winning missionary service. the survival of the soul of the king in the eternal world completely rests upon the death and transition of the elesin’s soul to meet up with the king’s. olohun-iyo’s invocation results into a supernatural surge. elesin’s decision to happily die and save the soul of his master is against the belief system of the newly introduced christian religion which the colonial government represents. hence, it is a criminal offence to deliberately take one’s life. amusa, an officer of the colonial government, is one of those charged with reporting such crimes, but the egungun occultic power would influence amusa’s decision not to report elesin’s intention to die. in the african world, death can be a duty to be performed as is elesin’s duty to die and meet up with his master. elesin’s death is a call to a cultural duty, failure of which promises a disastrous and catastrophic future for the people of his community. as with yeats, the relationship between death and soul is the central idea explored in soyinka’s death and the king’s horseman (1976). as with a contest between catholicism and irish belief system in yeats’, so is a contest between christianity and the yoruba belief system in which both systems are exemplified by mr pilking, the colonial district officer and his wife jane and elesin, the king’s horseman. the imprisonment of elesin, which is to prevent him from performing his duty of a call to die, could only bring more deaths as olunde, the son of the incapacitated king’s horseman, felt a sense of urgency to avert a disastrous future for his people ‘...with his life.’ (soyinka 1976). olunde performed the duty on behalf of elesin, saving the souls of the king and that of his people who would face disastrous future should the soul of the king continue to wander endlessly in the afterlife. in other words, olunde does not only carry out the timely duty of his family lineage but also offers a much-needed sacrifice for his entire community. although soyinka states that mr pilkings’ resistance should not be solely interpreted as a clash between the old values and the new values, or a clash between the western methods and african traditions (soyinka 1976), the play clearly compares with yeats’ themes of the relationship between death and soul and of a similar supernatural architecture. 4. textual analyses: construing the supernatural worlds to some varying degree, both playwrights share some historical background in that they both belong to societies that have been subjected to forceful colonialism. resistance to the imposition of a new order has been established. conscious cultural revivalism was, and still, is ongoing, and is evident in the literary productions. while irish literary works have achieved considerable success, african literature has appeared imprisoned infinitely. yeats recalls the frightened irish history of 8 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles the great famine, while soyinka recalls how colonial’s intervention in the cultural and religious life of the people they are forcibly governing resulted into more disastrous endings. although set in the historical famine ireland, no better background than the great famine of the 17th century could have provided better surreal human conditions where choices pertaining to religious live are not only critical but also representative of the people’s worldviews, sensibilities and belief systems. like yeats, soyinka also documents important moments in the historical struggle for cultural independence by his people. according to soyinka, the material of death and the king horseman (1976) was from 1946 actual event. the playwright writes: “in 1946, in the ancient yoruba city of nigeria, a well meaning district officer simon pilkings intervenes to prevent the ritual suicide of the yoruba chief, elesina sacrificial suicide demanded by the death of the king. there follow drastic repercussions in both indigenous and colonial communities” (soyinka 1976). just as christ’s sacrifice on the cross of calvary for the sinful souls of the human world, it is right to say that both cathleen and olunde defy all odds, and offer their lives to death in exchange for the salvation of the souls of their communities. cathleen and olunde represent many irish and yoruba who conceptualise death as a form of transition, and as a cultural duty to be performed in a timely manner when necessitated. according to cathleen, the famine has forced almost all the peasants into ‘sins’, which involves trading their souls for material things in order to survive. as it is evident in the excerpt below, cathleen’s sense of duty compels her to not only trade her expensive soul to redeem others but also to secure permanent salvation for the people on earth. cathleen. i come to barter a soul for a great price the people starve, therefore the people go thronging to you, i hear a cry come from them and it is in my ears by night and day, and i would have five hundred thousands crowns that i may feed them till the dearth go by. there is more: the souls that you have bought must be set free. i offer my own soul. first merchant five hundred thousand crowns; we give the price, the gold is here; the souls even while you speak. have slipped out of our bond, because your face has shed a light on them and filled their hearts but you must sign, for we omit no form in buying a soul like yours. cathleen take up the money, and now come with me; when we are far from this polluted place i will give everybody money enough. (half rising) lay all the bags of money in a heap 9 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles and when i am gone, old oona, share them out to every man and woman; judge and give according to their needs, elesin and his son, olunde give up their lives for the salvation of others, to avert disastrous ending. mr pilkings’ human knowledge and power are rendered useless in the execution of fate predestined by the gods. it is a mandatory cultural duty for the king’s horseman, elesin to die and accompany the soul of the king as they ascend to the ancestral world. this ascension will be aided by a horse, and a dog of which the former is a vehicle, and the latter a pathtracker. the dog tracks the path for the horse to follow. the horse is elesin on whom the king will ride to the ancestral home. the consequence(s) of the failure of elesin to die and therefore prevent the king from reaching home is/are undoubtedly disastrous and calamitous, not only for elesin but also for the entire community. to avert this disastrous future, olunde, the son of the incapacitated elesin oba, overtakes human error by performing the duty on behalf of his father who has been taken custody by the colonial government since he publicly declared his intention to die. olunde avoids curse that could have been placed upon his family lineage, and that of the deadly future of his community, and consequently inspires his father’s ultimate death. elesin. i cannot approach. take off the cloth. i shall speak my message from heart to heart of silence. iyaloja (moves forward and removes the covering) your courier elesin, cast your eyes on the favoured companion of the king. (rolled up in the mat, his head and feet showing at either end is the body of olunde) there lies the honour of your household and of our race because he could not bear to let honour fly out of doors, he stopped it with his life. the son has proved the father. elesin, and there is nothing left in your mouth to gnash but infant gums. thus, heroic honour may be appropriate for the larger-than-life countess cathleen and olunde. meanwhile man has deprived elesin of his honour. this explains the african belief that man can hamper, delay and deprive mortal’s success as it may be admissible in the supernatural world. unlike yeats, soyinka shows how the human world feels the resultant effects of the interplay of the supernatural and human worlds. mr pilkings’ show of human knowledge in matters of the supernatural world is strongly frowned at in the supernatural world. such arrogance of human error in matters of the supernatural can bring about significant unending human pains and sufferings, which remain valid belief in today’s africans’ worldviews. rather than the sole elesin’s soul, pilkings’ interference does not only double the casualties but also affirms the inevitability of fate. it also interprets that man, irrespective of age, expertise, knowledge and craft is an innocent ‘child’ in the affairs of man that are midwifed by the supernatural forces. the following conversation between iyaloja and pilkings further show the cost of human error in supernatural affairs. 10 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles iyaloja. to prevent one death you will actually make other deaths? ah, great is the wisdom of the white race... pilkings. (in a tired voice): was this what you wanted? iyaloja: no child, it is what you brought to be, you who, play with strangers’ lives, who even usurp the vestments of our dead yet believes that the stain of death will not cling to you. the gods demanded only the old expired plantain but you cut down the sap-laden shoot to feed your pride.... if there is human sacrifice, there must be afterlife, an imagined world where the heroes ascend. the interconnectivity of these worlds could not be explained by methodological processes. as it is evident, the duality of afterlife is presented by soyinka and yeats. the souls of heroic people like countess cathleen will ascend to the heaven, while those of the unspirited will ascend to hell. yeats’ reference to the distinction of hell and heaven is a pun on the strict worldview on morality and immorality by the catholicism. such strict distinction does not exist in either the irish or the yoruba world, both of which compete with the western ideology of moral paradigm. in addition, the world of the ancestors where the soul of king is destined is an equivalent of heaven, a resting home. but the king’s soul could not journey to the heaven on its own without the help of his aide the horseman. in other words, the failure of the horseman to arrive may amount to the soul of the king ‘hanging’ in a place other than the christian heaven. in other words, if the christian imagined world of heaven is nothing but a resting home, then the yoruba’s idea of the world of the ancestor is an equivalent. hence, countess cathleen, the king, olunde, king’s horse and the dog would arrive different at culturally-laden and built heavens, where god, angels, and good people are believed to dwell, while out-of-favour elesin, teig, shemus, and the merchants would arrive at hell, at least according to mary. however, it is surprising that cathleen’s admittance is only motivated by her altruism. the angel. the light beats down; the gates of pearl are wide. and she is passing to the floor of peace, and mary of the seven times wounded heart has kissed her lips, and the long blessed hair has fallen on her face; the light of lights look always on the motive, not the deed, the shadow of shadows on the deed alone. on the other hand, the criteria for admittance into soyinka’s yoruba perfect dwelling place is not measured by deed but by act; an accomplishment of duty, irrespective of human error or barriers. in a contemporary world, one would expect prerogative of mercy for elesin but, according to the playwright, ‘oh, how late it all is. his son will feast on the meat and throw him bones…’ 11 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles furthermore, the two works present us with supernatural events and occurrences that shape the resolution of the plays. like in the christian world where it is believed that the challenges of life are better fought in the spiritual, countess cathleen’s downfall is charted in the spiritual, just as olunde interceded for his father, engaging in invocation which brings about the desired ultimate fate. unlike elesin, who does not have the means to prevent his people from enduring calamity should he fail to perform his duty, cathleen does have more than enough wealth that would prevent the people from trading their souls for food. cathleen my thanks to god, to mary and the angels that i have money in my treasury, and can buy grain from those who have stored it up to prosper on the hunger of the poor but you’ve been far and know the signs of things when will this yellow vapour no more hang and creep about the fields, and this great heat vanish away, and grass show its green shoots? just as pilking, cathleen is a human agent that must be dealt with in order to win souls for the other camp. hence the best way to deal with that is to capture her power, which is the wealth. this means that when she becomes poor, it will be difficult or almost impossible to attract souls to her camp. in other words, cathleen’s material resource has been a barrier to merchants’ ability to win more souls to their own camp. the merchants’ aim is to win all the human souls, using different strategies that include monopolizing materials which attract humans. just like the contest between pilking and elesin, the following excerpt shows how the magical merchants plan to battle cathleen in the spirit. first merchant. although i bid you rob her treasury i find you sitting drowsed and motionless, and yet you understand that while it’s full she’ll bid against us and so bribe the poor that our great master’ll lack his merchandise. you know that the she has brought into this house the attack is carried out spiritually, overpowering the physical presence of man that secures the treasury. such is the similar overpowering of pilking by the spiritual intervention of the gods through the invocation entered into by olunde, together with the spiritual desire of the entire community. 12 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles oona (entering hurriedly) ochone! ochone! the treasure room is broken in, the door stands open, and the gold is gone ochone! that my good mistress should lose all this money cathleen let those among you—not too old to ride- get horses and search all the country round, i’ll give a farm to him who finds the thieves. (a man with keys at his girdle has come in while she speaks. there is a general murmur of the porter! the porter! porter. demons were here. i sat beside the door in my stone niche, and two owls passed me by, whispering with human voices. by losing the treasury, cathleen loses both her physical and spiritual power to contest comfortably in the contest for the souls of a people who have gone mad by the painful touch of famine. for artistic purposes, yeats restores her spiritual consciousness, enabling her to realise that the attack is a signal to home call. in a further contest, cathleen would seek the aid of her own spiritual superior. cathleen. ah, no, not that. a sad resolve wakes in me. i have heard a sound of wailing in unnumbered hovels, and i must go down, down—i know not where— pray for all men and women mad from famine pray, you good neighbours. (the peasants all kneel. countess cathleen ascends the steps to the door of the oratory, and turning round stands there motionless for a little, and then cries in a loud voice) mary, queen of angels, and all you clouds on clouds of saints, farewell! the famine grows taller, and more people continue to trade souls with the ‘demons’ as mary argues. but countess cathleen’s strength has been significantly weakened, forcing her to trade her own soul in order to recollect enough money for the redemption of the souls of her people. she could have redeemed all the souls with the strong power of her wealth, but she has already lost the battle in the spiritual, a scenario that translates into the physical. as it will be shown, the merchants, again, summon the spirits-dancers, who perform dance theatre. 13 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles first merchant. i’ll call them, and who’ll dare to disobey? come, all you elemental populace from cruachan and finbar’s ancient house. come, break up the long dance under the hill, or if you lie in the hollows of the sea, leave lonely the long hoarding surges, leave the cymbals of the waves to clash alone, and shaking the sea-tangles from your hair gather about us. (the spirits gather under the arches) second merchant. they come. be still a while. there is an equivalent of this spiritual presence on the physical world in soyinka’s death and the king horseman. for instance, elesin is buried in invocation by the praise singer’s chants which invites supernatural forces that eventually caused elesin’s ultimate death. the fact that this performance of duty happened in the presence of the opposition shows the interconnection of the physical and spiritual worlds. the surge for elesin’s death is beyond the control of elesin himself! in a similar vein, the willingness and bravery of olunde to overtake his father’s death further shows the superiority of the supernatural world over the physical human mind. it can be argued that such bravery facilitates the presence of the unseen forces that midwife the ultimate elesin’s suicidal ritual. the significance of this lies in the interface of two worlds; the spiritually-inspired physical bravery of olunde combines with the supernatural forces to forcibly intervene. according to the praisesinger, time and fate go hand in hand. praise-singer. elesin, we placed the reins of the world in your hands yet you watched it plunge over the edge of the bitter precipice. you sat with folded arms while evil strangers tilted the world from its course and crashed it beyond the edge of emptiness-you muttered, there is little that one man can do, you left us floundering in a blind future. your heir has taken burden on himself. what the end will be, we are not gods to tell. but this young shoot has poured its sap into the parent stalk, and we know this is not the way of life. our world is crumbling in the void of strangers, elesin. (elesin has stood rock still, his knuckles taut on the bars, his eyes glued to the body of his son. the stillness seizes and paralyses everyone, including pilkings who has turned to look. suddenly, elesin flings one arm round his neck, once, and with the loop of the chain, strangles himself in a swift, decisive pull. the guards rush forward to stop him but they are only in time to let his body down. pilkings has leapt to the door at the same time and struggles with the lock...) 14 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles according to the physical laws, certain questions such as what killed elesin or what inspired his surge can be asked. however, no answer could be found in those physical laws, except in the supernatural world. in other words, one can trace his death to a number of factors which are primarily led by the invocation and the incantations of oluhun-iyo. his sacred words are highly spirited and possessed, causing the presence of spirits as those of merchants within the time and space of elesin. in other words, praise singer’s incantation and invocation do not only create the enabling spiritual atmospheric condition but also provide sufficient energies and vibes that outweigh those of the oppositions. the relationships between body and soul, flesh and man, and self and soul are exemplified by the representations of countess cathleen, elesin and olunde. man is a body made up of flesh with which soul interacts and links with the supernatural world. the souls of elesin and olunde connect the flesh with the supernatural world, moving beyond the physical world. elsewhere, john donne has argued in the poem death, be not proud (1610) ‘one short sleepe past, we wake eternally. and death shall be no more; death, thou shall die.’6 according to donne, only the flesh or body that can die, which thus means that death is a passage to eternity of soul. the idea of death as an end to a means but not as a means to an end inspires countess cathleen and olunde who sacrificially give up their bodies/flesh for the salvation of many other souls. although cathleen and elesin suffered physical death, according to yeats and soyinka, their souls will not only find happiness in the afterlife but will also serve as a lesson to many in the physical world that the salvation of soul is more important than the glorification of the human flesh or body. as the excerpt below show, cathleen’s soul drifts into eternity among others souls; a journey which is confirmed by a supernatural representative, the angel. the angel. the light beats down; the gates of pearl are wide. and she is passing to the floor of peace, and mary of the seven times wounded heart has kissed her lips, and the long blessed hair has fallen on her face; the light of lights look always on the motive, not the deed, the shadow of shadows on the deed alone. (aleel releases the angel and kneels) in soyinka’s work, the transition from the world of flesh and blood into the world beyond may not be journeyed with only the body and flesh. the king has passed away and the body/flesh is no longer important as it is not required to embark on the spiritual journey to his ancestral home. iyaloja provides insight into the path: iyaloja. they have slain the favourite horse of the king and slain his dog. they have borne them from pulse to pulse centre of the land receiving 15 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles prayers for their king. but the rider has chosen to stay behind. this soul journey links us up with the object of transaction by the merchants. we may further ask why the merchants trade not in body and flesh, but in souls? first merchant. they have not sold all yet. for there’s a vaporous thing—that may be nothing, but that’s the buyer’s risk—a second self, they call immortal for a story’s sake. shemus. you come to buy our souls? tieg. i’ll barter mine. why should we starve for what may be but nothing? cathleen. but there’s a world to come. shemus. and if there is, i’d rather trust myself into the hands that can pay money down than to the hands that have but shaken famine from the bag. the body, the flesh and the self are all perishable goods but ‘in a world to come’ but only imperishable ‘elemental forces’ are habitable. the gap between body and soul is filled up by death, which is meant by ‘one short sleepe’. the body sleeps but the soul never does. it interprets that only the terminal end of a human body implies death; death of a man in flesh is not final. both literary works insinuate that what constitutes ‘oneself ’1 in the human world is related to the personality in the spirit world. in fact, the yoruba believes that earthly occupations are immanent not only to the flesh but also to the soul. it suggests that a fisherman is not only a fisherman here on the physical world but remains a fisherman in soul; even after his death in the world beyond. therefore, elesin oba would carry on his occupation as king’s horseman, as well as olohun iyo, the praise singer. praise singer. are you sure there will be one like me on the other side? far be it for me to belittle the dwellers of that place but, a man is either born to his art or he isn’t. and i don’t know for certain that you’ll meet my father, so who is going to sing these deeds in accents that will pierce the deafness of the ancient ones. i have prepared my going-just tell me; olohun-iyo, i need you on this journey and i shall be behind you. mysticism adorns the two supernatural works. there are three levels of spiritual systems that operate in the broad scope of the two works. in countess cathleen, yeats contrasts the christian spiritual system with the irish supernatural beliefs. but to soyinka, there is no need to juxtapose 1 the totality of what man stands for on earth. 16 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles the yoruba world of supernatural, so he deliberately did not draw from catholicism or any other social spectrum to fully unfold the position of mysticism in the yoruba world. yeats employs tieg and shemus to x-ray the irish belief in mysticism. tieg and shemus remian committed to their customary belief, unmoved to the christian ideas as exemplified by mary, aleel, countess cathleen, and so many others. tieg and shemus are engrossed in the irish supernatural world such that they are always caught up in references to it. teig. in the bush beyond, there are two birds---if you can call them birds- i could not see them rightly for the leaves, and i’m half certain they’ve a human face they’re looking at me. what is the good of praying? father says the belief that personal communication or union with the divine is achieved through intuition, faith, ecstasy, or sudden insight rather than through rational thought is evident by tieg and shemus’ communication with the unseen beings. shemus. (at door) whatever you are that walk the woods at night, so be it that you have not shouldered up out of a grave—for i’ll have nothing human-- and have free hands, a friendly trick of speech, i welcome you. come, sit beside the fire. or you’ve a horse’s tail to whip your flank, feathers instead of hair, that’s but a straw, come, share what bread and meat is in the house, and stretch your heels and warm them in the ashes. and after that, let’s share and share alike and curse all men and women. come in, come in. what, is there no one there? (turning from door) and yet they say they are as common as the grass, and ride even upon the book in the priest’s hand. (teig lifts one arm slowly and points toward the door and begins moving backwards. shemus turns, he also sees some thing and begins moving backward. mary does the same. a man dressed as an eastern merchant comes in carrying a small 17 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles carpet. he unrolls it and sits cross-legged at one end of it. another man dressed in the same way follows, and sits at the other end. this is done slowly and deliberately, when they are seated they take money out of embroidered purses at their girdles and begin arranging it on the carpet. teig. you speak to them shemus no, you teig. ‘twas you that called them. shemus. (coming nearer) i’d make so bold, if you would pardon it, to ask if there’s a thing you’d have of us, although we are but poor people, if there is, why, if there is in the christian world, the interaction is done by medium of summon through prayer. aleel uses this medium to summon the appearance of angels to provide foresight and divination into the passage of cathleen. this is followed by a trance in which cathleen enters into a world beyond to interact with the other side of the world. cathleen ah, no, not that a sad resolves wakes in me. i have heard a sound of wailing in unnumbered hovels, and i must go down, down—i know not where-- pray for all men and women mad from famine; pray, you good neighbours. (the peasants all kneel. countess cathleen ascends the steps to the door of the oratory, and turning round stands there motionless for a little, and then cries in a loud voice) mary, queen of angels, and all you clouds on clouds of saints, farewell! here, cathleen enters into a trance through invocation of the christian spirits, which may be described as the holy spirit by the believers in christian superstitions. oona (casting herself face downwards on the floor) o, maker of all, protect her from the demons, and if a soul must need be lost, take mine 18 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles (allel kneels beside her, but does not seem to hear her words. the peasants return. they carry the countess cathleen and lay her upon the ground before oona and aleel. she lies there as if deed) unlike yeats, soyinka’s sole intention is just an exploration of the supernatural belief of the yoruba, and how this belief outplays the human barriers in 1946. pilkings, a well-meaning district officer, had stood to prevent ritual suicide of elesin but he was overpowered by supernatural force. this supernatural force projects elesin into a trance in the very eyes of pilkings and prison guards. it is this dazed state of body that forced out the soul of elesin. he does not willfully lose himself in this state but is overwhelmed by the supernatural intervention. the incorruptibility of the space within which this interaction ensues barricades human interference from pilkings, jane, and the guards. it is the same state in which cathleen professes her death before trading her soul in the human face. no human force can prevent her from trading her soul. while spiritual arrogance is dealt with by yeats, soyinka’s concern is purely recounting the usual interplay between immortal and mortal. shemus, tieg, and the peasants follow the spiritual leadership of the three merchants, who ‘must tramp the world,’2 because they ‘travel for the master of all merchants,’3 mary, aleel, oona, and cathleen follow the christian spiritual leadership of holy mary, who claims spiritual superiority over shemus and co. cathleen condemns the other camp as a destroyer of the world, and destroyer of the peace of the world. but shemus lashes back, claiming that the god of mary and cathleen have not done better in the affairs of man because he has only visited them with more than enough famine. cathleen. but there’s a world to come. shemus. and if there is, i’d rather trust myself into the hands that can pay money down than to the hands that have but shaken famine from the bag. (he goes out right) (lifting) there’s money for a soul, sweet yellow money. there’s money for men’s souls, good money, money.” the readers are able to interact with a number of experiences which are enriched by the presence of supernatural forces like the ghosts, demons, angles, spirits, etc. shemus and tieg clearly picture in our mind what we love to see but that which often could not be seen. or what we love to hear but that which often do not hear. or what we love to feel or experience but that which of2 yeats, williams butler, countess cathleen, 1892. 3 yeats, williams butler, countess cathleen, 1892. 19 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles ten could not be felt or experienced. shemus narrates one ironic nature of man and the desire for things of the supernatural world in the physical world. shemus. i heard say there’s something that appears like a white bird, a pigeon or a seagull or the like, but if you hit it with a stone or a stick it clangs as thought it had been made of brass; and that if you dig down where it was scratching you’ll find a crock of gold this looks like adventurous experiences that may not be created or experienced in a physical world. soyinka supplements this supernatural desire with another sub-plot. the story of the not-i’ bird, and elesin’s moon tale are a chain of events that motivate the hearts of elesin. elesin. the moon was my messenger and guide. when it reached a certain gateway in the sky, it touched that moment for which my whole life has been spent in blessings. even i do not know the gateway i have stood here and scanned the sky for a glimpse of that door but, i cannot see it. human eyes are useless for a this nature. but in the house of osugbo, those who keep watch through the spirit recognised the moment, they sent word to me through the voice of our sacred drums to prepare myself. i heard them and i shed all thoughts of earth. i began to follow the moon to the abode of gods. the idea of the egungun4 and its paraphernalia is a sacred one, which is alien to the white, mr. pilkings. amusa. mista pirinkin, i beg you sir, what you think you do with that dress? it belong to dead cult, not for human being ... mista pirinkin, i beg you, take it off. is not good for man like you to touch that cloth. sir, it is a matter of death. how can man talk against death to person in uniform of death?... madam, i arrest the ring leaders who make trouble but me i no touch egungun. that egungun itself, i no touch. and i no abuse am. i arrest ring-leader but i treat egungun with respect. 4 ancestral masquarade 20 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles one element of the supernatural world in the literature that makes mythical tales not verifiable is the peopling of its world by ghosts, angels, demons, devils, spirits, fairies, and maybe, superman and super-inanimate. yeats stuns the readers when he brings angels down onto the earth, saving aleel’s energy of summoning. another heaven on earth is the three spirits-dancers who perform dance for the same spirited merchants. aleel. look no more on the half-closed gates of hell, but speak to me, whose mind is smitten of god, that it may be no more with mortal things, and tell of her who lies there. (he seizes one of the angels.) till you speak. you shall not drift into eternity the implications of the ability by a human, aleel, to seize an angel are infinite! a human hand puts an angel in hostage, forcing a premonition. the angel speaks in human tongue to aleel before being set free. the angel. the light beats down; the gates of pearl are wide, and she is passing to the floor of peace, and mary of the seven times wounded heart has kissed her lips, and the long blessed hair has fallen on her face; the light of lights look always on the motive, not the deed, the shadow of shadows on the dead alone. (aleel releases the angel and kneels.) the presence of such supernatural creatures is rather implied in death and the king’s horseman (1976). this can only be worked out by a believer in the yoruba religion. the king’s corpse is a month’s old, for which the unburied corpse, kept in a sacred place, is a toast of visits for spirits, angelical beings, and all delegated creatures, among whom is elesin oba. 5. conclusion the present paper has provided some textual evidence showing the extent to which the idea of supernaturalism is presented in two different literary works that have never been explored comparatively. the paper also shows the different strategies with which this idea is construed, such that the belief systems in the two different cultural worlds of the yoruba and the irish are brought to the fore front. it is widely accepted that the idea of supernatural is present in all cultures, though it may be constructed in different ways. but in whatever forms they may be represented, some elements such as paranormal and occult ideas are always present. 21 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles one central contribution of the paper is that the narrative and language of cultural beliefs of different cultures may overlap, which affirms the argument that supernaturalism is to some extent a matter of universals in world cultures and by extension literatures. in addition, the paper has shown that african literature, which has often been compared to caribbean literature and african american literature for obvious historical reasons, can as well begin to look for interesting intersecting ideologies in european literature, especially in irish literature. for instance, while yeats draws on magical inputs, soyinka draws on occult idea of egungun. in both works, we have interaction of man with the supernatural networks by a way of summoning the spirits and transition into trance, which is exemplified by the collapse of cathleen and the process of elesin’s death. also, the power of countess cathleen is stolen spiritually while pilkings’ barrier to elesin’s death is also removed spiritually and miraculously. summing up all of these anecdotes in both literary works, i argue that both works clearly intend to show that the supernatural is not only superior to the human world but also that a liner relationship exists between the two worlds. as the literary works show, these hypotheses are well presented and can be described as a paramount cultural ideology in both the irish and yoruba worlds. although one may argue that though such ideology may not be clearly pronounced in the contemporary irish realities as it is in the contemporary yoruba realities, the extent of convergence and divergence still remains a grey area that has never been explored. while the present work has attempted at showing important cultural element from two traditions that are well apart, i.e. the idea of supernaturalism—how it works, its inhabitants, its relationship with man and the physical world, more research into this neglected intersection is required. references primary texts soyinka, wole. 1975. death and the king’s horseman. london: methuen. yeats, w.b. 1908. poems. london: t. fisher unwin. secondary sources geertz, clifford. 1973. the interpretation of cultures. new york: free press. harkness, sara and charles super (eds.). 1996. parents’ cultural belief systems. new york: gildford press. jeremy, hawthorn. 1987. unlocking the text: fundamental issues in literary theory. london; arnold. balogun,  s.  2014.  death and suicide in african plays. available from: https://www.amazon.com/ kindle/dp/b00m7h5uvi/ref.rdr_kindle_eet_eos_detail (accessed 09 november 2017). brown, terence. 1999. the life of w. b. yeats: a critical biography. dublin: gill & macmillan. forman g. brown. 1925. mr yeats and the supernatural. the sewanee review 33 (3): 323-330. gregory, lady. 1970. visions and beliefs in the west of ireland. vale: gerrands cross. 22 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles kluckhom, clyde and alfred l. kroeber. 1952. culture: a critical review of concepts and definition, ny: vintage books. martin, augustine. 2006. w. b. yeats. london, england: paperview-irish independent. pandian, jacob. 2002. supernaturalism in human life: a discourse on myth, ritual and religion, new delhi; vedams ebooks. ronald schuchard. 2008. the last minstrels: yeats and the revival of the bardic arts. oxford: oup. schuchard, ronald. “the countess cathleen and the revival of the bardic arts.” web 12 apr 2012. http://www.dolmetsch.com/024_schuchard.pdf yeats, w.b. crossways. the collect poems of w. b. yeats. new york: simon & schuster inc., 7-26. 58 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) arkadiusz pietluch1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2019.27.4.04 university of rzeszów orcid: 0000-0001-8260-9001 stimulating educational growth through vision and self-efficacy: a case study of adult users of english as a foreign language abstract. the present study focuses on scrutinising the congruence between the two concepts which are currently at the forefront of the motivational research, namely self-efficacy and the mental representation of a future state which, in the literature, is referred to as vision. to this very end, the first part of the paper offers a concise summary of the theoretical underpinnings behind both constructs. the latter sections of the examination are exploratory and interpretative in their nature and are dedicated to the empirical analysis of the correlation between vision and the sense of personal agency as well as the discussion of the answers stemming from the semi-structured interviews employed for the purpose of the study. the outcomes of the investigation provide satisfactory evidence to account for the presence of a reciprocal interaction between the adopted variables and prompt various noteworthy implications, for example, the positive impact of the notions on inducing a long-term, motivated action, the ability of vision to substitute efficacy beliefs in the initial stages of agency growth, and the stimulating influence of pre-experiencing emotional arousal related to a future state on a student’s language proficiency. this, in turn, creates an opportunity for inspiring the motivational gain in a variety of settings, including a foreign language classroom. keywords: self-efficacy, vision, motivation in an l2 context, performance, behavioural issues, linguistic proficiency. 1. introduction in recent decades, one may observe a gradually shifting emphasis of the motivational inquiry, with a substantial volume of attention being devoted to affective constructs in efforts to explain and foresee a wide range of human functioning. although the complexity of human behaviour renders the consensus in this particular area unachievable, it seems that certain variables are somewhat more successful than others in predicting 1 address for correspondence: faculty of philology, university of rzeszów, al. mjr. w. kopisto 2b, 35-315 rzeszów, poland. e-mail: arekpie122@gmail.com 59 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) behavioural dispositions. as self-efficacy offers robust predictive capabilities, the concept coined by albert bandura has been an essential component in theories pertaining to motivation and learning in an array of contexts (sewell & st george 2000; mun & hwang 2003; ansong et al. 2019). the approach towards vision and aspects of imagery, on the other hand, has been recently revisited so that the notions are now seen as more than merely referring to a ubiquitous human ability to use imagination and mental images. the most quintessential perception of vision nowadays is that of a performance facilitator, as adopting a visual perspective in a behavioural intervention framework is believed to moderate the shape of one’s motivational experience (vasquez & buehler 2007; burke et al. 2014). as multipurpose examinations investigating these two variables in combination are currently scarce, this study was initiated in an endeavour to partially ameliorate this particular gap and to expand on the possible correlation between the paramount variables adopted for the inquiry. supplementary aims set out to the project include scrutinising the influence of vision and personal agency on a person’s inclination towards more demanding pursuits and the impact of the former construct on tackling negative rumination related to potential adversities a person may experience in the case of challenging endeavours, such as acquiring language proficiency. 2. the notion of self-efficacy as the nature of human motivation to perform is far from stable and tends to fluctuate throughout time, the debate into the purposiveness of human behaviour has been somewhat dominated by the studies scrutinising the potential of affective variables in temporarily harnessing the daily ebb and flow of engagement (dörnyei 2000; turner & patrick 2008; navarro & arrieta 2010). in efforts to remedy this particular dilemma and to account for the likelihood of behaviour execution, in the late 1960s, albert bandura coined the construct of self-efficacy. bandura (1994:73) defines personal agency as “people’s beliefs regarding their ability to produce designated levels of performance that allow them to exercise a measure of control over events that affect their lives.” in its essence, the concept refers therefore to the positive beliefs individuals hold regarding their ability to perform novel tasks leading a person to the achievement of desired goals (schwarzer & warner 2013). although several decades have passed since bandura published his seminal work, it appears that the construct unchangeably remains at the forefront of motivational inquiry. this phenomenon is entirely justified bearing in mind the multifaceted nature of self-efficacy; even though the notion was originally devised to explore the possibility of expediting athletic performance, it was soon encompassed within other domains of human existence, including education, addiction treatment, and vocational activities. expectations upon personal efficacy are believed to leverage a person’s conduct in the vicinity of stressful and challenging circumstances by influencing aspects such as decision-making and goal-selecting processes, effort expenditure 60 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) tendencies, strategy selection in the pursuit of desired objectives, and overall tenacity in case of adversities. according to van der bijl & shortridge-baggett (2001: 197), “a favourable judgement of the probability of goal attainment can be a sufficient motivator in itself.” a similar view has been expressed by artino (2012: 82), who claims that “it is not enough for individuals to possess the requisite knowledge and skills to perform a task; they also must have the conviction that they can successfully perform the required behaviour under both typical and challenging circumstances.” on logical grounds, those assured of the sufficiency of their skills and knowledge display more grit in their pursuits and are less disposed towards avoidance behaviours typical for ill-efficacious individuals. such a positive outlook emboldens a person to approach challenges as opportunities for development, fosters authentic engagement, and aids an individual in counteracting ruminative thoughts stemming from the fluctuating value of motivation. it would also be essential to pinpoint the role of self-efficacy in shaping a person’s perception of challenges; the efforts of efficacious people are fuelled by the desire to actualise one’s potential realised in seeking mastery through increasing the perceived difficulty of one’s endeavours so that initial hardships rarely dishearten a person from performing a task. in stark contrast, people beset by the lack of self-efficacy tend to regard each difficulty as a threat to one’s sense of self and are most typically reluctant towards new activities. following bandura & locke (2003: 88), such individuals “have lower aspirations and tend to lower their goals even further should results be lacking.” instead of attributing failure to insufficient efforts or inept skills and knowledge, ill-efficacious entities dwell on the adverse effects of an action at hand and explain the lack of satisfactory outturns in terms of external adversities. this, in turn, renders such people considerably more prone to feelings of anxiety and discouragement, resulting in task abandonment rather than effort intensification (bandura 1988; muris 2002). the delivery of satisfactory performance is therefore limited by negative rumination yielded by the lack of foundational persistence and does not reflect the actual capacity of a person to meet the requirements of a task. 3. sources of efficacy beliefs usher & pajares (2008: 752) postulate that one’s assessment of personal efficacy may emanate from four primary sources and propose the following taxonomy: enactive attainments, vicarious learning, verbal persuasion, and emotional cues. to open with enactive accomplishments, bandura (1994: 73) alleges that “the most powerful way of efficacy building is through mastery experiences.” specifically, efficacy information is accrued by assessing and interpreting the outcomes of one’s past performance and serves as an indicator of one’s aptitude to succeed. prior to defining the final aim of one’s pursuits, the analysis of former attainments allows a person to judge the sufficiency of his or her skills in producing favourable results in the case of prospective endeavours. 61 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) as outlined by reddan (2015: 293), “success builds a robust belief in one’s personal efficacy and failure undermines it, especially if failure occurs before a sense of efficacy is well-developed.” notably, the success of building healthy agency beliefs through past accomplishments relies immensely on an individual’s interpretation of an experience. bandura (1994: 74) argues that “some adversities in our pursuits serve a useful purpose in teaching that success requires perseverance.” on these grounds, it is possible to assume that should initial difficulties be attributed to insufficient effort rather than an innate inability of a person to produce favourable outcomes, overcoming one’s limitation through effort intensification may inspire the growth of self-efficacy and reduce the discouraging impact of numerous challenges a person would experience en route to a desired accomplishment. moving on to the second origin point from which personal efficacy may stem, the concept of vicarious experience, in its essence, appears to be based on the principles of behaviour modelling. in bandura’s (1994: 75) opinion, “the observation of people similar to oneself producing desired outcomes by sustained effort helps a person in forging the belief that he or she is also capable of mastering similar tasks with comparable effect.” wise & trunnell (2001: 269) emphasise the importance of vicarious learning for building efficacy beliefs by stating that such an observation equips an individual with a set of coping strategies helpful in tackling adversities separating a person from reaching one’s full potential. it should be accentuated, however, that based on the outcomes of observed behaviour, vicarious experience may either foster or restrain the growth of personal agency. that is, should heightened efforts of a model result in failure rather than accomplishment, an observer would reduce one’s expectations in a like manner. importantly, the effectiveness of modelling in shaping selfefficacy beliefs is partially credited to the perceived degree of likeness between observed behaviour and outcomes a person wishes to produce. whereas a satisfactory level of similarity would encourage a person to correlate behavioural patterns, the lack of such resemblance is not likely to inspire an action. turning now to verbal persuasion, the self-perceptions of efficacy may stem from the faith a person’s significant others express in one’s ability to produce favourable outcomes. bandura (1994: 78) posits that “verbal reinforcement regarding an individual’s ability to master given activities may prompt greater effort when problems arise.” in the presence of taxing circumstances, such an external appraisal of one’s mastery within a given domain may counteract dropdowns in motivational energy and supports an individual in sustaining dedication to a cause, provided such feedback is based on a person’s authentic capacity to complete a task at hand. pajares (1997: 23) mentions that “persuaders must cultivate people’s beliefs in their abilities and ensure that the envisioned success is indeed achievable.” a likewise conclusion has been reached by reddan (2015: 293), who suggests that “verbal reinforcement is effective in stimulating a sense of personal efficacy if the desired outcome is within realistic boundaries.” conversely, insincere encouragement may possess a 62 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) ruinous impact on the shape of one’s agency beliefs once the unrealistic appraisal is followed by unsatisfactory outcomes. the majority of studies are consistent as to the claim that although such reinforcement should be in accord with a person’s capacity to succeed, the most useful efficacy judgements are those that slightly exceed a person’s capabilities, as this modest overestimation increases effort and persistence during difficult times (hattie & timperley 2007; artino 2012). the last source of agency beliefs identified by bandura seeks to explain the causality of human behaviour in terms of emotional cues and pertains to the influence of somatic messages prompted by physiological and emotional experiences. damasio et al. (1991: 222) contend that emotional reactions to a task, to a large margin, shape decision-making processes and supply suggestions about the expected success or failure of an undertaking. whereas stress reactions and negative rumination during demanding pursuits are most typically associated with signs of vulnerability, positive emotionality emanating from the possibility to perform a task encourages persistence and fuels subsequent efforts. bandura (1997: 37) stresses that “it is not the sheer intensity of a state but rather a human interpretation of an experience that influences our actions.” with this in mind, reducing the extent to which negative thoughts influence one’s self-perceptions may contribute to fostering performance and building sustainable beliefs in one’s agency. 4.vision and mental imagery much research work has been devoted to accommodating the notion of vision amongst the contemporary strands of the motivation inquiry and the concept is now considered as one of the contributory factors in inducing long-term, motivated behaviour. essentially, the construct of mental imagery pertains to channelling one’s present behaviours towards the accomplishment of a future target (muir & dörnyei 2013: 359). kosslyn et al. (2006: 4) provide a more complex definition of the term and postulate that vision is “the imitative representation created when perception is present, but the corresponding stimulus is not actually being perceived.” the consensus view nowadays is that a vision experience operates on neural mechanisms identical to those of a real event and produces analogous emotional loading. this very sensory stimulation, in turn, substantiates the motivational potential of vision; by forming an illusion of a real event, vision operates within the constraints of reality so that the human brain perceives an experience as a genuine opportunity for action (cox 2012: 12). the combination of vivid imagery with a fracture of positive emotional loading one would experience once the final goal is attained provides an individual with the impetus to produce a desired outcome in the real world. the degree to which a vision was internalised should also be accentuated here, as different motivational aspirations involve various strategies in the pursuit of outstanding performance. specifically, in the case of demanding endeavours, having a personalised target of one’s own would not suffice in reaching the optimal 63 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) version of self. henry et al. (2015: 332) assert that “certain objectives, especially those requiring long-term engagement, cannot be achieved without supplying a goal with the positive sensory stimulation stemming from a vision of a future self.” individuals who experienced positive emotionality related to a future accomplishment are more inclined to work towards an objective and, as a natural consequence, display more eagerness to intensify their efforts in the strive to produce a desired outcome. holmes et al. (2016: 257) suggest that “altering one’s emotionality is a more sufficient route to trigger behaviour change, as cognitive processing of behaviour change interventions, which is quite frequently based on guidance rather than a proper plan for action, does not guarantee the emergence of motivation.” dörnyei et al. (2014: 24) add that the role of vision is essential not only for triggering the initial motivation but also for regulating its value throughout an experience. by encouraging people to pre-experience future planned behaviours and the accompanying emotional consequences, it is possible to inspire the immense flow of motivational energy. thus, harnessing the power of vision and, then, using it as an apparatus to inspire motivational gain would be of extreme aid in any domain of human functioning where exceptional tenacity is required, with mastering a foreign language as one of the most notable examples. on an additional note, the review of the relevant literature reveals that the notions of goal and vision are, on a frequent basis, used interchangeably to label one’s future aspirations. despite the presence of some conceptual similarities, however, vision should not be mistaken with a goal; whereas the former refers to a highly desired imagination of a future state enriched by tangible, sensory images, a goal is a target one aims for when engaging in an activity. likewise, vision is rarely seen as a solitary trigger of motivated action but rather as an amplifier of one’s engagement in the pursuit of personally relevant targets (renner et al. 2019). 5. elements of vision in motivation theories in the last decades, the concept of vision and the theories of self-imagery have received a considerable amount of attention. in terms of examining the impact of visualisationbased techniques on human existence, the possible selves theory created by markus & nurius is, by many, considered to be one of the most preeminent. markus & nurius (1986: 964) suggest that each person possesses three possible versions of self, namely what they might become, what they are afraid of becoming, and the desired self. each motivated behaviour is, in fact, driven by the desire to reduce the perceived dichotomy between the current state of skills and knowledge and one’s most optimal version. an actor in such a motivational structure focuses his or her efforts on diminishing the aforementioned discrepancy, while the sensory experience related to the perception of this disparity serves as the fuel for motivational impetus. importantly, van der helm (2009: 99) claims that in order to inaugurate the motivational potential of vision, “the 64 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) mental representation cannot concern just any possible self; rather, it should be the most desirable one.” provided an individual displays a desire for a deliberate change in one’s future, vision is capable of channelling a person’s actions towards the accomplishment of an end-goal. moving on to the l2 motivational self system, the conceptualisation appears to be dörnyei’s attempt to extend the aforementioned theory on the grounds of second language acquisition. in their efforts to elaborate on students’ motivational experiences, muir & dörnyei (2013: 360) identify two primary constituents of the conceptualisation, namely the ought-to l2 self and the ideal l2 self. with regard to the former, an individual en route to accomplishing the full extent of one’s abilities focuses on systematic improvement of skills and knowledge so that they would be more akin to those of a target model. quite the opposite attitude, however, may be observed in the case of people pursuing the ought-to l2 self. in the view of dörnyei & ushioda (2009:29), the approach concerns “the set of attributes one believes to be critical to meet expectations and to avoid possible adverse outcomes.” instead of directing one’s energy at acquiring mastery within a given domain, such entities were found to concentrate on minimising the risk of being ridiculed through insufficient performance, with avoidance behaviours being the most typical reaction towards prospective adversities. surprisingly, although the ideal l2 self would be desirable in a foreign language classroom, depending on a motivational objective one embraces as his or her own, both models are capable of inspiring the motivational gain. beyond any doubt, exploiting the regulatory force of motivation or, rather, preventing its level from fluctuating, would be beneficial for performance regardless of the context. dörnyei & kubanyiova (2014: 10) propound the view that incorporating vision in a motivational framework allows for exercising such a measure of control over motivation in the case of distal pursuits and, in consequence, should be considered as “the motivational force of the highest order.” this is not to say, however, that the mere inclusion of imagery techniques guarantees the emergence of motivated action. muir & dörnyei (2013:358) state that “by combining a clear vision with a matching structure, it is possible to consciously create a motivational surge of energy and, then, focus this drive towards a specific target.” considering that both features were embodied in the novel conceptualisation of directed motivational currents2, the proposal formulated by dörnyei and his colleagues has quickly received recognition in recent years. muir & dörnyei (2013: 358) observe that a dmc emerges when “a structured pathway is set up towards a vision, reinforcing the momentum throughout the way to an explicit point in the future.” such a framework is believed to be entirely self-propelling, provided a vision of a desired 2 for a more detailed discussion concerning the directed motivational currents theory, see dörnyei et al. (2016). 65 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) state is completely internalised and the corresponding emotional stimulus provides cohesion for one’s efforts. this, in turn, opens an opportunity for creating a more stable environment for performance, allowing a person to achieve results beyond standard cases of motivation. the validity of the structure was confirmed by a number of empirical studies (henry et al. 2015; ghanizadeh & jahedizadeh 2015; pietluch 2018). 6. research rationale and hypotheses the influence of personal assessment of one’s efficacy on human performance in a variety of settings is rather well-investigated (pajares 1996; vancouver & kendall 2006; meral et al. 2012). the studies in question yielded sufficient evidence to account for the claim that a high sense of agency indeed contributes to producing favourable results, especially in the case of demanding endeavours. bearing the scope of this research project in mind, it would be important to note that the recent empirical investigations into the impact of the notion rendered positive results also in the context of academic achievement (lane & lane 2001; zajacova et al. 2005; yokoyama 2019; domenech-betoret et al. 2017). vision, on the other hand, currently experiences somewhat of a renaissance and has, yet again, become one of the central variables in motivational research, with its predominant application in the field of language learning (muir & dörnyei 2013; henry et al. 2015; dörnyei et al. 2016). on the basis of the theoretical discussion, one can observe that not only are the two variables integral parts of motivated behaviour but they also share a large volume of conceptual similarities. for this reason, it is possible to assume that these two factors are mutually dependent, i.e. well-developed efficacy beliefs are imperative for the emergence of a clear-cut vision of a future self. although some efforts have been made to explore the correlation between the variables, the review of the related literature revealed the lack of multipurpose examinations combining these two concepts in the context of l2 learning. on these grounds, it is possible to move towards the formation of the following research hypotheses: 1. there exists an equivalence between a positive perception of one’s coping abilities and the ratio at which a well-established vision of a future self occurs; 2. a high value of self-efficacy and the ability to pre-experience outcomes of a future state facilitate achievement by rendering individuals more eager to visualise themselves as capable of embracing longitudinal and challenging pursuits and limiting the occurrence of negative rumination, also in the context of language learning 6.1. apparatus participants’ self-efficacy beliefs were explored through a standardised version of the general self-efficacy scale derived from schwarzer & jerusalem (1995). the instrument consists of 10 forced-answer statements and responses are recorded on a 5-point likert 66 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) continuum3, with grades ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) and yielding a total score between 10 and 50. the items included in the test are positively worded, with the most typical statement being “thanks to my resourcefulness, i can handle unforeseen situations.” the paramount intent of the tool is to measure different facets of agency beliefs, including the degree of resourcefulness, effort expenditure tendencies, and a person’s attitude towards the sufficiency of one’s skills to accomplish a task at hand. leaving the tool’s flexibility in measuring various aspects of personal agency aside, the test was also chosen due to its large corpus of results, with the mean score of cronbach’s alpha4 oscillating around 0.88 for the adults aged 20 to 50. criterionrelated validity of the gses was documented in several correlation studies which rendered positive coefficients with academic buoyancy (carroll et al. 2009; martin et al. 2010), resilience (taylor & reyes 2012; sagone & de caroli 2014), and vocational pursuits (betz & voyten 1997; creed & prideaux 2001). the internal consistency of the instrument in this particular research project was reflected in the cronbach’s alpha of 0.85. in order to expand on the individual cases of vision amongst the respondents, a variation of the dmc disposition questionnaire stemmed from muir (2016) was utilised. by combining both open and multiple-choice questions, the instrument explores various realms of visionary experience, including the duration of motivated behaviour, the degree to which a vision is personalised, and the state of efficacy beliefs prior and during a motivational episode. in a manner similar to the preceding questionnaire, in the multiple-choice section of the tool, participants are requested to record their agreement along a 5-point likert-type response format, with the answers ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). previous studies demonstrated a high internal consistency of the instrument, with cronbach’s alpha of 0.84. the sample employed for the purpose of this study produced a similar result, with the score of cronbach’s alpha oscillating around 0.82 for the entire project. the remaining questions were interpreted on several separate occasions, yielding a substantial number of conclusions for further empirical investigation. additionally, in the second stage of the research project, individual semi-structured interviews were carried out in an effort to investigate the respondents’ visionary experiences in-depth. during each interview, the participants were requested to focus on the implications their vision may have had on initiating their motivational experience, preferably in the l2 setting. 3 for more information on the design and interpretation of likert scales, please see allen, elaine, and christopher seaman. 2007. likert scales and data analyses. quality progress: 64-65. 4 cronbach’s alpha is a standard test used to estimate the reliability of a composite score and it is the most predominantly applied technique in assessing the internal consistency of multiple-question likerttype scales. 67 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) 6.2. participants and sampling the data collection process took place between april and july 2018 and the initial sample of this study was composed of 148 adult users of english as a foreign language currently employed at one of the major corporate businesses in rzeszow. due to the nature of their work, all of those surveyed employ the language for vocational purposes on a daily basis. in efforts to ensure the language homogeneity of the group, at the time of the inquiry, all of the respondents were pursuing a bachelor’s degree in english philology at both private and public universities in rzeszow. of the total population, 79 participants were female and 69 were male. as far as the age factor is concerned, the subjects ranged from 18 to 45; however, the vast majority of the respondents marked their belonging to the 21-30 bracket (77.7%). the subjects were assured their participation was to be voluntary and that it would have no impact on their final grade. the basic aims of the study were explained and, then, the participants were provided with the previously described psychometric tests to complete. although both tools utilised for the purpose of the study included straightforward instructions, prior to the actual procedure, the guidelines were also reinforced verbally. to calculate the results of the questionnaires, a typical approach to the interpretation of the likert-type scales was adopted. following this stage, the outcomes were subject to a standard battery of correlational tests to explore the potential existence of a relationship between the primary variables. 6.3. results and discussion prior to addressing the paramount hypotheses of the present research project, the quantitative data yielded by the instruments was put under scrutiny. the findings of the gses test were somewhat surprising; the average score for the total population was 34.12 and would suggest that, for the majority of study’s respondents, a robust belief in their own agency was lacking. turning now to the exploration of individual vision experiences, one has to bear in mind that not every case of motivated behaviour bears the marks of a true vision so that the answers stemming from the second instrument had to be examined for the presence of features such as high degree of internalisation and the emotional stimulation related to a future state. on these grounds, a sample of 72 cases relevant for the investigation was created, constituting nearly one half of the entire research group (48.65%). as the basic aim of the study was to examine the nature of the correlation between vision and the value of self-efficacy, it was recommendable to, once again, scrutinise the efficacy beliefs amongst the participants who reported experiencing the sensory stimulation corresponding to a future state. in agreement with the study’s presumptions, the average gses score for the group was substantially higher in comparison to the entire population included in the project; the arithmetic mean of 46.37 points indeed indicates a well-established sense of personal agency. to explore the possible relationship 68 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) between high self-efficacy and vision occurrence, and address the first research hypothesis, spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was applied. the choice of the correlation method was not coincidental and was somewhat dictated by the results of the shapirowilk normality test, which revealed for the data to be far from typical in a normally distributed population. table 1 below offers a concise summary of the outcomes of the aforementioned test. table 1. shapiro-wilk normality test shapiro-wilk statistics df relevance general selfefficacy (1-5) .953 72 .025 vision occurrence (1-5) .789 72 .000 the outturns of spearman’s rank correlation coefficient seem to render the quantitative hypothesis of the project justifiable; the results of the test gathered in table 2 below provide sufficient evidence to support the claim that such a correlation indeed exists. the results were also found to be relevant from the statistical standpoint (p<0,01), validating a reciprocal nature of the relationship between the variables. on these grounds, it is possible to draw an unyielding conclusion that, in the population under scrutiny, the value of self-efficacy permeates decision-making processes and contributes to developing a well-established vision of a future self which, in turn, allows a person to embrace more distal and demanding objectives. table 2. spearman’s rank correlation coefficient vision occurrence (1-5) level of general self-efficacy (1-5) spearman’s correlation .712** correlation coefficient .000 n 72 even more importantly, similar conclusions were reached following the analysis of the answers provided during the semi-structured interviews employed for the purpose of this investigation. in the section below, the focus shall remain on exploring and interpreting some of the opinions disclosed by the respondents. beyond any doubt, juggling demands of higher education with vocational pursuits is highly exacting an endeavour. when enquired about what stimulated participant x to 69 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) embrace such a challenging schedule, she mentioned her lifelong dream has been to become an academic teacher. due to the requirements of the position, she is currently combining a full-time job with pursuing her bachelor’s degree in english philology: my current employer provides services to companies all around the world, so i am working in a 24/7 environment. i am a professional and i do not allow my academic pursuits to interfere with my performance at work. i sometimes struggle with finding the time to study, however, i am still one of the best students in my group. my degree makes me feel more competent at work but, at some point, i would like to focus on the academic aspect entirely. although it can be very hectic at times, i often imagine myself working at the university and i know it will be worth it in the long run. needless to say, the respondent is exceptionally motivated to accomplish her goal. although her current lifestyle prompts all sorts of difficulties related to an effective combination of academic and vocational pursuits, she appears to be convinced that, once she reaches the desired version of self, the rewarding outcomes will by far outweigh the effort invested in achieving the target. bearing in mind that human motivation is highly tumultuous in its nature, in the sense that it rarely remains stable throughout time, it appears that the application of mental imagery related to the desired occupation aids the participant in harnessing the turmoil of motivational energy. in this case, the respondent’s will to achieve is enriched by a tangible vision and, as such, her level of motivation does not seem to require particular volitional control. this, in turn, lends support to the claim that, when fully internalised, a vision is capable of evoking positive emotional stimulation akin to this of a real event. even though the participant admitted experiencing some issues in managing such a hectic lifestyle, with most of them being of organisational nature, the sensory arousal related to the final state remedies the respondent’s occasional apathy. in the vicinity of temporal dropdowns of motivation, the participant focuses on the final outcome of her current pursuits; her academic and occupational activities serve as means of boosting her linguistic proficiency so that, at some point in the future, she will be well-equipped to utilise the language in question at the academic level. in fact, the mental imagery related to this specific experience ongoingly stimulates the participant to further improve the state of her language capacities. additionally, the ability to effectively prioritise the demands of her current lifestyle provides the participant with a sense of achievement and, consequently, contributes to developing well-anchored agency and propels participant’s belief that the envisioned success is indeed achievable. on this basis, one may formulate the conclusion that the subject’s sense of efficacy is stemming from mastery experience, as being both occupationally and academically active allowed the respondent to develop a highly personalised framework for counteracting cases of amotivation. 70 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) in stark contrast to the majority of respondents, the story recalled by participant y concerns the objective that had been already accomplished. when requested to elaborate on the most intense language experience, the subject described the situation when she was presented with the opportunity to run a large-scale training programme for her company in spain: at first, i was really excited. i have always been an eager traveller and this seemed to be a fantastic opportunity to experience something new. although english is the primary language of communication in our company, the condition was i had to improve my spanish to a communicative extent, allowing more effective interaction with colleagues in spain. with the deadline approaching and only a couple of months left till the project delivery date, i became extremely anxious as to whether i could learn a moderately new language in such a short time. as the project was extremely important to me, i began to imagine what it would feel like to live in spain and it really helped! i wanted to be busy with the language all the time and was soon able to communicate with my fellow students. the analysis of the above account clearly indicates that despite being well-aware of the challenges involved in the pursuit, with overcoming the language barrier being the most notable one, throughout the experience, the participant remained focused on the potential favourable outcomes of her endeavour. in this case, the emergence of a well-defined vision of a future state may be seen as a triggering factor of the respondent’s motivational experience, allowing the subject to exercise control over the initial negative rumination stemming from the task difficulty. it should also be accentuated here that, once the goal was imbued with a properly internalised vision, the participant experienced positive emotionality of high intensity which fuelled her efforts in an ongoing fashion and, ultimately, rendered the desired result attainable. the increased volume of language exposure stemming from that positive outlook, in turn, significantly boosted the rate at which the participant acquired the communicative command of the language in question. with this in mind, it is possible to assume that a personalised vision of one’s future self not only does stimulate a person to embrace more demanding pursuits, regardless of a context, but also supports an individual in both developing and sustaining a feeling of competence by enhancing one’s agency beliefs with the fracture of emotional stimulation a person would experience once the final state is reached. even though on the basis of the theoretical discussion, mental imagery may be understood as an efficacy facilitator rather than a trigger of motivational impetus, the analysis of the participant’s experience seems to validate the claim that vision is capable of initiating the growth of agency in the instances when well-developed beliefs as to one’s capacity to succeed are lacking. for this reason, the intensity of a motivational experience augmented by elements of mental imagery might be indeed seen as beyond standard 71 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) cases of motivation human beings experience, encouraging stellar performance even in the case of highly demanding endeavours. to complete the discussion, it would be recommendable to pinpoint certain salient elements that indicate the vision experiences described by the study participants could be indeed deemed as fully-fledged mental images pertaining to the formation of future self-identity. one of the most fundamental criteria in assessing whether one’s aspirations reflect a properly internalised vision of self is the presence of an apparent dichotomy between a person’s current state and the one that an individual is opting to achieve in the future. following dörnyei (2014: 9), the lack of such discrepancy renders a person unable to activate sufficient effort and, thus, is not likely to ignite deliberate action to change one’s present condition. in all cases examined, it was possible to observe an evident disparity between participants’ current and ideal selves; the respondents possessed elaborate and vivid images of their future versions which were substantially different from their pre-vision states. furthermore, the participants emphasised that the vision experiences were tangible in the sense that one’s efforts directed at the specific end-state were augmented through experiencing sensory stimulation akin to the one a person would experience once the final attainment was produced. this would, yet again, substantiate the claim that the application of mental imagery encourages higher effort expenditure in the pursuit of the desired version of self. the plausibility of one’s future self-image is another essential prerequisite of a vision experience. although the pursuits of our respondents, quite frequently, involved numerous challenges requiring the students to completely reorganise their daily routines to better match the requirements of a task, the presence of adequately articulated vision strengthened the participants’ beliefs that the end-goals were indeed within their reach. the goals the respondents opted for were not comfortable and required the students to energise plenty of effort to successfully perform the activities conducive to the actualisation of the potential of an entity. the existence of such procedural strategies acted as a scaffolding for their motivational interventions and ensured that the participants remained dedicated to their aspirations despite the presence of potential demotivators distracting them from pursuing the ideal self. from the educational perspective, one may postulate that whilst the process of learning a foreign language is not immune to the influence of affective variables capable of hampering a student’s progress, the presence of a true vision allows a learner to focus on the ultimate destination and, resultatively, trigger the persistence required to achieve one’s full potential. 72 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) 7. concluding remarks and recommendations for future research the main rationale behind this paper was to explore the nature of the correlation between positive self-appraisals of efficacy and the occurrence of mental imagery related to reaching a highly desired version of a future self. whilst the results of the quantitative aspect of the investigation render the existence of such a relationship valid and the outcomes of the gses test indeed favour the image of the participants as highly efficacious entities, there is a rather peculiar observation to be made. that is, some individuals included in the study displayed a strong sense of efficacy prior to the emergence of their vision experience and, during the event, the amount of trust they placed in their agency would not fluctuate. on this basis, one may assume that the confidence those individuals possess for their competence serves as the incentive to internalise a goal regardless of a setting and a task difficulty. this motivational scaffolding is further reinforced by positive emotional arousal stemming from pre-experiencing the rewarding consequences of a future state, ensuring individuals in the pursuit of such targets would remain dedicated to a cause. on the other hand, it is also possible to identify cases where adopting a new challenge inspired the sharp growth of personal agency beliefs. by focusing on the positive emotionality stemming from enhancing a goal with mental visualisation of a future state, the participants were capable of sufficiently overcoming negative rumination related to the potential adversities their endeavours may yield. even more interestingly, it is possible to identify instances when vision may be seen as a sole trigger of a motivational experience, allowing a person to adequately counteract daily ebb and flow of motivated action. although set in entirely different contexts, all of the examples included in the research share one critical similarity ‒ it transpires that the positive emotionality emanating from the inclusion of vision element increases participants’ eagerness to actualise one’s potential through embracing more demanding tasks, also in the context of developing language proficiency. supplementing one’s pursuits with the elements of mental imagery encourages tenacity in overcoming personal limitations related to a task at hand and, consequently, provides a person with more opportunities to seek mastery in a given domain. on an additional note, even though individual cases differ markedly, the positive impact of self-efficacy on performance within any realm of human existence is easily discernible; well-anchored agency beliefs embolden people to set adequately tailored action plans required to achieve their aspirations and boost persistence in an ongoing fashion, whereas the opportunity to reduce the discrepancy between the current state and the most optimal version of self provides our subjects with a unique sense of improvement, favouring the perception of a person as an entity capable of attaining even highly troublesome objectives. this being said, we can put forward an assumption that the relationship between the variables is highly reciprocal in its nature; both notions were found advantageous in tackling taxing 73 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) circumstances so that a proper combination of vision and self-efficacy may be sufficient in yielding a motivational surge of high intensity which would outclass standard cases of motivation. from the educational standpoint, guiding students in enriching their targets with elements of mental imagery as well as incorporating efficacy building techniques in the strive to inspire highly motivated action may contribute to the overall shape of language competence by supporting a person in sustaining dedication to the cause, which is of tremendous importance in the case of time-consuming pursuits such as learning a foreign language. beyond any doubt, harnessing the motivational power of vision and self-efficacy can be of extreme help in addressing behavioural issues. by combining appropriately crafted, tangible visualisation with a matching motivational scaffolding, that would gradually increase one’s awareness concerning the coping competence, it is possible to inspire the impetus that would by far surpass the standard cases of motivation. henceforth, comprehending the exact nature of the relationship between these two concepts may provide those concerned with the field with a crucial tool in developing motivational interventions. this knowledge could then be put into practice in various realms of human functioning, for instance, education or addiction treatment. although the present analysis provides compelling evidence for the congruence between the variables, it would also be interesting to expand on the areas such as the correlation of self-efficacy and vision with other affective variables or the techniques of inducing the motivational gain 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towards a theoretical underpinning of visions of the future and the process of envisioning. futures 4: 96-104. vasquez, n. a. & buehler, r. 2007. seeing future success: does imagery perspective influence achievement motivation. personality and social psychology bulletin 33(10): 1392-1405. wise, j. b. & trunnell, e. p. 2001. the influence of sources of self-efficacy upon efficacy strength. journal of sport and exercise psychology 23: 268-280. yokoyama, s. 2019. academic self-efficacy and academic performance in online learning: a mini review. frontiers in psychology 9: 23-41. zajacova, a, lynch, s. m. & espenshade, t. j. 2005. self-efficacy, stress, and academic success in college. research in higher education 46: 677-706. *** arkadiusz pietluch is a ph.d. student at the university of rzeszów, where he currently teaches subjects such as phonetics, phonology, and practical english. his areas of academic interest include bilingualism and the impact of psychological variables on human cognition. between linguistics, language education and acquisition research. introduction to the special issue linguistics for language teaching and learning 5 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies elżbieta awramiuk1 university of białystok orcid id: 0000-0003-1769-7265 daniel karczewski2 university of białystok orcid id: 0000-0001-8255-6018 between linguistics, language education and acquisition research. introduction to the special issue linguistics for language teaching and learning the relationship between linguistics and education is strong and has a long tradition. this connection is not merely about a transmission of linguistic knowledge to the context of school education – what really matters is a deep insight into the goals and methods of language teaching and learning. while in foreign language teaching practical issues are beyond disagreement, they have been debated for many years as regards first language teaching and learning. a telling example of this controversy is an international debate over the role of grammar in l1 teaching (hudson 2004; locke 2010; spolsky & hult 2010; macken-horarik et al. 2011; ribas, fontich & guasch 2015). the knowledge about language in different countries is l1-specific by nature – it depends on the features of a particular native language. punctuation, by way of example, would be taught differently in languages in which it is related to prosody in comparison to languages where such relations do not exist. however, there are certain problems of language teaching and learning that are universal and apply to the majority of languages taught. in particular, this question arises when 1 address for correspondence: institute of polish philology, university of białystok, pl. nzs 1, 15-420 białystok, poland. e-mail: e.awramiuk@uwb.edu.pl 2 address for correspondence: institute of modern languages, university of białystok, ul. liniarskiego 3, 15-420 białystok, poland. e-mail: dakar@uwb.edu.pl doi: 10.15290/cr.2019.24.1.01 6 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies choosing a model for the study of a given language, the choice of which is initially guided by the adoption of a particular idea of language and research perspective. despite the fact that teaching is a natural area of research principally for educators and educationists, linguistics plays its part here. there are many linguistic publications that shed light on how children learn a language, and therefore provide arguments in the debate over the effective language teaching and learning. the problems pertaining to linguistics and education that are of interest to scholars representing the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary linguistics embrace such questions as the role of grammar instruction in the development of writing skills, ways of raising metalinguistic awareness, the importance of students’ language preconception in l1 teaching or teachers’ beliefs. below we present several examples of linguistic investigations of this kind. the role of grammar in the development of l1 language skills is still unclear. while there are several studies demonstrating that morphological awareness can foster the development of spelling skills (apel & werfel 2014; bowers, kirby & deacon 2010; goodwin & ahn 2013; graham & santangelo 2014), the relation of grammatical knowledge to general writing skills is more controversial. some researchers claim that there is no significant evidence for the positive effect of grammar instruction on language use (andrews et al. 2006; graham et al. 2012). others, on the other hand, argue with that view as supported by a weak empirical basis and postulate that teaching grammar can beneficially affect writing competence (myhill et al. 2012; myhill 2018). however, there is a growing consensus that research into the efficiency of grammar instruction should provide for the effects of a different approach to grammar teaching and the role of a teaching method. studies on language acquisition have shown that the traditional teaching of grammar focused on the knowledge of language structures is far less valuable than metalinguistic awareness and conceptualization of the grammar system achieved by students through natural language activities such as writing, speaking, and reading (fontich 2016; milian 2005; ribas, fontich & guasch 2014; unsworth 2002; uppstad 2006). the above conclusions advocate a claim that the ability to think deeply about the language and how it is used is far more significant than a mere reproduction of grammar content presented by a teacher, and also than the teaching of a series of grammar rules. metalinguistic activities should always be based on spontaneous linguistic knowledge and students’ language experiences, as well as on a multidimensional perspective on language. l1 speakers know a lot about their native languages, usually without knowing that they know it. students’ implicit knowledge about language and language preconception are a fundamental part of l1 teaching. research into these topics can guide the teaching of grammar so that it is functional, communication-oriented and cognitively challenging (štěpáník 2019). preconceptions of language phenomena are developed at a really early stage. this can be illustrated with an example of invented spelling used by children in pre-school age – a graphic system which is closer to surface phonetics and their linguistic intuition than a conventional system. children’s departures from standard orthography are determined by problems with phonological segmentation and categorization of the sounds heard. in addition, they explain children’s conceptualizations of written language as well as its relation to spoken language. there have been a wealth of studies on 7 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies the development of early writing abilities that differentiate the factors determining this process (cf. bourassa & treiman 2001; levin et al. 2013; morin 2007; sénéchal et al. 2012; viise et al. 2011; werfel & schuele 2012). the analysis of children’s writing provides an insight into phonological representations of words. it also reflects preschoolers’ strategies of phonological segmentation and the acquisition process of graphotactic, orthographical and morphological rules of a given language. ignoring students’ understanding of and thinking about language may potentially lead to various lasting problems of l1 teaching, also at subsequent educational levels. the essential prerequisite for functional and effective education is a teacher and their explicit support in language learning. since teachers’ beliefs and language awareness play a major role in the shaping of classroom practices (watson 2015), we should not underestimate the usefulness of research on this area (e.g. camps & fontich 2019; nupponen et al. 2019; van rijt et al. 2019). what teachers believe about language and language teaching is crucial for language education. language development is a key factor in the acquisition of any knowledge. it is for this reason that linguists investigate how people acquire their knowledge about language and how this knowledge interacts with other cognitive processes. their carefully-designed classroom-based experiments with children and teachers can help to understand how students learn a language; they may also contribute to the improvement of teacher education and the effectiveness of language education – and thus, indirectly, to general education. the above-mentioned problems are of interest also to the eduling sig (special interest group) of arle (international association for research in l1 education), an international group of researchers interested in broadly understood educational linguistics. the present special issue is the outcome of a seminar convened by the university of białystok and devoted to the question of how linguistic research can assist l1 education, especially in language teaching and learning. on top of that, the volume builds on previous collaborative projects navigated by the researchers working for arle (kerge 2014; boivin et al. 2018; rättyä et al. 2019). the texts collected in this special issue come from four different linguistic circles: spain, poland, portugal and slovakia. despite diverse topics and different research perspectives, the idea behind all these studies is one – the improvement of linguistic education with an emphasis on l1. the volume opens with a paper by ludmila liptáková, who attempts to answer the question of what developmental linguistics can offer to l1 education. the author presents empirical data from language research in slovak speaking children to illustrate the possibilities of transferring the findings in developmental linguistics into the curriculum of language learning and teaching. xavier fontich discusses a general question about whether we should teach first language grammar in compulsory schooling at all. the author pinpoints how important it is that teaching and learning languages at school be based on the learners’ metalinguistic activity, and presents a model of intervention (instructional sequence) based on examples from the spanish language while drawing upon international research. 8 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies ana costa intends to contribute to the implicit/explicit debate on grammar learning and through an example of acquisition of contrast connectives in portuguese she discusses the nature of the knowledge involved in grammar teaching and learning at school. the author supports the claim that studies on language acquisition and development are seen as most relevant to grammar teaching and learning, and as such grammar instruction must take into account spontaneous linguistic knowledge, which depends on language learning experiences accumulated throughout a learner’s school years. cristina vieira da silva, íris susana pires pereira & isabel sebastiao, using a questionnaire survey, give an account of portuguese teachers’ perceptions on grammar teaching. teachers’ perceptions are shaped by such factors as content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of the curricula and general educational knowledge. based on their findings, the authors advocate the need to rethink how teachers are trained and how they build their awareness about the role of grammar teaching in effective student learning. marta kopcikova provides a theoretical analysis of the relationship between metacognition and its subordinate concept metalinguistics, highlighting the holistic nature of learning. the paper focuses on explaining the role of metacognition and metalinguistics in particular in developing reading skills and provides an instruction of a reading comprehension strategy, applicable for both l1 and fl reading development. marti palla investigates polish preschool children’s sensitivity to the generic (e.g., “birds have wings”) and non-generic (e.g. “two birds are sitting in that tree”) distinction. the aim of her study is to determine the extent to which preschool children are sensitive to one morphological cue in particular. the reader will therefore find in this special issue the findings from an array of research conducted in various countries and using various methodologies. however diverse they may seem, all the papers theorize, analyze and discuss – at different levels of detail – how linguistics can serve language education. since grammar learning and teaching are understood here primarily as a process of building awareness of the language used, the discussion revolves around the problems of language acquisition and development (including such concepts as language awareness, or metalinguistic knowledge) as well as of implicit vs. explicit linguistic knowledge. in most of the texts the reader will find more or less overtly formulated questions about effective ways of language teaching and learning; some papers even articulate practical methodological tips. every single article as well as the entire volume make a contribution to our understanding of language learning and teaching. out of all those who deserve acknowledgement we would like to single out all the authors for their contribution to this volume, and the reviewers for their comments and constructive suggestions. we deeply believe that the essays collected in this issue may inspire researchers to seek further creative goals, and encourage them to engage in further collaborative projects. 9 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies references andrews, r., torgerson, c., beverton, s., freeman, a., locke, t., low, g., robinson, a. & zhu, d. 2006. the effect of grammar teaching on writing development. british educational research journal 32(1): 39–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411920500401997 apel, k. & werfel, k. 2014. using morphological awareness instruction to improve written language skills.  language, speech, and hearing services in schools 45: 251–260. https://doi. org/10.1044/2014_lshss-14-0039 boivin m.c., fontich x., funke r., garcía-folgado m.j. & myhill d. 2018. working on grammar at school in l1 education: empirical research across linguistic regions. introduction to the special issue. l1 – educational studies in language and literature 18: 1–6. bourassa, d. c. & treiman, r. 2001. spelling development and disability: the importance of linguistics factors. language, speech and hearing services in schools 32(3): 172–181. bowers, p. n., kirby, j. r. & deacon, s. h. 2010. the effects of morphological instruction on literacy skills: a systematic review of the literature. review of educational research 80(2): 144–179. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654309359353 camps, a. & fontich, x. 2019. teachers’ concepts on the teaching of grammar in relation to the teaching of writing in spain: a case study. l1 – educational studies in language and literature. 19: 1-36. https://doi.org/10.17239/l1esll-2019.19.02.02 fontich, x. 2016. l1 grammar instruction and writing: metalinguistic activity as a teaching and research focus. language and linguistics compass 10(5): 238–54. https://doi.org/10.1111/ lnc3.12184 goodwin, a. p. & ahn, s. 2013. a meta-analysis of morphological interventions in english: effects on literacy outcomes for school-age children. scientific studies of reading 17(4): 257–285. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2012.689791 graham, s., mckeown, d., kiuhara, s. & harris, k.r. 2012. a meta-analysis of writing instruction for students in the elementary grades. journal of educational psychology 104(4): 879–896. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029185 graham, s. & santangelo, t. 2014. does spelling instruction make students better spellers, readers, and writers? a meta-analytic review. reading and writing 27: 1703–1743. https://doi. org/10.1007/s11145-014-9517-0 hudson, r. 2004. why education needs linguistics (and vice versa). journal of linguistics 40: 105–130. kerge, k. (ed.). 2014. studies in language acquisition, learning, and corpora.  proceedings of the tallinn university institute of estonian language and culture 16. tallinn: tallinn university. levin, i., aram, d., tolchinsky, l. & mcbride, c. 2013. maternal mediation of writing and children’s early spelling and reading: the semitic abjad versus the european alphabet. writing systems research 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/17586801.2013.797335 10 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies locke, t. (ed.). 2010. beyond the grammar wars. a resource for teachers and students on developing language knowledge in the english/literacy classroom. new york, ny: routledge. https://doi. org/10.4324/9780203854358 macken-horarik, m., love, k. & unsworth, l. 2011. a grammatics ‘good enough’ for school english in the 21st century: four challenges in realising the potential. australian journal of language and literacy 34(1): 9-23. milian, m. 2005. reformulation: a means of constructing knowledge in shared writing. l1 – educational studies in language and literature 5(3): 335–351. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10674005-8560-9 morin, m. f. 2007. linguistic factors and invented spelling in children: the case of french beginners in children. l1 – educational studies in language and literature 7 (3): 173–189. myhill, d. 2018. grammar as a meaning making resource for language development. l1 – educational studies in language and literature 18: 1–21. https://doi.org/10.17239/l1esll-2018.18.04.04. myhill, d.a., jones, s.m., lines, h. & watson, a. 2012. re-thinking grammar: the impact of embedded grammar teaching on students’ writing and students’ metalinguistic understanding. research papers in education 27(2): 139–166. https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2011.637640. nupponen, a.-m.; jeskanen, s. & rättyä, k. 2019. finnish student language teachers reflecting on linguistic concepts related to sentence structures: students recognising linguistic concepts in l1 and l2 textbooks. l1 – educational studies in language and literature 19: 1-25. https://doi. org/10.17239/l1esll-2019.19.02.04 rättyä, k., awramiuk, e. & fontich, x. 2019. what is grammar education today? introduction to eduling special issue on grammar education. l1 – educational studies in language and literature 19: 1–9. https://doi.org/10.17239/l1esll-2019.19.02.01 ribas t., fontich x. & guasch o. (eds.). 2015. grammar at school. research on metalinguistic activity in language education. brussels: peter lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-0352-6490-6. sénéchal, m., ouellette, g., pagan, s. & lever, r. 2012. the role of invented spelling on learning to read in low-phoneme-awareness kindergartners: a randomized-control-trial study. reading and writing 25: 917–934. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-011-9310-2 spolsky b. & hult, f. (eds.). 2010. the handbook of educational linguistics. sussex: wileyblackwell. štěpáník, s. 2019. pupil preconception as a source of solutions to lingering problems of grammar teaching? l1 – educational studies in language and literature. 19: 1-24. https://doi. org/10.17239/l1esll-2019.19.02.05 unsworth, l. 2002. reading grammatically: exploring the ‘constructiveness’ of literary texts. l1 – educational studies in language and literature 2(2): 121–140. https://doi.org/10.1023/ a:1020847215689 uppstad, p.h. 2006. the dynamics of written language acquisition. l1 – educational studies in language and literature 6(3): 63–83. https://doi.org/10.17239/l1esll-2006.06.01.04 11 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies van rijt, j. van, wijnands, a. & coppen, p.-a. 2019 (forthcoming). dutch teacher beliefs on linguistic concepts and reflective judgement in grammar teaching. l1 – educational studies in language and literature. viise, n. m., richards, h. c. & pandis, m. 2011. orthographic depth and spelling acquisition in estonian and english: a comparison of two diverse alphabetic languages. scandinavian journal of educational research 55(4): 425–453. watson, a. 2015. the problem of grammar teaching: a case study of the relationship between a teacher’s beliefs and pedagogical practice. language and education 29(4): 332-346. https://doi. org/10.1080/09500782.2015.1016955 werfel, k. l. & schuele, c. m. 2012. segmentation and representation of consonant blends in kindergarten children’s spellings. language, speech, and hearing services in schools 43: 292–307. *** elżbieta awramiuk is a professor of linguistics at the university of białystok, poland. her research currently concentrates on knowledge about language in education, as well as on phonology and spelling in contemporary polish. since 2005, she has been collaborating with l1 – educational studies in language and literature, a scopus indexed online peer-reviewed, multilingual journal. she is the founding member of arle (international association for research in l1 education, formerly: iaimte) and she is engaged in the special interest group research educational linguistics (sig eduling). she has participated in several research projects focused on the early literacy development and assessment and linguistic aspects of learning to read and write. daniel karczewski is an assistant professor in the institute of modern languages at the university of białystok, poland. he holds a phd in cognitive linguistics. his current research interest include the generic overgeneralization effect and the phenomenon of normativity. he was the prize winner of the polish cognitive linguistics association competition for the best ph.d. dissertation in cognitive linguistics in 2014. he has recently published a book generyczność w języku i w myśleniu. studium kognitywne (genericity in language and thought. a cognitive study). philosophy and practice in translational hermeneutics edited by j. stanley, b. o’keeffe, r. stolze, l. cercel bucharest: zeta books, 2018, pp. 398 107 crossroads. a journal of english studies beata piecychna university of białystok philosophy and practice in translational hermeneutics edited by j. stanley, b. o’keeffe, r. stolze, l. cercel bucharest: zeta books, 2018, pp. 398 translational hermeneutics, as a relatively young subdiscipline of translation studies, has not yet gained much popularity across the globe, in particular among a great deal of translation scholars who tend to criticize the approach for its vague, metaphorical lexicon, the unresolved question of the connection between objectivity and subjectivity, and for a lack of empirical studies which could confirm the tentative assumptions that are made by translational hermeneutists with regard to the translator’s status as a central figure in the translational process. as the authors of the edited collection titled philosophy and practice in translational hermeneutics rightly accentuate: there is a significant level of distrust of hermeneutics in fields dominated by the empirical approach to research, for instance, but also in the humanities. it is partly matter of the difficulty that obtains when one asks whether hermeneutics (especially if one describes it as an effort to ‘understand understanding’) has any specificity to it: does hermeneutics understand things better, or differently (and in a valuably different way) compared to other approaches to interpretation, or to what one might venture to describe as interpretation in general? it is partly a matter of the philosophical tradition in which hermeneutics is situated. here there is a certain specificity, to be sure (and we can call that specificity ‘philosophy,’ quite simply), but if interpretation, and translation, are ultimately practical undertakings, do the abstractions and conceptual frameworks of philosophical hermeneutics hamper or assist in gaining a better understanding of such practices? (2018: 7) at the same time, though, it has to be underlined that an increasing number of researchers working within literary studies, linguistics, communication and media studies, philosophy, sociology and translatology, amongst others, discover their mutual interest in the reciprocal relation10.15290/cr.2018.20.1.06 108 crossroads. a journal of english studies ship between philosophy and translation, with a special emphasis on how translation might relate to hermeneutics, and to what extent issues explored by hermeneutists might be exploited in the area of translation studies. without too gross an exaggeration, it might be tentatively concluded that all those scholars struggle to find an answer to the questions presented in the closing part of the quotation above. and as it seems, this is also undoubtedly the question which remains of the utmost importance to the authors of the papers presented in the reviewed collection. what should also be added with regard to the above is that finding a proper solution to the problem concerning the interplay between very abstract ideas as contained in gadamer’s, heidegger’s or ricoeur’s works, to name but a few, and quite concrete and more tangible concepts as illustrated by the current needs diagnosed within the translational didactics paradigm will surely determine the future of the now developing translational hermeneutics. the book titled philosophy and practice in translational hermeneutics, an outcome of the second conference on hermeneutics and translation studies held in 2013 in cologne, comprises a collection of fourteen essays, which might be divided into two complementary themes. the first group of texts revolves around philosophical approaches to translation, including gadamerian philosophical hermeneutics, husserlian phenomenology, as well as rhetorical, social and semiotic aspects of translation, whereas the second set of essays has more to do with broadly defined practice. within this second collection of articles a reader will discover very interesting examples and comments on the use of hermeneutical and phenomenological methods and techniques which could be successfully applied in translation pedagogy, as well as texts in which their authors attempt to analyse specific literary samples, including children’s literature, with relation to their translations. with regard to the above, it is worth clarifying to what translational hermeneutics is usually referred and in what way it is understood by the editors of the reviewed volume. first of all, however, we should focus on a short history of this approach. the category of translation, it seems, has always been fundamentally important to those philosophers who took a keen interest in the interplay of ideas encompassing the issues of meaning, interpretation, language and understanding. it is, in particular, worth mentioning schleiermacher, dilthey, heidegger, gadamer and ricoeur, to name but a few main representatives of so-called continental philosophy who established the more or less systematic locus of translation within their areas of interest. besides, one has to firmly acknowledge that when gadamer’s magnum opus was published, in which the philosopher elaborated the problem of translation by extending it to the universal problem of human understanding and the truth of hermeneutic consciousness (for more see gadamer 1972: 259), translation studies as we know it today was still in its infancy. in that respect, it might be assumed that the hermeneutic approach to translation, deeply embedded in the philosophical tradition, is probably the oldest systematic thought given to the issue of translation. as it seems, gadamer’s views on translation gave rise to the contemporary line of reasoning exhibited by translational hermeneutists, that is, scholars who by referring to the fundamentals of philosophical hermeneutics aspire to determine the scope within which hermeneutics might be productive and fruitful for translation studies, 109 crossroads. a journal of english studies and in what way the analysis of the category of translation might enrich hermeneutics as a philosophical line of thought dealing with human actions and their diverse implications for the reality in which those actions are performed. gadamer was a deep source of inspiration not only for other philosophers, for instance paul ricoeur or george steiner, but also for scholars concerned with translation from a philological standpoint. one of them was fritz paepcke – the father of contemporary hermeneutic theories of translation (for more see cercel 2009: 331-357), who, in turn, inspired his student, radegundis stolze, to pursue the hermeneutic approach to translation (see stolze 1992, 2003, 2011, 2015). despite those very important attempts to place the hermeneutic approach to translation in the visible arena of the then developing translation studies, it seems that it was not until 2009 that translational hermeneutics per se started to gain impetus, which might be a bit surprising given the fact that a wide variety of issues tackled by representatives of the hermeneutic approach to translation are more or less on a par with those which were examined by vocal proponents of the so called translational turns: cultural, ethical or sociological, to name only a few. perhaps the reason for this marginalization of hermeneutics within translation studies might be partially attributed to new roadmaps for the advancement of translation studies which started developing in the 1980s. what i mean here is, above all, the so called empirical turn and the dominance of the method (here taps, retrospection, and later eye-tracking methodology, key logging or even eeg and fmri, among others) from which gadamer and other philosophers taking a hermeneutic standpoint distanced themselves. such a critical approach to the hermeneutic approach to translation, however, might be surprising, because – as andrzej bronk, one of the best known among polish authors commenting on gadamerian philosophical hermeneutics, underlines – what hermeneutists claim is by no means contradictory to the most demanding ethos of science (1988: 64). additionally, the reason for the negligence of translational hermeneutics within translation studies might be the dominance of the english language in contemporary translational research and its connection to analytic philosophy, where hermeneutics has always been struggling for its position. let us, however, return now to the clarification of the term translational hermeneutics. according to larisa cercel, it is a line of reasoning which places the issue of understanding in the translation act at the very heart of interest, as well as subjective and intersubjective relations between the issues (2013: 16). what is crucial, though, is that it is not the text per se that has immense significance for proponents of translational hermeneutics, but rather the translator – referred to as a central figure in the translation process – and their relations with both themselves and other agents of the translation act (authors of the source texts, prospective readers, narrators, protagonists), as well as with the cultural and social conditions in which the translator is inextricably embedded. what translational hermeneutists are particularly interested in is what it means to understand and interpret the source text and how it is possible that translation could be produced at all. looking at the considerations above, one might assume that the entire paradigm of translational hermeneutics is not that different from what other translatologists, representing various movements and turns within translation studies claim; what is missing, though, in all the differ110 crossroads. a journal of english studies ent approaches to translation, including cultural, social, ethical, psychological or empirical turns, is, first of all, the way the translator aspires to understand their agency and practice as juxtaposed against the backdrop of the notion of intersubjectivity, and secondly, the way translation itself is understood (here as both linguistic and non-linguistic expressions of a human’s relation, and interrelation, with the world). the first theme around which some of the articles of the reviewed volume revolve is titled philosophical approaches. let us follow all the texts one by one because their order, as will be shown later in this part of the review, is by no means accidental. starting with the notion of the embedment of translation in philosophical traditions, and its implications for the mental processes involved in the act of rendering, including specialized translation, this first part of the monograph moves through translation as seen through the lens of semiotics, rhetoric, social system theories and hermeneutics – approaches which, in one way or another, pertain to the complexities inherently belonging to the domain of translation. the authors of the last two essays in this part draw our attention to the importance of phenomenological insights for both the establishment of the methodology applied in translational hermeneutics as well as the nature of the notion of translation equivalence. the set opens with brian o’keeffe’s paper reading, writing, and translation in gadamer’s hermeneutic philosophy (pp. 15-45). the author of the article attempts to analyse gadamer’s essay lesen ist wie übersetzen, as juxtaposed against the backdrop of the philosopher’s two well-known texts, namely stimme und sprache and hören-sehen-lesen. according to o’keeffe, a reading of the first essay offers its truest and most meaningful interpretation when confronted with the latter two papers. and, indeed, under close scrutiny what might be seen here are the reciprocity as well as circularity of the following three fundamental aspects of interpretation: reading, writing and translation. it has to be underlined that the author offers a very interesting and truly unique, or even innovative, reading of gadamer’s essays, paying close attention to the interpreting capacity of the so called “inner ear” and other bodily portals: the lips and the mouth, considered here an extension of the mind. by asserting that übersetzen cannot “effectuate the umsetzen that transposes readable writing into hearable sound-meaning” (p. 42), the author arrives at the inescapable conclusion that translation can only partially be compared to reading and has no role to play in the process of a ‘transformation-back’, where “reading relays writing to hearing” (p. 43). in the article understanding husserl’s language of essences: hermeneutical observations on translation in phenomenology (pp. 48-75), george heffernan, by concentrating on the decisions that a translator dealing with such specialized texts as husserl’s ideas on a pure phenomenology and phenomenological philosophy i has to make, in particular with relation to technical terms such as wesenserschauungen, wesenserkenntnisse or wesensurteile, demonstrates the hermeneutical dimension of the dilemmas. as the author ably demonstrates, the terms might be rendered either substantively, with the aid of the word essence, or adjectivally, with the word eidetic. the selection of a particular equivalent is hugely influenced by the translator’s understanding of both the terms involved and husserl’s philosophy; however, interestingly enough, the translator’s decisions, 111 crossroads. a journal of english studies in turn, exert a profound impact on the reader’s understanding of the message of the target text (here, husserl’s transcendental philosophy). aside from that, g. heffernan also concludes that the final shape of a given translation might also be determined by the original author’s authorization, earlier translations, as well as by “the consciousness of the phenomena of over-determination (consistency) and under-determination (ingenuity)” (p. 67). in the final section of the essay, by referring to etymological sources and the historical and philosophical background of given philosophical terms, the author also provides a handful of valuable comments on the german word evidenz and its english translation as evidence. three papers discuss various aspects of the translation process, including philosophical, semiotic and rhetorical, as observed through the prism of hermeneutics. the focal issue of the article dimensionen der subjektivität beim üersetzen by radegundis stolze (pp. 77-99) is subjectivity and its various dimensions in the translation process. the author analyses the following three types of subjects (the cognitive subject, the existential subject and the individual subject) and how they relate to the agency of the translator. r. stolze rightly posits that all the three aspects are interlinked and incessantly depend upon one another in the translational process. additionally, the author draws a clear line between so called traditional hermeneutics and its understanding of the role of the translator, and modern philosophical hermeneutics, along with its views on the conditions determining the translator’s responsibilities. the article is fundamentally important because it raises the question of the intersubjectivity of all the agents participating in the translation process, and, as it seems, remains in agreement with what proponents of the latest theories within embodied cognition claim concerning the functioning of the mind. the next paper discusses the interrelations between hermeneutics and semiotics. lothar černý, in his paper the semiotic and hermeneutic aspects of translation (pp. 101-117), attempts to identify the grounds on which translation phenomena could be analysed aside from the linguistic paradigm, searching for the common denominator within both peirce’s and schleiermacher’s views on the ways the human mind tackles the difference. as the author points out, “in the semiotic construction of cognition, knowledge and translation become fused in an indissoluble mental process” (p. 102). an even stronger assertion is found on the following page: “. . . on the one hand, semiotics must negotiate a relation to hermeneutics, and on the other hand, because semiotics involves or encompasses acts of understanding, hermeneutics cannot be discussed without recourse to interpreting signs” (p. 103). nonetheless, by drawing a detailed comparison between peirce’s and schleiermacher’s approaches, the author of the essay discerns many differences between the two thinkers, drawing attention to the status of significations as it relates to understanding. as he rightly observes: “while hermeneutical thinking focuses on the interpreting activity towards a given text-sign, the semiotic model sees the activity of the sign itself as ever-growing” (p. 115). despite the significant differences in the ‘interpreting response’ towards, or out of, the sign, however, černý is of the opinion that because the philosophy of signs shows certain implications of a hermeneutical nature, three disciplines whose representatives have not cooperated to a large ex112 crossroads. a journal of english studies tent so far, namely hermeneutics, semiotics and translation studies, should definitely join forces to inquire into the mental processes of translation more effectively. the rhetorical aspect of translation is discussed by roberto wu (p. 119-142), who attempts to analyse the notion of translation as juxtaposed with classical rhetoric, and to examine the most important principles of classical rhetoric “in reference to more contemporary philosophical movements, particularly phenomenology and hermeneutics” (p. 120). by analysing the interrelationship between the interpreter and the orator as depicted by cicero, as well as the notion of ekphrasis, in the first part of the paper the author amply demonstrates how rhetoric is linked to translation: “. . . in the rhetorical context, translation is not an end itself, but is subjected to the task of presenting a given subject vividly. this requires finding the right word, gesture, or expression” (p. 125). in the second part of wu’s essay, classical rhetoric is compared with hermeneutics. despite obvious similarities between the two fields, here one may find even more differences, in particular as regards the status of written texts (p. 127). while it is generally hard to agree with the author that gadamer’s thought is built upon the premise that for philosophical hermeneutics “a written work is detached from the particular conditions in which it is originated. . .” (ibid), quite a controversial claim, especially in the context of gadamer’s views on tradition and application, wu rightly observes, though, that “a writer does not know the public to whom he or she is going to deliver the written work” (ibid) and that within hermeneutics, as opposed to classical rhetoric, the text is above all an autonomous entity. finally, the author attempts to reconsider the relationship between rhetoric and translation. wu is quite right in concluding that “rhetoric still matters for translation studies” (p. 135) and that translation “. . . is an activity that requires taking on the performativity of language and also its circumstantiality in order to enable the reader, or the audience, to see the subjects described as if they were present and vivid, right before their eyes” (p. 140). yet another set of aspects found within the paradigm of the hermeneutic approach to translation is presented by mohammad alavi in his article social dimensions of hermeneutical translation (pp. 143-176). the author aspires to prove that hermeneutical and social theories can complement each other in explaining the intricacies of the translational process. as alavi says: “although both theoretical structures work to a great extent with the question of understanding, ts scholars on either side have not yet come to an intellectual interaction. the ideas of this paper move in the direction of mutual communication. this paper is a first step toward such mutual communication” (p. 144). and, indeed, the author of the reviewed paper is right to observe that translational hermeneutics is lacking, or, perhaps, might seem to be lacking, in certain considerations of the role of social aspects inherent in the translation process. one has to generally corroborate the author’s apt comment that while within the hermeneutical paradigm understanding is pondered in the context of the individual, what is taken into account within system theories are the society and its surrounding environment. at the same time, though, as it seems, such a distinction is oversimplified. for how else could the individual (within the hermeneutical paradigm) understand anything by not referring what they understand to the bigger part out of which details emerge? the issue at stake, then, is far more complex than initially presented in the article. by analysing 113 crossroads. a journal of english studies luhmann’s theory of systems, the author puts the notion of understanding under close scrutiny and comes to the inescapable conclusion that understanding occurring at the psychic level and understanding emerging at the social level – two completely different moments in the translator’s understanding of the text – are by no means the same. nonetheless, even here at least some of the author’s views are controversial and open to dispute, for instance, one cannot fully agree with the author’s claim concerning the somewhat artificial division into psychic and communicative understanding during the translation process, in particular given the results of the latest cognitive studies on the theory of embodied simulation and the importance of intersubjectivity in the act of reading and writing. besides, it seems, it is not always the case that “it is the target system that encourages the translator to select those utterances that correspond to earlier selections of utterances in the system and produce at the same time a structure of expectation for the ensuing communication events” (p. 170). for it is a well-known fact that the translator often resists the norms of the target system and opts for an innovative piece of writing with the overarching aim of pushing a given literary system forward (as noted within the polysystem theory). despite those few critical remarks, though, one has to admit the text itself focuses on a very important aspect of the translator’s activity, namely their relationship with the society and the environment in which they work, and furthermore, it has to be underlined that the author rightly calls for consideration of the enormous implications that certain social schemes have for the translator’s understanding of the text. the last two articles of this part deal with phenomenology and translation. the first one, by katharina hauptmann, titled ansätze zur untersuchung des verstehens beim dolmetschen und übersetzen (pp. 177-212), is a valuable contribution to an ongoing discussion concerning the methods that are applied by translation scholars. concentrating on the notion of understanding, the author of the paper seeks to suggest a way of applying the phenomenological method in order to inquire into how translators and interpreters understand. apart from the discussion of the phenomenological method, introspection and retrospection in studying the process of understanding in translation and interpreting are also tackled. the article is a very important contribution to a current debate among translational hermeneutists concerning the status and role of methodology in researching into the hermeneutical approach to translation, in particular given the many negative remarks made by opponents of translational hermeneutics, who often criticize the subdiscipline for its lack of strict methodology. phenomenological implications for translation are brought to the fore in simon glynn’s article titled experience, understanding, and the translational transformation of reality (pp.213-234). as the author rightly observes: “the success of linguistic communication in general, and translation in particular, is dependent upon the veracity of our understanding of the meaning of concepts signified in or by a language or languages” (p. 213). glynn asks in the opening section of his paper: “how are we to ensure that the articulation of experiences, thoughts, feelings and ideas in one language is commensurate with their articulation in another? how are we to ensure that the significance of what is being articulated in the one corresponds to what is being understood in the other?” (p. 214). and indeed, an answer to these questions, albeit necessarily a tentative one, is particularly 114 crossroads. a journal of english studies important if one strives to discover what pertains to the intricacies of so called translation equivalence. the striking examples and astute observations provided in the text point to the impossibility of establishing translation correspondences in their traditional and strict sense. furthermore, the author’s essay offers an invitation to evaluate the status of human experience of the world and its relationship with so-called reality. the author’s reflections upon the nature of understanding and communication deserve special attention, particularly given the view that “after the phenomenological reduction, it becomes clear that objects cannot be known to be more than bundles of perceptions” (p. 231). the second set of papers is entitled practical approaches. this part of the reviewed monograph begins with two texts dealing with the use of hermeneutic and phenomenological methods in the translation classroom. john wrae stanley, in his article titled verstehend übersetzen: hermeneutics, the pragmatics of translation, and specialized texts (pp. 237-270), discusses his own teaching method, whose main principles rest upon heidegger’s and gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics. the author of the paper convincingly underlines the importance of understanding the source text before attempting to perform translation. the thesis concerning the notion of understanding might seem obvious to many; however, the majority of translation teachers will definitely agree with what the author claims about translation students’ practices concerning the way they prepare for the translation process. also, one has to agree with the author’s conviction of the necessity for specializing: “. . . a young translator needs to delimit a few fields that (s)he wants to work in and do extensive internships in companies or organizations that are active in those fields” (p. 268). the hermeneutic method in translation didactics is also dealt with in the paper the use of hermeneutic approach in translation classroom – advantages from translation students’ point of view by beata piecychna (pp. 291-317), who analyses students’ comments on the teaching method to which the author introduced the participants of the study in the academic year 2012-2013. the approach has been based on radegundis stolze’s hermeneutic theory of translation as depicted in her monograph the translator’s approach – introduction to translational hermeneutics. theory and examples from practice. although the presented results are quite promising, they are by no means conclusive, and thus further research is needed to convincingly verify the impact of stolze’s approach – as opposed to other well known didactic approaches to translation – on the acquisition of translation competence. a description of initial attempts to further develop phenomenological and hermeneutical methods which could be applied in both didactics and epistemological studies in translation studies and communication studies is presented by romina mählmann and john wrae stanley (pp. 271-290). the article, titled phenomenology and conversational analysis in communicology and translatology – a progress report, concerns the verification of the husserlian phenomenological method to be applied within the framework of role plays as deployed in the job interview. by reporting on an interaction workshop held at the university of applied sciences in cologne in 2012, the authors attempt to discover to what extent the method might be of assistance in reflecting upon oneself while taking part in role plays. the article convincingly argues that the hermeneutical 115 crossroads. a journal of english studies analysis held after the role play is of great help in understanding the subjects’ interpretation of the whole procedure, as well as demonstrating the paramount role of cultural differences occurring in the act of understanding otherness. the following two articles focus on an analysis of literary translation from a hermeneutic standpoint. the article titled literarische übersetzungskritik und hermeneutik by thomas j. c. hüsgen (pp. 319-337) looks into selected examples of texts by vergílio ferreira, agustina bessa luís, and fernando pessoa, translated from portuguese into german by georg rudolf lind. by concentrating on gadamer’s views on understanding, the notion of coherence as derived from stolze’s approach and the aspect of consistency in the translation process, the author of this thought provoking paper aspires to demonstrate to what extent the translator’s “own profile” (p. 319) exerts a significant impact on the final versions of the examined texts, and whether the translational product fully renders the spirit of the source text. the second paper, by claudia tatasciore, titled übersetzungshermeneutik und kinderliteratur. eine fallstudie anhand der italienischen übersetzungen von ferenc molnárs die jungen der paulstraße (pp. 339-366), deals with the translation of children’s literature, and without too gross a generalisation it can be noticed that it is one of very few papers in the literature discussing this type of translation from a hermeneutic perspective. that said, the article may set new paths for further research in the field of children’s literature translation studies, or even constitute a good starting point for establishing a new subfield of translational hermeneutics in its own right, namely children’s literature translational hermeneutics. the author of the paper, aside from underlining a multitude of factors which should be seriously considered by the translator, rightly claims that here the notion of dual readership is of paramount importance in the translation process, and that a hermeneutic approach, in particular the well-known notion of horizon, might be of great assistance in determining the motives behind the shape of a given translation, as well as behind the way the potential reader responds to the translational product, thus pointing to the under-researched question of intersubjectivity in the translation process. yet another issue discussed in this second set of essays deals with translation for the stage, a topic which has not yet been explored by staunch advocates of the hermeneutic approach to translation. rainer kohlmayer, in his article titled zu geschichte, theorie und praxis der bühnenübersetzung. am beispiel von corneilles komödie le menteur (pp. 367-398), analyses pierre corneille’s comedy le menteur from 1643 in terms of the following five criteria (the “fünf besonderheiten von theatertexten”): orality, individual speech of dramatis personae, relations between persons, necessity of immediate audience comprehensibility, and theatricality/fictionality. the author of the paper attempts to compare four german translations of the comedy: the first one produced in 1767 by goethe, the second one, from 1875, by bing, the third one, from 1654, by schiebelhuth, and the last one translated by kohlmayer in 2005. occasionally, though, the author reflects upon the 1989 english rendering of corneille’s comedy by ranjit bolt. by venturing a rather negative opinion about schleiermacher’s distinction between foreignisation and naturalization and its longlasting impact on 20th century translation theories in years to come, kohlmayer, as it seems, quite 116 crossroads. a journal of english studies rightly accentuates the importance of the orality of the source text as well as the need for properly considering the functionality of the translation product designed for theatrical performance. the reviewed monograph offers a collection of very valuable essays, highly recommended for not only vocal proponents of the hermeneutic approach to translation, but also those interested in interdisciplinary attempts within the paradigm of translation studies. furthermore, thanks to the articles that lie on the borderline between hermeneutics, phenomenology and translation studies, the volume should also find its readers among philosophers. overall, the book is thought provoking, and this makes it a very useful reference in the current discussions of both the validity and indispensability of translational hermeneutics per se. nevertheless, it should be noted that there still remains much work to be done to establish the status and position of translational hermeneutics within translation studies, both theoretically and methodologically, and also to fully appreciate and recognise not only the role of philosophical views on translation in constructing theories of translation, but also their unsurprisingly close connection with contemporary cognitive predictions as they relate to the nature of the translation process. the essays presented in the reviewed monograph contribute enormously and meaningfully to the translational literature by successfully depicting that translation, whether one accepts it as true or not, is entangled in the philosophical hermeneutic tradition, and that hermeneutists’ ideas are, in turn, deeply rooted in the very nature of broadly defined translation: not only as a linguo-cultural transfer, but also as a way of communicating with and understanding the world. references bronk, a. 1988. rozumienie, dzieje, język. filozoficzna hermeneutyka h.-g. gadamera. lublin: redakcja wydawnictw kul. cercel, l. 2009. übersetzen als hermeneutischer prozess. fritz paepcke und die grundlagen der übersetzungswissenschaft. in: larisa cercel (ed.), übersetzung und hermeneutik – traduction et herméneutique, 331-357. bucarest: zeta books. cercel, l. 2013. übersetzunghermeneutik. historische und systematische grundlegung. st. ingbert: röhrig. gadamer, h.-g. kleine schriften iii. idee und sprache. platon, huseel, heidegger. tübingen: mohr. stolze, r. 1992. hermeneutisches übersetzen. linguistische kategorien des verstehens und formulierens beim übersetzen. tübingen: narr. stolze, r. 2003. hermeneutik und translation. tübingen: narr. stolze, r. 2011. the translator’s approach – introduction to translational hermeneutics. theory and examples from practice. berlin: frank & timme. stolze, r. 2015. hermeneutische übersetzungskompetenz. grundlagen und didaktik. berlin: frank & timme. assimilation of english borrowings in japanese 28 crossroads. a journal of english studies justyna wawrzyniuk university of białystok assimilation of english borrowings in japanese abstract. this study provides a corpus-based analysis of english borrowings in japanese with the focus on the assimilation processes which the borrowed items undergo. the corpus has been compiled by the author using a number of websites used by speakers of japanese. the study shows that most of the borrowings undergo graphic and phonetic assimilation, such as vowel insertion and sound substitution. grammatical and semantic assimilation are both less apparent and less frequent. japanese uses a considerable number of borrowings from english, but as the examples discussed in this study, the borrowings often co-exist with their native equivalents and are used interchangeably. key words: borrowing, japanese, assimilation, graphic, phonetic, grammatical, semantic. introduction languages as we know them undergo constant changes. these changes are dictated not only by the evolution of the world, but also by their contact with other languages, as languages rarely develop in full isolation. one of the ways one language may influence another is through borrowings. english borrowed heavily from other tongues in the past to become the major source of borrowings for other languages (cf. haspelmath and tadmor 2009). it is by no means a surprise, as english serves as the modern lingua franca to millions of people around the world in different types of communication (crystal 2003, 2004). the globalization and favoritism in foreign language learning have made english being a source code even for languages from outside of its language family, such as japanese. japanese itself had borrowed words from other languages even before the self-imposed isolation which ended in the 19th century. the most visible result of the borrowing processes is kanji, chinese characters, adapted to be used as one of the three writing systems in japanese. work in progress “work in progress” is a forum for students and university graduates who wish to present the results of their research. 10.15290/cr.2017.19.4.03 work in progress 29 the number of english borrowings used in modern-day japanese may lead one to thinking that the donor language is slowly substituting the target one. while it is true that technological advances and the complexity of japanese contribute to heavy borrowing, the process itself is accompanied by certain assimilations. this article will present and discuss the adaptation course a word must undergo in order to be used in japanese. the material and the corpus the types of assimilation discussed in this article have been identified as a result of corpus analysis. the corpus consists of 90 borrowings of english origins collected from eight websites, including record labels, tv stations, and social media, namely universal music japan, johnny & associates, king records, nhk, nippon tv, fuji tv, the japanese version of twitter, and a blogging platform ameblo. the websites were accessed in february, 2015. the loanwords which were subjected to analysis were written in the katakana syllabary, which was a crucial factor in collecting the data. the main characteristic of borrowings in japanese is the way they are written in the text, making it easy to distinguish them for a non-japanese speaker as well. for example, in the sentence パスワードを忘れた場合はこちら (‘click here if you forgot the password’), the word パスワード (pasuwaado ‘password’) is the borrowing. the characters used to write the loanword are sharp and pointy, compared to the rest of the characters written in hiragana (こちら) and kanji (場合). to facilitate further analysis, the borrowings are presented together with their romanized spelling, the source word, and the pronunciation in the ipa system. additionally, every word was marked for its origin regarding the websites. the hepburn method was used to transcribe the words from katakana to latin alphabet, as it favors the english spellingpronunciation patterns (sha in hepburn vs. sya in kunrei-shiki, the government administered romanization method). the main requirement a loanword had to meet in order to be included in the corpus was to be written in katakana. loanwords written in the latin alphabet and other words in katakana were not included in the corpus. borrowing – definitions the entire process of borrowing an element of a language starts with two languages: a source code, and a target code. in order to mix the two there is a need for a person who is fluent in both of them, at least to the extent of using the borrowed phrase or words. the fluency factor is attributed for the fact that it is not possible to borrow an unknown element (thomason 2001: 68). however, when the borrowing enters the target language lexicon, speakers of the given language do not need to be fluent in the source code in order to use the borrowed item. thus, a borrowing is a result of a language contact occurring through the transmission of an element from the source language to the target one (crystal 2008: 58). the terminology used to refer to lexical borrowings and the process of borrowing varies, though the understanding of the term lexical borrowing is essentially the same. thus, a borrowing can be called a loanword or an anglicism, a source language can be referred to as donor, original or 30 crossroads. a journal of english studies originating language, the borrowing code is often called a target, replica, receiving or recipient language, and finally the processes a borrowed item undergoes are named assimilation, adaptation, or integration (furiassi et al. 2012:13-14). borrowings are classified according to the type of the borrowed element, as well as the level or a degree of assimilation (griniewicz and dubieniec 2001: 66; gómez capuz 1997). they can be categorized as direct or indirect borrowings. direct borrowings include loanwords, false borrowings, and hybrids; their elements can be identified in the source language even though they have different meanings (false borrowings) or if the elements comprise only a part of the new word (hybrids). loanwords are further classified into adapted or non-adapted borrowings based on the potential assimilation (furiassi et al. 2012). griniewicz and dubieniec (2001: 67-69) categorize the adapted loanwords into fully and partially assimilated, based on the degree of adaptation to the recipient language. indirect borrowings may be harder to distinguish as they do not take a foreign form. they include calques and semantic loans. the latter occur when an existing native word or phrase acquires a new meaning. the former are further categorized into loan translations, loan renditions and loan creations, which involve complete (loan translation) or partial (loan rendition and loan creation) translation of the source item into the recipient language. loan renditions and loan creations differ in the degree of translation; loan renditions are less freely interpreted than loan creations when entering the lexicon of the target language (griniewicz and dubieniec 2001; furiassi et al. 2012). based on these classifications, it is possible to divide anglicisms in japanese into direct and adapted loanwords, as well as false borrowings (not included in the corpus). additionally, the loanwords are completely assimilated on the phonetic and graphic levels, and occasionally on the semantic level when a loanword is culture-specific. english borrowings in japanese the english language has served as a source code for loanwords appearing in japanese mostly through pop culture and its presence in the media and the internet. seargeant (2003:315) defines two terms which describe the nature of loanwords in japanese: gairaigo and wasei-eigo, with the former referring to a word which means the same as it does in english, and the latter describing the borrowing as assimilated. the assimilation processes which words undergo when they enter japanese can be divided into the following types: graphic, phonetic, semantic and grammatical. graphic and phonetic assimilation graphic assimilation accompanying the process of borrowing seems inevitable due to the different writing systems used in both languages. while english uses the latin alphabet, japanese uses two syllabaries accompanied by chinese characters called kanji. it is worth noting that the latin alphabet is also used in japanese. however, it is rarely done. japanese, unlike english, is characterized by a consistent spelling-pronunciation dependency, that is why the graphic and phonetic assimilation are strongly connected. it is possible to deterwork in progress 31 mine spelling from the pronunciation and vice versa. it is important to notice that the graphic and phonetic adaptations are usually dictated by the english pronunciation rather than spelling. there are, however, certain exceptions to the rule. the first example of a both graphic and phonetic assimilation is vowel insertion. japanese only allows open syllables in the cv pattern, while english can have up to five consonants in the cccvcc pattern (ohata 2004:7; cf. also okada 1991). japanese requires a vowel insertion between every consonant cluster. the only exception to this rule is the syllabic /ŋ/ (written as ン in katakana), which can be placed at the end of a syllable, but never at the beginning (igarashi 2007: 176). when written forms are taken into account, japanese operates on syllabaries, meaning there are no characters representing single consonants except for the aforementioned syllabic /ŋ/. the observed patterns of insertion are as follows: a. /u/ insertion in consonant clusters or in final position after: i. /k/: topikkusu (/ˈtɑpɪks/), saundotorakku (/ˈsɑʊndtræk/), myuujikku (/ˈmjuzɪk/) ii. /g/: rogu (/lɔɡ/), burogu (/blɔɡ/), shinguru (/ˈsɪŋɡəl/) iii. /m/: aitemu (/ˈɑɪt̬əm/), geemu (/ɡeɪm/), hoomu (/hoʊm/) iv. /p/: shinpuru (/ˈsɪmpəl/), toppu (/tɑp/), herupu (/help/) v. /s/: saabisu (/ˈsɜr·vɪs/), adoresu (/əˈdres/), ririisu (/rɪˈlis/) vi. /b/: burogu (/blɔɡ/), fankurabu (/ˈfæn ˌklʌb/), uebusaito (/ˈwebˌsɑɪt/) vii. /f/: gifuto (/ɡɪft/), sutaffu (/stæf/), viii. /z/: kizzu (/kɪdz/); shiriizu (/ˈsɪəriz/), ix. it also occurs with english /l/ where it is substituted with japanese /r/: ofisharu ( / əˈfɪʃəl/), riaru (/ˈriəl/), mobairu (/ˈmoʊ.bəl/) b. /o/ insertion after /t/, /d/ in their final position or in consonant clusters: taitoru (/ˈtɑɪt̬ əl/), pasuwaado (/ˈpæsˌwɜrd/) b. / i / insertion after / ʤ / and / ʃ / in their final position: suteeji ( /steɪdʒ/ ), puraibashii ( / ˈprɑɪvəsi/ ) in the case of the nasal /n/ anywhere in the consonant cluster or in final position of a word, the insertion does not occur: dezain ( /dɪˈzɑɪn/ ); anaunsaa ( /əˈnɑʊnsər/ ); dokyuumentari (/ ˌdɑkjəˈmentəri /). yet, whenever there is an – ing suffix in the word, the graphic and phonetic assimilation seem to be in favor of the written forms of the borrowings, as the letter “g” is preserved and pronounced. consequently, the word ranking transforms into rankingu, and not rankin. the frequent insertion of /u/ vowel between consonants is attributed for the fact that /u/ is often devoiced in the everyday speech, which results in the pronunciation very close to the donor word (tsuchida 2001:225). another assimilation process of both graphic and phonetic nature is the consonant substitution. the sound replacement is inevitable due to fewer consonants used in japanese than in english and it is best observable in both spelling and pronunciation. the analysis of the corpus resulted in the recognition of three consonant substitution patterns: 32 crossroads. a journal of english studies a. /v/ is substituted with /b/: /ˈɪntərˌvju/ – intabyuu; /ˈsɜr·vɪs/ – saabisu; /ˈprɑɪvəsi/ – puraibashii; b. /ð/ is substituted with /z/: /ðə/ – za (‘the’); c. /l/ is substituted with /r/: /ˈriəl/ – riaru; /help/ – herupu; japanese /b/ substitutes english /v/ since both of these sounds are voiced labials. /ð/ is substituted with /z/ since these sounds are voiced fricatives; /r/ substitutes /l/ because both of them belong to approximants. additionally, igarashi (2007: 157) distinguishes three more consonant substitution patterns of phonetic nature, namely /ʒ/ is substituted with /dʒ/ (both palato-alveolars), /θ/ is substituted with /s/ (voiceless fricatives), and /f/ is substituted with /ɸ/, a japanese /f/ that differs in quality but still possesses a labial feature. the japanese language has only one liquid sound, which is transcribed as /r/, therefore both /r/ and /l/ sounds will be transliterated as such (ohata 2004: 7). phonetic and orthographic assimilation require not only consonant substitution, but the vowel replacement as well, since there are fewer vowels in japanese than there are in english. while there are five vowels in japanese which can be either long or short, english has fourteen vowels, five of which can be prolonged. vowel substitution is a process which occurs only on the phonetic level of borrowing, but the results of the adjustments are reflected in the spelling of the loanword. the vowel substitution patterns observed in the corpus are as follows: a. /a/ substitutes /æ/ /ʌ/ /ə/: – /ˈfæn ˌklʌb/ – fankurabu; /ˈprɑɪvəsi/ – puraibashii b. /i/ substitutes /ɪ/ /ə/ /iː/: /ɡɪft/ – gifuto; /əˈrɪdʒənəl/ – orijinaru; /twiːt/ – tsuiito; c. /u/ substitutes /ʊː/ /ʊ/ /ə/: /ˈjuːzər/ – yuuzaa; /ˈkʊk·ɪŋ/ – kukkingu; /ˈoʊpən/ – oopun; d. /e/ substitutes /ə/ /e/: /ˈɑɪ·t̬ əm/ – aitemu; /ɪˈvent/ – ibento; e. /o/ substitutes /ɔ/ /oʊ/ /ə/: /blɔɡ/ – burogu, /əˈfɪʃəl/ – ofisharu. f. japanese long vowels are indicated by a dash (ー) following the vowel when written in katakana: /ˈjuːzər/ – yuuzaa (ユーザー) as is apparent in the patterns listed above, the schwa sound can be substituted with either of the vowels. in such cases, the best approach to predict the substituting sound is to examine the written form of the donor word. what is more, in the event of reverse transcription, it can be challenging to track the original phrase in the source language. for example, the japanized word sutaffu can mean either staff, or stuff. english diphthongs require substitution as well, as japanese does not have diphthongs, but rather combines separate vowels. this may create an illusion of a diphthong-like sound. based on the research material, five substitution patterns were observed: a. /aɪ/ is substituted with ai: /ˈɑɪt̬ əm/ – aitemu; b. /eə/ is substituted with ea: /ɔn eər/ – on ea; c. /ɑʊ/ is substituted with au: /əˈnɑʊnsər/ – anaunsaa; d. /oʊ/ is substituted with oo and o: /ˈfɑloʊ/ – foroo; /ˈsmɑːtfoʊn/ – sumaatofon; e. /eɪ/ is substituted with ee and e: /ˈmeɪn·tən·əns/ – mentenansu; /ɡeɪm/ – geemu. work in progress 33 it is worth noting that the diphthongs /oʊ/ and /eɪ/ become prolonged vowels. it can be attributed to the fact that when native japanese words are transcribed into hiragana, another writing system, long /o/ is marked by adding u to the spelling, and long /e/ is marked by adding the letter i. the remaining three vowels are prolonged by doubling the vowel. however, as it was stated earlier, japanese long vowels are written in katakana with the use of a dash. transcription and pronunciation influenced by spelling most of the loanwords examined in this article underwent graphic and phonetic assimilation dictated by the pronunciation of the source word. however, there are certain instances where the written form of the borrowed item predisposes the pronunciation and spelling of the word in the target language. in the corpus there are a number of words characterized as being influenced by spelling: a. profile – purofiiru b. on demand – on demando c. design – dezain d. acoustic – akosutikku e. social media – soosharu media f. video – bideo g. ticket – chiketto while it is possible to pronounce the diphthong /ai/ in japanese as a combination of the vowels /a/ and /i/, the prolonged /i/ in purofiiru indicates that the word entered the japanese lexicon based on its written form. grammatical assimilation the japanese language, due to its context-dependent nature, does not distinguish between singular and plural or different gender forms. all borrowings entering the japanese lexicon behave in the same way. thus, the word supootsu refers to both singular and plural forms of the donor word sport. however, apart from this assimilation, no further changes are made on a greater scale; nouns are borrowed as nouns, adjectives as adjectives, etc. japanese allows for transformations within the language to change the part of speech a given word belongs to. consequently, the adjective oopun (‘open’) can become a verb by adding suru (‘to do’): oopun suru, meaning ‘to open’. semantic assimilation one of the semantic adjustments observed in the corpus is clipping, which occurs when a fraction of a word takes the meaning of the full form. the morphological process of clipping itself is frequent in english, e.g. app for application, but japanese uses short versions of english words with the same meaning, and in this sense, the process can be classified as semantic. five out of six shortened words found in the material were back-clipped: 34 crossroads. a journal of english studies a. terebi – television, b. anime – animation (/eɪ/ substituted with /e/), c. apuri – application, d. korabo – collaboration, e. hoomu – homepage. one word was fore-clipped: saito – website. it is worth noticing that the full forms are used interchangeably with their clipped counterparts. thus clipping is not compulsory for the borrowing to take place. another semantic assimilation process is semantic extension which happens when the loanword acquires more meanings in the target language than it had in the donor language (daulton 2008: 22). such instance is the word sutaffu originating from the word staff, which in japanese can mean either a management team in an organization, or film crew working off-screen. semantic shift is yet another peculiar process associated with meaning, when a loanword acquires the meaning of another word. consequently, the word kyanpeen (‘campaign’) is associated with promotion rather than political and military events. borrowings and their native equivalents most of the borrowings which enter the japanese language have their counterparts in the target language. despite the extensive use of borrowings, the loanwords themselves do not substitute the native words, but are used interchangeably with them. the borrowings from the corpus and their native counterparts which function side by side are presented below: a. music – myuujikku – ongaku (音楽) b. artist – aatisuto – bijutsuka (美術家) c. shop – shoppu – mise (店) d. to open – oopun suru – akeru (開ける) e. song – songu – uta (歌) f. release – ririisu – hatsubai (発売) g. special – supesharu – tokubetsu (特別) h. shopping– shoppingu – kaimono (買い物). the borrowings which do not possess their japanese counterparts are usually words which are culture-specific or denote inventions which existed without a proper native name. for example, the post on a social media platform twitter is called a tweet, which entered japanese language as tsuitto. conclusion english loanwords entering the japanese language undergo a number of assimilation processes. due to the nature of both languages and dissimilarities between them, some of the adjustments are inevitable for the borrowing to be used on everyday basis. the unavoidable, and at the same time most apparent assimilations are graphic and phonetic ones, where the vowel insertion and sound substitution take place on both spelling and pronunciation levels. these assimilation prowork in progress 35 cesses are attributed to the fact that there are fewer sounds in spoken japanese, and that the written target language operates on syllabaries rather than alphabets, making it impossible to write words containing consonant clusters. therefore, the word strange entered the target language as sutorenji. any english borrowing used in japanese can undergo grammatical and semantic assimilations, such as grammatical number adjustment, or semantic shift. however, these modifications are not necessary for the word to enter the lexicon, and usually the meanings of the borrowings, as well as their form, are in parallel with their source word. the number of foreign words used in every day japanese is potentially overwhelming, but as the study shows, borrowings co-exist with their native equivalents and are often used interchangeably. when further research is taken into account, it is worth examining whether the use of english loanwords can be attributed to language fluency and vice versa – whether the vast existence of english borrowings eases the japanese language learning process among english-speaking learners. references crystal, d. 2003. english as a global language. 2nd ed. cambridge: cambridge university press. crystal, d. 2004. language and the internet. 2nd ed. cambridge: cambridge university press. crystal, d. 2008. borrowings. in: a dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. 6th ed. cambridge: cambridge university press. daulton, f. e. 2008. japan’s built-in lexicon of english-based loanwords. buffalo: multilingual matters ltd. griniewicz, s. w. and dubieniec, e. m., 2001. introduction to linguistics. białystok: wyższa szkoła finansów i zarządzania. furiassi, c., pulcini, v. and rodríguez gonzález, f. 2012. the lexical influence of english on european languages: from words to phraseology. in furiassi, c., pulcini, v. and rodríguez gonzález, f. (eds.) the anglicization of european lexis, 1-24, amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins. gómez capuz, j. 1997. towards a typological classification of linguistic borrowing (illustrated with anglicisms in romance languages). revista alicantina de estudios ingleses 10: 81-94. haspelmath, m. & tadmor, u. 2009. loanwords in the world’s languages. a comparative handbook. berlin: walter de gruyter. hoffer, b. l. 2005. language borrowing and the indices of adaptability and receptivity. intercultural communication studies 15: 53-72. ito, j. and a. mester. 2015. sino-japanese phonology. in: handbook of japanese phonetics and phonology. oxford: blackwell. igarashi, y. 2007. the changing role of katakana in the japanese writing system: processing and pedagogical dimensions for native speakers and foreign learners. ph.d. thesis. victoria: university of victoria. ohata, k. 2004. phonological differences between japanese and english: several potentially problematic areas of pronunciation for japanese esl/efl learners. asian efl journal 6(4): 1-19. 36 crossroads. a journal of english studies okada, h. 1991. japanese. journal of the international phonetic association 21(2): 94-96. seargeant, p. 2005. globalisation and reconfigured english in japan. world englishes 24: 309-319. thomason, s. 2001. language contact. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. tsuchida, a. 2001. japanese vowel devoicing: cases of consecutive devoicing environments. journal of east asian linguistics 10(3): 225-245. web 1 – japanese online dictionary http://jisho.org (15 february 2015) web 2 – cambridge dictionaries online http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/american-english/ (15 february 2015) web 3 – japanese wikipedia http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki (15 february 2015) web 4 – johnny & associates http://www.johnnys-net.jp/ (15 february 2015) web 5 – universal music japan http://www.universal-music.co.jp/ (20 february 2015) web 6 – king records http://kingrecords.net/ (20 february 2015) web 7 – fuji tv http://www.fujitv.co.jp/ (20 february 2015) web 8 – nippon tv (ntv) http://www.ntv.co.jp/ (20 february 2015) web 9 – nippon housou kyoukai (nhk) http://www3.nhk.or.jp/ (20 february 2015) web 10 – ameblo blog http://ameblo.jp (20 february 2015) web 11 – twitter, japanese version https://twitter.com/?lang=ja (20 february 2015) work in progress 37 appendix 1 – the corpus no. romanization katakana source word phonetic transcription of the source word website 1. anaunsaa アナウンサー announcer (host, newscaster) /əˈnɑʊn·sər/ fuji 2. anime アニメ animation /̩ æn·əˈmeɪ·ʃən/ fuji 3. baraetii バラエティー variety (show) /vəˈrɑɪ·ɪ·t̬ i/ fuji 4. dokyumentarii ドキュメンタリー documentary /̩ dɑk·jəˈmen·tə·ri/ fuji 5. dorama ドラマ drama /ˈdrɑ·mə/ fuji 6. kizzu キッズ kids /kɪdz/ fuji 7. kuizu クイズ quiz /kwɪz/ ntv 8. kukkingu クッキング cooking /ˈkʊk·ɪŋ/ ntv 9. kyarakutaa キャラクター character /ˈkær·ək·tər/ ntv 10. kyasuto キャスト cast /kæst/ fuji 11. mini (bangumi) ミニ番組 mini /ˈmɪn·i/ fuji 12. nyuusu ニュース news program /nuz/ fuji 13. ondemando オンデマンド video on demand /ɔn dɪˈmænd/ nhk 14. onea (also as: on air) オンエア on the air /ɔn eər/ nhk 15. onrain オンライン on-line /ˈɔnˈlɑɪn/ nhk 16. oopun (suru) オープンする (to) open /ˈoʊ·pən/ fuji 17. puremiamu プレミアム premium /ˈpri·mi·əm/ ntv 18. shiriizu シリーズ series /ˈsɪər·iz/ ntv 19. shoppingu ショッピング shopping /ˈʃɑp·ɪŋ/ ntv 20. shoppu ショップ fan shop /ʃɑp/ fuji 21. sutaato スタート start /stɑrt/ fuji 22. sumaatofon スマートフォン smartphone /ˈsmɑːtfəʊn/ nhk 23. supesharu スペシャル special /ˈspeʃ·əl/ ntv 24. supootsu スポーツ sport program /spɔrts/ fuji 25. sutaffu スタッフ staff (crew) /stæf/ ntv 26. sutoorii ストーリー story /ˈstɔr·i/ ntv 27. terebi テレビ tv / television /ˈtel·əˌvɪʒ·ən/ fuji 28. topikkusu トピックス topics (themes) /ˈtɑp·ɪks/ ntv 29. toraiaru トライアル trial /ˈtrɑɪˌəl/ ntv 30. za ザ the strong /ðiː/ weak /ðə/ nhk 31. aatiisuto アーティスト artist /ˈɑr·t̬ ɪst/ j&a 32. akoosutikku アコースティック acoustic /əˈku·stɪk/ j&a 33. apuri アプリ application /̩ æp·lɪˈkeɪ·ʃən/ umj 38 crossroads. a journal of english studies no. romanization katakana source word phonetic transcription of the source word website 34. arubamu アルバム album /ˈæl·bəm/ umj 35. besuto hitto ベストヒット best hit /best hit/ umj 36. bideo ビデオ video /ˈvɪd·iˌoʊ/ umj 37. chiketto チケット ticket /ˈtɪk·ɪt/ j&a 38. dansu ダンス dance /dæns/ umj 39. debyuu デビュー debut /ˈdeɪ·bju/ umj 40. fankurabu ファンクラブ fan club /ˈfæn ˌklʌb/ j&a 41. fesutibaru フェスティバル festival /ˈfes·tə·vəl/ umj 42. ibento イベント event /ɪˈvent/ umj 43. intabyuu インタビュー interview /ˈɪn·tər̩ vju/ umj 44. konsaato コンサート concert /ˈkɑn·sɜrt j&a 45. korabo コラボ collaboration /kəˈlæb·əˌreɪt/ umj 46. kurashikku クラシック classical /ˈklæs·ɪk/ king 47. kyanpeen キャンペーン campaign /kæmˈpeɪn/ king 48. maneejaa マネージャー manager /ˈmæn·ɪ·dʒər/ j&a 49. myuujikku ミュージック music /ˈmju·zɪk/ umj 50. ofisharu オフィシャル official /əˈfɪʃ·əl/ umj 51. orijinaru オリジナル original /əˈrɪdʒ·ə·nəl/ umj 52. rajio ラジオ radio /ˈreɪ·diˌoʊ/ umj 53. ririisu リリース release /rɪˈlis/ j&a 54. saito (uebusaito) サイト ウェブサイト site / website /ˈwebˌsɑɪt/ j&a 55. saundotorakku サウンドトラック soundtrack /ˈsɑʊnd·træk/ umj 56. shinguru シングル single /ˈsɪŋ·ɡəl/ umj 57. songu ソング song /sɔŋ/ umj 58. soosharu media ソーシャル メディア social media /ˈsoʊ·ʃəl ˈmid·i·ə/ umj 59. suteeji ステージ stage /steɪdʒ/ j&a 60. taitoru タイトル title /ˈtɑɪ·t̬ əl/ king 61. aitemu アイテム item /ˈɑɪ·t̬ əm/ ameblo 62. akaunto アカウント account /əˈkɑʊnt/ twitter 63. burogaa ブロガー blogger /blɔ·ɡər/ ameblo 64. burogu ブログ blog /blɔɡ/ ameblo 65. chatto チャット chat /tʃæt/ ameblo 66. dezain デザイン design /dɪˈzɑɪn/ twitter 67. geemu ゲーム game /ɡeɪm/ ameblo 68. gifuto ギフト gift /ɡɪft/ ameblo work in progress 39 no. romanization katakana source word phonetic transcription of the source word website 69. foroo フォロー follow /ˈfɑl·oʊ/ twitter 70. herupu ヘルプ help /help/ twitter 71. hoomu ホーム home (page) /hoʊm/ twitter 72. komyunitii コミュニティー community /kəˈmju·nɪ·t̬ i/ ameblo 73. kontentsu コンテンツ contents /ˈkɑn·tents/ twitter 74. mentenansu メンテナンス maintenance /ˈmeɪn·tən·əns/ ameblo 75. meeru adoresu メールアドレス e-mail address /ˈiˌmeɪl əˈdres/ twitter 76. messeji メッセージ message /ˈmes·ɪdʒ/ ameblo 77. mobairu モバイル mobile /ˈmoʊ.bəl/ twitter 78. pasuwaado パスワード password /ˈpæsˌwɜrd/ twitter 79. puraibashii プライバシー privacy /ˈprɑɪ·və·si/ twitter 80. purofiiru プロフィール profile /ˈproʊ·fɑɪl/ ameblo 81. rankingu ランキング ranking /ˈræŋ·kɪŋ/ ameblo 82. riaru リアル real /ˈri·əl/ ameblo 83. rikuesuto リクエスト request /rɪˈkwest/ twitter 84. rogu in / rogu auto ログイン/ ログアウト log in / log out /lɔɡ ɪn/ /lɔɡ /ɑʊt/ ameblo 85. saabisu サービス service /ˈsɜr·vɪs/ ameblo 86. shinpuru シンプル simple /ˈsɪm·pəl/ ameblo 87. toppu トップ top /tɑp/ ameblo 88. torendo トレンド trend /trend/ twitter 89. tsuiito ツイート tweet /twiːt/ twitter 90. yuuzaa ユーザー user /ˈjuːzər/ twitter lost in space, lost in himself: paul auster’s ghosts and the postmodern city 21 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) julia kula1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.28.1.02 maria curie-skłodowska university orcid: 0000-0003-0143-4874 lost in space, lost in himself: paul auster’s ghosts and the postmodern city abstract. ghosts, the second part of paul auster’s the new york trilogy, is generically classified as anti-detective fiction. the dominant setting of the novel, the urban space of new york and the observatory apartment located in it, is endowed with postmodern qualities, which leads to the transformation of the specificity of the investigation and its departure from one that is traditional. whereas, traditionally, in detective fiction the dominant space, be it a locked room or a city, to mention a few, offers the sleuth clues necessary for solving the case, in the postmodern story of detection these clues are disorienting or meaningless. hence, the primary aim of this article is to examine the interrelation between the dominating chronotope in the novel and the investigation led by the protagonist, blue. i intend to prove how the surroundings contribute to the replacement of rational and objective judgment of the case with personal engagement. the article also aims at providing an overview of the transformations of urban space in detective fiction, which functions as the introduction to a further discussion. keywords: auster, ghosts, postmodern detective fiction, space, chronotope. “the critical scene of the mystery is when the detective enters.” ~ maureen johnson 1. the evolution of urban space in detective fiction referring to the research on the significance of space in detective fiction, david schmid argues that a great majority of criticism “engages with the role of space in crime fiction in a relatively passive manner, which means that houses, suburbs, cities and so on are treated merely as background or setting rather than as determinative forces” (2012: 7-8). however, it must be noted that from the very beginnings of detective fiction, the dominant space – borrowing mikhail bakhtin’s term, the major chronotope – does not only represent a dominating space that functions as the background for events. 1 address for correspondence: wydział humanistyczny, maria curie-skłodowska university, plac marii curie-skłodowskiej 4a, 20-031 lublin, poland. e-mail: julia.kula@poczta.umcs.lublin.pl 22 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) as bakhtin expounds, chronotopes “are the organizing centers for the fundamental narrative events in the novel. the chronotope is the place where the knots of narrative are tied and untied... to them belongs the meaning that shapes the narrative” (1981: 250). chronotopes are rigidly organised structures that specifically shape the run of the action and determine primary themes and motifs prevalent in the genre. looking at the recurrent chronotopes in detective fiction, apart from the locked room introduced by poe and the country house prevalent, for instance, in agatha christie’s fiction, another spatio-temporal continuum, modelled by arthur conan doyle in sherlock holmes stories, is the city. immersed in urban space, the detective seeks meaningful clues that would enable him to decipher the narrative of the crime or the mystery. hence, in traditional detective fiction, the chronotope of the city functions as a map on which diverse elements “are the guardians of some secret... every twist of the road is like a finger pointing to it.... there is no stone in the street and no brick in the wall that is not actually a deliberate symbol – a message from some man, as much as if it were a telegram or a postcard. (chesterton 1901: 75)”. the city in the earliest representatives of detective fiction can be compared to a map on which diverse clues are scattered. as christopher pittard points out, modernism that brought the emergence of detective fiction is associated with “[t]he collapsing of urban experience into an overwhelming collage of signs (both semiotically and literally)” (2010: 113), which is accentuated in the portrayal of the dominant chronotope from that period. when put together and deciphered, these signs create a coherent narrative of the committed crime. the new variant of detective fiction that was initiated in america in the early 1920s – the hard-boiled one – predominantly redefined the representation of urban space in the genre. contemporary problems, such as “civic and corporate corruption” (pepper 2010: 143), capitalism, “endemic violence, and the remoteness of institutionalized law from any broader concept of justice” (horsley 2005: 6), brought about by new circumstances, were the focal point of the then emerging convention. urban space was no longer seen solely as a guardian of secrets, as in the traditional detective novel. the modern city, serving as the dominant chronotope in the genre, “becomes the wasteland”, “a man-made desert or cavern of lost humanity” (cawelti 1977: 155) to which the detective is not able to restore any order to, as was the case in traditional and classical stories of detection. its physical construction reveals negative qualities of space as “an intractable, uncontainable, ultimately unknowable terrain, to be grasped only in a fragmentary way” (horsley 2005: 71). apart from the impossibility to fully comprehend what is inscribed in the cityscape, the private eye has to confront the unfavourable circumstances that await him in the city. as such, urban space “threatens a protagonist’s sense of a discrete self, his powers of understanding, and his physical safety” (horsley 2005: 71). 23 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) as it has been mentioned before, the dominant chronotope does not represent the passive background, but actively shapes the narrative. hence, there exists a close interdependence between the specificity of urban space in particular variants of the genre and the figure of the detective. the spatial image of the world in detective fiction – in this case the city – “on the one hand... is created by man, and on the other, it actively forms the person immersed in it” (lotman 1990: 204). in traditional stories of detection, the chronotope “called for a cultural figure with particular expertise in reading such signs and in disregarding irrelevant information” (pittard 2010: 113). these signs, not obvious and immediately visible, have to be collected and put into one, coherent whole by the detective whose rationality and excellent skills of deduction are instrumental in unravelling the mystery. as jerome delamater and ruth prigozy accentuate, “[t]he power to solve mysteries is, of course, the fundamental—and, quite possibly, the only— property that distinguishes all detectives of conventional mystery fiction” (1997: 33). the new urban chronotope as shaped in the hard-boiled variant is associated with a diverse type of detective. the sleuth, although a professional one, is no longer portrayed “as a brilliant eccentric with transcendent powers of ratiocination but as an ordinary man” (cawelti 1977: 145) with flaws and vices. the unfavourable circumstances that form the narrative require a new hero, “a loner, an alienated individual who exists outside or beyond the socioeconomic order of family, friends, work, and home” (scaggs 2005: 59); a figure with his own moral and ethical codes that usually deviate from socially acceptable ones. since the detective is no longer endowed with almost superhuman abilities, the nature of his quest also differs. as scaggs observes, “there is little or no analysis of clues and associated analytic deduction. rather, the hard-boiled detective’s investigations, involving direct questioning and movement from place to place, parallel the sort of tracking down of a quarry” (2005: 59). as such, instead of an ordered process of detection, the investigation resembles an “adventure in search of a hidden truth” (chandler 1944: 237), often replete with perilous situations and risky confrontations. 2. postmodern detective fiction although there can be enumerated crucial differences between the dominant chronotopes and the construction of the private eye in the traditional story of detection and the hard-boiled variant, the fundamental formula is still based on the detective’s inquiry leading to the solution. yet, in the postmodern detective novel, which is the focal point of this article, the formulaic pattern is subject to some significant alterations not only in terms of space and characters, but also in terms of the formula itself, which makes the convention problematic to categorise. these reformulations result in some critics, such as stefano tani, perceiving the postmodern story of detection “not as the continuation of the genre but as a transgression of it, or as a mutation” (1984: 30). other critics, such as patricia merivale or susan-elizabeth sweeney emphasise its specificity, claiming that 24 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) it is distinguished “by the profound questions that it raises about narrative, interpretation, subjectivity, the nature of reality, and the limits of knowledge” (1999: 1). as is demonstrated by tani, merivale, sweeney, or other critics, such as michael holquist, william v. spanos, or howard haycraft, who have substantially contributed to the theorisation of the postmodern detective fiction, although the conventional roles or indispensable formulaic components are altered, the dominant2, borrowing roman jakobson’s term, remains consistent with the principal premise of the genre. even though not necessarily directed at finding the individual responsible for a transgression, the detective’s investigation constitutes the focal point of the storyline. the anti-detective novels of jorge luis borges, alain robbe-grillet, or vladimir nabokov, to name a few, foregrounded and revolved around matters such as the question of identity, ontological concerns about the nature of reality, or the relativity of space-time. since then, trends initiated by these early writers have been applied and further developed in representatives of detective fiction of postmodern writers, such as peter ackroyd, julian barnes, donald barthelme, umberto eco, thomas pynchon, and paul auster, whose ghosts is the novel under examination in this article. as in the case of the previously discussed generic variants of the story of detection, they are, to a great extent, affected by the dominant chronotopes (the city and diverse variations of enclosed areas) which share the features of postmodern places and spaces. even though the pursuit of truth is still at the centre of the plot, in many cases, it is no longer a criminal investigation. instead, an inquiry tends to take the form of a ‘tail job’, it is directed at seeking missing persons, sorting out identity problems, or seeking after an unattainable truth. as patricia merivale claims, amongst other common themes of the anti-detective novel there are: “the world, city, or text as labyrinth;... the ambiguity, ubiquity, eerie meaningfulness, or sheer meaninglessness of clues and evidence; [or]... the “man of the crowd”, the double, and the lost, stolen, or exchanged identity” (1999: 8). although contemporary anti-detective fiction may be defined by diverse spatialities originating from its generic predecessors, the most dominant is that of urban space. yet, in its portrayal, it is far from resembling the 19th and early 20th city of poe or doyle, – spaces filled with clues that must and can be fully comprehended. rather, in its construction, the city is closer to the spaces that dominate hard-boiled conventions – a fragmentary and intractable construct, threatening the private eye in diverse ways. postmodern cities frequently featured in detective stories written from the mid-20th century, as nick bentley maintains, are often depicted as “disorienting, labyrinthine 2 as roman jakobson explains, the dominant refers to “the focusing component of a work of art; it rules, determines, and transforms the remaining components. it is the dominant that guarantees the integrity of the structure” (1978: 6) of the work. in other words, it represents the major focus of the work; in detective fiction it is the sleuth’s investigation that can be considered the dominant around which the whole plot is construed. 25 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) dystopias” (2006: 176), decentralised and disordered constructions strengthening the sense of urban dislocation and confusion. since the city – the dominant chronotope in the genre – is no longer portrayed as a map offering clues, the figure of the detective also undergoes a change in resonance with the anti-detective convention. if in modernism, urban space was perceived as one that cannot be fully comprehended, in postmodernism this specificity is even more intensified. despite their character, modern cities provided detectives with clues that could be put into a coherent whole when analysed properly. postmodern urban spaces, on the other hand, have nothing meaningful to provide their explorers with, apart from an overwhelming sense of disorientation and intellectual doubt in the meaningfulness of their findings. postmodern cities thus require a new protagonist, who fits into contemporary circumstances. with the evolution of detective fiction, there can be observed a tendency to construct the private eye as a more ordinary character. the investigator loses supernatural deductive powers and does not rely solely on pure reason. instead, the detective resembles an average individual who has the right to make mistakes and form wrong judgements. the postmodern private eye does not resemble the poesque predecessors; rather, he seems to contain the echoes of the golden-age and hard-boiled characters – possessing the double in the criminal or being unable to be emotionally detached from the case. as susan rowland argues, “the detective always possesses an other, his uncanny double in the murderer, partly because the quarry is the focus of the detective’s desire, his burning mental energy (rowland 2010: 119), as is for the criminal. the investigator thus constitutes a complete reversal of the ‘ideal’ figure of the sleuth. his investigation represents not only a purely professional sphere of life since the private eye is both “physically and emotionally involved in his case” (shiloh 2011: 41). the investigator from the anti-detective stories is the one who is not able to successfully terminate his quest due to the influence of surroundings and the meaningfulness of clues. in his search for answers, the postmodern sleuth switches between various identities, which testifies to the foundation that postmodernism tends to “challenge the notion of an essential self, a self that in the modernist period still was a unity” (fokkema 1991: 72). 3. ghosts: when the investigation goes wrong ghosts, which is the narrative under discussion, represents the second instalment of paul auster’s world-famous the new york trilogy. in comparison to the remaining books of the trilogy (city of glass and the locked room), ghosts seems to reflect the specificity of detective fiction the most accurately since the plot development resembles those from hardboiled stories of detection. yet, even though the indispensable elements of the convention are retained as the detective engages in a tail job – the case characteristic for the hard-boiled variant – the construction of urban space exerts a negative influence on the 26 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) private eye. the postmodern representation of the city emphasises that urban space is fragmented, often decentralised, and thus confusing. difficulties that the private eye has with deciphering clues resonate with the postmodern premise that there exist “multiple truths, depending on the time and place” (lessem & schieffer 2016: 274) as “postmodernism denies permanent, knowable truths about human nature” (uba 2012: 46). as it is no longer possible to point to the reliability of one interpretation of clues over the other, investigators in anti-detective fiction are doomed to fail at their pursuits. taking into consideration the scope of the research into ghosts, the story is usually discussed together with the remaining volumes of the trilogy. as the new york trilogy has gained worldwide recognition as a masterful postmodern detective narrative, numerous critics and scholars have discussed it from diverse angles. to provide a few examples, martin brendan in paul auster’s postmodernity examines the trilogy in reference to the fundamental premises of postmodernism in literature. mark brown, on the other hand, adopts a spatial approach to the work, but interconnects it with common concerns of postmodernism, such as language and writing. richard swope’s focal point in “approaching the threshold(s) in postmodern detective fiction” is the motif of the missing persons in anti-detective fiction of auster and other writers – a trope considered as representative of the postmodern genre. carsten springer, on the other hand, examines all three stories in reference to a motif common for postmodern detective fiction, namely the doppelgänger. hence, although the scope of the scrutiny is wide since various aspects are tackled, auster’s work is analysed mainly in relation to either the tenets of postmodernism in literature or the generic implication of the anti-detective narrative. however, as for the time being, no attention has been given to the interrelation between the genre and the dominant chronotope. thus, the focal point of this article is going to be the representation of space, which may be regarded as postmodernist, and the way the setting affects the detectives and their quests. i intend to demonstrate how the dominant chronotopes – the city and the apartment located there – shape the protagonist’s investigation, taking into account the basic premises of the postmodern detective novel. hence, i shall prove that the city and a few places constituting the detective’s semiotic map no longer provide the man with appropriate conditions and clues necessary for a successful termination of the investigation. the protagonist of the narrative, blue, is a professional and self-employed private eye, who is assigned a task by a mysterious client, white, to follow a man named black and send him regular reports. in order to carry out his investigation, the man abandons his former life and commences his observation in the room opposite black’s apartment. his detective endeavour consists of following black along the streets of new york and eavesdropping on him while the man is submerged in seemingly ordinary activities such as reading or writing. not being content with the results of the investigation, the protagonist decides to directly confront black using a range of disguises. from now on, 27 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) all his actions are directed at unmasking black’s real motives and finding out who is responsible for the charade he has been engaged in. after stealing a manuscript from the observed man’s house, blue learns that it is only a pile of his own reports, which provokes an ultimate and fierce confrontation between the private eye and the subject of the investigation. having brutally fought black, the sleuth collects the pages of the man’s book in order to read them in his room. with no commentary made on the content of the manuscript, blue leaves the room in silence. when the spatial organisation of any city is examined, what immediately draws attention is that “space is broken down into separate spaces, occupied by functions that are exercised within distinct spaces” (lefebvre 1980: 214). the urban territory can, therefore, be seen in terms of lotman’s concept of the semiosphere – heterogeneous semiotic space defined by constant interactions between its centre and peripheries. the city in detective fiction functions as a theatre where the drama of the committed crime and its investigation are staged, where every constituent of space has its significance and intensifies the sleuth’s inquiry. hence, when urban space is perceived in terms of lotman’s semiosphere, the crime scene stands for the centre of the detective’s semiotic map, enabling him to exercise his professional skills, whereas the city and its streets function as the periphery that might facilitate or decelerate the investigation. however, while such an assumption seems valid for the traditional stories of detection, a different space represents the centre in hard-boiled fiction, namely the detective’s office. whereas, traditionally, the crime scene stands for a place where the sleuth proves their skills, the office stands for a point of reference for their sense of identity defining their social position. however, in auster’s novel the centre seems not to be fixed. as may be observed in ghosts, blue’s urban map for the investigation consists of three main components – his office where he is familiarised with the case, the apartment from which black is observed, as well as new york’s streets. whereas the peripheral part of his semiosphere stands for the open spaces in the city, the centre does not remain stable, but changes as the action develops. at the very beginning, the story resembles a typical hard-boiled narrative whose action starts in the detective’s office – the man’s central point of reference for his sense of professional identity. blue goes to his office every day and sits at his desk, waiting for something to happen. for a long time nothing does, and then a man named white walks through the door, and that is how it begins. the case seems simple enough. white wants blue to follow a man named black and to keep an eye on him for as long as necessary. (auster 1987: 133) the order does not seem unusual as the protagonist is familiar with tail jobs – they constitute a part of his experience in the profession as “[w]hile working for brown, blue 28 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) did many tail jobs” (auster 1987: 133). then, the protagonist is able to find a temporary centre in “a small studio apartment on the third floor of a four-story brownstone” (auster 1987: 135) rented by white for the purpose of the investigation. however, although blue’s identity is still defined through his occupation, the provisional centre created for the sake of the investigation fails to provide him with a stable point of reference that serves to help him with the case. thus, the man’s urban map is limited to the openness of streets and the closeness of the apartment. “although blue occasionally ventures out of his room, he exists essentially in a hermetic space” (russel 1990: 77), which renders the investigation unsuccessful. taking into consideration the evolution of the dominant space in detective fiction, there can be observed a shift from one facilitating the process of detection to one confusing it, and defined by “randomness, revolt, deformation. the latter alone subsumes a dozen current terms of unmaking: decreation, disintegration, deconstruction, decenterment, displacement, difference, discontinuity, disjunction, disappearance, decomposition, de-definition” (hassan 1983: 9). both, the relatively open space of new york and the closed space of blue’s hideout are deconstructed and disintegrated versions of the traditional notions of space and place. the differentiation between space and place becomes blurred, as delineated, for instance, by yi fu-tuan (space and place: the perspective of experience), tim cresswell (place: a short introduction), or irwin altman (place attachment). these differences are still retained on the most fundamental level when the opposition between the public and the private, and the openness and the enclosure is concerned. nevertheless, the reformulation is well-noticeable in connotations traditionally ascribed to space and place. as postmodern characteristics are attached to them, the difference is erased, as both the city and the apartment evoke in the protagonist, the sense of disorientation, and hopelessness, which, in turn, are defined by the lack of any stable points of reference. for the protagonist, the central part of the city – the observatory room – proves not to be sufficient to work out the object of the tail job. just the very first day of conducting his surveillance turns out to test his professional skills as the current predicament seems to be unfavourable for the man. the enclosed space of the flat clearly does not serve blue as he feels trapped there: so it goes for the rest of the evening, with black reading and blue watching him read. as time passes, blue grows more and more discouraged. he’s not used to sitting around like this, and with the darkness closing in on him now, it’s beginning to get on his nerves. he likes to be up and about, moving from one place to another, doing things.... now, when he himself is the boss, this is what he gets: a case with nothing to do. for to watch someone read and write is in effect to do nothing. (auster 1987: 137) 29 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) sitting in a room is thus perceived as a fruitless occupation since it contributes to blue’s incapability to obtain an insight into black’s predicament and possible intentions. the more time spent on observing the suspect’s quotidian activities, the more frustration grows inside the protagonist. instead of possible clues that would guide him down the right path, the sleuth is given meaningless hints that do not contribute to the professionality of the reports. the circumstances have their immediate reflection in the function of the language for blue. in his previous jobs, his reports were based on pure objectivity and reliance upon what had been seen and experienced: “his method [was] to stick to outward facts, describing events as though each word tallied exactly with the thing described, and to question the matter no further. words [were] transparent for him, great windows that stand between him and the world” (auster 1987: 144). words thus were assigned clear meaning as there used to exist a one-to-one relation between signifiers and things they referred to. hence, “[i]n every report he has written so far, action holds forth over interpretation.... the report confines itself to known and verifiable facts, and beyond this limit it does not try to go” (auster 1987: 144). however, black’s case puts blue closer to the post-structuralist view of the language; its function as the window through which the world can be seen is no longer valid. rather, the world and “the human subject [are] entirely constructed by the discourses in which [they are] situated” (lodge 2002: 133). thus, “blue is bound to experience the (postmodern) inadequacy of language to really contain the world” (espejo 2013: 165) as words he uses in his reports do not serve their expected function. even his observations disappoint him as the man is unable to find any coherence in them: there is the notebook, of course, but when he looks through it to see what he has written, he is disappointed to find such paucity of detail. it’s as though his words, instead of drawing out the facts and making them sit palpably in the world, have induced them to disappear. (auster 1987: 144-145) blue’s notes do not reflect the observed reality and the written down words lose their transparency. as such, instability and the disorienting character of space has its immediate reflection in language. the more blue is lost in the case, the more difficulties arise, which points to the insufficiency of language to capture reality. thus, in ghosts, the echoes of the post-structuralists’ stance are well-noticeable in the protagonist’s struggles with writing the reports. referring to the post-structuralist approach to language, donald ellis argues that it is “obsessed with instability and variability of meaning. certainly, when language is viewed this way, concepts such as “truth,” “knowledge,” and “reality” lose their value” (1991: 219). fluctuations of significance stressed by post-structuralists are closely related to the postmodernists’ distrust 30 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) concerning the existence of one, unquestionable truth. “poststructuralists very much want to cling to the idea that reality exists in the human mind and nowhere else” (ellis 1991: 219) and, hence, language is an insufficient device to express it objectively. as no meaning can be uncovered, blue is unable to use his existing knowledge to formulate proper findings for white, which strengthens his impression that words instead of reflecting reality, mask it and, consequently, create the detective’s own, subjective image of the situation. since the enclosed space reinforces the protagonist’s confabulations and makes it more difficult to maintain objectivity, it would seem that the open space of manhattan streets would be the proper surroundings to shed new light on the case. however, the new york that blue experiences while following black does not resemble a typical ‘map’ on which pieces of the puzzle are scattered, but exerts on him a similar influence as does the room. the man’s every walk is imbued with qualities that ihab hassan (1983: 9) identifies with postmodern spaces – disintegration, displacement, or discontinuity. the streets and physical components of the city thus become only “a man-made construct, ambitious in its conception, but not always fulfilling its intended purpose” (varvogli 2001: 31) since, paradoxically, the more blue engages in the investigation, the more distanced from the task he becomes. consequently, new york makes it impossible to properly fulfill the role of the sleuth as blue begins: to lead the semblance of an independent life. at first he is not very daring in what he allows himself to do, but even so he considers it a kind of triumph, almost an act of bravery. going outside, for example, and walking up and down the block. (auster 1987: 155). solitary strolls, which are just the very beginning, detach the protagonist from the case as “[l]ittle by little, he becomes more bold in his strayings from black” (auster 1987: 156). additionally, more and more often the centre of his attention is directed not at the case itself, but at his personal recollections and experiences. when he follows black along the brooklyn bridge, for instance, he “can see himself holding his father’s hand and walking at his side, and as he hears the traffic moving along the steel bridgeroad below” (auster 1987: 146). however, the fundamental problem for blue arises when his personal attachment to urban space is more intense and, as a result, obscures his responsibilities towards white. such circumstances lead to the lack of proper grounding in the case, which results in a disturbance of the investigation. yet, the detective remains aware of the disturbing predicament as “he wonders why he has turned so sentimental, why all these thoughts keep coming to him, when for so many years they have never even occurred to him” (auster 1987: 149). 31 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) while accompanying black along the streets of new york like an invisible shadow, blue is subject to the feeling of disorientation. pointless walks through the labyrinthine cityscape leave him with the conclusion that “no rhyme or reason can be read into anything that’s happened so far” (auster 1987: 150) since he cannot find any stable coordinates to rely on. contemplations of a personal nature supersede rational deductions. hence, [h]is routine job on following what white has required of him gradually creates for him a world which deprives him of his critical thinking as to the reliability of the information he received and the reality of the job he was offered. he suspects and tries to resolve his uncertainties with endless narratives on the reality of his situation but finds himself drowned with no valid, identifying story and an increasingly debilitated consciousness. (torkamaneh 2015: 307) as such, a typical, reasonable, and objective world of detective fiction changes into one based on creativity, subjectivity, and emotions. the chronotopes dominating in ghosts are thus not governed by intellect, but by imagination, which has its reflection in the identification of the private eye with the writer. consequently, “the role of detective merges with the role of the writer. we understand that both writer and detective make sense of the chaos of words, and of the world” (jones & ells 2011: 633). writing reports to white, blue is given power to re-create a possible chain of events leading to the act of undercover surveillance. yet, the fundamental difference is that the surroundings in postmodern detective fiction make it impossible for the detective to properly interpret signs and restore order. in ghosts “the breakdown of the detection process is always accompanied by the breakdown of the self” (lewis 1994: 60), which is reflected not only in an unstable identity, but also in the existence of a double. its manifestation is primarily maintained on the level of the uncanny relation between blue and black: there are moments when he feels so completely in harmony with black, so naturally at one with the other man, that to anticipate what black is going to do, to know when he will stay in his room and when he will go out, he need merely look into himself […]. on the other hand, not all moments are like these. there are times when he feels totally removed from black, cut off from him in a way that is so stark and absolute that he begins to lose the sense of who he is (auster 1987: 153) the unconscious identification with black leads blue to experience the sense of intimacy with the observed. looking through the window thus can be perceived as looking into the mirror – the observed evolves into the man’s own reflection as “in spying out at black across the street, it is as though blue were looking into a mirror, and instead of merely 32 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) watching another, he finds that he is also watching himself” (auster 1987: 142). as such, the men become ‘identical’ in pursued activities and predicament – the act of surveillance becomes for blue the observation of himself since “black is doing exactly the same thing: like blue, he sits in a room, takes notes, reads, and looks out of his window” (varvogli 2001: 49). blue’s confidence is thus undermined as the resemblance of black’s actions becomes disturbing. although there exists no substitution of selves in the freudian3 understanding, the man’s true self as a detective is substantially weakened. he oscillates between different states – a complete identification, almost unification with the other man and, when distanced from him, a sensation of being displaced. whereas the enclosed space of the room contributes to the emergence of the doppelgänger as blue finds his mirror image in black, the open space of new york reveals a different manifestation of the double. the doubling here refers to the roles blue and black assume or are given as they become interchangeable. as it turns out, black’s task is also “to watch someone... and send in a report about him every week. just that. watch this guy and write about it. not one damned thing more (auster 1987: 177). it points to a presumed reversal of roles – the observed is, in fact, the observing, and the other way around. at one point, blue notices that “[i]t seems perfectly plausible to him that he is also being watched, observed by another in the same way that he has been observing black” (auster 1987: 165). as each of the men is in possession of both roles, it strengthens blue’s perception of black as his mirror image and an uncanny double. all this time when he pursues his ‘tail job’, believing that it is a case commissioned by white, where blue observes black and creates reports, the object of his inquiry follows exactly the same path. as a result, the unconscious identification with the observed leads to the detective losing his sense of self. he does not realize that by engaging in the case, his sense of existence has become dependent on the observed. when the protagonist wants to know whether the man watched by black knows about this, he replies: of course he knows. that’s the whole point, isn’t it? he’s got to know, or else nothing makes sense. why? because he needs me, says black, still looking away. he needs my eyes looking at him. he needs me to prove he’s alive. (auster 1987: 178) 3 referring to the uncanny identification between two individuals, freud maintains that “a person may identify himself with another and so become unsure of his true self; or he may substitute the other’s self for his own. the self may thus be duplicated, divided and interchanged” (1919: 141-142). more in: freud (1919). 33 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) thus, the men cannot exist without each other – feeling the second’s eyes on themselves, having the impression of being constantly observed proves that they have become merely ghosts of their former selves. both blue and black live to watch and to be watched and their mutual ‘unification’ is another manifestation of having become doppelgängers. yet, the urban space of new york functions not only as the stage for the doubling between the detective and the ‘culprit’, but it is also where blue’s experimentations with identity occur. as a typical postmodern private eye, the man “possessing all of the marginality, but none of the self-confidence of the classical detective, he spends much of the time walking in circles through streets that look alike, adopting roles for himself to boost his confidence” (merivale & sweeney 1999: 110). being unable to piece together any meaningful clues, the detective resorts to various disguises supposed to help him, such as jimmy rose, an old beggar, or the fuller brush man. undercover encounters with the subject of the investigation seem to, indeed, boost his confidence as they shed some light on blue’s complicated situation and his actual role in the whole charade. conversations thus reinforce the protagonist’s belief that “no more disguises will be needed. the next step is inevitable, and the only thing that matters now is to choose the right moment” (auster 1987: 182). as such, the sleuth’s ultimate decision leads to the ending typical for hard-boiled stories of detection since, as cawelti points out, in this convention the “story usually ends with a confrontation between detective and criminal” (1977: 143). however, the direct confrontation does not lead to any solution as the postmodern story of detection emphasizes the “rebuttal of any central resolution or abiding truth” (smith 2002: 33). 4. conclusion discussing the specificity of postmodern detective fiction, patricia merivale and susanelizabeth sweeney emphasise that “[a] metaphysical detective story is a text that parodies or subverts traditional detective-story conventions – such as narrative closure and the detective’s role as surrogate reader” (1999: 2). the foregrounding of issues typical for postmodernism, such as the limits of the detective’s understanding, uncertainty, or the impossibility of discovering one, unquestionable truth, leads to the significance of the criminal investigation being only subtly delineated. as michael holquist points out while referring to the transformation in the character of the inquiry, “[i]f in the detective story death must be solved, in the new metaphysical detective story it is life which must be solved” (1971: 155). it is worth pointing out, however, that there exists a close interrelation between the concerns of the postmodern story of detection, the character of the investigation, or the specificity of the detective and the dominant chronotope(s) – the city or/and enclosed spaces located in urban space. as such, it is the prevalent space and its nature that shape the case, the detective, as well as the major concerns. 34 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) in detective fiction before postmodernism, temporal relations applicable to stories of detection tend to create two separate stories: the story of the crime and the story of the investigation. narrative presentation combines them in a specific manner. in whodunits, the story of the crime belongs to the past and is – because hidden – absent from the present, whereas the story of the investigation happens in the present, its main function being the uncovering of the story of the crime. (pyrhönen 2010: 49) hence, the dominant space, be it the city or a place in the city, for instance, offers appropriate conditions for these two temporal dimensions to meet. however, in ghosts the main chronotopes no longer create conditions favourable for the successful termination of the investigation due to the story of the past not being, in fact, related to any crime. it is observable that “blue’s detective quest thus differs from that of the traditional sleuth in two crucial respects: it is static and has no apparent purpose.... a detective enquiry with no telos, no crime to investigate, is voided of directionality and movement” (shiloh 2012: 60). neither the urban space of new york nor the observatory room enable blue to professionally approach the case; instead, they contribute to blue’s sense of disorientation and confusion. whereas the enclosed space of the room and the monotonous act of observation result in the protagonist’s mind wandering off from the investigation, the streets of new york cause the sleuth to “experience loneliness, disconnection and personal disintegration” (brown 2007: 34). blue proves to be incapable of maintaining a healthy balance between his private life and work; his weakness generates conditions that make the protagonist get “emotionally caught in the net of his detecting effort and is torn apart between the upsurge of feelings and the necessity for rationality” (tani 1984: 42). hence, as may be expected from the characters in postmodern detective novels, the man immersed in a space offering neither meaningful clues nor unquestionable truths, experiences the dispersal of his identity, visible, for instance, when he identifies with black as his double. references auster, p. 1987. the new york trilogy. london: faber and faber. bakhtin, m. 1981. forms of time and of the chronotope in the novel. the dialogic imagination: four essays. in: m. holquist (ed.), trans. c. emerson & m. holquist, 84 258. austin: university of texas press. 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in: v. miller & h. oakley (eds.), 7-23. london: palgrave macmillan. shiloh, i. 2011. the double, the labyrinth and the locked room: metaphors of paradox in crime fiction and film. new york: peter lang. shiloh, i. 2012. paul auster and postmodern quest on the road to nowhere. new york: peter lang. smith, h. 2002. ‘a labyrinth of endless steps’: fiction making, interactive narrativity, and the poetics of space in paul auster’s city of glass. australasian journal of american studies, vol. 21, no. 2: 33-51. tani, s. 1984. the doomed detective: the contribution of the detective novel to postmodern american and italian fiction. illinois: southern illinois university press. torkamaneh, p. 2015. fractured selves and the illusion of communication: paul auster’s ghosts as a reflection of the hyperreal. the explicator, vol. 73, no. 4: 306–311. uba, l. 2012. postmodern psychology of asian americans: creating knowledge of a racial minority. albany, new york: suny press. varvogli, a. 2001. the world that is the book: paul auster’s fiction. liverpool university press. * * * julia kula is a graduate assistant and a phd candidate at maria curie-skłodowska university. she holds a master’s degree in british literature. her phd thesis explores the interrelation between literary genres and defining chronotopes in paul auster’s fiction. she has participated in various conferences in which she has presented papers concerning, but not limited to, auster’s novels. she has published on auster’s fiction and works of neil gaiman, dmitry glukhovsky, and suzanne collins, above all. her main areas of academic interest include postmodernism, the evolution of generic conventions, the construction of urban space, as well as spatial semiotics. a hermeneutic critique on george steiner’s hermeneutic motion in translation 83 crossroads. a journal of english studies mohammad ali kharmandar islamic azad university, shiraz branch, iran a hermeneutic critique on george steiner’s hermeneutic motion in translation abstract. george steiner’s hermeneutic motion, published in his major book after babel, is usually regarded as the most important theory in the hermeneutics and even philosophy of translation. the work, however, has received criticism by authors who normally write outside of the classical realm of hermeneutics. a lingering assumption is that hermeneutics, and even other strands of continental philosophy, necessarily need or should rely on steiner’s postulates. a critical approach to his theory from a hermeneutic perspective can clarify how valid/practical steiner’s ideas are. reviewing all of the chapters in after babel, this study thematically unifies the criticisms on steiner’s theory, while highlighting deeper conflicts in the work. as a most substantial reading of the hermeneutic motion, the study emphasizes the importance of emerging hermeneutic theories of translation in the twenty-first century. keywords: translation theory, ricoeur, gadamer, translation studies, literary translation. introduction many translation studies (ts) readers assume that the most significant twentieth-century work in hermeneutics and translation is george steiner’s four-fold hermeneutic motion, published in his voluminous book after babel (1998; previously published 1975, 1992; this title is abbreviated as ab throughout the paper). although a highly influential and potentially the most important philosophical publication in modern translation theory, steiner’s work is itself a narrative to be reexamined in the light of developments in translation and hermeneutics, especially those occurring over the second decade of the twenty-first century. although the work has received criticism from non-hermeneutic authors, there has rarely been a hermeneutic examination of the book. such a re-reading is overriding for the newly emerging theories, such as translational hermeneutics (stanley, o’keeffe, stolze, and cercel 2018; stolze, stanley and cercel 2015), particularly as these movements might be unjustifiably compared to or associated with steiner’s approach. vague, enigmatic and unconventional diction/style, non-scientificity, non-systematicality, (perceived but apparently misunderstood) bias against women, tendency to avoid analysis, and universalist ideals are among the major topics of criticisms of steiner’s work. this study, taking a hermeneutic stance, unifies and tries to unfold even deeper problems in the hermeneutic motion, by 10.15290/cr.2018.20.1.05 84 crossroads. a journal of english studies recourse to the works of other hermeneutic thinkers (e.g. gadamer and ricoeur) and to novel theoretical contributions, particularly translational hermeneutics. in doing so, this critical approach first reviews all of the chapters in after babel, collecting the pieces that shape the hermeneutic motion. the study then divides the problems into four groups that are further explored and elaborated on: overcomplicated style and diction; overreliance on literature; theoretical shortcomings; methodological shortcomings. the investigation, quite contrary to popular belief, reveals that steiner’s reading only partially relies on hermeneutics, and that at many levels it is counter-productive to hermeneutic research. for instance, emphasis on universal grammar, as an epistemological notion, would violate such ontological principles as the historicity and situatedness of human experience. furthermore, universalist equilibrium, as the ultimate purpose of the four-fold process, is a misconception and is not even supported by steiner’s examples. as a most comprehensive reading of steiner’s translation theory, the study emphasizes the systemacity and applicability of innovative trends in hermeneutic theorizing, while underscoring the significance of ricoeur’s philosophy and the works of authors contributing to translational hermeneutics. steiner’s translation theory after babel steiner’s hermeneutic motion, although usually construed in isolation from the other chapters in after babel, emerges from a series of investigations and criticisms presented before chapter five (in which the central theory is proposed). as a result, a thorough understanding of the theory is only possible when the highlights and relevant arguments addressed in the preceding chapters are well scrutinized. in this section, apart from chapter five (the hermeneutic motion), the rest of the chapters are briefly reviewed. as the reservoir of concepts in after babel covers an unbelievably huge number of concerns from various disciplines, the main purpose of this section is to point out, even selectively, the themes addressed in the book. meanwhile, the parts and pieces that ultimately contribute to the formation of steiner’s translation/interpretation theory are explored in further detail. composed of six chapters (and a total of 538 pages), after babel represents a semi-encyclopedic book which, despite a relatively coherent plotline, does not show any thematic centrality. the reader is bombarded with a seemingly endless collection of notions, theories, conceptions, ideas and hypotheses gathered from a considerable number of disciplines. the first chapter, understanding as translation, is an attempt to build a grand metaphorical system in which “translation” refers to any possible mode of communication. the major notions dealt with in the chapter include interpreting a nation’s past literary treasure, linguistic change over time (as studied in lexico-statistics), the biology of language, the middle ages, and language and social class. steiner views all sources of difference among people as a form of “translation.” the idea of “privileged inferiority” (ab: 39), too, describes the social and cognitive status of women/children in communication with males, who are usually powerful interlocutors. the con85 crossroads. a journal of english studies clusion made in this chapter is: “inside or between languages, human communication equals translation. a study of translation is a study of language” (ab: 49). in these examples, however, translation substantially loses its academic or disciplinary sense and becomes an unbounded frame that could potentially cover any sort of dialogue. regardless of the rich background reviewed in chapter one, the attempt to attribute any mode of understanding/dialogue to translation rests on shaky ground, because this approach over-generalizes the notion of translation while ignoring relevant philosophical discussions. trying to resolve the challenging problem of “understanding (verstehen) versus explanation (erklären)” in the german hermeneutic tradition, ricoeur (1976) devotes several passages to the differences between understanding, explanation and interpretation. he then makes an important conclusion: … the polarity between explanation and understanding in reading must not be treated in dualistic terms, but as a complex and highly mediated dialectic. then the term interpretation may be applied, not to a particular case of understanding […], but to the whole process that encompasses explanation and understanding (ricoeur, 1976: 74). this reading solves two basic problems: first it avoids overemphasis on understanding (which was common to heidegger’s fundamental ontology), and second it suggests that interpretation could serve as a more comprehensive notion which can also incorporate explanation. understanding as translation, then, appears to be a title that remains problematic as the basis of steiner’s translation theory. considering ricoeur’s argument, more feasible titles would be understanding as interpretation or translation as interpretation. chapter two, language and gnosis, explores the roots of linguistic diversity across cultures, addressing biological/genetic causes, language maps, human races, darwinistic adaptive mechanisms, benjamin’s universal language (die reine sprache; ab: 67), the possibility of translation, comparative language studies (including primitive root languages), the impact of language on civilization and vice versa, and whorf ’s meta-linguistics. the heated debate between monadist untranslatability and imaginative universals is explicated in this chapter (ab: 77-9). this debate initially frames the very philosophy behind the hermeneutic motion, as steiner quite actively tries to rule out linguistic relativity on the grounds that human beings possess universal qualities that can help them communicate. according to an important argument, “proof that mutual transfer between languages is possible should follow immediately on the principle of substantive universality [emphasis added]. translation ought, in effect, to supply that principle with its most palpable evidence” (ab: 110). considering these views, one should not be surprised to discover a chomskyan transformational generative grammar (tgg) essence in steiner’s translation theory. steiner defends this stance by criticizing the humboldt-sapir-whorf hypothesis, showing a strong inclination towards universalism (ab: 97-103). nonetheless, he admits that even this theoretical 86 crossroads. a journal of english studies stance is not sufficiently verifiable, stating, “the assumption that ‘several languages’ merely represent a more complex variant of ‘one language’ may be fallacious” (ab: 128). in chapter three, word against object, steiner (ab: 115-120) addresses an ambiguity which is overriding for the development of his theory in chapter five: if language is a phenomenological perception, then how could it be explored through mathematical models? this concern is highly important for the validity of steiner’s translation theory, because although he tries to pursue an interpretive approach to language, the epistemological foundation of tgg could irreparably damage the consistency of his theory. he initially explains that, “… general propositions about language can never be entirely validated” (ab: 129). to strengthen this position, he relies on a diversity of ideas that demonstrate the instability of the content of language. arguably, if a variable does not remain existentially constant over time, it cannot be subjected to reliable verification. therefore, despite some linguists’ attempt to mathematize language, linguistic materials reveal variability over time (past, present, future): “different ages and civilizations work differently with words, with verbal taboos, with levels of vocabulary. they probably attach differing truth-values and postulates of reality to their designation of objects” (ab, 142-3). exploring lingering problems in linguistic empiricism (e.g. ambiguous referentiality, the problem of falsifiability, and instability of meaning), chapter three clarifies many issues in steiner’s theory. following these substantial introductory remarks, chapter four, the claims of theory, focuses on the history of translation (form cicero to hölderlin), and finally discusses hermeneutics as in the works of schleiermacher and gadamer (ab: 249-250). steiner, apparently to justify his theory in the next chapter, mentions a gap in translation theory and its marginality in literature (ab: 284). a preliminary observation is that “… all theories of translation – formal, pragmatic, chronological – are only variants of a single, inescapable question. in what ways can or ought fidelity to be achieved?” (ab: 275). following that, he initially addresses another important proposition to be later incorporated into his theory: should a good translation edge its own language towards that of the original, thus creating a deliberate aura of strangeness, of peripheral opaqueness? or should it naturalize the character of the linguistic import so as to make it at home in the speech of the translator and his readers?” (ab: 280). the last preparatory issue mentioned in chapter four is the “totalizing” nature of the steiner’s translation theory, the fact that a theory of translation is a theory of language (ab: 294). chapter five proposes the hermeneutic motion, which is substantially elaborated in the present paper (see the sections below). finally, chapter six, topologies of culture, introduces another set of theories that expand the realm of the notion of translation as explored in chapter one. the major concern is to inspect various modes of inter-semiotic interpretation, by a reference to topology: “topology is the branch of mathematics which deals with those relations between points and those fundamental properties of a figure which remain invariant when that figure is bent out of shape” (ab: 448). in line with this notion, translation is regarded as “the primary instrument of formulaic 87 crossroads. a journal of english studies expansion. it transforms the ‘deep structures’ of inheritance – verbal, thematic, iconographic – into ‘surface structures’ of social reference and currency” (ab: 452). music and translation, traditionality, recursive linguistic structures, reduplication of archetypes, and finally the politics of english as the international language are the concluding concerns in after babel. this preview of the book will considerably clarify the postulates taken for granted in the central theory, as well as the criticism raised in this study. obviously, although steiner addresses a variegated network of important matters in continental philosophy and of course in hermeneutics, he is predominantly interested in universalism, while hermeneutics as a discipline is hardly expounded in his writing. the hermeneutic motion as already mentioned, the hermeneutic motion is not an out-of-context theory, and is a result of steiner’s evaluation of other narratives coupled with his peculiar innovation. the motion involves four stages: trust, aggression, incorporation and compensation. the purpose of this process is to reach “equilibrium” at the end of the translation project. the theoretical contribution is to overcome what steiner calls “a sterile triadic model” (ab: 319), which is identified as the distinction between literalism, paraphrase and free imitation. the first stage is called trust, a phenomenological notion that is proposed to respond to the problem of unequal understanding explored in chapter one (e.g. temporal remoteness, perceiving the foreign, and cognitive differences between males and females). [trust] is an operative convention which derives from a sequence of phenomenological assumptions about the coherence of the world, about the presence of meaning in very different, perhaps formally antithetical semantic systems…. (ab: 312). trust is a presupposed expectation for discovering meaning despite numerous differences across languages and cultures. the belief in finding meaning in a text is to expect that human beings have constructed their world through lingual and semiotic systems that can be interpreted and understood. incomprehensive strings of text, alien cultural symbols and objects, strange social norms or conventions, and numerous other elements out of our known world may create the image that the foreign world is not to be perceived. the initiatory stage of trust also makes it possible for the translator to actually “situate” herself with respect to the text (or any semiotic/ symbolic entity to be translated). the real problem, however, reveals itself when trust is drastically tested against the formal integrity of the text; the task at hand is not just about meaning, but there are strong internal relations that hold the foreign text together beyond our expectations (ab: 313). the second stage is aggression, which rests on heidegger’s philosophy. every individual comes from a specific background and tries to put the world into his own understanding. steiner describes this interpretive tendency as being “aggressive.” in our self-understating, we “cut” everything into 88 crossroads. a journal of english studies the molds of our personal or collective worldview. this is the reason understanding is thought to involve a degree of violence. concerning this issue in translation, steiner states: saint jerome uses his famous image of meaning brought home captive by the translator. we ‘break’ a code: decipherment is dissective, leaving the shell smashed and the vital layers stripped…. [t]he text in the other language has become almost materially thinner, the light seems to pass unhindered through its loosened fibers (ab: 314). “materially thinner”, which seems to apply to literary translation more than other types, is a metaphor describing the condition of the text after being analyzed (dissected) by the translator. the text at this stage loses much of its “otherness.” the next problem to tackle is to situate the interpreted text in the receiving language. a diversity of questions must be answered here: how does the original meaning find its place in the receiving language and culture? how should the form be re-created in the target language? because the original is a product of a different system, and because the target language already has its system too, the translator has to decide about which of these two extremes to reflect in her final work. the third stage, which is the construction of the linguistically visible realization of the translation, is the textual production in the target language. in fact, at this stage, the degree of strangeness or naturalization of the text will be decided. according to steiner, some translations remain domesticated or at-home (luther’s bible) and some strange and marginal (nabokov’s english onegin) (ab: 314-15). exposure to the foreign can, of course, transform the receivers’ identity. if transformation is a consequence of translation, then naturally good or bad consequences may follow. “sacramental intake” represents the good side of being transformed by translation. this outcome, as implied by steiner, should follow an oriented and mature native matrix, which means that the translated text should find an appropriate position in the target language (a theory of equilibrium). evaluating these positions is itself a matter of difficulty and complexity. the other consequence, the negative one, is infection: “after a time, the native organism will react, endeavouring to neutralize or expel the foreign body” (ab: 315). this endeavor could be realized in different ways, especially as institutions that pursue national, socio-political goals. as can be simply expected concerning steiner’s observation, this attempt is made to regain balance in the native language. the last stage is compensation, which is otherwise called the “métier and morals of translation” (ab: 316). compensation is a sign of responsibility. this last stage raises ethical questions about the strategies through which the lost merits of the source text can be regained in the final target text, although compensatory strategies would most probably create a new reading of the text. compensation opens a wide variety of possibilities to the translator, and at the same time reveals how diverse translations can be. these considerations go beyond mere linguistic options, clarifying why translation is an artistic act, according to steiner. 89 crossroads. a journal of english studies the problems found in the previous stages of translation could be described as follows: “the translator has taken too much – he has padded, embroidered, ‘read into’ – or too little – he has skimped, elided, cut out awkward corners” (ab: 317). methodologically speaking, compensation can take different forms and is highly context-specific: how do we translate classical language into modern language? how do we render rhyme into a poetic system that is not regulated by rhyme? steiner’s idea of “energy” refers to the specifications of a text, such as its style, format, rhetoric, significance, and so on. “balance” is the compensatory strategy which regains the original energy in the translation. ethically then, the translator has to find a compensatory strategy to reflect the unique dimensions of the original text in the translation. following this introduction, the next section presents a criticism of the hermeneutic motion by grouping the problems into four general categories. a critique of the hermeneutic motion overcomplicated style and diction the range of words used in after babel is as diverse as the topics addressed in the book. the style of writing is characterized by the conventions of literary criticism combined with the enigmatic style of continental philosophy discourse. complex diction, (vague) metaphorical language, reliance on an overload of information not explored in the text, citations without explaining contextual relevance, and frequent thematic changes are some of the specifications of steiner’s narrative. another serious problem is that the work does not rhetorically situate itself in the background of any well-identified academic discipline. it covers issues important to many audiences, such as linguists, literary critics, translators, philosophers and sociologists, but it does not focus specifically on any of these disciplines. it is understandable that when after babel was published there was no perfectly identified audience for ts as a discipline. yet, although chapter four deals with translation history, it does not report a comprehensive outline of ts research since the 1960s, and especially in the third edition of the book in 1998 when the foundations of the discipline had been shaped. yet, what seems to be the most problematic aspect of steiner’s writing lies in his recurrent use of metaphors (particularly in chapter five). minier (2006: 43), for instance, states, “the metaphors of intrusion and intervention reflect a notion of the initial text/original as a plot of land being invaded and adjusted for good purposes.” what is evident about this style of writing is that it can unfavorably expand the range of interpretations, thus triggering misconceptions. perhaps the most serious consequence of the metaphorical language steiner configured in his book is the gender-related criticisms that suggest steiner’s theory is biased against women. however, given the matrix of the metaphors in chapter five, one should also consider possible misunderstandings and misreadings of the work. following hegel and heidegger, steiner describes understanding as an aggressive act. in reality, however, this reading rests on a phenomenological basis, on the idea that an individual tends to shape the world by putting it into the limits of his/her perception/experience. this idea could 90 crossroads. a journal of english studies be expressed in different ways, and it does not need to be aggressive (see ricoeur’s self-other disunion below). it should be remembered that aggression, the second stage of translation, is not free-standing and is part of a larger narrative world (which is the theory). in the section devoted to the hermeneutic motion, there is an intricate network of metaphorical language, which is essentially inspired by the discourse of physics, biology and geology. here are some terminological samples: mine, penetration, (alternative) mould(sic), extractive, ingestion, dissected, landscape, embodiment, vacuum, intake, infection, energy, knocked off balance, indigestible, disequilibrium, residue, inflammatory, unbalance, equalize, and entropy (ab: 312-19). if one puts the single words against the broader network of the metaphors, one learns that the metaphors individually contribute to a whole narrative in which “understanding” is depicted as a physical event. that is, the words and their connotations should not be seen in isolation from the rest of the narrative. in nature there is always a degree of interplay and collision between forces, and usually one force tries to overcome or disturb the balance of another. if a foreign text is viewed as a mine, then to be exploited it must be broken into pieces. this metaphorical structure can be applied to various modes of forceful interaction, although an interpreter may highlight one possibility over another. for instance, one could suggest several different modes of power relations inferred from steiner’s set of metaphors: parent-child, man-woman, colonizer-colonized, or conqueror-conquered (st. jerome’s idea of capture). as a result, the common belief that the hermeneutic motion expresses bias against women represents only one, and seemingly insufficient, interpretive possibility. however, steiner’s writing style is still responsible for the misunderstandings, and that is basically a shortcoming. the problematic language clashes with the communicative purposes of hermeneutics. gadamer’s (1960) notion of the “fusion of horizons” (horizontverschmelzung) views communication as a merging of understandings which seeks to pursue a dialogue. ricoeur (1984), too, in his narrative theory, explains that a text is normally configured for a particular group of readers who will in turn respond to it. apart from many passages that seem to meet the expectations of literary critics, after babel appears to be a book without any definite range of readers. therefore, the book fails to construct an interpretable “horizon” for a large number of interested readers. more importantly, frequent references to aggressive ideas, even metaphorically expressed, is not in line with novel hermeneutic theories. ricoeur, in his major book, oneself as another, devotes a substantial passage to what motivates people to understand each other. besides regarding the other as an integral part of the self, ricoeur (1990/1992) assigns the motivation behind understanding to “affection”, which radically diverges from steiner’s theory (see below). overreliance on literature although after babel, in its initial review chapters, covers a wide variety of concepts, the book in its analytic procedure heavily relies on literary works, especially masterpieces of literature. this exclusion of a diversity of possible text-types makes the assumption that hermeneutic theorizing must necessarily address enigmatic, problematic or polyvocal texts, while a simple, linear text 91 crossroads. a journal of english studies would never require a hermeneutic analysis. it must be noted that in continental philosophy there is a long-standing tradition of reading and analyzing literary works. major figures such as heidegger, gadamer, ricoeur and derrida have all written about literary genres (e.g. poetry and novels). the central question is whether there is an “essential” relationship between such thinkers’ theories and literary production. more specifically, one could ask: why did such philosophers choose literature to test their textual analysis models? we should remember that hermeneutics is a philosophy of “everyday life”, a strand of intellectuality that distances itself from cartesian subjectivity and radical rationalism. for many philosophers there is basically no reconciliation between thinking and poetry, as a result of which merging thinking and literature would represent an exotic act of resistance to the historical postulates of western philosophy. gadamer has explicated various dimensions of plato’s philosophy, specifically addressing the platonic criticism of poetry: in his republic, a work which develops an ideal order for the state and for its program of education, plato condemned homer and the great attic dramatists to permanent exile from the state. probably nowhere else has a philosopher denied the value of art so completely and so sharply contested its claim – which seems so self-evident to us – to reveal the deepest and most inaccessible truths (gadamer, 1980: 39). this tendency to explore the world of literature is different from the general interests of literature readers. “artistic creativity”, in which art is a mode of building, is a central notion for hermeneutic thinkers who try to figure out how human imagination and willfulness can be expressed as literary configurations (ahmadi 1998) or material tools such as scientific instruments (kharmandar forthcoming). as a result, literature is not seen as a genre in this context, but as a peculiar, lingual mode of human expression and creativity, in line with the conclusions that the thinkers sought to draw. creativity, however, could be explored in other modes of human existence (not just art or literature); for instance, as kharmandar ( forthcoming) demonstrates, new trends of hermeneutic research have concentrated on material creativity in such fields as empirical science and technological development. what can be inferred from the issues mentioned above is that thinkers tend to select the kind of data that is harmonious with their ultimate goals, and that literary analysis in the works of some hermeneutic intellectuals does not have any essential connection with hermeneutics. in ts, for instance, stolze (2010, 2011, 2013) has investigated non-literary translation (especially legal translation), proposing professional/practical notions with no association with literature. delineating the bases of translational hermeneutics, cercel, stanley and stolze (2015) do not express any literature-specific, foundational principle. in ricoeur’s extended translation theory the network of textual/semiotic relations is brought to a whole new level in which the important factors are socio-political facets of globalization, cybernetics, information technology, and multilingual (virtual/physical) spaces (kharmandar 2015). 92 crossroads. a journal of english studies from the perspective of these new movements, one may question the actual practicality of the data steiner “analyzes” for the majority of translation professionals, practitioners and researchers. the hermeneutic motion, no matter how many concepts it addresses, is exclusively about literature, whereas other possible genres of translation, such as legal, commercial, academic or journalistic, have no place in the textual analysis sections. steiner’s passages most basically contribute to the literary tradition of translation, while the concerns they address are compatible with the expectations of literary critics. this limited text-type variability chosen for analysis definitely represents a shortcoming in the hermeneutic motion. meanwhile, this literary speculation is not presented in an organized method as it remains largely shapeless, and almost any source of information may be included in the analysis. the problem is that the average reader may feel perplexed about how to apply the model to another context. theoretical shortcomings the ultimate purpose of the hermeneutic motion is to achieve a state of balance between the energies transferred and received. nonetheless, if this ethical ideal fails to reach its purpose, one could assert that the theory substantially losses its validity. in this section, various dimensions of the notion of equilibrium as a result of compensation are critically examined. the ideas of abstract balance and reaching equilibrium, as well as some references to chomsky’s universal grammar, shape the philosophical foundations of the theory. the emphasis on compensation, which restores the balance between the two systems involved, suggests that there is actually a preexisting balance that can be retrieved and evaluated. to clarify the idea of compensation, steiner re-visits the notion and describes it further in chapter four, sub-section 5: “a bad translation is one which is inadequate to its source-text for reasons which can be legion and obvious. the translator has misconstrued the original through ignorance, haste, or personal limitation” (ab: 416). a more detailed description can be found in this part: the translator has grasped and/or appropriated less than is there. he traduces through diminution. or he has chosen to embody and restate fully only one or another aspect of the original, fragmenting, distorting its vital coherence according to his needs or myopia. or he has ‘betrayed upward’, transfiguring the source into something greater than itself (ab: 417). this depiction of balance is so idealistic that many of the examples steiner cites do not fit into the theoretical framework he suggests. for instance, as a justificatory preparation for the notion of compensation, steiner talks about the dangers of translation, pointing out pressures imposed on individuals and communities through translation (or what he calls “the inhaled voice of the foreign text; ab: 315): societies with ancient but eroded epistemologies of ritual and symbol can be knocked off balance and made to lose belief in their own identity under the voracious impact of premature or indigestible 93 crossroads. a journal of english studies assimilation. the cargo-cults of new guinea, in which the natives worship what airplanes bring in, provide an uncannily exact, ramified image of the risks of translation (ab: 316). although steiner is well-aware of this socio-political imbalance, the kind of remedy he suggests to overcome this immature change appears to be too idealistic. how can a community of primitive people find a compensatory strategy to strike a balance between their undeveloped status and the technology/products of an advanced culture? what is there in their history, rituals and society to help them restore what they do not possess? this question is left unanswered, although readers may expect to find a solution to the problem raised, at least after compensation is introduced. quite contrary to what is called balance in this theory, what might happen even after “mature” assimilation could be an alteration of identity, and consequently of disposition, lifestyle and social conduct. steiner’s theory of equilibrium, in fact, suffers from a temporal paradox: how is it that a community can restore foreign difference by resorting to its own past, while keeping balance? the universalist underpinning of the theory most conspicuously reveals itself at this point; difference here is not seen as an inevitable motive for “changing one’s state”, but as a return to a vague space of selfhood where the foreign can be found. this condition is only imaginatively possible when some sort of cartesian subjective system (such as chomsky’s tgg) founds a theory. this idea, besides questioning hermeneutics, remains theoretically problematic. steiner’s notion of translation rests on such traditional values as fidelity, faithfulness and adequacy, as he frequently mentions them in chapter four. to explain the socio-political functions of translation, a whole theoretical apparatus must be considered. an important issue is that the hermeneutic motion requires a refined theory of identity, change and uncertainty. what happens in new guinea is a result of transformation, a narrative move from one point to another. linguistically speaking, too, various methods of compensation should be evaluated within relevant systems (e.g. literary criticism, academic writing, journalistic conventions) that can pass judgment on the success or functions of compensatory strategies. for instance, only a theory of poetics can help examine the possibility of translating originally rhymed poetry into rhymed poetry in another language. the specifications of original texts are metaphorically called “energy” in the hermeneutic motion. modern persian poetics, for instance, does not prefer to render masterpieces of literature into rhymed persian translations. there are, however, translation traditions that have been shaped to add aesthetic value to literary translations. does this situation suggest that “the energy of rhyme” is lost in the translations and that translators are at fault? what if rhyme is not important anymore, even to the literary critics of the original language? another problem with compensation is the uncertainty of the strategies that may be implemented. as cercel et al. (2015) explain, one of the fundamental principles of translational hermeneutics is “process character”, which denotes that there is no single translation strategy predetermined for a translation problem. each strategy may contribute to an internal system of aesthetics or narrative configuration. how a source of energy is decided depends on the axiological concerns 94 crossroads. a journal of english studies of text re-producers (e.g. news agencies, education systems, freelance translators) and on the practicality of the text for readers. furthermore, there is still a question concerning the ontology of change as a result of exposure to the foreign. steiner only speculates on the transformative function of translation (whether seen as immature assimilation or any other consequence). he mentions heidegger’s idea that “we are what we understand to be” (ab: 315), but never explores the variability of this ontological status. to explain the variability of identity in translational theory of identity and disposition is needed. ricoeur’s oneself as another represents one of the highly significant works in the thinker’s philosophy of time, identity and linguality. one of the topics ricoeur substantially explores in the book is the history of the notion of identity in western philosophy: sameness (latin idem, german gleichheit, french memete), and selfhood (latin ipse, german selbstheit, french ipseite) (ricoeur 1990/1992: 116). following a chain of investigations, he suggests that identity is a qualitative measure composed of two major sub-components: structure and event. the former encompasses all variables of an individual’s or a community’s character that remain “stable” over time, such as genetic code, skin color, or historical monuments. event, on the other hand, involves temporal variability of character, as a result of which an individual can develop new forms of habit. this significant distinction can have several functions in ts philosophy, such as solving the “lingering problem of translation habitus” (kharmandar 2018: 151). steiner’s theory, however, lacks such a qualitative measure, as it takes the structure and event of identity for granted. the last issue addressed in this section focuses on one of the central criticisms of the hermeneutic motion, the claim that understanding involves a degree of violence. do all hermeneutic thinkers share the same opinion? the second stage, influenced theoretically by hegel and heidegger, depicts understanding as an aggressive act. of course, far from this metaphorical image, the second stage relies on the phenomenology of perception; it is true that individuals shape the world in a particular way, and to understand others they “cut” (as if with a knife) the world into specific molds. however, this process can be expressed otherwise. in explicating his self-other disunion, ricoeur (1990/1992: 317-19) mentions that the disunion is regulated by what he calls affection, “which explains that the self and the other are not (complementary) counterparts but the other is an intimate, integral component of the self ” (kharmandar 2015: 84). one of the most important contributions of ricoeur to the philosophy of interpretation is his critical hermeneutics, which emphasizes the possibility of “breaking with” the structures of subjectivity and of expanding the self. the subjective stage of ricoeur’s translation theory involves a mental procedure which includes three stages: wager (hypothesis), verification, and transformation (kharmandar 2015: 78). transformation here denotes an interpretive move from one state to another (as the moment an understanding takes place). although steiner is well-aware of the transformative praxis of translation, there is a slight and very implicit conflict in his idea of aggression. if perceptual violence leads to a delimitation of understanding, then how can one explain the change of identity 95 crossroads. a journal of english studies as a result of translation (as suggested in the third stage)? if we tend to cut the foreign into our own schemes and frames of perception, only a self-questioning manner of confronting the foreign, quite contrary to an aggressive one, can help us truly perceive the foreign. clearly, the idea of aggression/violence is too crude to account for a theory of translation. methodological shortcomings one of the central objectives steiner tries to achieve in chapter three is to demonstrate that lingual content cannot be subjected to empirical verification. he plausibly argues that language undergoes change over time, and its various dimensions cannot be verified through the conventionalized methods of science. this stance, however, led him to question any regulative or systemic treatment of translation: our instruments of perception are not theories or working hypotheses in any scientific, which means falsifiable, sense, but what i call ‘working memory’. at its finest, translation has nothing to gain from (mathematically) puerile diagrams and flow-charts put forward by would-be theoreticians. it is, it always will be, what wittgenstein called ‘an exact art’ (ab: xvi). as mentioned in the review of chapter one, steiner’s theory fundamentally rests on a traditional notion of understanding that would distance itself from explanation. as a consequence, if a frame, such as a flowchart, is perceived to have explanatory functions, it is naturally ruled out in steiner’s approach. it must, however, be noted that a theory seeking to achieve a systematic, regular and structured whole does not necessarily follow the radical postulates of science (e.g. positivism). as a result, mathematical flowcharts, for instance, seek to inter-semiotically “simulate” the process of translation, while a schematic representation does not necessarily render a process verifiable. furthermore, the traditional idea that hermeneutics cannot enter into a dialogue with empiricism appears to be an outdated assumption. emphasizing the future plans of translational hermeneutics as an objective research paradigm, cercel, stanley and stolze (2015) highlight the possible areas of research between hermeneutics and cognitive science (see also piecychna 2015). trying to destruct the hermeneutics versus empiricism dichotomy, kharmandar ( forthcoming) proposes a systematic framework of empirical hermeneutics that reveals how scientific knowledge emerges from genuine acts of interpretation and innovation, such as material tool-making. considering steiner’s negative approach to systemacity and analysis, it would not be a surprise to find methodological defects in his system of interpretation. trust is described as an assumed convention: “we grant ab initio that there is ‘something there’ to be understood” (ab: 312). is trust part of the analytic procedure? should it be repeated each time, or is it a decision to be made only once in a translation project? the way steiner explains trust suggests that the first stage is a philosophical principle rather than a methodological one. as such, investment of belief in the meaningfulness of languages despite radical difference lacks any procedural functionality. it just represents a human convention. in simple words, trust must not be part of the analytic frame96 crossroads. a journal of english studies work of the hermeneutic motion. steiner’s lack of consideration of the symmetric geometry of models is reflected in the structure of his work. even more ambiguous than symmetry, there is the problem of representation: do all the examples mentioned by steiner mirror the functionality of his model? it was explained earlier that steiner fails to answer a socio-political question he raises about the risks of transfer; the model cannot justify how equilibrium can be maintained when, for instance, a receiving culture simply imports the advanced technology of a developed culture. the problem here, however, relates to the textual analysis parcel of the model. consider this example: “it looks like rain/le temps està la pluie” (ab: 320). after a chain of detailed ideas about the conventional meanings of the words used in the english and french sentences, there is this seemingly conclusive statement about the translation: “le temps està la pluie has a resigned yet also subtly acquiescent assurance entirely lacking from the ephemeral clairvoyance of “it looks like rain” (ab: 321). elsewhere, in a multilingual evaluation of a number of genesis 1:3 translations, steiner (ab: 322) mentions numerous linguistic categories used in his analysis: “et factaest lux”, “sialuce. e fuluce”, “eswerdelicht. und es ward licht”, “let there be light: and there was light.” although no ultimate decision is made about the validity of these translations, there is an abundance of minimal item-by-item examinations; here is an example: “eswerde das licht. und es ward das licht is possible in a way the english is not. it is weaker, more oddly specific and inferential of some plotinian discrimination between effulgences, but just possible” (ab: 323). despite the obvious fact that different languages bring the phenomena into different frames of understanding, it is unclear how the analysis is hermeneutical or how the model is applied to the samples. without a doubt, trust has no function in these examples because it remains in the background; but more problematically almost all of the notions addressed, such as syntax, semantics, cognates, sentence length, tenses and the rest can be quite sufficiently pointed out by a linguist as well. it is true that in some cases (e.g. rimbaud’s il pleu tdoucement sur la ville), steiner tries to unearth meanings through inter-textual analysis, but the kind of method he generally uses is a distorted version of simple linguistic analysis. therefore, newmark’s (2009: 26) observation that steiner belonged to a “linguistic turn” in translation history appears to be a plausible judgment. another issue is that although some of the translations do not completely “match” their originals and can in turn have pedagogical value about the difficulties/failures of translation, generally compensation does not seem to be a major concern. the set of examples concerned with genesis 1:3 somehow betrays the analytical shortcomings of steiner’s model. first, there is no compensation involved, and the whole universalist underpinning of the theory fades away. the cross-comparison of the samples problematizes the bilingual essence of the model, because how can a german translation be validated against an english one when neither is the source text? in most of these cases only aggression applies. this is not the image of a coherent method. it is once more emphasized that steiner’s disregard for systemacity and objectivity accounts for the methodological flaws in his hermeneutic motion. 97 crossroads. a journal of english studies concluding remarks briefly reviewing all of the chapters in steiner’s book after babel, this critical investigation suggested a new reading of the hermeneutic motion as a philosophical translation theory. although this theory was already challenged by non-hermeneutic critics, an interesting question was how the theory would be approached in a hermeneutically oriented reading. many ts readers might assume that the hermeneutic motion remains an inevitable and acknowledged asset in the reservoir of hermeneutic translation theories. this critical study, however, would at many levels violate common beliefs about after babel and the translation-specific notions expressed in it. to verify the most important ideas in the book, the works of authentic scholars, gadamer and ricoeur, as well as the postulates of translational hermeneutics, were explored. as a result of reviewing the book and the hermeneutic motion, the problems were categorized into four groups: overcomplicated style and diction; overreliance on literature; theoretical shortcomings; methodological shortcomings. various language-related issues in after babel were pointed out, and it was explained that the range of ideas and claims in the book was considerably wide. as a result, misunderstandings would be very probable when interpreting the hermeneutic motion. it was also mentioned that the book was written within a particularly literary criticism framework while ignoring various possible text-types important in ts. theoretical and methodological defects in the framework were also highlighted, and ultimately it was argued that the work clashes with hermeneutic theorizing in many respects. new trends of hermeneutic theorizing, which can suggest strong bases for translation philosophy and practice, should not be unjustifiably compared with steiner’s theory. translational hermeneutics, a movement based in germany with international contributors/readers, can serve as a novel platform for studying the philosophy, theory and practice of translation (stanley et al. 2018; stolze et al. 2015). this movement is open to empirical investigation and cognitive science, while appreciating systemacity and objectivity in analysis. ricoeur’s philosophy, too, demonstrates an important stake for ts readers and all researchers interested in probing into interpretation/construal, understanding and language. it must also be noted that, contrary to popular belief, steiner’s translation theory is not a strong representative of hermeneutics, and authors who write about the history of ts should consider this fact in their narratives. references ahmadi, babak. 1998. creation and liberation: essays on hermeneutics and aesthetics. tehran: nashr-e markaz publishing co. gadamer, hans-georg. 1960. truth and method (trans. by joel weinsheimer and donald g. marshall, 2006). london and new york: contimuum. ____ 1980. dialogue and dialectic: eight hermeneutical studies on plato (trans. p. christopher smith). new haven and london: yale university press. 98 crossroads. a journal of english studies kharmandar, mohammad ali. 2015. ricoeur’s extended hermeneutic translation theory: metaphysics, narrative, ethics, politics. études ricoeuriennes / ricoeur studies 6 (1): 73-93. doi:10.5195/errs.2015.281 ____ 2018. the strata of subcultural translation: sources of fragmentation in globalizing societies. in: olaf immanuel seel (ed.), redefining translation and interpretation in cultural evolution, 142-160. hershey: igi global. doi: 10.4018/978-1-5225-2832-6.ch008 ____ forthcoming. the principles of empirical hermeneutics: a primary investigation of translation studies. in: radegundis stolze, larisa cercel, john stanley, and brian o’keeffe, translational hermeneutics: the third symposium. minier, márta. 2006. ‘the translatress in her own person speaks’: a few marginal notes on feminist translation in practice, in creative writing and in criticism. in: ana g macedo and margarida e pereira (eds.), identity and cultural translation: writing across the borders of englishness: women’s writing in english in a european context, 39-54. oxford: peter lang. newmark, peter. 2009. the linguistic and communicative stages in translation theory. in: jeremy munday (ed.), the routledge companion to translation studies, 20-35. london/new york: routledge. piecychna, beata. 2015. is (translational) hermeneutics of any use for the (cognitive) analysis of translation products? crossroads: a journal of english studies 11: 29-45. doi: 10.15290/ cr.2015.11.4.03 ricoeur, paul. 1976. interpretation theory: discourse and the surplus of meaning. texas: the texas christian university press. ____ 1984. time and narrative (volume 1). (trans. kathleen mclaughlin and david pellauer). chicago and london: university of chicago press. ____ 1990. oneself as another (k. blamey, trans. 1992). chicago: university of chicago press. ____ 1991. life in quest of narrative. in david wood (ed.), on paul ricoeur: narrative and interpretation, 20-33. routledge: london and new york steiner, george. 1998. after babel: aspects of language and translation (3rd ed.). oxford: oxford university press. stanley, john; brian o’keeffe, radegundis stolze and larisa cercel. 2018. philosophy and practice in translational hermeneutics. bucharest: zeta books stolze, radegundis. 2010. hermeneutics and translation. in: yves gambier, luc van doorslae (ed.), handbook of translation studies 1, 141-146. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins publication company. doi: 10.1075/hts.1.her1 ____2011. the translator’s approach: introduction to translational hermeneutics: theory and examples from practice. berlin: frank & timme gmbh. ____ 2013. the legal translator’s approach to texts. humanities 2(1): 56-71. doi: 10.3390/ h2010056 stolze, radegundis, john stanley and larisa cercel. 2015. translational hermeneutics: the first symposium. bucharest: zeta books. investigating multilingual contexts in the nigerian advertising space: a domain of intellectual stimulation 4 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) taofeek o. dalamu1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.29.2.01 anchor university, lagos, nigeria orcid: 0000-0002-5494-4854 investigating multilingual contexts in the nigerian advertising space: a domain of intellectual stimulation abstract. this study examined advertising, exhibiting multilingual structures to reach the nigerian audience. halliday’s mood system and morphological processes served as the theoretical configurations for analyzing textual elements of advertisements. these contextual terminologies permitted quantitative and qualitative approaches to thrive in order to culminate the investigation. thus, the analysis showed political motifs, religious spheres, royal domains, musical settings, and friendship environment, as the fascinating panaceas to motivate readers. english, yorùbá, and hausa languages were functional facilities to mesmerize consumers. however, the advertisements displayed textual interruptions: febuhari, felabration, obidiently, and atikulating, being strong prerequisites in persuasive designs. creativity indicates the logically-minded behavior of publicists in blending grammatical structures of different languages together, yielding a unified whole, generating novel semantic values for regurgitation. it seems indisputable that such textual constructs have the capability to influence lexicographers, increase word-stock(s) of languages, and projecting the advertising industry as possessing cerebral proficiencies in linguistics’ advancement. keywords: advertising, intellectualism, mood system; morphology, multilingual context. 1. introduction it is neither contradictory nor a super-imposed statement if one considers advertisers as sages or perhaps, linguistic wizards. this is because advertising represents a construct that is based on purpose in order to gratify a particular need. the textual appearance of advertising, among other traits, is informed by the following elements: the nature and participation of the target audience, the socio-cultural domain of the target audience, the competing business environment of the product, and the desire of the advertising mechanics to operate in distinction (bogart 1995; dalamu 2018a). these are some of the 1 address for correspondence: department of english and literary studies, anchor university, ayoboipaja, lagos state, nigeria. e-mail: tdalamu@aul.edu.ng 5 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) reasons that project advertising exploits-cum-textual matters as a motivation of intellectualism. the erratic behaviors of the audience from diverse socio-cultural settings appear to influence advertising practitioners to the kind of advertisements (henceforth: ads) that are propagated. this factor regulates to contribute to the success recorded in advertising (ang 1991; myers 1994). this inevitable contextual variable propels the experts in the field to be liberal in shaping advertising texts. so, when advertisers maneuver textual elements in rule governed and “deviant” ways, the persuasive goals to be achieved compel the experts to behave in somewhat impulsive manners (dalamu 2019b). ads are produced not only for the consumption of the consumers but also for the target audience to submit to the message and content that advertisers proliferate. on the one hand, looking at advertising campaigns from an external perspective, any ad takes into consideration the involvement of the audience. the characterization of the audience participation in advertising, in greenwald & leavit’s (1984) standpoint, exhibits four distinctions. these are pre-attention, focal attention, comprehension and elaboration which are revealed as personal connections. in the quest of giving reflection to the audience, the cultural atmosphere becomes crucial and a contributory factor (cook 1992; gieszinger 2001; goddard 2011). as stated earlier, an important indicator that signals the direction of the advertising text is the immediate environment on which the business operates. it is common knowledge that there is no business situation with a monopolistic power. goods and services, in the current global market, face several challenges (harris & seldon 1962). that status facilitates the nature of craft that advertising is made of, most especially, in relation to textual devices. on the other hand, there is an internal factor of advertising motivation. an advertising professional perceives his/her discipline as distinct scenery with the goal of producing ads that are not only creative but also appealing. this intrinsic factor inspires the expert to do more than the colleagues and counterparts, competing in the same market. because of that, a practitioner begins to pursue intellectual ambition, giving credence to a search for something novel. the individual, in dalamu’s (2020) manifestation, attempts to construct texts in ways that satisfy a purpose. thus, in creativity, new words are formed as the expert manipulates linguistic devices by considering the framework, in which the ad will eventually circulate. the long term effect of an expert’s production on dexterity of advertising texts might encourage a consistent patronage of recipients as well as clients. as a result of the external and internal motifs advertising moulds and multiplies texts into a series of contextual figures – hence, the argument of this paper. some linguistic paradigms of nigeria, being a multilingual, and ipso facto, a multicultural state, have been addressed in emenanjo (1990). most of the contributions of the essayists, in emenanjo (1990), are still relevant in the current discourses of multilingualism in nigeria. this is because scholars still construct their arguments from the contributions in the edited book (dalamu 2017a). scholars have also discussed issues of 6 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) language pluralism (kaplan & baldauf jr. 2007), bilingualism in terms of code-switching and code-mixing (igboanusi 2001), and marginalization regarding minority languages (awobuluyi 2010; ozo-mekuri 2010). other studies predicate on language legislation and planning (ojelade & ezenandu 2010), and the teaching-cum-learning of languages in nigeria, inclusive of pidgin (akinnaso 2015). the central communicative domain of this article is to investigate ads from their multilingual contexts, though distinctive, adding spices to earlier contributions. in spite of the fact that there are analyses of advertising contents in various socio-cultural settings as persuasive tools in marketing dynamics (de pelsmacker et al. 2002; malaviya 2007; alt et al. 2009; bakshy et al. 2012), the analyst is not aware of studies in the direction of diversified cultural horizons, especially, in the nigerian environment. however, this study has described how ads’ mechanisms, in a specific socio-cultural context – nigerian publicity – characterized by language density, are skilfully-stylized in order to reach heterogeneous audience. in other words, the investigation has estimated and explained some contextual miscellany, in which ads function in unpredictable ways in order to influence readers of different socio-cultural domains. 2. literature review 2.1. advertising and varieties of text advertising has uncommon behavior towards text creation when compared to other domains of textual activations. this is because of the sensitization intention that the message is meant to achieve. as cook (1992), particularly, argues that many people are not interested in reading ads. this is a raison d’être for constructing appalling frameworks for viewers’ consumption. the mission that an ad is designed to serve mitigates its demonstration in the multifaceted forms (sells & gonzalez 2003). countless times, scholars (brierley 1995; forceville 1996) mention that the primary role that advertising plays in a social system is to persuade the public. the communication is a deliberate act of a professional to influence or perhaps, dictate to consumers the manner that individuals should conduct themselves. the feelings, intentions and perspectives of consumers on issues are “purchased” through the ad’s message. those personal features must be abandoned in order to espouse the instructions of the ads (lakoff 1982). rank (1988: 10) recognizes that target by classifying the advertising recipe of persuasion into the following steps: attracting the consumer’s attention, building the product’s confidence for the consumer, stimulating the consumer’s desire, stressing the urgent need of the product to the consumer and seeking the consumer’s positive response. the incitement of an advertising expert to construct variegated patterns of text, dalamu (2018d) elucidates, is to achieve those principles. 7 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) it is interesting to acknowledge that characterization of advertising texts has witnessed a sustainable growth since the linguistic pioneering effort of leech (1966), much relevant today, being a canon of the linguistic analysis of advertising. williamson (1978) contributes immensely to semiotics in advertising, describing hidden myths. however, studies in advertising continue to spread across linguistics’ fields in order to reveal the contents. of utmost importance is vasiloaia’s (2009) study on linguistic means of ads. vasiloaia locates the merits of mnemonic devices of rhyme, rhythm, alliteration and assonance to guarantee that the audience will appropriately recall the message. roberts (2013) examines graphology and lexical items in ads from a stylistic perspective. the inclusion of figurative expressions and simple dictions are additional contents in the work of roberts. vaičenonienė (2006), in the comparability of english and lithuania advertising texts, observes that the advertising industry manipulates linguistic devices to achieve persuasion. the exploration shows lexico-grammatical devices, syntactic features, register, and rhetoric as properties of ads in those societies in their similarity and dissimilarity scopes. slogan (skorupa & dubovičienė 2015), culture (kannan & tyagi 2013), generalization of stylistic features (linghong 2006) and semantic implications (emodi 2011) also penetrate the research of advertising textual fabrications. as the description of the advertising literature persistently proceeds to meet the degree of ads’ ubiquity, scholars (geis 1982; geiszinger 2011) have categorized the language of ad into weasel lexemes, coinages, comparative and superlative adjectives, y-adjectives, compound words, imperative clauses and disjunctive linguistic organs. one might categorically-state that in spite of variations of text’s dexterous workmanship, the significance of context avails as well as prevails, being a further justification for this study. 2.1.1. context in advertising the matter of context, unarguably, is language specific. the variability is a result of distinct beliefs associated with different socio-cultural milieu (fiske 1989; willis 1990; grossberg et al. 1993; brierley 1995; van dijk 2010). the term “context” was coined by malinowski in 1923 to explain the relationships that occur between language utilization and a particular milieu. to malinowski, the socio-cultural domain of a people determines the manner, in which individuals deploy the organic devices of their language (butler 1985: 4-5). context, as a fundamental terminology, permeates text in order to appreciate the semantic treasures of people’s communication in real life and in the sense of its deployment (halliday 1978; ervin-tripp 1994; graber 2001). in a correlating point of view, dash (2008: 21) describes context, as an embodiment and tremendous importance of meaning disseminations of actual texts. dash (2008: 22-28) identifies local, sentential, topical and global domains, in which context operates. therefore, advertising cannot properly function without sensitivity to the environment of the product. context is important to text; text is important to advertising (de voe 1956; kövecses 8 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 2005; brzozowska & chłopicki 2015). it seems that the preferred option for advertising is to strictly adhere to context in order to be more meaningful and captivating. the culture of the target audience, in all ramifications, in fiske’s (1987) thought, must be sacrosanct to advertising production because consumers are interlocked with their cultural values (barker & beezer 1992; machin 2014). be it branding, pictorial organization or textual manipulation, the social situation becomes a force to reckon with. consumers, without doubts, place high premium on their cultural property. advertising takes the opportunity to connect the people (of a particular culture) with the product. the propagation of cultural treasures bridges the existing gulf between the product and the consumers (morley 1992). recipients experience such context in advertising from time immemorial. hall et al. (1980) realize such inevitability to gloss that hardly can ads be produced without giving a preference for context. sometimes, the context that a particular ad captures exceeds a single language community, but the communication rather spans several others (maleej 2001). the practitioner signals a message that establishes the product in ways that make sense. that information conveys meaning potential to the public in their socio-cultural spheres, achieving mutual understanding. the ad prepares the product pictorially and textually, following a general communicative act, to meet urgent needs of recipients (dalamu 2019c). the message tends to penetrate the consumers’ worldview of consumption and tethers readers within that purview (whiteman 1997; gordon 2014). curtaining the earlier opinion of rank (1988), hesselgrave (1995) suggests that advertising constructive contextualization must be tripartite, that is, to focus the people targeted, to consider the advertised product and to campaign, as it were, the proficiency of the craft advertiser, which may sometimes lean towards interruption of linguistic rules. gumperz (1982: 20-28) refers to this language user’s behavior as “contextualization cues.” given all these opinions, one could recapitulate that context is not optional; nonetheless, a concern for environment in advertising is rather mandatory. the constructive attitudes of advertisers to text influence the writer to consider these textual-cum-imagery stylists as intellectuals, as expounded below. 2.1.2. intellectualism as advertisers’ leeway advertising constructs are a vessel of many individuals. these individuals are, perhaps, neither members of the academic community nor people with intellectual pedigrees. however, these individuals engage in the operational parallelism of intellectualism. by intellectualism, one means a probable practice of expressing opinions on certain topics in motivating ways accessible and beneficial to the public. the practice has the strength to attract attention or incite people to certain realities of life. the concept of an intellectual is not restricted to the academic. as issitt & jackson (2013: 3) rightly encapsulate, “an intellectual is anyone who is thinking critically and employing a perspective that is informed and supported by systematic analysis.” tri-polar devices, issitt & jackson 9 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (2013: 6-7) explain, describe an intellectual individual: ability to project careful thoughts, a potency to convey rational views, and the question of whether his/her arguments attract procedural order. in addition, an intellectual has been characterized as a dissenter, revealer of truth, thinker, media super star, knowledge gatekeeper and an expert. issitt & jackson (2013) emphasize that whosoever is classified as an intellectual must communicate his/her ideas passionately clearly, for instance, to consumers. moreover, gramsci generalises intellectualism to everyone, yet, condenses its extremity by restricting such intellectual functions to a class of people. gramsci (1971: 9) articulates that “[…] all men are intellectual… but not all men have in society the function of intellectuals”. one cannot agree less with gramsci simply because training, to a large extent, separates an individual as being intellectual from another. in other words, formal education further portrays a person as an intellectual personality. those who belong to the cadre of “knowing”, according to benda (1969), are very few people, whose principles of justice and incorruptibility are known and valued by many people. gramsci (1971) classifies intellectuals into two categories of traditional intellectuals and organic intellectuals. the former group points to teachers, clergies, and so on, while the latter class belongs to entrepreneurial and advertising gurus, whose interest is keen on how to expand their businesses. in gramsci’s (1971) point of view, every professional individual is an intellectual in contrast to the argument of benda (1969). to benda, a demonstration of intellectualism constitutes individuals, who have adequate knowledge on social, material and spiritual matters, and perhaps, living a spartan life. in my quest, advertising intellectualism falls into the taxonomic endeavor of gramsci (1971). intellectualism is a leeway for advertisers in order to expand and dominate existing markets, and also to possibly create new ones. in a perfect and penetrating account, said (1994) exemplifies intellectualism into professionals, expatriates, amateurs, and marginals. irrespective of their degree of expertise, to said (1994), intellectuals are sometimes controversial. in all these perspectives, except spartanism, advertisers utilize intellectualism as a hemisphere to stimulate persuasion (howard & walton 1983; scott 1985; morgan & welton 1986; hawthorn 1987; toolan 1988; dalamu 2018b). 2.2. theoretical weight this study applies a combination of the mood system and morphological processes to the multilingual-propagated advertising texts. on that ground, daramola (2008: 357) suggests that dual concepts from different theoretical mappings can be employed for data analysis in order to derive appropriate semantic merits. 2.2.1. mood system interpersonal communication functions between the interactants. there are distinctive factors, as halliday (1994) remarks, which explain the mood system of english, 10 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) that is, the grammatical transpose of interpersonal metafunction. these are rudimentarily-principal speech roles that lie behind communicative interactions. halliday & matthiessen (2004) recognize the speech roles as giving (good & services or information) and demanding (good & services or information). in halliday & matthiessen’s (2004) insight, the speaker is either giving a piece of information to the listener or the communicator is demanding something from an individual. halliday & matthiessen (2014) refer to giving as inviting to receive, and demanding as inviting to give. the speaker is not only doing something him-/herself but the individual is also requiring something of the listener (dalamu 2019a). the grammatical structures of declarative, imperative, interrogative, and modulated interrogative, in thompson’s (2014) keenness, identify relevant systemic structures of the mood system. invariably, these linguistic terms are translated into the speech functions labeled as offer, command, statement and question (eggins 2004; fontaine 2013). bloor & bloor (2013) epitomize the components of the mood’s grammatical structures as subject, finite, predicator, complement, and adjunct (sfpca). 2.2.2. morphological processes scholars, for example, sapir (1921), dixon & aikhenvald (2002), and post (2009), have evaluated the formation of a word in its complexity. in a harmonious sense, a word is appreciated as a psychological, phonological, and grammatical phenomenon. the analyst can further report a word as an ark of semantic worth, eventual, and ultimate in social realizations. nevertheless, irrespective of the descriptions attached to a word, there are due processes for word formations. these are morphological processes that seem to reveal and differentiate the appearance of one word from another. word formation processes, following zapata (2000), underscore relationships, constituent parts, and the internal organization of words either in relation to lexical and grammatical morphemes or bound roots and affixes. morphemes in their kinds are combined to form lexemes in substantial varieties. the formation processes, as zapata (2007) exemplifies, can come through any of the following terminal processes: compounding (endocentric, exocentric, and coordinative), acronym ( jargon and alphabetism), blending (abbreviation), borrowing (loanwords), and clipping. jackson & ze amvela (2000) elucidate that back-formation, coinage (invention), functional shift, morphological misanalysis and eponymy operate in the field of word formation (yule 1985; malmkjaer 2004; diessel n.d.). thus, publicists employ word formation processes such as blending and compounding to create texts of their choices in order to inspire readers to consumption of both the constructs and the advertised products (dalamu 2018c). conversely, and sometimes, advertising communication dissents certain linguistic rules to achieve persuasion. 11 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 3. methodology 3.1. participants bonke, a 35 year-old lady, provided a support for the author in collecting some ads from the signposts in oshodi, mushin, and ketu toll gate of lagos state, nigeria. the assistance of bonke became necessary because of her knowledge of strategic parts of lagos where advertisers erect their communications for readers’ viewing. the major responsibility of bonke in this matter was to drive the analyst to the stated communities above as the collection exercises were being executed. apart from that, the analyst searched the punch newspaper (another custodian of ads) for ads constructed with cohesive resources in complex forms. out of the sizeable number of ads collected about 10 of them were ultimate to the study. 3.2. research design and measures the researcher adopted a sampling method as a procedure to stratify the 10 pieces of ads, serving as population to three different sub-groups. only five ads, representing a stratum of the population, were chosen for analysis. as the stratification has assisted the researcher in chosen the five ads from the group; it has also influenced a concise decision on the analyzed ads. this procedure greatly reduced the unnecessary cost of the project as well as augmenting the speed and accuracy of the investigation. there were two electronic facilities that assisted the analyst during the data collection regime. these are: a samsung wb50f® camera and an hp 2000® laptop. the author used the camera to capture some ads from both signposts and the punch newspaper from where the pictures were downloaded to the laptop. at that juncture, the researcher utilized microsoft picture manager® to regulate the downloaded materials to required sizes and shapes. thereafter, the ads were transferred to the appropriate positions in this article. 3.3. procedures the analyst considered some factors before the choice of 10 pieces of ads, functioning as population. these are: the nature of cohesive resources; discourse pattern; lexemic organization; clarity; and meaning projection of the ads. the researcher paid ₦10, 000.00 (₦ is a symbol of the nigerian currency) to bonke, who drove the car around to support the data collection exercise. the token was meant for car maintenance, and feeding. the five ads cover political institution, oil and gas, and fast moving consumer goods. as the concern of the paper was basically the specimen, the texts were copied out from the advertising frames for investigation. the halliday’s mood system along with morphological resources acted as intervening textual processors, which permitted tables and graphs to compute the values and frequencies of the communicative 12 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) constituents. the approach of the discussion segment follows the path of technical word formations, functions of the structures, and their social implications to the consumer world. it is nice to mention that the application of nesting (//) indicates the demarcation of the simple clause in line with the tradition of systemic functional linguistics (sfl), while the symbol, “®” displays a word as being registered. in addition, the study adopts ad1-ad5 to depict the examined ads. 3.4. data presentation ad1-ad5, below, represent the available textual constructs in the investigated ads. • ad1: //next month is febuhari// • ad2: //it’s time to refuel//; //ramadan kareem// • ad3: //felabration the legendary experience//; //the diff is clear// • ad4: //time for royal celebration//; //share a coke with wills, kate// • ad5: //i am obidienyly atikulating this 2019// 3.5. mood structures analysis figure 1, below, indicates the application of halliday’s mood system to the texts of the explored ads. ad1 next month is febuari 2015 subject finite compl mood residue ad2a it 's time to refuel ad2b ramadan kareem subject finite compl adjunct minor clause mood residue ad3a felabration the legendary experience ad3b the diff is clear subject finite complement subject finite compl mood residue mood residue ad4a time for a royal celebration ad4b share a coke with wills and kate compl adjunct predicator complmt adjunct residue residue ad5 i am obidiently atikulating this 2019 subject finite modal adjunct predicator adjunct mood residue figure 1. textual analysis of ads through mood system 13 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) 3.6. word-formation analysis the introduction of morphological processes in figure 2 is a means of demonstrating textual formations that the mood system is unable to analyze in ad 1, ad 3, and ad 5. ad1 fe + buhari february fe (yoruba) = love febuari february buhari (hausa) = name of apc presidential candidate love buhari = a deconctruction of february ad3a fela + [cele] bration felabration fela (yoruba) = name of an afro-beat musician fela felabration and bration = a fragment of celebration celebration felabration = a deconstruction of celebration of fela ad5 obi + [obe]diently obidiently obi (igbo) = name of a pdp vice presidential candidate obi obidiently and diently = a punctuated portion of obediently obediently obidiently = a deviant structure of obediently ad5 atiku + [articu]lating atikulating atiku hausa = name of a pdp presidential candidate atiku atikulating and lating = a fragment of artuculating articulating atikulating = a deviant construction of articulating figure 2: textual analysis of ads through morphological processes 4. results 4.1. frequency patterns of the mood components table 1 evaluates the recurrence of the contents of the mood system in the ads while figure 3 calibrates the frequency of functions in table and pie chart. 14 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) table 1. the calibration of the mood system contents mood system ad1 ad2 ad3 ad4 ad5 total mood: subject 1 1 1 1 1 5 mood: finite 1 1 1 1 1 5 mood: adjunct 0 0 0 0 1 1 residue: predicator 0 0 0 2 1 3 residue: complement 1 1 2 1 0 5 residue: adjunct 0 1 0 2 1 4 minor clause 0 1 0 0 0 1 figure 3, as demonstrated below, represents the graphical translation of table 1 above. mood system recurrence subject 5 finite 5 modal adjunct 1 predicator 3 complement 5 adjunct 4 minor clause 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 subject finite modal adjunct predicator complement adjunct minor clause recurrence m oo d s ys te m figure 3. mood system recurrence evaluation with the frequency of five points, figure 3 above exhibits complement as the operational crux of the linguistic information. next to this component are the concepts of subject and finite, functioning five times respectively. nonetheless, the recurrent statuses of complement and subject point to the significance of the nominal group in the construction of texts. advertisers, having understood the weight of naming and concretizing events, deploy the nominal devices as persuasive facilities. there are also adjunct and predicator, which operate four times and two times respectively, with minor clause and modal adjunct, functioning just once. in sum, figure 3 displays the advertisers’ behaviors of utilizing the entire elements of grammatical structures to manipulate recipients, displaying nominal elements, stated earlier, as the greatest communicative tools of sensitization. 4.1. operational patterns of word-formation processes the compound formation of fe and buhari is an amazing idea not only because of the combinatory stimulation; it is also because of the fascination achieved which is quite 15 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) educative. the blend of fe and buhari has yielded an imperative clause of fe-buari, an illustration of love buhari, as demonstrated in figure 2 to readers. this appeal commands readers not as voters, but as being in affection with buhari, a presidential candidate. invariably, one could remark that if voters love someone contesting for a position such as the presidential office, courtesy seems to demand that individuals should vote for such contestant of choice. the strategy of the ad is to dodge the usual voting or campaigning slogan to the craft of something novel, revealed in this advertising framework as love, in the textual world. the textual style = yoruba + hausa + english. felabration is a construct associated with the morphology of blending. fela as a word is joined to the punctuated content of bration. the production of felabration is a contextual facility that points to the same functional protocol. fela, in the yorùbá cultural sphere, means relax to enjoy something. celebration, an english lexeme, refers to a social gathering for fun and entertainment. the choice of combining fela plus celebration to form felabration is an excitement of a great communicative substance. the formation appears as a sacrament of persuasion, inviting readers to the event campaigned for. the textual style = yoruba + english. 5. discussion the explanations of the analysis will follow two directions: (i) manipulation and obstruction of texts, and (ii) the contextual implications of texts (leech 1966; myers 1994; forceville 1996; cook 2001; dalamu 2017a). ad 1 ad 1 is a publication of a political party in nigeria, known as, all progressive congress (apc). the political party published the communication in january 2015. the ad serves as a pointer to a voting event that ought to take place in the following month, february 2015. the political ad lays emphasis on the name of a political actor (hall et al. 1980), buhari, who is the presidential aspirant of apc. two important elements are saliently publicized in the ad: next month and febuhari. however, these textual devices 16 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) are two elements referring to a phenomenon at the same time. next month refers to february 2015 and febuhari summits to february. the ad demonstrates the significance of february 2015 to the apc political party. observations reveal febuhari, as a captivating facility of prominence. apart from the coinage being capitalized, the twist is purposely fabricated to attract the public to the message. the manipulation has the capacity to influence the target audience to have profound interest in the ad. contextually, febuhari is a compound word formation that functions in the domains of yoruba, hausa and english languages as mentioned earlier. the craft targets the users of the three languages. as exhibited earlier in figure 2, the lexeme, febuhari, accommodates two parts of fe and buhari. fe, as a segment, is a yorùbá word, meaning love. the second component, buhari, is hausa, indicating a name of a person. to reiterate, the deformation of february (second month of a year) to febuhari (love buhari) creates a form of distraction (ang 1991) to arrest readers’ interest. then, one could articulate that the unusual systematic and spellbound construct enjoins people to love buhari in the coming february, being the month of election. the affinity in the request is not of any extraneous love than to vote for buhari as the next nigerian president in 2015. love replaces vote to avoid monotony (hopkins 2003), and perhaps, to create a new thing that is fanciful to the electorate. the creativity is laudable because of the relationship that the copywriter fabricates between february and buhari. the multiplicity of the three spheres makes the ad an appealing piece that can influence millions of nigerians to obey the order. although febuhari is a political lexeme, its sentential formation in english is domineering. that is: love buhari. ad 2 the analyst has chosen two clauses from ad 2 because of their relevance to the communication’s semantic implications. the first is a major clause whereas the second is minor. the application of the minor clause, ramadan kareem, serves as a salutation to the muslim faithful. it’s time to refuel sensitizes the muslims to the next thing needed to be implemented after the fast, which has been on for about thirty days. the time in reference is the eid-mubarak, that is, the celebration that occurs immediately after the 17 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) fasting regime. it is inciting to use the text refuel in the communication. refuel falls into two separate contextual spheres. first, refuel is metaphorical to muslims as much as the construct is ambiguous to readers (forceville 1996; perez-sobrino 2017). in that sense, the thirty day fasting seems a time that muslim may not really enjoy a variety of foods. now that the fasting period is ended, conoil® reminds muslims to eat as much food as possible. second, conoil, the advertiser, is an oil and gas company that advises the target audience to refuel their vehicles during the festive season. one understands that so many people may either travel or visit their loved ones during the celebration, which attracts two-day public holidays, as part of the event. given that awareness, the people must maintain their vehicles with conoil products rather than another. the contextual ambiguity is associated with business (oil and gas) and islam (religion), although the text communicates in english. ad 3 there is a bold linguistic deformation in ad 3 to achieve the text felabration. it is a “mishap” because felabration is not a lexeme in any form of dictionary or day-to-day casual conversations except in the advertising world, as shown in ad 3. besides, a few people who are nigerians and sojourn in the musical orbit could understand the implications of the text. there is a little doubt that the text has a target audience. this indicates that every advertising construct is determined by its audience (wang et al. 2002; edegoh et al. 2013; zipporah-meru & mberia 2014; sanusi & oloyede 2014). however, the pictures of fela and seven-up® enhance the message of the ad to unveil a relationship between the two elements. the “l” in fela is intriguing for the linguistic letter is interchanged for saxophone as an identity of fela. such a proportional adjacency is as a result of what fela represents in nigeria, and by extension, the global world. as a global icon of music, fela’s prominence and dexterity are known in playing saxophone at its probable best. the publicist constructs the structural formation of felabration from two languages of different socio-cultural domains – yorùbá and english. fela is adopted 18 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) from fela anikulapo kuti (fela’s full name); whereas -bration is lifted from a punctuated resource of celebration (i.e., ceremonial activity). this textual product is a form of blending in word formation processes. thus, felabration simulates or replicates (or perhaps is a mimicry of) an honorary solemnization of fela’s death and achievements in the music industry. the communication further refers to this promotion, as the legendary experience, aiming to showcase an unimaginable splendor, greatness, and excellence that fela’s musical genre represents in the entertainment industry. that extraordinary dogmatic notion is what people are invited to attend. fela’s doctrine, to seven-up, is distinguished and worth celebrating. the application of diff further reveals that advertising is not bound by or in respect of certain perspectives on grammatical scales, in spite of attempts to establish principles for the practice (read & loewenstein 1995; hopkins 2003; braun-latour et al. 2004). one could state that the required rule in advertising is to violate a rule that could encumber advertising influential mission of charming recipients. rather, the communication promulgates guidelines that exhibit its intriguing intention (ogilvy 2013). thus, diff is utilized instead of difference. diff is slang while difference is formal. the novel word manifests the uncommon pleasure experienced in consuming sevenup, as consumers compare the product with another. ad 3 operates in the context of music genre of afro-beat and business of soft drink through the contentious engagement of yorùbá and english. ad 4 ad 4 contains two clauses. the first one, time for a royal celebration, is fragmented. the second, that is, share a coke with wills and kate, is imperative. the ad’s commanding attribute stimulates the audience towards a non-optional consumption of cocacola®. a big and mental picture of a kingly emergence is created through time for a royal celebration. that statement organizes a particular environment where a royal lineage is completely involved in patronizing the soft drink. the advertising plate projects an occasion for a special celebration, where kings, queens, princes, and princesses along 19 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) with chiefs grace a setting. perhaps, these kingly entities cannot rejoice alone without their friends and relatives. meanwhile, coke uses the occasion of a royal gathering as an opportunity to establish its presence as a drink of royal families. the association is a means of fraternizing with important people in society. in such situation, coke is not only for the royal; coke itself is a royal entity. to a considerable extent, from the purview of advertising, the consumption of coke is a sign of royalty. the target audience, in the publicity expert’s point of view, might be comfortable with the decoration of coke in a majestic label. as a result of that, coke becomes a reference point (williamson 1978). so, share a coke with wills and kate pinpoints some participants who are royal themselves and celebrate with the royal. drinking coke, in this perspective, indicates a celebration among the royal personalities. the cognitive deduction is that most people may love to consume a coke bottle, where their names are christened. it is attested, from a general perspective that people love customized products (piller & muller 2004; syam et al. 2005; mindtree n.d.). this is a sign of identity that accords people a long lasting respect. having sublimated wills, kate on the bottle as labels, the emblems serve as royal crowns on the bearers of the names (dellaert & stremersch 2005; arora et al. 2008). personalization of coke bottles provides consumers an avenue to drink more bottles of coke that contain their individual names. however, it may have a side effect on its consumption as well. this is because meeting individuals’ specifications (novaes et al. 2009; spaulding & perry 2013) could be a huge task for the advertising experts to interchange everyone’s name for coke. anyone whose name fails to appear on a coke bottle may reject someone else’s name and could refuse to drink coke in an occasion. even when the individual is thirsty, the person may opt for an alternative product. the texts featured as time for a royal celebration and share a coke with wills and kate, along with the dual postures of coke bottles, contextually, function in the domains of english communicative space, regal culture, and business environment. ad 5 20 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the systemic realization, in ad 5, manifests a declarative clause in the form of a statement. a proclamation made by the nigerian citizen, pledging a loyalty to the people democratic party (pdp) presidential and vice presidential candidates acknowledges individual’s commitment. the linguistic element operates in the form of mood and residue. the mood functions in its full-fledged forms of the subject (i), finite (am), and modal adjunct (obidiently). the residue of the clause reveals the predicator (atikulating) and adjunct (this 2019). the content of the message is obidiently atikulating, where obediently and articulating have been re-constructively-transformed to obidiently and atikulating respectively. these textual facelifts are to match a political-rhetorical desire. on the one hand, obi is the name of the pdp presidential candidate employed to knock out obefrom obediently. as a result, one observes the generation of obi + diently to yield obidiently. that formation seems the reason for capitalizing obi, as a mark of emphasis to indicate meaning potential to voters. on the other hand, atiku, being the name of the pdp presidential candidate, has been connected to articulating. the formation procedure is that the advertising practitioner utilizes capitalized atiku to replace articu-, mechanizing atiku + -lating to produce atikulating – a verb in the gerund profile. significantly, obidiently atikulating, a deviant of obediently articulating, denotes the willingness of the individual citizen to surrender to the pdp authorities. such compliance, one might suggest, is pronouncedly-eloquent, projecting an outright support for obi-cum-atiku. on that basis, obidiently atikulating specifies a sort of clarity of a well-spoken point, effectively tongued, fanatical to the instructions, declarations, and commands of the political party managers and candidates in the 2019 presidential election. as obidiently is a product of igbo and english formations, so is atikulating demonstrating hausa and english expositions. 6. conclusion advertising practitioners, as expressed in the investigation, are intellectuals without strict adherence to grammatical rule stipulations. this is because the kind of intellectualism practiced does not function within the context of basic or rigid principles as obtained, for instance, in the academic world. text and context are twin-brothers in advertising (e.g., felabration). that quality makes communication objects requisite entities, which provide relevant meanings in a particular environment (e.g., refuel). because advertising does not seem to wilfully flourish as a rule-chained or rule-abiding phenomenon always; advertising communicators rely heavily on that advantage to construct messages within multiple contexts (e.g., febuhari) in a single frame. this tendency can assist a product to convince so many audiences of varied socio-cultural backgrounds at once. sometimes, linguists, and other analysts, might question the formation of novel constructs (e.g., obidiently; atikulating) in spite of the poetic license exercised. one might comment that this study has established the english language to 21 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) play an overbearing role in the formation processes, expressing its hegemonic status in the nigerian communicative hemispheres. however, the creation of diversity in context has the strengths to augment language development in society. there is a need for government policy makers to encourage advertising experts to brace their efforts in constructing new lexemes by setting up a body, perhaps, of lexicographers, to be examining and collating novel words that will be part of language use. this effort can increase the compendium of the language word-stock in several interactive spheres. after all, language is dynamic, a fundamental force and particle, revolving around human activities. references akinnaso, n. n. 2015. the politics of language planning in education in nigeria. word 41 (3): 337-367. retrieved on 12 june 12 2018 from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10. 1080/00437956.1990.11435827?src=recsys. alt, f., evers, c. & schmidt, a. 2009. pervasive computing group users’ view on context sensitive car advertisements. pervasive computing 9-16. ang, i. 1991. desperately seeking the audience. london: routledge. arora, n., dreze, x., ghose, a., hess, j., iyengar, r., jing, b., joshi, y., kumar, v., lurie, n., neslin, s., sajeesh, s., su, m., syam, n., thomas, j. & zhang j. 2008. putting oneto-one marketing to work: personalization, customization, and choice. science and business media, marketing letters 19: 305-321. awobuluyi, o. 2010. linguistics and nation building: the prof. emeritus ayo bamgbose personality lecture. ibadan: db martoy books. bakshy, e., eckles, d. & yan, r. 2012. social influence in social advertising: evidence from field experiments, 146-166. http://weigend.com/files/teaching/stanford/2014/bakshy13.pdf. barker, m. & beezer, a. 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toward advertising. eighth americas conference on information systems. humancomputer interaction studies in mis, 1143-1148. whiteman, l. 1997. contextualization: the theory, the gap, the challenge. http://www.internationalbulletin.org/issues/1997-01/1997-01-002-whiteman.pdf. 26 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 29 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) williamson, j. 1978. decoding advertising: ideology and meaning in advertising. new york: marion boyars. willis, p. 1990. common culture: symbolic work at play in the everyday cultures of the young. milton keyes: open university press. yule, g. 1985. the study of language. cambridge: cambridge university press. zapata, b. a. 2000. handbook of general and applied linguistics. trebajo de ascenso sin publicar – erida, venezuela: escuela de idiomas modernos, universidad de los andes. zapata, b. a. 2007. types of word and word formation processes in english. http://webdelprofesor.ula.ve/humanidades/azapata/materias/english_4/unit_1_types_of_words_and_ word_formation_processes.pdf. zipporah-meru, m. & mberia, h. 2014. the effects of celebrity endorsement in advertisements. international journal of academic research in economics and management sciences 3(5): 178-118. *** taofeek o. dalamu earned a phd from the university of lagos, nigeria, under a methodical supervision of prof. adeyemi daramola, with specialization in systemic functional linguistics, discourse analysis, and digital humanities in relation, mostly, to advertising communications. currently, dr. dalamu is a member of international systemic functional linguistics association, and teaches english courses at anchor university, lagos, nigeria. this scholar has a variety of 32 publications in reputable international journals across the globe. see: www.hq.ssrn.com/taofeekdalamu/papers, www.researchgate. net.cdn/taofeekdalamu, www.academia.com/taofeekdalamuuniversityoflagos. time and history at the crossroads of polish imaginary genres. krzysztof piskorski’s czterdzieści i cztery and andrzej pilipiuk’s operacja dzień wskrzeszenia 36 crossroads. a journal of english studies ewa drab university of silesia in katowice time and history at the crossroads of polish imaginary genres. krzysztof piskorski’s czterdzieści i cztery and andrzej pilipiuk’s operacja dzień wskrzeszenia abstract. the present article is an attempt to examine the meaning of time and history in polish steampunk and science fiction, where time-related concepts constitute the foundations of the genres. as it locates steampunk in a precise period of the 19th century, history determines its definition, regardless of the nationality of the author. what differs in the polish variation of steampunk is the spatial, not temporal, frame, a modification clearly visible in krzysztof piskorski’s czterdzieści i cztery (2016), where the polish fight for independence is presented through the prism of the protagonist’s journey across european countries. in science fiction, the determinant factor is time in time travel, as well as the historical perspective of the idea of progress. the presentation of andrzej pilipiuk’s operacja dzień wskrzeszenia (2006) proves the importance of time in science fiction and points to the paradoxes which sf authors have to face. all in all, the examination of both novels shows the difference in the approach adopted by two 21st century polish writers towards different, yet similar, concepts. key words: history, time, krzysztof piskorski, andrzej pilipiuk, polish fantasy, steampunk, science-fiction. introduction the flow of time, history and the prediction of the future constitute an important part of the narratives and world-building in fantasy, science-fiction and kindred genres. concepts related to history are employed even by the representatives of fantasy and science fantasy, in which the question of time is not necessarily raised. fantasy is typically set in an imaginary version of the middle ages. in other words, history serves as a source of inspiration for a construction of fantasy universes, such as the continent from the stories about the witcher (1993-1999) by andrzej sapkowski. in science fantasy, the scientific part may refer to a time machine which transports the characters to a magical land, as happens, for example, in witch world (1963) by andre norton. nevertheless, it is steam10.15290/cr.2017.18.3.03 37 articles punk and science fiction which explore the notions of time and history in depth. steampunk draws from history, or from 19th century history to be more precise, to tackle the topics of change and revolution, whereas science fiction is a means of interrogating progress and technological development, including time travel and its ensuing paradoxes. in the polish variations of the said genres, clear examples of their close connections with history and time are provided by krzysztof piskorski in czterdzieści i cztery (2016) and by andrzej pilipiuk in operacja dzień wskrzeszenia (2006). however, before embarking on the analysis of these particular relations in the above-mentioned novels, it is crucial to ponder upon the role of history and time within steampunk and science fiction in greater detail. consequently, the examination of each text will be preceded by a short review of theory. history in steampunk history is rooted in the very nature of steampunk literature. definitions, even if dissonant, usually point to the given historical period which constitutes both the subject and the backdrop of the genre. the victorian era, with its process of industrialization and social unrest, fuels steampunk and allows the literature to explore universal truths. k.w. jeter, perceived as the originator of the name of the genre, called what later became steampunk victorian fantasies (mielke, lahaie 2015: 243), which actually illustrates well the clash between the historical context of the genre and its imaginary side. the purpose of steampunk is to “explore the past, mainly the 19th century, by describing and researching the consequences of the alternative and hyperbolized process of industrial revolution1” (lemann 2015: 133). not only does steampunk refer to history, but it also reinvents it to pinpoint aspects that reflect the maladies of the present. the representatives of the genre need to be able to delve into history in order to manipulate it and to reshape meanings in ways that illuminate 21st century issues and dangers. the phase of acquiring the necessary knowledge of the given period should be followed by the stage of picking and emphasising the elements which could easily undergo this transformation process. the re-shaping of the selected aspects of 19th century history becomes an intrusion of the imagination and an interpretation of the influence history exercises on the subsequent periods. in effect, steampunk authors combine “...what is known and what is strange” (mielke, lahaie 2015:  244) to see the past in the new light and draw fresh conclusions about the potential direction in which the present is moving. the adoption of a new perspective is possible thanks to the rebellious character of steampunk literature. the approach becomes visible in another definitional attempt to explain what the genre represents, which would be “past technologies (steam) […] that govern alternative settings […] in order to critique and/or rebel (punk) against social, political, and cultural ideologies of the past, the present, and the future” (mielke, lahaie 2015: 244). on the one hand, industrial development, by deeply impacting upon society, plays a crucial role in the steam1 “...eksploruje przeszłość, głównie wiek xix, opisując i badając konsekwencje alternatywnego i zhiperbolizowanego w stosunku do rzeczywistego przebiegu rewolucji przemysłowej...” (all the translations of polish sources are mine). 38 crossroads. a journal of english studies punk take on history, but these are all revolutionary turns and breakthroughs which allow for a contemporary commentary. on the other hand, the combination of history and attractive fantasy alternatives provides the reader with entertainment and may induce them to explore real history in order to be able to distinguish between a crafty illusion and facts. yet, the critique makes the reader ponder upon the network of interconnections between the role of an individual and the collective, and on how particular decisions give rise to a certain course of history. therefore, the reader is given an opportunity to deliberate further on the impact of the past upon the present. by adopting the perspective based on a general historical reflection, it is possible to understand steampunk outside of the victorian period. as a genre which transforms and embraces elements of diverse origin, it may be easily re-shaped to espouse the local context or at least a different one in comparison to the traditional take on the victiorian era. hence, authors use the poetics of stempunk and the 19th century setting, as well as the genre being prone to expressing rebellion against the social and political order to comment on the important events within their own culture. polish steampunk has developed in a way which constitutes a realization of the said model, namely by referring to polish history, parallel to the circumstances of the victorian period. natalia lemann (2015: 136) points out that the polish version of steampunk could be seen as an attempt to adapt what is global to the local context, or to polish history and social conditions. lemann (2015: 136, 139) underlines the fact that the perspective changes as well: while the british occupy the position of a colonizer, the polish face the fate of the colonized. it is so because polish steampunk is centered upon the period of partitions, when the country was divided between and occupied by austria, prussia and germany. therefore, polish authors explore the revolutionary character of steampunk literature and frequently focus on the 19th century national insurgences and poland’s fight for independence. clearly, the historical core of steampunk becomes more political, and even the construction of surprising machines and inventions is determined by political choices. moreover, polish steampunk confronts different ideologies and approaches towards the invaders. as a result, the genre becomes, at least partially, a historical reflection on the juxtaposition of revolution and dialogue (lemann 2015: 145). the above-mentioned aspects of polish steampunk are visible in the most popular oeuvres by krzysztof piskorski and andrzej w. sawicki. apart from adapting the genre’s tropes to a local context, the writers move steampunk literature aesthetics to a different culture as they wish to avoid its stagnation. the steampunk traits are often introduced into a story representing another related genre, for example fantasy, and, furthermore, embedded in a culture which constitutes a variation of an existing non-english and non-victorian culture, or which has been entirely invented by the author. jay kristoff’s stormdancer (2012) delivers a good illustration of the former by incorporating steampunk tropes in an alternative fantasy japan-like realm, whereas china miéville's perdido street station (2000) combines steampunk elements with a setting of an imaginary city, which could be associated with urban fantasy. in his creation, a reference to steampunk, as well as to other aesthetics, may also offer “a way of foregrounding possibilities for radical change” (ganapathiraju 2012: 3), where such possibilities emphasize the potential of steampunk as a genre. unfortunately, depriving steampunk of the histori39 articles cal focus limits its impact and reduces it to a form of diversification aimed at making the narrative more attractive to the reader, even if it proves the genre’s susceptibility to hybridization, which means that steampunk elements can be easily inserted into the framework of other similar genres. in the context of polish steampunk, the importance of history is visible, for example in the work of krzysztof piskorski, the pioneer of the polish steampunk variation. his books also prove that in the polish texts the fight for independence remains a pivotal concept. alternative histories in czterdzieści i cztery krzysztof piskorski’s czterdzieści i cztery is a 2016 steampunk-fantasy hybrid novel centered upon the adventures of a polish spy, eliza żmijewska, and set within a frame of multiple alternative versions of europe. the protagonist is haunted by a tumultuous past, including her participation in the 1830 november uprising against russia at the side of emilia plater, a captain of the polish insurgent forces. the reader follows her steps when, fourteen years later, eliza embarks on a dangerous mission to find and murder a british entrepreneur of polish origins, konrad załuski. in order to complete her task, the protagonist attempts to travel to london by means of a teleport gate, whose copies have been installed in various points in europe and aimed at connecting parallel realities. because of numerous complications and hardships, eliza journeys from london to revolutionary paris and, subsequently, to cracow at the time of the partition and poland’s submission to austria, russia and prussia, which started in 1772 and ultimately lasted until the restoration of the country’s sovereignty in 1918. during her trials and tribulations, eliza faces internal moral conflicts, regarding personal and national loyalty, and is confronted with dangers as well as with the opportunities offered by the scientific discovery of alternative worlds. the introduction of parallel europes permits the author to play with the concepts of time and history. consequently, piskorski draws abundantly on the traditions of science fiction, readily employs steampunk tropes, and refers to slavic imagery by stitching the aforementioned elements together with the use of polish history and culture. the author introduces into the novel the most important steampunk tropes with virtuosity and ease. indeed, piskorski has experience in the creation of steampunk plots, as he demonstrated this particular ability prior to czterdzieści i cztery. natalia lemann (2015: 138) points to his two-volume zadra (2008) as the first undiluted polish steampunk novel. the story presented in the books accurately illustrates the author’s style, which moulds the narrative in czterdzieści i cztery as well. in other words, piskorski combines alternative european history with the real polish endeavours of regaining independence and with the fantasy / sf concept of parallel realities, which manifests itself through the discovery of the new europe, accessible via portals created with the use of ether technology. moreover, the number of parallel realities is multiplied to infinity, where each can be accessed through the ether gates set in slightly different positions. the multitude of alternative settings justifies all possible transformations of history as the reader knows it. piskorski exploits history and reconfigures it to achieve a given goal, but remains respectful in reference to the actual turn of events in the real history of poland and europe. the approach towards the concept of the co-existence of universes within the world of the novel leads 40 crossroads. a journal of english studies to a self-aware, self-mocking ending. condemned to a solitary existence away from the troubles of the country she used to know and fight for, the protagonist hides in the only timeline where she can avoid meeting konrad załuski. an enthusiastic young journalist pays her a visit to write an article about her remarkable story. eliza shows him a book she was offered by the representatives of an insectoid nation, a gift which has ultimately saved her life. the insect-like people, thanks to her help in obtaining the ether technology, progressed greatly in an alternative timeline, devised a method of traveling in time and, consequently, came from the future in order to warn their friend. the book recounts all of eliza’s adventures and experiences, including the conversation with the journalist. by describing the image from the cover, the author suggests that the said book is in fact piskorski’s czterdzieści i cztery, which implies the existence of separate multiple timelines, including one for the author and one for the reader, and lends credence to the realities of the events presented in the novel. piskorski’s heroine comments on the origins of the book by saying it comes from a different, less civilized europe with different time and history, hence the poor quality of paper and terrible language2 (piskorski 2016: 533). furthermore, she stresses the problem of the unequal development of the parallel histories, thus delivering both a justification for the interactions between the timelines and an indication of how the multiverse functions. piskorski plays easily with the notions of time and history by interlacing various threads of divergent realities. but what references to the real history of poland and europe does the author use and in what way does he reshape them? interestingly, czterdzieści i cztery not only adopts steampunk aesthetics to make them match a different historical background and fit the polish context, but also merges the elements of traditional steampunk set in the victorian era with the local variation. the said adjustment is possible because the author makes eliza reside for several weeks in london, where she encounters real historical figures and shows the reader around the steampunk version of the british capital. the boldest use of a real person from the history of british culture is connected to one of the missions the protagonist burdens herself with. eliza searches for an encoded message regarding her task of assassinating załuski, but in fact finds more than one. curious as to what the nature of other conspiracies is, she deciphers the password and heads to the meeting of a secret organization. this particular thread of the story refers to the poets of the pre-victorian movement. the first indication is the password itself, namely ozymandias, meaning the title of the famous sonnet written by percy bysshe shelley, one of the greatest romantic poets. furthermore, piskorski (2016: 134) pinpoints the character of the chapter and the part of the story by introducing into the text a translated citation from the sonnet. however, steampunk authors do not limit their creation only to references, such as a well-known poem. the common tendency is to include a historical figure as an active character. as a result, in czterdzieści i cztery, eliza decrypts not only the title of shelley’s sonnet, but also meets one of the 2 “ ...nie wszystkie europy żyją w jednym czasie. istnieją nastawy, które prowadzą do miejsc, gdzie historia stoi na innym stopniu rozwoju. to książka z jednego z takich światów. z mniej cywilizowanej epoki. stąd, proszę wybaczyć, fatalny papier. i naprawdę okropny język”. 41 articles other representatives of the movement in person, namely george gordon, lord byron. in piskorski’s version (2016: 134), byron, as a wheelchair-bound invalid, occupies the position of a leader of a secret association operating against the ether technology, which allegedly causes terrible mutations. eliza, an amateur poet herself, is both thrilled to meet a living legend and overwhelmed by the discovery of the association (piskorski 2016: 133). nevertheless, references to shelley and byron, both advocates of freedom and justice in real history and in the anti-ether alternative presented in czterdzieści i cztery, are accompanied by others as well. at the beginning of the chapters or within the text, the author introduces citations from famous poems or transforms them in a way which suggests an alternative provenance, with the applicable annotation regarding the implemented changes. among the authors piskorski (2016: 102, 109) refers to are, for example, william wordsworth and william blake. the first instance is used in order to create the atmosphere of early 19th century england and to portray eliza as an educated woman and a poetry enthusiast. inspired by an encounter with a poor boy, she is attempting to write a poem about his misfortune when she remembers a similar poem by wordsworth, namely we are seven (1798). another citation from a poem, this time london (1794) by william blake, introduces a new chapter. since it presents the adventures the protagonist is to have in the british capital, blake’s poetic description of the city, bleak and oppressive, prepares the reader for what is to enfold in the later part of the chapter and it grounds the narrative in the period. piskorski refers to historical figures, mainly to artists and poets, but also to politicians and rulers, in the polish context as well. in the afterword, the author (2016: 539-547) draws attention to the fact that he has used numerous references to polish history and culture, and would like to encourage readers to learn more about the characters who really existed and events which became a source of inspiration for the story presented in the novel. therefore, english romanticism is balanced with examples of polish romanticism, with the introduction of adam mickiewicz, juliusz słowacki and their literary work. the author even underlines the contact between adam mickiewicz and lord byron: “eliza knew that george byron was corresponding with adam mickiewicz, who had translated many of his works into polish. apparently, adam, like juliusz słowacki, played a game of his own”3 (piskorski 2016: 136). both słowacki and mickiewicz are presented not only as great poets, but also as conspirators in the polish fight for independence. piskorski uses them as characters whom eliza actually meets and, furthermore, their poems serve as a commentary to and a background of the story. słowacki assigns eliza to assassinate konrad załuski and, in the time of riots, offers her shelter: “...eliza wondered whether among peaceful, rich bourgeois, far from the rumble of gunshots, it was easy for him to write about the philosophy of genesis, bloody revolutions and zeitgeist”4 (piskorski 2016: 374). thus, the author alludes to słowacki’s real work and philosophy. 3 “eliza wiedziała, że george byron korespondował z adamem mickiewiczem, który przełożył na polski wiele jego dzieł. widocznie adam, podobnie jak juliusz słowacki, prowadził jakąś własną grę”. 4 “ ...eliza zastanowiła się, czy między spokojnymi, bogatymi mieszczanami, daleko od huczących wystrzałów, łatwo było mu pisać o genezyjskiej filozofii, krwawych rewolucjach i duchu dziejów”. 42 crossroads. a journal of english studies the protagonist encounters adam mickiewicz in cracow, when she desperately searches for załuski. to lend weight to the character, the author refers to mickiewicz’s poems. eliza has written a letter to the master poet in order to enumerate all the historical imprecisions he committed in śmierć pułkownika (1837), a poem about the november uprising leader, emilia plater (piskorski 2016: 476, dzieje.pl 2017: online). the author (2016: 260-261) cites the poem earlier in the novel as a reminder of the events that obsess eliza. in the prologue of the story the reader learns that eliza fought in the november uprising at the side of emilia plater, her dear friend and role model. the uprising takes place a year later than in reality, probably to justify the fantasy and steampunk modifications to historical events. in the alternative version, the forces led by plater are massacred by otherworldy creatures controlled by russians, whereas eliza leaves her friend to die. in reality, emilia plater fell ill during the insurgence and died despite the treatment she had received (dzieje. pl 2017: online). what is interesting is that piskorski transforms the poems, mickiewicz's śmierć pułkownika and słowacki's oda do wolności (1830) (2016: 154), to stress the fact that various timelines exist and to adapt the historical poetry to the requirements of the steampunk world. nevertheless, he does not interfere with the citation from dziady part iii (1832), from which comes the title of the book (piskorski 2016: 499). time in science-fiction as steampunk merges often with other genres, it can also be coupled with science fiction. such a combination allows for an exposition of both time and history. it is visible in the opening volume of mark hodder’s book series burton and swinburne, entitled the strange affair of spring heeled jack, where the eponymous character travels in time back to the england of the victorian era and triggers an alternative course of events. in short, a science fiction concept, namely time travel, enables the author to create a steampunk archetypal story, with multiple references to the industrial revolution and historical figures, such as one of the favourite inventors of steampunk writers, charles babbage. the same pattern is employed in piskorski’s czterdzieści i cztery. it clearly shows the meaning of the time travel concept within the framework of the science fiction genre and beyond it. if history is located at the heart of steampunk, time determines science fiction. katarzyna gadomska (2002: 22) claims that time is an obligatory component of every sf text, and the focus on time leads to the topic of time travel, whether it refers to the portrayal of future societies, i.e. a metaphorical excursion in time, or to the physical movement between moments in time, meaning the literal travelling on a given timeline or jumping between different timelines. gadomska (2002: 23-24) provides a review of different methods of time travelling devised by numerous authors, not only of contemporary science fiction, but also of the pioneering or precursory work in the genre. upon a short inspection, it is possible to conclude that the initial strategies were simple, for example, the excursion in time could be induced with the use of drugs. nevertheless, the most common system of time travel in science fiction is a time machine, whose name and rules of functioning vary depending on the author’s decision or imagination, and the actual technologies available at the time. the close description of such processes is, however, mostly tackled by the authors of hard 43 articles science fiction, which gives space for detailed scientific explanations, taken for granted in texts focused on the futuristic story rather than on the intricacies of technological speculations. before pondering the nature of time travel and its possible ramifications, sara bernstein (2015: 158) provides a simple definition of her study subject by claiming that “time travel occurs when an object or a person is relocated in time through means other than continuing to exist,” which clearly alludes to the science fictional exploitation of time machines and other transportation methods. what is more, bernstein analyzes different modes of time travel, lending focus more to time-consuming, lengthy time travel, where the characters involved have to experience a long journey, and merely mentioning for comparison purposes so-called instantaneous time travel, where the travellers relocate promptly to their destination in the next moment on the timeline. nonetheless, regardless of the variation of time travel, the sole notion of the physical change of location within time, being as much a futuristic as a philosophical question, nurtures science fiction. time travel should be perceived as physical since it usually does not reverse the process of growing old or accelerate it, but literally relocates the protagonist within their lifespan. it results in “doubling” the character, creating the co-presence of both their young and old versions. time travel may also be understood as a method of relocating the traveller beyond their life, to eras that would not be normally accessible to them, be it in the past or in the distant future. whichever it is, time travel remains one of the core concepts of science fiction because it opens a path towards possibilities. the genre centers upon the possibilities presenting themselves at the present moment or in the future. moreover, it concentrates on the repercussions of progress, mainly technological and scientific, but also social and emotional, whether the (d)evolution is observed starting back in the past or now. time is needed in order to be able to examine the consequences of progress or regress and, hence, it constitutes both subject matter and the analytical tool of science fiction. while discussing the nature of science fiction, researchers and academics tend to deliberate not only upon the concept of time travel, but also on the related paradoxes. david lewis (1976: 145), while analysing the question of time travel from the philosophical point of view, observes that science fiction authors are frequently more interested in the effect of time travel than in the logic of a valid explanation of the process. the philosopher is, on the other hand, invested in examining the contradictions which emerge from the attempts to understand the concept of time travel. therefore, lewis (1976: 145) responds to the question of the meaning of time travel with the following words: inevitably, it involves a discrepancy between time and time. any traveler departs and then arrives at his destination [...]. but if he is a time traveler, the separation in time between departure and arrival does not equal the duration of his journey [...]. how can it be that the same two events, his departure and his arrival, are separated by two unequal amounts of time? apparently, an attempt to understand the process of time travel and its use within the framework of science fiction leads to the analysis of various paradoxes contradicting the logic of the concept. the problem of the lapse of time between the departure and arrival of the traveller, which 44 crossroads. a journal of english studies could be explained thanks to the theory of spatiotemporal dimensions, is only one of several timerelated science fictional paradoxes. lewis (1976: 148) delves into the grandfather paradox, connected with the question of changing the past, often the premise for many science fiction texts. on the one hand, the past has already happened, hence, it is impossible to manipulate it. but, on the other hand, a time traveller should be easily capable of doing anything that the other people met at the moment which the traveller has reached are capable of. nonetheless, if he or she does something as radical as killing their grandfather, they may even cease to exist, if the grandfather has not yet fathered their parent. but if they no longer exist, they cannot travel in time and kill the grandfather in the first place. a similar problem presents itself with the retro-suicide paradox, where the traveller can and at the same moment cannot kill their younger version because it would contradict the very possibility of time travel (vranas 2009: 521-522). clearly, playing with time is an ambitious task, which determines science fiction as a genre. the paradoxes are inscribed in the time manipulations and have become the subject of a science fiction story a number of times. polish sf authors also tackle the question of time travel and the related repercussions, both in ‘pure’ science fiction and in hybrids. naturally, the most acclaimed polish sf writer, who explored the notion of time in his work, for example in return from the stars (1961), is stanisław lem. however, another example may be provided by andrzej pilipiuk, an author known for fantasy, science fiction and adventure stories. time travel in operacja dzień wskrzeszenia krzysztof piskorski enriches steampunk aesthetics with borrowings from other genres, whereas andrzej pilipiuk subordinates the adventure and thriller genres to the conventions of science fiction. his 2006 novel operacja dzień wskrzeszenia is an sf story which does not explore futuristic states and societies, but examines the past and its influence on later developments and progress. despite the fact that the narrative sends the main characters into the past, and the major part of the narrative takes place in previous centuries, the author never allows his readers to forget about the science fictional provenance of the story, especially in reference to time travel, which made it possible for the characters to visit the past. the point of departure of the novel is a future very close to the year of its publication, namely 2012. due to unfortunate decisions of the polish president, paweł citko, terrorists take possession of secret nuclear missiles, of which no other european country is aware. thus, world war iii breaks out and, as the reader learns indirectly from the following chapters, provokes the annihilation of the majority of the population. in 2014, a group of young people are chosen to participate in a dangerous mission aimed at changing the tragic past of mankind and saving the world from the destruction of nuclear war. in order to succeed, they are to use the advanced technology of time travel. therefore, they travel back to the end of the 19th century to find the president’s ancestor and to inject him with a modified mumps virus, which causes sterility. however, the time travel technology being unstable, it may lead to changes in the plan, for example due to the mistakes in the calculations regarding the exact time and place of the destination. as 45 articles a result, one of the team’s members is caught and interrogated, but the rescue requires one more jump in time, which takes the protagonists to the 17th century, thus leaving one colleague behind. pilipiuk combines contemporary references with science fictional descriptions of time travel technology and the related risks, as well as with the portrayal of different historical periods. the first part of the novel is focused upon the explanation of the specification of the mission. the students who have been chosen to accomplish the mission infer from the surroundings in the base where they are to complete their training that their employers have developed a time machine: “‘so they have a time machine here,’ the student mused. ‘we prefer to call it a spatiotemporal communicator,’ a commanding, however melodious, voice filled the room”5 (pilipiuk 2006: 29). with reference to the observations of katarzyna gadomska (2002: 24), time machines are provided with different names, yet the devices always work upon the movement on the timeline. in pilipiuk’s narrative, the concept of time travel and its paradoxes are closely examined. the first paradox emerges at the beginning of the protagonists’ visit to the training base, when they notice brass plates honouring those who have sacrificed their lives in the service of the mission. the names are followed by their date of birth in the 20th century and the date of death, often located much earlier in time: “dr michaił kolcow 1976-1901, dr jan przeździecki 1980-1901...” (pilipiuk 2006: 27). this is a good illustration of the paradoxes indicated by david lewis, as quoted earlier in the text, when he muses upon so-called personal time, or the time flow for a given person, i.e. the time traveller, and external time, meaning the general timeline of history (lewis 1976: 146). on the one hand, because of the excursion in time effected by the deceased heroes, their personal time, or the time they actually lived, equals the period between their birth and the date of their departure in the time machine with the addition of the time they had spent in the past until the day they died. on the other hand, the external time should be perceived in this particular case as disturbed, because the date of death preceding the date of birth contradicts the rules of logic. for the safety of the participants in the project, the instructors caution them about the dangers of the time travel process. in order to increase the chance of succeeding with the task, the protagonists also learn about the details of the procedure itself (pilipiuk 2006: 52, 55). for instance, the instructor explains that during the jump in time ‘a blister’ of matter is isolated from the surrounding world and the traveller needs to fit inside of it for them to be transported to their destination point. any additional matter elements that have not been embraced by the blister would be obliterated. the blister has been adjusted to match the normal direction of the time flow, which is crucial for the traveller’s natural processes. if the flow of time was not in harmony with the human organism, the traveller’s body would not be able to survive the journey. this is exactly what happens to certain materials, like metals, which are destroyed in the process and, hence, are included on the list of items that cannot be equipped during time travel. 5 “ – a więc oni mają tu wehikuł czasu – zadumał się student. – wolimy nazwę „komunikator czasoprzestrzenny” – rozległ się za nimi melodyjny, acz władczy głos.” 46 crossroads. a journal of english studies nevertheless, the most important rule to remember is the one referring to the mass which can be relocated in time (pilipiuk 2006: 51). because of the consumed energy only seventy-five kilograms are allowed for transportation into the past and only seventy on the way back to the present moment. any excess disintegrates or is disfigured to the extent of not being recognizable anymore. the rule is strictly connected with the explanation of the time travel process based on the analogy of a rubber band, where the rubber band stretched above the surface of the table symbolizes the present, and the table itself designates the past (pilipiuk 2006: 65). to reach the past and to be able to return, the rubber band has to be weighed down. this is possible thanks to the use of a metal ball, which symbolizes the blister created by the time machine. the blister touches the table, or the past, which it refers to, yet it needs plenty of energy to make the return possible. the rules introduced to the story by pilipiuk give order to the chaotic concept of time travel and help organize the narrative. thanks to them, both readers and characters know what to expect from the experiment. having understood the process and risks that must be taken, the protagonists learn about the paradoxes. they discuss the grandfather paradox, the principle of non-interference, and the butterfly effect (pilipiuk 2006: 80-83). the author provides an explanation of the grandfather paradox because in the novel it becomes a tool of completing the mission. the task is based on the assumption that the past can be changed and, therefore, the participants of the project are able to sterilize the president’s ancestor, thus preventing the president from being born. nicholas smith (2016: online) claims that sf authors tend to introduce the figures of time guardians who control the travellers to preclude them from damaging the natural flow of time on the timeline. pilipiuk incorporates in the novel the characters of the instructors, who warn the travellers and formulate the principle of non-interference. hence, the protagonists must not rescue anyone in danger or interact with too many people, since even an apparently insignificant encounter may lead to a great change in history, which would influence the present moment and the future deeply. the so-called butterfly effect describes such a situation well. the analogy presents the assumption that if a butterfly flaps its wings, the gradual accumulation of wind disturbance will, in time, create a storm on the other hemisphere. if the participants of the project did not limit their interference to the past world, the negative effect would exceed the positive effect of their mission. when the author finally sends the protagonists back in time, he never abandons the science fictional setup. history, along with the description of 19th and 17th century reality, becomes an element of the science fiction genre. in piskorki’s steampunk the setting, the background and a particular character impact upon the actions of the heroine. in pilipiuk’s sf thriller story, history constitutes a part of the time travel process. distant and difficult to understand, the past is a stage which the protagonists need to reach in order to be able to influence the future and accomplish their goals. nonetheless, even if history serves a slightly different purpose in science fiction than in steampunk, as shown in previous examples, the author describes historical realities diligently, for example in a scene when the characters reach the 17th century and observe the state of development of warsaw (pilipiuk 2006: 330-331). 47 articles conclusions the described examples and theory clearly prove that both history and time define steampunk and science fiction. consequently, the importance of time-related concepts allow the representatives of these particular genres to borrow tropes from both in order to examine the question of time flow or history in the development of nations in numerous different aspects. 19th century history, i.e. the very subject matter of steampunk, provides the authors, such as krzysztof piskorski, with tools which help them in investigating the notions of historical change and revolution, especially visible in the polish, insurgence-focused version of steampunk. surprisingly, the approach towards time and history in science fiction is both similar and different to the one found in steampunk. as the example of andrzej pilipiuk’s work shows, it is similar because the author is interested in the continuity of history and its impact on the later periods of time. the difference consists in manipulating time, for instance in time travel, in order to manipulate actively the influence the past has on the present and the future. references bernstein, sara. 2015. nowhere man: time travel and spatial location. midwest studies in philosophy xxxix. 158-168. ebscohost, doi:10.1111/misp.12041. gadomska, katarzyna. 2002. science-fiction et fantasy comme merveilleux contemporain. katowice: wydawnictwo uniwersytetu śląskiego. ganapathiraju, aishwarya. 2012. urban retro-futuristic masculinities in china mieville’s perdido street station. the journal of popular culture 45(1). 3-14. ebscohost, doi:10.1111/j.1540 -5931.2011.00907.x. lemann, natalia. 2015. polski steampunk – zaadaptować historię, adaptując konwencję. in: wioletta hajduk-gawron (ed.), adaptacje ii: transfery kulturowe – biblioteka postscriptum polonistycznego 5, 133-147. katowice: wydawnictwo uniwersytetu śląskiego. lewis, david. 1976. the paradoxes of time travel. american philosophical quarterly 13(2). 145-152. mielke, tammy l., lahaie, jeanne. 2015. theorizing steampunk in scott westerfeld’s ya series leviathan. children’s literature in education 46. 242–256. ebscohost, doi:10.1007/s10583 -014-9232-0. pilipiuk, andrzej. 2006. operacja dzień wskrzeszenia. lublin: fabryka słów. piskorski, krzysztof. 2016. czterdzieści i cztery. kraków: wydawnictwo literackie. smith, nicholas j.j. 2016. time travel. in: edward n. zalta (ed.) the stanford encyclopedia of pilosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/time-travel/ (28 april 2017). web 1 – emilia plater / dzieje.pl. http://dzieje.pl/postacie/emilia-plater-1806-1831 (27 april 2017). vranas, peter b. 2009. can i kill my younger self? time travel and the retrosuicide paradox. pacific philosophical quarterly 90. 520-534. ebscohost, doi:10.1111/j.1468-0114.2009.01353.x. applied linguistics and translation studies 4 crossroads. a journal of english studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . krzysztof hejwowski university of warsaw applied linguistics and translation studies abstract: the article deals with the relation between translation studies and linguistics, in particular applied linguistics. some facts from the history of translation studies and applied linguistics are presented (james holmes’s famous paper delivered at the iii international congress of applied linguistics, the beginnings of the institute of applied linguistics at warsaw university). a few definitions of applied linguistics and translation studies are discussed. in conclusion the author’s view on the status of translation studies is expounded. keywords: translation, applied linguistics, translation studies. in 1972 at the third international congress of applied linguistics james holmes delivered his famous paper entitled “the name and nature of translation studies”, in which he established the name of the discipline and classified it as an empirical discipline, as such having two major objectives: – to describe particular phenomena in the world of our experience, – to establish general principles by means of which they can be explained and predicted. holmes also divided translation studies into “pure” and applied (holmes 2000: 176). he did not, however, state that translation studies was a subdiscipline of applied linguistics. he delivered his lecture at a congress of applied linguistics because translation conferences at that time were very scarce (and translation departments or faculties – practically non-existent). t r a n s l a t i o n s t u d i e s doi: 10.15290/cr.2018.21.2.01 5 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ in the same year 1972 the institute of applied linguistics was founded at the university of warsaw. the institute trains future teachers, translators and interpreters. each student follows courses in two foreign languages (at present out of 7: english, german, french, spanish, russian, swedish and japanese) and two specializations: foreign language teaching and translation. thus, the name of the institute and its curriculum might suggest an idea that applied linguistics contains those two main branches: language teaching and translation. what is really the relationship between applied linguistics and translation studies? let us first look at some dictionary definitions. in the “introduction” to longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics (richards et al. 1992) its authors inform that this dictionary includes the core vocabulary of both language teaching and applied linguistics. [...] for the purposes of this book, “applied linguistics” refers to the practical applications of linguistics and language theory, and includes terms from the following areas of study: • introductory linguistics, including phonology, phonetics, syntax, semantics and morphology • discourse analysis • sociolinguistics, including the sociology of language and communicative competence • psycholinguistics, including first and second language acquisition, contrastive analysis, error analysis and learning theories (richards et al. 1992: vii) it would seem that for the authors of the dictionary language teaching and applied linguistics are two separate disciplines (translation is not mentioned). on the other hand, the entry “applied linguistics” contradicts the above statement: applied linguistics 1. the study of second and foreign language learning and teaching. [sic!] 2. the study of language and linguistics in relation to practical problems, such as lexicography, translation, speech pathology, etc. applied linguistics uses information from sociology, psychology, anthropology, and information theory as well as from linguistics in order to develop its own theoretical models of language and language use, and then uses this information and theory in practical areas such as syllabus design, speech therapy, language planning, stylistics, etc. (richards et al. 1992: 19) in the second subentry translation is mentioned as a “practical problem” – presumably dealt with by “the study of language and linguistics”. the dictionary contains entries translation (“the process of changing speech or writing from one language [...] into another...”) and translation equivalence (“the degree to which linguistic units [...] can be translated into another language without loss of meaning”) (richards et al. 1992: 389) but not “translation studies”. the definitions of translation and translation equivalence prove how little the authors have to say about translation. even though the dictionary was first published in 1985, the ignorance of translation theory is appalling. 6 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ a corresponding polish dictionary bears the title podręczny słownik językoznawstwa stosowanego (‘desk dictionary of applied linguistics’) and a subtitle “dydaktyka języków obcych” (‘foreign language teaching’) (szulc 1984). in the introduction the author states that termin „językoznawstwo stosowane” rozumieć należy w tym kontekście w jego tradycyjnym, zaznaczonym w podtytule, ujęciu, tzn. jako zastosowanie badań językoznawczych do dydaktyki języków obcych. (“the term ‘applied linguistics’ should be understood in this context in its traditional, stressed in the subtitle, meaning, i.e. as applying linguistic research to foreign language teaching”) (szulc 1984: 5) consequently the dictionary contains no entries connected with translation. only “machine translation” is mentioned in the entry językoznawstwo stosowane (applied linguistics): dział językoznawstwa zajmujący się możliwościami praktycznego zastosowania (np. w dydaktyce języków obcych lub informatyce) osiągnięć takich dyscyplin jak językoznawstwo, socjologia, socjolingwistyka, psychologia, psycholingwistyka, antropologia i in. [...] w kręgu zainteresowań językoznawstwa stosowanego znajduje się również zagadnienie afazji, tłumaczenia maszynowego oraz telekomunikacji. (“a branch of linguistics dealing with practical application (e.g. in foreign language teaching or computer technology/information science) of the findings of such disciplines as linguistics, sociology, sociolinguistics, psychology, psycholinguistics, anthropology and others. [...] the discipline is also interested in such problems as aphasia, machine translation and telecommunication.”) (szulc 1984: 104-105) the definition seems to take it for granted that sociology, psychology or anthropology have no applied branches and therefore their findings have to be utilized by applied linguistics. thus applied linguistics becomes some meta-discipline though its “fields of application” are rather narrow. w. grabe in an introductory article to the oxford handbook of applied linguistics (kaplan 2002) defines applied linguistics as “a practice-driven discipline that addresses language-based problems in real-world contexts” (grabe 2002: 10). translation is mentioned as a “sub-field of study”: applied linguistics generally incorporates or includes several further identifiable sub-fields of study: second language acquisition, forensic linguistics, language testing, corpus linguistics, lexicography and dictionary making, language translation, and second language writing research. (grabe 2002: 11) two things deserve our attention: first, placing translation somewhere between language testing and second language writing, and the very phrase “language translation”, which reveals lack of knowledge about the issue. one does not translate languages, one translates texts. the marginal position occupied by translation in such a vision of applied linguistics is well reflected by the size of contributions devoted to translation in the whole volume: there are two articles (one entitled 7 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ “translation”, the other – “interpretation”) occupying some 30 pages out of 630. other sections of the book include: “the four skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing”, “discourse analysis”, “the study of second language learning”, “the study of second language teaching”, “variation in language use and language performance”, “bilingualism and the individual learner”, “multilingualism in society”, “language policy and planning”, “language assessment and program evaluation”, “technological applications in applied linguistics”. the last chapter contains two articles: “directions in automated essay analysis” and “computer-assisted language learning”. no mention of cat tools or machine translation. all this very clearly shows that applied linguists either exclude translation from their field of interest or treat it as a far periphery of their discipline and usually do not say anything interesting about it. let us now look at the definitions provided by the most popular source of knowledge, wikipedia: applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of linguistics which identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, psychology, communication research, anthropology, and sociology. major branches of applied linguistics include bilingualism and multilingualism, conversation analysis, contrastive linguistics, sign linguistics, language assessment, literacies, discourse analysis, language pedagogy, second language acquisition, language planning and policy, interlinguistics, stylistics, pragmatics, forensic linguistics and translation. (wikipedia “applied linguistics”) the second part of the definition seems to confuse disciplines with objects of study – different branches of linguistics, discourse and conversation analysis, pedagogy, stylistics and pragmatics on one hand, and literacies, second language acquisition, language planning and policy, translation on the other. it may be instructive to compare the definition with that of “translation studies”: translation studies is an academic interdiscipline dealing with the systematic study of the theory, description and application of translation, interpreting, and localization. as an interdiscipline, translation studies borrows much from the various fields of study that support translation. these include comparative literature, computer science, history, linguistics, philology, philosophy, semiotics, and terminology. (wikipedia “translation studies”) curiously, the definition does not mention psychology, sociology or anthropology among the “fields of study that support translation”. it is also interesting to notice how both definitions formulate their genus proximum: “an interdisciplinary field of linguistics” and “an academic interdiscipline”. i can understand the word “interdisciplinary” – “of or relating to more than one branch of knowledge” (the new oxford dictionary of english), where “of ” probably means “belonging to”. i am not sure whether i understand the word “interdiscipline”. traditional dictionaries do not 8 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ contain this entry. is it a discipline after all? an “interdisciplinary discipline”? a definition from wikipedia does not help much: the term interdiscipline [...] means an organizational unit that involves two or more academic disciplines, but which have [?] the formal criteria of disciplines such as dedicated research journals, conferences and university departments. it is related to interdisciplinarity, but it is a noun used for a certain kind of unit (academic discipline). as shown in the example of demography below a field may be both a discipline and an interdiscipline at the same time. the example of information science demonstrates that a field may be regarded as a discipline in some countries but an interdiscipline in other countries. (wikipedia “interdiscipline”) this pseudo-definition does not answer our question. in fact, it does not answer any questions. we are still left with our query concerning the status of translation studies and its relationship with applied linguistics. what are the criteria of acknowledging that a field of study is an independent academic discipline? first of all it should have a serious, important, complex and complicated object of study. is translation such an object? it is definitely serious and important. we are surrounded by translations – they are everywhere. we read translated books and documents, web pages and user’s manuals, we watch translated films and tv programmes, play translated games, listen to translated news from other countries. most of our knowledge of the world comes from translations. so, after a moment of thought, we have to admit that translations are important and omnipresent. but is translation complex and complicated? recently i have kept repeating i. a. richards’ words: “translation may very probably be the most complex event yet produced in the evolution of the cosmos” (richards 1953: 250). i keep repeating them because they are very true and because hardly anybody realizes the complicated nature of translation. most people believe that translating is about replacing words from one language with their dictionary equivalents from the other language (cf. the “definition” of translation in longman dictionary of applied linguistics quoted above). translation is not replacing words with other words. translation consists in reproducing the mental structures signalled by text a in language a, and then producing text b in language b that will make it possible for users of language b to reproduce as much of those mental structures as possible. merely to understand what translation really is one needs to practise (preferably to practise and study) it for a few years. in order to become a professional translator more years of practice (preferably of practice and study) are needed. thus, we have a serious, important, complex and complicated object of study. we have thousands of scholars dealing with it. we have academic departments, numerous conferences, journals, plenty of students eager to study translation. in my opinion it is enough to recognize translation studies as an independent academic discipline. does the word independent mean that it has no contacts with other disciplines, that it does not owe anything to other fields of study? of course not. there are no such disciplines in contemporary “interdisciplinary” world. translation studies 9 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ definitely draws on psychology, sociology, anthropology, literary studies, philosophy... and obviously on linguistics. this “dependence” on other fields of study made some scholars sceptical as to the prospects of the discipline: thus one of the main problems with the scientific investigation of translation seems to lie in the fact that not only linguistic factors, but many other factors need to be taken into account. since these factors belong to a variety of different areas of life, there is a question whether a comprehensive account of translation in the form of a coherent and homogeneous theory can ever be achieved. (gutt 1991: 5) gutt does not seem to realize that similar doubts could be voiced by representatives of all contemporary humanities. science in general is becoming more and more interdisciplinary. the fact that translation studies makes use of the findings of psychology, sociology, linguistics or computer science does not mean that it is (or should be) a subdiscipline of any of them. it is definitely not a subdiscipline of applied linguistics, because language is only one of the aspects of translation. on the other hand, different inspirations result in different schools of translation studies. it is possible to distinguish at least five “trends” in the discipline: linguistic, psychological, sociological, literary and philosophical. the best known representative of the linguistic trend is j.c. catford (1965). more recently the school is represented by a. bogusławski (2013), who even uses the label “translatory linguistics”, and t. krzeszowski (2016), whose approach is based on cognitive linguistics. the psychological school is represented by, inter alia, e.-a. gutt (1991), making use of the relevance theory, and e. tabakowska (1993). the best example of the sociological approach is the so-called descriptive translation studies with its most eminent representatives g. toury (1995) and th. hermans (2007). among numerous literary-oriented translation scholars i would like to mention e. balcerzan (2010), a. berman (1984), j. brzozowski (2011). philosophically-minded scholars deal with the so-called hermeneutics of translation, their best-known representatives being probably g. steiner (1975) and r. stolze (1994). all those schools compete and collaborate, all those trends overlap to some extent, since their object of study is the same – translation. because of the ever-growing significance and number of translations, because of the complicated and interesting nature of the mental processes involved in translating, translation studies is likely to attract more and more students and scholars and gain in importance. references balcerzan, edward. 2010. tłumaczenie jako “wojna światów”. w kręgu translatologii i komparatystyki. poznań: wydawnictwo naukowe uam. berman, andre. 1984. l’épreuve de l’étranger. culture et traduction dans l’allemagne romantique. paris: gallimard. bogusławski, andrzej. 2013. podstawy konfrontatywnej lingwistyki przekładowej. łask: oficyna wydawnicza leksem. 10 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ brzozowski, jerzy. 2011. stanąć po stronie tłumacza. zarys poetyki opisowej przekładu. kraków: wydawnictwo uniwersytetu jagiellońskiego. catford, john c. 1965. a linguistic theory of translation. london: oxford university press. grabe, william. 2002. “applied linguistics: an emerging discipline for the twenty-first century.” in: robert b. kaplan (ed.), the oxford handbook of applied linguistics. oxford: oxford university press, 3-12. gutt, ernst-august. 1991. translation and relevance. cognition and context. oxford: blackwell. hermans, theo. 2007. the conference of the tongues. manchester: st. jerome publishing. holmes, james. 2000. “the name and nature of translation studies.” in: lawrence venuti (ed.), the translation studies reader. london-new york: routledge, 172-185. kaplan, robert b. (ed.) 2002. the oxford handbook of applied linguistics. oxford: oxford university press. krzeszowski, tomasz p. 2016. the translation equivalence delusion. meaning and translation. frankfurt: peter lang. richards, ivor a. 1953. “toward a theory of translating.” in: a. f. wright (ed.), studies in chinese thought. chicago: university of chicago press. richards, jack c. platt, john. platt, heidi. 1992. longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics. burnt mill, harlow: longman. steiner, george. 1975. after babel. aspects of language and translation. oxford: oxford university press. stolze, radegundis. 1994. űbersetzungstheorien. eine einfűhrung. tűbingen: narr. szulc, aleksander. 1984. podręczny słownik językoznawstwa stosowanego. dydaktyka języków obcych. warszawa: państwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. tabakowska, elżbieta. 1993. cognitive linguistics and poetics of translation. tűbingen: narr. toury, gideon. 1995. descriptive translation studies and beyond. amsterdam/philadelphia: benjamins. the new oxford dictionary of english. 1998. edited by judy pearsall. oxford: clarendon press. understanding, interpretation and engagement in translation of political discourse 71 crossroads. a journal of english studies fatima zohra chouarfia university of mostaganem, algeria understanding, interpretation and engagement in translation of political discourse abstract. building meaning implies the existence, or maybe the creation, in some cases, of a given context. hence, context is a key element in the comprehension process. translation as a linguistic act, based upon making ambiguous foreign language texts legible in one’s mother tongue or vice versa, relies primarily on interpretation. in fact, one’s understanding of a text depends on one’s understanding of its content as well as its context in the first place. nevertheless, such a statement raises many questions whose answers are no gospel truth. as a matter of fact, interpretation in the translation of political speeches is a case in point; it determines strategies to be adopted and positions to be taken as well. keywords: interpretation, translation strategies, decision-making, ideology, engagement. 1. introduction translation is not merely a replacement of lexical units by others in the target language, it is much more complicated and complex. some scholars suggest reasons why translators and/or interpreters do not come up with the same outcome. it has long been established that translation cannot be done without understanding the st. yet, understanding is no simple task; it goes through different stages. many factors contribute to making the translator choose one suggestion over another. such is the case in most types of translation, if not all of them. in political translation, decision-making is extremely significant because politics is mainly about taking sides which is quite obvious in the terms chosen and the translation strategies used. supporting a cause and fighting with words in translation is what came to be known as engagement, a form of resistance and activism highly criticised for breaching the code of ethics. this paper tries to explore how decisions are made in translation and what might influence translators’ and/or interpreters’ choices in political translation by analyzing some samples representing the main characteristics of political discourse. the examples are taken from obama’s cairo speech delivered at al-azhar university, one of the top moderate islamic institutions, in june 2009, six months after his election as first african-american, of muslim origin, president 10.15290/cr.2018.20.1.04 72 crossroads. a journal of english studies of the united states of america. his election campaign had «  change  » as a slogan, change in perceptions and policies as well. so, when elected, he decided to address the muslim world in a different way; he made sure to tackle all issues, controversial or not, without hurting his target audience, for it was meant to be « a new beginning » as he labelled his speech. the task sounded like an uphill battle, but he managed to handle it. the official website of the white house offered translations into 15 languages and made them available on the same day, ready to be read and/or downloaded. many tv channels, including arabic language ones, aired the speech interpreted into national languages. our main focus will be on the russia today interpretation of the speech. 2. understanding meaning meaning is built in a different order depending on the role one is supposed to play in the communication process. to the sender, it is prior to expression, i.e. one thinks first of the point one wants to make and then chooses the right words to convey the message, whereas the receiver grasps the meaning after reading or hearing some discourse. yet, words alone are just one way to make one’s message shine through  (seleskovitch 1976); gestures, posture, tone, etc. are other tools that serve the same purpose. meaning is what an author is deliberately willing to say. it has nothing to do with the reasons and consequences of what is being said, and should be distinguished from one’s motives and intentions (lederer & seleskovitch 2001: 269). dan sperber postulates that understanding goes through two stages; the first one consists in understanding the language of the text in question, while the second one is deducing the meaning with the help of some extra-linguistic knowledge (cited in lederer 1994: 25). however, meaning is grasped in one step only; at the discourse level. words have different meanings according to where they are placed in the sentence, and how they are contextualized. in the 1960s, marianne lederer and danica seleskovitch, inspired by their work as conference interpreters, put forward an interpretive approach to translation, also known as the  theory of sense,  after realizing there are more similarities between interpreting and translation than differences. lederer argues that translating consists in understanding a text and then reformulating it in another language (ibid:13). understanding a text brings together linguistic competence and encyclopedic knowledge. it is generally accepted that a good translation is the one that has the same meaning as the original. catford assumes that meaning is « a property of a language. an sl text has an sl meaning, and a tl text has a tl meaning » (catford 1965: 35.) this suggests that understanding and reactions are not similar as the audience in both languages-cultures have different backrgounds, world views, ideologies, beliefs and logic; what might sound quite normal and acceptabe in one culture, could be perceived otherwise in another cultural milieu. besides, the tt does not necessarily have the same objectives as the st. so, the form and content of each text vary according to the function it aims to fulfill. hence, meaning might change from one language to another. 73 crossroads. a journal of english studies 3. ideology and position of the translator 3.1. ideological turn in translation the “cultural turn” in translation is one of the main reasons translation studies started getting interested in ideology, for translation goes beyond the text to involve culture and politics (mª rojo lópez & ramos caro 2014: 251). this approach deals with issues such as the different situations of literature, ideological implications of translation and power relations between cultures. ideologies represent who we are, what our values and beliefs are, and what our relationships are with our friends and foes (van dijk 1998: 69). according to fawcett, beliefs play a major role in producing a particular effect in translation (fawcett 1998: 106-7). this can be seen in cases where individuals and/or institutions avoid some words and use others instead, or when the passive voice is privileged in order to hide some aspect of power (schäffner 2003: 23). this approach holds the recipient responsible for understanding the text and interpreting it. the aim is to highlight the ideological importance of translation so that it is regarded as a means of ideological resistance. 3.2 engagement in translation neutrality in translation is a delusion (guidère 2008: 98) and precision is nothing but an illusion. if we accept that the translator is compelled to take the target culture into account as he has to create the same effect so that the receiver feels no strangeness in the translated text, it follows that the strategies chosen, the decisions made and the text’s parts that are emphasized demonstrate to what extent a translation might be biased, and can be used as proof of some kind of engagement in translation, whether implicit or explicit (tymoczko 2000). as a matter of fact, the translator is interested in politics, takes sides, has political positions and their own views on what’s right and wrong, and often forgets any code of ethics or commission (baker 2009: 24). the word engage has several meanings, one of which is « to enter into combat with (an enemy) » (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/engage). such a meaning can apply to translation, for translators do experience some sort of ideological conflict (tymoczko 2000). speaking of engagement in translation entails dealing with activism as well, since some translations « rouse, inspire, witness, mobilize, and incite to rebellion. » (tymoczko 2007 : 213). « engaged translators […] have political agendas and use translation as one means to achieve those agendas.  » (ibid) opting for foreignization as a translation strategy in order to resist the translator’s invisibility (venuti 1995) or enrich the language introducing loanwords and syntactic structures is one way to be an engaged translator. nevertheless, the task of the translator, according to archibald, is to maintain the national identity by monitoring the quality of the common language and protecting it from neologisms and the like (archibald 2016). in order for a translation to be a means of political engagement, the translator must have a set of goals and values that should be respected when choosing texts, and a will to manipulate and 74 crossroads. a journal of english studies adapt them to political agendas. moreover, creativity is needed in diversifying translation strategies (tymoczko 2000). according to chesterman, “the political engagement of the translator . . . lies outside the realm of professional ethics” (cited in tymoczko 2007: 320) while mona baker argues that the political activism of some translators does not make them any less professional than their peers who are not engaged (baker 2009). 4. interpretation and translation according to walter benjamin, translation is some sort of afterlife to the source text as not all works are translated at the time the original is published (benjamin 2000: 16). however, while works get to live longer, authors either die (barthes 1977) or no longer have any authority nor power whatsoever over their own writings, for there is no real sense of a text; once published, it is like a device that anyone can use as they please. it is not sure that the creator uses it better than any other person (valéry 1936). ideas can be expressed in multiple ways; words may change but the gist remains the same. this could be explained by the fact that humans think differently because of where and how they were brought up, which has an impact on the ideologies they adopt as well as the purposes they intend to achieve through text and talk. hence, the consequences of their utterances depend on how they say what they say and how the receiver may understand their statement. interpretation comes right after trying to understand as a reaction to an action. in other words, interpretation is the application of understanding; what one understands and how one understands it require some foundation to base on, a starting point. yet, seleskovitch insists on distinguishing discourse from language when translating. translators as well as interpreters deal with discourse, i.e. language put into context. a simultaneous interpreter, for instance, would not try to figure out the meaning of every single word separately, for what matters to them is the sentence as a whole and the ideas conveyed through it (seleskovitch & lederer op.cit: 104-5).the next step after understanding is interpretation, but since several possibilities might fit, the translator and/or interpreter resorts to negotiation (eco 2006) and proceeds with an elimination method in order to finally make up their mind on which word seems to be adequate. one has to admit that not all potential interpretations are correct; there are as many interpretations as receivers. it entails that not all suggestions can be trusted as true and relevant. if a text is found in a bottle without any hint indicating its author’s name or the period of time it was written in, will it be interpreted the same way when both are known? (eco 1992: 134). eco argues that a distinction needs to be made between the intention of the author and the intention of the text. the text may reveal things the author did not even think of. so, if the author is still alive, they might be asked if they really intended to mean what was understood. the answer should not be used to confirm interpretation of the text but to show unconformity between the intention of the author and the intention of the text (ibid: 138). in other words, interpretations do not necessarily 75 crossroads. a journal of english studies uncover the truth behind text and talk. authors may have had other intentions rather than the ones perceived as such. 5. some political discourse characteristics and translation strategies language is a key element in politics; it is the tool politicians use to shape the world the way they see fit. chilton argues that even a declaration of war is a linguistic act in the first place (chilton 1997: 175). thus, if one were to define political discourse, the easiest and simplest definition would be that it is a discourse about politics; i.e. a discourse that deals with political issues (van dijk 1997). now, what is politics? one may wonder. it is «  who gets what, when and how  » (lasswell 1936). so, a political discourse may be « a parliamentary debate, a propaganda leaflet, a campaign speech or a revolutionary slogan », etc. (van dijk 1997: 18). as any discourse related to a specific field, political discourse has characteristics of its own, maybe not unique nor specific to it in particular, but altogether they make it special. in what follows, some characteristics along with examples and the strategies used to translate them will be examined. 5.1 euphemism euphemism can be defined as « a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing. » (https:// en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/euphemism). longman english dictionary offers another definition where politeness is a keyword;  « a polite word or expression that you use instead of a more direct one to avoid shocking or upsetting someone » (https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/euphemism). in fact, generally speaking, saving one’s face is the main reason one has recourse to such a linguistic tool (goffman 1959). euphemisms are either positive or negative. the positive ones are intended to inflate and magnify the euphemized items so they seem more important than they really are. negative euphemisms, on the other hand, deflate, diminish and eradicate from the language every topic people do not like dealing with directly (rawson 1981: 1). euphemisms are frequently used in political texts to conceal the realities and make atrocities look less dramatic. they are « the politician’s most useful weapon for telling lies » (newmark 1991: 158). euphemisms can be composed of one word only or a group of words. manar abdulhafeeth abdalla studied euphemisms and compared them to fixed expressions. she came to the conclusion that there are some common traits between them and stated some difficulties a translator and/or an interpreter may come across. it is hard to: • identify whether it is a euphemism or not in the sl ; • understand the form of the euphemism in the sl ; • understand the cultural load of the euphemism in the sl ; • find an equivalent in the tl. 76 crossroads. a journal of english studies • determine «  what to do when the ‘deceptive’ content of the euphemism in the st, if not revealed in the tt, would have an adverse effect on the members of the tl community.  » (abdulhafeeth abdalla 2009: 40). since euphemisms are similar to fixed expressions, then the same strategies can be used to render them in the target language: • using a euphemism of similar meaning and form ; • using a euphemism of similar meaning but dissimilar form ; • translation by paraphrase ; • translation by omission (baker 1992 :72-77.) e.g. 1 : st : ‘ the first issue that we have to confront is violent extremism in all of its forms.’ obama tried to avoid the usual terms « terror » and « terrorism », often used when referring to acts of violence, and employed the euphemism « extremism » instead. however, rendering «extremism» as e.g. 1 : st : ‘ the first issue that we have to confront is violent extremism in all of its forms.’ obama tried to avoid the usual terms « terror » and « terrorism », often used when referring to acts of violence, and employed the euphemism « extremism » instead. however, rendering « extremism » as "تطرف" in arabic was out of question for the russia today arabic interpreter (hence rt int) who inerpreted the sentence as follows : in arabic was out of question for the russia today arabic interpreter (hence rt int) who interpreted the sentence as follows: tt. ‘ الموجودةالمناطق كلفيعنفوالهاباإلرتط... لاهيمواجهتها ناعليجبيالتيمسألةأول’ : (the first issue we must confront is ex… terrorism and violence in all areas.) the rt int hesitated and was about to translate «  extremism  » as 8 (the first issue we must confront is ex… terrorism and violence in all areas.) the rt int hesitated and was about to translate « extremism » as "تطرف" at first, its arabic equivalent, but then stepped back and chose « اإلرهاب » instead, arabic for « terrorism ». this choice is not just a decision but a position taken as well. the rt int chose not to deceive his target audience by using euphemisms which hide the truth, and decided to call a spade a spade. such a strategy was determined by multiple factors. firstly, interpreting an american speech for a russian tv channel must have some effects on the end product ; one just has to take a look back at history between the two countries to better understand. secondly, the interpreter might have his own political views and agenda. thirdly, the target audience is the most important participant in this communicative act, and that’s why respecting their way of thinking is the interpreter’s top priority. e.g. 2 : st : ‘ resistance through violence and killing is wrong (…). ’ : tt‘)...(. خاطئة والقتل العنف خالل من والمقاومة’ it is generally accepted, in the political and media mainstream, that the palestinian movement fighting the israeli occupation is a terrorist organization. however, obama swam against the current and used the term resistance instead, a decision that brought him much criticism. the euphemism was rendered by its arabic equivalent "المقاومة" but with a different agenda, probably. obama had to make sure not to offend his audience in order to turn the page and start a new chapter in u.s. relations with the islamic world. in other words, bringing about such a controversial issue could have caused unnecessary rage and tension, or at least some discomfort that obama tried to avoid. nevertheless, the rt int used the equivalent out of engagement to show support to the palestinian cause. 5.2. repetition repetition is studied under lexical cohesion and is divided into reiteration and collocation. reiteration « means either repeating an item in a large part of the discussion by direct repetition or reasserting its meaning by developing lexical relation » (abu assi 2011 : 21). according to baker, items can be repeated or replaced by synonyms, near-synonyms, super ordinates or general words (cited in ibid.) at first, its arabic equivalent, but then stepped back and chose 8 (the first issue we must confront is ex… terrorism and violence in all areas.) the rt int hesitated and was about to translate « extremism » as "تطرف" at first, its arabic equivalent, but then stepped back and chose « اإلرهاب » instead, arabic for « terrorism ». this choice is not just a decision but a position taken as well. the rt int chose not to deceive his target audience by using euphemisms which hide the truth, and decided to call a spade a spade. such a strategy was determined by multiple factors. firstly, interpreting an american speech for a russian tv channel must have some effects on the end product ; one just has to take a look back at history between the two countries to better understand. secondly, the interpreter might have his own political views and agenda. thirdly, the target audience is the most important participant in this communicative act, and that’s why respecting their way of thinking is the interpreter’s top priority. e.g. 2 : st : ‘ resistance through violence and killing is wrong (…). ’ : tt‘)...(. خاطئة والقتل العنف خالل من والمقاومة’ it is generally accepted, in the political and media mainstream, that the palestinian movement fighting the israeli occupation is a terrorist organization. however, obama swam against the current and used the term resistance instead, a decision that brought him much criticism. the euphemism was rendered by its arabic equivalent "المقاومة" but with a different agenda, probably. obama had to make sure not to offend his audience in order to turn the page and start a new chapter in u.s. relations with the islamic world. in other words, bringing about such a controversial issue could have caused unnecessary rage and tension, or at least some discomfort that obama tried to avoid. nevertheless, the rt int used the equivalent out of engagement to show support to the palestinian cause. 5.2. repetition repetition is studied under lexical cohesion and is divided into reiteration and collocation. reiteration « means either repeating an item in a large part of the discussion by direct repetition or reasserting its meaning by developing lexical relation » (abu assi 2011 : 21). according to baker, items can be repeated or replaced by synonyms, near-synonyms, super ordinates or general words (cited in ibid.) instead, arabic for «  terrorism  ». this choice is not just a decision but a position taken as well. the rt int chose not to deceive his target audience by using euphemisms which hide the truth, and decided to call a spade a spade. such a strategy was determined by multiple factors. firstly, interpreting an american speech for a russian tv channel must have some effects on the end product; one just has to take a look back at history between the two countries to better understand. secondly, the interpreter might have his own political views and agenda. thirdly, the target audience is the most important participant in this communicative act, and that is why respecting their way of thinking is the interpreter’s top priority. e.g. 2 :st :‘ resistance through violence and killing is wrong (…). ’ 8 (the first issue we must confront is ex… terrorism and violence in all areas.) the rt int hesitated and was about to translate « extremism » as "تطرف" at first, its arabic equivalent, but then stepped back and chose « اإلرهاب » instead, arabic for « terrorism ». this choice is not just a decision but a position taken as well. the rt int chose not to deceive his target audience by using euphemisms which hide the truth, and decided to call a spade a spade. such a strategy was determined by multiple factors. firstly, interpreting an american speech for a russian tv channel must have some effects on the end product ; one just has to take a look back at history between the two countries to better understand. secondly, the interpreter might have his own political views and agenda. thirdly, the target audience is the most important participant in this communicative act, and that’s why respecting their way of thinking is the interpreter’s top priority. e.g. 2 : st : ‘ resistance through violence and killing is wrong (…). ’ : tt‘)...(. خاطئة والقتل العنف خالل من والمقاومة’ it is generally accepted, in the political and media mainstream, that the palestinian movement fighting the israeli occupation is a terrorist organization. however, obama swam against the current and used the term resistance instead, a decision that brought him much criticism. the euphemism was rendered by its arabic equivalent "المقاومة" but with a different agenda, probably. obama had to make sure not to offend his audience in order to turn the page and start a new chapter in u.s. relations with the islamic world. in other words, bringing about such a controversial issue could have caused unnecessary rage and tension, or at least some discomfort that obama tried to avoid. nevertheless, the rt int used the equivalent out of engagement to show support to the palestinian cause. 5.2. repetition repetition is studied under lexical cohesion and is divided into reiteration and collocation. reiteration « means either repeating an item in a large part of the discussion by direct repetition or reasserting its meaning by developing lexical relation » (abu assi 2011 : 21). according to baker, items can be repeated or replaced by synonyms, near-synonyms, super ordinates or general words (cited in ibid.) it is generally accepted, in the political and media mainstream, that the palestinian movement fighting the israeli occupation is a terrorist organization. however, obama swam against the current and used the term  resistance  instead, a decision that brought him much criticism. the euphemism was rendered by its arabic equivalent 8 (the first issue we must confront is ex… terrorism and violence in all areas.) the rt int hesitated and was about to translate « extremism » as "تطرف" at first, its arabic equivalent, but then stepped back and chose « اإلرهاب » instead, arabic for « terrorism ». this choice is not just a decision but a position taken as well. the rt int chose not to deceive his target audience by using euphemisms which hide the truth, and decided to call a spade a spade. such a strategy was determined by multiple factors. firstly, interpreting an american speech for a russian tv channel must have some effects on the end product ; one just has to take a look back at history between the two countries to better understand. secondly, the interpreter might have his own political views and agenda. thirdly, the target audience is the most important participant in this communicative act, and that’s why respecting their way of thinking is the interpreter’s top priority. e.g. 2 : st : ‘ resistance through violence and killing is wrong (…). ’ : tt‘)...(. خاطئة والقتل العنف خالل من والمقاومة’ it is generally accepted, in the political and media mainstream, that the palestinian movement fighting the israeli occupation is a terrorist organization. however, obama swam against the current and used the term resistance instead, a decision that brought him much criticism. the euphemism was rendered by its arabic equivalent "المقاومة" but with a different agenda, probably. obama had to make sure not to offend his audience in order to turn the page and start a new chapter in u.s. relations with the islamic world. in other words, bringing about such a controversial issue could have caused unnecessary rage and tension, or at least some discomfort that obama tried to avoid. nevertheless, the rt int used the equivalent out of engagement to show support to the palestinian cause. 5.2. repetition repetition is studied under lexical cohesion and is divided into reiteration and collocation. reiteration « means either repeating an item in a large part of the discussion by direct repetition or reasserting its meaning by developing lexical relation » (abu assi 2011 : 21). according to baker, items can be repeated or replaced by synonyms, near-synonyms, super ordinates or general words (cited in ibid.) but with a different agenda, probably. obama had to make sure not to offend his audience in order to turn the page and start a new 77 crossroads. a journal of english studies chapter in u.s. relations with the islamic world. in other words, bringing about such a controversial issue could have caused unnecessary rage and tension, or at least some discomfort that obama tried to avoid. nevertheless, the rt int used the equivalent out of engagement to show support to the palestinian cause. 5.2 repetition repetition is studied under lexical cohesion and is divided into reiteration and collocation. reiteration « means either repeating an item in a large part of the discussion by direct repetition or reasserting its meaning by developing lexical relation » (abu assi 2011: 21). according to baker, items can be repeated or replaced by synonyms, near-synonyms, super ordinates or general words (cited in ibid.) collocation, on the other hand, is made up of two words or more that always occur together (gazala, cited in ibid.). there is also another type of repetition called parallelism, which refers to « a series of two or more grammatical elements of the same type joined by and (or sometimes by or) » (beason and lester 2009: 298). repetition has many functions; it can be used : • to emphasize; • to create an emotional effect; • to be questionable; • to express annoyance; • to persuade; • to express surprise; • to give instructions; • as a filler (rabab’ah & abuserleek 2012 : 452-55). repetition can be rendered in multiple ways: • literal translation; • translation by synonymy; • translation by hyponymy; • translation by homophony; • translation by metaphor; • ellipsis (jawad 2009 :759-61); • omission; • pronominalisation (the use of a pronoun instead of a lexical item); • paraphrase (najjar 2014 :31-33). e.g. 3 : st : ‘ america’s strong bonds with israel are well known. this bond is unbreakable.’ tt : ’ التوازن األمریكي مع إسرائیل والعالقة التي تربط أمیركا مع إسرائیل.‘ (the american balance with israel and the relationship between america and israel.) 78 crossroads. a journal of english studies repetition is used in both st and tt. yet, the elements repeated are not the same; the rt int stressed the countries in question (america and israel), whereas obama insisted on the bond. this could be explained by the fact that obama wanted to emphasize the strong relations, between the us and israel, that can never be broken no matter what happens. the rt int, on the other hand, knows it is a delicate issue for muslims worldwide regardless of their languages and origins. so, instead of keeping the original emphasis, he chose to stress the two countries that remind muslims of the arab-israeli conflict. furthermore, the rt int interpreted «bonds» as 10 bond. this could be explained by the fact that obama wanted to emphasize the strong relations, between the us and israel, that can never be broken no matter what happens. the rt int, on the other hand, knows it is a delicate issue for muslims worldwide regardless of their languages and origins. so, instead of keeping the original emphasis, he chose to stress the two countries that remind muslims of the arab-israeli conflict. furthermore, the rt int interpreted « bonds » as "التوازن" (balance) at the beginning of the unit in order to demonstrate how interdependent both countries are on each other. 5.3. metaphor a metaphor is a figure of speech widely used in political texts as a persuasion technique. in order to better understand this concept, one has to check out its etymology. « the word metaphor comes from the greek word metaphora which is derived from meta, meaning “over” and pherein, “to carry”, which means to carry or to transfer something. » (shuttleworth & abdullah 2013 : 610) so, metaphor consists in transferring some concept’s meaning to another one, and by so doing, it changes the characteristics of the word in question. as far as translation of metaphor is concerned, several strategies can be adopted. in his ph.d thesis, « metaphor in translation: a multilingual investigation into language use at the frontiers of scientific knowledge », mark shuttleworth cites some procedures :  « reproducing the same image in tl, ‘provided the image has comparable frequency and currency in the appropriate register’  replacing the image in sl ‘with a standard tl image which does not clash with the tl culture’  translating the metaphor by a simile, ‘retaining the image’  ‘translation of metaphor (or simile) by simile plus sense.’  conversion of the metaphor to sense  modification of the metaphor  deletion  using the same metaphor combined with the sense .» (cited in shuttleworth 2013 :84) (balance) at the beginning of the unit in order to demonstrate how interdependent both countries are on each other. 5.3 metaphor a metaphor is a figure of speech widely used in political texts as a persuasion technique. in order to better understand this concept, one has to check out its etymology. « the word metaphor comes from the greek word metaphora which is derived from meta, meaning “over” and pherein, “to carry”, which means to carry or to transfer something.  » (shuttleworth & abdullah 2013: 610) so, metaphor consists in transferring some concept’s meaning to another one, and by so doing, it changes the characteristics of the word in question. as far as translation of metaphor is concerned, several strategies can be adopted. in his ph.d. thesis, « metaphor in translation: a multilingual investigation into language use at the frontiers of scientific knowledge », mark shuttleworth cites some procedures : • «reproducing the same image in tl, ‘provided the image has comparable frequency and currency in the appropriate register’ • replacing the image in sl ‘with a standard tl image which does not clash with the tl culture’ • translating the metaphor by a simile, ‘retaining the image’ • ‘translation of metaphor (or simile) by simile plus sense’ • conversion of the metaphor to sense • modification of the metaphor • deletion • using the same metaphor combined with the sense.» (cited in shuttleworth 2013: 84) further in his thesis, shuttleworth comes to the conclusion that there are some strategies which are used more than others: • retention • modification • removal • omission • addition (ibid: 126-132). e.g.4 : st : ‘we were born out of revolution(…).’ 11 further in his thesis, shuttleworth comes to the conclusion that there are some strategies which are used more than others :  retention  modification  removal  omission  addition (ibid : 126-132). e.g.4 : st : ‘we were born out of revolution (…).’ tt : ‘.(…) ’ثورة لدينا وكانت (and we had a revolution) the rt int chose to remove the metaphor. by so doing, he slightly changed the meaning. one can interpret this as a will to diminish the greatness and importance the speaker was trying to give to the fact by poetically highlighting the event. opting for such a strategy is another way of activism and engagement in translation, for this unit was taken from a paragraph wherein obama praised the united states of america and depicted it as one of the greatest sources of progress in the world, which is something the rt int might not be allowed to promote as it goes against the agenda he is bound to respect. 5.4. intertextuality intertextuality is a term coined by julia kristeva to refer to the interdependence of texts (cuddon 1998 : 424). according to barthes, every text is an intertext (barthes 1974), i.e. every new text contains fragments of previous texts and may become part of future ones. in other words, intertextuality consists in borrowing words, concepts, allusions, codes, conventions and practices, consciously or unconsciously, from previous texts when producing a new one (haberer 2007 : 21.) translation represents a unique case of intertextuality where three sets of intertextual relations exist : 1) the relations between the foreign text and the other texts, whether in the sl or the tl; 2) the relations between the foreign text and translation traditionally based on (and we had a revolution) 79 crossroads. a journal of english studies the rt int chose to remove the metaphor. by so doing, he slightly changed the meaning. one can interpret this as a will to diminish the greatness and importance the speaker was trying to give to the fact by poetically highlighting the event. opting for such a strategy is another way of activism and engagement in translation, for this unit was taken from a paragraph wherein obama praised the united states of america and depicted it as one of the greatest sources of progress in the world, which is something the rt int might not be allowed to promote as it goes against the agenda he is bound to respect. 5.4 intertextuality intertextuality is a term coined by julia kristeva to refer to the interdependence of texts (cuddon 1998: 424). according to barthes, every text is an intertext (barthes 1974), i.e. every new text contains fragments of previous texts and may become part of future ones. in other words, intertextuality consists in borrowing words, concepts, allusions, codes, conventions and practices, consciously or unconsciously, from previous texts when producing a new one (haberer 2007: 21.) translation represents a unique case of intertextuality where three sets of intertextual relations exist: 1) the relations between the foreign text and the other texts, whether in the sl or the tl; 2) the relations between the foreign text and translation traditionally based on equivalence; 3) the relations between translation and other texts, whether in the sl or the tl (venuti 2006). in order to translate intertextual elements, several strategies are possible. alekseeva names two: • «full or partial loss of intertextuality; • replacement of an intertextual element of the original text to the intertextual elements, with the same connotations in the translated text. » (cited in klimovich 2014 : 260) venuti asserts that intertextual relations are seldom wholly or exactly recreated in the tt because translation is all about decontextualization. the translator may widen the gap between the st and the tt when trying to recreate some form of intertextuality (venuti op. cit.). raux-foucard, on the other hand, distinguishes other strategies varying according to intertextuality types: • recontextualization ; • transcription of proper nouns respecting the properties of the tl ; • reproduction of the same meaning (raux-foucard 2006). e.g.5 :st :‘ (…)when jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for jews and christians and muslims, and a place for all of the children of abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of isra, when moses, jesus, and mohammed (peace be upon them) joined in prayer.’ 12 equivalence ; 3) the relations between translation and other texts, whether in the sl or the tl (venuti 2006). in order to translate intertextual elements, several strategies are possible. alekseeva names two :  « full or partial loss of intertextuality;  replacement of an intertextual element of the original text to the intertextual elements, with the same connotations in the translated text. » (cited in klimovich 2014 : 260) venuti asserts that intertextual relations are seldom wholly or exactly recreated in the tt because translation is all about decontextualization. the translator may widen the gap between the st and the tt when trying to recreate some form of intertextuality. (venuti op.cit) raux-foucard, on the other hand, distinguishes other strategies varying according to intertextuality types:  recontextualization ;  transcription of proper nouns respecting the properties of the tl ;  reproduction of the same meaning (raux-foucard 2006). e.g.5 : st : ‘ (…) when jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for jews and christians and muslims, and a place for all of the children of abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of isra, when moses, jesus, and mohammed (peace be upon them) joined in prayer.’ tt : إبراهيم اختارها التي األرض تكون وأن مسيحيين ومسلمين الفلسطينيين بين مشترك تعايش هناك يكون أن)...( ’ كما جاء ‘.هناك يلتقون والسالم الصالة عليه ومحمد وعيسى موسى يلتقي حينما الكريم القرآن بها يخبرنا التي القصة في (there should be coexistence between palestinians christians and muslims and the land chosen by abraham as stated in the story told by the quran when moses and jesus and muhammad, peace be upon him, meet there.) the first thing to be noted is how a secure and lasting home in the st became coexistence in the tt, which is quite an interesting shift indeed. home is where the heart is, as the saying goes, where one feels most secure and comfortable ; while coexistence means living together at the same time and/or place. this definition implies that living together does not necessarily (there should be coexistence between palestinians christians and muslims and the land chosen by abraham as stated in the story told by the quran when moses and jesus and muhammad, peace be upon him, meet there.) 80 crossroads. a journal of english studies the first thing to be noted is how a secure and lasting home in the st became coexistence in the tt, which is quite an interesting shift indeed. home is where the heart is, as the saying goes, where one feels most secure and comfortable; while coexistence means living together at the same time and/or place. this definition implies that living together does not necessarily mean feeling secure. moreover, obama wanted a lasting home for all people of the book, yet, the rt int omitted jews and considered that palestinians are either christians or muslims, which is quite significant. furthermore, obama mentioned the story of isra, a well-known story to all muslims where the prophet muhammad (pbuh) flew to jerusalem on a miraculous steed known as al-burāq to perform prayer with all prophets and messengers, but the rt int chose to generalize by saying « as stated in the story told by the quran» which could be any story (as the quran contains several stories and parables.) nevertheless, the cotext and the context did help make things much clearer. so, one can say intertextuality was partially kept in this unit. 6. conclusion as a conclusion, political translators and/or interpreters, as receivers of the st, interpret what they receive based on some linguistic and non-linguistic factors. what is understood depends on one’s knowledge of the topic in question, and how it is being dealt with, that is the words chosen to express ideas and convey the message, the tone, etc. this understanding determines how the text might be interpreted. as far as translation and interpreting are concerned, such factors, added to translators’ and/or interpreters’ cultural background, their awareness of the circumstances in which the st has been produced, their ideology or the commissioner’s, have an impact on the form and content of the tt. hence, political translation can be very manipulative since the target audience, especially those having little or no knowledge of the sl, only get access to foreign language political texts via translation/interpreting. thus, the reactions of the target receivers are subject to what has been transmitted to them via translation. in other words, the (non) engagement of the translator/interpreter may cause the receiver to take action according to what they believe is being faithfully transferred to them. however, one should bear in mind that what is being understood does not necessarily reflect the st’s author intention, for they might not be aware of what their text is saying to the audience. so, translations and interpretings are, generally speaking, subjective understanding and interpretations that can be subject to criticism. references abdulhafeeth abdallah, manar. 2009. translating english euphemisms into arabic: challenges & strategies. ma thesis. sharjah: aus. abu assi, hani mohamed ali. 2011. repetition in simultaneous interpreting of political discourse: obama’s speech in cairo. ma thesis. sharjah: aus. 81 crossroads. a journal of english studies archibald, james. 2016. pour l’engagement sociétal du traducteur. circuit 131. http://www.circuitmagazine.org/dossier-131/pour-l-engagement-societal-du-traducteur (27 july 2016). baker, mona.1992. in other words, a course book on translation. london & new york: routledge. baker, mona. june/july 2009. forget neutrality. the linguist 48 (3). 24-26. barthes, roland. 1974. théorie du texte. encyclopedia universalis. http://www.universalis.fr/ encyclopedie/theorie-du-texte/ (9 november 2016). barthes, roland. 1977. image – musictext. new york: hill and wang. beason, larry and lester, mark. 2009. a commonsense guide to grammar and usage. boston: belford/ st martin. benjamin, walter. 2000. the task of the translator. in venuti, lawrence (ed.), the translation studies reader, 15-23. london and new york: routledge. catford, john c. 1965. a linguistic theory of translation. oxford: university press. chilton, paul. 1997. the role of language in human conflict: prolegomena to the investigation of language as a factor in conflict causation and resolution. current issues in language & society 4(3). 174–89. cuddon, j.a. 1998. the penguin dictionary of literary terms and literary theory. london: penguin books. eco, umberto. 1992. les limites de l’interprétation. paris: bernard grasset. eco, umberto. 2006. dire presque la même chose. paris: grasset et fasquelle. fawcett, peter. 1998. ideology and translation. in baker, mona (ed.), routledge encyclopedia of translation studies, 106-11. london and new york: routledge. goffman, erving. 1959. the presentation of self in everyday life. new york: doubleday. guidère, mathieu. 2008. la communication multillingue, traduction commerciale et institutionnelle. bruxelles: de boeck. haberer, adolphe. 2007. intertextuality in theory and practice. literatura 49 (5). 54-67. jawad, hisham. 2009. repetition in literary arabic: foregrounding, backgrounding, and translation strategies. meta 54(4). 753–769. klimovich, natalya v. 2014. phenomenon of intertextuality in translation studies, journal of siberian federal university. humanities & social sciences 2. 255-63. lasswell, harold. 1936/1951. politics: who gets what, when, and how. meridian books. lederer, mariannne. 1994. la traduction aujourd’ hui, le modèle interprétatif. paris: hachette. lederer, marianne and seleskovitch, danica. 2001. interpréter pour traduire. paris: didier erudition. mª rojo lópez, ana and ramos caro, marina. 2014. the impact of the translator’s ideology on the translation process: a reaction time experiment. monti special issue – minding translation. 247-71. 82 crossroads. a journal of english studies najjar, ibrahim. 2014. the translation of lexical and morphological repetitions in the arabic novel thartharah fawg alnel into the english a drift on the nile. ma thesis. kuala lampur: university of mlaya. newmark, peter. 1991. about translation. clevedon: multilingual matters. obama, barack. 2009. a new beginning, a speech delivered in cairo. rabab’ah, ghaleb and abuserleek, ali farhan. 2012. the pragmatic functions of repetition in tv discourse. research in language 10 (4). 445-60. raux-faucard, geneviève. 2006. intertextualité et traduction. meta 51 (1). 98-118. rawson, hugh.1981. a dictionary of euphemism and other doubletalk. new york: crown publishers. schäffner, christina. 2003. third ways and new 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linguistics 11. 11-52. van dijk, teun a. 1998. ideology, a multidisciplinary approach. london: sage publications. venuti, lawrence. 1990. the translator’s invisibility, a history of translation. london and new york: routledge. venuti, lawrence. 2006. traduction, intertextualité, interprétation, palimpsestes 18. http://palimpsestes.revues.org/542 (30 september 2017). web 1 https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/euphemism (15 october 2017). web 2 https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/euphemism (13 october 2017). heliopolis: lisa jarnot’s rewriting of a legendary city 78 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) mark tardi1 doi : 10.15290/cr.2020.28.1.06 university of lodz orcid: 0000-0002-9054-8189 heliopolis: lisa jarnot’s rewriting of a legendary city abstract. in her second book ring of fire, american poet lisa jarnot offers the reader a dynamic sixteen-poem sequence entitled heliopolis. jarnot’s heliopolis uses the legendary city of the sun as a starting point, but rather than describe or depict the life of antiquity, jarnot considers the city as an ongoing posthuman vortex where animals perform a range of implausibly or absurdly anthropomorphic actions. moreover, jarnot’s recursive poetic structures both heighten the rhythmic and ludic qualities of the actions described while toggling between poignant humor and ethical confrontation. this essay seeks to examine what the social and ethical implications are in jarnot’s reimagining of this legendary city. moreover, the work of cary wolfe, donna haraway, and others within posthumanist discourse will be considered as a critical lens into how jarnot is leveraging playfulness and anthropomorphism. why does jarnot consistently (re-)present non-human animals in her poems? how do her stylistic gestures collapse distinctions between physical and temporal boundaries? keywords: heliopolis, american poetry, posthumanism, animals, experimental poetry. introduction although animals have been a recurring subject throughout her oeuvre, in her second full-length book, ring of fire, renowned american poet and biographer lisa jarnot offers the reader what is perhaps her most sustained poetic exploration of nonhuman animals: heliopolis, a sixteen-poem portfolio. the sequence features a wealth of poems about animals historically underrepresented in literature—aardvarks, chinchillas, lemurs, razorback clams—as well as animals with more established historical and artistic representations, such as cows and dogs. regardless of the particular species, jarnot’s animals perform a range of implausibly or even absurdly anthropomorphic actions: arctic birds stroll through new york city and hail cabs; wolves live in houses with heaters, stoves, and tvs; lemurs love tools and all outer space; and aardvarks fill hotel rooms and take train rides. coupled with the actions of the animals, jarnot deploys 1 address for correspondence: dept. of north american literature & culture, faculty of philology, university of lodz, ul. pomorska 171/173, 90-236 lodz, poland. e-mail: mark.tardi@uni.lodz.pl 79 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) recursive structures within the poems that both amplify the rhythmic and ludic qualities of the actions described, but also toggle between comical and ethical confrontation. this essay seeks to consider what the larger social and ethical implications are in jarnot continually (re-)presenting these nonhuman animals in her poems, and, more specifically, what these representations might demonstrate in jarnot’s vision of the legendary city heliopolis. first, some historical context to the ancient city of heliopolis will be established and elaborated on. secondly, the essay will pivot to a general overview of the critical reception of jarnot’s work in ring of fire, and the formal qualities in the poems. thirdly, the relationship between the more explicit animal poems and the later poems in the sequence heliopolis which explore human speakers and what it means to be human will be compared and contrasted in light of jarnot’s conceptualization of heliopolis. lastly, i will explore how her poems might step beyond their initial absurdist elements, and how the poems may comport with prevailing ideas and concepts within posthumanist discourse. although her formal structures are reminiscent of gertrude stein, how does jarnot extend beyond nonlinearity to leverage playfulness and anthropomorphism as a platform for profound social criticism? moreover, how does her conceptualization of heliopolis reframe history and offer a path to reconsider what constitutes the human(e)? cleopatra’s needles the ancient city of heliopolis served as an important and influential religious and philosophical center in egypt. daniel thompsett (2014: n.p.) explains that: as the purported site of the advent of ‘being’ and the beginning of all existence, it is not surprising that heliopolis gained notoriety as a community of priests who studied philosophy and astronomy, becoming the main center in egypt for ancient learning and theology prior to alexandria’s rise. agnieszka dobrowolska and jarosław dobrowolski (2006:15) further note in heliopolis: rebirth of the city of the sun that “[o]f the four separate cosmogonies that originated in egypt’s different religious centers, the one that developed in heliopolis was the earliest, and it continued to influence theologians.” this was a city built around sun-worship, hence the name “heliopolis” literally means “the city of the sun” (dobrowolska & dobrowolski 2006: 16). moreover, the city’s reputation grew as a center for learning courtesy of effective mythologizing. strabo, the ancient greek geographer, historian, and philosopher, visited heliopolis because “he was following in the footsteps of his great mentors (or at least he believed so)”: it was thought that eudoxus of cnidus and plato visited heliopolis to learn from priests who “were distinguished in their knowledge of heavenly bodies” (dobrowolska & dobrowolski 2006: 27-29). 80 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) thus, heliopolis increasingly became a synthesis of egyptian and greek ideas, and one of the most notable exports was the obelisk, which appears to have been invented in the city of the sun. the obelisk is “the only significant surviving remnant of the ancient city and its grand temple” (dobrowolska & dobrowolski 2006: 16). the obelisks themselves were a source of wonder that prompted voyagers to travel great distances to catch a glimpse of them, particularly at dawn: “the obelisks’ shining metal tips of precious metal would catch the first rays of the sun high above a land still engulfed by night. for many centuries they would continue to inspire awe and fascination” (dobrowolska & dobrowolski 2006: 16). perhaps the most famous of the heliopolitan obelisks are the twin cleopatra’s needles: built more than 3,500 years ago, they were first moved by caesar augustus in 12 bce and are still standing today. one was relocated to london in 1877; and the other was transported to new york in 1879 (dobrowolska & dobrowolski 2006: 17-19). for jarnot, these various heliopolitan characteristics are reconfigured and relocated to the late 20th century or early 21st century in her poems. there are numerous references to heavenly bodies and light and the locations of jarnot’s poems in her heliopolis lean heavily towards the contemporary cities that harbor cleopatra’s needles as well as another location that retains an egyptian obelisk, paris. given the wealth of references and allusions in jarnot’s poetry, it is reasonable to suggest that, much like heliopolis, jarnot’s poems aim to function as a repository for knowledge on our contemporary moment. in addition, if ancient egyptian religious practices celebrated a kind of synthesis between human and nonhuman animals, jarnot adds to those considerations humor and anthropomorphism as critique, as we shall see. a veritable zoo upon its publication, the critical attention was considerable for lisa jarnot’s second fulllength collection, ring of fire, although views were split. writing for the boston review, award-winning poet and translator andrew zawacki (2002: 3) observed that: the objects of jarnot’s affection include a veritable zoo of raccoons, lemurs and yaks, a chinchilla and an armadillo, polar bear, hippo, chicken, ocelot, monkey, “an albatross in the hottubs of dawn,” and “ferocious the giant / squirrels.” jarnot’s ebullient repetitions, though, become a tic, and ring of fire comprises eighty pages of unmitigated tidal rhetoric. it may be that such in-and-out most accurately and sonorously mimics a meditative procedure, or the obsessions of a mind at the end of its tether. but as an aesthetic strategy, the compulsion to repeat risks abrading the reader, who feels he’s becoming a patient, impatient. zawacki recognizes the sheer variety of animals represented in jarnot’s collection, but his critical focus is on the sonic and formal effects of the poems. for zawacki, jarnot’s 81 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) repetitions and recursions are more irksome than meditative. conversely, esteemed poet and publisher devin johnston2 (2002: 141) argued in the chicago review that: though these poems are populated by playful aardvarks and lemurs, and often move sideways through dream narratives, they are also very much a record of living. one finds not only the pleasures of what’s new, but the pleasures of recognition... jarnot’s repetition is thus accretive—not minimalist but maximalist—and the self speaking in these poems aims at some of whitman’s expansiveness. although these two critics have opposing views on the aesthetic merits of jarnot’s formal strategy, they both see a connection to whitman in jarnot’s poetry—and, perhaps unsurprisingly, come to quite different conclusions. for johnston, the poems in ring of fire are a “record of living,” and jarnot’s formal strategy—like whitman’s—is “accretive.” zawacki (2002: 2), however, detects in jarnot that “her acts of being numerous, her rage to compass the world” are ultimately “rendered untenable” as “the speaker finally seems exhausted at her inability to incarnate herself once and for all”. what is more, both critics note jarnot’s formal strategies—“dream narratives” for johnston; “tidal rhetoric” for zawacki— and animals as subject matter but neither of them observes or considers ecology or empathy as animating jarnot’s poetic project. a bunch of solar heat—stored up and organized lisa jarnot’s heliopolis, is a sixteen-poem portfolio within the book ring of fire, and includes poems with titles such as suddenly, last summer; ye white antarctic birds, o razorback clams; moo is om backwards; song of the chinchilla; you, armadillo; on the lemur; and simply, aardvark. looking at the individual poem titles alone, it is readily apparent that nonhuman animals will play part in the narratives. and given the title of the sequence overall—heliopolis—jarnot is giving the reader a key conceptual marker for how the parts may connect with the larger whole. the poem suddenly, last summer begins the sequence and—like the ancient travelers to the ancient heliopolis—starts with night equated to absence as well as starkly contrasted with the warmth of the sun: sun worshipper i, in the absence of the sun, in the things i don’t remember, the unfriendliness of night, the neon night and the blue blue night, the creatures 2 in light of his review of ring of fire, it is perhaps not surprising that devin johnston went on to publish jarnot’s next two volumes, black dog songs and night scenes with his press, flood editions. 82 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) on the beach, suddenly, to remember the sun and all the creatures on the beach, suddenly to remember the sun and little sunstroked turtles, suddenly the neon night surrounding little turtles all surrounded by the night upon the turtles on the beach (jarnot 2001: 53) here night is “unfriendly” and blamed for a loss of memory, while the sun is both something worshipped and brings to mind “all the creatures / on the beach.” the speaker seems to be echoing a sentiment by the famous french post-impressionist painter paul cézanne, who once remarked that “we are nothing but a little bit of solar heat stored up and organized, a reminder of the sun, a little phosphorus burning in the meninges of the world” (maso 1995: 146). thus, from the very start, jarnot’s conceptualization of heliopolis moves to put human and nonhuman animals as vital subjects coexisting and interdependent. and as deleuze and guattari (1987: 233) argue, “one of the main problems of natural history was to conceptualize the relationships between animals.” it is clear from the poem that this “heliopolis” is not a purely ancient one, as it presents the far more contemporary “neon night,” and jarnot’s reconstruction of historical dynamics echo deleuzian concerns. in life force of supernalness of world, the speaker celebrates the “head gear of the subway trains in / spring, o the day i saw lou reed / on a side street near 6th ave, o / jubilance of paper cuts and paper / clips and snow” (jarnot 2001: 54). the reader is left to consider that this world, this heliopolis, is one in which celestial qualities (“supernalness”) are celebrated and which may resemble (or be) contemporary new york. similarly, ye white antarctic birds are, in fact, “birds of upper 57th street,” which again locates the poem in new york (jarnot 2001: 55). given that new york is where one of cleopatra’s needles is located, the link between the modern metropolis and the ancient heliopolis is perhaps not such grand leap. beginning with “because it is sad,” the poem o razorback clams offers a kind of empathetic lament for the restaurant experience and forces the reader to navigate an ambiguous point of view from the speaker. does the “it” in the opening line refer to the general phenomenon of going out to eat? is the “it” a razorback clam? something else? later the melancholy is located in menus, hunger, food itself, and a single declarative “i am sad,” which may be the voice of a clam. the poem closes by comparing razorback clams to “sad and lonely lobsters as they / wave inside the oceans in the breeze” (jarnot 2001: 57). already just a few poems into the sequence, jarnot slides between macroand micro-scales—of time, place, and social dynamics—a formal strategy that continues as the sequence unfolds. 83 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) if they exhaust noise and distance and even dust although critics identify repetition as a key element in jarnot’s poetics, the influence of gertrude stein is largely unremarked upon. consider just a brief example from stein’s modernist classic, tender buttons: a red stamp if lilies are lily white if they exhaust noise and distance and even dust, if they dusty will dirt a surface that has no extreme grace, if they do this and it is not necessary it is not at all necessary if they do this they need a catalogue. (stein 1914: 6) in a red stamp and elsewhere in tender buttons,” stein—like jarnot—deploys accretion and nonstandard punctuation to create a propulsive momentum in the poems. the use of the conditional “if” in a red stamp undercuts or confounds causal relationships. how can a color (“lily white”) “exhaust noise?” and the last two lines demonstrate the effects of adding a few words to an existing phrase: “it is not necessary it is not at all necessary” or “if they do this... if they do this they need a catalogue.” the formal parallels with jarnot are abundant, however, there are some significant differences as well. for starters, one cannot reasonably claim that there is an obvious mimetic or ekphrastic function in tender buttons. instead, repetition, recursion, and pivots advance or propel the poem forward. the relationship between the titles of stein’s poems and the texts themselves is profoundly abstract, with the poems functioning more like nonlinear cubist still lifes than any kind of descriptive subject matter. as marjorie perloff (1979: 42) explains: a text like tender buttons can be exasperating and boring if one expects to find actual descriptions of the objects denoted by the titles.... rather, the author offers us certain threads which take us into her verbal labyrinth, threads that never quite lead us out on the other side but recreate what [john] ashbery calls ‘a way of happening.’ this stands in stark contrast to jarnot’s poems, which more explicitly link their titles to the subjects of the poems. formally, jarnot accepts the dynamism of recursion and repetition but stein’s level of abstraction stands in the way of one of jarnot’s other aims, to render nonhuman animals more visible. instead, a poem like moo is om backwards3 3 as i have written elsewhere about this poem: “jarnot uses the notion of a mantra as both rhythmic guide and anagrammatic mirror, the title both referencing the sound a cow makes “moo”) as well as mediative repetition (“om, backwards”). the formal maneuvering in the poem is incremental, and small changes aggregate as the poem progresses—similar to structures that minimalist composers such as philip glass or arvo pärt use in their music making slight additions to an initial string of notes—begin84 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) seems to offer a response to deleuze and guattari (1987: 151) when they wonder, “why not walk on your head, sing with your sinuses, see through your skin, breathe with your belly: the simple thing, the entity, the full body, the stationary voyage, anorexia, cutaneous vision, yoga, krishna, love, experimentation”. to which jarnot writes: that the cows moo in the field, that the cows moo in the field quite loudly, that the cows are mooing in the field, that in the field the cows are mooing, that i love things, that they love me back, that the cows all love each other and the daisies, that the daisies love each other and the cows, that by loving in transcendence there are cows and there are daisies that they love... (jarnot 2001: 58) moreover, the celebratory micro-symbiotic relationship between cows, daisies, music, and reader poetically dramatize posthumanist theorist donna haraway’s (2008: 3–4) assertion that: i love the fact that human genomes can be found in only about 10 percent of all the cells that occupy the mundane space i call my body; the other 90 percent of the cells are filled with the genomes of bacteria, fungi, protists, and such, some of which play in a symphony necessary to my being alive at all, and some of which are hitching a ride and doing the rest of me, of us, no harm. i am vastly outnumbered by my tiny companions; better put, i become an adult human being in company with these tiny messmates. to be one is always to become with many... i love that when “i” die, all these benign and dangerous symbionts will take over and use whatever is left of “my” body, if only for a while, since “we” are necessary to one another in real time. critic david kaufmann (1999: 2) adds that “[jarnot’s work] shows quite clearly how the same words can have quite different uses, at the same time that it raises the question of the relation between identity (i am) and action (i am doing)”. in jarnot’s poem, the micro-variations of both the biological and linguistic are bound together in an ongoing correspondence of relations. foodstuffs for the food chain dressed in light as jarnot’s heliopolis unfolds, the nonhuman animals gain in prominence as poetic subjects, adding to the earlier animal poems with song of the chinchilla, you, armadillo, ning with the use of present simple tense, then adding an adverbial phrase, shifting to present continuous, and finally reorganizing syntax before a lyric speaker announces herself in relation to a reciprocal love” (tardi 2019: 60). 85 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and aardvark, the centerpiece and longest poem in the portfolio. jarnot’s heliopolis is a sprawling place where the nonhuman comes to the fore, and all living things are “dressed in light”—an expression she deploys in all three of the aforementioned poems— perhaps alluding to the life-giving power of the sun, heavenly transcendence, or being part of a larger celestial body. what is more, song of the chinchilla and you, armadillo may be reminiscent of stein’s tender buttons in how variable the punctuation can be, although jarnot (2001: 59) leverages the second-person “you” to explore voice and address, and implicate the reader in her city of the sun. song of the chinchilla begins: you chinchilla in the marketplace in france you international chinchilla, chinchilla of the plains and mountains all in fur you fur of the chinchilla of the pont de neuf, selling wrist watches, on the oldest bridge of evolution that you are, you, chinchilla, going roadside towards the cars the limited use of commas leaves the reader to insert pauses or emphasis within the line as well as find connections between elements and lines, and a verse such as “plains and mountains all in fur you fur of the / chinchilla” does not establish any firm referents. are the plains and mountains “all in fur,” i.e. fur-covered? can such a relatively small animal like a chinchilla, in jarnot’s rendering, extend its fur onto such a gigantic scale? how would a transaction such as the selling of a wristwatch even work? and for whom? does the “you” addressed at the beginning of the poem shift from the chinchilla itself being spoken to and then scale downward, as if through a poetic microscope? similarly, you, armadillo deftly uses voice and address to implicate the reader in this lyrical voyage: you, armadillo, the dark and stately shape of armadillo, the street the shape of armadillo, the arm of the armadillo in the cask of snow, the cask of snow in armadillo in the taxi in the snow, the taxi cab of armadillo, the shape of texas like an armadillo, the snow that falls in texas in the armadillo snow, the armadillo running through the street to zoos in arm’s length near the snow, the there you are where i am not an armadillo that does not light the way... (jarnot 2001: 60) 86 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) much like song of the chinchilla, the “you” is an ambiguous and charged subject. is it you, the reader? you, the armadillo? could it be vocative or accusative? you, armadillo! as the poem develops, the categories confound with nouns in adjectival and tautological forms —“the armadillo snow” or “the armadillo armadillo”—and geographical distinctions implode as the animal armadillo shapes the landmass texas, rather than serving as a kind of spirit animal for one of the largest states in the u.s. moreover, much like the lyric subject whose boundaries are blurred, so too is geography and scale. the locations and details accrue and expand: heliopolis is not one fixed purely anthropocentric location but a dynamic interconnected and interdependent planet that is part of a solar system and galaxy. it can be new york, london, paris, and texas, which is to say, it can be anywhere that sustains life; and a relatively small animal such as an armadillo can be on par with “texas” or a chinchilla with “france,” both of which jarnot reduces to the lowercase form, thereby putting these locations on a level field with her poetic subjects. thus, jarnot’s poems (and poetic speakers) in heliopolis can be read as enacting the deleuzian (1987: 235) concept of “becoming-animal,” as “the relationships between animals are bound up with the relations between man and animal, man and woman, man and child, man and the elements, man and the physical and microphysical universe.” moreover, the steinian recursive elements in jarnot’s poetry serve to reinforce this notion, as “to become is not to progress or regress along a series” (deleuze & guattari 1987: 235) and, instead, is fundamentally “a phenomenon of bordering” (245). aardvark, then, is the apotheosis of these considerations, and offers an allusively rich two-and-a-half page extended meditation on the porous borders between the human and nonhuman. the poem opens by establishing the sheer expansiveness of the aardvark, the whitmanesque multitudes that it can contain: aardvark that languishes on the edges of the margins where the margin walker walks, aardvark that you are the sky, sunken chested aardvark of the dark earth of the aardvark gone asleep, aardvark of the sea spray that is green, of the sea light in the afternoon with rain (jarnot 2001: 62) jarnot’s aardvark is both marginal and supernal, receding into the earth and a sea spray “in the afternoon with rain.” the aardvark is elemental, yes, but not only. it is also proactive—“running towards the aardvark with the gun”; “aardvark that eats men”; and “unleashed like dogs”—taking agency and primacy in its environment. what is more, jarnot’s aardvark is “redolent” of rain, thunder, “lizards and the claws of things and men” and is a “vociferous drunk” (2001: 62–62). 87 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) apart from the array of actions the aardvark goes through, whether it be falling from airplanes, filling hotel rooms with aardvarks “arching as to fly,” or riding trains, jarnot alludes to external contexts and connections to the aardvark. none other than federico garcia lorca and his concept of duende inform the poem (“great duende of the aardvark, / lesser duende of the aardvark”), which seems to suggest that the aardvark may operate as a kind of internalized heliopolitan hobgoblin4, the powerful and irrational verve of art itself. that the duende of jarnot’s aardvark is both “greater” and “lesser” mirrors her toggling between humor and social critique, contradiction as convergence. these energies are not antithetical but two sides of the same coin. in addition, much like in you, armadillo or song of the chinchilla, where scales of animals and geography are often inverted, here jarnot’s aardvark is the “abraham lincoln of the aardvark,” an “aardvark with monkeys in your hair,” and both “artichokes” and “electrical.” the push-pull between these seemingly paradoxical visions of aardvarkness is perhaps best illustrated with the line “aardvark of the quick and also aardvark of the dead” (2001: 62). the allusion here is multivalent and could refer to sam raimi’s 1995 film the quick and the dead, featuring gene hackman and sharon stone; or it could point to the king james version of the bible, 2 timothy 4:1: “i charge thee therefore before god, and the lord jesus christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.” in the former, jarnot is pointing the reader to a mildly entertaining film that was screening near the time ring of fire was written; in the latter, the poet could be suggesting that the multitudes of aardvarks (and perhaps the numerous other animals) are passing judgment on this world. in either case, she humorously adds “and also” between “the quick” and “the dead” to hinder this insight. although jarnot may be able to elevate nearly invisible animals to poetic subjects and cleverly complicate simplistic taxonomies between species, this does not eliminate the pervasiveness of anthropocentrism. the difficulty poetry like jarnot’s encounters pertains, in part, to the ethical position of nonhuman animals: after all, what is the responsibility of the human (writer)? cary wolfe (2009: 567) argues that: rather than treat the animal as primarily a theme, trope, metaphor, analogy, representation, or sociological datum (in which, say, relations of class, or race, or gender get played out and negotiated through the symbolic currency of animality and species difference), scholars in animal studies, whatever their home disciplines, now appear to be challenged not only by the discourses and conceptual schemata that have shaped our understanding of and relations 4 what is more, jarnot’s duende could be seen as a dialogic consideration of deleuze and guattari’s (1987: 247) demonic becoming-animal: “if becoming-animal takes the form of a temptation, and of monsters aroused in the imagination by the demon, it is because it is accompanied, at its origin as in its undertaking, by a rupture with the central institutions that have established themselves or seek to become established.” 88 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) to animals but also by the specificity of nonhuman animals.... and that irreducibility of the question of the animal is linked complexly to the problem of animals’ ethical standing as direct or indirect subjects of justice. this issue is one that jarnot appears to be keenly aware of—and attempts to address in the remaining poems in her heliopolis. right view, right action one may safely assume that jarnot herself would poetically agree with cary wolfe’s (2009: 568) assertion that, “[t]o put it bluntly, just because we study nonhuman animals does not mean that we are not continuing to be humanist—and therefore, by definition, anthropocentric”. in her poem right view, she unambiguously writes: the human animal that i am is the human animal that i am the view that i have is of the human animal that i am in the human room (jarnot 2001: 70) no sooner does jarnot focus our gaze on a heliopolis with nonhuman animals at its center, prodding and provoking us to visualize and consider animals that might be marginalized in our discourse and from our human perspective, then she swiftly turns the poetic mirror back onto her readers. critic nick selby (2005: 206), in his reading of the right view, observes that jarnot’s poetics clearly raises ethical questions about the space inhabited by the human as she asks us to see through the myths that normally ground us by describing us as at the centre of the perceptual universe.... [jarnot] demonstrates that although the world might be seen to be transformed through human agency, no special status is thus conferred upon our relationship to the world.... to be human (and thus, presumably, to have lyric agency) merely means that we read the world from a human perspective. i would add that, as i have previously argued, coffee and whiskey drinking lemurs, wrist-watch-selling chinchillas, or taxi-cab hailing 89 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) armadillos certainly may be absurd situations to contemplate, but these gestures act as more than just humorous poetic entertainment; they serve to draw our attention to these various animals. in some respects, jarnot is deploying a tactic common to children’s literature: humanizing the nonhuman to provoke a range of emotions. but choosing animals that lack a built-in literary or artistic audience or history, our gaze is doubly refracted—left to ponder the implausibility of the situations necessarily requires thinking about and visualizing the animals in conditions other than their typical surroundings, surroundings created by human activity. compounding this with jarnot’s complex maneuvers between voice and address, mantra-like recursions, nonstandard punctuation, and inverted social dynamics, the poems produce ludic and hypnotic qualities as well as a site to contemplate moral engagement. (tardi 2019: 65) while the speaker in right view recognizes inherently human flaws and a penchant for contradictory impulses (“the right view falls in love / with the wrong view”; “the human confusion / in its naturalness, tired”), in right labor the poet offers the possibility for agency coupled with optimism in writing: “what does not change / is the will to change / the humans on the train” (jarnot 2001: 76). in right speech, jarnot suggests a proactive form of hope with the lines “love, which is meaning / compels speech” (jarnot 2001: 72). for all of the formal acrobatics and absurdist humor in ring of fire, jarnot aims to wrap her collection with a ring of possibility. selby (2005: 207) sees this as demonstrative of a clear moral imperative and an eco-poetic concern in her work: by questioning the ethical position we occupy as lyric subjects, jarnot... meditate[s] upon poetic responsibility, on the role of the (woman) poet within the structures of power that underpin american mythologies..... [p]oetry does this, as we have already seen in the examples from jarnot, by casting attention upon the very dissolving frontiers of its lyrical engagement with the world.... the lyric poem is ethical... because it can enact ecological ways of reading. in this way, jarnot can be seen as part of a long tradition of compassionate and engaged literature, echoing philosopher jeremy bentham’s (1907: 311) famous remarks on how humans should regard other animals: “the question is not can they reason?, nor can they talk?, but can they suffer?” this empathetic approach is similarly articulated two centuries later in witold gombrowicz’s (1989: 27–28) diary, when he confesses: “today i am afraid—if this is the right word—of the suffering of a fly.... [p]ain is pain wherever it appears, equally horrifying in man as in a fly; in us the experience of pure suffering has become informed, our hell has become universal”. in jarnot’s vision of heliopolis, the 90 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) same leveling and empathizing with pain holds true for humor or wonder, as we are all, in some sense, “dressed in light.” in its glory yet will be the famed novelist and critic william gass in his introduction to a volume by gertrude stein imagined life as a volley between repetition and reorganization, as countless details are experienced “a thousand thousand times.” he concludes that: we are not clocks, designed to repeat without remainder, to mean nothing by a tick, not even a coming tock, and so we must distinguish between merely mechanical repetition, in which there is no progress of idea, no advance or piling up of wealth, and that which seriously defines our nature, describes the central rhythms of our lives. (gass 1973: 24–25) gass’s remarks are no less true for jarnot, whose deft use of repetition and recursion offer ludic and kaleidoscopic perspectives through nuance and intimate detail, for both humans and nonhumans. the poems in jarnot’s reimagining of heliopolis call to mind gaston bachelard’s the poetics of space, when he notes that “sometimes the house of the future is better built, lighter and larger than the house of the past, so that the image of the dream house is opposed to that of the childhood home.” in this way, bachelard’s house of the future, for jarnot, works on both a macroand micro-scale, as simultaneously a planet or cosmos and zoomed-in individuated ecosystems. and in perfectly jarnotian fashion, the nonlinearity and recursion in her poems hardly discards the childhood (steinian) home but instead renovates it in the service of a posthumanist critique as the nonhuman animals and poetic speakers “are at the same time creatures of imagined possibility and creatures of fierce and ordinary reality; the dimensions tangle and require response” (haraway 2008: 4). on a fundamental level, lisa jarnot’s poetic exploration of the legendary city of heliopolis is both a largeand small-scale rewriting and reconceptualization, which draws our attention to the fact that the location of “the advent of all being” would necessarily include all living things, of which humans only constitute a small fraction. as giorgio agamben (2004: 76) reminds us, “the stakes are now different and much higher, for it is a question of taking on as a task the very factical existence of peoples, that is, in the last analysis, their bare life.” for jarnot, the “city of the sun” is neither an isolated urban center in ancient egypt nor is it a vortex through which human achievement should be magnified. rather, heliopolis is similar to how agamben (2004: 79) defines anthropogenesis: it “is what results from the caesura and articulation between human and animal.” jarnot’s heliopolis is an ongoing project, a megalopolis that stretches across space-time, a synonym for planet earth, one of billions of dots in a galaxy. 91 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) fig. 1. photo by bruno gilli/eso after all, as jarnot (2001: 64) writes in her closing to the expansive poem “aardvark”: with the element of the sun beams that the elements of the aardvark in its glory yet will be, break light of the aardvark in its dance that in its dance the numened aardvark brings. whether armadillo striations, the arched back of an aardvark about to fly or a chinchilla’s fur shimmering, whether it is a kind of astral architecture or celestial horizon, or simply cezanné’s “solar heat stored up and organized,” the sky above jarnot’s heliopolis is the place where living things look up at the stars in radial sublimity, and, in reciprocal acknowledgment, the stars look back. references agamben, g. 2004. the open. stanford: stanford university press. bachelard, g. 2015. the poetics of space. new york: penguin. bentham, j. 1907. an introduction to the principles of morals and legislation. oxford: clarendon press. deleuze, g. & guattari, f. 1987. a thousand plateaus: capitalism and schizophrenia. minneapolis: university of minnesota press. dobrowolska, a. & dobrowolski, j. 2006 heliopolis: rebirth of the city of the sun. cairo: the american university in cairo press. 92 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) gass, w. 1973. “introduction” for gertrude stein, the geographical history of america or the relation of human nature to the human mind. 24-25. new york: vintage. gombrowicz, w. 1989. diary (vol. 2). evanston: northwestern university press. haraway, d. 2008. when species meet. minneapolis: university of minnesota press. jarnot, l. 2001. ring of fire. boston: zoland books. johnston, d. 2002. book review. chicago review, vol. 47, no. 3: 139-141. kaufmann, d. 1999. repetition, noise, and pleasure, or why i like john yau and lisa jarnot. english matters, no.1. 1-7. maso, c. 1995. the art lover. new york: ecco press. perloff, m. 1979. poetry as word-system: the art of gertrude stein. american poetry review, vol. 8, no. 5 (sept/oct.): 33-43. raimi, s. 1995. the quick and the dead. film. selby, n. 2005. mythologies of ‘ecstatic immersion’: america, the poem and the ethics of lyric in jorie graham and lisa jarnot. in: w. blazek & m. k. glenday (eds.), american mythologies: essays on contemporary literature, 202-225. liverpool: university of liverpool press. stein, g. 1914. tender buttons. new york: claire marie. tardi, m. 2019. ‘dressed like stars in the blades of night’: on lisa jarnot’s poetics of nonhuman animals. in: p. austin & e. rokosz-piejko (eds.), re-imagining the limits of the human, 55-67. berlin: peter lang. tompsett, d. 2014. heliopolis: a city of two tales. http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/ history-ancient-egypt/77175.aspx. (4 march 2020) wolfe, c. 2009. human, all too human. pmla, vol. 124, no. 2: 564-575. zawacki, a. 2002. book review. boston review, vol. 27. no. 1 : 1-4. images figure 1: gilli, b./eso. 2009. http://www.eso.org/public/images/milkyway/ * * * mark tardi’s books include the circus of trust, airport music, and euclid shudders. prologue, an award-winning cinepoem collaboration with polish multimedia artist adam mańkowski, has been screened at film festivals throughout europe and the united states. he was a writer-in-residence at mass moca in january 2020 and his translation of the squatters’ gift by robert rybicki is forthcoming from dalkey archive press. a former fulbright scholar, he is on faculty at the university of lodz. fairytale fantasy, secondary history, and female empowerment: discovering the many dimensions of anna brzezińska’s wody głębokie jak niebo 61 articles weronika łaszkiewicz university of białystok fairytale fantasy, secondary history, and female empowerment: discovering the many dimensions of anna brzezińska’s wody głębokie jak niebo abstract. the aim of the following paper is to examine anna brzezińska’s wody głębokie jak niebo—a collection of short stories set in a fantastic world resembling renaissance italy. the paper will, first of all, present brzezińska’s work as being representative of the sub-genre of fairytale fantasy. secondly, it will investigate how the interplay of history, religion, and magic developed in the collection affects the shape of brzezińska’s imaginary world. thirdly, it will analyze the theme of female empowerment, which reappears in subsequent stories. key words: anna brzezińska, fairytale fantasy, secondary history, female empowerment. anna brzezińska (b. 1971), a medievalist and writer of fantasy fiction, made her literary debut with the short story “a kochał ją, że strach,” published in 1998, for which she soon received the janusz a. zajdel award.1 her following works also quickly gained critical recognition, and brzezińska was awarded the zajdel for the novel żmijowa harfa (2000)—the third volume in her series about the adventures of twardokęsek, a bandit living in a quasi-medieval world—and another one for the short story “wody głębokie jak niebo” (2004). brzezińska later included that story in a collection which she also entitled wody głębokie jak niebo (waters as deep as the sky, 2005).2 set in a realm reminiscent of renaissance italy, the collection depicts the fate of heroes involved in 1 the janusz a. zajdel award is an annual prize which the polish fandom of science fiction and fantasy gives to the authors of the best novel and short story published in a given year. 2 unless indicated otherwise, the polish titles are translated by the author of this paper. 10.15290/cr.2017.18.3.05 62 crossroads. a journal of english studies the affairs of mages whose gradual rise and eventual downfall the stories loosely chronicle. the aim of this paper is, first of all, to present wody głębokie jak niebo as a representative of the subgenre of fairytale fantasy. secondly, this paper will investigate how the interplay of history, religion, and magic developed in the collection affects the shape of brzezińska’s imaginary world (whose complexity and richness deserve critical attention). finally, since the majority of the collection’s protagonists are females who struggle to survive in a world dominated by men, the proposed analysis will also investigate the theme of female empowerment, which brzezińska subtly develops throughout the volume. wody głębokie jak niebo as fairytale fantasy according to małgorzata tkacz, brzezińska’s fiction represents two out of the three sub-genres which dominate in polish fantasy literature, i.e. high fantasy and fairytale fantasy (2012: 18).3 the stories collected in wody głębokie jak niebo clearly exemplify the latter. tkacz defines fairytale fantasy as a sub-genre operating with motifs and figures typical for fairy stories and folktales, depicting an often hostile secondary world, and relating dramatic events which seldom lead the protagonist to a happy ending (2012: 18). the borrowings from fairy stories and folktales are often significantly modified in comparison to the elements identified by vladimir propp4 as characteristic of folktales; for instance, in fairytale fantasy the witch might be young and pretty rather than old and ugly, and the hero might not receive a just reward for his endeavors (tkacz 2012: 112-114). by modifying well-known figures and motifs, polish writers of fairytale fantasy intend to surprise, shock, or entertain the adult reader who is the assumed recipient of the story.5 also, only adult (or more knowledgeable) readers will be able to discover the inter-textual references which frequently appear in fairytale fantasy (tkacz 2012: 12-124). finally, polish fairytale fantasy is also characterized by elements of humor and irony, as well as by scenes of or references to violence and sexuality (tkacz 2012: 129). the seven stories comprising brzezińska’s wody głębokie jak niebo display all of the abovementioned traits. brzezińska never directly describes the imaginary world that serves as the setting of her tales. it is only because of the italian-sounding names (e.g. graziano, bosco nero, porta d’argento, valle delle lacrime) and brief glimpses of lofty, ornate structures that readers can eventually recognize the realm—simply called the peninsula—as inspired by and reminiscent of renaissance italy. brzezińska’s world is permeated by magic: the realm is ruled by blue-eyed prince-mages who can enslave demons and lock them into various forms according to their own desires. buildings and objects bound with a demon gain beauty and permanence, whereas people fused with these super3 the third dominant category is historical fantasy (tkacz 2012: 18). 4 see propp’s morphology of the folktale (1928; english translation available in 1958). 5 of course, polish fantasists are not alone in their attempts at transforming and retelling traditional fairy stories. for a note on british and american writers with a similar objective see clute and grant (1997: 332-333) and stableford (2005: 141-143). 63 articles natural beings become completely obedient to the mage. because demons dwell among the stars (where they can be traced only through meticulous calculations provided by maps of heaven), and are described with names such as choirs, cherubim, and seraphs (brzezińska 2005: 28, 123), it can be concluded that they are, in fact, angelic beings whom mages summon and trap in the physical world (an act which the fictional church is, therefore, right to condemn). according to the rules governing brzezińska’s world, a mage can enslave and command a demon only three times. afterwards, the being regains its freedom and can attack its former master. in brzezińska’s world only men are granted access to magic, and any woman trying to usurp their power is cruelly punished. finally, apart from demons, the imaginary realm is inhabited by beasts and monsters (werewolves, gnomes, stregas and many more) that dwell in the wilderness and pose a constant threat to the human communities. all in all, the imaginary world crafted by brzezińska is one in which the breathtaking beauty of the mages’ work is overshadowed only by their cruelty and insatiable thirst for power. living in such a world, the protagonists suffer and struggle to protect what they hold dear, all the while knowing that for all their efforts, they might never win against the magic-wielding rulers of the peninsula. it is necessary to briefly discuss the plot of all seven stories in order to demonstrate how they subvert the patterns of traditional fairy stories and to prepare a background for further analysis. the first story, “życzenie” (“a wish”), begins when young graziano learns that long before his birth the village was threatened by a golden dragon. eventually, one of the shepherds, aided by a princess kidnapped by the dragon, managed to kill the beast with a magic sword and was rewarded by the princess with a promise that he and his descendants would have a single wish fulfilled once in their lives. graziano, ostracized by his village because he was born during the plague, discovers that he is one of those descendants. thus, one day, unable to bear the harsh treatment any longer, the boy uses the dragon wish to liberate himself from his miserable life. as a result, his village is attacked by a group of mercenaries, and his parents are killed. before he leaves his shattered community, graziano learns that the tale about the dragon and the princess was never true. it was the princess who was the beast that, when defeated, cursed her slayer with the fatal promise of wishes fulfilled, since death and destruction always follow in the wake of a dragon wish. graziano, who ultimately becomes a ruthless warrior, is doomed to suffer the consequences of his own desires. his fate is an implicit warning against naïve belief in fairy tales and their deceptive promises. in “róże dla sirocco” (“roses for sirocco”), the eponymous daughter of a mage ruling the city of brionia flees from duilio di monti serpillini, who defeated her father and thus can claim all of his treasures. in the usual manner of fairy tales, the kind-hearted and well-mannered sirocco is aided in her escape by people and animals. yet eventually there is no place left to run. when duilio finally approaches her, the girl learns that he has been following her not for the maps of heaven that she stole, but because he fell in love with her. to prove his feelings, he bestows on sirocco his silver daggers (a symbol of his life and death) and she accepts. their marital bliss lasts for years, until duilio is challenged by a younger mage, ercole. yet it is not ercole who ultimately 64 crossroads. a journal of english studies kills duilio, but sirocco. to prolong his own life, a mage can sacrifice his offspring. recognizing that duilio is gradually becoming a threat to their sons, sirocco kills her husband to protect their love and their children. afterwards, she commits suicide. while classic fairy stories usually end with a remark that the protagonists lived happily ever after, in brzezińska’s story even pure love is eventually overpowered by ambition, greed, and fear. “zaćmienie serca” (“the eclipse of the heart”) is set in the city of brionia, restored by ercole after his victory. the protagonist, arachne, is told by her mother that she and her brother (all blue-eyed) are descendants of one of sirocco’s exiled sons. arachne’s difficult, yet happy life changes drastically after both her brother and mother die. alone in the world, the girl earns her living with embroidery and devotes herself to the pursuit of magic. she sacrifices years of work and even her virginity to buy several maps of heaven from a usurer, because her goal is to enslave a demon and kill severo (ercole’s son). however, contrary to fairy stories, the rightful heir is unable to avenge her family and reclaim her heritage. though thanks to arachne’s efforts ercole falls in love with her, he binds the girl with a demon, so that she will never betray him. thus, brzezińska subverts the fairytale ending of a marriage between the prince and the oppressed female into a tragic finale, in which the protagonists forsake their chances of finding true love, because they are marred by their fears and hatred. in “jej cień” (“her shadow”) a scribe documents the miraculous life of luana—the prioress of a cloister established in the ruined brionia after the death of ercole and arachne’s last descendants. though the scribe secretly hates the old woman for her affinity with magic, he believes that her story should be written down as a warning for future generations. the plotline, focusing on luana and the scribe, is interwoven with the narrative that follows the events that led to the fall of brionia. diamante, the only son of rocco di brionia, is weak and unable to use magic, which is a tangible sign of the family’s demise. imprisoned by his father, the boy is visited by the ghost of arachne, who—like the godmother figure of fairy tales—offers him consolation and protection. young luana is diamante’s cousin and fiancé. in the course of the story they are eventually forced to get married. but again there is no romantic happy ending for the prince and the princess: diamante is accidentally killed by his father during the wedding feast, the city is destroyed by demons, and luana—the sole survivor of the ensuing massacre—devotes herself to religion and celibacy. “filary nieba” (“pillars of heaven”) starts with a short note on how the peninsula has been ravaged by wars and demons after the fall of brionia. only a few places, valle delle fiamme among them, remain relatively safe and prosperous. when the prince-mage of the valley dies in a tragic accident, his children—nino and fiametta—are taken captive by igino, the new ruler. nino, blinded by the mage, is sent to a monastery, whereas fiametta, corrupted by igino’s power, becomes his wife. it is not until several years pass that the siblings are reunited. fiametta comes to nino’s monastery to seek protection for her son, because, though blinded, her brother still possesses in-born powers which he unknowingly weaves into his hymns. unable to make sense of fiametta’s and igino’s intrigues, nino eventually confronts them, armed only in his faith in god and music. standing on a holy bridge, the monk signs one of his hymns and asks for truth. in response to his prayer, a pillar of fire comes from the sky, and spares only the protagonist, leav65 articles ing him on a fragment of the ruined bridge, where he presumably remains for the rest of his life. though it can be argued that nino manages to avenge himself on igino, his fate is far from a fairytale happy ending. because the previous stories repeatedly commented on the growing animosity between mages and the church, the friendship of master benilde and fra gioele presented in “śmierć czarnoksiężnika” (“the sorcerer’s death”) is all the more surprising. benilde and fra gioele, two old men who find pleasure in their long disputes and currant wine, live in askalon—a city ruined by years of domestic wars and currently threatened by an invasion from the arimaspi, who are led by a man on a holy mission to eliminate all mages. when attacked, the citizens of askalon want benilde to surrender himself for their sake. but fra gioele discovers that the old mage is already dead. in order to protect the city, fra gioele approaches the leader of the arimaspi as askalon’s mage. during their conversation, the monk learns that the leader is, in fact, also a mage who intends to enslave all demons in jars and throw them into the sea. horrified by the man’s cruelty and arrogance, fra gioele manages to free the demons, for which he is later tortured and killed. though the monk is no great warrior, by a twist of events his death brings about the destruction of the arimaspi and their malevolent leader. the last story in the collection, “wody głębokie jak niebo” (“waters as deep as the sky”), focuses on sancha, a girl from a fishing village. because the village is tormented by beasts and sea monsters, its inhabitants live in constant fear, which father barnabo uses to sustain his control over them. one day, the village is visited by a storyteller (presumably a former mage). his stories shed more light on the nature of monsters and their relationship with sancha’s people, but it is not until it is too late that the girl understands the truth. only after sancha’s friend, bianco, is revealed to possess a third eye (for which he is crucified on the village’s holy tree) does the girl realize that the islanders have mixed their blood with monsters for decades. thus, in brzezińska’s story the boundaries between humanity and monstrosity are successfully blurred, and readers may suspect that ultimately sancha will also fall prey to her village’s hypocrisy. when all seven stories are taken into consideration, it becomes clear that the magical enchantment woven into brzezińska’s tales is balanced by ubiquitous violence, indifference to suffering, and threat of death. there is no “happily ever after” for the protagonists, and no reward for their efforts and perseverance. the orphans and the downtrodden do not achieve fame and success, and true love does not conquer all. instead, generations come and go, splendor turns into ruin, the magnificent city of brionia is destroyed and rebuilt only to be destroyed again, and even magic gradually but inevitably fades from the world. though brzezińska’s imaginary realm is not altogether ominous and hostile,6 the heroes cannot expect to be delivered from trouble by divine providence, and readers cannot hope that anyone will be spared from suffering and death. but it is 6 while analyzing brzezińska’s other works, tkacz notes that they contain no evil creatures, only dangerous ones, and that it is mostly people who are responsible for evil (2005: 182). the same can be said about the world depicted in wody głębokie jak niebo: evil and grief have their source in people’s desires and obsessions. 66 crossroads. a journal of english studies precisely because the protagonists live in such a world that their little acts of defiance and heroism are so dramatic and poignant. the interplay of history, religion, and magic though every story features a different character, by depicting the fate of individuals from subsequent generations the seven tales form a loose chronicle of the peninsula’s history. much of this chronicle follows the fate of sirocco and duilio’s descendants, until their bloodline—like everything else in brzezińska’s world—comes to an end. though the protagonists of every story deal with their private desires and misfortunes, their struggles are presented against the backdrop of historical transformations, among which the growing animosity between magic and religion (strongly resembling christianity) has the greatest impact on the condition of the imaginary realm. readers observe how the descendants of sirocco and duilio (named the principi dell’arazzo, because arachne wove a grand tapestry which was supposed to protect the family) gradually gain and lose their power and status, till they are completely supplanted by the church and its servants who wish to liberate the peninsula from the corruption of magic. the city of brionia becomes a striking symbol of this shift in power. once the greatest of cities, it is ultimately destroyed by demons and only an abbey is later built among the ruins. unable to enslave demons or to cast great spells, mages eventually yield to the domination of the priests. if the old storyteller appearing in brzezińska’s last tale is truly a former mage as the text suggests, then his poverty, frailty, and meekness stand in bitter contrast to the pride, majesty, and audacity of his predecessors. depicting the fate of subsequent generations, brzezińska managed to create an “organic” secondary world which changes and evolves together with the heroes. consequently, her creation offers the reader an illusion of historical continuity. this continuity is perpetuated not only by references to certain figures and events from the past, but also by recurring items and phrases. for instance, white roses are a symbol which reappears on several occasions and becomes a thread that leads the reader from one narrative to another. these flowers appear for the first time in the story of sirocco, when she tricks ercole into sparing her people by having him promise that he will spare her roses. during the invasion, sirocco gives a white rose to every man, woman and child, which guarantees them safe passage through ercole’s army. afterwards, white roses become associated with sirocco, and brzezińska uses them in an indirect manner to identify her descendants. arachne weaves white roses into her hair before attending a ball, during which she plans to challenge severo. the prioress luana cultivates white roses in her garden. nino, the last descendant of sirocco’s line, cherishes a single rosebush growing in the little garden of his monastery (brzezińska 2005: 237). what is more, the collection begins and ends with stories that feature child protagonists (graziano and sancha) who are mistreated by their villages and doomed by their own misinformed actions. and when sancha begs the old storyteller for help by 67 articles saying: “whatever i am, i am real” (brzezińska 2005: 356),7 her words are an echo of the words spoken centuries ago by sirocco when she announced that the love and happiness shared by her and duilio had been real (brzezińska 2005: 61). by discovering that the figures and events presented in every new story depend, in one way or another, on the previous tales, the reader gradually becomes immersed in the unstoppable flow of (fictional) time and gains intimate knowledge of the secondary world’s past. intimate, because while the inhabitants of brzezińska’s world distort their own history and transform it into myths, the reader is put into the position of an omniscient witness who is the only one to know and remember the truth about the past. for instance, subsequent generations remember the gentle and kind-hearted sirocco as a malevolent strega (witch). moreover, even her own descendants do not know that it was sirocco who killed her husband, and they believe that after duilio’s fall she tried to fight with her husband’s murderer. thus, just three generations after their death, the truth about sirocco and duilio’s fate is already lost. the same happens in the case of arachne and severo. while the official version of history claims that both died when they protected the peninsula from an invasion, diamante learns that it was the demon in arachne who actually killed severo, thus fulfilling the girl’s initial wish. nino’s confrontation with his sister and her husband is remembered as a battle between a saint and a possessed woman protected by demons (brzezińska 2005: 349). fra gioele, who defeated the arimaspi invaders only because of a lucky coincidence, is later also hailed as a great saint, and his triumph continues to rekindle people’s religiosity. thus, brzezińska indirectly presents history as a mixture of manipulations, exaggerations and wishful thinking, in which certain individuals are venerated and others condemned through no fault or merit of their own. yet seldom are brzezińska’s heroes happy when they discover the truth about the past, because the truth is often less attractive than the fiction they have come to accept as fact. faced with this relativism of fictional history, the reader is also left to wonder to what extent his/ her own knowledge of the past can be questioned and potentially invalidated. when public memory fails to account for the past, individual memory in the form of storytelling can become a defense mechanism against the process of forgetting. yet in brzezińska’s world the stories passed between characters also present a distorted or only fragmentary version of the past, which always proves more harmful than helpful. graziano (from “życzenie”) learns how dangerous it might be to put too much trust in a story. the tale about the dragon and the princess is eventually revealed to be a lie. it is not clear if graziano’s mother deliberately modified the story so as to forget about the tragedy which she caused when she used the dragon wish, or if she was also oblivious to the truth and only wanted to console her ostracized son with a tale in which he becomes someone important. either way, because graziano’s knowledge of the past is distorted, he is doomed to repeat the mistakes of his predecessors, thus perpetuating his family’s cycle of sin and grief. while graziano is too dependent on a story, rocco, from “jej cień”, disregards stories altogether, which also proves fatal. readers learn that there are two legends pertaining to the tap7 translation mine. 68 crossroads. a journal of english studies estry woven by arachne. according to the first one, severo infused arachne’s work with demons, apparently to provide their family with everlasting protection. according to a different source, arachne told her firstborn son that the tapestry contains the glory and the fall of the family, and should therefore be protected (brzezińska 2005: 145). rocco disregards both stories and foolishly destroys the tapestry to manifest his power, which results in his death and the destruction of brionia. while rocco does not heed the warnings offered by legends, sancha and the villagers from “wody głębokie jak niebo” are unable to perceive the truth about their monstrous heritage hidden in the tales of the old storyteller. this inability highlights not only their own ignorance and hypocrisy, but also the ineffectuality of storytelling as a means for preserving memories and instructing the younger generations. to finish the analysis of the components comprising brzezińska’s imaginary world it is necessary to indicate the borrowings from the old testament and classical myths, which enrich the author’s creation and add another layer to its secondary history. as far as biblical stories are concerned, three major elements of brzezińska’s tales seem to be indebted to this tradition: the trumpets used by the arimaspi invaders to destroy cities, the pillar of fire which appears in response to nino’s prayer, and nino’s fate after he prays for help. in the bible, seven trumpets were used to destroy the city of jericho (ferber 1999: 221), and a pillar of fire signified divine presence (ryken et al. 1998: 646). if the elements present in brzezińska’s stories are read through the prism of biblical tradition, they unveil the spiritual dimension of the conflicts in which the heroes participate. as for nino, who spends the rest of his life on a pillar left from a destroyed bridge, he is reminiscent of st simeon the stylite and other eastern ascetics who lived on top of pillars (child and colles 1971: 167). this analogy reinforces the image of nino as a (fictional) saint. as for classical myths, brzezińska borrowed a handful of figures and motifs, which strengthen the connection between the secondary world and the ancient worlds of italy (the roman empire) and greece. firstly, arachne, who is a talented embroideress, is clearly named after the girl who faced athena in a weaving contest and was later transformed into a spider (ferber 1999: 198). though the latter does not happen to brzezińska’s protagonist, the image of a spider does appear: arachne’s mother, despina (whose name is derived from despoina—the daughter of poseidon and demeter), is likened by her son to a spider that sits in dark corners and cares for nothing except her webs (brzezińska 2005: 82). secondly, the storyteller from “wody głębokie jak niebo” tells sancha about skylla—a girl that was turned into a monster because she spurned a mage who was in love with her. this tale is a reworked version of greek myths which feature the monstrous scylla (cotterell 2006: 32). thirdly, when the prince-mage from “filary nieba” dies, killed by a boar, his death is similar to that of adonis, aphrodite’s beloved (cotterell 2006: 19). in addition, when luana is told by a demon that she will be safe as long as she follows him without opening her eyes, this warning is reminiscent of the conditions set on heroes who wish to emerge from the underworld, e.g. orpheus, who is told not to look back at his beloved eurydice (cotterell 2006: 67). finally, it is worth noting that one of the tales recounted in “wody głębokie jak niebo” is a reworked version of nathaniel hawthorne’s “rappaccini’s daughter” (1844). hawthorne’s tale, set 69 articles in medieval padua, revolves around the forbidden love between giovanni and beatrice. beatrice, the eponymous character, lives in a garden created by her father. because the garden contains poisonous plants (the most spectacular among them is a plant with purple flowers, which grows in the middle of the garden), after years of taking care of them the beautiful girl has also become poisonous. rappaccini, blinded by his insatiable thirst for knowledge and his scientific ambitions, does not worry about the fate of his child. on the contrary, he secretly observes the development of beatrice and giovanni’s relationship, treating it as yet another of his experiments. needless to say, the love affair is terminated by beatrice’s untimely death. in brzezińska’s version, the storyteller informs sancha about the origins of dafnises. according to his tale, a long time ago a mage created beautiful and rare plants by combining ordinary vegetation with demons. his finest creation was a magnificent and lethally dangerous plant with purple flowers. one day, the mage’s daughter, dafne, was accidentally consumed by the demon in the plant, thus forever becoming a part of it (brzezińska 2005: 343-346). yet because the mage truly grieved for his lost child, he decided to forsake all of his work and magic. brzezińska’s tale is clearly a reworking of hawthorne’s story. given her interest in the history and culture of italy, it is not surprising that she found hawthorne’s work interesting and decided to incorporate it into her fictional italy. female empowerment in a patriarchal world brzezińska’s imaginary world is not a good place for women to live in. wives and daughters are expected to obey their husbands and fathers. the man is commonly recognized as the head of his family, and the woman should therefore act according to his wishes. if she does not, the man is fully entitled to punish her—if a husband beats his wife, inhabitants of the peninsula will not interfere, believing that she deserves her punishment. in the case of mages, no one will dare voice any objection to how a mage treats his wives and daughters, because they are viewed as his “property” (and because no one will dare oppose a mage in anything). this social belief of women as inferior and subordinate to men partly stems from the teachings of the fictional church, which claim that women are weak creatures prone to sin and demonic temptation (brzezińska 2005: 31), hence they require external control and discipline. what is more, because women are so easily corrupted, they are not allowed to learn how to read and write, lest they should reach for forbidden knowledge, i.e. magic. consequently, even though it is generally asserted that women do not possess any magical power, any woman caught reading a book or dabbling in magic will be sentenced to death (brzezińska 2005: 121). education and magic are viewed as an exclusively male domain. even so, brzezińska’s heroines are far from being weak and subservient to men.8 on the contrary, sirocco, arachne, luana, and sancha are brave, clever, and independent women who are not afraid of disregarding social norms and expectations in the pursuit of their own goals—even if it means risking their lives. when her father is defeated, sirocco takes his maps of heaven and flees 8 only one story, “śmierć czarnoksiężnika”, has no prominent female character. 70 crossroads. a journal of english studies from duilio, eventually impressing him with her determination and perseverance. in duilio, she finds a partner who respects her independence and her wishes (since he agrees to never rejuvenate her with his magic). yet the woman is strong enough to sacrifice him for the sake of their children, and also clever enough to trick ercole into sparing her people. even long after her death, ercole remembers her beauty and strength. thus, though the men around her seem more powerful, it is sirocco who actually has control over their hearts and minds. similarly, despina and arachne are independent women who are able to earn their own living through embroidery. despina also teaches her daughter how to read and write, thus offering her more power in a world that limits female education. the ability to read and write then becomes the means to arachne’s revenge on severo: she diligently studies maps of heaven in search of a demon that she can enslave. though in the end she does not manage to kill the man, she does manifest her freedom and independence, which—paired with her beauty—make severo fall in love with her. to avoid demonic possession, in her final act of defiance arachne throws herself into the fire. luana also does not yield to her tormentors. maltreated and threatened by her uncle, the girl still rebels against his orders, and this indirectly contributes to the man’s downfall. she is then the only one to survive the destruction of brionia. after years of solitary life in the ruins of the city, luana—who was always very religious— becomes a prioress. because of her kindness, charisma, and deep faith, after her death she is hailed as a saint. even sancha—who, as a poor peasant girl mistreated by others, is the least significant of brzezińska’s heroines—asserts her autonomy when she tries to rebel against her village’s hypocrisy and injustice. finally, it is worth adding that in two stories it is the female who serves as the antagonist: the dragon princess exacts her revenge on graziano’s family, and fiametta tries to use her brother nino as a pawn in the power-struggle with her husband. still, it can be argued that these female antagonists are not motivated by inborn cruelty and malevolence, but by tragic circumstances: the princess was killed because she was betrayed by a man from graziano’s family, and fiametta, initially fiercely protective of her brother, was “poisoned” by igino’s magic. even so, both females have to be defeated, since they become a threat to innocent people. apart from allowing her heroines to demonstrate their independence and perseverance, brzezińska empowers them in a literal sense: though the inhabitants of the peninsula almost unanimously agree that women do not have any magical powers, sirocco, arachne, and luana prove otherwise. these heroines do possess inborn magical skills, which they eventually use in an intuitive manner, because arcane knowledge and formal training are available only to men. consequently, it is art that becomes an outlet for repressed female magic. sirocco is a gifted musician, sensitive to the sounds of nature and voices of individual demons (brzezińska 2005: 63). with her magic-infused music she is able to tame wild beasts (2005: 45), soothe demons (2005: 52), and even command them for a brief period of time. ercole acknowledges her powers when he says that demons served her more willingly than they ever did him or duilio (brzezińska 2005: 62). arachne’s powers manifest themselves in her embroidery (which is a very feminine art). initially, there is nothing supernatural about her works, as she obtained her skills through hard work. yet when the girl begins her search for a demon, she creates several beautiful cloaks which she then exchanges 71 articles for maps of heaven. devoted solely to her goal, arachne fails to notice that embroidering and magic gradually become one: she unknowingly summons demons—each time a more powerful one—and imprisons them in the images embroidered on her cloaks. even severo is impressed by her work (brzezińska 2005: 122). luana is different from the previous characters, because faith, not art, becomes the embodiment of her innate strength. yet like sirocco and arachne, the girl is aided by a demon even though she has never been trained to summon or enslave one. during the fall of brionia, luana is protected by a demon and given a precious pearl. with this pearl and her ardent faith she is capable of performing miracles, e.g. she purifies contaminated water. finally, it should be mentioned that nino, the last of sirocco’s line, also expresses his powers through art. though nino is a man, he is also deprived of access to formal training and he experiences repression (he is blinded by igino and placed in a monastery). lacking any other outlet, his inborn powers are channeled through music: nino’s religious hymns heal and console people in need, and at the end of the story protect the man from danger. by and large, if spells and rituals are unavailable, in brzezińska’s world art becomes the alternative medium for repressed magic. arguably, it is not the male way of formalized rituals and detailed maps of heaven, but the female way of art and creativity that produces some of the greatest mages of the peninsula. conclusions brzezińska’s wody głębokie jak niebo is a unique work in the body of polish fantasy fiction. first and foremost, within the confines of a single volume,9 brzezińska managed to construe a rich and believable world filled with palpable history and several allusions to myths and religion. though some might diminish her achievement by arguing that creating a secondary world based on a historical period in the development of an existing country does not take that much creative effort, it is enough to remind them that other writers who use similar premises for their fiction have written several volumes and they have yet to achieve the complexity of brzezińska’s work (jacek piekara’s series about the adventures of mordimer madderdin is a case in point). secondly, not many polish fantasists have chosen renaissance italy as a model for their secondary worlds. thus, brzezińska’s creation is both original and refreshing. thirdly, by subverting patterns and motifs typically encountered in fairy tales and combining them with intertextual references, her stories play with the reader’s expectations. by the end of the volume the reader is sure of one thing alone: there is no happily ever after for the protagonists, as every action and decision comes at a high price. moreover, with its subtle themes of female empowerment the volume avoids perpetuating the stereotypical images of women as damsels in distress and objects of romantic love so often appearing in fantasy fiction. brzezińska’s heroines manage to assert their independence and power without having to reject their femininity. finally, it is also worth adding that brzezińska’s writing style abounds in lyrical metaphors which evoke a myriad of striking images. all in all, 9 the book is 356 pages long, which is not much considering fantasy fiction’s propensity for extensive world-building and multi-volume series. 72 crossroads. a journal of english studies wody głębokie jak niebo is a fine literary achievement for which anna brzezińska deserves to be acknowledged and praised as a skilful fantasist. references brzezińska, anna. 2005. wody głębokie jak niebo. warszawa: agencja wydawnicza runa. clute, john and john grant (eds.) 1997. the encyclopedia of fantasy. london: orbit. child, heather and dorothy colles. 1971. christian symbols: ancient and modern. london: g. bell and sons. cotterell, arthur. 2006. the encyclopedia of mythology: norse, classical, celtic. london: hermes house. ferber, michael. 1999. a dictionary of literary symbols. cambridge: cambridge university press. ryken, leland, james c. wilhoit, and tremper longman iii (eds.) 1998. dictionary of biblical imagery. downers grove: ivp academic. stableford, brian. 2005. historical dictionary of fantasy literature. lanham: the scarecrow press. tkacz, małgorzata. 2005. demonologia ludowa w fantasy anny brzezińskiej. in: adrian mianecki, agnieszka osińska, and luiza podziewska (eds.), folklor w badaniach współczesnych, 179-189. toruń: wydawnictwo uniwersytetu mikołaja kopernika. tkacz, małgorzata. 2012. baśnie zbyt prawdziwe. trzydzieści lat fantasy w polsce. anatomia fantastyki, vol. 19. gdańsk: gdański klub fantastyki. the habitat of crime – random acts of senseless violence from the criminological perspective 52 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) klara mednis1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.28.1.04 university of warsaw orcid: 0000-0002-3199-1973 the habitat of crime – random acts of senseless violence from the criminological perspective abstract. this article analyses jack womack’s random acts of senseless violence from the perspective of criminological research focusing on the correlation between criminality and the environment, i.e. the particular areas where either criminals reside, or where the crimes are committed. the ideas of the ecological school of criminology (the chicago school), especially the studies by shaw and mckay and their predecessors, and the so-called “broken windows” theory by wilson and kelling are introduced. the paper shows that the neighbourhoods depicted in womack’s novel might be seen as models exemplifying, albeit in a rather extreme manner, the processes presented in the aforementioned theories. this article demonstrates how the link between high crime rates and the social disorganisation of communities inhabiting specific areas may provide a possible explanation for the drastic transition of the novel’s protagonist into a violent criminal. keywords: jack womack, urban ecology, new york city, alternate history, criminology. the early 1990s were a critical time in the history of new york city’s crime, with 1990 being widely reported as the year with the highest number of murders. on the 23rd of april 1991, the front page of the new york times2 published information about a record of 2,245 killings, which was a 17.8 percent increase from the previous year (james 1991: 1), along with worrying statistics about other violent crimes. the situation seemed hopeless and called for drastic measures, which luckily were implemented; a momentous change took place within the next few years. the rates of the 1 address for correspondence: institute of english studies, university of warsaw, ul. hoża 69, 00-681 warsaw, poland. email: klara.mednis@uw.edu.pl 2 the same article aptly references edward shaughnessy, a sociologist, stating that “the increase in homicides reflected a surge in seemingly random violence” (james 1991: 1, emphasis added). 53 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) seven most serious crimes dropped, a phenomenon dubbed by franklin e. zimring3 as “the largest documented crime decline of the twentieth century” (2012: ix). the success was proudly attributed to the effective management and introduction of new policies by rudolph “rudy” giuliani, the mayor of new york city, and william bratton, the commissioner of the new york city police department, supposedly based on the research from the influential criminological article, called “broken windows”, written by james q. wilson and george l. kelling. it should be noted that not all experts agree that the decline could be accredited solely to the authorities – there were other significant factors at play, such as the demographic shift leading to the decrease in the number of young males or the end of the drug wars caused by the imprisonment of many gang leaders (jones 2017: 106). yet, it could not be denied that the crime crisis was finally under control as law and order emerged victorious. this climate of fear and the desperate need for effective policing seem to have contributed to jack womack’s apocalyptic vision of the city in random acts of senseless violence. the novel’s premise appears to be the answer to what would have happened in new york if the scale of criminal behaviour had escalated even more instead of having been contained. published in 1993, the narrative is set in an alternate-history4 new york city from the near-future, where the social order has collapsed and crimes have become simultaneously more violent and more common – “an urban nightmare”, as described by nickianne moody (1998: 1004). the ensuing chaos is observed through the eyes of a twelve-year-old girl, with the most inconspicuous name for a future criminal: lola hart. being both the protagonist and the narrator, she introduces herself as a caring and eloquent girl, a good student from a private school, with an understanding and maturity beyond her age. however, as the story progresses, within a few short months, she becomes a brutal gang member and a bloodthirsty murderer, who wholeheartedly embraces her new, lawless life. her extreme transition coincides with her move (due to her parents’ financial problems) to a different neighbourhood, located in a part of new york that has been particularly affected by crime. this article focuses on the real-life sociological and criminological mechanisms found in the alternate-history fictional world of random acts of senseless violence as this novel can be seen as an ideal exploration ground for some of the concepts developed by the so-called ecological school of criminology. darko suvin, in his essay “on the poetics 3 in 2006, zimring even published a book titled the great american crime decline, where he studied the case in detail. 4 according to the encyclopedia of science fiction, an alternate history is “an account of earth (sometimes extending to exploration of solar-system space) as it might have become in consequence of some hypothetical alteration in history” (stableford et al. 2019). 54 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of the science fiction genre”, where he discusses the significance of science fiction and calls it “the literature of cognitive estrangement” (1972: 372), explains that “sf takes off from a fictional (“literary”) hypothesis and develops it with … (“scientific”) rigor” (1972: 374). this idea is pertinent to the analysis of womack’s novel, because even though the author describes an imaginary account of new york city’s futuristic ‘history’, it does not exclude the validity of the processes taking place in that reality, just as in most dystopias5. thus, the aim of this paper is to demonstrate how womack’s work could be seen as a literary realisation of some of the theories of the ecological school of criminology, that is, pointing towards the environment of the perpetrator as one of the main causes behind their criminal activity. with the unexpected metamorphosis of the novel’s young protagonist, lola hart, new york arises as another hero or rather villain of the story. the gruelling descriptions of the bloody acts and events happening there make the city seem as if it were a living organism, consumed by a viral disease degenerating the urban tissue and its inhabitants. several criminological concepts and theories that might be helpful to understand the potential impact of one’s surroundings will be discussed and then it will be demonstrated how womack’s depiction of the city makes it responsible for lola’s radical transformation into a criminal. random acts of senseless violence is written in the form of lola’s diary6 and comprises five months of entries dating from the 15th of february (her twelfth birthday) to the 10th of july. the city she describes is already succumbing to anarchy; she also mentions trouble in other parts of the united states, as well as abroad. the origins of this socioeconomic crisis are unknown to the reader. due to the girl’s unreliable narration focused on describing her everyday life, with only a few instances when she relays some 5 in dark horizons: science fiction and the dystopian imagination, raffaella baccolini and tom moylan, while describing the direction of dystopias written after world war ii, state that “the dystopian imagination has served as a prophetic vehicle, the canary in a cage, for writers with an ethical and political concern for warning us of terrible sociopolitical tendencies that could, if continued, turn our contemporary world into the iron cages portrayed in the realm of utopia’s underside” (2003: 1-2) and this view is relevant also in the discussion of random acts of senseless violence. even though the volume does not examine womack’s work, it provides several interesting observations about the genre and is worth the attention of anyone interested in the subject. 6 this article does not discuss the implications of the choice of a diary as the form of womack’s novel, yet this topic is explored for example in bodies of tomorrow: technology, subjectivity, science fiction by sherryl vint. in one of the chapters, the critic argues, inter alia, with joan gordon’s observations about lola’s writing from her review of random acts of senseless violence (“two sf diaries at the intersection of subjunctive hopes and declarative despair”) published in the spring issue of the journal foundation from 1998. incidentally, the same journal also comprises two other articles analysing the novel: “the violent logic of late capitalism: jack womack’s sf” by douglas barbour and “ophelia triumphant: the survival of adolescent girls in recent fiction by butler and womack” by michael m. levy. 55 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) rumours or fragments of (untrustworthy) television news7, it is difficult to establish accurate details of this alternate history or the scope of the violent chaos depicted in the story. lola’s accounts show that people are excessively aggressive and easily provoked; even during the commute, there are often dangerous fights and the whole population appears to behave in an uncivilized manner, regardless of their social status. the society is undergoing the process of immense radicalisation that deepens the conflicts between social classes as well as the prejudice against ethnic and sexual minorities. these phenomena, together with the nationwide economic crisis and collapse of administrative power (aggravated by the deaths of three successive presidents of the united states), lead to significant changes in urban life. the new york that emerges from lola’s stories resembles a war zone and it gives the impression of being almost uninhabitable. the once-metropolis seems to be shrinking: new walls are constantly being built to separate the districts taken over by rioters; gangs are also claiming particular areas that, after a while, cease to be available to the general population. the girl casually comments on which parks become off-limits, not seeing anything peculiar about it since she is used to the perpetual shift of the cityscape. moreover, this reshaping is also present in the urban nomenclature as some places acquire new names – for example, one of the most dangerous quarters in the narrator’s neighbourhood, comprised of a few blocks taken over by drug dealers, smugglers and other types of street criminals, has been renamed as “the pit”. these changes are interesting to note as it appears that just as new york is altering its character along with its ‘language’ – and gradually disintegrating – so is lola. her personality transforms completely, as does her vocabulary; she loses her sense of morality that used to be visible in a great number of observations from the earlier parts of her diary, where she questioned the conduct of the authorities or the ethics of the media. in this new cityscape, the protagonist’s move to a less safe part of new york (as opposed to the upper east side, a rather prestigious district, where she was living at the beginning of the story) gives rise to some deeply alarming behaviour. although she admits that she used to have some combative outbursts earlier in her life8, up until that point she had never hurt anyone nor broken the law. by the end of the novel, not only is she more aggressive and morally ambivalent, but she has become a violent gang member and a pickpocket, has severely beaten two people with her own fists and 7 watching television is one of the main pastimes in lola’s household and the girl often mentions some fragments of the news or programmes in her diary. she comments on them, usually pointing out some inconsistencies with what she had actually seen or suspects to be the truth. the media thus appear to manipulate and censor the image of the city as they present the situation as much more optimistic. this adds to the feeling of paranoia and disinformation as well as distrust towards the state. 8 in the first grade, she started a fight with another girl during a class; and she enjoys wrestling with her younger sister. 56 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) even killed a man with a baseball bat9. with the sudden transformation of her behaviour taking place after relocating to a new area and the focus on the city itself, womack seems to suggest that her growing violence and criminal tendencies are related to her change of environment. this phenomenon has been the object of some criminological theories that link environmental factors to lawbreaking. according to one of the most popular definitions coined by edwin h. sutherland and donald r. cressey, criminology is “the body of knowledge regarding juvenile delinquency and crime. it includes within its scope the process of making laws, breaking laws, and reacting to the breaking of laws” (1978: 3). typically, the earliest criminological theories are divided into different schools that emerged around shared assumptions about criminal behaviour: the largely theoretical classical school from the 18th century, derived from the philosophy of that time, especially utilitarianism, held a belief in the free will of criminals and the effectiveness of penalties as a deterrent to illegal acts; the positivist school beginning in the 19th century – most famous for the biological positivist criminologist cesare lombroso – was occupied with the idea of scientific study of criminals, who were deemed to have some inescapable, innate features distinguishing them from the rest of the society; and, lastly, the chicago school, rooted in sociology, analysing mostly the impact of issues such as the environment or unemployment on crime, especially in big cities. with time, there have been many other currents within criminological studies, and it is worth noting that criminology as a branch of science has an intrinsic interdisciplinary aspect. after all, it both draws from and contributes to various other fields, inter alia, sociology, jurisprudence, anthropology, psychology, psychiatry, or economics; therefore, from today’s perspective, it is often impossible (and even unwise) to focus solely on one ‘family’ of potential causes behind lawbreaking. yet, in this paper, as a consequence of womack’s emphasis on his protagonist’s relationship with her city, lola hart’s behaviour and the novel’s depiction of new york city’s crime are best analysed through the perspective of several applicable concepts and theories from the ecological approach, i.e. connected to the environment. human ecology as a sociological concept was developed by robert e. park and ernest burgess in the 1920s and then properly defined by terence morris in 1957 as “the relationships which exists between people who share a common habitat, or local territory, and which are distinctly related to the character of the territory itself” (jones 2017: 94). the ecological school of criminology belongs to the sociological current in criminological studies and is focused on the relations between criminality and the environment 9 lola describes most of these incidents as acts of self-defence. while some of them could be treated this way (for example beating a man unconscious after he attempted to rape her), she nevertheless behaves in an excessively violent manner. furthermore, it is important to remember that her perspective is the only one given to the reader and that she may be presenting herself, in her diary, as more innocent than she actually is. 57 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) of the culprits. while there were some studies of the localisation and distribution of crime in the 19th century, the 20th century was the period when more cohesive theories began to emerge, especially ones focusing on the correlation between criminal behaviour and high population density, which is characteristic for urban areas (williams 2004: 270). there are two main groups within the studies of this subject: the first one associated with the chicago school, concerned with the study of “high offender rate areas”, meaning “the areas in which the delinquents reside”, and more recent research centred around “high offence rate areas”, which are understood as “areas where crimes are committed” (williams 2004: 270). the chicago school, closely connected to the department of sociology at the university of chicago, became prominent in the 1920s and 1930s and proposed one of the first sociological perspectives on crime. it was mostly preoccupied with the sociological analysis of the rapid development of the population of chicago. robert e. park is considered to be the father of the chicago school and his ideas strongly shaped the direction of the studies. he viewed the city “not just as a set of buildings in a particular geographic location, nor as formed by its institution, but as a living ecological environment or as a kind of social organism” (williams 2004: 271). ernest burgess, another member of this school, developed park’s ideas and introduced a theory in which the city was an organism growing from its centre “in a series of concentric circles” that he subsequently divided into five zones and described their unique features (williams 2004: 272). when clifford shaw and henry mckay conducted studies of the juvenile crime rates in chicago in 1942, they turned their attention to the areas where the delinquents lived, as opposed to the ones where crimes were committed, thus determining which district had the highest juvenile delinquency rate. shaw and mckay applied burgess’ model to their study and concluded that “the habitats of juvenile delinquents were usually more prevalent in inner city areas, that the social problems declined with increasing distance from the city centre, and that this picture remained true over a considerable period of time” (jones 2017: 94). burgess’ as well as shaw and mckay’s theories have been criticised over the years by some scholars who deemed the zonal model inapplicable to other cities. however, particularly the latter theory contained some highly influential ideas, such as the model of “social disorganisation”. shaw and mckay claimed that social disorganisation – not the economic situation and poverty as such – was responsible for the collapse of the social structure. as stephen jones explains: [social disorganisation] was based on three variables: poverty, residential mobility and racial heterogeneity. poor communities encourage social disorganisation because they do not have adequate resources to deal with their problems. the high level of mobility among the area’s residents causes anonymity and no sense of community is thus able to develop. the decline of social control through the absence of common values allows a pattern of 58 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) delinquent behaviour to develop.... urban crime, therefore, was portrayed as resulting from the failure of the inner city environment to encourage proper integration and a sense of community for its different cultures. (2017: 95) social disorganisation hence is a concept that encompasses important factors that are not tied just to burgess’ zonal theory and could be applied to places that do not directly comply with his model. it is connected more to the decline of social values or certain rules that should be present in a community. another perspective, and an example of a study focused on the locations where crimes are committed, is provided by the so-called “broken windows” theory. as mentioned earlier, “broken windows” is an article published by james q. wilson and george l. kelling in 1982, then updated by kelling and catherine coles in 1996. the titular broken windows – windows that were broken during a previous act of vandalism and were not repaired afterwards – or similar signs of disorder, such as litter or graffiti, could negatively affect the processes of social control of residents of these specific areas. this means that particular neighbourhoods “descend into incivility, disorder and criminality if attention is not paid to their maintenance” (mclaughlin & muncie 2001: 22). wilson and kelling explained that: an unrepaired broken window signals to law-abiding and criminals alike that no one cares. gradually other windows in the building will be smashed and this will reinforce the sense that the local community and the authorities have relinquished ownership and that disorder is tolerated. for them, petty disorderly acts, which are not necessarily breaches of the criminal law, trigger a chain reaction that undermines community safety and paves the way for serious criminality. if a neighbourhood or a street is perceived to be increasingly disorderly and unsafe people modify their behaviour accordingly. (mclaughlin & muncie 2001: 22) this indicates that people will be afraid of living or passing through these places and only the ones who cannot afford to leave their homes behind will remain, namely those most vulnerable. in time, these areas will be taken over by individuals involved in various illegal activities, e.g. drug dealers or gang members. so-called street criminals will introduce new sets of rules in these neighbourhoods, enabling the flourishing of their illicit businesses in the area. wilson and kelling’s study was a milestone in the search for an improved and more effective method of fighting crime in big cities. the researchers proposed their own ideas for new policies, but they were also an inspiration for others. the strategies used by the new york city police in the 1990s are often deemed to be an extension of some of the concepts from “broken windows”, such as the controversial “zero tolerance” policy. it “returned officers to street patrolling and mandated them to target the broad 59 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) spectrum of low level misconduct and widespread anti-social behaviours which made the city feel unsafe and disorderly” (mclaughlin & muncie 2001: 23) but its practical application was often criticised for being unjust and unnecessarily strict. nevertheless, the crime statistics improved. while the crime rates in the real new york city declined, in womack’s version of the city, the violence escalated, leading to the collapse of social order. considering the fact that the novel does not provide any information about the origins or timescale of the disruption of the norms, it can be assumed that, at this point of the alternate history, the degree of disintegration is so high that the rapid changes in the society or urbanscape should not be seen as extraordinary. in such a hostile and unstable environment, longestablished social processes stop following old patterns, which leads to more extreme consequences than typically. this hypothesis might explain why the city has drowned in anarchy so drastically and why lola’s behaviour has altered so much during a rather short period of time (five months). what is more, from what the girl recounts, urban areas are smothered by anomie. the social structure is crumbling, and there are problems in new york and some other major cities caused by rioting people and the army brutally quelling them. the financial crisis has led to widespread poverty, unemployment and bankruptcies. what lola describes is not just violence perpetrated by people on the streets but state violence as well, which contributes to the prevalence of crime. moreover, aggression and abuse are omnipresent on television, not just in the news but also in the public service announcements and very graphic commercials; all of this results in some kind of general immunity to cruelty. citizens have stopped reacting to barbarous behaviour on the streets, normalising such acts as setting people on fire, physical assault and extreme verbal abuse as a part of the urban life. applying shaw and mckay’s theory of social disintegration on a large scale might be useful to explain this situation as the problems ascribed by the scholars to the inner city appertain to a much broader area in lola’s reality. when poverty, the collapse of social bonds among communities, fear and general hostility towards each other become cityor even nation-wide issues instead of being limited to a particular zone, then the whole structure is rendered vulnerable, and order cannot be maintained. the rule of law is over. the only remaining defence mechanism is crime: it is either you or them. due to the debts of lola’s parents and their inability to find any well-paying jobs on the current market, her family is forced to move to a new neighbourhood located near columbia university’s campus, just south of harlem. after the move, the girl encounters a new dangerous world with a different set of rules, full of organised gangs, abuse 60 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) (sexual abuse in particular10), and violence from other inhabitants. moreover, the narrator describes acts of state violence, emanating from the deeply crippled system: soldiers and other law enforcers who exploit their power over the members of that community. the way that lola and people around her are devised implies that the new neighbourhood and the social disorganisation festering in this place are the main reasons for her transformation. earlier, she did not have any problems with socialising or maintaining standards of acceptable behaviour, and the author seems to dismiss any speculations that perhaps her upbringing or education could be the rationale behind the protagonist’s violence. the girl does not appear to idealise her parents when she portrays them in her diary – she has no reservations about criticising their financial decisions or other weaknesses. hence, there is no reason to mistrust the girl when she describes her family life and childhood up to that moment as having been a happy one. there is no indication of any earlier distress or trauma that could have affected her. she comes from a liberal and academic background: her mother used to be an english professor at new york university who later worked as a teacher; her father is a screenwriter whose scripts are deemed too sophisticated for the studios. she likes going to school, studies diligently and enjoys reading. nothing in her life before the move suggested that in a few months’ time she would revel in murder. however, all this changes upon arriving at her new home. lola’s first glimpse of her new neighbourhood does not bode well: ‘it’s a slum’ boob [her younger sister] said and daddy said it wasn’t, it was student housing.... the buildings along broadway where the campus is are all being strung up with barbed wire because the crime is so bad and the people at the gate looked like real policemen with machine guns like at the airport. (womack 2013: 51) what is more, just after arriving there for the first time with their things, some of their possessions are stolen. it appears that the dilapidated housing estates, most of them already occupied by local gangs and drug lords, only invite more crime, exactly as postulated in wilson and kelling’s “broken windows” theory. in this new place, there is no law because neither the police nor the army intervene or protect anyone unless they have orders to pacify the rioters or raid apartments. all the nearest buildings seem to be model examples of the lack of social control: 10 shortly after the move, when lola decides to wear summer clothes during extremely hot weather, she is catcalled and then approached by a band of boys who surround her and start to assault her. if her friends from the girl gang had not intervened in time, the boys would have forcibly taken her to the nearest park, as they suggested, and raped her. later in the story she is again attacked and molested by a man and saved by her friends. 61 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the place is bad enough from the outside but you should see the lobby. there were bullet holes in the glass in the doors and half the lights were broken out.... people wrote graffiti all over the walls. half the elevators weren’t working and had their doors pulled away like somebody tried to get in them with a can opener. five or six men were sitting in broken chairs drinking beer and staring at us.... the windows at the end were broken out. (womack 2013: 143) soon after the move, lola realises that she has entered new territory and that her best chance of surviving is to try to find allies. therefore, she befriends members of the girl gang called “death angels”. earlier in the novel, she had encountered a similar gang of teenage girls and was appalled by their cruelty. now, however, she seeks their approval and permission to officially join them. the girls – iz in particular – help her by showing her around the neighbourhood, issuing warnings about certain areas and explaining how to get by: when she is attacked, she has to counter-attack. the protagonist gradually adapts and grows accustomed to her gang’s often illegal acts. although she feels guiltridden after witnessing her new friends pickpocketing cooperatively for the first time, later, she accepts this behaviour and even becomes a more active participant in the operation. furthermore, when her family’s financial situation drastically deteriorates, lola has no scruples about stealing money from commuters on her own. subsequently, she starts to commit crimes not just to survive in her new reality, but because she wants to. lawbreaking exhilarates her and her conscience degenerates to such an extent that, having killed a man, her only regret is that the joy she feels after the murder does not last longer. it should be noted that while iz also lives near lola’s neighbourhood and often breaks the law, she is not as aggressive as the protagonist. she seems less negatively affected by her surroundings, probably because she is african american and has been living in a racially homogenous part of the neighbourhood with her family for a long time. moreover, she is a christian who, despite claiming that she is not very religious, still goes to church with her relatives and, therefore represents someone belonging to a community with strong social bonds. besides, the puzzling problem with lola is not the fact that she is growing as violent as the other gang members who have lived for a longer time in the area, but that she has surpassed them by proving to be more brutal11, and her crimes are more serious. it is probable that the girl is an easier ‘victim’ of the processes of social disorganisation because she is a newcomer to this neighbourhood. she feels as if she does not belong anywhere, which aligns with the findings of sociological research about people living in transitional zones. lola’s apartment belongs to an old columbia university housing complex, so the students and other inhabitants of these buildings probably do not stay there for long. this space constitutes a much more 11 lola actually shocks the other girls with her violent outbursts and is soon nicknamed “crazy lola”. by the end of the novel, they stop associating with her because of her excessively aggressive behaviour. 62 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) transitional zone than where iz lives – a block of flats inhabited by more racially homogeneous families who spend time together as a community. the protagonist’s disadvantage comes also from the fact that she gradually loses people close to her: all her friends and family. her father dies, her sister becomes catatonic and then leaves to live with an aunt in california and even her mother is admitted to hospital for some time. the loss of these bonds and the lack of meaningful social interactions also impact the girl’s susceptibility to outside influences. another example of an area potentially fitting the “broken windows” theory is the aforementioned “pit”: ‘pit’s nearly the worst of worst.... this the free enterprise zone unofficial’ jude said as we crossed the street. in the next block were thousands of people standing around drinking and arguing and huddling in little groups. we edged lightfoot through them so they wouldn’t notice us but i don’t think they would have anyway they were so busy buying and selling. a row of trucks covered with graffiti was parked in a vacant lot and people sold tvs and vcs and stereos from them. men wearing hoods over their heads and with rifles slung around their shoulders loaded brown paper packages into the trunks of cars.... two men lifted a blanket off the back of a pickup truck showing all sorts of big and small guns underneath.... there were a lot of police cars around but the cops were busy buying and selling too all the way to st nicholas avenue. (womack 2013: 150-52) this appears to be exactly the kind of area where criminals ‘push out’ all the lawabiding inhabitants and introduce their own rules. a whole neighbourhood turns into a lawless zone, a home for all kinds of illegal activities, where even the police contribute to the illicit businesses. another interesting correlation between lola’s behaviour and her surroundings is the fact that the girl’s most violent outbursts seem to be linked to the brutal social climate of the city. the first one happens immediately after witnessing an outbreak of riots and vindictive police attacks on civilians. another occurs after a protest that yet again turns into warlike street fighting. these tensions are closely connected with the suffocating city as there are too many people in the shrinking, barely inhabitable areas. the streets are suddenly too narrow and every demonstration, every congregation, turns into a bloody battle over territory. social order collapses as the residents of such a place are often bound to succumb to aggression. when the social structure disintegrates in a city, its whole urbanscape is altered; the habitable land shrinks. new york city turns into a conflict zone: washington heights and inwood look like i expected all torched and blasted except round city college and columbia presbyterian. they have those rounded bout with razorwire 63 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and soldiers. hardly any businesses are left anywhere except liquor stores and bodegas.... army’s got the streets lined with tanks even though they’re not supposed to let them in and everywhere you look there’s thousands of soldiers armed and itchy. they’re building another wall down the middle of dyckman street in inwood. (womack 2013: 182) with widespread unemployment, inflation and danger on the streets, the old institutions, establishments or shops lose their purpose and become redundant. trade moves to locations like “the pit” and people need to look for money elsewhere. in such circumstances, their language does not remain passive and the reader learns this from lola’s changing vocabulary. along with the evolution of names of certain places, regular words that are no longer applicable gain new meaning. when one is stealing money, it is called “banking”. the omnipresent aggression and anomie lead to a kind of numbing of ethics that results in euphemisms replacing terms that once used to be serious or malevolent: pickpocketing is “boosting”, attacking is “yoking”, killing is “exing”. it is almost as if with a different name, these actions become something less atrocious than in days gone by. the more time lola spends on the streets, the more erratic and aggressive her language becomes, as does her behaviour. following in the footsteps of the other girls from the gang, she starts using the abstract names for the crimes she commits. long-established grammatical rules vanish; new words12 are created where nouns are used as verbs and vice versa: “weez ideas that somebody like you think natural you better than her” (womack 2013: 125), “‘if she blade you’ she started to say and stopped” (womack 2013: 126), “word me blood i want knowin” (womack 2013: 153). she never mentions the change of her manner of speaking in her diary and perhaps she is unaware of it, but the reader is able to estimate the progression of the deterioration of lola’s ethics in the subsequent degeneration of her idiolect. as veronica hollinger, who compared the languages in both random acts of senseless violence and a clockwork orange, explains: in random acts, however, language does more than simply help to construct a future scenario. equally important is the way in which the gradual shift in the discourse of lola’s diary entries, from ‘ordinary’ middle-class english to the language of youth subcultures and street gangs, tracks the gradual breaking down of lola’s personality. (2000: 87) 12 the topic of changing vocabulary in random acts of senseless violence as well as in other violent dystopian realities is further investigated by roger luckhurst in “going postal: rage, science fiction, and the ends of the american subject”, which is one of the chapters of edging into the future: science fiction and contemporary cultural transformation, edited by veronica hollinger and joan gordon. 64 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) the lola hart that introduced herself on the day of her twelfth birthday ceases to exist. the lawless chaos in the broken city, the unjust abuse that she experiences, as well as the conditions in her neighbourhood – especially its inhabitants’ acceptance of crime and social disorganisation – have contributed to the girl’s radical transition into a bloodthirsty criminal. she discovers not only her potential for violence, but even an appetite for it and the power that might come from brutal acts. once, she might have questioned the ethics of such delinquent behaviour; now, however, she is the one committing serious crimes and enjoying it. she willingly accepts her new fate and renounces values associated with the rule of law or social order. nearing the end of her diary, she writes: “the world brutalizes however you live it whatever you do” (womack 2013: 192), which shows her disillusionment with the system. she chooses the life of crime in order to survive: “if we’re [lola and her mother] not going to wind up street housing then i’ll have to do whatever funding essentials to keep the bank open. i’m no burger pusher.... it’s unreasoned anne it’s unfair but there’s naught to do it’s mapped out now” (womack 2013: 221). while reading such fragments, it is difficult to remember that lola is just twelve years old. she gives the impression of being an adult, not only because of her vicious actions but also due to her acceptance of responsibility. after her mother’s health deteriorates past being able to work at all, the protagonist realises that she is now the one in charge of earning money, yet she refuses to do jobs that she considers to be beneath her. it is arguable that this reasoning leads to her resorting to a life of crime. at this point, she already knows how to pickpocket wallets; robbery might follow. this alternate-history new york city lacks any authorities that could stop her from taking such a step. it seems unlikely that the police would actually arrest her; as a matter of fact, given their belligerence and abusive tendencies, even towards innocent people, it is more probable that a policeman or a solider would end up taking her life. such is the reality of areas with omnipresent crime – people living there lose all hope of having justice served. for lola, power, especially one executed in a brutal and merciless manner, means security, not unlike her strategy of attacking first, which acts as a shield protecting her from the hostile environment infested with injustice and predators. she uses violence as a deterrent to others, in an effort to survive and live unmolested, by her own rules. lola’s final entry is a goodbye, not only to iz (for whom she has developed romantic feelings) but also to her old life in general. she writes: “we’ve walled apart not for jude not cause i love love her but cause i crossed over and you can’t come here less you want. night’s darkened full now and i spec i’m finally set to ride. take me street take me” (womack 2013: 222). the idea of “crossing over” is particularly interesting in this discussion of the relation between the girl and the city because it could be understood as her crossing to yet another neighbourhood, even worse this time. she wants “the street to take her”, which means that this is what she associates her life with now. at the 65 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) very end, she writes almost a warning to other people about herself, which seems to be also some sort of statement announcing the new person that she has become. random acts of senseless violence depicts new york city as a living organism that is infested with violence beyond any hope of recovery. the disease spreads through the city’s bloodlines and causes outbreaks of crime, in turn breeding new criminals. social disorganisation and the tolerance of disorder foster lawbreaking. despite the fact that nowadays the early ecological theories are often criticised for too many oversimplifications – especially for prejudiced targeting of certain people or areas – and that pointing to a perpetrator’s neighbourhood or the place where they committed a crime as the only reason for their actions would be too short-sighted and unfair, the legacy of the concepts born out of the chicago school of criminology is undeniable. even though some hypotheses may no longer be as applicable as they were believed to be in past decades, many ideas are still useful. the introduction of the “broken windows”-inspired policy in new york city in the 1990s could be an apt example of this. an alternate-history work of fiction like random acts of senseless violence seems to be a perfect ‘lab subject’ for the above-mentioned theories as is the nature of science fiction texts, according to suvin. as it was demonstrated earlier, womack constructed lola’s story in such a way that it almost excluded other potential causes for her criminal behaviour. the protagonist’s transformation is connected so deeply with new york city – they disintegrate and succumb to violence at the same pace – that the city’s influence cannot be overlooked. references baccolini, r. & moylan, t. (eds.). 2003. dark horizons: science fiction and the dystopian imagination. new york: routledge. barbour, d. 1998. the violent logic of late capitalism: jack womack’s sf. foundation 72 (spring 1998): 20-33. gordon, j. 1998. two sf diaries at the intersection of subjunctive hopes and declarative despair. foundation 72 (spring 1998): 42-48. hollinger, v. 2000. ‘a language of the future’: discursive constructions of the subject in a clockwork orange and random acts of senseless violence. in: a. sawyer & d. seed (eds.), speaking science fiction. dialogues and interpretations, 82-95. liverpool: liverpool university press. james, g. 1991. new york killings set a record, while other crimes fell in 1990. the new york times 23 april 1991: 1. jones, s. 2017. criminology. oxford: oxford university press. levy, m. m. 1998. ophelia triumphant: the survival of adolescent girls in recent fiction by butler and womack. foundation 72 (spring 1998): 34-41. luckhurst, r. 2002. going postal: rage, science fiction, and the ends of the american subject. in: v. hollinger & j. gordon (eds.), edging into the future: science fiction 66 ........................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 28 (2020) (cc by-nc-sa 4.0) and contemporary cultural transformation, 142-156. philadelphia: university of pennsylvania press. mclaughlin, e. & muncie, j. (eds.). 2001. the sage dictionary of criminology. london: sage publications. moody, n. 1998. social and temporal geographies of the near future: music, fiction and youth culture. futures vol. 30 no. 10, december 1998: 1003-1016. stableford, b. m., wolfe, g. k. & langford, d. 2019. alternate history. in: j. clute, d. langford, p. nicholls & g. sleight (eds.), the encyclopedia of science fiction. london: gollancz, updated 30 july 2019. http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/alternate_history (2 september 2019). sutherland, e. h. & cressey, d. r. (eds.). 1978. criminology. philadelphia: j. b. lippincott. suvin, d. 1972. on the poetics of the science fiction genre. college english, vol.34 no.3 (dec. 1972): 372-382. vint, s. 2007. jack womack and neal stephenson: the world and the text and the world in the text. bodies of tomorrow: technology, subjectivity, science fiction, 138-170. toronto: university of toronto press. williams, k. s. 2004. textbook on criminology. oxford: oxford university press. womack, j. 2013. random acts of senseless violence. london: gollancz. zimring, f. e. 2012. the city that became safe: new york’s lessons for urban crime and its control. new york: oxford university press. * * * klara mednis is a doctoral student in the british literature department of the institute of english studies at the university of warsaw. her research focuses on unreliable narrators in 20th and 21st century british and american fiction, feminist studies, contemporary retellings of shakespeare’s plays and interdisciplinary approaches to literature involving psychology and criminology. on the hermeneutic ontology of language in alice’s adventures in wonderland and its latest polish retranslation 18 crossroads. a journal of english studies beata piecychna university of białystok on the hermeneutic ontology of language in alice’s adventures in wonderland and its latest polish retranslation1 abstract. in 2015, the latest retranslation of alice’s adventures in wonderland, produced by grzegorz wasowski, appeared on the polish book market. as the translator explained in his afterword (wasowski 2015: 159-173), the main aim of producing a new translation was to render the idea of the source text and to avoid word-for-word translation. wasowski intended to render the so-called ‘english spirit’ contained within the original version by means of the richness of the polish language. and although wasowski accentuated the necessity for adapting a language to the wealth of human imagination, at the same time he claimed that the whole process must be completed moderately, within particular linguistic bounds. the main objective of this paper is to analyse whether the latest retranslation of alice’s adventures in wonderland meets the fundamental requirements specified by its translator, that is, whether the version renders the ‘spirit’ of the source text and whether the attempts which have been made might be referred to as moderate. the facets and dimensions of language depicted by lewis carroll are illustrated as juxtaposed against hans-georg gadamer’s ontology of language. finally, the idea of so-called ontological parallelism is put forward, which stands for another type of equivalence, a key notion in the theory of translation. key words: retranslation, alice’s adventures in wonderland, lewis carroll, grzegorz wasowski, hermeneutics, hans-georg gadamer’s ontology of language. introduction alice’s adventures in wonderland belongs to the so-called translation series. in the polish context, the process of retranslation of the work started in 1910. the first translation, published by wydawnictwo m. arcta, located in warsaw, and entitled przygody alinki w krainie cudów, was produced by adela s.2 since then, more than ten different translations have appeared, a figure that is all the more impressive since translations were completed by famous polish novelists, poets or 1 i wish to express my immense gratitude to the reviewers of this paper for the valuable comments on the article. 2 the surname of the translator is unknown. 10.15290/cr.2017.18.3.02 19 articles translation theorists, for example, by antoni marianowicz, maciej słomczyński, jolanta kozak, and elżbieta tabakowska, to mention just a few. also, investigating the ways in which alice’s adventures in wonderland was translated over time, in terms of proper names, domestication and foreignisation strategies, equivalence, etc., is a continuing concern within the field of translation studies. regardless of whether the emphasis is placed on the so-called passive or active retranslations (see pym 1998: 82-83), they always pose significant challenges to the translation profession. these challenges can be seen on many levels: linguistic, pragmatic, cultural and social. the question arises, however, of what the motives behind the decision to retranslate a given text are. as venuti (2013: 104) rightly suggests, retranslations are to challenge a previous version of the source text, as well as “to signify and call attention to their competing interpretation.” nevertheless, it is also often the case that retranslations are produced with the aim of addressing a different readership or even of creating a new one, of responding to certain social changes or to the changes of translational norms, as well as of modernizing the language which was used in previous target versions, particularly with regard to fiction which still enchants both younger and older readers. one of the reasons why alice’s adventures in wonderland has gained so much popularity among not only readers but also translators is its deliberate entanglement in language. by employing parody, neologisms, puns and word plays, lewis carroll explored nonsense and used language as the basis for play with standard ways of communicating, as well as drawing readers’ attention to the possibility of breaking the rules of language and, indirectly, to a lack of sense in conventions typical of everyday speech. more significantly, carroll’s linguistic intuitions found their ways into what linguists and philosophers of language ruminated about in the 20th century. lewis carroll’s publication proved a great success not only in england but also in many countries across the globe; it has to be noted that the book has been translated into more than forty languages. as zoe jaques and eugene giddens (2016) note, lewis carroll was quite confident that the novel had a market abroad. the first two translations (into german and then into french), published by macmillan, appeared in 1869. it is worth remembering that it was carroll himself who decided that the book be translated into french by henri bué and into german by antonie zimmermann. at the same time, however, the author was perfectly aware of the fact that alice’s adventures in wonderland proved to be, at least to some extent, untranslatable, especially with relation to the rendition of puns, word plays and whole poems (collingwood 2008: 136). as well as being cognizant of its untranslatability, carroll devoted considerable attention to the readership of the renditions of his work: for carroll, child readers remained central to the act of translation, and both the acknowledgments for the german and french editions include a reference to the substitution of parodies of english childhood poetry for those that would be specifically intelligible to a child reader from another nation. thus, for example, in the french edition bué substitutes a parody of fontaine’s fable of ‘le corbeau et le renard’ in place of carroll’s rewriting of issac watt’s ‘against idleness and mischief’. whilst the politics of the originals are rather different, both are clearly moralistic and are intended to teach a child lessons, and 20 crossroads. a journal of english studies thus their parodies provide a playful inversion in keeping with carroll’s primary interest in wonderland. (jaques, giddens 2016: 111). nevertheless, it was not only the textual dimension that became carroll’s focus of attention. while the author successfully managed to choose his preferred translators for alice’s adventures in wonderland, he also carefully scrutinized the manufacturing processes, regularly checking and verifying the formatting of the translated editions, the quality of paper, size of the book, etc. (jacques, giddens 2016: 109). by employing a team of other writers and editors, carroll intended to ensure that the translations into german and french were as accurate and idiomatic as possible: carroll here strongly wished to mark the production of these editions with his stamp of quality, evaluating the proof copies according to his own high standards. but when it came to analysing the standard of the textual translation itself, he had to call upon a wider team. clearly, having handed over the act of translating his text to other writers – a necessary undertaking but one, like the employing of an artist for the english publication, which was not without issue for a protective author – carroll was keen to be assured of the quality of the work. although he had received the first full proof-translation of wonderland from bué by june of 1867, carroll took pains to circulate copies among various friends, colleagues . . . (jaques, giddens 2016: 109-110). for carroll, the selection of a competent translator appeared to become equally important. the author even wrote to the house of macmillan and requested assistance in finding “a man fit to try it”, someone “who had written something of the sort, so as to have some sort of sympathy with the style” (cohen and gandolfo 1987:50). hence, in the following sections of this paper, our attention will be focused on stylistic manifestations of the philosophical structure of language in the source and target texts. although the retranslations of the well-known fantasy work have received considerable critical attention both in poland and abroad, most studies have only been carried out in a small number of areas, for example, in terms of the ways in which puns or word plays have been rendered by individual translators or in relation to the possible impact of a given translation on its readership. on the basis of the criteria which are often not well-established most of the studies conducted have been mostly restricted to limited comparisons of the source and target texts. such expositions are unsatisfactory because in the majority of cases their authors did not take into account the necessity for conducting a detailed analysis of the source text in terms of genre, style, narration, or the relationship between the world of the narrative and general knowledge about the world existing outside the field of a literary work. more significantly, no single study exists which examines thoroughly the role of language performed in the work under investigation by applying a ‘translation perspective’. furthermore, the generalisability of much published research on the retranslations of the work is problematic, mostly due to the fact that the authors of such studies clearly have 21 articles not paid close attention to the role of both linguistic and extralinguistic factors in the creation of the work in question. in 2015, the newest retranslation, produced by grzegorz wasowski, appeared on the polish book market. as the translator explained in his afterword (wasowski 2015: 159-173), the main aim of producing a new translation was to render the idea of the source text and to avoid word-for-word translation. wasowski intended to render the so-called ‘english spirit’ and multi-genre of humour contained within the original version by means of the richness of the polish language. the translator is a craftsman, according to wasowski; however, as he underlined, it is advisable that he/she becomes the co-author of a given work, in particular while translating children’s literature. and although wasowski accentuated the necessity for adapting a language to the wealth of human imagination, at the same time he claimed that the whole process must be completed moderately3, with some sort of restraint on the part of the translator. he also emphasized (2015: 161) that his purpose was neither to compete with lewis carroll nor to give vent to immense pride in one’s actions. furthermore, the aim of the ‘unfaithful translation’—as the translator put it—was not to make an attempt to impersonate carroll, an action resulting from inability to create a new work, because, as wasowski underlined, it is much better to be a brilliant translator than a poor author (ibid). crucially, however, it is important that a translator constantly controls himself/herself so that he/ she does not perform a prominent role, which an author deserves, according to wasowski (ibid). jolanta kozak (2000: 167) rightly highlights the need for diagnosing the source text before the analysis of the target text can be attempted. according to the author, if the diagnosis is right, only then is a researcher able to determine the translation problems which the translator is likely to encounter. nevertheless, establishing such a diagnosis is not an easy task. one should decide what factors ought to be taken into consideration, because an in-depth analysis of all possible dimensions is simply beyond the scope of any paper. hence, for the purposes of the study, the following aspect is considered: the philosophy of language hidden beneath the source text structure. this aspect serves in the paper as a basis for establishing whether wasowski’s version meets basic criteria specified by the translator and whether it renders the ‘spirit’ of the original version. the main objective of the paper, as stated above, is to verify whether the latest retranslation of alice’s adventures in wonderland (2015) meets the fundamental requirements specified by its translator, that is, whether the version renders the ‘spirit’ of the source text and whether the attempts which have been made might be referred to as moderate. the first part of the discussion proper focuses on the philosophy behind the linguistic structure of the work in question presented against the backdrop of hans-georg gadamer’s ontology of language. the second section discusses the linguistic philosophy in general and stylistic devices in particular in the polish rendering of the work under investigation. in the third and final part of the paper the author reflects upon the so-called ontological parallelism in translation. 3 a moderate translation should be understood as a kind of translation produced within reasonable limits of linguistic creativity on the part of a translator, without making significant changes to the style of the source text. 22 crossroads. a journal of english studies lewis carroll’s philosophy of linguistic structure in light of the hermeneutic ontology of language4 lewis carroll’s work abounds with references to cultural, historical and social figures and regional names, many of which come from english nursery rhymes. alice’s adventures in wonderland is full of examples of perverted logic, personification of sayings, as well as striking examples of english humour, the protagonist of which is notably the english language itself (o’sullivan 2004: 198). nevertheless, despite a large number of allusions, linguistic riddles, word plays, puns, neologisms, blends, syllogisms and metaphors, it has to be observed that the novel was written in the so-called queen’s (or king’s) english, typical of southern parts of england. in other words, in spite of the extensive exploitation of the arbitrary nature of the meanings of english words, a feature which has been closely associated with the author’s interest in logic and language, linguistic symbols and signs, letters and anagrams, as well as with the so-called philological ferment of the victorian era (see sutherland 1970), carroll’s narration in general and style in particular could be referred to as grammatically correct, clear, coherent and harmonious in terms of syntax and style. on the surface, then, everything seems to be clear and logical; however, by digging deeper into the linguistic structure of the narration, it becomes obvious that for carroll it is the matter of linguistics which fills the plot, providing abundant opportunities for the author not only to depict the absurdities of communication among representatives of a wide variety of linguistic communities, but also to touch upon the nature of meaning and language, as well as upon their relationship with the world. as sutherland (1970: 28) rightly observes: language thus became a vehicle for play in a more comprehensive sense than the merely manipulatory. questions into the nature of meaning, into the character and functions of names, and into the formal structures of language which aid or thwart attempts at communication are exploited for humorous effect simply because they are capable of being so exploited, and because carroll saw them as such. the whimsical use of language phenomena enabled carroll to indulge his own delight in playing with language, to puzzle his readers, and – although this was not his paramount intention – to comment indirectly upon the nature of language itself. most notably, however, the role which language performs in alice’s adventures in wonderland is far more than this. it needs to be pointed out that language in the work in question is not only one of the main themes of the story but also a paramount element of the world depicted, or even the world itself. one could go so far as to say that, hermeneutically speaking, the portrayed reality as presented by carroll is constituted linguistically; the reality forms the world which is conditioned by the explicit use of language on the surface of the text. closer observation suggests that language, which here has gained ontosemantic primacy, becomes a meaningful part of wonderland. 4 in this paper, the hermeneutic ontology of language has been presented as exemplified by hans-georg gadamer’s ideas on the linguisticality of human existence. 23 articles language, as gadamer once put it, constitutes a universal medium through which understanding of the other occurs; language is also the place where ‘being’ resides. both language and the world, then, are intertwined and closely related. language cannot exist without the world, and the world cannot exist without language, according to gadamer. similarly, language in alice’s adventures in wonderland cannot be treated as a simple tool used to puzzle the readers, because language is the medium through which the world unfolds (bronk 1988:294). the linguistic unfolding of the world is depicted at the very beginning of the second chapter of the novel, when alice becomes keenly aware of her own “linguistic metamorphosis”: “‘curiouser and curiouser!’ cried alice (she was much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good english) . . . ” (carroll 2016: 21). here, it is worth referring to gadamer, according to whom “whoever has language ‘has’ the world” (gadamer 2004:499). what does he mean? firstly, the well-known statement points to the inescapable conclusion that language is where the world presents itself, where it unfolds; secondly, language is the place where man may encounter other beings; thirdly, language is also a place where it is possible for human beings to relate to the world (gurczyńska-sady, sady 2012: 80) as well as to create it. the interpretation holds true with regard to the main differences between the two worlds presented in carroll’s prose, namely, between wonderland and the ‘real’5 world from which alice came. the statement “whoever has language ‘has’ the world” also implies that the kind of language one speaks makes a significant impact on the world which one inhabits. indeed, the language which lies on the surface of carroll’s novel may be said to represent the so-called ‘real’ world where human beings live and from which the main protagonist came; however, the language of the underworld, full of instances of perverted logic and nonsense manifested in the use of strange non-existent words and illogical ideas (see baldick 2008: 232), points to the robust conclusion that utterances produced by the strange creatures living in wonderland are symbols of another world, possessed by beings who are different from humans in a very distinctive manner. both human beings and the strange creatures from wonderland ‘have’ their own worlds, which are perfectly illustrated by the way they speak and express themselves, as well as by the subject matter behind the words used. let us refer to a famous example from the chapter a mad tea-party: the table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it: ‘no room! no room!’ they cried out when they saw alice coming. ‘there’s plenty of room!’ said alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table. ‘have some wine,’ the march hare said in an encouraging tone. alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. ‘i don’t see any wine,’ she remarked. ‘there isn’t any,’ said the march hare. 5 the term used here appears in its common meaning, as employed in the so-called pre-philosophical considerations. the distinction between realism and idealism perhaps needs to be borne in mind; however, the notion is definitely beyond the scope of the paper. 24 crossroads. a journal of english studies ‘then it wasn’t very civil of you to offer it,’ said alice angrily. ‘it wasn’t very civil of you to sit down without being invited,’ said the march hare. ‘i didn’t know it was your table,’ said alice; ‘it’s laid for a great many more than three. ‘your hair wants cutting,’ said the hatter. he had been looking at alice for some time with great curiosity, and this was his first speech. ‘you should learn not to make personal remarks,’ alice said with some severity; it’s very rude.’ the hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was, ‘why is a raven like a writingdesk?’ (carroll 2016: 82) obviously, alice’s bewilderment arises from a misunderstanding between herself and the strange creatures from wonderland, who do not see anything wrong in what they say. what might be perceived as rude by inhabitants of the so-called ‘real’ world is certainly deemed normal for the march hare and for the hatter. as previously indicated, the misunderstanding clearly results from the fact that alice and the strange creatures from wonderland come from radically different worlds, a situation leading to cultural dissonance (see cara 2017: 110). alice, governed by the values that she has absorbed and representing the philosophy of victorian culture, struggles to understand the rules which govern wonderland discourse (ibid). as cohan and shires (2013: 5) rightly suggest, “alice’s adventures are, in fact, linguistic misadventures.” wonderland appears strange to alice, because it seems that she experiences insurmountable difficulties in understanding that here sense is certainly not ‘common’ and that the odd characters from wonderland, by constantly challenging the logic of common sense, point to an inseparable link between language and sense (ibid: 9). the challenging of the logic of common sense6 has been realized in the most expedient manner in the same chapter through the depiction of the hatter’s and the march hare’s, as well as of alice’s, approach to time: the march hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then he dipped it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again: but he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, ‘it was the best butter, you know.’ alice had been looking over his shoulder with some curiosity. ‘what a funny watch!’ she remarked. ‘it tells the day of the month, and doesn’t tell what o’clock it is!’ ‘why should it?’ muttered the hatter. ‘does your watch tell you what year it is?’ ‘of course not,’ alice replied very readily; ‘but that’s because it stays the same year for such a long time together.’ ‘which is just the case with mine,’ said the hatter. alice felt dreadfully puzzled. the hatter’s remark seemed to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly english. ‘i don’t quite understand you,’ she said, as politely as she could. (carroll 2016: 84) 6 it seems that the strange creatures are cognizant of the fact that they are challenging sense as is widely accepted in alice’s world (the real world). i am grateful to one of the reviewers for this valuable comment. 25 articles if one accepts that, as gadamer put it, the world exists only to the extent in which it is mediated by language, then the obvious conclusion is that wonderland unfolds through linguistic and (il) logical means, as used by its inhabitants. therefore, the whole place exists as long as puns, riddles, word plays, metaphors, neologisms, cases of perverted logic, etc. are created. the nature of any world relies on interpretation, which in turn is determined by a particular use of linguistic conventions, because language is an all-embracing explanation, and/or interpretation, of the world. gadamer (1972: 239) also argues that when a human being enters the world, he/she encounters a concrete world conditioned by the language which is used there, as well as by the way the world is presented in language. the most important finding for this study—as derived from what the author of wahrheit und methode claims—is that alice also comes across a world which has been determined linguistically. because wonderland unfolds in language, in alice’s case the so-called linguistic experience of the world encompasses all being that has ever existed and will exist. thus it is not wonderland that constitutes the object of language, but it is the object of human cognition (of alice’s cognition) which is being embraced by a wide horizon of language (see gadamer 1965: 426). that is why, putting aside the strange events taking place, it is possible both for alice and for readers to recognize the eccentricity of wonderland. in carroll’s novel, language serves as a demarcating line between the two worlds. from the narrator’s perspective it seems that everything is clear and coherent; however, a significant change occurs the moment the odd creatures from wonderland start producing utterances. this also accords with the main tenets of gadamer’s ontology of language, where it is shown that language cannot exist without a world, and, in a similar vein, a world cannot exist without language. in other words, it is language which influences the world, and it is the world which influences language. what is crucial at this point is to what language, in light of gadamerian hermeneutic ontology, pertains. it seems fair to say that “language withdraws in order to serve up its message, in order to communicate . . . language is mostly silent about itself ” (schmidt 2015:345). language, then, is not so much about particular words or phrases which are employed in order to express any sense; rather, language is a being which constitutes and forms the so-called hermeneutic experience connected with meeting the other. once more, the emphasis should be placed on the way carroll wrote, i.e. by means of a very standard form of the english language, in a clear, coherent and harmonious style, even when what he referred to was certainly illogical in terms of the rules with which alice, as a little victorian girl, was acquainted. let us refer to a famous episode from the chapter pig and pepper: alice went timidly up to the door, and knocked. ‘there’s no sort of use in knocking,’ said the footman, ‘and that for two reasons. first, because i’m on the same side of the door as you are; secondly, because they’re making such a noise inside, no one could possibly hear you. . . ‘please, then,’ said alice,’ how am i to get in?’ ‘there might be some sense in your knocking,’ the footman went on without attending to her, ‘if we had 26 crossroads. a journal of english studies the door between us. for instance, if you were inside, you might knock, and i could let you out, you know.’ (carroll 2016: 69) the above episodes point to the firm conclusion that, contrary to what is commonly held in literature, it is not so much the language itself manifested in particular words or expressions but rather what is hidden behind those words and expressions which performs a fundamental role in the work under investigation. although wonderland—as mentioned—unfolds in language, the language shall be understood as logos, mediating between man and the surrounding reality, and certainly not as an instrumental multitude of linguistic signs (see bronk 1988: 291). following hans-georg gadamer’s idea about the linguistic functioning of a human being in the world, one can conclude that because all being which could be understood is language, then wonderland itself can be referred to as some sort of language. it is the language that denotes a myriad of potent symbols extolling the symbiotic relationship between human beings and the surrounding reality in all its facets, including manifold cases of perverted logic. these cases are typical not only of such fictitious worlds as wonderland but, first and foremost, of the world which is so often depicted as ‘real.’ lewis carroll—as it seems—in his work created two distinct worlds, and yet the worlds overlap each other with regard to language. despite the daunting challenges posed by the odd creatures from wonderland with relation to logic and so-called ‘common sense’, the language, to a large extent, is clear and perfectly understandable, and sentences are logically structured in terms of grammar. as a consequence, lexical and syntactic means remain, at least to some extent, hidden and dormant. kozak (2000: 171) rightly observes that wonderland had been created in a quasi-fantastic convention, meaning that the whole situation is seemingly possible to accept in a fantastic convention, and that this is only a reflection which reveals the genesis of realism in the world depicted in the novel (as opposed to a quasi-realistic convention), and that the metaphor, being a basis for the development of the narration, is made real and transformed into a metamorphosis which is, however, not fairy-tale-like, because not all connections with a realistic convention were broken (ibid: 172). it should be noted that the language in this novel perfectly illustrates the idea. the non-conventional use of words, as well as cases of perverted logic and nonsense (manifested not only in language but also in the behaviour of the strange creatures), among other elements, clearly point to a fantastic convention; however, firstly, the fact that the creatures use the same language as human beings do, and, secondly, that they produce utterances according to the syntactic and pragmatic rules as agreed in the so-called ‘real’ world from which the main protagonist came, explicitly indicate the extent to which the real world permeates wonderland and its linguistic conventions. despite the use of manifold word plays, puns, riddles or neologisms, for the strange creatures which alice encounter, wonderland is ‘real’ in the sense of their feeling of belonging and their familiarity with their surroundings. therefore, the whole narration being conducted in language typical of the educated english represents the abovementioned realistic genesis of the plot; however, the linguistic interpolations as manifested in the creatures’ extraordinary ways of expressing themselves stand for the inversions of the realistic convention, thus leading to 27 articles the creation of a quasi-fantastic dimension where, linguistically speaking, everything is possible,7 even for no valid reason at all, as in the famous scene when alice listens to the dormouse’s story: ‘they were learning to draw,’ the dormouse went on, yawning and rubbing its eyes, for it was getting very sleepy; ‘and they drew all manner of things – everything that begins with an m –‘ ‘why with an m?’ said alice. ‘why not?’ said the march hare. alice was silent. (carroll 2016: 90) interestingly enough, the main protagonist of the novel often becomes painfully aware of her linguistic adapting to wonderland, for instance in the second chapter, in which she says: “. . . o  dear, what nonsense i’m talking!” (carroll 2016: 22). she also quickly takes cognizance of the striking differences between her world and wonderland: ‘it was much pleasanter at home,’ thought poor alice, ‘when one wasn’t always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and rabbits. i almost wish i hadn’t gone down that rabbit-hole – and yet – and yet – it’s rather curious, you know, this sort of life! i do wonder what can have happened to me! when i used to read fairy-tales, i fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here i am in the middle of one! there ought to be a book written about me, that there ought! and when i grow up, i’ll write one – but i’m grown up now,’ she added in a sorrowful tone; ‘at least there’s no room to grow up any more here.’ (carroll 2016: 44) owing to this state of utter bewilderment, alice encounters considerable difficulties in finding proper words to express herself, as in the scene with the caterpillar, when she replies politely: “’i can’t explain myself, i’m afraid, sir,’ said alice, ‘because i’m not myself, you see.’” (carroll 2016: 55), as if finally accepting that wonderland has been constituted linguistically and everything there has its own linguo-(il)logical structure. crucially, both language and the world depicted in alice’s adventures in wonderland are of a speculative character. for language does not possess an innate system of logic; it simply expresses the way people speak. what is expressed, though, does not acquire a second existence, but it presents its own way of being (gadamer 1965: 450). “the speculative character of language is simply the notion that every determination of meaning is dynamically related to a whole of meaning, a whole that is infinitely beyond itself ” (risser: 2010: 14). as davey (2016: 244) rightly highlights, “the speculative capacity of words therefore refers to their power to insinuate an infinite horizon of possible meaning. when operating speculatively, the word reveals our existence in the primordial horizons of linguisticality, horizons which transcend each and every one of us.” words, then, should be considered to be separate entities from what is hidden beyond their structure. it would 7 it also accords with kozak’s idea about “alice’s semantic adventures” (see kozak 2000: 172). 28 crossroads. a journal of english studies not be too gross a generalization to say that a word is one thing and what it expresses is another. obviously, the word and its content, forming two distinct dimensions of a hermeneutic experience, are not juxtaposed against each other but rather closely interrelated. concerned not so much with the internal structure of words themselves as with what is conveyed through them, carroll, by creating wonderland, offers startlingly astute observations of how superficial the language and linguistic means employed by man are, and how very thin the line dividing sense and nonsense is. to this end, perhaps, carroll chose to ‘hide’, at least to some extent, the linguistic reality of wonderland, with its numerous word plays, riddles, neologisms and cases of perverted logic and nonsense, under the cloak of ‘standard and correct’ english, presumably to demonstrate how the two worlds in the novel under investigation are distinct, and yet how they mutually overlap each other, their uniqueness and separateness so often dissipated. let us now consider whether, and to what extent, the philosophical structure presented above has been rendered in the latest retranslation of this novel. language8 in grzegorz wasowski’s translation – results of the analysis it is not a word-for-word translation—unless it is possible—but rather an idea-for-idea rendering that should be followed, according to wasowski (2015: 160). as the translator claims, he would reflect upon one word for weeks, and the moment he finally settles for a word that is less than ideal signifies that a given word is not rendered with great panache (161). wasowski employed the following translation strategies: adding, deleting and replacing (162-173), primarily with the aim of entertaining his readership. this aim—it seems—has been realized through disrupting the harmony of the style, so evident in the source text, on the following three dimensions: simplicity, concision and homogeneity (based on markowski 2005: 120-1). these dimensions were chosen because, as indicated, this novel was written in a simple, concise and relatively homogeneous style; hence, simplicity, concision and relative homogeneity succinctly characterize the style of the source text. although a literary work, generally speaking, should not be analysed in terms of stylistic functionality (see markowski 2005: 119), it has to be underlined that in order to verify whether the requirements as specified by wasowski have been fulfilled and to what extent the philosophy behind the linguistic structure in the source text has been reflected in the polish retranslation, one has to follow certain criteria, in particular when comparing the source and target texts within the field of translation. owing to the fact that, as mentioned, alice’s adventures in wonderland was written 8 the discussion of the notion language is definitely beyond the scope of this paper; therefore, the stress here is laid solely on the stylistic dimension as presented in the target text. besides, as jin di (2014: 148) rightly suggests, “style has been very much neglected in translation studies because of its deceptive simplicity. yet it is the subtlest part of literary writing and in any translation certainly one of the most outstanding factors that contribute to the effect the translation produces on its readers”. it also goes without saying that a sensitive translator should make all reasonable efforts to analyse the style of the source text. 29 articles in the standard southern british english spoken in educated circles (for more on writing in victorian fiction see chapman 2014:16), the stress will here be laid on the way the stylistic component has been rendered in the target version. on the basis of the remarks made about style, provisional conclusions regarding the extent to which the philosophy behind the linguistic structure of the source text has been rendered in the target version will be drawn. the abovementioned disruption is realized, first and foremost, through disturbing the first dimension, namely, simplicity of style. the simplicity of style comprises a selection of the most natural lexical elements for a given text, the use of simple grammatical structures, as well as the avoidance of such linguistic means which are employed solely for so-called ‘ornamental’ purposes (markowski 2005: 120-1). a systematic analysis of the target text has shown that wasowski used a myriad of such means, which might be referred to as some forms of ‘pretence.’ they are manifested, among others, in the use of so-called pseudo-elegant vocabulary: example 1. (alicja nie miała bladego pojęcia, co kryje się pod określeniami „szerokość” i „długość geograficzna”, nie potrafiła sobie jednakże odmówić wypowiedzenia słów tak, jak mniemała, uroczo podniosłych). (carroll 2015: 14) (alice had no idea what latitude was, or longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.) (carroll 2016: 13). in addition to employing a pseudo-elegant style, the translator used pseudo-scientific lexis which oftentimes alternates with lexical items such as those exemplified above. an illustration is provided in example 2. example 2. i rzeczywiście tak było: mierzyła teraz tylko dziesięć cali i jej twarz rozjaśniła się na myśl, iż dysponuje wreszcie odpowiednim wzrostem, aby móc przejść przez drzwiczki do najśliczniejszego ogrodu. (carroll 2015: 18) and so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high, and her face brightened up at the thought that she was now the right size for going through the little door into that lovely garden. (carroll 2016: 18). finally, the disruption of the simplicity of style is also manifested in the extensive use of trendy, overused words (such as ‘iż,’ ‘wszakże,’ ‘bynajmniej,’ ‘albowiem,’ etc.9), which make the style of the target version a rather pretentious and inflated one; the so-called figurative suitcases, or portmanteau (such as ‘srogostro,’ ‘głupiudno,’ ‘całkompletnie’), employed in those fragments in which car9 the english counterparts could be as follows: that, nevertheless, nowise, since; however, they by no means mirror the semantic and pragmatic dimension of the polish words in question. 30 crossroads. a journal of english studies roll used very standard and neutral lexis; as well as a huge number of archaisms which can easily be identified even within the very first sentence of the narration: example 3. alicję ogarniało narastające wciąż znużenie, wynikłe z  przesiadywania na skarpie obok siostry i mitrężenia czasu na próżniactwie. (carroll 2015: 13) alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do . . . (carroll 2016: 11) the disruption of the harmony of style also occurs in the dimension of concision. it seems that wasowski purposefully added a large number of lexical items which are, however, wholly unnecessary, making the story too wordy and lengthy and, above all, changing the meaning dimension of the narration (for more on semantics in translation see stolze 2011: 116-124): example 4. alicję ogarniało narastające wciąż znużenie, wynikłe z przesiadywania na skarpie obok siostry i mitrężenia czasu na próżniactwie. raz czy też może dwa zajrzała do czytanej przez siostrę książki, ale nie dojrzała w niej ni obrazków, ni dialogów. „co i komu może przyjść z książki bez obrazków i dialogów?” – pomyślała i zajęła się rozważaniem (na tyle, na ile w ogóle było to możliwe, jako że spiekota dnia zanurzała w senność i ją, i jej rozum) zagadnienia: czy wyrzeczenie się pozycji siedzącej na rzecz stojącej, a następnie mozół zrodzony z własnoręcznego nazrywania stokrotek zdoła sobie powetować, choćby w części, przyjemnością, którą (w końcu nie od razu) czerpać będzie z uplecenia (ze stokrotek tychże) wianka, gdy nagle przebiegł tuż koło niej biały królik o różowych ślepkach. (carroll 2015: 13) alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, ‘and what is the use of a book,’ thought alice, ‘without pictures or conversation?’ so she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a white rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her. (carroll 2016: 11-12) the third disturbed dimension of the style is its relative heterogeneity. in the target text the disruption is manifested, first and foremost, in a style alternating between colloquial and bookish. such alternations, it seems, lead to potential confusion in the readership because of a radical change in the perception of alice: in some scenes she acts as a sentimental little girl who uses vocabulary typical of the very beginning of the 20th century, so reminiscent of anne of green gables in bernsteinowa’s translation, while at other times she employs linguistic means indicative of youth slang: 31 articles example 5. zaraz, zaraz, rozsądniej chyba będzie trzymać z nimi sztamę – zmitygowała się raptem alicja – bo w przeciwnym razie mogą nie zechcieć udać się tam, dokąd ja się udać zechcę. (carroll 2015: 23) „dina zapewne okrutnie będzie tęsknić za mną dziś wieczorem – jak mogłam nie wziąć tego pod uwagę!” (carroll 2015: 15) „wydostańmy się tedy na brzeg, a zapoznam cię z mą przeszłością, i nie będziesz się już dziwić, dlaczego aż tak nie trawię psów i kotów”. (carroll 2015: 29) i shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you: you must manage the best way you can; – but i must be kind to them,’ thought alice, ‘or perhaps they won’t walk the way i want to go! (carroll 2016: 22) ‘dinah’ll miss me very much to-night, i should think!’ (carroll 2016: 14) ‘let us get to the shore, and then i’ll tell you my history, and you’ll understand why it is i hate cats and dogs.’ (carroll 2016: 31) the examples provided above convincingly demonstrate that the philosophy of language as presented in the second part of this paper has not been rendered in the translation produced by wasowski (2015), in particular with regard to the ‘speculative’ nature of language. following sołtysiak’s arguments (2004: 95-98), one can claim that because wonderland is constituted linguistically, language is the medium through which the reality unfolds; however, the medium is, to some degree, ‘invisible’, and thus it hides beneath that which it reflects itself. the relative invisibility of the linguistic medium is, paradoxically, pronounced in the source text where carroll employs so-called standard english and writes in a clear and homogeneous style. by ‘hiding’ language, which in the target version is manifested in the disruption of the harmony of style, wasowski brings the strange reality of wonderland out, making it possible for readers to differentiate between the two worlds depicted in the novel. at this point, however, one could assert that the ‘speculative’ nature of language also applies to how the reality is interpreted by a reader, or by an interpreter and a translator. on the other hand, though, the way things are presented in language is not an “outer” activity but the unfolding of the ‘thing’ itself (ibid: 95). wonderland and language, then, form a speculative unity, which means that words do not reflect a given being so that it is possible to contain the being in the words, but they assume a particular attitude towards the whole being, allowing it to speak (ibid: 96). thus, words in wonderland might be considered to function only because of what is conveyed through them. they exist only to dissolve in what has been said (see gadamer 1965: 450). in the target text, though, it seems that words in wonderland do not melt away in order to depict the fictitious world, but they gain a second existence. wonderland in wasowski’s interpretation does not constitute a speculative unity of language and portrayed reality, and this leads, as a result, to the differentiation between the world depicted and the linguistic means employed by the translator. words and phrases used in the target text do not reveal carroll’s wonderland but rather a totally different world: a world of linguistic signs and infinite possibilities of language. in other words, wasowski, in a way, failed “to capture the said within the context of unsaid” (lawn, keane 2011:136). for carroll, by reducing the ‘ornamental’ aspects of language, he created a significant opportunity to “give meanings to the chain of meanings in the said” (ibid), 32 crossroads. a journal of english studies or, put differently, to generate an infinity of meanings. wasowski, on the other hand, by exploiting the said to a greater extent than carroll did, caused the gradual disappearance of the unsaid. language in the source and target texts performs markedly different roles. while in the source text language should rather be referred to as a specific set of senses (bronk 1988: 315) through which contents are transmitted (also about the language itself), in the target text it assumes a more instrumental role and becomes the means by which its mere ‘creative’ possibilities are exploited. a provisional conclusion, then, is that wasowski did not render the capacity of language to go beyond itself. in the target text, language does not exist to convey what is said through it, but rather presents itself as the most important component of the whole narration, as if it were a private individual language of the translator. it is not so much wonderland but rather the translator that unfolds himself throughout the rendering—all the more so when the style of the translator is analysed, for example, on the basis of his afterword, in which all three dimensions of the disruption of the harmony of style can be readily identified. while in the source text language starkly and gradually reveals a quasi-fantastic reality in which the main protagonist finds herself, in the target text it is the language itself that is revealed, with all its possibilities and shortcomings, and of which almost a caricature is made. final remarks this essay has discussed the extent to which the philosophical structure of language as presented in alice’s adventures in wonderland has been rendered in the latest polish retranslation (wasowski 2015). the main goal of this paper was also to assess whether wasowski has managed to render the so-called english ‘spirit’ of the text and whether the actions undertaken have been conducted moderately, within particular linguistic limits, as the translator intended before he proceeded with the translation. returning to the questions posed at the beginning of this study, it is now possible to state that there are two utterly distinctive ontologies of language presented in the source and target texts. despite the fact that wasowski intended to render the english ‘spirit’ of the source text in the translation by means of the richness of the polish language, it seems that his perception of the text was too narrow to successfully complete the task. in his afterword, wasowski precisely explained the motives behind his decision to adopt a particular translation strategy, referring to his own rendering as an ‘unfaithful translation.’ while one, generally speaking, agrees with the translator’s intention to translate the idea of a text and not its words, there is, however, a big controversy surrounding wasowski’s postulate that the ‘spirit’ of the source text should be rendered, among others, by means of a wide variety of polish lexis (2015: 161). while a large number of excellent translation solutions have been supplied by wasowski, at the same time it has to be underlined that he did not manage to show great moderation in his attempts, alternating between various incompatible styles and distorting the harmony which accurately defines the source text. wasowski’s apparent disregard for these principles should be altogether surprising given the fact that he himself claimed how important it is for a translator to stay within particular bounds of practice so that it is the author of the source text who plays the most decisive role in the whole process. 33 articles in a similar vein, one can hardly agree with wasowski’s statement that the richness of one’s own imagination should keep pace with the richness of a language, with a picture frame and a picture being equally important (2015: 161). while it is undoubtedly true that both form/sense or content/ style (see hatim, munday 2004: 10) should be carefully treated by a translator in any translation process, the question which arises here is whether, and to what extent, the form contributes to sense (ibid) in alice’s adventures in wonderland. if one accepts that in this novel form and sense (or content/style) are, indeed, equally important (see considerations above regarding a quasi-fantastic convention and its realistic genesis), then wasowski, despite aiming for such a unity, did not manage to achieve it. paraphrasing stolze (2003: 296), it might be concluded that wasowski unnecessarily prioritized one component, i.e. a wide variety of polish vocabulary, thus leading to the narrowing of the so-called “truth of the text.” while it is not possible to encompass in a translation all potential perspectives defining a source text, the crucial point is to retain overall responsibility and remember that a translator’s task is, first and foremost, to act as a mediator and co-author rather than a second author (see stolze 2003: 207-224). finally, it seems that the target text is lacking in a necessary “oversummativity” and “multiperspectivity”, a set of manifold narrative perspectives which have to overlap each other (for more see paepcke 1986a). in the case of this novel, the perspectives might include: a quasi-fantastic convention with a realistic genesis, ontology of language manifested in a wide array of relationships between man and language, stylistic conventions, ideological factors (the victorian period and the issues of education) or ontological parallelism, to mention but a few. let us concentrate on the final element among those mentioned above. while the notion of equivalence has fulfilled a prominent role in translation theory, all too often it has been referred to as some sort of “equality” between two texts and closely entwined with an almost mathematical sameness. wasowski’s inclination towards producing an unfaithful translation, however, does not allow us to derive definite conclusions regarding the extent to which the two texts are equivalent. besides, what seems interesting to note is that the discourse of sameness does not make sense in the life-world (lebenswelt), because the relationship between text and translation is fiendishly complicated. what is more, the basis of the relationship is not equivalence but “parallelism in an opposition” (paepcke 1986b; 144-149, after bukowski 2012: 25). hence, it seems reasonable to consider yet another type of relationship between the source and target texts, one which is not subject to the discourse of identity, namely, ontological parallelism. ontological parallelism should be understood as the use of such linguistic means, including syntactic structures, to balance the ideas contained within the source and target texts, with regard to the being(s) existing in the world depicted. in the case of the novel under question, the being filling the principal role is wonderland, and it is this component that should capture the translator’s meticulous attention. wonderland, as a place of fantastic provenance, is immersed in conventions typical of the real world (kozak 2000), the two dimensions aptly fitting each other. more significantly, wonderland, as yet another type of language in itself, is parallel to the world from which alice came. it acts as a mirror of certain conventions of the real world, in particular of linguistic 34 crossroads. a journal of english studies ones, presenting and disclosing rather than reflecting or representing (see lawn, keane 2011: 136). the meanings which are mirrored, however, are “never entirely uttered” (see grondin 1995: 13). to recapitulate, wasowski, by distorting the harmony of style and exploiting to a great degree the semantic potential of the polish language, uttered, perhaps, too much, precluding, or limiting, the immense possibilities of a widely understood interpretation. in adhering to the uttered words themselves, the translator did not manage to reach “the dimension of the unsaid” (ibid). as a result, he managed neither to achieve ontological parallelism nor to render the ‘spirit’ of the english version of the novel, creating a vastly different world from the one which carroll invented; a world in which comic effects predominate over the unfathomable mystery of the linguistic functioning of a human being. references primary sources carroll, lewis. 2015. perypetie alicji na czarytorium (transl. by g. wasowski). warszawa: wydawnictwo wasowscy. carroll, lewis. 2016 (originally published in 1865). alice’s adventures in wonderland. london: vintage. secondary sources baldick, chris. 2008. oxford dictionary of literary terms. oxford: oxford university press. bronk, andrzej. 1988. rozumienie, dzieje, język. filozoficzna hermeneutyka h.-g. gadamera. lublin: redakcja wydawnictwo katolickiego uniwersytetu lubelskiego. bukowski, piotr. 2012. dydaktyczne aspekty hermeneutycznej teorii przekładu. in: maria piotrowska & joanna dybiec-gajer (eds.), przekład – teorie, terminy, terminologia, język a komunikacja 30, 17-28. kraków: wydawnictwo tertium. cara, coral. 2017. alice in wonderland. opening the doors to inclusive practices of teaching and learning for all students. in: vicky plows & ben whitburn (eds.), inclusive education: making sense of everyday practice, 107-125. rotterdam/boston/taipei: sense publishers. chapman, raymond. 2014. forms of speech in victorian fiction. london/new york: routledge. cohan, steven and linda m. shires. 2013. telling stories: the theoretical analysis of narrative fiction. london/new york: routledge. cohen, morton n. and anita gandolfo. 1987. lewis carroll and the house of macmillan. cambridge: cambridge university press. collingwood, stuart dodgson. 2008. the life and letters of lewis carroll. london: forgotten books. davey, nicolas. 2016. word, image, and concept. in: niall keane & chris lawn (eds.), the blackwell companion to hermeneutics, 242-247. chichester: john wiley & sons, inc. di, jin. 2014. literary translation: quest for artistic integrity. london/new york: routledge. gadamer, hans-georg. 1965. wahrheit und methode. tübingen: j.c.b. mohr. 35 articles gadamer, hans-georg. 1972. kleine schriften iii. idee und sprache. platon. husserl. heidegger. tübingen: j.c.b. mohr. gadamer, hans-georg. 2004. truth and method. new york: continuum publishing group. grondin, jean. 1995. sources of hermeneutics. albany: state university of new york press. gurczyńska-sady, katarzyna and wojciech sady. 2012. wielcy filozofowie współczesności. kęty: firma dystrybucyjna antyk piotr derewiecki. hatim, basil and jeremy munday. 2004. translation: an advanced resource book. london/new york: routledge. jaques, zoe and eugene giddens. 2016. alice’s adventures in wonderland and through the looking glass: a publishing history. london/new york: routledge. kozak, jolanta. 2000. alicja pod podszewką języka. teksty drugie 5 (64). 167-178. lawn, chris and niall keane (eds.). 2011. the gadamer dictionary. london/new york: continnum international publishing group. markowski, andrzej. 2005. kultura języka polskiego: teoria. zagadnienia leksykalne. warszawa: wydawnictwa naukowe pwn. o’sullivan, emer. 2004. comparative children’s literature. in: peter hunt (ed.), international companion encyclopedia of children’s literature, 191-202. london/new york: routledge. paepcke, fritz. 1986a. im übersetzer leben. übersetzen und textvergleich. tübingen: narr. paepcke, fritz. 1986b. die illusion der äquivalenz. übersetzen zwischen unschärfe und komplementarität. in: elvira groezinger & andreas lawaty (eds.), suche die meinung. karl dedecius, dem übersetzer und mittler zum 65. geburtstag, 116-151. wiesbaden: harassowitz. pym, anthony. 1998. method in translation history. manchester: st. jerome publishing. risser, james. 2010. gadamer’s hidden doctrine: the simplicity and humility of philosophy. in: jeff malpas & santiago zabala (eds.), consequences of hermeneutics: fifty years after gadamer’s truth and method, 5-24. evanston: northwestern university press. schmidt, dennis j. 2015. text and translation. in: jeff malpas & hans-helmuth gander (eds.), the routledge companion to hermeneutics, 345-353. london/new york: routledge. sołtysiak, marek. 2004. rozumienie i tradycja w hermeneutyce filozoficznej hansa-georga gadamera. kraków: wydawnictwo naukowe papieskiej akademii teologicznej w krakowie. stolze, radegundis. 2003. hermeneutik und translation. tübingen: gunter narr verlag. stolze, radegundis. 2011. the translator’s approach – introduction to translational hermeneutics: theory and examples from practice. berlin: frank & timme. sutherland, robert d. 1970. language and lewis carroll. the hague/paris: mouton & co. n. v. venuti, lawrence. 2013. translation changes everything: theory and practice. london/new york: routledge. combined machine-learning approach to pos-tagging of middle english corpora 42 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ raoul karimov chelyabinsk state university combined machine -learning approach to pos-tagging of middle english corpora abstract. this paper considers the problem of part-of-speech tagging in middle english corpora (as well as historical corpora in general). whereas pos-tagging in general is now considered a solved problem for modern english and is mainly achieved via hidden markov models (hmm) and matrix-based word-to-vector conversions with every word in the dictionary being embedded into a single dimension, this approach relies on recurrent syntactic structures and context-free generative grammars and is therefore not applicable to older iterations of the english language due to irregular word order. as such, we believe that middle english could be better handled by a morphographemic encoding and instance-based machine learning algorithms like svm, random forests, knn, etc. using a moving-average method to generate multidimensional vectors giving a reliable numeric representation of character composition and sequences, we have achieved a precision and recall of 87.5% in classifying middle english words by their part of speech while using a simplistic combined voting-based binary classifier. this result could be deemed satisfactory and encourages further research in the area. keywords: instance-based learning, corpus, middle english, pos-tagging, moving average. 1. introduction part of speech tagging is one of the central issues in the discipline known as natural language processing; it is quite frequently approached by means of the sequential-in-nature hidden markov models that are basically designed to predict the probability of an event in a sequence given the previous events (jurafsky 2008: 139). as modern english follows a very strict word order, where, for instance, the definite article the and most other determiners are in over half of all cases followed by a noun, hmms can be efficiently used to correctly classify words by their part of speech. furthermore, pos-tagging is assisted by finite-state transducers, which derive a given word’s morphological properties by identifying grammatically-significant character sequences, or morphemes (beesley and karttunen 2004: 240). it is, however, a completely different story with middle english, especially its earlier iterations (post-william the conqueror’s capture of britain in 1066 and up to the issuance of magna carta libertatum in 1215). the language, being characterized by less regular word order as well as rich morphology and very inconsistent orthography, where scyldoi: 10.15290/cr.2018.21.2.04 43 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ de was the same was as scilde (shield), and y-broht was only slightly diachronically separated from gebrouhte (pt. ii of bringan, to bring), still presents a challenge for linguists working in the field of corpus linguistics and natural language processing, whereas not being extensively researched by machine learning community who prefer to allocate more resources, time, and scientific effort to modern languages. we have, unfortunately, so far found no previous research what would be dedicated specifically either the lemmatization or the pos-tagging of corpora in middle english. neural networks have been made for slavic and other morphologically complex languages (jędrzejowicz and strychowski 2005: 200; malouf 2016: 123), but utilized better-codified and larger-in-volume language data than we could ever afford in our middle english effort. nevertheless, pos-tagging and other functions provided by nlp applications could be of great use for philologists studying language history who are currently restricted to corpora with limited annotation and as such have to perform annotation manually, which is both time-consuming and labor-intensive, thus reducing the overall efficiency of scientific work. with that in mind, we decided to find a way to automate the process of pos-tagging by applying existing machine learning methodology. for this study, the following was hypothesized: there should exist a simple instance-based machine learning method that would enable efficient pos-classification of orthographically volatile middle english words while trained on a small set of data. we believed that support vector machines (svm), random forest models (rfm), k nearest neighbors (knn), and bayesian algorithms could all be used for such learning. the hypothesis is to be verified by means of 10-fold crossvalidation, whereas the difference in results returned by various algorithms is to be t-tested by student’s method. 2. theory and methodology 2.1. research data this study derives data for analysis primarily from the helsinki corpus of english texts (web 1), which contains about 450 texts of philosophical, literary, belletristic, epistolary, scientific, and religious nature, a total of 1.5 million words. the corpus is freely available via the oxford text archives and is subdivided into multiple smaller divisions based on the diachronic classification of its texts, which in its turn is dual, as it considers both the creation of the original text and the creation of its manuscript that the corpus includes. preliminary analysis of the corpus data and the preparation of training and test samples were done by consulting mayhew and skeat’s a concise dictionary of middle english (mayhew and skeat 1888). for the goal of this research paper, we limited ourselves to one of the texts from the corpus: vespasian homilies, ca. 1167, which partially reduced the overall orthographic and grammatical inconsistency that could be observed across the dialects of that time. for the initial machine learning effort, we would like to perform simple binary classification to see what results are reasonably achievable on a smaller training set. for this purpose, we made a 44 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ small 200-word set containing 110 verbs and 90 adjectives, all extracted from vespasian homilies as they are contained in the text, i.e. without lemmatization, spelling normalization, or any other pre-training rectification, which we believed would be inappropriate given that the ultimate goal of the research effort was (and is) to develop a technique that could be applied to raw corpus data. the set is made deliberately small so as to better optimize the methodology for training on limited data. 2.2. algorithms under investigation in this on-going research effort, we are investigating the capacities of several known instance machine-learning algorithms when applied to small middle english vocabulary samples (for space considerations and for the sake of simplicity, we are not providing any detailed mathematical descriptions of those algorithms, see sources cited): support vector machines, k nearest neighbors, random forest models, and multilayer perceptron. a support vector machine, or svm, is in its most basic form (a binary linear machine) an algorithm that, given a set of vectors in n-dimensional vector space, finds a hyperplane that maximizes the margin between itself and the vectors on either side of it. figure 1 below gives a good illustration of how it works: figure 1. separation of vectors in the figure above, black and white dots represent linearly-separable vectors of different classes; the green line does not separate the classes; the blue one does with a minimum margin; the red one does with a maximum margin and is therefore deemed the best hyperplane. in case of linearly separable data, the maximum-margin hyperplane lies between two other planes that border the separated vector sets; vectors from the data set that belong to such other planes are called support vectors, hence the name of the method; for a detailed mathematical description, see (christianini and shawe-taylor 2000: 94). random forest models, or rfm, generate decision trees, each of which is applied to classify a random subset of the training sample using a random partial set of attributes, or features (neither 45 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ the sample, nor the attributes are used entirely). when classifying a new instance, rfm gives preference to the class which the majority of such randomly-generated trees has voted for, i.e. performs simple majority voting (breiman 2001: 2). of the randomly-reduced set of attributes, the best one that is used for generation of tree nodes is often chosen on the basis of gini impurity. below is an illustration of how it works: figure 2. random forest model as can be seen in figure 2, each decision tree is fed a part of the data set, drawn at random, and uses a random subset of features to perform the classification of an unknown-class instance. in tasks other than classification, e.g. regression, averaging can be used instead of majority voting. the random forest algorithm scales well, is efficient for any number of attributes or classes, is optimal for large and small data alike, and is good for both continuous and discreet attributes; while being computationally intensive is often cited as its main drawback, it does not seem to be problematic given our purpose to use deliberately small training sets. k nearest neighbors is one of the simplest yet very efficient instance-based learning algorithms and classifiers that uses only basic majority voting (aha 1991: 38). a new instance is vectorized and then placed in an n-dimensional space of correctly classified vectors (e.g. the training-sample vectors), whereby the algorithm calculates the euclidean or manhattan distance from this new vector to the known-class vectors to identify a number of nearest neighbors. the number is usually odd and is referred to as k, hence the name of the algorithm. whichever class has the most vectors among those k nearest neighbors, that class is assigned to the new vector as well. in figure 3 below, the green vector in the center would be classified as a red triangle if k = 3, or as a blue square if k = 5. 46 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ figure 3. k nearest neighbors multilayer perceptron, or mp, is the most complex algorithm of the above, and is a feedforward artificial neural network (teijiro et al. 2012: 758); unlike svms, it can be used on data that is not linearly separable. it builds a network consisting of three or more layers (input, output, and at least one hidden layer) containing nodes with weights adjusted by a sigmoid function. weight adjustment is done by the backpropagation of error. mlps are successfully used in scientifically complex prediction problems like seyed (2015: 62). figure 4. schematic representation of an mlp with three separately-weighted hidden ode layers 47 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ middle english, despite being rather inconsistent both grammatically and orthographically, did have regular morphs that are still referred by historical linguistics as the primary categorial markers. hypothetically, if we were able to generate word-vectors such that similar character sequences occurring in similar intra-lexeme positions would produce closely-positioned vectors, then a vector-based machine learning algorithm such as svm or an rfm should be able to correctly link together words that have similar graphical clusters at the beginning (the prefix) and/or at the end (the suffix), which in many (though not all) cases would suffice for part-of-speech classification. 2.3. methodology as has already been mentioned above, the method to use had to focus on the recurring sequences of symbols observed in words and signifying its pos-category. as such, we had to find a simplistic yet efficient method that would enable us to represent words in a vector form that would reliably shaped by both the character composition of, and character-specific position in, a given word. takala cites several methods of vector-word embedding: regular embedding (one dimension per word for n top-ranking tokens contained in the dictionary, with the rest being assigned to a single dimension associated with rare words), stem+ending embedding (stem vectors concatenated with ending vectors), and moving-average method that uses relatively small dimensionality to collect information from all parts of a word (takala 2016: 179). in our pursuit of making such representations that would not require any pre-specified rules while also not being calculation-intensive, we decided to choose the latter. the moving-average representation is essentially a vector of n dimensions, where n = number of characters in the alphabet, with each dimension being assigned to a single character. a word representation w = (wa ,wb ,...wz ) t: , (1) where c is the character index (1 for the first symbol in the word, 2 for the second one, etc.), α is a hyper-parameter to control the decay, and z is a normalizer proportional to the word length (which we decided to be the word length itself, i.e. 4 for word). thus, each word-vector contains a weighted sum in each dimension representing any character that found in the word, and 0 in the rest of dimensions. the operation is repeated backwards, and the new vector is concatenated to the previous one so that word is represented as word ⌢ drow. takala also suggests concatenating a third vector which only contains character counts; for now, we decided not to use that option. before the experiment was conducted, we had done a limited normalization of spelling: both thorn and eth had been replaced with the cluster th, whereas ash, æ, had been replaced with ae, and yogh, ȝ had been replaced with g. we also removed diacritics and decapitalized all the words in both of our sets. thus, we came to an alphabet of 26 characters, which resulted in word-vectors in a 52-dimensional space over the field of real numbers (26x2). two sets were then made, each containing 100 instances of 52 numeric attributes and one binary attribute pos {verb, adj} to test the ability of support-vector machines to effectively differentiate these two parts of speech 48 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ based on instances extracted from a middle english text. all machine learning algorithms were run in the weka data-mining environment (frank and witten 2016: 365). 3. experimentation and discussion as mentioned above, training and verification by 10-fold cross-validation were performed on a small 200-word sample containing 110 verbs and 90 adjectives from a single middle english texts. all the four models discussed in section 2.2 were first trained and verified separately; below are the confusion matrices for all models. table 1. confusion matrices for each model mlp knn svm rfm verb adj cas verb adj cas verb adj cas verb adj cas 96 14 verb 99 11 verb 99 11 verb 99 11 verb 15 75 adj 20 70 adj 20 70 adj 19 71 adj note: cas means “classified as”. values in bold are the best values achieved across algorithms. to better illustrate how precise each algorithm was in separating verbs from adjectives, we plotted a precision-and-recall histogram for each of them, see figure 5 below. figure 5. class-specific precision and recall values for different algorithms as can be seen from the graph, adjectives are universally classified more precisely than verbs but show considerably lower recall. interestingly, knn and svm return identical results for both classes; verb recall and adjective precision have the same or nearly same values across algorithms except mlp, which is superior to others in terms of verb classification precision while somewhat worse in terms of verb recall. it is also the only algorithm to show high recall for ad49 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ jectives at the cost of somewhat lower precision. table 2 provides detailed classification results for each algorithm. table 2. detailed accuracy by class for each model tp rate fp rate preci-sion recall f-msr mcc roc area prc area class support vector machines 0.900 0.222 0.832 0.900 0.865 0.687 0.839 0.804 verb 0.778 0.100 0.864 0.778 0.819 0.687 0.839 0.772 adj 0.845 0.167 0.846 0.845 0.844 0.687 0.839 0.790 weighted average multilayer perceptron 0.873 0.167 0.865 0.873 0.869 0.707 0.909 0.919 verb 0.833 0.127 0.843 0.833 0.838 0.707 0.909 0.872 adj 0.855 0.149 0.855 0.855 0.855 0.707 0.909 0.898 weighted average random forest 0.900 0.211 0.839 0.900 0.868 0.697 0.940 0.951 verb 0.789 0.100 0.866 0.789 0.826 0.697 0.940 0.923 adj 0.850 0.161 0.851 0.850 0.849 0.697 0.940 0.938 weighted average k nearest neighbors 0.900 0.222 0.832 0.900 0.865 0.687 0.839 0.810 verb 0.778 0.100 0.864 0.778 0.819 0.687 0.839 0.767 adj 0.845 0.167 0.846 0.845 0.844 0.687 0.839 0.790 weighted average in this table, values in bold are the best precision, recall, and roc values achieved by means of all the four algorithms tested. note that the power of algorithms is highly contextual: mlp is better at handling adjectives, whereas rfm returns higher roc for any class, and svm/knn deal with verbs more efficiently. this suggests that different algorithms might perform better or worse depending on the class, the metric, or other factors, which is why we propose making a combined 50 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ algorithm. to that end, we decided to combine all the four algorithms to make a majority-voting meta-classifier, whose results are shown below. table 3. detailed accuracy by class for the majority-voting classifier tp rate fp rate preci-sion recall f-msr mcc roc area prc area class 0.909 0.167 0.870 0.909 0.889 0.747 0.871 0.841 verb 0.833 0.091 0.882 0.833 0.857 0.747 0.871 0.810 adj 0.875 0.133 0.875 0.875 0.875 0.747 0.871 0.827 weighted average apparently, using a combined classifier did improve both precision and recall for both classes, which suggests it is a recommendable approach for further machine-learning efforts in this research. a weighted-average precision and recall of 0.875, we believe, indicates that the combined model showcases a sufficient capability of predicting the part of speech of a given word when trained on 52-dimensional word-vectors generated by the moving-average method. however, a few problems should be highlighted. first it would be useful to note that verbs generally demonstrate better results than adjectives with all the algorithms, which we think is due to the sampling method: as we did not lemmatize or otherwise normalize the form of words we tested the approach on, some adjectives in both sets were given in the superlative form. given the absence of superlative rhoticism (ilyish 1968: 104) in middle english, such adjectives would bear the suffix -st-, which coincided with the verbal 2sg suffix; as second-person verbs were abundant in the sample due to the nature of vespasian homilies, where the author directly addresses the reader and uses the 2sg personal pronoun þu, this could have resulted in a consistent association of the character string -stwith verbs, which affected superlative adjectives. second, it should be borne in mind that the experiment was oversimplified and reduced to two parts of speech, one of which (the verb) is known to be the most morphologically complex and rich in most languages of the world, thus boasting better and more indicative character-string markers. on the other hand, me nouns and adjectives did share many of their case-specific suffixes, which would probably result in multiple confusions of these two parts of speech should both be included in the experiment. this might mean that the included algorithms might not make a sufficient pos-tagging tool despite the morphological richness of old and middle english, necessitating the implementation of non-character-based means, e.g. hidden markov models. another question that is yet to be answered is whether multi-class machines would be as efficient as binary ones. svms are primarily intended for binary classifications and utilize a breakdown approach when it comes to more than two classes; mlp might behave differently on a larger sample. further experiments are needed to find out if they could be efficient in our case should 51 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ we try to train those models and/or the combined classifier to recognize all parts of speech. this is complicated by cross-pos homography that could sometimes be observed in historical english texts, where words of different parts of speech could have the same or near-same graphical representation. this reiterates the need for including non-morphology-based techniques such as hmms, which, however, need a different vector representation. finally, we have to mention the grammatical ambiguity that has existed since the appearance of analytical perfective structures in the english language, where the second participle of a verb could be used as both a non-finite component of a verbal compound, or as an attribute, in which case it would fulfill the role of an ordinary adjective. this is essentially a problem of grammatical classification rather than machine learning, yet it could adversely affect the latter. 4. conclusions this paper analyzes multiple classifiers and a combination thereof that use multidimensional word-vectors generated by means of a moving-average formula applied to every word in a set in direct and reverse order to create a vector reflecting both the character composition of, and the weighted character-specific position in, a given word. all the models are cross-validated on a small verb-and-adjective set sampled from a middle english corpus. despite somewhat worse results for adjectives, a combined voting-based classifier compensates for it by taking into account the mlp output, where verb/adj precision and recall values are balanced. the results obtained encourage further research and experimentation in this area; however, they probably indicate the need for complementing the approach with another model that does not rely on character strings, e.g. hmm. this will be the basis for our future efforts in the pursuit of creating a model that is able to correctly classify words by their part of speech or other morphosyntactic properties, in middle english and other historical languages that share the same properties: morphological richness and orthographic inconsistency. the current findings, however, are deemed satisfactory given the small sample size. references aha, david w., kibler, dennis, albert, marc k. 1991. instance-based learning algorithms. machine learning 6-1, 37-66. beesley, kenneth r., karttunen, lauri. 2004. finite-state morphology. journal of computational linguistics 30-2, 237-249. breiman, leo. 2001. random forests. https://www.stat.berkeley.edu/~breiman/randomforest2001. pdf (19 april, 2018). christianini, nello, shawe-taylor, john. 2000. an introduction to support vector machines and other kernel-based learning methods. cambridge: cambridge university press. frank, eibe, witten, ian h. 2016. data mining: practical machine learning tools and techniques. burlington: morgan kaufmann. ilyish, boris a. 1968. history of the english language. moscow: vysshaya shkola. 52 articles ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ jędrzejowicz, piotr, strychowski, jakub a. 2005. neural network based morphological analyser of the natural language. intelligent information processing and web mining. advances in soft computing 31, 199–208. jurafsky, dan, martin, james h. 2008. speech and language processing. new jersey: prentice hall. malouf, robert. 2016. generating morphological paradigms with a recurrent neural network. san diego linguistic papers 6, 122–129. mayhew, anthony l, skeat, walter.1888. a concise dictionary of middle english from a.d. 1150 to 1580. oxford: clarendon press. seyed, hamid h., mahdi, samanipour. 2015. prediction of final concentrate grade using artificial neural networks from gol-e-gohar iron ore plant. american journal of mining and metallurgy 3-3, 58-62. takala, pyry. 2016. word embeddings for morphologically rich languages. proceedings of the european symposium on artificial neural networks, computational intelligence and machine learning, 177-182. teijiro, isokawa, naruhiko, nishimura, nobuyuki, matsui. 2012. quaternionic multilayer perceptron with local analyticity. information 3, 756-770. web 1 – helsinki corpus of english texts.www.helsinki.fi/varieng/cord/corpora/helsinkicorpus (4 april, 2018). donald trump’s political campaign rhetoric. a cognitive study 4 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) martyna awier1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2019.27.4.01 university of białystok orcid: 0000-0002-5371-8871 donald trump’s political campaign rhetoric. a cognitive study abstract: politicians recruit conceptual metaphors, as these means enable them to talk about abstract political problems in terms of more tangible and commonplace entities. this study aims to explore linguistic aspects of trump’s presidential campaign and is conducted in light of premises derived from critical discourse analysis and critical metaphor theory. the selected speeches were analyzed using a corpus research tool, i.e. metaphor identification process was implemented. donald trump’s campaign speeches were retrieved from internet sources. the period from january 24th, 2015 to october 20th, 2016 was chosen for compiling the primary corpus of 20 speeches. the qualitative analysis indicates that the president used metaphorical expressions frequently. the author of the article enumerates some grand metaphorical themes underlying donald trump’s campaign speeches. keywords: donald trump, campaign speeches, conceptual metaphor, mip, discourse. 1. background information donald trump’s presidential election in 2016 gained the status of one of the most warlike and controversial campaigns in the history of the modern united states (lakoff 2017). for this reason the aspects of donald trump’s political message has attracted the interest of a great number of linguists who aim to examine it. trump’s presidential campaign sparked interest throughout the world as it ended with donald trump’s victory. to the astonishment of many people, the businessman and political outsider who represented the republican party won against the politically experienced democrat candidate, hillary clinton. thereby, on january 20th, 2017, donald trump became the 45th president of the united states of america. there is little doubt that the success of trump’s campaign is to a large extent a matter of his unprecedented rhetoric. donald trump arouse strong emotions as his political remarks are controversial and geared at presenting him as a tough opponent. indeed, donald trump’s election campaign was full of bold remarks that may be compared to verbal attacks on the opposing candidates. 1 address for correspondence: department of linguistics, university of białystok, pl. nzs 1, 15-420 białystok, poland. e-mail: martyna.awier@o2.pl 5 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) the objective of this study is to examine linguistic strategies embedded in donald trump’s portrayal of other candidates. the article, however, especially investigates how the interrelatedness of conceptual metaphors and discursive strategies shaped donald trump’s political campaign discourse. the research intends to examine how language enabled trump to delegitimize clinton’s credibility and it shows in what way trump transmitted his ideology. for the purpose of investigating the effectiveness of donald trump’s campaign rhetoric, a compilation was chosen of ten speeches made by donald trump ranging from january 24th, 2015 to october 20th, 2016. this time span provided the possibility to examine trump’s election campaign rhetoric and arrive at generalizations concerning his electoral political discourse. all of the president’s speeches analyzed in this paper were retrieved from internet sources. trump’s campaign speech given in new york city on june 22nd, 2016 and his nomination speech delivered on july 21st, 2016 were singled out. these two speeches were chosen for detailed analysis because they are the most commented on of trump’s speeches that include bold and controversial remarks. these speeches provided an array of interesting linguistic aspects which facilitated observations. in order to avoid potential confusion concerning the methodology of the research, the following notation will be used: nycs stands for trump’s new york city speech given on june 22nd, 2016. correspondingly, nas is an abbreviation for nomination acceptance speech delivered by donald trump on july 21st, 2016. 2. research methodology before embarking on the analysis of donald trump’s rhetoric, subject matters such as speeches, audience and addressee have to be commented on. the analyzed speeches were written in advance, but they were delivered in a spoken form. the purpose of the message was to persuade americans that donald trump should become president. the addressor is the republican candidate for presidency, namely donald trump. the addressee concerns all potential voters, i.e. republican supporters and some undecided individuals. at this stage, the governing procedure of the following research will be described. firstly, the speeches underwent the process of thorough reading and, as a result, the main features of trump’s election discourse were identified. next, i turned to the framework of conceptual metaphors. i decided that firstly i should check whether trump employed verbal metaphorical expressions in his campaign speeches. to facilitate the study, the metaphor identification procedure (mip) was implemented as a research tool. analysts who employ the mip should not assume the existence of metaphors in advance. metaphor scholars analyze linguistic expressions and decide which metaphorical item shows a contextual meaning that is not consistent with the basic meaning. the 6 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) metaphor researcher has to detect whether there is some correspondence between the two meanings. only at this point can conceptual metaphors be classified and grouped according to their common domains. finally, systematic correspondences between conceptual domains were explored, followed by the grouping of metaphors according to the meaning detected in each example of metaphor usage. 3. metaphors and discourse turn before george lakoff and mark johnson’s metaphors we live by (1980), metaphor research was disregarded and largely ignored for many years. indeed, traditional scholars treated metaphor with suspicion and disdain. plato (5th – 4th century bc) and hobbes (1651) are representatives of the empiricist tradition. scientists criticized poets for using metaphorical, figurative language. metaphorical expressions were identified as serious mistreatments of natural language that should be eschewed (see grey 2000: 2). in this particular context, metaphor was seen as distortion of truth and it was considered best that poets and playwrights abstain from the employment of metaphorical expressions. metaphors were thought to impede understanding of external reality, and as such, convention of the times held that the truth could only be achieved by means of literal language. however, lakoff & johnson’s groundbreaking conceptual metaphor theory (cmt) unconditionally refuted the formerly traditional approach to metaphor studies. cognitive linguists introduced the standard view of metaphor in cognitive literature. first of all, relatively recent research provides the reason for placing a sharp division between the literal and figurative meanings in question (barczewska 2017: 105). indeed, a traditional approach towards literal and figurative forms of language seems to be at odds with central premises of the cognitive standpoint. twentieth century linguists hold the view that metaphor is a major cognitive tool that resides in thought (not merely in words). cognitive approaches concerned with metaphor recognize its conceptual character and treat metaphor as a transmitter or guider of human feelings, actions, thoughts, contemplations or behaviors (see górska 2008: 15). lakoff & johnson extended metaphor’s use beyond the linguistic level and they posited it at the conceptual level claiming that metaphors give structure to concepts. cognitive scholars conclude that people understand abstract and diffuse conceptions in terms of more tangible and commonplace entities (see kövecses 2002: 4). thus, lakoff & johnson argued that human thinking and reasoning patterns are deeply rooted in metaphors and people use metaphors in everyday life automatically, effortlessly and unconsciously (1980, quoted after goatly 2007: 22). there also exist some voices that question the groundbreaking character of cmt (see fabiszak 2005; mcglone 2007). traditional conceptual metaphor researchers neglect the metaphors evoked by real language users in authentic situations (kövesces 2009: 80ff.). the growth of discourse studies and social context triggered metaphor researchers to 7 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) seek authentic data, and led to metaphor researchers examining metaphors in authentic language use and real discourse (see fabiszak 2007; fabiszak & konat 2013). as a consequence, scholars noticed that cmt could also be faulted for the lack of social contextual sensitivity. this discovery resulted in discourse analysts stipulating that conceptual and discourse metaphor analysis should not be conducted separately. nevertheless, both metaphors and discourse are extremely intricate phenomena, presenting the condition of a methodological challenge to find one suitable theory that would be compatible with each and every instance of metaphor usage in spoken discourse. cameron, for instance, perceives discourse in its dynamics and claims that metaphors are emergent. linguistic metaphorical expressions arise from a repetitive use of the same verbal metaphors while talking about significant topics in a specific flow of discourse (cameron 2010: 137). it means that the metaphors which reappear within a given piece of discourse are the most salient ones. in a similar vein müller (2008) examines metaphors in discourse. müller (2008) brings into focus “sleeping” and “waking” verbal metaphors. sleeping metaphors are believed to exhibit small activation potential, whereas a waking metaphor tends to be highly activated. the analysis of both linguistic and non-linguistic (i.e. gestures or pictures) instantiations of decoding meaning determine the activation level. the more cases of metaphor reiterations or gestures may be detected in a discourse, the more conspicuous and active metaphor becomes (see müller 2008; górska 2014). consequently, metaphor undergoes the process of attention foreshadowing. it signifies that waking or active metaphors serve the purpose of profiling addressees’ attention to the key features of an analyzed sentence. charteris-black (2004: 20ff.) approaches metaphors from the discourse and cmt perspectives. charteris-black concurs that the emergence of persuasive metaphor is strictly connected with the occurrence of “semantic tensions”, i.e. incongruence between both basic and contextual meanings. the scholar also assumes that corpora would facilitate the study of metaphor. charteris-black (2004: 31) defines a corpus as a collection of a great number of texts that are connected with one another and concern the same subject matter. charteris-black advises metaphor researchers to narrow down the domain that they are going to examine and conduct a research on one specific domain; for instance, they may analyze texts on politics or medicine. zinken coined the term “discourse metaphor,” and defined it as a “framing device” in a particular discourse. zinken outlines that discourse metaphors emerge from socio-cultural interactions and as such, are consequently part of a discursive reality. discourse metaphors reflect the community’s beliefs and practices. zinken claims that metaphors are situation and context specific (for more details on discourse metaphors see zinken 2007). 8 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) semino advocates the view that metaphors are genre-specific, claiming that there is a group of metaphors that is certain to reappear in a specific type of discourse genre. for instance, the metaphors in colonialist discourse differ from metaphors in education discourse (see semino 2007). due to these reasons more and more researchers implement the cognitive discourse analysis (coda). coda enables metaphor researchers to combine the framework of conceptual metaphors with discursive strategies. the proponents of coda recognize critical discourse analysis techniques which juxtapose with reoccurrence of analogical and emotionally loaded verbal structures. a successful integration of coda allows for the examination of underlying ideologies of the speeches under analysis (see wodak 2006). 4. metaphors in political discourse metaphor scholars posit the view that because of this specific ability of metaphors, they play a special role in political discourse. they can easily promulgate particular ideologies and theories, while dismissing others. as it has been stated earlier by lakoff & johnson’s cmt and their successors, metaphors have an ambiguous nature. they may highlight certain aspects of a given domain, but simultaneously some elements may get backgrounded. thus, alice deignan (2005: 24), a researcher of metaphors in corpus analysis, adopts the view that metaphors can, in fact, “distort” reality. wolf & polzenhagen (quoted after dirven et al. 2003: 268) force the view that “global ideological patterns may arise from the application of a particular metaphor and the neglect of alternative ones.” therefore, metaphor can be employed to achieve ends which may not be readily detectable at a superficial level and they may be exploited to benefit a given politician’s personal aspirations. american conservatives’ (right wing) and liberals’ (left wing) political language perfectly fits into the cognitive models proposed by lakoff (see cienki 2005: 281). representatives of both political fractions reason about the election campaign message in terms of idealized cognitive family models. the most natural and common metaphorical model exploited in political discourse is that of the nation is a family. as lakoff (2004: 5) elucidates, people tend to perceive and link large and abstract social groups (for instance ‘nation’) with small communities or families. lakoff’s moral politics (2002) reveals that american politics is organized in the vein of two contrastive and opposing nation metaphors; one is the strict father (sf) family, and the second is the nurturant parent (np) family. ultimately, these two models are linked by larger metaphors, i.e. the nation is a family, the government is a parent and the citizens are children (lakoff 2002: 154). in accordance with the sf approach to nation, the world poses a danger to citizens. it means that vulnerable people are endangered with competitiveness and immorality. such a crucial and vicious place evokes the immediate need for a strict father who will protect and instruct his innocent citizens. lakoff’s sf model values a traditional patriarchal family structure. as the name itself implies, 9 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) the sf imposes the vision of a strong man – a father who is able to protect his family from dangers. father possesses the most appreciated merit of authoritative advice and strength, so the mother and children should follow the father’s instructions. the sf system voices discipline and punishment, and it promulgates that consistent moral behavior will bring prosperity. the conceptual metaphor of morality is strength prevails in the sf model. this compound metaphor licenses the following metaphors: being good is being upright and, respectively, being bad is being low (see lakoff 2002: 71). within a political domain, the sf’s metaphor of morality is strength refers to politicians whose political activity is impeccable. thus, viable politicians are perceived as reliable leaders that will provide prosperity for a country. and as it is well-known, a rich country translates in practice to a strong country. correspondingly, all corrupted and immoral politicians are believed to be weak and unreliable people. additionally, the sf model takes priority over the morality is purity and the immorality is impurity metaphors (lakoff 2002: 92f.). immoral deeds and corruption will cause damage to the whole society. when it comes to the free market, the pursuit of self-interest seems to be prioritized. as lakoff (2004: 8) concludes, it pushes the emergence of the well-being is wealth conceptual metaphor. thus, the well-being is wealth conceptual metaphor implies an ideological perception of the state. in practice it means that potential national profit should be measured in terms of money. well-being is wealth triggers a string of conditional sentences that inserts the “if” clause. it allows politicians to propose some actions that would foster prosperity in the country. yet, it has to be highlighted that self-reliance stands at the center of the sf model. therefore, the well-being metaphor, understood in terms of one of the main tenets of the sf model, refers to self-sufficient citizens of a given state. the self-reliance frame seems to favor a lack of governmental intervention into the lives and financial fluidity of citizens. social programs are rejected in the application of the sf model to politics. the sf president frames himself as the highest moral authority that is in power to coach people and direct their attention to certain issues. the sf president has a mission to educate other individuals and countries about what is good or moral and what is wrong or immoral. it goes together with metaphorical conceptualization of the nation as a person (see chilton & lakoff 1989; musolff 2010). in turn, some neighboring countries may be metaphorically seen as friends, and other nations may be portrayed as rogue states or enemies. as the nation is personalized, america should take care of itself to remain within the framework of the health metaphor. metaphorically speaking, america is presented as a strong and wealthy country (or person). it may be deduced that america is a mature country. following on, this assumption implies the adult-child metaphor. it means that all other countries are underdeveloped and are worse off industrialized “children” that need america’s help. if so, it appears that america is framed 10 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) as a moral governor that is supposed to bring peace and strongly address the world’s central problems. politicians tend to use so-called conflict metaphors (charteris-black 2004: 90ff.). raison d’étre is to evoke a physical struggle for highly valued things such as fundamental rights or freedom, or to invoke the fight against negative phenomena such as poverty, unemployment and so forth. this strategy gives rise to conceptual metaphors, i.e. politics is conflict or politics is war. politicians are supposed to overcome all societal illnesses. correspondingly, kövecses (2002: 69) enumerates the following metaphors that shape contemporary political discourse: politics is war and politics is sport. as kövecses elucidates, the conceptual metaphor of politics is war illustrates the fact that political leaders assume the role of military leaders. politicians’ words, comments and policies are equated with weapons. the politics is sport metaphor is closely related to the previous metaphor. conceptualization of politics in light of the sport domain seems to highlight competitiveness among political parties. the politics is sport metaphor predicts that political elections will be a fierce political event. candidates compete against one another and this process is reminiscent of a race or sports event. 5. metaphors in trump’s campaign speeches the pragglejaz group2 (2007: 13ff.) developed a procedure for the identification of metaphors in a given context and discourse. the researchers employed the metaphor identification procedure (mip). the mip is a useful tool for metaphor investigators. the procedure involves guidelines which help the metaphor analysts recognize instances of metaphors in a discourse. firstly, researchers manually dissect a given text in an attempt to decide whether there are some sentences which may be metaphorically loaded. here, it is important to underline that scholars should never assume a preexistence of metaphors in a text. linguistic investigators decide upon the issue of metaphoricity by comparing meanings of linguistic expressions. they have to check a basic meaning of a given item and then they can compare it with its contextual meaning. contextual meaning is deduced from data analysis. the phrase may be regarded metaphorical when its basic meaning differs from a situation-driven meaning. yet, it has to be highlighted that the mip does not eliminate subjectivity of a scholar’s individual decisions and choices. the identification procedure merely reduces the risk of potential subjectivity. indeed, the procedure and its explicit rules do not posit a clear problem solving path. for instance, functional words pose challenges for establishing their meanings. yet, the pragglejaz group does not specify if idiomatic expressions, 2 pragglejaz group is a group of metaphor researchers. peter crisp, ray gibbs, alan cienki, graham low, gerard steen, lynne cameron, elena semino, joe grady, alice deignan, and zoltan kövecses are members of the group. 11 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) fixed expressions and phrasal verbs should be decomposed or whether they should be examined as one lexical unit. for the purposes of this data analysis, it was decided not to separate fixed and idiomatic expressions or phrasal verbs. therefore, is seems that the mip allows some space for “free” choices while considering the step of deciding whether a given word is metaphorically loaded. first of all, the person metaphor stands out in trump’s election discourse. the overarching metaphor of the nation/state is a family underlies the presidential election campaign discourse of trump. trump exploits a metaphorization model of the united states as a family, where citizens are members of one big and united community. obviously, it should be assumed that the head of this metaphorical family (i.e. nation) is the president. the nation/state is a family is subjected to further conceptualization, namely that of the nation/state is a person, which seems to pervade trump’s election rhetoric. consider the following examples which illustrate the nation/state is a person metaphor: (1) then she [hillary clinton] let china steal hundreds of dollars in our intellectual property (…) (nation is a person) [nycs] (2) her [hillary clinton] decisions spread death, destruction and terrorism everywhere. (decision is a person) [nas] (3) she [hillary clinton] supported the job killing trade deal with south korea. (trade deal is a person) [nas] person metaphor facilitates trump’s presentation of america as an ill and sad person that needs a moral and reliable leader. trump explains that he is the only person that can help america “recover” and solve its problems. interestingly, being an active observer of american political life, lakoff amplified the scope of the nation/state is a family. indeed, lakoff modified this conceptual metaphor and adjusted it to contemporary reality renaming it as the president is a nation (lakoff 2016a). in this case study it takes the form of the trump is a nation conceptual metaphor. on this account, americans may be equated with the followers of trump and the desires or hopes of the american people appear to be trump’s needs. thus, the phrases america first and america’s interest first begin to be linguistic manifestations of the trump is a nation conceptual metaphor. they signify that, in fact, it is trump’s interest that is of primary importance. it seems that the person metaphor serves as a platform for trump’s version of america. trump vilifies his enemies. the role of the enemy should be ascribed to trump’s political opponent, i.e. hillary clinton. the force metaphor and its linguistic realizations seem to introduce a war-like election campaign discourse. force metaphors are denoted by verbalized forms of dynamic forces, such as let, cause, help, continue, or stop. force metaphors serve to show the process of interaction of abstract entities (which 12 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) are conceptualized as physical objects) with external forces. force metaphors usually concern exertion of force, resistance to it or impediments and problems that particular force may encounter. the events are actions is a salient entailment resulting from the force metaphor. given that events originate from the exertion of external forces, it has to be concluded that events are conceived of in terms of actions. in the case of such conceptualization, an object is materialized in terms of motion that has been caused by the forceful agent. the events are actions conceptual metaphor accounts for the cases of reification and objectification as usually it imputes the agency to some intangible objects (turner 1994: 162). consider these examples: (4) her bad instincts and her bad judgment (…) are what caused the disasters unfolding today (hillary clinton’s mistakes are a destructive force) [nas] (5) i have visited the cities and towns across america and seen the devastation caused by the trade policies of bill and hillary clinton (policy of hillary clinton is a destructive force) [nycs] selected metaphors from trumps’ election speeches lead us to the conclusion that the events are actions metaphor propels a reluctance towards the policy of “other” candidates (especially hillary clinton). trump’s rhetoric creates a negative perception of hillary clinton as a politician. i would even dare to say that trump portrays hillary clinton and her agenda as a destructive force that will ruin american policy. it entails an obvious and self-serving inference that trump is the only right choice in the incoming election. the second important submetaphor of force metaphors is the causes are forces. linguistic manifestations concern the aspect of motion and some external forces that seem to be in charge of moving an abstract entity. in fact, it concerns the motion of an entity from one point to another and, more to the point, it takes the form of giving or taking away a given entity or object. given this fact, we can further conclude that the changes are movements of possessions, which induces potential gains or losses. therefore, we can manipulate that metaphor and can easily deduce its entailment the actions are self-controlled acquisitions or losses. thus, purposes are conceived of in light of obtaining desired objects and, accordingly, achieving a purpose is acquiring a desired object. let us analyze these excerpts: (6) she will keep our rigged system in place (lack of motion is lack of change or acquisition) [nas] (7) she [hillary clinton] gets rich by making you poor. (causes are forces) [nycs] (8) we can’t hand over our government to someone whose deepest, darkest secrets may be in the hands of our enemies. (lack of movement is acquiring a desired object) [nycs] 13 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) it is clearly seen that force metaphors shape political discourse. they trigger negative emotional judgments concerning opposition policy and specifically in the subject matter at hand, they created an image of trump as a forceful agent that has the power to change things. suffice it to mention that trump promised to overturn all of clinton’s contracts he deemed unfavourable and create a great number of jobs. trump promised the return to a moral path for american society and to eliminate any deviant behaviors from generally established rules. it is also noticeable that the morality conceptual metaphor underlies trump’s discourse. moral people, in this case study, politicians, should be distinguished by their morality and praiseworthy actions. moral politicians are seen as strong and responsible individuals that will be capable of governing the country and people. moral and reliable leaders will overcome all potential hardships and they will lead a successful and reasonable policy. thus, american citizens should entrust power with moral and strong politicians. this leads to the morality is strength and the moral politicians are strong conceptual metaphors. correspondingly, immoral politicians are paired with negative connotations intensified by the immorality is impurity conceptual metaphor. immorality conjures up an image of politicians that cannot be trusted and should not be given power. amoral politicians are seen as destructive and inappropriate candidates for being president of the united states. amoral politicians make mistakes and their policy is full of poor decisions. in the long run, the actions of amoral politicians might destroy the entire harmony and natural order in the country. poor management of the national budget may result in serious financial loses. hence, the morality is strength and the moral politicians are strong conceptual metaphors dictate the emergence of the immorality is weakness and the immoral politicians are weak. these conceptual metaphors are illustrated below: (9) hillary clinton is a world-class liar. (hillary clinton is immoral) [nycs] (10) hillary clinton’s time as secretary of state – a disgraceful performance for which she should not be congratulated, but rather scorned. (hillary clinton is weak and immoral politician) [nycs] (11) then she [hillary clinton] let china steal hundreds of billions of dollars in our intellectual property. (china is an immoral person, china is an evil) [nycs] (12) (…) the communities crushed by our horrible and unfair trade deals. (a trade deal is an immoral person) [nas] on the whole, the above-discussed examples of the morality conceptual metaphor show that amoral politicians should be nullified and purged from the country. the workings of the morality conceptual metaphor employed in trump’s discourse lies behind an adverse social perception of hillary clinton’s “immoral” policy. amoral politicians (such as clinton and her agenda) are usually selfish and they are oriented towards 14 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) self-interest so they are inclined to corruption. their political activity is confined to their own enrichment at other citizens’ cost. in that sense, we can come up with yet another conceptual metaphor, namely that politics is trade as it is strictly and exclusively oriented towards amassing wealth. such politicians tend to neglect both the citizens and the country’s primary needs. at this point it is of pertinence to mention the so-called “leak” metaphor (lakoff 2016a). it juxtaposes with the corruption is immoral conceptual metaphor and it concerns clinton’s breach of confidential national security. trump continuously evokes clinton’s inclination for bribery and that she sold confidential information to foreign governments. finally, the morality is essence yields a virtue of morality metaphor. here, morality is seen as an abstract entity that is responsible for harmony and the so-called law and order. if we accept this view, then, immorality becomes a single departure or deviance from this wholeness (morally accepted and permissible social rules). trump skillfully crafts his speeches in such a way that shows destruction has been caused by the immoral and inappropriate policy of hillary clinton. it is the author’s opinion that in the analyzed corpus it is the lack of wholeness which is at issue in the morality metaphor. it creates the need for implementation of instant action that will impede the harmful effects of moral defiance. trump consequently emphasizes that he is the only one – he is the father – who will restore moral standards and save america. health and disease as source domains typically operating within the context of talking about the human body. nevertheless, health and illness may also be applied to political and economic spheres. disease and health metaphors should be scrutinized in the framework of the state/nation is a person. firstly, it is evident that a person may experience illness and then there is a necessity for medical treatment. in politics, the state assumes the role of a patient. if the state were afflicted with any disease, the government would help it. these assumptions lead to the society is a patient and the government is a doctor conceptual metaphors. let us examine the following examples: (13) in short, hillary clinton’s tryout for the presidency has produced one deadly foreign policy disaster after another. (…) (clinton’s foreign policy is a lethal disease) [nycs] (14) this is the legacy of hillary clinton: death, destruction and weakness. (weak america is ill america) [nas] the logic of trump’s employment of health and disease metaphors lies behind the possibility of creating an image of america as an ill person that suffers from serious physical pain and needs immediate help. notably, america is threatened with clinton’s policy that is conceptualized as a disease. consequently, health and disease metaphors appear to be in a partial consonance with the morality metaphor. as lakoff (2006) notes, immoral deeds seem to spread in the same way as diseases do. 15 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) a plethora of politicians resort to sport metaphors. gibbs (2017: 146) notices that trump’s language produces evidence of the employment of the phrases and words coming from boxing matches. this entails the emergence of the politics is a game conceptual metaphor, and subsequently, politics is a sports game. trump’s rhetoric exploits the politics is boxing conceptual metaphor. the domain of sport allows trump to present the political election campaign as a competition which needs strong “players.” thus, the politician becomes a boxer and political events may be compared with fights in a boxing match. consider the examples: (15) i am running for president to end unfairness (…). (presidential election is sport) [nycs] (16) i can be your champion in the white house. (…). (being a president is being a champion) [nycs] the war domain is productive and its linguistic realizations are deeply rooted in political discourse. the war metaphor is concretized in the form of politics is war. the whole presidential electoral campaign is a metaphorical fight against political opponents (in this case hillary clinton). trump also exploits a combative rhetoric to prove that he is a strong boxer or soldier who will defend america and its citizens from all potential threats against national welfare and security. mainly, trump desires to fight against hillary clinton and the widespread phenomenon of corruption. he wants to counteract the effects of unemployment and help downtrodden americans. the politics is war metaphor is employed in the excerpts given below: (17) the choice in this election is a choice between taking our government back from the special interest, or surrendering our last scrap of independence. (election is war) [nycs] (18) brain william’s career was destroyed for saying far less. yesterday, she [hillary clinton] even tried to attack me. (politics is war) [nycs] (19) the first victims of her radical policies will be poor african-american and hispanic workers. (politics is war) [nycs] (20) hillary clinton, who already has the blood of so many on her hands. (politics is war) [nycs] trump crafts an image of war, hence america’s land becomes a victimized battle field. 6. discursive strategies structuring donald trump’s campaign message van dijk’s advises us to analyze political speeches according to certain criteria, which he presents in the form of the so-called ideological square. the ideological square extracts the context of an analyzed text and it allows key features to stand out in political passages. to begin with, van dijk (1997: 13) concludes that it is relevant to analyze the semantic structure of a sentence, i.e. to examine “thematic roles” and “topicalization.” it 16 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) demands the analysis of agents (politicians, high officials, presidents), patients (receivers), purpose and action (passing law, persuading, legitimization). in this present usage, discourse is viewed in light of texts or speeches made by politicians. discourse scholars must therefore involve participants (voters, interest groups, opponents, demonstrators and so forth) in a political discourse analysis. another way of looking at political discourse is by defining the actions and the ways of achieving intended goals and implementing certain practices, i.e. legislating or governing (van dijk 1997: 13f.). again, it has to be kept in mind that political discourse cannot be separated from its context as officials only speak in a political manner during particular communicative events, ranging from parliamentary sessions to electoral campaigns. another predicate of political jargon is the investigation of “semantic polarization.” politicians resort to two sets of first person pronouns, which include singular and plural forms. the pronouns us and our are paired with positive evaluations, while they or them are carriers of negatively loaded meanings. the language of politicians tends to be full of long descriptions drawing on altruistic deeds of the speakers and, in reverse, there are thorough and long accounts and stories of bad actions undertaken by the opposition (van dijk 1997: 27). speakers are inclined to the technique of emphasizing their own good actions and dredging up all unsavory things that have been done by the opposing political party. indeed, the use of pronouns creates a vision of solidarity or power. pronouns may easily change meaning and shift the perspective, depending on given circumstances and context (bloch 1975: 207). the analysis shows that pronouns employed in political speeches indicate responsibility for actions. the first plural pronoun they enables trump to place hillary clinton as the focal point of responsibility. the usage of the first person plural pronoun we inserts the notion of community and solidarity with listeners. addressing pronouns such as: we, us, our or ours posits the speaker and listener in the same space and bonds their mutual understanding. most importantly, it also fosters the feeling of trustworthiness. the advantage of plural pronouns is the fact that politicians may reject responsibility for adverse decisions. it is especially useful while making controversial decisions or taking radical measures. using first person singular pronouns i, me, myself, or mine, however, helps politicians to indicate their commitment and interest. as it may be easily observed, first person pronouns tend to be employed while talking about success and positive actions (beard 2000: 45). nevertheless, an orator has to be acutely aware of the choice of pronouns as the overuse of first person singular pronouns may, in fact, create a negative vision of the speaker. in this manner, a politician may be framed as a person who boasts about their deeds and disregards other people. as bloch (1975: 206) maintains, pronouns can manipulate social reality and assume “a masking functions in the verbal strategies; that is, they may be used to hide, or seek to promote, a particular mediated version of social reality.” 17 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) donald trump resorts to discursive strategies to gain the support of the public. first of all, trump exploits the technique of legitimizing himself as a credible president-tobe of america by creating an image of a strong leader. he implements assertions that are full of statistical information and inform americans about national problems. interestingly, trump offers immediate solutions to these problems. as cap (2008: 24) signals, these solutions may be reckless and controversial; however, americans will accept them. trump embraces an argumentative discourse in a skilful way. in the beginning, he expresses plain facts and later on starts to introduce future plans and speculations. in this scenario, even trump’s predictions are unconsciously accepted as facts by the addressees. it seems that donald trump communicates his objectives and goals in an extremely conscious and deliberate manner. thus, trump’s language practice may be compared to a progressive flow of well-thought out assertions. trump leads with simple statements expressing his faith in americans and america, and then he follows up by activating his addressee’s desire for prospective goals. finally, trump instructs the audience on the plan he intends to implement to fulfil his promises (cap 2008: 25). consider the following example: (21) i have joined the political arena so that powerful [sic] can no longer beat up on people who cannot defend themselves. nobody knows the system better than me, which is why i alone can fix it. i have seen firsthand how the system is rigged against our citizens, just like it was rigged against bernie sanders – he never had a chance. but his supporters will join our movement, because we will fix his biggest issue: trade deals that strip our country of its jobs and wealth. [nas] finally, trump also takes advantage of the first person plural personal pronoun we. surprisingly, trump’s use of we juxtaposes with the use of the first person singular pronoun i. by using the first person plural pronoun, donald trump identifies himself with the audience. however, the first person singular pronoun singles trump out as a “performer” of actions. therefore, trump positions himself as the only one who steps out to confront problems. the usage of pronouns in this way reinforces trump’s reliability and credibility, which is attested by trump’s statement: (22) i’m with you, i will fight for you, and i will win for you. to all americans tonight, in all of our towns, i make this promise: we will make america strong again. we will make america proud again. [nycs] politicians tend to manipulate the proximity of some threatening and dangerous events. thus, they resort to the strategy of delegitimization. trump pursues a technique of negative-presentation of others. he criticizes hillary clinton and continuously 18 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) marginalizes her role. yet, donald trump enumerates all threats (i.e. china, the wave of globalism, unfair trade deals, isis, terrorism) and he seems to play with their proximity. trump’s rhetorical discourse gives americans the impression that threats are imminent. the strategy of delegitimization follows the insertion of the third person plural personal pronoun they. consider the following example: (23) [immigrants] they are being released by the tens of thousands into our communities with no regard for the impact on public safety or resources. [nas] (24) big businesses, elite media and major donors are lining up behind the campaign of my opponent because they know she will keep our rigged system in place. [nycs] the third personal plural pronoun aim at an adverse presentation of a political oppressor and enemies of the united states. by using they, donald trump usually points at corrupted people from washington, foreign countries, immigrants or isis. the strategy of delegitimization seems to transgress van dijk’s ideological square. one of the most blatant example of negative representation of “other” candidates is seen in this example: (25) if i am elected president, i will end the special interest monopoly in washington, d.c. the other candidates [sic] in this race has spent her entire life making money for special interests – and taking money from special interests. [nycs] donald trump resorts to the discursive strategy by ascribing positive self-evaluation and negative evaluation of other candidates. the account of a politician’s moral deeds stands in sharp contrast to hillary clinton’s political steps. the recruitment of such a technique allows trump to vilify the policy of hillary clinton. 7. conclusion a close reading of the selected speeches shows that trump employs a plethora of discursive techniques in his presidential campaign message. more specifically, positive selfpresentation and vilification of other candidates reappear within trump’s discourse and, consequently, discursive strategies allow trump to legitimize his message. the analyzed data explicitly show that a great number of conceptual metaphors occur in the speeches delivered by donald trump in the course of his presidential election campaign. the study also shows that trump resorts to conceptual metaphors that underlie people’s comprehension of abstract concepts. it may be concluded that donald trump uses highly conventionalized and well-entrenched metaphorical expressions that evoke simple conceptual metaphor structures. donald trump uses vocabulary from everyday domains and it makes his message more accessible and easier to process 19 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) and understand. trump frequently resorts to person metaphors. they allow the statesman to depict america as a living person. additionally, these metaphors highlight the significance of context. donald trump frames america as a metaphorical person. in this particular case, america assumes the role of a child and consequently the presidential candidate prompts the need of a father or a leader. trump consistently refers to domains of health and illness to show that both america and its citizens physically suffer and need help. the research demonstrates that trump’s rhetoric reflects the main features of the strict father model. trump conceptualizes america as a person and recruits morality metaphors. due to the implementation of said morality metaphors, trump paints a contrast between his own moral policy and the immoral and disloyal political steps of hillary clinton. donald trump also recruits a great number of sport and war metaphors. they create an image of trump as a winner who will gain beneficial trade deals for america. trump is a competitive and combative person, and as a parental figure he feels obliged to defend americans and america’s values. verbal insults of other candidates prove trump’s strength. it may be concluded that language helps trump to wield power. this linguistic discursive study indicates that metaphors underlie political discourse and human abstract reasoning. conceptual metaphors exist in everyday speech and in time they become conventionalized linguistic expressions. empirical research shows that the examination of language is an interdisciplinary task. first of all, understanding the meaning requires additional contextual and social information. thus, the investigation of conceptual metaphors should not be conducted separately from corpus and discourse methodologies. references barczewska, s. 2017. conceptualizing evolution education. a corpus-based analysis of us press discourse. newcastle upon tyne: cambridge scholars publishing. beard, a. 2000. the language of politics. london: routledge. bloch, m. 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metaphor trump lives by. http://georgelakoff.com/2017/08/01/the-president-is-the-nation-the-central-metaphor-trump-lives-by/ (2 may 2019). lakoff, g. & johnson, m. 1980. metaphors we live by. chicago: university of chicago press. pragglejaz group. 2007. mip: a method for identifying metaphorically used words in discourse. metaphor and symbol 22/1: 1-39. 21 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) turner, m. 1994. reading minds: the study of english in the age of cognitive science. princeton, nj: princeton university press. van dijk, t. a. 1997. what is political discourse analysis? belgian journal of linguistics 11: 11-52. wodak, r. 2009. language and politics. in: j. culpeper, f. katamba, p. kerswill, r. wodak & t. mcenery (eds.), english language: description, variation and context. a definitive new textbook in english language, 577-592. houndmills: palgrave macmillan. *** martyna awier is a phd student at the university of białystok, poland. her academic interests are in the areas of cognitive linguistics and discourse studies. her current research focuses on conceptual metaphors and critical discourse analysis. typology of metaphors with the gustatory target domain in polish wine discourse 76 crossroads. a journal of english studies magdalena zawisławska marta falkowska university of warsaw university of warsaw typology of metaphors with the gustatory target domain in polish wine discourse abstract. although wine culture is quite a new phenomenon in poland, polish wine blogs on the internet are numerous, and a specific wine language is rapidly emerging. the polish lexical field of taste is rather poor compared to other perceptual fields. it is obvious that the limited lexical repertoire does not suffice to describe such a multidimensional experience as wine tasting. polish wine discourse is permeated with various kinds of metaphors, starting from basic terms like ciało wina ‘the body of a wine,’ through more creative, but still lexicalised metaphors, e.g. leciutka nuta korkowa ‘a light note of the cork,’ to intricate, elaborated, semi-narrative metaphors, e.g. tyle innych burgundów z lat 90-tych cierpi na sklerozę i haluksy ‘so many other burgundies from the 1990s suffer from sclerosis and bunions.’ a number of metaphoric wine terms have of course been borrowed from french or english, but there are also many new metaphors, specific for the polish language and culture. the material for the analysis consists of blog excerpts taken from “synamet”—a corpus of synesthetic metaphors in polish. the paper aims at examining taste metaphors that are used in polish wine blogs and proposing a preliminary typology of metaphors recurring in wine discourse. key words: metaphor, synesthesia, wine discourse. 1. introduction recently, a considerable literature has grown around the theme of winespeak. researchers have noticed that wine discourse is a valuable source of a variety of metaphors. starting from the pioneering work by adrienne lehrer (1975) talking about wine (followed by a monograph, see lehrer 2009 [1983]), the figurative language of wine reviewers has been analyzed in many languages, i.a. in french (amoraritei 2002, negro 2012), english (caballero 1996, 2007; caballero and suáreztoste 2010; paradis 2010), australian english (creed 2014), and italian (țenescu 2014). a major account of the language of wine reviews was provided by carita paradis and mats eeg-olofsson (2013), who advocate lexical syncretism of wine descriptors, and argue that “synesthetically flexible notions map onto the same primitive concepts for the different sensory perceptions” (paradis and eeg-olofsson 2013: 38). the role of personification schemata in english winespeak was studied by ernesto suárez-toste (2007). although quite a lot of research has been carried out on wine 10.15290/cr.2017.17.2.05 77 crossroads. a journal of english studies metaphors in english up till now, too little attention has been paid to polish wine discourse. apart from zawisławska (2015), there is a general lack of analysis of metaphors in polish wine reviews. the purpose of this paper is to present a classification of wine metaphors in polish blogs, and to examine creative and elaborated metaphors (in contrast to lexicalised wine terminology) that require a much more complex analysis. data for this study were collected using excerpts from blogs about wine collected in synamet—the microcorpus of synesthetic metaphors in polish, which aims at creating a semantically and grammatically annotated corpus of polish synesthetic metaphors. the corpus contains texts excerpted from blogs devoted to perfume, wine, beer, cigars, yerba mate, tea or coffee, as well as culinary blogs, music blogs, art blogs, and massage and wellness blogs. the wide selection of texts in the corpus allows us to study the ways the particular senses (taste, smell, sight, hearing, touch) and complex perceptual experiences are described. at the present moment, synamet comprises 6158 annotated metaphorical units. the methodological approach adopted in this study draws on both the methodology based on frame semantics (fillmore 1982) and conceptual metaphor theory (cmt) by lakoff and johnson (1980). instead of the term “domain” we use “frame” because while the internal structure of domains is not fully clear, frames are described as ordered structures within which there are categories “slots” and their values “fillers”. frames are hierarchically organized, and they may represent various events, states, objects, and situations. along these lines, the metaphorization process may be described as “frame shifting”. coulson defines this phenomenon as a “semantic reanalysis process that reorganizes existing information into a new frame” (2001: 34). it follows that some elements of a frame evoking specific sensations (e.g. taste) as its topic may become regrouped under the influence of a vehicle activating a frame of some other sensory perception (e.g. vision). since there are some interesting and distinctive features of polish metaphors, our research can give new insight into the problem of metaphor with the gustatory target domain. 2. lexical field of taste in polish and wine tasting taste is the oldest and the most universal sense in the whole population of vertebrates (mitrenga 2009: 26). the sensation is produced when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor cells located on the taste buds. the gustatory perception is in fact a mixture of several sensations: not only taste, but also temperature, texture, and smell. the taste sensation is analyzed in the gustatory area located in the cortex of the brain, but also in the limbic system, which is responsible for emotions. therefore, the taste sensation is very subjective and may evoke certain feelings and memories, as is probably best shown in the famous quote from proust’s novel: no sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and i stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. an exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. and at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory – this new sensation having had on me the effect which love has of filling me with a precious essence; or rather this 78 crossroads. a journal of english studies essence was not in me it was me. ... whence did it come? what did it mean? how could i seize and apprehend it? ... and suddenly the memory revealed itself. the taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on sunday mornings at combray (because on those mornings i did not go out before mass), when i went to say good morning to her in her bedroom, my aunt léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane. the sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before i tasted it. (marcel proust, in search of lost time, transl. by c.k. scott moncrieff and terence kilmartin) the basic tastes that a human can feel are: 1. salty (the standard substance – table salt); 2. sour (the standard substance – tartaric acid or citric acid); 3. sweet (the standard substance – saccharin); 4. bitter (the standard substance – caffeine, quinine). two more tastes are sometimes distinguished: the umami taste (described as the taste of meat: the standard substance – monosodium glutamate); and the fatty taste (the standard substance – fatty acids). the gustatory perception is a dynamic one. our taste buds react with different speeds to various tastes. the fastest reaction is evoked by the salty taste, then sweet, sour, and the slowest reaction is to the bitter taste (skolik 2011: 21-24). the lexical field of taste in polish (likewise in other indo-european languages) is much more restricted than fields of visual or auditory perception. it encompasses a narrow group of verbs that denote: 1) tasting, e.g. kosztować ‘to taste’, posmakować 1 ‘to sample’, degustować ‘to savor’; 2) the subject’s approval or disapproval of a particular taste sensation, e.g. smakować [jakoś] ‘to have a particular flavour’, zasmakować ‘to develop a taste for something’, posmakować 2 ‘to find sth delicious’; 3) a change of taste, e.g. jełczeć ‘to go rancid’, kisić się ‘to marinate’, gorzknieć ‘to turn bitter’. most nouns from the analyzed lexical field are names of a specific taste, e.g. gorycz ‘bitterness’, słodycz ‘sweetness’, kwaśność ‘acidity’. apart from that, the taste field contains nouns referring in general to: 1) neutral gustatory sensation: smak ‘taste’, posmak ‘aftertaste’ or 2) negative gustatory sensation: absmak ‘distaste’, niesmak ‘bad taste’. there are also nouns denoting the high tastiness of the object of perception, e.g. pyszności ‘delicious things’, przysmak ‘delicacy’, rarytas ‘rarity’ or a specific taste of an object of perception, e.g. słodycze ‘sweets’, łakocie ‘sweet things’, kwasek ‘citric acid’. wine tasting is a relatively new phenomenon in poland. for a very long time the typical alcohols drunk by the polish people have been vodka and beer. in 2016 wine consumption in poland amounted to 5.5 liters per capita (in 2013 it was only 3 liters per capita). still, poland is far behind other european countries—in the czech republic people drink 21 liters per capita, in germany—28, in italy—44, and a typical french person drinks 50 liters of wine yearly. although the polish do not drink as much wine as their western neighbors, poland is now the fastest growing wine market in europe (naszkowska 2017). the progress in the wine market is followed by a rapid development of wine blogs and a specific winespeak. due to the very poor lexical field of taste 79 crossroads. a journal of english studies in polish, it is not surprising that wine reviewers must use figurative language to describe such a complex and dynamic act as wine tasting. 3. frame of wine tasting and metaphorical terms classification wine develops in a long and complicated process of fermentation. as a result, we get an alcohol that consists of water, sugar, acids, tannins, ethanol, and glycerol. various combinations of these elements can produce different taste impressions. wine tasting is a multi-faceted act, integrating several senses: 1. visual sensation—a wine taster evaluates the color and shades of wine, 2. olfactory sensation—a wine taster detects the aromas of wine, 3. gustatory and tactile sensations (e.g. getting numb by acids)—a wine taster feels the taste of wine. the frame of wine tasting consists of the following elements: 1. the dominant taste of wine (sweet, acid, bitter), 2. intensity of wine taste, 3. detectability of alcohol in wine, 4. water and alcohol/extract balance in wine, 5. balance of tastes in wine, 6. durability of aftertaste. all the elements of the frame are described by terms of metaphorical provenance, see table 1. table 1. frame of wine tasting. frame element metaphor dominant taste the dominant taste of wine is bitter (but not unduly) wino jest jędrne ‘wine is firm’ wino jest sprężyste ‘wine is pliant’ wino jest solidne ‘wine is robust’ the dominant taste of wine is unduly bitter wino jest twarde ‘wine is hard’ wino jest sztywne ‘wine is rigid’ the dominant taste of wine is acid (but not unduly) wino jest rześkie ‘wine is fresh’ wino jest rozłożyste ‘wine is spreading’ the dominant taste of wine is unduly acid wino jest zielone ‘wine is green’ wino jest agresywne ‘wine is aggressive’ the dominant taste of wine is sweet wino jest łagodne ‘wine is gentle’ wino jest miękkie ‘wine is soft’ the dominant taste of wine is unduly sweet 12 wino jest wiotkie ‘wine is frail’ wino z wigorem ‘bouncy wine’ 1 although in general polish usage the words wiotki and wigor do not have a pejorative meaning, in winespeak they tend to signal a negative evaluation of the product. 80 crossroads. a journal of english studies intensity of taste high intensity of wine taste wino jest bogate ‘wine is rich’ wino jest głębokie ‘wine is deep’ low intensity of wine taste wino jest nudne ‘wine is boring’ wino jest skąpe ‘wine is mingy’ wino jest proste ‘wine is simple’ wino jest płytkie ‘wine is shallow’ wino jest nieme ‘wine is dumb’ alcohol detectability alcohol is incisive wino jest gorące ‘wine is hot’ alcohol is not incisive wino jest chłodne ‘wine is cold’ alcohol is too strong wino jest palące ‘wine is torrid’ wino jest ogniste ‘wine is fiery’ water and alcohol/extract balance alcohol/extract is incisive wino ma pełne ciało ‘wine is full-bodied’ wino jest mięsiste ‘wine is chunky’ wino jest solidne ‘wine is solid’ wino jest masywne ‘wine is bulky’ wino jest dobrze zbudowane ‘wine is hunky’ wino jest krągłe ‘wine is round’ wino jest mocne ‘wine is strong’ wino jest ciężkie ‘wine is heavy’ wino jest męskie ‘wine is manly’ alcohol/extract is not incisive wino jest cienkie ‘wine is thin’ wino jest lekkie ‘wine is light’ wino jest kobiece ‘wine is feminine’ tastes balance tastes are well balanced wino jest zrównoważone ‘wine is well balanced’ wino ma charakter ‘wine has character’ wino jest eleganckie ‘wine is elegant’ wino jest aksamitne ‘wine is velvety’ wino jest rasowe ‘wine is pure-bred’ tastes are not balanced wino jest bez wyrazu ‘wine is featureless’ durability of aftertaste aftertaste lasts for a short time wino jest krótkie ‘wine is short’ aftertaste lasts for a long time wino jest długie ‘wine is long’ the wine terms are based on the following metaphorical schemata: 1. wine is a physical solid object 1.1. it is a flexible/non-flexible physical object (wine is pliant/rigid) 1.2. it has shape (wine is round) 1.3. it has length (wine is short) 1.4. it has width (wine is thin) 1.5. it has depth (a container) (wine is deep) 1.6. it has temperature (wine is hot/cold) 81 crossroads. a journal of english studies 1.7. it has weight (wine is light) 1.8. it has a surface with a specific texture (fabric) (wine is velvety) 2. wine is an animate being 2.1. wine is a plant (wine is green) 2.2. wine is an animal (wine is pure-bred) 2.3. wine is a human 2.3.1. wine has a body 2 (wine is full-bodied) 2.3.2. wine has a personality (wine is gentle) 2.3.3. wine has gender (manly/feminine wine) 2.3.4. wine can speak (wine is dumb) 2.3.5. wine wears clothes (wine is elegant) 2.3.6. wine can have a fortune (wine is rich) in general, most metaphorical terms used in polish winespeak present wine as a three-dimensional object or a person with certain physical and psychological features. such visualization underlines the complexity of sensory perception during wine tasting. some terms undoubtedly have metonymic origins. since alcohol literally imparts a burning sensation to our tongue, it comes as no surprise that alcohol predominance in wine is described by the activation of the fire frame (hot, fiery). similarly, the metaphors indicating that wine is rich in extract and activating the robustness or weight frames as their source can be explained by the fact that alcohols and sugars have a much higher viscosity than water, and as a result may be perceived as heavier, thicker in our mouth. the most typical feature of winespeak is the concomitance of several metaphorical schemata in one sentence (so-called “mixed metaphors” 3). for example, wine can be described simultaneously as velvety, warm, light and long. sometimes in one text two different schemata are mixed: wine is a physical object and wine is an animate being, e.g. (1): (1) santo stefano i santo stefano riserva to wina głębokie, santo stefano.pr and santo stefano riserva.pr be.cop wine.nom.pl deep długie, eleganckie, o twardej ramie garbników 2 we are aware that animals also have bodies, but language is highly anthropocentric. moreover, creative metaphors used in polish winespeak (see examples (6)-(8) ) clearly suggest that it is the human body that speakers had in mind. 3 the term “mixed metaphors” is used extensively in english stylistics and rhetoric. the occurrence of mixed metaphors in texts has traditionally been seen as a sign of the author’s lack of stylistic competence, and the critique of such practice was voiced for instance in henry b. lathrop’s manual: “sometimes writers go so far as to forget the metaphorical significance of their words as to combine distinctly incongruous metaphors, producing what are called mixed metaphors” (lathrop 1920: 200, cited in gibbs 2016: vii). however, recent studies point to the fact that mixing metaphors is actually common and natural in various discourse types. 82 crossroads. a journal of english studies long elegant with hard frame.loc tannin.gen.pl a zarazem mięsistej, sutej materii. simultaneously fleshy ample fabric.loc ‘santo stefano and santo stefano riserva are deep wines, long, elegant with a sturdy tannin frame and fleshy, ample fabric.’ mixing various perceptual and non-perceptual source frames in metaphors is a typical feature of wine blogs. paradis and hommerberg believe that: …the elusive mixture of sensations in wine tasting takes the form of mixed metonymizations, metaphors and similes in wine reviewing discourse. such construals of meaning are taken to be motivated by the fact that concrete word meanings elicit qualitatively different processing in the form of mental imagery than abstract word meaning in that they evoke rich sensory experiences which are intimately tied up with our experience in life (paradis and hommerberg 2016: 181). 4. elaborated metaphors in polish wine blogs most terms used in polish wine discourse are of course borrowings. nevertheless, polish wine blogs are remarkably rich in new, creative metaphors that expand the basic metaphorical schemata. in example (2), wine is pictured as a carving in almond wood. the metaphor, based on the schema wine is a physical object, brings out the three-dimensionality of wine taste and its almond aroma. (2) znakomite wino, sprawiające wrażenie wyrzeźbionego exquisite wine.nom make.part impression.acc carve.perf w migdałowym drewnie (to pewnie nuta z aromatu). in almond wood.loc it surely note.nom out of aroma ‘an exquisite wine, as if carved in almond wood (it must be a note of the aroma).’ in example (3), the speaker elaborates on a quite conventional metaphor wine is fabric. a typical description of fabric features (e.g. adjectives dense, gauzy) is in fact projected onto the description of wine. (3) materia wina jest zbita, gęsta, fabric.nom wine.gen be.pres.sg matted dense ale zwiewna jak w perskim dywanie – 83 crossroads. a journal of english studies but gauzy as in persian carpet.loc cieniutkim, lecz o niezliczonej ilości supełków. thin.dim but with countless number.loc knot.gen.pl.dim w ovello tych supełków zdaje się być in ovello.pr this.dem.pl.masc knot.gen.pl.dim seem.pres be.inf jeszcze więcej i są jeszcze drobniejsze. even more and be.pres.pl even fine.pl taniny są mikroskopijne, wyrafinowane, tekstura tego tannin.nom.pl be.pres.pl microscopic sophisticated texture.nom this.dem.sg.neut wina jest bardzo szlachetna. wine.gen be.pres very noble ‘the fabric of the wine is matted, dense, yet gauzy as in a persian carpet – ultrafine but with countless knots. there seems to be even more of the knots in ovello, and they are even finer. tannins are microscopic, sophisticated, the texture of this wine is very noble.’ even personifications, quite frequent in winespeak, can be more creative and elaborated. in example (4), two different wines are characterized as if they were inhabitants of the regions where they were made. human features, pertaining both to the appearance (e.g. shaven) and behavior (e.g. unmannerly), are mapped onto the taste of the two wines. (4) i choć lubiłam myśleć o and despite like.1st.pers.past.fem think.inf about nero jak o szorstkim, nieokrzesanym nero.pr as about brusque unmannerly sycylijczyku (ze wszystkimi tego(sic) wadami), sicilian-loc (with all.pron this.dem.sg fault.instr.pl to ogolony i wygładzony nero conj shave.part.pas and smoothaway.part.pas nero.pr od gigliotto przypadł mi do gustu. from gigliotto.pr take to.past ‘and even though i liked to think about nero as of a brusque, unmannerly sicilian (with all his flaws), i found the shaven and smoothened gigliotto’s nero quite to my liking.’ example (5) shows a wine as a very aggressive attacker who yells, destroys and murders dishes, whereas the specific components of taste (alcohol, fruit) are depicted as weapons. 84 crossroads. a journal of english studies (5) żadne z podanych win nie nadawało się none.pron.neg out of serve.part.pas wine.gen.pl suit.past.neg jednak do jedzenia zakrzykiwały każdą however.part to food.gen shout.past.iter every.pron potrawę – zalewały ją oleistą materią, dish.acc flood.past.iter it.pron.sg.fem oily fabric.instr niszczyły rozbuchanym alkoholem, mordowały zbyt destroy.past.iter lush alcohol.instr murder.past.iter too słodkim owocem, i nic tu sweet fruit.instr and nothing.pron here.dem nie pomogło nachalne dokwaszenie. help.past.neg aggressive acidize.ger.perf ‘none of the wines that were served matched the food, though. they shouted down every dish, flooding it with their oily fabric, destroyed it with their lush alcohol, murdered it with fruit that was too sweet, and the aggressive acidizing was of no use at all.’ the specialist term “body of wine”, which functions as a conventional wine tasting descriptor, is creatively expanded in examples (6)-(9). in example (6), the reader’s attention is focused on a specific body part, i.e. the legs. legs normally enable a standing person to maintain balance, and the basic experience is mapped onto the domain of gustatory perception in order to communicate the complexity of impressions a wine taster gets, which evolve over time as the wine is exposed to oxygen. (6) miałem wrażenie jakby wino lekko have.past.1st .sg.masc impression.acc as if wine.nom gently chwiało się na nogach, chociaż im shake.past.3rd.sg on foot.loc.pl though the more dłużej oddychało w karafce, tym long breathe.past.3rd.sg in decanter.loc the more pewniej łapało pion. confidently keep.past.3rd.sg upright. ‘i got the impression that the wine was a bit shaky on its feet, though the longer it breathed in the decanter, the firmer it stood.’ 85 crossroads. a journal of english studies the anthropocentrism of language manifests itself in comparing the body of wine to that of celebrities (see example (7) alluding to sylvester stallone as a culturally entrenched hallmark of athleticism, and example (8) with scarlett johansson perceived as a paragon of a sexually attractive, curvy woman; in both cases the wine is evidently positively evaluated by the taster), or that of a muscleman on steroids (see example (9) )–an image that conveys a negative evaluation. (7) napakowane owocem, muskularne niczym sylvester stallone wina. pack.part.perf fruit.inst.sg muscular like sylvester stallone.pr wine.gen.sg ‘crammed with fruit, muscular like a sylvester stallone of wine.’ (8) znakomite wino jednocześnie prezentujące okrągłości, exquisite wine.nom simultaneously present.part curve.acc.pl których nie powstydziłaby się scarlett johansson. which.pron.rel be ashamed.cond.neg scarlett johansson.pr ‘an exquisite wine, at the same time revealing curves that scarlett johansson would not be ashamed of.’ (9) dosyć gęste, ciężkie wino. aromat quite.part thick heavy wine.nom aroma.nom intensywny, owocowy, na dłuższą metę męczący, ale intensive fruit.attr in the long run tiresome but kto będzie wwąchiwał się w kieliszek who.pron sniff.fut.3rd.sg.refl in glass.acc przy kotlecie? ciało osiłka na over chop.loc body.nom muscleman.gen on sterydach: niby duży, niby silny, steroid.loc.pl seemingly big seemingly strong ale i groteskowy. but as well grotesque 86 crossroads. a journal of english studies ‘a quite thick, heavy wine. an intensive fruity aroma, tiresome in the long run, but who will want to sniff so diligently over a chop of meat? a body of a muscleman on steroids: he seems to be big and strong, but grotesque as well.’ the lexicalized metaphorical term “nieme wino” ‘dumb wine’ is developed in examples (10) and (11). dumb wine is a negative characteristic of wine which is tasteless and devoid of aroma. however, in the following two examples the speakers make use of the concept to describe the good taste and aroma of wines. this is done by offering an image of (personified) tannins whispering in the case of a young wine that has not developed its full voice yet (see (10) ), or a seemingly tacit wine that turns out to resemble a song sung in an archaic white voice technique as in example (11). (10) mas de daumas gassac rouge 2009 zapowiada się bodaj wspanialej od mas de daumas gassac rouge 2009.pr promise.pres.3rd.sg perhaps.part excellent than.comp wersji białej. na razie to jeszcze version.gen white for the time being be.cop still.part osesek: gdy go degustowałem w nursling.nom when it.pron.masc.sg taste.past.1st.sg.masc in marcu, dopiero trafił do beczek. march.loc just.part land.past.3rd.sg.masc into barrel.gen.pl już jednak czuje się świetną równowagę already however.part feel.pres.imprs excellent balance.acc i przede wszystkim arcypiękną urodę garbników, and aboveall.part beautiful beauty.acc tannin.gen.pl przemawiających zmysłowym, lirycznym szeptem. speak.part sensuous lyrical whisper.instr ‘mas de daumas gassac rouge 2009 seems to be even more promising than the white version. for the time being, it is still a nursling: when i tasted it in march, it had just landed in barrels. 87 crossroads. a journal of english studies however, one can already feel its excellent balance and above all the superior beauty of the tannins that speak in a sensuous lyrical whisper.’ (11) przez pierwsze dziesięć minut pommier pinot noir 2011 for first.pl ten.num minute.gen.pl pommier pinot noir 2011.pr nie pachniało zupełnie niczym, w ustach smell.past.3rd.sg.neut completely nothing.pron in mouth.loc też zdawało się milczeć. potem powoli also.part seem.past.3rd.sg.neut be silent.inf then slowly dawało się odkrywać po kawałeczku – let.past.3rd.sg.neut itself.pron.refl discover.inf by bit.loc.dim lilie, odrobina wiśni, kwasowość, zieloność, lily.nom.pl bit.nom cherry.gen acidity.nom greenness.nom zero garbnika. wszystko drobne, proste, zero.num tannin.gen.sg all.pron small simple smukłe, czyste, skromne, ale niesamowicie slender pure modest but incredibly autentyczne. jak pieśń śpiewana białym głosem. authentic like song.nom sing.part.pas white voice.instr niespieszne, nierozgadane, mało alkoholowe, zupełnie unhurried unchatty little alcohol.attr completely niedzisiejsze. old-fashioned 88 crossroads. a journal of english studies ‘for the first ten minutes, pommier pinot noir 2011 had no smell whatsoever, it seemed to stay tacit in the mouth, too. later on, it began to reveal itself bit by bit—lilies, a bit of cherry, acidity, greenness, no tannin. everything was small, simple, slender, pure, modest, but incredibly authentic. like a song sung in a white voice. unhurried, not chatty, with little alcohol, totally old-fashioned.’ conclusion winespeak in polish is evolving quite fast, in fact much faster than the wine market. blogs about wine expand upon specific language reflecting a dynamic and very subjective gustatory perception. in this type of discourse the metaphor’s main function is to translate a personal sensory experience into more general ideas. we think that the relatively young culture of wine degustation in poland is the reason that polish winespeak abounds in metaphors which are creative and elaborated. borrowed wine terms (round, long, rigid, etc.) seem to be hermetic and alien. polish reviewers prefer to vividly expand those lexicalized metaphors and create story-like wine descriptions. mixed metaphors, typical of winespeak, are also frequently represented in polish discourse. mixing several source frames to describe one concept—the taste of wine—results from the multi-dimensional taste sensation that develops in time. however, there are some constraints on metaphor mixing. it seems that antonym metaphors are mutually exclusive, e.g. wine cannot be described as simultaneously hot and cold, rigid and soft, aggressive and gentle. the proposed constraints will be tested in the future on various synesthetic metaphors (e.g. in perfumery discourse) as it is likely that the limitation also concerns other types of perception. although wine discourse is rich in creative metaphors, sometimes even baffling, they are based on a very limited number of figurative schemata. the most prominent one is personification. likewise, a very frequent schema is wine is a physical object. most metaphors exploiting that predication activate tactile experience (e.g. soft, smooth, harsh, rigid wine). it is owing to the metaphorization processes that the lexical field of gustatory experience in polish winespeak is much bigger and diversified as compared to general polish. acknowledgments the article is funded by the national science centre in poland under project no. 2014/15/b/ hs2/00182 titled: microcorpus of synaesthetic metaphors. towards a formal description and efficient methods of analysis of metaphors in discourse. references amoraritei, loredana. 2002. la métaphore en œnologie. metaphorik.de 3, 1-12. caballero, rosario. 1996. cutting across the senses: imagery in winespeak and audiovisual promotion. in: forceville, charles and eduardo urios-aparisi (eds.), multimodal metaphor, 73–94. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. caballero, rosario. 2007. manner-of-motion verbs in wine description. journal of pragmatics 39(12), 2095–2114. 89 crossroads. a journal of english studies caballero, rosario and ernesto suárez-toste. 2010. a genre approach to imagery in winespeak: issues and prospects. in: low, graham, todd zazie, deignan alice and lynne cameron (eds.), researching and applying metaphor in the real world, 265-287. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins publishing company. coulson, seana. 2001. semantic leaps. frame-shifting and conceptual blending in meaning. cambridge: cambridge university press. creed, allison. 2013. wine and metaphor: cross-cultural [dis]harmony. in: midgley, warren, trimmer karen and andy davies (eds.), metaphors for, in and of education research, 10-25. newcastle upon tyne: cambridge scholars publishing. fillmore, charles. 1982. frame semantics. in: seoul international conference on linguistics, the linguistics society of korea (eds.), linguistics in the morning calm, 111-137. seoul: hanshin publishing co. gibbs, raymond w. (ed.) 2016. mixing metaphor. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins publishing company. lakoff, george and mark johnson. 1980. metaphors we live by. chicago: the university of chicago press. lehrer, adrienne. 1975. talking about wine. language 51(4), 901-923. lehrer, adrienne. 2009 [1983]. wine and conversation (second edition). oxford/new york: oxford university press. mitrenga, barbara. 2009. nazwy zmysłu smaku w języku polskim. lingvaria 4(2), 227-236. negro, isabel. 2012. wine discourse in the french language. rael: revista electrónica de linguistica aplicada 11, 1-12. paradis, carita. 2010. touchdowns in winespeak: ontologies and construals in use and meaningmaking. in: rambaud, margarita g. and alfredo p. luelmo (eds.), proceedings from the 1st conference on linguistic approaches to food and wine descriptions, 37–55. madrid: uned. paradis, carita and mats eeg-olofsson. 2013. describing sensory experience: the genre of wine reviews. metaphor and symbol 28(1), 22-40. paradis, carita and charlotte hommerberg. 2016. we drink with our eyes first: the web of sensory perception, aesthetic experience and mixed imagery in wine reviews. in: gibbs, raymond w. (ed.), mixing metaphor, 179-201. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins publishing company. skolik, agnieszka. 2011. smak w analizie sensorycznej. poznań: wydawnictwo uep. suárez toste, ernesto. 2007. metaphor inside the wine cellar: on the ubiquity of personification schemas in winespeak. metaphorik.de 12(1), 53-64. țenescu, alina. 2014. the organicist-animist metaphor in italian wine media discourse. social sciences and education research review 2, 62-72. zawisławska, magdalena. 2015. funkcja metafory w rekonstrukcji językowego obrazu świata na przykładzie metaforyki w języku winiarzy. poradnik językowy 1, 79-88. 90 crossroads. a journal of english studies internet sources naszkowska, krystyna. 2017. polacy piją coraz więcej wina – rośnie spożycie i  produkcja. jakie wina najchętniej kupujemy? półwytrawne i tanie. http://wyborcza.pl/7,155287,21639178,polacy┐ -pija-coraz-wiecej-wina-rosnie-spozycie-i-produkcja.html (15 april 2017) an overlooked colonial english of europe: the case of gibraltar 59 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. work in progess tomasz paciorkowski adam mickiewicz university in poznań an overlooked colonial english of europe: the case of gibraltar abstract. gibraltar, popularly known as “the rock”, has been a british overseas territory since the treaty of utrecht was signed in 1713. the demographics of this unique colony reflect its turbulent past, with most of the population being of spanish, portuguese or italian origin (garcia 1994). additionally, there are prominent minorities of indians, maltese, moroccans and jews, who have also continued to influence both the culture and the languages spoken in gibraltar (kellermann 2001). despite its status as the only english overseas territory in continental europe, gibraltar has so far remained relatively neglected by scholars of sociolinguistics, new dialect formation, and world englishes. the paper provides a summary of the current state of sociolinguistic research in gibraltar, focusing on such aspects as identity formation, code-switching, language awareness, language attitudes, and norms. it also delineates a plan for further research on code-switching and national identity following the 2016 brexit referendum. keywords: gibraltar, code-switching, sociolinguistics, new englishes, dialect formation, brexit. 1. introduction gibraltar is located on the southern tip of the iberian peninsula and measures just about 6 square kilometres. this small size, however, belies an extraordinarily complex political history and social fabric. in the brexit referendum of 23rd of june 2016, the inhabitants of gibraltar overwhelmingly expressed their willingness to continue belonging to the european union, yet at the moment it appears that they will be forced to follow the decision of the british government and leave the eu (garcia 2016). such a turn of events may lead to numerous changes in the sociopolitical structure of the community, which has never been stable for any significant length of time. the present paper seeks to introduce readers to gibraltar’s turbulent history and provide a review of the current state of sociolinguistic research concerned with identity formation, codework in progress doi: 10.15290/cr.2018.23.4.05 60 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. work in progess switching, and language awareness, attitudes, and norms in gibraltar. it also lays out suggestions for further research, and urges sociolinguists and those interested in language contact and new englishes to pay closer attention to the processes currently taking place in this unique british colony. 2. gibraltar past and present 2.1. brief overview of external history before one delves into any consideration of the complex sociolinguistic situation of gibraltar, a brief historical overview is necessary. gibraltar came into the british hands in 1704, and has been officially british since 1713, which marks the date of the treaty of utrecht. the history of gibraltar is, however, much longer than the period of the british settlement. since earliest times, gibraltar has attracted much attention from different races, nations and cultures due to its strategic geographic position. it is an apparent fact that dominance over gibraltar grants dominance over the straits commanding the entrance from the atlantic to the mediterranean (levey 2008). after taking control of it in 711, the umayyad emirate and its successor states controlled gibraltar all way until 1492, when it was captured in the name of the duke of medina sidonia and proclaimed part of spain by queen isabella. a long-lasting period of stability arrived in gibraltar, which only came to a halt with the spanish war of succession. the war had its onset in the death of king charles ii in 1700, leaving no heir to his throne. two contestants emerged, namely duke philip of anjou, who was a protege of louis xiv of france, and archduke charles of austria. fearing the threat to their interests of bourbon rule over both france and spain, britain decided to support austria and the netherlands, which led to an anglo-dutch fleet conquering gibraltar in 1704. officially, “the rock” was taken over in the name of the archduke charles of austria; however, britain unsurprisingly saw an immense strategic potential in this small piece of land (constantine 2013). following the capture, a decade of political conflict and unrest spread around europe. this ended in 1713 with the aforementioned treaty of utrecht which, in article x, formally declared gibraltar a british property: “the catholic king does hereby, for himself, his heirs and successors, yield to the crown of great britain the full and entire propriety of the town and castle of gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications, and forts thereunto belonging; and he gives up the said propriety to be held and enjoyed absolutely with all manner of right for ever, without any exception or impediment whatsoever.” since that day, spanish governments have on numerous occasions tried to undermine the significance of the treaty, but all those efforts have so far been to no avail. initially, the spanish thought the enactment of article x would be temporary; therefore, a nucleus of the spanish population remained in gibraltar, at the same time providing a solid foundation for a new society under construction. the final spanish effort to take back gibraltar took place between 13th september 1779 and 12th march 1783, during the anglo-french conflict accompanying the american war of 61 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. work in progess independence. the fortress was defended by general george eliott and around 5,500 to 7,000 men under his command, during what came to be known as the great siege of gibraltar (kramer 1986). the gibraltar of the 19th century saw three immense changes: its status was altered from merely a military outpost to a british crown colony, it gained importance due to the opening of the suez canal, and an alien order in council was established in order to limit immigration to british subjects (constantine 2013). the last development engendered a substantial wave of immigration from malta and india. nevertheless, there were numerous spanish citizens commuting daily across the border to fill their professional positions. the distinction between the british and the “others”, which the uk government insisted on, became increasingly difficult to maintain over time. ethnic differences were almost of no importance in gibraltar from the very onset, as the colony was of a multiethnic nature. many spanish citizens also managed to receive permanent residence in gibraltar, despite the laws in force, e.g. through marriage with british nationals (constantine 2013). the beginning of the 20th century was rather uneventful in gibraltar, as spain remained neutral during the first world war and no apparent threat to gibraltar was present. more power was secured by the citizens of gibraltar, as in 1921 elections took place and four positions on the city council were filled by native gibraltarians (kramer 1986). gibraltar also provided shelter for numerous spanish refugees during the spanish civil war, when even the gibraltar chronicle was published with special war editions in spanish (2008). the second world war initiated immense social and linguistic changes, as gibraltar played a major role in the conflict, serving as a base for british naval convoys venturing to malta. many gibraltarians were forced to leave their homeland and were relocated either to the united kingdom or other crown dependencies, such as jamaica. they were fully-immersed in the british culture and education, and some people were actually exposed to english as a native language for the first time (constantine 2013). both local and british identity were fostered, and important political changes were inspired (levey 2008). the first political party of gibraltar was formed, as many people felt mistreated by the british, since the repatriation process was far from perfect, and demanded more independence. the association for the advancement of the civil rights dominated the political scene of gibraltar for the next forty years (constantine 2013). the 1960s began with the intensification of tensions between gibraltar and spain. gibraltarians decided to organize a referendum to decide which side they would prefer to find themselves on, be it spanish or british. a total of 12,182 people took part in the voting process, and just 44 opted for coming under spanish rule. as spanish pride was deeply hurt, in 1969 the border between gibraltar and spain was closed and remained so for the next 13 years. this radical step, which was supposed to crash the rock both economically and morally, was implemented overnight and barred all cross-border activity. contrary to the spanish vision, however, the plan backfired, and the neighbouring spanish villages suffered the most as gibraltar continued to flourish (levey 2008; constantine 2013). interactions with the native spanish populations were limited and distrust towards the spanish government peaked, leading to the decline of the spanish language among gibraltarians. despite the blockade being lifted in 1982 and rekindling of a significant amount of cross62 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. work in progess border movement, the earlier state of contact with and proficiency in spanish was never restored (levey 2008). 2.2. gibraltar today the rock today is inhabited by around 30,000 people. its major ethnic groups include spanish, italian, english, portuguese, and north african (united nations 2016). additionally, there are prominent minorities of indians, maltese, moroccans and jews, who have also continued to influence both the culture and the languages spoken in gibraltar (kellermann 2001). such a mixture of peoples, together with the peculiar and long troublesome geographical location of gibraltar, raises many questions of language and identity, as people who live on the same territory for a prolonged time tend to develop shared values and interests, and eventually a sense of common local identity (anderson 1991). such groups often develop distinct ways of speaking which differentiate them from other geographical or social groups, thereby evolving into a speech community (labov 1963; milroy 1987; melancon 2000; milroy and gordon 2003). this is especially apparent in the evolution of so-called “new englishes”, as one can see for example in the case of australia, where following independence the variety of english spoken there received official recognition and now constitutes a standard of its own (moore 2008). the official language of gibraltar is english, which is used both in formal and educational settings; however, due to its complicated past and the proximity of spain, spanish is also widely spoken. although it does seem to possess features differentiating it from the andalusian speech forms of the neighboring campo region, it continues to belong to the group of andalusian dialects. it is often claimed, however, that the most distinctive language spoken in gibraltar is the socalled yanito, which was defined by levey (2008) as “(…) an andalusian dominant spanish form of oral expression which integrates mainly english lexical and syntactic elements as well as some local vocabulary”. this definition implies that yanito is a form of a code-switched discourse. the ability to switch easily between english and spanish has often been commented on, including the near impossibility of spotting the moment at which gibraltarians switch from one language to the other (levey 2008). in this respect, gibraltarians have even been compared to bilingual puerto ricans who live in the united states, but the social roles of code-switching in the two communities seem to be quite different (moyer 1993). the present-day sociopolitical situation of gibraltar has been made even more complicated by the brexit referendum of 2016, in which a whopping 96% of eligible gibraltarians opted to remain in the european union. despite such an overwhelming victory for the “remain” camp, it seems that gibraltar will be forced to secede from the union hand in hand with the united kingdom against the will of the overwhelming majority of its inhabitants. as one may suspect, this has brought much unwanted uncertainty over the future of gibraltar’s economy, laws affecting the movement of people, and even political status. 63 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. work in progess 3. history of research on the linguistic situation in gibraltar despite such a wealth of research possibilities and its accessible location, gibraltar has so far remained relatively neglected by scholars of sociolinguistics, new dialect formation, and world englishes. the only specialist studies devoted to the linguistic situation of gibraltar are krammer (1986), moyer (1993), kellermann (2001), and levey (2008), and of these, only levey 2008 focuses on gibraltarian english as a new colonial variety. the status of gibraltar as a blank spot on the map of postcolonial englishes may be illustrated by its absence from such authoritative recent references on world and postcolonial englishes as kortmann and schneider (2008) or schreier et al. (2009). it is, therefore, important to pay closer attention to the work which has already been done on gibraltar in order to suggest and delineate further research needs of gibraltar. 3.1. johannes kramer, spanish and english in gibraltar (1986) kramer opens his study of gibraltar by specifying three central issues: 1. the historical background of gibraltar; 2. the educational system of gibraltar; 3. the effects of the co-existence and intermingling of english and other languages spoken in gibraltar, in particular genoese, andalusian spanish, and italian. he also attempts to tackle the issue of english-spanish bilingualism and “gibraltar’s spanish dialect called yanito”. the overview of the history of gibraltar, which spans the period between 1704 and 1969, is thorough, well-researched, and provides a reader with a sufficient grasp of the colony’s external and social history. the following chapter, devoted to the educational system of gibraltar, is based completely on the work of a young gibraltarian which, as the author laments, remained unpublished. the focus here is mainly on the role of religion and religious organizations on education. additionally, as kramer pointed out, gibraltar still remained a military outpost at the time of writing, centuries after its capture by the british, and thus it had no official educational bodies (traverso 1980, quoted in kramer 1984:31). the chapter on the linguistic situation of gibraltar is the longest in the book and begins by introducing descriptions of the separate languages involved in language contact. in comparison with the others, the genoese variety of italian seems to be relatively neglected, with only a brief mention of its origins. the influence it possibly had on the linguistic mix in earlier times remains unexplored. as remnants of the language can be found only in religious rites, it is assumed that genoese disappeared due to immense pressure it experienced from spanish (kramer 1986). the reasons for the importance of spanish are investigated briefly and seem to boil down to the following: 1. the slow influx of spanish speakers into gibraltar despite law against such movements of peoples; 2. adstratum influence due to the proximity of spain; 64 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. work in progess 3. trade with spain, communication with the spanish-speaking workforce, and intermarriage. notably, the existence of a romance-based pidgin is presupposed for the 19th century (kramer 1986). as was the case with many british colonies, english was the language of the military and the british soldiers who occupied gibraltar. no merit was seen in learning local languages, and thus the soldiers refrained from doing so. it is, however, probable that religion rather than language was the major deterrent to acquiring spanish. most soldiers were protestants, while the speakers of spanish were usually catholics. the first locals to learn english as a second language were the jews, who having suffered persecution in spain felt no affiliation towards spanish and therefore switched rapidly to english without ever looking back. they oftentimes served as translators for the military staff (kramer 1986). the motivation for the rise of english seems to be of a dual nature. firstly, an external motivation arose due to the fact that speakers began to realize the necessity to have a decent command of english to land a well-paid job. secondly, an internal motivation sprang from the growing distrust of gibraltarians towards spain. a dictionary of yanito presented in kramer’s study is taken directly from manuel sevilla’s diccionario yanito, except that it has been subdivided into separate semantic fields. kramer thereupon embarks on a presentation of the sound system of yanito and laments the absence of gibraltarian spanish from spanish dialectology, as the dialect simply seems to be nonexistent in the relevant literature. having collected some vocabulary items, he compares them with the closest investigated regions, namely tarifa and manilva; the comparison is supplemented by an approximate phonetic transcription. interestingly, there seems to be evidence both supporting and disproving the hypothesis about gibraltar’s place among the spanish dialects of andalusia. dialectal realizations which bear out the hypothesis are, for example: 1. yeísmo – pronouncing ll as [y] and other sounds derived from it; 2. persistence of aspirate /h/; 3. partial assimilation of such consonant clusters as /gw/ and /bw/; 4. disappearance of intervocalic /d/ (kramer 1986). among the features which argue against gibraltarian spanish as an andalusian dialect are, for example: 1. lack of voiceless dental fricatives; 2. absence of velarisation of /n/; 3. nasalisation of the vowel preceding /n/ (kramer 1986). it is argued that these features may stem from the language-contact situation between spanish and genoese. this claim seems dubious, however, as the genoese-speaking population was rather small in the early days of the colony and, additionally, most of the features may be ascribed to english-spanish language contact (kellermann 2001). 65 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. work in progess the examples of yanito code-switching provided in kramer’s work come from calentita, which is a column published in a gibraltarian newspaper panorama. this column presents recent news in a commentary which is done by two typical housewives — cloti and cynthia. onomastic issues are also tackled, namely the etymology of the words yanito and gibraltar. yanito is believed to come from latin plānus (spanish llano), which means ‘flat’. it is pointed out that the word is often used to describe a spoken dialect in contrast to the written standard, as for example in the case of northern german (kramer 1986). as is well known, the name gibraltar originated from arabic jabal tarīq ‘tariq’s mountain’ and was given to the territory in the honor of the berber leader who captured gibraltar in 711, tariq ibn ziyad (kramer 1986). to conclude, english and spanish in gibraltar is a landmark first attempt at describing and analysing the complex linguistic situation in gibraltar. as such, it is an important achievement, even if the study at times comes across as haphazard and erratic in its methodology. in general, it is valuable today more as a guide for further research than as an empirical study. however, the work does successfully indicate gaps in the existing state of knowledge and identify problems for future research (kellermann 2001). 3.2. melissa g. moyer, analysis of code-switching in gibraltar (1993). moyer’s research plan, at first, had been to learn more about the linguistic situation in gibraltar, but in the end the research question was narrowed down to an analysis of the code-switching phenomenon in gibraltar. the speech community of gibraltar is described, and the decision is made to treat it as an idealized unit for the sake of the study. code-switching is defined as a communicative act between two proficient bilinguals or to be more exact: “where lexical elements from two languages are combined structurally in a single sentence or larger unit” (moyer 1993:69). the data was collected using the interview form, along with language diaries and questionnaires. however, the greatest challenge remained the observer’s paradox. this was tackled by providing each recording with an appropriate commentary made by the researcher. of a total of 21 recordings, 16 were selected as they represented a wide range of settings and situations. it is also crucial to mention that although 50 language diaries were administered, only 11 of those were turned in. in the diaries, the participants had to choose their dominant language (english, a mix of english and spanish, a mix of spanish and english, or spanish) in the domains of work; telephone conversations; streets, and stores; and home. six out of the investigated group tended to use more english than spanish, and the remaining five more spanish than english. the analysis of the domains indicates that spanish is more heavily used in informal contexts (home and street), but interlocutors also need to be considered when determining the language of any conversation. moyer’s study finds that code-switching is the most common form of linguistic form of expression except for the domain of telephone conversations. usually the code-switched discourse is spanish-dominant; however, it is noted that an english-dominant mix is often used to assert gibraltarian identity. therefore, code-switching or, in other words, yanito may claim some form of covert prestige. the group, however, was relatively homogeneous in terms of social background, 66 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. work in progess as only two never continued their education in britain, and just one was not a roman catholic. it thus needs to be underscored that such a sample is in no way representative of the population of gibraltar as a whole. the thesis claims that the representatives of lower classes of the community show more local identity and tend to communicate more in spanish and a mixture of spanish and english, but this conclusion is based entirely on impressionistic observation. the recordings are analyzed by means of discourse analysis, for which a wide framework is employed: 1. discourse strategies accomplished by a switch; 2. the search for nonliteral meaning in both macroand micro-sociolinguistic realities. four different code-switching patterns in conversations are identified: 1. alternative use of two language by different participants; 2. combination of different semantic constituent within one sentence; 3. insertion of individual lexical items; 4. insertion of ritualized expressions. to develop a theoretical framework which could account for meaningful and non-meaningful code-switching in relation to group and society, moyer proposes the following scheme: table 1. code-switching: individual, social and interactional meaning (adopted from moyer 1993: 233) individual speaker production: meaning of code-switching: interactional meaning social meaning passive switching rvi responsive code-switching in verbal interaction rsd responsive code-switching in a social domain active switching ivi initiative code-switching in verbal interaction isd initiative code-switching in a social domain in this model, rvi and rsd represent passive code-switching, as the speaker is simply reacting to the previous utterance. this can be seen as a sign of solidarity in the rvi type or orienting oneself towards a certain societal domain in the case of the rsd type; for example, gibraltarians tend to automatically switch to english in the domains of government and education. code-switching discourse sometimes also seems to constitute the unmarked choice in verbal interactions (moyer 1993). the ivi and isd types of switches may be considered active, as the speaker takes the initiative either to achieve a certain discourse function and negotiate social relations (ivi), or establish a switch towards an interaction within a certain domain (isd; moyer 1993). 67 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. work in progess within the wider sociolinguistic literature, numerous researchers have tried to establish constraints on code-switching, such as muysken (1995), poplack and meechan (1995). however, their analyses fail to account for all the instances of code-switching observed in gibraltar as some examples of sentential code switching cannot be explained as many of them are far from being ungrammatical due to the fact that they follow the rules of both english and spanish grammars (moyer 1993). the data collection which led to writing of the thesis is to be praised. it is, however, problematic in that the selection of subjects seems to have a strong middle-class bias. the author, unfortunately, fails to provide us with a more detailed look at her findings. nevertheless, moyer’s research is an important step towards uncovering the complexity of the linguistic situation in gibraltar, and it provides important insight into the gibraltarian speech community of the early 1990s. 3.3. anja kellerman, a new new english: language, politics, and identity in gibraltar (2001) the aim of kellermann’s thesis was to examine language attitudes, language use, and language form in contemporary gibraltar. to meet these research objectives, 70 interviews were conducted over three visits to gibraltar in 1991 and 1992. three major groups can be specified in the data, namely: 1. gibraltarian teachers; 2. a small number of uk teachers, who served as a control group; 3. a community sample (kellermann 2001). the groups were sprinkled with a sample of the population which worked for the gibraltar government: party leaders, employers, and educational experts (kellermann 2001). thus, an extensive spoken gibraltarian english corpus was created, which could be subjected to both qualitative and quantitative analysis. over the course of several generations, the society of gibraltar has become a multinational one for a number of reasons. english is now the main language used in gibraltar. surprisingly, however, it was not imposed by the colonial power of the united kingdom, but was seemingly voluntarily adopted by the population of gibraltar. english began serving as an identity marker, and the shift away from spanish could be understood as an “act of identity” (lepage & tabouret-keller 1985). it has gone a long way from being just the language of international communication to, in the end, the language of local communication as well. additionally, the socioeconomic value of english is an important factor which contributed to gibraltarians abandoning their first language in favor of english. the administered language attitude survey seems to indicate that there continued to exist a general distrust towards spain. the informants saw themselves on the spectrum between british and gibraltarian, with 43% being pro-british, 23% feeling both british and gibraltarian, and 34% considering themselves simply gibraltarian. there was no integrative attitude present towards spain. the majority of speakers also detest being depicted as spanish, but do not mind being seen as brit68 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. work in progess ish. the thesis suggests that an anti-spanish complex runs deep in the society, and it remains to be seen if it is there to stay. interestingly, yanito seemed to enjoy quite a high level of covert prestige but was stigmatized as far as overt prestige was considered, the assumption being that this may be due to the aforementioned distrust towards spain and spanish (kellermann 2001). owing to the growing indifference of britain towards gibraltar (illustrated by the sovereignty referendum offered by the united kingdom in 2002 to share the territory of gibraltar with spain), the citizens began striving for more independence and the right to self-determination. this, in turn, gave rise to a local gibraltarian english identity. the english part of the identity is, however, slowly becoming weakened, with the local gibraltarian part continuously gaining strength. the institutionalization of english and the adoption of british english as the pronunciation model, combined with the fact that for many educators english was a second language (and, therefore, their pronunciation diverged from that of the model), has given rise to a new variety, gibraltarian english. a general tendency may be observed to opt for intermediate consonantal and vocalic forms which exist neither in british english nor in spanish. there also exists a continuum ranging from pronunciations closer to the british model to highly divergent variants. this could serve as evidence that the normalization process is currently in progress, of which the end result seems to be located close to the british english standard, without entirely conforming to it. the thesis is marked by great academic rigor and extensiveness of the data collection and analyses. it still remains to be investigated, however, whether the tendency towards the standardisation of a new gibraltarian variety of english is still under way, as one must remember that the data used in the research was collected in the early 1990s and, contrary to what kellermann claimed, could already have been somewhat outdated at the time of publication. 3.4. david levey, language change and variation in gibraltar (2008) according to the author, the study was undertaken due to all the recent developments in the field of sociolinguistics in europe at large. its main objective was to analyze the use of english among adolescent speakers in gibraltar and compare them with the patterns found in older generations. the study was undertaken in three middle and two secondary schools. a total of 72 gibraltarians (38 between the ages of 13-19 and 34 between the ages of 9-12) were selected, and from them a 40-hour long audio corpus was created. social variables such as age, sex, ethnicity, and class are considered. the steps taken to minimize the observer’s paradox included, for example, building friendly relationships with the subjects beforehand and postulating introductory questions to establish a level of rapport. the interviewees also remained largely uninformed about the objective of the research, so that that knowledge would not interfere with their linguistic performance. the tasks were: 1. personal information questions; 2. reading wordlists; 3. translation wordlists; 4. interviews on language attitudes, preference, and competence (levey 2008). 69 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. work in progess the results of levey’s study indicate that yanito and spanish seem to be losing ground due to the increasing dominance of english as the first language, as the latter seems to have overtaken the home domain. a growing number children are brought up solely with english spoken to them. such a turn of events is attributed to the border blockade of 1969 (see above, §1). a conspicuous divide is found between the preadolescents and adolescents, with the former using more english than the latter. this may either be indicative of a language shift in progress or simply reflect a momentary, age-graded phenomenon, as younger pupils tend to be more impressionable and, therefore, influenced by their teachers and parents. interestingly, yanito was found to be spoken with older siblings, but english with younger ones (levey 2008). with respect to class, upper-middle class and middle-class children opt for using english as their main mode of communication, while those from lower social classes tend to use spanish. social networks also come into play and seem to correlate with the jewish, indian, and moroccan ethnic groups, with the first two priding themselves on the best command of english. it is also pointed out that the autochthonous gibraltarians seem to operate according to distinct patterns, as they exhibit the highest level of spanish maintenance and the most considerable generational shift to english. in contrast, gender was deemed to have no effect (levey 2008). as far as phonetic realizations are concerned, gibraltarian english seems to be approaching the british english standard more than previous studies suggested. it is not, however, claimed that this is the variety that the speakers fully aim at. typical features of spanish substratum influence, such as ∫/t∫, 3/d3, j/d3, or the kit/fleece and trap/strut/bath mergers, were no longer found. young gibraltarians also exhibit certain substandard features found in other english-speaking communities too, such as t-glottaling and th-fronting, but levey stresses that they cannot be assessed and judged using the same methods as in the united kingdom, as their social meaning and context differ greatly. it is suggested that gibraltarian english may further assimilate to the british standard due to the positive attitude towards the united kingdom among the young. additionally, both preadolescents and adolescents often made remarks that suggest that they consider the local vernacular to be a limitation or defect on the part of a speaker, rather than a legitimate dialect. this shift in progress is also considered an “act of identity”, but one that emphasizes the british national and linguistic identity of gibraltarians. nevertheless, the paper concludes that the further development of english in gibraltar may not necessarily follow this trend, and therefore that more research is required. the author contributed a sound piece of scholarly work on the phonetics of the current state of gibraltarian english. perhaps the only faults of the study, but unfortunately significant ones, are that: 1) it is focused only on the phonetics of gibraltarian english, and 2) the issue of code-switching is almost entirely omitted from discussion, as the author treats “english” and “spanish” as discrete, unitary linguistic systems. one can only agree with levey, however, that more research is necessary to determine the long-term trajectory of language shift and attitudes among speakers of gibraltarian english and their relation to changing self-identification. 70 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. work in progess 4. conclusions and goals of future research it is necessary to note that despite a significant wealth of research possibilities, gibraltar has so far failed to attract much interest from the broader scientific community, including sociolinguistics or sociologists. weston (2011) suggests that this may be because gibraltar remains under official british rule and therefore to many seems unworthy of study. the present paper embarked on the task of encapsulating the history of sociolinguistic research in gibraltar to date. undertaking this research is of paramount importance, especially in these post-brexit referendum days when the sociopolitical situation in gibraltar has become even more complex: although 96% of gibraltarians voted to remain in the european union, it appears that gibraltar will have to leave the eu together with the united kingdom. such events are called events x by schneider (2008), defined as moments at which the citizens of a subordinate territory realize that the importance they ascribed to their motherland is not reciprocated. a growing sense of local identity may influence language use and may lead to a shift in the sociolinguistic spectrum among gibraltarians. the conclusion seems inescapable that a new set of sociolinguistic data must be collected in order to monitor the processes currently taking place in gibraltar, as they may help uncover not just linguistic, but deeper societal phenomena underway in times of 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(unpublished ma dissertation, university of southampton). weston, daniel. 2011. gibraltar’s position in the dynamic model of postcolonial english. english world-wide 32/3. 338–367. communicative responsibility in non-native speech. overcoming foreign accent in english in religious discourse 4 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) agnieszka bryła-cruz1 doi: 10.15290 / cr.2019.26.3.01 maria curie-skłodowska university in lublin, poland orcid: 0000-0003-3256-3185 communicative responsibility in non-native speech. overcoming foreign accent in english in religious discourse abstract. apart from evoking accent-based stereotypes, non-native speech has been found to pose threat to intelligibility and overburden listeners with additional cognitive load which may evoke their irritation (johansson 1975; kelly 2000; munro 2003; lippi-green 2012; moyer 2013). the paper discusses the notion of communicative responsibility defined as speaker’s effort to overcome the undesirable consequences of foreign accent for the sake of efficient conveyance of relevant message. five religious lectures (amounting to 5hrs of audio-visual material) delivered in polish-accented english are discussed with respect to the speaker’s non-native pronunciation and his morally motivated effort to convey the message precisely despite phonetically deviant speech. the shortcomings of non-native pronunciation are anticipated and targeted by preventive strategies, such as disambiguation, frequent repetition and use of emphatic stress to highlight the most relevant information, eliciting direct feedback from the listeners, monitoring their non-verbal responses, as well as the employment of enhancing devices, such as gestures. key words: communicative responsibility, foreign-accented speech, preventive strategies, intelligibility, religious discourse. 1. introduction the phenomenon of foreign accent as well as its implications for communication and functioning in society have attracted considerable attention from researchers working within different fields of study. this interdisciplinary interest is caused by the fact that (non-native) accent is not only an indicator of one’s origin but also has been shown to evoke various racial, ethnic and religious stereotypes. the reason for this is that speakers in all communities “associate types of speech with types of people” (williams 1970: 381) and “rely on language traits to judge others” (lippigreen 2004: 291). there is ample empirical evidence which proves that due to its non-standardness foreign-accented speech tends to be stigmatized and its users downgraded on a wide array 1 address for correspondence: ul. kameralna 9 / 2, 20-864 lublin, poland. e-mails: agabryla@gmail.com 5 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) of non-linguistic factors, e.g. competence, socio-economic status, personality traits (friendliness, kindness, reliability, overall intelligence) or even physical attractiveness (lambert et al. 1960; williams 1976; lippi-green 2012). this leads to “linguistic profiling”, an auditory equivalent to racial profiling (baugh 2003), manifesting itself in discriminatory practices in employment or educational areas as well as media portrayals (lippi-green 1997; munro 2003). due to expanding awareness regarding the undesirable implications of sounding non-native, many immigrants enroll in accent reduction classes to increase their chances in e.g., a job interview and enhance assimilation in the target society. similarly, many politicians strive to improve their pronunciation and enunciation in english (be it their l1 or l2) in order to deliver their political message in the most persuasive way and avoid accent-based stigmatization. in both cases overcoming foreign accent is propelled by personal gain (prestige, image, social and financial benefits) so it can be viewed as speaker-oriented. the present paper provides a preliminary insight into a so far practically unexplored interface of non-native speech and communicative responsibility. there are some spheres of human activity (aviation, the army) where accented speech may have particularly grave consequences for successful communication affecting not only an individual’s image and career opportunities, but having impact on the lives of a large group of people (strother 1999; woods 2006; erwin 2005). it is due to the fact that even though intelligibility depends on multiple factors related to the speaker, the listener and the context (brown 1991; wright 2003), pronunciation has been shown to play a pivotal role in how effectively meaning is conveyed (jenkins 2000; field 2005). despite a vast body of theoretical and empirical studies on the nature and perception of foreignaccented speech, none of them has focused on the notion of responsibility. in this paper, communicative responsibility refers to attempts of overcoming foreign accent which are not speakeroriented but addressee-oriented. religious discourse in foreign-accented english has received no attention from phoneticians and it is also in this area that the links between pronunciation and listener-oriented responsibility can be observed. in what follows five religious lectures delivered in polish-accented english will be discussed with respect to the speaker’s non-native pronunciation and his morally motivated effort to convey the message precisely despite phonetically deviant speech. it will be argued that the speaker feels responsible for the listeners’ comprehension because firstly, he deems the transmitted content vitally important, and secondly, he recognizes that his foreign accent may impair intelligibility. just like in aviation or the army, being understood properly can be a matter of life and death, in this case in its spiritual dimension (at least from the speaker’s perspective). 2. communicative responsibility: content – form interface responsibility is a concept that is recurrent in everyday life and, similarly to foreign accent, has been explored by researchers of various disciplines (philosophers, psychologists, sociologists, theologists and lawyers). while most language users intuitively know what the term implies and are able to enumerate responsibility-related notions (e.g. liability, accountability, duty, obligation, 6 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) blame, punishment), no exact, comprehensive and universally accepted definition of the construct itself exists (auhagen & bierhoff 2001). this is because it is a complex social phenomenon which is inherently multi-faceted. researchers tend to emphasize different aspects of responsibility depending on their particular topic and the adopted approach. one of the most positive connotations of the term is “ethical and moral values, or caring” (auhagen & bierhoff 2001: 3). communicative responsibility is viewed in this paper as the speaker’s morally motivated concern for his listeners’ comprehension, which manifests itself in the speaker’s attempts to overcome the negative consequences of his foreign-accented english. nowadays it is often argued that since communication is a two way process, responsibility for effective interaction between nonnative and native speakers should encompass not only the former as skilled speakers but also the latter as “active, responsive and unprejudiced listeners” (derwing et al. 2014: 76). it is even positioned that placing the whole burden of communication on non-native speakers is unethical and monolingual speakers of english should be trained to understand accented speech and be encouraged to change their attitudes, i.e. become more empathetic and less anxious to interact with nonnative speakers (derwing et al. 2014). this stands in contrast with what bansal (1969: 15) advised almost five decades ago in his classic research on the intelligibility of indian english, namely “to be intelligible the speaker must articulate his sounds clearly, so that the hearer does not have to stop and think what word was meant.” 3. method the corpus for qualitative observations and discussion is constituted by five religious lectures providing approximately 5 hours of audio-visual diagnostic material delivered by father piotr glas in polish-accented english. they were recorded live and posted on a youtube channel rcs tv international, which is one of countless examples of the religious appropriation of the new media technology for spreading faith. with the advancement of the internet and new ways of communication, the potential of seemingly secular practices to serve a religious role in everyday life has been recognized quickly and dominant media technologies have been embraced as a means of both preaching and practising beliefs (campbell 2013). as a result, “religion of every kind, big and small, old and new, mainstream and more exotic is present online, and in great abundance” (dawson 2005: 15). the analysis was carried out auditorily and its multimodal character is reflected in the fact that apart from sound also the speaker’s body language was taken into consideration. 3.1 the speaker’s perception of the content of his preaching the speaker discussed in what follows, fr. peter glas, is a catholic priest and exorcist of polish origin who has resided and worked in england (manchester, lancaster, southampton bournemouth, jersey, portsmouth and reading) since 1991. he uses english on a daily basis to communicate with english native speakers in england and occasionally in the usa and australia. it is this language that is his main tool in the service. his english is marked with polish accent, 7 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) which is to be expected as he learnt it in his adulthood far beyond a sensitive age deemed necessary for acquiring native-like pronunciation. he does not conceal the fact that he arrived in england with very basic command of english (in one of his lectures he refers to his english at that time as “was very limited,” “school english”), which not only was insufficient for effective daily communication, but also generated embarrassment due to serious misunderstandings. the speaker shows higher than average awareness of his foreign accent, which becomes apparent in his comments “can you understand me? cause my accent is not your accent,” “this will be on the video also. hopefully people can understand my accent.” rather than expecting his english native listeners to accommodate to him, he exerts effort to reduce the load generated by his accented speech. he is convinced of the relevance of the message he sets out to convey, on the one hand, and recognizes that his accented speech may pose a hindrance to carrying out this task satisfactorily, on the other. certainly, it can be positioned that other public speakers (e.g. politicians or activists) also strongly believe in their message and will try to make themselves properly understood when delivering it. yet, preaching is distinct from any other form of public speaking because of its content which is perceived as a message from god. lischner (2002: 47) goes as far as to conclude that “(n)o other modern public speaker does what the preacher tries to do” and thus sets religious discourse apart from the rest of public speech acts, with preaching viewed as primarily “an act of faith” (2002: 49). according to stott (2017), a sermon typically begins with the announcement of one’s text, which declares that the christian preacher accepts his “responsibility to expound god’s word,” rather than express his own opinions (2017: 190). in the augustinian spirit upon the preacher rests the primordial duty to be “the defender of right faith and the enemy of error” (resner 1999: 40). in other words, the preacher’s primary service is yielded not to earthly institutions, political movements or ideologies, but he is called to be a servant of the divine truth and his mission is to proclaim the gospel and save people’s lives from spiritual death. importantly, the preacher’s authority does not derive from his education, professional experience, rank or power but from his encounter with god while engaging with the scripture (johnson 2015). this transforms the preacher into a witness and he “shapes the words and patterns of the sermon to correspond to the truth the preacher has heard and seen” (johnson 2015: 38). father glas frequently refers to himself as a witness and views his preaching as a testimony, e.g. “i want to witness to you,” “i want to give you an idea, a picture,” “i want to open your eyes,” “i do my best to open people’s hearts,” “i’m speaking to you freely. the truth. and you share this truth with other people.” he experiences a particularly strong sense of mission attached to his priesthood and repeatedly stresses the fact that he “feels responsible for people’s souls,” and “saving people” and wants to bear testimony of what he has witnessed: “i’d like to be with you, not as a preacher, but share with you my testimony, my knowledge, my experience.” this identity has ramifications for the preacher’s communication on semantic, phonetic and non-verbal levels, which is in line with the conviction that “a witness is a translator who is required to find the right words, images and form” (johnson 2014: 117). 8 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) the speaker views his preaching activity as a battle with evil forces and uses a war / battle metaphor to frame everyday spiritual experiences of human beings. this is apparent both in the titles of his lectures as well as the imagery he employs to explain the basic mechanisms of demonic activity, e.g. spiritual warfare, spiritual defense, strategy, attack, weapon, armour, fight, combat, war, battlefield, fortress, stronghold, headquarters, castle, perpetrator, enemy, general, marshall, missile, grenade, victory, taking the land, occupying etc. against this backdrop, his own role and moral obligation is to prepare people for the battle, in other words to raise their awareness of spiritual reality where demonic activity manifests itself, e.g. “i was ordained as well to fight with the powers of darkness that do exist, that are real, that are powerful, not more powerful than god, but they are powerful because we are ignorant.” in his view, this is an unpopular and neglected issue even within the church and nowadays the existence of embodied evil is completely denied not only by lay people but, more alarmingly, even by some of the clergy (“how many of us do fight? how many of us are ready, prepared, trained? we are not ready for the battle.”). it can be concluded that the speaker perceives the content of his preaching as very important and not just to himself but to every single person listening to him at the moment of speaking and also to all those who can familiarize themselves with his message indirectly. 3.2 the speaker’s perception of his accented speech according to flege (1988: 229), “foreign accent is a phenomenological experience of listeners that is derived from detectable acoustic (and perhaps visual) differences between native and non-native speakers in the pronunciation of sounds and other speech units”. as a result, on detecting a foreign accent listeners are able to recognize that the interlocutor is not “a fellow native speaker” (flege & southwood 1999: 336). by making references to his foreign accent fr. glas acknowledges his position of an outsider. yet, he identifies with the listeners by showing genuine concern to be understood as well as involvement and solidarity (he refers to them as “friends”). this is congruent with what is advocated by roembke (2000: 84), namely, that “the goal of the missionary is to become as much an insider as is necessary to be credible” and this does not have to amount to “imitation or the sentimental attempt to ‘go native’”. imitation can be counterproductive and result in contempt, which is the most significant obstacle to mutual understanding (roembke 2000: 84). fr. glas displays a high level of awareness that his speech is marked with a foreign accent and recognizes its potential threat to communication. indeed, obstructed intelligibility is often the first shortcoming of foreign accent and “foreign-accented speakers tend to be evaluated more negatively than native-accented speakers simply because they are harder to understand” (dragojevic & giles 2016: 16). while semantic, grammatical and pragmatic context can facilitate comprehension and eliminate ambiguities (brown 1991), it should not be assumed that it can always compensate for phonetic inaccuracies. context itself depends on how much of the previous input has been properly decoded by the listener (field 2005). moreover, sometimes context may allow for two or more phonetically similar words or phrases. anecdotal evidence of intelligibility breakdown because of foreign-accented english can be observed in one of dalai lama’s spiritual talks. when 9 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) referring to differences in religion and race he said “i think we should forget it.” people burst into enthusiastic laughter, some of them started whistling or applauding and others had vague expressions on their faces. the tibetan monk was confused because he repeated the same idea a few times and the listeners’ reaction felt inadequate. because of inappropriately placed word-stress and segmental distortions “forget it” was understood as “fuck it” (both f-words matched the context but, needless to say, only one was suitable in terms of register). incorrect pronunciation may be “funny” or “cute” at the outset but will become tiresome with the passing of time and may even undermine credibility of the mission / church in the long run (roembke 2000: 73). according to johansson (1975), one of the by-products of foreign accent is diverting the listener’s attention from the message towards the form. in the literature it has been labeled “irritation” (ludwig 1982: 275) and can range from unobtrusive awareness of the speaker’s erroneous pronunciation to constant focus on the code which overwhelms the conveyed message and impedes successful discernment of the meaning. learners are not always cognizant of the fact that “the way they speak is resulting in difficulty, irritation or misunderstanding for the listener” (kenworthy 1987: 8) and, consequently, do not pay proper attention to their pronunciation. fr. glas, however, is aware of additional load placed upon his listeners due to his foreign accent, which is apparent when he asks “should i finish now? are you tired?” summing up, the speaker displays a particularly strong belief in his service to the congregation and is genuinely concerned about being properly understood despite his foreign accent. as a result, he assumes responsibility for transmitting the message and employs strategies which are meant to safeguard intelligibility and reduce the listeners’ effort invested in processing his speech. 3.3 overcoming fallouts of accented speech mcroy and hirst (1995) argue that even though interlocutors may not always recognize intelligibility breakdown when it occurs, they are aware that a misunderstanding can occur. when a problem in comprehension is anticipated, the speaker can resort to a strategy of prevention (clark 1994), in other words, a mechanism to restrain misunderstanding or non-understanding. in the analysed data, the shortcomings of foreign-accented speech are anticipated and targeted by preventive strategies, such as disambiguation, frequent repetition and use of contrastive stress to highlight the most relevant information, eliciting feedback from the listeners, observing their nonverbal responses as well as enhancing devices, such as gestures (hand gestures, mimicry), whole body movements and extra-linguistic sounds. all these are employed to aid comprehension and in the case of gestures to “enhance the communicative signal” (de ruiter 2017: 72). fr. glas is alert to lexical factors (or “neighbourhood density” as termed by luce & pisoni 1998) which may diminish the probability of a word being accurately identified. word recognition is better for words from sparse neighbourhoods due to smaller competition between phonetically similar words (walley 2007). fr. glas anticipates a potential confusion of the intended word soul 7 the literature it has been labeled “irritation” (ludwig 1982: 275) and can range from unobtrusive awareness of the speaker’s erroneous pronunciation to constant focus on the code which overwhelms the conveyed message and impedes successful discernment of the meaning. learners are not always cognizant of the fact that “the way they speak is resulting in difficulty, irritation or misunderstanding for the listener” (kenworthy 1987: 8) and, consequently, do not pay proper attention to their pronunciation. fr. glas, however, is aware of additional load placed upon his listeners due to his foreign accent, which is apparent when he asks “should i finish now? are you tired?” summing up, the speaker displays a particularly strong belief in his service to the congregation and is genuinely concerned about being properly understood despite his foreign accent. as a result, he assumes responsibility for transmitting the message and employs strategies which are meant to safeguard intelligibility and reduce the listeners’ effort invested in processing his speech. 3.3.overcoming fallouts of accented speech mcroy and hirst (1995) argue that even though interlocutors may not always recognize intelligibility breakdown when it occurs, they are aware that a misunderstanding can occur. when a problem in comprehension is anticipated, the speaker can resort to a strategy of prevention (clark 1994), in other words, a mechanism to restrain misunderstanding or non-understanding. in the analysed data, the shortcomings of foreignaccented speech are anticipated and targeted by preventive strategies, such as disambiguation, frequent repetition and use of contrastive stress to highlight the most relevant information, eliciting feedback from the listeners, observing their non-verbal responses as well as enhancing devices, such as gestures (hand gestures, mimicry), whole body movements and extra-linguistic sounds. all these are employed to aid comprehension and in the case of gestures to “enhance the communicative signal” (de ruiter 2017: 72). fr. glas is alert to lexical factors (or “neighbourhood density” as termed by luce & pisoni 1998) which may diminish the probability of a word being accurately identified. word recognition is better for words from sparse neighbourhoods due to smaller competition between phonetically similar words (walley 2007). fr. glas anticipates a potential confusion of the intended word soul // with a phonetically similar one salt // and, therefore, deploys a preventive strategy of disambiguation by means of contrasting the target item with a possibly disruptive one: “soul, not salt, you know, soul”. this is accompanied with clear enunciation and slowed down rate of speech. with a phonetically similar one salt 7 the literature it has been labeled “irritation” (ludwig 1982: 275) and can range from unobtrusive awareness of the speaker’s erroneous pronunciation to constant focus on the code which overwhelms the conveyed message and impedes successful discernment of the meaning. learners are not always cognizant of the fact that “the way they speak is resulting in difficulty, irritation or misunderstanding for the listener” (kenworthy 1987: 8) and, consequently, do not pay proper attention to their pronunciation. fr. glas, however, is aware of additional load placed upon his listeners due to his foreign accent, which is apparent when he asks “should i finish now? are you tired?” summing up, the speaker displays a particularly strong belief in his service to the congregation and is genuinely concerned about being properly understood despite his foreign accent. as a result, he assumes responsibility for transmitting the message and employs strategies which are meant to safeguard intelligibility and reduce the listeners’ effort invested in processing his speech. 3.3.overcoming fallouts of accented speech mcroy and hirst (1995) argue that even though interlocutors may not always recognize intelligibility breakdown when it occurs, they are aware that a misunderstanding can occur. when a problem in comprehension is anticipated, the speaker can resort to a strategy of prevention (clark 1994), in other words, a mechanism to restrain misunderstanding or non-understanding. in the analysed data, the shortcomings of foreignaccented speech are anticipated and targeted by preventive strategies, such as disambiguation, frequent repetition and use of contrastive stress to highlight the most relevant information, eliciting feedback from the listeners, observing their non-verbal responses as well as enhancing devices, such as gestures (hand gestures, mimicry), whole body movements and extra-linguistic sounds. all these are employed to aid comprehension and in the case of gestures to “enhance the communicative signal” (de ruiter 2017: 72). fr. glas is alert to lexical factors (or “neighbourhood density” as termed by luce & pisoni 1998) which may diminish the probability of a word being accurately identified. word recognition is better for words from sparse neighbourhoods due to smaller competition between phonetically similar words (walley 2007). fr. glas anticipates a potential confusion of the intended word soul // with a phonetically similar one salt // and, therefore, deploys a preventive strategy of disambiguation by means of contrasting the target item with a possibly disruptive one: “soul, not salt, you know, soul”. this is accompanied with clear enunciation and slowed down rate of speech. and, therefore, deploys a preventive strategy of 10 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) disambiguation by means of contrasting the target item with a possibly disruptive one: “soul, not salt, you know, soul”. this is accompanied with clear enunciation and slowed down rate of speech. he correctly uses prominence (increased intensity, pitch and duration) in order to highlight the most relevant information within a thought unit. examples of emphatic stress include the following: “facebook, twitter. you have two thousand friends. you have two thousand friends?”, “people are gifted with discernment, but very often you have to be careful,” “what’s the deeds?” “five million websites your children can access.” similarly, repetitions serve the purpose of drawing the listeners’ attention to the key part(s) of the sentence. enumerating is always performed with the use of fingers and raised hand, usually repeated, e.g. “what is the unholy trinity? big three guys: rejection, abandonment and fear.” “they attack your emotions, memories, feelings, traumas.” “what really kept me to do this ministry, there were three things, my friends. first was the faith, the second is the fighting spirit, and the third one was the joy in the holy spirit.” “we need to pray for three things: knowledge, prudence and discernment.” even though fr. glas’s preaching lectures are expository in nature, he often interrupts his discourse to make sure that the message is accessible to the listeners. to this end he addresses his listeners directly, e.g. • “are you following me?” • “can you understand me clearly?” • “are you ok?” • “is it all right?” • “is that helpful what i’m saying?” • “do you agree with me?” on such occasions he often mentions his foreign accent as a potential obstacle to effective communication, e.g. “do you understand me? i think i speak so fast with this foreign accent,” “can you understand me? cause my accent is not your accent.” apart from explicit ways of checking understanding, he maintains eye contact and monitors the addressees’ verbal and non-verbal responses. he seems to be aware of the fact that competent speakers should “read” their audience and that “good powers of observation are helpful to detect whether a misunderstanding has been created” (roembke 2000: 125). substantial evidence from a range of studies points to the fact that speakers use gestures as an element of their effort to communicate (kendon 2004). as argued by mcneill (2016), speech and gesture are manifestations of thought and “the greater the felt departure of thought from the immediate context, the more likely its materialization in a gesture”. consequently, the extent to which gestures are elaborated depends on the relevance of materialization of the existence of the thought (mcneill 2016: 15). fr. glas employs a very wide range of speech-related hand gestures (deictic and imagistic) as well as mimicry, head movements and gaze shifts. apparently, the motivation beyond this 11 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) practice is to render the complex and abstract ideas more concrete. in the analysed lectures many gestures are repetitive. they constitute a certain system (code) and reflect the speaker’s mind in the same way as words; they are “an imagistic version of what is being spoken” (church et al. 2017). imagistic gestures can be divided into iconic, i.e. representing a concrete action or object and metaphoric, i.e. standing for some abstract concept (kendon 2004). the discourse is produced by words and gestures and, thus, just like fr. glas’s speech abounds in battle-related terminology, his gestures that reflect the same notions and body movements which denote punching, boxing, hitting, attacking, occupying are recurrent. even though they display an image which is concrete in the real world, their essence is metaphorical because the image of fight is used metaphorically in the discourse. below, some examples are provided: “i cannot just fight blindly, you know” – extended arms with clenched fists move forward and backward as in boxing. “i was a fighter, you know. and i’m still a fighter.” – the clenched fist makes a punching gesture. “demons’ priority is to bombard us non-stop” / “i received lots of hits, you know” – the clenched fist hits against the spread palm repeatedly. “and the devil knows that and attacks” – the clenched fist moves forward as in a punch. “that’s the same that demons do. they take the land and occupy it.” – both hands make a plunging gesture. “that’s why some people give up” – both arms held upwards in an open-handed posture as in surrender. sometimes the speaker uses metaphoric gestures to explain some notions or make them more vivid, e.g. “it’s easy, really, to be re-diverted” – makes a winding gesture with one arm. “they create soul ties. take a string and there is a hook on one side and on the other side” – raises his arms above his head and draws an invisible line in the air and marks each end of it. iconic gestures are also ubiquitous. they reflect a concrete idea from the discourse, e.g. “a big smile on his face” – the index finger draws an invisible smile in the air close to the mouth, “you know, computers” – fingers imitate typing movements. in addition to the above mentioned imagistic gestures, deictic gestures also appear frequently. these pointing gestures refer to either concrete entities and locations or abstract spaces relating to an idea or concept (mcneill 1992), e.g. “where is the battlefield? the battlefield’s in my mind” / “this is my mind. this is the biggest battlefield.” – puts his spread palm on the top of the head. 12 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) “which battle is the worst? within us.” – points with index fingers to his chest. “you must forgive not from your mind, brain. forgive from the place where the wound is” – the index finger points to the top of the head first and then to the chest “what is underneath?” – the index finger goes down. “it doesn’t matter if you wear a collar” – points to his own collar. body movements and mimicry are sometimes accompanied with extralinguistic sounds, e.g. “i feel sometimes like a dentist, you know the nerve, i touch the nerve” – puts his hand close to the jaw and imitates the sound of a dental drill and shakes his head “and then he jumps and starts screaming aaaaaa!” – moves his whole body up as in a small jump and shakes his head slightly. it should be noted that even though fr. glas uses gestures in similar talks delivered in his native language, they are much more elaborate and frequent when his means of communication is english. this is in line with observations reported in the literature, namely that learners produce more gestures when they express themselves in their l2 than when they speak their l1 (gullberg 2008: 195). fr. glas goes to more effort when conveying his message in english and sometimes uses gestures in an intentional attempt to prevent undesirable homophony, e.g. in the above mentioned example of soul – salt he makes sure also by non-verbal means that the target item is properly decoded, i.e. he points to his chest simultaneously saying “soul”. it could be thus argued that not only do gestures constitute an aid to comprehension, but also in a way compensate for self-perceived imperfections of foreign-accented speech. this happens because unlike learners’ speech, gestures are not ambiguous and their “physical and spatial properties make them ideally suited for disambiguation” (gullberg 2008: 198). according to previous research, gestures are used by non-native speakers as a communicative device to compensate for lexical, grammar or fluency problems and also as a means to elicit help from interlocutors (gullberg 1998). it must be noted that fr. glas has a very good command of english in terms of grammar, vocabulary and idiomatic expressions. therefore, his use of gestures as a compensatory strategy would be limited to disambiguating what, in his own view, he cannot distinguish clearly enough in speech. the phrase “in his own view” in the previous sentence deserves some comment. as explained at the beginning of section 2., communicative responsibility is about the speaker’s awareness of his phonetic deficiencies and his effort to overcome them because the message is of vital importance and communication breakdown has grave consequences. interestingly, fr. glas pronounces both words from the above example (soul – salt) properly; he does not monophthongize the vowel in soul, which is a typical error made by polish speakers 11 means to elicit help from interlocutors (gullberg, 1998). it must be noted that fr. glas has a very good command of english in terms of grammar, vocabulary and idiomatic expressions. therefore, his use of gestures as a compensatory strategy would be limited to disambiguate what, in his own view, he cannot clearly enough distinguish in speech. the phrase “in his own view” in the previous sentence deserves some comment. as explained at the beginning of section 2., communicative responsibility is about the speaker’s awareness of his phonetic deficiencies and his effort to overcome them because the message is of vital importance and communication breakdown has grave consequences. interestingly, fr. glas pronounces both words from the above example (soul – salt) properly; he does not monophthongize the vowel in soul, which is a typical error made by polish speakers (*//). if he had done so, then both words would have been pronounced with a monophthong and the probability of confusion would have risen dramatically. in this case, however, disambiguation seems not that necessary and the fact that fr. glas remains careful intensifies his responsibility even more. at this point it is worthwhile to discuss the speaker’s foreign accent to determine if his own intuitive evaluation and actual phonetic properties of his speech overlap in terms of the extent to which they may impair intelligibility. 3.4. phonetic properties of the speaker’s non-native pronunciation it should be noted that the following characterization of the speaker’s non-native pronunciation is by no means exhaustive. its main aim is to determine the presence / absence of those phonetic features of polish english which english native speakers evaluated most harshly in empirical studies in terms of accentedness, irritation and intelligibility. the analysis was performed auditorily. perceptual studies on polish-accented english point to spelling-induced mispronunciations (rather than single segmental substitutions) as one of the main obstacles to intelligibility in communication with english native speakers (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). such errors tend to distort significantly the whole word, more often than not, rendering it virtually unrecognizable, e.g. purpose //, lettuce //. shifted word-stress has also been found to interfere with comprehension (field 2005) and many researchers argue that “the stress pattern of the word is an important part of its identity for the native speaker” (kenworthy 1996: 112). the speech samples which constitute the focus of the present study are, on the whole, correct with respect to word-stress placement even in those items which polish learners distort on a regular basis, e.g. *computer, *exam, *development. similarly, only single instances of spelling-based errors have been spotted in . if he had done so, then both words would have been pronounced with a monophthong and the probability of confusion would have risen dramatically. in this case, however, disambiguation seems not that necessary 13 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) and the fact that fr. glas remains careful intensifies his responsibility even more. at this point it is worthwhile to discuss the speaker’s foreign accent to determine if his own intuitive evaluation and actual phonetic properties of his speech overlap in terms of the extent to which they may impair intelligibility. 3.4 phonetic properties of the speaker’s non-native pronunciation it should be noted that the following characterization of the speaker’s non-native pronunciation is by no means exhaustive. its main aim is to determine the presence / absence of those phonetic features of polish english which english native speakers evaluated most harshly in empirical studies in terms of accentedness, irritation and intelligibility. the analysis was performed auditorily. perceptual studies on polish-accented english point to spelling-induced mispronunciations (rather than single segmental substitutions) as one of the main obstacles to intelligibility in communication with english native speakers (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). such errors tend to distort significantly the whole word, more often than not, rendering it virtually unrecognizable, e.g. purpose 11 means to elicit help from interlocutors (gullberg, 1998). it must be noted that fr. glas has a very good command of english in terms of grammar, vocabulary and idiomatic expressions. therefore, his use of gestures as a compensatory strategy would be limited to disambiguate what, in his own view, he cannot clearly enough distinguish in speech. the phrase “in his own view” in the previous sentence deserves some comment. as explained at the beginning of section 2., communicative responsibility is about the speaker’s awareness of his phonetic deficiencies and his effort to overcome them because the message is of vital importance and communication breakdown has grave consequences. interestingly, fr. glas pronounces both words from the above example (soul – salt) properly; he does not monophthongize the vowel in soul, which is a typical error made by polish speakers (*//). if he had done so, then both words would have been pronounced with a monophthong and the probability of confusion would have risen dramatically. in this case, however, disambiguation seems not that necessary and the fact that fr. glas remains careful intensifies his responsibility even more. at this point it is worthwhile to discuss the speaker’s foreign accent to determine if his own intuitive evaluation and actual phonetic properties of his speech overlap in terms of the extent to which they may impair intelligibility. 3.4. phonetic properties of the speaker’s non-native pronunciation it should be noted that the following characterization of the speaker’s non-native pronunciation is by no means exhaustive. its main aim is to determine the presence / absence of those phonetic features of polish english which english native speakers evaluated most harshly in empirical studies in terms of accentedness, irritation and intelligibility. the analysis was performed auditorily. perceptual studies on polish-accented english point to spelling-induced mispronunciations (rather than single segmental substitutions) as one of the main obstacles to intelligibility in communication with english native speakers (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). such errors tend to distort significantly the whole word, more often than not, rendering it virtually unrecognizable, e.g. purpose //, lettuce //. shifted word-stress has also been found to interfere with comprehension (field 2005) and many researchers argue that “the stress pattern of the word is an important part of its identity for the native speaker” (kenworthy 1996: 112). the speech samples which constitute the focus of the present study are, on the whole, correct with respect to word-stress placement even in those items which polish learners distort on a regular basis, e.g. *computer, *exam, *development. similarly, only single instances of spelling-based errors have been spotted in , lettuce 11 means to elicit help from interlocutors (gullberg, 1998). it must be noted that fr. glas has a very good command of english in terms of grammar, vocabulary and idiomatic expressions. therefore, his use of gestures as a compensatory strategy would be limited to disambiguate what, in his own view, he cannot clearly enough distinguish in speech. the phrase “in his own view” in the previous sentence deserves some comment. as explained at the beginning of section 2., communicative responsibility is about the speaker’s awareness of his phonetic deficiencies and his effort to overcome them because the message is of vital importance and communication breakdown has grave consequences. interestingly, fr. glas pronounces both words from the above example (soul – salt) properly; he does not monophthongize the vowel in soul, which is a typical error made by polish speakers (*//). if he had done so, then both words would have been pronounced with a monophthong and the probability of confusion would have risen dramatically. in this case, however, disambiguation seems not that necessary and the fact that fr. glas remains careful intensifies his responsibility even more. at this point it is worthwhile to discuss the speaker’s foreign accent to determine if his own intuitive evaluation and actual phonetic properties of his speech overlap in terms of the extent to which they may impair intelligibility. 3.4. phonetic properties of the speaker’s non-native pronunciation it should be noted that the following characterization of the speaker’s non-native pronunciation is by no means exhaustive. its main aim is to determine the presence / absence of those phonetic features of polish english which english native speakers evaluated most harshly in empirical studies in terms of accentedness, irritation and intelligibility. the analysis was performed auditorily. perceptual studies on polish-accented english point to spelling-induced mispronunciations (rather than single segmental substitutions) as one of the main obstacles to intelligibility in communication with english native speakers (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). such errors tend to distort significantly the whole word, more often than not, rendering it virtually unrecognizable, e.g. purpose //, lettuce //. shifted word-stress has also been found to interfere with comprehension (field 2005) and many researchers argue that “the stress pattern of the word is an important part of its identity for the native speaker” (kenworthy 1996: 112). the speech samples which constitute the focus of the present study are, on the whole, correct with respect to word-stress placement even in those items which polish learners distort on a regular basis, e.g. *computer, *exam, *development. similarly, only single instances of spelling-based errors have been spotted in . shifted word-stress has also been found to interfere with comprehension (field 2005) and many researchers argue that “the stress pattern of the word is an important part of its identity for the native speaker” (kenworthy 1996: 112). the speech samples which constitute the focus of the present study are, on the whole, correct with respect to word-stress placement even in those items which polish learners distort on a regular basis, e.g. *computer, *exam, *development. similarly, only single instances of spelling-based errors have been spotted in the analysed data, i.e. possession 12 the analysed data, i.e. possession /p/, focus /ɔks/, authority /ɔ/, trauma //, frustration //, discover //, gluttony //. interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between // vs. // (feel vs. fill) ; // vs. // (cat vs. cut), // vs. // ( rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in // vs. // and // vs. //. it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryłacruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer *// or bring *// and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three *// or this *//. these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts /k, g/ after //, e.g. healing /l/, strong //, singers // and substitutes // and // with /t/ and /v/, respectively, e.g. thousand //, mother //. these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong (//) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young // people, youths, teenagers (…).” as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreignaccent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her , focus 12 the analysed data, i.e. possession /p/, focus /ɔks/, authority /ɔ/, trauma //, frustration //, discover //, gluttony //. interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between // vs. // (feel vs. fill) ; // vs. // (cat vs. cut), // vs. // ( rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in // vs. // and // vs. //. it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryłacruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer *// or bring *// and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three *// or this *//. these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts /k, g/ after //, e.g. healing /l/, strong //, singers // and substitutes // and // with /t/ and /v/, respectively, e.g. thousand //, mother //. these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong (//) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young // people, youths, teenagers (…).” as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreignaccent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her , authority 12 the analysed data, i.e. possession /p/, focus /ɔks/, authority /ɔ/, trauma //, frustration //, discover //, gluttony //. interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between // vs. // (feel vs. fill) ; // vs. // (cat vs. cut), // vs. // ( rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in // vs. // and // vs. //. it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryłacruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer *// or bring *// and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three *// or this *//. these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts /k, g/ after //, e.g. healing /l/, strong //, singers // and substitutes // and // with /t/ and /v/, respectively, e.g. thousand //, mother //. these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong (//) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young // people, youths, teenagers (…).” as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreignaccent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her , trauma 12 the analysed data, i.e. possession /p/, focus /ɔks/, authority /ɔ/, trauma //, frustration //, discover //, gluttony //. interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between // vs. // (feel vs. fill) ; // vs. // (cat vs. cut), // vs. // ( rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in // vs. // and // vs. //. it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryłacruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer *// or bring *// and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three *// or this *//. these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts /k, g/ after //, e.g. healing /l/, strong //, singers // and substitutes // and // with /t/ and /v/, respectively, e.g. thousand //, mother //. these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong (//) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young // people, youths, teenagers (…).” as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreignaccent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her , frustration 12 the analysed data, i.e. possession /p/, focus /ɔks/, authority /ɔ/, trauma //, frustration //, discover //, gluttony //. interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between // vs. // (feel vs. fill) ; // vs. // (cat vs. cut), // vs. // ( rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in // vs. // and // vs. //. it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryłacruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer *// or bring *// and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three *// or this *//. these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts /k, g/ after //, e.g. healing /l/, strong //, singers // and substitutes // and // with /t/ and /v/, respectively, e.g. thousand //, mother //. these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong (//) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young // people, youths, teenagers (…).” as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreignaccent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her , discover 12 the analysed data, i.e. possession /p/, focus /ɔks/, authority /ɔ/, trauma //, frustration //, discover //, gluttony //. interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between // vs. // (feel vs. fill) ; // vs. // (cat vs. cut), // vs. // ( rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in // vs. // and // vs. //. it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryłacruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer *// or bring *// and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three *// or this *//. these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts /k, g/ after //, e.g. healing /l/, strong //, singers // and substitutes // and // with /t/ and /v/, respectively, e.g. thousand //, mother //. these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong (//) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young // people, youths, teenagers (…).” as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreignaccent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her , gluttony 12 the analysed data, i.e. possession /p/, focus /ɔks/, authority /ɔ/, trauma //, frustration //, discover //, gluttony //. interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between // vs. // (feel vs. fill) ; // vs. // (cat vs. cut), // vs. // ( rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in // vs. // and // vs. //. it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryłacruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer *// or bring *// and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three *// or this *//. these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts /k, g/ after //, e.g. healing /l/, strong //, singers // and substitutes // and // with /t/ and /v/, respectively, e.g. thousand //, mother //. these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong (//) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young // people, youths, teenagers (…).” as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreignaccent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her . interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between 12 the analysed data, i.e. possession /p/, focus /ɔks/, authority /ɔ/, trauma //, frustration //, discover //, gluttony //. interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between // vs. // (feel vs. fill) ; // vs. // (cat vs. cut), // vs. // ( rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in // vs. // and // vs. //. it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryłacruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer *// or bring *// and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three *// or this *//. these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts /k, g/ after //, e.g. healing /l/, strong //, singers // and substitutes // and // with /t/ and /v/, respectively, e.g. thousand //, mother //. these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong (//) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young // people, youths, teenagers (…).” as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreignaccent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her vs. 12 the analysed data, i.e. possession /p/, focus /ɔks/, authority /ɔ/, trauma //, frustration //, discover //, gluttony //. interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between // vs. // (feel vs. fill) ; // vs. // (cat vs. cut), // vs. // ( rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in // vs. // and // vs. //. it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryłacruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer *// or bring *// and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three *// or this *//. these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts /k, g/ after //, e.g. healing /l/, strong //, singers // and substitutes // and // with /t/ and /v/, respectively, e.g. thousand //, mother //. these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong (//) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young // people, youths, teenagers (…).” as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreignaccent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her (feel vs. fill); 12 the analysed data, i.e. possession /p/, focus /ɔks/, authority /ɔ/, trauma //, frustration //, discover //, gluttony //. interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between // vs. // (feel vs. fill) ; // vs. // (cat vs. cut), // vs. // ( rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in // vs. // and // vs. //. it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryłacruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer *// or bring *// and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three *// or this *//. these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts /k, g/ after //, e.g. healing /l/, strong //, singers // and substitutes // and // with /t/ and /v/, respectively, e.g. thousand //, mother //. these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong (//) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young // people, youths, teenagers (…).” as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreignaccent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her vs. 12 the analysed data, i.e. possession /p/, focus /ɔks/, authority /ɔ/, trauma //, frustration //, discover //, gluttony //. interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between // vs. // (feel vs. fill) ; // vs. // (cat vs. cut), // vs. // ( rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in // vs. // and // vs. //. it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryłacruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer *// or bring *// and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three *// or this *//. these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts /k, g/ after //, e.g. healing /l/, strong //, singers // and substitutes // and // with /t/ and /v/, respectively, e.g. thousand //, mother //. these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong (//) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young // people, youths, teenagers (…).” as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreignaccent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her (cat vs. cut), 12 the analysed data, i.e. possession /p/, focus /ɔks/, authority /ɔ/, trauma //, frustration //, discover //, gluttony //. interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between // vs. // (feel vs. fill) ; // vs. // (cat vs. cut), // vs. // ( rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in // vs. // and // vs. //. it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryłacruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer *// or bring *// and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three *// or this *//. these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts /k, g/ after //, e.g. healing /l/, strong //, singers // and substitutes // and // with /t/ and /v/, respectively, e.g. thousand //, mother //. these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong (//) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young // people, youths, teenagers (…).” as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreignaccent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her vs. 12 the analysed data, i.e. possession /p/, focus /ɔks/, authority /ɔ/, trauma //, frustration //, discover //, gluttony //. interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between // vs. // (feel vs. fill) ; // vs. // (cat vs. cut), // vs. // ( rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in // vs. // and // vs. //. it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryłacruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer *// or bring *// and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three *// or this *//. these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts /k, g/ after //, e.g. healing /l/, strong //, singers // and substitutes // and // with /t/ and /v/, respectively, e.g. thousand //, mother //. these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong (//) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young // people, youths, teenagers (…).” as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreignaccent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her (rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in / q / vs. / o: / and / u / vs. / u: / . it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryła-cruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer 12 the analysed data, i.e. possession /p/, focus /ɔks/, authority /ɔ/, trauma //, frustration //, discover //, gluttony //. interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between // vs. // (feel vs. fill) ; // vs. // (cat vs. cut), // vs. // ( rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in // vs. // and // vs. //. it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryłacruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer *// or bring *// and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three *// or this *//. these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts /k, g/ after //, e.g. healing /l/, strong //, singers // and substitutes // and // with /t/ and /v/, respectively, e.g. thousand //, mother //. these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong (//) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young // people, youths, teenagers (…).” as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreignaccent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her or bring 12 the analysed data, i.e. possession /p/, focus /ɔks/, authority /ɔ/, trauma //, frustration //, discover //, gluttony //. interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between // vs. // (feel vs. fill) ; // vs. // (cat vs. cut), // vs. // ( rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in // vs. // and // vs. //. it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryłacruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer *// or bring *// and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three *// or this *//. these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts /k, g/ after //, e.g. healing /l/, strong //, singers // and substitutes // and // with /t/ and /v/, respectively, e.g. thousand //, mother //. these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong (//) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young // people, youths, teenagers (…).” as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreignaccent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three 12 the analysed data, i.e. possession /p/, focus /ɔks/, authority /ɔ/, trauma //, frustration //, discover //, gluttony //. interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between // vs. // (feel vs. fill) ; // vs. // (cat vs. cut), // vs. // ( rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in // vs. // and // vs. //. it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryłacruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer *// or bring *// and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three *// or this *//. these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts /k, g/ after //, e.g. healing /l/, strong //, singers // and substitutes // and // with /t/ and /v/, respectively, e.g. thousand //, mother //. these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong (//) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young // people, youths, teenagers (…).” as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreignaccent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her or this 12 the analysed data, i.e. possession /p/, focus /ɔks/, authority /ɔ/, trauma //, frustration //, discover //, gluttony //. interestingly, fr. glas properly articulates words which are listed among 600 words commonly (and notoriously) mispronounced by polish (even advanced) learners of english (sobkowiak 1996), e.g. area, determined, bullet, colonel, worship, biscuit. another area of english phonology problematic for polish learners is vowel inventory. due to a considerable discrepancy both in vowel quality and quantity, poles tend to neutralize many contrasts and produce off-target vocalic sounds. this can hamper intelligibility, particularly where there is a possibility of a minimal pair, e.g. live vs. leave. fr. glas realizes proper distinctions between // vs. // (feel vs. fill) ; // vs. // (cat vs. cut), // vs. // ( rob vs. robe). he does not maintain a proper contrast in length or quality in // vs. // and // vs. //. it can be concluded (even though with due caution) that in this respect his english is unlikely to pose comprehension problems as perceptual studies on polish-accented english have not determined back high and back medium vowels as indispensable for intelligibility (bryłacruz 2016). phonetic priorities for polish speakers encompass properly articulated velar angma, i.e. without the accompanying plosive in words like singer *// or bring *// and the interdental fricatives, i.e. not substituted with plosives or fricatives in words like three *// or this *//. these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts /k, g/ after //, e.g. healing /l/, strong //, singers // and substitutes // and // with /t/ and /v/, respectively, e.g. thousand //, mother //. these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong (//) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young // people, youths, teenagers (…).” as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreignaccent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her . these mispronunciations may be disruptive to comprehension, but the main reason for their inclusion in error gravity lists is strengthening the impression of foreign accent (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; 14 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) bryła-cruz 2016). fr. glas inserts / k, g / after / ŋ / , e.g. healing / hiːlıŋk / , strong / strɔŋk / , singers / sıŋɡəs /  and substitutes / θ /  and / ð /  with  / t /  and  / v / , respectively, e.g. thousand / taʊzənt / , mother / mʌvə / . these distortions are consistent throughout his speech and intensify the impression of non-nativeness and may trigger the native listeners’ annoyance (bryła-cruz 2016). on the other hand, the context (lexical, grammatical and pragmatic) is usually helpful and prevents ambiguity, e.g. “he was strong ( / strɔŋk / ) enough to defeat (…)”, “how many young / jʌŋk / people, youths, teenagers (…)”. as discussed in section 2.2., fr. glas is well aware of speaking english with a foreign-accent. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to investigate to what extent he is also aware of the fact that his speech exhibits many properties of english native pronunciation. interestingly, these phonetic features are not acquired easily in guided instruction even by advanced polish learners of english, which the present author can observe during her pronunciation courses conducted with the students of the english department at a polish university. one of the most challenging aspects of english phonetics for polish speakers is aspiration (a delay in the onset of voicing, vot) of stressed fortis plosives. this feature is an important cue for english native speakers who would ascribe the main difference between the initial stops in pet and bet to the force of articulation rather than the action of the vocal folds (the lack of aspiration would lead to interpreting / p / as its lenis counterpart / b / ). p. glas employs aspiration correctly whenever / p, t, k /  are initial in stressed syllables, e.g. phastor, prethend, chonflict. moreover, his speech in polish also exhibits longer vot values for voiceless plosives, which shows that with respect to aspiration, his native language has become english-accented and not the opposite. other native-like features, problematic to polish learners and present in fr. glas’s english, include syllabicity of sonorants e.g. problem / ˈprɔblm / , satan / ˈseıtn / , mission / ˈmıʃn / , religion / rı̍ lıʤn / . the dark / ꬷ / is not substituted by clear / l / (as is commonly done by polish learners), e.g. devil / ˈdevıꬷ / , scandal / ˈskændꬷ / , miserable / ˈmızərbꬷ / , battle / ˈbætꬷ / , hell / heꬷ / . it should be added that improper realizations of these consonantal features intensify the impression of foreign accent and can hamper intelligibility (bryła-cruz 2016). still, fr. glas uses them correctly, even if sometimes inconsistently. another property of fr. glas’s accent is non-rhoticity, i.e. pronouncing / r / only before a vowel. generally, polish speakers prefer a rhotic version of english because of greater spelling-sound correspondence. the omnipresence of american english in the media (music, film, advertising) also contributes to this heavy tendency. the fact that fr. glas suppresses  / r /  word-finally and before a consonant shows that his speech is clearly modeled on british english, and this variety is more difficult for poles as far as the distribution of rhotic is concerned. two other features that pose a considerable challenge to polish speakers of english but still occur in fr. glas’s speech are reducing vowels to schwa in an unstressed syllable, e.g. important / ımˈpɔːtənt / , darkness / ˈdaːknıs / , desperate / ˈdesprıt /  and no audible release in stop clusters (releasing the first plosive together with the following one), e.g. chapter, kept, protected. last but not least, it should be mentioned that fr. glas employs consistently selected phenomena of connected 15 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) speech in native-like fashion, i.e. linking “r” e.g. unaware of it / ʌnəˈweər əv ıt / , pick her up /ˈpık  hərˈ ʌp / and yod-coalescence, e.g. put you / ˈpʊʧʊ / , cares about you / keəz əˈbaʊʧʊ / , as you know / əᶎʊ ˈnəʊ / . it could be concluded that fr. glas is rather critical with the evaluation of his own non-native speech. even though it cannot be denied that his english is foreign-accented (particularly in terms of prosody, i.e. intonation and rhythm) and he definitely would not pass for a native speaker, his phonetic competence is, on the whole, better than that of average polish learners of english. it lacks typical hallmarks of polish accent in english, e.g. spelling-induced errors, which impinge most upon intelligibility, and are the most annoying to english native speakers (szpyra-kozłowska 2013; bryła-cruz 2016). moreover, his speech has distinct traces of standard british accent. the fact that fr. glas is alert and employs a wide range of preventive strategies to overcome phonetic imperfections demonstrates further his communicative responsibility. he does not rely on such strategies to compensate for insufficient time or effort invested in improving his foreign accent. quite to the contrary, as the above analysis reveals, he must have taken charge of his accent during language learning. as moyer (2013: 58) ascertains, “not everyone wants or tries to sound native, but without that drive it is difficult to overcome the features that mark one as a non-native speaker”. one could argue that fr. glas has acquired some properties of british english effortlessly over his long immigrant experience (27 years). yet, as reported in previous studies, length of residence (lor) as such is not a reliable predictor of phonetic success as it does not necessarily equal ample exposure to the target language or meaningful interaction with its speakers (asher & garcía 1969; oyama 1976; thompson 1991). in other words, it is definitely not the amount of time spent in the host country that matters for adult language learners, but “whether they have sufficient opportunity and inclination to acquire native-like mastery” (moyer 2013: 73). fr. glas represents an individual who has recognized the fact that his extended residence confers benefits to his phonetic attainment and has taken responsibility for improving his interlanguage accent. this last statement is corroborated by an interview the present author conducted with the preacher in which he admits: “one cannot change one’s own accent but it’s necessary to work on it to speak with the possibly best pronunciation”. fr. glas highlights the fact that upon his arrival in england he took private lessons and his aim was not just to achieve mere communicativeness and be able to get his message across in whatever way, but to have clear enunciation. as a result, he expected and appreciated explicit correction of phonetic mistakes from his teachers. 4. concluding remarks apart from evoking accent-based stereotypes, non-native speech has been found to pose threat to intelligibility and overburden listeners with an additional cognitive load which may evoke their irritation. the paper discussed the notion of communicative responsibility defined as speaker’s effort to overcome the undesirable consequences of foreign accent for the sake of the efficient conveyance of the relevant message. 16 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) the analysis of five religious lectures delivered in polish-accented english revealed that the speaker is aware of his phonetically imperfect means of communication and assumes responsibility for potential difficulties it may trigger. his concern for diminishing phonetic deficiencies is addressee-oriented, unlike in most accent reduction courses whose primary focus is on removing the traces of non-native speech in order to enhance one’s image, avoid stigmatization and pursue personal or professional goals. the speaker in this study anticipates problems which may arise due to his accent and employs strategies to prevent misunderstanding or non-understanding. disambiguation is used to counteract undesirable homophony of two phonetically similar words which the speaker is afraid to mispronounce. frequent repetition and prominence (increased intensity, pitch and duration) highlights the most relevant information. the speaker also resorts to direct and indirect interaction with the listeners in order to check whether he is supposed to repeat, clarify or reformulate what has just been said. last but not least, he enhances his discourse with ample gesticulation which renders abstract ideas more concrete and, thereby, the broader context, which plays an indispensable role in comprehension, becomes more accessible. communicative responsibility of the speaker is apparent not only in what he does to overcome his foreign accent at the moment of delivering his discourse, but also is manifested in time and effort invested in pronunciation training prior to the speech act. phonetic properties of his english provide further evidence of linguistically responsible behaviour, since his foreign accent is devoid of many polish english features evaluated harshly by english native speakers in perceptual studies. moreover, his speech is not an outcome of random attempts to sound correct, but displays distinct properties of native-like british accent, which cannot be attributed to effortless and unintentional acquisition. it is thought-provoking that this type of profound phonetic concern is showed by a person whose profession is not linked to l2 instruction. a great many english teachers in different countries around the world seem unaware of the undesirable effects of foreign accent on communication and fail to encourage their learners to consciously practise pronunciation in and out of the classroom. actually, phonetic training has been neglected so lamentably that labels like “the orphan” (gilbert 2010) or “cinderella” (kelly 1969; celce-murcia et al. 1996) of english language teaching have been ascribed to it. communicative responsibility is not a local phenomenon (restricted to individuals as exemplified here), but also can be viewed more globally and further research should focus on how to foster responsibility for pronunciation teaching and learning, particularly among those language educators who deal with children and train future teachers. the present paper demonstrated that intelligible and not heavily accented speech is relevant for and appreciated by people involved in jobs unrelated to pedagogical contexts, e.g. religious service. 17 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) references asher, j. & garcía, r. 1969. the optimal age to learn a foreign language. modern language teacher 53: 334-341. auhagen, a.e. & bierhoff, h. 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(ed.). 2013. digital religion: understanding religious practice in new media worlds. london / new york: routledge. celce-murcia, m., brinton, d. m. & goodwin, j. m. 1994. teaching pronunciation: a reference for teachers of english of speakers of other languages. cambridge: cambridge university press. church, r. breckinridge, alibali, m.w. & kelly, s. d. 2017. understanding gesture: description, mechanism and function. in: r. b. church, m. w. alibali & s. d. kelly (eds.), why gesture? how the hands function in speaking, thinking and communicating (gesture studies 7), 3-10. amsterdam / philadelphia: john benjamins publishing company. clark, h. h. 1994. managing problems in speaking. speech communication 15: 243‐250. dawson, l. l. 2005. the mediation of religious experience in cyberspace. in: m. t. h2jsgaard & m. warburg (eds.), religion and cyberspace, 15-37. new york / london: routledge. de ruiter, j. p. 2017. asymmetric redundancy of gesture and speech. in: r. b. church, m. w. alibali & s. d. kelly (eds.), why gesture? how the hands function in speaking, thinking and communicating (gesture studies 7), 59-75. amsterdam / philadelphia: john benjamins publishing company. derwing, t., fraser, h., kang, o., thomson, r. 2014. l2 accents and ethics. issues that merit attention. in: a. mahboob & l. barratt (eds.), englishes in multilingual contexts: language variation and education, 63-80. new york / london: springer. dragojevic, m. & h. giles. 2016. i don’t like you because you’re hard to understand. human communication research 42 (3): 396-420. erwin, s. i. 2005. language barriers hinder multinational operations. national defense (90). http: / / www.nationaldefensemagazine.org / articles / 2005 / 7 / 1 / 2005july-language-barriers-hinder-multinational-operations, retrieved march, 2017. field, j. 2005. intelligibility and the listener: the role of lexical stress. tesol quarterly 39 (3): 399423. 18 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finegan & j. r. rickford (eds.), language in the usa: themes for twenty-first century, 289-304. cambridge: cambridge university press. lischner, r. 2002. the company of preachers: wisdom on preaching, augustine to the present. grand rapids: wm. b. eerdmans publishing co. luce, p. a. & pisoni, d. b. 1998. recognizing spoken words: the neighbourhood activation model. ear hear 19 (1): 1-36. mcroy, s. w. & hirst, g. 1995. the repair of speech act misunderstandings by abductive inference. computational linguistics 21 (4): 435‐478. mcneill, d. 1992. hand and mind: what gestures reveal about thought. chicago: the university of chicago press. moyer, e. 2013. foreign accent: the phenomenon of non-native speech. cambridge: cambridge university press. munro, m. j. 2003. a primer on accent discrimination in the canadian context. tesl canada journal 20 (2): 38-51. 19 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) oyama, s. 1976. a sensitive period in the acquisition of a non-native phonological system. journal of psycholinguistic research 5: 261-285. penfield, w. & roberts, l. 1966. speech and brain mechanisms. new york: atheneum. resner, a. 1999. preacher and cross: person and message in theology and rhetoric. grand rapids, michigan: eerdman. roembke, l. 2000. building credible multicultural teams. pasadena (ca): william carey library. sapon, s. 1952. an application of psychological theory to pronunciation problems in second language learning. modern language journal 36: 111-114. scovel, t. 1969. foreign accents, language acquisition and cerebral dominance. language learning 19: 245-263. sobkowiak, w. 1996. english phonetics for poles. poznań: bene nati. stott, j. 2017. between two worlds: the challenge of preaching today. grand rapids, michigan: eerdmans publishing company. strother, j. b. 1999. communication failures lead to airline disasters. ipcc 99: communication jazz: improvising the new international communication culture: proceedings. paper presented at the 1999 ieee international professional communication conference, new orleans, la, september 7-10, 29-34. piscataway, nj: ieee. szpyra-kozłowska, j. 2013. on the irrelevance of sounds and prosody in foreign-accented speech. in: e. waniek-klimczak & l. shockey (eds.), teaching and researching english accents in native and non-native speakers, 15-29. berlin: springer berlin heidelberg. thompson, i. 1991. foreign accents revisited: the english pronunciation of russian emigrants. language learning 41 (2): 177-204. trudgill, p. & hannah, j. 1994. international english. a guide to varieties of standard english. bristol: j. w. arrowsmith ltd. walley, a. 2007. speech learning, lexical reorganization, and the development of word recognition by native and non-native english speakers. in: o.-s. bohn & m. munro (eds.), language experience in second language learning, 315-330. amsterdam: john benjamins publishing. williams, f. 1970. language, attitude and social change. in: f. williams (ed.), language and poverty: perspectives on a theme, 380-399. chicago, il: markham. woods, p. 2006. the hedgehog and the fox; approaches to english for peacekeeping. in: j. edge (ed.), (re)locating tesol in an age of empire, 208-226. new york: polgrave macmillan. wright, r. 2004. factors of lexical competition in vowel articulation. in: j. local, r. ogden & r. temple (eds.), phonetic interpretation: papers in laboratory phonology vi, 75-87. cambridge: cambridge university press. links to the talks: fr. p. glas “the strategy of the devil in our lives” https: / / www.youtube.com / watch?v=u3z4cnerkfw “spiritual warfare” https: / / www.youtube.com / watch?v=ji4cqfaymdw&t=1619s 20 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) “opening doorways to the demonic activity” https: / / www.youtube.com / watch?v=n61zfle_ xyq&t=774s “the evil spirits in action” https: / / www.youtube.com / watch?v=qviibvawzxm “the distraction power of the jezebel spirit” https: / / www.youtube.com / watch?v=mxaen7x1ec&t=2132s dalai lama https: / / www.youtube.com / watch?v=hbc-txngk1m *** agnieszka bryła-cruz is an adjunct professor at maria curie-skłodowska university in lublin, poland.  her main research interests concern the role of linguistic and socio-linguistic factors in second language acquisition, particularly pronunciation, and the perception of non-native accents by english native speakers. more recently, she has studied the role of phonetics in listening comprehension in a series of empirical studies. aporia, vortex and the hermeneutic circle in a.s. byatt’s the biographer’s tale 66 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies bożena kucała1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2019.25.2.04 jagiellonian university in kraków orcid id: 0000-0002-9882-9305 aporia, vortex and the hermeneutic circle in a.s. byatt’s the biographer’s tale abstract. reflecting a.s. byatt’s mistrust of the prevalence of literary theory, expressed in her own critical writings as well as in her earlier, most successful novel possession (1990), the biographer’s tale (2000) recounts a literary scholar’s attempt to reach out towards a world of things, as opposed to arid theoretical concepts. however, his biographical project, undertaken as an alternative to poststructuralist studies, ends in an impasse. this article argues that, compared with the developments in possession, the protagonist’s “liberation” from academia is far more ambiguous; his failed attempt to write a biography illustrates rather than satirises some of the dilemmas posed by literary theory. phineas nanson remains trapped in poststructuralist concepts which wreck his project, such as the elusiveness of the self, textual indeterminacy, and the demise of the author. keywords: a.s. byatt, academic fiction, campus novel, literary theory, metafiction, biography. a.s. byatt is the author of eleven novels, five collections of short stories as well as a comparable number of scholarly publications. a graduate of the universities of cambridge, oxford and bryn mawr college in pennsylvania, she lectured at the university of london before leaving her position to focus on her own writing (rennison 2005: 38). the duality of byatt’s career is reflected in her fiction, which is strongly grounded in cultural and literary tradition and which she herself describes as “self-conscious realism” (byatt 2001b: 4). this writerly self-consciousness incorporates elements of academic fiction since byatt regards her academic background as inseparable from her career as a novelist: “it is customary for writer-academics to claim a kind of schizoid personality, and state that their research, or philosophical thinking, has nothing to do with their work as makers of fiction. […] i have myself always felt that reading and writing and teaching were all part of some whole that it was dangerous to disintegrate” (2001b: 92). in his overview of byatt’s career, richard todd comments that “byatt’s own creative work reflects on the extent to which the writer is justified in drawing on the experiences of her own life” (1997: 5). two of her novels, possession (1990) and the biographer’s tale (2000), stand out as self-reflexive illustrations of byatt’s fusion of creative and academic writing. in each novel the plot 1 address for correspondence: institute of english studies, jagiellonian university, al. adama mickiewicza 9, 31-120 kraków, poland. e-mail: bozena.kucala@uj.edu.pl. 67 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies revolves around academics pursuing their research in an uneasy relation to their private lives; in each a similar tendency may be observed, namely to reach out from the textual to the real, to supplant or enrich a scholar’s arid existence with engagement with life outside academia. in the much more famous possession the fairy-tale ending quite unequivocally heralds a happy equilibrium between personal and professional life and at the same time a liberation from the constraints and limitations of literary theory. the conclusion of the biographer’s tale echoes possession to a certain extent − like roland mitchell in the earlier novel, the protagonist of the biographer’s tale eventually acquires a private life, finds love, starts travelling and learns to take pleasure in the natural world (even becoming an amateur entomologist). claiming that both novels are academic satires which mock “the second-hand quality of scholarly research”, jane campbell identifies as a crucial difference between them the fact that while in possession academic discourse gives way to poetry, in the biographer’s tale “the primary place […] is now given to the physical world, which will always be beyond language” (campbell 2012: 216); the unfolding events bring the protagonist “out of his paper world and closer to the world of growth and change” (221). katsura sako also reads the biographer’s tale as a story of social integration and the overcoming of scholarly solipsism; as she puts it, it is “a tale of a self-conscious biographer who finds his place among others” (2010: 280); at the end of the story, he “leave[s] the world of dead abstraction and text to explore the realm of sensual, emotional and affective experience” (286). this article offers a less optimistic interpretation of the novel and argues that the biographer’s tale is in fact a novel about failure and impasse rather than liberation. indeed, the novel itself may be said to be a failure in that it never gets off to a proper start, let alone develops an engaging plot or presents a well-rounded, plausible character. the material is a work in progress, waiting to be converted into a tale but never cohering into it. one reviewer remarked that “byatt has chosen to write a novel that reads like a research notebook” (scurr 2000: 38) while another described it as “erudite and dense without being the least bit engaging” (kakutani 2001). by tracing its protagonist-narrator’s struggles with writing, the biographer’s tale, “relentlessly self-reflexive” and “the most papery of byatt’s novels” (campbell 2012: 219), aligns itself with the metafictional strand common to a large proportion of academic fiction (cf. selejan 2014: 101-102; gruszewska-blaim 2014: 46). the book recounts the genesis of a biography which ultimately never gets written. in keeping with the protagonist’s poststructuralist training, it could be said that the title itself should be placed under erasure: this is not quite a tale, nor does the narrator eventually become a biographer. but again, if the novel is a failure, it is a deliberate failure which, paradoxically, succeeds in achieving a match between its form and its content. in her study of neo-victorian narratives, victoriana – histories, fictions, criticisms, cora kaplan cites byatt’s novel as a fictionalised reflection on the impossibility of a liberal-humanist biography at the turn of the twenty-first century (2007: 44-45). however, the novel ought to be read in a broader context, as an exemplification of the impasse in literary studies caused by the predominance of literary theory. whereas possession mockingly exposes the pitfalls of methodologies and theoretical approaches, it can be argued that the biographer’s tale adopts an equivocal 68 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies stance. through the protagonist’s failed pursuit, it demonstrates the constraints of literary theory without, however, dismissing the problems which poststructuralism, in particular, addresses. taking a satirical and parodic stance towards current theoretical approaches (psychoanalysis, deconstruction, feminism), possession is undoubtedly an instance of what mona kratzert and deborah richey call “anti-theory fiction” within the genre of the academic novel. according to kratzert and richey, towards the end of the twentieth century novelists responded to the “bewildering array of new methodologies and critical approaches” by criticising, satirising or parodying their excesses (1998: 93). however, the biographer’s tale, despite depicting an extreme case of scholarly helplessness, illustrates rather than satirises some of the dilemmas that theoretical studies explore.2 in her own scholarly work, byatt occasionally resorts to theory without committing herself to any particular approach; in the introduction to her collections of essays passions of the mind (1991), she explains: “… i have used recent literary theory where that seemed useful, though my temperament is agnostic, and i am a non-believer and a non-belonger to schools of thought” (2). if byatt’s novels tend to be informed by her scholarly preoccupations, the biographer’s tale may be traced back to her ambivalent attitude to poststructuralism. in passions of the mind, she writes: “i am afraid of, and fascinated by, theories of language as a self-referring system of signs, which doesn’t touch the world. i am afraid of, and resistant to, artistic stances which say we explore only our own subjectivity” (11). the novel begins with an act of rebellion against poststructuralist literary criticism. the narrator-protagonist phineas g. nanson suddenly decides to abandon his postgraduate seminar. the opening comes in medias res in a double sense: the narrative lacks exposition, and the narrator is in the middle of his theoretical class. phineas briefly indicates the causes of his growing discontent with the theory, whose chief fault appears to be a repetitive, uniformly deconstructive approach to texts and a fixation with textual indeterminacy. in the seminars that he has participated in all texts have been subject to the same procedure: “we found the same clefts and crevices, transgressions and disintegrations, lures and deceptions beneath, no matter what surface we were scrying” (byatt 2001a: 1). phineas also deplores the frequent but not necessarily competent references to fashionable theoreticians, the application of abstruse concepts in literary analysis and the unquestioning acceptance of scepticism, inaccuracy and uncertainty as an integral part of scholarly endeavour. the narrator recognises that poststructuralist criticism runs counter to the traditional aim of scholarship, which should be illumination rather than obfuscation (4).3 he identifies the precise 2 according to bruce robbins, there is a consensus about the periodisation of the academic novel. in the first half of the twentieth century the genre was dominated by the pastoral mode (exemplified by evelyn waugh’s brideshead revisited [1945]); the postwar decades were dominated by satire (e.g. kingsley amis’s lucky jim [1954], david lodge’s changing places [1975] and small world [1984], malcolm bradbury’s the history man [1975]) (robbins 2006: 251). possession may be cited as another illustration of the satirical mode; the opening of the biographer’s tale belongs in the same category. 3 terry eagleton is a well-known detractor of poststructuralism and deconstruction; his views overlap with those of byatt’s fictional scholar. eagleton disapproves of structuralism’s overwhelming scepticism, which results in compro69 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies moment when his dissatisfaction reached a critical point: the necessity to abandon his studies dawned on him as the group were discussing “lacan’s theory of morcellement, the dismemberment of the imagined body” (1). phineas comes to realise that the practice of relentless dissection of imagined bodies and literary texts entraps aspiring scholars like him in a narrow, solipsistic and self-referential world. in keeping with a frequent motif in the academic novel,4 his world is depicted as distinctly small (cf. gruszewska-blaim 2014: 37-38). the dirty window of the seminar room, which he instinctively interprets as a metaphor for his inability to see the real world outside, reinforces his determination to seek things and facts (4). however, the protagonist’s forceful rejection of his postmodern critical persona is not matched by an equally resolute decision concerning what to do instead. the desire to seek reality, although obviously formulated in opposition to phineas’s previous pursuits, is too vague to be a viable alternative. thus, the biographer’s tale, which in a sense is the would-be biographer’s autobiography, immediately comes up against an impasse, or an aporia – to use a key deconstructive term5 – the first of many such moments in the novel. professor ormerod goode, whose advice he seeks, suggests the idea of writing a biography of scholes destry-scholes, the author of a biography of a victorian scholar and polymath, sir elmer bole. the prospect of writing a biography appeals to phineas precisely because it flies in the face of the major tenets of poststructuralist criticism. a biography impresses him as “a model of factual solidity, just what is needed as a corrective of the poststructuralist seminar he has left” (campbell 2012: 216). as goode says, “the art of biography is a despised art because it is an art of things, of facts, of arranged facts” (5). writing a biography implies that reality is knowable and may be expressed in a verbal account, that words correspond to things, that it is possible to reconstruct someone’s life from the existing material, mainly textual, evidence.6 mising concepts such as “truth”, “certainty”, and “the real” (eagleton 1989: 144) and, as a consequence, undermines any debates about social or political issues (146). 4 in his essay “the rise of the academic novel” jeffrey j. williams distinguishes between the academic novel and the campus novel – terms which are often used interchangeably. he defines the former as a novel featuring academic professionals and portraying “adult predicaments in marriage and home as well as the workplace”. the latter takes place on campus, centres on students and frequently takes the shape of a coming-of-age narrative (2012: 561-562). this division, however, cannot be maintained in relation to a large proportion of academic fiction, and is certainly inadequate with regard to the biographer’s tale, which shows almost nothing of campus life and features a solitary, estranged postgraduate student confronting scholarly problems. that is why in the present article the term “academic novel” is used as the most general term for fiction concerned with scholarly life. 5 in the words of eagleton, “the tactic of deconstructive criticism […] is to show how texts come to embarrass their own ruling systems of logic; and deconstruction shows this by fastening on the ‘symptomatic’ points, the aporia or impasses of meaning, where texts get into trouble, come unstuck, offer to contradict themselves” (1989: 133-134). 6 routledge encyclopedia of literary theory defines biography as “a genre of historiography concerned with representing the lives of individual people” and claims that “[s]ince the eighteenth-century, all definitions of biography have come to depend on a set of three core criteria. a biography (1) consists of a written text; (2) represents the life of a real person; and (3) does so in the mode of factual speech, that is, it is to be understood as true” (2008: 42). 70 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies poststructuralism, by contrast, intentionally subverts empiricism (berman 1988: 199-200), “subverts the presumption of a coherent, non-contradictory, comprehensible (clearly interpretable) meaning [of a text]” and insists on the inherent indeterminacy of language as “an unfounded chain of signifiers” (berman 1988: 211). poststructuralism is also informed by a “strongly antihumanist perspective” (bertens 2001: 120); in the words of nicolas tredell, “post-structuralism and deconstruction have focused particularly on attacking the concept of the individual human subject” (1987: 99). the low status of biography at the time of the emergence of poststructuralism reflected the current critique of the idea of the self as “a singular or coherent entity”; hence, within the changed cultural framework biographical writing was largely ignored rather than openly attacked (caine 2010: 22). for pre-postmodern scholars, the art of biography presupposed the existence of a unique individual; as professor goode puts it in his conversation with phineas, “from egg to eventual decay, each of us is unique. what can be nobler […] or more exacting, than to explore, to constitute, to open, a whole man, a whole opus, to us?” (5).7 it is worth noting that goode’s advice is based on the outmoded assumption that the truth about an individual’s life is to be discovered rather than constructed (let alone deconstructed).8 but, ironically, the protagonist’s own condition seems to contradict the humanist notion of the self. his as yet unformed academic persona corresponds to the amorphousness of his self. at the beginning his personal life appears non-existent. he reveals very little about his past besides saying that his father “disappeared” (3) and his mother died recently, an event which he associates with missing his seminar due to her burial (1). hence, phineas embarks on his new life by deciding to engage with another man’s life, which, however, is not likely to liberate him from a dependence on other people’s concepts. what makes his project even more ironic, at the same time undermining it at its inception, is the fact that he is fascinated not so much by the biographer whose life he is supposed to research but the man destry-scholes wrote about. in his attempt to reach out to the empirical world phineas is erroneously inclined to treat a textual reconstruction of a life as a point of access to reality: it is difficult to recall the state of febrile excitement i was in over my own release from a life of theoretical pedagogy. […] perhaps because my own life was a fluid vacuum, i became obsessed with the glittery fullness of the life of elmer bole. compared to the busy systems, the cross-referred abstractions, of the life i had renounced, the three volumes loomed in my mind as an almost impossible achievement of contact with a concrete world (always eschew the word ‘real’ is an imperative i have carried over from my past) of arrangement of things and events for delight and instruction. (18-19) 7 cf. hermione lee: “biographies of human beings are generally about real people, not fictional or mythological characters. therefore the biographer has a responsibility to the truth, and should tell us what actually happened in the life” (2009: 6). 8 in his article on contemporary biographical approaches, john given observes that nowadays accounts of “fragmented”, “alienated” or “saturated” selves are typical in reflections on the postmodern condition (2015: 56). 71 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies enthusiastic about his project, phineas fails to notice that the vicariousness of the subject of his research may entrap him in an interminable poststructuralist chain of deferred meaning – which it soon does: “it occurred to me that it was a delicious, delicate tact, being, so to speak, the third in line, organising my own attention to the attention of a man intent on discovering the whole truth about yet a third man” (24). even though he is well versed in poststructuralist theory, it seems to escape his notice that his biographical plans blatantly contravene, for example, the implications of paul de man’s concept of the textuality of the self. in his classic deconstructive work, allegories of reading, de man stresses that the self, which in his view is constituted by discourse, is, like any deconstructed text, implicated in a process of “endless regression”: “the discourse by which the figural structure of the self is asserted fails to escape from the categories it claims to deconstruct, and this remains true, of course, of any discourse which pretends to reinscribe in its turn the figure of this aporia. there can be no escape from the dialectical movement which produces the text” (1979: 186-87). phineas is deeply impressed by the eventfulness of the victorian man’s life and the diversity of his interests as reflected in the biography, which leads him to conclude that researching this life must have enabled destry-scholes to share, at a remove, the richness of bole’s experience. by repeating the strategy the narrator hopes to achieve the same effect. this calculation, however, misfires since bole’s biographer turns out to be a strangely elusive, even insignificant man. phineas’s quest for information about destry-scholes yields almost no result. the journey to the town of his birth leads to a dead end, when the protagonist not only finds out nothing at all but begins to “feel trapped by this ordinary place” (32), which reminds him of the uninspiring neighbourhood of his own childhood. although identification with the subject of one’s research is a taboo in academic work, phineas cannot help feeling an affinity with destry-scholes. the sense of resemblance grows when the obscurity of the man turns out to be comparable to the paucity of his biographer’s personal life. the protagonist’s continuing immersion in poststructuralist habits of thought may be observed also in his pedantic linguistic convolutions: “it has been dinned into me that objectivity is an exploded and deconstructed notion. but subjectivity – the meeting of two hypothetical subjects, in this case scholes destry-scholes and myself – is just as suspect, since it can’t be looked at objectively” (98). as his search continues, phineas discovers only oblique traces of the man. professor goode has some vague recollections of him from the time when he came to give a lecture about thirty years before; destry-scholes’s niece, his only living relative, never met her uncle and can supply no information; destry-scholes’s disjointed archive of notes and photographs contains no photograph of the man himself and almost no personal statements, in contrast to a multitude of quotations from other sources. it appears that destry-scholes amassed an array of material about other 72 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies people while effacing himself.9 perplexed by the archive,10 phineas reflects on the failure of his quest, suspecting that destry-scholes, in contradiction to the principles underlying the art of biography, may have anticipated the postmodern scepticism about the existence of a unified self: … it could be argued that destry-scholes himself, in evading the identification of his ‘characters’ for so long, was intending to show that identity, that the self, is a dubious matter, not of the first consequence. (97)11 in the seminal poststructuralist essay “the death of the author” (1967) roland barthes challenged the status of the author, arguing against the practice of taking account of the author’s biography and authorial intention in critical analysis. barthes rejects the view that the author is the origin of the text, the source of its meaning and its interpretation. in a well-known formulation, barthes insists that a text is “a multi-dimensional space in which a variety of writings, none of them original, blend and clash” (2001: 1468); he further compares a text to a fabric: “the text is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres of culture” (1468), […] the structure can be followed, ‘run’, like the thread of a stocking, at every point and at every level, but there is nothing beneath” (1469). thus, barthes refutes the idea of originality in literature, at the same time reducing the author to the function of a scriptor.12 implicit in his argument is the notion that the self is a linguistic construct. barthes describes writing as “that neutral, composite, oblique 9 jacques derrida explores the notion of the archive in relation to freud’s work, suggesting that the desire for the archive is motivated by contradictory drives − the wish to preserve the past is accompanied by the desire to eradicate it. as derrida puts it, “there is no archive fever without the threat of this death drive, this aggression and destruction drive” (2005: 19). it is likely that the archive which phineas studies is a result of such conflicting desires: on the one hand, to accumulate traces of several biographies, and, on the other hand, to prevent the potential researcher from gaining any substantial access to the men’s lives. 10 apparently, phineas is guided by the traditional concept of the archive as a collection of primary records, endowed with authority by virtue of their authenticity, which promise to offer the starting point for research. as derrida explains in archive fever, the greek etymology of the word “archive” evokes at once the ideas of commencement and commandment: “the principle according to nature or history, there where things commence”, and “the principle according to the law, there where men and gods command, there where authority, social order are exercised, in this place from which order is given” (2005: 1). 11 destry-scholes’s career as a biographer appears to illustrate changes in the approaches to the genre of biography, as outlined by hermione lee: “the belief in a definable, consistent self, an identity that develops through the course of a life-story and that can be conclusively described, breaks down, to a great extent, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, at a time when psychoanalysis, scientific discoveries such as the theory of relativity, and experiments in art forms, are producing a more indeterminate approach to identity. western biography from this time has more to say about contradictions and fluctuations in identity, and about the unknowability of the self. but such contrasting ways of describing the self overlap and conflict, rather than following each other in a neatly chronological order” (2009: 16). 12 in a similar vein, derrida contends in of grammatology that “the person writing is inscribed in a determined textual system” (1984: 160). 73 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies space where our subject slips away, the negative where all identity is lost, starting with the very identity of the body writing” (1466). barthes’s radical statement of the author’s dissolution among a tissue of citations – which, as tredell observes, “can be situated within a much broader challenge to the idea of the ‘individual’” (1987: 99) – may serve as an adequate description of byatt’s character’s failed search for the author. having almost no other evidence, he sets out to study destry-scholes’s writings with the express aim of revealing the author’s identity, intention and life story behind the texts. yet he finds himself confronting precisely the problems he thought he had evaded by abandoning his seminar. the two collections of destry-scholes’s papers he receives do not even need dismantling since they are already fragmented, discontinuous, incoherent and unreliable. what the protagonist tries to do is reverse the practice of textual deconstruction by building a biographical narrative out of the multifarious, incompatible pieces. yet the texts successfully resist his efforts. the textual fabric cannot be contained and controlled: “the threads ran out all the time, from linnaeus to artedi, from galton to darwin and pearson” (167); “… no string has an end” (168). the first set of documents, which he receives from an archivist at the university of lincoln, is an immediate disappointment. the papers are flawed – worn out, poorly typed, with some words and sentences missing. the first stage of phineas’s work consists in selection and ordering: he identifies the pieces to be fragments of three biographical accounts of personages who are later revealed to be carl linnaeus, francis galton and henrik ibsen. however, even when divided into the three categories, the texts puzzle the scholar with their fragmentariness and generic diversity, and, often, uncertain authorship: they range from extracts from the three men’s notebooks and their scientific (linnaeus and galton) or literary works (ibsen), to autobiographies as well as destry-scholes’s own summaries and comments. to his further confusion, the would-be biographer suspects that some of the materials were fabricated by destry-scholes, which in hindsight calls into question the reliability of his biography of elmer bole. the metaphor of the mosaic which phineas employs to describe the status of the material he is exploring is a counterpart of barthes’s “tissue of quotations”. as campbell points out (2012: 220), following his reading of destry-scholes’s biography of bole, whose diverse interests included mosaic-making, phineas detects an analogy between this process and how destry-scholes lifted and reworked material for his own purposes so that the boundaries between originality, plagiarism and invention blur. nonetheless, the papers throw no light on destry-scholes himself. the fact that all the papers, under the heading “three documents” are quoted in extenso by the narrator (they occupy fiftynine pages in the novel) must be taken as an expression of his inability to cope with the material at hand, and possibly his wish for his prospective reader (whose existence he often evokes and at the same denies) to share his confusion and helplessness. phineas never moves beyond that stage; the material confronts him with a major deadlock, provoking a futile quest to follow up some of the leads in the three quasi-biographies left by destry-scholes. he seeks to impose order, coherence and unity. however, his interpretative effort initiates the well-known problem of the hermeneutic circle: texts refer him back and forth to other texts, throwing some light on what he has 74 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies already read but revealing further gaps and puzzles. phineas decides to opt out of this self-referential (vicious) circle: he could pursue the clues further, but, he asks himself, “where would it stop? linnaeus would lead to swedenborg, galton to darwin, ibsen to strindberg or shaw, and i would run like a ferret from library to library, shelf to shelf ” (102). ultimately, he is unable to determine the significance of the disjointed archive. the texts might have been collected with a view to another project, or three separate projects, or perhaps none. the parallels between the three incomplete biographies may be meaningful, but it is just as likely that they are accidental. what is most frustrating is that destry-scholes appears to lurk there, behind the texts, but remains invisible and unreachable. the author’s tantalising absence from the texts is compounded by the mysterious circumstances of his death. destry-scholes had travelled to the maelstrøm in the north sea and disappeared, presumably having drowned. however, his body was never recovered; an empty boat was found near the famous vortex. as a result, his would-be biographer lacks a piece of information which would be required “to make up a complete and gratifying, in a realist sense, narrative of destryscholes’s life” (sako 2010: 283).13 in his desperate search for connections and explanations, phineas speculates that the biographer went there in the footsteps of linnaeus, who described his own journey to the maelstrøm in his autobiographical writings. however, biographical guesses are compounded by the discovery that linnaeus fabricated the account, never having been to the location. several biographical clues offer themselves, none of which can be verified. destry-scholes might have gone to the north to pursue his research on the swedish scientist, or simply out of personal interest. but the narrator’s experience substantiates yet another line of speculation. after his extensive (though ultimately futile) research on linnaeus, the image of the dangerous vortex holds a special fascination for him. his academic failure and his attraction to the maelstrøm appear to be somehow connected. he asks for a job at a travel agency after seeing a paper model of the maelstrøm in its window, and explains to the managers “that i was thinking of writing a book that had run into the ground for lack of information. that i wanted eventually to see the maelstrøm, though i was not quite sure why. my ‘subject’, i said, had possibly, not certainly, drowned in it” (107). if there exists some convergence between the experience of destry-scholes and his would-be biographer, then it is plausible that destry-scholes’s journey was also a response to his inability to make his materials cohere into a biography (or biographies). the drowning could then be regarded as an ill-fated attempt at escape from the scholarly deadlock, or as a metaphor for his hopeless engulfment by texts. the narrator, however, resumes his efforts when he is contacted by destry-scholes’s niece who offers him access to another set of her uncle’s materials. phineas repeats the same strategies: arranging and rearranging the card index, dividing and categorising the documents, which concern mainly the same three aforementioned personages: linnaeus, galton and ibsen. phineas, 13 cf. hermione lee: “there is a lingering idea of biography as the complete, true story of a human being, the last word on a life” (2009: 18). 75 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies by turns, studies those three lives, discovering more and more leads that could be pursued further and further, as his research begins to branch out. he learns a number of facts, is able to improve on destry-scholes’s findings, and yet again is compelled to conclude that his newly acquired knowledge is useless since the texts, in their entirety, remain undecidable. consequently, the second stage of his research is “second” only chronologically; rather than advancing his work, it only re-enacts the first failure. one element in this archive seems increasingly significant to the protagonist and has a bearing on his biographical project. the accompanying collection of photographs contains galton’s “composites”. the victorian scientist developed a technique of fusing images of several persons into one, with a view to creating a new, single image, which would combine the features of all the individuals. these experiments were motivated by his growing scepticism about the idea of the unique self. some of the index cards cite his views: we as yet understand nothing of the way in which our conscious selves are related to the separate lives of the billions of cells of which the body of each of us is composed. […] our part in the universe may possibly in some distant way be analogues to that of the cells in an organised body, and our personalities may be the transient but essential elements of an immortal and cosmic mind. (225) galton liked to create composites of people who were related in order to capture their common features. one of the photographs is a composite picture of linnaeus’s family, which, phineas speculates, might actually have been produced by destry-scholes (184). unable to make sense of the archive, the researcher concludes that it could be destry-scholes’s counterpart of galton’s composite pictures. destry-scholes had made a thorough study of three eminent individuals, yet “appeared […] to have been more interested in what they had in common than in what made them unique” (239). thus, the array of texts phineas deals with turns out to be a barthesian “tissue of quotations”, “that composite, oblique space […] where all identity is lost” (barthes 2001: 1466), and this also pertains to the identity of the author of the archive. naturally, the erasure of a person’s individuality pre-empts the aims of biographical writing. this might be the reason why destry-scholes’s outstanding biography of elmer bole was not followed by another publication in the same genre. once again, and this time finally, the protagonist admits defeat. not only his research but also his life has reached a dead end: “i had no idea what to do with myself. none at all” (245). the brief story of his attempt to abandon poststructuralism, instead of progressing, comes full circle. he again consults professor goode, who accepts his admission of defeat without offering him any further suggestions, besides casting doubt on the narrator’s suitability for academic work. the fact that approximately half the space in the book is taken up by destry-scholes’s documents causes also the narrator’s own identity to be elided by other personas, which replicates the phenomenon of the author’s near-absence – in this case from phineas’s own autobiographical “tale”. his project 76 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies degenerates into postmodern clichés about “the slippery nature of human identity” and “the inevitable difficulty of recovering historical truth” (cf. alfer & edwards de campos 2010: 130). the protagonist’s decision to discontinue his research is again intertwined with the significance of the maelstrøm. he is presented with a newspaper report concerning destry-scholes’s disappearance, accompanied by a photograph of an empty boat – a final illustration of how completely the man disappeared from any records. confronted with the image of the whirlpool which in all probability engulfed his biographee, phineas metaphorically hovers near the edge of the vortex of the scholarly endeavour that has nearly erased his own life and identity. meanwhile, he has discovered the dizzying depths into which further research on the subject would have plunged him: “destry-scholes’s fabrication of linnaeus’s fabrication of his visit to the maelstrøm was a pastiche of edgar allan poe”14 [256]). the room of the scandinavian scholar he consults, who obsessively researches that dangerous place in the north sea – and who supplies the relevant copy of the newspaper – serves as a conclusive warning of some of the perils of academic life: “… there he was, in a dusty attic, behind a dusty table loaded with precarious heaps of leather volumes and yellowing papers, and crumbs. […] jespersen sat in the gloom, in a nest of ivory hair, his long white beard wound into his papers, his long white hair merging into it, his papery-white, wrinkled face and his pale, cracked lips” (247). jerpersen, a cloistered scholar, represents a traditional, meticulous mode of scholarship, which has brought upon him a condition of life-in-death.15 yet the dirty window in his room reminds the protagonist of the poststructuralist seminar room which he abandoned at the beginning of his story. hence, the conclusion of the tale may be described by means of the metaphors of a blocked path, a vicious circle and a vortex. the end is distinctly anti-climactic, as the character flatly gives up his plans: “i could, in theory, have gone and searched [the newspaper’s] archive. but i didn’t think i would. i stared at the empty boat, and the dark newsprinted water, and thanked jespersen, and thanked ormerod goode, and went home” (249). in the last few pages of the novel the protagonist briefly recounts his subsequent travels, his love affairs, his growing appreciation of the natural world. this may be regarded as a fulfilment of his desire to become involved with “things” rather than dealing with mere words. the fact that the protagonist acquires a life outside the confines of academia and develops some sense of selfhood relates this novel to possession. but there are major differences as well. possession is about characters “for whom literature and intellectual pursuits are central to the shape and meaning of their lives” (rennison 2005: 41). in the earlier novel the scholars’ private and professional lives successfully intersect: the literary critics roland mitchell and maud bailey fall in love, roland discovers a gift for poetry, they jointly complete their biographical search and achieve academic 14 the reference is to edgar alan poe’s story “a descent into the maelstrom”. 15 a parallel may be found in the image of “the ash factory” – basement rooms in the british museum, occupied by scholars working on the poet randolph ash in possession. 77 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies success; at the end, prospects for new research are opening up.16 in the biographer’s tale, the next stage in the narrator’s life is the aftermath of his academic failure. even structurally the novel tips the balance in favour of the exhaustive account of phineas’s defeat. as michiko kakutani observes, the last chapters “come too late to make the reader the least bit interested in phineas’s sentimental education. they remain overshadowed by the ponderous chapters that have gone before, and they feel like an incongruous coda to what is an otherwise lugubrious and flat-footed novel” (kakutani 2001). having rejected poststructuralist criticism, the protagonist was unable to find a viable alternative and became entangled in precisely the problems which poststructuralism foregrounds in literary studies: the instability of language, the dissolution of the unified self, the slipperiness and infinite connectivity of texts, the provisionality of knowledge, the questionability of the autonomy of the author. the protagonist’s academic experience confirms derrida’s radical proposition in of grammatology that “there is nothing outside of the text” (1984: 158)17 since his incapacity to track down his biographee proves that he cannot transcend the text and reach reality. professor gertrude himmelfarb, a well-known american conservative intellectual, an admirer of victorian values and a defender of traditional historiography, takes a decisively negative stance towards the effect of postmodernism on academia. she objects to the widespread arbitrariness of interpretation, the assumption of the linguistic constitution of reality, “a denial of the fixity of any ‘text’”, and the consequent undermining of any truth about reality (1997: 158).18 as she has ironically put it, the ultimate ambition of postmodernism is “to liberate us all from the coercive ideas of reality and truth” (1997: 161). postmodernist history does it by celebrating aporia: “difference, discontinuity, disparity, contradiction, discord, indeterminacy, ambiguity, irony, paradox, perversity, opacity, obscurity, anarchy, chaos” (himmelfarb 1997: 170). postmodernism, for himmelfarb, is a dead end; for all its apparent attractiveness, it might be “an invitation to intellectual and moral suicide” (1997: 173). in her view, both in postmodernist history and in postmodernist literary criticism “theory has become a calling in itself ”, which results in the abandonment of hands-on research (1997: 162). however, she speculates that, like other intellectual fashions, postmodernism, in its diverse versions, will before long be supplanted by new ideas. writing in the late 1990s (i.e. just before the publication of byatt’s novel), she judges deconstruction to be already passé, as well as detects the first signs of disaffection with postmodernism (1997: 171). 16 sally dalton-brown observes that one of the conventions on which the academic novel is based is the academic’s dilemma “whether to opt for the life of the mind or the life of desires, whether sexual, status-oriented, or commercial lust” (2008: 592). the protagonists of possession are spared the choice and eventually are set to enjoy the best of both worlds. phineas nanson in the biographer’s tale drifts towards the latter option but it is a matter of necessity rather than choice. 17 derrida states that reading “cannot legitimately transgress the text toward something other than it, toward a referent (a reality that is metaphysical, historical, psychobiographical, etc.) or toward a signified outside the text whose content could take place, could have taken place outside of language, that is to say, in the sense that we give here to that word, outside of writing in general” (1984: 158). 18 her article appeared first in times literary supplement on 16 october 1992. 78 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies in his essay, “postmodernism and textual anxieties” (1999), hayden white, whom himmelfarb invokes as one of her chief antagonists, to a degree accepts her description of the implications of postmodernist thinking for contemporary historiography, but disputes himmelfarb’s unreservedly negative evaluation of the new tendencies. insofar as in studying the past postmodern scholars indeed do foreground its textuality while at the same time rejecting any “fixity” of texts, their methodology helps to expose the idea of an established, objective truth about the past as an ideologically-tainted delusion (1999: 35-37). white echoes the tenets of deconstruction when he admits that for postmodernists a text “is always at odds with itself ”, it “knows neither its archetype nor its genealogy”, and “may be said to write its reader quite as much as its writer can be said only to read it” (1999: 36-37). this observation, however, leads white to conclusions which are fundamentally at variance with himmelfarb’s: postmodernism’s denial of objectivism does not amount to a commitment to “lie, delusion, fantasy, or fiction”; rather, it is “is more interested in reality than it is in truth as an end in itself ” (1999: 38). postmodernism, according to white, is underlain by the recognition that “reality” is always partly constructed through discourse. it would appear that the protagonist of byatt’s novel is caught between these two positions. he discovers in himself a yearning for a traditional methodology, which promises to yield the ideal of truth and objectivity, but in the course of his work he finds out that at least some of the problems raised by contemporary theory are not unfounded. unable to find a way out of his dilemmas, he fails to create an academic identity for himself. that is why, unlike the protagonists of possession – and unlike the author of both novels – phineas has to separate the two dimensions of his life and abandons literary studies altogether. the fact that he eventually finds fulfilment and endows his life with meaning outside academia poses disturbing questions about the value and relevance of contemporary literary scholarship. references alfer, a. & edwards de campos, a. 2010. a.s. byatt: critical storytelling. manchester: manchester university press. barthes, r. 2001. the death of the author. trans. stephen heath. the norton anthology of theory and criticism. general ed. vincent b. leitch. new york/london: w.w. norton & co., 1466-1470. berman, a. 1988. from the new criticism to deconstruction. the reception of structuralism and post-structuralism. urbana: university of illinois press. bertens, h. 2001. literary theory: the basics. london/new york: routledge. byatt, a.s. 1991. passions of the mind. selected writings. london: chatto & windus. byatt, a.s. 2001a [2000]. the biographer’s tale. london: vintage. byatt, a.s. 2001b. on histories and stories. selected essays. london: vintage. byatt, a.s. 2002. possession: a romance. london: vintage. caine, b. 2010. biography and history. houndmills/new york: palgrave macmillan. campbell, j. 2012. a.s. byatt and the heliotropic imagination. waterloo, ont.: wilfrid laurier university press. 79 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies dalton-brown, s. 2008. is there life outside of (the genre of) the campus novel? the academic struggles to find a place in today’s world. the journal of popular culture 41(4): 591-600. de man, p. 1979. allegories of reading: figural language in rousseau, nietzsche, rilke, and proust. hew haven: yale university press. derrida, j. 1984. of grammatology. trans. gayatri chakravorty spivak. baltimore/london: johns hopkins university press. derrida, j. 2005. archive fever: a freudian impression. trans. eric prenowitz. chicago/london: the university of chicago press. eagleton, t. 1989. literary theory. an introduction. oxford: basil blackwell. given, j. 2015. the narrative construction and performance of identity. in: m. o’neill, b. roberts & a. c. sparkes (eds.), advances in biographical methods: creative applications, 55-69. london/ new york: routledge. gruszewska-blaim, l. 2014. exploring/exploding the small world: postmodern academic fictions. in: d. fuchs & w. klepuszewski (eds.), academic fiction revisited. selected essays, 37-49. koszalin: politechnika koszalińska. himmelfarb, g. 1997 [1992]. telling it as you like it: postmodernist history and the flight from fact. in: k. jenkins (ed.), the postmodern history reader, 158-174. london/new york: routledge. kakutani, m. 2001. a bumbling literary sleuth ends up clueless: the biographer’s tale by a.s. byatt. the new york times 23 january. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/23/books/booksof-the-times-a-bumbling-literary-sleuth-ends-up-clueless.html (5 may 2018). kaplan, c. 2007. victoriana – histories, fictions, criticisms. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. kratzert, m. & richey, d. 1998. de(construction) of literary theory. the rise of anti-theory fiction. the acquisitions librarian 10 (19): 93-111. lee, h. 2009. biography: a very short introduction. oxford: oxford university press. rennison, n. 2005. contemporary british novelists. london/new york: routledge. robbins, b. 2006. what the porter saw: on the academic novel. in: j. f. english (ed.), a concise companion to contemporary british fiction, 248-266. malden/oxford: blackwell publishing. routledge encyclopedia of narrative theory. 2008. d. herman, m. jahn & m.-l. ryan (eds.). london/new york: routledge. sako, k. 2010. others in ‘self-conscious’ biography: a.s. byatt’s the biographer’s tale. in: e. aldea & g. baker (eds.), realisms’ others, 277-292. newcastle upon tyne: cambridge scholars publishing. scurr, r. 2000. ‘underlinings’: the biographer’s tale by a.s. byatt. london review of books 10 august. 38-39. selejan, c. 2014. ‘what is structuralism? is it a good thing or a bad thing?’: fiction, criticism and theory in the campus novel. in: d. fuchs & w. klepuszewski (eds.), academic fiction revisited. selected essays, 101-109. koszalin: politechnika koszalińska. todd, r. 1997. a.s. byatt. plymouth: northcote house in association with the british council. 80 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies tredell, n. 1987. euphoria (ltd) – the limitations of post-structuralism and deconstruction. in: p.barry (ed.), issues in contemporary critical theory, 91-104. houndsmills: macmillan. white, h. 1999. postmodernism and textual anxieties. in: b. stråth & n. witoszek (eds.), the postmodern challenge: perspectives east and west, 27-45. amsterdam/atlanta, ga: rodopi. williams, j. j. 2012. the rise of the academic novel. american literary history 24(3): 561-589. *** bożena kucała is assistant professor at the institute of english studies, jagiellonian university in kraków, where she teaches nineteenth-century and contemporary english literature. her research interests include contemporary english fiction, especially the historical novel and neo-victorian fiction. main publications: intertextual dialogue with the victorian past in the contemporary novel (2012), co-edited books: writer and time: james joyce and after (2010), confronting the burden of history: literary representations of the past (2012), travelling texts: j.m. coetzee and other writers (2014), the art of literature, art in literature (2014), powieść brytyjska w xxi wieku (2018). she has also published numerous articles on contemporary british and irish writers (graham swift, a.s. byatt, david mitchell, john banville). editorial 5 crossroads. a journal of english studies editorial the present volume of crossroads. a journal of english studies, entitled translational hermeneutics, contains various and diverse texts, and yet all of them might be reduced to a common denominator, namely the status of translation as seen within the paradigm of hermeneutical philosophy. the volume is dedicated to translation; however, translation is here seen in one of its broadest dimensions: as the activity of humans in the world, and not simply as a linguistic transfer from the source into the target language. all of the papers included in this volume relate to a relatively new subdiscipline of translation studies, that is, translational hermeneutics. by presenting alternative ways of defining the act of translation, translational hermeneutics – whose theoretical foundations were established by friedrich schleiermacher, martin heidegger and hans-georg gadamer – concentrates on the central figure of the mediating process of translating, namely, the translator. the main proponents of this subfield of translation studies are usually associated with german scholars: radegundis stolze, larisa cercel or john stanley, although it should be underlined that the popularity of the hermeneutical approach to translation is growing across the globe. their main aim is to develop and exchange ideas with relation to the use of the most fundamental tenets of the hermeneutical philosophy of language within the study of translation. the relationship between translation and hermeneutics should be of no surprise to anyone. both are concerned with the same issues, namely, understanding, interpretation, language and meaning. besides, hermeneutical philosophy focuses on the individual as a person embedded in social and historical relations, a person who seeks to orient themselves and understand the world in which they belong. it is also worth referring to richard palmer who as early as in 1969 – just 9 years after the publication of hans-georg gadamer’s opus vitae, truth and method, on which to a large extent contemporary hermeneutic approaches to translation capitalize – drew our attention to the reciprocity of translation and hermeneutics by emphasizing in his work entitled hermeneutics: interpretation theory in schleiermacher, dilthey, heidegger that contemporary hermeneutics finds within translation theory a specific “reservoir” for exploring hermeneutical issues, and that the problem of translation is, generally speaking, a fundamental question for hermeneutics (palmer 1969: 33). in poland, however, the hermeneutical approach is so far rather marginalized and neglected. thus, with this issue of the journal, we hope to bring translational hermeneutics closer to those scholars from central and eastern europe who are particularly interested in the interdisciplinarity of translation, with particular focus on its close relationship with philosophy. the following issue presents seven papers dealing with various aspects of the relationship between translation per se and hermeneutics. the volume opens with douglas robinson’s article in which the author argues for reading translational semiotics from a hermeneutical perspective. the author puts forward a stereoscopic reading of two texts published separately: juri lotman’s 6 crossroads. a journal of english studies культура и взрыв and its english rendering culture and explosion performed by wilma clark, and suggests which implications such a reading may exert on the realm of translingual writing strategies, among others. the following two papers comprise successful attempts to analyze certain ideas behind philosophical hermeneutics in relation to methodology and, broadly speaking, translational practice. the first one by radegundis stolze is dedicated to the intricacies of a very complex notion within translation studies, namely, translation competence, which is here undertaken from a hermeneutical standpoint. as the author rightly suggests, in the process of understanding a text, the translator is always guided by the phenomenological nature of the act of communication, whereas in the process of creating a target text, it is rhetoric which determines the way the text is formulated. by referring to hermeneutical points of orientation as illustrated by an example taken from the financial times, the author convincingly demonstrates how the notion of dynamic translation competence functions. in the second paper, mohammad ali kharmandar, capitalizing on certain notions within cognitive science and narratology, seeks to construct a unified methodological, textual tool based on ricœur’s narrative hermeneutics, which could then be applied in a so-called practical translational analysis. by putting forward a cognitive-existential dimension and a lingual/semiotic dimension frameworks, the author shows how six fundamental principles of translational hermeneutics as designed by stolze could be juxtaposed with ricœur’s extended translation theory. the author also suggests some implications of the methodological project for translation pedagogy. in an article by fatima zohra chouarfia, the concept of translational decisions has been explored, with a particular emphasis put on translation for politics. by analyzing a few samples within political discourse as illustrated by obama’s cairo speech delivered at al-azhar university, the author attempts to discover what factors might exert a significant impact on the translator’s decisions while rendering texts belonging to the domain of politics. mohammad ali kharmandar in his paper entitled a hermeneutic critique on george steiner’s hermeneutic motion in translation is concerned with presenting a critical approach to steiner’s theory. choosing hermeneutics as a methodological and interpretive standpoint, kharmandar attempts to determine to what extent steiner’s ideas contained in his work can be practical. by analyzing in detail all chapters of after babel, the author of the paper seeks to underline the most problematic themes that steiner undertook, as well as highlighting the main weaknesses of the philosopher’s views of translation. the last but one paper comprises an interview conducted by larisa cercel with radegundis stolze, who is regarded by many as the main representative of translational hermeneutics. the interviewee answers questions relating to the nature of translational hermeneutics as a separate subdiscipline within translation studies, its prospects and research paradigm. the volume closes with beata piecychna’s review of one of the latest outcomes of the ‘translational hermeneutics enterprise’: philosophy and practice in translational hermeneutics published in 2018 by zeta books. 7 crossroads. a journal of english studies we sincerely hope that this issue of crossroads will contribute significantly and meaningfully to the development of not only translation studies as such but also one of its subdisciplines, that is, translational hermeneutics. it is also to be hoped that the volume not only will open new paths to explore, but also inspire other scholars within the translational paradigm to engage in an ongoing dialogue where hermeneuticists are at their best, where the passion of meaning and truth is the force which conquers sheer mechanistic applications of the method. guest editors radegundis stolze beata piecychna references palmer, r.e. 1969. hermeneutics: interpretation theory in schleiermacher, dilthey, heidegger. evanston: northwestern university press. reading translational semiotics hermeneutically: juri lotman’s культура и взрыв and wilma clark’s culture and explosion imagined icotically as a single translingual text 8 crossroads. a journal of english studies douglas robinson hong kong baptist university reading translational semiotics hermeneutically: juri lotman’s культура и взрыв and wilma clark’s culture and explosion imagined icotically as a single translingual text abstract. juri lotman offers an intriguing “two-language” principle for the study of signs, which effectively requires translation as a disruption of the unificatory regimes of individual semiospheres; and yet, problematically, he doesn’t channel his own theorizing of the semiosphere through translation, with the result that his theorizing tends to gravitate toward truth-telling, and so toward unification and stabilization. this article both argues for a stereoscopic reading of lotman’s культура и взрыв (‘kul’tura i zryv’) and wilma clark’s english translation culture and explosion, as a second-best application of the two-language principle to lotman’s cultural semeiotic, and illustrates some of the consequences for the semiotic study of such a reading. keywords: translation, hermeneutics, semiosphere, culture, explosion, dissipative system, stereoscopic reading, translinguality. juri lotman (1922-1993), the russian “cultural semiotician” of the tartu-moscow school, famously insisted that not only the study but the very existence of what he called the семиосфера ‘semiosphere’1 required translation, or translational action, or what i have called “translationality” (robinson 2017d), because the semiosphere is (self-)organized(/-ing) through management of its shifting boundary with the extra-semiotic, and the shifts and transfers across that boundary can best be identified through translation between or among two or more languages. like walter benjamin (1923/1972, rendall 1998), lotman insists that translation mobilizes the differences among 1 for lotman’s publications on the semiosphere, see lotman (1984)/clark (2005) and lotman (1996/2000: part 2)/ shukman (1990: part 2). 10.15290/cr.2018.20.1.01 9 crossroads. a journal of english studies languages for transformative purposes; unlike benjamin’s, his interest in those transformations orients him not to some messianic future but to the ongoing (self-)structuring action of semiosis. or, as both he writes in his last book, культура и взрыв (1992/2000: 13), and wilma clark writes in her english translation, culture and explosion (2009: 2): одним из центральных вопросов окажется вопрос перевода мира содержания системы (ее внутренней реальности) на внележащую, запредельную для языка реальность. следствием будут два частных вопроса: 1. необходимость более чем одного (минимально двух) языков для отражения запредельной реальности; 2. неизбежность того, что пространство реальности не охватывается ни одним языком в отдельности, а только их совокупностью. представление о возможности одного идеального языка как оптимального механизма для выражения реальности является иллюзией. минимальной работающей структурой является наличие двух языков и их неспособность, каждого в отдельности, охватить внешний мир. сама эта неспособность есть не недостаток, а условие существования, ибо именно она диктует необходимость  другого  (другой личности, другого языка, другой культуры). … языки эти как накладываются друг на друга, поразному отражая одно и то же, так и располагаются в ‹одной плоскости›, образуя в ней внутренние границы. их взаимная непереводимость (или ограниченная переводимость) является источником адекватности внеязыкового объекта его отражению в мире языков. one of the key problems is that of the translation of the world of the content of the system (its internal reality) to the reality that lies outside, beyond the borders of language. out of this, two specific issues arise: 1. the necessity that more than one language (a minimum of two) is required in order to reflect a given reality 2. the inevitable fact that the space of reality cannot be represented by a single language but only by an aggregate of languages. the idea of the possibility for a single ideal language to serve as an optimal mechanism for the representation of reality is an illusion. a minimally functional structure requires the presence of at least two languages and their incapacity, each independently of the other, to embrace the world external to each of them. this incapacity is not a deficiency, but rather a condition of existence, as it dictates the necessity of the other (another person, another language, another culture). … these languages superimpose themselves on each other in such a way as to reflect one and the same thing in different ways, so that they appear to be situated on a “single plane” and form its internal borders. their mutual untranslatability (or limited translatability) represents a source of adjustment of the extra-lingual object in its reflection in the world of languages. what i want to argue in this paper is that, excellent as lotman’s two-languages principle is in theory, it would have been even more powerful had he enacted it, by presenting his theoretical work 10 crossroads. a journal of english studies simultaneously in russian and english translation. instead, by relying exclusively on his native russian, he is often lured into a lecturing “truth-telling” mode that frequently seems to imply precisely what he rejects here, that it is possible to represent the world monolingually without slippage. here, for example, is one of his incisive observations, from later in the book, of the inevitable slippage within semiosis: “полностью стабильных, неизменяющихся семиотических структур, видимо, не существует вообще” (102). the overriding idea there is that “completely stable invariant semiotic structures do not exist at all”—there is at least the possibility of slippage everywhere—but even that account of inevitable instability is too stable an ontological claim. he hedges, therefore, with видимо, an adverb derived from the verb for “to see” and typically translated “apparently” or “it would appear,” implying something like “i can’t be totally sure i’m right here.” even the claim that total stability is impossible, in other words, has to be destabilized. and yet, somehow, even that destabilizing hedge contributes to the ontological stability of the claim. why? because, as he himself specifically insists will always happen, the single language in which he writes it is inadequate to the destabilization that he seeks to theorize. so now let us add wilma clark’s translation of the sentence: “completely stable invariant semiotic structures do not exist at all, generally speaking” (115). the kneejerk move, there, which i want to problematize, would be to chide clark for mistranslating видимо as “generally speaking.” the trouble with “generally speaking” is that it destabilizes the stable claim about inevitable instability in the “wrong” direction: it implies that sometimes completely stable invariant semiotic structures do exist. it’s easy enough to complain, not only that видимо simply does not mean “generally speaking,” but also that the translation error restabilizes rather than (as per lotman) further destabilizing the destabilizing claim. i would submit, however, that the very cognitive and affective dissonance between the two phrasings adds a complexity to lotman’s argument that he could not have generated monolingually. the semiotic complexity that he seeks to theorize does not exist in russian, or in english, or in any other language. it exists—or rather, it emerges—in translation. it is an interlingual/ transsemiotic becoming. rather than doing the error analysis that still constitutes the normative methodological core of the ts equivalence paradigm, therefore, what i want to do in this paper is to shift a possible/ imagined discussion of “translation errors” to a higher level, by promoting a translingual/ stereoscopic “translational reading/writing” strategy that to my mind is the ideal hermeneutical context for understanding lotman’s semiospheric theory. if a “минимальной работающей [семиосферической] структурой является наличие двух языков и их неспособность, каждого в отдельности, охватить внешний мир”/“minimally functional [semiospheric] structure requires the presence of at least two languages and their incapacity, each independently of the other, to embrace the world external to each of them,” and if this means that those languages’ “взаимная непереводимость (или ограниченная переводимость) является источником адекватности внеязыкового объекта его отражению в мире языков”/“mutual untranslatability (or limited translatability) represents a source of adjustment of the extra-lingual object in its reflection in the 11 crossroads. a journal of english studies world of languages,” then, arguably, lotman’s model cannot function minimally in a single language like russian—or, for that matter, clark’s english. we need both, hermeneutically intertwined. and i want to argue that it is precisely the problems in clark’s translation of lotman that make it the “perfect” (if that’s the right word here!) translingual companion-text to lotman’s russian. 1. the binary logic of explosion for convenience, i will limit my discussion to a single chapter in the book, which is numbered 11 in clark’s translation: “логика взрыва”in russian, “the logic of explosion” in english. lotman begins there by distinguishing between the standard “представление о тексте как пересечении точек зрения создателя текста и аудитории” (103)/“concept of the text as the intersection of the point of view of the author of the text and the audience” (116), which, he notes, forms an irreducible clash that in most discussions of text is improperly reduced: так, с позиции автора, текст может выступать как незаконченный, находящийся в динамическом состоянии, в то время как внешняя точка зрения (читателя, издателя, редактора) будет стремиться приписывать тексту законченность. (103) thus, from the position of the author, the text may appear to be unfinished, to be situated in a dynamic state, whilst the external point of view (reader, publisher, editor) will attempt to assign to the text a state of completion. (116) out of this initial binary lotman then goes on to develop a derivative binary between “the world of proper names,” where everything is intimately known and cherished as “one’s own,” and “the world of proper nouns,” where everything is abstract and pure, a stable transcendental realm far from the phenomenological world experienced by living creatures in their bodies and time. the former, obviously, is akin to the author’s perspective on “the text” as an emergence, a dynamic creativity characterized by unpredictable “explosions” (his chaos-theoretical theme in the book); the latter is akin to the publisher’s and reader’s perspective on “the text” as a fixed entity with stable characteristics. and then, out of that derivative binary, lotman develops a third binary between fictional plots that are multiple, unstable, fluctuatingly and therefore endlessly open to divergent interpretations, and fictional plots (for example, whodunits) that are like riddles, so that, once the identity of the killer has been learned, they are forever exhausted. at this point, however, he begins mapping out salutary middles between binary extremes, and showing how even the most apparently stable plots contain a “dissipative” structure, a vulnerability to unpredictable symmetry-breaking events. the detective stories of edgar allan poe, for example, seem to belong to the latter group—riddles with once-off solutions—but in fact complicate that apparent generic plot with fantastic complications that are irresolvable; and novels like g. k. chesterton’s the man who was thursday, while so delightfully complex in their plot structures 12 crossroads. a journal of english studies as to be rereadable with pleasure, are actually riddles that are contrary to art. let’s look first at one paragraph from his account of chesterton: таким образом, честертон как бы вводит нас в мир непредсказуемости и, следовательно, создает текст, подчиняющийся художественным законам. однако на самом деле это не более чем гениально построенная мистификация. подобно тому как любая задача имеет только одно правильное решение, а искусство аудитории состоит в том, чтобы это решение найти, честертоновский сюжет ведет нас к одной однозначной истине. запутанные клубки сюжета призваны замаскировать этот путь, сделать его доступным лишь тому, кто владеет тайнами единственного решения. такая ситуация принципиально противоположна искусству, говорим ли мы о гениальных или посредственных его проявлениях. (107; emphasis added) in this way, chesterton seemingly introduces us to the world of unpredictability and, consequently, creates a text which is subjugated to artistic laws. however, in actual fact, this is no more than a brilliantly constructed mystification. as is the case when a task has only one correct solution and the art of the audience lies in finding this solution; the chestertonian subject leads us to a singular truth. the intricate web of the plot lines is designed to disguise this way, making it accessible only to the reader who manages to unravel the secrets of the unique solution. such a situation is fundamentally opposed to art, whether we are speaking of its brilliant or its mediocre manifestations. (121; emphasis added) the phrase i’ve italicized in both passages there, “на самом деле”/“in actual fact,” is my main interest in this section: the apparent certainty with which lotman overturns the “гениально построенная мистификация”/“brilliantly constructed mystification” and establishes the stable, even possibly transcendent, truth. more on this as we go along. here is a similar claim from the opposite side of the binary, about poe: в этом смысле интересен пример повести эдгара по. читателю как бы подсказывается представление о том, что страшная загадка, которую предлагает ему автор, подразумевает одноединственное ‹правильное› решение, и композиция повести строится согласно устойчивой схеме: загадка, которую можно и нужно отгадать, погруженная в раму фантастических ужасов. … на самом деле художественная сила творчества э. по состоит именно в том, что он ставит перед читателями загадки, которые нельзя решить. это не проблемы современности, упакованные в фантастические сюжетные фантики, а сама неразрешимая фантастика. э. по открывает перед читателями путь, у которого нет конца, окно в непредсказуемый и лежащий по ту сторону логики и опыта мир. его повести не подразумевают хитрой и однозначной ‹отгадки›. (107-8; emphasis added) in this regard, the example of the tales of edgar allan poe is interesting. the reader seems implicitly to realise that the terrible riddle proposed by the author offers only one “correct” solution and the 13 crossroads. a journal of english studies composition of the tale is constructed according to a stable schema: the riddle, which it is possible and necessary to solve, lies submerged in the frame of fantastic horrors. … in actual fact, the artistic strength of the works of e. a. poe consists precisely in the fact that he lays before the reader riddles which cannot be solved. these are not modern problems packed in the fantastic candy wrappers of plot but the fantastic itself that is insoluble. e. a. poe opens before the reader a way without end, a window onto unpredictability, lying on the other side of logic and worldly experience. his tales do not imply any sly or simple “explanations.” (121; emphasis added) we could do the old error-analysis thing with that, and ask, for example, whether эдгар по in one sentence and э. по in later sentences should really be rendered first edgar allan poe and then e. a. poe (isn’t poe in english always either “edgar allan poe” or “poe”?), or whether “хитрый” in the last sentence is really “sly,” which implies a negatively moralized deviousness that we do not normally project onto novelists (a better translation might be “clever[ly hidden]”). we could tsk our tongue at wilma clark’s apparent ignorance of the difference between restrictive and non-restrictive subordinate clauses, when she translates “сама неразрешимая фантастика” restrictively as “the fantastic itself that is insoluble” (restricting the claim to only that kind of fantasy that is irresolvable) rather than non-restrictively as “the fantastic itself, which is insoluble” (meaning that all fantasy is unresolvable2). to the end of suggesting a more complexly useful approach to such “problems” below, i will return in section 2 to the syntactic slippage implicit in the translation of restrictive/non-restrictive modifiers in the context of an interlingual/ transsemiotic (translational) phenomenology. before he comes to chesterton and poe, also, lotman devotes two and a half pages to tracing the artistic (viz., unpredictable) complexities of charlie chaplin’s filmography, and is again at pains to establish the “actual fact” of the matter: вставной эпизод с танцующей куколкой, составленной из двух хлебцев, которую чарли заставляет выполнять изысканные танцы и разнообразные движения, не имеет, казалось бы, прямого отношения к сюжету (он вставлен как забава, которой предается нищий герой, напрасно ожидая в гости кокетливую героиню). однако на самом деле эпизод этот является ключом ко всему фильму. (105; emphasis added) 2 more error analysis: a mystery (which may or may not have a “решение”/“solution”) is (in)soluble or (un)solvable, but a plot (which may or may not have a “разрешение”/“resolution”) is (ir)resoluble or (ir-/un)resolvable. since “the fantastic” as a plot structure can’t really have a resolution, it is by definition irresolvable. (and lotman’s adjective “неразрешимая” does have that “разрешение”/“resolution” in it: morphologically, it is “irresolvable.”) of course, “the fantastic” isn’t a mystery either—isn’t a riddle with a solution—and so could arguably be by definition “insoluble.” the higher hermeneutical level that i seek above error analysis would seek to accommodate and explore the “irresolvable” tensions between conflicting constructions of semantic and syntactic reference to real-world objects like plots and mysteries. depending on whether we construct “неразрешимая” as “insoluble” or “unresolvable,” we are constructing “фантастика”/“the fantastic” as either a mystery/riddle or a plot/tension. more on this in section 2. 14 crossroads. a journal of english studies the episode of the dancing doll, made up of two loaves, which charlie causes to carry out refined dances and diverse movements do not, it would seem, have any direct relation to the subject (it was inserted for amusement, in which the poor hero who waits in vain for his guest, the coquettish heroine, is involved). however, in actual fact, this episode is the key to the entire film. (117; emphasis added) in the normative spirit of error analysis, once again, we could point out there that clark doesn’t know the punctuation rule about closing a parenthetical item like “which charlie causes to carry out refined dances and diverse movements” with a final comma (and tsk our tongues at the dogged insistence with which she keeps making that mistake throughout the book); and we could trumpet triumphantly that, as a result, she lets herself get confused as to the grammatical subject of the sentence: somehow she thinks that the sentence is “movements do not,” when of course it is actually “эпизод не имеет”/“the episode does not.” but again, the point i want to stress is not clark’s carelessness as lotman’s english translator, but rather lotman’s carelessness as an exemplifier of his own theory: namely, his inclination to pronounce authoritatively, stably, objectively on what is really going on in these texts, with the telltale phrase “на самом деле”/“in actual fact.” there is a fact; it is an actual fact (or, in russian, a “самое дело”/“very deed, deed itself ”); and, most telling of all, it is a linguistically decontextualized fact. reading chesterton and poe, lotman is engaging texts that were originally produced in english. is he reading chesterton and poe in russian translation, or in the original english? he doesn’t bother to tell us. the “самое дело”/“actual fact” about those texts is a transcendental fact, serenely unaffected by the language, or the translation history, in which he has encountered the events that led him to postulate it. most important, even if he’s reading these texts in their “original” english, his own two-language model of the semiosphere should arguably require that each phenomenon be explored not as a stable univocal/monolingual “actual fact,” but as a shifting mental construct abstracted out of—but remaining inexorably inflected and striated by—the transgressive/transsemiotic action of translation. 2. the translational phenomenology of explosion one might want to speculate that lotman’s main struggle throughout this book, and in some broad sense throughout his prolific academic career, is with the platonic/christian/scientific/academic discursive habits that make it “natural,” the most “natural” thing in the world, to be transcendentally sure of one’s binary claims—and that, like most of us, he is winning that struggle only in places, yielding to it in others. chesterton seems to be an artist of unpredictability, but in actual fact he’s no artist at all. poe seems to be writing riddle-like whodunits, but in actual fact his fantastic elements brilliantly transgress that genre (in the act of inventing it). chaplin’s dancing doll would appear to be irrelevant to his plot, but in actual fact it’s the key to the movie. you, the naïve reader, may think you understand these things, but you don’t; i’m here to tell you the (surprising) truth. this discursive habit runs deep in academic and ecclesiastical tradition, and, 15 crossroads. a journal of english studies despite its utter incongruity with lotman’s quite brilliant semiospheric theory, survives somewhat awkwardly in his argumentation here. the hermeneutical lens that i bring to bear on lotman’s theory also makes me wonder whether the structuralist—or perhaps (post)structuralist—turn taken in the tartu-moscow school might be tempting lotman to depersonalize his argument, and so leaving him vulnerable to the old rhetorical tic of transcendental certainty. the subtle sidelining of the peircean “phaneroscopic” (phenomenological) impulse in the post-peircean eastern european semiotic tradition from roman jakobson to juri lotman tends to mean that, even when he invokes ilya prigogine’s (1973; see robinson unpub-b for discussion) dissipative systems to challenge the transcendentalization of stable structure, lotman tends to see structures shifting rather than human beings experiencing semiosis as kinesthetic clashes and tensions. and indeed this institutional inclination toward the depersonalization/structuralization of “truth” is a telling index of the ways in which, as lotman’s own two-language theory predicts, his theoretical argument falls short of its own goal, and would attain its fullest hermeneutical complexity only in translation. lotman’s (post)structuralist semeiotic is most at home exploring the binary logic of “culture and explosion,” with cultural order on one side (cf. “на самом деле”/“in actual fact”) and unpredictable chaotic “explosions” on the other; but his two-language theory of the semiosphere would seem to require, as his most pressing rhetorical exigency, a translational phenomenology of explosion—a hermeneutic of people living between languages, experiencing the explosive surprises and tensions that arise out of overlapping referential divergences. such a phenomenology, i suggest, would be a dissipative system of felt transgressive tensionsacross-boundaries in which the symmetry-breaking events that lotman calls explosions are experienced hermeneutically as unexpected incursions from the extra-semiotic realm into the semiosphere. and to the extent that lotman himself experienced those incursions, i suggest—and of course he did, not only as a practicing translator but as a multilingual jewish intellectual living outside anti-semitic soviet russia—he could also have situated his readers hermeneutically in that uncomfortable schleiermacherian place, “haltungslos in unerfreulicher mitte” (schleier macher 1813/2002: 87)/“disoriented in the unpleasant middle” (robinson 1997/2002: 235). and he could cue that disorientation for them/us methodologically by mobilizing translation problems in his own translingual discourse, including not only the “culture bumps” (allusions) that leppihalme (1997) studies, and the full range of other cultural invocatures (robinson 2003), such as jokes, idioms, metaphors, and registers; but also, as i’ll show in this section, syntactic divergences that run seismic lines of force through reference to the extra-semiotic realm. we might tentatively fractalize the call for a translationalized argumentative model into a gradated scale of possible implementations, from a weak to a strong extreme. the weak extreme might consist in the admonition that lotman discuss his (few) non-russian illustrations in problematic interchanges with their russian translations, and his (many) russian illustrations in problematic interchanges with their (say, english) translations. this would roughly correspond to the method i use in this paper. 16 crossroads. a journal of english studies but the strong extreme, i suggest, would be even more interesting. in it lotman, or any translational semiotician following lotman’s model, would present not just his illustrations but her own argumentative text as well in translation—preferably problematic translation— and comment on its translational blockages and tensions, and let that argument be constantly vulnerable to dissipative derailment in and through the translational commentary. argumentative translinguality as a dissipative system. but again, as the descriptors “fractal” and “scalar gradations” suggest, these “extremes” would not constitute a binary logic but another dissipative system of unpredictable level-jumps (explosive emergences), in which a desperate sinking into argumentative entanglement, with each new translational mobilization only seeming to muddle things more frustratingly, might suddenly emerge into elegant clarity; or, more often, perhaps, in which a calmly and stably “transcendental” statement of abstract universal truth might instantly be undermined by its exemplification through practical translation, and that undermining might lead to new insights, new formulations. one might even imagine the linguistic principle that would enable the attainment of that strong extreme’s fullest complexity along lines like these: один из основных вопросов, которые ставит текст, может быть описан следующим образом. в ряде европейских языков имеется категория артиклей, разделяющая имена на погруженные в очерченный мир вещей, лично знакомых, интимных по отношению к говорящему, и предметов отвлеченного, общего мира, отраженного в национальном языке. отсутствие в русском языке артиклей не означает отсутствия данной категории. она только выражается другими средствами. (lotman 103) one of the fundamental questions posed by the text can be outlined as follows. in a number of european languages there is the category of articles which group nouns into those which are immersed in the restricted world of objects, personally familiar and intimately related to the speaker, and the designation of objects which are abstract generalisations reflected in the national language. the absence of articles in the russian language does not indicate the absence of a given category. the latter is simply expressed by other means. (clark 117) this is another binary logic, obviously; and lotman’s point would have been much easier to illustrate in a bilingual or translingual text—say, lotman printing his russian text face-à-face with a translation into a european language that does have articles, like english. still, a hint at the kinds of insights that a translingual text could generate can also be quite handily gleaned through a stereoscopic reading of his russian original and wilma clark’s english translation. for example: действительно, салон княгини не имел политического характера, но остров, где создавалась искусственная атмосфера культа прекрасного, приобретал на фоне николаевских порядков неожиданно совсем не нейтральный характер. (91-92; emphasis added) 17 crossroads. a journal of english studies in reality, the salon of princess did not have a political nature, however, it was an island wherein an artificial atmosphere of the culture of beauty and fine arts was generated and one which acquired, against the background of nicholas’s regime, an unexpected meaning that was in no way neutral. (101; emphasis added) in a strictly morphological sense, “салон княгини” is “salon of princess”—no definite article before either noun—but clark only gives us half of that literalism, specifying a single salon but not a single princess. the beautiful “остров”/“island” was the salon-of-princess. as clark understands the phrase, “the salon” is in lotman’s terms “immersed in the restricted world of objects, personally familiar and intimately related to the speaker,” while “princess” belongs to that group of “objects which are abstract generalisations reflected in the national language.” it’s not a specific princess, say, the princess volkonskaya; it’s the abstract quality of princessness. since lotman is writing about the princess volkonskaya’s salon, of course, this would again be normally considered a translation error; but in the context of his abstract generalizations about the semiosphere, it also draws salutary attention to the slippage between these two semiotizations of “princess(ness),” in russian and english. in russian, the “restricted world of objects [that is] personally familiar and intimately related to the speaker” is not specially marked, and must be inferred—but because it remains implicit, it may also be phenomenologically blurred, by russian individuals or communities, into significant overlap with the category of “abstract generalisations reflected in the national language.” look back to the first page in this article for a moment, to the end of the first paragraph in section 1, where i write of the “irreducible conflict that is improperly reduced in most discussions of text.” isn’t “text” there used very much as “princess” is used in clark’s translation? wouldn’t the “abstract generalisation reflected in the national language” there properly be “textuality”? wouldn’t “text” normally fall into the “restricted world of objects [that is] personally familiar and intimately related to the speaker,” and so take the definite article, “the text”? this is a syntactic issue, obviously, but the problems it raises deal with reference to realia: what is the object to which “text(uality)” there refers? is it a single text? is it an abstraction that includes all possible texts? or is it an abstraction that is situationally objectified in and through discussions of specific texts? (or perhaps all three at once?) the fact is, though grammatical purists work very hard to convince themselves that they can know the answer to any such question, and that anyone who deviates from the formal requirements set by their epistemological certainty therefore commits an offence, they can’t know. lotman insists throughout that art is created out of that uncertainty—out of the unpredictability of explosions—and “ordinary” language, which doesn’t generate that uncertainty, is “принципиально противоположна искусству” (107)/“fundamentally opposed to art” (clark 121). i would take that insistence a step further and say that all language, all communication, all culture is created out of that uncertainty. art is just an extreme escalation of the phenomenological experience of such uncertainties. one more complication: in the interpretive community (fish 1980: 147-74) in which i was trained—literary scholars and critical theorists—“text” is used as a noncountable abstraction; but 18 crossroads. a journal of english studies among non-literary scholars and non-theorists, it tends to be used countably. how should i use it here? if i assume that all my readers will be literary scholars and critical theorists, i (think i) am safe using it noncountably; but what will readers from outside those groups think? perhaps i should play it safe and edit “text” to “textuality”? (i did that, in fact, as soon as i noticed the problem; but then undid the edit, in order to comment on the problem here.) one last remark on the salon-of-princess: i don’t know of any interpretive communities for whom “princess” is a noncountable abstraction; but that doesn’t mean such communities don’t exist. it also doesn’t mean that a poet won’t tomorrow use it that way, “explosively,” emergently—or, a fortiori, that clark wasn’t using it that way in translating lotman’s “салон княгини.” here’s another example: подобная легенда была обязательным украшением атмосферы салона. (93; emphasis added) such a legend was a required embellishment to the atmosphere of salon. (103; emphasis added) there, “atmosphere-of-salon” seems less strange in english than “salon-of-princess” did in the previous passage, suggesting that the abstract quality of “salonness” is more commonly recognized in english than the abstract quality of “princessness.” in this passage, in fact, one can imagine not only two binary readings of “атмосфера салона” as “the atmosphere of [the one specific] salon [about which we are speaking]” or “the atmosphere of salon[ness in general],” but, again, a sliding scale between the two binary poles, with different degrees of specificity and generality mixed. (for example, it’s salonness in general, but tinged in the imagination with the more specific qualities of princess volkonskaya’s salon.) the resulting indeterminacy would mean that just listing two corrective translations wouldn’t solve the problem: [ø] such a legend was a required embellishment for the atmosphere of salons in general. [1] a legend of this sort became an essential embellishment of the volkonskaya salon’s atmosphere. those corrective renditions mark off the binary extremes of (ø) “objects which are abstract generalisations reflected in the national language” and (1) “the restricted world of objects, personally familiar and intimately related to the speaker,” but do not even begin exploratorily to map the middle ground between those extremes. and even if we do aim for that middle, as in the fractal option (1/n)— [1/n] a legend of this sort became an essential embellishment of the salon’s atmosphere. —that still leaves us with three different translations, a shifting multiplicity in place of the stable unitary clarity that is standardly expected of published translations. and, of course, since 19 crossroads. a journal of english studies that shifting multiplicity is precisely what lotman is theorizing as the translational nature of the semiosphere, the translation problems raised by clark’s “erroneous” rendition are exactly germane to lotman’s point. clark elsewhere pushes definiteness in the opposite direction: в опошленном бытовом поведении это выражалось как стремление завоевать право на мужскую прическу, мужские профессии, мужские жесты и манеру речи. (96; emphasis added) in the vulgar behaviour of the everyday this was expressed in the right to sport a man’s hair-do, to take up a male profession, male gestures and manners of the speech. (108; emphasis added) here clark adds “the” to the abstract noun “speech,” seemingly implying that the subject of lotman’s discussion here, georges sand, is giving a countable speech, an oration, which is somehow mannered. idiomatically, of course, we say “manners of speech,” or rather “mannerisms of speech,” because in this generalized sense, “speech” is a noncountable abstraction. the disruptive effect of the definite article here is as dizzying as the lack of a definite article before the second noun in “the salon of princess” and “the atmosphere of salon,” because idiomatized speech (not “the” idiomatized speech) is what i call “icotized,” rendered normatively plausible and so (precariously) stabilized through communal vetting. more on icosis in section 3. before we move on to that concluding topic, however, let us pause to consider another syntactic divergence between russian and english in their mappings of cultural/semiotic logic onto extracultural/extra-semiotic reality, which, as i noted above, often leads to translation problems that are derogated as “translation errors”: namely, syntax identifying the scope of phenomena covered by a specific description. in english, the syntactic structures i’m interested in here are traditionally divided binarily into restrictive and non-restrictive modifiers, whether they appear as noun phrases containing post-positional adjectival phrases (“politicians using social media”—always restrictive) or as subordinate clauses: politicians who use social media are dangerous. (restrictive: only those politicians who use social media are dangerous) politicians, who use social media, are dangerous. (non-restrictive: all politicians use social media and all politicians are dangerous) this distinction is even clearer when it is marked not only with punctuation but with different relative pronouns (restrictive “that” vs. non-restrictive “which”): the problems that have been proliferating lately require immediate attention. (restrictive: only those problems that have been proliferating lately require immediate attention) 20 crossroads. a journal of english studies the problems, which have been proliferating lately, require immediate attention. (non-restrictive: all of the problems that we’ve been discussing have been proliferating lately, and all of them require immediate attention) things work differently in russian. when it uses relative pronouns and subordinate clauses, it does not mark the distinction between restrictive and non-restrictive usage at all: в процессах, которые совершаются при активном участии механизмов самосознания, это переломный момент. (lotman 25: a restrictive subordinate clause, about only those processes that are completed through active participation, that is marked syntactically like a non-restrictive clause in english) случаи, о которых мы будем далее говорить, имеют иной характер. (lotman 45: a restrictive subordinate clause, about only those cases about which we will be speaking, that is marked syntactically like a nonrestrictive clause in english) both languages, as i say, also use embedded post-positional adjectival clauses to serve a similar restrictive syntactic function; the difference here is that in english we don’t separate the postpositional adverbial phrases off from the noun they modify with commas, except (as in the first example below) when a parenthetical clause is inserted: в пространстве, лежащем за пределами нормы (на норме основанном и норму нарушающем), мы сталкиваемся с целой гаммой возможностей. (73) in the space (lying) beyond the limits of the norm, based on and disrupting the norm, we come across an entire range of possibilities. однако необходимо подчеркнуть, что граница, отделяющая замкнутый мир семиозиса от внесемиотической реальности, проницаема. (102) however, it must be emphasized that the boundary separating the closed world of semiosis from extrasemiotic reality is permeable. we could also translate those two structures with restrictive subordinate clauses: “in the space that lies beyond the limits of the norm we come across …,” “the boundary that separates the closed world from extra-semiotic reality is permeable.” wilma clark’s apparent ignorance of these differences frequently propels her english syntax into what to the untrained eye appears to be a mangling of the russian original; but i submit that it is precisely in this kind of “mangling,” or disruptive divergence, that lotman’s theoretical insistence comes to a head—or should do—on the necessity of thinking dissipatively, through 21 crossroads. a journal of english studies translation, about the semiosphere and its energy-exchanges with the extra-semiotic realm. all of the passages below are restrictive, but because the adjectival phrase in each is—standardly, “correctly”—marked off in russian with commas, clark follows suit, and in so doing makes them non-restrictive in english: в процессах, которые совершаются при активном участии механизмов самосознания, это переломный момент. (25) in processes, which are accomplished through active participation of the mechanisms of self-consciousness, this is the critical moment. (clark 16: processes are a distinct phylum, like fungi, and all members of that phylum are accomplished in that specific way) случаи, о которых мы будем далее говорить, имеют иной характер. (45) the cases, which we will now consider, have quite another character. (clark 43: all of the cases have that other character, and the fact that we will now be considering them is parenthetical and therefore incidental) в пространстве, лежащем за пределами нормы (на норме основанном и норму нарушающем), мы сталкиваемся с целой гаммой возможностей. (73) in the space, which lies beyond the limits of the norm (which is based on the norm and which disrupts it), we encounter a whole range of possibilities. (clark 78: “the space” is a single definite thing that [a] we already know about, [b] always and inevitably lies beyond the limits of the norm, and [c] is always based on the norm and disrupts it) трудно найти другие стихи, в которых женственность обливалась таким презрением; (99) it is difficult to find other verses, in which femininity was doused by such contempt; (clark 111: it’s hard to find any kind of verses, anywhere in the world, but wherever one does find them, in every single verse femininity was “doused by” [or saturated in] such contempt) однако необходимо подчеркнуть, что граница, отделяющая замкнутый мир семиозиса от внесемиотической реальности, проницаема. (102) however, it is necessary to emphasise the fact that the boundary, which separated the closed world of semiosis from extra-semiotic reality, is permeable. (clark 115: there is only one boundary, and it is permeable, period; the fact that in the past it also once separated semiosis from extra-semiosis is an optional parenthetical addition that could be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence) 22 crossroads. a journal of english studies it is, i suggest, precisely because clark so frequently shifts lotman’s restrictive clauses into nonrestrictive syntactic environments, so that his attempts to limit the scope of reality he describes are ballooned out into potentially universal claims, that her translation makes such a powerful contribution to lotman’s theory. this is especially true of that last example, where lotman’s account of a shifting permeable boundary between semiosis and extra-semiosis—arguably his overriding concern in theorizing the semiosphere—is chopped up into smaller bite-sized pieces that can be safely cordoned off into separate enclosures marked with commas, and the most important part of the claim, that this is a boundary specifically between semiosis and extra-semiosis, becomes parenthetical and thus dispensable. but there is also the example that i mentioned briefly in section 1 (p. 13), where she translates “сама неразрешимая фантастика” (lit. “itself unresolvable fantasy”) as “the fantastic itself that is insoluble.” there, since lotman seems to be saying that all fantasy is irresolvable—fantasy itself— the “natural” or “idiomatic” way of saying that in english would be “the fantastic itself, which is unresolvable.” but who is to say that lotman does intend the unresolvability of all fantasy? his sentence could easily be read the other way as well, to mean “that type of fantasy that is insoluble”— and that is how clark’s syntax suggests she read it, or how her “error” (if we want to be nasty about it) forces us to read it. 3. icosis one final interesting question that this discussion raises has to do with this “nastiness”—or rather, to put that more neutrally, the strong conviction we often have that a certain way of saying or writing something is right, or wrong, and our incredulity that any other native speaker of the language should not feel the same conviction. whence this apparent certainty about correctness, and this anxiety-produced animus against incorrectness? why is error analysis not only an everpresent temptation, but in almost every sense the norm, in translation criticism? for example, thinking about the two competing interpretations of lotman’s noun phrase “сама неразрешимая фантастика”—“the fantastic itself, which is unresolvable,” and “that type of fantasy that is insoluble”—i feel a very strong conviction that the former is obviously and indeed overwhelmingly correct, and the latter is just plain absurd. i believe that if he had meant to say “that type of fantasy that is insoluble,” he would have written the sentence differently: “этот неразрешимый тип фантастики,” or the like. so my question in this final section is: what force organizes a language in this viscerally compelling way, so that i can have this sort of rock-solid belief that i am right to read a sentence in one way rather than in another? how exactly can a “translation error,” or any phrasing in any text, “force” us to read it in a certain way? what is it about a “language,” or about the way a community structures a language, that makes it seem intuitively correct to us to say that “in english we distinguish syntactically between restrictive and non-restrictive modifiers, whereas russian does not mark the distinction between restrictive and non-restrictive usage syntactically at all”? in the introduction i described the semiosphere’s management of its shifting boundary with the extra23 crossroads. a journal of english studies semiotic as “(self-)organized(/-ing)” and “(self-)structuring”: how does that work? what kind of agency does the semiosphere have to initiate and carry out such organizing/structuring actions? and, at the highest level of lotman’s translational semiotics, what exactly is going on when “моменты взрыва … созда[ют] как бы окна в[о внешнем] семиотическом пласте”/“moments of explosion … create a kind of window in the [outer] semiotic layer,” creating a “прорыв[] в запредельное пространство”/“breakthrough into the space beyond the limits” (lotman 30, clark 24)? what exactly are these layers, spaces, limits, windows, and breakthroughs? they are, obviously, architectural metaphors for some sort of event—but what? is it a phenomenology? (do we “experience” it in some more or less conscious way?) is it a preconscious neural event, managed by the autonomic nervous system? is it a preternatural event? lotman does not ask these questions—though arguably he should have. if his two-language theory of the semiosphere means that the ideal vantage-point for any semeiotic is a transsemeiotic, an engagement with the destabilizing effects of translations between the certainties of two different semiospheres, surely one possible risk factor in that engagement would be the impulse to reestablish certainty between two different semiospheres, through translational error analysis. and if lotman’s desired outcome is the destabilization of such certainties in both realms, both within individual semiospheres and between semiospheres, surely it is not enough simply to invoke “translation” as a kind of cure-all. translation may indeed destabilize certainties within individual semiospheres, but it doesn’t always do even that (think of the historical use of grammar translation to teach single-language grammar); and every translator has felt the normative pressure to stabilize transfer patterns between his or her source and target languages (hence the historical tendency for translation criticism to gravitate to error analysis). it would seem to me, therefore, that some understanding of the neurocultural forces that seem to compel us to impose stability in both realms must be crucial for the lotmanian transsemiospheric project. and for that i suggest that we turn to the work of mikhail bakhtin (1895-1975), who was a powerful influence on lotman’s thinking—and has foundationally shaped my own as well. (for me, the foundational bakhtin text has been слово в романе [1934-1935/1975], translated by caryl emerson and michael holquist [1981] as discourse in the novel.) bakhtin doesn’t really answer the questions about how a language is so effectively organized as to feel stable and real either, but he outlines a series of principles on which an answer can begin to be built. the first principle is that “единый язык не дан, а, в сущности, всегда задан” (bakhtin 83)/“a unitary language is not something given [дан] but is always in essence posited [задан]” (emerson and holquist 270). another way of putting that is that the unification of language is a communal task or goal (задача): the community that speaks a language works to unify it, because a more or less unified language makes communication possible; but that task, once posited, is never completed. it is ongoing. the second principle is that a unitary language is what ilya prigogine (1973) would later call a dissipative system, or what bakhtin called “разноречие,” and emerson and holquist translate as “heteroglossia.” heteroglossia is sometimes understood as the creative impulse toward disorder 24 crossroads. a journal of english studies that undermines a unitary language, but as holquist (1990: 428) shows, heteroglossia for bakhtin is actually “as close a conceptualization as possible of that locus where centripetal and centrifugal forces collide; as such, it is that which a systematic linguistics must suppress.” the two terms in lotman’s title, “culture” and “explosion,” refer loosely to these same two impulses that bakhtin calls centripetal and centrifugal, and both are channels of heteroglossia. as holquist adds, “all utterances are heteroglot in that they are functions of a matrix of forces practically impossible to recoup, and therefore impossible to resolve.” heteroglossia is “chaos” not as disorder, but as the tension between order and disorder: “that locus where centripetal and centrifugal forces collide.” a precarious new order can emerge, “explode,” out of apparent chaos; but a disruptive new chaos can also “explode” out of apparent stability. the third principle is that heteroglossia is channeled through bodies—specifically, through the tonalization of embodied voices, and, more specifically still, through the multiple tonalizations that are stored and carried in individual embodied voices. we internalize the tonalizations (which bakhtin calls “accents” and identifies as the carriers of “attitudes”) that we hear and feel in the words spoken to and around us; and in making them our own, we blend them with the existing mix, so that every word we hear and speak socializes us further, makes us more corporeally, and thus also more attitudinally, part of the community. the fact that all of us want and need to be able to understand others and to be understood ourselves pushes us to conform our usages to those we hear others around us using—to tonalize or “dialogize” our voices convergently (centripetally)—but the fact that we occupy different bodies, and can never experience anything in the same way or from the same place, inflects all of our tonal/vocal/dialogical conformism with difference, with divergence (centrifugality), as well. our best efforts to conform to communal norms—what bakhtin calls unitary language, what prigogine calls system, what lotman calls culture—sometimes, inevitably, but unpredictably, slip and fail, and “explode” centrifugally in what prigogine calls symmetry-breaking events. what this bakhtinian model still cannot explain, however, is just how language is stabilized “centripetally,” and how that stabilization can be so reificatory as to make us believe that it, and everything it touches, is real. he does note that this happens: но в то же время он реален как сила, преодолевающая это разноречие, ставящая ему определенные границы, обеспечивающая некоторый максимум взаимного понимания и кристаллизующаяся в реальном, хотя и относительном единстве господствующего разговорного (бытового) и литературного языка, «правильного языка». (84) but at the same time it makes its real presence felt as a force for overcoming this heteroglossia, imposing specific limits to it, guaranteeing a certain maximum of mutual understanding and crystalizing into a real, although still relative, unity—the unity of the reigning conversational (everyday) and literary language, “correct language.” (270) 25 crossroads. a journal of english studies but he doesn’t attempt to explain how it happens—how it is possible for language, fleeting sounds and fading marks on the page, to be “реален как сила”: real as a force. my term for that real-making force—a cultural or communal force—is “icosis,” which i derive from aristotle’s insight in the rhetoric that, given a choice between a true story that is implausible and a plausible (eikos) story that is untrue, we will almost always choose the plausible story, regardless of its “actual” truth or falsehood, because plausibility (ta eikota) is a sign that the story has been vetted by the community.3 but aristotle does not set himself the task of explaining how this cultural phenomenon is possible either. my theory of icosis is built on the foundation of my somatic theory, which in turn rests on antonio r. damasio’s somatic-marker hypothesis (1994). that is the theory, repeatedly tested in damasio’s neurology lab and confirmed by other cognitive neuroscientists,4 that the autonomic nervous system sends us little “reminders” of what we have learned experientially, in the form of “somatic responses”: sweaty palms, butterflies in the stomach, a constriction in the throat or chest, or, on the positive side, a spreading warmth and sense of well-being. these somatic markers, as he calls them, do not do our thinking for us; but they do guide our thinking, by narrowing our options and signaling to us which course of action would best suit the experiential lessons we’ve learned in the past. in his later work, damasio (2003) incorporates the findings of a part of his team to the effect that the mirror-neuron system makes somatic markers shareable: if you feel strongly disinclined to undertake some action, i can not only be persuaded by your words, but swayed unconsciously by your body language, which my autonomic nervous system reads as a playbook for the simulation of your internal body states. this dyadic mimicry, which i call somatic mimesis, is the basis for empathy5 and, ultimately, all ethical feeling and growth. it is also the basis for what bakhtin calls the “internal dialogism of the word”: the sharing (internalization/externalization) of vocal tonalizations with the person you’re talking to. the third level of somatic theory is what i call the somatic exchange: the circulation, or “reticulation,” of somatic mimeses almost simultaneously throughout an entire group, so that you come to feel almost—almost—like a single collective body. this would explain both the centripetal impulse that bakhtin theorizes, to conform your tonalizations to the group, and thus to unify language, and also, because we occupy different bodies, the centrifugal deviations—and often the collectively amplified deviations—from shared normative feelings that cause disruptions or “explosions” within stabilized structures. icosis, then, is the fourth level, built on top of the lower three. it emerges out of the mimetic circulation of somatic “plausibilization” through the somatic exchange, so that the resulting attitudes 3 i first formulated a somatic theory of translation in robinson (1991); more recent explorations and retheorizations include robinson (2011, 2015). icotic theory began to emerge as an extension of somatic theory in early drafts (from about 2009) of what eventually became robinson (2016a); see also robinson (2013c, 2016b, 2016c, 2017a, 2017b, 2017c). 4 see e.g. ledoux (1999: 293; 2003: 306; 2015: 134-38, 224). 5 see robinson (2013b: 150-54) for a review of the social neuroscientific research on empathy. 26 crossroads. a journal of english studies and opinions come to seem not only right but real. this is why we tend to believe a plausible-butuntrue story over a true-but-implausible story: communally vetted plausibility feels real, “реален как сила”/“real as a force.” it is also why it often seems to us that a language we speak fluently has stable structures, and even, as walter benjamin says, anthropomorphic “intentions”: english wants us to distinguish between noncountable abstract nouns (no article) and countable nouns for specific items (definite or indefinite article), and russian doesn’t care about such distinctions. english wants us to distinguish syntactically between restrictive and nonrestrictive modifiers with “that” and no commas for the former and “which” and commas for the latter, and russian would rather use “который” and commas for both. because we can feel the shaping force languages (and, lotman would add, semiospheres) have on our usage, they feel phenomenologically alive, animate, agentive. the icotic agency that organizes and structures semiosis, in this model, is not “the sign” or “the language,” but the human groups that create and maintain the semiosphere. because icosis is mostly managed unconsciously, by our autonomic nervous systems, and because it is managed collectively, without executive control by single individuals, we mostly don’t notice “our” organizing/structuring/shaping hand in the process: to the extent that we notice icotic semiosis at all, it seems to happen all on its own, as if controlled by some preternatural force. but that is the phenomenology: that is how things feel to us. at what we might call the subphenomenological level of our linked mirror-neuron systems, we do it. this is the social neuroscience of hermeneutics, and it should go without saying that it works in both same-language and two-language (interlingual/transsemiotic) engagements (see robinson 2017d: essay 3 for discussion). just as icosis plausibilizes (normativizes, stabilizes) certain speech patterns as “correct” as guidance for speakers within individual languages, so too does it plausibilize (normativize, stabilize) certain transfer patterns as “correct” as guidance for translators within specific language pairs. so strong is this “centripetal” impulse in our cognitive and affective processing of all (trans)semiosis, flagrantly disruptive obstacles to it must be raised at all levels if one hopes to achieve the kind of destabilization imagined in lotman’s two-languages semeiotic. again, lotman’s assumptions to the contrary, “translation” cannot serve as a necessary and sufficient disruption to semiospheric stabilities. there are transsemiospheric stabilities as well. but then how does the semiotic energy-exchange at the boundary between the semiosphere and the extra-semiotic work? in lotman’s formulation “их взаимная непереводимость (или ограниченная переводимость) является источником адекватности внеязыкового объекта его отражению в мире языков” (lotman 13)/“their mutual untranslatability (or limited translatability) represents a source of adjustment of the extra-lingual object in its reflection in the world of languages” (clark 2), what exactly is the “адекватность внеязыкового объекта”/“adjustment of the extra-lingual object”?6 or, more fully, what is the “проницаемость”/“permeability” 6 let me mention in passing that here is another example of transsemiospheric dissonance that would have profited from a bilingual presentation: “адекватность внеязыкового объекта” would normally be translated not dynamically as “adjustment of the extra-lingual object” but more statically as “adequacy of the extralingual object.” in trans27 crossroads. a journal of english studies of the “граница, отделяющая замкнутый мир семиозиса от внесемиотической реальности”/“boundary separating the closed world of semiosis from extra-semiotic reality”? однако необходимо подчеркнуть, что граница, отделяющая замкнутый мир семиозиса от внесемиотической реальности, проницаема. она постоянно пересекается вторжениями из внесемиотической сферы, которые, врываясь, вносят с собой динамику, трансформируют само пространство, хотя одно-временно сами трансформируются по его законам. одновременно семиотическое пространство постоянно выбрасывает из себя целые пласты культуры. они образуют слои отложений за пределами культуры и ждут своего часа, чтобы вновь ворваться в нее настолько забытыми, чтобы восприниматься как новые. обмен с внесемиотической сферой образует неисчерпаемый резервуар динамики. это ‹вечное движение› не может быть исчерпано - оно не поддается законам энтропии, поскольку постоянно воссоздает свое разнообразие, питаемое незамкнутостью системы. (lotman 101-2) however, it is necessary to emphasise the fact that the boundary separating the closed world of semiosis from extra-semiotic reality is permeable. it is constantly transgressed via intrusions from the extrasemiotic sphere which, when bursting in, introduce a new dynamic, transforming the bounded space and simultaneously transforming themselves according to its laws. at the same time, semiotic space constantly ejects all the layers of culture from itself. the latter form layers of deposits beyond the limits of culture and await their time to re-enter the closed space, by which time they are so ‘forgotten’ as to be conceived of as new. such exchanges with the extra-semiotic sphere create an inexhaustible reservoir of dynamic reserves. this “perpetual motion” cannot be exhausted—it does not yield to the laws of entropy, since its variability is constantly being fed by the permeability of the system. (clark 115; translation modified) my icotic model would suggest that the “семиотическое пространство”/“semiotic space” is “незамкнутое”/“unclosed” and “проницаемое”/“permeable” because icosis is the constant communal (re)plausibilizing of all the relevant evidence available to the somatic exchange—and while that icotic action is designed to suppress extra-semiotic or extra-icotic “вторжении”/“intrusions” as irrelevant, it cannot possibly suppress them all. “внеязыковые объекты”/“extra-lingual objects” press upon icosis from all sides, demanding recognition, lining up for communal “vetting” as plausible. that is a personification, of course, pointing implicitly at the hermeneutic panic members of the community feel whenever something happens that makes no “common” (communally vetted, plausibilized, icotized) sense. it feels to us as if the objects themselves are demanding recognition; icotic theory suggests that it is the community’s nervousness about extra-icotic reality that, lating “адекватность”/adequacy as adjustment, clark is adding a corrective impulse to the equation, an attempt to make the extralingual object adequate. 28 crossroads. a journal of english studies because that nervousness is mostly unconscious, is a human phenomenology projected onto the objects themselves. lotman too indulges this sort of personification in “она постоянно пересекается вторжениями из внесемиотической сферы, которые, врываясь, вносят с собой динамику, трансформируют само пространство, хотя одно-временно сами трансформируются по его законам”/“it is constantly transgressed via intrusions from the extra-semiotic sphere which, when bursting in, introduce a new dynamic, transforming the bounded space and simultaneously transforming themselves according to its laws.” icotic theory, as i first argued in schleiermacher’s icoses (2013c: ch. 6), would suggest that the hermeneutic agency behind the transformations belongs not to the intrusions but to the community constantly working to maintain a plausible and more or less coherent model of reality. that model would be the “законы”/“laws” of which lotman writes— accurately enough, in a phenomenological sense, for, while the icotic coherence imposed by the community on the evidence available to it is never literally legislated, and lacks the kind of systematic regularity that we normally (though perhaps inaccurately) associate with laws, we do typically think of that coherence as lawlike (the laws of nature, etc.). the one part of lotman’s description there before which i confess explanatory helplessness is his notion of a “circulation” of “целые пласты культуры”/“whole strata of culture” back and forth between the semiosphere and the extra-semiotic sphere. i cannot imagine how these “strata” or “layers” might be stored as “слои отложений за пределами культуры”/“deposits beyond the limits of culture,” where they “ждут своего часа, чтобы вновь ворваться в нее настолько забытыми, чтобы восприниматься как новые”/“await their time to re-enter the closed space, by which time they are so ‘forgotten’ as to be conceived of as new.” icotic theory has no explanation for the ejection and storage of cultural material “beyond the limits of culture,” let alone for the personification of those “deposits … await[ing] their time to re-enter the closed space.” it’s an intriguing idea, but i can’t for the life of me figure out how it might work. i hope someone else will be able to explain it to me. 4. conclusion i have been arguing for an extension of lotman’s exciting theory of the translational semiosphere beyond the monolingual presentation of it that one finds in his work—an extension into the realm of stereoscopic reading strategies, at the very least, but also, potentially, into the realm of translingual writing strategies. the problem with that latter, of course, is that translingual academic argumentation is not a commonly accepted academic genre, which would make it difficult (but not impossible) to publish. my very first monograph effort in the translation studies field, in fact, was an experiment of this sort: a translingual book-length study printed face-à-face, finnish on the verso, english on the recto, titled “kääntämisen kääntöpiirit/the tropics of translation.” i created it in 1985-1986, sort of on the model of jacques derrida’s spurs: nietzsche’s styles/eperons: les styles de nietzsche (1981)—except that the english side of derrida’s book was translated by barbara harlow, and i 29 crossroads. a journal of english studies both wrote the english on the recto and translated it into finnish for the verso. my idea was that translating the text into finnish would require that i reflect not only on the changes that the finnish readership would push me to make in the text, but on the very nature of translation. and it worked, quite well, i thought: i would find myself deviating quite sharply from the english text, for several pages, and then start trying to bring the finnish text back into alignment with the english original, so that five to ten pages on i could again proceed paragraph by paragraph across the centerfold. the only problem was that, because the non-english language was not french but finnish, i could really only hope to publish it with a finnish university press, and the finnish university presses to whom i proposed it proved to be pretty conservative, and uninterested in experimental academic discourse. so i cannibalized the book monolingually as the translator’s turn (1991)—and, as a result, am completely sympathetic with the complaint that the translingual writing model i’m suggesting here would not be attractive to publishers. however, while the workaround i’ve been mining in this article—staging that translational/ translingual engagement through a stereoscopic reading of the two texts published separately, lotman’s russian original and clark’s english translation—does work well enough for illustrational purposes, i submit that it is not in the end adequate to lotman’s own theoretical purposes. he does illustrate his theory of “culture and explosion” with copious examples from literary history; but without this translational intervention from wilma clark, the specifically translational moment in his theory remains abstract, and so “reflected in the national language” (russian) without becoming “personally familiar and intimately related to the speaker.” one might want to protest that the kind of stereoscopic reading strategy for which i am advocating would only make lotman’s translational theory of the semiosphere “personally familiar and intimately related to the bilingual speaker,” perhaps even the bilingual speaker who is also a practicing translator; but according to lotman himself, this kind of bior multior translingualism is an ineradicable part of all semiosis. the problem, of course, is that this enhanced kind of translational reading of lotman’s translational theory of the semiosphere requires not only a knowledge of contrastive syntax between russian and english, but a willingness to tease out of specific cases—the (kinds of) cases that we’ve been considering, restrictively—the nuanced implications that they might have for translational semiotics. the translational/translingual writing strategy for which i am advocating requires of the reader more translational/translingual skills and more energetic critical thinking than is typically expected of academic readers, and that may make it difficult to implement in practice. but if the theory seems to demand it, as lotman’s seems undeniably to do, isn’t it worth a try? references bakhtin, mikhail. 1934-35/1975. slovo v romane (“word in the novel”). in voprosy literatury i estetiki (“questions of literature and aesthetics”), 72-233. moscow: khudozhestvennaya literatura. 30 crossroads. a journal of english studies benjamin, walter. 1923/1972. “die aufgabe des übersetzers.” in tillman rexroth, ed., kleine prosa, baudelaire-übertragungen, 9-21. vol. 4, part 1 of walter benjamin, gesammelte schriften (“collected writings”). frankfurt am main: suhrkamp. clark, wilma, trans. 2005. juri lotman, “on the semiosphere.” translation of lotman 1984. sign systems studies 33.1: 205-29. clark, wilma, trans. 2009. juri lotman, culture and explosion. translation of lotman 1992/2000. edited by marina grishakova. berlin and new york: mouton de gruyter. damasio, antonio r. 1994. descartes’ error: emotion, reason, and the human brain. new york: putnam. damasio, antonio r. 2003. looking for spinoza: joy, sorrow, and the feeling brain. new york: harcourt. derrida, jacques. 1981. spurs: nietzsche’s styles/eperons: les styles de nietzsche. translated by barbara harlow. chicago, il: university of chicago press. emerson, caryl, and michael holquist, trans. 1981. mikhail bakhtin, discourse in the novel. translation of bakhtin 1934-35/1975. in michael holquist, ed., the dialogic imagination: four essays, 259-422. austin: university of texas press. fish, stanley. 1980. is there a text in this class? cambridge, ma: harvard university press. holquist, michael. 1990. dialogism: bakhtin and his world. london and new york: routledge. ledoux, joseph. 1999. the emotional brain: the mysterious underpinnings of emotional life. london: phoenix. ledoux, joseph. 2003. synaptic self: how our brains become who we are. london: penguin. ledoux, joseph. 2015. anxious: the modern mind in the age of anxiety. london: oneworld. leppihalme, ritva. 1997. culture bumps: an empirical approach to the translation of allusions. clevedon and philadelphia: multilingual matters. lotman, juri. 1984. “o semiosfere” (on the semiosphere). sign systems studies 17: 5-23. lotman, juri. 1992/2000. kul'tura i vzryv. in lotman 2000: 12-148. lotman, juri. 1996/2000. vnutri myslyasshikh mirov: chelovek – tekst – semiosfera – istoriya (inside the worlds of thought: person—text—semiosphere—history). in lotman 2000: 150-390. lotman, juri. 2000. semiosfera. kul'tura i vzryv. vnutri myslyasshikh mirov. stat'i. issledovaniya. zametki (“the semiosphere. culture and explosion. universe of the mind. articles. researches. notes”). st. petersburg: iskusstvo-spb. prigogine, ilya. 1973. “can thermodynamics explain biological order?” impact of science on society 23: 159-79. rendall, steven, trans. 1998. walter benjamin, “the translator’s task.” ttr: traduction, terminologie, rédaction 10.2: 151-165. translation of benjamin 1923/1972. robinson, douglas. 1991. the translator’s turn. baltimore and london: johns hopkins university press. 31 crossroads. a journal of english studies robinson, douglas, trans. 1997/2002. friedrich schleiermacher, “on the different methods of translating.” translation of schleiermacher 1813/2002. in douglas robinson, ed., western translation theory from herodotus to nietzsche, 225-38. second edition. manchester, uk: st. jerome. robinson, douglas. 2003. performative linguistics: speaking and translating as doing things with words. london and new york: routledge. robinson, douglas. 2011. translation and the problem of sway. amsterdam and philadelphia: john benjamins. robinson, douglas. 2013. schleiermacher’s icoses: social ecologies of the different methods of translating. bucharest: zeta books. robinson, douglas. 2015. the dao of translation: an east-west dialogue. london and singapore: routledge. robinson, douglas. 2016a. the deep ecology of rhetoric in mencius and aristotle. albany ny: state university of new york press. robinson, douglas. 2016b. “pushing-hands and periperformativity.” in douglas robinson, ed., the pushing hands of translation and its theory: in memoriam martha cheung, 1953-2013, 173-216. london and singapore: routledge. robinson, douglas. 2016c. semiotranslating peirce. tartu semiotics library 17. tartu, estonia: university of tartu press. robinson, douglas. 2017a. aleksis kivi and/as world literature. leiden, the netherlands, and boston, ma: brill. robinson, douglas. 2017b. critical translation studies. london and singapore: routledge. robinson, douglas. 2017c. exorcising translation: towards an intercivilizational turn. new york: bloomsbury. robinson, douglas. 2017d. translationality: essays in the translational-medical humanities. london and singapore: routledge. robinson, douglas. unpub-a. “kääntämisen kääntöpiirit/the tropics of translation.” bilingual monograph typescript. robinson, douglas. unpub-b. “chaos linguistics: language as a dissipative system (or what michael s. gazzaniga’s interpreter theory can tell us about the language-instinct debate).” monograph typescript. schleiermacher, friedrich. 1813/2002. “ueber die verschiedenen methoden des übersetzens.” in martin rößler, with the assistance of lars emersleben, eds., akademievorträge, 67-93. part i of schriften und entwürfe. vol. 11 of kritische gesamtausgabe. berlin: bbaw. shukman, ann, trans. 1990. juri lotman, universe of mind: a semiotic theory of culture. translation of lotman 1996/2000. london: tauris. notes i’d like to thank ivan delazari for checking my reading of the russian in this article. against old english ‘short’ diphthongs 32 crossroads. a journal of english studies helena sobol kazimierz wielki university in bydgoszcz against old english ‘short’ diphthongs abstract: since the earliest grammars, old english has been analysed as having a length contrast in diphthongs, containing both regular, bimoraic ones, side by side with cross-linguistically unique monomoraic ones. the supposedly monomoraic diphthongs [io eo æɑ] arose through back umlaut and breaking. unsurprisingly, they have become the source of possibly the greatest controversy in oe phonology, which still remains unresolved. the present paper refutes the main arguments for a length contrast in oe diphthongs. instead, it argues for a generative phonological analysis, where the diphthongs constitute monomoraic monophthongs in the underlying representation, and bimoraic diphthongs in the surface representation. keywords: old english, short diphthongs, syllable weight, back umlaut, breaking. since the earliest grammars, old english has been analysed as having a length contrast in diphthongs, containing both regular, bimoraic ones, side by side with cross-linguistically unique monomoraic ones. the supposedly monomoraic diphthongs [io eo æɑ] arose through processes known as back umlaut and breaking, cf. the data in (1) and (2). unsurprisingly, they have become the source of possibly the greatest controversy in old english phonology (systematically summarised in lass & anderson 1975: 75-79), which still remains unresolved. it ought to be noted, however, that the problem of ‘short diphthongs’ in old english is so complex that it cannot be solved comprehensively in a journal article. instead, the present paper attempts at suggesting a solution within generative phonology. namely, the diphthongs are suggested to constitute monomoraic monophthongs in the underlying representation, and bimoraic diphthongs in the surface representation. 10.15290/cr.2017.16.1.03 33 articles (1) old english back umlaut1 before /u/ before /ɑ/ /i/ *sifun > *siofun > siofon ‘seven’; writ ‘a writing’ ~ gewriotu ‘writings’ *niða> *nioða> nioðemest ‘lowest’; lifian ‘to live’ ~ liofað ‘he lives’ /e/ *hefun > *heofun > heofon ‘heaven’; ete ‘eat (pres. subj. sg.)’ ~ eotu ‘i eat’ fela ~ feola ‘many (indecl.)’; etan ~ eotan ‘to eat’ /æ/ fæt ‘vessel’ ~ fatu (nom. pl.); hwæt ‘active’ (nom. sg.) ~ hwatum (dat. sg./ pl.) hwæle ‘whale’ (dat. sg.) ~ hwalas (nom. pl.); fære ‘go’ (imp. sg.) ~ faran (inf.) (2) old english breaking (a) before /r/: pre-oe *hærd > oe heard ‘hard’, pre-oe *sterra > oe steorra ‘star’, oe birhtu ~ beorhtu (< *biorhtu) ‘brightness’; (b) before /l/: pre-oe *æll > oe eall ‘all’, oe self ~ seolf ‘self’, pre-oe *silfr > oe siolfor ‘silver’; (c) before /w/: pre-oe *þǣw > oe þēaw ‘custom’, pre-oe *mēwle > oe mēowle ‘maiden’, oe hiw ~ hiow ‘shape’; (d) before /x/: pre-oe *sæh > oe seah ‘he saw’, pre-oe *nǣh > oe nēah ‘near’, pre-oe *fehtan > oe feohtan ‘fight’, oe wiht ~ wioht ‘creature’ (kentish), oe līht ~ līoht ‘light, n.’ (kentish). the source of the controversy lies in that those diphthongs seemingly function in the language like short vowels. for instance, the assumption of ‘short’ diphthongs allows for a fully regular scansion of lines such as beowulf l. 60b: weoroda rǣswan ‘the counsellors of troops’.2 the half-line scans as a perfect sieversian (1893) a-type verse, with the first lift resolved over the initial two syllables (l ͜ x́ x | h ́ x) if and only if the initial syllable of weoroda remains monomoraic.3 the relevant foot structure in the ‘germanic foot’ system of dresher & lahiri (1991) is shown in (2) below. 1 standard descriptions of back umlaut and breaking include luick (1921: §§ 133-153, 220, 224-234), campbell (1959: §§ 139-163, 205-221), lass & anderson (1975: 74-112), and hogg (1992: §§ 5.16-5.27, 5.103-5.107). 2 quotations from beowulf follow dobbie’s (1953) edition. macrons have been added above long monophthongs and indisputably bimoraic diphthongs. 3 the notation uses the following symbols: h – heavy syllable, l – light syllable, x – syllable of unspecified weight, ˊ – accented syllable, | – foot boundary. 34 crossroads. a journal of english studies (2) prosodic structure of beowulf l. 60b weoroda rǣswan ‘the counsellors of troops’, according to the ‘germanic foot’ theory of dresher & lahiri (1991) f f s w s w σ σ σ σ σ μ μ μ μ μ μ μ w e o r o d a r æ s w a n the majority of old english poetical half-lines belong to this type, which may be described as two consecutive trochees. any aberration from the basic pattern would be linguistically marked, and especially so in the b-verse, which always adheres to the metrical types far more strictly than the a-verse. however, the basic pattern of two consecutive trochees would founder in the quoted line if the diphthong received two moras, as in (3). (3) prosodic structure of beowulf l. 60b weoroda rǣswan ‘the counsellors of troops’, without ‘short’ diphthongs f f f s w σ σ σ σ σ μ μ μ μ μ μ μ μ w e o r o d a r æ s w a n the prosodic structure of (3) is (h ́ | l ̀͜ x | h ́ x), which cannot be easily accommodated within any of the types defined by sievers.4 therefore, such half-lines have constituted primary evidence for positing short diphthongs as the surface representation of the results of back umlaut and breaking 4 the grave accent over l ̀ signifies secondary stress, as opposed to primary stress marked with the acute accent. 35 articles on short vowels. however, not all instances of the relevant digraphs in poetry yield more regular scansion if interpreted as monomoraic nuclei. sievers (1893: § 77) already pointed out that at times these must be analysed as phonetically long, though without examples of poetic half-lines where that is the case. nonetheless, examples can be easily found; for instance beowulf l. 489 site nū tō symle / ond onsǣl meoto ‘now sit down to the feast and unseal the food (i.e. start eating)’. if meoto ‘food’ is analysed to have a monomoraic diphthong, the verse scans as (x x h ́ | ĺ x). in sieversian classification, such verses belong to the c-type, whose canonical form is (x h ́ | h ́ x). in this case, the verse has the first dip expanded by a single syllable, which is allowed in the off-verse, and suspends resolution in the second lift. such a half-line structure occurs frequently enough to have gained recognition as one of the possible subtypes (see for instance fulk 2001). however, if the initial syllable of meoto is bimoraic, then the verse would scan as (x x h ́ | h ́ x), without the need for suspended resolution in the second foot. what is more, sievers (1893: § 77) also notes that some diphthongs resulting from back umlaut or breaking of short vowels were long in all contexts, e.g. prgmc *faw> oe fēawa ‘few’. hence, metrical data cannot be taken as unambiguously supportive of the theory of ‘short’ diphthongs. the other argument commonly adduced in favour of ‘short’ diphthongs in old english is that their later english reflexes apparently pattern together with etymological short vowels rather than long ones, as shown in (4). (4) later reflexes of old english ‘long’ and ‘short’ diphthongs long in oe short in oe /i iː io/ oe wīf ‘woman’ > pde wife /ˈwaɪf/; oe fīond ‘enemy’ > pde fiend /ˈfiːnd/ oe brim ‘surface of the sea’ > pde brim /ˈbrɪm/; oe siolfur ‘silver > pde silver /ˈsɪlvə/ /e eː eo/ oe dēman ‘to judge’ > pde deem /ˈdiːm/; oe dēop ‘deep’ > pde deep /ˈdiːp/ oe men ‘men’ > pde men /ˈmen/; oe heofon ‘heaven’ > pde heaven /ˈhevn/ /æ æː æɑ/ oe rǣdan ‘to counsel; to read’ > pde read /ˈriːd/; oe drēam ‘joy’ > pde dream /ˈdriːm/ oe sæt ‘sat’ > pde sat /ˈsæt/; oe weallan ‘to well’ > pde well /ˈwel/ the examples in (4) have been chosen so that no phonological processes would change vowel length after the old english period. the data above show that etymologically bimoraic vowels and diphthongs, both those inherited from proto-germanic and those newly created through breaking, emerge in present day english with either the long vowel /iː/ or its great vowel shift cognate /aɪ/, both uncontroversially bimoraic. the two vowel phonemes /iː aɪ/ constitute the only two possible pde reflexes of oe etymologically bimoraic front vowels and diphthongs beginning with a 36 crossroads. a journal of english studies front vowel whenever no process changed the vowel length.5 on the other hand, etymologically monomoraic diphthongs seem to survive in pde with short vowels, cf. the stressed syllables in silver, heaven, well – just as do the pde reflexes of etymologically monomoraic vowels, for instance, brim, men, sat. however, the latter generalisation takes into consideration only part of the data. while oe heofon > pde heaven has kept the initial syllable monomoraic, the very similar oe beofor ‘beaver’ > pde beaver /ˈbiːvə/ has lengthened its stressed syllable. no generalisation can account for both pde reflexes of oe words, because of their mutually contradictory development. previous research (for instance, luick 1921: §§ 391-394; dresher & lahiri 1991: 281-282) suggests that words such as beofor underwent open syllable lengthening, a late old english / early middle english process of mora insertion into the stressed syllable: (̍c)vμcvμ(μ)> (̍c)vμμcvμ(μ)-. on the other hand, words such as heofon simply failed to undergo the lengthening. this account may be largely correct, but it glosses over major dialectal discontinuities between early old english and present day english. in fact, early old english is mainly attested in anglian (i.e. northumbrian and mercian) dialects, late old english in west saxon. no standard can be discerned for early middle english, while in late middle english there emerged the london standard, based mainly on the midland variety, a direct descendant of oe anglian, yet with some kentish features. crucially, the three oe dialect families – anglian, west saxon, and kentish – differ in their treatment of the diphthongs under consideration. therefore, the argument from the later standard english reflexes of the oe ‘short’ diphthongs cannot be valid, because the standard dialects do not descend from each other in an unbroken line. the present day english reflexes of the ‘short’ diphthong examples in (4), especially siolfur and heofon, point to the attrition of the diphthongisation rules, since the modern forms, silver and heaven, preserve the oe front vowel intact, as if no diphthongisation took place. this has prompted daunt (1939) to interpret the phenomenon in question not as phonological diphthongisation, but as purely graphical addition of a diacritic in the form of a back vowel letter, whose function was to mark the ‘back’ quality of the following consonant. the logic behind such reasoning is that if breaking and back umlaut left no diachronic trace, then maybe they did not constitute sound changes. because of the dialectal discontinuities described above, it is difficult to adduce credible data from direct descendants of the dialects with more abundant diphthongisation, i.e. west saxon and kentish. fortunately, the needed evidence can be found in place names preserved in medieval documents from the southwestern dialectal area of middle english (the direct descendant of oe west saxon). 5 for description of the relevant shifts in long vowel quality, see the classic grammatical account in luick (1940: §§ 479-501), as well as the famous discussion in stockwell & minkova (1988a; 1988b) and lass (1988). 37 articles (5) place name evidence for southwestern me reflexes of the ‘short’ diphthong spelled <ea>, after kuhn & quirk (1953: 150) ws -bearu ‘grove’ > estharabyar, trendelbiare, wydebyer; ws healh ‘place’ > la hyele, la hyales;6 ws fearn‘fern’ > fiernham; ws fealw‘fallow’ > vialepitte; ws dealla‘proud, eminent’ > dyalediche; ws pearroc‘enclosure’ > piarrecumbe. all me spellings in (5) represent the reflex of the ‘short’ diphthong <ea> [æɑ] with digraphs consisting of either <i> or <y>, followed by <e> or <a>. the obvious interpretation of these digraphs is that they stand for diphthongs whose first element can only be /i/, while their second element might be any of the me non-high unrounded vowels /e ɛ a ə/. the spelling of the me reflexes of the oe short monophthongs do not point towards any regular diphthongal development. hence, the oe digraphs must have also represented diphthongs rather than monophthongs followed by a diacritic. they must have been bimoraic, since, to the best of my knowledge, no ‘short’ diphthongs have yet been posited for me, or any other stage of the historical development of the english language. some scholars (for instance, lass 1983: 53-58, followed by hogg 1992: § 2.29) have attempted to save the theory of ‘short’ diphthongs by agreeing to the diphthongal quality of these vowels, but denying them the second mora, as in (6). (6) the hypothetical fourfold contrast of vowel types in oe (a) σ (b) σ (c) σ (d) σ μ μ μ μ μ μ i i i o i o 6 the gloss for healh gives only approximate meaning for this ambiguous noun, discussed by the dictionary entries in bosworth & toller (1898) and toller (1921). 38 crossroads. a journal of english studies figure (6) shows the monomoraic monophthong (6a) /i/, the bimoraic monophthong (6b) /iː/, the bimoraic diphthong (6c) /io/, and the hypothetical monomoraic diphthong (6d) /io/. the latter structure has been traditionally interpreted as a sequence of a monomoraic vowel followed by a ‘glide’ of uncertain quality (campbell 1959: § 139; minkova 2014: 179-180). yet such an understanding of the theory of ‘short’ diphthongs cannot be accommodated into the basic phonological assumptions about germanic syllables. this is because germanic languages are highly weightsensitive, universally preferring the stressed syllable to be heavy. for stress-related issues, as well as other phonological processes, both cvv and cvc syllables must be interpreted as heavy. a cvv syllable is heavy due to its underlying two moras attached to the vowel, while a cvc syllable has one underlying mora attached to the vowel, plus a derived, second mora attached to the coda consonant through weight-by-position (hayes 1989). consequently, if a diphthong or vowel-glide sequence is not supposed to obtain a second mora, it requires the suspension of weight-by-position. such a suspension has been posited for word-final consonants, so that final, unstressed syllables remain monomoraic; see, for instance, kiparsky (1998: 6). however, both breaking and back umlaut operate (primarily) on stressed syllables, also in polysyllabic words, the canonical context for weight-by-position. suspending it there would derive incorrect outputs for the whole system of oe phonology.7 thus, the oe ‘short’ diphthongs need a representation that would encode both their diphthongal, and hence necessarily bimoraic structure, and their diachronic and synchronic propensity to pattern together with monomoraic vowels. generative phonology offers a solution for such cases: these vowels ought to be represented as monomoraic monophthongs in the underlying representation and bimoraic diphthongs on the surface. references bosworth, joseph and thomas northcote toller. 1898. an anglo-saxon dictionary. oxford: clarendon. campbell, alistair. 1959. old english grammar. oxford: clarendon. daunt, marjorie. 1939. old english sound changes reconsidered in relation to scribal tradition and practice. transactions of the philological society 38. 108-137. dobbie, elliott van kirk. 1953. beowulf and judith. new york: columbia university press. dresher, b. elan and aditi lahiri. 1991. the germanic foot: metrical coherence in old english. linguistic inquiry 22. 251-286. fulk, robert d. 2001. old english versification. in: john c. pope, eight old english poems. 3rd ed., 129-158. new york/london: w.w. norton. hayes, bruce. 1989. compensatory lengthening in moraic phonology. linguistic inquiry 20. 253-306. hogg, richard m. 1992. a grammar of old english. vol. 1: phonology. oxford: blackwell. kiparsky, paul, 1998. sievers’ law as prosodic optimization. manuscript. stanford university. 7 for other systematic counterarguments against ‘short’ diphthongs, see white (2004). 39 articles kuhn, sherman m. and randolph quirk. 1953. some recent interpretations of old english digraph spellings. language 29. 143-156. lass, roger and john m. anderson. 1975. old english phonology. cambridge: cambridge university press. lass, roger. 1983. quantity, resolution, and syllable geometry. folia linguistica historica 4. 151-180. lass, roger. 1988. vowel shifts, great and otherwise: remarks on stockwell and minkova. in: dieter kastovsky and gero bauer (eds.), luick revisited. papers read at the luick-symposium at schloß liechtenstein, 15-18.09.1985, 395-410. tübingen: gunter narr. luick, karl. 1921. historische grammatik der englischen sprache. 1. bd. leipzig: bernhard tauchnitz. luick, karl. 1940. historische grammatik der englischen sprache. 2. bd. leipzig: bernhard tauchnitz. minkova, donka. 2014. a historical phonology of english. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. sievers, eduard. 1893. altgermanische metrik. halle: max niemeyer. stockwell, robert p. and donka minkova. 1988a. the english vowel shift: problems of coherence and explanation. in: dieter kastovsky and gero bauer (eds.), luick revisited. papers read at the luick-symposium at schloß liechtenstein, 15-18.09.1985, 355-394. tübingen: gunter narr. stockwell, robert p. and donka minkova. 1988b. a rejoinder to lass. in: dieter kastovsky and gero bauer (eds.), luick revisited. papers read at the luick-symposium at schloß liechtenstein, 15-18.09.1985, 411-417. tübingen: gunter narr. toller, thomas northcote. 1921. an anglo-saxon dictionary. supplement. oxford: clarendon. white, david l. 2004. why we should not believe in short diphthongs. in: anne curzan and kimberly emmons (eds.), studies in the history of the english language ii. unfolding conversations, 57-84. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. editorial crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 editorial as has already been observed by our colleagues, sylwia borowska-szerszun and tomasz sawczuk, in volume one of remembering/forgetting (crossroads 14), memory studies have been gaining increased and unwavering attention for the last few decades. even if roediger and wertsch (19) argue that “unless and until proper methods and theories are developed to lead to a coherent field, memory studies as a proper discipline may still be awaiting its birth,” it is impossible to deny their existence as a multior interdisciplinary field. needless to say, the notion of memory has always lain at the heart of humanities and attracted the attention of philosophers, from aristotle’s on memory and recollection to maurice halbwachs’ la mémoire collective (1950) and paul ricoeur’s memory, history, forgetting (2000), to mention but a few. after all, as robin g. collingwood (212) puts it, memory is “the mind’s triumph over time” or, as jeanette rodriguez and ted fortier (8) promulgate, “[w]ithout memory, the living of life would have no coherence at all.” memory helps us survive as individuals, and also as groups or nations. as a repository of procedural knowledge, it guides us through the day without having to learn the already acquired skills anew, as is the case in alzheimer’s or other memory-loss patients. as a collection of personal remembrances, it participates in the continuous process of identity formation and self-definition. the following passage by astrid erll (6) supports this view: that memory and identity are closely linked on the individual level is a commonplace that goes back at least to john locke, who maintained that there is no such thing as an essential identity, but that identities have to be constructed and reconstructed by acts of memory, by remembering who one was and by setting this past self in relation to the present self. the term ‘memory’ opens up a wide range of interdisciplinary research, as it has been making its appearance in biology, psychology, and social, cultural, historical and literary studies. literary texts provide valuable material for the classification of memory phenomena and play a crucial role in the representation of the past – from individual life experience to national history. volume two of remembering/forgetting discusses various aspects of literature and memory in literary works across genres and traditions, and yields a panorama of issues such as cultural memory, autobiography, herstory, female memoir, grief, mourning, trauma, amnesia, and voluntary and involuntary memory, among others. jadwiga uchman demonstrates in her article in the current issue that reminiscing may be a distressing experience since some of the memories one cherished and wished to retain for future reference are inevitably lost or repressed by the later self. in the retrospective view one’s aspirations and dreams, though frequently immature and naive, often testify to one’s failure and betrayal crossroads. a journal of english studies 7 of the past self. as samuel beckett (13) proclaims, “there is no escape from yesterday because yesterday has deformed us, or been deformed by us.” therefore, to protect oneself from disillusionment and a sense of defeat, while simultaneously granting oneself a sense of uninterrupted continuity, the present self will employ a number of techniques to belie remembrances. ultimately, as rodriguez and fortier (1) affirm, “memory is the capacity to remember, to create and re-create our past.” thus, to some extent every individual is their own writer/creator. the fact that “[n] ovelists also wrestle with issues of memory” for “characters in novels remember their past, so the memories created by the novelist must be realistic, neither too vague nor too specific” (roediger, wertsch, 13) is explored in the following issue by marek pawlicki. having mentioned individual memory, it is crucial to recall maurice halbwachs’ (43) dictum that “no memory is possible outside frameworks used by people living in society to determine and retrieve their recollections.” in other words, individual memory is always dependent upon collective memory. as lena steveker (82) elucidates halbwachs’ concept, “although personal memory is always embodied by the individual, it is at the same time embedded in the individual’s social frameworks.” the way one experiences the world and views oneself is always conditioned by the social frameworks one is part of, whether through gender, religion, ethnicity, education, or economic status, among many. drawing on halbwachs’ findings, in the late 1980s aleida and jan assmann introduced two new terms, namely, ‘communicative memory’ and ‘cultural memory’ to denote the repository of society’s recent and distant pasts, respectively (steveker, 84). jan assmann (132) explicates the latter in the following terms: [t]he concept of cultural memory comprises that body of reusable texts, images, and rituals specific to each society in each epoch, whose ‘cultivation’ serves to stabilize and convey that society’s self-image. upon such collective knowledge, for the most part (but not exclusively) of the past, each group bases its awareness of unity and particularity. this notion seems to lie at the heart of kazuo ishiguro’s the buried giant, a novel investigated by two authors in this issue, sylwia borowska-szerszun and edyta lorek-jezińska, though from very different perspectives. referring to earlier literary texts, exemplified by sir gawain and the green knight, ishiguro testifies to the fact that literature has a memory of its own. embedded in cultural frameworks, both writers and readers inevitably refer to former literary traditions. their knowledge of literary genres, conventions or topoi, stored in memory, determines their creation and/or reception of new narratives. moreover, rereading a particular text, be it a novel or one’s own memoir, engages the reader in the process of reminiscence, often enabling the present self to gain access to the former self, as is the case of helen macdonald’s rereading of terence hanbury white’s the goshawk. the issue is widely discussed by anna dziok-łazarecka. in affective narratology patrick colm hogan (241) notes that readers may form “emotional memories” which are emotionally loaded remembrances spurred by the text itself. interestingly, these second-hand literary experiences may prove to be useful in real life as they can actually affect one’s response crossroads. a journal of english studies 8 to particular life situations. emotionally-charged remembrances of vital moments in one’s life are absolutely indispensable in memoir writing. these either auspicious or critical life events demarcate the line of a life narrative, enhancing its sincerity, for, as jean-jacques rousseau (270) emphasizes in confessions, “i may make factual omissions, transpositions, errors in dates; but i cannot be mistaken about what i felt, nor about what my feelings led me to do.” despite the fact that “memoirs are written late in life, sometimes without the aid of diaries or notes, so their veracity (especially of distant recollections of complex events) may be questioned” (roediger, wertsch, 12), as a literary genre they are compelling examples of identity formation. since it is nothing short of a narrative, a memoir’s “power resides in its ability to create, form, refashion, and reclaim identity” (rodriguez, fortier, 7). it becomes even more significant a step in identity formation if a thus-far male-dominated genre itself needs to be reclaimed by female artists, the phenomenon discussed by tomasz sawczuk with reference to the rise of female rock memoirs. remembering, however, is just one side of the memory coin, of which the other is forgetting. the loss of memory is often an individual’s inadvertent protective response to a traumatic event. the erasure of trauma is supposed to defend the self from shattering. nevertheless, as magdalena łapińska demonstrates in her analysis of octavia butler’s fledgling, without the affective memory of the deceased the process of mourning can neither cease nor even commence. historical amnesia is yet another face of cultural mechanisms which allow certain groups or nations to co-exist peacefully, though forgiveness does not, and perhaps ought not, necessarily equate to forgetting. * * * the articles collected in this issue beautifully exemplify the three approaches to the notion of memory within the field of literary studies proposed by astrid erll and ansgar nünning (2005), namely, 1) memory in literature, 2) memory of literature, 3) and literature as a medium of cultural memory. the articles by jadwiga uchman, marek pawlicki, edyta lorek-jezińska, magdalena łapińska and tomasz sawczuk are primarily concerned with the first category, also referred to as the “mimesis of memory” (erll and nünning 2005, 265), as they focus on the ways in which memory, or its loss, are represented in literary texts. the essay by anna dziok-łazarecka exemplifies how authors engage in a dialogue with other writers often on multiple levels, that of a reader, a scholar and a writer. last but not least, the article by sylwia borowska-szerszun consciously explores both the notion of “memory of literature” as well as “literature as a medium of cultural memory”. though the texts analyzed by the aforementioned authors seemingly differ, ranging from a play (krapp’s last tape), through a short story (“envoy extraordinary”) and novels (the buried giant, fledgling) to memoirs (h is for hawk, three female rock memoirs), they all attest to the fact that “memories are not static representations of past events but ‘advancing stories’ through which individuals and communities forge their sense of identity. or, to put it differently: memories offer heavily edited versions of the self and its world” (caldicotts, fuchs, 12-13). ewelina feldman-kołodziejuk anna maria karczewska crossroads. a journal of english studies 9 references assmann, jan. 1995. “collective memory and cultural identity.” transl. john czaplicka. new german critique 65 (1995), 125-33. beckett, samuel. 1987. proust and three dialogues with george duthuit. london: john calder. caldicott, edric and anne fuchs. 2003. “introduction.” cultural memory. essays on european literature and history. ed. edric caldicott and anne fuchs. bern: peter lang, 11-32. collingwood, robin george. 2007. speculum mentis: or the map of knowledge. vancouver: ekp philosophical classics. erll, astrid. 2008. “cultural memory studies: an introduction.” cultural memory studies. an international and interdisciplinary handbook. ed. astrid erll and ansgar nünning. berlin; new york: walter de gruyter, 1-15. erll, astrid, and ansgar nünning. 2005. “where literature and memory meet: towards a  systematic approach to the concepts of memory in literary studies.” literature, literary history, and cultural memory. real: yearbook of research in english and american literature 21. ed. herbert grabes. tübingen: narr, 265-98. halbwachs, maurice. 1992. on collective memory. ed., transl. and introd. lewis a. cosser. chicago: university of chicago press. hogan, patrick colm. 2011. affective narratology: the emotional structure of stories. lincoln: university of nebraska press. rodriguez, jeanette and ted fortier. 2007. cultural memory. resistance, faith and identity. austin: university of texas. roediger, henry l. and james v. wertsch. 2008. “creating a new discipline of memory studies.” memory studies 2008 (1), 9-22. rousseau, jean-jacques. 2008. confessions. trans. angela scholar. oxford: oxford university press. steveker, lena. 2009. identity and cultural memory in the fiction of a. s. byatt. new york: palgrave macmillan. hannibal revived: an aestheticized portrayal of hannibal lecter in nbc’s tv series hannibal 46 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles ewa ziomek john paul ii catholic university of lublin hannibal revived: an aestheticized portrayal of hannibal lecter in nbc’s tv series hannibal abstract. this article is an analysis of the portrayal of hannibal lecter as presented in nbc’s television series. the research focuses on the techniques employed in order to aestheticize, humanize and present the title character in a positive light for the audience to sympathize with him. apart from the process of aestheticization, the paper also discusses the metamorphosis which lecter depicted in the show has undergone. the article describes particular aspects of the character’s construction and the tools used to influence the audience’s perception of the cannibal. keywords: hannibal lecter, aestheticization, art, humour, food porn. 1. introduction in 1981, thomas harris’s published red dragon, his first novel in the hannibal lecter series. harris’s killer, the sociopathic mastermind, soon became the icon of crime fiction. jonathan demme’s film adaptation of harris’s next novel the silence of the lambs has been widely recognized by critics and won many awards, including five oscars. one could wonder what the reasons behind such an enormous success are. thomas harris provides his readers with a murderer and a cannibal who in addition to being evil is also an aesthete, a highly intelligent and eloquent scholar, a connoisseur of art, music and cuisine as well as a person with an exquisite sense of humour. surprisingly enough, hannibal is a killer with a moral code, who prefers to “eat the rude.” compared to the previous fictional incarnations of serial killers such as robert bloch’s norman bates, hannibal is a killer whom the reader may actually like and engage with, which is achieved by means of aestheticization. in order to explain the concept of aestheticization, one has to understand what the words “artistic” and “aesthetic” mean. in the aesthetics of murder joel black states that any object, idea or act can obtain artistic status, as long as it meets at least one of the two requirements (black: 1991: 12). thus, if an object, idea or act is created by an artist with the aim of creating art, as widely as doi: 10.15290/cr.2018.23.4.04 47 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles “art” and “artist” can be understood, it achieves artistic status. on the other hand, an object, idea or act can be subjectively perceived by the beholder as a work of art, even if it was not aimed to be art. in this case the beholder is the one that decides on attaching an artistic status to it. when it is an artist that produces an artefact, one can describe it with the word “artistic.” however, if it is the beholder that considers something an artefact, it is proper to use the word “aesthetic” (black: 1991: 12). there is usually no distinction between “artistic” and “aesthetic,” as often something that is artistic (a painting created by an artist) is perceived as aesthetic by the beholder. as regards the process of aestheticization, in some cases aestheticization may be isomorphous with beautification. asbjorn gronstad describes the process of aestheticization of violence as follows: as a result of specific stylistic machinations, the segments that contain the violence have become more visually and viscerally attractive than all the segments that do not contain any violence. in this usage, the concept of aestheticization is isomorphous with the concept of beauty. (gronstad 2008: 40–41) one could say that, according to the abovementioned definitions, the process of aestheticization that will be discussed in this article manifests itself in all the techniques applied by the writers, film directors and, in this case, tv series creators in order to evoke an aesthetic experience in the recipient of the narrative. 2. hannibal revived the portrayal of dr. hannibal lecter depicted by bryan fuller is even more mysterious than the character presented in the novels and films. the revived murderer comes back as the embodiment of antithetical merits. he is an artist and a cannibal. a friend and a foe. in one of the reviews libby hill emphasises precisely those contradictions: he is something unnatural. uncanny. he is the danger. he is the unknowable presence lurking in the shadows. he is omnipotent. he is omniscient (...). devil as god, manipulation as love, feminine as masculine, these are how hannibal crafts a story and re-imagines a known quantity. and in doing so, fuller et al. have succeeded in making not just a cogent adaptation but one of the finest dramas on television, all by tapping into the inherent terror of being made over not in god’s image, but in lucifer’s. (logsdon 2015) hannibal is no longer a cannibal who kills only the rude. frequently he serves justice to those who, one may claim, deserve it, yet he also murders the innocent just to goad the fbi or get rid of someone who gets in his way (pavelich 2016: 132). he is ruthless and callous, unlike harris’s doctor who at least acts according to his own distorted code of practice. fuller’s hannibal is a restrained and distant version of the killer, always in control over his feelings and instincts. lecter strikes the viewers as a melancholic doctor seducing the audience with 48 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles an introverted personality and a peculiar sadness in his eyes. the tension that the viewers feel is not associated with a physical danger but rather a psychological horror, since “hannibal’s main source of satisfaction is not the killing and consuming of human beings, but rather his ability to use his superior intellect to manipulate people in twisted ways” (fuchs 2017). during the conversation with dr. chilton, lecter says: “if force is used, the subject will only surrender temporarily. once the patient is exposed, the method of manipulation becomes much less effective (…). the subject mustn’t be aware of any influence” (hannibal, season 1, “rôti”). this is the essence of his philosophy. he does not use physical power unless he eventually wants to kill someone. he is not the kind of person who would attack a nurse on the spur of the moment, as harris’s hannibal does in the novel. the show’s creators present lecter as a figure of awe; he commands respect as far as both his professional and private relationships are concerned. owing to his social status, he is virtually beyond any suspicion. moreover, he even works as a consultant for the fbi. while helping the bureau, he can devote his attention to killing and manipulation with impunity (łuba 2014: 169). apart from other characters from the tv show, it is also the audience that is prone to hannibal’s manipulation. the viewers can never be sure whether hannibal’s emotions and feelings are honest or whether they are just a part of his diabolical game (fuchs 2017). in conversation with jack, dr. bedelia du maurier says: “if you think you are about to catch hannibal, it is because he wants you to think so. don’t fool yourself into thinking he’s not in control of what’s happening” (hannibal, season 2, “tomewan”). thus, hannibal presented in the tv show is a figure of power, who treats other characters and the spectators like puppets (łuba 2014: 170). according to dan shaw, it is precisely hannibal’s power that makes us empathise with him: “it is his absolute control over every person and situation which he confronts that is the fundamental ground of our empathy with him” (shaw 2016: 216). 3. the artist and the savage as far as art is concerned, dr. lecter does not confine himself to being a passive onlooker; he is an artist who specialises in many fields. he draws meticulous sketches of architectural monuments, composes his own pieces of music and creates tableaus from the corpses of his victims. the opus that certainly draws anyone’s attention is the body of the councilman interwoven in a tree. by creating this artistic representation, lecter does not only produce art for art’s sake. he obviously hunts for food but also provides the audience with food... for thought. the manner in which the official has been murdered and the place where his corpse has been placed are not random. sheldon isley is thought to have been responsible for having a forest, which was the habitat for endangered birds, cut out and replacing it with a car park. it comes as no surprise that the place which hannibal chooses for the display of sheldon’s body is precisely the car park. lecter puts a lot of effort into presenting the body as a piece of art in such a way so as to underscore isley’s lack of morality. jack: the time that he devotes to his work... he really takes pride. belladonna for the heart. chain of white oleander for the intestines. ragwort for the liver. 49 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles jimmy: these flowers are all poisonous. jack: yes. this is a judgment. the ripper believes that his victim was... toxic, somehow, a poisonous man. (hannibal, season 2, “futamono”) figure 1. the body of sheldon isley intertwined with a tree. (nbc “photo galleries”) angela ndalianis dubs lecter a bricoleur deconstructing and reassembling the world. this reconfigured and unique piece of art has been created to tell a story about life and death (2015: 281). she also points out that even though one may call hannibal an artist, his art “is an art that disgusts” (2015:282). as stated at the beginning of this article, hannibal is a person full of contradictions. although lecter presented in the tv show appears to be even more cultured and sophisticated than the one portrayed in the novels and films, his figure is not completely devoid of savagery. it is indisputable that his way of preparing meals, which would be later on discussed in detail, is remarkably artistic an aesthetic, yet the ingredients remain roughly the same. fuchs writes that hannibal is at the same time “a connoisseur of fine art and a brute driven by instincts and neither of the two” (2015: 99). lecter’s psychiatrist, bedelia du maurier, during one of their conversations says: “you are wearing a very well-tailored ‘person suit.’ (...) maybe it’s less of a person suit and more of a human veil. that must be lonely” (hannibal, season 1, “sorbet”). indeed, lecter wears a mask which is always appropriate for the role he is playing. he may behave like a friend or a foe, a connoisseur of art or a cannibal, a worried psychiatrist or a ruthless psychopath, yet the audience can never tell which one is real, since he is both and neither. 50 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles dagmara łuba uses two terms to describe the duality of hannibal’s personality. she argues that he is an embodiment of perversion and obscenity, in other words, a socially unacceptable “abject,” while being an “object” of fascination and desire. therefore, he exists at the intersection of the two notions and may be perceived both as an object and an abject (2014: 172). regarding hannibal’s humanity, it is also difficult to define him as either a human or a non-human. one may say that hannibal is a negation of everything that is human, while being a human. it is difficult to place hannibal into any category, since he is characterised by excess. calabrese writes that “excess describes overcoming of a limit in terms of an exit from a closed system” (1992: 49). while describing hannibal, the borders do not matter (łuba 2014: 172), as he is always outside any closed system, being on the verge, beyond limits. michael fuchs writes: “there is no ‘real’ dr. hannibal lecter (…). lecter disappears in a world of simulacra, where his subjectivity forever remains liminal (2015: 107). 4. hannibal’s sense of humour the trait of hannibal’s personality which particularly appeals to the readers as well as the viewers is his sense of humour. westfall distinguishes three kinds of joke employed by hannibal lecter: mockery, expressions of power and inside jokes (2016: 174). whereas in the novels and films the author and directors employ mainly the first and the second type of humour, the tv series is full of jokes expressing power and, even more frequently, inside jokes. the scene in which hannibal is held captive by manson verger, which is present both in the books and the adaptations, is also re-enacted in the tv series. the viewers can hear hannibal establishing his superiority while being tied up: “i take it matteo didn’t make it. did he foul himself? i imagine he smells worse than you by now” (hannibal, season 2, “tome-wan”). a similar sense of humour is applied when hannibal is attacked and incapacitated by the orderly, matthew brown. with his wrists slit, noose around his head, standing on a wobbling bucket hannibal, once again, resorts to his sense of humour saying: “you’re a nurse at the hospital (...). are you setting a new standard of care?” (hannibal, season 2, “mukōzuke”). it is essential to mention that whenever he jokes, fuller’s hannibal is devoid of any emotions, which only makes the jokes sound more sarcastic and sophisticated. the third type of humour distinguished by westfall is omnipresent in the tv series. inside jokes, which are precisely for the audience’s benefit, establish the bond between the viewers and dr. lecter (westfall 2016: 181). in the seventh episode of the first season, during the party, hannibal says: “before we begin, you must all be warned: nothing here is vegetarian,” and then he almost dares to look into the camera continuing: “bon appétit” (hannibal, season 1, “sorbet”). many a time does he interpose inside jokes referring to food, for instance while having a conversation with jack: “well, next time, bring your wife. i’d love to have you both for dinner” (hannibal, season 1, “amuse-bouche”), or before killing tobias: “i didn’t poison you, tobias. i wouldn’t do that to the food” (hannibal, season 1, “fromage”). he also jokes during the conversation with dr. chilton. answering chilton’s comment that the romans used to eat flamingos’ tongues, hannibal says: 51 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles “don’t give me ideas. your tongue is very feisty” (hannibal, season 1, “sorbet”). another instance of an inside joke appears during the conversation with chilton who informs hannibal that will calls lecter a monster; hannibal replies: “well, in that case, you are dining with a psychopathic murderer, frederick” (hannibal, season 2, “kaiseki”). the series is packed full of inside jokes, therefore it is impossible to quote them all. the humour employed in the series is definitely one of the aspects that aestheticize hannibal’s portrayal. 5. the aesthetics of food it is not an exaggeration to say that food is an essential part of the tv show. the way in which hannibal’s culinary masterpieces are presented truly influences the viewers’ senses and makes them forget about the ingredients. scenes of consumption last long enough for the audience to almost smell and taste the dishes. the bottles of fine wines, expensive tableware and dim candle light present the setting in an appealing manner, allowing the spectators to relish the scenes and diverting one’s attention from cannibalism. to emphasise the significance of the cuisine the episodes have been named after the fares; the first season refers to french haute cuisine, the second to japanese and some of the episodes from the third season have been titled after italian cuisine (shaw 2016: 204). dan shaw writes that hannibal’s culinary sensibilities and the aesthetics of the courses: ... attract us to him as a man of enviable discernment. we want to feel with a man of such taste, to experience the delicate sensations that only someone with such a degree of discernment can appreciate (...). hannibal’s artistic and culinary proclivities appeal to us emotionally, drawing us even further under his spell. (2016: 204-205) in “sorbet,” hannibal prepares dinner for the baltimore elite and the way in which he does it was aptly described by one of the guests who said that hannibal’s food preparation is “an entire performance” (hannibal, season 1, “sorbet”). tim jones writes: “his world, and the steps he’s taken to bring it into being, looks truly... delicious. it’s quite the effort to remember what’s actually underlying all the luxury spread before us” (2016: 152). one could notice that while cooking lecter, indeed, resembles an artist working on his masterpiece. in the mentioned episode, he looks genuinely proud of the courses he has meticulously decorated. referring to lecter’s cannibalistic nature, selena breikss argues that “his cannibalism has transcended the taboo” (2016: 139). even though the spectators are aware of the anthropophagy, they decide to separate the ravishing images they see on the screens from the fact that the courses’ main ingredient is human flesh. they acknowledge the violation of a corpse, yet they marvel at the splendour of the meals. as dagmara łuba points out, in the tv series cannibalism is presented as a ritual, a culinary art that overshadows the murder itself. the viewers do not see hannibal hunting for meat, but they almost always see the act of food preparation before the dish is served (łuba 2014: 170). the associations that one may have with anthropophagy are completely distorted 52 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles by the series creators. hannibal the cannibal is not stigmatised because he preys on human meat; instead, his cannibalism makes him outstanding and extraordinary. hannibal’s anthropophagy is a celebration of being beyond, being above others. it is a combination of epicurean cannibalism, based on sensual feelings, and a cannibalism rooted in domination (2014: 171). hannibal’s culinary art is undoubtedly a means to aestheticize the killer, as, even though the viewers know where the ingredients come from, the artistic cookery allows them to ignore the cannibalistic nature of the protagonist. in the series, hannibal spends a lot of time on dining with different characters from the show. if a character is at least remotely significant to the narrative, hannibal has probably invited them to dinner. it would be a painstaking job to count the scenes which present food, in one way or another, since they are ubiquitous. however, every dinner gives the opportunity to get to know hannibal better and empathize with the character on different levels. the guests whom lecter invites to his humble dwelling are, most frequently, will and jack, yet he also shares a meal with a few other characters, which play essential role in the viewers’ perception of the doctor. in “relevés,” hannibal visits will at the hospital and brings him silkie soup (hannibal, season 1). one might say that the sheer act of bringing the meal does not justify the fact that it is hannibal who actually may be held responsible for will’s worsening health condition. however, in fact, it makes lecter look more sympathetic for a viewer. for one thing, the viewers are shown that the doctor cares about will, even though he has been playing with graham’s psyche for the entire season. he provides him with a simple dish that is a stereotypical meal prepared by a family member for a sick person. it is possible that such a gesture makes the viewers, at least for the time being, forget about lecter’s own agenda and fall for his deceit. moreover, the spectators may, by means of affective mimicry, feel the grief which hannibal seems to experience seeing will at the hospital. therefore the expression that hannibal is sympathetic has a double meaning: the doctor sympathises with will, thus he is sympathetic towards him; additionally, he is sympathetic for the viewers, in other words, he is likeable for the audience. another aspect of the scene which makes the spectators like hannibal even more is its humour. lecter prepares a meal that for will appears to be just a chicken soup, whereas, judging by his displeased response, hannibal would not call his masterpiece using such simple words. the dialogue between the characters reads as follows: will: smells delicious. hannibal: silkie chicken in a broth. a black-boned bird prized in china for its medicinal values since the seventh century. wolfberries, ginseng, ginger, red dates, and star anise. will: you made me chicken soup? hannibal: yes. (hannibal, season 1, “relevés”) while watching the scene, the viewers can clearly see hannibal’s discontentment. even though mikkelsen’s face does not express it, his tone of voice speaks volumes. 53 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles the second scene that, paradoxically, aestheticizes hannibal is the dinner with abel gideon, during which lecter serves gideon’s leg as a main course, politely, as always, encouraging abel to taste it (hannibal, season 2, “futamono”). the scene bears resemblance to the dinner described in the novel, when hannibal treats krendler with the detective’s brain. the similarities do not end here. abel gideon for sure classifies as “the rude,” thus it is difficult for the audience to feel empathy towards him. nonetheless, the emotion that perhaps is prevalent among the spectators is curiosity, whether gideon will consume his own leg, which, obviously, looks delicious. having watched previous episodes the viewers know that it is not sense of morality that convinces hannibal to slowly, cutting all possible members of his victim, kill abel. this time, lecter does not help out the fbi in delivering justice. he has his own vendetta against gideon, who pretended to be the chesapeake ripper and took credit for lecter’s crimes. yet, all in all, hannibal does not torture an innocent person, the ambiance is, as usual, atmospheric, the food looks appetizing, the soothing classical music accompanies an interesting conversation between the characters: hannibal: your legs are no good to you anymore. (...) this is a far more practical use for those limbs. (...) you were determined to know the chesapeake ripper, dr. gideon. now is your opportunity. gideon: you intend me to be my own last supper? hannibal: yes. gideon: how does one politely refuse a dish in circumstances such as these? hannibal: one doesn’t. the tragedy is not to die, abel, but to be wasted. (hannibal, season 2, “futamono”) another scene that aestheticizes hannibal’s image is the scene of consuming “breakfast for dinner” (hannibal, season 1, “œuf ”). after the traumatic events that abigail hobbes experienced, she puts her trust in hannibal, who, together with will, saved her life. lecter, despite his cannibalistic and psychopathic nature, appears to have sincere fatherly feelings towards her. fuchs writes that “it seems too simple a dinner for hannibal’s refined taste, but he has a good reason for choosing this exact meal, which goes beyond the boundary-defying gesture of having breakfast for dinner” (2015: 104). sausages and eggs – breakfast – was the last meal abigail had with her family. by saying: “it’s also the first meal you’re having with me” (hannibal, season 1, “œuf ”), hannibal attempts to take her late father’s place. the scene presents abigail sitting at the table together with hannibal and alana bloom. the image truly resembles a portrayal of a typical family, which is confirmed by abigail saying: “i see family” (hannibal, season 1, “œuf ”). surprisingly enough, the scene in which hannibal kills an innocent person on-screen may also serve as a means to aestheticize the character. the comical aspect of the scene and the humour employed in the dialogue diminish the horrific aspect of the narrative and distance the audience so that it can vicariously enjoy the killing without feeling guilty. being in florence, hannibal and bedelia are having professor sogliato over dinner (hannibal, season 3, “secondo”). the man despises 54 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles hannibal and tries to humiliate him at a banquet that takes place the day before, saying that lecter would not recognize dante alighieri’s work, since he is a foreigner. after presenting his broad knowledge about dante by reciting his sonnet to the public, hannibal appears to give another chance to the professor and invites him to dinner. nevertheless, the dinner does not end happily for the guest, since lecter stabs him with an icepick. however, he does not kill him instantaneously. sogliato seems not to feel any pain, but mutters and stutters that he went blind. the grotesque nature of the scene is emphasized by hannibal’s indifference to the whole situation. it is even more ridiculous when bedelia decides to pull the icepick out, killing the professor. hannibal seems to enjoy the run of events and ends his meal telling bedelia that it is her who killed their guest... technically: hannibal: that may have been impulsive. bedelia: you’ve been mulling that impulse ever since you decided to serve punch romaine (...). hannibal: technically, you killed him (...). bedelia: two men from the capponi are dead. hannibal: i can only claim one... technically. (hannibal, season 3, “secondo”). figure 2. this is probably the first murder that hannibal committed, presumably, on the impulse, yet the dialogue between him and bedelia as well as their attitude to the whole situation make the killing ridiculous. (nbc “photo galleries”) the significance of food is not as explicit in the novels and films, as it is in the series. the tv show transforms depictions of food into visual spectacle. tom gunning claims that the spectacle evokes curiosity, and incites shock and surprise (fuchs 2015: 106). this visual spectacle of food depiction has been recently named as the phenomenon of “food porn.” according to signe rousseau it denotes evocative depictions or even descriptions of food both in literature and visual media (fuchs 2015: 107). 55 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles figure 3. the images of food are omnipresent in the tv show. (nbc “photo galleries”) aesthetic representations of food inspired hannibal’s fans to prepare courses based on the dishes from the tv show. probably the most well-known food blog about the cuisine from hannibal is the one created by the food stylist, janice poon. fuchs argues that such attempts toward recreating the meals from the series exceed the boundary between reality and fiction: “nbc’s show indicates that the repeated spotlighting and excessive visualization of food may spur viewers to transform textual traces into lived experience. in this way, images of hannibal’s dishes cross the borderline between fiction and reality” (fuchs 2015: 108). crossing the borderline only proves that food functions as an aesthetic means to create an artistic image both of the series and of hannibal. it influences our senses and makes us forget about the cannibalistic aspect of the performance. employing the previously mentioned theory of excess, hannibal exceeds cannibalism by its aesthetic celebration. encouraged by the show, the viewers prepare similar courses at their homes, crossing the boundaries between fiction and reality. 6. techniques of aestheticization the television series employs a number of techniques in order to aestheticize the title character. in the tv show, hannibal is presented as an upper class aesthete always elegant and sophisticated. cinematographic frames are focused on texture details, accentuated lighting and foregrounding silhouettes, which provide the viewer with a painting-like image (wise 2013). during the scenes of dialogues between hannibal and other characters, the protagonist is granted a noticeable number of close-ups. shaw claims that it is also the way in which the series is shot that has an impact on our perception of the main character, creating a more sympathetic portrayal of the villain: “close-ups of hannibal help to secure our empathy for his character independently of our cognitive evaluations of his actions” (shaw 2016: 201). 56 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles in the show, rarely do the viewers witness hannibal’s acts of murder, which also plays a key role in the process of aestheticization of the main character. the audience does not see lecter kill anyone on-screen up until the eighth episode of the first season (hannibal, season 1, “fromage”). even then, hannibal kills tobias seemingly in self-defence, since it is the doctor who is attacked. according to fuchs, the clues, not the evidence that hannibal truly is the cannibal, construct an enchanting monster whom the spectators fear but also desire (2015: 100). even if later on the audience witnesses hannibal during the carnage, the viewers never see hannibal kill as the chesapeake ripper. pavelich claims that for the spectators it would be too much to “maintain anything like sympathy for the character” (2016: 129). he argues that the spectators can turn a blind eye to the fact that he is a murderer and a cannibal, yet seeing him rip the organs out while his victims are still alive “would be harder for audiences to swallow” (2016: 129). therefore what the viewers do see on the screens are “only the stylish results of lecter’s crimes” (shaw 2016: 203). taking techniques of the shooting into consideration, one may notice that the way in which the scenes are framed, the dark and cold colours, and finally, the expositions of the corpses resembling artistic tableaus (łuba 2014: 171) clearly result in creating an artistic product. pas claims that taking a closer look at the tableaus one can find “traces of goya, redon, ensor, gunther von hagens körperwelten, joel-peter witkin, andres serrano, sally mann and many more” (2015). not only can we find artistic elements in the crime scenes, but also we may appreciate the artistry when the setting seems ordinary. it does not matter whether dr. lecter is having a therapeutic session with his patients or enjoying an exquisite course at the table, an aesthetical aspect found in every scene presents the final product “as a work of art, embodying class, beauty and grandeur” (wise 2013). nevertheless, it is the artistic aspect of murders that allures the audience. the television series like hannibal tend to depict violence in such a way so as to attract their viewers and make them even more interested in the scenes which contain violent elements rather than the ones that do not depict cruelty. therefore, one may find it difficult not to agree with gronstad who claims that sometimes aestheticization is isomorphous with beauty (2008: 41). the creators of the tv show beautify the horrific aspects of the series by means of aestheticization. clarke argues that hannibal’s narrative and form are thus constructed “around the aesthetic appreciation of murder, (…) render[ing] murder into art” (2016). in hannibal, both violence and murder are presented “through the lens of art (clarke 2016). while discussing the theory of aestheticization employed in the television series, one has to remember that apart from showing a beautifying aspect of murder the viewer has to feel distant from the gory scenes. the role of aestheticization is also to let the audience enjoy the violence by reminding them it is not real. bryan fuller points out that this is exactly what the creators attempted to do: if it’s too real it’s no fun for me. i’m very sensitive. the horror that we do on the show has a heightened quality to it and i kind of need that vibrating above reality-sense in order to enjoy the work, and have fun with it. if it’s too real, then it’s not as much fun. (wise 2013) 57 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles gwyn symonds argues that by image-rendering open wounds or body parts can be depicted in great detail, depersonalizing violence and “fetishiz[ing] physical damage” (clarke 2016). he thereafter claims that the viewers are able to detect details which are imperceptible to a human eye. by doing so, the spectators experience hyperreal representation of violence. in hannibal, techniques such as manipulation of depth or close-ups give us the impression of a hyperreal aesthetics (clarke 2016). angela ndalianis asserts that hannibal is undoubtedly “one of the most powerfully affect-driven shows to ever grace the television screen” (2015: 279). she claims that the audience is influenced by a “cacophony of sensory assaults” (2015: 279). the show employs synaesthesia, since it stimulates our sense of smell by the visual representations of food. apart from evocative depictions of food enabling us to almost smell and taste the courses, hannibal refers to our senses by displaying corpses like pieces of art and influencing our emotions with the classical or psychedelic music. ndalianis writes that all of this “collaboratively work[s] to absorb the ‘viewer’ on the level of the sensorium” (2015: 279). she also adds that while watching hannibal, the viewers get immersed “in a disturbing feast of the senses that simultaneously makes us, as much as the show’s characters, co-victims of hannibal’s machinations” (2015: 280). influencing our senses, hannibal invites us to his “mad surrealistic world” (logsdon 2015), and encourages us to look into our deeply hidden sinister nature. 7. conclusions the tv series employs various techniques to aestheticize the title character. the creators of the show present hannibal as a clever manipulator, who remains mysterious and mesmerizing. they depict him as a figure of awe and power, commanding respect and attention. the viewers become prone to his hypnotising personality and are, as the characters of the show, victims of his manipulation. just as in the novels and films, lecter is an aesthete who is devoted to art and music. he creates artistic tableaus from the corpses and delicious masterpieces of culinary art from his victims’ flesh. what is more, the show does not diminish the role of humour as an intrinsic element of the character, employing jokes expressing power and inside jokes by means of which hannibal appears to be even more sympathetic. finally, the omnipresent images of food make the viewers even more engaged with the character and engrossed in watching the show. references black, joel. 1991. the aesthetics of murder: a study in romantic literature and contemporary culture. baltimore/london: the johns hopkins university press. breikss, selena k.l. 2016. a rare gift. in: joseph westfall (ed.), hannibal lecter and philosophy, 135-146. chicago: open court. calabrese, omar. 1992. neo-baroque: a sign of the times. princeton: princeton university press. fuchs, michael. 2015. cooking with hannibal: food, liminality and monstrosity in hannibal. european journal of american culture 34.2. 97-112. fuller, bryan. 2013-2015. hannibal. sony pictures television. 58 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles gronstad, asbjorn. 2008. transfigurations: violence, death and masculinity in american culture. amsterdam: amsterdam university press. jones, tim. 2016. a little empathy for hannibal is a dangerous thing. in: joseph westfall (ed.), hannibal lecter and philosophy, 147-157. chicago: open court. łuba, dagmara. 2014. embrace the madness – mroczna władza hannibala nad umysłami. in: krawczyk-łaskarzewska, naruszewicz-duchlińska, and przytuła, seriale w kontekście kulturowym: gatunki, konwergencja, recepcja, 165-174. olsztyn: instytut filologii polskiej uniwersytetu warmińsko-mazurskiego. ndalianis, angela. 2015. hannibal: a disturbing feast for the senses. journal of visual culture 14.3. 279-284. pavelich, andrew. 2016. the light from friendship. in: joseph westfall (ed.), hannibal lecter and philosophy, 123-134. chicago: open court. shaw, dan. 2016. empathy for the devil. in: joseph westfall (ed.), hannibal lecter and philosophy, 199-216. chicago: open court. westfall, joseph. 2016. a funny thing happened on the way to the dinner party. in: joseph westfall (ed.), hannibal lecter and philosophy, 171-184. chicago: open court. internet sources clarke, rowena. 2016. consuming television’s golden age with hannibal lecter. alluvium 5.2. https://www.alluvium-journal.org/2016/05/31/consuming-televisions-golden-age-withhannibal-lecter (14 july 2018). fuchs, michael. 2017. eat, kill… love? courtship, cannibalism, and consumption in hannibal. adacemia.edu. https://www.academia.edu/26851554/eat_kill_love_courtship_cannibalism_ and_consumption_in_hannibal (15 march 2017) logsdon, richard. 2015. playing with fire: an examination of the aesthetics of collusion in nbc’s hannibal. academia.edu. https://www.academia.edu/12105805/_playing_with_fire_ an_examination_of_the_aesthetics_of_collusion_in_nbc_s_hannibal (16 march 2017) pas, daan. 2015. analysing hannibal, the series. academia.edu. https://www.academia. edu/11316774/analysing_hannibal_the_series (17 february 2017). wise, sophie. 2013. nbc’s hannibal: the dichotomy of elegance and exploitation. the artifice. https://the-artifice.com/hannibal-elegance-exploitation (1 february 2017). web pages web 1 – nbc. “photo galleries.” https://www.nbc.com/hannibal/photos (17 february 2017). argument for method: an application of barthes’ language codes in poetry 60 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) john timothy robinson1 doi: 10.15290 / cr.2019.26.3.05 west virginia, usa orcid: 0000-0003-4560-1267 argument for method: an application of barthes’ language codes in poetry abstract. this essay is a direct application of the five language codes described in roland barthes’ essay “style and its image”. the language codes consist of the actional (proairetic) code; the literal action of subjects or characters within the dramatic plot of the poetry; the referential, or the cultural worldview of the work’s subject or theme; the semantic, those suggestive details which describe characters or the setting of the work; the hermeneutic, considering language units which conceal unknown aspects of the work or facts about character, setting or other qualities of the writing, though also those qualities traditionally considered literary conventions; and the symbolic, or those aspects of language which suggest ideas beyond the literal text itself. the writer takes a fresh look at an earlier example of contemporary american poetry using structuralist discourse as a tool with which to explicate donald hall’s poem “the town of hill”, first published in 1975. keywords: critical theory, literary studies, comparative literature, interdisciplinary studies, post-structuralist theory. 1. argument for method in roland barthes jonathan culler states that the eminent literary theorist was fascinated by ideas to such an extent that each “…time barthes urged the merits of some new, ambitious project—a science of literature, a semiology, a science of contemporary myths, a narratology, a history of literary signification, a science of divisions, a typology of textual pleasure—he swiftly passed into something else” (culler 1983: 12). posthumously, others have resumed barthes’ interests with great enthusiasm and vigor. his theories were taken up in linguistics, comparative literature, culture studies and many other academic disciplines. they were also applied to film study of such american classics as the wizard of oz. however, my interest here remains with the language codes barthes describes in “style and its image” (the rustle of language, barthes 1989). to the best of my knowledge there exist very few applications of the language codes in the study of poetry. existing studies tend toward semiotics, stylistics, rhetorical analysis or jakobson’s linguistic analysis of poetry (culler 1976). where studies of the language are found, they usually only 1 address for correspondence: 8869 five mile road, gallipolis ferry, wv 25515, usa, email: jtrobinson@k12.wv.us 61 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) focus on narrative. structuralist poetics typically take a semiotic approach rather than an objective analysis described in “the structuralist activity” (critical essays, barthes 1972). regardless of the fact of the post-structuralist condition of literary history, these ideas can still find a meaningful application to the study of poetry. barthes said that just “…as einsteinian science compels us to include within the object studied the relativity of reference points, so combined action of …” [any synthesis of reading approaches] “…compels us in literature, to relativize the relations of scriptor, reader and observer (critic)” (barthes 1972: 57). thus, there exist in any discourse a set of given parameters, though they are relative to each other and not fixed. therefore, scholars could examine works in slightly different ways and remain within a developed theoretical framework. however, also because certain limits will appear in the application of such an approach which have been affected by the development of other critical disciplines, i have used the term “stereographic discourse” because this is the descriptive term used by the originator of the code system himself. also, historically, since all postmodernity shares this condition of knowledge, the approach i use and the way i discuss certain aspects will seem more appropriate than others. since there exists no single model and only a given set of generalized concepts, what this means is that any critical method can be combined and utilized with any other discourse. this position sounds like an advocation of the multi-disciplinary zeitgeist of our age, although i believe such an endeavor is rewarding for those interested in the application of theoretical ideas to the study of literature. i believe in a balanced, close reading approach while also employing synchronous and diachronous modes of discourse. reading strategies are no simpler today as a choice between merely two options. at this point in literary history we have seen good examples as to how to approach literary ideas as well as bad ones. what would be the best argument for an application of this theoretical discourse if one were to make a claim of validity for barthes’ language codes in this age? structuralism being “post-“today, is obviously a time condition, being historically after structuralism, and a method of discourse many feel was obliterated by deconstructionist literary theory. one could call the discourse poststructuralist because this term is historically attributed to a few scholars whose ideas theoretically assumed a status of popular attention shortly after structuralist discourse was translated for publication in the united states, roughly beginning in 1960 and culminated just after 1970 (leitch 1988: 238-266). the fact that barthes’ language codes were never applied to poetry validates my attempt, though in considering such an application of these ideas some modification of approach is necessary. as dr. calum gardner suggested to me in a recent communication, many see “…the five codes as a limit case demonstrating what structuralism can and can’t achieve and where it needs to become ‘post’” (personal communication, 2018). he also warned that perhaps a text of jouissance would be a most difficult challenge. further, he said that “…most poems aren’t narrative…the codes are specifically designed for narrative texts. i think you’d need to adapt the five codes for poetic language in particular—you would need to replace or redefine the proairetic and hermeneutic codes…” (personal communication). i agree with the above concerns and have 62 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) taken them into consideration at various places in the following essay. i will mention these aspects where they become relevant in the reading of “the town of hill”. since barthes’ language codes describe how aspects of language operate within the work of art to the effects and traits we attribute to literature, i feel to title the approach a stereographic analysis of poetry seems appropriate. this type of literary analysis would have a different approach in comparison with pure linguistics, semiotics or even the structuralist discourse of narratives barthes illustrates in his s / z (1975). concern arises in the application of the language codes in one’s treatment of two types of poetry; formal and free-verse. formalist poetry already illustrating a high degree of structure, would seem most logically the better material because the extent to which the rules of combination govern its form are pervasive. free-verse, by its own nature seems devoid of them or at least exhibits fewer formal attributes. the structural analysis of formal poetry yields a most robust material for formal commentary because form in this sense is what it is because the rules which govern form make the work a structure more specific beyond language. in this sense there are essentially two layers of language we notice right away, the formal aspects and then what the poem communicates. in the explication of free-verse, the codes must be exploited to such a degree that one must ascertain what the writer is doing with material in the given literary context and then move from the rules of combination that can be detected to a discussion of the work as a literary work of art. at the level of close reading, i consider the symbolic (sym) code as most relevant because this level also illustrates a layer exhibiting the rules of combination. as perloff (2004) illustrates in her discussion of language poets in differentials, close reading is still valuable because it first identifies common elements among writers and can then be used for comparative analysis. i briefly outline my understanding of the five codes and their usage at the end of this introduction. some may call this reading approach a discourse of barthean stylistics or a misunderstanding of the extent of the language codes themselves. in the application of my argument i have mapped the process of understanding how the codes operate in a single american text which i hope illustrates a new validity. this is not semio-linguistics, semiotics or even the linguistic structuralism of roman jakobson. the most well-known, historical example of what this approach is not remains best illustrated in michael riffaterre’s essay, “describing poetic structures: two approaches to baudelaire’s ‘les chats’” (1970: 188-230). the layered-ness, the free-play and the pleasure of the text are enough for valid applications of the critical stereographic approach to the study of poetry. one could logically ask if it is possible to say what i have said without reference to the language codes of roland barthes? perhaps, but such a negative response limits and omits discussion of certain aspects of what was originally a structuralist approach. as we know historically, other reading approaches developed in response to the need to address these aspects of language. this document serves to establish relevance in the justification of a literary analysis, a discourse that many abandoned, at least in its application to the study of poetry. today we see many examples from contemporary scholars applying the codes to narrative or other areas of culture studies. authors sabah zaib and ghulam mustafa mashori (2014) examined the “five codes of barthes 63 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) in shahraz’s story s“a pair of jeans”: a post-structural analysis”. maria asumta reniminryu has written a thesis titled, “analysis on roland barthes codes in the wizard of oz: a semiotic approach” (2009). bayu dirgasari authored a 2008 study titled: “a symbolism analysis as reflected in john keats’s “ode to a nightingale”. this retrospective reinvigoration of ideas indicates that literary discourse has moved beyond any single or common critical approach and that the norm of our time is a combination of approaches, a blend of or multiplicity or whatever ideas the scholar feels relevant for the text of consideration. such an approach would benefit from a close reading applied to a stereography of poetry because the language codes exist for clearly mapping and contextualizing discourse. however, there are moments where aspects of textual analysis seem most appropriate in this regard. rather than blending two known types into a third species of discourse, this method slows and places attention upon the fabric of text in illustration of its nature, character and inner-workings, how the parts relate to each other, though not as purely functional a definition as this may sound. scholars who placed moral and ethical emphasis upon structuralism were mistaken. a text such as robert scholes’s structuralism in literature: an introduction (1974) distorts in this regard the role and meaning of such an approach. the method of discourse is as barthes described in “the structuralist activity” (critical essays, barthes 1972) —a means of dissection and articulation of the literary object, the text. rather than destructive, i see this activity as productive and objective free-play. the aspect of being “post-” only implies the questioning of its own ground where limits exist. merit lies in not creating universals in a discourse which is best treated as a science of the literary object than of didactic modes of meaning. such discourse maps especially helpful problem in the examination of “difficult” literary works. also, as with the age, such a contemporary approach would utilize comparative analysis so as to thoroughly ground the argument in various types of literary evidence over time. a single analysis will not validate the application of the code system nor prove its pervasive relevance across genres. however, for preliminary purposes, a single explication established a beginning point for future comparative analysis of the application of the five codes in the study of poetry. to this end, i also turned to the roland barthes essay, “the structuralist activity” from the collection critical essays (barthes 1972). my approach is direct: to use the barthes essays, “the structuralist activity” and “style and its image” (the rustle of language, barthes 1989), as the basic framework and concepts for outlining the direct application of the language codes in reading contemporary american poetry. the framework described in the roland barthes essay, “the structuralist activity” (critical essays, barthes 1972), provides a two-fold method as well as a goal for discourse. dissection and articulation are the two, central activities which comprise the approach in just this order. in poetry which challenges the conventions of literature, it is expected that the sequence may be employed differently depending on the work in question. barthes says, “…to dissect the first object…is to find in it certain mobile fragments whose differential situation engenders a certain meaning…” (1972: 216). in free-verse, images serve as fragments of meaning and operate differently compared with, for example, images in formal poetry. my method of dissection for this paper has attempted a discussion of the parts as they relate to the whole. since 64 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) the “paradigm” is the poem itself, having its structure broken into separate phrases, words, images and syntactical units, articulation exists as the discussion of groups of lines and their significance. barthes writes that articulation means “once the units are posited” discourse “…must discover in them or establish for them certain rules of association…” (1972: 17). these rules of combination also ultimately present how the codes operate. articulation, for barthes, exists as the goal of discourse and the means to an end. in discovering the “rules of combination” for the work of art, one relates a significance between signifier and signified, word and language, between thought and experience (1972: 217). thus, articulation forms the rationale toward meaning in discourse or is discourse forming toward significance, though dissection and articulation together form the whole activity. barthes writes that the goal of all structuralist activity, whether reflexive or poetic, is to reconstruct an “object” in such a way as to manifest thereby the rules of functioning, (the “functions”) of this object. structure is therefore actually a simulacrum of the object but a directed, interested simulacrum, since the imitated object makes something appear which remained invisible, or if one prefers, unintelligible in the natural object. (barthes 1972: 214-215) throughout this essay, i attempt to deploy these types of analysis in repeated fashion, often alternately, though in logical sequence. i move through the poem, examining sets of lines and often move back and forth through the work and the codes in the process of discourse. in the study of poetry, the “rules of combination” among conventions have two essential layers. one could characterize the work in this sense as an archaeology of forms. the two layers consist of the english language itself and the conventions of the literary genre of poetry. within the literary layer, however, one may notice other aspects, especially the concept of style which most adroitly confronts the reader with numerous qualities of difference. the sonnet remains a classic example. the more highly formalized the poetic work, the easily such “rules of combination” are located. in such cases the rules make them what they are. with the free-verse poem, one would have to examine other “rules of combination” where elements of formality are absent and the grammar of some other speech becomes most prevalent, in order to? decipher “rules of combination”, because in these cases one would say that the rules are slightly different or that attention must find another locus. in formal poetry, the rule is the measure. it is the essence of its being. in free-verse one must look for a different tissue of causality, though the rules one finds may still be those operating within formal poetry. free-verse, in one sense, illustrates a degree of language where most of the poetic aspects have been stripped away or limited to a certain degree. typically, free-verse illustrates less formal surface rules of textuality. this is the reason why one must look deeper into the text to find the associations that govern its being. in a poem such as keats’s “on first looking into chapman’s homer”, the rules of combination are those of the sonnet; a fourteen lined poem written in iambic pentameter, having a rhyme scheme of abba abba cd cd cd with the standard octave and sestet division, complete with turn and volta. in this way, there exist three 65 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) prevalent sets of rules of combination or association; first, of total line length, second, of metrical pattern and last of rhyme scheme. however, other rules exist; choice of subject or theme, diction and the fact that even though writers understand the rules of form which make the sonnet what it is, there are deviations from patterns that are an accepted norm throughout various historical literary periods. one only need look to other scholars already having discussed such stylistic differences, such as northrop frye’s (1963) chapter on the age of johnson poets in fables of identity or frederick nims (1985), who has also documented in his essay “the sestina”, the varied cultural evolution of that form. even the more contemporaneous annie finch (2012) has given us a look at historical examples of such variance with her anthology villanelles. considering this, it is true of america today that a subversion of form is the collective, writerly cultural norm. given also recent anthologies of “hybrid” poetry, regional poets, cultural ethnic poetry or even writers of otherness, we should not find it surprising that so wide and various motives exist in the publishing industry of our time. numerous sub-forms of variation govern any formal poem, not just sonnets, villanelles, sestinas, pantoums or the more unfamiliar forms; skinny, dorsimbra or the minute. aside from these primary forms and rules of combination, there also exist that set of rules and expectations known as literary conventions; rhyme, diction, metaphor, simile, syntax, alliteration, symbol: that whole range of literary hand-book terminology that could apply to any given literary work. it is true that these ideas are more like tools than rules, though they still possess an operating principle through which one learns the correct way to execute their usage. this happens to be another area where rules of combination overlap or are subsumed within other rules of a larger framework. rules, like the sonnet form itself, have been lifted from the epistemology of genre and culturally normalized as exalted forms—a special form above most others, thus the tradition of higher status in certain societies or literary periods. even historically, as in fuller’s (1972) study, the sonnet, a hierarchy has been established as what is most highly valued even though variations of the sonnet have been historically accepted as the norm. this essay examines one poem using the language codes which examine layers of language. another aspect this brings to light is the depth of structure and the unique features only code analysis evokes. all literary texts embody the symbolic, or (sym) code aspect; a greater or generic form of symbolism. this deeper structure, which often provides context for the immediate, literal layer of text, is either an authorial, personal deliberation or a cultural aspect. barthes says “…this is the place for multivalence and reversibility; the main task is always to demonstrate that this field can be entered from any number of points, thereby making depth and secrecy problematic” (barthes 1975: 19). sometimes it is a matter attributed to spirituality or other aspects of the text which determine and shape its symbolic value. my use of free-verse in this regard refers to poetry that is free of verse qualities; metrical feet, highly formal structures and even tendencies of selection of material. if the deeper level of the symbolic code is not evident, then only the generic scripting of text as symbolic of the speech act remains evident. 66 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) the cultural-referential code, (ref), serves as the living historical-cultural context from which the work originates and considers textual, qualitative statements made concerning the material. barthes writes that “…the cultural codes are references to a science or body of knowledge; in drawing attention to them, we merely indicate the type of knowledge (physical, physiological, medical, psychological, literary, historical, etc.” (barthes 1975: 20). in robert frost’s “stopping by woods on a snowy evening”, for example, the setting establishes this code as socio-economic. the speaker describes a rural landscape, though what determines the cultural-referential aspect is that focus of attention on environment and the facts we learn as we read about the speaker’s observations of someone else’s property and his social status in the community. in percy-bysshe shelley’s “ozymandias”, the cultural-referential code would concern architectural or religious monuments. in walt whitman’s sonnet, “when i heard the learned astronomer”, the cultural-referential code could be stated as the scientific knowledge of astronomy. it is also important to note that just as barthes placed each lexia under close scrutiny, such analysis of poetry should also consider individual or pairs of lines, unless otherwise dense, in the identification of the presence of the codes. obviously, there exists the possibility for multiple citations of the same code within any given poem. one should begin analysis with titles, just as barthes (1975) did. if poetry can be discussed in terms of plot, the actional, (act), the proairetic concerns any literal actions which take place in the work. this code, though sometimes viewed in the context of an interrelationship among the other codes, remains essentially a structural analysis of the significance of action in relation to the structure of the work as a whole. anywhere action predominates over narrative, the flow of a structural reading slows to disclose how this influences reading. note that only plot-driven events constitute the proairetic. for poetry, the actions described will be less centered upon plot as the dramatic aspect of poetry is more centrally tied to the development of the ideas and emotions expressed in the work. the hermeneutic, (her), concerns the enigmas of the text that are not explained and therefore demand explication. barthes describes this as a list of the “…various (formal) terms by which enigma can be distinguished, suggested, formulated, held in suspense, and finally disclosed…” (barthes 1975: 19). the hermeneutic also refers to the sub-plot or any device meant to add emotional emphasis to a text, though also exhibits moments where the enigma manifests itself through language. it is not that the hermeneutic exists in any permanent, symbiotic relationship with any single code; moreover, it is as if the enigmas of text serve as a way to reveal insight or awareness through literal evocation of multiple codes through defamiliarization in the russian formalist sense of the term. this technique serves as a way to slow attention or awareness at particular moments in the text so as to create a breach of thought in the flow of any of the codes. this interruption typically facilitates a questioning or reflection, diversion of thought, subverts thought, or modify an explication toward a complex awareness or an un-foreseen conclusion. barthes cautions that “…these terms will not always occur…” though “…they will often be repeated; they will not appear in any fixed order” (barthes 1975: 19). this code would seemingly have greater emphasis in 67 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) discussions of the avantgarde small ‘a’ and ‘g’ here: avant-garde literature, language poetry or any text engaging complex thoughts or human experience. the semantic, (sem) code, operates like theme in literary analysis. barthes states that of these aspects “…we merely indicate them—without, in other words, trying either to link them to a character (or a place or an object) or to arrange them in some order so that they form a single thematic grouping…” (barthes 1975: 19). i think of the (sem) or, semantic code as “…a single thematic grouping…” or a literary theme (barthes 1975: 19). in every example barthes provides, this is evident. barthes also writes that the semantic code “…points to…additional meaning by way of connotation,” though “…barthes does not mean a free-association of ideas…but a correlation immanent in the text...an association made by the text-as-subject within its own system…” which he calls “…semantic connotations that have special meaning for the work at hand” (www.perdue. edu / english / theory). this would seem to have the grounding principle of a group of semes which bear the connotation of their form toward a given single impression or quality of character. the description of this character is most central in the exploitation of this code. in the strictest literary sense, the semantic denotes and modifies character and setting. in the theoretical, stereographic reading approach that i advocate, only the language of the text and its arrangement on the page forms the attention of the critic in the activity of articulation. sometimes this fails to produce an adequate explication and i draw upon the biography of the writer or his poetics. however, each of the codes are just as pliable and less finite as the one preceding. instead of singular modes branching out from a single code, there exist instead innumerable modes that remain possible for one’s discourse and no single one of them, or no single group of them can be thought of as the only valid course of articulating structure. perhaps this remains characteristic of all postmodern texts, though should not be thought of as a limitation. such multiplicity exists as a positive and not a negative trait. multiplicity of text in this sense pertains not to the multiple ways text may become interpreted, but the numerous, valid, navigable routes the scholar pursues through discourse because of the stereographic nature of text. the only hindrance in this regard lies in the fact of limited application of the codes to the study of poetry. the following essay is a new attempt in literary scholarship which hopefully maps fruitful possibilities in the application of the codes to the genre of poetry. the activities in my essay have taken the sequence of first, dissection and then articulation. in poetry which challenges the conventions of literature, it is expected that the sequence may be employed differently depending on the work in question. in “the town of hill”, images serve as fragments of meaning and operate differently compared with, for example, formal poetry. my method of dissection for this paper has attempted a discussion of the parts as they relate to the whole. since the “paradigm” is the poem itself, having its structure broken into separate phrases, words, images and syntactical units, articulation then, exists as the discussion of their internal and relational significance. barthes writes that articulation means “once the units are posited” structuralist discourse “must discover in them or establish for them certain rules of association…” (barthes 1972: 217). i have refrained from discussion of any linguistics, semiotics, or the 68 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) explication of the text which would seem to be the province of another, more intricate discipline, no matter how justified or relevant. 2. articulation and dissection: explication of structuralist stereographic aspects of donald hall’s “the town of hill” donald hall’s poem, “the town of hill”, was titled such in reference to a town named hill, in the history of new hampshire which was flooded as a preservation project. the title operates in both semantic and cultural-referential codes, first because the title makes reference to the name of a place. second, knowing the history of the name of the town and how it came to be named such, gives depth of cultural facts which are not disclosed to the reader during a reading of the work. however, the semantic connotation functions more explicitly in poetry as a suggestive device; a literary element which opens readings toward various levels of meaning. if a reader had no knowledge of this cultural-referential fact, that the town once existed and that it was located close to a place where the poet once lived, the poem would not take on the same quality or depth of meaning. “the town of hill” plainly states the object of the work—that the subject of the poem is the town itself. we are reading a poem about a town named hill. lack of clarity on behalf of the author only contributes to the mystery of its structure and meaning. hall says: it was a poem which went back to an earlier style. i don’t think it looks much like other poems, but it is a poem that is greatly dependent on, and interested in, its own sound. it is goatfoot and milktongue—and probably more milktongue than goatfoot and in a way i think that is what it is secretly about. about life before birth even, or perhaps very early on after birth. but i am not sure what it is secretly about, not yet. that usually takes me a few years. i mean, a few years after the poem’s finished (in: turner 1977: 128). the terms “goatfoot” and “milktongue” refer to concepts the author elaborates in a 1973 essay titled, “goatfoot, milktongue and twinbird; the psychic origins of poetic form”. “goatfoot” in this sense pertains to rhythm of a line of poetry, whereas “milktongue” refers to the pleasure of words. in “the town of hill”, the semantic communicates through connotative language from a fixed point in time, literally the historical existence of a town named hill. right away there exist cultural connotations of the town: it was named after isaac hill, a new hampshire democrat, who also served as the state’s governor in the early nineteenth century. it is a cultural fact that the town was established in a geographically poor position and thus, had to be flooded to protect other towns in the area. the town was then relocated to another geographic area. structurally, the poem has been arranged in twenty-four lines of free-verse, though in the appearance of twelve pairs of enjambed lines. the last line is the only end-stopped unit in the entire poem. i will comment on rhythm at a later point, which yields some interesting effects among line-break and idea. the poem opens as we read, “back of the dam, under / a flat pad” (lines 1-2). “back of the dam” is the literal location of the town of hill, now submerged under 69 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) water. line two provides a figural, visual image as to what the surface of the water resembles. line one constitutes a cultural-referential point as a fixed place the reader can imagine as the setting where the action of the poem takes place. in its descriptive sense, “a flat pad” resembles some sort of utilitarian, depersonalized object; a pad of concrete, of glass or some similar, functional object. in front of this is positioned the industrial symbol of progress and capitalism—the dam, which here exists as a symbol of loss and destruction. thus, the dam operates a primary symbol of industrialism in the beginning of the poem. when the reader reads, “flat pad”, there is no realization of what?, as even with background knowledge of the poet and his life, only after several readings was this reader able to grasp what this phrase represents. the phrase, “a flat pad”, functions as a hermeneutic in that its description is an enigma of universal language. we do not know until the additional lines are read what we are visualizing. the semantic connotation here hints toward a speaker in sympathy with the former citizens of hill, who were forced to move in the face of the greater political machinery of legislative funding that created the dam. thus, thematically, this established the idea of a conflict between technology and humanity. the next two stanzas clarify the first enigma, though introduce another puzzle. the speaker says, “of water, church / bells ring / / in the ears of lilies, / a child’s swing” (lines 3-6). thus, the figurative language of “flat pad / / of water” has been explained as the reader should make the connection to the title and realize that the speaker here refers to the submerged town of hill. as the poem’s first, literal actional element, “church / bells ring” (lines 3-4). this signals however, another enigma because we know literally that churches do not exist under water, much less bells ring. the seemingly normal action, common in many small, american townships, then takes on a heightened, imaginative effect as the reader knows they cannot literally be sounding. bells ring in the personified ‘ears of lilies’, serving as a further hermeneutic intended to draw the reader’s attention to the memory of it’s the bells? the lilies? presence and the day-to-day events that would typically occur. hall says of the poem’s subject, “…perhaps it is part of a return to the past, and a re-examination of the past…” (in: turner 1977: 129). connotatively, the implications of this action could be more significant. bells only ring in the new england cultural-referential sense on sunday, wednesday evening before prayer service or during special events, such as weddings. the cultural-referential meaning draws the reader’s eyes, connotatively, symbolically up to the cupola to contemplate what usually dwells at its peak—the christian cross atop the spire. what is the reader to make of this gesture? the death knell of the township? perhaps that it is just the passing of the town being memorialized in the poem. the lilies have been personified, for only their “ears” hear those sounds, though realistically this is only in memory. the lilies could be reference to flowers in a yard, though most likely they serve as a connotative re-grounding in the scene initially described of a body of water where a town once existed. the lilies are most likely the spatterdock on the pond surface common to most eastern wetlands. this literal image alludes to another symbolic context in which the flowers were commonly grown in yards. thus, the poem’s codes operate in two modes at once; past and present, figural and literal. 70 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) the next two stanzas illustrate scenes from the town that once existed, though also introduce further enigmas. the speaker says, “a child’s swing / / curls in the current / of a yard, horned / / pout sleep / in a green” (lines 6-10). with the dynamic of underwater environments established, enigmas of the hermeneutic here operate in a different way. when the reader reads that “a child’s swing / / curls in the current / of a yard” we know these are again images of past life which are now submerged in water (lines 6-8). the next turn of phrase which signals a puzzle are the words, “horned / / pout”, a type of catfish native to the eastern united states. the image, however, of “horned / / pout sleep / in a green / / mailbox” remains another image of a reversal of environments (lines 8-11). elements in the first four images of the poem evoke the setting of small-town america; the “church”, the “child’s swing” situated in “a yard” as well as the “mailbox”. they are all classic images of early, twentieth century american culture, even though the mailbox is green because it is now covered in algae. thus, the cultural-referential aspect of these lines denotes a time gone to industrial progress. meaning a little unclear resident clifford otto has posted actual photos of the original town of hill at www.ghosttowns.com which show foundations, pipes and partial sidewalks. when the actual town was moved, the region only experienced periodic flooding caused by seasonal snow melt of the white mountains. throughout what remains of hill, here and there one can see different markings people have made to show the water level at various stages of flooding. the area is now known as the franklin falls dam recreational area. the physical actions such as “curls” and “sleep” suggest a relaxed or suspended state and also further connotative semiotics which reinforce the idea of the poem as a memory. the “horned / / pout sleep” because they have made their nest in the “green / / mailbox” (lines 8-11). the plot of the poem fits the observations of the speaker in describing the submerged town. here it is important to note that hall acknowledges “the mystery which exists in the plot” (in: turner 1977: 128). the images in the poem take on the dual nature of actual, once living or functional aspects of a community that no longer exists in the same sense as other living cultural entities. this dualistic nature of imagery has been exploited through the hermeneutic of the work and gives the poem a dreamlike quality of memory. the next eight lines establish what i will call the imagined action of the poem as the connotation of language suggests further actions and images the reader would see if the town existed. hall writes, “a boy walks / / from a screened / porch beneath / / the man-shaped / leaves of an oak / / down the street looking / at the town” (lines 12-18). in this sense, the action takes precedent in these lines. in terms of the semantic code, the image of a boy walking from a screened porch in a town yard where an oak tree grows, is an iconic american image. the theme of normalcy and sheer dailiness come to mind. the boy’s actions also shift the reader’s perspective as he walks down the street making his own observations of the town. these lines illustrate semantic and symbolic codes conjoined as the image itself has been loaded with purely american, symbolic meaning. its cultural-referential meaning exists along similar lines of thought, as the image evokes any normal day in any small town in america. the above seven lines comprise another hermeneutic code in that the entire action constitutes heightened realism—literally an imagined action or series of actions as the town no longer exists. within these lines, “the man-shaped / leaves of an oak” 71 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) connotate their literal symbolism of patriarchy (lines 15-16). the oak is positioned over the house and is associated with “man”, the man being in this historical context, the provider, protector, family leader, strong, sheltering and so forth. the boy walks from the house, the symbolic center of family life. setting subsumes the reading at the conclusion of the poem as the two semantic elements are unified through action. in the last six lines, imaginative and actual merge again as the poem achieves closure with the focus remaining on the door the boy opened. he has left the house and is walking down the street “looking / at the town / / of hill that water / covered forty / / years ago / and the screen / / door shuts / under dream water” (lines 17-24). after the actional code of the boy looking at the town, the reader learns cultural-referential facts concerning the flooding of the town. “the town of hill” was published in 1975. forty years before this, the government bought properties in the area between 1935 and 1938. construction of the dam did not begin until the latter. severe flooding prior to 1935 prompted intervention of the army corp of engineers. literally, the poem provides the final action of the plot: “water / covered forty / / years ago / and the screen / / door shuts / under dream water” (lines 19-24). since the boy cannot literally “look” at the town, one hermeneutic yields a final one as the reader sees that the “door shuts / under dream water” (lines 23-24). the actional code here blends with the hermeneutic in that this door, like all images of the town in the poem, remain imaginary. thus as well, the poem ends. further, the semantic aspects of connotative language such as “down”, “covered”, “shuts”, and “under” create the distance of memory and the present. it is almost as if the speaker places himself in the situation of the boy, walking literally through town, though recalling its past as well. the actional and cultural-referential lines “the town / / of hill that water / covered forty / / years ago” serve also as the antithesis of the literal / figural motif of the poem and ground the context back in the actual setting where the poem began. the last three lines however, reestablish the hermeneutic enigma of not knowing if the town is real or if the poem is just a memory as the reader is faced again with another submerged town image where “the screen / / door shuts / under dream water” (lines 22-24). in another semantic and hermeneutic sense, the poet has chosen to repeat only a few words throughout the poem; “town”, “hill”, “water”, “under”, and “screen”. this semantic cluster appears twice throughout the work, including the title. usually, when a poet utilizes repetition, it is a sign that attention is being directed at some aspect of the given. the meaning of this cluster further connotates the factual content of the poem’s subject. only one word appears three times throughout: “water” (lines 3, 19 and 24). contextually it is associated by its literal position adjacent to words such as “church”, “hill” and “dream” (lines 3, 19 and 24). also of significance, each cluster appears in separate parts of the poem, once at the beginning and once at the end. the word “water” has been given as the last word in the last line. connotatively, this cluster of words functions as an allusion to the actual facts of the cultural-referential event of the poem. even though it is now a well-worn analogy, the speaker may feel as if the water exists as a great symbol of the unconscious or the memories that form this imagined landscape of a town that no longer exists. the last lines achieve closure in that the door the boy opens, is the door that 72 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) closes. this door, literally of home, represents connotatively, the center of all meaning and personal history, the heart of one’s existence. when this “door shuts / under dream water”, the memory no longer exists (lines 23-24). donald hall has provided a well-crafted poem, which appears on the surface as a very simple memory poem, though in fact possesses many complex aspects. hall’s use of rhythm and line-break in “the town of hill” blend semantic, hermeneutic and symbolic codes. the natural spoken rhythm of mainstream free-verse of 1975 has been deliberately confused and enjambed in the poet’s use of line-break. hall says that in the process of writing this poem he “became aware that” he “was writing a single sentence, and became interested in the” poem’s “syntax” (in: turner 1977: 130). here, unusual aspects exist as intentional complications of structure which have a logical function in understanding the dynamic of the way the poem operates. reading the lines as if they were natural speech patterns, they do not flow or seem to flow naturally to logical pauses visually on the page. in terms of image, the poem takes a very carefully paced, though couplet-like structure. syntactical units have been broken up as units in and of themselves from the beginning of the poem to the end. hall employs commas, though there exists only one end-stopped line, the very last. reading “the town of hill”, even in the first two lines, flow of rhythm is disrupted. the comma pauses before the word under, and the word would normally have position as the first word in the next syntactical unit if read as a flow reflective of natural speech rhythms. clearly then, it is not because other things are happening. that kind of rhythm, whatever you choose to call it, has been disrupted. to further complicate rhythm, hall has structured the shortened lines into stanzas. how is the reader to think of the white space between? in one sense, we begin to see after a few stanzas where the natural rhythms are and looking at the arrangement on the page, the mind sees this connected flow, though the reading utterly counters that unity. here, material and the local contribute to the meaning of structure. discord exists because the town of hill was forever abandoned and submerged in water. in reading, the mind wants to place certain units together that have literally been separated on the page. during the reading process, one wants to place “under” at the beginning of the second line so that it reads with the natural rhythm of statement, like a sentence: “back of the dam / under a flat pad” (lines 1-2). these are coherent ideas, separate though unified thoughts describing this underwater town. although the reader does not sense this yet, the speaker describes the surface and only in reading the lines that follow do we then get the sense that something different is forming from other sensibilities. this disruption of syntax creates a harmony of the dualities which remain central to the poem’s structure. this type of structural complexity however, was not the original intention of the author. hall says in writing the poem, “the various orders were not thought out ahead of time, but improvised, looked at, rejected and tried again”, though not to “a conclusive ending intellectually” as “the poem began to make this spacey, skinny thing” (turner 1977: 131). the imagistic expectations of images have been utilized as an enigma within the line structure conveying a sense of prolonged attention to image and the nature of memory. every other line contains an image of submersion. though these parts of the town environment no longer exist, the reader eventually senses 73 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) through additional readings what has taken place. the speaker says, “down the street looking / at the town / / of hill that water / covered forty / / years ago” (lines 17-21). attention shifts back and forth among two types of imagery— between what was once real and the reality of submersion. a real place has been characterized through images of every-day life and a flooded landscape which further recapitulates the tension or conflict of past and present. the speaker associates the submerged imagery of the town with dream conveying that memories of the actual may be just as elusive. this idea concludes the poem, figuratively and literally. as we read, “and the screen / / door shuts / under dream water” (lines 22-24). symbolically, the physical landscape as well as the remembered past only exist in the remote obscurity of memory like objects under water. 3. conclusion my conclusion concerning the structure of “the town of hill” involves a summary of the features of the poem as a sentence. this may prove helpful in understanding its enjambment as well as its hermeneutic enigmas. although the poem appears to be constructed in sets of two lined stanzas, the structure of a single sentence underlies the whole. as a sentence, the subject, “the town / / of hill that water / covered forty / / years ago” has been placed at the end of the sentence (lines 18-21). the poem begins with the setting of the dam, though adverbially, “back of the dam”, and specifically, the preposition “under” denotes both the submerged town and the speaker’s placement in the present, thinking back on the history of the town (line 1). within the apposition of the sentence have been provided four groups of images that describe the fact of submersion through common objects from every-day life. here, unconventional use of enjambment creates an unnatural pause in the lines and this primarily serves the hermeneutic of blurring the distinction between past and present. this type of line structure exists throughout the poem. the images illustrate visually what is submerged, though also as in memory, what once existed as a normal town. these images are as follows; “church / bells ring / / in the ears of lilies”, the second of “a child’s swing / / which curls in the current / of a yard…,” here blending with the third, where “horned / / pout sleep / in a green / / mailbox…” and here again blending as if in a hermeneutic of the line-break with the fourth motif, “…and / a boy walks / / from a screened / porch beneath / / the man-shaped leaves of an oak / / down the street looking / at the town” (lines 3-18). at this point, the reader sees these images as if with the speaker, thinking back or even peering under water ourselves at the remains. i said earlier that the subject of this sentence has been displaced, moved to the end of hall’s sentence, something writers of prose often do to add emphasis to a thesis statement or when they try to draw attention to an idea. here, the lines containing the subject function as a hermeneutic of the line in that this information dispels the enigma of all images which have come before in the series. this signals the epiphany, mild though it is, which clarifies all images between the setting in lines one through two as remaining part of the speaker’s remembered landscape. after this point of clarity in the poem, the fourth image continues: “and the screen / / door shuts / under dream water” (lines 22-24). this fourth image remains most important in terms of structure for it contains the locus of conflict of the entire sentence. the speaker says, “…and / a boy walks / / from a screened / porch beneath / / the 74 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) man-shaped / leaves of an oak / / down the street looking / at the town” (lines 1-18). the boy has no name and in this way becomes allied with the speaker, as if thinking back, trying to recall what the reader sees happening in the poem. the boy “walks from” the house, the center of family life, “from”, more specifically those “man-shaped / leaves of an oak”, the father symbol, though only to engage in the detached activity of “looking at the town” (lines 12-18). since the fourth image has been disrupted by the more factual subject of the poem, also centrally denoted in the poem’s title, the central conflict remains one of memory. the apposition of the factual statement refers to the literal condition of water covering the town, though it places emphasis on the historical aspect, the fact that much time has passed and that this happened four decades ago from the imagined present of the speaker; only however, if one imagined the “present” of any work to be the year of first publication. this is established by the literal, cultural-referential facts of the history of the town of hill. thus, the poem creates a distance both within itself and between material and time. although one could interpret the symbolic import of “the town of hill” as a memory poem, i would not contribute to such a reading an atypical psychological structure of the whole. one could easily say the town’s being submerged represents human consciousness, or the unconscious due to their holding the power of memory, in fact, images which constitute memory. the poem carries symbolism of communal loss and patriarchy, through the hermeneutic codes it creates the distance and murkiness of memory. evidence is lacking in the poem to argue that the conflict exists between father and son. even arguments for the poem as some rite of passage yield no moment where this is ever confirmed in the actual code or any other aspect of the poem. i would not entirely argue much importance in the fact that the structure is, technically, a sentence because the structure remains visually and verbally poetic. since we cannot examine the poem in sentence form in the same way we diagram sentences in the study of grammar, the more rewarding examination in this respect lies in the poem as a poem. perhaps the most important parallel remains among the boy and the speaker, with no explicit conflict other than the fact of loss and the passage of time. recall also, however, man’s engineering, one type of industrial science which creates structures and deploys them, is what creates the loss, though saves life and townships in turn. i would therefore, place the most meaningful emphasis on the poet’s role of creation, especially because of the facts we know about hall’s poetic process in writing this poem. hall says that he was interested in the idea of the single sentence as a poem, though he said he tested the combinations of line structure, kept re-arranging them throughout the poem’s development. regarding lineation, hall writes that he conceived of the line structure in such a way that “alternative lineations are possible…” though also with “…the sound as reinforcing sense, or enforcing sense for the first time…” (in: turner 1977: 130). this explains the poem’s odd enjambment. he further says, “i kept changing the organization of things…certainly the various orders were not thought out ahead of time but improvised…” (in: turner 1977: 131). this signals pleasure in the play of words and language in the conscious mind of the creator. as barthes says in “from work to text”, “the text…decants the work…from its consumption and recuperates it as play, task, production, 75 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) practice” (barthes 1989: 62). i find this notion of play central to the structure employed in “the town of hill”, though it also has a central role in hall’s poetic process. references barthes, r. 1972. critical essays. translated by richard howard. evanston: northwestern university press. barthes, r. 1975. s / z: an essay. translated by richard miller. preface by richard howard. new york: farrar straus & giroux. barthes, r. 1989. the rustle of language. translated by richard howard. berkeley: university of california. culler, j. 1976. structuralist poetics: structuralism, linguistics and the study of literature. journal of aesthetics and art criticism 34 (3): 352-353. culler, j. 1983. roland barthes. oxford: oxford university press. dirgasari, b. 2008. a symbolism analysis as reflected in john keats’s “ode to a nightingale.” thesis, uin, jakarta. frye, n. 1963. fables of identity. new york: harcourt, brace & world. hall, d. 1974. the town of hill. boston: godine. hall, d. 1978. goatfoot, milktongue, twinbird: the psychic origins of poetic form. in: d. hall (ed.), claims for poetry, 141-150. ann harbor: the university of michigan press. felluga, d. (n.d.). modules on barthes: on plotting. introductory guide to critical theory, 26 june. 2017, www.cla.purdue.edu / english / theory / narratology / modules / barthescodes.mtml. finch, a. 2012. villanelles. new york: alfred a. knopf. fuller, j. 1972. the sonnet. london: methuen. jakobson, r. & levi-strauss, c. 1962. les chats de charles baudelaire. l’homme 2: 5-21. kane, j. 2012. introduction: the history of the villanelle. in: a. finch & m.-e. mali (eds.), villanelles, 19-24. new york: alfred a. knopf. keats, j. 1816. on first looking into chapman’s homer. www.poetryfoundation.org. (september 2019). leitch, v. b. 1988. american literary criticism from the 1930s to the 1980s. new york: columbia university press. nims, j. f. 1985. a local habitation: essays on poetry. ann arbor: the university of michigan press. perloff, m. 2004. differentials: poetry, poetics, pedagogy. tuscaloosa: university of alabama press. reniminryu, m. a. 2009. analysis on roland barthes’ codes in the wizard of oz: a semiotic approach. undergraduate thesis, english department, gundarma university. riffaterre, m. 1970. describing poetic structures: two approaches to baudelaires’s “les chats”. in: j. ehrmann (ed.), structuralism, 188-230. garden city, ny: doubleday. scholes, r. 1974. structuralism in literature: an introduction. new haven / london: yale university press. 76 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) turner, a. (ed.). 1977. fifty contemporary poets: the creative process (donald hall). new york: david mckay. zaib, s. & mashori, g. m. 2014. five codes of roland barthes in shahraz’s story, “a pair of jeans”: a post-structural analysis. elf annual research journal 1: 171-184. *** john timothy robinson is a mainstream poet of the expressive image and inwardness from the kanawha valley in mason county, west virginia. his poetics was developed in the tradition of james wright, rita dove, donald hall, marvin bell, maxine kumin, ws merwin and robert bly among many others. john’s 150 works have appeared in 102 journals throughout the united states, canada, the united kingdom and india. he is also a published printmaker with eighty-eight art images and photographs appearing in journals, electronic and print in the united states, italy and ireland. “what we need is a common language, even more than having the same methods of research.” an interview with radegundis stolze on translational hermeneutics and its place and role within translation studies 99 crossroads. a journal of english studies “what we need is a common language, even more than having the same methods of research.” an interview with radegundis stolze on translational hermeneutics and its place and role within translation studies by larisa cercel lc: dr. stolze, you are the author of a translation studies bestseller (the 7th edition of übersetzungstheorien. eine einführung was published in may 2018 by narr verlag in tübingen). you are looking back on a work that testifies to the great diversity of your scholarly interests, ranging from language for specific purposes (lsp) to literary translation. however, the central point of your research on the phenomenon of translation is hermeneutics, a subject to which you have dedicated a number of publications (hermeneutisches übersetzen. linguistische kategorien des verstehens und formulierens beim übersetzen, narr, 1992; hermeneutik und translation, narr, 2003; the translator’s approach. an introduction to translational hermeneutics with examples from practice, frank & timme, 2011). your last book, hermeneutische übersetzungskompetenz (frank & timme, 2015), also deals with this field of research from a didactic perspective. why did you want to write a book on translation competence? and is hermeneutics teachable at all? it is largely based on the principle of subjectivity and leaves much room for individuality. rs: i see two questions here. the first question is why we should talk about translation competence. translation, as i see it, is in practice an activity that takes place within a society. its goal is to help communication so that people can understand one another even across language borders. as a service, translation is a dynamic task to be performed by persons within their society and not in a vacuum. translators are mediators of messages, and therefore they carry a lot of responsibility. 100 crossroads. a journal of english studies readers of translated texts expect to receive a truthful presentation of the content. in that sense, translating is professional work and it can be learned like any other profession. people working as professionals have to know what they are doing and why, how they might justify their decisions and what their strategies are. these strategies may vary individually, there is no general step-by-step method to be standardized. that is why we talk of “translation competence”. in my book, i tried to present several aspects that are part of that competence. critical self-reflection is one of them. as you said, the core of my academic work dealing with the phenomenon of translation has been on “hermeneutical translation”, because i realized that translating is a task to be performed by living people, and not an automatic process. so the scientific subject should be an analysis of our attitude towards texts, the way we deal with them, and our outlook on the world. hermeneutics as the methodology of interpretation is concerned with problems that arise when dealing with meaningful human actions and the products of such actions, most importantly texts. as a methodological discipline, it offers a toolbox for efficiently treating problems of the interpretation of human actions, texts and other meaningful material. hence, i am convinced that hermeneutics is also relevant for translation. secondly: can we teach and learn hermeneutics which is based on the principle of subjectivity and leaves much room for individuality? well, we all are living in a culture and a particular society, are we not? our individuality is limited by the freedom of others and by the tradition of our culture. any social activity is carried out by individual subjects and, at the same time, guided by social traditions. hans-georg gadamer has underlined the principle of understanding as entering into a tradition and, as he explains, “the consciousness of being affected by history” is important (truth and method, 1990, p. 301). since the ancient world, hermeneutics has been conceived as the way of understanding within a particular group: christianity, lawyers, ideological circles. we only understand “in the light” of our given knowledge – this is the so-called “hermeneutical circle”. teaching is focused on imparting methods of how to really understand a specialized text: in law, politics or bible translation according to the christian background. of course hermeneutics is indeed teachable and has been taught, but individual interpretation always remains there, which promotes further debate. in the early 19th century friedrich schleiermacher reversed the perspective from the text to be understood onto the question of whether understanding is actually possible, since correct understanding is not a matter of fact. he presented some aspects of grammatical understanding as a complement to understanding in divination. he called for “hermeneutics and criticism” (1838, english translation published 1998). this, again, reduces individuality and became a basis of text linguistics later on. phenomenology was introduced, as we ask how individuals see objects and foreign ideas. since then, modern hermeneutics has been a language philosophy reflecting on the conditions of comprehension. when translating is understood as the representation of a message and not as a mapping operation of sentences, then what is the first step in dealing with texts to be translated? it is the attempt, first of all, to understand that text, just in the same way that gadamer had defined human 101 crossroads. a journal of english studies existence as fundamentally rooted in language, in that “being that can be understood is language” (truth and method, 1990, p. 474). that is how hermeneutics as a language philosophy comes into play for translation studies. lc: there are many translation competence models in translation studies (e.g. by gyde hansen, susanne göpferich, hanna risku, pacte). what is the specific difference of your approach? what gap in research does your hermeneutical model of translation competence try to close? rs: in my book published in 2015, i mentioned various models regarding translation competence (see pages 35-48). they all present a clear description of factors that constitute expertise. gradually, the models become more sophisticated, but the basic result of that small survey is that translation competence is a complex phenomenon, a set of various linguistic, emotional and social capacities. these capacities are qualities featured by people and the subjectivity we mentioned previously is never excluded. however, these qualities have been drawn from empirical studies: questionnaires, translation criticism, think-aloud-protocols, interviews, comparison of the work of students and professionals. they document what translators are actually doing; they do not show how these competencies are taught in the classroom. all these models show similar aspects, though with a different terminology. it is true that, in the end, a professional translator working with a hermeneutical approach, will present similar qualities. the focus in those models is on the description of either classes of requirements (hansen, risku) or actual qualities of expertise found in quantitative analysis (pacte, göpferich). so far, no model has achieved the status of determining the discussion in general translation studies. one aspect, however, is missing in these descriptive models: the question of how all of these factors are interlinked, how they are working together in the translator’s mind. we have to distinguish, on the one hand, between the capacities of the person, external conditions, the translator’s commission, elements of knowledge regarding languages and disciplines, etc., and the strategic dynamic application of the factors in dealing with texts on the other hand. a detailed description of the factors and parameters of translation competence will not explain whether and how the individual translator acts and brings them together in order to create an adequate translation. my approach is a prospective self-interrogation of how one should deal with the text to be translated. the goal is an interlinking and constant enlargement of one’s knowledge in the strategic process of translating. the gap in research i intend to close is the change from the horizontal description of necessary qualities to the dynamic question of how to apply one’s knowledge in practice. the mere description of activity as a model will not automatically create a corresponding action in the translator. as a responsible mediator of messages, the translator has to decide for himself or herself what the special problem in a particular text is and how to deal with it. 102 crossroads. a journal of english studies in my didactic approach, i see the necessary combination of analysing the language form and looking behind it into the cultural background. for that purpose i have developed some “fields of orientation” for understanding the source text and for formulating it in the target language. it is a strategic reflection from a personal perspective, based on responsible attention, relevant knowledge and functional language proficiency. the notion of “embodiment” also includes reflection on one’s own historical situation and on the external conditions of the work mentioned above. hermeneutics may be said to be asking for orientation in the world when we are acting in that world. in some of the models, when talking of the rules to be learned as a student, there is still the idea of an inter-lingual transfer, of a comparison between language structures. conversely, my hermeneutic approach deals with the text in a holistic manner in order to grasp the message as a semiotic entity that will be represented later on in the other language. this “hermeneutic turn” in translation studies means a different more personalized approach to texts. lc: can the holistic approach in translational hermeneutics also be seen – besides being a hallmark of a hermeneutic model of translation competence – as a research paradigm? what, in your opinion, are the salient characteristics, the place and the role of translational hermeneutics within translation studies? the holistic approach changes the translator’s outlook on his or her texts. translation is the representation of the message that is understood and that is now cognitively present in the translator’s mind and will be re-presented in another language. as a research paradigm, this offers a platform for studies regarding concrete dealing with texts while translating. in my opinion, this field of studies has not yet been sufficiently examined, in particular regarding the input and procedural strategy. let me mention some examples: • one could ask how much specialized knowledge is actually needed to translate specialist’s texts in a certain discipline by comparing translations done by educated general translators with those done by specialists with knowledge of the language. the results are relevant for translation teaching. • integrating phenomenology into the studies, one could ask how translators with different cultural backgrounds understand a certain text. what are the cultural metaphors capturing their attention? this might be particularly interesting for literary texts that are studied in a seminar with students from various countries. • one could test whether students are really applying the hermeneutical approach, for instance, by analysing think-aloud protocols: are they working on a word-to-word basis or with a holistic view? how do they reason about their solutions? this may be completed by eye-tracking: where do they look– at individual sentences or longer paragraphs? is there a difference between beginners and professionals? are they all working in the same schematic way or not? • regarding the life-long learning process, one could analyse whether there is a difference when students translate all kinds of texts or when they focus mainly on a specialist’s subject. 103 crossroads. a journal of english studies which input is relevant? this could be found out by means of a long-term study that compares translation criticism in subject-oriented or in multi-dimensional training courses for the same people. • one could also enquire about how modern tools are changing the learning and knowledge of student translators. what are the consequences when they stay close to the structural data of translation memories. maybe such tools are better used by professionals only, who already dispose of a relevant knowledge regarding the discourse field of the text. • regarding the testing of didactic methods, there could be a course teaching the transfer rules of contrastive linguistics and another course (with the same texts) teaching the hermeneutical approach. is there really a difference in the results of the work, both in quality and in the time needed to accomplish the task? questionnaires in both groups on the degree of difficulty felt in the text would also be interesting. • qualitative interviews with translators can give insight into their awareness of problems and methodology, their attitude towards their work and their experience. thus a profile of the personality of the translator could be created. this might be combined with an analysis of their output. • in the analysis of sub-titling, one could check whether an overall message in a film has been preserved or whether there are misunderstandings in individual propositions that lead to a distorted presentation of a character. • with videos of conversations among persons with different linguistic backgrounds one could try to find out different cultural habits, e.g. body language, and the consciousness of such persons in language games. a reflective self-awareness in role plays can be informative. • regarding the behaviour of the translator one might study records of self-observation, memories, the discussion of one’s own ideas, thus analysing the cognitive progress during translating. • introspection may show precisely the process of translating written texts and how the translator’s thinking is changed by that. what questions are posed by the text, how do target solutions arise, how is a first version revised rhetorically? • translators work within social networks, and this has consequences for translation management in practice. the observation of professional activities will show the development of social processes among job colleagues and in a team of translators. hermeneutics as a research paradigm in translation studies offers many opportunities for new studies on the translators’ activity. in my book, hermeneutische übersetzungskompetenz, 2015, pp. 347-353, i mentioned several studies in this context that have already been carried out, some of them under the topic of cognitive research. lc: in 1988, mary snell-hornby wrote about the hermeneutical approach in her book translation studies. an integrated approach: “in most translation theories of the 1980s, however, hermeneutic principles are not central. indeed, they are generally considered too vague to be a dependable basis 104 crossroads. a journal of english studies for the theoretical approach” (p. 43). does this statement need an update now, 30 years later? hermeneutic principles seem to be operative in major research areas of current translation studies. rs: absolutely, you are right. the reason for this is that, in the eighties, translation studies had a different perspective. theory concentrated on the comparison of languages, on so-called languagespecific difficulties in translating, on rules of inter-lingual transfer (newmark). linguistic analysis could work with exact data and, seen from that perspective, hermeneutic principles of course appeared much too vague. a hermeneutical approach, in those days, was also considered too subjective. it was only in the nineties that the cultural turn widened the horizon a bit and it became clear that translation is located within different cultures, with their history and particularities. the old statement that you mentioned really needs an update now. after the turn of the millennium, interest grew in analysing the activity of persons who actually are expressing their thought in languages. language as a system is no longer the sole subject of scholarly interest, now the focus is more on differences in cultures and in the cognitive capacities of people. and gradually more interest in hermeneutics came about. there are many empirical studies regarding the performance of translators and many of them support hermeneutic notions, even though often with a different terminology. i see a convergence between cognitive and psycholinguistic studies and hermeneutics when we look at language as a medium of expression. lc: it may be time to take stock of the development of translational hermeneutics in the last 30 years and to ask: what has been achieved in this time? and above all: what is still open and should constitute the future agenda of translational hermeneutics? rs: i think that the first step to mention was the slowly growing self-awareness among scholars with a hermeneutical view over the last 30 years. what actually began as a rather clandestine movement of sending private e-mails and in conversations during conferences has grown into a community of hermeneutical scholars now. initially, there was the feeling in many places that hermeneutical ideas were not mainstream, that they were not accepted among scholars, and there are still no chairs in this subject. thus, respective publications remained a marginal and isolated affair. the first conference on “translational hermeneutics” held in cologne in 2011 constituted a milestone and avaluable platform to bring together interested scholars from many countries. this gave an initial thrust to more cooperation among those who, so far, had been only in occasional contact. meanwhile the second volume on such a conference has been published in 2018 under the title “philosophy and practice in translational hermeneutics”. another development was the realization that hermeneutical thinking was also present in other regions. the language border between german, english and french was overcome by the translations of authors like steiner, berman and ricœur, who in earlier days were not read sufficiently by german scholars. the same is valid for the other countries, where german publications are 105 crossroads. a journal of english studies underrepresented because of a lack of language proficiency. translations into english of gadamer and heidegger appeared only at the end of the nineties. what is still open, and in my opinion constitutes a great issue is the question of terminology. many scholars argue more or less with a similar world view, both in the original hermeneutics area of literary translation and in the field of cognitive research and specialized translation, but they do not really understand each other. there is still much individual proposition but no dialogue. what we need is a common language, this is even more important than having similar methods of research. a research method depends on what you want to find out, but the problem, then, is how you talk about it, how gathered data are interpreted. it is common for disciplines of the liberal arts to have a dispute over terms and notions. this debate must also take place in translational hermeneutics. it begins with the question of what a “translation” really is. and what is communication, understanding, meaning, etc.? these quasi philosophical ideas are also being discussed in neighbouring disciplines such as psychology, sociology, brain research, semiotics, communicology and cultural studies, but a basis for common discussion has not yet seriously been laid. there is too much demarcation, indifference and mistrust among each of those disciplines. maybe a bigger conference on these questions, and not only on “translational hermeneutics”, could be helpful here. lc: in my opinion, publications in recent years and the three conferences held in cologne so far have brought to light one further important point to be mentioned here, namely the interest in hermeneutic thinking outside the german-french-english area. translation scholars from central and eastern europe and from several arab countries seem especially interested in the hermeneutical approach. are there new perspectives and research impulses coming from these directions? rs: it is true that there is much interest in hermeneutic thinking outside the traditional european area. however, these scholars are all working in english or french as well, so the language barrier mentioned earlier still exists. unfortunately, i cannot see any new perspectives and research impulses coming from these directions. what i have seen so far is the attempt to understand and integrate hermeneutical approaches to local problems. but this is not a new perspective or even a new research impulse. on the other hand, i see a deeper receptivity for hermeneutic thinking in central and eastern europe, based on their philosophical tradition, which is so different from the anglo-saxon world. but there is another linguistic barrier with the slavonic languages. important russian authors have not yet been sufficiently accepted in the west. it might be a good idea to continue an intensive dialogue with those scholars in order to see what their concept of hermeneutics really is. lc: from your answers, many suggestions and hopes for future research emerge for both translational hermeneutics and general translation studies. what is your personal agenda for the next few years? on what research questions and projects are you working? 106 crossroads. a journal of english studies rs: my interest is more in didactics and less in research. i am presently working on a book about religion and language, a field where not much has been done so far, but it is relevant, and not the least for translation. i am also working on a compilation of terms or concepts for philosophical notions, with their translation in german, english and french. perhaps that could be a contribution to a better understanding among scholars. lc: an important idea of friedrich schleiermacher, one of the key figures of a hermeneutical approach in translational hermeneutics, was that hermeneutical processes always and without exception have to be accompanied by critical reflection. with this in mind, i would suggest to you now, at the end of our discussion, a critical exercise, namely a critical look at translational hermeneutics from inside. what, in your opinion, are the problematic aspects of this approach? rs: the problem is that, indeed, critical self-reflection is not very well developed among the various authors. everyone makes statements that often are rather self-righteous, and isolated. unfortunately, i do not see much collaboration in a team, for instance with a joint research project. this has nothing to do with the subjectivity we have mentioned. i see the reason more in the marginal position of translational hermeneutics within the scholarly community at the universities. another problem is the way we speak and write, particularly in older german contributions. for readers trained in hard science, this is difficult to understand. therefore, we should try to use clear, straightforward language. the past literary attempts are not adequate in academic discourse. self-reflection grows by critical debate with others, by the exchange of ideas. and of course we need a common language for this, so that a mutual dialogue and convincing argumentation can be developed. in this respect the past symposiums in cologne have been very valuable events. lc: ms. stolze, thank you for this discussion and your openness. comparing multimodal film texts. the case of the movie fame (1980) and its remake fame (2009) 52 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies anna lisiecka1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2019.25.2.03 the philological school of higher education wroclaw, poland orcid id: 0000-0002-1314-4332 comparing multimodal film texts. the case of the movie fame (1980) and its remake fame (2009) abstract. this paper focuses on the issue of comparison of two movies linked by the relationship of remaking. its specific aim is to show that the complexity of multimodal texts, to which filmic texts and therefore remakes belong, does not prevent the analyst from examining the contrastive elements of such films and multimodal film texts in general. as a corollary, the present paper outlines a framework for a comparative multimodal analysis of two movies, the relevant illustrations coming from fame (1980) and its remake fame (2009). the basis of our comparative analysis is the narrative-compositional structure of filmic texts as discussed and amply illustrated in post (2017). the sample multimodal comparative analysis presented in the last section of this paper relies on the selected instruments of post’s (2017) proposal, krzeszowski’s theory of contrastive analysis (1967, 1990) and kress and van leeuwen’s (2006) multimodal discourse analysis. this approach to film texts is compatible with tabakowska’s (2001) theory of cognitive translation, the main theoretical concept of which is langacker’s (1991) image schema, well fitting the aforementioned compositional level and the narrative-compositional of filmic texts. it is believed that with the instruments selected from the works enumerated above, it was possible to construct an interpretive model capable of revealing relevant differences and similarities between two multimodal filmic texts linked by the relationship of remaking. keywords: remake, film text, narrative-compositional structure, multimodality, multimodal text analysis. 1. subject matter and the research perspective the aim proper of this paper is to present a model of a comparative analysis of multimodal film texts. the illustrations and support for our model come from the movie fame (alan parker 1980) and its remake fame (kevin tancharoen 2009). from the viewpoint of the relationship of equivalence, the source film and its remake represent the case of two texts linked by the relation in question. in the presented model of comparative analysis the content of the relationship of equivalence can be adequately defined in terms of langacker’s (1991) image schemas. 1 address for correspondence: the philological school of higher education, ul. sienkiewicza 32, 50-335 wrocław, poland. e-mail: anna.lisiecka17@gmail.com. 53 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies the foundation of the proposed model of comparative analysis is the movies’ narrative-compositional structure. as regards the view of general internal structure of texts, it has been abstracted from the literary and linguistic genological researches of skwarczyńska (1965), gajda (2008), witosz (2005), ostaszewska & cudak (2008), and post (2014). for the comparative framework outlined in this paper, we have followed the theories proposed by krajka & zgorzelski (1974), and post (2017). the former proposal has been offered for analyses of literature, while the latter for analyses of film texts. we view movies as multimodal texts, i.e. texts that use three semiotic codes or modes pictures, sounds and language. the three jointly create the multimodal messages. more precisely, in the movies the message for the viewers emerges from the message chunks composed of moving pictures, language, and sounds (cf. bateman & schmidt 2012; burn 2013; wildfeuer 2014; post 2017). the multimodal parts of our analysis have been backed up by the researches of such scholars as kress and van leuwen (2006), burn (2013), wildfeuer (2014), and bateman (2014) who advocate the multimodal approach to film texts as an adequate method for film text interpretations. the proposed model of comparative analysis reveals the contrastive aspects of the selected film texts with the instruments borrowed from the works by such outstanding polish contrastivists as jacek fisiak, tomasz p. krzeszowski, barbara lewandowska-tomaszczyk and aleksander szwedek, to name the main scholars. in particular, the proposal of this paper applies the basic principles of the contrastive analysis as elaborated by fisiak (1991), krzeszowski (1967, 1992), and morciniec (2014). the central theoretical tools of this approach to comparison of languages are the three-step comparative procedure, tertium comparationis and the relationships of equivalence. the present paper consists of three basic parts. in the following section, 2, we discuss the foundations of film text analysis. section 3 surveys the specific, selected instruments of comparative analysis of film texts. section 4 is devoted to an exemplary comparison of the selected movies. 2. foundations of film text analysis the idea that films are texts is evidenced by different explanations and definitions, which extend from metaphorical to non-metaphorical ones. for instance, garry gillard (2016, online) adheres to the former view. he maintains that “[…] the notion of ‘film as text’ is a metaphor drawn from the idea of reading a book. it suggests that in many ways reading a book is like watching a film, and that we might take some of the things we know about the one and apply them to the other”. we follow the non-metaphorical understanding of the concept of text as explained in detail in post (2017). the aspect that is common for both literary and non-literary texts is their general internal structure (see post 2013, 2017). it consists of the same levels shared by language and film texts. however, they do not have the same hierarchical structure. depending on the scholar’s goal, a particular level can be the center and enter the interaction with the other levels. for the purpose of our comparative analysis we chose the narrative-compositional structure as central to films of all narrative genres. 54 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies the film text structure is both linear and hierarchical. the general narrative-compositional structure has its origin in ancient times, specifically, in aristotle’s claim that a good story has its beginning, middle and end (aristotle 1983 [ca. 335 bc]). however, his suggestion is not detailed enough for the compositional analysis of movies. as a result, we have adopted the elaborate divisions by krajka & zgorzelski (1974), who distinguished seven segments of the narrative: prologue, exposition, inciting moment, development of the action, climax, denouement and epilogue. as regards the overall compositional structure of film texts, the highest level of their narrative-compositional structures consists of three elements, such as the opening metaframe, text proper and the closing metaframe (see post 2017). for our detailed comparative analysis, the theory of moves and steps by swales (1990) has also been adopted. according to this point of view, the metaframes and the text proper consist of their moves, and moves in turn have their representation in steps, which create the ultimate level of the compositional hierarchy (see post 2017). the enumerated compositional segments are correlated with the themes of the film text. after post (2017), two understandings of themes are recognized in this paper. according to the first one, themes are the contents of each compositional segment. as a corollary, the themes of bigger compositional segments are the functions of the thematic content of smaller segments, that is, the themes of moves are the functions of the themes of their steps. the second type of theme corresponds to the threads of the theory of literature. in the language text analysis the term motif is used, but for the purpose of multimodal film text analysis the term thread is more adequate. the thread-theme’s content has its representation in different, consecutive segments of the compositional structure. the complete content of thread-themes is the function of the content of the segments it which it is located. the aim of the multimodal research on text and discourse is to explain the use of different semiotic systems and tools in the creation of meaning (cf. kress & van leeuwen 2006). from this point of view, the multimodal film analysis attempts to illustrate the usage of linguistic and non-linguistic elements and explain their role in telling the film stories. the multimodality of film texts is connected with three main modes which correlate with what the cinema audiences do, that is they watch the movie – visual mode, they listen to what the characters say – linguistic mode, and listen to the background music and noises – auditory mode. from the multimodal perspective, visual modes have the primary role, because of the fact that it is through the visual narration that the story is told to the audience (kress & van leeuwen 2006). the indicated three modalities form message units of variable size called multimodal message chunks (see post 2017). such an understanding of multimodality of film texts can account for the connection of all segments of the linear and hierarchical compositional structure with the three modalities. thus moves have their multimodal character because of the multimodality of their 55 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies steps and metaframes and the segments of the text proper in turn, derive their multimodal character from the multimodality of their moves (see post 2017). 3. the main instruments of comparative analysis of film texts our model of comparative analysis of film texts is based on the three-step procedure of classical contrastive analysis as proposed by krzeszowski (1990). the three consecutive steps of the procedure in question are description, juxtaposition and comparison. in linguistics research, it is required that the descriptions of two compared objects be executed within the same theoretical framework. the elements of such a framework for film texts have been enumerated in the preceding section and in the present one. at the juxtposition stage of the comparative analysis decisions are made about the actual elements to be subjected to comparison. finally, the similarities and differences between the selected elements are revealed at the last stage of comparison. two objects subjected to comparison have to share a common platform, so called tertium comparationis. the proposed model of the comparative analysis of film texts uses segments of narrative-compositional structure as shared grounds of comparison. to be more precise, for two compared movies this common platform can be any of the seven segments of texts proper (krajka & zgorzelski 1974). thus prologues may be examined for similarities and differences at the level of their moves. also moves with the same narrative content may be compared in terms of steps they involve. the prosed interpretive model uses different tertia comparationis, all of them being segments of narrative-compositional structure. two segments with shared tertium comparationis are bound by the relationship of equivalence. in the present paper the equivalence of the compared compositional segments of all level of narrative-compositional structure is described in terms of the concept of the image schemas (see langacker 1991; tabakowska 2001). the actual image schemas that we have applied come from the works of kress & van leeuwen’s (2006:177). kress and van leeuwen’ s mental constructs are directly linked with particular parts of the screen and film frame – left-right, top-bottom, centre-margin, front-back. we have assumed that the enumerated film frame and screen dimensions are correlated with the following permanent information values: left  given and right new; top ideal and bottom  real; centre salient and margins less or non-salient; front  salient and back less or non-salient. 4. exemplary comparison of the selected movies our exemplary comparison of the original movie and its remake focuses on their two aspects, which are (i) the selected equivalent segments of their narrative-compositional structures and (ii) the themes linked with these selected segments. our exemplary comparative analysis is consistent with the general patterns of such comparisons as outlined in post (2017). 56 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies 4.1. comparison at the level of narrative-compositional structures the actually selected segments of the narrative-compositional structures of the two movies, that is alan parker’s fame (1980) and its remake, kevin tancharoen movie of the same title, fame (2009), are their expositions. according to the generally accepted view (cf. for example krajka & zgorzelski 1974; głowiński et al. 1975), the role of expositions is to insert important initial background information about the film’s story, that is, information about the setting, characters’ backgrounds, prior events, general historical background, etc. in general expositions contain the elements that introduce the film’s actions. the texts proper of both selected movies have their expositions, contain the same elements crucial to the story told by the films, however, the remake manages them in a way different from its filmic predecessor. the exposition of the original movie (fame, 1980) illustrates the main relationships and conflicts that occur in the movie. at the very beginning of the exposition, the viewers see the lunchroom where students sing, dance and play musical instruments in order to demonstrate their skills and talents. it shows the students as spontaneous and multitalented youngsters. while most of the students enjoy themselves in the lunchroom, doris decides to leave, because she does not feel comfortable in such a place and company. at the staircase she meets montgomery who is similarly dissatisfied. their meeting makes them become close friends. other, new friendships come to be established too. longing for success, coco tries to convince bruno to establish a band with her. however, he is focused on his music only and does not want to show it to the public. at the same time, doris, montgomery and ralph prepare for a performance of a theatre play. at first, ralph teases them but later they accept his behavior and get on with him well. there are conflicts too. at the english classes, the viewers watch one of the main conflicts of the movie, the one involving leroy and the english teacher. leroy is a poor student who gets into the art school by accident. he is a very good dancer but he is illiterate. also bruno and his father are in conflict. bruno’s father is angry with him, because his son does not want to play his music in public and, what is more, he does not have any friends. bruno tries to explain to his father that only music is important to him. finally, the viewers watch the conflict between lisa and miss. berg. lisa has been a dancer since her early childhood. therefore, she believes that she does not have to work hard during her dance classes, which attitude miss. berg does not accept. the above content of the movie’s exposition has been given the following narrative-compositional structure. exposition (alan parker’s fame (1980)) move 3 the lunchroom step 1 students demonstrate their talents step 2 doris meets montgomery at the staircase move 4 new relationships 57 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies step 1 coco encourages bruno to establish a band step 2 doris and montgomery become closer friends during their acting in the same play. step 3 doris and montgomery become close friends with ralph move 5 conflicts step 1 the illiterate leroy is in a conflict with his english teacher step 2 bruno is in a conflict with his father, because he does not want to play his music in public step 3 miss. berg thinks lisa is too weak to become a professional dancer the remake’s exposition (fame 2009) also shows the students in their lunchroom, where they sing, dance and play musical instruments for the same purpose of showing their talents and skills. denise does not feel comfortable in this place and decide to leave it. at the staircase she meets malik who does not like the atmosphere of the lunchroom either. it follows from their conversation that denise has very intolerant parents who do not like her focusing on too many things at the same time. malik, in turn, tells her that his mother does not know about his art school, because she thinks that such a school is not good for her son. the meeting brings denise and malik close to each other and they become good friends eventually. at the same time, malik’s mother opens the letter from the school with the grades that malik received. to her surprise, she finds out that her son attends an art school, which makes her angry. malik tries to convince his mother that he is an art-predisposed student but she would not listen to him. angry, she leaves malik alone. the remake’s exposition has arranged the above content in the following narrative-compositional structure. exposition (kevin tancharoen’s fame (2009)) move 3 the lunchroom step 1 students demonstrate their talents step 2 denise and malik meet at the staircase move 4 conflicts step 1 malik’s mum reluctantly learns about malik’s art school step 2 the quarrel between malik and his mother the above discussion represents the description stage of the comparative procedure. the expositions in both movies are very much similar to each other. the re-make (fame 2009) includes the key elements of the original movie. both of the movies share similar content and information. the time and place of the actions are also similar. in both movies, students present their talents in the lunchroom and the main characters meet at the staircase. the expositions also include elements about the proceeding conflicts between the characters. the narrativecompositional correlations between the expositions of the two movies are illustrated by the 58 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies table below, which is meant to represent the second part of the comparative procedure, namely its juxtaposition. table 1. juxtapostion of the narrative-compositional structures of the expositions of fame (1980) and its remake fame (2009) fame 1980 fame 2009 move 3 the lunch room the lunch room move 3 step 1 students demonstrate their talents students demonstrate their talents step 1 step 2 doris meets montgomery at the staircase denise and malik meet at the staircase step 2 move 4 relationships conflicts move 4 step 1 coco encourages bruno to set the band malik’s mother reluctantly learns about her son’s art school step 1 step 2 doris and montgomery become closer friends during their acting in the same play the quarrel between malik and his mother step 2 step 3 doris and montgomery become close friends with ralph move 5 conflicts step 1 the illiterate leroy is in a conflict with his english teacher step 2 bruno is in a conflict with his father because he does not want to play his music in public step 3 miss. berg thinks that lisa is too week to become a professional dancer 59 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies below we have presented a relatively detailed discussion of table 1, which is meant to constitute the third part of the comparative analysis, namely comparison. table 1 shows that both expositions do not contain the same number of moves; however, they share some similarities. in some cases moves and steps of both movies correlate with each other: move 3 = move 3; move 3 step 1 (fame 1980) = move 3 step 1 (fame 2009); move 3 step 2 (fame 1980) = move 3-step 2 (fame 2009); move 5 = move 4. move 4 of fame (1980) does not have its equivalent in the re-make. it shows the relationships between the main characters, which are not highlighted in the remake. move 5 of fame (1980) illustrates all main conflicts that occur in the movie, which are the content of move 4 of the remake (fame 2009). the similarity of narrative-compositional structures of expositions can also be detected at the level of steps. for instance, step 1of move 1 shows the students in the lunchroom, where they suddenly start to dance, sing and play musical instruments. this segment shows how multitalented they are. step 1 of move 1 has a direct narrative-compositional counterpart in the remake. the others correlations of steps in the expositions are as follows: step 2 of move 3 in which, not feeling comfortable in the lunchroom, doris leaves the room and meets montgomery at the staircase, who shares her feelings. they talk and eventually become friends. step 2 of move 3 shows denise, who feeling uncomfortable in the lunchroom, leaves the place and meets malik at the staircase. during this meeting she confesses that she plays the piano because her dad makes her do it. in turn, malik admits that his mother does not know that he attends the art school. the last correlation holds between and step 2 of move 5 (fame 1980) and step 1 and 2 of move 4 (fame 2009). step 2 of move 5 illustrates the conflict between bruno and his father. bruno creates music and nothing else is important to him. however, his father wants him to play his music to the public. in his opinion, without the audience bruno would never be famous. step 1 and 2 of move 4 present the conflict between malik and his mother. by accident and to her dismay, she finds out that her son attends the art school. she believes that does not bring him money in the future and does not want to believe that he is really gifted student. naturally, the narrative-compositional structures of both movies also differ, because it is consistent with and required by the nature of the remake. for example, table 1 shows that the exposition of the movie fame (2009), including the key elements of the original movie, is less elaborate in its narrative-compositional structure than the movie fame (1980). however, a detailed enumeration of the differences goes beyond the methodological goal of the present paper. 4.2. comparison at the thematic level as indicated in section 2, for our comparative model we have adopted two understandings of the concept of ‘theme’ (cf. post 2017). according to the first one, themes convey the content of moves (macro themes) and steps (micro themes), which present the episodes of the movie one after another. macro themes refers to the most general themes and they are on the highest position in the hierarchy, whereas, the micro themes are the realization of the selected macro themes. the notation adopted for such themes is short phrases and simple sentences. the complete content 60 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies of the exposition of alan parker’s fame (1980) has already been represented in section 4.1. for the sake of convenience, we repeat it below, all the themes associated with specific compositional segments being explicitly marked. exposition move 3 the lunchroom (macro theme) step 1 students demonstrate their talents (micro theme 1) step 2 doris meets montgomery at the staircase (micro theme 2) move 4 relationships (macro theme) step 1 coco and bruno (micro theme 1) step 2 doris and montgomery (micro theme 1) step 3 doris, montgomery and ralph (micro theme 3) move 5 conflicts (macro theme) step 1 leroy and mrs. sherwood (micro theme 1) step 2 bruno and his father (micro theme 2) step 3 lisa and miss. berg (micro theme 3) below we present the entire content of the exposition of kevin tancharoen’s fame (2009) as represented by its themes, all being associated with specific compositional segments. exposition move 3 the lunchroom (macro theme) step 1 students demonstrate their talents (micro theme 1) step 2 denis and malik meet at the staircase (micro theme 2) move 4 conflicts (macro theme) step 1 malik’s reluctantly learns about malik’s art school (micro theme 1) step 2 the quarrel between malik and his mother (micro theme 2) in section 1 we said that from the viewpoint of the relationship of equivalence, the source film (fame 1980) and its remake (fame 2009) represent the case of two film texts linked by the relation in question. in the presented model of comparative analysis the content of the segments linked by the relationship of thematic equivalence can be adequately defined in terms of langackerian image schemas. for the exemplary analysis, we have selected the micro theme ‘doris meets montgomery at the staircase’, linked with step 2 of move 3 and the micro theme ‘denis and malik meet at the staircase’, linked with step 2 of move 3 of the remake. the presentation below is more than sketchy as it meant to illustrate only the postulated method. in both movies the characters meet, sit and talk at the staircase, therefore the relevant films frames focus on the two pairs of main characters. the analyzed scenes are based on dialogues 61 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies rather than on the action. nevertheless, the visual composition of the analyzed scenes conveys a lot of additional information. the frame of doris and montgomery is based on figure-ground scheme, the left-right scheme and the given-new scheme. we suggest that montgomery is the figure, while doris and the other elements of the staircase create the ground. at the same time, the leftgiven and rightnew schemas are employed. doris is presented on the left, which indicates her as temporarily less prominent character, while the right part of the frame, at which montgomery is located, implies that he is the key character in this frame. scene 1. doris and montgomery on the staircase in the frames with denise and malik, the same figure-grund, left-right and givennew schemas have been applied. doris and malik are presented as the figure of this part of the movie, while the ground is the staircase and the part of the corridor. in the leftgiven and rightnew schemas, the school staircase is shown an obvious and less important part than the right part of the frame, which shows denise and malik as the new and key elements in this frame, to whom the attention should be paid. scene 2. denise and malik on the staircase as indicated above, for our comparative model we have adopted two understandings of the concept of ’theme’ (cf. post 2017). according to the second one, themes are “threads” (pol. wątki), which spread over the entire narrative-compositional structures. below we have listed “threadthemes” that are connected with the main characters of the discussed movies. in both sets, 1 and 2 illustrate the central “thread-themes”, whereas 3 and 4 are the peripheral ones. 62 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies fame (1980) 1. bruno’s outrageous attitude to music 2. doris’ problems with the relationships 3. lisa’s willingness to become a professional dancer 4. lisa’s difficult family situation fame (2009) 1. victor ‘s outrageous attitude to music 2. jenny’s problems with the relationship 3. kevin’s willingness to become a professional dancer 4. malik’s difficult family situation below we discuss the spread over the narrative-compositional structure of the “thread-theme” 1 illustrating bruno’s and victor’s attitudes to music, in fame (1980) and its re-make, respectively. both of them involve much of the narrative-compositional structure. the attitude to music in the former movie has been encoded in four compositional segments of the text proper, which are: prologue, exposition, inciting moment and epilogue. in the prologue, bruno is introduced the main character endowed with the extraordinary talent for music (move 1 step 1 and 3). next, bruno’s relationship with coco is presented in exposition (move 4 step 1) and in the inciting mmoment (move 6 step 1). in the exposition and the inciting moment, bruno’s conflict with his father over his music is shown (move 5 step 2; move 6 step 1; move 7 step 5). as regards bruno’s conflict with mr. shorofsky, the inciting moment hosts it (move 7 step 2). finally, in the epilogue, bruno decides to play his music publicly (move 14 step 3). the table below shows the spread of the “thread-theme” ‘bruno’s outrageous attitude to music’ over the narrative-compositional structure of fame (1980). table 2. the spread of the “thread-theme” ‘bruno’s outrageous attitude to music’ over the narrative-compositional structure of fame (1980) thread-theme1 move step micro-themes bruno’s outrageous attitude to music prologue 1 1,3 bruno goes on the audition to present his electronic music to the conservative teacher mr. shorofsky 63 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies exposition 4 1 coco is trying to encourage bruno to create a band with her but he isn’t interested. inciting moment 5 2 bruno has a quarrel with his father because of the lack of having friends and his reluctance to perform his music in public. 6 1,2 coco and bruno spend some time together. on music classes, bruno makes mr. shorofsky angry because of his playing the violin 7 2 bruno and mr. shorofsky debate about the idea of traditional orchestra and synthesized instruments epilogue 14 3 bruno plays his music sharing it with others. in the movie fame (2009), the attitude to music occupies two narrative-compositional segments of the text proper. they are prologue and inciting moment. in the prologue, victor is presented as one of the main character and also as an extremely talented pianist (move 1 step 4). in the inciting moment, victor’s conflict with his piano teacher mr. cranston is shown to the viewer. (move 6 steps 1 and 2). table 3 shows the spread of the “thread-theme” ‘victor’s outrageous attitude to music’ over the narrative-compositional structure of fame (2009). table 3. the spread of the “thread-theme” ‘victor’s outrageous attitude to music’ over the narrative-compositional structure of fame (2009) thread-theme1 move step micro-themes victor’s outrageous attitude to music prologue 1 4 victor goes on the audition to present his electronic music to the conservative teacher mr. cranston inciting moment 6 1,2 the illustration of the conflict between victor and his piano teacher 64 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies the above tables illustrate the correlation between equivalent thread-themes of both movies and their narrative compositional structures. comparing the information conveyed, both movies convey the same message about conflicts with piano teachers. despite the fact that the threadtheme of the original movie is introduced in four super segments of the text proper, whereas the thread-theme of the re-make in only two. 5. final remarks the author of the article has selected relevant instruments of contrastive linguistics and applied them to a comparative analysis of film texts. it should be underlined in this context that the classical contrastive researchers were mainly focused on phonology and syntax. they did not analyze texts and discourses, from neither theoretical nor descriptive point of view. as a consequence, no comprehensive models of comparative text analysis are available. to fill this gap, a model of comparative text analysis has been designed for filmic texts and presented in this paper. for the sake of the analysis, for the illustration and support of the model, the films selected by the present author were the ones linked by the relationship of remaking. in the author’s opinion, such a pair of film texts naturally satisfies the fundamental stipulation of the comparative analysis that the compared items be equivalent. film texts have multimodal characters. that is, such texts use three main semiotic codes: pictures, sounds and language, which modes jointly create multimodal messages. the proposed model of analysis indicates a possible way of analyzing and describing films from a multimodal linguistic point of view. as usual, it is for the reader of the present paper to decide whether the proposed model of film text comparative analysis is likely to possess the required adequacy. references aristotle. 1983 [ca. 335]. poetyka. polish translation by henryk podbielski. wrocław: zakład narodowy im. ossolińskich (biblioteka narodowa, seria ii, nr 209). bateman, j. a. 2014. text and image: a critical introduction to the visual/verbal divide. new york/london: routledge. bateman, j. a. & schmidt, k.-h. 2012. multimodal film analysis: how film mean. new york/ london: routledge. burn, a. 2013. the kineikonic mode: towards a multimodal approach to moving image media. ncrm working paper. ncrm, london, uk. (unpublished). fisiak, j. 1991. on the present status of some metatheoretical and theoretical issues in contrastive linguistics. in: j. fisiak (ed.), further insights into contrastive analysis, 3-22. amsterdam: john benjamins. gajda, s. 2008 [1993]. gatunkowe wzorce wypowiedzi. in: j. bartmiński (ed.), encyklopedia kultury polskiej xx wieku. tom 2: współczesny język polski, 130-142.wrocław: zakład narodowy imienia ossolińskich. gillard, g. 2016. film as text. http://garrygillard.net/writing/filmastext. html (dw 13.10.2016). 65 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies głowiński, m., okopień-sławińska, a., sławiński, j. 1975. zarys teorii literatury. warszawa: wydawnictwa szkolne i pedagogiczne. krajka, w. & zgorzelski, a. 1974. o analizie tekstu literackiego. lublin: wydawnictwo umcs. kress, g. r. & van leeuwen, t. 2006. reading images: the grammar of virtual design. new york/ london: routledge. krzeszowski, t. p. 1967. fundamental principles of structural contrastive studies. glottodidactica ii: 107-147. krzeszowski, t. p. 1990. contrasting languages. the scope of contrastive linguistics. berlin: mouton de gruyter. langacker, r. w. 1991. concept, image and symbol: the cognitive basis of grammar. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. morciniec, n. 2014. gramatyka kontrastywna. wprowadzenie do niemiecko-polskiej gramatyki kontrastywnej. wrocław: wydawnictwo wyższej szkoły filologicznej we wrocławiu. ostaszewska, d. & cudak, r. (eds.) 2008. polska genologia lingwistyczna. warszawa: wydawnictwo naukowe pwn. parker, a. (dir.) 1980. fame. usa: warner home video. metro-goldwyn-mayer. post, m. 2013. speech acts and speech genres. an axiological linguistics perspective. wrocław: wydawnictwo wyższej szkoły filologicznej we wrocławiu. post, m. 2014. akty i gatunki mowy. próba wielopłaszczyznowego zbliżenia. in: p. stelmaszczyk &  p. cap (eds.), 197-226. pragmatyka, retoryka, argumentacja. obraz języka i dyskursu w naukach humanistycznych. kraków: universitas. post, m. 2017. film jako tekst multimodalny. założenia i narzędzia jego analizy. wrocław: wydawnictwo wyższej szkoły filologicznej. skwarczyńska, s. 1965/1954–1965. wstęp do nauki o literaturze. vols. i-iii. warszawa: państwowy instytut wydawniczy. swales, j. 1990. genre analysis: english in academic and research setting. cambridge: cup. tabakowska, e. 2001. językoznawstwo kognitywne a poetyka przekładu. kraków: universitas. tancharoen, k. (dir.) 2009. fame. usa: lakeshore entertainment. metro-goldwyn-mayer. united artists. witosz, b. 2005. genologia lingwistyczna. zarys problematyki. katowice: wydawnictwo uniwersytetu śląskiego. wildfeuer, j. 2014. film discourse interpretation: towards a new paradigm for multimodal film analysis. new york/london: routledge. *** anna lisiecka is a graduate of the philological school of higher education in wroclaw. in 2001, she defended her master’s thesis in the area of speech genres. her current research interests focus on the multimodal analysis of texts and discourses. brave new world, intertextuality and mieczysław smolarski 8 crossroads. a journal of english studies grzegorz moroz university of białystok brave new world, intertextuality and mieczysław smolarski abstract. in 1948, polish science-fiction writer mieczysław smolarski wrote an open letter to aldous huxley in which he accused huxley of plagiarising, in his famous novel brave new world (1932), two novels which smolarski himself had written in the 1920s: miasto światłości (a city of light) and podróż poślubna pana hamiltona (mr. hamilton’s honeymoon). the key argument presented in this paper is that even if huxley had read these two novels (which is very unlikely), brave new world would not have been altered in any considerable way, and that in 1931, the year in which he wrote brave new world, huxley was already a distinguished novelist and a profound thinker capable of writing a masterpiece without resorting to plagiarism. key words: huxley, smolarski, plagiarism, brave new world, science fiction, dystopia, intertextuality. in this paper i will approach the issue of plagiarism, of which aldous huxley was accused by a polish writer, mieczysław smolarski, in 1948. the strategy of those polish scholars who felt that huxley was (or at least may have been) not guilty of plagiarism1 was to point out the limited number of conceptual and ideological schemata in operation within polish, british and world science fiction and catastrophic literature in the first four decades of the 20th century. even antoni smuszkiewicz, who abstained from pronouncing huxley not guilty of plagiarism, felt obliged to admit that: “visions of the world dominated by technology, causes of cosmic catastrophes, applications of extraordinary inventions (rockets, killing rays, etc.) and the motive of an escape from a planet on the verge of destruction point to so limited a number of motives that one really is under the impression that all these different novels were created by one author” (smuszkiewicz 1982: 204, my translation). however, as i consider myself an aldous huxley scholar, not a science fiction scholar, i would like to construct my defence of huxley using a different strategy. i would like to show that the erudition of huxley, the range and depth of his reading, made brave new world a truly intertextual novel, and that the dystopian ideas crucial in the construction of the world state and the 1 two polish critics who disagreed with smolarski were: t. grzebieniowski “smolarski versus huxley”, odrodzenie, 1948, 13-14, 16, and m. karnasowa, “mieczysław smolarski”, życie i myśl, 1967, 2, p. 144. 10.15290/cr.2017.18.3.01 9 articles new mexico indian reserve central to brave new world are to be found not in smolarski’s novels, but in huxley’s own experiences and in the numerous books and essays huxley had read, many of which became more or less obvious intertexts in brave new world. and that even if huxley had miraculously and surreptitiously learnt polish and read smolarski’s novels, brave new world would not have been altered to any considerable degree. i will also attempt to show in the second part of this paper that huxley’s erudition, intellect and concern for the future of the world led to him write both works of non-fiction and fiction (brave new world revisited and island, respectively) which developed ideas he introduced first in his novel from the early 1930s. in 1948, sixteen years after the publication of brave new world, mieczysław smolarski, the author of a few science fiction novels and short stories written in the 1920s, wrote a newspaper article in the polish literary magazine “nowiny literackie” [“literary news”]. the article had the form of an open letter, entitled “list do aldousa huxleya” [“a letter to aldous huxley”]. smolarski started his letter with self-promotion, listing novels he had written, and translators who had approached him to have his books translated. yet the only book of his that he presents as actually having been translated into a foreign language is a historical novel for young readers about the polish king władysław warneńczyk. smolarski reports that during wwii he was approached by an acquaintance of his who had told him that he had read this novel in bulgarian. for smolarski this is clear proof that because of “the loose morality pervading the international book market” there exist numerous translators “who want to avoid paying royalties” (smolarski 1948: 7, my translation). smolarski immediately moves to report another conversation with another acquaintance of his that he had during wwii. this unnamed acquaintance asked him: “please, tell me this: have you robbed huxley or has huxley, in brave new world, robbed you?” (smolarski 1948: 7, my translation). smolarski now shows that he is indignant; he takes it for granted that some ‘robbery’ must have been committed, and because he had written both miasto światłości (a city of light) and podróż poślubna pana hamiltona (mr. hamilton’s honeymoon) earlier than huxley’s brave new world, it is obvious to him that huxley had committed this hideous crime and should pay compensation.2 the main part of smolarski’s letter consists of attempts to show that the similarities between his two novels and brave new world are not accidental, and that his mr. hamilton’s honeymoon contains a serious “philosophical idea” which is as unique and novel as the ideas which are associated with such key novels as swift’s gulliver’s travels, francis bacon’s new atlantis and h.g. wells’s 2 one may really wonder at this point why smolarski waited for fifteen years to bring up his charges against huxley. the polish translation of brave new world by stanisława kuszelewska was published by rój in 1933, just a year after the original version had been published, and it is hardly imaginable that smolarski, a writer and a critic, learnt about it only in 1940 from a conversation with an unidentified friend. smolarski’s letter, i think, may be read in the context of the ideological cold war that was being waged in post-war, communist poland. smolarski’s accusation that huxley may have stolen smolarski’s ideas through a co-worker of his “scavenging on slavonic literatures” (“żerujących na literaturach słowiańskich”) (smolarski 1948: 7) supports this perspective. 10 crossroads. a journal of english studies the war of the worlds. and that it is this unique idea of the world state, with its stability, happiness through uniformity, but also some brewing dissent, which huxley “robbed” smolarski of. smolarski adds some more similarities which supposedly proves huxley guilty of theft. he states: “in my novel hamilton is the supervisor of a huge block of flats of 50 floors and 20000 inhabitants; in huxley’s book we find 60 floors, 36 floors (sic!) and 7000 rooms, etc.” (smolarski 1948: 7, my translation). smolarski compares the love affair between his “savage” andrzej and maja with huxley’s john the savage and lenina crowne. he points out the fact that at one moment both andrzej and john become disenchanted with “cities of light”. smolarski writes about the “electric wall” which divides civilization from barbarity in both novels as other proofs of the “robbery”. yes, it is true that in brave new world there is the world state with evident stability, but also moral and intellectual shallowness and discontent, and that in a city of light smolarski had displayed similar features a few years earlier, and that there also exists the world state in smolarski’s mr. hamilton’s honeymoon. but as science fiction literature historians tell us, the concept of the world state had been used by writers before smolarski and huxley, from louis-sébastian mercier l’an 2400 [year 2440] published in 1772, to yevgeny zamiatin’s we (1924). for example, in h.g. wells’s the time machine (1895) we have the fundamental dichotomy between the civilized, effeminate and promiscuous eloi and the barbarian, savage morlocks, a dichotomy which appears as central, albeit in altered forms, both in a city of light and in brave new world. smolarski is not by any means the only writer whose megalomania and greed has carried him away to the borders of the ludicrous; for it is ludicrous indeed, at least in my opinion, to compare the uniqueness of his mr. hamilton’s honeymoon with gulliver’s travels, the war of the worlds or new atlantis, and to claim to have coined the phrase “darkness visible”. his weird, and, in my opinion, unfounded accusations still resonate, to some considerable degree, thanks to the polish literary critic antoni smuszkiewicz. smuszkiewicz’s zaczarowana gra: zarys dziejów polskiej fantastyki naukowej [the enchanted game: an outline history of polish science-fiction literature] (1982) dealt with the issue of smolarski’s accusations of huxley’s brave new world being a plagiarism of miasto światłości and podróż poślubna pana hamiltona. in chapter ix of his book, entitled “katastroficzne wizje przyszłości” [“catastrophic visions of the future”], smuszkiewicz summarized and briefly analysed these two novels by smolarski, and then he noted: the same philosophical ideas, the same basic content, and even the same system of social organizations could, a few years later, be found in the famous novel by aldous huxley, brave new world (1932), which became a great success and is still considered as a teasing answer to the utopian visions of the world in the future popular in the west at the beginning of the 20th century. the opening chapters of brave new world very closely resemble mr. hamilton’s honeymoon, while the following chapters—starting from chapter vi of huxley’s novel— resemble a city of light. do we have here an unbelievable similarity of concepts, or is it a case of crude plagiarism committed on the novels of our writer? it is difficult to establish without undertaking scrupulous research, which could become an object of a separate study. (smuszkiewicz 1982: 202, my translation). 11 articles later on, smuszkiewicz added that smolarski’s letter was delivered to huxley, “who preferred not to answer it, although he, as a respected writer, was bound to do so” (smuszkiewicz 1982: 203, my translation). three years later, in 1985, smuszkiewicz wrote an afterword to the new edition of a city of light (which was published in 1988). he still refrained from the final verdict of plagiarism, but insisted that: “regardless of whose side of the story literary history will belatedly take, one thing is certain: this anti-utopian concept based on lack of conviction in civilizational progress, and the critical attitude to the development of social mechanisms first appeared in the works of mieczysław smolarski (smuszkiewicz 1988: 244, my translation). why did smuszkiewicz not re-read brave new world, and why did he not decide for himself if huxley had plagiarized smolarski’s novel? why did he leave it for some mysterious “history of literature” to make its (belated) pronouncement in some more or less distant future? perhaps it was because huxley’s novel was banned in poland in the pre-1989 era of communism, and we are faced with a classic case of self-censorship. of smuszkiewicz being constrained by the political climate of that time. perhaps he felt that the summary of brave new world and its comparison with smolarski’s novel would be cut out by censors. when i read smolarski’s accusations i became very curious about the content of his two novels. i got hold of them, read them, then re-read brave new world. it turned out that i had embarked on an interesting journey through literary traditions in anglophone and polish science fiction in the first three decades of the 20th century. after a close reading of these three novels i would like to argue that the similarities between smolarski’s novels and brave new world, which he enumerated in his “letter to aldous huxley”, should not be considered in the light of being accidental (or not), but, rather, in the light of being superficial. the background, and the ways in which two different communities, of the world state and the new mexico reserve, are constructed in brave new world could be explained clearly and fully without referring to smolarski at all. in the spring and summer of 1931, when huxley was writing brave new world in his house in sanary-sur-mer on the french riviera, he was 37 and he had written four novels, two books of poetry and numerous essays. the first two volumes of the collected essays of aldous huxley, edited by robert baker and james sexton, cover the years 1922-1929; they contain almost a hundred essays and run to more than one thousand pages of essays huxley wrote in that period. these essays are divided by the editors into four sections: i. architecture, painting, music, literature, ii: history, politics, social criticism, iii: science, philosophy, religion, iv. travel. the range, scope and depth of these essays best illustrate the point that huxley was one of the best predisposed men to write a poignant dystopian prophecy. in a letter to a friend, mrs. kathevan roberts, dated 18 may 1931, huxley wrote: i am writing a novel about the future [brave new world]—on the horror of wellsian utopia and a revolt against it. very difficult. i have hardly enough imagination to deal with such a subject. but it is none the less interesting work. (huxley 1969: 348) 12 crossroads. a journal of english studies so, one of the key inter-textual sources for the book is unravelled here: the utopian but also dystopian science fiction of h.g. wells. one may as well add here the long english/british tradition of utopian literature, from thomas more’s utopia (1516) to william morris’s news from nowhere (1890); the tradition was very well known to huxley, who had, after all, studied english literature at oxford. there are many other intertexts in brave new world, from william shakespeare and john milton, but also from writers contemporary with huxley, like a friend of his, t.s. eliot. before i move on to deal with the issue of the intertextual elements used to construct two distinct communities in brave new world, i will try to offer some alternative intertextual sources to the ones which smolarski suggested in his “letter to aldous huxley”. in his letter smolarski accused huxley of “stealing” the notion of “darkness visible” from him. it is true that huxley did not invent this phrase; he simply took it from a writer whom he knew probably rather better than smolarski knew him, namely from john milton, who, in paradise lost (1667), in his description of hell, wrote: “yet, from those flames no light, but darkness visible” (1.62f). smolarski accuses huxley of “stealing” the idea of old books being the source of wisdom, which is forgotten in the world state. and he recalls that in his a city of light the monk found some books from which he taught ancient wisdom to andrzej, whereas john the savage found a copy of shakespeare to teach himself. in smolarski’s novel we learn very little about the contents of these books, but we might tentatively assume that they are theological treatises on christianity, or books which told andrzej that he lived in a place that used to be called poland (smolarski 1988: 10). on the other hand, the role of shakespeare, his language and his mindset, is absolutely fundamental to the whole understanding of huxley’s novel. shakespeare’s poetry in brave new world represents both humanism and the ultimate beauty of the english language, the only two values which huxley could muster in 1931 against the soma-induced happiness in the world state on the one hand, and the despair of john the savage, leading to his suicide. there are more than fifty direct quotations and paraphrases from shakespearean plays and poems in brave new world. (on the intricate play of these quotes and paraphrases, see, for example, www.shmoop.com › literature › brave new world › analysis). while illustrating differences in smolarski’s and huxley’s treatment of love themes i will comment on huxley’s textual appropriation of two phrases from shakespeare: “impudent strumpet!” and “o brave new world![...]” it seems worthwhile, while dealing with the issues of intertextuality, influences and similarities in huxley’s and smolarski’s novels, to compare how differently the love affairs of the paired lovers (john the savage and lenina crowne, andrzej and maja) are represented. in smolarski’s a city of light the lovers make a narrow escape in a space rocket, a typical popular fiction happy ending. in huxley’s novel, the differences between the sexual life-styles of the world state and the reserve (sexual promiscuity in the former and the predominance of the model of ‘sexual fidelity’ in the latter) are constructed in such a way that they create serious repercussions for plot development. when john realizes that the woman he is love with, lenina crowne, has casual sex with other partners (a habit encouraged by the world state and therefore in her view harmless) 13 articles he falls into a rage and attacks her with the very words othello used before killing desdemona: “impudent strumpet!” (othello, act 4, scene 2, huxley 1984: 175). a ‘strumpet” was shakespeare’s archaic word for a ‘whore’. it is not a case of huxley’s ‘plagiarism’ performed on the ‘holy texts of the bard of stratford’, but a part of the complex network of the intertextual play of words and ideas. the guilt of these two women is not real; it is created in the heads of the jealous lovers. desdemona was framed by iago, and she was not unfaithful, whereas lenina’s ‘infidelity’ was merely part of john’s mindset, of his desire, and his inability to think in terms of inter-cultural difference. in huxley’s novel lenina’s sexual behaviour is presented as one of a few key events which mark the growing disillusionment of john with the world state as ‘the brave new world’. and we have the whole spectrum of john’s emotions with which he repeats the words of miranda, “how beauteous mankind is! o brave new world that has such people in it” (the tempest, act 5, scene 1), from original wonder and fascination, through disillusionment and rejection of it, to final despair and suicide. the textual construction of both social organizations—the world state and the indian community living on the reserve—created by huxley in brave new world can be easily accounted for without referring to smolarski’s two novels. as far as the world state is concerned, there is little doubt that its origins should be found not so much in the future, but in the present, in the rise of the soviet union and the formation of the league of nations in response to the great war. during his round the world trip of 1925-1926 the huxleys arrived in san francisco in the spring of 1926. they stayed in california for a few weeks and then on the way to new york they spent a few days in new mexico and became acquainted with the pueblo indian culture there (higdon 2008: 137). huxley’s travel book jesting pilate was published in the same year. in jesting pilate, from the moment huxley describes their landing in california and then travelling through it, the narration, earlier detached, aloof and essayistic, changes into a syncopated frenzy: jazz it up, jazz it up. keep moving. step on the gas. say it with dancing. the charleston, the baptists, radios and revivals. uplift and gilda gray. the pipe organ, the nigger with the saxophone, the giant marimba-phone. hymns and the movies and irving berlin. petting parties and the first free united episcopal church. jazz it up! “n.c. beskin, the converted jew, back from a successful tour, will conduct a tabernacle campaign in glandale.” ‘why i became a christian?’ dressed in jewish garb [...] third movement. mother’s day (mr. herring of indiana, “the father of mother’s day.” but why not flapper’s day? it would be more representative, more democratic, so to speak. for in joy city there are many more flappers—married as well as unmarried—than mothers [...] thousands and thousands of flappers, and almost all incredibly pretty. plumply ravishing, they give, as t.s. eliot has phrased it, a “promise of pneumatic bliss,”3 but of not much else, to judge by their faces. so curiously uniform, unindividual, and 3 “promise of pneumatic bliss” comes from t.s. eliot’s poem “whispers of immortality” (1920), where the appropriate fragment reads: “grishkin is nice: her russian eye/is underlined for emphasis:/uncorseted her friendly bust/ gives promise of pneumatic bliss.” 14 crossroads. a journal of english studies blank, hardly more expressive to the foreign eye, at any rate—than any of the other parts of that wellcontoured anatomy which they are at such pains to display. (huxley 2001b: 551) the los angeles, joy city, of 1926, with its economic boom, bootlegged cocktails, and promiscuous flappers emanating “pneumatic bliss”, could be treated as a starting point for the london of the world state in the year 632 after ford, as depicted in brave new world, where its heroine, the promiscuous lenina crowne, is described as possessing “pneumatic bliss” a few times, and the solidarity service day with its syncopated rhythm and lyrics “orgy-porgy, ford and fun,/kiss the girls and make them one./boys at one with girls at peace;/orgy porgy gives release.”(huxley 1984: 84)4 may be seen as a combination of weird religious services and the wild jazz age parties described in jesting pilate. obviously, the london of 632 a.f. possesses many features that were not there in the l.a. of 1926. huxley’s extensive interests in science (especially biology) and social sciences had led him to construct a sophisticated, prophetic vision of the dystopian world state. the world state’s motto “community, identity, stability” is achieved through social engineering, neo-pavlovian conditioning, bakchanovsky’s eugenics, malthusan belts and hypnopaedia (the process of teaching, or to be more precise, ‘conditioning’ young boys and girls while they sleep). these concepts are witty prophecies on developments in such areas as biology, physiology, demography and psychology. the seriousness of huxley’s purpose to create the world of the future derived from the present developments of sciences (which, after all, is one of the key futures of the s-f genre) can also be detected in two texts which are commentaries on brave new world, “the forward”, which was written for the 1946 edition of the novel, and, more importantly, brave new world revisited (1959). the latter is a collection of scholarly essays taking the world state as presented in brave new world as a point of departure and tracing developments in such disparate areas as: i. overpopulation, ii. quantity, quality, morality, iii. over-organization, iv. propaganda in a democratic society, v. propaganda under a dictatorship, vi. the art of selling, vii. brainwashing, viii. chemical persuasion, ix. hypnopaedia, x. education for freedom, and xi. what can be done. as we can see from the titles of the chapters (each chapter could be read as an ‘independent’ essay), after nine of them showing the real and potential dangers in the development of social organization, both in free, democratic countries and in dictatorships (of diverse origins), the two final chapters explore positive, utopian perspectives; a very unusual thing indeed in the 20th century. it should be noted that huxley is, to the best of my knowledge, the only writer audacious enough to write after a truly dystopian novel (brave new world) not only non-fiction with an optimistic bias, but also truly utopian fiction. huxley, as he admitted in the 1946 forward to brave new world, while writing this novel in the summer of 1931, had not been prepared intellectually to offer a positive, utopian solution, and acknowledged that he was able to construct only 4 this is yet another case of huxley’s intensive intertextual approach. these lyrics are a joyful travesty of the famous, traditional nursery rhyme: “georgie porgie, pudding and pie,/ kissed the girls and made them cry/ when the boys came out to play,/ georgie porgie ran away.” 15 articles this horrible alternative “between insanity on the one hand, and lunacy on the other” (huxley 1984: 6). but after his pacifist and mystical conversion of the late 1930s, the situation altered. first we got the ‘perennial-philosopher’ john propter in after many a summer dies the swan (1939), not only making philosophical comments on the horrible state of mankind at the threshold of the second world war, but constructing a positive utopia in the shape of a local, jeffersonian democracy. in huxley’s final novel, island (1962), the utopia is much more widespread. the island community of pala is based on a synergically positive mixture of eastern mysticism with western rationality, a ‘perennial philosophy’ shown as a reality in the brief moment of peace and tranquillity before the deadly attack of the imperialist neighbour greedy for pala’s crude oil. one of the key arguments smolarski used in his plagiarism letter was that the world of affluence and plenty was separated from the world of barbarity by the electric fence. this is true, but whereas in smolarski’s novel it is the “city of light” which is the exception, and all the world outside it is rank barbarity, in huxley’s novel the situation is more or less opposite. the reserve in new mexico is the only place outside the world state preserved as a reserve for scientific (specifically eugenic) research. the whole concept of setting the reserve in new mexico, among the indians practising penitente-ism, is owed to a large extent to d.h. lawrence and the role he played in huxley’s life. huxley was at first fascinated by lawrence: his internal dynamism, his ‘religion of blood’ and his non-conformism in life. huxley scholars agree that the only person of integrity in huxley’s complex novel point counter point is mark rampion, a figure clearly modelled on d.h. lawrence (see, for example, firchow 1972: 109). lawrence was fascinated by new mexican indians, their culture and rituals (the lawrences owned a ranch in taos, close to an indian pueblo), and lawrence described both their culture and rituals in his non-fiction—in the travel book entitled mornings in mexico (1927)—as well as in the novel entitled the plumed serpent (1926). jerome meckier, one of the most renowned huxley scholars, has quite recently convincingly argued that the character of john the savage was based on d.h. lawrence. meckier stated that: “lawrence succumbed to tuberculosis in 1930 at the age 44, dying rather pathetically before aldous’s very eyes, virtually in maria huxley’s arms. two years later, huxley caricatured his erstwhile mentor, killing him off in brave new world as john savage” (meckier 2007: 185). and later in his paper meckier added: “because huxley felt that lawrence had no answer to death, his alter ego in the novel can find no answer either[...] lawrencian philosophy, the desire for an allegedly simpler, nobler, more vital way of life, has no future; it is no more death-proof than lawrence was. (meckier 2007: 187) (see also, hidgeon 2008, and moroz 2013). the conflict between the values of the world state and the values represented by john the savage is described by huxley in a detached third person narration and in the ‘unmarked’ english of the educated elite of the 1930s. but key parts of the novel are written in two very different and very distinguished types of english: the language of propaganda, indoctrination and conditioning, and the powerful, poetic (and poignantly archaic) language of william shakespeare’s plays and poems. in chapter iii, for example, huxley introduces an unusual technique, modernist in a sense, when the flow of the narration gets broken and we have shorter and shorter snippets of condition16 crossroads. a journal of english studies ing slogans interspersed with the thoughts and conversations of the key characters. for example, the slogans to stimulate consumption in the world state are repeated over and over again. two of them are a playful travesty of slogans in english which were used to stimulate something opposite to consumption: prudence and thrift: “ending is better than mending, the more stitches the less riches” (huxley 1984: 54). while bernard marx (the world state intellectual) reveals the mechanism of hypnopeadia: “one hundred repetitions three nights a week for four years, thought bernard marx, who was a specialist on hypnopaedia. sixty two thousand four hundred repetitions make one truth. idiots.” (huxley 1984: 52). all these features make brave new world a unique and powerful novel, rightly regarded as one of the most important novels of the twentieth century, a novel whose prophetic powers have not diminished with the passage of decades (see, for example margaret atwood’s text on the new edition of brave new world in 2007). both a city of light and mr. hamilton’s honeymoon are basically adventure stories with prominent romance themes, which happen to be placed in the distant future, which is presented more in terms of some technical gadgets and a catastrophic threat than of a coherent, dystopian vision. they are of interest only to a diligent historian of polish sciencefiction literature. i am deeply convinced that even if aldous huxley had learnt polish and read smolarski novels, or even if he had employed ‘scouts’ to ‘scavenge’ through slavonic literature in search of great ideas to steal (these two options are suggested by smolarski in the closing paragraph of his “letter to aldous huxley”), brave new world would not be altered in any significant way. references atwood, margaret. 2007. everybody is happy now. the guardian, 17 nov, www.theguardian.com/ books/2007/nov/17/classics.margaretatwood (21 december 2017). firchow, peter. 1972. aldous huxley: satirist and novelist. minneapolis: university of minnesota press. higdon, david leon. 2008. aldous huxley and the hopi snake dance. aldous huxley annual 8. 137-152. huxley, aldous. 1969. letters of aldous huxley. grover smith (ed.). new york: harper & row. huxley, aldous. 1984. brave new world and brave new world revisited. london: chatto & windus, the hogarth press. huxley, aldous. 2000a. complete essays: volume i: 1920-1925. robert s. baker and james sexton (eds.). chicago: ivan r. dee. huxley, aldous. 2000b. complete essays: volume ii: 1926-1929. robert s. baker and james sexton (eds.). chicago: ivan r. dee. meckier, jerome. 2007. on d.h. lawrence and death, especially matricide: sons and lovers, brave new world, and aldous huxley’s later novels. aldous huxley annual 7. 185-222. moroz, grzegorz. 2013. of death, grief, john the savage, aldous huxley and d.h. lawrence. in:  zbigniew białas, paweł jędrzejko and julia szołtysek (eds.), culture and the rites/rites of grief, 183-191. newcastle-upon-tyne: cambridge scholars publishing. 17 articles smolarski, mieczysław. 1948. list do aldousa huxleya [a letter to aldous huxley]. nowiny literackie 4. 7. smolarski, mieczysław. 1988. miasto światłości [a city of light]. poznań: wydawnictwo poznańskie. smuszkiewicz, antoni. 1982. zaczarowana gra: zarys dziejów polskiej fantastyki naukowej [the  enchanted game: an outline history of polish science-fiction literature]. poznań: wydawnictwo poznańskie. smuszkiewicz, antoni. 1988. posłowie [afterword]. in: mieczysław smolarski, miasto światłości. poznań, wydawnictwo poznańskie. editorial 5 articles 5 editorial while science fiction and fantasy are inarguably international genres, they have not developed in a uniform manner across the globe. the literary output of any nation is always shaped by many factors, including the country’s mythology, history, politics, and culture. throughout the twentieth and into the twenty-first century, speculative fiction, an umbrella term that embraces all narratives including the elements of the fantastic, the supernatural or the futuristic, has challenged the norms of mimetic novelistic discourse, become a vehicle for the re-interpretation of cultural and literary heritage, and offered a commentary on the issues important for its times. this is certainly true as far as polish science fiction and fantasy literature are concerned, since their present condition—though, undoubtedly, determined also by the achievements of foreign writers (but to what extent?)—has been affected by the nation’s difficult yet rich past, which has in turn been reflected in the writers’ attempts at re-creating the country’s history, in the multiple references to its sociopolitical reality, and in the return to slavic mythology and traditions. however, beyond the borders of poland, few of the country’s science fiction and fantasy writers have gained literary and scholarly recognition. though foreign readers are generally acquainted with the works of stanisław lem and andrzej sapkowski, they know little about other noteworthy polish authors. this is hardly surprising, since not many critical publications on polish sf and fantasy are available in english. our collection of essays will, hopefully, satisfy that demand and suggest at least a few more directions for further exploration and future research. the following issue of crossroads comprises six papers which deal with various aspects of polish speculative fiction or, more generally, with the state of sf and fantasy literature in poland. by analyzing several polish novels and short stories, the authors of these papers offer a glimpse into the variety of motifs, themes, and sub-genres used by polish writers. by discussing certain similarities between anglo-american and polish texts, they point to the possible influences of the former on the latter. by paying attention to polish editions of foreign works, they highlight the problems of translation and retranslation. finally, by examining a range of polish works, they seek to expand foreign readers’ knowledge of polish sf and fantasy beyond the novels of lem and sapkowski. having this last goal in mind, our authors wanted to provide scholarly analyses which would be accessible and thought-provoking, not only for people working in literary studies, but for everyone interested in the topic of non-anglo-american science and fantasy fiction. in “did aldous huxley read science fiction literature in polish? brave new world, intertexutality and mieczysław smolarski”, grzegorz moroz examines the one-sided conflict between the pol6 crossroads. a journal of english studies ish writer, mieczysław smolarski, and aldous huxley. by analyzing and comparing the works of both writers, moroz explains why smolarski’s claims that huxley plagiarized his work should be dismissed. his analysis is supported by a study of the correlations between polish and english sf novels, with particular reference to smolarski’s and huxley’s works. in “on the hermeneutic ontology of language in alice’s adventures in wonderland and its latest polish retranslation”, beata piecychna investigates the most recent retranslation of carroll’s work (published in 2015) in order to prove that, contrary to the claims of the translator, the text does not render the ‘spirit’ of the original work. the framework for the analysis of both texts is hans-georg gadamer’s ontology of language and the concept of ontological parallelism—a key notion in the theory of translation. ewa drab, in “time and history at the crossroads of polish imaginary genres: krzysztof piskorski’s czterdzieści i cztery and andrzej pilipiuk’s operacja dzień wskrzeszenia”, analyzes the interrelation of time and history in selected polish steampunk and science fiction novels. this analysis is preceded by a general discussion of the roles of time and history in anglo-american steampunk and science fiction novels—a discussion which is complemented by the author’s exploration of the differences between the polish and anglo-american variants of the selected sub-genres. agnieszka dzięcioł-pędich and marcin pędich, in “constructions of the other in polish fantasy literature”, investigate the problem of otherness in several polish fantasy novels. by examining a range of characters, the authors are able to explore various dimensions of otherness, which allows them to suggest that being ‘the other’ is one of the key tropes of fantasy literature. this analysis is supported by references to similarly constrained characters in anglo-american fantasy. in “fairytale fantasy, secondary history, and female empowerment: discovering the many dimensions of anna brzezińska’s wody głębokie jak niebo”, weronika łaszkiewicz examines selected aspects of anna brzezińska’s much acclaimed collection. by posing questions concerning the sub-genre of fairytale fantasy, elements of fantastic world-building, and female empowerment in fantasy fiction, łaszkiewicz demonstrates that brzezińska consciously subverts the characteristic tropes of fantasy and fairy stories, and creates an intricate and compelling secondary world. mariusz m. leś, in “top seven polish science fiction novels of the communist era (lem aside)”, presents his selection of polish science fiction novels written between 1949 and 1989, i.e. the period of the soviet communist regime. the aim of this selection is to provide a counterpoint to the works of stanisław lem, which still overshadow—perhaps unfairly as leś suggests—other novels of that period. by analyzing the works of, e.g. janusz a. zajdel, marek oramus, and wiktor żwikiewicz, leś highlights the impressive wealth of ideas and narrative techniques hidden in those—now largely forgotten—texts. we hope that the following issue of crossroads will contribute to the growth of scholarly interest in polish sf and fantasy, and, more generally, in science fiction and fantasy novels from outside the anglo-american milieu. since all of these works are shaped by a given country’s history, politics, and culture, to read them means not only to discover imaginary never-lands created by the authors, but also to explore the history and culture that lie beneath them. this, in turn, allows one editorial 7 to perceive polish speculative fiction as entangled in a wider web of literary and cultural influences, the examination of which proves a fruitful and fascinating task. weronika łaszkiewicz sylwia borowska-szerszun mariusz m. leś the role of emergent structure in conceptual blending theory – case studies of children in advertisements 30 crossroads. a journal of english studies justyna polak university of warsaw the role of emergent structure in conceptual blending theory – case studies of children in advertisements abstract. the aim of this article is to consider the role of emergent structure in conceptual integration networks and the impact it has on the process of meaning construction. what is under analysis is the way in which a well-established emergent structure helps the blend to achieve its goals of providing human scale and achieving its persuasive effects. the analysis is a case study of four advertising campaigns which use conceptual blending to advertise their products via manipulating an image of a child into their advertising posters. key words: cognitive linguistics, mental spaces, conceptual blending theory, emergent structure, persuasive effects. 1.1. introduction the aim of this article is to present basic principles governing the process of conceptual blending as employed in the advertising campaigns using images of children in achieving particular persuasive effects, with a special focus on emergent structure: its place within the whole integration network, its creation, development and elaboration, as well as its impact on the interpretation of the input spaces contained in the network. the main purpose of the analysis is to prove the unique status of emergent structure as a feature specific to conceptual blending theory (1995, 1998, 2000, 2002), as well as to provide evidence for the claim that emergent structure is crucial for explaining inferences arising from the integration of two or more conceptual inputs, which are not directly available from the inputs analyzed in isolation. emergent structure is treated as a result of the creative online processing of projections of elements from input mental spaces onto a newly established space, the blend. the first part of this article provides a brief analysis of the mechanism of blending, with a special emphasis on the role of the projection of elements and inferences to establish a coherent and internally integrated network of mental spaces. then follows a detailed account of emergent structure as the result of the said projections. what is explained in detail are the subsequent stages via 10.15290/cr.2017.17.2.02 31 crossroads. a journal of english studies which the emergent structure is created, i.e. composition, completion and elaboration of the blend. then the article focuses briefly on the processes which strengthen the internal congruity of the blend, i.e. compression of vital relations and backward projection of inferences from the blend back onto the input spaces, as mechanisms which are exceptionally effective in providing a human scale, and reevaluation of the frames contained in the inputs. the first part of the article provides a theoretical background for further analysis of selected examples of visual blends included in later sections. it explains the main notions, mechanisms and terms necessary for the efficient description of processes involved in the creation of the emergent structure, as well as its development and, finally, its effects. 1.2. method and database the corpus consists of ten posters collected from four advertizing campaigns, two of which use the image of a child to advertise a notion directly involving children – candies in “chupa chups. it’s the end of the world without it”, and adoption in “adopt. you can receive more than you can ever give” – and two to advertise products not directly related to the conceptual domain of children – a bank, in “sofia bank. experienced, although newborn”, and car tires in “michelin. because so much is riding on our tires”. four of the posters are analyzed in this article. the analysis is based on the application of conceptual blending theory, as developed by gilles fauconnier and mark turner (1995, 1998, 2000, 2002). it also follows joy et al.’s observations of conceptual blending as being a process of arrival at the meaning of advertisements with a dose of individuality between the viewers since the process of meaning construction depends on the individual “activation, interconnection and manipulation of mental spaces” (2009: 48). it is also crucial to note their observation that “an awareness of cross-cultural understandings” is crucial for correct deciphering various advertisements (ibid.). also, since blending is a conceptual process of meaning construction, it is assumed in this article that it may be found in its nonverbal manifestations, much like metaphor in forceville’s work on advertisements (1994). 1.3. general characteristics of the mechanism of blending as fauconnier and turner (1995) point out, conceptual blending is a process of on-line meaning construction based on the integration of at least four conceptual structures into a dynamic network which stays strongly dependent on context. since the process is local and dynamic, the structures used in the integration are mental spaces, which are local meaning constructions, rather than conceptual domains which are whole systematically structured areas of knowledge. the process of integration is based on the projection of elements across mental spaces involved in the network: two input mental spaces, a generic space and a blended space. the cross-space mapping which connects counterpart elements contained within the input spaces gives rise to newly emerged inferences and judgments which are not directly available from any of the inputs considered separately. these inferences are contained within 32 crossroads. a journal of english studies a newly established mental space, the blend, which remains systematically connected to the inputs (see fauconnier 2005: 525). crucially, the blend, apart from being only a collection of mappings from the input spaces, contains a structure which is not predictable from any of the mental spaces involved in the meaning construction process (see fauconnier and turner 1995). the structure emerges as a result of all the projections involved in the network and provides a unique logic to the blend. the whole process of conceptual integration may be schematically represented in a diagram proposed by fauconnier and turner (2002: 46), figure 1. figure 1. mechanism of blending the circles in the diagram represent mental spaces, the dotted lines symbolize projections between elements across the whole integration network, the solid lines indicate mappings between counterpart elements between two input spaces, whereas the square within the blend represents the emergent structure (see fauconnier and turner 2002: 46f). the generic space comprises highly schematic features characteristic of both of the inputs. it facilitates the process of establishing the cross-space mappings between counterpart elements from the input mental spaces. in this way, it can be further projected onto the blend (see evans and green 2006: 406). it is important to note that while the generic space contains only the elements common to both of the inputs, the blended space with its emergent structure is composed not only of the elements projected selectively from the input spaces and counterpart elements found in the generic space, but also contains elements not present in any of the input spaces (see fauconnier and turner 2002: 46f). 33 crossroads. a journal of english studies 1.4. an insight into the emergent structure the possibility of arriving at the emergent structure is the factor that distinguishes conceptual blending theory from other cognitive processes of meaning construction. the discovery of emergent structure enabled linguists to explain a novel meaning of utterances which was not derived directly from any of the input structures, either linguistic or conceptual, involved in the meaning construction process (see evans and green 2006: 401). the blend’s emergent structure may generate the meaning of sentences whose meaning often cannot be solved by the conceptual metaphor approach, such as “this surgeon is a butcher” (see kövecses 2006: 275). the negative assessment of the surgeon as being incompetent comes about not as a result of a simple mapping of meaning from the domain of butchery onto the domain of medical craftsmanship, but instead emerges as a new concept of a surgeon who, while performing an operation, uses the skills of a butcher, which as a result renders him incompetent (see kövecses 2006: 275ff, see also brandt and brandt 2005). it is important to note that such a composition of a surgeon possessing the skills of a butcher did not appear in any of the input structures. the emergent structure arises as the result of multiple projections of elements from input mental spaces onto the blended space. these projections give rise to new inferences, which can be later projected back onto the inputs. since the projections are multidirectional, the blended space with its emergent structure remains constantly linked to the whole integration network (see fauconnier and turner 1998: 305). 1.5. creation of the emergent structure the emergent structure arises as a result of three operations performed during the construction of the blend. these operations are: composition, completion and elaboration. composition is based on the selective projection of elements from the input spaces onto the newly established mental space, the blend. counterparts from the inputs are mapped onto the blend either as separate items or projected into one element. the latter type of projection is referred to as fusion. composition creates new relations between mental spaces involved in the integration networks, thus that operation is often sufficient for the emergent structure to arise (see fauconnier and turner 2002: 48). completion recruits well entrenched background knowledge about elements composed into the blend. it completes the structure of the blend with other structures and scenarios employed from background everyday experience. the most basic form of recruitment is pattern completion, thanks to which, as fauconnier and turner suggest, “[a] minimal composition in the blend can be extensively completed by a larger conventional pattern” (1998: 315). it is also interesting to note the metonymic character of this process. elements projected from the input spaces into the blend serve as vehicles for the recruitment of much broader knowledge originating from the cognitive domain of which they were part (here: the part for whole conceptual metonymy) or other non-counterpart elements which were not originally in the inputs but become part of the blend (ibid.: 336). 34 crossroads. a journal of english studies elaboration develops the blend further by imaginative mental simulation performed in accordance with the newly established logic and principles which emerged during the composition and completion of the blend. further “running the blend” may lead to the emergence of yet other new principles and logic used for subsequent simulation (see fauconnier and turner 1998: 315). the elaboration of the blend may be performed indefinitely, since mental simulation is performed via imaginative use of all the elements and logics incorporated within the blend. creating new inferences or introducing new concepts to the blend lead to its further elaboration (see fauconnier and turner 2002: 49). all these operations lead to the creation of an emergent structure in the whole integration network (ibid.). as evans and green point out, “[t]he structure is ‘emergent’ because it emerges from ‘adding together’ structure from the inputs to produce an entity unique to the blend” (2006: 405). the inferences created by running the blend provide a novel structure which enables operations otherwise impossible in any of the input spaces (see fauconnier 2005: 528). since the process of conceptual integration is on-line and non-algorithmic (see fauconnier and turner 1998: 306), the imaginative act may be performed at any site of the network in order to achieve a satisfactory integration (see turner 2007: 22). 1.6. compression and human scale apart from providing explanations for novel meanings emerging from the unconventional use of linguistic expressions, conceptual blending, being a cognitive process, provides much broader effects to human cognition. as evans and green point out, the main purpose of blending is to provide global insight, i.e. to present new or already existing ideas in the most understandable way (see 2006: 418). fauconnier and turner claim that blends, by arriving at global insight, achieve a human scale which, as the authors argue, is the most crucial principle governing conceptual integration (see 1998: 339). human scale is obtained by the simplification of complex notions, i.e. reducing complexity to the scope of the basic human experience (see fauconnier and turner 2002: 30). according to fauconnier and turner, this process is guided by a number of sub-goals in the blend construction (1998: 339). among such processes are, for instance, compression and intensification of vital relations shared by the input spaces into the vital relations present in the blend (see turner 2006: 17; for the full list of such sub-goals, see fauconnier and turner 1998: 340, or evans and green 2006: 419). compression seems to be one of the most crucial elements in the construction of the blend and seems to provide the most powerful effects. turner defines compression as “transforming diffuse and distended conceptual structures that are less congenial to human understanding so that they become more congenial to human understanding, better suited to our human-scale ways of thinking” (see 2006: 18, for more about compression and vital relations see also fauconnier and turner 2000: 283-304). in other words, via compression, the blend not only gains a new unique structure obtained by compressing elements and relations from input mental spaces, but also becomes more immediate to human attention. 35 crossroads. a journal of english studies projection of vital relations and their compressions within the blended space has a crucial effect on the topology of the blend and its emergent structure. fauconnier and turner (see 1998: 343355) provide a comprehensive classification of integration networks in accordance to the topological structure of the blend. they claim that four-space blends form shared topology networks, i.e. the topology of the generic space is projected onto all spaces involved in the integration. the difference in the organization of the blended space and thus its emergent structure is crucial. if the blended space inherits the organizing frame of one of the inputs, i.e. if one of the inputs provides the logic and structure for the blend to organize the elements projected from the other input, this network is single-scope. if, however, the blend is organized by the projections from both of the inputs and a new organized frame is thus created, the network is double-scope (for other types of networks, see fauconnier and turner 1998: 343-355). in each case, the result is the emergent structure which provides the blend with new inferences which are otherwise not available (see turner 2006: 21). fauconnier (see 2005: 530) and turner (see 2006: 17) both claim that such integration of contrastive frames is basic and common to the human cognitive system. another crucial element of blending is backward projection. since the projections in the integration network are multidirectional, certain properties developed in the blend are mapped backwards onto the input mental spaces. in other words, the emergent structure which arises through projections and compressions of diffuse concepts into coherent vital relations in the blend facilitates the interpretation of the notions presented in the input mental spaces (see fauconnier 2005: 531f). in this way, the blend remains constantly linked with the whole integration network (see fauconnier and turner 1998: 310f). 2.1. cultural image of a child for the purpose of this article i assume a commonly shared image of a child present in western culture. i adopt a standardized viewpoint of an adult person and disregard any differences in perception connected with gender, race and economic or family status. in this cultural viewpoint i refer to, children are traditionally associated with positive attributes: they are innocent, active and eager to communicate, they have an excessively loving nature and exhibit positive naivety towards the world. children are generally inexperienced but enthusiastically explore their surroundings, and they are happy, lovable and energetic. adults perceive children as vulnerable; they also feel the need to provide them with affection, love, care and protection. there are, however, times when children bring slightly negative associations to mind: they tend to misbehave, often stubbornly insist on their whims, and are likely to overreact. 2.2. it’s the end of the world without chupa-chups children often have a tendency to overreact and misbehave, especially when something happens against their will or liking. the following advertisement, presented in figure 2, seems to draw its inferences exactly from these characteristics. 36 crossroads. a journal of english studies figure 2. chupa-chups ad: a girl on a doll-house the picture in figure 2 presents one of the three advertising posters designed by an agency in south africa for the chupa-chups brand in order to promote their lollipop candies. all three posters pictured children aged 4 to 8 in situations characteristic for adults suffering from severe depression: a boy lying on a sofa and talking to a teddy bear which is wearing a psychiatrist’s lab coat, another boy sitting behind a bar, drinking glasses of milk, and a girl threatening to jump from a doll house. the last example is the subject of the analysis in this section. as previously noted, the advertisement depicts an approximately 5-year-old girl standing on the rooftop of a doll house. she is looking reproachfully at the viewer. considering her position, the arrangement of the toys below her, as well as the slogan of the campaign: “it’s the end of the world without it”, followed by the chupa-chups logo, the girl is evidently about to jump. where does this interpretation of the scene come from? what was the cause of the girl’s behavior? does she really intend to jump? in order to address these questions, it is required to examine the situation more closely. the advertisement makes use of conceptual blending in evoking its cognitive effects. the blend is composed of two input mental spaces: the first input is the mental space of suicide, and the second input involves the child’s grief, specifically after being denied her favorite candy. the mappings established between the inputs proceed as follows: a person about to commit suicide from the suicide input corresponds to the girl who is overwhelmed with grief from the second input; the building from which the suicide victim is about to jump relates to the doll house; whereas the cause of the suicide corresponds to the lack of the chupa-chups lollipop. the generic space abstracted from the two input spaces consists in an individual overcome with tragedy to the point of not knowing how to continue their life any longer. 37 crossroads. a journal of english studies the construction of the blended space proceeds as follows: the composition of the blend maps, the counterpart mappings from the input spaces, and the abstraction from the generic space onto the newly established element in the network, the blend. some of the elements are fused together, i.e. forced under compression to form one entity within the blended space: the girl from the second input becomes the person about to commit suicide from the first input, the doll house becomes the building from which she is about to jump, and the lack of a lollipop becomes the cause of the forthcoming suicide. it is noticeable that one of the inputs, i.e. the mental space of suicide, evidently provides an organizing frame for the input of the child’s grief. applying fauconnier and turner’s classification of blends, this particular type of blending is described as a single-scope network, where the blended space is organized according to the logic projected from one of the inputs (1998: 343-355). the structure is completed by recruiting the background knowledge concerning suicide scenarios and behaviors characteristic to children when something goes against their will: their tendency to overdramatize, and emotional involvement. it is also interesting to note the metonymic character of the situation present in the picture: what the viewer is exposed to is the initial stage of a very concrete suicide scenario, i.e. jumping from the roof of a high building. the rest of the scenario is evoked automatically via the initial stage of the action for the whole action conceptual metonymy. elaboration runs the blend as follows: the girl is so devastated about the lack of the chupachups candy that she does not know how to proceed with her life and hence consciously decides to end it. in order to do so, she has arranged her immediate surroundings which have been directly available to her. the cause of her misery is the overwhelming grief over being denied the most important thing in her life at this moment, which, judging by her disappointed straightforward look, was evidently induced by her parents or some other adult. since the girl looks directly at the viewer of the advertisement, the viewer becomes fused with the parents or other adults who caused that reaction, and thus becomes directly involved in the scenario. thanks to this technique, the advertisement obtains a number of powerful persuasive effects. now it is the viewer who witnesses their daughter so devastated she decides to threaten her parents, or any other actual causers, to commit suicide. the viewer realizes that they have been the immediate cause of the situation by not giving the girl her favorite candy. what emerges is the direct feeling of guilt in the viewer because they have let such a situation happen. instead of providing safety and care, they threaten the life of the ones they should protect. what is projected back is the intended message of the advertisement: what for an adult may seem a trivial matter, i.e. a simple chupa-chups lollipop, for a child is the equivalent of the meaning of life. denying children their chupa-chups is like denying adults their reason to exist. what is particularly striking in this advertisement is the emergent image of a child. in the emergent structure of this blend, the child inherits the reasoning and actions from the adult suicide input, i.e. the consciousness of the decision, knowledge about suicide scenarios, as well as the possible effects of blackmailing others by attempting to perform such an action. interestingly, the child maintains her naivety: to commit her “suicide”, the girl chooses a dollhouse instead of a real high 38 crossroads. a journal of english studies building, which may provide a somewhat humorous effect. this juxtaposition of two strikingly different characteristics renders the advertisement powerful and effective and, thus successful. 2.3. adopt the previous advertisement used conceptual networks for strictly commercial purposes, i.e. its main goal was to present a product in the most effective way. however, conceptual blending is also equally persuasive in social advertising, where its primary function is raising awareness about a social phenomenon, in the case of the following example, about adoption. figure 3. adopt ad: a girl holding a woman the advertisement presented in figure 3 is part of an advertising campaign designed by the indian association for promotion of adoption and child welfare. seeit presents a mother and a daughter who are embracing each other. the headline at the bottom says: “adopt. you will receive more than you can ever give”. as already hinted, the advertisement uses conceptual blending in achieving its persuasive effects. the integration network is composed of two inputs: a cognitive frame of kinship with the specific roles of mother and daughter, and another mental space containing an adult woman and a little girl who are not related to one another. counterpart mappings connect the role of mother 39 crossroads. a journal of english studies with the woman and the daughter role with the girl. during the composition of the blend, the roles from frame of kinship and the elements from the second input are projected onto a newly created mental space, the blend. pattern completion recruits additional background knowledge and scenarios about kinship, parenting and children into the blend, i.e. the ideas of providing protection, care and nurturing in the case of mothers: giving birth, and in the case of children: being the recipient of said care. however, once the viewer notices the physical arrangement of the woman and the girl on the poster, some new inferences come to light. the blend is elaborated in the following way: judging by the sizes of the girl and the woman, the girl is assigned a more prominent role. she stands straight and holds the woman as if she were her favorite toy. the shape they make together metonymically evokes the shape of a pregnant woman. however, what is striking is that it is not the woman who is pregnant but the girl. this shift in the internal structure of the blend, which is counterfactual, is enough to produce a powerful emergent structure. the vital relations of identity become reversed in the blend. in effect, the girl is assigned the role of the mother, i.e. she gives birth, provides love and nurturing for the woman, but still maintains her childlike figure. the woman, on the other hand, is assigned the recipient role of the child, i.e. she is the beneficiary of the girl’s immense love and protection. in a way, it is the child who gives birth to the mother, and this inference is projected to reevaluate the inputs. since the woman and the girl are not related to one another, and the girl is given the prominent status in their relationship, it is the existence of the girl which makes the woman a mother. this is when the adoption scenario is evoked. since the woman is not able to conceive a child, adopting one makes her a mother, not only by having an opportunity to provide protection and care, but also by being immersed in the unconditional love of the child. in this sense, she receives more than she can give: apart from closeness and affection, she is given a chance to satisfy her inner need and desire, which she would never be able to fulfill by herself. the image of the child evoked by the emergent structure of this blend only reinforces the characteristic features assigned to children in western culture. what is strengthened is the positive associations with children, such as their loving nature and their need to be taken care of. what is new and powerful in the blend is children’s power to evoke positive feelings in the adult, or even to change their nature. in both of the examples, presented in figure 2 and figure 3, the image of a child was used to advertise a notion directly connected with the conceptual domain of child, i.e. the chupa-chups poster advertised a candy: an element directly associated with children and their love for sweets, whereas the adopt campaign focused on the family notion, of which children are an inseparable part. it is now necessary to posit a question: is there a possibility for the image of a child to be used to advertise a product or a notion which does not belong directly to the conceptual domain of children? 2.4. the newborn experience the advertisement under analysis in this section uses conceptual networks to reason about an element which is not directly related to any of the input spaces involved in the creation of the blend it40 crossroads. a journal of english studies self. the poster in figure 4 is part of an advertising campaign for the finnish sofia bank, whose aim was to promote the bank’s refreshed image. the guiding slogan says: “experienced, although newborn”. figure 4. sofia bank ad: a baby meditating the poster presents a newborn baby sitting in a lotus position, characteristic of advanced religious practices in eastern asia. the logo at the bottom introduces sofia bank. these three elements in fact serve as the inputs for creating the blend: a mental space of newborn baby, a mental space of meditation, and a mental space of bank. it is important to note the conceptual background knowledge which is evoked metonymically by both the baby and the position he sits in. newborn babies are vulnerable, clumsy and generally inexperienced, whereas the meditative pose brings up rich knowledge from the cognitive frame of religious beliefs and practices in the far east. meditation is known as an advanced practice which not only requires a perfectly balanced body position, but also a well-trained mind. it is performed by individuals, often of high religious status, and requires practice, concentration and, above all, experience. what is also important to notice is that the bank frame is evoked by the verbal sofia bank logo only. the logo’s function is to anchor1 the whole reasoning about the baby and the meditation in the bank mental space. what happens during the composition of the blend is fusing this inexperienced newborn baby into this highly experienced individual from the meditation input and then again fused with the bank from the 1 for more on anchoring, see forceville 1994. 41 crossroads. a journal of english studies bank input. the sofia bank becomes thus personified. the vital relations of identity from all of the inputs become compressed into one entity in the blend – the baby. during completion, apart from recruiting the already mentioned background knowledge, what is also employed is the notion of experience, which is understood in much broader terms in the eastern asian area. in eastern asian religious beliefs, a hugely vivid notion is reincarnation, according to which after death a person’s soul is reborn in a new body, hence advancing in the hierarchies of being. thus, elaboration runs the blend and gives rise to an apparent emergent structure where the baby, although being newborn, possesses all the experience from his previous lives, and in this way, is able and competent to perform this highly advanced religious practice. the emergent structure gives rise to an internally contradictory image of a child being simultaneously new to the world and experienced within it. this compressed image is the most powerful effect of the blend. it is skillfully used further to reason about sofia bank, the object of the advertisement. in effect, the bank is like the newborn baby on the poster: it is fresh to the surroundings, easily adaptable, and eager to open itself up to the ever-changing market, yet still possesses its huge experience from its previous incarnations. thanks to this experience the bank is likely to proceed in its existence, avoiding mistakes which would otherwise be bound to happen to any beginning banking institution. it is crucial to note that the correct deciphering of the advertisement’s meaning is only possible after the viewer recognizes the pose the baby sits in and connects it with the religious practices of the far east. it not only proves that the cross-cultural awareness is essential to understand an advertisement, but also stresses the fact that the reading and elaboration of a blend are individualized processes and may differ from person to person, depending on their background knowledge. the emerging image of the child in the “experienced, although newborn” blend is used to advertise a notion which does not relate itself directly to the conceptual domain of children. given a skillful manipulation of the elements within input spaces and the congruent emergent structure, the image of a child may serve as a very powerful tool of persuasion, especially in advertising. however, is it always effective to use blending to advertise a product? 2.5. so much is riding on your tires all three advertisements discussed in the previous sections used conceptual blending in arriving at their powerful persuasive effects. in all of the examples the input spaces were readily recognized, the mappings were projected smoothly, and the emergent structure was congruent, efficient and effortless to follow. it provided coherent inferences which were later used to arrive at conclusive judgments about the products which were advertised. the image of a child used in these advertisements seemed to be a very effective means of persuasion, which would adapt itself to the particular needs of the companies freely. in order to prove the necessity of an easy and effortless process of emergent structure formation and elaboration for the powerful persuasive effect of a blend, it is useful to consider an example of a less successful attempt at blending: an advertising poster designed for the michelin tire company in figure 5. 42 crossroads. a journal of english studies figure 5. michelin ad: a baby sitting next to a tire the poster comes from a larger advertising campaign designed for the brand in the 1980s. this one presents a baby sitting next to a car tire. the background of the advertisement is dark, which provides contrast for the bright silhouette of the baby. in the top right-hand corner, there is a slogan which says: “michelin. because so much is riding on your tires”, and below it there is a body of text in small font, explaining briefly the main idea of the advertisement, followed by the michelin logo. the organization of the elements in the picture attempts at a visual blend. the input spaces are, on the one hand, the baby space and, on the other, car driving, evoked metonymically via the image of the tire. although tires are the object of the advertisement, putting one in the background of the picture seems not enough for the viewer to arrive at the car driving scenario, especially when there seems to be no interaction between the baby and the tire itself: both just stay there. contrary to the situation hinted at by the anchoring slogan [“(…) so much is riding on your tires”], the situation in the picture is static, hence no scenario of motion is evoked directly. although the input spaces are not readily recognizable and the counterpart mappings seem difficult to establish, the two inputs seem to share one generic idea, i.e. the notion of safety. what is curious is that the viewer is able to arrive at it only after several attempts are performed at composing the two elements into one picture and completing it further with the background knowledge of the car-driving conceptual frame: people generally need their children to feel safe and they themselves need to feel safe while driving. this conclusion may give rise to an emergent scenario which seems to be the intended meaning of the advertisement: the only way to provide safety for ourselves and our family, considered the greatest value in our lives, is having our car equipped with michelin tires. this inference might be, however, questioned: proper tires evidently are important, but are they really the key factor for providing full safety while driving? 43 crossroads. a journal of english studies clearly, the blend composed for this advertisement requires a lot of cognitive effort to establish its internal elements and mappings. the emergent structure does not appear effortlessly, but on the contrary, the viewer following the principle of relevance (see fauconnier and turner 1998: 340) seems forced to find the emergent meaning, which seems slightly farfetched. the judgments about michelin tires, though, are drawn thanks to merging two highly distinctive elements into one picture, resulting in cause and effect compression. the image of a child used in this advertisement is based on the general associations people have of children: their vulnerability and dependence on others. it seems, however, to be rather poorly incorporated within the visual representation of the conceptual idea behind the advertisement. the baby in the picture does not indicate any relation with the tire positioned behind him. the persuasive effect of the poster would be achieved with less effort if there were some interaction between the two elements, for instance, if the baby were shown playing with the tire, imitating his parents driving a car. what seems to be crucial is that it is not enough merely to insert an image of a child into an advertisement to achieve its intended goal. instead, skillful manipulation of the element is the key. thus, in order to advertise a product in an attractive and efficient way, it is important to manipulate it aptly on the conceptual level. although this particular poster does not use conceptual blending and the image of a child effectively, the whole michelin advertising campaign, composed not only of posters but also of television commercials involving actual active integration between children and the michelin tires, proved to be a huge success in the advertising world, providing the company with recognition and high stock ratings. although being a part of a bigger campaign and potentially serving as a remainder of one, the poster analyzed in isolation does not achieve persuasive effects on its own but strongly depends on its larger context. 3. summary the aim of this study was to analyze the role of the emergent structure in the conceptual integration networks as employed in advertising campaigns using images of children in achieving particular persuasive effects. the first part explained conceptual blending theory, focusing specifically on the creation and role of the emergent structure, as well as the process of compression, which facilitates achieving the fundamental purpose of blending, i.e. achieving human scale, as well as, in more creative uses of integration networks, providing persuasive effects. it was stressed that the emergent structure arises as a result of projections of elements from input mental spaces to form a new structure within the integration networks, the blend. what was emphasized was the fact that this newly formed mental space is composed of the elements mapped from the inputs, but also it contains elements and relations not originating in any of the mental spaces involved in the process. as a result, new inferences arise in the conceptual networks, which are later used to reevaluate the elements in the inputs via multidirectional mappings. this process, backward projection, facilitates achieving the main purpose of the blend formation, that is providing global insight and human scale for the diffused notions. it is also efficient as a potential mechanism of persuasion. 44 crossroads. a journal of english studies what is also important about blending is the local and automatic character of the process, i.e. it happens immediately after exposure to the input material, and once the inferences or the reevaluation of the concepts involved are reached, the blend is decomposed in the mind of the conceptualizer, leaving him/her with new judgments and opinions about the relevant notion. the second part focused on the analysis of the conceptual networks based on the visual input of four advertisements using an image of a child in order to achieve their persuasive effects. each of the blends presented in the advertising posters developed their own unique emergent structure, where the image of a child played the key role in the evaluation of the advertised products. four advertisements were analyzed, each coming from a larger advertising campaign. the first three examples provided a readily available coherent emergent structure, whereas in the fourth one the emergent structure was slightly difficult to establish due to the inconsistent structure of the mappings in the integration network. the analysis proved that in order for the blend to achieve its persuasive goals, it is crucial that it develops a well-organized and congruent emergent structure. in order to do that, the elements chosen for the creation of the blend must allow for coherent projections and form a structure which would be more than just a sum of the inputs. what is more, the construction of the emergent structure must be immediate and effortless for the arrival at coherent inferences and conclusions leading to persuasive effects. the emergent image of a child which was developed in the blends had a significant impact on the evaluation of the advertised products. the first poster equipped the image of the girl with features strongly associated with the adults’ view of the world, and juxtaposed the very positive cultural image of a child with a strongly negative side of human existence, which rendered the blend immensely powerful. the second poster emphasized the positive associations connected with children and projected them onto promoting adoption. the third advertisement presented a counterfactual image of a newborn baby already equipped with rich life-experience and used it to promote a notion not directly associated children. the forth advertisement used an image of a child least creatively of all the examples, i.e. the baby’s role was only to evoke the domain of children, but the emergent structure was not effortless to establish and hence rendered the blend diffuse. in all of the posters, though, the image of a child was used to project associations typically characteristic of children onto the advertised products, which was to result in an emotional response on the part of the viewers. in all of the advertising posters an image of a child was used which was later developed by the, stronger or weaker, emergent structure of the blends. it turned out that the blends which were able to form an effortless and immediate emergent structure provided a very vivid image of the child, which was later projected onto the advertised product. as a result, the advertisement was successful in achieving its persuasive goals by forcing the conceptualizer to project onto the advertised product the intensive feelings normally expressed towards children. in the case of the blend where the emergent structure was developed incoherently, the image of the child was static and rendered the advertisement less successful. 45 crossroads. a journal of english studies to conclude, conceptual integration is a very prominent mechanism for achieving conceptual persuasion. a well-developed emergent structure is the key step in forming a coherent and internally consistent blend. for achieving the most effective integration networks it is not enough to choose juxtaposing notions and blend them together. instead, skillful manipulation of these elements is even more crucial. references brandt, line and per aage brandt. 2005. making sense of a blend: a cognitive semiotic approach to metaphor. annual review of cognitive linguistics 3, 216-249. evans, vyvyan and melanie green. 2006. cognitive linguistics: an introduction. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. fauconnier, gilles. 2005. compression and emergent structure. language and linguistics 6(4), 523-538. fauconnier, gilles and mark turner. 1995. conceptual integration and formal expression. metaphor and symbolic activity 10(3), 183-203. fauconnier, gilles and mark turner. 1998. conceptual integration networks. in: geeraerts, dirk (ed.), cognitive linguistics: basic readings, 303-371. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. fauconnier, gilles and mark turner. 2000. compression and global insight. cognitive linguistics 11(3/4), 283-304. fauconnier, gilles and mark turner. 2002. conceptual blending and the mind’s hidden complexities. new york: basic books. forceville, charles. 1994. pictorial metaphor in advertisements. metaphor and symbolic activity 9, 1-29. joy, annamma, sherry john f. and jonathan deschenesa. 2009. conceptual blending in advertising. journal of business research 62, 39-49. kövecses, zoltán. 2006. language, mind, and culture: a practical introduction. oxford: oxford university press. turner, mark. 2006. compression and representation. language and literature 15(1), 17-27. http://┐ ssrn.com/abstract=1672132 (22 march 2013) turner, mark. 2007. frame blending. in: rossini favretti, rema (ed.), frames, corpora, and knowledge representation, 13-32. bologna: bononia university press. http://ssrn.com/┐ abstract=1321302 (22 march 2013) list of figures figure 1 mechanism of blending, http://markturner.org/blending.html (10 october 2012) figure 2 http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/chupa_chups_jumper (10 october 2012) figure 3 http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/the_indian_association_for_promotion┐ _of_adoption_child_welfare_mother_daughter (11 october 2012) figure 4 http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/sofia_bank_baby_1 (10 october 2012) figure 5 http://www.startupnation.com/images/pages/articles/12-3-28-branding-article/ michelin02.jpg (10 october 2012) from translation problem to translation strategy: an empirical study based on fragments of prose fiction 22 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) bartosz buć1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2019.27.4.02 university of rzeszów orcid: 0000-0002-3723-1940 from translation problem to translation strategy: an empirical study based on fragments of prose fiction abstract. the presented analyses comprise 11 examples of source text and target text fragments based on the typology proposed by hrehovčík (2006). each of them presents a different translation problem as well as a translation strategy implemented in order to overcome the lack of equivalence between the discussed text passages. in light of the fact that this paper does not aim to assess the work of the translator andrzej polkowski, with exception to his applied techniques, some comments also suggest general alternative translation procedures. following this path, it is possible to highlight and easily comprehend differences between translation strategies and the results of their application. moreover, each analysed fragment is preceded by a short introduction which gives insight into the theoretical foundation of the procedure. keywords: translation problems, translation strategies, translation procedures, translation process, learning translation. 1. introduction when studying translation, students learn, among other things, various translation strategies. initially, they can be quite confused as well-known scholars approach the issue from different viewpoints, which results in a variety of types of translation strategies. moreover, their distinct concepts have various points of reference, making them even more vague as some of them use the term strategy, whereas others prefer procedure. nevertheless, most scholars in the field (cf. venuti 2001: 240; hrehovčík 2006: 44; lörscher 1991: 8) agree on what the core task is. thus, translation strategies are linguistic devices applied by the translator in order to overcome the lack of equivalence 1 address for correspondence: institute of modern languages, university of rzeszów, al. mjr. w. kopisto 2b, 35-315 rzeszów, poland. e-mail: bartoszb@ur.edu.pl 23 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) between the source text (st) and the target text (tt). in other words, discrepancies at lexical, syntactic or cultural levels between the source language (sl) and the target language (tl) result in potential translation problems. in such a case, the translator’s task is to face said problems and to find appropriate solutions. a solution can, therefore, be understood as a translation strategy. the question which arises from translation procedures is not new and has been addressed by a number of scholars. in spite of this, the problem is that some researchers only provide definitions of translation strategies without supporting them with examples or suggestions on how to deal with each translation problem in practice, which could help comprehend the idea hidden behind a theoretical framework. this point of view is also shared by fernández guerra (2012: 6), who claims that translation procedures often overlap as they solely describe differences at the language and not the usage level, emphasizing results of translation rather than the translation process itself. if we consider e.g. an inexperienced student of translation studies, it may prove not an easy task to identify translation problems and appropriate strategies on his or her own. that is why, the main problem students face when writing their master’s thesis, is that they are not always instructed on the order and ways on how to deal with text units that are to be compared. in other words, it can be claimed that there is a need for some practical guidelines which would show the path that a student should follow in order to find a solution for a particular translation problem. therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to fill this gap and show in practice how to move from a translation problem to a translation strategy. moreover, the study aims to present the typology of translation strategies proposed by hrehovčík (2006) in his publication entitled introduction to translation, which will serve as a theoretical foundation of the presented analyses. 2. translation procedures or translation strategies? a major problem in translation practice is directly related to the question of equivalence. differences between the sl and the tl result in a lack of correspondence between language systems at word, sentence, text and discourse levels. in order to compensate for these discrepancies, appropriate tools have been developed which can be defined as techniques or strategies of translating. with regard to these notions, hrehovčík (2006: 44) claims that these days the term procedure is commonly used and refers to particular steps taken by the translator. however, burkhanov (2003: 170) suggests that the terms: translation procedures, techniques of translating, methods of translating, translation strategies, etc. be defined as “[…] selection of appropriate linguistic means of the target language that are intended to account for various elements of the spoken or written discourse originally conducted in the source language within the framework of mediated bilingual communication.” thus, it can be claimed that all these terms can be regarded as synonyms, as they refer to the same activity carried out by the translator. 24 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) 3. translation problems translation problems are directly related to the question of equivalence being one of the central concepts in the theory of translation. when trying to analyse a target text (tt) in terms of its semantic adherence to its original (st), the problem of equivalence is one of the basic criteria taken into consideration. generally speaking, equivalence between texts can be understood as a level of appropriateness between a st and a tt. sometimes equivalence is simultaneously used with the term translatability which can be regarded as its synonym. according to pym & turk (2001): translatability is mostly understood as the capacity for some kind of meaning to be transferred from one language to another without undergoing radical change. [...] the basic problem in most theories either for or against translatability is the relation between source-text ‘expressions’ (in the broad sense of articulated locutionary acts) and ‘meanings’ or ‘senses’ that are somehow held in the source language and are potentially subject to mediation with the help of reasoning or understanding. (pym & turk 2001: 273) this viewpoint seems to take language as a starting point, since it describes the possibility of rendering sense and reference at the language level. with regard to the above issue, a similar opinion is expressed by baker (2003) who believes that translation problems are directly related to the subject of equivalence. the scholar classifies the following points of reference: equivalence at word level, equivalence above word level, grammatical equivalence, textual equivalence: thematic and information structures, textual equivalence cohesion and pragmatic equivalence. although the linguist does not mention the term translation problems, she refers to difficulties the translator approaches in the translation process. in her analysis, baker (2003: 20) discusses the term non-equivalence, which can be understood as the lack of equivalence. on the basis of this concept, it can be assumed that, in fact, translation problems result from the lack of equivalence. translation problems have also been thoroughly discussed by schwarz et al. (2016: 52-56), who developed their concept on the basis of the model proposed by nord (1991: 51). the linguists divide translation problems into four categories, i.e. language problems, cultural problems, textual problems and pragmatic problems. taking these into account, they aim at classifying translation problems according to the context defining both theoretical and practical translation problems. moreover, it should be mentioned that within the scope of language problems, the linguists distinguish between terminological, lexical, semantic and stylistic problems. although the classification proposed by the scholars gives a clear overview of problems the translator may encounter in the translation process (including examples), they do not specify translation procedures 25 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) used to overcome non-equivalence, which may prove limiting for a student who is not familiar with the terminology. on the other hand, following hrehovčík’s (2006) account, the lack of equivalence between the linguistic systems governing the sl and the tl leads to three basic translation problems: 1) there is no lexical correspondence at word level between the source text and the target text. 2) there is no lexical correspondence above word level: collocations, idioms and fixed expressions. 3) there is no textual equivalence: sorting out cohesion and coherence. (hrehovčík 2006: 44) all in all, it can be stated that in spite of various terminology used by the scholars, all the above-discussed attempts at defining the source of translation problems have a lot in common, as they are founded on similar assumptions. they assume, namely, that there is a lack of appropriate means present in the tl that could be employed to render the meaning and the context of an idea expressed in the sl. 4. translation strategies in the publication in other words. a coursebook on translation, baker (2003) presented a broad spectrum of translation problems as well as strategies that can be applied in order to overcome them. although the volume is definitely a recommendable read for translators, its high level of differentiated types of strategies and detailed examples can turn out to be an obstacle for an inexperienced translation student. consequently, the following analyses are founded on the typology proposed by hrehovčík in the volume introduction to translation (2006), which comprises only eleven types of translation strategies and, therefore, gives a clearer overview, especially for aspiring translators or interpreters. furthermore, it should be stressed that the following subsections are intended to review translation strategies applied by the translator. in order to make it more evident, each fragment under analysis is preceded by a theoretical overview which is then followed by an analytical comment on practical aspects of the given translation process; first by presenting a problem, and then the translation strategy implemented to solve it. moreover, it should be added that the subsequent analyses2 of translation processes are based on fragments of andrzej polkowski’s polish translation of the english prose 2 the presented analyses make up a combination of different fragments of an unpublished master’s thesis entitled: the question of equivalence in the polish translation of the novel harry potter and the philosopher’s stone which was successfully defended by the author of the article in june 2018 at the wyższa szkoła lingwistyczna in częstochowa. 26 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) fiction novel harry potter and the philosopher’s stone (20143) by j. k. rowling entitled in polish harry potter i kamień filozoficzny (2000). finally, it needs be reiterated that this analysis does not aim to assess a particular translator’s work, and will focus solely on discussing steps taken in the translation process at large. 4.1. adaptation following hrehovčík’s (2006: 46) account, ‘adaptation’ can be regarded as a translation technique particularly suitable for a situation in which the context presented in the source language text cannot be rendered in the target culture (tc) of the translation. thus, it can be claimed that the translation strategy aims at some kind of re-creation when two cultures in question are mismatched. in order to overcome these problems, hrehovčík (2006: 46) suggests using the following adaptation techniques: transcription of the original: a part of the st can be reproduced word-for-word; omission: a part of the st is not translated; expansion: some extra information is added either in the main text or in footnotes; exoticism: slang or dialect elements in the st are substituted with rough equivalents in the tl; updating: information which can be regarded as outdated or obscure is replaced by modern equivalents; situational equivalence: some information is presented in a more familiar context than is the case in the st; creation: only the essential message from the st is conveyed into a new translation unit in the tt. table 1. adaptation: creation st tt mrs potter was mrs dursley’s sister, but they hadn’t met for several years; in fact, mrs dursley pretended she didn’t have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as undursleyish as it was possible to be. p. 2 pani potter była siostrą pani dursley, ale nie widziały się od wielu lat. prawdę mówiąc, pani dursley udawała, że w ogóle nie ma siostry, ponieważ pani potter i jej żałosny mąż byli ludźmi całkowicie innego rodzaju. p. 5 the above text passage includes an example of an exoticism in the form of the neologism undursleyish, which has been created for the purpose of the st. although the lexeme is understandable to the readers of the original, it could not be easily conveyed, 3 first published in 1997. 27 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) i.e. translated into the tl, as it is unfamiliar in polish stylistic norms. therefore, the translator decided to express the idea of the neologism, conveying only the essential message into the tt, which is a typical aspect of creation. however, a disadvantage of this translation procedure is that the specific flair which is essential to the atmosphere and the style of the st is not conveyed into the tt. nevertheless, it should not be assumed that the afore-mentioned specific literary mood has not been expressed in the tt at all, as it is rendered in other places in the text. 4.2. borrowing as hrehovčík (2006: 47) states, borrowing can be a satisfactory translation procedure when there is no equivalent in the tl carrying the meaning of the lexeme in the sl. given that they are not subject to naturalization in the tl, they are usually printed in italics. borrowing can also be used to introduce or preserve a particular mood of the expression typical of a given tc, e.g. glasnost, perestrojka, shaman. table 2. borrowing st tt neville was snoring loudly, but harry couldn’t sleep. he tried to empty his mind – he needed to sleep, he had to, he had his first quidditch match in a few hours – but the expression on snape’s face when harry had seen his leg wasn’t easy to forget. p. 197 neville chrapał już głośno, ale harry nie mógł zasnąć. starał się uwolnić od natłoku myśli, wiedział, że powinien się wyspać, przecież za kilka godzin wystąpi w swoim pierwszym meczu quidditcha, ale nie mógł zapomnieć wyrazu twarzy snape’a, kiedy zobaczył jego zakrwawioną nogę. p. 192 in the above paragraphs one comes across two quite identical lexemes both in the st (quidditch) and in the tl (quidditch). the only difference – the lowercased version of the tl lexeme – is the result of spelling rules in the tl. concerning the st lexeme and its equivalent in the tt, there are no other discrepancies to be observed. thus, it can be claimed that the sl lexeme has been transferred into the tl with no substantial changes in its form. therefore, the above fragment constitutes an example of a borrowing referring to the name of the game played by the students of hogwarts, i.e. quidditch. 4.3. calque following hrehovčík’s (2006: 47) account, what is referred to as ‘calque’ can be understood as a translation technique based on literal translation. thus, certain elements of the lexeme in the sl are literally translated word for word. moreover, the translation procedure can be applied for purposes of foreignisation. following burkhanov’s (2003: 28 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) 179) account, calque can be also used to translate compound lexical items, languagespecific collocations and names of various institutions, e.g. übermensch (ger.) – superman (eng.), skyscraper (eng.) – drapacz chmur (pol.). table 3. calque st tt ‘there’s a ministry of magic?’ harry asked, before he could stop himself. p. 70 więc jest ministerstwo magii? – zapytał harry, zanim zdołał się ugryźć w język. p. 71 in the quoted text passages, there are two compound lexical items to be considered, which refer to the name of an institution that does not exist in reality. what is more, it can be observed that following the pattern of names for real ministries, the sl neologism ministry of magic has been coined accordingly. moreover, it can be stated that the sl lexeme ministry of magic has been translated literally into the tl as ministerstwo magii. thus, the word-for-word rule has been applied, resulting in an apparent example of a calque. 4.4. compensation as compensation, hrehovčík (2006: 48) understands a translation procedure which aims at “[…] achieving a similar effect in the target text through different means of expression than those in the source text. compensation is used with puns, alliteration, rhyme, slang, metaphor, or pregnant words.” there are four categories of compensation that can be distinguished: compensation in kind: in order to re-create the same effect in the tt various linguistic devices are applied; compensation in place: the linguistic effect in the tt takes place in a different place than in the st; compensation by merging: particular features of the st are condensed in the tt; compensation by splitting: the meaning carried by a word in the st is expanded on in the tl. 29 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) table 4. compensation in kind st tt […], while aunt petunia and uncle vernon didn’t shut harry in his cupboard, force him to do anything or shout at him – in fact, they didn’t speak to him at all. halfterrified, half-furious, they acted as though any chair with harry in it was empty. p. 94 ciotka petunia i wuj vernon nie zamykali go już w komórce pod schodami, nie zmuszali do niczego i nie wrzeszczeli na niego od rana do wieczora – prawdę mówiąc, w ogóle się do niego nie odzywali. przerażeni i wściekli, traktowali go jak powietrze. p. 96 due to the fact that the underlined fragment of the st encloses a metaphor, embodied in the chair being empty, it was necessary either to translate it with rough equivalents, which would convey the meaning, or to use a different metaphor in the tl that carries a similar meaning. in the provided tt the latter option was the case, which, from the stylistic point of view, was a more successful procedure than the first one. thus, the same effect has been achieved through entirely different means of expression, which is a typical feature of compensation in kind. 4.5. explicitation according to hrehovčík (2006: 48), with the explicitation technique “[…] the translator expands the target text by inserting additional words. a more accurate definition says that it is the process of introducing information into the target language, which is present only implicitly in the source language, but which can be derived from the context or the situation.” as an example, hrehovčík (2006: 48) refers to the hungarian language where gender remains unmarked. therefore, the pronouns such as he or she would be lost in translation if they were not added. in principle, four categories of explicitation can be distinguished: obligatory explicitation occurs when there are ‘missing categories’ in the sl, such as the lack of articles in slavonic languages which have to be added in a translation into english. optional explicitation is dependent on discrepancies in text-building strategies and stylistic tendencies in different languages. pragmatic explicitation is caused by discrepancies in cultures. for instance, a common name in the sl may seem unfamiliar to the recipients of the tt, so translation may require the use of an additional word in order to make it understandable. translation-inherent explicitation, as hrehovčík (2006: 49) states, “[…] is attributed to the nature of the translation process itself. therefore, translations are always longer than originals, regardless of the languages, genres and registers concerned”. 30 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) table 5. pragmatic explicitation st tt the traffic moved on, and a few minutes later, mr dursley arrived in the grunnings car park, his mind back on drills. p. 3 sznur samochodów ruszył i kilka minut później pan dursley wjechał na parking firmy grunnings, a w jego myślach z powrotem zagościły świdry. p. 7 the sl lexeme grunnings is an example of a proper name, unfamiliar to the users of the tl. therefore, it was necessary to insert extra information that would clarify the concept hidden behind the expression. to do so, the word firmy has been added (eng. ‘of the company/ belonging to the company’); and while it precedes the proper name there is no confusion about the meaning. for this reason, it can be claimed that the example provided above reflects the phenomenon of pragmatic explicitation. 4.6. modulation hrehovčík (2006: 49) claims that transposition entails a change in grammatical categories. in comparison, modulation causes a change in cognitive categories, which can be understood as a shift in a viewpoint. table 6. modulation st tt when they left the dungeons at the end of the potions, they found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that hagrid was behind it. p. 209 po lekcji, gdy chcieli wyjść z lochów, stwierdzili, że korytarz jest zablokowany przez wielką jodłę, spod której wystają dwie olbrzymie stopy. po głośnym sapaniu poznali, że za drzewkiem jest hagrid. p. 203 in order to identify a translation problem in the above texts it is necessary to focus on the order and range of information both passages provide. in the st fragment, the reader finds out that leaving the dungeons, the main protagonists came across a big fir tree in the middle of a corridor. the following sentence informs the reader that the large feet sticking out at the bottom of the tree and accompanied by a loud puffing sound were a clear hint, making it easy to guess that it must be hagrid standing behind the fir tree. meanwhile, the reader of the tt finds out already in the first sentence that there were enormous feet sticking out at the bottom of the fir tree. the second sentence is shorter and says only that it was the sound of puffing that made them guess it was hagrid behind the tree. this slight difference may not seem to be very glaring. however, 31 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) because some information has been placed at dissimilar parts of the paragraph, the result is a shift in the original viewpoint, which is a typical aspect of modulation. 4.7. paraphrase paraphrase is a common translation strategy where the translator replaces a word in the st by a group of words or an expression in the tt. hrehovčík (2006: 49) states that there is also a synonymic term for paraphrase, i.e. periphrasis. table 7. paraphrase st tt the traffic moved on, and a few minutes later, mr dursley arrived in the grunnings car park, his mind back on drills. p. 3 sznur samochodów ruszył i kilka minut później pan dursley wjechał na parking firmy grunnings, a w jego myślach z powrotem zagościły świdry. p. 7 in the fragment presented above, the word traffic, which refers to cars stuck in a traffic jam, for stylistic reasons has been replaced by the equivalent expression sznur samochodów (eng. ‘a line of cars’). based on this example, it is possible to claim that the passage above includes an example of a typical paraphrase where one word is replaced by an expression that is not identical to the one in the sl, but which refers to the same elements of the contextual reality. 4.8. simplification another common technique applied in the translation process is simplification. according to hrehovčík (2006: 49), there are three types of simplification: lexical simplification occurs if there is non-equivalence at word level. lexical simplification consists in the use of a superordinate, i.e. a word which carries a more general meaning. syntactic simplification is a change at sentence level, e.g. the use of finite clauses in the tt instead of non-finite clauses in the st. stylistic simplification can be applied either in order to break up long sequences and sentences or to replace phraseology with shorter collocations. 32 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) table 8. stylistic simplification st tt mr and mrs dursley, of number four, privet drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. p. 1 państwo dursleyowie spod numeru czwartego przy privet drive mogli z dumą stwierdzić, że są całkowicie normalni, chwała bogu. p. 5 already in the very first words of the book we can observe that the masculine and feminine forms of mr and mrs dursley, which refer to the names of harry potter’s uncle and aunt, have been replaced by the plural form państwo dursleyowie (eng. ‘the dursleys’). the use of this technique can be explained with the need for a stylistic change in the tl and is a typical aspect of stylistic simplification. 4.9. translator’s note following hrehovčík’s (2006: 49) account, a translator’s note is used as a footnote or an endnote in order to provide additional information referring to “[…] the limits of the translation, cultural background or any other explanation”. figure 1. translator’s note4 4 rowling, j. k. 2000. harry potter i kamień filozoficzny [translated by andrzej polkowski]. poznań: media rodzina. pp. 320-321. 33 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) a translator’s note is one of the translation techniques applied in the polish edition of the novel. it can be found at the end of the book, thus it is a so-called endnote (a fragment of which is illustrated above). its role should not be underestimated, as the st includes an abundance of proper names which very often carry hidden meanings that cannot always be conveyed in the tt and, consequently, require additional explanations. the translator’s note is preceded by a short preface which explains that differences resulting from a mismatch between the source culture (sc) and the target culture (tc) had a direct impact on some steps taken by the translator in the translation process. the main part of the translator’s note provides a list of words, i.e. proper names, with some explanatory information about the meaning and the context of each word. what is more, some entries are supplemented with a comment on the translation technique employed. to sum up, it can be stated that the decision to attach the translator’s note in the polish version of the novel can be considered as a very helpful step that sheds light on certain issues and increases the value of the translation as a whole. otherwise, many aspects of the proper names included implicitly in the st would be lost and not accessible to the readers of the tt. 4.10. transposition as hrehovčík (2006: 50) states, the first step taken by the translator in the translation process is to search for a formal equivalent. if there is no equivalent word or expression in the tl, the translator has to resort to non-identical lexemes. hrehovčík (2006: 50) claims that “transposition means rendering a second language element by syntactiosyntagmatic structures which have the same meaning but do not correspond formally (e.g. because of changes in the class of words used).” there are two main groups of transposition techniques: transpositions based on the shift in the morphological form of words and their syntactic function (e.g. adverbial or attributive functions of lexemes in the sentence structure). transpositions based on syntactic categories, e.g. the use of the instrumental or the locative in the tl. transposition of word classes refers to attributive functions of adjectives, different types of genitives or prepositions. in the translation process, they are often rendered as prepositional phrases, adjectives or relative clauses. transposition of syntactic categories is related to the use of cases which do not exist in the tl, e.g. the locative or the instrumental. lexemes denoting a concrete or abstract place in the locative are transferred into the nominative in the tt with some characteristic verbs (e.g. to include, to contain). 34 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) table 10. transposition of word classes st tt ‘why would you be mad to try and rob gringotts?’ harry asked. p. 69 dlaczego tylko wariat chciałby obrabować bank gringotta? – zapytał harry. p. 71 in the first place, it is necessary to notice that the impersonal form would you be mad could have been expressed in various ways in the tl (e.g. by the use of an impersonal form of a verb), therefore, one might wonder why it is not the case in the example above. it can be observed that the complex verbal phrase would you be mad has been replaced by a noun phrase in form of a single noun – wariat (eng. ‘lunatic’). in fact, both expressions carry the same meaning, although they represent different morphological classes, which results in differences on the syntagmatic level, which is a typical quality of a transposition resulting from differences in the word classes. from the stylistic point of view, however, it can be said that the applied technique was successful, as the expression is more precise and matches the polish stylistic norms. 4.11. transliteration according to hrehovčík (2006: 50), transliteration is a translation technique which is usually used in order to spell words (e.g. place names) from languages that use a different alphabet. however, it should be added that words are not always transliterated in the same way. that is why there are often various versions of the same lexeme. a good example of this practice is the name of the capital of china which used to be transliterated as peking. nowadays, the official transliteration is beijing. due to the fact that transliteration is one of the translation procedures discussed by hrehovčík (2006) in his monography, which constitutes a theoretical basis for this paper, and in order to give an entire overview of translation strategies, the information about this technique has not been omitted. however, it should be made clear that there could not be found any example of transliteration in the analysed fragments, as both the st and the tt are written in latin script. 5. conclusions the conducted analyses comprise 11 examples of st and tt-fragments based on the typology proposed by hrehovčík (2006). each of them examines a different translation problem as well as a translation strategy implemented in order to overcome the lack of equivalence between the discussed passages. with exception to the analysis of the applied technique, some comments also suggest an alternative translation procedure. in this way, it is possible to highlight and easily comprehend differences between translation strategies and results of their application. moreover, each analysed fragment is 35 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) preceded by a short introduction which gives insight into the theoretical foundation of the procedure. as far as specific strategies are concerned, it can be noticed that facing the problem of an exoticism in the form of the neologism undursleyish, the translator decided to use adaptation (table 1) which resulted to some extent in a stylistic loss. to translate the name of the game played by the students of hogwarts, i.e. quidditch, a borrowing has been applied which introduced the mentioned neologism into the tl (table 2). in the case of the name of an institution which does not exist in reality, the compound lexical item ministry of magic has been transferred word-for-word by means of a calque (table 3). facing the problem of a metaphor in the st, the translator applied an equivalent expression in the tt which is an example of compensation (table 4). a pragmatic explicitation has been applied in order to translate the name of a company which is not popular among the users of the tt (table 5). due to the fact that some information has been placed differently in the st and in the tt, table 6 provides an example of a modulation which contributed to a shift in viewpoint. taking into account the question of style in the tl, the translator decided to use a paraphrase to render an element of contextual reality (table 7). stylistic reasons also explain the need for applying another translation technique discussed in table 8. this latter case, however, shows an example of simplification. proper names which carry hidden meanings have been explained in the translator’s note at the end of the translated novel (table 9). referring also to the stylistic norms of the tl, the translator implemented the technique of transposition (table 10), which resulted in differences on the syntagmatic level. unlike all the previous translation procedures, subsection 4.11 does not deliver any exemplification as it discusses the technique of transliteration applied in spelling words from languages that use a different alphabet. obviously, both english and polish use the latin script. for that reason, with relation to the chosen st, it was impossible to present any analysis in this case. summing up, it can be stated that the presented text passages illustrate various translation challenges. however, the question of choice of an appropriate translation strategy was in each case very much dependent on the individual decision of the translator. moreover, it can be claimed that a significant role here was played by the professional experience and the esthetical perception of the translator. that is why, it can be assumed that the final effect of the translation process was impacted not only by his professional training, but also by his experience and individual skills which can hardly be measured. finally, it should be stressed that the aim of this paper was not to assess the translator’s work, but to demonstrate steps taken by the translator in the translation process. 36 ................................................................................................................. crossroads. a journal of english studies 27 (2019) references primary sources rowling, j. k. 2014 [1997]. harry potter and the philosopher’s stone. london: bloomsbury children’s books. rowling, j. k. 2000. harry potter i kamień filozoficzny [translated by andrzej polkowski]. poznań: media rodzina. secondary sources baker, m. 2003. in other words. a coursebook on translation. london/new york: routledge. burkhanov, i. 2003. translation: theoretical prerequisites. rzeszów: wydawnictwo uniwersytetu rzeszowskiego. hrehovčík, t. 2006. introduction to translation. rzeszów: wydawnictwo uniwersytetu rzeszowskiego. lörscher, w. 1991. translation performance, translation process and translation strategies. tübingen: guten narr. nord, c. 2005. text analysis in translation. theory, methodology, and didactic application of a model for translation-oriented text analysis (2nd edn). amsterdam/new york: rodopi. pym, a. & turk, h. 2001. translatability. in: m. baker (ed.), routledge encyclopedia of translation studies, 273-277. new york /london: routledge. venuti, l. 2001. strategies of translation. in: m. baker (ed.), routledge encyclopedia of translation studies, 240-244. new york/london: routledge. internet sources: fernández guerra, ana. 2012. translating culture: problems, strategies and practical realities. [sic] – a journal of literature, culture and literary translation. no. 1 year 3, 1-28. https://www.sic-journal.org/articleview.aspx?aid=173 (10 july 2019) schwarz, n.,l.-b. stiegelbauer& d.-b. husar. 2016. translation problems and difficulties in applied translation processes. studii de ştiinţă şi cultură. vol. xii, 3. https://www. researchgate.net/publication/315528028_translation_problems_and_difficulties_ in_applied_translation_processes (14 july 2019) *** bartosz buć holds a phd in german linguistics and an ma in english philology. he is assistant professor in the institute of modern languages at the university of rzeszów, poland. his research interests are in the areas of pragmalinguistics and translation. portuguese teachers’ perceptions of grammar teaching 65 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles cristina vieira da silva 1 esepf/research centre on child studies, university of minho, portugal orcid id: 0000-0003-2248-0829 íris susana pires pereira 2 research centre in education, institute of education, university of minho, portugal orcid id: 0000-0003-0647-2319 isabel sebastião 3 centre of linguistics of the university of porto, university of porto, portugal orcid id: 0000-0003-0896-4384 portuguese teachers’ perceptions of grammar teaching abstract. the teaching of grammar, as envisaged in the official curriculum, has been identified as challenging for many portuguese teachers. in this paper, we present a study conducted with the aim of characterizing primary and middle school teachers’ perceptions about their own grammar teaching, utilizing shulman’s model (1987) as adapted by grossman (1990). we carried out a collective case study, using a questionnaire survey (n=200 teachers) to determine the importance teachers attach to teaching grammar, the degree of perceived adequacy of their knowledge and the difficulties they identify in this area of their teaching. the results reveal that teachers’ perceptions are shaped by multiple decisive factors including content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of the curricula and general educational knowledge. based on these findings, we advocate the need to rethink how teachers are trained and to (re) create awareness about the complexity of knowledge in grammar teaching and its role in effective student learning. keywords: grammar teaching, grammatical content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, curricular knowledge. 1 address for correspondence: departamento de formação de professores, escola superior de educação de paula frassinetti, r. gil vicente, 138-140, 4000-255 porto, portugal. e-mail: cristina.vieira@esepf.pt 2 address for correspondence: departamento de estudos integrados em literacia, didática e supervisão, instituto da educação, universidade do minho, campus de gualtar, 4710-057 braga, portugal. e-mail: iris@ie.uminho.pt 3 address for correspondence: centro de linguística da universidade do porto, faculdade de letras da universidade do porto. via panorâmica, s/n, 4150 564 porto, portugal. e-mail: isabel.sebastiao@hotmail.com doi: 10.15290/cr.2019.24.1.05 66 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles 1. introduction the teaching of grammar has been considered one of the most debated curricular issues of the past half-century in the literacy teaching field (see milian 2014: 43) and in the last two decades, it has been the subject of some debate in portugal. one major factor underpinning recent discussion about grammar teaching and learning is acknowledgement of the relatively little pedagogical attention it has received from teachers, a situation that also seems to be the case in other countries (boivin et al. 2018). during the 1960s and 70s, the dominant grammar teaching methodology in portuguese classes focused on memorization and prescriptive teaching, following a similar trend especially present in francophone education (see boivin 2018) which strongly influenced portuguese education models. however, by the 1990s, a radically new and decisive approach towards grammar had emerged, by which grammar as a subject became practically absent from mother tongue classes or was conceived in a way that undervalued the need to understand it, following linguistic trends without any validation or recognition in educational terms and, in particular, communicative approaches based on foreign language teaching methodologies (see duarte 1986, 1998). grammar quickly came to be seen as something useless, quite often disregarded by teachers but also by educational policy, as could be seen in the lack of a common metalanguage for grammar or in the nonexistent quality control of educational grammar books. this situation still prevailed in the early 2000s, as highlighted by duarte (2000): hidden behind the excuse that ‘students do not like grammar’, being influenced by the dominant communicative approach in the teaching of foreign languages or being aware of the arising insecurity due to the lack of grammatical nomenclature approved for all primary and secondary schools and also to the general lack of quality of the pedagogical grammars available on the market, portuguese language teachers spend less time and give less importance to grammar, reducing grammatical reflection in their classes. (duarte 2000: 55, our translation) as a consequence, in the 2000s, the value of grammar teaching in the curricula and in teaching practices became the subject of a lively debate in portugal, involving linguists, teacher trainers, teachers and academics from other fields in the humanities. the high point of this debate was perhaps the controversy generated by the political implementation of a linguistic terminology for elementary and secondary education (tlebs), adopted on a trial basis in 2005, and subsequently revised and replaced by a terminological dictionary, which is now official and available online (http://dt.dge.mec.pt/). important as this development might have been in the effort to stabilize grammar education, grammar teaching and learning actually continued to be a field of political dispute. in fact, only two years after the beginning of a new program for portuguese language teaching in basic education (reis 2009) and due to a political change, in 2012 a new ministry of education and science approved the implementation of the curriculum goals for the portuguese language (buescu et al. 2012), a set of benchmarks intended to identify “essential learning un67 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles dertaken by students [...] highlighting what in the programs should be the paramount object of teaching” (despacho 2011). different design and organization approaches in drawing up these two documents (reis 2009; buescu et al. 2012), which also have different didactic perspectives, resulted in the coexistence of two official curriculum guidelines, namely a program on the one hand, and curriculum goals on the other, whose notorious inconsistencies and differences were publicly exposed on several occasions (in particular, by the portuguese teachers association and the portuguese association of linguistics). finally, in 2015, the ministry of education and science replaced the 2009 program with the new program and curriculum goals for portuguese (buescu et al. 2015). in the present decade, successive curricular changes have therefore resulted in intense curricular instability (see silva 2015), with teachers being challenged to reflect on and act pedagogically according to guidelines which have likewise not always been uniform with regard to grammar. despite these political efforts and although recent official curricula for the portuguese language have included grammatical knowledge as one of the five skills to be developed, along with reading and writing, listening and speaking, it is commonly recognized, even today, that grammar has come to occupy a minor place in mother tongue language classes when compared to other language skills. our study is thus framed within this context, focusing on teachers’ perceptions regarding their specific professional knowledge and practice of grammar teaching. fifteen years after duarte’s (2000) acknowledgement that grammar was the least valued skill in the portuguese language classroom and now that the accelerated succession of curricular norms concerning grammar education seems finally to be abating, our study seeks to answer the following research question: how is grammar teaching currently perceived by teachers? as is the case in other countries (see myhill 2018: 18), the body of research on the subject is still weak and fragmented in portugal and aimed mainly at proving the efficacy of grammar teaching procedures. in contrast, we want to know what teachers think about their grammar education nowadays and also to inquire about why they hold such views, assuming that these beliefs (whether positive or negative) have a significant impact on the way they go about grammar teaching in the classroom (nespor 1987). it is, therefore, our hope that such feedback can provide valuable information in helping us draw conclusions about possible developments and constraints in the teaching of grammar from the perspectives of teachers themselves. 2. teachers’ knowledge base: a lens to investigate teachers’ thinking about grammar teaching our study was generally framed by shulman’s concept of teachers’ knowledge base (shulman 1986, 1987). the particular relevance of shulman’s model is in its understanding that, like any other profession, education requires its professionals to have a specific knowledge set, constituting a teacher’s knowledge base, which, once acquired, goes through a lifelong process of systematization and transmission (shulman 2004). just as in other areas of teaching, we consider that teachers’ knowledge also plays an important role in the way teachers think and act (roldão 2007) when it comes to grammar teaching. 68 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles shulman’s pioneering work led to the identification of a complex set of knowledge dimensions underpinning teachers’ work which until then had often been misunderstood or even ignored. shulman highlighted the fact that, for teachers, knowing “how to teach” is as important as knowing “what to teach”, putting a new emphasis on the knowledge involved in how to teach. in fact, according to shulman’s model, teachers’ knowledge is not limited to the knowledge emanating from the scientific discipline that is taught (for instance, linguistics in the case of teaching grammar) but, crucially, involves knowledge about the construction of how students learn. he called such a notion pedagogical content knowledge (pck), which he conceived as being exclusively specific to teachers. pck involves the representation and formulation of concepts, didactic techniques and knowledge about what makes concepts difficult to learn and recognition of the prior knowledge students bring to the learning context, which can be either facilitative or dysfunctional for the learning task. understood as a form of practical knowledge, pck blends content and pedagogy into an understanding of how particular concepts, problems, or issues are to be organized, represented and adapted to the interests and abilities of learners, and then presented for instruction. as such, pck is a concept of special interest for us since it identifies a distinctive body of knowledge in teaching grammar. shulman’s model was further developed by grossman (1990), who contributed to the establishment of a renewed model of the teacher’s knowledge base as can be found in figure 1. she redefined and structured pck into four different areas, namely knowledge of the purposes for teaching, knowledge of students’ understanding, curriculum knowledge and knowledge of instructional strategies, thus clearly demonstrating the inherent complexity of pck. building on shulman’s ideas, grossman’s more refined conceptualization of pck was given a central role in the teachers’ knowledge base, interrelating dynamically with other categories of teachers’ knowledge already identified (or at least hinted at) by shulman, such as specific content knowledge, general educational knowledge and knowledge of the context. figure 1. the structure of teacher’s knowledge base (grossman 1990, adapted) 69 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles following shulman (1987), several studies have tried to analyze the levels of teachers’ knowledge that are involved in specific areas such as mathematics, science and beginning literacy teaching (see pereira et al. 2015). we have adopted this model in the belief that it would also provide a useful lens when investigating teachers’ thinking about grammar teaching. in particular, we consider that teaching grammar involves teachers having specific linguistic knowledge, general educational knowledge, knowledge about the context of teaching and, necessarily, a specific pck. our assumption is that the pck lying at the core of grammar teaching comprises: (i) awareness of the goals of teaching grammar; (ii) knowledge about the concepts, preconceptions, and difficulties students show in learning grammar; (iii) familiarity with contents as specified in the official curriculum; (iv) knowledge of teaching strategies that can adequately reconcile students’ specific learning needs with curriculum contents and learning goals. as such, the model in question focuses discussion on the complexity of the knowledge base that underpins teaching grammar, dismissing simplistic notions that might consider such teaching to be merely the transmission of linguistic knowledge. we posit this theoretical lens to be useful when looking into teachers’ thinking about grammar teaching. 3. research methodology we have carried out a collective case study (stake 2000) to conduct our research. it was undertaken in a context that involved a wide range of primary and middle school teachers from different schools in the north of portugal, who were participating in a professional development initiative also focusing on grammar teaching. this was an official in-service training course, promoted by the portuguese ministry of education and science, aimed at developing teachers’ understanding of portuguese language curriculum goals (see above), which they would then be responsible for sharing with their peers, back in their schools. it involved the language teaching coordinators (or the teacher in charge of the curricular area of portuguese), one per school, from all the primary and middle schools (which in portugal include students aged up to 12 years old) from the five districts of northern portugal (porto, braga, viana, vila real and bragança). the in-service program was coordinated by the faculty of arts and humanities of the university of porto. from a total of about 250 teachers registered for training, we selected a sample of 200, who were asked, during the initial period that preceded the training sessions, to complete a survey questionnaire that was distributed by hand. the survey questionnaire was the data collection instrument used as it was the most appropriate in terms of the population surveyed; that is, a rather large group of teachers with whom we had only had very brief contact until that moment. the survey had a bipartite structure, the first part included seven items regarding respondents’ personal and professional data, followed by a second part aiming to identify: i) the importance given to and the frequency with which these teachers teach grammar as compared to other linguistic skills, ii) the perceived adequacy of their training in this area, and iii) the difficulties they identify in grammar teaching (whether experienced by themselves as teachers or by their students). this survey contained a total of thirteen items, mostly closed or multiple-choice ques70 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles tions using a likert scale. the questionnaire had been previously validated by a group of teachers not participating in our study. data collection was conducted in july and september 2013. in this paper, we present and discuss data regarding middle school teachers and, when considered relevant, data from primary school teachers, previously presented and discussed in silva and pereira (2014). the majority of the participants were female (89%), most of whom were aged between 41 and 60 years old, meaning that most had considerable professional experience, with only a residual number of respondents having been teachers for less than 16 years. as this profile infers, as far as professional status is concerned, the respondents’ level of experience parallels the type of school status they held, 93% of them thus being teachers with permanent tenure. the academic qualifications held by the respondents is consistent with their age profiles: 78% of respondents had a ba degree; a considerable number of teachers (24%) had a master’s degree, with only a residual percentage (8%) of qualified teachers holding postgraduate degrees and 4%, a phd. on the whole, therefore, our respondents were experienced and qualified teachers, who had witnessed and enacted the unstable curriculum framework briefly mentioned above. we thus had good reasons to believe that they would have meaningful and relevant ideas about their knowledge and teaching of grammar to share with us. 4. results and discussion the analysis of the collected data revealed strong perceptions among teachers regarding the importance, adequacy and difficulties involved in grammar teaching. from this we have arrived at some important conclusions about the way teachers currently perceive grammar teaching. on the importance of grammar teaching we started by evaluating the relative importance teachers assign to grammar teaching when compared to the other curricular areas of language education: oracy (speaking and oral comprehension), reading and writing skills. when asked to gauge the relative importance of teaching each of these skills and teaching grammar, teachers almost unanimously assigned a high degree of importance to all of them. reading and writing were identified as being very important by the highest proportion of respondents (100% and 99%, respectively); grammar and oracy, meanwhile, were recognized as very important by a smaller proportion of the teachers (80% and 72%, respectively) (see figure 2). it should be noted that grammar is considered quite important by 20% of the teachers, and that only oracy is also devalued to the same extent by a similar proportion (27% and 1% of respondents considering it “quite important” or “not very important”, respectively). 71 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles figure 2. perceived importance of the different language skills by middle school teachers the results of the next item in the questionnaire are in line with the high importance attributed to each of these areas. it assessed teachers’ perceptions about the time they devoted to grammar, confirming the valuation patterns identified above (see figure 3). in particular, it shows that the above-mentioned tendency to devalue grammar and oracy is matched by teachers’ perception that they are also the target of less frequent teaching time, with grammar perceived to be addressed “very often” by 72% and “quite often” by 28% of the respondents. figure 3. perceived frequency of grammar-related activities being addressed in the classroom by middle school teachers by collecting data on the relative importance teachers attribute to grammar teaching and the frequency with which grammar-related activities are being addressed in their classroom, it was our intention to compare these teachers’ thinking with the now long-held representation that teachers avoid working on grammar. while the relative undervaluation of grammar teaching is indisputable, it should also be noted that teachers do not consider it to be as unimportant as one might infer from duarte’s (2000) critique, in fact they appear to value it more highly than oracy teaching. we see this as a promising result as far as the current state of grammar teaching is concerned. 72 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles on teachers’ specific training in grammar teaching our data show that most of the teachers surveyed consider their training in grammar teaching to have been substantial. while some refer to having constructed such knowledge in their initial training, the majority of those who stated they have had specific training in this area say that it was through an in-service teacher-training context like the one in which they were participating when the data for this study was collected. in fact, following the successive changes in the official curricular guidelines for language teaching that have been introduced in the last two decades in portugal, a significant effort to implement nationwide continuous training programs has triggered dynamic growth in professional development, including training in grammar teaching. we are referring, specifically, to initiatives such as the (in-service) portuguese national education program (pnep) between 2007 and 2010 (see pereira et al. 2015) as well as to the initiatives held apropos the terminological dictionary (costa et al. n/d.), the ppeb (reis 2009) and the mcpeb (buescu et al. 2012). being official teacher-training programs, their purpose has been to involve teachers in reflection on teaching and learning of the portuguese language, focusing both on linguistic and didactic knowledge, in order to indirectly improve students’ results. while our data thus suggest that teachers perceive the importance of such in-service initiatives in terms of their grammar pck, it is also significant that 39% of the teachers mentioned not having had any specific training in grammar teaching. in this context, it made sense for us to analyze data concerning particular teachers’ perceptions about the adequacy of their training specifically with regard to grammatical knowledge. most respondents (70%) perceived their training as reasonably “suited”, the remaining answers being distributed between “much suited” (26%) or, in contrast, “unsuited” (4%). figure 4. the degree of perceived adequacy regarding teachers’ grammatical knowledge the most significant facts revealed by these data are (i) the diversity of the teachers’ perceived adequacy of their grammatical knowledge and (ii) the fact that such adequacy is situated in a space that falls short of the very good level. that is, most of the teachers do not see themselves as having very good grammatical knowledge, which seems even more problematic when we consider the fact that our respondents were selected from the most qualified teachers in their schools to participate in the in-service training which they would subsequently put into practice. although this lack of confidence is actually not indicative of what kind of knowledge is at stake (general content knowledge or pck), clarification is provided by the next question, which requested teachers to consider 73 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles the three main difficulties that they face in the teaching of grammar and rank them from the most important to the least important. on teachers’ difficulties in grammar teaching the results shown in figure 5 allow us to infer that teachers do not perceive their content knowledge (about grammar) as being particularly critical since the items targeting grammatical content (in particular, doubts regarding grammar contents) were globally identified as those posing the least difficulties. figure 5. identification of the three main difficulties experienced by middle school teachers in grammar teaching however, the highest rates in the questions associated with pck, such as use of more appropriate teaching methodologies, selecting texts to address certain grammatical contents, the most appropriate assessment tools or even sequencing grammatical contents, which were perceived by teachers as raising greater difficulties, clearly expose the inadequacy of teachers’ pck. in the teachers’ knowledge base model, these items are representative of the ‘knowledge of instructional strategies’ category. the lack of knowledge that these teachers say they have in this category is generally in line with results from other studies, which point to the difficulty that exists in teachers’ development of the strategic knowledge required in order to ensure the necessary didactic transposition (chevallard 1985; milian 2014: 49).this is in accordance with ferreira (2012), whose study of the conceptions and practices of six portuguese middle school teachers regarding grammar teaching concluded that there was “a predominance of traditional and transmissive methodologies that are characteristic of a deductive or expository approach to grammar” (ferreira 2012: 115). moreover, it is also in line with data resulting from a nationwide study conducted by dgidc (2008: 15), according to which teachers’ most frequently adopted strategy in teaching grammar, indicated 74 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles in 90% of responses, involved “[...] explanation of rules, with exemplification”. this same study revealed that alternative strategies involving “...reflection or observation and data manipulation activities” were residual, contrary to what had been assumed in official and normative curricular guidelines such as the cneb (deb 2001) and the ppeb (reis 2009), as well as in research and dissemination documents produced for training purposes. despite the publication of several examples of grammar workshops and laboratories designed for different levels of schooling, such teaching methodologies incorporating active strategies, have not yet been accommodated into teachers’ pck and, consequently, appear not to be systematically used in their practices. these results also point to another category of pck perceived to cause difficulties in grammar teaching. we are referring here to teachers’ awareness that the divergences between the terminology found in textbooks and in the official curricular documents or even differences within these documents themselves is also a major source of difficulty. put another way, instability in curricular knowledge is also perceived to be a source of difficulties in the grammar teaching process. to the best of our knowledge, this dimension of professional knowledge has so far not been discussed in research on grammar teaching in portugal (see duarte 2000; costa 2007; silva 2008, 2010). on the whole, these results show that although teachers acknowledge the impact of in-service professional learning initiatives, these actions have in fact been inadequate in improving critical areas of their grammar teaching, including pck. on students’ difficulties in learning grammar as a separate item of the questionnaire, we posed some questions with the aim of gaining a more complete view of how teachers perceive the process of teaching and learning grammar. in particular, we asked teachers to identify the three main reasons which, in their view, justify the difficulties experienced by students in grammar learning. although reasons attributable to pck (teaching methodologies or materials used and, to a lesser extent, students’ lack of skills or previous grammatical knowledge) as well as the level of abstraction of grammar concepts were pointed out by teachers, these were relatively minor, with students’ lack of study habits clearly standing out as being the main reason attributed to learning difficulties, both in terms of the total number of responses as well as the proportion identifying it as the most important reason, as shown in figure 6. figure 6. identification of the three main reasons for difficulties experienced by students in grammar learning, according to middle school teachers 75 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles while showing teachers’ apparent knowledge of context concerning their teaching, particularly in relation to students’ profiles, the most frequently chosen reason, in fact, reveals the existence of a critical area in these teachers’ knowledge base which we had not anticipated, namely, the view that students’ difficulties arise from the students themselves. the fact that a very sizeable proportion of respondents chose this reason shows that these teachers assume that they themselves are not accountable for their students lack of success and, instead, to a very large extent, consider the students to be solely responsible for the difficulties they face in learning grammar. this indeed echoes duarte’s (2000) claims, which seem not to have changed. it is as if these teachers’ perception of their students’ difficulties did not trigger them to reflect on the effectiveness of their own practices, in particular regarding their own teaching difficulties, as perceived, assumed and revealed in the former questionnaire item. we interpret this as suggesting a weak general educational knowledge among these teachers, in particular regarding a social constructivist understanding, which assumes the existence of a close connection between the activity of teacher and students’ learning. on the contrary, we consider that our teachers’ thinking may reveal a transmissive view of teaching as a whole, which, as discussed above, is ultimately related to teachers’ perceptions about the need to improve their instructional strategies. evidently, the professional learning and development situations in which they have participated have likewise not been helping these teachers to build such fundamental knowledge in this specific area of grammar teaching. primary and middle school teachers’ perceptions: the main difference a rather different situation was revealed by an earlier study that we had conducted (silva & pereira 2014), whereby we characterized the perceptions of primary school teachers, also responding in the same context of an in-service training event, with regard to their grammar knowledge and teaching. in fact, the approximately 170 primary school teachers involved in that study considered their professional training in specific grammar knowledge to have been insubstantial, indeed perceiving it to be weaker than that of their middle school colleagues. only 16% acknowledged that the education they had received in this area had been “very suited”, while the majority (68%) affirmed that the grammar knowledge they had gained was “suited”, with 15% saying that their knowledge was “barely suited”. herein lies the major difference among this group of teachers, which we consider relevant to the present discussion. when asked about the three main difficulties faced in grammar teaching, primary school teachers quite consistently stressed the dimension relating to scientific knowledge (e.g., doubts about grammatical content), together with didactic knowledge (the use of more appropriate teaching-learning methodologies, for example), as shown in figure 7. 76 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles figure 7. identification of the three main difficulties experienced by primary school teachers in grammar teaching furthermore, when asked to justify students’ difficulties related to grammatical learning, the level of abstraction of grammar contents as well as the difficulty of grammar contents are perceived to be two of the most important reasons from primary school teachers’ perspective (see figure 8). figure 8. identification of the three main reasons for students’ difficulties experienced in grammar learning, according to primary school teachers the fact that primary school professionals have different education plans when compared to their middle school colleagues plays a significant part in this perception. being generally qualified for teaching language, mathematics, science and creative expression, primary school teachers are generalists and therefore receive less in-depth training in each of these areas, whereas most middle school teachers are professionalized only in the teaching of portuguese, history and geography. but the key point to be made from these data concerns how the teachers’ responses highlight the role played by specific grammar knowledge in the way they perceive their own grammar teaching. by adding this category of knowledge to the ‘knowledge base map’ consisting of teachers’ perceptions that we constructed above, based on the analysis of the responses from 77 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles middle school teachers, this finding also seems to us to corroborate, again from the perspective of teachers, shulman’s assumption about the role of this kind of knowledge in the act of grammar teaching. primary school teachers perceived their lack of such knowledge as being critical for their activity, confirming that it is difficult for a teacher to teach certain content without mastering the corresponding scientific knowledge. this had not been so clear-cut in the former analysis. this difference apart, both sets of teachers showed similar perceptions, in particular their perceived limitations regarding pck and general educational knowledge. these seem to be at the core of present-day portuguese teachers’ perceptions regarding grammar teaching. 5. conclusions the main purpose of this study was to characterize portuguese teachers’ perceptions on their grammar knowledge and grammar teaching. on the whole, our results showed that these teachers perceive grammar teaching to be important and appear to teach grammar with some frequency, unlike what appears to have been the case in the recent past. however, from what we could infer from our data, their knowledge base for grammar teaching shows some critical areas, especially regarding pck, with particular emphasis on the importance of curriculum knowledge and instructional strategies, as well as general educational knowledge and (in the case of primary teachers) specific grammar knowledge. these gaps in knowledge might be influencing the quality of their teaching practice, as we could infer from teachers’ perceptions regarding the difficulties experienced by themselves and their students. our results also support the idea that, in spite of official efforts to improve their knowledge of grammar teaching, in fact, teachers themselves perceive their training in this area to be still in need of considerable development. as such, our data provides empirical support to shulman’s (1986; 1987) model of teachers’ knowledge base and, in particular, to grossman’s (1990) adaptation of it, since the model has enabled us to gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of factors effectively involved in grammar teaching, as perceived by teachers themselves. therefore, the data presented above point to the need to rethink the professional development of these school teachers with regard to their knowledge base for grammar teaching. we indeed believe that our results point towards possible directions both for initial and in-service teacher training which might be more contingent to what teachers themselves perceive to be pressing and necessary with regard to instruction in how to teach grammar in portugal. in line with watson’s (2015) view of the english-speaking context, we believe that, in the portuguese context too, weaknesses in teachers’ scientific knowledge and the lack of a sufficiently theorized and empirically supported pck, make grammar teaching particularly challenging for these professionals and improvements clearly need to be made. in addition, it seems urgent to provide a better general educational knowledge to raise teachers’ social constructivist understanding and to prepare teachers to approach curricular instability in an autonomous and critical manner. this core knowledge set, which appears to be conditioning these teachers’ professional practice, thus requires intervention. 78 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles our study is just a small and limited contribution to understanding (portuguese teachers’ perceptions of) the teaching of grammar. when looking at any aspect of a teaching activity (as this case study seeks to do) and given its multidimensional nature, it is necessary to resort to other methodologies of a diverse nature, triangulating, whenever possible, quantitative data with methodologies of a qualitative nature, such as observing teaching practice or conducting interviews. given the constraints on our data collection context (a large number of respondents only available for a very short period of time), these more in-depth methodological approaches were excluded, and we decided to conduct a questionnaire survey despite such limitations. although the study has allowed us to collect relevant data, the questionnaire that we designed did not, however, address any direct questions concerning perceptions about the purposes of teaching grammar or the context of teaching, two important categories in the teachers’ knowledge base model, therefore revealing limitations requiring further research. furthermore, just as in any case study, our results, even if they are indeed representative of the perceptions of those teachers surveyed, should be taken only as exploratory. finally, our results also point to the need to conduct studies into grammar teaching practice in order to obtain a more reliable and provable characterization of the trends that we have identified. references boivin, m.-c. 2018. a review of the current empirical research on grammar instruction in the francophone regions. contribution to the special issue working on grammar at school in l1education: empirical research 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[some good reasons to teach grammar.]. in: a língua mãe e a paixão de aprender. actas. porto: areal, 110–123. duarte, i. 2000. língua portuguesa: instrumentos de análise.[portuguese language: instruments of analysis.]. lisboa: universidade aberta. ferreira, p. 2012. conceções e práticas dos professores de língua portuguesa em relação ao ensino e à aprendizagem da gramática: um estudo exploratório no 2.º ciclo do ensino básico [concepts and practices of portuguese language teachers in relation to grammar teaching and learning: an exploratory study at middle school level.] lisboa: escola superior de educação de lisboa: ipl. https://repositorio.ipl.pt/handle/10400.21/2321. (15 january 2019). grossman, p. 1990. the making of a teacher: teacher knowledge and teacher education. new york: teachers college press. milian, m. 2014. working on grammar at school. in: t. ribas, x. fontich & o. guasch (eds.), grammar at school – research on metalinguistic activity in language education, 43–74. brussels: peter lang s.a. myhill, d. 2018. grammar as a meaning-making resource for improving writing. contribution to a special issue working on grammar at school in l1-education: empirical research across linguistic regions. l1 – educational studies in language and literature 18: 1–21. https://doi. org/10.17239/l1esll-2018.18.04.04 (15 january 2019). nespor, j. 1987. the role of beliefs in the practice of teaching. journal of curriculum studies 19: 317–328. pereira, í. , viana, f. l. & silva, c.v. 2015. sobre a formação do professor alfabetizador. contributos para a caracterização do conhecimento de base do professor alfabetizador. [on literacy teacher 80 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles training. contributing factors in the knowledge base of literacy teachers]. revista perspectiva 33 (1): 231–259. reis, c. (coord.).2009. programa de português do ensino básico.[program for portuguese language teaching in basic education]. lisboa: dgidc ministério da educação. http://www.dge.mec.pt/sites/default/files/basico/metas/portugues/programa_portugues_ revogado.pdf (15 january 2019). roldão, m. do céu. 2007. função docente: natureza econstrução do conhecimento profissional. [teaching: nature and construction of professional knowledge]. revista brasileira de educação v. 12 (34): 94–103. shulman, l. s. 2004. the wisdom of practice: essays on teaching, learning, and learning to teach. s. wilson (ed.) san francisco: jossey-bass, inc. shulman, l. s. 1987. knowledge and teaching: foundations of the new reform. harvard educational review 57 (1): 1–22. shulman, l. s. 1986. those who understand: knowledge growth in teaching. educational researcher, feb., 4–14. silva, c. v. 2008. o valor do conhecimento gramatical no ensino-aprendizagem da língua [the value of grammatical knowledge in language teaching and learning.]. revista saber (e) educar 13: 89–106. silva, c. v. 2010. para uma didáctica da gramática: a aula de língua portuguesa como um laboratório de língua. [towards a grammar didactics: the portuguese language class as a language laboratory]. textos selecionados do xxv encontro nacional da associação portuguesa de linguística. lisboa: apl, 717–732. silva, c. v. 2015. de programa em programa até às metas curriculares de português: o desenho de percursos de aprendizagem na educação linguística. [from programs to curriculum goals for the portuguese language: learning pathway design for language teaching]. in: a. m. ferreira, & m. f. brasete (eds.), pelos mares da língua portuguesa 2. aveiro: ua editora, 283–294. silva, c. v. & pereira, i. 2014. do conhecimento gramatical ao conhecimento didático no ensino da gramática: perceções de docentes do 1.º ciclo do ensino básico. [from grammatical knowledge to didactic knowledge in grammar teaching: primary school teacher perceptions]. in: m.a. flores, c. coutinho & j. a. lencastre (org.), atas do congresso formação e trabalho docente na sociedade da aprendizagem. braga: ciec, 657–667. stake, r. 2000. case studies. in: n. k. denzin, lincoln, yvonna s. (ed.) handbook of qualitative research, 134–164. thousand oaks, ca: sage publications, inc. watson, a. 2015. the problem of grammar teaching: a case study of the relationship between a teacher’s beliefs and pedagogical practice. language and education 29 (4): 332–346. funding this work benefited from financial support by national funds provided by foundation for science and technology (fct/mctes-pt). the first author was funded by ciec (center for research in 81 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles child studies at the university of minho) project uid/ced/00317/2019. the second author was funded by cied – research centre on education, project uid/ced/01661/2019, institute of education, university of minho. the third author was funded by the centre of linguistics of the university of porto, fct uid/lin/022/2016. *** cristina vieira da silva completed her phd in linguistics in 2003. she is currently a coordinator professor at the higher school of education of paula frassinetti in porto and a member of ciec (research centre on child studies) at the university of minho. her areas of research cover language teaching and learning, literacy education, reading, writing and grammar teaching. íris susana pires pereira is a member of the research center on education (cied) at the institute of education, university of minho, in portugal, where she holds the position of assistant professor of language and literacy education. her research focuses on language and literacy learning in the early years, with a particular interest in the specialised forms of the language of schooling, now including digital resources for meaning making. she also investigates the role of specialized language in teachers’ professional learning and development. isabel sebastião is a post-doc researcher at the centre of linguistics of the university of porto (clup) funded by a grant from the foundation for science and technology. she has developed research work in discourse analysis and teaching of portuguese language as mother tongue and foreign language. isabel sebastião has been sharing her research findings in articles published in scientific journals and in conference presentations in portugal and abroad. editorial 5 crossroads. a journal of english studies editorial this special issue brings together articles based on a selection of papers we received in response to a call for papers for a themed issue dedicated to cognitive linguistics (henceforth cl). the volume includes five original qualitative studies and a review of a book that deal with topics which might be of interest not only to cognitive linguists, but also to linguists of other persuasions. we thank the authors for their contributions and the referees for the time and expertise they invested in the reviews. we are also grateful to crossroads editor-in-chief agata rozumko for her support and patience. cl, with its primary assumption that language is embedded in overall human cognitive capacities, has emerged out of dissatisfaction with formal approaches to language. it can be seen as a movement that has led to a range of complementary theories characterized by the same set of guiding principles and commitments (for an overview of cl as a research paradigm see e.g., geer aerts, 2006 or barczewska, 2017). what we wish to demonstrate through the selection of articles included in this volume, is the diversity of the cognitive linguistics enterprise. the term “diversity” needs to be understood here as pertaining primarily to a range of theoretical frameworks developed within cl, such as for example conceptual metaphor theory (cmt) and conceptual blending theory that are employed in the papers brought together in this issue. at another level, the term diversity also concerns the data sources represented by various corpora, such as the stormfront forum, wine blogs or wcel, used for extracting data, as well as methodological tools that were used to investigate the topics addressed in the articles. at yet another level, linguistic diversity – the theme of the 14th international cognitive linguistics conference (iclc-14) in 2017 – is also present in this volume. compared to the number of different languages that figure in the program of iclc-14, our volume exhibits a very modest range of languages. it is, however, typologically quite diverse – data for analyses are drawn from a slavic, a germanic and a sino-tibetan language. finally, the research presented here covers a range of topics, running the gamut from the study of metaphors, to an emotionally-loaded polish adverb, comprising the study of emergent structure in advertisement posters, and including the conceptual transfer in the use of prepositions. the volume opens with agnieszka piórkowska’s study of the polish adverb niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’ conducted on a corpus of data compiled from a search on google, and follows the methodology of taylor and pang (2008). piórkowska’s paper – relying on two approaches to subjectification: langacker’s and traugott’s – demonstrates that different uses of niestety are governed by the process of subjectification and intersubjectification. grounded in conceptual blending theory, justyna polak’s paper discusses both the unique status as well as the explanatory potential of the emergent structure. based on an analysis of four advertising posters which depict an image of a child, the paper demonstrates that a blend – 6 crossroads. a journal of english studies to achieve its persuasive goals – is necessary to develop a well-organized and congruent emergent structure. a blend with an incoherent structure, on the other hand, may have a negative impact on the success of the product being advertised, as illustrated by one of the examples in her corpus. adopting cmt in general and musolff’s (2016) framework in particular, małgorzata waśniewska’s paper analyzes various forms of usage of the people as parasites metaphor on a white-supremacist internet forum. overall, waśniewska shows that cmt is a useful tool for analyzing the phenomenon in question, while also suggesting a way in which lakoff and johnson’s framework can be employed to combat hate speech. the paper by shuai zhang and shaoqian luo – embracing image schema theory – deals with the conceptual transfer in chinese efl learners’ use of prepositions. answers to two research questions are sought by investigating the data taken from the wcel corpus. on the whole, the study confirms that the errors made by students in their use of english prepositions are due to the negative conceptual transfer from the chinese language. departing from cmt and frame semantics, magdalena zawisławska and marta falkowska examine taste metaphors used in polish wine blogs. the data taken from a corpus of synesthetic metaphors in polish, allow them to offer a typology of metaphors present in wine discourse. a book review by daniel karczewski and edyta wajda concludes the volume. devoted to the analysis of the press discourse regarding the american debate over evolution education, conceptualizing evolution education by shala barczewska presents interesting insights into the debate in question. it is a methodologically sound, theoretically grounded research monograph that will be useful for researchers and students as a source of ideas and inspiration. to conclude, as it is obvious from these summaries, the papers in the present volume do not converge on a single theory or methodology, but rather rely on a network of complementary theories which aid our understanding of various linguistic phenomena. these theories demonstrate a range of research possibilities available within the cl framework. they can also help in improving communication between people with diverging viewpoints (see for instance waśniewska’s paper in this volume or barczewska’s book). daniel karczewski, university of białystok joanna marhula, university of warsaw magdalena rybarczyk, university of nottingham ningbo china 7 crossroads. a journal of english studies references barczewska, shala. 2017. conceptualizing evolution education. a corpus-based analysis of us press discourse. newcastle upon tyne: cambridge scholars publishing. geeraerts, dirk. 2006. “a rough guide to cognitive linguistics.” in geeraerts, dirk (ed.) cognitive linguistics: basic reading. cognitive linguistics research 34.berlin: mouton de gruyter, 1–28. musolff, andreas. 2016. political metaphor analysis. discourse and scenarios. london: bloomsbury academic. taylor, john e. and kam-yiu s. pang. 2008. “seeing as though”.english language and linguistics 12(1), 103–139. rivalry in literary biography: boswell’s life of johnson and holmes’ dr johnson and mr savage 33 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles zeynep harputlu shah siirt university, turkey rivalry in literary biography: boswell’s life of johnson and holmes’ dr johnson and mr savage abstract. this study aims to discuss the complicated nature of literary biography by focusing on the intertextual relations and anxiety of influence among biographers of a single subject. taking samuel johnson’s life and outlook on literary biography as a starting point, the article examines two influential works that are separated by a significant amount of time, life of johnson (1791) by james boswell and dr johnson and mr savage (1993, 2005) by richard holmes, suggesting that in both there is a strong sense of rivalry with their subject and an anxiety about the influence of their predecessors. both authors exhibit love for or interest in their subject while they strive for superiority in literary biography with their distinctive narrative technique and commentaries on johnson’s character and life. in this study, i utilise harold bloom’s theory of influence in an attempt to show how anxiety and rivalry function as part of a creative process and driving force that leads to original contributions to the field. keywords: anxiety of influence, rivalry, james boswell, samuel johnson, literary biography, dr johnson and mr savage. 1. introduction if the biographer writes from personal knowledge, and makes haste to gratify the public curiosity, there is danger lest his interest, his fear, his gratitude, or his tenderness overpower his fidelity, and tempt him to conceal, if not to invent. − samuel johnson, the rambler (1750) in the rambler, no. 60 (1750), samuel johnson expounds the principals of biography as a critical genre and foregrounds it as a medium of access to universal truths about human life and feelings (rollyson 2001: 442). a poetics of the biography in johnson’s view is comprised of “a concern for ethics, a sense of empathy and the exercise of imagination” (benton 2015: 12). having remained generally untheorised for a long time, literary biography still oscillates between writing history doi: 10.15290/cr.2018.23.4.03 34 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles and writing fiction, as well as representing a real or imaginative self, yet it also offers vast possibilities for literary creativity and understanding complicated human nature. the “co-creation”, or “the commingling of consciousness” in the biography genre leads to an anxiety for the biographer who “carr[ies] on an interior dialogue with him/[her]self ” while crossing back and forth between the past and present (christianson 1993: 131). johnson’s reference to the danger of biographers’ feelings, such as fear and gratitude, as well as their temptation to conceal or invent, highlights an overlooked aspect of literary biography: the motives of the biographers in writing the life of another and their competitive responses to the earlier authoritative works. as a theorist and author of the life of mr richard savage (1777), johnson has himself been the subject of a great number of literary biographies to date.1 with regards to the motives of johnson’s life writers, two critical works, by james boswell and richard holmes, come to the forefront with their distinctive contributions to literary biography. the significance of the two works is not accidental and neither can it be attributed to their “perfect” subject. while boswell’s life of johnson (1791) stands out with its extensive detail, evidence and techniques that give life to a colourful and intellectual johnson after his fifties, holmes’ dr johnson and mr savage (2005) illustrates the young lonely johnson and his obscure, poet-friend savage’s “inexplicable” friendship through the lens of sympathy by maintaining a tender and mysterious tone. the two biographies are not similar in terms of their narrative techniques or points of view on johnson’s actions and character. nevertheless, both reflect an unacknowledged feature of the biography genre: rivalry with their subject and other biographers writing on the same subject. that is, every biographer embodies both love for (or interest in) their subject and anxiety about the influence of their predecessors since they long for priority in their field of expertise. life writing could thus be interpreted as unconscious revelations of the biographers’ fear of being influenced and their will for power, while attempting to create their own voice and secure their position in literary circles. in this regard, this article first provides a theoretical background for understanding the competitive nature of the biography genre and it then moves on to an analysis of the two biographies in sequence by focusing on historical proximity, johnson as a biographical subject and biographer, the motives of boswell and holmes, their distinctive techniques and approaches, and their responses to earlier biographers of johnson. 1 major biographies of johnson published in the eighteenth century include hester lynch thrale’s anectodes of the late s.j., during the last twenty years of his life (1786), sir john hawkins’ the life of samuel johnson (1787) and james boswell’s life of johnson (1791). among recent biographies, anecdotes of the late samuel johnson, ll.d., ed. by  arthur sherbo (1974);  arthur murphy,  an essay on the life and genius of samuel johnson, ll.d. (1792, reprinted 1970); and george birkbeck hill (ed.), johnsonian miscellanies, 2 vol. (1897, reprinted 1966), robert e. kelley and o.m. brack, jr., samuel johnson’s early biographers (1971); aleyn lyell reade, johnsonian gleanings, 11 vol. (1909–52, reprinted 11 vol. in 10, 1968); james l. clifford, young sam johnson (1955, reissued 1981) and dictionary johnson: samuel johnson’s middle years (1979); w. jackson bate, samuel johnson (1977); thomas kaminski, the early career of samuel johnson (1987); robert demaria, j.r., the life of samuel johnson (1993); peter martin, samuel johnson (2008); jeffrey meyers, samuel johnson: the struggle (2008); and david nokes, samuel johnson: a life (2009) are considered influential and original works on johnson’s life and character. 35 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles 1.1. theoretical outlook: biographers as poets? in an attempt to understand the relationship between rivalry and biographical works, bloom’s theory on poetics from the anxiety of influence might help us to think about the “inevitable and undeniable” fear of influence among biographers who, like poets, experience “the melancholy of the creative mind’s desperate insistence upon priority” (1973: 13). the act of writing is associated with will to power, which requires an intentional misreading and re-creation of the previous works so that poets can have a “clear imaginative space for themselves” (1973: 5). instead of idealising their predecessors, poets of “capable imagination appropriate for themselves” by digesting or sublimating earlier works (1973: 5). bloom suggests that writing with poetic influence does not make poems less original, “though not therefore necessarily better” (1973: 7). however, influence remains an essential part of strong literature that cannot be “detached from its anxieties about the works that possess priority and authority in regard to it” (bloom 1994: 11). bloom defines influence as “literary love, tempered by defense” (2011: 14). in this study, i define influence not simply as “literary love”, but also as a strong interest or personal love that biographers feel for their subject; considering johnson’s biographers, this includes not only love, but also a sense of rivalry and anxiety due to his authoritative position in life writing. although in his later works, the western canon (1994) and the anatomy of influence (2011), bloom extends his theory of influence to include other literary forms, such as novels and plays, biographical narratives still seem underrated despite their strong competitive nature and high chance of being influenced by both their subject and predecessors. literary biography shares fundamental similarities with other literary forms in terms of intentional re-creation, the anxiety of influence and the will for priority. not only poets and novelists, but also biographers, attempt to avoid the influence of others in order to be original and to maintain their integrity without emulating their predecessors. however, this is quite a challenging task for biographers since they should also stay one step behind their subject and, at the same time, prove their wisdom and literary ability. since johnson was himself a prominent biographer and literary celebrity when he died in 1784, the biographers narrating his life had to confront this reality by considering his literary skills and achievements. johnson’s characterisation in boswell and holmes’ works is original in many ways; nevertheless, true admiration and will for priority are still evident as they attempt to reconstruct a biographical (textual and historical) subject. simultaneously, boswell and holmes both display a strong desire to understand and describe johnson better than their predecessors. in this sense, their narratives could be interpreted as an inevitable outburst of love, influence and rivalry between the biographer and his subject as well as with earlier and contemporary biographers. regarding bloom’s six types of theory of influence (clinamen, tessera, kenosis, daemonization, askesis and apophrades), i take a two-layered approach by drawing a clear difference between the biographer and his/her subject, as well as considering johnson’s exclusive position as a predecessor. johnson is both the subject and an authoritative predecessor and this complicates writing a successful biography commenting on his professional skills, weaknesses and strengths. considering boswell and holmes’ works, i elaborate on bloom’s first four types of influence and read “clina36 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles men” as creative misreading of earlier biographies; “tessera” as an act of completion by giving a new meaning to the predecessor’s work or filling a gap regarding the subject’s life; “kenosis” as a movement towards discontinuity with the predecessor, either in terms of technique or approach; and finally “daemonisation” as a counter-sublime in response to the predecessor’s sublime, such as generalising the uniqueness of an earlier work (bloom 1973: 14-15). in this context, this article reads holmes’ work partly as a misreading of johnson’s life of savage (clinamen) and as an attempt to complete a gap in boswell’s and other biographer’s works (tessera) through a focus on johnson’s underrated friendship with savage. on the other hand, publishing johnson’s biography soon after his death, boswell discontinues johnson’s biography of savage (kenosis), as well as hawkins and thrale’s biographies, and attempts to present a counter-sublime with a distinctive approach and narrative technique in life writing. while boswell and holmes present a contrastive portrayal of johnson’s life and character, they nonetheless both explicitly appreciate johnson’s skills as a literary genius. 2. boswell’s life of johnson: admiration or rivalry? in boswell’s life, historical proximity and personal relations with the subject gain significance since they provide several advantages over recent biographers. boswell was fully aware of this and benefited from being johnson’s contemporary in writing an original account of his life. for about twenty years, he collected materials and information about johnson’s life, recorded his conversations, exchanged letters with him and inquired with him about his early years. even after johnson’s death, ... having been admitted to the english bar in 1786, boswell moved to london with his family in order to collect material for the biography. he gathered most of johnson’s letters; interviewed his old friends and even sent a questionnaire to edmund hector, a former schoolmate of johnson. (clifford 1970: 4). boswell (1946) further asserts that “few biographers have entered upon such a work as this, with more advantages; independent of literary abilities, in which i am not vain enough to compare myself with some great names who have gone before me in this kind of writing.” yet, did boswell’s friendship with johnson produce an unclear image that might have distorted his judgment in the biography? boswell’s life suggests that this is possible because johnson is primarily identified as a friend, master and father figure, which boswell was strongly in need of when he was young. when he met johnson, boswell was just twenty-three years old, whilst the latter was “a middle-aged celebrity” (clifford 1970: 2). even before their first encounter, boswell had been an admirer of johnson, as he later admits: mr davies mentioned my name and respectfully introduced me to him. i was much agitated; and recollecting his prejudice against the scotch, of which i had heard much. i said to davies, ‘don’t 37 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles tell where i come from.’ – ‘from scotland’ cried davies roguishly. ‘mr johnson’, [said i] ‘i do indeed come from scotland, but i cannot help it.’ (1946: i261). boswell obviously fears that johnson will be prejudiced against him because he is scottish. however, they soon became friends, although with a dynamic more like disciple and master or father and son. boswell visited london to meet johnson on several occasions and their tour to the hebrides provided the necessary conditions to learn more about johnson’s character and lifestyle. boswell admired johnson greatly and he explicitly admitted that he took him as a model in his journal: “be like johnson. remember you are his friend” (1970: 93). again in his journals, boswell frequently questioned his acts and whether they were “worthy of james boswell” or not, which reveals his seemingly low self-esteem (1970: 93). this might also be linked to an inferiority complex in the sense that he perceived the moral philosophy of johnson as a shelter to save him from his own weaknesses (1970: 93). while the above details unveil boswell’s deep interest in johnson as a biographical subject, at the same time, he appears to be more like a child in need of love and guidance from his father. for boswell, johnson seems to have the intellect and moral philosophy that he lacks. he is impressed by the authoritative and magnificent intellectual conversations of johnson who proved to be “the greatest” man of his age; nonetheless, he is unable to move beyond the position of a young admirer. in fact, boswell is fully aware of johnson’s weaknesses, yet it is johnson’s strengths that interest him most and this is what he wishes to use in re-creating his subject in his work as a respectable figure. although he is familiar with johnson’s less agreeable traits, his achievements are even presented as turning his weaknesses into strengths (mulgan 2007: 29). johnson’s influence on boswell was even ridiculed by some of the people who knew them both. funny burney suggested that boswell imitated johnson in many ways: “every look and movement displayed either intentional or involuntarily imitation … his heart, almost even to idolatry, was in his reverence of johnson” (qtd. in clifford 1970: 89). goldsmith criticised boswell for entitling johnson to the utmost superiority: “sir [said he], you are making a monarchy of what should be a republic” (boswell 1946: ii257). that is, boswell’s tendency for imitation and his overvaluing of johnson endanger his identity as an independent and respectable individual. despite being aware of his own wisdom and creative writing skills, boswell’s weakness seems to have originated from his wish to become a well-known literary figure like johnson. the alternative path he takes, therefore, provides him with an opportunity to be acknowledged as a successful biographer. besides his personal interest in johnson, boswell’s strong desire to promote his career and his will for priority propel itself in a disguised way via the biography genre. in life, he skilfully uses his creative writing skills to reconstruct conversations with johnson that he is quite familiar with. his textual and historical re-creation of johnson functions as a means of self-defence against his subject. his ambitions and motives are revealed in the fact that he decided to write johnson’s life story while he was alive and visited him in london several times to learn more about his personality and earlier years. in his journal of a tour to the hebrides, boswell explains this purpose in a 38 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles milder manner: “i shall lay-up authentic materials for the life of samuel johnson and if i survive him, i shall be the one who most faithfully do honour to his memory” (1785, 1791: 300). interestingly, boswell appears to have simply accepted johnson’s success as a biographer and openly declares it: “in biography there can be no question that he [johnson] excelled, beyond all who have attempted that species of composition” (1946: 256). in fact, this statement is misleading because boswell himself is attempting to write an ideal biography that excels in the genre. this might be explained as a strategy to secure his position in case of a failure, or a way to disguise the rivalry between himself and his subject. indeed, praising the greater one does not always signal mere admiration since it also reveals an unconscious will for priority and a desire to be in his place. in boswell’s life of johnson: new questions, new answers, this aspect is more clearly identified by donald greene: the most serious charge against boswell, in my opinion, is that his much-touted ‘hero-worship’ of johnson is a mask, disguising from himself and others an unconscious wish to cut johnson down to size and establish in the end, the superiority of boswell, the aristocratic, polished man-of-theworld, to this rugged provincial with his uncouth manners and quaint, old-fashioned prejudices. (qtd. in vance 1985: 6) for these reasons, in boswell’s criticism, there has been a tendency to consider his biography of johnson “a conscious misrepresentation of the truth” or essentially “a portion of his autobiography” (1985: 10-13). boswell’s imaginative truth based on a selection of facts and his creative expressions, thereby, might serve as “defensive measures” erected in order to “diminish crippling anxiety” of influence (havelka: 1968: 3). with his distinctive techniques and approaches to literary biography, boswell not only breaks with johnson’s life of savage and other earlier biographies of johnson, but also demonstrates his literary genius as a biographer. boswell goes beyond writing a generalised assessment of his subject’s character and instead he presents johnson to the readership within specific contexts and lively scenes in a dramatised and unique way (mulgan 2007: 10). using both first and third person narrative techniques, he draws attention to johnson’s “minute particulars” with a sense of humour to display his “distinguished” subject’s character (boswell, 1946). he reconstructs johnson’s public self in his conversations by “combining entertainment with instruction” (rogers 1980: xxix). in boswell’s presumptuous task, adam sisman depicts his efforts as follows: boswell seems like a ventriloquist, putting words into johnson’s mouth. he became adept at steering the conversation in directions which would stimulate johnson to say something memorable; he was proud of his ability, though often it required him to play the straight man alongside johnson, the but of johnson’s wit. in this sense boswell was creating his own copy, the reporter making news for himself. (2000: xviii) 39 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles this method, however, distorts the course of events through disconnected narratives and conversations in the book (2000: 10). boswell has also omitted some details and people from johnson’s life (such as his wife tetty, and seeking a second wife), possibly because he considers them to be irrelevant in the context he presents or due to his desire to put himself into the picture (clifford 1970: 12-15). almost half of the biography is devoted to johnson’s last eight years, characterising him as a public speaker by focusing on his sense of humour, humanity and moral identity (rogers 1980: xxix-xi). boswell’s careful choice of material and avoidance of some factual evidence serve as a method to ensure that he can present johnson as he wishes him to be remembered. since he is not familiar with johnson’s attitudes towards children and his family life, the contexts he presents in his work constitute scenes of the club and dinners with other male attendees.2 despite his genius and talent, boswell had an unsuccessful career in law and he faced many disappointments in his life. as adam sisman suggests, “in the wreckage of his disordered mind, he clung to the memory of johnson as a shipwrecked sailor clings to a rock” (2000: xxi). writing johnson’s life seems to be his final hope for success in literary circles in his fifties and he openly attacks his two rival biographers, hester lynch thrale and sir john hawkins. thrale’s anecdotes of the late s.j., during the last twenty years of his life (1786) and hawkins’ the life of samuel johnson (1787) were published several years before boswell’s life, and there were also a considerable number of short pieces in magazines on johnson’s life.3 boswell considers his genuine companionship with johnson a strength in his biography and undermines sir john hawkins’ work as follows: i never saw in his company, i think once, and i am sure not above twice … it is evident that they never could have lived together with companiable ease and familiarity; nor had john sir hawkins that nice perception which was necessary to mark the finer and less obvious parts of johnson’s character. (1946: i18) in a letter boswell explains the reason for his deliberate delay in completing his work as stemming “from the motive of sir john hawkins to precede [him] that [he] might profit by his gross faults” (qtd. in rogers 1980: xxv). in his introduction to life, boswell (1946: i18) criticises hawkins’ work as an unsuccessful biography of johnson due to its inability to sufficiently relate to its subject, full of inaccurate statements of fact and misleading characterisation. he succinctly remembers mrs thrale, another biographer of johnson, as “a lady who once lived in great intimacy with him” (1946: i19). in boswell’s first letter written to her in 1769, he admits that they were “rivals for that great man”, and, as rogers suggests, “two rivals in the wings, and public expectations high: it was 2 as clifford notes, “johnson was the greater man: greater in calibre, greater in learning, greater in philosophy [and] boswell was the greater genius” (1970: 90). mrs thrale and fanny burney completed the picture with their descriptions of johnson’s family life and his relationship with the females he met. 3 for further information, see the early biographies of samuel johnson, ed. by o.m. brack and robert e. kelley (usa: university of iowa press, 1974). 40 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles a daunting task boswell faced when he contemplated his ‘deliberate’ undertaking” (1980: xx-xxiii). indeed, his attitude towards johnson’s first two biographers reflects not only an anxiety of influence, but also his desire to be the “best friend” of the great man who “had the management of the mind” (boswell 1946: ii440). boswell further denies that the young johnson and richard savage were, for a short period, intimate friends. he describes savage as “a man, of whom it is difficult to speak impartially, without wondering that he was for some time the intimate companion of johnson … savage’s misfortunes and misconducts had reduced him to the lowest state of wretchedness as a writer for bread” (1946: i111). at this point, it can be suggested that boswell wishes to be at the centre of johnson’s life and considers savage unworthy of his attention as a friend and a biographical subject. boswell’s own inclusion as a character in life reveals his strong desire to be present both as a character (though johnson is the subject) and a biographer narrator. his work, in this sense, might be interpreted as “an unending contest between author and subject for posterity” and the two “are locked together for all the time, in part-struggle, part-embrace” (sisman 2000: xix). boswell’s insistence upon priority, therefore, enables him to write a distinctive biography of johnson with minute details and footnotes, and it has since been a controversial topic in literary criticism.4 his extensive efforts reveal the anxiety of a disappointed yet ambitious writer who attempts to create a “great” subject to reflect his own intellect and greatness in biography. 3. holmes’ dr johnson and mr savage: rivalry or empathy? the relationship between the biographer and his subject takes a different form and direction in richard holmes’ dr johnson and mr savage, since holmes attempts to disguise rivalry with his subject by using johnson’s own techniques in life writing. published over two centuries after johnson’s life of savage and boswell’s life of johnson, holmes’ narrative utilises historical distance as an advantage for creative misreading and empathy. holmes indeed writes “the biography of a biography” and works like an archaeologist gradually excavating the layers of an unknown and mysterious friendship no one has interpreted: it concerns the kind of human truth, poised between fact and fiction, which a biographer can obtain as he tells the story of another’s life, and thereby makes it both his own and the public’s. it asks what we can know, and what we can believe, and finally what we can love. (2005: 5) unlike boswell, holmes is a contemporary writer writing the life of an eighteenth-century celebrity and, therefore, he is partially free of the risk of having a distorted judgment of johnson 4 contemporary and recent criticisms of boswell’s biography include “an alleged bias or incomprehension … the deliberate relegation of mrs thrale, the haziness with regard to burke (compared to goldsmith, say), the lack of curiosity in areas remote from boswell’s experience distorting johnson’s political opinion, turning him into a romantic tory” (rogers 1980: xxxi). 41 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles as a close friend. he is also a successful biographer who has already assured his fame with footsteps: adventures of a romantic biographer (1996). holmes confidently places himself in johnson’s position to outline the young johnson’s circumstances, thoughts and close relationship with his poet-friend. it is also important to note that this is not a complete biography of johnson or savage; rather, it is “the fragments of two unusual lives that converged for the brief period of two years”, as christianson notes (1993: 132). the scarcity of primary sources, such as letters, diaries and statements of eyewitnesses, in the book has been substituted or completed by holmes’ rich imagination, interpretation and literary skill as an experienced biographer. holmes is most influenced by johnson’s skills as a biographer and his ability to sympathise with his subject, richard savage. in his work, johnson establishes his notorious poet-friend’s “literary self ” as a rejected but talented child “equally distinguished by his virtues and vices” (benton 2015: 29; johnson 1968).5 this representation is indeed “provisional and inevitably partial” due to the gap between johnson’s views and savage’s facts, their brief night-walking friendship and his motive for writing the life of his killer-poet friend (2015: 9). johnson’s work carries some features of a memoir of an intimate companion, while it preserves an aesthetic and objective approach to the subject’s weaknesses and strengths. by distancing himself from the night-walks as a third person narrator, johnson writes a biography that diverges from the scandalous thriller style of earlier ones. his friendship with savage and his interest in presenting a moral truth in the genre by focusing on the environmental factors in a person’s life reveal both his gratitude for his companion and his fear of being tempted to conceal some information about the poet’s life and character. however, as schwalm also notes: ... as a friend-biographer addressing savage’s biography to an audience already more or less familiar with the facts of the case, johnson could not have suppressed or invented much about savage – even if he had wanted to – without sacrificing the credibility of the narrative. if he wanted his vindication of savage to be believed, he had to face the facts of his life squarely. (1985: 133) regarding the brief friendship between johnson and savage, john hawkins claims that they had several significant features in common: “they had both felt the pangs of poverty and the want of patronage… they seemed both to agree in the vulgar opinion that the world is divided into two classes, of man of merit without riches, and men of wealth without merit” (nokes 2009: 65). johnson seems to have dwelt upon their friendship long after savage’s death and it must have had vital importance for him in writing his biography in “recapturing something of the limitless horizons of london, of the night, and the drunken excess he has first experienced, as a nostalgic dream, with his cousin cornelius” (2009: 65). 5 literary self, here, refers to “a sense of identity defined by the subject and represented by [his] biographer” (benton 2015: 29). 42 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles when holmes describes johnson and savage’s motives and brief companionship, he uses the available evidence in a particular order and tries to fill the missing parts or scenes by using his imagination, creative misreading and a mystical tone. with an attempt to understand his subject, holmes demonstrates his own literary skill and capacity to put himself in his subject’s position, while as a biographer he assures himself of his integrity and credibility by keeping a distance between himself and his subject. holmes’ anxiety about being influenced by johnson’s description of savage in his own work can be traced to the point where he advocates johnson’s biography. he claims that johnson was quite aware of savage’s bad manners: if johnson came to see savage’s failings so clearly, as their intimacy deepened in the autumn of 1738, why did he continue to defend him retrospectively in the life? this is the question that evidently haunted boswell – particularly since it was to boswell that the sacred baton of friendship was eventually passed; as well as the sacred duty of the biographer to tell the truth as candidly as possible. for it is a mistake to believe that johnson did not penetrate deeply into savage’s vanity, delusions and opportunism … this rueful and damaging admission deepens our whole sense of johnson’s powers as a biographer. he is not taken by savage, but still extends sympathy and insight. (2005: 192) when he describes johnson’s friendship with savage, holmes does not ignore their circumstances, yet he emphasises their enchantment as intimate friends who failed to understand each other. he pretends to be an invisible third friend witnessing their sorrow and happiness in situations that nobody saw or understood. whilst doing this, it is possible to observe savage through johnson’s eyes, as if he is not narrating their friendship as a third person. when reading about johnson’s savage, it is difficult not to sympathise with the unlucky, rejected child who was to be a killer-poet. similarly, holmes draws an intense and emotional but rational picture of their friendship, which was largely considered insignificant. in this way, holmes justifies johnson’s biographical style by turning it into another story. he owes his success to his particular method, which addresses the complicated nature of literary biography and the significance of readership in the genre, as schwalm notes: ironically, however, neither the reader nor the biographer knows what “the truth” about the subject is. all either has to go on is the available evidence, that fragmentary, distorted, and perhaps unrepresentative remnant of the complicated nexus of behaviors that constitutes a life… what a biographer aims for, and what a reader looks for, is a credible or probable organization of the available evidence. although the nature of the evidence imposes some limitations on the biographer, he has considerable freedom to select, emphasize, and arrange the evidence. thus the same body of fact can be shaped into quite different, even contradictory, biographies. our judgment of the truth of a biography finally depends not so much on the verification of the 43 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles facts as on the probability of the particular arrangement of facts and on the credibility of the biographical narrator. (1985: 131-32) rivalry among the biographers of johnson comes to the fore more clearly when holmes refers to johnson’s earlier biographers, in particular boswell and hawkins. holmes simply notes that: “sir john hawkins and boswell could not understand the friendship of samuel johnson and richard savage” (2005: 1). holmes’ will for authority is identified in this statement since he considers himself one who could understand their friendship, although boswell and hawkins were johnson’s contemporaries. holmes focuses on this brief period of friendship, which empowers his status as a biographer able to fill an existing gap in johnson’s life writing. holmes takes the companions’ intimacy very seriously: “i have tried to approach this central period of intimacy that so puzzled hawkins and boswell from a number of different angles” (2005: 228). in order to achieve this, he uses the most important tool available to a biographer and destroys the picture of johnson created by boswell: we have to reconstruct almost entirely that powerful, domineering, confident figure whom boswell created in his own biography … we have to recover a much more shadowy, fraught, and uncertain personality: young samuel johnson, failed schoolmaster, provincial poet and desperate grub street hack, who signed his letters in 1738 ‘impransus-supperless.’ (2005: 9) holmes criticises boswell for always projecting johnson as “a venerable father-figure, a moral counsellor detached from passion” (2005: 20). he is aware of boswell’s eminent status as johnson’s biographer, yet he challenges both johnson and boswell’s positions as influential biographers. while holmes adopts some features from johnson’s biography, he strongly opposes boswell’s technical and literary approach. he does not use disconnected scenes and conversations in a dramatised way as boswell does. he narrates johnson and savage’s companionship by misreading johnson’s biography and filling in one of the gaps in boswell’s life. he highlights the importance of understanding his subject through empathy and uses these particular techniques to dethrone his predecessors’ writings on johnson. 4. conclusion considering the challenges boswell and holmes have faced as biographers writing on the same subject, the significance of their unconscious rivalry and anxiety of influence is addressed through their relationship with their subject and other biographers. in boswell’s case, there is an obvious link between his personal relationship with johnson and his biography as a commemoration of his distinguished friend. although boswell finds the ideal figure he is looking for in johnson, he is also aware of his subject’s weaknesses. yet, as a candidate biographer of johnson, he holds a strong desire for authority and breaks with the earlier biographies of hawkins and thrale (kenosis), but he also produces a counter-sublime by using his particular literary methods (daemonisation) to 44 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles surpass his predecessors, including johnson. he thereby transforms this influence into a creative process to reconstruct johnson’s image as a public self in a unique biographical narrative. boswell possibly experiences the anxiety of being less original than johnson in life writing; therefore, he strives to generate a biography with distinctive qualities. he maintains his integrity and literary success by creating a greater johnson than his contemporary biographers, such as hawkins and thrale. a magnified johnson in his work means a stronger boswell. his anxiety and rivalry are more clearly disclosed when he defends his literary methods and describes johnson’s character as a learned and humorous man in specific contexts. centuries on, holmes uses his life writing skill and confidence to demonstrate that he understands his subject better than his precursors. unlike boswell, he avoids using the pronoun “i” and narrates the story as a father-like or experienced friend who has removed himself from all passions and desires. the third person narrative and his intimate approach create an implicit selfdefence method to disguise his will for power with the language of modesty. holmes not only confronts his subject, but also a great number of biographies written on johnson. he needs to be original and distinctive in all ways in order to stand out as a successful biographer. in order to achieve this, holmes chooses one of the most interesting periods of johnson’s life, which other biographers have failed or refused to understand: his friendship with the killer-poet, richard savage. he creatively misreads johnson’s biography and attempts to complete a gap in earlier biographies on his life. using these methods (clinamen and tesserae, in bloom’s terms), holmes clears a space for himself to demonstrate his literary skill as a life writer. although he is unable to entirely avoid the influence of johnson’s biography, he succeeds in maintaining his own literary style. his anxiety about being influenced by johnson and his will for authority over earlier biographers help him produce a more original work and increases his credibility as a biographer by contributing to the field. in this way not only do human feelings of love and interest, but also rivalry and anxiety, function as a means of progress and development in literary biography across two centuries. references benton, michael. 2015. towards a poetics of literary biography. uk: palgrave macmillan. bloom, harold. 1973. the anxiety of influence: a theory of poetry. new york: oxford university press. bloom, harold. 1994. the western canon: the books and school of the ages. new york: hancourt brace. bloom, harold. 2011. the anatomy of influence: literature as a way of life. usa: yale university press. boswell, james. 1791 [1785]. the journal of a tour to the hebrides with samuel johnson, ll.d. london: henry baldwin for charles dilly. https://archive.org/details/journaloftourtoh00bosw boswell, james. 1946 [1791]. the life of samuel johnson. london: oxford university press. christianson, gale e. 1995. review. richard holmes, dr johnson and mr savage. a quarterly journal concerned with british studies. 27. 1: 131-133. 45 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles clifford, james. (ed.) 1970. boswell’s life of johnson: a collection of critical essay. new jersey: prentice hall. david, nokes. 2009. samuel johnson: a life. london: faber. havelka, jaroslav. 1968. the nature of the creative process in art. netherlands: mantinus nijhoff, the hague. holmes, richard. 2005 [1993]. dr johnson & mr savage. london: harper perennial. johnson, samuel. 1750. rambler. no 60. https://www.samueljohnson.com/ram60.html johnson, samuel. 1968 [1777]. the life of mr richard savage. in: george birkbeck hill (ed.), lives of the english poets. hildesheim: g. olms. https://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/texts/ savage.html mulgan, roderick. 2007. the advocate as biographer: james boswell and the life of samuel johnson. ba essay. victorian university of wellington. rogers, pat. 1980. introduction. in: james boswell, life of johnson. r.w., chapman (ed.). new york: oxford university press. rollyson, carl. 2001. samuel johnson: dean of contemporary biographers. bibliography 24.2: 442-447. schwalm, david e. 1985. johnson’s life of savage: biography as argument. biography 8.2: 130-144. sisman, adam. 2000. boswell’s presumptuous task: the making of the life of johnson. london: hamish hamilton. vance, john a. 1985. boswell’s life of johnson: new questions, new answers. athens: university of georgia press. the nostalgic landscape of miami in susanna daniel’s stiltsville 81 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies małgorzata martynuska1 doi: 10.15290/cr.2019.25.2.05 university of rzeszow orcid id: 0000-0002-5028-5046 the nostalgic landscape of miami in susanna daniel’s stiltsville abstract. the article examines the nostalgic landscape of miami depicted in susanna daniel’s debut novel stiltsville (2010). the setting of the novel is the actual community named in the title of the book and it refers to a group of houses built on pilings about a mile offshore in biscayne bay. the analysis proceeds according to methodology presented by the literary theorist hana wirth-nesher in her article titled “impartial maps: reading and writing cities”, published in handbook of urban studies (2001), in which she identifies four aspects of cityscape in the representation of the city in narrative: the built, the ‘natural’, the human, and the verbal. the paper discusses the nostalgic construction of the past in the novel. nostalgic notions of preserving the past have been linked with the concepts of cultural heritage and the preservation movement. keywords: stiltsville, florida, marine environment, hurricane andrew, landscape, nostalgia. 1. introduction the article examines the nostalgic cityscape of miami depicted in susanna daniel’s debut novel stiltsville, published in 2010 by harpercollins publishers. the author, who was born and spent most of her childhood in miami, florida, graduated from columbia university and the university of iowa writers’ workshop. her first novel, stiltsville, was awarded the pen/bingham prize for best debut work published in 2010, and it was also placed on the 2011 summer reading list selection by oprah.com. the setting is the actual community named in the title of the book and it refers to a group of houses built on pilings about a mile offshore in biscayne bay in florida. scott eyman in his review published in the palm beach post (2010) writes: “the most exotic thing about the novel is the setting”. the author grew up in miami’s coral gables and her family had a house in stiltsville, which daniel considered to be an excellent setting for a novel. her family shared the stilt house and paid its maintenance costs together with other families until it was destroyed by hurricane andrew. there are biographical traces in daniel’s construction of the main character. “frances is my mother in a lot of ways; i wrote frances to honor my mother”, says daniel (eyman 2010). in an interview with laura valeri, susanna daniel talks about the inspiration for her novel: 1 address for correspondence: institute of english studies, university of rzeszów, al. mjr. kopisto 2b, 35-315 rzeszów, poland. e-mail: mmart@univ.rzeszow.pl 82 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies “i wanted to parallel the story of a long marriage to the history of stiltsville, the place, and the coming-of-age of the city where i grew up”. the author emphasizes the significance of changes by saying: “stiltsville is both relegated to history and also still in existence, in a different form–like a lot of families, including mine” (valeri 2011). the book depicts the long marriage of dennis and frances duval, but at the same time, it focuses on the moments in which the family experienced unexpected changes. the story is narra ted by the main character, 26-year old frances ellerby, who moves to miami from decatur, georgia, close to atlanta. the people frances spends most of her time with in miami are her husband dennis duval, his sister betty, and her friend marse heiger. the novel follows frances through her courtship with dennis, their marriage and raising their only child, margo. the story relies on the narrator’s memory and recollections of particular periods and events from the past which are vital for frances. the novel spans 25 years and is divided into chapters corresponding to the chronological time periods: 1969, 1970, 1976, 1982, 1990, 1992, 1993. the first chapter, concerning events in 1969, begins when frances makes her first-ever visit to miami to attend the wedding of a college girlfriend. at the beginning of the novel frances appears not to fit sultry south florida, as for a young girl from georgia, miami seems decadent. eventually, she leaves behind her old life and a boring bank job in atlanta and starts a new life in miami which focuses on stiltsville. as time passes, numerous changes occur affecting both frances’s family and the city of miami until hurricane andrew destroys their stilt house. the present analysis of the novel is constructed according to methodology presented by the lite rary theorist hana wirth-nesher in her article titled “impartial maps: reading and writing cities”, published in handbook of urban studies (2001), in which she identifies four aspects of cityscape in the representation of the city in narrative: the human, the built, the ‘natural’, and the verbal. the built environment depicts the city’s architecture, streets, squares, and other man-made objects. the ‘natural’ environment refers to the incorporation of nature in the metropolitan imagination: landscapes, parks, plants, even weather. the human environment does not refer to the main characters of the novel but rather to those human features that define the setting, such as city-dwellers, tou rists and shop owners. the verbal environment describes the language of the novel and refers to the written names of places and streets, the language of notices and advertisements as well as the spoken language the characters use in the narrative (wirth-nesher 2001: 54). the purpose of this paper is not only an examination of the four environments of miami’s cityscape that are featured in the novel stiltsville but also discussion of the narrator’s nostalgic construction of the past, an example of the nostalgic notions that have been linked with the cultural heritage of south florida. the concept of nostalgia, coined in 1688 by a swiss physician, johannes hofer, was primarily associated with homesickness (tierney 2013). later, the term started to express a longing for the past and acquired a connotation of sentimentality. fred davis defined nostalgia in the following words: “a form of sentimental yearning for any object, event, or place in the past or a positively formed evocation of the past” (1979: 18). looking back at the past and reconstructing it provides a positive context for present life; however, a nostalgic vision of the past is not the same as the actual 83 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies past. it is a selection of events from the past rather than a true historical account. nostalgic narratives are embedded in a social context and comment on how memory works. american heritage historian and geographer david lowenthal claims that while recollecting the past we transform it with the aim of preserving it; however, the actual past was not like our memories about it because “nostalgia evokes better-off as well as better times” (2015: 41). in our own memories, we discard events from the past that are unwanted in contemporary times and present an idealized version of the past. you cannot retrieve the past because you “can return to a place, but never to a past” (lowenthal 2015: 50). political scholar kimberly smith (2000: 509) claims that nostalgia is a cognitive process in which one not only memorizes certain things but adopts a particular attitude towards things to romanticize the past. literary theorist svetlana boym describes ‘reflective nostalgia’ as making people contemplate the passage of time and their identity by reflecting upon the value of the past for present purposes. reflective nostalgia refers to “individual and cultural memory” (2001: 41) which emphasizes the imperfect process of remembrance. it accepts the fact that some events belong to the past but cherishes emotions evoked by the experience of recollecting the past. the acknow ledgment of the irretrievability of the past creates a space in which memory selects events for our emotional pleasure, and the fact that experience belongs to the past makes us enjoy it in the present. as sociologist janelle wilson notices, the experience of nostalgia helps people to infuse the past with new meaning that is significant in the present (2005: 23). past experiences may be remade, rediscovered or even renewed; however, a nostalgic image may be blurry because nostalgia mytho logizes the past. past recollections concern specific times and places, but even after returning to a particular place we find that nothing has stayed the same as numerous changes have occurred. what matters is not that the past is recreated but how the past is reconstructed in re-telling. the research conducted by sedikides, et al. revealed that nostalgia may facilitate continuity between past and present, and in this way “use positive perceptions about the past to bolster a sense of continuity and meaning in one’s life” (2008: 306). reverting to the past is seen as a way of compensation for the threatening changes occurring in the modern world. the notion of nostalgia has found recognition in the field of urban studies and it has been associated with the creation of remembrance museums, heritage preservation parks and with concepts of the recovery, restoration, and maintenance of traditions. urbanization caused the destruction of numerous historical landmarks, which made americans feel a nostalgic sense of loss. in the 1960s the federal government began to fund projects aimed at the preservation of historic heritage and architects turned to history and the celebration of vernacular housing (zukin 1982: 75). literary theorist linda hutcheon claims that nostalgia is connected with the manifestation of vernacular-revival architecture and preservation activity (2002: 177). historian alison isenberg (2004) links nostalgia with urban revitalization policies, as nostalgic themes became a part of landscape planning and urban aesthetics. the movement for the preservation of american historic heritage was stimulated by nostalgia as well as its tourist potential. according to lowenthal, the preservation movement concerns not only single pieces of architecture but larger areas. “preservation 84 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies reaches beyond single structures to embrace neighborhoods and entire towns” (2015: 421). every american state has its own unique culture that may be the object of nostalgic preservation and the state of florida even has a term – floridiana – which applies to its characteristic artifacts, historical heritage, geography, architecture or folklore. merriam webster dictionary defines ‘floridiana’ as “material (as documents, anecdotes, or artifacts) distinctively bearing on or characteristic of florida or its people or culture”. the cityscape of miami is a kind of palimpsest landscape combi ning historical, architectural and cultural features of the city with the geographic environment of floridiana, and the stiltsville enclave is a symbolic landscape of miami, which synthesizes its urban and marine environments. 2. cityscape of stiltsville: the built environment the built environment of the novel stiltsville represents both the existing artifacts of floridiana and structures invented by the author. the former “derive their significance from both the text in which they are represented and the existing repertoire of city tropes in the arts and literature” (wirth-nesher 2001: 55). stiltsville has been featured as the setting of other novels: skin tight (1989) by carl hiaasen; done deal (1993) by les standiford; dearly devoted dexter (2005) which is the second novel in the crime series about dexter written by jeff lindsay; and sea creatures (2013) by susanna daniel. although the novel stiltsville does not make any references to the mentioned books, the fact that the houses on piles in biscayne bay inspire so many writers proves the prominence of the enclave. the fictional world of daniel is set in the physical landscape of miami. the narrative encompasses two miami spaces: the mainland and offshore stiltsville, which is located five miles from the city downtown. despite this distance, stiltsville is considered part of the miami cityscape, so part of floridiana as well. the enclave is both included in the urban metropolitan environment and excluded from it, as it is only accessible by boat. this closed community, resembling an island, developed as a kind of weekend paradise and provides a sense of intimacy for its residents. the separation between the public and the private is maintained because the characters spend weekdays in miami whereas the stilt house serves as a private enclave and a refuge from urban life reserved for weekends. the narrator calls the stilt house “our little island, our weekend oasis” (75). the city of miami plays an important role in frances’s life; however, meaningful events happen at stiltsville. the narrator selects only particular years for the story and presents them chronologically. it is not an actual description of the past but a selection of key experiences which are always connected with the stilt house. as lowenthal puts it, “heritage is scolded for swerving from the true past–selecting, altering, inventing” (2015: 112). wirth-nesher states that the novelist incorporates some aspects of real cityscape into fictive reconstruction by providing the names of streets, places, and landmarks. in this way the author enables the reader to place the character in the real setting and to recognize the significance of particular localities as a “vocabulary of cityscape elements” arrives at “universal determinants of legibility” (2001: 52). at the beginning of the novel, frances’s friend marse takes her on a sightseeing 85 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies boat trip. in this way daniel affectionately evokes the miami landmarks, starting with freedom tower in the city’s downtown. then, marse points to the bridge connecting the downtown to key biscayne – the area including the neighborhood of stiltsville. marse presents other parts of the city, starting from the southwest: the everglades, turkey point, coral gables, coconut grove, and to the east: the cape florida lighthouse located at the tip of key biscayne. the lighthouse, built in 1825, is the oldest building in south florida. another architectural spot worth visiting mentioned further in the first chapter is vizcaya – a villa in the renaissance style surrounded by elaborate gardens and located on the bay in coconut grove. the narrator in her nostalgic memories presents the historic heritage of the city which corresponds with linda hutcheon’s theory linking nostalgia with pre servation activity (2002). as the story develops, frances seems constantly fascinated with the city of miami: “because a century ago, swampland enveloped this shoreline, before developers drained it and built a city from the bog. because our piece of florida was invented, not discovered” (148). it is dennis’s parents who own the stilt house, built in 1945 by dennis’s father, grady, who adopted the idea of a local fisherman named “crawfish” eddie walker (21). it is a direct reference to the real history of stiltsville which was started in the days of prohibition by “crawfish” who sold bait and beer at his stilt house, so the author uses elements of the historical account of floridiana heritage for her fictional story. frances describes her first sight of stiltsville, which consisted of 14 houses elevated above the water on pilings, in the following way: “they stood on cement pillars, flanking a dark channel along the rim of the bay as if guarding it from the open ocean” (2). theirs is a redpainted house with white shutters which is later referred to in the story as the “stilt house”. this place turns out to be a special location where the characters always return when something significant happens in their lives. it is the stilt house where frances is introduced to dennis duval and it is also the place where he proposes to her. it seems that the romantic scenery of the house built on the water makes an ideal setting for events that are meaningful for frances. nina sankovitch (2011) in a review of the novel published in the huffington post writes: “frances is enchanted by the neighborhood hovering over water, and falls in love with the rhythm and beauty of southern florida”. even her mother remarks during one of her winter visits to see frances: “miami suits you” (253). frances emphasizes in her narration that despite the changes that occur in the life of the family, stiltsville continues to play a prominent role for all of the family members, including her daughter margo. she takes up a number of activities at school to gain extra credits for her university application. one of the activities she practices is competitive sailing, but she gives it up saying that “the regattas monopolized all her weekends” (153), so she had no time for visiting stiltsville. when margo transfers from the university of miami to the university of florida, she spends her last night with the family at stiltsville. it is also at the stilt house where margo expresses a request to move out of the dorms into an apartment complex off campus. it seems that all the decisions that are important for the family are discussed and made at stiltsville. the family members are aware that their custom of staying at the stilt house will have to end soon because the state of florida has declared biscayne bay a national park, which meant that private ownership of the stilt houses was going to be brought to an end. again, the fictional narrative refers to real state 86 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies regulations. even though the family still keeps the place they are aware of how much they are going to miss the house after losing it. their life is constantly changing but the loss of stiltsville induces a complete change of their lifestyle. when margo leaves for university, frances suddenly realizes she has extra time to occupy, which is difficult because frances “wasn’t used to spending time outside other than at stiltsville” (164). the narrator makes nostalgic recollections to compensate for violent changes occurring in her life. as sociology professor jan willen duyvendak puts it in the politics of home: belonging and nostalgia in western europe and the united states, a home may be a non-material place or its image linked to a concrete manifestation of the home in the past (2011: 37). pam cook states that “nostalgia is predicated on a dialectic between longing for something idealized that has been lost, and an acknowledgment that this idealized something can never be retrieved in actuality, and can only be accessed through images” (2005: 3). while reminiscing on the past, frances not only makes recollections of the actual past but also depicts a nostalgic vision of home by presenting its images, like the one depicting what stiltsville would look like from the view of a plane: “…the houses perched on stilts in the bay would dissolve in the blurring of waves and sky” (73). another image frances produces is connected with the potential destruction of the stilt house by the hurricane, which is immediately connected with the concept of the family: maybe we would anchor where our stilt house had stood and dive the spot like any wreck, searching for bed frames, shutters, shoes. we would feel loss and lost, and i would realize once again: this is what it means to be part of a family. there are no maps and the territory is continually changing (117). after having learned the house has been destroyed by hurricane andrew in 1992, frances narrates: “i imagined pieces of our stilt house stranded there–shutters or dock planks or even the hurricane tracking map that hung in the kitchen, its little red and blue magnets scattered across the bay floor” (229). frances expresses what the house meant to her: “it was a treasure, this sense of isolation. how would we achieve it, if we didn’t rebuild?” (231). the images of the house produced by the narrator correspond with duyvendak’s concept of defining nostalgia as not only longing for a place but mourning over changes that have occurred in that particular place. you cannot truly return to that place because it exists mostly in your imagination (2011: 24). duyvendak connects the notion of place with the activity of home-making as the necessity for the place to be transformed into a home. he claims that the building itself has no real ‘home’ value if there are no feelings attached or if it is not connected with activities occurring in that particular place. “home is more the result of home-making than the effect of the place itself ” (2011: 37). when frances wants to show margo’s husband, stuart, what the stilt house looked like, she searches through the old photographs, but it turns out that there is actually no record showing the whole house. instead, they can see margo on the dock, dennis with a railing behind, or frances in the doorway. surprised, frances narrates: “there was no photo of the house the way i remember 87 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies it: from a distance, wholly intact. i did not understand, taking those pictures, that history must be collected while the subject exists” (243). actually, the pictures reflect what the stilt house meant to them – a family place. the house was significant only when family members occupied it. frances recollects the good old days when a physical therapist comes to help dennis with exercises that would slow the degeneration of his muscles. when they are doing some exercises in the water, frances nostalgizes about the family time at the stilt house when margo was a little girl and dennis used to teach her to swim. once, when dennis is strong enough, frances takes him and margo on the boat at night and they anchor in the spot where their stilt house stood. they are eating crabs and looking at the downtown skyline like they used to in the past. although frances misses stiltsville, she realizes that even if their stilt house had not been destroyed, they would not be able to use it because of dennis’s illness. “it had collapsed before becoming a sad, abandoned treasure” (287). the narrator identifies with the house even when it no longer exists which corresponds with svetlana boym’s concept of ‘reflective nostalgia’ (2001). duyvendak states that there are places that have the meaning of ‘home’ as a fixed physical space, which is significant because it gives people a sense of belonging and identity. this does not mean that individuals are fixed in place but rather that the place has a particular value for the individual (2011: 8). frances identifies with stiltsville but in a broader context she identifies with the whole city of miami: “miami is the only place in this country where stiltsville could exist, and for a while i had the good fortune of spending time there” (72). after dennis’s death, frances moves to asheville, north carolina where in the past they both spent a weekend hiking and watching street musicians. she narrates: “when i think about miami, it is as if all i loved about the place no longer exists” (303). she means dennis and the stilt house. according to lowenthal, the heritage and preservation movement may reflect nostalgia for the lost community (2015: 6). the coastal environment of florida provides numerous obstacles to the preservation of the houses which are threatened by hurricanes and surrounded by saltwater. the tropical storms enumerated in the narrative are part of the actual history of florida which is frequently devastated by their disastrous force. after hurricane andrew in 1992, the stiltsville community shrank substantially and only seven structures remained. this fact is true for both the fictional landscape of the novel and the real account of miami’s history. those seven houses have also survived the most recent hurricane irma (2017) relatively unscathed; just one of the houses needed roof repairs and some dock and railing were damaged (rabin 2017). daniel was not able to acknowledge this fact in her book which was published in 2010, seven years before hurricane irma. 3. cityscape of stiltsville: the ‘natural’ environment the ‘natural’ cityscape of the novel is focused on the coastal and marine environment of miami which determines the characters’ routine of celebrating weekends. they develop a habit of staying at stiltsville together with dennis’s parents, his sister betty, and occasionally they are joined by their friend marse. they spend time sailing, swimming, walking on the sandbar between the stilt houses which they call the ‘flats’ and looking for starfish, sea worms and fire coral. then they eat fish, 88 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies lobsters, or other sea creatures they have caught themselves. daniel also mentions clubs connected with the marine environment of miami, like the biscayne bay yacht club which dennis joins in 1976 and the coconut grove sailing club where betty teaches sailing lessons. duyvendak claims that the choice of home is often closely connected with the choice of lifestyle because the place known as home and its surroundings enable the individual to realize his or her passion, e.g. clubbing, sailing (10). the stilt house definitely assumes the meaning of ‘home’ to frances, who becomes totally absorbed with her new lifestyle and totally removed from her previous life in georgia. the literary depiction of the stilt house evokes the image of the marine environment. frances describes the house in the following words: the main room of the stilt house was paneled with wood and stocked with old appliances and a shabby wicker sofa with turquoise vinyl cushions … the kitchen and the living area shared one open space, with two doors that opened onto the west and north porches. this design gave the house an inside-out quality, like the interior of a cabana or, i imagined, a yacht (12). a decorative rope on the counter, a stack of fishing and boating magazines on a coffee table, and a huge marlin placed above the kitchen sink added touches of the marine environment to the interior of the house. moreover, one of the bedrooms had a special type of furniture, namely, two bunk beds. the purpose of the downstairs’ area was described in france’s narration as “existing only to elevate the second floor away from the water” (13). the second story of the house had a veranda with a white wooden railing, but the first story had no railing so inhabitants or visitors to the house could simply jump directly from it into the water. a nostalgic look at the house idealizes it with the spirit of coziness and togetherness. the depiction evokes a great deal of sentimentality which corresponds with fred davis’s definition of nostalgia (1979). the characters enjoy the benefits of the coastal environment but at the same time show respect for its fauna and flora and caution with regard to its dangers. the reader can see how seriously dennis treats the marine environment in the way he spends his time with his daughter at the stilt house. they study together survival tactics, discuss what to do when lost at sea, how to recognize which fish are poisonous, how to check the wind. when they learn that an electric eel lives in a bowl under the dock of the house, they seem to be proud of the fact that this wild creature chose this particular house for its habitat. their intention is not to kill the eel but to catch it and find it a new home in a reef cave. however, during one of the summer weekends marse’s cousin dives down beneath the dock with a machete and chops off the electric eel’s head. afterward, dennis tells marse that her family is not welcome anymore. this event clearly proves that a wild sea creature living in the proximity of the stilt house was seen as a permanent neighbor for the house residents and killing it meant a betrayal of trust for dennis. the eel belonged to the house and the family identified with it as they identified with the house. killing the eel was a negative change in the stability of the house and its ideal surroundings. 89 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies frances evokes nostalgic memories connected with nice tropical weather by describing what spring and summer meant to her. the south floridian spring is depicted in the following words: “bright warm days and few mosquitoes, and nights as crisp as seventy degrees” (54). then, she refers to summer in the subtropics: “it was beautiful, clear, and sunny until mid-afternoon, then rained heavily for an hour, then the clouds cleared and the sun came out again” (255). she stresses a sort of temporality of bad weather which is always likely to change for the better. geographer harm de blij in his book the power of place: geography, destiny and globalization’s rough landscape, elaborates on the “geography of jeopardy” and tries to answer the question of why many americans build their second homes along coastlines vulnerable to hurricanes. he argues that danger “forms a significant factor in the composite power of place” (2009: 108), and continues: “the power of place manifests itself in continua of opportunity and risk, advantage and privation” (2009: 136). a dangerous aspect of the marine and coastal environment of florida is the stormy weather. at the opening of the novel, frances asks: “how much weather could the house withstand?”. this quality of living in the stilt house is reflected by the hurricane tracking map with tiny magnets indicating weather warnings. frances narrates: “on land, one looks toward the ocean to predict whether the storm is coming. from the ocean, one looks to the horizon” (25). frances describes the destructive force of the hurricanes which had hit stiltsville over the years. in 1960 hurricane donna leveled all but the six of the houses. many residents rebuilt their houses in a new cottage-style and more solidly designed. unfortunately, after hurricane betsy in 1965 only 14 structures were left. other tropical storms mentioned in the narrative are hurricane agnes which hit florida in 1972, hurricane david which in 1979 tore part of the roof from the stilt house and hurricane hugo which struck in 1989. the narrator recollects the past with concern about two dimensions which cannot be separated: specific time and space. in the words of christine sprengler: “nostalgia retained its spatial dimension” (2009: 15). the stilt house from the novel survived hurricanes betsy, agnes, and hugo. then, in 1992, hurricane andrew came. when the national hurricane center issued a storm warning for dade county, frances “imagined the stilt house without its roof, the dock splintered” (217). when the storm started, she knew that “there would be nothing left” (217). after the hurricane, the city of coral gables closed the canal to private traffic and they did not know the fate of stiltsville. dennis said: “if the stilt house is gone, i don’t want to rebuild”. many people lost their houses in the hurricane so had to depend on the red cross, which prepared tents for the newly homeless. frances narrates: “our neighborhood felt to me like an island refuge – like stiltsville, in a way – isolated from a continent of disaster and disaster relief ” (225). finally, they were able to get to stiltsville to learn the fate of their house and check the hurricane damage. frances narrates this experience: “our stilt house had stood seventh from the right. we counted under our breath: one, two, three houses remained, all west of where ours had been. the house was gone. from a distance, the breach seemed neat and deliberate, as if god had plucked our stilt house from its stem” (228). nostalgia is used as a tool for representing a ‘paradise lost’ which existed not only in the past but at a specific time in the past. their stilt house existed till 1992; then it became a ‘paradise lost’. 90 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies the stilt house becomes the metaphor for happiness that was lost instantly in a storm. the destruction of the house by a hurricane makes it the material for nostalgia and foreshadows frances’s husband’s death which occurs shortly afterward. roberta rubenstein in home matters: longing and belonging, nostalgia and mourning in women’s fiction, defines nostalgia as “a kind of haunted longing: figures of earlier relationships and the places with which they are associated” (2011: 5). it is not only longing for a significant place but for a figure strongly associated with the place. frances constructs her identity in relation to the stilt house and her husband. 4. cityscape of stiltsville: the human environment the human cityscape of the novel stiltsville consists mainly of white people and hispanics, particularly cubans. the most important character not belonging to the family is frances’s friend –marse. they both meet frequently and spend time talking about marse’s acquaintances. it seems that in certain miami circles people have known each other’s families for decades. “in so many ways, miami was a small town” (195). however, it is mostly whites that they talk about and spend time with, which does not mean that they are oblivious to the hispanic presence in the city. frances meets some cuban ladies at the ymca gym in miami, but no cuban is ever a close acquaintance of her family: “miami was more than half cuban at this point, and yet i could count the cuban couples in our social circle on one hand” (239). this situation may be explained by american architectural historian gwendolyn wright who writes in modern architectures in history: “american cities were segregating commercial and residential environments, yet urban social life retained a dynamic creole mixture” (2008: 37). the characters of the novel rarely contact hispanics in their private lives but frequently meet them in their public lives as latinx, particularly cubans, combine a permanent and constantly growing fixture of miami’s cityscape. the cuban landscape of miami is introduced by the city’s landmark – freedom tower. frances mentions that from the stilt house it was possible to distinguish the shape of the lighthouse or freedom tower. then, she makes a reflection. “considering the blue expanse of ocean in my vision and the thousands of glassy wavelets and the fathoms of veiled blond seafloor, i would have thought i could see to cuba” (14). although frances’s life in miami is in a peculiar way almost entirely isolated from contacts with any members of the cuban diaspora, she realizes the strangeness of this situation. she mentions freedom tower and immediately cuba comes to her mind because that particular construction serves as the reception center for cuban refugees. another hispanic accent occurs in the chapter narrating events from 1970 when frances sees young girls wearing quinceañera outfits posing for photographs at the spanish-style arches in coral gables. there is also a hispanic character of lola – an ecuadorian therapist who helps dennis when he is diagnosed with als. the cuban presence in the city is shown when frances starts a sort of flirtatious relationship with her tennis coach jack. they go to the beach together and next to their spot there is a cuban family having a picnic. again, the cubans are in the background of events and do not play any role in the activities performed by frances. the novel pictures an undisturbed relationship between the whites and hispanics. both groups live close to each other in their isolated 91 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies worlds but when they occasionally meet, harmony is maintained. the cubans, although largely represented in the city, do not induce violent changes in miami’s landscape. unlike them, the africans do. the african component of miami’s ethnic mosaic is introduced in the novel with the dramatic events that happened in 1980, following the so-called mcduffie case. arthur mcduffie was a black insurance agent who was fatally beaten by dade county police officers. the all-white jury in the mcduffie case acquitted the accused officers and the verdict caused riots in three miami neighborhoods inhabited by african americans. in the interview with valeri, daniel says: “when you live in a place like miami, there’s no separating the drama of family life from the drama of their surroundings” (valeri 2011). frances experiences the riots, but they do not touch her directly as she observes the events from afar – from the stilt house: “from stiltsville, we could see smoke rising over the city, and when we got home, south bayshore was a ghost town” (145). the human environment of the novel, as well as the city itself, begins to change. frances mentions in her narration that due to the changing demographics of the city many miami dwellers start to move north, as do the suttons who owned the stilt house directly west of frances’s house. they transfer their land lease and sell their house to a man who differs from other stiltsville occupants as he does not treat the house as weekend accommodation but lives on the bay full-time and employs runners to bring food to him. his stay becomes so permanent that he does not even have a boat tied to his dock, which seems unwise considering emergency situations. frances realizes that the city is changing but at the same time those changes do not affect her family which feels in a way insulated by the circles they move in. in his book ethics and nostalgia in the contemporary novel, john j. sue writes about the prominence of place as “a response to a global shift in how individuals relate to the locations they inhabit” (2005: 20). the human environment of the novel implies changes connected with people’s mobility and the narrative does not suggest temporality but rather the permanent character of those transformations. frances is not touched directly by the social and urban transformations of miami’s cityscape because she finds comfort and safety in her magical place which is stiltsville. in this context, the stilt house serves as protection against changes occurring in the human environment. frances in her nostalgic memories recollects both the permanent routines of stiltsville weekends and the times of meaningful changes, which she was able to stand due to the comforting refuge the house provided. 5. cityscape of stiltsville: the verbal environment the verbal environment refers to both the written and spoken language of the novel. according to wirth-nesher the names of the cities themselves “signify beyond their geographical referent” (2001: 56). the written language of the novel makes use of narrative cartography to introduce the tropicalism of the places e.g. coral gables or coconut grove. moreover, the caribbean aspects of the city’s charm are depicted by the names of trees and plants: banyans, mangroves, oranges, allamanda bushes, gumbo-limbo trees, and palms. the marine environment of florida is evoked not only by flora but also fauna: pelicans, manatees, stone crabs, alligators, starfish, sea urchins, coral, 92 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies sand dollars, electric eels and numerous types of shark: tiger, nurse, hammerheads, blacktip, bull, lemon. the seascape is clearly suggested by the names of restaurants: fisheating creek inn, diner key marina, hungry sailor. the spoken language of the novel stresses the senses. john urry in his article “city life and the senses” elaborates on the “sensuous geography” used to depict how the senses contribute to people’s orientation in space and their appreciation of their environment. the senses are connected with visuality which provides an encounter with the environment and “sense of the surrounding townscape” (2003: 389-393). frances affectionately describes the tropicality of miami and emphasizes the sense of smell “i loved…smell the rotting sweetness of a ripening mango tree”. she continues by stressing the visual aspect of the tropical environment: “i loved the limestone and the coral rock, the fountains and the ocean and the winding blue canals. i loved the giant banyans and the dense wet mangroves and gumbo-limbo trees and the many-sized, many-shaped palms” (72). when frances gives birth to a baby daughter, she names her margo because she feels that this name sounds south floridian and tropical at the same time. the visuality aspect of the environment is mentioned during one of margo’s visits home from the university, which occurs on independence day. the family goes to the stilt house to “to watch fireworks over the skyline” (171) which suggests that the experience of watching the show is better at stiltsville than from the miami mainland. the visual aspect of the marine environment is emphasized by the use of colors: “the blue of the sky was rich and dense” (12), “the blue expanse of ocean in my vision” (14). dark colors stress the dramatism of the night the hurricane hit: “between flashes of lightning, the sky was purple-black and inky” (243). the language of the cityscape clearly shows that the characters live in a city with a substantial hispanic population which is made up mostly of cubans. the exemplary situation occurs when frances visits dennis at his apartment and he goes out to buy limes at the mini market on the corner. dennis calls the shop “bodega” which signifies that it specializes in hispanic groceries. during his absence, frances admires the sunset from the balcony and she sees two cuban men standing at the entrance to the café and talking in spanish. the hispanic cityscape is visible in the food names mentioned in the narration. on one occasion frances goes with her tennis coach to a cuban restaurant in little havana and has a cuban meal and drinks café con leche. another time frances takes margo to a mexican restaurant in coconut grove where they have tortilla chips, salsa, and enchiladas. the narration introduces the reader to miami’s hispanics by presenting their spanish-sounding names, e.g. margo’s teacher of english is named mr. lopez, and her social studies teacher is mrs. gonzalez. when margo and her newly-wed husband, stuart, are looking for a house to buy, they visit the one belonging to ms. penny morales who speaks with a heavy accent suggesting her cuban roots. on another occasion, frances mentions: “i loved to eavesdrop on the loud conversations of the ladies at the deli counter, ferreting out select phrases using the lazy spanish i’d acquired over the years” (72). it became a sort of trend in certain miami circles to drop some spanish into casual conversation, but not too much, in order to avoid a discussion with the hispanic housekeeper. 93 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies frances exemplifies this with a situation when margo thanks to her friend’s mother for inviting her to a birthday party. the woman welcomes margo and says: “qué linda”. the verbal environment of the novel exemplified by the characters’ dialogues and their dialect suggests ethnic subdivisions of the city. spanish-speaking residents of the city are in the background of events that happen in frances’ life and they never visit stiltsville. the verbal aspect of the cityscape marks some aspects of miami’s social hierarchy, as certain miami circles are reserved only for englishspeaking whites. 6. conclusion the novel portrays both frances’s marriage and the stiltsville community, which is as old as the city of miami and constitutes architecturally a significant example of floridiana. the novel allows the readers to experience the marine environment of south florida and the best it has to offer: the sky, the water, the boating, and fishing. the stilt houses represent an environmental sensibility and how nature translates into architecture. erik swyngedouw and maria kaïka in their article: “the environment of the city…or the urbanization of nature”, argue that the environment of the city results from the process of urbanization of nature. society and nature are inseparable and their interactions “narrate many interrelated tales of the city” making the city a “palimpsest landscape” (2011: 569-571). the novel portrays the urban space of miami as palimpsests of different environments: the built, the ‘natural’, the human and the verbal. the marine environment of miami directly connected with the main setting of the novel – the stiltsville enclave – is deeply affected by the hurricane. this dramatic event not only destroys the main built environment of the novel but also makes the characters change their lifestyle. the ‘natural’ environment has a binary depiction: idealized, mysterious, sentimental on one hand and dangerous, threatening, destructive and deadly on the other. the novel presents an idealized image of the human cityscape as people do not commit any violent acts except for the ones occurring during the mcduffie riots. the real danger is not created by humans but by nature, which poses a threat to the built and human aspects of the cityscape, including the special place of stiltsville. the built environment translates into the human environment when the city landmark – freedom tower – is brought into the narrative to symbolize cuban refugees. the verbal environment accompanies the ‘natural’ to emphasize the tropicality of the place. it also assists the depiction of the human environment by emphasizing the hispanic presence in the city with the inclusion of spanish-sounding names and the practice of dropping spanish words into conversations. daniel’s reflections demonstrate the sentimentality and selectivity characteristics of nostalgia. the characters identify with a place that is meaningful for them, one that both belongs to them and they belong to. john sue states: “individuals can identify with mediated representations of place as well as the places themselves” (2005: 97). the narrator identifies with the place even when it disappears and she tries to retrieve it in two ways: by revoking past recollections and by deve loping the image of it. in both cases, frances idealizes the home and depicts it with a great deal of sentimentality. nostalgia and positive emotions are evoked again when she describes her 94 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies husband: “he seemed to regard fatherhood and husbandhood the way a magician regards magic: the delight is in the mystery” (133). the narrator reconstructs the past in her storytelling, but the representation of the past is revisionary because only certain periods are selected for the reminiscence. nostalgia is triggered by past recollections taking the form of shattered fragments of memory. the narrator allows us to enjoy the experience again and again; as cultural scholar sean scanlan puts it, “nostalgia keeps on returning” (2004: 2). frances keeps on returning to the stilt house which serves as an embodiment of her idealized past. the novel is about yearning for the figure and the place from the past that give meaning to the narrator’s life, and it exemplifies the type of nostalgia that svetlana boym names ‘reflective’ as it stresses the meaning of emotions and social bonds that the characters develop in their lives in the place that is special for the narrator, the stilt house. boym’s concept of reflective nostalgia, which is linked with “individual and cultural memory”, is present in the novel through the direct relationship between the writer’s biography, the story’s narrator and the storm-struck history of south florida. the narrator’s house no longer exists but the remaining structures of the stiltsville community are the object of conservation activities. it is her heritage that she wishes to preserve; she cannot retrieve the past but she can keep recollections and create images. the historical stiltsville enclave is regarded as a living heritage of the past that is being preserved for the future. this magic landscape, which inspires historians, geographers, architects, and writers, may be destroyed by the tropical storms that are certain to hit florida’s shores in the future. if the state of florida does not preserve and rebuild the stilt houses, those signature constructions which are part of florida’s cultural heritage will remain only in images and nostalgic memories. references blij, h. de. 2009. the power of place: geography, destiny and globalization’s rough landscape. oxford: oxford university press. boym, s. 2001. the future of nostalgia. new york: basic books. cook, p. 2005. screening the past: memory and nostalgia in cinema. london/new york: routledge. daniel, s. 2010. stiltsville. new york: harpercollins publishers. daniel, s. biography webpage. 3 mar. 2019. https://www.susannadaniel.com/bio davis, f. 1979. yearning for yesterday: a sociology of nostalgia. new york: free press. duyvendak, j. w. 2011. the politics of home: belonging and nostalgia in western europe and the united states. london: palgrave macmillan. eyman, s. 2010. a child of miami’s stiltsville explores the precarious balance of marriage. palm beach post (21 november 2010). https://www.palmbeachpost.com/entertainment/child-miamistiltsville-explores-the-precarious-balance-marriage/yjoumx2zq5jqk59pb0rq1o/ hutcheon, l. 2002. the politics of postmodernism. london/new york: routledge. isenberg, a. 2004. downtown america: a history of the place and the people who made it. chicago/ london: the university of chicago press. 95 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies lowenthal, d. 2015. the past is a foreign country – revisited. cambridge/new york: cambridge university press. merriam webster dictionary online. (19 january 2019). https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/floridiana. rabin, c. 2017. stiltsville still standing after hurricane irma’s winds blew through. miami herald (21 september 2017). https://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article174542451.html rubenstein, r. 2011. home matters: longing and belonging, nostalgia and mourning in women’s fiction. new york: palgrave macmillan. sankovitch, n. 2011. life’s sturdy pilings: stiltsville by susanna daniel. huffington post (25 may 2011). https://www.huffingtonpost.com/nina-sankovitch/lifes-sturdy-pilingsemst_b_675081.html?guccounter=1 scanlan, s. 2004. introduction: nostalgia. iowa journal of cultural studies 5.1: 2-9. sedikides, c., wildschut, t., arndt, j. & routledge, c. 2008. nostalgia. past, present, and future. current directions in psychological science 17.5: 304-307. smith, k. k. 2000. mere nostalgia. notes on a progressive paratheory. rhetoric & public affairs 3.4: 505-527. sprengler, c. 2009. screening nostalgia. populuxe props and technicolor aesthetics in contemporary american film. new york/oxford: berghahn books. stiltsville trust. seven remaining houses. http://stiltsvilletrust.org/pages/stiltsville_ remaining_houses.html sue, j. j. 2005. ethics and nostalgia in the contemporary novel. cambridge/new york: cambridge university press. swyngedouw e. & kaïka, m. 2011. the environment of the city … or the urbanization of nature. in: g. bridge & s. watson (eds.), a companion to the city, 567-580. malden, ma, usa/oxford, uk: blackwell publishing. tierney, j. 2013. what is nostalgia good for? quite a bit, research shows. the new york times (8 july 2013). https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/science/what-is-nostalgia-good-forquite-a-bit-research-shows.html urry, j. 2003. city life and the senses. in: g. bridge & s. watson (eds.), a companion to the city, 388-397. malden, ma, usa/oxford, uk: blackwell publishing. valeri, l. a. 2011. a texture the facts can’t convey: an interview with susanna daniel. fiction writers review (28 march 2011). https://fictionwritersreview.com/interview/a-texturethe-facts-cant-convey-an-interview-with-susanna-daniel/ wilson, j. l. 2005. nostalgia. sanctuary of meaning. cranbury, nj: rosemont publishing. wirth-nesher, h. 2001. impartial maps: reading and writing cities. in: r. paddison (ed.), handbook of urban studies, 52-66. thousand oaks, california: sage publications. wright, g. 2008. usa: modern architectures in history. london, uk: reaktion books. 96 ................................................................................................................................................................crossroads. a journal of english studies zukin, s. 1982. loft living: culture and capital in urban change. baltimore, maryland: the johns hopkins university press. *** małgorzata martynuska is an associate professor at the institute of english studies, university of rzeszow, poland. she is a graduate of american studies center at university of warsaw (ma) and the institute of american studies and polish diaspora at jagiellonian university in cracow (phd). she completed her habilitation at swps university of social sciences and humanities in warsaw. her scholarly interests focus on cultural hybridity of us latinx, acculturation patterns, transculturation and ethnic representations in american popular culture. do english learners from different countries approach (“compose”) topics differently? a study report crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 michał daszkiewicz university of gdańsk do english learners from different countries approach (“compose”) topics differently? a study report abstract. the paper reports on a study with over 600 respondents (efl students) from 18 countries, concerning their personal approach to mastering two selected topics (clothes and sport). the hypotheses and the major conclusions relate to four facets – structure, lexis, correctness, fluency – which are presented in the paper as components to which l2 students need to be positively oriented to fully master any given topic. the study reveals structural orientation (within and across topics) to be approached least positively and, contrary to initial expectations – correct use of language being as much desired as the mastery of lexis and attainment of fluency. most crucial empirical observations concern intercultural differences detected on the topical level, discrepancies between declared practices and indecisiveness in learning, and resignation from learning habits boosting control over the language learnt. the study is grounded in the concept of ‘composing one’s own english’ as a personalised approach conducive to what is referred in the paper as formal control over it. keywords: composing your own english, attitude to l2, personalised learning, language mastery/masterpiece, intercultural differences. introduction the ‘imprisoning” and “liberating” power of language (cf. mccullen & saffran 2004) implies – among many other things – that our categorisation and comprehension of any given issues will proceed as allowed by our sets of mental lexical tools. this implication of what has long been known as “the linguistic turn”, prompted by ludwig wittgenstein’s statement “the limits of my language means the limits of my world”, quite naturally applies to both native and foreign languages. in the latter case, if we operationalise this issue and consider it through the prism of “traditional” (meaning those frequently found in english textbooks for efl students) lexical topics, such as sport, weather, education, or health, the above means that our understanding and handling them will rely on how we categorise them, break them down into subcategories into which we (consciously or not) assign expressions and words, hierarchize all the topical items learnt, which will result in certain elements being “closer at hand”, more (subjectively) important and more easily employed. this being the case, the learning of a second language as well as mastering any lexical topic is a highly personalised process. no wonder then that there has recently been much attention put 10.15290/cr.2017.16.1.01 5 articles to the dimension of affect, which has been treated as more significant and extensively researched over the last decades (cf. barcelos 2015:306), with students’ belief that they have control over the subject matter learnt substantially aiding cognition (arnold 2001:13). in the case of lexical topics, this control appears to be more readily attainable by students in that sub-categories can easily be recognised, named and systematically acquired (filled), so that learners’ “affective tank” (cf. dewaele 2015: 13) can be kept full. hence, the learning of a topic in a second language can be considered to be a process of individual construction, the character of which learners themselves can be either less or more aware of and, consequently, have greater or lesser control over it. at the same time this process involves, on the one hand, acquisition of items which, when put together, form (fixed) conventional combinations which can be viewed to serve necessary communicative acts reconstituting society (cf. duranti 1997: 338), and, on the other hand, formation of novel arrangements of words and phrases which, distinguishing a language user from all other speakers, is an equally indispensable part of mastering a foreign language. this two sidedness of the process leads to the major premise underlying this paper that there is a farand deep-reaching similarity between the learning of a foreign language and the composing of music.the likeness does not pertain here to the two most common traditions of seeing the language-music link, that is developmental interdependence (as in e.g. mccullen & saffran 2004) or technical aspects of mastering the two disciplines (the need for regularity and persistence, improved sound quality, etc.), but it relates strictly to the (conscious) formation of one’s personal construction, complex in nature and never entirely complete. the similarity lies in that in language learning, on the one hand, there are – from the perspective of an individual – “mustlearn” topics (such as family, weather, food & drink) without which language learners cannot pass as proficient language users – just as in music one simply has to recognise and be familiar with best-known pieces, and, on the other hand, “can-learn” topics (be it geology, binomials, or fuels), which are less common and thus not expected to lie within every user’s command of their second language. furthermore, when arriving at the own highly personalised combinations of topics (in other words, when “composing their own english” (daszkiewicz 2017)), they master topical vocabulary in accordance with analogous rationale: on the one hand, they need to become familiar with a set of most frequently used, most relevant and most often taught vocabulary (e.g. in the area of weather it will cover words such as ‘rain’, ‘snow’, ‘cloudy’ or ‘windy’) – just as in music no musician will remain unfamiliar with the basic repertoire of notes – and, on the other hand, they will be free to expand their topical competence and add to it less frequent or obvious items or expressions such as ‘drizzle’, ‘rain cats and dogs’, ‘clear up’ or ‘hail’. technically speaking, as a result of the said two-sidedness within and across topics, language learners develop their own intralanguages. in such a composition-based approach to language learning, the putting of language elements together becomes “highly explicit and completely open to conscious analysis” (lantolf 2011:36), which constitutes learners’ important (largely theoretical) know-how and which crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 renders the entire approach strongly sociocultural and heavily dependent on what and how topics are viewed and discussed. materials and methods the aim of the study presented here was to answer a question arising from the above, as to whether students from different countries approach this heavily personalized process of topic composition in a similar manner. the question appears particularly relevant to english, which, being a global language, is, as brutt-griffler notes, characterised by sufficient adaptability and changeability for its users from different continents to express their (personal) experience (cf. brutt-griffler 2002:ix). it can be observed that while the making of comparisons between individual arrangements (“compositions”) across and within topics is too far-fetched a challenge (and far from being needed if the personal approach to language is to be cherished), there are criteria that can be used for a comparison, namely (the students’ attitude to) structure, lexis, correctness and fluency (see e.g. macgowan-gilhooly 1991:73). it was assumed in the study that the choice of the four facets may be considered well-suited for at least two reasons: first, attention to all the four facets can be argued to be a prerequisite for full mastery of a language, to characterise the ideal approach to language studies, and to enable learners to construct their own cohesive whole (“masterpiece”); second, the four facets, when considered on two spectrums, largely conform to personal differences classically recognised by psychologists, i.e. global vs. fragmentary styles of learning conforming to structurevs. lexisorientation (or the other way round), and correctnessvs. fluencyorientation complying with reflexive vs. impulsive personalities. it must also be added here that the facet referred to here as “structure” has been understood more broadly than its traditional equation with “grammar”, that is it relates to a learner’s overall awareness of what structural issues the learning of a particular topic consists of, and so their knowledge of what sub-issues occur to be acquired on the path to developing one’s own cohesive whole (intralanguage) (hence in the study such statements have been used as “i look for order..”, “i classify expressions…”, “i recognise a hierarchy..” etc.). yet, (the traditionally understood “grammar” remains an integral component here, which, accordingly, is viewed in the study as complementary to the facet of lexis. the two dimensions can, for the sake of clarity, be presented graphically, with learners either striking a balance between the two extremes of the two spectrums (favourable attitude) or being inclined to favour one of the two extremes (undesirable attitude): structure lexis correctness fluency figure 1. two key dimensions of personal approach to learning topics hence, the said key problem addressed in the study can now be operationalised as reading: to what extent do language learners from different countries show distinct attitudes to (topical) structure, 7 articles lexis, correctness and fluency during their topic composition? with english serving as today’s omnipresent lingua franca and “a taken-for-granted” component of world curriculum models (cf. cha & ham 2008:325), and with communicative competence being commonly prioritised over linguistic competence, it was hypothesised prior to the study that in different countries language learners would value (the right-most ends of the spectrums, i.e.) lexis and fluency over (the leftmost) structural orientation and correctness. in other words, it was anticipated that efl learners would prove to treat the former as if they were more conducive to their complete mastery of a topic and to take a more “relaxed” (detrimental) attitude to the latter, which can be presented as follows: structure lexis correctness fluency figure 2. (anticipated) perception of the relationship between four facets and language mastery therefore, as presented in figure 2, it was assumed prior to the study (in such an implicit degree that the author himself did not actually realise the assumption till this very text has been reviewed) that students would demonstrate comparable preferences in their attitudes to the four facets, which may be presented as the study’s null hypothesis reading “there are no differences in the way learners from different countries compose topics” (a reviewer’s insightful suggestion). with the respondents’ overall approach assumed to show no significant differences, the fourfaceted model gave rise to four major premises leading on to four respective complementary hypotheses pertaining to language learners’ attitudes and beliefs only (not behaviours, the study of which would require a different methodology and which lies beyond the scope of this paper), namely: • on the basis of premise 1 that, on the whole, learners from different countries will regard language practices improving their lexis and fluency of speech as more significant and needed than those focused on the build-up of topics and correct uses of language (regardless of how the latter may support the former and render learners genuinely advanced), it was hypothesised that foreign language learners value language practices enhancing their lexis and fluency higher than those improving their structural orientation as defined earlier and the correctness of the language they use (hypothesis 1); • on the basis of premise 2 that the right extremes of the spectrums in figure 1 are altogether subject to more systematic reflection on the part of learners than the left extremes (with correct production of speech being multifoldedly demanding (cf. cameron 2001: 36) and engaging learners “in [more intense] fire of psycholinguistic mechanisms (mota 2010:  226)), complete mastery of a topic 8 crossroads. a journal of english studies which implies that language learners can be expected, for instance, to reflect on preferred ways of memorising vocabulary more than on, say, divisions within particular topics, it was hypothesised that foreign language learners, when learning any given topic, show more attention to lexis and fluency than structure (as defined above) and language correctness (hypothesis 2); • on the basis of premise 3 that reflection on language-learning practices retains a universal character, meaning that, generally speaking, it does not pertain to separate topics but rather to language as a whole, which means that language learners will have more to say about general behaviours appearing commonsensical to them (e.g. checking words before using them, selection of sources, speaking fast without inhibitions etc.) rather than about topic-oriented ones, it was hypothesised that foreign language learners demonstrate more certainty with regards to universal language behaviours than those pertaining to particular topics (i.e. when surveyed, they would find items of a universal appeal less problematic to decide about than those of a narrower appeal) (hypothesis 3); • on the basis of premise 4 that respondents can be expected to be most positive about those language-learning practices which help them develop lexis or (the rate of) speech “across the lexical board” and most sceptical or hesitant about those behaviours through which they become familiar with the structure or correct use of language elements pertaining to (only) separate topics, it was hypothesised that foreign language learners favour such practices that universally apply to lexis and fluency over those enhancing topical orientation in structure and correctness (i.e. when surveyed, they would evaluate the former more positively that the latter) (hypothesis 4). (a comment needs to be added here that the last two hypotheses both address the universaltopical spectrum, with the difference between them being that hypothesis 3 relates to the degree of certainty (awareness, reflection), whilst hypothesis 4 to the degree of desirability of particular language learning behaviours.) the study was carried out with 606 participants from 18 countries (14 european states (342 respondents) and 4 asian and african countries (264 respondents)), namely bulgaria (10), the czech republic (3), denmark (16), germany (70), greece (39), hungary (20), lithuania (19), poland (34), portugal (14), romania (38), (the european part of) russia (2), serbia (53), slovakia (18), spain (6), and iraq (44), japan (46), the republic of south africa (10), turkey (164). they were all university students whose common denominator was that english was not their major, but a foreign language which they studied throughout (secondary in terms of importance) classes as one considered potentially significant for their future professional life. they were between 19 and 24 years of age, and their level of english was estimated by their teachers as not lower than b1+. the respondents constitute a convenience sample, with no direct comparisons being intended across countries (in compliance with the said null hypothesis), but rather a relatively (geographically) spread sample being required to verify the relationships between the four facets in question. 9 articles in order to operationalise the respondents’ approach to the four facets in question, a questionnaire was applied with a likert-type scale reading ‘definitely not-rather not-hard to say rather yes-definitely yes’. the procedure was that the respondents marked their position with regard to concepts associated with the four facets, namely: • divisions, hierarchies, classifications, order, or combinations – associated with struc tureorientation; the learners’ approach was verified here with the following statements (the numbers in parentheses show the position of items in the research tool applied): i consider in details how vocabulary related to clothes can be divided (e.g. articles, patterns, sizes, etc.). (1) i recognize a hierarchy in clothes-related vocabulary. (5) i classify the expressions i learn into subcategories. (9) to support my learning, i look for order in clothes-related vocabulary. (13) i try to learn clothes-related vocabulary by constructing sentences combining it with other topics. (17) • memorisation, numbers of words, word isolation, short replies, counting words – marking lexis-orientation; the learners’ approach was verified with the following statements: when learning language related to clothes, i try to memorize as many words as possible. (2) my success in communication related to clothes depends mostly on the number of words i have learnt. (6) my ability to use words in isolation (e.g. about different shirts) is more important than forming full sentences. (10) for me, a good command of clothes language mostly means knowing a lot of words (e.g. types, material, etc.) (14) counting the words you know is a good idea. (18) • certainty, checking words, grammaticality, taking risk, character of language sources – important in correctness-orientation; the learners’ approach was verified here with the following statements: to speak, i need to be sure that my sentence is correct. (3) before using words, i check how to use them properly. (7) i believe that by articulating incorrect sentences about clothes you promote a harmful approach to language. (11) i think taking risk in building sentences is a bad idea. (15) i carefully try to choose sources which present only correct use of language. (19) • speech anxiety, rate of speech, mistakes, contexts, social circumstances – indicative of flu ency-orientation; the learners’ approach was verified here with the following statements: when talking about fashion and dressing styles, i stop worrying about making mistakes. (4) i’ d rather be able to speak fast with mistakes rather than slowly but fully correct. (8) i believe you can consider yourself an advanced user of english even if you make lots of mistakes. (12) i may ignore single words unknown to me if i understand the general meaning in context. (16) i admire people who are not bothered by what others think when they speak and make language mistakes. (20) 10 crossroads. a journal of english studies notes on methodology: • two parallel versions of the tool have been used, one referring to the topic of clothes (completed by 367 respondents: from europe (217) and asia & africa (150), and the other one – sport (completed by 239 respondents: from europe (125) and asia & africa (114); the choice of the two topics was based on the assumption that they are likely to fall within the interests of most of the respondents. in the administration of the questionnaire, they were free to decide which of the versions they use; • as the numbers above indicate, the items pertaining to the four facets (all cited above) were put in an alternating order so that none of the four would be given priority over the other three facets; in order to account for “the fallibility of single items” (dörnyei & csizér 2012:76), the respondents’ approach to each facet was verified with a set of (five) items, none of which was prioritised over the remaining (four); • one half of the items have included topical references (i.e. focused on clothes or sport, depending on the version) and the other half – general (e.g. item 1 is topical in that it names very specific sub-issues, i.e. ‘articles, patterns, sizes’, and ‘disciplines, equipment, situations’, respectively; other topical items bear explicit topical markers, such as ‘dressing styles’ or ‘games’, respectively; the general items are based on wording which can be applied to any given topic such as ‘subcategories’, ‘context’, ‘sources’, or ‘mistakes’). the general items are shared by the two parallel versions; • all the items are consistently viewed to be indicative of the respondents’ thoughts on language learning (expressed both in terms of their beliefs, preferences, etc. as well as statements describing their actions); none of these items are construed as information on what the respondents’ actual language learning behaviours are; • the procedure resulted in that when converted into quantitative values, the respondents’ choices could theoretically reach 100 “points” (20x5) at the most and 20 “points” (20x1) at the least. it must be emphasised, however, that the conversion into numerical values has served purely a supportive function so that overall tendencies could be recognised across the participating nations and they are by no means meant to be interpreted as indicators of cut-and-dried language-learning behaviours. instead, these values can simply be seen as indicative of the learners’ degree of determination to study the second language (here: english) by becoming familiar with language “belonging” to topics; • for the sake of the two versions’ validity, each of the twenty items used contained a label binding it with one of the four facets; • for the sake of the two versions’ reliability, nearly all items retained the same subjective orientation (“i”, “my”) so as to evade sources of irrelevant variance (niemierko 1999:195). 11 articles results the most general observation that can be made on the basis of the results obtained is that, on the whole, they put themselves at a disadvantage by taking an approach in which they resign from practices likely to boost their language learning. in both versions of the questionnaire the respondents showed marked ambivalence regarding as many as nearly a half of the aforementioned twenty (language-beneficial) stances, which in numerical terms was manifested by overall scores of 64.7 and 64.4 “points” (out of 100) calculated for the clothesand sport-oriented tools respectively, with the mean, most interestingly, equalling 3.2 in both the versions (with the standard deviation of the mean in the former version (0.48) exceeding that of the latter (0.36); with the size of the two sub-samples differing, this indicator remains a better index of variability of the scores that the standard deviation of the total scores). the variance observed in the two versions of the questionnaires has been below 0.25, with the former version (0.23) exceeding that of the latter (0.13); the highest variance was observed in the sub-sample of 217 european respondents using the questionnaire relating to clothes, i.e. 0.29 (which, considering the fact that this group was the largest of all the four sub-samples, is far from being surprising). quite naturally, the said ambivalence and the resulting scores pertain to various (combinations of) twenty language-learning practices, yielding distinctive ‘masterpieces’ as defined above. this point will be discussed at greater length later in the text. on a very general level, too, a note needs to be made on a cross-continental outcome that became most apparent at a very early stage of the analysis of results: (with both versions of the questionnaire) the biggest difference observed between european vs. asian and african language learners (362 and 264 respondents respectively) pertained to the idea of counting familiar words as a separate item of the questionnaire and to practices supporting the learning of lexis as a block of items considered together. specifically, these two outcomes – noticeably outstanding within the entire data set from 606 learners – suggest that the asian and african language learners value their familiarity with decontextualized vocabulary and their awareness of its volume more than their european peers. statistically speaking, what has proved to be of paramount importance in the analysis is marked comparability of results obtained from the two versions of the questionnaire. this quality, that is consistence between the two versions (with the correlation index exceeding 0,7), served as the major determinant of the credibility of outcomes. it is the consistence between results obtained with the two versions (the juxtaposition of four sub-sums pertaining to the four facets) that substantiates the observations below concerning all the facets of mastering different topics. it has thus been presumed and confirmed by the results obtained that personal language learning practices do not substantially vary from topic to topic, but rather remain sufficiently constant and thus can serve as an indicator of tool credibility. considering practices pertaining to structure, the least appreciated ones prove those that are aimed at classification of subcategories within topics or – what can be viewed as synonymous 12 crossroads. a journal of english studies and so indicative of the reliability of outcomes – recognition of hierarchies across topical vocabulary. any mention of relationships (even in the first item used, which also concerns topical subdivisions) shows a more positive attitude on the part of the respondents, who seem to have most positive connotations regarding the idea of context and, as a result, find connecting words and expressions a highly commonsensical thing to do. it appears, however, that – as follows from observations across the questionnaire components – positive associations to do with relationships between language elements pertain more to intra-topical than to inter-topical blends. putting together the two major observations concerning structure, it can be inferred that the respondents value building up larger wholes out of separate components, but they are significantly less concerned about what classes the words or expressions joined belong to. this being the case, their awareness of the character and range of possible (especially inter-topical) blends is likely to remain limited if they are not instructed on the beneficial edge of realising the very existence of unfamiliar blends. responses concerning lexis, apart from the already mentioned intercultural difference in the overall approach to lexis, show motivation of learners to enlarge their repertoire of words, on the one hand, but significantly lower determination to monitor this process by, for instance, counting the words, on the other hand. this general tendency is accompanied by a markedly more positive attitude of the asian and african respondents to such quantitative measures, which is borne out also by their appreciation of familiarity with isolated words. the european respondents prove to be decidedly more sceptical about the ability to use words devoid of context, with the approach of the asian and african respondents being on the verge between positive and negative (i.e. the average score falling in the two versions slightly above 3.0 denoting indecision in this respect). the (declarative) approach to correctness has proved essentially positive. most interestingly, with both versions of the questionnaire the respondents generally maintain that they need to be sure about sentences being correct and check how to use words properly before they actually speak and that they try to choose sources which present only correct use of language (with all these three habits being more frequently revealed by the asian and african respondents). yet, in another item they show that they do not view articulation of incorrect sentences as being harmful to language. considered jointly, these two results imply that, on the whole, the group of 606 respondents are concerned about their own way of learning and using english, but not so much about how it is done by others. regardless of whether we refer to such an approach (negatively) as ‘egocentrism’ or (positively) as ‘self-awareness’, it is undoubtedly better than the opposite case (i.e. one’s concern for others’ use of english exceeding that for one’s own) in being conducive to one’s learning achievements. the responses pertaining to fluency show the following two most important effects: first, fast speaking is not a target that the respondents wish to reach at the cost of correctness, and, second, when it comes to fluent speech, the respondents are inclined to admiration for others who speak fluently, even if they do it with language mistakes. viewed jointly with the earlier observations, the latter observation reveals greater attention being paid to advanced language performance than 13 articles to errors obstructing language perfection. such a tendency seems natural in that it is but human to expect others to err and thus not be disturbed by errors, on the one hand, and, consequently, to be impressed by those whose mistakes are few and far between, on the other hand (similarly to the domain of, say, sport, in which we all fail, and contrary to the domain of ethics, in which most of us are not thoroughly evil). the results above obtained from an analysis of the four facets and concerning primarily little concern for classifications, aspirations to enlarge vocabulary repertoire altogether, attention to one’s own language mistakes (as opposed to errors committed by others), and, finally, admiration for fast-speaking language users can be better understood and more clearly discussed once the four facets are juxtaposed. similarly to the observations above pertaining to individual facets, a multi-faceted study leads us to observations which appear to be universally valid across (18) nations as well those of a continental character. these points are addressed below under references made to the four key hypotheses of the research. ad. hypothesis 1. the two versions of the questionnaire consistently show the practices building up the learners’ orientation in structural aspects of topics to be the ones least valued as compared to the other three facets. this fact proves one half of the first hypothesis, which has been refuted with respect to lexis as not necessarily being more appreciated than correct uses of the english language. in other words, the group of 606 respondents reflect on divisions and classifications within and across particular topics less frequently than on the construction of correct sentences or acquisition of new words. considered jointly, the facets of lexis and fluency do in fact yield a higher degree of appreciation by learners, which is a fact additionally confirming the hypothesis; yet, this is mainly to due to the said lower result obtained on the level of structure, which is big enough a difference from the other facets to “mask” the fact that the approach taken to lexis proves as positive as to the facets of correctness and fluency. ad. hypothesis 2. it is with regard to the structural facet, too, that the highest indecisiveness of respondents has been observed: among both the 367 respondents that reflected on the lexis of clothes as well the 239 learners who responded to items concerning sport nearly one third of markings showed their doubt expressed with the ‘hard to say’ option, as compared to only one fifth in all the other three facets. the same effect was found with the respondents from europe and from asia and africa, although – especially in the case of sport – the european respondents showed greater hesitation. the second hypothesis thus being proved right, the respondents might be seen as revealing uncertainty about how they should feel about thoughtful organisation of language elements within and across topics. this effect has been scattered equally across the questionnaire items pertaining to the structural facet, with only one item (no. 5 reading “i recognise a hierarchy…”) standing out in the case of the european respondents, who in the questionnaire on sport showed substantial uncertainty (as many as 60 out of 125 marked the ‘hard to say’ option). ad. hypothesis 3. as the responses were compared on the topical-vs-general spectrum, the following – highly significant – twofold outcome became apparent: on the one hand, the respondents showed only minor differences in their approach to practices applying generally vs. those func14 crossroads. a journal of english studies tional in a given topic, with the latter even slightly exceeding the former; on the other hand, they demonstrated significantly higher uncertainty in the case of statements pertaining to topics than the universally-formulated ones (roughly, every fourth topical and every fifth universal statement caused doubt, with the european respondents showing greater hesitation). the third hypothesis can thus be viewed to have been proved right if ‘consideration of behaviours’ is to be construed as tantamount to theoretical reflection only, but it needs to have been proved wrong if it is accepted that genuine ‘consideration’ can only be shown in practice (or here: through the percentage of the respondents’ actual choices). ad. hypothesis 4. a similar discrepancy between declarative approaches and actual choices has been observed with regard to the last hypothesis: whilst the respondents’ attitude to (six) practices supporting general improvement in lexis and fluency (items 8, 10, 12, 16, 18, 20) has proved nearly identical (in numerical terms) to other (six) behaviours boosting orientation in the facets of structure and correctness (items 1, 3, 5, 11, 13, 17) (with no significant intercultural differences), the respondents demonstrated substantially greater scepticism or ambivalence with regard to the topic-oriented statements than those of a general appeal. the discrepancy was observed predominantly with the 342 european respondents, who signalled doubt (by either marking the ‘hard to say’ option or leaving a given statement unmarked) in nearly 30% of all the six topical items altogether (i.e. in two versions of the questionnaire). this effect was particularly noticeable in the field of clothes, the interpretation of which, as intriguing as it is, falls beyond the scope of this paper. suffice it to note here that the observed degree of respondents’ hesitation (falling between 18% in the group of asian and african learners focused on the issue of clothes and 29% in the two groups of european students focused on one or the other topic) merits careful attention and action for the respondents and their peers not to remain so unaware and indecisive. discussion personal as the approach to language learning needs to be seen for students to feel at liberty to study in ways they find most pleasant and/or convenient, the intercultural differences found in the research have proved it to be socially determined, too. although intercultural or international comparisons have not been the key aim of the analyses conducted, some dissimilarities became too evident to leave them without at least brief remarks. on the whole, the differences in question, most importantly, have implied the asian and african respondents being more reflective as to their learning of language than their european peers, who, in turn, seem to benefit in some sense from their more spontaneous or even risky attitude to verbal communication. in both cases, though, such continental qualities may be considered a virtue as well as a vice, which, however, is a discussion falling beyond the scope of this paper. as for cross-national differences, the differences revealed by numerical values proved too small to merit an in-depth discussion here. the primary conclusion following the entire data set aggregated with respondents from 18 countries concerns the facet of intraand inter-topical structure as being subject of lesser reflection than the other three facets, i.e. lexis, fluency, and – somewhat unexpectedly – correct15 articles ness. such results imply that generally language learners become complacent about their control over english before they become aware of the range of options (combinations, blends, etc.) and divisions (hierarchies, orders etc.) occurring within and across different topics. therefore, regardless of whether it is an effect of insufficient training or the learners’ personal choice (although the degree of similarity between responses renders the former more likely), the group of 606 respondents demonstrate what we may refer to as informative control over the second language but they fail to show the (complementary) formal control over it. in other words, they prove more concerned about the content, the message and communication than about the build-up of language, the form or meta-language. the two types of control could also be referred to in, respectively, qualitative and quantitative terms, with the subject matter being “cherished” more than its volume or size; this appears analogous to two types of characteristics of languages themselves, in the case of which the quantitative features of particular structures can pose a varying challenge to language learners caused by how rarely or frequently they are applied for learning and/or real-time use (cf. bates et al. 2001:317). natural as it may seem, their disregard for the structural aspects unavoidably poses an obstacle to yet better familiarity with how english works and, as such, it should be a component or language teaching and learning. this applies to two strata on which limited formal control has been observed in the study: on the syntactic level (with learners acquainting themselves what “pieces” can be put together and how, what other combinations are available inside and across topics, etc.) and on the semantic level (with learners developing competence in the conscious blending of topics, deliberate juxtaposing of concepts belonging to different thematic fields, etc.). as follows from the earlier remarks, although under some items the respondents claim to value inter-topical relationships (and when learning thematic vocabulary, they “construct sentences combining it with other topics”), they are in serious doubt when presented with statements concerning practices supporting their formal control over the foreign language. the second major conclusion concerns the facet of correctness, with regard to which hypothesis 2 was disproved. it was found that the respondents care about grammaticality more than anticipated and value practices supporting it (despite not being strongly bothered by language mistakes made by others). it must be emphasised, however, that the questionnaire is by no means a measure of learning achievement and it rests on the respondents’ declarations only. it may still be that the global tendencies mentioned earlier in the text do lead to lower levels of correctness and it is perfectly natural that learners do not signal their potential disregard for grammar and correctness. what merits consideration and further cross-national studies here is how strong a discrepancy occurs between declarations concerning practices supporting correctness and its degree in the actual use of language by second-language learners. whilst in the case of structural aspects, a marked divergence has been observed between declarations and decisions, in the case of items pertaining to correctness the degree of indecision was lower and comparable to that concerning fluency and lexis, but the discrepancy may occur between declarations and achievements. to make the results obtained form a large set of data, it appears worthwhile to derive from it a position taken with regard to the learning of topics (at least clothes and sport) by a (hypothetical) 16 crossroads. a journal of english studies average learner participating in the research (similarly to how it is done with comprehensive statistical studies to make them more easily readable and applicable). that learner’s “voice” expresses a rationale along the following lines: i learn as many words as i think i need and i make sure that what i learn is correct. but i’m not in the habit of organising these words in any way or finding out what is the exact number of words i know. i do my best to avoid mistakes and often resign from speaking if i’m not sure how to say things properly. on the other hand, i realise that others make a lot of them and it is not the most important thing in communication. generally speaking, the message is crucial, not the form. i’m not sure why or if i should classify the vocabulary i learn. it thus follows that in the respondents’ average perception of language success three out of four facets lead one to the mastery of language, with the facet of structure remaining largely alien and not recognised as needed. this average perception can be presented with a modified version of the figure from the second section of the paper: structure lexis correctness fluency figure 3. perception of the relationship between four facets and language mastery – as shown by results the research outcome reflected by the “voice” cited and the figure above is of paramount importance for the concept of masterpiece as defined in the first section: the marked disregard for practices supporting language learners’ awareness of relationships within and, most importantly, across various topics prevents them from arriving (deliberately) at combinations encountered before, which is tantamount to hampering their communicative skills and cognitive potential, and which is likely to cause their language to become fossilised. the tendency to value practices supporting lexis, fluency and correctness more than inter-topical structural orientation proves scattered across respondents from all the participating nations, although more detailed studies are necessary to recognise the exact character and degree of international differences (some of them will be addressed in another text by the author which will rest on topic-based remarks gathered from the same group of 606 respondents). it may be the case that the structural facet of language learning has come to appear as most remote or alien to learners, who view the language learnt as a practical tool for communicative practices rather than the subject for meta-reflection; such a perception of the structural facet as a formal element, imposed on the learner instead of being left for his or her own choice, which creates circumstances in which acquisition of a second language becomes a partial or complete failure (annoussamy 2006: 86), calls for a radical modification of the approach so that the facet becomes much more “student-friendly”. in the light of the intercultural complete mastery of a topic 17 articles differences between the approach of the european respondents and those from asia and africa, it must be noted here that similar studies may not only help discover further continental or national characteristics, but in some sense also serve better understanding between continents and nations. looking at the (underestimated) issue of structural orientation from the teacher’s perspective, the results presented above make it clear that the conclusion drawn by e.g. arnold and douglas that by adding this aspect to the language teacher’s competence will, somewhat paradoxically, not pose an extra burden but serve as facilitation and serve students’ holistic language development (cf. ar nold & brown 1999: 24), is fully justified. references annoussamy, d. 2006. psychological aspects of language acquisition. journal of the indian academy of applied psychology vol. 32, no.2. 84-92. arnold, j. and h.d. brown. 1999. a map of the 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of l2 motivation. modern language journal 99(2). 329-345. lantolf, j.p. 2011. the sociocultural approach to second language acquisition. in: d. atkinson (ed.), alternative approaches to second language acquisition, 24-47. london: routledge. linn, a., n. bermel, and g. ferguson (eds.) 2015. attitudes towards english in europe. english in europe vol. 1, berlin/boston: walter de gruyter, inc. macgowan-gilhooly, a. 1991. fluency first: reversing the traditional esl sequence. journal of basic writing vol. 10, no. 1. 73-87. mckinney, c. and b. norton b. 2008. identity in language and literacy education. in: b. spolsky & f.m. hult (eds.), the handbook of educational linguistics, 192-215. malden: blackwell publishing ltd. mckullen, e. and j.r. saffran. 2004. music and language: a developmental comparison. music perception vol. 21, no.3. 289-311. mota, m.b. 2010. interlanguage development and l2 speech production: how do they relate? in: l. scliar-cabral (ed.), psycholinguistics. scientific and technological challenges, 220-227. porto alegre: leonor scliar-cabral. niemierko b. 1999. pomiar wyników kształcenia [‘measurement of educational outcomes’]. warszawa: wsip. wenzel, r. 2015. language education and teaching by the learner’s text creation. in: k. janczukowicz & m. rychło (eds.), general education and language teaching methodology. the gdańsk school of elt, 113-114. frankfurt am main: peter lang. the intersections of translational hermeneutics and narrative hermeneutics: the foundational considerations 53 crossroads. a journal of english studies mohammad ali kharmandar islamic azad university, shiraz branch, iran the intersections of translational hermeneutics and narrative hermeneutics: the foundational considerations abstract. the majority of translation theories remerging from the works of contemporary philosophers suffer from a lack of well-organized textual/semiotic analysis tools. although such theories are specifically important because of their postulates, their incoherent methods normally make them difficult to be used or even sufficiently understood. hermeneutic theories, however, have been re-visiting and re-constructing their principles, showing a remarkable tendency toward methodological and empirical investigation guided by their philosophy. translational hermeneutics, as a major movement, has suggested six fundamental principles. although this contribution systemizes and simplifies hermeneutic conceptions, it still needs to construct a lingual analytic system for practical translation. seeking to address this problem, this study views the six principles in the light of narratology and suggests a unified organization based on ricoeur’s narrative theory by breaking the principles into a cognitive-existential dimension (subjectivity, historicity, phenomenology) and a lingual/semiotic dimension (process character, holistic nature, reflection). this framework processes both minimal and maximal language variables and addresses practical and pedagogical considerations. keywords: translation studies, narratology, practical translation, assessment, ricoeur, textual analysis, continental philosophy, translation theory. 1. introduction despite the significance of hermeneutic conceptions in translation studies, there seems to be a perceived gap between hermeneutics and practical translation, at least from the perspective of textual analysis methodology. numerous researchers, practitioners and language users prefer lingual analytic systems that can guide them through actual practice. meanwhile, in the background of translation studies, the majority of hermeneutic theories/models have addressed literary translation, ignoring instrumental, functional or professional texts (yet see stolze 2011 for translation practice). translational hermeneutics, although rooted in schleiermacher’s philosophy of interpretation, has been taking shape as a twenty-first century theory/practice of translation (stolze, stanley and cer10.15290/cr.2018.20.1.03 54 crossroads. a journal of english studies cel 2015). what distinguishes this movement from other lines of philosophical theorizing lies in its tendency to frame a systematic and scientific analysis of translation (kharmandar 2017). in an important introductory paper, cercel, stanley and stolze (2015: 17-40) have identified six major principles of translational hermeneutics, namely subjectivity, historicity, phenomenology, process character, holistic nature, and reflection. a central question is how these principles can be incorporated into a practical system which is philosophically compatible with these principles, especially beyond dominant linguistic theories. there are numerous questions to be addressed if such general and abstract principles are to be used by practitioners of translation and translation studies readers. for instance, users need a “medium” through which they can work with such issues as subjectivity, phenomenological postulates, and textual holism. among the major streams of language studies, narrative seems to provide a flexible system, as it can process existential (being part of a history, cultured-ness, individual identity), cognitive (e.g. schemata, roles, props, entry conditions), and lingual (textual configuration) dimensions. the purpose of this study is to suggest a primary design that could help the users of translational hermeneutics to view the six principles in terms of an analytic mechanism of narrativity. as such, the principles are divided into two sub-groups: the cognitive-existential and the lingual/semiotic. following a review of the bases of translational hermeneutics, the study puts together the foundational notions of narratology and unifies them in a translation-specific version of paul ricoeur’s narrative theory. the major elements of this method are the architecture of narrative (preconfiguration, configuration, reconfiguration), the confirmatory procedure (wager, verification, transformation), sedimentation versus innovation, and narrative and practical wisdom (φρόνησις, phronesis). to highlight the practical and pedagogical uses of the framework proposed, a whole section is devoted to various concerns which are presented in the form of critical questions. 2. principles of translational hermeneutics translational hermeneutics is an incorporation of theoretical conceptions and practical methods of interpretation inspired by the works of major continental philosophers. along with schleiermacher, this theory of translation/interpretation actively relies on the conceptions suggested by husserl, heidegger, gadamer, ricoeur, derrida and eco. considering the philosophical depth of this movement, as well as the practical methods it has recently proposed, it can gradually develop into a considerable school of translation studies, if it sustains its contributions (kharmandar 2017). one of the specifications of translational hermeneutics lies in its systematicity and organization in analyzing texts; these features are particularly important because the majority of philosophical (or more accurately philosophically oriented) translation theories are usually criticized for a lack of rigor in their analytic apparatus. although translational hermeneutics has been developing over the past decades, the first symposium (stolze, stanley and cercel 2015) can be regarded as a formal beginning in the development and consolidation of this movement. the first symposium, held in cologne in 2011, included 17 papers (written in german and english) by authors from different countries. the first paper in 55 crossroads. a journal of english studies the volume addresses the general concerns of a theoretical/methodical framework that considers various issues observed in translation. as an initial step, cercel, stolze and stanley (2015) suggest six founding principles that underlie the hermeneutic act of interpretation in translation: subjectivity, historicity, phenomenology, process character, holistic nature, and reflection. in this section, these notions are briefly explored. subjectivity, no matter how vaguely defined, can be called the central problem of all philosophy, because any important issue (e.g. consciousness, ethical action, memory, knowledge organization) would depend on how the subject is perceived. subjectivity points to the dynamic nature of truth for the interpreter, especially when factors such as cognitive capacity and life experience are included in the evaluation (cercel et al. 2015: 25). to examine and unify divergent interpretive possibilities, hermeneutics relies on argumentation and the accumulation of shared (communal) knowledge (ricoeur 1976). a hermeneutics of subjectivity: [i]s interested above all in the meaning the object takes on for someone within a particular context of experience. moreover, the categories of hermeneutic understanding, rather than being imposed by the subject on the object, emerge from the encounter with the object or […] the “other,” as it gives itself in relation to the knower” (franke 1998: 66). historicity represents one of the foundational principles of any hermeneutic theory. the historicity of human understanding can have two very broad senses (cercel et al. 2015: 25-6): (a) understanding moves along a dialogical process regulated by community and agency; and (b) corpora of recoded history lead to the formation of interpretive traditions (a process called traditionality) which define conventional meaning. if such meaning is violated, through channels such as translation, social agents may react to it differently; in the majority of cases, innovation, conflict or censorship may result (kharmandar 2016, 2018b). phenomenology emphasizes the role of individual perception and the way things appear differently to different people, or how an individual may discover new visions upon multiple re-visions: … things (ideas and objects) are not “as they appear to us”, as we can see them. the personal “seeing as” means that there is no direct access to the world, to reality. we need to cognitively transcend our own perspective. for the purpose of translation, this means that a self-critical attitude of the translator has to be exercised by changing one’s perspective and trying repeatedly to better understand (cercel et al. 2015: 27). gadamer’s (1960) notion of “prejudice”, inspired by heidegger’s philosophy, suggests that all understanding needs to rest on some form of pre-understanding. the negative emotional load usually associated with prejudice may lead some readers of hermeneutics to imagine that pre-understanding remains un-critical throughout the whole procedure of understanding. exactly on the contrary, hermeneutic thinkers have focused on the limits of human comprehension to emphasize the importance of ethical/critical interpretation. 56 crossroads. a journal of english studies process character clarifies that the way a text, along with its building-blocks, can be translated is not limited, and there might be various possibilities to render a source text. upon examination, the translator may implement “further improvement” or find a “better formulation” (cercel et al. 2015: 27). this possibility implies that a translation can improve on an original configuration as well, because a source itself is a single possibility which can be re-stated and re-configured (as in paraphrasing or adaptation). it also sets a basis for comparing translations and their solutions. holistic nature (cercel et al. 2015: 27-8) has been one of the characteristic features of hermeneutics since schleiermacher; holism emphasizes the balance of part-whole relations. this important feature can be thought of as the engagement of mechanical structures in the form of machines or even biological organs. in such constructs there is a balance between the components and the entirety of the system. of course, in textual/semiotic interpretation, re-assessing part-whole relations may appear to be more complicated. a translator must re-examine her choices against the larger body of the lingual/semiotic entity she is dealing with (or in some cases against a hypothetical story-world). in many cases, the holistic nature can appear as a critical evaluation of the original text, which might reveal flaws in the original part-whole harmony. reflection is concerned with an evaluation of cultured-ness and situationality, especially as far as socio-lingual and socio-aesthetic issues are concerned: “the translator should be aware of his social and cultural position, whether and how he may be able to motivate the decision for a certain formulation based on factual criteria” (cercel et al. 2015: 28). the fact that translation involves some degree of critical reading suggests that one translation might be more strategic than others. if a translation is seen as a narrative or a lingual/semiotic collection, it may be equipped with various distinctive qualities such as rhetorical devices, stylistic revisions, poetic conventions, or typographical variations. strategic decisions reveal the translator’s awareness of how situations or horizons of understanding can influence a translation. an interesting specification of these six principles is that they can internally influence each other, while being clearly distinguished. for instance, although reflection is more concerned with external qualities of the text, holistic nature deals with the text itself as an endogenous configuration. as a result, a literary translation may appear to be strongly coherent as far as its internal elements are concerned, but stylistically prosaic from the perspective of literary critics (for a study on the relationship between translation and literary criticism see kharmandar 2018a). furthermore, although both process character and reflection try to achieve improvement, they are concerned with different issues; the former deals with the optimality of solutions, whereas the latter addresses the strategies of re-contextualization. 3. narrative and translation 3.1. narrative several lines of active research have contributed to and expanded the realms of narrative theory/ applications. narratology represents a field of studies that explores various dimensions of story57 crossroads. a journal of english studies telling. although narrative was once associated with literary theory, today narrative analysis is no longer bound to literature. narrative is used in a diversity of disciplines, such as sociology, international politics, management, and law, to name a few (see heinen and sommer 2009; meretoja 2014). as a result, studying narrative in everyday life and everything attached to it is becoming a new trend of narrative analysis. as fludernik (2006/2009: 1) explains: “narrative is all around us, not just in the novel or in historical writing. narrative is associated above all with the act of narration and is to be found wherever someone tells us about something.” narrative can help us understand how textual/semiotic entities are interpreted and used in a specific line of thinking. in fact, one could argue that the meanings of the words we use in our narratives are decided by their positioning in our stories (or schematic perception). emphasizing this fact, mcquillan (2001: 11) tries to highlight the scope of narrativity: if the process of narrative is momentarily considered outside of the restraints of novelistic, filmic, or historiographic form, it is possible to discern that the general structures of textuality are also general structures of narrative production. narrative is both the minimal unit [emphasis added] of meaning and the cognitive process which makes meaning possible. such descriptions seek to unravel the particular significance of narrative as a growing, practical way of structuring and analyzing human experience or even existence (meretoja 2014: 89). narrative can also be used to investigate scientific (clausal) relations in the course of events (norris et al. 2005: 550), which is a property that can fundamentally help trace the sequence of actions in a purposeful frame. as a cognitive process narrative can help re-examine the validity of borders that distinguish minimal and maximal lingual variables, especially as a linguistic presupposition (e.g. semantic typology of lexical items) (safavi 2016). notions such as classes, ranks, parts of speech and the like give the impression that an interpreter’s understanding of word meaning is simply decided through structural divisions. there are, however, some fundamental problems to be considered here. do words (e.g. football and evolution) convey the same degree of information? if readers/ listeners need various degrees of concentration (or cognitive effort, see westbrook & braver 2015) to possibly perceive the meaning of the different things they experience, then how can one be sure that semantic segmentations and formularizations are necessarily accurate? how can we verify how many networks of signification may be triggered in an interpreter’s mind when trying to make sense of a single word, sign or symbol? let us, for instance, consider an introductory note describing albert einstein’s (1897-1955) notion of relativity: einstein’s original calculation of the deflection of light from a distant star, grazing the sun, as observed here on the earth, included only those changes in time intervals that he had predicted would occur in the near field of the sun. his result turned out to be in error by exactly a factor of two. he later obtained the “correct” value for the deflection by including in the calculation the changes in spatial intervals caused by the gravitational field (firk 2003: 44). 58 crossroads. a journal of english studies to understand most, rather all, of the notions, we must have some image of how they are interpreted by their narrators. that is, the words we see (e.g. time intervals, spatial intervals, gravitational field) are links that represent something beyond them. understanding relativity basically depends on how we perceive the plots and sub-plots that constitute these notions. another problem is that it would be extremely difficult to “predict” how much cognitive effort different people need to understand a language structure. this intersubjective variance suggests that words are constantly subjected to interpretation to make sense of. researchers who believe in the cognitive or existential dimensions of narrative, especially within multidisciplinary frameworks (fludernik 2006/2009; see also heinen and sommer 2009; meretoja 2014), argue that the use of narrative in everyday human life depends on how people put the elements (words, signs, symbols, inscriptions, objects) they perceive in an interpretable frame of components, which might be interconnected by a slight trace of a plot. moreover, narrative can help us view social construction as a mode of worldmaking, which is an interesting way of seeing how social agents and generally people come to recognize their roles and influences on each other. in narrative theory, the concept of worldmaking clarifies the way narratives configure a sphere within which words and other elements are interpreted: such worldmaking practices are of central importance to narrative scholars of all sorts, from feminist narratologists exploring how representations of male and female characters pertain to dominant cultural stereotypes about gender roles, to rhetorical theorists examining what kinds of assumptions, beliefs, and attitudes have to be adopted by readers if they are to participate in the multiple audience positions required to engage fully with fictional worlds, to analysts (and designers) of digital narratives interested in how interactive systems can remediate the experience of being immersed in the virtual worlds created through everyday narrative practices (herman 2009: 106). as can be seen, the notion of worldmaking has no boundaries and can apply to social, literary and digital realms of investigation. as a result, instead of a formalistic linguistic approach to language constructions, narrative provides the possibility to inspect meaning relations from a cognitive perspective. emmott and alexander (2009), for instance, have investigated schemata in the context of narrative theory. they primarily use the notion of script as a “temporally-ordered schema”; providing an example, they explain that, “a restaurant script would contain knowledge of the actions and sequence of ordering food, paying bills, and so on” (ibid.: 412-3). they also enumerate several other related notions: [m]ost scripts have further “slots” to describe the “roles” (customers, waiters, chefs, etc.), “props” (menu, table, food, money, bill, etc.), “entry conditions” (customer is hungry, restaurant has food, etc.) and “results” (customer is no longer hungry, restaurant has less food, etc.) within the script. a “plan” … consists of knowledge about sets of actions needed to accomplish objectives and is used in non-stereotypical situations where there is no adequate script available (emmott and alexander 2009: 413). 59 crossroads. a journal of english studies the collection of all these novel approaches suggests that narrative analysis, beyond the traditional outline of linguistics, provides a flexible method of investigating lingual, social, cultural and temporal variables that can guide a variety of relevant studies, especially those concerned with cultural studies and translation studies. despite the wide range of the approaches and concepts proposed in every theory, a unified theory of narrative would require a philosophy of interpretation, especially one that can incorporate significant existential aspects of humanity with a lingual analysis framework. in the following sub-section, ricoeur’s original narrative theory is introduced. 3.2 ricoeur, narrative, translation ricoeur’s extended translation theory (kharmandar 2015) builds on his original translation theory, while constructing a new philosophical framework with practical applications. the work involves a metaphysics of translation, a lingual analytic theory of narrative, and an ethical and political reading of narratives in globalization. an important feature of the work is that although it rests on a clear philosophical underpinning, it is developed in a dialogue with translation studies scholars and tries to propose methodological/practical solutions. apart from the question of philosophy, ricoeur’s extended translation theory has incorporated one of his most influential theories, his narrative theory, as an analytic component of the theoretical construct. this narrative theory is composed of three main stages through which a narrative is fully articulated and shared with readers: preconfiguration, configuration and reconfiguration. of course, in his later works, ricoeur further elaborated on pre-narrative elements/components. the central question ricoeur tries to answer in his narrative speculation is how people shape their experience considering temporal engagements and paradoxes. communication of any sort involves layers of preunderstanding that rest on each other. an important principle of hermeneutics, as the philosophy of interpretation, suggests that any understanding arises from a preunderstanding. as a result, a speaker’s knowledge of minimal aspects of language and the world, including words, symbols, signs, schemes and objects, cannot be freestanding (see mcquillan 2001: 10-11). ricoeur, in the course of his career, addressed numerous aspects of human thinking and life, creating a remarkably rich corpus of studies. one of the central issues he tried to resolve is the temporal nature of human experience. he specifically dealt with this challenging question in the three volumes of time and narrative, which have been commented on in his other works. his approach could be broadly called “narrative hermeneutics.” ricoeur’s narrative theory (1984, 1991, 1996/2016) represents an amalgamation of various elements that together create an analytic and holistic system. although in applying his theory ricoeur predominantly relied on literary texts, the composite of the components recognized in his work could be directly applied to any text-type (see kharmandar 2015). along with the lingual analytic system, ricoeur takes an existential approach to narrativity; that is, he generally regards the formation of human identity, meaning of life, transformation of selfhood, and recognition of otherness as dimensions of a life schematized as a narrative continuum (ricoeur 1984, 1991; see 60 crossroads. a journal of english studies also ricoeur 2004 for an in-depth exploration of history, politics and narrative). this approach is remarkably different from theories that exclusively define narrative within a genre-specific frame (for instance narrative versus explanation, description or information). narrative in his view, then, is an existential and lingual organization of temporally cumulative experience. as a result, the notion of narrative in ricoeur’s philosophy, from a broad perspective, can fall under two main categories: a lingual system of elements and an existential continuum with cognitive dimensions. in his major work oneself as another, ricoeur (1990/1992) proposes the notion of “narrative identity” following a profound review of western philosophy explorations of identity. he believes that along with structure (e.g. genetic code), an individual or community develops another aspect of identity called event, which is a temporal variable. selfhood, as an existential (and even psychological) concept, is constituted by event or the variability of experience. meanwhile, selfhood can be developed only through an interaction with other people and a sense of belonging to a community which defines the meaning of existence. following this existential theory, there is the lingual category of narrative. a narrative revolves around the modern notion of “plot.” the rigid formula (introduction, body, conclusion) suggested by aristotle has been considerably expanded and modified in ricoeur’s narrative theory. the act of constructing a plot is called “emplotment” (see ricoeur 1991: 21). as a result, every element in a story-line must contribute to the progression or meaningfulness of the whole. an overriding aspect of narrative is that it constitutes “practical understanding.” to perceive the world in an interpretable way, we synthesize discrete words or images, whereas a lack of underlying integration of such elements cannot help us reach practical understanding. in the first volume of time and narrative, ricoeur (1984) outlined the general framework of his narrative theory. he explained that narrative should go through three stages to be fully realized: preconfiguration, configuration and reconfiguration. as mentioned above, a story unites a composite of elements that are meant to give a particular direction to the reader’s understanding. to accomplish this a narrator should first think of a blueprint of his/her preunderstanding. this primary stage is called preconfiguration, which involves structures, symbols and time frames that embody the story. the structural dimension is composed of the existential aspects of the narrative. structures here could be seen as formulae that generally delineate the frame of the story. who the story is about, what events occur in it, and what consequences may arise are all decided at this stage. for the sake of simplicity, structures could be seen as relations (as in a flowchart) without content. relations, of course, have to be filled with content. ricoeur believes that every narrative is preconfigured within a human narrative world. as a result, structures are given particular values at this stage. norms, conventions, rules, rites, and all other culturally determined variables are taken into account in shaping the symbolic content of a narrative: “if indeed action can be recounted, this is because it is already articulated in signs, rules and norms; it is always symbolically mediated. this feature of action has been heavily underscored by cultural anthropology” (ricoeur 1991: 28; see also barnard 2004). 61 crossroads. a journal of english studies research into cultural anthropology, cultural studies, and sociology can help a narrative analyst to identify cultural values and norm-governed behavior. finally, the structures filled with content need to be activated by a force; in narratology the notion of “action” has long been considered to be an essential aspect of a story. for the existential dimensions of the story to move on and direct events, a blueprint of temporal relations is needed. at the last stage of preconfiguration, the storyteller must decide about how events are organized and how relations are formed through time. in a narrative, no matter how short or long it may be, time decides the momentum of actions and serves as the factor that makes progression (moving from one point to another) possible. following preconfiguration, a narrative producer must ultimately realize the lingual/semiotic output of the story. although preconfigured elements determine the general outline of the story, they are not sophisticated enough to communicate meaning to readers/listeners. the configuration stage is responsible for constructing the fully designed and visible product. numerous details must be taken care of when a story is ultimately shaped. for instance, although preconfiguration is a highly selective and unifying process, the ultimate integration of every element into a narrative whole requires a set of techniques and strategies to be implemented. configuration represents a mediatory stage between preunderstanding and postunderstanding, providing an objectified version of the writer’s story which can be communicated with the reader. through configuration, the divergent elements selected to constitute the story are put in a synthesized whole. two of the major aspects of this stage are chronological and configurational narrative times. ricoeur believes that a well-homogenized narrative must strike a balance between these two time frames. chronological time constructs the episodic frames of the story as a logically successive development of events in an irreversible order. the functions of configurational time, however, are subtler and more complicated: first the chronological sequentiality of a text (e.g. a piece of news you watch on tv) suffers from a theoretical problem; does the text go on forever? configurational time gives a sense of closure, a well-defined ending, to the narrative. it is also the factor that helps people “delineate” a text from other texts, usually by remembering it as a title, topic, theme, proverb or parable. moreover, through configurational time, one could re-read the events in backward motion (although chronology does not presuppose such a possibility). finally, it can reveal how the interior pieces of a text rely on each other in a non-sequential (or circular) pattern; chronology, in contrast, cannot justify non-linear internal relations (for example, how the title of a book is further clarified when the whole book is read). chronological and configurational times make room for implementing a multitude of textual possibilities. texts are always in a paradoxical state because it is difficult to put them in an absolutely sequential pattern, or even determine such an ideal pattern. the internal constituents of a text may re-appear several times in different parts; the same story may be recounted in different time frames, while its beginning and closure can be modified each time it is reported. yet, the final judgment about the meaning and homogeneity of the narrative is made in the last stage of the narrative production. in reconfiguration, readers engage in interpreting the narrative. 62 crossroads. a journal of english studies ricoeur emphasizes that readers’ perception of the world and their dialectical engagement shape an important proportion of the narrative (ricoeur 1991). that is why he recognizes reconfiguration as the factor that guarantees the life and continuality of a narrative. he further calls it the “intersection of the world of the text and the world of the reader” (ricoeur 1991: 26). this stage situates the narrative within a socio-cultural space with readers who possess accumulated knowledge (sedimentation) and need to perceive the innovations that the narrative brings to their attention. traditionality, as a measure of how conventionalized a text is, represents one of the basic notions in hermeneutics (see gadamer, 1960). the “dialectic” between sedimentation and innovation can be described as follows: the range of solutions is broad indeed between the poles of servile repetition and calculated deviance, passing by way of all the degrees of ordered distortion. popular tales, myths and traditional narratives in general stick closer to the pole of repetition (ricoeur 1991: 25). the way traditions, such as science or literature, constitute expectations depends on the depth of their “sedimented history.” a question, from the perspective of this study, is how these conceptions can contribute to the theory and practice of translation. of course, the organization of the components set by ricoeur in his narrative theory cannot be directly applied to translation. in fact, “a re-folding of ricoeur’s formulaic process” (kharmandar 2015: 84) is needed to explain how interpretation and narrative organize translation. this study suggests that textual reformulations take place in the configuration stage of narrative production. yet, the primary stages should be distinguished from successive ones. translation in this study is regarded as a successive narrative (as in a pseudo-causal motion). thus, to highlight this difference, translational narrative stages are designated by numbers in the following scheme: original narrative: narrative production: preconfiguration₁  configuration₁ narrative reception: reconfiguration₁ translated narrative: translator’s reading: reconfiguration₁ translator’s narrative production: preconfiguration₂  configuration₂ target language narrative reception: reconfiguration₂ it should be noted that the formulation is not compatible with the traditional assumptions in translation studies. the numbers used to designate narrative stages only represent sequences of narrative reading, writing and reception; therefore, through an intertextual line of readings, an unknown number of works may be inspired by an original narrative. furthermore, the original text (or semiotic entity) is not equal to the translated one. ricoeur’s extended translation theory (kharmandar 2015) strongly criticizes equivalence. the theory, in line with the progressive movement of 63 crossroads. a journal of english studies narrative, assumes that there is a pseudo-causal relationship between the original and its re-readings. from the perspective of this study, adaptation, manipulation, intervention, re-writing, censorship and the like take place in preconfiguration 2 and ultimately appear as a result of configuration 2. the translator, considering the requirements of the narrative, may decide to supplement extra information or manipulate the content or plot of the text (as in censorship). depending on narrative progression (including characterization, frame and action), poetic conventions, cultural norms, textual expectations, social schemata, rhetorical effectiveness, stylistic variation, information load, and any other effective factor, the translator may minimally or maximally influence the text (through configuration 2). all decisions must be justified against the progression of the plot or the narrative world prefigured in the source text. of course, in preconfiguration 2 the narrative world of the translation is constructed, and configuration 2 emerges from the translator’s preunderstanding. following what could be called the architecture of a narrative (ricoeur 1996/2016), one should also consider pre-narrative dimensions, especially the meaning of minimal items (e.g. single words). as mentioned above, we construct meaning by converging elements that together shape a cognitive construct (e.g. a scheme or prop). in simple words, even minimal items are part of a lager of network of human experience. for instance, the reason most people know the meaning of a word such as book is that they retrieve layers of accumulated experience associated with the notion and the way it is conventionally used in language and everyday life. this possibility of remembering the concealed patterns that shape meanings suggests that every event of understanding is a narrative “moment,” through which a scenario is retrieved to interpret empirical contexts (fowler 1983 calls very small narrative segments “mini-narratives”). inspired by aristotle’s notion of “practical wisdom” (φρόνησις, phronesis), ricoeur (1991: 23) proposes practical understanding gained through narrative experience. such understanding, as mentioned earlier, underlies the pre-understandings that together build the foundations of a narrative (wilson 2014: 890). as these theoretical notions clarify, ricoeur’s translation theory can both guide the act/process of translation as far as minimal and maximal items of language are concerned. now let us investigate how these notions, coupled with ricoeur’s philosophy in general, can help objectify the major principles of translational hermeneutics in terms of a lingual analytic system/ model. as mentioned earlier, subjectivity is the first principle; contrary to systems of thinking that artificially try to omit the human agent from their dynamics, hermeneutic philosophy underscores the role of individual/communal subjectivity in any process of interpretation. if “truth exists only as a shared knowledge within a group” (cercel et al. 2015: 25), then the translator must primarily acknowledge that s/he is a player in a game which may involve several other players as well. as an active agent who is ideally equipped with powers of argumentation (see kharmandar 2016), the translator must try to construct an interpretable horizon depending on the kind of audience s/he is dealing with. the notion of narrative identity can help translators perceive how individuals and societies define themselves, and how translators should respond to cross-cultural, and other modes of, difference. hermeneutic philosophy views subjectivity as a dialogue between self64 crossroads. a journal of english studies hood and otherness (other people and objects); the interaction between/among subjects is called “intersubjectivity.” historicity rests on a philosophy of temporal variance. semiotic systems undergo changes over time, canonical works are expansively commented on, and generations actively re-define and reevaluate their cultural heritage. to be positioned within a traditionalized system of interpretation can be one of the most challenging functions of a translator. narratives have inter-textual relations that build augmented memory for their readers. in many cases, translators need to re-frame, even as a mere observer, the experience of being part of a macro-narrative (e.g. literary criticism, academic research, history of religion). today, with unprecedented advancement in information technology, modes of textuality have been transcoded into symbols developing electronic communication. databases, encyclopedias, electronic libraries, and even discussion forums are some of the major sources that can help re-formulate the history of a narrative. electronic literacy can help professional translators make optimal decisions when trying to select the pieces of the narratives that constitute the topic they translate. phenomenology, or the study of the frames of consciousness, represents another highly important aspect of translational hermeneutics. if we, as historicity suggests, are part of a developing history, we could become skillful readers who can recognize symbolic patterns and communal conventions, but are not necessarily critical thinkers. how do we know that our subjective or historical positioning is correct, at least within a possible dialogic context? if translation involves a dialogue with the foreign, how can we ever attest that we can move beyond our culturally, locally or linguistically structured perception? translation demands self-reflective activity. in ricoeur’s extended translation theory (kharmandar 2015), the event of (critical) understanding is roughly broken into three stages: wager (hypothesis), verification, transformation. ricoeur believes that every act of understanding is initiated with a hypothetical examination that needs to be confirmed in the light of further information (see ricoeur 1976: 78-81). self-reflective translation demands finding and cross-validating perception against evidence. subjectivity, as reviewed above, shapes a horizon of personal understanding, which is not necessarily critical on its own. it is the function of phenomenology that makes the translator aware of cross-cultural perspective, self-development, and epistemic imbalance. ricoeur’s confirmatory procedure ideally takes place in preconfiguration 2, where the structure, content and temporal relations in the narrative are still being interpreted. following subjectivity (selfhood), historicity and phenomenology, which are cognitiveexistential categories, there are three other principles that are visibly realized as “lingual” narrative productions. process character is concerned with the possibility of evaluating and re-constructing currently available translation solutions. this same principle implies that the solutions suggested by translators may be transitory and need to be re-appraised. published works (e.g. dictionaries, terminology collections, literary productions) should be re-examined against their hypothetical/ actual storylines in which they are used. worldmaking is a basic narrative activity which can help the translator identify pre-narrative or schematic items that shape a whole story. by manipulating, 65 crossroads. a journal of english studies replacing and comparing these items, one could arrive at better choices for translation. in practice, such solutions appear in configuration 2 (translator’s final text). for instance, jacques derrida (1930-2004), following a critical justification, believes that the french term “mondalism” is a better translation for “globalization” (kharmandar 2018b). hermeneutics is a holistic system of interpretation. holistic nature deals with the way elements individually and collectively contribute to a larger whole. texts, as ricoeur’s notion of configuration suggests, are amalgamations that are inherently paradoxical; that is, they unify mini-narratives that may violate sequential order and lead to circles of relations. narrative analysis seems to be one of the most relevant methods of examining holistic consistency. in this analysis, the entire architecture (preconfiguration, configuration, reconfiguration) has to be considered. elements of structure, such as the motives of actors or the purpose of objects, have to be examined against the socio-cultural content they represent. the way action is narrated or the experience of within-timeness should be well-originated before the whole narrative is configured. reflection is the final principle in cercel and colleagues’ (2015) paper. if holistic nature is an internal narrative examination, reflection is predominantly concentrated on readership. in the extended narrative formulation suggested above, reflection shows the translator’s awareness of reconfiguration 2, which forecasts readers’ response. configuration 2 is a strategic construction; it relies heavily on the information gained through preconfiguration 1 (translator’s hypothetical examination, data collection, and final interpretation). all of the decisions concerning historicity, phenomenology, process character, and holism must be configured into the text as it should be culturally situated within the proper medium of presentation. questions of poetic innovation, style, rhetoric, format, typography, layout, and other related issues, which are actualized in configuration 2, are evaluated against the expectations of narrative readers. as ricoeur (1991, 1996/2016) emphasizes, the life of a narrative depends on its readers. therefore, matters pertaining to re-contextualization strategies are addressed in reflection. table 1. a simplified version of the six principles of translational hermeneutics and their possible solutions translational hermeneutics principles the translator’s problems solution based on ricoeur’s philosophy and narratology type of principle subjectivity how do i define my identity as an agent engaging in translation? gain awareness about your culture/society; explore various modes of cross-cultural difference; find yourself in an anticipatory dialogue with the text you translate. existential (the translator’s identity) 66 crossroads. a journal of english studies historicity how should i position myself with respect to the text to be translated? investigate the traditions involved in the narrative; find the inter-textual relations that contribute to its formation; have access to archival memory; decide the sedimentationinnovation balance in the narrative. existential (the text’s identity) phenomenology how do i know my perception is valid? engage in self-critical activity through the confirmatory procedure; break the narrative into sub-plots or schemes and test hypotheses that verify your understanding through argumentation. cognitive process character how can i improve on already existing choices? explore worldmaking components (e.g. schemes and scripts) in the related context and justify how new possibilities can better contribute to a whole idea. lingual/semiotic holistic nature how should i verify the internal balance and consistency of the narrative? evaluate the consistency of structures, content and time frames based on expectations; see how circular relations in the narrative reinforce each other, through a chronological/ configurational inspection. lingual/semiotic reflection how should the text be situated in the world of the audience? use re-contextualization strategies; actively respond to the requirements of readers by considering issues of innovation, style, format, and the rest. lingual/semiotic 4. practical and pedagogical considerations this section is concerned with the actual use of the theoretical frame proposed in this study; however, instead of presenting a limited number of prefabricated examples, the information here is configured as purposeful questions that address pedagogical and methodological issues. the ques67 crossroads. a journal of english studies tions can be seen as possibilities for further discussion (in the classroom), applied research, or actual practical translation. they cover some of the major concerns raised in this paper. – the majority of translation studies readers or authors make a distinction between concepts and objects, assuming that at least objects are fixed entities that do not require an active process of interpretation to make sense of. considering the notion of scheme, try to create a network of relations underlying such objects as pen, table or window. derrida believes every word to be named and defined depends on a number of relations with other words. in your network of relations, do you find a pre-narrative scope which defines the word in question? if so, then how are these objects different from concepts? can sensory perception give “meaning” to the objects around us? if we have no (shared) experience of an object (e.g. a microprocessor), is it a meaningful entity to us or a physical mass occupying some space? – in the relatively small book ceci n’est pas une pipe, foucault (1973/1983; first published 1968) explores aesthetics, instability and chaos in the visual art created by rené magritte (18981967). focus on the main propositions foucault raises in the book; how can his ideas be read in the context of the phenomenology of perception? extend the same propositions to the field of cross-cultural communication; if ideas are subject to interpretation in their native languages (a process called intra-lingual translation in ricoeur’s theory), how can we justify the existence of a fixed original? – think about a particular sport, such as basketball. what are the preconfigured structural elements that define a conventional basketball game, especially within a schematic representation (motives, number of actors, roles of the actors, their interaction)? can you apply the same analysis (seen as a flowchart) to other areas of life, such as “applying for a visa”, “filing for divorce” or “making coffee”? – imagine a translator who is engaged in an academic paper edition project; from the initial stages of the project up to the final paper publication, how many subjects (actors or players) can you identify in the process? how do these layers of subjectivity interact with each other? what are their expectations? in such a project, there are normally two sets of readership involved; given the ideas of reconfiguration 1 and reconfiguration 2, distinguish the readers before and after the publication of the paper. – in the movie pride + prejudice + zombies (mckittrick and steers et al. 2016), two strong narrative traditions are merged, creating a new story-world; considering the principle of historicity, guided by sedimentation versus innovation, specify the features of this movie franchise. how did the critics respond to this possible worldmaking? – in documents translated from persian into english, the period of three years of education after elementary school and before high school has been named differently by different translators; some suggested pre-narrative schemes are guidance school, middle school, secondary education, and junior high school. imagine a translator who sought to reasonably prioritize one of these choices over others; which principle of translational hermeneutics could explain this situation? 68 crossroads. a journal of english studies – select an academic paper, preferably in a field of experimental science; normally you should find a pre-introductory piece called abstract. the abstract reports the final conclusions the researcher(s) observed; yet, if the abstract is the first part to the whole body of the paper, how can it contain the information belonging to another section called conclusion, which appears at the end of the paper? the sequence of the framed information is, in fact, circular. using the narrative notion of configuration 1, try to justify this paradox in presenting information. – in describing the difference between languages involved in translation, translation theories have suggested seemingly binary notions; they suggest that otherness may only occur in radical cases such as foreignness. ricoeur’s philosophy of difference, however, views “selfhood versus otherness” as a continuum, which may be perceived as being complementary but not binary. this suggests that people in their own culture, community or even family are perceived as “others” with respect to each other (a state called “native others” by kharmandar 2018b). how can this philosophy substantially challenge binarism in traditional translation theories? 5. conclusion trying to overcome a methodological problem in the hermeneutic theories of translation, this study relied on ricoeur’s narrative hermeneutics, coupled with certain notions from cognitive science and narratology. translational hermeneutics was described as being a relatively coherent and developing movement with six fundamental principles. although these principles could be subjected to revision and expansion, the first question to be answered was how they could guide practical translation or translation quality assessment. incorporating analytic models from other disciplines such as linguistics or literature would not particularly highlight the importance and innovation of hermeneutic theories. of course, despite the common assumption that narrative is a literary notion, it was explained in detail that novel trends of narrative theory no longer limit narrative to literature. this fact could be lucidly observed in ricoeur’s narrative theory, as it regards narrative as an existential notion, along with a lingual one. including some conceptions from cognitive research and narratology, the study then contextualized the six principles of translational hermeneutics into ricoeur’s extended translation theory, by dividing them into two different, although interconnected, narrative dimensions: the cognitive-existential (subjectivity, historicity, phenomenology) and the lingual/semiotic (process character, holistic nature, reflection). this framework could guide various aspects of interpretation and translation, including lingual minimal/maximal items, while bringing about several critical suggestions for translation pedagogy and quality assessment. admittedly, this study was not meant to be comprehensive, but it could serve as a blueprint for how several complicated theoretical lines could give rise to the formation of a multidisciplinary framework. numerous explorations would be needed to sustain and further clarify the notions/relations postulated in this study. 69 crossroads. a journal of english studies references barnard, alan. 2004. history and theory in anthropology. cambridge: cambridge university press. cercel, larisa, john stanley and radegundis stolze. 2015. hermeneutics as a research paradigm. in: radegundis stolze, 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hence, the main objective is to examine the content and form of the arabic translation as compared to the english source text in terms of field, tenor and mode. the article has taken cognizance of halliday and hasan’s (1985) ideas on functionality and hatim’s (1997) ideas on translating across different nations. the findings have shown that the field, tenor and mode are useful in the examination of the data from the perspective of events, participants and language; but they are less useful in the examination of the message in terms of the hidden cultural elements and ideology that may exist in a text. in addition, we found that translators show preference for those language forms which can be understood by different types of social classes. key words: sociolinguistics, culture, translation, message, media. 1. introduction this study focuses on a form of political discourse which is channelled through the electronic media. it looks at three variables of situational features identified by halliday (1978: 32) that determine registers – tenor, field and mode. the data for this study were drawn from bbc news from the internet. all of the english original messages (st) were rendered in arabic. the major focus in the analysis is on the interpretation of language forms in political discourse. the translator is usually the dominant writer, because of the practice to keep the meaning of the source text un10.15290/cr.2017.19.4.01 5 articles distorted (robinson 2003: 25). obviously, this notion of translation ethics is too restricted as the translator in specific cases is expressly required to distort the meaning of the original text to live up to the audience expectations, such as adapting the target text for children’s story, television, advertising campaign, etc. (robinson 2003: 26; icoz 2012: 131). this is in line with tymoczko (2006: 448), who asserts that new investigations in the field of translation studies confirm that translation can be adapted to suit different contexts, readership, media, technology, etc. thus, this study presents a study of the arabic translation of english news from the view of the functions of the news texts especially in terms of field, tenor and mode as conceptualized in halliday and hasan (1985). this study also considers the texts in terms of their communicative functions as viewed in hatim (1997) and in terms of fishman’s (1972) sociolinguistic view that language is to a large extent a reflection of the society which uses it. translation theorists have noted many difficulties involved in intercultural translation. as a result, they have extensively investigated the cultural differences among languages and facilitate the development of translation procedures in order to overcome these hindrances. culture represents an interlaced network of different aspects of life. theorists thus realize that culture is a very complex and controversial issue because “all human groups are cultured, though in vastly different manners and grades of complexity” (sapir 1949: 80). in addition, it has been noted that such complexity lies in the fact that what is considered culturally acceptable to one group of people can be regarded as totally strange and mysterious to another. for instance, “in the muslim arab society, it is lawful for a man to marry up to four wives if he can treat them equally and fairly, whereas in the christian west, polygamy is prohibited” (makhlouf 1996: 4). polygamy, thus, is unacceptable to the people of the west because normally it never happens in their society and it is by no means part of their culture. as for translation, these differences among cultures represent an area of difficulty, the degree of which depends on whether the languages involved are close or remote culturally. this implies that translation between languages of disjunct cultures is more difficult than carrying out translation between languages that are culturally related or similar. this does not imply, however, that translation between languages that are culturally related or similar is a straightforward activity. in fact, it embodies some serious pitfalls from the translators as well, though to a lesser degree compared with translation between languages of different cultures. (ilyas 1989: 123) this difficulty often becomes unavoidable simply because the culturally emotive terms of the message drop some or all of their connotative meanings when processed by translators. in other words, the picture of some linguistic elements arrives to the readers of the tl with a partial or total blur. consequently, they do not elicit the expected response as they do from sl speakers. in this case, the translator should use compensation to make the picture look clearer. “when the languages involved are so distant that the same figures do not exist in one or the other, different 6 crossroads. a journal of english studies procedures for the translation are implemented to achieve a partially successful transfer. in this case, compensation is nearly always resorted to” (garcía 1996: 64). as far as intercultural arabic-english translation is concerned, the example presented by ilyas (1989: 124) may give more understanding to this point. moreover, according to ilyas (1989: 124), when the translator comes across the hindrance of not finding a corresponding tl equivalent for the sl item, s/he usually resorts to a non-corresponding equivalent item, which may have an equivalent function in the tl culture. thus, they are included among the cultural elements that cause difficulty in translation. overcoming such a difficulty requires a considerable effort on the part of the translator, who should at least try to provide a tl translation that is equivalent both in meaning and use to the sl phrase. the translator is supposed to be well aware of the compensation tools of translation so that they can ensure proper transmission of the proverbial expressions to the tl readership with reference to the cultural context in a particular setting. translators should be familiar with arabic culture so that they can successfully transfer arabic texts into english (kadhim 2014: 30). 2. methodology for the purpose of this article, we employ a composite methodology derived from halliday and hasan’s functional model (1985), and the ideas of hatim (1997) which are summarized below. 2.1 halliday and hasan’s (1985) functional model halliday and hasan’s theory of functions (1985), relates to the stylistic, sociolinguistic and rhetorical aspects of language. they are more general and at the same time more restrictive in their theory of functions. they are more general in the sense that they suggest three functional categories of language: the ideational (i.e., experiential), the interpersonal and the textual. they are more restrictive in the sense that their explanation of the systematic realization of the context of situation is confined to three, namely, field, tenor and mode, through the three functional components of the semantic system mentioned above respectively. in the ideational function, halliday and hasan’s theory relies on and departs from the text to detect the real meaning. it must refer to our experience of the real world. for them, the interpersonal meaning to the language functions as a way of acting, a progression from the semantic meaning to the pragmatic one and to text as a communicative intercourse vehicle. as for the textual meaning of the text, they recourse to grammatical features, texture, structure and generic features of language. in this study, we will focus our analysis of the messages of the arabic translation of english news only on the three realizations of the context of situation, namely field, tenor and mode. the term field refers to “…what is happening, to the nature of the social action that is taking place”, while tenor has to do with who is taking part in the transaction as well as the nature of the participants, their status and roles, and mode concerns with “…what it is that the participants [of a transaction] are expecting language to do for them in that situation” (halliday and hasan 1985:12). 7 articles 2.2. hatim’s (1997) ideas on communication across cultures hatim (1997: xiii) notes that a careful consideration to a given text means “…someone attempts to mediate in communicating its ‘import’ across both linguistic and cultural boundaries …” and such an attempt is “… one way of making sure that we do not settle for a partial view of what goes on inside that text.” hence, he suggests that cultural elements play an important role in communication among nations and in the process of translation. hatim has studied texts based on two main elements as follows: (a) the cultures of western and islamic-arab and (b) the sociolinguistic elements in a situation when they are in contact by using texts that people from different cultures can reach and understand the culture of one another properly (hatim 1997:157). hatim’s (1997:157) ideas are to view a text within and across a number of cultural boundaries so as to enable the language user from either of the two cultures in question to operate felicitously within the rhetorical conventions not only of the target culture but those of his or her own. among other things, he makes the following observation: in the regrettable but not common situation of cross-cultural misunderstandings, which often result in or from a breakdown in communication, what is at the root of the problem is invariably a set of misconceptions held by one party about how the other rhetorically visualize and linguistically realizes of a variety of communicative objectives. such notions would then be paraded as truisms about the nature of the language of those on the other side, its textual norm and its rhetorical tradition. (hatim 1997:157) with regard to english and arabic texts, hatim (1997:173) identifies two kinds of audiences that the procedures of the two texts assume: the counter-arguments which are typically addressed to the skeptical and the through-arguments which assume a supportive audience. on the matter of the nature of the occurrence of audiences with respect to text, hatim (1997:173) notes the following: some texts are going to be more oral than others. while this can certainly implicate text type, it does not necessarily make morality an exclusive property of arabic, english or any other language. furthermore, some languages would tend to display a particular preference for this or that strategy, but this does not make tendency in question. these are merely preferences, tendencies, trends. for example, arabic prefers through-argumentation whereas english orients its rhetorical strategy the other way, towards counter-argumentation. 3. the data the data presented in this article were collected from the bbc news online from january 2005 to april 2006. one hundred cases were collected as part of our study. this study will analyze 4 types of data and their arabic translations in terms of field, tenor and mode, selected as representative of the tendencies identified in the whole corpus. the articles have been taken from the bbc news texts from the internet. the abbreviation ‘trs’ in the data analysis below stands for transliteration. 8 crossroads. a journal of english studies 4. data analysis 4.1. the fugitive al-qaeda leader’s in this section, we shall examine the phrase the fugitive al-qaedah leader’s in terms of field, tenor and mode. consider the data in table 1 below. table 1. the field of the fugitive al qaeda leader’s st bin laden call falls on deaf ears… us intelligence believes the audio tape aired by an arab tv channel is genuine making it the fugitive al-qaeda leader’s first message since january. tt ....هيلا بوسنم يتوص ليجست يف ةدعاقلا ميظنت ميعز ندال نب ةماسا لاق trs qala osama bin laden za’eem tandeem al-qa’eda fi tasjeel sauti mansub eleih…. glosses said osama bin laden leader organizing al qaeda in sound recorder. field in st the fugitive al-qaeda leader’s field in tt za’eem tandem al-qa’eda ‘leader organizing al qaedah’. the translator has replaced the lexical word ‘the fugitive’ into tandeem ‘organizing’. quality of message perce perceptually, the bbc sees bin laden as a fugitive leader of the al-qaeda. thus while the focus is the same, i.e., in bin laden being a leader, the emphasis is different. the west sees him as a fugitive, while some arabs see him as one who is capable of handling his organization well. hence, it is a semi-literal translation. in table 1, we are concerned with the phrase the fugitive al-qaeda leader’s in the st and its corresponding arabic translation (underlined), and the impact it has upon the perception of the arabic news readers. it is noticed that the field of the st regards bin laden as a fugitive which is evidenced from the noun phrase the fugitive al-qaeda leader’s. it has been translated into arabic as ةدعاقلا ميظنت ميعز (za’eem tandeem al-qa’eda) ‘leader organizing al-qa’eda’, which is also a noun phrase describing bin laden’s merits. that is, the translator has replaced the lexical word the fugitive of the st with the word ميظنت (tandem) ‘organizing’ to reflect a more neutral perception of arab readers upon bin laden than in the west. the meritorious leadership quality of bin laden in the st is sustained in the corresponding arabic tt, in that the focus of the message remains the same while the emphasis has shifted from regarding him as a fugitive to one who is capable in keeping his organization well-placed. in these respects, the translation is not fully literal but rather a semi-literal one. the english st describes a field pertaining to a political matter. the phrase the fugitive al qaeda leader is used to describe bin laden as a leader of an organization with the enemy is in hot pursuit. the repetitive and continuous use of the nouns to describe him is evidently a way of emphasizing the seriousness of the west in portraying him in the world of the media. in this respect, the translator attempted to emulate that kind of portrayal by having a similar repetitive technique in the arabic version: ةدعاقلا ميظنت ميعز (za’eem tandeem al-qa’eda) ‘leader organizing al-qa’eda’. however, 9 articles although the focus is the same, namely bin laden being a leader, the emphasis in the st and the tt is somewhat different. in the st, he is being conveyed as a fugitive leader, while in the tt, he is seen as a well-organized leader. the fugitive (i.e., negative connotation) part of the story has been suppressed. such an approach where the translator has empathized the readers’ perception of bin laden can be seen as befitting the arab societal-cultural milieu only when we fall back on hatim’s (1997) view of translating across different cultures or nations; we have to be seen as communicating in that new cultural setting. also, in the new context of this tt and bearing in mind the field of the discourse, another explanation why the translator acts the way he does must be considered; that is, from the metaphorical use of the word al-qaeda. the original message does not change the name of al-qaeda. in the arab world, al-qaeda is not just any organization, it is more than that; for example, metaphorically al-qaeda in the tt has represented bin laden’s foundation or bin laden’s ideology in which no negative quality should be attached to it. next, we shall reconsider the data from table 1, but we will do so in terms of the tenor of the text as represented in table 2 below. table 2. the tenor of the fugitive al qaeda leader’s st bin laden call falls on deaf ears us intelligence believes the audio tape aired by an arab tv channel is genuine making it the fugitive al-qaeda leader’s first message since january. tt ....هيلا بوسنم يتوص ليجست يف ةدعاقلا ميظنت ميعز ندال نب ةماسا لاق trs qala osama bin laden za’eem tandem al-qa’eda fi tasjeel sauti mansub eleih…. glosses said osama bin laden leader organizing al qa’eda in sound recorder. tenor of st the fugitive al-qaeda leader’, the writer has characterized bin laden as a fugitive tenor in tt za’eem tandem al-qa’eda , the translator has characterized bin laden as an individual capable or organizing things well. his role as a fugitive is eliminated. quality semi-literal translation in table 2, we still focus on the underlined constituents. it can be noticed that the tenor of the st is one in which bin laden is conveyed as the fugitive al-qaeda leader. this functional role of bin laden has been translated into ةدعاقلا ميظنت ميعز (za’eem tandem al-qa’eda) ‘leader organizing al-qa’eda’, which also reflects bin laden’s merits and ideology. here, the translator has changed the character of bin laden from being portrayed as a fugitive in the st to an individual who is capable of leading and organizing something. in the eyes of the translator, changing this role and character of bin laden is a way of making the tt more acceptable to the arab society. in other words, while the participant remains bin laden, his role has been portrayed more positively. also, while the st sees the negative quality of bin laden as a fugitive, the translator stresses his positive 10 crossroads. a journal of english studies quality and his role of an organizer to the arabic news readers. hence from the viewpoint of his role, the original message is only partially retained. therefore, it is a semi-literal translation. finally, we shall examine the same text in terms of its mode; that is, the nature and purposes of the linguistic expressions. we present it in table 3 below. table 3. the mode of the fugitive al qaeda leader’s st bin laden call falls on deaf ears us intelligence believes the audio tape aired by an arab tv channel is genuine making it the fugitive al-qaeda leader’s first message since january. tt ...هيلا بوسنم يتوص ليجست يف ةدعاقلا ميظنت ميعز ندال نب ةماسا لاق trs qala osama bin laden za’eem tandem al-qa’eda fi tasjeel sauti mansub eleih…. glosses said osama bin laden leader organizing al qaeda in sound recorder. mode in st the fugitive al-qaeda leader’s, is used in a declarative sentence, and the function of the message is thematic. mode in tt ميضنت leader organizing al qaeda’; the word‘ (za’eem tandem al-qa’eda) ةدعاقلا ميظنت ميعز (tandem) ‘organizing’ suggests skilful character and elevate his position. quality the message changes somewhat; hence, it is a semi-literal translation. the phrase the fugitive al qaeda leader’s has been expressed in a declarative sentence. this implies that the speech function of the original message is thematic with a purpose such as announcing the negative character of bin laden, that is, bin laden being a fugitive and leader of the al – qaeda organization. towards that end, the writer of the st describes bin laden in a declarative statement in a series of cohesive nouns as fugitive, al qaeda, leader. such a structural schematization conveys a proposition of intense in the original message to the st reader. as evidenced from the opening phrase ندال نب ةماسا لاق (qala osama bin laden) ‘said osama bin laden’, the same technique of a declarative sentence as well as word repetition have been employed by the arabic translator; but instead of choosing an arabic equivalent of fugitive, he has chosen the word ميظنت (tandem) ‘organizing’. by so doing, while he has been able to maintain the intensity of the original message simultaneously, he was creating a new purpose; namely, to shift the emphasis to the positive quality of bin laden which is the ability to organize things. in this sense, the output is a semiliteral translation. in terms of fishman’s (1972) sociolinguistic views, here the translator’s choice of linguistic terms is merely adapting the portrayal of bin laden to the arab audience. to summarize this section, from the perspective of field, tenor and mode, it can be observed that the arabic translation of the english phrase the fugitive al qaeda leader’s does not fit squarely into the term literal translation as within the similarities there is still some degree of difference of information between the st and the tt. hence, we have suggested a new term, semi-literal translation. 11 articles 4.2 parliamentary speaker in this section, we shall examine the phrase parliamentary speaker in terms of field, tenor and mode. we will consider the data in table 4 below. table 4. the field of parliamentary speaker st maliki endorsed as new iraq pm maliki also gave the post of parliamentary speaker to mahmood al mashhadani, a sunni arab. tt ....ةينطولا ةيعمجلل اسيئر ينس وه و ينادهشملا دومحم ريتخا trs ukhteera mahmood al-mashadani wa huwa sunni raeesan lil-jam’eeyah al-wataneeyah… glosses chosen mahmood mashadani and he sunni president for the association the nationalism. field in st parliamentary speaker , the field is specified to two lexical words only, but still indicating an important political event in the appointment of a principal political office to a sunni arab. field in tt president for‘ (wa huwa raeesan lil-jam’eeyah al-wataneeyah) ةينطولا ةيعمجلل اسيئر ينس وه و the association the nationalism’. the field has been extended to include a broader scope of a ‘nation’ and ‘president’ as well as ‘association’. quality an overtranslation in table 4, we are concerned with the underlined constituents. it can be noticed that the field of the st is the appointment of a parliamentary speaker. in the perception of the arabic translator befitting the socio-cultural milieu of the arab readers, this event has been extended as the appointment of اسيئر (raesan) ‘president’, ةيعمجلل (lil al jam’eeyah) ‘the association’ and ةينطولا (al wataneeyah) ‘the nationalism’, which is also a noun phrase describing mashhadani’s political post. as a consequence, the translator has widened the field of the st, the nominal parliamentary speaker, to nouns. in addition, surrounding the appointment of a parliamentary speaker, the original message has been elaborated to include detailed information about the nominated candidate. the name mahmood al-mashhadani, is supplemented with the information about the religious sector, sunni, and his race, arab suggesting the exhaustiveness of the announcement of mashhadani’s appointment in the political media. although the same range of information is found in the tt, noticeably it has been given a greater emphasis on the appointment by virtue of the fact that the political terms such as ةينطولا ةيعمجلل (lil-jam’eeyah al-wataneeyah) ‘the association the nationalism’ has a greater scope of an association and nation. taken as a whole, the tt is an overtranslation of the st. next, we will reconsider the data from table 4, but we will discuss them in terms of the tenor of the text as represented in table 5 below. 12 crossroads. a journal of english studies table 5. the tenor of parliamentary speaker st maliki endorsed as new iraq pm maliki also gave the post of parliamentary speaker to mahmood al mashhadani, a sunni arab t ....ةينطولا ةيعمجلل اسيئر ينس وه و ينادهشملا دومحم ريتخا trs ukhteera mahmood al-mashadani wa huwa sunni raeesan lil-jam’eeyah al-wataneeyah… glosses chosen mahmood mashadani and he sunni president for the association the nationalism. tenor in st parliamentary speaker, the tenor has referred to the specific role of the participant ‘mahmood mashadani ’ in the process of interaction policy tenor in tt raeesan lil-jam’eeyah al-wataneeyah (president for the association the nationalism). the translator has described mashhadan’s post as president of the national society to the readership of the tl text. quality an overtranslation in the st, the participant is mentioned as mahmood al mashhadani, a sunni arab. the same range of information has been translated in the arabic tt as ينس وه و ينادهشملا دومحم (mahmood almashhadani wa huwa sunni) ‘mahmood mashhadani and he (is a) sunni’. as we move further to see his role, however, there is a difference in the way it is perceived in the st to that one that is perceived in the tt. in the tt, mahmood al mashhadani has been seen not merely as a person whose function is within the confines of a parliament, but more than that, his role encompasses more globally within a nation. it is a perception that is most natural within the arab socio-cultural context. as a consequence, the translator has painted a broader concept to the new political role of mahmood al mashhadani in the tt compared to the information in the st. therefore, it is a case of overtranslation. we move on to reconsider the data in table 4 above in terms of its mode as presented in table 6 below. table 6. the mode of parliamentary speaker st maliki endorsed as new iraq pm maliki also gave the post of parliamentary speaker to mahmood al mashhadani, a sunni arab. tt ....ةينطولا ةيعمجلل اسيئر ينس وه و ينادهشملا دومحم ريتخا trs ukhteera mahmood al-mashadani wa huwa sunni raeesan lil-jam’eeyah al-wataneeyah… glosses chosen mahmood mashadani and he sunni president for the association the nationalism. mode in st parliamentary speaker , the original message is a declarative message mode in tt expressed in a .(.president for the association the nationalism) ,ةينطولا ةيعمجلل اسيئر declarative sentence to inform the tl reader about the appointment of a political post from among the arab sunni nationals. quality an overtranslation 13 articles here, the declarative sentence has a purpose to inform the readers of an important appointment to a political office. the office is parliamentary speaker. the appointed person is mahmood mashadani. there is also additional information; namely, that he is an arab who is a sunni. the arabic version also comprises a declarative sentence whose purpose is also to inform. in so far as the person and the appointment to a political office are concerned, the arab tt contains the same information. there is a difference, however, in the nature of the noun that is being declared. while the st declares it as a simple post of a parliamentary speaker, the tt text declares much more than that. it declares a position that assumes a three-in-one post ةينطولا ةيعمجلل اسيئر (raeesan lil-jam’eeyah al-wataneeyah) ‘president for the association the nationalism’ which, in the sense of fishman (1972), is a reflection of the sociolinguistic and cultural perception of the arab speakers in iraq. hence, from the perspective of the mode of the tt, it is an overtranslation. in summary, seen from the perspective of field, tenor and mode, the arabic translation of the english phrase parliamentary speaker is a case of overtranslation. 4.3. traders in this section, we shall examine the translation of the english word traders into arabic in terms of field, tenor and mode. first, we consider table 7 below showing the field. table 7. the field of traders st iran fears drive oil to new high but traders say that in the short term the price could rise as high as 75 per barrel. tt رالود 75 رعس ابيرقت زواجتي لكشب ديزملا هاجتال ا يف راعس ال ا عفديس رتوتلا رارمتسا نا نوللحم ىري و . ليمربلل trs wa yara muhalilun ana estemrar al-tawatr sa yadf ’ al-as’ar fi al-etijah al-mazeed bishikel yatagawiz taqreeban s’r 75 dular lil barmil glosses and analysts see that continuing the tension will push the prices in the high direction which access 75 dollars per barrel. field in st selling and buying oil; its prices are buoyant; it creates fears among buyers and sellers. field in tt ’a group of people analyzing the oil crisis’ or (b) ‘general analysts‘ (a) (muhalilun) نوللحم quality an ambiguous translation the english word traders as used in table 7 concerns the activities of buying and selling oil, the prices are buoyant and there is a continuing fear of the rising price. it has been translated as نوللحم (muhalilun) ‘analysts’. in the first reading of the tt, this piece of information is also obtained. however, in the absence of the word طفنلا (al naft) ‘the oil’ in the context of situation, when the word نوللحم (muhalilun) ‘analysts’ is considered in a broader scope, the word نوللحم (muhalilun) may have a second interpretation, namely that of the analysts in general. due to these two possibilities, the translator’s choice of the word نوللحم (muhalilun), although not incorrect, is somewhat inappropriate and makes the tt potentially ambiguous. hence, it is an ambiguous translation. 14 crossroads. a journal of english studies the data concerning the perspective of the tenor of the text for the word traders are presented in table 8. table 8. the tenor of traders st iran fears drive oil to new high but traders say that in the short term the price could rise as high as 75 per barrel. tt . ليمربلل رالود 75 رعس ابيرقت زواجتي لكشب ديزملا هاجتال ا يف راعس ال ا عفديس رتوتلا رارمتسا نا ىري و trs wa yara muhalilun ana estemrar al-tawatr sa yadf ’ al-as’ar fi al-etijah al-mazeed bishikel yatagawiz taqreeban s’r 75 dular lil barmil glosses and analysts see that continuing the tension will push the prices in the high direction which access 75 per barrel. tenor in st traders refer to people who deal in oil transactions such as oil producers, agents and buyers. tenor in tt .two possibilities: (a) oil traders and (b) analysts in general : , نوللحم quality an ambiguous translation the data presented in table 8 show that the tenor of the st contains the lexical plural noun traders which in a business society can possibly refer to business people who usually deal in oil transactions such as oil producers, agents, buyers and sellers. the favourite reading of the arabic tt نوللحم (muhalilun) ‘analysts’ also conveys this range of participants. however, due to another possibility of a wider range of usages of the arabic word in a wider spectrum, various repertoires and networks of sociolinguistic communication in arab society in the sense of fishman (1972), it may also have an additional, though less favourite reading of a ‘general analyst’. hence, from the perspective of the tenor of the arabic text, there is a possibility of the arabic translation being ambiguous. we move on to reconsider the same data from the perspective of the mode of the text as presented in table 9 below. table 9. the mode of traders st iran fears drive oil to new high but traders say that in the short term the price could rise as high as 75 per barrel. tt رالود 75 رعس ابيرقت زواجتي لكشب ديزملا هاجتال ا يف راعس ال ا عفديس رتوتلا رارمتسا نا نوللحم ىري و . ليمربلل trs wa yara muhalilun ana estemrar al-tawatr sa yadf ’ al-as’ar fi al-etijah al-mazeed bishikel yatagawiz taqreeban s’r 75 dular lil barmil glosses and analysts see that continuing the tension will push the prices in the high direction which access 75 per barrel. mode in st traders, is the head of the text and precedes by a lexical word; text opposition but expresses positives sense. 15 articles mode in tt is the head of the text and preceded by a lexical word; the additive conjunction نوللحم and’ confirms the availability of the original information; but its occurrence with‘ (wa) و other words serves a possible duality of meaning (a) traders and (b) analysts. quality an ambiguous translation by virtue of the sentential conjunction but, the mode of the context of situation of the language of the st is expressed in a contrastive sense giving rise to a declarative-contrastive meaning. in other words, due to the fear of iran, the oil traders hold the negative view of the price of oil to keep on increasing. in terms of mode, the usage of the word traders in the context of ‘…drive oil to new high’ can only positively refer to people who deal in oil business and handlers of oil. in the case of the arabic tt, the use of the conjunction و (wa) ‘and’ suggests the first reading holds true; however, its usage together with the word نوللحم (muhalilun) ‘analysts’ in the context of situation where the word طفنلا (al naft) ‘the oil’ is not also used, may give rise to another interpretation, namely that of ‘the analysts on matters other than oil’. in other words, an idea that is not conveying the original sense and meaning of the original message. in this sense, the translation is ambiguous. 4.4. have reduced the number of weapons in this section, we will examine the verb phrase have reduced the number of weapons within its context of situation in terms of field, tenor and mode. consider the data in table 10 which presents the verb phrase in terms of field. table 10. the field of the verb phrase have reduced the number of weapons st iraq tribe ‘taking on al qaeda’ they set up the salvation council for anbar and claim to have reduced the number of weapons and foreign fighter coming into this area. tt بناج الا نيلتاقملا و ةحلسالا ددع ضفخ يف تمهاس اهنا تمعز و ”رابن الا ذاقنا سلجم“ رئاشعلا هذه تسسا و .ةقطنملا هذه يف trs wa asasat hatheh al-’shar majlis enqath al-anbar wa za’amat anaha sahamat fi khefd ’dad al-asleha wa al-muqatileen al-ajaneb fi hathih al-mantaqa. glosses and these tribes established ‘al anbar rescue committee’ and claimed that she (al anbar rescue committee’) participated in reduce number of the weapons and the foreign fighters in this area. field in st have reduced: infighting took place due to the supply of weapons and the presence of foreign fighters; the weapons and foreign fighters have been reduced. field in tt ,reduced’: it covers the same events as in the st above, but at the same time‘ (khefd) ,ضفخ it sets them out in the past tense. quality in terms of a wrong time frame, it is an incorrect translation. 16 crossroads. a journal of english studies in the above data, the field of the english st is about the political events in iraq at a certain point. these events are described in the present perfect tense. they refer to the setting up of the salvation council for anbar and the reduction of weapons and foreign fighters. the same political situation in anbar city, however, is set out in the past tense in the arabic st, namely the usage of the verb ضفخ (khefd) ‘reduced’. as a consequence, the translator formulated the message somewhat differently than that found in the tt. in other words, he sees them as completed events. thus, in terms of field, there is a dislocation of time frame from the present perfect to a past tense and, therefore, grammatically, the output is an incorrect translation. we will now reconsider the same data in terms of the tenor of the situation as set out in table 11 below. here, we will be interested in the identity and nature of the participants. table 11. the tenor of the verb phrase have reduced the number of weapons st iraq tribe ‘taking on al qaeda’ they set up the salvation council for anbar and claim to have reduced the number of weapons and foreign fighters coming into this area. tt بناج الا نيلتاقملا و ةحلسالا ددع ضفخ يف تمهاس اهنا تمعز و ”رابن الا ذاقنا سلجم“ رئاشعلا هذه تسسا و .ةقطنملا هذه يف trs wa asasat hatheh al-’shar majlis enqath al-anbar wa za’amat anaha sahamat fi khefd ’dad al-asleha wa al-muqatileen al-ajaneb fi hathih al-mantaqa. glosses and these tribes established ‘al anbar rescue committee’ and claimed that she (al anbar rescue committee’) participated in reduce number of the weapons and the foreign fighters in this area. tenor in st ‘have reduced’: the weapons and foreign fighters, the rescue committee, people of anbar city, weapons and the foreign fighters are participants; the reduction is ongoing. tenor in tt ,the same participants are found in the tt; there is a difference, however ,(reduce) ضفخ in the number of those participating and the fact that the execution of reduction was completed. quality while the st talks about a process of reduction that is ongoing, the reduction of the participants is regarded as complete in the tt; hence, it is an incorrect translation. in table 10, the scope and nature of the participants are the same in the st and the tt. these are the tribes, the people of anbar city, the committee, the weapons and the fighters. what is different between the two texts is the timing and the manner of the reduction of some of the participants. in the st, the reduction is an ongoing process and nearing completion; but the usage of the past tense in ضفخ (khefd) ‘reduced’ suggests that the translator is not interested in what has gone before, but rather he is more focused on the fact that the reduction of weapons and fighters were completed. as a consequence, the translator has given an incorrect translation. now we move on to reconsider the same text from the perspective of the mode of situation as in table 12 below. 17 articles table 12. the mode of the verb phrase have reduced the number of weapons st iraq tribe ‘taking on al qaeda’ they set up the salvation council for anbar and claim to have reduced the number of weapons and foreign fighter coming into this area. tt بناج الا نيلتاقملا و ةحلسالا ددع ضفخ يف تمهاس اهنا تمعز و ”رابن الا ذاقنا سلجم“ رئاشعلا هذه تسسا و .ةقطنملا هذه يف trs wa asasat hatheh al-’shar majlis enqath al-anbar wa za’amat anaha sahamat fi a’dad alasleha wa al-muqatileen al-ajaneb fi hathih al-mantaqa. glosses and these tribes established ‘al anbar rescue committee’ and claimed that she (al anbar rescue committee’) participated in reduce number of the weapons and the foreign fighters in this area. mode in st have reduced; the declarative conjoined structures express process of action to reduce weapons by the participants that is almost completed. mode in tt reduced’. the declarative expression of conjoined clauses captures the‘ (khefd) ضفخ same theme which is to reduce weapons; but it perceives the action as fully completed. quality an incorrect translation. the st in table 12 is set in a conjoined declarative sentence putting together a number of participants and events. its declarative purpose is to express a thematic sense that action has been taken to reduce the number of weapons and that the process is almost completed. in the arabic version, however, while the same declarative and conjoined structures are used to put together all the participants, and thematically to report an action of weapons reduction, the translator sees the action as only having been fully completed. there is a shift in focus. possibly, this is the way the action is naturally seen from the perspective of the arabic language. if so, this is in congruence with fishman’s (1972) view that linguistic expressions are reflections of the perceptions of its speakers about their surroundings. therefore, although the mode of the situation of the original st message, have reduced, has been changed to a past tense in the arabic tt, the arab readers find the form natural. nonetheless, the fact remains that the resulting translation is not entirely adequate. 5. conclusion the field, tenor and mode approach has proved useful in the examination of the data from the perspective of events, participants and language; but it is less useful in the examination of the message in terms of the hidden cultural elements and ideology that may exist in a text. from the four texts that have been examined, it is also clear that the translators seem to have been keen to use the type of language which can be understood by different social classes. in other words, they attempted to pitch the language of the tt to one standard that would be understandable to the masses for wider readability. one of the analysed cases was ambiguously translated while another received an “incorrect” representation (translation). in this regard, hatim’s (1997) views on com18 crossroads. a journal of english studies munication across different cultures and nations in translation studies have served as useful tools in understanding more clearly the nature of the st (source text) and the tt (target text) as well as the translation problems. in particular, hatim’s ideas have helped us understand the data (both the st and the tt) better especially in terms of us being more careful in our examination of the data as different lexical words/phrases/clauses can have different connotations in different nations/ cultures. in general, against such difficult backgrounds, we find that the translators have done fairly well. this is because, apart from the few cases of overtranslation, as a whole, their translation outputs are noticeably acceptable to a wide circle of readers who come from different social classes, educational and cultural backgrounds. references fishman, j.a. 1972, sociocultural organization: language constraints and language reflections, in language in sociocultural change, essays by joshua a. fishman, 269-286. california: stanford university press. garcía, f.a. 1996. on translating figurative language from english into spanish: a perceptual problem. babel 42(3):158-164. hatim, b. 1997. communication across cultures: translation theory and contrastive text linguistics. exeter: university of exeter press, u.k. halliday m.a. k and r. hasan 1985. language, context and text: aspects of language in a socialsemiotic perspective. waurn ponds, victoria: deakin university press, berlin. halliday, m.a. k. 1978. language as social semiotic: the social interpretation of language and meaning. bristol: edward arnold ltd. london, u.k. ilyas, a. 1989. theories of translation. mowsil: university of mowsil. icoz, n. 2012. considering ethics in translation. electronic journal of vocational colleges 2(2): 131-134. kadhim, k. a. and kader, m. 2010. stylistic differences and message changes in the translation of english bbc political news into arabic. jurnal penterjemah 12(1):23-46. makhlouf, m. 1996.  libyan proverbial expressions: a translation  perspective of arab subculture. thesis. irbid: yarmouk university. robinson, d. 2003. becoming a translator: an introduction to the theory and practice of translation. 2nd ed. london: routledge. sapir, e. 1949. culture, language and personality. california: university of california. tymoczko, m. 2006. translation: ethics, ideology, action. the massachusetts review 47(3): 442-461. subjectification and intersubjectification in the analysis of the polish adverb niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’ 9 crossroads. a journal of english studies agnieszka piórkowska łomża state university of applied sciences subjectification and intersubjectification in the analysis of the polish adverb niestety ‘unfortunately/ regrettably’ abstract. the present article aims at summarizing the results of the corpus-based study of the semanto-syntactic behaviour of the emotionally-loaded polish adverb niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’. it will be claimed that the different uses of niestety are governed by the processes of subjectification, both at the synchronic and diachronic level. such a perspective also allows us to explain the intersubjective senses in which this highly grammaticalized adverb is sometimes used in polish. key words: subjectification, intersubjectification, emotional attitude, adverbs, modality. 1. introduction in the present article, the focus is on the polish lexical item niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’ and the modal meanings that it conveys. while some types of modality, especially those expressed by means of modal auxiliaries, like dynamic, deontic, or epistemic modalities, have received considerable attention from linguists, some other types remain on the margins of this (super)category (see the discussion in nuyts 2006: 1-9). these include modalities such as evidentiality, volitionality, as well as boulomaic modality, or emotional attitude, as it is more often referred to (see nuyts 2005, 2006, among others). they are most often expressed by lexical and morphological means (see nuyts 2005: 14f). for example, in polish, emotional and valorative meanings can be encoded by means of nouns (see e.g. krzyżanowski 1992; milewska 2003) and verbs (see kozarzewska 1990: 117-151). szymanek (2010: 206-215), in his account of polish word-formation, points to the morphological means of expressing evaluation and attitude and discusses devices such as: diminutives, which frequently carry additional, affectionate or pejorative meanings (e.g. pijak ‘drunkard’ › pijaczek/pijaczyna), or the intensification suffixes, the majority of which is appreciative (e.g. czysty ‘clean’ › czyściutki ‘very clean’). attitude can be expressed even by functional free morphemes, such as demonstratives (e.g. ten ‘this’, as in co ten olszewski wyprawia to ludzkie 10.15290/cr.2017.17.2.01 10 crossroads. a journal of english studies pojęcie przechodzi ‘what olszewski is doing is just unbelievable’) and possessives (e.g. mój ‘my’, as in jadę bo muszę tam być, to był mój prezydent ‘i’m going because i’ve got to be there, it was my president’) (see rybarczyk 2015). adverbs, next to adjectives, are the lexical means frequently employed for modal expression in many languages (see nuyts 1994; hoye 1997; de haan 2006; traugott 2012; among others). importantly, adverbs often express attitudinal senses, i.e. those concerned with the degree of “the commitment of the speaking subject (or another reported person) towards the state of affairs” (nuyts 2005: 23). the nature of this commitment may be moral, as in the case of deontic modality, “existential”, as with epistemic modality, or evaluative, as in the case of emotional attitude. niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’ exemplifies the last category, as it expresses the dissatisfaction of the speaker and his/her negative attitude towards the described state of affairs. 2. niestety and its corpus in the present study according to the etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego (bańkowski 2000), niestety began to be used as an adverb in the sense of na nieszczęście, ‘unfortunately’ (lit. on.prep misfortune.acc) in the 18th century, being occasionally used in this sense since 1597. according to this source, it emerged gradually and originated from the noun niestoty which, between the 16th and 17th centuries, meant ‘biada’ ‘distress/hardship’, as in niestoty mnie ‘poor me’, a use dating back to 1545. grzegorczykowa (see 2008: 65) points out that the “modal particle” niestety and other expressions of emotional attitude in polish belong to the group of higher-level predicates having a scope over the whole sentence, as in nasz wspólny przyjaciel lubi, niestety, długo spać przy zasłoniętych zasłonach ‘our mutual friend likes, unfortunately, to sleep long with the curtains drawn’. other adverbs and adverbials that exemplify this group are expressions of frequency, as well as some temporal and locative expressions (ibid.).1 the analysis of the uses of niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’ was conducted on the corpus collected for the sake of a larger study of the adverbial means of expression of boulomaic modality, or attitude, in polish (see piórkowska 2011). in the study, the corpora of niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’, na szczęście (lit. on.prep fortune.acc) ‘fortunately’, and szczęśliwie ‘happily/fortunately’ were obtained through google search, applied in a random but principled way as suggested by taylor and pang (2008).2 qualificational rather than quantificational, the study revealed that the semanto-syntactic behavior of these adverbs is governed by the processes of subjectification (in all three cases) and intersubjectification (occasionally in the case of na szczęście, and quite frequently in the case of niestety). 1 in my work, i use the terms adverb and adverbial interchangeably to refer to niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’, in accordance with the definitions offered in hoye (1997). 2 following the methodology of taylor and pang (2008), in my study i used the google search and collected relatively small databases of fifty examples of niestety, na szczęście and szczęśliwie, in each case, with the contexts in which they were used, taking the first ten uses of the items at intervals of one hundred, ignoring repeated hits, as well as hits that included incomplete contexts or contexts with vulgar language. 11 crossroads. a journal of english studies 3. views on subjectification and intersubjectification the present study embraces two predominant approaches to subjectification in linguistic theory: langacker’s cognitive grammar approach and the approach of traugott and her collaborators. as for the analysis itself, it employs three factors: (i) fixation of form and autonomy of predication, (ii) fronting and widening of predicational scope, and (iii) weakening of agent control, which were identified and used by company (2006) in her analysis of spanish language data. for langacker (1989), subjectification is a phenomenon concerned with the degree to which an entity is construed with respect to the speaking subject. it is assumed that meaning cannot be described in purely objective terms. in langacker’s sense, the terms subjectivity and objectivity indicate the roles of the subject and the object of perception. an entity is subjectively or objectively construed in that it functions as the subject or an object of perception, subject and object not to be equated with the grammatical subject and object. both the speaker (s) and the hearer (h) are conceptualizers, that is subjects of conception and, as such, they typically remain offstage, subjectively construed. for example, in the case of expressions like dog, the roles of s and h are limited to those of offstage conceptualizers, external to the scope of the expression (see langacker 1999: 150). on the other hand, deictic elements like the article in the dog bring the speaker and the hearer into the overall scope as they indicate a degree of specificity of the apprehended entity. according to langacker, in this particular case, the s and the h are still only tacitly referred to, and therefore they remain offstage. they go on stage and are profiled in the case of expressions such as pronouns i, you, or we. originally, subjectification was understood by langacker (1991) as a replacement of an objectively described relationship by a subjectively construed one, “inherent in the very process of conception”. langacker (1999) proposes a refined characterization of subjectification which does not assume a replacement of the objective component by the subjective one, but presupposes that the subjective component is “immanent” in the objective conception. it is left behind when the objective basis for the conceptualization fades away (see langacker 1999:151f). the objective construal profiles the relationship between the trajector and the landmark, the trajector being typically more active, usually an agent, an experiencer, or a mover (see langacker 1999: 152). within a certain processing time, the relationship undergoes “mental scanning” by the conceptualizer (c), with the trajector serving as the access point for the conceptualization. in the child hurried across the street, the child is the trajector of across, and the conceptualizer is confronted with an objectively construed relationship between this trajector and the landmark, the street. in a more subjective construal the degree of subject control weakens and provides less objective motivation for the relationship to the conceptualizer. in langacker’s terms, the objective motivation for the profiled relationships becomes “attenuated”, as in another sense of across in there is a mailbox across the street. it is a case of attenuation because the entity selected as the trajector is static, neither an agent, nor an experiencer or a mover, and only occupies a single position with respect to the landmark (see 1999: 153). however, the configuration evokes at least some potential movement by a generalized or generic individual for whom the location ‘across the street’ is the 12 crossroads. a journal of english studies potential goal. eventually, in cases of full subjectification, the relationship between the trajector and the landmark exists only due to the conceptualizer’s mental activity; the objective basis for it disappears. in last night there was a fire across the street, the conception of physical motion is “entirely absent, leaving only subjective motion by the conceptualizer, who mentally traces along the path in order to specify the trajector’s location” (langacker 1999: 155). it is in this sense that langacker speaks of the subjective relationship being “immanent in the objective one” (1999: 153). for langacker, attenuation and subjectification are gradual in nature, “involving small steps along a number of possible parameters”, which include: (i) a change in status, from actual to potential, or from specific to generic; (ii) a change in focus, that is, to what extent particular elements are in focus (in profile); (iii) a shift in domain, from the domain of physical interaction to the domain of social interaction; (iv) and, a change in mover, from a specific, onstage participant, the trajector, to an offstage participant, the addressee, or some generalized mover (1999: 155f). all in all, according to langacker (1999), attenuation as a process of subjectification figures in many cases of grammaticization, e.g. the development of the english be going to construction (see also evans and green 2006: 730-733), the deontic senses of modals, the auxiliary have, among others. to quote langacker himself: “attenuation in subject control has been shown to be a pervasive, multifaceted phenomenon that plays a major role in certain kinds of grammaticization, with important consequences for synchronic analysis and description” (1999: 172). for traugott (1989, 1999, 2010), subjectification, as well as intersubjectification, is a diachronic process of pragmatically evoked semanticization which often co-occurs with grammaticalization. in the process of subjectification, meanings are becoming increasingly associated with the speaker’s beliefs and attitudes towards the proposition (see traugott 1989: 31). believed to be “the most pervasive tendency in semantic change” (traugott 1999: 188), subjectification in this paradigm is considered to be a result of “pragmatic strengthening” and pragmatically triggered enrichment of old forms so that they serve to express the point of view of the speaker. when the pragmatically influenced new uses of a form become conventionalized, traugott (1989) speaks of language change. and yet, even though in her approach subjectification is a diachronic phenomenon, it allows for variation at the synchronic level. synchronically, structures display varying degrees of subjectification, which results in a number of their coexisting meanings (see traugott 1999: 188). as regards intersubjectification, traugott conceives of it as “the development of the speaker’s attention to the addressee’s self-image” (2010: 60). in other words, while subjective meanings encode the perspective of the speaker and his attitude to the state of affairs in question, intersubjective meanings, over time, begin to encode the perspective of the addressee of the proposition. crucially, intersubjectification originates in subjectification, which is illustrated by the cline below (see traugott 2010: 35): (1) non/ -less subjective › subjective › intersubjective 13 crossroads. a journal of english studies in traugott’s view, although intersubjectification, just like subjectification, starts with pragmatic considerations in certain contexts, it is a process of semanticization rather than pragmatization, and takes place only once a form acquires a newly coded intersubjective meaning which becomes conventionalized. also, like subjectification, intersubjectification involves “the reanalysis as coded meaning of pragmatic meanings arising in the context of speaker-hearer negotiation of meaning” (traugott 2010: 60). last but not least, intersubjectification is a diachronic process whose effects can sometimes be observed only synchronically. directly relevant for the present study are observations made by company (2006: 376) who notes that subjectification has been mainly described from the semantic-pragmatic point of view, while it is equally worthwhile to look at this process from the perspective of syntax. she points out that there is an inverse correlation between the form’s subjective meaning and the quantity of syntax that the form requires, that is, with the increase in subjectivity, the form becomes increasingly restricted syntactically (see company 2006: 381-393). on the one hand, the time needed for subjectification to take place naturally implies the cancelation of syntactic form. on the other hand, the speaker concerned with projecting his judgment, evaluation, and perspective lacks interest in the referential descriptive syntactic aspects of an expression. as a result, elaborate structure becomes redundant in subjectification and subjective expressions undergo syntactic cancellation and isolation. drawing on her study of the phenomenon of subjectification in spanish, company (2006) formulates three tendencies, or factors, which she uses for the study of language change in spanish: (i) fixation of form and autonomy of predication, (ii) fronting and widening of predicational scope, and (iii) weakening of agent control. these three factors are used in my study to account for the distribution and semantic behaviour of niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’. 4. the study 4.1 fixation of form and autonomy of predication company (2006: 381) argues that subjectification is manifested in the evolution of forms into fixed expressions, signaled by the prosodic independence of items and their syntactic isolation. fixation of form and autonomy of predication is claimed to be an especially strong tendency in the development of evaluative discourse markers (see the discussion in company 2006: 382). the analysis of the corpus of niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’ in the light of this factor consisted in identifying cases in which niestety occurs with markers of prosodic independence. specifically, the data were examined in order to identify cases in which niestety is separated from the context by commas, as in (2a), by pauses signalized by dots, as in (2b), by other punctuation marks, or in syntactic isolation3. 3 with respect to the use of markers of prosodic independence, only the immediate contexts of the sentences in which the adverb occurred, rather than whole samples, were examined. importantly, in my count i followed the original punctuation of the samples. 14 crossroads. a journal of english studies (2) (a) [łukasz derbich, a footballer of cracovia, asked in an interview about his understanding of the phrase “a set piece of a game” and explaining that it has been a serious problem for the team] niestety, koszmar wrócił i unfortunately/ regrettably.adv nightmare is back and tracimy bramki. lose 2pl.pres goals. ‘unfortunately, the nightmare is back and we are losing goals’ http://sport.interia.pl/pilka-nozna/ekstraklasa/news/derbich-niestety-koszmar┐ -wrocil,1389131,812 (b) [about a longing for the literature of the interwar period and lack of film adaptations of the literature of this period] dwudziestolecie… niestety, trzeba czytać the interwar period… unfortunately.adv must.pred read.inf ‘unfortunately, literature of the interwar period must be read’ http://stopklatka.pl/felietony/felieton.asp?f1i=200 a careful analysis of the samples reveals that in as many as 17 cases niestety occurs in the context of a comma. moreover, three times it was used in syntactic isolation, twice in the context of pauses signalized by dots, and once with the brackets. five more times it was used with other punctuation devices (exclamation mark and dash). all in all, the majority of samples in the collected corpus (28 in 50) are biased towards contexts indicating prosodic independence and syntactic isolation of the items, which shows that the behaviour of niestety is clearly influenced by the process of subjectification. 4.2. weakening of agent control another factor included by company (2006: 378) in her list of syntactic manifestations of subjectification is the degree of agent control. langacker (1991: 285) defines the term ‘agent’ as “a person who volitionally initiates physical activity resulting, through physical contact, in the transfer of energy to an external object”. the weakening of agent control refers to langacker’s (1999) observations that there is a preference for subjective expressions to take inanimate subjects rather than volitive agentive subjects. it is also very frequent that subjective expressions do not have a subject at all. 15 crossroads. a journal of english studies in the present study, the corpus of niestety ‘unfortunately/ regrettably’ was examined with respect to the types of subjects featuring in the utterances with this adverb. the variety of subjects encountered is illustrated by the examples in (3)-(10) below. while as many as 3 uses of niestety in the corpus are cases with the speaker construed as the subject of a construction, there are also 5 cases in which human agent subjects were identified. in (3), the prince is apparently gone, but his act of going away and leaving behind a white horse as a consolation was volitional, and therefore, the subject is considered agentive. (3) ...a książe niestety uciekł w siną dal... ...while prince unfortunately.adv escaped in livid distance... na pocieszenie zostawił białego konia on consolation left.2sg white horse ‘the prince unfortunately went away for good… leaving behind a white horse as a consolation’ http://dzierzba.flog.pl/wpis/569088/a-ksiaze-niestety-uciekl-w-sina-dalna┐ -pocieszenie-zostawil-bialego-konia there are also cases in the corpus, such as (4), which posed considerable problems with their description. although there are reasons for treating (4) as a case of the human agent subject construction, there are other reasons for seeing it as a construction with the subject in the role of the experiencer. if we look at the profiled relationship from the standpoint of absolute construal (see langacker 1991), (4) indicates that ewa milewicz has been overcome by the power of a particular trend towards rejecting orders awarded by the president of poland. having succumbed to this trend, ewa milewicz codes an experiencer subject, rather than a volitive human agent subject. (4) [a radio interwiew with władysław stasiak, a minister of the former president, who talked about people who had rejected medals awarded by president lech kaczyński] stasiak: ewa milewicz niestety uległa pewnej modzie stasiak.nom [ewa milewicz].nom unfortunately.adv succumbed.3sg [some fashion].dat ‘stasiak: unfortunately, ewa milewicz has succumbed to some trend.’ http://tok.fm/tokfm/1,91171,6488139,stasiak__ewa_milewicz_niestety_ulegla┐ _pewnej_modzie.html 16 crossroads. a journal of english studies the analysis of the corpus also revealed two uses of niestety with the inanimate mover subject, the mover understood as “an entity undergoing a change of location” (langacker 1991: 285). in (5), such an entity is focus, a ford car model, and therefore, the sentence exemplifies constructions with inanimate mover subjects. (5) [from an automobile test report] trzy poziomy pracy układu kierowniczego three levels [work system].gen steering mistrzostwo praktyczności to nie jest, ale powinno wystarczyć mastery practicality.gen it not is but should suffice.inf niestety, focus jest głośny przy wyższych unfortunately.adv focus.nom is loud by higher prędkościach...... z powodu opływającego go powietrza. speeds from reason.gen streamlining him air.gen ‘the steering system working on three levels is not the top of practicality but it should do. unfortunately, the focus gets loud at higher speed… because of streaming air’ http://www.autogaleria.pl/fotografie/index_test.php?id=19845&test=293 a substantial number of cases in the corpora of niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’ was recognized as cases with the non-human instigator subject. i use the term “instigator” in the sense of słoń, as referring to “a causal factor that is not necessarily human” (2007: 280). such a causal factor is grypa ‘flu’ as used in example (6) from the collected corpus. (6) [about the bird flu virush5n1, which, unlike in denmark and france, did not force the polish government to postpone the beginning of the new school year] nowa grypa nie przedłuży (niestety) wakacji new flu not will prolong unfortunately.adv holidays.gen ‘unfortunately, the new flu virus will not make the holidays any longer.’ http://rynekzdrowia.pl/choroby-zakazne/nowa-grypa-nie-przedluzy-niestety┐ -wakacji,9797,22.html 17 crossroads. a journal of english studies furthermore, cases of the so-called “setting-subject” were identified, with the term used in the sense of langacker (1991: 345-348). he points out that, as long as the subject is usually considered as “the most prominent clausal participant”, there are also cases in which the subject is not a participant, but an aspect of a setting. the most prototypical setting is “a spatial or temporal expanse”, as in thursday saw yet another startling development or independence hall has witnessed many historic events. example (7) below illustrates uses with the spatial setting construed as the subject of the profiled relationship. (7) [contrasting a vw polo gti with a peugeot 207 gt and a suzuki swift sport] w swifcie brakuje niestety osiowej regulacji in swift lacks unfortunately.adv axial regulation kierownicy, a to dzisiaj feler trudny steering-wheel.gen and this today defect difficult do zaakceptowania. nie pomaga możliwość zmiany to accept not helps possibility change.gen wysokości siedzenia height.gen seat.gen ‘the swift unfortunately lacks the function of the steering-wheel axle adjustment and it is a defect difficult to accept nowadays. it can’t be eliminated by the possibility of adjusting the height of the seat.’ http://wysokieobroty.moto.pl/auto/51,71357,4056687.html?i=9 last but not least, the corpus of niestety was examined in search of examples featuring nonspecific or generalized subjects, as well as examples with no subjects. according to langacker, it is frequently the case in the subjective construal that the subject’s role gradually decreases until, in some relationships, the subject no longer plays a role in affecting the relationship (see 1999:159162). in langacker’s words, subjects increase in non-specificity and become more and more generalized, which, taken to the extreme, qualifies as a case of ‘transparency’. english examples of this tendency provided by langacker include, among others, the so called “dummy” or “expletive” subjects, as in there is going to be another storm tonight, as well as highly grammaticized constructions in which a subject is no longer necessary at all, as in there may have been a serious breach of security, or tabs should have been kept on all those dissidents all along (1999:160ff). in polish, of course, by ‘no subject’ we mean those constructions which are overtly impersonal. this is in contrast to those cases where subjects are left unelaborated and are not given in the 18 crossroads. a journal of english studies actual sentences, which is not only frequent, but also symptomatic of both colloquial and formal polish. due to the inflectional character of the polish language, such subjects are easily identifiable. an illustration of a no subject construction from the corpus of niestety is given in (8), with the non-inflectional verb trzeba. other constructions classified as ‘no subject’ constructions include passive voice constructions, as well as the 3rd sg neutr construction, which, according to słoń (2007: 263) is characterized by obligatory non-elaboration of the inanimate instigator-agent. (8) [an excerpt from a column; the author, fed up with the anniversary-like repertoire of patriotic songs on the radio, films like black cross, memoirs of a geisha, and harry potter and tiresome discussions on television, longs for the literature of the interwar period] dwudziestolecie… niestety, trzeba czytać the.interwar.period unfortunately.adv must.imps read.inf ‘literature of the interwar period must be read … unfortunately’ http://stopklatka.pl/felietony/felieton.asp?f1i=200 in the study, non-specific subjects were identified in cases such as (9), where it is impossible to pin down the precise referent of to ‘it’ in the verbless sentence niestety, to już koniec wakacji. (9) [from an article; about children for whom it is hard to accept the news that the holidays are over] niestety, to już koniec wakacji unfortunately.adv it already end holidays.gen ‘unfortunately the holidays are drawing to an end’ http://sp-siercza.pl/koniec-wakacji.html the case of the 2nd sg impersonal construction in (10) is considered as having a generalized subject. although the notion of the addressee is evoked, the subject of the profiled relationship is non-specific. in this particular context, the message accompanying the picture has no particular addressee but it is directed at a larger group of internauts visiting the website. 19 crossroads. a journal of english studies (10) niestety, wciskając mocniej unfortunately.adv pressing.pcon.imperf stronger szybciej, nie pojedziesz faster not will.go.2sg.fin.perf ‘unfortunately, by pressing stronger, you won’t go faster.’ http://demotywatory.pl/135109/niestety/ the analysis of the corpus samples with niestety ‘unfortunately/ regrettably’ in the light of the factor of weakening of agent control leads to a number of observations. there are only 5 uses of the adverb with the subject in the role of a human agent, while the adverb is strongly biased towards types of construal low in agentivity. the corpus includes 3 constructions with non-specific subjects, 4 constructions with generalized subjects, and 9 constructions with no subjects. interestingly, niestety appears to be considerably influenced by the attenuation factor in view of the number of its uses with non-human instigator subjects and setting subjects: 13 and 10 such uses respectively. 4.3. fronting and widening of predicational scope the third factor employed in the study is fronting and widening of predicational scope. company observes that, in spite of their flexibility with regard to their position in the discourse, subjectified expressions tend to appear at the beginning of the utterance, while in some languages they also have a tendency to appear in the rightmost position (see 2006: 378f, see also traugott 2012). in the case of adverbs, fronting tendencies result in the widening of their scope, from over the word, or word-phrase, to sentential scope. in traugott’s approach, adverbs are classified into three types with respect to their position in the discourse and the structural path of change: verb adverbs (vadv), sentence, or inflectional phase, 20 crossroads. a journal of english studies adverbs (sadv)4, and discourse markers (dm). vadv typically occurs at the end of a clause, is often an adverb of manner, and has a clause-internal scope (see 1999: 177). according to traugott, the category is elsewhere described as adverbs of direction, manner, etc. sadv may occur “after complementizer or adjacent to the tensed verb” and its scope is over the clause (1999: 180). finally, the position of dm is outside complementizer while its scope is over the following complex structure. according to traugott, the process of subjectification underlies the development of adverbials in english, from vadvs being the least subjective, via sadvs, to the most subjective dms. while vadv modifies the event, sadv modifies the clause and dm modifies the “relationship between successive discourse units” (traugott 1999: 189). nevertheless, as traugott (1999: 180) argues, sadvs and dms need to be additionally distinguished on the basis of pragmatic differences between them rather than on the basis of their syntactic behavior only. she observes that the use of adverbs, especially of the sadv type, is influenced by the strategy of “counter-expectation” understood as: “the speaker’s expression of belief or point of view contrary to his/her own or their interlocutor’s expectations concerning the state of affairs in question” (traugott 1999: 178). additionally, counter-expectation is very often redundantly marked in those uses, for example by modals or adversatives like although (ibid.). as far as dms are concerned, traugott follows fraser (1988: 21f) in assuming them to “signal a comment specifying the type of sequential discourse relationship that holds between the current utterance… and the prior discourse” (1999: 181). also, using dancygier’s terminology (1992, after traugott 1999: 181), she views them as “metatextual” devices whose function is to indicate the speaker’s attitude to the text being constructed as well as to draw hearers’ attention to this attitude. in order to apply the factor of fronting and widening of predicational scope in the study of niestety ‘unfortunately/ regrettably’, its corpus was examined with respect to the occurrences of the adverb in question in various positions in the sentence. importantly, there were no verb modifier uses in the corpus, even though it is the most prototypical adverb position. at the same time, as many as 26 uses are uses in the role of sadv, which is illustrated by example (11): (11) [about the bird flu virush5n1, which, unlike in denmark and france, did not force the polish government to postpone the beginning of the new school year] nowa grypa nie przedłuży (niestety) wakacji new flu not prolong.fut unfortunately.adv holidays.gen ‘unfortunately, the new flu virus will not make the holidays any longer.’ 4 traugott (1999) herself uses the term inflectional phase adverb (ipadv) to refer to adverbs in this function. in my work, i choose to use the term sentence adverb (sadv), more universally used in literature (see hoye 1997), to refer to these adverbs. 21 crossroads. a journal of english studies http://rynekzdrowia.pl/choroby-zakazne/nowa-grypa-nie-przedluzy-niestety┐ -wakacji,9797,22.html niestety in (11) is regarded as a sadv on the grounds of its distribution after the complementizer. it has to be noted, however, that according to traugott, apart from their typical distribution, sadvs additionally exhibit the characteristics of “counter-expectation” (1999: 177f). drawing on her analysis of in fact she observes that speakers often “set up false scenarios and then show that the assumptions manifest in them are wrong and inappropriate to the occasion” (ibid.). it seems that the same strategy can be traced in the sadv uses of niestety. upon a closer look, the speaker in (11), presumably assuming the children’s viewpoint, sets up a hypothetical scenario according to which polish authorities decide to postpone the beginning of the school year because of the bird flu virush5n1, as was the case in some other countries. once such a scenario is created, the speaker expresses his/ her regret that it is not going to happen. it can also be the case that the interpretation of a given message is a result of the clash between the actual state of affairs and the expected norm, as in example (12) from the collected corpus. according to the speaker, these days we usually receive a warranty for a new car that we buy from a dealer. however, in the case of second-hand vehicles, we can only get a warranty for some of their spare parts. and what is more, garages do not have to provide a warranty for their services at all. clearly, the speaker is dissatisfied with this state of affairs, and he/ she would rather expect to receive a certified warranty for the services that he/she is paying for. (12) [from a press article; the author is complaining about the fact that, while car dealers give a warranty for new cars, and a limited warranty for second-hand cars, garages are not obliged to give a warranty for their services] gwarancja na usługę? niestety, nie zawsze. warranty on service.acc unfortunately.adv not always ‘service warranty? unfortunately, not always’. http://dziennik.pl/auto/article39415/gwarancja_na_usluge_niestety_nie_zawsze┐ .html as for discourse markers (dms), like in the case of sadvs, they can be differentiated on the basis of their syntactic behaviour. it is the distribution of niestety in (13) that qualifies it as a dm, in line with traugott who claims that dms are syntactically restricted to positions outside complementizer (1999: 177-184). at the same time, they are metatextual devices to express speakers’ attitudes toward both the current and the prior discourse. additionally, adverbs in this position signal a degree of contrast and often elaborate and clarify the ideas from the preceding context. 22 crossroads. a journal of english studies traugott believes that the strategy of counter-expectation is much weaker in the case of dms than in the case of sadv, but it can nevertheless be traced. this contrast typical of dms, as well as the clarification of the prior discourse, seems apparent in (13), as the adverb evokes a negative meaning itself. the idyllic picture of the baltic seaside that is like the riviera is quickly shattered at the mention of the climate changes that are to bring adverse and inevitable effects. (13) riwiera nad bałtykiem i słodkie wina riviera at the baltic and sweet wines z polskich winnic? niestety, zmiany klimatu from polish vineyards unfortunately.adv changes climate.gen będą miały cierpki smak. jeśli sądzisz, że zmiany will have tart taste if think.2sg that changes klimatu będą dla nas dobre, nowy raport banku climate.gen will.be for us good new report bank.gen światowego wyprowadzi cię z błędu. world.adj lead.out.3sg.fut you from mistake ‘the riviera at the baltic sea and sweet wines from polish vineyards? unfortunately, the climate changes will taste tart. if you think that the climate changes will be good for us, the new report of the world bank will show that you are mistaken.’ http://dlaklimatu.pl/riwiera-nad-baltykiem-i-slodkie the message conveyed in example (5) quoted in section 4.2 is similar. the focus is reported to be equipped with some technical solutions that should satisfy the potential customers. and yet, as the author of the car review points out, it is not free of drawbacks such as being loud at higher speed. apart from the sentence-initial position in which adverbs like niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’ are used in polish, they are likely to appear in the rightmost position5; there are 4 such instances in the present corpus. niestety in this position is an after-comment to the preceding discourse, as in example (14). often, the adverb is an additional comment, contrastive to what may normally be expected. clearly, the adverb in this position has a sentential scope. 5 this is also observed in spanish (see company 2006). 23 crossroads. a journal of english studies (14) [about bartłomiej adamczuk’s diploma design of a new widzew stadium] kibice widzewa mogą o takim pomarzyć. supporters widzew.gen can.pl.pres of such dream.inf niestety unfortunately.adv ‘the supporters of widzew can only dream of such a stadium. unfortunately.’ http://stadiony.net/news.php?n=1446 5. marker of intersubjectivity there is one corpus example, here given in (15), which does not fall in any of the categories described in the previous section. in this example, niestety stands alone and is both the title of a photograph and a comment on the state of affairs depicted in the photo, undoubtedly expressing the attitude of the speaker towards this state of affairs. (15) niestety unfortunately.adv ‘unfortunately’ http://patrz.pl/zdjecia/niestety upon a closer look, niestety in (15) is prone to be interpreted as expressing ridicule and contempt of the speaker for the driver of the car. it is not difficult to arrive at these interpretations even though no linguistic context is provided apart from niestety. the question can be posed of how it is possible that a speaker who ridicules and negatively assesses the lack of imagination of the driver of the car in the photo uses the adverb niestety ‘unfor24 crossroads. a journal of english studies tunately/regrettably’ to express his attitude. the state of affairs in question can be found unfortunate only if the speaker assumes the perspective of the owner of the car. the owner, or the driver of the car, may be considered a potential hearer, whereas assuming his/her perspective results in an intersubjective reading, even if only to create a pun. the intersubjectivity of this particular case is contextually driven (see section 2), the context being the photograph itself. a clearer case of an intersubjectified use of niestety is example (16) in which the speaker, apparently glad that he/she is right, says niestety as if on behalf of the addressee. this in itself illustrates the process of intersubjectification, as described by traugott (2010; see section 3). (16) niestety (ale) mam rację. unfortunately.adv (but) have.1sg.pres rightness.acc ‘unfortunately, i’m right.’ although (16) is a constructed example, polish allows for such uses. consider the words of witold waszczykowski, polish minister of foreign affairs, quoted in wpolityce.pl. schetyna is the leader of the biggest opposition party in poland nowadays. they call themselves “total opposition”. in view of this, it is impossible to assume that waszczykowski regrets that schetyna is not telling the truth. quite the opposite, niestety in this utterance only makes sense if we assume the perspective of schetyna himself and other members of the opposition party. (17) [part of an interview with minister of foreign affairs, witold waszczykowski, in which he denied the words of grzegorz schetyna about barack obama rejecting the proposal of meeting president andrzej duda; he explains that no such meeting was being planned in the first place] no niestety, muszę powiedzieć well unfortunately.adv must.1sg say że pan schetyna kłamie. that mr schetyna is lying. ‘well, unfortunately, i have to say that mr schetyna is lying.’ http://wpolityce.pl/polityka/286855-waszczykowski-niestety-musze-powiedziec-ze┐ -pan-schetyna-klamie-prezydent-obama-nie-odmowil-zadnego-spotkania some usages of niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’ in polish may suggest that speakers are aware that they do not speak on their own behalf. you sometimes hear polish speakers say a non25 crossroads. a journal of english studies existent word stety ‘fortunately’ in order to, as if, correct themselves right after they use niestety. it seems that this need of self-correction arises when speakers realize that the niestety that they say does not express their own point of view but somebody else’s. this is the case in (18) where niestety may be associated with the point of view of either all the citizens of the european union, or those citizens who support the idea of the eu. (18) [tomasz kalinowski, the press secretary of onr, for republika tv (2nd may 2017)] unia europejska będzie niestety, znaczy european union will.be unfortunately.adv mean.3sg.pres *stety, odchodziła do lamusa. *fortunately go.3sg.fem.pres to junk.room.gen ‘the european union will be, unfortunatelyi mean, fortunatelygoing out of date.’ the two uses of niestety in (19) below are quoted after miodek (2000), who considers these sentences as ill-formed, which, as he explains, is a result of the users of polish becoming less and less sensitive to the semantic values of the words they use these days. (19) (a) kiedy widzi policjanta, niestety when see.3sg policeman unfortunately.adv zdejmuje nogę z gazu. remove.3sg leg.acc from accelerator.gen ‘when he sees a policeman, he unfortunately takes his foot off the accelerator.’ (b) niestety, już jesteś zdrów, unfortunately.adv already are.2sg healthy jutro idziesz do szkoły. tomorrow go.2sg to school ‘unfortunately, you are no longer sick. you are going to school tomorrow.’ 26 crossroads. a journal of english studies according to miodek, the words of a policeman in (19a) only make sense if we assume that the policeman finds it unfortunate that he misses a chance to give the driver a ticket for exceeding the speed limit. in (19b), miodek points out that it was actually a happy mother whom he heard uttering these words. in both cases, we need to reconsider the described state of affairs from a perspective other than that of the speaker, the perspective of the addressee in case (19b), and only then the use of niestety seems justified. examples (16)-(17), and probably (19), should be regarded as cases of intersubjectification, in line with traugott (2010), for whom it naturally emerges from subjectification (see the discussion in section 3). at the same time, the fact that such uses of niestety are not necessarily attested in standard polish may suggest that their intersubjectification is pragmatically inferential and not conventionalized, and therefore it is not a case of semanticization. the corpus of niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’ in the present study clearly contains cases indicating the process of intersubjectification. most frequently, intersubjective readings were identified in the context of first persons plural, as example (20) illustrates. (20) nasze długi, niestety rosną. our debts unfortunately.adv grow coraz trudniej polakom spłacać swoje more.and.more difficult poles.dat pay their zadłużenie wobec banków, zakładów energetycznych, debt to banks.gen electricity boards.gen spółdzielni mieszkaniowych czy firm telekomunikacyjnych. housing associations. gen or telecommunications companies. gen ‘our debts are unfortunately growing. it is becoming more and more difficult for poles to pay their debts to the banks, electricity boards, housing associations, or telecommunications companies.’ http://mkredyty.net/wiadomosci/banki/nasze-dlugi-niestety-rosna nasze długi ‘our debts’ and niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’ in the first sentence in (20) signal the attitude of the speaker toward a state of affairs: while it is open to question whether the speaker is indebted himself/herself, he/she talks about the indebtedness of the community that he/she is a member of with sympathy. the intersubjective reading becomes more evident in the context of the second utterance, where the speaker speaks of the polish who find it more and more difficult to pay their debts these days. niestety expresses an evaluation of the state of affairs in question not 27 crossroads. a journal of english studies only from the speaker’s own perspective, but also from the perspective of the addressee who, just like him/her, belongs to the community of polish people. in the analyzed corpora, it is possible to identify about 15 cases of intersubjective uses of niestety.6 apparently, niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’ can undergo the process of intersubjectification. however, the uses in the corpus of this study suggest that intersubjective interpretations of the adverb are contextually driven, rather than a result of the fully-fledged subjectification. at the same time, the research method applied does not allow the identification of cases of extreme intersubjectification leading to semanticization (see the discussion in section 3). 6. summary the article presented the results of an analysis of the adverb niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’ conducted on the corpus data which secured a high representativeness of the samples with respect to the styles and registers in which the adverb was used. the three factors employed in the study, proposed by company (2006) and used by her in the study of spanish adverbs, proved to be reliable tools for the examination of the processes underlying the development of subjective and intersubjective senses of niestety. the analysis of the corpus data has led to a number of conclusions: 1. the samples reveal that the subjectification and intersubjectification of niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’ is manifested in the occurrence of the adverb in contexts indicating prosodic independence and syntactic isolation. 2. in view of the factor of weakening of agent control, niestety shows a strong bias towards types of construal low in agentivity. while the adverb can be used, for instance, with human subjects, such uses are scarce. at the same time, niestety most frequently appears with non-agentive and diffuse subjects. in this way, the subjectification of niestety can be traced on the synchronic level, which is in line with langacker’s (1999) claims that attenuation in subject control is a phenomenon relevant for the study of grammaticalization. 3. the uses of niestety as sadv and dm are constrained syntactically as well as pragmatically. traugott’s observations concerning the influence of the strategy of counter-expectation on the development of sadv and dm uses of in fact can be successfully extended to account for the development of niestety in polish. 4. moreover, niestety is frequently used as a marker of intersubjectivity, which emerges naturally from its subjectified senses. the corpus uses suggest, however, that the intersubjective interpretations of the adverb are contextually driven, rather than a result of a fully-fledged subjectification, whereas the method applied in the study does not allow the identification of cases of extreme subjectification leading to semanticization. all things considered, niestety ‘unfortunately/regrettably’ always expresses the degree of the speaker’s emotional 6 the whole study showed that only six intersubjective uses can be detected in the corpus of na szczęście (lit. on.prep fortune.acc), while the corpus of szczęśliwie ‘happily/fortunately’ was practically devoid of intersubjective readings. 28 crossroads. a journal of english studies assessment of the state of affairs in question, while its different senses are indicative of pragmatic polysemy (traugott 1999: 180).7 5. the case of niestety shows that together with its increase in subjectification, the adverb is becoming restricted syntactically to positions enhancing its propositional scope. the samples indicate the gradualness of the process of subjectification. as traugott claims, subjectification, being mainly diachronic in nature, on the synchronic level may result in “layerings of less or more subjective meanings for the same lexical item or construction” (1999: 188). references bańkowski, andrzej. 2000. etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego. warszawa: pwn. company, company concepción. 2006. zero in syntax, ten in pragmatics: subjectification as syntactic cancellation. in: athanasiadou, angeliki, canakis costas and bert cornillie (eds.), subjectification. various paths to subjectivity, 375-397. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. de haan, ferdinand. 2006. typological approaches to modality. in: frawley, william (ed.), the expression of modality, 27-69. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. dancygier, barbara. 1992. two metatextual operators: negation and conditionality in english and polish. proceedings from the 18th annual meeting of the berkeley linguistics society, 61-75. evans, vyvyan and melanie green. 2006. cognitive linguistics: an introduction. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. fraser, bruce. 1988. types of english discourse markers. acta linguistica hungarica 38, 19-33. grzegorczykowa, renata. 2008. wykłady z polskiej składni. warszawa: pwn. hoye, leo. 1997. adverbs and modality in english. london/new york: longman. kozarzewska, emilia. 1990. czasowniki mówienia we współczesnym języku polskim. studium semantyczno-składniowe. warszawa: wydawnictwa uniwersytetu warszawskiego. krzyżanowski, piotr. 1992. fleksja rzeczownika jako środek wyrażania wartości w języku polskim. in: falkenberg, gabriel, fries norbert and jadwiga puzynina (eds.), wartościowanie w języku i tekście, na materiale polskim i niemieckim, 279284. warszawa: wydawnictwa uniwersytetu warszawskiego. langacker, ronald w. 1989. subjectification. duisburg: l.a.u.d. langacker, ronald w. 1991. foundations of cognitive grammar. vol. 2. descriptive application. stanford: stanford university press. langacker, ronald w. 1999. losing control: grammaticization, subjectification, and transparency. in: blank, andreas and peter koch (eds.), historical semantics and cognition, 147-175. berlin/ new york: mouton de gruyter. 7 traugott assumes that polysemy may be both semantic and pragmatic. consequently, she regards the distinctions between sadvs and dms uses of in fact as polysemous. 29 crossroads. a journal of english studies milewska, małgorzata. 2003. rzeczowniki ekspresywne na –isko w języku polskim i górnołużyckim. in: pstryga, alicja (ed.), wokół struktury słowa, 63-71. gdańsk: wydawnictwa uniwersytetu gdańskiego. miodek, jan. 2000. rozmyślajcie nad mową – niestety. wiedza i życie 2. http://archiwum.wiz┐ .pl/2000/00021100.asp (22 october 2009). nuyts, jan. 1994. epistemic modal qualifications: on their linguistic and conceptual structure. antwerp papers in linguistics 81. nuyts, jan. 2005. the modal confusion: on terminology and concepts behind it. in: klinge, alex and henrik høeg müller (eds.), modality: studies in form and function, 1-38. london: equinox. nuyts, jan. 2006. modality: overview and linguistic issues. in: frawley, william (ed.), the expression of modality, 1-26. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. piórkowska, agnieszka. 2011. on the margins of the modality category: the case of boulomaic modality. a cognitive study. unpublished phd dissertation, university of warsaw. rybarczyk, magdalena. 2015. demonstratives and possessives with attitude. an  intersubjectively -oriented empirical study. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins publishing company. słoń, anna. 2007. the ‘impersonal’ impersonal construction in polish. in: divjak, dagmar and agata kochańska (eds.), cognitive paths into the slavic domain, 257-287. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. szymanek, bogdan. 2010. a panorama of polish word-formation. lublin: wydawnictwo kul. traugott, elizabeth c. 1989. on the rise of epistemic meanings in english: an example of subjectification in semantic change. language 65(1), 31-55. traugott, elizabeth c. 1999. the rhetoric of counter-expectation in semantic change: a study in subjectification. in: blank, andreas and peter koch (eds.), historical semantics and cognition, 177-196. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. traugott, elizabeth c. 2010. (inter)subjectivity and (inter)subjectification: a reassessment. in: davidse, kristin, vandelanotte lieven and hubert cuyckens (eds.), subjectification, intesubjectification, and grammaticalization, 29-74. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. traugott, elizabeth c. 2012. intersubjectification and clause periphery. english text construction 5(1), 7-28. taylor, john e. and kam-yiu s. pang. 2008. seeing as though. english language and linguistics 12(1), 103-139. the giants beneath: cultural memory and literature in kazuo ishiguro’s the buried giant 30 crossroads. a journal of english studies sylwia borowska-szerszun university of białystok the giants beneath: cultural memory and literature in kazuo ishiguro’s the buried giant abstract. drawing on the approaches of discussing the concept of memory within literary studies, as delineated by erll and nünning (2005), this paper examines the buried giant by kazuo ishiguro as a site of ‘memory of literature’ and as a ‘medium of cultural memory’. reworking the well-known cultural motif of quest, ishiguro’s novel also evokes associations with the medieval literary tradition, especially sir gawain and the green knight, and contemporary fantasy literature, understood as a mode of writing rather than a formula. it is also argued that by referring to a fictional past of arthurian romances rather than historiography, the novel comments on the role of literature in creating cultural remembrance, becoming a specific metaphor of its processes. keywords: kazuo ishiguro, the buried giant, memory of literature, cultural memory, fantasy, j.r.r. tolkien, sir gawain and the green knight. ten years before the publication of the buried giant, kazuo ishiguro, who had written five novels by then, was described by peter childs as an author concerned “with individuals scanning their pasts for clues to their sense of identity, loss, or abandonment” (23). in a more recent study wojciech drąg observes that the narrators of ishiguro’s novels are motivated to revisit their pasts by the following desires: to tell about their loss, to forget or deny it, or to return to the time before the traumatic experience (2-3). in all his novels ishiguro revisits the theme of memory, and he seems to be as fascinated and haunted with it as his narrators are with their past experiences. he does not, however, refrain from experimenting with different literary genres, employing the conventions of the detective novel in when we were orphans (2000), science fiction and dystopia in never let me go (2005), and fantasy in the buried giant (2015). this combination of thematic consistency and openness towards various literary traditions draws attention to the relationship between memory and literature, suggesting their inherent interconnectedness. as a novel that focuses not only on individual but also collective past, the buried giant is indebted to the genre of fantasy, which in j.r.r. tolkien’s understanding of its foundations draws so much of its inspiration from earlier literary and non-literary phenomena and is essentially mythopoeic. 10.15290/cr.2016.15.4.03 31 crossroads. a journal of english studies the concept of memory, both individual and collective, has been examined over the last few decades from a variety of angles, proving that the field of memory studies is open to contributions from many different disciplines. this interdisciplinary character of research on memory is evident in a collection of essays edited by astrid erll and ansgar nünning (2008), in which various methodological perspectives and practices meet to examine the concept of cultural memory – an umbrella term used to refer to “the interplay of present and past in socio-cultural contexts” (erll 2008, 2). as one of the media in which memory can be ‘stored’ and through which it can be transmitted, literature has obviously played an important role in the representation of the past – from individual experiences to national history. a literary text, therefore, can be seen as a specific way of memory-making, contributing significantly to the ways in which the past is constructed. in fact, both literature and memory rely on similar processes of selecting, organizing and arranging individual elements to form a coherent whole, and these similarities include “the forming of condensed ‘memory’ figures and a tendency towards creating meaning through narrativization and genre patterns” (erll 2011, 145). these peculiar meeting points can be examined in a more systematic way according to erll and nünning (2005), who propose three approaches to discuss the notion of memory within the field of literary studies. these can be broadly characterized as 1) memory in literature, 2) memory of literature, 3) and literature as a medium of cultural memory. the first of these problems, also referred to as the “mimesis of memory” (erll and nünning 2005, 265), i.e. the representation of the nature, workings and functions of memory in literary texts, has been examined in the present issue by edyta lorek-jezińska, who focuses on the psychological processes of remembering and forgetting traumatic experiences and their ethical dimensions in ishiguro’s novel. however, the title metaphor of the ‘buried giant’ seems to refer not only to the repressed traumatic memory, which constitutes the main theme of the narrative, but also to the foundations that lie beneath its structural framework. this article, therefore, aims to examine the other ‘giants’ lurking beneath the surface of ishiguro’s novel, which consciously plays with and reworks earlier literary traditions, including mythical, medieval and fantasy narratives, to reveal its preoccupation with the ways literature participates in the processes of cultural remembrance. memory of literature if literature can metaphorically possess its own memory, literary texts can ‘remember’ other texts. examining the memory of literature can thus focus on the recurrence of topoi and various intertextual relations as well as on the development of literary genres, perceived as repositories of cultural memory, which is in turn shaped by them. importantly, the memory of literature does not rely on passive transmission as writing is “both an act of memory and a new interpretation, by which every new text is etched into memory space” (lachman, 301). such an approach to fiction is evident in the buried giant, which incorporates a number of well-recognized cultural motifs within its structure, as well as evokes associations with medieval literary tradition and resonates with contemporary fantasy literature. 32 crossroads. a journal of english studies probably the most prominent of the motifs reworked by ishiguro is the pattern of quest in its three interrelated manifestations. the first quest is undertaken by an elderly couple, axl and beatrice, to find their son, rediscover memories and, ultimately, face death. the second one belongs to wistan, a virile saxon warrior sent by his king to kill the she-dragon, named querig, whose magical breath literally causes the mist that takes away people’s memories. by slaying her, wistan aims to remove the veil of oblivion from the community that has forgotten the traumatic experience of war, or rather ethnic cleansing executed by arthurian knights against the saxons. the last quest is an ambiguous mission of sir gawain, entrusted to him by king arthur, to protect the dragon, whose lasting presence on the one hand causes amnesia, but on the other one ensures relative peace in a society which has forgotten its painful past. such an organization of the plot clearly derives from mythological narratives, whose fundamental structure has been identified and defined by joseph campbell as monomyth – the universal pattern of mythological adventure or hero’s journey, which can be divided into three key stages of separation (or departure), initiation, and return. in numerous myths worldwide, campbell observes, “[a] hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man” (28). in this optimistic pattern of myth and fairy-tale, adopted in both medieval chivalric romances and numerous contemporary fantasy novels, the adventures of the hero in the fantastic realm are crucial to his spiritual, moral, or emotional development and eventually result in the well-being of the community at microcosmic and/or macrocosmic levels (cf. campbell, 33). in the buried giant the basic pattern of monomyth is followed. the characters roam their way in pursuit of their goals while certain features of the semantically significant landscape stir their memories, bringing back chaotic recollections that are made sense of only at the end of the journey. yet the novel stands in a dialogic relationship to the traditional narratives rather than repeats or recounts them, especially in its ambiguous depiction of the results of the accomplishment of the quest. axl and beatrice fail to achieve the initial purpose of their mission as their son turns out to be long dead, but they do regain memories of their life together, including its harshest moments – beatrice’s unfaithfulness to her husband, axl’s subsequent anger, and the couple’s reconciliation, which results from covering the problem with a veil of silence rather than forgiveness. this personal buried ‘giant’ leads to the suppression of another trauma when axl, out of vengeance, prevents both of them from visiting the grave of their son and mourning his death: “it was just foolishness and pride. and whatever else lurks in the depths of a man’s heart. perhaps it was a craving to punish, sir. i spoke and acted forgiveness, yet kept locked through long years some small chamber in my heart that yearned for vengeance” (ishiguro, 357). the “small chamber” in his heart, where the grudge has been secretly buried for years, is finally opened upon querig’s death, and axl discovers that in the course of time, without even realizing that, he has finally managed to forgive his wife: “and i think now it’s no single thing changed my heart, but it was gradually won back by the years shared between us... a wound that healed slowly, but heal it did” (ishiguro, 357). ishiguro’s 33 crossroads. a journal of english studies message that time heals all wounds verges on the banal here; and yet the conclusion of the novel challenges reading his narrative as a truly “eucatastrophic tale”12, which is for tolkien “the true form of fairy-tale,” whose most important function is to give readers “the joy of the happy ending” and consolation (2006a, 153). no such solace is offered here. having regained their memories and granted each other forgiveness, axl and beatrice are not true winners, and their victory brings little change to their fate. no matter how strong their love has proved to be, they cannot undertake the final journey together. the passage to the otherworld, envisioned in the novel as a mysterious island, where everyone “walks … alone, his neighbours unseen and unheard” (ishiguro, 350), cannot be shared. and so the novel closes with the image of a ferryman, whose name is never uttered but could be charon (greek mythology), manannán (irish mythology) or urshanabi (mesopotamian mythology), ferrying beatrice to the island while axl remains on the shore alone. just as the quest, marriage and life end, the story reaches its conclusion, leaving readers with sadness rather than joy. the implications of wistan accomplishing the quest do not provide eucatastrophe either, which is emphasized by the image of the hero himself, who appears “overwhelmed and not in the least triumphant” (ishiguro, 338) upon slaying the dragon. although his belief in his mission is genuine and the reader is led to admit that “old wounds [cannot] heal while the maggots linger so richly” (ishiguro, 327), the victory seems hollow. there is nothing heroic in his clash with querig, which is sketched as a creature on the verge of death rather than a terrifying monster: her posture – prone head twisted to one side, limbs outspread – might easily have resulted from her corpse being hurled into the pit from a height. in fact it took a moment to ascertain this was a dragon at all: she was so emaciated she looked more some worm-like reptile accustomed to water that had mistakenly come aground and was in the process of dehydrating... the remnants of her wings were sagging folds of skin that a careless glance might have taken for dead leaves accumulated to either side of her. (ishiguro, 325) here again, ishiguro consciously diverts from a dragon-slayer narrative, which is typically based on a combination of the following elements: a fight to free a woman (e.g. the legend of saint george), a struggle for treasure (e.g. fafnir in norse mythology), and a battle to save the slayer’s people (e.g. beowulf ). this departure serves to highlight the inherent ambiguity of the construction of querig – a dragon that paradoxically embodies the power and perils of forgetting simultaneously. in ishiguro’s take on the tale, the princess is freed from amnesia and given back her recollections but has to die anyway; the treasure of memories turns out to be a heavy burden; and the act of slaying the dragon is doomed to bring chaos not peace. although one monster is killed, another one, probably even more ominous, is awoken: 12 tolkien understands eucatastrophe as a ‘good catastrophe’, i.e. an unexpected turn of events at the end of a story that appears to be doomed to a tragic ending. it prevents the unfortunate fate of the protagonist and offers joy, often mixed with tears. for tolkien eucatastrophe does not exclude the possibility of sorrow or failure, yet ultimately constitutes a happy ending, and offers consolation, relief and a glimpse of truth about the nature of things (tolkien 2006a, 153-154). 34 crossroads. a journal of english studies the giant, once well-buried, now stirs. when soon he rises, as surely he will, the friendly bonds between us will prove as knots young girls make with the stems of small flowers. men will burn their neighbours’ houses by night. hang children from trees at dawn. the rivers will stink with corpses bloated from their days of voyaging. (ishiguro, 340) it is implied over and over again that while keeping querig alive prevents justice and covers up the atrocities of war, killing her will result in perpetuating the cycle of violence and vengeance, rather than reconciliation. thus, employing the pattern of myth or fairy tale serves to provide neither comfort nor a straightforward answer, but poses a difficult question about when to silence and when to confront the past. the once-upon-a-time, allegorical setting of the novel is in fact a conscious attempt to shift the focus of the narrative from personal to social past and from individual to collective memory. as a result, ishiguro’s tale refrains from pointing to any historical genocide and trauma, but simultaneously encompasses all of them within its scope. in terms of emotional involvement, the buried giant distances the readers from the characters, sketched as everyman figures, actants rather than acteurs in algirdas julien greimas’ nomenclature, and yet it appeals to our perception of fairy tales as stories of universal significance and derives its power from them. ‘remembering’ sir gawain and the green knight still, the text that the buried giant ‘remembers’ particularly well is the late fourteenth-century chivalric romance sir gawain and the green knight – a source of inspiration to which ishiguro openly admits in an interview with lorien kite, referring in particular to the passages that describe the wanderings of sir gawain: “i particularly liked the fact that ogres were mentioned just in passing, as though they were like untamed bulls, an everyday hazard that gawain had to contend with.” the treatment of the fantastic element in the novel is indeed more akin to the handling of the matter by the gawain poet, who simply observes “so many were the wonders he wandered among / that to tell but the tenth part would tax my wits” (ll. 718-719), than to the conventions adopted by contemporary fantasy novelists, for whom creating a convincing and elaborate detailed fictional world is usually a task of prime importance. in sir gawain the  marvels and wonders are taken for granted as a natural setting of arthurian britain (ll. 24-25), becoming a part of its founding myth. likewise, in the buried giant ogres, pixies, and dragons are a part of the world, yet no explanation of their existence or provenance is given, as if they personified what is unknown and inexplicable with no need for further details. like the gawain poet, who as tolkien observes, “was not interested in the fairy-tale or in romance for their own sake” (2006b, 97), ishiguro is not concerned with fantasy for the sake of the fantastic. it is interesting, in fact, that some reflections made by tolkien about sir gawain in his lecture read like a valid commentary on ishiguro’s novel as well13. 13 this is not to suggest that tolkien’s lecture could have been among ishiguro’s inspirations, but to reveal a similar sensitivity of both authors, manifesting itself in their approach to the source materials that are creatively reshaped 35 crossroads. a journal of english studies one of tolkien’s observations on sir gawain, which can be applied to the buried giant, is that it is a “rooted” work “made of tales often told before and elsewhere, and of elements that derive from remote times, beyond the vision or awareness of the poet” (2006b, 72). yet, such a rooted work never merely repeats the plots, motifs and symbols, but employs them to convey ideas important for a new audience, “the changed minds of a later time” (2006b, 72), which can differ considerably from those that have originally produced them. this comment seems to be crucial to grasp the nature of the correspondences and echoes in which these works are entangled. although the gawain poet inherits the chivalric tradition of the high middle ages together with “the air of the faerie” (tolkien 2006b, 83) and assumes a certain familiarity of his audience with the subject matter of arthurian romances of chrétien de troyes, the narrative is not based on a single french original, but combines elements of different sources (burrow, 79-80). despite recalling this earlier tradition, sir gawain is a product of its own times and engages in the late medieval process of “morally corrective reworking” (gilbert, 161), inviting both gawain and the audience to reconsider the nature of courtly games and chivalric tests. according to tolkien’s interpretation of the poem, the whole tale is fashioned to depict a dilemma, structured as temptation and faced by the protagonist, who must choose between courtesy and christian morality. violating the rules of the courtly exchange game imposed by lord bertilak, who finally turns out to be the green knight himself, through accepting the green girdle from lady bertilak, gawain manages to refrain from adultery and keeps to the ‘real’ christian virtues, coming to understand that the rules of courtesy are not crucial for salvation (tolkien 2006b, 89-95). yet, there seems to be a certain ambiguity inherent in the poem that causes the ongoing critical discussion about its meaning. after all, gawain himself is ashamed of his deceitful act and returns to camelot wearing the girdle as a sign of his cowardice and failure to keep the promise given to lord bertilak. in the buried giant, sir gawain, the protector of the dragon and collective amnesia, is an aged shadow of his fourteenth-century self – a geriatric knight wearing armour that is “frayed and rusted”, in a tunic that “once white now showed repeating mending”, with “several long strands of snowy hair [that] fluttered from an otherwise bald head” (ishiguro, 119), which contrasts sharply with the figure of the young and vigorous knight glistening in red armour from the original. supposed to keep peace by suppressing memory of the atrocities of war, his mission is, nevertheless, doomed to failure, which the readers are made to realize the moment they juxtapose his image with that of the virile wistan. ishiguro’s gawain does not wear a girdle that implies a diminution of his knightly virtues, yet the ambiguity of his moral code is well rendered in the two chapters that contain his “reveries”, expressed as a first-person interior monologue, and distinct from the remaining part of the narrative in their stream of consciousness quality. the reveries reveal sir gawain to hold more memories than any other character of the novel, even though his recollections are chaotic and not structured into a coherent narrative. he is depicted as recalling his active participation in the genocide of the saxons and seeing this act as the only way of preventing further war, yet a part of for the needs of their narratives. 36 crossroads. a journal of english studies him does not want to admit the truth, even when he is openly accused of murdering the innocents. “a slaughterer of babes. is that what we were that day?” (ishiguro, 244), he wonders. relying on a certain arbitrariness fundamental to the original poem itself, ishiguro’s reworking of the gawain figure illustrates the author’s tendency to explore the problem central to his narrative from a variety of perspectives. ishiguros’s gawain is a loyal knight determined to fulfil his mission even in the face of death, but his attitude raises questions about whether his loyalty has been appropriately invested and whether his cause is indeed worth fighting for. there is also weariness in sir gawain, who fathoms the futility of his task and senses that his forthcoming duel with wistan will inevitably result in his own death. the chapters devoted to his reveries purposefully stand out from the rest of the buried giant in terms of the narrative mode, which mirrors the flow of the protagonist’s thoughts. as such they illustrate one more aspect of memory making. if the journey of axl and beatrice can be interpreted as a quest for one’s own identity that requires dealing with individual traumatic experience, and the mission of wistan as looking for justice and historical truth that has been suppressed, gawain’s main goal seems to be to rationalize the violence committed in the past. the reveries, therefore, shift the emphasis from the depiction of psychological processes typical for victims who need to regain their past, to those employed by the perpetrators of violence to justify its use. the fantasy mode the relationship of the buried giant with the tradition of fantasy literature should be perceived not as adherence to the rules established in the popular literature genre, but rather as a (re)discovery of its potential for spreading the memory of literature akin to tolkien’s creative strategies. as works written by a philologist and medievalist, tolkien’s own novels are also immensely ‘rooted’ and imaginatively draw on a wide range of scandinavian myths and sagas as well as on old english and medieval literature to shape meanings for twentieth-century minds. more importantly, however, at the heart of his creative approach, underlying the hobbit, the lord of the rings, and the silmarillion, lies the concept of “sub-creation”, i.e. the process of building a secondary world (with its myths, history, and geography) so consistent and coherent that it would command secondary belief (tolkien 2006a, 139-140). in this context, the author of fantasy becomes a sub-creator, whose fictional world-building emulates the primary act of creation performed by god, and as such can offer recovery, or “regaining of a clear view” (tolkien 2006a, 146), enabling its readers to avoid cognitive stereotypes and rediscover the marvels and wonders of the primary reality. tolkien’s mythopoeic activity is also aimed at providing escape, which is not simply ‘escapist’ but understood as turning away from the problems of modernity (progress, mechanization, mass production, death) and directing attention towards the values of the past (communion with nature, stable order of moral values, immorality) (2006a, 151-152). thus, his works lovingly embrace the fantastic to tell tales of courage and fellowship, temptation and resistance, fate and free will, sin and redemption, and above all hope. tolkien’s grand project has definitely redefined the conventions of the fantastic literature, becoming a prototypical centre for numerous followers – some of whom limited themselves to the 37 crossroads. a journal of english studies nearly mechanical repetition of tropes and motifs while others proposed alternative and often polemical solutions. by the time of the publication of the buried giant, fantasy had become a popular genre, divided into numerous subgenres, theorized, and academically examined. kazuo ishiguro’s venture into this territory has caused a stir, inspiring a considerable discussion on the status of fantasy literature in relation to literary fiction, and made the author himself unsure of the reception of the novel: “will readers follow me into this? will they understand what i’m trying to do, or will they be prejudiced against the surface elements? are they going to say this is fantasy?” (quoted in alter). these doubts seem to imply that ishiguro intuitively attempts to go beyond the surface elements of fantasy, aiming for something deeper and more all-encompassing. rejecting the concept of ‘fantasy as formula’ that is defined by brian attebery as a certain commercial storytelling recipe “restricted in scope, recent in origin, and specialized in audience appeal” (2), whose success depends on predictability and consistency with other works marketed as such, the author of the buried giant fully embraces ‘fantasy as a mode’ that takes in “all literary manifestations of the imagination’s ability to soar above the merely possible” (2), originally created as collective literature, whose symbols were shared by whole societies and cultures. consequently, his novel may disappoint the readers accustomed to the high fantasy or epic fantasy strategies that have come to rely on elaborate world-building, fast-moving action, detailed descriptions of sword-fights, and magic. despite this the buried giant remains surprisingly close to the tradition of story-telling that lies at the heart of sir gawain and tolkien’s narratives, deriving its power from being rooted in earlier tales and yet telling them anew and shifting the emphasis to engage in moral or philosophical questions that preoccupy their teller. while sir gawain employs the formula of a romance to study temptation on a plane of christian morality, lord of the rings examines the temptation to submit to the corruptive power symbolized by the one ring. the buried giant, in turn, is fashioned to offer questions – rather than answers – on the temptation to forget, and explores moral and psychological themes we are more accustomed to being addressed by realistic or autobiographical novels and memoirs. the intended vagueness of the novel contrasts sharply with tolkienian mythopoeic sub-creation, implying perhaps that ishiguro strives for creating disbelief, rather than secondary belief. consequently, the buried giant offers neither escape nor consolation, and if any clear view is regained or recovered on reading the novel, it concerns the innate ambiguity of all narratives that pertain to the past, exposing the strategy of silencing certain voices to highlight others. literature as a medium of memory the choice of the novel’s structural framework, derived from myth, fairy tale and medieval romance, seems particularly suited for exploring the issues pertaining to collective memory, which is after all perpetuated through literature as well. by referring to the legendary matter of britain, as reflected in the fourteenth-century poem rather than historiography, the buried giant seems to draw attention to the fictionalising aspect of memory-making. the manner in which ishiguro adopts the elements for his tale mirrors the way both individual and collective memories are made. in the last chapter of the story it turns out that the narrator of the tale is the nameless ferryman, 38 crossroads. a journal of english studies the timeless death figure, who pieces the story together from the confessions of people he takes to the otherworld, represented in the novel by axl and beatrice. the boatman is the only person who can see the whole picture and give his tale at least a veneer of objectivity, which implies that no matter how important the memories are for individual identity, they will always remain subjective, fragmentary, and different from the collective ones, recorded as history. taking into account that creating any narrative is a selective process, the reader is led to conclude that both individual experiences and collective past are subject to fictionalisation, narrativization and interpretation – the processes in which literary transmission plays an important role. the quests undertaken by sir gawain and wistan are mutually exclusive and may be seen as attempts to impose on the audience equally contradictory narratives, created by victors and victims respectively. the rivalry between the two knights can be then understood not only as a conflict between two different approaches to remembering the past, but also as a clash for the control of the historical narrative. while it is difficult to sympathize with gawain’s design of the past that excludes the victims’ point of view, wistan, who wins the duel, does not simply aim to add a new dimension to the existing tale. on the contrary, as a new victor, he intends to change history completely, eradicating all memory of the brits, even from the landscape: “and country by country, this will become a new land, a saxon land, with no more trace of your people’s time here than a flock or two of sheep wandering the hills untended” (ishiguro, 340). lacking both historical monuments and narrative to testify to their past, the britons will fall into oblivion, suffering from the same kind of amnesia that characterised wistan at the beginning of his quest, and the whole cycle will probably repeat itself over and over again. ishiguro recognizes that this is a perpetual process, in which the canon of “memory sites”, understood as both geographical locations, cultural artefacts and literary texts, is never stable but subject to constant revision by groups who aim to assert their own identity through replacing, shifting, or revising dominant representations of the past (rigney, 345-346). apparently distancing the readers from the narrative through its post-roman background, episodic quest structure, symbolical characters and reliance on earlier texts, the narrative technique adopted in the buried giant paradoxically reduces the gap between its remote setting and modernity through exposing its own fictionality and fashioning itself as an oral tale. this orality is  emphasized from the opening sentence by addressing the reader with the second-person pronoun: “you would have searched a long time for the sort of winding lane or tranquil meadow for which england later became celebrated” (ishiguro, 3). such a beginning forces the readers to identify themselves as familiar with this “later” england, yet eager to listen to the legendary story of its origins. at various points of the narrative, we are reminded that the tale is meant for a contemporary audience who notice that no attempt is being made at either representing historical reality or sub-creating a fully-believable fictional secondary world that would facilitate immersion in the story. instead, the story-teller presents the fictional world in terms understandable to a modern reader, for instance when he compares “a tall fence of tethered timber poles” to “giant pencils” (ishiguro, 53), or a village longhouse to “a rustic canteen” (ishiguro, 83). such a strategy 39 crossroads. a journal of english studies of inviting readers to visualize historically distant settings in terms of contemporary images is consistent, though not overused, and culminates when the narrator destroys the illusion of the audience being just listeners and makes them unnamed participants of the story that would inevitably take place in a different place at a different time: some of you will have fine monuments by which the living may remember the evil done to you. some of you will have only crude wooden crosses or painted rocks, while yet others of you must remain hidden in the shadows of history. you are in any case part of an ancient procession, and so it is always possible the giant’s cairn was erected to mark the site of some such tragedy long ago when young innocents were slaughtered in war. (ishiguro, 305) drawing his readers into the tale while simultaneously distancing them from it seems to lie at the heart of ishiguro’s enterprise, indicating his deep understanding of the complexity of the role of a literary work in cultural remembrance. certain texts, printed and reprinted over and over again, can be seen as more formative than others. like sir gawain and the green knight or lord of the rings, they become “textual monuments” (rigney, 349), which not only shape our perception of the past and literature itself, but also reinforce the feeling of belonging to a given community familiar with these works in the present. yet, as such they still remain open to new readings, adaptations and appropriations, becoming building blocks for new narratives. when a work built of such blocks emerges, it can actively participate in spreading the plots, motifs, and topoi in different media or to different audiences. it can also become a “catalyst” (rigney, 351) that draws attention to the new topics that were earlier neglected. such catalysing power seems to be inherent in the buried giant, which does not simply remake the earlier texts to make them more up-to-date with contemporary tastes, but refashions them to explore ideas related to contemporary psychology, trauma, and the processes of remembrance. conclusion while the buried giant participates in reinterpreting an earlier literary tradition, it does not do so for the sake of intertextual games only, but is engaged in posing questions pertinent to philosophy, psychology and ethics. it actively ‘remembers’ and exposes the kernels of previous narratives, like the plot outline, a bold character, an image, etc., yet is not concerned with creating a fictional world that would be fully convincing to the readers. it remains a text that stubbornly lingers between fairy tale, romance and fantasy to draw attention to the ideas that have always preoccupied ishiguro rather than the story itself, unveiling complicated relationships between individual and collective memories, remembering and forgetting, past and present. instead of referring to a particular historical moment that would necessarily evoke emotional response, the buried giant universalizes its message to refer to all and any ‘giants’ individuals, communities and countries have buried and then, wittingly or not, uncovered. simultaneously, by referring to the quasi-historical but essentially fictional past of the arthurian romances, ishiguro draws his readers’ attention to 40 crossroads. a journal of english studies the role of literature in preserving, spreading and shifting the focus of cultural memories, the novel becoming a specific metaphor of the processes involved in cultural remembrance. references alter, alexandra. 2015. “for kazuo ishiguro, ‘the buried giant’ is a departure.” the new york times 19 feb. 2015. 21 march 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/20/books/for-kazuo-ishiguro-the-buried-giant-is-a-departure.html. burrow, j.a. 2009. “the fourteenth-century arthur.” the cambridge companion to the arthurian legend. ed. elizabeth archibald and ad putter. cambridge: cambridge university press, 69-83. campbell, joseph. 2004 [1948]. the hero with a thousand faces. princeton, nj: princeton university press. childs, peter. 2005. contemporary novelists. british fiction since 1970. basingstoke; new york: palgrave macmillan. drąg, wojciech. 2014. revisiting loss: memory, trauma and nostalgia in the novels of kazuo ishiguro. newcastle upon tyne: cambridge scholars press. erll, astrid, and ansgar nünning. 2005. “where literature and memory meet: towards a  systematic approach to the concepts of memory in literary studies.” literature, literary history, and cultural memory. real: yearbook of research in english and american literature 21. ed. herbert grabes. tübingen: narr, 265-98. erll, astrid, and ansgar nünning, eds. 2008. cultural memory studies. an international and interdisciplinary handbook. berlin; new york: walter de gruyter. erll, astrid. 2008. “cultural memory studies: an introduction.” cultural memory studies. an international and interdisciplinary handbook. ed. astrid erll and ansgar nünning. berlin; new york: walter de gruyter, 1-15. erll, astrid. 2011. memory in culture. trans. sara b. young. basingstoke; new york: palgrave macmillan. gilbert, jane. 2009. “arthurian ethics.” the cambridge companion to the arthurian legend. ed. elizabeth archibald and ad putter. cambridge: cambridge university press, 154-170. ishiguro, kazuo. 2015. the buried giant. london: faber & faber. kite, lorien. 2015. “literary life: kazuo ishiguro interview.” financial times 6 march 2015. 20 feb. 2016. https://www.ft.com/content/24786502-c29e-11e4-ad89-00144feab7de lachmann, renate. 2008. “mnemonic and intertextual aspects of literature.” cultural memory studies. an international and interdisciplinary handbook. ed. astrid erll and ansgar nünning. berlin; new york: walter de gruyter, 301-310. rigney, ann. 2008. “the dynamics of remembrance: texts between monumentality and  morphing.” cultural memory studies. an international and interdisciplinary handbook. ed. astrid erll and ansgar nünning. berlin; new york: walter de gruyter, 345-353. sir gawain and the green knight. 1967. transl. marie boroff. new york: w. w. norton & company, inc. 41 crossroads. a journal of english studies tolkien, j.r.r. 2006a [1983]. “on fairy-stories.” the monster and the critics and other essays. ed. christopher tolkien. london: harpercollinspublishers, 109-161. tolkien, j.r.r. 2006b [1983]. “sir gawain and the green knight.” the monster and the critics and other essays. ed. christopher tolkien. london: harpercollinspublishers, 72-108. memory performance in william golding’s “envoy extraordinary” 19 crossroads. a journal of english studies marek pawlicki university of silesia in katowice memory performance in william golding’s “envoy extraordinary” abstract. william golding’s fascination with history is evident both in his essays and his novels. in an essay titled “digging for pictures” he observes that one of the main driving forces in his work as an amateur archaeologist was his desire for “a connection with the past.” knowing golding’s preoccupation with history, it should come as no surprise that he is also deeply interested in the means by which people represent the past to themselves – both the distant past, which they did not witness, and the past that belongs to their subjective experience. the aim of this article is to analyse golding’s “envoy extraordinary”, the third novella published in the scorpion god. the article begins with the discussion of recollective memory, concentrating on the notion of “memory performance.” it then applies this concept to the analysis of chosen passages from golding’s novella in order to show the relational aspect of memory. the discussion emphasizes the important role of emotions in the recollection process, both in spoken and written discourse: emotions make autobiographical discourse seem more authentic, and they provide narrative continuity between the subject’s past and present selves. those observations are made in the context of jean-jacques rousseau’s confessions, and golding’s autobiographical texts, most importantly, his essay “the english channel” from his collection the hot gates. keywords: memory, recollection, emotions, golding. the scorpion god and “envoy extraordinary” in 1971 faber and faber published william golding’s book titled the scorpion god. the three stories collected in this volume take place in the distant past and in remote places: the title story is set in ancient egypt, “clonk clonk” paints a vivid picture of prehistoric africa, while the last story, “envoy extraordinary,” takes its readers back to the roman empire. the three pieces of short fiction have a common theme, which is that of scepticism towards the notion of history as a narrative of social and cultural development. as james r. baker comments, “they [the stories] are neither tragic nor purely comic” (64); indeed, their distinctive feature is their conflation of tragic and comic elements in a narrative which is both playful and somewhat cynical. golding himself, in an interview with baker, made a telling comment on the book. in response to baker’s observation that the scorpion god creates the vision of history as a comedy, golding offered the following comment: “you can’t change history. you can’t change what’s happened, but you can have a little gentle fun at its expense” (159). 10.15290/cr.2016.15.4.02 20 crossroads. a journal of english studies “envoy extraordinary,” with its witty dialogues and surprising plot developments, is perhaps the most amusing of all the three works. it had first been published in 1956 in a book titled sometime, never, together with the short fiction of john wyndham and mervyn peake. two years after its publication it was adapted by golding into a play titled the brass butterfly, which was staged in the west end, with moderate success. the story starts with the arrival of the greek scientist and inventor phanocles, who presents the emperor with three discoveries he claims will change the world: a steamboat, a bomb, and a printing press. as it soon transpires, the first two inventions prove instrumental in defeating postumus, an ambitious and cruel heir apparent to the throne. while the sudden death of postumus is the fulcrum of the plot, much of the story is devoted to conversations between the emperor, phanocles, and the emperor’s beloved grandson, mamillius. despite the fact that “envoy extraordinary” is a rather light-hearted piece, it raises a number of topics worth examining in more detail. one of these topics is the process of recollection, especially the role of memory in the creation of individual identity. this article will place special emphasis on the significance of emotions in what will be referred to as “memory performance”. this phenomenon will be discussed in the context of such works as confessions by jean-jacques rousseau and golding’s essay titled “the english channel”. in the conclusion, general comments will be made on the role of memory and imagination in the interpretation of literary works. the recollection process in “envoy extraordinary” since the notion of recollection has already been mentioned and will be referred to several times throughout this article, it is important to specify what exactly is meant by this term. according to william f. brewer, “recollective memory” concentrates on “a specific episode from an individual’s past. it typically appears to be a ‘reliving’ of the individual’s phenomenal experience during that earlier moment” (brewer, 60). two elements of this definition must be considered here: first of all, the notion of “episode”, which suggests the narrative potential of a given memory.3 what will be referred to as the episode is a series of events which constitute a self-contained whole in that they can be narrated as a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. secondly, and more importantly, it is argued in this definition that such a recollection is “a ‘reliving’ of the individual’s phenomenal experience”. it will be demonstrated in this article that this experience is based on evoking a given series of events privately or in the presence of others. the narrative nature of memory is strongly connected with its affective aspect. this connection is highlighted by mieke bal, who observes that narrative memories can be distinguished by the fact that “they are affectively colored, surrounded by an emotional aura that, precisely, makes them memorable” (viii). taking bal’s definition as a premise, it may be argued that the recounting of such 3 the term memory, defined as that which is remembered from the past (for example an image or an episode), will be used interchangeably with recollection. depending on the context in which it is used, memory will also refer to the faculty of storing and recalling information from the past. 21 crossroads. a journal of english studies episodes from one’s past involves the construction of a story and the evocation of emotions accompanying it, the two processes being intertwined and simultaneous. when the recollection process is carried out in the presence of others, there is every reason to introduce the notion of “memory rehearsal” 4 or “memory performance.” 5 the notion of performance was used by mieke bal in the already-quoted study, in which she notes that “cultural recall is not merely something of which you happen to be a bearer but something that you actually perform, even if, in many instances, such acts are not consciously and wilfully contrived” (ix). what bal argues in the context of cultural memory is also true in the case of individual, autobiographical memory. individuals also have a tendency to “perform” their memories in front of others, which is to say that they describe and frequently act out their memories, counting on their listeners’ reaction. this is not merely an attempt to impress others, but is an important part of interpersonal communication. bal acknowledges this fact when she argues that “ordinary narrative memory fundamentally serves a social function” (x). the following article on golding’s “envoy extraordinary” will make use of bal’s observation, especially her insistence on the interactive nature of the recollection process and the role emotions play in it. as mentioned, phanocles offers the emperor three inventions which he considers groundbreaking: a steamboat, a bomb, and a printing machine. to phanocles’ surprise, the emperor dismisses all three, but reacts enthusiastically to an object which the inventor presented as a curiosity – a pressure cooker. what the greek considered an item of interest and merely an addition to his work earns him imperial admiration and ultimately elevates him to the rank of ambassador. why does the emperor take such great interest in this object? the answer to this question can be found at the end of the story, in which the emperor, putting the invention to the test, orders fish to be prepared in the pressure cooker, and then invites phanocles to supper. it soon becomes clear that the emperor has little interest in the administration of his kingdom, but is solely concentrated on the task of reclaiming his memories. in this pursuit he has already tried rereading books from his childhood in order to evoke the pleasure which he felt when he first perused them, but is now looking for a more intense experience. as he explains to his baffled companion, he sees in the new invention his chance to reclaim his past. the experiment seems successful, as the taste of the specially-prepared trout enables the emperor to recall an episode from his youth. in the following paragraph, worth quoting in full, he describes himself as a boy lying on the bank of a brook: 4 the notion of “memory rehearsal” was used by richard walker. walker and four other psychologists suggest five distinct motivations why people relive or “rehearse” their memories. the five different “rehearsal types” discussed are 1) involuntary; 2) maintain memory details (in other words, to keep the details of the memory accurate), 3) reexperience the emotion; 4) social communication (in order to share a given memory with others); 5) understand the event (walker et. al., 762). 5 the notion of “memory performance” emphasises an aspect of memory which is not highlighted by walker’s notion of “memory rehearsal,” namely the relational and interactive character of the recollection process. as this article will show, the recollection process, when re-enacted in front of an audience, can be viewed as a performance because its effects can be judged in terms of success and failure; in other words, the addressees of the autobiographical discourse can be persuaded by the truth value of a given recollection, or they may choose not to invest their trust in it. 22 crossroads. a journal of english studies it comes back to me. i am lying on a rock that is only just as big as my body. the cliffs rise about me, the river runs by me and the water is dark for all the sun. two pigeons discourse musically and monotonously. there is pain in my right side, for the edge of the rock cuts me: but i lie face-downward, my right arm moving slowly as a water-snail on a lump of stone. i touch a miracle of present actuality, i stroke–i am fiercely, passionately alive–a moment more and the exultation of my heart will burst in a fury of movement. but i still my ambition, my desire, my lust–i balance passion with will. i stroke slowly as a drifting weed. she lies there in the darkness, undulating, stemming the flow of water. now–! a convulsion of two bodies, sense of terror, of rape–she flies in the air and i grab with lion’s claws. she is out, she is mine–. (golding 1987, 175) the sensuous description strongly suggests that the dinner has led the elderly emperor to a recollection wholly unrelated to the pleasures of the table, but the comment immediately following this fragment explains the scene: the old man is in fact reminiscing about a fishing trip during which he caught his first trout. the reader has good reason to laugh at this humorous denouement, but the emperor’s excitement and admiration are in earnest. there is not a hint of irony in his acclamation of the pressure cooker as “the most promethean discovery of them all” (golding 1987, 175). interestingly, the emperor makes no attempts to explain the significance of this episode to his companion. what is sought by the emperor is the experience of reliving his past. he does so by re-enacting his memory in front of phanocles, who, despite being silent and withdrawn, is given the important role of listener. the process of describing his recollection is also the act of its performance in front of his one-person audience. the role of emotions in memory performance cannot be overstated, as they profoundly affect the temporal progression of one’s recollections. that intense emotions – be they positive or negative – have a decisive influence on the temporality of the episode recalled is convincingly shown in patrick colm hogan’s cognitive study affective narratology: the emotional structure of stories. by analysing the opening scene of anna karenina, hogan shows the human tendency to organise recollections around emotionally charged details, such as objects or seemingly trivial, yet significant and consequential events: “in sum, our experience of time is not uniform. we encode experience into hierarchized units, organizing temporality first of all by reference to our emotional response” (66). our tendency to dwell on emotional moments or “incidents” (32), as hogan calls them, is also clear in golding’s story. indeed, the effectiveness of the passage quoted from “envoy extraordinary” largely depends on its uneven temporal landscape: the emperor first slows down the flow of narrative time by focusing on a detailed description of landscape and then plunges the reader into action with shorter sentences, containing ellipses and words either denoting or connected with intense emotions. as a result, the reader is made witness to the state of waiting, rapture, and fulfilment, which the emperor relives in the episode. the process of performing his memory cannot be viewed only as the emperor’s self-indulgent search for a powerful and emotional experience which will break the monotony and boredom of his life. emotions have two distinct roles in the recollection process: first of all, they provide proof that the re-enacted scenes from one’s life are genuine; secondly, they provide continuity 23 crossroads. a journal of english studies between the subject’s past and present selves. the first function of memory is best analysed in the context of rousseau’s autobiography, confessions. in one of the most famous passages in confessions, rousseau pledges his sincerity on the basis of the emotions felt in the moment of writing. as he argues, his readers should not pay attention to the factual accuracy, but to the honesty inherent in his memoirs: i easily forget my misfortunes; but i cannot forget my faults, and i forget still less readily my better feelings. their memory is too dear to me ever to be erased from my heart. i may make factual omissions, transpositions, errors in dates; but i cannot be mistaken about what i felt, nor about what my feelings led me to do; and this is what principally concerns me here. (rousseau, 270) rather than retrace events in his memory and relive emotions associated with them, rousseau reverses this logic and chooses his emotions as the most important point of reference in writing his autobiography. in this task he turns to “the chain of feelings” (îne des sentiments), which he calls the “only one faithful guide” (rousseau, 270). commenting on the quoted passage, suzanne nalbantian draws the reader’s attention to the word heart (coeur), which signals the emotional nature of rousseau’s memoirs. the use of this word, both in this fragment and others, has the effect of “focusing on the heart as the retainer of memory. hence, if the heart is untouched, there is little memory” (nalbantian, 28). reversing this statement, it can be argued that if the heart responds with emotions, then the memories can be trusted. it can be argued that emotions re-enacted by the subject act as proof that the recollections are both significant and genuine. since emotions are not prone to distortion or manipulation (as rousseau argues, “i cannot go wrong about what i felt”), their sudden emergence demonstrates that the episode from one’s life is trustworthy. the logic which links emotions, memory, and autobiographical truth may be appealing, but it is also flawed: the emotions felt by the subject (writer or speaker) cannot be treated as an unambiguous connection with the past, because they may well be manipulated by the circumstances of enunciation. by the same token, distorted or even fabricated memories6 are capable of provoking strong emotional reactions. despite these arguments, it is true to say that people have the tendency to invest more trust in recollections which are emotionally charged.7 it seems that this natural 6 in the interesting study remembering our childhood: how memory betrays us, karl sabbagh demonstrates how people distort their childhood memories or even appropriate them from other sources. sabbagh concludes his study by stating that “all memory, whatever age it is laid down or recalled, is unreliable.” he adds that those distorted memories demonstrate the considerable influence of our present subjectivity on the re-enacted past: “we sculpt our memories to fit within the outline of who we are, who we would like to be” (194). 7 psychological studies have demonstrated that people have the tendency to invest more trust in emotionally-charged memories than in those which are not accompanied by emotions. christianson and safer, summing up the research of many authors, note that “the more intense the emotional event, the more confident one was of the memory” (222). it is worth adding in this context that christianson and safer also observe that emotional events are better retained in memory than non-emotional ones. for more information see the article “emotional events and emotions in autobiographical memories” by sven-åke christianson and martin a. safer. 24 crossroads. a journal of english studies tendency is what stands behind memory performance, be it in the shape of spoken or written discourse. viewed in this way, the process of remembering is based not only on the feeling of trust that the subject invests in his past, but also on the contention that this trust can be shared by the listener/reader. in other words, what the subject seeks to share is not only his emotions, but also his trust in the veracity of the episode recalled. the recollection process is also significant for the formation of the subject’s identity. it can be argued that memories which are emotionally charged are considered significant for the subject, or “precious”, to quote the emperor in golding’s story, because they encapsulate crucial information about one’s subjectivity. the emotionally-charged rehearsal of essential moments in one’s life is strong proof that one’s former beliefs, convictions, and actions – in other words, the conditions and circumstances that formed one’s past self – are still an important part of one’s current subjectivity. in other words, by performing his memories, the subject demonstrates the continuity of his identity over time.8 viewed in the context of golding’s story, this act may be seen as the emperor’s attempt to overcome the distance dividing his past and present selves. performing his memories is one way in which the emperor attempts to alter his subjective experience of time. earlier in the story, he mourns the passing of the years, observing to his grandson, mamillius: “time slips through our fingers like water. we gape in astonishment to see how little is left” (golding 1987, 118). while there is nothing that the emperor can do to counteract the process of ageing, he can change – at least for a moment – his perception of time by imbuing it with subjective experience. that the emperor is aware of such a possibility is demonstrated by the following words, which he directs to phanocles before their shared supper: “if you can restore to me not the gratifications of an appetite, but a single precious memory! how else but by the enlargements of anticipation and memory does our human instant differ from the mindless movement of the nature’s clock?” (golding 1987, 174). the two mechanisms which the emperor mentions – anticipating future events and looking back upon those which are long gone – have one important feature in common: they place the future as well as the past in the present moment of reflection/ recollection, and by doing so they create the illusion – however momentary it may be – that the subject has command over his life. a similar commentary on the role of memory in one’s perception of time can be found in the already quoted study by mary warnock. warnock refers to the theories of r.g. colingwood, who in his work speculum mentis, published in 1924, argued that memory can be considered “the mind’s triumph over time” (quoted in warnock, 135) because it is capable of evoking events in the past and making them part of the moment of recollection. warnock concludes her discussion of colingwood’s work with the following words: “we turn our life into a story by remembering it, 8 a similar points is raised by mary warnock in her analysis of proust’s in search of lost time. she argues that “the personality, the series of experiences and attitudes and emotions which go to make up one person, is not a coherent or continuously conscious whole, but fragmentary. yet the broken and fragmentary self can be given a unity by the reliving of the past in the present” (warnock, 99). 25 crossroads. a journal of english studies and any story, or history, is thus timeless; we can tell the story to ourselves again and again, and the truth it contains does not change” (135). while there is good reason to raise some objections with respect to warnock’s argument – it is questionable whether the truth of a given episode really remains the same every time it is recalled – nevertheless it can be argued that the ability to tell and retell memories creates a precious sense of command over one’s past. memory performance in a narrative text it was argued in this article that since emotions have a crucial role in the validation of the subject’s memories, a convincing manifestation of these emotions is of the utmost importance. the nature of this performance will necessarily differ in the case of a live description or re-enactment of events – such as the one described in the episode quoted – and a narrative text, for example an autobiography.9 nonetheless, there is no reason to draw a strict boundary between the two, as certain notable similarities can be found. indeed, it can be argued that the relationship between the two protagonists in golding’s story can serve as a model for the author-reader interaction in a narrative text of autobiographical nature. the memory performance carried out by the emperor is akin to that of an autobiographer, who tries to engage his silent audience, represented here by the passive and withdrawn phanocles, with a description of episodes from his past. the image of autobiography which emerges from this short comment is that of an experiential narrative,10 in which the author performs his memories in front of his readers, counting on their emotional reaction. an interesting insight into the role of emotions in autobiographical narrative is offered by jean starobinski in his seminal essay “the style of autobiography”. in this study starobinski raises a similar point, namely that emotions have for rousseau the crucial role of confirming the authenticity of his autobiographical narrative. he writes: “the veracity of the narrative must be demonstrated with reference to intimate feeling, to the strict contemporaneity of emotions communicated in the writing” (81). similarly to the protagonist of golding’s story, rousseau describes his memories by concentrating on the emotions he once felt, and proving that they still have the power to affect him. whereas the emperor is given the opportunity to affect his listener directly, 9 in his article on the notion of performativity ute berns divides the phenomenon into two basic forms. the first is a performance which is “the embodied live presentation of events in the co-presence of an audience at a specific place and time” (370) (this is referred to as “performativity i”). according to this definition, performativity i refers to situations in the real world or a theatre performance. this notion is juxtaposed with a wider definition of performativity as “non-corporeal presentation, e.g. in written narratives” (performativity ii) (berns, 370). the emperor’s act of describing his memories and displaying his emotions in front of his one-person audience can be considered in the light of performativity i – it is not unlike a theatre performance. 10 i am referring to the essay on autobiography “full of life now” by barret j. mandel, in which the critic comments that autobiography is experiential in that it “shares experience as its way of revealing reality” (55). 26 crossroads. a journal of english studies rousseau attempts to do so by means of a carefully crafted style of writing, whose purpose is to give the reader the impression of spontaneity and authenticity.11 memory performance in “the english channel” memory performance is a notion which can be used in the discussion of golding’s essay entitled “the english channel.” the essay was first published in holiday magazine, and later reprinted in his collection of non-fiction titled the hot gates (1965). it starts with his description of the english channel, as seen from the window of an airplane. the view triggers a series of wartime memories, which provoke such emotions as apprehension and excitement. taking care to suppress them (“after all, i am english. mustn’t speak” (golding 1965, 42)), golding imagines himself addressing the passengers and telling them about his participation in the normandy landings on d-day. the short account – just over one page – concentrates on his experience on the night of the landings (5-6 june 1944). he describes his sense of excitement, responsibility, and fear lest he should fail to carry out his duties. this part of the essay ends with a short paragraph describing the targeting of a fighter plane and its destruction. golding goes on to discuss the english channel from the perspective of its geography, climate, as well as various stories connected with it. “the english channel” is interesting not least because it is so far the only published text in which golding recalls the years he spent in the army. as mentioned, he imagines himself in the role of a speaker addressing his audience – his fellow passengers – and telling them about his war years. despite his strong desire to share his memories, he decides to withhold them for the sake of what he sees as propriety. while the suppressing of his recollections highlights their confessional aspect – their intimate and emotional nature – it does not annul the communication situation he created at the beginning of the essay. instead, the reader is encouraged to see himself in the role of listener and the addressee of his autobiographical discourse. in this way golding creates a sense of spontaneity, not unlike that analysed in the context of “envoy extraordinary”. the intense emotions felt by the author in the course of the flight confirm the authenticity and the significance of his recollections. the affective aspect of his narrative also demonstrates that despite the passage of time, his war memories are still an important part of his identity. the discussion of “the english channel” will be concluded with a general comment on golding’s strategy of narrating the past. such essays as “the hot gates”, “digging for pictures”, “egypt from my inside”, and “the english channel” have a similar construction: they are all based on the juxtaposition of the distant past (the battle of thermopylae in “the hot gates”, prehistoric times in “digging for pictures”, ancient egypt in “egypt from my inside”, and d-day in “the english channel”) with a more recent one (golding’s childhood in “egypt from my inside”, and his recent travels and fascination with history in the case of the other essays), or the present, namely the moment of writing. the to-and-fro movement between the time references shows the considerable 11 starobinski in his analysis convincingly shows that rousseau’s style is calculated to convey the experience of reenacting his emotions, by means of which the writer attempts to validate his memories. 27 crossroads. a journal of english studies influence of history on the writer’s subjectivity – the fact that he sees the present coloured by his perception of the past. the temporal organization of the texts mentioned can also function as a device by which golding distances himself from the past. in “the english channel”, having described the strong emotions he felt on d-day, he returns to more recent times, commenting on himself: “i find him funny now, that young man with the naval profile and the greening badge on his cap” (golding 1965, 42). this rule is at work both in the context of events which he witnessed and those which are known only from historical records. the essay “the hot gates”, in which golding relates his journey to thessaly in greece and describes the battle of thermopylae, is a good example of this tendency. his detailed relation of the journey includes a visit to the site of the battle, in which to his dismay he finds that “history has not left a trace of scar on this landscape” (golding 1965, 15). this, however, does not stop him from his task of imagining the historical event. the outcome is that passages of detailed and vivid description are combined with comments which point to the impossibility of knowing the past. as a result, the experience of reading the essay is that of simultaneous proximity and distance with respect to the past. conclusion: empathy and responsibility in the interpretation of literary works the conclusion of this article will consider the role of memory and imagination in the reception of literary narratives. one of the most interesting studies to raise this topic is the previously-quoted affective narratology by patrick colm hogan. in the conclusion to his study, hogan reflects on the effect that stories, including literary narratives, have on the readers’ subjectivity. he first notes that stories may affect readers by creating what he calls “emotional memories” (241) – recollections of intense emotions we felt in the course of reading a given story. making sure not to overemphasize his point, hogan nevertheless makes it clear that this impact, however limited it may be, can affect our attitude by conditioning our responses to particular life situations. hogan’s second point, which is related to the first, is connected with the human capacity for empathy. the critic writes about “our willingness and ability to simulate other people’s situations and thereby experience the emotions they [the fictional protagonists] are likely to be feeling” (243). he argues that narrative has a direct influence on the readers’ empathy because it is capable of widening (as well as narrowing) our scope of “empathic associations” (244). reading affects our imagination and appeals to our emotions, thus developing our ability to empathize with given individuals or social groups. the notion of empathy described here, based on the reader’s imaginative and affective involvement in the narrative text, is also present in golding’s essay, “digging for pictures”. describing his work as an amateur archaeologist, golding recalls finding the remains of a woman whose skeleton unambiguously points to the fact that she was murdered. having made this shocking discovery, golding describes a baffling sense of complicity and guilt: “there is a sense in which i share the guilt buried beneath the runway, a sense in which my imagination has locked me to 28 crossroads. a journal of english studies them” (golding 1965, 70). although the possible act of cruelty must have taken place in prehistoric times, golding finds himself curiously implicated in it because of his emotional and intellectual involvement with the past. golding’s comment applies not only to the work of an archaeologist and historian, but also to that of a writer and reader. there is a sense in which the reception of the narrative text can be described as a sharing of emotions between the writer and the reader, not unlike that between the two protagonists of “envoy extraordinary”. an emotional reaction can consist in accepting or rejecting the writer’s vision, both of which necessitate the reader’s involvement in the events described. it can be concluded that the experience of reading is connected with the responsibility that the reader takes for the world they have created. references bal, mieke, jonathan crewe and leo spitzer (eds.). 1999. acts of memory: cultural recall in the present. hanover: university press of new england. baker, james r. 1973. rev. of the scorpion god, by william golding. novel: a forum on fiction autumn 1973, 62-70. berns, ute. 2009. “performativity.” handbook of narratology. ed. peter hűhn, john pier, wolf schmid and jőrg schőnert. berlin: walter de gruyter, 370-383. brewer, william f. 1996. “what is recollective memory?” remembering our past: studies in autobiographical memory, ed. david c. rubin. cambridge: cambridge university press, 19-66. carey, john. 2009. william golding: the man who wrote lord of the flies. london: faber and faber. christianson, sven-åke and martin a. safer. 1996. “emotional events and emotions in  autobiographical memories.” remembering our past: studies in autobiographical memory. ed. david c. rubin. cambridge: cambridge university press, 218-243. golding, william. 1965. the hot gates. london: faber and faber. ---. 1987. “envoy extraordinary.” the scorpion god. london/boston: faber and faber, 117-178. golding william, and james r. baker. 1982. “an interview with william golding.” twentieth century literature 28, 130-170. hogan, patrick colm. 2011. affective narratology: the emotional structure of stories. lincoln: university of nebraska press. kinkhead-weekes, mark, and ian gregor. 1967. william golding: a critical study. london: faber and faber. mandel, barret j. 1980. “full of life now.” autobiography: essays theoretical and critical. ed. james olney. princeton: princeton university press, 49-72. nalbantian, suzanne. 2003. memory in literature: from rousseau to neuroscience. london: palgrave macmillan. rousseau, jean-jacques. 2008. confessions. trans. angela scholar. oxford: oxford university press. 29 crossroads. a journal of english studies sabbagh, karl. 2011. remembering our childhood: how memory betrays us. oxford: oxford university press. starobinski, jean. 1980. “the style of autobiography.” autobiography: essays theoretical and critical. ed. james olney. princeton: princeton university press, 73-83. walker, richard w., john j. skowronski, jeffrey a. gibbons, rodney j. vogl, timothy d. ritchie. 2009. “why people rehearse their memories: frequency of use and relations to the intensity of emotions associated with autobiographical memories.” memory 17, 760-773. warnock, mary. 1989. memory. london: faber and faber. should we teach first language grammar in compulsory schooling at all? some reflections from the spanish perspective 26 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles xavier fontich1 universitat autònoma de barcelona orcid id: 0000-0003-1095-1363 should we teach first language grammar in compulsory schooling at all? some reflections from the spanish perspective abstract. this text explores the controversial issue of grammar teaching in language arts. it considers the importance of grammar in schooling based on the learners’ reflection on language (i.e., their “metalinguistic activity”), and some of the features of such a reflection. a model of intervention is presented as well as its particularities, especially the goal of establishing new dimensions with regard the methodology of teaching, the conception of grammar, and the final objectives of grammar instruction. the text ends by referring to some of the challenges for the future. keywords: school, language use, grammar, reflection, metalinguistic activity, instructional sequence. 1. teaching language is teaching how to use language for some years, the role of grammar teaching has been the subject of intense debate in the international context. while on occasions it has triggered enraged controversies that go beyond the academy (e.g., the case of england, see cameron 1995), such teaching is considered necessary by studies conducted in a number of countries in which the debate ranges from a general consensus to an increasing need to re-think its role and recover its value in language arts (myhill 2009; locke 2010; hudson 2016; giovanelli & clayton 2016; pieniążek & štěpáník 2016; boivin, fontich, funke, garcía-folgado & myhill 2018; rattyä, awramiuk & fontich 2019). while such studies have been conducted in accordance to country-specific idiosyncrasies, three general ideas are shared: grammar knowledge plays an important role in improving language use (especially in writing), such a role is still underexplored, and there is a need to further unpack the “grammar knowledge / language use” connection. grammar knowledge is seen as a tool that might help students move 1 address for correspondence: universitat autònoma de barcelona, departament de didàctica de la llengua i la literatura, i de les ciències socials, facultat de ciències de l'educació, edifici g5, campus uab, 08193 – bellaterra (cerdanyola del vallès, barcelona, spain). e-mail: xavier.fontich@uab.cat doi: 10.15290/cr.2019.24.1.03 27 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles beyond reproducing their own colloquial oral registers in the written or formal oral forms. the assumption is that grammar knowledge allows us to become aware of the distance between written and oral modes, the rhetorical possibilities language affords, and the ways of writing texts that respond to diverse demands, such as the degree of lexical repertoire or the cohesive syntactic style. such command is of utmost importance in some compulsory school assignments and in academic writing in general, as well as in several jobs and professions that involve the capacity to handle dictionaries, translators, or style books. also, some grammar knowledge should be considered part of citizens’ general culture at the same level as history, and the sciences.2 yet, while grammar knowledge is considered paramount, researchers wonder whether it should be approached incidentally within language use or temporarily detached from communication. this materializes in two conflicting questions. first: should we zoom in on grammar contents (either implicitly or explicitly) always within the context of language use and do so only whenever grammar problems arise? or (second question) should we explicitly address the teaching of the grammar system assuming that this allows students to become more competent in using language? with regards to the first question, some suggest that to broaden the repertoire of students’ linguistic resources, direct instruction of grammar concepts might not be completely desirable, as it is decontextualized and therefore very removed from language use (and generally very tedious, too, some maintain; see locke 2010; camps & fontich 2019). this perspective suggests that to explicitly explore how the texts work might be possible by only promoting reflection on specific aspects (e.g., adjectives), with no need for metalanguage some consider (see gil & bigas 2014), or by engaging students in activities of manipulation of linguistic data (e.g., sentence combining), which would raise language awareness and trigger implicit grammar learning. thus, the students would assimilate implicitly the resources that should be put into play when writing (see graham & perin 2008; andrews 2010). this reflects a pragmatic attitude pointing to a fact recognized by reliable studies: the difficulty students have in retrieving their grammar knowledge in situations of language use, namely a gap between declarative and procedural knowledge (camps et al. forthcoming). for some (such as those responsible for the official curriculum in the region of barcelona), we should optimize time, resources, and efforts and teach them only that which is useful to write well, “shunning a grammaticalist approach to language teaching” (departament d’ensenyament, p. 39). contrariwise, the second question suggests that grammar knowledge located within a well-articulated grammar system is essential, assuming vygotsky’s (1987) claim that a concept becomes recoverable for conscious and deliberate control only when it is part of a system. this resonates with a basic question such as “what does ‘knowing a language’ mean?” (milian 2014): does it mean knowing how to use it? or does it entail being able to set up an articulated and explicit reflection upon it as well, which would only be possible with adequate tools within a conceptual system (in order to be able to see the window and not just the landscape, in the well-known metaphor 2 regarding second language acquisition and the importance of grammar knowledge, see convincing arguments in larsen-freeman (2003), van lier (2004) or ellis (2010). 28 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles by garton & pratt 1989)? a number of authors consider the latter a much more fine-tuned position, which maintains that knowledge about the system that emerges from knowledge of language in use is not articulated and does not allow the apprentice to retrieve it in a variety of situations (camps 2014; hudson 2016). and yet, as pointed out, research also shows that grammar knowledge might rapidly become no more than a reified and inoperative set of concepts detached from language use by an unbridgeable gap (fisher 2004). to deal with this, camps (2014) and milian (2014) maintain that it is crucial to raise learners’ awareness on a twofold basis: we can study the grammar of a language as a system that can be approached on its own (temporarily detached from communication); and we can study language as communicative activity. while advocates of the “grammar-in-use-only” warn against the risk of a “decontextualized” (and therefore meaningless) grammar instruction, a number of authors (e.g., zayas, forthcoming), drawing on functionalist perspectives, conceive grammar as an organic interplay between meaning, intentions, and form, and therefore wonder whether such an expression as “decontextualized grammar” is in fact an oxymoron, since any single linguistic instance (even if detached from actual communicative contexts) would be loaded with potential meanings in connection with potential intentions. the idea of decontextualized grammar has its roots in formal linguistic models that draw on the autonomy of syntax as a formal system detached from meaning, culture, and speakers’ intentions. yet, according to halliday and mathiessen (2004: 31), “language is as it is because of the functions in which it has evolved in the human species”. in this same vein, coseriu (1991) sees language as a human-specific activity, recognizable in the form of an always addressee-oriented discourse, which makes dialogue the essence of language. as a meaning-making device, language would have epistemic potential underpinning any process not only of thought but also of knowledge. this suggests that linguistic activity shapes the very mediational process of learning language itself, which resonates with taylor’s (1997) position regarding reflexive discourse and its dialogic-interactional nature. this author maintains that we manage our experience of language by referring to it in specific, culturally-enforced, and interactionally-mediated ways: “metadiscourse-mediated analyses are as much a part of the thing (language) itself as they are about the thing itself ” (taylor 1997: 16, italics in the original). also, martin & rose (2007) suggest that to construe a text, when writing or speaking, both the language system and culture of composition of a text based on genre knowledge (i.e., genres acquired from former practice) are activated. this resonates with voloshinov’s (1977) methodological programme of language study that entails a top-down process of analysis: analysis of social interaction and the conditions that make it possible (i.e., human activities in which language production is enacted); analysis of global structure and properties of language products (or genres); and analysis of internal structure of genres (i.e., parts of the texts, semantic-syntactic structures, and words). this seems to align with lantolf & thorne’s (2006) “linguistics of communicative activity” (lca), agar’s (1994) “languaculture”, and van lier’s (2004) understanding of language as a social semiosis. 29 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles marta milian expresses the grammar/use relationship with a metaphor (personal communication, 1 june 2016): a chair is for sitting (i.e., using it), but if we sell chairs we will have to pay attention to aspects such as the materials of which they can be composed according to different uses, the tools we will need to manufacture them, the design and the ergonomics or fashionable colours of the moment, etc. (i.e., what we could call “its system”). likewise, knowledge on the grammar system would be essential in highly formal situations (e.g., a scientist who must submit an academic paper, a radio journalist on air), which require conscious attention to several issues (e.g., lexical repertoire, prosody, etc.) and a high command on grammar conceptual tools. this will coexist with informal situations in which the conscious focus on the system will not be necessary (e.g., the scientist and the journalist meet for a casual chat).3 in spain, gil & bigas (2014) and gil & bigas (forthcoming) have explored the role of grammar in language arts in primary education (ages 6 to 12). they show the surprising capacity of some early primary graders (aged 7-8 years of age) in generating rich, original and interesting reflections. one of the tasks analysed is “peer-dictation” with “scripta continua” style, i.e. with no spaces or other marks between the words or sentences in the text. the students must discuss where the words end. when comparing the reflection triggered by late graders’ (students aged 11 and 12 years old) in a similar activity, the researchers conclude that the latter develop poorer and less exploratory dialogues. the authors wonder about the causes of this phenomenon, which has also been observed at secondary (ages 12 to 16) and baccalaureate (ages 16 to 18) levels by rodríguez-gonzalo (2015) and zayas (forthcoming). why does it happen? a first answer might be in the correlation between children’s interest in grammar and their interest in the world in general. this world becomes progressively more complex and requires concepts and procedures that guide our gaze and facilitate the transition to a gradually more sophisticated and structured observation. the increased complexity may serve to integrate new knowledge, which in turn may increase our capacities for analytical observation. school does not seem to find ways to articulate students’ curiosity about such an incredible phenomenon as language and to provide adequate scaffolding that stimulates such reflection. several authors point to the need to review two basic issues: grammar content (what we teach), and the processes of teaching and learning (how we teach and how we learn) (see hudson 2016; van rijt, de swart & coppen 2018). 2. the grammar content: linguistics and the teaching of grammar some highlight the need to unravel the conception we have of grammar, emphasizing that addressing grammar as a formal rule system detached from speakers and culture can be an obstacle when it comes to interrelating grammar and school use. they consider that grammar should be conceived as a set of resources inherent to communication and meaning, a structured linguistic 3 in the field of l2, bialystok’s notions of “analysis” and “control” have served for an in-depth exploration of this double approach; see matley (2012) for a revision. 30 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles repertoire of concepts (e.g., sentences) and procedural possibilities (e.g., combination of sentences) that would respond to the speakers’ communicative needs and intentions (e.g., adapt our text to the addressee). some also consider that this perspective can help to make systematized grammar knowledge more recoverable in use (myhill, jones, lines & watson 2012; fontich 2014, 2016; myhill, jones & wilson 2016). in spain, although the communicative discourse took over since mid-1990s, grammar teaching remained underpinned by a sentence-level approach, inspired by formal models and apart from language in use. nonetheless, over the last years usage-based approaches complementary to sentence-based approaches have been developed, both in the field of linguistics as well as in education. these approaches are underpinned by the idea that metalinguistic activity plays an important role both in using the language and in learning grammar (camps & fontich, forthcoming). what is the role of linguistic models in building a school grammar based on such a perspective? one of the questions raised is whether school must take linguistic models as a reference or develop its own school model. in spain (see fontich & garcía-folgado 2018), while some maintain that the most reliable linguistic postulates (namely, perceived as hegemonic) should be adapted to the school context, some others take the school challenges as a starting point to suggest ways that help to respond to learning needs. in both cases the work on basic sentence notions is considered, but it is the former perspective that has remained fully installed in textbooks, syllabuses, and teachers’ imaginary, although the latter has been widely developed by research conducted in close collaboration with teachers proving to be more beneficial for grammar learning. in this sense, therefore, we must continue pointing out that school and linguistics have different goals (see chomsky’s response in “discussion”, chomsky 1988: 179-82). the goals of a pedagogic grammar and those of linguistic theories are not and cannot be coincidental. a linguistic theory is the result of a set of principles aimed at conforming a model of how reality is and meant to be put under constant scrutiny. the school will have to resort to the theory (in fact, to the plethora of theories available) not as a whole but choosing the most widely accepted ideas (hudson 2010) and above all the most profitable and adequate ones regarding the school challenges (camps 2014). in this respect, all teaching and learning objectives can be subsumed within a single and broad goal: the development of students’ explicit communicative repertoire. this position suggests that linguistic models should stop being regarded as the solution to how to act in the classroom, and that a comprehensive school grammar should help to re-think a number of aspects, such as clearly identify the objectives of studying grammar and the partial aspects that the students have to know (e.g., correlation among past tense forms, the relationship between verb and argument, etc.); involve students in the collection of data that will be subsequently observed (to contrast, for example, the oral and written modes); and adopt a conception of grammar as an organic interplay between morphosyntax, semantics, and pragmatics (see above). let us look at the latter, exploring the following sentence in spanish: al final del partido, llueven toda clase de objetos sobre el árbitro (‘at the end of the game, all sorts of objects rain down on the referee’). this is a plausible sentence (also in catalan), with a peculiar use of the verb. in its pro31 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles totypical meteorological use, this verb does not admit arguments (semantics), and it is a defective verb with no plural (and no 1st and 2nd grammatical persons) (morphosyntax); however, the sentence is completely acceptable and adequate, a deviant use that responds to the utterer’s intentions (pragmatics). these intentions might not be satisfied with two close verbs such as fall and throw. indeed, fall (in spanish caer) can connote a high number of elements involved but also a small number, unlike rain (in spanish llover): we say caer cuatro gotas (literally ‘fall down four drops’, referring to a very light rain) and not llover cuatro gotas (‘rain four drops’). on the other hand, throw inherently implies the presence of an agent, whether we mention it explicitly or not (spanish is a pro-drop language), while rain allows us to hide it as a zero-argument verb. who could resort to such use? without a doubt, a very partial observer who wants to minimize the uncivil behaviour of the spectators in football stands. manuel vázquez-montalbán (19392003), the acclaimed spanish writer and journalist and unconditional supporter of barcelona football team, does so in the memorable chronicle of a paramount final between this team and real madrid back in the early 1970s, when football and politics were intertwined more than ever. the referee e. c. guruceta (involved in illegal gambling) awarded a non-existent penalty to real madrid just three minutes before the final whistle blows, causing trouble in the stands and pitch invasion. in his chronicle, vázquez-montalbán maintains that “the cushion rain is impressive [...] today is a celebration, everyone can breathe freedom and the night has the most propitious colors”.4 in our former sentence, the use of the verb llover (in the form llueven, ‘rain’) has morphosyntactic consequences: agreement with a plural and postponed subject (“toda clase de objetos”, ‘all sorts of objects’); mandatory presence of preposition such as sobre (on) (bajo ‘under’ would sound strange) that serves to reflect on the prepositional complement (of great tradition in spanish linguistics and largely explored in our schools); and the possibility of replacing in catalan the core of the noun phrase with the partitive pronoun (namely, the non-finite accusative pronoun en: en plovien de tot tipus, d’objectes) as happens with unaccusative verbs (such as caure ‘fall’, as in: en queien de tot tipus, d’objectes, something like ‘all kinds of objects kept falling’). as already suggested, some highlight the need to overcome the strictly formal approach to grammar description, inherited from the largely assumed autonomy of syntax of some theoretical persuasions. rather, they suggest the benefits in school of approaching grammar as the organic union of morphosyntax, semantics and pragmatics. connection between the three domains may vary and concepts of a diverse order (lexicon, sentence, text, discourse) coming from different models can be useful if they serve to articulate students’ reflection. to solve agreement errors, concepts from sentence-level models (e.g., morphemes, complementary distribution, dislocation) will be relevant. to solve questions of lexical choice, there may be more pertinent notions coming from discourse-level contributions (e.g., adequacy, addressee, lexical repertoire, etc.) (fontich 2014, 2016 and 2018). this may help when addressing the phenomena through observation and discussion 4 the reference to the “cushion rain” might sound odd; at the time, some of the seats on the expensive stands in spain used to have cushions on them. 32 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles (through a collective process of “grammaring”, see larsen-freeman 2003). we thus enter the issue of methodology. 3. an intervention model: when teaching-learning processes and classroom research meet albeit still in minority, several contributions in spain have underlined the need to propose new ways of teaching grammar as a hypothesis for meaningfully learning it (e.g., fontich & camps 2014; camps & fontich, forthcoming). these studies question whether a more constructivist way that contemplates a methodological change would help to improve the learning of grammar: i.e., methodology as content also of teaching and learning and not as a simple cosmetic option (camps, forthcoming).5 a proposal of classroom intervention to teach grammar based on sociocultural tenets should promote interaction as a means for learning. since, according to a sociocultural point of view, the learner does not learn from the knowledge of the expert but from the (intentionally designed) activities in which the expert involves the learner (miller 2011), metalinguistic interaction could be considered a source of grammar learning (camps 2014). interaction may as well constitute an instrument of formative assessment and reflection for the teacher. to respond to this need, the so-called model of grammar instructional sequences (gis) has been developed (see milian 2014). this model overcomes a purely transmissive vision of language teaching and assumes the active and constructive role of the learner. it highlights the need for global approaches to the teaching of grammar beyond isolated tasks and suggests the enormous possibilities of the project work in designing teaching settings based on classroom interaction. it integrates oral and written speech as well as language use and reflection on this use and seeks to create a diversity of learning opportunities and therefore the possibility of participation of learners with diverse skills. it articulates a set of activities always oriented towards an explicitly stated objective, organizing the sequence of activities into three phases (preparation, execution, and closure), always comprising the writing of a final report. this model is governed by what is known as the criterion of “elementality” (coronas 2014), according to which an initial nucleus of prototypical and operative notions will give way to a subsequent set of notions, progressively more complex and articulated via cognitive conflict. and finally, it foresees three sub-models of intervention according to whether the focus is on use, on the system or on the contrast between languages or between dialects of a language. the three sub-models are based on the idea that different approaches to grammar may contribute differently and in equally important ways to the articulation of grammar knowledge (camps, forthcoming; milian 2014). they have been widely contrasted in the classroom by teachers of different levels (see fontich & garcía-folgado 2018; camps & fontich forthcoming). a. focus on language use. examples: contrast a piece of news and a short tale exploring sentence and text-level properties; explore headlines observing sentence semantic patterns in connection to 5 this is clearly in line with the position that researchers in other educational jurisdictions maintain, see fontich 2018 for a summary. 33 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles verbal arguments; combine activities of transformation, textualization, integration, contrast, etc. to explore strategies of cohesion within a text. b. focus on the language system. examples: adopt a lexical perspective to contrast sentences and semantic patterns; classify the verbs from the variable number of verb-complements in real uses to explore the notion of transitivity; set up discussions on what students understand by specific grammar concepts (e.g., past tense, sentence, pronoun, verb, etc.). c. focus on interand intralinguistic contrast. examples: approach the notion of dialectal variation by exploring some uses of recessive pronouns in urban areas; reason about the lack of isomorphism among languages regarding certain pronominal or verbal uses; contrast the results of automatic translators. the idea that triggers such an approach is that the code can be an interesting object of exploration if students are actively involved in the construction of their own knowledge, for which collaborative work and interaction are paramount. it has been carried out in diverse classrooms and has also constituted in some cases the focus for research. next (table 1), we detail three studies based on such premises. table 1. features of the three studies study kind of inter vention case study methodology focus concept school level dynamics data i. casas-deseures (2012) seminatural intervention interview grammar system present tense primary 11-12 years in pairs oral ii. fontich (2010) natural intervention action research grammar system verb compl. secondary 13-16 years in small group oral iii. rodríguez -gonzalo (2015) classroom intervention observation writing past tenses secondary 15-16 years in small group written & oral study i is dubbed “seminatural intervention” as it is conducted by a researcher within the school context outside the class. study ii is a “natural intervention” as it is designed, implemented, and analysed by the regular teacher. last, study iii is considered a “classroom intervention” as it is implemented by the regular teacher but designed and analysed by the researcher. while the three of them share the same principles, studies ii and iii are organized as a grammar instructional sequence. the transcription of the oral data is based on spelling transliteration (reflecting only basic features of the interaction, such as pause-length),6 the focus is in the content, and analysis and categorization of data are inspired by the so-called grounded theory (corbin & strauss 2008), 6 the transcription criteria used are: number of the dialogue, number of the turn, given name (for student anonymity), “researcher” (for researcher’s turns), “…” (segment object of reflection), xxx (segment not understandable), :: (extension), | (pause less than 3 seconds), <…> (pause of 3 seconds or more). 34 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles which systematizes the answers according to the task and interprets them in light of the theoretical framework that guide each research. hereafter are briefly presented the three studies (see casas-deseures, durán & fontich, forthcoming; rodríguez-gonzalo 2015) that respectively explore students’ reflection on the present tense with retrospective value, variations in verbal transitivity, and the complex subsystem of past tenses. they assume that observing certain non-prototypical behaviours (i.e., deviating from what is habitual; ungerer & schmid 2006) and doing so in peer or small group interaction can generate cognitive conflict and trigger questions and discussion and, therefore, metalinguistic activity. school practices tend to address sentence phenomena twofold (see brucart 2000; coronas 2014): prioritizing descriptive and formal aspects before pragmatic and semantic aspects; and exploring prototype uses, assuming implicitly that non-prototype constructions should be left to more advanced levels (as the most regular aspects would provide security to the apprentice). yet, some studies show that focusing on prototypical behaviours only can generate a reified grammar knowledge, which would be inoperative in the context of grammar reflection, as well as difficult to transfer to situations of real use (see above). study 1: “when does it happen?” this study (casas-deseures 2012) explores how 86 late primary graders (11-12 years old, catalan as l1 or l2) from 3 schools near barcelona build knowledge about the values of the present. the task presents a set of sentences, such as “in 1969 man reaches the moon”, in which the present tense has a retrospective value, showing non-coincidence between the time of the statement (expressed with a temporary modifier “in 1969”) and time enunciation (expressed with the present tense “reaches”), in a retrospective non-prototypical use. the distinction between prototype and peripheral values of verb tense has been widely explored by grammars. pérez-saldanya (2002) points out that the present has a basic layout indicating “simultaneity with respect to the moment of the speech act” (p. 2.618), while it can express less marked values, such as retrospective, prospective, habitual or timeless. one of the questions asked is “what kinds of strategies do pupils use to uncover the tense of a sentence?” following klein’s (2009) and tartas’ (2009) studies on how pupils express tense and on their evolutionary construction of tense notions, the analysis reveals three strategies the pupils follow: morphological (the tense is indicated by the morphemes, see dialogue 1), semantic (the tense is indicated by the temporary modifier “in 1969”, see dialogue 2) and experiential or world-knowledge based (see dialogue 3). dialogue 1. morphologic strategy (couple 1) 1. researcher: when does it happen? | when does what the sentence talks about happen? 2. maria: now | present tense | otherwise it would say “reached” <3> or “will reach” 35 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles dialogue 2. semantic strategy (couple 2) 1. montse and pere: in 1969 2. researcher: when is that? 3. montse: mm :: before <3> well :: 4. pere: in the past 5. montse: yes :: past 6. researcher: ok | is there a verb in this sentence? 7. montse: “reaches” 8. researcher: ok | and what is that? 9. pere: a verb 10. researcher: ok it is a verb | but when does this verb happen? 11. montse: <4> before 12. pere: <3> in 1969 dialogue 3. experiential or world-knowledge strategy (couple 3) 1. anna: y ::: years ago :: because :: 2. r.: when does it happen? 3. josep: when my mum had not yet been born: and my grandma had already been born. 4. r.: ah | gosh | great | but how do you know it | that this happened then? 5. josep: because it is explained in magazines the interaction and cognitive conflict are revealed as a productive strategy to promote metalinguistic reflection, and in one of the final dialogues, albeit in a poorly articulated way, a pupil verbalizes the possibility of several values associated to the same form (“if you use a verb in present tense | it could also express through other words in the sentence | it could express | past | present and also future”). study 2: classify verbs the second study (fontich 2010) explores the reasoning of 75 students from 2nd to 4th levels of secondary school (13-16 years old, catalan as l1 or l2, in subject catalan) from a school near barcelona. these students solve the activities in small groups on the notion of verbal complementation. to observe that the appearance of complements depends on lexicosemantic and pragmatic factors (combettes 2007), the teacher-researcher provides the students with a list of sentences and texts (see a selection in (1) (6)) with the prototype and non-prototype uses of two complements: direct (dc) and indirect (ic). ic subsumes several values: possessive dative in (1), benefactor in (2), and experimenter in (3); and while (4) is a prototypical transitive use, (5) shows a transitive use of an intransitive verb and (6) the other way around. the objective is to classify the verbs in a graph (see 36 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles table 2), on the basis that this task will make students draw on their linguistic intuition as well as on comparing verbs of similar behaviour. (1) robar steal [li] ic han robat un quadre he/she has had a picture stolen literally: [to him/her] (they) have stolen his/her picture (2) enviar send [m’] ic han enviat aquelles fotos they have sent those pictures to me literally: [to me] (they) have sent those pictures (3) agradar like [li] ic agraden les novel · les de por he / she likes thrillers / thrillers please him/her literally: [to him/her] please thrillers (4) llegir read està llegint [una novel · la de por]dc he/she is reading [a thriller] (5) viure live/enjoy viu [la vida]dc! enjoy life! literally: live [(your)_life]! (6) beure drink en pere ja no beu [ø]dc peter does no longer drink [ø] meaning: peter is no longer an alcoholic table 2. classification of verbs in (1) to (6) +ic -ic +dc [1] robar steal[2] enviar send [4] llegir read [5] viu live/ enjoy -dc [3] agradar like [6] beure drink below are some brief dialogues in which students in small group try to solve the task. these dialogues show contradictory results with respect to the premise based on the benefits of non-prototype behaviours when it comes to generating cognitive conflict and triggering a reflective dialogue. 37 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles in dialogue 1 students must determine whether the verb robar (‘steal’) can be used with dc and ic. miquel proposes a suitable example, but he himself dismisses it after a long pause: dialogue 4 (group i, 14-15 years of age) 1. miquel: and this does not fit in because | "she stole peter a picture " <3> 2. carles: no | "she stole a picture ::" 3. miquel: | it does not sound well 4. carles: "in peter’s house" 5. assumpta: well | it does sound well | let’s see | "she stole::" it is a contradictory situation, since the dismissed example has just been proposed by the student and accepted by his companion. the explanation for this blockage can be found in the nonprototypical possessive dative subcategorized by the verb robar (‘steal’) in catalan (also in spanish) (while the dative explored in school has usually the prototypical value of “addressee”). such a non-prototypical feature would be an obstacle to the correct identification of verbal behaviour, despite the context of interaction caused by the classification task. nonetheless, we find in dialogue 2 the opposite situation, with a cascade-like reasoning to explore to what extent an intransitive verb (viure ‘live’) can carry dc: dialogue 5 (group ii, 13-14 years of age) 1. pere: yes | but it is a nonsense to say “what do you live? | life” 2. jofre: so::? | but it is a sentence 3. pere: “what do you live? life”? 4. raquel: but you can say something other than life 5. domènec: no:::: | “i live the world?” 6. jofre: “i live football” 7. domènec: | yes 8. francesc: “i live basketball” 9. domènec: it would fall into the direct complement slot | in previous turns, the possibility of a transitive use for viure (‘live’) has been discussed, now ruled out by pere (turn 1) and domènec (turn 5). however, the latter (turn 9) finally accepts it presumably because of the companions’ proposals (in which “live” equals “enjoy”). interestingly, in turn (4) raquel unblocks the reasoning opening the door to other possible complement closely linked to the verb semantics. 38 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles studies i and ii show the pedagogic potential of relatively simple tasks to involve students in grammar reasoning, as well as to uncover some problems. these tasks allow to collect data (in both seminatural and natural contexts) to be in-depth analysed. study 3: “my best summer” the third study (rodríguez-gonzalo 2015) explores the reasoning of a group of 21 late secondary graders (15-16 years of age, valencian as l1 or l2, in subject spanish) in valencia about the past tenses in narrative texts. research has identified a problem in students’ narrative texts: the transfer into writing of their simple oral repertoire of verb tenses in the past. students are well able to complete a grammar task about identifying a wide range of past tenses (declarative knowledge) but they are not able to use this knowledge in the writing of a narrative text (procedural knowledge). students are limited to use “pretérito imperfecto” (e.g., cantaba, imperfect mood, ‘i sang, i used to sing’) and “pretérito perfecto” (e.g., canté, perfect mood, ‘i sang’), but scarcely use “pretérito pluscuamperfecto” (e.g., había cantado, perfect mood indicating past in the past, ‘i had sung’). this study proposes exploring the tense values temporarily detached from their writing assignment as well as the writing of a recent experience (“my best summer”) with the objective that the students expand their repertoire through an iterative process of revision. the research contrasts some dialogues collected in three moments of the writing process: the planning, a classmate’s revision, and the revision of one’s own text. it is observed that most students (60%) do not incorporate into the planning of the writing any past tense other than those belonging to their oral repertoire (namely, they did not use past perfect or conditional as the future within the past), despite the initial grammar activities completed successfully. on the contrary, in the final revision of the text, carried out individually after peer review, the figures are reversed and now 61% of the students can enrich their text by incorporating other tenses. this suggests that grammar peer review provides the student with the appropriate learning context to improve their stories. furthermore, the investigation reveals an interesting matter. despite the final improvement, the students show very little capacity to suggest changes to peer texts in the mid-term revision. the researcher interprets this as follows. in the first version of the story the effort and attention of the students are basically focused on the semantic-pragmatic control of the text (“what might i tell”), without being able to at the same time pay attention to the grammar aspects which are the subject of the teaching. this coincides with what has already been observed by studies on written composition processes and workload (e.g., macarthur & graham 2016). peer review has caused a change of perspective: the student who reviews abandons the position of enunciator concerned about the content and adopts the position of an external observer who focuses on the grammar learning objectives. despite this, they are not able to suggest improvements in the revised texts because the introduction of any change entails re-arranging the text. finally, when they re-assume the position of enunciator in their own story, they become aware of the grammar objectives and it is their control of the content that serves to incorporate more past tenses. 39 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles this experience shows how the revision of the text has led to a rich context in which to transfer the study of grammar into the linguistic use. the results indicate the importance of dialogue and reflection in the classroom, as well as the need to see teaching and research as complementary endeavours. 4. teaching grammar, teaching how to reflect on language we cannot affirm that the association between “reflection” and “grammar learning” is a new idea (see for instance laurinen 1955, cited in hudson 2001). nonetheless, reflection has been misguidingly seen as an instrument to achieve a better understanding of the linguistic concepts we want the students to learn. indeed, beyond such a reductionist position, reflection (i.e., the use of language to explore language) could be more than a pedagogic instrument or a simple second-order linguistic activity. some authors consider that reflection occupies a very important place in using, acquiring, and learning languages. jakobson (1960) points out that linguistic use sometimes takes language as its reference object, adopting what the russian linguist dubs a “metalinguistic function”. and karmiloff-smith (1992) points out that the feature that distinguishes natural languages from the language of animals is not so much their degree of sophistication as the fact that only humans can reflectively use language, i.e., use language to refer to language itself. some authors go further and consider that reflexivity is not only a possibility that any natural language affords, but it is a characteristic that completely pervades human communication (taylor 2000), in the form of metadiscourse strategies that go unnoticed such as “this is what he said...”, “what did she mean by that?”, “excuse me, could you repeat what you said?” (see also taylor 2000). the teaching of grammar could be conceived as the space within language education where we provide conceptual and procedural tools to students with the double objective of: (a) converting language into an object of conscious reflection, and (b) assimilating that this reflection is the basis for appropriate and efficient language use. highly competent users of language (e.g., linguists, writers, teachers, etc.) are usually involved in an intense metalinguistic activity juggling diverse operations (e.g., contrast, observation, combination, subtraction, etc.), with varying degrees of consciousness. this implies both attention to the system as well as attention to use (camps 2014; fontich 2016). school is a scenario where a constant metalinguistic process is enacted (gombert 1990), and our aim should be to make it explicit and conscious. while the benefits of using language to learn across school disciplines (e.g., social sciences, art, etc.) have been widely recognized (see mcleod & maimon 2000), the benefit of using language to learn language (both in terms of grammar concepts and the regulation of use) has been less explored (camps 2014). that reflective use of language or “metalinguistic activity” would constitute the “what for” or the purpose of grammar teaching, which would subsume the “what” and the “how” and which would be considered the source of grammar learning (camps 2014). the following scheme (figure 1) reproduces this idea: 40 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... articles figure 1. metalinguistic activity (adapted from camps 2014) the horizon of research on the teaching of grammar is broad. a space that integrates researchers’ and teachers’ views and that helps to explore, develop and contrast the intervention model in the classroom needs to be created. we should be able to “translate” it into manageable consultation material aimed at both teachers and learners. it is also of utmost relevance to further develop an integrated language syllabus (i.e., spaces for reflection on the basic features shared by the different languages in the curriculum). and linking with the latter, we must find ways to articulate in a long period of time (e.g., a semester, a course, a cycle) the grammar content contemplated by the syllabus. we have stimulating work ahead. primary and secondary teacher know that teaching language means creatively teaching how to listen, speak, read, and write. through interaction, pupils will learn to interpret texts, develop ideas, articulate their linguistic repertoire, and put such repertoire at the service of more effective communicative skills. teachers know that teaching 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(eds.). 2014. grammar at school: research on metalinguistic activity in language education. brussels: peter lang. rodríguez-gonzalo, c. 2015. a classroom intervention on spanish grammar and writing: the use of the past tense with secondary school students. culture and education 27(4): 879–98, doi:10.10 80/11356405.2015.1089388 tartas, v. 2009. la construction du temps social par l’enfant [the construction of social time by the child]. berna: peter lang. taylor, t. j. 1997. theorizing language: analysis, normativity, rhetoric, history. oxford: pergamon press. taylor, t. j. 2000. language constructing language: the implications of reflexivity for linguistic theory. language sciences 22: 483–99. taylor, t. j. 2010. where does language come from? the role of reflexive enculturation in language development. language sciences 32: 14–27. ungerer, f. & schmid, h.-j. 2006. an introduction to cognitive linguistics (2nd edition). harlow: pearson. van lier, l. 2004. the ecology and semiotics of language learning. dordrecht: kluwer academic. van rijt, j., de swart, p. & coppen, p.-a. 2018. linguistic concepts in l1 grammar education: a systematic literature review. research papers in education, doi:10.1080/02671522.2018.1493742. vygotsky, l.s. 1987. thinking and speech. in: r.w. rieber & a.s. carton (eds.), the collected works of l.s. vygotsky, vol. 1, 39–288. new york: plenum. zayas, f. (forthcoming). towards a pedagogical grammar. in a. camps & x. fontich (eds.), metalinguistic activity straddling writing and grammar. *** xavier fontich is a lecturer at the faculty of education of the universitat autònoma de barcelona (spain). his scholarly work pertains to language education, focusing on a variety of educational issues (textbooks, using literature in the classroom, in-service teacher education, etc.) with attention to l1 grammar instruction for writing. he has authored or co-authored papers, books, chapters, and pedagogic material on this topic, arguing that social interaction has an enormous epistemic potential in learning grammar. he is co-editor of bellaterra journal of teaching & learning language & literature, a scopus indexed online peer-reviewed, multilingual journal that publishes research by graduate or post-doctoral students, as well as invites contributions by internationally recognized scholars. in the period 2014-2016 he was a visiting scholar at the graduate school of education, university of exeter (uk). he worked as a secondary school teacher (1995-2014). 46 crossroads. a journal of english studies michael w. thomas only a rose only a rose in an area window telling the tale of a sportive yesterday or pressed in haste on someone by somebody else in a bar who’d been stood up but even so wished love to dance over the evening the rose knows nothing of what it was meant to say how it was dressed to say it all it wants is to sing back the glow of the moon which never says what it’s said to say either but happily listens while nosing apart the dark of the rose’s room fixing the way an old-gold blouse pours down the back of a chair the way a clock-hand tickles the low hours only a rose only a moon doing what nobody sees free from mortal chat of urge and contrition in all the old co-opted places platform calendar bluff the writers’ corner 47 the writer’s corner if the rose dreams it’s of rain’s delirium arching clear of its birth-soil if the moon dreams it’s of birthing its own light no more the cold courier of sun-sweat almost 1961 when you were young, a thousand helpless miles lay between, say, the tenth of december and christmas—which stood there, mule-indifferent, knowing fine it had you fast in its heart, that even now you heard the morning roads, the last shunt in the fire-pluming night as other than the regulated drone your breath and bones were made of. round the school, the stony faces of alcoved torment in friday church, the iron air thinned out and lifted: something else drew on, ahead of fidget-arsed nativities, tea-towels on kingly crewcuts, cards of solder-glue. time softened, the blood rose to its face. bells almost rang beneath the hoosh of buses, the clouds were undersides of magic ways where angels got into first position, shepherds took form in sputnik-space, prepared to be unprepared, mithering, scared stiff. then all at once the last wednesday of term 48 crossroads. a journal of english studies with the ex-navy barber (dads and lads), and you high in the chair, buffed, clippered, set to meet the only land you loved. mirrored, the brushings of the dead year fell like snow. travellers they are made of mist, a seasoned need to step light and thin round the mires of the world. the ends of unlettered roads will find them, possibly, if a caravan rocks its green roof, betrays that it is not after all the high skirt of midsummer. but the first steeps of autumn draw them out: to the broads of grass, say, beside a rat-run island. bits of them appear with the middle days of october: a bassinette against a wheel, tarped horses posted up and back, a pot to simmer the damps of another year going. bargees, they could be, but with a course laid secret through the earth. windscreens show them seeming to be about themselves on the usual levels of the day. only someone in the back, maybe, with a child’s distaste for wherefores, might see them truly, flowing where they stand, their past dropped over a tailboard, the future not even the first twitch of a dream. oblivion and vengeance: charles ii stuart’s policy towards the republicans at the restoration of 1660 37 articles paweł kaptur jan kochanowski university, kielce oblivion and vengeance: charles ii stuart’s policy towards the republicans at the restoration of 1660 abstract. the restoration of charles ii stuart in 1660 was reckoned in post-revolutionary england both in terms of a long-awaited relief and an inevitable menace. the return of the exiled prince, whose father’s disgraceful decapitation in the name of law eleven years earlier marked the end of the british monarchy, must have been looked forward to by those who expected rewards for their loyalty, inflexibility and royal affiliation in the turbulent times of the interregnum. it must have been, however, feared by those who directly contributed to issuing the death warrant on the legally ruling king and to violating the irrefutable divine right of kings. even though charles ii’s mercy was widely known, hardly anyone expected that the restored monarch’s inborn mildness would win over his well-grounded will to revenge his father’s death and the collapse of the british monarchy. it seems that charles ii was not exceptionally vindictive and was eager to show mercy and oblivion understood as an act of amnesty to those who sided with cromwell and parliament but did not contribute directly to the executioner raising his axe over the royal neck. on the other hand, the country’s unstable situation and the king’s newly-built reputation required some firm-handed actions taken by the sovereign in order to prevent further rebellions or plots in the future, and to strengthen the position of the monarchy so shattered by the civil war and the interregnum. keywords: restoration, charles ii, english civil war, oliver cromwell, regicide. introduction when in 1660 charles ii returned from his exile in france, many saw the restoration of the house of stuart as a chance to regain peace and order after the turbulent period of the civil war and the interregnum. for those who supported the king after his father had been beheaded and continued to fight against cromwell’s army, it was a sigh of relief and an obvious opportunity to be rewarded for their loyalty. those who sided with the republicans and contributed to the overthrow and consequently the regicide must have felt unsure of their future and feared royal vengeance. the restored king’s policy towards the rebels in the new political reality was hardly predictable and hard to be anticipated. some believed that the new monarch would be much less lenient and merciful towards his and his father’s enemies and would try to revenge those who triggered charles i’s 10.15290/cr.2016.14.3.04 38 crossroads. a journal of english studies disgraceful execution and the collapse of the house of stuart in 1642. charles ii entered london on may 29th 1660 and, as fraser says, this day “ushered in an age of anxiety as well as an age of rejoicing” (187). the paper looks at charles ii’s policy towards those who sided with the parliamentarians and those who signed his father’s death warrant. its major aim is to look at selected events that took place at the restoration in order to define the policy towards republicans that charles ii exercised upon his arrival in england, and to try to understand the criteria and reasons hidden behind the royal decisions to punish and to pardon. oblivion and mercy when charles ii was restored to the throne, one of his supporters – the poet john dryden – praised the great return in a panegyric called “astrea redux” (10), where he clearly hopes that the new reign will be marked by mercifulness rather than vindictiveness: but you, whose goodness your descent doth show, your heav’nly parentage and earthly too; by that same mildness which your fathers crown before did ravish, shall secure your own. not ty’d to rules of policy, you find revenge less sweet than a forgiving mind. thus, when th’ almighty would to moses give a sight of all he could behold and live; a voice before his entry did proclaim long-suffring, goodness, mercy in his name. your pow’r to justice doth submit your cause, your goodness only is above the laws. (256-267) the poet, who was a close observant of the turmoil of the civil war, notes that charles i’s mildness was something that his son should take over in his dealings with the rebels. moreover, he suggests that forgiveness will be more beneficial and advantageous to the king than the potential revenge. indeed, the king did not seem to be taking pleasure in punishing those who violated the divine right of kings by deposing and decapitating his father 11 years earlier. it was not only dryden who pinpointed the king’s mercifulness as his great merit. historians also pay attention to charles ii’s conciliatory approach towards those who rebelled: “in his determined mercy, king charles in 1660 did show himself indeed a veritable olive-branch-bearing dove” (fraser, 187). fraser (187) also notes that the peaceful image of the king was based upon his will to follow two paths of his policy towards those engaged in the civil war: reward and conciliation. his policy was to reward those royalists who suffered exile, imprisonment or physical wounds during the war and the interreg39 articles num, and to reconcile with the cromwellians. hutton says that “the charitable view of charles’s reactions is that they reveal a remarkable moderation and self-restraint. the skeptical one is that he found it easy to forgive individual english republicans because he had no personal grudges against them” (141). hutton gives an example of charles’s mercy when he followed the advice of the house of commons, who suggested reprieving the republican general john lambert and the politician sir henry vane, who were exposed to death by the house of lords (141). the king’s forgiving attitude towards lambert may seem exceptionally generous as, according to c.p. hill, “among the parliamentarian commanders only fairfax and cromwell were more gifted soldiers [than lambert]” (167). if lambert was the third most responsible person for ruining the house of stuart, then why would the king have pardoned him? the answer might be quite complex. first of all, lambert “was less disliked by the royalists than most of the parliamentarian leaders” (167) because he was not a puritan. secondly, he was out of london on the day of the king’s execution, which might suggest that he did not fully support or accept the idea of the king’s condemnation to death. in fact, he was not among those 59 regicides who signed the death warrant on king charles i. thirdly, “he opposed the proposals to make cromwell king and the protectorate hereditary, and this action ... led to a breach and to his dismissal” (hill, 168). therefore, it is easy to understand the king’s inclination to spare lambert’s life and to punish him only by sentencing him to life imprisonment. vane’s case is much more complicated. in spite of being an influential politician whose persuasive speeches spurred the collapse of the english monarchy, he “was no ardent supporter of the army ... and he played no part in the king’s trial or in the events leading to it” (116). when the parliament passed the indemnity and oblivion act in order to minimize the vengeance for the actions taken during the interregnum, vane was excluded from oblivion and treated as an exception, together with those who were directly involved in the king’s death. vane was imprisoned in 1660 in the tower until parliament petitioned the king to grant mercy to the politician, which the monarch took advantage of and accepted. vane himself, however, turned the tide against himself when during his trial at court he “chose to defend himself by vindicating parliamentary sovereignty” (117) and undermined the king’s de jure possession. this made the king realize that vane was not only dangerous to the restored monarchy in his views but also unwilling to show repentance for his republican support during the civil war. in such a case, the king could not allow his name to be shattered and accused of exercising excessive mercy to those who were not even eager to bend and apologize for their previous political siding. charles could not do anything else but to go back on his word, and vane was sentenced to death. although he was supposed to be hanged, drawn and quartered, the king’s inborn mildness let him muster up his last act of mercy towards vain and grant him the gentleman’s death of beheading. hence, one might have the impression that vane “was charged with treason against charles ii rather than against charles i” (fraser, 185). samuel pepys’s account on vane’s execution is also quite telling as for the king’s attitude towards the convict: “the king had given his body to his friends; and, therefore, he told them that he hoped they would be civil to his body when dead; and he desired they would let him die like a gentleman and a christian, and not crowded and pressed as he was” (66). 40 crossroads. a journal of english studies both historians and eyewitnesses seem to note and highlight the king’s forgetful policy. in fact, ten years after the restoration “he was accepting hospitality from henry cromwell, second son of the late protector, at his home near newmarket” (fraser, 186). what is more, the king sought conciliation of the cromwellians and resolved that “service during the interregnum should be no disqualification” (190). this rule was, for instance, applied to sir matthew hale and edward atkins. hale and atkins were renowned judges under the protectorate and the commonwealth who accepted the parliamentarian regime. this, however, did not discourage the king from reappointing them to the their posts as he valued their integrity and even-handedness. the most convincing argument for acknowledging charles’s merciful and mild character lies in his dealings with some of the regicides. even though he had the power to revenge his father’s death by executing all living signatories of the death warrant, he did not resolve to do so. fraser’s account of the king’s policy towards the regicides shows charles as a merciful monarch: “of the forty-one surviving regicides, those who had signed the warrant and a few others closely associated with the king’s death as well as the two (unidentified) executioners of charles i, twelve died altogether. it was the king who prevented a further nineteen of their number” (185). the issuance of the indemnity and oblivion act in 1660 confirmed the resolutions of the declaration of breda. the act promised amnesty and pardon to cromwellians excluding fifty individuals, of whom thirteen were executed. if one remembers that there were fifty-nine signatories of the death warrant on king charles i, eleven commissioners who did not sign it, but were involved in the process, twelve officers at the court trying charles i, and eleven other associates, then thirteen executions seems to be a symbolic punishment. when only the fifty-nine regicides are taken into account, only eight of them were executed (or died awaiting execution), whereas nineteen were given life sentences. six out of the nineteen (peter temple, henry smith, augustine garland, gilbert millington, robert lilburne, robert tichborne) were first sentenced to death, but this was later commuted to life imprisonment. charles ii, in historians’ and eyewitnesses’ views, was “never a personally vindictive man” (fraser, 185) and in his policy towards the rebels he did not turn out to be like the mythological orestes, who revenged his father agamemnon by killing his murderers (185). vengeance and remembrance in 1661, when charles ii was crowned, john dryden, now appointed the poet laureate, once more referred to the king’s policy towards the republicans in the panegyric “to his sacred majesty” (13): among our crimes oblivion may be set, but ’tis our kings perfection to forget. (87-88) here, dryden seems to imply that although it is the kings’ right to forget and forgive, excessive mercy and oblivion might be dangerous and even perceived as a crime against the country. in fact, the king did not need to rely on the poet’s advice to know that mercy and forgiveness should have 41 articles limits, otherwise the royal grandeur and authority might be considerably diminished or jeopardized. therefore, charles’s “temperamental disinclination to vengeance was not at all the same thing as an inclination to forget the past” (fraser, 186). charles ii, as a newly restored monarch, whose primary role was to restore peace and order in the mayhem of post-revolutionary england, could not afford to forgive all his and his father’s enemies and forget all their sins. the violation of the divine rights of kings was, in fact, a violation of the fundamental principles which the country was built upon. moreover, the fact that such an unthinkable and unprecedented coup de etat did happen in 1649 meant it might happen again in the future. revolutions are generally not very frequent, but when they do occur they usually make people realize that the overthrow of a monarch or, at least, quick and sudden political turbulence is possible and might be used as a tool to warn a disobedient king again. therefore, charles ii’s mercy and oblivion had to be limited to an extent allowing the people to appreciate the king’s great mercifulness towards his father’s executors, but, on the other hand, notice his firmness, strength, and authority which would scare off potential revolutionists. fraser claims (186) that an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty was present at the king’s court: “revolution and its possible consequences, was one spectre which stalked the corridors of the king’s palace from the inception of his reign to its end... but at no point was the presence of such a threatening ghost felt more acutely than in the early 1660s. ” there was a general readiness and alertness to prevent criticism and dissatisfaction of those who had not yet got accustomed to the restored monarchy from turning into another rebellion and consequently a revolution: thus one finds the implicit fear of another revolution expressed continuously and in all sorts of different ways in the early years of the reign. there were significant details such as the preference for windsor castle as a royal fortress ... because it was properly garrisoned. there were broader policies, such as the concentration on forming a proper body of guards to surround the monarch ... a general jumpiness animated surveys of the careers of those with regicide connections. (fraser, 186) such an overwhelming atmosphere of distrustfulness and invigilation did not allow the exercise of excessive mercy and risk being perceived as weak, thus an easy obstacle to be got rid of. in order to make the king appear powerful and yet forgiving but remembering, the dealings with the key regicides had taken a much rougher path. the punishment for oliver cromwell, henry ireton, and john bradshaw were aimed to manifest the king’s sturdiness and to send a clear message to all those who conspired and plotted against the restored monarchy. the posthumous executions of the three leaders were to demonstrate that charles ii’s mercy was limited and did not apply to those who directly violated the divine right of kings. it was supposed to reiterate the fact that the king’s memory of his late father was still vivid. as there is no question of doubt as for cromwell, who was believed to have orchestrated the regicide, the choice of ireton and bradshaw needs to be reflected upon. ireton commanded the left wing at the momentous battle of naseby in 1645, where he “fought like a lion” (hill, 141). he is frequently reported to have been brave, competent and to have had a 42 crossroads. a journal of english studies considerable influence “on the slower and far less clear mind of cromwell” (142). in 1647 he was the major architect of the heads of the proposals – the settlement offered to charles i. when the proposals were consecutively being rejected by the king, it was ireton who willingly advocated the idea of bringing charles i to trial. what is most justifying about the choice of ireton to be posthumously executed was his personal engagement in writing the remonstrance of army – a statement about the regicide, his active part in the king’s trial, his signature on the death warrant, and most importantly the fact that he was the son-in-law to cromwell himself. bradshaw’s fault seems to be even more evident. he became a prosecutor on behalf of parliament at the time of the civil war, and was “a competent and reasonable choice, if not a notably distinguished one, for membership of the commission set up by the rump [parliament] to try the king” (166). his role as president of the high court of justice for the trial of king charles i was widely reverberating. edward hyde, earl of clarendon, who witnessed the trial, described bradshaw as the one who administered the office “with all the pride, impudence, and superciliousness imaginable” (clarendon, 327). cromwell, ireton, and bradshaw embodied audacity and tenacity in trying and, as a result, executing charles i. therefore, having all three perpetrators dead (cromwell died in 1658, ireton in 1651, and bradshaw in 1659), the newly restored king could not let them rest in peace and ordered their posthumous executions. to make them even more symbolic and hence meaningful, the executions were scheduled on 30th january 1661, exactly twelve years after the infamous regicide had taken place. all three signatories of the late king’s death warrant were disinterred, hanged at tyburn and decapitated. their bodies were thrown into a pit and their heads were placed on spikes and displayed at the end of westminster hall facing the direction of the place where charles i had been executed. the executions were reported by eye-witnesses who must have perceived the event as exceptionally significant. samuel pepys does not mention any other punishments for the regicides as frequently as he does in case of these three. on 30th january 1661, pepys reports: “then to my lady batten’s; where my wife and she are lately come again from being abroad, and seeing of cromwell, ireton, and bradshaw hanged and buried at tyburn” (43). six days later pepys returns to the subject, writing: “my wife and i by water to westminster. into the hall and there saw my lord treasurer ... go up to the treasury office and take possessions thereof; and also saw the heads of cromwell, bradshaw, and ireton, set up upon the further end of the hall” (44). even though pepys’s report seems to be a little laconic, it is still crucial that the diarist considered the event to be worth mentioning, and exposed the three names twice in his diary while enumerating the other chores and duties of his routine, everyday life. john evelyn offers a much more lively and descriptive account of the executions: this day (o the stupendious & inscrutable judgements of god) were the carkasses of that arch-rebell cromwell, bradshaw the judge who condemned his majestie & ireton, sonn in law to the usurper, dragged out of their superbe tombs (in westminster among the kings), to tyburne, & hanged on the gallows 43 articles there from 9 in the morning til 6 at night, & and then buried under that fatal & ignominious monument, in a deepe pitt: thousands of people (who had seene them in all their pride & pompous insults) being spectators: looke back at november 22: 1658 be astnosh’d – and (fear) god & honor the king, but meddle not with them who are given to change. (evelyn, 380) what seems important in evelyn’s report is the symbolic relocation of the three regicides’ bodies from the “superb tombs” to the “ignominious monument in a deep pit.” the chronicler reminds his readers of cromwell’s funeral on 22nd 1658 and warns not to “meddle with” gods and kings’ divine rights. evelyn highlights the most probable reason why charles ii resolved to have the bodies exhumed and publicly defamed. it was not pure and uninhibited vengeance that drove the king in disturbing the dead cromwellians but to make the memory of his father endless and durable. the three heads now spiked and gazing at those visiting westminster hall were to make sure that nobody forgot the regicide, the revolution and the protectorate and all their burdensome aftermaths. they also served to discourage those who considered another dethronement and those who missed the republic. the list of those who were to be posthumously executed included yet another name – thomas pride. he was one of those officers who were outstandingly hostile to the house of commons in 1647. he carried out the “purge” in 1648, “which immortalized his name” (hill, 145), and, most importantly, he signed the death warrant on king charles i. he died in 1658 and was also earmarked to share the fate of cromwell, ireton, and bradshaw, but his execution was not carried out. although it is difficult to guess the reason for his posthumous reprieve, it may lie in the fact that it was pride who instigated “the officer’s petition to which finally determined cromwell not to take the crown” (145). apart from the symbolic but still spectacular posthumous executions of the principal leaders of the regicide, there was a list consisting of those who were sentenced for life and those who were indeed quite cruelly lost. adrian scrope, gregory clement, and thomas harrison were all hanged, drawn, and quartered. both scrope and clement were executed because they were among the judges who tried the king and signed the death warrant. harrison, however, lost his life because apart from being one of the fifty-nine commissioners, he posed some real danger to the newly restored monarchy. he was one of the most skilful and eminent cromwellian generals actively participating in the battles of marston moore, naseby, and preston, and it was he who “guarded charles on his last journey to london” (hill, 171). what must have worried charles ii, however, was that harrison was a leader of a nonconformist dissenting group called the fifth monarchists (or fifth monarchy men), who believed that “the vision of daniel was about to be fulfilled, when the saints of the most high would possess the kingdom for ever and ever” (171). as cromwell’s protectorate set up in 1653 constituted the contradiction of harrison’s visions, he “lost his commission, declined to serve the protectorate, and was twice imprisoned in oliver’s later years” (171). even though, he must have posed a threat to the newly restored king for a number of reasons, he still believed in daniel’s prophecy and was awaiting the year 1666, which he believed had some 44 crossroads. a journal of english studies relationship with the biblical number of the beast. if, according to the prophecy, the year 1666 was to put an end to the earthly rule of human beings and replace it with the second coming of the messiah, then the king might have suspected that harrison would plot against him and the monarchy to facilitate the fulfilment of the prophecy he promoted and advocated so strongly. such suspicions were well-grounded as harrison decided not to flee england even when he knew that his fate had already been sealed. therefore, the king’s decision to hang, draw, and quarter harrison had a more preventive than revengeful background. conclusions what best defines and determines the king’s dealings with his father’s enemies after the restoration in 1660 is his attitude towards thomas fairfax. once the commander-in-chief in the civil war and the most influential officer in revolutionary england, who indeed greatly contributed to the king’s disposal, he refused to sign the death warrant and hence was given a royal pardon and kept his titles. moreover, it was he who “was sent to invite charles ii to return, he welcomed the restoration – although characteristically, he was deeply angered by the disinterment and gibbeting of cromwell’s corpse” (hill, 133). it seems, then, that it was not the sheer participation or leadership in the military actions of the civil war that was the criterion whether to punish or to reprieve, but the ability or disability to rehabilitate and to redeem one’s sins committed against the monarchy. it might also seem plausible that charles ii, as a prudent politician, had orchestrated to implement the “divide and rule” strategy in his policy to gain, maintain and reinforce his authority. therefore, he resolved to punish selected cromwellians and to spare the others in order to prevent the republicans from linking up, and to spur rivalries and foment discord among those who had sided with cromwell a few years earlier. moreover, despite his mild character, charles could not afford to acquit those who had tried his father and hence directly violated the divine rights of kings that the stuarts had been advocating so firmly. therefore, the restored king had to face a difficult challenge by keeping the balance between conciliation with the cromwellians and punishing the chief ringleaders and perpetrators of the temporary fall of the house of stuart in order to highlight his own firmness and prevent future revolutions. the quoted verses from dryden’s “to his sacred majesty” reiterate the king’s “perfection to forget.” this pampering tone of the poet laureate serves to highlight charles’s merciful approach to some of his enemies and to foreground his greatness as a monarch who brings back peace, order and justice to a country tormented by revolution. in the following lines dryden makes it clear that peace is the ultimate purpose of the king’s policy towards the republicans, and this may be achieved only if the monarch proves to be forgiving: virtues unknown to these rough northern climes from milder heav’ns you bring, without their crimes: your calmnesse does no after storms provide, nor seeming patience mortal anger hide. (89–92) 45 articles as in the earlier poem “astrea redux,” dryden claims that the king’s “mildness, calmness, and patience” are “the royal virtues necessary for domestic tranquillity” (garrison 1975, 171). although dryden’s praise may be read as advice to charles for the future, the king seemed to have already been aware that peace was what the people of britain longed for after years of political instability. in order to achieve it, the newly-crowned monarch had to find an equilibrium between forgetting and remembering, between forgiving and punishing. fraser’s description of the king’s return to england in an age of anxiety and rejoicing synthesizes the above argument: “yet with these twin provisions of watchfulness against the repetition of revolution and concern for justice to his father’s memory, charles ii arrived in a healing mood” (187). references: dryden, john. 1959. the poems of john dryden. london: oxford university press. evelyn, john. 2006. the diary of john evelyn. london: everyman’s library. fraser, antonia. 2002. king charles ii. london: phoenix press. garrison, james. d. 1975. dryden and the tradition of panegyric. berkeley and los angeles: university of california press. hill, c.p. 1988. who’s who in stuart britain. london: shepheard-walwyn. hutton, ronald. 1989. charles ii oxford: clarendon press. hyde, edward, earl of clarendon. 2009. the history of rebellion. new york: oxford university press. pepys, samuel. 2003. the diary of samuel pepys. new york: the modern library. a study on conceptual transfer in the use of prepositions in english writing by chinese secondary school students 62 crossroads. a journal of english studies shuai zhang1 shaoqian luo2 beijing normal university beijing normal university a study on conceptual transfer in the use of prepositions in english writing by chinese secondary school students abstract. this study addresses the issue of conceptual transfer in chinese efl learners’ use of prepositions under the guidance of image schema theory, aiming to explore the cognitive underpinnings of conceptual transfer. by observing linguistic data from the learner corpus wcel (writing corpus of english learners), part of icci (the international corpus of crosslinguistic interlanguage), this study summarises types and manifestations of conceptual transfer in the use of prepositions in english writing by chinese secondary school students, and analyses corresponding cognitive causes of conceptual transfer. data processing software, antconc, is used for observation of concordance lines according to the minimum assumption proposed by sinclair (2004) in corpus-based studies. it is found that errors made by students in their use of english prepositions are mainly caused by negative conceptual transfer of the chinese language; positive conceptual transfer also exists. conceptual transfer is mainly caused by cognitive similarities and differences between english and chinese, represented by image schemas. key words: conceptual transfer, image schema, prepositions, english writing, chinese secondary school students. 1. introduction language transfer has been a central issue in second language acquisition (sla) research. it is not only the result of language learning, but also a process in which human cognition and conceptualisation are involved (odlin 1989). conceptual transfer (jarvis and pavlenko 2008) emphasises the role of human cognition and conceptualisation in the process of language acquisition. learners’ writing can be regarded as linguistic representations of their linguistic competence, and therefore serves as primary and valid data for studies in the field of sla. among the linguistic units that l2 learners need to acquire, prepositions used in the writings of l2 learners are related to temporal and spatial concepts. the use of prepositions reveals cognitive processes and can be analysed 1 first author 2 corresponding author 10.15290/cr.2017.17.2.04 63 crossroads. a journal of english studies to investigate conceptual transfer. with these considerations in mind, this study aims to explore types and manifestations of conceptual transfer in the use of prepositions in english writing by chinese secondary school students, and tries to explain the conceptual transfer with an emphasis on the conceptual similarities and differences between chinese and english. 2. literature review 2.1 language transfer and conceptual transfer the term “language transfer” can be used interchangeably with “cross-linguistic influence”, denoting the existence of influence across different languages. it is not easy to find an all-inclusive definition of language transfer. among existing definitions of language transfer, the working definition by odlin (1989) has shown more about the nature of language transfer. according to odlin, language transfer refers to the influence resulting from the similarities and differences between the target language and any other language that has been previously (and perhaps imperfectly) acquired. language transfer can be classified into linguistic transfer, semantic transfer and conceptual transfer, corresponding to the transfer of linguistic elements (e.g. pronunciation and syntactic structure), meanings and concepts (zhang and liu 2013). currently, little attention has been paid to conceptual transfer (jarvis and pavlenko 2008). conceptual transfer can be understood at three different levels: as an observation, approach and hypothesis since it “focuses more on the effects of cognition on language use, particularly the effects of patterns of cognition acquired through one language on the receptive or productive use of another language” (jarvis 2011: 3). in sla, conceptual transfer refers to the influence of one language on the acquisition of another in terms of thinking patterns, in which process the way l2 learners think through l1 and their mode of thinking through l2 interact with each other (jarvis and pavlenko 2008). 2.2 relevant studies of language transfer and conceptual transfer investigations of language transfer mainly include phonetic, phonological, lexical, morphological, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic as well as conceptual studies, which reveal different dimensions and provide convincing evidence of language transfer. existing studies of transfer may overlap and thus can be categorised roughly into three major types, i.e. linguistic transfer, semantic transfer and conceptual transfer. most early studies are concerned with linguistic transfer, which may be phonetic, phonological, lexical, morphological, or syntactic. some studies (e.g. hancin-bhatt 2000, aoyama et al. 2004) deal with the acquisition of l2 phones and phonemes. some (e.g. ringbom 2001) discuss the use of l2 vocabulary and likewise show cross-linguistic influence. there are also studies (e.g. jarvis and odlin 2000, koda 2000) dealing with morphological transfer. certain syntactic structures have also been examined in the field (e.g. matthews and yip 2003). both semantic transfer and pragmatic transfer deal with cross-linguistic influence in meaning, which may overlap with but do not equal conceptual transfer (e.g. ijaz 1986, kwon 2003, tamanaha 2003). 64 crossroads. a journal of english studies conceptual transfer can be regarded as a subset of semantic transfer in accordance with the claim that conceptual transfer involves semantic transfer, not vice-versa (odlin 2005). there are discussions concerning the notion of conceptual transfer (e.g. pavlenko 1999, 2002, von stutterheim 2003) as well as empirical studies under the guidance of different theoretical frameworks. some scholars investigated different linguistic levels of conceptual transfer within the paradigm of cognitive linguistics or linguistic relativity (e.g. ijaz 1986). in accordance with odlin (2005), conceptual transfer is concerned with a second language and can be understood as cases of linguistic relativity. accordingly, some studies of conceptual transfer are often related to issues of relativity, which can be understood briefly as the hypothesised effect of language on thought (e.g. pederson et al. 1998, jarvis 1998, pavlenko 1999). recently, scholars in china have explored language transfer from the perspective of psychology or cognitive linguistics (e.g. ma 2010, xu et al. 2014). under the influence of the linguistic relativity principle, zhang and liu (2013b) explored features of chinese efl beginners’ acquisition of english metaphorical prepositions by utilizing linguistic data from icci through the analysis of their collocations. from the above, we can see that conceptual transfer has gained increasing attention, and it has developed rapidly, as reflected in the diverse topics. it includes not only l1 influence on l2 learning, but also bidirectional transfer. trilingual and multilingual situations in conceptual transfer studies have been considered in some particular studies. however, there are few investigations of conceptual transfer with a consideration of chinese efl learners’ linguistic output. in other words, very few studies have been conducted on the chinese secondary learners. therefore, it is necessary to conduct such a study of conceptual transfer through the analysis of chinese efl learners’ linguistic performance. 2.3 image schema theory in the analysis of causes of conceptual transfer, image schema theory was employed in order to compare the conceptual similarities at the lexical level between chinese and english as far as spatial or temporal prepositions were concerned. the concept of “image schema” is generally considered to have first been proposed in conceptual metaphor theory by lakoff and johnson (1980). according to this theory, metaphor is fundamentally conceptual, not linguistic in nature. although the overwhelming majority of evidence for conceptual metaphor is linguistic, it is also true that people structure their concepts metaphorical when they are not using language (casasanto 2009). johnson (1987: xiv) defines an image schema as “a recurring, dynamic pattern of our perceptual interactions and motor programs that gives coherence and structure to our experience”, emphasizing the “perceptual experience” nature of an image schema. gibbs and colston (1995: 349) define image schemata as “dynamic analog representations of spatial relations and movements in space”, which draws attention to the “spatial” aspect of an image schema. according to oakley (2007), an image schema can be defined as a condensed redescription of perceptual experience for the purpose of mapping spatial structure onto conceptual structure, which is a combination of the above two, emphasizing “perceptual 65 crossroads. a journal of english studies experience”, “spatial structure” and “conceptual structure”. these three diachronically arranged definitions vary in terms of the linguistic expressions that are employed to define the term “image schema”, but the nature of this term remains the same. an image schema reveals people’s concepts acquired in their interactions with the outside world. an image schema can be expressed or understood with the help of simple diagrams in the results and discussion sections. the notions “trajector (tr)” and “landmark (lm)” are essential to understanding an image schema. the former is the primary focus of attention, and the latter equals the background in a spatial relationship. linguistic representations in the use of prepositions reveal similarities as well as differences in terms of conceptual structures between chinese and english. therefore, theoretical support from image schema theory cannot be neglected for its role in explaining the underlying commonalities and discrepancies between concepts related to the use of english prepositions by chinese secondary school students in their writing, especially to the use of spatial and temporal prepositions as these prepositions reveal cognitive processes in which people interact with their physical world, social world and even psychological world. 3. research design a corpus-based approach to learner language is perceived as an important research methodology due to authentic linguistic data and the convenient process of data processing. it is applicable to an investigation of systematic and regular features in chinese learners’ use of english prepositions by retrieving and observing their use of the target language. 3.1 research questions to investigate conceptual transfer in the use of prepositions in english writing by chinese secondary school students at the lexical level, we focus on the following two research questions: rq1: what are the types and manifestations of conceptual transfer in the use of prepositions in english writing by chinese secondary school students? rq2: what are the underlying causes of conceptual transfer in the use of prepositions in english writing by chinese secondary school students? by focusing on these two research questions, this study may provide some evidence of chinesespecific conceptual transfer in the process of english learning. the linguistic data were chosen from wcel (writing corpus of english learners), which contains altogether 166,301 tokens of 1, 494 written documents based on essay writing. writing samples in wcel were collected from firstand second-year secondary school students from twelve key and ordinary secondary schools in three cities (shenyang, changchun and harbin) of northeastern china. it is worth noticing that key secondary schools refer to top schools that have a better guarantee of teaching resources and excellent student enrolment compared with ordinary secondary schools. to ensure typicality of the data, two key secondary schools and two ordinary secondary schools were considered 66 crossroads. a journal of english studies in each city. the students’ gender was taken into consideration to balance the ratio of male and female students. they are all native speakers of mandarin chinese and they learn english as a foreign language in school settings. their age ranges from 12-17 years old, and english learning experience from 4-6 years. they were required to complete their english writing tasks within 20 minutes without any assistance from teachers or dictionaries. the writing tasks used were mainly descriptive, including topics such as a christmas party, a funny thing that happened to me, computer games, how to make children get enough exercise, how i could spend 100 yuan, my birthday, my school, exercise, smoking, watching tv. the corpus can be used to investigate the systematic features or regularities revealed in chinese secondary school students’ written english. 3.2 data collection and processing in this study the learner corpus, wcel, was used to help identify those aspects of the students’ performance in the use of english prepositions due to the influence of l1 concepts. to collect the linguistic data of students’ outcome in using english prepositions, we conducted a simple retrieval of these prepositions in the corpus. thus, concordance lines that contain these english prepositions were built, which can provide data on the properties of the students’ interlanguage. the processing of linguistic data involved a process of editing concordance lines, deletion of unnecessary concordance lines if they are irrelevant to the topic concerned, creation of a plain text based on concordance lines containing prepositions, identification of conceptual transfer in the use of these prepositions, classification of the types of conceptual transfer, and explanations of conceptual transfer at the lexical level. the processing tool of the corpus, antconc, was used to retrieve the prepositions and observe the concordance hits containing these prepositions. conceptual transfer in the use of prepositions can be identified by observing their own textual environment and by examining the misuses of these prepositions. the format of kwic has been widely used in data-processing. minimum assumption is a very important claim with methodological advantages by sinclair (2004) in corpusbased studies. according to this assumption, only a minimum of assumptions can be held in the initial stages of study. it follows that researchers should observe textual evidence with an open mind through a process of extraction of data, and observation of data, which may be a circulatory procedure until all the linguistic data have been observed and an appropriate conclusion has been reached. minimum assumption is a typical example of a deductive method in the context of corpus-based study, which also reflects the respect for the facts hidden in the texts to be examined. the interpretation of conceptual transfer came after the classification and identification of conceptual transfer in the use of prepositions from the perspective of image schema theory. 4. results and discussion this part presents the results and discussion of two types of conceptual transfer in the use of prepositions in english writing by chinese secondary school students under the guidance of image schema theory. the study focuses on the prepositions “at”, “in” and “on”, not only because of 67 crossroads. a journal of english studies the high frequency of concordance hits retrieved, but also because of the evidence of conceptual transfer revealed. 4.1 two types of conceptual transfer in the use of prepositions by using the data processing software, antconc, the frequency of use of the prepositions “at”, “in” and “on” in english writing by secondary school students can be obtained. this study just focuses on conceptual transfer at the lexical level under the guidance of image schema theory. linguistic data that are evident enough to reveal conceptual transfer at the lexical level were categorised into two major types of conceptual transfer, i.e. positive conceptual transfer and negative conceptual transfer. through observation and identification of the concordance hits containing these prepositions, cases of both positive and negative conceptual transfer were identified based on the observation of concordance lines according to the minimum assumption proposed by sinclair (2004) in corpus-based studies. 4.1.1 positive conceptual transfer at the lexical level positive conceptual transfer in the use of prepositions at the lexical level was found in the use of the english prepositions “at” and “in”. in the use of the english preposition “at”, due to positive conceptual transfer at the lexical level, no errors were made in such cases in which the english preposition “at” collocates with other verbs and adjectives, i.e. phrases such as “shout at”, “look at”, “smile at” and “be mad at” in the following cases: (1) it was his tree and he shouted at him. (2) tim’s math teacher looked at his homework and saw that he had got all his sums right. (3) i smiled at them. (4) i thought the teacher would be mad at me. positive conceptual transfer in the use of the english preposition “in” was also evident as no errors were made by learners. the following underlined instances of the use of “in” provide linguistic representations of this type of conceptual transfer: (5) in the dream, i wore a birthday hat, smiling to my father and mother. (6) in our school, there are many trees on the playground. (7) in many cities, smoking is forbidden in public places. 4.1.2 negative conceptual transfer at the lexical level negative conceptual transfer in the use of prepositions at the lexical level was found in the use of the prepositions “at” and “on”. negative conceptual transfer in the use of the english preposition “at” by chinese secondary school students was reflected in the misuses of the english preposition “at” instead of other spatial or temporal prepositions, as illustrated in the following examples: 68 crossroads. a journal of english studies (8) i often watch tv at past. (9) my birthday is at july 11th. (10) my school also has long history. it was set up at 1950. (11) at afternoon, my parents and i went to western restaurant to enjoy our lunch. (12) i studyed at middle school. (13) one day, we were studying at the classroom. (14) i can play games and run at the playground. examples (8) to (11) are related to temporal concepts, while examples (12) to (14) are concerned with spatial concepts. likewise, negative conceptual transfer in the use of the english preposition “on”, whose semantic meaning corresponds to the chinese “上”, was also evident when expressing spatial concepts. observe the following instances: (15) there are many clouds on the sky. (16) you can see many birds flying on the sky. (17) we can see birds on the trees. (18) then i sat on the chair and cried. (19) we lay on the sofa. (20) on p. e. class, we can play sports and relax ourselves on the playground. (21) finally i fell asleep on the math class. different from instances (15)-(19), which express abstract spatial relations, (20) and (21) are concerned with abstract spatial concepts. 4.2 causes of conceptual transfer in the use of prepositions cognitive causes of conceptual transfer at the lexical level are analysed under the guidance of image schema theory by considering conceptual similarities and differences between chinese and english. note that the chinese equivalents of the prepositions discussed are provided in the chinese original, with pinyin and their literal english translations provided in parentheses. 4.2.1 cognitive causes of positive conceptual transfer at the lexical level most monosyllabic characters in the chinese language are ideographic. chinese characters that express spatial and temporal relations indicate their meanings and conceptual categories by their original patterns or formations. this is particularly evident when it comes to chinese characters in ancient times, e.g., inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells of the shang dynasty. in the process of understanding a specific spatial or temporal concept, native speakers of the chinese language are usually influenced by the spatial or temporal concepts represented by a corresponding chinese 69 crossroads. a journal of english studies character. consequently, in the process of learning english, transfer of l1 spatial or temporal concepts exists, and chinese efl learners’ use of prepositions is influenced by l1 spatial or temporal concepts subconsciously. the basic spatial conceptual meaning of the english preposition “at” is “a certain point in space”, as shown in figure 1, which is the prototypical image schema, denoting a static spatial relationship between the tr represented by an orbicular shading and the lm represented by a parallelogram. figure 1 static schema for “at” figure 2 dynamic schema for “at” the semantic meaning of the english preposition “at” corresponds to the chinese expressions “ 朝 (chao, towards)”, “向 (xiang, towards)”, “对 (dui, to)”, and “面对 (miandui, face)”, all of which share the meaning “facing or towards a certain direction”, and is represented by a dynamic image schema signalled by an arrow (→) in figure 2 above. in the use of the english preposition “at”, positive conceptual transfer of its corresponding chinese expressions makes secondary school students acquire the spatial meaning of “at” with ease. the spatial relation expressed by “at” in the english language is quite similar to that indicated in the corresponding chinese expressions when it cooccurs with verbs like “shout”, “look”, “smile” and adjectives like “mad” to form collocations, all of which have the potential meaning of “pointing to a certain direction” and may function together with an object in the expressions within which they co-occur. therefore, the correspondence of conceptual meanings between the english preposition “at” and the chinese “ 朝 (chao, towards)”, “ 向 (xiang, towards)”, ” 对 (dui, to)”, and “ 面对 (miandui, face)” may lead to positive conceptual transfer. however, we have to admit that there may be other explanations, e.g., the students have used the english preposition “at” correctly perhaps because they have properly memorized them. conceptually, the english preposition “in” corresponds to chinese “ 里 (li, in)”, whose original meaning equals “ 裏 (guo, in)” or “ 衣内 (yinei, the inner side of clothing)” (xu 2001). the spatial concept represented by the chinese character “ 里 (li, in)” is very similar to that represented by the english preposition “in”. spatial concepts can be used metaphorically as temporal or psychological concepts, and this is true for the spatial concept “ 里 (li, in)”. its spatial concept can be mapped onto temporal and psychological concepts. and this mapping process is quite similar to that of the english preposition “in”. to wit, in the use of chinese “ 里 (li, in)” and the english preposition “in”, the grammatical metaphor in the chinese language resembles that in the english language in lm tr 70 crossroads. a journal of english studies terms of conceptual mapping processes. to illustrate the conceptual attributes of “ 里 (li, in)” and “in” more clearly, these two concepts are represented by two similar image schemas with subtle differences, as shown figure 3 and figure 4. figure 3 image schema for “里(li in)” figure 4 image schema for “in” the above two diagrams illustrate that the concept “ 里 (li, in)” and the english “in” share both conceptual similarities and differences. the chinese “ 里 (li, in)” represents the conceptual attributes that “the tr is wholly inside the lm, which can be closed or open”, and that “the tr can be moving or static”. the english preposition “in” represents the conceptual attributes that “the tr is surrounded or partially surrounded by other items”, and that “the tr can be moving or static”. by comparison, it is clear that the only difference between these two image schemas lies in whether the tr is wholly surrounded. therefore, the spatial, temporal, or psychological concept represented by the english preposition “in” is broader than the concept represented by the chinese “ 里 (li, in)”. for example, in cases where students use the expressions “in the dream”, “in our school” and “in many cities”, the chinese concept “ 里 (li, in)”, which is limited in its conceptual meaning compared with the english preposition “in”, plays a positive role. that means, in any situations where the chinese concept “ 里 (li, in)” is retrieved, the use of the english preposition “in” is correct with no doubt. and this leads to positive conceptual transfer in the use of the english preposition “in” by chinese efl learners. 4.2.2 cognitive causes of negative conceptual transfer at the lexical level a major difference between the preposition “at” and its chinese equivalent “ 在 (zai, at/in/on/exist/ be)” lies in that the latter has a much wider application range due to its relatively rich conceptual attributes, which may cause negative conceptual transfer of the chinese “ 在 (zai, at/in/on/exist/be)” in the use of the english preposition “at”. while expressing temporal concepts, the english preposition “at” relates to an exact time. however, its equivalent chinese “ 在 (zai, at/in/on/exist/be)” does not have this limitation in expressing temporal concepts. and this is also true in expressing spatial concepts, in which case the english preposition “at” mainly represents “exist at a specific point, a relatively small place, or lm lm tr 71 crossroads. a journal of english studies a place that can be regarded as a point”. however, the chinese character “ 在 (zai, at/in/on/exist/ be)” does not have this limitation in expressing spatial concepts. it has a much wider application range and therefore can be applied to refer to almost anything that exists in our physical or mental space. accordingly, when chinese efl learners express temporal or spatial concepts, they may enlarge the application range of the english preposition “at” due to the negative influence of the chinese concept “ 在 (zai, at/in/on/exist/be)”. therefore, chinese efl learners tend to make errors in their use of the english preposition “at” due to the negative influence of the chinese concept “ 在 (zai, at/in/on/exist/be)”. in expressing concrete spatial relations, the similarities and differences between concepts lexicalised by the english preposition “on” and its corresponding chinese character “ 上 (shang, on/ upon/upper)” can be well understood in terms of the image schemas in figure 5 and figure 6, respectively. figure 5 image schema figure 6 image schema for “on” for “上 (shang, on/upon/upper)” the lexical concepts specifically encoded and externalised by the chinese character “ 上 (shang, on/upon/upper)” include that “the tr is on or above the lm”, “the tr may be in a state of motion or static”, and “the tr may be exposed in the air or surrounded by other items”. in contrast, the spatial concepts represented by the english preposition “on” include that “the tr is on the lm (the tr touches the lm)”, “the tr may be in a state of motion or static”, and “the tr should be exposed in the air but not surrounded by other items”. thus, the major difference between the spatial concepts expressed by “ 上 (shang, on/upon/upper)” and the conceptual attributes of “on” is that when using “on”, the tr should be exposed in the air, and there is physical contact between the tr and the lm, while the chinese character “ 上 (shang, on/upon/upper)” does not possess these two conceptual attributes. in other words, the conceptual category of “ 上 (shang, on/upon/upper)” is broader than that of “on”, which is the main cause of errors made by chinese efl learners due to the influence of negative conceptual transfer in the use of the english preposition “on”. to make a detailed analysis, the chinese expression “ 在天上 (zai tian shang, in the sky)” is acceptable in cases where the sphere of human activities is regarded by native chinese speakers as the lm, and anything above ground level is thought of as the tr. therefore, the chinese lmlm tr lm lm tr tr 72 crossroads. a journal of english studies “ 上 (shang, on/upon/upper)” is chosen to express this kind of spatial relation between the lm and the tr. the chinese concept of “ 上 (shang, on/upon/upper)” is close to the english preposition “on”, which requires physical contact between the tr and the lm. therefore, the expression “on the sky” in the above instances is unacceptable for native speakers of english, and the correct form should be “in the sky”, which relates to a container schema. another example, the chinese expression “ 在树上 (zai shu shang, in the tree)” illustrates that native speakers of chinese regard their sphere of activities as the lm, and anything above ground level is regarded as the tr. errors occur due to the difference between the spatial concept of “ 上 (shang, on/upon/upper)” and the conceptual attribute of “on”. that is to say, “the tr should be exposed in the air” in the case of “on”, while the chinese character “ 上 (shang, on/upon/upper)” does not have this spatially conceptual limitation. in this sense, anything above ground level and existing in any part of a tree can be described by “ 在树上 (zai shu shang, in the tree)” in the chinese language. however, the conceptual attribute of the english preposition “on” does not include the conceptual meaning that “the tr is surrounded or partially surrounded by other items”. additionally, negative conceptual transfer can also be found in the expression of abstract spatial relations. following in a similar vein, the difference between concepts lexicalised by the english preposition “on” and its corresponding chinese character “ 上 (shang, on/upon/upper)” also exits in expressing abstract spatial concepts, which may cause negative conceptual transfer. in the chinese language, the collocation of abstract nouns and “ 上 (shang, on/upon/upper)” functions to express the conceptual attribute that “something is in progress”. however, the collocation of abstract nouns and “on” does not have this abstract spatial meaning. the english preposition “in” can be used to express this kind of abstract spatial meaning, and therefore “in” should be used in the above instances (20) and (21) instead of “on”. therefore, it is concluded that the transfer of the chinese lexical concepts in collocation of abstract nouns and the chinese character “ 上 (shang, on/upon/upper)” to the use of english prepositions by chinese efl learners is the main cause of the errors in the above linguistic representations at the lexical level. in both cases of “ 在 (zai, at/in/on/exist/be)” and “ 上 (shang, on/upon/upper)”, there is typological linguistic difference involved. what lies at the root of the cause is that the chinese language encodes these two ideas analytically, whereas the english language encodes them synthetically (gennari et al. 2002). different languages may simply instantiate underlying conceptual universals in different ways and linguistic differences have cognitive consequences in some or all circumstances. 5. conclusion both positive conceptual transfer of l1 and negative conceptual transfer of l1 can be found at the lexical level. specifically, positive conceptual transfer in the use of the prepositions “at” and “in”, and negative conceptual transfer in the use of the prepositions “at” and “on” were presented to provide evidence for the existence of conceptual transfer in chinese secondary school students’ english learning process. 73 crossroads. a journal of english studies additionally, underlying cognitive causes of conceptual transfer were identified by comparing conceptual similarities and differences between chinese and english under the guidance of image schema theory. it can be generally concluded that similarities and differences between the conceptual attributes of english prepositions and their chinese equivalents may lead to positive conceptual transfer and negative conceptual transfer, respectively. where there are similarities between conceptual meanings of english prepositions and their corresponding chinese expressions, there is positive conceptual transfer. however, in particular cases, differences in the application range of concepts between english prepositions and their corresponding chinese expressions may lead to positive conceptual transfer or negative conceptual transfer. the analysis of the underlying causes of conceptual transfer has proved that the chinese concepts play an important role in sla. under the guidance of image schema theory, this study has also revealed that conceptual similarities and differences between chinese and english arise from similar and different perspectives in the construal of reality or the physical world. 6. implications and limitations of this study there are three major implications of this corpus-based empirical study in terms of the theoretical development of conceptual transfer, the practice of english teaching and learning in the chinese context, and research methodology. firstly, this study provides implications for the theoretical development of conceptual transfer in the chinese context. secondly, this study has implications for the practice of english teaching and learning in the chinese context in terms of the role of chinese concepts. thirdly, in terms of research methodology, since it is a corpus-based investigation of learners’ authentic linguistic output, which is characterised by its authentic data and the replicable nature of this methodology. admittedly, this study has its limitations. firstly, it only focused on the use of three english prepositions: “at”, “in” and “on” according to the frequency of use and the evident conceptual transfer revealed by them. for the convenience of data analysis, peripheral situations or less-frequently used prepositions were left out. secondly, in terms 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preposition “in” by chinese learners. foreign language teaching and research 46(5), 723-734. xu, shen. 2001. shuo wen jie zi. nanjing: jiangsu guji publishing house. zhang, huiping and liu yongbing. 2013. english preposition learning and conceptual transfer: collocation and colligation of the most frequently used prepositions. foreign language teaching and research 45(4), 568-580. zhang, huiping and liu yongbing. 2013b. the acquisition of english metaphorical prepositions and conceptual transfer from the perspective of linguistic relativity. foreign language education 34(5), 51-55. constructions of the other in polish fantasy literature 48 crossroads. a journal of english studies agnieszka dzięcioł-pędich marcin pędich university of białystok independent researcher constructions of the other in polish fantasy literature abstract. even though it often follows the heroic cycle of campbell’s monomyth, because it is exomimetic, fantasy literature lends itself to the presentation of characters who are set apart from society by their nature, not just by their heroic status. these are characters such as wizards, who in fantasy are often elevated from the position of secondary characters they held in fairy tales to the stories’ protagonists. this makes fantasy works a good vessel for a discussion of the problems of otherness. as the genre evolves, the presentation of the other becomes more complex. in modern works they are often portrayed as the other on multiple levels. as readers have become more accustomed to tolkienian wizards, dwarves, or rangers set apart from human society, the protagonists of modern fantasy stories are often made the other to their own in-groups. the article presents a number of such characters from selected modern polish fantasy novels and short story cycles. key words: the other, otherness, fantasy, polish literature. introduction the term other can be used to indicate all possible differences between people, perceived as such in a given society, group, etc. (zaniecki 1930: 173; zamojska 2013: 192). according to bauman (1991: 8), the notion of otherness is crucial to the way in which societies establish categories of identity which are set up as dichotomies. similarly, okolie (2003: 2) stresses that social identities are relational as groups usually define themselves in relation to others: “(…)identity has little meaning without the “other”. so, by defining itself a group defines others”. this makes the other necessary for creating group identity. therefore, it is no wonder, as de beauvoir (1974) observes, that the category of otherness is as old as human consciousness and is a “fundamental category of human thought”. as kapuściński (2007: 36) points out, man needs another man, they seek the other, they realize that they are unable to live without the other. on the other hand, the first meeting with the other will be characterized by mistrust, uncertainty and fear. these are feelings and states that cannot be easily controlled. although, as kapuściński (2007: 16) argues, the other can be perceived as an enemy and as a client, it is the circumstances that dictate whether people see a friend or a foe in one and the same person. the meeting with the other is not simple and automatic but it involves will and effort not everyone is ready and willing to make (kapuściński 2007: 25). 10.15290/cr.2017.18.3.04 49 articles by its very nature, fantasy and sf literature, which is exomimetic (trębicki 2009: 9), calls for a protagonist who stands out from society and is by some virtue exceptional. it is therefore understandable that the otherness of the hero has become something of a trope in this genre. although tolkien’s (1994, 1999) hobbits begin, following the pattern of campbell’s monomyth (winkler 2012), in a state of normality, as regular and even upstanding citizens, most of his other main characters are others: dwarves are the others for both humans and hobbits, as are the elves, and the wizards, who are singular beings set apart from the world of men. aragorn, even though he is the heir to the throne of gondor, as one of the dúnedain rangers, is the other to most of human society. and bilbo and frodo, as they become ring-bearers, are separated from their peers and in the end have to leave middle earth, as they are no longer a part of it. by not allowing them to resume a normal life, the lord of the rings breaks the cycle of the hero’s journey, which tolkien otherwise follows quite faithfully. this pattern, where the protagonist either is the other by virtue of an inborn talent or fate or becomes the other as he answers the call to adventure, repeats itself in many other works of fiction. leguin’s (1975) ged/sparrowhawk, card’s (1994) ender, and, more recently, rowling’s (2004) harry potter, are all separated from both society and their peers, by their inborn talents and fates, while the latter two are also shown to be the other (at least initially) for other social reasons (ender as the third child in a two-child society, harry potter as an orphan). this can in part be seen as a response to the feeling of rejection which many young people experience at some point in life. as such, they are likely to identify with the protagonist, who feels the same way, and draw consolation from it, as the character’s rejection by society turns out to be intertwined with their ultimate triumph against adversity. as the fantasy and sf genres develop, authors become aware of this trope and start applying it consciously, often twisting its details or using it as a commentary on the fate the other in our society. thus, the genres become “a vehicle for carrying deeper meanings, often concerning matters of ultimate importance (adamiak 2015: 189)”1. this article discusses the construction of the other in a number of modern polish fantasy and sf novels and short story cycles. three of them are fantasy stories, two are set in an alternate modern world with supernatural elements, and the last two are nominally science fiction, set on distant planets, but with strong fantasy elements. the discussed titles are: • tkacz iluzji by ewa białołęcka (1997) • the wiedźmin2 cycle by andrzej sapkowski (1990 – 2000) • arivald z wybrzeża by jacek piekara (1994, 2008) • nocarz by magdalena kozak (2015) 1 pol. “(…) może się ona stać wehikułem do przemycania głębszych treści, niekiedy dotyczących spraw najważniejszych”. authors’ own translation. 2 even if an english translation of a given work exists, we are preserving the original polish titles for the sake of consistency. the professions of the characters will be translated where possible, but personal names will be preserved. 50 crossroads. a journal of english studies • załatwiaczka by milena wójtowicz (2007) • takeshi: cień śmierci by maja lidia kossakowska (2014) • pan lodowego ogrodu by jarosław grzędowicz (2005 – 2012) tkacz iluzji – born other the protagonist of ewa białołęcka’s short story is a boy named kamyk, whose otherness is an integral part not only of his main story arc, but also of his entire life. he is the son of a saddler, orphaned at an early age and born deaf, but with the gift of creating magical illusions. thus, his otherness begins at a very early age, making him a lonely child. after his parents’ death during an epidemic he is adopted by a mage named płowy. despite his foster father’s efforts, he does not learn to speak, although he does master sign language. kamyk’s world is a collection of soundless images (białołęcka 1997: 8) and so are the illusions he weaves: impeccable but silent reflections of reality. this separates him even from other “weavers of illusion”, mages such as him. as his foster father says, a deaf child with a magic gift is a cruel twist of fate (białołęcka 1997: 7). płowy leads a simple and modest life, but kamyk still has more toys, books, and better clothes than other village children. he does not have to work as hard as them and enjoys more freedom (białoęcka 1997: 194). other boys are constantly jealous of his privileged social position and make his life unbearable, which becomes another reason for his being the other among children. consequently, he prefers to be left alone, to be able to read books undisturbed, and the price he pays is that he has no friends. with age, kamyk becomes more and more aware of the gap between him and other people. he feels deeply hurt and increasingly rebellious (białołęcka 1997: 9). kamyk is also convinced that having a faulty talent means that he is only a piece of a mage (pol. kawałek maga) (białołęcka 1997: 13). it is this belief that his talent is broken, along with the feeling of being different, that push kamyk to leave his foster father’s home to look for help and shape his further life. he wanders the country searching for someone who would be able to either cure his hearing or replace it. for that purpose he seeks out the help of a creator mage named pływak, who tells him that there is always a price to pay if one is born with a powerful magic gift. until he met pływak, kamyk thought of his talent as good, useful, and sometimes even profitable, but little more than entertainment (białołęcka 1997: 21). however, during his stay at pływak’s he is reminded of the story of biały róg, the greatest weaver of illusion, whose talent took away his ability to walk (białołęcka 1997: 26). to kamyk’s surprise, pływak tells him that he is an even more talented mage than biały róg was. unfortunately, because of the connection between kamyk’s talent and his disability, pływak is unable to help him. kamyk finally finds help in the form of a young dragon known to him as the devourer of clouds. when they meet, the dragon attempts to scare kamyk with his roar and fails for obvious reasons, which intrigues him, leading him to establish mental communication with the boy. thanks to the dragon’s mind powers kamyk is for the first time able to hear through his new friend’s ears. in 51 articles the end, thanks to this, kamyk learns to add sound to his illusions. after he learns about kamyk’s powers, the dragon promises to stay with him, so that he can fix his talent. thus, it is kamyk’s otherness that enables him to befriend the dragon. starting with tolkien’s gandalf himself, a wizard’s separation from society is a well-established trope in fantasy. it is also not uncommon for the protagonist to be additionally separated from his peers by exceptional power, talent, or expectation of greatness. such is the fate of leguin’s sparrowhawk/ged or rowling’s harry potter. what makes kamyk distinct from these characters is his disability, which makes him an other on a whole new level in both society at large and among magic users. wiedźmin – the professional other in creating the character of the witcher3 in his original short story “wiedźmin”, andrzej sapkowski (2000) deliberately distanced himself from the common fantasy and fairy tale hero tropes, and in doing so he almost inadvertently made his protagonist the other. in campbell’s monomyth (winkler 2012) the hero receives the call to adventure in a situation of normality and often initially refuses the call. by making his character a professional monster hunter, motivated by money rather than heroism, sapkowski circumvents both of these steps. what is adventure to us is a situation of normality for his protagonist, and there is no refusal of the call – his character is ready and willing to perform the task if the money is right. this reverses many of the common tropes of the selfless hero and, by denying the protagonist any sort of normality, it makes him the other. in later stories, by making the witchers a rare and dying profession, sapkowski isolates the character even from the traditional others in fantasy, such as the wizards. however, his isolation allows the protagonist to interact more easily with the others of society, both at the top of the social ladder (wizards, nobility) and at its bottom (the downtrodden elder races: the elves, the dryads, the dwarves). in fact, in the novel series geralt’s party of adventurers is almost exclusively made up of others, such as the female warrior-archer milva or the elder vampire regis (sapkowski 1996). even the most normal of his friends, the bard jaskier, is a man from the fringes of society. thus, the witcher series becomes a natural vessel for presenting the problems of otherness, which the author makes use of in many of his stories. for example, in “pani jeziora” sapkowski (1999) shows a pogrom of non-human races in rivia. more poignantly, in stories involving the non-human guerrillas known as the scoia’tael, who wage a war against the oppressive human society (sapkowski 1994, 1996), the author not only showcases the plight of the other in society, but also comments on the blurry line between a partisan and a terrorist (before terrorism became a buzz topic). in the acclaimed short story “mniejsze zło”4 (sapkowski 1990), the ex-princess renfri (who is a dark and twisted version of sleeping beauty) is both a (presumably) innocent victim of 3 this translation of wiedźmin is used both in the english editions sapokowski’s books and in the highly acclaimed computer game of the same title. 4 the title translates to “the lesser evil”, which is a reference to the moral dilemma in the story. 52 crossroads. a journal of english studies torture and persecution, and a heartless murdering monster. torn between two evils, geralt is in the end forced to kill renfri and her band of brigands before they murder the whole town. the author tears down the key fantasy tropes. there is no good or evil, as everyone involved in renfri’s tragic story, including renfri herself, is evil. all the hero can do is choose between evils, and in the end receives no prize or recognition. perhaps the most ‘other’ character in all the witcher stories is the golden dragon villentretenmerth, also known by the human name of borch trzy kawki, who appears in one of sapkowski’s finest works, “granica możliwości”. as the equivalent of a witcher among dragons, who are themselves a rare and solitary species, villentretenmerth is one of the most ‘other’ beings in the world. in a deliberate reversal of common fairy tale tropes, sapkowski makes the poor cobbler and the common village folk the actual villains of the story, thus deepening the protagonists’ isolation by showing that whether they win or lose there is no place for them in this society. and yet, the conclusion of the story is hopeful: with the help of geralt and his companions the dragon triumphs and receives his prize (a chance to further his breed), the king learns valuable, if not particularly humane, lessons, and geralt himself gets a chance to reconnect with the love of his life. differently to what is seen in the monomyth and its many iterations, the witcher’s world does not seem to offer a way out for the other – there is no return from the abyss to normality. at the end of “chrzest ognia” (sapkowski 1996: 333) the witcher is knighted by the queen of rivia and lyria, officially receiving his so far assumed name, geralt of rivia, for his somewhat accidental heroics at the battle for the jaruga bridge. just before he receives the name the witcher introduces himself, in a moment of bitter honesty, as geralt of nowhere (sapkowski 1996: 332), asserting his lack of a place in society, almost as a declaration of injustice. ostensibly, the knighting gives him this place, but the author makes it very clear that it does not provide the protagonist with a sense of belonging. on the contrary, the irony of officially receiving an assumed name he had used for years is not lost on the character. it is as if by officially receiving the name he actually loses his assumed identity, along with whatever else previously guaranteed his sense of self, and is left with nothing. predictably, this brief and somewhat ironic attempt at integrating with the “normal” society ends rather quickly, as geralt abandons his new lady to pursue the personal quest for his adopted daughter ciri. later, during their stay in the “fairy tale” duchy of toussaint, the whole party seem to find their place there, but as time passes they become increasingly restless and finally leave to continue with geralt on his quest (sapkowski 1999). once more denying the tropes of fantasy and the cycle of the hero’s journey, the author shows that the other has to remain the other. arivald z wybrzerza – the other among the other unlike kamyk and geralt, jacek piekara’s arivald z wybrzerza is neither born nor brought up to be an outsider. although he is a wizard when we meet him in piekara’s short stories, he has actually spent most of his career as a mercenary and a bard, only learning magic later in life. this has made him an exceptionally strong individual, but a rather inept mage. it seems that being self-taught at his age is an indication of unparalleled magical talent, but at the point of arivald’s 53 articles entry into the world of wizardry his skills are laughable. part of the humour of one of his early adventures – “sekrety tajemnego bractwa”5 (piekara 2008: 27-102) – is that his ineptitude and ignorance of protocol are taken by other wizards as a sign of power. these qualities make him the other among his magic-wielding peers, who start their magical education early and at arivald’s age are significantly more skilled and knowledgeable than him. however, his lack of power is also what allows him to triumph where they could not, when he is able to avoid a number of powerful magical traps by simply refraining from using magic, which he is not sure he can perform correctly, and relying instead on his incredible physical strength and survival skills. unlike most wizards in fantasy, including the world described by piekara, arivald is also quite well integrated into the society of the small coastal principality he calls home. this is largely due to the fact that he is not a particularly powerful or imposing wizard. in fact, he actively tries to perpetuate this image, to avoid distancing himself from the princess’ court. this is one of the plot points of “to, co najważniejsze” (piekara 2008: 5-26). after successfully fending off an invasion of his homeland, arivald finds himself separated from his companions at court by their newfound respect for him, even though his success is due to guile rather than magical prowess. in the end arivald purposefully pretends to fumble a spell to re-establish his status as “just one of the guys”. his later adventures show arivald as more powerful and learned, but his unusual background still gives him a distinct outlook on the world, frees him from many of the wizards’ prejudices, and allows him to perform well in situations which might be challenging to his peers, such as in one of the darker stories in the series “arivald i wiedźmy” (piekara 2008: 373-428), where he manages to get along with the wizards’ traditional enemies, witches, or in “ani słowa prawdy” (piekara 2008: 315-372), where he is able to impress a dwarf with his physical strength and shows a deeper understanding of dwarven psychology than others would. arivald breaks the common trope of fantasy by being the other among his magic-wielding peers, but an accepted member of the society at large. therefore, unlike kamyk or geralt, he is not a tragic figure. nocarz – the other of the other of the other similarly to arivald, jerzy arlecki does not start out as an other. although he is separated from his peers when he graduates from medical university, by not going into the medical profession but choosing to become a medical sales representative, this is hardly a radical choice. neither is he particularly successful at selling drugs to medical professionals (kozak 2015: 38) and he desperately needs a change from his dull and stifling life. even though he manages to live a comfortable life, despite his mediocre successes, the feeling of being suffocated by his daily routines pushes jerzy to accept a badly paid job offer with the internal security agency (pol. agencja bezpieczeństwa wewnętrznego). 5 the original title of the story was “arival z wybrzeża” (piekara 1994), but was later changed for publication in book format (piekara 2008) 54 crossroads. a journal of english studies jerzy is surprised and does not really know why the internal security agency wants him to join their ranks: he is not particularly fit, nor would his intelligence make him a mensa member. this again shows him as an everyman character. he cannot think of any reason why the agency wants him, other than that he is able to act both flexibly and consistently: features which might have been noticed by a professor he tried to sell medicine to, who put him in contact with the agency. little does he realise that he will be transformed into a vampire and become a member of an elite team fighting vampire renegades. suddenly this everyman truly becomes the other. contrary to his expectations, the vampires he is expected to work with are different from the ones depicted, among others, in urban legends and myths. they are the others within the vampire community: they feed only on blood produced in laboratories, and protect humanity against other vampires. they are called nocarze6 and are bound by law, not by blood. however, jerzy or, as he is now called, vesper, becomes the other among the others. his initiation, i.e. his first kill, goes well but only up to a point. he comes into direct contact with the victims of a skirmish too quickly: the sight and smell of real blood appear before he is ready to experience them. in such circumstances a nocarz, might be tempted to hunt for real blood and consequently fall in with the renegades. to vesper’s knowledge, however, none of them has ever done such a thing. from that time on he is constantly being watched by nidor, a captain and second in command to the team leader, who is appointed a guardian for vesper and burdened with the task of stopping him if the worst should happen. this is a task in which he ultimately fails, as vesper joins the renegades. as the other, jerzy/vesper is a chinese box character: his ordinary origins and problematic transformation set him apart from his comrades, who are themselves the other for the vampire race, which is the other for humanity. unlike arivald, his otherness among his peers does not help him connect with the broader society. it is perhaps this multi-level otherness and inability to connect that allow the renegades to manipulate him, and lead to his ultimate fall from grace. załatwiaczka – the unwilling other as a polish student at exeter university, małgosia already starts out in the story as the other. however, it is not a significant burden on her – being a foreigner does not affect her academic and social life, she has a good command of english, and even wins the university beauty pageant. the only thing she seems to find problematic is crossing the street: she never knows which way to look. she truly becomes the other when she inherits a house and a job from miss willoughby, who worked as a “fixer”7: a person who is able to provide people with anything they desire, as long as 6 this is a neologism coined by the author, which derives from the polish word for night, and so would roughly translate to english as “nighter”. 7 the polish word used here (and as the title of the book) is “załatwiaczka”, which is a neologism created by the author and is derived from the word “załatwiać”, which in polish means to “get something done” or “obtain an item or service”, usually through irregular means. 55 articles they make a wish using the phrase: “załatw mi …” (eng. “get me…”). małgosia is nice to miss willoughby and in return she receives a house and, unknowingly, the post of fixer attached to it. at first she gladly accepts the offer. she even feels as if she is cinderella who has met her fairy godmother (wójtowicz 2007: 13), although she quickly begins to have reservations. being a fixer comes with a number of benefits, as in order to be able to meet every possible demand of the clients, one becomes almost omnipotent. fixers are practically immortal, since the corporation they work for is not keen on losing its employees before their contracts terminate, and the moment a fixer is killed, they are resurrected almost instantly. another advantage of the job is the possibility of meeting a variety of people and supernatural beings such as demons, banshees, wizards, etc. to make their clients’ wishes come true. there are also no financial constraints on the fixer, and the corporation makes its employees resistant to powers that could possess their minds (e.g. they cannot be manipulated by vampires). however, all this power and responsibility builds a barrier between the fixer and normal society. furthermore, the moment one takes up the job one is snowed under with so many errands that social life becomes virtually impossible. this is what happens to małgosia: her round-the-clock working hours and the fact that she can discuss her job only with people connected to the corporation make her a recluse (wójtowicz 2007: 35). her roommates from the students’ dormitory (where she continues to reside even after she inherits the house) start calling her: “the strange polish girl” (wójtowicz 2007: 317). she has no time to visit her family in poland. she takes anti-sleep medication to be able to work non-stop. she becomes so consumed by her professional life that she does not even pay attention to her appearance anymore. she used to wear dresses and high-heeled shoes which, according to phillip the vampire, requires a lot of self-determination in hilly exeter (wójtowicz 2007: 10). now, she wears sneakers and baggy dungarees with huge pockets, where she keeps her notebook, with all the necessary business cards, phone numbers, addresses, etc. she is frequently tempted to cut her hair short or shave it off, but this would mean that her job has affected every possible aspect of her life and appearance. for that reason, małgosia keeps her hair long and always dyed the same colour. what distinguishes małgosia from others in her profession is her desire not to isolate herself from the world, as most fixers do; as indeed miss willoughby had done, spending her life in the retreat of her living room managing her clients’ requests on the phone. even though she inherited a comfortable house, małgosia still resides in the students’ dormitory, because it gives her the illusion that there is more to her life than professional entanglements. she even tries to be romantically involved with dominik, the boss of a commando of half-trolls employed by the corporation to protect małgosia from the unexpected consequences of her clients’ demands and their unpredictable reactions to their dreams becoming a reality. małgosia also wants to find a way to terminate her contract as quickly as possible. the book ends with her determined to dig through tons of the corporation’s regulations to discover a clause that would free her from professional obligations. the source of her strength in the pursuit of freedom is her newly found love: a client who craved a new heart, which is now growing in his chest. 56 crossroads. a journal of english studies takeshi – no way out of being the other when readers meet takeshi, he is unsuccessfully trying to hide the fact that he is the other. he is a talented artist and decorator, wandering the country looking for a job. one day, he is asked to paint a portrait of haru, the mayor’s daughter. bored with posing for the painting and irritated by takeshi’s resistance to her charms, the girl tries to guess who the painter is. at first sight he seems plain and boring, taciturn, stooping and old, but when he is surprised by a sudden noise or flash of light he moves quickly and swiftly. his hands do not resemble the hands of a peasant or even an artist. he wears many layers of clothes and hides his face under the wide brim of his hat. to her amazement haru discovers that her portraitist is the man who singlehandedly killed 15 armed thugs in a tavern fight. she immediately falls in love with him. the men killed by takeshi served mariko, a bored and violent young woman who, impressed by takeshi’s swordsmanship, furious because he slaughtered her henchmen, and in dire need of excitement, challenges takeshi to a duel. the duel, mariko’s death, and the need to protect haru from mariko’s brother make takeshi discard the persona of an artist. this is one of the moments when he feels free, faithful to his true calling (kossakowska 2014: 241). takeshi’s inability to discard his otherness parallels that of the witcher (sapkowski 1996, 1999). the duel shapes the course of subsequent events in the novel and lets the reader discover the otherness of takeshi, who is an adept of the order of black water (pol. zakon czarnej wody), a  magical organization dedicated to training extremely dangerous, intelligent, and ruthless warriors, spies, and killers. the years of relentless training and numerous trials took away a part of takeshi’s humanity, as he is deprived of the simplest human reactions: he cannot scream in fear or pain, he never loses consciousness, and he is immune to the effects of painkillers and drugs; even the powerful truth serum would not be able to break his mental barriers. similarly to the previously discussed characters (with the possible exception of arivald), these great benefits come with a price, the price of becoming the other. nevertheless, takeshi retains a part of his humanity, thanks to his love for an adept of another order, named fumiko. he dares to follow a path not planned by the masters, which makes him the other even within the order (which he will later leave). when the masters of the order unexpectedly switched sides and betrayed some of their men during a botched revolt against the shogun, many of the adepts left the order. they were relentlessly pursued and cruelly punished. takeshi is one of the last surviving renegades, which adds yet another level to his alienation, both by barring him from the one place he could call home and by forcing him to continually avoid capture. this requires takeshi to hide his otherness and blend in with society, whether he wants to or not: a task at which he is, as we have seen, unsuccessful. a discussion of this tale must include an interesting exchange between takeshi and fumiko, who states that “a man must (…) belong somewhere, have rules and authority figures. be a part of 57 articles a community. you want to decide everything on your own? by what right?”8 (kossakowska 2014: 288). by this statement she expresses a typically confucian, collectivist point of view, while takeshi, who sticks to his own personal sense of honour, represents a more western, individualist attitude. this is noteworthy, as the novel’s setting is inspired by medieval japan, but the book is written by a western author. the novel’s setting lets the reader assume that the sentiments expressed by fumiko are shared by most of the presented society, adding yet another reason for takeshi to be the other. one more thing which separates takeshi from others is his future, for he seems destined to perform great deeds and even save the world. he is, however, himself unaware of this destiny. does it make him the other if neither he nor the people around him are aware of this? if nothing else, it is yet another reason why he cannot stop being the other, as fate itself seems to be against it. pan lodowego ogrodu – because he is the other the otherness of vuko drakkainen, also known as ulf nitj’sefni (which means the night wanderer in the local dialect), the main protagonist of jarosław grzędowicz’s voluminous novel “pan lodowego ogrodu” (grzędowicz 2005-2012), is perhaps more obvious than in the other analysed books and, although grzędowicz does not use it as a platform for discussing modern day problems, the author spells it out very clearly, especially at the beginning of the story (grzędowicz 2005: 55-56). the action of the novel is set on an earth-like exoplanet, midgaard, which makes vuko drakkainen an alien to the natives. he could hardly be more other, even if he is no different in appearance from the human-like locals and speaks their language, especially since this is not a space opera and the natives are not a space-faring people accustomed to aliens. furthermore, due to his training and biological modifications he has abilities far beyond the normal warriors of midgaard. although the need to remain incognito limits his use of earth technology, at least some of his equipment is much better than what is available on midgaard. as the story progresses vuko loses his equipment and enhancements but develops the ability to wield what serves as magic on midgaard (grzędowicz 2007), replacing one form of otherness with another. however, vuko is not just the other to the natives. due to their training and biological enhancements, his whole team would stand out from most of humanity, and vuko himself stands out from the team because he is, unlike them, a mere civilian, not a hard-as-nails special operations officer (grzędowicz 2005: 10). in fact, his otherness is the reason why he is selected for the mission, when it turns out that only one person will be allowed to land on the planet. as his commander explains in a poignant scene at the start of the novel (grzędowicz 2005: 55-56). he is the oldest on the team and therefore still remembers what it is like to be the only sentient species in the universe, much like the natives of midgaard believe themselves to be. his mother is polish, his father finnish, and he grew up in croatia; as his commander puts it: “culture shock is an everyday 8 pol. “człowiek musi (…) przynależeć gdzieś, mieć zasady i autorytety. być częścią wspólnoty. chcesz o wszystkim decydować sam? na jakiej podstawie?” (authors’ own translation) 58 crossroads. a journal of english studies occurrence for you”9 (grzędowicz 2005: 56). vuko is also a zealous individualist, who believes in moral law and common sense more than he does in the state and its laws. these qualities would make him unsuitable for the task if the whole team were to go, but if one person is to be sent, such qualities make vuko the best candidate for the job. or at least the least likely to die doing it. vuko, or ulf, as he is known to the natives, does indeed manage to blend in with the locals, at least as well as can be expected under the circumstances. as his commander predicted, his unusual outlook on life, his otherness, is largely what allows him to achieve that. it seems that, regardless of his skills, enhancements and newfound powers, his attitude is essential to his survival. vuko even expresses admiration for the simple yet honourable ways of the people of midgaard, which are so different from earth. he notes how his promise to fjollsfinn, bound by his honour, is both different and more binding than a written contract on earth (grzędowicz 2012: chapter 4). he admires how sylfana shakes off the shock of her brutal captivity, and how the pure simplicity of her attitude is a rare thing on earth (grzędowicz 2009: chapter 5). it seems that he is more suited for this more rugged civilisation than for his homeworld. perhaps, in the end, he is more ulf nitj’sefni than vuko drakkainen. despite being an alien interloper on midgaard, he finds, like many outsiders in similar circumstances, both in mainstream fiction and in sf, that he is less the other there than on his home planet. conclusions the strongest common feature of all the presented characters is that they are the other among the others. kamyk (białołęcka 1997) is separated from other mages by his disability and unprecedented potential. geralt the witcher (sapkowski 1990-2000) is separated from his order mostly by his superb skills, but the rarity of his profession makes him stand out among other magic users. unlike other wizards, arivald (piekara 1994, 2008) is a late-comer to the profession, with less magical prowess than them, but incredible physical strength, a different outlook, and an unusually friendly relation to the broader society. vesper the nocarz (kozak 2015) starts out on a career path different from his colleagues, even before he becomes a vampire, and when he does he is both the other to most vampires and to his vampire-hunting peers. unlike most fixers, małgosia (wójtowicz 2007) does not embrace her new profession, and strives to preserve her link to humanity. in this, she is like takeshi (kossakowska 2014), who is furthermore considered a traitor by his order. vuko drakkainen (grzędowicz 2005) is chosen for his mission precisely because he is the other to his peers. the other common motif in all of the discussed stories is the multi-dimensional nature of being the other. all of the protagonists are the other on a number of levels and for multiple reasons. kamyk is a disabled mage of unparalleled power. geralt the witcher is a mutant, a professional monster hunter, a man with no roots and no hopes for normality. as a wizard, arivald would be the other to most people, but due to his origins is also the other to wizards. vesper (kozak 2015) is the other to society as a vampire, the other to vampires as a nocarz, but also the other to no9 pol. “szok kulturowy to dla pana codzienność” (authors’ own translation) 59 articles carze. małgosia the fixer (wójtowicz 2007) is a foreigner who gains supernatural powers, which she (unlike other fixers) wants to get rid of. takeshi (kossakowska 2014) is an almost superhuman warrior, but a traitor to his order, an individualist in a collectivist society, and a man destined for greatness. vuko drakkainen (grzędowicz 2005) is an alien who has supernatural powers and is chosen for his mission because he is the other to his own society and team on a number of levels. as is common in fantasy literature, in all these works being the other is a source or side effect of the protagonists’ power. be it kamyk’s magical talent, takeshi’s fighting prowess, or a fixer’s network of connections, the power is what makes the heroes the other, but it is also being the other which gives them power. this is a well-established trope in fantasy – it applies to classics, such as tolkien’s gandalf, and to numerous later works. however, for many of the characters presented in this article, their otherness with respect to their own group of others is a source of additional strength. kamyk’s unparalleled talent is inextricably linked to his disability. arivald overcomes many obstacles by falling back on the skills he obtained before he became a wizard. vuko is chosen for his mission specifically because his otherness from his peers makes him particularly suited for it. modern polish fantasy literature tackles the issues of otherness in a variety of ways. the discussion of the problem of the other is sometimes straightforward, but often approached more subtly, through the lens of the protagonists’ separation from society and their peers. this separation usually occurs on a number of levels simultaneously, creating a more complex image of the problem. the  construction of the other in the analysed works goes beyond the most frequent image of the other as a member of a different nation/race/culture. finally, as in many fantasy stories, otherness is connected to the protagonists’ power, but in these stories they are also the other to their own communities. references adamiak, stanisław. 2015. czy chrzcić marsjan? polska fantastyka o bogu. więź 1 [659]. bauman, zygmunt. 1991. modernity and ambivalence. cambridge: polity press. białołęcka, ewa. 1997. tkacz iluzji. in: ewa białołęcka, tkacz iluzji. warszawa: supernowa. card, orson scott. 1994. ender’s game. new york: tom doherty associates. de beauvoir, simone. 1974. the second sex. new york: vintege books a division of random house. grzędowicz, jarosław. 2005. pan lodowego ogrodu. lublin: fabryka słów. vol. 1. grzędowicz, jarosław. 2007. pan lodowego ogrodu. lublin: fabryka słów. vol. 2. grzędowicz, jarosław. 2009. pan lodowego ogrodu. lublin: fabryka słów. vol. 3. grzędowicz, jarosław. 2012. pan lodowego ogrodu. lublin: fabryka słów. vol. 4. kapuściński, ryszard. 2007. ten inny. kraków: znak. kossakowska, maja lidia. 2014. takeshi: cień śmierci. lublin: fabryka słów. kozak, magdalena. 2015. nocarz. lublin: fabryka słów. le guin, ursula k. 1975. a wizard of earthsea. new york (etc.): bantam books. 60 crossroads. a journal of english studies okolie, andrew c. 2003. introduction to the special issue – identity: now you don’t see it; now you do. identity. an international journal of theory and research. volume 3 issue 1. piekara, jacek. 1994. arivald z wybrzeża. fenix 7 (34). piekara, jacek. 2008. ani słowa prawdy: opowieści o arivaldzie z wybrzeża. warszawa: agencja wydawnicza runa. rowling, j. k. 2004. harry potter and the philosopher’s stone. london: bloomsbury. sapkowski, andrzej. 1990. mniejsze zło. fantastyka 3/1990. sapkowski, andrzej. 1994. krew elfów. warszawa: supernowa. sapkowski, andrzej. 1996. chrzest ognia. warszawa: supernowa. sapkowski, andrzej. 1997. wieża jaskółki. warszawa: supernowa. sapkowski, andrzej. 1999. pani jeziora. warszawa: supernowa. sapkowski, andrzej. 2000. wiedźmin. in: andrzej sapkowski,  ostatnie życzenie. warszawa: supernowa. tolkien, john ronald reuel. 1994. lord of the rings. london: harpercollins. tolkien, john ronald reuel. 1999. the hobbit or there and back again. london: harpercollins. trębicki, grzegorz. 2009. fantasy – ewolucja gatunku. kraków: universitas. winkler, matthew. 2012. what makes a hero? ted-ed. http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-makesa-hero-matthew-winkler (2 may 2017). wójtowicz, milena. 2007. załatwiaczka. lublin: fabryka słów. zamojska, eva. 2013. inny jako obcy. imigranci w polskim dyskursie publicznym i edukacyjnym. studia edukacyjne 28/13, 191-207. zaniecki, florian. 1930. studia nad antagonizmem do obcych. in: przegląd socjologiczny t. 1. phenomenology and rhetoric in hermeneutic translation 32 crossroads. a journal of english studies radegundis stolze technische universität darmstadt tud phenomenology and rhetoric in hermeneutic translation abstract. translational hermeneutics as a discipline is central in translation studies. it redirects academic interest from language structures and cultural differences onto the person dealing with them, the translator. the translator, with intellectual, social and individual aspects of identity, combines intuition with reflection in the mediating process. s/he has in his or her strategy a dual perspective on the texts: s/he asks for their socio-cultural background, and analyses holistically the level of the text’s language structure, never proceeding in a word-for-word manner. comprehension requires relevant cultural and specialist knowledge guiding the phenomenology in understanding, whereas proficiency in specific text genres and styles, textual logic, and semantic webs with cultural key words is rhetorically necessary for writing a translation. the application of this dynamic translation competence is demonstrated using an example. keywords: hermeneutics, phenomenology, comprehension, translation, rhetoric, competence, hermeneutical circle. 1. understanding the text the act of translating is embedded in cultures, which are symbolic reproduction systems containing various discourse fields. translation is a task performed by persons in a society to enable communication. before we can write a translation, we will ask what the text is actually saying. translation is not an inter-lingual transfer of language structures, nor a mapping operation of sentences, but the presentation of a message understood. and we will never present in a translation other than what we have understood. the reason is that we can only express what is cognitively present in our mind. cognitive science analyzes human thinking: “the evolution of human cognition has been much more gradual and incremental than previously assumed. it accords crucial roles to cultural evolution, techno-social co-evolution and gene–culture coevolution. these have produced domain-general developmental processes with extraordinary power—power that makes human cognition, and human lives, unique” (heyes 2012: 2091). translation starts as an encounter with the unknown. hermeneutics as a modern language philosophy “offers a way to understand understanding itself – how we apprehend and process meaning, how we make use of meaning, and indeed go in search of it. on this score, the hermeneutic approach is relevant to virtually any social discipline one cares to name. translation studies, for instance, seeks to define how translators understand their practice” (stanley et al. 2018: 7). 10.15290/cr.2018.20.1.02 33 crossroads. a journal of english studies the main objects of hermeneutics are written texts, as their message requires a back transformation into language in order to be intelligible. friedrich schleiermacher (1998) has defined understanding as a reversed act of writing: a person talks to me through a text, and i want to understand that message. hans georg gadamer (1990: 390) has described the act of understanding—when i am touched by the idea of the foreign text, when the message addresses me—as a medial act of experiencing truth in reading or being attracted by a scene. truth is not a result of information mining, rather, truth reveals itself when we are reading texts, and comprehension plays a central role.7 historicity in language is ever present, since we all are embedded in a certain tradition of world interpretation. however, this idea, which was strongly underlined by gadamer, has also been criticized. focusing only on the tradition may also block interpretation against new insight, individual reaction, a grasping of foreign cultural ideas. this has been one of the main criticisms against hermeneutics (stanley 2005: 339). a critical self-evaluation by the translator is therefore necessary, since translation requires “responsible reading and expertise” (stolze 2011: 75). instead of only looking at tradition, one has to self-critically ask whether the interpretation is really convincing. the language structure is a reference here, and schleiermacher (1998) proposed some methods of combining “hermeneutics and criticism”. paul ricœur (1969) pointed out the fact that meaning is carried by words in texts and interpretation is actually induced by the linguistic structures. ricœur’s observation of a permanent “translation” within a language community—in the form of commentaries in other words to previous discourse—refers to the work of the language “on itself ”. an “identical sense” can nowhere be found, simply because of the fact that one may express the same message with different words just as well. against this backdrop, an interpretation is no uncritical subjective affair; it may rather be backed up and justified by analyzable linguistic structures. the point here is how a translating person deals with these structures when understanding a textual message and reformulating it in another language. we are never “navigating on a sea of words between languages and cultures” (bassnett 2000: 106). these cultures and the languages as their reflection do not exist objectively outside; there are people who act and speak and translate within their culture. 2. cultural phenomenology translation, as a responsible process of mediation among nations, is embedded in cultures which are symbolic reproduction systems containing various discourse fields. the so-called cultural turn in the humanities is an answer to the change in society and world order. as aleida assmann says: “the transformation of the traditional humanities into a cultural perspective is reflected 7 this idea, which plays a role in all modern hermeneutical theories of translation, was first formulated clearly by schleiermacher: “whoever has mastered this art of understanding through the most diligent cultivation of a language, through precise knowledge of the whole historical life of a nation and through the lively representation of single works and their authors, he and he alone may wish to lay open the same understanding of the masterpieces of art and scholarship to his contemporaries and compatriots” (schleiermacher 1977: 72). 34 crossroads. a journal of english studies meaningfully in the substitution of the key concept of ‘arts subject’ by new key words such as ‘symbol’, ‘medium’ and ‘culture’” (assmann 2004: 7)8. older objects of scholarly observation such as “text”, “translation” or “space” now themselves become a category of analysis (bachmann-medick 2009: 8). “cultural studies move their interest now onto structures, processes and practices in an environment imagined as being technomorphic. in the center of this new paradigm there is the axiom of the constructivity of the media, which are no longer understood as forms of representation, but as original ways of creating a world” (assmann 2004: 8). the medial determination of culture focuses on memory techniques and forms of communication, and also on translation as a medium. hence the “question of the media can be linked with the question of the cultural memory which is a core aspect of the self-thematizing of societies” (assmann 2004: 11). identities today are marked by cultural discourse, and cultures are set down in languages. now it is clear how much translators have as a responsibility in their work and what the role of culture-specific phenomenology is here. phenomenology reflects the fact that objects appear as a phenomenon to individuals in their life-world in an ever specific way. there is no objective reality valid for all and ever (stolze 2015: 87). all objects in the world are bound to their cultural background, and seen “in the light” of a culture one may understand them, and interpret them in a socially adequate way. a member of one ideological group understands their text within their phenomenology, while others will stay outside. translators will have to learn about the characteristics of a foreign culture in order to be able to avoid misinterpretation of their texts. the same is valid for specialist texts which are only comprehensible from the perspective of a scientist. cultural phenomenology means the reflection of the cultural background of phenomena as objects appearing to individuals, and in a foreign text they may be “strange” at first sight. paul ricœur’s early work in hermeneutics dealt with bringing phenomenology, that is the study of human consciousness, into dialogue with hermeneutics. he claimed not to be interested in synthesizing the two into one new philosophical system—an impossibility anyway, according to hermeneutics—but he did emphasize the importance of how the two together can aid interpretation. building on freud, marx, and nietzsche, ricœur developed a “hermeneutics of suspicion,” thus strengthening schleiermacher’s approach to interpretation that stressed the presence and effects of false consciousness in the beliefs that people form. ricœur’s work is influenced, among others, by the phenomenologist edmund husserl. he focuses on overcoming naïve misinterpretation (ricœur 1969: 22) and searches for a “hidden sense behind the obvious sense”. so, if consciousness is our fundamental access to the world of meaning, but consciousness can be deluded or deceived, then our access to meaning may be blocked or distorted. what we take for conscious beliefs and decisions may be the product of the inner workings of our unconscious. as the unconscious affects the reader, it also affects the writer. 8 all quotations from a. assmann are my translation from the german language. 35 crossroads. a journal of english studies in looking at texts, we have to distinguish between a traditional, i.e. philological-linguistic concept of texts, and a cultural-semiotic concept of texts. in the latter case, “text” is a materially fixed fabric of symbolic codes, “performance” concerns all those sign processes that are manifested in actions. this corresponds with our concept of translation as a dynamic task of representing a message. translators as persons acting in the medium of a language and in society are also situated within a society and a culture. cognitively, we are able to analyze objects and to learn new things. socially, we can exchange with other people, even feel into other forms of life, and individually there is ever a specific level of experience and emotional attitude towards the text. the alleged neutrality of the translator, who would simply report about the text, is an illusion. translators, then, have a double perspective on the text: one will ask about the socio-cultural background as the context, and one analyzes the language level in a holistic approach. this is relevant in positioning texts as a condition for translation, because understanding may be backed-up by certain signals in the text, an idea that text linguistics has long suggested (coseriu 1980: 150; ricœur 1969). we distinguish three levels of culture (vermeer 2006: 162): para-culture – the culture of a nation, dia-culture – a regional professional socio-culture, and idio-culture – the behavior of an individual. whilst in the framework of a para-culture, like for instance in germany or in poland, various dia-cultures, such as scientific disciplines, the law, political groups, fan clubs, etc. are found, there are always some individual differences in behavior and communication within those dia-cultures. 3. the translator’s subjectivity acting in society, one has to apply reasonable strategies and justify one’s action taking up responsibility. readers rely on the rendition of translators and expect that it presents to them the text’s message truthfully as a whole. the translator as a person, in her subjectivity, is herself rooted in one society and culture, but she is able to enter into other worlds of life by learning. in doing this, one does not only have a cognitive self, but there are also the social interaction and constantly growing experiences, as well as individual emotions and feelings (robinson 2013), not least by interest in the subject dealt with. prescribing the correct behavior in social action is not absolutely possible, because a different behavior of the individual cannot be excluded. that is why responsibility is needed to motivate one’s action. translations are not made in my own interest but as a mediator. subjectivity is a fundamental human concept. it includes cognitive, existential and individual aspects (stanley 2012: 252), and we might speak of “embodiment”. translation is an act in between rules and play. regarding the intellectual subject, one may analyze how persons grasp phenomena, how translators think, how they work with their tools, what they research. regarding the social existence of persons, there are studies analyzing concrete language usage: analyses of parallel texts, of text genres, of stylistic forms, intercultural semantics, metaphors, terminology, etc., because we are rooted in and influenced by our culture. there is no detached, subjectivist communication. the results of such scholarly studies must be part of translation didactics. and for the individual 36 crossroads. a journal of english studies subject reception studies analyze the creative reaction of a translator to his or her text that shows in deviations from literalism, and follows traces of translations in foreign literary systems. the familiar and the foreign are not seen xenophobically, but this is simply the individual world view of a person. all the aspects are interrelated in the translator’s mind. so the alleged “eurocentric” translation of marginalized texts is not a political strategy as some have criticized (tymoczko 2006), but an unconscious, even naïve phenomenological lack of knowledge of the foreign culture. what we need is grounded understanding (stolze 2011: 68), based on relevant cultural and technical knowledge. in practice, we often observe that different translators render a somewhat different translation, even from a simple text. the reason is that they dispose of different pre-knowledge. and when we read our own translations some time later, we immediately spot errors or inadequate formulations because we have learnt something in the meantime. comprehension is a mixture of intuitive schematic evidence based on grounded understanding and subsequent precise analysis (stefanink 1997: 170), and this requires self-criticism due to translational responsibility. akbari and segers (2017: 242) have empirically analyzed diverse personality traits with their effect on translation quality. they found out that “openness-to-experience” is an important characteristic of good translators. the authors state (2017: 261): “open-to-experience people tend to be more imaginative and curious”, and that “translation and creativity are interwoven particularly in texts requiring a high degree of imagination and originality”, so that “it is quite unwise to adopt a prescriptive approach”. they conclude: “translation trainees have to be well acquainted with their own personality characteristics” (2017: 262), a requirement that has long been stressed in hermeneutic translation studies (stolze 2011: 77). 4. the hermeneutical and other circles hermeneutics had originally been a method for correctly understanding some specialist texts – in theology, in jurisprudence, in politics, etc. it was only friedrich schleiermacher who, at the beginning of the 19th century, turned the philosophical interest back onto the problem of individual understanding as such, because this is never a matter of fact. and he offered some criteria for justifying one’s understanding by “hermeneutics and criticism” (schleiermacher 1998). 4.1. hermeneutical circle hermeneutics says that we understand all phenomena “in the light” of what we know already, on the basis of given knowledge, even an ideology (gadamer 1990: 269). this is the so-called “hermeneutical circle” linking persons to content, and outside of it there is no good understanding. we can always enlarge that circle by learning, but there is no truth to be determined objectively for all. signs do refer to the external background in the world, but we understand them when we view them against that background. the role of the hermeneutical circle determines the significance of phenomenology, which, as a philosophy, asks how people understand and see things (stanley 2012: 259). various persons don’t 37 crossroads. a journal of english studies understand a text in a fully identical manner, and even one person may see different meanings in a temporally later reading. the responsible translator activating his or her knowledge base views the text already from the perspective of the task and does some cognitive operations that are important for the later strategy and that are omitted in a merely interested reading (kupschlosereit 2012: 43). 4.2. circle of understanding and schleiermacher pointed out even another circle, the “circle of understanding” (1998: 187), which says that the sense of a text is a global entity and the parts have their meaning in relation to the overall meaning of that text. this is a two-dimensional and closed circle. just as texts are placed within a culture or a scientific domain, a word in a sentence is related to the whole of the text. for understanding, we therefore cannot only concentrate on reading a text in a phrase-by phrase manner with the help of dictionaries. we will instead keep in mind that texts always appear to us as an individual global message, as an integral entity offering multifarious perspectives. the relationship between a lexeme and a sentence, between cognitive scenes and linguistic frames is relevant here (fillmore 1977: 55). the thematic cohesion in a text reflects on the language level in the isotopic web of semantic coherence (stolze 2011: 157). the detection of the overall structure and arrangement of a text is often the first step to its interpretation. that is why the translational reading should be a holistic approach that passes from the whole message down to the individual lexematic structures and the syntactic order. the common practice in didactics to explain meaning always with a word or sentence only is questionable. 4.3. hermeneutical helix and there is finally a kind of “hermeneutical helix”. this relates to the cognitive aspect of understanding as a process. there is a constant interplay between the input of textual content while reading and its interaction with the given knowledge in one’s mind. psycholinguistic researchers speak of “bottom-up and top-down processes in understanding” (hörmann 1981: 124). this movement is like a cognitive spiral circling around the truth sought for, and it proceeds gradually deeper into the message of the text. the process of understanding has been defined as a dialogue, a kind of spiral of conversation with the content going back and forth, which should in the end lead to a “fusion of horizons”, the reader’s and the author’s one (gadamer 1990: 306). repeated reading of multiple texts changes the perceptions of the reader, and every change opens a new situation, a new point of understanding and interpretation, which may again be developed. the hermeneutical helix is a dynamic movement towards better understanding, guided by both intuition and active intellectual outreach. the attempt to express an idea is an autopoietic impulse (stolze 2011: 128) circling around the pleasing formulation that does not always come up at the first attempt. the translator’s creativity as a personality characteristic (akbari and segers 2017: 262) is working here. the adequacy of a solution found can then be justified by means of rhetorical criteria. 38 crossroads. a journal of english studies hermeneutic translation, hence, is a dynamic task to be performed in a process. there are no algorithms in the sense of a step-by-step procedure. the notion of the “embodiment” of the translator includes the idea that he or she deals individually as a subject with the texts, applying his or her knowledge and observing the external conditions of the work. in practical hermeneutics, of course, the text-immanent circle of understanding works within our text-external hermeneutical circle of knowledge to go forward in the hermeneutical helix on our way to a satisfying comprehension and reproduction. this is a dynamic process. cognitive and psycholinguistic research into mental processes of comprehension could give even more insights here, a field of research so far neglected in translation studies. important impulses are offered by, among others, elżbieta tabakowska (1993), and these also need to be integrated by hermeneutical studies. no operationalization of any transfer processes is possible, as had been taught in traditional translation didactics. with a view to words and syntactic elements teachers had claimed that various specific transfer procedures were applied, called “translation rules” (newmark 1988). generations of translators were analyzing grammar structures, thus losing the awareness of the overall text message. such rules are of no use in the work of translation, because what we write in the translation depends on what we have understood beforehand, and everything can also be formulated in a different way, as paul ricœur had observed. this is due to the freedom of mankind in life. the wish does not lead in a logically compelling and fully guaranteed way to the respective action, and neither does command. regulations are not always direct instructions for the individual (stolze 2011: 31). however, the translator needs some orientation in the world of texts, in order to reflect and to justify his or her translational solutions. 5. fields of orientation the translators’ responsibility requires that the work be not only a subjective affair. the question, then, is where we can look within our hermeneutical circle to understand, and within the hermeneutical helix of gradually producing adequate formulations in a translation. instead of a linear syntactic and semantic analysis we might approach the text holistically. 5.1. holistic understanding of text we can use certain fields of attention for understanding within the entity of a text (stolze 2011: 127) regarding the situational background, the discourse field, the meaning dimension and the predicative mode found in the text to be translated. like in a dialogue we pose questions to the text that will be answered. 39 crossroads. a journal of english studies translator’s reading literature specialist communication u n d er st an d in g situational background country, epoch, editor, author, cultural community, realia, geographical names area of sciences or humanities with state of development, time, author, medium of publication discourse field social setting in culture, author’s ideology, world view in text, genre, kind of text presentation domain with special discipline, text type, level of communication (expert/lay), text function meaning dimension titles, key words, isotopic web, cultural associations, metaphors, thematic strings terminological conceptualization (definition/ deduction vs. convention/ interpretation), metaphors predicative mode speaker’s perspective, idiolect, sentence subjects, deixis, focusing, verbal tense, irony, quotations, intertextuality, register speech acts, phrase construction, passive form, standard text blocks, anonymous voice, directives, cohesion markers, formulae, footnotes once we have understood the text in a general way, when we know what it is saying to us, then we may write down a draft translation. this will then be revised according to rhetorical criteria also in holistic application. we will explain this using an example below. 5.2. translational strategies in understanding a text, the translator creates a global cognitive plan for the accepted assignment of representing that message in empathy (as if it were his own communication). tentative creative writing and reviewing in a problem-solving strategy are repeated several times in a helical movement, until a final text is produced that corresponds to the initial writing goal. translations are not derived from their “source text”, but rather messages cognitively present that are expressed with disregard to the linguistic structures in that source text (stolze 2011: 150). the translational writing strategy is based on the results of prioritizing the main characteristic of the source text. the process of writing is first oriented selectively to certain points of difficulty; it is a data driven bottom-up process. this must always be followed by revision in a top-down process feeding back towards the whole of the message. writers dispose of global structures as a kind of cognitive “production scheme” for their working process (antos 1989: 21), focusing on pragmatic features such as the intelligibility and functionality of the text, with the aim of reaching a responsible presentation of that message to be expressed in empathy. they have to cope with insufficient 40 crossroads. a journal of english studies knowledge, limited proficiency in language and genres, problems of activating and focusing their knowledge, etc., which all are aspects of rhetoric. in practice, this proves to be a process of coordinating the writing goals on the macro and the micro level of the text. the specific problem in translational text production, then, is the adjustment of the various rhetorical features that will all contribute to the intended meaning of the target text as a whole. such features are formed gradually in a constant reviewing and reformulating process of the first draft. the problems to be solved at certain points gradually change, since any modification at one point results in some other consequent transformation at another point. the translator’s work will follow rhetorical criteria such as issues of genre, of coherence, stylistics and function of the target text (stolze 2011: 175). the translation has to be adequate in all of these fields. the model of the fields of attention in writing can be a help in the concrete work of translating. we will explain this using the example below. translational writing general language lsp fo rm u la ti n g genre genre, fiction or non-fiction, shape of text, pictures, verse order, printed appearance medium of text type, layout, space available, illustrations, script fonts, legal prescriptions, markers coherence titles, isotopy, paradigmatic compatibility, synonyms, synsemantic context, thematic strings, allusion, proper names, geographical places status of equivalence of terms, concepts in humanities, specific word formation, logic in text structure, names stylistics verbal tense, mode, numerus, prosody of emotion, direct speech, condensing forms, characteristics of milieu, suspense, word play, metonymy, alliteration, rhyme typical text blocks, functional style, phraseology, passive voice, impersonal expression, communicative metaphors, controlled language, style guide function author’s intention, text structuring, intended group of readers, intertextuality, visualizing the scene communicative goal, macrostructure, addressees’ expectation, norms of intelligibility, vision of the topic debated 6. an example with translation english text: water wars are coming to the boil in florida scott morrison and henry hamman report on a city versus country dispute that has parallels in several other us states 41 crossroads. a journal of english studies florida’s urban developers are a (5) thirsty lot. they need billions of gallons of fresh water to sustain their housing projects, shopping malls, and office parks in the populous southern half of the sunshine state. (…) florida is already (10) running out of water and some hope the state’s rural north can fill the deficit. the issue has simmered for years but appears set to boil into a full-blown water war after a group of influential (15) florida business leaders issued a report recommending that the state divert some of the north’s water to the urban south. “the powerful business community sees growth and development as (20) inevitable, but environmentalists and rural residents want to preserve what’s left of a subtropical paradise,” says roy carriker, a resource economist at the university of florida. (25) both sides agree that north florida is south florida’s only readily available source of extra water; they disagree over the economic and ecological impact of water diversion, prof carriker says. (…) (30) jim king, the republican president of florida’s senate, who hails from northern jacksonville, puts it more simply: “this is as close to north versus south as you’re going to get since the civil war.” (35) the eastern front is just opening up in the fierce us water wars, with droughts, development and population pressures all playing a role. florida is fighting georgia and (40) alabama over each state’s allocation from the shared apalachicola-chattahoochee-flint river basin. further north, south carolina is also fighting two water wars – one with north (45) carolina (over reduced flows in the pee dee river) and the other with georgia (over the savannah river). (…) but a recent settlement in southern california offers hope. the accord – a (50) complex series of 30 interlocking agreements – ends years of infighting over who gets to use water from the colorado river, the primary source of fresh water for seven southwestern us states. (55) each state along the colorado river agreed to usage limits in the 1930s when the hoover dam was built. but more recently, california’s growing cities pushed the state to rely on excess (60) colorado river water to feed the state’s booming south. that practice eventually drew protests from neighboring states and the federal government, which this year (65) prohibited california from exceeding its limits. farmers in southern california were wasting water, the federal government said. to give the cities more, the state (70) would have to divert water from agricultural users. the farmers were loath to give up first-use rights to the bulk of california’s water supply, which they had held for decades. (75) last week, after nine years of sporadic negotiations, enormous federal pressure and generous economic incentives from san diego, the region’s farmers agreed to sell as much as 90bn (80) gallons a year to the city’s water authority for 75 years. (…) 42 crossroads. a journal of english studies water experts say the agreement gives new impetus to the creation of water-sharing agreements between cities (85) and rural areas. (…) such deals are essential, experts say, because continued fighting over water will only make it scarcer. “you cannot do it through the court (90) system,” says pat mulroy, general director of the southern nevada water authority. “you will be without water before it is resolved.” florida, alabama and georgia do (95) not seem to be heeding that advice. after a decade of litigation and five years of negotiations, culminating in a tentative agreement in july, the tri-state fight is back before a federal judge in alabama. (100) (financial times, 25 oct. 2003) german translation: in florida eskaliert der streit ums wasser scott morrison und henry hamman berichten über einen stadt-land-konflikt mit parallelen in mehreren anderen us-bundesstaaten die stadtentwickler in florida sind ein durstiger haufen. sie brauchen milliarden kubikmeter süßwasser, um ihre wohnungsbauprojekte, einkaufszentren und (5) büroviertel in der dicht besiedelten südhälfte des sonnenschein-staats zu unterhalten. (…) südflorida geht schon jetzt das wasser aus und manche hoffen, der ländliche norden des staats könne das (10) defizit auffüllen. das problem hat jahrelang vor sich hin geköchelt, doch jetzt scheint es in einen regelrechten wasserkrieg auszuarten, nachdem eine gruppe einflussreicher (15) geschäftsleute in florida einen bericht veröffentlichte, in dem vorgeschlagen wird, der staat möge wasser aus dem norden in den städtischen süden umleiten. „die mächtige geschäftswelt sieht (20) wachstum und entwicklung als unausweichlich an, doch umweltschützer und die landbevölkerung möchten erhalten, was von einem subtropischen paradies noch übrig ist“, sagt roy (25) carriker, ein ressourcenökonom an der universität von florida. beide seiten sind sich einig, dass nordflorida die einzige leicht zugängliche quelle zusätzlichen wassers für südflorida (30) darstellt; uneins sind sie über die wirtschaftlichen und ökologischen auswirkungen einer wasserumleitung, so professor carriker. jim king, der republikanische (35) senatspräsident von florida, der aus jacksonville im norden stammt, drückt es noch einfacher aus: „das ist so nahe an nord gegen süd, wie wir es seit dem bürgerkrieg nicht mehr hatten.“ (40) in den heftigen kriegen ums wasser in den vereinigten staaten, wobei dürren, entwicklung und bevölkerungsdruck alle eine rolle spielen, eröffnet die ostfront gerade das feuer. (45) florida streitet mit georgia und alabama über die zuteilung eines jeden 43 crossroads. a journal of english studies staates aus dem gemeinsamen apalachicolachattahoochee-flint-flussbecken. (50) weiter nördlich führt south carolina ebenfalls zwei wasserkriege: einen mit north carolina (wegen reduzierter stromflussmengen im pee dee river) und einen gegen georgia (um den savannah (55) river). (…) aber eine kürzlich im südlichen kalifornien erzielte übereinkunft gibt anlass zur hoffnung. der vergleich – ein komplexes paket (60) von 30 ineinandergreifenden verträgen – beendet das jahrelange gerangel darüber, wer das wasser aus dem colorado river nutzen darf, der primären süßwasserquelle für sieben us-bundesstaaten im süd (65) westen. jeder staat entlang des colorado river stimmte seinerzeit nutzungsbegrenzungen zu, als der hoover-damm (1931-35) in den 1930er jahren (70) gebaut wurde. doch neuerdings drängten kaliforniens wachsende städte den staat, auf überschüssiges wasser des colorado zurückzugreifen, um den boomenden süden zu versorgen. (75) diese praxis zog schließlich proteste benachbarter staaten und der uszentralregierung nach sich, welche dieses jahr kalifornien untersagte, seine limits zu überschreiten. (80) die farmer in südkalifornien würden wasser verschwenden, stellte die zentralregierung fest. um den städten mehr zu geben, würde der staat eben wasser von landwirtschaftlichen nutzern (85) abzweigen müssen. die farmer freilich waren nicht gewillt, erstnutzungsrechte am hauptteil von kaliforniens wasserversorgung aufzugeben, die sie seit jahrzehnten inne gehabt hatten. (90) letzte woche nun, nach neun jahren sporadischer verhandlungen, enormem druck seitens der us-zentralregierung, und großzügigen wirtschaftlichen anreizen aus san diego willigten die farmer der (95) region ein, für die nächsten 75 jahre ungefähr 340 mio. kubikmeter jährlich an die städtische wasserbehörde zu verkaufen. wasserexperten meinen, dass das (100) abkommen der entstehung von wasseraufteilungsabkommen zwischen städten und ländlichen gebieten neuen auftrieb verleihe. (…) solche abkommen seien unbedingt erforderlich, so meinen (105) fachleute, denn ein anhaltender streit ums wasser wird dieses nur noch knapper werden lassen. „man kann das nicht über den gerichtsweg lösen“, meint pat mulroy, (110) generaldirektor der wasserbehörde für südnevada. „man steht nämlich ohne wasser da, bevor es entschieden ist.“ florida, alabama und georgia scheinen diesen ratschlag allerdings nicht (115) zu beherzigen. nach einem jahrzehnt des prozessierens und fünf jahren verhandlungen, die im juli in einem provisorischen vertrag gipfelten, ist der drei-staaten-konflikt jetzt wieder vor einem (120) bundesrichter in alabama gelandet. (german translation by r. stolze, 2014) 44 crossroads. a journal of english studies 7. discussion of the example for understanding the following is a critical discussion of how to work with the above-mentioned “fields of orientation”. untrained students often proceed word-by-word in dealing with the text, and this easily leads to simple errors, as the following examples may show: city versus country dispute (2) was in the german classroom translated with “stadt gegen nation-streit”, the office parks (7) became “bürogrünanlagen”, the readily available source (26) became “bereitwillige quelle”, who hails from northern jacksonville (31) became “der aus dem norden von jacksonville grüßt”, economic incentives (77) became “wirtschaftliche prämienlöhne” or “leistungszuzahlungen”, the tri-state fight (98) became a “kampf mit drei zuständen”, just to mention a few mistakes. this of course is due to a lack of understanding the text in its whole message. and looking up words in the dictionary will not help here, as studies have shown.9 therefore, the translator needs orientation, and some basic pre-understanding about the typical american background of neighbor cities battling over water must be built-up before the translation job can begin. 7.1. the situational background the relevant fields of orientation for understanding are the situational background, the discourse field, the meaning dimension and the predicative mode. regarding the situational background we should be aware of the national organization of the united states of america. there is politically a cooperative federalism, there is the federal state (nationalstaat) with the federal government or administration (zentralregierung) and the states (bundesstaaten, einzelstaaten), which should not be mistaken for the german bundesländer with the bundesregierung in berlin. a look at the map is helpful to understand the discussion in the text, also regarding the river systems mentioned. part of this background is also history, and we have here an allusion to the american civil war in the 19th century (1861-65), when northern and southern states – or the north versus the south (in capital letters) – were fighting against each other over the issue of slavery and the black race. looking out for a relevant holistic semantic web, we see lexemes like fighting, wars, eastern front, etc. as a mirror on the text level. in reading the text, this semantic web arouses our pre-knowledge (if it is given). research work is needed when we feel lacunae. 7.2. the discourse field then there is the legal system as a dia-culture within the american para-culture, with its individual case law decisions by regional and federal judges. this is mentioned several times in the text, mainly towards the end. since there are no general precise laws in the u.s.a. defining 9 cf. f. prassl: “the majority of consultation processes did not prove to be helpful for either students or professionals. this was mostly due to a lack of proper perception of the source text and consequently of inappropriate knowledge integration” (prassl 2011: 23). 45 crossroads. a journal of english studies the use of water, like, for instance, in the e.u. and germany, all conflicts have to be regulated by negotiation and litigation. this legal system as a discourse field within the cultural background reflects in a textual word field around lexemes such as infighting, settlement, accord, agreement, compromise, negotiation, deals, court system, litigation, federal judge, etc. (lines 39, 48, 49, 51, 76, 82, 85, 90, 96, 99). the one who knows that system will recognize this word field and be able to translate accordingly. for the purpose of translation teaching, this would mean that the american legal system has to be taught beforehand, in order to adequately deal with a newspaper text like the one in this example. (the possibility to present cultural aspects in texts has long been the main reason for using newspaper texts for translation classes.) 7.3. the meaning dimension a third important aspect in texts is the meaning dimension, that is the question which primary semantic fields become visible in reading the text. we see: the topic is about fighting for water, a city versus country(side) dispute on the amount of water that individual areas may take from the rivers. the respective word field is visible in the text as a macrostructure. however, it’s not only about water. the conflict is between economic urban development with high population, business issues, boom, wasting of water (8, 15, 18, 58) on the one hand, and environmental issues in rural areas with farming (20, 22, 67, 79) on the other hand. with this notion in mind the “city versus country dispute” becomes clear and is translatable. of course, the word country in another context can also mean “land” in the sense of a nation state. but we know that polysemantic lexemes on the system level only become concrete in their usage in a certain situation/text/sentence. this proves that some linguistic and grammatical knowledge about languages should also be part of the translator’s knowledge base. 7.4. the predicative mode finally, we will have to take a closer look at the text structure, not least regarding its characteristics as a text of specialist communication. at this point well-known linguistic analyses come to the foreground. there are proverbial sayings typical for the genre as a newspaper text (33: this is as close to north versus south as you’re going to get), metaphors (2: water wars are coming to the boil, 5: thirsty lot, 12: the issue has simmered for years, 35: the eastern front is just opening up). such expressions have the function of catching the interest of readers by appealing to their cultural knowledge in history and cooking, for example. by the end of the text they get rarer. besides these aspects of general language in a newspaper text, also underlined by several direct quotations to raise confidence (“says mr. …”), there is also special language, i.e. regarding the business world and the environmental issues. the respective terms that have to be translated correctly are: 5: urban developers, 7: housing projects, shopping malls, office parks, populous, 14: business leaders, 18: business community, 56: usage limits, 58: growing cities, 61: booming south, 77: economic incentives, 80: the city’s water authority – and 6: fresh water, rural north, 20: environmentalists, rural residents, 23: resource economist, 27: extra water, 36: droughts, 42: 46 crossroads. a journal of english studies river basin, 45: flows, 53: source of fresh water, 59: excess water, 68: farmers were wasting water, 70: agricultural users, 6/80: gallons of water, 82: water experts, 84: water-sharing agreements. on the text level these technical terms appear side by side in a lexical web indicating the interrelatedness of both conflicting issues. these issues (city vs country) as the main topic of the text are already mentioned in the subtitle, which is always a key to understanding a text. as a preparation for translating, one may list the adequate specialist target language equivalents for such words, see stadtentwickler, wohnungsbauprojekte, einkaufszentren, büroviertel, dicht besiedelt, geschäftsleute, geschäftswelt, nutzungsbegrenzungen, wachsende städte, boomender süden, limits, wirtschaftliche anreize, die städtische wasserbehörde – and süßwasser, ländlicher norden, umweltschützer, landbevölkerung, ressourcenökonom, dürren, flussbecken, durchfluss, süßwasserquelle, überschüssiges wasser, die farmer verschwendeten wasser, landwirtschaftliche nutzer, kubikmeter wasser, wasserexperten, wasseraufteilungsabkommen. there is a special terminological problem with business leaders (15). in german “wirtschaftsführer” are bosses, “geschäftsführer” are managing directors, “geschäftsleute” (business leaders) is the general term for what is meant here, “geschäftswelt” is the business community (18) mentioned here, and “unternehmergemeinschaft” would be an association of entrepreneurs, a “geschäftsgemeinschaft” a joint business. the translator will have to choose from a relevant discourse field in the target culture. this is only possible with specialized knowledge. another problem of esp language is word compounding. the primary source of fresh water (53) allows several translations according to the language system, but not all are adequate: primäre süßwasserquelle wichtigste süßwasserquelle * frischwasserhauptquelle hauptfrischwasserquelle hauptquelle für frisches wasser primäre quelle frischen wassers primäre frischwasserquelle primäre quelle an frischwasser primärquelle von frischem wasser. the problem is that only the first or second solutions correspond to the technical style in german (stolze 2011: 202); the other versions (from students’ work) are either clumsy or too literary or unclear. on top of that, the terminological content has to be observed. “frisches wasser” is an interference from the english fresh water, “süßwasser” is the water from rivers and lakes compared with the salty seawater, “frischwasser” is non-polluted water carried on ships, “trinkwasser” is treated water for human consumption. 47 crossroads. a journal of english studies 8. rhetorical text production after having determined an adequate understanding of the source text, which in the translator’s opinion gives a meaningful message and has no lacunae, we can proceed to a translation. here again, we may follow some fields of attention as were presented earlier. 8.1. the genre the present translation could be imagined once again as a newspaper article informing about water problems in the united states. this would mean that the direct quotations from persons (prof carriker, pat mulroy, and others) should also be integrated, as this is part of the genre in german texts as well. differences in the quotation marks between the english and the german languages have to be observed. the newspaper text is informative for the readers, so the technical terms must be translated correctly. at this stage the preparation for the lexematic translation made above will be useful. realia such as river names, states etc. are linguistically preserved and will not be translated, except where a familiar version is well-known, like “kalifornien” instead of “california”. 8.2. coherence a specialist text will only then be convincing and acceptable for target readers when it is a coherent peace of language, when the message becomes visible. such coherence is mainly created by the word field as we have already mentioned. there are three word fields composed of compatible lexemes, namely the legal system, the economic development, and the rural landscape. here again, the linguistic preparation for translation from our list of words can now be used for revising the draft translation. even if an initial translation follows the text sentence by sentence, the adequate word field is better seen when observing the message as a whole (circle of understanding). a revision is then possible. a correct equivalent translation of technical terms is also part of coherence. 8.3. the stylistics the aspect of style in specialist communication mainly concerns word compounding, formulae and syntactic complexity. in our text the syntax is not very complex and can be preserved. word compounding is relevant for terms like “süßwasserquelle” instead of the literal translation “quelle frischen wassers” more apt for literary texts. the linguistic function of adjectives is important and should be meticulously preserved. “southern california” is translated with “südkalifornien”, whereas “northern jacksonville” (a relational adjective) means “jacksonville im norden”, since “das nördliche jacksonville” is a bit unclear. that is the state’s capital in the north part, as one can see from the map. measures and weights are also an important feature of specialist communication. in america we read about “billions of gallons”, whereas in europe the amount of water is measured in cubic meters or tons: “milliarden kubikmeter wasser”. in a text for the general public this “cultural 48 crossroads. a journal of english studies transfer” should actually be made,10 not least because “gallonen” (3,78 l) is no technical term in german. the “90bn gallons a year” (line 80) would then be “340 mio. kubikmeter jährlich”. 8.4. the function since translators work like co-authors by representing the message understood from the source text, the function of the target text has to be determined, like in authoring an original text. in most cases of specialist communication the function does not change, the translation assignment requires to preserve it, but the translator has to know how the respective function is being realized in the target language. in our case here, the stylistic aspects and the needs for intelligibility of the text for the general public have to be realized. any wrong expressions within a draft translation might at the end still be eliminated, this for instance regarding the “city versus country dispute”, which is not about cities and the nation state, and the “tri-state fight”, which does not mean three different statuses. the function of the metaphorical title “water wars are coming to the boil in florida” is to raise interest and describe the fact in a lively way. many students have translated helplessly, like for instance: “allmähliches aufkochen von wasserkriegen in florida”; “streit um frischwasser erreicht siedepunkt in florida”; “wasserkriege in florida erreichen siedepunkt” or the like. the problem is that the two metaphors of “war” and “boiling” do not suit together in german. therefore, we have to formulate creatively in a different way: “streit eskaliert” or “neuer höhepunkt im wasserstreit” or “wasserkonflikte erhitzen die gemüter in florida”. the creative potential of a translator must not be restricted, and this is an example of the helical movement in searching for words. finally, the language difference between german and english is also relevant. in the english language the focus is at the end of a sentence: “water wars …. in florida”, in german this is often put at the beginning: “in florida eskaliert …”. 9. translation competence: integrating various aspects as we have seen in the explanation of this hermeneutic approach to translation, the work is directed towards a holistic view of the text, both in understanding the text and in formulating the translation. in this, the translator has to integrate concurrently all aspects encountered on the text level, regarding the language on the lexematic, syntactical, textual and cultural levels, as we have the circle of understanding here. any new insight gained by questioning, researching or learning will change the given knowledge base and possibly lead to a correction of initial mistakes. redundancy is growing towards the end of a text, and the final affirmations quite often explain statements found at the beginning. the various aspects are not dealt with in a linear way one after the other, but rather in a concurrent, holistic way. any revision at one point then consequently 10 on translation as a cultural transfer see reiß/vermeer (1984: 26). 49 crossroads. a journal of english studies leads to a change at a nearby other point in a sentence. the meaning of an expression is only valid in the light of the overall message of the text. such a hermeneutic approach to translation will lead to more self-awareness of the translating persons in view of their knowledge base, to quicker working because less dictionary use is necessary when they already understood the message in the light of their pre-knowledge, and to more self-confidence when the translator is a master of the texts instead of being a slave of words in formulating what he or she has understood. hermeneutics is an informed attitude of openness towards texts and thus offers more trust and freedom for the translators’ independent decisions. therefore, the presented system of orientation fields for understanding and writing can also be used in translation didactics. translating means understanding a text as a cognitive act of semiosis and formulating a message responsibly according to rhetoric. writing is an autopoietic process (stolze 2011: 128) in that the words we are looking for arise often intuitively. this idea has meanwhile been proved by empirical analyses regarding the translators’ cognition as a “super-competence” (scarpa/orlando 2017 : 27). the bases of that hermeneutic translation competence are: a historical awareness of the cultural integration of language – an ethic of responsibility for precision in reframing the content of the message – a holistic approach proceeding from the overall entity to the single part – an openness for critique and new information in order to overcome naïve subjectivity – an epistemological effort to grasp the textual content by integrating specialist and cultural knowledge – an empathy with the message of the text in order to write authentically – the reflection on the phenomenological effect of linguistic signs that is different in every person and in various cultures and special domains – a certain functional proficiency in discourse fields for rhetorical formulation – a conscious interlinking of knowledge by constant learning – the ability of prioritizing to recognize the specific problem of a single text – a tendency for specialization in certain domains where knowledge is given – pursuing the goal of a well-grounded attitude towards texts (stolze 2011: 187). what we may observe here is the life-long growth of the translator. translational hermeneutics offers a model for practice that is sufficiently complex to include many aspects, and apt for didactics, because the complexity is reduced by the intuition of a translator disposing of relevant knowledge. hermeneutic translation competence includes various aspects (stolze 2015: 341): • communicative competence (understands and writes texts in their own and the foreign language) • intercultural competence (understands strange cultures and sees differences to their own one) • linguistic awareness (knowing the grammar and structural rules of a language and applying them) • textual competence (knowledge of text type conventions in the source and target texts) • terminological competence (applies relevant pre-knowledge in the respective specialist domain with terminology) 50 crossroads. a journal of english studies • writing competence (ability to produce adequate texts in the target language according to the translation commission) • research competence (appropriate usage of dictionaries, parallel texts, internet) • technical competence (ability to use modern tools adequately, project management) • social competence (dealing with clients, legal knowledge, membership in associations) • networking competence (learning from previous translations, exploiting experiences) • change competence (ability and interest to get into new fields and to practice lifelong learning). every text is different, and not all problems arise in a translation assignment in the same way. translation remains a dynamic task since it is a social activity, a touchstone act for what we see, do, and say in a world of endless human interaction. references akbari, alireza and winibert segers. 2017. diverse personality traits and translation quality. preselected items evaluation (pie) and neo five-factor inventory. trans-kom zeitschrift für translationswissenschaft und fachkommunikation. [hrsg. v. leona van værenberg und klaus schubert], 10 [2] 2017. 242-270. (www.trans-kom.eu) antos, gerd. 1989. textproduktion: ein einführender überblick. in: gerd antos & hans p. krings (eds.), textproduktion. ein interdisziplinärer forschungsüberblick, 5-17. tübingen: niemeyer. assmann, aleida. 2004. die unverzichtbarkeit der kulturwissenschaften. hildesheimer universitätsreden, neue folge heft 2, ed. der präsident, 3-27. hildesheim: hildesheimer universitätsverlag. bachmann-medick, doris. 2009. cultural turns. neuorientierungen in den kulturwissenschaften. reinbek bei hamburg: rowohlt. bassnett, susan. 2000. authenticity, travel and translation. in: m. kadric & k. kaindl & f. pöchhacker (eds.), translationswissenschaft. festschrift für mary snell-hornby zum 60. geburtstag, 105-114. tübingen: stauffenburg. coseriu, eugenio. 1980. textlinguistik. eine einführung. [edited by jörn albrecht]. tübingen: narr. fillmore, charles j. 1977. scenesand-frames-semantics. in: a. zampolli (ed.), linguistic structures processing, 55-81. amsterdam: new holland. gadamer, hans-georg. 1990. truth and method. [second revised edition. translation by w. glen doepel and revised by joel weinsheimer & donald g. marshall]. new york: crossroad. heyes, cecilia. 2012. new thinking: the evolution of human cognition. philosophical transactions b, [publ. the royal society], 2091-2096. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2012.0111 pmcid: pmc3385676 hörmann, hans. 1981. einführung in die psycholinguistik. darmstadt: wissenschaftliche buchgesellschaft. 51 crossroads. a journal of english studies kupsch-losereit, sigrid. 2012. übersetzen als verhandlungs(spiel)raum und sinngebungsprozess. in: l. cercel & j. stanley (hrsg.) unterwegs zu einer hermeneutischen übersetzungswissenschaft. radegundis stolze zu ihrem 60. geburtstag, 39-67. tübingen: narr. newmark, peter. 1988. a textbook of translation. london/new york: prentice hall. prassl, friederike. 2011. übersetzerisches rechercheverhalten von profis und novizen auf dem prüfstand – empirische befunde aus der analyse von konsultationshandlungen und ihren auswirkungen auf die qualität des zieltextes. trans-kom – zeitschrift für translationswissenschaft und fachkommunikation. [hrsg. v. leona van værenberg und klaus schubert], band 4, nr.1/2011, 23-48. (www.trans-kom.eu). reiß, katharina and vermeer, hans j. 1984. grundlegung einer allgemeinen translationstheorie. tübingen: niemeyer. ricœur, paul. 1969. the conflict of interpretations. [french original: editions du seuil 1974]. chicago: northwestern university press. ricœur, paul. 1991. the model of the text: meaningful action considered as a text. in: mario j. valdés (ed.) a ricoeur reader: reflection and imagination, 144–167. toronto: university press. robinson, douglas. 2013. feeling extended: sociality as extended body-becoming-mind. cambridge, ma: mit press. scarpa, federica and orlando, daniele. 2017. what it takes to do it right: an integrative emt based model for legal translation competence. jostrans the journal of specialized translation, issue 27 – january 2017, 21-42. schleiermacher, friedrich. 1977. on the different methods of translating. in: a. lefevere (ed.), translating literature: the german tradition. from luther to rosenzweig, 66-89. assen/ amsterdam: van gorcum. schleiermacher, friedrich. 1998. hermeneutics and criticism and other writings. [german original 1838. translated and edited by andrew bowie.] cambridge: univ. press. stanley, john w. 2005. die gebrochene tradition. zur genese der philosophischen hermeneutik hans georg gadamers. würzburg: königshausen & neumann. stanley, john w. 2012. das dilemma der subjektivität in der hermeneutik. in: larisa cercel & john stanley (eds.): unterwegs zu einer hermeneutischen übersetzungswissenschaft. festschrift für radegundis stolze zu ihrem 60. geburtstag, 246-273. tübingen: narr. stanley, john, o’keeffe, brian, stolze radegundis and cercel, larisa (eds.). 2018. philosophy and practice in translational hermeneutics. bucharest: zeta books. stefanink, bernd. 1997. ‘esprit de finesse’ – ‘esprit de géométrie’: das verhältnis von ‘intuition’ und ‚übersetzerrelevanter textanalyse’ beim übersetzen.  in: rudi keller (ed.) linguistik und literaturübersetzen, 161-184. tübingen, narr. stolze, radegundis. 2011. the translator’s approach – introduction to translational hermeneutics. theory and examples from practice. berlin: frank & timme. stolze, radegundis. 2015. hermeneutische übersetzungskompetenz. grundlagen und didaktik. berlin: frank &timme. 52 crossroads. a journal of english studies stolze, radegundis, stanley, john w., cercel, larisa (eds.). 2015. translational hermeneutics. the first symposium. bucharest: zeta books. tabakowska, elzbieta. 1993. cognitive linguistics and poetics of translation. tübingen: narr francke attempto. tymoczko, maria. 2006. enlarging translation. empowering translators. manchester: st. jerome. vermeer, hans j. 2006. versuch einer intertheorie der translation. berlin: frank & timme. houses as sites of memory in penelope lively’s writings 10 crossroads. a journal of english studies bożena kucała jagiellonian university, kraków houses as sites of memory in penelope lively’s writings abstract. this paper will analyse the representation of houses in selected novels and non-fiction by penelope lively. houses feature in her writings as material objects as well as immaterial forms created by the human psyche; they may also be conceptualised as organic beings whose lives mirror the lives of their inhabitants. however, it will be argued that for the characters in lively’s novels houses function primarily as sites of memory. houses are treated as repositories of the past, both because they hold secure its material remnants and because they have the potential to evoke memories and thus enable people to forge and maintain meaningful connections with the past. the article will also take account of lively’s three autobiographical books, oleander, jacaranda: a childhood perceived, a house unlocked, and ammonites and leaping fish, in which the writer embarks on the project of retrieving memories by exploring, respectively, three houses she used to reside in as “material memoirs” of her own past as well as collective history. keywords: penelope lively, memory, autobiography, the house in fiction, sites of memory. in their essay on representations of the house in literature and culture, janet larson, francesca saggini and anna-enrichetta soccio emphasise the inescapable duality inherent in this type of dwelling. on the one hand, it is a material object, a “thing made of bricks and mortar, poured concrete, cinder block, fieldstone, fitted logs or baked mud.” owing to its substantiality, the house secures the inside against the outside, separates the private space from the public space, and offers its inhabitants “a sense of stability against the ravages of time.” on the other hand, the space enclosed by the walls of the house also becomes a mental construct, endowed with subjective, personal connotations (1-2). in poetics of space gaston bachelard conceptualised the house as a form created by the human psyche rather than a mere architectural structure: “a house that has been experienced is not an inert box. inhabited space transcends geometrical space” (47). bachelard claims that the human being “experiences the house in its reality and in its virtuality, by means of thought and dreams” (5). in its latter function – which is the real subject of bachelard’s analysis – the house gives a shape to human life by integrating “thoughts, memories and dreams” (6-7). this duality of the house as both a material object and a mental construct tends to underlie representations of houses in penelope lively’s novels and memoirs. indeed, the opening of one of her latest novels, family album (2009), revolves around a contrast between these two dimensions. split into several voices and perspectives, the novel achieves a degree of unity thanks to its setting. 10.15290/cr.2016.14.3.01 11 articles as lorna bradbury observes in her review, “the house in family album has as strong a presence as any of the characters” (bradbury). allersmead is the background to the lives of several characters, whose identity may be defined with regard to their physical and mental distance from it. the first episode depicts one of the middle-aged daughters arriving at allersmead for a family reunion. whereas her partner sees a mere building, for gina the sight of the house triggers a powerful influx of memories: gina turned the car off the road and into the driveway of allersmead. at this point she seemed to see her entire life flash by…. philip, in the passenger seat, saw a substantial edwardian house, a wide flight of steps up to a front door with stained-glass panels, a weedy sweep of gravel in front. (1) in a house which has transcended its materiality, objects become reminders of human experiences. in the house depicted in family album, each room is “branded” and “vibrant with references” to family rituals (15-16). as one of the characters says of allersmead, “this is a real family house and it’s got all the scars” (13). indeed, the house in lively’s writings is not by definition the bachelardian “space we love” (bachelard, xxxv). lively does not idealise houses in her fiction – nor is she prepared to overlook the downsides of her own family life in her memoirs (oleander, jacaranda, 1994).1 the walls enclosing the inhabited space may function as a shelter or, conversely, as a trap; the separation of the house from the outside world may lead to alienation; the stability connoted by the house may degenerate into stagnation. the house as a space in time whatever houses connote to their inhabitants in lively’s fiction or to herself in her autobiographical writings, lively repeatedly asserts that if “the geometrical space” of a house is transcended as a result of human experience, it is a process which takes place over a period of time. houses acquire their identity when layers of experience accumulate within their walls; in lively’s books family dwellings are silent but material witnesses to the progress of individual lives, the succession of generations, and even the march of history. as a fusion of space and time, the houses in her books become manifestations of the bakhtinian chronotope, in which “spatial and temporal indicators are fused into one carefully thought-out, concrete whole. time, as it were, thickens, takes on flesh, becomes artistically visible; likewise, space becomes charged and responsive to the movements of time, plot and history” (bakhtin, 84). 1 there is much overlap between lively’s novels and the ideas expressed in her non-fiction. kerstin ebel notes that while reading the autobiographical books oleander, jacaranda and a house unlocked, “it becomes clear how many of her own memories and experiences and how much of her knowledge of places lively has used in her fiction – whether consciously or subconsciously” (2). this observation also pertains to her latest autobiographical book, ammonites and leaping fish. 12 crossroads. a journal of english studies the intersection of space and time as the defining quality of the house is exemplified in lively’s account of bulaq dakhrur, the house of her childhood in the vicinity of cairo. lively was born and spent the first twelve years of her life in the british community in egypt. forty years later, she made a return visit to the place. the account of the visit, interspersed with memories of her childhood, is the subject of her first autobiographical book oleander, jacaranda. the prime destination of the journey is the former family house, but the visit to egypt also makes her feel like a time traveller (5). after finding the house she is able to indulge in a remembrance of things past. lively discovers that the building has been converted to a school and that all the former surroundings are gone; therefore, the house becomes all the more precious to her as the sole remainder of the past: “nothing left but the house, stolidly clinging on. somehow, this was not sad but curiously exhilarating. i had not expected it to be there at all. and now the building seemed in some odd way to have the dignity of the sphinx, which looks aloofly out over the degradation all around” (7). but the visitor sees more than the physical building in its present shape – she is aware of its previous existence, inextricably intertwined with her childhood: “and there was also the powerful feeling that on some other plane of existence the ur-house was still there also, with the eucalyptus avenue and the lawns and the flower beds, and i with it, a ghost-child for ever riding my bike up and down the drive…” (8). her memories are suffused with nostalgia; the place connects her with her younger self, it offers her security and reassurance (9). the encounter with bulaq dakhrur, her personal chronotope, releases such vivid recollections that she is mentally transported back to her childhood and narrates her memories in the present tense. lively records her astonishment at the clarity of her memories and notes that the moments engraved on her mind are “almost all focused on the house, or the garden” (29). the place becomes the starting point of her journey into the past. in her imagination, lively recreates in great detail the interior of the house as it was in her early years, methodically moving from room to room and commenting on what the sights connote. one piece of furniture in particular commands her respect as a palpable link between past and present: the old tallboy which now stands in her bedroom in london still furnishes the hall of her imaginary egyptian house (32). housing memories the capacity to read the references encoded in the space of the house originates in memory. it is human memory which endows houses with an identity and confers upon them the status of being eloquent evidence of the past. both in her fiction and her non-fiction, lively never tires of stressing the importance of the past in constituting individual and collective identity. in her other autobiographical narrative, ammonites and leaping fish (2013), she asserts that “the mind needs its tether in time, it must know where it is – in the perpetual slide of the present, with the ballast of what has been and the hazard of what is to come” (123). in an interview for publishers weekly the writer declared: i am extraordinarily interested in history ... worried about how a lot of people don’t realize that history is true, that it has actually happened. . . . perhaps what i am interested in even more is the operation of 13 articles memory in every possible sense, the way in which both people and landscape2 are composed of memory, the ways in which the physical world is composed of memory. (quoted in blom, 240)3 in lively’s writings, houses, in their virtual dimensions, are also composed of memory, both personal and collective. in his essay “between memory and history: les lieux de mémoire” pierre nora argues that “memory takes root in the concrete, in spaces, gestures, images, and objects” (9); memory is anchored, “crystallizes and secretes itself ” in “sites of memory” (lieux de mémoire) (7). following maurice halbwachs, nora contends that since in the modern post-industrial world we can no longer rely on spontaneous collective memory, we must intentionally create repositories of the past: “museums, archives, cemeteries, festivals, anniversaries, treaties, depositions, monuments, sanctuaries, fraternal orders – these are the boundary stones of another age, illusions of eternity” (12). the concept of the house as a site of private, and occasionally also collective memory, underlies lively’s depiction of family dwellings in her novels and autobiographical books. the buildings and the objects they contain testify to the reality of the past and provide the grounding for re-imagining it. however, lively does not share nora’s account of the genesis of lieux de mémoire. the house is not deliberately created to anchor memories; instead, it naturally acquires this function in the course of human habitation. in poetics of space bachelard stresses the role of the house in retaining memories: “thanks to the house, a great many of our memories are housed, and if the house is a bit elaborate, if it has a cellar and a garret, nooks and corridors, our memories have refuges that are all the more clearly delineated” (8). john locke once defined memory as “the storehouse of our ideas” (193). the metaphor of storing or housing is particularly apt in describing the way lively conceptualises the house. the writer reiterates her belief that the past leaves its deposits like layers of archaeological artefacts; landscapes, buildings and people are palimpsests (“we are all of us palimpsests; we carry the past around” [lively 2014, 174]; “we are each of us the accretion of all that we have been” [ibid. 57]). but “storing” may be understood quite literally, too. the houses of man, bachelard says, are also “the houses of things” (xxxvii). in describing the house in which she now lives, lively states: “my house has many things, too, besides those books – the accretion of a lifetime” (lively 2014, 199). as is shown in the opening scene in family album, quoted at the beginning of this article, houses become storehouses of the past but only those who perceive a particular building as a site of memory can activate the house’s potential to display “the shining threads of reference” (cf. lively 2001, xi). in the last chapter of ammonites and leaping fish lively chooses to discuss six objects stored in 2 lively is also the author of the book the presence of the past: an introduction to landscape history (1976). 3 cf. the passage in lively’s novel the road to lichfield (1977) in which the protagonist reflects on the landscape while driving to lichfield: “the landscape itself [seemed like] a palimpsest, suggesting another time, another place. edgehill recalled the civil war; tamworth, lurking over to the right, had something saxon about it, she seemed to remember. her own past, too, waved a cheery hand from over the horizon, or the other side of the motorway interchange…. private and public memory, it seemed, were fused on the r.a.c. route guide” (1). 14 crossroads. a journal of english studies her house because they “articulate something of who [she is]” (199). since they embody references to the past, the objects constitute “a sort of material memoir” (200).4 arguing that domestic spaces play a crucial part in (auto)biographies, kathy mezei writes: “interior domestic spaces (furniture, rooms, doors, windows, stairs, drawers – familiar, everyday objects) which have and could be perceived as banal and ordinary, and hence insignificant, are vital to the shaping of our memories, our imagination, and our ‘selves’” (82). whereas in oleander, jacaranda lively’s recreation of the past is backed up by a mental tour of her imaginary ur-house, in a later autobiographical book, a house unlocked (2001), she employs a similar mnemonic technique, but in a self-conscious, systematic manner. the house in question is golsoncott, an edwardian country house in somerset, which likewise has personal reverberations for the writer. she remembers it as the home of her maternal grandmother, in which she often stayed after her arrival from egypt. following the mode of presentation of her egyptian house in oleander, jacaranda, lively in this instance extends her range of reference, moving away from strictly personal experience towards family history and even further, towards public history. the writer’s professed aim is to give the immediate and the particular a universal resonance (ix). cressida connolly describes the book as “a curious and mostly engaging hybrid in which events of the twentieth century are extrapolated from objects in the house” (connolly). lively reiterates her perception that houses constitute embodiments of the past; their interiors and the objects contained in them are tangible relics of what has been. on the other hand, the materiality of things evokes a whole range of mental images from the past. lively articulates her beliefs very clearly in the preface to a house unlocked, in which she expounds on her plan to use the house and the objects in it as memory prompts: the entire place – its furnishings, its functions – seemed like a set of coded allusions to a complex sequence of social change and historical clamour. objects had proved more tenacious than people – the photograph albums, the baffling contents of the silver cupboard, the children on my grandmother’s sampler of the house – but from each object there spun a shining thread of reference, if you knew how to follow it. (xi) the house she remembers does not exist anymore, but lively’s memories of it remain so vibrant that she makes a virtual tour of golsoncott the structural principle of her book: “in my head, i can still move easily and vividly around it. the furnishings are precise and clear, the sounds and smells are as they ever were. i can walk through the front door into the vestibule, and thence into the hall” (ix). 4 in the novel the road to lichfield, the heroine recalls her past as she sorts out her late father’s house (which used to be her own family house): “in the spare bedroom, where she would sleep, her own past proffered itself in concrete form: a row of her old books on the mantelpiece, a spurned wedding-present vase on the windowsill, a pair of her shoes in the wardrobe” (12). 15 articles in his overview of modern theories of memory, michael rossington observes that nora’s concept of lieux de mèmoire “is indebted explicitly to the exploration of the significance of loci memoriae, or ‘memory places’ in medieval thought in yates’ the art of memory” (136). frances a. yates’s well-known study of memory-training techniques from ancient greece until early modernity, first published in 1966, stressed the crucial importance of memory systems in the pre-print age. the ancient and medieval art of memory used architecture as memory places. according to yates, quintilian’s institutio oratoria offers the best description of the process of memorisation and recollection (18). the first step recommended in this and other ancient guides is to impress on the memory a place, preferably a spacious building; subsequently, the ideas to be remembered are to be placed in the imagination in chosen locations within the building. in order to retrieve these memories, one must revisit the space in one’s imagination. the influence of yates’s book is acknowledged by lively in the preface to a house unlocked. by her own admission, yates’s detailed discussion of memory as an art provided her with a methodology for retrieving her own memories: frances yates’s fine book … describes the system whereby the sequence of an oratorical argument was retained by means of the creation of an imaginary mansion, within which the orator moved from room to room, each space serving as a stage in the argument, and the emotive trappings – a statue, an urn, a painting – acting as prompts for specific flights of language. in the same way, i can move around my memory house and focus upon different objects. the house itself becomes a prompt – a system of reference, as assemblage of coded signs. (x) the description of the dining room (“the knife rests, the grape scissors and the bon-bon dish”) is an excellent illustration of lively’s method. the room and its objects seem infinitely familiar – with their arrangement, colours, smells and their minor defects. the writer appears to be reincarnated as her younger self: “there is a sense in which i am still there, a lumpen teenager gripped by the roller-coaster emotions of that turbulent period of life” (200).5 thus, adhering to metaphors of space, it may be said that the house in both its physical and imagined form offers a genuine passage back to the living past. the house as a living space whereas in bachelard’s poetics the house operates on the principle of the “psychological integration” of individuals (bachelard, xxxvi), for lively the house integrates individual life with history. kathy mezei contends that domestic spaces connote far more than the immediate context for ar5 ch. 3 of poetics of space is devoted to the psychological implications of drawers, chests and wardrobes. they may be places for hiding secrets and mysteries, dreams and memories. the casket, for example, in bachelard’s formulation, “contains the things that are unforgettable, unforgettable for us, but also unforgettable for those to whom we are going to give our treasures. here the past, the present and a future are condensed. thus the casket is memory of what is immemorial” (84). 16 crossroads. a journal of english studies ticulating the self: “narrating the home … offers a convenient and familiar medium for investigating self and subjectivity by means of the intersection of space and time through memory and the histories and generations of the house’s inhabitants and of space” (83). a house unlocked is “elegiac yet resolutely unsentimental” (kakutani) as the significance of the building is shown to exceed lively’s personal recollections and even familial memories. the dining room at golsoncott connotes the family rituals which took place in it but, in a broader context, is also emblematic of the period of country houses, now gone. the objects, having lost their original function, “provide the fringe furnishing of a significant narrative” (lively 2001, 197). the narrative which the writer spins out of her recollections concerns social change in post-war england – the erosion of social hierarchies, the disappearance of domestic service, the dispossession of the landowning classes and the erosion of the “rock-solid [social] confidence” typified by her grandmother (200). the refashioning of the lifestyle of golsoncott’s owners was a consequence of the deprivations incurred by the second world war. their house reflected the change by contracting its habitable space accordingly: “the place adjusted, as buildings do” (208). in the words of mezei, “because domestic spaces are the product of a society, they express and reinforce its norms, social practices and ideologies” (81); this also means that as social practices evolve, domestic spaces are subject to change and readjustment. the houses lively creates in her fiction have the same capacity to respond to the lives that are lived in them. in her novel passing on (1989) the writer draws parallels between the condition of the house and the lives of the middle-aged brother and sister who continue to inhabit it, out of inertia rather than genuine attachment. greystones is marked by the oppressive personality of their mother; the house is in a state of decay and disrepair, which corresponds to the unfulfilled and dreary existence of helen and edward glover. helen’s half-hearted efforts at renovating the house are correlated with her unsuccessful and belated attempts at changing her life. greystones used to be her late mother’s exclusive territory. now, as helen slowly begins to shake off her mother’s overpowering influence, the house appears to assist her in the process: [the mother’s] presence was still loud and strong, but patchily so; there were occasional moments when she was not there at all, when it was possible to walk up the stairs or into the kitchen without expecting to see her. the black holes were becoming grey; helen could see the substance of the house behind them, as though brick, stone and wood were extinguishing her mother. (46) in family album, after a family secret has been revealed, the house “seems to swing a little, and reassemble itself differently” (198). at night, when its inhabitants go to sleep, allersmead subsides to rest as well (8). indeed, houses seem to be vicariously animated by human presence. allersmead is represented as an organic structure with its own life span. it “rose from the mud of a late victorian building site,” “has experienced” about 43,000 days since then, “has known over a century of breakfasts,” “has weathered” the disappearance of domestic service and the arrival of modern household ap17 articles pliances, “has seen birth and death and a great deal of sex,” “has accommodated itself to new habits and practices” (29-30). allersmead is an example of a house which, as bachelard said, “starts to live humanly” (48). in a parallel with the break-up of the family, the house begins to disintegrate and is eventually put up for sale. while it lives, allersmead stores memories, becoming a “silent witness”: the house “hears everything” and “knows all that has been said, all that has been done” (77). the identity of a family house may “transcend geometrical space” to such an extent that the physical dimension of the building becomes inessential. the house may change its mode of being to a “mansion in the mind” (lively 2001, ix), constructed out of people’s memories. from lively’s perspective, her grandmother’s house has undergone this particular process, as the writer explains in the preface to a house unlocked. such an experience is shared by gina, the main character in family album. as she revisits allersmead to prepare it for its sale, memories and associations flood it, obscuring the actual building: … the smells take her to a more intimate allersmead, to the allersmead-in-the-head, to a raft of private moments that come swimming up from the long darkness of the years, the strange assortment of glimpses that are known as memory. all of these are tacked to allersmead; in all of them allersmead is the backdrop ... . (256) thus, the house in lively’s writings may become a site of memory in a double sense: a physical location evocative of the past, or a construct erected within the space of memory. conclusion: “the open shelf” the representation of the house in family album echoes lively’s observation made in a house unlocked that “every house tells a story” (220). in both her fiction and her autobiographies the writer insists on the public aspect of these stories, in addition to their obvious personal significance. joanna briscoe comments that family album reads like “an anthropological study of the english middle classes from the 1970s to the present” (briscoe). lively’s portrayal of her grandmother’s edwardian mansion in a house unlocked is driven by a similar intention to make the particular emblematic of historical processes: “the house becomes a secret mirror of the times, arbitrary and selective, reflecting shafts of light from unexpected directions” (lively 2001, 220). the writer recalls the house again in ammonites and leaping fish, stressing her expanding perspective – the house and its contents have become “signifiers for the century” (109). in all her writing, lively repeatedly asserts the interconnectedness of private and public pasts. in the chapter on memory included in ammonites and leaping fish she distinguishes between individual and collective memory, comparing the former to “our own locked cupboard” and the latter to “the open shelf available for all” (136). in accordance with these domestic metaphors, it might be said that what the writer tries to do, especially in her autobiographical books, is to unlock the cupboard and transfer its contents to the open shelf. in this way, a site of personal memory may be mapped onto the larger territory of the collective past. 18 crossroads. a journal of english studies references: bachelard, gaston. 1994. the poetics of space. trans. maria jolas. boston: beacon press. bakhtin, m. m. 1990. “forms of time and of the chronotope in the novel: notes toward a historical poetics.” the dialogic imagination: four essays. trans. caryl emerson and michael holquist. ed. michael holquist. austin: university of texas press, 84-258. blom, frans. 1997. “the novels of penelope lively.” new developments in english and american studies: continuity and change. proceedings of the seventh international conference on english and american literature and language. kraków, march 27-29, 1996. ed. zygmunt mazur and teresa bela. kraków: universitas, 237-48. bradbury, lorna. 2009. “family album by penelope lively: review.” the telegraph 1 august 2009. 30 july 2016. www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/5949326/family-album-bypenelope-lively-review.html briscoe, joanna. 2009. “family album by penelope lively.” the guardian 8 august 2009. 30 july 2016, www.theguardian.com/books/2009/aug/08/family-album-penelope-lively-review connolly, cressida. 2001. “so many rooms – but no room for sentiment: a house unlocked, penelope lively.” the observer 26 august 2001. 30 july 2016, www.theguardian.com/books/2001/ aug/26/biography.features1 ebel, kerstin. 2004.“… something that people can’t do without”: the concepts of memory and the past in the work of penelope lively and other contemporary british writers. heidelberg: universitätsverlag winter. kakutani, michiko. 2002. “finding memories in an ancestral home. a house unlocked by penelope lively.” the new york times: books 17 may 2002. 25 july 2016, www.nytimes. com/2002/05/17/books/books-of-the-times-finding-memories-in-an-ancestral-home.html larson, janet, francesca saggini and anna-enrichetta soccio. 2012. “housing fictions in time: an introduction.” european journal of english studies 16.1, 1-8. lively, penelope. 1983. the road to lichfield. harmondsworth: penguin. lively, penelope. 1990. passing on. london: penguin books. lively, penelope. 1995 [1994]. oleander, jacaranda: a childhood perceived. london: penguin books. lively, penelope. 2001. a house unlocked. london: viking. lively, penelope. 2009. family album. london: penguin books. lively, penelope. 2014 [2013]. ammonites and leaping fish: a life in time. london: penguin books. locke, john. 1894. an essay concerning human understanding. vol. 1. collated and annot., with prolegomena, biogr., crit., and historical by alexander campbell fraser. oxford: clarendon press. mezei, kathy. 2005. “domestic space and the idea of home in auto/biographical practices.” tracing the autobiographical. ed. marlene kadar, linda warley, jeanne perreault and susanna egan. waterloo, on: wilfrid laurier university press, 81-95. 19 articles nora, pierre. 1989. “between memory and history: les lieux de memoire.” trans. marc rodebush. representations 26. special issue: memory and counter-memory, 7-24. rossington, michael. 2007. “introduction: collective memory.” theories of memory. a reader. ed. michael rossington and anne whitehead. edinburgh: edinburgh university press, 134-138. rossington, michael and anne whitehead, eds. 2007. theories of memory. a reader. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. yates, frances a. 1999 [1966]. the art of memory. london: pimlico. childhood memories in three novels by philip roth: portnoy’s complaint, the plot against america, and american pastoral, as pivotal components of the protagonists’ identities 46 crossroads. a journal of english studies stefan kubiak university of białystok childhood memories in three novels by philip roth: portnoy’s complaint, the plot against america, and american pastoral as pivotal components of the protagonists’ identities abstract. the objective of the paper is to discuss philip roth’s approach to the jewish community in newark, where he spent his childhood and where he chose to set several of his novels. roth’s narrations referring to his hometown are written in the first person singular and often take the form of childhood memories. the persistent return to the settings of the jewish quarter of newark in the past seems an attempt at understanding the reality of a relatively closed community, yet far from isolation, which provided him with all the elements determining his complex sense of identity. despite the various grades of fictitiousness of the characters and settings, the narrating protagonist of a number of roth’s novels is usually a jewish schoolboy born and brought up in newark. the paper includes short analyses of “jewish memories” in three novels by philip roth: the plot against america, where the narrator is called philip roth but the circumstances are elements of pure political/historical fiction, american pastoral, where the speaker is nathan zuckerman, roth’s frequent alter ego, and portnoy’s complaint, narrated by the fictitious alexander portnoy. being both american and jewish has considerable implications, which include, for example, the characters’ sexuality. the image of the childhood and adolescence of roth’s protagonists seems not only an obsessive theme to be found in so many of his texts, but also the core of the intellectual construct which may be recognized as his sense of identity. keywords: childhood, memory, jewishness, jewish identity, philip roth. introduction this article is an attempt to follow a mechanism of constructing the cultural identity of the protagonists of three novels by philip roth. the criteria of their selection and the order of their presenting is the importance of jewishness in the main characters’ narrations. therefore, the first book discussed in this paper is portnoy’s complaint, the protagonist of which carries out a permanent argument with the jewish tradition imposed, as he believes, upon him by his family. being a jew in the plot against america plays an extremely important role, although the main character and narrator is much younger than alex portnoy, and he may be treated as more prone to the circum10.15290/cr.2016.14.3.05 47 articles stances that form his personality and attitude to his own identity. the narrator of american pastoral, nathan zuckerman, tells the story of a person whose jewishness seems to be of little importance save certain moments where his father’s strong sense of jewish identity and its effect on the protagonist are mentioned. however, the narrator dedicates quite a number of introductory pages to the description of the jewish neighbourhood where both he and the character whose story he tells grew up. i will try to demonstrate that in the secular world, where all apparent components of jewish identity cease to be of much importance, the narrators are not able to avoid constructing their identities, which are still jewish. the construction of jewish identity is based on childhood and adolescent memory. through the analysis of the narration of particular parts in the novels, especially those dedicated to certain recurring elements which refer to jewish lifestyle and jewishness in general, i shall try to demonstrate the implied author’s9 attitude towards them, which, in the case of philip roth, will inevitably lead to the real author, whose background includes, not coincidentally, the same elements which can be found in almost all his novels. memory and identity attributing such an important role to memory requires certain explanation. recent memory studies demonstrate clearly that a human mind is not the best instrument to store data consisting of explicit facts accompanied by specific circumstances. it is undeniable that memory is deceptive and distorts the image of past reality. as martin pollack observes, no bad intentions, deliberate confabulation or concealment are necessary to let one’s memory erase one event and “invent” another, or rearrange the chronological order of facts and events (pollack, 6). it is important to take into consideration the fact that, as katherine nelson asserts, the general function of memory is to predict and prepare for future encounters, actions, and experiences . . . . that is, memory as such has no value in and of itself, but takes on value only as it contributes to the individual’s ability to behave adaptively. (quoted in sabbagh, 55) in the light of this assertion, constructing one’s identity through memories does not require their accuracy. it suffices that they provide individuals with protective/adaptive instruments to survive in any environment, including society and a local community, a part of which they are or may become. individuals’ memories depend on their emotional approach to the places, objects or people they recollect. as the psychiatrist, donald spence, observes: [p]eople often will feel dissatisfied when … they go back to their elementary school or their college 9 a concept proposed by wayne c. booth in his book the rhetoric of fiction, where “the implied author” is “the second self-created in the work,” whose beliefs are consistent but not necessarily identical with those of the real author (booth, 137). 48 crossroads. a journal of english studies fraternity – because looking at the real object does not substitute for remembering it, because the remembering, often inadvertent, is embedded in a specific situation with its special context and its own dynamics. a trip to the fraternity house is simply a trip, and it produces a sense of disappointment because it is deprived of the critical surround. (quoted in sabbagh, 28) thus, inasmuch as remembrance is the process of reconstruction, it also contains elements of construction, which results from current emotional and social needs. a confrontation with physical objects recollected for the purpose of constructing one’s identity may either ruin the construction or reinforce it. nevertheless, no memory precision seems necessary to build the sense of identity. according to the social psychologist henry tajfel, ethnicity is: [t]hat part of an individual’s self-concept which derives from his knowledge of his membership of a social group (or groups) together with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership. (tajfel, 255) this short definition may be a point of departure for exploring the issue of jewish identity in philip roth’s novels. the question of where this knowledge comes from, or perhaps where, when and how it is produced, seems crucial. the brazilian sociologist, bernardo sorj, maintains that [s]ocial identity is constructed around an identification with beliefs, symbols, and practices that delimit, or  create boundaries, constraining the individual or group tendency to blend with others. identities allow the construction of ‘memories’ and narratives of selves and groups. (sorj, 1) the fact that memories are not only effects of remembrance but also products of construction seems essential to understand the interconnection between them and identities. identity is a construct without which it is difficult to imagine functioning in society. identities connected with belonging to particular groups or communities often result from several historical and sociological processes. the most popular adjectives to describe collective identities are: national (referring to a particular state or autonomous area), ethnic (usually associated with the language, customs and “tribal” sense of community) and religious. as regards jews, it is really difficult to find one satisfactory attribute of their identity. for nearly two thousand years there was no territory which could be referred to as a jewish state. over more than two millennia of diaspora, hebrew ceased to be the language of everyday communication, and was superseded by aramaic, greek and other local languages of the ancient world, and later by yiddish and ladino. for all those centuries religion and the customs resulting therefrom were practically the only determinants of belonging to the jewish people. political changes in the 19th century brought several new political concepts, including the nation-state and nationalism on the one hand, and on the other hand, modern civil rights, which resulted, for example, in the emancipation of the european jews. the idea of jewish identity, for so long associated with religion, commenced its evolution along with abandoning orthodoxy, assimilation movements, zionism, 49 articles socialism, and many other factors. the problematic definition of jewishness tempts certain authors to undermine the very idea of such an identity. having gathered considerable material, an israeli historian, shlomo sand, published in 2008 his controversial book titled the invention of the jewish people, in which he argues that there is no continuity between the ancient people of israel, whose biblical history is also dubious. according to sand, present day residents of the state of israel are just a result of political ideology rather than a historical fact. in the light of sand’s critical deconstruction of the idea of collective identity, jewishness loses its clear solid definition and attributes. anti-semitism, especially that of the 20th century, contributed to the beginning of a new type of the sense of jewishness, based on the threat from the external enemy, who found all the degrees of assimilation irrelevant. the holocaust became an additional factor that fueled the zionist efforts to build a country for the jews in palestine, the biblical promised land, the state of israel. the existence of such a political entity provided many jews with a new concept of identity, which was very similar to that developed in the 19th century in other nation-states. thus, the loyalty and love of the state of israel became one of the determinants of the sense of jewishness. however, in the united states lived quite a number of jews who did not suffer from the atrocities of the german nazis or built the state of israel; who were by no means orthodox, even though observing the jewish tradition in its modified, reformed versions. moreover, the generation of their children may not be religious at all. having joined the american mainstream lifestyle, many of them still have a feeling of strong affiliation with their ancestry, even though they may be atheists not observing any jewish rites or customs. philip roth, an american novelist born in 1933 in newark, new jersey, has written a number of books set in the jewish neighbourhood of this city. the writer himself is not a religious jew, and his texts exposed him to severe criticism on the part of american jews. however, jewishness is present in almost all his novels and stories, being a more or less important thread in each of them. a number of roth’s novels are bildungsromans, where the protagonists tell stories about their early years as children of american jewish parents. the selection of texts to discuss in this paper was determined by the role played by the reference to jewish childhood. as a. james rudin observed, “roth is akin to a literary archeologist who digs deep into his imagination and brings up youthful remembrances of things past to re-create the american jewish milieu of his youth” (rudin). in portnoy’s complaint, published in 1969, jewishness seems to be a key to understanding the protagonist’s identity formation problem. in the plot against america (2004), anti-semitism determines the importance of being a jew, whereas in american pastoral (1997) jewishness appears with no crucial purpose, since the main character does not seem to attach much importance to his religious or ethnic origins. the novels differ in terms of the tone of narration. whereas portnoy’s complaint is the confession of alex portnoy to his psychoanalyst, a long soliloquy full of irony and humour, the plot against america is a serious alternative history, though not devoid of self-sarcastic elements of the protagonist’s narration, where the narrator recalls the presidency of the famous aviator charles lindbergh, known for his sympathy with nazi germany. american pastoral, on the other hand, is 50 crossroads. a journal of english studies the poignant portrayal of a tragic relationship between a father and a daughter who has become a terrorist and assassin. the narrators are also different, even though it is not difficult to perceive similarities between them and the author himself. whether it is alex portnoy or nathan zuckerman (american pastoral), they are all jewish boys who grew up in newark, new jersey in the 1940s and attended weequahic high school. philip roth, the narrator and protagonist of the plot against america, is too young for this school but his brother is its student. naming one of the protagonists after the author himself in the plot against america is a kind of literary trick enhancing the impression of authenticity of the account which, of course, cannot be real. nevertheless, it does not require much effort to discover very strong similarities between roth characters. it also seems obvious that certainly most of his texts include recurring autobiographical elements, which has been observed by other researchers writing about his works (kalay, 891). novelists have their favorite themes and problems, which sometimes become their obsessions; problems which they attempt, if not to resolve, to reach a deeper insight into. beside the typical issues of male puberty every boy has to face, being brought up by jewish parents and growing up in the jewish community seems to be an obsession, and questions are asked by literary theorists about whether philip roth’s novels and stories can or should be called “jewish” in the sense of the classification adopted by traditional history of literature, which cannot do without national, if not nationalistic attributes of literary texts. although “identity-based literary study” may lose its clearly defined grounds (schreier, 104), it is still fascinating that in spite of roth’s characters’ and alter ego’s rebellion (and the rebellion of roth himself) against confining them in any simply understood identities, the jewishness is simply impossible to evade. as s. lillian kremer observed, “[s]elf-reflexivity and exploration of their own nature and status as fiction … are recurrent themes in philip roth’s fiction” (kremer, 57). portnoy’s complaint the depiction of the newark jewish community in alex portnoy’s humourous monologue is an example of vivid memory infused with emotions. the protagonist’s fascination with masturbation, perfectly normal for a boy of his age, puts him in agony. his problem cannot be called an internal conflict, because he does not seem to struggle with his inclination, but his parents warn him of so many things that he cannot even imagine telling them about masturbation, which entails a chain of hilarious consequences. this experience is very present in alex’s memory: because i haven’t even begun to mention everything i remember with pleasure – i mean with a rapturous, biting sense of loss! all those memories that seem somehow to be bound up with the weather and the time of day, and that flash into mind with such poignancy, that momentarily i am not down in the subway, or at my office, or at dinner with a pretty girl, but back in my childhood, with them. memories of practically nothing – and yet they seem moments of history as crucial to my being as the moment of my conception. (pc, 26) 51 articles the rules established by alex’s overbearing mother and whining father inflicted a sense of guilt which he ascribes to jewish history. he exclaims: “i couldn’t even contemplate drinking a glass of milk with my salami sandwich without giving serious offence to god almighty!” (pc, 33) and sums up: “the guilt, the fears – the terror bred into my bones!” (pc, 33). furthermore, he calls his parents “the outstanding producers and packagers of guilt” (pc, 35). even though the reader could interpret the behaviour portrayed by their son as quite common among doting and overprotective parents, alex portnoy goes much further. he ascribes their infliction of guilt to the burden of jewish tradition. he says: “i’m living in the middle of a jewish joke! i am the son in the jewish joke – only it ain’t no joke! please, who crippled us like this?” (pc, 35) imploring dr spielvogel to explain his problem, alex portnoy asks: “is this the jewish suffering i used to hear so much about? is this what has come down to me from the pogroms and persecution? from the mockery and abuse bestowed by the goyim over these two thousand lovely years?” (pc, 35). alex’s father is no role-model to him. not educated, frustrated by his low status, mr. portnoy feels oppressed and powerless. in contrast, mrs. portnoy is a strong, bossy woman who runs the household, and to whom alex is addicted. the protagonist is a critical observer of community life. his father’s brother, uncle hymie, “the only one of my aunts and uncles to have been born on the other side talk with an accent” (pc, 50) is also a successful businessman. he strongly believes that “the only place for a jew to live is among other jews” (pc, 51), and consequently forbids his son, heshie, to stay in a romantic relationship with a shikse, alice dembosky. when heshie is killed in the war the neighbours try to console his parents with the words: “at least he didn’t leave you with goyische children” (pc, 58). the way alex portnoy describes those events to dr spielvogel evokes such a comical effect that the reader has no doubt that the tone of the account is sarcastic. the conversation with his father, when alex refuses not only to go to synagogue but also to put on smarter clothes at rosh hashana, on the grounds that he does not believe in god, is another signal of his rebellious approach to his jewish heritage. his father’s reaction is also significant when he accuses alex of ignorance of jewish history, the talmud and disrespect to the jewish people (pc, 61). alex portnoy will have an opportunity to visit israel and confront his sense of jewishness with that of the israeli jews, which results in the conclusion that israel is not his place, even though america seems not to be, either. the plot against america philip roth, the protagonist and the first-person narrator of the plot against america, is also an intelligent and perceptive boy, who observes the changes in the united states after the election of charles lindbergh for president. along with the depiction of the anti-semitic mood all over the country and the nationalist course of the president’s policy, he introduces the jewish community of newark. whereas the events resulting from the presidency of a friend of hitler and the nazis are part of alternative history, what is important to concentrate on is the description of the young protagonist’s neighbourhood, which seems so similar to that in other texts by philip roth. 52 crossroads. a journal of english studies the narrator begins with the portrayal of the parent-teacher association at chancellor avenue school. the narrator philip roth informs the reader that: all were jews. the neighborhood men either were in business for themselves – the owners of the local candy store, grocery store, jewelry store, dress shop, furniture shop, service station, and delicatessen, or the proprietors of tiny industrial job shops over by newark-irvington line, or self-employed plumbers, electricians, housepainters, and boilermen – or were foot-soldier salesmen like my father. (paa, 2) among the residents were also jewish doctors, lawyers and “successful merchants” (paa, 2). after the introduction the narrator unfolds the list of the elements which did not determine his concept of jewishness: “it was work that identified and distinguished our neighbors for me far more than religion. nobody in the neighborhood had a beard or dressed in the antiquated old world style or wore a skullcap . . . . the adults were no longer observant in the outward, recognizable ways, if they were seriously observant at all” (paa, 4). moreover, “hardly anyone in the vicinity spoke with an accent” (paa, 4). roth makes a clear distinction between his jewish neighbourhood and other jewish communities. the newark jews spoke and read almost exclusively in english, since a newspaper in english was bought by “ten times more customers” than “the yiddish daily, the forvertz” (paa, 4). as roth the narrator observes, “israel didn’t yet exist, six million european jews hadn’t yet ceased to exist, and the local relevance of distant palestine … was a mystery to me” (paa, 4). he admits that he did not understand the periodical visits from a bearded jew who raised money for “the establishment of the jewish national homeland in palestine” (paa, 4). as far as he is concerned, he did everything any other american child did, including pledging allegiance to the flag and observing national holidays. as he sums up, “[o]ur homeland was america” (paa, 5). this boyhood memory demonstrates what being a jew meant to the generation of the protagonist’s parents and how his sense of identity was formed. the adjective that could be placed in front of ‘identity’ is already elusive, since it can be called neither ethnic nor national, even though for his parents and their peers ‘religious’ may still make some sense. on the imaginary plane of roth’s alternative history jewishness gains an additional definition. the definition triggered by anti-semites who did not let the jews forget that they are jews. this identity imposed by the enemies, regardless of the degree of assimilation of the jewish community itself, however undesirable, is unavoidable. anti-semites in the plot against america do not want people with this defined identity in their country. martine chard-hutchinson perceives alvin’s (the protagonist’s cousin mutilated in the war) stump as the icon of jewishness in america or what it means to be a jew when your identity is only defined in the negative – best summed up in: “what they were was what they couldn’t get rid of — what they couldn’t even begin to want to get rid of” [plot 220]. like the stump (chard-hutchinson, 149). 53 articles american pastoral it takes a while before the reader realizes that american pastoral is the harrowing story of a father whose daughter became an assassin, planting explosives in public places and killing innocent people. being a paragon for his fellow students at weequahic high school for his sporting achievements and general moral decency, seymour ‘swede’ levov is unable to cope with his 16-year-old child. ‘swede’ owes his nickname to his blond hair and ‘nordic’ appearance. if not for his parents’ visits, for whom being jewish matters, the reader could find the jewishness irrelevant. nevertheless, nathan zuckerman, philip roth’s narrator, dedicates a number of pages to introducing the reader to the newark jewish community. his school reunion provides him with a pretext to reconstruct the jewish district and its inhabitants back in the 1940s: keer avenue was where the rich jews lived – or rich they seemed to most of the families who rented apartments in the two-, threeand four-family dwellings with the brick stoops integral to our afterschool sporting life . . . . here, on this grid of locust-tree-lined streets into which the lyons farm had been partitioned during the boom years of the early twenties, the first postimmigrant generation of newark’s jews had regrouped into a community that took its inspiration more from the mainstream of american life than from the polish shtetl their yiddish-speaking parents had re-created around prince street in the impoverished third ward. the keer avenue jews, with their finished basements, their screened-in porches, their flagstone front steps, seemed to be at the forefront, laying claim like audacious pioneers to the normalizing american amenities. (ap, 10) it is important to underscore the inspiration taken from the mainstream of american life. these american jews are still strongly emotionally attached to their jewishness, even though it is difficult to assess their children’s sense of identity. nathan zuckerman, the non-religious narrator, refuses to bother to describe his cohorts’ attitude to their ethnic or religious affiliation. however, the memories reaching back to their school years demonstrate how much their childhood and adolescence is present in their life, including their jewish parents. zuckerman, in his never delivered speech, wrote: am i wrong to think that we delighted in living there? no delusions are more familiar than those inspired in the elderly by nostalgia, but am i completely mistaken to think that living as well-born children in renaissance florence could not have held a candle to growing up within aromatic range of tabachnik’s pickle barrels? (ap, 42) zuckerman remembers the post war energy and ambition characterizing his neighbourhood back in the 1940s, “despite a generalized mistrust of the gentile world” (ap, 41). the country was recovering from the depression and “the place was bright with industriousness” (ap, 41) the place and its residents had to determine their children’s mentality. however, the jewish tradition and lifestyle had not necessarily become its component. ‘swede’s’ levov’s cynical brother, jerry, 54 crossroads. a journal of english studies describing the post-school life of seymour, calls his wife “post-catholic” and his brother “postjewish,” who were going to raise “little post-toasties” (ap, 73). the main character, seymour ‘swede’ levov, hardly mentions his jewish origins. he is absolutely against forcing his newly-wed irish catholic wife dawn to convert to judaism, which is his mother’s idea. as he admits, judaism means nothing to him. in the flashback of his early days in their house in old rimrock his new acquaintance invites him to join the local jewish congregation with their own temple. this triggers seymour’s memories, reaching back to his childhood, with his father as a person whose religiousness he perceived as false and superficial. as he confesses to dawn: “i didn’t come out here for that stuff. i never got that stuff anyway” (ap, 314), which a clear signal that religion cannot have been of great importance in his formative years. “even seeing my father there never made sense. it wasn’t him, it wasn’t like him – he was bending to something that he didn’t have to, something he didn’t even understand. he was bending to this because of my grandfather” (ap, 314). seymour concludes his account of his father’s judaism with the thought that the old businessman lou levov’s expertise in gloves surpassed his knowledge of god. the reader may infer that lou levov was his older son’s role model because of his integrity and the high moral standards which can be found in seymour himself. probably his father’s hesitant and shallow faith, if not just vacant participation in traditional rituals, inadvertently affected the boy’s attitude towards religion. philip roth and jewishness detecting the implied author in roth’s fiction is not a challenging task. he is an expert on the jewish district of newark, where young people attend weequahic high school. the implied author speaks through his narrators, who are jewish males of different ages and who love recalling their jewish parents and neighbours. as alan cooper observes, referring to a number of roth’s texts, in all his first person narratives, the easiest kind to confuse with autobiography, particular aspects of the jewish difference early become obsessive challenges to the protagonists. for portnoy jewish restraint is symbolized in the kashruth laws, which the culture extends to anything that comes in contact with the mouth, to unkosher sex, to social interaction with gentiles. (cooper, 63) the characters of roth’s novels suffer from the problem of identity, which can be explained with their teenage rebellion affecting the rest of their lives. robert greenberg, like many other commentators, sees the strong influence of the author’s own experience and feelings. roth’s frustration with his subcultural position as a jew in american society is, in many ways, the irritant that produces his fiction. his irritation, however, is not simply the result of overt resistance by mainstream society. his frustration is also clearly determined by his position in jewish-american culture – by his embroilment in and rebellion against the world of his parents. (greenberg, 481) 55 articles even though roth’s protagonists are completely different characters, the recurrence of certain topoi entitles the reader to look for a quite clear message permeating all his texts. much as we would like to separate the author from the figures he created, it is inevitable to conclude that he obsessively returns to the issue of jewishness as if he tried to define a problem he deals with every time he writes a book: a problem with no possible ultimate solution. roth’s critical approach to the generation of his parents, who personify the jewish tradition in the protagonists’ eyes, even though the former are far from jewish orthodoxy, provoked strong criticism from certain jewish circles in america. he was even accused of promoting “‘self-loathing’ jews who provided anti-semitism with confirmation and validation for their hatred of jews and judaism” (rudin). in 2014, roth was honoured by the jewish theological seminary in new york city, the chancellor of which, arnold eisen, had no doubts about roth’s real intentions behind his texts: his questions about jewish life and identity and their dilemmas have always been the right questions, even if i haven’t always agreed with his answers. the outrage that greeted his early work belongs to another era, and so does the sense of being a pariah. (rudin) in response, philp roth joked “i have not been embraced by a gathering like this since march of 1946, when my family and friends were assembled to celebrate my bar mitzvah” (rudin). however elusive jewish identity is, and however critical of the jewish tradition roth and his protagonists are, the author of portnoy’s complaint has never ceased to feel strong bonds with his cultural roots. conclusion summing up this short review of the elements of identity in three novels by philip roth, it is inevitable to conclude that the identity which, for the lack of a better term, could be called ethnic, which resulted from thousands years of jewish religious tradition, in the generation of descendants of jewish immigrants in the united states was subject to dramatic yet not revolutionary changes. far from jewish orthodoxy, the protagonists’ parents make some effort to remain religious or at least traditional. their children, like the author philip roth himself, can be defined as post-jewish atheists. nevertheless, much as they renounce the tradition, they never deny their jewishness. being a jew, whatever this means to them, seems as natural as being a human. again, the analysis of their sense of identity evades scientific classifications, because without the religion, without the language, without the nation-state (which now exists, but anyway their home is america), without the tradition superseded by american customs, it is theoretically impossible to find anything jewish in them. however, the jewishness seems to remain a very strong element of their personalities and accompanies them throughout life. it is memory, in particular the memory of their childhood, which is unique, sometimes stormy yet happy, and foremost jewish. 56 crossroads. a journal of english studies references: booth, wayne c. 1983. the rhetoric of fiction. second edition. chicago: the university of chicago press. chard-hutchinson, martine. 2009. “‘perpetual fear’: repetition and fantasy in the plot against america by philip roth.” human architecture journal of the sociology of self-knowledge, vii.2 (spring), 145-150. cooper, alan. 1996. philip roth and the jews. albany: state university of new york press. greenberg, robert. 1997. “transgression in the fiction of philip roth.” twentieth century literature, 43.4, 487-506. kalay, faruk. 2013. “social constraints and identity problems in philip roth’s zuckerman bound.” the journal of academic social science studies jass 6.8 (oct.), 889-900. 20 oct. 2016. www.jasstudies.com/dergitamdetay.aspx?id=1866 kremer, s. lillian. 1998. “philip roth’s self-reflexive fiction.” modern language studies 28.3/4, 57-72. pollack, martin. 2017. topografia pamięci. trans. karolina niedenthal, wołowiec: czarne. roth, philip. 1969. portnoy’s complaint. new york: random house. (pc) roth, philip. 1997. american pastoral. new york: vintage books. (ap) roth, philip. 2004. the plot against america. boston, new york: houghton mifflin company. (paa) rudin, a. james. 2016. “philip roth and his jewish people.” religion news service 10 oct. 2016. 22  oct. 2016. religionnews.com/2016/10/10/philip-roth-and-his-jewish-people sabbagh, karl. 2009. remembering our childhood: how memory betrays us. new york: oxford university press. sand, shlomo. 2008. the invention of the jewish people. trans. yael lotan. london. new york: verso. schreier, benjamin. 2011. “the failure of identity: towards a new literary history of philip roth’s unrecognizable jew.” jewish social studies 17.2 (winter), 101-135. 3 may 2016. sorj, bernardo. 2004. “identity and jewish identities.” 3 may 2016, www.academia.edu/13724095/ identity_and_jewish_identities tajfel, henri. 1981. human groups and social identity: studies in social psychology. cambridge: cambridge university press. ways of forgetting: memory and identity in alzheimer’s fiction 67 articles katarzyna więckowska nicolaus copernicus university in toruń ways of forgetting: memory and identity in alzheimer’s fiction abstract. alzheimer’s is a disease that poses a challenge to the established ways of thinking about the relation between memory, identity and narrative. in this article, i offer a reading of lisa genova’s still alice (2007), stefan merrill block’s the story of forgetting (2008), and matthew thomas’s we are not ourselves (2014) to examine the ways in which the increasingly popular literature of alzheimer’s represents, and possibly reconfigures, the prevalent notions of identity and memory, as well as the relation between literature and science. a number of critics have noted a shift in contemporary literature demonstrated by the growing focus on neurological conditions. accordingly, the analysis of alzheimer’s novels refers to selected critical descriptions of this shift, including the discussions of syndrome literature and the neuronovel. keywords: memory, identity, alzheimer’s fiction, syndrome literature, neuronovel. alongside this world there’s another. there are places where you can cross. stefan merrill block, the story of forgetting (2008) dr. alice howland, the protagonist of lisa genova’s still alice (2007), is “the eminent william james professor of psychology at harvard university” and the author of “many of the flagship touchstones in psycholinguistics” (9). when she first notices some disturbing problems with her memory and complains to her husband, a cancer cell biologist also working in harvard, he tries to calm her down by explaining that “everyone’s stressed. everyone’s tired. everyone forgets things” (38). since the problems continue, interfering with dr. howland’s professional life, she decides to consult a neurologist and, after a series of tests, is diagnosed with early-onset alzheimer’s disease. alice reacts to the diagnosis with terror and declares that “[s]he’d rather die than lose her mind” (78). accordingly, she prepares for her future self a set of questions that are to test her ability to remember, and a file named “butterfly” with suicide instructions should she fail to answer them. 10.15290/cr.2016.14.3.07 68 crossroads. a journal of english studies as the disease progresses, however, alice finds it increasingly difficult not only to supply the answers, but also to remember to take the test, a process of inevitable forgetting mirrored by the shift of perspective in the novel from the woman to those around her. spanning the period from september 2003 to september 2005, from the appearance of identifiable symptoms to the late stages of the illness, the novel traces the development of alzheimer’s and the loss of identity it entails, while insisting that, in the forgetting, alice is still alice. lisa genova’s book about “a cognitive psychology professor with a broken cognitive psyche” (198) is an example of the numerous novels dealing with alzheimer’s disease that have been published in recent years, leading to the emergence of what stefan block calls “the literature of alzheimer’s” (2014), a separate and burgeoning genre with its own set of themes and conventions.12 in this article, i refer to genova’s still alice (2007), stefan merrill block’s the story of forgetting (2008), and matthew thomas’s we are not ourselves (2014) as examples of alzheimer’s literature in order to examine the ways in which such fiction represents, and possibly reconfigures, the prevalent notions of memory and identity, as well as the relation between literature and science. the focus on neurological conditions in alzheimer’s fiction reflects a larger transformation in contemporary literature, a shift which patricia waugh has aptly called “the naturalistic turn” (2013) and which other critics have described as the rise of syndrome fiction (lustig and peacock, 2013) or of the neuronovel (roth, 2009). while this turn to neurological disorders to re-consider the meaning of the human and the biological lies at the centre of alzheimer’s novels, it is also present in other kinds of fiction, such as lance olsen’s theories of forgetting (2014). olsen’s postmodern book, similarly to the alzheimer’s novels discussed in this article, dwells on acts of forgetting and remembering to foreground the process of dissolution of the various boundaries – between the brain and the mind, the self and others, or art and science – that may point to some new ways of thinking about memory, identity and narrative. what distinguishes alzheimer’s fiction from other contemporary genres is its semi-documentary character and the intention, sometimes explicitly expressed, to shape the public perception of the illness and those suffering from it. frequently, the books are based on the writers’ personal experience: genova, whose grandmother suffered from dementia, holds a ph.d. in neuroscience and contributes articles to the national alzheimer’s association website; matthew thomas’s we are not ourselves (2014) was inspired by his father’s early-onset alzheimer’s; the memory of stefan merrill block’s grandmother lies behind the story of forgetting (2008); jean lee’s alzheimer’s daughter (2015) recounts the story of her parents’ struggle with the disease; and shannon wiersbitzky points to the experience with her grandfather as the inspiration for what flowers remember (2014). in many of the novels, the detailed descriptions of the disease and its treatment serve as guides for those affected by the illness and their families: the narrator of block’s the story of forgetting, for example, recounts the latest findings and outlines the possible future directions in 12 the success of the 2014 movie based on genova’s novel testifies to the growing popularity of alzheimer’s fiction as well as to the concomitant need to translate and represent the experience of the disease in various narrative forms. 69 articles alzheimer’s research, and the protagonist of genova’s novel joins the alzheimer’s association and participates in the annual dementia care conference. in addition to including information about the existing organizations and treatment, some of the novels provide lists of the institutions dedicated to alzheimer’s patients and caregivers, and advocate for financial support for alzheimer’s research. by adopting such strategies, alzheimer’s fiction attempts to move beyond the level of imaginative description to intervene in the real problems encountered by the readers and to combat the social stigma frequently attached to those suffering from the disease. the problems of the lack of communal support and the status of alzheimer’s patients as social outcasts recur in numerous novels, whose protagonists experience various degrees of exile and alienation. thus, in we are not ourselves, eileen leary, taking care of her demented husband edmund, is abandoned by her friends, so that “[t]hey were staying home on new year’s eve for the first time in the twenty-eight years since they’d met” (thomas, 384), as well as by her son, who escapes from his father’s illness to a far away college, hoping that “the farther he went, the harder it would be to come back” (thomas, 397). in still alice, dr. howland envies the people suffering from cancer since they “could expect to be supported by their community. alice expected to be cast out” (genova, 118), and in the story of forgetting, the ailing jamie, whose favourite novel is jane eyre (block, 84), immediately after the diagnosis is placed by her husband in willow acres assisted care facility, renamed by her son as “the waiting room” (block, 83). alzheimer’s, as the narrator of the story of forgetting states, has risen “in the public consciousness to the rank of true epidemic” (block, 303), a “mysterious” and strangely ubiquitous illness feared by nearly everyone. the fact that, as susan sontag claims in illness as metaphor, “any disease that is treated as a mystery and acutely enough feared will be felt to be morally, if not literally, contagious” (6) may provide one explanation for the interventionist character of the literature of alzheimer’s, in particular for its attempts to bridge the long-established gap between science and fiction. the fear that underlies the public response to alzheimer’s and that forms the core of the novels is that of the loss of memory and the ensuing loss of identity. alzheimer’s is commonly perceived as synonymous with forgetting, in particular with short-term memory loss, although its symptoms include various other impairments, such as deteriorating emotional control, social behaviour or motivation (robert, 129). if, as susannah radstone writes, “memories make us” (19), and if “memory is above all a form of representation” (passerini, 238), then the loss of memory makes it impossible to construct narratives, including the story of one’s self. in alzheimer’s fiction, the loss of memory is almost invariably translated into the loss of self, even if, as the narrator of the story of forgetting admits, “it’s not just memories that people with [the] disease forget but increasingly basic things. how to write, how to speak, how to walk, how to sit up, how to swallow, how to breathe, and ... how to stay alive” (block, 51). the connection between identity and memory is positioned at the centre of alzheimer’s novels, leading to the questioning of what constitutes a self both for the individual and for others, but also signalling a shift of perspective in approaching the relation between identity, memory and narrative. the progressive neurodegenerative disease makes forgetting inevitable, gradually depriving 70 crossroads. a journal of english studies the sufferers of the basic and seemingly stable coordinates of identity and forcing them to radically change their lives. in still alice, the prospect of having to give up her job leads the protagonist to question her own identity, not knowing “who was she if she wasn’t a harvard psychology professor?” (genova, 96), while the gradual loss of speech makes her interrogate the very distinctiveness of humans: “her ability to use language, that thing that most separates humans from animals, was leaving her, and she was feeling less and less human as it departed” (genova, 270). a similar set of questions appears in we are not ourselves, where edmund, a professor at bronx community college and “an expert on the brain” (thomas, 73) suffering from early-onset alzheimer’s, confesses to feeling like “one of [his] rats” (thomas, 333), the animals he used in his lab to test “the effects of psychotropic drugs on neural functioning” (thomas, 73). for alice, the feature defining humans is the ability to use language, and for ed it is the possibility to learn – as he states, “if we don’t learn, we die” (thomas, 180); both are seen as essential components of identity in contemporary critical and literary texts, and both are lost in alzheimer’s disease. rather than pointing to the original emptiness of the self or to the bankruptcy of the concept, however, the stories of memory loss may suggest the need to rethink the prevailing notions of selfhood in order to take into account the fact that, as ed’s wife states, “[h]is real self wasn’t hiding in there waiting to be sprung for a day of freedom. this was his real self now” (thomas, 334). commenting on the recent developments in literature, a number of critics have pointed to the increasing use of neurological conditions as indicative of a major shift in fiction and in the conceptualization of selfhood. thus, patricia waugh describes “the naturalistic turn” away from the “hermeneutic sense of selfhood as a complex and dynamic reframing of experience” and the concomitant “medicalization of the mind” as the key characteristics of the literature succeeding postmodernism (2013: 20). t. j. lustig and james peacock, in turn, portray the shift as the rise of syndrome fiction, which focuses on the exploration of the “neurological, and also genetic factors, affecting human existence” and in which “the self, bound up in any number of complex systems, is largely determined not by its choices or its past, but by the very cells with which it becomes aware (or ceases to be) or by its own conditioning” (10). according to lustig and peacock, a key feature of syndrome novels is a “reinvigorated embrace of science” that alters “our sense of how the world works” (9), and that may suggest a return to the biological and the human. in “the rise of the neuronovel,” marco roth offers perhaps the most radical – and controversial – description of the new fiction, claiming that it reflects a larger cultural movement “away from environmental and relational theories of personality back to the study of brains themselves, as the source of who we are” (2009). in the neuronovel, as roth argues, the mind becomes the brain and the self is lost, to literature at least, as it is turned into “an object whose intricacies can only be described by future science” or by specialists “writing in the idioms of their disciplines” (2009). the neuronovel demonstrates the decline of the novel, if not its death, as a form which, as roth claims, can merely register the failure of “the metaphoric impulse” and present its readers with “the experience of a cognitive defeat” (2009). 71 articles as alzheimer’s novels, still alice, the story of forgetting, and we are not ourselves are records of cognitive defeat, though perhaps not as absolute as roth would have it and not for the reader. while the novels medicalize the mind and explore the neurological and genetic determinants dissolving the self, frequently adopting a specialized language, they do so in a way that produces rather than defies metaphorization. the metaphor that consistently returns in these books is the belief that, as memories are taken away as the disease progresses, the core components of selfhood are revealed, showing the “real self ” that exceeds the record of past experiences and choices. sontag dates the emergence of this “romantic idea that the disease expresses the character” back to the nineteenth century (46). this portrayal of disease as “a form of self-expression” (sontag, 44) returns in alzheimer’s fiction to argue for the persistence of emotions when cognitive functions fail. the protagonist of still alice continues to be defined by her love for the family members she no longer recognizes; in we are not ourselves, ed is distinguished by “a naked desire to please” his wife (429); and jamie in the story of forgetting is driven by the visceral longing to return to her family home from which she escaped when she turned eighteen in an attempt to forget about her past. inasmuch as emotions are presented as delineating a stable core of the self, however, they are revealed only through and in relations to others, thereby portraying this self as relational and unstable, “formed through interaction with others” (basting, 80). as the novels suggest, it is the task of the significant others to remember and re-constitute the self, as well as to preserve memories. in still alice, alice’s ph.d. student begins every conversation with telling her who she is, and her children prepare for her a video memoir titled “the howlands kids” with their memories of her; in we are not ourselves, connell realizes that the memories about his father are preserved in the latter’s “contribution to science; ... the altered lives of the students he’d taught, and the impacts those students had had, and would have, on others” (thomas, 588). ultimately, as connell states, the memories will stay in himself, “his father’s real estate” (thomas, 588), preserved through the genetic code that may contain the genes of alzheimer’s disease. while memory and genetics are an important theme of genova’s still alice and thomas’s we are not ourselves, they are the explicit focus of block’s the story of forgetting, which includes extensive descriptions of the research on memory, real and imagined, in the parts titled “genetic history.” seth, one of the novel’s narrators, decides “to become an expert on the human brain” (24) when his mother is diagnosed with early-onset alzheimer’s, and he sets out to construct her genetic history as his “first official research project” (95). this leads him to investigate the findings on familial early-onset alzheimer’s by dr. marvin shellard, a fictitious scientist who discovers the roots of the disease in lord alban mapplethorpe, “a scion of the mapplethorpe family of iddylwahl, england (now long since wiped from map and memory alike)” (53), whose offspring carried the illness centuries ago to all parts of the world. seth’s search is based on the finding that “any one sufferer of eoa23 morbus alzheimer is at most the twelfth or thirteenth cousin of any other” (51). accordingly, it is the search for his own family past in order to fill the gaps in his memory which, unlike the gaps in his mother’s, are not “the result of a disease” and thus “beyond ... control,” but are “deliberate,” the effect of his parents’ decision 72 crossroads. a journal of english studies to forget their past when they left their homes and started their life together (198). the gaps in seth’s memory are filled for the reader by the stories of abel, the other narrator in the novel and the boy’s grandfather, who recounts the long history of his family’s curse of forgetting. for seth, they are completed at the end of the novel when, following the map of isidora, a place from his mother’s childhood stories which she claims is real (27), he takes jamie from the waiting room to her long-lost home and father. like alzheimer’s genes, the story of isidora has been passed in seth’s family from generation to generation “for potentially hundreds of years” (27), forming another kind of heritage and a proof of common descent. this “land without memory” (174) is inhabited by people who “can’t hold on to any memory, even the memory of death” (38), and who use a language that “is based not on words but on touch” (62), conducting “one another’s feelings through their hands” (75). in this place “where every need is met and every sadness is forgotten” (13), the only kind of memory that is known is that of every isidoran’s death which is remembered by the earth, so that “each step across the cemetery” fills the isidorans “with the startling sensations of their ancestors’ final moments, the corpses conducting their own epitaphs” (75). the kingdom of isidora exists alongside the real world as its uncanny double, and there are secret passages that can take one there. such a passage is found by a little girl from earth who brings with her “words and thoughts and memories,” showing isidorans how “to remember, to think, and to speak” (201). the new skills lead them to try to understand death and, because of the different opinions on the nature of the total memory which they claim follows the end of life, the war of isidora breaks out. some isidorans see the total memory as a “reunion with all they ha[ve] lost,” others hold it tantamount to shedding “one’s self into something far greater,” and still others argue that “the afterlife [is] identical to life, with the exception that all other isidorans’ motives and desires and needs [are] known and so there [can] never be misunderstandings” (201). in the midst of the war, there appears another group of isidorans who dream, “instead of total memory, of no memory at all” and of “a return to the blissful amnesia of isidora’s past” (201). desiring “to discover a way to forget” (237), they form the amnesia club and restore isidora in microcosm by placing their children in a secret cave, with no memory of their land. this isidora “in miniature” that is “buried deep underground” (238) is visited once in a generation by an outsider in order to choose a boy or a girl to carry “the great burden” and “to be the only descendant of the amnesia club to remain with the memory of it all, to take sole responsibility for seeing that those hidden underground [are] protected and left alone” (237). the “idea of isidora,” as the story of forgetting claims, “has always been as important as isidora itself,” since without it, we would be left “blind to fumble and crash about our things” (292). this reversed image of the real world provides both the imaginative space to tell the stories of those who can no longer remember and a different idiom to recount the discoveries of science. the stories of jamie, her son’s search for her genetic history, and her father’s family curse are situated alongside those of neurological malfunctions, including that of “a german woman, named auguste d., who came into the office of dr. alois alzheimer and explained to the doctor, ‘i have lost myself ’” (50). 73 articles the novel gives alzheimer’s a (family) history, positioning it between the cases of the famous amnesiac henry molaison, who lost the ability to make new memories after a brain surgery in 1953, but kept “all of his memories before the surgery perfectly intact, his mind frozen in an endless present” (80), and of solomon shereshevsky, who could “remember everything,” but could not “find patterns in anything” (80) and to whom theorists refer “to support the hypothesis that our success as a species is based as much, if not more, on our ability to forget than on our ability to remember” (81). it also gives alzheimer’s a context, setting it against such disorders as cotard’s syndrome, the fregoli delusion, “forms of coma in which sufferers are conscious and receptive yet totally unable to respond externally,” and adrenoleukodystrophy (81). from the perspective of the various malfunctions listed in the novel, the concept of memory itself becomes hard to define, and the difficulty is reinforced by the fact that “new forms of memory [are] invented all the time: instinctual memory, procedural memory, sensory memory, short-term memory” (240), or, most importantly perhaps, transactive memory (212), where the task of encoding, preserving and recalling memories becomes a shared, and not individual responsibility. describing the “aesthetic sensation a reader gets from the neuronovel,” roth states that it “is not the pleasure of finding the general in the particular, but a frustration born of the defeat of the metaphoric impulse” (2009). the multiplicity of stories that span centuries and that are woven around an individual suffering from alzheimer’s in the story of forgetting, or the fact that the story of eileen’s husband in we are not ourselves is a part of the history of her family that covers several decades, seem to question this description. additionally, alzheimer’s fiction can be seen as an example of the social novel, using the description of individual problems to form communities both within and without the books, thereby finding the general in the particular. this movement is repeated in the novels’ presentation of the relation between memory and identity, where the responsibility to preserve the forgetting self and its memories is relocated onto others. the communities in and outside the novels are frequently constructed around scientists and science, thus emphasising its growing importance, but also moving towards dissolving the boundaries between science and literature which, no longer incompatible, are both called for to describe and explain the process of dissolution. even though, as eileen states after her husband’s death in we are not ourselves, alzheimer’s may be the point where “science ha[s] reached the end of its utility” (thomas, 569), it continues to be represented in alzheimer’s novels as a viable and important option. significantly, still alice, we are not ourselves, and the story of forgetting end with deaths but not with a rejection of science: alice’s husband continues his cancer research; connell, ed’s son, becomes a teacher, like his father; and seth ends his narrative as “a third-year graduate student in marvin shellard’s neurodegenerative studies lab,” spending his days “taking measurements of what can be measured, gathering oral histories, entering data, correlating the findings” (block, 309). this embracement of science, however, is not entirely optimistic, but is marked by a guarded hopefulness checked by the awareness of the limits of what can be measured, and the possibility of failure, driven by “a kind of informed naivety, a pragmatic idealism” 74 crossroads. a journal of english studies (vermeulen and akker, 5) that form the structure of feeling that dominates in the period following the postmodern. the dominant sense of loss and weariness suffused with hope may be the best description of alzheimer’s fiction, inscribing it within the general mood that permeates contemporary cultural production. lustig and peacock write that the focus on neurological conditions in syndrome novels and their embracement of science may reflect a wider “paradigm shift in our understanding of the world and of ourselves” (5) towards “a new post-humanism, where certain kinds of value relocate from their old centre in ‘man’ and take up residence in complex systems like the bloodstream or the cosmos or the living environment” (11). this movement away from the “man” as centre is registered by the literature of alzheimer’s, which dissociates the locus of the self from the individual and moves it into more complex systems – generations, genetics, neuroscience, evolution, or, as in the case of the isidoran earth which remembers, the living environment – to reconfigure dissolution as re-composition. this movement is also the guiding principle of lance olsen’s theories of forgetting (2014), an experimental novel which presents the mechanisms of remembering and forgetting as an ongoing and inevitable process of deand re-composition that is simultaneously entropic and productive. olsen’s book is composed of three parts: the story of alana, who, while working on a documentary about robert smithson’s spiral jetty, falls victim to the pandemic called the frost, which causes gradual amnesia; the record of the slow disappearance of alana’s husband, hugh, on a journey he makes after her death; and the comments of their daughter, aila, which are transcribed across her father’s manuscript and which are addressed to her brother, lance. the accounts by alana, hugh and aila are interspersed with photographs, some still and some in motion, and with quotes from famous critics and artists, including roland barthes, jean baudrillard and john cage. each page of the book is divided in half, with one of the stories printed upside down, and with one text running from front to back and the other from back to front. the linearity of the narrative is further interrupted by the fact that the book has no front cover, but instead features the same back page at its beginning and end. accordingly, the choice of what constitutes the novel, how it is read and remembered, depends on the reader. theories of forgetting should be described as formed by a series of surfaces rather than by pages which, like memories, can be infinitely re-arranged and reconfigured. subtitled a novel after robert smithton, the book returns to the artist’s most famous earthwork spiral jetty (1970) at great salt lake, utah, and to his concept of entropy in order to emphasize the ubiquity of progressive dissolution, also of the boundaries between science and art. referring to physics, smithton defined entropy as “in the first instance a measure of something that happens when one state is transformed into another” (21). theories of forgetting returns to this concept to re-present dedifferentiation and to theorize decay “not merely as a process of emptying and exhaustion, but also as one of relay & salvage” (olsen, 99). the awareness of the inevitability of such transformation, as well as the constant relaying and salvaging of memories and identities, lie at the core of alzheimer’s fiction, which, like seth’s living environment in the story of forgetting, may turn into “a case study on the principles of entropy” (block, 76), on the various ways of forgetting, and the possibilities of (literary) remembering. 75 articles references: basting, anne davis. 2001. “‘god is a talking horse’: dementia and the performance of self.” tdr 45.3, 78-94. block, stefan merrill. 2008. the story of forgetting: a novel. new york: random house. block, stefan merrill. 2014. “a place beyond words: the literature of alzheimer’s.” the new yorker 20 aug. 2014. 8 oct. 2016. www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/place-beyond-wordsliterature-alzheimers genova, lisa. 2009 [2007]. still alice. new york: pocket books. lustig, t. j. and james peacock. 2013. “introduction.” diseases and disorders in contemporary fiction: the syndrome syndrome. ed. t. j. lustig and james peacock. new york and london: routledge, 1-16. olsen, lance. 2014. theories of forgetting. tuscaloosa: the university of alabama press. passerini, luisa. 2003. “memories between silence and oblivion.” contested pasts: the politics of memory. ed. katharine hodgkin and susannah radstone. new york: routledge, 238-254. radstone, susannah. 2000. “working with memory: an introduction.” memory and methodology. ed. susannah radstone. new york: berg, 1-20. robert, philippe h. 2003. “psychiatric and behavioral problems: pharmacological approaches.” the clinical management of early alzheimer’s disease: a handbook. ed. reinhild mulligan, martial van der linden, and anne-claude juillerat. mahwah: lawrence erlbaum associates, 129-142. roth, marco. 2009. “the rise of the neuronovel.” n+ 8, 139-148. 20 sept. 2016. nplusonemag.com/ issue-8/essays/the-rise-of-the-neuronovel/ smithton, robert. 1996. “entropy and the new monuments.” robert smithson: the collected writings. ed. jack flam. berkeley: university of california press, 10-23. sontag, susan. 1978. illness as metaphor. new york: farrar, strauss and giroux. thomas, matthew. 2014. we are not ourselves: a novel. london, new york: simon & shuster. vermeulen, timotheus and robin van den akker. 2010. “notes on metamodernism.” journal of aesthetics and culture 2, 1-13. 22 may 2012. dx.doi.org/10.3402/jac.v2i0.5677 waugh, patricia. 2013. “the naturalistic turn, the syndrome, and the rise of the neophenomenological novel.” diseases and disorders in contemporary fiction: the syndrome syndrome. ed. t. j. lustig and james peacock. new york and london: routledge, 17-34. race, space and post-colonial landscape in bernard malamud’s the tenants 13 articles magdalena klimiuk helena chodkowska university of technology and economics in warsaw race, space and post-colonial landscape in bernard malamud’s the tenants abstract. the following article presents strategies for decolonizing complex ethno-racial and social relationships between jewish and black characters within a restricted, multifaceted area of a decaying tenement in bernard malamud’s the tenants. this interpretation is concerned with finding features of post-colonial discourse such as the representation of the characters in dichotomous terms: the colonized/colonizer, the observed/the observer, superior/ inferior. it focuses on the analysis of the main characters’ different methods of dominating the ‘space or subjectivity’ of each other through surveillance, mimicry and appropriation. keywords: stereotype, power, space, colonized, colonizer, writing, jews, african-americans. bernard malamud’s the tenants is one of the most recognizable and insightful literary cross-studies of relationships between jews and african-americans. the novel unveils a competitive nature of the relationships between the representatives of those groups and presents the nomadic lifestyle of the characters in a hostile dilapidated tenement. the decayed house inhabited by two writers: harry lesser and willie spearmint, jewish and african-american respectively, is not only a contested space challenging the idea of multiculturalism in america, but as this article is going to demonstrate, the tenement becomes a post-colonial space. the aim of the article is to suggest an alternate reading which intends to find the features of post-colonial discourse in the tenants by pointing at the representation of the characters in dichotomous terms: the colonized/colonizer, the observed/ the observer, superior/inferior. in what follows, i will present the writers’ tenement as the space of encounter between the colonized and the colonizer, and subsequently depict their relationships in terms of “spatialized” quality with regard to the social and racial order. for the purpose of this analysis, i will borrow john kenneth noyes’s term of “spatializing practices” which may be attributed to the characters’ attitudes. the notion is based on de certeau’s belief that every “space is a practiced place” (qtd in noyes 1992: 11). in colonial space: spatiality in the discourse of german southwest-africa 1884-1915, noyes investigates the significance of space in establishing and maintaining imperialist order as well as the relevance of territory as the building block in 10.15290/cr.2016.13.2.02 14 crossroads. a journal of english studies the colonization process of africa. he claims that his research is not so much concerned with the socio-historical aspect of this territory. in terms of content, his work can be treated as a continuation of frantz fanon’s and edward said’s studies. in this article, i would like to argue that the mindscapes of both writers seem to be externalized through various forms of post-colonial stereotyping, such as discriminatory spoken and written language as well as socially construed racial practices. not only will willie’s manuscript be interpreted as bhabha’s colonial symbol of desire and hatred at the same time, but lesser’s attempt at improving willie’s manuscript is, in my interpretation, perceived by willie as an attempt at colonizing his mind/writing. this reading explores the strategies for decolonizing complex ethno-racial and social relationships between jewish and black characters within a restricted, multifaceted area of a decaying tenement in the tenants. the article focuses on the analysis of the main characters’ different strategies of dominating the ‘space or subjectivity’ of each other through surveillance, mimicry and appropriation. i will support my point of view with homi bhahba’s concepts. at first, lesser comes upon willie after being lured by the sound of willie’s typing machine in one of the derelict flats in the tenement where lesser rents an apartment from another jew, levenspiel. lesser approaches willie from behind: in holzheimer’s flat former kitchen, facing the wintry windows, sat a black man at a wooden kitchen table, typing, his back to lesser. (…) the man, head bowed in concentration, oblivious of lesser, typed energetically with two thick fingers. harry though impatient to be at his work, waited, experiencing at least two emotions: embarrassment for intruding; anger at the black intruder. (…) the black must have known someone was standing there because the open door created a draught and once lesser sneezed; but he did not turn to look at him or whoever. he typed in serious concentration, each word slowly thought out, then hacked on to paper with piston-like jabs of his stubby, big-knuckled fingers. the room shook with his noise. this endured for five full minutes as lesser fumed. when the typist turned his head, a goateed man, darkly black-skinned, there seemed in his large liquid eyes poised in suspension as he stared at the writer a detachment so pure it menaced; at the same time a suggestion of fright lesser felt reflected lesser’s. (malamud 1972: 2627) in the foregoing scene, the narrator makes a clear distinction between the observed, willie, who is “oblivious of lesser,” and lesser, who is the angry observer of the “black intruder.”ashcroft, griffiths and tiffin note that: [o]ne of the most powerful strategies of imperial dominance is that of surveillance, or observation, because it implies a viewer with an elevated vantage point, it suggests the power to process and understand that which is seen, and it objectifies and interpellates the colonized subject in a way that it fixes its identity in relation to the surveyor. (..) for the observer, sight confers power; for the observed, visibility is powerlessness. (2007: 207) the fact that lesser is depicted as the observer during the first encounter with willie imposes the assumption that lesser is the one who “confers power.” willie metamorphoses into the object of lesser’s colonial surveillance, and his writing, observed by lesser, becomes enviable. from this 15 articles time on, willie, “the black intruder” is subjected to the “competitive envy” as lesser admits that he is also a fellow writer struggling to finish his third novel (malamud 1972: 26). what is more, through a further condescending statement “i am an expert of writing” lesser also imposes authority over the fellow novice black writer (malamud 1972: 33). steve martinot points out that “race begins with power and never stops making reference back to the power” (2007: 6). lesser’s statement of being an “expert of writing” is one of many manifestations of lesser’s position of power and dominance which one may see throughout the novel. vijay mishra and bob hodge rightly observe that since “writing is power” in colonial discourse, then “the pen, metonymically, is the displaced colonial phallus seeking a fulfillment of desire in its relationship with the absent other” (1994: 283). in the tenants the imperialist dominance seems to be displaced into the competition in writing between lesser and willie. lesser “wants his pen to turn stone into sunlight, a language into fire” (malamud 1972: 141). the pen is a means by which lesser seeks to fight and maintain the racial and social order of the world he lives in. willie contests lesser’s ambition of dominance in the field of writing to the same extent to which he calls into question social or racial order in the novel. willie’s act of crossing over lesser’s direct space of living is a similar act of usurping power. when lesser examines willie’s identity and his surroundings during their first encounter, he is quick to notice willie’s “soiled manuscript” which gave “an unpleasant odour” (malamud 1972: 28). lesser also wonders whether “the sulphurous smell came from the manuscript or the feet on the floor” (28). he morally codifies willie’s manuscript and willie himself as evil-like. the scent of sulphur is apparently biblical as one can read about the devil which was thrown into “the lake of burning sulfur” in the book of revelation (20: 10). according to george yancy, “seeing” is “knowing” what one really is (yancy 2005:13). in this case “smelling” willie means getting to know him, ascribing evil to him. the first encounter between willie and lesser is indicative of their mutual distrust. lesser’s disappointment at the fact that willie does not extend his hand to greet lesser for the first time is summed up by the third-person limited-omniscient narrator’s remark: “that wasn’t in the fourteenth amendment” (malamud 1972: 30). it suggests that lesser racializes willie’s behavior inwardly just as much as willie racializes lesser outwardly. neither of them can escape their mutually inclusive racialization. 1. noyes’s “spatialized practices” of the tenants the main characters, willie and lesser are literally space-oriented: lesser occupies the apartment on the fifth floor of the tenement whereas willie, who is looking for a space to explore his imagination through writing, at first finds a table in the cellar, but then decides to move upstairs due to the lack of light in the cellar. the decayed tenement can metaphorically be interpreted as a microcosm for america in the 1960s with “an almost white” jewish representative who is significantly higher in the racial hierarchy than his african american friend; and a black representative at the bottom trying to advance in this hierarchy. lesser describes himself as an only “legal paying tenant” as opposed to willie who is a squatter in an old building (malamud 1972: 152). 16 crossroads. a journal of english studies foucault states that “space is fundamental in any form of communal life; space is fundamental in any exercise of power” (qtd. in noyes 1992: 15). the main characters of the tenants may be attributed so called “spatializing practices” which “produce a field of subjectivity as a totalization of diverse positions within a social domain” (noyes 1992: 20) as both characters in the novel occupy significantly different positions in terms of social and racial order. willie and lesser project a certain meaningful model of “spatiality” which allows their “subjectivity to be understood as a socially activated representation” (noyes 1992: 11). the “socially activated representation” of a black willie vis á vis a white jew takes various forms. they range from a black militant activist showing openly his disdain for white jews, and expressing his anger at whites to the views of a past drug-addict. willie insults lesser and his jewish landlord levenspiel using various invectives such as “fartn jew slumlord” or “bloodsucking jew niggerhater” (malamud 1972: 36, 173). the “socially activated representation” of a white jew, lesser, in interaction with a black character, is that of a successful writer, mentor, preacher and advisor to willie. the representation of the two characters is highly stereotypical and one-dimensional. the way in which willie’s and lesser’s subjectivity is narrated/seen adheres to bhabha’s claim that the stereotype is “the primary point of subjectification in colonial discourse, (…) it’s the scene of a similar fantasy and defence” (2004: 107). bhabha goes further arguing that “the stereotype is not a simplification, because it is a false representation of a given reality” (2004: 107). this false representation turns willie into the above described degenerate, misfit, an aggressive rebel. willie’s negative attitudes fulfill the colonialist conditions of bhabha’s claim that “the stereotype requires, for its successful signification, a continual and repetitive chain of other stereotypes” (bhahba 2004:110).willie’s representation as a primitive, abusive, hyper-sexual black writer perpetuates a myth around “black problem” or black “inferiority,” and it becomes yancy’s “dialectics of mis-recognition” of blackness by whites (yancy 2005: 36). however, whiteness itself also undergoes the same process of “mis-recognition” or mis-representation. the depiction of lesser as a mentor and advisor, “man of habit, order, steady disciplined work” is consciously schematized and ennobled (malamud 1972:140). it is worth mentioning that one of the black characters, jacob 32, who is present at the party organized by willie announces to lesser that “you see us wrong and you see yourself wrong” (malamud 1972: 101). he accuses lesser of using the matrix of clichés through which he sees whiteness and blackness. willie and lesser incarnate into george yancy’s “prisoners” of historically determined myths and fantasies around blacks and whites – they become the prisoners of “historically inherited imaginary” (yancy 2005: 20). lesser’s anchoring in “historically inherited imaginary” is corroborated by his continuous remarks about the jewish past and the references to the glory days of the israeli people. lesser compares himself to “king david with his six-string” (malamud 1972: 42). 2. post-colonial matrix of clichés although the tenants try to maintain an amicable relationship with each other, they tend to push the boundaries of decent behavior every time they spend some time together. in a dream-like 17 articles situation, willie and lesser sit in the kitchen smoking hashish. the hashish serves as a medium to reveal the subconscious of both writers, who enter into a provocative conversation. in this talk, willie directly accuses lesser of trying to steal his “manhood.” willie states that “i know you are trying to steal my manhood. i don’t go for that circumcise schmuck stuff. the jews got to keep us bloods stayin weak so you can take everything for yourself ” (malamud 1972: 43). while willie’s fetishistic sexuality may be enviable to lesser, his humanity is reduced only to his sexuality. lesser retaliates through stating that “if you are an artist you can’t be a nigger, willie” (malamud 1972: 44). lesser ostentatiously devalues willie’s artistic potency and thereby deprives him of the right to mediate his black artistic soul. lesser’s preconceptions of black people are rooted in fanon’s “negating activity” in white skins, black masks. what lesser sees in willie is his blackness and according to fanon “wherever he goes, the negro becomes a negro” (fanon 1986: 173). lesser believes that a black person cannot be anyone more than a mere black person. this process of lesser’s negation of willie’s black artistic soul as well as willies’ identification of his fetishistic “manhood” are a part of more ambivalent dramatized colonial scenario. in this scenario “stereotyping is not the setting up of a false image which becomes the scapegoat of discriminatory practices. it is a much more ambivalent text of projection and introjection, metaphoric and metonymic strategies, displacement, over-determination, guilt, aggressivity; the masking and splitting of ‘official’ and phantasmatic knowledges to construct the positionalities and oppositionalities of racist discourse” (bhabha 2004: 117). the phantasmagoric representations of the characters’ positionalities in the tenants is best achieved through the use of the abovementioned strategies of projections, “displacement” as well as “metaphoric and metonymic strategies.” in the described scene, willie feels displaced into the symbol of phallus whereas lesser is accused of masking his slyness and predatory intentions, trying to castrate willie. willie, being a kind of the black arts movement supporter, projects his own open aggressivity on lesser. 3. post-colonial discourse this game of out-insulting each other not only lays bare the truth about the essence of their relationship but it also stresses the importance of communication and language itself. noyes observes that “language preserves traces of space which has been elided in the establishment of the colonial territory. language preserves these traces so effectively because it not only describes, but actually participates in the physical acts of colonization” (noyes 1992: 12). willie and lesser try to exert their power through various strategies of control such as surveillance, discriminatory language or competition in writing. when willie asks lesser to read his manuscript, lesser unwillingly agrees thinking however that “[w]riters helped writers. up to a point. his writing came first” (malamud 1972: 46 ). after having read the manuscript, lesser advises willie to concentrate more on the technique and the form of writing as he claims that: “there has to be more emphasis on technique, form, though i know it’s not stylish to say that. you’ve got to build more carefully” (malamud 18 crossroads. a journal of english studies 1972: 59). he also suggests that willie’s falling short of “effective form” results in a fact that “there is no order or maybe no meaning” in willie’s writing (malamud 1972: 61). willie replies as follows: “no ofay motherfucker can put himself in my place. this is a black book we talkin about that you don’t understand at all. white fiction ain’t the same as black. it can’t be. (…) it ain’t universal if that’s what you are hintin up to” (malamud 1972: 60). lesser regards willie’s writing as imaginative but very self-focused, anti-normative and non-narrative. for if willie’s writing is chaotic and “universal” in lesser’s view, it is liberating and consciously different from “white writing” in willie’s view. willie opposes the idea of universalizing art as well as he does not fully comprehend lesser’s obsession with the “form.” willie perceives it as a means of homogenizing art, colonizing the art. he interprets it as a violent act of colonizing himself because he states “you want to know what’s really art? willie spearmint, black man. my form is myself ” (malamud 1992: 61). willie identifies lesser’s attempt at changing the form of his writing as an attempt at manipulating his own subjectivity, an attempt at killing his individuality and uniqueness. willie tries to polish his writing through improving grammar and memorizing some sophisticated phrases from the dictionary however he discovers that “it killed the life out of language and [he] never referred to it again” (malamud 1972: 69). 3.1 appropriation willie’s writing first undergoes the process of appropriation which can be defined as taking over “those aspects of the imperial culture – language, forms of writing (…), even modes of thought and argument such as rationalism, logic and analysis – that may be of use to them [post-colonial societies] in articulating their own social and cultural identities” (ashcroft et al 2007: 15). however, he quickly decides to reject the standards of correctness and his rejection of “standard english” is referred to by a post-colonial term of “abrogation.” although lesser’s tips on willie’s writing style are rejected, lesser presents them as a prevailing norm. standard english embodies the normative and totalizing power of “the colonizer” in relation to “the colonized” – willie and his marginalized lingo. yancy claims that the main feature of whiteness is the “self constructed centrality” (yancy 2005: 16). standard english functions as a metonymic expression for whiteness itself. willie delegitimizes this centrality of standard english, thus the centrality of whiteness. alfred arteaga observes that “the marginal other autocolonizes himself and herself each time the hegemonic discourse is articulated. the utterance of english (…) reinforces daily the colonizer’s presence in the heart of the colonized” (1997: 76). in the tenants the use of standard english reinforces lesser’s position of power – his being in the position of the colonizer. 3.2 homogeneity and mimicry furthermore, willie negates the universal merit of his fiction as it reflects his fear of making it featureless and homogeneous. noyes observes that “colonial discourse must construct a boundless, featureless, homogeneous space which may serve as the stage upon which colonial desire may produce fantasies. because of this, the even stronger necessity of establishing a rigid spatial or19 articles der within the colony gives rise to a conflict within the representational mode” (1992: 182). since lesser insists on this rigid unchangeable way of discourse, this produces what bhabha calls “the regime of truth,” lesser’s white regime of truth (bhahba 2004: 101). lesser encourages willie to mimic white standards of writing. willie opposes a regime that has a homogenous predictable way of discourse. bhabha describes an imperialist regime as “non-dialogic, its enunciation unitary, unmarked by the trace of difference” (2004: 165). what characterizes willie’s writing, according to lesser, is just the converse of a unitary style of discourse: willie’s writing bears the traces of a “shifting” narrative (malamud 1972: 58). lesser’s “regime of truth” is extended beyond the english language and the writers’ manuscripts. eric sundquist (2005: 406) points out that “lesser’s identity is subsumed tautologically into the role of author –“lesser writes his book and his book writes lesser” –even to the point of haunting personification wherein the author evaporates and the house of fiction itself assumes authorial consciousness: “there’s his abandoned book on his desk being read by the room.””(malamud 1972: 151). in this way, lesser’s white authorial consciousness leaks out, being absorbed by the room and then it is amalgamated into the structure of the decayed tenement. as lesser’s consciousness of the colonizer is equated with the consciousness of the house, the decaying house encompasses lesser’s authoritarian and haunting racist system of values. the house traps both lesser and willie within its stereotypical framework. after having received negative comments from lesser, willie starts a new novel in which he remakes fictional characters from his previous literary works of art. in his new novel, he decides to use the literary technique of the stream of consciousness disrupting traditional linear narrative and conventional patterns of storytelling. thereby he decolonizes his writing not only through the use of lingo and experimental stream of consciousness, but mainly through his constant act of reinvention of his exaggerated fictional characters as well as through a seemingly nonsensical “shifting” plot which is full of repetitions. his writing may be treated as a kind of counter-discourse to white western ways of narration. likewise his fictional characters, in real life willie “changes his birthplace every time he talks about it” (malamud 1972: 91).willie’s continual creative remaking of himself is a conscious act of performing identity, exercising his agency, it is a symbol of his empowerment. it is a means of re-claiming the position of power. bhabha, drawing on fanon, observes that the most important colonial “space of intervention” is the “re-creation of the self in the world of travel” (2004: 12). similarly, willie’s act of celebrating his nakedness as he works on the manuscript being completely nude is interpreted by lesser as a mysterious act of “asserting the power of his blackness” (1972: 127). on the other hand, lesser who has been struggling to finish his third novel and perfecting its possible endings for many years, seems to be preoccupied with the sterility and safety of the manuscript which is kept in the box: each week, for years, he had placed a copy of the week’s work in a safety-deposit box in a bank on second avenue. the box also contained a copy of the first draft of the novel lesser had been rewriting with unutterably high expectations. nearing the end of his last draft he had removed the carbon of it from the 20 crossroads. a journal of english studies box to have on hand when he wrote the last word and was ready to note final corrections on both copies, one for the publishers, one for himself. (malamud 1972: 136) in a post-colonial context, lesser’s obsession with keeping his draft sterile, pure and safe in the box may evoke the laws of preserving racial purity in the jim crow era. samira kawash aptly observes that “whiteness sustains its own boundedness and exclusiveness by insisting on its own purity and projecting all impurity on blackness” (1997: 151). however, as lesser’s manuscript of the novel is later burned to ashes by willie in revenge for lesser’s secret affair with willie’s girlfriend, irene, it may be assumed that the destruction of jewish manuscript has a broader agenda. budick comments on this excerpt that “jewish american achievement may have programmed itself for disappearance” (1998: 16). i would suggest that it is as if whiteness itself through its separatist attitude of not sharing its power and privileges with other ethnic minorities programs itself for annihilation. this hallucinatory world of misrepresentations and fantasies is best illustrated through the metaphor of a maddening wallpaper in holzheimer’s flat depicting enormous trees as well as “dense ferny underbrush, grasses sharp as razor blades” (malamud 1972: 15). the description of holzheimer’s “deadly jungle” on the wallpaper foreshadows the final scene in which the two characters take part in a symbolic deadly battle amidst “a grassy clearing in the bush” (malamud 1972: 173). the surrealistic clash of the characters in the final scene is a result of the continual rift within the colonial frame, within the space of colonial representation of willie and lesser, “the representation of the subject[s] in the differentiating order of otherness” (bhabha 2004: 64). conclusion although most critics regard the ending of the novel as doomed, leaving no hope for reconciliation between african-americans and jews, an unexpected appearance of levenspiel shouting “mercy” in the final scene can tip the balance towards less radical interpretation of the novel’s ending (malamud 1972: 173). the ending of the tenants attempts at invalidating all those colonialist myths iterated throughout the novel in a way that it does not give a consent to authorize the stereotypical representation of african-americans and jews. in fact, the novel turns out to have an anti-colonial overtone despite its seemingly colonial representation of the characters. the brutal duel with axes sinking through willie’s “bone and brain” and lesser’s “balls” symbolizes the violation of post-colonial representational order of social relationships and the subsequent way of stereotyping (malamud 1972: 173). the axes come in-between the linguistic encapsulations of post-colonial stereotyping: “bloodsuckin jew niggerhater” versus “anti-semitic ape” (malamud 1972:173). the ending symbolizes getting to the core of the tensions of identity politics. interestingly enough, it is a white jewish character levenspiel who calls for “mercy” at the end of the novel. “spatialized practices” of harry lesser and willie, which are symptomatic of a post-colonial microcosm in the tenants, are the driving force towards the dramatic climax in the novel. they effectively reflect malamud’s hidden agenda with regard to the highly racialized representation 21 articles of the characters’ mindscapes and the novel’s landscape. they are suggestive of deeply ingrained stereotyping in the colonization processes. they also uncover other subtleties of the post-colonial mechanisms of surveillance, mimicry and appropriation. however, taking into consideration the ending of the tenants as well as the hints dropped throughout the novel (a repeated statement: “the end”) it may be assumed that the whole dynamics of the narrative reverberates with a strong anti-colonial and counter-stereotypic message (malamud 1972: 23). references arteaga, alfred. 1997. chicano poetics: heterotexts and hybridities. cambridge: cambridge university press. ashcroft, bill; griffiths, gareth and tiffin, helen. 2007. post-colonial studies: the key concepts. 2nd edition. oxon and new york: routledge. bhabha, homi, k. 2004. the location of culture. new york: routledge. budick, emily miller.1998. blacks and jews in literary conversation. new york: cambridge university press. foucault, michel. 1984. foucault reader. ed. paul rabinow. new york: panthenon. fanon, frantz. 1984. black skin, white masks. london: pluto press. kawash, samira. 1997. dislocating the color line: identity, hybridity, and singularity in africanamerican literature. stanford: stanford university press. malamud, bernard. 1972. the tenants. harmondsworth: penguin books. martinot, steve. 2007. “race and the ghosts of ontology.” apa newsletters. newsletter on philosophy and the black experience, spring 2007. volume 06. ed. john mcclendon & george yancy, newark: university of delaware. mishra,vijay, and hodge, bob.1994. “what is post (-) colonialism?” colonial discourse and postcolonial theory. a reader, ed. patrick williams and laura chrisman, harlow, england: pearson education. noyes, john k. 1992. colonial space: spatiality in the discourse of german southwest-africa 18841915, chur: harwood academic publishers. sundquist, eric, j. 2005. strangers in the land: blacks, jews, post-holocaust america, harvard: harvard university press. yancy, george. 2005. whiteness and the return of the black body. phd dissertation. pittsburgh, pa: duquesne university. 37 the writer’s corner the writer’s corner michael w. thomas smile i’m tired of walking the city, trying to go nice to nice with shuttered faces. i’ll stay at home, warm and quiet, sideways on to the round window in the closed and twilit porch— my smile can make what it will by itself, out and about, a butterfly over a quay, so to speak, a tickle in the rain. it might get lucky with the face of a side-street rambler— two smiles threading just for a moment two freedoms way above the stones, two snowflakes teasing the dark. good luck to my smile and whatever of joy it may find whatever of loathing it may have to dodge like dust flown clear of a slamming book on an empty afternoon. good luck to all things that move though their effort may stir as much as wind in a time after planets. 38 crossroads. a journal of english studies when colour depletes and my porch’s window gives up on show and tell i’ll lift the letterflap feel my smile tumbling in under my hand it will tell me in its different keys of silence how it has fared— hunting through the fissures of the day making like clown, samaritan, peace-patcher— if it got between a hand and self-removal sealed a union of the widowed made someone laugh at a joke like itself, complete as a ripple, sudden as a lift of mist 39 the writer’s corner how now i’ve the look of a man who doesn’t know if he’ll come out where he went in i sing these days under my breath prefer the gaps between words the moments after things happen i see but no memories mass about thought shows its usual lump beneath the covers coming out of a station say i may wonder what kind of evening the sun has struck for us then drop into it feel how footsteps trap destinations how the colours of traffic splash each other up from lane to lane here comes a man hands-free spraying intimacy onto other breaths there goes a many-frocked giggle this woman’s had enough of her child yanks his arm like a cut of bungee rope that boy stands pudgy and baffled on the eve of his adult life his face doesn’t know if it should laugh or cry i could stand forever in nowheres like this snapping and deleting 40 crossroads. a journal of english studies i could die here furl to a brief aggravation of air leave my image to sink like daylight through the waves an echo that never used a word 41 the writer’s corner harbours hill worcestershire one day i shall return to harbours hill and die. on its only street, cambered, gritted the colour of headache, against the fall of january stars i shall let my eyes roll back to see what my mind makes of the last quaint shuffle of life… having looked in the window of the village’s one shop, how it gathers little marvels of winter light on stuff it never sells… having walked the greenish length of the path beside the unattended church to see the berries drowse in their blood between the railing-spikes… having stood in the church itself in case the breathing dust should work loose a word from a long-immured prayer. on the only street at the mouth of the path i shall set like a tumbler, my bones brewing a forward roll so when it comes i fold soundlessly, ball up where the railings meet scarps of moss. mulch to mulch, preserved a while as a randomness of sockets till the grasses of spring fill my eyes, lush over the whitened nooks in which a passenger-spirit might once have bided my time. intertextuality and african writers 19 articles abiodun minister olofinsao elizade university, ilara-mokin, ondo state, nigeria intertextuality and african writers abstract. it is a general misconception in some quarters that influence of one literary work on others is a denial of the author’s claim to originality. that a writer influences another author does not mean that the newly produced work lacks originality. in fact, that act shows resourcefulness of the influenced author. this paper ascertains that intertextuality is established in the works of upcoming african writers and the mastery of its application greatly helps to boost the confidence and maturity of the writers as exemplified in fágúnwà’s novels. the influence of some artists on the literary productions of other writers is explored. with proper acknowledgment, the terrifying ghost of plagiarism is nailed to the cross by the writer. this study concludes that no writer could actually claim that he has not been influenced by one writer or the other. therefore, borrowing is not a literary sin but failure to acknowledge others’ influence on you is hypocritical and condemnable. key words: intertextuality, african, novel, fágúnwà, originality, influence, borrowing. some african theorists have contributed immensely to the propagation of the theory of intertextuality. jéyifò (1998:277) posits that “there are configurations and connections between works and writers within the different literary genres.” according to ode ogede (2011:201): african authors may be relatively late comers to the literary scene, but they are not alone in the making of emulation of each other’s works as their compositional pattern; as theorists of influence have long made known, intertextuality is a universally accepted practice. this string of connections and configurations between different works and various writers is technically referred to as intertextuality in literature. kẹ ́hìndé (2003:375) asserts that intertextuality is well established in the works of contemporary african writers. he posits that: “literature does not evolve within a vacuum. it depends on the socio-political realities of its enabling milieu and the precursor texts (oral/written) for its impetus… african writers also depend on earlier texts for their themes and styles. this is quite pertinent in this era of multiculturalism and globalization” (kẹ ́hìndé (2003: 375). writers all over the world depend on earlier texts to fashion out and reconstruct themes and styles in their works. therefore, there is always a reference from one text to another. this is so because, according to bọ ́dúndé (1994:72), “each literature or text has the capacity to influence 10.15290/cr.2017.19.4.02 20 crossroads. a journal of english studies and extend the meaning of the other.” the responsibility lies on literary historians to find out and document how various texts have influenced and extended their meanings in order to discover and establish the thematic and stylistic approaches that are prominent among writers. on the importance of intertextuality in literary discourse, izevbaye’s (1982:1) comment is an eye-opener when he declares that intertextuality is: “a veritable weapon in the hands of literary historians and critics to establish a relationship among a variety of writers and literatures, and help enhance… understanding of literature as a human activity with similar aesthetic and social functions in different cultures”. the influence of an older writer in the literary output or production of the younger author does not mean that the newly produced work lacks originality. it is a general misconception in some scholarly quarters that influence of one literary work on others is a denial of the author’s claim to originality of that particular work. for the fact that an older writer influences a new author and that is reflected in the final output of the work does not mean that the newly produced work lacks originality. in fact, that act shows how resourceful the influenced author is in the world of literature. productivity, maturity and originality in literature is not all about isolation but more of association and influence. to support this view, randall (2001:106) says, “borrowing from foreign sources was a form of conquest.” a victory on the parts of both the ‘influencer’ and the ‘influenced’. ogede believes that “this is one context in which african writers’ experience is not entirely antithetical to the situation described for american literature by harold bloom in his exploration of the oedipal theory of art, the condition famously termed by him as the ‘acute anxiety of influence’ suspected to exist among american literary artists generally.” ogede (2011:2) it makes some sense that the sentiments that lock younger authors in particular in combat with some well-established authors should be especially heightened among minority writers. ogede (2011:2) says further that: “it is an idea which fatally undermines any ability to understand the fact that originality lies more in what a writer makes of his or her borrowed material—the individual touch that an author can put on his or her inherited”. whenever the upcoming writers are told that their works lack originality, the heavy burdens of fears and anxieties fall mercilessly on them and that will actually discourage many of them. that act alone might force them to search for ways to conceal their creative motivations. and to be told repeatedly, that a truly original work, rather than being an act of creative negotiation, is a loneranging venture done with no dependence upon or assistance from any quarter, that can throw them off balance, making them psychologically unstable. also, when they are unfavourably compared with some established writers, those they are judged to be lesser than, that mentality alone has: “left many promising young african writers doubly vulnerable and particularly susceptible to acting as though they are under a compulsion to stake a claim for their own greatness. one crucial fact is thus unknown to, or rather not well understood by many inexperienced african writers: that the plurality of genuinely new works is often pulled from pre-existing texts” (ogede 2011:2). the inexperienced african writers are usually prone to harbor unusual anxieties about inspiration. some of them, due to the unfair criticism of their works, try to distance themselves and avoid anything that can link them to another writer. they equally seek exclusion from the effects 21 articles of others’ works as the defining quality of imagination, when they see their own works continually and unfairly compared with those of writers to whom they may feel no connection whatsoever at a conscious level. that has created among many beginning african authors a peculiar feeling of being persistently hunted down to be put on trial for literary theft. not only that, such situation of distrust has done little to inspire them with confidence in themselves. indeed, that seems to have reduced the level of african literary production. the young african writers now live with the monster of the possibility of their literary outputs being unfairly torn apart by some literary critics. the emerging authors have to continually contend with a feeling that a “faint ghosts of plagiarism hang over their careers.” (ogede 2011:5). sembene ousmane responded to a question he was asked in an interview by david murphy when his work is compared or linked to another source. to the emphatic question, ousmane replied angrily. in order to ascertain and re-emphasise his commitment to african course, he posits “but i am african. why should i go looking for something in the united states? i don’t have to search for an identity. i’m an african. for me, africa is the centre of the world. the united states and europe are on the periphery of my world.” (murphy 2000: 228). among african writers, except a newly produced literary work asserts its own generally acclaimed uniqueness, there is uniform acknowledgment that most literary texts, if not all, take a clue from pre-existing works,. however, being hunted down about the concept of originality, many young and up-coming african writers have a wrong notion that they are in a peculiarly intolerable situation. the situation in which they have the belief that in order to demonstrably establish their own names, the ‘hunting shadows’ of western writers as well as the ‘ghosts’ of their indigenous african predecessors must be confronted. influence and originality cannot be over-emphasised in any work of art. according to ogede (2011:5): it cannot be stressed enough that to be original is simply to possess not only the power to express a new thought or idea but also the capability to articulate one’s resources in a uniquely refreshing manner; to demonstrate individuality within contexts or confines imposed by convention; to contribute a genuinely fresh perspective; to be able truly to overcome limits set by what already exists; to put a sense of individual touch on tradition; to be all-inclusively authentic. to invent is to use one’s tools responsibly. a primary mindsets up to absorb and it also extends and reorganises all the borrowed stuff which it makes distinctly its own through the creative alchemy of assimilation. imitation, borrowing, and allusion, except when bordering upon plagiarism and plain stolen words or outright theft, or when done irresponsibly, then, can all be vital components, in differing, varying gradations, of the creative talent. for instance, although the works of fágúnwà can be traced to one source or the other, they are not lacking in originality. the influences and the intertextual links have greatly enhanced the wider understanding of fágúnwà’s novels. the theory of intertextuality greatly enhances our understanding of the symbols and allegories in fágúnwà’s novels. for instance, the dreadful character fear in the forest of a thousand daemons, re-echoes in other characters like ghommid of 22 crossroads. a journal of english studies fear (ànjònú-ìbèrù), python of rage (òjòlá-ìbínú), ẹlẹǵbárá, and àgbákò in fágúnwà’s subsequent novels. some of these characters and supernatural beings are intertextually referred to in the novels. for the fact that some characters, instances and circumstances mentioned in a particular novel, and are equally referred to in another novel, is not a negation on the originality of the second novel. that does not mean that the second novel is inferior or that it is not artistic enough. as long as such reference is not plagiarism, it proves that the writer knows the rightful application of the theory of intertextuality. in myth, literature, and the african world, sóyínká (1976:98) puts the perennial debate on novelty in perspective. he submits that an appropriated work can still make “an original contribution to literature, in spite of the borrowings.” however, he adds in the same context that “the moral offence” which un-attributed borrowing must be perceived to constitute cannot be made light of. originality is what it means for a writer to possess a mind with a distinctive landmark. intertextuality seems such a useful term because it foregrounds notions of ‘relationality’, interconnectedness and interdependence in modern cultural life. sóyínká (1976: 99) argues further: imitation of texts or models—a major form of creative interchange—is the central means by which the works of african writers are nurtured and brought into being. african writers seldom work in utter isolation; nor do they have only western models. principally because an indigenous canon of literary works with a variety of styles and visions is vigorously being thrust into prominence in the continent, aspiring african authors have many local sources from which to draw. in the postmodern epoch, theorists often claim, it is not possible any longer to speak of originality or the uniqueness of the artistic object, be it a painting or a novel, since every artistic object is so clearly assembled from bits and pieces of already existent art. the relationship among texts can be looked at in various ways: it can involve the radical plurality of the sign, the relation between signs and texts and that of the cultural text. the relationship can equally be examined with the relation between a text and the literary system, or the transformative relation between one text and another text. in whatever way it is used, the term intertextuality, according to ogede (2011: 5), ‘promotes a new vision of meaning, and thus, of authorship and reading: a vision resistant to ingrained notions of originality, uniqueness, singularity and autonomy.’ intertextuality creates a new vision also in the works of ben okri as his works are traced to one source or the other, especially the famished road. ògúnsanwó (1995: 45) submits that okri’s novel is “a distinctive combination of the african and the european which reflects the collective modes of discourse underlying postmodern parody.” okri’s neo-traditional art is not merely making a nostalgic return to the african folktale. it is actually a re-writing of the socio-cultural past in the present in a way that demands critical reinterpretation in anticipation of the future. this re-contextualisation recalls the literary past of the african folktale as an oral art up to the point of its textualisation particularly in yoruba land. in the interview okri granted in december, 1990 in london, jane wilkinson (1992:88) asks: 23 articles jane: my personal experience of reading your book was in fact to recall fágúnwà, tutùọlá and sóyínká, but also the vast transnational literature of dream vision and vision generally; forests of the night together with forests of symbols, but also countless forests and labyrinths of literary modem cities. okri: i think when reading the novel one should just think of my primary sources as being the invisible books of spirit. my primary sources are those invisible books. and i mean that very seriously. whether okri admits it or not, some traces of fágúnwà’s vision, sources, style and literary techniques can be located in ben okri’s literary outputs. however, it is only through intertextuality as part of prior discourse that any text derives meaning and significance. the african oral tradition, from time immemorial, expresses a sense of a shared phenomenal world, both ordinary and extraordinary, to which there has always been a communitarian claim. what traditional literary artists like d. o. fágúnwà and amos tutùọlá did was to ‘textualise’ the shared heritage of the folktale with the creative refashioning that naturally accompanies artistic transmutations from the oral into the written literature. fágúnwà made his attempts in the yorùbá language, while tutùọlá made his in english of his own coinage or within his linguistic competence. another instance of intertextuality can be located in the works of j. p. clark, ben okri and wọlé sóyínká. in the perspective of ògúnsanwó, he believes that a sophisticated intertextuality between oral and written folktale is evident in the works of john pepper clark and wọlé sóyínká. the basic ingredient in their two poems titled “àbíkú”, which is premised on the yoruba myth of ‘abiku’ has equally made the central motif of okri’s the famished road very popular and scholarly accepted. this myth, according to kẹ ́hìndé (2003:380), is still a popular one in african literature, most especially among yoruba writers. kẹ ́hìndé (2003:380) says further that okri portrays this myth “as a metaphor for the multitude of socio-political and economic problems facing the postcolonial nations. as the abiku child defies any magical power that can make him stay alive, the myriads of problems facing the african continent and by extension, all neocolonial nations, have defied a lot of solutions. a majority of the nations, despite their political independence, are still encumbered with pains and conflicts.” kẹ ́hìndé (2003:380). in fact, “the contrast in the presentation of the ‘àbíkú’ motif found in sóyínká’s ‘àbíkú’ with its overwhelming recalcitrant and cynical tone, and j. p. clark’s “àbíkú,” with its supplicating tone, has been a frequent attraction for the west african examinations council’s literature examiners, year in-year out, right from the 1960s.” (ògúnsanwó 1995:46) examples of intertextuality abound in african literature. according to kẹ ́hìndé (2003:374) “the theory of intertextuality, despite its euro-western origin, is not entirely alien to african oral literary practice.” this view is supported by nwagbara (2011:5) when he declares that “the concept of intertextuality… is not entirely foreign to nigerian (african) literature and oral tradition…. there is no gainsaying the fact that african oral art and literature are typified by absence of authorial omniscience communal participation/ownership, and group authorship, among others.” likewise, finnegan’s view on the presence of intertextuality in african oral literature is worthy of note. she posits that “such literature was, for instance, supposed to be the work of communal consciousness and group authorship rather than… of an individual inspired artist” (finnegan 1970:36). 24 crossroads. a journal of english studies the experience of intertextuality in african literature has been resourceful. for instance, there is intertextual link between chinua achebe’s things fall apart (1958) and joseph conrad’s heart of darkness (1902). achebe’s novel gives the readers a very different perception of africa and african experience from the one portrayed in conrad’s work. in addition, ngugi’s a grain of wheat (1967) has intertextual relationship with conrad’s under western eyes (1911) in the area of characterisation. razumov in under western eyes strives to free himself from poverty and obscurity and is visited by haldin after an assassination. this is akin to mugo’s situation in a grain of wheat where kihika has to visit him. in the same line, elechi amadi’s the concubine (1973) is culturally linked with achebe’s arrows of god in the area of upholding and promoting african culture and belief; ngozi adichie’s purple hibiscus (2003) is an intertext of political novels depicting military dictatorship as earlier portrayed in achebe’s anthills of the savannah (1987). further instances of intertextuality in african literature can be seen in bassie head’s maru, which is a representation of minorities within an ethnic group and a symbolism of individual change, this can be linked to chinua achebe’s no longer at ease. also, achebe’s a man of the people, ngugi’s this time tomorrow and armah’s the beautyful ones are not yet born are seen to express post-independence disillusionment of the africans. the south african writer, j. m. coetzee equally makes use of intertextuality especially in his foe which can be traced to daniel defoe’s robinson crusoe in the area of the presentation of the black world by defoe. it can be established that coetzee is able to “create a new kind of novel that implicitly interrogates the form and content of defoe’s classic. foe is thus a topological revision of defoe’s text” (kẹ ́hìndé 2003:382). naguib mahfouz’s children of gebelewi, which makes use of traditional epic structure, can also be married to similar epic narratives of j.p. clark’s ozidi saga and john milton’s paradise lost. a brief analysis of fágúnwà’s novels shows that examples of intertextuality are established in d.o. fágúnwà’s translated novels. for instance, there are characters like the sirens whose singing is irresistible and charming in the forest of a thousand daemons and in the forest of olódùmarè. medusa, the gorgon with snakes instead of hair on her head in greek myth, is represented in the fearsome character of fear in the forest of a thousand daemons. (p.84) fear is the symbolic representation of a character that makes others to be afraid. he is similar in nature to ‘àgbákò’, ‘èsùkékeré-òde’ and ‘àn ̀jọǹú ìbẹr̀ù’ (ghommid of fear) in in the forest of olódùmarè. other aspects of fear are the religious fear, which we have towards god and supreme beings and moral fear that is respect or reverence towards our parents, leaders, bosses, and elders in the society. such a fear makes or breeds cordial relationship but lack of fear or respect for these beings will certainly attract divine wrath. whosoever despises ‘fear’ may not live to tell the story. ‘fear’ of whatever kind, either religious or moral, must be accorded its due honour and recognition. apart from characters, incidents are taken from classical greek literature. there is the story of perseus who engages the gorgon sisters in battle and carries off medusa’s head that is employed to transform the sea monster into a stone, thereby saving andromeda. this well-known greek myth is narrated in fágúnwà’s ìrèké oníbùdó with little modification. the difference is that in fágúnwà’s novel, there is no head, and sword is used to kill the monster. the woman to be sacrificed to the 25 articles monster in both versions is a princess, and the hero eventually marries her. the labyrinth of crete in which the minotaur is jailed, which is traceable to another greek myth features in in the forest of olódùmarè. furthermore, the story of the character turning men into swine and back into men with her magic wand is told in expedition to the mount of thought, which is similar to what obtains in homer’s odyssey. this is seen in the character called devil who is able to turn men into all kinds of animals and restore them into their original form again. we can equally liken the travels of odysseus to the various wanderings of fágúnwà’s heroes from one place to another and from forest to forest. the story of lack of contentment (kòtẹḿilọŕùn) who takes a disastrous step in reviling god, renouncing heaven and at last, mortgaging his soul to the devil, all because of his envy of a friend’s wealth is told in obafemi’s (2012) the mysteries of god. he becomes wealthy at last, but not long after that, satan kills him and he is taken to hell. this story recalls the story in christopher marlowe’s the tragic history of doctor faustus, though there are missing details such as the wagner scene and the pageants involving helen, queen of troy. in fact, the speeches of both faustus and kòtẹḿilọŕùn on their dying beds are similar. faustus says ‘ah, faustus. now hast thou but one hour to live.’ kòtẹḿilọŕùn equally laments, “so it is true that i have only three hours left on this earth” (obafemi 2012:185). another example is the story of two lovers whose parents are sworn enemies and the lovers commit suicide at last due to the suspected death of one lover on the day they plan to elope. he thinks his lover is dead when he sees his lover’s dress stained with blood. consequently, he commits suicide. shortly after, the second lover emerges from her hideout due to the fear of an approaching lion. seeing her lover’s corpse, she equally kills herself, thinking that the lion has killed her lover. this story is told in sóyínká’s (2010) in the forest of olódùmarè and recalls the fate of two lovers in shakespeare’s romeo and juliet (1996). there are references made to smoke turning into a genie and threatening to kill olówó-aiyé in the forest of a thousand daemons and the king who tells his wife to cook three fishes, which are mysterious in nature in in the forest of olódùmarè. these stories are traceable to “the tale of the fisherman and the genie” and “the tale of the young man and the fishes” respectively in arabian nights. the names given to these characters, the situations and the myths alluded to are symbolic and allegorical in nature. the story is allegorical in that it moves from the story of a king who tells his wife to cook some fishes for him, to the story of another king who is turned to a living statue by his wicked and adulterous wife. it also has some moral lessons to pass across coupled with symbolic places. the three fishes can be interpreted as symbolising the muslims, the christians and the traditional worshippers, while the pool the fishes are taken from stands for the world as a whole. in the forest of a thousand daemons, the king determines to resolve the mystery behind the three fishes, which cannot be cooked, and he accomplishes that at last. the same determination and adventurous spirit is seen in the young man’s visit to the mysterious pool in “the tale of the young man and the fishes” in arabian nights. the link between these sources in european literature and fágúnwà’s texts is to enhance our understanding. sellers (2007:41) clinches the argument about the inescapable clutch of effects be26 crossroads. a journal of english studies queathed by awareness of others’ works in this way: “when you imitate, you aren’t copying or stealing. you are performing a training exercise, one that has a long and respected tradition in the arts. you of course always acknowledge the imitation. it’s against the law to take someone else’s words or ideas and pass them off as your own, and it’s embarrassing to pretend your work is original when clearly it is not.” he submits further: you are imitating whenever you write, unconsciously. all writers are influenced by the works they have read, what they watch, what they know about literature. stories you learned as a child are stuck in your head. phrases and rhythms of works you read last semester lodge in your writing mind, and come out in your work. this is a good thing! successful writers enjoy embedding subtle references to other pieces of literature in their works. we pass on, translate, adore, and keep alive the writers who influence us, consciously and unconsciously. we’re all imitating to some extent; every time we sit down to write. the more widely you read, the more texture your own writing has… if you slavishly read only one or two writers, your work may suffer from a poverty of influence. (sellers 2007:41) sellers reasons, according to ode ogede (2011:204) that “it does not really matter how literary imitation is absorbed, whether it is taken in on purpose or not, leverage may occur in ways large or small, manifesting itself subliminally or not so subtly, but it always plays an important, even if cloaked, role in composition; its clutches are seldom entirely avoidable.” for instance, just as the symbols in john bunyan’s pilgrim progress, like ‘the cross’, ‘the key’, ‘the valley of indecision’ and ‘vanity fair’ help the readers to understand the text, so also the symbols and allegory in fágúnwà’s novels like mount láńgbòdó, hell, fear, helpmeet, eyes of deceit, seed of thought and so on, assist the readers greatly to get a deeper interpretation of the texts. these literary tools bring out the beauty and uniqueness of african novels. this paper has been able to establish that the influence of a particular text or author on another text or writer is not a denial of originality. this has been done through the analysis of some texts from african writers with a special attention on fágúnwà’s translated novels as a case study. intertextuality has come to stay in african literature. no literary artist could actually claim that there is no influence from other writers or works on his literary outputs in one area or the other and at one particular period or the other. once there is acknowledgment by the author, the terrifying ghost of plagiarism is nailed to the cross. african writers, especially the upcoming ones have mastered this act and that has helped to develop the confidence and boldness of contemporary african writers and that has equally led to the global development of african literature in general. references adeniyi, d. 1994. expedition to the mount of thought. ilé-ifẹ:̀ ọbáfẹḿi awólọẃọ ̀ university press. bọ ́dúndé, c. 1994. studies in comparative literature. in new introduction to literature, olú ọbáfẹḿi (ed.), 55-74, ìbàdàn: y. books. conrad, j. 1902. heart of darkness. harmondsworth, middlesex: penguin. 27 articles _____1911. under western eyes. harmondsworth, middlesex: penguin. fagunwa, d. o. 1950. ògbójú ọdẹ nínú igbó irúnmọlẹ ̀. ìbàdàn: nelson and evans brothers, 2005. (first published by the cms bookshop, lagos 1938). _____ 1949. igbó olódùmarè. ìbàdàn: nelson and evans brothers, 2005. _____ 1949. ìrèké-oníbùdó. edinburgh: nelson. _____1954. ìrìnkèrindò nínú igbó elégbèje. ìbàdàn: nelson and evans brothers, 2005. _____1961. àdììtú olódùmarè. ìbàdàn: nelson and evans brothers, 2005. finnegan, r. 1970. oral literature in africa. oxford: clarendon. izevbaye, d. 1982. “the african experience of comparative literature”. in comparative approaches to modern african literature, edited by s. o. asein. ibadan: ibadan university press. jéyifò, b. 1988. ben okri. in perspectives on nigerian literature, 1700 to the present, volume 2, edited by yẹmí ògúnbíyi, 277-281, lagos: guardian books. kẹ ́hìndé, a. 2003. intertextuality and the contemporary african novel, nordic journal of african studies 12 (3): 372-386. kristeva, j. 1980. desire in language: a semiotic approach to literature and art. translated by thomas gora, alice jardine and leon s. roudiez. edited by leon s. roudiez, new york: columbia university press. murphy, d. (ed.). 2000. sembene: imagining alternatives in film and fiction. oxford: james currey. nwagbara, u. 2011. “intertextuality and the truth of achebe’s fiction: militarised nigerian postcolony in anthills of the savannah” the criterion: an international journal in english 2 (2): 1-19. obafemi, o. 2012. the mysteries of god. ìbàdàn: nelson. ogede, o. 2011. intertextuality in contemporary literature, looking inward. london: lexington books. ogunsanwo, o. 1995. intertextuality and post-colonial literature in ben okri’s the famished road. in research in african literatures 1 (26): 41-52. okri, b. 1992. the famished road. london: vintage books. randall, m. 2001. pragmatic plagiarism: authorship, profit and power. toronto: university of toronto press. sellers, h. 2007. the practice of creative writing. boston: bedford / st. martin’s. shakespeare, w. 1996. romeo and juliet. in the complete works of william shakespeare, 245-278, oxford: wordsworth editions. sóyínká, w. 1976. myth, literature, and the african world. cambridge: cambridge university press. _____1982. the forest of a thousand daemons: a hunter’s saga. ìbàdàn: nelson. _____ 2010. in the forest of olodumare. ìbàdàn: nelson. “i’ve been crawling up so long on your stairway to heaven”: the rise of the female rock memoir 71 crossroads. a journal of english studies tomasz sawczuk university of białystok “i’ve been crawling up so long on your stairway to heaven”: the rise of the female rock memoir abstract. similarly to rock music, the rock memoir has long been considered a male genre by both the general public and publishers. it might well be claimed that throughout the years there have been many seminal female rock performers, yet only a few of them gained well deserved recognition and engaged the minds of wider audiences. the history of rock had been predominantly a (his)story until 2012 and the publication of patti smith’s just kids, a female rock memoir which paved the way for many other women thus far silenced by the male-oriented genre. this paper seeks to delve into some of the female rock narratives in order to analyze the ways in which their authors construct their stories and their authorial selves. it also points to those territories of the music industry and the rock memoir which female performers strive to enrich or reclaim by the acts of writing and performing. keywords: female rock memoir, feminism, life writing, performance, popular culture. with over a dozen books released in the last few years and a number of titles awaiting publication, the female rock memoir has become the latest craze in the anglophone publishing market, frequently outnumbering the print runs of its male counterpart. a considerable part of the success of the genre and the glory of the “trailblazer” has been credited to patti smith and her 2010 national book award-winning just kids, an autobiographical account of the artist’s life with the photographer robert mapplethorpe. as agreed by commentators, the rock memoir has allowed female rock artists to claim their place in the male-dominated history of rock music. a male-oriented literary genre itself, it has also opened up for the thus far marginalized experience of the feminine. the present paper sets out to explore the storytelling and the construction(s) of the literary self in female rock memoirs. by doing so, it will demonstrate how female rock artists reconfigure the male-dominated rock memoir by touching upon the topics of independence and womanhood against the backdrop of the “man’s world” of show-business. additionally, it ventures into performance studies and the category of the liminoid to offer a better understanding of female em10.15290/cr.2016.15.4.06 72 crossroads. a journal of english studies powerment gained by performing live. given the diversity of authors representative of the genre, the study will be confined to three recently published books, which are kim gordon’s girl in a band: a memoir (2015), carrie brownstein’s hunger makes me a modern girl: a memoir (2015), and brix smith start’s the rise, the fall, and the rise (2016). all three, written by seminal figures active in the last decades of the twentieth century, attest to the importance of enriching the genre with a female perspective. in chapter 9 of her memoir, carrie brownstein, the guitar player and singer of the american all-female rock band sleater-kinney, writes: there is the identity you have in a band or as an artist when you exist for no one other than yourself, or for your co-conspirators, your co-collaborators. when you own the sounds and when who you are is whoever you want to be. there are no definitions as prescribed by outsiders, strangers; you feel capricious, full of contradictions, and areas of yourself feel frayed or blurred... but once your sound exits that room, it is no longer just yours—it belongs to everyone who hears it. and who you are is at the mercy of the audience’s opinions and imagination. if you haven’t spent any time deliberately and intentionally shaping your narrative, if you’re unprepared, like i was, then one will be written for you. (“mediated”) the importance of reclaiming one’s artistic self and immunizing it to the projections of the male and the medial other appears to have guided not only brownstein’s project, but also many other female artists who decided to write and publish their memoirs. if, as suggested by benie bruner colvin, the memoir is about constructing values (114), then, in the most general view, the female rock memoir is to deconstruct the values which were enforced on the female performers to be further able to erect a truer image of women entwined in show-business. while the rationale behind writing their own stories differs, female artists, one might infer, are bonded against being “frequently relegated to the footnotes of official rock history and the male canon” (o’brien, 27). speaking in terms of narrative patterns, the scrutinized texts do not necessarily try to evade resemblance to a typical rock star memoir. they follow a general plot common to many male artist accounts, what david r. shumway calls “the trauma and recovery story” (69), which is sometimes evident from the title of the work (as in the case of brix smith start and her book entitled the rise, the fall, and the rise). shaping oneself as “a success and as a survivor” (shumway, 69), as done, for instance, by james brown in his memoirs, gets manifested in various ways depending on the catalyst moment in the author’s life. for the discussed female memoirists such an episode comes with either leaving the band or disbanding due to health problems and family commitments (brownstein), or due to learning about the infidelities of their husbands who also happen to be band members (smith start and gordon). also, the analyzed works fall well under what is defined by g. thomas couser as “a coming-of-age narrative,” and, what is crucial for the further part of the study, “a conversion narrative,” in which the author epitomizes “a convert ... [who] defines himor herself in opposition to some earlier self ” (9). additionally, all of the scrutinized memoirs concur on the level of sub-narratives typical for a rock memoir. we thus encounter stories about finding 73 crossroads. a journal of english studies musical inspirations, acquiring the skills of musicianship, song-writing and recording processes, band rifts, the hardships of touring, drug trips and break-ups; one also comes across elucidating song lyrics and demythologizing famous people. however, divergent from those of male rock memoirs, the language and the narrative of female rock memoirs tend to display high levels of self-reflexivity and awareness with respect to the authorial self-creation in the text. brownstein’s parlance emerges as if directly taken from the poststructuralist idiom, which in the famous words of derrida, has made it certain that “there is nothing outside the text” (“il n’ya pas de hors-texte”) since everything, including our identities, is a cultural construct mediated by language. brownstein repeatedly summons her literary selves with respect to the textual character of one’s identity just as when she begins chapter 1 of her memoir: this is the story of the ways i created a territory, something more than just an archipelago of identities, something that could steady me, somewhere that i belonged. (“the sound of where you are”) on hearing for the first time bikini kill, an american punk rock band associated with the riot grrrl movement, she reveals: here was a narrative that i could place myself inside, that i could share with other people to help explain how i felt... bikini kill’s music really gave a form, a home, and a physicality to my teenage turmoil. (“born naked”) with a similar attentiveness to the narrative patterns governing life writing, kim gordon, in the introductory chapter of her book, perversely entitled “the end”, undermines the very sense of writing the memoir, when she characterizes its core issue, the break-up with her husband in the following way: “[w]hat had happened was probably the most conventional story ever” (“the end”). the alertness to the ways of rendering femininity in popular culture, as well as the special emphasis which is put by the female rock memoirists on the textual character of their identity should come as no surprise. as aptly observed by elaine showalter, the female author has had to find her self-in-the-world … by facing (affronting?) and mounting an enormous struggle with the cultural fictions—myths, narratives, iconographies, languages—which heretofore have delimited the representation of women. and which are culturally and physically saturating. (showalter, quoted in mccue) female rock memoirists appear to have been triply muted and stigmatized – as female authors, as those who undertake work in the male-dominated genre of the (rock) memoir, and, finally, as female rock musicians; in his essay on gender in popular music, keith negus points to a number of studies which give evidence to marginalizing the female in the music scene throughout the twentieth century, be it jazz, pop or rock (154). hence, if “[t]he female-authored memoir provides a broader perspective into the lives of contemporary women—the experiences of whom have his74 crossroads. a journal of english studies torically been silenced or othered” (mccue), then life writing offered by female rock musicians extends the scope of the insight by reclaiming the place of the female in the male-dominated fields of rock music and rock memoir. additionally, as regards deciding on the right literary genre to thwart the misappropriation of women in show business and to regain their image, what better choice to make than to pick one which has perhaps had the most profound impact on the shape of modern culture. as pointed out by ben yagoda, [m]emoir has become the central form of the culture: not only the way stories are told, but the way arguments are put forth, products and properties marketed, ideas floated, acts justified, reputations constructed or salvaged. (yagoda, quoted in couser, 8) unlike with most accounts of male rock stars, the main thrust of the discussed female rock memoirs is their way to empowerment, often self-questioned and still in the making. a special place in the process is allotted to the act of writing. apart from brownstein’s stance, somewhat reminiscent of helene cixous’s call for a female writership, both gordon and smith start seem to emphasize its importance, and they call for taking one’s narrative in one’s own hands. encouraged by a an american visual artist and a friend, dan graham, gordon, a respected visual artist in her own right, began writing on art and music for reallife magazine, which paved her the way into the new york art milieux of the 1980s. as she recalls, i got a lot of positive feedback and felt suddenly as though i had an identity in the downtown community. that essay topic unlocked the next thirty years of my life... [w]hatever doubts i had about pursuing a career in art commingled to create a forward wave of momentum, noise, and motion. it was also my way of rebelling—writing about men when it would be more natural to write about women. it was a conscious faux-intellectual premise i could indulge in, and a nod to the work that dan, my mentor, was doing. (“chapter 16”) brix smith start gives the image of how co-authorship could change the image of a woman who recently joined the band: “when people saw that i was actually a writer, and that i was credited, they began to come around. i was no longer perceived as a hanger-on or groupie” (“1983”). thus, what is shared by the analyzed authors is their conviction of the act of writing as something founding for one’s sense of meaningfulness in the discourse, or simply, for one’s sense of existence in it. such a stance is corroborated by modern-day academia and its claims “that selves (or subjects) are always in the process of being constructed; that identity is a function of performative traits, … and that life narrative produces a new subject” (couser, 182). the writing subjects’ heightened awareness of how empowering a tool the text may be transits the female rock memoir onto a higher level of quality. couser continues: “at its best, life writing does not register preexisting selfhood, but rather somehow creates it. this inverts the intuitive idea that one lives one’s life, then simply writes it down” (14), and such an “approach can be seen, not as denying the life in life 75 crossroads. a journal of english studies writing, but as empowering life writers – and life writing” (182-183). concluding, if “genres of life writing are sometimes defined by what they do – the work of memoir” (courser, 14), then female rock memoirs perform two significant functions as regards empowerment. they offer female rock artists a sense of textual stability while simultaneously calling for female authorship and participation (courser suggests that memoirs are a “particularly interactive medium” (14)). another contribution to independence and sense of value comes for all three memoirists with the act of performing live. underscoring how groundbreaking and confidence-building her first performance with a punk rock band at the age of 17 was, lucy o’brien, a journalist writing on women in music, states: “[b]eing in a girl band at that age should be a national requirement” (16). brownstein recalls that her first performances, child’s antics, were a matter of gaining visibility and communicating successfully: my other form of validation was through performance. performing gave me something to do in a given moment in a room. it was a heightened way of relating to people; i could act out feelings instead of dealing with them. (“chapter 2”) as for brixton smith start, a formative experience came with a job as a live window display. the artist recalls: i began mentally to separate the insecure teenager i was in real life and replace it with an entirely new person on stage. on stage i felt free and empowered. old laura was gone. i stepped up, stood in my light, and let it rip. it felt good.” (“my first proper job”) we also find an analogous shift in the self in gordon’s ruminations on her first and later shows: when i first began playing onstage, i was pretty self-conscious. i was just trying to hold my own with the bass guitar, hoping the strings wouldn’t snap, that the audience would have a good experience... when i’m at my most focused onstage, i feel a sense of space with edges around it, a glow of self-confident, joyful sexiness. (“21”) venturing into the field of performance studies, it might be observed that female rock memoirs address issues relating to the assumptions of liminoidality. a derivative of liminality, thus all nameable and indispensable rites of passage in a given community, liminoidality refers to their artistic and leisure counterparts, which might strive for similar goals. coined by victor turner, the liminoid, as suggested by jacek wachowski, characterizes all kinds of performances and connotes finding oneself in a marginal state of being (wachowski, 181-182).21 taking up the risk, the performer 21 all translations here and henceforth are by the author of the article. 76 crossroads. a journal of english studies finds her/himself separated from and exposed to the audience so as to experience a conversion, after which she/he unites with the community. kim gordon’s memoir carries a similar image: for me performing has a lot to do with being fearless. i wrote an article for artforum in the mid-eighties that had a line in it … quoted a lot: “people pay money to see others believe in themselves.” meaning, the higher the chance you can fall down in public, the more value the culture places on what you do. unlike, say, a writer or a painter, when you’re onstage you can’t hide from other people, or from yourself either. (“the end”) as recorded by female memoirists, over the course of time and owing to performing, their vulnerability and anxiety were transformed into strengths. brownstein notes: sleater-kinney was my rescue and salvation. it was the first time i felt i could be vulnerable in my creativity in which the emotional and psychic stakes were neither futile nor self-annihilating. (“chapter 21”) smith start speaks of her acting classes: “acting class was teaching me more than acting. it was teaching me how to love myself, and how perceived weaknesses could actually turn to strengths” (“earthquake”). although she speaks of it as an act of “cleansing” (“the end”), gordon approaches performing differently since, unlike brownstein and smith start, she relies on her artistic personas as comfort zones: [t]he page, the gallery, and the stage became the only places my emotions could be expressed and acted out comfortably. these were the venues where i could exhibit sexuality, anger, a lack of concern for what people thought. the image a lot of people have of me as detached, impassive, or remote is a persona that comes from years of being teased for every feeling i ever expressed. when i was young, there was never any space for me to get attention of my own that wasn’t negative. art, and the practice of making art, was the only space that was mine alone, where i could be anyone and do anything, where just by using my head and my hands i could cry, or laugh, or get pissed off. (“6”) as observed by wachowski, the marginal phase of the liminoid is “some kind of a critical point, the state of intensified activity and creativity” (180), which “entails moving from one frame of mind to an entirely different one” (180). the discussed female rock narratives resemble a procession of such moments, putting emphasis on the fluid nature of both artistic and real-life identities and therefore making another original contribution to the genre of rock memoir. brownstein writes: [p]erforming was no longer about trying to harness a cursory attention or to be a distraction. sleaterkinney allowed me to perform both away from and into myself, to leave and to return, forget and discover. within the world of the band there was a me and a not me, a fluctuation of selves that i could reinvent along the flight between perches. i could, at last, let go … . (“chapter 21”) 77 crossroads. a journal of english studies reinvention is also the key word in the lexicon of smith start’s memoir since it links the breaking points of her experience as a tv show host, an actress, a musician, and a businesswoman. “every performance,” wachowski continues, “always has to disturb the already-established state of balance” (263). the authenticity and value in both life and art emerge, as the discussed memoirists would say, not with yielding to categorizing and complacency but with a hunger for uncertainty and challenge, which is another feature distinctive to female rock narratives. of entitlement, so common in the world of art and music, brownstein writes: [it] is a precarious place from which to create or perform—it projects the idea that you have nothing to prove, nothing to claim, nothing to show but self-satisfaction, a smug boredom. it breeds ambivalence. it’s as if instead of having to prove they are something, these musicians prove they aren’t anything. it’s an inverted dynamic, one that sets performers up to fail, but also gives them a false sense of having already arrived. i don’t understand how someone would not push, challenge … . (“chapter 17”) such tactics seem to find their way into the creation of the female memoir. brownstein writes: “i learned later on how hard it can become to unsettle yourself, to trip yourself up, and i think that’s a good place to write from. it’s important to undermine yourself and create a level of difficulty so the work doesn’t come too easily” (“chapter 7”). rather than delve nostalgically and safely into the past, the discussed memoirs prefer to set out as a challenge to the present. in this respect, brownstein continuously unbalances and reworks her authorial self. writing about her father’s homosexuality, she realizes the need to retroactively revalue parts of herself which were already categorized: “i have to turn over and reimagine certain moments from my childhood and make them conform to a different narrative, a different outcome (“no normal”). similarly, brix smith start’s book emerges as a painful readjustment of neglected and traumatic events. in the acknowledgments to her memoir she admits: being so honest in public was/is scary. being so honest with myself has been life-changing. writing this book unearthed many buried feelings and experiences, which rose like noxious gases through the layers of my subconscious. i was forced to look at these unpleasant and uncomfortable aspects of myself in the harsh light of day, and make peace with them. (“acknowledgements”) similarly, kim gordon’s edifice occasionally crumbles under the self-interrogatory mode of her memoir as she ponders over taking more risk: “back then, and even now, i wonder: am i “empowered”? if you have to hide your hypersensitivity, are you really a “strong woman”?” (“confusion”). thus, the scrutinized female writing subjects seem not to find completion in the text of the memoir, nor do they perceive past events as carrying permanently fixed meanings. they instead wish to see themselves in a perennial state of in-betweenness, which they embrace as a form of resistance against appropriation and self-complacency. such authorial strategies echo nancy chodorow’s views on the female as characterized with a fluid sense of self: 78 crossroads. a journal of english studies [g]rowing girls come to define and experience themselves as continuous with others; their experience of self contains more flexible and permeable ego boundaries. boys come to define themselves as more separate and distinct, with a greater sense of rigid ego boundaries and differentiation. (169) it is interesting to see how the discussed memoirists engage the metaphor of girlhood to add some further impetus to the concept of in-betweenness. jacqueline warwick and allison adrian point out that carrie brownstein of sleater-kinney titled her memoir hunger makes me a modern girl at age 41, while kim gordon, whose musical career did not even begin until she co-founded the band sonic youth at the age of 28, called her memoir girl in a band. (4) while, on the one hand, the present-day “discourse is indicative of the expansion of girlhood into what was once considered adulthood” (warwick and adrian, 4), on the other hand, assuming the identity of a girl makes a perfect vessel for the female performers’ sense of creative hunger and the always-becoming of their selves. extrapolating chodorow’s ideas to the field of life writing, the narrative rendition of the female is also frequently considered to be a multiple, contradictory and linguistically inconsistent creation. such is the stance of the personal narratives group and their seminal examination of female narratives entitled interpreting women’s lives: feminist theory and personal narratives (1989), in which the stylistic diversity and heterodoxy of female accounts is to be underscored, embraced and preserved: “[w]omen’s personal narratives are essential primary documents for feminist research… they can take many forms, including biography, autobiography, life history – a life story told to a second person who records it – diaries, journals, and letters” (4). embracing various faces of in-betweenness, female rock memoirs appear to modify the conversion subgenre they represent – the writing female subject is no longer a one-time convert yet a perpetual one, which defines itself not in opposition to a single previous self, but to previous selves. finally, the scrutinized memoirs serve as a pungent commentary on the misappropriations of the female-in-a-band image. they allocate numerous pages to settling with the confined number of behavioural patterns expected of women in popular culture. a line from sleater-kinney’s song entitled “#1 must have” reads: “i’ve been crawling up so long on your stairway to heaven” (2010) and, as reflected in the discussed memoirs, it holds for much of the struggle a woman goes through to be acknowledged as an artist in her own right. the space has already been taken. as suggested by brownstein, “[t]he archetypes, the stage moves, the representations of rebellion and debauchery were all male” (“chapter 8”), as in the case of a male loner figure. the male loner, brownstein continues, “is a hero of sorts, a rebel, an iconoclast, but the same is not true of a female loner. there is no virility in a woman’s autonomy, there is only pity” (“chapter 20”). kim gordon corroborates the image: 79 crossroads. a journal of english studies in general … women aren’t really allowed to be kick-ass. it’s like the famous distinction between art and craft: art, and wildness, and pushing against the edges, is a male thing. craft, and control, and polish, is for women. culturally we don’t allow women to be as free as they would like, because that is frightening. we either shun those women or deem them crazy. (“21”) clear gender distinctions also hold for the choice of the instrument and the music genre. keith negus points to a number of studies devoted to female rock musicianship. all of them “demonstrate how children and young adults, along with their teachers, parents and carers, have been grappling with enduring historical legacies whereby certain instruments and performance styles are deemed more appropriate for boys and girls” (154). he moreover points to sentiments of the community fiercely defending rock as “phallo-centric music” and the rock voice as “almost definitely masculine” (155). not toeing the line, as the discussed memoirs demonstrate, ends up with commodification and misappropriation of various sorts. upon going through sleater-kinney’s first big feature in spin magazine, brownstein reflects [i]t was the first time i felt like i was reading about someone i didn’t know. the writer characterized me as a burbling groupie of corin’s, casting me as obsequious and frivolous. i wasn’t reading about myself; i was reading about a character the writer had made up to fit his tendentious point of view about the band, a narrative he was creating that we needed to fit inside. (“mediated”) for gordon, the ultimate level of commodifying the female in show-biz comes with the spice girls, a group put together by men, each spice girl branded with a different personality, polished and stylized to be made marketable as a faux female type. (“21”) both she and brownstein identify in their memoirs the quintessential role that a woman gets in the culture, and more specifically, in the world of entertainment: the role of a woman onstage is often indistinct from her role offstage—pleasing, appeasing, striking some balance between larger-than-life and iconic with approachable, likable, and down-to-earth, the fans like gaping mouths, hungry for more of you. (brownstein, “chapter 12”) the discussed authors’ experience informs criticism devoted to the expectations of the music industry and its male decision makers in regards to the image of the female. andi zeisler explains the role of the male gaze in shaping certain assumptions functioning in show business: in a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. the determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled 80 crossroads. a journal of english studies accordingly... it makes sense that many girls and women grow up seeing images of girls and women the way men do—the images themselves are simply constructed that way. … seeing the visual cues of the male gaze, in turn, affects how women understand images of other women. (quoted in mccue) not being able to pigeonhole a female artist as either an accessory to the show or an attractive creature comfort, the media exert all of their power to make her explain herself. brownstein draws a broad image of the problem: this is where we were starting to grapple with something we would grapple with for the rest of our time as a band: that there was always a sense we were going to have to defend and analyze what we were doing. why are you in an all-female band? why do you not have a bass player? what does it feel like to be a woman in a band? [“what’s it like to be a mom in rock?” (“35”), gordon adds in her memoir] i realized that those questions—that talking about the experience—had become part of the experience itself. more than anything, i feel that this meta-discourse, talking about the talk, is part of how it feels to be a “woman in music” (or a “woman in anything,” for that matter—politics, business, comedy, power). there is the music itself, and then there is the ongoing dialogue about how it feels... to this day, because i know no other way of being or feeling, i don’t know what it’s like to be a woman in a band—i have nothing else to compare it to. but i will say that i doubt in the history of rock journalism and writing any man has been asked, “why are you in an all-male band?” (“chapter 8”) “i’ve been crawling up so long on your stairway to heaven” sleater-kinney sings in “#1 must have,” and it adds straightaway: “and now i no longer believe that i wanna get in” (2010). to conclude, speaking of the female experience from the heart of the male-dominated discourse of rock music and the rock memoir, the discussed female rock narratives achieve a number of goals. in the most general sense they enrich the well-established type of narrative with the thus far marginalized accounts of the female rock artists and ensure their rightful place in the history of rock music. in the spirit of nancy k. miller and her calls for deconstructing the alleged maleness of the literary canon, they advocate a gendered rereading of the rock memoir narrative. since “memoir is … the narration of our own lives in our own terms” (couser, 9), the life writing of female rock musicians reclaims space for personal freedom to construct one’s identity and challenges various gendered misconceptions regarding the image and place of women in the entertainment industry, as well as in modern-day society. it is both a proof of female empowerment (even if not ultimate) and a call for female empowerment, which, as all three works demonstrate, might come with the acts of performing and/by writing. finally, in line with the bulk of feminist criticism and against the prevailing trends in rock memoir writing, the discussed memoirists espouse textual fluidity, contradictoriness and in-betweenness of their writing selves, which, on the one hand, allows them and their public images to evade being locked within a fixed set of categories, and on the other, enables them to remain truly active and ambitious in the sphere of art. 81 crossroads. a journal of english studies references brownstein, carrie. 2015. hunger makes me a modern girl: a memoir [ebook]. new york: riverhead books. chodorow, nancy. 1978. the reproduction of mothering: psychoanalysis and the sociology of gender. berkeley and los angeles: university of california press. colvin, benie bruner. 2008. passing the story: a study of personal memoirs – letters, recipes, and quilts. doctoral dissertation. indiana, pa: indiana university of pennsylvania. couser, g. thomas. 2012. memoir: an introduction. new york: oxford university press. gordon, kim. 2015. girl in a band: a memoir [ebook]. new york: harpercollins publishers. mccue, jennifer anne. 2014. “empowering the female voice: interdisciplinarity, feminism, and  the memoir.” journal of integrated studies 5.1. 10 jun. 2017. http://jis.athabascau.ca/index. php/jis/article/view/140/152 o’brien, lucy. 2016. “i’m with the band: redefining young feminism.” voicing girlhood in  popular music: performance, authority, authenticity. ed. jacqueline warwick and allison adrian. new york: routledge, 15-36. negus, keith. 2017. “the gendered narratives of nobodies and somebodies in the popular music economy.” the routledge research companion to popular music and gender. ed. stan hawkins. new york: routledge, 152-165. personal narratives group, ed. 1989. interpreting women’s lives: feminist theory and personal narratives. bloomington: indiana university press. shumway, david r. 2014. rock stars: the making of musical icons from elvis to springsteen. baltimore: john hopkins university press. sleater-kinney. 2010. “#1 must have.” portland: kill rock stars. start, brix smith. 2016. the rise, the fall, and the rise [ebook]. london: faber & faber. wachowski, jacek. 2011. performans. gdańsk: słowo/obraz terytoria. warwick, jacqueline and allison adrian. 2016. “introduction.” voicing girlhood in popular music: performance, authority, authenticity. ed. jacqueline warwick and allison adrian. new york: routledge, 1-11. memory-dependent grief in octavia butler’s fledgling 82 crossroads. a journal of english studies magdalena łapińska university of białystok memory-dependent grief in octavia butler’s fledgling abstract. the article explores grief as a memory-related emotional response to the loss of loved ones as presented in octavia butler’s fantasy novel fledgling. the article deals with the inability to experience grief due to memory loss and the struggles that come with it. the reasons behind the inability of the main character to experience grief and its meaning are investigated. two potential explanations are explored: the inability to experience grief as a result of general dissociative amnesia caused by the traumatic experience of witnessing the slaughter of one’s family and being left on the brink of death, and the possibility of the loss of affect induced by overwhelming feelings of loss. the grief over a person of whom the memories are intact is analyzed and contrasted with the lack of grief for the forgotten relatives. the idea of continuing bonds connected with the mourning process is briefly presented and illustrated using examples from fledgling. the theory of five stages of grief formulated by the psychiatrist elisabeth kübler-ross is briefly introduced. some of the stages of kübler-ross’s theory (denial, anger and acceptance) are illustrated through the analysis of the grief experienced by the main character. the distinct inability to govern or temper the emotional response to death is presented. grief is also briefly introduced as a possible bonding instrument. keywords: grief, mourning, memories, amnesia, emotions. death is a part of life one can never escape. one needs only to look around to find a multitude of stories of the dead and the ones who mourn them. death and grief are inextricably connected. as elizabeth kübler-ross and david kessler wrote: “grief is one of life’s passages we all experience. it is one of life’s equalizers, a shared experience for every man and woman who lives” (229). although grief is a universal response to death, its experience is not, as every person grieves in their unique way. in octavia butler’s science fantasy novel fledgling the author approaches the subject of grief and explores how one deals with the aftermath of death. butler’s story also poses a question: how do you grieve if you do not remember those you have lost? to analyze how the matter of grief as a memory-related emotional reaction is presented in fledgling, first i would like to establish what meaning of grief i will refer to. as kübler-ross and kessler observe, “[g]rief is the intense emotional response to the pain of a loss. it is the reflection of a connection that has been broken” (227). although people come to form connections with inanimate objects or places, and grief can be associated with any loss, i would like to focus on grief as a response to the loss of a person, someone whom we cannot replace. when somebody loses a loved one, they do not move on as easily as when they lose an object, even though they may have had 10.15290/cr.2016.15.4.07 83 crossroads. a journal of english studies an unusually strong emotional connection to it. the death of a person close to us begins mourning, which william worden defines as “the process that one goes through in adapting to the death of the person”, whereas grief, as he explains it, is “the experience of one who has lost a loved one to death” (17, italics in original). it seems logical, then, to state that grief is an intricate part of the mourning process. one cannot truly mourn if one does not grieve. although vamik volkan postulates that grief is only “the initial reaction” (91) to the loss, i am partial to different outlooks, including that of worden, which does not limit the experience of grief to the beginning of the mourning process but looks at grief as present throughout the entirety of the process. octavia butler was an african american writer, and most of her works belong to the science fiction genre. the majority of her writing concerns the topic of race, and fledgling does not deviate from her other writing subjectwise. the main character in fledgling is the result of a science experiment which mixed the dna of an ina (a species introduced in the novel) and an african american person. because of her uniqueness the main character is approached in a tentative manner by some and unequivocally rejected by others. although race plays a role in the plot of the novel, this article will not explore this aspect of the story in any significant manner. in fledgling the main character is thrown into a life which is permeated by the emotions one experiences when faced with death, as the whole community she lived with has been killed. shori, the main character, suffers from amnesia, and her first memories are of entering “[t]he world made strange by death” (bennet, 346). the readers learn together with shori what happened on the day that those closest to her met their fate. when she emerges from a cave, which was her shelter at the time of healing from the injuries which left her on the brink of death, one of the first images she sees is the site of the village, which has been burned to the ground. no memories are stirred by the images, and shori does not recall that the place was once her home, despite having an emotional reaction to what she sees. she thinks: “that felt right. it felt like something i would want living together with other people instead of wandering alone” (butler, 5). in spite of the lack of recollection of any bond linking her to other people, she yearns for it. later on, when she explains how she found the site of the village, she remarks that no memories were involved. she clarifies: “only a feeling that i’m somehow connected to this place. i came here when i was able to leave the cave where i woke up, but i didn’t know why. it was as though my feet just brought me here” (butler, 62). it seems as if her instincts overrode her conscious mind, and when she was seeking a safe place they led her to a place she once loved, though at the time could not recall. through the account of the man who, as she learns, is her father, shori discovers that the burnt village she has found was the community she lived in, and the victims were her family. her father reveals what he knows to have occurred. he tells her: “someone burned your mothers and your sisters as well as all of the human members of your family to death here. they shot the ones who tried to get out, shot them and threw most of them back into the fire” (butler, 64). although iosif, shori’s father, and some members of his community searched for survivors, finding shori was a surprise. how she managed to survive is a mystery no one can explain. however, her dark skin and ability to withstand daylight are thought to have aided her in the escape. iosif also confirms shori’s suspicions that she 84 crossroads. a journal of english studies is not human. he provides her with basic information about ina – the species of which they are members. we live alongside, yet apart from, human beings, except for those humans who become our symbionts. we have much longer lives than humans. most of us must sleep during the day and, yes, we need blood to live. human blood is most satisfying to us, and fortunately, we don’t have to injure the humans we take it from. but we are born as we are. we can’t magically convert humans into our kind. (butler, 63) the information shori receives clarifies many issues that have haunted her since she woke up without her memory, but they also raise a number of questions, the answers to which she will seek throughout the story. learning who she is, what happened to her loved ones, and that her father and members of his community searched far and wide for the survivors and the killers, leads her into revealing that she has killed someone. despite not remembering her father and not being completely certain she can trust him, she confesses that she killed a man soon after she awoke in the cave. she divulges: “someone found me as i was waking up in the cave... i was regaining consciousness, and someone found me. i didn’t know at the time that it was ... a person, a man. i didn’t know anything except ... i killed him” (butler, 65). as it turns out, the man was a member of iosif ’s community who was helping with the search after the tragedy. iosif ’s reaction to shori’s confession is the first glimpse she gets into how someone feels when they lose a loved one. “he stared at me, first with anger and grief, then, it seemed, only with sorrow” (butler, 66). his emotional reaction is clearly visible. “i looked at him and saw his sorrow. he knew who the man was, and he mourned him. i shook my head. ‘i’m sorry’” (butler, 66). she repeats her apology and one can hear her own sadness in her voice. possibly, she does not only feel guilty that she killed someone, but she also experiences guilt and sadness over the realization that she caused someone emotional pain. once shori is reunited with her father and brothers’ community she observes the emotional reactions others exhibit in connection to the death of their loved ones. she sees how the memories cause others to experience emotions she does not have: “he smiled, apparently taking pleasure in his memories, then his expression sagged into sadness” (butler, 78). although she does not feel the same as they do about the death of the members of her community, due to her lack of recollection of them, she realizes that those emotions are precious: “i found that i almost envied his pain. he hurt because he remembered” (butler, 74). shori desires the ability to reclaim her memories, which for her is also the only way to reclaim the emotional bond with the family she has lost. unfortunately for her, shori’s father, brothers and their whole community are killed before she can reconnect with the forgotten relatives, or receive the answers and help which she desperately needs. when she finds another community of ina she witnesses even more bereavement. she struggles with the fact that unlike others she cannot deal with the death of her family in a similar way. “sometimes i recall disconnected bits about myself or about the ina in general. but i’ve lost 85 crossroads. a journal of english studies my past, my memory of my families, symbionts, friends... the people of my families who are dead are so completely gone from me that i can’t truly miss them or mourn them because, for me, it’s as though they never existed” (butler, 207). she seems to express the wish for the ability to grieve for her dead and, once the mourning process comes to an end, to be able to move on with her life. however, this is not possible for her, as she does not grieve. the fragments of memories and knowledge that she keeps recovering seem to make her distraught, even more than she already is, as they seem to intensify the feeling that she is missing something, even though she neither truly misses it or recalls having cared about it in the first place. characters in the novel express their grief in different manners, most of which are clearly visible. shori, however, does not express grief for the lost relatives as she is not able to produce the emotional reaction because of her lost memories. although once perceived as something abnormal, “[t]he absence of grief is no longer seen, by definition, as pathological” (hall). albeit not considered pathological, grief ’s absence in the face of the loss of a loved one may seem questionable. one could speculate that there was no love or other significant emotional connection between the deceased and the person who is supposed to grieve to begin with. however, shori’s situation is more complex than usual mourning processes, and because of that the expectations concerning the mourning process should also be different. one of the characters in the novel ponders whether shori’s loss of memory is a way of coping with the severe feelings of bereavement. “i wonder if that’s part of why your memory is gone, not just because you suffered blows to the head, but because of the emotional blow of the death of all your symbionts, your sisters, and your mothers – everyone. you must have seen it happen. maybe that’s what destroyed the person you were” (butler, 267). the character’s musings that shori’s memory loss is the result of emotional distress may not be that far off when it comes to dealing with her traumatic experiences. when a person experiences a traumatic event they can react in various ways. one of the possibilities is dissociative amnesia, which “is an inability to recall important autobiographical information” (dsm v, 298). the american psychiatric association distinguishes three types of dissociative amnesia based on what kind of information a person cannot remember: localized amnesia, selective amnesia, and generalized amnesia. generalized amnesia means that someone has no recollection of their life and their identity, which is the case with shori. according to the fifth edition of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, generalized dissociative amnesia is rare, and those who experience it may “lose previous knowledge about the world (i.e. semantic knowledge) and can no longer access well-learned skills (i.e. procedural knowledge)” (298-299). shori seems to be suffering from dissociative amnesia as she does not remember either her personal identity or any events from her past. throughout the course of the novel she tries to recall certain events or people, but she is unsuccessful. i shut my eyes and tried to find something of this woman in my memory—something. but there was nothing. all of my life had been erased, and i could not bring it back. each time i was confronted with the 86 crossroads. a journal of english studies reality of this, it was like turning to go into what should have been a familiar, welcoming place and finding absolutely nothing, emptiness, space. (butler, 132) the failures to regain her memories cause continuous disappointment, but shori does not abandon her quest to bring back her lost personal past. instead of admitting defeat she seeks information from those surrounding her. she also does not recall information about the unique species she is a part of. she has to learn everything once again, although some of her well-learned skills manifest themselves once she attempts to use them: “i read aloud from the first [book] in a language that i could not recall having heard or seen. and yet as soon as i opened the book, the language seemed to click into place with an oddly comfortable shifting of mental gears” (butler, 187). the skill of using the ina language comes back to her immediately once she is exposed to it. the fact that one of the forgotten skills is so easily recovered seems to give shori hope that some of the other pieces of her life will also return. she wonders what else about her past will reveal itself when her mind is prompted by an everyday situation. since “[s]ome episodes of dissociative amnesia resolve rapidly ... whereas other episodes persist for long periods of time” one cannot be sure when or even if they will regain their memories (dsm v, 299). although shori seems to recover snippets of her past, the memories about her dead loved ones or about how she felt about them do not return, and it seems that they may be gone forever. if in fact they never return, she will never be able to fully mourn those that were close to her. shori’s experience of the traumatic event, which is the slaughter of her family, could explain the loss of her memory, which in turn prevents her from properly mourning her loved ones. however, if we were to isolate her inability to experience grief from her amnesia, we could assume it is due to the loss of affect. donald gustafson in his article on grief writes that “grief can express itself in what is called ‘a loss of feeling or affect,’ ... this condition of psychological immobilization is brought about by feelings of loss, anguish, fear, pain, and the rest” (465). each person reacts differently to the death of a person dear to them; some have more extreme reactions than others. “loss of affect is exemplified by an individual who lacks any apparent emotion in an emotionally stimulating situation, or by an individual who displays inappropriate emotions and so ‘loses’ the affect that belongs in the situation” (herron, 37). the inability to produce the appropriate emotional reactions in certain situations can have various causes. when we consider the lack of grief after the death of a loved one it can have something to do with, for instance, the kind of relationship we had with the deceased. we may not grieve if the relationship was ambivalent, abusive or dependent (worden, 127-128). sometimes the manner in which the loss had occurred may prevent us from grieving. if the loss cannot be confirmed, as often happens when someone goes missing, grief may not come (worden, 129). if we contemplate shori’s lack of grief, perhaps the theory relating to the number of the people one loses is the most suitable. in grief counseling and grief therapy worden mentions an instance where a patient did not grieve after a multiple loss. he recounts: “the sheer volume of people to be grieved was over87 crossroads. a journal of english studies whelming, and in a case like this, it can seem easier to close down the mourning process altogether” (worden, 130). shori has suffered a monumental loss. she lost every person she ever cared about, and in the light of her situation one could postulate that shori suffers from the loss of affect, as she does not exhibit any emotional reactions to the death of her relatives. if we take her amnesia out of the equation, her inability to grieve seems not to be so uncommon as one could presume. one can never know if the loss of affect will persist indefinitely, or if it will pour out one day as it was simply delayed. (i will discuss the notion of delayed grief later on, when shori’s experience of grief over a lost symbiont is analyzed.) the fact that she is ina meant that her grief should be even more severe than that of a human, a notion she is reminded of and later learns on her own, and thus her lack of grief seems highly unusual. “we ina don’t handle loss as well as most humans do. it’s a much rarer thing with us, and when it happens, the grief is ... almost unbearable” (butler, 265). one could try and explain shori’s state in various ways. she could have dissociative amnesia, which severs her emotional connection with the past, or she could suffer from the loss of affect, and her amnesia is a result of the physical injuries she had suffered. we can theorize but we cannot be certain. the only undeniable thing is that she does not grieve after the family she does not remember. in “mourning and melancholia” sigmund freud talked about the normal process of grieving and its extreme case, which he referred to as melancholia. he wrote: “in mourning it is the world which has become poor and empty; in melancholia it is the ego itself ” (22). if one were to understand freud’s words literally, shori would clearly suffer from melancholia, as she is truly empty after her loss: she has no memory and no identity; she has to create them from the very beginning. of course, one should not rely on the literal meaning of the words. instead, what we can infer from freud’s words is that both in the usual and the extreme instances of mourning something is askew in the life of the mourner. “freud advocated killing off the trace of the other in the self as a means to reestablish psychic health”, by which he seemed to mean to eradicate any remaining emotion one has for the deceased (clewell, 60). however, this idea has its source in his initial work concerning grief, which is “mourning and melancholia”. in the years following the publication of “mourning and melancholia” freud revised his findings. from his subsequent publications one can learn that in his view “[w]orking through [a loss] no longer entails abandoning the object and reinvesting the free libido in a new one; ... [it] depends on taking the lost other into the structure of one’s own identity, a form of preserving the lost object in and as the self ” (clewell, 61). his idea of making the deceased a part of one’s identity and only then being able to move on seems to be the notion which is embraced today by many. once, “the idea of successful grieving require[d] ‘letting go’” (hall) of the lost loved one. nowadays, however, the idea of continuing bonds which were forged between us and the deceased throughout the duration of the relationship has been welcomed. “this idea represents recognition that death ends a life, not necessarily a relationship. rather than ‘saying goodbye’ or seeking closure, there exists the possibility of the deceased being both present and absent” (hall). although the dead are physically absent from our lives, they remain present in them through our memories and emotions. 88 crossroads. a journal of english studies in fledgling we can see an example of the idea of continuing bonds. because shori does not have either the memories or the emotional connection to the deceased, the bonds she formed seem to have already been broken. nevertheless, the members of the community she temporarily lives in try to encourage her to take advantage of the bonds that are still present in others. during the trial a member of the ina community advises shori: “you must bring them [her family] into the room with you and stand them beside you whenever you can” (butler, 222). the idea of bringing the dead back to life through our memories and imagination, according to tammy clewell, is something that freud included in the mourning process. it seems that some mourners restore “the existence of the lost other in the space of the psyche, replacing an actual absence with an imaginary presence” (clewell, 44). being able to have the dead present and to talk with them is something that many mourners yearn for, and so does shori. although she cannot bring her dead even into the imaginary presence, as she has no emotional bonds to rely on, she attempts to do it by using the bonds of others. through the stories about her dead family she regains small pieces of them. however, the most visible continuation of bonds can be seen in celia and brook, symbionts of the members of iosif ’s community. due to their physical dependency on the particular ina of whom they were symbionts, they not only suffer emotionally but also physically after the death of their ina. in order to survive brook and celia have to break the physical connection to the deceased ina and try to create a new connection between them and shori. however, it is not so easily done as both their bodies and their minds yearn to remain connected to the loved ones who died. they fight to create new connections, and at the same time remain connected to their dead. “i knew they smelled wrong, but if he knew what had happened to my family, he must know why they smelled the way they did of both the dead and the living” (butler, 143). this seems to be what stands behind the idea of continuing bonds. we struggle to stay connected with those that are no longer with us in such a way that will allow us to create new bonds, to continue living without abandoning those who cannot accompany us forward, but without whom our past would not be complete, just like celia and brook. although the struggle is painful, especially at the beginning, discovering that new bonds bring us joy seems to allow a person to reach the realization that the past, the present and hope for the future can coexist within us, and allows us to simply live. in fledgling octavia butler contrasts shori’s lack of grief for those who were erased from her memory with the grief for a person she remembers. despite doing her utmost to reclaim her past and regain the memories of emotional connections she had with her loved ones, shori does not succeed. however, when theodora, one of shori’s symbionts whom she loved, is killed, the grief which would not come for her lost family pours out while she struggles to contain it. although everyone grieves in their own way, there are various theories which explore the emotional reactions to loss, for instance stroebe and schut’s dual process model of grief, and worden’s task-based model. there are also multiple views of grief as a series of stages, for example the models of bowlby and parkes, but probably the most widely recognized stage model is the one put forward by elisabeth kübler-ross (hall). kübler-ross formulated a model of five stages of dying, which nowadays are also commonly used with reference to grief and mourning. these 89 crossroads. a journal of english studies five stages are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance (kübler-ross, 31,40,66,69,91). the stages differ in intensity and length, may happen in various order, and not all must occur in every person’s mourning process. although some question all stage models of grief, these theories have been frequently incorporated in the education of medical specialists (hall). because of this i would like to explore some of the stages presented by kübler-ross, as i believe we can easily spot some of them in octavia butler’s novel. at first shori is in denial about what has happened to theodora: “i was not truly seeing or understanding what was happening around me. i could not believe my theodora was dead. it made no sense that she would be dead. none” (butler, 251). the idea that someone she loved, someone close to her, no longer had a place in this world is unimaginable for her. she wants to isolate herself and find a reason for what happened, to make sense of something that seems senseless. shori quite quickly moves on from denial to anger. kübler-ross explained that “anger is displaced in all directions and projected onto the environment at times almost at random” (kübler-ross, 40). when shori examines theodora’s body she unexpectedly starts shouting at the person nearest to her, and only after her outburst does she realize that it was someone whom she holds dear. “someone spoke to me, came near, and i shouted, ‘let me alone! get away from me!’ a moment later, i realized that i had shouted at wright, my first. i had told him to go away. stupid of me. stupid!” (butler, 253). the anger overtook shori in that instance; she was not in control of herself, but as the outburst of the anger passes she feels regretful of her action. later, shori’s anger is more focused; she is angry at the person responsible for killing her symbiont. “i had to do something. what i wanted to do was tear her apart with my teeth and hands” (butler, 266). once she is able to guide her anger in a specific direction she no longer has random outbursts of anger. despite wanting to avenge her loved one, shori cannot do it at the time, as the rules of ina society have to be abided by. she needs to rein in her anger and try to remain composed. shori needed to find a way to function after losing theodora, as she was in the middle of the trial, whose goal was to find justice for the family she lost. she wanted to restrain her emotional reaction: “i could not dissolve emotionally and lose myself in grief. i did not dare. there was no time” (butler, 253). however, it is not easy to control one’s emotions, especially when they are heightened. it is hard to try and go about your life as if nothing happened. shori observes that “it hurt to say her name” (butler, 255) when she mentioned theodora. it seems that when we lose someone, the memories that once brought us joy now bring us pain. the emotional pain is a part of grieving, and shori wanted to be able to experience and deal with her grief: “i wanted to run away from these strangers, find a dark corner, and huddle there rocking my body back and forth, moaning and mourning” (butler, 258). even though she tried, she could not hide her emotional state from others. preston remarks on shori’s inability to hide her grief: “you stand there hugging yourself as though you were trying to hold yourself together” (butler, 265). he compares shori’s efforts to stay composed to an attempt not to fall to pieces. maybe she is trying to remain whole. so many pieces of her had been stolen that she may crumble if something or someone does not help 90 crossroads. a journal of english studies her stay upright and glue herself back together in such a way that the missing pieces do not prevent her from continuing to live. some emotions can be alleviated or avoided through specific behavior or activities, for instance anger can lose its intensity after intense exercise, or we can avoid situations that would cause us to experience fear. however, there is no action one can undertake in order to lessen one’s grief, or a way to ward it off. it is out of one’s hands (gustafson, 469-470). gustafson wrote that although we can regulate some of our emotions “[t]he will has little or no force against grief... only grief ’s manifestations can be controlled and then only in part” (gustafson, 470). shori seems to be able to control the manifestations of her grief, regardless of the emotional turmoil that is going on inside of her. her actions bring theodora’s killer to justice, and in the end it is shori that kills her symbiont’s murderer. the fact that theodora was avenged seems to bring shori much closer to the stage of acceptance, and not only when the death of the person she loved was concerned, but also when it came to her lost memories and the relatives she lost twice: once through their death and once through her amnesia. “they were all gone. the person i had been was gone. i couldn’t bring anyone back, not even myself. i could only learn what i could about the ina, about my families. i would restore what could be restored” (butler, 310). through acceptance shori is able to start a new life for herself, and the grief that she both witnessed and experienced could, in a way, help her with that. however, is shori’s mourning process truly over? one of the characteristics of the ina is that they grieve very deeply. some members of ina society questioned shori’s low intensity of grief: “[t]he dahlmans expected you ... to be out of your mind with pain, grief, and anger, to be a pitiable, dangerous, crazed thing” (butler, 265). to the surprise of many shori was nowhere near being defeated by her grief, although she was expected to have been. even though she had emotional bonds linking her to theodora, her grief was inappropriately moderate in comparison to the loss. some members of the ina community argued that shori’s hybridity was the reason for her unusual grieving. they claimed that the part of her which is human overshadows the ina in her, and because of that her emotional response is different from that of the ordinary ina. no one can be certain of the truth of anything you say because you are neither ina nor human. your scent, your reactions, your facial expressions, your body language—none of it is right. you say your symbiont has just died. if that were so, you would be prostrate. you would not be able to sit here telling lies and arguing. true ina know the pain of losing a symbiont. we are ina. you are nothing! (butler, 272) shori’s grief was certainly different than expected, she did not meet the standards of a grieving ina. however, shori might not have expressed the full extent of her emotional turmoil; she might have suffered from delayed grief. in the case of delayed grief “the person may have had an emotional reaction at the time of the loss, but it is not sufficient to the loss. at a future date the person may experience the symptoms of grief over some subsequent and immediate loss, and the intensity of his or her grieving will seem excessive” (worden, 140). the timing of thodora’s death was very unfortunate (not that any death can really be fortunately placed), as shori was in the middle of 91 crossroads. a journal of english studies doing her utmost to find justice for her dead family. the circumstances might have caused shori to curb her immediate reaction to her symbiont’s death. it might be that in the future, when some time has elapsed and some of the chaos in her life has dissipated, the delayed emotions would come. grief can be a powerful instrument in creating relationships. as gustafson emphasizes, “[f] rom the psychiatric literature there is ample evidence of the bonding that grief, tragedy, and the like produce among both individuals and groups” (459). in fledgling the tragedy concerning the ina allows the main character to find her way into a closed community. moreover, the grief that others experience, and the understanding of the suffered loss, allows shori to create bonds with the members of the community more easily. shortly after her arrival she becomes a part of the community. the gordons assure her: “you’re with us now. you aren’t alone” (butler, 153). the new relationships created amongst the grief may be fragile, as they were forged in times of distress, but they are also a sign that one does not give up but continues to live, creating new memories, and not only dwelling on reminders of the past. perhaps the created ties with the ina community will aid shori in creating a new beginning and possibly regaining some of the lost memories. in octavia butler’s novel the reader can see that memories play an imperative role when it comes to grief. the reader can see how one struggles when one is denied the possibility to grieve, and how one suffers when one is inevitably forced to experience it. the reader sees that the knowledge that you have loved someone cannot replace the memory of the feeling; they do not equate. knowing that you once felt a certain way does not evoke emotional responses the same way the recollection of those feelings does. memories are crucial when it comes to grief, and although they may bring pain, they also allow us to keep the love alive long after someone is gone. references american psychiatric association. 2013. diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fifth edition (dsm v). arlington: american psychiatric association. bennet, jill. 2002. “art, affect, and the ‘bad death’: strategies for communicating the sense memory of loss.” signs 28.1, 333-351. butler, octavia e. 2007. fledgling. new york: grand central publishing. clewell, tammy. 2004. “mourning beyond melancholia: freud’s psychoanalysis of loss.” journal of the american psychoanalytic association 52.1, 43-67. freud, sigmund. 1917. “mourning and melancholia.” the complete edition of the psychological works of sigmund freud 14. ed. and trans. james strachey. 1957 rpt. in on freud’s “mourning and melancholia”. 2009, 19-34. gustafson, donald. 1989. “grief.” noûs 23.4, 457-479. hall, christopher. 2011. “beyond kübler-ross: recent developments in our understanding of grief and bereavement.” inpsych 33.6. 20 feb. 2016 www.psychology.org.au/publications/inpsych/2011/ december/hall/. herron, william g., kantor, robert e. 1968. “loss of affect.” the journal of psychology 70. 1, 35-49. crossroads. a journal of english studies 92 kübler-ross, elisabeth, and david kessler. 2005. on grief and grieving: finding meaning of grief through the five stages of loss. new york: scribner. kübler-ross, elisabeth. 2009. on death and dying: what the dying have to teach doctors, nurses, clergy and their own families. london, new york: routledge. volkan, vamik d. 2009. “not letting go: from individual perennial mourners to societies with entitlement ideologies.” on freud’s “mourning and melancholia”. ed. leticia glocer fiorini, thierry bokanowski, sergio lewkowicz. london: karnac, 90-109. worden, j. william. 2009. grief counseling and grief therapy: a handbook for the mental health practitioner. new york: springer publishing company. 47 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) anna orzechowska1 doi: 10.15290 / cr.2019.26.3.04 university of warsaw orcid: 0000-0003-4752-8411 “i am a teacher cleaving a track through the undergrowth of method. i am a bird”: teaching as a site of female subversion in sylvia ashton-warner’s spinster abstract. the aim of this paper is to scrutinise the influence of teaching on the female identity of anna vorontosov, the protagonist of sylvia ashton-warner’s spinster. kristeva’s theory of the semiotic and the symbolic is referenced to argue that the work of a teacher enables the heroine to transcend the patriarchal model of experience, predicated on rationality, self-restraint and stability. through teaching, anna renews her bond with the semiotic, surpassing the bounds of a unitary and fixed self. after providing an overview of ashton-warner’s own career in education, the paper analyses the tensions inherent in the role of a female teacher as represented in the novel and explicates them in kristevan terms. subsequently, detailed attention is paid to how the peculiarities of anna’s teaching method contribute to her enhanced experience of the semiotic and shape her female self. keywords: semiotic, symbolic, teaching, ashton-warner, female identity. 1. introduction with her idiosyncratic approach to teaching and vivid accounts of her own practice as a teacher, sylvia ashton-warner exerted a lasting influence on educational theory. as quipped by judith p. robertson and cathryn mcconaghy, “[t]here are things that nobody would know about teaching unless sylvia ashton-warner had written them” (2006: 1). born in new zealand in 1908, she 1 address for correspondence: instytut anglistyki uniwersytetu warszawskiego, ul. hoża 69, 00-681 warszawa, poland. e-mail: anna.orzechowska@student.uw.edu.pl. 48 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) joined the profession as early as in 1926, albeit without any strong sense of mission.2 in 1938, ashton-warner and her husband moved to a far-flung part of the country to commence work in a local māori school. as a result of maladaptation to the new environment, the writer-to-be suffered from a nervous breakdown, a harrowing experience, which in hindsight can yet be considered a blessing in disguise. it was during her treatment that she developed an interest in writing and became acquainted with the rudiments of freudian psychoanalysis, which later came to underlie her original teaching method. the turning point in her career came in the 1940s, when she was struggling with the inadequacy of the new zealand’s educational system to meet the needs of māori children in a school in pipiriki. required to learn from textbooks that did not relate to the milieu in which they were raised, her pupils failed to make any noticeable learning progress. the teacher soon became convinced that what they lacked was a model of schooling that would be responsive to their individual experience and based on materials striking a chord with their emotions. while teaching her pupils to read and write, she “found that if a personal set of words was chosen collaboratively by teacher and child, one word at a time, these un-illustrated words that name the pictures in the child’s heart would be learned easily and stay learned” (gurewitz 2016: 780). the two words that proved to have a particularly powerful resonance for the children were ‘kiss’ and ‘ghost’. these observations prompted ashton-warner to develop the key vocabulary method, whose core idea was that pupils should be stimulated to give vent to their experience of two freudian drives: sex and fear. as explained by nancy s. thompson, “key vocabulary is a method of tapping into each child’s personal, emotion-laden mental images, what she [ashton-warner] calls their ‘native imagery’, and using ‘captions’ of those images as the first words for teaching children to read” (2000: 92). apart from its educational function, the learning scheme served also a significant psychological purpose; it was intended not only to facilitate the acquisition of literacy skills, but also to assist pupils in gaining mastery over their negative feelings, as clearly articulated in teacher: i see the mind of a five-year old as a volcano with two vents: destructiveness and creativeness. and i see that to the extent that we widen the creative channel we atrophy the destructive one. and it seems to me that since these words of the key vocabulary are no less than the captions of the dynamic life itself, they course out through the creative channel, making their contribution to the drying up of the destructive vent. (ashton-warner 1963: 29) in her writings, ashton-warner dramatises the resistance of the male educational authorities to recognise her unconventional teaching method, let alone to incorporate it into the official policies. 2 lynley hood notes with amazement that, as a matter of fact, ashton-warner was strongly averse to her work: “… how could anyone who claimed she never wanted to be a teacher, that she hated teaching and was never any good at it, make any worthwhile contribution to education at all!” (2008: 11). 49 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) it should be noted, however, that her account of a larger-than-life confrontation between the female pioneer and the representatives of ossified institutions does not tally with the all facts (mercer 2016: 447). sue middleton challenges this version, demonstrating that, in point of fact, the writer’s approach corresponded to the generally applicable recommendations for the schooling of māori children (2012: 39-40). at the time when she was developing her scheme, the new zealand educational authorities were “child-centred” and open to innovation (middleton 2012: 37). committed to adjusting the system to the situation of specific groups of pupils, they also supported teachers in fostering native māori culture in their everyday practice. their openness is best evidenced by the fact that the writer’s insights into the key vocabulary were published by the new zealand’s educational institute in their official journal (mercer 2016: 447). ashton-warner achieved public esteem for her merits as an educational theorist in 1963, upon the publication of teacher, a non-fictional account of her method and professional experience. with its vision of “a more creative and humane schooling” (hood 2008: 176), it won her the applause of both fellow teachers and parents. by that time, she had already established a reputation for herself as the author of spinster, her debut novel, which became an international bestseller in 1958. this semi-autobiography follows the story of anna vorontosov, an unmarried immigrant from kazakhstan, who works as a teacher of māori children and strives to apply her original literacy instruction method, one that mirrors ashton-warner’s key vocabulary, against the reluctance of her male supervisors. despite its international success, the novel did not receive either praise or adequate critical attention at home (mercer 2016: 449). mercer claims that the writer fell prey to the patriarchal prejudices of new zealand critics, who held “extravagance of style and focus on female emotion” (2016: 449), which are the distinguishing features of her prose, in low regard. he also rejects the biased and reductionist interpretation of spinster presented by h. winston rhodes. whereas the latter places an exclusive emphasis on the realist representation of teaching, mercer shifts focus to the “depiction of intense female emotion associated with the conflicting desires of being a spinster or a wife” (2016: 454). the scholar is undoubtedly right in taking issue with rhodes for his disregard of anna’s heightened sensitivity and craving for love. what his analysis overlooks, however, is the close link between the heroine’s work and her identity as a woman. the present paper thus attempts to take middle ground between the two aforementioned approaches by reading the teaching plot from the perspective of the extensive glimpses into the intricacies of anna’s psyche that the novel provides. in what follows, kristeva’s theory of the semiotic and symbolic will be referenced to argue that teaching serves the heroine as a vehicle of resistance to the patriarchal paradigms of experience. it will be demonstrated that it enables anna to reconnect with the semiotic and transcend the ideal of a unitary and fixed self. the next section probes the tensions built into the role of a female teacher, examines their representation in spinster and explicates them in kristevan terms. subsequently, detailed attention is paid to how the peculiarities of anna’s teaching method contribute to her enhanced experience of the semiotic and shape her female self and identity. 50 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) 2. the double bind of teaching historically the only or one of few professions accessible to women, teaching appears to be imbued with ambiguities when considered from the standpoint of the female struggle for self-determination. while it used to present women with the rare opportunity to gain a modicum of autonomy and self-fulfilment beyond the role of a mother and wife, it still restricted them to patriarchal conventions. maria tamboukou contends that teaching forms “a nexus of created paradoxical spaces” (2000: 463), which challenges women to assert their identity against the conflicting demands of their obligations at work and at home. it requires “oscillating between public and private, two spheres that remain separated at the same time that they interact and impinge upon each other, creating crises, conflicts and dilemmas in women’s lives” (tamboukou 2000: 470). tamboukou also signals the uneasy place of female teachers within “a wider network of power relations within schools” (2000: 470). entrusted with authority over their pupils or students, they are still vulnerable in terms of power by dint of their gender. the scholar thus conceives of the identity of a female teacher as balancing between “unstable, ambivalent and contradictory subject positions” (tamboukou 2000: 476). in “the politics of tutoring: feminism within patriarchy,” meg woolbright discusses the inescapable clash between feminist values, such as “mutual respect, trust, and community; shared leadership; and action” (1992: 17), and the male-constructed norms of the academy, celebrating authority, objectivism and duty. any female tutor dedicated to cherishing the feminist model of teaching, whereby students are offered an inspirational stimulation to intellectual work instead of being forced to accept ready-made ideas, is likely to face conflicting loyalties between her heart-felt vocation and the duty to comply with official requirements. the conflict is more often than not resolved in favour of the latter under the pressure of “the power that the patriarchy asserts over both her [the female teacher] and the student” (woolbright 1992: 26). according to woolbright, teaching is thus both empowering and restrictive for women; it locks them in a  double bind between the urge to conform to the all-encompassing patriarchal system and the desire to undermine it. similarly, throughout spinster, teaching assumes antithetical associations, being treated by the heroine interchangeably as a source of power or a severe limitation. one the one hand, anna is wont to juxtapose her role as a teacher against her precarious position as a woman. the former offers her the sense of personal dignity and autonomy that she lacks as the spinster of the title, whose life revolves around a quest for a husband: “i am not thinking of men at all. i am thoroughly and severely teacher. such a proud teacher too, in spite of my weariness” (ashton-warner 1986: 68). most importantly, it frees her from dependence on romantic relationships as the essence of her identity. wholeheartedly engaged in the performance of her professional duties, anna proves that marriage does not constitute the ultimate end of her life, an awareness that boosts her selfconfidence. whereas as a woman she faces the unrelenting threat of being reduced to a mere object of romance and plaything of her own desires, as a teacher she retains control both over herself and over the man whom she loves: “i still mourn the kisses i have rejected, but it is the last stand of the woman against the teacher … he [paul] is no more than one of my little ones after all and 51 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) once more i am proudly teacher” (ashton-warner 1986: 69-71). on the other hand, the teacher is portrayed as a prisoner to a set of norms that form a yardstick of her value: “he [inspector] is satisfied that i am not a good teacher; if indeed he considers me a teacher at all. i don’t. i’m satisfied that i am no more than a vague incompetent artist” (ashton-warner 1986: 238). in this context, the profession is contrasted with motherhood, which allows the woman to give vent to her spontaneity and emotionality instead of urging her to uncreatively repeat calcified schemas: “i am for a while no longer the imperfect teacher but the perfect mother and all these children, brown, white and yellow, are my own” (ashton-warner 1986: 42). in addition to the aforementioned tensions, the novel draws yet another conspicuous line of divide. carole durix observes that ashton-warner shows a thematic interest in “[putting] matriarchal and patriarchal law into conflict” (2008: 106). indeed, spinster portrays a collision between teaching as an institution developed by patriarchal society and regulated by its rigid conventions, and teaching as the personal, often non-normative, experience of the female teacher3. the two dimensions of teaching, in turn, appear to fit neatly into the kristevan distinction between the semiotic and symbolic, which should be briefly outlined at this point. according to kristeva, the semiotic takes it roots in pre-oedipal processes prior to the acquisition of language and the development of distinct selfhood borders, a phase when the split between object and subject has not yet emerged and a child experiences a pleasurable state of undisturbed plenitude and fusion with their mother’s body. as clarified by keltner, “[t]he semiotic refers to the affective, material dimension of language that contributes to, but is not exhausted in or by, the social-symbolic meaning of signs” (2011: 12). it is formed by pre-verbal impulses, echolalia, rhythms, tones and biological drives to which a  child succumbs before their socialisation into a world of prohibitions and limitations. once a  child commences to differentiate between self and other, thereby separating from their mother and forming a discrete identity, they enter the realm of the symbolic. unlike the chaotic and fluid semiotic, permeated by “energies” with no “fixed aim, object or form” (grosz 1989: 43), the symbolic is an organised and orderly “system of meaning agreed upon by a community of speakers” (keltner 2011: 12). it is predominantly a realm of rules, be it linguistic, social or cultural. as envisaged by kristeva, both the semiotic and the symbolic are unmistakably gender-coded. the former has an “explicitly maternal and feminine” character (grosz 1989: 49), as opposed to the latter, which is “paternal, bound up with the concepts of the symbolic father and the castrated mother” (grosz 1989: 49). although the notion of distinction could suggest that the two realms have no points of convergence, they are by no means isolated by a clear and impassable boundary. quite the contrary: “the two trends … designate two modalities of what is, for us, the same signifying process … these two modalities are inseparable within the signifying process that constitutes 3 this is a reference to the distinction drawn by adrianne rich between motherhood as “institution” and “experience,” understood respectively as “the potential relationship of any woman to her powers of reproduction and to children” and “the institution, which aims at ensuring that the potential ‒ and all women ‒ remain under male control” (1995: 13). 52 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) language” (kristeva 1984: 23-24). bur for the symbolic language would be a  mere incomprehensible babble, unfit to convey any meaning, thus preventing effective communication. it is yet the semiotic that serves as a repository of energy that enlivens language. “without semiotic force”, as put metaphorically by mcafee, “we would be like bad actors when we spoke, as if we were merely reading words off a page” (2004: 41). while the hold of the symbolic on a mature speaking subject is significantly more potent, the semiotic continues to resurge at various point, undermining the stability of the former. consequently, kristeva conceives of female identity as an inherently fluid and changeable construct, balancing between the two realms: “the speaking being is a subject in process because her identity is never fixed in place; her identity is continuously disrupted by semiotic language’s heterogeneity, polyphony, and polysemy” (mcafee 2004: 105). as a teacher, anna is firmly entrenched in the symbolic realm, where logic, law and male authority are supposed to prevail over feminine affectivity. just as the symbolic, the educational system within which she operates is distinctly male constructed and male regulated, with women relegated to the position of obliging servants. the heroine is subject to the unrelenting pressure of expectations placed upon her by the male school authorities, who understand teaching primarily as a matter of discipline, drills and fixed rules, which leave hardly any space for creative freedom, irrespective of their practical viability: “a good teacher does not break out from the curriculum, even when it is deficient. a worthy teacher does not defy an order of a director” (ashton-warner 1986: 187). the inspectors hold the heroine accountable for compliance with inflexible patriarchal norms, requiring that she should act as an unapproachable voice of authority and indiscriminately apply traditional methods and materials, which take little account of the background, personality or individual needs of her pupils, as symbolised by a workbook with schematic exercises that anna uses on a daily basis. the underlying goal of teaching is thus to perpetuate the patriarchal order and uphold the principles upon which it is built: rationality, order and restraint. the heroine is not a typical feminist heroine in the sense that she does not intend to declare an open and premeditated revolt against the obsolescent system despite her frustration with its cold inhumanity. quite the contrary, she regrets failing to meet its standards, aware that conformity would secure her recognition: “if only i had been a good teacher, an obedient teacher and submissive!” (ashton-warner 1986: 4). she feels genuinely guilty for not fulfilling her dreary bureaucratic obligations (ashton-warner 1986: 21) and accepts unfavourable opinions about her professional performance: “there can be no doubt about it: i’m a very low-ability teacher. for the whole of my teaching life inspectors have agreed on that. it’s true that i have tried with everything. … plainly, i am mistaken in all i do. the inspectors are right” (ashton-warner 1986: 81). nevertheless, anna’s self-reproach and timidity are accompanied by the acute awareness of the system’s ineffectiveness and the resulting need to reorient it on the preferences of her pupils: “why must we? why don’t i teach them something that does interest them? then they might develop like the flowers that are interested in the rain and the sun; in their own time and way” (ashtonwarner 1986: 176-177). despite her propensity for obedience, the heroine is not able to follow a model of teaching that stifles her creativity and hinders the learning success of the children. after 53 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) having burnt the hated workbook, she delivers a passionate speech that casts an important light on the differences between the patriarchal approach to teaching and her personal experience as a teacher: “i can’t do what i say i’m going to do! and that’s what a workbook is. saying what i’m going to do! i can’t stand the planning of it. the clockwork detail. i can’t bear the domination of it. i hate the interference of it between myself and the children, and i resent the compulsion. sack me if you like!” (ashton-warner 1986: 101). the former promotes order, duty, and emotional distance between the teacher and her pupils; the latter, by contrast, celebrates lack of control, creativity, intuition, and a degree of intimacy between both parties. what anna thus decides to do while operating within the patriarchal framework of education is to disrupt it, in the same way as the semiotic reasserts its presence in the symbolic, by challenging the traditional methods and making her work a site of enjoyment for all those involved, as will be demonstrated in the following section. 3. encounter with the semiotic if the acquisition of spoken language marks the entrance of a child into the symbolic, the mastery of literacy skills only reinforces their position within this order. as a result, while teaching to read and write, anna must, perforce, act as an intermediary between her pupils and the world of patriarchal structures. her strategy of subverting this role consists in releasing and exploiting the semiotic underside of language, as if in response to kristeva’s appeal voiced in about chinese women: “summon this timeless ‘truth’ formless, neither true nor false, echo of our jouissance, of our madness, of our pregnancies into the order of speech and social symbolism” (1977: 38). instead of imparting crude semantic or syntactical rules, the heroine destabilises the symbolic by inviting her pupils to distil the emotive potential of individual words, one that is ignored or even suppressed in the course of traditional teaching. she shows them that language may be used not only as a means of producing meaning, but also as an outlet of their desires and fears: “‘miss vorontosov’, complaints brown matawhero, ‘i’m sicka writing.’ a little maori boy of six can say my name. i kneel to his level. ‘well, write, i’m sick of writing’” (ashton-warner 1986: 23). in contrast to the conventional male-constructed learning scheme, which is static and oriented on individual work, her method involves motion, spontaneity, discharge of sounds, and togetherness, all of which are associated with the semiotic: “and it’s a gay performance this finding of their own words, taking time and involving noise and personal relations and actual reading, and above all communication with each other” (ashton-warner 1986: 181). most importantly, apart from exerting a tremendously beneficial influence on the learning capacities of her little ones, such a model of teaching also empowers anna to overcome the sense of inadequacy instilled in her by the patriarchal machine and rediscover her attachment to the semiotic as a source of joy and release of inner tension. the heroine treats her work as an art that marks her uniqueness and, as such, must be shielded against the tyranny of the male authorities: “what power has an inspector against the gift that god has put in my hands?” (ashton-warner 1986: 56-57). this fact should be accorded particular attention in the context of kristeva’s theory, considering 54 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) that art is one of the most fertile grounds for the resurgence of the semiotic within the symbolic. anne-marie smith claims that “[all] imaginative practice, such as art, poetry, love and psychoanalysis, represents the individual subject’s encounter with the law of the father, of the symbolic and society, with imposed form and structure, as well as representing the imaginative attempts to battle with this frame of reference in the name of desire, subjectivity and the energy and drives the bring into play” (1998: 17-18). in a similar vein, anna’s gradual development of her method is portrayed as a creative fever, during which she goes through the ebbs and flows of inspiration, transforming from an overtly rational and self-restrained teacher into an artist surrendering to a stream of uncontrollable and oft-conflicting emotions and drives. the process proves to be demanding and painful, yet also liberating and empowering: “but a nervousness, a vague discomfort, accompanies the recognition of it. it makes me think that the solution to infant teaching is nearby; … it both frightens and exhilarates me. it’s like, like ... the fear-and-joy of birth” (ashton-warner 1986: 154). the birth metaphor used to conceptualise this experience has a special resonance. it should be reminded that the maternal body, from which a child must separate in order to enter the symbolic realm and acquire an independent subjectivity, constitutes the primary site of the semiotic. according to kristeva, while giving birth, a woman reunites with her lost mother (1997: 303). despite the excruciating pain, childbirth thus occasions the breakdown of the symbolic and gives rise to sensual pleasure. being childless, anna appears to use her teaching art as a substitute of maternity, so as to be able to gain a renewed access to its concomitant jouissance. when she finally overcomes all internal and external obstacles and devises the key vocabulary in its full-fledged version, or, to be consistent with the metaphor, gives birth, her invention is described in terms of a disruptive force that penetrates into the everyday world of routines, giving the heroine a surge of energy: “the whole system of infant room vocabulary flashes before the inner eye as though floodlit. as i walk alongside the senior, engaged in conversation on the surface of my mind about the regimentation in many schools, i am realizing what this captioning of the inner world is. it’s the vocabulary i’ve been after. … such a  tremendous impetus! i all but burst with inspiration” (ashton-warner 1986: 170). the very process of teaching may be similarly viewed as a “semiotic [intervention] into the ordering of the symbolic” (grosz 1989: 98). determined to eradicate any sense of unease and guilt that would spoil the spontaneity of her art, the heroine is accustomed to drinking alcohol before work: yet i teach well enough on brandy. … it supplies me with top layer to my mind so that i meet fifty maori infants as people rather than as the origin of the inspector’s displeasure; … never is better creative work done. as the legs release my throat some magnificent freedom comes to us all and the day leads off like a party … the encloistered soul may sally without risk. … it can endure more of the feeling in the exhausting art. it is sheltered: it is buffered. … intoxicating … (ashton-warner 1986: 7). 55 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) what merits particular attention in the quoted passed is the emphasis that the heroine places on her enhanced sensuality, lack of self-control and, most importantly, a feeling of liberation. just as the semiotic is associated with the shelter of the mother’s body, a space of hospitability and plenitude, the process evokes the predominant impression of protection, juxtaposed throughout the novel against the sense of vulnerability and loss triggered by the interference of the authorities with her work: “i am reminded, at the melancholy sight of an inspector within my doorway, once and for all, that i am indeed without covering, either of the mind or in the profession. without epidermis” (ashton-warner 1986: 99). the demands, prohibitions and obligations specific to the symbolic realm shade into insignificance, as the heroine plunges into a state of unrestrained elation and exhilaration. she becomes attuned to her body, its rhythms and movements. importantly, the clash between the traditional model of teaching and anna’s approach corresponds also to the dichotomy of stasis and activity inherent in the distinction between the symbolic and the semiotic. while the former assumes that pupils should be seated at their tables, completing repetitive exercises, even if they prove educationally ineffective and thus fail to produce any sense of progress, the latter makes room for joyful movement and dance, with the participation of the teacher, stimulating the creativity of all: “up rises the other twinnie and their movements merge… and here, all at once, we have a rending in the creative vent, widening it. here we have another escape for the wild spirit within” (ashton-warner 1986: 54). furthermore, as experienced by anna, the teaching process appears to abolish linear time, which characterises the symbolic order in opposition to the semiotic realm, which exists “outside of time” (oliver 1993: 106). the pace of anna’s work is determined not by clock time or any schedules, but by the subjective “rhythm on the blackboard” (ashton-warner 1986: 204). while outside the classroom anna repeatedly complains about her morbid urge to cling to the past and yearns for “an obliteration of memory” (ashton-warner 1986: 18), teaching alleviates the sense of being torn between the present and the past, as the heroine immerses herself in the present moment: “i forget about the conflict within me and about how many worlds there are. i’m utterly lost in the present” (ashtonwarner 1986: 10-11). the quoted passages reveal yet another peculiarity of anna’s teaching style that restores her severed ties with the semiotic. it is the heroine’s personal, even intimate, rapport with the pupils, which provides a positive counterbalance to her troubled relations with the inspectors and paul, a young teacher in whom she falls in love. once again, the two types of liaisons replay the oppositions ingrained in the symbolic / semiotic distinction. the symbolic is built upon the process of separation and differentiation and sustained by a hierarchical power system that supports male power and female submission. in a similar vein, anna’s relationships with men are characterised by distance and to a large extent operate within the logic of domination and subordination. her flirt with paul lacks any meaningful communication, for the heroine and her beloved alike are enclosed in their own worlds. anna, in addition, appears to be restrained by the awareness of the social scripts to which she is expected to conform as a woman. her professional dealings with the male educational 56 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) authorities, in turn, relegate her in a very distinct way to a position of inferiority. the inspectors strive to reduce the heroine to patriarchal stereotypes, thereby diminishing her self-esteem and inhibiting her self-development as a creative artist. more than that, their presence is experienced by the heroine as a violent intrusion and a major threat to her safety and well-being, as best illustrated by her comparison of one of the inspectors to a  monster: “here is the inspector − ogre of the past again with its cloudy height, its red eyes and its black mouth” (ashton-warner 1986: 198). her relationship with pupils, by contrast, is based on closeness and togetherness, a nod to the semiotic, which “precedes all … binary oppositional structures and hierarchical forms of organisation” (grosz 1989: 43). it is of utmost significance that anna displays consistent aversion to approaching the children from the position of power, being apparently unwilling to endorse the patriarchal patterns of interaction. when the pupils insist that she should act as an omniscient voice of authority, she is embarrassed and loath to meet their expectations: “so much asking! who am i, the law of god?” (ashton-warner 1986: 9). in fact, she prefers to assume the role of a substitute mother, who protects her children and offers them guidance without asserting her domination, rather than that of an aloof supervisor who gives orders and instructions. not only is this attitude supposed to help her pupils in the learning process but it also alleviates anna’s own anxiety: “ah, this secret that mothers have never told! gradually the horror, expelled from the crater of me, smokes away to nothing, while with this boy in my arms, i forget i am a spinster and a teacher and am only woman” (ashton-warner 1986: 101). her relationship with the pupils in many respects resembles the early fusion between mother and child, characterised by the blurring of the self-other boundaries and the accompanying pleasurable sense of plenitude: “all these differing personalities and faces and colours make me think that if ever i had borne children, i would have wanted it this way: offspring of many sires. i would be like the rain, uniting them all in my motherhood” (ashton-warner 1986: 58). consequently, teaching offers the heroine an avenue out of the pressure of maintaining a clearly-demarcated and discrete self in accordance with patriarchal ideals of “singularity, sameness and homogeneity” (tallon russel 2009: 2). she loses it in the personality of her pupils. this loss, however, does not elicit any disquietude, but rather joy and inebriation, a jouissance-like experience evoking clear associations with pre-oedipal pleasure: “i’ve mislaid who i am. sensuously and accurately i vibrate and respond to the multifold touch of my little ones … i am made of their thoughts and their feelings. i am composed of sixty-odd different pieces of personality. … it is a potent drunkenness, an exhilaration, and it is one that does not leave depression in its wake” (ashton-warner 1986: 22). throughout the novel, anna suffers from a  sense of inner division, being unable to develop a unitary identity out of the multifarious roles that she performs: “i’m tired of being a cheap flirt to paul, an eccentric to the head, a refusal to eugene, a failure to the inspector and an artist unto god. i long for one vast rain to encompass my all” (ashton-warner 1986: 59). she has the tendency to see the world in binary oppositions and feels an externally-induced compulsion to always situate herself firmly on one side of the divide: “what exactly am i? to what world do i really belong?” (ashton-warner 1986: 9). at the same time, however, anna actually 57 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) refrains from defining herself as a subject with fixed identity, especially towards the inspectors: “i don’t want them to know what i really am” (ashton-warner 1986: 27). in teaching, she manages to “[embrace] a more fluid sense of identity, becoming a more kaleidoscopic personality,” as underlined by ian richards (n.d. online). her work obliterates her stable and closed-off self along with all inner conflicts, giving her pleasure that arises from the experience of fluidity and multiplicity. importantly, this “fusion” involving “a symbiotic merging” (robertson & mcconaghy 2006: 132) poses a stark contrast to her relationships with men, described ominously as devouring (ashtonwarner 1986: 1946). in this sense, the novel juxtaposes the role of a teacher against the role of a woman and spinster. much as the former is limited by the demands of the patriarchal educational system and its agents, it is still open for the subversion of the existing norms. as a woman and spinster, anna is subjected to male power with no possibility of transgressing the patriarchal gender scripts. a  woman is destined to be a wife and mother obedient to the will of her husband. a spinster, in turn, is relegated to the fringes of society, lacking the power that a woman derives from the position of her husband. without one, anna is regarded as infertile and thus unable to make any significant contribution to society. the heroine bemoans this entrapment in the patriarchal schemas, which do not correspond to her personal experience: if only he could learn that for me anyway there can be interests other than men; that there can be romance outside desire; that with me, in spite of the reputations of the unmarried, relations with the male come second to my relations with my work; that the need for the physical engagement, the ‘trivial ritual of love’, so featured in the talk of new zealand men as being the driving factor in the life of a spinster, can at my age, in some women, and to a workable extent anyway, lift to the realm of the mind to be partially consummated there” (ashton-warner 1986: 47). through teaching, she manages to unlock and exploit her own intellectual and creative potential, thereby challenging, if only for a moment, the stereotypical definitions of female identity. she becomes an intrepid explorer, free to follow the path of self-determination outside the reach of patriarchal power: “i am a teacher cleaving a track through the undergrowth of method. i am a bird” (ashton-warner 1986: 171). 4. conclusion as already mentioned, anna vorontosov can hardly be considered a paragon of feminist ideals, considering her lack of perseverance in defying the patriarchal schemas. this is confirmed at the close of the novel, when she resolves to abandon her aspirations and ambitions. dispirited by the crushing opinion of the board of education, she buries her key vocabulary scheme and decides to depart for kazakhstan to reunite with her former fiancé, bound to follow the traditional path of wifehood and motherhood prescribed for women in patriarchal society. nevertheless, the paper has demonstrated that ashton-warner privileges teaching as a site of subversion of the patriarchal model of female experience and identity. the role of a female teacher may be regulated by male-established rules, which promote rationality, stability and restraint, but anna finds a way 58 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) to transform it to her advantage and render it the “bedrock of her personality” (richards n.d. online). her close rapport with the pupils, based on mutual communication rather than the bonds of domination and subordination, which invariably structure male-female relationships, and her innovative method, which opens space for untrammelled creativity, emotionality and spontaneity, allow her to re-establish her lost connection with the semiotic. thanks to teaching, anna finds empowerment in experiencing herself as a fluid and porous self, not constrained by any patriarchal conventions. references primary sources: ashton-warner, s. 1986. spinster. new york: simon & schuster. ashton-warner, s. 1963. teacher. new york: bantam books. secondary sources: durix, c. 2008. sylvia ashton-warner: portrait of an artist as a woman. world literature written in english 19.1: 104-110. grosz, e. 1989. sexual subversion. three french feminists. boston: allen and unwin. gurewitz, s. c. 2016. key words. in: d. couchenour & j. kent chrisman (eds.), the sage encyclopedia of contemporary early childhood development, 779-781. thousand oaks, california: sage publications. hood, l. 2008. sylvia!: the biography of sylvia ashton-warner. auckland, n.z.: penguin. keltner, s.k. 2011. kristeva: thresholds. cambridge: polity press. kristeva, j. 1977. about chinese women. new york: urizen books. kristeva, j. 1997. motherhood according to giovanni bellini. in: k. oliver (ed.), the portable kristeva, 303-330. new york: columbia up. kristeva, j. 1984. revolution in poetic language. new york: columbia university press. oliver, k. 1993. unravelling the double-bind: reading kristeva. bloomington: indiana university press. mcafee, n. 2004. julia kristeva. new york / london: routledge. mercer, e. s. 2016. sylvia ashton-warner’s ‘strange cadences’: rereading spinster and incense to idols. the journal of commonwealth literature 51.3: 1-19. middleton, s. 2012. putting sylvia in her place: history, geographical theory and the ‘new education.’ paedagogica historica 48.2: 263-282. richards, i. (n.d.) spinster as a work of art. no frills new zealand literature, www.angelfire. com / nofrillsnzlit / spinster.html (accessed august 2019). robertson, j p. & mcconaghy, c. 2006. provocations: sylvia ashton-warner and excitability in education. new york: peter lang publishing, inc. smith, a.-m. 1998. julia kristeva: speaking the unspeakable. london: the pluto press. 59 ................................................................................................................ crossroads. a journal of english studies 26 (2019) tallon russel, h. 2009. irigaray and kierkegaard: on the construction of the self. macon: mercer university press. tamboukou, m. 2000. the paradox of being a woman teacher. gender and education 12.4: 463-478. thompson, n. s. 2000. reclaiming personal meaning in literacy teaching. the english journal 89.3: 90-96. woolbright, m. 1992. the politics of tutoring: feminism within patriarchy. the writing centre journal 13.1: 16-30. *** anna orzechowska is a phd candidate at the institute of english studies of the university of warsaw. her academic interests include new zealand women’s literature, feminist studies, in particular psychoanalytic feminism, feminist existentialism and motherhood studies. understanding self and others: marriage scenarios in ford madox ford’s the good soldier and leo tolstoy’s anna karenina 54 crossroads. a journal of english studies nataliya shpylova-saeed indiana university bloomington understanding self and others: marriage scenarios in ford madox ford’s the good soldier and leo tolstoy’s anna karenina abstract. ford madox ford’s the good soldier and leo tolstoy’s anna karenina establish a literary and cultural dialogue through the exploration of the individual’s private space. the two writers are undoubtedly intrigued by a fluid nature of the individual: marriage appears to reveal inner conflicts, doubts, anxieties, as well as longing for happiness. although pursuing different agendas when indulgingly devising sentimental love stories and outrageous adulteries, ford and tolstoy echo each other when delivering their vision of self and other. this essay explores the topos of marriage as an element that amplifies the textual double-coding and reveals ethic and aesthetic values ford and tolstoy communicate. keywords: marriage, fluidity, changeability, anxiety, uncertainty, doubt, sincerity. marriage has long been a focus of literary inquiries: the changeability that the marriage topic reveals is rather exemplary in terms of ontological and epistemological instability and uncertainty. additionally, marriage creates space for narrative maneuvers: humor, irony, sarcasm can easily be intertwined with philosophical, political, moral queries. among a myriad of marriage stories, two novels stand out due to a variety of peripeteia, subplot mixes, moral confusion and desire to hear one’s own self: ford madox ford’s the good soldier (1915) and leo tolstoy’s anna karenina (1877). the two novels, which are notorious for the depiction of adulteries and infidelities, may appear different. the good soldier is primarily discussed in the context of modernist writing and anna karenina has long been an inseparable part of the russian realism discussion. however, the two novels incorporate marriage as an aesthetic device to expose the individual’s doubt, anxiety, and emotional confusion. although demonstrating an adherence to realism, anna karenina is also described in terms of transitional status: tolstoy’s style fluctuates between realism and mod10.15290/cr.2016.13.2.05 55 articles ernism.11 the analysis of aesthetic potential of marriage produces productive perspectives for the exploration of ford’s and tolstoy’s literary and cultural dialogue. this essay examines the topos of marriage as one of the textual elements that appear to establish and maintain a literary bridge between ford and tolstoy: based on an array of marriage stories, the good soldier and anna karenina reveal the individual’s fluid nature, which evokes a sense of uncertainty.12 additionally, this essay will attempt to address the question whether uncertainty is presented as destructive and paralyzing, or whether it is conceptualized as unavoidable, and thus it is perceived as acceptable. these inquiries will be explored through the analysis of dowell’s existential journey (the good soldier) and through the examination of the relationship dynamics between kitty and levin (anna karenina): the development of the two cases is intricately connected with the characters’ understanding of and involvement in marriage concerns. although literary critics have frequently underlined the overpowering presence of marriage concerns raised by ford13 and tolstoy14, literary discussions can benefit from comparative transliterary investigations. the good soldier and anna karenina demonstrate ford’s and tolstoy’s keen interest in the individual and their inner modifications, augmented by the changing environments. although chronologically separated by more than 35 years, the two novels illuminate doubts and anxieties caused not only by historical and social circumstances but by the individual’s seeking spirit as well.15 11 in framing anna karenina: tolstoy, the woman question, and the victorian novel, amy mandelker details the modernist and realist nuances tolstoy embraces. 12 as stephen lovell points out, tolstoy struggled to come to terms with age and death: “as he grew older, the only way he found to keep his fear within reasonable bounds was to talk it into temporary submission” (304). this struggle results in tolstoy’s acceptance of self ’s fluidity: “tolstoy was more convinced of the self ’s fluidity than of its wholeness” (304). the notions of fluidity and changeability significantly shape the writer’s ethic and aesthetic edifice. on the one hand, this characteristic signals tolstoy’s adherence to realism; on the other hand, existential instability that intensifies spiritual confusion and lostness establishes a link with modernist detachment and isolation. 13 the discussion of ford’s manipulation with the topos of marriage is often blurred be the exploration of gender, social, political, religious nuances. thus, anne flanagan, rose de angelis and betty h. kirschstein explore marriage from the perspective of gender roles. ford’s presentation of marriage encourages the analysis of blurred gender boundaries. as kirschstein emphasizes, ford himself crossed gender boundaries, “enjoying ‘womanly’ activities such as cooking, and seeking comfort in domestic spaces and female companionship” (xi). 14 tolstoy’s interpretation of marriage and family has received more critical attention than ford’s. however, a detailed analysis of tolstoy’s ideas concerning love, marriage, and family is primarily confined to the russian tolstoy studies: shklovsky, strakhov, chernyshevsky, biriukov, merezhkovsky, to name but a few. this research is also marked by the blurriness of the marriage focus. tolstoy’s canonical status as “a great russian writer” requires considering political, social, philosophical, religious, spiritual scopes when addressing the marriage topic. 15 the two novels provide rich material for the understanding of ford’s and tolstoy’s personal vision of marriage. if the good soldier represents ford’s anxiety regarding gender roles, anna karenina reflects doubts and anxiety that tolstoy develops while reconsidering his own marriage. anna karenina was written during the years when leo tolstoy and his wife, sofia andreevna, were happy. as hugh mclean notes, despite some minor fights and quarrels “on the whole the tolstoy marriage from 1862 up to the completion of anna karenina in 1877 could be classified as fundamentally harmonious” (66). after that, “came the master’s ‘crisis’” (66). 56 crossroads. a journal of english studies at first glance, the marriage topic forms a skeleton of both the good soldier and anna karenina. the novels involve the stories of married couples, whose lives appear to be displayed for approvals and judgments, sympathies and condemnations. in the good soldier, john dowell, in an aloof and cold-hearted way, describes adulteries, cruelties, suicides that he witnesses. detailed pictures of dramas and tragedies are provided in anna karenina by the omnipresent narrator, who encourages the audience to decide who to sympathize with and whom to condemn. additionally, the ironic tone, imbuing the beginning of the two novels, locates marriage in the realm of reconsiderations and subversions, illuminating the loss of certainty. the good soldier opens with a pathos phrase, introducing incredulity and suspicion regarding the reliability of the unfolding narrative: “this is the saddest story that i have ever heard” (5). a few lines into the story, the narrator subverts the intensity set up at the beginning: “i believe, a state of things only possible with english people of whom, till today, when i sit down to puzzle out what i know of this sad story, i knew nothing whatever” (5). the narrative is shaped by unreliability and uncertainty. on a large scale, “the saddest story,” which involves dramas and tragedies of the married couples—the ashburnhams and the dowells—is an illusion of life: ford employs the topos of marriage to emphasize the individual’s loneliness as a mode of existence. the characters of the good soldier struggle to maintain meaningful connections that can help overcome emotional detachment. thus, the irony introduced at the beginning of the novel, subverts traditional premises of marriage, defying stability and introducing uncertainty. subversion—narrative and ethic—also imbues anna karenina. it should be noted that, akin to the good soldier, irony is introduced in the beginning of the russian novel. the oblonskys’ undergo a family crisis: “everything was in confusion in the oblonskys’ house. the wife had discovered that the husband was carrying on an intrigue with a french girl, who had been a governess in their family, and she had announced to her husband that she could not go on living in the same house with him” (1). a playful irony, however, is mitigated by tolstoy’s insightful observation: “happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” (1). marriage invites the conversation not only about happy families but also about existential confusion, intensified by the loss of certainty and stability. not only is darya alexandrovna’s routine life shattered, her emotional and psychological stability undergoes turmoil. the good soldier and anna karenina reveal marriage as the individual’s space, which allows the subversion of social stereotypes and the manifestation of the individual’s inherent fluidity and changeability. ford and tolstoy devise situations, in which their characters have to face ceaseless ontological fluidity and to construct their epistemic frameworks that will justify their truths and beliefs. the two writers emphasize doubt, uncertainty, and anxiety as key elements of the existential journey. in this light, marriage provides space for self-reflection: changes that the characters undergo lay the foundations for the ability to construct individual worlds out of multiple fragments. john dowell, the narrator of the good soldier who is rather disconnected with the world and with others, laments over the loss of stability and attempts to find the way to restore tranquility and “perfect smoothness” of being: “isn’t there any heaven where old beautiful dances, old 57 articles beautiful intimacies prolong themselves? isn’t there any nirvana pervaded by the faint thrilling of instruments that have fallen into the dust of wormwood but that yet had frail, tremulous, and everlasting souls?” (11). the answer to these questions is epitomized by the inevitability of loneliness. dowell confesses: “i know nothing—nothing in the world—of the hearts of men. i only know that i am alone—horribly alone” (13). in the good soldier, marriage discloses loneliness as a mode of existence, and the struggle with emotional confusion turns into a lonely journey, highlighting the individual’s disconnection with others. “it is as if one had a dual personality,” says dowell as “the saddest story” progresses, “the one i being entirely unconscious of the other” (186-187). observing the outside world, dowell moves inward: loneliness appears to be accepted as a way of being. pointing out dowell’s estrangement, decoste states, “dowell himself reports his fundamental estrangement from other human beings with utter equanimity” (110). moreover, estrangement becomes pervasive: just as the dowell’s marriage is rendered barren by our narrator’s flight from vulgar intimacy, left nothing but a loveless tissue of routine betrayals and truths carefully left unspoken, so too is the ashburnhams’ perfection predicated upon an alienation perpetuated by silence. . . . the primary fact of this relationships is its not-expressive character, its being a union in which only separation is possible, precisely because nothing may be said. (111) distance and detachment help survive in the environment of undermined certainty: dowell is deprived of unshakeable belief. in this context, dowell’s marriage, marked by disconnection and the lack of intimacy (the ashburnhams’ marriage is no exception) highlights the utmost loneliness, which can hardly be healed. in light of dowell’s loneliness, john rodden acutely notes, “unable to forge a family romance and unable to control his projected objects and thereby himself, dowell suffers extreme loneliness and paranoid anxiety” (880). dowell is overwhelmed with loneliness and anxiety; however, his perception of this state is rather ambiguous. while being aware of his emotional lostness, dowell appears to be ready to embrace instability. doubts dominate and control dowell’s life. the narrator seems to be unable (or reluctant?) to see his wife’s infidelity, which gestures toward the lack of stamina to resist doubt. however, i would like to suggest that dowell is indifferent to his wife’s affairs, rather than unable or reluctant to accept the fact that numerous adulteries damaged his marriage. for dowell, indifference is a way to deal with doubt: not being attached to anything liberates and empowers. detachment and indifference allow dowell to see and experience the environments from different perspectives. in his narrative, dowell unveils not only his life but also the life of his wife and the ashburnhams. this strategy intensifies the narrative’s all-inclusiveness, in which a variety of impacts and affects is considered. when narrating the adulteries, in which he himself is involved, dowell represents multiple viewpoints (his own, edward’s, leonora’s, and florence’s), which disclose a multiplicity of perceptions, subverting any harmonious unanimity. in one of his observations, dowell laments: 58 crossroads. a journal of english studies upon my word, i couldn’t tell you offhand whether the lady who sold the so expensive violets at the bottom of the road that leads to the station, was cheating me or no; i can’t say whether the porter who carried our traps across the station at leghorn was a thief it no when he said that the regular tariff was a lira a parcel. the instances of honesty that one comes across in this world are just as amazing as the instances of dishonesty. (64) the details mentioned in this paragraph—violets which are bought at the bottom of the road and the porter at the station at leghorn—seem insignificant. however, minor occurrences are followed by more abstract speculations: “after forty-five years of mixing with one’s kind, one ought to have acquired the habit of being able to know something about one’s fellow beings. but one doesn’t” (64). the intermingling of narrative dimensions extends dowell’s loss of certainty to the all-encompassing level. in this context, marriage in the good soldier is a site of inner, as well as outer, struggles, where the individual is presented in the epicenter of uncertainty and chaos. in ford’s novel, marital relationships are chaotic and uncertain: florence manipulates dowell; edward and leonora resemble dishonest business partners; dowell seems to manipulate everybody, avoiding any kind of ties and connections. apart from political and social subcontexts that ford’s chaotic marriages may evoke, they also reveal the individual’s confusion, which is brought forward by the repercussions of the fin de siecle atmosphere. anxiety and uncertainty pervade dowell’s narrative: his inability to connect with others marks the loss of basis that structures weltanschauung. “but upon my word,” says dowell, speculating on the nothingness of his life, “i don’t know how we put in our time, how does one put on one’s time? how is it possible to have achieved nine years and to have nothing whatever to show for it? nothing whatever, you understand” (63). nothingness seems to be the core of dowell’s life: he does not have a partner, he does not believe in love and friendship, he is incapable of sympathy and understanding. although overwhelmed with the void, dowell makes an attempt to find meaning in a meaningless world. chaotic marriages that do not have space for connection and connectedness emphasize the existential loneliness. aestheticizing loneliness, ford liberates both its destructive and constructive energies. no character in the good soldier can maintain connection with others; nevertheless, loneliness, at least for dowell, produces space for inquiries and questions, reflecting not only his anxieties and uncertainties but also his doubts. dowell’s unreliability as a narrator reflects his doubtful soul as well. he seems not to doubt one thing—he has doubts. doubt keeps the narrative moving back and forth, producing space for liberty and creativity, which nourishes the confused mind. in the good soldier, loneliness is an accepted fact of the individual’s existence. tolstoy employs the marriage topic to deal with loneliness, to find ways to overcome uncertainty. this conversation about loneliness and uncertainty creates a crossing point between ford and tolstoy. in addition, the two writers involve doubt that reflects fluid and changing identity. although inseparable from uncertainty and from the loss of stability, doubt signals an inquiring spirit, gesturing toward existential freedom. ford and tolstoy echo each other in their attempt to reveal an ambiguous nature of uncertainty: as a notion that encompasses both constructive and destructive components. 59 articles tolstoy develops his characters’ nature by including doubts into their worldviews: anna karenina, darya alexandrovna, konstantin levin, even stepan arkadyevitch. however, kitty’s struggles exemplify a painful confrontation with doubts, entailing further spiritual transformations that expose the fluidity of the individual. refining kitty’s complicated character, tolstoy masterfully connects spiritual doubts with heart matters and marriage ideals. kitty is first introduced as a beautiful young woman who is in love with alexey vronsky. (at least she believes she sincerely loves him and dreams to become his wife.) for this reason, she rejects levin’s proposal, hoping to build a happy marriage with vronsky. her heart, however, is broken after vronsky meets and falls in love with anna: kitty suffers from depression, which worries and puzzles her parents, who cannot understand the origin of their daughter’s physical and emotional ailment. in search for the physical, emotional, and spiritual balance, kitty opens herself to the world, attempting to come to terms with her pain and discomfort. after meeting madame stahl and varenka, kitty believes that she discovers “the new life,” in which she will be able not only to recover from the pain caused by vronsky but also to find spiritual peace and tranquility, deprived of emotional turmoil: “in varenka she realized that one has but forget oneself and love others, and one will be calm, happy, and noble” (204). tolstoy portrays kitty as an independent seeker for her own truth: instead of abiding by the traditions of the aristocratic society in which matchmaking and marriage business are common practices. kitty does not believe in loveless marriages organized on the basis of financial profit. after her painful experience with vronsky, kitty is convinced that the secret to meaningful life lies in the service to mankind and in the wholehearted self-sacrifice. nevertheless, doubt disturbs kitty’s confidence and seemingly resumed peace: “this doubt poisoned the charm of her new life” (206). her suspicions concerning the sincerity of madame stahl’s and varenka’s deeds and intentions are augmented by her father’s (prince alexander shtcherbatsky) indirect subversion of their generosity and charity: “. . . [i]t’s better when [one] does good so that you may ask everyone and no one knows” (210). it may seem that kitty is influenced by her father’s comments; however, her hesitations develop long before the prince’s remark. in anna karenina, doubt is a manifestation of independent thinking and individual choice, accompanying spiritual and existential quest. kitty’s quest also epitomizes the individual’s changeability and fluidity, discovered through the emotional confusion. kitty’s emotional turmoil and her longing for certainty, to some extent, is intertwined with levin’s quest for inner peace. the intersection of the two narrative lines represents the individual’s interaction with others as a way to overcome doubt and loneliness, which, according to tolstoy, disturb inner peace and harmony. as ford, tolstoy views uncertainty as an inextricable part of existence. unlike ford, however, tolstoy introduces the idea that doubts can (and should) be processed and reduced through genuine interaction with self and others. for levin, marriage is a sacred union, which brings emotional and spiritual stability: “he was so far from conceiving of love for woman apart from marriage that he positively pictured to himself first the family, and only secondarily the woman who would give him a family. . . . for levin it was the chief affair of life, on which its whole happiness turned” (87). kitty’s rejection shatters his 60 crossroads. a journal of english studies dreams: “he felt himself, and did not want to be any one else. all he wanted now was to be better than he before. in the first place he resolved that from that day he would give up hoping for any extraordinary happiness, such as marriage must have given him, and consequently he would not so disdain what he really had” (85). to cope with his pain, levin decides to emotionally detach from the worldly environments and indulge in his isolation: “this lovely spring roused levin still more, renouncing all his past and building up his lonely life firmly and independently” (137). although spring brings the sense of resurrection, it primarily emphasizes physical well-being while hiding wounds that still need to be healed. at the moment of resolute decision to never pursue marriage, levin feels that “in the depth of his soul something had been put in its place, settled down, and laid to rest” (88). however, this state of illusory peace and tranquility, deepened by isolation and seclusion, highlights the loss of hope and despondency. the individual’s strong spirit inspires openness to others: isolation is a sign of a damaged self. loneliness which levin considers blissful reveals its artificial nature as soon as he finds out that kitty did not marry vronsky. it is peculiar that levin’s solitude—physical and emotional— is disturbed when he connects with nature. nature serves to emphasize the naturalness of seeking connection with others, as opposed to isolation and seclusion. when stepan arkadyevitch comes to his estate, levin attempts to block his fond memories of kitty. stepan arkadyevitch is impressed with his happiness; and levin seems confident to declare: “perhaps because i rejoice in what i have, and don’t fret what i haven’t” (147). however, this episode exposes his deliberate selfdeception. discovering that kitty suffers physically and emotionally, levin cannot hide his rejoice: “on the way home levin asked all the details of kitty’s illness and the shtcherbatskys’ plans, and though he would have been ashamed to admit it, he was pleased at what he heard” (150-151). levin experiences emotional resurrection: he still sincerely loves kitty. for tolstoy, sincere love and sincere marriage are steps toward the life grounded in faith and certainty. however, this life transpires when a seeking spirit develops: the individual has to find their own way to existential satisfaction and to gain control over doubt and uncertainty.16 as kitty, who is tormented by the necessity to make a choice between prioritizing her own self and serving others, levin seems to be tortured by doubts regarding the benevolence of his solitude. tolstoy employs love stories to narrate changes that take place when the individual faces contradictions and ambiguities. the emphasis on the individual brings forth intimacy, which appears to sustain a sincere dialogue with self and others. after breaking up with kitty, levin develops sensitivity, accompanied by vulnerability. when levin makes his decision to separate himself from kitty, he is anxious to be honest with himself. rationalizing his choice, he convinces himself that loneliness is his true path. choosing detach16 tolstoy’s resurrection can be rather productive for further transliterary and interdisciplinary explorations of anxiety, doubt, emotional confusion and of the ways to recover from negative experiences in order to modify one’s life. this novel also provides material for the analysis of how damaging experiences shape the individual’s perception of self and others. 61 articles ment and isolation, levin deviates from his sincerity. although he may have found some serenity, residing in his estate and devoting his time to agricultural business, levin suffers from anxiety and restlessness, intensified by his doubtful and questioning mind. he unsuccessfully attempts to persuade himself that he follows his “true” voice when choosing a secluded life. his sincere and genuine love for kitty, as well as his genuine desire to find happiness while being married to the woman he sincerely loves, are reignited the moment kitty re-enters his life: “‘no,” he said to himself, ‘however good that life of simplicity and toil may be, i cannot go back to it. i love her’” (252). sincerity becomes a uniting element for levin and kitty. if levin sustains his sincerity throughout his painful process of coping with the rejection, kitty discovers sincerity when managing the pain caused by vronsky’s indifference. levin and kitty experience excruciating doubts before they discover a sincere connection that creates space not only for happiness but for doubt and uncertainty as well. while doubt and anxiety constitute part of life and existence, sincerity is a means to turn their destructive energy into a constructive one. in tolstoy’s interpretation, sincerity is granted to everyone. however, it is also presented as a choice. marked by the lack of connection and sincerity, the relationship of oblonsky and darya alexandrovna, for instance, is doomed: the two people are engaged in a show marriage. anna and vronsky are also given a chance to develop the ability to hear others and to connect with others while cultivating sincerity and genuineness. instead, they are trapped in their worlds, which do not have space for others. in anna karenina, sincerity signals the individual’s ability and willingness to develop connection with others while expanding one’s own world by integrating a diversity of voices. this ability facilitates the establishment of contact zones where different views and perspectives combine. from this perspective, marriage reveals itself as a dialogue of individuals who are open to hear others and to embrace inherent fluidity of existence. do ford’s marriages include sincerity? describing ford’s novel, walter g. creed notes, “the good soldier is a novel of deception. dowell’s wife deceives him, so do the ashburnhams. dowell deceives himself, mostly because he wants to be deceived, and in telling his story, he deceives us as well” (215). at first glance, deceptions—narrative and marital—dominate dowell’s story. dowell changes his narrative angles as if following his swinging moods. nevertheless, this sense of narrative lostness is a trick that dowell employs to elude certainty and finality. scrutinizing the ashburnhams’ relationship, dowell at times develops understanding and compassion, followed by scorn, intolerance, and impatience. as far as his wife is concerned, dowell is not ashamed of revealing his mixed feelings. florence is a target of intolerance and disdain, as well as pity. dowell is rather comfortable about his openness regarding inner conflicts that the marriage brings into his life. whenever his wife is involved, dowell’s narrative acquires multiple shades: “florence was singularly expert as a guide to archeological expeditions and there was nothing she liked so much as taking people round ruins and showing you the window from which some one looked down upon the murder of some one else” (68). avoiding direct criticism, dowell expresses his irony and sarcasm, exposing bitterness that signals emotional detachment from his 62 crossroads. a journal of english studies spouse. their relationship resembles a contract that contains a series of agreements that none of the partners want to follow. nevertheless, they follow the rules, which they still violate one way or another. although the violation is rather invisible, it contributes to inner tensions and conflicts. describing an excursion to the ancient city of m—, dowell provides a number of details: “i don’t suppose the ashburnhams wanted especially to go there and i didn’t especially want to go there myself. but, you understand, there was no objection. it was part of the cure to make an excursion three or four times a week, so that we were all quite unanimous in being grateful to florence for providing the motive power” (63). although marital relationships in this episode do resemble a show, dowell does not hide his sarcasm toward his wife. neither does he conceal his irritation, which is intensified by the presence of his wife and the ashburnhams. at the same time, being aware of his feelings and emotions, which can hardly be categorized as pleasant, dowell is rather genuine and sincere revealing his “ugliness.” dowell scrutinizes with irony and sarcasm the melodramas that edward and leonora are involved into. through these observations he also discloses himself. on the one hand, dowell paints a repelling picture of edward’s and leonora’s marriage, in which dishonesty, adultery, and manipulation reflect power and dominance play. on the other hand, dowell’s non-interference demonstrates his detachment and indifference. the characters of the good soldier question the possibility to maintain connections with others, to have friends, and to cultivate tolerance and understanding. nevertheless, they seem sincere while maintaining their disbelief in a genuine connectedness. from this perspective, ford’s novel does contain sincerity, which, however, differs from tolstoy’s emotional and spiritual sincerity. in the good soldier, sincerity is shifted toward self, bruised with lostness, detachment, and uncertainty: a traditional happy marriage turns into an illusion. yet, being sincere with self and others is one the elements of accepting and embracing doubt and uncertainty. the good soldier and anna karenina conceptualize marriage as a liminal territory where the personal and the communal, subjective and objective, inner and outer combine, bringing forward interrelations and interinfluences, which the individual experiences. understood as a mediator between multiple dimensions, the marriage topos locates the individual in the in-between-ness (gregg and seigworth 1) of the external and internal, encompassing their changeability and fluidity. multiple overlapping stories of anna karenina and a seemingly amorphous structure of the good soldier, which celebrates fragmentation and disjunction, include marriage as an aesthetic element that produces the effect of double-coding: factual plots encode multilayered texts, creating narrative labyrinths, involving a diversity of emotional and psychological concerns that reveal anxieties, intensified by doubt and uncertainty. in the good soldier, emotional and psychological confusion is inevitable. an array of unsuccessful marriages, revolving around infidelities, distance, and disconnection, emphasizes the inner chaos as an accepted fact of the individual’s existence. in anna karenina, emotional lostness also accompanies the protagonists’ struggles, whose intensity increases as doubt and uncertainty become part of epistemic paradigms. thus, this conversation about doubt and uncertainty cre63 articles ates a crossing point between ford and tolstoy. the two writers are intrigued by the individual’s response to the lack of order and structure. dowell, who is overwhelmed with the sense of lostness and loneliness, which, however, is masked with irony and with the lack of connectedness with others, may seem to choose aloofness as a way to protect his own self from disintegration. kitty and levin, on the other hand, when experiencing doubt and the lack of certainty, strive to re-organize their worlds affected by instability. orchestrating marriage turmoil, ford and tolstoy introduce doubt as an accompanying element of spiritual journey: the two writers reveal the ambiguity of instability, which encompasses destructiveness and constructiveness. this gesture toward blurring the boundaries of conventional concepts is rather characteristic of modernist writing. while ford advances modernist modifications, contributing to the ethic and aesthetic fluidity, tolstoy seems to enter a new territory. as a realist, tolstoy objectively portrays the reality, including a variety of nuances. as a modernist, the writer makes a turn toward representing multiple realities: multiple realities reveal multiple truths, bringing existential confusion. a collection of marriage stories that anna karenina comprises demonstrates diverse visions of life and reality, foregrounding modernist fragmentation and disintegration. the good soldier and anna karenina, which may appear different at first glance, share the acceptance of doubt and anxiety as an inextricable part of existence. moreover, the two novels describe the individual’s confusion as natural, as one of the steps toward self-acceptance and inner freedom. ford and tolstoy also value sincerity, which is presented as a way to deal with the sense of lostness and uncertainty: being sincere is being able to hear ones’ own voice and to engage in dialogue with others. however, as ford and tolstoy demonstrate, sincerity has different shades. anna karenina reveals sincerity that helps establish connection and connectedness. in the good soldier, sincerity appears to undermine self and others, but this destructive energy does not reach its ultimate level: the undermining potential of sincerity accompanies fundamental existential reinvention. this aspect, however, is open for further literary investigations: a detailed exploration of ford’s and tolstoy’s ethic and aesthetic nuances will broaden the scope of transliterary and transcultural studies. references biriukov, pavel i. 2000. biographiia l.n. tolsotogo. moskva: algoritm. chernyshevsky, nikolay g. 1947. detstvo i otrochestvo. sochinenie grafa l.n. tolstogo. in: n.g. chernyshevsky, polnoe sobranie sochineniy, volume 3, 421-43. moskva: goslitizdat. creed, walter g. 1980. the good soldier: knowing and judging. proquest dissertations & theses global: 00138339. 20 feb. 2015. de angelis, rose. 2007. narrative triangulations: truth, identity, and desire in ford madox ford’s the good soldier. english studies: a journal of english language and literature 88.4. 425-46. decoste, damon marcel. 2007. ‘a frank expression of personality’? sentimentality, silence and early modernist aesthetics in the good soldier. journal of modern literature, vol. 31, no.1. 101-23. 64 crossroads. a journal of english studies flanagan, anne marie. 1999. between anger and irony: representations of women in the work of ford madox ford. proquest dissertations & theses global: 304544388. 20 feb. 2015. ford, madox ford. 2013. the good soldier. n. p.: the perfect library. gregg, melissa, and gregory j. seigworth. 2010. an inventory of shimmers, 1-26. in: m. gregg and g.j. seigworth (eds.), the affect theory reader, durham: duke up. kirschstein, bette h. 1993. gender, self, and society in ford madox ford. proquest dissertations & theses global: 304029249. 17 mar. 2015. lovell, stephen. 2004. finitude at the fin de siècle: il’ia mechnikov and lev tolstoy on death and life. russian review, vol. 63, no. 2, apr. 296-316. mclean, hugh. 2011. the tolstoy marriage revisited—many times. canadian slavonic papers / revue canadienne des slavistes, vol.53, no. 1, mar. 65-79. mandelker, amy. 1996. framing anna karenina: tolstoy, the woman question, and the victorian novel. columbus: ohio state up. merezhkovsky, dmitrij s. 2000. l.tosloy i dosotoevsky. moskva: nauka. rodden, john. 2011. from minuet de la cour to cri de coeur: movements of the heart in ford’s the good soldier. english studies: a journal of english language and literature 92.8. 868-895. shklovsky, viktor. 1963. lev tolstoy. moskva: molodaia gvardia. strakhov, nikolay n. 1984. literaturnaya kritika. moskva: soveremennik. tolstoy, leo. 2012. anna karenina, translated by constance garnett. n.p.: createspace independent publishing platform. polysemy in language and thought 19 articles siergiej grinev-griniewicz university of białystok polysemy in language and thought abstract. this paper focuses on the present state of investigation into polysemy, taking into account drawbacks of the existing definitions of this phenomenon. it was found that in polish and russian linguistic manuals and encyclopaedias, polysemy as a phenomenon is equalled with a quality for which a new term – polysemantism may be suggested. a brief survey of some of the existing directions in the research of this phenomenon from the point of view of terminology science, translation, terminography and cognition makes it possible to identify some new types of polysemy. a peculiar character of relations between polysemy and homonymy is shown, three sources of polysemy are indicated and such varieties of polysemy as regular polysemy, hyponymic polysemy and consubstantivety are revealed. in translation we come across interlingual hidden polysemy. the development of terminography leads to discovering artificial polysemy and misleading polysemy which are causes of spoiling quality of both dictionaries and translation. in cognition evolution research anthropolinguistic studies made it possible to discover diachronic hidden polysemy of the early words. there are reasons to believe that the development of cognition is based on and results in eliminating this type of hidden polysemy. the resulting tentative classification of types of polysemy reflects progress in investigating this phenomenon and may be used in further research. keywords: types of polysemy, terminology, translation, translating dictionaries, evolution of cognition. introduction though polysemy has been known for more than 25 centuries, and used as an argument against the theory of words formed by the nature of objects, there are still some unclear points about this phenomenon. in the chapter “polysemy” in the modern english manual on lexicology we read that “…despite the apparent simplicity, the concept of polysemy is complex and involves a certain number of problems” (jackson, amvela 2007: 69). the authors mention the problems of the difficulty in recognizing polysemy (as opposed to homonymy), transference of meanings and the problem of the number of meanings isolated by different specialists, but there are other problems too. in this paper some of these problems, namely terminological problems of naming and defining polysemy, as well as advances in investigating polysemy in a number of directions, such as terminology science, translation, terminography and cognition are going to be discussed. 10.15290/cr.2016.12.1.02 20 crossroads. a journal of english studies terminological problems of naming polysemy it is well known in terminology science that the state of terminology may influence the rate of growth of knowledge. for example, the term “chemical analysis” introduced by r. boyle played an important role in the understanding of manipulations with substances as purposeful activities and contributed to establishing chemistry as a science. even more influence on development of science came with an introduction of a system of terms (which usually presupposes systematising respective concepts). thus, the introduction of biological nomenclature in the 18th century led to the extraordinary flourishing of biological sciences and stimulated the analogous activities in chemistry. on the other hand, there are many instances of stagnation or complete absence of progress in sciences due to inadequate terminology or absence of the necessary terminology. such was the case with polysemy – this phenomenon received its name (introduced by m. breal) only at the end of the 19th century. since the absence of a name makes analysis of the corresponding concept very difficult this means that for a very long period polysemy was not properly investigated. with introducing the term there appeared possibilities of more detailed research of this phenomenon in the 20th century. nowadays there are certain difficulties with defining polysemy in some languages, especially slavonic, though the notion of polysemy seems to be well-known even outside linguistics. in polish and russian linguistic manuals and encyclopedias polysemy is equated with a quality of having several meanings (polysemantism). in encyklopedia języka polskiego [encyclopedia of the polish language] (1994) we read: “polisemia (wieloznaczność) polega na tym, iż jakiś element językowy posiada dwa lub kilka różnych znaczeń” [polysemy (polysemantism) is based on the fact that a certain language element has two or several different meanings; transl. author: s.g.-g.]. according to encyklopedia językoznawstwa ogólnego [encyclopedia of general linguistics] (1999) “polisemia or wieloznaczność – posiadanie przez wyrażenie językowe kilku znaczeń [polysemy or polysemantism – the possession by a linguistic expression of several meanings; transl. author: s.g.-g.]”. czesław lachur states that “wieloznaczność (polisemia) polega na tym, że dany leksem ma kilka (co najmniej dwa – wtedy mówi się o “dwuznaczności” jako przypadku polisemii) dających się wyodrębnić znaczeń (zakresów znaczeniowych), które łącznie dają się podporządkować określonemu pojęciu nadrzędnemu [polysemantism (polysemy) is based on the fact that a given lexeme has several (at least two – then it is called “ambiguity”, a type of polysemy) possible to discriminate between meanings (semantic domains) which collectively might be subordinated to a definite subordinate concept; transl. author: s.g.-g.]” (lachur 2004: 175). in russian manuals and encyclopedias we find the same approach: “polysemy – polysemantism of a word, one word having several lexical meanings” (кондаков 1976; transl. author); “polysemy, i.e. ‘polysemantism’ is a feature of majority of everyday words” (реформатский 1996: 81; transl. author: s.g.-g.); 21 articles “polysemy – the presence in one and the same word of several lexical meanings; polysemantism” (ефремова 2000; transl. author: s.g.-g.); “polysemy – polysemantism of a word” (ганеев 2001: 64; transl. author: s.g.-g.) “polysemy ling. polysemantism of a word, the presence of several meanings” (крысин 2008; transl. author: s.g.-g.); “polysemy. in linguistics: the presence of more than one meaning in a word, polysemantism” (ожегов 2008-2009; transl. author: s.g.-g.) “polysemy – polysemantism, multi-variance, that is the presence in a word (language unit, term) of two or more meanings, historically conditioned or inter-related in meaning and origin” (ru.wikipedia.org; transl. author: s.g.-g.). equating polysemy with polysemanticism may take the form of simply presenting the two terms as synonyms: “…relation “one more than to one”, one phonetic word in relation to many objects and meanings, i.e. polysemantism of a word. sometimes the same phenomenon is called by the term polysemy” (степанов 1975: 20; transl. author: s.g.-g.); “…the ability of words to have several meanings is called polysemantism, or polysemy” (фомина 1978: 37; transl. author: s.g.-g.); “…for the vast majority of words of language polysemantism or polysemy is typical” (маслов 1987: 102; transl. author: s.g.-g.); “polysemy (polysemantism) – the presence in a language unit of more than one – two or more – meanings” (лингвистический… 1990; transl. author: s.g.-g.). “polysemy, polysemantism – the presence of more than one meaning in a word” (энциклопедия “русский язык” 1997; transl. author: s.g.-g.); “polysemantism of a word, or polysemy – is a presence in one and the same word of several interconnected meanings” (вендина 2002: 136; transl. author: s.g.-g.); “polysemantism or polysemy of a word (from latin poly – «many»+ sema – «sign») – is a presence in a language unit of more than one meaning on condition of semantic relation between them or of transfer of the common or adjacent features of functions from one denotate to another” (елисеева 2003: 17; transl. author: s.g.-g.); “…one of the results of development of lexical meaning is polysemantism of a word (polysemy)” (головин 2005: 62; transl. author: s.g.-g.). equating the two terms may also be noticed in descriptions of the phenomenon in question in which these terms are used as synonyms: “polysemy – the ability of a word to have more than one meaning. … polysemantism – is a universal language phenomenon, existing in a vast majority of words of any “living” (modern) language” (алефиренко 2007: 207, 209; transl. author: s.g.-g.). jan malczewski who defines polysemy as a phenomenon – “zjawisko polegające na tym, że jeden element językowy ... posiada więcej niż jedno znaczenie” [a phenomenon which is based on the fact that one language element …has more than one meaning; transl. author: s.g.-g.], presents “wieloznaczność (polysemantism)” as another name for this phenomenon (malczewski 1993). 22 crossroads. a journal of english studies thus both in polish and in russian, polysemy, which is a phenomenon, is equated with “polysemantism” – a quality of having several meanings. it is clearly seen in the form of the two terms – “polisemia (polysemy)” and “wieloznaczność (polysemantism)” that only the first one is formally suitable to name a phenomenon, while the second is proper to name a quality. confusing phenomena and properties which are different ontological and epistemological categories constitutes an epistemological outrage which unfortunately may be noticed in many basic manuals and encyclopaedias. in some publications the term “wieloznaczność (polysemantism)” is used to name the phenomenon, i.e. danuta butler views “wieloznaczność wyrazów (polysemantism of words)” as a phenomenon (butler 1987: 132). what is quite surprising is the absence of information on polysemy in some linguistic publications. thus władysław miodunka in a manual of lexicology and lexicography (where polysemy should be given special attention) completely ignores polysemy (miodunka 1989). the only polish author who notices the danger of confusing two different concepts is adam weinsberg, who differentiates between “polisemia (polysemy)” and “polisemiczność (polysemantism)”, suggesting a new appropriate term for the quality (weinsberg 1983: 42, 45). another approach towards this problem (in conformity with the well-known tendency for divergence of meanings of synonyms) might be using the term polisemia (polysemy) for the phenomenon and wieloznaczność (polysemantism) for the quality. this approach is used by a. ja. szajkiewicz – “if between several similarly expressed meanings may be established a semantic relation, they are regarded as different meanings of one and the same word. such a word is called mnogoznaczny (polysemantic), and the phenomenon itself is called polysemy (шайкевич 2005: 141; transl. author: s.g.-g.). in both cases the authors evade confusing phenomenon and property. in english publications this problem does not exist, since there is only one term used; the authors of linguistic publications understand polysemy only as a phenomenon (lyons 1976: 447; mcarthur 1992, koskela and murphy 2006: 742; jackson and amvela 2007). in this case the respective quality is ignored and lacks a name, which may hinder research in this direction. we may suggest a respective name – “polysemanticity” or “polysemantism” (which both exist in english as shown in the oxford english dictionary). quite a separate position is taken by pius ten hacken from the swansea university who firmly rejects the possibility of applying a quantitative approach in exploring polysemy, stating: “i see the entire enterprise of counting the number of senses for a particular word as rather dubious”. he is critical of the existing practice of presenting polysemic words in dictionaries by enumerating their meanings. nevertheless, though sometimes it is quite difficult to separate between close meanings lexicologists and lexicographers still present numerous examples of polysemy, while in the majority of modern defining, translating, educational dictionaries, and dictionaries of synonymy most entries contain several definitions, translations or groups of synonyms. unfortunately, a hesitant attitude towards the phenomenon of polysemy does not seem to solve this problem. we may also observe the insufficient state of exploration of polysemy as reflected in failing to perceive varieties of this phenomenon in the manuals, dictionaries and encyclopedias. the few exceptions are manuals of czesław lachur and a.ja. szajkiewicz and works of ju. d. apresjan. 23 articles czeslaw lachur, besides noting the traditional radial and chain (concatenation) types of polysemy (cf. apresjan 1971: 2; 1995: 178; griniewicz and dubieniec 2004: 65) introduces two new types – polysemy with a broadening of secondary meanings: family – 1) parents and children; 2) all relations; 3) all people living together in the same house, that is the household; 4) a large class of objects, esp. in biology; and polysemy with narrowing meanings: number – 1) a place in order; 2) size (of boots, etc.); 3) next copy (of newspaper); 4) next performance in a concert; 5) a hotel room (lachur 2004: 175-176). a.ja. szajkiewicz in a separate chapter devoted to polysemy introduces monocentric polysemy (with one original meaning) and polycentric polysemy, presupposing two or more semantic centres (шайкевич 2005: 144). in his works ju.d. apresjan conducts a profound analysis of polysemy and introduces a number of new types of this phenomenon. firstly, on the basis of the way of meaning transfer he discerns between metonymic and metaphorical motivated polysemantism. it should be mentioned that those ways of semantic change in connection with polysemy are discussed in many publications, but without proposing any respective types of polysemy. moreover, from the point of view of regularity in forming derivative meanings of a certain type he suggests establishing regular (in which the relation between the senses is predictable in that any word of a particular semantic class potentially has the same variety of meanings) and non-regular polysemy or polysemantism (апресян 1971: 2, 7; 1995: 178, 189-190; apresjan 1995: 174, 181-204). fourthly, in the last 50 years some new aspects of investigating polysemy from the point of view of terminology science, translation theory, terminography, evolution of cognition and human mentality have appeared. as the result of that, new types of polysemy have been discovered. polysemy from the point of view of terminology science in terminology science the problem of polysemy took a controversial character. in the 1960-70s many terminologists disputed the existence of such phenomena as polysemy in terminology, because, due to strict definiteness of scientific and technical concepts the respective terminological meanings must be also strictly defined and separated. therefore, in reality we are dealing not with meanings of one and the same term, but with homonymous terms (i.e. terminological form morphology is used in quite different meanings in linguistics, biology and geology). even in the process of metaphorical formation of a new term, semantic analogy or common characteristics are realised only immediately at the moment of formation of a new term and soon after that are consciously ignored. usually new terms belong to different terminologies and this promotes alienation of kindred meanings and gaining by respective terms the status of homonyms, i.e. terms glyba in construction (cob, angular stone more than 200 mm in size) and in pedology (clod 10-200 mm in size), rehabilitation in medicine and law (grinev 1993: 7; 1994: 52; ��и�ев-��и�е-��и�ев-��и�е--��и�е-��и�евич 2008: 96-97). then it was noticed that in some cases of metaphorical formation of a new term, both terms often stay in the same terminology and their kinship is quite visible. for example, assimilation in linguistics has 2 meanings: 24 crossroads. a journal of english studies • assimilation /1/ – a process of adjusting the articulation of the adjacent sounds that happens between the same types (usually consonants) of sounds. • assimilation /2/ – a process of bringing a borrowed word into correspondence with the graphic, phonetic, grammatical and lexical norms of the accepting language. there are three such cases. firstly, in creating new terms with the help of metonymic transfer there is a tendency to use names of processes also for the results of these processes e.g. roofing, flooring, carpeting, classification, definition, borrowing, assimilation, isolation, cladding. this phenomenon has a regular character and according to the results of our research in russian, it happens in 65% cases (��и�ев-��и�евич 2008: 133). in such cases, the old and the new terms exist side-by-side, which is inconvenient. secondly, there are cases when the same form is used simultaneously in the broader and the narrower meanings. for example, the term walls in its broader meaning includes partitions, but in a narrow meaning it is opposed to partitions because inner walls carry loads, while partitions do not. in the same way water treatment is divided into mineral water treatment and water treatment proper. balneology in a broader meaning includes fangotherapy (mud treatment) while in the narrow meaning is opposed to it. in these cases the same form functions as hypernym and hyponym, and situation of hyponymic relation between meanings constitutes hyponymic polysemy. thirdly, in a number of cases in the same discipline independently appear terms with the same form and similar meanings: in linguistics we have idiom/1/ (language or dialect) and idiom/2/ (phraseological unit functioning only in a given language) (mcarthur 1992), also assimilation/1/ and assimilation/2/. in lexicology we have doublets/1/ (two or more words originating from one source) and doublets/2/ (absolute synonyms). this leads to hesitations in viewing such cases as homonymy or polysemy and though the former seems to be preferable from the point of view of logic, now in terminological practice, as well as in theory, the second case of using of one and the same lexeme to denote two related concepts within the boundaries of a subject field is considered polysemy. thus in terminology, we may find both homonymy and polysemy where in both cases one lexical form is used for naming different concepts. the criterion for discriminating between them in terminology was proposed by v.m. leichik. if in the process of splitting of the meaning or transfer of the name in the semantic structure of the resulting terms the main seme remains common and the secondary semes differentiate then we have polysemy; if the main seme is different then we have homonymy (лейчик 1991: 119). this is true for the third case when it is clearly seen that the same form is used to denote similar but different concepts. additionally at the annual international terminological conference organized in 2011 by the russian technical committee 55 “terminology” an agreement was reached to regard the transfer of names of processes on the results of these processes as homonymy, since processes and their results belong to different ontological and logical categories. thus we may consider the existence in terminology of both homonymy and polysemy as established. the difference between them lies in the fact that in polysemy in the meaning of both terms the common seme is principal, while in homonymy the common seme is secondary. at 25 articles the same time there are types of polysemy which are generally unknown and not yet sufficiently investigated, especially various types of hidden polysemy. generally speaking we may divide polysemy types into overt (open, explicit) and covert (hidden, implicit) types. the latter may be said to include consubstantibility – the use of the same form in different functional types of lexemes – words, terms and proto-terms. polysemy in professional translating since the end of the 20th century in translating special vocabulary, numerous cases of the socalled hidden polysemy have been identified, when a term in one language corresponds to two or more terms in another language due to the disparity of national terminologies. disparity and peculiarities of national terminologies in many cases result from their unrelated autonomous developments. for example, the most popular translation of the polish term budownictwo is building, which is not always correct because the english term has a much narrower meaning and refers only to building dwellings. it is supplemented by the term civil engineering, which should be used in a number of cases. historically, the term building was used only with reference to living houses. everything else built (such as roads, bridges and tunnels, waterworks, etc.) was regarded as engineering. roads and accompanying artificial structures (such as bridges, tunnels, retaining walls, etc) initially were built for military purposes and, together with defence structures were referred to as military engineering. some communal buildings and structures as, for example, water supply, sewage system, and waterside structures were the domain of civil engineering. therefore the polish term corresponded to two english terms. finally lately there came into usage industrial structures, large agricultural buildings and irrigation structures, communication structures, main pipelines – that were out of this scheme. therefore, the term construction appeared, that unites nowadays all kinds of building activities. thus, in translating we have to pay attention to the proper use of various equivalents (griniewicz 2010: 80). problems of treating polysemy in terminography terminography, which is the theory and practice of compiling terminological dictionaries, is closely connected with translation. we should bear in mind that the dictionary is a main tool of the translator and influences both the quality of translation and the time needed to find the necessary term or to choose between the proposed variants of translating a term. unfortunately the majority of the present dictionaries have faults and perhaps the most grave is the excess of the variants of translation making the choice of the right equivalent a painstaking job. for example, in the most popular english-russian building dictionary (амбу�ге� 1961) the term aeration is translated as aeracija (the right translation), prowetriwanije (airing, slightly different, narrower term), and ventilacija (ventilation, quite a different term, wrong translation). to the right translation ballast of the term ballast (in railroads) two unnecessary and somewhat wrong translations are added – shcheben’ (crushed stone) and gravij (gravel). the term boulder is also translated as bulyzhnik (for which we have the exact equivalent – cobble), gal’ ka (for which we have 26 crossroads. a journal of english studies the exact equivalent – pebble), and гравий (for which we have an exact equivalent – gravel). in the internet the present situation looks even worse. on the site translate.yandex.ru we find the following variants of translating boulder – valun (the exact equivalent), kamen’ (stone – a much broader general concept), glyba (angular stone of the same size, a different concept), bulyzhnik (cobble – smaller stones), skala (rock – quite a different concept). the last four variants are erroneous and lead to fallacious translations. numerous similar examples of superfluous and erroneous equivalents in english-german – german-english special dictionaries were presented in grinev (1999). i think we may call such practice of supplying unnecessary equivalents creating an artificial polysemy and misleading polysemy in the case of providing erroneous equivalents. in the domain of professional medicine we also come across artificial polysemy in translating dictionaries. in the occupational safety and health glossary we find: bezpeczenstwo pracy – occupational safety, industrial safety (the second term is narrower and not an exact equivalent, it is redundant); candidiasis – kandidoz, kandidamikoz; moniliaz; drozhzhevoj mikoz; oidiomikoz; poverhnostnyj blastomikoz (the last 5 terms are exact equivalents, but in the presence of the first, preferable term they are unnecessary and misleading), danger symbol, hazard symbol – preduprezhdajushchij (predosteregajushchij) simvol; znak bezopasnosti; simvol opasnosti – the right russian term is preduprezhdajushchij znak, while the second variant of translation is a disorienting antonym; inspector truda – labour inspector, factory inspector (the second term is narrower, not an exact equivalent, and therefore redundant); fabrichnaja inspekcija – labour inspectorate, factory inspectorate (here the first variant of translation is a broader term); loss of pigmentation (of the skin), achromy, depigmentation, vitiligo – ischeznovenije pigmentaciji na kozhe – this variant of translation is not a term, while there are accepted terms, i.e. vitiligo; machine guard, guard – zashitnoje ustrojstvo, predohranitelnoje ustrojstvo; ograzhdenije – the second variant is a term denoting quite a different concept. according to our estimates, more than 90% of the existing translating dictionaries contain excessive and often – misleading translations. even when the additional translation variants are correct, they induce hesitation; create an illusion of slight differences between the offered equivalents and cause embarrassment of the translator. in our opinion such artificial polysemy is unnecessary and therefore harmful. the role of polysemy in the evolution of cognition diachronic investigation of terminologies has led to the discovery of one more type of hidden polysemy – multitemporal (or diachronic) hidden polysemy, taking the form of semantic syncretism. in a number of cases the original meaning was quite dissimilar from the modern one – the analysis of the basic terms of emotion showed that in many cases the initial meaning was different. in some cases it firstly named the cause of emotion: wonder – something causing surprise; fear – danger, grief – something causing suffering; anger – something causing pain or irritation, distress – stress, fun – practical joke. 27 articles it was also found that in the history of human evolution there is hidden fused polysemy in the semantic characteristics of the early word-stock. we can find rich evidence of loose bunches of meanings in old languages or old stages of modern languages. one of the remarkable features of anglo-saxon words is the diversity of meanings included in their semantic structure, e.g. beodan – to bid, command, proclaim, offer, give; bliþ – joyful, merry, gentle, kind, sweet, calm; brucan – to use, enjoy, eat, employ. in many cases the meaning of an anglo-saxon word encompasses many present-day notions, e.g. aldor – life, age, parent; cynn – a sort, kind, race, family, nation; cyst – choice, election, what is chosen, excellence, virtue, goodness; cræft – power, might, art, skill, trade, knowledge, cunning, any kind of ship; feoh – cattle, money, value, fee, reward, property; rūn – whisper, mystery, secret, letter; talu – tale, story, talk, account. from the modern point of view, the next remarkable feature of initial polysemy is combining hardly compatible meanings, e.g. feolah – to cleave, stick, adhere, to reach, come, pass; dreorig – bloody, sorry, sorrowful, cruel, wounded; duguð – manhood, multitude, glory, power, advantage, prosperity. sometimes it even takes the form of enantiosemy: dreogan – to do, to work, to perform, to endure, to suffer; to enjoy; gretan – to welcome, to bid farewell. there are reasons to believe that what we now describe as polysemy in old languages took the shape of vagueness of meaning based on the absence of differentiation between notions which are quite different from the present-day, but which are somewhat similar or may have something in common. in many cases we may observe the absence of stable borders of meanings of an old word such as in the following oe words: dōm – judgement, decree, law, command, power, dignity, free will, choice; lāþ – something hateful, something harmful, something evil, injury, grief, pain, enmity; searo – device, design, craft, artifice, arms, equipment. in some cases the meaning of an old english word points to a certain general idea underlying particular meanings: ansyn – face, countenance; sight, form, figure; beah – ring, bracelet, collar; flota – ship, fleet, sailor; facen – deceit, evil, crime; greot – sand, dust, grit (griniewicz 2007: 39-41). commenting on polysemy of old english words one of the investigators concludes that it is practically impossible to differentiate between the meanings even with the help of the context, because we are dealing here rather with a broad meaning combining into dissoluble whole notions which are quite diverse for the present-day reader (доб�у�ова 1980: 9). we may suspect that what we now apprehend as polysemy of the majority of words was not viewed as such by the contemporary speakers. perhaps they did not see the need to differentiate between the kinds of a notion they had not yet fully investigated. conclusions as a result of recent advancement in a number of directions of linguistics the number of the known types of polysemy has grown and may be organised into the following tentative classification: we start with dividing polysemy into overt (explicit, open) and covert (implicit, hidden) polysemy. the first may be further subdivided (on the basis of ways of formation) into metaphoric and metonymic subtypes, and also (on basis of the character of development) into radial polysemy 28 crossroads. a journal of english studies (when the primary meaning stands in the centre and the secondary meanings proceed out of it like rays) and concatenation or chain polysemy (when secondary meanings of a word develop in succession like a chain). the same category comprises systematic (or regular) polysemy, in which the relation between the senses is predictable in that any word of a particular semantic class potentially has the same variety of meanings. in terminology we find polysemy with hyponymic relation between meanings of a term that may be called hyponymic. to these varieties of polysemy we should add the well-known in linguistics enantiosemy – combining the opposite meanings in one word, “‘…enantiosemy,’ the presence of polysemies in which one sense is in some respect the opposite of the other” (traugott 2006: 129). examples are: scan – 1) careful observation from point to point; 2) cursory glancing from point to point; eye – 1) to look at sth (ice-cream) with desire; 2) to look coolly. traditionally it is viewed as antonymy (cf. новиков 1990: 36). to the covert polysemy belong interlingual polysemy (monosemic word having several meanings in a different language) and diachronic polysemy (almost every old word used to have several meanings). strictly speaking, since man began to form ideas about the surrounding world and to find words to name those ideas, eliminating hidden polysemy of initial words has been the most effective means in forging a better understanding of the world we live in, as well as ourselves. removing such hidden diachronic polysemy contributes to enhancing our cognition, to the development of science and to the evolution of the human mind. however accurate and precise we may view meanings of words (even terms) belonging to the present-day vocabulary, there is no guarantee that in the next century they (or at least some of them) will not be perceived as inexact and ambiguous. perhaps one of the essential characteristics of human knowledge growth and anthropogenesis in general is an eternal quest for the elimination of polysemy. references apresjan, jurij d. 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to explore the world of can themba, a foremost literary figure during the era of apartheid. through an examination of a selection of his short stories we realise that writers often found subtextual ways of confronting that pernicious system. this article argues that themba did just that. finally it also seeks to make problematic issues of labelling  and stereotyping. key words: apartheid, township, myopic, allegorical, cultural morality, tsotsi. this article hopes to perhaps revive an interest in can themba’s writing. to do this it explores and examines can themba’s short stories with particular reference to ‘mob passion’, ‘passionate stranger ‘, ‘the dube train’, ‘forbidden love’, and ‘the will to die’. these stories exemplify the veneer of ‘normality’ propagated by a regime intent on a systemic cultural hegemony, where the lives of swathes of people were usurped at the expense of privileging the few. by definition a work of art eschews superficial and inconsequential criticism. instead, its literary significance arises in many diverse contexts. a work of fiction is no different. for any literary work to be meaningful to an audience it not only has to be appreciated in terms of its entertainment value but perhaps of greater import is its place in a contextual literary milieu. can themba’s work suggests a rebuttal of a system (of apartheid) that had become so entrenched in the social and individual mores of that society, that it had become the norm and therefore unproblematic. through an analysis of some of his short stories we see his narratives exploring deeply intertwined nuances of the apartheid system. we also begin to understand that they also demonstrate an ideological shift from the tacit acceptance (of apartheid norms) to a more symbolically oriented critique of the system. we as audience enjoy his engaging storytelling and then also begin to ponder their sub-textual revelations. the name can themba means something to the ‘drum generation’. in the fifties and sixties he exemplified the easy flowing literary style of the intellectualized ‘township’ individual who wrote under apartheid. he weaved into his writing closely observed snapshots of life under siege but not at the expense of satire and comedic revelation. he was as achebe once remarked a person who 14 crossroads. a journal of english studies ‘moved and had their being in society’. achebe clearly meant that can themba’s skill as an author was predicated on an intricate knowledge of the nuances of township life where shebeens3 presented themselves as social havens to the foraging street-wise youths. his talents were apparent to all in that era especially the way in which his vividly described characters were often upstaged by his currency of ironic twists. he was born daniel canadoise d’orsay in marabad south africa in 1924. he graduated with a first class degree in english from fort hare university in 1947. he was a person who lived his life to the full in a landscape where the shebeens, with their infusion of township jazz, informed his cultural horizons. he was to exploit this immersion by writing short stories for drum magazine. it presented him with a vehicle to exploit his talents and in particular, his representations of township life. themba was of course part of that life himself since he drew his characterizations from those with whom he interacted. eventually, and perhaps inevitably, he fell prey to the scourge of alcoholism that led him to be sacked as assistant editor of drum in 1959. thereafter he went into voluntary exile in swaziland in 1963 where he worked both as a teacher and writer. in 1966 he was labelled as a ‘statutory communist’ under south africa’s infamous suppression of communism amendment act. his writing as a result became proscribed in south africa. he died in 1967 from cardiac failure. in every story we see themba’s characters interplay their moments of literary ‘humanity’ at differing junctures of their everyday lives in their apartheid conceived ‘townships’, that in turn served as artifices of social division, repression and control. we also suggest that an analysis of themba’s works reveal a deeper structure intertwined with intimations of fanon’s ‘fictionality’4. although his characters display universal norms and mores they arguably serve as symbolic representations of themba’s denunciation of apartheid. in ‘mob passion’ he looks at a world of fratricidal terror. whereas in ‘passionate stranger’ the minutae of ordinary lives are laid bare. he brings us down to earth in ‘the dube train’ where he excels. his allegorical style demonizing (symbolically) the south african state as it then was. it is in this story where the ‘unmasking’ of one of its main characters, the ‘hulk’ occurs and where themba ensures that he (the ‘hulk’) becomes a symbol of people power. in ‘forbidden love’ he demonstrates his awareness of social conflict engendered by a process of stereo-typing and labelling. finally as foxy in ‘the will to die’ he portrays himself. ‘mob passion’ was his prize winning short story and earned him fifty pounds from drum magazine. it has the overtones of a favourite shakespearean tragedy; romeo and juliet. however, the setting of the story typifies themba’s chosen location; that of the township. crime is rife and the internecine feuding represents the inward violence adopted by people in despair. despite themba’s depiction of gang related crime and violence he engages his audience in a manner that elicits sympathy for his characters. 3 shebeen; loosely approximating an informal place, often a house, where alcohol is sold 4 fanon 1967. black skin. white masks. new york: grove press 15 articles the very beginning of ‘mob passion’ sets the focus of the story. the writer immediately engages his audience by suggesting the implicit fear engendered by the railway station: they were heaving and pressing, elbows in faces, bundles bursting, weak ones kneaded. even at the opposite side people were balancing precariously to escape being shoved off the platform. here and there deft fingers were exploring unwary pockets. themba:7 this is south africa in the raw. themba’s characterizations are significant in the story and we are witnesses to his attempt to ‘normalize’ his characters under the abnormality of the apartheid system. he says of his main character: linga was a tall, slender fellow, more man than boy. he was not particularly handsome but he had those tense eyes of the young student who was ever innerly protesting against some wrong or other. themba:7 keeping in mind that this was can themba’s first significant short story we see his romeo and juliet theme dominating a story that is suffused with the violence of the township. juliet (mapula) attempts to save linga (romeo) from her uncle alpheus who represents the ‘aggrieved’ party. she in turn turns on her uncle and axes him: it sank into his neck and down he went. she stepped on his chest and pulled out the axe……..the she saw the mangled body of the man she loved and her nerve snapped. the axe slipped from her hand and she dropped on linga’s body, crying piteously. themba:16 the ‘impossible’ love story is played out in themba’s shakespearean theme where the only winner is the apartheid system that encourages inter-ethnic violence and killing. ‘passionate stranger’ is another important story of themba’s that addresses the issue of outdated ethnic traditions that seem to prevail in modern society. compared to ‘mob passion’ it is written in a light and humorous style whilst portraying a serious dislocation between a father and his daughter. in this story themba ‘escapes’ from the overwhelming inflictions of the apartheid era by providing his audience with both humour and passion. the male protagonist is reginald tshayi who meets the sister (ellen) of his friend osbourne under circumstances where he is branded a ‘tsotsi’. ellen had already been promised to the son of a chief in an arranged forthcoming marriage. however it was love at first sight. they lay in each other’s arms long and still,………the first storm of passion spent a great peace descended on them as soul met soul in perfect unity. themba:3 however her father wants her to adhere to his wishes. eventually she confronts the chief ’s representatives and convinces them of her love for another. the marriage is called off and we the audience realize that ellen’s defiance stands both as a motif and as a symbol of her individuality and resistance to an outmoded (apartheid) system. 16 crossroads. a journal of english studies the ‘dube train’ is another of can themba’s stories brim full of symbolic representations of the south african state in the ‘50’s. his allegorical style, in this story aptly demonizes a myopic and oligarchic south africa. his description of the main character the ‘hulk’ conjures up visions of a cartoon-like depiction of a stereo-typical figure with concomitant exaggerated features: the neck was thick and corded, and the enormous chest was a live barrel that heaved back and forth. themba: 150 the story opens with a description of a new day. themba himself seems to portray the narrator who feels ‘rotten’ in a depressing world. his forthcoming train journey provided no respite from his state of mind. the train journey itself merely reinforces his depressive world view where he says: ‘conjested trains filled with sour-smelling humanity’. themba:149 through temba’s eyes we see life as a journey that has to be undertaken but where the road is never quite certain and its raison d’etre unclear. it is in a third class carriage that the narrator awaits the journey and recognizes his good fortune in boarding the train at all! themba’s description of the carriage parallels the narrator’s mood. one of the doors is obviously broken and in disrepair just as the carriage windows are. here again themba uses his close descriptions in an allegorical fashion. the windows are ‘paneless’ and depict moral servitude. the narrator comments on his fellow passengers by observing their normality. he allows his readers to wallow in their misconceptions and to believe that this particular journey will be nothing out of the ordinary. the way in which the tsotsi boards the train is particularly well observed. he turned nonchalantly and tripped along backwards towards an open door. it amazed me how these boys know exactly where the edge of the platform comes when they run like that backwards. themba:150 this tsotsi (thug) is the central focus of the story and demands our attention since he arguably exemplifies the thuggery of apartheid and is in turn its creation in all its base crudity. he is drawn from themba’s own experience of the under-class where the tsotsi’s de-humanized acts (on the train) complement the systemic ‘flogging’ of the population by the ruling elite. in the story itself, themba introduces the enormous figure of the ‘hulk’ who seems to symbolically represent the oppressed masses of south africa. however it is the tsotsi to whom themba invests with such malignance so that we as the audience are able to see in him, the socialized manifestations of the worst excesses of the system. the tsotsi has no respect for humanity and reifies his fellow humans. on boarding the train he attempts to engage a young woman who had been ‘ducking’ him. he swaggers around with an uninhibited nonchalance showing his contempt for womanhood. he refers to the woman as ‘rubberneck’ with a fully fledged disdain. this is his form of address although she had not met or seen her before. she, is however fully aware of his callousness and his raw and obscene language. her protestations lead to a vicious slap that’s sends her hurtling over the narrator. 17 articles the tsotsi is the crude invention of a system so enshrined in the social and political landscape of apartheid south africa that at one and the same time it repulses and attracts us; makes us laugh and makes us cry. he is keenly observed by can themba as the narrator draws our attention to him via his behaviour towards the young woman in his carriage. the only person to react to this outrage; an old woman says: lord, you call yourself men! you poltroons! you let a small ruffian insult you. fancy, he grabs at a girl in front of you….you might be your daughter………..if there were real men here, they’d pull him off and give him such a leathering he’d never sit down for a week. themba:152 in response the tsotsi hurls vile invective at the woman’. finally the quiet hulk-like figure responds: ‘hela you street urchin, that woman is your mother’. themba:153 the tsotsi had never been insulted in this manner before. was he not the ‘owner’ of the train? parallels begin to appear at this juncture with the apartheid system. we begin to discern, symbolically, the nature of the tsotsi. his character seems to represent the metaphorical apartheid ‘beast’ whereas the hulk appears as the embodiment of the pilloried masses under apartheid. the knife wielding thug lunges at the hulk’s jugular without fear. a deflection caused by the train’s movement causes him to miss his mark and instead the knife causes a superficial gash across the hulk’s chest. he reacts by: he caught the boy by the upper arm with the left hand and between his legs with the right and lifted him bodily………the flight went clean through the paneless window… themba:153 justice prevails and the tsotsi’s reign ends among the detritus; the cans, the bottles, the cardboard of a sick, vomiting dying system. ‘forbidden love’s’ theme sharply differs from the one above. it was published in 1955 and is a good example of one of his favourite themes; love. this time we see lovers across the artificial lines of colour and ‘race’ as defined and given legal credibility in apartheid south africa. michael is from the ‘black’ race and dora is a ‘coloured’. once your ‘race’ was ascribed in apartheid era south africa you were provided with a designation. this ascription was not only marked on your identity document but it also affected where you lived, whom you could marry and socialize with and your voting rights. in fact dora alludes to this when she says: why wasn’t it i mike? why wasn’t i dark, instead of fair. then you might not have been so afraid of my love. themba:24 the divide and rule policy of the apartheid regime ensured that those pigeon-holed and labelled, sometimes arbitrarily, by apartheid driven legislation still absorbed and accepted those divisions as part of their cultural morality. it is this that themba questions. there is no escape from the pernicious affects of the apartheid regime even where love is concerned. the fear of reprisals 18 crossroads. a journal of english studies and consequences are aptly described by themba as the lovers are punished for their crime. however the tale ends with a degree of redemption when the two lovers finally ignore the demands of the regime and stand up for themselves. a victory against apartheid! the final expose of themba’s writing is in the form of a semi-autobigraphical piece entitled ‘the will to die’. themba himself is philip matauoane a teacher and graduate from fort hare (themba’s alma mater). foxy as philip is known is a ‘runt of a man’5 who ‘wore clothes that swallowed him’6 however when foxy spoke everyone knew ‘that in that unlikely body, resided a live restless brain’ themba:89 foxy knows that dissolution and despair of his situation can only end in disaster as he attempts to absorb societal expectations (of him) through marriage, children and drink. ultimately he pays the final price by being beaten to death by: ‘four or five men singing hymns in the sitting room’. themba:92 themba’s suicidal tendencies are exposed in the character of foxy who represents a intellectual elite who fail to confront the regime head-on and who ultimately prefers the final solution to all one’s problems; suicide. the literary output of can themba during the apartheid era in south africa demonstrates, without doubt, the enormous reservoir of actual and potential talent that went to waste in that era. we feel strongly that literary icons such as can themba need to be re-engaged in the process of coming to terms with the massive upheavals caused by the apartheid regime. works cited themba:7 themba, can. ‘mob passion’ in requiem for sophia town anthology of short stories, 2006, penguin books: london themba:16 themba, can. ‘mob passion’ in requiem for sophia town anthology of short stories, 2006, penguin books: london themba:7 themba, can. ‘mob passion’in requiem for sophia town anthology of short stories, 2006, penguin books: london themba:16 themba, can ‘mob passion’ in requiem for sophia town anthology of short stories, 2006, penguin, books: london themba: 3 themba , can ‘passionate stranger’ in requiem for sophia town anthology of short stories, 2006, penguin books: london themba: 150 themba, can ‘the dube train’ in requiem for sophia town anthology of short stories, 2006, penguin books: london 5 from requiem for sophia town p. 89 6 from requiem for sophia town p. 89 19 review articles themba: 149 themba, can ‘the dube train’ in requiem for sophia town anthology of short stories, 2006, penguin books: london themba:150 themba, can the dube train’ in requiem for sophia town anthology of short stories,2006, penguin books: london themba: 152 themba, can ‘the dube train’ in requiem for sophia town anthology of short stories, 2006, penguin books: london themba: 153 themba, can ‘the dube train ’in requiem for sophia town anthology of short stories, 2006, penguin books: london themba:153 ibid themba: 24 themba, can ‘the dube train in requiem for sophia town anthology of short stories, 2006, penguin books: london themba: 89 themba, can ‘the will to die ’in requiem for sophia town anthology of short stories, 2006, penguin books: london themba:24 themba, can ‘forbidden love’ in requiem for sophia town anthology of short stories, 2006, penguin books: london themba:92 themba, can ‘the will to die’ in requiem for sophia town anthology of short stories, 2006, penguin books: london references benson, e. and conally, lw. (eds.) 2005. an encyclopaedia of postcolonial literatures in english. second edition. london: routledge. chapman, m. 1989. “can themba storyteller and journalist of the 1550’s: the text in context”, english in africa 16 (2): 19 – 29. gikandi, s. 2001. “chinua achebe and the intervention of african culture”, research in african literatures vol. 32 no. 3 fall 2001. hannerz, u. 1994. sophia town: the view from afar. journal of southern african studies. 20(2): 181 – 193. patel, e. (ed.) 1985. the world of can themba. south africa: raven press. snyman, m. 2007. can themba: the life and work of a shebeen intellectual. ma thesis, department of english, the university of johannesburg. themba, can. 2006. requiem for sophia town. london: penguin books. “i must fight, always, against forgetting”: a journey through memory and grief in helen macdonald’s relational autobiography h is for hawk 52 crossroads. a journal of english studies anna dziok-łazarecka university of białystok “i must fight, always, against forgetting” : a journey through memory and grief in helen macdonald’s relational autobiography h is for hawk abstract. the article presents how helen macdonald, the author of h is for hawk, undertakes the task of ordering ‘the archaeology of grief ’ – uncovering strata of remembrance with past states of mind, forgotten events, emotions, and earlier perspectives. because the book reveals the author’s strong sense of connection with nature, it is therefore classified under the heading ‘nature writing’ or ‘new nature writing’. this non-fiction autobiographical narrative is, however, primarily a personal journey where the narrator’s/author’s inner self is revealed through carefully orchestrated memories which form her as a protagonist. the narrative is a confession of how she struggled through the ordeal of mourning after her father’s death and how in order to cope with the trauma of loss she undertook the task of taming a hawk. the story shows how in the course of manning the hawk helen begins to ‘forget’ or rather deny civilisation, social ties, her own professional duties, and how the obsession with bird taming takes her to the very edge of sanity. at the same time, however, it is the hawk that becomes a lifeline, a connection with the corporeal, the tangible, and the physical. moreover, the narrator’s journey with the goshawk through english landscape becomes a catalyst for remembrance that belongs to public realm. and so, it evokes more lengthy reflections on environment, literary heritage, history, society, and relations between humans and nature. keywords: relational autobiography, mourning, nature writing, h is for hawk, helen macdonald. the memories are like heavy blocks of glass. i can put them down in different places but they don’t make a story. helen macdonald, h is for hawk in one of the first scenes of helen macdonald’s 2014 book h is for hawk, helen, the protagonist, travels to the breckland region of norfolk in east anglia. there she spots a sparrowhawk. to preserve the memory of the sighting she takes a piece of reindeer moss, a “memento of the time” – 10.15290/cr.2016.15.4.05 53 crossroads. a journal of english studies a  botanical keepsake. as if shifting through the landscape required a material witness. thus, memory is given a physical dimension; it becomes preserved in a tangible object, the recollection is embodied. the narrator calls this observation “candescent”, “irresistible”, and it takes her back to the time when she was little – a small watcher obsessed with raptors, rambling the countryside with her father in search of birds of prey (macdonald, 9). now, through the recreation of this past moment, the readers are allowed to enter the world of helen, the adult. unbound by spatialtemporal constraints, the narrator’s mind moves form physical location to another time, another consciousness, another way of seeing the world. the above scene is suggestive of the extent to which macdonald’s narrative relies on apparently random acts of remembering. the book’s generic affinity is quite elusive. on the one hand, it has added to the abundance of narratives which are presently labelled under the common term ‘nature writing’ or ‘new nature writing’. even though many authors whose writing is thematically akin would rather discard this term (macfarlane, 34). macdonald’s account indeed demonstrates primarily her strong sense of connection with nature and landscape, in-depth environmental knowledge, experience in bird manning and concern for natural surroundings. the narrative is at the same time an autobiographical account of the author’s dealing with a personal loss and her own year-long, intimate travel inwards. “the writer of autobiography depends on access to memory to tell a retrospective narrative of the past and to situate the present within that experiential history. memory is thus both source and authenticator of autobiographical acts” (smith and watson, 16). in its confessional form the narrative is intrinsically retrospective, and so its reliance on memory is unquestionable. by setting macdonald’s narrative within the framework of self-referential autobiography this article aims to discover how the author’s access to memory becomes an organizational tool. in reading the meanings of this intricate account, it further attempts to implement the concept of ‘relational autobiography’. here, textualization of the author’s traumatic experience is realized by relating the self to the world of birds of prey. it is therefore through presenting the natural world of hawks, or rather one hawk in particular, that macdonald participates in the process of literary self-creation. additionally, personal memory in h is for hawk becomes a narrative strategy encouraging insights into literature, culture, history and society. to this aim it offers a literary academic reading of another author’s memoirs, namely t.h. white’s the goshawk. this training account by another writer is yet one more act of ‘relating’ to another subject, which apparently diminishes the position of the solipsistic narrator. defining the genre – some problematics of autobiographical narratives linda anderson, a literary critic and author in life writing, traces the origins of the term ‘autobiography’ to its first use by robert southey in 1809. she emphasizes, however, that other earlier uses of the notion are discussed by literary critics and points to the fact that its definition has al54 crossroads. a journal of english studies ways been a work in progress. in defining this self-narrative category, anderson indicates its main distinguishing feature, namely the sameness of the author, protagonist and narrator. additionally, autobiographical writing in its very act seeks organization and framing. it aims at ordering experience in the form of a narrative, offering “the possibility of alleviating the dangers and anxieties of fragmentation” (anderson, 5). furthermore, she demonstrates that the critical analyses of the genre have pinpointed “intention” as its other unique characteristic: the earnest intention to represent both the events and oneself truthfully. and it is this intention, she notices, that constitutes a connection between the figures of author, narrator and protagonist (anderson, 3-7). this intentional seeking of truth in the creative act of writing has invariably attracted critical interest. many autobiographical theorists have investigated the tensions between non-fiction narratives, which attempt at documenting reality, and fictional acts of self-creation, which seem to subvert the former aim (allister, 5-6). for in autobiography the quest for discovering objective truth is undermined by the authorial strategy of organizing, and consequently fictionalizing experience. the validity of self-referential writing was an important aspect by which the readers assessed the value of literature. for instance, in the nineteenth century any form of populism or commercialization at the expense of integrity would be unthinkable (anderson, 8). the currency of the above question persists in the twentieth century. in the 1970s, under the influence of paul de man, literary critics debate the generic affiliation of autobiography. one of the problems posed at the time is again the genuineness of life narratives. can self writing be considered a non-fictitious act? or are all autobiographical texts in fact fictions? and consequently, is autobiography a separate genre at all? de man concludes that it is “a figure of reading or understanding” of a text which inevitably camouflages the author’s own fictionalization (anderson, 12-13). the complex problematics of the genre are also addressed by roland barthes. he further destabilizes it by questioning the unity of the self-narrating subject and by defying the text’s potential to reconstruct or restore the past coherently (anderson, 70-74). however, even earlier the unity of the autobiographical subject had already been questioned by virginia woolf, who shifts the dominating central (masculine) “i”. in the 1970s and early 1980s other fissions within life writing emerge, prompting questions of ethnicity, sexuality, race and class (anderson, 92-103): “autobiography becomes both a way of testifying to oppression and empowering the subject through their cultural inscription and recognition” (anderson, 104). the question of truth continues to remain an important constituent element of autobiographical criticism. sidonie smith and julia watson, influential critics in autobiography, conclude on the demarcation line between fiction and nonfiction in the following way: “a life narrative is not a novel, although calling life narrative ‘nonfiction’ ... confuses rather than resolves the issue” (smith and watson, 7). yet it should be remembered that there are many features which differentiate life writing from a novel, and among the most distinguishable include the following. first, the author’s name merges with that of the narrator’s. second, the narrator of self-referential mode must rely on his or her locality within the certain (real) time, space and culture they lived in or experienced (smith and watson, 8-10). finally, rather than representing a fact or factual truth, life writing cre55 crossroads. a journal of english studies ates the truth of the narrative, one author’s truth or, so the argument goes, “a shared [between narrator and reader] understanding of the meaning of a life” (smith and watson, 13). the proliferation of self-referential writing has always called for making distinctions into types or modes of self-representation. in an attempt to address such abundance, smith and watson propose three categories: “life writing”, “life narrative” and “autobiography”. the first term is the broadest, and indicates any written form of explicit strategies of turning somebody’s life into the subject, including biographies and historical novels. “life narrative” is narrower in that it includes self-referential or self-reflecting techniques which evoke past events but endow them with present meanings, shaping present identity. finally, “autobiography”, which was earlier canonized as “master narrative” to represent universal truths about somebody’s lifetime, was in due course subverted by postmodern and postcolonial critiques. it is now viewed as unsatisfactory and too inefficient to encompass the diverse life-narrating practices around the world (smith and watson, 3-4). true, the above remarks emphasize generic diversity. however, because it is a widely recognized fact that the types are mutually complementary and overlap in many respects, the following analysis of h is for hawk will use the notions interchangeably. generic hybridity – between ‘relational autobiography’ and ‘nature writing’ mark allister, in his book refiguring the map of sorrow: nature writing and autobiography, investigates how the genre of autobiography evolved in critical discourse to finally generate the so called “relational autobiography”. rooted in great founding texts such as saint augustine’s confessions (written at the end of the 4th century) or the confessions of jean-jacques rousseau (published in 1782), autobiography was understood as an act of emerging identity, self-discovery and selfgrowth14. in his proposal of reading life narratives allister indicates the expansion of the genre and its contemporary unquestionable status with literary critics. but, by his own admission, he does not wish to engage in the debate on whether autobiography constitutes a work of non-fiction or whether it is a form of fictitious construction. he chooses not to take sides in the controversy about the dissolving boundary between a real living author and the author created within the narrative (allister, 21-27). instead his focus remains on how the narrative subject has evolved to refer to the realm beyond the human self. in the twentieth century the scope of reading autobiography was extended owing to feminist critique. as a result the process of self-identification and formulation of subject became more inclusive in that it assumed the existence of some other self (allister, 14-16). gender related criticism centred on the subject which was established in relation to some other presence, some other entity. this shifting of subject marked the emergence of ‘relational identity’. the concept of ‘relational14 the idea of individual growth emerged as a formal tool organizing autobiographical texts in the nineteenth century, but as early as in the founding autobiographical text st. augustine’s confessions apparently insignificant moments become subsequent meaningful stages in personal development (anderson, 19). 56 crossroads. a journal of english studies ity’ emphasised the fact “that the boundaries of an ‘i’ are often shifting and flexible” (smith and watson, 64). the term was first proposed by susan stanford friedman in 1985 to denote a certain type of self-representative mode in women’s autobiographical writing. characteristically, the shared identity with other women was contrasted with that of an autonomous individual (more typical for masculine writing).15 however, this narrower understanding of ‘relational’ writing was later disputed by paul john eakin16 and nancy k. miller on the grounds that formation of identity in childhood formative years included both autonomous and relational practices (smith and watson, 201-2). consequently, the authors argue after eakin, “because the assertion of autonomy is dependent on this dynamic recognition [of the intersubjectivity of identity], identity is necessarily relational” (smith and watson, 202). therefore, any literary act of identity formation will be somehow relational. finally, in the 1990s under eakin’s influence, the term “relational autobiography” gained in popularity and became pivotal in reading the life-writing genre (allister, 15-17). following other readers of autobiography, allister finds it too narrow to accommodate the multitude of memoirs, journals and diaries: “traditional autobiographies depict through time and space a single self, undeniably the star of the show, around whom everything revolves. an artist asked to represent the subject of an autobiography would in most cases draw a portrait of the writer” (allister, 19-20). in ‘relational autobiography’, on the other hand, in order to arrive at the state of “self-knowledge”, the writer observes and resonates with the outer world and other people, usually family members. drawing from autobiographical theory, psychology and eco-criticism, allister’s inquiry seems much more selective. it concentrates on nature, that is the non-human other to which memoir writers relate in order to textualize their experience of mourning17. while a traditional autobiography narrates life events and covers a longer period of time, ‘relational autobiography’ concentrates on the personal trauma and on the act of grieving, the rite of passage he calls “the arc of mourning” (allister, 2). it demonstrates how the moments of self realisation mark the drama of loss and how the literary act of writing becomes its testimony. most importantly, emphasis is placed on the theme selected for the ‘relational’ other, namely the world of nature. 15 the polarisation towards ‘relationality’ versus individuality was further applied in differentiating native indigenous cultures (e.g. the native subjectivity of american indians with the emphasis on kinship and community) from western (european) autonomous subjectivity. such binary oppositions, though, are held by some critics to be reductionist and simplistic. and while the ‘relational’ mode of reading is a useful analytical tool, it does not represent the diversity of any biological, ethnic or social subject. (wong, 168-69) 16 as smith and watson (64) indicate, the notion of ‘relationality’, in a variety of forms, is proposed by the following critics of life writing: nancy k. miller (“representing others”), paul john eakin (how our lives become stories, 43-98), and g. thomas couser (recovering bodies). 17 in his critical analysis allister selects five non-fiction narratives: sue hubbell’s a country year (1986), terry tempest williams’s refuge (1991), bill barich’s laughing in the hills (1981), william least heat-moon’s blue highways (1982), peter matthiessen’s the snow leopard (1979), and gretel ehrlich’s the solace of open spaces (1985). whereas collectively the books reveal a number of themes, what they share is how the autobiographical act leads to the self-creation of the traumatized narrator and how it is realized through the introduction of nature themes. 57 crossroads. a journal of english studies yet life narratives in which authors turn to nature have not so far received due attention within the sphere of literary criticism. one of the reasons behind this observation is that such texts have been largely typecast as thematic. its ‘relational’ subject, nature, has pushed them outside the scope of autobiography into the category of ‘nature writing’ (allister, 18). another explanation, allister continues, is in the cultural bias of literary academics, who are typically urban residents. therefore, their interest lies primarily in textualizing the experience of culture and the human world. and this only augments the challenge of textualizing the “unfathomable” non-human sphere (27). nature writers contest the dominant “relational view of humans” and traditional solipsistic human-centred autobiography, and write non-human others into the textual expression of their grieving experience (33). while they write directly about nature (including humans), their self-creation becomes spiritual autobiography because only in that form are they able to transcend their loss. the tension of their narratives—and the alternation of voice—concerns the psychological swings between grieving and a hope that grieving is coming to an end. (allister, 170) writing one’s loss into a narrative by relating to nature effaces the author from the text. in this respect ‘relational’ life-nature writing poses an additional challenge for critical reading. obliterating personal memory, unbecoming human in h is for hawk the botanical breckland reminder is accidentally the first thing the narrator looks at when she receives the call about her father’s death. previously a relaxed itinerant savouring the local landscape, she will later become a restless wanderer who roams the countryside in order to rediscover her shattered self. she will struggle to make sense of the world as she knows it but to no avail. the fragmentariness of remembrance, the accidentality of recollections, their unexpected and persistent reoccurrence are all elements she will have to learn to accept in the painful process of mourning. then, shattered by her loss, she will set off on an inner journey in an effort to write or rewrite the self. the goshawk will become her companion, her breakout from reality, and for some time her only connection to the lost world. the unexpected loss of her father prompts helen into isolation and an obsessive pursuit of her childhood dream – birds of prey. equipped with all the falconry know-how, and against the better judgement of friends, family and other experienced falconers, she purchases mabel – a female hawk that she intends to tame, an aim difficult to attain even for professional hawk trainers. early in the narrative the subject self is localized within the realm of feral raptors. first, the reader’s attention is shifted to observe their brutal hunting ways. then macdonald presents the first step of taming the bird, called ‘watching’. from this moment onwards helen embarks on a psychological process in which she will purposefully forget her human world. in order to succeed at this manning stage, falconers must discard their human ways and become invisible. it is a highly medita58 crossroads. a journal of english studies tive state in which the bird tamer concentrates on “not being there”. because hawks are not social animals, they will not yield to constraint or punishment. so the bond between human and nonhuman is possible only through the positive lure of meat. but nothing seems possible at first as the bird is petrified by the fear of her human presence (macdonald, 62-81). the narrator explains: the space between the [bird’s] fear and the food is the vast, vast gulf, and you have to cross it together... imagine: you’re in a darkened room. you are sitting with a hawk on your fist. she is as immobile, as tense and sprung as a catapult at full stretch. underneath her huge thorny feet is a chunk of raw steak. you’re trying to get her to look at the steak, not at you, because you know though you haven’t looked – that her eyes are fixed in horror at your profile. all you can hear is the wet click, click, click of her blinking. (macdonald, 67) the taming process involves, if only temporarily, renouncing the human way of seeing. it makes one freeze in time and realize the acuteness of the bird’s sense of sight. and if the eventual interspecies concord is to be possible, the falconer needs “very urgently not to be there”. what must come first, though, is comprehension of the fear: the goshawk is staring at me in mortal terror, and i can feel the silences between both our heartbeats coincide... it feels like i’m holding a flaming torch. i can feel the heat of her fear on my face. she stares. she stares and stares... what i am doing is concentrating very hard on the process of not being there. (macdonald, 66-67) macdonald’s detailed descriptions of ‘watching’ clearly demonstrate how conscious she is of the other, the non-human. the success of shifting her perspective, of going beyond the anthropocentric relies here as much on her expertise as on her (and the reader’s) imagination. it also demonstrates one feature of ‘relational’ life writing. the author effaces herself from the narrative. she is “not there” because she is taming the young raptor. her absence, nonetheless, indicates the denial of her trauma. being there would necessitate becoming a subject of the story and it would entail the admission of emotional suffering. the early stage of ‘watching’, watching the bird and watching with the bird, is primarily her implementation of falconry know-how. but it is additionally an organizational phase within the narrative which correlates the process of hawk manning with the process of grieving. the early stages of bereavement obliterate the protagonist from the central position within the narrative. ‘watching’ diverts the reader’s attention from the solipsistic subject towards the world of the non-human. the readers, however, interpret this shift within the context of mourning, making sense of the way the narrative is structured. in the course of the account, the narrator, immersed in bird taming, gradually dismisses her everyday responsibilities: academic duties as a fellow scholar at cambridge college, prosaic household chores and any form of social interaction. gradually helen disappears from the world that she was part of until the traditionally acceptable axis which organizes common life dissolves. 59 crossroads. a journal of english studies consequently, she will eventually suffer the professional and material losses of her career and house. alone, with her phone unplugged, the house spattered with bird droppings and shreds of raw meat, she becomes “a hermit with a hawk in a darkened room” and “forgets how to speak” (macdonald, 69-84). she engages in a journey of obliterating the outside world. human memory becomes marginal, secondary. at the same time as protagonist macdonald consistently marginalizes her narrative self. she reveals her subject position only as an observer. the reader is invited to follow into this human and non-human world but it is the bird that is centralized. apparently, mabel’s feral appetite takes precedence over helen’s feeling of loss. human “forgetting how to speak” is suggestive of how the author textualizes her inability to express sorrow. the civil, domestic and cultural have slipped into oblivion, to be now replaced by the feral, wild and untamed. these indicate the state of perpetual inner anguish. the narrator strives at developing “the sixth sense”, at acquiring “hawk’s apprehension”. her perception sharpens but she becomes easily alert or instantly agitated. the bonding process for both parties seems conversely related: “as the hawk became tamer i was growing wilder” (macdonald, 108). in her present “visceral, bloody life with mabel” she watches the bird kill and feed on its prey. this is an attempt at eradicating the human way of perceiving reality, including the residual human suffering: “i stayed out with mabel, found it harder and harder to return, because out with the hawk i didn’t need a home. out there i forgot i was human at all” (macdonald, 186). hunting with the hawk becomes a coping strategy of the bereaved. human memory of loss is replaced with “hawkish things”, which now make absolute sense. it allows temporal reference points, such as the past or the future, to dissolve into the instantaneousness of the moment and be replaced with the hawkish reference points. the protagonist shares with other writers this need to dramatize the process of grieving. likewise, “they seek experience that will divert them, or teach them, and then in the autobiographical act they discover and create a construction of that experience that is ultimately therapeutic” (allister, 141). of special significance are realistic accounts of hunting, which show helen’s protectiveness towards the bird: she is a child. a baby hawk that’s just worked out who she is. what she’s for. i reach down and start, unconsciously as a mother helping a child with her dinner, plucking the pheasant with the hawk. for the hawk. and when she starts eating, i sit on my heels and watch, watch her eat. (macdonald, 184) the above illustration figuratively obscures the perimeters of human and savage. smith and watson observe that when the self-creation of a subject evolves in relation to another, it is typically the subject that differs. so, the narrative self is formulated through disparity. but conversely, on other occasions self-identification can draw from similarities. it is the progression of the “constant placement and displacement of ‘who’ we are” (33). in her description of hunting helen feels “the human below” the hunting bird. she reports the strangeness of this experience, the “splitting” as if time was “stretching” and “slowing”. in the narrative such are the moments of complete derealisation, of annihilating one’s place in material reality. in h is for hawk the narrator’s identification 60 crossroads. a journal of english studies with the hawkish perspective alternates with her human perception. both ways of self-positioning are ever-changing and demonstrate the narrator struggling towards self-awareness. in such instances, helen is slowly beginning to recognize that her mind has been slipping away. such as the moment when she is invited to a summer lunch party at the master of the college’s house. now, the centre of everyone’s attention, surrounded by the elegant upper class intellectuals her late father used to admire so much, she experiences a moment of derealisation: “i am the fool, i think dully. i used to be a research fellow, a proper academic. now i am in motley. i am not helen any more. i am the hawk woman” (macdonald, 129). but while she loses the sense of reality or belonging, in the meantime the corporeality of the bird seems unaffected: the hawk pulls on the rabbit leg. wasps circle her like electrons. they land on her feet, on her nose, seeking shreds of rabbit flesh to take back to their paper nest in some nearby cambridge loft... this summer lunch feels deeply unreal. shadows of damask and silver, a photogravure in an album, something from agatha christie, from evelyn waugh, from another time. but the wasps are real. they are here, and they are present. so is the hawk, the sun at their centre. (macdonald, 129-130) the above passage illustrates the apparently contradictory paths the narrator takes in writing of her mourning. on the one hand, by taking refuge from the civilised world she comes to rely on hawkish ways of seeing. on the other, as narrator, she invites the reader to notice how impossible this refuge is in the long run. living a feral life and attempting to empty one’s mind from human perception is visibly at odds with the literary act, which involves logic, organization, finding patterns of cause and effect. meredith skura, an author in psychoanalysis, explains that the grieving process involves moments of insights and self-awareness which occur throughout the mourner’s process towards healing. random or infrequent, they gradually accumulate to allow self-realisation. finally the truth, the sense or the explanation emerges (allister, 56). apart from hunting descriptions in h is for hawk such moments of insight are marked by random acts of childhood remembrance. consistently they relate to the non-human world and include, for example, the memories of numerous hunting trips. these recollections often evoke “killing things”, “making death”. now the narrator’s adult consciousness dissects her own complex perspective on hunting: “the vocabulary i’d learned from the books distanced me from death. trained hawks didn’t catch animals. they caught quarry. they caught game. what an extraordinary term. game.” (macdonald, 160). informed by years of falconry, the author reflects on how the language obliterates certain awareness, human sensitivity. paradoxically, while it is hunting that makes the narrator transgress the borders of humanity, it is also this very same act of killing that brings her back. she has already lived for months on the verge of the civilized world. she has also literally touched death and suffering and pain. she sabotaged her own life, bringing in self-destruction, isolation and self-annihilation. now, by the instinctive decision to put mabel’s game out of its misery, she reclaims her own humanity: 61 crossroads. a journal of english studies if i didn’t kill the rabbit, the hawk would sit on top of it and start eating; and at some point in the eating the rabbit would die. that is how goshawks kill. the borders between life and death are somewhere in the taking of their meal. i couldn’t let that suffering happen. hunting makes you animal, but the death of an animal makes you human. (macdonald, 196) the ethical perplexity of hunting moments finally restores in her the lost sense of reality. through empathy she eventually regains her forgotten or obliterated capacity to feel, suffer, and be able to stop the suffering. at the same time, by accounting her violent hunting with mable, macdonald achieves the level or realism which autobiography needs to reveal if it is to be credible. because the therapeutic self-construction does not involve distortion of truth; in this case helen’s partaking in “making death” must expose the drama of killing. characteristically, her descriptions are not emotional. in her struggling to arrive at autobiographical truth she resorts to the mode of ‘testimony’18. testimony entails relating the facts objectively without having to rely on personal commentary. “to testify, in its legal sense, is to produce one’s speech or one’s story as part of a larger verdict yet to be made. testimony is called for in a situation where the truth is not clear, where there is already a ‘crisis of truth’” (anderson, 126). beside the factual and informative aspect of falconry, the reader is likely to recognize the psychological truth within the narrative and is invited to make judgements. this further authenticates the hunting account. literary dialogue with the past throughout the memoirs, and especially when the protagonist is lost in those “dark days”, the goshawk continues to remain the lifeline to the rest of the real world. mabel, the bird, signifies corporeal, tangible nature. suggestively, in the narrative the moments of physical proximity with the hawk are the ones which are void of memories. as if the anguished mind, which incessantly forces painful introspection, achieved the state of utter sensory concentration, the state of being present in the now; mind and body united in a single moment. no chasm between the physical and mental presence. the hawk is her “material reassurance”, especially in the moments when the world is “unrecognizable”. however, beside the hawk, the narrative introduces one more intermediary with the protagonist’s human awareness, one more ‘relating subject’. and macdonald now speaks not only in her capacity as a bird tamer but also as a cambridge academic. throughout her account she maintains a dialogic connection with another english author – terence hanbury white – best known for his fantasy novellas about king arthur, such as the sword in the stone (1938) or the once and future king (1958). macdonald’s rereading of white’s memoirs maintains her attachment to civilization, culture and history. but she states emphatically that her account is not terence hanbury white’s biography. by way of explaining why she needs white, the author recounts her first 18 in broaching the concept of ‘testimony’ in autobiographical narratives anderson (126-27) follows shoshana felman’sbook what does a woman want?: reading and sexual difference (1993). 62 crossroads. a journal of english studies encounter with his book, which pre-dated the current events by around three decades. at first the necessity to speak of him is rationalized by the simple: “because he was there” (macdonald, 38). but weaving white’s journals into her own memories is illustrative of how carefully the narrator is working on creating her new self. in other words she is using the narrative as a healing tool to help her struggle through grief. the need to interpret it reflects the need to look for new meanings, and to organize and order the shattered reality. apparently, telling white’s story means telling helen’s story. white’s much disliked training journal begins to haunt her as if demanding her attention, wanting to be reread. her obsession with the other book, similarly to her hawking pursuits, diverts the attention of the mourning mind. roy shaffer argues from the position of a freudian psychoanalyst that a traumatised patient needs to create new meanings, new narratives. a new explanatory story is needed in order to facilitate the healing process (allister, 39). the first sentence in white’s diary lures helen into her own past and into the cultural-historical moment in which white recorded his bird manning attempts: “it was a sentence from a long time ago, and it carried with it the apprehension of another self. not the man who wrote it: me. me, when i was eight years old” (macdonald, 27). the goshawk’s opening line incites childhood memory and imagination of which white has remained a part. by analysing white’s memoirs macdonald indicates that she is now searching for new ways of seeing the world; her new reading is part of her own self-creation as protagonist. macdonald’s reading of goshawk (1951) only adds to the intricate composition of her own book. white’s memoirs become the object of scholarly analysis. on the one hand, both training accounts are intertwined into parallel emotionally loaded stories clearly intensified by personal traumas. on the other, the chapters on white attempt to appear informative, reliable, objective. this is reflected, for example, by macdonald’s use of endnote references. the discourse of academic interpretation has the effect of detachment. the narrator’s own self is decentralized again and replaced with white’s figure. macdonald rereads the 1951 diaries in order to comprehend the famous english writer. white is therefore granted the status of ‘relational’ subject, and all other qualities of a protagonist such as history, motivation, family background and the sociohistorical moment he lived in. so from h is for hawk the reader learns that t.h. white, tormented by his inner anguish, forsakes his teaching career at stowe school in buckinghamshire and retreats to a nearby cottage. he has only old-fashioned hawk training manuals on which to rely, and these are poorly informed. nonetheless, he embarks on an attempt to tame gos, his newly purchased goshawk. the taming quickly turns into breaking and, by all accounts, white’s narrative becomes anything but what bird training should present. it is a combat of human and “ferocious” other. in her introduction to the 2007 edition of the goshawk, marie winn presents white’s strikingly controversial personality; his brilliance and talents, but also his eccentricity, propensity for competition, his obsession with control and self-control, and his willingness to subjugate the feral bird (winn, x-xv). 63 crossroads. a journal of english studies macdonald sets white’s failures side by side with her own. both accounts reveal quite contrary uses of avifaunal knowledge. helen’s enterprise, albeit emotionally driven, is submitted to rigorous falconry know-how. it involves technique, measurement, routine and distanced scientific rigidity. white’s engagement in raptor training is dictated as much by passion for falconry as by his unpredictable impulsive reactions to failures and personal agonies. but what is at stake here is not merely addressing his deplorable mistreatment of the bird. white, embedded into her own life story, becomes her ‘relational’ other. helen’s story of mourning must inevitably entail understanding white’s errant ways. her freudian explanation leads to the conclusion that by attempting to tame the hawk white was re-enacting, responding to painful experiences from the past, his troubled relationship with his parents, especially with the dominant father, and his suppressed homosexuality. his failures stemmed from inexperience in hawk taming and were coupled with an excessive desire to prove his own prowess. and also, paradoxically, with the constant unconscious drive to sabotage his successes: “he had taken something wild and free, something innocent and full of life, and fought with it. the cost of his mastery would be to reduce it to a biddable, brokenfeathered, dull-eyed shadow of the bird it was meant to be” (macdonald, 162). the compassion for the troubled man as she sees him through his diaries the goshawk corresponds with macdonald’s disavowal of his manning methods. the parts of macdonald’s own narrative in which she interprets white’s text show how as author she carefully crafts the narrative self. without emphasizing her own perspective, she balances the triple auto-representation of helen: an experienced hawk trainer, a distanced literary critic and, conversely, an emotionally engaged mourning daughter. the temporary self effacement of the author in order to present a more scientific view of the world is one of the features of grief narratives which relate to nature (allister, 41-45). as an author of non-fiction, macdonald cannot allow herself to fictionalize certain events. additionally, her knowledge of falconry in fact limits her to objective analysis of white’s erroneous training. but her ability to read the diaries again (she read them first as a child) is an act of finding new meanings. she first read them with innocent naivety, with the credulity that can be typical of any first reading of a text. now, her interpretation is critical. she is looking for new answers and reads retrospectively. and in this act of reading she is returning to her own self when she was young. she is also returning to white’s times. to explore further the intertextuality in macdonald’s own memoirs, it is worth mentioning that her critical, distanced analysis is evocative of the term ‘personal criticism’. the notion, proposed in the 1990s, denotes such reading in which the author reveals her or his own identity as a critic (anderson, 121-26). the reading allows compassion for the analysed subject. hence its limitations. ‘personal criticism’ easily acknowledges the constraints of objective knowledge and its own right to err. such is the analysis of the goshawk within h is for hawk. here the very act of intertextuality achieves manifold aims. it first avows macdonald’s self-creation, admitting her own background in academia. yet, paradoxically, by making her analysis ‘personal’, the author also subverts her own privileged position as a critic. consequently, the reader’s perception is diverted towards helen the hawk trainer, or helen the bereaved daughter. it finally results in 64 crossroads. a journal of english studies fragmenting identity. the reader becomes a witness of how the narrator struggles to reconstruct a coherent self. linda anderson, after nancy k. miller, also points to the problems of locating the subject in ‘personal criticism’19, and more specifically to the origin of the subject’s authority. can the subject speak of other authors without admitting his or her own “locatedness as a social subject” (anderson, 125)? can a literary analysis be void of the analyst’s own social standing, class or gender perspective, which tinge the very analytical act? while miller talks about “‘autobiographical acts’ within criticism” (anderson, 126), in h is for hawk macdonald introduces ‘critical acts’ within autobiographical writing. macdonald’s account demonstrates how the narrative subject locates herself in a social context. her repudiation of white’s manning techniques goes further to extend onto the social system of the 1930s, which he belonged to and at the same time fell victim of. macdonald frequently criticises the oppressive social relations of the era, its forceful schooling system and family relations. she emphasises the personal tensions which must have ensued as a result of excessive belief in authority, class privilege, male dominance and striving for perfection. she disdains that “aristocratic moral certainty” which advocated “ancient virtue” but suppressed and stigmatized any form of otherness (macdonald, 281-82). on a symbolic level, on her own way to recovery, she finally visits the premises of stowe school and white’s cottage. initially tempted to go inside, learn more about her protagonist and “make him alive again”, she decides to the contrary: “i put [that thought] down, and the relief was immense, as if i had dragged a half-ton weight from myself and cast it by the grassy road” (macdonald, 283). white’s ghost-like shadow memoir performs the function of a catalyst, which ultimately brings the lost sense of reality. it evokes as much critical analysis as compassionate understanding for both human and non-human. it is at the same time catharsis, the lifting of the “heavy block of glass” that memory is. mosaic of haunting pasts in h is for hawk various narrative threads are weaved together and then unfolded along the spacetemporal journey towards self-realisation. but in addition to forming helen as the protagonist of a private intimate realm, the carefully orchestrated recounting also becomes a catalyst for remembrance which belongs to the public orbit. on the narrative platform various literary, cultural, and social pasts intersect with the present. an illustration of current social commentary comes in the following scene. on one occasion, a friend comments about the superb crafting of the falcon hood, the delicate object the narrator carries in her bag at all times. it is an entirely innocuous remark. helen’s troubled mind, however, responds with a jumbled list of cultural and historical connotations: 19 in her book getting personal (1991) nancy k. miller discusses the limitations and potential of ‘personal criticism’. but rather than perceiving it as contrary to objective theoretical analysis, she points to how both modes of reading may become mutually complementary. 65 crossroads. a journal of english studies i shut my eyes and my head is full of hoods... i think of fetish hoods. i think of distant wars. i think of abu ghraib. sand in the mouth. coercion. history and hawks and hoods and the implications of taking something’s sight away to calm it. it’s in your own best interest. rising nausea. there is a sensation of ground being lost, of wet sand washing from under my feet. i don’t want to think of the photographs of the tortured man with the hood on his head and the wires to his hands and the invisible enemy who holds the camera, but it is all i can see and the word hood like a hot stone in my mouth. burqua, the word in arabic. hood. (macdonald, 94-95) the authorial thoughts generate a mosaic newsflash where in the collective consciousness of western readers the falcon hood becomes an instant signifier of dominance, oppression, torture. this organizational pattern suggests a lack of unity or coherence of the narrative subject (smith and watson, 71-75). the shattered suffering self produces fragmented images of the world falling apart. they are an individual’s response to both personal and global instability. the process of textualizing one’s suffering is demonstrated by the fragmentation of memories. the author offers merely vignettes into her former life as a social person. the interpretation of uncovered fragments is left to the reader, who makes connections and by observing comprehends the narrator’s struggle out of depression (allister, 40). macdonald is consistent throughout her diaries in using memory as a narrative tool to provoke observations which go beyond the personal. here the act of uncovering strata of historical remembrance resembles unearthing geological layers: “the archaeology of grief is not ordered. it is more like earth under a spade, turning up things you had forgotten. surprising things come to life: not simply memories, but states of mind, emotions, older ways of seeing the world” (macdonald, 199). macdonald’s use of archaeology here is analogical to freud’s argument: the uncovering of fragmented memories may help in the healing process and may offer insight into the hidden problems of the past. “the analyst ... becomes an archaeologist sifting through memories and desire, careful to keep what is of value... [but] if we cannot recover the past, we can create it in order to make sense out of later symptoms” (allister, 39-40). macdonald uses memoir writing as a tool for recovering or creating her shattered past memories. writing a coherent narrative may be an attempt to recreate past meanings but also to create new ones. to provide insight into public problems of the past the author uses apparently accidental personal memories. she recollects, for example, her visit to a friend – the president of the british falconer’s club. he presents her with an artefact that neither of them actually enjoys looking at: “he pulled open a cupboard, and there, right at the back, half-obscured by the usual household bits and bobs, i saw it” (macdonald, 200). the “it” is a stylised statuette of a bronze falcon, an award sent to the british representatives from the international hunting exhibition held in germany in 1937. the relic of an unwanted past was sent by hermann göring, who himself was known for taking great satisfaction from hunting with hawks. falconry was the realization of power and dominance over the less fit – the embodiment of nazism (macdonald, 200-201). and it is this 66 crossroads. a journal of english studies very closeness to brute wild nature which served as an ideological tool for the nazis to engineer aryan supremacy and the purity of the master race. the evidence for racial supremacy came to be situated in the wild sylvan settings of the primeval forest. a nature myth came to play a part in the birth of nazi ideology (schama, 118-119). clearly, throughout her memoirs macdonald goes beyond striving towards self-realisation. her personal memories become instructive, revisionary. she explicitly speaks against becoming obsessed with nature and transforming the non-human surroundings into a construct that may later produce lethal ideologies. the collective response to landscape seems to be one of the many-layered concerns in h is for hawk. in exploring further the mechanism of how the countryside conveys shared memory, the author goes beyond a mere response to its picturesque beauty. the landscape amalgamates past cultural imagery. it is further unfailingly the material location of national identity. “landscape is the work of the mind, its terrain formed by strata of rock and memory” (schama, 7). macdonald recounts the mystic moment when she saw chalk landscapes for the first time. even as a child she felt it reverberated with meanings accumulated over the centuries. and “if a child’s vision of nature can already be loaded with complicating memories, myths, and meanings, how much more elaborately wrought is the frame through which our adult eyes survey the landscape” (schama, 6). now she refers to the chalk scenery as “the grand conjuration of our mythical english past” (macdonald, 261). chalk hills, macdonald explains, may invoke a sense of “blood belonging”, a shared recognition of the birth-place of the nation. this symbolism encourages the cultivation of an intimate, exclusive connection with the scenery. but natural remembrance and its celebration may result in the formulation of the national, or worse, the nationalistic. by musing on the function of landscape the author disclaims the belief that what is familiar is also superior to the other, unknown and foreign. “and it was much later, too, that i realized that these myths hurt. that they work to wipe away other cultures, other ways of loving, working and being in landscape. how they tiptoe towards darkness” (macdonald, 261). such reflections are followed by the recounting of another memory. while rambling with mabel through terrain around cambridge the narrator witnesses a herd of fallow deer. she is dazzled by the view and runs to share it with an elderly english couple. “doesn’t it give you hope? [the man] says suddenly... isn’t it a relief that there are things still like that, a real bit of old england still left, despite all these immigrants coming in?” (macdonald, 264). so the human-landscape connection is as organic as it is exclusive, in that it excludes ‘the other’. what the narrator evaluates to be “old england” is little more than “words”, “woodcuts”, “picturesque engravings”, representations of the visual. it is merely an imaginary construct. dangerously, this collective imagination may arouse national myths that drive people to wars and conquests. the similarity of the contemporary isles to old england is an illusion, a token semblance, a fabrication of imagination and memory. and yet, at the same time, people fail to think and imagine beyond their own human scale, both in time and space. they are unable to picture what complex histories landscapes had before and what life will be like when we are no longer here (macdonald, 260-265). 67 crossroads. a journal of english studies in the course of her grieving the author is clearly challenging certain persisting imaginations about land, landscape and belonging. her social critique is far from subtle or understated. she frequently provides commentary which distances her from the social framework, tradition, and commonly accepted ways of conduct. her escape from the civilized world seems to be spurred by the pressures of grief. so are her outspoken social comments. yet, far from incriminating others macdonald confesses: and i am guilty, too. i’d wanted to escape history by running to the hawk. forget the darkness, forget göring’s hawks, forget death, forget all the things that had been before. but my flight was wrong, always wrong. worse than wrong. it was dangerous. i must fight, always, against forgetting. (macdonald, 265) as the protagonist proceeds along the “arc of mourning” the moments of personal insights, if still blending with the public sphere, become more frequent. like other contemporary writers who use their narratives to provide an insight into the humanlandscape interaction, macdonald is wary of the powerful and seductive myth of pastoral and romantic visions of nature. as she explains, t.h. white, despite his non-conformity, was markedly in connection with his own times, for during the 1930s countryside walks and tours proliferated. the english began to search for “mystical communion with the land”, for the magnetism of an unspoilt pre-industrial epoch; an attempt which was to offer “solace and safety to sorely troubled minds” of the mid-war era (macdonald, 103-104). the author is utterly suspicious of any attempts at using the natural world as a surrogate for national ideologies, for anything more than it truly is – nature itself. the aforementioned passages again indicate macdonald’s organizational strategies. her speaking as a historian, an academic, effaces her mourning self. at the same time, nonetheless, her remarks are suggestive of conscious autobiographical attempts to provide explanations, meanings which may have healing power. moreover, collective remembering is politically charged and it is also endowed with intention. as sidonie smith and julia watson note, “acts of personal remembering are fundamentally social and collective” (21). practising personal and collective remembrance has the capacity of shaping the future (for an individual or for other subjects). macdonald’s recollecting extends beyond the personal to make claims for “those on whose behalf one remembers” (smith and watson, 20). robert macfarlane, a distinguished author of travel books which deal with the natural landscape and the human soul, claims that “powerful writing can revise our ethical relations with the natural world, shaping our place consciousness and our place conscience” (macfarlane, 34). h is for hawk indeed reveals this interplay between consciousness and conscience. for certain moments in the narrative expose how the narrator’s hawk training excursions come to represent memoralization of a different loss – that of the natural landscape, human contact with nature, or even the blissfully misleading ignorance about the extent of environmental damage people cause. a symbolic memento of this most devastating loss is a misshapen rabbit, stricken with myxo68 crossroads. a journal of english studies matosis20. in her diaries helen remembers seeing people crowding around a ghost-like, blistered, deformed shape lying by the road. she kneels down and puts it out of its misery. but the persistent rabbit memory haunts her. and she later recollects: “it felt like a revenant, something pulled from the past, from back when i was small and the countryside was in crisis” (macdonald, 198). again the memory spurs a mosaic of apocalyptic images that evoke past fears, both from personal and collective memory – hawks exterminated by pesticides, felled elm trees, polluted rivers, oildrowned guillemots – the whole ecosystem was endangered. “everything was sick. and we’d be next” (macdonald, 198). the memories are reminiscent of the ecological thinking and movements which emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a reaction to countryside pollution, economic recession and the nuclear threat (moran, 54-58). this crafting of macdonald’s personal memoir into a broader environmentally conscious perspective offers a platform for an intersection between memory and the natural landscape. instead of invoking arcadian countryside dreams, macdonald does the opposite; she explores past fears which belong to both the personal and collective memory. it does serve the purpose of creating a synergy between awareness of the place and “place conscience”. the spectre of the rabbit is a reminder, a lest-we-forget contemporary indication of ecological problems. conclusion h is for hawk is an intricate interplay of perfectly organized recollections whose randomness is, as the reader finally discovers, a narrational method. if ‘relational’ reading is implemented to understanding the narrative strategies, the book reveals how the world of nature, the world of birds of prey becomes instrumental in the process of grieving. the hawk is a refuge in a time of personal crisis and, conversely, the only tangible material reassurance that the fragmented reality may be reordered again. further, macdonald’s account offers enough self-analysis for her seclusion, her rite of passage to clarify the rationale behind narrative events. her purpose was to obliterate the memory: “i did not want the hawk to make me feel i was striding righteously across the lands of my long-lost ancestors. i had no use for history, no use for time at all. i was training the hawk to make it all disappear” (macdonald, 117). it is self-evident that helen’s attempts to erase her life as she had known it before the loss of her father constituted a coping strategy of grief. this ultimately led her to a deeper dysfunction than she had been willing to admit. equally important is the author’s methodological weaving of intimately introspective memories with collective remembrance, and localizing her narrative self in a broader social and historical context. yet helen’s self enquiry leads her inevitably to learn that feral birds hardly yield the consolation she craved. nature does not offer the cure. this conclusion corresponds with some other literary narratives branded ‘nature writing’ (moran, 57). still, such inner revelation of nature’s mute indif20 a virus brought to the british isles in the 1950s from south america which within two years exterminated almost the entire rabbit population, littering the english countryside with millions of misshapen dead bodies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/myxomatosis (03 march 2017). 69 crossroads. a journal of english studies ference is only partly devastating, for macdonald’s misgivings seem to permeate the entire memoir. the effects of her disillusion are therefore intentionally invalidated. instead, time is the healer. symbolically, this is expressed by the season in which the narrative ends – spring, a natural symbol of renewal. the mourning has completed its natural cycle. helen realizes she no longer needs the hawk’s presence; the gradual acceptance is indicated by their growing physical separation. she accepts the fact that she will live with a loss. and the elusive memory of loss, of absence, is given a spatial dimension, so it can be preserved, touched, tamed: “you have to grow around and between the gaps, though you can put your hand out to where things were and feel that tense, shining dullness of the space where the memories are” (macdonald, 171). as narrator and author, macdonald too completes the process of textualizing her grief. all the tools of ‘relational’ autobiography have accomplished their tasks: the connection with the raptor loosens, white’s diaries lose their haunting power and gain new understanding, the protagonist’s self is written anew. but is it? eliminating nature’s capacity to heal seems to have an overwhelmingly destabilizing impact on the entire self-creation strategy of autobiography. as smith and watson note: readers often conceive of autobiographical narrators as telling unified stories of their lives, as creating or discovering coherent selves. but both the unified story and the coherent self are myths of identity. for there is no coherent “self” that predates stories about identity, about “who” one is. (47) this double subversion (of nature’s and autobiography’s potential) surprisingly threatens to overthrow the reader’s expectations for closure. what is offered then as consolation is the materiality of the present and past. the recurring motif of the need to restore the physicality of the past is illustrated in the book in a number of ways: collecting mementos of place, writing a journal, ‘revisiting’ somebody else’s memoirs. one of the final scenes in the narrative is evocative of the elusive, intangible nature of human memory, i.e. the moment when helen finds her father’s plane-spotting diaries, his “records of ordered transcendence”. the author recognizes his need to preserve the sightings of planes, birds, his whole diary keeping mania. likewise, she understands his boyhood obsession with war artifacts – shrapnel, helmets, bullet shells, items recovered after the london bombings. they are as much an act of resistance against oblivion as her own survival tactics. and while browsing through his records she accidentally finds the key to his flat (macdonald, 267). finally, it is this human artifact, the key, that becomes a symbolic witness of her mourning. holding the key in this epiphanic moment she suddenly feels crushed by the weight of her sorrow, the physicality of absence, the touch of the loss she has suffered. and it is the key, not the bird, that momentarily takes “the shape of [her] grief ”. helen has reached her destination, she is now in the place and moment when “time had passed all the same, and worked its careful magic” (macdonald, 268). time heals. nature instead remains mute, unredemptive and indifferent. 70 crossroads. a journal of english studies references allister, mark christopher. 2001. refiguring the map of sorrow. nature writing and autobiography. charlottesville and london: university press of virginia. anderson, linda. 2001. autobiography. the new critical idiom. london and new york: routledge. macdonald, helen. 2014. h is for hawk. london: vintage books. macfarlane, robert. 2015. “green shoots and silver buckshot.” new statesman 4 september, 32-37. moran, joe. 2014. “a cultural history of the new nature writing.” literature & history 23(1), 49-63. “myxomatosis”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/myxomatosis 3 march 2016. schama, simon. 2004. landscape and memory. 9 ed. london: harper press. smith, sidonie, and julia watson, eds. 2001. reading autobiography. a guide for interpreting life narratives. minneapolis and london: university of minnesota press. winn, m. 2007 “introduction.” the goshawk. by terence hanbury white. new york: new york review book classics, v-xv. wong, h. d. sweet, 1998. “first-person plural: subjectivity and community in native american women’s autobiography.” women, autobiography, theory. a reader. ed. smith, sidonie and julia watson. the university of wisconsin press. wisconsin, 168-178. 15 articles paulina korzeniewska-nowakowska university of zielona góra, poland revisiting the fairy land: anne sexton’s transformation of the grimms’ female characters abstract. anne sexton’s vivid and scandalous literary heritage has always been arousing controversy mostly due to its confessional character. it is, however, underestimated that one of the sources of her poetic inspirations was a broadly defined european culture and tradition, including the grimms’ fairy tales. this article strives to inquire how sexton revisits narratives of canonical tales with special regard to female protagonists. an apparent discrepancy will be shown between the two versions in terms of poetic imagery, character construction, and the reality in which they are firmly anchored. the morals drawn from the poems markedly diverge from the original versions, for it is with pessimism and disillusionment that sexton transforms the naïve and sentimental images. the applied adaptation, hence, serves here to articulate the conflict between the traditional, male-centered set of values and a feminist perspective. the poems’ structures, literary figures, cultural references, features of genre, and other elements will be examined and analyzed to compare the retold stories with their archetypes and to provide a detailed interpretation in the light of the addressed problems. keywords: fairy tales; feminism; female protagonist; adaptation; postmodern poetry. introduction since life writing has become one of the major trends in worldwide literature, a new light has been shed on confessional artists. the impact which their personal experience has on their work has been more carefully examined and evaluated, as the literary recording of the self has become their token of recognition. anne sexton, one of the leading poets of the confessional trend, is no exception, her literary heritage and confessional style being, however, equivocal. sexton’s texts require from their readers deep insight into a number of contexts in which they are firmly anchored. her work arose from a complex combination of various generic fields, like family, society, or expression of individualism, the last one appealing to be the most crucial. the emanation of self was a reason for the poet to start writing, a key concept in her poems, and, eventually, one of the factors causing her self-destruction. nevertheless, sexton’s late work was strongly inspired by common tradition and culture. a research aim of this paper is to establish how anne sexton transforms female characters, like snow white, rapunzel, sleeping beauty, and red riding hood, in her doi: 10.15290/cr.2015.10.3.02 16 crossroads. a journal of english studies postmodern works of reversed, redescribed, and deconstructed meanings. the objective is also to explore and challenge traditional models of literary adaptation and intertextuality, and inquire whether they can be applied to the process of sexton’s rewriting of source texts. in the light of these assumptions, selected poem-stories will be analysed. the grimms’ defeminized heritage in her seminal work, women who run with the wolves: myths and stories of the wild woman archetype (1996), clarissa pinkola estes employs the whole spectrum of female culture. the “wild woman” archetype she has been researching, refers to innate, natural, and primeval features of women compared to those of wolves. it has been found that this archetype can be identified with a psychological element or an instinctive nature basic to the female self. estes’s argument in favour of the wild woman archetype runs as follows: healthy women share a number of psychological qualities with wolves, and these are sharp senses, playfulness, exceptional ability to sacrifice, extraordinary strength, immunity, and inquisitiveness. her findings are based on numerous traditional tales, tribal legends, and psychoanalytical work the researcher has been pursuing with female patients. she puts forward the claim that this elusive layer of the female psyche has been oppressed for centuries and misrepresented by male-oriented narratives, which made these innate features go astray. it would be too harsh to state that the tales which have been researched by estes are purely misogynist, but it can be noticed that they present a clear division of gender roles. jack zipes, in his lifelong attempt to explain fairy tales’ enduring significance, seems to belittle gynocritical ways of reading them, and only in order to provide a certain background does he mention grimms’ feminist critics. he does, however, admit that throughout jacob and wilhelm grimms’ work collecting and editing germanic tales and other folklore elements like customs or literature pieces, they intentionally erased or rewrote those elements which would not be in line with the patriarchal model of nineteenth century europe. [t]he grimms made major changes while editing the tales. they eliminated erotic and sexual elements that might be offensive to middle-class morality, added numerous christian expressions and references, emphasized specific role models for male and female protagonists according to the dominant patriarchal code of that time, and endowed many of the tales with a ‘homey’ biedermeier flavour by the use of diminutives, quaint expressions, and cute descriptions (2002: 46). it must be also underlined that the principal concern of the grimms was to present the didactic role of tales, which facilitated the long-term process of bonding generations of germans together. educators and parents found it crucial to emphasize the morals and instructive lessons the tales should provide for children, although some of the messages may seem too harsh for contemporary upbringing. for example, tom thumb does not find much approval among modern children due to its violent and cruel character. it is beyond any doubt that fairy tales have shaped the archetype of the female protagonist. researchers of a feminist orientation, like de beauvoir (1949), tatar (1987), lieberman (1972), 17 articles or  bottigheimer (1987), have enumerated a series of features and behavioural patterns deeply rooted in canonical tales, although derogatory to women. excessively humbled (“[i]n fact humbled is perhaps too mild a term to use for the many humiliations to which female protagonists must submit” (tatar 1987: 92)); in constant need of being rescued; delicate, ergo helpless, and dependent on their male counterparts, who quite often treat them disrespectfully, female characters give an irrelevant example for contemporary society where girls are taught to behave and act independently. as liebermann observed, “[i]t is hard to see how children could be prepared to women’s liberation by reading fairy tales; an analysis of those fairy tales that children actually read indicates instead that they serve to perpetuate traditional social roles (1972: 383). examples are easily found in canonical tales widespread among children and reiterated by numerous adaptations. depicted as kind-hearted and exceptionally beautiful, snow white takes refuge among dwarves, where she fulfils the role of their housekeeper and cook. cinderella frees herself from the yoke of a mean stepmother and stepsisters only due to the prince’s choice. furthermore, it is underlined that she could approach him having washed the dirt off, a symbol of her servility towards her hostile family; it leads her, however, only to another form of subjection, for now she has become the prince’s property. “she first washed her hands and face clean, and then went and bowed down before the king’s son, who gave her the golden shoe. [...] [h]e [...] took cinderella on his horse and rode away with her” (completed fairy tales 2012: 76). conversely, marina warner takes issue with such a straightforward critique of the tales in her two major works the absent mother, or women against women in the ‘old wives’ tale’ (1991) and from the beast to the blond: on fairy tales and their tellers (1994). she notices that their utility as a didactic tool is many sided; they gave voice to women as narrators of numerous stories presenting, hence, a female perspective. “fairytale offers a case where the very contempt for women opened an opportunity for them to exercise their wit and communicate their ideas” (1991: 24). anne sexton’s feminizng of the tales there has been an inconclusive debate about whether androcentric narratives of fairy tales have become too easy a target for feminist critics, who openly condemn these narratives for the patriarchal values they bear. indeed, numerous screenings, revisited writings, and even internet memes modernize fairy tale characters, mostly female ones, attributing to them features of being liberated and independent. one cannot, however, compare the social constructions of feminity at the beginning of 1970s and now. this section, thus, strives to present women’s portrayal in transformations in the optics of the american post-war realm with reference to their archetypical counterparts. as has already been mentioned, certain stereotypes and a concrete vision of womanhood are endorsed in source texts. as gonzalez suggests, the purported naturalness of the division of the spheres [...] that so thoroughly pervades fairy tale, testifies to the efficacy of this cultural procedure, which women internalize and tactically assume as a truthful dispenser 18 crossroads. a journal of english studies of womanhood. fairy tales, then, constitute another, and very effective, normalizing discipline which show women the version of ‘feminity’ that the social norm expects from them; they are unawarely socialized and rendered docile to the cultural discourses at work in a given society and historical period. (1999: 12) a somewhat comparative triangle will be presented, where the source texts and sexton’s revisions are compared in order to show the result of such confrontation. one of the first protagonists dealt with in the volume is snow white. her girlishness, emphasized in the first stanza, takes the form of pure dollishness; her corporealness consists of material building blocks, like porcelain or cigarette paper (“arms and legs made of limoges” (t 1971:3). the creature, not a person, is presented at the very beginning, named a virgin. the narrator attributes shallow, simple actions to her; she has a stated purpose of accompanying others, greeting her stepmother, saying yes or no – which, in sexton’s creation, deprives her of any humanity. this dependence on dominant companions makes her an inert creature leading a precarious existence based on others actions and decisions. snow white’s pureness, representing her beauty in the grimms’ tale, in sexton grows in a different significance. the girl’s freshness and virginity epitomize her helplessness, incompetence, and social incapacity in the face of the wrong committed to her by family and gender relations. sexton’s female persona is met by the reader at this very moment – the girl’s womanhood being her greatest misfortune. whereas the grimms’ snow white is seven, the metatale girl is thirteen. placing her in this liminal moment of life, on the border between childhood and adulthood, allowed the writer room for poetic manoeuvre. the transformation of the protagonist is, hence, from a featureless child to a teenager whose qualities of character, mostly pejorative, are being developed in the course of the narrative. this time she bought a poison comb, a curved eight-inch scorpion, and put it in her hair and swooned again. the dwarfs returned and took out the comb and she revived miraculously. […] snow white, the dumb bunny, opened the door and she bit into a poison apple and fell down for the final time. (t: 8) all the harm done to snow white in the source text does not apply to her own actions; in other words she is a victim of her stepmother’s evil, not a culprit. sexton’s revision brings the girl into the disrepute of being vain, witless, and irresponsible. the adaptation, though, is perverse – the story proposed by sexton still holds a moral forewarning of self-admiration and the triumph of the exterior, but the object of this narcissistic decountrifying is snow white herself. in the end, she does not differ much from her main enemy; moreover the finale of the poem suggests she becomes the queen who once despised her. (“meanwhile snow white held court,/rolling her china-blue doll 19 articles eyes open and shut/ and sometimes referring to her mirror/as women do.” (t: 9) in sexton, female characters become slaves to their images; as if female existence was determined by and trapped in her appearance, which simplifies their each step as human beings. a closer look at female relationships is taken in a revision of “rapunzel”. whereas the scheme of the tale is much about the same, the attention is centered on the interaction between the title character and dame gothel. one of the first adapting procedures applied is changing the latter one into mother gothel, which stays in conformity with an anaphoric phrase at the beginning and at the end of the introductory part of the poem, “a woman/who loves a woman/ is forever young” (t: 35). that could be perceived as a declaration of parental love; the relationship between the two, however, is later developed as rather ambiguous. sexton employs images of nudity and intimate contact between a young girl and a mature woman. the above mentioned introductory part serves as a monologue by mother gothel to the girl where she intends to explain the bonding between them, underlining their mutual affection and their belongingness to each other. (“we are two clouds/ glistening in the bottle glass./ we are two birds/ washing in the same mirror.” t: 38) erotic and toxic as it is, the relationship is presented in a loving, almost tender, way. mother gothel seems to be entirely devoted to rapunzel; the young girl’s freshness and beauty inspires her and prolongs her own vitality. their oneness is the reason for woman’s existence as a whole. in sexton, family relations are subject to distortion, identifiable as something which mcgowan names “domesticized terror”; putting them in the frame of a fairy tale makes them even more contorted. this view of family and its members contrasts with that of the grimms’ – sanguine and pure, where a parent acts as a natural protector of their daughter. whereas in “rapunzel” the pathological incest can be somehow surmountable due to the title character’s relationship with a man (“they lived happily as you might expect/ proving that mother-me-do/can be outgrown” t: 42), “briar rose” reconstructions portrays a woman devastated by her childhood traumas. briar rose’s initial innocent character is transformed by numerous sexual allusions, and the problem of incest comes back here double-barrelled. in sexton, the ambivalent feelings of a propensity for the father and sexual imagery predominate in the story and become its main theme. fascination is mixed with disgust with the man who under false pretences of protecting briar rose from a curse, takes advantage of his power and antagonizes the girl. in the source text we can read, “the queen had a little girl who was so pretty that the king could not contain himself for joy”. in sexton’s version, “briar rose […] dwelt in his odor” (t: 109). a somewhat rebellion against the order of a traditional fairy tale is the very fact that sexton dares to describe briar rose’s life after her wedding with the prince: the “they lived happily ever after” story is far from a bed of roses. traumatically experienced in her childhood, sleeping beauty struggles with insomnia, depression, drug addiction. it is underlined that the girl from the canonical tale is divorced from reality; the grimms’ figure is the old-time reflection of a stepford wife – flawless, thoughtless, subordinate. sexton’s version, on the other hand, defies expectations; her behavior is chaotic and unpredictable. she becomes a victim of her beauty, for it opens a pandora’s box for her. if it had not been for her female attractiveness, she would have been saved from her 20 crossroads. a journal of english studies father’s affection and, thus, she would not bear the imprint of the incestuous trauma. as sexton indicates, briar rose’s womanhood is driven by her childhood memories and due to her emotional impotence she stays a girl forever – a girl who is aware of her imprisonment in an electra complex, as well as of the ill sexual identity she has developed and cannot change. the final stanza, which is thereby the final part of the whole volume, expresses briar rose’s fall into despair and compares her meager being to a posthumous condition. what voyage this, little girl? this coming out of prison? god help – this life after death? (t:112) in “red riding hood” sexton departs from portraying women by means of the tales’ characters and provides a prefatorial fragment concerning the figures of her contemporaries. “many are the deceivers.” (t: 73) is the first line of the poem and introduces the tone of the narrative – dismal and ironic. postwar suburban america being the background, five people, mostly women, are shown as representations of a hypocritical society who, wearing numerous masks, lie and cheat in order to fulfill the imposed roles and fight for their endurance. “the suburban matron, […] list in hand so she won’t suddenly fly” (t: 73) is about to meet a secret lover, two jugglers who wheedle money out of an elderly woman, and a narrator, who tries to escape her past, deceiving herself it would be possible by moving to a new house. these characters’ stories given as an introduction to a slightly revised tale confront one of the most potent symbols of evil and corruption of morals – the wolf. whilst the wolf evokes rather homogeneous emotions of condemnation, the characters proposed by sexton, while sinful, are not black-and-white and lose themselves in confusion due to their weakness, not meanness. it might be stated, hence, that canonical tales, which have been teaching generations to glorify the right and avoid the wrong, employ inadequate values incongruous with human character and their choices. conclusion in transformations a critical mass of recognizable images of fairy tale figures were used to retell children’s stories in a darker and queerer way, which reversed their universalism. the effect, reinforced by obscene, sardonic language and abominable images, constitutes a visible twist from values like nobleness, courage, kindness, or purity, embedded in the primary texts, into individual problems of incest, mental illness, and depression. the author is a fluent and precise observer of the decentralized reality overwhelmed by a vain and superficial culture; by placing her characters in this carnivalesque, chaotic environment, she voices the opinion that such a lifestyle, promoted by canonical pieces of european culture, is extremely harmful to human nature. the transformation of characters, formerly predictable, well rooted in their roles and undeniably either good or evil, into struggling outcasts has raised questions of an ontological, cultural, and literary nature. 21 articles references beauvoir, de simone. 1952. the second sex. new york: knopf. bottigheimer, ruth b. 1987. grimm’s bad girls and bold boys: the moral and social vision of the tales. new haven: yale university press gill, brendan. 1991. the sky line: disneyitis. the new yorker (april 29), 96-99. gonzalez, matilde martin. 1999. fairy tales revisited and transformed: anne sexton’ critique of social(ized) feminity. http://dspace.uah.es (30 may 2015). grimm, jacob and willhelm. 2012. completed fairy tales. new york: fall river press. mcgowan, patrick, p. 2004. anne sexton and middle generation poetry. london: praeger. liebermann, marcia r.. 1972. some day my prince will come: female acculturation through the fairy tale. college english 34(3), 383-395. pinkola, clara. 1996. women who run with the wolves: myths and stories of the wild woman archetype. new york: ballatine bookssexton, anne. 1971. transformations. new york: houghton mifflin company. sexton, anne. 1971. transformations. boston: houghton mifflin company tatar, maria. 1987. the hard facts of the grimms’ fairy tales. new jersey: princeton university press. warner, marina. 1991. the absent mother, or women against women in the ‘old wives’ tale. hilversun: verloren. warner, marina. 1994. from the beast to the blond: on fairy tales and their tellers. new york: farrar, straus and giroux. zipes, jack. 2002. the brothers grimm: from enchanted forests to the modern world. new york: palgrave macmillan genderlect as discourse in yoruba movies 31 articles joseph babasola osoba federal university ndufu-alike, ikwo sola grace oluwamusanmi university of lagos genderlect as discourse in yoruba movies abstract. this paper offers an analysis of gender discourse of yoruba male and female movie characters. the yoruba speech community is one of the three major ethnic groups in nigeria. their genderlect is examined and investigated in terms of their use of minimal responses, intensifiers, hedges, tag questions, polite and taboo words. the techniques of media monitoring and purposive sampling were employed to obtain relevant data. randomly, four yoruba movies were selected from which forty eight scenes were analyzed. from each movie twelve scenes, comprising single gender interaction and mixed gender interactions were considered. social constructivism theory combined with the relevant aspects of discourse analysis was employed for the data analysis. in addition, a chi-square analysis was done. the findings show significant differences between the gender groups in the use of hedges, intensifiers, minimal responses, taboos and euphemistic or polite words. the findings also corroborate the constructionist assumptions regarding gender-bound language taking context into consideration. thus we conclude that the differences in the usage of male and female movie characters are determined, as empirically evidenced, by several sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic and discourse features within the context of situation or interaction in the yoruba milieu. keywords: genderlect, yoruba, discourse, hedges, intensifiers, minimal responses, taboo. 1. introduction this paper is a study of yoruba discourse, focusing on the differences in the way yoruba men and women speak in selected nollywood movies. recent research tends to depict the existence of differences between men and women’s language use as one of the principal issues of sociolinguistics (crawford 1995). researchers such as maltz and borker (1982), tannen (1990), wardhaugh (1991), coates (1993), trudgill (1974) and swann (2000) have observed that men and women differ significantly in their use of language and that these differences are always a product of context. the basic idea of social constructivism is that the world is socially constructed and the social order in which we perceive the world is in a constant state of change. it is believed that while meaning is constructed through interaction between different people and their relation to objects and other people, differences also vary from situation to situation (bryman 2008: 19-20). what this means 10.15290/cr.2016.12.1.03 32 crossroads. a journal of english studies is that meaning is created through language depending on how people use concepts and what the meanings of these concepts are. in this light, we attempt to examine the possible gender differences in language use and the functions of some linguistic features in yoruba movies based on social constructivism theory and relevant tools of discourse analysis. the movie has been noted, especially by aitchison (1998), to form an aspect of media that conceptualizes world events and situations which people have accepted as a means of gathering information about what is happening around the world. thus the movie, as a genre of a fictional character, may be said to be one of the most suitable and appropriate media for expressing, exploring and exploiting the richness and complexity of genderlect. this may be the main reason for the widespread interest in movies among people of various social groups globally, as aptly observed by bleichenbacher (2008:21). just as in real life or non-fiction, genderlect tends to be reflected in the discourse of movie characters as determined by their ethnic, linguistic or cultural backgrounds or affiliations. obviously, some of these features have been discussed from the point of view of the native speakers of english language but it appears that much has not been done from the context of non-native speakers of the english language. also, it was observed that these linguistic features are distinctively used by each gender. thus the primary goal of this study is to examine the differences in the usage of discourse features by male and female characters in selected yoruba nollywood movies and to explain the functions of those features of genderlect. 2. statement of the problem the general gender communication differences can be noted to reflect in most male and female discourses in relation to their contexts. from a critical discourse perspective, it may be claimed that imbalance of power between male and female members of the society is the principal factor behind gender speech differences. though this claim has been debated and elaborated on by social constructionists, this perspective has been widely attributed to lakoff (1975), whose view appears to be revolutionary as there was no substantial work on the relationship between gender and language before hers. curiously, there was little or no empirical data to substantiate some of her viewpoints on genderlect. other works, such as trudgill (1974) and holmes (1996), that focused on several of the linguistic features she discussed also fall short of providing sufficient evidence on genderlect. moreover, much of the research on gender discourse as a linguistic behaviour has focused on the native speakers of the english language. thus it appears that there is very little knowledge about how gender discourse operates in various other languages of the world in form and structure. thus this leaves a gap to fill. from our observations it is clear that genderlect in form of linguistic variables in the selected movies could provide substantive evidence that underlies differences in the speech of male and female movie characters. wardhaugh (1991) and others have investigated the speech behaviour of women and men at various levels using different methodologies. owing to the many contradictory approaches, as33 articles sumptions and results, the need to develop a critically systemic approach and methodology on genderlect arises. thus claims made about language used by women and men at different times, in different circumstances and with completely different samples, on the basis of different implicit ideologies should be examined, investigated and analysed carefully. in this paper, the view that women use discourse features such as hedges, intensifiers, minimal responses, taboos, question tags, euphemisms and polite words more often than men and the need to examine the functions of these discourse features in different social contexts becomes a research problem to be investigated and resolved using yoruba movies as a case study. operational definitions of terms for the purpose of this study, we consider it necessary to define the following terms: hedges appear to be similar in form and structure in english and yoruba. examples are: m`o rope (i think), se oori (you see), o dabi enipe (it seems). intensifiers tend to be similar in form and structure in yoruba and english. examples are: oti poju (too much), eru yi le ju (so enormous). language use: yoruba words used by males and females to communicate in the selected movies. minimal responses are also known as back-channel speech. they involve brief feedback or comments provided by listeners during the conversation interaction (hmmmm, ehennn, hunnn). polite words (or euphemisms) are words associated with respect, etiquette, well-mannered behaviour. examples: ema binu (sorry), edakun (please). taboo words and euphemism refer to prohibited words. they are forbidden because they are regarded as immoral or improper. sexual organs and sexual acts in yoruba culture are taboo words that should not be mentioned in the public. euphemisms are used in their place. tag questions are the same in yoruba and english. examples of tag questions are: abi beeko (isn’t it), abi iwo ko (aren’t you), se ohun ko ni (wasn’t it). yoruba movies are movies produced by yoruba movie industry in the yoruba language. 3. genderlect from a sociolinguistic perspective, the term genderlect may be described as “the language of both male and female sexes” (kramer 1977:122). this refers to language form and language use associated characteristically with either males or females. just as “dialect” is defined as a variety of language of a people in a specific geographical area, genderlect can be defined as a variety of a language that is tied not to any geographical location or family background or a role but rather to the speaker’s gender. the study of genderlect has been dominated by one word: difference. differences between men and women and the way they speak have filled the pages of numerous articles and books. many of the approaches adopted in the study of genderlect have reflected different milieus (‘deficit’ approach, ‘dominance’ approach, ‘difference and discursive approach’). these approaches came one after another as a result of the shortcomings of the earlier ones. in a nut shell, the bot34 crossroads. a journal of english studies tom line is communication and differences. according to tannen, a key advocate of the difference approach, communication is more or less cross-cultural and males and females are genetically unsuited to communicate successfully with each other. we learn to use language as we grow up, and since we grow up in different geographical areas, have different religious beliefs, class backgrounds, etc. – all these lead to different ways of speaking. being male or female also leads to different conversational styles (tannen 1990:42). the ‘discursive’ approach which falls under the social constuctionism sees context as the basis of the differences. the discursive approach is influenced by michel foucault as it focuses more on the production of knowledge and meaning, power/knowledge in correlation with history and historical events (hall 1997: 51). linguists working on genderlect now consider how gender is ‘constructed’ in its relation to cultural variables such as race, ethnicity, geography, class and economics; and how the factors which entail a society ‘influence’ how we construct gender. in other words, fresh insights have been gained on the various ways in which males and females verbally interact with one another and on the discourse problems that occur in the process. the most popular explanation given for the obvious differences is that the disparate verbal skills held by males and females are reflections of the disparate conditions of their gender in the society. since male and female speakers of a language have different experiences, social roles and personal needs peculiar to their culture, it can only be expected that they develop different strategies and skills of speech to operate within and cope with sociolinguistic and cultural requirements in their society. findings from early works simply indicate changes and differences which can be observed in genderlect. for example, there are different opinions as regards the use of intensifiers, tag questions, minimal responses, euphemisms, polite words, and other forms. there is the view that women use tag questions more to get a confirmation of a personal opinion. there is also the view that men do not use tag questions as often as women as well as the one that says they do (mcmillan, clifton, mcgrath & gale 1977; mulac & lundell 1986). similarly, there have been opposing views regarding (dubois & crouch 1975), further evidence that women use phrases that may communicate relative uncertainty. uncertainty verb phrases, especially those combining first-person singular pronouns with perceptual or cognitive verbs (e.g., “i wonder if ”), have been found more often in women’s writing (mulac & lundell 1994) and speech (hartman 1976; poole 1979). similarly, the view that women use more hedges because of their reluctance to force their views on others appears to support lakoff’s claim that women are more likely than men, in the same situation, to use extra-polite forms such as, “would you mind…”. this claim has been supported by subsequent empirical works (holmes 1995; mcmillan et al. 1977). aitchison (1998) claims that women are more conservative when they talk by replacing imperatives or direct sentences with questions. for example, if a woman is asked “what time are we going to have the dinner?” she will answer “is it at 8?” instead of “it’s at 8”. however, this style of talking is specific to weak people who are afraid of provoking arguments and outrage. women tend to use more standard forms than men and it is commonly alleged that women speak more correctly than men, but the real reason for this way of talking is still under question and only some justifications 35 articles have been proposed which can be right to some extent. for example, women are under pressure in patriarchal societies and are expected to be ladylike, so they have to behave more politely than men. some people believe that talking properly is considered a part of their personality and associated with their femininity. in conclusion, the literature reviewed above is considered germane to the study of genderlect as discourse in yoruba nollywood movies. 4. yoruba discourse the yoruba of southwestern nigeria have been described as a group of people with rich culture and values whose verbal discourses feature proverbs, folktales, rituals, songs, prayers, succinct sayings and even drumming and singing to enrich the meaning of what they say (adegbija 1989). this is especially true when they speak their native language, although many of these characteristics have been carried into their english language usage. their language use reflects their peculiar culture and world view which intertwine, as aptly observed by hymes (1964). in other words, their speech variation occurs due to a number of linguistic and non-linguistic factors or variables such as language contact, social context, age, gender and social or educational status of participants/interlocutors. these variables tend to account for the peculiar discourse features of their language use. as espoused in this paper, discourse can be described as language in use (see brown and yule 1983; fasold 1990). so by yoruba discourse, we simply refer to yoruba language in use. the analysis of yoruba discourse in the movies may present clearly a new perspective and understanding of the language, its use as well as its functions. new discourse features may be found to be peculiar to social interactions in yoruba movies as a result of the yoruba socio-cultural milieu or world view. if discourse is assumed to be underlined by social relations, then our focus here is to shed more light on peculiar discourse features employed in the selected yoruba movies by men and women in the course of interaction. as discourse analysis involves the study of language in context, we, in this paper, consider each of these linguistic features as a continuous stretch of language larger or smaller than a sentence. the reason for this is that discourse elements cannot be studied in isolation because of their peculiar feature of being dependent on context for their interpretation. thus texts are analyzed as also language use ‘above the sentence’ and not only as sentences, sentence elements or a conglomerate of ideas (literary or otherwise) that are generated through sentence elements or structures. this perspective is well-captured by coulthard (1977) when she states that the largest unit of discourse may overlap with the largest unit of grammatical organization (see olateju 1988). since male and female speakers of a language have different experiences, social roles and personal needs particular to their culture, it can be only expected that the genders develop different strategies and skills of speech to operate within those circumstances, and that these are reflected in movies. the most popular explanation given for these differences is that the disparate verbal skills held by males and females are reflections of the disparate conditions of the genders in society. a hierarchical male-female relationship is seen to exist in society which is manifested in cross36 crossroads. a journal of english studies sex discourse (white 2003). tannen’s view is that verbal differences between males and females are caused by different cultural backgrounds. women are assumed to think more often in terms of closeness and support in order to preserve intimacy while men are assumed to focus more on status and independence. these traits may be responsible for the obviously different views which men and women have of the same or similar situation (tannen 1990:42). the question then is, do yoruba male and female characters reflect those traits in their discourse in movies? if yes, does that lead to significant verbal differences in their discourse? these are the main questions we set out to answer in this paper. 5. methodology in this paper, we employ an integration of qualitative and quantitative methods. this approach, as described by keller & erzberger (2004:174), enables the employment of complementary methods that facilitate a broadened perspective based on an indepth treatment, description and explanation of the subject area. purposive sampling which involves media monitoring of both electronic and print media was employed. in this regard, series of films were viewed on dstv channels, especially on african magic yoruba, okin tv, galaxy tv and lots more. also, information was gathered online in respect to the comments of viewers and the total number of viewers of these movies. the data were sourced from selected yoruba movies. after watching them severally with keen attention, the speeches/utterances of both male and female characters were transcribed in order to identify and select the relevant areas of interest. the data were then divided into three major groups: (1) cross gender, same period, (2) same gender, cross period. the four selected yoruba (nollywood) movies are: oleku, oga, ainidariji and gbaju. they were selected because they contain scenes involving verbal exchanges between male and female characters, showing love, relationship, social and family life as their thematic centrality. 6. presentation and analysis of data 6.1. research question 1: is there a significant difference in how men and women use intensifiers, taboo words, hedges, question tags, minimal responses and polite words in yoruba movies? the results of our analysis showing significant differences between men and women in the use of intensifiers, taboo words, hedges, question tags, minimal responses and polite words in our data are summarized in tables 1a and 1b indicating the frequency and percentage of usage. table 1a. the frequency of selected variables in the speech of male and female characters linguistic variable male % female % hedges 163 22.7 189 26.3 intensifier 122 29.1 92 21.9 37 articles question tag 59 30.7 55 28.6 minimal response 63 16.1 121 30.9 taboo words 106 30.9 68 19.8 politeness 14 12.9 48 44.4 total 527 100 573 100 table 1b. the frequency of selected variables in the speech of male and female characters table 2. male chi-square table linguistic variable observed n expected n hedges – 163 1 10 0 intensifier – 122 1 10 0 question tag – 59 1 10 0 minimal response-63 1 10 0 taboo words – 106 1 10 0 politeness – 14 1 10 0 total 6 table 3. female chi-square table observed n expected n hedges – 189 1 10 0 intensifier – 92 1 10 0 question tag – 55 1 10 0 minimal response121 1 10 0 taboo words-68 1 10 0 38 crossroads. a journal of english studies politeness – 48 1 10 0 total 6 table 4. test statistics male female chi square 000 000 df 5 5 asymp. sig 1.000 1.000 6 cells (100.05) have expected frequencies less than 5. the minimum expected cell frequency is 1.0. the chi – square analysis reveals that men and women use these features differently as the 6 cells (100.05) have expected frequencies less than 5 while the minimum expected cell frequency is 1.0. this result shows that there is a significant difference in the usage of these variables by the male and female characters. in addition, the frequency count/percentage of our data confirms that females use hedges, minimal responses and polite words more than their male counterparts while males use question tags, intensifiers, and taboos more than females. below are some samples illustrating the use of the forms by both male and female characters (m= male character/speech; f= female character/speech). extract from gbajue bayo – m: oti wa lokan mi tipe (i have had it in mind for a while). funke – f: mmm. bayo – m: moro wipe tin base bayi, odara. abibeeko? (i think it is better for me to face it now, isn’t it?). funke – f: well, t’o ba roo be ( well, if you so think ). bayo – m: o mo pe, emi o fe si idi mi sita (you know that i don’t want my secret exposed). funke – f: mmm, oma dara gan! well , se pe o le ronu bayi (mmm, so nice of you! well, so could think now). ahmed wo’le (ahmed enters) ahmed – m: ina nla, oye keemo…ninu amohunmaworan (high energy…you probably know him…on air). bayo – m: mmm. se national hero ni? (mmm, is he a national hero?) toke – f:well,(rerin) iwo nko? (well (laugh)….what about you?). funke – f: uhmm…hu-hh, can’t stop laughing. the above is a sample of conversations among four friends-two males and two females. from the ten turns, females use minimal responses (4) four times while men use it (1) once. hedges were used by the female groups (3) thrice and (2) twice by the males while question tag is used (1) once by the male gender. other features such as taboos, politeness were also identified in the passage. tables 1a and 1b show the frequency and percentage of the occurrences of these linguistic variables in the data. 39 articles from our analysis of yoruba discourse, men appear to use less of these features than women. men also use taboo words and intensifiers more than women as a consequence of the value that has been placed on men in yoruba culture. even though taboo words are prohibited, that is, yoruba culture does not approve the use of such words in the public by both genders, men often use them in both single and mixed gender settings. the analysis also reveals that women use hedges, polite words and minimal responses more than men as a result of the socio-cultural factors in the yoruba setting. for instance, it is believed that a woman should be submissive and polite in all situations. there are acceptable rules for discourse especially when it involves mixed gender. in the movies, the women were at the receiving end as most of them had to wait for their men to finish talking before they could respond. these features, as used by women, indicate their submission and unassertiveness. the male characters in oga (movie) employed a lot of taboo words associated with breast, sex organs and their prowess in bed, such as: daluru (women hunter), oga (deceiver), ekun (lion), eru aya (breast), fisifun (make love) unlike the females. 6.2. research question 2 – what are the functions of taboo words, politeness, intensifiers, minimal responses, tag questions and hedges in the movies? from the data, we were able to identify the various functions of these variables as used by men and women in the movies. these are explicated as follows: 6.2.1. hedges after identifying all the lexical hedges in the data, we grouped them into five different categories for the analysis of the lexical hedges according to their functional similarity as proposed by crompton (1997:282). this classification enables us to analyse the lexical hedges more effectively by comparing differences between males and females. personal evaluations. one of the functions of lexical hedges used in these movies is personal evaluation. hedges such as: morope, odabi eni wipe, simi, etc. (i think; it seems to me; i guess; i suppose) and many more were used by both genders in our data. the use of hedges is related to a speaker’s personal evaluation. it is precisely the element of personal evaluation that makes these expressions lexical hedges and renders the utterance they govern less threatening. the example below illustrates the difference: f: morowipe,tinuade korira ju elo (i think tinuade hates more than you). m: well, ma worry, mo mohun timase (well, don’t worry, i will see to it). f: sugbon, emi nro bakan pe kin bere funranlowo won. (but i kind of think i should ask for help). m:min mo, odabi eni wipe oo ti sure (i don’t know…it seems you’re not sure yet). f: ori, mo guess pe on ti mi ni (you see, i guess you are joking). 40 crossroads. a journal of english studies looking at the example above it is easy to see how removing the personal evaluation: morowipe, moro bakan pe, odabi eniwipe (i think, it seems) from the conversation would make it sound more direct and thus more threatening to the hearer. the fact that the whole utterance starts with the speaker marking the following speech as his or her personal evaluation of some sort is certainly important for softening his critical comment. expressions of approximation. hedges were employed by both genders in the movies as approximate expressions, such as: bakan, bee bee (sort of; kind of; in a way; somewhat; somehow, etc). in the data, these expressions were regularly used to soften critical comments. it is clear that these words were not only used to make a specific semantic relationship fuzzier but also to make the relationship between the speaker and the content of his/her utterance fuzzier. m: se kaku sope, moji ajasa n manage e beebee ni? (should we then conclude that moji ajasa is somehow reluctantly dating you?) m: rara oo, emi gan ni mo n wo lona kan boya kin kuku koju si asake nikan (no, i am even the one considering whether i should stop double dating and focus on asake alone). f: helooo ni bi ooo, ahhhh! emi o ma risi bi ore e se n se bakan simi. (hello everyone. ahhh! i am not comfortable with the strange behaviour of your friend to me). expressions of limitation. some lexical hedges were used in the movies to express a limitation of some sort. what this means, in practice, is that all the hedges in this category limit the scope of the utterance and thus soften the content of a critical comment. examples: di e (a little/ little/ a bit), di e loku (just/ almost/ slightly). the function of these hedges is best illustrated with examples from the data: m: to me, oye ki damola respect iyawo e die (damola ought to respect his wife a bit) f: is quite unfortunate fun adesewa tori mo warn ee daadaa. m: esa je kama gbadura fun won okere opo (well, let’s just keep praying for them, whether little or much). expressions of hesitation. some of the lexical hedges used by males and females in these movies explicitly mark hesitation. it is important to bear in mind that hesitation can be expressed in many ways, not just with single lexical hedges. thus, certain hedges have a clear hesitative meaning, for instance, boya (perhaps; maybe; probably), to list some of the most common ones. f: boya kin lo fejo damola sun ore e boya o ma yipada (maybe i should go and report damola to his friend, perhaps he will change). f: hhhhmm, boya …. lo gbiyanju. (hhmmm, probably….. go and try your luck) expressions of insecurity/ uncertainty. previous research by coates (1988: 8) has shown that women use hedges to mitigate the force of what is being said. men use them to reinforce what is being said as well. the use of moro’pe (i think, it seems) may signal that the person is unsure about what he/she is saying. 41 articles m: honey, igba wo lori moji last (honey, when last did you see moji). f: emm, o da bi mpe mori ninu newspaper nigba pipe (emm,i think it is a long time i saw him, in the newspaper). m: odun to k’oja abi igbawo (last year or when?) b’oya (may be) f: mo n ro wipe odun to koja yini (i think it was last year). “f” is not very sure if she had seen “m” (meaning through his picture or interview) in the newspaper, and she shows this by using i think as an uncertainty marker. but i think does not always indicate insecurity; rather, it may be used when the speaker is trying to protect herself from possible indictment of falsehood, slander or generalisation. this seems to confirm previous research which shows that women use hedges in ways other than an indication of weakness. 6.2.2. intensifiers and polite words generally, intensifiers are used by females and males in these movies while polite words are mainly used by females. intensifiers are used more by males. in the movie ainidariji, the way adesewa’s friends described her beauty when they wanted her to accompany them to the club and how they complimented one another exemplify this. f-friends: woo, adesewa, so mo pe hot cake ni e, irun ori e beautiful, shape wa lovely gan pelu beauty e. kodemawo je ki oruko e koro e now (see, adesewa, you know you are a hot cake, your hair is beautiful and your physique is lovely, allow your name to influence you now)(her name, adesewa literaly means beauty queen). f-adesewa: please, mi o wa si school tori party, eyin naa dunju, edara pupo, so elo je gbogbo igbadun (please, i am not in school because of the party. you are all so sweet and beautiful! so, go and enjoy yourselves!) all the women here used what is called empty adjectives and politeness markers to describe one another (lakoff 1975). by their compliments, the conversation is facilitated. also, in the movie oga when shina ayo’s mother came to talk with yoyin’s parents, both female speakers use polite words in their speech to each other. yoyin’s mum: e se gan oo! eleyi tun daa gan (thank you a lot! this is very nice). shina ayo’s mum: eleyi kere (it was the least we could do). yoyin’s mum: ile yin rewa o, lai ti wo ayika. ike anabi niyi o (your house is really beautiful even though i haven’t been in it. this is the prophet’s blessing) camille: looto, eje ka lo wo ayika (really, come on then let’s move around). from oleku: m-ajani: asake rewa pupo ju (asake is so beautiful). m-ijaola: oma n wumi ki omoge ri rumu rumu bayi (i love to see a cute and chubby damsel). this illustrates how female characters use polite words (or euphemisms) and intensifiers as devices to make sure they do not threaten their interlocutor’s status, role or face, thereby keeping 42 crossroads. a journal of english studies good social relationships regardless of whether or not the relationship will continue in the future. the male characters in contrast use intensifiers to buttress and reinforce their points. 6.2.3. minimal responses in our data, minimal responses were produced by both genders in the course of the conversation; however, women used them more often than men. examples are: yeah, mmm, uh huh, yes, yea and right etc. especially when code mixing. bayo-m: oti wa lokan mi tipe (i have thought about it for a while). funke-f: mmm. bayo-m: moro wipe tin base bayi, odara. abibeeko? (i think it will be better to face it now, isn’t it?). funke-f: well, toba roobe (well, if you think so) bayo-m: omope, emi o fe si idi mi sita (you know, i don’t want my secret to be exposed). funke – f: ermm, oma dara gan, well sepole ronu bayi (mmm. so nice of you, well, so could think now) ahmed wole (ahmed enters) ahmed – m: ina nla, oye keemo…ninu amohunmaworan (high energy…you probably know him…on air). bayo-m: mmm. se national hero ni? (mmm, is he a national hero?) toke – f:well,(rerin) iwo nko? (well (laugh)….aren’t you?) funke-f: uhmm…hu-hh (can’t stop laughing.) minimal responses, as used in the movies, tend to support the speaker indicating that the interlocutor was listening to (attentive to) or in agreement with what was being said. when used, they never seem to interrupt the flow of the conversation. this feature (or technique) seems to corroborate coates’s finding that since minimal responses are well placed in the conversations, they do not cause any interruption (coates 2004: 129). several researchers have found that, in casual conversations, it is women who take on the role of facilitators (holmes 2001; tannen 1990). it has been demonstrated that men are less sensitive to the interactional process. from the excerpt above it is clear that both male and female make use of minimal responses to show the listener’s active participation in the conversation. the interpretation is that bayo goes against the norms of male speech strategies by being more supportive and less competitive in the discourse process. hence, a minimal response is used here to show that the listener is actively involved in the conversation and supportive. 6.2.4. question tags tag questions are used by both male and female characters in the movies to perform the following functions: a) an invitation of others to participate in a conversation or take their own turn; b) a polite facilitation of an addressee’s entrance into or turn in a conversation; c) a certainty of the acceptability of the subject-matter to the addressee; 43 articles d) an expression of uncertainty, circumspection; thoughtfulness, carefulness; c) a reflection of concerns for the addressee’s feelings or emotion. these are found in the extract below: well, inu mi ndun bakan sa. i mean pe emi nikan lo rewa ju l’oju e laarin gbogbo wa. i guess am the best for him. abi? (well, i am somehow happy. i mean that i am the most beautiful of all of us here to him! isn’t it?) o ga o, o ma nya mi lenun bi awon obirin ti se ma nfe iru eniyan bayi. you know! abi kot’oro ni? (it is a surprise that ladies love men of that sort. isn’t it?) ah, eleyi te ngbon kiri tele bobo leyin. o kan ma loyin s’ere ni. woo, you see! abi beeko? (as you dote on the man, he may end not been serious about the affair as you are. isn’t it?) these uses of question tags are almost completely different from their functions in english where they are simply used for negating simple positive statements or affirm negative ones. this difference can be attributed to different cultural norms/ways of talking or conversing in yoruba and english. thus different conversational strategies are evident markers of a different cultural milieu. 6.2.5. taboo words in our data, taboo words were used by both men and women but were mostly produced by men. according to jay (1999:84), there are many reasons for people to use taboo words; people have a desire to express their feelings, relieve their negative stress and establish their identities and status through their speech. this may differ in expression and form from culture to culture. our data reveal that taboo words were used for humorous effect, catharsis, or showing of power. in some scenes, humorous effects are reached by mentioning some words that the society perceives to be forbidden. for example, words and expressions related to sex, sexual organs and the sexual act. words such as ibalopo (fuck), idi (ass), oko (dick), omu (boob) etc. were used in the movies. in ainidariji, damola and his friends used taboo words for this purpose. for example, damola humorously expressed his affection toward a woman in the following excerpt: damola: oluwa o, ewo idi yi. kinti e le ponla (good lord, look at that ass! i wish i could have a feel of it). friend: eru nla, oki sibe, yepa! (big ass, so loaded, wow!). the second function here is catharsis. this happens when we are extremely angry and need to express our anger in violence, the uttering of these forbidden words may provide a relatively harmless verbal substitute for other dangerous acts. for instance, when shina ayo in oga realised that his best man wanted to have sexual intercourse with his fiancée, he used a lot of taboo words to express his anger. also, a lot of taboo words were used in oleku and other movies, such as: daluru, oga , ibale, oja, ekun, aja, ojo weliweli, esin, opeke, beleja yan, asewo, fisifun, dasibe, tosibe. taboo words are used to stress the masculinity of the speaker, especially in conflict. breaking the rules has connotations of strength and freedom which men find desirable as previously noted 44 crossroads. a journal of english studies by trudgill (2000:18). this was justified by damola in ainidariji when he resorted to taboo words in his conversations with his wife and friends to show that he was the head of his family. a cultural factor may be responsible for why men tend to use more taboo words than women in the movies. in the traditional yoruba culture, women tended to be restrained from using strong and violent expressions. in fact, they were often trained as housewives who must be submissive to their parents and husbands in words and acts. thus housewives would address their husbands using appellatives and praise-names instead of their actual names. a yoruba woman who failed to exhibit this characteristic (or virtue) was seen as lacking in home training. with the influence of western education, some of the values appear to have been eroded. 7. conclusion the basic linguistic variables were identified in the movies and categorized under six heading: hedges, intensifiers, minimal responses, question tag, taboo words and politeness. we counted the number of tokens of a particular linguistic form used by each gender and compared it to the others. we also made use of frequency counts, percentage, chi square analysis and charts. in the application of the x2 distribution, we attempted to test if an observed series of values differs significantly from what was expected. in this study, we were able to establish a correlation between the six linguistic variables and the concept of gender. these variables were studied, analyzed and represented qualitatively and quantitatively under the form of frequency count, percentage represented in tables, chi-square analysis and charts. we also used the discourse analytic technique of transcribing and analyzing texts and discourses to investigate interactional patterns of men and women in the media genre. we were able to highlight and explicate the functions of the linguistic features (conversational strategies) in the selected movies. the findings from our analysis clearly show that women make use of hedges, minimal responses and polite words more than men while men use taboo words and intensifiers more than women in yoruba movies. it is important to note that the differences in the functions of these features, especially question tags and intensifiers, in english and yoruba are rooted in crosscultural differences. this study raises a number of questions requiring further research. it would be interesting to see how taboo words are used in other languages, in other regions of the world, and whether there are equivalent euphemisms that can replace them in similar contexts. it seems important also to know whether or not, why and how males use taboo words more than females in other languages. can answers be found in cultural differences, affinity or universal culture? other features may also need further probing in order to arrive at an enriched understanding of gender differences globally. references adegbija, e. e. 1989. a comparative study of politeness phenomena in nigerian english, yoruba and ogori. multilingual, 8(1): 57-80. 45 articles atolagbe, a. a. 2010. a discourse analysis of the use of english in politics: a study of aspects of abacha’s and obasanjo’s speeches. an unpublished ph.d thesis submitted to the university of lagos. aitchison, j. 1998. the media are ruining english. london: penguin. biagi, s. 2005. media/impact: an introduction to mass media. 7th ed. canada: wadsworth. bonvillain, n. 1993. language, culture and communication: the meaning of messages. new jersey: prentice hall. blench, r. 2010. “the linguistic geography of nigeria and its implications for pre-history”. in: philip allsworth jones (ed.) west african archeology: new developments, new perspectives. bar international series. oxford: archaeopress, 161-170. bleichenbacher, l. 2008. multilingualism in the movies: hollywood characters and their language choices. tubingen: narr francke attempto verlag. brown, g. & g. yule. 1983. discourse analysis. cambridge university press. bryman, a. 2008. social research methods. 3rd ed. oxford: oxford university press. cameron, d. 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[1991]. an introduction to sociolinguistics. london: blackwell. white, a. 2003. a module five assignment sociolinguistics/ elt management. university of birmingham, england, ma – tefl/tesl program. 29 articles beata piecychna university of białystok is (translational) hermeneutics of any use for the (cognitive) analysis of translation products?24 abstract. traditionally, translation scholars have analyzed translation products by putting emphasis on the purely linguistic phenomena of a target text as related to a source text. however, the author of this paper claims that in order to analyze a translation product in all its facets, it is necessary to add a phenomenology-oriented approach to it, along with the accounts of the translators who translated the text in question. the aim of the article is to present how a standard way of the analysis of a translation product, including a cognitive one, might be enriched by considering the phenomenological and hermeneutic points of view. by analyzing a fragment of a women’s fiction novel, the author tries to demonstrate how a translation critic might evaluate translation products in order to gain insights into how translators go through the translation process. as well as that, the paper aims to refrain from regarding the act of translation and translation products as purely ‘objective’ phenomena but more on stressing the need for taking into account the subjectivity and inter-subjectivity of the act of translation as embedded in the relationship between a text and its readers (translators). keywords: translational hermeneutics; translation product; translation process; radegundis stolze; phenomenology. introduction the inspiration for writing this article was, first and foremost, ludwig wittgenstein’s words of ‘language in use’ as well as his concept of language games (1953: §7). according to the philosopher, language is composed of a set of devices used in order to participate actively in different kinds of social activities. thus the meaning of a particular word should be based not on orthographic 24 the title of the article refers to, and was, to some extent, inspired by, elżbieta tabakowska’s text, entitled is (cognitive) linguistics of any use for (literary) translation? (2000: 83-95). in many of the author’s texts, one may find the description of precise tools which a translation critic might use in order to explain and justify his/her strategies and the way of interpreting texts. tabakowska opted for the search of some specific grammatical markers symbolizing semantic contents of the message being translated. similarly, the author of this article entitled is (translational) hermeneutics of any use for (cognitive) analysis of translation products? attempts to demonstrate that the useful tools of translational hermeneutics and factors such as translator’s subjectivity, as well as his/her motivations and translational decisions, might be used in order to gain a broader picture of the phenomenon of the act of translation. doi: 10.15290/cr.2015.11.4.03 30 crossroads. a journal of english studies principles, but rather on its functional and social dimension (see also nida 1964). likewise, due to the high unpredictability of both linguistic and translational phenomena, the act of translation could as well be defined as ‘translation in use’ and ‘translation games.’25 accordingly, the latter term should be defined as a concept concerning particular translation strategies that are adopted by a translator as well as of translational decisions made with relation to the translational process. building on wittgenstein’s philosophy of language, the author of the paper claims that translation (perceived either as a text or as a process) should not be interpreted in terms of an ontological entity but rather as a specific process of creating something new, a means of communication, and a way of understanding. similarly, scientific writing on the act of translation, including translation criticism, constitutes a specific activity through which the act of translation acquires a new meaning. therefore, it is impossible to speak of any translation rules that a translator obeys in order to produce a successful translation. rather, one should attempt to describe ‘translation in use’ as being determined by the cultural and historical context in which both a particular text and a particular translator occur. paraphrasing stolze (2011: 27), it might be stated that translation products are invariably characterized by the individuality of both the respective situation in which a particular translation is produced and a translator’s competence, his/her knowledge of the world, life and professional experience, and the interpretation of a text. as wilss (1996: 99) claimed, translation is a process based on the strategy adopted by an individual, according to a particular situation in which the process occurs. with regard to the above, it seems reasonable to take into consideration the element of subjectivity in the translation process, so often neglected or even undermined by contemporary translation scholars. it is worth citing stolze (2011: 34), who is of the opinion that subjectivity should be perceived as an integral element of not only the translational process but also, broadly speaking, translation research: subjectivity in human activity is an ontological given, and it should therefore be reflected upon and integrated into the model. this creates responsibility. and individual variance of texts and situations is an offspring of it, equally not to be eliminated in the studies. in our view, the translator’s approach is not a “behavior” but an attitude and outlook towards texts leading to a strategical action. nevertheless, a considerable number of contemporary writings concerning the quality and nature of translation products (including translation criticism), even those attempted from a cognitive point of view (see tabakowska 2015), try to demonstrate, albeit in an indirect way, that a translation product might be objectively evaluated on the basis of established linguistic or grammatical parameters, which are to serve as ‘objective’ criteria helping a translation critic in the process of evaluating the quality of the final product and the changes that have been made by a translator. however, the author of the paper argues, from a phenomenological point of view, that the analysis of translation products, without taking into consideration the intersubjective and subjective ele25 to the best of the author’s knowledge, so far, nobody has used the term in a research paper. 31 articles ments of the translational process, is by no means an adequate way of evaluating the activity of a translator. therefore, it is necessary to consider not only the text itself and its ‘inner (grammatical) structure’ but also the position of both the text and the translator producing a translation. the significant element is the relationship between the text and the translator as a creative reader decoding the meaning of the source message. the view is also clearly expressed by iser (1978: 108-109), who described the nature of the text in the following terms: in our attempts to describe the intersubjective structure of the process through which a text is transferred and translated, our first problem is the fact that the whole text can never be perceived at any one time. in this respect it differs from given objects, which can generally be viewed or at least conceived as a whole. the ‘object’ of the text can only be imagined by way of different consecutive phases of reading. we always stand outside the given object, whereas we are situated inside the literary text. the relation between text and reader is therefore quite different from that between object and observer: instead of a subject-object relationship, there is a moving viewpoint which travels along inside that which it has to apprehend. texts do not constitute objects whose existence and meaning might be verified and proven by empirical means, and although they contain ‘things’ which exist in the world that are often described as ‘real’ or ‘objective’, they might be perceived only by taking into account the context in which they are placed (see iser 1978: 107-134). furthermore, according to the phenomenological point of view, the meaning of a text is formed by a reader who, in the consecutive phases of the process of reading, creates the entirety of various senses, in the helical movement of hermeneutical interpretation based on his/her previous knowledge and experience as well as on the expectations which influence the way a text is perceived. in a similar vein, a translation scholar, instead of pointing to translation errors distinguished on the basis of questionable linguistic criteria (without reflecting upon the social and historical setting in which a given text has arisen), should rather ask ‘why’ a certain phenomenon has taken place and what implications it might have for the perception of a specific translation in a given community. it should be added at this point that it does not make much sense if a scholar attempts to analyze a published target text without taking into account the nature of the publishing process and all possible changes that could have been made by a proofreader, and not by the translator himself/herself. in what follows the paradigm of translational hermeneutics is presented. the next sections of this article are dedicated to the presentation of the hermeneutical dimensions of the translation production analysis as developed by stolze (2011), which might serve as the starting-point for further discussion of the analysis of both the source and the target text. the author of this paper attempts to determine to which extent and in what way the categories developed by stolze might be used in a critical evaluation of a translator’s rendering. the third part of the paper complements the second part in that it is devoted to the presentation of two translators’ accounts, who were instructed to translate a sample of a source text and to answer retrospective questions concerning the translation process in which they had participated. the main objective of the article is to show 32 crossroads. a journal of english studies that in any analysis of translation products it is worthwhile taking into consideration the aspect of both subjectivity and inter-subjectivity as they cover the realm of the translation processes. translational hermeneutics paradigm although hermeneutical reflection on the phenomenon of translation has been present both in the philosophy of language and in translation studies for many years now, it may be observed that since 2009, translational hermeneutics has developed rapidly as a relatively new sub-discipline of translation studies. it is now propagated mainly by radegundis stolze, larisa cercel and john stanley – german scholars interested in the hermeneutical theory of translation. there are at least three visible ways in which translational hermeneutics is achieving prominence nowadays: 1) a proliferation of journal articles and books pertaining to the main tenets of hermeneutics, including the act of translation; 2) a proliferation of scientific events, namely conferences dedicated either exclusively to the relationship between hermeneutics and translation studies or to hermeneutics as a theory of interpretation and understanding, including associations with themes such as the role of a translator, the nature of the phenomenon of translation, and the interconnection of translation and linguistic issues. naturally, the sub-discipline is by no means unidirectional (cercel, stolze, stanley 2015: 22-24): in the 20th century translational hermeneutics received a dramatic development by its expansion into three different disciplines. in philosophy, the topics of translation have a special standing in the works of martin heidegger, hans-georg gadamer and paul ricœur. this is now documented in the growing amount of secondary literature on that subject. the interest for translation stands in close connection with the primary linguistic nature of philosophical debates at the time . . . in literary studies the hermeneutical approach is present mainly with george steiner’s after babel (1975) and friedmar apel’s sprachbewegung (the movement of language, 1982). their theoretical considerations, of course, are limited to the translation of literary texts. those dealing with the subject of translation in literary studies focus on the historical and dynamic dimension of the act of translating . . . fritz paepcke, who was strongly influenced by heidegger and above all by gadamer, was one of the first scholars to advocate the hermeneutical approach in ts . . . the hermeneutic theory of translation centers on the personalization of the act of translation, which is perceived as a dynamic task that might be divided into two main stages: translational reading (based on a deep understanding of the source text) and translational writing (concentrated on the principles of rhetorics, the proper usage of native language as well as the use of adequate strategies). the most important concepts of translational hermeneutics are subjectivity, historicity, phenomenology, the process character of translation, the holistic nature, and a critical reflection (see stolze 2011: 45-67; cercel, stolze, stanley 2015: 26-28). those concepts have been extensively 33 articles used by stolze; they constitute the basis on which the author focused when creating her own hermeneutical translation theory.26 although translational hermeneutics is a relatively new sub-discipline of translation studies, it is starting to develop rapidly across the globe. it encompasses a wide range of theoretical and methodological approaches, building on philosophical concerns for an ontological category of ‘translation.’ the tenets of translational hermeneutics might be used for the evaluation of both translation products and translation processes. hermeneutical orientation in the world of the source and target texts in what follows, the hermeneutical analysis of the source text as related to the renderings in the target language is presented. a relatively short fragment of a novel entitled the ballroom’s café – written by a contemporary irish author ann o’loughlin and translated into polish by two professional polish translators – serves as a point of reference for the discussion of hermeneutical factors determining the way the target text might be evaluated. the source sample is given below: rathsorney, co. wicklow, march 2008 ‘you have four more weeks, miss o’callaghan. it is the way things are now; the bosses in dublin want to see some effort towards paying the loan. otherwise we are going to have to take steps to get our money back.’ bank manager peter o’doherty leaned back on his swivel chair. raising her head sufficiently to look him straight in the eye, ella o’callaghan spoke in a slow, firm voice. ‘what do you propose i do: prostitute myself, mr o’doherty?’ ‘miss o’callaghan, there is no need to be like that.’ ‘there is no need to threaten to push me out of my home. i won’t let you. roscarbury hall is my life. i won’t let you take it.’ ‘maybe there is something you can sell off to get in some money?’ ‘like my extensive jewel collection, i suppose.’ peter o’doherty jumped to his feet, impatiently fingering his bunch of keys. 26 it should be noted that the concepts which characterize translational hermeneutics are, to some extent, compliant with the tenets of cognitive linguistics (see stolze 2011: 64-67; gallagher 2004: 162-174). 34 crossroads. a journal of english studies ‘go home, think about it. come back next week with some sort of plan for repayment.’ he put out his hand to ella, but she ignored it. ‘in all my prayerful life, i have never felt so crucified. i will die before i move out of roscarbury hall.’ if o’doherty intended to answer, she did not give him a chance, sweeping out of his office, banging the door. what did he care about roscarbury, how the old house folded around them in bad times, how it was the only place where she felt safe? the rooms were so cold in winter you could see your breath, the stairs to the attic creaked like a banshee, and the chill winds rattled the window latches in a din of constant tapping. the parkland dipped and rolled away to the lake, so it was impossible for sheehy the farmer to get his hay cutter properly across it; the rills silted up every year, long after the cherry blossom flowers had gone dark brown and sodden and the oak and old horse chestnut trees had shed their leaves. roscarbury existed for the worn days of summer sun, when warm air lingered in the house and the hens had to be hunted from the open back door. it was the starlings gathering and chattering on the wonky television aerial strapped to the first chimney that woke ella every morning. the crows and pigeons in the fir trees destroyed the stone slabs around the fountain and she had to scrub it down once a month. the overgrown kitchen garden gave fruit for enough tarts through the summer months and luscious pears in a hot spell. ella could never leave roscarbury: the mists of the past shrouding the old house webbed around her, keeping her calm. below the two translations, which were done by professional translators, both members of the polish association of literary translation, are presented. the subjects were instructed to translate the above sample and then to comment on certain aspects of translation process, including translation strategies, translation decisions as well as translation tools. the first version of the translation the second version of the translation rathsorney, hrab. wicklow, marzec 2008 rathsorney, hrabstwo wicklow, marzec 2008 – ma pani jeszcze cztery tygodnie, panno o’callaghan. tak to obecnie wygląda; szefostwo w dublinie chce widzieć jakieś starania w sprawie spłaty pożyczki. w przeciwnym razie będziemy zmuszeni podjąć stosowne kroki, aby odzyskać naszą należność. – daję pani cztery tygodnie, panno o’callaghan. oto, jak wygląda sytuacja: moi zwierzchnicy w dublinie chcą zobaczyć, że czyni pani starania w kierunku spłaty pożyczki. inaczej podejmiemy odpowiednie kroki w celu odzyskania pieniędzy. dyrektor banku peter o’doherty rozsiadł się wygodniej w swoim fotelu obrotowym. ella o’callaghan uniosła głowę na tyle, by spojrzeć mu prosto w oczy i wycedziła pewnym tonem: dyrektor banku peter o’doherty odchylił się na oparcie krzesła obrotowego. ella o’callaghan uniosła głowę na tyle, by spojrzeć mu prosto w oczy i powiedziała powoli, mocnym i spokojnym głosem: – więc co mam zrobić? zacząć się sprzedawać, panie o’doherty? – i co niby mam zrobić, panie o’doherty, zostać prostytutką? – nie ma potrzeby tak się unosić, panno o’callaghan. – ależ panno o’callaghan, nie musi pani reagować w ten sposób. 35 articles – nie ma potrzeby grozić mi wyrzuceniem mnie z domu. nie pozwolę na to. roscarbury hall to całe moje życie. nie dam go sobie odebrać. – a pan nie musi grozić, że wyrzucicie mnie z domu. nie dopuszczę do tego. roscarbury hall to moje życie. nie pozwolę, by ktoś mi je odebrał. – może posiada pani coś, co można spieniężyć? – może mogłaby pani coś sprzedać, by zdobyć potrzebną sumę? – na przykład okazałą kolekcję klejnotów? – zapewne ma pan na myśli moją ogromną kolekcję biżuterii. peter o’doherty zerwał się z miejsca, ze zniecierpliwieniem pobrzękując pękiem kluczy. peter o’doherty zerwał się z miejsca, niecierpliwie obracając w palcach pęk kluczy. – proszę iść do domu, zastanowić się i wrócić tu w przyszłym tygodniu z jakimś planem spłaty. – proszę po powrocie do domu spokojnie wszystko przemyśleć. zapraszam w przyszłym tygodniu z planem spłaty zadłużenia. wyciągnął rękę do elli, ale zignorowała go. wyciągnął rękę, lecz ella ją zignorowała. – nigdy w swoim pobożnym życiu nie czułam się, tak jak teraz: jakby mnie przybijano do krzyża. prędzej umrę, niż wyprowadzę się z roscarbury hall. – w całym swoim pobożnym życiu jeszcze nigdy nie musiałam dźwigać takiego krzyża. szybciej umrę, niż wyniosę się z roscarbury hall. jeśli o’doherty zamierzał odpowiedzieć, nie dała mu na to szansy, bo wyszła z jego biura, trzaskając drzwiami. co go obchodziło jakieś roscarbury, stary dom, który chronił jej rodzinę w ciężkich czasach i jedyne miejsce, gdzie czuła się bezpiecznie? zimą w pokojach było tak zimno, że aż widziało się własny oddech, schody na poddasze skrzypiały upiornie, a rygle okienne nieustannie pobrzękiwały, poruszane chłodnymi podmuchami wiatru. pofałdowany teren parku opadał w kierunku jeziora, więc rolnik sheehy nie mógł równo skosić trawnika; zbrązowiałe, rozmokłe kwiaty wiśni i liście opadłe z dębów i starych kasztanowców co roku zapychały strumyki. nawet jeśli o’doherty chciał coś powiedzieć, nie dała mu na to szansy, wypadła z biura i trzasnęła drzwiami. co go w ogóle obchodziło roscarbury, co on wiedział o tym starym domu, który w trudnych chwilach brał mieszkańców w objęcia, o jedynym miejscu, w którym czuła się bezpiecznie? zimą w pomieszczeniach panowały takie temperatury, że oddech zmieniał się w parę, schody na strych jęczały jak dusza potępiona, lodowate wiatry grzechotały ryglami przy oknach, czyniąc nieustanny hałas. teren wokół domu falował i opadał w kierunku jeziora, przez co sheehy nie mógł porządnie przejechać kosiarką, kamienne kanały rozprowadzające wodę po ogrodzie zatykały się co roku, i to długo po tym, jak kwiaty wiśni zdążyły zbrązowieć i rozmoknąć, a dęby i stare kasztanowce zgubić wszystkie liście. roscarbury istniało dla letnich zmierzchów, kiedy dom wypełniało ciepłe powietrze, a do kur wychodziło się tylnym wyjściem, aby zagonić je do kurnika. każdego ranka ellę budziło ćwierkanie szpaków, obsiadających przekrzywioną antenę telewizyjną, przymocowaną do komina. siedzące na jodłach wrony i gołębie paskudziły na kamienne płyty otaczające fontannę, więc raz w miesiącu musiała je szorować. owoców z zarośniętego ogrodu starczało na wypieki przez całe lato, a podczas fali upałów dojrzewały soczyste gruszki. ella nigdy nie mogłaby opuścić roscarbury: mgiełka przeszłości spowijająca ten stary dom otulała ją i napełniała spokojem. roscarbury istniało dla znużonych letnich dni pełnych słońca, kiedy ciepłe powietrze zalegało we wnętrzach i trzeba było przeganiać kury zaglądające do środka przez otwarte drzwi na tyłach domu. każdego ranka budziło ellę trajkotanie szpaków, które gromadziły się na rozchwierutanej antenie telewizyjnej przyczepionej do komina. gołębie i wrony urzędujące w jodłach niszczyły kamienne płyty wokół fontanny, musiała skrobać je do czysta raz w miesiącu. zarośnięty ogród przez całe lato dawał owoce na ciasta i soczyste gruszki w okresie największych upałów. ella za nic nie potrafiłaby opuścić roscarbury: mgły przeszłości spowijające ten stary dom otulały ją i napełniały spokojem. 36 crossroads. a journal of english studies dla petera o’doherty’ego nie miałoby to znaczenia, nawet gdyby mu o tym opowiedziała. ella o’callaghan razem z jej zapuszczonym domem była jedynie drobnym utrapieniem w jego napiętym harmonogramie dnia. petera o’doherty, nawet gdyby mu o tym wszystkim opowiedziała, w ogóle by to nie obeszło. ella o’callaghan i jej popadający w ruinę dom stanowiły co najwyżej błahy i przykry przerywnik w rozkładzie pracowitego dnia. table 1. two versions of translation building on stolze (2011), the author of this paper selected three aspects which were then put to a deeper analysis, namely, the situative background, the discourse field, and the meaning dimension. situative background a thorough analysis of the situative background, whose main objective is to activate a sort of ‘reflected subjectivity’ (stolze 2011: 105) in a reader, brings in an association with roscarbury as an old crumbling mansion in ireland. this impression is crucial here because it influences the way that the above fragment is read and interpreted by a translator. the first associations are strengthened by the next lines of the fragment. a picture of a mansion, an old house surrounded by a kitchen garden, lots of trees and birds, provides the reader with initial orientation, certain content expectations as well as background fore-knowledge. the results obtained by means of the analysis of situative background might serve as further points of reference in the evaluation of a given rendering and guide a critic in the process of the interpretation of the adequacy of a translator’s strategy. as mentioned, the fragment to be analyzed comes from a novel entitled the ballroom’s café by ann o’loughlin. the book was published in 2015 by black and white publishing. according to the description found on the back cover, the novel is about two elderly sisters, ella and roberta o’callaghan, who live alone in an old mansion called roscarbury hall, situated in a small irish village. the sisters, who are in conflict with one another, communicate only by means of notes. however, due to the fact that the women are threatened with bankruptcy, one of them decides to improve the financial situation and keep the mansion. as a result, roscarbury’s old ballroom is transformed into a café which is to bring in earnings in the near future. the above description is the basic background knowledge that a translation critic should be equipped with before making an attempt to evaluate the target text. naturally, a critic might broaden their knowledge by discovering the details of the plot. deeper analysis of internet sources reveals that the book is a debut novel about forced illegal adoption of children of unmarried mothers from ireland to the us. this information is very important with regard to the translation scholar’s first encounter with the source text. building on them, he/she will is able to interpret possible realia (stolze 2011: 248) as set within the source culture and to focus his/her imagination on rural areas of ireland. even such a short fragment as the one given above consists of the following source culture indications: “roscarbury”, “kitchen garden”, “tarts”, which help to position the text within the cultural and geographical dimensions of the source culture. besides, they automatically arouse imaginative constructs which are to be exclusively focused on ireland and roscarbury. (for 37 articles instance, ‘kitchen gardens’, especially the walled ones, have immense significance for the history of ireland.) the above-mentioned initial constructs as cognitively present in a translation scholar’s mind enable him/her to understand the whole message on the basis of its parts, and vice versa (see gadamer 1960: 270-305). with the ‘positioning’ of the text within the situative background, a translation scholar’s cognitive landscape, including some connotations concerning possible personal experience,27 the knowledge base (as well as the hermeneutic circle) is activated, which, in turn, makes it possible for a grounded understanding of the source message to take place. here it is worth referring to heidegger (1962: 191) who once wrote that understanding always takes place from a specific vantage point. the understanding, however, is invariably connected with the process of interpretation which is grounded in what an interpreter already knows about a given situation. therefore, developing an understanding of the source text on the basis of so-called ‘fore-knowledge’ might be accessed by a researcher through the hermeneutical analysis of the source text. such analysis helps to discover those elements in the source text which should be prioritized by a translator. however, in order to acquire the understanding, the researcher has to be open to the message being transferred by the text itself. in other words, a translation critic cannot simply search for translation errors and possible divergences between the source and target texts, but he/she should concentrate on the shape of the final product as it relates to the context in which the product occurs (see also brzozowski 2011: 7-9). it is worth noting how gadamer (1990: 269) viewed the processes: a person trying to understand something will not resign himself from the start to relying on his own accidental fore-meanings, ignoring as consistently and stubbornly as possible the actual meaning of the text until the latter becomes so persistently audible that it breaks through what the interpreter imagines it to be. rather a person trying to understand a text is prepared for it to tell him something . . . but this kind of sensitivity involves neither neutrality with respect to content nor the extinction of one’s self but the foregrounding and appropriation of one’s own fore-meanings and prejudices. the important thing is to be aware of one’s own bias, so that the text can present itself in all its otherness and thus assert its own truth against one’s own fore-meanings. discourse field the next stage of the so called ‘hermeneutical analysis’ is the discourse field, determined by the ideological background of the source text, an author’s social setting as well as a particular field of communication (stolze 2011: 114). the main aim of this phase is usually to become familiarized with biographical data relating to the author in order to discover any possible interrelations 27 it is the knowledge about our familiar world that people start with when attempting to understand something, be it a text or human relations. only by having a specific knowledge and experience base is it possible to launch the hermeneutic circle consisting in adding new information into the ‘stable’ knowledge base that is already cognitively stored in people’s minds. in other words, it is necessary to have specific pre-understanding connected with a particular theme in order to understand a new input. 38 crossroads. a journal of english studies between a particular text and the place of ideology. the author of the ballroom’s café, a leading irish journalist who has been working for many prestigious irish newspapers for about thirty years now, is a relatively unknown irish author of women’s fiction. in her professional work, ann o’loughlin has dealt with the reporting of controversial issues about human existence. despite a relative lack of experience in writing fiction, her novel, much to the author’s surprise, hit amazon. co.uk’s top 20 bestselling ebooks of 2015. as for the genre, this is an example of a modern women’s fiction novel mostly oriented towards a female readership. due to the fact that the whole story is set in a small irish village, close attention should be devoted to all possible layers of particular elements of irish culture. the author of this paper is of the opinion that reading the whole source text by a translation critic is not only an option but a necessity. only by reading the entire text is he/she able to identify the elements of the discourse field properly. in the case of the novel, at this point a researcher should be cognitively oriented towards ireland and the milieu of women who had participated inadvertently in clandestine and illegal adoptions of irish children by u.s. families. meaning dimension every discourse field is reflected in the meaning dimension which is the third stage of the hermeneutical analysis of the source and target texts. stolze (2011: 116), defining the concept, refers to cognitive linguistics and writes, “. . . meaning dimension . . . recurs in the texts, reflecting in cultural associations, specific metaphors, key words, image schemas, and terminology to be found in a text.” the author, building on schleiermacher, goes on to describe the function of the title or the opening of a text. she defines it as “a clue for understanding”, setting the general theme (ibid), because what is understood in the process of reading is actually reflected in the structure of the text, especially in the key words which are recognized holistically by searching for an “isotopic semantic network of significant appearance, where concept appear surrounded by neighbouring synonyms and in repetition of the same words.” (stolze 2011: 117) isotopic networks are identified on the basis of the recurrence of particular lexemes and the lexical items that surround them. both the front cover and the title of the novel arouse specific associations that correspond to the emotional sphere of the target readers. the ballroom’s café evokes connotations such as nostalgia, memories, deep emotions, love, joy, sadness, secrets, and conversations. also, the first line of the novel: rathsorney, co. wicklow, march 2008 conjures certain images in the reader’s mind: ireland, a county, a particular geographical location, which guides the reader cognitively towards ireland. the associations could be best depicted by a semantic network of connected lexemes and their meaning. in the novel in question we might distinguish three “impressionistic sketches” (stolze 2011: 119), which create further scenes for the target readership. (the sketches could also be called the “lexical fields” (ibid) emerging in the course of reading the source text.) by analyzing the semantic networks, a translation critic is able to evaluate whether the semantic dimension of a target text is close to the original one. the three ‘sketches’ mentioned above (fight, the mansion, and cultural background) are presented in the table below. 39 articles fight the mansion cultural background bosses effort paying the loan to take steps to get our money back prostitute look . . . straight in the eye threaten push me out of my home jumped to his feet impatiently fingering plan of repayment prayerful like crucified banging the door roscarbury hall extensive jewel collection old house bad times felt safe banshee constant tapping rills silted up cherry blossom flowers oak old horse chestnut trees worn days summer sun warm air hens starlings crows pigeons stone slabs fountain overgrown kitchen garden fruit luscious pears hot spell mists of the past rathsorney, wicklow o’callaghan o’doherty banshee kitchen garden tarts table 2. lexical sketches creating the semantic framework of the novel (on the basis of the sample) the first lines of the text (rathsorney, co. wicklow, march 2008; a typical irish surname) are immediately interpreted in cultural terms, with regard to ireland and irish culture. indeed, it is ireland which, albeit indirectly, becomes the constant theme of the entire source text in regard not only to the cultural references but also to the complex social issues (illegal adoptions) depicted in the text. according to stolze (2011: 119-120), the semantic network represents the primary semantic content of the text, which is a key to understanding. let us reiterate, however, that the understanding is built on lexical inferences. it is beyond the scope of this paper to describe the three fields given above in much detail; however, it might be concluded that the recurring theme in the whole text is roscarbury hall which, 40 crossroads. a journal of english studies to some extent, becomes one of the main protagonists of the story, positioned in the center of the narrative alongside two elderly sisters. equally important are thematic strings related to religious connotations (‘in all my prayerful life, i have never felt so crucified’) as well as sensual key words evoking an ethereal and romantic sphere (‘luscious’, ‘hot’, ‘spell’). roscarbury hall is presented by means of a dual set of images: one description is full of regret, sadness, disappointment, and even death (words depicting devastation and destruction of the building, the reference to a ‘banshee’), the other evokes nostalgic memories about the past, feelings of safety and comfort, liveliness as well as the pure joy that the house brings to one of the female protagonists. after having analyzed the meaning dimension a researcher should then focus on the predicative mode, namely, the precision of translation, the rendition of a particular point of view and deixis. in the opinion of the author of this article, at this point the precise tools of cognitive analysis as developed by tabakowska (2015), built on cognitive grammar (langacker 2013), could be employed. in this case a cognitive analysis of the description of the rosarbury hall (the vantage point) as well as the aspect of iconicity would be particularly revealing. translators’ approaches as mentioned, only by taking into account the phenomenological perspective of a translator in the translation process is a translation scholar able to evaluate the nature of any marked divergences between the message in the source language and within the target language, and specify the reason for such divergences, which do not always have to be regarded as translation inadequacy. the author of the article argues that any translation criticism is complete if and only if it is accompanied by a detailed account of a translator’s approach, as seen from the translator’s perspective (obtained, e.g., via interviews conducted with translators, introspection and retrospection techniques or so called translation diaries). in what follows, the phenomenological accounts of translational processes are presented, from the perspective of the two translators taking part in the study, who provided comments on the translation process by means of integrated problem and decision reporting research tool. in table 3 below, the two translators’ accounts are presented. 41 articles the first account the second account i was translating a fragment of the text. i translated some of the sentences, or their parts, in a preliminary way, stressing the adequacy and marking some fragments which were to be modified later. i verified and corrected the fragment that i had translated; however, this time, i paid attention to cohesion and fluency of the target text. then, i read the target text a few times, at different intervals, filling in and polishing up the translation. (in practice, the whole process occurs much faster and in a more efficient way than one might think on the basis of the above description . . . ) i really liked the description of the old house, suggestive vocabulary rendering the atmosphere in the building and accentuating the emotions of the heroines, with regard not only to the past (nostalgia) but also to the present times (frustration). when i translate, i usually do my best in order to make the target text fluent and cohesive – the text which sounds right and reads well. the achievement of such an effect sometimes requires lots of trials and stylistic modifications; however, i was satisfied, in the majority of cases, with what i had achieved. the text itself did not pose any serious translation problems. it is a simple narration, written in a nice and proper style. i did my best to maintain the rhythm and the mood of the source text. i usually work within the area of a sentence (probably i connected two sentences into one only once). in the case of more challenging fragments, when i deal with the first draft of translation, i usually immediately jot down various translation solutions, a few versions, and only then do i polish the text up, search for the most adequate synonyms, and choose the best solution, which sometimes requires a repeated revision. emotions? the translation process is always accompanied by a feeling of loss and by irritation, usually in its two facets. the first is the question of foreignization and a cultural context. therefore, i was at pains to have had changed ‘ banshee’ into ‘ dusza potępiona’, which, surely, makes the reference to folklore disappear, but, in the polish version, such an element would sound much more exotic than in the source text. however, if such elements would appear in the text more often, i would surely emphasis them in some way. the second is the question of clarity and brevity of some languages (e.g. english), which are impossible to be translated into rough polish. and so lovely “ baking her worries away” was lost. table 3. the translators’ accounts the above accounts reveal what was going on in the translators’ minds during the translation process. the author of this paper claims (as specified in the opening sections of the text) that any evaluation of a translation product should be accompanied by a detailed analysis of the translator’s account, a description of his/her translation decisions, translation strategies and techniques, translation tools as well as his/her emotions accompanying the whole process and attitude towards both the source and the target texts. the author also argues that such a qualitative analysis of both the translation product and the translator’s approach might reveal valuable information about the translation process and the relationship between the target text and the translator. the accounts illustrate interesting – and still under-researched – aspects of how translators address translation problems, prepare for the translation process, and view their own role in the publishing process. furthermore, the methodology presented in the article provides translation scholars as well as translation critics with an effective tool (albeit by no means objective, because there simply cannot be any objectivization in the evaluation of both translation products and translation processes) which makes it possible to collect valuable data relating to various dimensions of the act of translation. 42 crossroads. a journal of english studies the scope of the article intentionally restricts the author to discussing only selected issues as identified in the above accounts; however, the data might be interpreted in a number of different ways. due to the fact that the article is of an exemplary nature, the author decided to focus on one of the dimensions in the translators’ accounts, which might help to explain why the translators adopted particular translation strategies. let us take as an example the question of domestication versus foreignization – central key notions in translation studies, which held sway throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. the notions go back in the history of translation theory to friedrich schleiermacher (1992: 41-2), who considered two approaches to be adopted by a translator: either the translator leaves the writer alone as much as possible and moves the reader towards the writer, or he leaves the reader alone as much as possible and moves the writer toward the reader. the above words exerted an enormous influence on the representatives of modern translation theory, especially on venuti’s ideas of ‘foreignization’ and domestication’ (venuti 1995: 19-21), which are to serve as points of reference in the discussion of the translators’ accounts given above. both translators indicated their inclination towards ‘polishing the target text up’. let us quote the first translator’s words: “when i translate, i usually do my best in order to make the target text fluent and cohesive – a text which sounds right and reads well.” the second translator also stressed the need for domestication: “i was at pain to change ‘banshee’ into ‘dusza potępiona’, which, surely, makes the reference to folklore disappear, but in the polish version such an element would sound much more exotic than it does in the source text.” such an approach might be interpreted in terms of ‘invisibility’ of the translator, the central notion of modern translation theory. invisibility has been described by venuti (1995) as the situation in which translators stick to so called ‘fluent’ translation of the source text with the aim of producing an idiomatic text. venuti rightly underlines that the situation is affected by publishers’ and readers’ expectations towards the style and shape of the target text. a translated text, whether prose or poetry, fiction or non-fiction, is judged acceptable by most publishers, reviewers and readers when it reads fluently, when the absence of any linguistic or stylistic peculiarities makes it seem transparent, giving the appearance that it reflects the foreign writer’s personality or intention or the essential meaning of the foreign text – the appearance, in other words, that the translation is not in fact a translation, but the ‘original’ (venuti: 1995: 1). the obvious conclusion, then, is that the translators who participated in the study aimed at maintaining dynamic equivalence (see nida 1964: 159) or, in other words, a covert translation (see house 1997: 69). the style of translating was ‘invisible’ (venuti 1995: 1). the strategy is usually due to publishers’ expectations of the shape of the target text, which, to a considerable extent, is driven by marketing reasons. in a wider context, it might be concluded that the adoption of the strategy of domestication is the direct result of post-colonialism, hegemonic norms, and globalization: 43 articles a publishing industry that repeatedly issues fluent, domesticating translations of the latest american bestsellers – written in the standard dialect of the official language – encourages uncritical consumption of hegemonic values while maintaining current asymmetries in cross-cultural exchange (venuti 1998: 188). the question that consequently arises here is that of translation ethics; however, the scope of the article restricts the author only to stressing the need for further research on the theme. the translation strategies applied by the two translators in question undoubtedly point to the domestication philosophy. it can be seen in regard not only to their rationale behind the decisions that they had made but also to the concrete translation solutions that they had adopted when translating, for instance, the item ‘kitchen garden’. as can be observed in the translation samples, ‘kitchen garden’ was rendered by the two translators as ‘ogród’. however, the analysis of both the situated background of the item as well as its meaning dimensions indicates a necessity of taking into consideration the full meaning of the item as related to its cultural framework. as mentioned in one of the previous sections of this article, ‘kitchen gardens’ constitute a very important element of irish culture and history; therefore, it might be surprising that none of the two translators took it into consideration, although it is clear from their accounts that they were fully cognizant of the situative background of the source text as well as of the presence of cultural references. the divergence might be partially explained by turning to the hermeneutic category of discourse field. clearly, none of the translators analyzed this aspect in detail. it might be assumed that if the translators had checked ann o’loughlin’s idea behind the novel in question (especially its references to illegal adoptions of irish children), they would have made different translation decisions and would certainly conclude that in this case the procedure of adaptation of cultural references to the potential expectations of a target readership is not a proper solution. on the basis of the conclusions presented above it also seems valid to suggest that the two translators did not analyze the semantic network of the sample, which undoubtedly indicates a strong connection between the plot and irish culture (‘banshee’, ‘tart’, ‘kitchen garden’, ‘county’, ‘o’callaghan’, etc.). the analysis of the accounts demonstrates that the translators consciously used domestication strategy so that the target text would be more fluent and transparent. by adopting the strategy and devoting much attention to the functional aspects of the renderings, both translators tried to satisfy the publisher’s need for a highly readable and idiomatic translation. due to the fact that recently there has been a strong tendency towards publishing so called ‘bestsellers’ within the polish publishing industry, the owners of publishing houses as well as managing editors and editors-inchief have made deliberate attempts to publish books which are guaranteed to generate substantial profits as well as to dictate the translation methods which should be adopted in a particular case. the author of this paper sees the main factor for this as being the political, ideological, and cultural agenda of the translation and publishing processes. publishers usually purchase translation rights mostly to those titles which have already achieved bestseller status abroad, particularly in the united states and in the united kingdom, which is also the reason why translators are expected to provide a final product that purports to be an original and not a translation. 44 crossroads. a journal of english studies conclusions it is worth asking the same questions here which tabakowska asked when ending her article: “was the whole thing really worthwhile? would it not be enough just to read the st and the tt in order to realize that the polish translation is not an adequate rendering of the original?” (2000: 94). the author of this article claims that the whole thing which was described above was undoubtedly worthwhile. firstly, the suggested way for the analysis of both translation products and translators’ approaches helps to evaluate the translational process considered a result of a specific relationship between a text and a translator (a reader). secondly, the presented approach, encompassing a variety of different perspectives (cognitive, hermeneutical and phenomenological), makes it possible for a translation scholar to refrain from undertaking a purely linguistic or grammatical analysis (too often perceived as ‘objective’) and to adopt a more holistic strategy in the process of evaluating translation products. thirdly and finally, it is no longer valid to call a particular rendering adequate or inadequate unless a given translator’s account and the way the target text is embedded in a cultural and historical context, including publishers’ philosophy, are taken into consideration. this 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waśniewska university of warsaw the socio-parasite and bio-parasite metaphorical concepts in racist discourse abstract. defined as the transfer of meaning from one conceptual domain to another (lakoff and johnson 1980; lakoff 1993), metaphors play a key role not only in the thought process, where they facilitate the understanding of complex concepts, as well as determine and shape people’s attitudes and perceptions of reality, but also in the way we speak, as they strongly influence the storage and organisation of information. the main aim of the paper is to identify and evaluate the people are parasites metaphor employed while referring to racial outgroups, and to review its different forms of usage on the white-supremacist internet forum  stormfront.org according to the bio -parasite / socio-parasite categorisation framework proposed by musolff (2016). the analysis of the metaphors unveils a slight target-dependant variation in the conceptual frame employed, which, in consequence, may influence the actions of forum users. key words: conceptual metaphor theory, socio-parasite, bio-parasite, racism, antisemitism, ideology. 1. bio-parasite and socio-parasite as metaphorical concepts since the publication of lakoff and johnson’s influential book metaphors we live by in 1980 conceptual metaphor theory (cmt) has inspired extensive research into the influence of our language system on our perception of reality and resulting actions. the cmt view of a metaphor extends beyond its usage as a decorative rhetorical device: metaphors allow us to understand and express complex, abstract or problematic concepts through others that are “highly structured and clearly delineated” (lakoff and johnson 1980: 61) in the process that lakoff and johnson call metaphorical mapping (ibid. 246) or cross-domain mapping (lakoff 1993: 203) between the source domain and the actual target (ibid. 207). as our experience of reality is largely structured by a conceptual system that is predominantly metaphorical in nature (see lakoff and johnson 1980/2003: 3f), metaphors also shape how we perceive ourselves and the surrounding reality, and can therefore determine our actions and reactions to various phenomena.1 considering that one’s conceptual system is generally not consciously acknowledged, our behaviour is mostly automatic (ibid. 3), and that is 1 for a study of behavioural responses to different metaphorical framings of the social issue of crime see thibodeau et al. 2009. 10.15290/cr.2017.17.2.03 47 crossroads. a journal of english studies why consistently repeated and reinforced metaphors have the potential to modify our worldview, and consequently our actions, without our awareness. this feature makes the metaphor a dangerous weapon in the arsenal of political propaganda. as shown by many examples in history, this weapon can be especially deadly when employed in the context of the ‘us’ against ‘them’ antithesis, such as the representation of racial and ethnic minorities. parasites are one of the most prevalent source domains of metaphors in racist and extreme rightwing political discourse, but the concept is by no means uniform. for the purpose of this paper i will employ the bio-parasite/socio-parasite categorisation framework proposed by musolff (2016). the general people are parasites metaphor is aimed not only at degrading, demeaning, and dehumanising an individual or group; it also serves as an argument justifying banishment and, in extreme cases, total annihilation of whoever happens to be the target. the categorisation of an outgroup as parasites is a prototypical example of semantic mapping between the source domain of biology and the social target domain, where the parasite is presented as a menace for two reasons: first, it feeds off the life force of the host, and second, it simultaneously infects the body with a deadly disease (see musolff 2016: 73). the metaphor implies the urgent need to get rid of the parasite in order to save the host body, which makes it the weapon of choice in propaganda discourse advocating the total extermination of the enemy. it is important to note that parasites themselves do not actually elicit a fear response similar to that we experience when attacked by a wild animal; it is rather the feeling of disgust and the threat of infection and contamination that incites the urge to get rid of the foreign body. this universal human reaction to all things loathsome and repulsive is known as the behavioural immune system. this series of self-defensive psychological mechanisms is aimed at protecting the body against the threat of infection by (1) detecting the presence of pathogens that could potentially enter the body, (2) eliciting an aversive emotional and cognitive response, and (3) promoting a behavioural reaction to the threat (see schaller and park 2011). the feeling of disgust plays a key role in the behavioural immune system, and is thus crucial for ensuring survival and maintaining health when the risk of an actual biological infection is high (ibid. 100). however, a similar reaction can be observed when no real risk of contagion is present – the response is instead triggered by an association of an outgroup with issues of disease and infection, for instance a comparison to a viable biological threat such as a parasite. hodson et al. argue: (1) to the extent that an outgroup reminds us of something disgusting, or is associated with contagionrelevant concerns, the outgroup can itself evoke a disgust reaction. in addition, the practices and norms of another group can instantiate an automatic disgust reaction even when that group does not directly pose a sense of threat to one’s own group (hodson et al. 2014: 274). the most infamous usage of the people are parasites metaphor is undoubtedly third reich propaganda, where it was used to legitimise the holocaust during world war ii. jews were represented as parasitic organisms such as leeches, lice, bacteria or viruses (see smith 2011: 26). their 48 crossroads. a journal of english studies extermination was thus seen as a therapeutic activity and a matter of hygiene. the worldview presented in nazi propaganda is perhaps best summarised by the german scholar musolff in his analysis of figurative language in mein kampf, adolf hitler’s 1925 autobiographical book: (2) the source imagery of hitler’s political worldview consisted in the conceptualization of the german (but, in principle, every) nation as a human body that had to be shielded from disease (or, in case of an outbreak, cured). jewish people, who were conceptually condensed into the super-category of “the jew” and viewed as an illness-spreading parasite, represented the danger of disease. deliverance from this threat to the nation’s life would come from hitler and his party as the only competent healers who were willing to fight the illness (musolff 2007: 25). the holocaust, although undoubtedly the most well-known, is certainly not the only instance of using the people are parasites metaphor throughout history. just like the jews in the third reich, armenians were likened to parasites in turkish propaganda during the genocide of 19151953, with an equally gruesome outcome: an estimated 1.5 million people were murdered by starvation, stabbing, clubbing or other methods that did not require the use of bullets, which were deemed too valuable (smith 2011: 156). similarly, the metaphor was used during the chinese cultural revolution in 1966 to label capitalist ‘enemies of the state’ that the party needed to be rid of (ibid. 149); approximately 1.5 million people were killed, and millions of others suffered imprisonment and torture. these are just some examples that illustrate the implications of such a conceptualisation of the enemy; still, it is plain to see that the people are parasites metaphor can be directly linked to genocide, and “those who use parasite metaphors to stigmatise others risk being accused of articulating a nazi-like world view” (musolff 2016: 73). due to its widespread usage, the term parasite is certainly worth a closer inspection. musolff (2016: 74) distinguishes two main variations of the term parasite: bio-parasite – a plant, fungus or animal that feeds off another organism and transmits a potentially lethal disease, and socio-parasite, an individual or a group that lives at the expense of others. the dictionary definition reveals that parasite, derived from the ancient greek parasitos (“person who eats at the table of another”, online etymology dictionary), was originally used to denote a priest who participated in communal meals, and later employed to humorously describe any freeloader that takes from a community without offering anything substantial in return (see musolff 2016: 75). as the term became a biological category only in the mid-seventeenth century and had not been lexicalised as such before the eighteenth century, it is surprising to note that the concept of socio-parasite actually predates that of bio-parasite, with the transfer of meaning from the social to the biological domain (according to cmt, it is rather expected that a concrete concept would be used to facilitate understanding of an abstract one) (ibid. 75f). with its widespread use in biological research at the end of the eighteenth century, the term parasite was once more re-metaphorised from the biological to the social domain, but this time it was applied to whole groups instead of isolated individuals, and its usage lost all its comedic un49 crossroads. a journal of english studies dertones due the comparison to potentially dangerous parasitic plant and animal species (see musolff 2016: 77). because of that, the referents were no longer categorised as humans, but rather as a separate species of organisms that feeds of the body of a nation. it is in that form that the socioparasite concept came into usage in dehumanising discourse as a metaphor targeting the monarchy, aristocracy, bourgeoisie, capitalists, etc. in revolutionary wars from the eighteenth to the twentieth century (ibid. 76). the soviet union introduced actual anti-parasite legislation in 1961, allowing courts to sentence individuals who either refused to work or whose labour was considered an insufficient contribution to society (including intellectuals and artists, as well as political dissidents) to up to five years of exile (see fitzpatrick 2006). the concept that musolff refers to as socio-parasite 2 “became a class name for groups that were deemed to damage the whole society and needed to be controlled or destroyed” (2016: 77), meaning that, for the first time in history, the term parasite was linked to dehumanisation, violence towards whole outgroups, and mass killings. this new concept of socio-parasite is perhaps best illustrated by the narrator in the 1940 nazi propaganda film der ewige jude: “he buys and sells, but produces nothing. the production he leaves to the workers and farmers of the host nation. the jews are a people without farmers or workers: a race of parasites” (hippler 1940, english subtitles provided on the website). the jews are presented in the film as a collective that unscrupulously employs an immoral and destructive economic strategy in order to exploit the host nation. what makes them especially dangerous is the fact that it is not enough for them to simply use the resources without making any contribution to society; it is in their best interest to deteriorate the condition of the host body by infecting it with a deadly disease. the narrator continues: “wherever the body of a nation shows a wound, they anchor themselves and feed on the decaying organism. they make business out of the sickness of a nation, and therefore endeavour to deepen and prolong all conditions of sickness” (hippler 1940). the jews are thus a parasite of a dual kind: not only a socio-parasite, but also a re-metaphorised version of a bio-parasite – an organism that infects the body and causes a physical illness. this new concept, which musolff calls bio-parasite 2, is the result of yet another change of direction in the transfer of meaning, this time from the social to the biological domain (musolff 2016: 77f). the prevalence of the socio-parasite concept in public discourse led to the anthropomorphisation of parasites in scientific research, implying that these organisms are in fact “intentionally and deliberately ‘insidious’, ‘harmful’ or ‘destructive’” (musolff 2016: 78). anthropomorphism in source domains of animalistic metaphors is generally a common phenomenon, with animals such as wolves, pigs and rats often being accused of possessing the same worst character traits we fear in humans. as waytz et al. point out: (3) anthropomorphism goes beyond providing purely behavioral or dispositional descriptions of observable actions (such as noting that a coyote is fast or aggressive); it involves attributing characteristics that people intuitively perceive to be uniquely human to nonhuman agents or events. (...) anthropomorphism therefore includes both physical features (...) and mental capacities that people 50 crossroads. a journal of english studies believe are uniquely human, such as the capacity to have conscious awareness, possess explicit intentions, or experience secondary emotions (e.g., joy, pride, shame, guilt) (waytz et al. 2010: 59). on the one hand, anthropomorphism makes non-human agents worthy of moral consideration; on the other hand, agency attribution leads to them being perceived as liable for their own actions and hence deserving appropriate punishment (see gray et al. 2007: 619). the vocabulary of modern parasitology is in fact largely shaped by our knowledge of manners and customs related to hospitality and relations with strangers in general. for instance, the organism that nourishes another is called a host, and the life environment of a parasite is described as hospitable or hostile. moreover, parasites are often presented as conscious agents that employ various strategies and methods to enter a host body. an important element of the image is the bio-parasite’s 2 ability to enter the body unnoticed, conceal his presence and delay the onset of the symptoms of illness, making the host unaware of infection until it is too late: “outwardly, they try to act just like the host peoples. (...) therein lies the enormous danger: these assimilated jews remain forever foreign bodies in the organisms of their host peoples, regardless of appearances” (hippler 1940). in third reich propaganda, arguably the most extreme example of applying the people are parasites metaphor, the jews are portrayed as a threat not only to society, but also to the physical and spiritual wellness of the aryan race, which makes them more than simply a socio-parasite. the metaphor of jewish race parasite combines the standard notion of a group living at the expense of another with the concept of bio-parasite 2, i.e. a separate biological species (the jewish race) that is morally responsible for its actions and must be eradicated for the sake of community health, as well as an element of demonic or satanic influence on the world at large (see musolff 2016: 79f). as musolff observes: (4) the socio-parasite 2 concept can be further developed into the notion of a biological threat to the host society that must be eliminated at all cost. the concepts of bioand socio-parasites are blended into the construct of a superparasite 2, which combines deadly dangerousness with devilish cunning (musolff 2016: 80). the superparasite concept offers a new outlook on a racial group as well as a new weapon in the propaganda arsenal. on top of economic and biological destruction it introduces an element of spiritual parasitism, a concept widely elaborated in third reich propaganda (see bärsch 2002: 49ff). at present, its use is marginal and restricted to extreme political communities, such as the users of the stormfront forum. it is important to note that the parasite metaphor used in relation to whole groups is not simply an epithet aimed at insulting someone, as is the case in interpersonal usage towards an individual; the metaphor functions as a description and statement, and can therefore be interpreted as a death threat. regardless of which type of parasite people are categorised as, one thing remains constant: the parasite is always seen as a foreign body, an alien that sneaks in uninvited and therefore has no right to freedom or any type of resources. the metaphor implies the need to control 51 crossroads. a journal of english studies the threat, either through banishment or extermination; any communication, negotiation or cooperation is out of the question. 2. racism in the digital age the people are parasites metaphor has been used to dehumanise groups that were perceived as undesirable since the eighteenth century, and has since been widely reproduced in literature, political discourse, print media and on television. in recent years, however, it is most often employed in the context of ethnicity and race, and related issues such as immigration. the internet, undoubtedly one of the most revolutionary inventions in the history of human communication, has provided a new kind of outlet for the reproduction of racist discourse, one where conventional mechanisms of control, such as state-imposed censorship or legal regulations, are no longer applicable. thanks to the internet all users are granted almost limitless access to information, as well as the possibility to reach nearly anyone on earth. perhaps most importantly, people with extreme views on race who in the real world would be exposed to criticism and social stigma because of their beliefs can enjoy relative anonymity and impunity for their actions. as a source of examples of usage of the people are parasites metaphor i will use one of the most infamous internet websites representing an undeniably racist worldview stormfront.org, widely considered the first major on-line platform dedicated to promoting white supremacy, nationalism and extreme rightwing ideology (see levin 2003: 363). stormfront’s slogan proclaims that “every month is white history month”, and the website claims to be the voice to “the new, embattled white minority” (stormfront.org). registered members are greeted with an introductory message from stephen donald “don” black, a former grand wizard of the ku klux klan and the owner of the website: (5) we are a community of men and women working to ensure the survival of our people and a future for our children. we have grown steadily since first going online in 1995. we now reach over sixty thousand unique visitors a day, but we have a long way to go. our ultimate success will depend upon all of us, so we encourage you to participate in our forums and become active in your local community. in fact, according to google analytics the site has approximately 30 thousand unique visitors a day (as of march 2017, google analytics 2017). the e-mail urges the users to try their best to conceal their identities and to follow the guidelines for posting, including avoidance of profanity and “racial epithets” (these are indeed censored, for instance by using abbreviations or asterisks), and the application of self-censorship: “don’t post anything you wouldn’t want attributed to you in a court of law, quoted on the front page of the new york times, or read by your mother” (stormfront.org 2017). the website was first launched in 1991 in the form of an on-line bulletin board in support of david duke, the former imperial wizard of the ku klux klan, running for a post in the u.s. senate (see swan and nieli 2003: 153f). it was in 1995 that black realised its potential for reaching millions of people with a similar worldview and transformed it into the massive internet forum it is today (ibid. 155), hosting almost 250,000 active members (as of april 2017, stormfront.org). all 52 crossroads. a journal of english studies examples in this article come from the english-speaking forum sections and are quoted with the original spelling and punctuation; emoticons, images and extra spaces were removed. the year of each of the posts is given in brackets. the examples were gathered with the help of the forum search tool provided by the website, and priority was given to the most recent posts of forum members. 3. metaphors and the ideology of white-supremacy the worldview of users of the stormfront forum is firmly grounded in white-supremacist ideology, which is unsurprising, considering that many users identify themselves as ku klux klan members, and, as mentioned before, the founder of the website himself is a former high-ranking kkk official. consequently, much of the racial hatred expressed on the forum is directed towards africanamericans, a group that is considered inferior to whites or even subhuman. black people are often portrayed as either aggressive animals or “beasts of burden”, lacking the refinement and mental capacities that characterise the more advanced white society. as targets of the people are parasites metaphor black people are most commonly represented as socio-parasites 2 due to their alleged inherent laziness, lack of motivation and dependence on the welfare system in host countries: (6) the only way to get blacks out of usa or any other white country is to convince them there are better welfare payments, freebies and a pot of gold in africa....the parasite always feeds off the fattest host (stormfront.org 2017). (7) what would the average black slave have become if he had been freed? we have the answer to this: he would keep working on his original plantation for a paycheck that amounts to nothing more than the benefits he got when he was a slave, and his freedom had thus expanded to either going to work on another plantation for the same pay, or moving north and trying to mooch off the naive pity of the antislavery libtards of the time. few took that last option because it was the unknown and required thought and effort. the opportunity to become a welfare parasite had to be brought to the southern negro’s door by libfags from the north because blacks are so inferior that they would have remained slaves forever rather than figure out how to live off other people’s tax money (stormfront.org 2016). in the case of african-americans or black people in general, socio-parasite 2 could be exchanged for a more specific welfare parasite concept. as opposed to more economically aggressive targets such as the jews, the welfare parasite does not strive for financial dominance or actively seek ways to enrich itself at the cost of a community; instead it passively waits for government handouts, reproducing rapidly and excessively burdening the welfare system of the host country, and, in consequence, the white taxpayers. the black race is not the only target of the people are welfare parasites metaphor; other non-white minorities are also commonly categorised as a burden to the state: (8) if we lived in a pure free market society, i would still prefer to live in a white nation, but the presence of non-whites would be far less detrimental to whites. this is because of the lower iq of hispanics and 53 crossroads. a journal of english studies blacks, which means less of them succeed, which means more money in welfare payments from whites to blacks and hispanics. this practice of parasitism has now become a part of black and hispanic culture, to the point where people who could succeed in the marketplace instead choose to be a parasite because of the cultural acceptance in their communities of that life strategy, as well as basic human nature which dictates that one get the greatest degree of resources for the least amount of effort (stromfront.org 2016). (9) exactly these idiot beans and nigs and ricans act like they wish whites would just disappear or go back to europe too stupid and brainwashed to realize that the whole reason they come to america is because of what whites made it and live off our system and welfare\tax dollars, our government, our inventions, our schools, our buildings, our medical and scientific achievements which they could never come close to mimicking in their craphole third world garbage dump slum failure countries. (...) well then don’t live in the lands we settled then parasite. (...) name one thing your people have contributed to this country? besides a sky high crime rate? (stormfront.org 2015) as in any other instance of usage of the people are parasites construct, the non-whites are welfare parasites metaphor implies an immediate call to action. in this case, the proposed solutions to the problem largely suggest a reform of the state and “cutting off” from all government benefits. any further actions are considered optional, as the non-whites are expected to leave the country should state aid be taken away from them. interestingly, asians seem to be considered relatively high up on the evolutionary ladder and “close” to the white race in terms of culture, intelligence and usefulness in a community. several posts even suggest that a peaceful co-existence of the two races would be possible in a utopian white-asian society. on the other hand, even though they are not typically deemed welfare parasites, there are still whole threads employing the asians are socio-parasites 2 metaphor. asians are seen as a threatening race that strives for domination over the white race: (10) they lie and they cheat and they steal constantly. they, like every other non-white race, swarm into white nations for a better life, bringing their corruption with them and destroying what we have, all while telling us how oppressive and hateful and vile we are (stormfront.org 2016). (11) how can a superior race be dominated by a lesser race then? i mean white race be dominated by asians and controlled by the jews (stromfront.org 2017) (12) how can a man be dominated by the combination of a mosquito and a malaria parasite? stop thinking in terms of superior and inferior and start thinking in terms of hosts and parasites. we need to cleanse the hosts and keep the parasites from doing what parasites do. we need to make the hosts healthy and parasite free. we need complete and total racial separation. stop the hate, separate (stormfront.org 2017). 54 crossroads. a journal of english studies in the case of asians integrated in western societies it is hard to pinpoint the actual mappings between the source and target domains of the asians are parasites metaphor. one possible explanation supported by example (12) is that the sole issue that fuels this conceptualisation of asians is in fact race, meaning the categorisation of a group in terms of a separate biological species. this would suggest a blend with the concept of bio-parasite, with the focus predominantly on biological aspects of the source domain. 4. immigrants and biological infection immigration has always been a heated political topic, especially in the context of non-white refugees with a different cultural and religious background coming to western countries. in recent years, particularly since the 9/11 attacks, this difficult debate has been fuelled by fear of an impending terrorist threat coming from the muslim world. europe has also experienced a shift in the perception of immigrants and refugees, with multiple european citizens with an immigrant background involved in terrorist activities raising important questions about the viability and effectiveness of immigrant integration programmes. both in europe and the us this general fear of immigration has contributed to an overwhelming rise in support for populist right-wing political parties and politicians, and many have now established themselves in a position of power. unsurprisingly, the stormfront community represents a radical political stance in this debate. the main issue raised by the immigrants are parasites metaphor remains that of money, that is financial support for refugees and migrants provided by the state. in the overwhelming majority of cases the concept of socio-parasite 2 is employed to underline the economic aspects of migration: (13) it’s the smell of money that will be the migrants demise, these people aren’t looking for refugee, they are searching for the best welfare system to exploit and parasite on (stormfront.org 2015). (14) [re: superior home for syrian refugees]. let me get this straight,the government bought a five star mansion for a jobless parasite welfare suckling family? no wonder they call it broken britain! (stormfront. org 2017) (15) unfortunately it’s not your average person that wanted the government to plow our hard earned taxes into these oxygen thieves (stormfront.org 2017). (16) muslims are a destructive parasite to any host they latch onto. they are a non assimilating populace feeding off the sympathy of half wits. wait until they become the majority within a particular living space, and you’ll see how peaceful these refugees are (stormfront.org 2017). in addition to being destructive to the economy and draining the host country’s resources, immigrants are also accused of carrying actual parasites (bio-parasite 1/2) and infecting the host population in a scenario that musolff calls a “double parasite whammy” (musolff 2016: 78): 55 crossroads. a journal of english studies (17) it’s the homeless ex-servicemen epidemic that is truly disgusting as they are the ones that should be getting housing, not some flea ridden parasite from some sandpit south of the equator (stormfront.org 2017). (18) [re: the floating slum on stilts: staggering pictures of the families who fight for survival on a sea of festering filth] breeding ground for super viruses (stormfront.org 2017). in the thread entitled 8 ways illegal immigrants are making you sick the author enumerates several diseases carried by immigrants, including cysticercosis, a parasitic disease caused by the pork tapeworm, and adds: (19) you can call me a racist all you want, but if turning a blind eye to (or heaven forbid, welcoming with open arms) these illegals means opening up my children’s children to these awful diseases, you can forget it. i won’t stand for what these moochers are doing to our land, our school-rooms or our hospitals—and neither should you (stormfront.org 2008). it is interesting to note that these examples from an extremist white-nationalist internet forum are in fact not that different from those found in mainstream media (compare musolff 2016: 80-87). the worldview expressed through the immigrants are parasites metaphor has now moved from the periphery to the very centre of public discourse, which raises the following question: can the radical attitudes presented on a forum such as stormfront.org any longer be described as truly “marginal” or “extremist”? 5. the ultimate global superparasite the jews, both the ones that live within american or european societies and the ones in israel, are undeniably the most loathed, feared and hated racial group represented on the forum, with almost every thread containing some form of attribution of blame for any event that is seen as detrimental to the well-being of society or the white race in general. it is important to note that jews are considered a separate race, essentially non-white but able to blend into white society because of physical similarities (the blonde and fair-skinned barbara streisand is often named as one example of such an impostor). that clear categorisation of jews as a biologically defined race in a literal sense is identical to the view of “the jewish race” promoted in third reich propaganda. another link between the worldview of the nazi party and that of stormfront users is a portrayal of the jewish race that falls in line with not just one, but multiple variants of the people are parasites metaphor. first, the jews are portrayed as the socio-parasite 2, i.e. a collective of individuals who do not produce any goods or make any other form of contribution to society, while simultaneously extorting more than their fair share of resources. consider these examples: (20) jews piggybacked the settlement of europeans in north america & applied their well rehearsed number one party trick, c’est-à-dire mafioso tactics/money lending & banking malpractices in a new 56 crossroads. a journal of english studies nation populated by desperate europeans who were too busy enriching themselves to even care about the parasite which was prospering in their new land (stormfront.org, 2017). (21) the darker the city, the more of the nightclubs seem to crop up. no doubt jews own a lot of them, they are a parasite on the local community which is just the sort of “business” jews like (stormfront.org, 2017). (22) jews think all non-jews,approximately 98% of mankind are cattle to serve the jews and all fruits/ money/possesions of the people belong to the jews. very vile and dangerous people. a jew is never a victim but always the perpetrator !!! (stormfront.org, 2017). (23) the real enemy is the parasite within that has latched hold of all the levers of power and influence in the west (stormfront.org 2017). the destructive force of the socio-parasite 2 lies within its ability to take money and goods from honest, hard-working white people. the jews employ immoral, illegal or at least dishonest tactics to make profit off an unsuspecting, innocent and naive community. in contrast to black or hispanic racial groups, they do not limit themselves to living off government handouts in the form of welfare cheques; their strategy is to establish themselves in a position of power that grants them unlimited access to money and other assets. secondly, the portrayal of jews on the stormfront forum meets all the conditions of the bio-parasite 2 scenario, that is: (1) the target is categorised as a separate species whose survival strategy involves actual biological parasitism; (2) the target cannot thrive on its own; the non-mutual relationship with the host is a necessary condition for survival; (3) the target either weakens the host by extracting vital nutrients, causes a biological illness with its presence, or infects the body with a deadly disease. as mentioned before, the jews are considered a separate race that is hostile to whites. in addition, they are often portrayed as a different biological species altogether, drawing from the source domain of well-known parasitic animals: (24) [original post] scientists have discovered a parasitic insect with a reproductive strategy straight out of an alien movie. dubbed the “crypt-keeper wasp,” it infects a rival species with its young, which, after hatching, proceed to chew their way out through the victim’s head. [reply] also known as the jew wasp. (thread title: “diabolical parasite grows inside baby wasps and eats their brains to escape”, stormfront. org 2017) (25) every jew is a “holocaust survivor” because there was no holocaust! i wonder when the germans will finally grow some balls and say enough is enough and don’t let those jewish ticks fleece them anymore. every dog knows a tick is a dangerous parasite and not a friend. todays germans unfortunately don’t... (stormfront.org 2017). 57 crossroads. a journal of english studies the cuckoo is the perfect example of a source domain that is broadly known and embedded in folk mythology and group mentality. this brood parasite is known for laying its eggs in other birds’ nests so that the young are cared for and fed by the host. the premise led to the formation of the lexical blend “cuckservative”, a term used to describe conservative politicians that allow the parasite species to thrive in the host nest: (26) zionists know that cuckservatives are their best friends, whereas the left features a lot of “anti-semites” that dare to criticise israel (see the un, what a bunch of anti-semites, and obongo) (stormfront.org 2017). an important element of the parasite source domain is the ability of certain biological species to control the behaviour of the host by means of changing brain chemistry, causing a hormonal imbalance, or affecting the physical structure of the brain: (27) everyone should read the life cycle of toxoplasma gondii. it’s a brain eating parasite that infects mice, takes over the brain of the mouse so that they become unafraid of cats, then the cat eats the mouse and the parasite is able to reproduce in the cat, which then spreads the cysts to the environment where they are picked up again by more mice, starting the cycle all over again. the power of this parasite to take over and control the brains of mice for its own purposes, causing the mice to commit suicide in the process, is truly horrifying. that this parasite is able to do the same thing and take over and control the brains of humans is even more horrifying. and it has occured to me that the jews have done something similar to the white race, by waging psychological warfare, and convincing whites to serve the jews and to commit racial suicide in the process (stormfront.org 2017). (28) “the jews are able to prevent us from listening to ourselves.” and that is what certain parasites in nature do, they take over the central nervous system and drive the host to kill itself. [external link: suicide grasshoppers brainwashed by parasite worms]. (...) whites are only committing suicide because they can literally no longer think. their thinking has been hijacked by the jewish parasite, which seeks to destroy it (stormfront.org, 2017). (29) the jews are a kind of parasite. they are like slaver ants taking over a host ant colony. they get the workers to kill the host ant queen, then use up the host ant colony to make more slaver ants. when they have used up the host ants of one colony, they move on to another (stormfront.org 2016). this ability of the parasite to control the mind of the host and in effect turn him into a slave, drive him to self-destructive behaviour and ultimately suicide, or make him turn against his own species is what makes the jews are bio-parasites 2 metaphor so powerful and easy to decode. the enemy is not a stronger animal that can be seen, hunted, controlled and defeated; the strength of the metaphor lies in a universal fear of the unseen threat that slowly takes over our body and mind. 58 crossroads. a journal of english studies another example of mapping between the source and target domain in the jews are bio-parasites 2 metaphor is the fact that they are allegedly unable to survive on their own without a host body to feed off: (30) even the jews couldn’t live in other non-white civilizations, and had to parasite off whites to survive, just like all the other non-whites who they kid themselves they are superior to. if anything, this fact validates whites intellectual superiority over all other races, including the jew (stormfront.org 2017). the third and perhaps most fear-inducing aspect of the jews are bio-parasites 2 metaphor is the illness that they infect the host body with. in the worldview presented on the stormfront forum the disease induced by the jewish parasite is in fact immigration from non-white countries. the immigrants are seen as rapidly multiplying microbes, or, alternatively, another breed of parasite that feeds off the host body. this creates a double parasite infection scenario: the initial bio-parasite 2 infects the body and takes over the central nervous system making the host defenceless, while simultaneously introducing a whole army of socio-parasites 2 that drain the host’s resources: (31) the jews are just parasite degenerate zionists on average. i expect them to push for the importation of blacks and arabs to our homelands, they are at war with us and our innocent young. that is to be expected, as are the muds attacking our women and children. i can’t blame them, that is what they do. they are animals of the lowest kind. there is no excuse for white cuck traitors though, i have no mercy for them. crush them all out of existence. not only as justice for the victims of this brown invasion, its a matter of racial hygiene. we cannot allow these traitors to thrive in our midst, they are cancer. if we clean up europe (and we will) in 50 years the offspring of these mentally diseased cucks will be importing more savages to hurt our people (stormfront.org 2017) (32) its funny how the (((politicians))) can’t figure out the reality of why the natives (white europeans) are not having big families... let alone one child.. its because we are being financially restrained as well as cucked by paying for non-whites to eat, live, and reproduce off of us.. if politicians want to increase the native birthrates... they are going to have the biggest parasite out of their country that is creating this... and that is the jews/zionists that are in control or influencing that country... (stormfront.org 2017) in the case of the jews, the symptoms of a parasite infection are sometimes similar to demonic possession. another added dimension of the jews are parasites metaphor is the element of “spiritual” sickness that they inflict: (33) for example in my opinion as to why white western men are spiritually sick is because the one racial group that owns the majority of the media, entertainment, music, and everything else interjects poisonous ideologies and social norms onto our societies and on top of that.. when we resist this poison.. we are considered “intolerant”, “racist”, or whatever anti-white statement/slur they will throw at us... (stormfront.org 2017) 59 crossroads. a journal of english studies the spiritual parasite concept has already been explored by the nazi party, which likened the jews to a satanic cult following the destructive religion of judaism. in fact, both in german propaganda and on the stormfront forum the jews are often represented as the spawn of satan, introducing an additional antithesis of “godly whites” versus “devil-worshipping jews”, often supported by biblical examples: (34) a “good jew” would have been jesus. but the jews killed him because he wanted to save them from their sickness called judaism. a good jew would be a jew that is not a jew anymore. like a viper with it’s poisonous fangs removed! jews are very dangerous because they are the children of satan (stormfront.org 2017). (35) jesus was no jew! jesus wanted to save the jews though from their sickness called judaism but the childen of satan killed him like they killed hitler who wanted to free the germans from the jewish parasites. only a dead parasite is a good parasite! (stormfront.org 2017). (36) parasite jews burrow into a christian country and do all kinds of damage from the inside (stormfront. org 2017). just as in third reich propaganda, a seemingly incompatible blend of the socioand bio-parasite concepts with the element of demonic or diabolical forces gives way to the all-encompassing superparasite. 6. conclusions the examples from the stormfront forum discussed above all tend to follow the same pattern of usage and play a part in the narrative-argumentative scrounge scenario (see musolff 2016: 83-84), one where the outgroup scrounges from the ingroup. the people are parasites metaphor employs terminology that presents the target as a disgusting and dangerous biological organism and castigates non-white racial groups (including jews) as detrimental to the host body. in contrast to the relatively simple scenarios employed by mainstream media, where the usage of the people are parasites metaphor tends to be viewed as highly controversial, the worldview presented on the stormfront forum is far more complex and can be summarised as the following scenario: ‘international jewry’ is a global superparasite: as socio-parasites 2 they feed off the resources of the host community and avoid any form of contribution; as bio-parasites 2 they represent a separate species that attempts to conceal its presence by mimicking the host while slowly poisoning the host body, intentionally preventing natural processes of healing, and driving the host to self-destruction by means of mind control. the nation of israel is the world parasite that follows that same strategy on a global scale: it takes the resources of the host community (all the world’s nations), infects the world body with a chronic illness, and blocks its natural defence mechanisms. after gaining both economic and psychological control of the host, the parasite drives the host to extinction by weakening the body’s immunity against the socio-parasite/welfare 60 crossroads. a journal of english studies parasite that was already present in the community (african-americans, asians, indians, etc.) and introducing a new infection of rapidly multiplying socio-parasites (non-white immigrants) that further drain the host’s resources. these new socio-parasites are in turn infected by actual parasites (bio-parasite 1/2) that contaminate the host population. the infection that spreads to all parts of the body is not only biological, economic and psychological in nature; the presence of the superparasite also affects the spiritual domain by undermining true faith and values. this apocalyptic representation of political reality is no coincidence. as musolff argues: (37) scenarios in themselves are not metaphor-specific or grounded in a particular source domain, but should rather be seen as conceptual patterns that emerge in discourse and are made narratively and argumentatively coherent by specific metaphors, which in turn makes them prime candidates for ‘selffulfilling prophecies’ (musolff 2016: 87), and it is therefore fair to assume that the structuring of a metaphorical scenario is in fact a conscious and deliberate act where both the speakers and the recipients are fully aware of its implications and the ideology they subscribe to (see musolff 2016: 88). this elevates the status of the metaphor from a vehicle of unconscious bias to socially meaningful action, where the authors can and indeed should be held accountable for its implications. the people are parasites metaphor is especially persuasive, as it entails an immediate call to action whose effects can potentially be no longer metaphorical. if the cognitive impact on the recipients is, just as in the case of third reich propaganda, full social acceptance of a biased worldview, the real-world consequences can in fact be catastrophic. the constantly evolving people are parasites metaphor definitely merits further consideration, especially at the present time, with right-wing ideology rapidly gaining support on both sides of the atlantic. extreme views held by marginal communities such as stormfront are now making their way into public and political discourse, and, as demonstrated in this article, conceptual metaphor theory can be a useful tool in the identification and analysis of such phenomena. while a prescriptive approach aimed at counteracting such discourses is beyond the scope of this paper, cognitive metaphor analysis can be successfully employed by international projects such as c.o.n.t.a.c.t. (reportinghate.eu) to raise awareness about hate speech and construct a legal framework supporting victims of violence. references bärsch, claus-ekkehard. 2002. die politische religion des nationalsozialismus. munich: fink. fitzpatrick, sheila. 2006. social parasites: how tramps, idle youth, and busy entrepreneurs impeded the soviet march to communism. cahiers du monde russe 47(1/2), 377–408. gray, heather m., gray kurt and daniel m. wegner. 2007. dimensions of mind perception. science 315, 619. 61 crossroads. a journal of english studies hodson, gordon, kteily nour and mark hoffarth. 2014. of filthy pigs and subhuman mongrels: dehumanization, disgust, and intergroup prejudice. tpm testing, psychometrics, methodology in applied psychology 21(3), 267-284. lakoff, george and mark johnson. 1980. metaphors we live by. chicago: university of chicago press. lakoff, george. 1993. the contemporary theory of metaphor. in: ortony, andrew (ed.), metaphor and thought, 202-251. cambridge: cambridge university press. levin, brian. 2003. cyberhate. in: perry, barbara (ed.), hate and bias crime:  a  reader, 363-382. new york/london: routledge. musolff, andreas. 2007. what role do metaphors play in racial prejudice? the function of antisemitic imagery in hitler’s “mein kampf ”. patterns of prejudice 41(1), 21-44. musolff, andreas. 2016. political metaphor analysis. discourse and scenarios. london: bloomsbury academic. schaller, mark and justin h. park. 2011. the behavioral immune system (and why it matters). current directions in psychological science 20, 99-103. smith, david livingstone. 2011. less than human: why we demean, enslave, and exterminate others. new york: st. martin’s press. swain, carol m. and russ nieli. 2003. contemporary voices of white nationalism in america. cambridge: cambridge university press. thibodeau, paul h., mcclelland james l. and lera boroditsky. 2009. when a bad metaphor may not be a victimless crime: the role of metaphor in social policy. in: taatgen, niels and hedderik van rijn (eds.), proceedings of the 31st annual conference of the cognitive science society, 809814. austin, tx: cognitive science society. waytz, adam, epley nicholas and john t. carcioppo. 2010. social cognition unbound: insights into anthropomorphism and dehumanization. current directions in psychological science 19(1), 58–62. internet sources google analytics https://www.seethestats.com/site/stormfront.org (10 april 2017) hippler, fritz. 1940. der ewige jude. https://archive.org/details/1940-der-ewige-jude (10 april 2017). online etymology dictionary http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=parasite&allowed_in┐ _frame=0 (15 april 2017) stormfront.org (10 april 2017) łapińska, magdalena. “a game of thrones – a new classic?”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 52-54. magdalena łapińska the university of bialystok a game of thrones – a new classic? abstract. the following paper depicts george r. r. martin’s a game of thrones as a novel worthy of receiving the title of a classic. classics are presented as a section of literature to which permission is granted based on particular criteria which is full of prejudice, especially towards specific genres. fantasy is shown as a genre having particular difficulties entering the ‘restricted’ section of literature reserved for classics. a fantasy novel a game of thrones is analyzed in terms of characters and symbols discerned as the paramount elements of a classic. presented characters and symbols demonstrate that a game of thrones possesses the elements characteristic of all classics and despite the fact that it belongs to genre of fantasy it is feasible it will become a classic. key words: classics, fantasy literature, a game of thrones classics and “the canon” have always been the elite of the literary world, groups whose new members have to meet certain criteria to become a part of high culture. over the years, newcomers joining “the clique” shared many of the key features characteristic of the existing members of the group – a fact contributing to divisions within and between genres of literature. the invisible line categorized books from particular genres either as potential classics or as popular literature unworthy of the name classic. one genre whose books have been frequently overlooked as contenders for the “title” of classic is fantasy. although we can find some classics within the genre, for example the hobbit by j.r.r. tolkien, fantasy was “once upon a time, largely ignored by the literary world, dismissed as beneath notice” (mandala 2010: 2). admittedly, many fantasy novels were not worthy of becoming classics, but because of the existing prejudice against the whole genre many great novels have not been able to cross the line dividing popular literature and literature with a capital ‘l’. when deciding which books to classify as classic, different critics and scholars have different criteria they rely on. i believe that when making the choice they should refer to “a definition generous enough to include all masterpieces of every school and time” (erskine 1967: 182) and try to extract elements characteristic of most recognized classics, despite the genre they adhere to. in my opinion these common elements are great characters and symbols. a game of thrones by george r. r. martin is one book that adheres to the overlooked genre of fantasy. although first published in 1996, it became immensely famous a couple of years ago when it was made into a tv series. becoming a world-wide bestseller, though, did not give it a fighting chance as a contender for the title of classic but rather caused it to be dismissed as “popular” literature unworthy of the attention of serious critics. however, if we take a closer look at the novel we will discover that it is full of the rich characters and symbols which make it a candidate in line to become a new member of the elite. characters in a novel are important to readers, as those individuals can become friends, enemies, or even embodiments of life lessons. eddard stark and robert baratheon are characters whose stories show readers what love can do to a person’s life. robert’s life is deprived of love. he lost his fiancée, then entered a political marriage which ultimately led to his tragic death as the wife who hated him stood behind his demise. unlike robert’s, eddard’s łapińska, magdalena. “a game of thrones – a new classic?”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 52-54. life was filled with love. although eddard, the same as robert, entered an arranged marriage, he and his wife came to love each other. at the beginning of his marriage, however, love led him to sacrifice his moral values as he fell in love with a woman who was not his wife and fathered a son with her. eddard’s life was also filled with parental love, which in the end led him to sacrifice his morality once again and unfortunately was an indirect cause of his death. touching upon the topic of parental love we cannot overlook cersei lannister and catelyn stark, who both show readers the lengths to which a mother will go to protect her children, from personal sacrifice to committing a crime. one character who we can treat as an embodiment of a life lesson is daenerys targaryen. the lesson which her character presents is that even the best of intentions and good deeds can bring the worst consequences (she lose both her child and her husband).nonetheless, she should not be treated as merely the personification of a lesson: she is a complicated character. daenerys is a person who despite a traumatic childhood and constant abuse manages to stand up for herself and subsequently impose her will upon others. the characters of tyrion lannister and john snow are foils who deal quite differently with the one thing they have in common: being an outcast. both characters are outcasts as far as their families and the society are concerned. tyrion lannister is a dwarf; john snow is a bastard. tyrion deals with his situation by accepting who he is and making the best of what life throws at him. he is aware of his body’s limitations and concentrates on his best feature, his intelligence: “my mind is my weapon. my brother has his sword, king robert has his warhammer, and i have my mind . . .” (a game of thrones p.123-124). on the other hand, we have john snow who does not agree with the hand that life has dealt him and desperately seeks a place where he would belong. he finds his place in the brotherhood of the night ’s watch. living among other outcasts, separated from the society which treated him as a citizen of the second category, he can hide and try to forget about what makes him an outcast: his illegitimacy. the book portrays other characters as well who would not be categorized as ordinary citizens. king aerys was mentally ill, brann is paralyzed, varys is a eunuch, and khal drogo is in a persistent vegetative state when the novel is coming to an end. the portrayal of each of these characters raises a host of questions about important issues; for instance, khal drogo’s death brings out the issue of euthanasia. not only the well developed characters, but also its numerous symbols make a game of thrones a novel worth noticing. the wall functioning as one of the borders of the seven kingdoms is among the symbols present in the book. one possible explanation as to what the wall can symbolize is that it is a material manifestation of the fears of the people living in the seven kingdoms. people afraid of the unknown build walls separating them from things they fear. in the seven kingdoms what citizens fear the most is what lies beyond the wall. and the wall is what keeps them safe: “on the other side were monsters and giants and ghouls, but they could not pass so long as the wall stood strong” (a storm of swords p. 759). in our reality people also build walls of fear. we can find many examples of those walls. for instance, following the terrorist attack on the world trade centre in the usa in 2001 and as a result of the ‘war on terror’ a “culture of fear” (brzeziński 2007) was shaped. many in the west built a metaphorical wall separating them from arabic culture. arabic culture became a feared monster much as the wildings are what citizens of the seven kingdoms dread. it can be said that martin has taken something which in our world appears only in a non-material form and given it substance and shape. even the berlin wall was a material manifestation of the soviet union’s fear of emigration on a great scale. the wall in martin’s novel is a symbol of the barriers people set to keep their fears at bay. the throne traditionally is a symbol of power and the iron throne is no exception. however, the fact that the seat is constructed from the weapons of past enemies allows the łapińska, magdalena. “a game of thrones – a new classic?”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 52-54. reader to presume that it might also symbolize something different. the iron throne can symbolize past enemies as the blades from which the seat is built serve as a constant reminder of defeated foes. although the throne was forged a long time ago, its blades are still sharp, which can symbolize the notion that the past is never truly behind us and that issues we thought were resolved can always come back to hurt us all over again, just as the weapons of the defeated enemies can still cut the person sitting on the iron throne. the iron throne can also symbolize the idea that those in a position of power should never be able to feel too comfortable with the authority they possess. we may can presume that this is one of the symbolic ideas of the iron throne, as the king who originally had it made said that „a king should never sit easy” (a game of thrones p.462). symbolism can also be discovered in the work’s seasons, which are quite different from those in our reality. in the world of a game of thrones one season can continue for years, decades even, but what is more important than the seasons’ duration is the fact that they symbolize the phases of life. summer symbolizes childhood. bran is referred to as a „sweet summer child (a game of thrones p. 240) and when john and other recruits of the night’s watch are pointed out to be young and inexperienced, they are called “green and stinking of summer” (a game of thrones p. 444). since the summer is associated with childhood, winter is to symbolize adulthood. stark’s motto “winter is coming” (a game of thrones p. 813). looms over everyone and seems to say that childhood always passes and adulthood is inevitable. the changing of the seasons, which the reader can observe throughout the novel, can symbolize the rite of passage from one phase of life into another. summer changes into winter just as children turn into adults. the shifting of the seasons symbolizing the phases of life reinforces one of the important themes in the novel: how individuals deal with the coming of age. readers can observe how some of the characters in the novel grow up as the seasons change. the transformation from child into adult is most visible in the character of robb stark, who turns from a boy playing with wooden swords to a man commanding an army. more symbolism can be discovered in the way crows and ravens are presented in the novel. in the seven kingdoms there is a saying: “dark wings, dark words” (a game of thrones p. 254), which clearly shows that people treat crows and ravens as a bad omen. the men of the night’s watch are referred to as crows, not only because they always dress in black, but we can assume that it is because crows also symbolize solitude (cirlot 1971). the men of the night’s watch are sworn into the brotherhood for life, vowing never to have families and to protect the realm at all costs, which means a life in solitude. crows can also symbolize the notion of seeing the larger picture. brann has ‘prophetic’ dreams in which a three-eyed crow shows him what happens in distant places as well as what is yet to come. the crow’s third eye presumably means that the animal can see more than others and helps brann understand what is truly important, whereas others are only able to see what is right in front of them. there are many more symbols which readers may find in the novel. we could look into the symbolism of the sigils of the houses, or the dragons and their “resurrection”, as a game of thrones is full of things whose meaning is open to interpretation if we just look beneath the surface. fantasy as a genre is often sneered upon by critics, but certain authors like tolkien or terry pratchett have transcended the stereotype. although a game of thrones has the great characters and rich symbols characteristic of most classics, only time will tell if it is also destined to become one. łapińska, magdalena. “a game of thrones – a new classic?”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 52-54. references brzeziński, zbigniew. terrorized by ‘war on terror’, march 25, 2007 www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/ar2007032301613.html cirlot, j.e. 1971. a dictionary of symbols. (2 nd edition). london: routledge & kegan paul. erskine, john. 1967. the classical rule, lectures on literature new york: books for libraries press, 177-202. mandala, susan. 2010. language in science fiction and fantasy. new york; london: continuum. martin, george r. r. 2011. a game of thrones. new york: bantam books. martin, george r. r. 2011. a storm of swords. new york: bantam books. voluntary and involuntary memory in samuel beckett’s krapp’s last tape 10 crossroads. a journal of english studies jadwiga uchman university of lodz voluntary and involuntary memory in samuel beckett’s krapp’s last tape abstract. even though krapp’s last tape presents a single character on the stage, it does not seem to adhere to the typical characteristics of a monodrama since, in fact, we become acquainted with three different krapps. on the one hand, there is the 69-year-old krapp visible on the stage, celebrating his birthday, and on the other, there are two more krapps, who are not present physically, but only aurally – the first one existing as a voice on a recording made thirty years ago, and the second mentioned by the voice. these are his alter egos preserved on some tapes from the past. the drama presents the sameness and the change of krapp over several years. at the same time, it deals with the concepts of voluntary and involuntary memory which are explained by beckett in his proust essay. the first kind of memory is dominated by a person’s will to preserve certain things for the future. the remembrances, thus saved, are static and do not change with the passage of time. the tapes indicate what krapp decided to commemorate in the past. as the play progresses the clash between the past, as he wanted to remember it, and the past as he actually recalls it, becomes evident. the present krapp does not recall certain things, which were of vital importance to the past krapp. the dynamic interplay of voluntary and involuntary memory seems to be one of the most intriguing features of the drama. keywords: beckett, krapp’s last tape, voluntary and involuntary memory. krapp’s last tape (1958), originally entitled magee monologue, was written after samuel beckett had heard pat magee reading fragments of his fiction during a radio broadcast. the play was inspired by “the actor’s distinctive whispering with its evocation of unrelieved weariness” (cohn, 165). this short drama was later translated by beckett himself into french, the title being changed to la dernière bande. similarly, the german version of the play, co-directed by beckett, was entitled das letzte band. the omission of krapp’s name in the german and french versions is indicative of beckett’s meticulous attention to detail, and his perfect command of several languages, all of which enabled him to take advantage of the specific quality of a given language to create concrete associations and meanings. the online new oxford american dictionary defines “scrap” as “a small piece or amount of something, esp. one that is left over after the greater part has been used”, and thus the protagonist’s name, indicated only in the english version, may bring to mind 10.15290/cr.2016.15.4.01 11 crossroads. a journal of english studies associations with scrap, which skillfully describes krapp’s impoverished identity and ongoing deterioration. what the play actually presents are scraps of information about krapp as he is at present, at the age of sixty-nine, as well as bits and pieces telling us what he was like at the age of thirty-nine and even earlier, the latter being stored on the tapes he recorded in the past. the play lacks the status of true monodrama even though on the stage we see only one person – krapp celebrating his birthday and continuing his habit of commemorating this day by producing a recording indicating the most important events of the passing year. the structure and the overall meaning of the play are based on a number of binary oppositions: listening and not listening, separation and reconciliation, sameness and change, sound and silence, the manichean duality of matter and spirit reflected in a specific use of light and darkness, as well as the presence of the sixty-nine-year-old krapp and his past discernible in the metaphorical presence of the thirty-nineyear-old krapp, whose voice we hear from a recording made thirty years ago. the last of these binary oppositions is the one presenting the past as krapp wanted to remember it (the recordings), and the past as he actually remembers it now, that is the difference between voluntary and involuntary memory. the distinction between the two kinds of memory was introduced by beckett in his proust essay (1931), an essay about which lee (196) writes: “beckett’s proust has the double fascination of throwing light on proust while revealing beckett himself ... a la recherche du temps perdu serves as a sort of rorschach test in which the young critic discovers his own fetishes and his own bêtes noires.” proust is not really so much a discussion and interpretation of the famous french novel but rather an investigation of beckett’s own ideas concerning “time cancer” and its attributes, “habit and memory” (beckett 1987, 18). writing about “the double headed monster of damnation and salvation – time” (11), beckett concedes: there is no escape from hours and days. neither from to-morrow nor from yesterday. there is no escape from yesterday because yesterday has deformed us, or been deformed by us. the mood is of no importance. deformation has taken place. yesterday is not a milestone that has been passed, but a daystone on the beaten track of years, and irremediably a part of us, within us, heavy and dangerous. we are not only more weary because of yesterday, we are other, no longer what we were before the calamity of yesterday.... the aspirations of yesterday were valid for yesterday’s ego, not for today’s. …. but what is attainment? the identification of the subject with the object of his desire. the subject has died – and perhaps many times – on the way. for subject b to be disappointed by the banality of an object chosen by subject a is as illogical as to expect one’s hunger to be dissipated by the spectacle of uncle eating his dinner. (13-14) beckett perceives human life as a constant struggle between the dull boredom of a controlling habit and the immediate perception of things as they really are, intrinsically connected with suffering, which is a punishment for “the eternal sin of having been born” (67). memory, as described in the proust essay, is strictly connected with, and subject to, the laws of habit. since all living 12 crossroads. a journal of english studies is habit,1 beckett warns us that this filters our perception and distorts our view of reality. for beckett, memory becomes conditioned through perception. rather than serve us as a moment of discovery and contemplation of reality, it becomes distorted through awareness. “strictly speaking we can only remember what has been registered by our extreme inattention and stored in that ultimate and inaccessible dungeon of our being to what habit does not possess the key” (31). this kind of memory is called involuntary memory by beckett, and it is contrasted with voluntary memory, which “is of no use as an instrument of evocation, and provides an image far removed from the real” (14), and which, furthermore, “is not memory, but the application of a concordance to the old testament of the individual” (32). voluntary memory is the uniform memory of intelligence; and it can be relied on to reproduce for our gratified inspection those impressions of the past that were consciously and intelligently formed. it has no interest in the mysterious element of inattention that colours our most commonplace experiences. it presents the past in a monochrome. the images it chooses are as arbitrary as those chosen by imagination, and are equally remote from reality. its action has been compared by proust to that of turning the leaves of an album of photographs. the material that it furnishes contains nothing of the past, merely a blurred and uniform projection once removed of our anxiety and opportunism – that is to say, nothing. (32) the binary opposition of voluntary and involuntary memory is the structural kernel stone of krapp’s last tape. on the one hand, there is the past as he wanted to remember it (the recordings) while, on the other, there is the past as he actually remembers it (indicated by his reactions while listening to the tape). it could be argued that the play presents two distinctive moments in krapp’s existence. while the krapp visible on the stage exists in the present, the one whose voice is heard from the tapes belongs to the past of thirty years ago. the latter’s existence is limited to its aural aspect solely, and depends on the presence of the tape recorder, which enables us to hear the recollections and remarks of the younger krapp. in this context it seems justified to concentrate on the tape recorder, a machine on the meaning of which beckett made some remarks in his theatre notebook, written during rehearsals at the schiller-theater werkstadt, in berlin in 1969, featuring martin held. his memoranda read: tape-recorder companion of his solitude. masturbatory agent … anger and tenderness of krapp towards the object which through language <becomes> has become the ‘alternen idioten’ [‘stupid bastard’] or [erasure] the girl on the lake. krapp-tape-recorder relationship both fundamental and almost impossible to convey through the acting without descending to the level of the sentimental. 1 “breathing is habit. life is habit. or rather life is a succession of habits, since the individual is a succession of individuals” (1970, 19). 13 crossroads. a journal of english studies tendency of a solitary person to enjoy affective relationships with objects, in particular here with the tape recorder. smiles, looks, reproaches, caresses, taps, exclamations … a little throughout. never forced. like many lonely people he tends to have an emotional rapport with material objects.2 (beckett 1992, 181, 205, 248) the first of the above remarks indicates that the tape recorder is an object which, in a sense, becomes the krapp from the past, or the girl recalled in the farewell to love episode. in this sense the machine revives the past and makes it alive in the present, as it were. on the other hand, however, the inanimate machine is the only thing which the sixty-nine-year-old krapp has as his companion, and thus the protagonist’s terrible solitude is underlined. when the play begins we see krapp sitting at the table, facing front,<> a wearish old man: krapp…. white face.<> disordered grey hair. unshaven. very near-sighted (but unspectacled.) hard of hearing. cracked voice. distinctive intonation. laborious walk. (3) having gone to the cubby-hole three times to bring the ledger, the tin boxes containing reels of recorded tape and, finally, the tape recorder, he sits down again: krapp: (briskly.) ah! (he bends over the ledger, turns the pages, finds the entry he wants, reads) box ... three … spool … five. (he raises his head and stares towards the front. with relish.) spool! (pause.) spooool! (happy smile. pause. he bends over the table, starts peering and poking at the boxes.) box … three … three … four … two … (with surprise) nine! good god! … seven … ah! little rascal! (he takes up box, peers at it.) box three. (he lays it on the table, opens it, peers at spools.) spool … (he peers at ledger) … five … (he peers at spools) … five … five … ah! the little scoundrel! (he takes out a spool, peers at it.) spool five. (he [stands up,] lays it on the table, puts it back with the others, takes up the spool.) box three, spool five. ({he places spool on} machine, looks up. with relish.) spooool! (happy smile. he bends {threads tape} on machine, rubs his hands.) ah! (he peers at ledger, reads entry at foot of page:) mother at rest at last … hm … the black ball (he raises his head, stares blankly front. puzzled.) black ball? … (he peers again at the ledger, reads) the dark nurse … (he raises his head, broods, peers again at the ledger, reads) slight improvement in bowel condition … hm … memorable ... what? (he peers closer.) equinox, memorable equinox. (he raises his head, stares blankly front. puzzled.) memorable equinox? … (pause. he shrugs his shoulders, peers again at ledger, reads) farewell to – (he turns page [and raises his head]) – love. (4) 2 the typographical note states: “text between square brackets [] has been added to the original english text. text between pointed brackets {} has been revised. a pair of angle brackets<> indicates that a section of text has been cut from the original english text” (knowlson 1992, 2). 14 crossroads. a journal of english studies even though krapp has been looking for a concrete tape, much of the description on the ledger seems to be strange to him, and thus he is puzzled. at the age of thirty-nine he wanted to preserve by means of voluntary memory his mother’s death – the black nurse – but also the black ball and the memorable equinox, the inscriptions about which now puzzle him. thirty years ago he recorded the following text: throwing a ball for a little white dog as chance would have it. i happened to look up and there it was…. i sat on for a few moments with the ball in my hand and the dog yelping and pawing at me. (pause.) moments. her moments, my moments. (pause.) the dog’s moments. (pause.) in the end i held it out to him and he took it in his mouth, gently, gently. a small, old, black, hard, solid rubber ball. (pause.) i shall feel it, in my hand, until my dying day. (pause.) but i gave it to the dog. (pause.) (7) thirty years ago he deemed the scene with the dog to be very important, he thought that he would feel the ball in his hand forever, yet now the inscription on the ledger does not ring a bell. the situation with the memorable equinox is similar. in the past he said: spiritually a year of profound gloom and indigence until the memorable night in march, at the end of the jetty, in the howling wind, never to be forgotten, when i saw the whole thing. ([impatient reaction from krapp]) the vision at last. this i fancy is what i have chiefly to ([violent reaction from krapp.]) record this evening, against the day when my work will be done and perhaps no place left in my memory, warm or cold, for the miracle that (hesitates). ([krapp thumbs on table.])…. for the fire that set it alight. what i suddenly saw then was this, that the belief i had been going on all my life, namely – (krapp switches off impatiently, winds tape forward, [mechanical with gabble, 2 seconds,] switches on again.) great granite rocks the foam flying up in the light of the lighthouse and the wind-gauge spinning like a propeller, clear to me at last that the dark i have always struggled to keep under it in reality my most – (krapp curses, switches off, winds tape forward, [mechanical gabble, 2 seconds], switches on again.) – unshatterable association until my dissolution of storm and night with the light of the understanding and the fire – (krapp curses louder, switches off, winds tape forward, [mechanical with gabble, 4 seconds], switches on again, [lowers head].) – my face in her breasts and my hand on her. we lay without moving. but under us all moved, and moved us gently, up and down, and from side to side. (7-8) thirty years ago he thought the memorable equinox to be of extreme importance. now the recording referring to this event infuriates him and he switches it off and rewinds the tape to get to the last point of the ledger entry – “farewell to love”: “i said again i thought it was hopeless and no good going on and she agreed without opening her eyes” (8). having listened to the “farewell to love” episode, krapp goes to the cubby-hole for a second time to have a drink and then he starts to record a new tape: “just been listening to that stupid bastard i took myself for thirty years ago, hard to believe i was ever as bad as that” (9). it is worth 15 crossroads. a journal of english studies mentioning that on the tape recorded then, he said nearly the same about himself “at least ten or twelve years” earlier: hard to believe i was ever that young whelp. the voice! jesus! and the aspirations! (brief laugh {tape alone}.) ([krapp looks at tape-recorder.]) and the resolutions! (brief laugh in which krapp joins, [without moving].) to drink less, in particular. (brief laugh of krapp alone.) (5) looking from the perspective of both the thirty-nine and the sixty-nine-year-old krapp, the resolution to drink less, taken by the twenty-nine-year-old krapp, is ridiculous, as indicated both by the visit to the wine-house in the past, and his going twice to the cubby-hole in the present. the sameness of krapp despite the passage of time, visible in his addiction to drink and women, is balanced by the simultaneous change of certain elements of his psyche, thus reflecting the already quoted sentences from the proust essay: “we are not only more weary because of yesterday, we are other, no longer what we were before the calamity of yesterday” and “the aspirations of yesterday were valid for yesterday’s ego, not for today’s” (13 and 14). discussing the drama as “the alteration of solipsistic monologues,” aston points out: “the disjunction between the ‘i’ present and the ‘i’ past constitutes the negation of a unified character history” (163). krapp himself must be aware of the discontinuity of his self since on the tape he is recording on his 69th birthday he avoids using the “i” pronoun in english and french versions, as well as in the authorised german version (libera, note 78, 647). this leads us back to beckett’s essay on proust, where he wrote about the novel’s narrator: … and he thinks how absurd is our dream of a paradise with retention of personality, since our life is a succession of paradises successively denied, that the only true paradise is the paradise that has been lost … … and we breathe the true air of paradise, of the only paradise that is not the dream of a madman, the paradise that has been lost. (26 and 74) at the age of thirty-nine krapp rejected love in favour of another paradise – his opus magnum. this paradise, however, did not materialize either, as his words on the present birthday indicate: “seventeen copies sold, of which eleven at trade price to free circulating libraries beyond the seas” (9). he finishes the present recording with the words “be again, be again. (pause.) all that old misery. (pause.) once wasn’t enough for you. (pause.) lie down across her” (9). who or what do the words “be again” refer to? are they a comment on himself, his beloved or the moments on the punt while parting with the girl? it is not easy to answer these questions, and the replies may vary. what appears to be clear, however, is that he seems to want to relive his past, the past which he rejected thirty years ago. in a letter to alan schneider, his friend who directed krapp’s last tape and many other plays written by him, beckett wondered what would have happened “if instead of sacrificing the girl in the boat for the opus … magnum he had done the reverse” (harmon 57). 16 crossroads. a journal of english studies discussing the black-and-white juxtaposition in krapp’s last tape in reference to manichean philosophy, knowlson argues: krapp is only too ready to associate woman with the darker side of existence and he clearly sees her as appealing to the dark, sensual side of man’s nature, distracting him from the cultivation of the understanding and the spirit. krapp’s recorded renunciation of love is then no mere casual end of an affair. (knowlson 1976, 59-60) after finishing the recording on the day of his 69th birthday, krapp turns on the tape from thirty years ago and listens to it again attentively and motionlessly: tape – gooseberries, she said. `i said again i thought it was hopeless and no good going on and she agreed, without opening her eyes. (pause.) i asked her to look at me and after a few moments – (pause) – after a few moments she did, but the eyes just slits, because of the glare. `i bent over her to get them in the shadow and they opened. (pause. low.) let me in. (pause.) we drifted in among flags and stuck. the way they went down, sighing, before the stem! (pause.) i lay down across her with my face in her breasts and my hand on her. we lay without moving. but under us all moved, and moved us, gently, up and down, and from side to side. (26) a remark must be made here about the directorial change introduced by beckett during the théâtre récamier production of the drama, stated in jean martin’s annotated script: “after ‘nous restions là, couches, sans remuer” (‘we lay there without moving’), jean martin noted, ‘il a la tête dans l’apparel. la joue contre l’appareil’ (‘he has his head on the recorder, his cheek against the machine’)” (quoted in knowlson 1992, 33). the tape recorder, preserving the happy memory of the moments spent with the girl friend, in a sense becomes the beloved. having described his rejection of love, a moving moment of tenderness in the past, krapp continues his recording, now referring to the present moment: (pause. {face frozen till end.}) past midnight. never knew such silence. the earth might be uninhabited. (pause.) here i end this reel. box – (pause) – three, spool – (pause) – five. (pause.) perhaps my best years are gone. when there was a chance for happiness. but i wouldn’t want them back. not with the fire in me now. no, i wouldn’t want them back. (krapp motionless staring before him. the tape runs on in silence. [slow fade of stage light and cubby-hole light till only the light [that of ‘eye’] of tape-recorder.] (curtain.) (10) the stage directions added in the schiller theater production, referring to the fade out of all the lights except the magic eye of the tape recorder add, it seems, an extra significance to the 17 crossroads. a journal of english studies play. thus the tape recorder, the tool by which voluntary memory becomes obvious, dominates the stage image now. it must be remembered, however, that the phrase “i wouldn’t want them back” is repeated twice. it might be argued that krapp repeats this phrase twice at the age of thirty-nine because he wants to convince himself that he really means it. he wants to preserve in the voluntary memory the conviction that choosing the opus magnum and rejecting love is the right decision. taking into account the behaviour of the sixty-nine-year-old krapp, it becomes obvious that his involuntary memory has preserved a different opinion. this outlook may be supported both by his search for the “farewell to love” episode in the recording, listening to it twice, motionlessly and attentively, and finally putting his cheek against the machine. most critics agree that the final image of the drama presents a beaten man who regrets having devoted himself to the pursuit of intellectual fulfilment over love. knowlson contends that krapp’s life is “ruined”: “the final confrontation between the younger and the older krapp evokes, then, more than mere sadness at the inevitable decline that occurs in man. for krapp shows us a man who is torn by conflicting forces and whose life has been ruined by this conflict” (1973, 90). similarly, morrison (64-65) contends it is all too clear, both to the motionless man on the stage and to the audience, that krapp does want them back; that he forfeited the only real fire he ever had (that woman moving gently with him) for the sake of an illusory fire of the imagination which did not produce an opus magnum but rather left him with merely a narrated residue of himself, repudiated yet intensely desired. katharine worth (98) has labelled krapp’s last tape a memory play, and rightly so. the play presents a kind of dialogue, as it were, of two (or more precisely three) krapps. this dialogue can also be viewed as an exchange between voluntary memory (the recordings) and involuntary memory (the recollections of krapp present on the stage). sabine kozdon (179-180), on the other hand, in her book memory in samuel beckett’s plays. a psychological approach, contends that krapp’s last tape is not a memory play, and furthermore concedes that “…krapp’s memory, which is present in two forms, seems to suggest a comparison with proust’s mémoire volontaire and mémoire involontaire. such a comparison is problematic, however, as no mémoire involontaire as defined by proust can be found in this play” (179). this article may be considered a proof that this critic’s opinions are unjustified. references aston, elaine and george savona. 1991. “text in performance.” theatre as sign system. a semiotics of text and performance. london and new york: routledge, 162-177. beckett, samuel. 1987. proust and three dialogues with george duthuit. london: john calder. beckett, samuel. 1992. samuel beckett’s theatrical notebooks. krapp’s last tape. ed. james knowlson. london: faber and faber. campbell, sue ellen. 1978. “krapp’s last tape and critical theory.” comparative drama 12, 187-199. 18 crossroads. a journal of english studies cohn, ruby. 1973. back to beckett. princeton, new jersey: grove press inc.: princeton university press 1973. harmon, maurice, ed. 1998. no author better served. the correspondence of samuel beckett and alan schneider. cambridge, massachusetts, london, england: harvard university press. knowlson, james. 1992. “editorial notes.” samuel beckett. samuel beckett’s theatrical notebooks. krapp’s last tape. ed. james knowlson. london: faber and faber, 251-278. knowlson, james. 1976. “krapp’s last tape: evolution of a play, 1958-75.” journal of beckett studies 1, 50-65. knowlson, james. 1973. “krapp’s last tape.” frescoes of the skull: the later prose and drama of samuel beckett. eds. james knowlson and john pilling. london: calder. kozdon, sabine. 2005. memory in samuel beckett’s plays. a psychological approach. münster: lit verlag. lee, vera. g. 1978. “beckett on proust.” romanic review 69, 196-206. libera, antoni. 1988. “przypisy i objaśnienia tłumacza.” samuel beckett. dzieła dramatyczne. warszawa: państwowy instytut wydawniczy, 609-754. morrison, kristin. 1983. canters and chronicles: the use of narrative in the plays of samuel beckett and harold pinter. chicago: chicago university press. worth, katharine. 1999. samuel beckett’s theater. life journeys. oxford: oxford university press. 4 crossroads. a journal of english studies sylwia borowska-szerszun university of białystok the interplay of the domestic and the uncanny in susanna clarke’s jonathan strange and mr norrell abstract. this article examines the effects resulting from the interplay of the domestic and the uncanny in susanna clarke’s jonathan strange and mr norrell, a novel that boldly blends the conventions of the novel of manners and gothic fiction. analysing the selected key elements of the story, it is argued that while the uncanny is domesticated for a considerable part of the narrative, in the gothic layer of the novel the mechanism of the uncanny is used to bring to light repressed voices. in the process, the long-established sources of inspiration for fantasy literature are rejected, and the nineteenth-century tradition of women’s writing, in both its realistic and gothic threads, is used to reinvigorate the thematic and structural repertoire of the genre. key words: uncanny, domestic, gothic fiction, fantasy literature, susanna clarke. a reader of susanna clarke’s jonathan strange and mr norrell (2004) is confronted with an extensive three-volume novel that evades straightforward generic classifications and plays with a number of literary conventions. this novel not only reveals traces of such (sub)genres of fantasy as alternative history, historical fantasy, and fantasy of manners, but can also be read as an exquisite pastiche of nineteenth-century literary traditions, especially the novel of manners, characterised by its emphasis on the domestic sphere, and gothic fiction, from which the supernatural elements of the novel are derived. interestingly, these two dominant traditions are not juxtaposed against each other but carefully interwoven, which draws critical attention to the interplay of the domestic and the uncanny in the novel, and invites one to examine the effects and meanings resulting from such a unique approach to writing fantasy fiction. first, it should be observed that clarke’s ‘signature play’ with the realistic and the supernatural, familiar and unfamiliar, evokes connotations with the concept of the uncanny as developed in “the uncanny” (1919) by sigmund freud, who grounds his conceptualization of the term in the lexical ambiguity of the german words heimlich (familiar) and unheimlich (uncanny). obviously, 5 articles as he observes, unheimlich is the negation of heimlich in the sense of ‘homely’ or ‘native’, which initially might lead us to conclude that “what is ‘uncanny’ is frightening precisely because it is not known and familiar” (freud 1955: 220). a closer semantic analysis reveals, however, a different shade of heimlich, which also signifies something ‘hidden’, ‘furtive’ or, to use freud’s nomenclature, “concealed and kept out of sight” ( 225). freud (1995: 226) further argues that the meaning of the term “develops in the direction of ambivalence, until it finally coincides with its opposite”, which eventually makes unheimlich “a sub-species” of heimlich. in its most basic sense, therefore, the effect of the uncanny is related to the occurrence of the feeling of fright, discomfort or strangeness arising without warning when something known and familiar suddenly becomes strange and unfamiliar. as freud (1995: 241) writes, “this uncanny is in reality nothing new or alien, but something which is familiar and old-established in the mind and which has become alienated from it only through the process of repression,” or in other words, “something which ought to have remained hidden but has come to light.” while the notion originally occupied only a minor position in the freudian canon, it has been reworked by various theorists, including derrida, todorov and cixous, to become a late-twentieth century theoretical concept (masschelein 2011: 3-7, 15-16) that “transgresses the disciplinary boundaries of literary studies, psychoanalysis, and aesthetics and fundamentally partakes of all three domains” (masschelein 2011: 125). jonathan strange and mr norrell, quite atypically set in a specific historic period around the time of the napoleonic wars, opens with reversing the mechanism of the uncanny by presenting the unfamiliar as familiar. the supposedly supernatural element of magic is initially established as a legitimate aspect of nineteenth-century england’s reality, delineated with truly austenesque attention to social custom and proper manners. magic is a purely theoretical discipline, equated with antiquarian research and scholarly knowledge – a domain of a group of “gentleman-magicians”, who formed a society and met to “read each other long, dull papers upon the history of english magic” (clarke 2015: 3) and who “did not want to see magic done . . . only wished to read about it in books” (clarke 2015: 21). from the appearance of two practicing magicians, mr norrell and jonathan strange, the reader is expecting a change, which indeed comes but does not go as deeply as anticipated. the former, in fact, does perform magic, which he treats as a necessary nuisance, but is still depicted as a reclusive, socially awkward scholar obsessed with acquiring knowledge, regulating its accessibility, and striving to make it “a respectable profession – no less than law and a great deal more so than medicine” (clarke 2015: 44); the latter is a man with a natural flair for magic and much better social skills, who favours improvised experimentation and postulates magic should be made available to everyone, including women and the lower classes. as a result of blurring the distinction between magic and knowledge, mr norrell and jonathan strange epitomise different attitudes to scholarship, i.e. meticulous research versus intuitive creativity (schanoes 2012: 244), different worldviews inherent to the enlightenment and romanticism (thomson 2011: 322), or even different authorial approaches to writing fiction. despite these differences, leading to a temporary separation of the two magicians, staged here as an exemplary pamphlet war, they are united by norrell’s “lively ambition to bring back magic to 6 crossroads. a journal of english studies england” (clarke 2015: 41). seeking public recognition, social position, and renown, both of them delve into something they vaguely comprehend, and fail to foresee the disastrous consequences of their actions. furthermore, both belong to the privileged class of white, middle-class, wealthy men, focused on their gentlemanly occupation, which happens to be magic. thus, in clarke’s narrative the magic in the hands of mr norrell and jonathan strange does not seriously challenge the existing social order but becomes incorporated in its power structures. both magicians, even if somewhat eccentric, find themselves comfortable within the system, while their magic is not meant to change the status quo but to produce practical solutions and conform to the rules by which the society operates, which is well exemplified by strange’s service for the army in the napoleonic wars, and once again shows clarke’s strategy to render the uncanny as familiar and domesticated. jonathan strange is not expected to blast fire or wipe out the enemy with powerful spells – the actual killing is left to ordinary, lower class, and preferably foreign guerilla soldiers. his involvement befits his social standing, whereas being a magician is just a subcategory of being a wellrespected gentleman: “can a magician kill a man by magic?”lord wellington asked strange. strange frowned. he seemed to dislike the question. “i suppose a magician might,” he admitted, “but a gentleman never could.” (clarke 2015: 223) overall, strange’s exploits as a military magician contribute to wellington’s success, and include the practical tasks of creating new roads for soldiers, changing the landscape, and moving the position of forests, rivers, and towns to confuse the enemy. yet, his most spectacular achievement, with the biggest potential for uncanny effect, is raising seventeen dead neapolitan soldiers to interrogate them. necromancy, clearly an act of forbidden black magic, expected to curdle the blood of the readers, fails to achieve this effect due to unforeseen problems with communication – the zombies turn out to speak “one of the dialects of hell” learnt, as lord wellington approvingly observes, very quickly for “[t]hey have only been dead for three days” (clarke 2015: 357). the problem is soon fixed and the enlivened corpses begin to speak their “native, earthly language – a thick neapolitan dialect of italian, which to most people was quite as impenetrable and almost as horrible as the language they had been speaking before” (clarke 2015: 357). they prove useful in providing the desired information. in fact “[b]eing dead, the neapolitans were infinitely more anxious to please their questioners than any living informer could have been” (clarke 2015: 357); yet strange, ignorant of how to send them back, is haunted by the living dead until wellington, who “greatly regretted such cruelty to men who had already suffered a great deal” (clarke 2015: 358), gives the order to throw them on a bonfire. the passages recounting these adventures show strange’s magic in terms of mendlesohn’s intrusion into reality1 – resurrecting the dead is far from ordinary after all – which is, however, quickly 1 concerned not so much with the definition of fantasy literature as with its construction and language, farah mendlesohn, in her influential rhetorics of fantasy (2008), distinguishes between four main categories, or modes, determined by the way in which the fantastic element enters the world of the narrative, i.e. the portal-quest fantasy, immersive fantasy, intrusion fantasy, and liminal fantasy. each of them establishes its own set of practices, narrative 7 articles accommodated as familiar. the zombies, a vivid example of the uncanny as creatures that are both well-known and alien, simultaneously alive and dead, and thus creating a cognitive dissonance, usually serve to reveal one of the most universally repressed fears – the fear of our mortality. yet, in the discussed passages, dread is virtually absent as it is submerged by practical concerns, and the process of reversing the mechanism of the uncanny produces a comic relief rather than fear. the otherness of the living-dead lies not so much in their ontological dualism as in their inability to speak a comprehensible language; the problem is resolved swiftly, with a conventional note of regret only, once they have ceased to be valuable. it is also relevant that the familiar is rendered as englishness while the unfamiliar is denoted as foreign – a dialect of italian is as alien as a dialect of hell; the landscapes on the continent are nonchalantly transformed just as the maps of europe can be created anew after the wars, as long as the process does not affect merry old england itself. in this context mr norrell’s mission to restore english magic fits into the bigger project of establishing british supremacy over other nations. the war waged against napoleon “had made great britain the greatest nation in the world”, and the magic “had been of vital importance in achieving this” (clarke 2015: 362), one more tool employed as a means of establishing an empire in which englishmen would see themselves half a century later “as the creators of a worldwide system in which they as it were gigantically replicated themselves, carrying with them their language, their culture, their institutions, their industry” (kumar 2006: 189). these attempts to domesticate magic as an inherently english, not a universal, phenomenon, with the englishness additionally restricted to upper-middle class gentlemen, dominate a considerable part of the narrative, which despite containing the elements of fantasy does not question the existing social order, akin in fact to that of the mimetic novel. if the analysis stopped here, we could prematurely conclude that jonathan strange and mr norrell fails as literature of subversion, which is posited by rosemary jackson (1981) to be a constituent element of fantasy, perceived as “a literature of desire, which seeks that which is experienced as absence and loss” (3) and opens “for a brief moment, on to disorder, on to illegality, on to that which lies outside the law [and] dominant values systems” (4). yet, within the second layer of the novel, whose mode is derived from the gothic literary tradition and clearly indicated to the reader by several mentions of beckford, lewis, radcliffe and byron, the fantastic escapes absolute domestication, and the parallel world of the faerie intrudes into peaceful drawing-rooms, taking its toll. even strange, freed from norrell’s authority, undergoes a certain evolution and engages in exploring the old-forgotten roads connecting england with faerie, the mysterious and gloomy land instrategies, and stylistic devices, which are meant to establish a particular “reader’s relationship to the framework”, a certain reading strategy that, mendlesohn (2008: xviii) claims, might be anticipated by the authors as “part of their own poetics”. in “intrusion fantasy”, which is of greatest interest here, the fictional world of the narrative is “ruptured by the intrusion, which disrupts normality,” mendlesohn writes, “and has to be negotiated with or defeated, sent back whence it came, or controlled” (115). the thrill of the reader then is in the waiting for “the approach rather than the arrival of the fantastic” (118); the arrival itself might be in some cases experienced as disappointing or inadequate as “it marks the end of the adventure rather than the beginning” (118). for a more detailed discussion of jonathan strange and mr norrel as intrusion fantasy, see pp. 165-170. 8 crossroads. a journal of english studies between the known and unknown reality, as a result of which magic appearing “so familiar” and “so english” suddenly becomes “inhuman, unearthly, otherlandish” (clarke 2015: 428). perceiving the gothic in jonathan strange and mr norrell mainly in terms of the decorum, thomson (2011:320) writes that “[w]hat sets her novel apart from the old, hoary tradition is how rarely its crosscurrents appear as tensions or paradoxes or even troublesome matters” and briefly notes the process of the domestication of the uncanny discussed in more detail above. yet, he does not fully explore clarke’s gothic streak, also characteristic of the broader category of “intrusion fantasy”, demonstrated by her constant oscillation between latency, defined by mendlesohn (2008: 16) as “the withholding, not of information, but of visuals or events,” and escalation, which relies on intrusions beginning “small and often quite distant” and then increasing “in magnitude, in scope, or in the number of victims.” this type of storytelling, from gothic fiction to horror movie, relies heavily on “a sense of encroaching intimacy” (mendlesohn 2008: 116), achieved by building tension, at the heart of which lies the feeling that there is always something lurking in the darkness, beyond the surface of the world, and escaping rational explanations. the true “bringer of chaos” (mendlesohn 2008: xxi) into the otherwise ordered and organized reality in clarke’s novel is a mysterious “gentleman with thistle-down hair” (clarke 2015: 84), a mischievous elf lurking in the darkness, summoned by mr norrell to assist him in bringing back to life mrs wintertowne, whose premature death prevents her from marrying sir walter pole, an mp. the whole ordeal is presented in terms of a business transaction rather than romantic impulses; it is settled that the lady is to spend half of her life with sir walter and the other one with the elf. the profits are carefully calculated, and mrs wintertowne’s life is a currency in the exchange that benefits and satisfies all three gentlemen (the elf gets a half of her life; sir pole is able to marry her and secure his finances with her dowry; mr norrell gets political support for the enterprise of restoring magic) but brings little in return to the lady herself. however, an attempt to domesticate this magic resurrection in the same manner as in the case of the dead neapolitans, i.e. by presenting its mundane and practical aspects, fails this time. mr norrell has been outwitted by the gentleman and, consequently, lady pole is destined to spend her days with her husband in london and the nights dancing at eerie balls in lost-hope – a dreary, otherworldly, ominous mansion belonging to the elf and described in the vein of gothic fiction. unable to communicate the truth due to a muffling spell, so that every time she tries to tell anyone about her fate it sounds nonsense, she eventually becomes an embarrassment to her husband, who literally removes her from society by sending her to a secluded house in the countryside. arabella, jonathan strange’s wife, becomes another prisoner of the darkling in the parallel gothic reality while her husband is too preoccupied with magic to notice the fact. similarly to norrell, strange is outwitted by the gentleman with thistle-down hair and tricked into believing that his wife has died (what “died” was actually a tree magically transformed into her shape by the elf and sent as an impostor). strange’s inability to tell the difference between his wife and the tree comically undermines his failure, both as husband and magician, to go beneath the surface, to perceive his wife as a real woman not a silhouette, and to recognize the magic intervention. 9 articles with limited agency over their own lives, and their activity being restricted to the domestic sphere, both lady pole and arabella typify innocent angels in the house2; yet the house fails to be a safe harbour in clarke’s novel. lost-hope, the premises of the gentleman with thistle-down hair in the faerie, virtually encroaches lady pole’s apartments (both in london and in the countryside) to become their integral part. the existence of a supernatural house within an ordinary house, rather than next to it, not only blurs the boundary between fantasy and reality, but also challenges the assumed security of the domestic space. the danger, the narrative implies, lies within this space, not outside; and this realization triggers the mechanism of the uncanny: “the feeling of the uncanny is uncanny precisely to the extent that the sensation comes about in places where one should feel most secure, or with which one is most familiar” (wolfreys 2004: 240). interestingly, whereas sir walter pole, jonathan strange and mr norell, as representatives of the establishment, are oblivious of the existence of the gothic mansion within a familiar london estate, to lady pole both places are equally real. her entrapment in lost-hope symbolically represents the entrapment of women in the role of domestic angels; her inability to express her dread due to the muffling spell corresponds to the lack of a female voice in historical records. the magic, performed in clarke’s novel by men, makes the effects of male dominance tangible, and relegates women into the gothic layer of the narrative, a literary space that according to ellis (1989: x) creates “in a segment of culture directed toward women, a resistance to an ideology that imprisons them even as it posits a sphere of safety for them.” this observation seems to be particularly valid for the female gothic, the term coined by ellen moers in literary women (1976) and referring to gothic fiction written by women, which can be seen as “a coded expression of women’s fears of entrapment within the domestic and within the female body” (smith, wallace 2004: 1), as well as the articulation of “the terror and rage that women experience within patriarchal social arrangements, especially marriage” (williams 1995: 136). the echoes of this rage are actually expressed in the novel by lady pole herself when she is finally rescued by two amateur magicians and accuses both mr norrell (“i have been enchanted! … bargained away for the sake of a wicked man’s career! ... we must write to the editors of the newspapers!” (clarke 2015: 788)) and jonathan strange (“i consider him by far the worse of the two. by his negligence and cold, masculine magic he has betrayed the best of women, the most excellent of wives!... oh, how these men protect one another!”  (clarke 2015: 788)) of sacrificing and neglecting women for the sake of their personal and political ambitions. the transformation of lady pole from an angel in the house into a raging monster, whose fury stems from the enforced silence, resonates with gilbert and gubar’s (2000: 77) construction of “a madwoman in the attic,” a figure that “emerges over and over again from the mirrors women 2 although the very phrase “angel in the house” comes from the 1854 popular poem of the same title by coventry patmore and is associated with the victorian ideal of womanhood, gilbert and gubar (2000) have convincingly argued that the foundations of the model considerably predate the actual poem. as they write, “[t]he ideal woman that male authors dream of generating is always an angel” (20) and the angelic qualities inherent in this ideal are always the same as in patmorse’s verse, including passivity, submissiveness, meekness, grace, self-sacrifice and purity. 10 crossroads. a journal of english studies writers hold up both to their own natures and to their own visions of nature.” their influential discussion of the 19th century literature written by women demonstrates that the “mad double” is central to both gothic and anti-gothic novels as it allows their authors to “dramatize their own self-division, their desire both to accept the strictures of patriarchal society and reject them” (gilbert, gubar 2000: 78). the second heroine of the novel, arabella strange, does not rebel against the patriarchal structures as vehemently as lady pole, yet in the end of the novel, after she has found her way back from the faerie, she refuses to join her husband, entrapped in the otherworld, choosing to live on her own rather than share his fate. while thomson (2011: 324) observes that a feminist reading of the novel is actually complicated by the fact that it is a love story, in which strange declares “i have changed england to save my wife” (clarke 2015: 805), it should be emphasized that his role in saving her is less prominent than he actually believes. moreover, if jonathan strange and mr norrell is a love story to a certain extent, it is one that concludes not with the reunion of lovers, but with their separation, with arabella choosing her independence over marriage. even if the uncanny appears domesticated to a large extent throughout the novel, in the gothic layer of clarke’s narrative the mechanism of the uncanny operates in the manner defined by freud to bring to light not only the repressed voice of women, but also that of people of colour and the lower-class poor, which is discussed in more detail by elizabeth hoiem (2008). the conclusion of the novel, in which the gentleman with thistle-down hair is finally defeated not by the two officially practicing magicians but “by the allied efforts of women, blacks, and the very poor white magicians put out of business by the professionalization of magic” (hoiem 2008), also transforms england by opening it up to the faerie. although mr norrell and jonathan strange unknowingly played their part in the very process and came up with the necessary spell, their role in the revival of english magic proves accidental, and the magic that “returns” to england is not the gentlemanly profession desired by mr norrell but a more unpredictable force derived from the ravenking, a mythical medieval magician-king of both england and faerie. his story is told mainly through the footnotes, which can be seen as another unfamiliar (for fantasy fiction), or uncanny, structural intrusion that disrupts the flow of the narrative. these continual textual interruptions, sometimes used to add a trivial remark of little significance, are predominantly employed to build a whole system of magic, which is practically absent from the main narrative. as mendlesohn (2008: 167) observes, “it is through the footnotes that the world of the fantastic slips through to disrupt the meaning or common understanding of the tale told in the main text.” in a novel so preoccupied with knowledge, they also draw attention to the issue of the validity, or invalidity, of textual and historical sources by frequently citing fictional texts, such as francis sutton-grove’s (1682-1765) de generibus artium magicarum anglorum, 1741, and prescriptions and descriptions, 1749” (clarke 2015: 64), as well as referencing equally fictive folk tales as real. jonathan strange and mr norrell at its surface level tells the story of two male magicians, as different as the heroines of sense and sensibility, who are trying to restore english magic, yet in doing so the novel consciously refers to the tradition of women’s writing, both stylistically and themati11 articles cally. the combination of two familiar traditions, austenesque domestic realism and supernatural elements derived from the gothic, additionally supplemented with a pastiche of historic documents, results in a surprisingly fresh and unfamiliar prose. while this quite unusual blend rarely produces the effect of real fear or fright, which is marked as a hallmark of the uncanny effect by freud, it does create a certain hesitation in the reader, and makes the novel, to borrow thomson’s (2011: 321) words, “a strange read,” during which silenced and repressed voices come to the surface. drawing on the mechanism of producing the moment of the uncanny through estranging ordinariness, clarke appropriates these old-established literary traditions to defamiliarize the form of a fantasy novel, which typically relies on other sources for inspiration. yet, the process affects more than the form of the narrative, and allows one more voice to be heard – that of an author tired with the male-hero-oriented setting of fantasy. this default setting stems from the history of the genre, whose major forefathers, including robert e. howard, j.r.r. tolkien and c.s. lewis, were white men of anglo-saxon origin, drawing inspiration from european mythology, religion, medieval history and heroic or chivalric literature. rejecting these sources of inspiration, susanna clarke, no longer a mad woman in the attic, is free to draw on the tradition of women’s writing and forge her own lore and history to ‘replace’ what she finds unsatisfactory for the purpose of her enterprise. boldly blurring the borders between real and imagined, familiar and unfamiliar, history and fantasy, jonathan strange and mr norrell expands the boundaries of the genre and proves fantasy conventions to be open to creative and insightful reinterpretations. references clarke, susanna. 2015. jonathan strange and mr norrell. london/new york: bloomsbery publishing plc. ellis, kate ferguson. 1989. the contested castle: gothic novels and the subversion of domestic ideology. urbana: university of illinois press. freud, sigmund. 1919. the uncanny. in: james starchey (ed), 1955. the standard edition of the complete psychological works of sigmund freud. vol. xvii, 219-252. london: hogarth. gilbert, sandra m. and susan gubar. 2000. the madwoman in the attic: the woman writer and the nineteenth-century literary imagination. 2nd ed. new haven/london: yale university press. hoiem, elizabeth. 2008. the fantasy of talking back: susanna clarke’s historical present in jonathan strange & mr. norrell. strange horizons. http://www.strangehorizons. com/2008/20081027/hoiem-a.shtml (25 february 2016). jackson, rosemary. 1981. fantasy: the literature of subversion. london/new york: methuen. kumar, krishan. 2003. the making of english national identity. cambridge: cup. masschelein, anneleen. 2011. the unconcept: the freudian uncanny in late-twentieth-century theory. albany: state university of new york press. mendlesohn , farah. 2008 rhetorics of fantasy. middletown: wesleyan university press. schanoes, veronica. 2012. historical fantasy. in: edward james and farah mendlesohn (eds.), the cambridge companion to fantasy literature, 236-247. cambridge: cup. 12 crossroads. a journal of english studies smith, andrew and diana wallace. 2004. the female gothic: now and then. gothic studies 6.1. 1-7. thomson, douglas h. 2011. dread and decorum in susanna clarke’s jonathan strange & mr. norrell. in: danel olson (ed.), 21st-century gothic: great gothic novels since 2000, 319-326. lanham/toronto/plymouth: the scarecrow press, inc. williams, anne. 1995. art of darkness: a poetics of gothic. chicago/london: the university of chicago press. wollfreys, julian. 2004. uncanny. in: critical keywords in literature and culture, 239-246. new york: palgrave macmillan. testimonies of absence: trauma and forgetting in the buried giant by kazuo ishiguro 42 crossroads. a journal of english studies edyta lorek-jezińska nicolaus copernicus university in toruń testimonies of absence: trauma and forgetting in the buried giant by kazuo ishiguro abstract. in their testimony: crises of witnessing in literature, psychoanalysis and history, felman and laub associate the trauma narrative with a gap or omission: “the victim’s narrative – the very process of bearing witness to massive trauma – does indeed begin with someone who testifies to an absence, to an event that has not yet come into existence, in spite of the overwhelming and compelling nature of the reality of its occurrence” (felman and laub, 57). the event in which the traumatic experience is located cannot be accessed directly, but, as caruth argues, “only in and through its inherent forgetting” (caruth, 8). the buried giant by kazuo ishiguro begins with a hiatus expressed in the main character’s (axl’s) realisation of the missing past that has disappeared from people’s memory. embarking on a journey that proceeds across geographical and historical space, the narrative delves into private mental topographies and the post-apocalyptic debris. by trying to make sense of the landscape troubled by “inherent forgetting” and simultaneously testifying to “massive trauma”, the narrative of ishiguro’s novel reveals the double process of coming to terms with loss and (the perpetrator/victim’s) traumatic experience. my objective is to examine the story of the buried giant as an instance of trauma narrative starting with an absence and a melancholic text revealing the complexity of the mourning process. in my study i primarily draw upon the narrative theories of trauma and its latency (felman and laub, caruth), as well as the psychoanalytic concepts of incorporation and introjection (abraham and torok) to investigate the narrative and conceptual structures of loss in the novel. keywords: trauma, memory, forgetting, post-apocalypse, kazuo ishiguro. introduction in his influential book the empty space (1968), peter brook described an experiment conducted by him to examine the significance of the audience’s attention in theatre. brook explored the different ways of reacting to death and how they were affected by memory and historical knowledge. the director juxtaposed the intensity of the response to a fragment of a play about death in auschwitz – the investigation (1965) by peter weiss – with the lack of interest in a passage listing the names of the french and english dead from henry v by william shakespeare. trying to understand why the audience felt so differently about the deaths in auschwitz and at agincourt, peter brook asked them about how long it takes for an event to become the past, or when a corpse turns into “a historical corpse”. finally, the theatre director requested the audience to listen to the frag10.15290/cr.2016.15.4.04 43 crossroads. a journal of english studies ment from henry v again, this time trying to look at shakespeare’s text in the way they reacted to weiss’s – making connections between memory and history in the long pauses made by the actor. spectators were encouraged to react “as vividly as if the butchery had occurred in living memory” (brook, 29). by following brook’s suggestions, the audience was supposed to discover that each pause was pregnant with tension and emotion, making them aware of “how many layers silence can contain” (brook, 29). brook’s experiment exposes two important aspects: the relation between the living memory and forgetting, as well as the significance of silence or ellipsis as a means of expressing the horror of war and “butchery”. time can change the living memory of the dead into history, which can be exhumed to become meaningful by making connections to present atrocities. silence evokes those connections between the past and the present: it becomes a testimony and points to a meaningful absence. although referring to a different historical and artistic context, peter brook’s commentary on the living memory provides a significant background to the discussion of the novel published in 2015 by kazuo ishiguro – the buried giant. ishiguro’s novel investigates the complexity of forgetting and remembering processes, referring to the early medieval history of the post-roman period in britain. by investigating the memory of previous wars and traumatic events and amnesia, the novel comments on how each of them might be simultaneously destructive towards and constitutive of one’s personal and collective identity. ishiguro’s novel begins with silence, which is gradually discovered to veil the buried past, whose traces disturb the peacefulness of amnesia. when aided by memory, the silent ground reverberates with the unbearable noise of battlegrounds, slaughter and suffering. these aspects of memory and silence are also highlighted by the author in interviews. in an interview recorded for the agenda, kazuo ishiguro explained why he decided to write a story set in 5th or early 6th century britain. the time between the end of the roman and the beginning of the anglo-saxon invasion was to him – and many historians – a blank period in history. this historical gap, as ishiguro mentions, invites a number of speculations about the possible “ethnic cleansing or genocide” that occurred then. however, this blank space in history could in fact be a time of relative peace, leaving no trace in historical or legendary archives, which tend to prioritize historical conflicts over uneventful stability. the other aspect of memory and forgetting refers to the questions of what forces and violence are involved in creating peace and to what extent they can be kept under control. in the interview mentioned above, ishiguro explains how universal the problem is, enumerating historical moments and political contexts of collective memories and their consequences, including north american slavery, nazi collaborators, or britain’s colonial past, among many others. ishiguro concludes the list with the statement that “there are buried giants in every society and these giants are going to wake up” (interview with piya chattopadhyay, the agenda). thus the questions asked in the novel are essentially questions posed by post-apocalyptic literature about the trauma of survival and traumatic memory that persists beyond an end. the buried giant investigates the significance of traumatic memory on two levels – the collective one – affecting the integrity of the group and the peaceful co-existence of former adversary na44 crossroads. a journal of english studies tions or communities, and the individual level – having an influence on the integrity of one’s self and one’s relation to other human beings. the novel exposes the complexity and painfulness of remembering and forgetting processes and the ethical contradictions involved in them. my objective is to examine the story of the buried giant as an instance of trauma narrative, starting with an absence and a post-apocalyptic text that positions the characters and the reader in the context of catastrophic survival and traumatic loss of memory. in my analysis i will primarily draw upon the narrative theories of trauma and its latency (felman and laub, caruth), as well as the psychoanalytic concepts of incorporation (abraham and torok) to investigate the narrative and conceptual structures of loss in the novel. the buried giant by kazuo ishiguro begins with a hiatus expressed in the main character’s (axl’s) realisation of the past that has disappeared from people’s memory. embarking on a journey that proceeds across geographical and historical space, the narrative delves into private mental topographies and post-apocalyptic debris. by trying to make sense of the landscape troubled by “inherent forgetting” and simultaneously testifying to “massive trauma”, the narrative of ishiguro’s novel reveals the double process of coming to terms with loss and (the perpetrator/victim’s) traumatic experience. trauma and memory in their testimony: crises of witnessing in literature, psychoanalysis and history, felman and laub associate the trauma narrative with a gap or omission: “the victim’s narrative – the very process of bearing witness to massive trauma – does indeed begin with someone who testifies to an absence, to an event that has not yet come into existence, in spite of the overwhelming and compelling nature of the reality of its occurrence” (felman and laub, 57). in the buried giant, axl, the main character, living in a brittonic village, realises that the life of his community and his own is incomplete, that there used to be something more to it before, yet he cannot remember what it was. firstly, it is just a subconscious intuition, but gradually axl witnesses the moments of collective misremembrance or forgetting and can link these events to other occasions in the past of similar amnesia. although the collective amnesia is attributed in the novel to the magic influence of the dragon querig (the spell cast by merlin at king arthur’s request), as a literary device it primarily represents the mechanisms of the trauma narrative. the novel starts with the disconnected memories and incidents that seem to have no coherent meaning, because the main characters cannot create a coherent picture of their lives, missing large parts of their past and thus unable to make sense of the present. because of the inability to remember trauma, the events and places appear in the characters’ experience as if happening for the first time. it is only after some time, when the influence of the spell decreases, that the characters discover the meaning of places and their own identities. what is significant is that the process is gradual and slow, starting from the details that can be safely accommodated within one’s psyche. commenting on the freudian concept of belatedness, christina wald emphasises that “the traumatic event as such has never taken place: the past is belatedly created through its ostensive repetition in the future” (wald, 96). in ishiguro’s novel we are confronted with a landscape that testifies to the atrocities and butchery of war, while the main characters are unable to read what it 45 crossroads. a journal of english studies signifies because of their inability to remember the past, or their avoidance strategies. we follow the characters in their prospective journey to extract the past from it. each new place evokes stories told by encountered characters which later on turn out to be memories: ‘for this house has witnessed days of war, when many others like it were burnt to the ground and are no more now than a mound or two beneath grass and heather.’ ... ‘what is it, axl?’ she asked, her voice lowered. ‘you’re troubled, i can see it.’ ‘it’s nothing, princess. it’s just this ruin here. for a moment it was as if i were the one remembering things here.’ (ishiguro, 47) it seems that the very act of forgetting is the condition through which the past can be recovered without directly raising resistance to its horrors. an incomplete memory can be suspended in its innocuous form, as in the case of wistan, a saxon warrior dedicated to revenge, who experiences joy on revisiting the land which he believes to be visiting for the first time: ‘we raced across fields, past lake and river and my spirit soared. a strange thing, as if i were returning to scenes from an early life, though to my knowledge i’ve never before visited this country... the trees and moorland here, the sky itself seem to tug at some lost memory.’ (ishiguro, 91) as caruth suggests, “[t]he historical power of the trauma is not just that the experience is repeated after its forgetting, but that it is only in and through its inherent forgetting that it is first experienced at all” (caruth, 8). the event in which the traumatic experience is located cannot be reached directly, but, as peter buse argues in his study of sarah kane’s blasted, traumatic experience can only be accessed in “its circuitous returns” (buse, 177). the narrative of the buried giant leads both the characters and the reader through the process of recovering memory that follows a circuitous path. the path is first delineated by sudden glimpses of remembered scenes and utterances that cannot be verified. it is only on the second or third occasion that memory of the event appears. at the early stage of the novel wistan compares his awakened memories to “some restless sparrow [he] know[s] will flee any moment into the breeze” (ishiguro, 123). when travelling in what should be a strange land to him, he realises that “at each turn it’s as if another distant memory stirs” (ishiguro, 121). on the collective level the novel juxtaposes those who, under the influence of the spell-induced amnesia, are ready to live in relative peace with their former enemies and those who manage to remember the past atrocities and treasure them so as to take revenge again. on the personal level, the conflict is between the belief in the importance of memories in human relations and the possibility of their destructive influence. in both cases the main characters’ strategy is that of avoiding and bypassing the metaphorical burial ground. the buried giant the image of the eponymous buried giant activates a number of different reflections on the nature of memory and forgetting. in the meaning employed by ishiguro in an interview, the giant signifies 46 crossroads. a journal of english studies the past violence and guilt that have been buried by force or consensus, sometimes to avoid further bloodshed. historical amnesia seems to be the main condition on which the status quo can be preserved with all the benefits of social and political stability. at the early stage of the novel wistan is wondering: “by what strange skill did your great king heal the scars of war in these lands that a traveller can see barely a mark or shadow left of them today? ... [i]sn’t it a strange thing when a man calls another brother who only yesterday slaughtered his children?” (ishiguro, 127). towards the end of the novel wistan cannot accept the peace “built on slaughter and a magician’s trickery” or believe in the healing of wounds “while maggots linger so richly” (ishiguro, 327). the buried giant, wistan believes, has to be excavated to reveal the atrocities committed and deceptions practised by those in power to sustain peace. this is revealed in the flashback scene presenting the confrontation between axl and gawain after the battle. axl accuses king arthur and his knights of the unjustified and cruel murders of the weakest, and warns them against the hatred it causes in the enemy: ‘news of their women, children and elderly, left unprotected after our solemn agreement not to harm them, now all slaughtered by our hands, even the smallest babes. if this were lately done to us, would our hatred exhaust itself? would we not also fight to the last as they do...?’ (ishiguro, 242) gawain justifies the murder of the “civilians” by the necessity to eliminate the generation that is capable of remembering the battle and their fathers killed in war: ‘those small saxon boys you lament would soon have become warriors burning to avenge their fathers fallen today. the small girls soon bearing more in their wombs, and this circle of slaughter would never be broken... we may once and for all sever this evil circle.’ (ishiguro, 243) the burial of the past depends on the violent elimination of one or two generations so that no one will be left to remember what had happened. the novel further complicates the collective meaning of the buried giant metaphor by adding a further individual layer to it. the paradox of amnesia is that some of the characters selectively remember only the negative aspects of the past, its violence and butchery, having forgotten sometimes the trivial reasons for hating other people or the affection they felt for those whom they now come to hate only. brennus wastes his time by trying to defend himself against a childhood enemy, in a conflict which throughout the years has risen to enormous proportions because of having forgotten the original reason. wistan discovers that beside hatred he also feels affection towards individual britons when the spell no longer works on him. the concept of the buried giant is also one of the central elements of the individual trauma discussed in ishiguro’s novel. it symbolically defines the nature of the relationship between the two main characters, the married couple axl and beatrice. the first occasion on which the buried giant is mentioned in the novel refers to the early stage of axl’s and beatrice’s journey. when crossing the great plain, the couple are careful not to tread upon the hill where the giant is buried, tak47 crossroads. a journal of english studies ing the longer route to bypass the dangerous area. in their private trauma of having lost their son, the buried giant might be seen as the externalization of the intrapsychic tomb that they built inside themselves devoted to their dead son. the concept of the intrapsychic tomb was developed by nicolas abraham and maria torok to describe the dependence of the bereaved on the lost object. the tomb or crypt stands for “the words that cannot be uttered, the scenes that cannot be recalled, the tears that cannot be shed – everything will be swallowed along with the trauma that led to the loss. swallowed and preserved” (abraham and torok, 130). the lost object of love in fantasy gains almost an ordinary living existence inside the subject’s psyche. according to abraham and torok, [i]nexpressible mourning erects a secret tomb inside the subject. reconstituted from the memories of words, scenes, and affects, the objectal correlative of the loss is buried alive in the crypt as a full-fledged person, complete with its own topography... a whole world of unconscious fantasy is created, one that leads its separate and concealed existence. (130) neither axl nor beatrice can remember what happened to their son, nor can they verify properly the memories or fantasies they seem to have. a story of a voyage to their son’s village seems to be the only permitted way of addressing the trauma of loss and survival. it persists till the very end of the novel as a hope that is never fulfilled, based on their – and also partly the reader’s – repetitive re-invention of their son’s corporeal existence. whenever another relatively young character appears in the story the reader expects him to either be their son or that he will lead the couple to him. the journey postpones the moment of completion, allowing the characters to avoid the confrontation with the past and the memory of death. bypassing the burial ground makes it possible for them to sustain the illusion. however, the memory of the son and the erasure of his death are closely linked with the way axl and beatrice remember their relationship. finally, it seems that it is the fear of losing each other that drives axl and his wife to support wistan in his mission to put an end to the shedragon querig and her magic breath. beatrice seems to suffer from abandonment anxiety, asking repeatedly whether axl is still with her, seemingly reliving the original trauma of having been abandoned by axl. however, as the mist of amnesia gradually lifts, it turns out that it was she and not axl that left. the journey to the son’s village/grave is a fulfillment of beatrice’s wish to visit her son’s tomb from which she was prevented by axl as an act of revenge for her being unfaithful to him. thus, the trauma of loss encapsulated in the couple’s search for their son functions as a displacement of the couple’s fear of and experience of losing each other. on the personal level the retreat of the mist reveals the suffering of both the perpetrators and the victims, and the changing roles that the characters occupy in their relationship. the post-apocalyptic mode although post-apocalyptic fiction usually explores the future consequences of catastrophic events, the past presented in the buried giant bears many traces of the post-apocalyptic genre. approach48 crossroads. a journal of english studies ing the buried giant as a post-apocalyptic narrative poses important questions of the past, one of them being whether the characters should attempt to decipher the meaning of the ruins which are left after the catastrophe. according to james berger, “post-apocalyptic discourses try to say what cannot be said … and what must not be said…” (14). heffernan describes berger’s approach as one that demands identifying the absent event that led to the life after the end: “the post-apocalyptic narrative is a symptom that demands to be read in terms of its underlying traumatic history and the historical specificity of the event must be restored to interrupt readings of trauma as bloodless universal trope” (heffernan, 6). according to heffernan, berger argues that “[t]he absent referent that haunts these narratives of rupture and ruin ... must be identified in order for us not to be trapped by them” (6). in other words, as heffernan suggests berger proposes reading “the remainder, the ruins of the world that persist after the unspeakable trauma, after its end” (heffernan, 6). the post-apocalyptic landscape thus contains the traces of the story, and the obligation of the post-apocalyptic subject is to decode the elusive meaning that it contains, to trace the trauma and violence that has led to the catastrophe. such an approach has much in common with walter benjamin’s understanding of history, in which the victor’s story is always based on violence and suppression: “there is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism” (256). in representing the victor’s story we construct history as a procession of victors walking over the bodies of their victims. the historical gap that stands for a peaceful period in history is seen as one that reveals its own barbarism. heffernan approaches post-apocalyptic narratives differently – suggesting that loss coexists together with historical archive and cannot be as such identified – expressed in language. it exists as the element that keeps haunting the historical narrative but cannot lead to revelation (7). the buried giant presents the tensions between reading the post-apocalyptic landscape for a specific historical description of the catastrophe that offers revelations about the past and the ambiguous, and contradictory space from which no single interpretation can emerge. the former is instantiated by wistan’s attitude, whereas the latter approach is represented by gawain. wistan has the ability to read historical detail from seemingly unreadable features. he represents the belief in the possibility of extracting the original trauma and violence, of reading the post-apocalyptic landscape and debris to trace back the past events and preserve their significance as an element of one identity. where others see a peaceful place, a monastery inhabited by pious monks, wistan sees the “fascinating traces of the past” which are unreadable to others: “[t]he monks ... hardly know what they pass each day” (ishiguro, 163). wistan can hear and comprehend “what [the] walls whisper to [him] of days gone by” (ishiguro, 160) and that is why he suspects that similar atrocities can still happen there. he tells a precise story of what happened in the fort, reading the traces left in the architecture: ‘through this watergate would be let past, quite deliberately, a measured number of the enemy... now those isolated between the two gates, in that space just there, ... would be slaughtered before the next 49 crossroads. a journal of english studies group let through. you see how it worked, sir. this is today a place of peace and prayer, yet you needn’t gaze so deep to find blood and terror’ ‘you read it well, master wistan, and i shudder at what you show me.’ (ishiguro, 161) wistan then further interprets the story written in the architecture of the yard, now used by the monks as a gathering place. it was used to form a kind of auditorium in which children, women and old people gathered to watch their enemy die in agony – “to witness the invaders squeal like trapped mice between the two gates” (ishiguro, 161). it is a pleasure they experience before they lose the battle, knowing that in the end they will be defeated: ‘but they know that in the end they will face their own slaughter ... it’s vengeance to be relished in advance by those not able to take it in its proper place. that’s why i say, sir, my saxon cousins would have stood here to cheer and clap, and the more cruel the death, the more merry they would have been.’ (ishiguro, 162) later on wistan discovers another story of butchery inscribed in the awkward architecture of the old tower. again this device is meant to cause as much damage and suffering as possible, inflicted by the losing party against their enemies. this time the enemies are trapped by fire in the high tower from which there is no escape. wistan takes an opportunity to try out the way the tower operates when the soldiers searching for him arrive at the monastery, performing something similar to a historical reconstruction of the past catastrophe, reliving the trauma simultaneously as victim and perpetrator. in contrast to wistan, who tries to reconstruct a historical detail from the post-apocalyptic landscape, gawain exposes the ability of the landscape to heal its wounds and conceal the burial grounds under a layer of greenery: “the bones lie sheltered beneath a pleasant green carpet” (ishiguro, 327). the signs of past battles and atrocities are interpreted by him as a natural aspect of the cycle of life and death. the crimes committed recently are placed in the general historical framework of the past that is no longer available to them: ‘here are the skulls of men, i won’t deny it. there an arm, there a leg, but just bones now. an old burial ground. and so it may be. i dare say, sir, our whole country is this way. a fine green valley. a pleasant copse in the springtime. dig its soil, and not far beneath the daisies and buttercups come the dead. and i don’t talk, sir, only of those who received christian burial. beneath our soil lie the remains of old slaughter.’ (ishiguro, 195) conclusion i would like to conclude by referring once again to the problems raised by peter brook in his experiment. one of the questions that emerges after reading the above passage from the novel is “how long does it take for the bodies of the slaughtered to become just bones?” in one scene of the 50 crossroads. a journal of english studies buried giant the characters tread upon the bones and skeletons lying on the ground in the dark underground passage in order to escape from danger. the old burial ground evokes some degree of horror but no memories. because of this the experience of walking on the old burial ground is manageable. the characters cannot relate to the bones; the stories they could present to the viewers are unreadable. the silence of the bones evokes no feelings or urgency of reaction. the second question raised by peter brook in his experiment can refer to the consequences of ishiguro’s decision to set the story in post-arthurian britain. the corpses and testimonies of slaughter do not belong to the living memory of contemporary readers. they belong to historical or even legendary past. in such a distant setting the corpse certainly becomes something less and more than a historical corpse – a symbolic or mythical corpse. setting the narrative in such a context seems to be a deliberate strategy to consider the processes of remembering and forgetting the past with a critical distance, exploring the consequences of trying to make sense of the catastrophe and trauma and the benefits and risks of amnesia, without taking the side of victims or perpetrators. one of the significant questions is whether and how the novel tries to establish a link between the distant times of the narrative and the living memory of its readers. it can be argued that such a link is established in the elliptical traumatic and open post-apocalyptic structure of its narrative, which involves the readers in the process of revealing the traumatic kernel to which it refers. finally, the manner in which the buried giant operates with silence and absence places its main themes among the concerns of what clifton spargo calls elegiac literature. as a melancholic text revealing the complexity of the mourning process, the novel employs silence also as a dissenting factor or critique (spargo, 51) that makes progress impossible. silence and absence testify to the mourning process that is not and cannot be completed. references abraham, nicolas and maria torok. 1994. “mourning or melancholia: introjection versus incorporation” (1972). the shell and the kernel: renewals of psychoanalysis. ed. and trans. nicholas t. rand. chicago: university of chicago press, 125–138. benjamin, walter. 1968. “theses on the philosophy of history.” illuminations. ed. hannah arendt. trans. harry zohn. new york: schocken books. berger, james. 1999. after the end: representations of post-apocalypse. minneapolis: university of minnesota press. brook, peter. 1990 (1968). the empty space. london: penguin books. buse, peter. 2001. drama + theory: critical approaches to modern british drama. manchester: manchester university press. caruth, cathy. 1995. “introduction” (part 1). trauma: explorations in memory. ed. cathy caruth. baltimore: johns hopkins university press, 3–11. chattopadhyay, piya. 2015. interview with kazuo ishiguro. the agenda. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=qizilvkdgnk. 12 nov. 2016. 51 crossroads. a journal of english studies felman, shoshana, and dori laub. 1992. testimony: crises of witnessing in literature, psychoanalysis, and history. london: routledge. heffernan, teresa. 2008. post-apocalyptic culture: modernism, post-modernism and the twentieth century novel. toronto: university of toronto press. ishiguro, kazuo. 2015. the buried giant. london: faber and faber. spargo, r. clifton. 2004. the ethics of mourning: grief and responsibility in elegiac literature. baltimore: johns hopkins university press. wald, christina. 2007. hysteria, trauma and melancholia: performative maladies in contemporary anglophone drama. basingstoke: palgrave macmillan. crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp.4-15 siergiej grinev-griniewicz university of bialystok terminological aspects of modern language policy abstract. terminological aspects of language policy are discussed with a suggestion of introducing a new scientific discipline – linguopolitology with the respective conceptual and terminological systems; arguments for founding language planning on terminological basis and examples of regulating terminology are presented. keywords: language policy, language planning, advancing terminology, terminology design. there is already a substantial amount of research on language policy, but relatively few publications touch upon terminological aspects of the subject, aside from mentioning that in the area of respective terminology there are many ambiguities, complicated by the fact that the field has a different terminological structure in different languages (cillia and busch 2006). in this article we are going to address the following tasks: (1) presenting the basic conceptual system of this field of knowledge as viewed in the east europe and suggesting the respective terminological system; (2) briefly introducing modern language situation in russia; (3) considering terminological aspects of language policy and terminological experience in russia, both negative and positive. exploration of political aspects of language and language policy has a considerable history. the beginning of scientific reflection on language policies and politics as an independent field was undertaken particularly in the 1960s and the focus was initially on the aspect of language planning. however, in the east europe, particularly in the former ussr, already beginning in the 1920-s in connection with the large-scale elaboration of national languages there was a number of publications on the subject of language policy. language planning activities were based on belief that in the socialist society all languages are equal and may be successfully controlled. later on these ideas were incorporated in the russian model of sociolinguistics though nowadays language policy as a field of study has outgrown the framework of sociolinguistics. it should be mentioned that at the present time there is no consensus even on the name of the new science. according to b. spolsky and r.d. lambert just as with many new fields, there continues to be disagreement over the name of this one, variously called language policy, language treatment, language cultivation, language engineering, language planning, and language management (spolsky and lambert 2006). from the point of view of terminology science this is a normal situation – at the initial stage there usually are various names of a new science, reflecting different approaches and possible aspects to be taken into consideration. nevertheless it is already possible to establish the general structure of a new science, its main divisions and direction of research on the basis of proposed definitions and the material under investigation. as for naming theoretical foundations of language policy we would like to suggest the term linguopolitology taking into consideration the existence of crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp.4-15 politology as the established science and on the analogy with the already existing science linguoculturology. there is much in common in approaches to understanding language policy in the west and the east europe. whether language policy is defined as the commonly agreed set of choices of language varieties and the ideologies associated with those choices in a speech community, realised in language practices or in formal policy decisions such as laws, constitutions, or regulations (spolsky and lambert 2006) or the conception and planning of political activity with respect to language (cillia and busch 2006), or sum total of ideological principles and practical activities in solving language problems in community or state as part of national policy (desheriev 1990), we may see as its main parts language ideology and language politics. language ideology is claimed to have emerged as a separate field of linguisticanthropological study in the last decades of the 20th century, combining linguistic ethnography with insights from the social-scientific study of ideology (blommaert 2006). in our opinion, when we speak of language ideology we usually mean language strategy based on the existing language situation and on the assessment of the particular language or languages state – language estimation. in language situation the following aspects may be distinguished: number of existing idioms (understanding idiom as the speech proper to a people or place; a dialect or local language); character of components of language situation (languages, dialects or subdialects); genetic relations of idioms (related, unrelated); functions of particular idioms; character of dominating idiom – native or imported (cf. vinogradov 1990). there are various types of language situation. it may be monolingual, bilingual or multilingual; exoglossal, being the sum total of different languages or endoglossal – the sum total of territorial and social dialects of the same language; balanced, if its components (languages or dialects) are functionally equipollent, or unbalanced, when its components are distributed by various spheres of communication and social groups (shvejtser 1990). in language estimation (language assessment) according to v.a. vinogradov the quantitative characteristics are usually taken into consideration, such as demographic power (the number of native speakers in proportion to the whole number of inhabitants of the territory); communicative possibilities (the number of functions of particular idioms as related to total number of such functions); political status; prestigiousness; level of development; rate of change (development); lingual tendencies (cf. vinogradov 1990). the above mentioned factors should be taken into consideration in language strategy – overt or implicit intensions concerning a language (or languages) – taking shape in respective approaches and realised in politics. such strategy may be retrospective – directed at preservation of the existing state of a language (maintaining language culture, limiting overflows of borrowings, etc.) or perspective – aiming at language development, and also take form of lingual nationalism when minority languages are threatened and marginalized by the dominance of established national languages or lingual pluralism (language situation in switzerland or belgium where national languages have equal rights). crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp.4-15 language politics may be defined as actual political activity with respect to language and can be distinguished from language policy, i.e., the conception and planning of such activity (ammon 2006) or as practical activities in connection with language in community or state as part of national policy (desheriev 1990). objectives of language politics can vary greatly depending on interests and motives – e.g., ‘purifying’ one’s own national language of foreign loans to shape it into a more adequate symbol of national identity, or spreading the language within the state or beyond. language politics has to reckon with existing language r ights and may result in new language rights (paulston, 1997). according to ammon (2005), internal language politics regulates language within the polity, while external language politics aims beyond it. for the state, the former is part of interior politics, the latter of exterior politics. internal language politics can be directed at language structure (language corpus politics) or language status and function (language status politics). typical aims of corpus politics are introducing or regulating script and orthography; standardization, including selection and codification of norms of spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and style or texts; purification – eliminating foreign loans; and modernization (developing modern terminology). typical aims of status politics are spreading the norm of a standard variety and, in the case of multilingual communities, allocating languages to certain regions or domains and functions – for example, official, educational (medium or subject of teaching on various educational levels; religious, the media, or the military. politics of language promotion, language maintenance, or language revival can comprise corpus politics, such as constructing or reconstructing vocabulary, as well as status politics, such as encouraging use in the family or institutionalization in school (ammon 2005). judging by the accumulation of names (apart from language politics) for this concept in the last 40 years – such as language treatment, language cultivation, language engineering, language planning, and language management – it is a very important concept implying a wide spectre of activities. as in many similar cases those synonyms should be rather used, in accordance with their usual meanings, as names for particular aspects of language politics. in our opinion two general aspects of language politics should be distinguished first of all – language approach and language management. there are two types of language approach – either language cultivation or hindering of language development. in the case of language cultivation creating beneficial conditions for development of language may take various forms – simply promoting language by improving its state, raising its prestige, advancing its vocabulary, simplifying its orthography and grammar, introducing benefits for its usage (preferences in communication, availability of literature, widening the scope of its usage, etc.), launching campaigns of promotion, state measures, such as standardization of a chosen language. in some cases, language cultivation may take form of language reviving. it may also take the form of language imposing, which contradicts the universally accepted notion of language rights but is still practiced in some european countries. hindering (hampering, oppressing) language also may take various forms beginning with language retarding by official and unofficial means, direct language blocking (obstructing its development) and language extermination. language management has three components: the development of explicit language plans and policies which we suggest to call language planning proper, their implementation (by rules or laws or resource allocation), which we suggest to call language regulation, and the evaluation of results and effects. crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp.4-15 when we speak about various actions constituting language management we should first consider terminological activities for a number of reasons. firstly, language development primarily consists of vocabulary growth, the lexical level of the language system being more inclined to changes than other levels. as was already pointed out in a number of publications (cf. griniewicz 2006, grinev-griniewicz 2008), the growth of scientific and technical vocabularies is much faster than that of the everyday speech vocabulary, so at present the number of terms in some sciences (for example chemistry or biology) greatly exceeds the number of common words. we can compare the following figures: the largest russian 17volume dictionary treats some 120,000 words (though already there are bilingual russian dictionaries containing about 200,000 words); at the same time russian construction terminology numbers more than 150,000 words and in chemistry more than 1 million substances are known, each with its own name. according to wikipedia modern biological terminology may now reach even up to 100 million names for varieties of living beings, and probably nowadays special lexical units comprise not 90%, but rather more than 99 percent of new words in modern languages. this tendency would remain, because special vocabulary not only already constitutes the major part of any advanced national language but also is the most dynamic strata of language, for every 25 years the number of sciences and scientific disciplines grows twice, and every new science brings its own terminology. if we consider the fact that according to the encyclopaedia britannica in the 20 th century as much as 2,500 new sciences and scientific disciplines came into being, then the problem of terminology in the 21 st century takes it proper shape. secondly, lately there appeared definite political reasons to pay more attention to regulation of special vocabulary. presently terminology science concerns itself with globalisation of the industry, economics, culture, even everyday life that results in forming new conditions of the existence and interaction of national languages. one of them is the lessening of the number of the actively used languages. according to some calculations during the current century approximately 90% of the presently functioning 6,000 languages will disappear from active usage. these statements sound tragically but the source of such statements may be rather terminological mistake when not only dialects, but sometimes even sub-dialects (one-village dialects) as well are erroneously viewed as languages (all sources maintain that it is difficult to give an exact figure of the number of languages that exist in the world, because the difference between a language and a dialect is not always clear). for example, in dagestan some of the languages, such as chamalinskij, bagvalinskij, botlihskij, godoberihskij, bezhtinskij, hvarshinskij, gunzibskij, ginuhskij, archinskij, buduhskij and hinalugskij are used by less than 5 thousand people each and do not have written form. they are close to losing the status of independent languages. it does not mean that they would completely disappear – rather they would be rightly called dialects of the closest wider used languages (some of them are already called dialects in the latest linguistic publications). disappearance of dialects is a quite natural process – due to centralisation tendencies at the period of forming new states in europe in modern times local dialects stepped aside and the central dialect served as the basis for a national language. narrowing of the sphere of application of a language transforming it into a local dialect is sometimes accelerated by the influence of a closely related language with the traditionally wide spectre of functioning (such is the case of the ukrainian and the byelorussian languages which at the end of the 1980-s were being almost completely ousted by the russian language). it follows that the surviving languages will widen their functional domain and sometimes even territory outside the countries of their origin (it might be mentioned as a curious fact that at the present time both the british and the russians constitute national crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp.4-15 minorities among the native speakers of the respective languages). and here the question of the sound national language policy arises. the emergence of the independent national states in the place of the former ussr was followed by lending official statuses to many national languages and this caused some difficulties. some of these languages were not enough developed to fulfil the role of means of official and scientific communication. often a large part of the inhabitants of the newly found states had no knowledge of the official language and would not like to learn it. at the same time, due to the pressure of the nationalist movements, laws considering language policy became more and more strict. in the russian federation with the disbanding of the soviet union, there appeared a new set of republics, many being formed from the previous autonomous soviet socialist republics (e.g., the chuvash republic or the republic of tatarstan). of the 21 republics in the russian federation at the end of the 20th century, 15 had instituted language laws to grant their titular language equal official status with russian. in addition, the constitutions of these republics include language-specific articles in most cases granting official status to the titular language and russian, and sometimes other languages as well. at present, a number of languages have official status in the russian federation, russian being the state language for the entire country (grenoble 2006). at the beginning of the 1990s, it seemed that every language would be used in all spheres of communication. the first russian “law of the languages of the peoples of the russian soviet federated socialist republic” from 1991 envisaged creating translating offices in all central institutions to enable communication with minorities in all possible languages. it was found impossible and at the end of 1990s this item disappeared from the amended law. russian is used as lingua franca and as for now cannot be substituted by any other means. for example, according to v.m. alpatov, in kalmyk republic in 1993 it was planned to completely abolish russian and turn to kalmyk in the country and english in outside communication. it failed for a number of reasons. in the soviet period lots of books, jo urnals and newspapers were published in kalmyk, while now most journals and newspapers disappeared, there are almost no books in kalmyk and the only central newspaper remains bilingual, where official news are presented in kalmyk and the rest in russian. at the soviet period publications in kalmyk were financed by the state, now they became commercial. at the soviet period literature in national languages was artificially supported, some foreign books translated into national languages, but not russian – for example somerset maugham’s “cakes and ale” for a long time was available in ukrainian, but not in russian. some minority languages now function only in oral form. in khakass when the primary school manuals were published in khakass, it turned out that the absolute majority of khakass children know only russian and can not use them. in komi-permiak republic attempts to introduce native language into any official sphere failed completely. in languages of the peoples of north the majority of languages, having a small number of native speakers are now disappearing. it seems that with the advent of capitalism position of the russian language became even stronger (alpatov 2005). at present we can see that some of the political decisions concerning language in the new states have only momentary political reasons with complete ignorance of the natural tendencies of language development and cannot therefore be taken seriously. some of the new official languages still lack words to denote quite common ideas and are now hastily being enlarged. in the tajik language words like student, university and institute which had international character and were extensively used were hastily replaced by clumsy national constructions which created and still create many inconveniences. i am acquainted with the author of the tajik medical dictionary containing 300 thousand terms, whose colleague told crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp.4-15 me that the only person using those terms is the author, because medical students have to learn latin, russian and english terminology and have no time to learn terms not used in practice. therefore, working out sound impartial recommendations based on the analysis of natural processes of evolution and, in particular, international interaction of languages becomes a necessity. such recommendations should be concerned with terminology for a number of reasons. firstly, in contrast to the common everyday vocabulary that is relatively stable and is not susceptible to administrative changes, the special vocabulary may be regulated. terminology always is a result of agreement on usage of certain names of concepts in the respective field of knowledge. therefore special vocabulary is quite probably the only part of language that might be consciously manipulated and controlled. in many languages it is possible to work out sets of rules for coining new special lexical units and regulating the existing ones. there are reasons to believe that the most numerous layer of special word-stock consisting of the so-called nomens may be successfully regulated and developed according to the pre-established sets of rules. secondly, it should be mentioned that some linguistic problems, especially of the semantic nature (such as polysemy or synonymy) could be much more clearly appraised in the domain of terminology due to the precise nature of terms. thirdly, controlling special vocabulary may enhance the progress of science and technology. the success of contemporary research of the laws of thinking (especially creative) and simulating thinking processes, investigating development of human civilisation and stimulating scientific and technological progress largely depend on solving a number of terminological problems. finally, the latest anthropolinguistic data give reason to believe in certain correspondences between the size of national vocabulary and the level of the national mentality. therefore terminological aspects ought to be necessarily taken into consideration in language strategy decisions. conscious language policy in the form of language management (especially in preserving and advancing minor languages) should concern itself first of all with advancing special vocabulary. language planning, especially long-term planning should be based on systemic overall analysis of the existing state of terminology and close examination of the present trends and tendencies some of which are already known (grinev 1993), prognostication of language development and establishing directions and modes of regulating special vocabulary. practical terminological work as a crucial part of language policy should presuppose systemic approach based on sound knowledge of main characteristics of terminologies. experience of terminological work in the former ussr showed this to be quite a difficult task. as was mentioned in (grinev 1994) the peculiar character of the soviet terminological activities and the respective theory was strongly influenced by the initial belief that language development could be managed and taken under the human control based on marx' saying that language would be one of the things to be taken under control by the victorious proletariat. later (up to the present time) the idea of the human control was substituted by the idea of the state control which was reflected in the obligatory character of terminological standardization in the ussr. it is difficult to find in the soviet standards permitted synonyms or polysemic terms which we can view in the british, indian, australian or new zealand terminological standards; and that is also why discussions of termino logical standards in russia sometimes take very fierce character. crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp.4-15 the first attempts to bring the language to the proper ordered state and to substitute the current terms by the ideal ones were unsuccessful. according to the evidence of the founder of the russian terminology school d.s. lotte, the cause of this failure was the complete ignorance of the character of the object of ordering (language) and the absence of the principles of terminology ordering. therefore terminology science appeared as means of theoretical foundation of the practical work. unfortunately now in russia and some other countries we evidence lack of conscious systematic terminological work based on elementary principles of planning and knowledge of language tendencies. enormous amount of terminological standards prepared in the 1960s and 1970s were carried out unsystematically and without sound principles, some of them being of poor quality. terminological standards of the comecon countries were much better, but were based not on the overall systemic approach, but rather on choosing separate subject fields. much closer to the optimal conditions was the all-union endeavour to elaborate linguistic means of the branch information-retrieval systems to be united in an overall system that was undertaken at the end of the 1970s. unfortunately this work was not correctly finished. nowadays when terminological efforts in russia are determined by financial means and are not supported by the state the situation is much worse. there is no evidence of any attempts to organise planned wide-scale regulation of special lexis as yet. one of the reasons that governments pay no attention to opportunities for developing national special languages is that the cases of immediate losses from hampering of scientific progress could not be exactly measured. therefore the development of special vocabulary, creating conditions for scientific, industrial and cultural development, which should be one of the priorities in planning and financing, in many countries is sadly neglected and only carried out by the efforts of a small number of enthusiasts. some terminological activities are necessarily accompanying scientific research, but in the absence of special training and co-ordination, these activities are carried out in an unsystematic way, based only on commonsense, which is characteristic of primitive cultures and states of cognition. at the same time some principles and successful attempts at designing optimal forms for terms and nomens were worked out on the basis of practical experience and theoretical analysis (terminology design projects carried out by p.v. veselov, n.i. kulish, e.a. sorokina). we already mentioned some principles of convergent policy of related languages concerning borrowing (griniewicz 2006: 14-15); a similar approach may be used in coordinating means of derivation. already in the 1980s it was found that enormous quantities of nomens could be easily constructed according to the optimal forms and some principles of designing nomens were elaborated (grinev 1986, 1987). there were formulated other recommendations concerning the choice of terminological forms and organizing terminological work. terminology advancing proper as part of national policy should consist of a number of directions and stages. one of the most important and traditional directions is ordering special vocabulary, that includes special vocabulary inventory, systematisation of special vocabulary, unification of special vocabulary and optimising special vocabulary. another, less known, but very important direction is vocabulary construction, presupposing elaboration of banks of morphemes to be used as building material and design and construction systems of terms and nomens. development of terminology science created possibilit ies of rational regulation and advancement of national languages vocabularies. however the present political situation in many newly found states rather gives ground to pessimistic prognoses concerning successful use of these possibilities. the ideal terminology policy presupposes a number of steps, such as crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp.4-15 1. choice and approval of the terminological agencies 2. preparing the terminologists 3. analysis of the existing situation – inventory of existing documents (standards, recommendations, thesauri), choice or preparation of an upper level classification in the form of macrothesaurus or classification; analysis of the possible lacunas and concept areas to be corrected. 4. analysis of the terminologies that need correcting and updating – collecting terms, systematisation and defining the concepts, analysis of terminology, which is carried out with the aim of establishing the existing drawbacks and consists first of semantic analysis, with the aim to find out various deviations from the one-to-one correspondence between the lexical and terminological meanings of terms; then etymological analysis – to establish the most effective means and patterns of producing terms in the chosen subject field as well as the existing unsuitable forms and means of their improvement or substitution; functional analysis to find peculiarities of usage of terms and finally diachronic analysis to discover tendencies of development of the chosen terminology. 5. ordering terminology, preparing new term systems 6. introducing terminological systems – preparing standards, recommendations, thesauri and manuals 7. expertise of the state documents, beginning with the constitution and legal acts (cf. terminology planning). in this work the results of applied research should be considered, such as an optimal model of forming new terms, suggested by p.v. veselov in the domain of imitation leather products, which may be used in other domains, or recommendations on the choice of preferable means of forming new terms on various stages of development of terminologies in european languages presented in (grinev 1979). another example of successful terminological work was elaboration of terminology of carpology. in 1991, such a project was launched by the russian institute of carpology. it was long felt that the abundance of incidental foreign terms in the modern russian botanical terminology upsets its lucidity, simplicity and systemic character. this terminology has been founded on the russian roots in the early 19 century by the russian botanists. but then, lots of terms, either borrowed or clumsily translated were introduced by various specialists in the 19 century, which lead to the existence of various names for the same concept; in many cases there is a complete discrepancy between the lexical meaning of the latin base and current definitions, some latin roots have many meanings, sometimes quite different, even the opposite, which causes ambiguity in the whole system of concepts. some suggested russian terms were too clumsy, i.e. mnogovenechnik, obdiplostimonnyj and similar forms. a similar situation was observed in the terminology of flowers as the result of the rapid development of flower morphology and anatomy. generally speaking, almost every author of a manual on botany (and there were more than twenty) suggested his own terms, which lead to an extremely complicated terminological situation, some concepts having up to 40 names. the development of carpology resulted in a new classification of fruits, quite different from what was introduced by linnaeus in the 18 century. instead of the original four classes – berry, capsule, nut and stone fruit (jagoda, korobochka, oreh, kostjanka) eight classes are singled out now. updating the whole fruit classification required introduction of more than sixty new terms for naming newly found varieties of fruit. it was found that transliteration of crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp.4-15 latin names would result in some unpronounceable forms and inconsistency with the existing russian basic terms. therefore, it was suggested that the formation of the russian botanical term system on the russian roots should continue with the aim of producing forms that would be easy to pronounce, easy to understand, easy to produce derived forms and having no negative connotations. a thorough investigation the russian derivational resources was carried out and as the result a whole system of the basic and derived terms was proposed for types of fruit – additionally – kora (bark), jadro (nucleus), kost’ (bone) and kozha (peel). with the derivatives that would make a paradigm, for example: jagoda (berry) – jagodovnik – jagodka – jagodovinka, jagodovka, jagodovina, jagodinka, jagodinovka, jagodina; jadro (nucleus) – jadrec – jadrovnik – jadreshek – jadrovinka – jadrovka – jadrovina – jadrinka – jadrinovka jadrina some foreign terms have been changed to the newly proposed terms which are formed on the basis of the russian roots andropetaly lepestiki, ekzokarpij – naplodije, mezokarpij – mezhplodije, hipantij – chashecwetnik, karcerula – kostec, apocarpus – raznoplodnyj. this endeavour was not limited to the russian language, because according to the existing rules, the whole system had to be constructed and presented for approval at the nearest paris congress in 12 main european languages. it was approved with small changes in some languages and what is most important – the new manual based on the newly constructed terminological system clearly reflecting the respective system of concepts was published ten years ago and there are already several generations of specialists whose knowledge is based on these terms. thus we should recognize an advent of a new, very effective terminological product – a manual based on the preliminary ordered term system. it is known that usually there is reluctance of specialists to change to new terms. in this ideal case there is no reluctance because the students did not know of the existence of a previous very intricate terminological situation and those who knew were enticed by the strict logics and transparency of the new term system. such approach helps building systemic personal special knowledge and beliefs. another case was elaboration of international terminology of surgical operations in abdominal surgery by prof. n.i. kulish. more than 200 terms constructed as a system on the basis of the widely known medical and biological term-elements were even patented by him and used in a number of methodical and teaching materials. presently, we evidence the emergence of a new, very broad-scoped and important science dealing with making vital decisions concerning languages which we suggest to name linguopolitology. at the present time, there are no reasons to view many political decisions concerning languages as a planned activity. however, progress in a number of adjacent fields of knowledge, such as sociolinguistics, ethnolinguistics, anthropolinguistics and terminology science creates possibilities of working out rational systemic foundations of language policy, first of all in terminology planning and management. it is still problematic, whether these possibilities would be realised; there are reasons to believe that rather not. still, appearance of a new linguistic discipline having both highly interesting theoretical and important practical aspects should be considered as an important step in cultural progress. references alpatov v.m. 2005. language situation in regions of the present-day russia (in russian) – otechestvennyje zapiski. moscow, № 2(23). crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp.4-15 ammon u. 2005. language politics in: encyclopedia of language and linguistics, 2nd ed. elsevier. blommaert j. 2006. language ideology in: encyclopedia of language and linguistics, 2nd ed. elsevier. de cillia r. and busch b. 2006. language policies: policies on language in europe in: encyclopedia of language and linguistics, 2nd ed., elsevier. desheriev ju.d. 1990. language policy. in: encyclopaedic dictionary “linguistics”. moscow, soviet encyclopaedia (in russian). grenoble l. 2006. endangered languages in: encyclopedia of language and linguistics, 2nd ed. elsevier. grinev s.v. 1979. compiling a thesaurus. fachsprache, wien, no.4, 154-161. grinev s.v. 1986. perspectives and prerequisites of regulating nomenclature units (in rus.). nauchno-tehnicheskaya terminologia. moscow, vniiki, no.10,1-5. grinev s.v. 1987. principles of regulating technical nomenclature units (in rus.). nauchnotehnicheskaya terminologia. moscow, vniiki, no.1,6-10. grinev s.v. 1993. the perspectives of terminology theory: the quest for regularities // selected readings in russian terminology research. wien, 13-27. grinev s.v. 1994. theoretical foundations of russian terminology work: peculiarities and perspectives // applications and implications. current lsp research. vol.1. bergen, .4956. grinev-griniewicz s.v. 2008. terminology science: a manual for the higher education students. moscow, akademia (in russian). griniewicz, siergiusz. 2006. terminology in the era of globalisation // terminologija. no.13.. vilnius. guidelines for terminology policies. formulating and implementing terminology policy in language communities / prepared by infoterm. paris: unesco, 2005. ix, 39 p.; 30 cm. (ci-2005/ws/4). kulisz n.i. 1984. methodics of creating international nomenclature of surgical operations (in rus.). – nauchno-tehnicheskaya terminologia. moscow, vniiki, no.6. paulston c. b. 1997. ‘language policies and language rights.’ annual review of anthropology 26, 73–85. shvejtser a.d. (1990) sociolinguistics. in: encyclopaedic dictionary “linguistics”. moscow, soviet encyclopaedia (in russian). sorokina e.a. 2007. cognitive aspects of lexical design (towards fundamentals of cognitive terminology science). moscow, publishing house mgou. spolsky b., lambert r.d. 2006. language planning and policy: models in: encyclopedia of language and linguistics, 2nd ed elsevier. the oxford companion to the english language. 1992. oxford-new york, oxford university press. veselov p.v. 1971. structure of terms of definitial type (on the material of terminology of plastics and soft imitation leather products) (in russian): dis.cand. philology. moscow. vinogradov v.a. 1990. language situation. in: encyclopaedic dictionary “linguistics” – moscow, soviet encyclopaedia (in russian). the mirabal sisters and their testimonio in julia alvarez’s in the time of the butterflies 28 crossroads. a journal of english studies anna maria karczewska university of białystok the mirabal sisters and their testimonio in julia alvarez’s in the time of the butterflies abstract. the mirabal sisters opposed the regime of rafael trujillo, a notorious dominican dictator who terrorized the nation for almost 30 years. their brutal deaths on the dictator’s order served as a catalyst for change. the sisters became heroines and martyrs in the fight against trujillo’s repressive regime, and symbols of both popular and feminist resistance. julia alvarez’s novel tells the mirabal story and describes their legacy. the aim of the paper is to demonstrate how in the time of the butterflies gives access to dominican history, and how literature creates a voice for victims of political violence and terror. keywords: rafael trujillo, dictatorship, the dominican republic, julia alvarez, the mirabal sisters. i myself invent time by first conjuring up the voices and spirits of the women living under brutal repressive regimes . . . [b]ecause i want to do justice to their voices. to tell these women, in my own gentle way, that i will fight for them, that they provide me with my own source of humanity. helena maría viramontes the official website of the united nations informs us that through the resolution of 17 december 1999, the united nations general assembly designated 25 november as the international day for the elimination of violence against women to raise public awareness of the problem. this date came from the brutal assassination of three sisters, patria, maria teresa and minerva mirabal (“international day for the elimination of violence against women”). they were political activists from the dominican republic, who were labelled with the underground code name las mariposas (eng. butterflies), and who were killed on the orders of the notorious dominican dictator rafael leonidas trujillo. the mirabal sisters inspired resistance cells throughout the country, and their brutal deaths on the dictator’s order served as a catalyst for change. the sisters became heroines 10.15290/cr.2016.14.3.03 29 articles and martyrs in the fight against trujillo’s repressive regime, and symbols of both popular and feminist resistance. the dominican american writer, julia alvarez, in her collection of essays entitled something to declare (1998) describes her fascination with the story of the dominican heroines as her life parallels that of the butterflies. alvarez’s father had been part of the same revolutionary underground movement and was involved in the plot to overthrow the dictator. for this reason the family was forced to flee to the united states, and alvarez explains the situation: [a]nd so it was that my family’s emigration to the united states started at the very time their lives ended. these three brave sisters and their husbands stood in stark contrast to the self-saving actions of my own family and of other dominican exiles. because of this, the mirabal sisters haunted me. indeed, they haunted the whole country. (1998, 198) the writer was haunted by the story since she was ten. however, it was not until 1986 that she became personally involved. in 1992 alvarez met dedé mirabal, a fourth sister who survived, and this encounter resulted in a book (alvarez 1998, 198, 202) that was nominated for the 1995 national book critics award (fregoso, 8). alvarez’s novel tells the mirabal story and describes their legacy through the lens of fiction. the aim of the paper is to demonstrate how in the time of the butterflies (1995) gives access to dominican history and memory, how it creates a voice for victims of terror, and lets them be heard on their own terms. the story of in the time of the butterflies unfolds against a background of the era of trujillo (1930-1961), which was characterized by totalitarian rule, terror, torture and assassinations. with the dictator’s predatory regime, his personality cult, deification and mandatory parades in honor of el jefe, trujillo’s image was inscribed upon every aspect of dominican society. the successful cuban revolution and fidel castro’s coming to power in 1959 played a major role in radicalizing many dominicans, including the mirabal sisters. they took part in clandestine activities organized by the anti-trujillo movimiento revolucionario 14 de junio (mr1j4). this was a leftist underground revolutionary movement whose leader was manolo tavarez, minerva’s husband. members of the 14th of june movement tried to assassinate the dictator in 1960, but their efforts were defeated by trujillo’s army, which resulted in the imprisonment and torture of the three sisters and their husbands, among others. the sisters were soon released from prison, but trujillo was alleged to have given orders to kill them. the mirabal sisters were assassinated on their way back from prison, where they visited their incarcerated husbands on november 25, 1960 (peguero, 182). to hide the nature of the crime, their bodies and that of their driver, rufino de la cruz, were placed in their own jeep, which was pushed over a cliff near santiago. their deaths were reported in the press as an automobile accident. however, dominican people were not fooled by the story. the murder of the sisters planted the seed of rebellion among the dominican population and served as a catalyst for overthrowing trujillo. although many factors were at play in trujillo’s downfall, bernard diederich credits the 30 crossroads. a journal of english studies murders with providing the motivation to end the tyrannical dictatorship, and claims that “the cowardly killing of three beautiful women in such a manner had greater effect on dominicans than most of trujillo’s other crimes. . . . it did something to their machismo. they could never forgive trujillo this crime” (diederich, 72). after their deaths and in the years to follow the mirabal sisters became hallowed icons for the dominican republic, and they were transformed into symbols of martyrdom, feminist icons and revolutionary heroines. monuments stand in their honor in many dominican towns. the whole country bears commemorative markers in the form of street names, schools or murals. their family home in the province of salcedo was converted into a museum. gradually, their fame spread internationally, and not only with the help of alvarez, whose book was adapted into a movie of the same title starring salma hayek. in 2010, juan delancer directed trópico de sangre, a film drama based on the true story of the historic mirabal sisters. the dominican heroines are also present in two highly acclaimed novels: the feast of the goat (2000) by mario vargas llosa, and the brief wondrous life of oscar wao (2007) by junot díaz, who writes: the mirabal sisters were the great martyrs of that period. patria mercedes, minerva argentina, and antonia maría—three beautiful sisters from salcedo who resisted trujillo and were murdered for it. . . . their murders and the subsequent public outcry are believed by many to have signaled the official beginning of the end of the trujillato, the “tipping point,” when folks finally decided enough was enough. (83) alvarez’s in the time of the butterflies is categorized by different critics as a historical novel, a dictator novel, fictionalized biography, historiographic metafiction, or hagiographic commemorafiction. i propose to read alvarez’s novel as testimonio, a relatively new genre in latin american literature. george yúdice defines it as “an authentic narrative, told by a witness who is moved to narrate by the urgency of a situation (e.g. war, oppression, revolution, etc.)” (17). he also explains: “... the testimonialista gives his or her personal testimony “directly,” addressing a specific interlocutor” (15). according to yúdice, in testimonio “truth is summoned in the cause of denouncing a present situation of exploitation and oppression or in exorcising and setting aright official history” (17). in the case of in the time of the butterflies the surviving dedé tells the story of her sisters’ lives, and their active opposition and resistance to the notorious regime of rafael trujillo. she tells her story to a gringa dominicana, who is the author’s alter ego. the author’s interest in las mariposas triggers dedé’s memories, and through her recollections the reader travels back into the past to learn the story of patria, minerva and maría teresa. testimonio, as a genre, is notoriously fluid and difficult to categorize, because the word “testimonio” can describe anything written by a first-person witness who wishes to tell her/his story of trauma. john beverley, an expert on testimonial literature, defines it as a novel or novella-length narrative in book or pamphlet (that is, printed as opposed to acoustic) form, told in the first person by a narrator who is also the real protagonist or witness of the events he or she recounts, and whose unit of narration is usually a life or a significant life experience. (31) 31 articles linda j. craft adds to this definition additional characteristics. she claims that a testimonio may include all categories considered conventional literature, such as autobiography, autobiographical novel, oral history, memoir, confession, diary, interview, eyewitness report, life history, novellatestimonio, nonfiction novel, or “factographic” literature (22). the definition of testimonio of the cuban cultural center casa de las américas reads: testimonios must document some aspect of latin american or caribbean reality from a direct source. a direct source is understood as knowledge of the facts by the author or his or her compilation of narratives or evidence obtained from the individuals involved or qualified witnesses. (quoted in beverley, 103) because in many cases the witness is someone illiterate, or if literate, not a professional writer, the production of a testimonio generally involves the tape-recording and then the transcription and editing of an oral account by an interlocutor who is an intellectual, often a journalist or a writer. yúdice and beverley, however, insist on the nonliterary purity of the testimonio. unfortunately, this idea “shrinks the parameters of the genre considerably, for not many narrative texts – as hayden white and others have made clear – evade the effects of the literary” (emery, 17). what is more, the definition offered by the casa de las américas asserts that “literary quality is also indispensable” (in beverley, 103). moreover, “what we encounter in testimonial narrative is not the real as such … but rather a “reality effect” created by the peculiar mechanisms and conventions of the text, which include a textual simulacrum” (a literary simulacrum of oral narrative) (beverley, 2). by the same token alvarez affirms that the sisters whose life and death she described are neither the mirabals of fact nor the mirabals of legend. they are the mirabals of her creation to show their humanity, which was removed in the process of acquiring legendary status. alvarez worried that by becoming too iconic they would be robbed “of the dignity of being real human beings” (rosario-sievert, 35). the writer wanted to show that las mariposas were flesh and blood, real-life women, imperfect as people are, with all their fears, insecurities, marital strife and other human flaws, to create a connection between them and the reader. this “readerly intimacy” is required here as the role of testimonio is to place the reader under an obligation to respond: “… we may act or not on that obligation, we may resent or welcome it, but we cannot ignore it. something is asked of us by testimonio” (beverley, 1). testimonio asks for solidarity with liberation movements and human rights struggles; it involves a political response from the audience. reading rigoberta menchú’s controversial testimonio, one also realizes that the genre is intended to represent “the reality of a whole people” (menchú, 1), which is also affirmed by domitila barrios in her testimonio entitled let me speak! testimony of domitila, a woman of the bolivian mines (1977): i don’t want the story that i am about to tell to be interpreted as a personal matter. because i think that my life is related to my people. what has happened to me might have happened to hundreds of others in my 32 crossroads. a journal of english studies country. . . . that’s why i say that i do not want to simply tell a personal story, i want to speak of my people. i want to bear witness to all the experience that we have gained through so many years of struggle. (13) although alvarez pays tribute to only three women, the rest of the victims are evoked in the pages of her book because the events she describes changed the course of the lives of a large segment of the population, and they constitute a shared sense of anxiety and fear, the collective memory8 of the dominican republic. those historic memories are fixed events that affected the lives of virtually all members of dominican society. alon confino defined collective memory much more broadly, as “the representation of the past and the making of it into shared cultural knowledge by successive generations in books, films, museums, commemorations, and others” (1386). through the prism of these multiple ‘sites of memory’ (pierre nora’s phrase) people negotiate the past. therefore, the memories of the individual became merged, and submerged, within group, or collective, memory. the narrative frame of the novel is constructed via conversations between dedé and the gringa dominicana. the novel spans the period from 1938-1994, although the major part of the story takes place during the brutal regime of rafael trujillo. the novel is divided into three parts, with chapters narrated by the mirabal sisters. the dead sisters speak in the first person, and the plot is chronological. it covers the sisters’ family life, schooling, political awakening, their activities in opposition, and finally their death. the book amalgamates the voices to give a multiperspective picture of life under trujillo’s dictatorship. the story unfolds during the brutal regime of trujillo, against a background of persecution and oppression. as young girls, at the inmaculada concepción boarding school, the sisters experience eye opening events connected with the injustices rampant in their country and the evils of trujillo. one of minerva’s friends, sinita, tells her a story of how trujillo killed the members of her family. at first, minerva could not believe her words in the face of the process of the deification of the dictator and overwhelming propaganda: “bad things?” i interrupted. “trujillo was doing bad things?” it was as if i had just heard jesus had slapped a baby or our blessed mother had not conceived him the immaculate conception way. “that can’t be true”, i said, but in my heart, i felt a china-crack of doubt. . . . the country people around the farm say that until the nail is hit, it doesn’t believe in the hammer. everything sinita said i filed away as a terrible mistake that wouldn’t happen again. then the hammer came down hard right in our school, right on lina lovatón’s head. (alvarez 1995, 17, 20) 8 “despite widespread use of the term ‘collective memory,’ it is only fair to point out that many historians are very uneasy about the concept. a number explicitly substitute parallel or alternative terms that better reflect their understanding of the processes through which particular groups, communities or nations collectively remember their past. these terms include, for example, ‘collective remembrance,’ ‘collected memories,’ ‘cultural memory,’ ‘public memory,’ or ‘mnemonic communities’” (green 37). 33 articles it became clear for minerva that trujillo exercised his masculine entitlement ruthlessly, seducing young women. the story of lina lovatón is an example of the abuse and sexual harassment that were used as a psychological instrument of torture by the trujillo regime against women and their families, such as the mirabals. it indicates machismo as the necessary underpinning for the latin american dictatorship. trujillo’s appetite for young women was legendary. dominican families used to hide their daughters when trujillo visited their areas. trujillo’s statutory rape of fourteen-year-old lina lovatón happened with the nuns’ tacit blessing, and it was a revealing experience for minerva mirabal. this experience coincides with the beginning of her first menstrual cycle, and both are understood as a loss of innocence and the onset of problems in her life, since the nuns at school use a euphemism for menstruation and call it complications: “i lifted the covers, and for a moment, i couldn’t make sense of the dark stains on the bottom sheet. then i brought up my hand from checking myself. sure enough, my complications had started” (alvarez 1995, 20). with the awakening of minerva’s political conscience come problems, not only hers, but also her whole family’s. minerva is the driving force behind her family’s activism. however, all the sisters sooner or later come to painful awareness of the cruelties and injustices in their country and realize that its citizens live in terror of their own government (sirias, 55-56). when they get more deeply involved in the underground movement it leads to the imprisonment of minerva, mate, patria and their husbands, and other resistance leaders and sympathizers. although the dominant theme of alvarez’s book is the cruelty of the dictator, his pathological thirst for revenge and adulation, trujillo’s appearances are brief and infrequent. the notorious dictator appears in the book as a theme rather than a character, but his ominous shadow dominates every aspect of dominican society in such a way that he becomes a leitmotiv and omnipresent obsession. his authoritarianism, immorality and wickedness are compared to the patriarchal society. the mirabal father embodies male privilege in latin american families, and maintains and reinforces gender hierarchies, refusing to allow minerva to attend the university or see boyfriends. in paulo freire’s words he becomes “sub oppressor” (45) and such sub oppressors supported trujillo and kept him in power. when the sisters discover their father’s double life with a mistress and four other illegitimate daughters, they begin to question everything they hold sacred. for minerva, her beloved father matches the dictator on the scale of hypocrisy. hence their rebellion is not only against the dictator, but also against machismo and patriarchy. they contest their subaltern condition by actively joining the resistance and by denouncing male chauvinism. the second pillar of women’s oppression in provincial dominican society appears to be catholicism. it helps maintain the socially prescribed roles of mothers and wives. it plays a central role in the formation of gender roles, norms and expectations in the male-controlled totalitarian regime, where girls are prepared for motherhood and marriage instead of university studies (fregoso, 10-11). in her novel alvarez presents the everyday lives of the sisters, with all their joys and problems, in order not to make them exotic or turn them into a myth, and also to validate the feminist motto: “the personal is political.” the motto underscores the connections between personal experience and larger social and political structures (lópez-calvo, 95). alvarez wanted to show the 34 crossroads. a journal of english studies real spirit of the sisters. “i wanted to understand the living, breathing women who had faced all the difficult challenges and choices of those terrible years. i believe that only by making them real, alive, could i make them mean anything to the rest of us” (alvarez 1998, 203). the author honors their lives with all their quirks and weaknesses, because, as she notes, “they have been so wrapped in superlatives and ascended into myth that they have become inaccessible and unknown to us” (alvarez 1995, 342). furthermore, she adds that deifications of all kind are dangerous, because behind them is the same god-making impulse that created trujillo the tyrant (alvarez 1995, 324). she wished to humanize the butterflies as “becoming too iconic would rob them of the dignity of being real human beings and the dignity of what that sacrifice means” (sievert, 35). in doing so, alvarez allows the reader the luxury of personal contact with each of the sisters, and this in turn involves some kind of reaction, a political response so demanded by testimonio. “the book incites us to go beyond the text, to raise more questions and to search for more answers” (mccallum, 114). moreover, alvarez recovers women’s personal voices, desires and ambitions, and “feeds the need to know the dead, and even to be voyeuristically close to the moment of their death” (socolovsky, 8). alvarez, by giving voice to female characters, gives voice in literature to the previously voiceless, and she replaces the traditionally male history with a feminine one, bringing latin american women “into history as agents, out from under the shadows of … men” (behar, 6). in the same spirit hélène cixous maintains that woman must write her self: must write about women and bring women to writing, from which they have been driven away as violently as from their bodies – for the same reasons, by the same law, with the same fatal goal. woman must put herself into the text – as into the world and into history – by her own movement. (309) stavans, in his review, also praises alvarez for representing the mirabals’ political struggle as “an attack against phallocentrism as an accepted way of life in hispanic societies” (554). moreover, in the time of the butterflies refuses to construct latinas only as victims of male oppression or objects of patriarchy. the book refuses to accept the traditional perception of latin american women as politically passive and socially marginalized, voiceless and submissive (bados ciria, 311). although the three brave subversive wives were crushed by the phallocentric regime, they record a posthumous victory, and since then these sisters, “who fought one tyrant, have served as models for women fighting against injustices of all kinds” (alvarez 1995, 342). the story of the mirabal sisters presented in the form of a novel has a particular significance for a nation which was never able to confront the crimes of its own past in the aftermath of trujillismo. the written story of the mirabal sisters to a certain extent symbolizes a substitute for the truth and justice that was never granted to the victims. their history is symbolic of a tragedy, which valerio holguín calls “el trauma histórico del trujillato” (holguín, 92), which belongs not just to the mirabal family but also to all dominicans. alvarez’s sonnet suggests that the trauma of the dominican past has yet to be claimed, owned, and fully acknowledged: “in my own d.r. we 35 articles have many rains: /the sprinkle, the shower, the hurricane, / the tears, the many tears for our many dead” (alvarez 1996, 25). the events that change the course of lives of whole populations are at first characterized by a high level of talking. later, monuments are built and movies are made at predictable times after the upheavals occur. testimonios are also such monuments, which aid memory, help to keep collective memories alive to organize and assimilate the event in people’s minds and allow the society to move past the experience (pennebaker et al., viii). by writing in english alvarez makes this fragment of dominican history accessible to a wider audience, a public far greater outside latin america (craft, 3). once testimonio reaches the international community, it provides evidence for human rights offences, as well as causes for action. beverley supports this point in his book on testimonio, positing that testimonial novels are used primarily “as a way of mobilizing international opinion in favor of an end to the violence” (84). testimonio deliberately blurs the line between “the personal and the political” to give the women (and men) on the margins a voice. the testimonial novel is a forum of participation for all underprivileged peoples to have the power of the written word. such stories create a representative voice for victims of political violence and psychological terror who have been silenced. they seem necessary for the process of reburial and grieving, and they can promote healing and solidarity among disaffected groups and expand human capacity for empathy (mullins, 4-12). testimonios are texts that cross borders and bring the subjugated knowledge of people’s history and their memory into the consciousness of mainstream readers. references: alvarez, julia. 1998. “chasing the butterflies.” something to declare. chapel hill: algonquin books of chapel hill, 197-209. barrios de chunagara, domitila and moema viezzed. 1977. let me speak! testimony of domitila, a woman of the bolivian mines. new york: monthly review press. beverley, john. 2004. testimonio. on the politics of truth. minneapolis: university of minnesota press. ciria, concepción bados. 1997. “in the time of the butterflies by julia alvarez: history, fiction, testimonio and the dominican republic.” monographic review: revista monografica 13, 406-416. cixous, hélène. 1986. “the laugh of the medusa.” critical theory since 1965. ed. hazard adams and leroy searle. tallahassee: florida state university press, 309-320. emery, amy fass. 1996. the anthropological imagination in latin american literature. columbia: university of missouri press. fregoso, rosa linda. 2003. “julia alvarez, in the time of the butterflies.” reading u.s. latina writers remapping american literature. ed. alvina e. quintana. new york: palgrave macmillan, 7-14. 36 crossroads. a journal of english studies green, anna. 2004. “society individual remembering and ‘collective memory’: theoretical presuppositions and contemporary debates.” oral history 32.2, memory and society (autumn), 35-44. holguín, f. valerio. 1998. “en el tiempo de las mariposas de julia álvarez: una reinterpretación de la historia.” chasqui: revista de literatura latinoamericana, mayo 27.1, 90-115. “international day for the elimination of violence against women 25 november.” united nations. 8 may 2017 www.un.org/en/events/endviolenceday/background.shtml lopez-calvo, ignacio. 2005. god and trujillo. literary and cultural representations of the dominican dictator. gainesville: university press of florida. pennebaker, james w., dario paez and bernard rime. 1997. collective memory of political events: social psychological perspectives. new jersey: lawrence erlbaum associates. rosario sievert, heather. 1997. “conversations with julia alvarez.” review: latin american literature and arts 54, 31-37. sandoval, anna. 1999. “building up our resistance: chicanas in academia.” frontiers: journal of women studies 86, (quoting helena maría viramontes), 86-92. socolovsky, maya. 2006. “patriotism, nationalism, and the fiction of history in julia alvarez’s in  the times of the butterflies and in the name of salome.” latin american literary review 34. 68 (jul-dec.), 5-24. stavans, ilan. 1994. “las mariposas.” the nation 7 nov. 1994, 552-556. yúdice, george. 1991. “testimonio and postmodernism.” latin american perspectives 18.3. special issue: voices of the voiceless in testimonial literature. ed. georg m. gugelberger and michael kearney, 15-31. crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp.4-12 ewelina feldman-kołodziejuk university of bialystok margaret atwood’s the blind assassin as a social chronicle of 20 th century canada abstract. the aim of this article is to demonstrate through margaret atwood’s novel the blind assassin the social changes that took place in 20 th century canada. depicting the fall of a once respected toronto bourgeois family of chase, the book covers the period from the early 1900s through world war i, the depression years, and world war ii to the late 1990s. by situating the story of the chase sisters against the broader backdrop of canadian history, atwood presents the transformation from the rigidly divided society of the past into an egalitarian society of the present day canada. to give the blind assassin a deeper sense of history the author incorporated into the novel various documents from the past, such as newspaper clippings. although many of these cuttings are of atwood’s contriving and were merely inspired by actual events, they allow the author, through the use of pastiche, to poke fun at a number of dominant ideologies of the past and highlight how profound and inevitable the social changes of the last century were. keywords: margaret atwood, canada, memory, social change, class division, feminism. the aim of this article is to demonstrate the social changes that took place in 20 th century canada as exemplified in margaret atwood’s booker prize winning novel the blind assassin. depicting the fall of the once respected bourgeois chase family, atwood covers the period from the early 1900s through world war i, the depression years, and world war ii, to the late 1990s. situating the action of the novel against the broader backdrop of canadian history allowed the author to present the transformation from the rigidly divided society of the past into the egalitarian society of contemporary canada and – what is intrinsically linked with it – the shift in mainstream social values. apart from class division, the book touches upon such issues as the position of women, parent-child relations, national identity and multiculturalism, among many. as the author herself aptly notes: fiction writing is the guardian of the moral and ethical sense of the community. ... fiction is one of the few forms left through which we may examine our society not in its particular but in its typical aspects; through which we can see ourselves and the ways in which we behave towards each other, through which we can see others and judge ourselves. (atwood in staines 2006:23) before investigating the subject matter of the article it seems essential to respond to the question of why so many canadian writers turned to the historical novel during the last two decades of the 20 th century, a century whose “most characteristic and eerie phenomena (sic)”, according to hobbyist (in parr 2001:719), is the “destruction of the past, or rather the social mechanisms that link one’s contemporary experience to that of earlier generations.” 1 in other words, canadians’ growing fascination with their own history went against the general 1 the popularity of the historical novel in canada goes back to the 1970s, although it is in the 1980s and 90s that, as atwood (2005:167) observes, “the trend intensified”. to support her point she enlists the following authors: graeme gibson, robertson davies, michael ondaatje, brian moore, alice munro, george bowering, daphne marlatt, jane urquhart, carol shield, and timothy findley. crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp.4-12 trend of the late 20 th century, which, in atwood’s (2005:162) opinion, was “on the whole more interested in forgetting—forgetting as an organic process, and sometimes a willed act.” one of the explanations for this peculiar phenomenon has been offered by the author herself, namely, that it is a “part of a worldwide movement that has found writers and readers, especially in excolonies, turning towards their own roots, while not rejecting developments in the imperial centres” (atwood 2005:168). it appears that it is the generation of writers contemporary to atwood that were the first to recognise the necessity for rediscovering their country’s roots in terms of history and literature, or art in general. not coincidentally, this is also the generation that as students were told there was no such thing as canadian culture, and were taught european or specifically english history, culture and literature instead. staines (2006:13) observes that “in the fifties canada was a country not conversant with its own cultural identity.” looking back at her school days, atwood (2005:163) wryly reminisces that the canadian history courses she attended nearly always came down to “the statistics on wheat and the soothing assurances that all was well in the land of the cow and the potato”, and complains that she was never taught “who inhabited this space before white europeans arrived, bearing gifts of firearms and smallpox”. thus, it seemed inevitable that as mature writers in search for their own identity—both individual and national—these authors would resort to history, or more precisely canadian history, for as atwood (in staines 2006: 25-6) elucidates: “refusing to acknowledge where you come from [...] is an act of amputation: you may become free floating, a citizen of the world [...] but only at the cost of arms, legs or heart. by discovering your place you discover yourself.” therefore, after the critical success of alias grace, atwood once more turned to the historical novel genre. however, due to its extremely complex narrative structure, the blind assassin is not entirely a historical novel, for it features a novel inside the primary text, and science fiction stories inside the inner novel. nevertheless, the backbone of the blind assassin is a memoir written by 82-year-old iris chase, in which she spins the story of her life, as well as that of her younger sibling laura. the sisters were born to an affluent factory owner, norval chase, and his methodist wife in the second decade of the previous century in the fictional town of port ticonderoga. though of the author’s contriving, the town is “a composite of three exceptionally pretty southern ontario towns: elora, paris and st. mary’s” (bemrose 2000:55), and offers a fairly reliable reconstruction of small town life in canada during world war i and the depression years. however, since, as has already been outlined, the primary text is a memoir, the family saga is presented from iris’s point of view and is totally dependent on her memory. on a number of occasions the protagonist herself contemplates how selective and fallible memory can be, or how the very same events may be differently interpreted and memorized by individuals. these ponderings on the nature of memory and text, represented here by the memoir, emphasize the fact that the novel is more concerned with the ‘act of enunciating’ than the enunciation itself. by stressing the relativity of the viewpoint, iris encourages the reader to ponder upon the fact that her version of events may not necessarily be the only possible version. in fact, she repeatedly makes the reader doubt and wonder “how reliable is memory itself—our individual memory, or our collective memory as a society?” (atwood 2005:161). but if, as has previously been mentioned, canadian collective memory was non-existent for such a long time, maybe it is the memory of individuals such as iris that can facilitate the process of retrieving the common past? since time immemorial numerous philosophers have argued the importance of the past, understood by the broad term ‘memory’. john locke, for instance, overtly linked the self with memory, and asserted that “selfhood consists entirely in continuity of memory” (labudova 2005:262): i remember, therefore i am. analogously, it may be argued then that collective memory is a guarantee of a nation’s survival, and atwood herself seems to ascribe to this point of view in the thematic guide to canadian literature: “for the members of a country or a culture, shared knowledge of their place, their here, is not crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp.4-12 a luxury but a necessity. without that knowledge we will not survive” (in laskowska 2005:291). however unreliable a narrator iris may appear to be (all in all, she was a participant in the outlined events), many critics agree that, as hite (2001: 2) couches it, she “has the gift for slightly distanced, marveling observation that distinguishes all of atwood’s best protagonists.” but there is certainly one advantage of learning the story from her, namely, her commentary, for although she attempts to be objective in presenting the actual events, she cannot help evaluating them from today’s perspective. although the portrait of various social classes depicted in the blind assassin may be marked by iris’s attitudes towards them, such as sentiments, hostility or pity, some things, namely events, are beyond subjectivity; after all, the events either took place or never happened. likewise, social changes may have been received and perceived differently depending on the individual, but it is undeniable that they did occur, regardless of people’s attitudes towards them. to foreground the status of the blind assassin as a historical novel the author incorporated into the book various documents from the past, such as newspaper clippings. although many of these cuttings are of atwood’s contriving and were merely inspired by actual events, they allow the author, through the use of pastiche, to poke fun at a number of dominant ideologies of the past, and to highlight how profound and inevitable the social changes of the last century were. thus, the blind assassin is to a large extent “a social commentary on canada—from its colonial heyday through fully-fledged industralisation, labour unrest, and the battle of democratic and fascist ideologies” (davies 2001:1138) or, as bemrose (2000:55) maintains, the book “is driven at least in part by a desire to dissect social realities.” atwood herself points out that canadians “pretend that classes don’t exist in [their] society”, and adds that “it’s time to think about the issue of class again” (atwood in bemrose 2000:55). she seems to be particularly critical of the upper class, who, to use her own words, have “a common interest in making conditions better for themselves” (atwood in bemrose 2000:55). all these contemplations can be found in the book under consideration, but the true critique of the social system of early 20 th century canada is offered through the science fiction story about the city of sakiel-norn. this sci-fi story, told by the unnamed he of the inner novel to his lover, serves “as a mirror-text of the primary narrative” (staels 2004:160). in the course of the book, however, we learn that the anonymous sci-fi writer is alex thomas, a young supporter of the labour movement, or as richard griffen describes him “an armchair pinko”, while his secret lover is iris chase (atwood 2000:193). by spinning the tale of the rigidly divided society of the mythical city of zycron, alex endeavours to make iris reject her blindness and finally see her own upper-class complacency as well as her own (self-)victimization. the choice of the science fiction genre may be accounted for by the need for the defamiliarisation of the context. similarly to swift in his gulliver’s travels, atwood makes use of satire to pillory the socio-political order. for that purpose, both narrators – gulliver and alex – elucidate the system allegedly alien to their listeners – the horse and iris respectively – and point out its absurdities or atrocities. tomashevsky illustrates the function of swift’s narrator, and correspondingly atwood’s one as well, in the following way: compelled to tell everything with the utmost accuracy, he removes the shell of euphemistic phrases and fictitious traditions which justify such things as war, class strife, parliamentary intrigue and so on. stripped of their verbal justification and thus defamiliarised, these topics emerge in all their horror. thus criticism of the political system – nonliterary material – is artistically motivated and fully involved in the narrative. (tomashevsky in selden 1989:11) the society of sakiel-norn is comprised of two classes—aristocrats, known as snilfards, and smallholders, serfs and slaves, referred to as ygnirods. the upper crust crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp.4-12 naturally has all possible privileges and leads a comfortable life, while the life of the lower orders is fraught with suffering and self-denial. from time to time ygnirods “would stage a revolt, which would then be ruthlessly suppressed”, which most likely is a reference to labour unrest and factory strikes during the depression years (atwood 2000:18). the whole economy of the mythical city is based on the exploitation of slaves, whose primary function is carpet weaving until they go blind and are then sold to local brothel owners. if they are lucky and courageous enough to escape, they eventually become blind assassins, hence the title of the novel. the fact that the story of sakiel-norn is a parable for pillorying the social system of 1930s and 40s canada is conspicuous in the following conversation between alex, the critic, and iris, the incarnation of the canadian bourgeoisie: they [blind assassins] didn’t have much choice, did they? they couldn’t become the carpet-merchants themselves, or the brothel owners. they didn’t have the capital. so they had to take the dirty work. tough luck for them. don’t, she says. it’s not my fault. (atwood 2000:25) iris also calls alex a bolshevik when he announces that upward mobility in the city of sakiel-norn is not really a viable option, unlike the reverse situation, for “if a snilfard should become bankrupt, he might be demoted to an ygnirod” (atwood 2000:18). at the very top of the social ladder of sakiel-norn is a heartless tyrant bearing a marked resemblance to iris’s husband, richard griffen, who is subsequently the embodiment of ruthless capitalism or, as alex calls him in the primary narrative, “the sweatshop tycoon”. nevertheless, the novel’s subject matter also revolves around the issue of the social position of women throughout the 20 th century, for, as atwood (in staines 2006:17) argues, “the goals of feminist movement have not been achieved, and those who claim we’re living in a post-feminist era are either sadly mistaken or tired of thinking about the whole subject”. once again the aforementioned sci-fi parable provides a number of observations on the topic. as bouson (2003:251) states: in the blind assassin science fiction tale, atwood, through repetitive retellings of the story of women’s sexual victimization, probes the cultural—and historical—repetition of sexual violence against women, showing the link between institutionalized misogyny and the sexual traumatization of women. indeed, the tragic fate of the sacrificial tongueless virgins of sakiel-norn, who the night before the votive ceremony are raped by the lord of the underworld, mirrors the sad plight of the chase sisters. although iris and laura represent two distinct attitudes towards social expectations and limitations imposed on them by the patriarchal society of early 20 th century canada, both of them fall victim to sexual and mental abuse inflicted by the men surrounding them, and both suffer their lot in silence, like the mute sacrificial virgins from alex’s tale. it takes iris nearly fifty years to shatter the silence and learn speech again, to tell her story of official history (also read as his story). as vevaina (2006:89) observes, “atwood’s interest in the past of the formerly excluded ‘ex-centrics’ (as both off-centre and decentred) leads her to conribute to the body of knowledge which linda hutcheon has called ‘archival women history’”, and adds that “by taking us back into the past through her fictive reconstructions of history, atwood seeks to make readers aware of our present state” (vevaina 2006:97). in other words, through the sci-fi tale the writer seems to be querying if the contemporary society has truly become an equal one in terms of gender, and to what extent institutionalized misogyny is a thing of the past. it is worth observing that in the city of sakiel-norn children were offered to two different gods, depending on their sex: boy children were offered to the god of the three suns, who was the god of daytime, bright lights, palaces, feasts, furnaces, wars, liquor, entrances, and words; girl children were offered to the goddess of the five moons, patroness of night, mists and shadows, famine, caves, childbirth, exits, and silences. (atwood 2000:30) crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp.4-12 thus, it may be concluded that from early infancy disparate gendered social roles are ascribed to each sex. namely, the male domain is public speech and the limelight, while the female realm is reduced to child rearing and keeping a low profile. as has already been noted, the sci-fi story functions as iris’s eye-opener to the social injustices of her world, as through the tale alex thomas “fictionalizes the painful facts of iris’s life, thereby holding a distorted mirror reflection up to her private story, a familiar, though repressed one” (staels 2004:154). when he narrates that a bankrupt snilfard could avoid being demoted to the lower orders of ygnirods by selling his wife or children, alex alludes to iris’s economically-conditioned marriage to richard, which was meant to save her father’s factory from bankruptcy. nevertheless, the primary narrative also offers many instances of social changes in other spheres of life. the family saga opens with the description of iris’s grandmother adelia, from the respected montfort family, who were affluent once but by the beginning of the 20 th century had lost most of their fortune. thus, at the age of twenty-three, “which was counted over the hill in those days”, adelia was forced to marry money through her union with benjamin chase, the local button factory owner (atwood 2000:62). brought up in an aristocratic family, she wanted culture above all, and did everything she could to refine the crude button money of her husband by throwing twelve-course dinners for important guests and designing the chase mansion, avilion. what is noteworthy, however, above all is her old continent complex. she missed the artistic salons which she had a chance to frequent while holidaying in england in the days when her family still prospered. her obsession with the displays of european culture, be it a garden statute, a family tomb with two victorian angels, or a christmas card inscription, made her a laughing stock among the townspeople. even iris seems to poke fun at her grandmother’s pretenses when commenting on her choice of the motto for a christmas card: “tennyson was somewhat out of date, by english standards— oscar wilde was in the ascendant then, at least among the younger set—but then, everything in port ticonderoga was somewhat out of date” (atwood 2000:64). notwithstanding, iris is not critical of her grandmother as such, but rather envisages her as a romantic heroine trapped in a monotonous, loveless marriage to a well-off manufacturer. noteworthy then is the fact that her grandma’s sentiments for england and european culture seem quaint but alien to the 82-year-old iris, who seems to have a very strong sense of being canadian. unlike her extravagant mother-in-law, liliana, iris’s mother, was a down-to-earth thrifty woman, more preoccupied with helping the underprivileged than raising her two daughters. and it must be stressed that among many social phenomena it is the parent-child relationship that has changed the most over the last century. both chase sisters are basically brought up by their housemaid reenie, for their mother dies when iris and laura are nine and six years old, respectively. however, during her life liliana did not really spend much time nurturing her offspring, either. the few scenes describing family life display restraint rather than love and affection between the family members. iris reminisces: “her comportment as a mother had always been instructive rather than cherishing. at heart she remained a schoolteacher” (atwood 2000:88). liliana must have believed that her primary maternal obligation was to acquaint the girls with social protocol and to teach self-sacrifice, which is respectively mirrored in the mother’s constant reminders to “sit up straight and to eat the crusts” (atwood 2000:90). what is more, neither of their parents told the girls about their affection for them; it was something that was taken for granted—“parents were supposed to love their children”, iris notes (atwood 2000:105). later, this inability to express emotions openly, or to even acknowledge them, will place a great strain on iris’s relationship with her own daughter aimee. not surprisingly, iris’s ties with her father are not any closer than those with her mother, which is quite salient in the following scene: he’d begun insisting that laura and i have breakfast with him, instead of in the kitchen with reenie, as crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp.4-12 before. we sat at one end of the long table, he sat at the other. he rarely spoke to us: he read the paper instead, and we were too in awe of him to interrupt. (we worshiped him, of course. it was either that or hate him. he did not invite the more moderate emotions.) (atwood 2000:102) the only interest norval chase displays in his older daughter is when he resolves to prepare her for inheriting and subsequently managing the button factory or, more sadly, when he outlines to her the possibility of her saving the factory from collapse by marrying a much older prosperous manufacturer, richard griffen. the absence of attachment to a young child could be easily accounted for by the fact that at the beginning of the 20 th century “one child in four did not survive infancy” (morton 2000:25). however, the lack of bonding in the later years of a child’s development is quite difficult both to explain and imagine from today’s perspective. it may be observed altogether that the familial relationships between the women in the novel are given more prominence than those between men, or men and women. this might be connected with steenman-marcusses’s claim that “one way for a canadian woman to know herself is to read about her predecessors” (laskowska 2005:289). this may also constitute the ultimate explanation of why iris herself is writing the memoir, namely, for her long gone granddaughter sabrina. by providing her grandchild with an allegedly true account of the family saga, including the suffering inflicted on female family members by richard and his vicious sister winifred, iris hopes to free sabrina from the burden of shame and allegations that befell the family after richard’s suicide. by disclosing the name of the girl’s real grandfather, that is alex thomas, the grandmother allows sabrina to make a fresh start, to rediscover herself and her own identity. notwithstanding, the novel also offers observations on other social transformations, for example the multi-ethnicity of contemporary canadian society, which is juxtaposed with the fear of outsiders in the 1930s and 40s, as demonstrated through the townspeople’s resentment towards the character alex thomas. some decades later, during an honour student awards event at a local school, to which she was invited as the last surviving member of the griffen family, iris presents a cheque to a girl of apparently foreign background: she walked towards me, heels clicking across the stage. she was tall; they’re all very tall these days, young girls, it must be something in the food. … an oval face, a mouth done in cerise lipstick; a slight frown, focused, intent. skin with a pale-yellow or brown undertint—could she be indian, or arabian, or chinese? even in port ticonderoga such a thing was possible: everyone is everywhere nowadays. (atwood 2000:43) at the very same ceremony, when hearing the national anthem, iris also comments on the birth of national identity in canada and its separation from british rule. interestingly, it was not until june 18 1980 that “o canada!” was officially recognized as the new national anthem, superseding “god save the queen”. however, the forthcoming passage further allows iris to allude to volatile relations between quebec and english-speaking parts of the country in a typically atwoodian wry style: the school orchestra struck up with squeaks and flats, and we sang “o canada!,” the words to which i can never remember because they keep changing them. nowadays they do some of it in french, which once would have been unheard of. we sat down, having affirmed our collective pride in something we can’t pronounce. (atwood 2000:40) in her recollections iris also remarks on the sexual revolution, which changed the mentality of even small town people, or depicts the social implications of world war i, both of which, until the 1970s, were of no interest to canadian historians, but which seem to lie at the very heart of the blind assassin in its account of the second decade of 20 th century canada. however, the novel also comprises truly hilarious passages that reflect the universal changes in lifestyle; since these changes are often precipitated by the process of globalization crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp.4-12 they are familiar to every reader, regardless of their cultural background, be it canada or poland, as demonstrated in the following excerpt about betty’s luncheonette: chicken pot pies were the speciality once, but they’re long gone. there are hamburgers, but myra says to avoid them. she says they use pre-frozen patties made of meat dust. meat dust, she says, is what is scraped up off the floor after they’ve cut up frozen cows with an electric saw. she reads a lot of magazines, at the hairdresser’s. (atwood 2000:47) the image of women from all over the world flicking through glossy magazines replete with advertisements for the same beauty products and household appliances, or offered cappucino and tortellini at their local diners makes us acutely aware of the fact that the world is shrinking and cultural differences are progressively being blurred. perhaps that is yet another reason to attempt to preserve those cultural elements that make a country unique, be they its cuisine or history, and that is partially the role the novel under discussion performs. to conclude, the blind assassin is not only an engrossing family saga with a number of skeletons in the cupboard, which could just as well have been entitled “the fall of the house of chase”, but it is also a close study of the social realities of 20 th century canada, with emphasis put on the 1930s and 40s. if, as eagleton (1983:185) maintains, any narrative is based on the ‘fort-da game’ principle, in which an “original settlement is disrupted and ultimately restored”, the blind assassin is primarily a novel concerned with retrieving what has either been lost or forgotten. regaining the past is often a painful process because it makes us realize that something or someone is indeed gone; “‘fort’ has meaning only in relation to ‘da’” (eagleton 1983:186). by recollecting early 20 th century toronto, iris chase highlights the fact that such a place does not exist anymore, except in people’s memory and literature. after all, as atwood (2005:158) points out, “fiction is where individual memory and experience and collective memory and experience come together, in greater or lesser proportions”. references atwood, margaret. 2000. the blind assassin. new york: anchor books. -----. 2005. writing with intent. essays, reviews, personal prose: 1983-2005. new york: carroll & graf publishers. bemrose, john. 2000. margaret’s museum. maclean’s 09 nov. 54-56. bouson, j. brooks. 2003. a commemoration of wounds endured and resented: margaret atwood’s the blind assassin as feminist memoir. critique spring. 251-269. davies, rebecca j. 2001. dissecting the narrative. lancet 04 july. 1138. eagleton, terry. 1983. literary theory: an introduction. minneapolis: university of minnesota press. hite, molly. 2001. tongueless in toronto. women’s review of books march. 1-3. labudova, katarina. 2005. houses, clothes, and pregnant women. re-construction of memory and identity in margaret atwood’s alias grace. in: magdalena paluszkiewiczmisiaczek, anna reczyńska and anna śpiewak (eds.), place and memory in canada: global perspectives, 259-267. kraków: polska akademia umiejętności. laskowska, małgorzata. 2005. reinterpretations of susanna moodie by margaret atwood as an example of creative recycling of the past. in: magdalena paluszkiewicz-misiaczek, anna reczyńska and anna śpiewak (eds.), place and memory in canada: global perspectives, 289-308. kraków: polska akademia umiejętności. crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp.4-12 morton, desmond. 2000. 1900: a new century begins. beaver dec 99/jan 2000. 23-29. parr, joy. 2001. chr forum. introduction. the canadian historical review dec. 719. selden, raman. 1989. a reader’s guide to contemporary literary theory. hertfordshire: harvester wheatsheaf. staels, hilde. 2004. margaret atwood’s specular narrative: the blind assassin. english studies april. 147-160. staines, david. 2006. margaret atwood in her canadian context. in: coral ann howells (ed.), the cambridge companion to margaret atwood, 12-27. cambridge: cup. vevaina, coomi. s. 2006. margaret atwood and history. in: coral ann howells (ed.), the cambridge companion to margaret atwood, 86-99. cambridge: cup. karczewski, kacper. “more than just iron man: a brief history of comic books and graphic novels”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 47-51. kacper karczewski university of bialystok more than just iron man: a brief history of comic books and graphic novels abstract. comic books and graphic novels are a significant part of today’s culture. popularity of blockbuster movies about superheroes such as iron man or the dark knight clearly indicates that stories created for the comic medium can captivate large audiences. unfortunately, such stories are often considered to be lacking in substance and are often perceived as a very simple form of entertainment. the aim of this article is to briefly show how comic books and graphic novels developed throughout history. while observing how this form evolved, it is much easier to notice that this medium can actually be used t o tackle serious subject matter and, contrary to popular belief, even superhero stories can have a significant level of depth. key words: comics, graphic novels, popular culture, visual art the influence of comic books is constantly present in our everyday lives, even though we may not always realize this is actually the case. actor robert downey jr. scored number 1 on vulture’s list of the 100 most valuable stars of 2013 (is1). the list is composed of people who can positively influence the earnings of the films they star in. downey’s success is largely owed to his appearance in the iron man films. thanks to those movies iron man, a comic book character unknown outside of specific fandom, has become a household name in just a couple of years. we may also point to the recent success of christopher nolan’s dark knight trilogy in order to show how a story about a comic book character can be the basis for a successful box office hit. the fact that such acclaimed actors as robert downey jr. or christian bale are chosen to portray superheroes in order to fully show the depth of their characters, can convince some that there may be more substance to the comic book medium then they initially thought. of course others will still remain unconvinced. after all, cinema blockbusters are considered to be popular culture and do not always tackle serious subject matter. an argument can be made that even the simplest works have artistic merit. but what is more important is the fact that comics are actually much more than just stories about superheroes. as a matter of fact, both comics and graphic novels (comics in a book form) can be successfully used to talk about subjects as difficult as loneliness, the existence of god, even the holocaust. comic books and graphic novels are simply a different medium from films or books. they use different methods to convey their message, yet can be used not only to entertain, as we may initially think, but to make us ponder serious issues as well. in order to understand this better, it makes sense to briefly look at the history of comic books and graphic novels. but first, we should ask ourselves: what is a comic? the answer may actually be complicated. comic book creator scott mccloud suggests that the best definition of a comic book would be: “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in a deliberate sequence, invented to karczewski, kacper. “more than just iron man: a brief history of comic books and graphic novels”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 47-51. convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer” (9). this definition is well formulated and thought through, in order not to exclude any important works. mccloud realises, however, that if we adopt this definition even pre-columbian manuscripts or the bayeux tapestry could be considered as ancestors of comic books (10-12). of course there may not be a direct link between the development of comics and ancient works of art. still, we should realize that humanity has created works based on principles similar to comics much earlier then we might usually think, and it is no easy task to pinpoint the exact starting point of the genre. throughout history, we may find many examples of people who created works increasingly similar to the comics we know today. we can look at the works of a painter william hogarth (1697–1764) who created sets of paintings that made a cohesive story when viewed together. another artist creating art similar in nature to comics was rodolphe töpffer, whose picture stories (stories told with pictures with a textual description) were sold in the form of albums. the next step in the development of the medium, were magazines with satirical illustrations such as the british ally sloper’s half holiday (1884), which helped establish some of the conventions now present in comic books. during that time, comic strips (short satirical stories) began to appear in newspapers in order to boost their sales. one of the most well known was hogan’s alley (1894) by richard felton outcault, starring the yellow kid. comic strips began to be more and more popular, and soon were collected in anthologies and sold separately from newspapers. because of their humorous nature, the name “comic” started to be used just as it is today, even though comics now are not usually funny in nature. it is important to note that comic strips as a subgenre continue to be strong today; such works are still present in newspapers. what is more, many characters known worldwide: e.g. popeye (1929) or garfield (1978) first appeared in comic strips. we also must not omit the fact that even though comic strips were originally funny in nature, we could still try to find some deeper meaning in them. krazy kat by george herriman for example is said to “[…] have enough twists to give the plots true philosophical import […]” (estren 1993:30). the most popular genre of comics is of course the superhero story. randy duncan and matthew j. smith point out that the emergence of such comics should be linked to pulp magazines, which contained stories about heroes with unusual abilities like zorro or tarzan. since the same companies were already publishing pulps and comic strip anthologies, it was not long before comics about uncanny heroes started to appear (28-29). after the appearance of superman in action comics #1 (1938) comic book magazines started to grow in popularity and began to develop rapidly. it should be noted that analysis of how superhero comics changed throughout the years can give a pretty clear picture of the social concerns of a given era. for example, the attitudes of such iconic characters las superman or batman changed over the years to reflect the current socio-political situation. sometimes one just needs to look at the cover of a certain comic issue to know when it was made, as with the cover of captain america comics #1 (1941) which shows the titular hero punching adolf hitler. many genres of comics for different types of readers were created throughout the years: war comics, westerns, detective stories, horrors, romance, or funny animal comics (comics with talking animals like donald duck or bugs bunny). still, the superhero comic remained the most popular. comics took a heavy blow in the 1950s with the publication of dr fredric wertham’s book seduction of the innocent. in it, he criticised comics saying they may have a bad effect on children and might lead them to committing crimes. roger sabin states that wertham’s karczewski, kacper. “more than just iron man: a brief history of comic books and graphic novels”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 47-51. research was unreliable and the book was “academically unsound” (2010: 68). the damage was done, however, and it looked like the industry took a very heavy blow. fortunately, instead of completely disappearing, comics reinvented themselves. stan lee was able to create new superhero characters, ones a reader could easily identify with. characters like the fantastic four (1961), hulk (1962), or spider-man (1962) showed that comics were not about violence like wertham feared, but about flawed, relatable characters who ultimately try to do the right thing. these characters were not only able to entertain youngsters, but teach them some valuable moral lessons as well. throughout the 1960s comics began maturing while still remaining socially relevant. for example, comics about iron man (created in 1963) talked about the vietnam war. in the 1970s x-men comics became popular. the x-men are mutant superheroes who have decided to protect all of humanity, despite being discriminated against by the rest of society. one of the clear themes of these stories was the discrimination against minorities. what is more, in the 1970s well-established characters began to face even more difficult issues. for example, spider-man had to deal with the death of his girlfriend. even themes such as alcoholism are tackled – iron man himself struggles with alcoholism in the comic arc “demon in a bottle”. as tim morse explains, even though the authors of the comic did not purposely decide to include such a storyline in order to be socially relevant, iron man’s addiction makes this hero very human and is an essential part of what the character is now (is2). tony stark’s (the man behind the guise of iron man) problem with alcohol is mentioned even in the iron man 2 film. we can clearly see that comic books/comic art matured over time. its characters changed as well, and the iron man we now watch in cinemas is a character shaped through many years. more serious issues were not only present in the mainstream comics. in the 1960s and 1970s the phenomenon of underground comix existed (spelled with x to be differentiated from the mainstream). this counter-culture movement consisted of mostly self-published works in which artists like r(obert) crumb tackled themes as varied as drug use, women’s rights, antivietnam protests, racism, sex, and many others. some artists were interested solely in shock value, yet many wanted to simply express their opinions on controversial topics. the movement was rather short lived, but it later transformed into a wave of “alter native” comics which were sold alongside regular comic titles, though they dealt with more realistic and serious subject matter. in the 1980s comic books sought a new readership and thus a new model of publishing comics was born – the graphic novel. the term is often considered to be just a marketing ploy to make comics more credible, as they were previously seen merely as a form of entertainment for teenagers. even though the term is not always viewed in a positive light, many great works have been published as graphic novels. one veteran creator of comics, will eisner, paved the way for other works with his graphic novel a contract with god (1978). in it, he portrays the life of jewish immigrants at 55 dropsie avenue (a fictional street in bronx) in the 1930s, similar to the neighbourhood he had lived in. not only does this work tell us something about life in the depression years, but while reading it we can also ponder the justice of god’s will, or sexual innocence, among many other topics. some more serious graphic novels about superheroes were released as well. alan moore’s watchmen contains many references that will be understood by superhero fans, and tries to show heroes in a much darker light then readers are used to. this book is not only a great read for a comics fan, however. it also comments on the anxieties connected with the cold war and the usage of weapons of mass destruction. the strength of the book lies in its karczewski, kacper. “more than just iron man: a brief history of comic books and graphic novels”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 47-51. characters, who have complex motivations rooted in the theories and philosophies of such varied people as albert einstein or alexander the great. this novel truly proves that stories about superheroes can be a mature and complex read. the true gems of the graphic novel were created by creators linked to the underground or alternative comix. art spiegelman’s maus (first part published in 1986) tells the story of art’s father vladek, a survivor of the holocaust. the title of the work may initially be puzzling. everything becomes clear, however, when we begin reading. every nationality in this work is depicted as a different type of animal: jews are mice, germans are cats, poles are pigs, and americans dogs. one may think that such a portrayal of the holocaust is wrong and distasteful. in reality, however, this metaphor serves many different purposes, helping us to comprehend the contents of the novel better. cartoons – the simple images used by spiegelman – have the property called by scott mccloud “amplification through simplification”. as he explains, a simpler piece of drawing can act as a vessel that allows us to be more focused on the message of the comic, and partially project our own emotions into it (1994: 30, 36-37). we are able to be engaged in the story much more than if we were reading about it in a history book. therefore, we are more willing to remember and to try to understand the holocaust, a terrible tragedy that should never be forgotten. the pulitzer prize winning maus proves that comics and graphic novels can successfully tackle even the most serious of issues. the term “graphic novel” was intended to make comics more respectable in the american market. in some cultures, however, comics developed differently, and there was no need for the creation of such a term. in france comics are respectable enough to be shown in museums, and japanese comics – manga – are a significant sector of the book market and can tackle issues as varied as wine tasting orthe tale of a hiroshima survivor. nowadays, it is easier than ever to find all manner of comic books and graphic novels from all around the world suited for all kinds of readers. comics and graphic novels are simply a different medium, unlike regular books, paintings, or movies. they are collectively no better nor worse than other media, but simply different. all use both words and pictures in ways that can create a very unique aesthetic response in the reader. whether you want to read a funny strip (garfield), a work that talks about serious and important issues (maus), or a captivating story that can be the material for a hollywood blockbuster (iron man), there is always a comic or a graphic novel out there that can amaze you. if you have heard little about this medium, you should remember that comics are much more than just iron man. and even the old superhero himself is a more complex character then you might initially think. references duncan, randy, and matthew j. smith. the power of comics: history, form and culture. new york and london: continuum, 2009. estren, mark james. history of underground comics. berkeley: ronin publishing, inc., 1993. mccloud, scott. understanding comics: the invisible art. new york: harpercollins, 1994. sabin, roger. comics, comix & graphic novels a history of comic art. london: phaidon press limited, 2010. internet sources karczewski, kacper. “more than just iron man: a brief history of comic books and graphic novels”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 47-51. 1. vulture’s 100 most valuable stars of 2013. 30 october 2013 <http://www.vulture.com/2013/10/most-valuable-movie-stars.html#/all/vulture-rankings> 2. morse, tim. “back issue bin to the future: iron man (vol. 1) #128”. 20 february 2012. 30 october 2013 http://www.stashmycomics.com/blog/back-issue-bin-to-the-future-iron-man-vol-1-128 http://www.stashmycomics.com/blog/back-issue-bin-to-the-future-iron-man-vol-1-128 crossroads 5/2014, pp. 36-49 anita mackiewicz the university of bialystok translation strategies across time: a comparison of two polish renderings of anne of green gables by lucy maud montgomery abstract. the aim of this article is to compare two polish renderings of anne of green gables by lucy maud montgomery: the oldest one by rozalia bersteinowa (1911/1912), and one of the most recent ones, by paweł beręsewicz (2013). this article attempts to both identify the specific strategies and techniques employed by the two translators and to illustrate how approaches to translation have changed over the years. keywords: translation, english, polish, adaptation, foreignisation, anne of green gables, lucy maud montgomery, rozalia bersteinowa, paweł beręsewicz. attitudes towards translation and translation strategies change with time. by looking at two polish renderings of anne of green gables – the oldest one (bersteinowa 1911/1912) and one of the most recent ones (beręsewicz 2013) – this article attempts to both identify the specific strategies and techniques employed by the two translators and to illustrate how approaches to translation have changed over the years. the novel, its author and translators anne of green gables is a heart-warming story of a ginger-haired heroine known all over the world to both youngsters and adults. after its publication in 1908 in canada, the book quickly became a worldwide bestseller, translated into 20 languages and sold in 50 million copies (is1). it was frequently adapted for movies, tv series, and musicals. the number of its renderings speaks for the popularity of the novel: only in poland at least 12 different translators have made an attempt to convey the emotions, humour and universal values of the book to the polish readers. lucy maud montgomery (1874-1942), who created the famous character, was born in prince edward island and decided that it was the perfect setting for her first novel. she was raised by her grandparents and for a short time worked as a teacher. she was married to revered ewan macdonald and had two children. montgomery wrote eight books about anne: anne of green gables (1908), anne of avonlea (1909), anne of the island (1915), anne of windy poplars (1936), anne’s house of dreams (1917), anne of ingleside (1939), rainbow valley (1919), rilla of ingleside (1920), for which she was awarded many times. thanks to the success of her works, prince edward island gained popularity as a destination for people who look for anne-related attractions (is2). among the polish translators of the book are rozalia bersteinowa and paweł beręsewicz: the authors of the first and one of the last polish translations of the novel, respectively. bersteinowa’s rendering comes from 1911 or 1912, and not much else is known about her. paweł beręsewicz is a contemporary translator who graduated from warsaw university where he studied english philology. in addition to being a translator, lexicographer and a part-time teacher, he also writes short stories and novels for children. he cooperates with such editing houses as skrzat and literatura. among his books are: co tam u ciumków?, czy wojna jest dla dziewczyn?, jak zakochałem kaśkę kwiatek, kiedy chodziłem z julką maj, tajemnica człowieka z blizną, warszawa. spacery z ciumkami, wielka wyprawa ciumków, wszystkie lajki marczuka. beręsewicz’s books have been honoured and awarded. he has received the kornel makuszyński literary award (twice), the warsaw literary award, the 3 rd prize in the ii astrid lindgren award, a nomination in the book of the year competition: polish section ibby (four times). his translations include not only anne of green gables by lucy maud montgomery, but also the adventures of tom sawyer by mark twain, the secret garden by frances hodgson burnett and the changeover by margaret mahy (is3). the sections which follow will focus on selected aspects of the two polish renderings of the book, comparing the strategies employed by the two translators. adaptation vs. foreignisation: proper names and cultural reality in translation the two translations of the book vary significantly, beginning with the titles of most chapters to individual words and phrases. they are about 100 years distant in time, which is enough for both the language, cultural reality and translation strategies to have changed. the most influential factor, however, which makes the two renderings so distant is the choice of two completely different translation strategies: adaptation and foreignisation. adaptation is understood as a translation method whose goal is to replace certain elements characteristic of one society and its culture with elements known by another society and its culture (delisle, lee-jahnke, cormier 2006: 22). this strategy facilitates understanding a target language text thanks to the elimination of foreignness, i.e. elements which do not occur in the readers’ native culture. rozalia bersteinowa’s version of anne of green gables is the perfect example of this method. the translator makes the reality presented in the novel more similar to that of poland, adjusting it to the realities familiar to her and her readers. foreignisation, in contrast, focuses on preserving the individuality of a given culture (skibińska 2000: 162), familiarizing readers with countries they are not acquainted with (lewicki 2000: 193). it brings in strangeness, saving as many elements of a foreign language and culture as possible. anne of green gables in beręsewicz’s translation is an example of the application of this specific technique – the translator made his rendering characteristic by its faithfulness to the original. a comparison of the two renderings of the novel demonstrates how the application of each of the strategies affects the translated text. first of all, let us take a look at the translator’s attitude towards proper names. both translators decided to transfer the names of the main characters of the novel, but they did it for different reasons. bersteinowa, who lived in a century when education was not so advanced, was cognizant of the fact that a great number of her readers did not know the english language and canadian culture. this may have been one of the reasons why she tried to adjust the book to polish culture; a young girl named ania is easier to identify with than a girl with the foreign name anne (especially when you are not really sure how to pronounce it). beręsewicz, on the other hand, is known for his disapproval of translating names. he is of the opinion that in the era of television and the internet people are sufficiently acquainted with the foreign culture to make it possible for a translator not to do so. however, despite this conviction, he did translate the names of the main characters of the novel. his decision was most probably motivated by the fact that anne of green gables is a very popular novel, and has already anchored in the minds and hearts of polish society. leaving the names of the main characters as they are in the original version was likely to make many readers skeptical towards this idea. therefore, he met his readers half way and in certain fragments saved both versions of the names, i.e. english anne and polish ania. the renderings of the following fragment illustrate the strategies employed by the two translators: lucy maud montgomery: -yes, this is anne shirley, said marilla. -spelled with an e, gasped anne (…) (p.108) bersteinowa uses 2 diminutive forms of the character’s name – ania and andzia – suggesting that anne hated the latter: -tak, to ania shirley potwierdziła maryla -ania, nie andzia szepnęła dziewczynka (...) (p.95) beręsewicz uses both the polish and the english version of her name, anne’s comment referring to the spelling of the english version: -tak, to jest ania. anne shirley przytaknęła maryla. -przez "e" na końcu wykrztusiła ania (...) (p. 106) as for the remaining names, marilla and matthew are translated as maryla and mateusz respectively. beręsewicz explained later that he found the name matthew very difficult to inflect and fit into polish syntax, and decided that its polish equivalent would be more convenient to use. to be consistent with the treatment of the names of the main characters, he translated them all. as far as the names of the other characters are concerned, bersteinowa uses their polish equivalents while beręsewicz leaves them in the original. thus, in bersteinowa’s version rachel lynde becomes małgorzata linde, charlie is karolek, jane becomes janka, josie is józia and josephine – józefina. anne of green gables is fraught with real and fictional names of places. the eponymous green gables is called zielone wzgórze in both renderings. the rest of the names, however, differ in the two translations. beręsewicz is consistent in his strategy and leaves most of the place names in the original form. if he decides to translate certain names, usually the longer ones, his translation is as faithful to the original as possible. bersteinowa, on the contrary, tries to eliminate the foreignness to a complete minimum and translates every place name in the novel, very often adding something from herself and making the translation distant from its original form and meaning (especially in the case of the names invented by anne herself). thus, lynde’s hollow is called dolina linde’ów in bersteinowa’s version and lyndowa dolinka in beręsewicz’s. barry’s house – orchard slope in the earliest translation is sosnowe wzgórze and sadowy stok (which is a calque of orchard slope) in the latest one. white sands has been translated literally by bersteinowa as białe piaski, while beręsewicz retains its original form. in the novel there are also names coined by anne. there is a scene where she is delighted by the geranium and decides to name it bonny. beręsewicz transfers the original name into the polish version but bersteinowa translates it as jutrzenka (‘dawn’ or ‘a morning star’). then, there is a place used by girls as a playhouse, which they call idlewild. bersteinowa calls it zacisze słowika (‘nightingale’s refuge’), while beręsewicz uses a name which is closer to the original – leśna samotnia (‘a refuge in the forest’). another example of beręsewicz’s accuracy in translation is willowmere: he translates it as wierzbowe oczko (lit. ‘a willow’s eye’), while bersteinowa uses an entirely different name – jasnooka (‘bright-eyed’). both translators render snow queen as królowa śniegu and lake of shining waters as jezioro lśniących wód, thus using direct polish equivalents of the two names. moreover, the novel contains names of various associations. here the differences in translation are caused not so much by the choice of specific strategies, but rather by the temporal distance that separates the two renderings. in effect, the sewing circle is called szwalnia dla dziewcząt by bersteinowa. the noun szwalnia, common in her times, is now mostly associated with sewing industry rather than an activity of individuals. that is why beręsewicz decides to name it kółko krawieckie, which is both a literal translation of the english name and a current polish equivalent of the expression. another example is church aid society. in bersteinowa’s version it appears under the name parafialny związek pomocy, while beręsewicz translates it as kościelne towarzystwo dobroczynne. in this case, bersteinowa is closer to the original; beręsewicz uses a word (dobroczynność) which is a polish counterpart of charity, which sounds more modern. the application of two different strategies is particularly visible in fragments concerning cultural reality, such religion, education and food. as for religion, it is worth mentioning that protestantism forbids taking the lord’s name in vain and people from avonlea obey this law and never use it directly. they, for example, say thanks be to goodness for that. beręsewicz respects that and in his rendering it goes like i niech będzie chwała. bersteinowa’s translates it as dzięki ci, boże (‘thank god’), which is a very common phrase in polish, but it ignores the importance of this unwritten law in avonlean community. further we observe the same pattern merciful goodness! is translated as łaska i zmiłowanie by beręsewicz and na litość boską! (‘for god’s sake’) by bersteinowa. another important cultural area, i.e. education, also shows how an adoption of a specific method can affect translation. starting with the name of the teachers’ school and ending with a graduation outfit, the two renderings are completely different. lucy maud montgomery refers to the school for teachers as queen’s. so does beręsewicz in his rendering. bersteinowa, on the other hand, uses the noun akademia (‘academy’). what’s more, the traditional english graduating outfit is described by the author as a gown and mortar board. beręsewicz translates gown as toga and mortal board as kwadratowa czapka – he knows that polish readers are already familiar with this custom, not only thanks to television, but also because many polish universities have adopted it. bersteinowa omits the fragment entirely and does not mention it at all. every country and almost every region has its characteristic food. lucy maud montgomery also weaves many delicacies into the plot. table 1 below presents how the two translators dealt with their names. table 1. names of foods in the original and the two translations lucy maud montgomery rozalia bersteinowa paweł beręsewicz fruit cake placek z owocami keks pound cake ciastka z kremem biszkopt doughnuts orzechy w cukrze pączki preserves konfitury konfitury pie pieróg zapiekanka chocolate sweeties pastylki czekoladowe czekoladowe cukierki peppermints pastylki miętowe miętówki beręsewicz’s translation is not only up-to-date, but also more precise and accurate. pound cake is a traditional cake made from a pound of four different ingredients. it has no cream in it, so his biszkopt is a closer equivalent than bersteinowa’s ciastka z kremem (‘cream cakes’). as for doughnuts, bersteinowa seems to have been misled by the nut part, which is why she translated the word as orzechy w cukrze (‘nuts in sugar’). in avonlean society, many orphans were working and helping at farms. they were usually treated as inferior to other people, as illustrated in the following fragment: ‘well, you’d better go and give that cake to the pigs,’ said marilla. ‘it isn’t fit for any human to eat, not even jerry boute.’ (p. 22) beręsewicz translates the fragment faithfully: no dobrze, idź teraz i zanieś to ciasto świniom – powiedziała maryla. – dla ludzi się nie nadaje. nawet dla jerry’ego buote’a. (p. 212) in bersteinowa’s rendering, however, the entire fragment is omitted. it is possible that she considered it too direct, too radical to be included in a book for children. another interesting aspect of the two translations is the treatment of units of measure. when anne says that she is an inch taller than diana, bersteinowa translates it as troszeczkę wyższa, which means a bit taller. beręsewicz, in contrast, uses the polish equivalent of inch cal. style and vocabulary as already mentioned, the two translations are about 100 years distant in time, which is why the style and vocabulary used by the two translators are often remarkably different. the easiest way to notice the difference between the two renderings is to take a quick look at translation of the chapters’ titles. only 6 out of 38 titles are translated in the same way; the remaining ones are different. table 2 below summarises the differences. table 2. titles of chapters in the two translations lucy maud montgomery rozalia bersteinowa paweł beręsewicz mrs rachel linde is surprised zdumienie pani małgorzaty linde pani rachel linde jest zdziwiona matthew cuthbert is surprised zdumienie mateusza mateusz cuthbert jest zdziwiony marilla cuthbert is surprised zdumienie maryli cuthbert maryla cuthbert jest zdziwiona morning at green gables poranek na zielonym wzgórzu poranek w zielonym wzgórzu anne’s history historia ani historia ani marilla makes up her mind co postanowiła maryla maryla podejmuje decyzję anne says her prayers modlitwa ani ania odmawia pacierz anne’s bringing-up is begun zaczyna się wychowanie ani wychowanie ani rozpoczęte mrs rachel lynde is properly horrified oburzenie pani linde pani rachel lynde jest wprost przerażona anne’s apology wyznanie winy przeprosiny ani anne’s impressions of sunday-school wrażenia ani w szkole niedzielnej ania idzie do szkółki niedzielnej a solemn vow and promise uroczysta przysięga i obietnica uroczysta przysięga i obietnica the delights of anticipation rozkosze oczekiwania rozkosze czekania anne’s confession przyznanie się do winy wyznanie ani a tempest in the school teapot burza w szkolnej szklance wody burza w szkolnej szklance wody diana is invited to tea with tragic result tragiczne skutki podwieczorku podwieczorek ze skutkiem tragicznym a new interest in life nowy cel w życiu życie odzyskuje blask anne to the rescue ania w roli zbawcy ania przybywa na ratunek a concert a catastrophe and a confession koncert, katastrofa i wyznanie koncert, katastrofa i wyznanie a good imagination gone wrong bezdroża wyobraźni zgubne skutki wyobraźni a new departure in flavorings nowe zastosowanie kropli walerianowych przełom w dziedzinie dodatków smakowych anne is invited out to tea odwiedziny ani u pastorstwa ania idzie z wizytą anne comes to grief in an affair of honor ofiara ani dla sprawy honorowej sprawa honoru miss stacy and her pupils get up a concert wychowankowie panny stacy urządzają koncert panna stacy i jej uczniowie organizują koncert matthew insists on puffed sleeves mateusz rzecznikiem bufiastych rękawów mateusz a sprawa bufiastych rękawów the story club is formed klub powieściowy klub literacki vanity and vexation of spirit próżność ukarana próżność i cierpienia duszy an unfortunate lily maid niefortunne przedstawienie nieszczęsna pani nenufarów an epoch in anne’s life epoka w życiu ani epoka w życiu ani the queens class is organized utworzenie kompletu seminarzystów zajęcia dla kandydatów do queen’s where the brook and river meet zwierzenia na progu dorosłego życia the pass list is out ogłoszenie listy przyjętych lista przyjętych the hotel concert koncert w hotelu koncert w hotelu a queen’s girl seminarzystka uczennica queen’s the winter at queen’s zima w seminarium zima w akademii the glory and the dream sława i marzenie sen i chwała the reaper whose name is death żniwiarz, którego imię jest śmierć żniwiarz imieniem śmierć the bend in the road zakręt na drodze na zakręcie in beręsewicz’s version the titles are very close to the original. he makes almost no changes in the structure of the titles, while bersteinowa changes most of those which have the structure of sentences into noun phrases. for example, anne is invited out to tea becomes odwiedziny ani u pastorstwa (‘anne’s visit at the pastor and his wife’s’). she keeps the sense of the original, shortens the title if possible and often adds something from herself, revealing more about the content of a given chapter than the original. for example, in the case of anne is invited out to tea, the reader already learns from the title that anne is going to visit the pastor and his wife. another difference is the translation of the titular green gables. in particular, morning at green gables is translated by bersteinowa as poranek na zielonym wzgórzu. the preposition at used in the original suggests a place. bersteinowa’s use of na suggest that house is on the top of the hill. beręsewicz translates the title as poranek w zielonym wzgórzu, which implies being inside the house. there are many words and expressions in bersteinowa’s version which have become outmoded. table 3 below presents some of them. table 3. selected vocabulary items in the two translations lucy maud montgomery rozalia bersteinowa paweł beręsewicz supper wieczerza kolacja buggy kabriolet bryczka sorrel klacz kasztanka your place posiadłość farma ottoman ottoman kanapa skin płeć cera curtains portiery zasłonki tapestry makaty gobeliny turnip brukiew rzepa east gable facjatka piętro/poddasze picture rycina obrazek fever febra szkarlatyna grippe influencja grypa beręsewicz’s vocabulary is more modern than bersteinowa’s. the translation of the following fragment of diana speaking to anne is a good example: i’m awfully glad you’ve come to live at green gables. it will be jolly to have somebody to play with. (p. 110) bersteinowa’s rendering is: cieszę się ogromnie, że będziesz mieszkała na zielonym wzgórzu. przyjemnie będzie mieć towarzyszkę zabaw. (p. 96) in the same fragment translated by beręsewicz, the language is visibly modernized and sounds more natural from the perspective of modern readers: strasznie się cieszę, że zamieszkałaś w zielonym wzgórzu. wreszcie będę miała się z kim bawić. (p.108) in bersteinowa’a version i’m sorry i was late becomes żałuję, żem się spóźnił, which contains the rather archaic form żem, while beręsewicz translates it as przepraszam za spóźnienie (‘i’m sorry for being late’). likewise, looking after twins is referred to as piastować bliźnięta in the oldest version and as opiekować się bliźniętami in the more recent one, where the archaic verb piastować is replaced with its more modern equivalent opiekować się. when anne says i’m glad or i wonder, bersteinowa translates it as jestem temu bardzo rada and ciekawam, and beręsewicz as bardzo się cieszę and ciekawe, czy. beręsewicz also uses colloquialisms, e.g. he renders troubles that appear with anne’s upbringing as kompletny bigos while bersteinowa uses the neutral term kłopot. nothing affects the style more than the vocabulary used. bersteinowa’s selection of words make her style definitely more romantic, slushy, and feminine, as illustrated by her translation of the fragment when anne is imagining her room: lucy maud montgomery: the floor is covered with a white velvet carpet with pink roses all over it and there are pink silk curtains at the windows. (p.78) rozalia bersteinowa: podłoga pokryta jest dywanem z białego aksamitu, osypanym pąsowymi różami. u okien wiszą pąsowe jedwabne portiery. (p. 69-70) paweł beręsewicz: na podłodze jest biały aksamitny dywan w różyczki, a w oknach różowe jedwabne zasłonki. (p.77) she uses the literary adjective pąsowy where beręsewicz uses the neutral term różowy (pink). the noun portiery is also a more literary choice than the ordinary noun zasłonki used by beręsewicz to translate curtains. bersteinowa’s style is also rich in diminutive forms and maudlin expressions. for example, when anne discovers a lane, bersteinowa translates the word as maleńka ścieżyna (‘a tiny path’), where both the adjective and the noun are in diminutive forms. beręsewicz translates it as dróżka (‘a little path’), a noun which also conveys the meaning o f smallness, but is less literary and archaic than ścieżyna. marilla said once about anne: she’s a real bright little thing. in bersteinowa’s version it is more emphatic: to taki jasny promyczek, takie miłe stworzenie (‘she is such a bright ray, such a nice thing’). beręsewicz uses an idiom żywe srebro (‘quicksilver’) to describe her personality: to żywe srebro, nie dziewczyna. (lit. ‘she is quicksilver, not a girl’). anne of green gables is, among other features, a humoristic novel. unfortunately, the romantic womanish style represented by bersteinowa does not always reflect this quality. in the translation of the sentence: mrs. rachel swept out and away—if a fat woman who always waddled could be said to sweep away—and marilla with a very solemn face betook herself to the east gable (p.85) she omits the humorous comment, and, instead of that, writes that mrs. rachel moved slowly and with dignity: i pani małgorzata z wielką godnością i szacunkiem do swej okrągłej figury podniosła się i powoli ruszyła w drogę, maryla zaś, przybrawszy bardzo surowy wyraz twarzy, udała się do pokoiku na facjatce (p.75-76). paweł beręsewicz compares her walking style to that of a duck, thus retaining the humour: to powiedziawszy, pani rachel wymaszerowała z kuchni – jeżeli kaczy chód grubej kobiety można nazwać marszem – a maryla, z bardzo zasępioną miną, udała się do pokoiku na poddaszu. (p.84) the author’s sense of humour is also visible in the way she plays with words and their meanings. wordplay is generally difficult to translate, but beręsewicz manages to do it retaining the sense of the original and its humour. the following fragment illustrates it quite well: ‘will you swear to be my best friend forever and ever?’ demanded anne eagerly. diana looked shocked. ‘why it’s dreadfully wicked to swear,’ she said rebuckingly. ‘oh no, not my kind of swearing. there are two kinds, you know.’ ‘i never heard of but one kind,’ said diana doubtfully. ‘there really is another. oh, it isn’t wicked at all. it just means vowing and promising solemnly.’ ( p.110) here, montgomery uses the word swear, which bersteinowa translates as przysięga (‘vow’) and obietnica (‘promise’): czy przysięgniesz, że będziesz moją przyjaciółką na wieczne czasy? – spytała prędko ania. diana spojrzała przerażona. ależ to bardzo brzydko przysięgać – rzekła z wyrzutem. cóż znowu! nie jest brzydko przysięgać, tak jak ja myślę. są dwa rodzaje przysięgi. ja słyszałam tylko o jednym – rzekła diana z powątpiewaniem. a właśnie, że jest i drugi. wcale nie brzydki! jest to po prostu uroczysta obietnica. (p.96-98) it is not clear from the polish version why one should be preferred over the other and why it is wrong to swear. beręsewicz finds a word in polish which is ambiguous and justifies diana’s indignation. the word he uses, ślub, may mean a vow, solemn promise and a marriage: a co byś powiedziała, gdybyśmy złożyły śluby wieczystej przyjaźni, co? – ochoczo zaproponowała ania. diana wyglądała na wstrząśniętą. po co? – powiedziała z wyrzutem. przecież jesteśmy za małe na śluby. nie, to nie o takie śluby chodzi – tłumaczyła ania. – są ich dwa rodzaje. ja słyszałam tylko o jednym. naprawdę jest jeszcze drugi. i wiek nie ma znaczenia. po prostu chodzi o przysięgę i uroczystą obietnicę. (p.108) bersteinowa’s style is more romantic, fraught with maudlin expressions. beręsewicz has adjusted the novel’s language to the contemporary reader. in many ways, he is also closer in style to lucy maud montgomery. in his rendering, the main character is described in an ironic and humorous way, as in the original. bersteinowa made anne more romantic and delicate, losing some of the humour and wit of the original version. what is also worth mentioning is the translators’ treatment of quotations from literary works, which are frequent in the novel. bersteinowa tends to omit the quotations or translates them as if they were part of the novel. beręsewicz is very faithful to the original in this case. he respects all the references made by the author, often making footnotes to clarify the context for the reader. his footnotes make many fragments more understandable, simultaneously educating the reader in an indirect way. if bersteinowa decides to make a footnote, it usually concerns very simple, basic facts, like clarifying who caesar was. for example, in bersteinowa’s version references to hamlet are completely ignored, as in the following fragment: i heard him to say ‘sweets to the sweet’. bersteinowa translates it as: wyraźnie słyszałam jak wyrzekł: ‘piękno dla piękna!’ (‘beauty to beauty’). beręsewicz uses a quote from a polish translation of hamlet by barańczak and makes a footnote explaining the source of the quotation: (…) i słyszałam, jak powiedział: ‘niech wonne kwiaty otoczą ten kwiat.’ he also identifies an allusion to shakespeare’s comedy as you like it in the following sentence: there was a tang in the very air that inspired the hearts of small maidens tripping, unlike snails, swiftly and willingly to school (…), as well as an allusion to william wordsworth’s poem in the title of chapter 36 the glory and the dream and to henry w. longfellow’s poem in the title of chapter 37 the reaper whose name is death. he provides quotations from established polish translations of these fragments. bersteinowa ignores references to folk songs as well. anne mentions the song my home on the hill which beręsewicz renders literally as mój domek na wzgórzu. bersteinowa, however, does not mention it at all. conclusion the two translations discussed in the present study are significantly different mostly because of the temporal distance which separates them. they differ in style and the vocabulary used, but most importantly, they make use of different translation strategies – adaptation (bersteinowa) and foreignisation (beręsewicz). rozalia bersteinowa attempts to make the reality presented in the novel similar to the polish reality of her time: she uses polish equivalents of english proper names; she translates names of different types of food and even some customs. what is more, parts of the text are often omitted in her rendering, especially montgomery’s quotations from literary works. also, the language she uses has become a little archaic – many words and expressions have become outmoded. paweł beręsewicz represents an entirely different approach – one which is consistent with the current translation standards. he leaves most of the characters’ names in the original, and attempts to preserve the cultural reality and humour of the book. he does not omit any fragments of the original text. the language he uses is modern, but he stays faithful to the original in the meanings he expresses. an analysis of the two translations illustrates how the art of translation has changes over the years. omissions of large fragments of the original text are no longer acceptable and foreignisation is now preferred over domestication. references delisle, j., h. lee-jahnke, m.c. cormier (eds.). 2006. terminologia tłumaczenia. poznań, wyd. naukowe uam. lewicki, r. 2000. “między adaptacją a egzotyzacją” in: m. ogonowska (ed.). przekładając nieprzekładalne, gdańsk, wyd. uniwersytetu gdańskiego, 191-200. montgomery, l.m. 1908. anne of green gables at: http://www.planetebook.com/ebooks/anne-of-green-gables.pdf (april -june 2014) montgomery, l.m. 1956. ania z zielonego wzgórza, warszawa, wyd. nasza księgarnia. montgomery, l.m. 2013. ania z zielonego wzgórza, kraków, wyd. skrzat. skibińska, e. 2000. “nazwy własne we francuskim przekładzie ‘prawieku i innych czasów’ olgi tokarczuk” in: m. ogonowska (ed.). przekładając nieprzekładalne, gdańsk, wyd. uniwersytetu gdańskiego, 157-169. internet sources: is1: http://childliterature.net/childlit/realistic/anne.html (may 2013) is1: http://childrensbooks.about.com/od/authorsillustrato/a/anne-of-green-gables-booksauthor-prince-edward-island.htm (may 2013) is3: http://www.pawelberesewicz.neostrada.pl (may 2013) http://www.planetebook.com/ebooks/anne-of-green-gables.pdf http://childliterature.net/childlit/realistic/anne.html http://childrensbooks.about.com/od/authorsillustrato/a/anne-of-green-gables-books-author-prince-edward-island.htm http://childrensbooks.about.com/od/authorsillustrato/a/anne-of-green-gables-books-author-prince-edward-island.htm http://www.pawelberesewicz.neostrada.pl/ the effect of transparency on a three-cycle model of manipulative discourse 19 articles rana a. saeed almaroof al-buraimi university college, oman the effect of transparency on a three-cycle model of manipulative discourse abstract. it is assumed that manipulative discourse can carry various types of messages on the continuum of sincerity, such as: truth, persuasion (argumentation), deception and manipulation. these different intended meanings can cause variations within the ‘transparency factor’. the transparency factor is controlled by specific social and pragmatic factors. generally speaking, manipulative discourse is far away from transparency because it entails the use of implicit strategies and processes to achieve a final goal. the highly transparent type of discourse is the testimony where the speaker’s intention is to present truth that is supported by explicit strategies and processes. within this continuum, there is the persuasion where the speaker’s intention is to convince the addressee without exerting any power upon the receiver. other types, such as coercion and deception, may show a lower degree of transparency because they are used to mislead the hearer with or without the use of the social effect such as ‘power’. accordingly, a theoretical framework which treats manipulation as a three-cycle of the meaning-making process is proposed. it is assumed that this model helps in classifying manipulative texts into different types based on the transparency factors. the aim of this study is to provide a theoretical framework that can be adopted by researchers to analyze types of discourse in terms of transparency taking into consideration the speaker, the text itself and the hearer. all these factors in the three-cycle model help in shaping the degree of transparency that a text may show. keywords: manipulation, transparency, deception, testimony. introduction a manipulative piece of discourse is developed through stages. according to fairclough (2003), a text is produced based on the ‘meaning-making’ process which makes use of both explicit and implicit factors. fairclough divides the process of meaning-making into different stages starting from the production of discourse, the discourse itself and ending with the reception of discourse. the production stage focuses on the producer (speaker).the second stage involves the development of the text itself, and the third stage is the reception of the texts that has a close relation with the receiver who is the (hearer). the aim of this study is to build a connection between these stages and the transparency factor. the variations in the degree of transparency are found between the first and the last stages where the interplay of roles among the deceiver and the receiver is evident. in other words, the degree of transparency is highly dependent on both speaker’s and hearer’s intention. when the speak10.15290/cr.2017.16.1.02 20 crossroads. a journal of english studies er is simply lying, he creates a low degree of transparency which stands in contract with giving truth. similarly, the hearer may perceive the speech as a complete truth which has a high degree of transparency or as a lie which has a low degree of transparency. the perception is evaluated regardless of the speaker’s intention. the second stage focuses on the real text itself that displays a message with various degrees of transparency as well. the testimony discourse, for example, is highly transparent in contrast with the manipulative discourse which is the least transparent. other types of discourse may appear in between such as persuasion, coercion and deception. they are characterized by a degree of transparency that may differ from the ones that can be found in testimony and manipulative discourses. a set of factors help in shaping the degree of transparency that these texts may reflect. the aim of this study is to propose a theoretical framework which focuses on the classification of discourse in terms of transparency by emphasizing the speaker’s intention and strategies, the texts features and the hearer’s attitude. towards the theoretical framework the analytical framework adopted here relies heavily on blass’s (2005) and de saussure’s (2005) realizations of the manipulation theory. within this treatment, the main acts of manipulation are mainly related to the truth conditions of the intentional statements. the statements, therefore, are treated as propositions that can be true or false based on proof or reasons. the manipulation theory is an intentional act that has specific goals whether these goals represent a mere fact or a mere lie with or without proof. accordingly, the manipulative discourse is “a discourse produced in order to persuade the addressee of a set of propositions p1… pn of type t with appropriate strategies s” (de saussure 2005: 120). this paper is based on the assumption that manipulative discourse has to go through a threecycle process which includes the speaker, the text itself and the hearer. this assumption is supported by fairclough (2003), who states that there are stages in developing discourse starting from the production and ending with perception. the first participant is the speaker or the communicator (s) who has a specific goal (g). this goal can be manifested through propositions which can be true or truth-conditionally (t) or false or truth-functionally defective (f).the speaker needs a variety of strategies (st) to achieve his final goal. when the proposition is (t), the manipulation discourse under goes the ‘testimony type’. testimony is a kind of text that deals with facts whose truth value is effectively evident with a desirable effect for both the speaker and the hearer. testimony has a beneficial outcome to both of them (blass 2005). however, if the proposition is false, it falls within the general headings of ‘coercion’, ‘deception’ and ‘manipulation’. the relevance of the truth or false value is not relevant when proof is needed. this comes under the title argumentation (a) or persuasion (p) (blass 2005). according to blass, manipulation can be manifested in three forms, namely, testimony, deception and argumentation or persuasion. these three forms are different forms of communication that are used to influence people and make them “believe and do what one wants them to do” (blass 2005: 171). 21 articles the present study proposes five types of equations which represent in short the previously stated types of manipulative texts: a. testimony (t) is a proposition (p) about (f) facts. (t + p= f) b. deception (d) is a proposition about (l) lies. (d+p=l) c. argumentation (a)/persuasion is a proposition about (f) facts or (l) lies with reasons. (a+p= f or l /r) d. coercion (c) is a proposition about (l) lies with (pw) power. e. manipulation (m) is a proposition of (l) lies with cognitive effect.(ce) the second participant is the hearer (h) or the receiver of the proposition who acts according to his set of beliefs or the so-called cognitive environment (ce) (de saussure 2005).the cognitive environment carries its own truth value regardless of whether the proposition is true or false. the propositions need to go through two types of intentions, that is, the communicative ‘ci’ and the informative ‘ii’ to be processed by the hearer. these two intentions fall within the ‘relevance theory’. it indicates that the speaker’s intentions must be acknowledged by the hearer in order to start the interpretive process. the first one triggers “expectations of relevance” which implies that the hearer knows that there is a message from the speaker and the second is pragmatically enriched by the use of different strategies and it creates “relevant consequences”. this implies that the hearer needs to improve his knowledge of reality. in other words, the hearer suspects the speaker’s propositions and that the speaker has hidden intentions (ibid:134). the figure below shows the three main cycles in the process of building a manipulative piece of discourse. figure 1. the suggested model of the three-cycle process of building manipulative discourse cycle (1) the speaker speaker’s communicative intention cycle (3) hearer speaker’s informative intention goals propositions set of strategies cycle (2) testimony cycle(2) deception/ coercion manipulation cycle(2) argumentation/ persuasion cognitive environment (t) or (f) proof true false 22 crossroads. a journal of english studies cycle one: the speaker the role of the participants in manipulative discourse can be accounted for semantically and pragmatically. based on the proposed ilia’s (2005) conception, the semantic approach to the role of the participants can be exemplified in terms of three core roles which are agent, co-agent and patient. these roles are associated with a particular discourse and they control the type of relationship the speaker may have with other participants. agent generally acts on the patient in specific settings. however, it is not always the case as there are situations in which the roles can be unidirectional. it is exemplified in a specific speech act exchange between the interviewee and the interviewer especially when the interviewee has prior social status as a president. the two roles, namely the agent and the patient, can be applied in such a case. the patient’s role is clearly evident as he has to answer the questions which are directed by the agent or the interviewer. similarly, the agent role is evident when he performs the speech acts as he responds to or comments on the questions (ilie 2005).the co-agent appears in a situation in which the agent cannot fulfill his own goal, thus, the co-agent has to carry on a joint action to pursue the agent goal. in such a case, two possibilities are evident. the first one is when both agents have the same goal and the second possibility is when the two agents have different goals, that is, the two inter-agents should rely on each other to achieve their goals. this is called the cooperation in communication (rigotti 2005). from the view point of transparency, it can be assumed in this study that the speakers are semantically the agents in all these types of manipulative texts. they perfectly employ the actions but they differ in the way they implement their strategies. in testimony, the agent is quite sure of the truthfulness of his message and he/she tends to be as clear as possible. the degree of the transparency of the agent is highly dependent upon his intention. thus, the higher degree of transparency will be evident when he personalizes himself as an active agent only without affecting others or minimizing the opponents. the lower degree of transparency is evident when the speaker has the two contrastive intentions of maximizing his role as an active agent and minimizing the opponents as a passive agent. in this respect vadia (2016) states that the speaker personalizes himself as an active, competent character whereas the opponent is given the submissive position. the following figure shows the degree of transparency from the semantic perspective. figure 2. the transparency of the speaker from the semantic perspective high transparency low transparency the speaker: agent/co-agent the hearer: patient the speaker: active & dominant the speaker's opponent: passive & less dominant semantic perspective testimony deception coercion manipulation 23 articles pragmatically speaking, speech acts have a close relation with the participant roles as they tend to contextualize the participants roles. in this respect ilie (2005: 197) states that: “at the utterance level, the roles of speaker and hearer can be constructed as interaction macro-roles acting as pragmatic counterparts of the semantic role of agent and co-agent”. according to ilie (2005), the directive and commissive speech acts assign different roles to the speaker and the hearer. in commissive acts the speaker is the agent whereas in directive the hearer is urged to do something. therefore, the speaker has a leading position which gives him or her enough power. commissive acts commit the speaker to perform an action whereas the directives are primarily targeted to a group of people or the patient to comply with the agents’ actions. similarly, vadai (2016) states that the speaker can make use of different types of speech acts based on his intention. these speech acts include a set of expressives, representatives and commissives. the speaker’s intended use of these speech acts has a close relation with the truth value of the intended message. generally, a speaker uses assertion acts to carry truth claims, but it may be used differently by a manipulator who intends to behave as the knower of the information and the seer of the future. it is proposed here that the difference in usage creates different degrees of transparency, that is, whenever the speaker uses assertion acts such as expressive, representative and commissive in a direct way, he is building a testimony type of discourse. similarly, in persuasion discourse the speaker can make use of different speech acts to convince the hearer. the persuasion in this case seems to have a mid degree of transparency because it is highly connected with the hearer’s belief or disbelief. the logical reasoning is a key factor in convincing the hearer. on the other hand, when the speaker uses these acts to promote inequality and discursive ideologies, he is building less transparent discourse. in this respect vadia (2016) states that the manipulator may use expressives in terms of polarization to emphasize the positive self-presentation and negative presentation of others or opponents, depending on lying, blurring and defocusing. the final assumption that has to be raised is that commissives are used to represent vague promises and threats where the truth value of these promises and threats are questionable. the same is applicable to coercion texts. directives that have the forms of begs and request are used to indicate power-dependence. similarly, declaratives in form of announcements may occur because they indicate power. the representatives with truth claims and expressives with positive self and negative others are also used. this type implies a mid degree of transparency because the speaker has a kind of power that he can impose through the use of both declaratives (the announcement) and the representative with a truth claim. the mid transparency is also evident because the speaker may use half-truth based on his power. portis et al. (2000) state the half-truth is a strategy used to persuade people. it is implemented by being cognizant rather than being consistent or having a ‘characterological’ sense. manipulative discourse appears as the last option on the continuum of sincerity with the least degree of transparency because speakers tend to violate most of the pragmatically based rules. in this respect, maillat & oswald (2009) state that in a manipulative text, speakers tend to violate the felicity condition particularly the sincerity condition. in manipulative discourse, the speaker makes use 24 crossroads. a journal of english studies of two important aspects where he maximizes himself and minimizes the others. therefore he may use expressive polarization, representative dissimulation and vague promises or threats. the figure below shows the degrees of transparency from pragmatic perspectives in manipulative discourse. figure 3. the transparency of the speaker from the pragmatic perspective according to de saussure, manipulation theory can come to practice when it is associated with strategies. the strategies are of two main types: the local strategies and the global strategies. the local strategies include the “rhetorical devices or questions”, “misuse of concepts” and “the totalitarian manipulation”. the rhetorical questions carry a strong presupposition, like the question “what else can we think?” and the question presupposes the answer “nothing”. the misuse of concepts includes the misuse of words such as “hero” or “heroism” for a person who is a dictator and describing the killing actions as heroic. the last one is the totalitarian manipulation which implies that the speaker wants a “god-like being” because he asks for “faith instead of rational agreement” (de saussure 2005: 127-128). the global strategies include the use of linguistic devices, such as repetition, numbers and acronyms or non-linguistic devices, such as group pressure and the creation of an image. the group pressure is reflected when the “individual tends to comply with the most salient opinion” and the images creation is the achievement of a “super-competent” image in the hearer’s mind (de saussure 2005: 130). other types of strategies are pragmatically based, such as the use of omission or vagueness and polarization. omission or vagueness is defined as lacking of complements which can in turn be pragmatic perspective – truth-value – logical reasoning – no violation to felicity condition – truth value is power based – half-truth – violation of felicity condition is questionable testimony: – expressive: explicit acts representative: direct acts commissive: true promises manipulation: – expressive polarization – representative dissimulation commissive: vague promises highly transparent least transparent mid transparent persuasion expressive: explicit acts representative: direct acts commissive: true promises less transparent coercion & deception – directives: begs & request – commissives: promise declaratives: announcement – truth-value – facts – no violation to felicity condition – questionable truth-value – distorted facts – violation of sincerity condition is questionable 25 articles definite and indefinite. definite omissions are found in the discourse whereas indefinite omissions have to be deduced from the context. polarization, on the other hand, refers to the white and black colors or to the good and evil image that the participants may form based on the way a specific character or discourse is being identified. the transparency of polarization falls under three degrees, which are: obvious, less obvious and low obviousness. when the speaker’s speech is obvious, the speaker is using specific words to show that something is part of the good or evil image. however, when the speaker is less obvious, the hearer has to make use of his knowledge of the context. the same is applicable if the degree of obviousness is low as it requires specific analyses of the lexeme or verbs used by the speaker (danler 2005). cycle two: the discourse itself and transparency sorlin (2016) distinguishes three types of discourse: manipulation, deception and persuasion. the manipulation type exploits the resource of the normal language and the pragmatic acts. it can be measured on a continuum of power that imposes upon the addressee and it is less covert. the other type of discourse is deception. it is a type of discourse that is similar to manipulation with slight differences. it is a deliberate attempt to manipulate factual and emotional information. it has to do with the true/false dichotomy or half-truths. manipulators rely heavily on the half-truth because lies are easily discovered and it demands immediate re-thinking on the part of the hearer. lying is the most common way of deception. the persuasion, on the other hand, is different from manipulation because it is the act of convincing the addressee who has a degree of liberty. blass (2005) classifies discourse into three types: testimony, deception and argumentation. testimony is a way of stating facts in a way that the speaker or hearer adheres to the mutual trust between them. on the other hand, deception is based on the falsehood of the proposition to convince people that it is true. argumentation is only different from the other two terms as it may be true or false. regardless of it being true or false, it should be supported by a proof or a reason. in argumentation the speaker should deal with reasons so that the hearer can accept his proposition even when the hearer has no confidence in the speaker’s speech (blass 2005:171-172). this study argues that the effect of transparency or opaqueness is evident in these types of discourse. for instance, manipulative discourse is supposed to be far away from transparency and reflects a high degree of opaqueness because it may refer to a setting in which communication is needed to change or manipulate the behavior of others. accordingly, a proposition is manipulative if it helps in changing “the vision of the world” in the hearer’s mind and the speaker would be able to achieve his or her final goal and interest (rigotti 2005:68). this view is also discussed by de saussure (2005: 119) who suggests that: “a communication is manipulative when the speaker retains some relevant information, or provides the correct information but in order for the hearer to conclude that he should behave in a way which favours the speaker’s interests, without being aware of it.” manipulative discourse should always be covert. it is covert because the act of manipulating requires the people concerned to be expert at hiding their true intentions which are usually unidenti26 crossroads. a journal of english studies fied (morler 2006).the covert nature of manipulation makes it an act of intentionally changing other people’s minds and it does not happen accidentally. if the speaker does it unintentionally, then he is making a mistake and it is not part of manipulation (blass 2005). all the manipulation strategies should pass unnoticed and speaker’s intention should remain concealed because it is not to the benefit of the hearer (maillat & oswald 2009). coercion represents a situation where a severe threat of harm is evident. thus the hearer is unable to avoid it because it hurts the hearer physically without relying on the act of convincing. that is why it is different from persuasion (kamil & fareed 2017). this paper builds on the assumption that these types of texts can reflect different degrees of transparency. testimony, for example, is highly transparent based on its truthfulness. it is shaped on a kind of trust between the speaker and the hearer without exerting any power or imposing any kind of lies and, most importantly, without changing the hearer’s mind by manipulation. the high degree of transparency is supported by blass’s conception of testimony who states that testimony has a beneficial outcome with a desirable effect based on its truthfulness. similarly, the argumentation has a high degree of transparency in comparison with deception because it involves a convincing process that is based on truth or falsehood of the statement. according to blass, a testimony may turn into argumentation when there is no trust between the speaker and the hearer. argumentation or persuasion occurs in order to gain trust among participants. therefore it is the study of giving reason to justify the people’s statements or propositions. the speaker in this type of text can use both overt and covert strategies to get the required trust (blass 2005). a different view is represented by de saussure (2005:122) who states that the speaker may be involved in the process of persuasion when he is not “aware of reality”, which means that “there is no possible discrepancy between his own interests and the freely evaluated interests of the audience”. other text-types such as deception and coercion are supposed to have less degree of transparency. they have a low degree of transparency and a higher degree of opaqueness because they represent a deliberate attempt to manipulate factual or emotional information with the true-false dichotomy or half-truths. they are less transparent because they are misleading, indirect and make covert attempts to deceive others. the figure below presents the continuum of manipulative discourse types in terms of transparency. figure 4. the suggested model of manipulative discourse and transparency testimony highly transparent persuasion high transparent deception mid/less transparent coercion low /less transparent manipulation the least transparent truth value facts direct acts overtness misleading facts indirect acts covertness 27 articles stage three: the hearer the relation between the two participants in a manipulative discourse may take different forms based on: first the relation that is intended, and secondly on the goal which is planned for. these forms are proposed by danler (2005) when he tries to explain the main strategies that a participant may use in manipulating others as follows: y has relation to x by: a. x saying untrue things about y to z. b. x saying untrue things to y. c. x making y look ugly. d. x making y greater in degree. e. x saying things to y that cause pain to y’s feelings. the speaker (x) is trying to build a relationship with the hearer in different ways, such as telling lies, distortion and hurting procedures. the speaker in (a) misleads the hearer by giving him wrong information about others. similarly, the speaker in (b) is lying by giving untrue propositions. the situation is different in (c) and (d) because the speaker is changing the mind of the hearer by presenting ugly things about a proposition or by emphasizing untrue or half-true propositions. in line with this, maillat & oswald (2009) state that the manipulator can mislead the manipulatee by urging him to give up a legitimate belief, reinforcing a problematic belief or hiding the legitimate belief. all these are different from (a) and (b) which involve deception or lying. the hearer in persuasion discourse, however, has the liberty to disagree with the arguments. however, it should be noted that the general hearer’s rational capacity is underestimated in manipulative discourse (sorlin 2016). a rather different view is given by maillat oswald (2009) who states that the hearer’s attitude in manipulation is considered to be cooperative because he assumes that the speaker is direct and straight forward. it is a belief that the hearer possesses a mutual trust between himself and the speaker. that is why hearer may rely on his cognitive environment to form his own attitude. de saussure (2005) proposes two types of intentions that a hearer may use, namely, the informative or the communicate intentions within the relevance theory to assess the speaker’s speech (mentioned previously in the suggested model). the classification of these two intentions within the framework of transparency is not in terms of the speaker’s statements’ truth value but on the hearer’s choice. the use of communicative intention implies a high degree of transparency because the hearer believes that what is being said is true. however, the use of informative intention entails a low degree of transparency because the hearer has his own suspicion towards what is being said. the following figure shows the hearer’s use of the two intentions. 28 crossroads. a journal of english studies figure 5. the hearer’s intention and transparency the hearer can create ‘the relevant consequence’ based on his current relation with the speaker. when he is not quite sure of the other’s utterance or he has certain suspicions, he will use the informative intention. it leads to the hearer questioning the truth value of the speaker’s proposition, which creates a low degree of transparency. however, the hearer may use the communicative intention when his relation with the speaker is based on mutual trust. this in turn paves the way to a higher degree of transparency. this conclusion is supported by de saussure (2005) who proposes that the hearer can rely on the cognitive environment whose truth is not matched with the falsehood or truthfulness of the proposition but it is matched with the hearer’s intention. the application of the descriptive framework in this section two examples are given to represent the two extremes of manipulative texts which are the testimony and the manipulation. the first example is taken from graham (2006) who presents a testimony text as a sample. the testimony sample is given by a schoolteacher to a group of students. in the previously introduced descriptive framework, it is proposed that the testimony text has a high degree of transparency because the speaker has no intention to manipulate the hearer but rather he is explaining a scientific text that has a high truth value. the schoolteacher gives his explanation as follows: “in requiring that the source [the recipient’s interlocutor] have knowledge if the recipient is to have knowledge based on interlocution, i oversimplify. some chains with more than two links seem to violate this condition. but there must be knowledge in the chain if the recipient is to have knowledge based on interlocution.” the schoolteacher states facts as an agent whereas the students are the patients. stating facts entails a highly transparent type of text where the agent has no intention to deceive his patients (students).the patients have to use the informative intention that reflects a high truth value because the text is a testimony that states facts. the text itself is highly transparent because a) the speaker uses direct and over strategies, b) he uses an expressive, representative and commissive and in a direct way, and c) the use of the linguistic device of repetition to make the text understandable. hearer's intention communicative intention informative intention the truth value is high the truth value is low high transparency low transparency 29 articles the second example is taken from an analysis of a political text. it is given by emeka and ngozi (2016). they describe a speech given by obasanjo when he becomes the president of nigeria. in his speech he makes a connection between himself and god: “fellow nigerians, we give praise and honour to god almighty for this day specially appointed by god himself. everything created by god has its destiny and it is the destiny of all of us to see this day.” according to emeka and ngozi (2016), obasanjo uses the manipulative strategy to paint the picture of a messenger who was sent to save nigeria from corruption. he makes use of the fact that people of nigeria are religious to manipulate their minds by implicitly stating that he has been chosen by god to save them. based on the earlier description, it seems that these types of texts have a low degree of transparency because the speaker acts as an agent that has a superior status. in fact he is chosen by god, whereas the hearers are the patients who are passive recipients of the president’s speech. his religious hearers will be affected by this speech and choose to employ the communicative intention that has a high truth value and the speech is evaluated by the hearers or the patients as highly transparent. however, other patients who have sufficient political knowledge may use the informative intention when they have a suspicious attitude towards the speech. the manipulative speech accordingly has a low degree of transparency. this result is achieved because the hearers are being manipulated as they cannot realize the speaker’s covered intentions behind what is being said. the given speech is covert and indirect. thus, the types of the texts that are analyzed may have various degree of transparency. the degree of transparency is controlled by the speaker’s intentions. stating facts is highly transparent, which stands in contrast with manipulative texts, which are the least transparent. conclusion based on the proposed three-cycle theoretical framework it seems that manipulation discourse may fall under different categorizations that show various degrees of transparency. thus manipulation does not necessarily mean ‘to change somebody’s mind by telling lies’. rather it has many other implications, such as stating facts in testimony or arguing with a proof in persuasion. each type of manipulative discourse has its implications. the deepest effect on the type of manipulation discourse is carried out by the participants. the roles of the speaker and the hearer vary according to their belief. the speaker is either stating the truth or he is unaware of the falsehood of his statement. in both cases, the testimony type of manipulative discourse is formed. however, he can deliberately intend to manipulate the hearer. this forms the other extreme, which is the manipulative text. the manipulator’s strategies are highly dependent on the type of manipulation discourse they are involved in. this paves the way to other types of manipulative discourse, such as coercion and deception. the hearer, in turn, is free to accept or reject that based on his or her communicative or informative intention. 30 crossroads. a journal of english studies finally, manipulative discourse has various degrees of transparency. it is proposed that the factors of overtness, direct speech and truth value have an effect in creating a high degree of transparency and these factors are evident in the testimony types of manipulative discourse. on the other hand, the use of covertness, indirect speech and falsehood can lead to a lower degree of transparency and a higher degree of opaqueness. references blass, regina. 2005. manipulation in the speeches and writings of hitler and the nsdap from a relevance theoretic point of view. in: l. de saussure and p. schulz (eds.), manipulation and ideologies in the twentieth century: discourse, language, mind, 169-190. amsterdam/ philadelphia: john benjamins publishing. danler, paul.2005. morpho-syntactic and textual realizations as deliberate pragmatic argumentative linguistic tools.  in:  l. de saussure and p. schulz (eds.), manipulation and ideologies in  the twentieth century: discourse, language, mind, 45-60. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins publishing. emeka-nwobia & ngozi u.2016. political manipulation in nigerian presidential discourses. british journal of english linguistics 4(4). 12-23. fairclough, norman. 2003.  analysing discourse: textual analysis for social research. london: routledge. graham, peter j. 2006. can testimony generate knowledge? philosophica 78. 105-127. ilie, cornelia. 2005. an integrated approach to the analysis of participant roles in totalitarian discourse.  in:  l. de saussure and p. schulz (eds.), manipulation and ideologies in the twentieth century: discourse, language, mind, 191-211. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins publishing. kamil, salwa ibrahim, and fareed hameed al-hindawi. 2017. the pragmatics of manipulation in british and american political debates. hamburg: anchor academic publishing. maillat, didier, and steve oswald. 2009. defining manipulative discourse: the pragmatics of cognitive illusions. international review of pragmatics 1(2). 348-370. morler,  edward e. 2006. the leadership integrity challenge: assessing and facilitating emotional maturity. tel aviv-yafo: sanai publishing. portis, edward bryan, adolf g. gundersen, and ruth lessl shively (eds.) 2000.  political theory and partisan politics: matter the body itself. albany: suny press. rigotti, eddo. 2005. towards a typology of manipulative processes. in: l. de saussure and p. schulz (eds.), manipulation and ideologies in the twentieth century: discourse, language, mind, 61-83. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins publishing. de saussure, louis. 2005. manipulation and cognitive pragmatics: preliminary hypotheses. in: l. de saussure and peter j. schulz (eds.), manipulation and ideologies in the twentieth century: discourse, language, mind, 113-146. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins publishing. 31 articles sorlin, sandrine. 2016.  language and manipulation in house of cards: a pragma-stylistic perspective. london: palgrave macmillan. van dijk, teun a.2006. discourse and manipulation. discourse & society, 17(3). 359-383. vadia, kata. 2016. critical discourse analysis in progress: the power, ideology and manipulation identification (pimi) model. alkalmazott nyelvtudomány 16, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.18460/ any.2016.1.004 crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 23-32 grzegorz moroz university of bialystok oxford travel book writers and gentlemen-scholars: constructing narrative personae in aldous huxley’s the jesting pilate, robert byron’s the station and evelyn waugh’s remote people abstract. the travel book as a genre in the british literary tradition has been, for more than two centuries, characterized by the central role of craftily constructed narrative personae of gentlemen/travellers. this paper is an attempt to pinpoint the main similarities and differences in the construction of the narrative personae of three key between-the-wars oxford graduates, who later became renowned writers robert byron, aldous huxley and evelyn waugh. keywords: narrative persona, oxford, novelist, travel book, construction, travel writing. travel book writers and travellers paul fussell’s abroad: british literary traveling between the wars was published in 1980, two years after edward said’s orientalism. these two books, so different in scope and critical approaches—the former one was a swan song of liberal humanism, the latter paved the way for the new way of reading literature usually referred to as the post-colonial—were central in establishing and putting on a firmer ground the inter-disciplinary field of travel writing studies. one of the key tenets of fussell’s abroad – later fiercely criticized by the majority of critics – was that the distinction between a traveller and a tourist is a real one rather than a construct created to uphold and sustain class distinctions. in fact, in fussell’s taxonomy apart from a tourist, usually a working class person, aware that she is a tourist and not ashamed of it, there exists a category of an anti-tourist, usually a middle class person aware that she is a tourist, ashamed of it, and therefore adopting a set of anti-tourists strategies because she “has read and heard just enough to sense that being a tourist is somehow offensive and scorned by an imagined upper class which it hopes to emulate, and, if possible, be mistaken for” (fussell 1980: 49). and there is a traveller, usually an upper middle class person, differentiated from an anti-tourist by the fact that her/his motive is inquiry and not “self-protection and vanity” (fussell 1980: 47). following jonathan culler’ ground-breaking article “the semiotics of tourism” most contemporary researchers would probably agree that fussell’s category of a traveller should in fact be included in the category of an anti-tourist, as an “anti-anti-tourist”. an upper middle class travelling person (considering herself a traveller) distances herself not only from (working class) tourists, but also from (middle class) anti-tourists. from an anti-anti-tourist’s crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 23-32 perspective: anti-tourists are there to emulate her, and be mistaken for her, while she is out there not to emulate anyone, but because she believes that she is there for the superior motive of an inquiry. however, this distinct group, regardless if we insist on calling them “travellers” or “antianti-tourists”, remains a simple and useful analytical tool in tackling the issues connected with oxford between-the-wars graduates who turned to travel writing. fussell nostalgically claimed that the between-the-wars period was the “final age of travel” (fussell 1980: vii) in which there still existed “real travellers” – young, mostly oxbridge educated literary men, who travelled “when the going was good”, (waugh 1951) to quote a title evelyn waugh (a merton man) gave to his 1945 book containing fragments from his 1930’s travel books. they travelled often in order to write travel books for which publishers paid “handsome fees” (auden and macneice 1937: 11) to use a quote from w.h. auden (a christ church man) poem/letter to lord gordon byron opening his and louise macneice’s letters from iceland (1937). according to fussell in that period “cambridge can boast a few devotees of abroad, mostly homosexuals like forster, ackerley and isherwood, but it is oxford that produced the bulk of between-the-wars literary travelers” (fussell 1980: 76). fussell divided them according to the colleges they went to: balliol was responsible for [graham] greene, patrick balfour, aldous huxley, peter quennell and [cyryl] connolly [...], magdalen produced alan pryce-jones, christ church david talbot rice, [christopher] sykes, [peter] fleming and [w.h.] auden, hertford, evelyn waugh, and merton, robert byron. (fussell 1980: 76) fussell observed that “merged into a single type, these people project an image of a character ‘the age demanded’” (fussell 1980: 76-7). he located peter fleming and robert byron at two extremes of a spectrum of oxford travel writers and their narrative personae’s construction: if byron’s character has the effect of making the reader proud of british resoluteness— stubbornness might be a better word—fleming’s make the reader proud of british decency, a refreshing contrast to all those young “artistic” young people like brian howard. one thing happening in these travel books is a re-definition of a the british “young person”: projecting, implicitly, various models of the post-war young man. [...] conscious of the brutishness of the characters they display, both fleming and byron are careful in their travel books to remind the reader of their origin in a particular british intellectual and emotional tradition. (fussell 1980:77) fussell’s statement remains valid not only for robert byron and peter fleming, but also for other oxford graduates who turned to travel books: evelyn waugh, aldous huxley, peter quennell or patrick balfour; all of whom were careful to construct their persona in such ways as to remind the reader of their origin in a particular british intellectual and emotional tradition of upper middle class gentlemen. fussell’s abroad for all its literary and critical merits lacks the historical perspective in the development of the travel book as a genre in the british literary tradition. fussell did not go further back in time than the travel books of norman douglas, written at the turn of the centuries. whereas the genre of the travel book in this modern form was established in the middle of the eighteenth century with the travel books of henry fielding a journal of a voyage to lisbon (1754) and tobias smollett travels through france and italy (1766). crucial in this development was the so called “sentimental” (as opposed to “scientific”) mode of writing, foregrounding the ”subjectivity” and idiosyncrasies of a narrative persona at the expense of the “objectivity” of the report. in fact, the beginnings of the sentimental mode of crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 23-32 travel book writing could be traced back to sir walter raleigh’s the discoverie of guyana (1596) and thomas coryat’s crudities (1611). as i argue in travellers, novelists and gentlemen (2013), the genre of the travel book in the british literary tradition since fielding and smollett has been developing alongside the genres of the novel and the autobiography in the symbiosis of synergy and friction. one of the genre’s two most distinctive features is that travel book writers (often novelists themselves) have been concerned to cast upon their predominantly non-fictional accounts the aura, of what gérald genette (1993: viii) calls “literariness by diction”, and what fielding (1987: 161) in his journal of a voyage to lisbon referred to as “some few embellishments” in the manner “of all kind of ornament of stile and diction”. the second crucial feature of a travel book as a genre, even more important from the perspective of this essay, is that a male narrative persona, located centrally in the structure of a narrative has been constructed predominantly within the paradigms of an english (british) gentleman. this convergence of a highly crafted, elaborate style of a narrative (often hidden behind the facade of a simple diary/journal form) with carefully constructed narrative persona of an (eccentric) gentleman was developed in the victorian period in such travel books as alexander william kinglake’s eōthen (1844) and charles m. doughty’s travels in arabia deserta (1888). the process was to reach its peak in robert byron’s the road to oxiana (1937). the construction of a gentleman’s narrative persona in british travel books could be analyzed from different perspectives and at many levels. taking into account the length limitations of this essay i have decided to restrict my analysis to just one aspect of gentlemen: namely of gentlemen as (amateur) scholars. i will argue that this aspect of the construction of the narrative personae could be seen as an important element in the writing of “good” travel books in the british literary tradition. “good” travel books the concept of distinguishing between “good” travel books from the “ordinary” ones, mostly through the literary merits of the former, was made popular by paul fussell in his abroad, where in order to support this distinction he quoted from norman douglas, without however giving the source or the context in which douglas wrote. douglas was a prolific travel book writer himself, with a strong intellectual and anti-modernist bias and his books – like siren land (1911) or old calabria (1915) – were widely read by the next generation of travel book writers; which is the generation i am concerned with in this essay – of writers who graduated from oxford during and after the great war. in 1925 douglas published experiments, a book of literary essays and impressionistic short stories. it contained a review o f the abridged 1908 edition of the one of the most original and eccentric british travel books of the late victorian period charles m. doughty’s travels in arabia deserta. douglas considered doughty to be one of the few travel book writers who managed to oppose the tide of modernism and preserved the key anglo-saxon qualities and strengths. douglas’s definition of a “good travel book” uses explicitly doughty’s book as an example, and implicitly douglas’s own books: it seems to me that a reader of a good travel book is entitled not only to the exterior voyage, to descriptions of scenery and so forth, but to an interior, a sentimental voyage which takes place side by side with the outer one, one that the ideal book of this kind offers us, indeed, a triple opportunity of exploration – abroad, into the author’s brain and into our own. the writer should therefore possess a brain worth exploring, some philosophy of life – not necessarily, though by preference of his own forging – and the courage to proclaim it and put it to the test, he must be naïf and profound, both child and sage. (douglas 1925: 5) crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 23-32 douglas believed that an ideal writer of a travel book should approximate a figure of a prototypical anglo-saxon gentleman-scholar. he listed the features which he considered essential for such gentlemen-scholars: the ability to “see things from their own individual angle”, “[t]their leisurely aristocratic flavour, their wholesome discussions about this or that, their waywardness and all that mercurial touch of a bygone generation” (douglas 1925: 6). most of the oxford graduated travel books writers of the between the wars period – even though they may have not read douglas’s review – in constructing their narrative personae used the elements of a figure of a gentleman-scholar. in order to test this claim, i have selected three travel books written by three oxford graduates in the late nineteen twenties and early nineteen thirties: aldous huxley’s jesting pilate (1926), robert byron’s the station (1928) and evelyn waugh’s remote people (1931). huxley’s intellectual holiday jesting pilate is a collection of essays from huxley’s round the globe tour undertaken in 1925-1926. in this travel book the persona constructed is that of an detached intellectual and a pyrrhonic sceptic. the ideas in this book are more important than people and huxley suggests this in the title itself jesting pilate: an intellectual holiday. the phrase “jesting pilate” is traditionally used as a description of the passage from the gospel of st. john (18:37, 18:38) in which pontius pilate answers jesus’s claim that he is a the witness of the truth with “truth? what is truth?” and pronounces jesus innocent. both parts of the title open up the possibilities of introducing and discussing serious ideas, but at the same time of mocking, jesting and deriding them in a sceptical fashion. the notion of being witness to the truth is “jested” by pilate in the first part, whereas the seriousness of the “intellectual pursuit” of ideas is checked by the very “anti-intellectual” overtones of the word “holiday”. huxley’s persona from jesting pilate displays features of a gentleman scholar in two diverse fields: as a pyrrhonic sceptic, suspicious of irrationality of any forms of spirituality and as a connoisseur of arts. the key intellectual problem for huxley’s persona in the indian part of the journey was the spirituality of this country. the persona’s discussion of spirituality is performed in terms of tropes that have been identified by postcolonial critics. one the one hand we have filth, dirt and defilement, on the other india is presented as belonging to the earlier, childish stage in the progress of civilization. when on a train “some hindu pope of considerable holiness” breaks the solitude the huxleys enjoy in the second class compartment, after the persona has expressed his doubts and ironic lack of certainty about the man’s holiness, he declares: “all that we could be certain of was that he looked unpleasant and was undoubtedly dirty: also that his admirers exhaled the sour stink of garments long unwashed” (huxley 2000: 430). the whole meeting with the hindu saint is presented with detachment, irony and even sarcasm from the very first phrase “some hindu pope of considerable holiness”, through the description of his behaviour on the train: he, meanwhile, passed the time by counting his money, which was contained in a large brassbound box, by loudly eating, and, later, dozing. even at the stations he did not take the trouble to rouse himself, but reclined with closed eyes along his seat, and passively permitted the faithful to kiss his feet. when one is holy, as he evidently was, it is unnecessary to keep up appearances, behave decently or do anything for one’s followers. (huxley 2000: 430-1) the episode with the stinking saint is used by huxley to present his persona’s views on religion and spirituality in a jocular context, but also to show his erudite skills as an intellectual (amateur gentleman-scholar) capable of generalizing on the role of religions in the process of social development of different civilizations. first, he pokes fun on lev tolstoy and his objections that too much cleanliness is a badge of class. “work is prayer. work is also crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 23-32 stink. therefore stink is prayer. so, more or less, argues tolstoy, who goes on to condemn the rich for not stinking ... tolstoy’s remedy is that we should all stink together” (huxley 2000: 431-2). huxley’s persona explains how the incident with his travelling companion made him, but only for a moment, “a thorough-going voltairian” (huxley 2000: 432). huxley’s essay ends with a detached assessment of pros and cons of religions in the life of societies, seen from the evolutionary perspective of an amateur anthropologist and social historian: any force that tends to the strengthening of society is ... of the highest biological importance. religion is obviously such a force. all religions have been unanimous in encouraging within limits that have tended to grow wider and ever wider, the social, altruistic, humanitarian proclivities of man, and in condemning his anti-social, self-assertive tendencies. those who like to speak anthropomorphically would be justified in saying that religion is a device employed by the life force for the promotion of its evolutionary designs. but they would be justified in adding that religion is also a device employed by the devil for the dissemination of idiocy, intolerance, and servile abjection. (huxley 2000: 433) in jesting pilate india was for huxley the past with religion as the force slowing down the process of development and civilization. his distaste for indian spirituality was so strong that in the essay from the trip across the pacific, the persona confesses that after reading henry ford’s biography my life and work found in the ship’s library he realized that: “in these seas and to one fresh from india and indian ‘spirituality’, indian dirt and religion, ford seems a greater man than buddha” (huxley 2000: 521). this statement must sound weirdly and paradoxically to anyone remembering that in his best-selling novel brave new world, (published six year later) the dystopian world presented there is set in the year 632 a.f., where a.f. is an abbreviation of “after ford”, the new mechanical era inaugurated in the year henry ford launched the first automatic car assembly line. the process of perceiving america as a possibility of a more optimistic future was to stop quite abruptly after the huxleys landed in the california of the jazz age and he started to reconsider his views on buddhism and fordism. the shift of perceiving ford as a greater man than buddha to perceiving him as the “spiritual” leader of technocratic and dehumanized brave new world could be seen as a part of the greater shift which aldous huxley underwent between 1926 – when he was reading ford’s biography on board of a ship bound for california – and 1937, when he went to america once again; this time to give a lecture tour on pacifism, supported by “spiritually” based notion of the nobler hypothesis. what remains crucial from the perspective of huxley’s narrative personae is that regardless of the fact if he was supporting fordism or buddhism, or was merely extremely sceptical to both these philosophies, huxley remained to construct his personae as intellectuals, keen to present his interpretative skills in a wide array of disciplines in which they might have been considered as amateur scholars. one such distinct discipline in jesting pilate is that of art criticism. huxley was an art connoisseur, and writing about art was important for him throughout his long career as a man of letters: he worked as a dramatic and literary critic and reviewer for such periodicals as the atheneum and the westminster gazette at the career’s beginning at the turn of nineteen tens and twentieth. when he died on 22 november 1963, he was in the process of writing an essay entitled “shakespeare and religion”. but, whereas in the field of literature huxley may be considered a “professional” rather than an “amateur”, he remained an (enthusiastic) amateur in the field of visual arts. the reasons for the huxleys settling down in italy at the beginning of nineteen twentieth were generally threefold: cambio (the exchange rate in this period favoured pound startling and meant that one could afford to live comfortably in italy on the income which in britain guaranteed very austere existence) the italian climate and – last but not least – italian art treasures. huxley’s first travel book along the road (1925), recounting trips from the early “italian” period in his life is just as much an art book as it is a travel book. the two central parts of the book – part ii entitled “places” and part iii “works of art” crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 23-32 – consist much more of “art essays” than of “travel essays”. huxley’s persona in along the road is that of a belated grand tourist; eager to immerse himself in the great tradition of visual arts, at the moment when the grand tour project was already spent. while embarking on a round the world trip, which resulted in jesting pilate, huxley took with himself art connoisseurship he had accumulated during the four years of living on the outskirts of florence, visiting its galleries and travelling extensively in italy to rome and other centres of art. he used this connoisseurship relatively sparingly and in the manner which today might be considered almost as a model of eurocentric discourse on non european arts. thus, while commenting on the golden temple of the sikhs, the narrative persona wryly combines his intellectual bias against indian spirituality with his aesthetic bias against non-european art. the golden temple “is genuinely eighteen-carat. it is also exceedingly sacred. holiness and costliness make up for any lack of architecture” (huxley 2000: 437). the only praise, although quite lukewarm, of the indian art, which huxley’s persona displays is when he describes some water-colours from the mogul period in the lahore museum as “amusing” (huxley 2000: 433). byzantine station of robert byron the station: athos: treasures and men by robert byronis a description of a tour of the monasteries at the holy mountain of athos byron undertook together with his three oxford friends: david talbot rice, mark oglivie-grant and gerald reitlinger in the summer of 1927. the station, in a standard travel book fashion, combines the descriptions of the routines of the journey (with its hardships, described in travel as travail fashion: vermin, dirt, dishonest muleteers and pleasures: leisurely swims in the aegean, tasting exquisite ouzo or oranges), with the scholarly passages on the history, present politics and art of athos, the holy mountain. christopher sykes, an oxford friend and a fellow-traveller to oxiana remarked that robert byron in “his extravagantly one sided-books on byzantine art and civilization [...] was what the french call a ‘vulgarisateur’, and it is a pity that we have in english no equivalent word to indicate so important a function” (sykes 2000: 15). it seems, however, that in the station, the only of three byzantine byron’s books which has a format of a travel book (the other two the byzantine achievement and the dawn of the western painting are books on byzantine history and art narrated in the third person), byron was more than a vulgarisateur’, thanks to the construction of the narration and his narrative persona. the station opens with an epigrammatic paratext which is also an intertext, taken form cristoforo buondelmonti’s traveller in the east (1420) here, in lush valleys, teem bees, figs and olives. the inmates of the monasteries weave cloth, stitch shoes and make nets. one turns the spindle of a hand-loom through the wool, another twists a basket of twigs. from time to time, at stated hours, all essay to praise god. and peace reigns among them, always and for ever. (byron 2000: 5) byron carefully preserved this mood, pastoral, religious and mystical of buondelmonti’s passage, in the whole of his narrative thanks to crucial interventions of his narrative persona interspersed throughout the book. the first view of the holy mountain, seen from the sea at dawn is described in the picturesque manner: over a last bottle of beer we said good-bye to this last tossing straw of our world. we slept. till, when barely light, there appeared, framed in cold circle of the porthole, the dark outline of a long finger of land, twisted by imperceptible darker shadows into deep ravines and curving bays. at its end, cut in terraced silhouette against the frigid gleams of the lower sky, reared a vast steeple from the livid grey sea. as the sun, risen a fiery ball above the rim of the world, warmed the cold light, crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 23-32 silhouette gave place to hazy pink. here and there twinkled the white blur of a monastery down at the water’s edge or perched up among the woods, the holy mountain! and ourselves the pilgrims. (byron 2000: 46-7) the book ends with a farewell with of athos, seen again from a ship: “there, carried high on a bank of clouds, hovers a shape, a triangle in the sky. this is the holy mountain athos, station of faith where all the years have stopped” (byron 2000: 256). in between byron’s persona on numerous occasions presents the uniqueness of athos in europe’s spiritual history. at one moment he calls the holy mountain “an organism in which the germs of life are as vigorous as when first implanted”. (byron 2000: 66). he is often very critical of western christianity, in both roman catholic and protestant versions and apologetic of the orthodox church, with the holy mountain of athos as its pinnacle, the representative of “true” christianity [...] not yet moulded by latin materialism to the convenience of an institution; not wrung by civil wars, combed with the borrowings of sectarians, and balanced between the parties of the state like a boulder on a needle; but a single path of exploration, unclouded by doubtful ethics and hieratic blackmail, toward the eternal el dorado, such was the christianity that conquers, and such, on the holy mountain, it has remained. (byron 2000: 66) robert byron never became converted to the orthodox church; his fascination with it remained thoroughly intellectual and aesthetic. yet, the byzantine bias of his arguments allowed him on the one hand to strengthen his anti-modernist critique of the west in general and britain in particular. moreover, it allowed him to construct his persona as an amateur – but highly competent – scholar of byzantine religion and art. evelyn waugh – a roman catholic squire evelyn waugh, robert byron’s friend from oxford “found byron’s byzantinism bogus, just a fad’” (abroad, 83) after waugh decided to be received into the roman catholic church in autumn 1930, byron quarrelled with waugh, because he conceived it as an act hostile to his own byzantinism (fussell 1980: 83). waugh’s decision had important consequences for how he was to construct the narrative personae of his subsequent travel books. whereas in waugh’s labels (1930), written before his conversion, the narrative persona is that of a camp dandy, remote people (1931), his first travel book written after the conversion, relies on a persona of a young catholic conservative. the persona’s catholicism in remote people is not so central and overriding as byron’s persona’s byzantinism in the station, largely due to the fact that waugh, unlike byron, was not travelling to the holy, spiritual centre place of a religion. nevertheless, waugh in remote people used catholicism rhetorically to create a binary opposition between the barbarity of africa and its religions in general and the roman catholicism as the mainstay of civilization and light. for example, while describing the coronation mass of heille sallasie in addis abeba, conducted in coptic ritual, so obscure, that even his fellow-traveller, an american prof. w, an expert on coptic religion can’t distinguish of offertory from consecration and secret gospel, the persona seizes it as a chance to promote his views clearly: i suddenly saw the classic basilica and open altar as a great positive achievement, a triumph of light over darkness consciously accomplished, and i saw theology as the science of simplifications by which nebulous and elusive ideas are formalised and made intelligible and exact... and i began to see how these obscure sanctuaries had grown, with the clarity of the western reason into the great open altars of catholic europe, where mass is said in a flood of light, high in the sight of all. (waugh 2003: 248-9) crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 23-32 the contrast of roman catholicism in africa as the island of sanity and order surrounded by “rank barbarity” is also foregrounded in the description of the catholic convent at kokonjiro in uganda, which is described as: [...] the little island of order and sweetness in an ocean of rank barbarity; all around it for hundreds of miles lies gross jungle, bush and forest, haunted by devils and fear of darkness, where human life merges into the cruel, automatic life of the animals, here they were singing the offices just as they had been sung in europe when the missions were little radiant points of learning and decency in a pagan wilderness. (waugh 2003: 334) such declarations, although rare, are nevertheless crucial, for they underscore the persona’s aloofness from the anxieties of modernity and give him his individual, unique perspective for describing and commenting upon other cultures. in remote people waugh’s construction of the narrative persona as a critique of modernism apart from upholding the traditional christian (and therefore pre-reformation, roman catholic) views and values relies on his strong support of the group of british settlers and farmers living then in the so called happy valley. waugh intertextually, through the connection with anthony trollope’s barsetshire chronicles, fiercely defends the rights of the settlers to take land from its original african owners and live in what he called “barsetshire on the equator” (waugh 2003: 324). these settlers are shown to be like archetypical british squires: leading, quiet, happy rustic life in pastoral scenery, exiles from england, when england no longer allowed them to live the lives they had been accustomed to for centuries. waugh’s persona, through an extensive apology defence of the settlers/squires ideology, and lifestyle against left-wing critics, assumes an aura of a conservative longing for unorthodoxy and the nostalgic return to the supposedly universal values of the hierarchies imposed by the roman catholic church, before the reformation came and spoilt it all. and this offered him a unique position to look down on what he perceived as barbarities of two kinds: the barbarity of african cultures and religions, and the barbarity of the new age at home. he implicitly declared his persona to be “quixotic” and therefore eccentric in being faithful to the traditional values and hostile to the changes initiated by the reformation. conclusions these three distinct constructions of narrative personae, huxley’s in jesting pilate, byron’s in the station and waugh’s in remote people, for all the differences have a quite a few characteristic features in common; features which they also share with the majority of travel books written by oxbridge men in the between-the-wars period. firstly, these intellectual and spiritual passions of the narrative personae, for pyrrhonic scepticism, western art, byzantinism and roman catholicism, fall within the range of a british gentelman’s singularity and his pursuit of being perceived as an (amateur) scholar. secondly, these passions offered vantage points to criticize the modern project, with its mechanisation, uniformity and dehumanisation. and also to locate the golden age in the past: for huxley’s persona in a well stocked enlightenment library, for byron’s persona in the pre-turkish byzantium, in waugh’s case in the catholic, pre-reformation europe. thirdly, these passions, connected with expertise and connoisseurship, allowed these personae to be constructed as travellers, rather than tourists, driven by genuine individual inquiry and not the horde spirit of tourists or class obsessions of anti-tourist. and last but not least, such constructions offered something, which in the marketing jargon is called “unique selling crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 23-32 points”, elements that distinguished them and gave advantages over other writers in the lucrative, but also highly competitive market of travel books in the inter-war britain. references auden, w.h. and louise mcneice 1937. letters from iceland. london. faber & faber. byron, robert 2000. the station; athos, treasures and men. london. phoenix press. genette, gérard 1993 fiction and diction. ithaca/london. cornell university press. culler, jonathan 1988. the semiotics of tourism. in framing the sign; criticism and its institutions. 153-167. oxford. basil blackwell. douglas, norman 1925. experiments. london. chapman and hall. fussell, paul 1980. abroad;british literary travelling between the wars. oxford. oxford university press. huxley, aldous 2000. complete essays of aldous huxley, vol. ii. 1926-1929. r.s. baker and james sexton (eds). chicago, ivan r. dee. moroz, grzegorz 2013. travellers, novelists and gentlemen; constructing male narrative personae in british travel books, from the beginnings to the second world war. frankfurt am main. peter lang verlag. sykes, christopher 2000. introduction. in robert byron the station; athos, treasures and men. 11-17. london. phoenix press. waugh, evelyn 2003. waugh abroad; collected travel writing. new york. everyman’s library. editorial 6 crossroads. a journal of english studies editorial to say that the concept of memory has raised much debate in academia over the few last decades is to say nothing. it would be in fact nothing short of a serious intellectual challenge to identify another topic that has gained such critical attention and has attracted so vast a spectrum of scientific disciplines. these, including linguistics, literary theory, cultural theory, philosophy, history, sociology, trauma studies, psychobiology and neuroscience among many others, have addressed in their own respect the multiplicity of workings performed on/by memory, such as the acts of remembering, forgetting, commemorating or confabulating. it thus comes as no surprise that the leading scholars in the field are unanimous in claiming that memory has become a discursive construct. evolving a long way from the ancient understanding of the term as “a repository of sensible and mental impressions … complemented by recollection – the process of recovering the content of past thoughts and perceptions” (nikulin) through the romantic thought as being constitutive for the contemporary perspectives on consciousness, the self and the discussed concept (kilbourn, ty, 5), memory studies have reached a stage whose focus “rests, precisely, not on the ‘past as it really was,’ but on the ‘past as a human construct’” (erll, 5). accordingly, what is now considered an essential prerequisite to gaining a better understanding of this construct is the need of a truly interdisciplinary approach; as it is observed by kilbourn and ty, “whatever ‘truth’ of memory we might discern can only be located in the interstices, the interfaces between and among discourses, disciplines, areas and realms of thought, whether scientific, humanist, deconstructive, or other” (5). further preconditions for a successful insight into the subject matter come with the global character of the subject area, which well reflects the globalized world. never before have memory studies been more of a collective and transnational effort resulting in the burgeoning number of study centers, journals, book series, and degree programs, all of which engage scholarly perspectives from all around the world (erll, 2). thus, investigating into the area of memory is worthwhile and meaningful since “’memory’ has become a truly transnational phenomenon” (erll, 4). if, as further suggested by erll, “[t]he heterogeneity of the concepts and disciplinary approaches to possibly identical objects of research represents one of the most important challenges of contemporary memory studies” (6), then the papers comprising the present issue of crossroads journal responds to such a critical call with notable success. the authors of the seven articles collected in the volume attest to the phenomenon of memory as being located at the intersections of various disciplines, times and cultures and requiring a wide array of critical approaches. what seems to lie beneath all these various perspectives and approaches might be a perception of memory as “a dynamic, constructive process that reflects the goals and biases of individuals and groups, rather than a static or literal reproduction of past experiences” (schacter, welker, 241). it is also in this 7 editorial broad sense that the authors of the articles in this volume understand the notion of memory. seen as metaphorical crossroads between remembering and forgetting and relying on the interplay between past, present and future, memory becomes a dynamic (re)construction of individual and collective past that might be subject to the processes of alteration, re-evaluation, invention, fabrication, manipulation, and negation. the volume opens with bożena kucała’s essay that aims to analyse the representation of houses in selected novels and autobiographical narratives by penelope lively. seen as specific junction of space and time, houses are not only physical locations evocative of the past but also constructs built within the space of memory. in lively’s fiction and non-fiction they function as ,sites of memory’, allowing individuals to create and maintain meaningful connections with their past and thus become particularly significant for their identity. however, apart from silently witnessing the experiences of individuals, kucała argues, houses are also important as sites of collective memory, reflecting social and historical changes. the concept of a house can be metaphorically extended to encompass the notion of one’s homeland whose history, often turbulent, is inseparably intertwined with individual past. such a connection comes to the fore in the three succeeding articles. ewelina feldman-kołodziejuk proposes to read michael crummey’s river thieves through the prism of ,rescue history’, a recently developed concept that is concerned with local, potential, existential and affirmative history whose goal is to rescue the future. broadly categorized as historical fiction, the novel is set in newfoundland and based on historical accounts of captain david buchan’s expedition to red indian lake, whose aim to encourage cooperation and put an end to hostilities between english settlers and beothuks was never achieved. in her reading of the novel, feldman-kołodziejuk argues that crummey’s fiction revisits the chronicled events and restores agency to the marginalized groups, implying that all of us are able to influence history. restoring agency to the repressed is also an important theme in the article by anna maria karczewska, who demonstrates the ways in which julia alvarez’s in the time of the butterflies offers insight into dominican history and creates a voice for victims of political violence and terror. the novel, classified here as a relatively new for latin american literature genre of testimonio, tells the story and describes enduring legacy of the mirabal sisters, who opposed the regime of rafael trujillo and became symbols of popular and feminist resistance, their brutal deaths serving as a catalyst for change. emphasizing interdependence of personal and collective experiences, karczewska sees the narrative as a symbolic substitute for the truth and justice that was never granted to the victims in the aftermath of trujillismo. paweł kaptur revisits the history of the restoration of charles ii stuart in 1660, examining his treatment of cromwellians who inspired and executed his father’s deposition, in this way violating the irrefutable divine right of kings. the ruler’s decision to punish or pardon them for their involvement in the regicide can be metaphorically perceived in terms of ,remembering’ and ,forgetting’, which are transposed from a personal level onto a wider plane of royal policy. while charles ii showed mercy and oblivion understood as an act of amnesty to those who only sided 8 crossroads. a journal of english studies with cromwell and parliament against his father but did not contribute to his death directly, he did not hesitate to take firm-handed actions in order to prevent further rebellions or plots in the future, and to strengthen the position of the monarchy. being perhaps the most obsessively recurring memories, the images of childhood and adolescence play a considerable role in giving shape to one’s sense of identity and belonging. as claimed by stefan kubiak, this seems to be the case for philip roth and the bulk of his first-person narrated novels persistently set in his home town. investigating into roth’s portnoy’s complaint, the plot against america, and american pastoral, the author argues that the writer’s tireless literary return to the jewish quarter of newark, new jersey, is a repeated endeavor to understand the reality of his homeland community, as well as the means to determine his complex sense of american jewish identity. keeping the jews of north america within the scope of interest, aleksandra kamińska’s paper is a contribution exploring bernice eisenstein’s 2006 graphic memoir i was a child of holocaust survivors, a hard-to-categorize, hybrid account of being a second generation survivor. dwelling on the concept of postmemory as well as trauma studies, kamińska takes a particular focus on eisenstein’s relationship with her father to demonstrate the ways in which the former portrays and commemorates the latter with the blend of words and images in her work. eisenstein’s idea behind her memoir, as the author argues, was to create a basis for changing the unintelligible traumas of the holocaust into an understandable and meaningful story. katarzyna więckowska, whose paper concludes the volume, delves into a new strain of novel dubbed as alzheimer’s fiction to demonstrate the challenges it poses to the established understanding of memory, identity and narrative. offering a reading of lisa genova’s still alice, stefan merrill block’s the story of forgetting, and matthew thomas’s we are not ourselves, she presents mechanisms which redefine and reconfigure our ways of thinking about the relations between identity, memory, literature and science. not least significant aspect of więckowska’s article comes with making use of an entirely new critical idiom which arises in face of the writers’ growing focus on neurological conditions and whose most immediate critical response gets reflected in the concepts of syndrome literature and neuronovel. *** the articles collected in this issue demonstrate that literature can be seen as a medium in which memory can be ‘stored’ and through which it can be conveyed, becoming an important tool for the representation of individual experiences, collective past, and national history. literary texts, therefore, act as specific tools of memory-making, contributing significantly to the ways in which the past is construed. and yet, since every act of remembrance, whether at individual or collective level, is selective, “memories are small islands in a sea of forgetting” (erll, 9). private memoirs, autobiographies, novels, and historical narratives all construe, to a greater or lesser extent, such small narrative islands of memory amidst ‘a sea of forgetting.’ even if, or maybe because, these islands 9 editorial cannot be truly objective or perspective-free, they are worth critical attention as they do perform many functions, including “the imaginative creation of past life-words, the transmission of images of history, the negotiation of competing memories, and the reflection about processes and problems of cultural memory” (erll,144). relying on similar processes of selecting, organizing and arranging individual elements to form a coherent narrative, memory, history and literature as well as the intersections between them constituted the central organizing theme of this issue. representing various critical perspectives, the authors who collaborated in this project engage in a meaningful dialogue, which, we hope, offers a valuable contribution to the field of memory studies. sylwia borowska-szerszun tomasz sawczuk references: erll, astrid. 2011.memory in culture. trans. sarah b. young. basingtoke: palgrave macmillan. kilbourn, russell j.a., eleanor ty. “developments in memory studies and twentiethand twenty-first-century literature and film.” the memory effect: the remediation of memory in literature and film. ed. russell j.a kilbourn and eleanor ty. waterloo, ontario: wilfrid laurier university press, 3-36. nikulin, dmitri. 2015. “abstract.” memory: a history. ed. dmitri nikulin. new york: oxford university press. 26 jul 2017. www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof: oso/97801997938 39.001.0001/acprof-9780199793839 schacter, daniel l., and michael welker. 2016. “memory and connection: remembering the past and imagining the future in individuals, groups, and cultures.” memory studies 9(3), 241-244. michael crummey’s river thieves in the light of rescue history 20 crossroads. a journal of english studies ewelina feldman-kołodziejuk university of białystok michael crummey’s river thieves in the light of rescue history abstract. born and raised in newfoundland and labrador, michael crummey uses his inside knowledge to describe the region’s peculiarities in vivid detail. all four of his novels are set in newfoundland and weave a story of its inhabitants throughout different moments in the island’s history. though crummey’s prose is broadly characterized as historical fiction, his novels differ from their traditional counterparts. this article aims to invite a reading of crummey’s works through the prism of rescue history, a concept recently introduced by a polish scholar, ewa domańska. rescue history, drawing on frontier and post-colonial studies among others, is preoccupied with local, potential, existential and affirmative history whose goal is to rescue the future. although the concept of rescue history encompasses a variety of disciplines and activities, this article will focus on the literary realization of the notion of rescue history in crummey’s debut novel river thieves, published in 2002. based on historical accounts of captain david buchan’s expedition to red indian lake, whose aim was to encourage trade and put an end to hostilities between english settlers and beothuks, the novel encourages a compassionate revisiting of the chronicled events. weaving an intricate web of human relations and dependencies, crummey manages to restore agency to those who are situated on the periphery either due to gender, status or origin, thus reminding the reader that we are all capable of changing the course of history. keywords: rescue history, affirmative history, beothuks, demasduit, first nations. born and raised in newfoundland and labrador, michael crummey celebrates the region’s distinctness. all his novels are set in newfoundland and weave stories of its inhabitants throughout different moments in the island’s history. spinning narratives that hark back to the beginning of the nineteenth century as well as encompass present-day events, crummey shows newfoundland’s transformation from british colony to canadian province. though more than six decades have passed since newfoundland’s union with canada, the vast majority of the island’s inhabitants have retained their distinct sense of identity and declare themselves first as newfoundlanders, then as canadians. the sense of belonging primarily to the land rather than a country permeates the writer’s oeuvre. crummey’s characters seem to be deeply rooted in their locality, which is also mirrored in their language. recurrent inscriptions from the dictionary of newfoundland english manifest that the local variety of english developed a plethora of idiomatic phrases unknown to other native speak10.15290/cr.2016.14.3.02 21 articles ers of english. an old hag to mean “a nightmare,” to have the face of a robber’s horse denoting “a brazen attitude,” or dwall, signifying “a state between sleeping and waking,” are only a few examples of linguistic distinctions between canadians and newfoundlanders. though central to heroes’ lives, newfoundland is, nevertheless, situated on the canadian periphery. therefore, there are a number of literary approaches that may be applied in analyzing and interpreting crummey’s novels, such as regional studies, border studies, postcolonial studies or ecocriticism, to mention but a few. the aim of this article, however, is to invite a reading of crummey’s debut novel, river thieves, through the prism of rescue history, a concept developed by a polish scholar, ewa domańska, which is an amalgam of different, already existing methodologies. the project of rescue history is a conglomerate of seemingly diverse theories such as the theory and history of historiography, ecocide and genocide studies, posthumanities or ecological humanities. drawing upon each of them, rescue history aims to achieve its main goal, that is to rescue the future. methodologically, rescue history is preoccupied with local, potential, existential, ecological and affirmative history (domańska, 26) that may aid to build a better future for both human and non-human inhabitants of our planet. based on historical accounts of captain david buchan’s expedition to red indian lake, whose aim was to encourage trade and put an end to hostilities between english settlers and beothuks, the novel encourages a compassionate revisiting of the chronicled events. in one of the interviews for the calgary herald, crummey acknowledges his obsession with history in the following terms: one of my obsessions as a writer is how does where we come from make us who we are. . . . how does our past shape our present. there are some readers out there who say things like ‘why are you obsessed with what is happening the past [sic], why don’t you write about what is happening today?’ for me, i feel like you cannot write about what is happening today without writing about what has happened in the past. those things are inseparable. somehow that has become how i write. those scenes start in the present and without any break they move into the past and then back to the present and sometimes there are three or four different levels within a single scene. i feel that is absolutely true of how we are in the world. (crummey 2014) three elements of crummey’s confession that deserve special attention and that will be further analyzed are as follows: the belief that now is the continuity of the past, the multi-dimensional aspect of some of the scenes in the novel that reconfigure depending on the focalizer, and the notion of “being in the world,” which draws significantly on ecocriticism and geopoetics. the first element, that is, the belief that now is the continuity of the past, is demonstrated through intergenerational transmission. encountering the ancestors of important or historical figures offers a metaphorical handshake across time; it becomes the meeting point between the present and the past. apparently, the memory of the events that constitute the subject matter of the discussed novel is still a strong presence in the life of newfoundlanders. 22 crossroads. a journal of english studies when i wrote river thieves, which is about events that took place two hundred years ago, but it concerns a particular family, the peytons, i could not believe how many peytons i ran into after that book came out. i got to meet a mr. edgar bear. he was 93, and his grandmother knew john peyton jr. so i was sitting next to this man, if i held his hand, he held his grandmother’s hand, she was holding john peyton jr.’s hand. and that was an amazing moment--just to see how close all of that is to the present still. that is not something that doesn’t exist anymore, it’s very present to people in newfoundland. (crummey 2012) crummey’s observation that the past and the present are inseparable, however, resonates with rescue history, yet in a different respect, namely, that through studying the past we can rescue the future. the modern world is built upon past victories to the same extent that it is shaped by past failures, wrong choices and missed opportunities. consequently, the shape of the future depends on the present moment and decisions yet to be made, of which the pivotal concern is the acknowledgment of other narratives excluded from the official history. rescue history encourages researchers to unearth those elements from history that have been suppressed, ignored, forbidden or misrepresented in official narratives (domańska, 13), with a special focus placed on locality. in this sense, it rests upon foucault’s concept of counterhistory. in roman-style history, the function of memory was essentially to ensure that nothing was forgotten— or in other words, to preserve the law and perpetually to enhance the luster of power for so long as it endured. the new history that now emerges, in contrast, has to disinter something that has been hidden, and which has been hidden not only because it has been neglected, but because it has been carefully, deliberately, and wickedly misrepresented. basically, what the new history is trying to show is that power, the mighty, the kings, and the laws have concealed the fact that they were born of the contingency and injustice of battles. (foucault, 72) the extinction of red indians as a result of settlers’ expansion in newfoundland is undeniably one of the most ignominious events in the island’s history, which, unsurprisingly, has come to function as a source of national trauma but, peculiarly, also laid a foundation stone for the emergence of the national identity of newfoundlanders. cynthia sugars explicates it in the following terms, the extermination of the beothuk indians in newfoundland has for a long time figured as a kind of formative event in newfoundland and canadian culture, a foundational trauma contributing to a constitutive and irreversible absence in official versions of invader-settler history. in effect, the beothuk trauma, as experienced by the beothuk themselves, is appropriated as a national trauma, or, should i say, canadian nationalist discourse represents this tragedy as though it were a transferable trauma in order to conjure the event as a constitutive beginning for national self-definition. (150) therefore, writing about the lost tribe of red indians without appropriating their trauma is a nearly impossible task for someone who is a descendant of british settlers. yet, michael crummey 23 articles seems to have successfully avoided the trap of presenting the beothuk as the object of “both canadian postcolonial guilt (over past atrocities) and postcolonial desire (for origins/authenticity)” (sugars, 152). the aim of river thieves is not to revindicate but to express the notion of loss as well as offer a deeper understanding of the circumstances that led to the dramatic events described in the novel and the ultimate extinction of the beothuk tribe. as the first settlers searched for places convenient for fishing and hunting they subsequently drove the red indians6 inland towards red indian lake. though such an arrangement seemed initially to serve as a basis for a peaceful side-by-side existence with the incidents of friendly exchange of goods, it soon converted into a bloody war over the territory and animals between the red indians and some of the most affluent settlers that lived off fishing and hunting. through the introduction of a wide array of characters, crummey manages to portray settlers as a heterogeneous group, composed of individuals that differ in their viewpoints, attitudes, values, and conduct, the case of the peytons being the most vivid example. peyton senior has a reputation for being a hardened enemy of red indians and has allegedly killed one with the use of a trap-bed. peyton junior, on the other hand, embraces governor duckworth’s mission to “protect the indians” and “to establish a formal relationship” (crummey 2003, 20). unlike his father, young peyton sees a possibility of peaceful co-existence between settlers and the red indians. making peyton junior a main focalizer in river thieves, crummey shifts the focal point from conflicts and bloodshed to cooperation, coexistence, neighbourhood, or friendship. by accommodating mary, the captured beothuk woman, at his house and treating her like a guest with the utmost respect, peyton junior sets a new paradigm for relations between settlers and indigenous people. the relationship that young peyton forges with the native woman balances or perhaps even redeems the haunting recollection he has of a captive little indian girl exhibited to the public for a penny by one of his father’s old friends. needless to say, though mary is a respected guest at peytons’ house, she also remains a captive that is expected to act as an intermediary between her people and settlers once she learns to speak english. however, the fact that emphasizes the shift towards peaceful coexistence between the two hostile groups is that mary is no longer seen as a savage or exotic other but a prospective partner in mediation. the potentiality of friendly coexistence between settlers and first nations is additionally strengthened by a marital union between reilly and his mi’kmaq wife, annie boss. in this respect, river thieves shows “the originary moment when what could have been was separated from what is” (chafe, 93). mary never fully learns english (whether by will or not is unclear). she speaks in a “relentlessly present tense” (305), and will be remembered as always already perched at the moment of extinction. this fact, more than others, will come to haunt her captors. mary, and the beothuk more generally, embody 6 in the following article the name red indians is used interchangeably with the beothuks to denote a particular tribe of first nations of newfoundland. the english name of the tribe derives from the beothuk tradition of covering their bodies with the red ochre and is in no way a derogatory term. 24 crossroads. a journal of english studies this in-between moment, when going back was impossible and going forward, as before, was equally impossible. in this way, the beothuk represent the end of an era, for beothuk and settlers both. a nostalgia for originary nostalgia. a perpetual penultimate. (sugars, 161) river thieves is like a piece of amber in which demasduit, the beothuk name of mary, is preserved for prosperity; a silent witness, revealing nothing of her own people but testifying to their eradication. though her capture constitutes the backbone of the novel, mary is in no way a central character in the story. to make her the protagonist, crummey would be forced to step into her shoes, which would lead to the re-appropriation of mary’s story and her subsequent re-colonization against which bell hooks warns in the following terms: often this speech about the “other” annihilates, erases: “no need to hear your voice when i can talk about you better than you can speak about yourself. no need to hear your voice. only tell me about your pain. i want to know your story. and then i will tell it back to you in a new way. tell it back to you in such a way that has become mine, my own. re-writing you, i rewrite myself anew. i am still author, authority. i am still the colonizer, the speaking subject, and you are now at the center of my talk.” (151-152) although the presence of mary as well as her people is crucial to the story, crummey manages to avoid the pitfalls bell hooks described. narrating the events from the perspective of the settlers, peyton senior, his adult son and their housemaid cassie jure, not only does the author avoid a secondary colonization of the beothuk, but he also calls the objectivity of the narrative into question. the understanding and the inevitable interpretation of the events in the novel differ greatly between the three aforementioned characters. as the plot unwinds, it becomes evident that what the characters see may be deceptive, for one’s vision of the world is always enmeshed in one’s subjective life experience and presuppositions. the fallibility of the narrative, and history in a broader understanding, is additionally reinforced by the fact that, as chafe observes, from the moment of the capture of mary at red indian lake “the novel reads like an investigation (crummey actually lifts excerpts from official letters and inquiries), and the only certainty seems to be that no one is as he or she seems” (104). rescue history is also understood as existential history that contemplates the meanders of the human condition. it is a story about people who are full of contradictions and who live in the grey zones of everyday dilemmas, both cognitive and moral ones (domańska, 18). the characters of river thieves are full-bloodied people, fraught with vices but also possessing redeeming qualities. entangled in their often traumatic past, they all strive for a better future in newfoundland, though in different ways and at different costs. one of the least likable characters, peyton senior, is a tough, unemotional man that seems to care about nothing but his son and estate. yet, he is the one to rescue an irish ex-convict, reilly, as well as cassie. both these seemingly inadvertent decisions, which stemmed more from peyton’s moral judgment than mercy, will affect his and their lives irrevocably. having reilly kill one of the red indians in order to save old peyton’s life 25 articles during the second expedition to red indian lake, crummey highlights the intricacy of interhuman relations and restores agency to each of the characters. little did peyton senior suspect that by offering to remove the t-shaped iron brand off the hand of an underage irish thief and providing him with a job at his estate would he in fact rescue his own life in the long run. as domańska observes, at the centre of rescue history, “there is a realistic and carnal subject-agent, acting in certain socio-political surroundings, belonging to a certain community, whose view of the world and of the past are conditioned by various locations” (19).7 ironically, the illusorily peripheral characters and events in the novel become central in its grand finale. the illicit love affair between cassie and captain buchan, accidentally discovered by peyton junior, saves reilly from the gallows. the prospects of shame that would come with the public discovery of the captain’s adultery prevent him from revealing the actual circumstances of the death of two red indians during the second expedition in the official report, thus acquitting its members of the killings. alongside empowering individual characters regardless of their peripheral locality, rescue history looks for “innovative forms of agency” that encompass non-human elements such as animals, plants, objects or even sounds and light. in this respect, it transcends the anthropocene and points to nature in its own right (domańska, 20). nature features prominently in river thieves, as in every crummey novel, for life on this island is closely intertwined with its climate and animal resources. though generous and picturesque in summer months, in winters the newfoundland of river thieves turns into a hostile land where some paths are impenetrable and the harsh climate kills inhabitants due to cold-induced diseases, starvation or injuries incurred during fishing or hunting expeditions. in the winter of 1817, the governor of newfoundland dies of bronchial congestion that resulted from “the constant damp and cold of the governor’s residence” (crummey, 158). the severity of this winter is demonstrated in the following passage from the novel: the constant frost of that year had sealed the coast in a solid band of ice from the early days of december. in order to return the governor’s body to england, buchan pressed three hundred shoremen into service beside crewmen from the drake, egeria and the fly to carve a passage clear of the harbour. … three weeks after the work began, the hms fly left st. john’s with the earthly remains of governor pickmore preserved in a large puncheon of rum. … within a week the relentlessly cold weather had closed it over again and the harbour remained inaccessible to shipping until may. (crummey, 158-9) similarly, both expeditions to red indian lake that take place in the winters of 1811 and 1818 demonstrate how human history is closely entangled in or becomes natural history. the men struggle with the elements and the unbridled river that almost claims the life of one of the soldiers, as well as hunt down animals to ensure their provisions are sufficient and do not run out prematurely. their lives depend on nature that, in turn, becomes an agent in their history. 7 author’s own translation from polish. 26 crossroads. a journal of english studies on principle, rescue history questions the notion of human exceptionalism, as well as the instrumental treatment of nature as a resource to satisfy human needs, drawing upon ecological and environmental studies. it calls for “a heightened sensitivity towards the environment in which we try to live” (white, 165). nearly all characters in the novel kill various animals for food without getting squeamish, for their survival relies on animal flesh. yet, river thieves features one scene of seal slaughter for pelts that most readers will probably find abhorrent. this scene, which involves ripping still warm nearly beating hearts out of seals’ chests to satisfy hunger after the hard toil of slaughter, demonstrates a clear transgression (crummey, 71). it is not the act of eating a raw seal heart that makes the scene savage but the manner in which it is done, which is totally devoid of any empathy. he [old peyton] used the heel of the boot to crack the exposed breastbone and then opened the chest cavity to cut the large fist of its heart free. he held it in his hand, the organ still hot to the touch, and he brought it to his mouth, biting into it as he would an apple. he offered it to cassie and then to peyton, and they ate the raw flesh together, licking the blood from their lips. (crummey, 71) the violent and haughty behaviour of old peyton stands in stark contrast with young peyton’s empathetic observation first of the seal’s “dark delicate nostrils testing the air” (70), and then the painful recollection of “stripped carcasses on ice, inert, emptied of the energy of the animate” (71). peyton junior’s sympathy for other people as well as other creatures, and his resistance to violence, unfortunately make him a laughingstock among his father’s friends and workers. nonetheless, it is peyton junior that is nominated a new justice of the peace, setting a new paradigm for a more empathetic administrative face. last but not the least, rescue history emphasizes different forms of witnessing and giving testimony than human only. it points to trees, rivers or animals as witnesses. certain ethnic groups may be long gone, having left no artifacts, but trees and rivers may remember their presence and their songs. the closing paragraph of the novel seems to be the epitome of this theoretical concept. there is no record of the lyrics of these [beothuk] songs or the music to which the words were set. what remains of them is the property of brooks and ponds and marshes, of caribou and fox moving through the interior as they were sung two hundred years ago. of each black spruce and fir offering its single note to the air where not a soul is left to hear it. (crummey, 370) to conclude, river thieves is a compassionate novel that succeeds in telling the story of the red indians’ extinction without appropriating it. the author bases his novel on scarce historical accounts of the described events and tries to imagine the actual motives that drove the settlers involved in the events. he consciously refuses to even fathom what colonization must have been like for the beothuk or show their perspective from the first person narrative. in one of the interviews he explicates this in the following words: 27 articles i’m dealing with the historical reality of the extinction of an entire race of people, the beothuk. . . . i was hoping the novel would give some sense of the enormity of that loss. . . . but i felt it would be wrong to write a novel about the beothuk — to write as if we know more about them than we do, or to try to give them a voice that is absent from the historical record. their absence, to my mind, is the point. the beothuk are a shadowy presence in river thieves, just as they are in what we know of the past. . . . in the end, river thieves is a book about regret. for the individual characters, it’s usually regret of a personal nature. for me, and hopefully for a reader, it goes somewhere beyond that, encompasses something larger. (quoted in chafe, 97) the novel indisputably leaves the reader with the sense of loss and mourning, but simultaneously, in an amber-like manner, it preserves the existence of the red indians and commemorates their status as the first inhabitants of newfoundland. unearthing a dramatic past, the novel preserves the future memory of the beothuk and saves it from sinking into oblivion. as chafe observes, “[t] he beothuk of river thieves function more as an absence than a presence and are thus inseparable from the notion of loss that has become a fundamental part of newfoundland’s culture” (96). nevertheless, rather than historical fiction, river thieves is above all a story about the human condition per se. weaving an intricate web of human relations and interdependencies, crummey manages to restore agency to those who are situated on the periphery either due to gender, status or origin, thus reminding the reader that we are all capable of changing the course of history. references: chafe, paul. 2004. “lament for a notion: loss and the beothuk in michael crummey’s river thieves.” essays on canadian writing 82 (spring), 93-117. crummey, michael. 2003. the river thieves. edinburgh: canongate. crummey, michael. 2012. “our symbiotic relationship with the stories that we tell.” an interview by cynthia sugars. canadian literature 212 (spring), 105-119. 28 feb. 2016. prima.uwb.edu. pl:2124/ehost/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=d1f349d2-d303-4e19-9fa8-1231eea21261%40sessionmgr101 &hid=124&bdata=jmxhbmc9cgwmc2l0zt1lag9zdc1saxzl#an=78296008&db=a9h crummey, michael. 2014. “author michael crummey brings his own life into tale of smalltown newfoundland.” interview by eric volmers. calgary herald 25 aug. 2014. 28 feb. 2016. www.calgaryherald.com/news/author+michael+crummey+brings+life+into+tale+small+town +newfoundland /10141933/story.html domańska, ewa. 2014. “historia ratownicza.” teksty drugie 5, 12-26. foucault, michel. 2003. society must be defended. lectures at the college de france, 1975-76. ed. mauro bertani and alessandro fontana. trans. david macey. new york: picador. hooks, bell. 1990. yearning: race, gender and cultural politics. boston, ma: south end press. sugars, cynthia. 2005. “original sin, or, the last of the first ancestors: michael crummey’s river thieves.” english studies in canada 31.4 (dec.), 147-175. white, kenneth. 1992. “elements of geopoetics.” edinburgh review 88, 163-178. crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 16-27 weronika łaszkiewicz university of bialystok jack london: a writing sailor, a sailing writer abstract. the following paper analyzes how the experience of sailing shaped jack london’s life and works. on the one hand, the paper recounts those events from the writer’s biography which contributed to his emotional attachment to the sea and created a realistic background for his texts. on the other hand, it focuses on a selection of london’s works—“typhoon off the coast of japan”, “chris farrington: able seaman”, the sea-wolf, and martin eden—in order to investigate how the experience of sea and sailing affects a character’s morality/personality, and to examine how the chosen narratives reflect and preserve london’s own memories of life on board. keywords: jack london, sea, ocean, sailing. the biography of jack london’s life is a model example of a “rags to riches” story. thanks to his diligence, hard work, and unyielding passion for knowledge and literature, london became one of the most renowned writers of his time, popular both in the us and abroad. according to harold bloom, even today london “remains both a phenomenon of our imaginative literature and a permanent figure in the american mythology” (2011: 1). one of the reasons for the past and present appeal of london’s works is the author’s ability to capture the beauty of nature, which he discovered in the barren lands of the north, the impenetrable forests and the open waters. in london’s fiction, landscapes and seascapes are far more than decorative backgrounds for the development of the plot. the vividness and realism with which london evokes the natural sceneries can truly mesmerize the reader. the following passage comes from “the white silence” (originally published in 1899): nature has many tricks wherewith she convinces man of his finity, — the ceaseless flow of the tides, the fury of the storm, the shock of the earthquake, the long roll of heaven’s artillery, — but the most tremendous, the most stupefying of all, is the passive phase of the white silence. all movement ceases, the sky clears, the heavens are as brass; the slightest whisper seems sacrilege, and man becomes timid, affrighted at the sound of his own voice. sole speck of life journeying across the ghostly wastes of a dead world, he trembles at his audacity, realizes that his is a maggot’s life, nothing more. strange thoughts arise unsummoned, and the mystery of all things strives for utterance. and the fear of death, of god, of the universe, comes over him, — the hope of the resurrection and the life, the yearning for immortality, the vain striving of the imprisoned essence, — it is then, if ever, man walks alone with god. (london, 1899: n.p.) 1 given the above fragment, bloom is correct to say that it is the “worship of the wild [that] still marks london’s difference from nearly everyone else and accounts for london’s permanent appeal to readers throughout the world” (2011: 2). london’s works have already been studied countless times for their political manifestos, development of masculinity, and heart-wrenching descriptions of the natural environment—which, however, tend to concentrate on his alaskan stories. if the sea and sailing are mentioned, it is usually in addition to the study of the heroes from the sea-wolf or 1 jack london’s works are available in the public domain, so in my paper (if not indicated otherwise) i quote the electronic editions of his and his wife’s, charmian london’s, articles, short stories and novels available at the world of jack london (www.jacklondons.net), managed by david a. hartzell. the publication data given in the works cited section include information about the original medium and date of publication provided by the website. crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 16-27 in the context of the articles and short stories written during the author’s oceanic cruise on the snark. the aim of this paper is to adopt the sea/ocean as the main prism for analyzing jack london’s biography and works. by turning the sea into a prominent and active agent of his narratives, london was able to do several things: portray the threatening beauty of the open waters, develop the personalities of his heroes, experiment with his literary alter egos, and forever preserve his own memories of sailing. rebecca stefoff warns, however, that one cannot simply take london’s writing as an accurate record of his life. in order to make a point or tell a more powerful story, he often exaggerated things or added fictional elements to writing that was mostly autobiographical. we cannot always untangle the thread of “real life” and “storytelling” that london wove together so well. (2002: 10) in other words, london’s literary versions of himself and his adventures need to be analyzed with a sensible dose of skepticism, because london could have deliberately refashioned his persona in order to disseminate the image of himself—of an adventurous and powerful man— that he always carried in his mind. jack london’s passion for sailing began in his early childhood. together with his stepfather, john london, he often went fishing in the estuary lying between oakland and alameda (london, vol.1, 1921: 54). 2 after school and work, he would frequently visit the oakland docks, because the sight of ships and sailors—just like his favorite books—allowed him to fantasize about the vastness and richness of the world (stone, 1938: 32-45). jack managed to buy his first boat before he was thirteen, and this purchase revealed the strength of his passion: a boy whose family had no money to waste decided to spend the fruit of his hard labor on a boat, because sailing offered him the first taste of unlimited freedom and a temporary escape from the dull reality filled with constant work. eventually, jack found a way to combine his love for sailing and the necessity to support his family. instead of working in the cannery, he bought a boat, the razzle-dazzle, and became a young oyster-pirate in san francisco bay. he recounts his elation about the new occupation in his autobiographical novel john barleycorn (1913): there it was, the smack and slap of the spirit of revolt, of adventure, of romance, of the things forbidden and done defiantly and grandly. […] and at last my dream would be realised: i would sleep upon the water. and next morning i would wake upon the water; and thereafter all my days and nights would be on the water. (london, 1913: n.p.) the job of an oyster-pirate introduced the teenage boy to the world of brutal men, alcohol and adventures; it allowed him not only to earn money, but also to gather experiences that would later create reliable backgrounds and realistic characters for his narratives. jack resigned from being an oyster-pirate when he was caught by the fish patrol, which he subsequently joined; the adventures from that period of time were later immortalized in his collection of short stories entitled “tales of the fish patrol” (1906). in his later life, london was very proud of his skills as a small-boat sailor which he acquired in his teenage years. in one of his articles, “small-boat sailing” (1912), he even wrote: “barring captains and mates of big ships, the small-boat sailor is the real sailor” (london, 1912: n.p.). 3 in the article london enumerates various activities which a small-boat sailor must be able to perform on his own (and quickly), and which the deepwater sailors are not acquainted with. london also recounts his meeting with a runaway english sailor with 2 charmian london’s the book of jack london (1921) is frequently perceived as a rather sentimental and romanticized account of her late husband. this is evident is such lines as, “and, like jack’s, john’s wide-set, gray-blue, dancing eyes and sweeping ways were not to be resisted by mortal woman” (18). nevertheless, charmian, the undaunted companion of jack’s journeys, best understood his passion for adventures and sailing. 3 “small-boat sailing” was first published in yachting monthly, august 1912. the article is now available at the world of jack london. crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 16-27 whom he sailed on his own boat. when the man took command over the small vessel, young jack was prepared to see a true sailor at work. but the man hardly knew what to do: my mouth remained open, for i learned what a real sailor was in a small boat. he couldn’t trim the sheet to save himself, he nearly capsized several times in squalls, and, once again, by blunderingly jibing over; […] and yet he was a really truly sailor fresh from the vasty deep. (london, 1912: n.p.) in terms of small-boat sailing, the boy proved to be a more experienced sailor than his grownup companion. london claimed that the skills he acquired during his teenage voyages prepared him for becoming a deepwater sailor, which, however, he generally considered a less demanding occupation if compared to small-boat cruises. london became a deepwater sailor—a decision that could have been predicted after he had bought his first boat (stone, 1938: 46)—at the age of seventeen, when he joined the crew of the sophia sutherland, a seal-hunting, three-top-mast schooner going on a seven-months’ cruise across the pacific. thus, he could finally explore the lands beyond the landscapes of his childhood. but he also had to face the ferocity of the ocean and brave the challenges of older men, who at first did not accept him as an “able-bodied” sailor and their equal. during the cruise jack managed to prove both his worth and skill. yet despite his success, after his return from the voyage he did not sign up for another one. one of the reasons for the decision was his constant search for novelty: though he was fond of his achievements as an able-bodied sailor, he wanted to gather other experiences, available in other places and with other people. there was also a more practical reason behind his decision: he had to find a more stable job to support his family. yet given london’s personality, thirst for adventures and craving for knowledge, it would be impossible for him to secure one menial job for several years, to be a factory worker whose life would be immersed in routine and monotony. fortunately, the short story he submitted for a local contest won him first prize and marked the beginning of his literary career. “the typhoon off the coast of japan” (1893), written in first-person narration, is an account of london’s own adventure on the sophia sutherland. the tale is a realistic description of sailors’ life, a detailed account of the art of sailing, and an expression of jack’s delight with the beauty of the ocean, which the readers are invited to share with him: the waves were holding high carnival, performing the strangest antics, as with wild glee they danced along in fierce pursuit […]. in the sun’s path they wandered, where every ripple, great or small, every little spit or spray looked like molten silver, where the water lost its dark green color and became a dazzling, silvery flood, only to vanish and become a wild waste of sullen turbulence, each dark foreboding sea rising and breaking, then rolling on again. (london, 1922: n.p.) but jack, his heroes and readers learn that this beauty can become lethally dangerous in a matter of hours; the crew is forced to struggle for survival in the midst of a typhoon. the success of “the typhoon...” motivated london to pursue the career of a writer; the sea and sailing became recurring motifs of his fiction. london returns to the image of a battle between the sailors and a storm in another short story, “chris farrington: able seaman” (1901). in contrast to the previous tale, this one is devoted entirely to the efforts of one man—young chris farrington—who is one of london’s numerous literary alter egos. the whole story is london’s thinly concealed admiration of his own early achievements in sailing. in fact, london considered his standing at the schooner’s wheel during the storm “the proudest achievement of [his] life” and his “moment of highest living” (1911, ch.1: n.p.). like young jack on the sophia sutherland, chris farrington has to face adult sailors and prove that he is their equal, an able seaman, which he does by saving the schooner (also called the sophia sutherland and also hunting for seals) from a storm, when only two other men are present on board. while the ocean is raging with storm, the bruised and battered crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 16-27 chris does everything he can to keep the ship afloat. the narrator emphasizes the magnitude of the challenge and complements it with dramatic descriptions of the ocean’s rage: the least fraction of carelessness and the heave of the sea under the quarter was liable to thrust her into the trough. so, a boy of one hundred and forty pounds, he clung to his herculean task of guiding the two hundred straining tons of fabric amid the chaos of the great storm forces. […] so small and insignificant the schooner seemed on the long pacific roll! rushing up a maddening mountain, she would poise like a cockle-shell on the giddy summit, breathless and rolling, leap outward and down into the yawning chasm beneath, and bury herself in the smother of foam at the bottom. then the recovery, another mountain, another sickening upward rush, another poise, and the downward crash. (london, 1922: n.p.) the seventeen-year-old chris takes command of the ship, does not give in to exhaustion, and—after the storm is over—immediately returns to search for the abandoned hunters. though he is burdened with great responsibility, he manages to cope with everything and earns the respect of other sailors. through chris and his success (which nevertheless seems a bit exaggerated), london commemorates his own teenage adventure and acceptance into the world of adult men. a similar pattern also appears in his other early stories, thus providing evidence of how strongly london felt about his first sailing voyages. in “the lost poacher” (1901), the crew of the mary thomas is captured by a russian patrol, accused of poaching, and subsequently threatened with the possibility of being sent to siberia. bub, the young cabinboy, is taken by the russians, questioned, and later left unattended on their ship. at night, bub courageously cuts off the ropes linking the mary thomas to the russian ship, and the schooner is quickly retaken by its crew. bub is left with the russians who, fortunately, recognize his courage and loyalty, so they set him free. the boy is later reunited with the mary thomas and praised by his comrades. “in yeddo bay” (1903) features a sixteen-yearold alf davis, a sailor on the annie mine, who has to return to his schooner in the yokohama harbor, but has no money to pay the boat fare. when none of the local people is willing to help him, alf decides to swim to the schooner. this act of independence and courage earns him the respect of the local men and the entire crew. these and other short stories are a portrayal of youthful pride, courage, and a desire for recognition, which were so characteristic of young london. as if in contrast, one of london’s later short stories, “the sea farmer” 4 (1914), describes his complete opposite—captain macelrath, for whom sailing is just a means of earning a living: captain macelrath did not like the sea, and had never liked it. he wrung his livelihood from it, and that was all the sea was, the place where he worked, as the mill, the shop, and the counting-house were the places where other men worked. romance never sang to him her siren song, and adventure had never shouted in his sluggish blood. he lacked imagination. the wonders of the deep were without significance to him. tornadoes, hurricanes, waterspouts, and tidal waves were so many obstacles to the way of a ship on the sea and of a master on the bridge—they were that to him, and nothing more. (london, 1914: n.p.) though the passage provides no explicit comparison between macelrath and london himself, an implicit comparison is hard to miss: for a man such as london, sailing was always the embodiment of adventure and fuel for the imagination, not simply a means of earning his living. he was deeply convinced that a sailor is born, not made. and by “sailor” is meant, not the average efficient and hopeless creature who is found to-day in the forecastle of deepwater ships, but the man who will take a fabric 4 “the sea farmer” was part of the collection entitled the strength of the strong published by macmillan in 1914. the collection is available at the world of jack london. crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 16-27 compounded of wood and iron and rope and canvas and compel it to obey his will on the surface of the sea. […] and if a man is a born sailor, and has gone to the school of the sea, never in all his life can he get away from the sea again. the salt of it is in his bones as well as his nostrils, and the sea will call to him until he dies. (london, 1912: n.p.) yet london’s description of the captain, who perceives everything as obstacles “and nothing more”, does not seem scornful. rather than chide macelarth, london seems sad that the captain, like so many people bound to life on land, fails to recognize and to indulge in the beauty of marine life—two mistakes which london did not make, since his passion for sea voyages continued to re-emerge in different periods of his life. moreover, the experience of being on the open waters seemed to have a soothing effect on london’s mind. charmian london, his second wife, wrote: “whenever jack london set foot upon deck-planking, he left behind more than the solid earth. whatsoever load of soul-sickness or care he had borne to the water's edge fell from him, or, more fitly, shrank to its true scant measure under the springing arch of life” (vol.1, 1921: 111). it was so because the wide sea and dome of sky, with all their moods of color and motion, pervaded him with a never palling joyance of eye and spirit. in the night watches, swinging majestically under the wintry steel-blue stars, or fighting through big seas beneath low scudding moonlit cloud-masses, with only the paleglimmering binnacle for company, he knew again those lofty, cool levels of contemplation wherein his vision was extended into ever-receding distances of thought. (london, vol.1, 1921: 119-120) clarice stasz also argues that london “was most at peace on the water, and would escape to boats all his life” (stasz, 2001: 27); it was a yacht that became london’s temporary escape from marital problems when he was divorcing his first wife, bess. in addition, the freedom offered by sailing seemed to stimulate london’s literary skills. in a letter to his friend cloudesley johns (1899) london wrote: “many who know me, ask why i, with my knowledge of the sea, do not write some sea fiction. but you see i have been away from it so long that i have lost touch. i must first get back and saturate myself with its atmosphere” (qtd. in london, vol.1, 1921: 309). thus, it was his escape to the boat that allowed him to finish the sea-wolf (1904) in spite of personal dilemmas. the sea-wolf, written on the spray (bought from the sale of the call of the wild in 1903), where london could feel the breeze on his face and the waves beneath his feet, is the epitome of his relationship with sailing and perhaps his personal tribute to herman melville, whose works he devoured as a child. in the sea-wolf, london uses humphrey van weyden’s voyage on the seal-hunting schooner, the ghost, as a background for developing several themes: his interest in certain philosophical doctrines, delight in the open waters, observation about the brutal world of seamen, and a reflection on his troublesome love life. as a result, the sea and the ship become witness to the sailors’ lives of unending toil, wolf larsen’s tyranny, and hump’s struggle to survive and become a man. the ghost is a self-sustaining reality, separated from the rest of the world by the vastness of the sea, and dominated by violence in its most primitive form. under such circumstances, the so-far pampered hump finally becomes an independent and self-reliant man. hump shares the process of reaching maturity with maud brewster, the woman rescued by larsen. in the course of the journey, maud (who seems to be a reflection of london’s second wife, charmian) proves that apart from being an object of hump’s love interest, she can also be his companion and support in the fight for survival. the stark conditions of the sea voyage are an active agent in the process of shaping their personalities and in allowing them to discover their skills. when maud and hump return home and reclaim their place in society, their perception of class and gender is greatly affected by their experience of the sea. sam s. baskett argues in “sea change in the sea-wolf” that there is even a “change toward androgyny” (in bloom, 2011: 29), because the evolution of hump’s crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 16-27 and maud’s perception of masculinity and femininity allows them to complement each other’s endeavors in several new ways. the portrayals of other characters reveal more ways in which people can be shaped by their experience of the sea and the conditions of an oceanic voyage. london’s interest in the philosophies of darwin, spencer and nietzsche, as well as his disillusionment with life, contributed to the creation of wolf larsen, the ship’s captain, whose actions and conversations are permeated by cynical materialism, and for whom life is nothing more than “yeast”. larsen is the most brutal man on the ghost and has no regard for morality whatsoever. such behavior, paired with his capricious nature, indifference to human suffering, and inhuman strength elevate larsen beyond and above humanity, and turn him into a symbolic incarnation of the sea, which is equally ferocious, capricious and indifferent to human struggle. this connection between larsen and the sea is strengthened by the look in his eyes, which hump in turn describes as resembling the “azure of the deep sea” or “bleak, and cold, and grey as the sea itself” (london, 1904, ch.3: n.p.), and by the fact that larsen’s entire life has been devoted to sailing. thus, it is only natural that when larsen dies, he is given the traditional sea burial, which reunites his spirit wit h the primal element that molded it. that the sea and sailing are able to shape people and their behavior is also visible in hump’s description of other seamen: in their indifference to violence and suffering, in their rough manners, and even in their laughter, which is as “harsh and frank as the sea itself; that arose out of coarse feelings and blunted sensibilities, from natures that knew neither courtesy nor gentleness” (london, 1904, ch.3: n.p.). london was not, however, satisfied by only writing about oceanic adventures in his adult life. “at sea, by testing himself to the limit of his physical endurance, he could reinvent himself as a legendary traveler, a man who could face any challenge and still conquer” (kershaw, 1997: 177). london had one particular dream connected with sailing, which he managed to partially fulfill, encouraged by charmian. he planned a cruise around the globe: to hawaii, new zealand, australia and india, through the mediterranean sea and the atlantic, with san francisco as the final destination point—a journey whose “itinerary seems ambitious even today” (riedl and tietze in berkove, 2012: 294). to make the enterprise even more exciting, london decided to build his own boat, the snark, so he spent weeks learning about the art of building ships. he calculated that he would need about seven thousand dollars to have his dream boat, but he was ready to spend every cent he had. which he actually did, because from the very beginning the enterprise seemed doomed to fail. work was constantly interrupted and delayed by several minor and major problems that required more and more money, which london managed to earn or borrow, only to learn that his employees and subcontractors were cheating him in every possible way. he postponed the date of departure several times—something “inconceivable and monstrous” (london, 1911, ch.2: n.p.) 5 —and eventually became the laughing stock of the country. london was in turn angry, frustrated and depressed, but he never admitted defeat, as if the ship had become “an all-consuming obsession” (kershaw 1997: 173). many people thought that the ship would either never be completed or would sink during the first days of the cruise. at the same time, however, other people wrote to london pleading for a chance to participate in the cruise. people from all walks of life were ready to work for free just to escape from the monotony or problems of everyday existence. london had to decline most offers. later, in the cruise of the snark (1911), he wrote: 5 the quote comes from the cruise of the snark, published by macmillan in 1911. the entire book is available at the world of jack london. crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 16-27 some day, when i have made a lot of money, i’m going to build a big ship, with room in it for a thousand volunteers. they will have to do all the work of navigating that boat around the world, or they'll stay at home. i believe that they'll work the boat around the world, for i know that adventure is not dead. i know adventure is not dead because i have had a long and intimate correspondence with adventure. (ch.3: n.p.) the snark eventually cost london about thirty thousand dollars and became the epitome of his stubbornness, pride, and naivety (stone, 1938: 223-236). in theory, the boat’s design allowed for both sea cruises and inland trips, e.g. up the thames to london, or up the seine to paris, since the masts could be lowered and the boat could be then powered by an engine. in practice, the original itinerary was never completed. when the journey finally began (in april 1907), london almost immediately had to struggle with several problems in the ship’s construction and equipment. it was amongst that chaos and misery that he started to write martin eden (published in 1909), a heavily autobiographical novel which is permeated by the specters of melancholy, frustration and ultimate failure. martin eden, an uneducated sailor from a working-class background, struggles to become a writer and to win the love of ruth morse from a bourgeois family. before martin achieves literary recognition, he is rejected by ruth, so eventually even his successful career cannot diminish his disillusionment with love and society. when life becomes too painful, martin jumps off the mariposa and commits a suicide by drowning himself in the sea. this scene of drowning is an echo of london’s own experience (stone, 1938: 43). one night, when he was still an oyster-pirate, london fell into the water, and because he was drunk and in a melancholic mood, he started to contemplate a suicidal death by drowning, which seemed romantic and tragic enough for his tastes. when he finally came to his senses, he drifted for hours and was eventually rescued by a fisherman. london recollected this memory in john barleycorn (1913), an autobiographical novel which deals mostly with the problem of excessive drinking (stasz, 2001: 29-30). the novel also provides an account of london’s first contact with and enthusiasm for marine life: it was the first sea-interior i had ever seen. the clothing on the wall smelled musty. but what of that? was it not the sea-gear of men? […] and everywhere was in evidence the economy of space--the narrow bunks, the swinging tables, the incredible lockers. there were the tell-tale compass, the sealamps in their gimbals, the blue-backed charts carelessly rolled and tucked away, the signal-flags in alphabetical order, and a mariner’s dividers jammed into the woodwork to hold a calendar. at last i was living. (london, 1913, ch.6: n.p.) jonathan auerbach points out (1996: 185) that the motif of death by drowning frequently appears in london’s early works, e.g. in “frisco kid’s story” (1895), a daughter of the snows (1902), and the call of the wild (1903). some of the heroes, e.g. the protagonist from “a thousand deaths” (1899) and van weyden from the sea-wolf, are saved from drowning, but some, like the tragic protagonist of martin eden, are not. auerbach argues that in all these examples, drowning signifies social death, so that being saved from such a fate represents a reprieve from the abyss of failure [...] we can begin to grasp the powerful hold this scene had on london’s imagination: what it meant in terms of his fear that he might never amount to anything, might never make a name for himself. (auerbach, 1996: 185) but even “making a name for himself” is ultimately not enough to overpower martin eden’s death wish, since he commits suicide at the top of his career. he chooses drowning because for him—for a sailor—that is the only acceptable kind of death; a death through which he, like wolf larsen, is reunited with the primal element that had shaped his life. it is also symbolic that he chooses to leave the ship through a porthole, instead of jumping straight from the deck. charles watson suggests: “the porthole is the orifice of the womb, the door of the world, but martin is passing through it backwards [feet first], returning to the dark womb crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 16-27 of the maternal sea” (1983: 160)—a sailor returning to the embrace of his mother. the suicide is foreshadowed by martin’s quotation of henry wadsworth longfellow’s poem christus: a mystery (1872): the sea is still and deep; all things within its bosom sleep; a single step and all is o’er, a plunge, a bubble, and no more. (in london, 1909, ch.30: n.p.) moreover, the name of martin eden’s ship—the mariposa—is also symbolic. firstly, it was the name of the ship on which london sailed back to san francisco when his cruise on the snark was temporarily interrupted by several financial issues he had to tend to at home (stone, 1938: 245). london’s thoughts during the return journey were probably not the happiest ones if he immortalized the mariposa as the ship bearing witness to eden’s death. another explanation is uncovered through the translation of the ship’s name. mariposa is the spanish word for a butterfly, and “the butterfly has been associated with the spirits of the dead and with the passage from death to life and vice versa” (deguzmán and lópez in hodson and campbell reesman, 2002: 118). despite his alter ego’s tragic death, london was still hungry for life and adventure, so he returned to the snark in spite of the several voices which insisted that he had already proved his point and would do better staying in san francisco. charmian’s support proved invaluable since she, london’s “mate-woman” (stasz in berkove, 2012: 221), was the best of shipmates. unmistakably feminine and deeply in love with jack, she yet was far from the stereotype of the delicately reserved and sheltered edwardian woman. she thrilled at the thought of real adventure and eagerly took part in every aspect of the voyage, including putting herself in danger of bodily harm from perils of remote seas, exotic diseases, and threats from islanders widely reputed to be savages. (riedl and tietze in berkove, 2012: 296) charmian also shared her husband’s passion for sailing and marine life, which is visible in her own descriptions of their cruise: it is all a piece of wonder, the sea, to such as we: still magic of calms, where one’s boat lies with motionless grace upon a shadow-flecked expanse of mirror; or when one laughs in the pelt of warm searain from a ragged gray sky of clouds; or peers for blue-black squalls darkling upon the silver moonlit waves; or lifts prideful, fond eyes to the small ship's goodly spars standing fast in a white gale; or gazes in marvel at those same spars lighted to flame by the red-gilt morning sunrays from over some green and purple savage isle feared of god and man; or braces to the pacific rollers bowling upon the surface of the eternal unagitated depths; or scans the configuration of coasts from inadequate charts; or steers, tense, breathless, through the gateways of but half-known reefs [. . .] (vol. 2, 1921: 168) supported by his enthusiastic wife, london remained impervious to negative opinions and continued the cruise, sometimes even claiming that the months spent on the snark were the happiest in his life (stone, 1938: 253-254). as usual, adventures gave impetus to his writing, and apart from creating martin eden, london produced several journalistic articles and short stories which described the people and cultures he encountered on the way. the journey lasted only about two years. it came to an abrupt end in september 1908, in sydney, where due to health problems london had to forsake his plans. despite his emotional attachment to the boat, he sold the ruined ship and in june 1909 returned to san francisco (people would occasionally report to the londons that they had seen the snark, but they eventually lost track of her whereabouts). summing up the entire enterprise, on the one hand, london survived the mockery and criticism in order to have his dream adventure, which offered him invaluable experiences that he could transform into literature. on the other hand, the journey was fraught with several difficulties, and when london finally returned to san francisco he was ill, exhausted and in debt. he also had to deal with the thought that his crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 16-27 dreams of a grand oceanic voyage were not fulfilled. he did organize, together with charmian, many shorter cruises, e.g. on the inland yacht, the roamer, which he bought in 1910. they also went on a longer journey and sailed around cape horn, from baltimore to seattle. nevertheless, london did not undertake, or given his premature death, did not have time to undertake, another cruise around the world. jack london was a man of letters and, at the same time, a man of the sea, who read and wrote extensively, both on land and on board. charmian london confirmed that it was upon the liquid two-thirds of earth's surface that i saw him the most blissfully content. dawn or twilight, he loved the way of a boat upon the sea. […] “seamen have at all times been a people apart,” curiously so, from the rest of their kind; and the sailor jack london was a man apart from the rest of himself. imagination, nerves, work, pleasure, all ran in smoother grooves when his feet stood between the moving surface and the blowing sky, his own intelligence the equalizing force amidst unstable elements. seldom in waking hours without books or spoken argument exerting upon his wheeling brain, yet at the helm of his boat, braced for day-long hours, he would stand rapt in healthful ecstasy of sheer being, lord of life and the harnessed powers of nature, unheedful of physical strain, his own hand directing fate. (vol.1, 1921: 64-65) london successfully established the ocean and sailing as prominent elements of his narratives, and preserved his own experiences of sailing through the adventures of his literary alter egos. of course, this does not mean that his other works, those not related to sailing, e.g. before adam (1907), the iron heel (1908), or the star rover (1915), are of lesser importance. nevertheless, writing and sailing were two activities which equally shaped his private life and fiction. in the end, london himself wrote, in “small-boat sailing”: “once a sailor, always a sailor. the savour of the salt never stales. the sailor never grows so old that he does not care to go back for one more wrestling bout with wind and wave. i know it of myself” (london, 1912: n.p.). references auerbach, jonathan. 1996. male call. becoming jack london. durham: duke university press. baskett, sam s. 2011. sea change in the sea-wolf. in: harold bloom (ed.), bloom’s modern critical views: jack london, 13-30. new york: bloom’s literary criticism. berkove, lawrence i (ed.) 2012. critical insights. jack london. pasadena: salem press. bloom, harold (ed.) 2011. bloom’s modern critical views: jack london. new york: bloom’s literary criticism. deguzmán, maría and debbie lópez. 2002. algebra of twisted figures. transvaluation in martin eden. in: sara s. hodson and jeanne campbell reesman (eds.), jack london. one hundred years a writer, 98-122. san marino: huntington library. hodson, sara s. and jeanne campbell reesman (eds.). 2002. jack london. one hundred years a writer. san marino: huntington library. kershaw, alex. 1997. jack london. a life. london: harpercollinspublishers. london, charmian. 1921. the book of jack london. vols. 1 & 2. new york: century. 6 london, jack. 1899. the white silence. in: overland monthly, vol. 33, february. 6 charmian london’s and jack london’s works are available at the world of jack london. http://jacklondons.net, date of retrieval 20 march 2015. the following publication data are those provided by the website. http://jacklondons.net/ crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 16-27 -----. 1904. the sea-wolf. new york: macmillan. -----. 1909. martin eden. new york: macmillan. -----. 1911. the cruise of the snark. new york: macmillan. -----. 1912. small-boat sailing. in: yachting monthly, august. -----. 1913. john barleycorn. new york: century. -----. 1914. the sea farmer. in: jack london, the strength of the strong. new york: macmillan. -----. 1922. chris farrington: able seaman. in: jack london, dutch courage and other stories. new york: macmillan. ------. 1922. the typhoon off the coast of japan. in: jack london, dutch courage and other stories. new york: macmillan. riedl, gary and thomas r. tietze. 2012. introduction to jack london’s tales of cannibals and headhunters. in: lawrence i. berkove (ed.), critical insights. jack london, 280320. pasadena: salem press. stefoff, rebecca. 2002. jack london. an american original. new york: oxford university press. stasz, clarice. 2001. jack london’s women. baltimore: university of massachusetts press. stasz, clarice. 2012. androgyny in the novels of jack london. in: lawrence i. berkove (ed.), critical insights. jack london, 218-232. pasadena: salem press. stone, irving. 1938. sailor on horseback. the biography of jack london. london: collins. watson, charles n., jr. 1983. the novels of jack london. a reappraisal. madison: the university of wisconsin press. website 1 – the world of jack london/writings http://www.jacklondons.net/jacklondonwritings.html (20 march 2015) http://www.jacklondons.net/jacklondonwritings.html%20(20 the witness of the unspoken experience: postmemory in bernice eisenstein’s i was a child of holocaust survivors 57 articles aleksandra kamińska university of warsaw the witness of the unspoken experience: postmemory in bernice eisenstein’s i was a child of holocaust survivors abstract. in the graphic memoir i was a child of holocaust survivors (2006) bernice eisenstein examines her identity as a second generation survivor, tells stories about her parents, and depicts the community of survivors in toronto. eisenstein’s memoir is most often described as a graphic novel. however, the book is a specific combination of words and drawings, and can be hard to categorize. in my paper i focus on eisenstein’s complex relationship with her father presented in the novel, and argue that the way she writes about him and draws him is anchored in his unsaid holocaust experience. i read eisenstein’s portrayal of her father in reference to the concept of postmemory, and suggest that eisenstein was heavily affected by her father’s experience of being a holocaust survivor. her deep connection to the past is demonstrated in i was a child of holocaust survivors through drawings, selected memories, and references to numerous works of culture. i discuss how eisenstein draws her father and how she commemorates him in images – not as a victim, but as extremely strong personas: movie star, gangster or sheriff. i analyze the role of shtetl culture in the memoir as another way of linking present with past. i suggest that the books and movies about the holocaust which eisenstein references in the memoir create a basis for changing the confusing, or even unexpressed traumas, into an understandable story. keywords: postmemory, graphic novel, illustrated novel, memoir, trauma. introduction in the graphic memoir i was a child of holocaust survivors bernice eisenstein examines her identity as a second generation survivor. the choice of the medium of comics to explore holocaustrelated issues is not new: the most prominent example is, of course, art spiegelman’s maus (1991). yet eisenstein manages to tell her family’s story without providing a detailed account of her parents’ experience of living in auschwitz. instead, she focuses on the difficulties of growing up, her complicated relationship with her father, and depicts the community of survivors in toronto. in her intertextual and complex narrative, eisenstein often references various works of art, literature, and popular culture. the difficult to categorize medium of the illustrated memoir or graphic nov10.15290/cr.2016.14.3.06 58 crossroads. a journal of english studies el, as well as the dreamy, ghost-like illustrations, help to create a very original vision. eisenstein’s work not only focuses on the trauma of the holocaust, but on the ways of sharing and transferring the memory of these events. the book, divided into eleven thematic chapters, is a non-linear narrative about different aspects of being a holocaust survivor, as well as a reflection on how memory works. memories are focused on certain images, and necessitate work to shape them into a narrative. scott mccloud describes a similar phenomenon – closure – in comics, defining it as “observing the parts but perceiving the whole” (63), and adds that specifically in this medium “the audience is a willing and conscious collaborator” (65). in i was a child of holocaust survivors the form of the memoir – that is the unique juxtaposition of verbal and graphic – is as important as its content. eisenstein states herself: “[t]here is no center to be found in memory, but each place holds its heartbeat” (83). the non-linear order is well justified, since eisenstein’s main focus is how her parents’ experiences have impacted on her life, and therefore: how the past influences the present. miriam harris suggests that rejection of linearity serves as a way of giving the past a specific dimension: “to transform this haunting world of the past into a more tangible state, and thereby to banish what is mythlike and ghostly, eisenstein collapses the linearity of time” (131). rejecting chronology gives eisenstein freedom to focus on those aspects of the story which for her are the most significant. in i was a child of holocaust survivors she describes her relationship with her parents, who were born in poland, met in auschwitz, and then emigrated to canada. in the memoir she analyzes more closely her relations with her father (who was unable to speak about his experience), than with her mother.10 eisenstein declares: “all my life, i have looked for more in order to fill in the parts of my father that have gone missing” (16). i was a child of holocaust survivors belongs not only to the sub-genre of graphic narratives about the holocaust, but can also be examined in comparison to other graphic memoirs about the father-daughter relationship, for example alison bechdel’s fun home. throughout the novel eisenstein explores her relationship with her father ben, trying to understand him better, as she has attempted to do her entire life. in this article i read eisenstein’s portrayal of her father ben through the concept of postmemory. eisenstein’s deep connection to the past is present in i was a child of holocaust survivors through drawings, selected memories, and several references to works of culture. i discuss how eisenstein draws her father and how she commemorates him in images – not as a victim, but as extremely strong personas: movie star, gangster or sheriff. the books and movies about the holocaust which eisenstein mentions in the memoir create a basis for changing unexpressed traumas into an understandable story. i analyze how the concept of postmemory is seen by marianne hirsch and ernst van alphen. van alphen emphasizes disconnection rather than symbolic transmission of 10 eisenstein portrays her mother as more eager to open up about her life in auschwitz. she even took part in the archives of the holocaust project, where she answered several questions about her past. 59 articles the memories, and in my article i argue that the father-daughter relationship portrayed in i was a child of holocaust survivors is anchored in van alphen’s understanding of postmemory. drawing the father: a hero marianne hirsch states that postmemory: describes the relationship that the generation after those who witnessed cultural or collective trauma bears to the experiences of those who came before, experiences that they ‘remember’ only by means of the stories, images, and behaviors among which they grew up. but these experiences were transmitted to them so deeply and affectively as to seem to constitute memories in their own right. (106-107) therefore, the holocaust influences those who were not part of these traumatic events, but were close to the survivors. growing up surrounded with recollections of the holocaust survivors (not always expressed out loud) affects the second generation so much that the memories of something they have not experienced feel like their own. the need to understand, to pass on the stories, to never forget about the past, influences the second generation to various extents, including shaping one’s identity. hirsch continues discussing how important family ties and parent-child relationships are in the case of postmemory: second generation fiction, art, memoir, and testimony are shaped by the attempt to represent the longterm effects of living in close proximity to the pain … of persons who have witnessed and survived massive historical trauma. they are shaped by the child’s confusion and responsibility, by the desire to repair. (112) children growing up close to those who survived the holocaust are looking for ways to express what they have experienced. numerous works of culture prove that for many second generation survivors this issue plays a significant role throughout their whole lives. i was a child of holocaust survivors is precisely an attempt to portray what it means to be influenced by one’s parents’ trauma. eisenstein ponders on her experience of growing up with parents who are holocaust survivors – sometimes it is what makes her special, “hey man, i’m different, my parents were in auschwitz” (21). another time it is the baggage, “[b]ackpacking in europe, the heaviest part of my baggage was my parents’ history” (eisenstein, 22), or a “drug” (20). in after such knowledge eva hoffman examines “the baggage” of the second generation, and states that “for the second generation, the anxieties, the symptoms, no matter how genuine in themselves, no longer correspond to actual experience or external realities. . . . [t]his is exactly the crux of the second generation’s difficulty: that it has inherited not experience, but its shadows” (66). these shadows of parents’ experiences play a central role in many second generation survivors’ lives. the drawing on the cover of i was a child of holocaust survivors is a powerful visual representation of the baggage: eisenstein – portrayed as a child – casts a shadow that resembles her parents. 60 crossroads. a journal of english studies from the beginning eisenstein portrays her father ben as athletic, elegant and dapper. in almost all of his pictures ben is youthful and handsome, and i argue that this is how eisenstein wishes the reader to remember him; she commemorates him as vigorous and tough. to describe her father, eisenstein quotes rainer maria rilke’s poem “the panther,” and states that ben always reminded her of an animal in a cage: “a panther, sleek and mysterious with the elegant sheen on its fur” (29). in this description ben resembles an animal that is strong, majestic, yet limited by something beyond its control. there is anti-semitic history behind jewish animal metaphors. jonathan freedman notes that in “the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the jew’s monstrosity is performed by the transformation of the hand – the emblem of warmth, love and pleasure – into bat wings, vampire talons, spider legs or octopus tentacles” (94). yet another association can be drawn to spiegelman’s portrayal of jews as mice in maus. michael e. staub observes that “the choice to turn people into animals, as the hitler quote that opens the first volume [of maus] (‘the jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human’) makes clear, can be read as straightforward metaphor for the dehumanization of victims that allows genocide to occur” (37). portraying jews as animals was often used in anti-semitic or nazi propaganda. in i was a child of holocaust survivors eisenstein manages to subvert this image and create a contrastive metaphor: she imagines ben as a powerful animal – a panther – to demonstrate his strength and dominance. the animal is no longer a metaphor of a monster or a rodent, but a source of power. on the following pages eisenstein draws her father as extremely elegant, looking somewhere far away – it is probably one of the most thorough drawings in the memoir. this portrait follows a detailed description of ben: eisenstein writes with true admiration and fondness that “his thick black hair was always swept back dramatically” (30), and “there was always a ferocity in his gaze, luminous throughout and invisible darkness” (31). she describes him with awe and fascination. in one of the first drawings of eisenstein’s parents the reader sees them fully dressed up: regina is wearing a black dress with a small hand-bag, and ben is in a suit with a hat. on the previous page, eisenstein states about her father: “i searched to find his face among those documented photographs of survivors of auschwitz … if i could see him staring out through the barbed wire” (16). the contrast between the referenced image of concentration camps and the somehow glamorous illustration on the following page is striking. these are the parents eisenstein knows and remembers, not people from the photographs she is looking for. although a large part of her memoir is devoted to examining her father’s past and its influence, it is not apparent in the visual dimension of the narrative. eisenstein’s vague speculations about ben’s life as a holocaust survivor end within the dimension of the text; she does not draw her father as how he might have looked in auschwitz. in the memoir, he is a star: the jewish version of heathcliff or robert de niro’s character in casino. in “absent fathers, present mothers” margarete myers feinstein notes that “there is evidence that some survivors believed jewish masculinity and paternal authority have been called into question by the destruction of jewish families in the holocaust” (176). yet the way eisenstein draws ben proves that she is able to see him as one of the archetypes of western masculinity. in the 61 articles narrative she admits that she could not always see him as authority. however, her portraits demonstrate how strong he looked in her eyes. one of the most powerful images in the narrative is the portrayal of eisenstein’s father as a sheriff. ben was an enthusiast of the western, a genre which in its most classic form offers a clear distinction between villains and heroes. eisenstein observes that “only here, lying in bed watching television, could he stand alongside his heroes” (49). it is possible to trace in the narrative signs of ben’s dream to become the hero from american westerns: before the holocaust he was fighting in the cavalry, and after the war he was briefly in the polish paramilitary movement seeking out collaborators and nazis. in the memoir, eisenstein writes a short passage of alternative history, depicting her father as a sheriff. she creates a mock-western narrative, in which ben frees jews from auschwitz. she illustrates the story with an image of her father in a cowboy hat, with the star of david in place of the sheriff’s star; in this picture he is stronger and more mighty than ever. behind him the reader sees the open gate to auschwitz: ben is not looking back. i suggest that this powerful image can be read as the way eisenstein wants to commemorate her father. harris comments on the described illustration: “[g]iven the holocaust survivors suffered horrific persecution and their identities were reduced to numbers, eisenstein’s conferring upon her father the powers of resistance is a glorious act of liberation for both him and herself ” (141). with this image, eisenstein is able to show ben as a hero, not only a hero to his daughter, but to a much broader audience. only in his last portrait – opening the final chapter, the epilogue of the story – eisenstein’s father does not look like a movie star or an american gangster. exclusively in this picture, he is dressed in a simple t-shirt, with a hand on his stomach, looking tired and in pain. in the epilogue about his death eisenstein allows herself to portray her father as weak; she allows the reader to see ben as fragile and ill. transmitting other people’s stories: the holocaust becoming narratable eisenstein’s illustrations often reflect or echo what she writes about; they serve as comments on the text and add a new dimension to the memoir. several of eisenstein’s illustrations are direct references to early 20th-century artists: eisenstein portrays herself in the pose known from auguste rodin’s sculpture “the thinker,” and she draws her parents, aunt and uncle dancing in a circle, resembling henri matisse’s painting “dance.” eisenstein uses iconic art to create yet another dialogue with history. among the influential artists, the one who stands out is marc chagall. eisenstein references his aesthetics throughout the memoir. she draws her parents in an affectionate hug (resembling famous couples from chagall’s paintings) and portrays her aunt singing on the roof along with a fiddler, a motif also known from chagall’s works. i read her allusions to chagall as a recognition of the importance of jewish culture in shaping her identity. this, again, connects past with present, her life with ben’s life before the holocaust. the basis for this connection is jewish culture, later put to the test of survival through the holocaust – this disappearing world is the world of her father. the reader gets to know some aspects of ben’s life, yet just elementary information: when and where he was born, what he was doing when the war broke out. there is almost no account of his life before the holocaust, no illustrations of ben as a child or before the war. eisen62 crossroads. a journal of english studies stein draws how her father could have looked when he got to canada, but she does not attempt to create an illustration of him as a child, or just before the holocaust. she cannot imagine her father before the holocaust. her references to his life before the war are only in the illustrations influenced by chagall and shtetl culture. by incorporating those visual tropes into her memoir she is closer to understanding ben’s background. eisenstein describes the holocaust as her drug (20) – she craves knowledge and testimonies. this is an excellent example of eisenstein’s dark humor, which penetrates her memoir. in one of the illustrations moses holds a giant letter “h,” while eisenstein asks him: “hey, wait! which is it? thou shalt not take its name in vain or not take it into a vain? help me out” (22). i read her way of describing the holocaust as the effect of highly personalized and individual means of thinking about her parents’ experiences. harris argues that “humor, such as eisenstein’s use of the pulsating stone h, is an important tool for integrating the past and keeping the terror of the uncanny at bay” (132). eisenstein’s playful comments and drawings help her story be original, and establish distance, in spite of her involvement in the topic.11 eyal zanberg examines black comedy sketches from the tv program hahamishia hakamerit (the chamber quintet), and quotes des pres’ thought that “by putting things at a distance humor permits us a more active response” (568), pointing out its liberating characteristics. in i was a child of holocaust survivors humor creates distance, serves as comic relief, and helps the reader see the topic as less intimidating. eisenstein’s narrative creates the possibility of reading it as the intimate, highly personal story of a child, without experiencing fully the burden of the topic. zandberg also notes that the “third generation’s commemoration looks at the holocaust from a different point of view, one that encompasses both thoughts about the event and its memory, raising questions about history and its representation” (575). the third generation often employs a very critical perception on the current nature of the holocaust commemoration and its social construction. zandberg continues, “they use genres such as satire and humor, genres that have rarely been used before to deal with holocaust memoir” (575). those elements are visible in eisenstein’s narrative. i was a child of holocaust survivors was published in 2006, and although eisenstein herself is a second generation survivor, her memoir is historically closer to the narratives of the third generation. pointing out similarities between ben and the actors or characters from movies is just one of the references to works of culture in eisenstein’s novel. movies and books about the holocaust were essential for eisenstein in understanding her parents’ trauma. she turned to testimonies, including the diary of anne frank and the book of alfred kantor. harris notices that “words and images 11 of course, eisenstein’s is not the first one to connect pop-culture or humour with holocaust trauma. the frenchman horst rosenthal, who was in the french internment camp gurs, and later died in auschwitz, created in 1942 a comic strip titled mickey au camp de gurs: publié sans authorisation de walt disney. it shows life in the camps from the point of view of mickey mouse (who is not an inmate, but an outsider); his work is full of absurd and irony. however, the juxtaposition of mickey mouse and the holocaust creates an even more tragic picture, while eisenstein’s references to movies are a source of power and strength, for her and her father. 63 articles have functioned for eisenstein, then, as potent symbols of presence in the face of the absence, and as keys to enable the unlocking of secrets” (132). these words and images from other narratives are transmitted onto her memoir – eisenstein writes: “the holocaust arrived in hollywood and the new images i saw, stripped of color, penetrated deeper and were filled with something different yet strangely familiar, connecting to my parents’ past” (92). testimonies of the holocaust survivors create the basis for transforming traumas, and fragmented narratives into an understandable story, both for survivors of the holocaust, and for the second-generation. ernst van alphen argues that “the coherence [of survivors’ narratives] rather came from the outside, through literature and film, through memories and testimonies of others, which circulated more and more in public culture. so ‘official’ and public accounts of the holocaust enabled personal memories to become narratable” (485). therefore, different works of culture helped individual testimonies come to light. i propose that a very similar approach can be observed in the case of the testimonies of the second generation survivors. public accounts of the holocaust constitute the fundaments of what later becomes an attempt to grasp what happened to survivors, what shaped them – and in consequence – so heavily influenced the lives of second generation survivors. this idea is clearly visible in eisenstein’s memoir. numerous references to works of culture prove that those testimonies, found outside of the family, are what brought eisenstein closer to her father. she states: “i wanted to see a replication of auschwitz and be able to imagine my mother and father standing in the background among the other starving inmates. in that way, i thought i could find them” (eisenstein, 21). through movies and other narratives, she seeks to understand what her father went through, to ultimately be closer to him. her attempts to find ben’s face among the holocaust victims is a recurring issue. eisenstein explains: “if i could see him staring out through barbered wire, i would then know how to remember him, know what he was made to become, and then possibly know what he might have been” (16). while in the book there are no reproductions of photographs, their importance is marked. hirsch characterizes the role of photography: “holocaust photographs are the fragmentary remnants that shape the cultural work of postmemory. the work that they have been mobilized to do for the second generation, in particular, ranges from the indexical to the symbolic, and it is precisely their slippage within this range that needs to be scrutinized” (116). eisenstein’s persistence in searching for ben’s face among photographs from the holocaust suggests that for her it could be highly symbolic. she bases her narrative on numerous testimonies, yet in none of them can she find her father. in prosthetic memory alison landsberg discusses the structure and function of collective and individual memory in the age of mass culture. she claims that prosthetic memories “originate outside a person’s lived experience and yet are taken on and worn by that person through mass cultural technologies of memory” and “develop after an encounter with a mass cultural representation of the past, when new images and ideas come into contact with a person’s own archive of experience” (landsberg, 19). therefore, through different works of culture, prosthetic memories enable people who have not witnessed certain events, to feel as if they did. this idea is somehow similar to van alphen’s claim about the role of literature and film in helping personal memories 64 crossroads. a journal of english studies of the holocaust become narratable. however, landsberg argues that prosthetic memories can be gained by anyone, and therefore they are not connected with genealogy, as in the concept of postmemory. the emphasized importance of works of culture about the holocaust in eisenstein’s life proves that these narratives influence her perception of the holocaust. eisenstein’s reaction to one of the narratives – the book of alfred kantor – causes an important confrontation between her and her father. the book of alfred kantor, published in 1971, is a collection of sketches and watercolors drawn by kantor to show the terror of living and dying in a concentration camp. eisenstein was deeply moved by kantor’s testimony and wanted to share his book with ben, but looking at those pictures was too difficult for him. eisenstein examines the meaning of this situation – she states that it helped her see how similar she and ben were. they both were “without the means to say what was in [their] hearts” (eisenstein, 97). for eisenstein it was the struggle to understand her own feelings; for her father it was his silence about his holocaust experience. this realization may have been crucial for their relationship and its portrayal in the memoir. throughout the narrative, eisenstein simultaneously tries to find a way to understand herself and her feelings, and to find a language in which she can speak about it. i was a child of holocaust survivors proves that she has found the language in which she is able to speak about herself and her family – it is her unique mixture of words and images. her memoir is an attempt to comprehend what has happened to her parents, and how it influenced her. ernst van alphen redefines hirch’s concept of postmemory, and argues that difficulties with comprehensibility are what constitutes postmemory and relations between survivors and second generation: “the dynamics between children and survivor parents is rather defined by dis-connection, hence dis-continuity: disconnection is not an emotional, personal sense, but in terms of intelligibility” (488). in his definition – in contrast to hirsch’s – the emphasis is put on the incapacity to connect with parents and create an understandable narrative of their experience. eisenstein’s efforts to see her parents’ faces among the photos of survivors, to discuss with her father his trauma, to watch movies about the holocaust, then to examine how it affected her identity, are all attempts to create a comprehensive narrative. her incomprehension of her father’s past is what brings her closer and closer to him. concluding remarks in the memoir eisenstein examines how her parents’ trauma has been passed on to her, and how her identity was shaped by her parents’ experience of the holocaust. efraim sicher argues that “second-generation writing … is breaking away from all master narratives to focus on personal memory. … there can indeed be no future without the past, but, when remembrance relies on imagination to give it meaning, one must be aware of the risks that are involved” (84). eisenstein looks for clues about her father’s past without much speculating and imagining what he came through. she looks for photos, but does not draw him as a holocaust survivor. she is, however, deeply influenced by his past. yet it is important to ask: which memories, if he did not speak about 65 articles them? from where comes the postmemory of ben’s trauma, transmitted to his daughter? looking for ways of understanding what happened to him, eisenstein turns to testimonies in literature and cinema. hirsch notes that “family life, even in its most intimate moments, is entrenched in a collective imaginary, shaped by public, generational structures of fantasy and projection by a shared archive of stories” (114). the collective memory and existing testimonies give eisenstein a basis for her search for understanding. in numerous second generation survivors’ narratives there is a need to carry on their parents’ legacy. in i was a child of holocaust survivors stories of her father’s time in the concentration camp are almost non-existent. in contrast to spiegelman’s maus, there is no detailed narrative of ben’s life in auschwitz, because eisenstein’s father did not speak about the holocaust. that is why i argue that their relationship is anchored in the postmemory characterized by van alphen. he emphasizes that what is crucial in postmemory is based on the second generation’s disconnection with their parents’ past: “the more children feel disconnected from the past of their survivor parents – the less they are able to understand it – the deeper they feel personally connected to them or the more they need that connection” (van alphen, 488). eisenstein’s difficult relationship with her father is fueled by the lack of a coherent narrative of his trauma. she focuses on ben much more than on her mother, who eventually spoke about the holocaust. eisenstein in different ways attempts to get closer to her father and his trauma, for example when she shows him the book of alfred kantor. several of her decisions are driven by the need to complete the image of ben. eisenstein creates a clash between text and image in i was a child of holocaust survivors. on the textual level, her memoir is focused on her father’s difficult experience of the holocaust. however, on the visual level, she is trying to commemorate him as strong and powerful, always drawing him as young and healthy. she incorporates humor to the narrative, but when describing her father, she is almost always serious. on the final pages of her memoir eisenstein writes: i had always felt that if i could find my parents’ deepest hurt i could locate my own grief, for them. but how could i have ever imagined that everything the holocaust had voided in their lives could be replaced, as if my need to understand could somehow make up for such sorrow. i will never be able to know the truth of what my parents had experienced. it is beyond my reach, and perhaps even theirs, to know the full extent of their loss. (178) ben’s untold stories create the basis for the development of eisenstein’s identity. she commits large part of her life to grasp his pain, with the hope that it would be helpful both for her, and him. hirsch stresses that the children of the holocaust survivors grow up wanting to help – eisenstein revisions this naïve wish. her unfeasible quest for a coherent narrative and ultimate truth about her father’s experience of the holocaust is supposed to improve their relationship. she has to accept that it is a futile wish, but in the meantime eisenstein gains something different – she is able to redefine her needs and explore her relationship with ben from a new perspective. 66 crossroads. a journal of english studies references: alphen, ernst van. 2006. “second-generation testimony, transmission of trauma, and postmemory.” poetics today 27.2, 473-488. doi: 10.1215/03335372-2005-015. eisenstein, bernice. 2006. i was a child of holocaust survivors. new york: penguin group. feinstein, margarete myers. 2007. “absent fathers, present mothers: images of parenthood in holocaust survivor narratives.” nashim: a journal of jewish women’s studies & gender issues 13, 155-182. freedman, jonathan. 1998. “angels, monsters, and jews: intersections of queer and jewish identity in kushner’s angels in america.” pmla 113.1, 90-102. www.jstor.org/stable/463411 harris, miriam. 2008. “releasing the grip of the ghostly. bernice eisenstein’s i was a child of holocaust survivors.” the jewish graphic novel: critical approaches. ed. samantha baskind and ranen omer-sherman. new brunswick, new jersey, and london: rutgers university press, 129-143. hirsch, marianne. 2008. “the generation of postmemory.” poetics today 29.1, 103-128. doi: 10.1215/03335372-2007-019. hoffman, eva. 2004. after such knowledge: memory, history and the legacy of holocaust. new york: public affairs. landsberg, alison. 2004. prosthetic memory: the transformation of american remembrance in the age of mass culture. new york: columbia university press. mccloud, scott. 1994. understanding comics: the invisible art. new york: harperperennial. sicher, efraim. 2000. “the future of the past: countermemory and postmemory in contemporary american post-holocaust narratives.” history and memory 12. 2, 56-91. staub, michael e. 1995. “the shoah goes on and on: remembrance and representation in art spiegelman’s maus.” melus 20. 3, 33-46. zandberg, eyal. 2006. “critical laughter: humor, popular culture and israeli holocaust commemoration.” media culture society 28.4, 561-579. doi: 10.1177/0163443706065029. 20 crossroads. a journal of english studies anna maria tomczak university of białystok beata piątek. history, memory, trauma in contemporary british and irish fiction. kraków: jagiellonian university press, 2014. pp. 197. it has been claimed that literary criticism has directed both memory studies and trauma studies into unknown territories, opening new vistas of research and scholarly investigation. if this is the case, then beata piątek’s book on the intersections of history, memory and trauma in contemporary british and irish fiction, published by the jagiellonian university press, illustrates the point superbly, adding new dimensions to a by now well-established academic pursuit. in the humanities, a true “memory boom” (huyssen 1995:8; berliner 2005:197) was noticed in the second half of the twentieth century, with numerous publications bringing to the fore such issues as the relationship between the historical past and its reconstruction, post-memory and counter-memory, as well as drawing attention to gendered, lost and silenced memories. but it was not until the 1980s that the debate on memory gathered momentum. szacka (2006:17) believes that one of the reasons for the new interest may have been the 1980 appearance of the english translation of maurice halbwachs’s la mémoire collective, simultaneously in new york and chicago, the latter edition with an introduction by mary douglas. in the wake of the research of such scholars as pierre nora, paul ricoeur, jan and aleida assmann, and paul connerton, memory is no longer viewed as personal and subjective, or as the facreview articles 21 review articles ulty of an individual. its social, collective, cultural and political aspects have been well described and documented. from “a topic for poets and their visions of a golden age” (huyssen 2003:2) it transformed into “a social, cultural and political force to challenge, if not reject, the founding myths and historical narratives” (meusburger, hefferman and wunder 2011:3). thus, as a psychological, sociological and philosophical notion memory belongs to the category of “travelling concepts” (bal 2002:24), whose designation implies movement between academic disciplines and change of meaning. it is therefore vital to establish in what sense it is used in beata piątek’s book. a cursory glimpse at the titles of selected subchapters – “historical revisionism and cultural trauma”, “from cultural trauma to victim culture”, “the movements of the mind remembering”, “mummification of childhood”, or “the invention of the past” – reveals that memory is understood by the author as multi-dimensional and multi-layered, depending on the agency of both individuals and groups, an unstable entity subject to distortions and disruptions. since the 1990s, when trauma theory entered the field of literary criticism, important analytical and methodological tools have been provided by psychoanalysis to comprehend fully texts engaging “with the notion of traumatic memory” (whitehead 2009:114). the pioneering role in this respect should be accorded to american scholars. the volume testimony: crises of witnessing in literature, psychoanalysis and history, edited by soshana felman and dori laub (1992), followed by cathy caruth’s two influential studies – trauma: explorations in memory (1995) and unclaimed experience: trauma, narrative and history (1996) – paved the way, and have now achieved canonical status. in literary criticism, considerable attention is currently given to diverse forms of cultural representations of memory and their therapeutic/restorative power. traditional forms of life-writing (memoir, autobiography, and diary) and also fictional narratives, undergo substantial generic transformations to address the issue of the “unrepresentability” of traumatic memories, and highlight the fragile link between trauma and testimony, as well as between traumatic experience and defensive amnesia. beata piątek’s history, memory, trauma in contemporary british and irish fiction falls into line with the above-mentioned volumes, continuing the tradition of literary scholarship that invites critical reflection. it is a thorough and thought-provoking study of fourteen novels by two british (pat barker and kazuo ishiguro) and two irish (john banville and sebastian barry) writers. published in the years 1976 – 2011, all the analysed texts concern trauma and the relationship between memory and history, although they focus on events and places as diverse as the great war, irish history at the time of de valera’s presidency, shanghai in the 1930s, or post-atomic bomb nagasaki. the book opens with a theoretical chapter, which presents the state-of-the art information on trauma theory and memory studies. referring to the work of cathy caruth, ann kaplan, soshana felman and dori laub, the author introduces the most important terminology, defining shell shock, post-traumatic stress disorder, inter-generational trauma, as well as discussing the relationship between memory, history and fiction. the content of this chapter is wide-ranging and the observation astute. the reader is familiarized with a number of important concepts, e.g. pierre nora’s lieux (and milieux) de mémoire, dominic lacapra’s “empathic unsettlement” and “vicarious victimhood”, and the 22 crossroads. a journal of english studies distinction between “facts” (an epistemological category) and “events” (an ontological category) elaborated by jan pomorski. the remaining four chapters are divided into two parts: part one – history and trauma – deals with the novels by barker and barry, illustrating the novelists’ attempt to demythologize the grand narratives of national history. part two – memory and trauma – discusses the novels of banville and ishiguro, where history is viewed through characters’ individual life-stories, providing a microscopic perspective of common men. the discussion on the work of pat barker contains insightful and illuminating analyses of the regeneration trilogy (i.e. regeneration, the eye in the door, the ghost road, 1991 – 1998) and two later novels – another world (1998) and double vision (2003) – all dealing with the topic of world war i. piątek demonstrates that barker’s preoccupation with the history and myth of the great war evolves, coming “dangerously close” (51) to the glorification of victim culture and the domestication of violence in double vision. barker’s feminist critique of history as grand narrative is deftly interpreted with the effective use of the theory of cultural trauma put forward by jeffrey c. alexander and neil j. smelser. to experience trauma on the collective level, society’s whole existence must be threatened, and the experienced situation must be understood to be indelible and to have a negative effect, conditions fulfilled by world war i. while barker’s regeneration trilogy presents ww i as a cultural trauma of the whole nation, it may be simultaneously read as entering into a dialogue “with the accepted, patriotic version of the history of the great war” (64). interrogating the myth of camaraderie across class distinctions and subverting the notion of common patriotic feeling, the british novelist lays bare the persisting structure of a patriarchal, divisive society. referring to sebastian barry’s four novels: the whereabouts of eneas mcnulty (1998), a long way (2005), the secret scripture (2008) and on canaan’s side (2011), beata piątek successfully depicts the metamorphosis of the novelist’s approach to irish national history – from schematic, one-dimensional characters that people the pages of the first book, portrayed through a black-andwhite, politically biased vision of historical events, to a complex, nuanced and multi-faceted presentation of diverse lives’ trajectories in the secret scripture (2008) and on canaan’s side (2011). the irish writer’s narrow, ideological, revisionist stance gradually gives way to a total rejection of the possibility of objective history, while historical metafiction replaces a simple bipolar view. two sections of the book that deserve special attention are the analyses of kazuo ishiguro’s a pale view of the hills (1982) and that of pat barker’s another world (1998). trauma, described by gilmore (2001:6) as “self-altering” and “self-shattering experience of violence, injury and harm” cannot be articulated. it often reveals itself in nightmares and silences. when experienced collectively by an ethnic, religious, or national group, it causes serious damage, subjecting people to a hurtful experience which leaves a mark on their collective memory and consciousness. in the proposed close reading of ishiguro’s novel, set in post-1945 nagasaki, piątek contends that the narrator’s traumatized, repressed memories enter the text on the level of its narrative structure, so that we can discern trauma on the level of the story and trauma of the text. the novel’s gaps 23 review articles and contradictions, the distortion of logical sequence, as well as the high level of uncertainty and indeterminacy, force the reader to put together scattered fragments of the protagonist’s life-story, the task being “similar to that of a therapist listening to the testimony of a trauma victim” (127). thus, the main character’s traumatic experience finds reflection in the broken, non-linear representation of events (traumatized narration, hence “trauma of the text” co-existing with “trauma in the text”), which, in turn, puts the reader in the position of co-witnessing trauma, and through lacapra’s “empathic unsettlement” generates “the affect of trauma in the readers” (45). one might extend the analysis further, following a ternary model of narrative suggested by o’neill in fictions of discourse: reading narrative theory, which is used in narratological studies. o’neill distinguishes three narrative levels: story, text and narration. story is understood as “the realm of characters” (o’neill 1996:34), text – as the realm of the narrator, and narration/discourse as the realm of the implied author. at the bottom level, the level of the story itself, which is the fictional reality and the world of “what really happened” (o’neill 1996:34), trauma in a pale view of the hills refers to the character/narrator etsuko, who has lost her family and who deliberately represses her awful memories (trauma in the text). at the level of text, trauma authenticates the narrative voice through numerous gaps and omissions, hallucinations and nightmares (trauma of the text). finally, at the level of narration, which corresponds to the narrative level of the implied author (cobley 2014:125), trauma engages the reader in co-witnessing. such a reading might add a broader scope to the approach proposed by piątek, following irene kacandes’s claim that novels concerning traumatic experience make explicit requests for the reader’s co-witnessing through narrative strategies. another subchapter worthy of note is “the past invading the present – transgenerational trauma in another world.” basing her discussion on the concepts proposed in the 1970s study the shell and the kernel by two hungarian-born french psychoanalysts, maria torok and nicolas abraham, especially their notion of “transgenerational phantom”, piątek argues that barker’s novel recognizes in a family secret the transgenerational trauma of fratricide passed to subsequent generations. transgenerational phenomena, discussed in psychoanalytical theory, link the secrets of ancestors with the unconscious of their descendants, finding reflection in secondor thirdgeneration subjectivities. thus, trauma may be unwittingly inherited and invisibly passed on. beata piątek’s slim yet dense volume is slightly marred by a few inaccuracies and a flaw. thomas carlyle’s sartor resartus is a novel, not a collection of essays (19), pierre nora’s lieux de mémoire appeared in 1984, not in 1981 (27), ilan pappé is an israeli not a palestinian historian (116, footnote 19), and the term “cultural memory” was introduced by the german egyptologist jan assmann, not the french sociologist maurice halbwachs (27), as recognized in a number of important publications, e.g. whitehead (2009); saryusz-wolska (2009); gomille and stierstorfer (2003). the flaw is the lack of an index. moreover, claiming that halbwachs “tries to treat individual memory and collective memory as analogous” (30) seems far-fetched. for halbwachs, memory is a social phenomenon while collective memory is a construct which is determined and shaped by the present. although societies and 24 crossroads. a journal of english studies communities do not remember as such, and it is individual people, members of these groups, who preserve memories, still as members of groups (groups formed through kinship, common religion, social class bonding) individuals become enmeshed in shared thoughts, ideas and concerns, becoming part of the social milieu of a given group. halbwachs’s study concerns social factors, not individual consciousness. he writes about “social frameworks of memory”, by which he understands “the instruments used by the collective memory to reconstruct an image of the past which is in accord, in each epoch, with the predominant thoughts of society” (halbwachs 1992:40). thus, how individuals, families, religious and ethnic groups remember certain events depends on and is shaped by the situation in which they find themselves in the present. the profound role of halbwachs’s ideas for the development of memory studies lies in moving “the discourse concerning collective knowledge out of a biological framework into a cultural one” (assmann 1995:125). beata piątek’s study offers an invitation to re-assess the literary output of four major contemporary writers of the english-speaking world: john banville, pat barker, sebastian barry and kazuo ishiguro. wide-ranging and rich in its corpus of critical reading, well informed by research in the field of psychoanalytic theory, trauma and memory studies, it is an absorbing piece of scholarship, challenging and thought-provoking, aiming to open new critical perspectives. it demonstrates unequivocally the profound role of literary fiction in forging, shaping and expressing the collective and cultural memory of nations as novels become agents of remembrance and media of memory. discussing issues of the personal trauma and cultural trauma of collective experience, exploring the mythologized versions of historical events against the backdrop of the unknown past, the book throws into stark relief complex intertwining relations between identity, memory, history and narrative, where the strict boundaries between the personal and the national become blurred. works cited: assmann, jan. 1995. “collective memory and cultural identity” [trans. john czaplicka]. new german critique 65: 125-133. bal, mieke. 2002. traveling concepts in the humanities: a rough guide. toronto, buffalo and london: university of toronto press. berliner, david. 2005. “the abuses of memory: reflections on the modern memory boom in anthropology.” anthropological quarterly 78:1: 197-211. cobley, paul. 2014. narrative. abingdon and new york: routledge. gilmore, leigh. 2001. the limits of autobiography: trauma and testimony. ithaca and london: cornell university press. gomille, monika and klaus stierstorfer. 2003. “introduction.” xenophobic memories. otherness in postcolonial constructions of the past. ed. gomille, monika and klaus stierstorfer. heidelberg: universitätsverlag winter, 7-12. halbwachs, maurice. 1992. on collective memory, [edited, translated and with an introduction by lewis a. coser]. chicago and london: university of chicago press. 25 work in progress huyssen, andreas. 1995. twilight memories: marking time in a culture of amnesia. london and new york: routledge. huyssen, andreas. 2003. present pasts: urban palimpsests and the politics of memory. stanford: stanford university press. meusburger, peter, hefferman, michael and edgar wunder. 2011. “cultural memories: an introduction.” cultural memories. the geographical point of view. ed. meusburger, peter, hefferman, michael and edgar wunder. dordrecht, heidelberg, london and new york: springer, 3-14. o’neill, patrick. 1996. fictions of discourse: reading narrative theory. toronto, buffalo, london: university of toronto press. saryusz-wolska, magdalena. 2009. “literatura i pamięć. uwagi wstępne.” pamięć zbiorowa i kulturowa. współczesna perspektywa niemiecka. ed. saryusz-wolska, magdalena. kraków: universitas, 175-184. szacka, barbara. 2006. czas przeszły, pamięć, mit. warszawa: wydawnictwo naukowe scholar. whitehead, anne. 2009. memory. london and new york: routledge. chakraborty, debadrita. “an interplay of loss and hope: analyzing diaspora consciousness in arnold zable’s café scheherazade”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 4-11. debadrita chakraborty kolkata, india an interplay of loss and hope: analyzing diaspora consciousness in arnold zable’s café scheherazade abstract. diaspora is a term often used today to describe practically any population which is considered “deterritorialised” or “translational” – that is, which has originated in a land other than which it currently resides, and whose social, economic, and political networks cross the borders of nation states or span the globe. however the connotation of “diaspora” goes back in time and is a concept that referred almost exclusively to the experiences of the jews, invoking their traumatic exile from an historical homeland and dispersal through many lands. the connotation of a “diaspora” situation was thus negative as they were associated with forced displacement, victimisation, alienation and loss. along with this archetype went a dream of return. nonetheless, not all forced migration suffered in loss and despair. this paper explores the new age concept of “diaspora consciousness” that according to james clifford lives loss and hope as a defining tension in arnold zable’s café scheherazade. the paper aims to portray the interplay of loss and hope in the lives of jewish war stricken asylum seekers who, having migrated to melbourne, a city alien to them, suffer both a longing for the past and a flickering hope of survival within the jewish diaspora community, preserving the language and culture of their lot. the constant tussle between assimilating oneself within the foreign culture and feelings of displacement and haunting memories of the past that refrained one from absorption and acculturation is foregrounded in the research. keywords: jewish diaspora, diaspora consciousness, loss, memory, alienation, migration, holocaust, second world war, trauma “you have navigated with a raging soul far from the paternal home, passing beyond the seas’ double rocks and now you inhabit a foreign land,” ponzanezi (2007: 1) quotes medea in her seminal work paradoxes of post colonial culture, which analyzes a culture that suffers a condition of dislocation, torn between “distress and elation” (2007: 10), hope and loss, the loss of a world to which they belonged and an eternal hope – an everlasting wish to recreate, to return to that “old world” that remained an integral part of their life till their dying day. this culture or “ethnic group” as vijay mishra (2007) terms it, whose commonality consists in their migration to a foreign country wherein they establish a separate community, roughly connotes the term diaspora. i say roughly because, as fludernik in her essay “the diasporic imaginary” puts it, the term diaspora “seems to resist precise definition” (fludernik 2003: xi). thus, while scholars like william safran (1991) associate diaspora with the dispersal of a group from “an original center to at least two peripheral places” (quoted in: clifford 1997: 247), as a result of a political strife or exile, the classic example being the jewish diaspora spread over parts of the united states, britain, canada, and ‘multicultural’ australia, cohen (1997) and more recently avtar brah (2006) attributes the influx of labour into a foreign country or the migration of a group through slavery as a cause of diaspora; for instance, the african and asian diaspora in britain and the caribbean respectively. cohen’s (1997) criteria that “a collective memory and myth about the homeland, including its location, chakraborty, debadrita. “an interplay of loss and hope: analyzing diaspora consciousness in arnold zable’s café scheherazade”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 4-11. history and achievements” and “an idealization of the putative ancestral home” (in fludernik 2003: xiv) is constantly recreated and reactivated in the minds of the immigrant group; however it is the wish to return to ones homeland which, while it remains attainable by the south asian and african diasporas, is reduced to a myth, a dream for the jews in the event of a terrible war (world war ii). it is this longing for a “home” that alienates the immigrant group from its host country, accentuating the feeling of loss and nostalgia, reviving the history and memory of the past. this revival of history through memory, to recreate one’s past, to cling to ones country, leads to the preservation of one’s culture, history, and religion, and enables a particular diaspora community to maintain solidarity and unity in a foreign country, which in turn gives rise to the diaspora consciousness within that particular community. thus, while diaspora consciousness promotes experiences of loss, marginality and exile in a foreign country, this suffering coexists with an urge to survive, to begin life anew, and to adapt and permeate oneself within a foreign culture while still preserving the past in memory – something which the holocaust survivor zalman, a jewish immigrant to australia, states in arnold zable’s novel, cafe scheherazade: “it was just another city coming into view... i just came. i wanted to drink, make merry and pass the time. i wanted to live for the day... i had no grand plans for a permanent home... this is what all my wanderings have taught me that the moment itself is haven, the true sanctuary” (zable 2001: 218). while the diaspora consciousness, as james clifford writes, is produced negatively by secluding and segregating ethnic groups in a foreign land, it also gives them a new lease on life by enthusing them with a hope, a dream a wish to survive by preserving their ethnicity in the host country or simply by reminiscing the past more as a pleasant memory than an indulgence for longing a nostalgia for one’s home. thus clifford theorizes that “diaspora consciousness lives loss and hope as a defining tension” (clifford 2001: 257). in my paper, i endeavour to portray the interplay of loss and hope in the lives of war stricken refugees, the homeless alienated and isolated from their loved ones as they undertake a journey full of struggle for survival as memory and history continue to haunt them, well depicted in arnold zable’s café scheherazade. novels, writes brennan in his essay “the national longing for form”, in the “post war period are unique” (1995: 173) for they proclaim the idea of nationality, identity synonymous with one’s country and the pangs of exile. zable’s café scheherazade is no exception. zable as a post-holocaust writer based in australia documents the lives of the jewish diaspora living in melbourne, immigrants who survived hitler’s holocaust during world war ii. born of jewish parents who escaped poland during the second world war, zable as a writer of the holocaust trauma vividly portrays the lives lived by the survivors in the “shadow of displacement, loss, bewilderment and rage... trying to find in a renewed sense of belonging and security” (freadman 2005: 120), trying to outlive the horrors of a “ruptured past.” almost all his novels, such as jewels and ashes, describe the predicament of second generation jewish immigrants, i.e., children of holocaust survivors living in australia, the autobiographical fig tree which documents the lives of zable’s jewish past, together with his wife’s greek-australian background, while his celebrated bestseller café scheherazade gives an account of the loss of families, the displacement of the individual, the dispossession of one’s country juxtaposed by a flickering beam of hope to survive in the event of the world war encountered by the jewish community now living in australia during the 1940s. on a “rain-sodden melbourne night”, the narrator martin introduces readers to café scheherazade an avenue of “world dreams” wherein jewish emigrants from poland unleash chakraborty, debadrita. “an interplay of loss and hope: analyzing diaspora consciousness in arnold zable’s café scheherazade”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 4-11. their tales of death and survival, of loss and hope, the heinous impact of the death camps during the holocaust, and of their post war disillusionment and dispersion. zable’s novel unfolds with the story of three friends, zalman, laizer, and yossel, their reminiscence and loss of the “old world”, the lanes, streets and alleys of the city vilna, and culminates in the love story of the cafe owners, the survivors of the holocaust, avram and masha. before proceeding with my analysis i would like to draw a brief history of the events of world war ii. it was in the event of non-acceptance of nazi germany’s rising hegemony and power that poland was attacked in the september 1939 and with this began the second world war culminating in the destruction of lives and loss of family, identity and one’s homeland, an existential predicament with the loss of home and an eternal search for refuge and shelter, a commonplace condition for millions of people existing in those trying times and to those narrating their tales in café scheherazade. zable’s novel unfurls with the cafe scheherazade, a meeting joint for the jewish community living in melbourne. the novel’s title and zable’s incessant description of cafes – be it the wolfke in vilna where the three friends zalman, laizer, and yossel idled their time away, or the chain of cafes in acland street “raining caffeine. of every conceivable variety and form: short black, flat white, froth-topped viennese, raw turkish, roughly ground....” (zable 2001: 110), and among these the enchanting cafe scheherazade – depicts them as something more than meeting places, for they embody communities, a place to preserve one’s culture, to share a commonality of dreams and hopes to communicate with the “old world” and to relate the harrowing experiences of the past which the inmates of cafe scheherazade do, relating their incidents of death, love, hope, survival, and migration during world war ii. besides this, the exotic name scheherazade conferred upon the cafe holds a different meaning for masha and avram, the owners of the café. cafe scheherazade is an embodiment of their love that survived and culminated in their marriage after the end of the war, for it was in a certain night club by the name of scheherazade in paris that they had both read of in remarque’s novel where they both decided to reunite after their escape from poland. as masha recollects: “it was then that there came to us an idea that we would celebrate our reunion in scheherazade, as did the lovers in remarque’s novel. it pleased us to think we were involved in romance” (zable 2001: 195). for zable and for the narrator of the story, martin, cafe scheherazade connotes enchantment and attraction to those tales of the holocaust narrated by the regular visitors of the jewish community, very like queen scheherazade herself, who with her wonderful tales seduced and amused the king of persia for a thousand and one nights, thus making him “revoke his cruel decree” of beheading a queen every night. the notion of home as a safe and secured zone, a niche obliterated by the german invasion of poland and the east, which destroyed the jewish city of vilna, uprooting and dispersing zalman, laizer, and yossel in different parts of europe, japan, and china as they struggled to survive while living with the memories of torture and death of their loved ones in the nazi constructed death camps. while laizer moved to russia during the german bombing of vilna where he was consequently charged and imprisoned for the illegal crossing of borders by red army soldiers, his friends zalman and yossel were favoured with better luck when they succeeded in migrating to japan and in turn china with the help of the japanese consul sugihara who had given them transit visas to japan “that enabled [them] to buy [their] way out” (zable 2001: 93). zalman describes his loss of home and family during the bombing in vilna in 1941, “...within days they heard that sections of vilna was in flames. more than ever they were isolated from their loved ones they had left behind. more than ever they were chakraborty, debadrita. “an interplay of loss and hope: analyzing diaspora consciousness in arnold zable’s café scheherazade”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 4-11. plagued by the sense of guilt and unbearable longing” (zable 2001: 111) – true to what kobrin also mentions in her study of jewish immigration in world war ii: “bialystok was at the center of heavy fighting, with civilians in bialystok enduring as much hardship as the common soldier on the front. bialystok jewry’s experience was far from exceptional; similar dramas unfolded in dozens of cities in the region, such as warsaw, minsk, and vilna that were all located either on or near the front” (kobrin 2006: 34). “telling is an aspect of surviving” writes freadman (2005: 121) and the characters in zable’s novel do the same, recollecting and unravelling history and memory, narrating their escapades and their final act of existence and a longing to live. while narrating his tale laizer constantly moves back and forth, living between his past and present, his life in siberia, in the soviet prison of lvov and his “wasted years in vorkuta” (zable 2001:156) juxtaposing it with his present life in melbourne and those haunting memories of the past. laizer speaks of his deportation to a soviet prison in the city of lvov along with a hundred and six refugees like him, imprisoned in a double room with a daily ration of bread and diluted soup that tasted, as laizer recalls, “like swamp water”, of his tiring journey from kotlas to pechora, of his exhausting work building airfields and huts for hitler’s army, all the time dreaming of vilna and his “mother’s cholent and roasts, wolfke’s brisket and vilna’s bakeries and cafes” while starving to death. yet what kept him alive was his association with a multicultural community consisting of tartars, uzbeks, poles, jews, mongolians, africans, and armenians who, like him, were refugees in a foreign country, prisoners of war, sharing tales of commonality. as laizer reminiscences: “they talked about their years in prison camps, their children, wives, lovers and squandered lives....they had once imagined future riches but now they lived for each passing day” (zable 2001:76). this is coupled with his burning urge to live, to live to return to the “old world”, to live to narrate his story to the world. however, this hope to survive is marred when his past haunts him in the form of a “recurring dream” with the death of his “father and mother, his sister and brother [who] perished in a furnace of gas” (zable 2001:89). shifting between two worlds, the past and the present, between melbourne and the streets of kobe and shanghai, zalman as the narrator notes seems to savour every moment of his stay in a foreign land with its promise of light and freedom with it “pastel shaded sky” and the “cool texture of damp sand,” which reflects zalman’s acculturation and adaptability to his present surroundings and life. while narrating his story, zalman switches between worlds reminiscing and contrasting his life in warsaw to that of shanghai and kobe, while he finally makes his way out of vilna, journeying his way through vladivostok, to ultimately reach the japanese city of kobe. he speaks of a life full of “symmetry” in kobe, with a concoction of the east and the west reflected in the japanese theatrical performances, a city that endorsed the merging of the east and west, that approved of both the jewish and buddhist regions of japan to flourish within the same city; however, like laizer he is forever tormented with thoughts of the past, burdened with the guilt of having migrated without his loved ones. but among all three of them, it is yossel who shows remarkable acclimatization with his yiddish surroundings in shanghai. like zalman, yossel escaped from warsaw to become a part of the jewish diaspora in shanghai. as yossel says, “...in shanghai there were jews from the entire world. from bombay…persia and cochin....they owned factories, warehouses, real estate.... the whole world was in shanghai” (142). it was with the help of a russian jew that yossel started his work in textiles and even smuggled goods and “traded in diamonds” for survival. yossel, in accommodating himself with russian, french or even chinese ways of life in a foreign country, presents himself as a global citizen, for although he recollects his life at warsaw, he “identifies with the world cultural/ political forces” and thus chakraborty, debadrita. “an interplay of loss and hope: analyzing diaspora consciousness in arnold zable’s café scheherazade”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 4-11. in clifford’s term appears “global” in order to live, to secure and begin his life anew. yossel’s diaspora consciousness as clifford puts it, “makes the best of a bad situation” (clifford 1997: 257), and in this way survives the war. unlike their jewish companions, avram and masha’s story of hardship, isolation and displacement finally culminates in their love in poland and marriage in france. avram relates to his narrator the ravages made by the nazi invasion upon vilna, looting and plundering homes, the nazi army shooting jewish men as a part of hitler’s anti-semitic policy, while he hid himself in the peat bogs and the ghetto of vilna struggling to help his family survive. it is amazing to read how life flourished in the ghetto with the jewish slaves setting up school for their children with avram’s sister basia, teaching music to children, relocating a jewish place of worship within the ghetto, and forming the resistance movement which avram joined to resist the nazi invasion of poland. the jewish ghetto symbolizes the small jewish world, a little community wherein the exiled jews preserved their culture and ethnicity; as said puts it “it is a home created by a community of language, culture and customs and by doing so it fends off ravages of exile” (said 1984:269). avram’s guerilla warfare alongside russian, jewish and polish partisans to crush the nazi power, when along with the band of partisans he attacked nazi soldiers, is reminiscent of the “struggles to win american independence, to unify germany, to liberate algeria where those of national groups separated – exiled... [try] overcoming estrangement – from soil, roots, from unity, from destiny”(said 1984: 269). masha undergoes a similar isolation and estrangement when she is deported to the snow-clad siberian labour camps along with her family. although masha’s family survives in siberia, they later return back to the old world, poland, to find “the devastation that had been wrought in their absence: the piles of rubble, twisted girders, the razed hamlets...the descecrated temples and shattered homes,”; it is here in a bund gathering that avram and masha meet and fall in love, a love that culminates in paris, that according to said “attracts cosmopolitan exile”. zable’s café scheherazade is a tale of constant movement, of migration – the shift between countries, between past and present wherein the characters migrate from one country to another traversing borders and barriers in search of a home. however, while they settle in melbourne, a sense of non-belonging and alienation still persists deep in their minds, as their memory of the past, the history of their struggle for survival and their loss of home during the second world war annihilated their hopes for a new life, a new world, a new home. thus, zalman lives for the sheer sake of living with no “grand plans of a permanent home”, laizer settles in a new world to do away with the old memories of his dead family and ravaged home, and avram and masha’s dream of becoming a teacher and doctor lay buried within their past as they begin their life afresh as restaurateurs in acland street. in such a circumstance of homelessness, estrangement, and alienation, avram and masha’a cafe scheherazade entertains and welcomes jews from warsaw, budapest, vienna and berlin, men who lost their entire families, who craved for the sabbath stew, to hear “the yiddish word.” as mandaville points out “the estrangement of a community in diaspora – its separation from the ‘natural’ setting of the homeland – often leads to a particularly intense search for and negotiation of identity” (2001: 172), like that conserved within this cafe which serves as a home to holocaust survivors, wherein “old worlds were recreated and festering of wounds were healed”. zable’s novel thus gives us deep insight into the inwardness of a person’s mind cut off from the world by trauma, loss, and uncertainty. thus by drawing on the concepts of identity, ethnicity, and nationality; of hope to find the security and safety of a home; to live, to survive, to begin life anew; of loss and displacement from home; of feelings of alienation, isolation, and the dispossession that chakraborty, debadrita. “an interplay of loss and hope: analyzing diaspora consciousness in arnold zable’s café scheherazade”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 4-11. remains etched within the conciousness of the diaspora community; it can be said that diaspora consciousness promotes assimilation of a foreign culture in foreign soil – as in the case of yossel in zable’s café scheherazade who capitalizes on his opportunity, making the best out of every situation. his urge to prosper, to live unlike his fellow companions, is never extinguished even when he migrates to melbourne: “this city was yet an arena of opportunity to revel in, to impress upon with his cunning and charm” (zable 2001: 217). however, it cannot be ruled out altogether that the positive feeling promoted by diaspora consciousness is engulfed and devoured by the feelings of loss of homeland and the haunting memories of the past; a past recollected and retold, shared and suffered by the jewish community in their utopic home, the café scheherazade. though the novel ends with a flickering hope for survival within the diasporic community established in the café by preserving jewish culture, cuisine, and language, as done by avram, masha, yossel, zalman and laizer, there still remains in zable’s café scheherazade an emptiness, a void, a longing for the past that the “new world can never fill.” as said states, “pathos... resides in the loss of contact with the solidity and satisfactions of earth” (said 1984:174). references brah, avtah. 2006. thinking through the concept of diaspora. in: ashcroft, griffiths and tiffin (eds.) the post colonial studies reader (2 nd edition). london/new york: routledge, 443-446. brennan, timothy. 1995. the national longing for form. in: bill ashcroft, gareth griffiths and helen tiffin (eds.)the post colonial studies reader. london/new york: routledge, 170-175. clifford, james. 1997. routes, travel and translation in the late twentieth century. cambridge/london: harvard university press. cohen, robin. 1997. global diasporas: an introduction. seattle: university of washington. fludernik, monika. 2003. the diasporic imaginary. postcolonial reconfigurations in the context of multiculturalism. in: fludernik (ed.) diaspora and multiculturalism – common traditions and new developments. amsterdam/new york: rodopi. freadman, richard. 2005. the bonds of civility cut asunder: arnold zable as a post holocaust life writer, biography, 28.1: 117-125. kobrin, rebecca. 2006. rewriting the diaspora: images of ester europe in the bialystok landsmanshaft press, 1921-1945, jewish social studies, 12.3: 1-38. mandaville, peter. 2001. reimagining islam in diaspora: the politics of mediated community. gazette 63(2-3): 169-186. mishra, vijay. 2007. the literature of the indian diaspora: theorizing the diasporic imaginary. new york: routledge. ponzanesi, sandra. 2004. paradoxes of postcolonial culture, contemporary women writers of indian and afro-italian diaspora. new york: state university of new york press. said, edward. 1984. the mind of winter: reflections on life in exile, harper’s magazine, 269 (september). safran, william. 1991. diasporas in modern societies: myths of homeland and return, diaspora. a journal of translational studies. vol. 1, 83-99. chakraborty, debadrita. “an interplay of loss and hope: analyzing diaspora consciousness in arnold zable’s café scheherazade”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 4-11. zable, arnold. 2001. cafe scheherazade. melbourne: text publishing melbourne australia. internet sources communication and media research institute, university of westminster. ‘rethinking the concept of diaspora: mobility, connectivity and communication in a globalized world’. accessed 10 june 2009 at: http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/pdf/tsagarousianou.pdf. http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/pdf/tsagarousianou.pdf the problem of racism in kathryn stockett’s novel the help work in progress 41 agata szulkowska university of białystok the problem of racism in kathryn stockett’s novel the help abstract. this article analyzes kathryn stockett’s the help (2009) with the main focus on the presentation of the ubiquitous problem of racism experienced by african americans in the united states. specifically, it demonstrates shameful, humiliating and unbearable living conditions of black maids in the 1960s in jackson, mississippi. it discusses different types of racism, such as overt, institutional, and structural, which occur in this community. additionally, this paper provides an overview of the history of racism in the usa. the purpose of this article is to examine the history of interracial relationships in the usa, which sheds light on the problem of white supremacy, as well as demonstrates the damaging consequences of racial prejudice. however, the main objective of the paper is to analyse the relationships between white and black characters inhabiting jackson, mississippi as depicted in kathryn stockett’s the help. keywords: kathryn stockett, racism, the usa, mississippi, black maids, discrimination, jim crow laws. introduction the plight of african americans in the united states is the phenomenon which has been widely studied by scholars and academics from different disciplines. racism has been experienced by the blacks since slavery was introduced in the usa as a system after 1619 landing of the first group of 20 africans in jamestown. this fact makes us realise that the usa has a long history of gradually changing relationships between black and white americans. this article, therefore, aims at presenting many considerable changes in problematic interracial relationships as well as accentuating huge differences in standards of living experienced by the whites and the blacks. it is worth noting that african americans bore the brunt of the changes. the paper puts the main emphasis on describing the everyday struggles of african americans trying to live with dignity and respect as portrayed in kathryn stocketts’ novel the help. set in the segregated south, the book contains detailed depictions of events which took place from the late summer of 1962 through 1964 in jackson, mississippi. specifically, the article highlights unbearable living conditions of african american maids employed by white americans with a strong racial prejudice towards the blacks. moreover, not only does the help demonstrate fictional events 10.15290/cr.2017.16.1.04 42 crossroads. a journal of english studies taking place in the blindly racist community of jackson, but it also depicts events which actually took place. this adds authenticity to the work. the situation of african americans in the usa since the introduction of slavery as a system in 1661 in virginia, american history of a racism has been fraught with series of ups and downs in relationship between white americans and african americans. this was a point of history when the conflict between them began. african americans were treated as if they were inferior. they worked for a long time, sometimes from sunset to sunup. the system of oppression lasted until it was abolished before the end of the american civil war in 1865. the introduction of the thirteen amendment to the united states constitution changed the lives of african americans completely. from this moment on african americans, former slaves, were considered human beings and they also were given the right to vote. they started to educate themselves and, what was more important for them, were allowed to possess their own land. furthermore, a year later, in 1866 the first civil rights act was enacted. it strengthened the position of african americans by giving them american citizenship and therefore equal treatment before the law. nonetheless, racial discrimination did not disappear as african americans still were considered inferior and subservient. in some states, especially in the south, white americans strived to prevent them from exercising the right to vote by means of literacy tests and high poll taxes. moreover, the blacks were paid less than white americans for the same work. the next example of the whites resentment toward the blacks was forming secret organizations like the ku klux klan which promoted white supremacy. members of this organization terrorized their black neighbours at night wearing masks and costumes to terrify the blacks. during the reconstruction era, in 1877 there were also strict jim crow laws legislated. this humiliating set of rules and regulations officially segregated the blacks and the whites throughout the southern states of america affecting almost every sphere of their life (fisher 2006: 48-49). at the beginning of the twentieth century the situation concerning race relations did not improve. in the usa there was a rise of racist behaviour and shocking increase in the racist attacks. during world war i, african americans started to migrate in large numbers to western and northern america. they hoped that this would give them a better chance of gaining knowledge and a rewarding, well-paid job. however, many black people became unemployed as they were not educated or skilled enough to take up a job. as a result, it was difficult for them to make their ends meet. many of them lived in abject poverty inhabiting slums (greenberg 2009: 15-17). the next period of great changes in race relationships between the whites and the blacks in the usa was world war ii. some of the black americans started to achieve success in a large number of fields. for instance, gwendolyn brooks won a pulitzer prize for poetry, sidney poitier won an academy award for best actor, and hulan jack became the first black manhattan borough president. nevertheless, even if the lives of some african americans improved considerably, most of them still suffered from acute poverty or unemployment (greenberg 2009: 29-31). then, the period of 1960s began with the so-called ‘sit-in protests’ during which african americans ocwork in progress 43 cupied a particular place preserved for white people. by means of such protests they showed that they were no longer going to acquiesce to unequal treatment. nevertheless, apart from taking part in nonviolent protests, some of african americans were so tired of being mistreated that they did not see other alternatives but to fight for their rights by taking part in riots. moreover, in order to maintain struggle for justice, peace, and equal treatment for african americans, during the 1960s the blacks were represented by a generation of courageous black leaders, such as martin luther king jr. who paid for the defence of the blacks’ dignity with his life (fisher 2006: 106-109). the lives of african americans in the help kathryn stockett’s the help, published in 2009, brings up the issue of racism in the southern united states by portraying relationships between white and black americans from late summer of 1962 through 1964 in jackson, mississippi. the book is written from the perspective of three different women: eugenia phelan (best known for her nickname skeeter) – a white young college graduate who wants to be a journalist and undertakes a monumental task of writing a book about black maids’ struggles from their point of view, aibileen clark – a wise black maid who raised seventeen white children, and minny jackson – an outspoken black maid who persuades other black maids to help skeeter to write the book. each narrator presents her own background, thoughts, and the desire for change. however, not only does the novel depict the white employers’ discrimination against black maids, but also it focuses on prejudiced treatment of the blacks by white americans of all ages and from all walks of life. set in the segregated south of the 1960s, the help provides a detailed description of the events connected with daily lives of mississippians. kathryn stockett demonstrates how strong is the bias of the whites toward black residents of jackson by means of numerous examples of racist behaviour. apart from fictional events, the novel also demonstrates events which actually took place, thus adding authenticity to the work. for instance, the book clearly depicts the fear of death and brutality that african americans experienced after medgar evers’ assassination. when the black inhabitants of mississippi find out that he was killed by members of the ku klux klan they are scared to death and avoid leaving their homes for fear of being shot. the situation is even more dramatic because of the fact that evers, the black field secretary for naacp (the national association for the advancement of colored people) who fought against the blacks’ exploitation, was shot in front of his house right before his children’s eyes. therefore, the blacks realise that their lives are always under threat just because of their skin colour. as one of the main protagonists of the help, the black maid aibileen, states: for days and days, jackson, mississippi’s like a pot of boiling water. on miss leefolt’s tee-vee, flocks a  colored people march up high street the day after mister evers’ funeral. three hundred arrested. colored people say thousands a people came to the service, but you could count the whites on one hand. the police know who did it, but they ain’t telling nobody his name (stockett 2009:196). 44 crossroads. a journal of english studies this entire event demonstrates that white mississippians have no compunctions about taking african americans into custody even if they do not commit any crime. moreover, white perpetrators always remain unknown to the general public while the blacks are severely punished for even slight conflicts with the whites. the next historical event which the author includes as a plot point in the help is the long struggle of african americans against jim crow laws. for instance, stockett incorporates into her narration a description of the sit-in protest at brown’s drug store. minny jackson, the black maid, states that “a bunch of white teenagers stand behind the five protesters on their stools, jeering and jabbing, pouring ketchup and mustard and salt all over their heads” (stockett 2009: 219). the event clearly displays the white teenagers’ strong prejudicial attitudes, as well as racial hatred and aggression toward the blacks. thus, stockett suggests that white children are taught by their parents and teachers from a very young age to hate the blacks as the white adults want to prevent from their integration (sturkey, hale 2015: 12). then it is difficult or even impossible for the white teenagers to get rid of racial stereotypes and behaviour. another important aspect of jim crow laws demonstrated in the novel is the huge division between white americans and african americans concerning facilities used by them. the humiliating set of rules and regulations stated that the black inhabitants of jackson are not allowed to use shops, restaurants, and libraries reserved for the whites only. the black maids in the help, e.g. aibileen and minny, sometimes have to buy something in the shops for the whites for the white families they work for. however, they can enter the shop provided that they wear white uniforms. what is important to notice is the fact that the schools, libraries, and shops attended by the blacks are completely different from the ones attended by the whites. in the stockett’s novel this is illustrated in a description of the shop for the blacks called piggly wiggly “with the potatoes having inch-long eyes and the milk almost sour” (stockett 2009: 42). in addition, it is essential to mention that when the blacks refuse to adhere to jim crow laws they are severely punished. for instance, skeeter says that when there was a sit-in protest at the white library a few years ago, “the police department simply stepped back and turned the german shepherds loose” (stockett 2009: 154). stockett also stresses the fact that black inhabitants of jackson can hardly make ends meet due to racial discrimination in terms of employment. they are given only menial jobs such as maids, charwomen, and fast-food workers which are, of course, low-paid. in addition, their white employers perpetuate racial stereotypes about the blacks’ aggression, laziness, irresponsibility, and lack of intelligence. thus, the black residents of jackson often live in abject poverty inhabiting the poorest part of the city, which is clearly exemplified by means of a description of hotstack, constantine’s (skeeter’s former maid) neighbourhood. when skeeter recollects one day of walking along the neighbourhood with constantine she remembers “the colored five-and-dime store, then a grocer with hens laying in back, and all along the way, dozens of shacky-looking roadside houses with tin roofs and slanting porches” (stockett 2009: 61). living in such poor conditions causes the black characters of the help want to change their lives fraught with pain, hunger, and suffering. as a result, it leads to taking part in violent demonstrations, like the one in the library described by skeework in progress 45 ter. therefore, stockett, by combining the actual historical events with the fictional ones, offers a true representation of the interracial relationship between inhabitants of mississippi which at that time was regarded as one of the most racially oppressive states in the usa (watson 2010: 10). different types of racism in the help stockett’s the help offers a multitude of examples of racial discrimination against black inhabitants of jackson, mississippi. almost every white character demonstrated in the novel shows hatred toward the blacks and treats them with scorn and contempt as if they were second-class citizens without full rights and benefits. therefore the author of the novel clearly reveals that deeply-rooted racism permeates every aspect of the segregated society of jackson. overt racism the characters of the help have to deal with different forms of racism on a daily basis. however, most often they are victims of overt racism, which manifests itself in hatred and contempt towards other people due to their belonging to a different race. it is characterised by assumptions of racial superiority made by the white people who consider themselves to be better in terms of intelligence or personality traits. this form of racism is easily observable as overt racism action “takes place only if a harm is inflicted or a benefit withheld either because of the perpetrator’s racial bias against the victim or because of that perpetrator’s obliging the race prejudice of others” (ezorsky 1991: 9). this type of racism is omnipresent in the prejudiced community of jackson, which is clearly pointed out by hilly holbrook’s negative behaviour toward her black maid minny jackson and the black maid, aibileen clark, who works for her friend elizabeth leefolt. according to garcia, hilly is “the selfserving power broker in this female world of white social elites” (garcia, young, and pimentel 2014: 54). holbrook is the president of the jackson junior league which aims at helping pscas (the poor starving children of africa). during one of the meetings, when a member of the league asks her if it would not be better for them to send money to the poor rather than canned food whose transport is very costly, she says that they “cannot give these tribal people money” (stockett 2009: 175). she also adds that the blacks “are likely to go to the local voodoo tent and get a satanic tattoo with [their] money” (stockett 2009: 175). the entire event displays hilly’s patronising attitude toward the blacks and lack of respect for them. what is more, when holbrook meets her friends at elizabeth’s house for a weekly bridge game, she says that african americans disseminate different kinds of diseases and that she wants to maintain separation of black maids from white families by means of separate bathrooms for the maids. she tries to pass a bill which would require all mississippians to build outdoor bathrooms for their black maids which she calls “a disease-preventive measure” (stockett 2009: 8). as a result, after a few days aibileen has to use a separate bathroom outside the leefolt’s house. moreover, “hilly raises her voice about three octaves higher when she talks to colored people” (stockett 2009: 157). her manner of speaking demonstrates that she treats african americans as if they were inferior and not as intelligent as the whites. what is more, when hilly finds out that aibileen helped skeeter to write a book about 46 crossroads. a journal of english studies the black maids in jackson employed by white americans (including hilly and elizabeth), hilly makes elizabeth dismiss aibileen accusing the black maid in a completely unjustified way of stealing her three pieces of cutlery. as mills states in her book, “it is no wonder that aibileen declares to aggressively racist miss hilly […] ‘you a godless woman’, for only a woman without knowledge of god and his mercy could be so unrelentingly racist” (mills 2016: xi). the matter of overt racism is also highlighted by a racist attitude of elizabeth leefolt who blindly follows hilly holbrook. when her little daughter, mae mobley, uses aibileen’s bathroom, elizabeth tells her that aibileen is dirty and diseased. therefore, leefolt enforces prevailing racist behaviours and attitudes. this situation reveals that due to adults’ prejudice toward the blacks, racism is handed down over the ages from generation to generation. the reader of the novel is presented with overt racism also through the mentioning of several incidents. for instance, the author of the help describes robert’s case. the grandson of the black maid louvenia brown is beaten with a tire iron by the whites after using the unmarked bathroom reserved for white americans at pinchman lawn and garden. as a result of the beating, he becomes blind. stockett also mentions the whites burnt the house of aibileen’s cousin, shinelle, in cauter country because of her participation in elections. the next example of overt racism can be seen when white americans cut off the tongue of aibileen’s husband’s cousin as she talked with somebody from washington about the ku klux klan. institutional racism stockett also presents many situations demonstrating institutional racism. according to shirley jean better, this kind of racism often goes undetected and “moves surreptitiously throughout […] social institutions, hardly making a ripple unless you are the recipient of its harsh treatment” (better 2002: 48). institutional racism expresses itself in unfair treatment of people who do not belong to the white race in institutions such as schools, media systems, and the government. the mistreatment is observable when some people in control of institutional power use it to devoid people belonging to different race of equal opportunities. the book clearly reveals the situations by means of racist treatment of black maids who work for white american families. as pointed out by garcia, “beyond the overt racial and class divisions present in america today, the assumption that black (and brown) women are innate caretakers has a much longer history than the current domestic employment practices” (garcia, young, and pimentel 2014: 58). therefore, due to negative stereotypes perpetuated by white americans, african americans in the help are given only menial jobs like maids, refuse collectors, and plantation workers. what is important to note is the fact that the white people in control of institutional power often mistreat their employees, which is shown by the example of relations between elizabeth leefolt and aibileen clark, the black maid who works for her. the detailed descriptions of elizabeth’s behaviour clearly reveal that her black maid is discriminated against in her workplace. the best example of racial oppression is building by the leefolts a separate bathroom in the garage for work in progress 47 aibileen. what is more, during her working time aibileen is often offended by elizabeth’s friend, hilly holbrook, who says that african americans should be separated from white americans as she believes they disseminate different kinds of diseases. it is essential to mention that aibileen “work[s] for miss leefolt eight to four, six days a week except saturdays” (stockett 2009: 16). she gets “forty-three dollars [every] friday, which come[s] to $172 a month” (stockett 2009: 16) and she is afraid to even ask leefolt for minimum wage even if she hardly makes ends meet. she is dismissed “when the babies get too old and stop being color-blind” (stockett 2009: 128). the author of the help mentions that aibileen raised seventeen children, which means that she had to change her job many times. furthermore, according to mills, anything that happen[s] during the course of any day a black woman work[s] in a white home [is] almost invariably her fault. […] if a white child fell, it [is] because the black woman [is] not attentive enough. if the biscuits [are] burned or the chicken slightly undercooked, then, in the absence of slaverysanctioned corporeal punishment, docked wages—or firing—would be the result (mills 2016: xii). the next example portraying institutional racism is the way in which the whites treat aibileen’s son, treelore, who dies two years before the novel opens (when he was 24). one rainy night when he works at the scanlon-taylor mill “lugging two-by-fours to the truck, splinters slicing all the way through the glove” (stockett 2009: 2) he slips off the loading dock and falls down the drive. the person who operates a tractor-trailer does not notice treelore and crushes his lungs. then “his broken body [is] thrown on the back of a pickup by the white foreman” (stockett 2009: 153). by the time aibileen finds out about the accident treelore is dead. as the maid states, treelore was “too small for that kind of work, too skinny, but he needed a job” (stockett 2009: 2). treelore’s case shows that white employers do not consider their black employees’ safety as an important issue. african americans are given the most physically demanding jobs which often are also the most dangerous. this situation clearly indicates that treelore, like other young black men, had no other possibility to earn money for his family but to take up a low-paid, menial job. structural racism in the help there are also examples of structural racism, which manifests itself in unequal distribution of goods and resources for achieving aims due to different colour of skin, as discrimination against black americans is deeply-rooted in white inhabitants of jackson who aim at concealing racism rather than eradicating it (garcia, young, and pimentel 2014: 23). the work of sam porter reveals that “individuals will enjoy more or less powerful enabling positions in a society which displays structural racism, depending on how they are categorised in racist terms” (porter 1993: 597). this unequal distribution existed a long time ago and now people are put within some kind of groups whose members are given more or less powerful positions than others. for instance, the whites in the help show their supremacy over the blacks when they do not allow them to expand 48 crossroads. a journal of english studies into white neighbourhoods. according to aibileen, “jackson’s just one white neighbourhood after the next and more springing up down the road. but the colored part a town, we one big anthill, surrounded by state land that ain’t for sale. as our numbers get bigger, we can’t spread out. our part a town just gets thicker” (stockett 2009: 12). this passage reveals that african americans are treated unfairly by the us government whose members strive to avoid integration of white and black americans. even if they live in the same town, according to skeeter, “the colored part of town seems so far away when, evidently, it’s only a few miles from the white part of town.” (stockett 2009: 143). structural racism in the help is also pointed out by deeply-rooted beliefs held by white inhabitants of jackson that the blacks are thieves and liars. the novel clearly portrays the negative attitude of the whites towards african americans when minny, the black maid who works for the holbrooks, is unjustifiably accused by hilly of stealing her silver. the false accusation ruins minny’s reputation and creates an enormous problem for her to find a job as the white residents of jackson consider the whites to be honest and trustworthy while maintaining that the blacks do not deserve to be trusted. the white mississippians completely believe in the rightness of hilly’s accusation. they do not even assume that it is a part of her plan to get revenge on minny for using the holbrooks’ toilet during a brutal storm. stockett also illustrates structural racism by the fact that the blacks have to obey rigid jim crow laws which maintain the racial hierarchy stressing white supremacy and control over african americans. the humiliating set of rules prevents them from living decent lives as the blacks are deprived of even basic facilities. for example, black inhabitants of jackson cannot use shops, restaurants, swimming pools, and libraries reserved for whites only. it is worth mentioning that when african americans refuse to obey these rules, the groups such as the ku klux klan fight against them. its members often terrorise the blacks, burn their houses, beat them, and shoot to death for not obeying jim crow laws. moreover, what is important to mention is that some people of power in the community of jackson like hilly holbrook, the leader of the junior league, is expected to be devoid of racial discrimination. holbrook, who is responsible for the organization supporting the blacks in africa, should set a good example for mississippians. nevertheless, hilly’s behaviour reveals her strong bias toward african americans. she is a hypocrite who “send[s] money to colored people overseas, but not across town” (stockett 2009: 280). although she helps the poor starving children of africa, she simultaneously strives to maintain racial segregation in her town, which can be definitely regarded as the example of structural racism. prejudice and injustice experienced by the black maids stocket’s novel demonstrates racial discrimination which affects all black characters who live in the deeply prejudiced society of mississippi during the jim crow era. she presents unbearable living conditions experienced by the black inhabitants of jackson, cruel treatment of the blacks who work in progress 49 take part in protests fighting for equal rights, and humiliating black workers by white americans. however, the author of the help puts the main emphasis on portraying the suffering of black maids who work for white families looking after their children, cooking and serving food, and cleaning their houses. the stockett’s novel deals with the problem of maid’s abuse as she demonstrates in her book numerous examples of prejudiced behaviour towards the black maids. as yanick st. jean states in his book, “for an african american it takes great strength and courage to ‘do tough’ in the face of discrimination and misrepresentations, misconceptions, and distortions of black women at the hands of white americans” (yanick 1998: ix). it is worth mentioning that african american women in the help are treated much more harshly than black men as they are burdened by the stigma of race as well as the stigma of sex. not only are they mistreated by white mississippians but also by their husbands and fathers. for instance, minny jackson, the black maid working for the holbrooks, had really difficult childhood due to her “no-good drunk daddy” (stockett 2009: 38) because of whom she was about to drop out of school in order to support her family. after school she spent much of her time performing household chores such as cooking and cleaning. the situation experienced by the jacksons clearly reveals that only women were responsible for earning their livelihood while man did nothing but drowned his sorrows in alcohol. what is more, when minny starts her own family she is constantly beaten by her husband leroy who often also shouts at her. at the end of the novel leroy even tries to kill minny as he finds out that he lost his job because of his wife. he does not hit minny only when she is pregnant, which is why minny gets pregnant all the time and they have five children. minny is continually worried about “[her] husband leroy coming home drunk [very frequently]. [leroy] knows that’s the one thing [she] can’t stand after nursing [her] drunk daddy for ten years, [minny] and [her] mama working […] to death so he had a full bottle” (stockett 2009: 51) but he does nothing to change his damaging behaviour. in addition, when minny talks with aibileen, her best friend, she says that “plenty of black men leave their families behind like trash in a dump, but it’s just not something the colored woman do. [they’ve] got the kids to think about” (stockett 2009: 310-311). the next woman who suffers owing to being a woman and her skin colour is aibileen – the black maid who works for the leefolts. as a young teenager she had to drop out of school to support her family by working as a maid. she was, therefore, deprived of a normal, happy childhood. then, when her son treelore was born, her dark-skinned husband clyde left her to raise the child alone. thus, stockett depicts black males in her book in a negative light, making black maids victims of their husbands’ and fathers’ brutal and inhumane behaviour. the black maids portrayed in the help are often mistreated by their fathers and husbands. however, the author of the novel focuses mostly on demonstrating dehumanizing and humiliating working conditions experienced by them. stockett makes reader realise that in the small community of jackson, where racism permeates all aspects of life, “no concept of equality [can] govern maid/mistress interactions in the homes of whites just as no concept of equality govern[s] the society in which these women [are] employed” (mills 2016: xii). 50 crossroads. a journal of english studies as an example of dealing with humiliation stockett describes aibileen clark raising her eighteenth white child, mae mobley, the daughter of the leefolts. the maid faces racial discrimination and prejudice on a daily basis. even though she does her best taking care of elizabeth leefolt’s child, cooking, and cleaning, she is not appreciated by her employer. conversely, aibileen is frequently reprimanded by her, for example, when she talks with elizabeth’s friend skeeter during her working hours. such a situation shows that she is treated like leefolt’s property. in addition, aibileen is used to be given worn-out clothes by her white employers. the black maid, who lives in abject poverty, has no choice but to wear clothes which earlier belonged to her white employers as she does not possess enough money to buy new ones. furthermore, the leefolts build a separate toilet for her as elizabeth is persuaded by her friend hilly that it is the only way to prevent their family from being infected with dangerous diseases which, she states, are disseminated by the blacks. this is probably the most embarrassing situation that has ever happened to aibileen. what is important to mention is the fact that aibileen, who is treated like a second-class human being, never complains of being tired and discriminated. moreover, aibileen never talks back to leefolt as well as to her racially prejudiced friend hilly who often offends african americans by creating and perpetuating racial stereotypes showing the blacks as unintelligent, dirty, and lazy. nevertheless, aibileen perseveres in overcoming all the obstacles of her life without feeling sorry for herself. the next example of prejudiced treatment of black maids is demonstrated by the case of constantine, who was employed by the phelans. skeeter, the phelans’ daughter, “praises constantine as a nurturer who would bring her home to the black segregated side of town simply due to the love that she had for the white child in her care” (garcia, young, and pimentel 2014: 68). nevertheless, after working for phelan family for twenty-nine years constantine was dismissed by charlotte phelan, skeeter’s mother, due to constantine’s illegitimate daughter’s rude behaviour. what was even more cruel, charlotte told lulabelle that “[her] mama hadn’t been sick a day in her life. she [had given lulabelle] up because [she was] too high yellow” (stockett 2009: 364). however, what is essential to note is the fact that constantine gave her daughter for adoption as “being [african american] with white skin […] in mississippi it’s like you don’t belong to nobody” (stockett 2009: 358). when constantine was noticed with her white daughter “[w]hite folks would stop her, ask her all suspicious what she doing toting round a white child. […] even colored folks… they treat[ed] her differently, distrustful, like she [had] done something wrong.” (stockett 2009: 358). by means of constantine’s case stockett stresses the fact that “[b]lack women are expected to love their white families unconditionally” (garcia, young, and pimentel 2014: 68) and devote considerable efforts to performing household chores as effectively as possible while white americans do not pay attention to their emotions, mistreating and humiliating them all the time. the black maids in the help, therefore, are treated unequally by their white employers even though they are indispensable for their families. for instance, african american maids’ salaries do not correspond to the great effort put into their jobs. minny, after working as a maid for five years, is paid one dollar per hour, which makes her “feeling kind of ashamed” (stockett 2009: 37) as she is paid below the legal minimum wage. similarly, aibileen is paid by the leefolts 172 dolwork in progress 51 lars a month, working from eight to four o’clock, as a result of which she barely makes ends meet. stockett demonstrates in her book that because of such appallingly low salaries the black maids and their families live in a deep poverty. for instance, when minny was fourteen, “[b]irthdays were the only day of the year [she] was allowed to eat as much as [she] wanted” (stockett 2009: 38). thus, as a result of poor living conditions together with unfair treatment by the white community the blacks tend to have a lower self-esteem than the whites. this phenomenon is illustrated in aibileen’s case when she sits in her kitchen after supper and observes a big cockroach. she compares this insect to herself noticing that it is blacker than she is. furthermore, aibileen feels her inferiority to white americans not only due to her colour of skin, but also because of her ancestry. when she is asked by skeeter, who writes a book about the plight of black female domestic workers in the usa, whether she always thought she would be a maid, aibileen replies in an affirmative manner. the black maid tells her that she knew that she was going to work as a maid as her mother was a maid and her grandmother had been a house slave. aibileen does not even consider looking for another job as she finds it impossible for her to get a job which would provide her with sufficient income, a sense of accomplishment, and overall satisfaction. the help is also fraught with references to racist incidents suffered by black maids which are mentioned in the conversations of the main characters of the novel. for instance, when aibileen talks with her black colleague ernestine, who works for the holbrooks, she finds out that flora lou, a black maid employed by miss hester “who everybody think is real sweet” (stockett 2009: 433), was given “a special ‘hand wash’ to use ever morning” (stockett 2009: 433). as ernestine says, it turned out to be “straight bleach” (stockett 2009: 433). as a result, flora lou had a burn scar which she showed ernestine. in addition, during minny’s conversation with aibileen they recall unpleasant incidents connected with minny’s former racist white employers. as an example, aibileen brings up the memory of mister charlie who thought it had been funny to humiliate minny by name-calling and insults and his wife “who [made her] eat lunch outside, even in the middle a january, […] even when it snowed that time” (stockett 2009: 227). then, when aibileen starts to talk about the incident connected with miss roberta she cannot stop laughing as the white employer made minny “sit at the kitchen table while she [was trying out] her new dye solution on [minny]” (stockett 2009: 227). this caused minny’s hair became blue and, according to her husband leroy, she “look[ed] like a craker from outer space” (stockett 2009: 227). the situation was certainly not so funny for minny as it “took three weeks and twenty-five dollars to get [her] hair black again” (stockett 2009: 227). therefore, all the events illustrate that black female domestic workers were frequently abused in numerous ways. they were accustomed to being treated like sub-humans and facing hardships on a daily basis. conclusions stockett’s novel “make[s] clear that problematic interactions across racial lines remain an ongoing dynamic that informs and shapes what happens to black women when they go to work as maids and caregivers in white women’s houses” (mills 2016: xiii). the book clearly demonstrates that 52 crossroads. a journal of english studies white employers look down on black maids. the maids are offered harsh and humiliating treatment which makes them feel inferior to white americans. nevertheless, at the same time this treatment causes their desire to change their poor existence which is the reason for their willingness to share their unpleasant experience with white and black americans by means of a book written together with skeeter. what is essential to note is the fact that by taking up this monumental task the black maids put their lives at risk. this illustrates that they are ready to resort to the most desperate measures in order to avoid abuse. through analysing shameful living and working conditions faced especially by black maids, whose lives are always under threat due to their colour of skin, the help makes people aware of the problem of white supremacy and the damaging consequences of racist behaviour towards the blacks. together with the film of the same title as the book, which was released in 2011, the help contributed a lot to changing white americans’ perception of african americans. the movie “became one of the most commercially successful films so far in the twenty-first century” (garcia, young, and pimentel 2014: 5) as it earned over 150 million dollars in domestic box office sales. in general, both white and black viewers of the film found it worth watching due to its excellent acting parts, well written script, and effective music. the novel as well as the film of the same title based on stockett’s book serve as an eye-opener to racially prejudiced white americans helping them discern huge number of problems dealt with by the blacks which were largely ignored or glossed over by the whites over the centuries. it does not mean that the help had great influence on all its readers and immediately opened their eyes on the obstacles the blacks face every day. nevertheless, such a production as the help is a big step in fighting against racial discrimination towards african americans which is still present in the usa today. references better, shirley jean. 2002. institutional racism: a primer on theory and strategies for social change. lanham, md: rowman & littlefield. ezorsky, gertrude. 1991. racism and justice: the case for affirmative action. new york: cornell university press. fisher, p. klaus. 2006. america in white, black, and gray: a history of the stormy 1960s. new york: continuum. foster-singletary, tikenya. 2012. dirty south: the help and the problem of black bodies. southern quarterly volume 49, iss.4 (july). 95-107. garcia, claire oberon, vershawn ashanti young, and charise pimentel. 2014. from uncle tom’s cabin to the help: critical perspectives on white-authored narratives of black life. new york: palgrave macmillan. greenberg, cheryl lynn. 2009. to ask for an equal chance: african americans in the great depression. lanham, md: rowman & littlefield publishers. work in progress 53 hartman, chester. 2014. the help. in: ida e. jones, daina ramey berry, tiffany m. gill, kali nicole gross, janice sumler-edmond (eds.), america’s growing inequality: the impact of poverty and race, 118-119. new york: lexington books. jones, suzanne w. 2014. the divided reception of the help. southern cultures volume 20, iss.1 (march). 7-25. mchaney, pearl. 2014. kathryn stockett’s postmodern first novel. southern cultures volume 20, iss.1 (march). 77-92. mills, fiona. 2016. like one of the family: domestic workers, race, and in/visibility in the help. cambridge: cambridge scholars publisher. porter, sam. 1993. critical realist ethnography: the case of racism and professionalism in a medical setting. new york: sage publications. ruzich, constance, and julie blake. 2015. ain’t nothing like the real thing: dialect, race, and identity in stockett’s novel the help. the journal of popular culture volume 48, iss.3 (june). 534-547. stockett, kathryn. 2009. the help. london: penguin books ltd. sturkey, william, and jon n. hale. 2015. to write in the light of freedom: the newspapers of the 1964 mississippi freedom schools. jackson: university press of mississippi. watson, bruce. 2010. freedom summer: the savage season of 1964 that made mississippi burn and made america a democracy. new york: penguin books ltd. yanick st. jean, and joe r. feagin. 1998. double burden: black women and everyday racism. armonk, ny: m.e. sharpe. crossroads 5/2014, pp.4-15 dorota guzowska the university of bialystok a conflict of wills. the seventeenth-century diarist isaac archer and his father abstract. isaac archer (1641-1700) was a godly man, an anglican minister, a good father to his nine children and the son of a possessive father. the order in which his life roles are listed here is not random. for a considerable part of his life he kept a diary in which he recorded the many struggles with his sinful nature and presented himself as a man whose priority was to submit to the will of god. his humbleness was frequently and most painfully tested in the context of his parenthood, but it was the challenges that he faced in the relationship with his own father that seemed to have had the greatest impact on his spiritual as well as daily life. this article is a portrait of this very turbulent relationship between a seventeenth-century adult son and his strong-willed father. keywords: isaac archer, diary, relationship, conflict. parents and their adult children family life, both in the present day and in the past, has been governed by certain norms regulating parent/child relationships. recent studies clearly show that the model of formal, unaffectionate contacts between parents and their offspring in early modern england, described by lawrence stone in the 1970s (stone 1977), cannot be universally applied to all english families, and that there was, in fact, much space in family life for love, affection, care and commitment (pollock 1983; ozment 1983; macfarlane 1987, houlbrooke 1990; woods 2006; fletcher 2010). this new interpretation of historical evidence does not, however, invalidate completely the traditional view of early modern parenting. affectionate and caring or not, parents were seen as agents of god’s will, and their roles as nurturers, disciplinarians, providers and educators had a divine mandate. the children, in return, were obliged to honour and obey their parents because obedience to them was obedience to god (o’day 1994: 4649). parents’ role was to prepare their children to live in the world, while children’s duty was to follow the prescriptions and demands of their parents (ben-amos 2000: 292). but how long was this supposed to last? how long were parents obliged to be involved in the lives of their children, and to what extent were adult sons and daughters supposed to meet their parents’ expectations? what was the nature of parental/filial love in the period beyond adolescence and early youth? theoretical traditions such as attachment theory, family solidarity theory, exchange theory, bioevolutionary approaches, social integration theory, and psychoanalytic theory, used in studies on contemporary family life, emphasize the importance of the parent/child relationship over the course of life. children’s financial independence or physical distance are seen as less important than a distinctive history, a set of experiences, carried by family members and connecting them throughout their lives (umberson 1992: 664-665). studies on the issue of parent/child relationships in early modern britain, some of which are referred to in this article, tend to focus on the period between infancy and the moment children left home for service, apprenticeship or marriage. in studying relationships between adult children and their elderly parents, earlier historians focused on the questions of inheritance and the care of the elderly, and even when the psychological aspects of these relationships were addressed, it was usually done in the broader context of both parties’ material well-being (thomas 1976; wall 1987). elizabeth foyster notes that historians tend to see marriage as “the point of no return when the break from parental control was completed” (foyster 2001: 314). in contrast to the prevailing view of “loose” and “shallow” relationships between parents and their adult children, foyster showed that the bond, although changed in nature, was not entirely severed, and her claim is that sources provide enough evidence of the significant presence of parents in the married lives of their offspring. she wrote, “it is clear that the nature of the parent/child relationship was one that was constantly changing. marriage was just one point in the life cycle which could mark a shift in parent/child relations, but this did not signal the end of shared experience” (foyster 2001: 317). foyster emphasized the involvement of parents in initial marriage negotiations, in the financial affairs of a new couple, in the upbringing of grandchildren, as well as in resolving marital crises. regardless of their children’s age, parents also remained emotionally committed, and usually found it very distressing when their children’s marriages or careers failed. a number of early modern ego-documents: diaries, autobiographies, letters written by parents representing various sections of society, are a testimony of their concern for their children’s well-being, even when said children were independent adults. however, commitment, or sometimes even more active involvement in the lives of grown-up children, did not mean that all parents expected the same degree of obedience as they had when their daughters and sons were children and adolescents. some sources, in fact, show parents quite helpless in the face of problems caused by their adult children’s refusal to follow parental advice. although they saw and bemoaned their offspring’s misguided decisions, rarely were these viewed as sheer instances of insubordination, but rather as painful reminders of their own failure to prepare the children for adulthood (cf. henry newcome’s diary and autobiography, ralph josselin’s diary). the question arises as to what feelings and emotions were experienced by adult children spreading their wings and, in their attempts to live on their own, sometimes rejecting their parents’ will. another question is what impact the child’s struggle for independence had upon the parents themselves and upon the relationship with their adult offspring. the diary and its author an answer to this question will be sought in a diary written by isaac archer (1641-1700), a father of nine children and himself the son of a very possessive father. what is offered in this article is a picture of a parent–adult child relationship from the perspective of the latter, with special emphasis on the emotional side of it. the diary covers the whole of archer’s life, from 1641 to 1700, but the first entries were not written until 1659 (archer 1994: 44). archer’s diary is one of many similar seventeenth-century texts created by individuals who committed to paper their religiously motivated need to search and examine their souls. the second half of the 17 th century in england was a time of rapid growth in the popularity of autobiographical writing, with spiritual diaries and autobiographies being the most popular forms, especially among members of dissenting groups (delany 1969: 27-106; ebner 1971; glaser 2001: 46-49). as can be concluded from isaac archer’s own text, his non-conformist father kept such a spiritual diary, and his prompting became an important factor in his son’s decision to write an account of his religious experiences (archer 1994: 43-44, 124-125). isaac archer’s diary falls into the category of anglican spiritual life-writing, but it is also a record of his doubts concerning the practices of the church of england; doubts which were consistently fed by his father. the editor of archer’s diary suggests that the manuscript on which the publication was based, the only surviving manuscript copy of the diary, is in fact a later version of earlier drafts (archer 1994: 6-7). one characteristic structural feature of isaac archer’s diary is that the author was in the habit of delaying writing about important events in his life until he was ready to reflect upon these events and upon his immediate responses to them and, as a result, evaluate those responses. noting this feature is very important from the point of view of this study because this method of writing entails some degree of reworking, reinterpreting, and self-censorship. choosing between what should be revealed and what should stay concealed is, of course, typical of any autobiographical writing, and archer’s creation of a specific image of himself in the diary is natural (glaser 2001: 16-17). his wish to do so is even more understandable in the light of the fact that he wrote with readers in mind. the vision of his diary being read by someone else came to him as a disturbing realization soon after his father’s death, when he found some very intimate details of william archer’s life among his personal papers. this “could have made [isaac] wary of committing everything to paper” (archer 1994: 9). on the other hand, the awareness that he was writing ‘for the world’ made him fashion his life stories according to norms and patterns this ‘world’ accepted. an important task of today’s reader of isaac archer’s text is to find out what hid behind selfcreation and convention. archer’s story appears to be a good illustrative example supporting the thesis that although convention made adult children appreciate their parents’ involvement in their lives, in reality it could have been a source of conflict and frustration. the following biography of isaac archer is based on the information he left in his diary. the graduate of trinity college, cambridge was born in the county of suffolk, where he spent his whole adult life as a minister. his father, william archer, was a non-conformist lecturer at halstead and colchester, a man with a difficult, volatile character, whose high expectations were the source of isaac’s frustration. their relationship, however, was very strong, probably because isaac’s mother died when he was only 8, so his father became the sole provider of parental care. soon after, two of isaac’s siblings also died. writing about this traumatic experience in his diary, isaac archer remembered his grief-stricken, melancholic father, who found it extremely difficult to comfort himself after the loss. it is possible that it was william’s prolonged mourning and detachment from the two surviving children (isaac and his sister mary) that was responsible for the combination of yearning and rebelliousness that characterized isaac’s attitude to his parent. four years after isaac lost his mother william archer boarded him at halstead school, and then sent him to london to learn the trade of linen drapery. in the meantime, however, isaac underwent a radical religious conversion and decided to become a minister. although his father initially opposed the idea on the grounds of isaac’s heavy speech impediment and the fear that a university education would in fact divert his son away from godly life, in 1656 isaac was eventually admitted to trinity college, cambridge. since 1660 he had been constantly admonished in letters from his father not to succumb to the charms of post-restoration anglicanism, but he found it increasingly difficult to follow this advice, as conformity held out the prospect of financial independence. one of isaac’s major concerns throughout his school, apprenticeship and university years was lack of money. although he was his father’s only surviving son, and william’s financial situation was fairly secure, he was never sufficiently supported. he did not seem to fully understand his father’s reasons for refusing him material provision, but it must have been a painful experience because many years later when he wrote about his childhood, one of the most vivid memories was that “when i went to schoole my father kept mee bare of clothes, and as for money i had none as the rest had” (archer 1994: 49). it is perhaps due to this humiliating experience that isaac was so determined in his adult life not to owe anything material to his father, and this determination informed most of his crucial decisions. in 1662, isaac was ordained an anglican priest against his father’s wish. three years later, persuaded by his father to abandon the church of england, he unofficially resigned from ministry in his parishes of wicken and chippenham. however, the prospect of becoming financially dependent on his father again was a decisive factor in his return to ministry after a three-month break, although he never stopped having serious reservations about the postrestoration church settlement (mostly because of his disillusion with its clerics, some of whom were his fellow students in cambridge – archer 1994: 65, 67, 74). his father’s immediate reaction was not recorded in the diary, but isaac’s choice must have been a blow to him since he decided to punish his son by disinheriting him in his will. their relationship became even more stormy after isaac’s marriage, concluded without william archer’s full consent. he was willing to approve of the bride, anne peachy, as long as his son could secure a safe living. isaac’s hasty marriage took his father by surprise. he was dissatisfied with the dowry offered by anne’s father, suspected her family of using the marriage as an opportunity to seize his estate, and was generally disappointed that his son did not invite him to attend his marriage ceremony. although most misunderstandings were subsequently cleared up, it did not suffice to have william archer change his will. this uneasy relationship inevitably shaped isaac’s own experience of fatherhood, which was not for him unalloyed bliss and joy. during the fifteen years of his marriage to anne he buried at least eight children. on the day of his death in 1700, only one child, his daughter anne (born in 1670), was still alive. isaac archer’s diary is thus a record not only of his relationship with his father, but also of an experience of fatherhood that was fraught with conflicting emotions, from delight and joy, through pride, to helplessness and grief. his religious persuasion made him see the hand of god in all this and interpret all the misfortunes he experienced as a father as divine retribution for his own filial sins. isaac archer and his father: conformity and marriage as bones of contention in the diary, the stories about arguments over isaac’s decision to conform with the church of england and then to marry against the father’s will are told in words that reveal deep frustration and are the expression of isaac’s dilemmas. on the one hand, writing about his “good father”, “dear father”, a father who was “more eminent than i may modestly say” (archer 1994: 44), he maintained the father’s image he, as a cleric, felt bound to uphold. on the other hand, fragments of the diary relating to william archer are abundant in emotionally loaded words and phrases, such as “displeased”, “ashamed”, “unnatural carriage”, “worse”, “snared”, “fight against”, “lost”, “troublesome”, “arbitrary”, “threatenings” [sic], “provoke”, “misunderstand”, “sorry”, “angry”, “forcing”, “refuse”, “distance”, “undutiful”, “hardening my heart”, “disobedience”, “reproof”, “sin”, “devil”, “afraid”, “could not trust”, “enraged”, “passion”, “called me names”, “his impatient and cholerick temper”, “breach”, “disappoint”, and “enemy” (archer 1994: 69, 72, 80-82, 86). it seems that although isaac tried to maintain the appearance of respectfulness towards his father by writing, for example, “[…] now i doe thinke he naturally cares for mee, and then did all for my good” (archer 1994: 82), or “my way towards my father was not good” (archer 1994: 83), he could not help using diarywriting as a means of giving vent to his negative feelings. at the same time, the religious motivation of archer’s writing is clear, and the diary formally serves the double purpose of being an introspective self-analysis and a testimony to god’s merciful love for a man who sinned so much against his own father. in this vein, descriptions of the worst moments in father/son relations are there to show how far isaac archer had changed from his impertinent disobedience to deference. nevertheless, the diary still reveals much of his impatience caused by his father’s behaviour: “because my father kept me bare in money, although now i thinke ‘twas large allowance, but i wanted discretion to lay it out, i talked broadly and unbeseemingly of him, neither minding what, or to whom i spoke” (archer 1994: 79). probably the most candid expression of isaac’s irritation was a fragment of his diary where he wrote that he could not continue living with his father because “his deep melancholy would kill mee” (archer 1994: 114). elsewhere, commenting on how his father changed his mind and forgave him marrying without his consent, isaac seemed relived but still could not help marvelling: “i know not how, my heart was inclined to love, and obey him” (archer 1994: 117). fatherly affection was definitely not a thing that isaac took for granted, and his diary reveals the pain he felt in realizing that sometimes it was offered only when deserved. only when given a good reason would his father express warmth and liking. the very prospects of not meeting the father’s expectations or of earning his displeasure made isaac very anxious in contacts with his parent. in 1659, after two years spent in cambridge and a number of letters in which he informed his father about his spiritual struggles, isaac visited his family home. this is how he remembered meeting his father: “i was bashfull, and very fearfull least my father should find mee worse in discourse then [sic] in writing; i was almost ashamed to owne or speake of those things i had found in my heart before; and therefore, though i longed for more soule-counsell, omitted speaking to him” (archer 1994: 58). constant displeasure at his son’s decisions was perceived by isaac as a means of forcing him into absolute submission, even after he left home and embarked on arranging life on his own. at the same time, though, he appreciated that his father sometimes refrained from openly commanding him what to do and instead “for love’s sake did intreat mee not to break his heart” (archer 1994: 72). although isaac was not always disposed or willing to comply, he, paradoxically, sought his father’s love and approval and delighted in all the rare moments when either was shown to him. the following words reveal that the father’s friendly attitude often came as something of a surprise to his son: “[he] expressed now more than ordinary love in his letters” (archer 1994: 99), “my wife and i went to see my father, and found extraordinary kind usage, beyond my expectation” (archer 1994: 118). it is clear that even though he wanted his father to recognize him as an independent individual, he yearned for his understanding and support, and despaired when they were not granted: “[…] he wrote mee a chiding letter which grieved mee. i confessed all my disobedience to god and him, desiring solemnly pardon from both” (archer 1994: 115);“i wrote my father word of my marrying, and intentions to settle; and he was very angry, and threatened to reward mee in deeds; i besought god daily to worke his heart, and open his hand to mee in a way of maintenance; and to dispose my soule to obedience, […] and my burden was heavy; the lord speake peace, and make up the breach!” (archer 1994: 117). in 1668, although he was 27, married, and living his own life, he did not find it unnatural to visit his father, enter his study and confess with tears his disobedience, and promise solemnly “to be so to him no more” (archer 1994: 118). after all, isaac wanted to believe that his father was the “one that would naturally care for mee as to body and soule” (archer 1994: 53). that unresolved conflict with his father was clearly a source of isaac’s mental suffering. there is a passage in his diary where he confides that it was a reconciliation with his father that helped him restore emotional balance: “i found my selfe much better in mind since my reconciliation with my father; my heart was more towards him then [sic] formerly” (archer 1994: 119). much of archer’s diary is a record of his desperate struggle to love and respect his father in spite of their uneasy relationship. the reader cannot help suspecting that whenever archer praised his father for being critical of his [isaac’s] achievements as a preacher, or for reminding him of his right as a father to be informed about his marriage plans in advance, he was doing so to persuade himself that it had all been done out of selfless fatherly love. when the love-driven motivation of his father’s actions did not seem apparent, isaac always attempted to dig deeper, always trying to excuse his father, to find some good that came out of william’s efforts to direct him, and to find more reasons for humbling himself before god. when he found out that his father had disinherited him, and that he and his wife “are not like to enjoy what my father was so long gathering”, he explained it to himself, writing: “i have deserved this from him, who might doe what he would, with his own, and much more from god, whose hand i see in it! i hope i shall mind eternity the more for my disappointments heer! and use this as physic in regard of my soule’s health” (archer 1994: 124). anger, displeasure, even if felt at heart, were not disclosed openly in writing. however, he found a way to give vent to negative emotions by ascribing them to others, i.e. ‘the world’, which, as he assured his readers, interpreted his father’s decision as revenge: “the uncles were much vexed at it, but can not helpe it, only hope, in the end ‘twill worke for good, which god grant for christ’s sake. amen” (archer 1994: 124). sharing responsibility with others seemed a good, tried-and-tested defence mechanism, which isaac had used before, shifting the blame for filial disobedience concerning religion onto his college friends (archer 1994: 69). it did not, however, fully alleviate his suffering, and the whole diary bears witness to his deep sense of guilt. in his diary isaac archer allowed his readers to see that despite the various moods and states revealed above, his attitude to his father did in fact change over time. although words such as “severity” (archer 1994: 115) and “mistrustful” (archer 1994: 124), and passages such as “he would have mee […] be hot or cold” (archer 1994: 114), suggesting some level of tension in their mutual relationship, appeared in fragments relating to the time when archer was 26 and more, they were nowhere near as dramatic as the ones he used when writing about the time when he was a young rebel. the passages that follow are significant in this regard: “i had a letter from my father, who charged mee with contradicting my selfe, and told mee that he never knew any one of such a temper and spirit. now he thought mee in a far worse posture then before, and thought mee snared with self confidence in spiritual things, and that former convictions were wrought of, or fought against; and wished mee to see my selfe lost, that christ might find mee” […](archer 1994: 81); “i dared not venture to be at his arbitrary allowance” (archer 1994: 81); “i confesse i was sorry he was so angry, but did not feare his forcing mee home, because he was at such a distance from mee” (archer 1994: 81); “[…] he was so enraged that in his passion he called mee such names as he never did before or since” (archer 1994: 86); “i pleaded that from that time he left mee to my selfe” (archer 1994: 86); “i had gotten an habit of writing sawcily to my father […]. [i] wrote unhandsomely [as] if he had been only my elder” (archer 1994: 86). the quotations show issac archer at his worst, but it is also hard not to get the impression that the two archer men were birds of a feather. later in his life isaac regretted all the bitter words that he had addressed his father with. what is more, it is evident that he deliberately remembered these difficult moments to humble himself before god. diary writing was for him a form of examination of the conscience, with occasional invocations escaping his lips (or rather his hand): “the lord in mercy forgive my unnatural carriage to a good father who mourned over my sinfull behavior! and i desire to make amends for the future. amen!” (archer 1994: 80), or “the lord humble mee for my undutiful carriage towards him!” (archer 1994: 81). in order, probably, to emphasize his own sinful nature, parallel to the descriptions of his youthful rebelliousness, isaac created an idealized version of his father as a strong-minded, consistent, devout christian. when in cambridge, isaac often wrote to his father, seeking advice in moments of despair and self-doubt. he found it more difficult to talk to him face to face about the state of his soul or “being troubled with vaine thoughts in prayer” (archer 1994: 62), but he would open up his heart in letters to the man whom he believed to be “a most experienced christian” (archer 1994: 53). at the beginning of his career isaac was presented with a book of sermons his father had preached. it helped him get through the most difficult stage before he gained some experience and fluency as a preacher. in the diary he confessed: “[…] my ambition was to imitate my father. […] in reading his sermons i would admire his goodness, and repent that ever i slighted him, in that manner as i did of late, who was so precious a man, and so excellent a preacher. i made his zeal and fervency in preaching a pattern to my selfe, so that many wondered and were amazed that such things should come from one so young as i was” (archer 1994: 94). the most touching passage, however, is where isaac writes how he was overcome by emotion after reading some of his recently deceased father’s papers and discovering that william archer was, in fact, a real man with weaknesses and infirmities of the spirit isaac knew so well from his own experience. he writes: “who would thinke that the same vaine, filthy, lewd thoughts should be in both of us! […] i could not have thought that ever such things had bin [sic] in his heart, who even before and then was a gracious, sincere christian; i did not thinke any had bin [sic] so bad that way as my selfe; and thinke so still, for though the same was in him, yet he delighted not in them, but mastered them, which i could, or rather would not, a great while” (archer 1994: 124-125). isaac’s father was definitely not an easy man to live with, but his son was also very well aware that he himself was often the one to be blamed for much of the friction in their relationship. as he writes, “that unhappy breach betwixt my father and mee” was caused and fueled not only by william’s “impatient and choleric temper”, but also by his own pride, rashness and imprudence (archer 1994: 69). elsewhere, he chose to describe the situation by making use of religious allusions. he depicted himself as the prodigal son tempted by satan not to humble himself before the father: “[…] ’twas often in mind to speake to him, and confesse my faulte, but satan, through strong temptation working upon my proud nature, would not let me” (archer 1994: 91). operating within the same discourse, archer wr ites about the day he plucked up courage and visited his father after a long break, and in an apologetic mood he made a confession that his “carriage had bin unbecoming a child” (archer 1994: 91). in that scene the father was no longer presented as a stubborn miser, but as the biblical father who was “full of compassion, and ready to forgive, and willing to forgett any thing of that nature, yea he was glad that i moved him to it, and shewed his love by giving mee severall things then” (archer 1994: 91). castigating himself for an improper attitude towards his father, archer writes elsewhere in the diary: “[i] thinke i shall love him better as i grow wiser, and now see, and am ashamed to think how foolish and obstinate i was” (archer 1994: 100). eventually, he made a resolution that, even if provoked by his father’s actions, he would never again let his “heart rise against him as before” (archer 1994: 119). his selfcriticism gained momentum in 1670, when shortly after william archer’s death isaac seems to have made several crucial discoveries while perusing his late parent’s personal papers. he realized that his father had been writing extensively about their conflict and, as it transpired, he had often misinterpreted his son’s intentions and reasons for disobedience. although isaac made it clear that he did not regret his choice of wife (“who is a blessing to mee” archer 1994: 125), he wrote that he wished he had had a chance to live his youth again, probably to make up for the sorrow he had caused. he concluded this passage with an exclamation: “the lord forgive mee for christ’s sake! and doe not reward mee as i deserve, o my god! amen” (archer 1994: 125). in 1669, isaac archer became a father himself, and soon after the birth of his daughter he writes in his diary about the reconciliation with his father. it is never openly stated that it was isaac’s own fatherhood that helped the two men to make peace at last, but some passages in the text indicate that the younger archer definitely learnt to understand his father better and to see his own conduct as a son in different light. this is discernible in the passage where he tried to reconcile himself to the fact that, although he had prayed for a son, his wife gave birth to a daughter. he mentioned a letter to his father in which he wrote that by denying him a long-awaited son, god “[took] away fear of such a disobedient child as i was to him [his father]”. he also added that he saw it as a great sign of mercy that god did not want to “requite mee as i had served him [his father], for i considered girls are not so dangerous” (archer 1994: 118). he had been full of foreboding about god’s plans for him long before he actually became a father himself. once, acknowledging disobedience to his father’s wishes, he expressed his fear that god would “avenge thees things in mee in the same kind” (archer 1994: 115). isaac archer’s father died in august 1670. his death was sudden and unexpected. isaac was informed about it by a messenger and immediately set out on a journey to his father’s house. he confessed openly in the diary: “i did not thinke it would have so grieved me, at the newes; 1st i was taken giddy etc. when i came to my mother i was so feeble i could not hold a glasse without spilling, by a strange kind of surprise” (archer 1994: 123). conclusions isaac’s relationship with his father was for him a source of conflicting emotions. on the one hand, he felt guilty of disobedience, lack of due respect, and of deliberately distancing himself from his father. he loved and missed him and keenly sought his approval. on the other hand, he felt a strong need to establish and guard some borders beyond which his father’s parental authority could no longer be exercised. we learn from the diary that in his decision to conform with the church of england and then to marry anne peachy, he had strong support from his fellow scholars, teachers, and friends (archer 1994: 68, 69, 74, 78, 81, 115). one mr dearsly, a fellow of trinity college, became almost like a father figure to young isaac, and once in his diary he even wrote about him: “my father, nor scarce my tutor, for i called mr dearsly so…” (archer 1994: 55). his other friends would also come to his aid when he was in need of arguments for disobeying his father on the matter of conformity: “i was told by my friends at the colledge that it was not disobedience in such things which a parent could not reach, viz. religious worship” (archer 1994: 69). it is possible that although his real father’s opinions mattered to isaac, the fact that he had these alternative sources of social integration and support, i.e. other people who could fulfil fatherly or brotherly roles, helped him overcome doubts about whether or not he should act against william’s wishes (cf. umberson 1992: 665). in this sense, he was similar to many other young people who defended their religious choices, made to the displeasure of their parents, by “invoking a higher obligation” (cavallo 2014: 22). isaac archer could thus be seen as a typical child of the protestant reformation with its very doctrine of “the priesthood of all believers, […] attacking the paternalistic authority of the priesthood and undermining the heads of catholic households”, so feared by the said catholics and so appealing “to young people seeking independence and spiritual liberation” (brigden 1982: 38). early modern english writers on conduct presented marriage as “a gateway to manhood” and a means of making a man “complete”. marriage “both conferred status within the context of the household and elevated a man’s position in the wider community” (shepard 2006: 7475). in this sense, marriage marked the transition from the world of parent-dependent youth to the world of independent adulthood. a marital relationship provided a man with a position of power and control over subordinate members of his household, and thus could have been perceived by young men not only as a means of securing their manhood in the eyes of the world (foyster 1999: 4), but also as a means of freeing themselves of the relationships with their parents in which they felt constricted. the fact that after several years of successful marriage isaac still felt pangs of conscience for entering into it against his father’s will indicates the existence of an unresolved conflict between his sense of filial duty and the need to control his own life. as william archer did not make it easier for his son by disinheriting him, isaac’s frustrations, as committed to paper, appear entirely explicable. although, formally, young people in early modern england could marry regardless of what their parents and friends advised, and parental consent to marry was not legally necessary for men over the age of 14 and women over 12 (macfarlane 1987: 128), the case of isaac archer proves that “in the important matter of laying a sound economic foundation to the marriage, it was clearly wise to obtain the goodwill and support of those who might help with connections, advice and gifts” (macfarlane 1987: 147). ralph houlbrooke points out that sometimes parents’ “protective solicitude made it harder for [the] children to spread their wings” (houlbrooke 1988: 171), and emphasizes that pious clergymen were most guilty of attempting to control their adult children and, being led by their sense of religious duty, they made heavy emotional demands on their formally independent offspring (houlbrooke 1990: 180-181). fathers were constantly reminded that there was a higher bond between them and their children than that of blood. it was the bond of faith and of shared subjection to “a divine plan in both their domestic and religious life” (ozment 1983: 153). fathers were thus obliged never to cease guiding their children so that they lived in accordance with god’s law. william archer was such a father: all the more so because of his six children isaac was his eldest and only surviving son. although the “primogeniture that tended to reinforce the bond between fathers and their eldest sons” among the gentry did not play such an important role among clergymen (houlbrooke 1990: 180-181), william archer’s relationship with his male heir, and his deep involvement in his son’s affairs revealed some typical characteristics of close but often strained relationships between fathers and the heirs to their estates. william’s refusal to help his son financially as long as he worked as a conformist minister, and his repeated attempts to lure isaac away from his vocation by the prospect of allowing him money and goods the moment he gave up his ministry and returned home may have been a means used by a godly, non-conformist father to save his son’s soul (which isaac many years later acknowledged in his diary). however, they may also have been a less noble means used by a manipulative father who was well aware of the power he had over his son and potential heir. isaac’s vehement opposition to his father’s attempts to arrange his life must be therefore viewed as a spiritual struggle and the tragedy of a young man who sought to articulate his manhood through rebelling against his parent, but was well aware that in the long run his insubordination would not prove, literally, costeffective. although early-modern fathers were advised to suppress the need to spontaneously show warmer feelings towards their children, at critical moments they were often unable to fully control their emotions, traces of which can be found in their writing (fletcher 2010: 37-38, 61, 129). as a father, isaac archer seemed to have been very affectionate and caring to his children when they were small, and loving and supportive to his only surviving daughter in her married life. it cannot be ruled out that his attitude would have been different had any of his sons lived to adulthood, and it is not impossible that he would have established the same emotionally-charged communication strategies that had made the relationship with his own father so difficult. however, judging by his patient conduct towards his somewhat wayward son-in-law, it is somewhat likely that he would have made a less despotic father to his adult sons. interestingly, although his father’s domineering manner evoked negative feelings and occasional outbursts of open rebellion, the very principle of filial subordination was never questioned in the diary. on the contrary, it seems that the aim behind writing about this particular aspect of isaac’s life was to warn the potential readers of his diary by showing that his acts of disobedience were never committed without scruples and, in the long term, they proved harmful spiritually and, in a more mundane sense, cost him material security. references: archer, isaac. 1994. the diary of isaac archer, 1641-1700. ed. by m. storey, two east anglian diaries, 1641-1729. isaac archer and william coe. suffolk records society, vol. xxxvi, 43-200. ben-amos krausman, ilana. 2000. “reciprocal bonding: parents and their offspring in early modern england”, journal of family history, vol. 25, no. 3, july, 291-312. brigden, susan. 1982. “youth and the english reformation”, past and present 95 (may), 3767. cavallo, sandra. 2014. “family relationships” in: sandra cavallo and silvia evangelisti (eds.), a cultural history of childhood and family in the early modern age. london-new delhi-new york-sydney: bloomsbury, 15-32. delany, paul. 1969. british autobiography in the seventeenth century. london: routledge and kegan paul. ebner, dean. 1971. autobiography in seventeenth-century england. theology and the self. the hague-paris: nounton. fletcher, anthony. 2010. growing up in england. the experience of childhood, 1600-1914. new haven and london: yale university press. foyster, elizabeth. 1999. manhood in early modern england: honour, sex and marriage. harlow: routledge. foyster, elizabeth. 2001. “parenting was for life, not just for childhood: the role of parents in the married lives of their children in early modern england”, history 86, 313-327. glaser, brigitte. 2001. the creation of the self in autobiographical forms of writing in seventeenth-century england. subjectivity and self-fashioning in memoirs, diaries, and letters. heidelberg: winter. houlbrooke, ralph (ed.). 1988. english family life, 1576-1716. an anthology from diaries. oxford: basil blackwell. houlbrooke, ralph. 1990. the english family 1450-1700. london-new york: longman. macfarlane, alan. 1987. marriage and love in england. modes of reproduction 1300-1840. oxford: basil blackwell. o’day, rosemary. 1994. the family and family relationships, 1500-1900: england, france and the united states. london: palgrave macmillan. ozment, steven. 1983. when fathers ruled: family life in reformation europe. cambridge, ma and london: harvard university press. pollock, linda. 1983. forgotten children: parent-child relations from 1500 to 1900. cambridge: cambridge university press. shepard, alexandra. 2006. meanings of manhood in early modern england. oxford: oxford university press. stone, lawrence. 1977. the family, sex and marriage in england 1500-1800. london: weidenfeld and nicolson. keith, thomas. 1976. “age and authority in early modern england”, proceedings of the british academy 62, 205-248. umberson, debra. 1992. “relationships between adult children and their parents: psychological consequences for both generations”, journal of marriage and the family 54 (august 1992), 664-674. wall, richard. 1987. “leaving home and the process of household formation in preindustrial england”, continuity & change 2:1, 77-101. woods, robert. 2006. children remembered. responses to untimely death in the past. liverpool: liverpool university press. 15 articles weronika łaszkiewicz university of białystok j.r.r. tolkien’s portrayal of femininity and its transformations in subsequent adaptations abstract. the aim of the following paper is to examine the portrayal of female characters and femininity in j.r.r. tolkien’s the hobbit and the lord of the rings. since tolkien’s heroines have been both praised and severely criticized, this paper will, first of all, investigate and recapitulate the arguments in favor and against tolkien’s depiction of women. secondly, it will be argued that the ambiguity surrounding these fictional characters stems from the writer’s private relationship with women. finally, the paper will analyze how tolkien’s ambiguous female characters have fared in various adaptations of his works, particularly in the cinematic versions produced by peter jackson and in fan-made art. keywords: j.r.r. tolkien; middle-earth; females; femininity; adaptations. j.r.r. tolkien’s portrayal of females and femininity—particularly in the lord of the rings (195455)—has long been the object of major criticism. readers and academics have frequently objected to the scarcity of female heroes and their secondary roles in the narrative, and questioned the author’s representations of femininity in general.12 after the release of peter jackson’s movie adaptations of the lord of the rings (2001-2003) and the hobbit (2012-2014), the debate over tolkien’s heroines gained an entirely new dimension, because the movies introduced several changes into the depiction of middle-earth’s women. the aim of this paper is, therefore, twofold: firstly, to evaluate the arguments in favor and against tolkien’s portrayal of women (a portrayal which is grounded in the writer’s private relationships), and secondly, to analyze how tolkien’s female characters have fared in various adaptations. some of these adaptations, particularly jackson’s movies, have been acknowledged worldwide and their imagery may now significantly influence the reception of tolkien’s books. others, such as fan-made films and fan-fiction stories, are less known, yet they, too, are significant, because they reflect the fans’ attitude to tolkien’s creation. the transformations which tolkien’s fiction, particularly its portrayal of women, has undergone in both 12 see partridge 1983, croft and donovan 2015. doi: 10.15290/cr.2015.11.4.02 16 crossroads. a journal of english studies groups of adaptations can be perceived as indicative of the postmodern audience’s approach to the topics of gender relations and female empowerment. most of the critical comments concerning tolkien’s heroines are made in reference to the lord of the rings, not the hobbit, for the simple reason that femininity is such a marginal issue in the hobbit that it cannot even be decently criticized. after all, the hobbit is the story of bilbo baggins’ adventures with a group of dwarves. females—be it hobbit, elf or dwarf ones—are almost non-existent and apparently not even needed since, in spite of their absence, the dragon is successfully killed, evil goblins defeated, and bilbo delivered home more experienced. femininity appears only at the distant margins of the main plot, e.g. as a brief remark about thorin’s sister (mother of kili and fili) and bilbo’s mother—belladonna took. belladonna is described as “one of the three remarkable daughters of the old took” (tolkien 1998: 13), and it is said that one of her ancestors had a “fairy wife” (1998: 13), which seems to explain why members of the family are more prone to adventures than other hobbits. yet even for belladonna everything changes after she marries bungo baggins. the paragraph about bilbo’s mother is brief, yet it reveals a lot both about the heroes and the author. first of all, because of his mother’s heritage, bilbo is different from other hobbits, a “a bit queer” (tolkien 1998: 13). in other words, bilbo is special, and according to the patterns of fairy tales and fantasy fiction that immediately establishes him as the hero. secondly, a shared trait of character suggests that a closer bond exists between bilbo and his mother than between him and his father—which could be also said about tolkien and his own mother, mabel. thirdly, the passage on belladonna becomes a comment on the female nature in general. while masculinity is active, femininity is passive; “the famous belladonna took” (tolkien 1998: 13) is just an exception to the rule, and even she settles down after marriage. the absence, insignificance, and passivity of female characters—features discernable already in the short hobbit—are the main claims leveled against the lord of the rings. several examples from the text seem to firmly support these allegations. first and foremost, even though readers learn a bit about rosie cotton and lobelia sackville-baggins, get distant glimpses of arwen, and briefly encounter galadriel and éowyn, they cannot fail to notice that the world of middle-earth is one of male dominance and patriarchal societies, in which women are scarcely present.13 john miller (2003: 188) argues that even the war of the ring is defined by masculinity because it “is a war of phallic edifices (contesting for, and threatened by, the power embodied in a symbol of the feminine, a ring).”14 consequently, there are no female members in the fellowship whose task it is to destroy the ring. what is more, even outside the fellowship, females are scarce. the trilogy shows one or two female representatives of every race, but in the case of ents, dwarves, and orcs there is not even a single one present. moreover, except for the spider shelob (and her mother ungoliant that appears in the silmarillion), there are no female enemies, as if “tolkien was not comfortable 13 gerard o’connor goes as far as to accuse the trilogy of “institutional male chauvinism” (1973: 49). 14 these “phallic edifices” are, e.g. minas tirith, minas ithil, orthanc, and the tower of barad-dur. 17 articles conjoining the concepts female and enemy, as if it was not chivalrous” (frederick and mcbride 2001: 109). finally, apart from tom bombadil, none of the major characters has a wife (aragorn and sam marry their beloveds only after the quest ends) or the wife is already dead (as in the case of elrond, king theoden, and lord denethor). with the exception of aragorn and sam, none of the heroes even mentions having a love interest. this scarcity of male-female relationship in the lord of the rings can be explained, one the one hand, by the shortage of women characters. it is not surprising that with so few available women and with the world’s safety at stake, romantic love becomes a marginal issue. moreover, brenda partridge argues that even when there is some interaction between the opposite sexes, it “is for the most part stilted and distant” (1983: 183), and grounded in the ideals of chivalric romances and courtly love. as a result, sexual passion is almost non-existent. the female spider shelob seems to be the sole reference to female sexuality, and not a very favorable one. nick otty argues that the description of shelob contains reference to the female body made grotesque and disgusting, and that shelob’s attacks on frodo and sam “are also attempts upon their hobbit virginities” (1983: 176). the positive male and female heroes generally seem prone to celibacy and become sexually active only within the bonds of matrimony. marriage marks the end of adventures and the beginning of new social roles—for sam as the leader of the hobbit community, and for aragorn as the king of gondor. on the other hand, the male-female relationships are largely substituted by the feeling of male camaraderie. whether it is the relationship between frodo and sam, merry and pippin, or legolas and gimli, partridge is right to describe them as “intensely close and supportive” (1983: 183). in the face of sam’s fierce loyalty to frodo, merry’s and pippin’s mutual care, and legolas’s and gimli’s fondness for each other, the relationships between sam and rosie or aragorn and arwen seem lukewarm at best. partridge even argues that sam’s marriage is secondary to what he shares with frodo: marriage “ensures that sam, bereft of frodo, will not be completely alone though the companionship it provides will never reach the depths of passion and spiritual intensity of the relationship of sam and frodo” (1983: 187). candice frederick and sam mcbride aptly summarize this scarcity of women and male-female relationship by arguing that “middle-earth is very inkling-like, in that while women exist in the world, they need not be given significant attention and can, if one is lucky, simply be avoided altogether” (2001: 108). the female characters that do appear in tolkien’s fiction are criticized for their passivity, insignificance, and stereotypical roles. kenneth mcleish likens them to cardboard figures (1983: 125) rather than plausible female characters. the delicate rosie cotton functions merely as the object of sam’s unrequited love, and then as his hard-earned prize. the other hobbit female, lobelia sackville-baggins, represents the least favorite family member: a greedy relative whom it is best to avoid. among the eleven women, both arwen and galadriel can be summed up as inspiration for male activity. the memory of arwen—whom gerard o’connor calls “lovely, precious, and empty” (1973: 50)—is what keeps aragorn going, whereas galadriel’s role is to support the fellowship’s quest with her generous gifts. moreover, both arwen and galadriel are restrained 18 crossroads. a journal of english studies by male power. arwen’s love for aragorn is curbed by her father, whereas galadriel is deferential towards her husband, though she is apparently more powerful. in the end, both elven women renounce whatever position they have because of men. arwen sacrifices her immortality to be united with her beloved, while galadriel has to sail to the west because she cannot live in the age of men. as for the human women, they, too, hardly transgress their stereotypical roles. though by going to war éowyn temporarily rebels against her society’s norms, eventually she seems content with her place at faramir’s side. as frederick and mcbride argue, “éowyn’s healing is a victory, not only for faramir but for their civilization; an unruly impulse to transcend prescribed gender roles has been successfully thwarted” (2001: 113). the other human woman, the old nurse ioreth, is characterized mainly by her wisdom in healing and her talkativeness—two features frequently attributed to women. finally, even the mysterious and apparently powerful goldberry, tom bombadil’s wife, withdraws from conversation and tends to her house duties when her husband gives advice to the hobbits. though her presence is comforting and reassuring, she has little impact on the course of the adventure. thus, otty recapitulates women’s roles in the lord of the rings in the following way: the female hobbits are either scolds or helpmeets of the most humble kind. the female elves are devotional exemplars to be called on in emergency like the virgin mary. amongst the humans éowyn does get involved as a shield maiden disguised as a man and actually kills the nazgul lord. but she is an exception and is driven by her passion for aragorn; otherwise the human women are healers and nurses in gondor. (1983: 176) in the face of such examples, it might seem viable to claim that while tolkien’s trilogy—with its complex history, languages, and landscapes—is a great work of fantastic subcreation, it severely diminishes women. yet this conclusion is true only if readers purposely overlook several examples of female empowerment and tolkien’s deep understanding of male-female relationship. these examples prove that tolkien’s heroines, despite their seeming withdrawal from direct combat and grand politics, are neither insignificant nor helpless. first of all, lobelia’s and éowyn’s deeds prove that in times of crisis women are able to defend their communities. the greedy and unsympathetic lobelia surprises readers by her brave act of defiance: during an invasion of the shire, she attacks one of saruman’s men with an umbrella, for which she is imprisoned. likewise, éowyn also intends to protect what she holds dear and rebels against her social position not because she wants a career as a swordswoman, but because she cannot ride to war like her kinsmen. the possibility that other women would like to join the battle cannot be ruled out by the argument that tolkien does not mention any other female warriors. after all, similarly to his beloved sagas, tolkien focuses on the fate of the mighty and powerful, not the common people (with the exception of the hobbits). thus, éowyn, given her royal status and skill in sword-fighting, is better prepared to transgress social boundaries than peasant women. it is also worth pointing out that after her participation in battle éowyn is not punished for her transgression, but praised and respected—not a likely 19 articles outcome if middle-earth’s society were truly so patriarchal as some critics assume. in the end, éowyn does not insist on remaining a warrior, but redirects her courage and determination to her new social roles. secondly, heroines like arwen, galadriel, and goldberry possess wisdom, power, and status which are not diminished by their respect for their husbands. since arwen and galadriel are of great elven descent and goldberry,15 “river-woman’s daughter,” possesses powers related to nature, all three transcend the boundaries between the material and spiritual world. according to frederick and mcbride, “tolkien based more than one female character on his own veneration for the virgin mary, not the earthly, living mother of jesus, but the distant yet matriarchal comfort of an interceding goddess” (2001: 107), hence the otherworldly nature of these heroines. other biblical references in tolkien’s portrayal of women can also be identified. while commenting on the figures of yavanna (the creator of the holy trees) and varda (the creator of stars), maureen thum points out that these females reverse the tale of eve, whose weakness, passivity, and inability to resist temptation led to the fall […]. in tolkien’s tales, the destruction of paradise is not brought about by a woman, but by a male figure […]. instead of playing a negative role, yavanna and varda are creators and givers of light and life. (2004: 235) consequently, the fact that the lore-wise galadriel can humble herself for her husband proves how much she has changed since the times of her youth, when she rebelled against the valar and was sent to middle-earth as a penitent. later in the story, it is galadriel, not her husband, who is tempted by frodo’s offer of the one ring and who successfully refuses the temptation. by doing so, galadriel proves her wisdom and goodness, which remains in stark contrast with the behavior of some of the male heroes (e.g. boromir). similarly, the fact that goldberry allows tom bombadil—the one who can make the one ring disappear—to advise the hobbits is also a proof of her wisdom: she can recognize the limits of her own abilities and powers. examples of empowered females are present also in tolkien’s other texts: varda, known as elbereth gilthoniel, is worshipped by the elves as the queen of heaven; melian the maia is a wise and powerful ruler, and her daughter, lúthien tinúviel, not only saves her mortal beloved, beren, but also manages to retrieve one of the silmaril; ancalimë, the only child of aldarion and erendis, becomes the heir of númenor’s throne and the island’s first queen. if all of these examples are taken into consideration, it becomes clear that in tolkien’s universe not only men, but women as well, hold royal power and are granted divine-like status. what is more, though male-female relationship are scarce in the lord of the rings, the trilogy—in the story of the ents—emphasizes the value of marriage and provides advice on the proper relation15 ann mccauley basso argues that despite her brief appearance, goldberry is a pivotal figure, because “both her character and her actions are thematically significant, providing symmetry with later events and characters, bridging the gap between the anglo-saxon, noble women and the rustic women of the shire, and providing an eve figure who parallels the mary figure galadriel.” (2008: 137) moreover, taryne jade taylor argues that goldberry’s and bombadil’s first meeting in “the adventures of tom bombadil” is tolkien’s reworking of an episode from ovid’s the metamorphoses in which pluto/hades encounters proserpina (2008: 148-149). 20 crossroads. a journal of english studies ship between the spouses. in the distant past, the ents and the entwives parted their ways because the former wanted to take care of trees, while the latter preferred to plant gardens. eventually, the two groups got separated for good and by the time of the war of the ring the ents cannot find any trace of their mates, without whom they are doomed to extinction. thus, the tale offers a clear warning: the lack of mutual understating between spouses can lead to separation that will be detrimental for both sides. a similar warning is voiced by the story “aldarion and erendis: the mariner’s wife” from tolkien’s unfinished tales. aldarion, the sixth king of númenor and a great mariner, spends most of his time at sea. because he makes erendis, his wife, constantly wait for him and fear his next departure, the woman gradually grows bitter and spiteful. eventually, their relationship completely deteriorates: erendis cannot forgive her husband his love for the sea, and aldarion does not wish to sacrifice his freedom for his wife. they destroy not only their own marriage, but also that of their daughter, ancalimë, who is equally unable to form a healthy relationship with her husband. thus, though marriage is only briefly mentioned in the lord of the rings—when aragorn and sam marry their beloveds—and seems hardly more than a clincher to the main plot, the fate of the ents and aldarion demonstrate that tolkien recognized martial happiness, based on the spouses’ mutual understanding, as a prerequisite for personal happiness. also the theme of romantic love, which is rather insignificant in the lord of the rings, reappears in tolkien’s other stories, and the tragic fate of beren and lúthien is one of the most compelling tales in middle-earth’s history. if all of the above-mentioned examples are taken into consideration, the image of females and femininity present in tolkien’s works becomes an ambiguous one, including both passivity and empowerment. such an ambiguous representation of women may be grounded in tolkien’s private experiences. on the one hand, his perception of women undoubtedly was shaped by the times he lived in. in the early and mid 20th century women were still expected to concentrate on their family life and child raising; even though they received formal education, they were not encouraged to pursue a career after marriage. such was the environment in which tolkien grew up, and he did not expect his wife, edith (a talented pianist), to do otherwise (carpenter 1977: 156). what is more, as an academic, tolkien was part of an environment dominated by men. the contact between male and female students was quite limited (scull and hammond, vol. 2, 2006: 1109), and women seldom participated in the intellectual discussions of some male clubs. in his own group, the inklings, tolkien was exposed not only to male camaraderie, but also to his friends’ opinions about the ‘proper’ place of women. partridge claims that c.s. lewis was particularly strict on this issue: “it was an article of his faith that full intimacy with another man was impossible unless women were totally excluded. […] believing women’s minds were not meant for logic or for great art it was his view that women had little to say that was worth listening to” (1983: 180). a quotation from tolkien suggests that he might have shared that idea of women’s intellectual inferiority or, at least, their dependency on men: how quickly an intelligent woman can be taught, grasp the teacher’s ideas, see his points—and how (with some exceptions) they can go no further, when they leave his hand, or when they cease to take a personal interest in him. it is their gift to be receptive, stimulated, fertilized (in many other matters than 21 articles the physical) by the male. (in carpenter 1978: 169) furthermore, tolkien’s meetings with the inklings seemed to cause tensions between him and edith, who was not part of the group. carpenter explains that tolkien “perceived that his need of male friendship was not entirely compatible with married life. but he believed that this was one of the sad facts of a fallen world: and on the whole he thought that a man had a right to male pleasures, and should if necessary insist on them” (1977: 156). finally, the passivity and withdrawal of tolkien’s heroines was probably inspired also by the writer’s beloved myths and sagas, in which women seldom participated in battle and adventures; any romance was either framed within chivalric conventions or presented only superficially, without emotional or psychological depth. partridge states that “the ancient, norse and christian mythologies in which he was immersed reinforced tolkien’s refusal […] to accept the full and active participation of women in every area of life” (1983: 194). on the other hand, tolkien’s biographies undermine the claim that he was a chauvinist and that he did not recognize women’s achievements. on the contrary, tolkien acknowledged and respected women who had the strength to follow their own convictions. the most influential example was probably tolkien’s mother, mabel, who raised her sons after their father’s premature death and who withstood her family’s rejection after she had decided to convert to roman catholicism (scull and hammond, vol.2, 2006: 1107). tolkien’s own unrelenting faith in god was deeply grounded in his mother’s convictions and her devotion to his and his brother’s catholic education. mabel’s sister, jane neave, was an example of an academically successful woman: she had a bachelor of science degree and was a schoolteacher (scull and hammond, vol.2, 2006: 1108). what is more, tolkien’s only daughter, priscilla, stated that her father always encouraged her education (in scull and hammond, vol.2, 2006: 1111). thus, scull and hammond argue that it is evident from his friendships and professional relationships, of which there were many, with female students and dons at oxford, and from personal accounts by female friends, that tolkien respected women no less than men for their talents, and that he welcomed their company. (vol.2, 2006: 1112) what is more, tolkien’s relationship with his wife proves that he did not underestimate the importance of romantic love and marriage. having met edith bratt as an adolescent, tolkien had to endure long years of separation until he could officially propose—a restriction set by his guardian, father francis morgan, after tolkien had failed to get a scholarship to oxford. not surprisingly then, some of tolkien’s major fictional pairs are similarly tested by separation before they can fulfill their love: beren and lúthien (whose names are on the tolkiens’ grave), aragorn and arwen, sam and rosie. moreover, though tolkien was constantly occupied by academic life, intellectual disputes, and writing, his biographers believe that he deeply cared for edith, particularly when her health deteriorated and he had to adjust his work to her needs (scull and hammond, vol.2, 2006: 1115). after all, marriage was for tolkien not only a proper continuation of courtship, but also a vital element of a truly christian life. if all of these examples of female passivity and empower22 crossroads. a journal of english studies ment witnessed by tolkien are taken into consideration, it is easy to understand why similarly ambiguous images appear in his fiction. such an ambiguous representation has posed a serious challenge for artists who wish to adapt tolkien’s middle-earth in other forms of art. while some of these adaptations faithfully follow the original storyline, others make significant changes. consequently, some of them retain female heroes in the background (if the females appear at all)16 apparently emphasizing their passivity and insignificance, whereas others alter the females and their roles in a striking way, perhaps to make them more appealing for the contemporary audience that expects powerful and well-defined female characters. among the numerous adaptations of the hobbit and the lord of the rings peter jackson’s movie versions17 seem particularly significant, because they have rekindled people’s interest in middle-earth, made a lasting impression on their viewers, and inspired many to express their engagement with the fictional world and its characters through fan-art. as far as female characters are concerned, by removing, adding or altering the existing heroines, the producers introduced numerous changes into the portrayal of middle-earth’s women.18 all of these changes can, of course, be somehow justified. the lord of the rings, being a massive and detailed text, had to be converted into a script of reasonable length and clarity. at the expense of other scenes, significant characters had to be given enough screen time to become memorable and believable. finally, events and relationships needed to be made obvious even for an audience not well versed in tolkien’s universe. yet the resulting changes have received mixed criticism. while some viewers express their disappointment with the alterations, others agree that these alterations can be, nonetheless, reconciled with the spirit of tolkien’s vision. goldberry and lobelia are examples of women who almost completely disappear from the lord of the rings screen version. the entire episode with goldberry and tom bombadil was cut out for the sake of the movie’s pace: the hobbits’ respite at their house seems but a pause in the main quest, which the script could not afford to include. thus, the hobbits from the movie never visit the benevolent pair, and a viewer less knowledgeable with the books will not even notice goldberry’s and bombadil’s absence. similarly, the entire chapter of the scouring of the shire, the essential coda to the trilogy and the proof of the hobbits’ spiritual growth, has also been removed in order to make room for other scenes. as a result, lobelia, who briefly appears during bilbo’s birthday party episode, never gets the chance to defy saruman’s henchmen and show the better side of her personality. though jackson’s movies generally make tolkien females more active than they are in the books, the absence of goldberry and lobelia is a reduction of female energy in comparison to the original story. 16 for instance, arwen does not appear either in ralph bakshi’s animated adaptation of the lord of the rings (1978) or rankin/bass animation the return of the king: a story of the hobbits (1980). 17 the hobbit: an unexpected journey (2012), the desolation of smaug (2013), there and back again (2014). the lord of the rings: the fellowship of the ring (2001), the two towers (2002), the return of the king (2003). 18 see david mullich’s “the complete list of film changes for the hobbit and the lord of the rings” available on the one ring.com 23 articles while goldberry and lobelia disappear, other females appear in both expected and unexpected places. the first example of additional female presence pertains to women in general, as members of middle-earth’s communities. while it is not surprising that in the movie versions women (hobbit, elven, and human) appear in the background of the main events, their presence is quite significant, because tolkien’s fans can finally see the women of middle-earth and acknowledge their existence—something that is easily dismissed when the books concentrate on the male heroes and their rambling adventures. while females as members of communities can be expected to appear, galadriel (played by cate blanchett) makes a series of appearance that are inconsistent with the books. in the lord of the rings, galadriel narrates the prologue opening the movie, which recapitulates the history of middle-earth and the ring. though other narrators were considered (frodo, gandalf), galadriel was eventually chosen either because her elven longevity establishes her as a witness of the related events or because the quality of cate blanchett’s voice fits the narration so well. regardless of the reasons, this act of narration puts galadriel in a position of power and grants her more authority. in the case of the hobbit, galadriel suddenly makes an unexpected appearance in the movie adaptation, in the sub-plot about the necromancer gathering his forces at dol guldur. together with gandalf, elrond, and saruman, she debates how to address the challenge of the necromancer and provides emotional consolation to other characters. therefore, the producers again established galadriel, a female, as a major persona and a figure of power. the most striking change in the hobbit movie—as far as females are concerned—is the addition of tauriel, a female woodland elf (played by evangeline lilly). her presence is such a striking change for a few reasons. firstly, tauriel is not only a skilled warrior who does not hesitate to kill her enemies, but also the head of the mirkwood elven guard, thus, she occupies a typically male position. secondly, she is strong-willed and impulsive. having learnt that kili will soon die from a poisoned arrow, she leaves her kingdom without permission and pursues the dwarves. thirdly, she is placed in a love triangle with kili and legolas. tauriel’s conversation with kili and her frantic race to save him imply that she develops strong feelings towards the dwarf, despite their racial difference. the battle of the five armies proves that kili reciprocates her love. however, jackson does not cross the line and ends the ‘forbidden’ romance by remaining faithful to the original storyline: kili dies during the battle (which leaves tauriel to grieve her lost love). all in all, by adding galadriel’s narration in the lord of the rings and her presence in the hobbit, as well as by inventing tauriel, the scriptwriters tipped the balance of male and female power in middle-earth in favor of femininity. yet while galadriel’s new roles and extended authority generally correspond to tolkien’s vision of her as a powerful elven woman, tauriel and her complicated love life are undoubtedly more ‘jacksonian’ than tolkienian.19 19 the most hilarious fan-made critique of tauriel, as well as of some other changes to the plot of the hobbit, appears in the song “who the ‘ell is tauriel” sung by the esgaroth three (available on youtube). 24 crossroads. a journal of english studies apart from removing or adding female heroes, jackson’s movies have also introduced minor or major changes in the portrayal of rosie cotton, éowyn, and arwen. rosie cotton is shown working as a barmaid in one of the hobbit taverns. while in both the text and the movie rosie (sarah mcleod) exists solely for the purpose of being sam’s distant love and then his earned wife, jackson’s idea to turn her into a barmaid of a tavern which sam frequently visits creates believable background for the hobbit’s infatuation. whether tolkien would approve of this change remains a question, but such a minor alteration does not seem to disrupt the author’s vision. in the case of éowyn (miranda otto), her cinematic version seems fairly close to tolkien’s vision: the princess of rohan is both a feminine woman and a fearless defender of her kingdom. the changes which the scriptwriters permitted themselves to make introduce some light humor into éowyn’s character. in the original text, éowyn is a tragic heroine since she has to passively observe her uncle’s withering, suffer grima’s advances, overcome aragorn’s refusal to reciprocate her love, and ride to battle in disguise, before she finds happiness at faramir’s side. while all of this does take place in the movies, elements of humor added by the filmmakers introduce new traits into the princess’s character. for instance, in one scene éowyn offers aragorn some self-made food. the food must be disgusting since the man tries to secretly throw it away, yet then he mercifully pretends (to the amusement of the audience) to be enjoying his meal. in another scene (at helm’s deep), éowyn talks with gimli about dwarf women and their rumored beards. inarguably, such scenes make éowyn more likeable as a character. nevertheless, while the princess might have wanted to make food for aragorn to express her affection, her conversation with gimli about the nature of dwarf women seems less legitimate according to middleearth’s standards. the greatest changes appears in the portrayal of arwen (liv tyler). in both the text and the movie arwen is presented as a noble elven woman of great beauty and dignity. but while in the original text she appears for only a moment and even her marriage to aragorn is mentioned in the appendices, in jackson’s movies arwen receives much more exposition. on top of that, she is presented as a fierce warrior and a figure of power. it is arwen, not glorfindel, that finds aragorn and the hobbits in the wilderness, and rescues the wounded frodo from the black riders. it is arwen, not elrond, who calls forth the flood at the ford of bruinen after she brandished her sword at them.20 what is more, the movies add scenes which emphasize arwen and aragorn’s romantic relationship. in rivendell, arwen gives aragorn an elven jewel called evenstar as a token of her love; the jewel then reappears through the movies, giving the hero spiritual strength on his quest. in another scene, when aragorn floats down the river after a battle, he is woken up by a spectral image of arwen and her kiss.21 the film also highlights the difficulty of arwen’s decision about 20 at one point, the filmmakers even planned to have arwen actively participate in the battle at helm’s deep (west 2011: 234). 21 a similar scene appears in the hunt for gollum (2009), a non-profit, fan-made prequel to the lord of the rings, directed by chris bouchard. the movie follows aragon (adrian webster) on his quest to capture gollum. arwen (rita 25 articles whether to choose love and mortality or accompany her father to the undying lands. all of these scenes required, of course, additional dialogue and events not described by tolkien. nevertheless, some critics claim that these additions fit tolkien’s overall vision and match the spirit of the books. for instance, by arguing that “arwen’s role is a logical extrapolation based on the actions of other elven characters, a reflection of the past power of the eldar in middle-earth” (2004: 202), cathy akers-jordan points out that arwen’s heroism in the first part of the movie is similar to that of her brave female ancestors—lúthien, idril, and galadriel—and thus it can be easily reconciled with tolkien’s mythology.22 when commenting on jackson’s overall depiction of tolkien’s females, thum adds that “[d]espite sometimes radical alterations in the text, […] jackson’s re-creation remains true to the spirit of tolkien’s writings” (2004: 232), because tolkien’s women “are positive figures whose influence extends far beyond their often brief appearances in the pages of his writings, and jackson’s film reflects that fact” (2004: 254). it can be argued, therefore, that whether one perceives jackson’s rendering of middle-earth women as either true to the original or not is grounded in tolkien’s own ambiguous portrayal of female characters. readers who claim that in tolkien’s world women are passive and powerless will see the movie images as a distortion of the original. yet readers who acknowledge tolkien’s subtle empowerment of female characters will contend that the movie images are jackson’s exploration of the same ideas. a similar argument pertains to fan-made art. today, fans frequently express their opinions by creating video clips, drawing, and stories about their favorite series and heroes. their works often complement the assumed ‘shortcomings’ of the original text, explore the possibilities not fully developed in the text, or combine the original text with the artist’s own ideas and inventions. the ways in which fan-art, particularly fan-made videos and fan-written stories, handle the topic of females and femininity in middle-earth offer valuable glimpses into the audience’s perception of gender relations in middle-earth.23 ramnani) does not appear in the movie directly, but only in the flashback of aragorn’s memories: she encourages him by reminding him that he is the heir of kings, and when he faints after a battle (because of a poisoned arrow), he has a vision of their meeting and a shared kiss. these scenes, like the ones created by jackson, highlight arwen’s influence over aragorn. it remains unknown whether bouchard consciously emulated jackson or whether jackson’s rendering of arwen and aragorn’s relationship has become such an influence on other creators. the full movie is available at www.thehuntforgollum.com 22 perhaps for a similar reason the authors of born of hope (2009) decided to show female warriors. born of hope is another non-profit movie, directed by kate madison. it tells the story of aragorn’s parents, gilraen and arathorn, and their fight to preserve the line of isildur’s heirs. like the lord of the rings prologue, born of hope is narrated by a woman, gilraen (beth aynsley). like the lord of the rings, it shows women as warriors: gilraen is ready to fight with orcs to protect her family, and she is aided by a skilful female ranger, elgarain (kate madison). in addition, romantic love is one of the main themes. viewers observe how gilrean and arathorn fall in love, while elgarain has to hide her own feeling for the man. this love triangle is clearly an emulation of the relationship between arwen, aragorn, and éowyn. though elgarain is an original character created by the movie’s authors, the influence of the lord of the rings is easily discernable. 23 for a detailed analysis of fan communities and their approaches to middle–earth see booker 2004. 26 crossroads. a journal of english studies as far as video clips are concerned, fans of the hobbit and the lord of the rings use images from jackson’s movies to comment on the cinematic adaptations and to construct alternative stories involving the cast of middle-earth’s heroes. it can be argued that clips devoted to tolkien’s female characters concentrate either on emphasizing their greatest qualities and deeds (thus continuing jackson’s work of strengthening female empowerment) or on exploring their love relationships. thus, on the one hand, dozens of video clips with éowyn praise her courage and recount her fight with the nazgul; works with arwen affirm her beauty and the magnitude of her sacrifice; galadriel is shown as a woman of great power, while tauriel is hailed as the beautiful and merciless warrior. on the other hand, numerous clips are devoted to these women’s love interests. while some focus on the relationships present in the story (e.g. éowyn’s unrequited love for aragorn and her meeting with faramir, aragorn’s union with arwen), others recombine various scenes (and add romantic or catchy pop music) to emphasize a different aspect of these relationships—e.g. a tense love triangle between éowyn, aragorn, and arwen—or even entirely alternative pairings, e.g. arwen and legolas, galadriel and gandalf, etc. after the release of the desolation of smaug, several clips have focused on the implied love between tauriel and kili. though both varieties of clips are amusing, the ones with alternative pairings transgress (or even violate) the original text in a more serious way that those which only strengthen the idea of female empowerment. a similar transgression is the basis for many fan-written stories (called fanfiction). fanfiction.net is one of the largest fanfiction-storing websites, and currently it contains thousands of the hobbitand the lord of the rings-related works. like the video clips posted on youtube, hundreds of these stories develop alternative pairings or explore the implications of the already existing relationships. some examples include retellings of the meeting and courtship of arwen’s parents, and analyses of arwen’s insecurities in the face of her newly gained mortality. what is more, other fan-writers further tip the balance of female power in middle-earth by introducing entirely original heroines. these new women explore the mysteries of middle-earth, face the hardships of travel, do brave deeds of their own, and frequently pair up with one of the existing male characters. interestingly, these new characters are not necessarily of middle-earth origin: there is a separate group of stories that feature modern-day girls transported into tolkien’s realm. such works concentrate on discovery, exploration, and humor stemming from the contrast between the modern girls’ behavior and the dictates of middle-earth. regardless of the literary quality of such works, they express their authors’ deep sentiment for tolkien’s realm and their need for strong, active, and well-defined female characters. even though fan stories frequently deviate from the canonical text, they nonetheless involve the writers into their own little acts of sub-creation within the boundaries of middle-earth and, therefore, keep the realm alive in their minds and hearts. given all of the examples of female passivity and empowerment present in tolkien’s creation, it can be argued that the writer’s ambiguous portrayal of females and femininity simply offers other artists (like jackson) and aspiring fan-artists plenty of room for analysis and creative interpretation. 27 articles references akers-jordan, cathy. 2004. fairy princess or tragic heroine? the metamorphosis of arwen undómiel in peter jackson’s the lord of the rings films. in: janet brennan croft (ed.), tolkien on film: essays on peter jackson’s the lord of the rings, 195-213. altadena, california: the mythopoeic press. basso, ann mccauley. 2008. fairy lady goldberry, daughter of the river. mythlore 27:1/2. 137146. booker, susan. 2004. tales around the internet campfire: fan fiction in tolkien’s universe. in: janet brennan croft (ed.), tolkien on film: essays on peter jackson’s the lord of the rings, 259282. altadena, california: the mythopoeic press. carpenter, humphrey. 1977. j.r.r. tolkien: a biography. london: allen & unwin. carpenter, humphrey. 1978. the inklings: c.s. lewis, j.r.r. tolkien, charles williams and their friends. london: allen & unwin. croft, janet brennan and leslie a. donovan (eds.) 2015. perilous and fair: women in the works and life of j.r.r. tolkien. altadena: mythopoeic press. frederick, candice and sam mcbride. 2001. women among the inklings: gender, c.s. lewis, j.r.r. tolkien, and charles williams. westport: greenwood press. mcleish, kenneth. 1983. the rippingest yarn of all. in: robert giddings (ed.), j.r.r. tolkien: this far land, 125-136. london: vision and barnes & noble. miller, john. 2003. the hero and the other: alternative masculinities and the ‘dominion of men’ in the lord of the rings. in: susanne fendler and ulrike horstmann (eds.), images of masculinity in fantasy fiction, 183-203. lewiston, ny: edwin mellen press. mullich, david. date n/a. the complete list of film changes for the hobbit and the lord of the rings. http://www.theonering.com/complete-list-of-film-changes (13 december 2016). o’connor, gerard. 1973. why tolkien’s the lord of the rings should not be popular culture. extrapolation: a journal of science fiction and fantasy, vol. 13, no. 1. 48-55. otty, nick. 1983. the structuralist’s guide to middle-earth. in: robert giddings (ed.), j.r.r. tolkien: this far land, 154-178. london: vision and barnes & noble. partridge, brenda. 1983. no sex please—we’re hobbits: the construction of female sexuality in the lord of the rings. in: robert giddings (ed.), j.r.r. tolkien: this far land, 179-197. london: vision and barnes & noble. scull, christina and wayne g. hammond. 2006. the j.r.r. tolkien companion & guide. vols. 1 & 2. london: harpercollinspublishers. taylor, taryne jade. 2008. investigating the role and origin of goldberry in tolkien’s mythology. mythlore 27:1/2. 147-156. thum, maureen. 2004. the ‘sub-subcreation’ of galadriel, arwen, and éowyn: women of power in tolkien’s and jackson’s the lord of the rings. in: janet brennan croft (ed.), tolkien on film: essays on peter jackson’s the lord of the rings, 231-256. altadena, california: the mythopoeic press. 28 crossroads. a journal of english studies tolkien, j.r.r. 1998. the hobbit or there and back again. london: collins modern classics. west, richard c. 2011. neither the shadow nor the twilight: the love story of aragorn and arwen in literature and film. in: janice m. bogstad and philip e. kaveny (eds.), picturing tolkien: essays on peter jackson’s the lord of the rings film trilogy, 227-237. jefferson: mcfarland. klimiuk, magdalena. “conundrums of assimilation – rethinking the world presented in philip roth’s “defender of the faith” and alice walker’s “everyday use””, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 4-15. magdalena klimiuk helena chodkowska university of technology and economics in warsaw conundrums of assimilation – rethinking the world presented in philip roth’s “defender of the faith” and alice walker’s “everyday use” abstract: this article presents a comparative reading of philip roth’s “defender of the faith” and alice walker’s “everyday use.” the purpose of this article is to analyze the conundrums of assimilation in both stories, the main characters’ state of being, “not-at-home,” and their representation as ethnic others, in order to point to the biblical terrain of interpretation of the two stories. “defender of the faith” and “everyday use” skilfully explore the theme of biblical redemption and present versions of a wise son and a mocking child from the biblical book of proverbs. by deploying these metaphors they embrace larger issues such as the clash between ethnic/cultural authenticity and forged identity, individuality and conformity, tradition and modernity. keywords: ethnic other, assimilation, redemption, “not-at-home-ness,” masquerade, identity. alice walker’s “everyday use” and philip roth’s “defender of the faith” address the problems individuals have to face when trying to construct their ethno-racial identity under the pressure of assimilation. the aim of this article is to indicate a linkage between these short stories and to propose a comparative reading of jewish and african american literature with regard to the assimilation experiences of the characters in the stories, and the characters’ representation as ethnic others. i would like to look at “everyday use” and “defender of the faith” through the prism of postcolonial theory, which perceives the world “in terms of binary oppositions that establish a relation of dominance” (ashcroft, griffiths and tiffin 2007: 19), and to focus on the important distinction of the colonizer/the colonized. i will also examine the main characters’ state of being displaced, “not-at-home”, in order to point to the biblical terrain of interpretation of the two stories. “defender of the faith” and “everyday use” skilfully explore the theme of biblical redemption and present versions of a wise son and a mocking from the biblical book of proverbs. by deploying these metaphors they embrace larger issues such as the clash between ethnic/cultural authenticity and forged identity, individuality and conformity, tradition and modernity. the likeness between the two stories is found in the way they represent their ethnic characters as distinctly different, as outcasts and strangers taking part in a kind of ethno-racial masquerade. however, juxtaposing jewish literature with african american literature may be considered risky because there has been a certain kind of abrasiveness between jews and african americans since the 1960s. the tensions and complexities in relations between these two groups have been discussed by karen brodkin, who states that “analyses of minstrelsy and working-class immigrant whitening expand the argument that inventing blackness and speaking for african or indian america has been a conventional way that immigrants and working class whites have made themselves white and american ‘on the backs of blacks,’ as morrison put it” (brodkin 1998: 152). although the experiences of african american and jewish assimilation vary, one can find more arguments for an affinity between these klimiuk, magdalena. “conundrums of assimilation – rethinking the world presented in philip roth’s “defender of the faith” and alice walker’s “everyday use””, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 4-15. experiences through a close examination of the world presented in both roth’s and walker’s stories. james duban underlines the fact that roth resembles bellow and malamud, as stated by roth himself, in “transcending the immediate parochialism of [our] jewish background” (qtd. in duban 2011: 44). duban suggests that roth is “comfortable enough in his judaism to use his characters, their religion, and their dilemmas as points of departure to arrive at universal truths about human nature and its dilemmas” (2011: 43). reading roth’s “defender of the faith” with alice walker’s “everyday use” is a way of finding a new ray of light to shine on the current discussion about these short stories, a way of revising “the hallowed process of jewish assimilation” through a striking juxtaposition of this experience with the african american one (freedman 2008: 184). roth has already pushed the limits and reshaped the understanding of jewishness and the african american experience through his revisionary portrayal of coleman silk, a light-skinned african american passing for a white jew in the human stain. moreover, the juxtaposition of these two stories adheres to emily budick’s binding representation of jews and blacks as groups declaring their separateness, homelessness and strangeness. budick notes in blacks and jews in literary conversation that the african american becomes a nostalgic marker of what, as jews, they feel themselves to have lost in their acceptance into the american mainstream. at the same time the black character signifies the incorruptible and indestructible vessel of their own jewish ethnicity. [...] the african american who becomes a metaphor for their [jewish american writers’] own commitment. and it is lasting: the image of the american black further reassures jews that their difference, albeit moral rather than physical, will no more rub off from them than colour from black people. (budick 1998: 121-122) while roth’s “defender of the faith” is a good example of the short story in which the moral difference/ethics of jews is discussed, “the incorruptible and indestructible vessel of […] jewish ethnicity” is mirrored in walker’s black characters mama and maggie, who are ardent “indestructible” pillars of african american ethnic culture. on detour sam whitsitt notes, with regard to the home in walker’s story, that “there must be a certain detour, a departure; one must leave home in order to become aware of the home, even though this departure holds no guarantee of a return” (2000: 447448). the statement perfectly lends its meaning equally to both roth’s and walker’s stories. roth’s character marx supposedly reiterates the stereotype of a jew who has broken with ethnic tradition, lost his/her connection with the family home, and is portrayed as a person deprived of the so-called “collective identity.” there are no references in the text to suggest that he has any contact with his family home or jewish community. he seems to be displaced and “not-at-home” with his jewishness. he appears to be presented as one who has lost his “sense of jewishness” (roth 1994: 642). however, marx unconsciously embarks on a spiritual journey within himself, rebuilding his jewish identity through dealings with his manipulative recruit, grossbart. this spiritual journey in the story is associated with the quest for identity, as nathan marx remarks “in search of more of me, i found myself following grossbart’s track to chapel no. 3 where the jewish services were being held” (roth 1994: 640). in other words, roth’s story becomes a story of self-rediscovery after a long period of “detour” as marx rediscovers his “sense of jewishness,” which has been lost because of war troubles: “i came to what i suddenly remembered was myself” (roth 1994: 640). that identity transformation, the assumption of a klimiuk, magdalena. “conundrums of assimilation – rethinking the world presented in philip roth’s “defender of the faith” and alice walker’s “everyday use””, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 4-15. “new-old” jewish identity is signalled in the opening paragraph of the story when marx states that “there was an inertia of the spirit that told me we were flying to a new front” (roth 1994: 634). the “new front” is an indicator of a new stage in marx’s life, the stage of coming to terms with his jewishness. his subordinate grossbart’s invitation to the “shul” and his “singing a doubletime cadence” brings to marx’s mind many sweet memories of his childhood and home: i was remembering the shrill sounds of a bronx playground, where, years ago, beside the grand concourse, i had played on long spring evenings such as this. ... it was a pleasant memory for a young man so far from peace and home, and it brought so many recollections with it that i began to grow exceedingly tender about myself. in fact, i indulged myself in a reverie so strong that i felt as though a hand were reaching down inside me. it had to reach me so very far to touch me! (roth 1994: 640) marx recognizes that he is not only physically far away from his home, but that this statement acknowledges his being spiritually far away from his jewish tradition. he interprets grossbart’s yiddish expressions as “rumour of home and past time” which become a catalyst of change in his attitude toward his jewishness (roth 1994: 640). walker’s story begins with mama and maggie johnson waiting outside their new house. but their “departure” had started earlier. although the johnsons now have a new house “in a pasture” mama and maggie still tend to occupy the yard, which is “an extended living room” where “anyone can come and sit and look up into the elm tree” (walker 1993: 371). mama admits that she has consciously turned her back on the new house, indicating that it bears a similarity to a ship: “there are no real windows, just some holes cut in the sides, like the portholes in a ship” (walker 1993: 373). this ship imagery is an obvious allusion to a slave ship with little windows for light and ventilation. the fact that maggie and mama occupy the territory around the house is indicative of their metaphorical displacement. dislocation is derived from heidegger’s “umheimlich or unheimlichkeit – literally ‘unhousedness’ or ‘not-at-home-ness’ – and is a marker of ‘colonial hegemonic practices’” (ashcroft, griffiths and tiffin 2007: 65). by deliberately choosing to occupy the yard mama demonstrates that she understands the dominant practices of neo-colonialism by identifying the origin of her dislocation within the practice of slavery. the old house seems to be an allegory of the homeland, africa, which explains why mama is so sentimental about “the old house”. a new house is a symbol of oppressive america, which is portrayed as a hermetic, homogenizing space where “breezes never come” (walker 1993: 371). mama’s reluctance to occupy that space signifies her resistance to the position assigned to her by racist america. mama’s mode of behaviour is a way of decolonizing her world. biblical analogies apart from the main characters of the two stories, who seem to be metaphorically displaced, or ‘not-at-home’, both stories can be paralleled through their exploration of the biblical theme of redemption. sam whitsitt, in his comment on walker’s story, remarks that at the outset of the story maggie and mama “are waiting for redemption”, and that in walker’s writing, redemption will take one away and bring one back in a perhaps humbling but empowering way, to something close to home. this form of redemption takes place as an epiphany: you realize that what can save you isn’t out there, but has been nearby all along, beside you, even in you, but never noticed, never heard, or never given a second thought. (2000: 447) klimiuk, magdalena. “conundrums of assimilation – rethinking the world presented in philip roth’s “defender of the faith” and alice walker’s “everyday use””, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 4-15. in the story mama’s daydream is a kind of prelude to the epiphany before mama and maggie are redeemed, before the value of their black existence is acknowledged through the recognition of their art of stitching quilts. in her dream mama visualizes herself as “lighter” and better-looking, despite the fact that in real life she looks completely different. mama’s and maggie’s knowing self-identification of their codified slow-wittedness and ugliness is proven by mama rhetorically asking, “who ever knew a johnson with a quick tongue”, and by comparing maggie’s brain to “an elephant’s brain” (walker 1993: 372, 377). she recognizes their social assignment – the re-inscribed codification of african americans as unintelligent. mama and maggie are longing for a change, for freedom and salvation from the re-inscribed codification of african americans. mama’s dream is an evident expression of that wish. although in walker’s story the dream seems unrealistic and has a bitter undertone, the story itself ends with a kind of awakening for mama. the story ends on a positive note. the redemption for the years of social exclusion of the african american experience and art/culture comes just after dee announces her willingness to take the quilts. mama states that she “promised to give the quilts to maggie when she marries john thomas” (walker 1993: 378). her daughter replies that her sister “can’t appreciate these quilts”, and “she would probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use” (378). mama is surprised by dee’s request since she remembers how dee was offered to take the quilts in the past and refused to do so as she considered them to be “old-fashioned” (378). although dee changes her mind by deciding to make use of the quilts right now, she declares that she “would hang them” as “that was the only thing you could do with them” (378). mama perceives dee’s superficial interest in the quilts, as well as her recognition only of their artistic, decorative merit, as reflecting dee’s disingenuous investment in the african american tradition and her shallow re-africanization. quilts seem to function in the story as a spiritual galvanizing element between the past and the present, the compilation of the knowledge and experiences of the african-american ancestors. mama ultimately realizes that what matters in their lives is african american practicality, the “discredited knowledge” of black people, as toni morrison (1986: 342) calls it. “the discredited knowledge” in walker’s story is the ability to make quilts or “whittle it [a churn top] out of a tree”, and the knowledge of their ancestors on how to put these objects to “everyday use” (walker 1993: 376). the knowledge of their ancestors is what can redeem mama and maggie, and give them a meaningful existence in an oppressive america. mama’s and maggie’s ability to make the quilts is a symbol of their redemption for social injustice. in “defender of the faith,” all of grossbart’s tricks, as well as his conscious hints dropped with regard to yiddish tradition and language, become a catalyst for marx’s change of orders. this change of orders constitutes a form of redeeming injustice. all soldiers, including halpern and fishbein, are supposed to be shipped to the pacific, except for grossbart, who is to be deployed to new jersey. marx changes the orders by asking sergeant bob wright to allow grossbart to be sent with the rest of his jewish friends to the pacific. when his trainee comes demanding an explanation sergeant tells sheldon that he is “the one who owes explanations. (...) to me. (...) mostly to fishbein and halpern” (roth 1994: 659). marx believes that the change of orders is a way of implementing justice and moral rules which have been perverted by grossbart, who has constantly been asking for special treatment. giving special privileges to grossbart may have given him a bad reputation by creating the suspicion that he is a biased superior. marx’s riposte, calling grossbart “a regular messiah”, finally backfires by casting marx as a kind of saviour figure, the messianic archetype who defends the integrity of jews (roth 1994: 648). marx bears a collective klimiuk, magdalena. “conundrums of assimilation – rethinking the world presented in philip roth’s “defender of the faith” and alice walker’s “everyday use””, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 4-15. responsibility for the fate of halpern and fishbein, who have been used by grossbart for his own selfish purposes. marx’s change of orders might be considered to be a means of atonement for his past sin of jettisoning the jewish tradition, thus redemption. while employing the bible as an analytical tool to discuss “defender of the faith” and “everyday use”, one can further elucidate these two narratives. robert mcmahon and. patricia cane state that “everyday use” can be interpreted as a modified version of the parable of the prodigal son, and dee represents the prodigal child, with the important exception that she is not endowed with gifts from her mother as she returns home at the end of the story. sam whitsitt points to the bakers’ interpretation of dee as a kind of “serpent”, who intrudes into the rustic garden of the johnsons (whitsitt 2000: 449). however, “everyday use” is mama’s story; it is not dee’s story; it is narrated in the first person, and she is the one who ultimately faces the dilemma of setting the dispute over the quilts. mama’s conundrum can be paralleled to that of solomon’s determining the true mother in the bible. just the same as solomon, mama has to determine who is authentic in their motives. mama’s world is a world of polarized values and concepts, it is a world labelled good and bad, false and authentic, foolish and wise. it is a world filtered through the prism of mama’s perspective, and that is why it is not completely reliable. the story also brings to mind the biblical quotation which says: a wise son heeds his father’s instruction, but a mocker does not respond to rebukes (proverbs: 13:1). dee’s figure is close to that of a mocking child who mocks the wisdom of mama and her ancestors. dee’s character also raises the question of the hierarchy of knowledge. since the concept of knowledge is subjective, and knowledge itself is a tacit phenomenon, readers are left in a quandary as to whose perception of the world is right: dee’s or mama’s. in “defender of the faith” the readers are also put in the position of the biblical king solomon when they are to verify which character represents the world of inauthenticity/duplicity, who is the imposter, and who personifies the good jew. by using the biblical proverbs’ terminology the readers are to determine who is the wise son and who is the mocker. gillian steinberg argues that “roth’s creation of grossbart, marx and grossbart’s two friends, halpern and fishbein shows him [roth] consciously engaging with midrash and with the textual traditions of religious judaism” (2005: 9). she draws a parallel between roth’s characters and the characters in the passage in the haggadah, which “speaks of a wise son, an evil son, a simple son, and one who cannot even ask a question” (steinberg 2005: 9). but bearing in mind that roth desires to go beyond the “immediate parochialism of jewish background,” finding biblical resonances in roth’s story offers an interpretative midpoint between the world of traditional orthodox jewish values and roth’s humanistic approach. the world in roth’s story is also polarized like walker’s, and polarization of the characters increases from the outset of the story. at the beginning of the story nathan marx attempt s to unify the resentments of “a goddam” war hero with a stereotypical jewish “antihero” who assimilates into the american mainstream (roth 1994: 647). he does not obey jewish dietary laws because he treats religion as a separate secular institution. he seems to be presented as one who has lost his “sense of jewishness” (642). however, as the story progresses marx undergoes a serious change of attitude that accounts for his final decision, and he finally defends his “jewishness”. at the other end of this moral binary opposition one can find private sheldon grossbart, who seems to excel in his religiosity, tries to obey dietary laws, attends jewish services and speaks out on behalf of the jewish community. he projects an image of himself as being attached to old-fashioned cultural jewish morality. roth entirely deconstructs this dichotomy of characters and values by reversing the roles of the characters. he portrays the characters of grossbart and marx in such a way that it becomes apparent that klimiuk, magdalena. “conundrums of assimilation – rethinking the world presented in philip roth’s “defender of the faith” and alice walker’s “everyday use””, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 4-15. these two characters do not fit the categorizations they were assigned at the beginning of the story. the religious jewish private grossbart turns out to be an unscrupulous man faking his devotion to religion and moral values, while the highly assimilated jewish sergeant marx, showing little interest in maintaining a link with his jewish heritage, becomes a universalized representative of this ethnic group. marx is confronted again by his persuasive trainee when grossbart comes pleading to give him a pass to celebrate a passover dinner. unfortunately, grossbart comes back to request a pass for fishbein and halpern, who finally manage to get their leaves. during the next encounter, when grossbart inquires about the change in the direction of the front, marx notices that his soldier has brought him a non-kosher chinese roll as a gift instead of “a piece of that gefilte fish” (roth 1994: 653). he becomes very much enraged when he finds out that the supposed seder feast was a lie. his subordinate proves to be a calculating selfish liar. grossbart’s non-kosher chinese roll epitomizes the world of the inauthentic, the world of mockery. gillian steinberg (2005: 15) notes that “his substitution of chinese food” is a “demonstration of his secularism,” of his forged judaism. in questioning who is a better “defender of the faith” roth presents religious identity as an element operating separately from jewish identity. roth debunks the stereotypical preconceptions of ethno-racial representation by demonstrating how stereotypical categorizations do not always fit the characters presented in the stories. through an exaggerated portrayal of his characters roth demonstrates that the world is not solely divided into morally clear-cut and defined copies of walking stereotypes of the orthodox jew or the assimilationist-type jew. readers seem to be left with no answer as to how to perceive marx’s assimilation because it is this highly assimilated character that saves the integrity of the jews. roth’s story proves that assimilation may not necessarily be burdened with total disidentification with the ethnic minority group from which the character originates – just as religion is not always the hallmark of belonging to the jewish community. i suggest that roth’s story consciously opposes traditional framing and common stereotyping through building upon jewish stereotypes and playing with them. through the caricatural depict ion of jews roth runs the risk of being called an anti-semite. on the other hand, via nathan marx’s standpoint and his moral dilemmas roth proclaims the distance from schematized thinking about yiddishkeit. in the past roth had to repeatedly dispel the charge of being a “self-hating” jew, especially after the publication of “defender of the faith”, along with other short stories in goodbye, columbus, as well as portnoy’s complaint, a novel which generated a lot of controversy. during the first encounter grossbart aims to shorten the distance between himself and his first sergeant by making a witty remark about marx’s surname: “we thought you... marx, you know, like karl marx. the marx brothers. those guys are all... m-a-r-x. isn’t that how you spell it, sergeant?” (roth 1994: 636). this joke about marx’s last name becomes a living representation of grossbart’s forged jewish faith. the reference to jewish-american comedians has a hidden agenda in that grossbart’s behaviour can be compared to taking part in a kind of masquerade, a comedic performance which can be observed by the reader as the story develops. marx perceives grossbart as “entirely strategic”, which makes him a kind of player in a game of ethno-religious masquerade (656). grossbart himself turns into a jewish caricature at the end of the story. the crafty allusion to the marx brothers foreshadows the way in which grossbart will be unmasked. grossbart is later exposed by marx by using the same canny strategy that he uses while confronting his superior. in fact, in roth’s story the readers are presented with two highly assimilated jews: grossbart and marx. grossbart puts on the mask of an “unassimilable” dark oriental jew of the 19th century, as presented in johnathan freedman’s klezmer america: jewishness, klimiuk, magdalena. “conundrums of assimilation – rethinking the world presented in philip roth’s “defender of the faith” and alice walker’s “everyday use””, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 4-15. ethnicity, modernity (2008), with strange eating habits, when in reality grossbart is all white, fully americanized in his white practices, and is caught eating a non-kosher chinese roll. the fact that grossbart identifies himself as “different,” the other, casts him as the non-white. this conscious transition from a white to a non-white position suggests a racial degradation which can be best illustrated through the symbolic use of blackface. although blackface specifically refers to the experience of african-americans, grossbart’s metaphorical “blacking up” resembles the use of blackface by the main jewish character, jakie rabinowitz, who impersonates an african american jazz singer in the musical the jazz singer. stephen whitfield (drawing on michel rogin’s arguments about the linkage between jews and blackface) claims that the blackface metaphor in the jazz singer “signified a strategy of assimilation”, and “that blacking up was the vehicle for becoming white” (1999: 150). i have appropriated the “blackface metaphor” because grossbart’s categorization as the other possesses a performative quality and may surprisingly be considered as a medium for becoming white. it allows the readers to discover that he is white fully americanized despite his temporary suspicious mask of “darkness”“otherness.” the more “non-white” (other) grossbart tries to become, the whiter he appears. it is a startling way of drawing attention to his americaness/whiteness. dee’s re-africanization also resembles a more conscious masquerade, which can figuratively be compared to a minstrel show through the performative quality of her africanamericaness. although dee maintains the appearance of appreciating african-american tradition mama perceives her daughter as a person who undergoes a steady process of disidentification with her african-american traditions and community by conforming to white standards. mama emphasises dee’s passive consumerism by stating that “dee wanted nice things. a yellow organdy dress to wear to her graduation from high school; black pumps to match a green suit” (walker 1993: 373). the oddness of dee’s racial performance is marked by mama’s seemingly unimportant allusion to her daughter’s dress, which is described as “a dress so loud it hurts my eyes. there are yellows and oranges enough to throw back the light of the sun.” (walker 1993: 374). dee becomes an object of suspicion through wearing a dress that seems to be brighter than the sun. it is as if dee’s performed blackness is ridiculed through the lightness of her dress/looks. it is as though mama states that dee’s blackness is a sophisticated cover for ascribed moral whiteness, dee’s more assimilationist way of being promotes white values and a white viewpoint on african-american tradition. the stereotypical “other” in “everyday use” walker deals with preconceptions about african americans, their representation as ethnic others. sam whimsitt notes that dee, who wants to take a picture of the house without herself, aims to “frame the world, define its borders” (2000: 448). he also claims that “this is what the bakers call dee’s fashionably ‘aesthetic’ distance from southern expediencies” (2000: 449), which slightly complicates one’s understanding of “everyday use”. dee’s “aesthetic distance”, her attempt to take a picture, which is not fully understood by mama and maggie, may also have another meaning. mama notices that dee “stoops down quickly and lines up picture after picture of me sitting there in front of the house with maggie cowering behind me. she never takes a shot without making sure the house is included” (375). mama and maggie are photographed as if they were exoticized objects, but they are always photographed in the vicinity of the house, they cannot get out of the shadow of the house. even when dee takes a photo of a cow mama states that dee “snaps it and me and maggie and the house” (375). the johnsons’ new house is at the same time the backdrop and the klimiuk, magdalena. “conundrums of assimilation – rethinking the world presented in philip roth’s “defender of the faith” and alice walker’s “everyday use””, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 4-15. normative racist framework of the picture. since the house functions as a metaphor of a racist america mama and maggie are left at the very bottom of this white normative framework – they are outcasts. this explains why mama consciously turned her back on the house. they are exotic objects to be gazed at, but they seem to exist only within the white normative space of america. mama and maggie are rendered others, strange and ugly. mama describes herself as “a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands,” which is metonymic of black womanhood and the defeminized preconceptions of black women that are present in the dominant white culture (371). stereotypical values attributed to black women are those of uneducated, masculinly-built super workers. mama’s perception of african-americans goes back to the time of slavery. this is especially evident in her portrayal of maggie, who presents a servile mentality and manner with her “chin on the chest, eyes on the ground, feet in the shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground” (372). maggie is an african-american whose mind and body tend to be “locked” in the past. her body not only bears signs of “the burn scars” after the fire of their old house, but her psyche is distorted by the internalization of myths present in a white culture depicting black women as ugly (371). maggie and mama are the sufferers and martyrs of the american racist perspective. however, dee, who receives a replica of walker’s name – wangero (the same name walker is given on her trip to africa in the late 1960s, as sam whimsitt and other critics have pointed out), does not want to fit into the stereotyping normative framework. she never places herself in the picture – in the white normative framework of america – although one can get such a mixed impression when looking at dee’s playful attempt at re-africanizing herself, renaming herself. in “defender of the faith” grossbart tries to project himself as the ethnic other when he says, “because i’m a jew, sergeant. i am different” (652). this way of “othering” grossbart as a jew is also deeply embedded within common postcolonial discourse. “the construction of the other is fundamental to the construction of the self”, as ashcroft, griffiths and tiffin claim when analyzing the importance of spivak’s theory of postcolonialism (156). the process of “othering” starts with establishing the opposition, by creating the difference between the colonizer and the colonized. the colonizer defines himself against the colonized. in this case, the highly assimilated jew, marx, takes the position of “a goy” (non-jew) against the supposedly oppressed orthodox jew, grossbart. grossbart accuses marx of being an antisemite when he comes pleading to his superior to give him a pass to celebrate a passover dinner. when the trainee sees his superior’s reluctance to give him a pass he says that marx sounds like a “goy” (non-jew), and that for grossbart “it’s a hard thing to be a jew. (...) it’s a harder thing to stay one” (651, 652). grossbart suggests that he is oppressed and stigmatized because of his ethno-religious identity. roth’s character grossbart projects the features of jonathan freedman’s “oriental jew”, with his “unassimilability, due to his systemic constitutionally nonrational ‘oriental make-up’” (2008: 263). roth’s axis of difference in grossbart’s portrayal is grounded in the character’s religious “oriental” eating customs and yiddish language. the reader can find the colonized and the colonizer, respectively, in the figures of dee and maggie in walker’s story, particularly in the way dee reads to maggie and mama. maggie’s and mama’s conscious resistance against being more educated and more sophisticated becomes an opposition to white knowledge and practices, which are markers of influence and power in a white dominant culture. the constant imposition of white values is illustrated through the underlying metaphor of dee’s reading to maggie and mama. mama remarks that dee: klimiuk, magdalena. “conundrums of assimilation – rethinking the world presented in philip roth’s “defender of the faith” and alice walker’s “everyday use””, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 4-15. used to read to us without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks’ habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice. she washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn’t necessarily need to know. pressed us to her with the serious way she read, to shove us away at just the moment, like dimwits, we seemed about to understand. (373) the use of words in this passage is particularly interesting. verbs such as “pressed”, “burned” and “shove away” are signifiers of “epistemic violence” – a term coined by the postcolonialist philosopher gayatri spivak. epistemic violence can be identified as a violent way of instilling knowledge on a group of ethnoracial minorities, and a means of replacing the knowledge of various “others” with supposedly superior white practices. mama and maggie interpret dee’s habit of reading to them as a forceful attempt at whitewashing them. amircal cabral notes that: in the effort to perpetuate exploitation the colonizer not only creates a system to repress the cultural life of the colonized people; he also provokes and develops the cultural alienation of a part of the population, either by so-called assimilation of indigenous people, or by creating a social gap between the indigenous elites and the popular masses. as a result of this process of dividing, or of deepening the divisions in the society, it happens that a considerable part of the population, notably the urban or peasant petite bourgeoisie assimilates the colonizer’s mentality, considers itself culturally superior to its own people and ignores or looks down upon their cultural values (1994: 57). in the story it is dee who “assimilates the colonizer’s mentality” and displays a feeling of superiority towards her black roots. dee is also depicted as one who hated the old house, which burnt down some time ago, and exemplifies a person with a historyless attitude, although she maintains the appearance of just the opposite. mama states that dee would “do a dance around the ashes” of the old house, which functions as a symbol of africa (373). roth’s setting of the story, camp crowder, becomes the conflict site of pre-existing contesting jewish stereotypes, just as walker’s setting, the johnsons’ pasture, becomes a contested space of contrary viewpoints and stereotypical preconceptions about african american women seen as ugly and not very intelligent. roth deploys multiple stereotypical representations of a jew: marx, who seemingly falls into the category of an assimilationist jew, and grossbart, an outwardly orthodox jew who turns out to be the scheming jew, and finally fishbein, a weak and emasculated jew. both fishbein and halpern possess traces of a “not only feminized but hystericized jew” (freedman 2008: 266). the author of “defender of the faith” also builds upon jewish stereotypes in his portrayal of grossbart’s mother as: “a ballabusta”, who “practically sleeps with a dustcloth in her hand” (roth 1994:647). also, the stereotypical image of an overprotective jewish mother adheres to what karen brodkin calls “the image of smothering and emasculating mothers (of their sons)” (1998: 161). while marx tries to blur the differences between himself and the white mainstream, grossbart uses “strategic essentialism” in order to gain personal privileges. grossbart ’s rhetoric relies on some defined essentialist claims which attribute certain characteristics to anyone within the jewish subset of the population. it presupposes the claim that every jew is a religious person and that jews as an ethno-religious group should “stick” together. in “everyday use” walker brings forward the practicality of african-american women as an essentialist element of the african-american collective “we.” according to mama the essence of african-american women lies in their performance of everyday activities. the worlds presented by walker and roth in their short stories are not onedimensional; the readers’ preconceptions that accrete around roth’s jewish characters are klimiuk, magdalena. “conundrums of assimilation – rethinking the world presented in philip roth’s “defender of the faith” and alice walker’s “everyday use””, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 4-15. challenged just the same as mama’s dualistic perception of the world is challenged by walker’s conscious choice of dee’s new name. walker gives dee the same new name – wangero – as walker was given on her trip to africa in the late 1960s. this fact was not left unnoticed by many scholars, such as by barbara christian and sam whitsitt. the figure of dee in walker’s story seems to destabilize the simplistic perception of mama’s world of stereotypical values. however, as a final effect the argument over the quilts is ruminated over by mama and ultimately enriches mama’s perspective about the value of their african american existence. in roth’s short story the simplified division of the world into good, pious, orthodox jews versus evil, secular jews is threatened by the revelation of the fact that the supposedly orthodox grossbart fakes his devotion to judaism and jewish customs. both the main characters of “defender of the faith” and “everyday use”, grossbart and dee, perform a kind of masquerade. they are putting on the mask of the other, which can be compared to the tradition of minstrelsy. both grossbart’s and dee’s ethno-racial identities, respectively jewish and african-american, possess a performative style; they invoke the world of duplicity. by taking on their performer’s identity as jewish or african-american, the characters bring the internal conflicts of american ethnic others into sharp relief. references ashcroft, bill; griffiths, gareth and tiffin, helen. 2007. post-colonial studies: the key concepts (2 nd edition). oxon and new york: routledge. baker, houston, a., jr., and charlotte bierce. 1994. “patches: quilts and community in alice walker’s ‘everyday use.’” “everyday use” alice walker. barbara christian, new brusnwick: rutgers up. 149-65. brodkin, karen.1998. how jews became white folks and what that says about race in america. new brunswick nj: rutgers. budick, emily miller.1998. blacks and jews in literary conversation. new york: cambridge university press. cabral, amilcar. 1994. “national liberation and culture.” colonial and post-colonial theory. a reader, ed. patrick wiliams and laura chrisman, harlow: pearson education. duban, james. 2011. “written, unwritten, and vastly rewritten: meyer levin’s in search and philip roth’s “defender of the faith” the plot against america, and indignation.” philip roth studies 7.1 (2011) 28-50. project muse. web. 29 dec. 2013. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>. freedman, jonathan. 2008. klezmer america: jewishness, ethnicity, modernity. new york: columbia university press. morrison, toni. 1986. “rootedness: the ancestor as foundation.” in: black women writers: arguments and interviews. ed. mari evans. london/sydney: pluto press, [originally published in 1984 as black women writers (1950-1980). garden city: anchor press], 339345. morrison, toni. 1993. “on the backs of blacks.” time 142, 21:57. roth, philip. 1994. “the defender of the faith,” in: major american short stories, ed. a walton litz (3 rd edition), new york/london: oxford university press. roth, philip. 1981. “the ghosts of roth. ” interview with alan finkielkraut. searles 120-130. klimiuk, magdalena. “conundrums of assimilation – rethinking the world presented in philip roth’s “defender of the faith” and alice walker’s “everyday use””, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 4-15. steinberg, gillian. 2005. “philip roth’s “defender of the faith”: a modern midrash.” philip roth studies 1.1 (2005): 7-18. project muse. web. 29 dec. 2013. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>. walker, alice.1993. “everyday use,” in: black american short stories. a century of the best, ed. john henrik clarke, new york: hill and wang. whitfield, stephen j. 1999. in search of american jewish culture. hanover: brandeis university press. whitsitt, sam.2000. “in spite of it all: reading of alice walker’s ‘everyday use’.” african american review. fall 2000: 443-460. a multimodal perspective on metaphors and metonymies in art: a case study of the artwork agora by magdalena abakanowicz 4 crossroads. a journal of english studies dorota dąbrowska university of warsaw a multimodal perspective on metaphors and metonymies in art: a case study of the artwork agora by magdalena abakanowicz abstract. the article is a semiotic study of the artistic installation agora designed by a famous polish sculptor magdalena abakanowicz, based on the theoretical grounds of cognitive semantics. metaphor and metonymy are conceptual processes whose communicative function is discussed in the paper, in particular, their role in deciphering possible meanings of the artwork. the paper also demonstrates how the multimodal analysis of the verbo-visual material can give rise to diverse interpretations of the figures. keywords: cognitive semantics, metaphor, metonymy, art. introduction this paper presents a semiotic analysis of the artwork agora created by a renowned polish artist – magdalena abakanowicz. agora is a sculptural installation, located in grant park in chicago in the united states, and it is one of the biggest figural compositions of the artist. the artwork presents 106 iron figures, with the title inscribed on the plate and attached to the stone that is placed in the vicinity of the sculptures. in the paper the role of cognitive mechanisms of metonymy and metaphor will be discussed, especially their interaction which can lead to different conceptualisations of the installation. the key elements of the artwork that need to be examined to uncover the possible range of meanings are the missing body parts, the composition, and the cultural context. the proposed semantic analysis is divided into two parts: the external perspective that involves the identification of visual metaphors and metonymies of the figural composition, and a slightly different interpretative scenario that results from combining the verbal and visual modalities – an attempt at identifying the multimodal metaphor. 10.15290/cr.2016.13.2.01 5 articles 2. metaphor in other modalities although it has long been acknowledged that metaphorical reasoning is a cognitive process present in daily activities (lakoff and johnson 1980: 3), for a long time, the research areas concerning the study of metaphor focused on the verbal modality only. the analyses of metaphor in the pictorial and verbo-pictorial discourse introduced and developed by charles forceville (1996), led to the increased attention of the conceptual mechanism in other non-linguistic forms. the conducted research has covered modalities such as gesture (müller 2008; mittelberg and waugh 2009), and music (górska 2014; zbikowski 2009), with a special focus on the meanings expressed by juxtaposing different modalities, such as e.g: verbo-pictorial (forceville 1996, 2008), and verbomusical (górska 2014). multimodal studies have also been developed in film (rohdin 2009), tv commercials (urios-aparisi 2009), and newspaper cartoons (el refaie 2009). in this article, the semantic potential of the visual and verbo-visual modalities are discussed and, in particular, the interaction of both codes, whose co-occurrence can affect the interpretation of the artwork. 3. analysis 3.1. the figural composition figure 1. agora by magdalena abakanowicz1 the collection of headless human-like sculptures with enlarged bodies, and long legs that support the disproportionately long corpuses can create an impression that the artistic message of what bodily deformations can manifest is of conceptual significance. from a distance the sight of oversized sculptures clustered on a patch of concrete can evoke an image of a mass gathering, which 1 the included photographs are from the author’s collection. 6 crossroads. a journal of english studies appears to illustrate how a meaning can be expressed via the change of size. the enlargement seems deliberate, and initially, it may suggest the visual manifestation of the conceptual metaphor more of form is more of content (lakoff and johnson 1980: 127), or significant/important is big (lakoff and johnson 1980: 50). kwiatkowska (2013: 79-91) addresses the role of size in visual art, as one of the forms via which a message can be conveyed, especially how it determines the interpretation of art: “such magnification allows us to see the object in a new light, which may evoke new associations” (kwiatkowska 2013: 84). the size of sculptures is magnified, and to access the entire view of the figures from a small distance, the observers need to look up to them, and the visual confrontation with objects which are so massive in posture can produce a sense of fragility and weakness on the part of the observers. such impressions may manifest the metaphorical reasoning being subject to control or force is down (lakoff and johnson 1980: 15). metaphor and metonymy form a strong conceptual relation in the artwork agora, as the metonymic interpretation provides the contextual foundations via which different metaphors can be construed. this is visible in the interpretation of the missing body parts, in particular, the missing heads, as all the figures are deprived of them. conceptualising the head as a source of intellect can be an example of the “internal metonymy” (for the latter see mittelberg and waugh 2009: 335) head for intellect, which is an example of the metonymic structure in which a body part represents an abstract concept (see radden and kövecses 1999: 46). this “conceptual contiguity” (mittelberg and waugh 2009: 340) appears crucial in the process of meaning construction, as the head naturally motivates the container for contained metonymy (kövecses 2002: 156). by entailment, the headless figures can evoke the opposite meaning, such as: lack of head for lack of intellect. the source domain of the metonymy – heads is visually absent, and it refers to the abstract target – intellect. thus, the interpretation of the headless gathering as lacking intellect, or reasoning is arrived at via the metonymic basis. the conceptualisation is also based on the container image schema (see johnson 1987: 22), which structures the mind is a container metaphor (lakoff and johnson 1980: 214).2 thus, the meaning of the headless figures as manifesting intellectual deficiencies, can dominate in the interpretation. another conspicuous element in the installation is the visual absence of faces which can indicate an array of meanings as well. first, the face – an indispensable body part involved in a direct act of verbal communication – is not present, which is yet another factor that reinforces the sense of lost ability to communicate and alienation. this property appears important in the context of the artwork, as positioning of the figures in close proximity to each other implies a communicative intention of the gathering. the lack of faces may also signify the lack of individuality, and uniqueness, and the conceptual metonymy in terms of which the meaning can be construct2 the metaphor has numerous linguistic realizations, such as: “what put that (idea) into your head (= what made you think that)?”, “use your head (= think more carefully)!” the examples are from the cambridge international dictionary of english. 1997. cambridge: cambridge university press: 653. it should also be noted that in other cultures the head can signal other meanings, e.g. in tunisian arabic (see maalej 2014). 7 articles ed is the face for the person (lakoff and johnson 1980: 37),3 which is an instantiation of a part for whole metonymy (lakoff and johnson 1980: 36). therefore, the absence of face can add another aspect of meaning to the interpretation of the depicted contemporary agora, implying anonymity in the crowd, or lack of individuality that results from a double metonymic reading: lack of face for lack of individuality, or lack of face for anonymity. other elements of the installation can also reflect particular dysfunctions of human abilities, and they appear to be demonstrated through the missing arms/hands. arms and hands are typically associated with their physical function, such as grasping, holding objects and also gesturing in communication.4 all statues are deprived of these body parts, and this may trigger metonymic reasoning in terms of which the visually inaccessible metonymic source – the hand evokes an activity performed with it, i.e. the metonymy the hand stands for the activity/skill (kövecses 2002: 207).5 this metonymic reasoning can be analyzed in terms of the “external metonymy’’ (mittelberg and waugh 2009: 334), and at the same time it is an example of the instrument for action metonymy (kövecses 2002: 145). the absence of hands and arms in the context of the mass gathering may also suggest a failed attempt to build a relation, which implies a strong activation of the link image schema (see johnson 1987: 117). therefore, the missing limbs can lead to a number of interpretations based on the conceptual mechanism of metonymy such as: lack of hands for lack of skills, or lack of hands for lack of cooperation. since the lack of the indispensable body parts evokes the lack of mental and physical functions they perform, such metonymic references may imply dysfunctional human relations. the container image-schema (see johnson 1987: 22), significantly contributes to the meaning of the fleshless statues. a notable element of the sculptural forms is that from the back the casts resemble empty insides, which can give rise to various metaphorical interpretations. according to kövecses (1990), different emotion concepts are expressed via reference to particular bodily organs which manifests the body is a container for the emotions metaphor (kövecses 1990: 122).6 the metaphor has culture-specific realizations, as particular body organs can communicate various emotions, which, in the context of the considered artwork, can be a starting point in the interpretation of the artwork. in western culture, the heart is considered to 3 the metonymy is often used in language, e.g.: “i was greeted by smiling faces” the example is from the cambridge international dictionary of english. 1997. cambridge: cambridge university press: 490. 4 understanding of this body part is also culture-specific and can manifest a number of other meanings, e.g. in tunisian arabic (see maalej 2014). 5 the metonymy is frequently employed in language: “all these toys are made by hand”, “rosie, remember you should always hold my hand when we cross the road”. the examples are from the cambridge international dictionary of english. 1997. cambridge: cambridge university press: 640. 6 this is a general metaphor which has metonymic basis, e.g. “he got butterflies in the stomach” – the bodily organ metonymically evokes a sense of fear and anxiety via the physical location of the emotions. the example is from kövecses (1990: 72). 8 crossroads. a journal of english studies be an organ with which a number of emotions is associated, and the feeling of love in particular, and the mention of the bodily organ metonymically evokes the feeling.7 a different line of reasoning may adopt an individual who speaks, for example, swahili, in which the heart is also regarded as the physical location of bravery and enthusiasm (see kraska-szlenk 2014: 56-57, 65-66; see also kraska-szlenk 2005: 162-166). yet another conceptualisation of the heart is characteristic of chinese (see yu 2009), in which the heart is considered to be an origin of human mental skills (see yu 2009: 126). thus, for viewers representing different cultural backgrounds, the empty figures deprived of their organs may signal a lost value of different emotions and features that determine life of an individual, which, in turn, may lead to diverse interpretations of the artwork. the physical organization of the statues also appears symbolic in this artwork, and elements such as the position of the sculptures and the figural composition can affect the interpretation. according to feng and o’halloran (2013), the object of conceptualisation often attracts more attention than the visual context: “cognitive studies of visual metaphor mostly focus on what is in the image, instead of how the image is represented” (feng and o’halloran 2013: 329). in the considered artwork, compositional factors such as the arrangement and orientation of the statues can be particularly important in the process of interpretation. at a distance, the installation looks like a huge gathering, however, on approaching it, the sculptures are at a particular distance from each other, and depicted as if following individuated paths. the spaces between them can mark an individuated existence and be indicative of a distance, either emotional or social/cultural, which can motivate the metaphor an emotional relationship is a distance between two entities (kövecses 2000: 92), and the primary metaphor intimacy is closeness (grady 1997: 13; see also lakoff and johnson 1999: 50). figure 2. agora by magdalena abakanowicz 7 such examples are commonly used in language: “he broke her heart (= made her very sad) when he left her for another woman”, “i love you with all my heart (= very much)”. the examples are from the cambridge international dictionary of english. 1997. cambridge: cambridge university press: 656. 9 articles bodily reactions are visual illustrators of various emotional states (see kövecses 2000), and the manner of communication is usually reflected by the distance maintained in the physical space. kövecses (2000: 26) also emphasizes the significance of proximity as an important source concept in metaphorical construals which describe love relationships. this is in line with lakoff and johnson (1999), who also point to the fact that “our bodies define a set of fundamental spatial orientations that we use not only in orienting ourselves, but in perceiving the relationship of one object to another” (lakoff and johnson 1999: 34). the physical distance between the statues and their specific positioning can be used metaphorically to imply emotional states or social affiliation, which opens doors to particular metaphorical construals such as: lack of emotional bonds/social affiliation is walking an individuated path, or anonymity/lack of cultural belonging is walking in diverse directions. bodily orientation of the statues is another important element in the process of interpretation. regardless of the compacted form of the installation, the lateral or opposite-body orientation of the sculptures can manifest the lack of interest and this can be analyzed in terms of the metaphor lack of interest is the lateral/opposite body orientation. the location of agora – the city of chicago which is famous for the inflow of emigrants can be regarded as the contextual frame for the interpretation of the artwork. since emotional bonds and the same cultural backgrounds are usually associated with closeness and togetherness, different bodily orientations of the statues depicted in the walking pose can also reflect the lack of cultural belonging, anonymity in a big city, or a sense of alienation experienced by newcomers who seek good fortune in the metropolis. the spatial organization of statues is very dynamic, manifesting directionality and motion, and the whole composition can be understood as a fraction of a scene, as if a photograph was taken to capture a moment of a fast unfolding action. thus, the visual composition can also be a manifestation of the primary metaphor purposes are destinations (lakoff and johnson 1999: 61). the sculptures create an impression as if (they were) traversing individuated paths towards a particular destination, where the path image schema (see johnson 1987: 114) structures the complex metaphor a purposeful life is a journey (lakoff and johnson 1999: 60). 3.2. integrating the visual and the verbal mode despite a rich array of metaphorical construals based on the missing body parts and the physical organization of the statues, the interpretations may vary depending on whether the viewer is familiar with the title or not. not seeing the name agora, or without being aware of what it signifies, the viewer will simply attempt at deciphering the meaning behind the spatial organization of statues and their missing body parts. on recognizing the sense of the title, the visual composition, as a whole, can also serve as an instantiation of a multimodal metaphor (for the latter see forceville and urios-aparisi 2009: 4), where the integration of two different domains leads to a new interpretative form. the knowledge of what the title can activate is a necessary prerequisite to analyse the artwork 10 crossroads. a journal of english studies from the multimodal perspective. in that case, the meaning of the title agora can provide an organizing frame in a multimodal analysis of abakanowicz’s artwork, as it introduces the other (verbal) modality and activates the transfer of properties between the headless gathering and the title. the name agora is of greek origin,8 and it means a place where people used to meet to discuss important issues in politics, art and society, and the title of the artwork can be motivated by the place for the event metonymy (lakoff and johnson 1980: 39). thus, for a history-conscious viewer the historical reference of the title agora can naturally cause the transfer of properties from the verbal modality presented by the title – agora, onto the visual modality presented by the human-like statues. the selection of relevant aspects activated by the greek agora such as: human gathering, intellectual disputes and philosophical discussions are the salient properties for which the ancient agora was famous. when these aspects are mapped onto the visual modality – the deformed human bodies, a new conceptualisation is possible. at the same time, the statues depicted as following individuated paths can provide contrast with the most essential feature of the ancient agora, which was the meeting place. the distance between the figures positioned as if travelling towards different destinations/locations can be understood as a visual representation of the fact that the contemporary agora is no longer a meeting place. this conceptualisation may also imply the concept of loneliness and alienation in a crowd, as the individuated paths and the relative distance between the sculptures may be indicative of a failed attempt to become part of a larger community. the title may also have a role of “anchorage” (barthes 1977: 38), as it narrows down the range of interpretations of the figures by identifying their meaning via transferring certain properties of the original meaning of agora onto the sculptures. removing the verbal component – the title agora, would inevitably affect the metaphorical reading of the artwork, as a different meaning is demonstrated through the visual modality and the one expressed verbally. the two modalities are combined together through the integration of the whole visual context; the historical name agora and the headless statues. it can be assumed that the juxtaposition of the title of the artwork – agora, signalled by the verbal modality, and the sculptures – the visual modality, can be analyzed as a multiple space model in a dynamic meaning creation. the contiguity relation between the metonymic vehicle and target is of particular significance here; the title agora is the perceivable metonymic vehicle that may provide the point of access to the metonymic target that is the ancient meeting place: agora for the meeting place. aspects of the ancient agora which can be evoked via the title, such as intellectual meetings are mapped onto the contemporary installation providing grounds for the metaphorical interpretation of the artwork. the selective mapping of aspects from the title onto the figural composition may give rise to an emergent metaphorical construal which can be rendered as: modern agora is a headless crowd of people moving in diverse directions. 8 see https://www.britannica.com/topic/agora (accessed: 22.04.2017). 11 articles 4. conclusion the article discusses the communicative function of verbo-visual metaphors and metonymies in the interpretation of the piece of art agora by magdalena abakanowicz. these conceptual mechanisms are employed to analyze the artistic message conveyed in the sculptural installation. the interaction of metaphor and metonymy is examined, especially how the semantic potential of this interplay can result in different interpretative forms. a multimodal perspective is also presented through analysing the semantic content that is expressed by two different modalities. it is claimed that the figural composition may involve different meanings, which can be identified via the conceptual processes that facilitate a better understanding of the artwork. references barthes, roland. 1977. image, music, text. new york: hill and wang. el refaie, elisabeth. 2009. “what makes us laugh? verbo-visual humour in newspaper cartoons”. in: e. ventola and a.j. moya guijarro (eds.), the world told and the world shown, 75-89. new york: palgrave mcmillan. feng, d. and o’halloran, k. l. 2013. “the visual representation of metaphor: a social semiotic approach.” review of cognitive linguistics 11 (2): 320-335. forceville, charles. 1996. pictorial metaphor in advertising. london/new york: routledge. forceville, charles. 2008. “metaphor in pictures and multimodal representations”. in: r. w. gibbs (eds), the cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought, 462-482. cambridge: cambridge university press. forceville, charles and eduardo urios-aparisi. 2009. “introduction”. in: ch. forceville and e. urios-aparisi (eds.), 2009. multimodal metaphor, 3-17. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. grady, joseph edward 1997. foundations of meaning: primary metaphors and primary scenes. ph.d. dissertation. university of california: berkeley. górska, elżbieta. 2014. “why are multimodal metaphors interesting? the perspective of verbovisual and verbo-musical modalities”. in: m. kuźniak, a. libura and m. szawerna (eds.), from conceptual metaphor theory to cognitive ethnolinguistics. patterns of imagery in language, 17-36. frankfurt/main: peter lang. johnson, mark. 1987. the body in the mind. the bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and reason. chicago: university of chicago press. kövecses, zoltán. 1990. emotion concepts. new york: springer-verlag. kövecses, zoltán. 2000. metaphor and emotion: language, culture, and body in human feeling. cambridge/new york: cambridge university press. kövecses, zoltán. 2002. metaphor. a practical introduction. oxford: oxford university press. kraska-szlenk, iwona. 2005. “metaphor and metonymy in the semantics of body parts: a contrastive analysis”. in: e. górska and g. radden (eds.), metonymy-metaphor collage, 157-175. warsaw: warsaw university press. 12 crossroads. a journal of english studies kraska-szlenk, iwona. 2014. “extending body-part terms in the domain of emotions”. in: m. brenzinger and i. kraska-szlenk (eds.), the body in language. comparative studies of linguistic embodiment, 52-70. leiden/boston: brill. kwiatkowska, alina. 2013. interfaces, interspaces. image. language. cognition. piotrków trybunalski: naukowe wydawnictwo piotrkowskie. lakoff, george and mark johnson. 1980. metaphors we live by. chicago: the university of chicago press. lakoff, george and mark johnson. 1999. philosophy in the flesh: the embodied mind and its challenge to western thought. new york: basic books. maalej, zouheir a. 2014. “body parts we live by in language and culture: the raas ‘head’ and yidd ‘hand’ in tunisian arabic”. in: m. brenzinger and i. kraska-szlenk (eds.), the body in language. comparative studies of linguistic embodiment, 224-259. leiden/boston: brill. mittelberg, irene and linda r. waugh. 2009. “metonymy first, metaphor second: a cognitive – semiotic approach to multimodal figures of thought in co-speech gesture”. in: ch. forceville and e. urios-aparisi (eds.), multimodal metaphor, 329-356. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. müller, cornelia. 2008. metaphors dead and alive, sleeping and waking. a dynamic view. chicago: the university of chicago press. radden, günter and zoltán kövecses. 1999. “towards a theory of metonymy”. in: k.-u. panther and g. radden (eds.), metonymy in language and thought, 17-59. amsterdam/philadelphia: john benjamins. rohdin, mats. 2009. “multimodal metaphor in classical film theory from the 1920s to the 1950s”. in: ch. forceville and e. urios-aparisi (eds.), multimodal metaphor, 403-428. berlin. mouton de gruyter. urios-aparisi, eduardo. 2009. “interaction of multimodal metaphor and metonymy in tv commercials: four case studies”. in: ch. forceville and e. urios-aparisi (eds.), multimodal metaphor, 95-117. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. yu, ning. 2009. “nonverbal and multimodal manifestations of metaphors and metonymies: a case study”. in: ch. forceville and e, urios-aparisi (eds.), multimodal metaphor, 119-143. berlin/ new york: mouton de gruyter. zbikowski, lawrence m. 2009. “music, language, and multimodal metaphor”. in: ch. forceville and e. urios-aparisi (eds.), multimodal metaphor, 359-381. berlin/new york: mouton de gruyter. dictionaries and internet sources cambridge international dictionary of english. 1997. cambridge: cambridge university press. see https://www.britannica.com/topic/agora (accessed: 22.04.2017). 4 crossroads. a journal of english studies daniel karczewski university of białystok, poland olga buivolova national research university higher school of economics, moscow, russia sensitivity to extralinguistic cues to identify generic and non-generic meaning abstract. generic sentences convey generalizations about kinds. in contrast, non-generics express facts about specific individuals or groups of individuals. however, to identify generic meaning, we have to integrate multiple cues. this study tested whether the discrepancy between the noun phrase and the number of objects (extralinguistic cues) present should force a generic interpretation whereas the match between the noun phrase and the number of objects present would give rise to a non-generic interpretation. results demonstrated that adults are sensitive to the match and the mismatch situations in three out of four conditions tested. the data also indicate the importance of world knowledge cues in construing sentences as generic. keywords: generics; non-generics; extralinguistic cues; adults; russian. 1. introduction statements which express generalizations about kinds rather than individuals – generic sentences – are frequent in everyday speech and we rely on them to pass on information to one another (leslie 2007). an interesting feature of generics is that they admit exceptions, some more readily than others. for instance, the generic statement tigers are striped is true of almost all tigers (apart from e.g., albino tigers), whereas the sentence mosquitoes carry the west nile virus is true of only two or three kinds of mosquitoes of the approximately 40 kinds that are said to be important transmitters of the west nile virus1. these facts do not have any bearing on the truth value of the above generics. in contrast, non-generics such as e.g., my cat has caught two mice or the birds are sitting in the tree express facts about specific individuals or groups of individuals and do not admit exceptions. previous research suggests that there are at least three types of cues speakers of english use to interpret an utterance generically or non-generically: morphosyntactic features (carlson 1980; 1 according to http://www.ext.colostate.edu/westnile/faq.html doi: 10.15290/cr.2015.10.3.01 5 articles lyons 1977; krifka et al. 1995; gelman & raman 2003; cimpian et al. 2011), contextual cues (gelman & raman 2003; cimpian & markman 2008), as well as world knowledge (cimpian & markman 2008; brandone & gelman 2009). furthermore, we need to regularly attend to various cues in order to arrive at an adequate interpretation (gelman, 2003). despite the range of previous studies that mostly focused on children’s abilities to detect generic meaning (e.g., gelman and raman 2003; cimpian and markman 2008; cimpian et al. 2011), little is known about adults’ abilities, which are usually put to test to detect the end-point of development of generic and non-generic meaning. research into adults’ abilities, however, seems particularly interesting in the light of dąbrowska’s (2012) research, which claims that there are considerable differences in linguistic knowledge among monolingual first language learners; i.e. native speakers of a given language do not share the same grammar. her claim is supported by a number of studies in which she examined different facets of linguistic knowledge such as, e.g., inflectional morphology, passives, quantifiers, etc. to confirm it. previous experimental work has focused mostly on generic meaning in english. in this study, we turn our attention to cues that listeners use to identify a sentence as generic in an article-less language. to our knowledge, contextual cues in russian have not been studied so far and thus offer a good background for making certain predictions. unlike english, russian has no articles – probably the most direct formal cue in english – and thus relies on other linguistic devices to signal generic interpretation (see e.g., leshkova 1984; shelyakin 1985; ermolenko 1987; jespersen 2002; dayal 2011; alda et al. 2012). the subject np of a generic sentence can be a bare plural (“тигры – хищные животные” / ‘tigers are predators’) or a bare singular (“тигр – хищник” / ‘a tiger is a predator’). however, number is not sufficient for the kind-referring interpretation of a sentence. note that sentences with identical noun phrases (“тигры сбежали из зоопарка” / ‘tigers escaped from the zoo’ or “тигр греется на солнце”/‘a tiger is sunbathing’) can lead to non-generic interpretations. in russian, most generic sentences have verbs in the present tense. sentences in other tenses and aspects, however, are also possible (“собаку приручили много лет назад” / ‘the dog was domesticated a long time ago’ or “дети пойдут в школу осенью” / ‘children will go to school in autumn’) and will receive generic interpretation. although tense and aspect are important cues, they are not entirely reliable indicators of generic meaning. it is important to observe that the presence of a demonstrative pronoun such as “тот” (that) and “этот” (this) does not preclude a generic interpretation (“что за чудо эти небоскребы!” / ‘what a miracle these skyscrapers are’). again, note that none of these morphosyntactic cues – taken alone or together – can guarantee generic interpretation. even when formal cues are kept constant, world knowledge strongly influences generic interpretations. this seems to be due to our extensive knowledge of properties, events, and states concerning individuals, as well as kinds. for instance, ‘having’ is a state that indicates that one owns something. it appears not to be possible for an individual to have or own an entire kind. the sentence (“у меня есть паста” / ‘i have pasta’) refers to an indefinite sample of the kind, which is equivalent to ‘some pasta’. the sentence (“мне нравится паста” / ‘i like pasta’), on the other hand, 6 crossroads. a journal of english studies implies a generic interpretation. finally, contextual cues are also fundamental to the identification of generics. let us consider a contextual cue which involves the resolution of anaphoric references involving ‘they’. in the sentence (“собаки – хорошие друзья. они преданные и добрые” / ‘dogs are good friends. they are loyal and friendly’) ‘they’ implies a generic reading which refers to the whole category of dogs. by way of contrast, in a similar sentence (“эти собаки – хорошие друзья. они преданные и добрые” / ‘these dogs are good friends. they are loyal and friendly’) ‘they’ implies a particular reading (i.e., my dogs). another type of contextual cue – which is of direct importance to this study – is the physical setting of the utterance (an extralinguistic cue). for the purpose of the present paper, the pioneering study by gelman and her colleague, which partly focused on children’s senstitivity to extralinguistic cues, will be discussed. gelman and raman (2003) assumed that the mismatch between a plural np in the presence of a single object would signal generic meaning. by contrast, the match between an np and the number of objects should signal non-generic meaning. to test this claim, 2-, 3and 4-year-olds saw a picture of an atypical animal (e.g., a tailless horse) and then were asked a question about it in the plural (e.g., “do they have tails?”). if children are sensitive to this mismatch situation, they would infer “they” in the question as referring to horses in general and the answer would be “yes”. however, in the match situation, children could infer that “they” refers to the tailless horses in the picture and the answer would be “no”. the results demonstrated that two groups of children: the 3and 4-yearolds (not 2-year-olds) were sensitive to both the mismatch and the match situation. as a result, they gave generic answers in the former and non-generic answers in the latter situation. building upon previous experimental work by gelman and raman (2003) in particular, the aim of the present study was two-fold. firstly, it attempted to investigate whether mismatch situations (e.g., using a singular np in the presence of two exemplars of a category) and match situations (e.g., using a plural np in the presence of two exemplars of a category) would signal different interpretations to native speakers of russian. however, instead of capitalizing on the ambiguity of the plural pronoun “they”, we relied on bare singular and bare plural nps. note that a specific reference of pronouns constrained the use of “they” in some of our conditions (e.g., * “это лев. у них три глаза?”). note also that in the absence of the pictorial stimuli, the nps in the questions used in the study would receive generic interpretations (see table 2). secondly, it served as a norming study for an experiment whose purpose was to test the aforementioned ability in individuals with semantic aphasia2. in accordance with the second aim of this study, we introduced a method that placed minimal demands on the participants’ verbal production. 2 there are two major approaches to classify aphasia: the boston tradition and luria’s classification. semantic aphasia – a type of aphasia not included in the boston classification – results from a lesion in the area of the left temporalparietal-occipital junction (akhutina 2015; dragoy et al. 2015). two specific deficits underlying semantic aphasia are difficulties in: (i) finding words and (ii) understanding logical-grammatical constructions such as genitive, passive, double negation or embedded clause. although patients with semantic aphasia are able to grasp the meaning of simple sentences, little is known regarding their sensitivity to the generic/non-generic distinction. 7 articles thus, instead of answering open-ended questions, the participants answered closed-ended “yes” or “no” questions. method participants we recruited 162 native speakers of russian (113 females; mean age 26; (range 16-60)) using virtualex.ru. figure 1 in the appendix shows the participants’ educational backgrounds, which ranged from secondary to master’s degree level. materials and design altogether we used thirty-six items (pictorial stimuli showing animals with an atypical feature, e.g., a camel with a green hump) in our study3. figure 2 shows some of the pictorial stimuli used. we designed the items to reflect one of the three property types (marked in table 1 as “extra”, “lacking”, or “changed”). the first group comprised twelve items depicting animals which have some extra feature (e.g., a lion with three eyes). another group of pictures shows animals which lack some feature (e.g., an elephant without a trunk). finally, the last group depicts animals with some changed feature (e.g., a cow which has claws instead of hooves). we tested each item in four conditions. table 2 shows one item in four conditions. condition sample example singular-singular это верблюд. у верблюд-а зелен-ый горб? dem camel (sg.nom) at camel-sg.gen green-sg.nom hump (sg.nom) ‘here is a camel. does the camel have a green hump?’ singular-plural это верблюд. у верблюд-ов зелен-ый горб? dem camel (sg.nom) at camel-pl.gen green-sg.nom hump (sg.nom) ‘here is a camel. do camels have green humps?’ plural-singular это дв-а верблюд-а. у верблюд-а зелен-ый горб? dem two-nom camel-sg.gen at camel-sg.gen green-sg.nom hump (sg.nom) ‘here are 2 camels. does the camel have a green hump?’ plural-plural это дв-а верблюд-а. у верблюд-ов зелен-ый горб? dem two-nom camel-sg.gen at camel-pl.gen green-sg.nom hump (sg.nom) ‘here are 2 camels. do the camels have green humps?’ table 2: four conditions used in the study. 3 the ideas for four items taken from studies by gelman and raman (2003), and cimpian, meltzer and markman (2011) are marked in table 1 as either gr (2003) or cmm (2011). the abbreviations stand for the initial letters of the authors’ surnames. 8 crossroads. a journal of english studies thus, thirty-six items in four conditions generated 144 unique trials, which we divided into four lists. each participant in our study answered questions from one of the four lists and always saw each item in only one of the four conditions. in addition, test materials included 36 fillers of other grammatical construction types. taking into account the results obtained by gelman and raman (2003), we sought to confirm that the singular-plural condition would tend to generate generic answers, whilst the singularsingular condition would tend to elicit non-generic ones. it was also our aim to verify whether the plural-singular condition would prompt native speakers of russian to give non-generic replies. following gelman et al.’s studies, we also assumed that the plural-plural condition would elicit non-generic answers. we were, however, unsure whether the results from our study would straightforwardly replicate this prediction. note that we used the same questions with the singular np (e.g., верблюд / ‘camel’) in the singular-singular condition as well as in the singular-plural condition. the questions with the plural np (e.g., верблюдов / ‘camels’) were used in the plural-plural condition and the singular-plural condition. the only difference was the number of instances of a category shown (one instance in the case of the singular-singular and singular-plural conditions; two instances in the remaining conditions). each “yes” and “no” answer was coded as either generic or non-generic. this is to say that depending on the trial, the reply “no” (or “yes”) could be coded generically or non-generically. for instance, in the singular-singular condition (“это верблюд. у верблюда зеленый горб?” / ‘here’s a camel. does the camel have a green hump?’), the reply “no” would be coded generically (i.e., we assumed that by answering “no”, the participant interprets the np in the question as referring to the entire kind of camels). the reply “yes”, on the other hand, would be included in the non-generic answers (i.e., we assumed that by answering “yes”, the participant interprets the np in the question as referring to the camel in the picture). however, the answer “no” in a different trial in the same condition (“это крыса. у крысы 2 глаза?” / ‘here’s a rat. does the rat have 2 eyes’) would be coded non-generically. the answer “yes” would therefore be included in the generic answers. 2. results the results bore out the predictions outlined above (see figure 3). we obtained 85% of generic answers in the singular-plural condition. furthermore, the singular-singular condition generated more non-generic (69.7%) than generic replies (30.3%). contrary to gelman et al.’s claim, the plural-singular condition, however, generated more generic than non-generic answers: 68.5% and 31.5% respectively. 9 articles figure 3: percentage of generic and non-generic answers. yet, it was the plural-plural condition that brought the most surprising results. although we assumed that the plural-plural condition might yield results which could differ from gelman et al.’s study, we did not expect to get 52.5% of generic and 47.5% of non-generic answers. this shows that the participants were almost unanimously divided in their interpretations. note that in some trials, (e.g., “это 2 свиньи. у свиней хвост крючком?” / ‘here are 2 pigs. do pigs have curly tails?’), the participants’ replies divided equally into generic and non-generic ones. 3. discussion in this study we specifically wanted to determine how the presence of an extralinguistic cue (one or two atypical exemplars of the category) might affect adults’ interpretation of a generic np. we assumed that when an extralinguistic cue is at odds with the np (e.g., one exemplar + plural np or two exemplars + singular np), a generic interpretation would be reached. we would get specific replies, however, when the form of the np is the same as the number of exemplars of the category. the prediction that one exemplar and the plural np should give rise to generic interpretation was based on gelman et al.’s (1998) study in which the experimenters analyzed conversations between mothers and children in the context of picture-book reading. it was determined that despite the fact that each picture in the book only represented a single example of its kind (e.g., an animal), mothers would at times use plural generics to talk about it (e.g., “that’s a chipmunk. and they eat 10 crossroads. a journal of english studies acorns”). such findings are also interesting in the light of data obtained from the magazine for children miś (karczewski 2016). some pages from the magazine depict single pictures of animals, while on others we may find fragments of generic texts concerning a given kind (e.g., the beaver, the mole, the sheep, etc). there are numerous instances of pages on which generic texts in the plural are accompanied by a picture representing one exemplar of the category. the examples from the magazine sample seem to provide additional evidence for gelman’s claim that there is a tendency to use plural generics in the presence of a picture representing one exemplar of the category. overall, it seems that the transition from a single exemplar to generalizing about a kind using the plural form would seem to be implying that this single instance is so representative that it may be used to stand for the whole kind. the data we obtained from the singular-plural condition is consistent with the prediction that it should lead participants to give non-generic answers. it is, however, surprising that some participants in our study failed to reach the ceiling effect in this condition. this study tested one condition (plural-singular) which according to gelman and raman should lead to non-generic answers because the singular np in the presence of two exemplars of a category could be interpreted as referring to one of the instances displayed. this prediction was further supported by the finding that parents seldom produced generics by using the singular np in the context of plural instances (pappas & gelman 1998). our findings, however, did not confirm this prediction. the plural-singular condition yielded more generic than specific answers. note, however, that 30% of the non-generic answers we obtained in this condition might reflect this assumption (cf. table 3). the fact that adults gave more non-generic replies when provided with a singular generic np cue in the presence of one atypical exemplar of a category (singular-singular condition) accords well with our prediction. nevertheless, it seems interesting that this construal prompted 30% of our participants to give generic replies. one explanation for this might reside in different sources of information that adults have to take into account and resolve before reaching generic/specific interpretation. it would seem that world knowledge was a prime candidate for this situation, which means that some of our participants must have relied primarily on their knowledge of the world in making their decision or that their previous knowledge concerning the animal kingdom might have overridden the extralinguistic cue available. our most unexpected result was that adults produced almost the same number of generic and specific replies in the plural-plural condition. what is more, this finding seems particularly interesting in the light of gelman and raman’s research which shows that specific answers dominated over generic answers in the plural-plural condition. the fact that the plural construal is the most natural expression of generalized meaning in russian (golovan 2013), must have had some bearing on the results we obtained from this study. the results might also suggest that coordinating multiple sources of information (linguistic + extralinguistic + prior knowledge) proved difficult for the participants in the plural-plural condition. 11 articles overall, it would seem that some of our participants followed one of two strategies while completing the questionnaire. some of them relied on their general knowledge and thus ignored the extralinguistic cue, while others decided to follow the extralinguistic cue but ignored the remaining cues available. this assumption is further supported by the comments made by some of the participants. this issue, however, requires further study and analysis and will be examined in greater detail in the experiment with individuals with semantic aphasia. on a final note, the data obtained from the study helped us select thirty-two (out of thirty-six) pictorial stimuli which we will use in the study with individuals with semantic aphasia. we have based our selection choices on a number of factors, some of which include: (i) the overall agreement with the standard coding, (ii) the balance between “yes” and “no” answers, (iii) the balance between features (i.e., “lacking”, “extra”, and “changed”). each item will be presented in two different conditions, thus generating 64 unique trials. the experiment will be conducted using psychopy (peirce). acknowledgment the authors are thankful to anna bakłażec who designed pictorial stimuli for the study. funding the study was supported by the erasmus mundus action 2 project aurora ii (2013-2521) grant to karczewski. references akhutina, t. 2015. luria’s classification of aphasias and its theoretical basis. aphasiology, 30, 1–20. doi: 10.1080/02687038.2015.1070950 alda, m., beyssade, c., and del prete, f. (eds.) 2012. genericity. oxford: oxford university press. brandone, a.c., and gelman, s.a. 2009. differences in preschoolers’ and adults’ use of generics about novel animals and artifacts: a window onto a conceptual divide. cognition, 110(1), 1–22. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2008.08.005 carlson, gregory n. 1980. reference to kinds in english. new york: garland. cimpian, a., meltzer, t. j. and markman, e. m. 2011. preschoolers’ use of morphosyntactic cues to identify generic sentences: indefinite singular noun phrases, tense, and aspect. child development, 82, 1561–1578. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01615.x cimpian, a., and markman, e. m. 2008. preschool children’s use of cues to generic meaning. cognition, 107, 19–53. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2007.07.008 dąbrowska, e. 2012. “different speakers, different grammars: individual differences in native language attainment”. linguistic approaches to bilingualism, 2:3, 219-253. doi: 10.1075/lab.2.3.01dab dayal, veneeta. 2011. “bare noun phrases”. in c. maeinborn, k. von heusinger and p. portner (eds.), semantics: an international handbook of natural language meaning, 33.2, 1087-1108. 12 crossroads. a journal of english studies dragoy, o., bergelson, m., iskra, e., laurinavichyute, a., mannova, e., skvortsov, a., and statnikov, a. 2015. comprehension of reversible constructions in semantic aphasia. aphasiology, 30, 1–22. doi: 10.1080/02687038.2015.1063582 ermolenko, s. s. 1987. образные средства морфологии. киев: наукова думка. gelman, s. a. 2003. the essential child. oxford: oxford university press. gelman, s. a. and raman, l. 2003. preschool children use linguistic form class and pragmatic cues to interpret generics. child development, 74, 308–325. doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.00537 gelman, s. a., coley, j. d., rosengren, k., hartman, e., and pappas, a. 1998. “beyond labeling: the role of parental input in the acquisition of richly structured categories”. monographs of the society for research in child development 235, vol. 63, no.1. golovan, e. a. 2013. “переносное значение формы единственного числа имен существительных и их нереферентное употребление”. in akhmetova, m.n., ivanova, u.v., laktionov, k.s., komogortsev, m.g., akhmetova, v.v., brezgin, v.s., kotlyarov, a.v., and yakhina, a.s. (eds.), современная филология: материалы ii международной научной конференции (уфа, январь 2013 г.). уфа: лето, 62–64. jespersen, o. 2002. философия грамматики. москва: едиториал урсс. karczewski, d. 2016. generyczność w języku i w myśleniu. studium kognitywne. kraków: universitas. krifka, m., pelletier, f. j., carlson, g. n., ter meulen, a., link, g., and chierchia g. 1995. “genericity: an introduction”. in g. n. carlson and f.j. pelletier (eds.), the generic book. chicago: university of chicago press, 1–124. leslie, s.-j. 2007. generics and the structure of the mind. philosophical perspectives, 21, 375–403. doi: 10.1111/j.1520-8583.2007.00138.x leshkova, o. o. 1984. “к вопросу о функционально-семантической категории собирательности в русском и польском языках”. советское славяноведение 5, 92–101. lyons, john. 1977. semantics. volume 1. cambridge: cambridge university press. pappas, a., and gelman s. a. 1998. “generic noun phrases in mother-child conversations”. journal of child language 25, 19-33. doi: 10.1017/s0305000997003292 peirce, j. w. 2009. generating stimuli for neuroscience using psychopy. frontiers in neuroinformatics, 2(10), 1–8. doi:10.3389/neuro.11.010.2008 shelyakin, m. a. 1985. “о функциональной модели форм числа существительных в русском языке”. in ученые записки тартуского государственного университета №719: функциональные аспекты грамматики русского языка. тарту: издательство тартуского университета, 3–22. 13 articles appendix no. item property type 1 three-eyed lion extra 2 five-pawed dog extra 3 three-winged ladybird extra 4 four-eared sheep extra 5 two-tailed fox extra 6 two-nosed hedgehog extra 7 winged donkey extra 8 tailed frog extra 9 webbed-footed wolf extra 10 antlered tiger extra 11 tusked zebra extra 12 spiked snake extra 13 trunkless elephant cmm (2011) lack 14 whiskerless mouse lack 15 tailless horse gr (2003) lack 16 combless rooster lack 17 toothless crocodile lack 18 shelless turtle lack 19 one-winged bird cmm (2011) lack 20 one-eared rabbit lack 21 three-pawed bear lack 22 one-eyed hippo lack 23 three-legged stork lack 24 one-eared rat lack 25 clawed cow changed 26 straight-tailed pig changed 27 yellow crow changed 28 furry fish changed 29 hoofed eagle changed 30 short-necked giraffe gr (2003) changed 31 purple-legged deer changed 32 red-finned shark changed 33 stiped swan changed 34 green-humped camel changed 35 polka dotted tail-finned whale changed 36. pink-footed squirrel changed table 1: items used in the study. 14 crossroads. a journal of english studies figure 1: participants’ educational backgrounds. figure 2: sample of the pictorial stimuli used in the study. 26 crossroads. a journal of english studies emilia stankiewicz university of białystok frank lloyd wright’s broadacre city as a manifestation of american values of freedom and democracy abstract. architecture of a particular country is one of the most visible manifestations of its cultural heritage. when approaching this subject matter in reference to united states of america, mentioning frank lloyd wright is inevitable, as he is often referred to as “the greatest american architect of all time”. frank lloyd wright’s vision of broadacre city was a project that consumed the greater part of the architect’s life. the article investigates the technical, structural and ideological aspects of the broadacre city concept. the main objective of this article is to establish whether broadacre city was designed in the spirit of the most fundamental american values of freedom and democracy and how those values were manifested in the project itself. key words: frank lloyd wright, broadacre city, american values, freedom, democracy. introduction according to various sources devoted to frank lloyd wright’s life and work, he was recognized as “the greatest american architect of all time” by the american institute of architects in 1991 (web 1). this event only confirmed his expectations, as wright himself once claimed: “(...) not only do i fully intend to be the greatest architect who has yet lived, but fully intend to be the greatest architect who will ever live. yes, i intend to be the greatest architect of all time” (as quoted in weesjes, 2011:1). he is believed to be the creator of almost 1000 structures during his seventy-year-long work in progress “work in progress” is a forum for students and university graduates who wish to present the results of their research. 27 work in progress career, some 400 of which were actually built (weesjes, 2011:2). his architectural genius was additionally appreciated by the architectural record by putting twelve constructions of frank lloyd wright’s on the list of the one hundred most important buildings of the 20th century. frank lloyd wright’s work significantly influenced the architectural world of america, contributing to the development of various styles and trends in national, as well as european architecture. he devoted his entire life to architectonics, designing various buildings, and realizing commissions. nevertheless, it was the broadacre city idea that focused the greater part of wright’s attention, especially in his later years. this multilayered, utopian vision of future america was repeatedly revisited and revised by its originator. notwithstanding the fact that it is not as easily and commonly known as, for instance, the fallingwater house, the broadacre city should be placed among the most significant works of the architect, since its features are a complete embodiment of his beliefs and ideals. wright was an advocate of, inter alia, the promulgation of american values of freedom and democracy which translated into many aspects of broadacres. the main intention of the following article is to determine whether broadacre city should be referred to as a display of american ideals of freedom and democracy. the broadacre city the idea of the broadacre city was first revealed to the public in the book the disappearing city (new york: payson, 1932) written by frank lloyd wright, and was revised twice in such publications as when democracy builds (chicago: university of chicago press, 1945) and the living city (new york: horizon press, 1958) (brown, 2007:1). it was developed late in wright’s life (the disappearing city was published when frank lloyd wright was 65 years old) and worked on until his death. the broadacre city, or as wright often referred to it, broadacres, attracted a wider audience in april 1935, during an industrial arts exposition held in rockefeller center, new york. frank lloyd wright exhibited there a detailed twelve by twelve foot scale model of his vision of the ideal city in the form of a three-dimensional “cross section of a whole civilization” (fishman, 1982:91). a picture of the mockup is presented below. the broadacre city was frank lloyd wright’s utopian development concept created together with its socio-political scheme. wright believed that his vision would inevitably and naturally emerge in the architectural fabric of the united states, replace traditional urban establishments and give way to the creation of synthesized urban and rural developments. once built, one self-sufficient unit of the broadacre city would cover an area of four square miles (1,040 hectares) and would accommodate approximately 5,000 people in 1,400 homes (johnson, 1995:140). each individual would be guaranteed a minimum of one acre of land, free of charge. an area of such size would allow people to have a garden, or even a small farm next to the house, so to enable self-sufficiency (nelson, 1995:341). due to its structure, the broadacre city is a perfect example of the incorporation of an urban settlement (a settlement with all the amenities and facilities of the city) into a rural landscape (nelson, 1995:341). 28 crossroads. a journal of english studies the concept of the structural design of the broadacre city was based on two already existing and operating inventions: • the motor car, which led to the general mobility of americans • the radio, telephone, and telegraph that enabled electrical intercommunication to become complete (wright, 1935:346) and on another one that was to become, according to wright, generally accessible in the upcoming years – an aeroplane. he believed that those inventions made old cities “no longer modern” and such dense, crowded conglomerations as new york or san francisco were on their way to wither and decay (wright, 1935:346). in their place broadacre cities would occur. he claimed that the idea of the broadacre city would be possible to execute mostly due to properly planned picture 1. photograph of the broadacre city scale model source: on the basis of web 2 29 work in progress communication and transportation systems. only by arranging and integrating units in such a way that every household would have an even access to all indispensable urban facilities would it become feasible. as krohe wrote in his article “the car would simultaneously make huge swaths of land accessible for development and make it possible to live on it without foregoing social connection” (krohe, 2000:29). according to wright, it is not urban sprawl that makes the automobile indispensable – it is the car that makes it possible to exist. in broadacres all the institutions of advanced society would be dispersed throughout the city so that every citizen would have ready access to them. factories, stores, schools, cultural centers and professional buildings would all be of small scale and, as nelson claims in his article, “located in such a way as to ensure that there is no central point around which people and power can cluster” (nelson, 1995:341). even the county seats would not be the center focus of the community. such persistency in terms of a departure from the centralized model of the city has its roots in wright’s ideology. he believed that centralization was an urban relic of the past. there was a time when it was necessary, even though it has always entailed, according to wright, overcrowdedness and incursion of the individuality and democracy, but with mechanical mobilization and electrification there is no longer any need for committing the misdemeanor of centralization. single family dwellings were to be the predominant building type. this kind of building is most commonly associated with the architectural work of frank lloyd wright; it would occur in every section of the city. a tower building is another housing type which could be found in broadacres, but its existence within that design is not so obvious and natural. if wright was trying to escape the overcrowdedness of the city, why should he use in the broadacres the kind of building which is a perfect example of urban development? it seems that for wright the skyscraper itself was not a problem, it is the clustering of skyscrapers. if the residential tower building is situated in a surrounding of nature and in isolation from other tall structures, it can still be a valid and coherent part of frank lloyd wright’s tenets (web 3). the environment of the broadacre city would be comprised of carefully adjusted land uses, assigned to particular zones and areas so that they fitted the land. frank lloyd wright’s vision was bipolar in its character: it simultaneously included tall urban structures and rural settlements surrounded by agriculture which, when combined, formed both a pastoral and yet urban setting (aguar and aguar, 2002:256). naturally, if broadacres substituted regular cities and covered the landscape of united states, they would vary among one another in terms of land use distribution, since the function should always harmonize with the existing landscape. for redistributing land and regulating its use, a county architect would be responsible. he would wield powers of “the agent of the state in all matters of land allotment or improvement, or in matters affecting the harmony of the whole” (wright, 1935:346). frank lloyd wright did not seem to consider the broadacre city to be just another commissioned design. the architect became personally and ideologically involved and, therefore, the broadacre city was an embodiment of his world view and his values, which he had been establishing throughout his life. consequently, the physical layout of the broadacre city was designed to be 30 crossroads. a journal of english studies a vessel for an economically and politically reformed society. as krohe states in his article “broadacre city embodied a program for economic reform that was the keystone of a model democracy he [wright] called usonia” (krohe, 2000:28). wright believed that broadacres, and particularly their architecture and land use distribution, were going to be a perfect environment in which democracy, freedom and individualism would thrive. freedom and democracy in frank lloyd wright’s understanding wright was often referred to as a continuator of thomas jefferson’s ideals. jefferson has frequently been called “the most democratic of [founding] fathers” (kazin, edwards, rothman, 2011:149), as he preached public education, free press, free voting, limited government, and agrarian democracy that avoided the rule of aristocrats (mcpike, 2003:8). he believed that democracy has its roots in citizens’ economic and physical independence, which belief was also advocated by wright (nelson, 1995:339). it is important to emphasize, however, that jefferson’s views were inextricably linked with the political system; democracy for him stood for the structure of a particular organization, state or country, or a form of government, whereas for wright democracy stood for an ideal (dehaene, 2002:95), for which the freedom of the individual was the groundwork. according to wright a society could be called democratic only when every citizen “would have entered a full state of inner freedom” (dehaene, 2002:95). this can be achieved only when democracy grows into its “true form” and old “classical” forms are rejected (dehaene, 2002:95). such a statement implies that even though america has always been a democratic country in terms of its structure, it had never been fully democratic from the perspective of wright. dehaene in his publication concerning the broadacre city provides the interpretation of frank lloyd wright’s perceptions of freedom: “man had squandered his freedom from the false “civilizations” of the old world and now found himself trapped in the city, once again built according to the “old ideal”. in order to regain freedom, the individual had to move away from the old center and become himself again the center of society” (dehaene, 2002:95). wright seemed to blame the structure of cities of his time for the shortcomings of freedom. a new kind of city (the broadacre city) would solve this problem, and become the aforementioned “true form” of democracy. inhabitants of broadacres would be able to live their lives democratically due to recovering their freedom. another noteworthy aspect of frank lloyd wright’s understanding of democracy is the fact that he has always thought of it as a process or a way (e.g. of living), not as a form (e.g. of government). in lionel march’s opinion, by democracy being a lifestyle wright meant that every adult should take part in the establishment of “the values that regulate the living of people together”, as it would contribute to the development of individuals and, simultaneously, to the growth of general social welfare (march, 1970: 198). this participation would not be one-sided, though. all social institutions (industry, schools) should, according to wright, have common purpose in setting free and developing every individual into “the full stature of his possibility” (march, 1970: 197). nevertheless, wright rejected the idea of the “rugged individualism” of america as it contributed 31 work in progress to the evolution of plutocratic capitalism, which he referred to as crude and vain power promoting “cowardly selfishness” instead of “noble selfhood” (wright, 1958:46). in his opinion, the notion of democracy should be perceived in the same way as its fathers viewed it: as the “free growth of humane individuality” and “mankind free to function together in unity of spirit” (wright, 1958:45). frank lloyd wright created his own definition of democracy on the basis of jeffersonian ideals. this definition was the groundwork for the broadacre city and revealed itself it that design repeatedly. american values of freedom and democracy expressed in the broadacre city there is a fairly widespread tendency to equate frank lloyd wright’s architecture with the architecture of american democracy. not only was wright aware of that, but he also seemed to purposely foster the “identification of himself with the american spirit” by appearing in all kinds of media and cultivating “an imperious image of plain-speaking anti-collectivist democracy” (from an editorial to an article by wright, 1935:345). he advocated recasting the architectural model of the united states into broadacres – a design whose grounds were, according to wright himself, established on the american values of freedom and democracy. how were the aforementioned values manifested in the broadacre city? which features of that proposal testify to frank lloyd wright’s beliefs? decentralization the foremost feature of broadacres that attests to wright’s intention to advocate the values of freedom and democracy is connected with the idea of decentralization. this departure from the centralized model of a city and a return to inhabiting the rural landscape was the fundamental premise of the broadacre city. wright severely criticized the centralized urban patterns which were, and still are, the hallmarks of the american city. he believed that they were “promoting dehumanizing values, robbing people of their individuality and jeopardizing their democratic lifestyle” (nelson, 1995:338). he thought of centralized cities as relics of the past, built on the foundations of the old world, in which clustering was inevitable due to the limited means of transportation and communication (wright, 1932:11). according to brown, wright “mocked the idea that a man in his right mind would leave the opportunities granted in the countryside to live in the confines of the overcrowded city” (brown, 2007:1). the broadacres, with their automobile-oriented structure and policy of assuring a minimum of one acre of land for every dweller, were to be a solution for the holdover, anti-democratic cities of the past. mobility as was already mentioned, the broadacre city proposal would be possible to implement due to the emergence of the automobile and telephone. these were the inventions that, according to wright, vastly contributed to the promulgation of a democratic lifestyle, since they ameliorated freedom 32 crossroads. a journal of english studies of movement and communication. therefore, assuming that the broadacre city was a truly democratic vision, it was unavoidable for those inventions to appear as a coherent part of wright’s proposal. additionally, the aforementioned innovations were to enable the process of decentralization in the broadacre city acclaimed by wright. the fact that every inhabitant of broadacres would possess at least one car would help in effacing the difference between quarters and and, therefore, would allow dispersed development. later alterations of the vision of the broadacre city involved the concept of aircraft being available to the same extent as an automobile, making total mobility a reality. rent moreover, the large, centralized cities of wright’s time, being too congested, overcrowded, and overbuilt, appeared to him as economically artificial or simply “uneconomic” as he states in the disappearing city (wright, 1932:8). he claimed that “human concentration upon the city has been abnormally intensified because, as hangover from traditions having their origin in other circumstances, three major economic artificialities have been grafted upon intrinsic production and grown into a legitimate economic system” (wright, 1932:8). thee aforesaid artificialities were all connected with the idea of rent (rent for land, for money, and for access to machine inventions), which is an “extrinsic form of unearned increment” (wright, 1932:8) and whose existence, according to wright, contributed to the factitious and exaggerated growth of the phenomenon of the centralization. frank lloyd wright held an unfavorable view on the idea of rent, which, he believed, caused an absolute dependence on the operations of others for the success of individual (brown, 2007:2) and, thereby, prevented true democracy and true individualism from thriving. it is the tenant-landlord relation, with all its liabilities that should be blamed for people losing their individual freedom and, therefore, receding from a democratic lifestyle. wright’s view of the concept of land ownership is best exemplified in his own words from the living city: “when every man, woman and child may be born to put his feet on his own acres, then democracy will have been realized” (wright, 1958:49). furthermore, with the abandonment of the notion of rent, which would be possible due to the widespread land ownership, freedom of employment would occur. in the broadacre city people would not be forced to work on a “need-to-pay-rent basis” (brown, 2007:3) anymore, they could choose their profession only according to their fields of interests or ability. as their earnings would have to be spent neither on rent nor on food, they would be able to choose their occupation with no restraints. consequently, property and work would finally be deprived of their monetary values, since such an order of things tended to benefit only the selected few. in the eyes of frank lloyd wright this is another aspect which contributes to perceiving broadacres as cities built on the foundation of freedom and democracy. organic architecture delving into the decentralization idea applied in the broadacre city, it has to be mentioned that it was to be performed in the full meaning of the term: in wright’s vision neither the center nor the 33 work in progress distinction between urban and rural land uses would be recognized (fishman, 1982:92). wright believed that “true democracy would be achieved by reclaiming one’s individuality and engaging in natural architecture rather than communal living of the cities” (brown, 2007:2). therefore, the united states as we know them should be, in wright’s vision, replaced by small houses dotting the rural landscape. housing developments would be designed in accordance with organic architecture, whose most important tenet assumes that every building should be created in such a way, so to become an “extension of nature and its principles” (cruz, 2012:29). therefore, residential areas were to be sprawled over open countryside and harmonize with the natural landscape. the architect maintained that accepting the organic architecture as the groundwork for a city would conduce to shaping the democratic life of its citizens. according to wright, organic architecture enables dwellers to connect to his or her land in such a way that “roots him/herself in freedom from the constraining notion of centralized city” (özpek, 2006:53). due to the eradication of the boundaries and limits of the city, democracy would triumph and “no man will live as a servile or savage animal; holing in or trapped in some cubicle on an upended extension of some narrow street” (wright, 1958:96). agrarian democracy in addition, wright envisioned that each allotment’s design should promote a domestic, family-oriented, self-sufficient lifestyle and should be inhabited by people who are at least part-time farmers (nelson, 1995:339). this kind of self-sufficiency, possible not only due to the practice of agriculture or horticulture, but also thanks to the abandonment of landlord, tenant, and rent phenomena, thus allowing the development of universal ownership of land, was to ensure people complete physical and economical independence, in line with both jeffersonian and wright’s theory of democratic society. donald leslie johnson in his article provides an accurate summary of the broadacre city philosophy, giving particular attention to the rurality of the vision: broadacres was a concept meant to reinforce and reinterpret the american tradition of rurality and to encourage a return to democratically formed village life with all its implications, if in modern geometric form. villages were to be scattered about the vast north american landscape, integrated “along the horizontal line which we call the great highway”, disposed by compatible determinants such as work, travel, industry, population density and other internal or regional needs. moreover, the broadacre villages were to be self-sufficient… (johnson, 1995:139-140). the quotation indicates the existence of connections between the premises of wright’s broadacres and the jeffersonian idea of agrarian democracy, whose frequently repeated surmise refers to the independent farmer being the “backbone of democracy” (renck, 2002:1). wright, similarly to jefferson, perceived agriculturalists as symbols of “honesty, integrity, democracy and statesmanship” (renck, 2002:2), values deeply rooted in american tradition. by designing broadacres, the architect meant for america to become a nation of independent citizens, who cultivate the soil, grow crops and rear animals and are “bound to the land, which cannot be moved” (renck, 34 crossroads. a journal of english studies 2002:14). such people would be more inclined to vest their interest in the nation and society, as their welfare and prosperity would be dependent on the ground they own. they would be liberated, however, from the constraints, limitations, and dependence on the general food industry and from the jeopardy of losing their properties. in broadacres, self-sufficiency represented by producing food for each inhabitant’s own needs is an indicator of the democracy of the society. equal access to urban amenities referring again to johnson’s summary of the broadacres’ philosophy and the description of wright’s vision provided previously, another evidence for the broadacre city being the manifestation of freedom and democracy is the way in which all services, medical care, amenities, or industrial structures were to be disposed throughout the broadacres. wright designed and dispersed them, so to guarantee if not equal, and then at least close to equal access to them for all inhabitants. such a city structure represented fairness and justness, which are, next to freedom and individualism, the most essential features of democracy. all people in the broadacres would have equal chances for individual development, as each and every one of them would be granted comparable possibilities. a minimum of one acre of land, automobile, even access to the amenities, entertainment and other places of modern city – with all that every citizen of the broadacre city would be supplied. individualism in wright’s opinion, the development of the individual seems to be a prerequisite feature of the democratic lifestyle, as it contributes to regulating the rules of people living together and to the general evolution of the community. it is also essential, since even the “declaration of independence of the u.s. regards individualism as the victory of democracy” (özpek, 2006:36). this is the reason why in broadacres individualism thrives and commercial state-owned businesses tend to be avoided. there would be no middleman as the distribution of goods would flow directly from the producer to the consumer. industry in broadacre city would be either privately or cooperatively owned (nelson, 1995:339). additionally, dwellers of wright’s ideal city were to be not only part-time farmers, but also part-time mechanics and part-time intellectuals (nelson, 1995:339). all this was to create the abundance of possibilities of development for every inhabitant of democratic broadacres. government limited the importance of personal advancement in wright’s design is also connected with jefferson’s view on that subject. he represented the opinion that true democracy is equivalent to a society in which “every member would be the best of possible men” and opposite to “the society ruled by its best men” (dehaene, 2002:95). such an attitude was to eliminate the notion of aristocracy and would lead to a significant limitation of the body of local government. what substantiates the application of this attitude in the broadacre city vision is that the only local public administrator would be the county architect. wright advocated that “government [should] be reduced to nothing 35 work in progress more than a county architect who would be in charge of directing land allotments and the construction of basic community facilities” (wright, 1935:348). the architect would by chosen “by the county itself ” (wright, 1935:346) and his or her main responsibility would be concerned with the redistribution of land. furthermore, the national government’s role would be significantly limited as well. its sole purpose would be “the regulation of natural resources, the provision of the national defense, and the compilation and distribution of information” (nelson, 1995:339). concluding remarks the design, structure and socio-political scheme of the broadacre city are obvious avatars of frank lloyd wright’s ideology of promoting freedom and democracy. many aspects of the vision were created in such manner so to provide broadacres’ inhabitants with the possibility of living their lives in accordance with a democratic lifestyle. aforesaid features contribute to creating the image of the broadacre city being a manifestation of the american values of freedom and democracy not only in wright’s understanding, but also in reference to the universal comprehension of these terms and in accord to the ideals of one of the founding fathers of the u.s. – thomas jefferson. references aguar, c.e., aguar, b. 2002. wrightscapes: frank lloyd wright’s landscape designs. new york: mcgraw hill professional. brown, zara a. 2007. broadacre city, 1932-1959. baton rouge: master’s thesis at louisiana state university. cruz, cesar a. 2012. wright’s organic architecture: from ‘form follows function’ to ‘form and function are one’. cloud – cuckooland journal. vol. 17 issue 30: 27 -36. dehaene, michiel. 2002. broadacre city: the city in the eye of the beholder. journal of architectural and planning research. vol. 19, no. 2: 91-109. fishman, robert. 1982. urban utopias in the twentieth century; new york: mit press. johnson, donald leslie. 1990. frank lloyd wright versus america: the 1930s. new york: mit press. kazin, m., edwards, r. & rothman, a. 2011. the concise princeton encyclopedia of american political history; new jersey: princeton university press. krohe jr., james. 2000. return to broadacre city. illinois issues. vol. 26, no. 4: 27-29. march, lionel. 1981. an architect in search of democracy: broadacre city (1970). writings on wright: selected comment on frank lloyd wright, ed. allen h. brooks, new york: mit press. mcpike, elizabeth, et al. 2003. education for democracy; washington dc: albert shanker institute. nelson, arthur c.1995. the planning of exurban america: lessons from frank lloyd wright’s broadacre city. journal of architectural and planning research. vol. 12, no. 4: 337-356. özpek, burak bilgehan. 2006. ayn rand, objectivism and architecture. ankara: master’s thesis at middle east technical university. 36 crossroads. a journal of english studies renck, ashley wood. 2002. the agrarian myth; how has it affected agricultural policy?. long beach: report presented at western agricultural economics association annual meeting. weesjes, elke. 2011. frank lloyd wright (1867 -1959). united academics journal of social sciences, architecture and environmental psychology, 2011, vol. 1 issue 5: 1-10. wright, frank lloyd. 1932. the disappearing city. new york: stratford press. wright, frank lloyd. 1935. broadacre city: a new community plan. architectural record. vol. 77, issue 4: 345-349. wright, frank lloyd. 1958. the living city. new york: horizon press. web sources: brewster, mike. frank lloyd wright: america’s architect. business week (the mcgraw-hill companies). online: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jul2004/nf2004 0728_ 3153_ db078.htm, retrieved 20.02.2015 sdoutz, frank. broadacre city model 1934 – 35. online: http://www.media architecture.at/architekturtheorie/broadacre_city/2011_ broadacr e_city_en.shtml, retrieved 4.05.2015. kats, anna and tan, dion. what might have been: frank lloyd wright’s strange urban vision at moma. online: http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story /1006695/what-might-have-beenfrank-lloyd-wrights-strange-urban-vision#, blouinartinfo, retrieved 12.04.2015. 1 agata rozumko the university of bialystok lexicographic representations of english epistemic adverbs: an overview of problems based on selected monolingual and bilingual (english-polish) dictionaries 1. introduction the term epistemic adverb refers to such adverbs as conceivably, obviously, possibly, presumably and unquestionably, i.e. adverbs used to express probability, possibility and certainty. the meanings and functions of such adverbs tend to be both languageand culture specific. as noted by numerous scholars, learning to speak with the appropriate degree of conviction is often a problem for non-native speakers of english (c.f. e.g. holmes 1983). “they have to learn that the need to qualify one’s statements and differentiate one’s degree of “epistemic commitment” is greater in english than in most other languages” (wierzbicka 2006: 251). polish learners of english are no exception here. while both scholars and teachers pay quite a lot of attention to modal verbs, modal adverbs are considerably understudied and poorly described in the literature. the following analysis is an attempt to examine the extent to which commonly used dictionaries are helpful in explaining the meanings and uses of english epistemic adverbs. dictionaries are the most immediate and the most accessible sources of information about foreign lexical items, therefore the quality of the descriptions they offer is very important. both traditional and on-line dictionaries will be studied, with an attempt to outline the tendencies in the lexicographic description of epistemic adverbs. 2. the scope of the study and the method the relative scarcity of publications concerning epistemic adverbs results from the fact that their cultural and linguistic significance has been noticed only rather recently. in 2006, wierzbicka devoted a chapter of her book english: meaning and culture to an analysis of the role of epistemic adverbs in english. her study provides important insights into cross-cultural and cross-linguistic differences in the use of epistemics and prepares the ground for further research. a number of significant problems connected with the description of epistemic adverbs, which in polish linguistic tradition are usually referred to as modulators, modal particles or modal operators, have recently been raised by danielewiczowa (2008a, 2008b, 2012), whose works offer important methodological suggestions in this area. wierzbicka (2006) argues that in comparison with other languages english possesses an extended class of epistemic adverbs, a property which she refers to as “a fact of great cultural significance” (2006: 249). she considers the frequent use of epistemic adverbs (and epistemic verbs) in english to be a consequence of the penetration of english speech patterns by the ideals of the enlightenment. she writes: “[t]he cultural concerns reflected in the two [adverbs and verbs] categories are essentially the same, and in both cases they can be linked with the post-lockean emphasis on the limitations of human knowledge, on the need to distinguish knowledge from judgement, and on differentiating between different degrees of assent” (wierzbicka 2006: 247). it remains to be verified whether the class of epistemic adverbs is indeed so extended in modern english. however, even a brief study of the inventories of epistemic adverbs in english and polish shows that the task of identifying equivalents within the two sets is not simple, e.g. polish has no positive speech-act adverbs, such as arguably 2 and admittedly (c.f. rozumko 2012). neither does it have equivalents of such adverbs as conceivably and reportedly: there are no adverbs derived from the polish equivalents of conceive/conceivable and report. as a result, it is difficult for polish learners to identify the contexts in which such adverbs should be used, and, as i have demonstrated elsewhere, their repertoire of english epistemic adverbs tends to be rather narrow (rozumko 2008). the dictionaries used in the present study include the great english-polish dictionary by stanisławski (1999), collins english-polish dictionary (1996), the longman dictionary of contemporary english (1990), and two online dictionaries: bab.la (http://pl.bab.la/slownik) and the free dictionary (www.thefreedictionary.com). they are all commonly used dictionaries which polish learners of english are likely to consult. bab.la was conceived as a dynamic project, open to contributions from its users, which is why its definitions are sometimes problematic. its founders take no responsibility for the examples coming from external sources. instead, they encourage the users of bab.la to suggest corrections and improvements. despite these shortcomings, the dictionary is useful because it contains numerous examples illustrating the use of epistemic adverbs (and other lexical items) in different contexts. the english examples contain references to the sources from which they have been excerpted and links to the websites where they can be found in wider contexts. the free dictionary offers definitions which come from a number of traditional dictionaries, such as: the american heritage dictionary of the english language (2009), collins english dictionary – complete and unabridged (2003), collins thesaurus of the english language – complete and unabridged (2009), as well as the electronic lexical database of english wordnet 3.0. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to analyze the ways all english epistemic adverbs are defined in the dictionaries. such a task would also require establishing their exact number in english because no satisfactory classification or selection criteria have been proposed for this category so far. those singled out for the analysis include the adverbs which wierzbicka (2006: 262) lists as the most central ones in english: allegedly, apparently, arguably, clearly, conceivably, evidently, obviously, possibly, presumably, probably, reportedly, seemingly, supposedly, undoubtedly and unquestionably, as well as two less frequent ones: avowedly and manifestly in order to examine the correlation between the frequencies of the adverbs and their treatment in the dictionaries. whenever the frequencies of the adverbs are given, reference is made to their occurrences in the british national corpus (100 million words). 3. the omission of epistemic adverbs from dictionaries the most characteristic tendency in the lexicographic sources analyzed in the present study is that epistemic adverbs tend to be given less attention than other lexical means of expressing epistemic modality, i.e. the verbs and adjectives which they derive from. some of the adverbs under analysis do not even have separate entries in the dictionaries. it is particularly characteristic of one of the biggest english-polish (and polish-english) dictionaries: stanisławski (1999). among its 200,000 entries there are no entries for: allegedly, arguably, evidently, manifestly, obviously, presumably, probably or reportedly. while their existence in english is ignored by the dictionary, the adjectives and verbs which they derive from: alleged, arguable, evident, obvious, probable, manifest, presume and report are all defined. interestingly, stanisławski defines the adverb presumedly, which is marginal in english in comparison with presumably. presumedly is not evidenced in the british national corpus, while presumably has 3,198 occurrences in it. the lexicographer clearly focused on the patterns of word formation rather than the function and frequency of the word in english: 3 presumedly is likely to have been listed because of its morphological similarity to presumed, which precedes it in the dictionary. the hierarchy of stanisławski’s lexicographic description is clear: verbal meanings are given most attention, then nominal ones, followed by adjectival meanings. adverbial meanings are clearly thought to be of secondary importance or even omissible. sometimes, as in the case of the adverbs listed above, even their forms are not registered in the dictionary. collins english-polish dictionary (1996) is smaller in size than stanisławski (1999) – it has 80,000 entries – but it lists all the adverbs from wierzbicka’s (2006) list; it does not include the less frequent avowedly and manifestly. contrary to stanisławski, it does not list presumedly, which suggests that, at least in the case of epistemic adverbs, its compilers were to a greater extent guided by the frequency of the adverbs in english. stanisławski’s dictionary is much older than suggested by the year of the publication of the edition analyzed in this study, and as such it belongs to an older lexicographic tradition than collins. it was written in the years 1955-1964, and revised in the 1970s. it contains numerous specialist terms (botanical, zoological), at the same time omitting many everyday words, such as the epistemic adverbs mentioned above. collins is less specialist in its choice of terminology and more comprehensive in its coverage of the general lexicon. the monolingual longman dictionary of contemporary english (1990) does not define avowedly, conceivably or manifestly. it does not have separate entries for allegedly, arguably, undoubtedly or unquestionably, though these adverbs are defined briefly in the entries for the adjectives or verbs which they are derived from. a short definition of allegedly is included in the entry for allege; arguably is defined briefly in the entry for arguable; undoubtedly is included in the entry for undoubted, and a definition of unquestionably can be found in the entry for unquestionable. in longman, the focus is clearly on the most frequent ones, such as probably (26,552 occurrences in the british national corpus) and obviously (10,658 occurrences). the less frequent adverbs, i.e. avowedly (37 occurrences), manifestly (199), conceivably (266), and unquestionably (219) are given less or no attention. online dictionaries are more comprehensive. the online english-polish dictionary bab.la defines all the adverbs under analysis with the exception of conceivably. the monolingual free dictionary lists and defines all of them. 4. the use of synonyms and multiple equivalents to explain the meanings of epistemic adverbs one of the most significant problems connected with the description of epistemic adverbs is that lexicographers tend to define them by providing their synonyms, i.e. they give other epistemic adverbs as their equivalents. this problem has already been noted by danielewiczowa (2008b) with reference to monolingual dictionaries of polish. in this way, individual properties of each of the adverbs are ignored and, as a result, none of them is properly defined. in the case of bilingual dictionaries, such treatment is to be expected because their users usually look for equivalents of english words in their native language. the problem is, however, that dictionaries often provide several polish equivalents of each of the english epistemic adverbs, thus losing the specific qualities of both the defined item and each of the equivalents. stanisławski usually gives three or even four polish counterparts for each of the english epistemic adverbs under analysis: apparently: (1) widocznie, najwidoczniej, najwyraźniej, (2) pozornie, na pozór avowedly – jawnie, otwarcie 4 clearly – oczywiście, najoczywiściej, najwyraźniej, bezspornie conceivably – możliwie, it may conceivably have been so to jest do pomyślenia, nie jest wykluczone possibly – możliwie, być może seemingly – pozornie, na pozór, widocznie undoubtedly – niewątpliwie, z pewnością, zapewne supposedly – przypuszczalnie, podobno, rzekomo unquestionably – niewątpliwie, z pewnością, niechybnie, bezsprzecznie. such treatment suggests that either all the polish equivalents have the same meanings and functions as their english counterparts or that none of them is in fact a direct equivalent of the english adverb. when four or five words, each having its own meanings and uses, are given as equivalents of one english adverb it is particularly difficult to identify the characteristic properties of the defined adverb. for example, the inclusion of bezspornie as one of the equivalents of clearly – alongside oczywiście, najoczywiściej, and najwyraźniej – obscures rather than clarifies the meaning of the english adverb. bezspornie is semantically and morphologically close to unquestionably or indisputably. it derives from the verb spierać się (eng. ‘dispute, argue’) in the same way as indisputably derives from the verb dispute. neither of them refers to a statement based on available evidence the way clearly (and najoczywiściej and najwyraźniej) does. moreover, when one polish adverb appears as an equivalent of several english adverbs the implication seems to be that those english adverbs also mean the same, e.g. niewątpliwie is given as an equivalent of both undoubtedly and unquestionably, and możliwie is given as an equivalent of conceivably and possibly. the choice of możliwie as an equivalent of the two adverbs is also problematic since, despite its morphological form, which suggests a similarity in meaning to the adjective możliwy (‘possible’), the relation between the two is rather different and less straightforward than in the case of the english possible and possibly. unlike possibly, możliwie is typically used before adverbs, as in możliwie daleko (roughly: ‘as far as possible’). it can also be used to mean ‘not too bad’, e.g. when used in response to jak się czujesz? (‘how are you feeling?’). it seems that stanisławski was misguided by its morphological likeness to the adjective it derives from. collins dictionary (1993) does not use możliwie to define any of the epistemic adverbs under analysis. the polish equivalents which it provides are: allegedly – rzekomo apparently – najwidoczniej, najwyraźniej arguably – prawdopodobnie, być może clearly – wyraźnie, najwyraźniej, najwidoczniej conceivably – niewykluczone evidently – najwyraźniej, ewidentnie obviously – wyraźnie, oczywiście possibly – być może presumably – przypuszczalnie probably – prawdopodobnie reportedly – podobno seemingly – pozornie supposedly – podobno undoubtedly – niewątpliwie, bez wątpienia 5 unquestionably – niewątpliwie, bezsprzecznie. as in stanisławski’s dictionary, the same adverb is given as an equivalent of several english adverbs, which suggests an identity of meanings between such adverbs as arguably and probably; arguably and possibly; supposedly and reportedly; undoubtedly and unquestionably; apparently, clearly and evidently; clearly and obviously. a close inspection of all the polish equivalents suggests that their provision is not very consistent, i.e. if być może is given as an equivalent of both arguably and possibly, there seems to be no specific reason why prawdopodobnie is given as another equivalent of arguably but not possibly. the choice of some equivalents in both stanisławski and collins suggests that many epistemic adverbs are too readily treated as synonyms. their individual semantic and syntactic properties are often ignored. while defining english epistemic adverbs by providing lists of their rough equivalents in polish does give dictionary users an idea of what their meanings are, such definitions are in fact imprecise. it is particularly true of those adverbs which have no direct counterparts in polish, such as arguably, avowedly, conceivably and reportedly. in polish there are no adverbs derived from the adjectives dyskusyjny (arguable) or wyobrażalny (conceivable). likewise, there is no adverb corresponding in its morphological form to reportedly. the verb report itself has no straightforward equivalent in polish. it may be translated as donosić, zgłaszać, or relacjonować (collins), but none of these equivalents have any adverbial derivatives. suggesting a semantic and syntactic identity between reportedly and supposedly, or arguably and possibly may therefore be rather confusing (and disappointing) for inquisitive readers. the examples of their use are not very informative, either, e.g. in the entry for reportedly (collins) we read: “he reportedly ordered them to ….”. the example is so nonspecific that it could also be used in the entries for probably, clearly or obviously. the sentence illustrating the use of conceivably in the collins dictionary is equally uncharacteristic: “he may conceivably be right”. the dictionary leaves it to its readers to wonder if the sentence would mean anything else if conceivably was replaced with possibly or supposedly in this context. the entry for arguably (collins) is even less precise: the polish equivalents prawdopodobnie and być może are followed by the phrase “it is arguably ….” translated as “jest to, być może…”. the strategy of treating numerous epistemic adverbs as synonyms is well illustrated in the entry for presumably provided by bab.la, which gives the word prawdopodobnie as its polish equivalent, while in the polish translations of the twelve english sentences illustrating its use, it is most often rendered as przypuszczalnie, as in the following example: eng.: “it produces these strings of light, presumably as some form of defense.” pol.: “produkuje te strumienie światła, przypuszczalnie jako coś na kształt ochrony.” as already mentioned, bab.la is open to contributions from its users, which the founders of the project do not verify. this is why the dictionary is often unreliable, in particular in the case of epistemic adverbs, whose individual semantic properties are even overseen by trained lexicographers. for example, the entry for possibly gives the words może and możliwie as its polish equivalents, and the words feasibly, perhaps, maybe, perchance, and mayhap as its synonyms in english. with możliwie, bab.la falls into the same trap as stanisławski, but it goes even further and provides an incorrect sentence illustrating its use in polish. one of its english examples of the use of possibly is: 6 “the british government – any government is potentially the worst client in the world you could ever possibly want to have.” it is translated into polish as: “brytyjski rząd – jakikolwiek rząd jest potencjalnie najgorszym klientem na świecie, którego *możliwie chcielibyście mieć.” the use of możliwie in this context makes the sentence awkward. in fact, in polish there are no modal adverbs which could be used in this sentence with the same function as possibly. another example of poor translation from the bab.la dictionary is the rendition of a sentence illustrating the meaning of obviously. the english sentence is: “and i’m not very good at this, so i guess i’d better go play video games or get into sports, or something like that, because i obviously don’t belong here.” its polish version is: “nie jestem dobry w tym, więc lepiej będzie jak zagram w gry, zaangażuję się w sport, bo oczywiście tutaj nie pasuję” the choice of oczywiście as an equivalent of obviously is rather unfortunate; najwyraźniej would be a better option. other collocations are also problematic: “zaangażuję się w sport” should be replaced with “zajmę się sportem”, “zagram w gry” with “pogram w gry wideo” or “zagram w jakąś grę”. an important advantage of the bab.la dictionary is the provision of a considerable number of examples from english sources, which enables its polish users to see the contexts in which certain lexical items are used. however, the polish equivalents and translations it provides should be treated with caution. the definitions provided by monolingual dictionaries are generally more informative, but they also rely on references to other epistemic adverbs in their definitions. the free dictionary defines (after collins english dictionary) allegedly as: reportedly, supposedly; evidently as obviously, clearly; probably as: most likely, presumably; undoubtedly as: certainly, definitely, unquestionably, etc. longman adopts the same strategy, defining clearly as: undoubtedly, plainly and using probably to explain the meaning of presumably: “it may reasonably be supposed that: probably: if you’ve already eaten, you presumably won’t want dinner. presumably you’ve read this notice (= i suppose/hope that you have)”. likewise, when defining probably longman contrasts its meaning with that of certainly: probably: “almost (but not quite) certainly”, and equates the meaning of undoubtedly (barely mentioned in the entries for undoubted, and doubt) with that of certainly: “there will undoubtedly (=certainly) be trouble with the unions if she is dismissed”. what usually distinguishes monolingual dictionaries from bilingual ones is the inclusion of notes on the usage of the lexical items which they explain. bilingual dictionaries tend to be rather brief in this respect. however, in the case of the epistemic adverbs under analysis the notes offered by the monolingual dictionaries are also rather sparse. when defining possibly longman refers the reader to its language notes on requests and tentativeness, which illustrate the use of possibly in polite requests and suggestions. the free dictionary has notes on the usage of arguably, saying that although the assertion it refers to is open to debate, it can be supported by persuasive argument, and allegedly – commenting on a recent tendency to use it in controversial, defamatory and sceptical statements. the entries for the other epistemic adverbs under analysis do not contain any notes on their usage. 7 5. references to the entries of adverbs of a similar type it is also common practice for dictionaries to invite their readers to compare adverbs of a similar type. among the adverbs discussed here there is a group of adverbs referred to as evidential, i.e. those which signal that the speaker’s claim is based on some evidence (cf. simon-vandenbergen and aijmer 2007). they include apparently, clearly, obviously, evidently and manifestly. when defining each of them, longman refers the readers to the entries of the others in the group: “apparently: it seems (that); according to what i have heard: i wasn’t there, but apparently it was a good party. /apparently they’re intending to put up the price of electricity. /did she pass her test? apparently not. (2) it is clear (that): apparently she never got my letter after all. – compare evidently, obviously” “evidently: it is proved by clear signs (that); it is plain (that): he’s evidently not well. – compare apparently, obviously” “obviously: it can be easily seen (that); plainly: this key is obviously the wrong one./is she sorry? –obviously not! look at her. – compare apparently, evidently” such systemic treatment has its advantages because it presents the adverbs in a broader perspective and makes the readers aware of the existence of certain categories within the class of epistemic adverbs. instead of looking at each of them individually and offering more or less accurate equivalents, it presents them as a system of interrelated elements with their individual properties and differences. however, for such a presentation to work it must follow certain principles. first of all, all the elements of the system should be presented, and, secondly, the differences between them should be stated explicitly, explained clearly, and illustrated with examples. most of the longman definitions of the adverbs which can be classified as evidential state that they rely on some sort of evidence. however, they do not specify whether the evidence is of the same or a different kind for all of them. thus, based on longman, apparently seems to refer to aural evidence (“according to what i have heard”), while the definition of obviously suggests a reliance on visual evidence (“it can be seen”). the reference to obviously in the definition of plainly suggests that it also refers to visual evidence. the same, by extension, may be postulated for clearly, which is defined by a reference to plainly. in the case of evidently the type of evidence (“clear signs”) is not specified. manifestly, as already mentioned, is not listed in the longman dictionary. however, an inspection of the quotations included in the british national corpus shows that the above interpretation is not necessarily correct. among the 7,582 occurrences of apparently in the bnc there are numerous sentences which demonstrate that the conclusion that the adverb relies on aural evidence is wrong, e.g.: “later in the letter, considering apparently a different sort of poem written by williams, hart crane confesses.” “for four days the battalion suffered continuous attacks from apparently limitless numbers, during which it made a fighting withdrawal of 10 miles.” “there we discovered the £7.50 hamburger meal, flower-selling girls with chanel handbags and wealthy exhibitionists who apparently enjoyed being part of a human zoo, preening themselves on their extravagant yachts while the hoi-polloi stared up from the quayside.” 8 it thus appears that interpreting longman definitions literally, and assuming that they focus on the most distinctive properties of the lexical items which they explain is likely to lead to wrong conclusions. the strategy of comparing the meanings of adverbs of the same kind only makes sense when some differences between them are pointed out. otherwise, the comparison only blurs their meaning. longman entries for the other, i.e. non-evidential subcategories of the epistemic adverbs under analysis do not contain any references to the entries of adverbs of a similar type. 6. defining adverbs with reference to the corresponding adjectives and verbs another tendency in the lexicographic descriptions of epistemic adverbs under analysis is explaining their meanings with reference to the verbs and adjectives they derive from. as noted by danielewiczowa (2008), this approach is not restricted to dictionaries; it is also commonly used in grammar books and monographs on modality. the most extreme case of such a reduction of adverbial meanings involves putting adverbs at the end of the entries for the related adjectives and verbs, rather than explaining their meanings in separate entries. this is the case with the longman definitions of allegedly – defined briefly in the entry for allege as “according to what is alleged”, and unquestionably – defined in the entry for unquestionable as “which cannot be doubted, certain, indisputable”. when epistemic adverbs are defined in separate entries their meanings are also often explained with reference to the adjectives or verbs which they derive from, as in the longman definition of possibly: “in accordance with what is possible”, the free dictionary definitions of allegedly: “it is alleged that”, arguably: “it can be argued that”, clearly: “in a clear manner”, presumably: “one presumes or supposes that”, and obviously: “it is obvious that”. the verbal and adjectival meanings are clearly perceived as central while the explanations of adverbial meanings are reduced to the minimum. such treatment ignores both the specific characteristics of epistemic adverbs as a category and the individual properties of each of the adverbs within the group. as stressed by both wierzbicka (2006) and danielewiczowa (2008, 2012), epistemic verbs, adjectives and adverbs have their distinct meanings and functions. in expressing the speaker’s knowledge, verbs are more subjective and speaker-centred than adverbs and adjectives. phrases such as i presume, i argue, and i suppose emphasize the speaker’s stance and his/her point of view. adverbs, on the other hand, “objectify the speaker’s own attitude by extending it, in anticipation, to other people” (wierzbicka 2006: 289). by using an epistemic adverb the speaker indicates that s/he thinks “that his or her own stand can be shared by other people” (wierzbicka 2006: 287). epistemic adjectives, in turn, lack the element of subjectivity in their meaning. expressions such as it is possible, or it is obvious make a statement sound more objective. thus, as danielewiczowa (2008a: 50-51) puts it, when the meanings of epistemic adverbs are reduced to the meanings of epistemic verbs, the element of objectivity is lost, while, by reducing their meanings to the meanings of adjectives we lose the element of subjectivity which is also inherent in their meanings. 7. conclusions as demonstrated above, dictionaries tend to pay less attention to epistemic adverbs than epistemic verbs and adjectives. adverbs are more commonly omitted from dictionaries, in particular those whose frequency in english is not very high, such as manifestly and conceivably. adverbial meanings are treated as secondary and derivable from adjectives and verbs, much in the same way as adverbs are derived from adjectives and verbs morphologically. this is why adverbs are often included in the entries of adjectives and verbs. 9 the individual properties of each of the epistemic adverbs are not given much attention. those which express similar meanings tend to be treated as synonyms, which is why monolingual dictionaries use lists of synonyms to define them, and bilingual dictionaries provide a number of polish equivalents of each english adverb. from the perspective of a dictionary user the dictionaries would be more useful if they presented epistemic adverbs as a system of interrelated elements with their individual properties. however, such a presentation will only be possible when epistemic adverbs receive a more systematic treatment from language scholars. references: danielewiczowa, magdalena. 2008a. “opis przysłówków epistemicznych jako wyzwanie teoretyczne”, prace filologiczne t. liv. seria językoznawcza, 47-62. --. 2008b. “jak nie należy opisywać przysłówków epistemicznych?”, wiener slawitischer almanach, sonerband 72, lexikalishe evidenzialitäts-marker in slavischen sprachen, 109128. --. 2012. w głąb specjalizacji znaczeń. przysłówkowe metapredykaty atestacyjne. warszawa: uniwersytet warszawski, bel studio. holmes, janet. 1983. “speaking english with the appropriate degree of conviction”. in: c. brumfit (ed.) learning and teaching languages for communication: applied linguistics perspectives. london: centre for information on language teaching and research, 100113. rozumko, agata. 2008. “an interdisciplinary approach to teaching grammar to prospective teachers of english”. in: k. bogacki, b. głowacka and d. potocka (eds.) interdisciplinary perspectives in foreign language teacher education, białystok: wydawnictwo uniwersytetu w białymstoku, 309-318. --. 2012, “speech-act adverbs in english and polish: a cross-linguistic and cross-cultural comparison”, białostockie archiwum językowe 12, 183-196 simon-vandenbergen, anne marie and karin aijmer. 2007. the semantic field of modal certainty: a corpus-based study of english adverbs, berlin and new york: mouton de gruyter. the british national corpus: http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/ wierzbicka, anna. 2006. english: meaning and culture. oxford: oxford university press. dictionaries: collins english-polish dictionary. 1996. (ed. by j. fisiak), warszawa: polska oficyna wydawnicza. longman dictionary of contemporary english (2 nd edition) 1990. longman: harlow/warszawa: pwn. stanisławski, jan (1999), the great english-polish dictionary, warszawa: wydawnictwo philip wilson. http://pl.bab.la/slownik/ http://www.thefreedictionary.com 10 1 agnieszka smoleńska the university of rzeszow wordplay in selected polish translations of alice’s adventures in wonderland by lewis carroll introduction alice’s adventures in wonderland, a novel written by charles lutwidge dodgson under the pseudonym lewis carroll, is commonly considered to be one of the finest books ever written. this timeless story has provided inspiration for numerous influential artists –writers, painters, directors, rock stars, singers and composers, and video game designers. salvador dali, for instance, created 12 illustrations – one for each chapter of carroll’s story, and walt disney released the animated film alice in wonderland in 1951. roland topor, a french illustrator, painter and writer, wrote alice au pays des lettres, and andrzej sapkowski, a polish writer of fantasy books, presented the story from the point of view of the cheshire cat in złote popołudnie. also, in a popular science fiction film the matrix neo is sent a message to “follow the white rabbit”. these are just a few examples of works inspired by this extraordinary tale. not all books require great artistry to be translated. however, some publications are very difficult to render into another language, and constitute a real challenge for translators. carroll’s novel indisputably belongs to this category. this literary masterpiece is so complex and full of riddles and wordplay that every reader (and translator) may construe it in his/her individual way. the book has been translated into more than 125 languages, including esperanto, hindi, hebrew, gaelic, pashto and swahili. there are also versions in braille (thomas 2007). the first polish version appeared 45 years after the publication of the original. at the moment, 10 polish translations are available. in this paper i put under scrutiny the ways in which polish translators have dealt with the wordplay used by l. carroll in alice’s adventures in wonderland. i focus on the renderings by antoni marianowicz (1955), macviej słomczyński and maria kaniewska, though occasionally reference is also made to the works of other translators. the origins of carroll’s masterpiece lewis carroll was born on january 27, 1832 in daresbury, cheshire, england as charles lutwidge dodgson. his biggest problem was a stutter, which resulted in better relations with children than with adults. it was his father who had a great influence on his life. to continue the family traditions, dodgson become a pastor (but never undertook pastoral duties). he also inherited an outstanding passion for mathematics, and, as a consequence, published approximately 250 papers on logic, mathematics and cryptography (nowy słownik literarury dla dzieci i młodzieży 1979: 95). he was also a photographer. one of his favourite models was alice liddell – the archetype of the protagonist in alice’s adventures in wonderland. this occupation has provoked a lot of suspicion, since dodgson mainly took pictures of little girls, who sometimes posed nude. it was speculated that he may have suffered from some kind of sexual deviation. however, all of the photos were taken at the children’s parents’ request, and women, who, as children, were photographed by dodgson remembered him as a dear friend who gave them high self-esteem (thomas 2007: 27). 2 dodgson became famous for another reason. in addition to taking photographs of his little friends he also used to tell children incredible stories about imaginary creatures to entertain them during those sessions. his dominant inspiration was again alice liddell. it became something of a tradition for him to take alice and her two sisters out for picnics, during which he told them tales. on one of his expeditions dodgson invented a story about a girl named alice, who falls down a rabbit hole into a strange place called wonderland, where she experiences numerous adventures (thomas 2007: 186-187). the title of dodgson’s novel was originally different from the one we all know today. “alice’s adventures underground was the first name of the story; later on it became alice’s hour in elfland. it was not until june 18, 1864 that he finally decided upon alice’s adventures in wonderland” (collingwood 1967: 96). the book was published in 1865. dodgson’s pen name originated from an anglicized form of his name -“lewis” stands for lutwidge and “carroll” is an anglicized form of charles. most probably, his mathematical fondness had an impact on his masterpiece, as it contains numerous plays on words riddles and tongue twisters. alice turned out to be a real sensation, since it was not a book conventionally familiar to victorians. people either loved it or hated it. for instance, antheneum wrote that “a normal child would be rather puzzled than enchanted by this strange and twisted story”(thomas 2007:197). among its first readers were people such as queen victoria and oscar wilde. the success of the book led carroll to write a sequel – through the looking glass and what alice found there, which became equally popular. polish translations of alice’s adventures in wonderland carroll’s masterpiece is a challenge for translators because of its linguistic intricacies – complex syntax, numerous puns and allusions – which may remain unnoticed without a sufficient knowledge of the book’s origins and the details of the victorian era. at the moment, 10 polish renderings of this book are available. the first one, by adela s. (her full name is unknown), appeared in 1910 – 45 years after the publication of the original. its fate after world war i remains a mystery. all that is known about her version is that adela s. named her translation przygody alinki w krainie cudów, and that it was an adaptation of the original story addressed at young readers rather than a faithful rendering. in 1927 the warsaw publishing house gebethner i wolff ordered a new version. the author of this rendering was maria morawska. she named it ala w krainie czarów, and on its first page she gave an inscription saying “free translation from english”, which turned out to be true, as many excerpts were omitted and others were added. morawska tried to simplify the text and set the story in a polish context. the strongest point of this version is the inclusion of nursery rhymes translated by the polish poet antoni lange. in 1955 the next rendering of alice, by antoni marianowicz, appeared on the polish publishing market. his translation is the most polonized one and is clearly directed at the youngest readers. the victorian nursery rhymes that in the original book are parodied by carroll were changed by marianowicz into parodies of famous polish nursery rhymes. maciej słomczyński, the translator of all of shakespeare’s works and ulysses by james joyce, wrote the next rendering of alice in 1965; he was also the first to translate through the looking glass and what alice found there into polish. it was the first text that was consistent with the original tale and revealed its oniric character. in the preface to his work słomczyński wrote: “i wanted this book to contain the same things that the original one contains: two overlapping books – for children and for adults. furthermore, i wanted this 3 book to be written in the language of a dream and in the grammar of a dream dreamt in victorian england” (słomczyński 2000: 6, translation mine: a.s). the fifth polish translation of alice’s adventures in wonderland came into being in 1986. robert stiller, a translator of a clockwork orange by anthony burgess and lolita by vladimir nabokov, was deeply convinced that słomczyński’s version did not equal the original one and decided to write his own translation. he supplied his text with nearly 100 annotations, explaining the facts concerning the reality of victorian england, and information about the author and the archetype of the protagonist. moreover, these footnotes also explain the wordplays which have lost their meanings in translation. stiller relied greatly on the renderings of his predecessors, whom he had previously criticized. eventually, his translation never became more popular than słomczyński’s version. jolanta kozak’s and iwona libucha’s versions were published at almost the same time. kozak’s rendering is very anachronistic. there are numerous colloquial expressions and teenage sayings. she also changed some characters’ names that were deeply rooted in the minds of polish readers. for instance, “kot z cheshire” has been changed into “szczery kot” (lit. ‘an honest cat’). however, such a modernized version was not well-received. libucha’s book is a short adaptation of alice without wordplays and nursery rhymes. even the characters’ names are so simplified that it is no longer clear whether this is still a translation of alice or not. in the centenary of the first polish edition of alice’s adventures in wonderland, in 2010, two new versions of it appeared on the polish publishing market. one of them was written by bogumiła kaniewska. she stuck to the original and used very simple language without losing the finesse of the text. she neither modernized nor imitated the style of the original. her renderings of carroll’s wordplays are very novel and accurate. consequently, her book is widely considered as one of the best polish translations. another version from 2010 was published by krzysztof dworak. the most considerable merit of this edition are the illustrations and the graphic design created by robert ingpen. his innovative pictures differ significantly from tenniel’s grotesque vision of the wonderland which was presented in the first edition of the original. nevertheless, many readers maintain that this is the most beautiful edition of alice’s adventures in wonderland in poland. the most recent translation of carroll’s work was written by elżbieta tabakowska the director of the unesco chair in translation studies and intercultural communication at jagiellonian university. she is also a translator of norman davies’s works and an author of books on the theory and practice of translation. in 2012 bona publishing house edited the result of her long-term work. her book is decorated with the illustrations of tove jansson, the author of the moomin books. in her rendering tabakowska changed victorian nursery rhymes into well-known polish songs and poems. this time “alice speaks normal present-day language, which would be used by a girl from jansson’s pictures if she were a pole” (tabakowska 2012: 116, translation mine: a.s). because of that, many polish readers claim that alice in tabakowska’s translation is closer to them. ten translations of one book may seem too many. however, when tabakowska was asked why she wrote another rendering of alice, she said: “when asked this question, a translator may answer in the same way as did a great climber who was asked why he was climbing mountains and said: ‘because they exist’ ” (tabakowska 2012:115, translation mine: a.s). it is also the case with carroll’s masterpiece – it exists, and because of its greatness it sill seduces translators to try and create their own versions of alice. 4 an analysis of polish translations of wordplay in alice’s adventures in wonderland the following analysis focuses on three polish renderings of carroll’s masterpiece: one by antoni marianowicz, the second written by maciej słomczyński, and the last one by bogumiła kaniewska. occasionally, reference will also be made to other translations. it is beyond the scope of the present paper to discuss all the cases of wordplay included in the book, so the foregoing will only look at the most well-known ones or those which differ significantly across the translations. one of the first and probably the most famous examples of wordplay in alice’s adventures in wonderland can be found in chapter 3 – a caucus-race and a long tale. this fragment focuses on the mouse’s misery and alice’s curiosity about why this animal hates cats and dogs. eventually, the rodent offers to tell its tale. the title of this passage itself is a pun, since the word tale is homophonous with tail. polish versions of this title differ enormously. morawska (1997), for instance, rendered it as wyścigi (eng. ‘race’), marianowicz’s (1988) version is wyścigi ptasie i opowieść myszy (eng. ‘a bird race and the mouse’s tale’), słomczyński (2000) translated it as wyścigi kumotrów i ogonopowieść (eng. ‘a log-rollers’ race and a tail-tale’), while stiller (1986) titled it kumoterski wyścig i ogoniasta opowieść. (eng. ‘a log-rolling race and a tale with a tail’). the most recent renderings are found in dworak (2009): gonitwa za stanowiskami oraz rzecz długa o smutnym zakończeniu (eng. ‘a jobs race and a long thing with a sad ending’), kaniewska (2010), whose version is wyścigi elit i długaśna opowieść (eng. ‘the elite’s race and a long-long tale’), and tabakowska (2012), who named it maraton przedwyborczy i długa opowieść (eng. ‘a preelection marathon and a long tale’). as can easily be observed, most of the translations failed to convey the ambiguity of the original. słomczyński and stiller showed their creativity and attempted to include the polish equivalents of tail (pol. ogon) and tale (pol. opowieść), but the most felicitous translation is probably the one created by dworak. he changed the word tale into rzecz długa o smutnym zakończeniu (a long thing with a sad ending), which, in fact, may refer both to ogon (tail) and opowieść (tale). the situation becomes even more complicated when it comes to the translation of a longer passage. the original reads as follows: ‘you promised to tell me your history, you know,’ said alice,’ and why it is you hate c and d,’ she added in a whisper, half afraid that it would be offended again. ‘mine is a long and a sad tale!’ said the mouse, turning to alice, and sighing. ‘it is a long tail, certainly,’ said alice, looking down with wonder at the mouse’s tail; ‘but why do you call it sad?’ (carroll 1992: 37) marianowicz rendered it as: obiecałaś, że opowiesz mi swoją historię rzekła alicja. dlaczego nie znosisz „k” i „p” dodała półszeptem, nie chcąc raz jeszcze obrazić myszy. dobrze, obiecałam. zobaczysz sama, jak bardzo ten problem jest zaogniony... za o... powtórzyła bezmyślnie alicja, nie bardzo rozumiejąc, o co chodzi. za o..., ale za co?... za ogony! przypomniała sobie, gdy popatrzyła na długi i kręty ogon myszy (1988: 48) słomczyński’s version is: 5 obiecałaś, że opowiesz mi o swoim losie powiedziała alicja i o tym, dlaczego nienawidzisz... k i p dodała szeptem, obawiając się, że urazi ją ponownie. o, goni smutny i długi mnie los, smutny i długi jak ta opowieść! powiedziała myszka, zwracając się ku alicji i wzdychając. ogon i smutny, i długi? powiedziała alicja spoglądając ze zdumieniem na jej ogon. długi tak, ale dlaczego mówisz, że smutny? (2000: 27) whereas kaniewska dealt with this fragment in the following way: obiecałaś, że opowiesz mi swoją historię nalegała alicja. wiesz, tę, która mówi, dlaczego nie lubisz tych na ka ani tych na pe dodała szeptem, w obawie, że mysz znów poczuje się obrażona. to będzie długi i smutny agon! powiedziała mysz, spoglądając na alicję i wzdychając. tak, rzeczywiście długi powiedziała alicja, zerkając w dół na ogon myszy. ale dlaczego uważasz, że jest smutny? (2000: 43) in the original the play on words is obvious. the mouse says that its story is very long and miserable. as the animal uses the word tale, which sounds identical to the word tail, alice confuses these words. consequently, she can perfectly understand that the mouse’s tail is long, but she cannot see it as being sad. marianowicz changed the original text. he replaced one pun with another. it is still the conversation about why the mouse hates cats and dogs, but alice is not surprised by the fact that the animal says that it has a long tale. here, alice simply did not understand what the mouse had said and she tries to guess what it could be. this translator substitutes the word tale with the word problem (a problem) and describes it as being zaogniony (very complicated). then, when alice looks at the rodent’s tail, she immediately starts to think that what the mouse said is za ogony (for tails). as can easily be noticed, marianowicz sought to make a connection between the adjective zaogniony and the phrase za ogony. from the semantic point of view these words have very little in common, since zaogniony comes from the word ogień (fire) and not from the word ogon (tail), but they sound similar. the next quoted fragment comes from słomczyński’s translation. he modified the original text to create a new wordplay. he came up with the phrase o, goni smutny i długi mnie los (o, a sad and a long fate is chasing me), which in fast speech might be understood as ogon i smutny i długi (a sad and a long tail). this is also the case in this passage. alice mishears this phrase and cannot understand why the mouse calls its tail sad. all in all, even though the text is slightly different, słomczyński’s wordplay is very close to the original pun. kaniewska, in turn, made an attempt to translate carroll’s pun as literally as possible. the form of this fragment is almost identical to the original. the only visible difference is in the change of the word tale into agon, which comes from the word agonia (agony). the word has nothing to do with tales but it is semantically close to a mournful story and it differs from the word ogon in only one vowel. another example of wordplay involving homophones occurs in chapter 9 – the mock turtle’s story. in this section, the mock turtle, despite his constant sobbing, tries to tell his story about how he used to be a real turtle in school times. the original version is: 6 ‘when we were little,’ the mock turtle went on at last, more calmly, though still sobbing a little now and then, ‘we went to school in the sea. the master was an old turtle we used to call him tortoise -’ ‘why did you call him tortoise, if he wasn’t one?’ alice asked. ‘we called him tortoise because he taught us,’ said the mock turtle angrily: ‘ really you are very dull!’ (carroll 1992: 114-116) marianowicz rendered it as: kiedy byliśmy mali odezwał się na koniec niby żółw spokojnym już głosem, przerywanym tylko od czasu do czasu cichym łkaniem kiedy byliśmy mali, chodziłem do morskiej szkoły. nauczycielem naszym był pewien stary, bezzębny rekin, którego nazywaliśmy piłą. dlaczego nazywaliście go piłą, skoro był rekinem, a w dodatku nie miał zębów? zapytała alicja. -ponieważ piłował nas wciąż w czasie lekcji odparł ze zniecierpliwieniem niby żółw. twoje pytanie nie świadczy doprawdy o zbyt wielkim rozsądku (1988: 166). słomczyński’s translation reads as follows: gdy byliśmy dziećmi powiedział wreszcie żółwiciel głosem spokojniejszym, choć przerywanym od czasu do czasu łkaniem uczęszczaliśmy do szkoły znajdującej się w morzu. nauczycielem naszym był stary żółw... nazywaliśmy go ostrygą... dlaczego nazywaliście go ostrygą, jeżeli nią nie był? zapytała alicja. nazywaliśmy go ostrygą, bo był ostry powiedział gniewnie żółwiciel. jesteś naprawdę bardzo tępa! (2000: 79) kaniewska’s rendition is: kiedy jeszcze byliśmy mali niby-żółw w końcu podjął opowieść i mówił trochę spokojniej, choć od czasu do czasu pochlipywał chodziliśmy do szkoły w morzu. naszym nauczycielem był pewien stary żółw, nazywaliśmy go uczeń... dlaczego nazywaliście go uczniem, jeżeli nim nie był? spytała alicja. nazywaliśmy go uczniem, bo nas uczył rozzłościł się niby-żółw. naprawdę, strasznie tępa jesteś! (2010: 130) while dworak’s version is: kiedy byliśmy mali nibyżółw podjął opowieść spokojniej, choć nadal od czasu do czasu pochlipywał chodziliśmy do szkoły w morzu. nauczycielem był stary żółw morski nazywaliśmy go żółwiem lądowym... dlaczego nazywaliście go żółwiem lądowym, skoro nim nie był? zapytała alicja. 7 bo często lądowaliśmy u niego na dywaniku odparł ze złością nibyżółw. naprawdę jesteś tępa! (2009: 134) in carroll’s novel the mock turtle says that he used to go to the sea school every single day and his master was an old turtle named tortoise. alice wants to know why they called him this, and the creature explains that they named him tortoise “because he taught us”. here the pun plays on the phonetic similarity of “taught us” and “tortoise”, the name of a similar type of creature. in polish turtle and tortoise are żółw morski and żółw lądowy respectively, but polish speakers rarely distinguish between these species and call both żółw. marianowicz decided to use different animal names than carroll did. he changed an old turtle into stary rekin (‘an old shark’) whom the students named piła (‘sawfish’). to make the pun even more humorous he added the adjective bezzębny (‘toothless’) to describe this creature. the wordplay consists in the use of the word piła and the turtle’s explanation, where he says that they used to call the teacher this way since he piłował (‘pestered/was very strict towards’) his students. actually, the verb piłować, which in colloquial language is used to indicate that someone, especially a teacher, is very strict, comes from the word piła (a saw). nevertheless, in polish this word is a homonym, which may refer either to a saw or to a sawfish. what is also interesting is the fact that over 30 years later robert stiller (1986) made use of marianowicz’s idea and included the same pun in his own translation of this book. słomczyński coped with this fragment in a different way. he translated an old turtle as stary żółw, who was called ostryga (an oyster). the reason for naming this teacher ostryga is that he was ostry (severe). even though these words do not derive from the same term and they have little in common on the semantic level, they include the same element – ostry. accordingly, they might be quite easily associated with each other. as in marianowicz’s version, the teacher is portrayed as demanding and strict, whereas in the original there is no reference to this fact. kaniewska found yet another solution to translate this pun. in her version the old turtle was called uczeń (a learner). when alice interrupts the mock turtle to find out why they called him uczeń if he was not one, the creature responds: nazywaliśmy go uczniem, bo nas uczył. its literal translation into english – ‘we called him a learner because he taught us’ sounds completely illogical, but in polish uczyć refers to both learning and teaching, though when it is used to mean ‘learn’ it is a reflexive verb accompanied by się (oneself). uczeń is not a person who teaches (it is nauczyciel in polish), but a polish reader will understand the connection. the last quoted passage is written by dworak. this translation is the closest to the original while looking at the animals chosen. here, a turtle was rendered as żółw morski and a tortoise was translated as żółw lądowy. to justify his decisions he came up with the mock turtle’s explanation that they used to call their teacher this way, bo często lądowaliśmy u niego na dywaniku (‘because we were often called on the carpet’). the words lądowy (‘living on land’) and lądować (‘to land’) are semantically related, so it is easy for polish speakers to associate one with the other. all in all, dworak’s attempt is quite successful, as he managed to preserve the comic effect of the original. there is another instance of wordplay in the same chapter. the mock turtle continues to talk about his education, which he considers to be the best available. alice is curious about what subjects he studied. the original reads as follows: ‘what was that?’ inquired alice. 8 ‘reeling and writhing, of course, to begin with,’ the mock turtle replied; ‘and then the different branches of arithmetic ambition, distraction, uglification, and derision.’ ‘i never heard of “uglification,” alice ventured to say. ‘what is it?’ the gryphon lifted up both its paws in surprise. ‘what! never heard of uglifying!’ it exclaimed. ‘you know what to beautify is, i suppose?’ ‘yes,’ said alice doubtfully: ‘it means to make anything prettier.’ ‘well, then,’ the gryphon went on, if you don’t know what to uglify is, you are a simpleton.’ (carroll 1992: 117) marianowicz translated it as: a jakie mieliście przedmioty? zapytała alicja. no, oczywiście przede wszystkim: zgrzytanie i zwisanie. („czytanie i pisanie” pomyślała alicja). ponadto cztery działania arytmetyczne: podawanie, obejmowanie, mrożenie i gdzielenie. nigdy nie słyszałam o gdzieleniu odezwała się nieśmiało alicja. co to za przedmiot? smok podniósł przednie łapy i przybrał pozę wyrażającą bezgraniczne zdumienie. nigdy nie słyszałaś o gdzieleniu? a co mówi nauczyciel, gdy część uczniów nie zdążyła zrobić na czas klasówki? nie wiem. nauczyciel pyta wówczas: „a gdzie lenie, którzy nie oddali jeszcze zeszytów?” i to jest właśnie ten przedmiot. jeśli tego nie rozumiesz, no to wybacz... (1988: 170-171) słomczyński’s version is: jakich? spytała alicja. na początku była oczywiście nauka chlapecadła i portografia odpowiedział żółwiciel a później różne odgałęzienia arytmetyki wodowanie, obejmowanie, dnożenie i brzydzielenie. nigdy nie słyszałam o „brzydzieleniu” odważyła się wtrącić alicja. cóż to jest takiego? zdumiony gryf aż uniósł obie łapy. nigdy nie słyszała o „brzydzieleniu”! wykrzyknął. mam nadzieję, że wiesz, co oznacza słowo upięknianie? tak powiedziała niepewnie alicja oznacza to... że... chce się... chce się coś upięknić. w takim razie ciągnął gryf musisz być wielkim głuptasem, jeżeli nie wiesz, co to jest „brzydzielenie” (2000: 80). while kaniewska’s rendition of this fragment is: 9 czyli co?zaciekawiła się alicja. nawijanie i wykręcanie, oczywiście, żeby od czegoś zacząć odpowiedział niby-żółw no i do tego różne dziedziny arytmetyczne: ambicjonowanie, różniczkowanie, szkaradzenie i ironizowanie. nigdy nie słyszałam o takim przedmiocie, jak szkaradzenie odważyła się wtrącić alicja. czego na nim uczą? gryfon podniósł obie łapy ze zdziwienia: co takiego? nie słyszała o szkaradzeniu! wykrzyknął. ale wiesz chyba, o co chodzi w upiększaniu? no tak przyznała niepewnie alicja to znaczy... żeby robić coś... żeby było ładniej... ano właśnie mówił gryfon więc jeśli nie wiesz, o co chodzi w szkaradzeniu, to osioł z ciebie! (p. 132) in the original text the play on words involves the names of extraordinary courses that the mock turtle attended at school. he studied reeling and writing, ambition, distraction, uglification, and derision. reeling is naturally more meaningful to sea creatures than reading, and writhing is more useful than writing, which are the elementary skills taught in school. so is the case with the different branches of arithmetic that the mock turtle was taught – ambition, distraction, uglification, and derision (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). alice asks him to explain uglification, which the mock turtle explains as the reverse of beautification. each of the polish translators dealt with the puns in a different way. marianowicz translated reeling and writhing as zgrzytanie (‘grinding’) and zwisanie (‘hanging down’), which are not connected in any way with sea creatures. in fact, these words are also difficult to associate with the polish equivalents of reading and writing which are czytanie and pisanie. marianowicz was aware of the shortcomings of his rendition and added an explanation in parenthesis: “czytanie i pisanie” – pomyślała alicja (“reading and writing” – alice thought). as far as the names of the branches of arithmetic are concerned, marianowicz’s choices are: podawanie (‘passing’), obejmowanie (‘embracing’), mrożenie (‘freezing’), and gdzielenie (a neologism based on dzielenie ‘division’). gdzielenie is the one alice asks about. to explain this riddle the mock turtle asks alice what the teacher says to students who do not manage to finish their tests on time. alice does not know the answer, which turns out to be: a gdzie lenie, którzy nie oddali jeszcze zeszytów? (‘where are the lazybones who have not yet returned their notebooks?’). słomczyński found another way to render this passage. in this version chlapecadło and portografia stand for reeling and writhing. the former is based on the verb chlapać (‘to splash’) and the word abecadło (‘the alphabet’). the second one is a combination of the words port (‘a harbour’) and ortografia (‘orthography’). these names do not resemble reading and writing but they are easily associated with things taught in school – the alphabet and orthography. the connection with the sea has been retained as well, as in the case of some of the names of the four mathematical calculations, which słomczyński rendered as wodowanie, obejmowanie, dnożenie, and brzydzielenie. wodowanie (‘to launch a ship’) is a combination of the words woda (‘water’) and dodawanie (‘addition’), while dnożenie is a mixture of the terms dno (‘sea bed’) and mnożenie (‘multiplication’). the word that is explained by the mock turtle is brzydzielenie. it is composed of the words brzydki (‘ugly’) and dzielenie (‘division’), which makes it close to the original pun. the turtle’s clarification is 10 also very similar (if not identical) to the one present in carroll’s work, since brzydzielić is to make something uglier. consequently, słomczyński’s version is very close to the original one and preserves the comic effect of the original puns. kaniewska tried to render carroll’s puns as literally as possible, which is why most of the ambiguities and allusions have been lost. reeling and writhing are translated as nawijanie (‘reeling’) and wykręcanie (‘twisting’). ambition becomes ambicjowanie, differentiation is rendered as różniczkowanie, uglification becomes szkaradzenie, derision – ironizowanie. linguistically, the translation is correct, but it fails to preserve any connection with the names of school subjects and sea terms. as chapter 9 abounds in puns one more example is worth mentioning. in the passage quoted below alice asks about the length of the lessons, and the mock turtle responds that they became shorter day by day. alice finds this confusing, but the mock turtle explains that they were called lessons because they “lessen.” the original version is: ‘and how many hours a day did you do lessons?’ said alice, in a hurry to change the subject. ‘ten hours the first day,’ said the mock turtle: ‘nine the next, and so on.’ ‘what a curious plan!’ exclaimed alice. ‘that’s the reason they’re called lessons,’ the gryphon remarked: ‘because they lessen from day to day.’ this was quite a new idea to alice, and she thought it over a little before she made her next remark. ‘then the eleventh day must have been a holiday?’ ‘of course it was,’ said the mock turtle. ‘and how did you manage on the twelfth?’ alice went on eagerly (carroll 1992: 118). morawska’s rendering reads as follows: ile godzin dziennie mieliście lekcje? spytała alicja, aby oderwać strapionych od rozmyślań. dziesięć godzin pierwszego dnia powiedział fałszywy żółw dziewięć następnego itd. nadzwyczajny program zdumiała się alicja. i dlatego nazywali to lekcjami, rozumiesz, z każdym dniem l e k c e j i l e k c e j. taki rozkład zajęć był tak bardzo nowy dla alicji, że przez jakiś czas milczała pogrążona w rozmyślaniu i dopiero po niejakim czasie zapytała: a więc jedenasty dzień był dniem świątecznym? oczywiście, że był potwierdził żółw. a coście robili z dwunastym? zapytała pospiesznie alicja (p. 104-105). marianowicz’s translation is: a czy mieliście często wypracowania? zapytała alicja, pragnąc jak najszybciej zmienić temat rozmowy, nasuwający obu zwierzakom tak bolesne wspomnienia. 11 i owszem. mieliśmy wyprasowania domowe mniej więcej raz na tydzień odrzekł smok. a czasem nawet dwa dodał niby żółw. a jak było u was z ćwiczeniami? o, świetnie, znakomicie. zapewniam cię, że ćwiczeń nam nie brakło. byliśmy ćwiczeni przy każdej okazji odparł dumnie niby żółw (p. 172). słomczyński’s version reads as follows: a miewaliście piątki? zapytała pospiesznie alicja, chcąc szybko zmienić temat. tak, ponad pięćdziesiąt rocznie, cztery miesięcznie i raz w tygodniu. zawsze raz w tygodniu? zawołała zdumiona alicja. oczywiście, że tak powiedział gryf przecież jest tylko jeden piątek w tygodniu. odpowiedź ta tak zdziwiła alicję, że musiała się zastanowić trochę, zanim zadała następne pytanie. a czwórek nie mieliście w takim razie wcale? oczywiście, że nie odparł żółwiciel (2000: 81). while kaniewska rendered it as: a ile godzin zabierały wam lekcje? spytała alicja, żeby jak najprędzej zmienić temat. pierwszego dnia zabierały dziesięć godzin powiedział niby-żółw a następnego zabierały dziewięć godzin i tak dalej. dziwny plan! wykrzyknęła alicja. właśnie dlatego się mówi, że godziny zabierały nam lekcje zauważył gryfon bo każdego dnia zabierały sobie jedną. była to dla alicji absolutna nowość, więc musiała przez chwilę nad nią pomyśleć, nim wygłosiła kolejną uwagę: a więc jedenastego dnia musieliście mieć wolne? no oczywiście powiedział niby-żółw. a jak sobie radziliście dwunastego dnia? alicja była niezwykle ciekawa odpowiedzi (2010: 133-134). in the original the play on words again relies on the use of homophones which are very hard to translate into polish: lesson and lessen. in morawska’s version there are no homophones, nevertheless she managed to preserve the content of the source text, and stayed close to its form. here, when alice is puzzled by the turtle’s lesson plan, he responds that lessons are named lekcje because it is lekcej i lekcej with each passing day. lekcej (‘easier’/lighter’) is a nonstandard form, a comparative of lekko (‘easy/light’). the standard version is lżej but the pun is only possible with the nonstandard 12 variant. some years later stiller (1986) decided to include this rendering in his own translation. marianowicz’s choice was entirely different. he replaced the original exchange with two completely different puns. in his version, alice wants to know how often the sea creature had to write wypracowania (‘essays’). the mock turtle replies that they had wyprasowania once a week. wyprasowanie is a neologism based on the verb prasować (‘to iron’). in the second pun, alice inquires whether they did any ćwiczenia (‘exercises’). the creature confuses this word with the phrase być ćwiczonym, which has a close meaning but in colloquial language is much stronger and refers to drilling with a degree of physical force. marianowicz’s play on words relies on the misunderstandings between the two characters, but it is very distant from both the content and the effect of the original. słomczyński also decided to substitute the original pun with a new one. in his translation alice asks whether students in the mock turtle’s school ever got piątki (‘fives’ – the highest grade in the polish educational system at the time). this word is a homonym in polish: piątki also means ‘fridays’, which is how the turtle understands it. kaniewska found another way to translate this pun. she made use of the homonym zabierać, which may mean either to take something away or to last (‘take time’). according to the mock turtle, during the first day the lessons zabierały (‘took’) ten hours, but on the next day they lasted nine hours and so on. when alice is surprised by this extraordinary lesson plan the mock turtle says that each day zabierał (‘took away’) one lesson. concluding remarks the overview of translations presented in this paper demonstrates why there are so many polish renderings of alice’s adventures in wonderland: the book is so rich in languagespecific puns that there are countless possibilities of rendering it into foreign languages. as barańczak (2004) observes, when someone decides to publish a new translation of a literary work, they usually believe that they can do a better job than their predecessors. the translations discussed here differ in many significant ways. marianowicz’s rendition is domesticated and rather infantile because he translated the book as a story for children. nevertheless, he tried to preserve some of the puns used by carroll or replace them with new ones. słomczyński focused on the humorous effect of the puns more than on the original structure and content of the text. he often modified the source text to have the possibility to play on words. kaniewska’s translation is the most literal of the ones discussed here, which is why it fails to reflect most of the ambiguity and comic quality of the original. references primary sources: carroll, lewis. 1992. alice’s adventures in wonderland and through the looking glass, london: david campbell publishers ltd. --. 1997. alicja w krainie czarów (tr. maria morawska), wrocław: wydawnictwo siedmioróg. --. 1988. alicja w krainie czarów (tr. antoni marianowicz), warszawa: nasza księgarnia. --. 2000. przygody alicji w krainie czarów (tr. maciej słomczyński), kraków: wydawnictwo zielona sowa. 13 --. 1986. alicja w krainie czarów i po drugiej stronie lustra (tr. robert stiller), warszawa: wydawnictwo „alfa”. --. 2010. alicja w krainie czarów (tr. krzysztof dworak), warszawa: buchmann sp. z o.o. --. 2010. alicja w krainie czarów. po drugiej stronie lustra (tr. bogumiła kaniewska), poznań: vesper. --. 2012. alicja w krainie czarów (tr. elżbieta tabakowska), kraków: wydawnictwo bona. secondary sources: bałutowa, bronisława. 1971. mały słownik pisarzy angielskich i amerykańskich, warszawa: państwowe wydawnictwo “wiedza powszechna”. barańczak, stanisław. 2004. ocalone w tłumaczeniu (3 rd ed.) kraków: wydawnictwo a5. collingwood, steward dodgson. 1967. the life and letters of lewis carroll, detroit: gale research company, book tower. kuliczkowska, krystyna, b. tylicka,. (eds.) 1979. nowy słownik literatury dla dzieci i młodzieży, warszawa: państwowe wydawnictwo “wiedza powszechna”. słomczyński, maciej. 2000. “od tłumacza”. in: lewis carroll 2000. przygody alicji w krainie czarów, kraków: wydawnictwo zielona sowa. tabakowska, elżbieta. 2012. “słowo-po-słowie od tłumacza”. in: lewis carroll 2012. alicja w krainie czarów, kraków: wydawnictwo bona. thomas, donald. 2007. lewis carroll po obu stronach lustra, warszawa: wydawnictwo książkowe twój styl. parallaxes as means of organizing memory in travel narratives of patrick leigh fermor and ryszard kapuściński 41 articles grzegorz moroz university of białystok parallaxes as means of organizing memory in travel narratives of patrick leigh fermor and ryszard kapuściński abstract. this paper offers a comparative analysis of travel narratives of two key contemporary writers: patrick leigh fermor and ryszard kapuściński. fermor’s a time of gifts: on foot to constantinople; from the hook of holland to the middle danube (1977), between the woods and the water (1986), and the broken road (2015) are compared with kapuściński’s: imperium (1993), the shadow of the sun (1998), and travels with herodotus (2007). the figure of a ‘parallax’ is suggested as being crucial in capturing the key similarities between fermor’s and kapuściński’s travel narratives. the differences between these narratives are explained in terms of the differences in developments of anglophone and polish travel writing traditions. keywords: travel writing, genre, parallax, ryszard kapuściński, patrick leigh fermor. travel writing (podróżopisarstwo in polish) is often regarded as a supra-generic category combining all types of texts fictional and non-fictional, narrative and non-narrative, versed and nonversed, of which the main theme is travel (see, for example, borm 2004: 13-17, witosz 2007: 11-28). at the centre of the travel writing tradition, both in anglophone literatures and polish literature, there exists a referential genre predominantly narrated in the first person and predominantly nonfictional which is known as the travel book (or travelogue) in english and reportaż podróżniczy in polish. ian borm’s (2004: 17) definition states that the travel book is: “any narrative characterized by a non-fiction dominant that relates (almost always) in the first person a journey or journeys that the reader supposes to have taken place in reality while assuming or presupposing that author, narrator and principal character are but one or identical.” traditionally, both these genres, of travel book and reportaż podróżniczy, have relied on a retrospective type of narration making both travel books and reportaż podróżniczy formally similar to journals and/or diaries. from the perspective of most travel books and most reportaż podróżniczy written over the last two centuries, the minor differences which the historians and theoreticians of life narratives postulate to exist between journals and diaries (see, for example, smith and watson 2001: 193-196) are of no consequence from the perspective adopted in this paper. it is also of little consequence to what ex10.15290/cr.2016.13.2.04 42 crossroads. a journal of english studies tent the final version has followed some regularly kept diary or has diverged from it through subsequent re-writing (see forsdick et al. 2006: 24). most travel books and reportaż podróżniczy are linear, retrospective narratives, usually following the tripartite pattern: of departure, the journey itself, and return. and in most cases, the retrospection does not go back very far, usually extending to a few months, a year or a couple of years at the most. most travel writers (and particularly professional travel writers) write their travel accounts and publish their travel books swiftly after the journey’s end; although some ‘artistic’ travel books take much longer to complete. two famous british travel books which followed the journal/diary textualization process described above but took much longer are alexander kinglake’s eothen (1844) and robert byron’s the road to oxiana (1937). as jonathan raban, himself both a major travel writer and a critic, wrote in his preface to eothen: “the book took kinglake a decade to write. it was revised and re-revised; its style of bright talk was the product of a long process of literary refinement.” (raban 1982: v) a similar method of rigorous revisions and re-writings administered on the text till it acquired the varnish of apparent off-handed spontaneity was performed nine decades later by robert byron. although predominant, travel books and reportaże podróżnicze following relatively closely in the wake of the real journey, are not the only ways of textualizing journeys. there exists an approach that, from the perspective of life narratives’ taxonomy, is much more similar to that of a memoir than of either a diary or a journal. i would like to argue that this type of narrating travel can be best metaphorically captured through the figure of a ‘parallax’, and that three travel books, each of two very prominent travel book writers, one british and one polish, reveal striking similarities, particularly when seen through the lens of a memoir-like type of focalization of the past, where memory is used in a much less mimetic and much more creative ways than in the bulk of travel writing. i will apply the figure of ‘parallax’ to three travel books by patrick leigh fermor (1915-2011): a time of gifts: on foot to constantinople; from the hook of holland to the middle danube (1977), between the woods and the water (1986), and the broken road (2015). according to artemis cooper (2012: 325), the biographer of patrick leigh fermor, in 1966 fermor nursed the idea of giving the title of parallax to the book he was working on at that time. most often used in astronomy, the word alludes to the difference in the appearance of an object seen from two different angles. it seemed a good way to draw attention to the gap between the nineteen-year-old walker and the forty-nine-year-old writer. the initial enthusiasm did not last long, though; fermor got stuck while writing parallax and abandoned the project. he returned to it in the early 1970s and worked laboriously on it until 1977, when the book finally appeared. however, parallex, as the title of the first book to describe fermor’s walk across europe, was replaced by an intertextual, nostalgic quote from a poem written by louise macneice, twelfth night: “for now that the time of gifts is gone…”. a time of gifts, was very appropriate for the ‘winter journey’ of a boy of eighteen through the europe of 1934, described it from the perspective of a man who was passed sixty when the book finally appeared: “for now that the time of gifts is gone--/ o boys that grow, o snows that melt,/ o bathos that the years must fill--/ here is dull earth to build upon/ undecorated; we have reached/ twelfth night or what you will… you will”. as we can see for 43 articles ourselves, macneice’s poem “twelfth night” leads directly to more intertexts, the most obvious of which is shakespeare’s play “twelfth night”, bringing with it evocations of christmases long past, celebrated with traditional medieval gusto, from the first day of christmas to the twelfth day (and night) of christmas, the eve of the epiphany, celebrated on january 6. as artemis cooper (2012: 325-331) explained, it was fermor’s friend and editor john (jock) murray who was not happy with the learned title parallax, and insisted on its change to a title more commercially oriented. i am convinced that ‘parallax’, abandoned by fermor and murray, can nevertheless serve very well as a metaphor as well as a synecdoche for a kind of travel narrative in which the narrator, an experienced traveler, contrasts his/her experienced persona with himself/herself at the beginning of his mind-transforming wanderings. patrick leigh fermor, after his ‘great trudge’ (as he later referred to his venture) on foot across europe, from the hook of holland to constantinople (as he, in his heliophilia, insisted on calling istanbul), undertaken between december 1933 and 1 january 1935, stayed in the balkans, where he learnt the languages and enjoyed life. when world war ii broke out he went to britain to volunteer. he served with the special operations executive in crete, occupied by the germans. he distinguished himself by masterminding and carrying out the kidnapping of german general heinrich kreipe, the regional commander of the island, whom fermor managed to lead all the way through the mountains of crete to a boat on the southern coast which took them to alexandria (occupied by the british at that time). fermor alluded to these events in a time of gifts, mostly in the intertext of an introductory letter opening this travel book, addressed to a great wartime friend and fellow soe officer, xan fielding. after the war fermor led a wandering life and gradually established his reputation (mostly) as a travel writer. his first travel book, the traveller’s tree, which was published in 1950, was a classical travel narrative recounting his travels (with a group of friends) in the west indies in 19471948. fermor’s growing sentiment for his adopted patria of greece led to prolonged wanderings in all different nooks and crannies of continental greece. in 1961, with his wife joan, he bought a plot of land in the remote village of kardamyli on the peloponnese coast, and there they built a comfortable house in a quiet bay (to fermor’s own design). two travel books from this period described the extensive travels which fermor with his wife undertook in greece: mani: travels in the southern peloponnese (1958) and roumeli: travels in northern greece (1966). it was the extended research on greek civilization, ancient and modern, which led to the writing of these two travel books. the narrative persona of both of them may be placed within the category of ‘a gentleman scholar’, more typical in the british travel writing of the nineteenth century, and very rare in the twentieth, where the narrative persona is foregrounded as an amateur scholar, expert in the areas of knowledge of his own choice. in patrick leigh fermor’s mani and roumeli this expertise is extended into such areas as: the hellenic past, its literature and language, the byzantine history of art, the history of greece under ottoman rule, and the history of modern greece. the greeks the fermors meet during their wanderings are described with love, care, warmth and humour, while the strata of the past and customs are laboriously revealed in the erudite narration. 44 crossroads. a journal of english studies mani and roumeli are distinguished by their passionate erudition, but their structures resemble those of other british travel books, when the ‘scholarship’ of the narrator is allowed to be the centre of focalization: thus the chronologically described wanderings are interspersed with learned essays devoted to specific aspects of greek history and culture. at times these essays verge on the poetic, fantastic and/or bizarre. for example, there is a passage in chapter three of mani, entitled kardamyli: byzantium restored, when fermor describes a visit to the hut of the mani fisherman, estavrios mourzinos, who is reputed by local hearsay to be the last descendent of the byzantine emperors. estavrios behaves humbly and appropriately: “that’s what they say,” he said, “but we don’t know anything about it. they are just old stories...” he poured out hospitable glasses of ouzo, and the conversation switched to the difficulties of finding a market for fish, there was so much competition. there is a special delight in this early morning drinking in greece. (fermor 2006: 41) with his skilful novelistic narration, utilizing free indirect speech stressing the banal, everyday topic, the conversation quickly switches to “difficulties of finding a market for fish, there was so much competition”, with the delight of the persona in such conversations and situations, especially as they are carried out ornamented with the customary drinking of a strong local liquor, ouzo, even though it is an early-morning visit. spurred on by ouzo, the narrative persona’s imagination is allowed to run high and wild. the fragment which follows reads: old stories indeed. but supposing every link were verified, each skaky detail proved. supposing this modest and distinguished looking fisherman were really heir of the paleologi, descendant of constantine xi and michael viii the liberator, successor to alexis comnène and basil the bulgar-slayer and leo the isaurian and justinian and theodosius and st. constantine the great? and, for that matter, to diocletian and heliogabalus and marcus aurelius, to the antonines, the flavians, the claudians and the julians, all the way back to the throne of augustus caesar on the palatine, where romulus had laid the earliest foundations of rome?...the generous strength of the second glass of ouzo accelerated these cogitations. (fermor 2006: 44). we do get something of a minor parallax here. long before a time of gifts, there is a hiatus in perspective between the sober (in both senses of the word) narrative persona describing an early morning visit to the hut of a hospitable fisherman and the figure of fermor-traveller, fascinated by greece’s ancient heritage, discernable (even if only through an ouzo-inspired flight of fancy) in modern greece’s remote villages, willingly succumbing to a chat with the fisherman, who has turned out (even if only in the narrator’s fancy) to be a true descendent of byzantine emperors. fermor makes fun of the extended search for documents to demonstrate the imperial lineage all over the post-byzantine world, and gets even more involved in this vision: envoys returned empty-handed from barbados and the london docks... some russian families allied to ivan the terrible and the palaelogue princess anastasia tzarogorodskaja had to be considered... then all 45 articles at once a new casket of documents came to light and a foreign emissary was despatched hot foot to the peloponnese, over the taygetus to the forgotten hamlet of kardamyli... by now all doubt had vanished. the emperor eustrarius leant forward to refill the glasses with ouzo for the fifth time. the basilissa shooed away a speckled hen which had wandered indoors after the crumbs. on a sunny doorstep, stroking a marmalade cat, sat the small diadoch and despot of mitra. (fermor 2006: 45-46) it all leads to the description of the coronation of eustrarius, the emperor-fisherman, and the splendours and glories of the city of byzantium re-created in a vision, at the same time tongue-incheek and overpowering: constantinople appeared beyond our bows, its towers and bastions glittering, its countless domes and cupolas bubbling among pinnacles and dark sheaves of cypresses, all of them climbing to the single great dome topped with the flashing cross that constantine has seen in a vision on the milvian bridge. there, by the golden gate, in the heart of the mighty concourse, waited the lords of byzantium; the lesser caesars and despots and sebastrocrators, the grand logethete in his globular headgear, the counts of the palace, the sword bearer, the chartophylax, the great duke, the thalassocrats and polemarchs, the strateges of the cretan archers, of the hoplites and the peltasts, and the cataphracts, the silentiaries, the count of the excubitors, the governors of the avian themes, the clissourarchs, the grand eunuch and (for by now all byzantine history had melted into a single anachronistic maelstrom) the prefects of sicily and nubia and ethiopia and egypt and armenis... (fermor 2006: 46-47) “an anachronistic maelstrom” continues for a few more pages with verbal virtuosity, combining historical names with linguistic fireworks, interspersed with the fisherman’s cliffhanging gale story. the ending of the chapter is once again realistic: the bottle was empty... the schoolmaster’s shadow darkened the doorway. “you’d better hurry,” he said. “the caique for acropolis is just leaving.” we all rose to our feet, upsetting in our farawells, a basket of freshly cut bait and a couple of tridents which fell to the floor with a clatter. we stepped out into the sobering glare of noon. (fermor 2006: 50) i have quoted just some selected passages from the third chapter of mani, hoping to show the lavishness of fermor’s style, the depth of his research and the intensity of his love of greece and greeks. it took fermor even longer to polish the fragments of parallax, which was to be transformed into the masterpiece a time of gifts. i believe that his laborious method of numerous corrections and ever new renditions of individual fragments can be compared with one major novelist and master-stylist of the english language: james joyce, who spent seven years on ulysses (1914-1921) and fifteen on finnegan’s wake (1924-1939). as alluded to before, the ‘parallax effect’, so central to a time of gifts, the dramatic and nostalgic power of the book, lies to a large extent in these shifts of perspectives between the two figures of patrick leigh fermor. one, a boy of seventeen, a drop out from a series of public schools, living on the fringe of the bohemian world of london and inspired by robert byron, a young travel writer and a great enthusiast of the ‘byzantine achievement’ (which he described in the travel book the station (1928), about his visit to the art treasures of the holy mountain of athos) at the begin46 crossroads. a journal of english studies ning of december 1933, on board a small trade vessel sails from london to the hook of holland; hoping to walk all the way across europe to constantinople with a small backpack filled with some clothes, a notebook and a copy of the oxford book of verse. the other figure it the narrative persona of a time of gifts, a middle-aged travel writer who over the four decades that have passed since his ‘great trudge’ has accumulated the wealth of experiences and erudition. in a time of gifts the final success was achieved by fermor not only thanks to great care with the poetic, often nostalgic use of english, although this was the feature of the book that was most often discussed by reviewers, but also thanks to a very elaborate combination and intermingling of such disparate elements as: sophisticated intertextuality and the great concern for a harmonious union between the text proper and various paratexts and intertexts (on the importance of paratexts in a time of gifts, see moroz 2016). poetry as an intertext (and a metatext) joining the two ‘parallaxed’ aspects of fermor, aged seventeen and forty-nine, is given a crucial role, starting from the three carefully selected epigraphsparatexts opening the book. one, as mentioned before, comes from a poem by louis macneice “twelfth night”. one comes from the metaphysical poet george herbert and reads: “i struck the board and cry’d ‘no more/ i will abroad.’/ what, shall i ever sigh and pine?/ my life and lines are free; free as the road, loose as the wind.” and one is given in the latin original and comes from a poem by titus petronius arbiter linque tuas sedes alienaque litora quaere, o iuvenis: major rerum tibi nascitu ordo. ne succumbe malis: te novelis ultimus hister, te boreas geldius securague regna canopi, quique ranascentem phoebum cernuntque cadentem major in externas fit qui descendit harenas. (fermor 2005: 3) similarly to the other two english epigraphs, it is carefully selected, both for its poetic power and appropriateness for the parallax metaphor employed in a time of gifts. in petronius’s poem the young fermor of 1933 (“o juvenis”) is directly asked (be an experienced poet) to embark on a journey to the “ultimus hister”,that is the far-off danube (the latin name for the “danube” was the “hister”) with the promise that “the greater succession of events” (“major rerum”) will happen on the way. and, in fact, by the end of a time of gifts young fermor is described as he reaches esztergom, an ancient hungarian town on the danube. at a crucial moment, the narrative personae’s expertise in poetry ancient and modern, with the love of poetry of the young fermor, aged seventeen, carefully described at the beginning with just one crucial book, the oxford book of verse in his rucksack, are allowed to merge with the aspect of a persona (only rarely alluded to in a time of gifts) as a war-hero, thus ‘enlarging’ the parallax to three, rather than two perspectives. it happens when the narrative persona describes the poets and poems which influenced his younger alter ego. when he moves on to roman poetry, he mentions lucan, catullus, virgil and horace, and adds that he taught himself “a number of the odes” 47 articles by horace “and translated a few of them into awkward english sapphics and alcaics. apart from their other charms, they were infallible mood-changers” (fermor 2005: 85). and it is in this very moment that fermor opens the parenthesis to tell this crucial story, adding this third, war-time, perspective: one of them[odes, g.m]—i ix. ad thaliarchum—came to my rescue in strange circumstances a few years later. the hazards of war landed me among the crags of occupied crete with a band of cretan guerillas and a captive german general whom we had waylaid and carried off into the mountains three days before. the german garrison of the island were in hot, but luckily temporarily misdirected, chase. it was a time of anxiety and danger: and for our captive, of hardship and distress. during a lull in the pursuit, we woke among the rocks just as a brilliant dawn was breaking over the crest of mount ida. we had been toiling over it, through snow and then rain, for the last two days. looking across the valley at this flashing mountain-crest, the general murmured to himself: vides ut alta stet nive candidum soracte… (see how the deep snow shines on mount soracte!) it was one of the ones i knew! i continued from where he had broken off: ... nec jam sustineat onus silvae laborantes geluque flumina constiterint acuto, (the toiling woods can bear the load no longer, and the streams stand still in the sharp ice.) and so on, through the remaining five stanzas to the end. the general’s blue eyes had swivelled away from the mountain-top to mine—and when i’d finished, after a long silence, he said: “ach so, herr major!” it was very strange. as though, for a long moment the war had ceased to exist. we had both drunk at the same fountains long before; and things were different between us for the rest of our time together. (fermor 2005: 85-86) it is difficult to assess to what extent this scene was ‘constructed’ or ‘re-constructed’ from fermor’s war memories. definitely, patrick leigh fermor, with a group of cretan partisans, abducted general kreipe and took him, across the cretan mountains, to a little bay in the south from which they were picked up by a motor-boat and transported to alexandria. and fermor and general kreipe definitely met on a friendly footing in a 1972 tv programme on the general’s abduction (mastorakis 1972). one may hope that the fact of “drinking from the same fountain” was instrumental in arranging this meeting. the exact moment of the mutual recitation of ad thaliarchum and details of the scenery may just as well be elements of travel-writer’s licencia poetica, after all the travel book as a genre, according to borm (2004), is described as a genre of “non-fictional dominant” (borm 2004: 17), which means, that although it is predominantly “non-fictional”, “nonfictionality” is only a “dominant”, not an “absolute rule”, and travel writers feel free to construct scenes and conversations with the focus not so much on “re-constructing” the past from memories, as of “constructing” the dramatic, fictionalized versions of memories. and the quoted fragment describing the recitation of horace’s ode, introduced parenthetically (in a seemingly casual, off-hand manner) may be viewed, i think, as a high point in fermor’s application of the figure of parallax in travel writing. 48 crossroads. a journal of english studies for reasons probably both literary and mental, the books on parallax and the ‘great trudge’ proved most difficult for fermor to write. it took him almost a decade to complete the second book between the woods and the water (it was finally published only in 1986), and the third and final book was published only posthumously in 2013 (it was edited by fermor’s biographer artemis cooper and a friend of his, the renowned travel writer colin thubron, for although fermor had been working on it on and off for the last two decades of his life, it still had to be extensively edited before final publication). while looking at three late travel books written by ryszard kapuściński imperium, the shadow of the suns and travels with herodotus i would like to continue to rely on this powerful metaphor of parallax, which has been used to present fermor’s trilogy of the ‘great trudge’, and which can also be detected in kapuściński’s late work; to look both into the differences as well as the similarities between these key travel narratives of these two writers. polish and anglophone travel writing had been developing in clearly different ways in the nineteenth and twentieth century. in the anglophone tradition, the genre of the travel book, after a dynamic start in the eighteenth century, was developing steadily and, for all the changes and innovations, was becoming more and more established as a genre, clearly differentiated from such (equally dynamically) evolving genres as the novel, the autobiography or the guide-book. this tradition was well known to patrick leigh fermor and he fruitfully had used them in his earlier travel books: the traveller’s tree, mani and roumeli. fermor’s trilogy was innovative in the sense of foregrounding the parallax metaphor, but both in its form and content it was firmly entrenched in the long established tradition of the anglophone travel book. whereas, in the polish literary tradition the podróż genre, also established in the eighteenth century, disappeared, petered out in the course of the nineteenth century, as it was dynamically replaced by reportaż podróżniczy. it might be argued that this ‘generic shift’ was the result of the relative weakness of the book market (especially in comparison with the british and american book markets) and the growing popularity of periodicals, magazines and daily newspapers, in which polish writers began to publish their travel accounts (often in serialized form), and the growing prestige of journalists/reporters. as i argued in “ryszard kapuściński: between polish and anglophone travel writing” (moroz 2015), kapuściński’s early books, in which he narrated his travels, all the way from czarne gwiazdy [black stars] (1963) to wojna futbolowa (the soccer war)(1978) were reportaże podróżnicze in the strict sense of the term, relying on the tradition of reporting travel that was introduced into polish literature by such writers as stanisław rejmont and developed by such established ‘masters’ of the genre as ksawery pruszyński and melchior wańkowicz in the period between the wars. the two books which marked a shift for kapuściński from the journalistic, dry style of reportaż podróżniczy in the direction of a more ‘literary’ approach were cesarz [the emperor] (1978) and szakinszach [the shah of shahs] (1982). as kapuściński himself admitted, these changes were partly the result of him, as a writer, being influenced by theoretical and practical achievements of american new journalism, which he understood as “the description of events through the application of literary tropes” (quoted in nowacka and ziątek 2008: 182, translation g.m.). 49 articles in august 1980, kapuściński, who had witnessed and reported on more than twenty revolutions in the third world countries, was sent by kazimierz barcikowski, a friend of his and a polish communist party politburo member, to report on the strike in gdańsk shipyard. kapuściński sided with the striking workers and the nascent solidarity movement. after the communists fought back and declared the martial law on 13 december 1981, kapuściński lost his job as a pap correspondent and “kultura”, the weekly he had been writing for regularly, was closed for its pro-solidarity stance. kapuściński was given a new, unexpected lease of life, when the english translation of the emperor was published by harcourt brace jovanovich at the beginning of 1983. it received very favourable reviews in america from such influential reviewers as john updike in the new yorker and peter prescott in newsweek. in the british sunday times salman rushdie named the emperor his book of the year for 1983 and pronounced that kapuściński’s writing, “always wonderfully concrete and observant, conjures marvels of meanings out of minutiae. and his book transcends reportage, becoming a nightmare of power depicted as a refusal of history that reads as if italo calvino had re-written machiavelli” (rushdie 1983: 39). such reviews meant that kapuściński started to be regarded as a pundit on the third world issues and a guru of reportage. he was being invited to international conferences, writers’ as well as journalists’ congresses and as a university lecturer. wiktor osiatyński, a friend of kapuściński’s, recalled, that: “he put a lot of work and effort into his new ‘life of a famous writer’. in the course of six months he polished up his english so that he could comfortably give interviews and take part in conferences and meeting with readers without needing an interpreter ... he had his teeth done ... he changed his reporter’s working outfit for a jacket, and sometimes he even put on a tie.” (domosławski 2012: 292). when kapuściński returned to travel writing at the end of 1980s, he was a writer and not a reporter, and he was to rely on the ‘parallax effect’ in all his three final books: imperium, the shadow of the sun and travels with herodotus. in all these three books the experienced narrative persona recalls the journeys undertaken over many decades, and the hiatus (parallax) created by the erudite narrator and the apprentice traveller described in the opening chapters of these books is an important rhetorical point. in all these three narratives the narrative persona of an experienced traveller, pundit, commentator is foregrounded. therefore, i would like to disagree with casey blanton, who labelled kapuściński’s late travel narratives (from the emperor to travels with herodotus) as ‘polyphonic travels’. blanton stated that kapuściński’s rhetorical choice of self-effacing and polyphonic dialogues to represent a foreign culture produces a kind of narrative that can offer as its subject matter both the fragility and the power of self/ other relations. kapuściński’s strategy is to relinquish the authorative narrative vantage point traditionally occupied by a western traveler and to offer, instead of one’s narration as the dominant voice, a polyphonic group of other voices in a dialogue with the narrator. (blanton 2014: 299). i believe, that the term ‘polyphonic’ renders the narrative of the emperor and the shah of shahs very accurately. however, i would not call these narratives ‘travels’ because there is almost no ‘travelling’ described in these books, and the narrator in both of them is a ‘reporter’, not a ‘trav50 crossroads. a journal of english studies eler’. on the other hand, in my opinion, in imperium, the shadow of the sun and travels with herodotus kapuściński’s narrative persona becomes exactly a type of “western traveler” with “the dominant voice”, a voice which subordinates all the other voices. “the parallax effect” is central in imperium, where it is extended from the first chapter entitled pińsk 39 to the final paratext of an appendix entitled “książki cytowane w ‘imperium’ (“books quoted in imperium”). this appendix was for some reason not translated and not placed in the english 1994 translation by klara glawczewska. this appendix includes sixty books in polish, russian, french and english; fictional and non-fictional, on russia and the soviet union, on history, philosophy, sociology and literature. it is not a typical academic type of reference/bibliography, for although it is alphabetical in order as such lists are, the quotes in the text itself are not described in any academic fashion. this appendix shows the depth and width of kapuściński’s readings and his expertise as a sovietologist, and can be seen as functioning in grave contrast (parallax) with the scene in the first chapter when kapuściński describes how in the autumn of 1939 his hometown of pińsk (now in belorussia) was invaded by the red army, annexed to the soviet union and kapuściński as a boy of seven went to school, where russian was the language of instruction, and the only book in class was entitled “stalin, voprosy leninizma” (studies in leninism) (kapuściński 1998: 4). of the three last kapuściński’s travel narratives, the parallax in the shadow of the sun is the least obvious. however, this rhetorical trope is still there; four decades of kapuściński’s travels in africa are described, starting in 1958 in ghana and all the way to the persona’s latest visit to this continent at the end of the twentieth century. whereas, in travels with herodotus kapuściński’s final book, his summa as a traveller and writer, the parallax is extremely important. the book opens in the following way: before herodotus sets out on his travels ascending rocky paths, sailing a ship over the seas, riding through the wilds of asia; before he happens on mistrustful scytians, discovers the wonders of babylon, and plumbs the mysteries of the nile; before he experiences a hundred different places and sees a thousand inconceivable things, he will appear for a moment in a lecture on ancient greece, which professor bieżuńska-małowist delivers twice weekly to the first-year students in warsaw university’s department of history. he will appear and just as quickly vanish. he will disappear so completely that now, years later, when i look through my notes from those classes, i do not find his name. there are aeschylus and pericles, sappho and socrates, heraclitus and plato, but no herodotus. and yet we took such careful notes. they were our only sources of information, the war had ended six years earlier and the city lay in ruins. libraries had gone up in flames, we had no textbooks, no books at all to speak of. the professor has a calm, soft, even voice, her dark, attentive eyes regard us through thick lenses with marked curiosity. sitting at a high lectern, she has before her a hundred young people the majority of whom have no idea that solon was great, do not know the cause of antigone’s despair and could not explain how themistocles lured the persians into a trap. if truth be told, we didn’t even quite knew where greece was or, for that matter, that a contemporary country by that name had a past remarkable and extraordinary as to merit studying at university. 51 articles we were children of war. high schools were closed during the war years, and although in the larger cities clandestine classed were occasionally convened, here, in this lecture hall, sat mostly girls and boys from remote villages and small towns, ill read, undereducated. it was 1951, university admissions were granted without entrance examinations, family provenance mattering most—in the communist state the children of workers and peasants had the best chance of getting in. (kapuściński 2007: 4-5) as pointed out at the beginning of this paper, ‘parallax’ alludes to the difference in perception of an object seen from two different angles. and that was the case with fermor’s between woods and water and in the broken road, or kapuściński’s imperium and the shadow of the sun. but in travels with herodotus, as is also the case of a time of gifts, we have three angles. apart from the narrative persona; experienced and skilful as a writer (opening his narrative with a series of anaphors “before...”, mixing past present and future tenses) and apart from kapuściński aged nineteen, an undereducated student of history at warsaw university diligently taking notes during the lecture on ancient greece, we get the third angle: that of herodotus. herodotus’s histories, in gérald genette’s terms, serves as a ‘hypotext’ for travels with herodotus, which is a ‘hypertext’ (genette 1997: 5). and herodotus, from the very beginning is presented as a master traveller and a master story teller, telling his stories with compassion, empathy, wit and skill. the copy of the polish translation of the histories given to kapuściński, the young reporter by his boss, becomes a talisman and its contents a yardstick to gauge the world. in the final chapter of travels with herodotus, entitled poetically “we stand in darkness, surrounded by light” kapuściński tells of his trip, a short one, from the greek isle of kos, to the town kapuściński insists on calling ‘halicarnassus’, although (as he is reminded by a local turkish policeman) it is called ‘bodrum’ now. halicarnassus is the birth place of herodotus and the description of this ‘in the footsteps of the master’ little trip is used by kapuściński to sum up his musings on the nature of travel and on the nature of writing. and in these musings kapuściński’s narrative persona gets skilfully and unobtrusively merged with that of herodotus. the key features of herodotus, the man, the historian and the story teller are also alluded to the narrative persona. both herodotus and kapuściński’s narrative persona are “insatiable, spongelike organisms, absorbing everything easily and just as easily parting with it” (kapuściński 2007: 267-68), unlike the great majority of sedentary people, they are nomads, not capable to stay in one place, they “must walk (or ride) elsewhere, further away.” (kapuściński 2007: 268), “they do not grow attached to anything, do not put down deep roots” (kapuściński 2007: 268), and they are both men of peripheries, of halicarnassus and pińsk respectively, little towns far away from the centres of civilization; in fact places at the borderlands of civilization, where religions, cultures, languages and races mix breeding empathy and understanding. kapuściński’s figure of parallax in travels with herodotus could also be perceived in terms of hyperbole. for, it seems that in reality the parallax/hiatus he constructs between himself aged nineteen, and himself writing travels with herodotus was not as huge as he depicted it. in 1951 kapuściński was not as undereducated as the opening passages quoted earlier suggest. his parents were not peasants or workers, but teachers. although, originally from the provincial town 52 crossroads. a journal of english studies of pińsk, the family moved to warsaw in 1945. ryszard kapuściński had attended one of the best secondary schools in warsaw—gimnazjum imienia stanisława staszica—and in 1950 he had had his two poems published by dziś i jutro, while another weekly called odrodzenie, had recorded a debate on poetry held by students in which kapuściński’s poem “różowe jabłka” (“pink apples”) was compared with poetry of vladimir mayakovsky and the canonical polish pre-war poets (nowacka and ziątek 2008: 368). kapuściński’s fluency in english, acquired in the mid-1980s, helped him not only during conferences and lectures, but also in his readings. in 1991 kapuściński stated that “although the achievements of such writers as bruce chatwin, v.s. naipaul, paul theroux are obvious, they had little influence on me” (kapuściński 2008, translation g.m.). this statement was true in 1991 but this situation was to change when kapuściński returned to travel writing and wrote three books discussed here. and it was in these three narratives when the influence of the key contemporary anglophone travel writers became apparent. what kapuściński took from chatwin, naipaul and theroux, was the conviction that non-fictional travel writing could be very ‘literary’ in nature and that one of the key aspects of such ‘literariness’ was an erudite narrative persona employing novelistic tools and relying on various shades of intertextuality. the narrative personae of imperium, the shadow of the sun and travels with herodotus are centres of focalization, poets and experts. to the best of my knowledge there is no evidence that ryszard kapuściński read patrick leigh fermor’s trilogy and it seems that it was a mere coincidence that kapuściński wrote his narratives in the manner similar to fermor: the erudite narrative persona looks back at his younger, inexperienced self. their narratives remain almost unique in non-fictional, referential travel writing, they rely on the type of narration typical of memoirs, with their vantage point, ‘backward’ recollection of memories and not on linear, chronological narration characteristic of journals, diaries and the vast majority of non-fictional travel writing. references blanton, casey. 2014. “ryszard kapuściński’s polyphonic travels”. in: gabriel r. ricci (ed.), travel, discovery, transformation, 293-308. new brunswick: transaction publishers. borm, jan. 2004. “defining travel: on the travel book, travel writing and terminology”. in: glenn hooper and tim youngs (eds.), perspectives on travel writing, 13-26. aldershot: ashgate. boyle, charles. 2016. “allowed fools: notes towards the elizabethan twelfth night”, http://shakespeareoxfordfellowship.org/elizabethan-twelfth-night. (accessed: 02.01.2017) cooper, artemis. 2012. patrick leigh fermor: an adventure. new york: new york review books. domosławski, artur. 2012. ryszard kapuściński: a life, translated by antonia lloydjones. london: verso. fermor, patrick leigh. 2005. a time of gifts: on foot to constantinople: from the hook of holland to the middle danube. new york: new york review of books. fermor, patrick leigh. 2006. mani: travels in the southern peloponnese. new york: new york review of books. 53 articles forsdick, charles, feroza basu and siobhan shilton. 2006. new approaches to twentieth-century travel literature in french: genre, history, theory. frankfurt am mein: peter lang. genette, gérarld. 1997. palimpsests: literature in the second degree. lincoln: university of nebraska press. kapuściński, ryszard. 1998. imperium, translated by klara glowczewska. london: granta books. kapuściński, ryszard. 2007. travels with herodotus, translated by klara glowczewska, london: penguin books. kapuściński, ryszard. 2008. lapidaria i-iii, warszawa: biblioteka gazety wyborczej. mastorakis, nico. 1972. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_owqomv5ldu moroz, grzegorz. 2015. ryszard kapuściński: between polish and anglophone travel writing, studies in travel writing, vol. 19, issue 2. 169-183. moroz, grzegorz. 2016. “travel books, nostalgia and paratexts: the case of patrick leigh fermor’s a time of gifts”. in: wojciech drąg and ewa kłębowska-ławniczak (eds.), spectrum of emotions: from love to grief, 159-168. frankfurt am mein: peter lang edition. nowacka, beata and zygmunt ziątek. 2008. ryszard kapuściński: biografia pisarza. kraków: wydawnictwo znak. raban, jonathan. 1982. “introduction” in: alexander william kinglake, eothen, or traces of travel brought home from the east, i-xxii. london: century publishing. rushdie, salman. 1983. “christmas books”, sunday times, 11 december 1983, 39. smith, sidonie and julia watson. 2001. reading autobiography: a guide for interpreting life narratives. minneapolis: university of minnesota press. witosz, bożena. 2007. “gatunki podróżnicze w typologicznym ujęciu genologii lingwistycznej”. in: dariusz rott (ed.), wokół reportażu podróżniczego, 11-29. katowice: wydawnictwo uniwersytetu śląskiego. palmer, kirk s., “beyond the canon: second looks at oft-neglected books”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 95-97. kirk s. palmer associate editor, crossroads beyond the canon: second looks at oft-neglected books for most lovers of serious ‘literature’ – a term that now encompasses a vast number of works classic, historical, sometimes readable, sometimes less so – the problem of choosing what to read can loom large. long gone are the days when, with diligence, a large swath of the “greats” of “world” literature (meaning european culture) could be consumed. too many other continents and their authors have crowded onto the scene. reading habits, of course, vary as greatly as eating habits at a buffet: some savor the singular flavor of each dish before passing on to the next; others enjoy the way each dish complements or clashes with its neighbors. even on the plate, some diners eat all of one food group before touching the next while others eat sequentially, a slurp of soup, a bite of meat, a forkful of vegetable, in a continual circle. similarly, some readers take on everything by a single author before moving to the next, while others jump about eras and genres in a less rigid manner. both methods have their proponents – and in reading, at least, both have their drawbacks as well. the samplers can miss small delights while exclusively pursuing the great dishes, while the savorers can become so engrossed in the major and minor works of an author, an era, or a genre, that they have little time to pursue tasting much of what lies before them. “beyond the canon”, then, will be an occasional feature in crossroads soliciting recommendations of works which might otherwise escape notice: not necessarily “great” works – or even great reads – but ones which illumine, challenge, and/or entertain – though not necessarily all together. with the increasing interest in using literature as a tool for analyzing cultural values, some guidance or hints from those familiar with what’s out there will certainly be appreciated. there will be few limitations: ariosto’s orlando furioso though well known goes mostly unread in its entirety. the same can be said of edward gibbon’s decline and fall of the roman empire. numerous early dramas languish anthologized but (for the most part) ignored. washington irving’s series of biographies surely offer some valuable insights, if not into the subject, at least into the mind of the author and the attitudes of the times. and whether obscurely familiar (like matthew lewis’s the monk), lesser or failed (say, mark twain’s joan of arc) or nearly unknown (like george schuyler’s black no more), the right notice can prompt others to pick up the book and try it. crossroads looks forward to your submissions. * * * * * * after herman melville – indeed, after the failure of reconstruction and the reintroduction of jim crow – few works by white authors featured a black character. mark twain created jim – though he is arguably more saint than human – and attempted to somewhat tackle race in pudd’nhead wilson. steven crane created the monster. still, william stanley braitwaithe, in his 1925 essay “the negro in american literature” which appeared in the new negro, notes that beyond the 1891 an imperative duty by william dean howells (whom he mentions along with joel chandler harris, george w. cable, and irwin russell): “it is useless to consider any others [i.e. white authors], because there were none who succeeded in creating either a great story or a great character out of negro life” palmer, kirk s., “beyond the canon: second looks at oft-neglected books”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 95-97. (braithwaite, 33). as to howells’ book, braitwaithe calls it a “shadowy note” added to the “social record of american life.” but howells’ small volume deserves a look, both for its sincere (if timid) effort to explore the race issue, by capitalizing on the then-burgeoning interest in evolution and genetics, and for the mixed messages his image-making sends. for rhoda aldgate – the halfoctoroon female lead and love interest in the story – is sympathetically intelligent and honorable though laden with self-loathing once the hitherto concealed secret of her slave origins is revealed to her. howells’ narrative (through his narrator) contains numerous ambiguously objective comments which may in fact reflect the author’s versedness in the accepted stereotypes of the time. as with harriet beecher stowe, much unwitting insult may be found within the language of the work. the story reads well – quietly and pleasantly in howell’s modest style – while tentatively raising some of the incongruities resulting from america’s fixation on skin color and what it supposedly reveals about an individual. rhoda, unaware at first of her mixed race origins, begins as an ardent liberal when it comes to race relations, though she can still utter fatuities like “oh, i can’t imagine a colored catholic. there seems something unnatural in the very idea.” her sentiments turn into a fairly oppressive horror once she learns the truth about her parents, but by book’s end she finally accepts her state – though she is quite reluctant to allow olney, the doctor who loves her, to encumber his future life with a woman he can never appear with socially. a rather disturbing, cringe-inducing scene unfolds when the newly enlightened rhoda takes refuge in a black church and can only recoil from the congregation surrounding her: rhoda distinguished faces, sad, repulsive visages of a frog-like ugliness, added to the repulsive black in all its shades, from the unalloyed brilliancy of the pure negro type to the pallid yellow of the quadroon, and these mixed-bloods were more odious to her than the others, because she felt herself more akin to them; but they were all abhorrent. it could be that howells himself is expressing a personal disgust, but as a realist, his exploration of her new awareness rings at least true enough that it reflects what many might feel when their sense of identity is violently overthrown. other scenes throughout this short (150-odd pages) work continue howells’ not-quitedaring efforts to scrutinize america’s racial fixation. but as at least some of the focus of literary criticism is beginning to turn to cataloguing the values and attitudes promulgated by any era’s works, an imperative duty provides an interesting example of the many books out there offering insights into by-gone but still prevalent eras. we eagerly await the many surprises our readers have in store for us. “birds have proustian capacity for making remembrance” – a post-pastoral reading of john lewis-stempel’s meadowland and the question of anthropomorphising animals 4 crossroads. a journal of english studies anna dziok-łazarecka university of białystok “birds have proustian capacity for making remembrance” – a post-pastoral reading of john lewis-stempel’s meadowland and the question of anthropomorphising animals abstract. the article proposes discussion of john lewis-stempel’s meadowland (2015) developed along two perspectives. one is the post-pastoral reading as suggested by terry gifford. he offers a contemporary interpretative mode that draws from both the rich history of british pastoral and countryside writing and from recent ecocritical devices. additionally, this paper aims to point out the manifold functions of anthropomorphism and presents it as the longestablished strategy of making sense of the ‘outer’ nature. both animating non-humans in literary representation and post-pastoral depiction of british countryside prevail to be an expression of spatial proximity, and apparently an indispensable prerequisite for co-existence, for sharing material place. far from causing confusion or misunderstanding, anthropomorphisation has an enduring power of organizing human experience and expressing interconnectedness. in historical terms, it remains a fact that people have always responded to the natural world, and that they have seen animals respond as well, thus turning them into agents. keywords: animals in literature, anthropomorphisation, post-pastoral, meadowland, lewis-stempel, natureculture. john lewis-stempel in his utterly vivid and intimate account meadowland. the private life of an english field (2015) uses language to negotiate between nature, history, literature and time. he becomes a cartographer who enacts, with an appetising pinch of humour and realism, the old dream of countryside bliss. and in recognizing the pastoral tradition meadowland constitutes a continuum of literary and cultural attitudes towards the world of nature. this narrative offers a multidimensional representation of the place – the meadow. this is realised through literary depiction of geographical material space, where the encounter between human and non-human oc10.15290/cr.2016.12.1.01 5 articles curs. it further is a platform for meditating upon man’s mutual entanglement with natural world. finally, the place emerges as a point of departure into the realm of literature. following terry gifford’s current postulate, this article proposes a ‘post-pastoral’, i.e. beyond pastoral, reading of meadowland. on the one hand, lewis-stempel is arguably writing in the long tradition of countryside authors. on the other, however, the author’s self is primarily exposed as an extension of the place; it becomes intertwined in the web of the larger system. the author/narrator is living the pastoral dream; he is observantly attuned to the breathing, animated space of the meadow. furthermore, the multiformity of the meadow is negotiated through anthropomorphic representations of animals, which elevates them to the position of agents. and in this respect again, the narrative maintains the dialogic relationships with long literary tradition of humanizing animals. anthropomorphism seems to be the most expedient way of articulating this human/non-human interconnectedness. post-pastoral in order to establish a broader context for what the concept of pastoral, and later post-pastoral, is, terry gifford defines it through analysing the functions of this long literary tradition: [through pastoral] we, in western culture, have mediated and negotiated our relationship with the land upon which we depend and the forces of nature at work out there in ‘outer nature,’ as we have at the same time mediated and negotiated our relationships with each other and what we think of as our ‘inner nature’ (gifford 2012:7). from the first pages of meadowland the reader is captured by lewis-stempel’s ability to show the oneness of ‘we’ (humans) and ‘nature’ (the non-human world). this unity, as shown, for example, in the sentence “ravens mate for life, and this pair has been here since we have” (lewisstempel 2015:11), is generated by the long-established sharing of material space. what unites both worlds, that of the man and that of the beasts, is physical proximity. but this tangible closeness, it must be emphasized, exists additionally within the continuum (not dichotomy) of culture and nature, the language with its richness to describe human experience (poetically and scientifically), and its dialogue with ancient traditions and folklore. but developing his argument of the pastoral eden, arcadia or the golden age, where the intended idealization of the natural offers a much desired retreat, gifford also recognizes the ‘antipastoral’ tradition. this antipodal literary trend aims at subverting, negating or demythologizing the impeccable fantasy of arcadia by concentrating mainly on the existing dissonance, realism and unattractiveness of rural surroundings (gifford 2012:10-19). however, whereas the anti-pastoral opposes the idealized visions of the earthly paradise, it does not disestablish the pastoral entirely. instead it adds this indispensable measure of realistic representations of country life. the two practices, laudative pastoral and disapproving anti-pastoral, seem to be contrapositive. what gifford proposes then as a middle ground is the concept of ‘post-pastoral’. this way of read6 crossroads. a journal of english studies ing is to involve, among other postulates, instinctive human wonderment at the forces of nature and the exhibition of man’s humility. our species’ “hubris” is curtailed. his next proposal is the awareness that the way of seeing and looking at nature is culturally charged and that the traditional culture-nature opposition is to be erased. post-pastoral writing is also suggestive of how “inner” self correlates with the “outer” natural world. it also addresses the problem of human alienation from our natural surroundings. finally, it involves contemporary awareness of an informed witness to environmental changes (gifford 2012: 20-28). this modern reading template seems to be the handy tool to cope with narratives like meadowland. it constitutes a way to re-connect contemporary western reader with the world of nature. advocating the idea of post-pastoral in his other essay “five modes of ‘listening deeply’ to pastoral sounds”, gifford again expounds the two notions (pastoral and post-pastoral readings) in an attempt to enlarge his concept with ecocritical thought. he traces the ever-present denouncing of pastoral to the 1973 book by raymond williams the country and the city. the book was highly influential in diminishing the role of countryside writing. its publication, he argues, invited the deconstruction of pastoral and rendered this form of “listening mode” obsolete. it announced, prematurely, the demise of the pastoral literary tradition. the resulting negative and diminishing view of pastoral is attributable, gifford explains, to williams’ “narrow historical range of country house literature” (gifford 2016:12). nature or countryside writing in a fuller sense than williams addressed, however, still continues to integrate man with environment. again gifford proposes an explanation, or rather repetition of what post-pastoral really means. at the same time he distances the notion from the abundance of contemporary ‘posts’. the prefixed ‘post’ is not what comes “after” in terms of historical chronology but what reaches “beyond” pastoral, extending its conceptual terms: the post-pastoral is really best to describe works that successfully suggest a collapse of the human/ nature divide while being aware of the problematics involved. it is more about connections than the disconnections essential to the pastoral (gifford 2016:5). in the view of such an inclusive definition, meadowland does indeed represent a post-pastoral text. it transgresses the boundaries of culture and nature and, in departing from this dichotomy, it realizes gifford’s postulates. but the traditional chasm between country and city, the reader is reminded early in the book, still lurks, if only symbolically, just round the corner. on his way home to hereford, the narrator notices: despite scarcity of population, i count at least five houses where the inhabitants have strimmed their roadside verge to within a centimeter of its life. internally i rail at the suburbanity of such an aesthetic (why move to the country if you want to turn it hyacinth bucket’s1 blossom avenue?), and rather more honourably deplore the ecological holocaust (lewis-stempel 2015:18). 1 a symbolic middle-class snob from the bbc sitcom series keeping up appearances. 7 articles the urbanites in their attempt to find a country retreat fail to “listen deeply”, as the title of gifford’s essay suggests, and themselves fall victim to pastoral delusion. and in such actions as lewis-stempel describes, they attempt to transpose suburbia to the countryside. in the course of the narrative, which reaches its climax in july entries of the journal, the farmer finds his sublime arcadia. when the time of cutting hay starts, the narrator decides to make hay by hand, scything. real authentic farming experience was killed, he says, in the 1950s when cabs were put on tractors (lewis-stempel 2015:170). so he enacts the chores of a medieval peasant in order to connect himself to the genuineness of life. this hay making description brings us again to the question of proximity. the authenticity of experience, the sublimity which the natural world can offer, is dependent of sensual reception delivered only by physical closeness. the aroma of scythed grass is like “deodorant in arcadia” (lewis-stempel 2015:173) and the grass itself seems to act, to respond to the scyther’s moves: “(...) this morning the grass mostly bends before the blade, then pops back up giggling” (lewis-stempel 2015:172). the july diary entries become the guide through the folklore of mowing practices as well as through abundant literary tradition. folk songs are quoted along with the verses of robert frost’s poem “mowing” or the lines of john stewart collis’s the worm forgives the plough2. by saying: “john clare found his poems in a field. sometimes i find words. there is nothing like working land for growing and reaping lines of prose” (lewis-stempel 2015:178), the author shows how the farming experience and literary expression become related through a certain kind of consciousness. the rapture of mowing is demonstrated in the following example: penny [the author’s wife] appears angelically out of the waterfall of perspiration with a mug of tea. ‘how’s it going?’ she asks with a grimace. ‘fantastically!’ i exclaim. neither am i joking. nothing in the last ten years of farming, with the exception of delivering calves, has given me such satisfaction. i am in a state of near ecstasy (...) (lewis-stempel 2015:173) his post-pastoral paradise, however, is already being discreetly subverted by the description of unrelenting attacks of blood-drinking horseflies. one of the post-pastoral modes, furthermore, involves renunciation of narcissist self-indulgence and adoption of self-ironic distance towards one’s own nostalgia. this is a recurring leitmotif in lewis-stempel’s humorous account. lofty tones are evoked, for instance, in paraphrasing robert browning’s famous poem “home thoughts from abroad”: “oh, the joy to be alive in england, in meadowland, once may is here” (lewis-stempel 2015:113). but such elevation easily alternates with self-deprecating humor. a good illustration of this strategy is the sheep shearing scene which dispels any misconceptions about carefree rural bliss, inviting post-pastoral realism. again, with a humorous effect, the author recounts: 2 first published in 1975, the book is an account of the author’s working on a farm during the second world war. 8 crossroads. a journal of english studies shearing is fine in your twenties; in your forties it kills. (…) i start off at a reasonable(ish) rate of a sheep every two minutes, the clippers neatly sliding under the line of yellow risen lanolin in the fleece; by sheep number 21 i am down to a sheep every five minutes, (…) by sheep number 26 i am 140 years old. by sheep number 31 i cheat. (…) but i can never tell anyone about it because it is so seriously uncool. my back is broken, and the exertion turned me into the portrait in dorian gray’s attic (lewis-stempel 2015:142-3). gifford proposes a “dialectic” listening mode, which, by his own admission, seems perfectly accordant with e. o. wilson’s theory of biophilia3. it involves adopting such form of “listening” to the place, landscape, nature that will enhance interconnectedness (gifford 2016:6). in this light, meadowland’s territory, which is in itself the state of in-between, between open nature and nature worked by man, seems perfectly relevant for accommodating the pastoral ideal. in the narrative the meadow is as much a material place with real inhabitants as a metaphor for what is neither natural nor civilized. interposed at the junction of traditional dichotomy of the wild and the cultivated, the meadow is rather a continuum of both. its natural state must be maintained by man but at the same time it is neglect that brings abundance. the meadow is an ecosystem, hence its dependence on intricate interconnectedness of all forms of agency. consequently, you can never comprehend what it is without comprehending how it works, its workings being represented only through intricate interdependence among its agents. lewis-stempel says: “a meadow is not natural habitat; it is a relationship between nature, man and beast. at its best, it is also equilibrium, artistry” (lewis-stempel 2015:15). so how, on the literary plain, can the authorial voice affirm the interconnectedness of human and non-human actors? how to show that nature, history, literature, and environmental knowledge intersect in order that an intricate topography of the place may emerge? humanizing the field and its agents culture and nature merge frequently in this apparently insignificant place. and, even the narrator’s arachnological reflections may recall cultural undertones. for instance, his documentary-like musings on a black wolf spider (pardosa amentata), a hunter with as many as eight eyes on its head are followed by “all the better to see with”, reminiscent of the red riding hood fairy tale (lewisstempel 2015:148). the narrative introduces hilarious observations of hunting spiders mating in which scenes the innocent male suitor is threatened by the voluptuous but deadly female. the intimate moment develops dangerously when later that very same lady wolf spider “stares malevolently” contemplating whether or not to eat her male cavalier. she finally opts not to, to the relief of the sympathetic narrator; the whole scene offering itself as a comic invitation to male solidarity. the events in the field or landscape description often promote aesthetic engagement: “27 june under the two old shading apple trees of bank field the cows are standing waiting for constable 3 edward o. wilson, an american biologist, researcher, naturalist and author proposed the biophilia hypothesis in his book biophilia (1984). it develops the idea of human inborn propensity to seek connections with nature and nonhuman forms of life. source: wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/biophilia_hypothesis (19 february 2017). 9 articles to paint them” (lewis-stempel 2015:145). the meadowland is a literary realization of what gifford refers to as “natureculture”4. but it is through anthropomorphising that the place becomes a living creature, breathing its rhythm through spring, awakening towards the july climax of its existence – haying – and later falling into natural autumnal tranquillity. the field is the doer, the place in which subject and object coalesce into one. by humanizing the place, the man expects a response and elevates the natural world to the position of agency. when still frozen in january, the field “groans and protests” (lewis-stempel 2015:15) under the man’s weight; in february when “an empty meadow is always in a state of waiting, of anticipation,” the author finds that “a wood gets on with things by itself, naturally” (lewis-stempel 2015:55); in may, because of dandelion flowers, it “has all the allure of dandruff on a school blazer” (lewis-stempel 2015:125). the field may be “in a mood” or “drowsed” when artificially fertilized with nitrogen; trees do not “give up”, they “try” to re-forest. all the elements that belong to the place are endowed with human emotional states or features of character. they become agents. there is no denying the fact that the animation of the place would not be possible if the author didn’t extend the artistic licence of anthropomorphisation onto all inhabitants of the system, with no exceptions. he has the works of all the local and national naturalists, folklorists, and writers (from chaucer to orwell) to draw from. for example, the animal agents are characteristically endowed with human disposition to indecency. and in the course of the narrative some (vixen, mole, badger) become more than merely background extras. so, the parade of human, or all too human, ineptitudes in animal shapes has twofold effect. first, it strengthens the bond with literary anthropomorphising predecessors. secondly, it easily evokes the spirit of acceptance and compassion, and it creates the sense of belonging to a shared place. and so while a male blackbird is “oblivious”, the little wren with his promiscuous mating habits “is not a moral giant. (…) [he] travels between his families, a bigamous commercial traveler in a 1930s thriller” (lewis-stempel 2015:73-4). but, warned by william blake, the reader knows that “he who shall hurt the little wren / shall never be belov’d by men”5 and so the little bird’s vices are easily forgiven. the narrator’s old acquaintance – the vixen, escaping with a murdered mallard – is “a pretty killer”, however, “a spiv with a fag would look less shifty” (lewis-stempel 2015:114). the frequent literary references also testify to the fact that not only did artists of all times humanize animals but that their convictions were, on occasion, completely incorrect. for example, there is “14 february, st valentine’s day, the day that geoffrey chaucer was convinced that the birds became betrothed” (lewis-stempel 2015:46). 4 terry gifford uses the amalgam term “natureculture” in his article “from countryside to environment” after donna haraway. she is a distinguished american professor whose works helped develop post-humanist thought in philosophy. source: wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/donna_haraway (25.02.2017). 5 william blake “auguries of innocence”. the poem was written about 1801–3 as part of the ballads (or pickering) manuscript. 10 crossroads. a journal of english studies anthropomorphizing is proved to have always been a natural propensity of man to make guesses about animals. doubtless, humanizing non-humans is a way of bringing constable’s cows to life, of making them act. erica fudge, a british historian writing about animal history, points out to the limitations of studying animals in historical perspective. unlike humans, they can be investigated as natural history museum artefacts, mounted monuments of the art of taxidermy rather than as doers of actions. she poses a question whether animals can be considered as “historical agents” (fudge 2006). consequently, pondering on the question of animal agency in the past, she cannot but presume their incapacity for such agency. while non-humans are undoubtedly capable of acting as agents, it is impossible to trace this agency back in time. rather, we inscribe them as we would a “blank page” with meanings that stem from our anthropocentric perspective. this is the difference, she notes, between subjectivity and agency. nonetheless, fudge points to the fact that animal agency formulates the interaction, the interspecies synergy which shifts, and always has shifted, our landscape and our way of seeing that landscape (fudge 2006). it is only humans who are, for the time being, ineffective in their perception of that shift. in meadowland, lewis-stempel elevates birds to the position of catalysts whose occurrence immediately precipitates memories. they are agents empowered with “proustian capacity for making remembrance” (lewis-stempel 2015:103). the birds can evoke both literary references, as in “shakespeare too had a particular liking for the ‘martlet’”6 and personal intimate memories: “i only have to see a house martin and i am in my childhood home (...)” (lewis-stempel 2015:103). in addition, in discussing anthropomorphism, one cannot overlook the fact that humanizing other species is not only a literary claim. on the contrary, it has long attracted interdisciplinary interest. extensive research substantiates the intuitive assumption that anthropomorphisation is an inborn mental capacity of humans. this argument is advanced by sowon s. park, who explores the relationship between literature and, among other forms of knowledge, cognitive neuroscience. she claims that anthropomorphism is “a process of inductive inference” (park 2013:150) whose aim is to transgress the species categories in order to moderate our own epistemic ineffectiveness of non-human, that is of what animals are to us and how we are related. rather than being a “fallacy”, humanizing animals may bridge the eternal divide between species. it may, so the argument goes, clarify certain distortions and misinformation that surround interspecies relations. anthropomorphising animals may be more than intuitive. this inherent capacity of human mind aims to enable interspecies communication. projecting human perspectives on other species may be unconscious and automatic. uncertainty still prevails, however, as to what extent this automatization of such projections is culturally driven. park also warns about the possible ethical ramifications of anti-anthropomorphic perspective, specifically, about cultural othering. her conclusions clearly take the argument beyond the realm of literary: 6 a house martin 11 articles if othering dehumanizes the human by transforming differences into ideological hierarchies and diminishing other species with whom we share life, anthropomorphism humanizes the non-human with no less transformative implications (…) even while we acknowledge ultimate unknowability, the process of reasoning and inferring has deep political and ethical implications. for treating agents as human or  nonhuman has a powerful impact on whether those agents are going to be treated as moral agents (park 2013:160). the anthropocentric split into the self and the other may lead to refusal to recognize the existence of common ground, of shared understanding of the world intrinsic to all species. as history has shown, this may further lead to appropriation, marginalization, exclusion and exploitation. heterogeneity of animal representation and physical-linguistic proximity the over generalised term ‘animal’ and the simplified human/animal dualism fail to communicate the complexity of non-human entities. this suspicion towards the simplifying nominal use of ‘animal’ is also articulated in derrida’s famous lecture “the animal that therefore i am (more to follow)”: “the animal is a word, it is an appellation that men have instituted, a name they have given themselves the right and the authority to give to another living creature [a l’autre vivant]” (derrida 2002:392). but is it “the animal”, asks derrida, or “animals”? the non-humans seem “encamped” in the singularity of the concept, or they remain within the strict enclosure of a definite article (the) as “an irreducible living multiplicity of mortals” (derrida 2002:409). derrida speaks publicly against such a conceptual simplification of the word ‘animals’, choosing to refer to particular animal species rather than using the common (plural) concept. this refusal to oversimplify “the animal” is what, by his own admission, distinguishes him from other philosophers. but, as he adds, not from writers.7 who would be more privileged in representing the heterogeneity of non-humans than the author of meadowland, a farmer himself? lewis-stempel is virtually living within the pastoral. combining a distinct way of looking with his own farming experience, the writer allows agency of a non-human field. but he does more than that. he also acknowledges the potential of linguistic expression. here language is a tool which restores subjectivity of human perception. for without the human ability to name or animal capacity for being named, non-human agents easily run the risk of merging into a uniform anonymous entity. so, when he is “in the mood for lists” (lewis-stempel 2015:271), starting with the snipe hiding in the grass, through mallard, dipper or kestrel, the narrator introduces us to many dozen field inhabitants, including floral agents as well. throughout the narrative, which in its calendar organization resembles a farmer’s almanac8, he 7 for his recorded commentary on the issue see the interview available on youtube channel: jacques derrida and the question of “the animal”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry49jr0tfjk (24 february 2017) 8 the organization is a distant echo of edmund spenser’s 16th century pastoral collection the shepheardes calender (1579). 12 crossroads. a journal of english studies takes notes of the present ones as though making a checklist of livestock: “14 september (...) the chiffchaff has flown” (lewis-stempel 2015:216). naturally, he is perceptive enough to notice some “conspicuous absentees”, for instance, tree sparrow and brambling are missing this season (lewisstempel 2015:271). only through such meticulously detailed representations can the language of the book become inclusive. physical proximity invariably involves naming, and in meadowland, whatever lives with people is given a name. to dwell on this argument further, it is interesting to notice that the vast bio-nomenclature performs an additional function here. namely, it demonstrates how the natural and cultural merge in the linguistic representations of species. at times, then, lewis-stempel offers a detailed discussion of vernacularisms, the preserves of local colour. regional names, which were historically prior to accurate taxonomic objectivity, are yet one more endorsement of “natureculture”. objective scientific universalism with its standardised nomenclature seems to have limited value for literary representations of life, of place, of the meadow. lewis-stempel reminds us, for example, that those flowers which are given traditional local names prove to have either culinary or medical value. by the same token, he observes that “almost no birds today have vernacular names. bird names have become standardized, homogenized, conscripted into what is considered proper by scientists for classification” (lewis-stempel 2015:97). the growing process of urbanization isolates man from the natural world but also diminishes his potential to use the knowledge humankind had stored for centuries. the ensuing disconnection and marginalization accompanies changes in the language. being depreciated by culture and civilisation in physical terms, non-humans slip into linguistic oblivion. the names by which they were long known gradually disappear. the capacity for being named diminishes; the uniform term ‘animal’ threatens natural diversity of life. in meadowland, on the other hand, anthropomorphism offers a way of preserving nature within the human imaginarium. john berger, in his well-known essay why look at animals? [first published in 1980], states that it is through imagination that animals first entered human consciousness. prior to becoming, only as late as the 19th century, the source of food or leather, animals were primarily considered as “messengers and promises”. not even the cattle were essentially a source of meat, but they had mysterious, prophetic or sacrificial powers. “and the choice of a given species as magical, tameable and alimentary was originally determined by the habits, proximity and ‘invitation’ of the animal in question” (berger 2009:12). it is a fact that presently the original context for physical encounter with animals is gradually becoming limited. given that, the ancient way of reading, seeing and listening to non-human world is being transformed into standardized, mechanical categorization. the non-human entities are becoming “animals of the mind” (berger 2009:25). this ever-growing cognitive distance, despite the accumulation of scientific data, is best illustrated by lewis-stempel’s accidental encounter with an otter performing its “ablutions” by the river (lewis-stempel 2015:146). true, the narrator captures this rare moment enthusiastically, but its sublimity quickly vanishes. it is depreciated because he recollects having seen other otters before in a zoo. the imposed closeness of a zoo shatters the present wonderment. so, now, his own sighting of one is narrowed, abridged, encapsulated by his previous experience: 13 articles in a moment of unpleasant realisation i understand that viewing the otter in the tank at bristol zoo diminished this sighting in the wild. i saw the copy before the real thing. i saw the manufactured spectacle before the natural sighting. is this not what happens to us all today? has autumnwatch9 not killed the experience of being an amateur naturalist? (lewis-stempel 2015:147-148) in consequence, such moments of ultimate encounter will not yield the (pastoral) effect one could wish for. can the informed naturalist still continue to have access to the authenticity of experience? as berger observes, the more we have seen and “the more we know, the further away they are” (berger 2009:27). for lewis-stempel, a zoo had already provided animal imagery which now erodes the uniqueness, mystery and wildness of the real thing. the knowledge then destroys the need for the anthropomorphic or anecdotal which originally had an explanatory function. lewis-stempel is quite explicit in his nostalgia about the past and, when remembering james herriot10, he says: “[even] vets today dress like forensic scientists at the scene of a crime” (lewis-stempel 2015:217). humanization of non-humans, seen as a cognitive mistake by scientists, is a consequence of spatial closeness. how to recognize the very existence of your neighbours without being allowed to bestow names and qualities upon them? language, including human propensity to anthropomorphise, organizes human experience and sharing of space. and until the 19th century humanization of other species was the conveyor of this closeness (berger 2009:21). today, however, since the physical adjacency changed into the isolation of man and animal, this seclusion may be (as noted by berger, derrida and braidotti) the source of uneasiness, confusion and falsity. around anthropomorphising almost four decades after berger noticed the growing detachment between man and animals, this process of turning non-humans into cultural constructs is addressed by rosi braidotti in her post-humanist reflections on “becoming-animal”. in her book the posthuman, she recalls the travestied animal taxonomy which currently appears to reduce human/non-human relationship. under this grouping, animals fall into simplified, generalized classes of companion species, commodities (e.g. food suppliers) or the nearly extinct phantasmata. what she sees between man and beast is the oedipal bond, based on ambivalence and manipulation. and, paradoxically, it is here that the strategy of metaphorisation seems to be a most potent device. 9 autumnwatch – popular bbc wildlife series. source: wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/springwatch (2 february 2017). 10 james herriot is a pen name used by a well-known british veterinarian and writer whose real name was james alfred ‘alf ’ wright. in 1975 he published his omnibus volume all creatures great and small, which included his first two books if only they could talk and it shouldn’t happen to a vet, with three chapters from let sleeping vets lie. the success was followed by two more omnibus volumes: all things bright and beautiful and all things wise and wonderful. the semi-autobiographical accounts of his life and veterinarian career were filmed into a tv series by bbc under the title all creatures great and small. both the narrative series and its cinematographic adaptation became enormously popular in the uk and across the world. 14 crossroads. a journal of english studies animals are humanized, bestowed with man’s properties, norms, features of character. such anthropomorphism, however, leads further to forcing on them the status of phantasm, encamping them in the dimension of unreality, turning them into sentimental misinterpretations or cultural constructs (braidotii 2014:150-154). while there is a substantial time-lapse between both works (berger wrote his essay in 1977 and braidotti is reflecting on the issue early in 21st century), both authors repudiate the 20th century pageant where animals are turned into “human puppets” (berger 2009:25). whereas she denounces certain contemporary forms of humanizing animals, braidotti does not in fact criticize or reject anthropomorphism entirely. the complex question of metaphorising non-humans is rather signalled here and the contemporary human (post-human) map is oriented beyond anthropos. could then post-humanism, in this respect, mean shifting the focal point of analysis from man to the bond with non-humans? therefore, if it is the interspecies bond, the connection that needs to be studied, anthropomorphism is simply the enactment of this connection. in strictly scientific terms, to declare oneself anthropomorhiser is to take sides and to be exposed to various charges of pretentious sentimentality, subjective prejudice, or even delusional naiveté, etc. berger provides insightful observations of this ancient human inclination to metaphorise animals and turn them into signs which helped to map the intricate meanings of surrounding world. historically speaking, humanizing other species indicated the search for universal explanations. it was a way of “chartering” the experience of the world: “every animals offered explanations, or, more precisely, lent their name or character to a quality, which like all qualities was, in its essence, mysterious” (berger 2009:18). drawing from the context of the vast body of scientific data, dominique lestel, a french philosopher, in his article “epistemological interlude” defends anthropomorphism. he offers a compelling discussion of how anthropomorphism and the use of anecdote in ethology, the study of animal behaviour, are seen as a menace to the objective scientific observation by certain part of academia (lestel 2014:152). but is it possible to study animal behavior while not projecting human emotions onto the objects of study? is animal behavior separable from animal emotions? the article reveals the impossibility of such proposals: to speak of anthropomorphism with disgust implies, on the one hand, that it is possible and appropriate to describe animals as if they had no relationship with humans, and, second, that it is possible to form an “objective” representation of them that is truly independent of the observer who develops it (lestel 2014:153-4). lestel denounces such claims of objectivity. he further indicates that denying anthropomorphism legitimacy in ethologic research is “a type of mental rigidity” (lestel 2014:154). in conclusion, animals have emotional, physical, psychological and semiotic needs in that their actions convey and also interpret meaning. in meadowland, which describes a physical space, not an imaginary realm, the old boar badger is called “a nazi, a follower of goering’s maxim ‘guns before butter’”, and his territorial boundary overlaps with that of humans: “(...) he has adopted the human’s stock fence as his national border” 15 articles (lewis-stempel 2015:7). drawing from the abundance of literary tradition, lewis-stempel ostentatiously allows himself to fall into anthropomorphism when he admits: “and the worst anthropomorphisers of all are country people. i have never known a sow badger to be anything but an ‘old girl’, and when the gender of an animal is unknown it is always ‘he’ and never ‘it’” (lewis-stempel 2015:113). so, duly, moldy warp – arguably the most common object of humanization – is described as “the most violent diner”. the insatiable species whose pantry is named as “a chamber of horrors” is, however, presented with all the knowledge of an informed naturalist (lewis-stempel 2015:61). in the narrative the animals act. and if erica fudge identifies their historical agency only through preserved artefacts, meadowland is a record of their ongoing performance: the buzzard “looks none too pleased” (lewis-stempel 2015:67) and a crow is “hopping about with evil intent” (lewis-stempel 2015:145). even the speechless earthworms speak metaphorically because once drowned in january pools they remain “a silent white s” (lewis-stempel 2015:20). far from exhausting the meadowland menagerie, the green woodpecker “violates” god’s commandments, and a moth “wears gaudy dress” to avoid being eaten. jacques derrida in his essay on animal asks a persuasive question: “can animals suffer?” it is the modality inscribed in the very semantics of the verb ‘can’ that is so meaningful for the philosopher. the verb that indicates potential, power, being able, changes its meaning in this very question. derrida argues: the question is disturbed by a certain passivity. it bears witness, manifesting already, as question, the response that testifies to a sufferance, a passion, a not-being-able. the word can [pouvoir] changes sense and sign here once one asks “can they suffer?” (derrida 2002:396) the answer, derrida concludes, is self-evident. it is older than the question itself. the truth of this fact was recognizable even before humans were capable of asking the question: “no one can deny the suffering, fear or panic, the terror or fright that humans witness in certain animals. (descartes himself was not able to claim that animals were insensitive to suffering)” (derrida 2002:396). lewis-stempel does address, albeit in a more light-hearted example, the question of animal agency, or rather ability. again, the modal ‘can’ (derrida’s pouvoir) is evoked in the context of animal behaviour. as the following illustration demonstrates, projecting human ways on animals can function as a source of humour but also as manifestation of interconnectedness. the equines continue circling the hut, until zeb, my horse, breaks out of the circle and runs, with absolute deliberation, up to me. and gently tugs on the sleeve of my shirt. he pulls the sleeve again with infinite courtesy. animals can, of course, talk. in that moment he and i are one, indivisible. i can see inside his great impenetrable chestnut head, see every slow bestial process. i am a fellow animal and he wants me to play (lewis-stempel 2015:144). man’s reading of animal ways derives from years of proximity, careful observation and empathy. it is undeniably intuitive and, as such, counter-scientific. 16 crossroads. a journal of english studies ecocritical anguish terry gifford’s conceptual frame for post-pastoral offers a broad platform for how man interacts with the surrounding natural world. as his words cited earlier in the article indicate, post-pastoral reading does more than nullify the nature/culture divide. it also responds to the current problematics of the issue, namely modern anxiety concerning climatic change. sadly, given the recent scientific facts concerning climate change and human-induced changes of natural landscape, it remains clear that one way in which nature becomes an agent is when it ‘threatens’ with extinction or climatic doom. it nowadays remains impossible for literary representations of nature or landscape to disregard the environmental transformations of the past decades. the old-fashioned strong tincture of idealization in countryside literature became disrupted around the 1960s and this paved way for literary discussions about environment. this shift and cultural and literary responses to it are discussed in detail by the aforementioned article “from countryside to environment” locating the change historically within the decades between 1960s and 1980s.11 in meadowland lewis-stempel’s dialectic listening to nature cannot fail to illustrate the environmental issues. he observes: “i fret eschatologically about the curlews, as though it is their migratory wingbeats that turn the earth, and should they fail to appear we will have entered some ecological end time” (lewis-stempel 2015:77). this end-of-the-world anguish is suspended somewhere between ted hughes’ confirmation that the returning swifts mean that “the globe’s still working”12 and modern environmental knowledge of species’ disappearance and the fear of this absence. the above passage from meadowland provides perhaps the most explicit illustration of ecological angst, which is otherwise infrequently hinted at throughout the narrative. it is, nonetheless, hard to escape the obvious conclusion that even the most humorous, apparently light-hearted depictions of countryside must encompass this distressing post-pastoral knowledge. conclusions the foregoing discussion of meadowland has attempted to prove the vitality of post-pastoral countryside writing. its aim is also to point out the manifold functions of anthropomorphism, this long-established strategy of making sense of the outer nature. both animating non-humans in literary representation and post-pastoral depiction of british countryside are expressions of spatial proximity, apparently an indispensable prerequisite for co-existence, for sharing material place. far from causing confusion or misunderstanding, anthropomorphisation has an enduring power of organizing human experience and expressing interconnectedness. and speaking 11 gifford also provides an analysis of literary works concerning nature of the decades between 1960s and 1980s and their mutual influences or lack of thereof. interestingly, he dispels the popular views concerning the sweeping influence of rachel carson’s book silent spring (1962) in the united kingdom. instead, he identifies richard mabey’s the common ground (1980) as the turning point in british nature writing (gifford 2016:9). 12 ted hughes “swifts”. 17 articles in historical terms, it remains a fact that people have always responded to natural world, turning animals into agents. following the civilization schism into a number of bipolarities, such as country/city, nature/ culture, human/animal, the post-pastoralist position utilizes the language as a means of mediating between these apparently separate realms. by animating landscape and its inhabitants, john lewis-stempel preserves the world of nature within a human imaginarium. humanizing nonhumans allows man to seek connections. similarly, by anecdotal projection of man’s attributes, the narrative’s author finds the artistic correspondence with the habitat, his “equilibrium”. in addition to extending human perception of the environment, anthropomorphism entails giving voice to animals. for, as derrida points out, animal has no language; it is deprived of the power to respond, which in a way is the sole property of humans (derrida 2002:400). finally, in presenting how the species intersect in terrain of the meadow, the narrator proves the concurrence of animal agents. at the same time, by effacing himself from the central position within the narrative, lewis-stempel melts into the meadowland. indicative of this position are tiny grasshoppers which, with their 300-million-year lineage, “are another landowner with a prior claim to humans” (lewis-stempel 2015:145). thus human self-importance is diminished. references berger, john. 2009. why look at animals? london: penguin books. [essay “why look at animals?” taken from about looking. 1980. john berger] blake, william. c. 1801–3. “auguries of innocence” in the ballads (or pickering) manuscript, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/auguries_of_innocence (10 march 2017). braidotti, rosi. 2014. po człowieku. warszawa: wydawnictwo naukowe pwn. derrida, jacques and david wills. 2002. the animal that therefore i am (more to follow). critical inquiry 28(2): 369-418. derrida, jacques – jaques derrida and the question of “the animal”, https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ry49jr0tfjk (24 february 2017). fudge, erica. 2006. ruminations 1. h-animal. h-net. the history of animals. https://networks.hnet.org/node/16560/pages/32226/history-animals-erica-fudge (14 february 2017). gifford, terry. 2016. five modes of ‘listening deeply’ to pastoral sounds. http://www.terrygifford. co.uk/ (10 february 2017). gifford, terry. 2016. from countryside to environment: british non-fiction prose nature writing 1960-1980. http://www.terrygifford.co.uk/ (20 february 2017). gifford, terry. 2012. pastoral, anti-pastoral and post-pastoral as reading strategies http://www. errygifford.co.uk/ (20 february 2017). hughes, ted. 2005. “swifts” in collected poems for children, london: faber and faber. p.206. lestel, dominique (translated by peter boyle). 2014. epistemological interlude. angelaki: journal of the theoretical humanities 19(3): 151-160. 18 crossroads. a journal of english studies lewis-stempel, john. 2015. meadowland. the private life of an english meadow. london: black swan. park, sowon s. 2013. “who are these people?”anthropomorphism, dehumanization and the question of the other, arcadia. international journal for literary studies 48(1): 150–163. 4 crossroads. a journal of english studies anna maria karczewska university of białystok against dechoukaj: the trauma of haiti in edwidge danticat’s the dew breaker abstract. diaspora writers add to a long american literary tradition of engaging with political issues, a rich body of literature focused on themes of occupation, persecution, dictatorship, repression and trauma. this paper focuses on a political protest in the form of personal narrative of haitians whose forgotten or ignored stories were reinscribed by haitian-american author edwidge danticat in the dew breaker (2004). the paper examines the representation of haiti’s history and the collective experience of violence and trauma during the duvaliers’ dictatorship, and revisits the terror instilled by a paramilitary police – the tonton macoutes. in the dew breaker danticat offers a compelling portrait of individuals haunted by pain, trauma and loss. their stories function as a testimony of the generations of haitians who experienced abuses and atrocities committed during the era of “papa doc” and “baby doc”. the book presents the effects of trauma on the individuals and the community, shows what is destroyed by trauma and offers solutions to deal with the traumatic experience. the aim of the paper is to analyze how the dew breaker gives a unique access to haitian history, how it deals with its legacy of violence, how the subaltern articulate their traumas and how literature creates a voice for victims of political violence and psychological terror. keywords: edwidge danticat, trauma, haiti, dictatorship, francois duvalier, jean claude duvalier, tonton macoutes who cares why, at this distance? a disaster is a disaster; those hurt by it remain hurt, those killed remain killed, the rubble remains rubble (atwood 1993: 3). literature often confronts official discourse critically and harshly, and rewrites that discourse and history to include the perspectives of the marginalized or excluded. it explores social questions and often speaks on behalf of a “collective unaware and largely silenced and buried under a heap of false and perverted rhetoric” (ramirez in craft, 10). contemporary authors create new genres and try to move beyond existing national, traditional, globally-used forms, which are simultaneously political and literary. this type of writing makes a political problem fundamental to the story and serves as an intermediate step in a process directed toward producing change in the world, prodoi: 10.15290/cr.2015.11.4.01 5 articles moting justice by continuous examination of personal histories of all the people and discourses1. david shields, in his book reality hunger (2010), argues that contemporary fiction is enlivened by efforts to make the readers “interested, empathetic, questioning, or even antipathetic to what they are seeing” (shields 2010: 51). new hybrid genres, which combine different stylistic categories open up debates and stimulate discussion. haitian-american author edwidge danticat reinscribed forgotten and often ignored stories of haitians in the hybrid form of personal narrative entitled the dew breaker (2004). the book offers a compelling portrait of individuals haunted by pain, trauma and loss. their stories function as a testimony of the generations of haitians who experienced abuses and atrocities committed during the era of “papa doc” and “baby doc”. the paper focuses on the effects of trauma on the individuals and the community, and the healing of trauma as mediated by danticat’s work. it examines the representation of haiti’s history and the collective experience of violence during the duvaliers’ dictatorship, and revisits the terror instilled by a paramilitary police – the tonton macoutes. the aim of the paper is to analyze how the dew breaker gives unique access to haitian history, how it deals with its legacy of violence, and how the subaltern communicate their traumas and heal them. to argue the role of literature in creating a voice for victims of political violence and psychological terror, the historical context of the dew breaker needs to be discussed. in 1957 a fifty-yearold country doctor won elections in haiti and soon turned his presidency into a fourteen-year dictatorship. francois duvalier, as he is referred to here, was known to the world as ‘papa doc’2. in his quest for absolute power he forced his presidency-for-life, and introduced an authoritarian regime. duvalierism was known for its endemic brutality, and it was a period of terror and hysteria. duvalier’s haiti was a byword for state terrorism, corruption, extortion and underdevelopment. governed by a tyrant voodooist and his irrational personal whims, the caribbean republic became a social and economic ruin, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, where people had a life expectancy of forty years. the terror was institutionalized through duvalier’s personal armed civilian militia, which infiltrated every area of haitian society (abbott 1988: 98-105). the volunteers of national security were known almost exclusively as the tonton macoutes3, and constituted an effective network of repression. they inherited the name from the haitian folk belief in a boogeyman who prowls at night to hunt down errant children and kidnaps them in his straw satchel bag (macoute). the macoutes acted as political cadres, secret police and instruments of terror. the members of the macoutes came from the most disadvantaged classes. they were often 1 for more discussion on this subject see: toward the geopolitical novel. u.s. fiction in the twenty-first century by caren irr, 2013, columbia university press. 2 familiar names have often been given to haitian presidents to reflect the mixture of authority and paternalism which surrounds the office. the element of paternalism, where the dictator appears either fatherly or avuncular, acts as an emollient for their horrendous crimes. 3 the creole phrase tonton macoute means uncle gunny sack. 6 crossroads. a journal of english studies illiterate criminals who were elevated to positions of power. not only did they execute duvaliers’ orders, but they also committed crimes of their own volition. the reign of terror and the process of macoutization infested every niche of the society (ferguson 1987: 40-41, 52-53)4. the sadism of the macoutes and the corruption that legitimized them were exposed by graham greene in his powerful novel the comedians (1966), which was banned in haiti. the county was, in the words of the author, “the nightmare republic” (greene 2005: 32). the regime continued when power was handed to papa doc’s feckless 19-year-old son jean claude (baby doc)5. with another fifteen years of duvalier rule, haiti sank further into agricultural and economic ruin, despair, numbing poverty, and sleepy decay. finally, people’s desire for change and a new social order created an ad hoc movement. in 1986 massive waves of protests, demonstrations, riots, and days of violent unrest6 caused the regime to disintegrate and baby doc was forced to flee the country. duvalier’s departure was followed by a gruesome episode which haitians called ‘operation dechoukaj’ (operation uproot in haitian creole). it was the process of ridding the country of duvalierism, which meant destroying buildings and the duvalier family mausoleum, at the same time erasing the dynasty from the country’s architecture. dechoukaj also implemented hideous executions of tonton macoutes (wilentz 2010). edwidge danticat engages with such socially–defining events of her homeland’s history in her book the dew breaker. the author investigates the violence of those times, its indelible legacy and lingering effects in the collective consciousness. the books’ fictionalized stories are, in some ways, a collage of real events, so the dew breaker displays the collective memory that haunts haitians both in haiti and in the diaspora. the dew breaker is not exactly a novel. it is a short story cycle, a memoir, testimonio, a hybrid form of life writing. the story is told from multiple points of view. the text also contains resonant cultural sources. there are fragments from life and le monde, and allusions to graham greene’s the comedians. in this way danticat translates her country’s traumatic history into a different form, an intertext that, in a sense, converses with the aforementioned elements and fragments. the author moves easily back and forth in time and place, and combines multiple tales “that come together like jigsaw-puzzle pieces to create a picture of one man’s terrible history and his and his victims’ afterlife” (kakutani 2014). some of the puzzle pieces are missing, the stories are sketchy, 4 “the duvaliers […] claimed more than 40,000 human lives. they developed a coercion network made up of the macoutes, the haitian army, right-wing paramilitary groups, and rural magistrates to prevent civilian resistance to authoritarian rule and repress political opposition activity, while censoring or castigating any critique of the state”. see: steeve coupeau, p.95. 5 the nickname was the scornful invention of foreign journalists. 6 the seeds of the downfall of the duvalier regime can be found in its incapacity to deliver economic prosperity and political freedom, and its inability to reform public finances and to deliver on the basic demands of the haitian population; pro-democracy groups were encouraged by the speech of pope john paul ii upon his arrival in port-au-prince, and radio stations raised public awareness; a fever epidemic among porcine livestock and repressions of hunger riots provoked further incentives to revolt. see: s. coupeau, p.105-106. 7 articles the cinematic plot resembles evocative snapshots, the protagonists’ memories are broken and discontinuous. apparent randomness has a clear design, as danticat, by means of her limpid, understated prose and looping structure, recreates reactions to the traumatic events (kakutani 2014). what is more, “the fragmented form of the text mirrors the fragmented and scarred haitian people, whose country has been marked by political instability since its founding in 1804” (bellamy 2012: 177-197). the tales in the dew breaker are stories of political and personal intersection. they present the effects of trauma both on the individual and the community, and they give a voice to victims of political violence and psychological terror. they revisit traumatic memory and try to help understand the processes of victimization, remembering, witnessing, and recovery. trauma narratives are sites of social critique. they reconstruct histories, promote new forms of political action, open up new international debates on human rights. according to gayatri spivak, each great narrative is a program “which tells how social justice is to be achieved” (spivak 1990: 19). in this connection the dew breaker may also stir the conscience of people, especially in view of the fact that it was inspired by newspaper articles, in recent years, concerning many former haitian torturers living in the united states. in 2003 many of them were deported to haiti by the u.s. department of homeland security (valbrun 2004: 42-43).7 the dew breaker is a series of nine interrelated short stories that mirror the lives of individuals united by pain, trauma and loss, and who try to voice their past suffering. danticat depicts the lives affected by a ‘dew breaker’8, a torturer of haitian dissidents during the duvaliers’ reign. the eponymous dew breaker remains nameless throughout the book because, as the author suggests, there were many people like him. the book’s other characters, his victims, intermingle with real people as well (danticat 2004). other protagonists are members of the dew breaker’s family, his former victims and their family members, who are also haunted by the period that left no-one untouched or unharmed. the protagonists share the burden of the past that left them with marred bodies, broken families or destroyed hopes. mariselle’s husband (“the funeral singer”)9 was murdered after he drew an unfavorable picture of the president. beatrice (“the bridal seamstress”) was the victim of a tonton macoute who “whipped the bottom of [her] feet until they bled. then he made [her] walk home, barefoot. on tar roads. in the hot sun. at high noon” (danticat 2005: 132); rezia (“the funaral singer”), when she was a girl, was raped by a “uniformed man”, who must have been the tonton macoute; freda’s father (“the funeral singer”) committed suicide after he was tortured and his property was confiscated: 7 to date, none of the macoutes were imprisoned for their actions. their victims have waited in vain for justice and even seen former duvalierist officials recycled in succeeding, supposedly “democratic,” governments. 8 dew breaker was a name given to members of the tonton macoutes (“the term “dew breaker” is a creole expression for a representative of the dictatorship in a rural area—a person with free reign in the area, acting as judge, jury and executioner. a dew breaker comes in the early morning to claim his victims, breaking the dew on the grass.”) see: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/06/grappling-with-haiti-s-beasts/303391/ 9 the title in the brackets refers to a particular story from the dew breaker. 8 crossroads. a journal of english studies he’d had a fishstall at the market. one day, one macoute came to take it over and another one took my father away. when my father returned, he didn’t have a tooth left in his mouth. in one night, they’d turned him into an old, ugly man. the next night he took his boat out to sea and, with a mouth full of blood, vanished forever (danticat 2005: 172). danticat shows here a double impact of the loss of property and, far more important, family in the space of one day. the protagonist of the story “monkey tails” also loses his father, which makes him “part of a generation of mostly fatherless boys” (danticat 2005: 141) as the fathers either died in the dictatorship’s prisons or abandoned their families to serve the regime. the oppressive system of the duvaliers touched the whole population of haitians. even those who left the country or were only indirectly touched by the torturers’ cruelties do not seem totally free from the violent legacy. there are passive victims of traumatic events who suffer the trauma of being raised by traumatized parents, or by living in close proximity to the pain of people who survived massive historical terror. there is also a third group of people who suffer on an individual and national level that of perpetrators and those related to them. danticat shows that they are not excluded from the collective trauma; they live with the burden of the past and their guilt. all of them are socially bound by their personal experience, which is also connected with the history of the haitian community. they are “men and women whose tremendous agonies filled every blank space in their lives. […] men and women chasing fragments of themselves long lost to others. […] palannits, night talkers, people who wet their beds, not with urine but with words” (danticat :139138, 98). they find an immense void in their lives. they are full of unutterable grief and repressed memories. what the protagonists experienced appears accessible outside the realms of their conscious memory. they communicate their traumatic experience in nightmare, hallucination and unwanted repetition, only then do they relieve and confess. (ibarrola armendariz 2010: 32). danticat appears to be perfectly aware of what cathy caruth, who builds her theory on the work of contemporary clinical trauma specialists judith herman and bessel van der kolk, claims. caruth maintains that trauma causes amnesia and is ineffable10, that the reactions to the traumatic events are not to be found in the immediate aftermath of the atrocities experienced but, rather, “occur in the often delayed, uncontrolled repetitive appearance of hallucinations and other intrusive phenomena” (caruth 1996: 11). the traumatic past determines the everyday life of the book’s protagonists, and manifests itself in the subconscious with a tendency to resurface in the character’s story or haunting memories. dany (“night talkers”), who witnessed his parents’ death at the hands of the ‘dew breaker’, seeks revenge and is obsessed with finding the murderer, yet the question appears of whether vengeance can bring peace of mind. beatrice (“bridal seamstress”) suffers from 10 the suggestion that one may forget—or fail to accurately describe—trauma is a foundational insight for the first wave of literary trauma theorists, among them geoffrey hartman, shoshana felman, and cathy caruth. however, newer clinical studies on the psychology of trauma have challenged the theories on which caruth relies. according to harvard’s richard mcnally, traumatic amnesia is a myth, and while victims may choose not to speak of their traumas, there is little evidence that they cannot. see: joshua pederson, speak, trauma: toward a revised understanding of literary trauma theory. 9 articles paranoia. she never managed to fully recover from the psychic wounds she received in her youth. she imagines her torturer following her everywhere she moves. anne (“the book of miracles”) suffers the emotional consequences of her marriage to a former macoute. nadine (“water child”) refuses to interact with her co-workers or communicate with her parents in haiti. according to herman, traumatic events call into question basic human relationships. they breach the attachments of family, friendship, love, and community. they shatter the construction of the self that is formed and sustained in relation to others (bellamy 2012: 187-189). each chapter in the book discusses a different victim’s struggle, while three core chapters (“the dew breaker”, “the book of the dead”, “the book of miracles”) concern the dew breaker’s family and ka’s (the dew breaker’s daughter) discovery of her father’s past as a prison guard. the reader meets the dew breaker as an old, peaceful man and a good father. when the story unfolds, the dew breaker’s actions, their effects on various characters, and his old identity are revealed: the way he acted at the inquisitions in his own private cell at casernes eventually earned him a lofty reputation among his peers. he was the one who came up with the most physically and psychologically taxing trials for the prisoners in his block. he was suffering, he knew it now, from what one of his most famous victims, the novelist jacques alexis, had written was the greatest hazard of the job […] it was becoming like any other job. he liked questioning the prisoners, teaching them to play zo and bezik, stapling clothespins to their ears as they lost and removing them as he let them win, convincing them that their false victories would save their lives. he liked to paddle them with braided cowhide, stand on their cracking backs and jump up and down like a drunk on a trampoline, pound a rock on the protruding bone behind their earlobes until they couldn’t hear the orders he was shouting at them, tie blocks of concrete to the end of sisal ropes and balance them off their testicles if they were men or their breasts if they were women (danticat 2005: 197-198). a merciless sadist who worked with ruthless efficiency remade himself into a kindly landlord and barber who lives a modest life in brooklyn, new york. he feels remorse, guilt that manifests in his nightmares, and he lives with the burden of the past and his actions. danticat, showing a change that can occur in a perpetrator, constructs a more balanced portrait of a man who, as a powerless, impressionable boy joined the tonton macoutes. in later years his position was reversed when he mishandled his orders, at a certain point in his career as a torturer, killing the preacher who tore his cheek with a piece of a broken wooden chair. the narrative records the dying preacher’s thoughts: the battle would be someone else’s to fight from now. and yet he had not been completely defeated. the wound on the fat man’s face wasn’t what he had hoped; he hadn’t blinded him or removed some of his teeth, but at least he’d left a mark on him, a brand that he would carry for the rest of his life. every time he looked in the mirror, he would have to confront this mark and remember him. whenever people asked what happened to his face, he would have to tell a lie, a lie that would further remind him of the truth (danticat 2005: 227-228). 10 crossroads. a journal of english studies a great paradox of the book is that the perpetrator carries the most visible sign of the atrocities he committed in the past. the dew breaker lives with constant guilt and self-loathing, and is tortured by nightmares. painting a portrait of the former tonton macoute, danticat shows how the effects of the duvalier dictatorship were equally observable in the victims and supporters of the regime; that the line between hunter and prey in duvalier-era haiti was highly situational. when seen in this light, the former macoute is humanized. he is portrayed as a multi-faceted person, and the duality of his character makes it impossible to judge him easily. the abuses and atrocities committed in haiti are a heavy burden for victims, victimizers and people related to them. the story “monkey tails” takes the reader to february 7, 1986 in haiti, while baby doc was escaping to france. the protagonist of the story, michel, was doubly traumatized because that day, for the last time, he saw his best friend, who turned out to be the son of a tonton macoute. the fervor created by the upheaval flooded into the days and weeks that followed, and it earned the name “operation dechoukaj”. a survivor of that chaotic day, michel, is a twelve-year-old boy who presents his understanding of the day’s events: overnight our country had completely changed. we had fallen asleep under a dictatorship headed by a pudgy thirty-four-year-old man and his glamorous wife. during the night they’d sneaked away […] their departure, however, orphaned a large number of loyal militiamen […] now the population was going after those militiamen, those macoutes, with the determination of an army in the middle of its biggest battle to date. my cousin vaval […] told us how on his way to the bus depot he had seen a group of people tie one of these militiamen to a lamppost, pour gasoline down his throat, and set him on fire (danticat 2005: 140). it is frequently the case, with such upheavals, that the reaction to the wrongdoers replicates what was done before. the description of that day shows the trauma of an entire group of people. the chaos, anxiety and despair of that day and many others to follow is explained by arthur g. neal in national trauma and collective memory. the author describes how the enduring effects of a national trauma and collective resentments can be expressed in a violent action. he claims that when collective sadness is accompanied by anger, a volatile situation frequently develops (neal 1998: 5-6). in this case collective anger was directed toward the duvalier family and the tonton macoutes. enveloped in a sense of rage and hostility, rioters yearned to destroy the physical reminders of the twenty-nine-year duvalier dictatorship, and to repress painful memories. however, with such actions, justifiable though they are, the effect might be to extend the pain, and the stories from the dew breaker make it clear that the memories that haunt haiti and its people remained. the book seems to offer a solution to deal with the traumatic experience, and to accept the past of haiti11. this solution stands in opposition to dechoukaj, which sought to erase every trace of the duvalier era from the collective memory of haitians. 11 such trauma-writing has clearly figured in recent haitian literature (see also dany laferrière, or other books by danticat, e.g. the farming of bones). 11 articles the protagonists of the dew breaker are caught in the dilemma of denying the events that hurt them so much and proclaiming them aloud to obtain some justice and recognition for the innocent victims. reading danticat’s book, it can be concluded that the key to overcoming traumatic experience is remembering and commemorating the losses. silence reflects unresolved trauma, guilt and shame, while speech, however fragmented, facilitates healing and begins the process of resolving trauma. the wife of a reformed murderer, anne (“the book of miracles”), does not want to or cannot speak of her traumatic experiences. she has been haunted by the threat of exposure and she is caught in persistent silence. she refuses to bear testimony to her own traumatic past, and at the same time is trapped in grief and remains alienated from her daughter who recently learned about her father’s past. other characters in the dew breaker try to relieve their burden by speaking out about some of the truths that have been torturing them for many years. they can find partial redemption and alleviation of psychic wounds and scars by sharing their stories. this is certainly the case of the group of young women in “the funeral singer”. instead of suppressing their memories, rezia, mariselle and freda meet regularly to talk about their troubled past. they are in need of mourning, remembering, reconnecting, and building some sort of community. showing that the three women need a long time to understand each other, danticat enhances the idea that overcoming a traumatic experience needs a long process and empathetic companions, but after the exposure and sharing of their traumatic memories, they “slowly parcel out sorrows, each walking out with fewer than [they]’d carried in” (danticat 2005: 170). one of the victims, dany, in “night talkers”, also begins to work through his trauma when he hears stories of the support that his aunt gives to people in her village. he realizes that coming to terms with his past involves helping somebody, and emphasizes the ability to empathize with others who were equally hurt. only then does he understand that perpetuating violence will not change the suffering he has gone through, and his experience emphasizes that seeking revenge may not be the solution with which to work through traumatic memories. there might appear to be some catharsis in the collective reaction to the duvalier regime, but individuals still have to confront and somehow quieten their own intensely personal traumas. danticat’s fiction presents the effects of trauma on the individual and the community, identifies what is destroyed by trauma, and indicates new strategies and sensibilities that will help the characters to recover. it is equally valid for perpetrators, who also suffer from a trauma not very different from that affecting their prey. the characters in the dew breaker seem to answer the rebellious preacher’s question that he asked his followers forty years ago in one of his radio sermons encouraging his followers to fight tyrants: “and what will we do with our beasts?” (danticat 2005: 185). the protagonists find some rituals to pacify their “beasts”, their harrowing memories, the pain and grief. they learn to recall in memory the traumatic experience, but also realize that they are living here and now with openings to the future, in which they can find hope and contentment. some of the characters try to appease their ghosts from the past by being brought into contact with other individuals who experienced catastrophes. it helps them to see their own problems in a new light and to realize that they 12 crossroads. a journal of english studies are not alone in having to cope with the burden of trauma. the dew breaker offers a solution to deal with the traumatic experience by revisiting and communicating harrowing experience, and not by destroying the memory or remaining silent. at this point one might ask the question that appears in margaret atwood’s the robber bride: “who cares why, at this distance? a disaster is a disaster; those hurt by it remain hurt, those killed remain killed, the rubble remains rubble” (atwood 1993: 3). the same author may be quoted here to answer this question. the disaster, the dead, the rubble must be brought back “into the land of living and allowed to enter time once more – which means to enter the realm of the audience, the realm of the readers, the realm of change” (atwood 2002: 179-179). rewriting history, wresting it from the prison of ‘the grand narrative’ helps give a voice to traumatized individuals and populations. such texts as dandicat’s become political acts designed to stir the conscience of the people. personal narratives enable victims to speak truth to power; they are meta-sites for social critique. further, their recognition in the international community, the unpredictable patterns of official and unofficial dissemination of stories to multiple audiences, the mixed responses to them, contribute to what is developing as a different politics of social change. the multiple forms of remembrance of and witnessing to abuse spur developments in the field of human rights (schaffer and smith 2004: 31-32). literature of trauma may do important work in fostering awareness of and sympathy for different experiences of individuals around the globe. “literature of trauma is written from the need to tell and retell the story of the traumatic experience, to make it ‘real’ both to the victim and to the community. such writing serves both as validation and cathartic vehicle for the traumatized” (tal 1996: 21). danticat’s protagonists seem to say exactly what rigoberta menchú said in her testimonio: “this is my testimony. i didn’t learn it from a book and i didn’t learn it alone. i’d like to stress that it’s not only my life, it’s also the testimony of my people. […] my personal experience is the reality of a whole people” (menchú 1984: 1). the dew breaker acts as a testimony of collective suffering, and it brings haiti’s historical traumas to the attention of a new audience. the author writes of haiti in english both to “introduce people to haiti” and to acquaint people like her american-born compatriots with crucial aspects of haitian history. the dew breaker provides access to history that would otherwise be unknown and unrepresented in histories. it also, apparently, seeks to build bridges—or at least create some understanding—between victims and perpetrators, and expands haiti’s community of survivors with sympathetic readers who share the weight of this nation’s traumatic experiences. what is more, danticat transforms stories of brutalization into narratives of hope, which is also hope for haiti’s future. not only are the stories from the dew breaker fueled by empathy and enlivened by hope, connection, commitment, and affiliation; not only do they call for justice, and for the reader to be more active and more informed; they are also testimonies that help to deal with emerging fear, trauma and repression. for cathy caruth, trauma is an experience so intensely painful that the mind is unable to process it normally. she claims that if the memories of the trauma return, they are often nonverbal, and the victim may be unable to describe them with words. in this connection, cathy caruth maintains that fiction can “speak” trauma and may have therapeutic potential, 13 articles whereas normal, discursive language cannot. it is partly because, by its very nature, fiction sits at a distance from the actual, raw experiences of human beings—and can thus offer, however briefly, some detachment. caruth also affirms the significance of writing trauma literature in the process of remembering and communicating the memory of traumatic events (caruth 1995: 4). julia alvarez also believes that readers can immerse in the particular epoch thanks to imagination, and says that “[a] novel is not after all, a historical document, but a way to travel through the human heart” (alvarez 1995: 324). danticat’s book forbids forgetting. the stories need to be heard, and for those who tell them there is a redemptive quality. such stories create a representative voice for victims of political violence and psychological terror who have been silenced. they seem necessary for the process of reburial and grieving, and they can promote healing and solidarity among disaffected groups and expand human capacity for empathy (mullins 2008: 4-12). to use homi bhabha’s words from his oxford amnesty lecture: “the quest for freedom and solidarity—draw on the emotions, the imagination, vivid images and moving narratives” (bhabha 2003:161), and such narratives have “the creative potential to transform human relations and historical disasters” (bhabha 2003: 161). references abbott, elizabeth. 1988. haiti. the duvaliers and their legacy. london: robert hale. alvarez, julia. 1995. in the time of the butterflies. new york: plume. atwood, margaret. 1993. the robber bride. new york: anchor books. atwood, margaret. 2002. negotiating with the dead. a writer on writing. cambridge: cambridge university press. bellamy, maria rice. 2012. more than hunter or pray: duality and traumatic memory in edwidge danticat’s the dew breaker, melus, volume 37, number 1 (spring). 177-197. bhabha, homi. 2003. on writing rights. in: matthew j. gibney (ed.), globalizing rights: the oxford amnesty lectures 1999. 160-183. oxford: oxford university press. caruth, cathy. 1995. introduction. in: cathy caruth (ed.), trauma. explorations in memory. baltimore: the johns hopkins university press. caruth, cathy. 1996. unclaimed experience. trauma, narrative, and history. baltimore: the johns hopkins university press. coupeau, steeve. 2008. the history of haiti. westport. greenwood press. craft, linda j. 1997. novels of testimony and resistance from central america. gainesville, university press of florida danticat, edwidge. 2005. the dew breaker. new york: vintage books. danticat, edwidge. 2004. grappling with haiti’s beasts, interview with dana rousmaniere, the atlantic, june http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/06/grappling-with-haiti-sbeasts/303391/ (18 march 2016). ferguson, james. 1987. papa doc, baby doc. haiti and the duvaliers. oxford: basil blackwell ltd. greene, graham. 2005. the comedians. london: penguin books. 14 crossroads. a journal of english studies ibarrola armendariz, aitor. 2010. the language of wounds and scars in edwidge danticat’s the dew breaker, a case study in trauma symptoms and the recovery process, journal of english studies, vol. 8. 23-56. irr, caren. 2014. toward the geopolitical novel. u.s. fiction in the twenty-first century. new york: columbia university press. kakutani, michiko. 2014. hiding from a brutal past spent shattering lives in haiti, the new york times march 10. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/10/books/books-of-the-times-hidingfrom-a-brutal-past-spent-shattering-lives-in-haiti.html?_r=0 (8 february 2016). menchú, rigoberta and elisabeth burgos-debray (ed.). 1984. i, rigoberta menchú. an indian woman in guatemala, trans. ann wright. london: verso. mullins, greg. 2008. labors of literature and of human rights, peace review: a journal of social justice, volume 20, iss. 1. 4-12. neal, arthur g. 1998. national trauma and collective memory. armonk: m.e. sharpe. shields, david. 2010. reality hunger. a manifesto. london: hamish hamilton. schaffer, kay and sidonie smith. 2004. human rights and narrated lives: the ethics of recognition. new york: palgrave, macmillan. spivak, gayatri chakravorty and sarah harasym (ed.). 1990. the post-colonial critic: interviews, strategies, dialogues. new york: routledge. tal, kalí. 1996. worlds of hurt. reading the literatures of trauma. cambridge university press. valbrun, marjorie. 2004. haiti’s eloquent daughter, black issues book review, vol. 6, issue 4 julyaugust. 42-43. wilentz, amy. 2010. the dechoukaj this time. the new york times feb. 6th. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/opinion/07wilentz.html?_r=0 (17 august 2016). 22 crossroads. a journal of english studies work in progress “work in progress” is a forum for students and university graduates who wish to present the results of their research. kinga maria, mioduszewska university of białystok, poland the development of the protagonist in rudolfo anaya’s chicano bildungsroman bless me, ultima abstract. he main aim of this article is to examine the psychological and emotional development of the protagonist of rudolfo anaya’s bless me, ultima, a book which is perceived as a prime example of chicano bildungsroman. first, i concentrate on providing brief theory about the sub-genre of bildungsroman and on chicano literature to situate anaya’s novel within these contexts. a considerable part of the article is devoted to the analysis of the protagonist’s family background and school environment, which signify the influences of mexican and american culture in his life. finally, the motifs of war, violence and death are discussed as significant factors contributing to the protagonist’s coming of age. keywords: bildungsroman; chicano literature; rudolfo anaya; bless me; ultima. a bildungsroman can be understood as a coming of age story, in which we get to know how certain incidents and particular environments influence an individual. the sub-genre itself focuses mainly on the psychological exploration of human reactions following disturbing experiences. at times it emphasizes the psychological turbulence of one person, other times it draws readers’ attention to the visible problems of a bigger group. but it is always about the development of a personality, identity, and a social self. the main aim of this article is to examine the psychological and emotional development of the main protagonist of rudolfo anaya’s bless me, ultima. doi 10.15290/cr.2015.10.3.03 23 work in progress bildungsroman and chicano literature one of the most general definitions of the bildungsroman states that it is “a generic term for a novel that focuses on the psychological and social development of its main character” (redfield 2006: 191). it is, therefore, a novel in which readers follow the protagonist through his or her adolescence. kelsey bennett (2014: 2) claims that spiritual traditions were the basis for creating the bildungsroman as it is a sub-genre closely connected with individual experience and self-formation. she notices that in luther’s translation of the bible, he uses the word bild to express god’s image and that “the responsibility for spiritual formation shifted directly to the individual, whose primary source of external inspiration and guidance became the bible itself ” (bennet 2014: 4). according to this view, bildungsroman was created as an answer to religious self-searching and only later did it gain its meaning of a novel about a more general development. the sub-genre enjoyed a particular popularity in 19th century, when europe “witnessed the apex both of historicism and of nationalism” (boes 2008: 17). the new events in the lives of people made them less secure and provoked emotions that were deeply hidden before. therefore, people felt a need of expressing those emotions and sharing their experiences through writing bildungsroman. some of the greatest bildungsroman novels of that century are, unquestionably, charles dickens’s david copperfield (1850), gustave flaubert’s sentimental education (1869), or mark twain’s the adventures of huckleberry finn (1884). one of the most typical elements of the bildungsroman is the presence of a mentor. it is the mentor who teaches the young protagonist and directs his or her development into the right direction. this is usually an elderly, experienced person, whose world outlook appeals to the character at this particular stage of life (garasym 2012: 187). some attention should be also devoted to the bildungsroman’s narrator. tetyana garasym (2012: 186) notices that such stories are predominantly told from the perspective of an adult and mature protagonist who has already found his place in life. in consequence, the image of the formation process relies on references to the past. all, or almost all, of the events taking place in the novel are the memories of the narrator. significantly, bildungsroman is about finding and building a national identity. a substantial aim of a coming of age novel is to show how young people find their way to become citizens. sometimes the protagonist can be described as the representative of a whole nation. this often creates some kind of an ironic situation as the protagonists become mature in an immature nation (latinez 2014: 6). this happens especially in the context of latin america, where we can still observe some influences from native american culture. the characters of the stories frequently go beyond the framework and become more aware and developed than the rest of the society. they can later make use of their maturity and fight for what they have discovered is right and therefore draw people into changing the common view. according to stella bolaki (2011: 10-11), this subgenre “has an enduring power” and “offers an appropriate site for the negotiation of a number of enduring and contentious tensions in ethnic american writing”. it is not only about finding oneself but also about exploring social problems. 24 crossroads. a journal of english studies one particular type is the chicano bildungsroman, focusing on mexican-american society. its main characteristic is that it combines the elements of both mexican and american cultures. as we read in the article written by eysturoy and gurpegui (1990: 48-82), the history of mexicanamericans begins in the year 1848 and the roots of chicano literature lie in this historical context. 1848 was the year when the treaty of guadalupe hildago was signed and the war between mexico and the united states ended. the appearance of chicano literature may come from the fact that many mexican-americans find the border between both countries “an artificial one” (eysturoy, gurpegui 1990: 48). on an everyday basis the minority lives in an environment exposing them to the combination of both cultures. the beginnings of chicano short fiction are indisputably connected with the oral tradition of storytelling and with traditional cuentos (stories). as a part of folk speech, proverbs and traditional sayings can be perceived as the “voice of collected wisdom or proven authority” (ortega 2012: 548) and a significant element of indigenous mexican culture. it provides advice in an inoffensive way and refers to the experience of past generations. thus, through the folk tales we can learn a lot about the culture and history of chicanos. another characteristic of chicano/a literature is the inclusion of violence. in his article “chicano studies and the need to not know” rodriguez (2010: 180) observes that what is often included in chicano/a works is the figure with his or her pistol; the tendency to employ such figures “emerges from a desire to rectify a long history of racism, patriarchy, economic exploitation, and cultural neglect and derision”. although it is mentioned that such symbolic characters with pistols appear as a result of the chicano movement of the 1960s, they are still present in today’s novels. additionally, it is also a common phenomenon that chicano/a writers prefer to employ a strategy of code switching in which predominantly english texts are infused with spanish words (schmidt 2011: 40). this combination shows that the authors refuse to be defined by one culture and that they do not want to “fall into one neat and distinct category” (schmidt 2011: 40), hoping to somehow make people aware of the complexity of chicano/a identity. chicano literature, especially works of the last three decades, is “the culmination of long-standing sentiments and traditions” (eysturoy, gurpegui 1990: 49). the mixture of cultures and the combination of motifs undoubtedly make chicano coming of age novels exceptionally intriguing. the novel of formation located in a place where different heritages collide allows readers to step into an extraordinary world, known only by a few people. family background and mexican culture at the beginning of bless me, ultima, tony is a six-year-old boy and an innocent character. in spite of his young age, he seems to be quite precocious. it is right to say that as a boy antonio is “quite thoughtful and serious, often prone to moral questioning” (sharma 2013). he spends his free time helping with the farm and definitely does not concern himself with his sisters’ pastimes. although they are older, it is he who seems to be more grown-up. despite the fact that in many characteristics the protagonist differs from his peers and seems to be more mature, he is lost. tony, “the inquisitor” (anaya 1972: 33), is a boy with many questions to ask, but not all of them are directly answered. al25 work in progress though he learns through the guidance and advice given by his parents and a mentor, ultima, their words gain in meaning only with time and the experiences he has to go through himself. as readers, we are the witnesses of how tony’s identity is built by the environment in which he is growing up. it is believed that the hallmark characteristics of traditional mexican family values are supportive family bonds and the strong expectations regarding family loyalty (cauce, domenech-rodríguez 2002: 3-25). as saracho and martínez-hancock (2005: 212) notice, “traditional mexican-american families are those who still maintain values of typical communities that are rural, located close to the mexican border, and situated where most of the population is mexican american”. undoubtedly, all of these features could serve as a description of tony’s family. however, the family values associated with mexican culture are shown here as influences that are more complicated and less unified than we stereotypically believe. what is surely important while considering antonio’s process of maturing is his surname and its origin, which signifies his family background. the full name of the protagonist is antonio juan márez y luna, which indicates that tony comes from two totally different types of mexican society. as theresa kanoza (1999: 159) notices, “rudolfo anaya presents a world of opposites in the new mexican village of guadalupe. the parents of the young protagonist antonio have strikingly different temperaments, as dissimilar to each other as the backgrounds from which they hail”. the first world is represented by the father, a vaquero (cowboy) with “a calling as ancient as the coming of the spaniard to nuevo méjico” (anaya 1972: 2). the men of the llano (plains) in bless me, ultima are described as “men of the sun” (anaya 1972: 27). they are loud and wild, “like the ocean from which they take their name, and the species of the llano that have become their home” (anaya 1972: 41). people from las pasturas are also witty and there is always a song in their excited talks. as tony notices, they were “like the wind, and the fragrances they carried on their clothing shifted as the wind shifted” (anaya 1972: 125). it is the wind and their blood that sets vaqueros wandering and enjoying life to the fullest. in contrast, maria, antonio’s mother, is not defined as a woman of the llano. she is a daughter of a farmer and the lunas’ origins are strongly connected with the moon: “they planted their crops and cared for their animals according to the cycles of the moon. they lived their lives, sang their songs, and died under the changing moon. the moon was their goddess” (anaya 1972: 90). the mother’s family is also said to be strange and quiet, “for only a quiet man can learn the secrets of the earth that are necessary for planting” (anaya 1972: 41). what they do is speak to the earth with their hands and use their words mostly to communicate with growing plants (anaya 1972: 46). interestingly enough, the protagonist, who is also the narrator, makes such a point: “why two people as opposite as my father and my mother had married i do not know. their blood and their ways had kept them at odds, and yet for all this, we were happy” (anaya 1972: 29). the differences in his parent’s origins result in distinct expectations of what their son should be like. gabriel expects his son to make a fine vaquero. his dream is “to gather his sons around him and move westward to the land of the setting sun, to the vineyards of california” (anaya 1972: 14). the father waits for his children as he strongly believes that they will do what he expects. as it is the way of 26 crossroads. a journal of english studies life gabriel knows best, he wishes that someday tony will fulfill his dreams of living in the llano. however, the expectations of the mother differ. once in the past “she wanted to buy along the river where the land was fertile and there was water for the plants and trees” (anaya 1972: 24), but it was gabriel who decided that they would settle close to his llano. the mother dislikes the people occupying this place and perceives them as thieves and worthless drunks starting fights. she also complains that they move like gypsies and drag their families around the country like vagabonds (anaya 1972: 9). although maria finds the village of las pasturas beautiful, she does not accept its people and, as the protagonist observes, she does not follow their thinking: “she did not understand their tragedy, their search for the freedom that was now forever gone. my mother had lived in the llano many years when she married my father, but the valley and the river were too ingrained in her for her to change” (anaya 1972: 126). the fact that maria has only a few friends in the town shows how difficult for her is to live in the place gabriel chose. all these apparently incompatible components, inherited from the parents, combine in the protagonist, who observes: “the four directions of the llano met in me, and the white sun shone on my soul. the granules of sand at my feet and the sun and sky above me seemed to dissolve into one strange, complete being” (anaya 1972: 12). therefore, we can see that the protagonist is torn between the elements of his origin; lost as much as his parents are. especially the father, whose raging about the town, old age, lost dreams and war seem to show the forcefulness of his frustration. gabriel is displaced psychologically and blames everything that surrounds him for his disempowerment (black 2000: 151-152): he cursed the weak-willed men of the town who did not understand the freedom a man of the llano must have, and he cursed the war for taking his sons away. and if there was very much anger in him he cursed my mother because she was the daughter of farmers, and it was she who kept him to one piece of land. (anaya 1972: 28) antonio’s parents represent two completely opposite perspectives and they are of different heritage. it is the conflict between their origins that influences antonio, who needs to find his own identity. at the beginning of the novel, the protagonist does not seem to know yet whose steps to follow: “now we have come to live near the river, and yet near the llano. i love them both, and yet i am of neither. i wonder which life i will choose?” (anaya 1972: 41). the boy seeks answers and one of the most significant questions he asks is about who he really is: whether he is more a márez or a luna. it is worth noticing that the mexicanity shown in the novel is not a univocal category. as neal finer (1979: 6) noticed, “the rich diversity of mexico’s contemporary culture is the product of several cultures which have blended” influences from the indian cultures of the pre-cortesian period, the spanish-moorish-french cultures of the colonial period, and the nationalist and internationalist cultures of the twentieth century are still present in contemporary mexico. the clash of various traditions and beliefs can serve, therefore, as a reason for the differences between gabriel and maria’s origins. another type of diversity appears when we consider the different ideas of 27 work in progress manhood incorporated into the novel. antonio is strongly influenced not only by his father but also by his uncles, who are completely distinct from what gabriel represents. although at first it is impossible for him to define his identity, at the end of the novel tony surprises his uncle pedro with the ascertainment that he is márez first and then he is luna. although the boy is not yet aware of the reason for this statement and answers instinctively, we can acknowledge that he does not want to be perceived strictly as a luna. from the beginning we know that someday he will “return and see the little village where the train stopped for water, where the grass was as high and green as the waves of the ocean, where the men rode horses and they laughed and cried at births, weddings, dances, and wakes” (anaya 1972: 32). he remembers very well that the place of his birth is las pasturas and notices that the only thing he needs to do in order to return to the land is to follow the railroad tracks. his father said that the llano was his school, his teacher and his first love at the same time (anaya 1972: 54). gabriel is touched whenever he thinks about the plains and it seems that they are nearly of the same significance for tony. one of tony’s dreams brings the thought: “i recognized the village of las pasturas and my heart grew happy” (anaya 1972: 5). it is, therefore, a place which touches antonio and makes him feel closer to his heritage. he has the village in his mind and dreams about visiting it in the future. further in the novel we discover that tony’s uncles are pleased with his input into the work on the farm. consequently, they ensure him that if one day he chooses to follow in their steps, the land of his mother will become his property. although in the novel we are not to find the final decision, tony sincerely appreciates the time he spent with his mother’s brothers: i learned much from those men who were as dark and quiet as the earth of the valley, and what i learned made me stronger inside. i knew that the future was uncertain and i did not yet know if i could follow in their footsteps and till the earth forever, but i did know that if i chose that life it would be good (anaya 1972: 251). in the novel, the time tony spends on the farm is concluded as the last summer when he was truly a child. it seems, therefore, that as he can appreciate being both a marez and a luna, he begins to feel more secure. he is too young to choose yet, but he knows that there is something positive ahead of him. this safety makes him feel better about living in the world of differences that surrounds him and it gives him certain stability. consequently, it can also serve as a sign of the character’s growth into maturity. while raising the subject of antonio’s process of development, we cannot overlook the contribution of an eponymous character, ultima. she is the one to school antonio in the history and culture of his ancestors, and hence help the protagonist find his deep origins. she is the next, after antonio’s father, to remind him about the llano: “when she came the beauty of the llano unfolded before my eyes, and the gurgling waters of the river sang to the hum of the turning earth” (anaya 1972: 1). it is also she who makes tony feel like a part of it. as we read in the introduction to the novel, ultima’s appearance in bless me, ultima causes that her grandson “opens his eyes” and that “the ordinary conflicts of childhood take on a deeper meaning” (anaya 1999). at some point, ultima seems to be even closer to tony than maria: 28 crossroads. a journal of english studies ultima and i continued to search for plants and roots in the hills. i felt more attached to ultima than to my own mother. ultima told me the stories and legends of my ancestors. from her i learned the glory and the tragedy of the history of my people, and i came to understand how that history stirred in my blood. (anaya 1972: 123she is the one taking care of tony’s learning about the past. ultima explains the historical and cultural foundations of mexican beliefs, thus encouraging the protagonist to learn about each aspect of his heritage. the general truths ultima introduces make her an extremely significant character and a mentor. she is not only experienced but also wise. as a matter of fact, she loves to share her knowledge with antonio although at times he seems to be too young to understand. ultima is described as the one holding the secret of antonio’s destiny as she delivered the boy from his mother’s womb. she is with him from the beginning of his life and even predicts that he will be a man of learning: “you remember, grande, you offered him all the objects of life when he was just a baby, and what did he choose, the pen and the paper” (anaya 1972: 54). as much as his mother symbolizes a dream and his father a rebellion, ultima is the equivalent of spiritual wisdom and mysticism. additionally, she makes such an impression on tony that he often watches her and imitates her moves. she is the one that most significantly inspires the protagonist. tony’s family and mexican culture are the elements that strongly determine the changes in his personality. the uncertainty that is caused by the visible difference in his parents’ origins makes the boy uneasy at the beginning of the novel. however, it evolves and even disappears as the story develops. the boy begins his search for identity with the difficult task of choosing whose steps to follow. at the end of the road, though, he is able to defend his origins and calmly consider the possibilities of his own future. all in all, the family and its origins make antonio a unique and mature character despite his young age. as a chicano bildungsroman protagonist, antonio lives in a world where various influences collide. although the diversity between american and mexican cultures may be more apparent to the readers, it is the tapestry of mexican culture that is more widely described in bless me, ultima. it is essential to notice that antonio is a pure mexican when it comes to his origins and only later in the story he begins to develop the american identity that he received as a result of his family’s emigration. school and american culture the element that largely builds antonio’s americanity in bless me, ultima is the school he attends. in the novel, this institution is the first place where children are exposed to american culture: “all of the older people spoke only in spanish, and i myself understood only spanish. it was only after one went to school that one learned english” (anaya 1972: 10). interestingly enough, it is a wellknown fact that language is one of the most important elements of human identity and culture. as william bright (1976: 2) notes, “language is assured a position as a branch of culture by its distinctively patterned nature, by its restriction to the human species, and above all because languages are learned, not transmitted genetically”. consequently, once a person begins to speak another language, he or she simultaneously learns a fragment of a new culture. at the beginning of the novel 29 work in progress tony is not able to speak english yet: “[deborah] had been to school two years and spoke only english. she was teaching theresa and half the time i didn’t understand what they were saying” (anaya 1972: 11). however, he quickly learns to use the english language once he becomes a schoolchild. as the protagonist obtains the ability to speak english, he also gets in touch with the american culture. antonio has to open up to a different culture in order to communicate on an everyday basis. an interesting fact is that in bless me, ultima the school is described as an institution in which all teachers speak only english. thus, antonio’s going to school is like throwing him in at the deep end. as phillip serrato (2012: 238) notices, antonio “finds that stepping away from [home] and out into the world literally and figuratively takes him into strange, new territory that challenges him in different ways”. home is a safe place, thus the singular thought of leaving his mother results in tony’s reaction of sickness. once the protagonist moves forward and actually enters the threshold of school, he does not feel any better. antonio is lost within the society of his peers and feels like an outcast. the protagonist experiences an extreme dejection: the pain and sadness seemed to spread to my soul, and i felt for the first time what the grown-ups call, la tristesa de la vida. i wanted to run away, to hide, to run and never come back, never see anyone again. but i knew that if i did i would shame my family name, that my mother’s dream would crumble. i knew i had to grow up and be a man, but oh it was so very hard. (anaya 1972: 59) the difficulties antonio encounters are caused by his mexican heritage. not only is he unable to use the language of others but he also consumes different dishes. once the protagonist hears words he does not recognize and while he sees the lunch made out of bread and not tortilla, he feels powerlessness. therefore, another integral part of culture appearing in the novel is cuisine. culturally, food traditions unite people and play a large role in the building of a sense of distinctiveness (edelstein 2010: ix). through the differences in language and food, tony cannot find his place in this unfamiliar and terrifying reality and, not surprisingly, begins to think about running away. the mexican and american cultures clash in this all new world, but the boy manages to deal with the situation. what he learns from his family is that he should never try cowardly to escape difficulties. as tony decidedly rejects the thought of disappointing his mother, he decides to face the problem. this situation leads to a personal success as the boy finds a solution without the help of his family, to which he is so attached. the same school that was the place of tony’s heartbreaking sorrow becomes an area of achievement. the protagonist makes new friends who are, like him, different in language and custom. one of tony’s first serious experiences ends up favorably: “we struggled against the feeling of loneliness that gnawed at our souls and we overcame it; that feeling i never shared with anyone” (anaya 1972: 59). the success mentioned is an element that directs tony to his independence. he steps out from the familiar mexican world and gains some autonomy from it. he becomes a member of the new culture without his nearest and dearest beside him, and thus becomes more self-reliant. what is more, he makes another step towards the discovery of his own identity. 30 crossroads. a journal of english studies it is worth mentioning that tony’s inability to speak english quickly disappears despite the fact that antonio’s father is opposed to his son’s americanization: “they only learn to speak like indians. gosh, okay, what kind of words are those?” (anaya 1972: 54). gabriel, seems to perceive english as the language of indians, which in this case could be interpreted as primitive and strange. he is not in favor of american culture and considers it inferior. the unfamiliarity and foreignness of american culture irritate and upset him. reversely, antonio’s mother encourages the boy to learn english. as maria strives to breed a man of learning, she intends her son to speak both spanish and english. she is aware that in order to succeed, one has to be able to speak english: she liked to hear me read the catechism in english, although she could not understand all i read, and i myself could not yet read with complete comprehension. many of the old people did not accept the new language and refused to let their children speak it, but my mother believed that if i was to be successful as a priest i should know both languages, and so she encouraged me in both. (anaya 1972: 179-180) maria’s openness towards the new language encourages the protagonist to begin his educational journey. driven by the desire to acknowledge the language, he begins to “unravel the mystery of the letters” (anaya 1972: 64). as we read in the novel, he perceives letters and numbers as magic, knowledge as something mysterious and powerful that is worth mastering. antonio is eager to learn the secrets of education and, more importantly, he succeeds. the teachers praise him and so eventually he passes two grades at once. he is aware of how education helps in adult life, so he works hard to develop himself in this area. as much as becoming educated is important to the protagonist, he never forgets his mexican heritage. while attending the catechism he prefers to use his native language: “i prayed to myself, sharing my prayers with no one. everyone else prayed in english” (anaya 1972: 199). although he is surrounded by american culture and understands its importance for achieving success, he tries to maintain, at the deepest spiritual level, what is connected with his mexicanity. school was also the place where tony met the gang. though with his sensibleness tony differs from the members of the gang, he nevertheless manages to impress them with his courage, versatility, and unwillingness to judge. despite the protagonist’s awareness of the differences between him and his friends, he becomes a member of the gang: “they all gathered around me and asked me where i lived and about school. they were good friends, and that day i became a part of their gang” (anaya 1972: 38). in bless me, ultima the gang is described as a group of childish, badly behaved, violent and not very bright boys. they make “pissing contests”, “burp in class”, and constantly visit the principal’s office (anaya 1972: 75-76). the narrator himself is the one to notice that they are “the dumbest kids in school” and that “hell could freeze over but they would still come marching across the tracks, wrestling, kicking at each other, stomping into the classrooms where they fidgeted nervously all day and made things miserable for their teachers” (anaya 1972: 151). antonio, though, is a clever, intelligent, calm, and well behaved young man. 31 work in progress the fact that the protagonist joins the gang can be easily explained, however. as we read in gangs in the schools by burnett and walz (1994: 3-4), gangs “often provide youth with a sense of family and acceptance otherwise lacking in their lives. in addition, gangs may form among groups of recent immigrants as a way of maintaining strong ethnic identity”. therefore, the principal reasons for tony’s joining the gang are the facts that he does not feel well in the school environment and that he is lost among his peers. he seeks friends of the same origins, among whom he would feel comfortable and accepted. although for the obvious reason of his innocence, he seems to be the last person who would join a gang, he does. all in all, the visible contrast between tony and the other group members allows us to see the maturity in his ability to mold in the society. the protagonist becomes friends with people who could easily change his character. instead, he tolerantly learns that even the most ill-mannered boys can own and develop some positive traits. it is also significant to mention that the protagonist is able to become one of them without changing his noble traits. the school environment, therefore, becomes a significant factor in antonio’s coming of age as it makes him realize his difference and discover the magic of education. it also becomes a place in which this chicano bildungsroman protagonist learns to cope with the problems on his own, begins to open up for the american culture, and finds the group in which he can preserve his ethnicity. the influence of war, violence and death although world war ii appears only in the background and is not experienced directly, its influence is easily visible in the development of the protagonist of bless me, ultima. in the novel, the image of the society facing war is described as mourning: “those years it seemed that the whole town was in mourning, and it was very sad on sundays to see the rows of black-dressed women walking in procession to church” (anaya 1972: 32). many sons and husbands were lost; the families were grief-stricken. in tony’s family the situation was not much better due to the departure of three sons who went to fight in the war. especially influenced by the war was antonio’s father. sometimes tony could even see his father cry over the war ruining his dream: “it was sad to see my father cry, but i understood it, because sometimes a man has to cry. even if he is a man” (anaya 1972: 15). as soon as the protagonist’s brothers comes back from the war, though, it becomes clear that the life before their leaving would never return. as serrato (2012) observes, “the stress of the times finally becomes all too real for [antonio] through the breakup of his family. first his brothers leave home to fight in the war. then, although they physically return, they never really return to the family” (serrato 2012: 234-235). andrew, eugene and león are already unrecognizable. since the very arrival, it is impossible for them to come back to the life from before the war: my brothers had spent the winter sleeping during the day and in town at night. they were like turgid animals who did things mechanically. i saw them only in the evening when they rose to clean up and eat. 32 crossroads. a journal of english studies then they were gone. i heard in whispers that they were wasting their service money in the back room of the eight ball pool hall. my mother worried about them almost as much as she had when they were at war, but she said nothing. (anaya 1972: 65) further in the eighth chapter, tony also notices that his brothers “were like lost men who went and came and said nothing” (anaya 1972: 65). the war-sickness seemed to be dragging them down and sometimes at night león would even howl and cry, thereby resembling a wild animal. another situation, also involving post-traumatic stress, takes place just at the beginning of the novel. once we read about the first murder antonio witnesses, we can be sure that not even an adult could get past such a deed undisturbed. antonio hears that due to the war-sickness lupito killed the sheriff and the boy’s curiosity leads him to witness the revenge of the local people. although tony is just a child, he is old enough to understand that what happened was a part of the adult life full of violence, anger and sadness. the murder makes tony’s soul sick as he cannot forget the cry of a tormented man. in the novel, war is a theme which opens antonio’s eyes and encourages the protagonist to contemplate on the morality: “now the men on the bridge walked the earth with the terrible burden of dark mortal sin on their souls, and hell was the only reward” (anaya 1972: 28). after all, the character acknowledges war as changing his brothers drastically, making his father cry and even causing a man to commit a murder. at such a young age, tony becomes aware of the tragedy that a life can bring. in the world of childish innocence, he suddenly approaches one of the most tragic problems the humanity encounters. therefore, it seems that in tony’s eyes, the war destroys human lives and is an element which makes his brother drift apart from the rest of the family. moreover, it is in particular one of the protagonist’s brothers that serves him a lesson about life. andrew’s misdeeds lead antonio to the disappointment, which is one of the most significant events in the story. at first andrew is introduced as the character encouraging tony and believing in him: “someday you will beat him, tony. some day you will beat us all” (anaya 1972: 75). but then his brother, whom he undoubtedly trusts, refuses to come with help to a family’s friend. not only does andrew spend time in a brothel, but also refuses to leave a prostitute and does not react when narciso asks for help. the consequences could not be more serious as narciso gets murdered. the change touching the protagonist is visible just after his discovery in a brothel: “i wanted to hate andrew for being with the bad women, but i could not. i only felt tired and older” (anaya 1972: 165). the incident serves as another step towards the protagonist’s loss of innocence, and his reaction feeling “tired and older” indicates a certain weariness, and even resignation. in a very short time, he observes and experiences many situations that a regular child is not even aware of, most of them leading to a disappointment – with his own brothers, with his neighbors, perhaps with humanity itself. it comes as no surprise that at some point the atmosphere between tony and andrew becomes uneasy. the murder that comes after andrew’s lack of reaction becomes an insurmountable problem and antonio sadly drifts apart from his brother. he begins to think that he has never actually got to know his brothers and contemplates andrew’s running away: “i wondered if i could ever re33 work in progress ally know my brothers, or would they remain but phantoms of my dreams. and i wondered if the death of narciso had anything to do with andrew’s decision to go” (anaya 1972: 185). what may be a surprise is that antonio remains silent and does not reveal that he knows about his brother’s behavior. as we get to the point where the protagonist assures that he had not told anyone and that he never would, we witness tony’s extremely adult behavior. the boy bafflingly decides to keep a secret which could calumniate his brother. not only does tony show his maturity but also generosity. this experience is significant for andrew as well as for his younger brother, who begins to feel and act like a man. violence is a major theme in the novel, therefore, i should recount only some selected situations that are retained in the protagonist’s memory. probably the most violent person tony encounters is tenorio trementina, a creature of evil, anger and revenge. throughout the novel he is just looking for an opportunity to revenge the loss of his daughter. it seems that the longer he waits, the more frustrated he becomes. the fight between narciso and tenorio is already much for antonio. in the same chapter of the novel, though, he is not only to witness another murder but also to become a target himself: “i heard a low moan as tenorio aimed his pistol at the head of narciso. i screamed with fear and tenorio spun around and saw me. he aimed the pistol at me and i heard the click of the firing pin. but there was no shot” (anaya 1972: 169). this occurrence makes antonio feel older and different. not surprisingly, he begins to seek answers to why somebody as noble as narciso had to die. although antonio is unable to find a reason, he decides to fight the evil: not even when he killed narciso had i seen so much hate in tenorio’s face. i seemed too small to stand in the way of a man bent upon destruction with such fury, but i remembered that my father had stood up to him, and narciso had stood up to him, and even ultima had stood against this evil; and although i was trembling with fright i answered him, “no! i will not let you!” (anaya 1972: 188) indisputably, the protagonist is becoming stronger. the violence he experiences works as an element initiating his courage. it is worth mentioning that tony is the one to deal with the bilateral hatred as he also hears his father and narciso talking about killing tenorio. therefore, the stigma of the events affects him twice as much. another significant event that changes antonio’s worldview is the death of his peer. florence is introduced as a boy whose life has never been effortless. with the mother who died when the boy was three years old, the father who drunk himself to death and the sisters working as prostitutes, florence already seems to be an adult. his rueful story initiates the feeling of pity. both florence and antonio do not understand why there is so much anguish and unfairness in the world. once again, the thoughts about good and evil appear in the protagonist’s mind. the death, present in the lives of these young characters, makes them ask questions about the sense of existence and about god: “so i ask myself,” [florence] continued, “how can god let this happen to a kid. i never asked to be born. but he gives me birth, a soul, and puts me here to punish me. why? what did i ever do to him to deserve this, huh?” 34 crossroads. a journal of english studies for a moment i couldn’t answer. the questions florence had posed were the same questions i wanted answered. (anaya 1972: 196) as the two boys have different perspectives, they are not able to find an unambiguous answer. unfortunately, florence does not even get the time to seek response as he drowns. tony is left alone without answers to the previously asked questions and becomes even more uncertain of how to seek any good in this unjust world. the memories of people dying frequently strike tony in his dreams and encourage him to search for the sense of existence. although the deaths of lupito, narciso and florence change the protagonist, it is the passing of ultima that signifies the end of tony’s childhood: “that shot destroyed the quiet, moonlit peace of the mill, and it shattered my childhood into a thousand fragments that long ago stopped falling and are now dusty relics gathered in distant memories” (anaya 1972: 258). because of the fact that one serious image of adult life comes after another very quickly, tony’s psychological and emotional development proceeds at a fast pace. only after he experiences things as harrowing as violence and death is he able to understand fully the feelings of profound sorrow and disenchantment. he no longer knows these terms in theory only, but can now define them himself. the emotions that appear once a person matures become present in antonio’s life. he changes from a naïve child into a young man who acknowledges the dark side of the world. therefore, the profusion of violence tony experiences influences him strongly. in bless me, ultima, we are not to read about a gleesome boy who grows in a trouble-free environment. instead, we discover the life of a boy who is exposed to the adult life to such an extent that he himself becomes an adult. although in his dreams the boy complains about the amount of brutality he has to get through, he finally begins to see its importance: “why must i be witness to so much violence! i cried in fear and protest. the germ of creation lies in violence, a voice answered” (anaya 1972: 243). it is the experience of death that initiates and ends his coming of age. it is also worth mentioning that, as it was pointed out at the beginning of the article, bildungsroman is focused on presenting events from the perspective of a mature person. in this case, we can also describe bless me, ultima as the memoir of the protagonist. in his novel, anaya wishes to present the part of the protagonist’s life that is the most significant to antonio’s adult self and describe the events that are, often unwillingly, retained in his memory. as an experienced man, the narrator evokes the memories from a period which he spent with one of the most important people in his life, ultima. the narration is presented from the perspective of a grown man who willingly describes his past, rarely focusing on the present. however, with every mention of the here and now, the readers are assured about the influence of the incidents and people on the protagonist’s adulthood: “many years later, long after ultima was gone and i had grown to be a man, i would awaken sometimes at night and think i caught a scent of her fragrance in the cool-night breeze” (anaya 1972: 13). recollecting the past in bless me, ultima can be described as sentimental and detailed at the same time. anaya goes very deeply into the protagonist thoughts, even trying to recall his youth’s dreams. this type of first person narrative, typical for bildungsroman, 35 work in progress undoubtedly creates some kind of intimacy between the protagonist and the reader, as we get to experience the character’s journey almost from the beginning to the end. conclusions typically for a chicano bildungsroman protagonist, antonio is strongly influenced by the culture, the environment, and the harrowing experiences he faces. the process of his maturing is founded on finding a solution to multiple cultural conflicts. tony has to deal with many reversals regarding the language barrier, the feeling of immigrant isolation and the rich diversity of mexico’s culture. both in the school and in the family, the protagonist picks up traits of maturity. he learns to deal with the problems and becomes self-reliant. furthermore, his identity is built by the experiences of war, violence and death. in the novel, we can undoubtedly notice how traumatic and disturbing these three elements are for tony and how they subject the protagonist to harrowing experiences. from an innocent boy, tony changes into a wise man. just as much as his mother perceives the protagonist “a baby” at the beginning of the novel, she is the first to admit him to be the adult directing his family: “it was the first time i had ever spoken to my mother as a man; she nodded and obeyed” (anaya 1972: 259). at the end of bless me, ultima antonio juan márez y luna is by far a young man being undisturbed by his heritage or formidability that comes with life. incontrovertibly, in rudolfo anaya’s debut novel we encounter the elements of both the bildungsroman and the chicano writing. it is a creation in which we observe antonio’s journey towards maturation in a mexican-american community. the story is told from the perspective of a grown man in a first person narrative. the one that accompanies the protagonist, teaches him about his ancestors and explains the importance of historical and cultural foundations is the figure of ultima, a mentor typical for bildungsroman. furthermore, the major theme of ethnic identity used by chicano/a writers is thoroughly described in this coming of age novel. another apparent chicano element is the combination of spanish and english language, which adds certain uniqueness to the story about a young mexican american. undoubtedly, bless me, ultima is a piece allowing the readers experience the cultural introspection, for antonio’s process of maturing is founded on finding solution to social and cultural conflicts. the novel, therefore, exemplifies chicano bildungsroman in a uncomplicated yet remarkable manner. references anaya, rudolfo a. 1972. bless me, ultima. new york, boston: grand central publishing. anaya, rudolfo a. 1999. introduction. in: anaya r. bless me, ultima. new york, boston: grand central publishing. bennett, kelsey l. 2014. principle and propensity: experience and religion in the nineteenthcentury british and american bildungsroman. columbia: university of south carolina press. black, debra b. 2000. times of conflict: bless me, ultima as a novel of acculturation. bilingual review vol. 25 issue 2. 146-162. 36 crossroads. a journal of english studies boes, tobias. 2008. apprenticeship of the novel: the bildungsroman and the invention of history. comparative literary studies, vol. 45 issue 3. 269-288. bolaki, stella. 2011. unsettling the bildungsroman. reading contemporary ethnic american women’s fiction. amsterdam-new york: rodopi. burnett, gary and garry walz. 1994. gangs in the schools. new york: eric clearinghouse on urban education. bright, william. 1976. language and culture. in: bright william, variation and change in language: essays, 1-12. stanford university press. cauce, a. m. and m. domenech-rodríguez. 2002. latino families: myths and realities. in: j. m. contreras, k. a. kerns and a. m. neal-barnett (eds.), latino children and families in the united states: current research and future directions, 3-25. westport, ct: praeger. edelstein, sari. 2010. food, cuisine, and cultural competency for culinary, hospitality, and nutrition professionals. jones & bartlett publishers. eysturoy annie o. and josé antonio gurpegui. 1990. chicano literature: introduction and bibliography. american studies international vol. 28, no. 1. 48-82. finer, neal. 1979. an instructional model on mexican culture. washington. http://www.eric. ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet/ericservlet?accno=ed191785. garasym, tetyana. 2012. initiation novel vs bildungsroman: common and distinct features. научни трудове на русенския университет t. 51. 183-187. kanoza, theresa m. 1999. the golden carp and moby dick: rudolfo anaya’s multi-culturalism. melus vol. 24, issue 2. 159-171. latinez, alejandro. 2014. developments. encounters of formation in the latin american and hispanic/latino bildungsroman. peter lang publishing. ortega, carlos f. 2012. folk tales. in: herrera-sobek m. (ed.), celebrating latino folklore: an encyclopedia of cultural traditions volume 2, 548-557. abc-clio redfield, m. 2006. the bildungsroman. in: kastan d. s. (ed.), the oxford encyclopedia of british literature vol. 1, 191-194. oxford university press. rodriguez, ralph e. 2010. chicano studies and the need to not know. american literary history vol. 22 no. 1. 180-190. saracho, o. n. and f. m. martínez-hancock. 2005. mexican american families: cultural and linguistic influences. in: saracho o. n. and b. spodek (eds.), contemporary perspectives on families, communities and schools vol. vi, 203-224. greenwich, connecticut: information age publishing. schmidt, margaret. 2011. the limitations of code switching in chicano/a literature. young scholars in writing vol. 8. 40-51. serrato, philip. 2012. ready or not: antonio márez y luna is thrown into the world of rudolfo anaya’s bless me, ultima. in: baxter, kent (ed.), critical insights: coming of age, 228-248. salem press. sharma, raja. 2013. ready reference treatise: bless me, ultima. lulu. michelis, angelica. “foreign recipes: mothers, daughters and food in like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 16-33. angelica michelis manchester metropolitan university foreign recipes: mothers, daughters and food in like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms abstract. the following article will discuss the representation of food, eating and cooking in the context of fiction that focuses on the relationship between mothers and daughters by taking a closer look at the beginnings of contemporary ‘food-literature’ by female authors. by focusing on the novels like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms, three texts that were published before ‘food-literature’ turned into a mainstream sub-genre, this article will critically consider the various themes and ideas this type of literature introduced to the debate surrounding literary representation of gender and sexuality. whilst the three texts differ in narrative structure and content, they share a specific preoccupation with food, cooking and eating which is linked textually and thematically to the relationships between mothers and daughters and the experience of cultural diaspora. the investigation will focus on the literary and formal modes that interconnect these themes, in particular when asking if food, cooking and eating should have a ‘special’ place in women’s writing, as it has been argued in recent publications exploring food and eating as a theme in women’s literature. keywords: amy tan, laura esquivel, hiromi goto, food, identity, gender, diaspora. the following article will discuss the way in which the contexts of food eating and cooking problematize and critically comment on the representation of the relationship between mothers and daughters in the novels like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms. by exploring the impact of the theme of food and the acts cooking and eating on narrative structure, the discourse of gender and sexuality and the complexity of the generational relationships between women in a family, this article will investigate the specific place and function of food and eating in and for women’s writing. introduction: food, gender and theory food is at the centre of life and our everyday existence. its consumption is as ordinary as it is fundamental to our bodies and the culture in which we live and participate. starting with the fairy tales we consume as infants, literature is saturated with images of food, its overabundance as well as its painfully felt absence. in recent years, however, matters of the culinary have gained a more central relevance for and in literary texts. when perusing the shelves of contemporary literature in bookshops one is forcefully reminded of the various meanings of consuming in its relation to eating, reading and purchasing. furthermore, whilst the trend to ‘food-literature’ is certainly not exclusive to female authors, there is a noteworthy tendency in contemporary writing by women to use food and eating as specific tropes when writing about historical, social and political issues. sarah sceats in food, consumption and the body in contemporary women’s fiction (2000) points out that there is a special relationship between femininity and food, because traditionally it is still mainly women who take care of the provision and cooking of meals. however, she argues, michelis, angelica. “foreign recipes: mothers, daughters and food in like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 16-33. women eat as well as cook, starve as well as serve, and contemporary fiction is as much concerned with women’s appetites as their nurturing capacities. … women’s writing manifests far more diverse areas of engagement than such basic explanations suggest, ranging from explorations of female culinary sensuousness, creativity and authority in cooking, to the exercise of power or political responsibility through food and acts of eating, to the revisiting of earlier depictions of women’s sexuality through appetite and eating, from genesis onwards (sceats 2000: 2). according to sceats, food, eating and cooking, function as a means of exchange and take on the role of a universal signifier, particularly so in and for contemporary’s women’s writing. susanne skubal (2002) in her book word of mouth, similarly, reads food as a unique signifier when she argues that “food is a language that we speak, for the most part unwittingly” (skubal 2002: 45). whilst skubal does not focus exclusively on women’s writing in her exploration of food in relation to literature and language, the feminine, and here especially the maternal, is central to her investigation. sceats and skubal look at theorists in psychoanalysis such as sigmund freud, melanie klein and julia kristeva when they argue that culinary issues are ineludibly linked to concepts and constructions of femininity and female sexuality. eating in general, and the preparation and consumption of food in particular, are in both publications linked to moments of the radical and subversive, a connection that is seen as caused by its proximity to femininity and the female. as skubal points out when discussing the problem of eating disorders: underwriting the entire category of disordered eating is the assumption that eating, like other culturally controlled acts ought to be “ordered”. but unlike the bulk of culturally and psychically ordered things, eating is in some fundamental way outside the symbolic order to begin with, primitively and irrepressibly the mark of the pre-genital, of the maternal (skubal 2002: 68). by regarding food as situated outside the symbolic, skubal attempts to navigate the discussion of eating disorders such as anorexia out of the patriarchal sphere of hierarchical thinking. for her, laws of culture cannot control matters of food and eating, which are situated in the realms beyond the symbolic. however by doing so, her argument banishes discourses of eating and with it the maternal and femininity from the symbolic and from culture. this move is directly complicit with the phallogocentric binary construction regulating the relationship between nature and culture, a structure that is mirrored in the relationship between male/female and masculine/feminine. this is rather peculiar since skubal suggested earlier that it might be said that all culture passes through the mouth. food – its production and preparation, its distribution, its consumption – still comprises the central economy of life. there are no more elaborate social rituals than those associated with eating” (skubal 2002: 43). here, food and its consumption is defined not only as part of the cultural sphere, when passing through the mouth and the body, eating is imagined as injecting culture into the corporeal which, via the act of ingesting, is demarcated as the locus of culture itself. thus, rather than positioning eating outside the symbolic, its correlation to the cultural sphere could be understood as being regulated and maintained via extimacy, a process that complicates the relationship between inside and outside. extimacy links the interior and exterior like a moebius strip which means, as jacques-alain miller explains, that the “most intimate is at the same time the most hidden….the most intimate is not the point of transparency but rather a point of opacity. … extimacy says that the intimate is other – like a foreign body, a parasite” (miller 1988: 123). whilst skubal’s categorisation of eating as outside the laws of culture runs the risk of falling back into an overly simplistic binarity, her view of eating as pre-symbolic nevertheless michelis, angelica. “foreign recipes: mothers, daughters and food in like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 16-33. alerts us to one of the most complex and confusing issues in relation to food: the way it muddies the waters between natural and cultural. however, rather than attempting to find the proper dividing line between nature and culture, the complexities and complications surrounding food and eating could be read as a problematisation of this very binarity. in this respect the processes of ingestion and digestion particularly in the ways in which they are refracted in literature are always much more than “a specific mode of communication to the reader” (sceats 2000: 184). citing lévi-strauss’s adage that food is good to think with, elspeth probyn revises the idea of food as a transcendental signifier when she argues, eating refracts who we are. food/body/eating assemblages reveal the ways in which identity has become elementary, and that its composite elements are always in movement. as alimentary assemblages, eating recalls with force the elemental nature of class, gender, sexuality and nation. but beyond these monumental categories, eating places different orders of things and ways of being alongside each other, inside and outside inextricably linked. … now beyond a model of inside and out, we are alimentary assemblages, bodies that eat with vigorous class, ethnic and gendered appetites, mouth machines that ingest and regurgitate, articulating what we are, what we eat and what eats us (probyn 2000: 32). thus, rather than understanding food, eating and digestive processes as metaphors through which we can access texts, it might be more beneficial from a literary theoretical perspective to view texts as infected by the complexities underlying the culinary tropes and images they employ. the very meaning and procedure of ingestion and digestion relies on, and simultaneously results in, the blurring of boundaries and spatial categories; eating, it seems, always participates in some act of contagion that brings into contact areas that are traditionally perceived as separate from each other. any attempt to ‘use’ eating and food as tropes will therefore amplify the infectious or parasitic effect on the text that wants to incorporate them metaphorically. in ‘limited inc’ derrida (1988) refers to the parasite as something that is by definition never simply external, never simply something that can be excluded from or kept outside of the body “proper”, shut out from the “familial” table or house… the parasite then ‘takes place’. and at bottom, whatever violently ‘takes place’ or occupies a site is always something of a parasite. never quite taking place is thus part of its performance, of its success as an event, of its taking place (derrida 1988: 90). discussing derrida’s notion of the parasitic, nicholas royle (1995) elaborates on its spatial ambiguity when he points out that the parasite both belongs and does not belong to what it inhabits, its ‘own’ identity is of a different order, being at once para (‘beside’) and non-para, inside and outside, coming to figure what is at once the same as and different from itself (royle 1995: 147). in literature, i want to suggest, rather than being used “to explore and convey philosophical, psychological, moral and political concerns” (sceats 2000: 18), food and eating ‘take place’ in the violating and disruptive sense that derrida assigns to the workings of the parasite. when incorporated into the text, food and eating refuse assimilation and act as foreign bodies that infect texts with the very same moment of selfalienation and internal alterity that complicates the way they make sense in and as frameworks of culture. with these reflections in mind, it will be interesting to return to the initial question why food and eating should have found such a privileged place in contemporary writing by women. the relationship of women’s writing to the kitchen and the dining room is often ambiguous and rarely uncomplicated. to a certain extent food as a theme and motif in women’s literature leads the reader immediately into the sphere of gender and sexuality. however, it michelis, angelica. “foreign recipes: mothers, daughters and food in like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 16-33. would be foolish to suggest that it is only in women’s literature where the connection between the culinary, gender and sexuality is interrogated and debated. as susanne skubal suggests in her discussion of marcel proust’s legendary madeleines, as soon as we are in the sphere of eating we are dealing with the oral which itself is inextricably linked with the discourse of the mother: the explicit pre-occupation with the oral in remembrance of things past – the ubiquitous madeleine, the kisses managed and missed, the moth eaten notebooks, the invalids thin fare, the dinner parties and luncheons – is bound to proust’s meditation on memory implicitly and to the maternal inevitably (skubal 2002: 20). eating and food are in a variety of manners intertwined with the sphere of the maternal and are thus always haunted by the ghost of the mother, or as skubal puts it in relation to proust: “we can taste the ma in the madeleine” (skubal 2002: 21). because of this implicit presence of the mother, food very often functions as a gender specific trope in women’s literature. whilst eating and food do feature in texts by male authors, they are rarely linked directly to men’s experience of sexuality and gender. in contrast, the alimentary and culinary in texts by female authors very often encourages readings and interpretations that link food and eating directly to the sphere of the feminine, which then tends to push the texts into the category of women’s literature. furthermore, as current publications on the subject demonstrate, the combination of the signifiers ‘woman’, ‘food’ and ‘writing’ are reproductive of each other and the very meanings underlying them. sceats, for example, introduces the tenet of her book as an argument for the centrality and versatility of food and eating in women’s writing. not only does the action of the novels examined often occur through food preparation and eating, or through oral and alimentary preoccupation of one sort or another, food and eating themselves convey much of the meanings of the novels. this results from diverse factors such … deep associations between food and the psyche, specific socio-cultural pressures, especially on women’s bodies, cultural and artistic inscriptions, and from the fact that food and its activities offer multiple possibilities for expression and action (sceats 2000: 8). the phrase ‘especially women’s bodies’ suggests that in women’s literature food and eating will always function, directly or more subtly, as tropes for femininity and the female. writing by men, the passage seems to imply, is not marked by such specificities. sceats’ observation that the relationship between eating, food and the female body is of special interest is indisputable. eating, as maud ellmann argues, “was traditionally seen as an unseemly and regrettable necessity for women” (ellmann 1993: 8) and the open mouth of a woman has always seemed too close for comfort and as a signifier impinged on constructions of femininity in an abject manner. food, its ingestion, digestion and the concurrent corporeal effects of these acts are different for men and women, and it is the ghost of the maternal that can claim responsibility for this discrimination. hillel schwartz (1986) argues in relation to the gender specifics of obesity: yet when men turned their eyes on overweight women, they made of women’s dieting a fulsome and patent ritual. since women’s weights seemed to jump at puberty, marriage, pregnancy and menopause, women’s reducing had to be spoken of in terms of fluids, internal secretions and sexual ichor, as if womb and stomach were identical twins. … where fat men inspire of terrify, fat women draw the camphor of sympathy and disgust – sympathy, because they cannot help themselves; disgust, because they are sexually ambiguous, emotionally sloppy (schwartz 1986: 17-18). food appears to affect the female body by immediately gendering and sexualising it in a specific manner as suggested by the image of stomach conflated into a womb. the body of the pregnant and lactating woman and the taboos surrounding it are therefore always related to michelis, angelica. “foreign recipes: mothers, daughters and food in like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 16-33. sexuality and eating since they function as an unconscious reminder of the sexual act as well as bringing to the fore cultural anxieties about cannibalism. if womb and stomach can be interchanged in the female body, the swollen abdomen can be a sign of the creation of life and the violation of one of the oldest taboos: the eating of human flesh. whilst eating disorders do not exempt male bodies, it is in particular the images of the female obese or emaciated body that unnerve cultural sensibility and trigger feelings of disgust and abjection and a sense of the grotesque. this ‘special’ sexualising and gendering effect of food and eating leaves its trace on sexual as well as textual bodies and, as i will argue when discussing the fictional works, on the discursive structure of literary texts that approach femininity via the culinary. if concepts of femininity and female sexuality are influenced and ‘infected’ by the processes underlying ingestion and digestion, one could suggest that this would also have a direct effect on the relationship between women and writing in texts that are preoccupied with the subject of food. is there something intrinsically gender specific in literature by women that revolves around tropes, images and themes based on food and eating? furthermore, can this question be approached in a framework that will not put it automatically into the proximity of an essentialism based on a reductive, foundationalist view of femininity and female sexuality? rather than viewing the relationship between eating and femininity as something that will affirm the meaning of woman, is it feasible that the concept of a given subjectivity is devoured by the very processes that are employed to gain access to a stable and fixed identity? judith butler (1990) asks these questions in a more general and abstract sense when she explores the relationship between significatory processes and identity: if identity is asserted through a process of signification, if identity is always already signified, and yet continues to signify as its circulates within various interlocking discourses, then the question of agency is not to be answered through recourse to an “i” that preexists signification. in other words, the enabling questions for an assertion of “i” are provided by the structure of signification, the rules that regulate the legitimate and illegitimate invocation of that pronoun, the practices that establish the terms of intelligibility by which that pronoun can circulate (butler 1990: 143). when looking at the three examples of women’s writing on food and the processes underlying them, the focus will therefore be on the ways in which women (and femininity) are consuming texts/food and, at the same time, are consumed by them. consuming passions: cooking, eating and gender in laura esquivel’s like water for chocolate published in 1989, laura esquivel’s debut novel like water for chocolate (1993) was an overnight success and gained much acclaim from critics as well as from the reading public. to a certain extent, the book can be described as a trendsetter when it comes to the genre of ‘food literature’, a genre that would evolve in full force from the 1990s onwards. the 1993 english translation of the novel comments on its back cover on its ‘simmering sensuality’ and praises it as a book that will be savoured and craved, as ‘an adventure in the kitchen’ that ‘serves up the full helping’ and thus sets the tone for a genre where food is subject as much as metaphor. like water for chocolate inaugurated the food inspired lingua that from now on would become de rigueur when literary works on food and eating were reviewed in the literary supplements of newspapers and magazines. the book tells the story of the de la garza family in revolutionary mexico, focusing in particular on the daughter tita and her unfulfilled love relationship with pedro. tita, as the youngest daughter, has to obey mexican tradition and stay unmarried to look after her mother, mama elena. pedro, as a last resort to stay close to tita, marries her sister michelis, angelica. “foreign recipes: mothers, daughters and food in like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 16-33. rosaura, a union also championed by the suspicious mama elena who wants to make sure that tita will comply with the fate that tradition has allocated her. for more than twenty years tita and pedro will be unable to love for each other, they will be separated for long times and by long distances until they are finally united in passion only to die of the sexual ecstasy that proves too powerful for their mortal bodies. what grants the story its particular narrative and discursive frisson though, is the way it unfolds in relation to cooking and eating. divided into twelve chapters, the text is based on an annual chronology from january to december. furthermore, each chapter commences with a recipe for a dish which will be of major importance for the narrative, its characters and the overall development of the story. tita and pedro’s fate is thus embedded in the preparation and consumption of food, mainly traditional mexican dishes, which, as the granddaughter of rosaura and the narrator of the story explains in the final chapter, was all that was left of their lives: when esperanza, my mother, returned from her wedding trip, all that she found under the remains of what had been the ranch was this cookbook, which she bequeathed to me when she died, and which tells in each of its recipes this story of a love interred (esquivel 1993: 221) the book the reader has been consuming is thus retrospectively categorised as being part of the genre of cookbooks. as a collection of recipes, the story is linked even closer to the culinary domain which transfers the location of the love story from the bedroom to the kitchen. this shifting of boundaries, the blurring of discrete categories and a general sense of the unpredictable runs like a thread through the novel and has a direct bearing on the directions into which the narrative and its characters evolve. furthermore, written in the style of magic realism with its ventures into the fantastical, emphasis of the sensual, overabundance of imagery, direct references to the sphere of sexuality and the unconscious, distortions of time, and references to the oral tradition, the novel always works on the margins of plausibility and thus questions a stable notion of the real. uncertainty and instability are further emphasised and put to the fore by the thematic focus on food, its cooking and consumption, which are then developed as the narrative’s main subject and formal device, as kristine ibsen (1995) points out: food functions as a narrative device in the novel: like a cinematic montage, bridging both temporal and spatial displacements, it transports both the characters and the reader into a sensual dimension of reality. … esquivel … approaches the subject playfully, as tita compares her emotional and physical state in terms of ludicrous culinary metaphors that question both the “seriousness” of canonized discourse and the timeworn metaphors of popular literature… clearly, then, the novel’s culinary metaphors suggest an approach to reality that emphasizes what is tangible over what is abstract and theoretical (ibsen 1995: 138-139). ibsen’s discussion of like water for chocolate is above all interested in its parodic character, especially in relation to the tradition of a more mainstream magic realism as, for example, represented by garcía márquez’s one hundred years of solitude. she argues that whereas márquez’s novel focuses on a re-examination of historical trends, esquivel’s work produces a meaning independent from the original text by concentrating on the individual experience in relation to history: rather than emphasizing issues of sexual domination and violence upon which the americas were founded, esquivel “feminizes” her novel through the exaggeration of traits traditionally associated with women such as irrationality and sensitivity (ibsen 1995: 135). for ibsen, the achievement of like water for chocolate lies in its successful attempt to challenge canonical literature by forcing it to take into account marginalized and excluded literary discourses resulting in a displacement of “aesthetic hierarchies and generic categories” michelis, angelica. “foreign recipes: mothers, daughters and food in like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 16-33. (ibsen 1995: 143). furthermore, by dissolving “the borders between canonized and popular literatures, between oral and written discourses, the hierarchy governing such distinctions is subverted as well” (ibsen 1995: 143). ibsen points out that her reading of esquivel’s novel is mainly concerned with the aspect of parody, a choice of focus that will evidently impinge on her evaluation of the role and relevance of food and eating. whilst she mentions the aspect of food, the culinary as such is not a main point of reference when she discusses how the text subverts existing boundaries and hierarchies. furthermore, whilst she regards the novel as radical in its formal structure as well as in is relationship to its readers, there is tendency to cling on to a framework of binary oppositions in her interpretation. there are many instances in her article when she talks of ‘real women’ versus literary representations of femininity, the tangible versus the abstract and theoretical, the historical versus personal experience. operating in a paradigm that relies on such clear distinctions and binarities somewhat undermines her argument and often reinforces the sense of discrete categories, in terms of gender as well as of genre. focusing on food and cooking, and the way in which they are integrated into and at the same time disrupt the narrative and the presentation and construction of identities, i want to suggest, encourages a different reading, one that questions the existence of clear-cut boundaries and might thus offer a more radical reappropriation of the magic in magic realism. in “foodmaking as a thoughtful practice” lisa m. heldke asks what would have happened to philosophy had plato regarded “the preparation of food as a central source of philosophical insight” (heldke 1992: 203). she argues that had subsequent philosophers continued to attend to such activities as growing and cooking food, it is likely that the theory/practice dichotomy, which threads its way through much of western philosophy, would not have developed as it did. foodmaking, rather than drawing us to make a sharp distinction between mental and manual labour, or between theoretical and practical work, tends to invite us to see itself as a “mentally manual” activity, a “theoretically practical” activity – a “thoughtful practice” (heldke 1992: 203). esquivel’s novel can be read as a literary example that speculates in a similar vein on the relationship between philosophy and food making, and by doing so promulgates a notion of cooking and the kitchen that allows them to be viewed and understood in a much more radical way than they traditionally are. whilst the novel is set in a mainly feminine environment, there is no sense of a functioning women’s community or sisterhood. the most surprising aspect of the text, and incidentally also the case for the joy luck club (1994) and a chorus of mushrooms (1997), is the state of war between many of the female characters, and here in particular mothers and daughters. mama elena practices a matriarchy based on a model of hierarchical patriarchy: only her opinion counts, no decision can be questioned, her daughters, and in particular tita, are treated like servants, if not slaves. her behaviour is put into context when, after her death, tita discovers that her mother was passionately in love with a man she was not allowed to marry. however, even when it is revealed that she disobeyed convention and resumed sexual relations with her lover (an escaped slave from america) when still married to her husband, mama elena remains a rather reviled character throughout the narrative. her lover was killed before she could elope with him and leaves mama elena in a loveless marriage and pregnant with his child, gertrudis. gertrudis eventually causes the death of her mother’s husband who dies of a heart attack when rumour of the identity of gertrudis’ real father reaches him. furthermore, after consuming tita’s quail in rose petal sauce, gertrudis runs off with one of the revolutionaries and later lives in a brothel since she is utterly consumed by a sexual arousal that no single man michelis, angelica. “foreign recipes: mothers, daughters and food in like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 16-33. can satisfy. tita’s discovery of the similarity between her mother’s fate and her own and the identity of gertrudis biological provenance does not result in forgiveness, though. the brutality of her mother’s treatment and the effect it has been having on tita’s life is of major importance for the development of the narrative discourse. even at her mother’s funeral, tita is unable to forgive and she can only exonerate mama elena’s behaviour by dividing her retrospectively into a good and a bad mother: during the funeral, tita really wept for her mother. not for the castrating mother who had repressed tita her entire life, but for the person who had lived a frustrated love. and she swore in front of mama elena’s tomb that come what may, she would never renounce that love (esquival 1993: 126). this concept of the divided mother harks back to klein’s depressive position where infants experience guilt about the destructive impulses and phantasies that are directed against the primal object, the mother, and, at an even earlier stage, against the maternal breast. changing between persecutor and loved object, the figure of the mother emerges here as divided, similar to her appearance in folklore and oral tradition in which she is traditionally presented in the dual roles of loving mother and witch who wants to harm the daughter. the co-existence of these two models of the maternal emerges in the novel via cooking and eating. tita, a child prodigy in the kitchen, is also a child of the kitchen, since, rather than nursed by her mother whose milk dried up because of the shock over the husband’s death, the cook becomes her substitute mother who feeds her and trains her in the art of cooking. eventually tita’s culinary ability succeeds that of a skilled chef, because her unconscious emotions impact directly onto the food she is preparing. furthermore, this osmotic transference will also affect everybody who consumes her food. food, its preparation, consumption, the mixing of ingredients, do not strictly work as straightforward similes in the novel. it is not that tita is like the food she prepares and feeds to her family; food and the culinary rather than providing a purely identificatory mirror for tita, function in the novel as a paradigm that in a ‘theoretically practical’ way offers a radical rethinking of agency and identity. similar to food, which is always in a process of becoming and cannot be traced back to an original state, any notion of subjectivity in the novel is always one of being in a process of osmosis, in lieu of a better term. as a child, tita developed a sixth sense about everything concerning food. her eating habits, for example, were attuned to the kitchen routine: in the morning, when she could smell that the beans were ready; at midday, when she sensed the water was ready for plucking the chickens; and in the afternoon, when the dinner bread was baking, tita knew it was time for her to be fed (esquival 1993: 1). mama elena causes her own death by continuously overdosing on emetic medicine because she suspects tita of poisoning her cooking. rather than giving up the illusion of agency, mama elena extricates herself from this process of ‘becoming’ by literally vomiting herself to death. the milk she never had for tita returns in overabundance as vomit and as an inability to digest tita’s alternative model of being which questions the idea of authority and hierarchical logic. after having alienated all servants, it is tita in her role as the dutiful daughter who stays with her and looks after her. to a certain extent, this leads to a reversal of roles where tita acts like the sensible mother who tries to feed a rebellious infant rejecting her meals: after that, there was nothing mama elena could do except eat what tita cooked, but she took any possible precaution about it. besides insisting that tita taste the food in front of her, she always had a glass of milk brought to her with her meals, and she would drink that before eating the food, to counteract the effects of the bitter poison that according to her was dissolved in the food. sometimes these measures alone sufficed, but occasionally she felt sharp pains in her belly, and then she took, in addition, a swig of syrup of ipecac and another of squill of onion as a purgative (esquival 1993: 123). michelis, angelica. “foreign recipes: mothers, daughters and food in like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 16-33. finally, it is the self-administration of the purgative that will kill her (a taste of her own medicine, so to speak) and, ironically, tita’s obedience to her mother. rather than refusing to fulfil the role her mother has chosen for her, she is heeding her mother’s exact words: “you know perfectly well that being the youngest daughter means you have to take care of me until the day i die” (esquival 1993: 14). by refusing tita’s food, mama elena not only brings about her own death, her demise is also directly linked to her failure of accepting a self that is defined by ambiguity. her reluctance to swallow can be read as a general unwillingness to participate in a ‘culinary philosophy’ based on interconnectedness and which questions a binary distinction between subject and object. as heldke argues, it is exactly their ability to interconnect that allows foodmaking activities to “challenge the sharp subject/object dichotomy that characterizes traditional inquiry, and that serves to separate such head work from hand work. preparing food encourages us to blur the separation between ourselves and our food …” (heldke 1992: 217). the text thus creates a direct philosophical relationship between mama elena’s death and her non-participation in cooking and eating. eating and cooking, in particular as demonstrated in the fate of tita, are often dangerous acts determined by a contradictory nature that can make them wholesome as well as detrimental to bodily health, and it is this rather complex and ambiguous notion of the culinary and of identity that mama elena rejects when she chooses to vomit rather than swallow. food as pharmakon, as something that can kill and cure, functions as the contradictory centre of like water for chocolate and as a powerful formal and narrative device that affects the performance of identities. elena (mother) and tita (daughter) are the same and different; mama elena dies because tita is doing her duty and feeding her; pedro marries rosaura because he loves tita; john gives up tita because he loves her. by focusing on the processes that underlie cooking and eating, the often anarchic effects they have on separate spheres, boundaries and the relationship between centre and margin, the novel, rather than using the culinary as metaphor, plays with the concepts of traditional logic and often reverses the rules governing cause and effect. by doing so, it comments pertinently on the complex ways in which food functions as metaphor and the way in which identity is only intelligible as the effect of narrative forces. discursively structured by the deconstructive mechanisms of magic realism, cooking and eating emerge as an all encompassing textual economy that de-regulates what is traditionally regarded as normal. when preparing the cake for the wedding between her sister and her lover, for example, tita, overcome by sadness, cries into the batter with the effect that all wedding guests will share her tears. they, furthermore, will succumb to terrible nausea and vomiting which will prevent pedro and rosaura to consummate their nuptials. however, eating does not have the same effect on each person: whereas the dish works for gertrudis and pedro as an aphrodisiac, it makes rosaura feel nauseous and sick. thus, eating, in addition to something we do, the text seems to suggest, does something to us and the effect is more often than not unpredictable because consuming food impacts in a very direct manner on what is regarded as normal and real. when tita and pedro can finally consummate their passion for each other, a month after mama elena’s death, it is ironically, the spectral presence of the latter that helps them to conceal their illicit affair. because of the heat of their desire, plumes “of phosphorescent colours were ascending to the sky like delicate bengal lights” (esquivel 1993: 144). this phenomenon, however, is interpreted by the other members of the household as the presence of mama elena’s ghost: if poor mama elena had known that even after she was dead her presence was enough to inspire terror – and that this fear of encountering her is what provided tita and pedro with the perfect opportunity to profane her favourite place with impunity, rolling voluptuously on gertrudis’ bed – she would have died another hundred times over (esquivel 1993: 145). michelis, angelica. “foreign recipes: mothers, daughters and food in like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 16-33. it is thus via her daughter’s disobedience that her mother is resurrected. going against the maternal will, tita’s act refers back to mama elena’s own extra marital affair and the consequences it had on her family, in particular her daughters. this link between mother and daughter as determined by an oscillation between sameness and difference evolves as one of the major themes in the novel and is somewhat typical of this genre of fictional texts. the joy luck club (1994) and a chorus of mushrooms (1997), although narratively and thematically dissimilar to like water for chocolate and each other, share many of its discursive elements in particular where food, eating and the relationship between mothers and daughters are concerned. eating differently: mothers, daughters and diaspora in the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms amy tan’s and hiromi goto’s novels are both situated in a cross-cultural and cross-generational setting, the joy luck club (1994) referring to the lives of first and second generation immigrants from china, a chorus of mushrooms (1997) focusing on the relationship between a japanese grandmother, mother and daughter who emigrated to canada. tan’s novel, first published in 1989, not only topped the bestseller lists of many western countries but also subsequently triggered off the publication of many similar semi-biographical narratives about women in china. goto’s narrative, published five years later in 1994, is to a certain extent part of this trend set into motion by tan’s novel, but never reached the popularity of the former. both texts share a proclivity to the oral, a fragmented and often disjointed structure that emphasises a selfreferential foregrounding of the narrative and reading process, a notion that is further enforced by the inclusion of fairy tales, dreams and the fantastic in general. each of these aspects can be related directly to the centrality of food, eating and cooking which play a pivotal role in the ways in which the texts problematise concepts of national and cultural identity and the complex relationship between mothers and daughters. in goto’s novel the narrative voice is shared between naoe (the grandmother) and murasaki/muriel (the granddaughter) leaving keiko (the mother) silent which means the mother as such only comes into being as the effect of the narrative. being always under construction, the mother is what a chorus of mushrooms is about, but, by barring her from a direct narrative presence, the text also questions the mother as a selfidentical entity. this non-identity of the maternal is in the text directly related to food and eating in the accounts of naoe and murasaki: keiko. my daughter who has forsaken identity. forsaken! so biblical, but it suits her, my little convert. converted from rice and daikon to wieners and beans. endless evenings of tedious roast chicken and honey smoked ham and overdone rump roast. my daughter, you were raised on fish cakes and pickled plums. this western food has changed you and you’ve grown more opaque even as your heart has brittled. silver-edged and thin as paper. i love you still. you are my daughter, after all, and this you cannot change. for all that you call me obãchan and treat me as a child. i am not your grandmother. i am your mother (goto 1997: 13). because the mother is never literally present, her position cannot be taken for granted emerges here as a slippery notion that can only be claimed in a contextual manner. as soon as they have arrived in canada, naoe loses her position as a mother to keiko by becoming grandmother and child to her. on the other hand, keiko herself cannot claim the maternal position since she is not given a voice in the narrative. naoe connects the loss of her daughter to the consumption of western food that, according to her, has given her a “ketchup brain” (goto 1997: 13). murasaki, whose narrative position in the novel is located in the past (reminiscing about her childhood), and in the present (sharing these memories with her lover), michelis, angelica. “foreign recipes: mothers, daughters and food in like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 16-33. is on a quest to find her place in relation to the matrilineal line of her family and to her cultural and national identity: “the daughter of a daughter of a daughter of a daughter of a daughter of a daughter of a daughter of … the list is endless. but i am here” (goto 1997: 52). but it is not at all clear where ‘here’ is, and instead of confirming the notion of a fixed presence, the text with its constant changes between narrative positions, places and times, is obscuring rather than clarifying these issues. murasaki’s memory of childhood is narrated as an experience of confusion in relation to her own position in the family and to her cultural and national self. her identity comes across as an assemblage of various factors such as, the experience of racism, the alienation from her mother who refuses to speak japanese and only cooks western food, and her nostalgic memories of her grandmother who, like her rebels against keiko. in this act of rebellion, the grandmother shares the position of the child in the family hierarchy, but is at the same time also an alternative mother figure to her granddaughter who she feeds japanese food and memories of her homeland. similar to a chorus of mushrooms, the joy luck club is structured by a variety of narratives and narrative viewpoints that interconnect in multifarious manners. organised in sixteen chapters the novel weaves together the voices of three mothers and four daughters, and whereas the mother and maternal is problematised mainly as absence in goto’s novel, tan’s narrative gives the mothers a direct voice in the different narratives. however, this voice comes across as a provisional one since the mothers’ stories are often focused on their memories as daughters and wives, which thus presents the concept of the maternal as neither fixed nor given, but contingent on culture, national identity and history. this has also a direct effect on the concept of the family and the manner in which it is under discussio n in the novel. as marina heung (1996) argues: in the joy luck club family allegiances are complicated and disrupted within a kinship system in which blood ties are replaced by a network of alternate affiliations. … these stories of disrupted family connections, of divided, multiplied, and of constantly realigned perceptions of kinship, constitute a pattern clearly diverging from the monolithic paradigm of the nuclear family (heung 1996: 602). rather than offering a celebration of the special bond between mother and daughter, the joy luck club, similarly to goto’s and esquivel’s imaginations of the maternal, approaches its subject in an inquisitive manner creating an atmosphere of doubt and uncertainty. tan’s novel constantly foregrounds the impossibility of ‘direct’ communication between the female generations, an issue that is emphasised by the way language is presented in the text. the mothers often revert to their chinese dialects the novel makes it quite clear that there is no such thing as one hegemonic ‘chinese’ language and most of them cannot speak english fluently. the daughters’ attempt to set themselves apart from their mothers is made evident in the way they fully embrace the american way of life and in their unwillingness to learn their mother tongue. however, the misunderstandings ensuing from these different positions in relation to language and culture are not presented as something typical to first and second generation chinese americans but are utilised as an example for the problems that will ensue if language is perceived as a means to communicate meaning unequivocally. stephen souris (1994) argues that tan’s multiple monologue novel seems to participate in the convention of having speakers speak into the void – or to the reader as audience. no actual communication between mothers and daughters occurs. … ; the narrative makes the reader poignantly aware of the distance between each mother and daughter by showing the unbridged gap between them and the potential for sharing and communication that is only partially realized (souris 1994: 107). michelis, angelica. “foreign recipes: mothers, daughters and food in like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 16-33. indeed, the different narratives come across as monologues that reminisce about the past and project desires into the future, but there is never a direct dialogue between mothers and daughters. the club itself was founded originally in china by jung-mei’s mother as an opportunity for the four women to socialise by playing mah jong and entertaining each other with stories. every week the respective hostess had to serve food, special dyansin foods to bring good fortunes of all kinds – dumplings shaped like silver money ingots, long rice noodles for long life, boiled peanuts for conceiving sons, and of course, many good-luck oranges for a plentiful sweet life (tan 1994: 23). the relationship between food and meaning that is created here hints already at the main function of the culinary and alimentary in the text: by endowing the different dishes with wishes and desires for the future, eating them will transfer them inside the body and, by doing so, making them come true. however, as the fate of each of the female characters in the novel demonstrates, this imagined transference of food cannot work as a straightforward conversion of outside into inside. on a more abstract level, this is the same for the production and dissemination of meaning and truth in the novel: it is never present as such, but always in a state of becoming with the effect that they cannot be ‘owned’ by either the mothers or the daughters. the complex link between food and meaning is implicitly referred to by jungmei’s mother who ironically suggests that food can neither mean anything in a direct manner, nor can eating it guarantee a straightforward transferal from outside to inside. the way we eat and what food means is always contingent on specific historic and cultural contexts, as are the bodies that consume the food: what fine food we treated ourselves to with our meagre allowances! we didn’t notice that the dumplings were stuffed mostly with stringy squash and that the oranges were spotted with wormy holes. we ate sparingly, not as if we didn’t have enough, but to protest how we could not eat another bite, we had already bloated ourselves from earlier in the day (tan 1994: 23). the meaning of food comes here into being in a metaphorical and performative way since it is not intrinsically meaningful as the contradicting descriptions of the meal demonstrate. food and eating are part of a more complex framework and, rather than providing answers about who we are and how we relate to each other, they provoke questions about agency and phenomenological knowledge as such. whilst the novel’s discourse is set into and kept in motion by the desire of the mothers to make themselves ‘known’ to their daughters (and, of course, vice versa), this aim is never realised, neither on a formal nor on a narrative level. the alienation between mothers and daughters is narrated through food, its preparation and consumption and in the novel, rather than functioning as a way of enhancing communication, the culinary emphasises estrangement and the impossibility of self-knowledge. the few occasions when mothers and daughters do share food, result often in conflicts and animosity and never in harmony and understanding. when waverly takes her mother lindo out for lunch to her favourite chinese restaurant to tell her that she intends to marry an american, lindo dislikes the food (“not too many good things, this menu” (tan 1994:166)) and complains about the restaurant’s standards of cleanliness (“this greasy thing, do you expect me to eat with it?” (tan 1994: 166)). of course, waverly never even attempts to raise the subject of her marriage. when jung-mei remembers a particular new year’s dinner at her mother’s house, she discovers that rather than having made her own choice when selecting a particular crab, she had been manipulated by her mother: michelis, angelica. “foreign recipes: mothers, daughters and food in like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 16-33. “what if someone else had picked that crab?” my mother looked at me and smiled. “only you pick that crab. nobody else take it. i already know this. everybody else want best quality. you thinking different.” she said it in a way as if this were proof – proof of something good. she always said things that didn’t make any sense, that sounded both good and bad at the same time (tan 1994: 208). jung-mei’s memory of her mother emphasises difference rather than similarity, and it is, paradoxically, only through difference that mother and daughter can know each other, even if this does not make sense to the daughter. throughout the novel food is utilised as a means of highlighting estrangement and the impossibility of communication between mothers and daughters. the culinary in the joy luck club thus contributes to an atmosphere of ambiguity, the unfamiliar and self-doubt, which not only dominates the relationship between mothers and daughters but also the ways in which cultural identity is experienced. mothers and daughters are always in a state of in-between, and by questioning the idea of agency and selfknowledge, the novel distrusts the idea of the maternal as an essential, unchanging concept. with its many references to food and eating, the text encourages a re-thinking of the meaning of mother-tongue and implies that food, as well as language, complicates rather than eases communication and understanding. furthermore, it is above all the sense of ambiguity and its inextricable link to orality, in relation to eating as well as speaking that connects questions of gender, national, cultural and ethnic identity in the novel. the atmosphere of the spectral and unfamiliar is all-encompassing and, as ben xu points out even ‘the return to the motherland in the joy luck club is temporary and disillusioning, no more than a “visit”. such a visit is at once an assertion of “going home” and a painful realization of “going home as a stranger”‘ (xu 1994: 16). home as a place of estrangement and alienation is also one of the major themes in a chorus of mushrooms. food and eating in tan’s novel, whilst central to the narrative in general, does not function on the same level of performativitity as in goto’s text, which is intrinsically structured by the culinary. for naoe only japanese food is proper food and her alienation from western culture is above all a culinary one. murasaki’s father has been leading a double life for years, pretending to have perfectly adapted to canada and its way of life. however, as murasaki finds out when shopping at the oriental food store, her father had been a customer there during all his time in canada, indulging in his favourite japanese food, salted seaweed paste. when naoe ‘runs away from home’, and thus refuses to adopt the subject position allocated to her by society and culture, her daughter is not only bereft of her mother but also of her appetite and language. her mother’s departure results in a crisis of identity for keiko since she has lost her position as a daughter which she only regains when her own daughter agrees to mother her. when murasaki learns to cook and feeds keiko traditional japanese food, her mother can be coaxed back into language and into accepting that her cultural identity is marked by ambiguity. “eating is part of being” (goto 1997: 138), as the owner of the oriental food shop tells murasaki, a message that becomes even more forceful when murasaki discovers that her surname tonkatsu is actually the name of a japanese dish. a chorus of mushrooms unfolds as a type of quest narrative in which murasaki by searching for her run-away grandmother is also searching for her own identity, in relation to gender as well as culture and ethnicity. food, particularly in the telepathic messages from naoe to murasaki, is represented as directly interwoven with these questions. furthermore, whilst the grandmother points out: “there is a time for words, but there is a time for food also”(goto 1996: 146) which might suggest that words and food are antagonistic to each other, more often than not, food and language are represented as dialectically interlaced. towards the end of a chorus of mushrooms, in one of her reflective monologues which michelis, angelica. “foreign recipes: mothers, daughters and food in like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 16-33. implicitly address the reader, murasaki links the culinary directly with the discursive properties of language and narratives: i suppose there was a time when a body could travel with only a light backpack and a sturdy pair of shoes. trade a bowl of soup and a slice of bread for a tale or two. if anybody could live that way, it would be obãchan. who knows, she may be doing exactly that and, even now, be putting words into my mouth. … but there must be a lot of people out there just starving for a filling story. something that would leave a rich flavour on their tongue, on their lips. lick, then suck their fingertips. let me feed you (goto 1997: 201). food, as murasaki realises at the closing pages of the novel ‘is the point of departure’ (goto 1997: 201) and partaking of it will send her on a life-long quest that has only just begun. conclusion: eating/speaking like a mother whilst displaying a range of differences in relation to structure, narrative voice and the ways food and eating are problematised, all three novels suggest that there is a proximity between language and eating, the culinary and the linguistic. however, this does not suggest that eating and food function in a straightforward manner as systems of communication and understanding, in particular when it comes to the relationships between mothers and daughters. rather than creating a one-dimensional bond between female generations in a family, food is presented as part of the complexities that govern the often unbridgeable gaps and differences between them. the moment of otherness and subjectivity as defined as an investment in the other, delineates the significatory power of both food and language. in order to connect to the outside other, it has to be internalised by the self, which paradoxically annihilates it by way of processing it. however, the self is as instable as the other since consumption will leave its effects on the body that devours. motherhood and the relationship between mothers and daughters refract these complex politics of otherness in the way their representation pertains to repetition and reproduction. the mother recognises her past self in the daughter whereas for the latter imaginations of the future are often directly bound up with the maternal body, particularly in a culture where femininity and femaleness are still inextricably linked to the position of the mother. food and eating are directly involved in producing the positions of mother and daughter, but rather than allocating spaces of subjectivity in a straightforward manner, they contribute to complications and doubt by showing that the idea of identity as a discrete entity can only ever be an illusion. as murasaki puts it at the end of a chorus of mushrooms: “when does one thing end and another begin? can you separate the two?” (goto 1997: 213). references butler, j. 1990. gender trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity. new york: routledge. derrida, j. 1988. limited inc .evanston, illinois: northwestern university press. ellmann, m. 1993. the hunger artist. starving, writing and imprisonment. london: virago. esquivel, l. 1993. like water for chocolate. black swan: london. goto, h. 1997. a chorus of mushrooms. london: the woman’s press. michelis, angelica. “foreign recipes: mothers, daughters and food in like water for chocolate, the joy luck club and a chorus of mushrooms”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 16-33. heldke, l.m. (1992). “foodmaking as a thoughtful practice” in: d.w. curtin and l. m. heldke (eds.) cooking, eating, thinking. transformative philosophies of food. bloomington: indiana university press. heung, m. 1993. “daughter/mother-text: matrilineage in amy tan’s joy luck club.” feminist studies, vol. 19, who’s east? whose east?, 596-616. ibsen, k. 1995. “on recipes, reading and revolution: postboom parody in como agua para chocolate”. hispanic review, vol. 63, no.2, 133-146. miller, j-a. 1988. “extimité”, prose studies 11, 121-30. probyn, e. 2000. carnal appetites. foodsexxidentities. london and new york: routledge. royle, n. 1995. after derrida. manchester: manchester university press. sceats, s. 2000. food, consumption and the body in contemporary women’s fiction. cambridge: cambridge university press. schwartz, h.1986. never satisfied. a cultural history of diets, fantasies and fat. london: collier macmillan. skubal, s. 2002. word of mouth. food and fiction after freud. london and new york: routledge. souris, s. 1994. “only two kinds of daughters”: inter-monologue dialogicity in the joy luck club’. melus, vol. 19, no.2, theory, culture and criticism, 99-123. tan, a. 1994. the joy luck club. london: minerva. why is kwame anthony appiah’s proposal to dismiss the concept of “the west” premature? 22 crossroads. a journal of english studies stefan kubiak university of białystok why is kwame anthony appiah’s proposal to dismiss the concept of “the west” premature? abstract. this paper is a response to kwame a. appiah’s article “there is no such thing as western civilisation” published in the guardian of 9 november 2016. appiah’s proposal to dismiss the term ‘western civilisation’ seems premature since it is strongly established in the humanities and social sciences. discussing selected models representing systems of civilisations (spengler, koneczny, toynbee, huntington) as well as fernand braudel’s concept of longue durée history, this paper demonstrates the importance of the term ‘western civilisation’ in academic and political discourses. moreover, referring to post-colonial studies, it is impossible to avoid the term because without it, any discussion on the colonial and post-colonial reality would be devoid of substance. keywords: the west, western culture, western civilisation, civilisation, term. introduction the terms “western culture”, “western world” or just “the west”9 are often intuitively accepted without much consideration. “the west” is taken for granted, even though the connotations it evokes may result in a large spectrum of emotions: from pride and admiration to bitter criticism and even outrage. surprisingly, it is not easy to find a clear definition of the term. even studies dedicated to the western civilisation evade concise definitions, instead informing readers how to understand the concept. an attempt at such a brief clarification has been made by gregory s. brown: what do we mean by “the west”? though the west is defined primarily by its physical borders, the term denotes more than a geographical location. for our purposes, the west refers to the peoples and territories of europe and the lands of the americas and antipodes (i.e., australia and new zealand) settled by europeans. the territorial heart of the west comprises those lands west of the ural mountains (which are traditionally considered the dividing line between europe and asia), and the area extending from 9 throughout the article the terms “west” and “western” are not capitalized, in accordance with appiah’s spelling, except quotations of other authors. 10.15290/cr.2016.13.2.03 23 articles norway in the north to the southern tip of spain, and to the turkish border in the southeast. the west generally corresponds to what was once called christendom. (brown online n.p.) brown emphasises that the west does not only refer to “the peoples and the territories” but it is also “a cultural concept”, comprising a set of values which have developed over the centuries. the cultural elements of the west which he identifies include: monotheism – the belief in one god, the basis of the judeo-christian tradition (although other major nonwestern religions, such as islam, are also monotheistic) separation of political and spiritual authority – often called the separation of church and state empirical investigation and mathematical explanation of the material world, formerly known as “natural philosophy,” now referred to as “science” confidence in the capacity of science and technology to transform the human environment, and a general belief in progress based on rational thought (though this confidence has been qualified in recent years by the increasing evidence of human-caused damage to the environment) respect for human rights, such as freedom of worship, freedom of expression, and the rule of law (although these rights were extended slowly to different segments of the population) codification of political rights, such as the right to enjoy representative government, freedom of assembly, equality before the law, and the right to vote (although these were also gradually accorded to minorities, women, people of color, and the landless) a high value on the sanctity of private life, family, and free economic activity, observable in the right to freely accumulate and transfer property without intrusive regulation by political authorities. (brown online n.p.) brown notes that these values developed gradually, in different historical periods. “for example, faith in science emerged in the 17th century, the emphasis on tolerance only in some countries in the 17th century, the idea of human rights and rights of privacy in the 18th century, and the belief in progress and universal political rights not until the 19th century” (brown online n.p.). the west is, thus, a historical and cultural construct. the term “western civilisation” is so rooted in the language of present day humanities that hardly anyone sees controversy in, for example, the 9th edition of jackson j. spielvogel’s western civilization: a brief history (2015), or in several other books with “western civilization” in the title. arthur hertzberg and other authors of the entry on judaism in encyclopaedia britannica (2017) discuss “western philosophy”, “western europe”, “western education” and “western culture” with no attempt to define them. moreover, encyclopaedia britannica itself has no such entry as “the west” or “western civilisation”. bearing in mind the established status of the term which seems so obvious that hardly anyone has bothered to fully define it, appiah’s proposal of its cession, appears both thought-provoking and controversial. kwame anthony appiah (born in london, 1954) is a professor of philosophy and law at new york university, laurance s. rockefeller university professor of philosophy, the university center for human values emeritus at princeton university, and an honorary fellow of clare college at the university of cambridge. his wide interests include such fields as the philosophy of language 24 crossroads. a journal of english studies and african and african-american literary and cultural studies. among his publications is cosmopolitanism: ethics in a world of strangers (2006), where, among other things, he attempts to propose the ways to reconcile respect for cultural differences with the condemnation of atrocious social practices. in october and november 2017, the bbc will broadcast a series of lectures given by appiah, entitled “mistaken identities” (www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles), which illustrate his most recent area of research. in his article “there is no such thing as western civilisation”, which is an edited version of his bbc reith lecture recently published in the guardian (9 nov 2016), appiah posits the elimination of the term “western civilisation” from public discourse. notwithstanding the ideological purpose behind this proposal, its implementation seems highly challenging, if feasible at all, since, as a term taken from geography, it must recur whenever that part of europe is mentioned, or when europe is perceived from the perspective of asia. moreover, this geographic concept is so strongly embedded in academic discourse of history and social sciences, that eliminating it would result in a considerable terminological problem. appiah is not the only author who doubts in the validity of “the west” as an intellectual concept. even those american academicians who teach courses on western civilization seem far from treating it as a concrete entity and a source of identity. on the contrary, many of them underscore the fluidity of the concept. for example, peter n. stearns in the conclusion of his western civilization in world history (2003) asserts: we need active comparisons, a sense of how global forces and contacts have shaped the west, rather than the west in isolated glory or seen as an independent agent in world affairs. the challenge, in terms of new curricula and new teaching combinations, is exciting. (stearns 2003: 133) on the other hand, in his article “what is western civilization?” laurence birken, critically reviews several proposals of the concept, opting for that reduced to the geographic western europe and dismissing ancient greece and rome (birken 1992: 453). however, no critic went so far as to dismiss the term itself. for this reason, appiah’s text has been singled out as the most radical and controversial. the objective of this article is to discuss appiah’s criticism of the very concept of “western civilisation”, especially the points which may evoke certain controversies. being a commonplace term used by historians, sociologists, anthropologists of culture and politicians, and understood practically all over the world, “the west” and its culture or civilisation causes surprisingly little confusion whenever used in academic, political and popular texts. philosophers of history as well as historians employ the term as a mental shortcut for a complex set of phenomena and factors. defining its components has never been easy, but hardly anyone, either apologists or adversaries of the political, economic and cultural forces known as “the west”, have ever considered the term problematic. as a working term, it has played a very useful role in several areas, such as sociology and several types of history: political, economic and cultural. 25 articles the ideological and, consequently, political purpose of appiah’s proposal seems clear: believing in “the west” implies its superiority, which is ethically unacceptable, and as such should be eradicated as the source of its evil implications. instead, he suggests thinking in terms of universal human civilisation. however noble and recommendable his idea might be, at the moment, for several reasons, it will be demonstrated why it seems impossible to implement. in section 3 of the article, i shall briefly discuss certain issues the term “western civilisation” caused, including models proposed by oswald spengler, arnold toynbee, feliks koneczny and samuel huntington. moreover, section 5 will present a call for the term in studies of international relations, where it has not apparently been used so far. i shall attempt to dismiss them as insufficiently grounded. afterwards, however, i shall refer to the position partly based on the approach of the french historians grouped in the well-known annales school, particularly on fernand braudel’s theory of longue durée, which provides serious arguments for retaining the term “western civilisation”.10 the last part of the article will contain my own observations on the working utility of the concept. a problem with definition: geography, culture, politics in his article “there is no such thing as western civilisation”, appiah commenced his criticism of the very concept of western civilisation with a short outline of two different ideas of culture proposed by two british 19th-century authors, edward burnett tylor and matthew arnold. whereas for the latter, culture was the “pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting to know, on all the matters which most concern us, the best which has been thought and said in the world”, tylor understood it as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (appiah 2016 online n.p.). appiah observes that nowadays these two antagonistic approaches are unthinkingly combined into one idea of civilisation that would have occurred to neither tylor nor arnold and proposes “to untangle some of our confusions … of what we have come to call the west” (appiah 2016 online n.p.). it is important to note that for appiah, the mutual exclusivity of the definitions of civilisation is a sufficient reason for eliminating the term “western civilisation”. he seems to disregard any possible other proposals. in fact, it is difficult to find evidence that those who discuss civilisations or use the concept of “the west” ever refer to tylor or arnold. geographic confusion furthermore, the author of “there is no such thing as western civilisation” points out that as a geographical term, “the west” seems really confusing since it is used for different purposes. he 10 the annales school was a group of french historians who emphasized long-term social history. the name of the group comes from the academic journal annales d’histoire économique et sociale founded by marc bloch and lucien febvre in 1929. since 1994 it has been issued as annales. histoire, sciences sociales. one of the prominent representatives of the annales school was fernand braudel (1902-85). 26 crossroads. a journal of english studies lists such usages of the expression as rudyard kipling’s opposition of europe and asia (“east is east and west is west, and never the twain shall meet”); nato versus the warsaw pact during the cold war, where the former was a synonym of democracy and freedom as inherent ‘western’ values, whereas the other parts of the world seemed irrelevant; and the latest sense of the term, which includes europe, the united states and canada. all other parts of the world are treated as “the global south” regardless of the european origins of south american societies. simultaneously, in such countries as australia, new zealand and south africa, ‘western’ “can look simply like a euphemism for white” (appiah 2016 online n.p.). appiah then goes on to analyse the sources of the european sense of uniqueness in order to point out further inconsistencies in the concept of western civilisation. herodotus, for example, distinguished three continents: europe, asia and libya (africa). his division had no societal implications since the greeks dwelled in both europe and asia. the ancient greeks and romans could use the term ‘european’ as an adjective and not a noun with a cultural reference (appiah 2016 online n.p.). in the dark and middle ages, the term “european” appeared as an opposition to the world of islam, even though when charles martel stopped the arab conquest of western europe in 732 ce, most of europe had yet to be converted to christianity. however, scholars did not use the expression “west” because parts of western europe (spain) remained under the control of muslim rulers. islam, in the form of the ottoman empire, also annexed vast tracts of eastern and central europe. its expansion was stopped in 1683 at the battle of vienna. at that time, the fragile european unity was built around the opposition islam-christianity (appiah 2016 online n.p.). it is worth noting that this european unity was psychological rather than real, since the siege of vienna was both preceded and followed by a series of wars within the world of christian powers. appiah’s assertion that “the move from ‘christendom’ to ‘western culture’ isn’t straightforward” seems difficult to rebut. on the other hand, the presence of such a category as culture or civilisation manifests in conflicts, where differences between the enemies are not only emphasised but also constructed. even though in practice the european unity based on christianity never worked, in was present in the declaratory language of politicians and diplomats building the holy league in 1571 and the holy alliance in 1815. another point appiah makes concerns the role of ancient greek and roman inheritance treated by influential european philosophers (e.g. hegel) as the core of civilization, “a precious golden nugget”, as appiah (2016 online n.p.) likes to call it. here, he observes that during the collapse of ancient thought in western europe, it was the arab muslims who preserved the ideas of the greeks, especially those of aristotle, whose status in philosophy was restored due to ibn rushd, the arab scholar born in muslim spain in the 12th century, and better known in christian europe as averroes (appiah 2016 online n.p.). appiah points out the weakness of the idea of an essence of culture/civilization on the grounds that any set of qualities changes dramatically over time and no essence can be traced to have passed through the centuries. 27 articles what was england like in the days of chaucer, father of english literature, who died more than 600 years ago? take whatever you think was distinctive of it, whatever combination of customs, ideas, and material things that made england characteristically england then. whatever you choose to distinguish englishness now, it isn’t going to be that. rather, as time rolls on, each generation inherits the label from an earlier one: and, in each generation, the label comes with a legacy. but as the legacies are lost or exchanged for other treasures, the label keeps moving on… identities can be held together by narratives, in short, without essences. you don’t get to be called “english” because there’s an essence that this label follows; you’re english because our rules determine that you are entitled to the label by being somehow connected with a place called england. (appiah 2016 online n.p.) in this way, appiah actually demonstrates the impossibility of any collective identity, especially an identity that seems to survive over long periods of time. a similar deconstruction of a collective identity can be found in, for example, shlomo sand’s controversial book the invention of the jewish people (2009), where the author denies the historical continuity of the jewish ethnos. such an operation is possible with reference to any nation, ethnic group or even local community. the problem lies in the fact that the mental constructs of identity are, for so many people, essential and thus resilient. appiah is certainly right in claiming that “the very idea of ‘the west,’ to name a heritage and object of study, doesn’t really emerge until the 1890s, during a heated era of imperialism, and gains broader currency only in the 20th century” (appiah 2016 online n.p.). he also cogently observes that oswald spengler, one of the first philosophers of history, refused to value the idea of a direct continuity between the ancient hellenic and latin cultures and his contemporary western “faustian” civilization (spengler 1926: 78). unlike the former, the civilisation reduced to geographic western europe is characterised by “a type of faustian personality overflowing with expansive, disruptive, and imaginative impulses manifested in all the spheres of life”. moreover, “[t]he expansionist dispositions of europeans were not only indispensable but were themselves driven … by an intensely felt desire to achieve great deeds and heroic immortality” (duchesne 2014 online n.p.). appiah observes that the difficulties in finding an essence in the concept of “the west” also lie in political and cultural differences in the present day territory defined as such. for example, franco’s regime coexisted with liberal democracy for forty years, while ‘non-western’ countries, such as india and japan, embraced democratic systems of government. moreover, appiah shows examples of hip-hop in tokyo as well as the influence of indian cuisine on the dining habits of british people. thus, appiah proposes to abandon organicism, which can be explained as follows: well, by fusing the tylorian picture and the arnoldian one, the realm of the everyday and the realm of the ideal. and the key to this was something that was already present in tylor’s work. remember his famous definition: it began with culture as “that complex whole”. what you’re hearing is something we can call organicism. a vision of culture not as a loose assemblage of disparate fragments but as an organic unity, each component, like the organs in a body, carefully adapted to occupy a particular place, each part essential to the functioning of the whole. the eurovision song contest, the cutouts of matisse, the dialogues of plato are all parts of a larger whole. as such, each is a holding in your cultural library, so to 28 crossroads. a journal of english studies speak, even if you have never personally checked it out. even if it isn’t your jam, it is still your heritage and possession. organicism explained how our everyday selves could be dusted with gold (appiah 2016 online n.p.). appiah’s deconstruction of organicism does not explain much and actually cuts both ways. thinkers looking for both deep structures behind the surrounding phenomena, as well as webs of connections between them, may easily fall prey to charlatanry or, on the contrary, reach conclusions of scientific value. since in the humanities there is no universal meta-platform guaranteeing the truth, our only choice is confined to faith, intuition, common sense, critical thinking, or a certain combination thereof. consequently, appiah’s proposal consisting in the existence of random phenomena, is as credible (or controversial) as the concept of closer interconnections between them. the approach to such phenomena as civilisations depends on the distance of the observer. one person may compare the process of observation with perceiving a painting, while another may use the metaphor of constellations. the former will sooner or later realise that although close observation reveals nothing more than a great number of brush strokes, a certain perspective allows them to see shapes set in the intended order. the latter would see that the apparent order is just the optical illusion of the flat surface of the firmament, since the celestial bodies are scattered all over space, and their interrelations, if there are any, are of a completely different nature. moreover, looking at the same picture, even from the same perspective may result in different visual effects. the west in the mosaic of civilisations in theories of philosophers of history discussing the legitimacy of the term “the western civilisation” it seems important to briefly review certain concepts of history as a mosaic of civilisations, which are born, develop and die. in the 20th century civilisations and their relations became a field of interest of several thinkers who proposed their concepts of cultures or civilisations and models in which they placed the west. the criticism they received resulted from their speculative nature, teleological approach to history and treating civilisations as ontological entities. however, their views still have their adherents and therefore in the discussion on the western civilisation, three are worth mentioning: koneczny, spengler and toynbee. the first is interesting insofar as his model demonstrates that even in the conservative system of this 20th century philosopher of history, the geographic concept of the west was treated as accidental rather than essential, since he attributed the most important role in creating civilisations to religion, which is not geographically determined. the others, however, constructed models where the west has an established position on the map. the polish pre-war historian, feliks koneczny (1862-1949), treated civilisations not as rigid geographical entities, but as a certain set of values which may be distributed in a somewhat sophisticated way. his latin civilisation generally overlaps the geographical west, but does not have anything to do with a particular race or territory (koneczny 1962). collective life embraced a wide 29 articles spectrum of components including law and its role in society and the position of a scholar in the community. the latin civilization, according to him, was characterized by the role of western (latin) christianity, which embraced roman catholics and also protestants. the clear distinction between private and public, as well as the priority of ethics before law, were the main qualities making it different from other civilizations. for example, germany, according to koneczny, adopted the byzantine political mentality along with the marriage of otto ii to the byzantine princess theophano (wise 2010: 223). he strongly believed that: nations in this meaning exist only, until now, within the sphere of the latin civilisation, because only here have the conditions for their development been present. even peoples of alien cultural spheres, which became embraced by the west and in consequence fell under the influence of the formative forces of latin civilisation e.g. the finns and the hungarians—became nations. a nation must as a cultural entity belong only to one civilisation; it cannot belong to two different civilisations (koneczny 1962 online n.p.). koneczny was not the first thinker who attempted to discover mechanisms determining historical processes. one of the best known representatives of philosophy of history was oswald spengler, who expounded his pessimistic vision of the history of civilisations in the decline of the west: form and actuality (1926). the german philosopher of history oswald spengler (1880-1936) saw little connection between ancient greek/roman civilisation(s) and modern western civilisation. the british historian arnold toynbee (1889-1975), on the other hand, built an intricate system of civilisation structures where each element (particular national culture) played a similar, if not the same, role as a parallel culture did in another civilisation. those ideas were based on a strongly teleological approach with an inevitable faith in progress, which has already been challenged and criticised (iggers 1958). all of them have little empirical basis and are the results of the authors’ personal convictions and prejudices which drew on and reinforced the fundamental tenets of the period in which they lived and wrote their texts. much as toynbee’s model of various civilisations, with their life cycles and the roles of smaller cultural entities within them, may be criticised, his analysis of the mutual relations between them shows that certain regularities can be observed not in the existence of ontological units called cultures but in the confrontations of people coming from different regions, for there are certain phenomena that manifest themselves in contexts. encounters with other systems of values, other mindsets, as well as other approaches to structuring society and economy reveal differences which, as a result, determine definitions. arnold toynbee in his work the study of history dedicated a considerable number of pages to encounters of western civilization with particular other cultures (toynbee 1957: 151-187). if there were no significant differences, there would be nothing to discuss. be it peter the great’s russia or japan in the period of the meiji restoration (after 1868), nobody can deny that the models those countries adopted came from western europe and that they were considerably different from their original lifestyles and social structures. 30 crossroads. a journal of english studies appiah’s proposal in the context of said’s orientalism and huntington’s the clash of civilisations the idea of mutually hostile civilisations was adopted by samuel huntington (1927-2008) in his article the clash of civilisations (1996) which he later extended into a book. edward said (1994), on the other hand, strongly opposed creating concepts antagonising inhabitants of different parts of the world. discussing appiah’s suggestion of eliminating the term “the west” from public discourse, it is inevitable to refer to their approaches when conceptualising the conflict between “the west” and the muslim world. the most controversial part of appiah’s article “there is no such thing as western civilization” is the claim that having abandoned organicism we should also renounce the faith in any essence controlling our behaviour. actually, there would be nothing strange with this statement if not for the example the author uses to illustrate this claim: “no muslim essence stops the inhabitants of dar al-islam from taking up anything from western civilisation, including christianity or democracy. no western essence is there to stop a new yorker of any ancestry taking up islam” (appiah 2016 online n.p.). appiah is right inasmuch as his renouncement of the ‘essence’ is simply a criticism of hypostatizing or taking an idea for an ontological entity. however, quite a large number of muslim clergymen would be astonished at this easy permission to convert to christianity or adopting the idea of liberal democracy, for although the ‘essence’ does not exist, it is enough that a group of the powerful believe in it and is able to impose this notion upon their followers. appiah mentions one of the fundamental concepts present in islam since its beginning: dar arislam (the home of islam) and dar al-kufr (the realm of the heathens). the latter did not, however, particularly embrace europe or its western part, but everything outside the former. nevertheless, in the 1980s the concept of the christian west as the cradle of all the evil that afflicts the muslim peoples, gained popularity and now is part of radical islamist propaganda. the palestinian-american literary theorist edward said (1935-2003), in his “afterword” to the 1994 version of orientalism, rejecting the title concept as lectured by western academia, literature and politics, warned against developing an analogous approach to the west. in the conclusive paragraph of his milestone work he asserted: i hope to have shown my reader that the answer to orientalism is not occidentalism. no former “oriental” will be comforted by the thought that having been an oriental himself he is likely – too likely – to study new “orientals” – or “occidentals” – of his own making. if the knowledge of orientalism has any meaning, it is in being a reminder of the seductive degradation of knowledge, of any knowledge, anywhere, at any time. now perhaps more than before (said 1994: 328). in this context appiah’s proposal does not seem new and it is hardly possible to challenge both his and said’s noble intention. in the same edition of orientalism, after samuel huntington’s article the clash of civilisations (but before the book of the same title was published), said wrote: 31 articles … this was one of the implied messages of orientalism, that any attempt to force cultures and peoples into separate and distinct breeds or essences exposes not only the misrepresentations and falsifications that ensue, but also the way in which understanding is complicit with the power to produce such things as the “orient” or the “west” (said 1994: 347). insofar as said was right that the “orient” included cultures as different as arab, indian, chinese and japanese, it should also be obvious that serious differences similarly occur between such cultures as german, french, spanish, italian and those which developed on the basis of the english language. however, no one can deny the fact that for thousands of years chinese civilisation developed absolutely free from greek and roman cultural influence. it is also true that south asia is home to several different languages and cultures. however much we would like to deny the existence of one indian culture, as long as the gujaratis want to feel an emotional-cultural connection with the punjabis or inhabitants of kerala, they should not be deprived of the right to this sentiment. it is also possible to refer this way of thinking to europeans. the ontological validity of collective identities may be challenged or even denied, but as long as humans feel an affinity for certain general concepts that give them a sense of belonging, such identities cannot simply be dismissed. the west is not just its “hard core”, which we can understand as the old colonial powers. it has also peripheries, where the affiliation to “western civilisation” is of the highest importance. poland, czechia or hungary, as “cultural clients” or “poor relatives” of the west, may tend to underscore their western tradition even more than the geographic west itself. potential consequences, such as mutual hostility towards the representatives of different identities, should be defined, discussed and eventually eliminated. denying the differences may not only fail to solve possible problems but actually deprive us of any discursive tools to achieve this goal. samuel huntington, accused by many, including edward said himself, of spreading the idea of conflict between human beings, admits that: the causes of this unique and dramatic development included the social structure and class relations of the west, the rise of cities and commerce, the relative dispersion of power in western societies between estates and monarchs and secular and religious authorities, the emerging sense of national consciousness among western peoples, and the development of state bureaucracies. the immediate source of western expansion, however, was technological: the invention of the means of ocean navigation for reaching distant peoples and the development of the military capabilities for conquering those peoples. (huntington 1996: 51) he quotes parker (1988: 4), who argues that “in large measure ‘the rise of the west’ depended upon the exercise of force, upon the fact that the military balance between the europeans and their adversaries overseas was steadily tilting in favour of the former; … the key to the westerners’ success in creating the first truly global empires between 1500 and 1750 depended upon precisely those improvements in the ability to wage war which have been termed ‘the military revolution’.” huntington adds that 32 crossroads. a journal of english studies the expansion of the west was also facilitated by the superiority in organization, discipline, and training of its troops and subsequently by the superior weapons, transport, logistics, and medical services resulting from its leadership in the industrial revolution. the west won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion … but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. westerners often forget this fact; non-westerners never do (huntington 1996: 51). when huntington wrote about the expansion of the west, what did he mean? whose expansion, actually? arnold toynbee could be wrong creating his model of world civilizations throughout the history of humankind, but discussing encounters of the western civilization with indian or chinese civilizations, what did he write about? a call for a conceptualization of the west the concepts of thinkers believing in civilisations as clearly distinguishable entities endowing their members with a sense of identity (spengler, toynbee, huntington) are still vivid and have their enthusiasts. for example, in her book conceptualizing the west in international relations, jacinta o’hagan proposes introducing the concept of the west into the academic discipline of international relations: international relations primarily theorises the world as one of states. however, the west is not a state, but most commonly conceived of as a civilizational entity. the paradigms of the discipline provide no explicit category into which civilizations can be placed. consequently, civilizations have been largely absent from international relations theory (o’hagan 2002: 2). influenced by the champions of conflicting civilisations, the author seems to miss their terminology in the language of her area of interest: the term ‘the west’ peppers the language of commentary and scholarship in world politics. it appears in an abundance of books and articles, such as islam and the west (lewis, 1993), ‘the west and the rest’ (mahbubani, 1992) and twilight of the west (coker, 1998). the west is often invoked in antithesis to a similarly broadly constituted ‘other’ – the east, the orient, islam, asia, the third world. the west, meaning the antithesis to the communist east, was central to the language of cold war politics. despite the collapse of this east, the west remains central to the language of post-cold war politics, illustrated by references such as those to the west’s role in the balkans, or the west’s position on human rights. in the late 1990s, the decision to extend nato to include poland, hungary and the czech republic was discussed as bringing former eastern bloc states under ‘the protection’ of the west. in the 1999 kosovo conflict, nato was frequently referred to as ‘representing the west’. in media debates, it is not uncommon to hear discussion of how the west should respond, for instance, to the conflict in chechnya or central africa, or other such locations (o’hagan 2002: 7). o’hagan’s proposal represents a position exactly opposite to that of appiah. being aware of the importance of the term in social sciences, she attempts to convince scholars dealing with international relations to extend their professional vocabulary with “the west” as an important term enriching their discourse and introducing more precision thereto. 33 articles in this context, appiah’s arguments referring to the lack of clear borders and definitions of the term in question seem sufficiently cogent to undermine o’hagan’s stance. if international relation studies have been able to operate the terminology based on precisely defined states and their alliances, the term derived from humanities and social sciences seems to add an additional factor of conflict rather than solve international problems. the western civilisation according to fernand braudel spengler’s vision of the world system of civilisations may be undermined as speculations based on historically ungrounded metaphors, for instance, civilisations being subject to biological processes, such as birth, growth, decline and death (blackburn 2016: 454). toynbee, even though he is much better prepared to discuss the world history, posited a model of mutual relations between twenty-one entities called civilisations. moreover, supported by a great number of historical examples, he also tried to create a scientific system based on “non-scientific, intuitional foundations” (iggers 1958: 224). whereas the philosophies of history proposed by spengler, koneczny, toynbee and others are criticised for their speculative nature devoid of factual foundation, this objection is not applicable to the historians grouped in the annales school. as researchers, they first examined facts and then formulated general models of historical development. fernand braudel (1902-1985), a leading representative of the annales, proposed an explanation of the concept of civilisations, including the western one. his model is based on solid studies of economic and social history: in his major work, the mediterranean and the mediterranean world in the age of philip ii, … (1949), fernand braudel took as his object a vast geographical area and treated it in terms of three time scales: the long term, the conjunctural, and that of events. the fact that braudel has, over the years indicated his particular interest in one of these time scales, the long term or long durée, has affected the appreciation of his work by critics and admirers alike … (santamaria and bailey 1984: 78). he elaborated his theory of the long term in his book a history of civilizations where treated historical short-term shifts and political events as accidental and consequently, emphasised the social and economic components of history which lasted a hundred years. it is important to note that braudel did not treat civilisations ideologically. he was not interested in creating a sense of identity. he also rejected toynbee’s theory of natural determinism of the strength of civilisations, where the degree of difficulty nature imposed on groups of people decided on the quality of civilisation they established (braudel 1994: 11). however, he did not dismiss geography as an important factor in creating civilisations. on the contrary: every civilization, then, is based on an area with more or less fixed limits. each has its own geography with its own opportunities and constraints, some virtually permanent and quite different from one civilization 34 crossroads. a journal of english studies to another. the result? a variegated world, whose maps can indicate which areas have houses built of wood, and which of clay, bamboo, paper, bricks or stone; which areas use wool or cotton or silk for textiles; which areas grow various food crops – rice, maize, wheat, etc. the challenge varies: so does the response (braudel 1994: 11). unlike spengler, toynbee or koneczny, braudel based his proposal on purely material foundations. he did not reject factors such as religions, ideas or political conflicts, but treated them as secondary in the formation of civilisations. western or european civilization is based on wheat and bread – and largely white bread – with all the constraints that this implies. wheat is a demanding crop. it requires field use to be rotated annually, or fields to be left fallow every one or two years (braudel 1994: 11). having provided the basic criteria determining the category, braudel outlined the geographic range of the west: western civilization, so-called, is at once the ‘american civilization’ of the united states, and the civilizations of latin america, russia and of course europe. europe itself contains a number of civilizations – polish, german, italian, english, french, etc. not to mention the fact that these national civilizations are made up of ‘civilizations’ that are smaller still: scotland, ireland, catalonia, sicily, the basque country and so on. nor should we forget that these divisions, these multi-coloured mosaics, embody more or less permanent characteristics (braudel 1994: 12). admitting that “[s]ociety and civilization are inseparable”, braudel went on to explain the concept of western civilisation: the western civilization in which we live, for example, depends on the ‘industrial society’ which is its driving force. it would be easy to characterize western civilization simply by describing that society and its component parts, its tensions, its moral and intellectual values, its ideals, its habits, its tastes, etc. – in other words by describing the people who embody it and will pass it on (braudel 1994: 16). thus, the french scholar based his idea of western civilisation on certain qualities which are passed from generation to generation and are determined by the lifestyles societies adopt to meet their needs. the shared ideals and worldviews are just reflections of the current dynamics of societies’ development. it is worth mentioning braudel’s observation that “the west’s first success was certainly the conquest of its countryside – its peasant ‘cultures’ – by the towns” (braudel 1994: 18). nevertheless, understanding the connection between civilization and society, he asserted that “in terms of the time-scale, civilization implies and embraces much longer periods than any given social phenomenon. it changes far less rapidly than the societies it supports or involves” (braudel 1994: 18). braudel’s approach clearly shows that he treated the west as an extensive term. based on economic foundations, the civilisation became a concept to which both christianity and greek rational thought made essential contributions. 35 articles to sum up, it is impossible to deny geographic characteristics of the territories where particular civilisations were born. they determined the way of food production which, in turn, affected the further development of economies, then ideologies initially based on religion but, in the case of the west, also on a secular philosophy. the origins of european societies and civilisations, were simply different from those of china, india or mali. the need for the term the concept of the west as an ontological entity defined by clear solid criteria and borderlines is difficult to defend. however, it would be ridiculous to deny the fact that it was west-european powers that colonized africa and asia and eradicated native civilizations in both americas. moreover, even though nowadays representatives of central european countries, such as poland, can claim that they never participated in the atrocities the western powers committed in their colonies, their ancestors, under the control of foreign invaders themselves, could feel solidarity with the same western powers in opposition to the “savage peoples” of the rest of the world. the polish 19th century novelist henryk sienkiewicz had no doubts about who should rule the sudan (england!). people in poland, czechia, hungary etc. read french, british and german books. many of them are familiar with flaubert’s accounts of his trips in africa, conrad’s heart of darkness, kipling’s the jungle book and, once popular with young people, adventures of kara ben nemzi by karl may. they may also know salman rushdie’s east, west, where the cultural differences are thematised. if they happened to study something indian or persian, they looked for exotic elements that reinforced their sense of being fundamentally different. mostly they read west-european accounts of the adventures of west-european explorers and it was through the eyes of the latter that the former became familiar with other parts of the world. even though appiah is right in saying that europe has never been one homogeneous body, the fact that it was the western part of europe that was able to impose its narrative on the rest of the continent, all the more demonstrates that the westeuropean countries were, and still are (having incorporating the united states into “the club”) a force able to persuade their ‘peripheral’ neighbours to acknowledge their point of view in many areas, from pure politics to economics and culture. western civilization may be an obsolete concept, even though for many, comprising all those who believe in collective identities, it still matters as a certain ideology or even an ontological entity. historians (for example the annales school) use the term all the time. attempts at creating a philosophy of history based on the idea of a constellation of different civilizations have long been criticized as too intuitive and devoid of a plausible scientific methodological basis (iggers 1958: 223). moreover, toynbee himself revised his views. initially he believed in his success in finding “fields of historical study which would be intelligible in themselves … without reference to extraneous historical events”. later on, however, he had to give up the idea of “self-contained units”, reducing the role of civilisations to serving “the progress of religion” (fieldhouse 1958: 132). the idea of one human civilization is a proposal which sounds obvious in the world of globalization from both practical and ethical points of view. paradoxically, however, the moment 36 crossroads. a journal of english studies we abandon terms such as “western civilisation” or “the west”, we have to reinvent them for very practical reasons. discussing several problems, be they historical, political, cultural, economic or sociological, we need vocabulary to describe certain phenomena. therefore, a great number of academic disputes are of linguistic nature rather than any other. appiah’s proposal and its feasibility appiah’s final proposal of universal identity was put in the form of the ancient roman poet terence’s maxim which became the motto of renaissance humanism: “homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto” or “i am human, i think nothing human alien to me”. optimistic as it sounds, the umbrella term ‘human’ in the popular quote contains as many dangers and unsolved problems as promises of a better future. atrocities of wars and brutal governments, including ancient tyrannies, slavery and modern totalitarian systems, are all ‘human’ inventions. the way appiah proposes his idea (or ideology), implies several problems in both purely academic and practical/political dimensions. for example, if western civilization is to be eradicated from our narrations in favour of a kind of universal human civilization, the points he used to deconstruct the concept of western civilization apply all the more to the general human “universe”. the differences in historical development are so evident that no concept of one universal civilization is able to withstand criticism. moreover, one can discuss the set of ‘universal’ values proposed by this holistic culture embracing the whole planet in the context of the post-colonial imposition of the western approach to law, politics, ethics, aesthetics etc. upon the subaltern. within this ‘universal’ civilization conflicts would not only be at the level of individuals, but also at the level of large groups of people who believe in certain sets of principles. in this context, the lexical problem returns for the discussion which inevitably must restore more or less imperfect terms being synonyms or euphemisms for what we now call civilizations. much as we may detest these terms, without them we simply could not communicate and thus solve problems on a lower level of abstraction. talking about such things as homosexuality on the one hand, and polygamy or the circumcision of girls on the other, it is difficult to reduce them to each particular case and not to refer them to a broader context. the additional problem is that in the legal aspect of social organization, which requires precise classification of human actions, there is little room for compromise. finding a universal solution would mean imposing one approach on those who support another. champions of the supremacy of western civilization have no doubts that theirs is supreme. therefore they could agree with appiah’s proposal, provided that western civilization confined geographically to europe and north america is replaced with itself under the name of universal civilization. the issues of terminology have inherent aporias, which should inevitably lead to an association with a kōan in zen buddhism. the principal problem of the world of western academic thought is occasional ‘discoveries’ of those insurmountable perplexities bringing about conclusions that certain concepts are ‘impossible’. thus, the impossibility of certain terms makes whole intricate scientifically described areas of knowledge impossible as well. it is enough to deconstruct the se37 articles mantic field of one term to ruin a vast fragment of what humans believed to be their knowledge. however, in such circumstances arises a fundamental question: why not recognize the buddhist denial of anything we call reality? why do we not adopt the general assumption that everything is just an illusion? is this just reductio ad absurdum? is this more absurd than selecting single terms and depriving them of sense, leaving the public with faith in the validity of all others of the same category? or maybe the purpose of denying particular concepts is just to keep a great conversation going while everybody cynically realizes that in our postmodern era it is just a linguistic game? on the other hand, if derrida is right that there is no reality outside the text, what is left to deal with? therefore, in order to solve real problems, the problems that we ascribe ontological validity, it is not enough to eliminate certain terms and replace them with others of equally dubious validity. it is good to revise our repository of ideas and terms, and therefore such texts as appiah’s article are necessary to provoke innovative thinking. from the practical point of view, it matters little if western civilization is an ontological unit. it is a fluid idea serving various, often contradictory purposes. whereas some politicians and ideologists may treat the idea of western civilization as a pretext to enslave or belittle people from other parts of the planet, others may believe it to be the only possible proposal of positive universal values. observing the terminology used by different political forces in poland, for example, a certain schizophrenic situation can be noted. on the one hand, nationalists strongly claim their membership in the western, latin or christian tradition. on the other hand, they also strongly criticize ‘the west’ for its departure from christian values. this seems to support appiah’s argument. nevertheless, his statement “if western culture were real, we wouldn’t spend so much time talking it up” demonstrates that he wants to reduce an idea to the level of pure semantic misconception. the west or any other civilization should be treated as an idea as much as socialism, liberalism or conservatism. we discuss these terms and try to provide them with new meanings along with the changing time. certain concepts, such as the left wing or the right wing in politics, have come a long way to their present state and differ dramatically from their original meanings. does it mean the discussion on them is groundless? several people would not mind if they were replaced with more up-to-date and more precise terms, but the only thing we can do at the moment is to constantly discuss and (re)negotiate their semantic fields so as to be able to understand one another. if appiah just criticized the quite common intellectual fallacy of hypostatizing, nothing can be more true than the theses of his article. if his intention was to refute the idea, his position, from a practical point of view, is somewhat vulnerable. nevertheless, his dismissal of the discussion on western civilization seems premature. the discussion does not mean the issue does not exist. the discussion means that somebody still cares and is ready to manifest the idea, which is nothing else but its performance. reducing various approaches to the very term ‘the west’ to just two – the heritage of the judeochristian tradition and the legacy of the french revolution – shows quite clearly that the ideology behind the pride of belonging to “the west” may stem from opposite sources. nevertheless, here lies another insurmountable problem. if any of the universalisms developed in europe spread over 38 crossroads. a journal of english studies the world (which, to a high degree has already happened), would it be the dream all-human civilisation or just western ideologies again conquering the rest of the world? on the other hand, this question may matter to certain groups of descendants of frantz fanon, who proposed rejecting anything that was imposed by the west. speaking of fanon, it is inevitable to consider the issue of the language of discussion on world history. without certain terminology, a description of several events and phenomena seems impossible to express. we can see this problem reading certain passages of the wretched of the earth. since the third world is abandoned and condemned to regression, in any case stagnation, through the selfishness and immorality of the west, the underdeveloped peoples decide to establish a collective autarchy. the industries of the west are rapidly deprived of their overseas outlets (fanon 1963: 60). now, according to appiah’s proposal, we should eliminate the term ‘the west’ itself. the subjugation and colonization of the african, asian and american peoples and imposing foreign control upon them suddenly loses the agent. whose ‘selfishness and immorality’? whose industries are ‘deprived of their overseas outlets’ if the third world did establish ‘a collective autarchy’? although it is unquestionably possible to reject fanon’s ideological notions and dismiss his whole discourse, the problem of the vocabulary for describing colonial and post-colonial reality remains important. moreover, humanists and social scientists could certainly describe the reality by presenting a great number of specific ‘case studies’ instead of succumbing to the temptation of developing certain general rules, and searching for regularities and generalizing from specific phenomena is what science is actually about. divisions, typologies and models of mutual and multilateral relationships require certain abstract terminology which allows researchers to describe every particular case. nigeria or kenya were conquered and controlled by britain, algeria by france, cameroon by germany etc. should the mental shortcut “western europeans conquered vast territories of africa” be rejected as imprecise? perhaps historical accounts would be more precise if we used the names of particular european countries conquering and colonizing other particular countries in africa and asia instead of using such umbrella terms as ‘the west’ and ‘the third world’. however, whereas the latter in fact means ‘the lands and peoples once conquered and humiliated by certain european empires actually not having much in common’, colonizing the rest of the world in the name of civilisation was the idea making the powers of western europe a gang of accomplices. conclusion appiah sums up his article with the observation: culture – like religion and nation and race – provides a source of identity for contemporary human beings. and, like all three, it can become a form of confinement, conceptual mistakes underwriting moral ones. yet all of them can also give contours to our freedom. social identities connect the small scale where we live our lives alongside our kith and kin with larger movements, causes, and concerns. they can make a 39 articles wider world intelligible, alive, and urgent. they can expand our horizons to communities larger than the ones we personally inhabit. but our lives must make sense, too, at the largest of all scales. we live in an era in which our actions, in the realm of ideology as in the realm of technology, increasingly have global effects. when it comes to the compass of our concern and compassion, humanity as a whole is not too broad a horizon (appiah 2016 online n.p.). i could not agree more with this statement. however, it is difficult to believe in an easy way to achieve this ideological goal. reading the republic of wine by the chinese novelist mo yan (2001), who was awarded the nobel prize for literature in 2012, whenever i came across a reference to a chinese legend or myth, i had to look for an explanation on the internet. when reading a book written by a european or american writer there are indubitably fewer problems of this type. there are certain cultural codes that readers educated in a particular culture are able to decipher immediately. in this context “the golden nugget”, however complicated the way it travelled to our minds (mainly through education!), cannot be dismissed. most people would love to understand all possible cultural codes including african, indian and polynesian, but practically this would take more than one human life. nevertheless, a wise school curriculum could open our minds to the vast wealth of our planet’s legacy. it is also important to bear in mind that “[t]he cosmopolitan impulse that draws on our common humanity is no longer a luxury; it has become a necessity” (appiah 2016 online n.p.). however we understand the term, be it as a source of pride or a source of shame, it is difficult to imagine any discourse in humanities or social sciences without “the west”. talking about differences, without which no discussion is ever possible, the west is a useful umbrella term explaining, even though imperfectly, the course of history, and helps us understand the present. nevertheless, it is important to bear in mind that it is absolutely necessary to approach the subject critically and in terms of ideology and political practice to promote the concept of humanity as one world civilisation based on mutual respect and cooperation. references appiah, kwame anthony. 2016. there is no such thing as western civilisation. the guardian, 9 november 2016 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/09/western-civilisation-appiahreith-lecture (accessed: april 2017) appiah, kwame anthony. 2007. cosmopolitanism: ethics in a world of strangers. new york: w.w. norton company. birken, lawrence. 1992. what is western civilization? the history teacher, vol. 25, no. 4, 1992, 451–461. blackburn, simon. 2016. the oxford dictionary of philosophy. oxford: oxford university press. braudel, fernand. 1994. a history of civilizations. translated by richard mayne. new york: allen lane the penguin press. brown, gregory s. n.d. what is “the west?”; https://faculty.unlv.edu/gbrown/westernciv/wc201/ wciv2c1/wciv2c1lsec2.html (accessed: april 2017). 40 crossroads. a journal of english studies duchesne, ricardo. 2014. “oswald spengler and the faustian soul of the west: part i”. council of european canadians: promoting canada’s european heritage. http://www.eurocanadian. ca/2014/09/oswald-spengler-and-faustian-soul-of-west-part1.html fanon, frantz. 1963. the wretched of the earth, translated by constance farrington. new york: grove weidenfeld. fieldhouse, h. n. 1958. prospects of western civilisation. international journal vol. 13, no. 2. 132– 140. hertzberg, arthur. 2017. ‘judaism’. in: encyclopaedia judaica; https://www.britannica.com/topic/ judaism (accessed: april 2017) huntington, samuel p. 1996. the clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order. new york: simon & schuster. iggers, georg g. 1958. the idea of progress in recent philosophies of history, the journal of modern history, vol. 30, no 3. 215-226. koneczny, feliks. 1962. on the plurality of civilisations; http://apache2.pum.edu.pl/~fasting/files/ download/koneczny/strona.htm (accessed: april 2017) o’hagan, jacinta. 2002. conceptualizing the west in international relations: from spengler to said. new york: palgrave. parker, geoffrey. 1988. the military revolution: military innovation and the rise of the west. cambridge: cambridge university press. said, edward. 1994. orientalism. new york: random house. sand, shlomo. 2009. the invention of the jewish people, translated by yael lotan. london: verso. santamaria, ulysses and anne m. bailey. 1984. a note on braudel’s structure as duration. history and theory, vol. 23, no. 1. 78–83. spengler, oswald. 1926. the decline of the west: form and actuality, translated by charles francis atkinson. new york: alfred a. knopf. spielvogel, jackson j. 2015. western civilization. boston: cengage learning. stearns, peter n. 2003. western civilization in world history. new york: rutledge. toynbee, arnold. 1957. the study of history: abridgement of volumes vii-x by d.c. somervell. oxford: oxford university press. wise, andrew keir, 2010. ‘the european union and he “oriental other” in polish nationalist discourse’. in: joan burbic, william glass (eds.), beyond imagined uniqueness: nationalism in contemporary perspectives, 207-239. newcastle upon tyne: cambridge scholars publishing. yan, mo. 2001. the republic of wine, translated by howard goldblatt. new york: arcade publishing. lewicka-mroczek, ewa and dorota szymaniuk. “prosody learning strategies and what english philology students know about them”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 22-34. ewa lewicka-mroczek dorota szymaniuk the university of bialystok prosody learning strategies and what english philology students know about them abstract. although learning strategies are in the focus of attention of both theorists and foreign language teachers, only few scientific descriptions highlight the significance of the prosodic skills and strategies to practice them. this paper discusses the results of the questionnaire the aim of which was to determine english philology students’ understanding of prosody and prosodic skills as well as to identify prosodic strategies they use to improve their pronunciation in english. we can conclude that students understand prosodic phenomenon of language but they cannot define it, and they apply a variety of activities that develop prosodic skills. keywords: learning strategies, suprasegmentals, prosodic skills, students’ assessment introduction as mennen (2007:52) observes in her description devoted to the phonetic and phonological influences in non-native intonation, “just as poor pronunciation can make a foreign language learner very difficult to understand, poor prosodic and intonational skills can have an equally devastating effect on communication and can make conversation frustrating and unpleasant for both learners and their listeners”. hence the constant need to propose, describe, discuss, and implement learning strategies that develop learners’ prosodic competence. although research on strategies used to improve pronunciation has been conducted for almost two decades (celce-murcia et al. 1996, peterson 2000, vitanova and miller 2002, eckstein 2007, wrembel 2008, pawlak 2010, derwing and rossiter 2002, sardegna 2011), only a few scientific descriptions highlight the significance of prosodic skills and refer directly to improving the suprasegmental (prosodic) component. one of the first attempts to investigate prosody learning strategies was made by cruz-ferreira (1999) who, in a report on the negative transfer of prosodic patterns in multilingual children’s speech, simply asserted their application in the process of language acquisition. from the results of osburne’s (2003) survey designed in order to identify learning strategies used by l2 learners, eight different categories of pronunciation learning, with a focus on prosodic structures as one of them, were identified. the purpose of another experiment – ingels’ (2011) research – was to evaluate the effectiveness of adult l2 learners’ use of strategies for suprasegmental features: message unit (intonation group) boundaries, primary phrase stress (utterance stress), intonation, reduction of unstressed vowels in content words and function words, linking, word stress, and multiword construction stress. finally, in the most recent publication (romero-trillo ed. 2012), the authors’ attention is focused on a wide scope of prosodic issues in reference to the learning process, such as early prosodic production, prosodic adaptation in foreign/second language learning, teaching prosody with a pragmatic orientation, prosody, and feedback. lewicka-mroczek, ewa and dorota szymaniuk. “prosody learning strategies and what english philology students know about them”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 22-34. in light of the above observations, it can be argued that there is still much to examine in the field of prosody learning. such questions as to how students (learners) understand/define and diagnose prosody learning strategies (techniques), what strategies they use (what actions they employ) in an effort to practice and to master specific prosodic skills, whether they implement the techniques consciously or subconsciously, and many others still remain unresolved. the aim of the research the present study has been motivated not only by the lack of comprehensive analysis of prosodic phenomenon from the learning/teaching perspective discussed above, but also by several more prosaic observations. to begin with, even though linguistic research propagates correctness and compliance with prescribed rules, more and more (non-) native speakers use language in a slovenly fashion, simplifying the content and sound of everyday speech in the same way as they abbreviate sms text messages and e-mail messages, which results in language impoverishment. next, we can often observe teachers’ apparent reluctance to teach pronunciation on the suprasegmental level despite the fact that they are provided with a variety of modern manuals containing a prosodic component. furthermore, first year english philology students (who have not yet achieved any credit in practical phonetics) perform well and sound better than did students of a decade ago, which is clearly observable. they belong to a generation who has many more opportunities to travel, to be exposed to living language in english-speaking countries, and to communicate in english in their own country via the internet, tv and radio channels. nonetheless, their phonetic skills are (near) native-like when the pronunciation of segmental components is taken into account – but there is still much to be done as far as the suprasegmental level is concerned. in view of the abovementioned facts, the authors of the article set the following purposes: 1. to determine if and how english philology students understand prosody and prosodic skills, 2. to investigate english philology students’ degree of awareness in their use of prosodic strategies, 3. to identify the range, type, and frequency of the prosodic strategies they use. subjects and instrument a study on whether third year b.a. english philology students of the university of bialystok, poland understand and apply suprasegmental phonetics learning strategies was carried out on a group of 50 respondents. all students had completed courses on practical and theoretical phonetics so they were expected to be familiar with the phenomenon of suprasegmantal phontetics at the time of their participation in the research. the instrument – a questionnaire – consisted of 12 questions, the majority of which were of a structured type (in the form of a list or scale) though there were a few verbal questions as well (bell 2009: 137-138). data collected lewicka-mroczek, ewa and dorota szymaniuk. “prosody learning strategies and what english philology students know about them”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 22-34. the results gathered are presented below. thus, in reference to the first question of the questionnaire 43 respondents assessed their competence as efl users of phonetics (the quality of their pronunciation skills in the target language) as good and sporadically nonnative, 4 participants evaluated their competence as very good, almost native, 2 as relatively weak with an audible accent and 1 as good with a slight accent. the results are illustrated in diagram 1. diagram 1. students’ assessment of their phonetic skills in the target language when asked about their pronunciation skills at the suprasegmental level, respondents assessed their abilities as follows: 4 declared them to be very good, almost native, 39 believed them to be good and sporadically non-native, 6 relatively weak with an audible accent and good with a slight accent. the results are illustrated in diagram 2. diagram 2. students’ assessment of their pronunciation skills at the suprasegmental level when asked to define in their own words the concept of ‘prosodic skills’, students proved to understand it as: the skill of proper pronunciation (6 respondents), skills how to apply and identify intonation, accents, tempo, rhythm, and pauses (22 respondents), or either wrote no answer or declared not to know the concept (22 respondents). these results are illustrated in diagram 3. diagram 3. definition of ‘prosodic skills’ according to students 43 4 2 1 0 10 20 30 40 50 good and sporadically non-native very good, almost native relatively weak with an audible accent good with a slight accent 0 10 20 30 40 50 4 39 6 verygood, almost native good and sporadically non-native relatively weak with an audible accent or good with a slight accent lewicka-mroczek, ewa and dorota szymaniuk. “prosody learning strategies and what english philology students know about them”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 22-34. when we asked students to assess their abilities in reference to their phonetic sub-skills they provided the answers that are gathered in table 1. table 1. students’ assessment of their phonetic sub-skills phonetic sub-skills declared by respondents number of respondents declared they: definitely possessed could not decide did not possess particular skill i am good at pronouncing individual sounds. 36 8 6 i am good at pronouncing individual words. 36 6 8 i locate pauses correctly. 30 14 6 i am good at pronouncing individual sounds, i mainly make mistakes at the word stress level. 25 19 6 i divide sentences into intonation groups properly. 32 11 7 i pronounce difficult sound clusters correctly. 22 22 6 i locate and pronounce sentence stress correctly. 30 13 7 i stress individual words correctly. 25 9 16 i understand the contrastive function of sentence stress. 25 13 12 i recognize the contrastive function of sentence stress. 24 14 12 i can apply the contrastive function of sentence stress. 20 17 13 i stress words and simultaneously pronounce weak and strong forms correctly. 24 20 6 my utterances are correct in respect to rhythmic organization. i can divide sentences into rhythmic groups. 26 14 10 i apply word linking properly. 29 10 11 i recognize and properly pronounce falling terminal tones. 24 16 10 i recognize and pronounce falling-rising terminal tones properly. 25 17 9 i recognize and pronounce rising terminal tones properly. 24 15 10 0 10 20 30 40 50 6 22 22 the skill of proper pronunciation skills how to apply and identify intonation, accents, tempo, rhythm, pauses no answer or did not know the concept lewicka-mroczek, ewa and dorota szymaniuk. “prosody learning strategies and what english philology students know about them”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 22-34. i recognize and pronounce rising-falling terminal tones properly. 26 15 9 i pronounce weak and strong forms properly. 25 15 10 my main problem is an incorrect usage of intonation patterns related to sentence type (statement, general or specific question, command, etc. 16 10 24 i cannot apply emotional tones according to emotions a given utterance expresses (surprise, hesitation, approval/acceptance, doubt/ reserve, etc.). 13 10 27 all 50 respondents, when asked whether they thought that prosodic skills could be improved, were fully convinced that such progress was possible to be achieved. when asked what they did to improve their prosodic skills, 17 students gave no answer or suggested they did nothing, 12 said that they watched films and tv programmes to improve their prosodic skills, 11 respondents declared they repeated the model pattern. listening to english speech was indicated by 3 respondents, similarly reading aloud, talking to natives, self-recording, or exercising in front of a mirror were indicated, each respectively by 3 students. 2 students said they did transcription, while each of the following answers was highlighted by 1 respondent: diction and singing classes, repetition of tongue twisters, singing english songs, or going to the target language country. the answers are collected in table 2. table 2. strategies declared by students to be used by them to improve their prosodic skills strategies used by students: number of respondents: no answer (or did nothing) 17 watching films and tv programmes 12 repetition of the model pattern 11 listening to english speech 3 reading aloud 3 talking to native speakers 3 self-recording 3 exercising in front of a mirror 3 doing transcription 2 diction and singing classes 1 repetition of tongue twisters 1 singing english songs 1 going to the target language country 1 in reference to the question whether students, at the time of their study at the university, came across the concept of suprasegmental phonetics learning strategies, 12 respondents confirmed that they had, 36 declared that they had not, and 2 respondents refused to answer the question at all. their answers are gathered in diagram 4. lewicka-mroczek, ewa and dorota szymaniuk. “prosody learning strategies and what english philology students know about them”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 22-34. diagram 4. students’ experience with the concept of suprasegmental phonetics learning strategies when requested to define suprasegmental phonetics learning strategies, 37 respondents provided no answer. others understood them as methods of learning suprasegmentals (5 students) or learning strategies on the level of an utterance (2 students). for 1 respondent suprasegmental phonetics learning strategies refer to the rhythms or strategies which refer to linking, or to conscious methods of learning proper intonation (1 student). these results are illustrated in diagram 5. diagram 5. students’ understanding of the concept of suprasegmental phonetics learning strategies 42 respondents could not give any examples of suprasegmental phonetics learning strategies, 4 students said that listening was an example of such strategies, self-recording was indicated by 2 respondents. the remaining examples were suggested each by 1 respondent: transcription, linking, division of utterances into intonational phrases, watching films, reading aloud, repeating after a native speaker. the answers are collected in diagram 6. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 12 36 2 came across the concept did not come across the concept no answer 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 no response methods of learning suprasegmentals learning strategies on the level of an utterance strategies which refer to rhythm strategies which refer to linking conscious methods of learning proper intonation lewicka-mroczek, ewa and dorota szymaniuk. “prosody learning strategies and what english philology students know about them”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 22-34. diagram 6. examples of suprasegmental phonetics learning strategies as understood by students students when requested to share their view on the usefulness of different types of behaviour in the process of development of their prosodic skills in the target language declared as follows (cf. table 3). table 3. students’ view on the impact of different types of behaviour upon their prosodic skill development type of behaviour or strategy: number of respondents who declared the influence of a particular behaviour upon one’s prosodic skill development as: positive neutral negative good suprasegmental phonetics can be accomplished by students who produce the greatest amount of utterances. 27 15 8 good suprasegmental phonetics can be accomplished by students who get feedback on what was correct or incorrect in their utterances. 26 16 8 prosodic errors should definitely be corrected by the teacher. 32 14 4 students should listen to different speakers of the language if they are to achieve good pronunciation at the suprasegmental level. 35 9 6 students should know the segmental features of the target language if they are to have good pronunciation at the suprasegmental level. 27 16 7 students can accomplish good phonetics at the suprasegmental level only in a stress-free setting. 27 12 11 suprasegmental phonetics cannot be mastered in a classroom setting, even if errors are corrected. 20 16 14 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 no answer listening self-recording transcription linking division of utterances into intonational phrases watching films reading aloud repeating after a native speaker lewicka-mroczek, ewa and dorota szymaniuk. “prosody learning strategies and what english philology students know about them”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 22-34. students who are weak at suprasegmental phonetics can increase their skills by doing exercises on their own at home. 26 12 12 students who are weak at suprasegmental phonetics can increase their skills by doing suprasegmental transcription exercises on their own. 25 15 10 students who have poor suprasegmental pronunciation can increase their skills by listening to authentic recordings (radio, tv). 37 7 6 students who have poor suprasegmental pronunciation can increase their skills by repeating recorded utterances. 34 6 10 students who have poor prosodic skills can increase them by themselves by doing exercises that aim at tone recognition and identification. 23 18 9 students who have poor prosodic skills can increase their abilities by doing exercises that aim at division into intonation and rhythm groups. 24 17 9 students who have poor prosodic skills can increase their abilities by doing exercises on their own that aim at locating main sentence stress in utterances in various contexts. 23 18 9 when asked about which activities they regard as strategies of learning phonetics and which of the strategies indicated they had applied in their learning process, the following results were obtained (cf. table 4). table 4. activities considered by students as phonetics learning strategies and amount of respondents who use them in life list of activities (phonetics learning strategies to be chosen from) number of respondents who consider them to be phonetics learning strategies number of respondents who claim to apply them in real life learning new words together with their pronunciation, e.g. by checking pronunciation in a dictionary 48 42 repeating words aloud after the teacher (especially when they are new or difficult to pronounce) 35 34 conscious listening to recordings, paying attention to the pronunciation of words, phrases, rhythm and tone of utterances 44 39 speaking aloud so that the pronunciation of sounds, words and the intonation of utterances can be heard 37 37 recording and listening to one’s own utterances, monitoring the quality of one’s own pronunciation in the target language 41 20 using phonetic transcription not only during lessons but also by transcribing words or text on one’s own 34 25 lewicka-mroczek, ewa and dorota szymaniuk. “prosody learning strategies and what english philology students know about them”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 22-34. motivating oneself to talk in the target language (assuring oneself about having good pronunciation) 31 30 taking risks, or a lack of fear of making pronunciation errors or of not having perfect pronunciation 32 26 believing in one’s success as an fl learner 27 27 conscious avoidance of sounds and intonation patterns typical of one’s native language 15 15 convincing oneself that proper pronunciation enables communication in a foreign language 20 21 monitoring the quality of one’s own utterances, their phonetic correctness at the sound and word stress level 38 31 monitoring the quality of one’s own utterances, their phonetic correctness at the rhythmic and intonation level 33 28 conscious elimination of one’s own individual (idiosyncratic) features 24 20 motivating oneself to do self-run exercises that aim at practising proper pronunciation 32 27 doing exercises that aim at identifying incorrect phonetic forms or doing error correction exercises 33 17 conscious division of utterances into intonation groups 20 14 doing self-run exercises focused at pronouncing each intonation group with a proper stress (accent) 25 12 paying attention to weak and strong forms and applying them consciously in speech 31 16 conscious practice of linking 24 16 being attentive to pauses, practising them by numerous repetitions of the same fragments 29 20 trying to recognize correct and incorrect forms in the utterances of other speakers 27 28 taking any opportunity of using the language for communication with native and non-native speakers (trying to practise one’s own pronunciation) 35 27 repeating the same form many times 27 26 lewicka-mroczek, ewa and dorota szymaniuk. “prosody learning strategies and what english philology students know about them”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 22-34. so that the most native-like model is remembered monitoring the quality of one’s own speech, their phonetic correctness at the sound and word stress level 34 29 monitoring the quality of one’s own speech, and their phonetic correctness at the level of rhythm and proper intonation model 34 25 paying attention to changes in a communicative unit that result from the intonation of a speaker (analysing one’s own utterances and the speech of others) 24 26 guessing the communicative function of one’s own utterances by interpreting its intonation pattern and different sentence stresses 21 22 asking the teacher as soon as doubts concerning the target language phonetics (pronunciation) appear 38 30 self-assessment of one’s own speech in reference to their phonetic correctness 33 31 conclusions having reviewed the most significant findings of the questionnaire, perhaps the most astonishing conclusion is that although almost 86 percent of students assessed their segmental and suprasegmental phonetic skills as (very) good and only sporadically non-native, only 44 per cent of them understand the concept of prosodic skills. when asked to define prosodic skills, students find them either hard to define or tend to understand them as skills how to apply intonation, accent, tempo, rhythm and pauses. although students declare that they possess such sub-skills as dividing sentences into intonation groups and rhythmic units correctly, locating sentence stress and pauses properly, and applying native intonation patterns, they consider them prosodic skills, but do not refer to them as suprasegmental phonetics. this may indicate that they do not understand that prosodic skills and suprasegmental phonetics are synonymous terms as well as that they associate phonetic skills with the ability to articulate correctly only foreign sounds and their clusters. it is not surprising in the light of another conclusion that 72 percent of participants have never come across the idea of suprasegmental phonetics learning strategies and as few as 6 percent of respondents associate them with learning speech rhythms, linking, and intonation. what is more, when asked to name phonetic strategies that they consciously use, students cannot name any, or indicate two main techniques: watching tv (and films), and repetition of model patterns. simultaneously, and surprisingly with regard to the philology training they have received, they seem to disregard the corrective value of using phonetic transcription as a strategy. lewicka-mroczek, ewa and dorota szymaniuk. “prosody learning strategies and what english philology students know about them”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 22-34. the facts noted above are reflected in the list of phonetics learning activities students claim to apply in real life. these include, among other points, conscious listening to recordings; paying attention to the pronunciation of words and phrases; the rhythm and tone of utterances; speaking aloud so that the pronunciation of sounds, words, and intonation of utterances can be heard; monitoring the quality of their own utterances; their phonetic correctness at the rhythmic and intonation level; doing self-run exercises focused on pronouncing each intonation group with the proper stress (accent). generally speaking, although students understand the prosodic phenomenon of language, they cannot define it. they have not come across the concept of prosody learning strategies, but rather apply activities that develop prosodic skills. they study and practice english prosody during their practical phonetics laboratory but, sadly, our experience shows that they are afraid of prosody, and they think it is waste of time. references bell, j. 2009. doing your research project. glasgow: open university press. celce-murcia, m., brinton, d., goodwin j. 1996. teaching pronunciation: a reference for teachers of english to speakers of other languages. cambridge university press. cruz-ferreira, m. 1999. prosodic mixes: strategies in multilingual language acquisition, the international journal of bilingualism, 3/1, 1-21. derwing, t. m., rossiter, m. j. 2002. esl learners’ perceptions of their pronunciation needs and strategies, pergamon 30, 155-166. eckstein, g. t. 2007. a correlation of pronunciation learning strategies with spontaneous english pronunciation of adult esl learners. ma thesis, brigham young university (at: http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/etd/image/etd1973.pdf, 23.09.2013). ingels, s. 2011. the effects of self-monitoring strategy use on the pronunciation of learners of english. in: levis j., le velle k. (eds.), proceedings of the 1st pronunciation in second language learning and teaching conference, iowa state university, 67-89. (at: http://apling.public.iastate.edu/psllt/2009/ingels.pdf, 12.09.2013). mennen i. 2007. phonological and phonetic influences in non-native intonation. in: trouvain j., u. gut (eds.) non-native prosody: phonetic description and teaching practice. walter de gruyter: 53-76. osburne a. g. 2003. pronunciation strategies of advanced esol learners, iral, 41, 131-143. oxford, r. 1990. language learning strategies: what every teacher should know. boston: heinle & heinle. pawlak, m. 2010. designing and piloting a tool for the measurement of the use of pronunciation learning strategies, research in language, vol. 8, 189-202 (at: http://versita.metapress.com/content/017pu2lk70651511/fulltext. 10.01 2013). peterson, s. s. 2000. pronunciation learning strategies: a first look. (unpublished research report. (at: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ed450599.pdf. 15.09.2013). romero-trillo, j. (ed.) 2012. pragmatics and prosody in english language teaching, springer. http://www.carla.umn.edu/cgi-bin/carla/anchor.pl?/strategies/annotations.html::oxford90a lewicka-mroczek, ewa and dorota szymaniuk. “prosody learning strategies and what english philology students know about them”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 22-34. sardegna v. g. 2011. improving english stress through pronunciation learning strategies. biblio bazaar. wrembel m. 2008. in search of effective strategies for l2 pronunciation teaching and learning. in: pawlak m. (ed.) investigating english language learning and teaching, poznań/kalisz: adam mickiewicz university press, 179-194. crossroads 5/2014, pp. 32-35 peter unseth graduate institute of applied linguistics, dallas a created proverb in a novel becomes broadly used in society: “'easily in but not easily out', as the lobster said in his lobster pot.” abstract. c.s. lewis created several proverbs in his novel the horse and his boy. one of these has now become broadly used in english-speaking society. this article cites evidence that this new proverb is now being used in novels, poetry, short stories, blogs, and in giving advice. wolfgang mieder has noted that there are very few published studies about proverbs created in the last century, so this article fills this gap regarding this proverb. the focus of this article is on the growing use of this proverb, not on proverbs generally. keywords: proverbs, c. s. lewis, proverb creation, chronicles of narnia, wellerisms. proverbs are an ancient way of expressing significant advice, lessons, or observations in a memorable, often colorful way. they are recorded from ancient sumer, egypt, israel, china, india, greece, and most modern cultures. because a proverb is a familiar fixed form, a proverb such as “don’t judge a book by its cover” is quickly recognized and understood as not being about books, but about evaluating something else in the immediate conversational context. there is a record of an ancient king of assyria advising his son not to do “as in the ancient proverb, ‘the bitch by her acting too hastily brought forth the blind’” (moran 1978: 17, 18). in this ancient proverb the son recognized that his father was not thinking about him giving birth to any blind offspring, but was rather that his father was warning him against acting hastily. but even this proverb, the world’s oldest known proverb (alster 1979: 5), was first coined by somebody, a person now unknown. after it was first created, others thought the proverb memorable and useful and added it to their speech. in this way, proverbs coined by one person can become the shared riches of an entire community of speakers. this proverb spread not only within the language community, but was later borrowed into other languages, and then passed on again and again so that it has spread as widely as english (apperson 1929: 289) and alaaba of ethiopia (schneider-blum 2009: 95). all proverbs were new creations at some point, even if created long ago by solomon or confucius. many sayings may be considered clever, but only a small number spread among the speakers of a language and become known and used as proverbs across the language community. it is unusual when scholars are able to document the specific origin of a proverb and then document its spread, though doyle, mieder, shapiro (2012) have made a significant contribution by doing this for a number of proverbs first coined in the 20th century. in his 1954 novel the horse and his boy (one volume of the chronicles of narnia), c. s. lewis (1898-1963) inserts about a dozen proverbs that he created specifically for this book (unseth 2011 and melnyk 2013). for these proverbs, we know the exact year they were introduced to the english-speakers: 1954. one of these proverbs has now become used in the broader english speaking world: “‘easily in but not easily out’, as the lobster said in his lobster pot.” in their study of new english proverbs created in the 20th century, doyle, mieder, shapiro (2012) did not detect this one. mieder noted that proverb scholars “have studied not even two dozen individual modern anglo-american proverbs in detail” (2009: 243), so a study such as this, even on just one little-documented proverb, is useful. the other proverbs from this novel were not found with any frequency; they have not become established in the english speaking world. the question of why this proverb has become more established than the others in the book is beyond the scope of this study. other authors have created proverbs in fiction, 1 also. probably the best known examples currently in english fiction are the wealth of created proverbs found in the film forrest gump, (winick 1998: 83ff), for which more credit is due to screenplay writer eric roth than the novel’s author winston groom (winick 2013). invented proverbs from forrest gump, such as “life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get” and “stupid is as stupid does” are now well established in english-speaking culture, the latter being noted by doyle, mieder, shapiro (2012:143). a sign of how established these two proverbs have become is that they are each quoted or twisted on at least a dozen different t-shirt designs for sale on the web. 2 as another sign of their establishment in pop-culture, these two proverbs are included with several common english proverbs by bruce springsteen in his song “my best was never good enough.” proverb scholars have also paid much attention to j.r.r. tolkien’s (1892-1973) creation of many proverbs (clinton 2014), both in the hobbit (trokhimenko 2003) and in the lord of the rings (boswell 1969, stanton 1996). of these, at least two of tolkien’s created proverbs have gained some currency in english usage: “not all who wander are lost” and “all that is gold does not glitter” (a twisted form of a proverb based on an existing english one known from shakespeare). as a sign of their currency in the english-speaking world, these proverbs, too, are for sale on t-shirts and bumper stickers, though neither was included in the collection of doyle, mieder, shapiro (2012). a few of the other authors who have created proverbs in english fiction include herman melville (1819-1891) in his novel about the imaginary island mardi (hayes 1999: 30), r. d. blackmore (1825-1900) in his british rural novels (kirwin 1973), a proverb by arthur conan doyle (1859-1930) in the mouth of sherlock holmes (waterhouse 1990), e. m. forster (1879-1970) in a passage to india (de caro 1986 and gish 1972), graham greene (19041991) in the power and the glory (de caro 1989), and samuel beckett (1906-1989) in molloy (sherzer 1976). however, none of the proverbs created by the authors just listed have come to be used in broader society. artists creating new proverbs are not found only in english novels. to mention only a few, there are newly coined proverbs in the russian movie aleksandr nevsky (mckenna 2009: 227), in the polish poems and essays of stanisław jerzy lec (frackiewicz 1990), in the portuguese fiction of mia couto (coutinho 2008), and in ignatius mabasa’s novel mapenzi 1 this present discussion is about authors of prose fiction, excluding the invented proverbs of poets, such as william blake’s “proverbs of hell”. also, i do not include the many sayings of charles dickens’ character samuel weller in the pickwick papers. scholars of phraseology have often referred to his quotation sayings as “wellerisms”, but samuel weller's quotations, though many are quite witty, are not true proverbs. many wellerisms are indeed true proverbs, but not the ones spoken by weller in dickens’ novel. 2 the shirts that misquote these proverbs knowingly do so, creating anti-proverbs, such as “life is like a box of chocolates, now get your own box!” and “cupid is as cupid does.” (fools) written in the developing mix of shona and english in zimbabwe (veit-wild 2009: 696). the proverb that is the topic of this article is found in the novel the horse and his boy, spoken by an advisor to the king and queen of narnia who have become virtual prisoners while visiting a neighboring kingdom. the advisor sums up their predicament saying, “‘easily in but not easily out’, as the lobster said in his lobster pot” (lewis 1954: 63). 3 this type of proverb structure is known as a “wellerism”, a saying containing a quotation, a speaker, and an unusual setting (mieder and kingsbury 1994: x). proverbs expressed as wellerisms are an ancient form. from ancient sumer we find the wellerism, “the fox, having urinated into the sea, said: ‘the depths of the sea are my urine!’” (http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.6.1.02#). this structure, even this same urine motif, was found in 20th century america: “‘every little bit helps,’ said the ant as he peed into the ocean” and “‘every little bit helps,’ said the old lady as she pissed into t he sea” (mieder and kingsbury 1994: 76,77). a wellerism with a talking lobster is not entirely original, “‘i’m turned soger,’ 4 as the lobster said when he popped his head out of the boiler” found in “the boarding house: or, five hours at brighton” by samuel beazley (1786-1851) (kitton 1886: 450). note that this is indeed a wellerism, but it is not a proverb. a variety of recent writers have quoted lewis’ proverb, “‘easily in but not easily out’, as the lobster said in his lobster pot.” the search for quotations of this proverb was done via the web, following the example of doyle, mieder, and shapiro (2012). searches were first done using the exact shape of the original narnian proverb, then additional searches were done with key words to find instances where authors had quoted the proverb inexactly. i have found over a dozen examples of this proverb in a variety of genres: novels, poetry, short stories, blogs, and in giving advice about problems. though all these authors have captured the essence of the proverb, many did not quote it in the exact from that lewis wrote it. this strongly suggests that these authors had heard the proverb somewhere, not read it in lewis’ novel. some examples of later writers using this new proverb follow. 5 not surprisingly, writers cited it in contexts where a proverb was appropriate. for example, on an advice website, a catholic priest replied to a questioner about getting a tattoo: “unless your friend is absolutely sure, i’d advise he wait. easier in than out, said the lobster in the pot” (http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=54013). a blogger writing about the complications of emigrating to new zealand used the proverb to express his frustrated views, “easily in, but not easily out, as the lobster said in the lobster pot. for all the hassle of immigration paperwork, getting into nz was the easy part” (http://www.expatexposed.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1079). concerning american military involvement in iraq, two different people on the web quoted this proverb. one used it to criticize bush, overtly acknowledging lewis as the source, “this is one reason why we counseled against iraq in the first place. ‘easily in, but not easily out, as the lobster said in the lobster pot,’ to quote cs lewis” (http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2006/12/false_hope_and_.html). 3 page references to the text are to the collier edition of 1974. the book has also been accessible online: http://ru.scribd.com/doc/93138204/the-horse-and-his-boy-by-c-s-lewis. 4 “soger” is a colloquial form for “soldier”. british soldiers formerly wore red jackets and were referred to as “lobster backs”. 5 the citations are given without much additional comment since the purpose of this paper is to simply document that the proverb is being used by others. http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.6.1.02 http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=54013 http://www.expatexposed.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1079 http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2006/12/false_hope_and_.html another writer used the proverb in criticizing obama’s policy as naïve, “iraq is kind of like a lobster pot. easily in, but not easily out” (https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081102130033aa84hrt). in cynthia harrod-eagles’ (2011) novel the restless sea, two characters discuss marriage, one confiding, “marriage itself is lovely… but there’s no denying it’s a big step. easily in by not easily out, as the lobster said of the lobster pot.” the same author also used this same proverb in her novel the homecoming. an author posting a story on the web wrote, “srya watched the horses. she cleared her throat, silencing [sic] them. ‘easily in, but not easily out, said the lobster in the lobster pot,’ she said. ‘if you choose to fight, they will search you out’” (http://board.youngrider.com/topic979750-18-7.aspx#bm979968). on a website where people bantered with silly questions, one writer wrote, “why does fuzz collect in the belly button? easily in, but not easily out, as the lobster said in the lobster pot.” (http://cosmoquest.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-14367-p-2.html) writing on a role-playing website, one writer explained (for those who already knew the basic rules of a seemingly complex game), “in the license college, anyone is free to enter (contribute content), but no one can leave (take licensed material and transfer it to another license college). easily in, not easily out, says the lobster in the lobster pot” (italics in original). (http://wiki.planetmath.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl/totalizing_projects) discussing the grim movie shawshank redemption, one person wrote, “that movie was perfect. evil things, cages. we’re building one for ourselves with this thing. ‘easily in but not easily out, said the lobster in the lobster pot.’” (http://politics.gather.com/viewarticle.action?articleid=281474981449018) in the short story “convergence of interest”, by an author identified as britpacker, two people in a conversation use the proverb, each citing half of it: “‘easily in but not easily out, huh?’ he asked, deliberately bland. ‘as the lobster cried in the pot,’ malcolm agreed.” (http://archiveofourown.org/works/531038) a poet identified as golden hare wrote a poem titled “kiss” that includes the proverb as follows: easily in, but not easily out the lobster said in the lobster pot. (http://undertheaether.wordpress.com/2011/03/) on a site discussing software problems, one writer described his frustrating experiences by using the proverb, “it saved the file automatically also as a .mht file, which internet explorer could open and i could read it, but couldn’t act upon the message. this reminds me of the proverb, ‘easily in, but not easily out said the lobster in the lobster pot.’” (http://www.gwmicro.com/support/email_lists/archives/gwinfo/index.php?message_id=140704&media=print) writing about a piece of computer equipment, one person noted that it has “a halt button but it’s recessed and kind of sticky. easily in but not easily out, as the lobster said”. http://comp.os.vms.narkive.com/agmbrd28/auto-reboot-fails-on-ds10 https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081102130033aa84hrt http://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22cynthia+harrod-eagles%22 http://board.youngrider.com/topic979750-18-7.aspx#bm979968 http://cosmoquest.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-14367-p-2.html http://wiki.planetmath.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl/totalizing_projects http://politics.gather.com/viewarticle.action?articleid=281474981449018 http://archiveofourown.org/works/531038 http://undertheaether.wordpress.com/2011/03/ http://www.gwmicro.com/support/email_lists/archives/gw-info/index.php?message_id=140704&media=print http://www.gwmicro.com/support/email_lists/archives/gw-info/index.php?message_id=140704&media=print http://comp.os.vms.narkive.com/agmbrd28/auto-reboot-fails-on-ds10 in all, i have found over a dozen documented citations of this colorful proverb. since lewis was a bold christian and the horse and his boy is a christian allegory, it would not be surprising if the use of this proverb was limited to people like the two users on the web who identified themselves as clergymen, and people like myself. however the users on the web also include those of different bent, showing that the proverb is being diffused across a variety of boundaries into broader society, clear evidence of a proverb becoming established in the general population. it can therefore be concluded that “‘easily in but not easily out’, as the lobster said in his lobster pot” has gained currency as an english proverb. references: alster, bendt. 1979. “an akkadian and a greek proverb: a comparative study”, die welt des orients 10, 1-5. apperson, g.l. 1929. the wordsworth dictionary of proverbs. ware, united kingdom: wordsworth. boswell, george. 1969. “proverbs and phraseology in tolkien’s lord of the rings complex”, the university of mississippi studies in english 10, 59-65. clinton, esther. 2014. “proverbial play: j. r. r. tolkien’s use of proverbs in the hobbit and the lord of the rings”, proverbium 31, 133-166. coutinho, maria joão. 2008. “the heart is a beach: proverbs and ‘improverbs’” in: mia couto’s stories. in: rui j. b. soares and outi lauhakangas (eds.), proceedings of the first interdisciplinary colloquium on proverbs. tavira, portugal: tipografia tavirense, 484489. de caro, frank. 1986. “a mystery is a muddle”: gnomic expressions in a passage to india”, midwestern journal of language and folklore 12, 15-23. de caro, frank. 1989. “proverbs in graham greene’s the power and the glory: framing thematic concerns in a modern novel”, proverbium 6, 1-7. doyle, charles clay, wolfgang mieder, and fred r. shapiro. 2012. dictionary of modern proverbs. new haven, ct: yale university press. frackiewicz, iwona. 1990. “sprichwortliche aphorismen von stanisław jerzy lec”, proverbium 7, 77-88. gish, robert. 1972. “forster as fabulist: proverbs and parables in a passage to india”, english literature in transition (1880-1920) 15(4), 245-256. hayes, kevin. 1999. melville’s folk roots. kent: kent state university. kirwin, william. 1973. “blackmore creator of proverbs”, lore and language 1(8), 26-28. kitton, frederic george. 1886. dickensiana: a bibliography of the literature relating to charles dickens and his writings. g. redway. lewis, c. s. 1954. the horse and his boy. (the chronicles of narnia.) new york: collier. mckenna, kevin j. 2009. “proverbs in sergei einstein’s aleksandr nevsky”, proverbium 29, 217-236. melnyk, a. b. 2013. особливості відтворення прислів"їв та приказок у перекладі текстів дитячої літератури (на матеріалі роману к.с. льюїса "кінь та його хлопчик" і його українськомовних версій). [specific aspects of reproducing proverbs in the translations of children’s literature (based upon the novel "the horse and his boy" by c. s. lewis and its ukrainian versions)]. мовні і концептуальні картини світу: наукове видання, 506-514. kiev: kiev university. http://philology.knu.ua/files/library/movni_i_konceptualni/46-2/61.pdf (july 12, 2014) mieder, wolfgang. 2009. “‘new proverbs run deep’: prolegomena to a dictionary of modern anglo-american proverbs”, proverbium 26, 237-274. mieder, wolfgang and stewart kingsbury. 1994. a dictionary of wellerisms. new york: oxford university press. moran, william. 1978. “an assyriological gloss on the new archilochus fragment”, harvard studies in classical philology 82, 17-19. schneider-blum, gertrud. 2009. máakuti t’awá shuultáa: proverbs finish the problems: sayings of the alaaba (ethiopia). köln: rüdiger köppe verlag. sherzer, dina. 1976. “saying is inventing: gnomic expressions in molloy” in: barbara kirshenblatt-gimblett (ed.), speech play: research and resources for studying linguistic creativity. philadelphia: university of pennsylvania press, 163-171. stanton, michael. 1996. “advice is a dangerous gift”, proverbium 13, 331-345. trokhimenko, olga. 2003. “‘if you sit on the door-step long enough, you will think of something’: the function of proverbs in j.r.r. tolkien’s hobbit”, proverbium 20, 367377. unseth, peter. 2011. “a culture ‘full of choice apothegms and useful maxims’: invented proverbs in c.s. lewis’ the horse and his boy”, proverbium 28, 323-338. veit-wild, flora. 2009. “‘zimbolicious’ – the creative potential of linguistic innovation: the case of shona-english in zimbabwe”, journal of southern african studies 35(3), 683-697. winick, stephen. 1998. the proverb process: intertextuality and proverbial innovation in popular culture. phd dissertation, university of pennsylvania. winick, stephen. 2013. “proverb is as proverb does: forrest gump, the catchphrase, and the proverb”, proverbium 30, 377-428. http://philology.knu.ua/files/library/movni_i_konceptualni/46-2/61.pdf crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 42-50 katarzyna kacprowska university of bialystok aspects of assimilation in jhumpa lahiri’s the namesake abstract. the aim of the article is the presentation of selected aspects of assimilation processes among indian immigrants that arrived in the usa in the 1960s, as depicted in jhumpa lahiri’s realistic novel the namesake, with a particular focus on the differences between the first and second generation migrants. the life stories of lahiri’s characters, american bengalis, illustrate several phases of assimilation, chief among them being structural assimilation and acculturation, as defined by milton m. gordon in his book assimilation in american life: the role of race, religion and national origins. keywords: the namesake, jhumpa lahiri, assimilation, acculturation, indian immigrants, indian diaspora. on assimilation for centuries people have migrated for a variety of reasons, including social, political, economic, and educational ones. their favoured destinations have usually been affluent countries with a high standard of living. in order to reduce the intimidating feeling of being an outsider, immigrants often attempt to blend in with the receiving society. the american nation has been described as a melting pot, where “different groups come together and contribute in roughly equal amounts to create a common culture and a new, unique society” (is1), participating in and undergoing assimilation processes. one of the early definitions of assimilation appeared in 1921 in the introduction to the science of sociology, where robert e. park and ernest w. burgess state that assimilation is “a process of interpenetration and fusion in which persons and groups acquire the memories, sentiments, and attitudes of other persons or groups, and by sharing their experience and history, are incorporated in a common cultural life” (park and burgess in gordon 1964:6263), a definition to be modified by park a few years later. in the encyclopedia of social sciences we read that “assimilation is the name given to the process or processes by which peoples of diverse racial origins and different cultural heritages, occupying a common territory, achieve a cultural solidarity sufficient at least to sustain national existence” (park in gordon 1964:63). such a view has met with some criticism. according to healey, park “did not specify a time frame for the completion of assimilation” (healey 2007:46). he also failed to describe the nature of the assimilation processes and those aspects of the group behaviour that might change first. the beginning of the 21 st century brings us a less contentious view of assimilation processes, provided by alba and nee in their book remaking the american mainstream (2003). the authors admit that america’s immigrants “may not intentionally seek to assimilate, [but that] the cumulative effect of pragmatic decisions aimed at successful adaptation can give rise to changes in behavior that nevertheless lead to eventual assimilation” (alba and nee 2003:38). one of the examples given by the authors is social interaction that crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 42-50 may lead towards intermarriage. thus, assimilation is not a single event but a constant, complex process and, moreover, a slow and gradual one that occurs in stages, with some individuals and groups reaching more advanced stages in the process than others. an immigrant is usually considered assimilated “as soon as he acquire[s] the language and the social ritual of the native community and can participate, without encountering prejudice, in the common life, economic and political” (park in gordon 1964:63). in assimilation in american life (1964) gordon explains precisely the multiple aspects of assimilation as a process, identifying seven phases (or sub-processes) in which assimilation takes place. varying in degree and length of time, these processes lead to a person’s total incorporation into the dominant society. these seven stages are as follows: 1. acculturation – the change of cultural patterns (values, norms, ideas, religious beliefs) to those of the host society; 2. structural assimilation – full entry into the social network of institutions and groups of the host society; 3. marital assimilation or amalgamation – large scale inter-marriage; 4. identificational assimilation – development of a sense of peoplehood based exclusively on the host society; 5. attitude receptional assimilation – an absence of prejudice; 6. behaviour receptional assimilation – an absence of discrimination; 7. civic assimilation – an absence of value and power conflict (gordon 1964: 77). polish sociologists’ views on assimilation have been presented in założenia teorii asymilacji [assumptions of the theory of assimilation], a collection of essays edited by hieronim kubiak and andrzej k. paluch, where several of gordon’s sub-processes of assimilation receive attention, notably acculturation and structural assimilation. kubiak maintains that “the final product of structural assimilation is the integration of members of ethnic minorities into the social structure of the host country” (kubiak 1980: 17, translated by k.k.). for him, acculturation occurs when ethnic minority groups acquire “the system of values, the lifestyle, and the ideology of the host society” (kubiak 1980:17, translated by k. k.). to be more precise, acculturation is a process in which members of one cultural group adopt the beliefs and behaviours of another group. acculturation is usually in the direction of a minority group adopting the habits and language patterns of the dominant group. initiating the process of assimilation, it is a transitional period, preceded by structural changes among immigrants (markiewicz 1980:35). indian diaspora indians have a long history of migration to many parts of the world. the population of the indian diaspora is estimated to be about twenty million, living in different countries and speaking various languages (jayaram 2004:16). interestingly, their indian origin gives them their common identity, their consciousness of cultural heritage, and their deep attachment to india (chaturvedi 2005:141). the indian diaspora varies to such an extent that some countries are called ‘old diaspora’ countries, others ‘new diaspora’ countries. the most significant countries connected with the old indian diaspora are malaysia, mauritius, trinidad and tobago, fiji, guyana, and suriname, whereas the new diaspora countries are the developed ones such as the usa, the uk, canada, australia and new zealand. the old diaspora originates in the times of colonialism. people of indian origin began to migrate overseas in crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 42-50 significant numbers in the 19 th century, driven by the economic compulsions generated by colonial expansion. a larger number of indians were taken, under conditions of savage exploitation, to various british colonies as indentured labour, to work on sugar, tea and rubber plantations in such countries as kanya, uganda or trinidad. the first significant presence of indians in the united states can be dated to over one hundred years ago, when peasants from the province of punjab began appearing on the west coast, seeking work in washington’s lumber mills and california’s vast agricultural fields. they came to america in the middle of the nineteenth century. by the end of the nineteenth century there were around two thousand indians, especially sikhs, who left the punjab to escape famine, poverty, and a quickly growing population, and settled on the west coast of the united states in search of economic opportunity. most were uneducated agricultural peasants who found employment in agriculture and construction. other asian indians came as merchants and traders. many found employment in lumber mills and logging camps in the western states of oregon, washington, and california. still others helped build tunnels and bridges for california's railroad projects (is2). as more indians became tenant farmers and landowners, they began to settle in communities throughout california with other indians. the development of indian societies allowed indian immigrants to follow their traditions with little interference from the host community (saxena 2009: 14-15). between 1910 and 1920, as agricultural work in california began to become more profitable, many indian immigrants turned to the fields and orchards for employment. for those immigrants who had come from villages in rural india, farming was both familiar and preferable. the most contemporary phase of the political history of asian indians in the united states begins, however, with the immigration and naturalization act of 1965. the year 1965 was the time when indians began to migrate on the basis of the hart-celler act, which made it possible for a great number of professionals, such as doctors and scientists, to arrive and settle in the us (saxena 2009:19-20). many more came under family reunification preferential categories. education has become the factor that distinguishes newer immigrants from the early immigrants at the turn of the 20th century (saxena 2009: 23). contrary to the first wave of indians, the new phase has seen a high percentage of indians already fluent in english and specially trained in fields like medicine and engineering. the demand for professionals in a changing american economy made indians an attractive asset and ensured a more positive reception in the united states than their forbearers had received. moreover, in contrast to the early immigrants who came to the united states with few alternatives, the new indian immigrants have had an unprecedented number of prospects. the new generation of indians has also differed from the older generation in that it represents several regions throughout india, not just punjab, with immigrants who are primarily hindu and muslim, rather than sikh. they frequently migrate with spouses or families rather than as single labourers and pursue a variety of career options, the most popular of which include positions in the fields of medicine, technology, engineering, and other sciences. though a sizeable number have settled in california like their predecessors, they are now concentrated in urban areas like los angeles, san jose, and san francisco. today, indian-americans are a large group and belong to the fastest growing populations in north america. according to the us census bureau for the year 2010 indian americans number 3.2 million and are the third largest asian american community in the us (is3). the census department reports that over 85% of indians in the usa have graduated from high school, over 65% have college degrees, and around 43% have graduate or professionals degrees. these educational levels are the highest of any group in the usa, including whites and other asian groups (is4). crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 42-50 various factors have served to unify the indian american community in each area of settlement. religious centres, e.g. hindu and sikh temples or islamic mosques have often served as community centres as well, and have become havens for indians from all across india. additionally, indian immigrants established a lot of indian political organizations and joined the ranks of the association of indians in america and the national association of americans of asian indian descent (saxena 2009: 21-22). from simple and uneducated labourers indians have risen in their social status to become highly educated professionals of great significance for the american economy and image. the reason for such mass migration to the u.s (as a developed country) was economic. the asian indian community has preferred to settle in the larger american cities rather than smaller towns, especially in new york city, los angeles, san francisco, and chicago. it is a reflection of both the availability of jobs in larger cities, and of being a part of an urban, racially mixed environment (is2). the immigration of indians to america was tightly controlled by the american government at the beginning of the 20 th century, and indians applying for visas to travel to the united states were often rejected by u.s. diplomats in major indian cities like bombay and calcutta. in addition, several pieces of legislation were introduced in the united states, specifically the congressional exclusion laws of 1917 and 1923, which attempted either to restrict the entry of indians and other asians or to deny them residence and citizenship rights in america. some of these were defeated while others were adopted. for instance, a literacy clause was added to a number of bills, requiring that immigrants pass a literacy test to be considered eligible for citizenship, thus effectively barring many indians from consideration for citizenship. however, as stated above, after 1965, a great number of professionals from india were welcomed by the american economy. in her book return to india: an immigrant memoir shoba narayan lists several reasons why many indian immigrants found america an attractive place to live. she enumerates the following factors: 1. global opportunities for a career (meritocracy encouraging you to be the best in your field); 2. america’s multiculturalism (children having a chance to acquire a better insight into the differences between people that come from various cultures); 3. us dollar as a strong currency to purchase things easily; 4. good educational opportunities; 5. better health care (narayan 2012: 162). the above-mentioned aspects find reflection in jhumpa lahiri’s novel the namesake. lahiri’s novel as a portrayal of two generations of bengali americans published in 2003, lahiri’s debut novel, the namesake, spans over thirty years in the life of the ganguli family. the bengali parents, ashoke and ashima, emigrate from india to the us as young adults. their children, gogol and sonia, are born, raised and educated on american soil. the novel depicts numerous differences between the two generations of indian immigrants and their life in a new homeland. for ashoke and ashima, india is a real presence, while their children build an image of the culture of their ancestors on the information passed down by their parents. ashima knows she is a foreigner and feels that being a foreigner is a sort of lifelong pregnancy, a perpetual wait, a constant burden, a continuous feeling out of sorts. like pregnancy, being a foreigner, ashima believes, is something that elicits the same curiosity from strangers, the same combination of pity and respect (lahiri 2003: 50). crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 42-50 ashima tries to keep in touch with her close family in india by writing letters, and awaits any news from her homeland. “letters arrive from her parents, from her husband’s parents, from aunts and uncles and cousins and friends (…)” (lahiri 2003: 36). both she and ashoke try to preserve indian traditions through food and dress, as well as various rituals, such as gogol’s annaprasan (a rice ceremony that marks an infant's first intake of food other than milk). lahiri explains: “there is no baptism for bengali babies, no ritualistic naming in the eyes of god. instead, the first ceremony of their lives centers around the consumption of solid food” (lahiri 2003: 38). thus, when gogol is six months old, his parents invite all their bengali friends to a party, and maintaining the indian tradition create a semblance of india in america. “gogol is dressed as an infant bengali groom, in a pale yellow pajama-punjabi from his grandmother in calcutta … his tiny forehead has been decorated … with sandalwood paste to form six miniature beige moons floating above his brows” (lahiri 2003:39). ashima wears typical bengali clothing, namely, a silvery sari “with the sleeves of her blouse reaching the crook of her elbow” (lahiri 2003: 39). ashoke “wears a transparent white punjabi top over bell-bottom trousers” (lahiri 2003:39). during the ceremony the hostess serves “the biryani, the carp in yoghurt sauce, the dal, the six different vegetable dishes” and “the guests will eat standing or sitting cross-legged on the floor” (lahiri 2003: 39). the parents’ adherence to tradition influences their decision to instill respect for indian culture in their son. when gogol is in the third grade, “they send him to bengali language and culture lessons every other saturday. in bengali class, gogol is taught to read and write his ancestral alphabet, and together with other children he reads “handouts written in english about the bengali renaissance” (lahiri 2003: 66). sadly, neither gogol nor the other children are interested in this at all. later, during various parties customarily held on saturday evenings at the homes of bengali families, only adults will speak bengali while their children will be watching an american movie in another room. as gogol and sonia grow up, ashima and ashoke have to accept more and more american traditions, introducing them to their american bengali household, gradually becoming immersed in american culture. it is hard for them but they are conscious about their children’s dual identity. “for the sake of gogol and sonia they celebrate, with progressively increasing fanfare, the birth of christ, an event the children look forward to far more than the worship of durga and saraswati” (lahiri 2003:64). at thanksgiving they learn to roast turkeys rubbed with cumin, garlic and cayenne; in december they hang a wreath on their door; at easter, they colour boiled eggs violet and pink and hide them around the house. ashima (herself a hindu) prepares sandwiches with bologna or roast beef for the children, and once a week makes an american dinner: “shake ‘n bake chicken or hamburger helper prepared with ground lamb” (lahiri 2003: 65). the lives of the parents and the children start to follow a different pattern. for gogol’s fourteenth birthday his parents throw two celebrations: one is typically american, “with pizzas that his father picked up on his way home from work, a baseball game watched together on television, some ping-pong in the den” (lahiri 2003: 72). this event is addressed to gogol’s school friends. however, “[f]or the first time in his life he [gogol] has said no to the frosted cake, the box of harlequin ice cream, the hot dogs in buns, the balloons and streamers taped to the walls” (lahiri 2003: 72). it is during the other celebration, the one among bengali friends, that gogol will eat his favourite things: “lamb curry with lots of potatoes, luchis, thick channa dal with swollen brown raisins, pineapple chutney, sandeshes molded out of saffron-tinted ricotta cheese”, lovingly prepared by his mother, who will find that “[a]ll this is less stressful to her than the task of feeding a handful of american children, crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 42-50 half of whom always claim they are allergic to milk, all of whom refuse to eat the crusts of their bread” (lahiri 2003: 72). the growing gap between the first and second generations is visible when the gangulis decide to go to calcutta for eight months during ashoke’s sabbatical at the university. the children feel alienated in the country of their parents. indian food makes them sick. there is not much for gogol and sonia to do to occupy themselves in a strange country, so they spend most of their time indoors. at the same time they observe the happiness and enthusiasm of their parents, who become “less complicated versions of themselves, their voices louder, their smiles wider” (lahiri 2003: 81), while they themselves yearn to go back to their western ways and their american food. they feel relieved and pleased when the family returns to the house on pemberton road and when their life goes back to normal. as an adult, gogol lives a life similar to his american friends. he initiates intimate relationships with many women, accepts divorce as something natural, buys and eats typical american food, and spends his time having fun at parties and watching tv. he ignores his parents’ objections concerning his profession. “like the rest of their bengali friends, his parents expect him to be, if not an engineer, then a doctor, a lawyer, an economist at the very least. these were the fields that brought them to america” (lahiri 2003: 105). he becomes an architect and moves to new york city. “he prefers new york, a place which his parents do not know well, whose beauty they are blind to, which they fear” (lahiri 2003: 126). when his mother tries to get in touch with him by calling, he ignores her calls. the death of his father comes as a shock, and gogol gradually begins to comprehend who he is. he starts to bridge the gap between himself and his family, and to accept his indian heritage, ready to become a totally new person. for the second generation of the gangulis, it is america that is perceived as ‘home’. in america they are born and educated. in america they want to be accepted on their own terms. indian values and culture define their ancestry but india can never be called home. conclusion the namesake reflects perpetual dilemmas of immigrants who arrive in a foreign country. the novel’s characters struggle to maintain their identities, and face difficult choices in their daily lives. adapting to a new way of life and simultaneously preserving their indian customs and traditions, the first generation immigrants resist assimilation. ashima always wears a traditional indian dress (a sari) and prepares traditional bengali food, mindful of the advice given by her indian relatives “not to eat beef or wear skirts or cut off her hair or forget her family” (lahiri 2003: 37). one of the most difficult moments in her life is her pregnancy. it is a hard time for her because she regrets not being surrounded by her close family in hospital when her fir st child is born. she feels isolated with only her husband at her side. the fact that she is the only woman of indian origin surrounded by american women in the hospital’s maternity ward intensifies her feelings of alienation and loneliness. she is afraid of raising her son in a foreign country, “a country where she is related to no one, where she knows so little, and where life seems so tentative and spare” (lahiri 2003:6). the second generation of the gangulis feels different. they consider themselves americans and look forward more to christmas celebrations than to the worship of hindu gods. as they get older, their parents have to accept their hybrid identities. when doing crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 42-50 shopping, they let gogol and sonia “fill the cart with items that he and sonia, but not they, consume” (lahiri 2003:65). in the supermarket, gogol and sonia take “individually wrapped slices of cheese, mayonnaise, tuna fish, hot dogs” (lahiri 2003:65). with time, the children become fascinated with the american culture and way of life. gogol starts doing the same things as his american companions. for example, he goes to late night parties, drinks alcohol and dates different american girls. one of the prominent relationships is with a girl named maxine. there comes a time when he prefers her parents’ lifestyle to that of his parents. he adopts maxine’s carefree attitudes, listens to maxine’s music and drinks her wine. for a while he even lives in her house, all in an effort to build a wall between his present and his past. with time, gogol and sonia become fully assimilated into the american culture, not caring much that they know so little about their parents’ homeland. the situation changes after ashoke’s death, when gogol tries to learn the customs and traditions of india, so deeply rooted in the first generation migrants. lahiri’s novel presents a fictional world of bengali immigrants in the usa, with the characters’ stories strongly reflecting diverse aspects of assimilation processes. both first and second generation indians change and adapt to new circumstances, but it is the second generation that feels american. the findings of sociologists who distinguish several phases of assimilation, such as milton gordon and hieronim kubiak, prove helpful in understanding the identity dilemmas faced by lahiri’s protagonists – ashima and gogol ganguli. references alba, r. d. and nee, v. 2003. remaking the american mainstream. cambridge, ma.: harvard university press. chaturvedi, s. 2005. globalization: spaces, identities and (in)securities. delhi: south asian publishers. gordon, m.m. 1964. assimilation in american life: the role of race, religion and national origins. new york: cambridge university press. healey, p. 2007. urban complexity and spatial strategies: towards a relational planning for our times. abingdon: routledge. jayaram, n. 2004. the indian diaspora: dynamics of migrations. london: sage publications ltd. khandelwal, m. s. 2002. becoming american, being indian: an immigrant community in new york city. ithaca, n.y.: cornell university press. kubiak, h. 1980. teoria, ideologia, polityka asymilacji. szkic problem. in kubiak, h. and a. k. paluch (eds), założenia teorii asymilacji,15-27.wrocław: zakład narodowy im. ossolińskich. lahiri, j. 2003. the namesake. new york city: flamingo. markiewicz, w. 1980. naród i świadomość narodowa a problem asymilacji i lojalności obywatelskiej. in kubiak and paluch (ed.), założenia teorii asymilacji, 27-37. wrocław: zakład narodowy im. ossolińskich. narayan, s. 2012. return to india: an immigrant memoir. jasmine books. crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 42-50 saxena, s. 2009. engaging the immigrant voice: political participation and acculturation in the indian american community. washington d.c.: georgetown university press. internet sources 1. http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/43865_2.pdf (doe: 8th may 2014). 2. http://www.everyculture.com/multi/a-br/asian-indian-americans.html (doe: 8th may 2014). 3. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/other-news/indian-americans-third-largestasian-community-in-us/articleshow/12364616.cms (doe: 8th may 2014). 4. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/other-news/indian-americans-third-largestasian-community-in-us/articleshow/12364616.cms (doe: 8th may 2014). 4 crossroads. a journal of english studies nora bonner elham shayegh miami university of ohio miami university of ohio adam bede revisited: social stigma and the formation of deviant identity abstract. in adam bede, george eliot explores the way a society divides its members into categories and how these categories contribute to the formation of an individual’s identity. in the mid-nineteenth century authors in the naturalist tradition often discussed this dialogical relationship between individual and society, the specific roles for social gaze, the labeling and degrading. eliot shows an acute of these labels that no one shapes identity without their influence. according to nancy anne marck, adam bede introduces the theme of “emerging social consciousness” where the characters gain broader awareness of human interdependence through an experience of suffering (447). this is particularly evident when examining eliot’s characters of “lesser fortune.” once we’ve investigated how eliot portrays these negative social forces throughout the novel, the labeling and the stigmatization, we will return to how eliot addresses the larger question permeating her novel of education: how one judges another against the backdrop of community values. keywords: stigmatization, social identity, gaze, realism/naturalism, ethics in narrative style erving goffman gives insight to social labeling and the stigmatization in his book, stigma notes on the management of spoiled identity. he defines stigma as “the phenomenon whereby an individual with an attribute which is deeply discredited by his/her society is rejected as a result of the attribute” (goffman 36). in other words, stigma occurs when society recognizes an individual as deviant, thus creating the negative stereotypes that engender prejudiced attitudes. the crimes committed in response to this labeling are “deviations.” stigmas therefore justify discriminatory behavior. goffman names two types of social identity: actual and virtual. the former refers to a person’s social existence—his or her condition in “reality,”—while virtual identity refers to “what is expected of someone based on who, what, or where s/he is” (36). these definitions give insight into how one might understand eliot’s tragic heroine, hetty sorrel. throughout the novel, hayslope community1 refuses to allow hetty a comfortable position in their society. they elevate her as a most desired object until she believes her higher position, and 1 a rural community in loamshire england, 1799. loamshire is an imaginary rural county, used as a setting by writers of fiction to avoid identification with actual towns. 5 articles until “her dreams were all of luxuries” (eliot 102). their praises push her somewhere between her actual and virtual identities, convincing her that she is qualified for marrying the young squire, captain arthur donnithorne: “the baker’s daughter [hetty] goes home and dreams of the handsome young emperor, and perhaps weighs the flour amiss while she is thinking what a heavenly lot it must be to have him for a husband” (105). from this description, it is clear that hetty’s dreams are too lofty to be realistic, mainly because of her ignorance of class difference. eliot emphasizes this later with arthur’s description of the same encounter: “to flirt with hetty was a very different affair from flirting with a pretty girl of his own station: that was understood to be an amusement on both sides, or, if it became serious, there was no obstacle to marriage” (144). hetty never resolves the conflict between her virtual and actual identities because she never finds a way to arthur’s hidden intentions, and finally disappointed by him, she was stigmatized by hayslope as the undesired other. she is now the deviant, the criminal. the fatal sin of murdering her newborn as the narrative implies is a socially constructed crime but the community does not hold itself responsible for it. according to courtney berger in “liability and individual consciousness in adam bede”: eliot’s early work is indicative of her desire to portray a social world in which individuals both help to constitute and are answerable to the standards of the group. particularly in her early fiction, we see eliot endeavoring to develop a theory of the social individual that withstands her concomitant endorsement of what we might call “pluralist” and “universalist” conception of morality-that is, judging individuals according to the standards of the group versus a single comprehensive standard (308). eliot acknowledges the individual’s inevitable role in identity formations. she addresses a person’s capabilities and limitations in 19th-century british society through her other female heroine, dinah, whose choices defy the imposed stigmas. dinah’s character often directly contrasts hetty, initially evident in the physical descriptions of the two women. for dinah, “her eyes had no peculiar beauty, beyond that of expression; so simple, so candid, so gravely loving, that no accusing scowl, no light sneer could help melting away before their glance” (eliot 22). dinah’s attractiveness comes from her expressions rather than her features—what she does and does not do with her face. similar to dinah, the majority of hetty’s physical description does not focus on specific physical features but on the reactions that those features get from men gazing at her. in hetty’s case, however, these reactions and sensations overwhelm the gazer, cause confusion, and appear out of her control: it is a beauty like that of kittens, or very small downy ducks making gentle rippling noises with their soft bills, or babies just beginning to toddle and to engage in conscious mischief--a beauty with which you can never be angry, but that you feel ready to crush for inability to comprehend the state of mind into which it throws you (86). the contrast between dinah’s authority over the way people react to her and hetty’s lack of it reveals the novel’s juxtaposing theme of personal choice as a way to defy social stigma. dinah is 6 crossroads. a journal of english studies a devout methodist, a preacher who persuades the community of her authority and leadership in the way she cares for others. after the town rejects hetty for her crime of infanticide, it is dinah who visits her in jail and consoles her. dinah is determined to never marry, freeing herself from hayslope’s social expectations for women. however, after this set up, and just when the reader might decide that dinah has defied society’s expectations, dinah changes course and becomes adam’s wife. we could interpret her decision to marry as a failure as she’s still unable to survive outside the social norms. dinah’s story reveals that even at our most rebellious state, we submit ourselves to some sort of mold. on the other hand, the marriage might be read as another sort of defiance, a triumph over the constraints she’d imposed on herself. in the first place, we might read these women’s stories together as a juxtaposition—one pitched against the other as a way to verify a lesson for better choices in dinah’s happier ending. “dinah represents the second eve [mary], hetty epitomizes the first” (marr 87). in hetty, the novel provides a karmic view of life in which she must pay the consequences of her actions: “our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds” (eliot 328). on the other hand, we might read the stories to see how they reveal the feminine struggle against victorian social norms and stigmas. critics have identified eliot as a woman writer with awareness of the realities of a male-dominated world (beer 73). both dianah and hetty, in this sense, fall under the authority of hayslope patriarchal elements of gender and moral rules. hetty represents the working class girl who destroys her life for the love of luxury and comfort. hetty’s dream of luxury is not a simple longing for material possession but a desire for liberation from hayslope’s patriarchal expectations for her. luxuriousness became that characteristic through which hetty preserves her individuality. hetty in her blind passion keeps dreaming about her future wellbeing, the time when arthur would “marry her and make a lady of her” (157). perhaps some day she should be a grand lady, and ride in her coach, and dress for dinner in a brocaded silk, with feathers in her hair, and her dress sweeping the ground… her hair is done in a great many different ways, and some time in a pink dress, and sometimes in a white one—she doesn’t know which one she liked best (158). in this dreamy “world of brilliant costumes” (262), she desires to “cast all her past [life] behind” (160) and elevate her status to that of a reputable lady. she is dissatisfied with her status and wishes to escape from the society that embodies a “sickening sense of monotonous life” (350). in this way, the desire for luxury is a substitute for her suppressed actual identity. she was denied to work as a “lady’s maid” because it would be a humiliation to her uncle, a “laborer” who would like to eat on his “own labor” rather than waiting for people’s “charity” (353). as a young girl, she was not permitted to walk in the fields “alone” and come home late, or she would be the object of her aunt’s reproachful inquiries. social restraints become most evident when her dedicated lover, adam bede, also questions her behavior. criticizing her for putting a rose in her hairs, he comments that hetty’s way of dressing was not as modest as dinah’s (238). she then reacts to his critique by wearing a “black gown of her aunt’s” in the style of methodists, thus performing a virtuous identity. as 7 articles the novel progress, hetty’s pretense and loss of desired feminine attributes (causing loss of actual identity) become essential for her social survival. according to marck, throughout the novel, hetty’s alienation extends from her own body to her family, to the community of hayslope, to society at large, and even to nature—the charge of infanticide constructs her as a monstrous female, guilty of a crime against the biological, social, and psychological expectations of motherhood (448). what is obvious in the novel is the oppressive power of society, which gradually silences the voices of the marginalized citizens, namely the working class and women. the similarity between animals and women, which eliot emphasizes throughout the novel, suggests a feminine voicelessness. gyp and vixen the dogs, and meg the horse are all female, implying that women are preferred to be silent, obedient and dependent. the society desires “to convert dinah the preacher… into a convenient household slave” (509). eliot criticizes this feminine silence through her female characters (the talkative mrs. poyser and the eloquent dinah), and their desires (hetty seeks refuge in dream of luxurious life and dinah in religion). both hetty and dinah attempt to express their suffocated self through male figures. hetty and dinah are the double faces of the same reality when, at the doorway of their “bed chambers,” their “pale faces… looking at each other” (467) suddenly “become indistinct” (468). the fusion of their feminine silence under the voice of a female narrator itself concealed under the male name george eliot, narrates hetty’s story under the title adam bede, and presents victorian marginalized femininity. the novel’s repetitive references to spectacles and eyeglasses intensify the concept of social gaze. the gaze restrains everyone but primarily women, bringing their lives to foreground. spectating hetty at the dance party, lady irwine declares to her son that as she gets older, her eyes “get better and better for things at the distance” (others) while her near-sightedness worsens (286). hetty specially becomes aware of social gaze near the murder scene, when “for the first time in her life [she] wished no one would look at her” (391). her awareness then reaches its climax in the trial scene. we read that the judge is a fellow “with an eye that ’ud pick the needles out of the hay in no time” (447). gerhard falk refers to court trials as instances of imposed social stigmatizations: conviction in a court of law… the most important part of the stigmatization process are status-reduction emotions such as a “hearing,” a “trial,” and the establishment of a public record of such a procedure. sociologists refer to these transactions as “degradation ceremonies.” these place the individual affected outside the legitimate order and outside the world of citizens of good standing (falk 330). we might read the trial scene as a degradation ceremony where the hayslope community judges and convicts hetty as criminal without considering her maternal trauma. falk also mentions “secondary deviations” (313) as a way to define the consequences of labeling. these deviations occur when an “individual changes his or her behavior and self-definition to internalize society’s stigmatization; the person then begins to behave in ‘expected deviant’ fashion” (scheyett). in this light, adultery as hetty’s “secondary deviation” is a response to society’s stigmatization of her “naughty”-ness, which leads to her third deviation, infanticide. sociologists call this last stage the 8 crossroads. a journal of english studies “dramatization of evil,” when the victims start to take on the traits associated with the stigma society imposed on them (falk 330). according to michel foucault, stigmatization is a “discourse of power” (foucault). naming five attributes of stigma in their essay “conceptualizing stigma,” link & phelan state that stigmatization is a process, “entirely dependent on the social, economic, and political power necessary to impose discriminatory experiences on the labeled individual or group” (link & phelan 372). labeling hetty, in this sense, becomes a way in which hayslope community controls its second sex non-aristocratic citizens. discussing the “power of stigmatizing,” falk likewise asserts that the social labels are so powerful that sometimes they stay with the persons till the end of their lives. performing its power through stigmatization and punishment, society later “restores” the outcast’s piety. “those who are considered impure” according to falk, “are isolated from ordinary society until their purity is restored by a variety of rituals,” for instance, through deportation and exile (311). eliot demonstrates hetty’s sudden isolation from society, caused by hayslope’s abandonment, by refraining from narrating these sections. in other words, the author herself, as a member of the victorian society, leaves hetty alone. the reader loses track of hetty after chapter 37, when the inner voice of the character is no more audible. hetty, whose “native power of concealment” (338) has already thought her how to conceal herself from society – in the chamber, among the “treesstudded hedgerows,” in the hidden “shelter” beside the sheep, and finally in the prison cell, as if she has “no other existence than a hidden one” (388)— succumbs to complete silence as the narrator waits for the witnesses to narrate the rest of the story. why is the narrator unwilling to follow the criminal woman? is she afraid? depriving hetty of voice and presence, eliot is making room for society. in its full capacity, society then takes hold of her narrative. is eliot the second social outcast, deprived of her storytelling rights? after hearing about hetty’s imprisonment, old mr. poyser says, “i will not go nigh her, nor ever see her again… she made our bread bitter to us for all of our lives to come” (432). only dinah, her feminine equal, recognizes hetty. it is through religion that dinah fully embraces hetty. according to the methodist beliefs, god, the higher being, cannot act unless the lower beings sin. jesus, for dinah, is equal to forgiveness, which cannot operate without sin. dinah sees herself a person through whom god directly speaks but who needs hetty, the sinner, to reestablish her position. dinah who cannot step beyond the limitations of piety likewise fails to restore hetty at the gallop. this scene may reiterate eliot’s plead against judgment, made earlier in the novel, when she says: there are so many of us, and our lots are so different, what wonder that nature’s mood is often in harsh contrast with the great crisis of our lives? we are children of a large family, and must learn, as such children do, not to expect that our hurts will be made much of—to be content with little nurture and caressing, and help each other the more (306). dinah cannot help hetty “all the more” until she breaks free from the compulsion to judge. imagining hetty as ignorant dinah constructs basis of her own piety. eliot, however, has challenged this black and white moral standard. hetty, we read, has “her peculiar form of worship” (155). her 9 articles “passionate love of life” (404) is her special form of worship. blaming dinah her passive trust in god, mrs. poyser declares that “if everybody ’ud be running after everybody else to preach to ’em, istead o’ bringing up their families, and laying by against a bad harvest. it stands to sense as that can’t be the right religion” (80). sitting with hetty in the darkness of prisoner’s cell, dinah feels the approach of hetty’s darkness, we read “it got darker and darker… she [dinah] felt divine presence more and more” (468). in the darkness of hetty’s misery dinah observes divinity. dinah “is not the less sinking into the dark gulf ” (468). as dinah’s voice eloquently articulates mankind’s suffering through the “cross,” the reader knows hetty is the cross-bearer. when later in her song dinah addresses jesus to bestow her an easy yoke: “jesus! the weary wonderer’s rest /give me thy easy yoke to bear” (511). we know whom the “wonderer” and the bearer of the yoke is. from this, we might attempt to read eliot’s novel as a simple reminder to refrain from judging others. yet, if this is the code for understanding, eliot herself breaks it often. for instance, when she gives us two descriptions of arthur donnithorne: the way the commoners see him and the way eliot wants us to see him. though he’s in the militia, not the army, the people of hayslope saw him as “more intensely [as] a captain than all the young gentlemen of the same rank in his majesty’s regulars--he outshone them as the planet jupiter outshines the milky way” (62). he’s a hero to the commoners, but to the author, arthur is the “well-washed, high-bred, white handed” young englishman she insists we all know (62). from his description, we must view arthur as a type of person rather than a person, similar to the way he reduces hetty to a “pretty butter-maker” (105), despite that she is hayslope’s most desired catch, as shown in the way adam and the others pine for her throughout most of the novel. in this way, eliot will not allow her readers to indulge in such simple interpretation, ‘do not judge,’ and requires us to make several judgments of character thought the narrative. in the end, we learn that arthur is more than just the simple englishman eliot asked us to see at first. the dead infant likewise becomes a “gift” (dillon 712) through which the narrator challenges the fixed moral standards based on which hayslope judged and stigmatized hetty. this is where eliot, as douglas kneale precisely puts it, “points beyond a strictly juridical binarism of guilty/not guilty toward the more complicated ethical question of “how far a man is to be held responsible for the unforeseen consequences of his own deed”” (kneale 468). references beer, gillian. 1983. “darwin’s plots: evolutionary narrative in darwin, george eliot, and nineteenth century fiction.” london, boston, melbourne, and henley: routledge & kégan paul, web. berger, courtney. 2000. “when bad things happen to bad people: liability and individual consciousness in adam bede and silas marner”. novel: a forum on fiction 33.3: 307–327. web. dillon, steven. 1992. “george eliot and the feminine gift”. studies in english literature, 1500 – 1900 32.4: 707–721. web. eliot, george. 1980. adam bede. new york: penguin classics, print. 10 crossroads. a journal of english studies falk, gerhard. 2001. stigma: how we treat outsiders. amherst, n.y: prometheus books, print. foucault, michel. 1980. “prison talk.” c. gordon (ed.), power/knowledge: selected interviews and other writings, 1972-1977. new york: pantheon. pp. 37-54.web. goffman, erving. 1986. stigma notes on the management of spoiled identity. new york: touchstone, print. heatherton, todd f., robert e. kleck, michelle r. hebl, jay g. hull. 2003. the social psychology of stigma. new york: the guilford p, print. kneale, douglas. “hetty’s hanky.” 2015. esc: english studies in canada 1.2: 123-150. project muse. web. 11 dec. 2015. web. marck, nancy anne. 2003 “narrative transference and female narcissism: the social message of adam bede”. studies in the novel 35.4: 447–470. web. marr, ryan. 2014. “dinah morris as second eve: the fall and redemption in adam bede.” logos: a journal of catholic thought and culture 17.3: 80-102. project muse. web. phelan, j. c. and b. g. link. 2001. “conceptualizing stigma.” annual review of sociology, 27: 363 – 85. web. scheyett, anna. 2007. the mark of madness: stigma, serious mental illnesses, and social work. retrieved: february 2007. print. crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2012, pp. 13-22. jerzy kamionowski university of bialystok the “color-line” criticism: literary fiction, historical facts, and the critical controversies about william styron’s the confessions of nat turner abstract. this article analyses critical responses to william styron’s the confessions of nat turner, claiming that the reception of the novel was strongly determined by the question of race and the different perception-andinterpretation of a “common” history by black and white americans. i demonstrate that the polemics about styron’s novel resulted not only from an entirely different understanding by white and black critics of the question as to what literature is essentially and what social role it has to perform, but also from the incompatible implementation of historiography, in the realm of which both sides placed the novel. i argue that, as a result, the critical controversies about the confessions were drawn along the so-called “color line”, a category which traditionally defined americans according to their race. keywords: american history, color line, criticism, historical facts, historical novel, literary fiction, race, slavery. when amiri baraka – the poet and playwright who had initiated the black arts movement four decades before (a movement which demanded from african american artists that they practice art ideologically and politically engaged) – performed in 2002 “somebody blew up america,” his poem-reaction to the september 11 terrorist attack, the american press and media exploded in a debate about the limits of what can be expressed in literature in a society with a constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech. the poet was accused of antisemitism and anti-americanism. in the opinion of some literary critics, myself included, baraka was wrongfully accused. among the “means of persuasion” used by his opponents was an attempt to remove him from the position of poet laureate of new jersey. due to the fact that the poet did not remain silent – he gave many interviews and published a statement in the leftist magazine counterpunch, in which he explained why he had refused the new jersey governor’s call for him to resign. (because there was no provision in the law for removing a state poet laureate, state authorities decided to abolish the post altogether.) one conspicuous feature of the campaign against baraka was that his critics concentrated solely on the alleged ideological message of the poem and completely ignored its strictly artistic dimension. few articles took into consideration or even mentioned the poem’s literary value, its original poetics, the variety of means of expression used, the virtuosic implementation of non-standard linguistic forms characteristic of so-called “black speech,” its jazz-inspired rhythm, and the fact that it belongs in the long american tradition of politically engaged poetry (see: gwiazda 2004; and kamionowski 2011). crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2012, pp. 13-22. i am recalling this almost-contemporary event as a context to the comparably violent and tempestuous response to william styron’s the confessions of nat turner, a novel published in 1967. as in the case of baraka’s “somebody blew up america,” the reception of styron’s novel was strongly determined by the question of race and the different perception and interpretation of a “common” history by black and white americans. those two issues focused the controversies about the confessions of nat turner. however, it needs to be pointed out that the literary critics, writers, historians, and sociologists who defended styron and his novel against the attacks of “black radicals,” attempted to concentrate the discussion on historical facts, formal literary questions, and the “universal” message of the book, entirely separating it from its racial context and from ideological arguments about history, including the contemporary history taking place “here and now,” at the end of the 1960s. nevertheless, the fact that styron received for the confessions of nat turner two prestigious literary awards – the pulitzer prize in 1968 and the howells medal for fiction in 1970 (the latter granted every five years for the best novel of that period) – seems to have an ideological aspect to it, and can be perceived as a kind of demonstration of the power of american intellectual elites to decide who receives literary prizes and other prestigious distinctions; even more so in the context of what happened to baraka a decade ago. apparently styron willingly took part in this game when he, unlike baraka, distanced himself from any ideological questions in the interviews and meetings with his readers that followed the publication of the novel. in a speech that he made on the occasion of receiving the howells medal for fiction, styron said: by recognizing nat turner this award really honors all of those of my contemporaries who have steadfastly refused to write propaganda or indulge in myth-making but have been impelled to search instead for those insights which, however raggedly and imperfectly, attempt to demonstrate the variety, the quirkiness, the fragility, the courage, the good humor, desperation, corruption, and mortality of all men. and finally it ratifies my own conviction that a writer jeopardizes his very freedom by insisting that he be bound or defined by his race, or by almost anything else.(styron 1982: 226-227) yet how can one be sure that styron – the apologist of an unrestrained artistic freedom – is not defined and limited by his own race? does the fact that he describes his writerly intentions in terms of “universal” human experience provide such certainty? moreover, the words he uses, such as “propaganda” and “myth-making,” obviously serve the purpose of depreciating the standpoint of the most fervent and negative voices among the novel’s criticism and, though not stated directly, refer to the articles and comments of those black critics who not only had voiced a number of concrete reservations about the novel but also launched a frontal attack against its author, a representative sample of which comprises the book william styron’s nat turner: ten black writers respond published in 1968. however, the fact that this attack was carried out in a peremptorily hysterical tone characteristic of the ideological rabidness of the black arts movement period does not necessarily mean that the accusations formulated against styron do not contain at least a grain of truth (the mechanism of a rejection of the merit of a linguistic statement on the basis of its unacceptably “too emotional” form has been recognized and described by feminist critics – for instance dale spender, in her book man made language). arguably, styron’s statements in the interviews collected in the volume titled conversations with william styron not only are identical – in terms of tone and content – with the extract from his acceptance speech for the howells medal quoted above, but also read like examples of the language of the “solipsistic universal” whose distinctive feature is, according to craig werner, the fact that “[m]embers of the dominant group, typically unaware of the unstated premises of their crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2012, pp. 13-22. behavior … proceed as if by serving their own interests they were serving the ultimate good” (werener 1986: 62). reading critical articles and comments on styron’s the confessions of nat turner – frequently written in a polemical form and characterized by a confrontational tone – it is difficult to resist the impression that both sides of the conflict tried hard to play wit h marked cards and ascribe various dishonest intentions and manipulative purposes to their adversaries, claiming objectivity and impartiality for themselves. but even worse is the fact that the controversies about styron’s novel were drawn along the so-called “color line,” a category which traditionally defined americans according to their race; hence, attempts to overcome the controversies seem to have been doomed to failure from the very start. undoubtedly, the vitriolic language of the attack on styron used in the essays by the ten black writers, and the implementation of invective such as “racist,” “liar,” and “supporter of slavery,” or accusing him of “moral cowardice” must be perceived as exaggerated if not directly abusive. nonetheless, many of the claims and observations made by the white critics, though expressed in a much more balanced manner, must raise similar doubts. the most important differences in perception of the confessions of nat turner appeared within two closely connected spheres: first, styron’s treatment of historical facts and events; and second, the writer’s representation of the historical nat turner. these two questions became important for discussion of the novel not only because of the problem of faithfulness to historical truth about the event which provided the theme of the novel, but also because, as john thompson (1982: 163) puts it, although “[t]he book aspires to be more than a tract, yet today [i.e. at a time of racial protests which often took the form of riots], a book abo ut a negro who leads other negroes to murder men, women, and children solely because they are white, cannot avoid becoming the matter of editorials, sermons, panels, and shouting matches.” apparently, it was the immediate social context that provoked such fervent polemics. styron’s novel treats about a slave rebellion (called at that time an “insurrection”) started in southampton county, virginia in 1831 by nat turner, who gathered a group of supporters recruited both among the slaves from the neighborhood and black freemen. the group began its march on a local town, jerusalem, killing on its way white families in their houses. the insurrection lasted only a few days during which the rebels killed fifty-five white men, women and children, using hatchets, axes, knives, and blunt tools. turner himself murdered only one person – a young white woman whose name was margaret whitehead. the rebellion was suppressed by intervention of the white militia, and its participants taken to court. eighteen of them – including the leader – were sentenced to death by hanging: the others were acquitted or sold out of state. simultaneously, in the county where the insurrection took place, its white inhabitants carried out a series of pogroms and murdered over two hundred black people. nonetheless, styron does not limit himself to an external relation of those dramatic events in a novelistic form, but gives the narrative voice to nat turner himself who tells his own life story. this formal decision results from the author’s belief that the reason for the rebellion must be looked for in its leader’s psychology. in many interviews given after the publication of the novel, styron emphasizes that writing the confessions of nat turner he was interested in finding an answer to the question why such a bloody slave rebellion happened in virginia, where the system of slavery was relatively mild, and, what is more, at a time when there was a debate going on as to whether slavery should not be abolished altogether in the state. it must be remembered, however, that this debate was not initiated for humanitarian reasons, but because of the fact that virginia was experiencing economic dire straits: its very intensive crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2012, pp. 13-22. tobacco cultivation had led to impoverishment of the soil, and many farmers simply could not afford to keep slaves anymore. but let us go back to the of controversies about the confessions of nat turner. the polemical arguments concerning the first issue – i.e. the faithfulness to the historical facts and events styron’s novel draws upon – concentrated on the problem to what extent any literary fiction based on real events and historical characters must or should respect their integrity, and to what extent it is acceptable to modify them for the sake of art itself. as george core (1981: 212) points out, obviously styron did not follow e. m. w. tillyard’s observations pertaining to the characteristics of a well-written historical novel, among which the scholar mentions two fundamental rules: first, never to concentrate too much on major historical figures; and second, to avoid representing in detail major historical events. according to the critic, by respecting those rules a novelist protects the literary art from becoming entirely dependent on history. in “author’s note,” which precedes the text of the novel, styron says: during the narrative that follows i have rarely departed from the known facts about nat turner and the revolt of which he was the leader. however, in those areas where there is little knowledge in regard to nat, his early life, and the motivations for the revolt (and such knowledge is lacking most of the time), i have allowed myself the utmost freedom of imagination in reconstructing events. (styron 1967: n. p.) (emphasis in original) and he adds immediately that his work is “less an ‘historical novel’ in conventional terms than a meditation on history.” (styron 1967: n. p.) as styron says himself, he took his knowledge of the facts he draws on in the novel from two sources: a twenty-page long confession that was made by nat turner in prison during the three days which preceeded his execution and written down by a lawyer named thomas r. gray (which gave the idea for the title of the novel), and from william s. drewry’s ph.d. dissertation the southampton insurrection (1900). nevertheless, even if we strongly believe in and respect the autonomy of literature, we should not disregard the fact that a narrativisation of historical events always has a powerful influence on their perception in the mass imagination and that – identically to the case of chronicles and scholarly historical works – selection of material is absolutely vital: things omitted frequently turn out to be as important as those preserved and thoroughly researched. therefore, even though the majority of white critics praised styron’s novel for capturing the essence of slavery in universally human categories, it is impossible to discredit mike thelwell’s valid comment that it is difficult to talk about the essence without a substance. yet despite his argumentation being the most eloquent and persuasive among the ten black writers, thelwell himself, when he points out the lack of a solid background that would confront the reader with the scale of cruelty of the american system of slavery, seems to forget that this “deficiency” results from the fact that the novel has the form of a first-person narrative with a personal point of view, whose rule is the limitation of the narrator’s awareness. not only does he not take it into consideration, but also attempts to instruct the author (and other writers who would like to take up the topic) how such a novel should be written and what it should contain in order to meet with the acceptance of black radicals. in this respect thelwell and many other black critics at that period practice a sort of prescriptive literary criticism, derivative of the concept of the black aesthetic which had provided an obligatory system of evaluation of art for african american critics of the younger generation. in those circles the autonomy of literature was extremely curtailed by the ideological and political needs of the moment. thus it is not surprising that in a situation where the standpoints of black and white critics were so strongly polarized, it was difficult if not entirely impossible to find compromise when crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2012, pp. 13-22. discussing general issues. nonetheless, quite surprisingly there were also a few very concrete issues which revealed a profound gap between the white and black critical positions. one of them was the loyalty of the slaves to their white masters, and their active participation in subduing turner’s insurrection. in styron’s novel, the rebels encounter the resistance of armed black servants who do not hesitate to open fire against them. thelwell questions the probability of such an event, and argues that no level-headed slave owner would have equipped his chattel with guns in those circumstances, simply being afraid that they would join the rebels. eugene d. genovese tries to discredit that argument, reminding thelwell that according to what turner says in his confession to gray, he was discovered in his hole in the ground in the forest by two black men, who immediately informed their master about his hideaway. genovese – a scholar specializing in african american history – finds the novel “historically sound,” and although he admits that “styron takes liberties with fact, as every novelist does,” he remains of the opinion that at the same time the novelist “does not do violence to the historical record,” which “cannot be said for his critics” (genovese 1982: 202203). genovese maintains that “[i]t is pardonable for styron to take liberties with the particular history of the nat turner revolt, so long as he does no violence to the history of the slave revolts generally. here … he has proved himself a better student of history than his critics” (genovese 1982: 204). the historian points at another issue where they allegedly miss the truth, chosing as an example thelwell’s criticism that styron gives too lenient a picture of slavery in virginia at that time in his novel. thelwell criticizes styron for “only fleetingly mention[ing]” in his novel the fact that during the economic crisis of the 1830’s, which resulted from “virginia land being increasingly exhausted” by intensive tobacco cultivation, even so-called “enlightened” planters (i.e. those for whom slavery had ceased to be just a “financial operation” and became an “exercise in moral obligation”) turned to “breeding black men and women like animals for the purpose of supplying the labor markets of the deep south” (thelwell 1982: 192) 1 . genovese argues that thelwell, as he puts it, “criticizes styron for denying that virginia masters deliberately bred slaves, and refers to the incontrovertible evidence of huge slave sales to the lower south” (italics mine) out of ignorance: “had [the black critic] read the historical literature carefully,” he would understand the difference between “a system of deliberate breeding” and “the process of transferring surplus population” (genovese 1982: 203); and, according to the historian, it is the latter that explains the dramatic statistical increase of slaves sold from virginia to other southern states at that period. more recent scholarly publications, however, do not support genovese’s arguments. for example in her 2001 article titled “un/re/dis covering slave breeding in thirteenth amendment jurisprudence” pamela d. bridgewater (2001: 22) refers to virginia as “a leading slave breeding state.” moreover, this fact is not denied in styron’s novel (and thelwell knows it well; by saying that it is “only fleetingly mentioned,” he only implies that it is not given enough importance) – as testified by the bitter words spoken by judge cobb: now … all we can raise is horses! … horses and what else, what else? horses and pickaninnies! pickaninnies! little black infants by the score, the hundreds, the thousands, the tens of thousands! the fairest state of them all, this tranquil and beloved domain – what has it now become? a nursery for mississippi, alabama, arkansas. a monstrous breeding farm to supply the sinew to gratify the maw of eli whitney’s infernal machine... (styron 1967: 69) 1 in this article i use the extended version of thelwell’s text, and not the abridged version from the collection william styron's nat turner. ten black writers respond. crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2012, pp. 13-22. styron is also strongly criticised by thelwell and other black critics for his representation of “the freed slave,” who is shown as a man lost, confused, starving, frequently drunk, entirely dependent on others, and incapable of functioning in society; in short: ill-adapted to freedom and taking responsibility for himself. in styron’s novel, the drunken freeman called arnold is commented on by turner as “[u]nschooled, unskilled, clumsy by nature, childlike and credulous,” and as a result “more insignificant and wretched than he had ever been in slavery” (styron 1967: 261). the black critics argue that such an image of “the freed slave” is seriously misleading since black freemen, who were present in every southern community, “worked as skilled artisans … ; some, to their discredit, even owned slaves” (meaning that despite being immoral they were successful), and generally “represented a constant inspiration” for the slaves (thelwell 1982: 191). nonetheless, arthur d. casciato and james l. w. west iii, who have carefully read styron’s annotations on his copy of drewry’s dissertation and implement the method of comparative analysis, provide evidence that in the process of working on the confessions of nat turner the novelist used one more important source: a journey in the seaboard slave states, a travel book by frederick law olmstead, in which black freemen are described as “a miserable set of vagabonds, drunken, vicious, worse off ... than those who are retained in slavery” (olmstead quoted after casciato and west iii 1982: 223). the critics demonstrate that “styron was by no means careless about his use of historical fact, as many of his detractors have maintained” (casciato and west iii 1982: 213), but simultaneously they argue that whereas “in the more narrow and exacting sense, styron was quite faithful to the historical record,” he “may still be guilty of distorting ‘history’ in the larger sense” (casciato and west iii 1982: 223), a conclusion contrary to genovese’s claim, mentioned earlier. casciato and west iii assume that such distortions result from styron’s entering “imaginatively into the mind of a nineteenth-century black rebel” (casciato and west iii 1982: 223), about whom there is very little factual knowledge, and who is utterly different from a white writer from the south in terms of racial experiences. there is no point in exhaustive discussion of the controversies pertaining to styron’s representation of the historical nat turner. however, it is worth sketching them. black critics reproach the novelist for sullying the memory of their hero, for instance by ascribing to him antipathy or even contempt for his fellow slaves (the novel contains a great number of extracts when turner looks at other blacks with loathing and disgust) and equipping him with sexual “weaknesses” such as a homosexual episode in his early youth and his supressed desire for a young white woman – the one he eventually kills (both are products of the author’s imagination). in contrast to styron’s protagonist, as lerone bennett (1968) wants to believe – since the available historical sources do not reveal much about turner’s personal qualities – turner was courageous, commanding, as well as virile, and demonstrated solidarity with his black brothers. it is worth a slight digression to note that such idealization of a black rebelhero brings to mind the unrealistically positive images of black radicals in nineteenth-century novels with a purpose, for instance madison washington in frederick douglass’s the heroic slave (1853) or henry in martin r. delany’s novel blake, or the huts of america (1859). if it is entirely impossible to decide in those cases to what extent, or whether at all, styron misses the truth, as we do not have enough historical data in this respect (hence the problem can be reduced to the question what sort of nat turner black critics would like to see), in several important and perfectly clear issues the novelist departs from the “known facts” in a surprising way. for instance: “the confessions of nat turner” transcribed by gray (1831) reveals among other things that turner was brought up in a complete family, that he was encouraged to learn reading by his parents who had shown him his first book to keep him from crying, that crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2012, pp. 13-22. christianity was instilled in him by his grandmother to whom he was strongly attached, and that his intelligence was used by his peers in planning their stealing (and stealing was one of slaves’ strategy of resistance). in styron’s novel, turner is brought up by his mother, born in america soon after his grandmother had crossed the atlantic on a slaver, and his mother goes insane and dies. he has no knowledge about his actual father, and his white master becomes a father figure. when his master discovers that little nat has stolen a book and tried to learn reading by himself, he orders his daughter to provide the boy with an elementary education that also included religious matters, which even further alienates nat from the community of slaves and strengthens his identification with the “superior” white culture. george core (1981: 218) maintains that “in a fictive sense and in the larger historical perspective it makes little or no difference who taught the actual nat how to read, or whether ... his father ran away.” genovese (1982: 206) must be of the same opinion since he asks rhetorically: “how much can we make of turner’s having been taught to read by his parents? who, after all, probably taught them? … styron did not invent white paternalism.” does this mean, however, that both white paternalism and the negative image of the black family must be sustained, especially in a case where the writer had opposite data at his disposal? are we supposed to disregard the validity of a black critic’s comment: “the primary source of information, of ‘known facts,’ is extremely brief, about 4,000 words. why was it necessary, in this objective reconstruction, to depart from this source?” (thelwell 1982: 189-190). what is more, styron did this soon after publication of the moynihan report (1965), which placed responsibility for the social disintegration of the african american community and a series of riots in black ghettos in the 1960s on the dilapidation of the nuclear family among blacks in the united states, replacing it with a matriarchal model. perhaps black critics-polemicists, driven by the ideological necessities of the historical moment, are wrong when they repeat endlessly that as a rule no white writer is capable of rendering convincingly a black character due to the lack of similar experiences and the language barrier. however, we should not be surprised that they make such claims when their opinion is juxtaposed with a peculiar comment by core, who sums up the issue in the following manner: the author invests nat with a sensibility and intelligence and range of knowledge which are doubtless greater than he in fact possessed as historical personage, but this is possible because so little is known of the actual nat turner. (core 1981: 215) it seems that the controversies and polemics about william styron’s the confessions of nat turner resulted not only from an entirely different understanding by white and black critics and scholars of the question as to what literature is essentially and what social role it has to perform, but also from the incompatible implementation of historiography, in the realm of which both sides, consciously or not, place the novel. in his introduction to william styron’s nat turner: ten black writers respond, john henrik clarke (1968: vii) quotes the marxist critic herbert aptheker whose words are used as an epigraph for the book: “history’s potency is mighty. the oppressed need it for identity and inspiration; oppressors for justification, rationalization, and legitimacy.” genovese (1982: 202) calls this sort of thinking “nonsense” which “sets the tone for the book,” claiming that the purpose of historiography is always the truth. apparently, he does so too hastily: hayden white, writing about the narrativisation of history, points out that it is characteristic of marxist historians to perceive it, as frederick jameson does, as “a past from which one would wish to have descended” (white 1987: 149). such a “genealogical” understanding of history, as contrasted with a “genetic” one that is concerned solely with the “past from which one actually had descended,” serves the purpose of making it possible for desired projects to be “realized by living human agents in their crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2012, pp. 13-22. future” (white 1987: 149). nonetheless, in the american socio-political reality that understanding was and still is – as proven by baraka’s case – pre-determined to a large extent by the dividing line of color that frequently overlaps with ideological differences which prove exceedingly difficult to overcome. references bennett, lerone. 1968. nat’s last white man. in: john henrick clarke (ed.), william styron’s nat turner. ten 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hall & co. 201-212. gray, thomas r. 1831. the confessions of nat turner, the leader of the late insurrection at southampton, va (1831). http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=etas (28 october 2014). gwiazda, piotr. 2004. the aesthetics of politics/ the politics of aesthetics: amiri baraka’s “somebody blew up america”. contemporary literature.3. 460-485. kamionowski, jerzy. 2011. “who do the saying” – (mis)reading america in toni morrison’s “the dead of september 11” and amiri baraka’s “somebody blew up america.” in: jerzy durczak and paweł frelik (eds.), (mis)reading america: american dreams, fictions and illusions. kraków: universitas. 195-213. moynihan, daniel patrick. 1967 (1965). the negro family: the case for national action. in: lee rainwater and william l. yancey (eds.), the moynihan report and the politics of controversy. the m.i.t. press: cambridge, massachusetts, and london, england. 1/47 – 78/124. styron, william. 1967. the confessions of nat turner. new york: random house. styron, william. 1982. acceptance speech for the howells medal. in: arthur d. casciato and james l. w. west iii (eds.), critical essays on william styron. boston: g.k. hall & co. 226-227. thelwell, michael. 1982. mr. william styron and the reverend turner.. in: arthur d. casciato and james l. w. west iii (eds.), critical essays on william styron. boston: g.k. hall & co. 184-200. thompson, john. 1982. rise and slay! in: arthur d. casciato and james l. w. west iii (eds.), critical essays on william styron. g.k. hall & co. boston. 162-172. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=etas crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2012, pp. 13-22. werner, craig. 1986. new democratic vistas. in: joe weixlmann and chester j. fontenot (eds.), belief vs. theory in black american literary criticism. greenwood, florida: the penkevill publishing company. 47-84. white, hayden. 1987. the content of the form. narrative discourse and historical representation. baltimore, maryland: the john hopkins university press. kamionowski, jerzy. “homeward dove: nomadism, “world”-travelling, and rita dove’s homecoming(s)”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 12-21. jerzy kamionowski the university of bialystok homeward dove: nomadism, “world”-travelling, and rita dove’s homecoming(s) abstract: this article focuses on the question of changing landscapes in rita dove’s poetry, and its strict connection with her redefinition of the identity and role of a black poet. a constant movement through various sceneries in terms of space, culture and intellectual concerns is a distinguishing feature of dove’s poetry. my analysis of her poems sets into motion an interplay of concepts such as: lugones’s “world”-travelling, braidotti’s nomadism, frye’s arrogant perception, kent's legitimate universal and ellis's cultural mulatto-ism. the purpose of this strategy is to demonstrate that dove’s poetry permanently operates between the poles of nomadism and homecoming(s), where the two terms are not perceived as antinomical and mutually exclusive but as dialectical, mutually complementary. as a result, dove avoids being pigeonholed as either an integrationist or separatist poet, transcending the traditional binary critical categories of classifying american black poets. key words: black(ness), black arts movement, cosmopolitanism, cultural mulatto, homecoming(s), nomadism, universalism, “world”-travelling moving through changing sceneries – in geographical/spatial, cultural and intellectual terms – is a constant strategy in rita dove’s exploration of various ‘worlds’ and her own identity as a poet of the post-black aesthetic generation. her poetic journeys have always been simultaneously outwardand inward-oriented: the movement in space has been accompanied and complemented by the movement of thought, and by acute awareness of her position as a subject moulded by such categories as gender, race, class, education and age. dove’s literal and metaphorical nomadism allows her to borrow and assemble her poetic material across seemingly rigid categories, and work towards the “legitimate universal” which, in george kent’s (1972: 112) formulation, is a function of one’s experience. thus, dove can be perceived as trey ellis’s “cultural mulatto” – a black artist “educated by a multi-racial mix of cultures” who can “navigate easily in the white world” (ellis: 235) represented in her poems by europe with its history, culture and art. even though malin pereira (2003: 94) suggests that in dove’s poetry “[u]ndergirding all is cosmopolitanism,” which frees the black poet from entrapment in a narrowly defined black landscape (e.g. the ghetto), it would be interesting to complement this observation with maria lugones’s concept of “world”-travelling which refers to friendly visiting of the experiential space(s) of the other(s). interestingly, among the “worlds” that dove “travel[s] to lovingly” (lugones 1987: 17) are the old black “unfamiliar neighborhoods” (dove 1999: 88; italics mine), a phrase that points out that her homecoming(s) are essentially different from those demanded by black revolutionary poets of the 1960s/70s such as amiri baraka and sonia sanchez. as she states directly in “qe2. transatlantic crossing. third day,” a poem which skillfully uses the trope of the middle passage, “i’d go home if i knew where to get off” (dove 1999: 85). this article locates dove’s poetry at the nexus of the above-mentioned categories. it focuses on the question of changing landscapes in her poetry, and its functional connection with her redefinition of the identity and role of a black poet of the post-black arts movement generation. in the brief poem “wake,” which is part of a sequence forming “a suite for augustus,” a personal section in dove’s debut collection the yellow house on the corner, the female kamionowski, jerzy. “homeward dove: nomadism, “world”-travelling, and rita dove’s homecoming(s)”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 12-21. persona states: “my heart, shy mulatto, wanders toward / the salt-edged contours of rock and sand / that stretch ahead into darkness” (dove 1993: 25). taken as a confession, these words express dove’s longing to venture into new territories, confronting unfamiliar landscapes, being lured by the endlessness of experiences promised by new vistas waiting in the fascinating darkness on the horizon. in the context of a clearly romantic relationship between the speaker and augustus, the next line: “but you stand in the way,” can be understood as a realisation of the limitations represented by a permanent relationship that the young female subject is not yet ready for. instead of settling down, she chooses to follow her desire to wander. however, this statement should not be read merely in a narrowly personal manner since augustus is not only the persona’s lover but also a us soldier stationed in the middle east and happy to move up in military ranks, as clarified by “back,” a poem which comes immediately after “wake”. the solidity of this figure represents an obstacle on the way to poetic-cum-personal development; walking past him becomes a necessary step towards selfdefinition. in this way dove problematises her human-and-poetic position, emphasizing both selfawareness as a black woman who just in time’ saves herself from being trapped in a love plot and americanness (symbolized by augustus), associated with colonizing the world by military control and economic exploitation of its natural resources. for him kuwait equals career: “down / through columns of khaki and ribbons, / escorted at night.../ you think: how far i’ve come,” whereas she – as we remember – remains mesmerized by “[t]he salt-edged contours of rock and sand” (dove 1993: 26), completely useless from a pragmatic point of view, and longs for “darkness” which gains an additional racial meaning as it is wandered toward by the poet’s “heart” referred to as a “shy mulatto.” in contrast with augustus’s certainty and, to use marilyn frye’s (1983) term, his masculinist/capitalist-cum-military “arrogant perception” of the world, the result of which is reduction of the metaphysical desert landscape into merely “the radiance / of oil fields” (dove 1993: 26), the female persona prefers a non-intrusive exploration of the world, whose pre-condition is ‘shyness’ and emotional involvement. it must also be noticed that the speaker refers to her heart not only as “shy” (which excludes any possibility of conquering and exploiting other lands or lands of other(s), suggesting gentleness, sensitivity, and respect for the object of perception although not timidity, let alone fear), but also as “mulatto,” which brings to mind the concept of “cultural mulatto” launched by trey ellis in his new black aesthetic manifesto. as ellis (1989: 235), who classifies himself in this category, puts it: a cultural mulatto, educated by a multi-racial mix of cultures, can also navigate easily in the white world... we no longer need to deny or suppress any part of our complicated and sometimes contradictory cultural baggage to please either white or black people...today’s cultural mulattoes echo those ‘tragic mulattoes’ critic sterling brown wrote about in the thirties only when they too forget they are wholly black. even though ellis’s proud announcement of the rich complexity of his cultural mulatto experience and enthusiastic expansionism is checked by dove’s strategy of ‘shyness’, she, too, combines an exploration of the “multi-racial mix of cultures” with a constant awareness that as a person and poet she is “wholly black”. it seems that for dove-the-cultural-mulatto her natural habitat is a constantly changing landscape, the moving through of which allows her not only to discover the world, but also comprehend and actively reshape her identity, so as to avoid entrapment in the cage of the narrowly defined category of blackness forged by luminaries of the black power and black arts movements. her personal and artistic freedom is achieved through intellectual confrontation with the experiences of other people – experiences which occurred at different times in history in various, frequently distant, places kamionowski, jerzy. “homeward dove: nomadism, “world”-travelling, and rita dove’s homecoming(s)”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 12-21. in europe, asia, north africa and north america. this strategy protects her from the black solipsism of the earlier generation, and simultaneously makes her acutely aware of subtle aspects of her own personal/poetic identity resulting from an interaction between specific categories such as gender, race, class, education and age. it is difficult to resist the impression that her movement in space, and the fluidity of experience that it generates, allows dove to rebel against the concept of blackness as a strict, predominant and self-explanatory category defining african american identity, and anchoring it within the limits of what baraka calls home: the black ghetto, black history, black culture, black ideology and black (self)awareness. simultaneously, her blackness becomes liberated as a result of this constant confrontation with other experiences and, in consequence, gives her freedom enough to revisit the old black neighborhoods. dove’s collections of poetry abound with references to various geographical sites and places – almost without exception mentioned by name – all over the globe: paris, versailles, florence, siena, rome, munich, willendorf, delft, tunisia, china, alexandria, argos, corinth, damascus, jerusalem, eastern europe, dominican republic, washington d.c., new england, kentucky, mississippi, alabama, louisiana to mention just a few locations actually visited by the poet or travelled to in imagination. also sometimes the very titles of her individual poems emphasize movement, changing places, being in a state of transition and impermanence: “the transport of slaves from maryland to mississippi,” “early morning on the tel aviv-haifa freeway,” “the sahara bus trip,” “corduroy road,” “on the road to damascus,” “on the bus with rosa parks,” “qe2. transatlantic crossing. third day.” thus, dove creates a poetic unquiet-spirit persona who does not wish to take root and remain situated or fixed in one place, and who simultaneously chooses strongly culturally-coded locations for her poetic peregrinations. in this sense she chooses to function as, to use ross posnock’s (1998: 12) term, a black “world citizen,” and also – by erudite implementation in her references to, and materials borrowed from, a range of cultures – follow the “cosmopolitan” (posnock 1998) path within the african american literary and intellectual tradition (e.g., dubois, locke, hurston, ellison, baldwin, hayden). dove’s critics and commentators have noticed the poet’s almost compulsive strategy of perpetual travel through physical-cum-cultural landscape. and as she herself says in a poem “early morning on the tel aviv-haifa freeway,” noticing discreet manifestations of intense horror and beauty of the world around her, “we should stop / but drive on” (dove 1993: 124), the critics often speak about nomadism as an essential quality in her works. nonetheless, they ascribe different meanings to this term: ekaterini georgoudaki (1991) and therese steffen (1997) talk about displacement, exile, and migrating in their respective discussions of dove’s ouevre, whereas malin pereira takes a somewhat separate and more precise view, emphasizing the fact that these are not categories resulting from one’s free choice, but are determined by the external circumstances. the latter critic acutely points out that the exile is not only “forever displaced” but also “in a sense ‘countryless’,” while the migrant changes one location for another and is “often fixed in a lower class” (dove 2003: 95) – surely not categories that apply to dove. pereira chooses to use rosi braidotti’s conceptualization of the term nomad which “does not stand for homelessness or compulsive displacement; it is rather a figuration for the kind of subject who has relinquished all idea, desire or nostalgia for fixity” (braidotti 1994: 22). for braidotti, nomadism is not merely the practice of moving from place to place, but rather a theoretical figuration for contemporary subjectivity – out of the phallocentric vision of the subject [that represents a] situated, postmodern, culturally differentiated understanding of the subject... this subject can also be described as postmodern/industrial/colonial, depending on one’s locations. in so far as axes of differentiation such as class, race, ethnicity, gender, age, and kamionowski, jerzy. “homeward dove: nomadism, “world”-travelling, and rita dove’s homecoming(s)”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 12-21. others intersect and interact with each other in the constitution of subjectivity, the notion of the nomad refers to the simultaneous occurrence of many of these at once. (braidotti 1994: 1,4) such an understanding of nomadism applies perfectly to dove’s way of speaking and probing the world in her poetry – and not only in the case of her mature poetry as claimed by pereira, since dove from the very first volume has spoken ‘in tongues’ as a black, american, mother, lover, daughter and granddaughter, erudite writer, artist, traveller, conference participant, etc., always negotiating with herself and the world the position from which she speaks. statistically, she is most frequently concerned with various aspects of female experience that become available to her not only from everyday personal and professional occurrences, but also through confrontation with the fates of individual women ranging from historical figures like fiametta, boccaccio’s beloved muse, speaking in despair about the plague; catherine of alexandria, who rebuked the emperor galerius valerius maximinus and was condemned to be broken on the wheel; catherine of siena, who received stigmata and became politically and socially active; tou wan from ancient china, who without open complaint accepts her inferior position as a woman and wife; nestor’s wife talking about her loneliness; claudette colvin, who was the first person to resist segregated buses in montgomery, alabama; and rasha the black dove – a circus artist painted by christian shad; to dove’s grandmother, whose life story is presented in the “canary in bloom” section of thomas and beulah; a slave woman pamela and her unsuccessful attempt to run away from a plantation; a house slave hearing her sister being raped; a slave belinda, petitioning the “honorable senat and house / of representatives of this country” to sever the “binds of tyranny” for blacks (dove 1993: 28); to the mythological demeter and persephone whose story is retold in the reality of contemporary paris. thus, it seems to be only partially true that – as georgoudaki (1991b: 430) says – dove “speaks with the authority of an artist who claims the world’s civilizations as her rightful heritage.” the poet herself goes further than that by giving voice to women so different from herself: by relating their fates without idealizing them, she deliberately and consistently alters the cultural landscape she travels through while simultaneously and continuously redefining her own identity in the process. confrontation with ‘otherness’ without being morally judgmental does not only concern dove’s poems about women. an identical approach can be seen in the case of the male characters she confronts in her works – including the dictator of the dominican republic rafael trujillo, who in 1937 “ordered 20,000 blacks killed because they could not pronounce the letter ‘r’ in perejil, the spanish word for parsley” (dove 1993: 136). in “parsley” dove attempts to reconstruct his thought processes along with his covert motivation for ordering the slaughter, yet she does so not in order to explain, let alone excuse the murderer, but in order to try to understand. thus, dove’s nomadism and movement through changing cultural landscapes turns out to be less an attempt to keep a poetic travelogue and more an epistemological strategy. without it, no serious – or even real – understanding can take place, a decided contrast to the attitudes advocated by her immediate poetic predecessors, the black arts movement activists such as amiri baraka and haki madhubuti, who demanded from african american poets that they, to use robert stepto’s (1979: 167) terms, ‘immerse’ in black culture rather than ‘ascend’ toward white artistic standards and norms like the ‘integrationists’ robert hayden or melvin tolson, choosing black particularity and cultural separatism over the so-called ‘universality’ of human experience. nomadism allows dove not only to avoid black parochialism, but also to discover and represent the relational character of human experience, working towards what george kent calls the “legitimate universalism” which, as has been already said, is a function of one’s experience rather than internalised intellectual constructs and assumptions. in this kamionowski, jerzy. “homeward dove: nomadism, “world”-travelling, and rita dove’s homecoming(s)”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 12-21. aspect it can be interpreted as a version of maria lugones’s “‘world’-travelling,” presented by her as an efficient way of knowing oneself and knowing others. the feminist philosopher lugones distinguishes two types of “worlds” and the two types of travel they determine: “[t]here are ‘worlds’ we enter at our own risk, ‘worlds’ that have agon [in roger caillois’ sense of the term], conquest, and arrogance as the main ingredients in their ethos...but there are ‘worlds’ that we can travel to lovingly and travelling to them is part of loving at least some of their inhabitants” (lugones 1987: 17). lugones extends hegel’s concept that “self-recognition requires other subjects” by disagreeing with him that “it requires tension or hostility” (lugones 1987: 17). she maintains that “travelling to someone’s ‘world’ is a way of identifying with them...because by travelling to their ‘world’ we can understand what it is to be them and what it is to be ourselves in their eyes. only when we have travelled to each others’ ‘worlds’ we are fully subjects to each other” (lugones 1987: 17). among the worlds that dove “travel[s] to lovingly” are the old black “unfamiliar neighborhoods,” a phrase that points out that her homecoming(s) are markedly and intentionally different from those of black arts movement poets of the 1960s/70s such as sonia sanchez for example. the latter poet in her manifesto-poem “homecoming” (sanchez 1969: 9) talks about two chronologically separate kinds of homecoming. the first one was visiting home after being away for a longer period of time during her studies in college, when she discovers her own estrangement from the place – she perceives her return as done “tourist style”. the second return that the poem talks about is the result of a mature decision (“now woman”). it also requires leaving behind the white intellectual world represented here by “freudian dreams” and “the newspapers.” the persona rejects this world as generating a false picture of black reality: “i have learned it / ain’t like they say / in the newspapers.” thus, for sanchez there existed only an either-or choice, an attitude characteristic of the black aesthetic period: the truly black artist rejects white discourse, merges with the black community and serves its spiritual and ideological needs. in dove’s poems, however, such regular returns are always treated with ambiguity and sometimes even with self-distancing (often ironic), which nonetheless does not erase love or any sense of belonging to the place. the most striking examples are provided by poems such as “‘teach us to number our days’,” “nigger song: an odyssey,” “shakespeare say,” “qe2. transatlantic crossing. third day” and “the pond, porch-view: six p.m., early spring.” “teach us to number our days” sketches a depressing picture of the ghetto landscape: in the old neighborhood, each funeral parlor is more elaborate than the last. the alleys smell of cops, pistols bumping their thighs, each chamber steeled with a slim blue bullet. low-rent balconies stacked to the sky. a boy plays tic-tac-to on a moon crossed by tv antennae… (dove 1993: 13) this is a dreary landscape of hopelessness, with everpresent violence and death, permeated by a claustrophobic atmosphere (“low-rent balconies stacked to the sky”) enhanced by the motif of imprisonment (“a moon/crossed by tv antennae”). dove’s poem evokes the subject matter and atmosphere of sonia sanchez’s “bubba” (1984: 55-58) which relates the story of the poet’s sensitive young schoolfriend, an artistic soul bubba who, kamionowski, jerzy. “homeward dove: nomadism, “world”-travelling, and rita dove’s homecoming(s)”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 12-21. trapped in ghetto life with its lack of any prospects, becomes a drug addict who finally ends his life by jumping off a roof. nevertheless, unlike sanchez’s short story-poem, dove’s is no didactic ‘consciousness raising’ text, but a disinterested statement of hard facts. in consequence, it should come as no surprise that “teach us to number our days” is followed by “nigger song: an odyssey” whose theme is escape out of this place: we six pile in, the engine churning ink: we ride into the night. past factories, past graveyards and the broken eyes of windows, we ride into the grey-green nigger night. … weeds clutch at the wheels; we laugh and swerve away, veering … the green smoke sizzling on our tongues... in the nigger night, thick with the smell of cabbages, nothing can catch us. laughter spills like gin from glasses, and “yeah” we whisper, “yeah” we croon, “yeah.” (dove 1993: 14) as pereira (2003: 59-60) claims, this poem “seems a next-generation response to being set free from the black arts movement...this generation is free... to ‘swerve away’ from the restrictions of the past, although the weeds ‘clutch at the wheels,’ free to go straight into the heart of blackness, the green again connoting the potential for growth.” it must be pointed out that such an interpretation results from the critic’s somewhat arbitrary decision to pair the poem with “upon meeting don l. lee, in a dream” (dove 1993: 12). however, placed after “teach us to number our days” with its bleak ghettoscape, it appears to treat more with the impossibility of leaving home even in a situation when black youth are free from the necessity to obey the artistic and ideological proscriptions of their elder brothas and sistuhs. the poem is replete with references to intoxication and altered states of consciousness: “the greygreen...night,” “weeds”, “the green smoke sizzling on our tongues”, “[l]aughter spilling like gin from glasses,” suggesting that dove may here be confronting her own suspicion or even anxiety that, in spite of her generation’s freedom from ideological obligations, escaping the ghetto is still only an illusion since the joyride ends at the point of departure: “we ride / into the gray-green nigger night. / … / thick with the smell of cabbages,” in whose context the proud and arrogant statement “[n]othing can catch us” sounds tainted with irony and ignorance. the poem seems to say that there is no escape but navigating a long way back home – hence the subtitle: “an odyssey.” the theme of homecoming has appeared regularly in dove’s subsequent collections of poetry. its importance and discreet centrality in the output of the author of thomas and beulah becomes evident when dove opens her 1993 selected poems with an “introduction” that contains a long poem “in the old neighborhood” (dove 1993: xxii-xxvi) which describes her visit home for her sister’s wedding after a longer absence. the poem’s mood is far from joyful and affirmative (unlike that of nikki giovanni’s childhood and home poems, her signature-poem “nikki-rosa” for instance): the central image being a recollection of a starling “caught in the blades” (dove 1993: xxv) of an attic fan. here dove clearly makes an allusion to her bird-surname, choosing for herself as a poet and person the role of a homing kamionowski, jerzy. “homeward dove: nomadism, “world”-travelling, and rita dove’s homecoming(s)”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 12-21. pigeon – a bird that regularly flies long distances away from home but always returns to the nest. nonetheless, this homewardness of dove’s poetic “world”-travelling has its price in anxiety and uncertainty, which seem to serve as a pre-condition for a sense of belonging to a particular black location. characteristically, the poet deals with them either by adopting someone else’s voice or by assuming an ironic tone when speaking in the first person singular. they come forward most conspicuously in “shakespeare say,” “qe2. transatlantic crossing. third day” and “the pond, porch-view: six p.m., early spring.” the first poem, which maintains a subtle dialogue with langston hughes’s “the weary blues,” concentrates on the experience of champion jack dupree, a black blues singer who extensively toured europe, staying away from home for extended periods of time. when caught in winter in munich (rita dove also lived in germany for a few years) he moans to himself: my home’s in louisiana, my voice is wrong, i’m broke and can’t hold my piss; my mother told me there’d be days like this. (dove 1993: 91) it must be emphasized, however, that the musician’s complaints are made with full awareness that “even the mistakes/sound like jazz” (90), which means that they are necessary part of his blues identity, essential for his artistic creativity. being broke, ill, in bad singing form, and far away from a home talked about with ironic distance, all allow dupree to maintain authenticity on stage. in “qe2. transatlantic crossing. third day” dove herself reveals a similar paradox connected with travelling in the “world” of blackness rather than living in it: here i float on the lap of existence. each night i put this body into its sleeve of dark water with no more than a teardrop of ecstasy, a thimbleful of ache. and that, friends, is the difference– i can’t erase an ache i never had. not even my own grandmother would pity me; instead she’d suck her teeth at the sorry sight of some negro actually looking for misery. well, i’d go home if i knew where to get off. (dove 1999: 84-5) significantly, the middle passage cannot be experienced second-hand or as a simulation of historical experience of transported slaves in the act of creative imagination, and when an attempt is made to pretend it can, it results in nothing more than mediocre, pathetic emotions: “a teardrop of ecstasy, a thimbleful of ache.” “world”-travelling, which becomes nothing more than “float[ing] on the lap of existence” and turns into “actually looking for misery,” ends in the speaker’s disorientation and confusion concerning the question of where home is and where her journey ends. kamionowski, jerzy. “homeward dove: nomadism, “world”-travelling, and rita dove’s homecoming(s)”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 12-21. as a result, dove’s subject is caught in a permanent movement whose result is, on one hand, the defamiliarization of black “neighborhoods” and on the other, disappointment mixed with resignation to the possibility that the journey has come to its end ‘right here, right now.’ this point is made perfectly clear, even though characteristically to dove slightly ironically, in “the pond, porch-view: six p.m., early spring,” a poem closing her 1999 collection titled on the bus with rosa parks: where i’m now is more like riding on a bus through unfamiliar neighborhoods– chair in recline, the view chopped square and dimming quick. i know i vowed i’d get off somewhere grand; like that dear goose come honking down from canada, i tried to end up anyplace but here. who am i kidding? here i am. nevertheless, if the irony of this excerpt is interpreted as a device screening the speaker’s relief which is revealed in the final short statement “here i am,” we can conclude that dove perceives her poetic nomadism and her homecoming(s) not in terms of antinomy but dialectic (in hegelian sense of the term). contrary to being mutually exclusive, the two terms, which organise dove’s understanding of role of an african american poet of the postblack arts movement generation, function as mutually complementary opposites necessary for successful “world”-travelling based on constant departures from and returns back to the old black – forever unfamiliar – neighborhoods. references braidotti, rosi. 1994. nomadic subjects: embodiment and sexual difference in contemporary feminist theory. new york: columbia university press. dove, rita. 1993. selected poems. new york: vintage books. dove, rita. 1999. on the bus with rosa parks. new york and london: w. w. norton & company. 84-5. ellis, trey. 1989. the new black aesthetic. callaloo no. 38. 233-243. frye, marilyn. 1983. the politics of reality: essays in feminist theory. trumansburg, new york: crossing press. georgoudaki, ekaterini. 1991a. race, gender, and class perspectives in the works of maya angelou, gwendolyn brooks, rita dove, nikki giovanni, and audre lorde. thesaloniki: aristotle university of thesaloniki press. georgoudaki, ekaterini. 1991b. rita dove: crossing boundaries. callaloo vol. 14, no. 2. 419-433. kent, george. 1972. blackness and the adventure of western culture. chicago: third world press. lugones, maria. 1987. playfulness, “world”-travelling, and loving perception. hypatia vol. 2, no. 2. 3-19. kamionowski, jerzy. “homeward dove: nomadism, “world”-travelling, and rita dove’s homecoming(s)”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 12-21. pereira, malin. 2003. rita dove’s cosmopolitanism. urbana and chicago: university of illinois press. posnock, ross. 1998. color & culture. black writers and the making of the modern intellectual. cambridge, massachusetts and london, england: harvard university press. sanchez, sonia. 1969. home coming. detroit: broadside press. sanchez, sonia. 1984. homegirls & handgrenades. new york: thunder’s mouth press. steffen, therese. 1997. crossing color: transcultural space and place in rita dove’s poetry, fiction, and drama. new york: oxford university press. stepto, robert. 1979. from behind the veil: a study of afro-american narrative. urbana: university of illinois press. foulds, peter. “steinbeck, guthrie and zanuck: a dust bowl triptych. the intertextual life of the grapes of wrath on paper, celluloid and vinyl”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 50-58. peter foulds the university of bialystok steinbeck, guthrie and zanuck: a dust bowl triptych. the intertextual life of the grapes of wrath on paper, celluloid and vinyl abstract. in a world where the arts have become one more target for multimedia corporations it is worth remembering the more authentic intertextuality of works which appeared around 1940, i.e. john steinbeck’s the grapes of wrath, darryl f. zanuck and john ford’s film of the same name, and the songs of woody guthrie. never before had literature, cinema and song been so intimately and powerfully linked, and nothing since has come near to replicating this unique symbiosis. keywords: dust bowl, great depression, intertextuality. along with blatant product placement in films hollywood accountants today build into their projects spin-offs and tie-ins, such as board games, school accessories, books of the film, clothing, and anything else that can capture the imaginations and money of the audience. in a less cynical age the process was more organic. john steinbeck’s the grapes of wrath (published 75 years ago this april) inspired darryl f. zanuck and john ford to make their great film of the same name, and woody guthrie to write songs celebrating its characters. as the journalist alan yuhas recently pointed out, “[steinbeck] inspired cesar chavez and john kennedy; bruce springsteen and woody guthrie (and by extension rage against the machine); john ford and south park.” yunas goes on to say that the grapes of wrath “means just as much to the us now as it did in 1939, when the dust bowl destroyed the american west, the economy lay in tatters, a minority held the keys to the bank, and a vast migrant population wandered without homes or rights.” (www.theguardian.com.). the relevance of the book, the film and the songs is today undisputed, and the harmony of the intertextuality involved has never been equalled, let alone bettered. historical background in the 1930s a great tragedy befell the southern plains of the united states, with kansas, oklahoma, northwest texas, new mexico and colorado worst affected. vast tracts of land, exhausted by bad farming practice, simply blew away into the air, choking homesteads, farms and communities, and the people who inhabited them; thousands died of ‘dust pneumonia’ or because of the hardships suffered on the road as they escaped. the result became known as the dust bowl, or the dirty thirties, and it forced the largest peacetime migration in u.s. history; by 1940 2.5m people had left the plains states. coming so soon after the wall street crash of october 1929 it is perhaps too easy to blame the seemingly heartless actions of banks which foreclosed on impoverished farmers on the unregulated, laissez faire economic climate which had prevailed in the twenties. the fact is that a combination of events, both natural and man-made, caused the disaster. two hundred thousand or so headed west, through new mexico or colorado and arizona, to what they thought might be a better life in california. the historically unique plight of the migrants was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqnmrynpq9u&feature=kp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqnmrynpq9u&feature=kp foulds, peter. “steinbeck, guthrie and zanuck: a dust bowl triptych. the intertextual life of the grapes of wrath on paper, celluloid and vinyl”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 50-58. of course witnessed and documented by news media at the time, best illustrated by the haunting photographs of dorothea lange, but the fact that this disaster was forever burned into the collective psyche of americans is because john steinbeck, woody guthrie and darryl f. zanuch produced works of art that searingly told the heartbreaking story of the dust bowl refugees. in literature, cinema and song their dust bowl triptych stands as testimony to what artists can do to raise consciousness and to change society. the seeds of disaster after the civil war, the new railroad, along with the wartime homestead act of 1863, encouraged migrants to head west to the great plains, an area which was unsuitable for intensive agriculture because it suffered prolonged periods of drought between deceptively promising periods of good rains. at first cattle were raised, but after several harsh winters in the 1890s the settlers turned to arable farming. a period of wet years, along with increased prices for crops during wwi, further encouraged farmers to intensify production, and real estate companies coined the ludicrous slogan, “rain follows the plow”. land was overploughed, crop rotation was not used and stubble was burned, and these abuses, coupled with more droughts, led to the atrocious conditions of the dust bowl. by 1931 the over-ploughed land had lost its layer of native grasses, and was unable to resist yet another water shortage. the dust storms began: fourteen that year and nearly forty in 1932. in november 1933 a storm removed the topsoil from south dakota farmland, and in one of the worst storms, in may, 1934, the dust blew for two days and blew away the topspoil over vast areas of the great plains. worse was yet to come. on “black sunday”, april 14, 1935, as many as twenty dust storms raged across the plains. woody guthrie remembered that day in an interview with alan lomax for the u.s. library of congress archive in 1940: it got so black when that thing hit we all run into the house, and all the neighbors had congregated…we sat there in a little old room and it got so dark you couldn’t see your hand before your face. you couldn’t see anybody in the room. you could turn on…a good strong electric lightbulb in a little room…and that electric lightbulb hanging in the room looked just about like a cigarette a’burning. (lomax, library of congress interview.) the dust bowl left homes and farms uninhabitable, and the suffering was appalling, with already impoverished people, many heavily in debt, having to fight an unequal battle with the relentless and merciless dust. it was hopeless, and at last they faced up to the inevitable and hit the road. it should be noted that not all the migrants were farmers. as farms became unworkable and uninhabitable, so did towns, and about a third of those that left the dust bowl area were white collar workers, although the majority who chose to head west to california were, naturally enough, farming folk. on their way west these migrants, perhaps understandably, met with hostility in the areas they passed through. these were hard times for everybody, and the great depression hardened hearts which might otherwise have been welcoming. there was simply not enough work for everyone. the conditions on the road were miserable. people stopped where they were allowed to and set up squalid makeshift camps. the sanitary conditions and the hardship can only be imagined. the misery, degradation and exploitation would continue, to greater or lesser degrees, throughout the thirties, only partly alleviated by roosevelt’s new deal initiatives (most farm relief went to farmers; those who hit the road had lost their land). foulds, peter. “steinbeck, guthrie and zanuck: a dust bowl triptych. the intertextual life of the grapes of wrath on paper, celluloid and vinyl”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 50-58. hindsight is, of course, always 20/20, and we now know that the dust bowl was the result of greed and folly, but it seems that the lessons of the past are inconvenient to the powerful of the present. there is so much money to be made that it seems foolish to some not to reap the short term benefits. as alan yunas argues: “today, megafarms and meat companies carve out sections of the market, divide and conquer farmers with debt, and control the food industry; the culprits include cargill for corn, tyson for meat, and monsanto for its infamously creative genetics.” (www.guardian.com) the artists woody guthrie was born in okemah, oklahoma in 1912. raised in a fairly prosperous family whose fortunes swiftly declined amid great personal suffering and tragedy, guthrie left school early and began making a living by signwriting and with his guitar, playing traditional american folk songs, as well as english and scottish tunes. guthrie describes okemah in his semi-autobiographical novel bound for glory: okemah was an oklahoma farming town since the early days, and it had about an equal number of indians, negroes, and whites doing their trading there. […] ours was just another of those little towns, i guess, about a thousand or so people, where everybody knows everybody else; and on your way to the post office, you’d nod and speak to so many friends that your neck would be rubbed raw when you went in to get your mail if there was any. (guthrie, bound for glory. p.37) married at 19, guthrie moved with others from the plains states when the dust came. his music was earthy, accessible, and immediately resonated with the people whose lives he shared. one of guthrie’s many ‘dust bowl ballads’ is ‘dust can’t kill me’: that old dust storm killed my baby but it can’t kill me, lord and it can’t kill me that old dust storm killed my family but it can’t kill me, lord and it can’t kill me that old landlord and he got my homestead but he can’t get me, lord and he can’t get me that old dry spell killed my crop, boys, but it can’t kill me, lord and it can’t kill me (guthrie, dust bowl ballads.) john steinbeck, ten years guthrie’s senior, was brought up in a rural californian town, and although his family was established and well-off he was well aware of the hardships of migrant workers. it was these hardships, along with steinbeck’s increasingly radical politics, that inspired him to expand on seven articles he had written for the san francisco news in 1936 on migrant workers. their suffering angered him, and he took the opportunity to vent his considerable spleen in ‘the grapes of wrath’, which, as well as winning the pulitzer prize in 1940, was banned from libraries and schools, and ritually burned in california. the following quote shows the depth of steinbeck’s feelings, and where he thought the blame should lie: i want to put a tag of shame on the greedy bastards who are responsible for this. [the great depression and its effects]. (steinbeck, in benson 1990: 371) foulds, peter. “steinbeck, guthrie and zanuck: a dust bowl triptych. the intertextual life of the grapes of wrath on paper, celluloid and vinyl”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 50-58. in a later interview for albany university, new york, steinbeck seems more understanding of the residents of california and the towns along the way, whose often unfriendly reception of the migrants saddened and angered many of those on the road: when i wrote the grapes of wrath i was filled, naturally, with certain angers at people who were doing injustices to other people, so i thought. i realise now that everyone was caught in the same trap. if you remember, we had had a depression at that time. the depression caught us without the ability to take care of it. it took a long time for us to develop the agencies to take care of such economic difficulties. when the dust came people were starving and they had no place to go, and naturally they went in a direction in which they would not suffer from cold; they went toward california. they came in their thousands to california. and what did they meet? they met a people who were terrified of depression, and were horrified at the idea that great numbers of indigent people were being poured on them to be taken care of. they could only be taken care of by taxation. taxes were already high and there wasn’t much money about. they reacted perfectly normally: they became angry. and when you become angry you fight what you are angry at. they were angry at the newcomers. (albany university interview.) john steinbeck was aware of guthrie’s work, and recognised that the plain words guthrie used were in keeping with the lives of plain people with extraordinary problems: harsh voiced and nasal . . . there is nothing sweet about woody, and there is nothing sweet about the songs he sings. but there is something more important for those who will listen. there is the will of the people to endure and fight against oppression. i think we call this the american spirit. (klein 1981: 160) in the grapes of wrath the joad family, made homeless by the effects of the great depression and the dust bowl, head out to california along with thousands of others in search of work. on their travels they encounter the highly politicized hostility prevalent among farmers and farm owners, as well as their henchmen, the police and their often hastily sworn-in deputies, often little more than thugs who acted as strike-breakers and agentsprovocateurs. politically aware people in the thirties would have recent memories of violence against workers. in 1914 a tent colony of striking miners in ludlow, colorado was brutally attacked by the colorado national guard. two women and eleven children were burned to death in a tent set on fire by national guardsmen. this incident became known as the ludlow massacre (commemorated in a song by guthrie). the strike saw perhaps two hundred dead in total. this incident, along with many others, politicized some and terrified more american working people. just a year after the book’s publication the film producer darryl f. zanuck put it on the screen, with john ford directing and henry fonda playing the main character, tom joad. before production started, the politically conservative zanuck sent people out to california to see whether steinbeck had exaggerated the migrants’ conditions. they reported back that he hadn’t. in fact, elanor roosevelt, no less, defended steinbeck’s accuracy. (shillinglaw). steinbeck himself said that, if anything, he had underplayed the suffering so as not to demand too much of his readers’ credibility. the result was a film of great honesty and power, with john ford’s masterful direction and gregg toland’s inspired cinematography doing justice to a superb cast lead by fonda. foulds, peter. “steinbeck, guthrie and zanuck: a dust bowl triptych. the intertextual life of the grapes of wrath on paper, celluloid and vinyl”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 50-58. in the film we see an agricultural labour agent challenged by migrants who have become aware of the underhand tricks of the big landowners. the edited text below is from screenwriter nunnally johnson’s screenplay: agent: you men want to work? pa: sure we wanta work. where’s it at? agent: tulare county. fruit’s opening up. need a lot of pickers. first man: what you payin? agent: well, can’t tell exactly, yet. ‘bout thirty cents, i guess. floyd (quietly): all right, mister. i’ll go. you just show your license to contrack, an’ then you make out a order, where an’ when an’ how much you gonna pay, an’ you sign it an’ we’ll go. agent (ominously): you trying to tell me how to run my own business? floyd: ‘f we’re workin’ for you, it’s our business too. agent (tough): listen, smart guy. i’ll run my business my own way (the squatting men have risen one by one.) floyd: twicet now i’ve fell for that line. maybe he needs a thousan’ men. so he get’s five thousan’ there, an’ he’ll pay fifteen cents a hour. an’ you guys’ll have to take it ‘cause you’ll be hungry. agent (turning): joe! (the other man gets out of the coupe. he wears riding breeches and laced boots, carries a pistol and cartridge belt, and there is a deputy sheriff’s star on his brown shirt) deputy (entering): what’s the trouble? agent (pointing at floyd): ever see this guy before? deputy: what’d he do? agent: he’s agitatin’. deputy: hmmm. (giving floyd a looking over) seems like i have. seems like i seen him hangin’ around that used car lot that was busted into. (sharply) get in that car. tom: you got nothin’ on him. deputy: open your trap again and you’ll go too. agent (to the men): you fellas don’t wanta lissen to troublemakers. deputy: might be a good idea to do what he says. too many of you okies aroun’ here already. folks beginnin’ to figger it ain’t maybe “safe”. might start a epidemic or sump’n. (after a pause) wouldn’t like a bunch a guys down here with pick handles tonight, would you? (www.dailyscript.com) local people, scared for their own jobs, were easily convinced that the migrant workers were communists. the following passage from the book is a report of a landowner’s take on the politico-economic nuances of the situation: …well, he’s all a time talkin’ about “them goddamn reds”. “goddamn reds is drivin’ the country to ruin,” he says, an’ “we got to drive these here red bastards out”. well, there were a young fella jus’come out west here, an’ he’s listenin’ one day. he kinda scratched his head an’ he says: “mr hines, i ain’t been here long. what is these goddamn reds?” well, sir, hines says: “a red is any son-of-a-bitch that wants thirty cents an hour when we’re payin’ twenty-five! (steinbeck, the grapes of wrath, p. 349) despite what some have said, including guthrie’s great admirer pete seeger, woody guthrie was not a communist. he wrote for communist papers and sang at communist meetings, but he was never cut out to be a doctrinaire political animal. he was a true man of the people, and a faithful chronicler of the dust bowl in song. not apolitical, just too foulds, peter. “steinbeck, guthrie and zanuck: a dust bowl triptych. the intertextual life of the grapes of wrath on paper, celluloid and vinyl”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 50-58. independent to take part in the labrynthine machinations of communist politics; anyway the intelligentsia bored him. but guthrie knew all about the sherrifs and their thuggish deputies who enforced the landowners’ interpretation of the law. guthrie’s song, vigilante man, asks why poor people are willing to oppress other poor people in order to support their common oppressor. the song mentions perhaps the most important character from the grapes of wrath, jim casy, a former preacher who has lost his faith in the god of his fathers, but seems to have found a new, somewhat mystical faith in man: preacher casy was just a workin’ man, and he said, “unite all you working men.” killed him in the river some strange man. was that a vigilante man? oh, why does a vigilante man, why does a vigilante man carry that sawed-off shot-gun in his hand? would he shoot his brother and sister down? (guthrie, dust bowl ballads) in a broadcast on wnyc radio in 1940 guthrie talked about being inspired by the film to write the ballad of tom joad: here’s a song that has to do with a book and a motion picture that come out here a while back by the name of the grapes of wrath, wrote down by a man, john steinbeck, that throwed a pack on his back and went right out among the people to see just what is going on in the united states, and it just so happened that he hit a jackpot because he knew where he was going, he knew what he was writing about. so, i didn’t read the book but then i seen the picture three times, and i come home, i sat down, i wrote up a little piece about it. the name of this is the ballad of tom joad. (yurchenco.) tom joad’s farewell to his mother must have deeply affected the cinema-going guthrie, as this extract from the song shows: tom run back where his mother was asleep he woke her up out of bed and he kissed goodbye to the mother that he loved said what preacher casy said, tom joad, he said what preacher casy said: everybody might be just one big soul well it looks that way to me, everywhere that you look in the day or night that’s where i’m agonna be, ma that’s where i’m agonna be. where every little children are hungry and cryin’ wherever people ain’t free, wherever men are fightin’ for their rights that’s where i’m agonna be, ma that’s where i’m agonna be (yurchenco.) ma joad, according to susan shillinglaw of san jose state university, is “...a feminist — feisty, strong, loving, resilient — and the kind of leader, then and now, who might guide the nation’s jalopy through difficult times.” shillinglaw goes on to argue that “america needs foulds, peter. “steinbeck, guthrie and zanuck: a dust bowl triptych. the intertextual life of the grapes of wrath on paper, celluloid and vinyl”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 50-58. a ma joad in the white house[...]president ma joad wouldn’t cut food stamps. she wouldn’t deny education to immigrant children. she wouldn’t trim funds for the homeless. she would remind each american that lending a hand to those at the bottom is a quality of the species, homo sapiens. preacher casy, the christ-like figure in the grapes of wrath, played by john carradine in the movie, is ultimately killed by vigilante men, but leaves behind a spiritual legacy that is deeply human and affecting. his theology is more sermon on the mount than pauline dogma; more thomas paine than karl marx; more christian, perhaps, than christianity. casy saw god in everyman, and held everyman responsible for his conduct towards everyone else. tom joad has to leave his family after killing a deputy, and his last speech to his mother encapsulates this almost pantheistic mysticism. nunnally johnson quotes the book almost verbatim in the film version: then i’ll be all aroun’ in the dark. i’ll be ever’where wherever you can look. wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, i’ll be there. wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, i’ll be there. if casy knowed, why, i’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’ i’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry an’ they know supper’s ready. an’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build – why, i’ll be there. see? god, i’m talkin’ like casy. comes of thinkin’ about him so much. seems like i can see him sometimes. (steinbeck, gow, p.494) seventy-five years ago migrant workers were treated abominably, but has much really changed? alan yunas states that: the obama administration has deported more people (about 2m – nearly four times the documented population of wyoming) than any other american government, and a congressional mandate to the border patrol requires they hold 34,000 undocumented migrants in custody every day. authorities chase farmers without papers through forests and across deserts, splitting families and deporting lifelong residents. nor do steinbeck’s stories of police abuse seem out of place in a country where local law enforcement sometimes merits federal inquiry (www.theguardian.com). in 1962 john steinbeck was awarded the nobel prize for literature. in his acceptance speech steinbeck seems to say much the same thing his characters had said over twenty years before. in his closing remarks he starts by referring to the detonation of the atom bomb, before subverting a scriptural passage in order to highlight man’s own responsibility for his actions: less than fifty years after his [alfred nobel’s] death the door of nature was unlocked, and we were offered a dreadful burden of choice. we have usurped many of the powers we once ascribed to god. fearful and unprepared, we have assumed leadership over the life or death of the whole world, of all living things. the danger and the glory and the choice rest finally in man. the test of his perfectibility is at hand. having taken god-like power, we must seek in ourselves for the responsibilty and the wisdom we once prayed some deity might have. man himself has become our greatest hazard and our only hope. so that today st. john the apostle may well be paraphrased: “in the end is the word, and the word is man, and the word is with men.” (steinbeck, nobel speech.) many books have been adapted for the screen, and many famous songs are associated with the films in which they were used, but there has ever been intertextual symbiosis to the http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/09/washington-undocumented-migrants-la-migra-deportation foulds, peter. “steinbeck, guthrie and zanuck: a dust bowl triptych. the intertextual life of the grapes of wrath on paper, celluloid and vinyl”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 50-58. extent that we have seen between john steinbeck’s great novel, woody guthrie’s evocative music, and zanuck and ford’s heart-rending film. that all of them are highly relevant to today’s world is both testimony to their power, and a reason to feel sadness and shame. references: guthrie, woody. bound for glory. e.p. dutton, 1943./penguin, london 2004. guthrie, woody. 1940. dust can’t kill me. dust bowl ballads, victor records, camden, new jersey. guthrie, woody. 1940. vilgilante man. dust bowl ballads, victor records, camden, new jersey. johnson, nunnally. the grapes of wrath. screenplay. www.dailyscript.com/scripts/grapes_of_wrath.html klein, joe. 1981. woody guthrie: a life. faber and faber, london. lomax, alan. 1940.“interview with woody guthrie”. archive of american folk music, library of congress, washington, dc. shillinglaw, susan. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/75-years-after-the-grapes-ofwrath-we-need-ma-joad-in-the-white-house/2014/04/18/79e8c894-c58b-11e3-bf7abe01a9b69cf1_story.html steinbeck, john. 1990. “letter to elizabeth otis”. quoted in benson, jackson j. john steinbeck, writer: a biography. penguin, 1990, new york, n.y. steinbeck, john. “interview with unknown interlocutor”. albany university, february 11, 1952. www.albany.edu/talkinghistory/arch2004jan-june.html steinbeck, john. 1991. the grapes of wrath, minerva. steinbeck, john. nobel banquet speech. stockholm city hall, 10 december, 1962. yunas, alan. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/14/grapes-of-wrath-75years-old-more-relevant-than-ever yurchenco, henrietta. prod. folk songs of america, leadbelly and woody guthrie. wnyc radio, new york, ny, 12 december, 1940. http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/grapes_of_wrath.html http://www.albany.edu/talkinghistory/arch2004jan-june.html http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/14/grapes-of-wrath-75-years-old-more-relevant-than-ever http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/14/grapes-of-wrath-75-years-old-more-relevant-than-ever crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 28-41 izabela olszak maria curie-skłodowska university, lublin graphic and semantic organizers as cognitive strategies in reading instruction abstract. the present article extends prior research on graphic and semantic organizers principally applied as a reading strategy. visual representation of information in a text and graphic and semantic organizers refer to different approaches to reading from the traditional, linear text representation. research demonstrates that powerful metacognitive strategies can be taught to help students monitor and improve their own reading comprehension. this study constitutes an attempt to shed light on the research evidence regarding the effectiveness of graphic and semantic organizers on text learning. as such, it highlights the nature of reading comprehension, various strategies applied in the process of teaching reading, and examples of graphic and semantic organizers for classroom applications. keywords: graphic and semantic organizers, reading comprehension, reading strategies. introduction reading comprehension is one of the most important processes while learning a foreign language. there is a spectrum of definitions concerning reading. reading is regarded as “a psycholinguistic process by which the reader, a language user, reconstructs as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display” (goodman, 1971: 22) “reading comprehension is a process of making sense of a written text. however, it is not a passive one-way decoding process. instead, it is an active two-way process in which the reader and the text interact, i.e. the reader tests clues from the text against his knowledge to arrive at an understanding of the text acceptable to the reader” (wong kee, 1997: 9). reading comprehension is a complex process involving many subcomponent skills and abilities. variability in comprehension outcomes has been linked to differences that concern the reader, the text, and factors related to the activity and the level of engagement (sweet & snow, 2003). what does reading involve? a number of studies have been carried out concerning the subject, nature and factors determining reading comprehension. researchers and educators are making efforts to build a comprehensive understanding of reading comprehension and its development (alexander & the disciplined reading and learning research laboratory, 2012; common core state standards initiative, 2010). some educators and researchers also try to identify the reasons why some students struggle with the reading tasks they have to carry out at school (e.g., kamil, 2003; perie, grigg & donahue, 2005; van dijk and kintsch 1983). the aim of this article is to analyse the most crucial aspects of teaching reading comprehension with the help of graphic and semantic organizers, and to discuss their nature and factors determining the process of comprehending a text. the author also aims to suggest the implementation of some of the examples of the aforementioned organizers in classroom teaching. crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 28-41 metacognition in the process of reading comprehension metacognition is defined as “cognition about cognition”, or “knowing about knowing”. it comes from the root word meta, meaning ‘beyond’. it can take many forms; it includes knowledge about when and how to use particular strategies for learning or for problem solving. there are generally two components of metacognition: knowledge about cognition, and regulation of cognition. 1 in other words, metacognition can be regarded as “thinking about thinking”. good readers use metacognitive strategies to think about and have control over their reading. they implement diverse strategies in the three stages of the process of reading comprehension. before reading, they define their reading purpose and preview the text. during reading, they monitor their understanding and adjust their reading speed to the difficulty of the text. after reading, they check their understanding of the read text. there are certain aspects which should be discussed when analyzing the process of reading. of utmost importance is readers’ awareness of the way in which language is used, whether reading in a first or second language. the development of this ability takes a remarkable amount of instructional time and effort. there are two groups of language skills involved in the integration of information across sentences and ideas in a text, namely higher level language skills and lower language skills. the former includes inference and integration, comprehension monitoring, and knowledge about text structure. all of them are essential in order for a reader to construct an integrated and coherent model of a text’s meaning. the latter group of language skills represents word reading accuracy and verbal and semantic skills. reading comprehension is associated with the creation of a meaning-based representation of the text, often called a mental model or a situation model (gernsbacher, 1990; johnson-laird, 1983; kintsch, 1998). in order to create an integrated and coherent model of a text both processes, namely integration and inference, are necessary. the local coherence is established due to the integration between adjacent clauses, whereas inferences about different events, actions, and states make the text cohere as a whole (graesser, singer, & trabasso, 1994). in the case of these two processes, it is necessary that the relevant information, either from the text or world knowledge, be both attainable and accessible. inference making is regarded as a central component of skilled reading (e.g. garnham & oakhill, 1996; graesser, singer, & trabasso, 1994). although less skilled readers are capable of inferential processing, they do not generate as many inferences as more skilled readers do (e.g. casteel, 1993; casteel & simpson, 1991; long, paris & upton, 1976). thus, it is important to establish which factors limit inference making within such populations. an inference can be made only when the requisite general knowledge, necessary to make that inference, is available (e.g. ackerman, silver, & glickman, 1990; casteel, 1993). potential individual differences in inference are often caused by general knowledge differences. there is an example of an inference worksheet attached below. 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/metacognition crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 28-41 source: http://www.ereadingworksheets.com/free-r crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 28-41 reading comprehension strategies there are various strategies applied in the process of reading comprehension. they are different at the stages of production, comprehension, and reproduction of discourse. one group of these may be called linguistic strategies, as it links textual and sentential structures with underlying semantic representations. the second group constitutes the cognitive strategies, as it involves the use of world knowledge, episodic knowledge and cognitive information, for instance opinions, beliefs, attitudes or plans. before analyzing major strategies of reading comprehension, it is most appropriate to get some insight into the notion of strategy in general. what exactly does a strategy mean? is the use of strategies in comprehending a text crucial? there are numerous definitions of strategy to be found. a strategy is “a high level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty. in the sense of the “art of the general”, which included several subsets of skills including “tactics”, siegecraft, logistics etc. (freedman 2013 at is 1). mintzberg defined strategy as “a pattern in a stream of decisions" (mintzberg, 1996: 119). this definition can be contrasted with mckenon’s (2011), who argues that “strategy is about shaping the future” and is the human attempt to get to “desirable ends with available means” (mckenon, 2011: 49). strategy can also be perceived as a type of problem solving (rumelt, 2011). rumelt writes that a good strategy has an underlying structure he calls a kernel. the kernel has three parts, namely the diagnosis that explains the nature of the challenge, a guiding policy in order to cope with the challenge, and coherent actions designed to carry out the guiding policy (rumelt, 2011). in general, strategies involve various actions, objectives and the concept of optimality. in other words, a strategy is the most relevant way which leads to achieving an aim. a strategy is often described as a cognitive representation of the same actions undertaken to understand something or reach a certain goal. it pertains to complex action sequences, which means that it is related to the notion of a plan. finally, another common notion usually used in connection with strategies, even as a synonym, is heuristics. this is a system of discovery procedures, namely operations undertaken to acquire knowledge which enables an agent to accomplish a goal or solve precise problems. a heuristic involves typical sorts of strategies which focus on acquiring knowledge that cannot be obtained automatically or obviously. it is often called a general path of proceeding or an outline for finding something (rumelt, 2011). the notion of a strategy also presents actions in the strict sense, that is the intended doings of humans. these actions include thinking, problem solving, specific operations and mental steps in order to reach an explicit goal. they are performed under our conscious control, and that is why we cannot or can only partly verbalize or analyze them. in general, strategies are the result of a mental process linked with much information. cognitive strategies appear if the process of gaining knowledge is consciously controlled and each step yields the information decisive for the next steps. what is crucial in the whole process? it is extremely vital to select or come up with a strategy that is good and fast in the understanding of new knowledge. a strategy will, in general, encompass higher levels of information processing, that is, the high-level strategic attempts of a problem solver (newell and simon, 1972). it also happens that the problem is analyzed as being divided into sub problems if it is perceived as complex or with no obvious solution. there is another more general strategic procedure which compares the nature of the obtained goal at the beginning and in the final stage of analyzing. a strategy is often understood as a production system which gives crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 28-41 information about problematic phenomena (newell and simon, 1972). the integration of newly found information into the knowledge set and old information leads to acquiring a certain strategy. it is important for our analysis that strategies in these cases also consist of stepwise, complex acts which lead to a certain aim. moreover, at each stage of the dispute several options are viable, and at the same time defined knowledge is accessible about context, consequences, participants and actions. from the preceding discussion, we can find out information about the definition and nature of strategies. for further dispute, it is still vital to establish the connection between applying the cognitive strategies and the process of teaching reading. it is necessary to present to what extent both aspects are dependent. reading behaviours (i.e. strategies and skills applied while reading a text) in the emergent stage of literacy, when children are not yet conventionally decoding print, focus later reading comprehension. what do we understand by the expression reading comprehension strategies? they constitute a conscious plan or a set of steps that good readers use to make sense of text. they assist students in becoming determined, active readers who control their own reading comprehension. readers differ in the way they comprehend texts. the differences are more often described in relation to two different levels of processing. the first level is reading accuracy and speed, and the second is about linguistic and cognitive abilities (e.g. working memory, integration of information, inference, and the use of metacognitive strategies; cain, oakhill, barnes & bryant, 2001). both levels are of the same importance. in addition, the insufficient development of lower level skills may prevent the deployment of higher level processes because of inaccurate or laborious reading (hoover & gough, 1990; stanovich, 1991). “reading comprehension is a complex process which involves conscious and unconscious use of various strategies to build a model of the meaning which the writer is assumed to have intended. the model is constructed using schematic knowledge structures and the various cue systems the writer has given (e.g., words, syntax, macrostructures, social information) to generate hypotheses which are tested using various logical and pragmatic strategies” (johnston, 1983: 103). there are seven in order to have a firm scientific basis for ameliorating text comprehension, namely: previewing, contextualizing, questioning to understand and remember, reflecting on challenges to your beliefs and values, outlining and summarizing, evaluating an argument, and comparing and contrasting related readings. students are already familiar with various reading strategies in their native language. however, it is extremely necessary to re-train them so that they can successfully apply the techniques to a second language. taxonomy of strategies one of the fundamental aspects in the process of developing reading comprehension is language learning strategies. the long-term process of teaching various strategies takes place at school, since students are taught how to synchronize traditional memory and comprehension strategies along with interpretative processes. below, there are numerous strategies that can be adapted in the process of teaching reading comprehension. direct strategies category definition/procedure actions/exercises memory creating mental connections contextualizing/associating words, semantic mapping, crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 28-41 applying images and sounds reviewing employing action creating mental images, providing keywords, reviewing words after longer intervals, applying mechanical techniques, cognitive practicing receiving and sending messages analyzing and reasoning creating structure for input and output repeating, recombining, using resources, quickly getting the idea, translating, transferring, deduction, taking notes, highlighting, summarizing compensation strategies guessing intelligently overcoming limitations in speaking and writing using various linguistic clues, approximating, selecting topics, applying gestures, coining words, indirect strategies metacognitive strategies centering your learning arranging and planning your learning evaluating your learning linking, overviewing, paying attention, metalinguistics, planning learning, establishing goals, selfmonitoring, self-evaluating, affective strategies lowering your anxiety encouraging yourself taking your emotional temperature relaxation, mediation, music, laughter, positive statements, rewarding yourself, body awareness, emotion checklist, social strategies asking questions cooperating with others empathizing with others clarification, verification, correction, peer support, interaction, developing cultural understanding, source: r. oxford, 1990 http://mste.illinois.edu/courses/ci407su02/students/stansell/strategies.htm learning strategies are often characterized as “specific actions, behaviors, steps, or techniques such as seeking out conversation partners, or giving oneself encouragement to tackle a difficult language task -used by students to enhance their own learning”(scarcella & oxford, 1992: 63). although there are numerous definitions concerning reading strategies, researchers agree that reading strategies are conscious actions undertaken by learners to achieve specific reading goals. reading strategies constitute essential factors while developing effective reading practices. researchers claim that both direct and indirect use of reading strategies lead to the improvement of reading comprehension ability. strategy training vs. motivation motivation is a fundamental factor when developing reading comprehension skills. theories concerning motivational strategies aim to explain why learners behave and think as they do. motivation is vital in the whole process of education, and there are various sources of it. crump (1995) points out that the main sources of motivation include excitement, interest, keenness, and enthusiasm towards learning. the levels and kinds of motivation differ from individual to individual. in other words, students may have various levels and amounts of http://mste.illinois.edu/courses/ci407su02/students/stansell/strategies.htm crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 28-41 motivation, as well as different kinds of motivation. teachers and students often perceive motivation as a factor which determines success or failure in learning. undoubtedly, motivation and its strategies are the primary impetus to launch foreign language learning. cook (2000) claims that language acquisition varies with learners. furthermore, he adds that there are three main elements which concern and influence the acquisition of foreign language, namely age, personality, and motivation. moreover, he highlights that among the above three issues motivation is the most crucial element in foreign language learning. types of motivation definition 1. integrative learning the language with the objective of participating in the culture of its inhabitants 2. instrumental implies that a learner acquires the language in support of an aim relating to occupation 3. intrinsic involves eagerness to participate in certain activities because a learner feels that they are attractive 4. extrinsic constitutes a tendency to engage in activities because of reasons which are not linked to the activity (e.g. reward or punishment) source: dӧrnyei, 1994; http://seas3.elte.hu/coursematerial/ collaborative reading collaboration is very significant in developing students’ reading literacy, but abuse of it will be a waste of time and will not bring good results in teaching reading. it is important to support students’ engagement with various reading behaviours, e.g. strategies and skills, and to engage them in some social reading experiences such as peer reading at school, or adult child reading at home. these social interactions are a critical aspect of emergent literacy instructions (paterson, henry, o’quin, ceprano & blue, 2003). from a socio-constructivist perspective (e.g. vygotsky, 1978) these social interactions support children’s engagement with reading behaviours in two ways: (1) they model the use of reading behaviours, and (2) they structure reading behaviours through the use of questions or prompts to help children learn when and how to engage with reading behaviours. in order to better understand these methods, one should study the interactions that arise in these social reading contexts and analyze how they are related to children’s engagement with reading behaviours. vygotsky (1978), known for his theory of social constructivism, believes that learning and development is a collaborative activity. students are cognitively developed in the context of socialization and education. for learning to occur, the child first makes contact with the social environment on an interpersonal level and then internalizes this experience. earlier notions and new experiences influence the child, who then constructs new ideas (vygotsky, 1978). according to the constructivist theories, learning is a social advancement that involves language, real world situations, and interaction and collaboration among learners. the learners are considered to be central in the learning process. monitoring comprehension crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 28-41 monitoring one’s reading comprehension means being able to understand what one reads. such students possess strategies to "fix" obstacles in their understanding as the obstacle arises. broad research in this field shows that instruction, even in the early grades, can help students become fluent at monitoring their comprehension. applying comprehension monitoring instruction allows students to be aware of what they do to understand, pinpoint what they do not understand, or adopt appropriate strategies to resolve problems in reading comprehension. as lehr & osborne (2006) expressed it: what they found was that good readers achieve comprehension because they are able to use certain procedures—labeled comprehension strategies by the researchers—to relate ideas in a text to what they already know; to keep track of how well they are understanding what they read; and, when understanding breaks down, to identify what is causing the problem and how to overcome it. (lehr & osborne, 2006). students use several comprehension monitoring strategies, for instance: they identify where the difficulty in the text occurs and what it is, restate the difficult sentence or passage in their own words, look back through the text, and look forward in the text for information that might help them to resolve the difficulty. graphic and semantic organizers graphic organizers help to illustrate concepts and relationships between concepts in a text. they are given different names, such as maps, webs, graphs, charts, frames, or clusters. they are extremely helpful in the process of reading comprehension as they assist readers in focusing on concepts and the way they are connected to other concepts. graphic and semantic organizers, originally called advanced organizers and then structured overviews, were primarily initiated by richard barron (barron, 1969), but have their roots in ausubel’s work. according to his cognitive theory of meaningful verbal learning, the use of graphic and semantic organizers intensifies students’ learning and retention of unfamiliar but meaningful materials (ausubel, 1960). his assumption was that new information is acquired when it is linked to the learners’ already existing cognitive structure (1968). therefore, the function of these organizers is to stimulate students’ prior knowledge and link the new material to the previously stored information, providing optimal anchorage and rendering the new material more familiar and meaningful (ausubel, 1960). another theory which is consistent with the above-mentioned is the schema theory (anderson & pearson, 1984). those authors claimed that the mind is composed of cognitive structures of knowledge, known as background knowledge, which obtain and assimilate the newly acquired information in order to enhance learning and retention of information. one has to find a “mental home” for the information in the text, or alter an existing one in order to accommodate the new knowledge (anderson & pearson, 1984). there are numerous advantages of applying graphic organizers, for instance they: help students focus on text structure differences between fiction and nonfiction as they read; they provide students with tools they can use to examine and show relationships in a text; they help students write well-organized summaries of a text. graphic and semantic organizers are visual and spatial ways to construct and represent ideas from texts, such as using tables and grids, venn diagrams, plot organizers, or concept webs. teachers need to show students how to select and use graphic organizers as thinking tools, supporting them to activate prior knowledge, develop new vocabulary, or show relationships between concepts (trehearne, 2006:159). interestingly, english as a second crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 28-41 language students and students with learning disabilities particularly benefit from their use (trehearne, 2006). some examples of graphic organizers: figure 1. concept map figure 2. concept map 1 source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/8479440545 semantic maps or webs are visual tools to highlight relationships between facts after reading an information text (see figure 1 and 2). alternatively, they can be used to show relationships between characters, settings, or events after reading narratives. these techniques are equally useful for organizing concepts before reading about a topic, becoming a tool for activating prior knowledge. figure 3. venn diagram 1 figure 4. venn diagram 2 venn diagrams are useful graphics for comparing and contrasting the attributes of two or more things (see figure 3 and 4). the teacher selects a non-fiction text about a research theme, such as regions in the uk, colonial times, or relationships, and students have to identity what is the same or different about two or three items. alternatively, a fiction text can be used, with good character development, and students identify what is the same or different about two main characters. another type of graphic organizer (see figure 5), which is mainly used in expository texts, is the matrix. this is a kind of input table, which confines the sum of the desired information within its square (graney, 1992; kang, 2004). it is used to delineate important categories or relationships, and depict similarities and disparities between two or more people, crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 28-41 things, places or events (graney, 1992; jones, pierce, & hunter, 1989). in order to design a matrix, learners need to identify which main aspects they wish to focus on and what types of relationships they wish to highlight (graney, 1992). the matrix has the additional advantage of presenting concept relations both hierarchically/vertically and horizontally in a twodimensional form facilitating the extraction of information. figure 5. matrix another example of a graphic organizer connected with improving reading comprehension is the story map (see figures 6 and 7, story map). it uses a graphic organizer to help students learn the elements of a story or a book. students become thoroughly engaged in the plot, setting, problem and solution, and learn the details. there are various types of story map graphic organizer. the most basic focus is at the beginning, middle, and end of the story. below is an example of such a story map. figure 6. story map 1 figure 7. story map 2 source: http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies another example is the semantic map or, in other words, web-like organizers. there are various names for these, for instance: mind maps, spider maps or sunbursts. they look “like a sun or star with rays emanating from it, as they consist of a circle with lines radiating from the circle” (graney, 1992: 164). they can be used to represent words, ideas, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea of the text, and depict relationships of the different components of an idea to the main idea, that is of the part to the whole (graney, 1992). these maps place the main idea in the centre around the relevant notion. they offer an overview of key vocabulary and concepts, providing a link between what students know and what they will learn and read, a type of brainstorming activity mainly http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 28-41 used before reading a passage to stimulate students’ background cognitive structure and to assess their knowledge in terms of the specific topic (vaughn & edmonds, 2006). figure 8. semantic map figure 9. semantic map source: http://www.studenthandouts.com/01-web-pages/k-6-ela-worksheets/ela-worksheets/vocabularyword-circles.htm some examples of online-generated techniques: 1. webbing this is a visual map that presents different data related to one another. webbing is typically used by learners, students, teachers and other professionals as brainstorming strategies for developing and connecting ideas while developing reading comprehension. http://www.inspiration.com/visual-learning 2. online reading skills practice crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 28-41 source: http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil http://englishinteractive.net/reading.html summing up, the literature review shows that graphic and semantic organizers have been successfully deployed with students during and after reading texts. as visual scaffolds they are conducive to activating prior knowledge, gaining an insight into text structure, and identifying as well as connecting the main ideas of a text, resulting thus in better recall and retention of information for the students. bearing in mind all the benefits of graphic and semantic organizers, teachers should implement this strategy in classrooms and train students in using it in order to help them become independent and self-regulated learners, especially after long-term interventions. references ackerman, b. 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(eds.). 2003. rethinking reading comprehension . new york , ny : guilford. trehearne, m. p. (ed.). 2006. comprehensive literacy research for grades 3-6 teachers. vernon hills: eta/cuisenaire. van dijk, t.a. & kintsch, w. 1983. strategies of discourse comprehension. new york: academic press. vaughn, s., & edmonds, m. 2006. reading comprehension for older readers. intervention in school and clinic, 41, 131-137. vygotsky, l.s. 1978. mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. cambridge, ma: harvard university press. is 1: http://www.twitch.tv/tankstriker/profile/followers (december 2014) http://www.twitch.tv/tankstriker/profile/followers crossroads. a journal of english studies 6 (3/2014), pp. 28-41 1 monika roszkowska the university of warsaw the evolution of translation standards as illustrated by the history of polish translations of jane eyre by charlotte brontë 1. introduction translation standards, techniques and trends change with time, as they do in any discipline. books considered as “classics” become subject to numerous re-translations, which, when viewed from a historical perspective, illustrate how the standards of translation practice have evolved. the present article examines three polish translations of jane eyre by charlotte brontë: the earliest one, by emilia dobrzańska (1880-1881), the classic one, by teresa świderska (1930) and the most recent one, by gabriela jaworska (2007). it looks at the strategies employed by the three translators, taking into consideration the historical contexts in which they appeared, their purpose, and the changes in translation theory over time. 2. jane eyre and its polish translators ‟most readers today encounter the classics through the medium of translation” (haynes, 2010:13), so a good deal of responsibility for the reception of literary classics rests with their translators. jane eyre, written by charlotte brontë in 1847, is a canonical book which has been rendered into numerous languages, including esperanto, and has sold millions of copies worldwide (mccauley 1997). it is a classic love story containing some elements of gothic fiction and bildungsroman, and takes place in nineteenth century northern england. although the book was first published quite a long time ago, it has been popular ever since as it tells the story of a relatively modern character with whom many present-day women can identify – it is a passionate depiction of a woman’s search for equality and freedom. a novel of this calibre could not be disregarded by polish translators. so far, three polish renderings have been published – they were done by emilia dobrzańska, teresa świderska and gabriela jaworska. dobrzańska’s translation, originally entitled janina, is the earliest one. it was first printed in installments as a supplement to the periodical tydzień in the years 1880-1881. in 2006 it was published in the form of a book by hachette livre polska. the publishing house made some changes while preparing it for publication. the title was changed to dziwne losy jane eyre; the punctuation and spelling were also modified, but the text itself was not altered in any significant way. examples discussed in the present study have been excerpted from the 2006 edition. emilia dobrzańska, née karczewska, was born in rożenek, poland, in 1853 (estreicher 1872–1882) and brought up in an affluent family. she attended a school for girls in piotrków trybunalski. later she was a teacher of botany and french there. after the school was closed down in the 1870s she opened another school for girls in the same place in 1881. unfortunately, two years later it was also closed down. however, dobrzańska did not give up. ostensibly to create a boarding house for girls, she opened a successful underground fourgrade educational institution for girls in 1883. in the meantime she married the lawyer, journalist and poet mirosław dobrzański, the chief editor of the periodical tydzień, where her 2 translation of jane eyre was published (web 1). apart from being a notable educational activist dobrzańska was also a prolific translator from french and english into polish, though the majority of her works are now inaccessible and, as a consequence, not much is known about her translation style. her english-polish translations include, in addition to jane eyre, venus and adonis by william shakespeare; she also translated the works of such french writers as henry gréville, réné de pont-jest, and andré valdés. as was the case with janina, many of them were published as supplements to periodicals, such as tydzień and dziennik łódzki. emilia dobrzańska died in 1925 at 72 years of age (estreicher 1872–1882). teresa świderska was the second polish translator of jane eyre. dziwne losy jane eyre was published in 1930 and has become the classic polish translation of jane eyre. not much is known about świderska’s life and writing style. what we do know, however, is that she also translated the bride of lammermoor, waverley and rob roy by walter scott, a tale of two cities and david copperfield by charles dickens, as well as some works of thomas woodrow wilson. gabriela jaworska is the latest polish translator of jane eyre – her version was first published in 2007. she was the first polish translator to reject a polonized title in favour of the original name jane eyre. her rendition is relatively new, and, as ‟one translation does not cancel out another” (haynes 2010:14), for the time being it cannot compete with the wellestablished version by świderska. when it comes to jaworska’s translation experience, her renderings include the works of contemporary writers of detective stories and children’s literature, e.g. “c” is for corpse by sue grafton, the series children of the red king by jenny nimmo, and nim’s island by wendy orr. apart from being a translator jaworska writes poetry – she has published three books of poems: listy (1997), czas budowania (2006), and pójdę na roztocze... (2010). 3. a contrastive analysis of the polish renderings of jane eyre by charlotte brontë the temporal distance which separates the three polish renditions of the novel as well as the individual linguistic choices of the translators result in numerous differences between the three versions of the book. the contrastive analysis which follows concentrates on the most characteristic differences between the translation strategies employed by the three translators with the aim of demonstrating how translation standards have evolved over time. 3.1.reduction and omission the most significant difference between dobrzańska’s translation and the other two is her frequent use of reduction and omission. this characteristic has already been noted by hadyna (2013) in her recent study of dobrzańska’s translation of jane eyre. omission, or as hadyna calls it, abridgement, is also found in other early translations of literary works, e.g. the first polish translation of alice’s adventures in wonderland by lewis carroll, which appeared in 1910 1 . it seems that some of the 19 th and early 20 th century translators simply wanted the polish audience to know what the famous books they decided to translate were about. the frequent use of omission by dobrzańska may have also resulted from the fact that her translation was published in installments in a periodical. she may have been limited by the space available there. in many cases dobrzańska merely summarizes what happens in the story. for instance, a 4-page-long passage in the original describing a conversation between mr. rochester’s guests about governesses is summarized in one sentence: tu nastąpił opis kilku nauczycielek u 1 see a. smoleńska’s article in the current issue. 3 panien ingram i nauczycieli apatycznego lorda, wzajemnych ich stosunków, etc. (‘here followed a description of several governesses working for the ingrams, the apathetic lord’s teachers, the relationships between them, etc.’ (chapter xiv, p. 96). the time spent by jane at lowood, described in about 60 pages in the book, takes 10 pages in her rendition. she omits the description of lowood with its buildings, its vicinity, teachers, students and school rigour, jane’s best friend, helen burns, her attitude towards life and god, as well as her premature death. likewise, the part of the book which describes the main heroine’s stay at the house of the rivers family and her experiences as a country teacher is reduced from about 120 pages in the original to a mere 25 pages in dobrzańska’s rendering. as a result, whole chapters of the source text are omitted. dobrzańska begins reducing the text from its first page. the original introduction: there was no possibility of taking a walk that day. we had been wandering, indeed in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (mrs. reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further out-door exercise, was now out of the question (chapter i, p. 5) is rendered as one short sentence: dzień był słotny i mroźny, nie sposób też było myśleć o przechadzce (‘the day was rainy and frosty, a walk was unthinkable’). (chapter i, p. 5) in many cases dobrzańska says what happened but fails to give any details, as in her translation of the following fragment: (…) only soon after breakfast, i heard some bustle in the neighbourhood of mr. rochester’s chamber, mrs. fairfax’s voice, and leah’s, and the cook’s that is, john’s wife and even john’s own gruff tones. there were exclamations of ‘what a mercy master was not burnt in his bed!’ ‘it is always dangerous to keep a candle lit at night.’ ‘how providential that he had presence of mind to think of the water-jug!’ ‘i wonder he waked nobody!’ ‘it is to be hoped he will not take cold with sleeping on the library sofa…’, (chapter xvi, p.108) which she renders as: dopiero około południa posłyszałam gwar od strony pokoju pana rochestera. służące, pani fairfax i domownicy, każdy dodawał swoje słówko a wszyscy dziwili się wypadkowi zaszłemu w nocy, dziękowali bogu, że ich pan prawie cudem uszedł niebezpieczeństwa. (chapter xii, p.80) sometimes, she not only makes the text shorter, but also modifies its content, as in her rendering of the fragment: that forest-dell, where lowood lay, was the cradle of fog and fog-bred pestilence; which, quickening with the quickening spring, crept into the orphan asylum, breathed typhus through its crowded schoolroom and dormitory (…). semi-starvation and neglected colds had predisposed most of the pupils to receive infection. (chapter ix, p.55) as: głód, zimno, brak powietrza i zdrowej wody w ciągu zimy sprawiły, że większa część wychowanek lowoodu padła ofiarą panującej w okolicy zarazy tyfusu. (chapter vi, p. 26) here, she changes the causes of the epidemic. in her version these are: starvation, cold, the lack of good air and healthy water. dobrzańska frequently omits the titles of literary works. for example, she renders [adelé] began [declaiming], ‘la ligue des rats: fable de la fontaine (chapter xi, p.73) as: [adela] deklamowała jakiś wiersz la fontaine’a, (chapter viii, p. 39) (‘some poem by la 4 fontaine’). also, when the source text contains a song or a piece of another literary work, dobrzańska omits them in her rendition. modern translators avoid reduction, in particular the reduction of long fragments of the source text (hejwowski, 2004:83). neither of the more recent renderings of jane eyre contains omissions comparable to those used by dobrzańska. 3.2.addition another technique found almost exclusively in dobrzańska’s rendering is addition, i.e. augmentation of the source language text by the translator (berman, in: venuti 2000:290). dobrzańska adds adjectives to the descriptions of various objects in the novel and gives additional information about the characters. for instance, in her rendering of the sentence she was occupied in knitting; a large cat sat demurely at her feet, (chapter xi, p. 68) the cat is black and the woman is knitting a stocking: robiła pończochę, a u nóg jej leżał olbrzymi czarny kot.(chapter viii, p. 33) when she translates the word snowflakes she adds the adjective gęste (‘thick’); the word christian is translated with the additional modifier prawy (‘righteous’), and the age of the character is added in her rendering of the sentence: they went, shutting the door, and locking it behind them (chapter ii, p. 10) into wyszły i zamknęły za sobą drzwi. zostałam sama, a miałam wtedy 10 lat (chapter ii, p. 8) (‘i was left alone, and i was 10 years old then’). possibly, the translator wanted to make the situation more dramatic. dobrzańska changed the expression god must have led me on (chapter xxvii, p. 222) into prowadził mnie tylko bóg i duch mojej matki (chapter xxiv, p. 203), thus adding the ghost of her deceased mother who, in her version, led the character together with god. what is interesting about this addition is the fact that the reader of the book knows next to nothing about jane’s mother – she is rather unimportant to the plot – therefore it is curious why dobrzańska decided on mentioning this figure in her translation. another example of addition can be seen in her translation of the sentence the ground was hard, the air was still, my road was lonely (chapter xii, p. 78) into ziemia była zmarznięta, powietrze bardzo chłodne, ale słońce jasne i dzień pogodny (chapter ix, p. 44) (‘although the ground was frozen and the air was cold, the sun shone brightly and the weather was fine’). her version changes the mood of the situation by making it more optimistic. sometimes the sentences she puts into the mouths of the characters are her own inventions. in her version, mr. rochester says: chorą i cierpiącą chciałbym cię stokroć więcej niż zdrową i szczęśliwą (chapter xxiv, p. 189) (‘i would rather you were ill and in anguish than healthy and happy’), which he never says in the original. such additions suggest that dobrzańska did not try to be neutral and objective while translating the novel. she offered the readers her own interpretation of the events and the characters’ motives. 3.3.substitution another technique characteristic of dobrzańska’s rendering of jane eyre is substitution. the term refers to a situation when a translator decides on substituting the original expression with one that has “little or no morpho-syntactic or semantic relation” (malone, in: taylor 2009:52) to it in the rendition. dobrzańska substitutes individual words with more or less related lexical items of her own choice. she translates garters as sznurek (‘twine’), a cameo head as lalka porcelanowa (‘a porcelain doll’), wild strawberries as jagody (‘blueberries’), a moth as żuk (‘a beetle’) porridge as kasza (roughly ‘semolina’), twilight as mgła (‘fog’), a bedfoot as wezgłowie łóżka (‘a bedhead’), a cold as kaszel (‘a cough’), a penknife as szpileczka (‘a pin’), a lark as jaskółka (‘a swallow’), doors as dziury (‘holes’), shrubs as drzewa (‘trees’), a great cabinet as 5 starożytna szafa (‘the ancient cabinet’), warm hand as chłodna ręka (‘cold hand’), fastidious as despotyczny (‘despotic’), stained as poczerniałe (‘blackened’), a snuff-box as szczypta tabaki (‘a pinch of snuff’), a chair as stołek (‘a stool’), a coach-house as stajnia (‘a stable’), knives as naczynia kuchenne (‘kitchen utensils’), a basin as szklanka (‘a glass’), a seed-cake as pierniki (‘gingerbread biscuits’), pudding as konfitura (‘jam’), a phial as słoik (‘a jar’), lips as powieki (‘eyelids’), a shoulder as szyja (‘a neck’), both jamaica and spanish town as madera, etc. she also substitutes longer fragments of the source text. for instance, she renders she boxed both my ears (chapter iv, p. 20) as uderzyła [mnie] w twarz (chapter iv, p. 15) (‘she hit me in the face’), she [adelé] touched my knee (chapter xvii, p. 119) as adela pociągnęła mnie za suknię (chapter xiv, p. 91) (‘adelé pulled my dress’) and at last both slept: the fire and candle went out (chapter iii, p. 15) into usnęły – a ja całą noc przeleżałam (…) przy świetle płonącego ogniska (chapter iii, p .11) (‘they both slept – and i stayed up all night lying by the fire’), bessie, you must promise not to scold me any more till i go (chapter iv, p. 28) with bessie, przyrzeknij mi, że nie będziesz się gniewać z powodu mojego wyjazdu (chapter iv, p. 19) ‘bessie, you must promise me not to be angry because of my departure’. similarly, dobrzańska replaces neither of us had dropt a tear (chapter xxi, p. 168) with ja jedna wylałam łzę rzewną (chapter xviii, p. 140) ‘it was only me who shed a tear’, which is another example of her intervention in the plot and interpretation of the events. another example is her rendering of the sentence some natural tears she shed on being told this; but as i began to look very grave, she consented at last to wipe them (chapter xvii, p. 116) as pocieszyłam ją jak mogłam, pieściłam i dziecko wkrótce zapomniało o doznanej przykrości (chapter xiv, p. 89) (‘i consoled her as much as i could, i caressed her and the child quickly forgot about the unpleasant experience’). here, dobrzańska completely changes the original scenario, for she suggests that jane pandered to little adelé’s whim, while in the original it was adelé who had to suppress her craving to go and see mr. rochester’s newly arrived guests, and translating did you ever hear that my father was an avaricious grasping man? (chapter xxvii, p. 213) as słyszałaś, że brat ten był skąpcem? (chapter xxiv, p. 192), which indicates that it was mr. rochester’s brother, not father, who was a stingy man. another area in dobrzańska’s translation where substitution is common is in references of time and number. first of all, dobrzańska frequently substitutes simple units of time. examples of this kind include translating: an hour as parę godzin (‘a few hours’), about an hour ago as przed chwilą (‘a moment ago’), perhaps two or three weeks as tydzień, góra dwa (‘a week or two’), for nearly a fortnight past as parę ostatnich dni (‘over the past few days’), it was yet but six [o’clock] as było już wprawdzie po siódmej (‘it was already past seven [o’clock]’), june as lipiec (‘july’), the 20 th of october as 20 listopad (‘the 20 th of november’), autumn as wiosna (‘spring’), and for two generations as przez parę wieków (‘several centuries’). also, changes in the grammatical aspect of the verb are often observable, for instance, when dobrzańska renders [she] began to remove my shawl (chapter xi, p. 68) as zdjęła ze mnie szal (chapter viii, p. 34). here, in the source phrase the action of removing has only just begun, while in the translation it has been completed. similarly, it happens from time to time that dobrzańska changes grammatical tenses. for example, she changes the present tense in the 28 th chapter of the original into the past tense in her translation (chapter xxv, p. 204). dobrzańska also often changes numbers which occur in the original. for example, she translates not three in three thousand raw school-girl-governesses would have answered me as you have just done (chapter xiv, p. 96) as na sto nauczycielek, ani jedna nie zdołała by się na to, co mi pani powiedziała (chapter xi, p. 66) (‘not one in a hundred …’) or she renders all the night i heard but three sounds at three long intervals, a step creak, a momentary 6 renewal of the snarling, canine noise, and a deep human groan (chapter xx, p. 147) into w ciągu całej nocy tylko raz słyszałam szmer kroków, mruknięcie podobne do warczenia psa i jakiś przeciągły jęk, (chapter xvii, p. 124), which suggests that jane heard three voices at the same time, or one after another. similar cases of number substitution include rendering a third of as połowa (‘a half of’), once or twice into dwa albo trzy razy (‘two or three times’), at the age of one-and-twenty as w dwudziestym roku życia (‘being twenty years of age’), two miles as trzy angielskie mile (‘three english miles’), an egg at the least as co najmniej parę jaj (‘a couple of eggs at the least’), etc. 3.4.overtranslation and undertranslation the techniques of overtranslation and undertranslation involve using expressions that are respectively too strong or too weak for the context (duff, in: chan and pollard 2001:716,1108). both of them result in non-equivalent translations (wang 2012). dobrzańska uses overtranslation more often than the other two translators. she writes about love when the original talks about fondness, e.g. when she renders: i don’t dislike you, miss; i believe i am fonder of you than of all the others (chapter iv, p. 28) as nie, dziecko, ja cię kocham więcej, niż ktokolwiek w tym domu (chapter iv, p. 20) (‘no, my dear, i love you more than anybody else in this house’). she also translates do you like him?(chapter xxxvii, p. 304) as czy go kochasz?(chapter xxviii, p.233) (‘do you love him?’). another case when overtranslation applies is translating ‘she’s done for me, i fear,’ was the faint reply (chapter xx, p. 148) as zabiła mnie, zabiła! (chapter xvii, p. 125) by dobrzańska and zamordowała mnie, lękam się brzmiała słaba odpowiedź (chapter xx, p. 323) by świderska. the sense of killing is conveyed by both translators. however, the connotative meaning of the original phrase is strengthened or even exaggerated – especially when it comes to dobrzańska’s version, which one can literally translate as ‘she killed me! killed me!’. the next example of employing the technique is apparent in her rendering of mr. rochester’s words ‘i wish you all good-night, now,’ said he, making a movement of the hand towards the door, in token that he was tired of our company, and wished to dismiss us (chapter xiii, p. 90) as nudzicie mnie, męczycie swoim towarzystwem, idźcie więc wszyscy precz! (chapter x, p. 59) (‘you bore me, you torture me with your company, go away from me!’). similarly, dobrzańska translates the phrase nor do i particularly affect simple-minded old ladies (chapter xiv, p. 92) as nie cierpię ich równie mocno jak starych bab o ograniczonym umyśle (chapter xi, p. 61) (‘i hate them as much as [i hate] narrow-minded old hags’). here, the translator changes the rather neutral words of mr. rochester into offensive language, thus making him a rude man. there are also a few cases of undertranslation in the polish renditions, for example dobrzańska’s rendering of the negative the wicked in the sentence do you know where the wicked go after death? (chapter iv, p. 23) as completely neutral dusze (‘souls’) (chapter iv, p. 16). another such case is translating clouds so sombre (chapter i, p. 5) as ciemne chmury (chapter i, p. 3) (‘dark clouds’) by świderska. the word ciemne only conveys the colourcomponent of the source expression and disregards the other connotations connected with clouds being ‘melancholic’. here, a closer equivalent is posępne chmury (chapter i, p. 9) – as it is translated by jaworska. 3.5. explicitation 7 explicitation involves “making explicit in the target language what remains implicit in the source language because it is apparent from either the context or the situation” (vinay and darbelnet, in: kwieciński 2001:127). in the polish translations of jane eyre explicitation often involves the category of gender. english specifies the gender of living beings less often than polish. it is then the translator’s task to decide whether a certain noun should be rendered as masculine or feminine in polish. thus, for instance, cat is masculine kot in dobrzańska’s translation, and feminine kotka in świderska’s rendering. similarly, the word servant is translated by dobrzańska as masculine sługa, and as feminine służąca by both świderska and jaworska. another example of this kind is the rendition of a cook as masculine kucharz by dobrzańska, and feminine kucharka by the other two translators. dobrzańska seems to prefer the masculine gender when the original does not make it explicit. in addition to the words with no gender marking there are also other english expressions which require specification in polish. for instance, when mr. rochester wants jane to take tea with him (chapter xiii, p. 84) the polish translator faces the choice between translating this expression as napicie się herbaty (‘drinking tea’) or zjedzenie podwieczorku ‘eating a light afternoon meal’. unfortunately for the polish translators the context does not indicate if it is a meal or just a cup of tea. dobrzańska and świderska choose ‘drinking tea’, while jaworska’s choice is ‘eating an afternoon meal’. another choice which the translators had to make involves finding the polish equivalent of dinner. świderska translated it as obiad (chapter i, p. 3) because it is the name of the main meal in polish, while jaworska chose the word kolacja (chapter i, p. 9) because it is eaten at a similar time as english dinner. in the context in which it appears in the novel, however, obiad seems more appropriate: we had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (mrs reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further outdoor exercise was now out of the question. (chapter i, p. 5) jaworska’s translation – kolacja, which is a meal eaten in the evening, does not really fit in the situation described by the author. another example of explicitation is apparent in rendering the match in the phrase the match was broken off (chapter xxii, p. 172) as małżeństwo by both dobrzańska and świderska, and narzeczeństwo by jaworska. though the match can be interpreted in two ways – as ‘marriage’ and ‘engagement’ only jaworska’s version, i.e. ‘engagement’, is appropriate in the context as mr. rochester and mrs. ingram do not get married in the book – they just plan to do so. 3.6. foreignization vs. domestication the choice between foreignization and domestication is one of the most basic decisions a translator has to make. domestication is “adopted [by the translator] in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for target language readers” (venuti, in: shuttleworth and cowie 1997:44), whereas by means of foreignization the target text retains something of the foreignness of the source text, thus deliberately breaking target conventions (venuti, 1995:20). nowadays, foreignization is preferred by most translators and translation theorists (venuti 1995:309-310), because a translator’s disregard of the reader’s knowledge and language skills equals treating the reader as inferior. moreover, the strategy of domestication has the negative connotations of the unreceptiveness to the foreign as shown by “aggressively monolingual” (venuti, in: shuttleworth and cowie 1997:44) superior cultures. 8 3.6.1. translation of proper names the choice between foreignization and domestication is visible in the translation of proper names. in accordance with the current trends in translation proper names should not be translated unless they carry a meaning which is contextually relevant or they have their recognized equivalent in the target language (newmark 1988:214, 2001:71). only minor changes in the spelling of proper names are acceptable, for they often facilitate the process of translation as well as reading in the target language (hejwowski 2004:98). probably the most numerous group of proper nouns in jane eyre is the category of first names. dobrzańska’s rendition abounds in polonized names. examples include the following renderings: jane as janina, georgiana as georgina, helen as helena, leah as liwia, sophie as zofia, grace as gracja, celiné as celina, adelé as adela, blanche as blanka, mary as maria, henry as henryk, frederick as fryderyk, louisa as luiza, richard as ryszard, alice as alicja, bertha antoinetta as berta antonina, giacinta as hiacynta, clara as klara, and rosamond as rozamunda. in the book there are two men named john – john reed, and john who is a servant. interestingly, dobrzańska translates the name of john reed into jan reed, but leaves the name of john the servant intact. she also modifies a few names, substituting hannah with anna, a dog’s name, pilot with pilote and the surname leaven with lieven. when it comes to świderska, she is not consistent with any particular strategy of dealing with proper names. some names are translated in her rendition, while others are left unchanged. for instance, she translates names such as celiné, adelé or alice, but she does not change, for example, sophie, mary or john. jaworska, as a rule, does not translate any first names in her rendition – with two minor exceptions of the dropping the final ‘h’: she changes hannah into hanna and leah into lea. there is another interesting example of a proper name in the novel: welsh rabbit, which is the name of a traditional british dish having, in fact, nothing to do with rabbit meat, as it consists only of pieces of toast accompanied by hot melted cheddar cheese. dobrzańska falls victim to this tricky term and translates the phrase i could fancy a welsh rabbit for supper (chapter iii, p.19) as mam ochotę na kawałek królika (chapter iii, p. 14) (‘i feel like eating a piece of rabbit’). when it comes to świderska, she provides the reader with a descriptive equivalent of the foreign concept: zjadłabym grzanki z serem na kolację (chapter iii, p. 34) (‘i feel like eating some toast with cheese for supper’). jaworska, in turn, decides to leave this specific term intact: mam apetyt na welsh rabbit na kolację (chapter iii, p. 27) (‘i have an appetite for welsh rabbit for supper’). 3.6.2. translation of foreign expressions jane eyre contains a lot of french inclusions, for the british aristocracy of those times was fascinated with the french language and culture. that is why mr. rochester, together with the members of his social circle, as well as little adelé, a french girl whose knowledge of english is rather poor, all produce french utterances prolifically. each of the three translators has chosen a different way of dealing with foreign expressions. dobrzańska tends to translate all of them into polish. świderska leaves them in the original and explains their meanings in brackets, while jaworska leaves them in the original or explains their meanings in footnotes. 9 a perfect example contrasting the strategies used by the three translators is rendering ‘c’est le ma gouverante!’ said she, pointing to me, and addressing her nurse; who answered ‘maisoui, certainement’(chapter xi, p. 72) into : czy to moja nauczycielka? spytała piastunki po francusku. tak, to ona (chapter viii, p. 38) by dobrzańska, c'est l ma gouvernante? (czy to moja guwernantka? fr.) rzekła wskazując mnie palcem i zwracając się do bony; ta odpowiedziała: maisoui, certainement. (ależ tak, naturalnie. fr.) (chapter xi, p. 151) by świderska, and c’estlá ma gouverante? 1 zapytała bonę, wskazując mnie paluszkiem. maisoui, certainement. 2 ; (footnotes: 1 czy to moja guwernantka?; 2 ależ tak, na pewno)(chapter xi, p.97) by jaworska. another instance of a similar kind is translating “jeune encore”, as the french say (chapter xxxvii, p. 304) as : a zatem można go jeszcze nazwać młodym (chapter xxviii, p. 233) by dobrzańska, jeune encore (jeszcze młody fr.), jak mówią francuzi (chapter xxxvii, p. 685) by świderska, and jeune encore 1 , jak mawiają francuzi (footnote: 1 jeszcze młody) (vol. iii chapter xi, p.422) by jaworska. 3.7.archaisms the translations by emilia dobrzańska and teresa świderska date back to the pre-war years, which is why they contain numerous expressions which have become archaic. for instance, both translators render the expression without grimace as bez minoderii, a portmanteau as wieszadło, or a sleek gander as gładki gąsior, while nowadays the adjective gładki will be substituted with tłusty, as it is in jaworska’s rendition. moreover, świderska translates a toilet table as toaleta, which denotes ‘a toilet’ nowadays, a chaise as ekwipaż, or a sprite as wodnica. dobrzańska renders the driver of the post-chaise as archaic pocztylion, a trunk as tłumoczek, cuirass as puklerz, ornaments as graciki, and play with shuttlecock as bawić się w wolanta. in addition, she uses such archaisms as krasa ‘beauty’, wychowanie ‘wygląd’, kibić ‘waist’ and ludny ‘populous’. some phraseologisms which she uses are also archaic, e.g. opatrzność stanęła w poprzek moim zamiarom (chapter xxiii, p. 180), which is her translation of providence has checked me. (chapter xxvi, p. 204) the other two translators use a more modern version: opatrzność mnie powstrzymała (świderska: chapter xxiii, p. 450; jaworska: vol. ii, chapter xi, p. 278). 3.8. errors some of dobrzańska’s unconventional renderings cannot be explained by the use of any specific translation strategies, but they have to be classified as errors, such as the already mentioned welsh rabbit (cf. section 3.6.1), or simply oversights. for example, her rendering of: diana’s husband is a captain in the navy (…). mary’s is a clergyman (chapter xxxviii, p. 313) as diana [wyszła za] za pastora (…), maria za kapitana marynarki (chapter xxix, p. 244) in which she reverses the men’s professions (‘diana is a clergyman’s wife while maria married a captain in the navy’) suggests that the translation was not edited properly. 10 dobrzańska also has problems translating the word lecture in the sentence: you can go down [bessie]; i will give miss jane a lecture till you come back (chapter iii, p. 17). she translates it as: idź bessie, (…), ja przez ten czas poczytam trochę panience (chapter iii, p. 12) (‘i will read to miss jane’). świderska’s version is: proszę spokojnie iść na dół, ja tu tymczasem dam burę panience jane (chapter iii, p. 29) (‘i will scold miss jane’), while jaworska’s: możesz odejść [bessie]. pogawędzę z panną jane do twojego powrotu (chapter iii, p. 24) (‘i will have a talk with miss jane’). świderska’s translation seems to be the most accurate; jaworska’s is acceptable as well, but dobrzańska’s rendering is clearly wrong. 4. conclusion the polish renderings of jane eyre differ from each other significantly in both their style and the translation strategies employed by the translators. undoubtedly, the most striking contrast is visible when comparing the oldest polish translation done by dobrzańska in 1880-1881 and the latest one done by gabriela jaworska in 2007. as is to be expected, dobrzańska’s translation contains many words which have become archaic, and so does świderska’s translation published in 1930. however, the most important difference lies in the whole philosophy of translation adopted by dobrzańska and the two later translators. dobrzańska omits large fragments of the original text, adds information which is not included in the original, and substitutes original expressions with language items of her own choice. omission, addition and substitution are not found in the other two translations. as far as the renderings by świderska and jaworska are concerned, except for minor differences they are comparable with each other. świderska’s dziwne losy jane eyre stands in between dobrzańska’s janina and jaworska’s jane eyre. this median position is apparent when looking at the way in which świderska translates, for instance, proper names – she chooses to render some into polish, while others she leaves in the original. jaworska, as a rule, does not translate proper names. french inclusions in jane eyre are also treated differently by the three translators: dobrzańska translates them into polish, świderska explains them in brackets, jaworska translates them only when it is inevitable, and when she does so she uses footnotes. dobrzańska’s rendering seems the least faithful to the original, while teresa świderska and gabriela jaworska stay close to the form and meaning of the original. dobrzańska has created her own, autonomous story based upon the original novel jane eyre. the most characteristic patterns in the evolution of translation standards seem to involve a shift from a free subjective adaptation to faithful translation, and from domestication to foreignization. references: primary sources: brontë, charlotte. 1953. jane eyre. beccles and london: harper collins publishers. --. 2003. dziwne losy jane eyre. tr. teresa świderska. warszawa: prószyński i s-ka. --. 2006. dziwne losy jane eyre. tr. emilia dobrzańska. poessneck: hachette livre polska. --. 2009. jane eyre. tr. gabriela jaworska. kraków: zielona sowa. electronic version of the original at: 11 http://www.classicly.com/download-jane-eyre-pdf manybooks.net electronic version of świderska’s translation at: http://chomikuj.pl/betty.one/zachomikowane/bronte+charlotte++dziwne+losy+jane+eyre,28 07152851.pdf prószyński i s-ka secondary sources: duff, alan mcconnell. 2001. “overtranslation”; “undertranslation”. in: chan, sin wai and david edward pollard (eds.). an encyclopaedia of translation: chinese-english, englishchinese. hong kong: the chinese university press. 716-730; 1108-1118. estreicher, karol. 1872–1882. bibliografia polska. stulecie xix (volume 1). kraków: spółka księgarzy polskich. online: http://www.estreicher.uj.edu.pl/ 29.05.13 fawcett, peter. 1997. translation and language. linguistic theories explained. manchester: st. jerome publishing. hadyna, dagmara. 2013. “a controversial translation justified by the context: janina, the first polish version of charlotte brontë’s jane eyre”, ma dissertation, kraków, jagiellonian university, url: http://www.academia.edu/4019388/a_controversial_translation_justified_by_the_context_jan ina_the_first_polish_version_of_charlotte_brontes_jane_eyre_ haynes, kenneth (ed.). 2010. classics and translation: essays by d. s. carne-ross. cranbury: rosemont publishing & printing corp. hejwowski, krzysztof. 2004. kognitywno-komunikacyjna teoria przekładu. warszawa: wydawnictwo naukowe pwn. kwieciński, michał. 2001. disturbing strangeness. foreignisation and domestication in translation procedures in the context of cultural asymmetry. toruń: edytor. mccauley, mary c. 1997. “exploring the many faces of ‘jane eyre’. critical eye.” online:http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2007-08-19/news/0708180048_1_jane-eyre-versionof-jane-novel – 05.06.13. molina, lucίa and amparo hurtado albir. 2002. ‟translation techniques revisited: a dynamic and functionalist approach”. online: http://www.erudit.org/revue/meta/2002/v47/n4/008033ar.pdf 04.01.13. munday, jeremy. 2001. introducing translation studies: theories and applications. london and new york: routledge taylor & francis group. newmark, peter. 1988. a textbook of translation. new york: prentice-hall international and pearson education ltd. --. 2001. approaches to translation. shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press. nida, eugene a. 2000. ‟principles of correspondence”, in: venuti, lawrence (ed.). the translation studies reader. london and new york: routledge taylor & francis group. 126-140.. shuttleworth, mark and moira cowie. 1997. dictionary of translation studies. manchester: st. jerome publishing. http://www.classicly.com/download-jane-eyre-pdf http://chomikuj.pl/betty.one/zachomikowane/bronte+charlotte++dziwne+losy+jane+eyre,2807152851.pdf http://chomikuj.pl/betty.one/zachomikowane/bronte+charlotte++dziwne+losy+jane+eyre,2807152851.pdf http://www.estreicher.uj.edu.pl/ http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2007-08-19/news/0708180048_1_jane-eyre-version-of-jane-novel http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2007-08-19/news/0708180048_1_jane-eyre-version-of-jane-novel http://www.erudit.org/revue/meta/2002/v47/n4/008033ar.pdf 12 taylor, christopher. 2007. language to language. a practical and theoretical guide for italian/english translators (7 th edition). cambridge: cambridge university press. venuti, lawrence. 1995. the translator’s invisibility. a history of translation. london and new york: routledge. vinay, jean-paul and jean l. darbelnet. 1995(1958). comparative stylistics of french and english. english translation. amsterdam: john benjamins publishing co.. wang, mian. 2012. “an analysis of over-translation and under-translation in perspective of cultural connotation”. online: http://www.translationdirectory.com/articles/article1704.php 15.05.13 dictionary 1 the free dictionary. online: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ dictionary 2 oxford advanced learners’ dictionary (8 th edition) – electronic version. internet sources: web 1 http://lo2piotrkow.eu/data/_uploaded/image/150_lat_biuletyn.pdf 29.05.13 web 2 http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/monako/atk/glossary_np.shtml 05.06.13 web 3 http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/obiad 05.06.13 http://www.translationdirectory.com/articles/article1704.php http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ http://lo2piotrkow.eu/data/_uploaded/image/150_lat_biuletyn.pdf http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/monako/atk/glossary_np.shtml http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/obiad vitaly v. tur minsk state linguistic university telic features in the semantics of english nominal compounds 1. introduction one of the most striking features of english nominal compounds is the discrepancy between the simplicity of their syntactic structure and the considerable variety of semantic relations they may express. it is surprising that nouns combined in a phrase generate a new compositional unit the meaning of which cannot be deduced from the sum of the lexical meanings of its constituents. it is even more surprising that in most cases speakers hardly seem to have any difficulty in determining the plausible semantic functions of a compound and interpreting its compositional meaning. so how do the constituents of a compound interact within its semantic structure? where does an extra part of the meaning of a compound come from? what semantic rules enable speakers to recover this meaning, even though it is not given explicitly in the surface grammar? recent research on the semantics of compounds offers a new alternative view on the stated problems. the idea is that the meaning of a compound is not necessarily confined to the lexical meaning of its elements: the semantics of a compound may include various types of encyclopaedic and pragmatic information associated with its denotata; thus, an adequate semantic description of compounds requires consideration of this information. in the present paper i focus on the semantic structure of english nominal compounds whose compositional meaning requires actualising telic features associated with the denotata of their constituents (their built-in function, effects they may cause, ways they can be affected and so on). the aims of the described research are, firstly, to find out the kinds of telic features of the constituents which contribute to the compositional meaning of compounds; secondly, it is to determine the semantico-syntactic types of the compounds which require actualising this kind of semantic information. 2. theoretical issues semantics has always been “the greatest area of confusion and disagreement” (ryder 1994: 16) within the framework of the study of english noun-noun compounds. although a lot of research has been done on finding ways to describe the meaning of english compounds (jespersen 1909, bloomfield 1933, hatcher 1960, marchand 1969, lees 1963, brekle 1970, gleitman and gleitman 1970, adams 1973, downing 1975, bauer 1978, levi 1978, warren 1978, selkirk 1982, hacken 1992, 1994, 2000, 2004, ryder 1994, coulson 2000, booij 2005, 2010, benczes 2006, heinz 2009, lieber 2009, jackendoff 2010), the semantic nature of compounding is still far from being fully explained. the earliest studies on the semantics of compounds were done within the generativist framework (lees 1963, bauer 1978, levi 1978, warren 1978 and others). it was argued that semantic relations between the elements of nominal compounds were formed on the bases of implicit predicates in their deep structure, which were deleted on the surface but could be reconstituted by transformational procedures (dust ball = ball made of dust (warren 1987: 113)). however, in spite of all the advantages of the generativist approach, it suffered from a number of serious drawbacks. firstly, one and the same compound could imply various predicates (consider ryder’s example of dirt-machine, which can imply about ten different predicates: grind, pick up, move, suck up, produce, work with and so on (ryder 1994: 435). secondly, the recovered predicates were in most cases too abstract and vague to convey the exact meaning of the compounds. thus, for example, s. coulson points out that the compounds fertility pills and headache pills, which according to levy’s model both entail the predicate for (levi 1978), have significant difference in their meaning: pills to increase fertility, pills to reduce headache (coulson 2000). the problems of the generativist approach have shown that the interpretation of the meaning of a compound cannot be realised only by determining the semantico-syntactic relations between its constituents, but also presupposes some ‘world knowledge’ associated with them; thus, the explanatory power of any semantic theory would depend on its ability to account for it. one of the first attempts to formalise this knowledge was taken by l. bauer. in bauer’s view, the meaning of a compound can be specified by the semantic description of its constituents (for example, the meaning of wind contains ‘force’ which helps us to interpret windmill as ‘a mill powered by wind’ (bauer 1979: 48)). e.s. kubryakova develops the idea of semantic description of the elements of compounds, and argues that it is not the recovering of the implicit predicate that lies in the nature of the interpretation of a compound but rather the interaction of some parts of the meaning (units of information) of its constituents which are selectively actualised in the process of compounding (kubryakova 2002: 22). to illustrate the idea e.s. kubryakova brings the example of the russian compounds lesnaja polyana ‘forest meadow’, lesnye materialy ‘forest product’, lesnoe hozyajstvo ‘forest industry’. she points out that different parts of the meaning of the modifier forest are actualised depending on the meaning of the head noun it is combined with. thus, forest in forest meadow actualises the information about its territory with no trees on it; in forest product, vice versa, the knowledge about trees is relevant while the information about the territory is reduced; comprehension of forest industry presupposes actualising implicit information about the role of the forest in human life and so on. the same idea is also expressed by z.a. kharitonchik. consider her examples of the russian word combinations vishnevyj sad ‘cherry garden’, vishnevoe platje ‘cherry dress’, vishnevoe varenje ‘cherry jam’, where different pieces of semantic information are profiled from the meaning of the modifier (kharitonchik 2004: 275). one the most recent attempts to combine the semantic analysis of the compounds with the semantic analysis of their constituents has been made by r. jackendoff. the author considers the tranformationalist approach misguided. he claims that “compounding is only barely syntactic” (jackendoff 2009: 115) and the semantic function of the compound is profiled from inside the meanings of its constituents (jackendoff 2009: 122). r. jackendoff focuses on different aspects of the compound meaning that come from the semantics of constituents, underlining the role of the principle of co-composition in the process of compounding. in his study r. jackendoff dwells on the aspects of the meaning of the constituents that become relevant in the process of generating the complex meaning of a compound. thus, comparing helicopter attack and attack helicopter, he points out that in the latter case the modifier serves as an explication of a proper function of helicopter being the essential part of its lexical meaning. the notion of proper function is very close to j. pustejovsky’s telic function in the qualia-structure of the meaning of nouns (pustejovsky 1991), both used to formalise the process of lexical combinability. the suggested approach to the nature of compounding, which focuses on how the meaning of two nouns contributes to the meaning of the word combination, offers the challenge for further research within the framework of the semantics of compounds. this approach has been chosen as a theoretical background for the semantic research of the compounds described in the present article. in this paper i will focus on the regularities of actualising telic features in the semantic structure of the constituents of english noun-noun compounds. pustejovsky’s notion of telic features seems appropriate here because, unlike proper function, it can be applied not only to the class of artifacts and parts of organisms but to a wider range of objects. following j. pustejovsky, by the terms telic features or telic role i mean any type of semantic information in a lexeme about the denotatum that specifies the ways it can function or typically be affected, the knowledge about its proper function, the purposes it may have in performing an act, and so on. in other words, the telic role is a complex of qualities in the semantic structure of a substantive that in most cases allows it to be used in the role of the performer (causer) or the addressee of the action in the propositional structure of a compound. thus, as can be seen from the definition, the difference between the notions of telic role and proper function is that the former serves as an umbrella term which includes the latter as an individual case among other possible functions. the study involved the semantic analysis of 4000 nominal compounds. the methodological basis of the research that helped to formalise the analysis is the introduction of the semantics of nominals in terms of qualia-structure, suggested by j. pustejovsky. qualia-structure is a set of four main classes of properties and qualities (roles) associated with a given lexical item: constitutive role (the relation between an object and its constituents, or proper parts), formal role (distinguishes an object within a larger domain: its orientation, magnitude, shape, etc.), telic role (purpose and function of the object, the ways it can act or be affected, etc.), and agentive role (factors involved in the origin of the object). thus, for example, the qualia-structure of the lexemes novel and dictionary is presented in the following way: novel const: narrative form: book/disk telic: read agentive: artifact, write dictionary const: alphabetized-listing form: book/disk telic: reference agentive: artifact, compile (pustejovsky 1991: 427) according to pustejovsky’s conception, the realization of any role is possible in the process of the generation of different complex units, including the generation of nominal compounds. as can be seen from the examples below, the semantic variations of a modifier can be analysed according to what qualia is realised in a given compound: 1) hand palm 2) hand tattoo 3) hand lotion 4) hand control. thus, in (1) it is the constitutive role of the lexeme hand which is relevant; in (2) it is the formal role (location). (3) and (4) presuppose actualisation of different telic functions of the modifier (to be used for grasping, holding; to be cared for, etc.). the results of my research show that the telic role is actualized in about 40% of all the nominal compounds examined, either in one of their components or in both of them. among these are the compounds with various semantico-syntactic relations, each of them described separately further in the article. 3.1. actor – action/result the semantic interpretation of the compounds under analysis presents a number of problems which haven’t been solved in the framework of the transpositionalist approach. one of the problems can be illustrated by comparing the examples in (1): 1. a. teakettle whistling b. wind whistles c. bird whistles d. wheel whistling despite the fact that the head-nouns in all the compounds in (1) name one and the same action, its agents specify its meaning, which can be possible only on condition that the semantic structure of the words teakettle, bird, wind, wheel initially possess mental schemata of the named action. it suggests the idea that a head noun does not denote whatever action can be “mechanically” applied to the agent of the proposition, but rather serves as an explication of its inherent telic function. note also that the process of whistling presents completely different types of activity for different agents in (1). thus, for (1a), (1c) it is the realisation of the proper functions of an artifact and a living being. however, in (1d) whistling is not something that the artifact is designed to perform (consider some more examples of this kind: factory poison, cigar ashes, fridge noise, boot tracks). in cases like these the head noun expresses a side action (result) of the modifier which is performed alongside the realisation of its proper function. for a more complex case, consider the elliptical constructions in (2): 2. a. meteoric risk b. parental advice c. fan letters d. frost damage semantic interpretation of the compounds in (2) requires recovering not only the deleted predicate but also the rest of the propositional structure with its implicit arguments: meteoric risk=risk of hitting the earth, parental advice=advice to children, fan letters=letters to the object of worship, frost damage=damage to an object that can be affected by low temperatures. thus, not only the information about the possible functions of an actor but also about the objects which can be affected by it becomes relevant in the process of compounding. another semantic problem to be considered here can be illustrated by the examples in (3) and (4): 3. a. tree trunk water conducting function b. tree trunk function was to bridge the chasm and the head of the top 4. a. presidential directive that could change the world b. rumors of presidential divorce flood france in (3a) and (4a) the compositional principles are clear as the heads water conducting function and directive express the proper functions of tree trunk and president. but what about (3b) and (4b)? obviously, the functions here cannot be considered the proper ones for the named agents. neither can they be considered their side functions, because divorce and the process of being used as a bridge have nothing to do with performing the proper duties of the president and the functions of the part of a living organism whatsoever. it seems that to interpret such combinations one must bear in mind that one and the same object may simultaneously belong to several taxonomic groups of different levels of abstraction. as a result it may involve several families of telic functions typical of different taxonomic categories. thus, for instance, the semantic structure of the lexeme president includes the information about the proper functions of the specific post/position (presidential decision, presidential duties), the proper functions of the president as a kind of employment in general (presidential retirement), the functions of a human-being in general (presidential hobbies, presidential divorce). consider some more examples of this kind: elephant games (animal) – elephant shade (physical object), ambassadorial duties (position) – ambassadorial suicide (human). thus, the determination of the relations in the semantic structure of english “actor – action/result” compounds requires the following information about the actor expressed by the modifier: 1) the set of taxonomic categories it belongs to, 2) the set of the proper functions of the actor (as a potential member of different taxonomic categories), 3) the set of its side functions, 4) possible effects it may have on other objects (as potential implicit arguments in the propositional structure of a compound). here is a list of the semantic models for english “actor – action/result” compounds in which all of the mentioned aspects of meaning of their constituents are taken into account: 1) artifact performs the proper function/result (bullet wounds, torch lights, ferry expedition, taxi ride); 2) artifact performs a side action/result (car exhaust, cigarette ash, boot tracks, fridge noise). 3) artifact fails to perform its proper function (boiler explosion, car accident, plane tragedy); 4) human occupation – realisation of the proper function (officer directing operations, detective operations, police investigation); 5) human occupation – failure of the proper function (driver error); 6) natural object performs the proper function/has an effect on other objects (volcanic eruption, volcanic risk, meteoric risk); 7) parts of organisms perform the proper function (hand motions, heart beat); 8) living-being performs the proper function (result)/has an effect on other objects (spider silk, bee pollination, germ disease, locust damage); 9) natural phenomenon performs the proper function/has an effect on other objects (wind whistles, snow damage). 10) physical object performs the proper function (tree trunk barricades, lime shade). 3.2. actor – affected object according to the data of the research, the “actor – affected object” type of compound is much less frequent in the corpus. in all the examples the head-noun names an artifact, so the only type of semantic relations that can be expressed within the pattern can be defined in the following way: “the artifact which is expressed by n2 is designed in such a way that the performance of its proper function presupposes the assistance of the function of n1”. here are the examples from my corpus: horse carriages, steam organ, atom lamp, water mill, gasoline engine, gas turbine, turbine engine. 3.3. affected object/result – actor although the tranformationalist approach enabled the singling out of the “affected object – actor” pattern, it failed to notice significant semantic distinctions between the compounds that comply with it. s. coulson’s example that has been mentioned above (fertility pills – headache pills) is just one of many that can be given here to show the diversity of possible semantic relations within the pattern, but before i dwell on the meaning of the compounds as a whole let me focus on the meaning of their constituents. the head-nouns of most of the “affected object – actor” compounds in my corpus denote either artifacts or human occupations. the semantic structure of these compounds is such that the object denoted by the head-noun realises its proper function upon the object named by the modifier: heat shield (the proper function of shield is to provide protection against something), fly trap (one of the proper functions of trap is to catch somebody or something). in a fair number of examples, however, the proper function of the head-noun is unclear due to the general meaning of the lexeme. in this case the telic function of the modifier enables us to determine the possible types of the semantic relations between the constituents: camera man (the proper function of camera is to be used for shooting; thus, man performs the role of an actor that utilizes this function). in most such cases, however, the meaning of the compound is ambiguous (or promiscuous (jackendoff 2009: 117)). consider, for instance, the compound hen-girl that, according to e. ryder, may express about ten different relations: a girl who 1) lives on a farm, 2) tends to hens, 3) takes care of hens, 4) raises hens, 5) works with hens, 6) picks up the hen’s eggs each morning and so on (ryder 1994: 476). thus, the number of relations in the semantic structure of the “affected object – actor” compounds will depend on the number of possible effects the head-noun may have upon the modifier performing its proper function. surprisingly, the variety of these effects does not appear wild, so they can be grouped into a fairly small number of classes. before i give a list of possible relations consider the following examples in (5) and (6): 5. a. eye glasses b. sun glasses c. eye pencil (5a) can be traditionally transformed into “glasses for eyes” and thus can be assigned an abstract meaning of purpose. in this case no difference will become evident between (5a), (5b) and (5c) as they all comply with the same “purpose”-pattern. in fact, however, the difference is that in (5a) the proper function of glasses is to assist the proper function of eyes, in (5b) it is to resist the proper function of sun, while in (5c) the proper function of pencil has nothing to do with the proper function of eyes: it is to enhance its formal properties (here: outer look). 6. a. rocket pilot b. rocket test (6) presents different types of relations in comparison with those in (5). here n2 does not influence the proper function of n1 but exploits (6a) or obtains information about its performance (6b). in table 1 the full list of the patterns is given that the compounds in my corpus comply with. (reminder: x stands for the meaning of n1, y is for the meaning of n2) table 1. types of semantic relations in the “affected object – actor” compounds. properties of n1 affected type of effect frequency of occurrence examples effect upon telic functions y resists a telic function of х 14.7% lightning rod, shock gear, heat shield y assists a telic function of х 13.8% eye glasses, liver pills, engine oil y exploits a telic function of х 12.7% camera man, rocket pilots y obtains information about the performance of a telic function of х 4% rocket tests, traffic camera y controls a telic function of х 1% animal charmer effect upon physical properties y moves х in space 9.8% hay truck, barge pole (a pole used to guide a barge) y changes physical properties of х 8% hand lotion, floor varnish, dish towel, food coolers y obtains information about the physical properties of х 1% eclipse observer, distance meter effect upon constitutive properties y changes structure/contents of х 1% book editor, meat chopper effect upon agentive properties y creates/causes х 20% credit deal, shed wall, song birds, cartoon man y obtains х 10% tourist trap, truth drug y destroys/annihilates х 4% pain pills, fire extinguisher thus, in spite of the wide lexical variety of the constituents of the “affected object – actor” compounds, their compositional meanings fall into a relatively narrow range of semantic functions; these functions are determined by the types of effect the actor (denoted by n2) may have on the properties of the affected object (n1). 3.4. place/time-object according to the survey results, telic role can also be actualized in the meaning of the components of locative compounds. thus, when analyzing the meaning of the compounds (7) village street, (8) village doctor, (9) village boy it becomes evident that although all of them are traditionally considered locative, only (7) can be transformed into «y is in x». the objects denoted by the head nouns of the compounds (8) and (9) do not presuppose their immediate location in the place named by the modifier, and are connected to them by means of their proper functions: “doctor works in a village”, “boy lives/grew up in a village”. “place/time-object” compounds, in which the head noun actualizes its telic role, can be grouped according to the type of actualised telic function (see table 2). table 2. types of compositional meaning in “place/time-object” nominal compounds. semantic relations frequency of occurrence examples y performs its proper function in/on x 66.3% town cop, surface robot, bedroom slippers, army knife y performs its proper function during x 18.8% afternoon crew, night watchman, summer lightning, night cream, summer clothes y’s telic function is to be placed is kept/placed in x 5.7% pocket paraphernalia, wall holder, ear ring, fridge magnets y’s telic function is to move through/to/from x 9.2% air travelers, star pilot, ocean racers, ocean wind as can be seen from the table above the most frequent are compounds in which the modifier denotes the place or time of functioning of the object named by the head noun (70.8%); the head nouns in these compounds are expressed in most cases by a noun denoting either an artifact or a human-being by his/her profession or social function (90% of all the cases). the following semantic models belong to the pattern: 1) populated area (telic: human habitat) – human (telic: social function/work): town cop, village priest, farmhouse servants, county sheriff, state police, room steward, planet police, etc. 2) organizations/institutions/enterprises/establishments (telic: proper function) – human (telic: social function/work): hospital director, college boy, school teacher, bank president, prison doctor, army guys, library steward, etc. 3) organizations/institutions/enterprises/establishments/parts of buildings (telic: proper function) – human-made object (telic: proper function): bedroom slippers, hospital bathrobe, bar stool, kitchen table, hospital gown, home uniform, etc. 4) other areas, regions, places, surfaces – human (telic: perform a social function/work): riverboat gambler, space miner, tightrope walker, etc. 5) other areas, regions, places, surfaces (telic: placement/container) – human-made object (telic: proper function): area bell, lawn chair, street sign, space boots, air apparatus, mattress topper, surface robot, etc. 6) time – human-made object (telic: proper function): night cream, night clubs, summer cottage, evening clothes, spring dresses, etc. 7) time – human (telic: perform a social function/work): night watchman, afternoon milkman, afternoon crew, morning viewers, summer friend, childhood friends, holiday mates, etc. 3.5. object – place the group of “object-place” compounds expresses the types of complex meaning that are listed below (see table 3). the table shows that the compounds in which the head noun denotes a container for storing the objects named by the modifier amount to more than a half of all compounds of this type. table 3. types of compositional meaning in “object-place” nominal compounds. semantic relations frequency of occurrence examples y’s proper function is to serve as a container for x 64% garbage cans, laundry basket, oil tanks, kitchen utensil drawer y’s proper function is to serve as a place where x performs its proper function 24% cook unit, pilot boards, engine rooms, computer club y’s proper function is to serve as a placement/aperture for x 12% coin slot, signature line, idea notebook, bolt holes 3.6. proper function – object a specific place among the semantic types of compounds under analysis is held by the compounds in which a deverbal modifier names the function for the performance of which the denotatum of the head noun is designed. holding pins, replacement ferry, fishing vessels, cleaning equipment, warning sign, control button, service personnel, care nurse, research teams, cruise liner, nursing home, operating theater the meaning of such compounds can be described by the transformation «y’s proper function is to perform x». the compounds under analysis can be divided into subtypes in accordance with the semantics of the head-noun: 1) proper function – artifact: development money, sewing machine, closing shutters, heating system, test program, irrigation canals, intake pipe, protection stunner, etc. 2) proper function – place (buildings, part of buildings, natural and artificial areas used as a place of performing the action): dance floor, swimming pool, skating rink, service area, reading chair, examination table, launch site, killing zone, rest area, farming settlement, amusement hall, etc. 3) proper function – human/group of people (proper function of professions/occupations): ski team, survey teams, airshow performers, rescue party, etc. 4. conclusion the semantics of a complex lexical unit is the result of the interaction of the meaning of its constituents. in most cases, however, it is not enough to account for the lexical meaning of the constituents as a whole in order to interpret the semantics of a compound. the meaning of a compound results from the interaction of some particular units of information associated with its constitutive elements. telic role, which is an integral part of the meaning of nouns, appears to be semantically relevant to almost 40% of all examined compounds, being actualized either in one of its elements or in both of them. it has been shown that telic role is a general notion which consists of different kinds of semantic information. among them is the information about 1) the proper function of a denoted object, 2) its side functions that can be realized alongside the performance of the proper one, 3) a set of objects that may be affected by it, 4) types of the effect it may have on other objects, 5) a set of objects that may have an effect on it 6) the ways it can be affected by other objects. as has been demonstrated in the article, any piece of this encyclopedic (“world”) knowledge about the denoted object may serve as a semantic link that helps the lexeme to combine with other words in a phrase. thus, compositional semantics must account for this information in order to be able to explain the linguistic nature of compounding. references bauer, laurie. 1979. in the need for pragmatics in the study of nominal compounding. journal of pragmatics3. 45 – 50. coulson, seana. 2000. semantic leaps: frame-shifting and conceptual blending in meaning con-struction. cambridge: cambridge university press. jackendoff, ray 2009. compounding in the parallel architecture and conceptual semantics. in: rochelle lieber and pavol stekauer (eds.), the oxford handbook of compounding, 105128. oxford university press. kharitonchik, zinaida 2004. o refleksii leksicheskih znachenij componentov v semantike affiksalnyh proizvodnyh. in: ocherki o jazyke. teorija nominacii. leksicheskaja semantika. slovoobrazovanije. izbrannye trudy. 266 – 281. minsk. kubryakova, elena 2002 kognitivnaja lingvistika i problemy kompozicionnoj semantiki v sfere slovoobrazovanija. izvestija an. seria literatury jazyka 61 (1). 13-24. levi, judith n. 1978. the syntax and semantics of complex nominals. new york: academic press. pustejovsky, james. 1991. the generative lexicon. computational linguistics17(4). 409441. ryder, mary ellen. 1994. ordered chaos: the interpretation of english noun–noun compounds. berkeley and los angeles: university of california press. warren, beatrice. 1987. semantic patterns of noun-noun compounds. gothenburg: gothenburg studies in english 41. acta universitatis gothoburgensis. monachowicz, nadzieja. “the functioning of the container conceptual metaphor in doris lessing’s children of violence”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 35-46. nadzieja monachowicz the university of bialystok the functioning of the container conceptual metaphor in doris lessing’s children of violence abstract. this paper is based on the assumption that there is a system to conceptual metaphor and to its conceptualized linguistic expression. conceptual metaphor is not a matter of arbitrary fixity. individual basic metaphors and even generic-level metaphors are not isolated. there is a higher unity to metaphor that governs not only all basic and generic-level metaphors, but novel metaphors as well. when we understand a scene, including those described in literary texts, we naturally structure it in terms of conceptual mega-metaphors which may structurally unite the patterns of meaning throughout the whole of the text and find expression in various minor novel metaphors. as the subject matter of this analysis i have chosen the series of novels children of violence by the famous british writer doris lessing (1919-2013), the nobel prize winner for literature in 2007. key words: metaphor, conceptualizing, container, object, substance, environment, house, room, spaces, landlocked the image-schema conceptual metaphor of the container is an extended or mega metaphor present throughout the novels comprising doris lessing’s series children of violence. before we start analyzing the instances of this metaphor in the text, it is worth mentioning some general notions concerning container metaphors. according to lakoff and jonson (1981: 29-30), people, as physical beings, are bounded and set apart from the rest of the world by the surface of their skins, and they experience the rest of the world as outside them. each of us is a container, with a bounding surface and an in-out orientation. we project our own in-out orientation onto other physical objects that are bounded by surfaces. thus we also view them as containers with an inside and outside. rooms and houses are obvious containers. moving from room to room is moving from one container to another, that is, moving out of one room and into another. a clearing in the woods has something we can perceive as a natural physical boundary – the fuzzy area where the trees more or less stop and the clearing more or less begins. but even where there is no natural physical boundary that can be viewed as defining a container, we impose boundaries – marking off territory so that it has an inside and a bounding surface – whether a wall, a fence, or an abstract line or plane. there are few human instincts more basic than territoriality. and such defining of a territory, putting a boundary around it, is an act of quantification. bounded objects, whether human beings, rocks, or land areas, have sizes. this allows them to be qualified in terms of the amount of substance they contain. substances can themselves be viewed as containers. take a tub of water, for example. when you get into the tub, you get into the water, both t he tub and the water are viewed as containers, but of different sorts. the tub is a container object, while the water is a container substance. we conceptualize our visual field as a container and conceptualize what we see as being inside it. even the term “visual field” suggests this. given that a bounded physical space is a container and that our field of vision correlates with that bounded physical space, the metaphorical concept visual fields are containers emerges naturally. thus we can say: ‘the ship is coming into view’; ‘i have him in sight’. monachowicz, nadzieja. “the functioning of the container conceptual metaphor in doris lessing’s children of violence”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 35-46. we use ontological metaphors to comprehend events, actions, activities, and states. events and actions are conceptualized metaphorically as objects, activities and substances; states as containers. thus we have examples like these: ‘he is in love’; ‘we are out of trouble now’; ‘he is coming out of the coma’; ‘i’m slowly getting into shape’; ‘he entered a state of euphoria’; ‘he fell into a depression’. the search for logical connections in the extensive use of the container metaphor in the novels by doris lessing reveals both the constancies and the unique features of literary metaphor, and shows us the way a literary text takes advantage of the brain’s ability to reproduce and understand what writers want us to envision. we can follow stockwell in saying that a mega metaphor is a conceptual feature that runs throughout a text and can contribute to the reader’s sense of the general meaning or ‘gist’ of the work and its significance. specific realizations of the numerous metaphors that occur in the text and that accumulate into the sense of a mega metaphor are, by contrast, micro metaphors (stockwell 2002:111). whether the author was aware of the effects the container ontological metaphor has on the story is of less importance than the fact that the cognitive approach should more firmly express the view that cognition is a shared condition of writers and readers, and that textual meaning can therefore be considered to exist objectively. the patterns of meaning in doris lessing’s fiction interpenetrate in complicated and unexpected ways. the writer’s profoundly dialectical consciousness sees multiple forces in constant interaction, and it is consciousness that displays itself in the way characters and narrative patterns are deployed. the characters’ consciousness in lessing’s writing is not limited to political or thematic expression, but it has a formal component which describes the way characters and narrative forms are juxtaposed, just as it can describe the specialized kind of juxtapositions between parts of the self. in particular, lessing frequently uses environments (walls, rooms, houses, cities) as expressions of her characters’ inner selves. roberta rubenstein comments on the “correspondence between dwellings and interior states” in lessing’s work (1979: 113), and carey kaplan rightly defines lessing’s house metaphor as “typologically female” (1988:164). frederick r. karl explains the four gates in the title of the last novel in the series, the four-gated city, as referring to four houses in the novel – a restaurant, mark’s house, jack’s house, and paul’s house. more important than this possible equivalence is karl’s sense of lessing’s dwellings as psychic reflectors (karl 1986). the private and the public, the individual and the collective, make a permanent dialectic in lessing’s work. one way she dramatizes that interaction is by making her environments mirrors of the self and psychological reality of the characters. apart from being a physical reality of their own, walls, and the rooms and houses people inhabit become living extensions of the characters’ bodily selves. the semi-autobiographical series children of violence comprises five novels 1 martha quest (1952), a proper marriage (1954), a ripple from the storm (1958), landlocked (1965), and the four-gated city (1969) and describes martha quest’s awakening to greater awareness on every level. the novels were pioneering in the depiction of the mind and circumstances of the emancipated woman. the story of martha is told with the mild despair of someone seeing her younger self from the heavens of an afterlife, unable 1 all references to the children of violence novels are to the granada publishing house editions and are indicated in the text as mq (martha quest), pm (a proper marriage), rs (a ripple from the storm), l (landlocked), the four-gated city (fgc). monachowicz, nadzieja. “the functioning of the container conceptual metaphor in doris lessing’s children of violence”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 35-46. to intervene. moreover, martha’s self, seen from the outside, is always located inside a space which is appropriate for a certain period of her life and a certain state of her questing mind. this space, each time different, can be seen as an appropriate container for martha’s self, which otherwise is not fulfilled. landlocked, which is the fourth book in the series, definitely takes lessing from social realism to science fiction. martha’s quest – and the name “quest” marks her as the prototypical questioning protagonist of contemporary women’s fiction – is also lessing’s: both seek “something new” against the nightmare repetition which is the burden of history, something oppositional to the culture that has formed them. but the problem lessing encounters in the two decades she spends writing the children of violence is how to express “something new” when the discourses from which the novelist creates – indeed, all signifying systems, language itself – are inscribed within the culture she would oppose. even in martha quest there are tensions between the novel’s themes and the realist form which makes such changes inevitable. the possible nature of those tensions is evident in the novel’s opening chapter, which draws attention to martha’s less typical aspect. her visionary daydream lays the foundations for the four-gated city of the last novel in the series. martha’s vision raises questions and introduces concepts which cannot easily be dealt with within the conventions of realist fiction (king 1989: 15). but the paradox of lessing’s example is that her straining against the boundaries of realism has proceeded without modernist strategies, for her experimentations are not formally radical. although her language is pointedly ordinary, even in the most fantastic of her novels, lessing usually endows commonplace diction and syntax with unexpected features, one of which is evidently making environments reflections of her characters’ interior states. landlocked covers the years 1944 to 1949 in martha quest’s life. in an irrational world of organizational corruption and personal frustrations, martha enters a love affair and finds a temporary solace. paradoxically, this relationship becomes both a balm for her troubled soul and the most profound emotional experience of her entire life. the visionary heights that martha achieves through her sexual expression with her new lover reflect lessing’s view that, from the release of intense feeling and passion, one can achieve a sense of connection and balance in the universe. at the outset martha is offered a promotion at her law firm. instead of being happy for the opportunity, she refuses the offer, believing further commitment to a collective that she does not esteem will only detract from her search for self. after refusing the job she dreams that she is a “large house…with half a dozen different rooms in it,” but the house is empty, ready to be filled. she accepts the dream as an “image of her position”, and reasons that new knowledge is needed to fill her inner space. martha’s choice becomes thomas stern, a polish jew who escaped from poland but discovered later that nazis had murdered all members of the family that he had left behind. thomas’s passionate outrage toward nazis stirs martha and alerts her to his potential for filling her empty centre with emotions that could ignite her true self. nothing much happens to martha in the course of landlocked; her life is not only without the crises, turning points and resolutions that she had expected, but is almost entirely eventless. the novel’s real outcome is the new knowledge martha starts to acquire through looking for new environments and filling in the empty spaces in her consciousness. pattern and meaning in lessing’s fiction interpenetrate in complicated and unexpected ways. lessing’s dramatic projections are a way of questioning and enlarging the singleness and stability of personality – especially for women – and of narrative conventions. lessing’s principle of making environments extensions of her characters’ mentality provides a framework for her need to see the individual in constant juxtaposition with the collective. in monachowicz, nadzieja. “the functioning of the container conceptual metaphor in doris lessing’s children of violence”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 35-46. one of the first reviews of the golden notebook, irving howe notes the replacement in lessing’s fiction of what he calls “social man” by “psychological man”. for him, as for many readers, one of lessing’s strengths is her refusal to accept that replacement, and her powerful grasp of the connection between anna wulf’s neuroses and the public disorders of the day (howe 1975: 17). the private and the public, the individual and the collective, make a permanent dialectic in lessing’s work. one way she dramatizes that interaction is to make her environments mirrors of the self. something unprecedented happens to the characterenvironment interaction in the novels of the children of violence series, especially in the last two volumes: the walls, and the rooms and houses people inhabit become living extensions of their bodily selves. doris lessing may be called an architect in a metaphorical sense because she is a builder of imagined cities and has become involved in an architectural pattern. the city martha dreams about when she is fifteen is a leitmotif in the five novels of the series children of violence. the earliest image of the ideal city is triggered by martha’s leap from the reality of racism to her dream of a city in which ‘black and white and brown’ parental figures smile approvingly at “the many-fathered children’ who play together (m q 11). unexpectedly, the city is not in the future but in the past, for it is described as “fabulous and ancient ”. other details also suggest an older prehistoric time from which humankind has fallen away: “colonnaded, fountains and flutes”, “flower-bordered terraces”. martha’s dream of this fourgated city is explicitly described as “martha’s version of the golden age” (mq 11). thus, in martha quest, the very first volume of the children of violence, martha’s dream of the ideal city is described as nostalgic and therefore implicitly ironic. it is also exclusionary, for “a stern and remorseless martha” stands at the gate keeping out the unworthy, that is, her parents and other english and afrikaners in the district. on the private level, martha’s vision of the city at this stage in her life can be described as an adolescent revenge fantasy or as a “familiar daydream”, to use lessing’s own words (mq 10). on the public level, martha’s golden city is remarkable for its nostalgic quality. for a young girl already more than casually interested in the socialist ideal, her dream is notable for its assignment of racial equality to the past instead of the socialist future, where it belongs. what seemed conflated in embryo here are the heavenly past and the utopian future. the location of the golden age in the past as well as the future has often characterized human dreams of the earthly paradise. indeed, a past utopia has often justified hopes for a radical future. martha cannot know how archetypal her dream is, how much the nostalgic mode has been an auxiliary of utopia. a ‘new age’ begins in landlocked, though it is not the “new jerusalem” envisioned by the young revolutionaries of the two preceding novels of the series. in contrast to martha’s beautiful dreams, it is, rather, the age of nuclear threat for which hiroshima and nagasaki are symbols, and for which the ruined city is an image. the city of martha’s dream in landlocked is no longer the place of harmony, the realm of generous and freely exchanged emotion that martha once imagined, but a ruin. this sort of imagery is so deep in the imaginative texture of the novel as to anticipate and invoke the end of marta’s and thomas’s affair. the imagery of a ruined city culminates in the passage where martha tries to envision her own city as “emptied”, “desiccated” – “yes, emptied, this town would stand slowly desiccating, filling with drifts of dust” ( l 197). what is new in the narrative mode of landlocked is apparent in this surreal description of a city which, shifting shapes as images do in dreams, blends with the ruined cities of europe. monachowicz, nadzieja. “the functioning of the container conceptual metaphor in doris lessing’s children of violence”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 35-46. martha’s early earthly paradise of the first novel is also not the same as the city she dreams of in the four-gated city, which is the last novel of the series. that later city is an archetypal one, in fact, a rigid, over-ordered city in violent contrast to the living, volatile london that has such different faces in the 1950s and 1960s. that london in all its phases engages authorial and reader sympathy as its equivalents in the canopus novels do not. the cities in the appendix to the four-gated city are in a different category; they are closer to the degenerated cities of shicasta. between the canopean cities and those of the four-gated city fall the cities of briefing for a descent into hell and the memoirs of a survivor. in these two novels, lessing emphasizes the symbolic and the archetypal, rejecting the flawed but living cities of her earlier novels. “she could have drawn a plan of that city,” we are told of the sixteen-year-old martha. these words are almost exactly repeated when martha and mark discuss their city in the four-gated city. their shared dream of the “mythical”, “hierarchic”, “archetypal” city is so detailed it is ‘as good as a blueprint to build” (fgc 139). its four gates, set to point north, south, east and west, become a square containing arcs and circling streets. the shadow city that grows up around it ultimately engulfs the perfect inner city. the over-ordered city breaks down into inner and outer, into inner perfection and outer degeneration, into permanence and change, for while martha and mark discuss their mythical city, the real london is growing and changing away from the gracelessness and deprivation of its postwar state. in the late 1950s, “the dirty, ruinous, war-soaked city” (fgc 301-302) is quite changed. martha keeps “that other” city “in her mind” as she walks through this new london, so that “that other” postwar city exists side by side with the present london of the 1950s ( fgc 302). these two real londons, the london of the present and that of the past, are contrasted with the mythical four-gated city that is “the ideal city” of martha’s youthful dreams. the capitalized city is changeless, “a solid, slow-moving thing” with known landmarks generations can refer to. but the real city has more vitality, excitement, fluidity. we can feel and watch the real london of the 50s in this description of the actual city: “but london heaved up and down, houses changed shape, collapsed, whole streets were vanishing into rubble, and arrow shapes in cement reached up into the clouds. even the street surfaces were never level: they were always ‘up’, being altered, dug into, pitted, while men rooted in them to find tangled pipes in wet earth” (fgc 302). this extraordinary flux makes london “exhilarating” for martha. it almost erodes her dream of the ordered, hierarchical city: “it seemed as if the idea of a city or town as something slow-changing, almost permanent, belonged to the past when one had not needed so many pipes, cables, runnels, and types of machinery to keep it going. if time were slightly speeded up, then a city may now look like fountains of rubble cascading among great machines, while buildings momentarily form, change colour like vegetation, dissolve, reform” (fgc 302). this new london, explicitly connected with the house on radient street, survives war and other erosions. its rebuilding is exuberant, energetic. this london does not dissipate the archetypal image for martha, but “the old city all movement” surely commands the reader’s greater loyalty than the hierarchical city at which mark now laughs. the real city is closer to the process that the novel celebrates. the living, changing london is organic and stimulating. it seems almost like the tree whose organic nature is a celebratory motif throughout the series. so we cannot say that lessing’s picture of the four-gated city embodies harmony, reconciliation and integration throughout the series. racial integration is its earliest and most durable, most positive feature. because it reflects martha’s own changing consciousness, its meaning is variable, even ironic and limited. the ideal city contrasts with the disorder and variety of the coldridge house in the last novel of the series – the four-gated city. martha’s monachowicz, nadzieja. “the functioning of the container conceptual metaphor in doris lessing’s children of violence”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 35-46. ideal city of the first volume is only a blueprint without the human figure, while real houses and cities contain human beings. the houses in the four-gated city are obviously mirrors of psychological reality, but they do, however, have a physical reality of their own. the mud houses of lessing’s earlier fiction come out of the present time and her direct personal experience. for martha, mud is the african bush, grass, sky, earth. it is sensual; “… this frank embrace between the lifting breast of the land and the deep blue warmth of the sky is what exiles from africa dream of” (mq 230). although the critical, rebellious adolescent martha defines the native-style quest house “as disgracefully shabby, even sordid” – its roof sags, its walls are patched and spotted – she does call it original (m q 15). for this house, planned in white, settles a style for “bricks and proper roofing” built with “grass and mud and stamped dung” (mq 14). when martha puts her ear to the central pole, she can hear a “myriad tiny jaws at work”. the turner house in the grass is singing, with its brick walls and corrugated tin roof (destined for a “proper roof” it never gets), is, like mary the protagonist, out of place in the wilderness. the native houses are very different. their huts of grass, poles, and mud collapse back into the earth when the workers leave for another job: “so there were always new huts, and always empty ones” (lessing 1994:152). these huts look “like natural growths from the ground, rather than man-made dwellings”. lessing continues: “it was as though a giant black hand had reached down from the sky, picked up a handful of sticks and grass, and dropped them magically on the earth in the form of huts” (lessing 1994: 152). their qualities of spontaneity and naturalness make these mud huts the antipodes of lessing’s magical cities – the four-gated city, the inner city of briefing, and the geometrical cities of shikasta. lessing’s image of the mud house has a central place in her iconography. the writer’s journey from martha quest to the four-gated city may be described as a journey from mud to void, and as the abdication of earth for space. it is also lessing’s progressive move toward the remote and the abstract. a parallel mode marks lessing’s architectural journey, but the journey is not a simple one, for the mud house is not a viable reality for martha quest or doris lessing. martha, like lessing, longs for the london in her mind, but accepts the actual london she finds. in landlocked, the fourth book of the series, the influence of sufism on lessing’s writing is first to be seen. martha’s mental condition in the novel is epitomized by two recurrent dreams: the dream of the house whose rooms she must keep separate, and the nightmare of being landlocked. the fact that both symbols, house and landlock, can signify internal, psychological states as well as external phenomena breaks down the conventional empiricist/realist distinction between subjective and objective. “ruin” also has this sort of double significance; as robert graves quotes idries shah: “in sufi literature…’ruin’ stands for the mind ruined by unregenerate thought and awaiting reedification” (graves 1971: xivxv). the dream imagery intermingles with martha’s conscious thought and actions in a way that further undermines such distinctions. the dream of the house in landlocked (14-15) is described in language like that of the “emptied city” passage. the images are hallucinatory and shape-shifting, as the ruin martha fears will follow from her failure to keep things separate becomes “the house on the kopje, collapsed into a mess of ant-tunneled mud, ant-consumed grass,” and then turns to “the burial mound of martha’s soul”, the ant tracks becoming “red veins” (l15). the ruin looks forward to the disintegration of the quest house, which is later described as “rotted…in a fierce compost”. though chronologically, it looks back to it, since this dissolution has actually already occurred (l190-191). then martha’s perspective moves “back in time, or perhaps monachowicz, nadzieja. “the functioning of the container conceptual metaphor in doris lessing’s children of violence”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 35-46. forward – she did not know”, and the house is “no longer the farm house of grass and mud; but …tall rather than wide, reached up, stretched down … built layer, but shadowy above and below” (l15). whereas in the preceding children of violence novels, houses like colonel brodeshaw’s and the house on the avenues were substantial and real, in landlocked houses are shape-shifting, disintegrating. time, too, is disrupted: past, present, and future are conflated, as the dream points both forward and backward in time – back to the south london scene of mrs. quest’s childhood and forward to mark’s bloomsbury house. the dream instructs martha to “keep things separate” because allowing them to merge would mean chaos, would incur “disintegration”. but “keeping separate meant defeating, or at least holding at bay, what was best in her… the need to say yes, to comply, to melt into situations” (l 15). she follows the instruction of the dream by saying “no” to several male characters: to mr robinson when he offers her a job; to mr maynard when he tries to bully her about maisie; to her husband anton when he suggests that they remain married. above all she must separate herself from the pain of her parents and refuse even pity for them lest they “drag her down into this nightmare house like a maze where there could be only one end” (l 76) – a nightmare house that is also an actual house where people “sat around, waiting for an old man to die” (l 197). houses in the past and in the future, houses present and “a hundred miles away” (l 190), real houses and nightmare houses, blend in a mode that confounds chronology. the effect is similar to that created by the breaking of sequence in the golden notebook, to the simultaneity produced by the juxtaposition of the four notebooks. in landlocked martha behaves as if testing out various places “various other shells” (pm 65) to live in. when she feels uncomfortable in the relationship with anton she perceives it as the necessity “to cut anton out of her consciousness, to bring down a curtain in herself and shut him out”. lying in a twin bed every night in a shared bedroom with thomas, “she was not there” (l 119). falling in love with thomas is for martha like entering new spaces and new rooms through numerous doors in the process of endless exploration of her inner self: “what shall i do when thomas goes away? and in any case, what was this absolute giving up o f herself, look at each other, as if doors were being opened one after another inside their eyes as they looked – how was it that she was driven by him back and back into regions of herself she had not known existed” (l 105). to feel happy in the new relationship martha must first find a ‘room’ for this new state of mind inside herself as well as in the real world: she finds the actual room in the shed at the end of the garden by the house where thomas’s brother lives: “she had complained that her life had consisted of a dozen rooms, each self-contained, that she was wearing into a frazzle of shrill nerves in the effort of carrying herself, each time a whole, from one ‘room’ to the other. but adding a new room to her house had ended the division. from this centre she now lived – a loft of romantic wood from whose crooked window could be seen only sky and the boughs of trees …” (l 103). “now she lived from this new centre, the room she shared with thomas, the room that had in it, apparently, a softlyrunning dynamo, to which, through him, she was connected. everything had become easy suddenly” (l 113). later in landlocked, after thomas’s death, when martha sees a new perspective and a new kind of understanding which is evidently the consequence of her changed consciousness after the war, she strives to get back to the room in the loft she occupied together with thomas: “nothing fitted, ridiculous facts jostled with important ones, if one only knew which was which… and she wished she was back in the refuge of the loft, reading” (l 168). but this room can no longer save her or give refuge; just like the reading she longs for it is not helpful any more, since the systems it depended on have been swept away by the cataclysms of the century. monachowicz, nadzieja. “the functioning of the container conceptual metaphor in doris lessing’s children of violence”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 35-46. thomas’s death leaves martha feeling “as if some part of me has died (…) or is it in another room, looking on” (l 224). but the image of “another room”, which she uses to signify dislocation, appears in the sufi tales of mulla nasrudin to suggest increased potential: “… they were like children born in a house from which they have never been allowed to stray, doomed to walk from one room to another without knowing that there could be another house, elsewhere (idries shah 1971: 151). the other dream that expresses martha’s condition and acts as her guide is the dream of being landlocked: “on this high dry plateau where martha was imprisoned, forever, it seemed, everything was dry and brittle, its quality was drought.” like the dream of the house, this both cautions her against a condition and suggests a way of avoiding it: “far away, a long way below, was water. she dreamed, night after night, of water, of the sea.” (l199). this dream is prescient, prefiguring the deaths of athen and thomas: “across the sea, which she could not reach… sailed people she had known…athen, thomas (l 128). the images of both dreams – the house and landlock – are combined in a waking reverie when martha, visiting the “nightmare house” of her parents, half listens to her daughter caroline, playing with mr quest, taunting the old man with her youth and vitality. the situation – caroline’s teasing, mrs quest’s engineering the situation as a reproach to martha – pulls martha back into “nightmare”. but dream imagery infuses her consciousness, as the sound of the sprinklers in the background – “water, water falling water” – recalls to her the possibility of rescue from the sea. “and one day…martha would stand on a shore and watch a line of waves gather strength and run inwards, piling and gathering high before falling into a burst of white foam… meanwhile, the old man lay, whimpering in his cage of decaying swelling flesh” (l 238-39). the “lock” that is the landmass of africa becomes, in this passage, the prison of mortal life, with the light-illuminated water beyond suggesting a transcendent reality of which martha’s consciousness, instructed by her dreams, has an intimation. in landlocked the mythical “old villan”, the patterns of the past, die hard. imagery of cages, nets and webs is nearly as pronounced here as it was in a proper marriage – though associated not with martha, but with those around her. martha’s father is locked in his “cage of flesh” (l 239); her mother is “trapped, caged” in her life (l197). it is most poignant in the dream mrs quest has of her mother reaching down from heaven to hand her roses that turn to medicine bottles, a symbol of the inadequate parenting that she repeats with martha. martha’s political career, which she is ready to reject while leaving for england, is associated in her mind with “so many dingy, bench furnished, dust-smelling little offices” (l 284). thus for martha the patterns of the past are stripped away, and one by one the illusions that held her in the preceding novels are laid to rest. the relationship with thomas ends the fantasy that love, even as compelling as this, can provide a rescue. the idea of the family as support is terminated by mrs quest’s legacy to her daughter, just before martha leaves for england, of “all the keys she had ever had in her life”, “half a century’s keys on a key ring” (l 233), “black, rusty, jutting, awkward” (l 232), keys “fit for a dungeon”, opening nothing. there were numerous keys to “doors” and “gates” associated in martha’s consciousness with love, marriage, books, and marxism, which promised a way out, but provided only a way back in to the system martha was trying to escape. it is worth mentioning that martha’s mother, at the end of the novel, finds herself in the dry mountains on a farm that is even more “landlocked” than the quest family farm. the political meeting of the last scene represents an end to the fantasy that political action can accomplish anything. observing the meeting with ironic distance, martha can now see that “history was repeating itself” and can “foretell the end” (l monachowicz, nadzieja. “the functioning of the container conceptual metaphor in doris lessing’s children of violence”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 35-46. 275) – an understanding that enables her to step off the repetitive cycle and make a real end – after they sat arguing during a “closed meeting” of the marxist group which takes place in a “small, stuffy” room, the three members of the group with martha among them, go out to see “the skies that are swept by storms and by rain” (l 287). as can be seen from the above analysis of the children of violence novels, lessing’s sense of cataclysmic destruction increases while her interest in society decreases, to be replaced by a new strain of mysticism. the evolution of lessing’s style coincides with her understanding of a way beyond social determinism, a place outside culture, by positing an “essential self” that is in touch with a “universal consciousness” or transcendent realm. the structure of the novel, beginning with landlocked, is also made in such a way as to comprise a complex, richly allusive system of imagery both pictorial and metaphorical. first and foremost, the imagery involved concerns land-lock 2 – desert landscapes, ideal and ruined cities, real and nightmare houses and rooms – and the regenerative forces of water and light. these visions are drawn both from martha’s dreams and her experience in a way that breaks down the distinction between objective and subjective. dreams prefigure and influence events so as to register dream reality as equally valid as conscious experience, and rather an altered sense of experience. unconventional imagery builds special meanings and resonances in the course of the novel and becomes more meaningful than anything that actually happens. correspondences between all kinds of environments and martha’s inner states are obvious in the course of the five novels of children of violence. it becomes even more evident in landlocked, and increases in the last novel of the series, the four-gated city. the testing out of various spaces for living in takes martha to different places and states of consciousness; the houses and rooms she enters may be places of love and visionary experiences. like many other women in lessing’s fiction she strives to leave her deterministic domestic spaces to find new transcendental experience in new spheres of life. but the paradox of martha’s ever changing environments is that getting there never quite happens in lessing’s worlds. displacement, not arrival, is at the centre of her imagination, even in her galactic novels. in making displacement the organizing metaphor of her study of doris lessing, lorna sage describes it as an element so central in lessing’s work that virtually all critics have commented on it (sage 1983). displacement defines the varied shapes of lessing’s otherness – her female, white, colonial, political selves. if we follow martha after she leaves africa at the end of landlocked, bound for the ruined city of london in 1949, we will see that the “lock” has been broken, and with it the social determinism that governed the first three novels. in the four-gated city, which is the last book of the sequence, martha looks for new environments, and finds the new house (the house of mark coldridge) which is to become her home for the rest of her life, and the exploration of which will provide her with the key to new perspectives oppositional to the values of traditional culture. references draine, b. 1983. substance under pressure: artistic coherence and evolving form in the novels of doris lessing. london: university of north carolina press. 2 the polish translation of the novel’s title landlocked as czas nadziei (albatros 2013) does not retain lessing’s idea of being surrounded and blocked with no way out. the polish translations of the other titles in the series are as follows: martha questmartha quest (albatros 2008); a proper marriage – odpowiednie małzeństwo (albatros 2009); a ripple from the storm – fala po burzy (albatros 2010), the four-gated city –miasto o czterech bramach (albatros 2013). monachowicz, nadzieja. “the functioning of the container conceptual metaphor in doris lessing’s children of violence”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 3/2013, 35-46. cederstrom, l. 1990. fine-tuning the feminine psyche: jungian patterns in the novels of doris lessing. new york: peterlang. graves, r.1971. introduction. in: idries shah, the sufis. new york: doubleday. howe, f.1975. talk with doris lessing. in: paul schlueter (ed.) a small personal voice: doris lessing, essays, reviews, interviews, 12-23. new york: vintage. idries shah. 1971. the sufis. new york: doubleday. karl, frederick r. 1986. doris lessing in the sixties: the new anatomy of melancholy. in: modern critical views doris lessing. harold bloom. (ed.) new york: chelsea house publishers. kaplan, c., rose, e.c. (eds.) 1988. doris lessing: the alchemy of survival. athens: ohio university press. king, j. 1989. doris lessing, london: routledge. laing, r.d.1969. the divided self: an existential study in sanity and madness. london: travistok publications. lakoff, g. and m. johnson. 1981. metaphors we live by. chicago/london: the university of chicago press. lessing, d. 1982. martha quest london, toronto, sydney, new york: granada publishing limited. lessing, d. 1982. a proper marriage london, toronto, sydney, new york: granada publishing limited. lessing, d. 1982. a ripple from the storm. london, toronto, sydney, new york: granada publishing limited. lessing, d. 1982. the four-gated city. london, toronto, sydney, new york: granada publishing limited. lessing, d. 1994. the grass is singing. london: a flamingo modern classic. rubenstein, r. 1979. the novelistic vision of doris lessing: breaking the forms of consciousness . urbana: university of illinois press. sage, l. 1983. contemporary writers: doris lessing. london: methuen. stockwell, p. 2002. cognitive poetics: an introduction. london/new york: routledge. crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 33-45 stephen oladele solanke elizade university, nigeria mythotypes and sociological imports in the apartheid world of sizwe bansi is dead abstract. oppression of man by man has been a common phenomenon from time immemorial. this subjugation has mostly been subtle, insidious and debilitating, especially of the oppressed and the common people. this paper examines the apartheid south african world in sizwe bansi is dead, and exposes tacit, discreet but mythically destructive avenues that athol fugard, wiston ntshona and john kani opine oppressors have always archetypically drawn from. the paper allows that freedom is possible if the oppressed are introspective, creative, focussed, and do not get themselves lost in the ‘dangerous dreams’ of their oppressors. they must, like styles, sizwe and buntu in the examined text, be able to create, archetypically too, like their oppressors, new songs, new myths and new weaponry and strategies to unchain themselves. keywords: south africa, athol fugard, apartheid, mythic, archetypal, freedom, oppression. introduction across civilizations and times, people have always suffered under the oppression of others. this has been facilitated by various factors, e.g. economics, pacts, treaties, and wars. there are other covert factors that have negatively impacted and deepened this unwholesome activity in the guises of race, ethnicity and religion. the religious-cum-racial subjugation exhibited in south africa in the twentieth century was labelled ‘apartheid’. wrongly founded on a south african lutheran (biblical) premise (especially encouraged by the south african dutch reformed church), apartheid became a state policy. all blacks (the original owners of the land) became subjugated, second-class citizens. ‘apartheid’, a word in dutch and afrikaans (two south african languages of the whites), which means “separate” and “separateness” respectively, is defined by wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, as: “the status of being apart” was a system of racial segregation enforced through legislation [. . .] under which the rights of the majority black inhabitants of south africa were curtailed and white supremacy and afrikaner minority rule was maintained”. elucidating, davis (2009) writes: the apartheid laws classified people according to three major racial groups – white; bantu, or black africans; and coloured, or people of mixed descent. later, asians, or indians and pakistanis, were added as a fourth category. the laws determined where members of each group could live, what jobs they could hold, and what type of education they could receive. laws prohibited most social contact between races, authorized segregated public facilities, and denied any representation of non-whites in the national government. people who openly opposed apartheid were considered communists and the government passed strict security legislation which in effect turned south africa into a police state. crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 33-45 as andré brink (1993) posits, this researcher also thinks, in this paper, that it is time to take a retrospective look at apartheid through athol fugard, wiston ntshona and john kani’s sizwe bansi is dead. apartheid was founded on sociological inferences stipulated by the whites. therefore, the blacks, and a few whites and coloureds who opposed and fought the policy, had to establish new but opposing sociologically-oriented mythotypes based on sociopolitical and economic premises. this paper clarifies and portrays these mythotypes as important weaponry in the struggle against oppressive regimes as they were successfully utilized against the south african apartheid policy. writing on ontogenic mythotypes, g. charles andersen (http://mythotypes.com/index.htm) posits that mythotypes are encapsulated summary systems of cultural, family and personal stories containing patterns and structural elements that convey important psychic information for both senders and receivers. most commonly, these mythotypes are stories of gods, heroes, legends and unusual creatures. the influence they can exercise is not always benign, and can often be characterized as “control.” frequently these mythotypes are attached to archetypes that become seemingly synonymous with one another. the important thing to consider is that there are a limited number of archetypal energies, but a nearly infinite supply of mythotypes. some mythotypes are preferred within specific cultural contexts, while another culture can easily attach a different gender and story to the same archetypal energy. a sociological in-text analysis of the play is the examination tool for this paper. it reflects on and opens the mainly introverted and extremely symbolic scenes. the reader is introduced to the workings of apartheid: its overt and covert social, political, psychological and economic effects. these are shown in the lives of the blacks, who comprised the highest population group in the country (but suffered the most). the text, also, albeit indirectly, points out new mythical ways of fighting and gaining freedom within and outside of the system. textually, styles tells the audience he became a photographer to the chagrin of his father and family (this allows him to be an independent man). sizwe bansi comes in wanting his photograph taken with the false name robert zwilinzima. the photo becomes a still photograph when taken. through it, sizwe is able to communicate with his wife, who he had not seen for a long time after leaving king william’s town, his native place, for port elizabeth to look for a job. here, in a few days, he would be deported by the authority as he does not have a job or the permission to seek one. in secret, therefore, he lives with a friend of a friend, buntu. sizwe and buntu discover the dead body of robert. what becomes useful to them, especially sizwe, is the dead man’s work-seeker’s permit. with this, sizwe can stay in town and look for a responsible job. it also means that he, as ‘sizwe’, must effectively die. this situation is turned into reality as the papers of sizwe are burnt and those of robert are effectively forged into becoming sizwe’s. in all of these events, the effects of apartheid are felt and portrayed, not only through the characters, but also through the dialogue, setting, thematic focus and plot according to campbell (1968), myths serve four functions: mystical, cosmological, pedagogical and sociological. this paper is mainly concerned with the last function – sociological – and in a minor way with the pedagogical aspect. the sociological function creates, supports, opposes and encourages all types of social orders. it allows a society to create and recreate mythotypes that are relevant to its (under)development according to its pace and choices. therefore, while societal oppressors generate and utilize ‘oppressive’ myths, the oppressed are also encouraged to reconstruct these to suit their own purpose: the gaining of freedom. in agreement, malinowski (1992), a functionalist mythologist, posits that myths chart ways for social actions. in this line of argument, while answering the question, “what is myth?”, magoulick (2013) opines that “myths serve to explain and encourage world view and good action within society.” they are usually derived from the basic human fables, actions, crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 33-45 foibles and beliefs prevalent in different but specific (past and present) civilizations. these are originated, archetypically, from a common human psychic pool source. jung (1934: 263) states that “man carries his social imperatives within himself, a prior, as an inborn necessity.” it therefore, becomes universal to link a myth to different nations, peoples and civilizations. though the story-lines and characterizations might be slightly different, the thematic focuses are usually the same (campbell 1968). in looking at the south african apartheid problem this paper maintains that racial discriminatory happenings in that country were not new to human civilization. this is the reason apartheid mythotypes are sourceable from that common human pool, and relevant not only to its derived environment, south africa, but to all humans. the mythopoeic fight and struggle for freedom from oppression has come under different nomenclatures (osofisan’s morountodun, wa thiong’o and mugo’s the trials of dedan kimathi, hussein’s kinjeketile), but this paper has compressed most under a few named mythotypes as exemplified in sizwe bansi is dead. historically, athol fugard, wiston ntshona and john kani, through a workshop endeavour, wrote the play sizwe bansi is dead. the text, which does not address apartheid overtly, utilizes various technicalities to express aversion and proffer solutions to the policy of racial segregation. the play sprouts from, and is linked to, protest and struggle theatre. this guerrilla theatre is depicted in the text’s make-up, where plays are staged spontaneously and moved around. during the workshops that added flesh to the play, and the other two plays in the statement collection, wikipedia reports: the audience used … crying and interjecting. the plays were workshopped … used the feedback to improve the play…. when he (buntu) debates how sizwe would effectively “die” and whether the sacrifice would be worth it the audience would cry out, “go on. do it” because they appreciated that without a pass you were effectively a non-entity. this extends to the setting of the play, which is brechtian in orientation: austere, effective, utility-oriented, with a reduction in the audience’s emotional involvement (the verfremdungseffekt). this sparse and spatial setting facilitates the continuous textual actions. according to wikipedia, “sets and props were improvised from whatever was available, which helps to explain the minimalist sets that productions of these plays utilize”. there is just one basic setting on which all the actions and dialogues are super-imposed. this is styles’ photographic studio in the african township of new brighton, port elizabeth. throughout, the major stage description that subsists for the play runs thus: styles photographic studio in the african township of new brighton, port elizabeth. positioned prominently, the name-board: ... . underneath this is a display of various sizes. centre stage, a table and chair … used for photographs because a camera on a tripod stands ready a short distance away. there is also another table, or desk, with odds and ends of photographic equipment and an assortment of ‘props’ for photographs. the setting … and … scenes should be as simple as possible so that the action can be continuous. (sizwe bansi, 3) this paper establishes the link between a people’s understanding of their oppressed position and their mind-set in finding ways out of it. it uses sizwe bansi is dead as a tool to affirm that if a people can create new focuses and new myths in their struggle, freedom might not be too far from them. crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 33-45 oppression through mythotypes the play is a reflection of the apartheid problems blacks faced and the manners they went about solving them. it portrays what the future portended and how they could go about achieving their dream of freedom. in their struggle against the policy, the blacks endeavoured to create many subtle ways. these became mythic as they were derivatives from their traditional cultures. these reflections of their beliefs portray the how, when, what and where the struggle would take place. mostly, these mythotypes were understood by all, as they were people-oriented and sociologically derived. this play, according to mcdonald (2006:10), becomes all the more powerful by dint of its basis on myths that have entered the human psyche. as freud noted with the myth of oedipus, there are certain myths that take up residence in the human mind and soul because they reflect primitive urges. a mythic issue played out in the text is the connection between industrialization, civilization and apartheid. in this ‘modern’ world of south africa, the words ‘serf’, ‘lord’ and ‘serfdom’ are anomalies but are synonymised in the blacks (‘boys’), the whites (‘baas’) and the industries (the ford motor plant and others), respectively. this situation is a mythical cover-up of the subjugation of the ordinary man, the conquered and the subjugated. it is an anachronistic feudal world in a supposedly industrialized and civilized country. the car plant, an avenue of socio-economic exploitation, negates any development the blacks might ever seek in a world controlled by the whites. with its expansion, the black workers would still not benefit. styles states: “‘car plant expansion, 1.5 million rand plan’. ja. i’ll tell you what that means [...] more machines, bigger buildings […] never any expansion to the pay-pocket. make me fed-up’” (sizwe bansi, 3). it is only when those in charge pay visits that life, temporarily, changes for the over-worked but underpaid servile workers. these types of visits, usually fun-fares, produce nothing. the visit of “mr. henry ford junior number two or whatever the hell he is” (sizwe bansi, 4) catches the headlines. he is “... going to see to it that the conditions of their non-white workers in southern africa were substantially improved” but “the talk ended in the bloody newspaper. never in the paypacket” (sizwe bansi, 4). again, the visits demand superficial changes that do not affect the lives of the workers. at ford’s, in anticipation of the visit, surface and ordinary factory changes are implemented: general cleaning, writing and painting of alert notifications, distribution of new overalls, new tools, etc. the visitors did not even look at the workers. in the end, the workers have to make up for the lost time: one… two… three… out! into the galaxie and gone! that’s all. didn’t talk to me, mr. ‘baas’ bradley, line supervisor, or anybody. he didn’t even look at the plant! and what did i see when those three galaxies disappeared? the white staff at the main switchboard. ‘double speed on the line! make up for production lost!’ it ended up with us working harder that bloody day than ever before. just because that big … (sizwe bansi, 8-9). the myth of servility and economic-deprivation, which is as ancient as man, is propagated in contemporary south africa: a world of exploiters and the exploited, the haves and have-nots. this situation and others of its ilk are built on social deceit emanating from lack of education by the blacks. the government, through its various apartheid policies, enforces this. though the blacks are forced to learn the language of the whites, the latter neither speak nor write those of the former. this portrays the myth of the assumed superiority of language and race. to converse with their conquered, therefore, translators like styles are needed by the whites, even on temporary bases. this gives the impotent blacks, through styles, a temporary superiority edge. the myth of subjugation is propagated by keeping the blacks out of work. without earning power, they become de-humanized, easily toyed with, and geographically restricted to crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 33-45 wherever the government deems fit. man (sizwe), who has run out of time of staying in port elizabeth, and is ‘endorsed’ to be deported to king william’s town, states in a letter to his wife, nowetu: port elizabeth is a big place, a very big place with lots of factories but also lots of people looking for a job like me. there are so many men, nowetu, who have left their places because they are dry and have come here to find work. (sizwe bansi, 22) the women are not left out of this economic disenfranchisement. buntu’s wife “is a domestic […] sleep-in at kabega park […] only comes home weekends” (sizwe bansi, 23). buntu’s “your wife is not working” statement (sizwe bansi, 27) gets man (sizwe)’s desultory reply: the place where we stay is fifteen miles from town. there is only one shop there. baas van wyk. he has already got a woman working for him. king william’s town is a dry place mr. buntu […] very small and too many people. (sizwe bansi, 27) only the conquerors have the economic power to employ. if the black men and women are not employed, then they become non-persons. this is the main thrust of the apartheid policy and system. this myth of oppression, a façade for under-developing and underindustrializing the blacks and their civilization, is perpetrated through the system, and iconized through various encoded economic symbols. another mythic issue consists of the absurdities prevalent in the apartheid world. this political dramatic text is a concretized illusion that realizes itself through the lives of the concerned blacks. in nearly all mythic stories, the absurd becomes employable in the storyteller’s hands. this creates larger-than-life scenarios authenticating the cosmogonic inference and reference to the lives of the people. the absurd hero, styles, not only encounters other absurd characters, he demonstrates absurdist tendencies and actions. these are in the guise of portraying the irrationality of, and the inherent failure embedded in, the apartheid system. the playwrights postulate that apartheid would fail just like all other xenophobic philosophies from eternity had. the general absurdities cut across the characters (abstract and concrete), the scenes, the actions, the surreal thematic focus and the sparse setting. this situation starts with styles’ struggle to get control of his shop by attacking the cockroaches with the insecticide, doom. escaping this extermination process, the cockroaches, with a ‘leader’ old professor -, organize a meeting and are inoculated: “brothers, we face a problem of serious pollution […] contamination! the menace appears to be called doom! i have recommended a general inoculation of the whole community” (sizwe bansi, 11). the insecticide does not kill them. the improbable did the job: a little cat, blackie, as in the south african “township, cats are insect-eaters” (sizwe bansi, 12). before all these, styles had heard the cockroaches conversing and relegating his actions, against them, into the dustbin. as the villains, they are outwitted like in any mythic story: heroes, like styles, use unethical and unconventional means to win their adversaries and wars. other characters, imaginary but concrete, are dredged from the memories of buntu, sizwe and styles (especially). thus, the text’s theory of concrete illusion is established. this includes the cards and movies taken. the audience sees and understands the majority of the events through styles’ imaginary pictorial anecdotes and descriptions. this imagery is painted and concretised: the audience ‘feel’ these card and movie characters. through the movie, man (sizwe) brings the play’s second cycle alive. becoming a reality, sizwe walks out of the picture (through the instrumentality of man) while dictating a letter to his wife, nowetu. at the end, his movie-picture is taken. the more bizarre the actions and scenes, the more effective the thematic focus and direction become. crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 33-45 in death, outa jacob fulfils the “terms of his contract with god” (sizwe bansi, 28). death and dying, a contract between a human and god, is only executed when the human dies. the human cannot escape because “wherever man is, or whatever he does, he is never without his faithful companion, death” (sizwe bansi, 28). this is likened to the native identity card coerced on the blacks. it must always be on them: dead or alive. freedom is achieved only when they are dead, having “reached home … . the only time we’ll find peace is when they dig a hole for us and press our face into the earth” (sizwe bansi, 28). another mythic issue, the loss and acquisition of identity encoded in the dream of reality and freedom, is textually concretised. the apartheid system is configured to achieve the depersonalization, deprivation and dehumanization of the black and other minority populace. to achieve this, the policy attacks different levels of the people’s consciousness and psyche. the languages of the ethnically diverse blacks become anathema. they are not to be spoken in official and educational environments. with this, the blacks are deprived of their hereditary communicative media. therefore, the only time styles is ‘employed’ as a translator becomes for him a time of vengeance. but it is an ineffectual strike at the policy. the whites neither speak nor write the language(s) of the blacks. on the other hand, the blacks must speak and write the language(s) of the whites. this situation is vividly captured in the writing scene between styles and baas bradley. this language imposition is mythical: it is meant to suppress the culture and traditions of the conquered. therefore, getting baas bradley in a kneeling position while he stands, gives styles his own pound of flesh. with this, mcdonald (2006:18) suggests: john and winston used the literature imported by their colonial “masters” as a weapon for counterattack. ironically, this literature [. . .] has subverted the colonial masters’ intentions of teaching them the meaning of human rights rather than playing the pacifying and “civilizing” role the colonizers intended. economically, the dictum is that of ‘he who pays the piper dictates the tune.’ the whites own the major economic and employing avenues. the blacks are at their mercies and caprices. baas bradley says that mr. henry ford junior, “the owner of this place, is go ing to visit us. mr. ford is the big baas. he owns the plant and everything in it” (sizwe bansi, 7). in the kafkaesque discussion between man and buntu about employment, it is discovered that without a white’s legal backing, hardly can a black get any profitable job. buntu: do you know any white man who’s prepared to give you a job? man: no. i don’t know any white man. buntu: pity. we might have been able to work something out then. you talk to the white man, you see, and ask him to write a letter saying he’s got a job for you. (sizwe bansi, 25) with this letter, man will still need to go through a bureaucratic labyrinth before being excluded from ‘raids’. without this, the only options left are the mines where the whites “don’t worry about influx control”, as “many black men get killed when the rocks fall. you can die there” (sizwe bansi, 26). those who work in established institutions, like ford motors, get a “gold-wrist watch in twenty-five years’ time when they sign you off because you’re too old for anything anymore” (sizwe bansi, 9). clarifying this situation, which affected south african blacks and is still affecting most citizens on the african continent, as instituted by the colonial rulers and neo-colonial institutions, walter rodney (1972:122) states: crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 33-45 the element of subordination and dependence is crucial to an understanding of african underdevelopment today . . . . it is also worth noting that there is a type of false or pseudo integration which is a camouflage for development. the influx control, a negatively skewed policy of repatriation, which limits and cuts off blacks from lucrative economic environments and cities, employs the raiding system to flush out and return them to their original dead-ends. icons of servility and repression are established in mythic archetypal symbols falsely enmeshed in high population number and control policies. blacks are raided, as happens to man (sizwe). this keeps them pinned to specific environments: their rights to movement, and by extension, to good jobs is d enied. dennis brutus (solanke, 2005: 6), the south africa poet, in his rebellious poem, “a troubadour i traverse . . .,” succinctly captures this state of affairs: a troubadour, i traverse all my land exploring all her wide-flung parts with zest probing in motion sweeter far than rest her secret thickets with an amorous hand: and i have laughed, disdaining those who banned inquiry and movement (bold mine) the ordinary man is immersed in the apartheid world through various documentations. to be recognized as a person, he must have a social number on his native identification card: “it’s more important than your name” (sizwe bansi, 29). it must always be on the black wherever he is, or if he gets arrested. without it, he is a non-person, as the “white man at the labour bureau takes the book, looks at it doesn’t look at you!” (sizwe bansi, 25). the passbook allows him to stay in specific places the government deems fit: “but if that book says go, you go” (sizwe bansi, 24). his pink card is his record card at the labour bureau. according to buntu, “your whole bloody life is written down on that” (sizwe bansi, 24). to become a trader, a hawker’s license must be acquired. a residence permit, which allows one to stay in a place and escape raids, must be signed. buntu elaborates the torturous, if not impossible, process of getting this (sizwe bansi, 25-26). styles had to get official permission before opening and operating his photographic studio. the black man must do all these things to stay out of trouble. but man expounds on the impossibility of not falling into trouble: “a blackman stay out of trouble? impossible, buntu. our skin is trouble” (sizwe bansi, 43). the blacks are depersonalized, debased, de-organized and de-humanized. their personalities become that of the slave, and they must always “hide your feelings” (sizwe bansi, 7); “clean your face” (sizwe bansi, 42); and “adopt a fawning, servile pose in front of the white man” (sizwe bansi, 43). the whites see majority of the blacks as thieves: “the old security guard [...] who every time he saw a black man walk past with his hands in his pocket […] saw another spark-plug walk out of the plant” (sizwe bansi, 8). in his mocking and satirical translation for baas bradley, styles captures it all: gentlemen, he says that when the door opens and his grandmother walks in you must see to it that you are wearing a mask of smiles. hide your true feelings, brothers. you must sing. the joyous songs of the days of old before we had fools like this one next to me to worry about. (sizwe bansi, 7) to achieve individual, group, national and racial identity, the blacks and the other minority groups, at different levels and with different results, attack and attempt to alleviate the effects of the apartheid system on their communal life. through these, their dream of freedom could be achieved either in the long or short term. styles breaks from the ordinary track, becomes self-employed, making his photographic studio “a story-room of dreams” (sizwe bansi, 12) for himself and his people. he becomes the mythic hero serving as a conduit for people’s dreams and achievements (personal or group). an example of this crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 33-45 achievement is the academic man who gets a standard six certificate at the age of forty-eight after seven years of study (he would become a boss-boy) and who tells styles: “but i am not finished. i’m going to take up for the junior certificate, then matric […] and you watch, mr. styles. one day i walk out of my house, graduate, self-made” (sizwe bansi, 14) (bold mine). styles keeps history alive through the family cards he takes. a photo, consisting of “my father, my mother, my brothers and sisters, their wives and husbands, our children. twentyseven of us” (sizwe bansi, 15), captures, through the grandfather, the past, present and future of the african world. through styles, man as sizwe dies but resurrects as robert, achieving temporary psycho-cultural freedom for himself and his family. buntu, who understands the policy, meets sizwe through and in the picture, and helps refocuses sizwe’s consciousness and ego to living within and accepting the system. styles’ father fought for south africa in the second world war, “so that this country and all the others could stay free” (sizwe bansi, 17). on returning, he is denied the freedom he risked his life to get for others. in an ironic compensation, he is given a scoff-tin and a bicycle. his freedom ends “in a rotten old suitcase amongst some of his old rags” (sizwe bansi, 19) when he dies. politically, the struggle leads to the independence of a part of the country. this is farcical and of no use, as explained by man: “when a car passes or the wind blows up the dust, ciskeian independence makes you cough … . put a man in a pondok and call that independence? ... ciskeian independence is shit!” (sizwe bansi, 31). this type of pseudo neocolonialism was practiced by a few colonial governments which ruled the various africa countries. kenya got her ‘majimboism’, and nigeria her regional governments. this policy of region-by-region, district by district, or piecemeal independence was meant to swindle the people into believing that independence had being given. it implanted separation and tribal segregation among the people. reacting to this type of situation, kimathi, the hero in the trial of dedan kimathi by ngugi wa thiong’o and micere githae mugo (1976:46), exclaims: would you too call the war for national liberation a regional movement? what has colonialism done to your thinking? hear me. kenya is one indivisible whole. the cause we fight for is larger than provinces: it shatters ethnic barriers. it is a whole people’s cause. in their exploration of the myth of oppression, athol fugard, wiston ntshona and john kani utilize multifarious nomenclatures. these portray the oppressed and the oppressors. ‘baas’ and ‘makulu baas’ are used for whites only. they demonstrate the existence and omnipresence of the apartheid system, just like in george orwell’s 1984, where big brother, omnipresent-like, straddles oceania. the blacks are brainwashed to a level that when bansi is addressed as ‘mister’ (sizwe bansi, 29), he is shocked into laughter, and questions: ‘how can a black like him be referred to as mister bansi?’ generally, the black adults are called ‘boys’, irrespective of age, by any white (also irrespective of age): “[…] his little child calls you ‘boy’[…] you a man, circumcised with a wife and four children” (sizwe bansi, 38). the ‘respect’ for any black comes when he is promoted at work. he becomes and is called “boss-boy” (the head of the boys). due to all these, buntu advocates a non-entity, noname situation for all south african blacks. athol fugard, wiston ntshona and john kani’s agree. this is the main reason the playwrights use man (without a specific name) to showcase his belief that freedom is achievable by any or all the blacks. again, the name, styles, comes in the plurality, with the intention that this main character represents the different forms of oppression and freedom the blacks undergo and can achieve, respectively. all names are useless as all blacks are “ghosts” (sizwe bansi, 38) to the whites. to buntu, therefore, “shit on names, man! to hell with them if in exchange you can get a piece of bread for yo ur stomach and a blanket in winter” (sizwe bansi, 43). what is necessary and important is staying alive and achieving one’s goals within the system. this, in the final analysis, is why crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 33-45 bansi is called ‘sizwe’, translated as ‘brother’. brother bansi dies, loses his name, but resurrects with another name, becoming a ghost with the ability to live within the system. according to buntu, “all i’m saying is be a real ghost, if that is what they want, what they’ve turned us into” (sizwe bansi, 38). two individuals/actors play the three characters involved in the play. with this experimentation, play-acting and role-play come in. in the mythic world, heroes and villains are usually few, with a high number of supporting staff and hangers-on. athol fugard, wiston ntshona and john kani utilize this technique to portray the non-importance of independence, if and when one is still dependent on another or on an external force (individual/group or official/unofficial) apart from oneself (kinjeketile, 1970). on the other hand, it becomes an initiatory tool in the hands of buntu in the hypnotization and conviction of sizwe. through it, the oppressed can for a time become free; styles translates for bradley; sizwe becomes robert. surmising, brink (1993:10) posits: it represents, in fact, the most basic function of the writer in a closed society where “normal” artistic creation is inhibited and everything is politicized: the need to record, the need to bear witness. it is the primary reaction, which precedes all resistance. solutions in mythotypes the text advocates a few ways out of the imbroglio. the cat that eats cockroaches depicts a struggle, a fighting policy and strategy unlike those of the past. this is exemplified in how sizwe becomes robert. returning from sky’s place in the night, sizwe and buntu get lost. after debating how to move, they took, according to the text’s direction, “an appropriate change in direction. they continue walking and eventually arrive at a square, with roads, leading off in many directions” (sizwe bansi, 31) (bold mine). from here, buntu not only finds the way, but he also discovers the body of robert. through this, sizwe gets his new lease on life. this portends a future of independence and freedom for the people from the ashes of their former struggles and dead lives. another freedom-related mythic issue thrashed out in the text dictates that in the contemporary life envisioned in modern revolutions, there is the demystification of the supernatural forces in man’s struggle for freedom. this focus shows explicitly the complexity of man’s ambivalence and contradiction: man as man’s enemy and friend, oppressor and saviour, concurrently. man is chained and bound by man: it is only man that can release man from his oppressive psycho-social, political and economic bondage. the tools of unbinding himself surround him: he only needs to be creative, determined and focused. when styles finds cockroaches inhabiting his new shop he directly goes for the obvious solution: an insecticide. in his failure, creativeness and a change in his fighting strategy comes into play. he finds a lasting solution to his periplaneta americana problem as he comes across a cat that could do the job. metaphorically, the cat is suggestive of new solutions black south africans must look for. it is prophetic because it was not until all the military and violent struggles ended and dialogue ensued that relief came for south africa. to make sizwe come alive in robert, no ritualistic hullabaloo and religious chants are needed. the transformation becomes modern through a change of official identification numbers and information encompassed in an official document. calling on gods to effect spiritual and physical changes in the human environment no longer hold total sway. man must dance to the tune of his contemporary world; he must look into and outside of himself while consigning the gods to the nether world. the apartheid problem, falsely rooted in christian doctrine, was created by men (legitimized during the tenure of the south african president, crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 33-45 dr. daniel malan in 1948 and maintained by other prime ministers and presidents like hendrik verwoerd, b. j vorster and pieter botha). it was, therefore, pertinent for it to be resolved by men (through the instrumentalities of leaders like frederik willem de klerk, steve biko, nelson mandela, oliver tambo and thabo mbeki). spiritual aids were not very much needed, but the physical struggle and oneness of the people were. conclusion oppressors get into people’s lives through various avenues: religion, culture, diplomatic pacts and deals, deceit, trade, propaganda, defeat in war and other ways. this myth of oppression has stayed with man for eons. in the developing african world, oppressors have been internal and external (alain 2000). the internal ones have been africans, especially after the different countries got independence from their colonial rulers; a sort of self-imposed neo-colonialism. the external ones have been colonizers of different types and from different countries of other continents. both use oppressive tools to suppress the people: all based on false propaganda and double talk. the attempt is always to break and split the societies concerned. styles, sizwe and buntu, the major and symbolic characters, personally seek ways out for themselves and their people in this constricted, apartheid environment. athol fugard, wiston ntshona and john kani, therefore, succeed in intertwining the characters and the thematic focus of sizwe bansi is dead with mythical techniques and icons. they succeed in exposing and exploiting the mythical within an oppressive society. this results in the condemnation of apartheid without a mention of it. one can agree with rich (2002) that the text is “lyrical in design, shattering in impact.” the playwrights have been able to examine the various aspects of the political imbroglio of their society with penetrative and in-depth analytical dramatic scenes, icons and different mythotypes. styles is the griot telling the story of his people. it is through him, his actions and life that acquaintance is made with all facets of apartheid. the future is also predicated on him. he, therefore, represents not only for himself but also for his race and nation an achievable future; free of racial prejudice and oppression. this, in practice, agrees with brink’s (1993:6) position: “inasmuch as individual action can make a difference, sizwe bansi is far more hopeful and optimistic.” the text prophesies the future of apartheid, optimistically professing new ways and methods of achieving freedom. these in reality have happened. for the herocharacters, begiebing’s (1984: 202) summation is relevant here: “by his violent journey into a mysterious and misunderstood dimension, the hero gains a wisdom that could, but probably will not, be the salvation of his species”. sizwe and the other characters are able to point the way(s) out for their people. they are able to experience and to gain the ‘wisdom’ to help their society through personal and group adventures. references alain, r. 2000. ebrahim hussein: swahili theatre and individualism. dar es salaam: mkuki nanyota publishers. andersen charles g. “ontogenic mythotypes”. http://mythotypes.com/index.htm. (26 june 2015) begiebing, robert j. 1984. "the mythic hero in h. g. wells’s the time machine." essays in literature 11.2. 201-210. america: western illinois university. http://mythotypes.com/index.htm crossroads. a journal of english studies 7, 4/2014, pp. 33-45 brink, andre. 1993. “no way out.” sizwe bansi is dead and the dilemma of political drama in south africa. athol fugard issue. america: twentieth century literature. winter. vol 39, nov. campbell, joseph. 1968. the hero with a thousand faces. princeton: princeton university press. davis, richard. h. 2008.“apartheid.” microsoft®encarta® 2009 [dvd]. redmond, wa: microsoft corporation. fugard, athol, ntshona, wiston and kani, john. 1974. sizwe bansi is dead. london: oxford university press. hussein, ebrahim. n. 1970. kinjeketile. nairobi: oxford university press. jung, c.g. 1934. collected papers in analytical psychology. london: balliere, tindall & cox. magoulick, mary. 2013. “what is myth.” www.faculty.de.gsc.edu/~mmagouli/demyth.htm. (4 april 2013). malinowski, bronislaw. 1992 magic, science and religion and other essays. prospect heights, ill: waveland press, inc. mcdonald, m. 2006. “the return of the myth: athol fugard and the classics.” akroterion 51. 1-19. orwell, george. 1950. 1984. new york: signet book. osofisan, f. 1982. morountodun and other plays. nigeria: longman rich, frank. 2002. www.drama.cmu.edu>news&events>calendar. (13 february, 2013). rodney, walter. 1972:122. how europe underdeveloped africa. london: bogle-l’ouverture publications. solanke, s. o. 2005: 6. 28 poetic voices. nigeria: blue grass ventures. wa thiong’o, n and mugo, m. g. 1976. the trial of dedan kimathi. london: heinemann. wikipedia.org. 2013. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/athol_fugard. (10 february 2013). wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. 2013. “apartheid in south africa.” www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/apartheid_in_south_africa. (26 march 2013) 24 crossroads. a journal of english studies work in progress “work in progress” is a forum for students and university graduates who wish to present the results of their research. jacek kos university of bialystok anthropolinguistic analysis of the semantic field of the verb cook abstract. anthropolinguistic analysis of the semantic field of the verb cook is an attempt at presenting the evolution of the domain of cooking in english as reflected in the vocabulary pertaining to cooking terms adopted in different historical epochs. the examination of the whole network of related cooking terms (i.e. the semantic field of to cook) proves that its development is inextricably linked with the cultural and social changes, new inventions, foreign influences and many other factors. keywords: anthropolinguistics, semantic field, to cook, semantic relations, evolution of mentality, analysis. semantic field is one of the most important notions in the domain of semantics. crystal (1995: 157) defines semantic field as “a named area of meaning in which lexemes interrelate and define each other in specific ways”, while matthews (2003: 794) refers to it as “a distinct part of the lexicon defined by some general term or concept”. it is an important object of study in anthropolinguistics. anthropolinguistics is a relatively new science concerned with the development of human mentality and reasoning, as reflected in a language. it can be noticed that the way in which humans comprehended the reality varied in different periods in history. three stages of the development of reasoning reflected in the language are usually distinguished: prescientific, proto-scientific and scientific. while the earliest stage was dominated by naïve type of thinking, the latest (i.e. scientific) period is based on the use of scientific theories and systems of concepts (griniewicz in griniewicz et al. 2004). the application of anthropolinguistic tools allows one to establish the changes in the development of english culture as illustrated by the evolution of the semantic field of to cook. 25 work in progress as far as the english language is concerned, it is possible to distinguish three main periods of its development whose boundaries are a matter of convention. each stage however, has its characteristic features. these periods are as follows: • old english (450 – 1150) • middle english (1150 – 1500) • modern english (1500 – present) (baugh & cable 1991: 51-52). more detailed divisions of the history of english into stages can also be found. it is common practice to divide middle english period into early middle english (1100 – 1300) and late middle english (1300 – 1500) and modern english into early modern english (1500 – 1800) and late modern english (1800 – present) (englishclub.com). moreover, late modern english (1800 – present) is sometimes referred to as present-day english (millward & hayes in nordquist 2015). the present study will attempt to outline the evolution of the semantic field of the verb cook throughout these periods. using the longman synonym dictionary (1992) and the synonym finder (1986) 21 lexemes within the field have been established: to bake, to roast, to broil, to charbroil, to grill, to barbecue, to sauté, to braise, to fricassee, to fry, to pan, to griddle, to toast, to boil, to simmer, to steam, to stew, to decoct, to brew, to poach, to blanch. the twenty-one lexemes together with the word to cook constitute one semantic field. the oxford english dictionary (1994) an online source dictionary.com. provide some information regarding the stages in the development of the selected semantic field. the changes within the semantic field of to cook can be illustrated in the following way: • old english (450 – 1150) to brew (893) (1) to bake (1000) (1) • early middle english (1100 – 1300) to boil (1225) (1) to fry (1290) (1) to roast (1297) (1) • late middle english (1300 – 1500) to cook (1380) (1) to broil (1386) (2) to poach (1390) (1) to blanch (1398) (2) to stew (1420) (2) to toast (1420) (2) to griddle (1430) (1) 26 crossroads. a journal of english studies • early modern english (1500 – 1800) to decoct (1545) (7) to simmer (1653) (1) to fricassee (1657) (1) to barbecue (1661) (1) to grill (1668) (1) to braise (1769) (1) to steam (1798) (9) • late modern english (1800 – present) to sauté (1813) (1) to pan (1871) (5) to charbroil (1959-64) (1) the dates presented in the list above indicate the year in which a particular lexeme was first attested with reference to food preparation. the number in the brackets denotes the number of meaning referring to cooking. each of these lexemes appeared or adopted the meaning connected with cooking in different stages of the development of the english language. what is noticeable in the analysis of the semantic field of to cook is the fact that in the case of certain verbs, e.g. to roast, their secondary meanings seem to precede their primary denotations. as far as the old english period (450-1150) is concerned, it is clear that the domain of cooking was not particularly advanced as merely two verbs, i.e. to brew and to bake, referring to cooking techniques existed in english at that time. the verb to brew in the meaning ‘to make (ale, beer and the like) by infusion, boiling and fermentation’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994) was the one which initialized the semantic field of terms denoting cooking methods. although, as it is implied by its meaning, the verb refers to preparing drinks, it can be included in the semantic field to cook as it involves processing items of food by heating them to make them ready for consumption. the mentioned verb was the only one which referred to an action of preparing a drink. it might be expected that there should have existed a lexeme which indicated food preparation in a specific way. the verb to bake whose first usage was recorded in 1000 conveyed the following meaning: ‘to cook by dry heat acting by conduction, and not by radiation, hence either in a closed place (oven, ashes, etc.), or on a heated surface, primarily used of preparing bread, then of potatoes, apples, the flesh of animals’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994). since the origins of the verb can be traced back to the old high german form bachan, it may be assumed that the introduction of this lexeme is associated with anglo-saxon influence after their invasion on the british isles in the 5th century ad. without doubt, the appearance of to brew and to bake must be regarded as a part of the initial stage of the domain of cooking and at the same time the semantic field to cook. the mentioned lexemes indicate rather different processes but both of them refer to preparing foodstuff by the use of 27 work in progress heat. they might be qualified as co-hyponyms of another more general superordinate term which did not exist in the old english period though. the middle english period (1150-1500), on the other hand, brought a significant broadening of the semantic field of the verbs denoting food preparation techniques by the use of heat. thus, it is reasonable to expect numerous divisions in the field. the lexemes which already existed might have acquired new meanings. the overwhelming majority of cooking terms which appeared at that stage are of french origin. it can be treated as an outcome of the norman conquest in 1066 which had an enormous impact on the british culture. as it turns out, the french influence is also visible in the domain of cooking. in 1250, the verb to brew acquired another meaning which was ‘to concoct, contrive, prepare, bring about, cause’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994). as it can be inferred, the meaning was established on the basis of the resemblance to the primary meaning of the verb. in this way the lexeme became polysemous. nevertheless, this change did not have any influence on the semantic field of cooking terms. to fry is another verb which came into the lexical field under analysis in 1290. it conveyed the following meaning ‘to cook food with fat in a shallow pan over the fire’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994). this method of preparing meals without doubt differed significantly from the ones already known. the term indicating it might be perceived as a hyponym of a more general notion together with other already existing lexemes. the verb to roast which appeared in the meaning ‘to make (flesh or other food) ready for eating by prolonged exposure to heat at or before a fire’ in 1297 (the oxford english dictionary 1994) contributed to the further division of the semantic field of cooking terms. taking into consideration the definition of the mentioned lexeme, it might be pointed out that roasting was the first and most primitive method of preparing food as it did not involve any special skills or knowledge. nevertheless, the lexeme did not appear as the first one but was preceded by to brew, to bake and to fry. supposedly, there might have existed an earlier old english counterpart of the verb to roast which was used even before the words to brew and to bake were coined. it might have been caused by the influence of french culture and language that the old english lexeme has been ousted from the lexicon and replaced by the norman equivalent to roast. it is worth mentioning that it existed some years earlier and its meaning was ‘to torture by exposure to flame or heat’ (1290). the new meaning must have developed on the basis of the similarity between the process of exposing food to fire and heating a person in a flame as a form of punishment. this association was possible due to the existence of cruel penal practices in the societies of medieval europe. the verb boil was first attested in 1325 and meant ‘to cook solid articles by continued immersion in boiling liquid’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994). it was the second lexeme after to brew which indicated cooking in water. it should be mentioned that the lexeme existed before in the following meanings ‘to reach the boiling point, to turn from the liquid into the gaseous state’ (1225) and ‘to move with agitation like that of boiling water’ (1300) (the oxford english dictionary 1994). originally, the verb referred merely to water. presumably, some similarity between a person mov28 crossroads. a journal of english studies ing with agitation and the water undergoing the process of boiling based on their physical characteristics was noticed. subsequently, with the development of reasoning, people figured out that it was possible to submerge food in the boiling water and make it ready for consumption in this way. therefore, the process of boiling became more practical as it started to be utilized in preparation of many different items of food. not many years later, the verb to brew started to be used in the meaning ‘to convert (barley, malt or other substance) into a fermented liquor’ (1362) (the oxford english dictionary 1994). clearly, the part of a larger process of brewing started to be referred by the same name as the whole process. the development of brewing industry might have been one of the reasons for such a transformation. the verb to cook had not existed until the year 1380. it appeared then in the meaning ‘to act as cook, to prepare food by the action of heat (for a household, etc.) (the oxford english dictionary 1994). nevertheless, taking into consideration the literal meaning of the verb to cook, it can be inferred that the lexeme was not a general notion comprising all the existing lexemes denoting cooking techniques known at that time. the verb probably referred to preparing food as a professional activity performed by one person in a particular community. it might be assumed that there did not exist a cook as a job before the 14th century and food preparation was performed by any person. the verb to fry used to mean ‘to torture (a person) by fire; to burn or scorch’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994) can be traced back to the year 1382. in this way the word became polysemous as the secondary meaning is related to the primary one. nevertheless, the derived meaning refers to a different action not connected with food preparation. the appearance of the latter meaning did not have any impact on the semantic field to cook .there can be noticed a similarity between the verbs to roast and to fry whose secondary meanings are the same, i.e. ‘to torture by exposure to flame or heat’ and ‘to torture (a person) by fire’ respectively (the oxford english dictionary 1994). comparing the primary definitions of the two mentioned verbs, it can be concluded that they refer to slightly different processes, i.e. frying involves cooking with extra fat while roasting does not. however, since they acquired identical metaphorical meaning, it might be assumed they were often used synonymously. the 14th century brought further broadening of the lexical field to cook. there appeared the verb to broil in the meaning ‘to cook (meat) by placing it on the fire, or on a gridiron over it’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994), first attested in 1386. comparing the meanings of the two verbs, i.e. to roast and to broil, it can be concluded that most probably they were synonymous and used interchangeably in the middle english period. roughly in the same period, the verb to bake acquired another meaning, i.e. ‘to harden by heat’ (1388) (the oxford english dictionary 1994). in this way the verb became polysemous. the word which was earlier used with reference to a cooking process acquired a related but rather different 29 work in progress meaning. later, in the middle english period as well as in the following stage the verb became even more polysemous. another lexeme which appeared in the semantic field of to cook was the verb to poach. it was a completely new word which did not exist in english in any meaning earlier. as it has french roots in the form pochier and was without doubt incorporated into english as a result of norman influences on british culture. moreover, it referred to a very specific and sophisticated way of cooking. the meaning in which the verb appeared in 1390 was the following: ‘to cook an egg by dropping it, without the shell, into boiling water simmering gently; to cook (fish, fruit, etc.) by simmering in water or another liquid’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994). the lexeme with its meaning without doubt contributed to further divisions within the whole semantic field of to cook. it may have also limited the range of meanings of another already existing verb denoting cooking food in water, i.e. to boil. the verb to blanch tracing its french roots in the form blanchir appeared in 1398. its meaning which was ‘to whiten almonds, or the like, by taking off the skin; to scald by a short rapid boil in order to remove the skin’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994) was the first in which the word came into the lexicon. it became polysemous almost at the same time acquiring a more general but related meaning, i.e. ‘to make white; whiten; to bleach’ (1400) (the oxford english dictionary 1994). the mentioned case is a good illustration of a general tendency according to which more abstract notions gain their names from the domain of concrete terms evincing similar features. to stew is another verb that broadened the semantic field to cook. its meaning recorded in 1420 was the following: ‘to boil slowly in a close vessel’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994). it has its roots in the old french form estui, which means ‘case’, ‘sheath’, etc. it already existed in the year 1400 in the meaning ‘to bathe in a hot bath or a vapour bath’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994). the middle english period is also the time when such verbs as to toast in its meaning ‘to brown (bread, cheese, etc.) by exposure to the heat of a fire, etc.’ (1420), to decoct in the meaning ‘to prepare as food by the agency of fire’ (1420) and to griddle in its meaning ‘to cook on a griddle’ (1430) entered the english lexicon (the oxford english dictionary 1994). it is difficult to explain the need for incorporating the verb to decoct in english, as there already existed lexemes referring to food preparation with the use of fire. it might have been treated as a hypernym of the terms such as to bake or to roast. the verb to griddle might have appeared as a result of the introduction of a new kitchen utensil, i.e. a griddle. preparing food in it started to be referred to as griddling. the verb to bake, on the other hand, acquired two meanings, i.e. ‘to prepare, make ready’ (1460) and ‘to form into a cake or mass’ (1460) which are both obsolete now. in the modern english period (1500-1800), the verbs to brew, to bake, to poach, to blanch or to roast acquired new secondary meanings. the lexeme to bake started to refer to a more general process than preparing food. its meaning recorded in 1527 was the following: ‘to harden as frost does’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994). the verb extended its polysemous character. moreover, the word to blanch also acquired a new meaning related to its primary sense, i.e. ‘to make pale with 30 crossroads. a journal of english studies fear, cold, hunger, etc.’ (1605) (the oxford english dictionary 1994). there is an evident visual similarity between making almonds white and a person becoming pale. it is clearly visible that the terms originating in the domain of cooking (e.g. to broil, to boil, to blanch) are frequently used in a metaphorical sense with reference to human emotions. although the term to decoct already existed in the middle english, it appeared again in the subsequent stage in a more specialized meaning, i.e. ‘to boil so as to extract the soluble parts or principles’ (1545) (the oxford english dictionary 1994). it is difficult to judge whether its previous definition, i.e. ‘to prepare food by the agency of fire’ (1420) (the oxford english dictionary 1994) referred to a similar process or not due to its more general character. the lexeme fricassee which appeared in the english lexicon in 1568 first operated as a noun denoting ‘meat sliced and fried or stewed and served with sauce’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994). the noun of an obvious french origin found its place in english as a result of an ongoing french influence on british culture. later, it started to operate as a verb meaning ‘to make a fricassee of; to dress as a fricassee’ (1657) (the oxford english dictionary 1994). the process of conversion which is frequently encountered in the modern english period is without doubt a very productive way of coining new words, as illustrated by the lexeme fricassee. the appearance of the verb to cook (around 1611) meaning ‘to prepare food; to make fit for eating by due application of heat’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994) is an interesting fact. the term which is now regarded as the most general from the whole set of cooking terms did not initialize the mentioned semantic field. presumably, due to the emergence of more and more cooking techniques together with the names referring to them, it was necessary to encompass them all under one notion. the verb to grill which can be traced back to 1668 conveyed the meaning ‘to broil on a gridiron or similar apparatus over or before a fire’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994). taking into consideration the verbs to broil, to roast and even to bake, it might be claimed that all of them could have been treated as synonyms at that time. they all refer to the process of exposing food to fire. nevertheless, the definition of the verb indicates a specific device which is involved in the process of grilling. presumably, with the introduction of more and more kitchen appliances and tools, the meaning of the verb to grill became specialized and the lexeme was no longer perceived as synonymous to other verbs indicating the process of heating food in a fire. the acquisition of another meaning by the verb to stew seems to be an interesting phenomenon. the verb which previously indicated the process of cooking in a closed vessel appeared in the meaning ‘to stay excessively long in bed’ (1671) (the oxford english dictionary 1994). the change is likely to have been caused by the similarity between the duration of stewing as a cooking process and staying long in bed. this change in the meaning contributed to the polysemous character of the verb to stew. the lexeme turned out to be another term from the domain of cooking incorporated in a vocabulary segment representing another sphere of life. the lexeme barbecue was another word which entered the semantic field to cook. in present-day english it operates both as a verb and a noun. nevertheless, it entered the language as a verb in 31 work in progress the meaning ‘to broil or roast (an animal) whole’ (1690) (the oxford english dictionary 1994) and then as a noun in the meaning ‘a rude wooden framework used in america for supporting above a fire meat that is to be smoked or dried (1697) (the oxford english dictionary 1994). taking into consideration the meaning of the verb, it might be assumed that before its emergence there already existed two words which referred to similar cooking processes, e.g. to broil or to roast. it is difficult to find a logical explanation for the emergence of another verb with a similar meaning. it might be partially explained by the fact that the word barbecue traces its roots in a spanish form barbacoa. presumably, it found its place in english thanks to the contacts between british and spanish colonists in the north america. the verb to barbecue is more frequently encountered in american english which can be treated as a confirmation of the mentioned hypothesis. moreover, the word appeared first as a verb and then as a noun which is quite unusual. supposedly, as a loanword, it entered the english lexicon both as a verb and a noun since the first recorded usages (i.e. 1690, 1697) are not remote in time. the modern english period is characterized by the fact that many already existing words acquired new related meanings then. in the case of verbs, their new meanings usually referred to completely different processes. nevertheless, there could be found certain physical similarities between the primary and secondary meanings. on the other hand, the verb to roast which is one of the lexemes which initialized the semantic field to cook acquired another meaning in 1724, i.e. ‘to expose (coffee beans) to heat in order to prepare for grinding’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994). the appearance of this new meaning had a direct influence on the semantic field to cook as the already existing term started to be used in reference to a new action. it might have been triggered by the popularization of coffee as a beverage among british people at that time. another term denoting a cooking method, i.e. to braise, found its place in the set of english vocabulary in the 18th century (1797) with the meaning ‘to stew in a tightly closed pan’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994). the term referred to a complicated and sophisticated process which involved the meat being surrounded with slices of bacon, herbs, etc. the method and the term denoting it has been borrowed from french and therefore can be regarded as another indication of the cultural influence of france on the british isles. just like many other verbs indicating different ways of preparing food, the lexeme braise was known earlier as a noun. its first usage was recorded in 1769 with the meaning ‘braised meat’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994). although the lexeme steam can be found in english as early as in the year 1000, it did not operate as a verb until the 18th century (first recorded in 1798). it started to be used in the meaning ‘to treat with steam for the purpose of cooking’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994). as can be noticed, the previous meanings of the verb to steam (e.g. ‘to be emitted or exhaled’), did not refer to any kind of cooking but rather to a physical process of emitting vapour or fume. although steaming is quite an old way of preparing food, it may not have been referred to by this term at the earliest stages after its discovery. similar to the lexemes griddle and grill, the verb to steam was first used as a noun and then started to operate as a verb too. moreover, the year 1798, in which the verb to steam was first used in reference to food preparation, may have been an initial stage of 32 crossroads. a journal of english studies healthy lifestyle involving popularization of cooking methods associated with retaining nutrients and departure from traditional cooking techniques based on fat and direct exposure to fire. the modern english period is also characterized by further acquisition of new related meanings by the already existing verbs. the lexemes such as to bake, to toast and to roast which denoted cooking terms acquired the new meanings, i.e. ‘to ripen with heat’ (1697), ‘to redden (by drinking)’ (1701) and ‘to criticize, to denounce’ (1710) respectively (the oxford english dictionary 1994). however, the mentioned changes did not have a significant influence on the shape of the semantic field of to cook. the appearance of new verbs denoting various cooking procedures which used to operate as nouns indicating certain kitchen utensils and appliances is one of the striking features of both the modern and present-day english period. food preparation with the use of griddles, pans and grills started to be referred as griddling, panning and grilling respectively. the verb to simmer broadened the semantic field of to cook in 1823 with the meaning ‘to keep in a heated condition just below boiling point’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994). obviously, the verb existed before but its meaning did not refer to the process of food preparation. simmering was without doubt a cooking method unknown before and referred to preparation of new items of food such as different kinds of vegetables brought from the new world. the cooking technique which previously might have been encompassed by another term indicating cooking in water, i.e. to boil, started to be referred by a new separate term. the emergence of the verb to simmer divided the lexical field of to cook further and contributed to semantic shifts within it. the verb to sauté appeared in english even earlier, i.e. in 1813. it refers to a specific way of cooking in which meat, vegetables, etc. are fried in a pan with a little butter over a high heat, while being tossed from time to time (the oxford english dictionary 1994). the lexeme is based on the french form sauter which means ‘to jump’. before the introduction of the verb into english, there already existed a verb with a very similar meaning, i.e. to fry. the verb to sauté might be perceived as partially synonymous to the verb to fry. on the other hand, it can also be claimed that frying is a more general term than sautéing and the relation existing between the two forms is one of hyponymy. nevertheless, the introduction of the verb into the english lexicon broadened the semantic field of to cook and contributed to the emergence of the relations of hyponymy or synonymy while the terms indicating cooking in fat are concerned. in present-day english, other lexemes previously denoting cooking terms acquired new meanings and therefore became polysemous. it might have been triggered by the evolution of human mentality or growing literacy in british society as the newly coined meanings of the already existing terms might seem to be poetic, e.g. to cook – ‘to ruin, spoil, do for’ (1851) or to grill – ‘to subject to severe questioning’ (1894) (the oxford english dictionary 1994). on the other hand, these verbs used in their secondary senses might belong to colloquial language which often incorporates words and phrases from the domains familiar for an average person (e.g. cooking). the lexeme pan existed in english as early as in the 9th century and denoted ‘a vessel of metal or earthenware for domestic uses’ (897) (the oxford english dictionary 1994). nevertheless, it is 33 work in progress not possible to find the usage of the mentioned lexeme as a verb until the year 1871 in which it was first recorded in the meaning ‘to cook or dress in a pan’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994). apparently, the word is far more frequently encountered as a noun than a verb. nevertheless, the increasing popularity of metal kitchen utensils, e.g. pans, triggered the introduction of the verb to pan. it can be concluded that the most polysemous verbs in the semantic field of to cook, i.e. to bake, to roast or to boil were the ones which were used the most frequently. paying attention to this tendency may provide an answer to the question which cooking techniques were the most popular in different epochs. even in the 20th century, the primary verbs in the mentioned lexical field, to bake and to cook, acquired new meanings, i.e. ‘to be made uncomfortably hot (by the sun, a fire, etc.)’ and ‘to play music with excitement’ respectively (the oxford english dictionary 1994). finally, the latest lexeme included in the semantic field of to cook is the verb to charbroil in the meaning ‘to grill or broil over a charcoal fire’ (dictionary.com). it was coined in the years 195964 as a result of blending the two lexemes, i.e. charcoal and grill. similar to panning, charbroiling must have been known earlier as a method of cooking although it was not referred to by the mentioned term then. as already mentioned, the state of human mentality and reasoning in a certain period of time is reflected in the language (or vocabulary) used by the people at that time. as far as the domain of cooking is concerned, it is easy to notice that the ways of food preparation varied in different stages of human evolution. the development of the semantic field of to cook depended on many factors, such as the state of human reasoning, availability of particular items of food, cultural influences, changes in the lifestyle, etc. taking into consideration the diachronic analysis conducted in the present thesis, it is possible to distinguish changes in the english mentality concerning the ways of cooking and define their possible reasons. it can be assumed that the advent of cooking, i.e. preparing food with the use of heat, is linked with the discovery of fire. cooking should be without doubt regarded as one of the earliest human activities. most anthropologists assume that fire was already controlled by the mankind 250,000 years ago (wikipedia.org). on the other hand, the scientist richard wrangham supposes that the fire was known to humans as early as 1.8 million years ago and cooking began at nearly the same time (wrangham 2009: 45). due to the fact that archeological evidence is insufficient to establish the exact moment in which cooking started to be applied by the mankind, it is possible to search for clues in biological features of early humans (wrangham 2009: 42). in the evolution of homo erectus from habilines, it is possible to observe such transformations as the reduction in tooth and gut size, the increase in body size and a significant decline of climbing ability. they all may support the claim that cooking as a method of food preparation was already known to homo erectus who appeared approximately 1.8 million years ago (wrangham 2009: 46). therefore, it seems legitimate to maintain that the emergence of cooking had an enormous impact on the further physical and mental development of human beings which facilitated the rise of modern civilization. 34 crossroads. a journal of english studies just like cooking prompted the progress of human mentality and reasoning, it should also be admitted that the emergent abilities of the mankind contributed to the introduction of more and more advanced cooking techniques. as it is assumed, roasting, inseparably combined with the use of fire, was the only method of preparing meals known to the earliest human beings. it turns out that steaming is also one of the earliest cooking methods as the aurignacian people of southern france prepared their food in this way wrapping it in wet leaves. the introduction of pottery in the neolithic period gave rise to the entirely new methods of preparing meals such as boiling, stewing or braising which diversified the domain of cooking. additionally, the appearance of metal cookware gave an opportunity for a more frequent usage of cooking methods based on water. social changes such as the development of settled communities, domestication of livestock and the beginning of cultivation of edible plants also contributed to the emergence of new cooking techniques (allthatcooking.com). taking into consideration the linguistic analysis of the semantic field of to cook, it is possible to conclude that it developed unevenly in different historical periods. as the data available in the oxford english dictionary (1994) suggest, the first lexeme which initialized the semantic field of cooking terms is the verb to brew. it appeared as early as the 9th century ad which is the old english period. it is unsurprising as brewing is one of the earliest cooking methods applied by people. it was already known to the inhabitants of ancient egypt and mesopotamia (wikipedia. org). the method referred to by the term brewing was originally applied to making beer which suggests that beer was one of the first beverages consumed by ancient people. a small number of cooking terms existing in the old english period, i.e. early middle ages, indicates that very few manners of preparing food were known to people living at that time. it might have stemmed from a rather low level of education of the majority of the population. moreover, the early middle ages was a specific period in which spiritual values were propounded over material ones. in other words, there was no particular importance attached to the preparation of food, its taste or nutritious values. another lexeme referring to food preparation existing in the old english period, i.e. to bake, has its roots in an old high german form bachan. the time of the appearance of the form to bake in english is consistent with germanic invasions on the british isles which took place in the 5th century. as the given evidence is concerned, germanic (or anglo-saxon) culture did not contribute to the development of cooking habits applied by the population inhabiting the british isles. it can be concluded that anglo-saxons were not particularly inventive in reference to cooking techniques. the middle english period, on the other hand, is characterized by the appearance of numerous verbs denoting different ways of preparing food with the use of heat. the introduction of many previously unknown cooking techniques might have been linked to the development of human reasoning or the emergence of new human needs concerning tastes of meals and nutritious values. however, the most probable reason for such a significant broadening of the semantic field of cooking terms in the middle english period was the influence of another culture. after the norman 35 work in progress conquest in 1066, england was regarded mainly as a cultural colony of france. such a stance is perfectly understandable if the influences in the fields of music, literature or architecture are taken into consideration (morgan 1997: 107). it turns out that an overwhelming majority of cooking terms which were incorporated into english after the norman conquest in 1066 such as to roast, to boil or to stew, which are of a french origin. it is also worth mentioning that a considerable number of terms denoting kinds of fish and meat, fruit, seasoning and condiments have french roots. however the impact of the invaders on the anglo-saxon culture might be perceived, it should be admitted that the normans enriched the culture of the locals in the domain of cuisine in a significant way although all those new methods were adopted exclusively by the aristocracy who were willing to use the french language and cultivate norman customs (baugh & cable 1991: 171). the modern english period, which began approximately in 1500, can also be regarded as a phase of a dynamic development of the semantic field of cooking terms. a significant number of verbs denoting various cooking processes appeared in english at that time. generally, the year 1500 is regarded as the beginning of the renaissance. the most important inventions of this particular period in history such as the appearance of the printing press, the spread of popular education, new means of communication and the growth of social consciousness exerted an enormous influence on the evolution of english (baugh & cable 1991: 199). as far as the domain of cuisine is concerned, the introduction of new vegetables such as potato (1586), broccoli (before 1724) or tomato (1750s) after the discovery of the new world may have facilitated the rise of new methods of cooking so that these obscure items of food were fit for consumption (wikipedia.org). the appearance of many new kitchen utensils may also have played a significant role in the evolution of cookery at that time. although the metal cookware was present in earlier epochs, it was the 17th century that brought popularization of brass, copper and iron cooking vessels. a typical western kitchen of that time was equipped with skillets, baking pans, a kettle and several pots (wikipedia.org). moreover, due to the social changes in france in the 1790s, many chefs had to emigrate in order to find a job in various places in europe. in this way, as the french are perceived as the first who created and wrote down the systems and rules for cooking, they instilled professional approach to cooking in various societies including the british (clarke 2013). thus, the verb to fricassee was created on the basis of a french noun fricassee denoting stewed meat served with sauce. similarly, frying food quickly in hot fat started to be referred to as sautéing. the appearance of other cooking terms in english in the modern period can also be justified by social changes and discoveries in the fields of culture, science, etc. in the case to steam, it is legitimate to assume that the fact of acquiring the meaning ‘to treat with steam for the purpose of cooking’ (the oxford english dictionary 1994) by it and the invention of the steam engine at nearly the same time were not coincidental. presumably, it was observed that the produced steam can also be used in the process of cooking thanks to its heating properties. it might be useful to mention that steaming as a method of cooking can be regarded as one of the earliest (allthatcooking.com). nevertheless, the process applied by prehistoric people 36 crossroads. a journal of english studies involved exposing food wrapped in wet leaves to the steam from hot embers and thus it cannot be compared to the method of steaming employed in the present-day art of cooking. the verb to brew appeared as early as the 9th century and was used in reference to making beer. nevertheless, in the modern english period it acquired another meaning, i.e. ‘to make by infusion, as tea’ (1626) (the oxford english dictionary 1994). the period in which the mentioned verb started to be used with reference to the preparation of tea can be associated with the introduction of this beverage in england by a portuguese woman catherine of braganza, wife of king charles ii. the tea did not gain a widespread popularity until the end of 18th century though (wikipedia.org). finally, to charbroil is the only lexeme included in the present analysis which came into existence in the meaning referring to food preparation in the present-day english period. it was coined as the result of blending two lexemes, i.e. charcoal and broil (dictionary.com). although the method of cooking does not seem to be one of the latest, it has been referred to by the mentioned term for only about fifty years so far. it might be explained by the general tendency of inventing new names for the already existing phenomena. presumably, it is triggered by the rapid development of many scientific and cultural domains which results in the appearance of a significant number of new terms. the entities once referred to by more general notions acquire new more specific names. to sum up, the evolution of human mentality and reasoning is reflected in particular stages of the development of a language. taking into consideration the examples presented above, it should be concluded that cooking as one of the primary human activities has always been dependent on human mentality and reasoning. however, the advent of cooking facilitated physical and mental development of mankind and provided the foundations for the rise of modern civilization too. as the new methods of preparing food by the use of heat emerged, there were coined the lexemes denoting those cooking techniques. in this way, the semantic field ‘to cook’ had a chance to broaden its range and incorporate more and more terms. it would be reasonable to expect further development of the mentioned semantic field in the future as thanks to numerous technological improvements, there appear more and more kitchen utensils. moreover, some verbs may disappear if certain cooking techniques come out of use due to various reasons. nevertheless, the ongoing process of globalization will favour the introduction of different ingredients unknown in anglo-american culture and thus the further broadening of the semantic field of to cook might be expected. references all that cooking. history of cooking. http://allthatcooking.com/history-of-cooking/. retrieved: 08.05.2015 baugh, albert c.; cable, thomas. 1991. a history of the english language. london: routledge. brewing − wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/brewing. retrieved: 10.05.2015 british cuisine − wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/british_cuisine. retrieved: 08.05.2015 37 work in progress clarke, lydia. 2013. haute cuisine: why is french the lingua franca of cooking? http://www.acclaro.com/translation-resources/translation-localization-blog/haute-cuisine-355. retrieved: 08.05.2015 cooking − wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cooking. retrieved: 10.05.2015 crystal, david. 1995. the cambridge encyclopedia of the english language. cambridge: cambridge university press. dictionary.com. http://dictionary.reference.com/. grinev-griniewicz, siergiej, particia thomas and sławomir raube (eds). 2004. language and culture: establishing foundations for anthropological linguistics. białystok: wyższa szkoła finansów i zarządzania. matthews, peter h. 2003. the concise dictionary of linguistics. oxford: oxford university press. morgan, kenneth o. (ed.). 1997. the oxford illustrated history of britain. oxford: oxford university press. nordquist, richard. 2015. present-day english (pde). http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/presentday-english-pde.htm. retrieved: 02.02.2015. rodale, jerome i. 1986. the synonym finder. new york: warner books. simpson, john a. and weiner, edmund. 1994. the oxford english dictionary. oxford: clarendon press. tea − wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tea. retrieved: 08.05.2015 the longman synonym dictionary. 1992. urdang, laurence (ed.). harlow: longman. wrangham, richard. 2009. catching fire: how cooking made us human. new york: basic books. crossroads 5/2014, pp. 50-63 magdalena szewczuk the university of bialystok equivalence and translation strategies in the polish rendering of one flew over the cuckoo’s nest by ken kesey abstract. the aim of this study is to compare the original text of one flew over the cuckoo’s nest by ken kesey with its polish translation by tomasz mirkowicz, and to analyse the strategies and techniques employed by the translator. it examines the way the translator dealt with the language variety of the original, its register, proper names, the use of capital letters, and text formatting. it argues that the modifications he introduced have made the polish version of the novel more expressive. keywords: one flew over the cuckoo’s nest, ken kesey, translation, polish, tomasz mirkowicz introduction this paper offers a contrastive analysis of the novel one flew over the cuckoo’s nest by ken kesey and its polish translation by tomasz mirkowicz with the aim to analyse the differences between them, and to estimate the extent to which the translator’s intervention has changed the text and influenced its reception among polish readers. taking into consideration that there are a number of approaches to translation and numerous techniques that can be applied in the process of rendering a work into a foreign language, the human factor is of great importance. the translator chooses a specific strategy and shapes the text because of his/her own decisions. he is responsible for taking apart all the pieces of a novel and putting them together again. such a task is not an easy one, and because of the structural differences between languages and their specific traits, sometimes it is almost impossible to render a phrase in a manner that would preserve both the meaning and the form of the original. one flew over the cuckoo’s nest is a complex story, rich in symbols and metaphors, which are potentially easy to be lost in translation. venuti (1995) uses the term invisibility to describe the phenomenon of the illusion of the translated text – for those, who read it in target language it feels to be natural, and they do not think of it as a rendering: a translated text, whether prose or poetry, fiction or nonfiction, is judged acceptable by most publishers, reviewers, and readers when it reads fluently, when the absence of any linguistic or stylistic peculiarities makes it seem transparent, giving the appearance that it reflects the foreign writer’s personality or intention or the essential meaning of the foreign text—the appearance, in other words, that the translation is not in fact a translation, but the “original.” the below comparison of one flew over the cuckoo’s nest with its polish translation focuses on the decisions and choices made by its polish translator, tomasz mirkowicz, and their influence upon the final product. one flew over the cuckoo’s nest – the plot, style and background the story takes place in a mental hospital. it is narrated by chief bromden, an indian who is thought to be deaf and dumb – a pose he adapts as a result of his illness. he is a schizophrenic who believes in the existence of a machine-like conspiracy which he refers to as “combine”. he pretends to be unable to hear and talk in order to deceive it. when a new patient appears and causes a real revolution in the ward, bromden’s perception changes along with the manner in which he reports the subsequent events. the language of the novel demonstrates the author’s language skills, as well as his flexibility in writing: comical scenes interweave with drama, reality is mixed with the chimerical and deranged images of what is inside bromden’s head, but it is noticeable as one reads on that the story is becoming more realistic: “readers initially see the ward through the chief’s psychotic haze. his fantastic visions show his paranoia and how oppressive the asylum really is. then as mcmurphy brings him back to sanity, the picture gradually clears, the fantastic visions becoming realistic” (macky 2010: 2). randle mcmurphy pushes all the events forward; he is the power that introduces changes affecting the asylum and the patients. starting with such simple things as laughter and playfulness, he shows the other patients a new dimension of life. his frisky and bold behaviour amuses his inmates, but it infuriates the nurses, which is the book’s most important motif. however, his rebellion proves to resemble a poker game, which patients play in the ward: though it seems to be fun, it also involves a great risk and the chances of winning are questionable. as he discovers that disobeying the rules might result in the coercion of staying in the asylum for a long time and grave punishments, he becomes meek and quiet. the situation settles down, but not for long – the rebel organizes a fishing trip, which considerably raises the spirits of his fellow patients and gives them hope. soon, another scheme is planned – mcmurphy decides that he will arrange one last gathering after which he attempts to escape. the plan is not successful. on the contrary, the circumstances lead to a suicidal death of one of the patients, randle’s uncontrolled outburst of anger and an injury of the head nurse. those events cannot go unnoticed. the situation in the ward changes again, but this time for the worse. mcmurphy disappears, being said to be held in different part of hospital, some of the patients leave the asylum, as if they were running away. the atmosphere is tense, filled with anxiety but, nevertheless, bromden keeps his vision clear and understands the happenings. all the dreadful events only sharpen his senses and bring back the energy he lacked. finally, he decides on an ultimate step: he wants to run away, just as mcmurphy told him he could. the novel’s storyline and its style have attracted numerous critics and literature connoisseurs to this masterpiece. zubizarreta praises the author’s writing style, emphasizing the exceptionality of the picture kesey has painted with his imagination. he describes the narration’s perspective as hallucinatory and hyperbolic and the author’s decision to adopt a lunatic’s viewpoint as “dramatically effective, entertaining, comic and inspiring” (zubizarreta 1994: 63-65). the plot of one flew over the cuckoo’s nest is related to ken kesey’s personal experiences. from a very young age was taught by his father how to wrestle, box, fish and hunt, and he cultivated these passions not only during his adolescence but also in his adulthood. he attended springfield public schools and later enrolled in the university of oregon at eugene where he practised wrestling and football. in the 1960s, his life changed its course after kesey moved to the bohemian quarters of stanford, where he met other writers and was introduced to freudian psychology. at that time, he volunteered to participate in drug experiments at the veterans’ hospital in menlo park, california. earning twenty dollars per session, kesey was taking mind-expanding drugs that included ditran, it-290 and lsd, and soon, he became a night attendant of the psychiatric ward at the same hospital. this is where he completed his novel zoo and began writing one flew over the cuckoo’s nest. along with some friends, a group later known as merry pranksters, kesey continued his drug experiments and kept on leading his bohemian lifestyle, which meant not only narcotic journeys of a freespirited and liberated mind, but sometimes resulted in bar fights and being arrested (reilly and cole 2010: 1-9). as maroufi accurately observes, “ken kesey created a bridge between the 1950’s beat generation and the 1960’s hippie movement” (1997:1), as he combined spiritual transcendence and affirmation of freedom with the social ills that were destroying america after the second world war. he was inspired by jack kerouac’s prose and influenced by the hippie culture movement, which found its reflection in the novel. by incorporating his own memories of spending time with his father in the bosom of nature into the figure of bromden, and individualism, nonconformity and the praise for the physical strength into the persona of mcmurphy, kesey created two different, yet harmonious characters, who represent the values proclaimed by the author (maroufi 1997:1). the translator it should be noted that the translation of this novel was one of the first such serious tasks in mirkowicz’s career. later, he also translated orwell’s 1984, harry mathews’s conversions, richard condon’s prizzi’s honor and kosiński’s novels the painted bird, passion play and blind date (kutnik 2003). mirkowicz proved to be an observant reader and a careful translator. he commented on some allusions and nuances, which the novel is imbued with. for example, he was aware of the author’s allusions to the new testament: mcmurphy as a savior, candy as marie magdalene or the cross-shaped table as an instrument of crucifixion (mirkowicz 1990:293). venuti (1995: 273) discusses the notion of simpatico, which signifies “possessing an underlying sympathy”, which is likely to occur if the translator and the author live in similar times and conditions, if the translator finds the author likeable and is able to relate to him/her experiences to some extent. venuti claims that the perfect situation would be for the translator to follow the author’s career and over time develop affinity towards him, sharing the author’s ideas, tastes and opinions. simpatico contributes to the perception of a rendering as invisible. it is difficult to establish whether mirkowicz felt any special affinity with kesey while translating the novel, but the fact is that he met ken kesey and became friends with him (kutnik 2003). they were born and grew up in entirely different cultures: the author – in the united states during the hippie times of the flower power, and the translator – in communist poland, the martial law being introduced when he was translating one flew over the cuckoo’s nest. mirkowicz was born in 1953 (kutnik 2003) while kesey only 18 years earlier. mirkowicz supported the democratic opposition in poland and may have identified some similarities between the combine and the socialistic system he disapproved of. proper names in the polish translation of the novel proper names, especially the names of the main characters are usually very important in literary works. sometimes they can be left untranslated, but when they are meaningful or have direct equivalents in the target language, the translator has to decide how to render them most appropriately. in the case of one flew over the cuckoo’s nest, one of the potentially problematic names is big nurse. the immediate polish counterpart of the word big is duży, but it only refers to size, while big also means “important, because of being powerful, or having a lot of influence or a serious effect” (is1). thus, tomasz mirkowicz quite accurately decided to call this character wielka oddziałowa (‘the great ward nurse’) where both parts of the name seem to gain more importance and power. however, there is also a fragment in which mcmurphy mocks the nurse, by calling her rat-shed (kesey1976:79) instead of using her last name, i.e. ratched. the intended pun is an evident case of showing disrespect, but it is done in a rather subtle way, and could be excused as a tongue slip. here, the translator could not rely on any method of literal translation since word-for-word translation would give a rather awkward effect of calling the nurse szczurza szopa (lit. ‘rat’s shed’) which would not only sound unnatural, but it would be simply indecipherable for a polish reader. a wellchosen option was finding an equivalent according to the rules of the communicative translation method, which led to the invention of sratched which not only preserved a similarity to the original name of the character, but also the humorous sneer. by adding a single letter, the translator invented a name which in polish has a rather unpleasant connotation of defecating. a different approach was used when chief bromden’s nickname appeared. in the original he was called chief broom by black orderlies because he often had to sweep the floors with a broom. the translator could not find any equivalents which would produce the same effect, so he chose to translate the word literally, deciding that in this case the meaning was much more important than the phonetic qualities of the moniker. although szczota bromden does not contain a similar alliteration as broom bromden, this loss does not affect the story and is acceptable. in addition to the main characters’ names, there are names in the book which refer to groups of patients, such as acutes, chronics, walkers, wheelers and vegatables. even a new person who is admitted into the hospital is called admission, also written with a capital letter. the names are translated as: okresowi, chronicy, chodzący, wózkarze, ludzie-rośliny, each starting with a capital letter except for nowy pacjent (lit. ‘a new patient’). perhaps the translator decided that the last one was not sufficiently important to keep the name capitalized, especially that, unlike the rest, it does not appear regularly in the book. not only are the names of the characters written in a peculiar manner. also, the names of places in which the action takes places are characterized by the use of majuscule at the beginning. these are: inside, outside, main building, nurses’ station, seclusion, shock shop and disturbed ward, none of which remained capitalised in the polish translation. they were replaced with their polish equivalents wewnątrz, na zewnątrz, budynek główny, dyżurka, izolatka, and in the case of the last two, the translator decided not only to remove the majuscule but even to make the words sound more informal, creating wstrząsówka and oddział dla furiatów (‘a ward for madmen’). other examples of such treatment include: indwelling curiosity cutout (wyłącznik ciekawości), unaccompanied leave (samodzielne wyjście), potential assaultive (potencjalnie groźny dla otoczenia) or group discussion (dyskusja). when big nurse reads aloud mcmurphy’s folder, she mentions “a series of arrests for drunkenness, assault and battery, disturbing the peace, repeated gambling and one arrest – for rape” (kesey 1976: 39, the original version). in the polish version, those nouns were written in lowercase: “litania bójek ulicznych, awantur w lokalach oraz aresztów za pijaństwo, pobicia, zakłócanie porządku i najliczniej – za szulerstwo. raz aresztowany… za nierząd” (kesey 1990: 44, polish translation). then, again, the combine, which is a name of an imaginary institution which seems to be the axis of bromden’s hallucinatory world, is translated as kombinat. what should be noted is the narrator’s unique point of view – chief bromden is a schizophrenic, who sees his environment in a way that is impervious to others. the use of capital letters is not accidental – the majuscule gives importance to the elements that the asylum patient finds significant. in the very restricted space of the asylum, bromden has created his own world – outside, inside, seclusion. these are not simply references to certain places. rather, they look like geographical names of a considerable significance, inhabited by different nations of acutes, chronics and wheelers. in chief’s small world, a new patient is a great change, group discussions are important events but not as important as the possibility of an unaccompanied leave. dropping the capital letters in those names impoverishes the author’s intentions and reduces the power of the image he tried to present. sounds and phonetics polish and english are languages belonging to different language groups – english is germanic and polish – slavic. in the polish language there are some consonants which do not exist in english, and vice versa, which is why achieving the same phonetic effect in the two languages is often difficult. as one of the characters in one flew over the cuckoo’s nest, billy bibbit, stutters, tomasz mirkowicz had to analyse his utterances and decide which syllables should be repeated to sound natural in the rendering. first of all, the words in english do not necessarily start with the same sound as their polish counterparts, and secondly – trying to transfer the stuttering at the same word would not always be successful because of the differences in word order between the two languages. the translator chose the sounds carefully, trying to emphasize the same words as in the original. for example: “his n-name is bromden. chief bromden. everybody calls him chief buh-broom, though, because the aides have him sweeping a l-large part of the time. there’s not m-much else he can do, i guess. he’s deaf. if i was d-d-deaf, i would kill myself” (1976:24) “n-nazywa się bromden. wódz bromden. ale wszyscy przezywają go wodzem sz-szczotą, bo sanitariusze wciąż zaganiają go do s-s-sprzątania. chyba niewiele poza tym umiałby robić. jest głuchy. gdybym ja był g-g-głuchy, tobym się zabił” (1990:25) this comparison shows that mirkowicz indeed tried to spread the stuttering evenly and put it on the same elements of a sentence (d-d-deaf / g-g-głuchy), on the same sound (n-name / nnazywa) or at least at in similar place in the sentence (l-large / s-s-sprzątania). though mirkowicz managed to overcome the phonetic difficulties with billy’s stuttering, shorter utterances caused another problem. there is a patient whose brain surgery did not go well and, in result, he is unable to function or speak normally. provoked by an aide, he gathers all his strength to say anything back: “he’s working his jaw so hard to say something. when he finally does get to where he can say his few words it’s a low, choking noise to make your skin crawl – fffffffuck da wife! fffffffuck da wife! and passes out on the spot from the effort” (kesey 1976:19, original version). although this fragment is not vital for the storyline and does not convey any symbolic meaning, it shows the difference between the two languages and the difficulty to produce the same effect in polish. the repeated letter “f” resembles a hissing sound or exhaling with a great difficulty, while “p” in polish ppppppierdolę żonę! is nothing like a whisper that it was meant to imitate. another example concerning the phonetic differences is the fragment in which mcmurphy is lying on the table in shock shop when aides put a rubber hose into his mouth. he is singing a song from a commercial of wildroot cream oil: “mage with thoothing lan-o-lin” (made with soothing lanoline) which accurately imitates the way of speaking with one’s mouth full. tomasz mirkowicz has rendered these words as “w zgład jej wchodzi czyzda lanolina” and using voiced consonants in place of voiceless ones (zgład instead of skład, czyzda instead of czysta), he tried to create an effect produced by a speaker who clenches his teeth on an object. randle patrick mcmurhpy is a very musical man; his amusing songs appear throughout the whole novel. when rendering these, the translator decided to use an oblique method (cf. vinay and darbelnet 2000) instead of a direct strategy, in order to preserve the rhythm and rhyme: “your horses are hungry, that’s what she did say. come sit down beside me an’ feed them some hay. my horses ain’t hungry, they won’t eat your hay-ay-aeee. so fare-thee-well darlin’, i’m gone on my way.” (1976:75) “twe konie są głodne, tak mi powiedziała. usiadłbyś tu przy mnie, siana bym im dała! konie nie tkną siana, które byś im da-łaaaa! muszę jechać dalej, żegnaj moja mała.” (1990:87) although the translation is not literal, and is made up of longer words (which are characteristic of polish), it successfully transmits the meaning and each verse has the same number of syllables (11 syllables in original and 12 in the rendering). a much more problematic task was probably the translation of a nursery rhyme from which the title is derived: “ting. tingle, tingle, tremble toes, she’s a good fisherman, catches hens, puts ‘em inna pens… wire blier, limber lock, three geese inna flock… one flew east, one flew west, one flew over the cuckoo’s nest… o-u-t spells out… goose swoops down and plucks you out”. (1976:224) “ene due like fake, ona dobrym jest rybakiem, łapie kurczaki i wsadza do paki… kosz klosz, kłódkę kładzie trzy gąsiorki w stadzie… jeden poleciał tam, drugi śmignął siam, trzeci wzbił się nad kukułcze gniazdo… gę gę gę… potem sfrunął, wlazł do… i wyciągnął cię.” (1990:252) the translator chose to adapt an actual nursing rhyme used by children in poland, instead of translating the words tingle, tingle, tremble toes. the result is very good: it sounds more natural and is easier to pronounce than any literal translation of these words could be. moreover, that verse rhymes with the next one (fake rybakiem) which did not need to be drastically changed. then again, the third verse concerning catching hens was rendered quite literally; the translator decided to preserve the meaning rather than come up with an adaptation strategy that could be used to make this verse as short as it is in original and sound more rhythmic. the next part sounds very natural – the meaning here was not as important as the sounding, and here mirkowicz created a verse which is quite nonsensical (as is the original) but it fits the rhythm and the nature of nursery rhymes – putting words together on the basis of their phonetic qualities, rather than a logical connection between them. since one of the verses is at the same time the title of the novel, mirkowicz decided to retain the cuckoo’s nest even though it turned out to be difficult to find a rhyme to kukułcze gniazdo in polish, and the whole noun phrase is too long for the verse. the polish rendering of the title does not maintain the original structure, but it stays close to the original. the translator used the noun phrase lot nad kukułczym gniazdem (lit. ‘a flight over the cuckoo’s nest’). this change is not radical and the reader can easily notice the connection between the title and rhyme included in the novel. language variety the characters which appear in the novel use different varieties of english. their idiolects differ considerably, e.g. there is a schizophrenic who makes grammatical mistakes, and they also use different social and regional varieties: there is a recidivist who often uses swear words and black aides whose language bears traces of african american vernacular english. all of them are contrasted with one of the patients who speaks immaculate english and uses elaborate vocabulary. the sections which follow outline some of the strategies adopted by the translator while rendering the peculiarities of the different characters’ speech. bromden bromden is not just a character but also a narrator so his speech is present throughout the whole book. for most of the novel his manner of talking does not distract readers from the main plot, especially that there is a lot of action to be followed and focused on. nevertheless, several nuances can be noticed after a closer inspection. chief’s speech is quite often made of short sentences which sometimes contain grammatical mistakes and informal expressions. even though he is a schizophrenic, most of the narration is very clear and unambiguous. the fragment below illustrates the characteristics of the language he uses. “this morning i plain don’t remember. they got enough of those pills down me so i don’t know a thing till i hear the ward door open. that ward door opening means it’s at least eight o’clock, means there’s been maybe an hour and a half i was out cold in that seclusion room when the technicians could of come in and installed anything the big nurse ordered and i wouldn’t have the slightest notion what.” (1976:13) “ale dzisiejszego ranka nie pamiętam. tak mnie nafaszerowali różnymi świństwami uchodzącymi tu za lekarstwa, że pierwsze, co do mnie dociera, to odgłos otwierających się drzwi. drzwi wejściowe otwierają się najwcześniej o ósmej, więc co najmniej półtorej godziny przeleżałem bez czucia w izolatce – w tym czasie technicy mogli mi wmontować na polecenie wielkiej oddziałowej mnóstwo licho wie jakich urządzeń.” (1990:12) bromden uses simple colloquial english, which the translator rendered into simple colloquial polish, though not all the informal properties of the original text could be rendered directly. for example, bromden says “i plain don’t remember” instead of “i plainly don’t remember”, which is characteristic of informal american speech. this specific quality has no direct counterpart in polish. to make the text colloquial, the translator added the mild swear word licho wie in a place where there are no swear words in the original; instead of providing a direct equivalent of the word pills, he used the expression “świństwa uchodzące tu za lekarstwa” (‘the awful stuff they call medications here’). another example is “i been silent so long now it’s gonna roar out of me like floodwaters and you think the guy telling this is ranting and raving my god”. in the translation this fragment reads: “milczałem tak długo, że wypłynie to ze mnie z hukiem wezbranej wody, a wy pewnie pomyślicie, że facet, który to opowiada bredzi, cholera, i majaczy”. again, it is clear that the translator decided not to look for polish equivalents of the nonstandard form i been and colloquial gonna, but he chose to add the swear word cholera in the place of god to make it more characteristic of a simple man’s speech. in other cases, bromden adds the determiner a before a plural noun, or sometimes – uses don’t instead of doesn’t. the grammar of the polish version is invariably standard. the colloquial and nonstandard character of bromden’s speech is only visible on the level of vocabulary. mcmurphy mcmurphy’s style of speaking quite often includes vulgar words and informal expressions. his tone is unceremonious; he is never formal in his speech. again, as in the case of bromden’s language, the translator decided to add slangy words and exclamations, to make up for the loss of other qualities of his nonstandard way of speaking. in the example below, the differences mentioned earlier can be noted: “they showered me this morning at the courthouse and last night at the jail. and i swear i believe they’d of washed my ears for me on the taxi ride if they coulda find the vacilities. hoo, boy, seems like everytime they ship me someplace i gotta get scrubbed down before, after and during the operation. i’m gettin’ so the sound of water makes me start gathering up my belongings. and get back away from me with that thermometer, sam, and give me a minute to look my new home over.” (1976:14) “musiałem brać prysznic dziś rano w sądzie i wczoraj wieczorem w kiciu. a w taksówce, kiedyśmy tu jechali, wymyliby mi uszy, gdyby tylko mieli czym. rany, ilekroć mnie gdzieś wysyłają, muszę się szorować przed, po i w trakcie podróży. tak mi to już weszło w krew, że gdy tylko słyszę plusk wody, od razu zaczynam pakować manatki. uciekaj z tym termometrem kochasiu, daj mi się rozejrzeć po nowej chałupie” (1990:14) the translator changed the register of selected words and even replaced the name of the black aid (sam) with a pet name (kochasiu, roughly: ‘darling’). he also added the idiomatic expression wejść w krew to make this utterance sound more natural. throughout the novel, many colloquial expressions and swear words appear, many of which are difficult to translate. mirkowicz used their polish counterparts in strategic places – he did not try to translate each expression as literally as possible, but he selectively enclosed informal expressions where they sounded natural for the polish reader. sometimes his polish expressions are stronger than their english counterparts, sometimes they are weaker, e.g. farts is rendered as skurwysyny (a stronger word), and the expression are you guys bullshitting me? as czy to ma być żart? (a softer equivalent, lit. ‘is this a joke?’). the translator’s choices result from his use of the transposition strategy (cf. vinay and darbelnet 2000). instead of translating the character’s words directly, the translator focused on conveying mcmurphy’s personality, which is more important than the literal rendering of his words. black aides another variety of the english language in one flew over the cuckoo’s nest is the one used by black men. since the novel was written in the 1960s, the contrast between black and white people’s speech was still very clear. smitherman (1994), recollecting her college years, calls attention to several characteristics that distinguished her language from that of her peers. for example: postvocalic r deletion and problems with “th” which in initial position sounded like “d” and at the end of the words like “f’, or the tendency to end all syllables with a vowel sound. she says that those deviations are the result of mixing african language patterns with english ones, the mixture that developed during the years of enslavement. black english is a phenomenon unfamiliar to polish readers, therefore mirkowicz decided not to emphasize the black orderlies’ variety of english. the way they spoke was natural for them and american readers were acquainted with that manner of speaking. any endeavour to present the fashion they spoke in to readers in communist poland (the translation was first published in 1981) would probably be fruitless or could misshape the vernacular unknown to poles. thus, tomasz mirkowicz only rendered the meaning and did not focus on adapting the form: “what you s’pose it’d be like if evahbody was „jakby to wyglądało, gdyby k a ż d y mył zęby, to brush their teeth whenever they took a notion to brush?” (1976:77) kiedy mu przyjdzie ochota!” (1990:89) “my gaw, don’t you see?” (1976:77) „rety, nic pan…” (1990:89) „tha’s right gennulmen, tha’s the way” (1976:19) „słusznie panowie, grunt to porządek!” (1990:19) „ahhh, geo’ge, you jes’ don’t have no idea” (1976:214) „ach, george, ty nic nie wiesz” (1990:239) the peculiarities of their speech are thus entirely lost in the translation. harding in contrast to the previously mentioned characters, harding is a person whose language is sophisticated and who tends to use long sentences and formal vocabulary, including french and latin expressions. at some point, he even corrects his wife, explaining to her the difference between anything and nothing and comments on her use of the double negative (in the rendering he corrects her pronunciation of the word imaginowałaś). in this case, the translator played with the form of the utterances, which was also the case in the original. the example below speaks for itself: “have you ever tried to keep up a noble and angry front in the face of such consolation? so you see, my friend, it is somewhat as you stated: man has but one truly effective weapon against the juggernaut of modern matriarchy, but it certainly is not laughter” (1976:60) “czy po takiej pociesze umiałbyś długo zachować w sercu gniew i marsa na czole? a więc sam widzisz, przyjacielu, masz poniekąd rację: przeciwko molochowi współczesnego matriarchatu mężczyzna rzeczywiście posiada j e d n ą broń naprawdę skuteczną, ale bynajmniej nie jest nią śmiech.” (1990:69) words such as bynajmniej (‘by no means’) and poniekąd (‘partly/up to a point’) are rarely used in speech, especially that of informal character. in fact, bynajmniej is often used incorrectly by uneducated speakers of polish: it is confused with przynajmniej (‘at least’), so a correct use of the word is an indication of educated speech habits. there is also an idiomatic expression mieć marsa na czole which is an elaborate way of naming an angry face. moreover, the sentences spoken by harding are long and complex. the example provided above demonstrates that mirkowicz managed to render harding’s ways of speaking accurately. it appears that the translator used different approaches to render the characteristics of the speech of each of the main characters. he used literal translation, modulation and adaptation, according to the needs of the text. changes in register hatim and munday (2004) claim that preserving the register in translation is a myth. they emphasize that “the form is different in each language” and this is the reason why register cannot always be fully transferred. newmark (1988) suggests that it is essential for the translator to identify idiosyncratic properties of texts written by different authors. he also enumerates various functions that can be applied in the text, influencing its register. these are: informative (distinguished by non-class, non-idiolectal, formal and technical language), vocative (which is meant to be addressed to the reader by using “you”, “du”, “sie”, “vous” forms and imperatives to enliven relationship between author and reader), aesthetic (focused on onomatopoeias, metaphors, rhyme, metre, intonation and stress) phatic (used to maintain friendly contact with reader; inclusion of standard phrases and spoken language) and metalingual (indicates language ability to criticize and explain its own features) (newmark 1988: 39-44). in the case of one flew over the cuckoo’s nest, the main function which influenced the register is the aesthetic one. mirkowicz has a tendency to overtranslate vulgar words into stronger (e.g. the above mentioned farts translated as skurwysyny) and at the same time, he quite often employs formal expressions and makes some utterances less colloquial. for example, in a conversation between the two main characters, when bromden tells mcmurphy about his parents, the latter responds: “and when a town woman marries an indian that’s marryin’ somebody beneath her, ain’t it? yeah, i think i see”. his language is colloquial (it includes “ain’t”, “yeah”, -in’ ending), but in the polish translation, he says: “jeśli biała kobieta wychodzi za indianina to popełnia mezalians, tak?” not only the grammatical elements of his non-standard speech are omitted in the polish version, but also the term mezalians (‘mésalliance’) appears, which is unlikely to be used by a gambler who has spent his all life working physically and drinking alcohol. this sentence sounds at least awkward when compared with the original. another example can be found in the utterance spoken by mcmurphy, where “at your balls, buddy, at your everlovin’ balls” is replaced with “jąder, koleś, waszych cennych jąder!” – where a colloquial name of men’s parts is interchanged with a more technical term which can be found in medical books. and when cheswick says “you bet”, mirkowicz translated this short expression into much longer “to bezsporny fakt!” (‘that’s an undisputable fact’), even though a shorter and more natural exclamation like no chyba! could be used to translate it into polish. although such alternations of register are not frequent, their use does not always seem justifiable. they do not change the text significantly, but their presence suggests that the translator tried to “improve” the original text. expressiveness and text formatting in the polish rendering, more than 50 additional exclamation marks occur. they do not introduce anything strikingly new or change the sense of the utterances. however, their addition makes the translated text more dynamic and expressive than the original. the original version illustrates a world within an asylum, plunged in a sleepy, monotonous atmosphere of hospital routine. the patients are portrayed as tired and indifferent, which is consistent with bromden’s illusions, dreams, fears and the dense fog which he believes to appear in the hospital, making the time go slower or faster. the polish rendering loses a little of the psychotic haze which kesey depicted in his novel. according to delisle (1988), a translator is an author deprived of the responsibility for the substance, but responsible for the form, which means that translat ion in the first place demands the ability to recognize the type of a text, interpret it and put into an appropriate form. pisarska and tomaszkiewicz (1996:90-91) stress that the process of reexpression involves “what author meant to say”, “what translator understood it” and how the translator “transferred this concept” into a new form of language. this may explain the punctuation changes made by mirkowicz. the translator may have perceived the novel differently: as more expressive and less drowsy. in the quotations from one flew over the cuckoo’s nest provided in the previous subchapters, some words are written in italics – they were accentuated in this manner in the original. in the polish rendering this distinction disappeared almost completely. in many cases, a word which was italicized in the original is left unmarked in the translation, and sometimes – instead of italics, letter-spacing is used to emphasize a part of a sentence, and there is no clear pattern showing why in some words the distinction has been retained while in others it has not. it seems likely that the sentences whose syntax in a natural way already stressed the elements which were italicized in the original have been left unmarked. italics / letterspacing “they didn’t mind so much when i was a dumb logger, and got into a hassle; that’s excusable, they say, that’s a hard-working feller, blowing off steam, they say.” (1976:22) „kiedy wdawałem się w bójki będąc prostym drwalem, przymykali oczy i mówili, że to z r o z u m i a ł e ; gość który tak ciężko tyra ma prawo się wyszumieć.” (1990:23) italics / no change “bibbit! you tell mr mcmurphy i’m so crazy i voted for eisenhower twice!” (1976:22) „bibbit, powiedzcie panu mcmurphy’emu, że w swoim szaleństwie głosowałem na eisenhowera dwukrotnie!” (1990:22) here, the first stressed element occurs in the middle of the utterance and changing the font makes it more visible. in the second example, the word which is emphasized is at the end of the sentence, which already makes it visible. in the novel, there is also a half-page fragment in which bromden’s reminiscences about his father are mixed with his own thoughts about the present day. in the original, his memories are written in italics, in order to be distinguished from the present events described by the narrator. in the polish rendering, there is no difference in font, so in consequence, the text seems to be much more chaotic and unclear. when the narrator talks about the therapeutic community, he reports the doctor’s words. he does not use reported speech or passive voice – elements which are typical for the english language and hence difficult to translate. in fact, the narrative is very simple: “any little gripe, any grievance, anything you want changed, he says, should be brought up before the group and discussed instead of letting it fester inside of you. also you should feel at ease in your surroundings to the extent you can freely discuss emotional problems in front of patients and staff. talk, he says, discuss, confess”. the narrator uses the phrase “he says” to indicate that those words are not his. without them, the fragment would look as if it was just a part of bromden’s train of thought. the polish version, in contrast, presents this fragment as an independent statement. the utterance starts with a dash, which is usually used to introduce a dialogue, rather than a reported statement: “ – nie tłamście w sobie – przekonuje lekarz – żadnych pretensji, bolączek, zgłaszajcie mi, jeśli chcecie coś zmienić, zawsze można wszystko przedyskutować w grupie.” when written in this way, the text is more expressive. some of the differences concerning the font and the graphic form of the text may have been caused by the editor’s – not the translator’s – choice, but it seems unlikely that the editor introduced all the exclamation marks. the modifications outlined above have made the polish version of the novel a little more expressive, lacking the sleepy, even lethargic atmosphere of the original. conclusion translation is transparent for the reader who only enjoys the rendered text without getting acquainted with the original, and the polish version of one flew over the cuckoo’s nest is an excellent work. only a comparison with the source text enables us to notice the subtle differences between the two versions. mirkowicz smoothed some of the edges, and sharpened the others: he omitted some grammatical mistakes and the characteristics of black english, but he added more swear words and exclamation marks, which deprived the book of its lethargic atmosphere, giving it a more expressive tone instead. however, even though the form has changed, and many words or phrases have been replaced with their remote synonyms, the translated version reads naturally. the translator put every effort to convert short songs and nursery rhyme into polish without losing their rhythm and rhyme, which is definitely not an easy task to accomplish. even the stuttering, which is a distinctive feature of one of the characters, has been rendered in a way which makes a similar impression as its original version. references: delisle jean. 1988. an interpretive approach. ottawa: presses de l’université d’ottawa. hatim basil and munday jeremy. 2004. translation. an advanced resource book. london: routledge. 26, 78. kesey, ken. 1976. one flew over the cuckoo’s nest. london: picador kesey, ken. 1990. lot nad kukułczym gniazdem. warszawa: państwowy instytut wydawniczy kutnik, jerzy. 2003. tomasz mirkowicz (1953-2003), akcent nr 1-2 (92-92) macky, peter. 2010. “one flew over the cuckoo’s nest”. in: mazenno, lawrence (ed.). masterplots 4 th edition. hackensack: salem press, 2. maroufi, chogollah. 1997. “ken kesey”, identities & issues in literature, september 1997, 1. mirkowicz, tomasz. 1990. “afterword”. in: kesey, ken. lot nad kukułczym gniazdem. warszawa: państwowy instytut wydawniczy. 290-295. newmark, peter. 1988. a textbook of translation. new york: prentice-hall international. 39-44, 45-49. pisarska alicja and teresa tomaszkiewicz. 1996. współczesne tendencje przekładoznawcze. poznań: wydawnictwo naukowe. 90-91. reilly, edward and cole, david. 2010. “ken kesey”, in: c. rollyson (ed.) critical survey of long fiction, 4th edn. pasadena: salem press, 1-9. smitherman, geneva. 1994. black talk: words and phrases from the hood to the amen corner. boston: houghton mifflin. venuti, lawrence. 1995. the translator’s invisibility: a history of translation, london and new york: routledge. vinay, jean paul and jean darbelnet. 2000 [1958]. “a methodology for translation”. in: venuti lawrence (ed.) the translation studies reader, london: routledge, 84-93. zubizaretta, john. 1994. “the disparity of point of view in one flew over the cuckoo’s nest”, literature/film quarterly vol. 22, no. 1, 62-69. web 1: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/big_2 (15.03.2014) http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/big_2 modzelewski, rafał. “virtual togetherness: sense of identity and community in cyberspace”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 37-53. rafał modzelewski the university of bialystok virtual togetherness: sense of identity and community in cyberspace abstract. it is an uncontroversial statement to say that we live in an age of the enormous influence of information technology. the internet in particular has been instrumental in shaping and reshaping modern reality. it harbours millions of communities and social networks, where people interact with each other on a daily basis. what are we to think of them? do they represent a new renaissance of social interactions or rather a demise of the traditional community? in the following article i argue that it is something entirely different. the internet, i propose, should be viewed as a new, different environment for communities to form and thrive. not only are those communities formed online, they also display a wide range of features, which make them legitimate communities, and not entities impoverished in the social sense. those communities have a profound effect on the identity of their participants. keywords: cyberculture, online, the internet, community, identity. 1. introduction the growing popularity of virtual communities in the cultural west, defined as european and north american countries along with australia and new zealand, is a fact. they have gathered millions of users from around the world in an environment that seems to lack limits in possibilities and dangers alike. those communities have attracted significant attention, both from the media and scholars, who pose challenging questions about the nature of these entities. can we really call them communities? can they facilitate the formation of a healthy identity, or perhaps distort it? can they hinder our abilities concerning face-to-face interactions? these are only a few among the many questions that seem to make both researchers and the media restless. one thing is clear, the changes and developments online do affect our lives, for better or for worse. 2. theory and definitions howard rheinhold coined the following definition in his the virtual community (1993:6): “virtual communities are social aggregations that emerge from the net when enough people carry on those public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace.” later, he added: “a virtual community is a group of people who may or may not meet one another face-to-face, and who exchange words and ideas through the mediation of computer bulletin boards and networks” (1994: 57-58). in her essay, jenny preece defined an online community as “any virtual social space where people come together to get and give information or support, to learn, or to find company. the community can be local, national, international, small or large” (2001: 2). in the following modzelewski, rafał. “virtual togetherness: sense of identity and community in cyberspace”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 37-53. paper, i will be using the term “virtual community” in accordance with both of those definitions. i would point out, however, that a “virtual community” is not synonymous with “social network”. while the former is focused on a specific topic, theme or interests, the later is mostly concerned with gathering friends and an exchange of personal information. in his keywords (1976: 76), raymond williams says the following about the word “community”: community can be the warmly persuasive word to describe an existing set of relationships, or the warmly persuasive word to describe an alternative set of relationships. what is most important, perhaps, is that unlike all other terms of social organization (state, nation, society, etc.) it seems never to be used unfavourably, and never to be given any positive opposing or distinguishing term. two important factors stressed in the definition of “community” are relationships between their participants and the positive aspects of that form of organization. that however, might be problematic. is it possible to say that the people living in jonestown did not form a community? naturally, for such an exploitive and ultimately destructive environment, in which hundreds of people were manipulated into committing mass suicide by a religious leader, we would rather use the word “cult”. still, the word “cult” is notoriously hard to define in a way that would be objective, and widely accepted. according to bakardjieva (2003: 291) williams’ definition seems fuzzy and imprecise. she goes on to say that “there is no ‘genuine’ fact of nature or social history that the word community denotes”. for the purpose of this paper i have to adopt and utilize a definition of community that will be used consistently. the definition that seems to be most useful and consistent with the way the word “community” is being used, has been provided by barry wellman in “community: from neighbourhood to network” (2005: 53): “communities are networks of interpersonal ties that provide sociability, support, information, a sense of belonging, and social identity”. that definition, therefore, will be used throughout this paper. the notion of self-identity will be discussed as well. the answer to the question “who am i?”, especially in relation to the social and economic environment is different from the cartesian notion delineated by stuart hall (2000: 15) as essentialism – the notion of a fixed, inborn identity, remaining constant throughout one’s life. i will be looking at identity as dynamic – changing throughout ones life, and depending on circumstance. in that sense, the key identity changes, even throughout the course of one day, when a person starts the day e.g. as a wife, proceeds to being a mother, then goes on to be a dentist, and upon arrival back home “transforms” into a wife once again. identity is: [t]he basic building block of social interaction. all of our interactions, even those with strangers, are shaped by our sense of with whom we are interacting. in face-to-face and telephone interactions there are a wealth of cues of varying reliability to indicate our identity and our intentions. our clothes, voices, bodies, and gestures signal messages about status, power, and group membership. we rely on our ability to recognize fellow group members in order to know who we can turn to and what we can expect. (kollock and smith 1999: 8) 2.1.a virtual community modzelewski, rafał. “virtual togetherness: sense of identity and community in cyberspace”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 37-53. “there is nothing virtual about virtual reality” says john murphy (1996). is that the case? logical as it may seem to say that “a is a”, linda carolli (1997) would perhaps disagree. her claim is that the inter-webs form “another place” in which certain relationships are formed. she also insists that what is being formed on the internet is a new phenomenon, which cannot be simply transferred from the “real” world into virtual reality. she also discusses the seemingly contradictory notion of a “community of strangers”, an environment in which people interact with one another and form relationships that emulate a community, yet they do not form strong ties and “real” friendships. sherry turkle, a prominent researcher of online communities, in her technology education design speech (2011: web 2) talks about people holding one another in a form of goldilocks situation, “not too far, not too close but just right”. in the same speech, she calls it “the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship”. that gloomy outlook is strengthened by kollack and smith (1999), who provide insight into the two, opposing views of the spaces created in virtual reality. in that view, the “net” should be understood almost literally, as an entity that “traps and ensnares” its users, while giving the establishment even more power over the individual, through surveillance, manipulation, and control. a different perspective on virtual reality is far more optimistic. it could be seen as an environment which will foster positive relationships, promote modern values, educate, entertain and inform people throughout the world, regardless of race, gender, nationality etc. (kollack and smith 1999). the internet gives as many possibilities as the printing press, which popularized literacy and awareness; the telephone, which linked people through vast distances; and the automobile and airplane, which make the world a smaller, more accessible place (wellman 1997). the net has been very successful in bringing people together. one can easily discuss art with a chinese person, chat about music with an american, and go visit a dutch person whom he met online. arnold brown says that those who associate online communities with the withering of close friendships and strong ties, are making a grave error. “the big mistake that the fearful always make is to equate change with destruction. the social turmoil of the 1970s was heralded by such observers as “the demise of the family”. but the family did not die; it just changed and it is still changing” (2011: 31). both sides of the debate present valid points in their assessment of the term communities in relation to online communities. this paper, however, will argue that even if one might say that virtual reality is, in carolli’s words, yet “another place”, it is another place for genuine communities, with deep, strong ties to emerge. 2.2.identity online, the role of the virtual world another issue, vital to the understanding of the online world, is the question of identity. do we preserve our “true” identity, or does the new, frontier environment affect it? is it possible, as some suggest, that there might be a split in identity, almost as in stevenson's dr. jekyll and mr. hyde? in her alone together speech (2011: web 2), turkle ponders the issue of multiple identities that a person is able to hold simultaneously, while being engaged in online activity. in her view, one could be a different person when reading articles, compiling texts and chatting with other people via instant messaging services. hall and du gay, quoted by j. c. riberio (2009: 295) say that there are three major notions of identity, one of them being the individual properties of a person who is a part of society. second is the interplay between the institutions of modern society, which leaves a “mark” on the individual. the third states that identity is “essentially dynamic, multiple, malleable and fragmented” (riberio 2009: 294). many scholars conceive of a new era, in which identity might be detached from the physical self, and imbued into a cyborg form (riberio 2009: 295, hardey 2002: 581, wilson and modzelewski, rafał. “virtual togetherness: sense of identity and community in cyberspace”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 37-53. peterson 2002: 457). arnold brown foresees that “now, and increasingly in the future, technology will let you make and remake your identity at will – virtually” (2001: 34). on a slightly different perspective, turkle adds that virtual communities, and the internet as a whole, is the ideal place to “act out” conflicts, and emotional and personal issues (1999: 644). she asserts that it could play an increasingly important role in the development of one’s identity. given those arguments and perspectives, i have to conclude that it is possible for the identity of a person to be highly influenced by the reality of virtual communities. identity online, just as in the “real” world, may be dynamic, multiple and prone to changes throughout time and the environment. in that sense, not only are we looking at a new frontier in terms of technology, but also in terms of who we are, and how we perceive ourselves. the internet has become a “digital gutenberg” in terms of spreading information and ideas and by connecting people with one another, but also, just like the printing press, it is transforming society before our very eyes. 2.3.imagined community? benedict anderson in his imagined communities suggests that certain kinds of communities are, as a matter of fact, virtual, or imaginary. what he had in mind, were mainly communities on the level of a country, for instance, a nation. in his words: “all communities larger than primordial villages of face-to-face contact (and perhaps even those) are imagined” (1983: 18). according to that definition, online communities are imagined as well. i accept that reasoning, as contacts in the virtual world, usually, lack the face-to-face interactions between community members, just as is the case with nations and even smaller communities. however, the internet allows for the development of communities of even larger range than nations. kathryn pentecost in her “imagined communities in cyberspace” writes: “in this twenty-first century era of cyber communication there are many ways to traverse and challenge national boundaries and concepts of national identity” (2011: 46). an obvious example of those ways are international social networks, discussion boards etc. while discussion forums boast far less impressive numbers, still, the gaia online forum has over 25 million users, which is a number larger than the entire population of yemen. accepting anderson’s definition, it would be hard to imagine, if not downright impossible, to say that every member of those boards knows all of the other members, let alone maintain face-to-face contact. there is, therefore, a flaw in the argument which suggests a dichotomy between a virtual, and a “real world” community, as it suggests that they are fundamentally different in nature, and that the former is imagined, while the latter is “real”. wellman and gulia 1997: 12-13) argue that: in fact most contemporary communities in the developed world do not resemble rural or urban villages where all know all and have frequent face-to-face contact. rather, most kith and kin live farther away than a walk (or short drive) so that telephone contact sustain ties as much as face-to-face get-togetherness. […] while people now take telephone contact for granted, it was seen as an exotic, depersonalized form of communication only fifty years ago. we suspect that as on-line communication becomes widely used and routinely accepted, the current fascination with it will decline sharply. it will be seen as telephone contact is now, or a letter writing was in jane austen’s time: a reasonable way to maintain strong and weak ties between people who are unable to have a face-to-face encounter just then. modzelewski, rafał. “virtual togetherness: sense of identity and community in cyberspace”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 37-53. that is why we can accept that “there is nothing virtual about virtual reality”, while agreeing that the world wide web is yet “another place”, where contact can be maintained, and communities may form. bakardijeva (2003: 294) suggests that we should refer to a virtual community as “virtual togetherness”, as it does not always connote the warm feelings and positive associations mentioned by williams. she adds, however, that: the opposite of virtual togetherness (and community) is not ‘real’ or ‘genuine’ community, as the current theoretical debate suggests, but the isolated consumption of digitized goods and services within the realm of particularistic existence. the issue then is not which (and whether any) form of togetherness online deserves the ‘warmly persuasive’ (williams, 1985: 76) label of community. the challenge to analysts is to understand and appreciate the significance of those various forms of transcending the narrowly private existence and navigating the social world for individual participants, for society at large and for the shaping of the internet. (bakardijeva 2003: 294) this means that it is not the use of the word community in the context of virtual reality which is mistaken, but the critics who conflate emerging cyber-communities with the cold, lifeless, digital world. the concept of virtual togetherness, therefore, will be used synonymously to the concepts of online or virtual communities throughout this paper. 2.4.are such communities so warm? in order to demonstrate the resemblance between “offline” and “online” communities i intend to present several characteristics of both modes of social organisation. the similitude of those two worlds is remarkable, and while several divergences might be found, they stem from similar social and psychological dynamics. almost anyone, who has ever tried engaging in internet debates or discussions, surely knows such terms as trolling or flame wars, the former being the provoking of aggression through mockery and cynical comments, the latter being an exchange of offensive ad hominems between a group of people. yet the list of anti-social behaviours does not stop there. “specific behaviours include rude, embarrassing, threatening or harassing comments; unwanted sexual comments; and exclusion” claim werner, bumpus, rock and werner (2010: 608); however, they add that most of the internet encounters that people engage in are pleasurable. cyberbullying is a term that has been widely used to describe negative online interactions among adolescents. it is estimated that 72% of young people (ages from 12 to 17) using the internet have experienced some form of abuse, a number almost identical (85%) to the number of those who experience violent behaviour at school (gross and juvonen 2008: 496). while cyberbullying does not involve physical threats or acts, it may be just as harmful. christine suniti bhat, cites several cases, where bullying online led to the suicides of young people (2008: 53-54). in addition to highly destructive and cruel bullying, there is an unpleasant phenomenon which requires two sides. flame wars need at least two consenting participants: if either side of the conflict refrains, the vicious cycle breaks. not only do they need the involvement of at least two sides, these modes of “discussion” are extremely unproductive, and can be best summed up as a series of ad hominem fallacies. in 1990, mike godwin, in part humorously, and in part as an experiment in memetics, proposed godwin’s law. the law states that: “as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving nazis or hitler approaches one”. while not scientifically tested, the law is certainly an accurate observation, and is now known as reductio ad hitlerum, which, in fact, is an associative fallacy and an appeal to emotion. in his “meme, counter-meme” article, godwin modzelewski, rafał. “virtual togetherness: sense of identity and community in cyberspace”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 37-53. notes that this has evolved to another popular (so called “viral”) meme, which is: one should avoid nazi comparisons in civil discussion. while godwin's law of nazi analogies is perhaps lacking in terms of having scientific merit, it could be used as a yardstick in measuring the level of hostility or friendliness on a discussion board. why do abuses in cyberspace occur? if it is true that it is “there is nothing virtual in the virtual world” the reasons for causing harm, bullying and abhorrent behaviour should be similar to face-to-face interactions. it is important to remember that online abusers are just as real as those outside cyberspace. they are not trolls hiding under a bridge as the name suggests. these abuses happen in a certain community, and therefore in a social environment that permits them to happen. that is why here the assumption is that their reason is the lucifer effect, described by philip zimbardo in his book of the same title. in his view, people do evil when the interplay of the environment and personality allows it to happen by adopting a collective identity which de-individuates and defuses responsibility. evil being “the exercise of power to intentionally harm, hurt, destroy or commit crimes against humanity” (zimbardo, 2007), then internet abuses, as mentioned before, may be extremely harmful to individuals. in addition, the inter-webs give abusive people an important advantage – a sense of anonymity, hiding behind a screen, an avatar, or a nickname, similar to wearing a mask. watson, in his study of cultures at war, confirms that by finding that tribes or countries which go to war in uniform, with masks, or painted faces are much more likely to murder and torture their enemies than those who do not hide their identity (watson 1973: 342-45). while the sense of anonymity online is largely illusive, it still provides a sense of distance from one’s verbal victims. it is important to remember, though, that no community is exempt from violent people, who will act upon their anti-social beliefs. bullying is omnipresent at schools, where children should, supposedly, be safe. additionally, those who are most vulnerable to attack, such as children with disabilities or emotional problems, are the ones who are most frequently targeted (gietz, good and mcintosh 2011: 48). exclusion, stalking or verbal abuse can and do happen in “real life” as well. the internet is “just another place” for abusive people to exploit. it is crucial to note that it is common practice for friendly and non-aggressive internet users to use certain mechanisms in order to prevent such abhorrent behaviour. for example, most discussion boards have administrators and moderators, who are able to delete and block abusive comments. a system of “three warnings and you are out” is widespread. reputation is another mechanism that ensures civility. on some discussion boards, users have the possibility to rate each others’ comments. in that way, other members are able to quickly see who is regarded as helpful, and whom they should avoid. if all these methods fail, the administrators or moderators, usually have another tool at their hand, which is ip blocking. to ensure that every member knows how to behave in a non-disruptive manner, netiquette has been established. it is a set of rules and conventions on online behaviour that is supposed to facilitate productive and pleasurable interactions in cyberspace (cindio, gentile et al. 2002). it is important to remember that the inter-webs are not uniform. some environments tend to favour positive interactions, while others facilitate the workings of internet trolls and bullies. that seems outstandingly similar to the “real” world. 2.5.a world of distraction? another matter is the question of how focused we really are when engaging in a particular activity. when we have dinner with friends, or a chat with a spouse, we usually do not post instant messages while simultaneously watching a youtube video. face-to-face conversations are usually more focused than that, and if we consider the other person close and important, modzelewski, rafał. “virtual togetherness: sense of identity and community in cyberspace”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 37-53. we give that person our full, undivided attention. we can certainly replicate that form of interaction online, for example, when using skype, especially with a webcam. however, most interactions online do not occur in this fashion. most interactions online happen on social networks, discussion forums, instant messaging networks, sharing websites, virtual environments etc. in those environments it is difficult, if not downright impossible to pay undivided attention to one person or one pursuit. the pbs documentary film, digital nation, has an entire segment called “distracted by everything”. in it, the authors argue that in today’s digital world everything can distract us from what we are doing. this affects the way schools work, the way students write their essays, even how ties between people form. the research that they cite suggests that human beings are not capable of performing several tasks simultaneously and well. if such is the case, it might be a strong argument against the notion that strong ties can emerge between people on the internet. perhaps, as turkle (2011) and carroli (2011) argue, the internet is not only bringing the world together, but is creating a paradoxical “community of strangers” who are “alone together”, unable to connect on a deep level. 2.6.strong and weak ties is developing a deep relationship, or strong ties in other words, even possible when no faceto-face contact is maintained? can we really claim to have intimacy with another human being without all the social cues that facilitate such contact? deprived of touch, sight, proximity, gestures, body language and other forms of non-verbal communication while on the web, we are seemingly destined to live in a world where relationships are determined by letters and digits. is that enough to breach the void of distance, the lack of personal contact, and initial mistrust? consider the pace at which ties are formed. in his blink. the power of thinking without thinking malcolm gladwell argues that human beings make instant decisions on a variety of things, including relationships as deep as marriage. that rapid decision-making process is possible due to the subconscious analysing of non-verbal cues in human behaviour (2007: 31-47). is it possible online? can we use such mind-boggling interpersonal skills in cyberspace? wellman and gulia (1997) point out that the relationship formation process takes much longer online, as the bandwidth of communication is devoid of both verbal and nonverbal communication. they go as far as to quote several opinions that maintain that such forms of communication are insufficient in developing any strong ties whatsoever. that claim contradicts, however, the research that they invoke, which demonstrates that people prefer long lasting online groups to those that last briefly. what is more, they come to the conclusion that “strong online ties have many characteristics similar to strong offline ties” as they are frequent, voluntary, companionable, reciprocal and supportive (1999: 178). those guidelines have also been the basis of the research questionnaire conducted for the needs of this paper. perhaps then, when michael hardey (2002: 754) asks if meetings on the internet are “pure relationships or impoverished meetings” the answer could be both. as bakardijeva points out, it may not be very productive to fall for certain dichotomies and to assume that only two possibilities exist (2003: 305-10). there are numerous weak ties on the internet, some lasting no more than a few minutes. on the other hand, some relationships in cyberspace meet all of the criteria of a strong tie. in addition there is a certain gradation between the two dichotomies. moreover, there can be positive features even in weak tie relationships on the internet. though such ties might not be as deep and profound as long-term friendships, they can still be modzelewski, rafał. “virtual togetherness: sense of identity and community in cyberspace”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 37-53. supportive and helpful. the large number of self-help communities online seems to support that claim. so there might be some advantages to being “alone together” after all. 2.7.the world of ideas when the first human being took the skin off a bear’s back in order to keep himself warm, it became apparent that a person can achieve in several hours what took thousands of years of evolutionary development. human civilization began, and no longer would humans adjust to the environment, but rather would shape and reshape it to fit their needs. just as other humans learned and transmitted the idea that one could wear animal fur to make oneself warm, they learned and transmitted ideas about washing one’s hands before a meal, or using indoor plumbing, central heating, and other facilities and practices we now take for granted. that transition of ideas, according to ramachandran (2010: web 8), requires the above discussed mirror neurons, and is central to the emergence of human culture. this is a popperian view in which people exist not only in the physical realm, but also in the knowledge, ideas and knowhow they possess. those ideas, crucial to the existence of human culture, spreading among people, are called memes. the term “meme” coined by richard dawkins in his important and highlyacclaimed book the selfish gene (1976). in it, he provides the definition of a meme, which is a replicating idea or mode of behaviour. he argues that memes spread and evolve similarly to biological genes; they also use people as “vehicles” for dispersion. however, unlike genes they do not exist physically, yet they function within a culture. the internet facilitates the spreading and evolving of memes. it offers rapid transmission from one person to another and allows us to find people who share the same idea and to reinforce the belief in that meme. the spreading and finding of like-minded people is crucial for the proliferation of memes. “an epidemiological approach to model the viral propagation of memes” (wang and wood 2011), proposes that there are profound similarities between how memes and viruses spread. richard thieme (1997: web 7) agrees, going so far as to say that “memes are contagious ideas that replicate like viruses from mind to mind. the internet is like a petri dish in which memes multiply rapidly. fed by fascination, incubated in the feverish excitement of devotees transmitting stories”. though metaphorical, there are parallels between the spread of diseases and memes that cannot be ignored. the internet is an almost perfect environment for memes, both truthful and wrong. memes thrive in that environment and spread like wildfire: some of them, like the belief in the crash-landing of an alien spacecraft in roswell, new mexico, last for decades. it is crucial to remember that in this cyber-world of ideas, ideas themselves deserve careful analysis and attention. 3. methodology: qualitative and quantitative data gathering gathering information essential in the successful presentation of this paper required both qualitative and quantitative data gathering. both were essential in understanding the phenomenon of online communities. the latter gave perspective on the size and vivacity of each community, while the former was to provide an in-depth understanding of their dynamics, their relationships, and how they influence participants’ view of themselves and each other. the quantitative research was primarily based on the search engines provided by the discussion boards themselves. these offered reliable information concerning the number modzelewski, rafał. “virtual togetherness: sense of identity and community in cyberspace”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 37-53. of participants, their levels of activity, and location. i have communicated both with the forums’ administrators and their active participants, some of whom contacted me via private messages. in addition, a survey has been conducted on each forum, except one (due to the denial of a registration request). in addition, numerous methods of research were utilized, for example, observation, comparison, and analysis of the forum content. 4. research process the main source of data were the discussion boards themselves. the quantitative data was gathered on one day (the 30 th of september 2011) during which all the data available through the forum statistics and search engines was collected and saved for further analysis. the internet forums that i decided to study were centred around the ideas of the 2012 apocalypse and/or the existence of extraterrestrial ufos visiting the earth. while they do not constitute the average of internet users, these communities are small and focused on a specific set of beliefs which bring them closer together. the gathering of qualitative data was a much longer and time-consuming process. it consisted of several weeks of reading and participating in the researched communities. what is more, on the 1 st of september a survey was posted on each forum on a general discussion thread. data was collected and catalogued until the 30 th of september 2011, upon which the survey was finalized. in each and every case, further contact with the survey subjects was required. in total, 20 people decided to fill out the entire survey, while numerous others left comments both positive and negative on the discussion thread. the answers varied in length and in depth. some users decided to leave only yes/no comments, while others offered much deeper and elaborate insights. during the survey a discussion commenced on one of the forums as to whether users should participate in it or not. it was during that time that it became obvious that some members participate in multiple discussion boards of the same theme, due to the fact that they were already informed about the survey being conducted elsewhere. the number of people who participated in that part of the survey was not sufficient for a reliable, quantitative assessment; however, it offered valuable insights and an opportunity to match their answers with the reality of the forum dynamics. 5. qualitative analysis since the 1 st of september 2011 extensive qualitative research has been done on each forum, requiring registration on each discussion board and regular observation of the activity on them. that meant reading discussions, topics, and exchanges between users, in order to find information valuable for the following analysis. thus, popular trends and memes can be detected. additionally, the forums’ search engines have been utilised so that particular phrases, words and expressions could be found. naturally, all sensitive data and identification has been removed, so that the users’ privacy may be preserved. 5.1.“us” versus “them” mentality after just a few moments spent on each forum it becomes apparent that an “us” and “them” attitude is almost omnipresent. many users assert that, either by believing in the 2012 doomsday predictions or in alien visits to our planet, they possess a higher state of knowledge or superior intelligence to the “average joe”. it is alarmingly easy to find examples in which outsiders, or members of the general public are referred to as “sheeple” or by other equally derogatory terms. using such terms is in reality a very dangerous phenomenon, which modzelewski, rafał. “virtual togetherness: sense of identity and community in cyberspace”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 37-53. is quite unlikely to be encountered on, say, a pet lovers community or on a gardening forum. rather, it is common among fringe groups or subscribers to extreme and/or intolerant political ideologies. while there is absolutely nothing wrong in subscribing to an unorthodox or unpopular world-view, associating it with a sense of moral superiority and the inferiority of others is rather dubious in nature. as zimbardo points out (2007: 318-321), such an act absolves oneself from moral responsibility towards others, which facilitates negative behaviour and abuse, as one weakens his sense of the humanity of others. this is the same technique used by hitler when he called the jewish people “lice”, or the hutu referring to the tutsi tribe as “cockroaches” in the prelude to the massacre. while it would be ludicrous to accuse the members of these virtual communities of genocidal attitudes, it can hardly be seen as positive to brand dissenters as animals or “zombies”. on the other hand, it would be disingenuous to say that every member of the assessed communities has a negative outlook toward outsiders. sometimes the “sheeple” term is used as a metaphor, much as is the case in animal farm by george orwell, and not as a representation of one's view of people outside the community. some wonder how to “reach” the general public and convince them to change their minds in an intellectual manner, rather than by emotional appeals and offensive language. others regret being isolated from the people outside their ideological communities. in summary, it is apparent that the members of the analysed communities isolate themselves from the outside world to a larger extent than more “mainstream” communities. while in principle this is a negative phenomenon, it does not reach destructive proportions. in general, these communities do not shun outsiders; rather, they interact with them in a courteous manner, so long as they themselves are treated with respect. in conclusion, while the “us” versus “them” mentality is clearly present and creates a rather non-ideal environment, it does not reach pathological proportions, and does not hinder interactions with the outsiders in an extreme way. 5.2.response level on every community discussion forum, the questionnaire generated considerable interest, especially among active users with a large number of posts. not everywhere were the responses positive. in some cases (the ufo casebook) a large majority of the responses comprised direct answers to the questionnaire, and a rather friendly attitude. in other cases (davidicke.com) a large majority of the responders were negative, cynical, and refused to participate. in each instance, i had to respond to questions and criticism from the participants in order to assure them that my motives were not surreptitious – and in order to generate some interest in taking part in the survey. the overall level of response was lower than expected. in total, 42 individuals responded to the survey, of which 19 decided to do so by answering the questions in the questionnaire, while the remaining 23 either gave their reasons for not participating, or basically responded negatively to the whole idea of such a survey table 1. who were the responders? total number of responders. 42 number of responders who decided to participate. 19 number of responders who actively declined participation. 23 modzelewski, rafał. “virtual togetherness: sense of identity and community in cyberspace”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 37-53. before analysing the responses themselves, it might be useful to take a closer look at the very people who decided to respond to the questionnaire. whether they were long term users who have written copious amounts of material on their forums, or perhaps newcomers and neophytes eager to share their opinions with whomever, all responders were subjected to a background check. at first glance, it is very difficult to distinguish any meaningful pattern in the types of users who responded to the questionnaire. apparently, the majority (12 out of 19) of responders were experienced users, with a large number of posts (over 500). most of them had written several thousand posts and have been participating in the community for several (usually 3-4) years. that division, however, does not tell the whole story. there is a correlation between the number of posts and the seniority of the users and the sincerity of their responses, as well as their willingness to respond. those users who had a large number of posts and have been participating in the community for a longer period of time were more eager to respond in an exhaustive way. their answers were also more positive towards the community. even if they actively declined participation in the poll, they did so courteously and gave non-combative reasons, such as protection of their anonymity. those, however, who had a much shorter experience in the community, or a significantly lower number of posts, reacted differently. one type of reaction was a very negative manner of answering the questions. they evidently wanted to dissociate themselves from the community, criticizing it and presenting themselves as more rational than the average community members. in some ways, this might be a valid claim, as such controversial forums and ideologies attract sceptics who often have a very combative attitude, challenging the claims of the community. examples of such interactions could be found on every forum analysed in this paper. another form of reaction from that group of users was mockery of the questionnaire, often giving blatantly untrue, exaggerated, or stereotypical answers. i have decided to include them in this analysis because they reflect the negative image of “outsiders” and the type of antagonistic reactions that they display when confronted by “others”. the third mode of reacting from that group of users was downright aggression, insinuation, and discouraging others from participating in the poll, which was characterised as a form of infiltrating their forum by some nefarious, unidentified entity. while a large variety of users responded to the questionnaire, two major groups could be identified: the group of senior users, who responded most positively or at least in a neutral manner; and a second group comprised of sceptics, who either felt no association with the community, or who responded aggressively, utilised irony and mockery, and/or felt threatened by the questionnaire posted on their forum by an “outsider”. 5.3.reasons for not responding the 23 users who actively declined to participate in the poll obviously had their own reasons for doing so, and decided to voice them. those reasons might be important in understanding not only their state of mind, but also the general spirit of the forum, and the prevailing ideas. the reasons given for not participating can be divided into two categories. one is either a concern for privacy and a general dislike of questionnaires. those users expressed concern for privacy issues, questioning whether their anonymity could be protected effectively. others verbalized a dislike in participating in questionnaires in general, or questionnaires of that sort. some even suggested other forms of polling, for example adding a check-box using the forum engine, or using an outside polling service. while this could be modzelewski, rafał. “virtual togetherness: sense of identity and community in cyberspace”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 37-53. considered legitimate advice, such techniques would have made it impossible to conduct qualitative studies and receive more detailed and in-depth answers, which was the case with the questionnaire. interest in protecting one's anonymity online should be viewed as a legitimate concern as well. additionally, some people would prefer their views remain private, regardless of whether they concern the prospect of civilisation ending in a particular year, or the advantages of having a dog as a pet. such concerns and wishes should be respected. the second group, however, had entirely different motives for their declining participation in the questionnaire. their reasons were grounded in a conviction that my motives as a researcher were somewhat suspect. some suggested i might be part of an effort to gather personal data about them. they did not specify any particular agency or government that i might be representing; nevertheless, the implication seemed obvious that i was regarded as a threat. more often, however, it was implied that the research was aiming at discrediting the forum, the community, or particular users. this suggests that those users either fear or have encountered the above mentioned attitudes, which, when taking into consideration the extremity of their views, might be a valid concern. criticism and scepticism, however, do not necessarily constitute ridicule and mockery, and certainly cannot be equated with invigilation by an hostile governmental agency. this attitude signifies an issue that was discussed previously, namely, a certain hostility towards the “other” and to “outsiders”, combined with a lack of comfort with challenging ideas and criticism. to illustrate the above discussed points, it might be useful to present and analyse particular examples of declining answers from the users. one user wrote: “why don’t you just forget the answers and jump straight to the conclusion you would do anyway” (original spelling and grammar has been preserved in all quotations). this indicates suspicion, as well as a conclusion already reached upon seeing the questionnaire, which is an interesting, as well as an obvious, contradiction. “[y]our going to create a lot of suspicion with that questionar” asserts another user, showing a suspicion of the “other”, “outsiders” who inquire about the nature of their community. perhaps the most eloquent representation of those concerns was voiced by a member of the 2012 forum: i’m all-too-familiar with college theses and how they are used to advance one's personal agenda, sometimes for salutary purposes, and other times simply to deride. [...] i often read articles where those who express interest in the year 2012, and all the hype surrounding it, are regarded as nutcases, which is absurd, of course, but the pejorative flows like insecticide on a wasp’s nest anyway. examination of the declining answers, along with examples of the responses presented in here, reveals a great deal about the general atmosphere of the forums. it suggests that, while some users were willing and honest enough to take part in the poll, others, especially less experienced members, viewed the questionnaire as a threat. that animosity, as discussed previously, demonstrates a general dislike of those outside the community, whether seen as “unwilling to see the truth” or as hostile agents of antagonistic interests. however, it is only fair to note that any fringe group is prone to harsh ridicule from outsiders, and negative reactions are often well justified. 6. quantitative analysis table 2 below presents the number and types of responses obtained for each question. modzelewski, rafał. “virtual togetherness: sense of identity and community in cyberspace”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 37-53. table 2. the responses in numbers question/answer yes undecided no do you feel that your relationship with other participants of this forum is intimate and special? 4 3 12 do you feel a desire for the companionship of other participants of this forum? 6 3 10 are you interested in being on this forum as frequently as reasonably possible? 13 2 4 do you feel a sense of mutuality in your relationship with other participants of this forum? 13 5 1 do you know and support the needs of your discussion partners on this forum? 6 5 6 do you have the sense or evidence that intimacy is bolstered by shared social characteristics such as gender/socio-economic status/lifestyle etc? 5 3 11 would you say that the ideas central to this forum play a significant role in forming your identity? 4 0 15 would you call yourself a ufo believer/2012 doomsday believer? if not, is there any other name that you would use in association with the central ideas of this forum? 12 3 4 do you think that you identify with this group more than with the society/nation you are a member of? 6 2 11 under 1 year 1-3 years over 3 years for how long have you been an active participant of this forum? 7 4 8 unfortunately, due to smaller participation than expected, the raw data is rather noisy. still, patterns do emerge. for instance, though a few people feel some special relationship with other participants of their communities and desire their companionship, the vast majority wish to spend as much time as possible within them. this seems to be a blatant contradiction since the whole point of those communities is companionship with other members. it does, however, correspond with the results of questions 5 and 6. less than a third express a desire for intimacy or the awareness of the needs of other members of the community. i would attribute that result to a general lack of interest in intimacy and close-tie relationships, rather than a shortcoming of virtual communities as such. it is not the case that every social community in the “real” world is warm, intimate, and supportive, as opposed to the cold and harsh environment of the internet. another curious result is the denial of any relevance of the ideas of the community to one’s identity. how could that be the case? even calling oneself a mother (a biological fact) modzelewski, rafał. “virtual togetherness: sense of identity and community in cyberspace”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 37-53. or a bricklayer (a professional duty) denotes a certain identity. how could one call oneself a ufo believer or a doomsday foreteller, and yet deny its relevance to ones identity? it is my conviction that this is only possible through a lack of understanding of that connection, rather than an admission of reality. 7. conclusions the internet, contrary to popular perception, is not a homogeneous entity. it is a decentralised, varied and practically anarchic environment (in the greek sense of the word). it relies on servers, cables, and antennae, which goes without saying, yet it is predominantly a world of evolutionarily spreading ideas – memes. it is an entirely imagined community, perhaps more so than nation states, because the internet has a much larger population that does not operate on a face-to-face basis. this is not a damning statement, though. it goes to show that the world wide web is very similar to the “real” world, comprised of a plethora of imagined communities. in other aspects, the need for intimacy, warmth, the presence of an “us and them” mentality, the internet and the offline world are surprisingly alike. the key characteristic that differentiates those realms is that while memes are a part of offline culture, they are a predominant building block of cyberspace. also, the possibilities for distraction and social anonymity are much greater in cyberspace, as we can hide behind the screen without revealing too much of ourselves; at least, that is our perception. the theoretical discussion alongside the study conducted for this paper serves as a basis for my support for the claim that “there is nothing virtual about virtual reality”. the possibilities for strong ties, intimate relationships, and influencing one’s identity exist, even if not acknowledged by the subjects of the study. it may seem that we have replicated our culture, or rather many cultures online, and we are unaware of how similar they are to what we have in the “real” world. flashing screens, digits, and icons may cloud our judgment, but not the reality that the virtual is synonymous to real. references: anderson, b. imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism, n.p.: verso (1983). bakardjieva, m. “virtual togetherness: an everyday-life perspective” media, culture & society, sage publications london, 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(2011). “an epidemiological approach to model the viral propagation of memes” applied mathematical modelling, 35 (11), 5442 5447 wellman, b. “community: from neighbourhood to network” communications of the acm, october vol. 48, no. 10 (2005) 53-55. williams, r. keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, london: fontana press (1976). zimbardo, p. g. the lucifer effect: understanding how good people turn evil, n.p.: random house (2007). internet sources: web 1 – http://www.questia.com/pm.qst?a=o&d=5045010288 (december 10 th 2011). web 2 – http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/tedxuiuc-sherry-turkle-aloneto;search%3aturkle (december 20 th 2011). web 3 – http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.10/godwin.if.html (november 18 th 2011). web 4 – http://courses.missouristate.edu/ralphsmith/gepfall2k/excerpts/gep397_jall_excerpt.htm (november 15 th 2011). web 5 – http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/view/ (november 10 th 2011). web 6 – http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/mirror-neurons.html (january 5 th 2012). web 7 – http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=85 (august 21 st 2011). web 8 – http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/vs_ramachandran_the_neurons_that_shaped_civilization (november 20 th 2012). primary internet sources, accessed between june 2011 and april 2012: modzelewski, rafał. “virtual togetherness: sense of identity and community in cyberspace”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 37-53. 1. 2012 forum http://2012forum.com/forum/index.php 2. maya 12-21-2012 http://maya12-21-2012.com/2012forum/index.php 3. december 21 2012 http://www.december212012.com/phpbb2/index.php 4. david icke http://forum.davidicke.com/ 5. alien-ufos http://www.alien-ufos.com/ 6. ufo casebook http://ufocasebook.conforums.com/ http://ufocasebook.conforums.com/ tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. anna maria tomczak the university of bialystok rushdie affair revisited abstract: the article discusses the controversy surrounding the 1988 publication of salman rushdie’s novel the satanic verses from today’s perspective, drawing on the writer’s memoir joseph anton. it provides an overview of rushdie’s career, a brief resumé of the events that followed the ayatollah khomeini’s edict calling for the murder of the novelist, as well as a critical assessment of rushdie’s latest book. published in september 2012, the memoir fails to shed any new light on the debate concerning freedom of expression and a writer’s social responsibilities. it mostly focuses on the singular plight of a novelist forced to live in hiding. the opportunity to bring out some important links between politics, literature and history, which rushdie’s autobiographical account might have provided, seems to have been wasted. keywords: salman rushdie, the satanic verses, fatwa, joseph anton, memoir, novel, khomeini. february 2013, the time of writing these words, marks the twenty-fourth anniversary of the fatwa – khomeini’s proclamation of a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british writer of indian origin. almost a quarter of a century has passed since the dispatch of this “unfunny valentine” from “the lethal old man dying in his room” (rushdie 2012:11), the news that hit the headlines in 1989 and condemned an active writer to a life in hiding, transforming him into a state-protected individual constantly surrounded by police officers of the special branch of the metropolitan police. a period of twenty-four years in the life of a man counts as a long time, but in the history and development of humanity it may seem a mere trice. and yet the world of 2013, in which the memory of 9/11 is still fresh, and in which the word ‘jihad’ has entered the everyday lexicon for good, is a different world from that of 1989. militant islam, al-qaida activities and the social unrest in a number of arab countries have become daily occurrences. the year 1989 has gone down in the annals of history as the climactic moment of the downfall of communism and the dismantling of the berlin wall, but for rushdie it was the year when his private world collapsed. from today’s perspective the lot of a single author may demand less attention than the upheavals in central europe and their social and political consequences, while the growth of religious fundamentalism and nationalism most certainly continues to invite serious discussion. yet the 2012 publication of joseph anton: a memoir, rushdie’s autobiographical record of his life under the fatwa, rekindles the ashes of what became known as the rushdie affair, calling for reflection and a brief resumé of facts and opinions, especially in the new socio-political context. the phrase “rushdie affair” – written either with or without quotation marks – is a popular term which refers to the controversy over the publication of the satanic verses and its aftermath: violent mass protests, heated public debates on the issues of freedom of expression and the nature of blasphemy, attempted and conducted killings, muslim anger and wounded assertiveness. as both rauwerda (2008) and pipes (2003) stress, for the first time in the modern era a government (the political leader and head of state of iran) called for the killing of a private individual who was citizen of a foreign country. for the first time a work tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. of fiction caused an international diplomatic crisis and the official severing of international relations. and for the first time muslim rage resulted in such large-scale public rallies, firebombed bookshops, and innocent civilians attacked, seriously injured or killed. “the rushdie controversy raised important questions about the many millions of muslims now living in the west and their relationship to the civilization around them” (pipes 2003: 16). some of these questions have remained unanswered. 1. salman rushdie: life and work sir ahmed salman rushdie was born in bombay (today known as mumbai) in 1947, the year when india became independent, the only son in a muslim family, the eldest among three sisters. islam did not play a significant role in the children’s upbringing or education. as he recalls in joseph anton, he hardly ever participated in religious ceremonies and never learnt to pray. recitations in arabic were for him “mumbling” unknown words in a language he could not speak (2012: 8). in a sketchy portrait of his family presented in the memoir, what comes to the fore is the father’s alcoholism with bouts of “unprovoked, red-eyed rage” (2012: 21) and his most cherished gift for future generations – a changed surname, his father’s own idea and invention. the name ‘rushdie’ comes from ‘ibn rushd’, the name of the twelfth century muslim philosopher of spanish-arab background who translated the works of aristotle. the old indian name of ‘din khaliqi dehlavi’ was changed to ‘rushdie’ when salman was still a child. the real significance of this fact was understood by the boy much later. in the opinion of his son, rushdie senior was “a true scholar of islam who was entirely lacking in religious belief”, and “a godless man who knew and thought a great deal about god” (2012: 23). the name was chosen “because he respected ibn rushd for being at the forefront of the rationalist argument against islamic literalism in his time” (2012: 23). in 1961, at thirteen, salman rushdie was sent to rugby, a prestigious english public school, where he felt profoundly sad and alienated. he recalls: at an english boarding school in the early 1960s […] there were three bad mistakes you could make, but if you made only two of the three you could be forgiven. the mistakes were: to be foreign; to be clever; and to be bad at games […]. he made all three mistakes. he was foreign, clever, non-sportif. and as a result his years were, for the most part, unhappy, though he did well academically and left rugby with the abiding feeling of having been wonderfully well taught (2012: 26-27). it was at rugby that rushdie fully rejected faith. when he writes about it, as he does in joseph anton and in imaginary homelands, the tone is invariably jocular or even flippant: in the matter of god: the last traces of belief were erased from his mind by his powerful dislike of the architecture of rugby chapel […] ‘what kind of god,’ he wondered, ‘would live in a house as ugly as that?’ an instant later the answer presented itself: obviously no self-respecting god would live there – in fact, obviously, there was no god, not even a god with bad taste in architecture. by the end of the latin lesson he was a hard-line atheist, and to prove it, he marched determinedly into the school tuckshop during break and bought himself a ham sandwich. the flesh of the swine passed his lips for the first time that day, and the failure of the almighty to strike him dead with a thunderbolt proved to him what he had long suspected: that there was nobody up there with thunderbolts to hurl (2012: 31-32). then came his studies at king’s college, cambridge, his father’s old alma mater. initially, he was very reluctant to leave india and return to the uk and pleaded with his father “not to send him to cambridge, even though he had already won his place. he didn’t want to tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. go back to england […] to spend more years of his life among all those cold, unfriendly fish” (2012: 35). there were days when he would sit alone in his room and weep in loneliness. but studying history proved fulfilling. in the academic year of 1967-8, king’s college offered among its special subjects in history one entitled “muhammad, the rise of islam and the early caliphate”. college regulations were such that a subject could not be cancelled even if there was only one student who wished to take it up. rushdie was this single student and, under the supervision of professor arthur hibbert, embarked on a journey of intellectual discovery and analytical study of the birth of islam and the life of the pro phet. after graduation he worked briefly in advertising as a freelance copy-writer. rushdie’s first novel, grimus, appeared in 1975 and did not impress either the critics or the reading public. the book’s bad reception “shook him profoundly” (2012: 51) and he had to fight off despair. spectacular success came with midnight’s children (1981), often considered rushdie’s masterpiece and “a landmark in late twentieth-century fiction” (bradford 2007: 195). the title of the novel refers to the birth of one thousand and one children endowed with magical properties, all born on the 15 th of august 1947, between midnight and one a.m., the first hour of indian independence. the subject matter of the book is india itself, its history and destiny. midnight’s children was showered with prizes. it won the james tait black memorial prize for fiction, an arts council writers’ award, the english-speaking union award, and, most importantly, the coveted booker prize in the year of its publication. in 1993, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the creation of the booker prize, it was judged to be “the booker of bookers”, the best novel among those which had ever been awarded the title. rushdie is a great erudite and a prolific author, a tireless exponent of the themes of migration and cultural hybridity, “a writer of prodigious if uneven talent who deserves his international reputation” (shakespeare 2012). especially praised for his contribution to the tradition of magic realism and the development of the postmodern novel, he merits recognition as an ingenious postcolonial story-teller who has not only become widely read but is also regularly assessed by academia. critical studies of his life and work – in the form of dissertations, articles and full-length books – can be counted in the hundreds. steeped in the cultural memory of the indian subcontinent and in european heritage, rushdie’s fiction takes inspiration from multiple sources: historical records, contemporary cinema, and popular culture, peopled by a rich and varied cast of characters. his “textual pyrotechnics and verbal exuberance” (procter 2009) have earned him admiration and high regard world-wide. bradbury (1989: 360) asserts that rushdie expanded the english language “with the narrative freedoms afforded by the myths, the folklore, and the storytelling rituals of the indian narrative tradition”. a number of rushdie’s uniquely brilliant metaphors have often been cited as examples of his linguistic inventiveness that has added a completely new flavour to the english language, as was the case with his “chutnification of history”. his best known novels bring together the miraculous and the mundane, the sacred and the profane, the lofty and the pedestrian, the east and the west, fact and fiction, mixing and co-mingling disparate elements. they include the ground beneath her feet (1999), fury (2001), shalimar the clown (2005) and the enchantress of florence (2008). rushdie has also published short stories and non-fiction: the jaguar smile: a nicaraguan journey (1987), imaginary homelands: essays and criticism 1981-1991, and step across this line: collected nonfiction 1992-2002, works that demonstrate his great argumentative skills and admirable intellectual discipline and control in handling the brevity and precision of the genre. engaging in a critical assessment of rushdie’s oeuvre invariably stimulates debate on literature as a medium of cultural memory. astrid erll (2009: 219-222) argues that the ‘cueing function’ of various works of artistic expression consists in their ability and power to recall the past and engender memories, both on the individual level of a particular reader and the tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. collective level of a group – a group that shares culture, nationality, ethnic or religious identity. although literature’s ‘cueing’ function does not require social agreement about the content of reflection, a similar reaction may ensue from the readers’ shared knowledge and cultural background. when rushdie (1992: 74) admits: “i have never been able to read kipling calmly”, it is a statement that challenges kipling’s view of india which was passed on to the british, a view predicated on the imperial ideology of the day. reading kipling, as edward said maintains, one is bound to encounter the “orientalized india of the imagination” (1994: 181), very different from the india which many indian readers may know or remember. it is precisely because of literature’s appeal on the level of collective memory of a group that particular texts, or their fragments, resonate differently with different readers. for example, in rushdie’s novel the ground beneath her feet, two short passages evoke the cultural memory of the poles. although their significance in the context of the story seems negligible, yet they may unsettle or even disturb. one fragment concerns the driver of the polish pope john paul ii when the pope was “plain cardinal woytyla” (2000: 502); the other uses the name of a polish actor in a description of an iconic movie scene presented as a real event. we read: apparently this driver had been with him for years, and when it was time to elect a new pope the two of them drove down from cracow in some little beat-up polish pollutionwagon […] the future pope and his workingman sidekick strikin’ out for glory. anyway, they get to the vatican, the driver waits and waits, the smoke goes up, habemus papam, and finally he hears the news, it’s his good buddy, his road pal, his boss. then a messenger comes to see him. drive the car back to cracow and then find yourself another job, says the messenger. your ass is fired (2000: 502). and earlier: a polish patriot, zbigniew cybulski, has been murdered in a back yard, amid sheets blowing from washing lines. blood spread across a white sheet held against his midriff. a battered tin mug that fell from his hand has become a symbol of resistance. no: it is a holy relic, worthy of worship. bow down. (2000: 322). it is only to those who have seen andrzej wajda’s film “ashes and diamonds” that the above excerpt rings with deception. even though the ground beneath her feet is “about the permeable borderline between the imaginary and the real worlds” (2012: 553), the easy use of proper names of real people, rather than dramatis personae, calls into question the ethical nature of such a literary contrivance. subjected to fantasy and speculation, recognizable men and women transform into characters as puppets in the author’s larger scheme. rushdie has often stressed the writer’s absolute freedom of expression and argued for recognition of the power of literature and its right to provoke. “artistic freedom had been the air he breathed” (2012: 196). “he had always written presuming that he had the right to write as he chose […] and knowing, too, that countries whose writers could not make such presumptions invariably slid towards, or had already arrived at, authoritarianism and tyranny” (2012: 117). in imaginary homelands he asks: “what is freedom of expression? without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist” (1992: 396). no other book has offended as profoundly as the satanic verses. no other book has been called an insult so often. no other book has touched the chord of muslim sensibilities so tragically. 2. the satanic verses: facts and opinions tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. before the satanic verses controversy, rushdie had already been condemned for his treatment of india and pakistan in midnight’s children (1981) and shame (1983), both texts having been deemed offensive: the former because of the thinly disguised and extremely negative portrayal of indira gandhi, the latter due to its harsh criticism of the pakistani ruling elite. the publication of the satanic verses in 1988 was the most immediate reason for the ayatollah khomeini’s fatwa, on the grounds that the novel was a blasphemy against islam. when today people recall the moment of the book’s appearance on the market and in the public consciousness, they often erroneously think of 1989. this common mistake made, for example, by melanie phillips (2008: 45), results from the assumption that british muslims ’ angry reaction to the book was immediate, sparked off directly by its release. this was not the case. the satanic verses was published in september 1988 and the first street protests, which took place in britain in december of the same year, did not arouse much interest. it was only in january 1989, when the novel was publicly burnt in bradford, that the british media started to give the issue extensive coverage. bradford, a large city in yorkshire (today inhabited by over 500,000 people), with a substantial muslim minority, is sometimes treated as a symbolic place. presently, according to the 2011 census statistics 1 , nearly a quarter of the population of bradford are muslim (24.7%). in the previous census of 2001 the figure stood at 16%, with a marked increase to over 25% in the group of 16 to 24-year-olds. the city has the highest concentration of pakistanis in the uk, a figure which rose over the period of 2001-2011 from 14.5% to 20.4%. sometimes called ‘the curry capital of britain’, bradford provides the location for a number of british feature films which engage with the presence of the uk’s south asians, notably udayan prasad’s “my son the fanatic”, based on hanif kureishi’s short story, and “east is east” – an adaptation of ayub khan-din’s drama. it is in the latter movie that the road sign ‘bradford’ becomes so meaningfully changed to ‘bradistan’, alluding to the importance of islam. in popular belief, the sheer concentration of muslims in bradford accounts for the city’s fame as a centre of islamic fanaticism, turning it into “a city in which ideas carry knives” (kureishi 1986: 165). in 1986, three years before the fatwa, hanif kureishi wrote an essay about bradford for the granta special issue of travel writing, claiming that it was in bradford that: [s]o many important issues, of race, culture, nationalism, and education, were evident in an extremely concentrated way […]. these were issues that related to the whole notion of what it was to be british and what that would mean in the future. bradford seemed to be a microcosm of a larger british society that was struggling to find a sense of itself, even if it was undergoing radical change (kureishi 1986: 149-150). today kureishi’s words sound prophetic. the 1989 anti-rushdie demonstrations in bradford started an avalanche. british muslims’ protests against the satanic verses were preceded by a strong negative reaction outside the uk, especially in india. prior to the novel’s publication, following a few interviews with the author and the inclusion of the book’s extracts in the 1 statistical data released by the office of national statistics, available on http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/rptethnicity.html#tab-ethnicity-across-the-english-regions-and-wales tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. indian press, a campaign for banning the novel started. what rushdie said to indian journalists at that time reveals his awareness of a possible problem. asked whether he feared a backlash from the mullahs, he answered: “even shame was attacked by fundamentalist muslims. i cannot censor. i write whatever there is to write” (quoted in jain 1988: 32); and later: “i guess some people might get upset because it [the satanic verses] is not reverent, but the point is it is a serious attempt to write about religion and revelation from the point of view of a secular person” (quoted in basu 1988: 33). both interviews appeared in the indian press in september 1988. a fortnight later, on the 5 th october, india “earned the dubious distinction […] of being the first country in the world to have banned the book” (mitta 2012). pakistan, bangladesh, sri lanka, south africa, syria, lebanon, kenya, brunei, thailand, tanzania, indonesia, and sudan followed suit. events came in quick succession. in the early days of february 1989, seven people were killed during demonstrations in pakistan and india, and on the 14 th of the same month the head of state of iran, ayatollah khomeini, called on muslims all over the world to execute the author of the blasphemous novel. rushdie was proclaimed guilty of apostasy and defamation. an iranian businessman offered a $3 million bounty for his head. khomeini’s edict reads: i inform all zealous muslims of the world that the author of the book entitled the satanic verses – which has been compiled, printed, and published in opposition to islam, the prophet, and the qur’an – and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, are sentenced to death. i call on all zealous muslims to execute them quickly, whenever they may be found, so that no one else will dare to insult the muslim sanctities. god willing, whoever is killed on this path is a martyr (quoted in pipes 2003: 27). the novel’s alleged anti-islamicism rests on several pillars. at the centre stands a story that some of the verses of the koran had been originally dictated to the prophet muhammad by satan (hence the term ‘satanic verses’), and later removed from the holy book. in joseph anton rushdie explains that among a number of historical sources which deal with the life of the prophet muhammad there are important and trustworthy biographical accounts, compiled by ibn ishaq, waquidi, ibn sa’d, bukhari and tabari, which refer to “the incident of the satanic verses” (2012: 43), and which constituted the basis of his novel. as argued in the essay “in good faith”, the described incident is “the quasi-historical tale of how muhammad’s revelation seemed briefly to flirt with the possibility of admitting three pagan and female deities into the pantheon” (rushdie 1992: 399). other contentious points include the fact that one of the protagonists, gibreel farishta, described in the novel as sex-obsessed and engaging in adultery, is believed to be a representation of archangel gabriel (“farishta” being an urdu word for “angel”). mecca, muslims’ most sacred city, is called “the city of jahlia”, which means “the city of ignorance”. the names of the prophet muhammad’s wives are taken by prostitutes in a brothel to arouse their clients. muhammad himself is referred to by the insulting name mahound, which was used by the crusaders in the middle ages, and presented as a businessman striking deals with god. additionally, the novel includes a dream sequence which is a thinly veiled portrayal of khomeini. equally important is the question of form. tariq modood (1992: 70) writes about “the passages which reduce islam to a sexual appetite: the vulgar language, the sexual imagery”, and the “cheap and offensive ways” of raising important ideas. in the opinion of muslims, the novel spreads lies about islam, is abusive in its treatment of the holy prophet, demeaning and degrading their faith. the antinovel multi-pronged campaign concerned accusations of an inaccurate portrayal of islam, the use of foul language, the author’s derisive attitude toward religion, the abusive nature of both content and form, the defamation of the koran, and staining the honour of muslims tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. worldwide. thus, rushdie was pronounced guilty of blasphemy and of committing libel against the community. although most protesting muslims have never read the book, they believe it to be an assault on the collective cultural identity of the whole umma. the satanic verses is a work of fiction alternating dream and reality, written in a comic tone and often classified as a carnivalesque novel. it concerns the issues of the immigrant experience, alienation, transformation, and cultural crisis. in the words of the author, “it is a migrant’s-eye view of the world [...] written from the very experience of uprooting, disjuncture and metamorphosis (slow or rapid, painful or pleasurable) that is the migrant condition” (rushdie 1992: 394). it is also “a work of radical dissent and questioning and reimagining” (rushdie 1992: 395). critics have called it “a late twentieth-century version of joyce’s ulysses, a dynamic leviathan that both bemoans and magnificently represents the state of humanity – a dream of lost faith mired in heartless consumerism” (bradford 2007: 197). interpretations and assessment differ, though. for pankaj mishra, the satanic verses “is less about the immigrant condition than a helplessly anglophilic indian’s profound ambivalence about a british ruling class that regards him as a wog” (mishra 2012). significantly, at the time of the publication rushdie did not consider himself a muslim. in his 1990 essay entitled “in good faith” we read: it feels bizarre, and wholly inappropriate, to be described as some sort of heretic after having lived my life as a secular, pluralist, eclectic man. i am being enveloped in, and described by, a language that does not fit me. i do not accept the charge of blasphemy, because, as somebody says in the satanic verses, ‘where there is no belief, there is no blasphemy.’ i do not accept the charge of apostasy, because i have never in my adult life affirmed any belief, and what one has not affirmed one cannot be said to have apostasized from (1992: 405). moreover, rushdie has always claimed that writing controversial texts is an author’s right or even a calling, perhaps a solemn duty. it is through novels that ‘newness’ can enter the world. it is through literature that dissent and rebellion can gain ground and inspire. it is through fiction that the boundaries and limitations of language and form get expanded and open up the universe. therefore, there should be no restrictions on the writer’s freedom in the choice of content and ways of presentation. rushdie’s belief in his ‘freedom to offend’ echoes in all his books. the above-quoted passages from the ground beneath her feet exemplify his non-discriminatory nature of ridicule. the satanic verses, besides the alleged slur on islam, contains a scathing critique of the uk in the decade of the 1980s, the time of margaret thatcher’s premiership, alluded to through the figure of mrs. torture. as procter (2009) claims, the book is “as critical of thatcherism as it is of islam, with both 1980s london and ancient jahilia/mecca becoming parallel universes associated with emergent cultures of intolerance and fundamentalism”. in the discussion that followed the satanic verses controversy and khomeini’s fatwa, various important issues were hotly debated and public opinion in britain became split. many literary luminaries unreservedly took rushdie ’s side arguing for freedom from censorship. in joseph anton, he gratefully acknowledges the support, help and friendship offered by harold pinter, ian mcewan, martin amis, edward said, nadine gordimer, vaclav havel, bono of u2, and many more. regrettably, the defence of the novel focused entirely on the issue of freedom of speech, not the book’s merit. what the author hoped for was a more particular vindication, like the quality defence made in the cases of other assaulted books, lady chatterley’s lover, ulysses, lolita; because this was a violent assault not on the novel in general or on free speech per se, but a particular accumulation of words […] and on the intentions tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. and integrity and ability of the writer who had put those words together (rushdie 2012: 115). this has never happened. many years after ‘the affair’, margaret drabble revealed in her review of joseph anton: i would have been more than happy to offer evidence in court for the literary merit of the satanic verses, a defence salman would have appreciated. like michael foot, i had greatly admired the novel, particularly the passages about thatcher’s subversive, divided multicultural london. but this defence was never required. and, in the long run, it wasn’t needed. rushdie’s work has rightly won worldwide recognition (drabble 2012). the public debate proved grossly disappointing also because it steered clear of some vital concerns of a more general character, namely the public role of religion and the nature of a modern multicultural society. as parekh notes, the discussion in the media “largely concentrated on the threat to rushdie’s life, and when it discussed muslim demands, it conceptualized the issue as one of conflict between freedom and fundamentalism, the former central to and the latter representing a mortal threat to the british way of life” (parekh 2000: 303). instead of engendering an informed rational polemic, it polarized society. although many british muslims disapproved of death-sentences for writers, very few dissociated themselves from fatwa. the rushdie affair boosted their assertiveness and self-awareness. after khomeini’s extraterritorial murder order, rushdie remained in hiding for over ten years, the blackest and the bleakest time in his life. as a constantly protected captive, he found a security which could not be extended to everybody involved in the publication of his novel. after the iranian leader’s death in june 1989, fatwa was not revoked and violent protests did not subside. the american center in islamabad was attacked, collet’s and dillons bookshops in london firebombed. rauwerda (2008: 431) writes that, in total, twentytwo people died “as a result of the novel’s publication”. professor hitoshi igarashi, the japanese translator of the satanic verses, was stabbed to death in 1991. the italian translator, dr ettore capriole, barely survived a similar attack. and a norwegian publisher, william nygaard, was shot three times and badly wounded. rushdie notes that “[h]e thought every day of william nygaard and his bullet holes, of ettore capriolo kicked and stabbed, of hitoshi igarashi dead in a pool of blood by a lift shaft” and that such attacks meant that literature itself “had been vilified, shot, kicked, knifed, killed and blamed at the same time” (2012: 428). whenever somebody asks rushdie whether he would still have written the satanic verses, knowing the tragic toll, he feels hurt about such “shifting the blame from the men of violence to the target of their attacks” (2012: 226), and constantly repeats that “the consequences of violence were the moral responsibility of those who committed the acts of violence; if people were killed, the fault lay with their killers, not with a faraway novelist ” (2012: 229). 3. joseph anton joseph anton is rushdie’s pseudonym used during the thirteen years of his sequestered life, a false name by which he would be known to the people around him, including the policemen who protected him. ‘joseph’ was taken from joseph conrad and ‘anton’ from anton chekhov, two writers whom rushdie holds in high esteem. the period between 1989 and 2002, during which he lived as joseph anton, was a time of frustration, agony over his lost freedom, psychological trauma from his life in captivity, and constant attempts to reclaim his tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. normal life. the book illustrates it very well. written in the third person, rushdie’s memoir painfully records his ordeal – repeatedly moving houses, negotiating with various officials and politicians, acute awareness of the danger to which his family was exposed (both in and outside britain), unrelenting threats and hate mail. it is a very long book. on over six hundred pages the reader often finds information and comments he/she would gladly do without – details of the author’s infidelities and the problems of his four marriages, quarrels with agents and publishers, squabbles over money, drunken parties with various celebrities. bringing up intimate particulars of the private lives of public figures – their diseases and medications, fits of anger, home addresses, even the look of their genitals – strikes the reader as both tactless and out of place. when in chapter four, entitled “the trap of wanting to be loved”, the author speaks of his yearning for understanding and acceptance, it seems deeply unfair that he himself so hastily denies such a wish to others. too many people will not love him for what he has written about them. the muslim leaders of bradford are called “the bradford clowns” (441), the writer roald dahl described as “a long unpleasant man with huge strangler’s hands” (101), and kalim siddiqui named “the malevolent gnome” (488). there is a graceless comment about the singer cat stevens (today, after his conversion, known as yusuf islam), who “bubbled up in the guardian like a fart in a bath” (436). fellow writers, journalists, and one ex-wife in particular receive very cruel treatment. the use of third person narration, meant as a distancing device between salman rushdie the writer and his alias – joseph anton – whom he became involuntarily, suggests an attempt at objectivity and reining back emotion. however, as noticed by wilson (2012), by adopting this technique the author puts himself beside julius caesar and general charles de gaulle. they too published memoirs in which they spoke of themselves as if of their devolved selves and may seem highly appropriate company for a person often accused of vanity, arrogance, and even self-canonization. but the divided identity revealed in the title is much more than a literary ploy. at moments it becomes an intolerable burden. there is a two-tier division between ‘joseph anton’ and ‘salman rushdie’, as well as between ‘salman’ and ‘rushdie’. the author notes: “the gulf between the private ‘salman’ he believed himself to be and the public ‘rushdie’ he barely recognized was growing” (2012: 131). and later: he was aware that the splitting in him was getting worse, the divide between what ‘rushdie’ needed to do and how ‘salman’ wanted to live. he was ‘joe’ to his protectors, an entity to be kept alive […] ‘rushdie’ was much hated and little loved. he was an effigy, an absence, something less than human. he – it – needed only to expiate (2012: 251-252). rushdie writes about ‘joe’ as his “hated pseudonym” (2012: 466) and ‘joseph anton’ as “a sort of fictional character” (2012: 165), “the person he both was and was not” (2012: 177). he remembers and salutes each small step which could take him “back towards his real life”, “[a]way from joseph anton, in the direction of his own name” (2012: 458), and writes how he wanted to detach himself “from the body of the man scuttling from vehicle to vehicle” (2012: 466). the day when joseph anton, an international publisher of american origin, died and salman rushdie, the novelist of indian origin, was re-born, would become one of the happiest and most celebrated moments of his life. there is also a revolting figure of ‘satan rushdy’, “the horned creature on the placards carried by demonstrators” (2012: 5),with a protruding red tongue, an effigy of himself as hanged, displayed by hostile cheering crowds in faraway cities. all major british newspapers published reviews of the book and the opinions of critics, as was to be predicted, vary greatly. wilson (2012) calls it “a most peculiar book” and “an artless ramble”, which unfolds “galumphingly” and “conveys a bewildering emptiness”. for nicholas shakespeare (2012), it is “awfully long, solipsistic and of necessity selfserving”, but also “funny, painfully moving and absolutely necessary to read”. mishra (2012) tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. asserts that the use of the third-person narration “frequently makes for awkward self-regard”. and the writer margaret drabble (2012) finds joseph anton full of both “telling trivia and profound insights”. admittedly, large sections of the book provide a candid and earnest account of a fugitive’s secret life, “with its cringings and crouchings, its skulkings and duckings” (2012: 241). particularly moving is a scene describing rushdie as a broken person re-embracing islam. on christmas eve 1990, the writer met a group of muslim leaders who demanded that he prove his sincerity. believing that his statement of faith might put an end to ‘the affair’, he signed a provided document. later, he would look on the event with horror and shame, bitterly regretting his action, believing that: “he should have turned his back then and gone home, away from degradation, back towards self-respect” (2012: 274). proclaiming shahadah, the first pillar of islam, was a lie. he had survived this long because he could put his hand on his heart and defend every word he had written or said. he had written seriously and with integrity and everything he had said about that had been the truth. now he had torn his tongue out of his own mouth, had denied himself the ability to use the language and ideas that were natural to him. until this moment he had been accused of a crime against the beliefs of others. now he accused himself, and found himself guilty, of having committed a crime against himself (2012: 276). considerable attention is devoted to the activities and help provided by article 19, the human rights organization set up in 1986, which promotes freedom from censorship, the name having been taken from article 19 of the international covenant on civil and political rights, which asserts the human right to freedom of opinion and expression. the organization started the rushdie defence campaign and proved instrumental in finding support and facilitating rushdie’s public appearances in many european countries as well as in the united states. thanks to the work of the members of article 19, those courageous, selfless and determined people who devoted their lives to a noble cause, rushdie could hope that his ordeal would come to an end. he acknowledges this with gratitude. however, most of the memoir, regrettably, lacks quiet and sober reflection. drowned in petty concerns, submerged in the details of the publishing business, overwhelmed by the mood of hurt dignity, it laboriously re-enacts meetings, conversations, and journeys, suffering from its author’s obvious need to make the public know ‘everything’, ‘the whole truth’. being a pawn in someone else’s game, feeling powerless and disenfranchised, having to accept that for every public appearance he needed official permission and security measures, injured his self-respect and bruised his honour. especially painful were various public pronouncements about his monumental egotism, megalomania and assertions that he was “a social irritant” (2012: 550), “a troublemaker [who] didn’t merit […] assistance”, “that he had done nothing of value in his life” (2012: 455). accusations that his special protection cost the british taxpayer huge sums of money also grieved him deeply. it is especially rushdie’s lack of forgiveness which creates the impression of smallmindedness and an ungenerous spirit, his holding a long-standing grudge against all those people who turned their backs on him in times of crisis, wrote unflattering reviews, or criticized his refusal to apologize. borrowing an idea from a grace nichols poem, one may re-title rushdie’s book as “he is a long-memoried man”, wishing at the same time that the author, like his mother, had been able to develop the technique of ‘forgettery’ which helped negin rushdie survive an unhappy marriage. it might have proved therapeutic again. a high point and much welcome diversion comes in the form of several enclosed letters. addressed to both real people and some fictional personae, they show rushdie’s wry humour and determination. in a missive addressed to robinson crusoe he asks: “suppose you tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. had four man fridays to keep you company, and they were all heavily armed. would you feel safer, or less safe?”(2012: 187, original italics). turning to bernie grant, the legendary black mp elected to parliament in the 1980s as one of four non-white politicians, rushdie expresses his disappointment when grant refused to support him and accuses the black leader of representing “the unacceptable face of multiculturalism, its deformation into an ideology of cultural relativism” (2012: 187, original italics), finishing his message on an ironic note: “to quote the great monochrome philosopher michael jackson, it don’t matter if you’re black or white” (2012: 187, original italics). unfortunately, such inclusions become badly counterbalanced by fragments of actual letters and statements which rushdie received in support, as in: “we should really be grateful to rushdie for having opened up the imaginary for muslims once again” and “the only truly free man today is salman rushdie […] he is the adam of a library to come: one of freedom” (2012: 410-411, original italics). all traces of humour suddenly leave the writer when the topic becomes his historical role and his selfimage. in such instances he seems incapable of detachment. the book also suffers from redundancy and too heavy a reliance on the author’s journal. to rushdie’s readers, many passages echo his earlier statements, interviews, and essays too closely, incidentally giving the impression of calculated manipulation. for example, the memory of princess diana’s death elicits a comment: “[a]s she died, the last thing she saw would have been phallic snouts of the cameras coming towards her through the smashed car windows, clicking, clicking. he was asked to write something for the new yorker about the event and he sent them something of this nature” (2012: 520). the original text appeared in the american magazine on 15 th september 1997. rushdie compared the circumstances of princess diana’s death to j. g. ballard’s novel crash and david cronenberg’s subsequent film adaptation. both the tragic accident in paris which killed the princess of wales and cronenberg’s movie are for rushdie “a cocktail of death and desire” and he writes: “the object of desire, in the moment of her death, sees the phallic lenses advancing upon her, snapping, snapping. think of it this way, and the pornography of diana spencer’s death becomes apparent. she died in a sublimated sexual assault” (rushdie 1997). the remark in joseph anton about ‘something of this nature’ seems an understatement. the reason why rushdie mentions his new yorker article at all is not so much a wish to modify or rephrase his original crass formulations, or to mellow the tone, but to complain about the response of the british press. the media’s reaction to his text takes priority over the event itself. joseph anton: a memoir deals with the tragic period between 1989 and 2002 when salman rushdie was forced by circumstances to leave the limelight and had to lead the secluded life of a hunted person. the book was published in 2012, a full decade after the official information released by the intelligence services that the threat level had been drastically reduced and the protection no longer necessary. technically, rushdie had stopped hiding several years earlier when he moved to the us. the years 2002 – 2012 are not covered in the book, although sporadically there are some references to the events after 2002, for example the death of robin cook, the foreign secretary in tony blair ’s government, and the failure of rushdie’s last marriage to padma lakshmi, which ended in divorce in 2007. one might have hoped that the considerable lapse of time which passed between the announcement of fatwa and the moment of the publication of joseph anton would encourage some critical reflection and careful reconsideration, that the sheer passage of time would create a new perspective, and that the occasion of speaking through a memoir would provide a chance for telling the audience something really important. especially so, because, as rushdie rightly points out, during the furore that accompanied the publication of the satanic verses “his voice had been too small to be heard above all the other voices bellowing from every corner of the globe, above the howling winds of bigotry and history” (2012: 227). contrary to tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. the reader’s expectations and disappointingly so, the potential of a memoir does not get fully exploited and the author fails to uncover any new dimension of the old battle which he was always fighting, the battle between secularism and religion, or shed some new light on debates of long-standing. the predominant tone of joseph anton is that of grave injustice, the focus – on the writer’s singular individual plight and the evil of others. not for a moment can the reader wonder who the good and who the bad guys are. the division into ‘our’ camp (rushdie and the people who helped or expressed support) and the ‘enemy’ camp (fundamentalists as well as writers, politicians and other public figures who argued against the satanic verses, or, generally speaking, all his adversaries) seems very straightforward, the dividing line clearly drawn. however, the us/them dichotomy, although always present, momentarily makes room for a more inclusive, though hugely imprecise, ‘we’. rushdie states: the fundamentalist believes that we believe in nothing. in his world, he has his absolute certainties, while we are sunk in sybaritic indulgences. to prove him wrong, we must first know that he is wrong. we must agree on what matters: kissing in public places, bacon sandwiches, disagreement, cutting-edge fashion, literature, generosity, water, a more equitable distribution of the world’s resources, films, music, freedom of thought, beauty, love. these will be our weapons. not by making war, but by the unafraid way we choose to live shall we defeat them. how to defeat terrorism? don’t be terrorized. don’t let fear rule your life. even if you are scared (2012: 624). the category ‘we’ pitted against ‘the fundamentalist’ and ‘the terrorist’ seems to envelop the neo-liberal western world with its values and personal freedom, affirming the collective identity of the enlightened ones. but the mood and style of the passage seem to carry undertones of superiority. and no allowances are made for the fact that on both sides of the divide there might be some shared experience and thought. joseph anton gives hope, though. towards the end of his memoir rushdie writes: this in the end was who he was, a teller of tales, a creator of shapes, a maker of things that were not. it would be wise to withdraw from the world of commentary and polemic and re-dedicate himself to what he loved most, the art that had claimed his heart, mind and spirit ever since he was a young man, and to live again in the universe of once upon a time […] and to make the journey to the truth upon the waters of make-believe (2012: 629-630). nothing would please rushdie’s readers more than his withdrawal from the world of polemic and his return to the world of fiction. joseph anton’s generic classification and disciplinary belonging is revealed in the second part of its title. being a memoir, it can be approached as an act of self-representation rooted in a social context, and also “a tool for re-writing reality” (buss 2002: xxii). unlike autobiography, considered to be “the writing of one’s own history” (oed 1991, vol. i: 801), and traditionally concerning a whole life, often becoming a way to chronicle various achievements and accomplishments, memoir tends to focus on “one moment or period of experience rather than on entire life span” (smith and watson 2010: 3), “a single theme or emotional arc” (larson 2007: 17), creating “a chamber-sized scoring of one part of the past” (larson 2007: 19). hart asserts that although memoirs are “of a person”, “they are ‘really’ of an event” (in buss 2002: xi). in the case of joseph anton, this event is the rushdie affair, the claim justified by the book’s title and its time bracket. thus, we can read rushdie’s memoir as his intended contribution to the debate on the satanic verses and a chance to reveal a new self. being “a mix of the personal with the contextual” (adams in buss 2002: 1), memoir is tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. expected by its readers to offer “an author as guide, an informant whose presence lends a unique perspective to the historical moment or event” (adams in buss 2002: 1). memoirs always give primacy to the viewpoint of the narrator and do not purport to be impartial, but they also demonstrate how their author/narrator relates to their community and the world, and how the self-reflexivity of the writing process gives strength to remembering and recollecting. the writing persona changes, repossessing the past and revisioning the selected historical moment, while the provided account is meant to bear witness to inner transformations, as well as serving as testimony to socio-political developments. life-writing involves narrating the past “in such a way as to situate the experiential history within the present” (smith and watson 2010: 22). but the present which emerges from joseph anton lacks new knowledge and fails to reveal the world beyond the personal. 4. concluding remarks looking back on the events following the publication of the satanic verses from today’s perspective, we may argue that although the controversy over rushdie’s novel had serious social and political repercussions, the debate which it engendered did not lead to any deep and long-lasting soul-searching. twenty-four years on, we find the world polarized and antagonistic on the same issues that divided public opinion in 1989. although the present-day power of the internet with its easy access to information creates a situation when banning or censoring news proves difficult, it is still paramount to consider whether there should be limits to artistic provocation and who has the ultimate decision on the publication of any material deemed to be of an offensive nature. if the rushdie affair teaches us anything, it shows the fragility of intellectual discussion and the strong possibility of unprecedented and damaging fallout as a consequence of a literary event. a book, not addressed to the average reader, written in english and published in the west, and mostly known through hearsay, mobilized masses. its author, who valued freedom over fame, paid a very high price for his decisions, losing what he cherished most. his memoir reveals his suffering but it does not offer a voice strong enough to be heard “above the howling wind of history”. references: basu, shrabani. 1988. interview with salman rushdie. in: lisa appignanesi and sara maitland (eds.). 1990 [1989]. the rushdie file. 32-33. syracuse, n.y.: syracuse university press. bradbury, malcolm. 1989 [1987]. no, not bloomsbury. london: arena. bradford, richard. 2007. the novel now. contemporary british fiction. oxford: blackwell publishing. buss, helen m. 2002. repossessing the world: reading memoirs by contemporary women. toronto: wilfrid laurier univeristy press. drabble, margaret. 2012. joseph anton by salman rushdie – review, observer, 23 sept. 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/sep/23/joseph-anton-salman-rushdie-review (12 feb. 2013). erll, astrid. 2009. literatura jako medium pamięci zbiorowej [trans. magdalena saryuszwolska]. in: magdalena saryusz-wolska (ed.) pamięć zbiorowa i kulturowa. współczesna perspektywa niemiecka. 211-247. kraków: universitas. jain, madhu. 1988. my theme is fanaticism. interviews with salman rushdie. in: lisa appignanesi and sara maitland (eds.). 1990 [1989]. the rushdie file. 30-32. syracuse, n.y.: syracuse university press. tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. larson, thomas. 2007. the memoir and the memoirst. ohio: swallow press/ohio university press. mishra, pankaj. 2012. joseph anton by salman rushdie – review. guardian, 18 sep. 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/sep/18/joseph-anton-salman-rushdiereview?intcmp=srch (19 feb. 2013). mitta, manoj. 2012. reading ‘satanic verses’ legal. times of india. 25 jan. 2012. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-25/india/30662344_1_import-banbook-satanic-verses (17 feb. 2013). modood, tariq. 1992. not easy being british:colour, culture and the citizenship. runnemede trust and trentham books. office of national statistics. http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/keystatistics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/rpt-ethnicity.html#tab-ethnicityacross-the-english-regions-and-wales. oxford english dictionary, second edition. 1991. oxford: clarendon press. parekh, bhikhu. 2000. rethinking multiculturalism. houndmills: palgrave. pipes, daniel. 2003. the rushdie affair: the novel, the ayatollah and the west. second edition. new brunswick: transaction publishers. phillips, melanie. 2008. londonistan. how britain has created a terror state within, updated and revised new edition. london: gibson square. procter, j. 2009. salman rushdie: critical perspective. literature matters. http://literature.brit ishcouncil.org/salman-rushdie (17 feb. 2013). rauwerda, antje m. 2008. rushdie affair. in: prem poddar and david johnson (eds.) a historical companion to postcolonial literatures in english, 431-432. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. rushdie, salman. 1992. imaginary homelands. london: granta books. ——. 1997. reflections: crash. new yorker, 15 sept. 1997. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1997/09/15/1997_09_15_068_tny_cards_000379701 (24 feb. 2012). ——. 2000 [1999]. the ground beneath her feet. london: vintage. ——. 2012. joseph anton. london: jonathan cape. said, edward. 1994 [1993]. culture and imperialism. london: vintage. shakespeare, nicholas. 2012. joseph anton by salman rushdie: a review. daily telegraph. 20 sep. 2012. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/9555430/josephanton-by-salman-rushdie-review.html (13 feb. 2013). smith, sidonie and julia watson. 2010. reading autobiography. a guide for interpreting life narratives. second edition. minneapolis: university of minnesota press. wilson, a. n. 2012. joseph anton by salman rushdie: review. telegraph, 21 sep. 2012. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/biographyandmemoirreviews/9558297/josephanton-by-salman-rushdie-review.html (12 feb. 2012). tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. 1 anna wing bo tso the open university of hong kong transgressing the gender borders: the subversive re-inscription of eve in philip pullman’s his dark materials introduction philip pullman’s his dark materials (1995 2000), an award-winning fantasy trilogy, is prominent among recent children’s literature in the u.k. and the u.s. one of the most intriguing features of pullman’s series is its brave reinvention of gender representation. in his dark materials conventional gender roles are denaturalized and overthrown. eve, the stereotypical female figure, is taken apart from the holy bible, re-inscribed and reassembled to form a fresh and subversive ideological configuration. pullman’s rewriting of eve has, in many ways, transgressed traditional gender boundaries, implicating new possibilities in gender representation. with the aim of raising gender awareness, in this article i will compare the parallel yet drastically different biblical pre-text and re-version, showing how gender borders are transgressed and female stereotypes re-written, reinterpreted and re-invented in pullman’s trilogy. first of all, the source which pullman based his series on, i.e. the representation of eve in genesis, will be examined. a discussion of gender stereotypes arising from the eden myth will also be looked into. from themes such as adam and eve in eden before the fall of man, to what happens in the fall and the consequences of the fall, i will discuss how pullman subverts the myth of the fall in the holy bible and introduces a new gender configuration through lyra belacqua, the new eve in his dark materials. the representation of lyra, or the subversive re-inscription of eve according to sakenfeld (1985) one of the emphases of contemporary christian feminists is to counteract famous biblical texts used against women, which include: …the themes that woman was created second (genesis 2) and sinned first (genesis 3 and the reinforcement of this view in 1 tim. 2:13-14); that women must keep silent in church (1 cor. 14:1 tim. 2); and that they should be submissive to their husbands (ephesians 5) (sakenfeld 1985: 57). having recognized “explicit patriarchal bias” (sakenfeld 1985: 56), as well as the “more subtle androcentrism in the worldview of the biblical authors” (sakenfeld 1985: 56), christian feminists try their best to reinterpret some of these texts and suggest “fresh interpretations that are not so negative toward women” (sakenfeld 1985: 57). to a certain extent pullman’s his dark materials shares a similar focus with the christian feminists. it acts as a critique of patriarchy, counteracting the biblical texts used against women. yet, rather than suggesting “fresh interpretations that are not so negative toward women” (sakenfeld 1985: 57), pullman rewrites the eden story and subverts conventional gender roles propagated in genesis. one of the crucial themes of pullman’s his dark materials is that “lyra [the female protagonist] is to become the new eve” (hodgson 2005: 151) and then “the saviour of the world” (gray 2009: 181). indeed, from the beginning to the end of the trilogy the protagonist plays the role of a heroine. she goes on an adventurous journey when she rescues her friend roger from the gobblers (the evil childsnatchers), destroys bolvangar (a human experiment station), saves the kidnapped children, helps iorek byrnison, the exiled successor to regain his throne, restores the dust (life force), 2 and begins to build a ‘republic of heaven’ at the end of the story. however, as nikolajeva (2003) points out, pullman’s lyra is not a kind of romantic hero, like harry potter, who is morally pure and innocent. she is morally flawed, and there is ambiguity in her character. nikolajeva (2003) explains that the “dubious moral qualities” are due to “the postmodern concept of indeterminacy, of the relativity of good and evil” (136 137), which makes lyra more human-like. the young protagonist may be undetermined and morally flawed, but my main concerns are with the manipulation and transformation of the archetype of eve. how does pullman manage to transgress the conventional gender borders and break the negative perception of women as suggested in the holy bible and many subsequent christian representations? while the female protagonist does not have to be perfect, how does the retelling of the myth of the fall successfully introduce signs of the subversion of the traditional gender roles and stereotypes? in the following section, i will compare the creation story in the biblical text and pullman’s re-version, with a special focus on gender border transgression and subversion. before the fall: ‘adam and eve’ becomes ‘eve and her helper’ as numerous feminist critics have noticed, the discourse of the bible is almost totally patriarchal (milne 1997). the grand narrative in the book of genesis introduces a binary opposition of male and female that is overwhelmingly sexist, if not misogynistic. here, i will present the patriarchal ideology implied in the eden myth. first, at the beginning of the garden myth, god, yahweh, creates the whole world for adam, the man. woman is created later. as trible (1978) notes, first means superior and later means inferior or subordinate. similar to other gender pairs, such as man and woman, male and female, he and she, husband and wife, boys and girls, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, etc., the ordering of adameve reflects a sexist basis. it implies that adam is primary and normative, whereas eve is an adjunct, less important, perhaps even deviant. more noticeably, the woman is created for the sake of the man. the male god creates a woman only because adam cannot find a “suitable helper” (genesis 2:20). she is a helpmate to cure man’s loneliness. such male-centredness becomes more apparent when it is described that eve, the first woman, is only a derivative made from adam’s rib, whereas adam is made from the breath of god. because of the deficiency, women are also said to be initially flawed in their creation. in malleus maleficarum (1486) 1 it is said that: it should be noted that there was a defect in the formation of the first woman, since she was formed from a bent rib, that is, a rib of the breast, which is bent as it were in a contrary direction to a man (cited in norris 1998: 327). although the book was disowned by the church, and the claim of the bent rib and the initial flaw is now considered a heresy, the notion of woman being taken out of the man still deprives women of an autonomous existence (abraham 2002). this male-biased view is also in line with aristotle’s infamous view on women, which contributes to the notion that women are deformed, incomplete, unfinished men. seeing eve as a derivative in his possession, adam has the power to name her after him, “this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my 1 the malleus maleficarum (1486), or the “hammer of the witches” in english, written by a german catholic clergyman called heinrich kramer, is a medieval text of sheer superstition and misogyny. yet in the 15 th century this infamous witch-hunt manual was taken seriously as “a guide for civil and ecclesiastical authorities to the successful detection and prosecution of witches” (broedel 2003: 4). 3 flesh; she shall be called ‘woman’ 2 , for she was taken out of man” (genesis 2:23). later on, he also gives her a name – ‘eve’, meaning “the mother of all living” (genesis 3:20). with the name, she is assigned the traditional sex-role by adam. in his dark materials, however, such male-centeredness does not occur. as eve, lyra belacqua is never portrayed as inferior or subordinate. firstly, instead of being the last to be mentioned, lyra and her daemon are the first to appear in the first book. then, as the story develops, it becomes increasingly apparent to the readers that the trilogy is not about adam, but lyra, the new eve, and her adventurous journey. the whole plot of northern lights (1995) revolves around lyra, with her being the most important and significant protagonist of the series. through different characters, pullman highlights the importance of lyra and her role as the new eve. in northern lights (1995), for instance, serafina the witch foretells how and why lyra matters so much to them and their worlds: there is a curious prophecy about this child: she is destined to bring about the end of destiny. but she must do so without knowing what she is doing, as if it were her nature and not her destiny to do it. if she’s told what she must do, it will all fail; death will sweep through all the worlds; it will be the triumph of despair, for ever (1995: 310). apparently, the new eve and the importance of her free will are addressed as primal concerns. then, in the subtle knife (1997), lena feldt, the witch, emphasizes the notion of lyra-as-eve again. it is prophesized that lyra “will be the mother – she will be life – mother – she will disobey” (328). lyra is named “eve! mother of all! eve, again! mother eve!” (1997: 328). in the amber spyglass (2000), the final episode, fra pavel, the representative and alethiometrist of the consistorial court of discipline, also emphasizes that lyra is the new eve: the child…is in the position of eve, the wife of adam, the mother of us all, and the cause of all sin…if it comes about that the child is tempted, as eve was, then she is likely to fall (2000: 71). the new eve is described as the sole person who makes the decision of going against the evil church, rescuing kidnapped children, and tricking the powerful ice bear king. interestingly, while eve becomes the centre of attention, adam, or the idea of will parry as the ‘father of all’, is hardly mentioned in the books. as the male protagonist will only joins lyra in the second book, the subtle knife (1997), after lyra has experienced a lot of dangerous adventures on her own. reversing the conventional heroic quest pattern will plays the secondary role of being an assistant, bodyguard and companion of lyra, the heroine. as lyra’s assistant will plays the atypical role of a domestic helper. he does the cooking, cleans the working surfaces in the kitchen, washes the floor, empties the rubbish into the bin, and teaches lyra how to do domestic work and take good care of herself. in the second episode will makes an omelette for lyra, who has not had a proper meal for days because she thinks only “servants do the cooking” (1997: 24). he also shows lyra how to open a tin with a can-opener. after supper he asks lyra to wash the dishes and tidy up. when lyra refuses to do so, like a mother he nags her about her responsibility of taking care of the place: we’ve got to eat, so we’ll eat what’s here, but we’ll tidy up afterwards and keep the place clean, because we ought to. you wash these dishes. we’ve got to treat this place right (28). 2 the derivation occurs in the most common bible translations in english, including the king james version. however, the derivation cannot be shown in other languages such as chinese. 4 yet lyra does not belong to the domestic sphere. she has no experience in doing the washing up. she does not know that to clean oily cooking utensils washing-up liquid is needed. she only manages to complete the task by trial and error. besides domestic chores will also teaches lyra the need to take care of herself. lyra, who is boyish and unkempt, is spoiled and indulged. she does not know how to wash her hair properly. body care and hairstyling are done by her servant, and she never needs to do it herself, she explains. seeing that lyra has not washed herself for days, will plays the part of a nurturer. he patiently reminds lyra to take care of her personal hygiene, “…the first thing is you better wash yourself. you need to look clean…go and wash your hair for a start. there’s some shampoo in the bathroom” (64). compared to lyra, who is incompetent in handling domestic chores, will is definitely a keener housekeeper and carer. the ideological notion of women being ‘the angel of the house’ is broken, satirized and inverted. readers are shown that the domestic sphere, a sphere that is often thought to be “more of less defined by the predominance in it of biological reproduction and motherhood, of emotional ties and kin relations” (lechte 2001: 194) is not necessarily the exclusive province of women. a male, like will, can be more nurturing than a female. the female has to learn how to take care of the household and hygiene from the male instead. likewise, a female, like lyra, can be more powerful, successful and influential than any male in the public sphere. gender roles are not ordained by nature. the association between women and the private, domestic sphere is only a myth. in brief, lyra, the new eve in pullman’s re-version, turns the gender stereotypes of the biblical text upside down. in genesis adam was the first human created by god. he was also the first human character mentioned in the text; on the contrary, in pullman’s trilogy the new eve is the first and foremost character to be introduced to the readers. in the holy bible eve is the derivative, subordinate other who is tied to her natural passions and desires; now, in pullman’s version, she demonstrates that she is a person who strives for reason, justice, autonomy and freedom. better still, the new eve is no longer the “suitable helper” (genesis 2:20) of man. in pullman’s rewriting, she transgresses traditional gender borders and becomes the most significant protagonist. in the next section i will discuss how pullman’s rewriting allows eve to be transformed from an immoral, faithless ensnarer into a courageous follower of knowledge and truth. in the fall: sin and shame glorified in the story of the garden of eden eve is linked to moral weakness (mckenzie, 1954). both adam and eve are well-informed of god’s command, namely “you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die” (genesis 3: 3). the crafty serpent picks the “weaker person” (foh 1999: 393). enticed by the serpent, eve takes the forbidden fruit, eats it and disobeys god. afterwards, she “usurp[s] her husband’s place by leading him into sin”. she “entice[s] or seduce[s] adam into sin” (ibid), causing the wrath of god and finally the fall of man. the impact of this negative portrayal of eve has been so deep and powerful that over the millennia, according to daly (1973), eve has been continually considered as the universal woman and as the incarnation of evil. the instructions on worship in 1 timothy 2: 11 – 14 is a good example that illustrates the blaming of eve and all women: a woman should learn in quietness and full submission. i do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. for adam was formed 5 first, then eve. and adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. trible (1999) comments that “the women’s liberation movement is hostile to the bible” and feminists “read to reject” (431). from a critical perspective, however, the notions of male supremacy and female subordination legitimated before the fall, as well as the negative portrayal of the female in the fall, do need to be re-read and rewritten. based on the pre-text, pullman rewrites the fall and unfixes the gender role demarcation. in his dark materials god, the creator, is not mentioned. instead, a false, self-proclaimed deity is introduced. the trilogy makes it clear that the false deity did not create the world and everyone. he is merely the oldest among all conscious beings. in chapter 2 of the amber spyglass (2000) balthamos the angel explains: the authority, god, the creator, the lord, yahweh, el, adonai, the king, the father, the almighty – those were all names he gave himself. he was never the creator. he was an angel like ourselves…he told those who came after him that he had created them, but it was a lie (33). like a dictator the oldest angel demands that all others worship and obey him as the “authority”. the fall, in this light, is interpreted as a chance to overthrow a false deity. also, eve’s personal consciousness, free will, desire for knowledge, truth, and justice, as well as her disobedience to her parents and the church are not punished, but celebrated. readers are invited to witness lyra’s growth and maturation. she continues to grow into a wiser, stronger, and better person. for instance, at the beginning of the first book, northern lights (1995), lyra is simple-minded and she tends to pass judgment on people just by looking at their physical appearances. she regards female scholars with disdain because they look dull and unattractive. she thinks that those women are “poor things” (67) who “could not be taken more seriously than animals dressed up and acting a play” (ibid). she goes so far as to describe the female scholars as “dowdy” (71) and says they “smelt of cabbage and mothballs” (ibid). contrastively, she looks up to, and thinks highly of, mrs coulter, just because the woman looks beautiful and classy. as the trilogy unfolds, however, lyra learns from her experience, gradually becoming more mature in her reasoning. shocked by the fact that mrs coulter is in charge of the horrible guillotine for children and their daemons (souls), lyra realizes that mrs coulter is a “wicked liar” (285). she reflects on her own superficiality and wonders how she could be so blind as to find “this woman… so fascinating and clever” (286). lyra’s level of moral reasoning also escalates at a dramatic speed as the story develops. according to lawrence kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning development (1981, 1984), a person will normally go through three different levels of moral reasoning before s/he becomes fully mature in his / her cognitive moral development. first of all, a person will enter “the preconventional level” (jarvis et al 2003: 35). at this level reasoning is based on the consequences of his / her actions. like a child, a typical preconventional moral reasoner will only stick to rules to avoid punishment. although s/he may be aware of other people’s interests, his / her primary concern is always his / her personal needs and interests. then, as the person continues to grow in his / her cognitive moral development, s/he will reach “the conventional level” (ibid). at this level, laws, social norms and the expectations of others are taken into account. to a person at this level what is ‘good’ and ‘right’ means what pleases and is approved of by others, especially authority figures. finally, at the highest level, i.e. “the 6 postconventional level” (ibid), reasoning is a matter of individual conscience and personal principles, which are not defined by laws or social norms. people operating at this moral level realize that judgments are based on abstract concepts such as justice, equality, human dignity, etc. it is understood that there are universal ethical principles which all societies should agree to. to postconventional moral reasoners the highest value should be placed on universal ethical principles. even when they are in conflict with laws or any authority figures worshipped by the majority, one should still stick to one’s conscience and ethical pr inciples, stand up for the greater good, and fight for the welfare of all. with regard to kohlberg’s ideas of moral reasoning, at the start of the series lyra, like all children, only shows the most primitive form of morality: she is self-centered and egocentric. she does whatever she finds to be fun, and is only obedient so that she can avoid being punished. she is not concerned about how her actions affect others (dolgin 2005: 75). for instance, lyra plays a trick on some dead scholars by switching around the daemoncoins in the dead scholars’ skulls. the daemon-coins “shows its owner’s lifetime companion” (1995: 50) and it is improper to disturb the tombs and coffins of the dead just for fun. pantalaimon, her daemon, is upset by her tricks. he becomes so agitated that he flies up and down, utters shrill cries, and flaps his wings in her face. still, lyra takes no notice. she merely restores the daemon-coins to their rightful places and says sorry to the skulls when the angry ghosts of the dead scholars haunt her at night. simply put, this corresponds to kohlberg’s preconventional level (dolgin 2005). interestingly, as lyra grows older and gets over the primitive stage, she apparently skips the next level, i.e. the conventional moral reasoning level, entirely and leaps into the final, highest level: postconventional moral reasoning. the headstrong protagonist does not care about what others think of her. she remains indifferent to others’ expectations. both she and pan would feel disgusted if she had to pretend to be a “universal pet” that is always polite, “light-hearted and charming” (1995: 88). she does not desire other people’s approval for her actions, either. nor is she concerned with following conventional rules. the advice and warnings of authority figures such as her parents and the church have no effect on her. she only follows the truth, i.e. what she reads from the golden compass. she does what she believes is right, even when it contradictory and puts her life at risk. in short, the moral weakness of eve is replaced by the adolescent maturational change and cognitive moral development of lyra. her constant urge for selfreinvention and improvement has gained her glory, victory, friendship, respect and honour. pullman’s re-version empowers the female protagonist with the strength to resist hierarchical power, but it was considered by some as promoting atheist messages. on 9 th october, 2007 a u.s.-based catholic league criticized pullman for his attempt to “denigrate christianity” and promote “atheism for kids” (catholic league 2007). they then called for a boycott campaign of the movie version. similarly, shortly after the release of the movie, an editorial was published in the vatican newspaper l'osservatore romano, in which the movie adaptation was denounced as godless and the “most anti-christmas film possible” (owen 16 january 2008, times online). irrespective of whether the books contain elements of anti-catholicism, most of the critics, although having different positions on the issue, agree that the representation of the new eve signifies a completely different set of gender ideologies. in the biblical version eve is portrayed as weak in mind, unreliable, untrustworthy, faithless, greedy and insatiable. she 7 eats the forbidden fruit because she is tempted and deceived. at the time she picks the fruit she knows very well that she is sinning against god. still, to obtain knowledge, she “t[akes] some and [eats] it” (genesis 3: 6). yet, in his dark materials, the story does not start with greed, temptation or deception. at the beginning lyra knows nothing about ‘the knowledge of good and evil’, the forbidden fruit, or the authority’s commandment. she starts her dangerous and toilsome journey to the icy wasteland only because she vows to rescue her missing best friend, roger, as well as other kidnapped children. to save others lyra selflessly risks her own life. in chapter 16 of the northern lights lyra almost has her daemon (her soul) removed by a silver guillotine when undergoing the mission of saving children from the gobblers. similarly, to find roger and set the dead free, lyra risks pan’s life, her dearest daemon’s life. in chapter 21 of the amber spyglass lyra needs to go into the land of the dead to find roger. she is warned that to do so she will have to separate from her soul, “your daemon vanishes into the air, and you vanish under the ground” (2000: 282). nonetheless, lyra sets her mind to do “what’s proper” (281): …i feel sad and wicked and sorry about my friend roger…it’s a torment and sorrow to me that i never said goodbye to my friend roger, and i want to say sorry and make it as good as i can…if i have to die to do what’s proper, then i will, and be happy while i do. (280 281) to find roger, lyra separates from her “heart’s companion” (296) and continues her journey to the land of the dead. pullman describes in detail how lyra suffers the heart -tearing agony and anguish of leaving pan: will could hardly watch. lyra was doing the cruelest thing she had ever done, hating herself, hating the deed, suffering for pan and with pan and because of pan, trying to put him down on the cold path, disengaging his cat-claws from her clothes, weeping, weeping. will closed his ears: the sound was too unhappy to hear. time after time she pushed her daemon away, and still he cried and tried to cling (298). in an interview with the sydney morning herald pullman said that his “books are about killing god” (2003). intriguingly, in the scene mentioned above, lyra, the new eve, becomes a christ-like figure who beautifully reaffirms christian virtues such as love, courage and selfsacrifice. in favour of truth and rightness she suffers great pain to bring hope, freedom and happiness to others. will witnesses the whole ordeal. unlike adam in the biblical text, who hides when trouble comes, will admires lyra for her courage, stands by her and feels the pain with her, “he admired her honesty and her courage at the same time as he was wretched with the shock of their [lyra and pan’s] parting” (298). apart from manifesting christ-like virtues lyra also subverts the negative perception of eve as “the first temptress”, “a liar in nature” and “responsible for the widespread female tendency to dupe and lie” (norris 1998: 327). in chapter 23 of the amber spyglass lyra saves the ghosts in the land of the dead and makes friends with the harpies by telling the truth. she nourishes the ghosts and harpies, and brings them hope and joy with true stories of her life and true things about the world. it is the truth, not lies and fantasies that empowers lyra. when she speaks the truth the audience listens with passion: 8 as well as the ghosts, silent all around, and her companions, close and living, there was another audience too; because the branches of the tree were clustered with those dark bird-forms, their women’s faces gazing down at her, solemn and spellbound (331). the harpies stop their mocking and attacks on hearing the truth from lyra. in exchange for lyra’s story they “take the travellers and their knife to a part of the land of the dead where the upper world was close” (334). the bird-forms are also willing to make a treaty with the ghosts – when the ghosts tell them the true stories of the world, the harpies will guide them faithfully “from the landing-place by the lake all the way through the land of the dead to the new opening out into the world” (334). deception, temptation and betrayal do not occur at the critical moment of the fall either. firstly, lyra is neither tempted nor deceived. the so-called encounter with the serpent is just a sharing with mary malone, the physicist and former nun who talks about her true feelings of love and how she left the church. as mary shares her thoughts she addresses both lyra and will. in other words, mary, who is supposed to be the serpent in the re-version, treats both protagonists as equals. she does not pick and persuade the one with a ‘weaker mind’. then, at the moment when lyra and will ‘taste the forbidden fruit’, both of them are described as ignorant of their roles as eve and adam. they are not torn between the options of obeying god and obtaining the knowledge of good and evil, as adam and eve are in genesis. the eden story in pullman’s text is not about the human misuse of moral freedom and inherited guilt. instead, it is about coming of age and the awakening of sexuality. as shown in the excerpt below, the protagonists fall in love and enjoy the moment as all lovers do: then lyra took one of those little red fruits. with a fast-beating heart, she turned to him and said, “will...” and she lifted the fruit gently to his mouth. she could see from his eyes that he knew at once what she meant, and that he was too joyful to speak. her fingers were still at his lips, and he felt them tremble, and he put his own hand up to hold hers there, and then neither of them could look; they were confused; they were brimming with happiness. ...their lips touched. then before they knew how it happened, they were clinging together, blindly pressing their faces towards each other (2000: 491 492). lyra does not play the role of a deceitful, alluring seductress in pullman’s work. there are no tricks, plans or stratagems set beforehand. it just happens that the two teenagers fall in love and experience love for the first time. the love, passion and attraction between the lovers are real, sincere, natural and mutual. critics such as russell (2005) suggest that pullman’s trilogy may have borrowed the notions of gnostic christianity, where the serpent in the book of genesis is worshipped as the bestower of knowledge, and that eve’s disobedience against god is viewed as an utterly necessary move for gaining wisdom. indeed, like a rediscovery of the alternative gnostic eve, lyra subverts the binary oppositions in the holy bible and transgresses the conventional gender role boundaries. she plays the christ-like role and manifests christian virtues such as love, self-sacrifice and devotion to the truth. the negative connotations of eve in the fall are also inverted. the fall has become an allegory of the coming of age, and lyra’s fall is 9 portrayed and celebrated as the key to the awakening of human wisdom. the gender stereotypes in the biblical text are broken and subverted. the consequence of the fall: a return of life spirit in the holy bible, immediately after adam and eve have eaten the fruit, “the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked” (genesis 3: 7). they feel so afraid and ashamed that they hide and make coverings for themselves. as a punishment for their disobedience god curses eve and all women, “i will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” (genesis 3:16). for adam, god gives him a life sentence of hard labour on the ground, “through painful toil will you eat of it all the days of your life” (genesis 3:17). regarding the double punishment cast on eve, a french medieval guidebook known as the goodman of paris (1393) explains that eve is twice cursed because she sins twice. eve’s first sin is her pride. she sets herself up to be like god. accordingly, she is cast down into a position of subjection to her husband. her second sin is the same as adam’s – she eats the forbidden fruit, and thus her second penalty is the terrible pain of childbearing (cited in norris 1998). though some contemporary scholars explain that in the bible the eden story is not meant to be an explanation for evil (phipps 1989), sexist implications remain influential in christian belief, as well as in our mainstream culture. to this day fundamental christians still believe that women are the first in the order of sin, women are more sinful, and that they are more susceptible to and responsible for evil, etc. picking up this motif, pullman reconfigures the consequences and implications of the fall. in the amber spyglass (2000) sin, guilt and punishment after the fall are replaced by serenity, universal balance and self-sacrifice. in chapter 35, after lyra and will eat the fruit and kiss each other, “around them there was nothing but silence, as if the world were holding its breath” (492). shortly afterwards, atal (a peaceful and happy creature created by pullman) feels the difference in the air. when mary malone looks up to the sky with her spyglass she finds that the dust-flood has stopped and the dust-stream is returning: the terrible flood of dust in the sky had stopped flowing…it was in perpetual movement, but it wasn't flowing away anymore. in fact, if anything, it was falling like snow-flakes...the dust pouring out of the stars had found a living home again, and these children-no-longer-children, saturated with love, were the cause of it all (496 497). because of the fall, dust, the life spirit returns and nourishes long-starved nature. for that, lyra and will feel no shame or guilt. instead, they feel like they are “melting with love” (509). their time together is saturated with love and sweetness. as pullman (2000) puts it, “they looked dazed, as if some happy accident had robbed them of their wits…they talked, they bathed, they ate, they kissed, they lay in a trance of happiness” (ibid). in the re-version, lyra, the new eve, plays the role of the mother of all living not by giving birth, but by rediverting the flow of life spirit into the universe. what is remarkable is that pullman’s re-version does not conclude with a blissful ending. towards the end of the amber spyglass kirjava (will parry’s daemon) and pan (lyra 10 belacqua’s daemon) reveal that dust leaks out into nothingness whenever an opening is made between the worlds. worse still, every time they open a window with the subtle knife a spectre that feeds on dust and daemons is made, “it’s like a little bit of the abyss that floats out and enters the world” (515). to restore stability and bring ultimate peace to the worlds lyra and will must close every single opening and destroy the subtle knife. kirjava suggests that she and will can leave their world to stay in lyra’s world forever, or that lyra and pan can leave theirs and go to will’s world. however, this is not a good idea because no one can leave his / her world for more than ten years. a person will “get sick and ill and fade away and then die” (516) when staying in a different world for ten years, like will’s father. the dilemma gives the protagonists great pain. he [will] thought she [lyra] would die of her grief there and then. she flung herself into his arms and sobbed, clinging passionately to his shoulders, pressing her nails into his back and her face into his neck, and all he could hear was, “no-no-no...” (513). for a moment will is tempted by the selfish notion of secretly opening a window between his world and lyra’s, where “they could go through whenever they chose, and live for a while in each other’s worlds” (521). his idea is rejected immediately by lyra. in spite of her own suffering, lyra shakes her head and says “no, we can’t” to will. she insists and reminds will that they have to follow what is genuinely right. in the end lyra and will act in favour of ultimate universal balance and the welfare of all. with broken hearts they close all windows and separate forever. they sacrifice their personal happiness and suffer intolerable loss, rage and despair. conclusion to sum up, in this paper i explored the representations of lyra belacqua, the female protagonist in pullman’s his dark materials (1995 – 2000). i argued that through the portrayal of lyra, the new and perfected eve, gender stereotypes in the holy bible are turned upside down. traditional gender borders are transgressed and unfixed. in the myth of the fall in genesis the narrative is a traditional, patriarchal voice that violently dominates the biblical text, setting up a series of hierarchical oppositions: ‘man’ and ‘woman’ are distinguished from one another. ‘man’ is considered primary, while ‘woman’ is relegated to a mere derivative, supplementary, and inferior position. in the bible, eve, the mother of all humans, has no autonomous existence of her own. she comes into t he world only because adam tells god that he is lonely and needs a partner. compared to adam she is also the weaker sex, and is deceived and tempted by the serpent. in brief, the binary differentiation in the biblical text reduces and pigeon-holes ‘woman’ as a category that is different from the category of ‘man’. in differing and classifying male and female, masculine and feminine, what is originally fluid, free-floating and flexible in ‘women’ (as well as in ‘men’) is oppressed, controlled and reduced to something essential and definable in genesis. challenging the gender relations as set in genesis philip pullman subverts the traditional gender roles and stereotypes before the fall, in the fall, and after the fall of man. instead of portraying lyra, the new eve, as the subordinate, inferior other, pullman makes lyra the first autonomous being. she is now the most significant protagonist, whereas will (the new adam) becomes her caring male helper who is keen on doing domestic chores. more significantly, rather than playing the role of a faithless, untrustworthy seductress, lyra shows 11 a high level of moral reasoning and self-discipline. for the welfare of all, she restrains will and herself from the temptation that comes up in will’s mind. christ-like virtues, such as selfsacrifice, devotion to friendship, and truth become her attributes. in the land of the dead the fearless lyra nourishes the ghosts and harpies with true stories of her life and true things about the world. in times of danger and need she selflessly risks her life, sacrifices her dearest daemon, and then gives up the chance of staying with will in order to rescue her friend, liberate the ghosts, and stop dust (the life force) from leaking out into emptiness. as the mother of all living she re-diverts and restores the flow of life spirit in the worlds, bringing hope and energy back to all. though controversial, pullman’s his dark materials crosses conventional gender borders. it can be read as a feminist rewriting of the book of genesis. references abraham, j. 2002. eve: accused or acquitted? a reconsideration of feminist readings of the creation narrative texts in genesis 1-3. london: paternoster. broedel, hans peter. 2003. the malleus maleficarum and the construction of witchcraft. manchester, u.k.: manchester university press. catholic league. 2007. “the golden compass” sparks protests. 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[i] the idea of the autonomous nation-state enclosed within non-permeable borders has generated universalist notions of ethnic homogeneity, linguistic uniformity, moral absolutism, and cultural consonance, as the markers of nationhood. when this totalizing norm was filtered through enlightenment ideals, it powerfully inflected eurocentric ideas of the self, and simultaneously constructed the non-european other. the nation is an “unprecedented” institution, contends sudipta kaviraj, which attempts to replace premodern communities, marked by “fuzzy” boundaries and intense emotional ties with an “enumerated” and modern national community. the latter is territorially specific, has clear boundaries and must “enumerate” what belongs to it. hence, “the endless counting of citizens, territories, resources, majorities, minorities, institutions, activities, import, export, incomes, projects, births, deaths, diseases” (1992: 30-31). benedict anderson defines the nation as “an imagined political community ─ and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign” (1983: 15). it is imagined by its people and ideologues, imaginings fraught with incongruities. one of these is that nation-states, although historically “new” entities, “always loom out of an immemorial past” (1983: 19) as the same entity of a united people sharing the same heritage. modern india needs to be judged from this perspective. the indian nation is “not an object of discovery but of invention” (kaviraj 1992: 1). colonialism in india created a rupture out of which the nation emerged as an entirely new historical institution. colonial borders were drawn up without any knowledge of the peoples or cultures whose lives they affected. not only did this sometimes result in people with little historical connection being thrown together, it also often resulted in communities being torn apart, internally divided on the basis of administrative fiat. pertinent here is arundhati roy’s (2002) observation that “india, as a modern nation state, was marked out with precise geographical boundaries by a british act of parliament in 1899. our country, as we know it, was forged on the anvil of the british empire for the entirely unsentimental reasons of commerce and administration” (roy 2002: 28). this leads her to question the very indianness of india: “but even as she was born, she began her struggle against her creators. so is india indian? it’s a tough question. let’s just say that we’re an ancient people learning to live in a recent nation”(roy 2002: 28). be that as it may, the borders of a nation become all-important concepts which it protects for its own salvation. herein lies the difference between modern nations and older empires. twentieth-century state sovereignty is recognized by a “legally demarcated territory. but in the older imaginings, where states were defined by centres, borders were porous and indistinct and sovereignties faded imperceptibly into one another” (anderson 1983: 26). cosmopolitanism or multiculturalism militates against narrow, rigid nationalism and supremacism. as renato rosaldo argues, “[i]n contrast with the classic view, which posits culture as a self-contained whole made up of coherent patterns, culture can arguably be conceived as a more porous array of intersections where distinct processes cross from within and beyond its borders” (1992: 20). at the theoretical level, this constitutes the notion of “hybridity” as a synonym for diversity or multiculturality. from the poststructuralist perspective which foregrounds the “constructedness” of culture, culture is a thing learnt, created, and staged. if this be true, then culture is profoundly susceptible to be aped, copied, or appropriated, in a fashion that disrupts the claim that it is the specific property or the unique expression of a single community. so “hybridity” is not simply a term for the mixing of once separate and self-contained cultural traditions. it also gives credence to the view that culture is an arena of struggle, where self is played off against the “other”. hence for r. radhakrishnan, hybridity is “transgressive in more than one direction, de-territorializing […]. with hybridity, anything is possible for the simple reason that hybridity is about making meaning without the repression of a pre-existing normativity or teleology: in the exhilarating a-nomie between ‘having been deterritorialized’ and ‘awaiting to be reterritorialized’ there is all manner of unprecedented ‘becoming’” (cited in smith 2004: 252). the discovery that culture can actually flow between national boundaries undermines the modern narrative of nation. “curiously”, argues ashcroft, “this cultural dispersal and heterogeneity has been regarded as more damaging to the narrative of nation than the obvious fact that capital continues to ignore national borders” (2008: 3). the transformation of the global at the level of the local, and the diasporic circulation of local cultures throughout the globe, has subverted the homogeneity of the modern nation state as a repository of culture. with the emergence of the nation as an open cultural site, a transnational site, the global imaginary is characterized by heterogeneity, hybridity, fluidity and movement. the transnation is much more than “the international” or “the transnational”, which is more appropriately conceived as a relation between states. transnation is neither simply universal, nor simply between or across nations, but is the “embodiment of transformation: the interpolation of the state as the focus of power, the erasure of simple binaries of power, the appropriation of the discourses of power, and the circulation of the struggle between global and local” (ashcroft 2008: 4). primarily, it is the fluid, migrating outside of the state that initiates within the nation. “the transnation”, asserts ashcroft, is an “‘in-between’ space, which contains no one definitive people, nation or even community, but is everywhere” (2008: 5). for the eminent singaporean scholar rajeev patke (2002) it is only apt that histories, stories, bodies, and values exist in a space of in-betweenness because it liberates historical objects from the trappings of nostalgia. what this “in-betweenness” indicates is that transnation does not refer to ontology. it is not an object in political space but a mode of talking about subjects in their ordinary lives: “the really difficult thing for human subjects to comprehend, given their entrapment within the discourses of history, nation, race and ethnicity, is that all subjectivity is difference in its differing. it is this that is normal, not the fixity of cultural or national identity, the conviction of one true, shared, essential being” (ashcroft 2008: 8). this “in-betweenness” signals a liberation which is deeply entrenched in transnational subjectivity, liberation from matters of absence and loss, alienation and not -athomeness. for bhabha, “the time of liberation is a time of cultural uncertainty, and most crucially, of significatory and representational undecideability” (1994: 35). this representational undecideability subverts a stable system of reference, be it a tradition or a community. this, believes fanon, is “the zone of occult instability where the people dwell” (1963: 182-3) and is “a veritable theatre of metamorphoses and permutations” (1963: 56) where all “i”s or claims of self have been transcended. this liberation of the human subject from his entrapment within the discourses of history, nation, race and ethnicity culminates in a “world without identity” (deleuze 1994: 56) where the division between finite and infinite is dissolved. hence this “zone of occult instability”, this “theatre of metamorphoses”, this world beyond the closure of identity, is the space of the transnation. as novelist, ghosh prioritizes space over time as the structuring principle in narrative. in “the march of the novel through history”, he applauds the novel’s ability to eloquently communicate a sense of place and also to interweave the entire spatial continuum from local to global: the novel as a form has been vigorously international from the start; […] and yet, the paradox of the novel as a form is that it is founded upon a myth of parochiality, in the exact sense of a parish — a place named and charted, a definite location. […] location is thus intrinsic to a novel […]. (the imam and the indian, 294) reflecting on “the rhetoric of location” (the imam and the indian, 303), ghosh stresses that he is not thinking merely of place or the physical aspects of the setting. asserting that the links between india and her diaspora are “lived within the imagination” (the imam and the indian, 247), he examines the modes in which “the spaces of india travel with the migrant” to create what rushdie calls the imaginary homeland: that is the trouble with an infinitely reproducible space: since it does not refer to actual spaces it cannot be left behind. […] eventually the place and the realities that accompany it vanish from memory and […] [t]he place, india, becomes in fact an empty space, mapped purely by words. (the imam and the indian, 248-249) these “words”, which signify memories and inherited values, are the “metaphors of space” that constitute “the symbolic spatial structure of india” for the migrant (the imam and the indian, 248). ghosh calls this kind of alternative mapping, in terms of sites of lived experience and memory and not of material location, “the cultural representation of space” (the imam and the indian, 250). in ghosh’s fictional realms, local or global, seen or unseen space is perceived and imagined in the narrator’s memory as a fundamental facet of individual, national, familial, and communal metamorphoses. in ghosh’s fiction, space is not merely remembered as an imaginative construct but is represented as a domain of political and cultural encounters, encounters which actually shape the connection of different characters with territory and location. hence, space is represented as a dynamic arrangement between people, places, cultures and societies. james clifford argues that “space is never ontologically given. it is discursively mapped and corporeally practiced” (1997: 54). according to clifford, space is composed through movement, produced through use, at the same time an agency and result of action or practice. the construction of space in ghosh’s the shadow lines does not simply manifest territorial struggles but serves to show the interplay between local and global influences, national and transnational reconfigurations and above all the search for community and alliances that cut across boundaries of cultural and ethnic identity. [ii] each of ghosh’s novels is concerned with migration and displacement which becomes a “mode of being in the world” (carter 1992: 101). the task that primarily concerns ghosh then is “not how to arrive, but how to move, how to identify convergent and divergent movements; and the challenge would be how to locate such events, how to give them a social and historical value” (carter 1992: 101). the narrator’s hindu family in the shadow lines fled from their home in dhaka to calcutta during the partition of india in 1947. during the second world war they befriend an english family, the prices, and the series of cultural crossings that the members of the two families are involved in are seamlessly interwoven in the narrative, as are the three major locations in which their lives are lived: dhaka, calcutta and london. far from being moored in a single location, the narrator occupies a discursive space that transcends spatial, political and even temporal boundaries, thereby interrogating essentialist notions of self, community and the nation. defining cosmopolitanism as “a stance toward diversity itself,” “an orientation, a willingness to engage with the other”, hannerz (1990: 239) describes cosmopolitans as those who are willing “to become involved with the other” and are concerned with “achieving competence in cultures which are initially alien” (1990: 240). he further conceptualizes cosmopolitanism both as “an intellectual and aesthetic stance of openness toward divergent cultural experiences,” as well as a matter of “competence” of “both a generalized and a more specialized kind” (hannerz 1990: 239). this competence might be “a state of readiness, a personal ability to make one’s way into other cultures, through listening, looking, intuiting and reflecting” (hannerz 1990: 239). the narrator’s archaeologist uncle tridib, his alter-ego, endowed with an imagination par excellence, instills in the narrator an obsession with reconstructing lives very different from his own. tridib teaches the narrator to use his imagination with so much precision that the locations envisioned in the mind “were infinitely more detailed, more precise than anything i would ever see” (sl, 29). tridib initiates in him a longing to imagine familiar and unfamiliar places in memory and imagination. in short, it is tridib’s gift of imagination that kindles in the narrator a desire to travel around the globe. both have a penchant to study maps to develop and discover their distinct sense of travelling to places without any kind of mental and physical border or barrier. cultural space can be configured and the unknown can be experienced “concretely” (sl, 29) in the imagination. after all, “a place does not merely exist, […] it has to be invented in one’s imagination” (sl, 21). tridib points out places on the bartholomew’s atlas and also tells him stories about them: “tridib had given me worlds to travel in and he had given me eyes to see them with” (sl, 20). this gives wings to the narrator’s cartographic imagination which leads to the dissolution of spatial boundaries. he once said to the narrator that one could never know anything except through desire “that carried one beyond the limits of one’s mind to other times and other places, and even, if one was lucky, to a place where there was no border between oneself and one’s image in the mirror” (sl, 29). the range of tridib’s intellectual interests is matched by his fluid personality. to his adda acquaintances, he is anyone from a slum-dweller to an aristocrat. what the narrator likes best in tridib is his detachment, his “difference” from others. for him, tridib’s stories are a gateway to the world. thus through generosity the world of the self widens to welcome the dimension of the other; the self’s homeland has become a haven for the other, “subjectivity” is presented “as welcoming the other, as hospitality” (levinas 1969: 27). under tridib’s tutelage, the narrator recognizes the contemporaneity of the past, and the lines that demarcate imagination and reality, the self and the other, are blurred. although ghosh represents the world as socially constructed and creates discursive realities to examine the movements of power, he endeavours to find a way of escaping the realm of discourse controlled by the hegemonic western mode of knowledge production and its ways of narrating the world. one possibility for circumventing this powerful and deeply rooted way of knowing is to constitute transcendent, ethical realities that cannot be accessed through a specific language and discourse. therefore, in meeting the other, we should try to remain open and responsive to it, rather than immediately attempting to define it from our own starting points. alterity, meaning the unknowable and unreachable nature of the other, cannot be attained, but it can, and must, be approached. in levinas’s view, this ethical approaching of the other’s alterity is our responsibility. the means by which this can be achieved include the use of a kind of imaginative empathy and reciprocity in the encounter with the other. radhakrishan has examined these concerns as they appear in relation to the concepts of imagination and space in ghosh. these same concerns are relevant in the context of all ghosh’s novels, and his writing in general. space in ghosh’s narratives is manifested as a many-faceted problematic that brings together time, place (imaginary and real dimensions), location (whether geographical or discursive) and identity (both personal and national/ communal/collective). tridib, the inspired lover, seems to have chosen to live the story of tristan, a story that cannot be plotted on any map. the story defies any spatial and temporal specificities: it happened everywhere […]it was an old story, the best story in europe, snipe said, told when europe was a better place, a place without borders and countries − it was a german story in what we call germany, nordic in the north, french in france, welsh in wales, corn in cornwall … (sl, 186) tristan’s is a very sad story about a man “without a country, who fell in love with a woman-across-the-seas” (sl, 186). the romance of tridib-tristan finds its consummate object in may. in his fourth letter to may, tridib gives an elaborate, pornographic account of the sexual love of two strangers in a bombed-out theatre in war-time london. he rams home the point that that is how he desires to meet may, “as a stranger in a ruin”: “as the completest of strangers − strangers across the seas − all the more strangers because they knew each other completely” (sl, 144). what is more he wants to meet her in a place “without a past, without history, free, really free, two people coming together with the utter freedom of strangers” (sl, 144). like tristan who is a man without a country, tridib’s imagination enables him to think beyond the boundaries of cultures and nations, time and space. hence, his craving for an ahistorical meeting place. he longs for a transcendental state outside ordinary human experience, beyond the realm of distinctions where opposites cancel each other out. tridib’s passion becomes an analogue of ecstasy whose power dissolves the world, so that “‘the others’ cease to be present; and there are no longer either neighbours or duties, or binding ties, or earth or sky; one is alone with all that one loves. ‘we have lost the world and t he world us’” (rougemont 1962: 146). such is the nature of this ecstasy. in radhakrishnan’s view, these basic insights involving the use of a certain kind of ethical imagination in the envisioning of interhuman and interdiscursive relationships amount to a newness in and of the imagination: “if only the world could be imagined that way! – new and emergent perceptions of nearness and distance; long denied and repressed affirmations of solidarities and fellow-heartedness in transgression of dominant relationships and axes of power; new and emergent identifications and recognitions in profound alienation from canonical-dominant mystifications and fixations of identity” (radhakrishnan 2003: viii). ghosh’s narrator compels the reader to imagine space above the narrow confines of a singular culture, nation, territory and community. inhabiting a world of human, geographical and political barriers, the narrator and tridib have a vision: to construct a free space (in a world without binaries) which is supposed to be above all temporal or spatial constraints. this contentious space is a transcultural space—a space of cultural and ethnic transactions where characters seek to overthrow artificial frontiers to come to terms with the reality of cultural and political transformations. moreover, transcultural spaces also refer to cross-cultural practices of imagining or remembering space and place in the novel. while going down memory lane, the narrator tries to inhabit a transcultural space like tridib to achieve freedom and liberty in its entirety since freedom is central to every character’s story in the novel. it is indeed ironic that tridib, who desires absolute freedom, who like an artist creates his own world in order to be free of others’ inventions, who transcends arbitrary borders and distinctions and hatreds in search of a truer sense of commonality, finds himself entangled in communal riots. may once abused tridib as an incompetent person: “all you’re good for is words. can’t you ever do anything?” (sl, 173). the same tridib, urged by may, heroically steps out of the car in dhaka to rescue the nonagenarian and is slaughtered by a frenzied mob puffed up by militant nationalism and communalism. the cosmopolitan tridib is a modern nomad who transcends with ease different geographical spaces. if tridib is the narrator’s mentor, however, ila is the narrator’s antithesis. like tridib, ila is the child of a diplomat, a world traveller. but she is the obverse of an imaginative traveler; her consciousness is the product of a “worldwide string of departure lounges” (sl, 21). she might have travelled all across the globe, but she is so insular that “although she had lived in many places, she had never travelled at all” (sl, 21). the places went past her in an “illusory whirl of movement” (sl, 23). on the contrary, the narrator passionately believes that “a place does not merely exist, that it has to be invented in one’s imagination” (sl, 21). in stark contrast to hannerz’s concept of the cosmopolitan, ila is a perfect example of bauman’s (1997) tourists who “perform the feat of not belonging to the place they might be visiting; theirs is the miracle of being in and out of place at the same time” and the “point of tourist life is to be on the move, not to arrive” (bauman 1997: 89). since the tourists “embark on their travels by choice,” their decision to leave home to explore foreign parts is “all the easier to make for the comforting feeling that one can always return, if need be” (bauman 1997: 91). ila’s presentism blunts her vision and cramps her to make any inter-cultural negotiations. what she remembers are excitements triggered by the “shifting landscapes of her childhood” (sl, 20). this explains the lack of concreteness of her imagination. for ila “the current was the real: it was as though she lived in a present which was like an airlock in a canal, shut away from the tidewaters of the past and the future by steel floodgates” (sl, 30). ila has no sense of identity and continuity with the past. the temporal perspective in her life has become so foreshortened that she lives in a perpetual present, not the experiential, qualitative co-presence of all the elements constituting the past recaptured by memory. her peripatetic lifestyle has enlarged her mastery over physical space but has also confined her “increasingly to the mental and emotional space of the momentary present devoid of continuity and significant relations with past and future” (meyerhoff 1955: 111). hence, ila’s dimension of mental “space” has contracted to the fragmentary moment of the present. while ila aspires to be a free spirit with scant regard for territorial and cultural frontiers, thamma is an advocate of exclusivist nationalism. thamma was a college student when terrorist outfits like “anushilan samiti” and “jugantar” recruited youngsters as their cadres. she tells the child narrator the incident of how one of her classmates was arrested by the police. a shy, quiet, bearded boy, the young patriot seemed an unlikely terrorist but he showed great resolve. his impassive face and “clear, direct and challenging” gaze was fixed on the policeman. inspired by the patriotism of bagha jatin and khudiram bose, thamma wanted to do something for the terrorists. she mused that “if only she had known, if only she had been working with him, she would have warned him somehow, she would have saved him, she would have gone to khulna with him too, and stood at his side, with a pistol in her hands, waiting for the english magistrate” (sl, 39). wholly committed to the nationalist ideal of independent india, thamma would have done anything to be free from colonial oppression. born in dhaka, thamma migrated to mandalay because of her husband’s profession. after her husband’s death, she joined a school in calcutta as a teacher. this provided her with a stability in her rootless existence. while in moulmein and mandalay she lived in “a succession of railway colonies” (sl, 124) and her life became uneventful. to her “nothing else in that enchanted pagoda-land had seemed real enough to remember (sl, 124) apart from hospitals, railway stations and bengali societies. interestingly, in this she resembles her opposite, ila, whose peripatetic lifestyle forbids her to attach herself to any place. the bloodshed of the partition severs thamma’s connection with her ancestral home in dhaka. however, a chance meeting with one of her kin makes her know that her nonagenarian jethamoshai still lives in their house at jindabahar lane in dhaka. what is more, she is horrified to learn that their whole house has been occupied by muslim refugees from india. throughout her life thamma never displayed much family feeling. in fact, “she was extremely wary of her relatives; to her they represented an imprisoning wall of suspicion and obligations” (sl, 129). however, consanguinity propels her to dismantle this “imaginary barrier” (sl, 129) and she decides to travel to dhaka to bring her jethamoshai back to calcutta. thamma’s journey to dhaka, her birthplace, initiates her education in the artificiality of the nationalist construct. her neat and orderly mind seems to be in a quandary when she tries to solve the puzzle “how her place of birth had come to be so messily at odds with her nationality” (sl, 152). thamma has a hard time coming to terms with the technicalities of passports and visas and the politics of international borders. for her, traveling to dhaka was different in the pre-partition era when she could “come home to dhaka” (sl, 152) whenever she wanted. the fact that her journey to dhaka is not only physical but also epistemological when the young narrator teases thamma out of her thoughts: “how could you have ‘come’ home to dhaka? you don’t know the difference between coming and going” (sl, 152)! years later the mature narrator realizes that his grandmother’s journey not only destabilizes her fixed conceptions of “home” but also exposes the faults of a language system: every language assumes a centrality, a fixed and settled point to go away from and come back to, and what my grandmother was looking for was a word for a journey which was not a coming or a going at all; a journey that was a search for precisely that fixed point which permits the proper use of verbs of movement” (sl,152). thamma’s conceptions of home as a place of stability and coherence thus shattered, she receives a further setback when her son exposes the limits of her exclusionary nationalism. her naïve belief in the existence of borders corresponds with anderson’s conceptualization of the nation as “limited” with “finite, if elastic boundaries, beyond which lie other nations” (1983: 16). when she expresses her curiosity to see the border between india and east pakistan from the plane, her son humorously asks her whether she thought that the “border was a long black line with green on one side and scarlet on the other, like it was in a school atlas” (sl,151). when she learns that neither trenches nor soldiers with guns pointing at each other separate the two countries but there are only green fields with no distinct demarcation zones, she discovers the limits of her brand of nationalism: but if there aren’t any trenches or anything, how are people to know? i mean, where’s the difference then? and if there’s no difference both sides will be the same; it’ll be just like it used to be before, when we used to catch a train in dhaka and get off in calcutta the next day without anybody stopping us. what was it all for then − partition and all the killing and everything − if thereisn’t something in between? (sl, 151) the modern political border, as her son explains to her, doesn’t exist on the frontier but in the airport. one crosses it when he fills in the disembarkation cards and the forms demanding one’s nationality, etc. this aspect of international boundaries determines the limits of a sovereign authority. thoroughly unaware about contemporary international travel regulations, thamma, the old guard nationalist who once dreamt of a new nation, “believed in the reality of nations and borders” beyond which “existed another reality” (sl, 219). the only relationship that existed “between those separate realities was war or friendship” (sl, 219). the partitioning of the bose family house in dhaka is itself an allegory for thamma’s self/other conceptualization. whatever exists beyond the other side of the partitioning wall is an inverted image of theirs which is the epitome of normalcy. the upside-down world seems to be a safe place to escape to when problems surface on their own side. the unseen, unknown other part of the house is a source of immense interest for thamma and mayadebi and the “strange thing was that as we grew older even i almost came to believe in our story” (sl, 126). this self-other dialectic permeates thamma’s conceptions of nation and nationalism. by imagining the community of the nation, thamma is certainly not, in ila’s words a “fascist”, but as tridib sums it up “only a modern middle-class woman” (sl,78). the patterned orderliness and stability that thamma seeks is dismantled when she lands in dhaka airport. the first question she is prompted to ask, confounded by her present surroundings, is “where’s dhaka? i can’t see dhaka” (sl, 193). thamma’s dhaka is confined in the localized surroundings of her ancestral home in jindabahar lane which had “long since vanished in the past” (sl, 193). this past/present disjuncture leads to her confusion. her quest for the idyllic, pre-partitioned dhaka of her childhood is projected as a nostalgic return home. throughout her life thamma has contemptuously dismissed nostalgia as a “weakness, a waste of time, that it is everyone’s duty to forger the past and look ahead and get on with building the future” (sl, 208). compelled by circumstances, she now realizes the gravity of her predicament that she has “no home but in memory” (sl, 194). thamma’s indian citizenship now confronts her with her strong loyalties and affiliations to the solidarity of her ancestral home. her alienation from her homeland is pointed out to her by tridib’s teasing remark: “but you are a foreigner now, you’re as foreign here as may − much more than may, for look at her, she doesn’t even need a visa to come here” (sl, 195). nevertheless, thamma perceives her visit to jindabahar lane as her “homecoming”. dressed in a white sari with a red border she is “going home as a widow for the first time” (sl, 205). after meeting jethamoshai she emotionally declares that they have “come home at last” (sl, 212). the contradiction between thamma’s going and coming, home and abroad, local and national identities, surfaces in her resolution to bring her jethamoshai to “where he belonged, to her invented country” (sl, 137). thamma’s glorification of the myth of the nation is punctured by her senile jethamoshai’s stubborn refusal to migrate: i don’t believe in this india-shindia. it’s all very well, you’re going away now, but suppose when you get there they decide to draw another line somewhere? what will you do then? where will you move to? no one will have you anywhere. as for me, i was born here, and i’ll die here. (sl, 215) thamma’s “home” turns unhomely when the car in which she was returning along with jethamoshai in a rickshaw is attacked by some frenzied rioters. tridib rushes out to save the old man but both of them are brutally killed along with the rickshaw-puller khalil. thamma’s ancestral birthplace is also the city of the fanatic rioters which now is transformed into the split space of home/not-home. tridib’s violent death instills in her a hatred for “them”. hence, when war breaks out with pakistan in 1965, she donates her gold chain, her late husband’s reminiscence, to the war fund: “for your sake; for your freedom. we have to kill them before they kill us; we have to wipe them out” (sl, 237). she takes solace from the fact that it’s not a street ambush but an organized war “with tanks and guns and bombs” (sl, 237). throughout the novel thamma remains an exponent of territorial nationalism and also learning its hard lessons. temporal simultaneity is complemented by identical spatial realities across the “lookingglass border” (sl, 233). london and berlin, just before world war ii are mirror images of each other with the same “exhilaration in the air” (sl, 66). travelling between the two capitals alan tresawsen, may’s uncle and tridib’s hero, felt that he was “stepping through a looking-glass” (sl, 66). calcutta and dhaka serve as mirror images of each other during the riots in 1964. the communal frenzy of “hindu calcutta’ and “muslim dhaka” resembles “the war between oneself and one’s image in the mirror” (sl, 204). the adult narrator, after making a series of connections listening to others’ perceptions and experiences, realizes that he and tridib were in the same predicament in two different cities: “i, in calcutta, had only to look into the mirror to be in dhaka; a moment when each city was the inverted image of the other” (sl, 233). the narrator who as a child believed in the reality of nations and space, “that distance separates, that it is a corporeal substance…that across the border there existed another reality” (sl, 219), has at the end of the narrative these ideas shattered. the borders between nations in his bartholomew’s atlas turn into glass, the compartmentalized world turns composite. as he tries to “learn the meaning of distance”, he perceives “that within the tidy ordering of euclidean space, chiang mai in thailand was much nearer calcutta than delhi is; that chengdu in china is nearer than srinagar is” (sl, 232). the narrator thus interrogates the principles of temporal and spatial division. as he acknowledges, he has created his own secret map of the world, ―”a map of which only i knew the keys and coordinates, but which was not for that reason any more imaginary than the code of a safe is to a banker” (sl, 194). this map of the world is one response to radhakrishnan’s call for postmodern spaces that are imagined “in excess of and in advance of […] actual history in the name of experiences that are real but lacking in legitimacy” (radhakrishnan 2003: 61). the representation of london in the novel consists of several levels: the past is represented through an amalgamation of official history and personal imagination, and the present through maps and eye-sight. radhakrishnan continues: “each of these […] realities must imagine its own discursive-epistemic space as a form of openness to one another‘s persuasion” (2003: 61). what has to be avoided is the situation where one version speaks for all, or where all the versions are “islands unto themselves” (radhakrishnan 2003: 61). the narrator’s belief in the absoluteness of cartographic divisions thus shattered, he learns that the separatist logic of frontiers cannot enforce cultural difference. ironically, what establishes the identical nature of realities on both sides of the border between india and pakistan is mutually self-destructive violence. the sacred relic known as the mui-i-mubarak disappears in srinagar and riots break out in calcutta and dhaka. the administrators who drew the boundaries between india and pakistan believed in the “enchantment of lines, hoping perhaps that once they had erected their borders upon the map, the two bits of land would sail away from each other like the shifting tectonic plates of the prehistoric gondwanaland” (sl, 233). the narrator discerns a profound “yet-undiscovered irony” in the political separation: the simple fact that there had never been a moment in the four-thousand-year-old history of that map, when the places we know as dhaka and calcutta were more closely bound to each other than after they had drawn their lives − so closely that i, in calcutta, had only to look into the mirror to be in dhaka; a moment when each city was the inverted image of the other, locked into an irreversible symmetry by the line that was to set us free − our looking-glass border. (sl, 233) paradoxically, the communal riot indicates the deep emotional involvement of the hindus and the muslims alike. sudhir kakar, in his influential book the colours of violence: cultural identities, religion and conflict (1996), distinguishes between pre-colonial “religious” conflicts and post-colonial “communal” violence in the indian sub-continent. while religion is “a matter of personal faith and reverence for a particular set of icons, rituals, and dogmas”, asserts kakar, communalism entails one’s “exclusive attachment to his or her community combined with an active hostility against other communities which share its geographical and political space” (1996: 13). the overarching identities as “muslim” and “hindu” were highly charged by the divisiveness of the partition of 1947, “the most momentous event in the shaping of hindu-muslim relations in independent india” (kakar 1996: 37). the bitter animosity between these two communities is an off-shoot of the british imperialist policy of divide and rule by playing off one against the other. the presentation of the post-partition riots in calcutta expatiates kakar’s observations. the young narrator’s school-bus is more than half-empty as the majority of the students are confined at home because trouble is apprehended in calcutta. rumour spreads that “they” have poisoned calcutta’s water supply. this incident echoes the rumours in wartime london that german aeroplanes were dropping toffee-tins “to demoralize the population by getting at the children” (sl, 184). in the narrator’s account the children “huddled together” (sl, 189) in the bus immediately comprehend that the vague identification “they” refers to the muslims. the “us” and “them” binarism is crystallized when their own friend montu is perceived as an “other” because he is a muslim. when the adult narrator recalls the incident he reflects on the extent to which children had internalized this self/other split: i remember we did not ask him any questions − not who ‘they’ were, nor why ‘they’ had poisoned their own water. we did not need to ask any questions; we knew the answers the moment he had said it: it was a reality that existed only in the saying, so when you heard it said, it did not matter whether you believed it or not − it only mattered that it had been said at all. (sl, 199-200) the riots transform the city. the frightening sound of voices alternate with random moments of silence to produce “the authentic sound of chaos” (sl, 201). when the children return home their well-known streets seem completely unfamiliar. even the positioning of a rickshaw at a street-corner expresses a threat: “had it been put there to keep muslims in or hindus out? at that moment we could read the disarrangement of our universe in the perfectly ordinary angle of an abandoned rickshaw” (sl, 203). the contention that riots are exceptional to south asia is repeated in ghosh’s in an antique land. not to speak of communal tensions, micronationalist factions subvert the myth of the homogeneity of the indian nation-state. robi reflects on how terrorist and separatist outfits in assam, the north-east, punjab, sri lanka, tripura utter the rhetoric of freedom to fragment the nation: “and then i think to myself, why don’t they draw thousands of little lines through the whole subcontinent and give every place a new name? what would it change? it’s a mirage; the whole thing is a mirage. how can anyone divide a memory? (sl, 247). territorial space can be demarcated by lines but the collective unconscious remains indivisible. however, the separatist strategies of the politics of national boundaries epitomized by the partition fail to suppress syncretic possibilities. the ecumenical hazratbal shr ine is revered by muslims, hindus, sikhs and buddhists alike that challenges the “christian sense of the necessity of quarantine between doctrines”. the synthesizing quality of the shrine is stressed when the theft of the relic brings about “a spontaneous show of collective grief”. maulana masoodi. “an authentic hero, forgotten and unsung today as any purveyor of sanity” (sl, 225226), unites the various kashmiri communities in their demonstrations. when the relic is recovered, kashmiris erupt in joy. however, this exemplary secular tolerance and cultural syncretism is marred by a violent riot in distant khulna. but “as always, there were innumerable cases of muslims in east pakistan giving shelter to hindus, often at the cost of their own lives, and equally in india, of hindus sheltering muslims” (sl, 229-230). unfortunately, no martyrs memorials were erected for these unsung ordinary people. just as the partition of the bose family in dhanmundi fail to prevent relatives from being involved with each other, so also the arbitrary division of the country fails to slice one community apart from the other. amitav ghosh experienced a similar situation after riots broke out in delhi in november, 1984 after the assassination of indira gandhi. what he remembers is not only “the horror of violence” but also “the affirmation of humanity…the risks that perfectly ordinary people are willing to take for one another” (the imam and the indian, 61). such people demonstrate “the indivisible sanity that binds people to each other independently of their governments” (sl, 230). eventually, the shadow lines “became a book not about any one event but about the meaning of such events and their effects on the individuals who live through them” (the imam and the indian, 60). jethamoshai, the lone, left-behind member of his family, is looked after by a muslim rickshaw-puller khalil. his children look up to the old man as their grandfather. theirs is a family based not on kinship but on love and solidarity, the very basis of community formation. ghosh’s stance on inter-community solidarity and his assertion of humanity exposes the parochialism of nationalism. the dangerous potential for violence and aggression in the creation of exclusivist collective identities is cogently explained by regina schwartz: “imaginary identity as an act of distinguishing and separating from others, of boundary making and line drawing, is the most fundamental act of violence we commit” (2000: 187). celebrating “the complex web of relationships between people that cut across nations and generations”, the shadow lines thus becomes, believes robert dixon, “a fictional critique of classical anthropology’s model of discrete cultures and the associated ideology of nationalism”(2003: 20). in ghosh, the male protagonists are rationalists/idealists. conversely, the female protagonists are pragmatists/humanists. they are more successful than their male counterparts because they are more in touch with life’s reality. may occupies a distinctive position in ghosh’s gallery of women characters which include zindi in the circle of reason, dolly in the glass palace, nilima in the hungry tide. as an integrated being, may is a champion of humanity. she tirelessly collects funds in london streets for providing housing to the earthquake victims in central america. in raibajar, she dismisses the narrator’s grandfather’s huge imported wooden table as “utterly useless”, as a “worthless bit of england” (sl, 49). she indignantly remarks that the amount of money squandered on the table would have provided shelter for a lot of people. she displays courage and compassion in killing the dying dog in calcutta in order to spare it from more pain. but the defining moment in may’s humanism comes in the narrow jindabahar lane when the hostile rioters set upon the old man and his rickshaw-puller. while thamma, the old man’s blood relation, wants her driver to drive away, the determined may jumps out of the car to defend them: “your grandmother screamed at me. she said i didn’t know what i was doing, and i’ll get everyone killed. i didn’t listen; i was a heroine” (sl, 250). but in the fiasco, tridib is killed. for seventeen years after the incident may holds herself responsible for tridib’s death. she never felt insecure in the mob because “they wouldn’t have touched me, an english memsahib” (sl, 251) but not tridib. she finally realizes that tridib “gave himself up; it was a sacrifice” (sl, 251-252). if her self asserted itself in dhaka − “i was a heroine” (sl, 250) − after the incident she becomes selfless. she is committed to her altruistic mission, a commitment which even intrudes into the private spaces of her domestic life as she sleeps on the floor: “after all, this is how most people in the world sleep. i merely thought i’d throw in my lot with the majority” (sl, 158). while tridib’s death hardens thamma’s rigid binarism of “us” and “them”, may’s attitude towards life becomes transnational as she tries to fuse the self/other dialectic. her rhetoric of communitarianism is based on an “understanding of subjectivity, one that values mutual dependency, reliance, appreciation, and trust between the self and the other” (lin, 11). this indeed is a “paradigmatic reconsideration of the status of the other in our understanding of who we are – our self, identity, and individuality” (lin, 1). the self’s being “with” the other is an integral part of the ethical relationship with the other. this ‘withness’, conceptualizes margaret chatterjee, “covers up the essential difference that there is between people, although we are endowed with the capacity of bridging that distance by embarking on the project of being ‘towards’ the other” (1963: 220). this fusion reaches its zenith in may’s sexual union with the narrator. may and the narrator meet as free citizens transcending the divisions of colonizer/colonized, white/non-white, self/other. through his union with may, which melts all boundaries, the narrator is granted “the glimpse of…a final redemptive mystery” (sl, 252), the mystery of the depths of human experience. literary narrative provides a new perspective of looking at the historical past, often questioning the credibility of the historical representation. by way of questioning what hayden white calls history’s tropic prefiguration, the prominence given to key historical figures, the erasure of subaltern individuals or communities, literature foregrounds the role of narrative in constructing one’s understanding of the world and meaning and truth. a postcolonial writer, in his/her critical re-interpretation of the historical archive, creates a hybrid text that combines historical evidences and imaginative reconstructions, historical as well as invented characters. with this interplay, history is stripped of its objective quality. that literary texts have been widely recognized as essential materials for historical study is evident in spivak’s endorsement of foucault’s suggestion that “to make visible the unseen can also mean a change of level, addressing oneself to a layer of material which hitherto had no pertinence for history and which had not been recognized as having any moral, aesthetic or historical value” (spivak 1995: 27-28). evidently what ghosh tries to reconcile are the “analytical” histories utilizing the rational categories of modern historical thought and the “affective” histories which account for the plural ways of being-in-the-world. after all, as e.l. doctorow observes, the modes of historical and fictional narratives mediate “the world for the purpose of introducing meaning” (cited in hutcheon 1988: 112). references anderson, benedict. 1983. imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. london: verso. ashcroft, bill. 2002 [1989]. the empire writes back. london and new york: routledge. – 2008. “globalization, the transnation and utopia” in: krishna sen and sudeshna chakravarti (eds.) narrating the (trans)nation: the dialectics of culture and identity. kolkata: dasgupta & co., 1-24. bauman, zygmunt. 1997. postmodernism and its discontents. cambridge: polity press. bhabha, homi k. 1994. the location of culture. london and new york: routledge. carter, paul. 1992. living in a new country: history, travelling and language. london: faber and faber. chatterjee, margaret. 1963. our knowledge of other selves. new delhi: asia publishing house. clifford, james. 1997. routes: travel and translation in the late twentieth century. cambridge: harvard up. daiya, kavita. 2003. “‘no home but in memory’: migrant bodies and belongings, globalization and nationalism in amitav ghosh’s novels” in: brinda bose (ed.) amitav ghosh: critical essays. delhi: pencraft international, 36-55. deleuze, gilles and felix guattari. 1994. what is philosophy. trans. h. tomlinson and g. burchell. new york: columbia up. dixon, robert. 2003. “‘travelling in the west’: the writing of amitav ghosh” in: tabish khair (ed.) amitav ghosh: a critical companion. new delhi: permanent black, 9-35. fanon, frantz. 1963. the wretched of the earth. new york: grove press. ghosh, amitav. 1995 [1988]. the shadow lines. rpt. new delhi: oup. — 2000. “the shadow script”, interview. new delhi: first city, sept. 2000. — 2002. the imam and the indian: prose pieces. new delhi: ravi dayal publisher. hannerz, ulf. 1990. “cosmopolitans and locals in world culture”, theory, culture and society 7 (1990), 237-52. hutcheon, linda. 1988. a poetics of postmodernism. london: routledge. kakar, sudhir. 1996. the colours of violence: cultural identities, religion and conflict. chicago: university of chicago press. kaviraj, sudipta. 1992. “the imaginary institution of india.” subaltern studies vii: writings on south asian history and society. ed. partha chatterjee and gyanendra pandey. new delhi: oxford university press, 1-39. levinas, emmanuel. 1969. totality and infinity: an essay on exteriority. trans. alphonso lingis. pittsburgh: duquesne up. lin, lidan. 1998. the rhetoric of posthumanism in four twentieth century international novels. diss., university of north texas, ann arbor: umi. meyerhoff, hans. 1955. time in literature. berkeley: university of california press. nandy, ashis. 1983. the intimate enemy: loss and recovery of self under colonialism. new delhi: oxford university press. patke, rajeev. 2002. “to frame a city: the singaporean poet in the postmodern city” in: w. lim (ed.) postmodern singapore. singapore: select books, 106-117. radhakrishnan, r. 2003. theory in an uneven world. oxford: blackwell. rosaldo, renato. 1992. culture and truth: the remaking of social analysis. boston: beacon press. rougemont, denis de. 1962. passion and society. trans. montgomey belgion. london: faber and faber. roy, arundhati. 2002. the algebra of infinite justice. new delhi: penguin books. schwartz, regina. cited in manfred steger 2000, gandhi’s dilemma: nonviolent principles and nationalist power. new york: st. martins press. smith, andrew. 2004. “migrancy, hybridity, and postcolonial literary studies.” the cambridge companion to postcolonial literary studies. ed. neil lazarus. cambridge: cambridge university press, 241-261. spivak, gayatri chakravorty. 1995. “can the subaltern speak?” in: the post-colonial studies reader. ed. bill ashcroft, gareth griffiths, helen tiffin. routledge: london and new york, 24-28. osoba, joseph. “a linguistic analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 34-49. joseph osoba the university of lagos a linguistic analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero abstract. the application of linguistic theories and concepts as tools for analysis of literary works provides one of the most fascinating and illuminating insights into how they may be read, interpreted, and understood. this assumption underlies the objective of this paper in which i attempt to explicate an interpretation of soyinka’s the trials of brother jero through an application of the pragmatics tool of presupposition. thus an attempt is made in this paper to present a linguistic analysis of the play by an examination of its meaning potentials in terms of presuppositions. in this regard, utterances of two major characters, jero and chume, his assistant, are selected and analysed. it may be interesting to note that fictional characters express presuppositions as much as people in real life. thus this study is a presentation of an interface between linguistics and literary works. in this linguistic study, literary discourse is exploited using the pragmatic concept of presupposition which underlines and underpins the explanatory adequacy of its explication. stimulating insights are presented in the interpretation and understanding of wole soyinka’s trials of brother jero as a piece of dramatic discourse which constitute and promote the interface of linguistic science and literary science. keywords: meaning potential, presupposition, pragmatics, dramatic discourse. introduction the study of how language is used in practical or real life situations may be appropriately referred to as pragmatics. thus all actual uses (including in literary works) of language come under the purview of pragmatics. moreover, every use of language can be described as a speech event or discourse. hence literary works are more or less forms or types of speech events or discourses. in this light, presupposition as a conceptual pragmatic tool appears to be adequate, useful and appropriate for an insightful and illuminating explication of literary and non-literary works. this perhaps makes elam’s claim very apt: “whatever the properties ascribed to dramatis personae as individuals in a fictional world, and whatever personal , … social and other roles they are seen to fulfill as functions of dramatic structure, it is in the first instance as participants into speech events that they are usually perceived” (elam 1980: 36). in fact, all literary uses of language may be said to be subject to some kind of linguistic enquiry or investigation. thus it seems productive to employ the linguistic/ pragmatic tool of presupposition in the analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero, a play. this approach may shed some light in terms of how the play may be interpreted, perceived and comprehended by its readers/audiences. osoba, joseph. “a linguistic analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 34-49. this view is well-buttressed by elam’s explication that dramatic speakers are expected “to produce utterances which are informative …, ‘true’ with respect to the dramatic world (unless strategically insincere), comprehensible and relevant to the occasion” (see elam 1980: 173). thus, whether in fiction or in real life, the use of language tends to signify the relationship between interlocutors as interactional and transactional. in this regard, in both literary and non-literary discourses, people are seen to employ language to establish or contract relationships which are based on mutual understanding or common / shared values. in this paper, i attempt to investigate, analyse and explicate features of presupposition in selected speeches or discourses of two major characters (jero and chume) in wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero. the choice of literary text was warranted by the fact that the trials of brother jero is a popular comedy in the language (perhaps it is the only work by wole soyinka that is written in simple english!) of the masses. its audiences tend to cut across social and intellectual classes. moreover, though it was published in the early 60’s, it is very relevant to the contemporary socio-political and religious situation in nigeria. the choice of the two characters was determined by their roles as protagonist (jero as a charlatan) and antagonist (chume as a victim). an extract from the play is considered sufficient in order to explicate the features of pragmatic tools. the extract is reproduced in the appendix to allow the reader to consider it in its entirety. the actions, in a play, embody what the play is about. thus, according to richard gill, a plot is about what the characters are up to, what they want and what they do to achieve their goal (see gill 2006: 104). soyinka’s the trials of brother jero, portrays the protagonist, prophet jero, as charlatan who attempts to achieve his ambition as an important and distinctive prophet by appearing immaculate in a velvet cape, which he had not yet paid for, and articulate in prophecy. his ultimate ambition is to be called the velvet-hearted jeroboam, immaculate jero, and articulate hero of christ’s crusade. the scene starts with prophet jero, a much altered man with his clothes torn and his face bleeding, asking his assistant, brother chume, to dismiss the congregation. in their discussions, it was revealed, to the reader or audience, that it was brother chume’s wife that prophet jero had an unpleasant encounter with that morning. it was also revealed that, initially, the prophet was not aware that that woman was brother chume’s wife. ironically, brother chume had come to report the wife’s cruelty to the prophet oblivious of the fact that jero was actual the man the wife had forced him to carry her to his place to collect the money she was owed. brother chume needed the prophet’s advice on how to discipline the wife and would be glad to exchange his own marital troubles with the prophet’s crosses. paradoxically, the prophet’s advice changed from prayer and forgiveness to punishment and the use of whip as soon as jero realised whose chume’s wife was. in the next subsection, i intend to examine the relationship between linguistic form and literary form as some kind of discourse. the interface between linguistics and literary works linguistics, the scientific study of language, seems to be concerned with all aspects of description, analysis and explication of the form, structure and function of language in theory and application. in this regard, it seems appropriate to examine the form, structure and function of language in literary works. by this approach, it may be possible to provide a significantly illuminating insight into the interface between linguistics and literature as a verbal art. since all uses, forms and functions are of interest in linguistics and its application, the use of language in literary works, such as drama, prose and poetry, appears to be one of osoba, joseph. “a linguistic analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 34-49. the most significant expressions of human social and emotional communication. this communication is seen to take the form of verbal and non-verbal art that is embedded in the mutual, collective and common values, knowledge, practices et cetera of the speech community of the interlocutors. thus all literary uses of language may be described as exposition of linguistic discourse. nigel fabb’s explication of the literary form is instructive as follows: “verbal behaviour is the production of texts, products which have verbal form in the media of writing or speech. some of those texts are verbal art, also called “literature”: they are literary texts. literary texts have linguistic form because they are texts (the product of verbal behaviour), and they also have literary form (fabb 1997:1-2). boulton (1977: 1) makes a bold attempt to distinguish drama from other forms of literature in his insightful argument that: there is an enormous difference between a play and any other form of literature. a play is not really a piece of literature. a true play is three-dimensional; it is literature that walks and talks before our eyes. it is not intended that the eye shall perceive marks on paper and the imagination turn them into sights, sounds and actions; the text of the play is meant to be translated into sights, sounds and actions which occur literally and physically on stage. though in fact plays are often read in silence, if we are to study drama at all intelligently we must keep this in mind. what boulton (1977: 97) seems to point out succinctly is that “a play is its dialogue”. what is important here is that, in a play, characters use language pragmatically as in real life unlike in other genres like prose or narrative poetry where the personae is the narrator talking about himself and/or others. the narrator here may be the first person, omniscient, third person or effaced narrator. the point is thus that the audience or the reader/hearer is exposed to fictional scenarios through the eyes and words of the narrator. in a play, the verbal communication involves verbal exchanges that can be described as interactional or transactional in nature. the success of this communication may be said to depend largely on whether or not the hearer /listener understands the message or information the speaker intends to convey. this idea is well noted by fabb (1997:10) when he argues that communication may sometime be imprecise and, therefore, unsuccessful. communication can be vague. for example the speaker may say ‘my love is a red red rose’. the hearer may use this as evidence that the speaker intends to tell him that the loved person is beautiful, precious, will not live forever, and so on: the analogy with a flower means that various characteristics of the flower will be carried over to the loved person. successful communication involves the hearer reconstructing some of these thoughts and attributing them to the speaker: the communication is successful with different sets of thoughts. there is no single tightly constrained set of meanings intended, just some sets of meanings which can be inferred from the utterance. thus one can assume, based on fabb’s argument, that the utterances of the protagonists and antagonists in plays can be studied using relevant theories of or concepts in pragmatics. insights from an application of pragmatic theories and concepts, such as presupposition and implicature, ultimately provide some useful illumination in one’s attempt to understand how language is interpreted and understood by interlocutors. a pragmatic analysis of the literary form should be as informative, insightful and discursive as a study of any other form of language use. this assumption is premised on the argument that a valid theory of or concept in language must be able to account for all or at least most of the possible recurrent or regular or irregular patterns as well as available choices. hence if a theory of language is able to account for one form or function of language it should be able to account for all other forms or functions (see halliday 1973). this point is germane here because of the fact that i am primarily interested in ‘understanding how a particular function of language is determined linguistically’ (see birch 1989:119). in this regard, i am talking about the literary function of language. grice’s maxims osoba, joseph. “a linguistic analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 34-49. of cooperation may be relevant here since speakers must first cooperate before they can communicate. and the point is that, whether in life or in fiction, cooperative principle seems to come to play. thus, as a matter of fact, it comes to play in all cases of verbal or sometimes non-verbal exchanges or discourses (see jianmin 1999: 8). in essence, in all aspects of verbal communication or discourse, grice’s cooperative principle tends to be applicable but for this study only presupposition is employed because it tends to be both adequate and appropriate to explicate the goal as well as the aim of this paper. in every communication, the interlocutors tend to be concerned with the way information is organized. thus any form of communication, such as dialogues, poetry, drama, prose, memos, letters, commentaries, etc. in any linguistic form or language can also be described as a piece of discourse. in his work, language and power, fairclough (2001: 16, 18–19) provides a fascinating conception of language as discourse, language as a form of social practice. in an attempt to make clear what discourse is, he differentiates discourse from text. to him, “a text is a product rather than a process – a product of the process of text production.” in his work, the term, discourse, is used to refer to the whole process of social interaction of which a text is just one element – the visible, final one – of discourse. this process is said to include both process of production and process of interpretation, for which the text is a resource. in this regard, drama is taken as a text. thus a dramatic discourse may also be seen as involving two types of social conditions: (1) social condition of production and (2) social conditions of interpretation; which relate to three different “levels” of social organization, the level of the social situation, or the immediate social environment in which the discourse occurs; the level of the social institution which constitutes a wider matrix for the discourse; and the level of the society as a whole. in sum, discourse can be described as the relationship between texts, interactions and contexts. fairclough (2001: 25) illustrates this in the following diagram: social conditions of production social conditions of interpretation context process of production process of interpretation interaction text osoba, joseph. “a linguistic analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 34-49. on the basis of fairclough’s (2001) illuminating argument, drama is the most immediate, impactful type of discourse. an overview of soyinka’s the trials of brother jero as a dramatic work the play, the trials of brother jero, was first published in great britain in 1964 by oxford university press. the nigerian edition was published in 1981 by spectrum books limited. the cast comprises the following: jeroboam (brother jero), a beach diviner; old prophet, his mentor; chume, assistant to jeroboam; amope, his wife; a trader; the penitent, a woman; the angry woman, a tough mamma; a young girl; a drummer boy; a man and an old couple (worshippers) in the play, brother jero had a fine velvet cape, but he had not yet paid for it. this is the origin of one of the troubles referred to in the abstract. methodology/ presentation of corpus the corpus of my analysis is taken from pages 30 to 32 of the text (the main part of scene three), the trials of brother jero and it is attached as appendix. only a sample of my data is actually extracted for the purpose of my analysis since it tends to suffice for the explication of pragmatic features. the turns in speaking are serially numbered. each text of the corpus is organised into clausal structures. these are then organised into their phrasal and categorial units in the analysis. however, since we are dealing with discourse, only the clausal and phrasal structures are considered for analysis. the excerpt is as follows: (brother jero has just come in view. they all rush to help him back into the circle. he is a much altered man, his clothes torn and his face bleeding.) 1. jero (slowly and painfully): clause 1: thank you, brothers, sisters. clause 2: brother chume, kindly tell these friends clause 3; to leave me. clause 4: i must pray for the soul of that sinful woman. clause 5: i must say a personal prayer for her. (chume ushers them off. they go reluctantly, chattering excited.) clause 6: prayers this evening, as usual. clause 7: late afternoon. 2. chume (shouting after): clause 1: prayers late afternoon as always. clause 2: brother jeroboam says clause 3: god keep you till then. clause 4: are you alright, brother jero? 3. jero osoba, joseph. “a linguistic analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 34-49. clause 1: who would have thought that…. clause 2: she would dare lift her hands against a prophet of god! 4. chume clause: women are a plague, brother. 5. jero clause 1: i had the premonition this morning clause 2: that a woman would be my downfall today. clause 3: but i thought of it only in the spiritual sense. 6. chume clause: now you see how it is, brother jero. 7. jero clause 1: from the moment i looked out of my window this morning, clause 2: i have been tormented one way or another by the daughters of discord. 8. chume (eagerly): clause 1: that is how it is with me, brother. clause 2: every day. clause 3: every morning and night. clause 4: only this morning my wife made me cause 5: take her to the house of some poor man, clause 6: who she says owes her money. clause 7: she loaded enough on my bicycle clause 8: to lay a siege for a week clause 9: and all the thanks i got was abuse. 9. jero clause 1: indeed it must be a trial, brother chume… clause 2: and it requires… (he becomes suspicious.) clause 3: brother chume, did you say that clause 4: your wife went clause 5: to make camp only this morning at the house of a …of someone clause 6: who owes her money? 10. chume clause 1: yes, clause 2: i took her there myself. osoba, joseph. “a linguistic analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 34-49. 11. jero clause 1: er…indeed. (coughs.) clause 2: is …your wife a trader? 12. chume clause 1: yes. clause 2: petty trading, you know. clause 3: wool, silk, cloth and all that stuff. 13. jero clause 1: indeed. clause 2: quite an enterprising woman. (hems) clause 3: er…where was the house of this man… clause 4: i mean, this man clause 5: who owes her money? 14. chume clause 1: not very far from here. clause 2: ajete settlement, clause 3: a mile or so from here. clause 4: i did not even know clause 5: the place existed until today. 15. jero (to himself): clause: so that is your wife…. 16. chume clause: did you speak, prophet? 17. jero clause 1: no. clause 2: no. clause 3: i was only thinking of clause 4: how little women have changed since eve, clause 5: since delilah, clause 6: since jezebel. clause 7: but we must be strong at heart. cause 8: i have my own cross too, brother chume. clause 9: this morning alone i have been thrice in conflict with the daughters of discord. osoba, joseph. “a linguistic analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 34-49. clause 10: first there was... clause 11: no, never mind that. clause 12: there is another clause 13: who crosses my path every day. clause 14: goes to swim just over there clause 15: and then waits for me to be in the midst of my meditation before my eyes…. 18. chume (to himself, with deep feeling): clause: i’d willingly change crosses with you. 19. jero clause: what, brother chume? 20. chume clause: i was only praying. 21. jero clause 1: ah. clause 2: that is the only way. clause 3: but er …i wonder really clause 4: what the will of god would be in this matter. clause 5: after all, christ himself was not averse to using the whip clause 6: when occasion demanded it. 22. chume (eagerly): clause: no, he did not hesitate. 23. jero clause 1: in that case, since, brother chume, your wife seems such a wicked, willful sinner, clause2: i think…. 24. chume clause 1: yes, clause 2: holy one…? 25. jero clause: you must take her home tonight…. 26. chume clause: yes…. 27. jero clause: and beat her. osoba, joseph. “a linguistic analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 34-49. 28. chume (kneeling, clasps jero’s hand in his): clause: prophet! 29. jero clause 1: remember, clause 2: it must be done in your own house. clause 3: never show the discord within you family to the wor.. .ld clause 4: take her home and beat her. (chume leaps up and gets his bike.) presupposition in dramatic discourse in any linguistic enterprise, effective communication tends to depend, to a large extent, on the shared knowledge or values that exist or prevail contextually among interlocutors. it is this shared knowledge or values that enhance the interlocutors’ correct interpretation of each other’s utterances and messages as well as their understanding by their audience. it is on this assumption that the pragmatic notion of presupposition rests (see fairclough, 2001; osoba, 2014b). george yule regards the assumption that the hearer and the speaker have about what they assume to be true as presupposition. to him, “when a speaker uses referring expressions like this, he or shakespeare, in normal circumstances, she is working with an assumption that the hearer knows which referent is intended…. what a speaker assumes is true or is known by the hearer can be described as a presupposition (yule 1996:134). as noted earlier, linguistic messages are designed based on the assumptions about what hearers are already familiar with. these assumptions are based on the shared knowledge or values that exist among interlocutors but may sometimes be mistaken. yule (1996:132), palmer (1996:166), mey (2001: 28) and levinson (2003: 167–176) provide illustrative accounts of the notion of presupposition. levinson illuminates a set of important distinctions and alternative approaches adopted by linguists as follows: 1. the distinction between logical implication or entailment and presupposition (in the work of frege and strawson ) 2. the contrast between assertion and presupposition (again in the work of frege and strawson) 3. the issue of whether it was proper to think of presupposition as a relation between sentences (as frege sometimes did) between statements (as strawson held) or between speakers on the one hand and assumptions on the other (as frege did, on other occasions). 4. the issue of whether the apparent ambiguity of negation between a presupposition denying sense and a presupposition-preserving sense is to be thought of as a scope distinction (a structural ambiguity) or lexical ambiguity. 5. the possibility that apparently background assumptions, presuppositions, could in fact be viewed as assertions of entailments (meaning that one thing is part of another thing), on a par with the rest of a sentence’s meaning(russell’s approach) (levinson 2003: 173). in addition, he lists a certain range of presuppositional phenomena that had been adduced in the philosophical literature which includes the presuppositions of a. singular terms, e.g. definite descriptions, proper names osoba, joseph. “a linguistic analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 34-49. b. quantified noun phrases, e.g. “all of john’s children” can be claimed to presuppose “john has children” (strawson 1952). c. temporal clauses (as in frege’s example quoted above). d. changes of state verb: e.g. “betrand has stopped beating his wife“ can be claimed to presuppose “betrand had been beating his wife” (sellar 1954).] from his explication of the various approaches to and distinctions (frege and strawson, strawson (1952), russell, sellar (1954) of presupposition, levinson (2003) identifies two distinct kinds of presupposition in natural languages: (1) semantic presuppositions expounded by strawson (1952) and (2) pragmatic presupposition as expounded by keenan (1971). in the summary of his explication of semantic presupposition, levinson (2003: 204) clearly argues and asserts that: “semantic theories of presupposition are not viable for the simple reason that semantics is concerned with specification of invariant stable meanings that can be associated with expressions”. for this reason, and others catalogued by stalnaker (1974); kempson (1975), wilson (1975) and boer and lycan (1978), semantic theories of presupposition have been abandoned and replaced or substituted with pragmatic presupposition whose basic concepts are appropriateness (or felicity) and mutual knowledge or common ground or joint assumption. this is indicated in his definition which states that: an utterance a pragmatically presupposes a proposition b if a is appropriate and only if b is mutually known by participants. thus by uttering a sentence whose presuppositions are, and are known to be, false, we are merely producing an inappropriate utterance, rather than (on the semantic view) to have asserted a sentence that was neither true nor false (see osoba 2014b). the point, as noted by fairclough (2001:127), is that “presuppositions are not properties of texts; they are an aspect of text producers’ interpretations of intertextual context.” thus the utterances of dramatis personae may be accepted as been appropriate as textual discourse. the approach i have adopted in the analysis of soyinka’s play is that of pragmatic presupposition for the reason that it is more relevant and provides a sound basis for the explication and analysis of my dramatic discourse corpus. analysis it is important to note that several presuppositions can be read into an utterance based on its historical series or backgrounds. according to fairclough, it is also important to note that “as in the case of situational context, discourse participants may arrive at roughly the same interpretations or different ones, and the interpretation of the more powerful participant may be imposed upon others” (fairclough 2001: 127). this provides the foregrounding of the analysis of soyinka’s play. among the presuppositions in clause 1 of utterance 1, “thank you, brothers, sisters.” are: “i am grateful to you, brethren.”, “i appreciate your kind gesture.”, “you are nice brethren”, “you brethren deserve gratitude or appreciation.” these presuppositions are deductive from our common knowledge of the historical context of the utterance. having waited for their prophet for hours, the brethren must be appreciated for their patience. but the tone of the utterance, which sounds hesitant, may also presuppose the need for them to leave osoba, joseph. “a linguistic analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 34-49. the prophet alone. hence, the presuppositions of “please go now.”; “it is time you leave.”; “see you soon.” can also be read into the utterance. those presuppositions make the next two clauses in the utterance appropriate. thus clause 2 reads “brother chume, kindly tell these friends…” and clause 3 “…to leave me”. what is presupposed in clause 1 is explicitly stated in clauses 2 and 3 of utterance 1. but clauses 4 and 5, which read “i must pray for the soul of that sinful woman.” and “i must say a personal prayer for her”, have different presuppositions which can only be interpreted or understood in the light of the previous stage direction or non-verbal context which states that brother jero was a much altered man with his clothes torn and his face bleeding as he entered the stage. this presupposes that he had had a bad encounter before entering the church. from clauses 4 and 5, his sad encounter with a sinful woman is presupposed. other presuppositions such as “i am a prophet of god, who needs to pray for the souls of sinner so that god can forgive them their sins.”; “ as a prophet, i need to pray to be able to forgive the woman who has done harm to me”; “i am a true prophet, i pray and i forgive.” similarly, clauses 6 and 7, “prayers this evening, as usual.” and “late afternoon.” simply presuppose that prophet jero prays regularly especially in the evening or late afternoon. this seems to restate the previous presuppositions, “i am a true prophet, i pray.” in sum, utterance 1, with its seven clauses, can be said to presuppose that prophet jero is a true man of god who appreciates his congregation, forgives those who offend him and prays regularly, especially in the evening, with his congregation. this presupposition is what brother chume, his interlocutor, is likely to understand brother jero’s first utterance to be. utterance 2 is made by brother chume in reaction to brother jero’s first utterance. the utterance contains four clauses. the first two simply re-echoes the presupposition in brother jero’s first utterance. the third clause is a prayer which presupposes that brother chume also prays for and wishes the congregation well. the last clause is a direct question which presupposes that brother jero is not alright. the third utterance is made by brother jero and contains two clauses. clause 1: “who would have thought that…” and clause 2: “she would dare lift her hands against a prophet of god!” have the presupposition of “no one lifts their hands against a prophet of god.” and since the woman in question had lifted her hands on prophet jero two things could be also presupposed by the reader or audience: (1) the woman did not know that brother jero is a prophet and (2) brother jero is not a true prophet. these two presuppositions are deductive based on the historical context as well as the textuality of the third utterance. it is only in this context that the utterance can be appropriate. the fourth utterance is made by chume and contains only one clause. it is an explicit statement about chume’s general perception of a woman which presupposes that women are a nuisance! this may also presuppose that chume is married; that chume’s wife is troublesome. these presuppositions may be seen as foregrounding future revelations about the relationship between chume and his wife as well as the relationship between her and brother jero. utterance 5 is made by brother jero and contains three clauses. the first two clauses presuppose that the brother actually expects a sad encounter with a woman that morning. in the third clause, the presupposition of a spiritual encounter rather than a physical one is deductive. it is also presupposed, based on our common knowledge of the bible, that brother jero must have a temptation, that morning, through a woman which would cause him to sin. this interpretation is appropriate based on the foregrounding of the fourth utterance made by brother chume. but utterance 6, made by brother chume, contains only one clause and tends to reinforce the presupposition that women are evil in his preceding utterance 4. it also osoba, joseph. “a linguistic analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 34-49. presupposes that his perception that women are naturally or generally bad is true. this verbal interaction between jero and chume follows the principle of conversational turn-taking such that when jero makes a statement chume re-echoes it, performs it or responds to it in the most appropriate way. thus in utterance 7, which contains only two clauses, jero reminisces about the premonition he had had before his encounter with the “sinful woman”, in utterance 1 clause 4, who is subsequently presupposed as one of the “daughters of discord” in utterance 7 clause 2. little wonder, he must say a personal prayer for her. from this, it becomes clear to the audience that jero is oblivious of the fact that the woman he had an encounter with is chume’s wife. thus jero’s ignorance is presupposed in that light. paradoxically, chume, jero’s assistant, himself is unaware that the “sinful woman” and one of the ‘daughters of discord” is his own wife. however, jero’s ignorance soon vanishes in chume’s response in utterance 8. this utterance, which contains nine clauses, narrates chume’s irritating experience because how he was coerced to carry her and her luggage on his bicycle to lodge in front of one of her debtors’ house without any gratitude or appreciation. thus, in this utterance, chume’s ignorance of the wife’s debtor as jero is presupposed. it is implicitly expresses the presupposition that chume’s wife is a trader who is owed by some of her customers. it also expresses the presupposition that chume’s wife is a troublesome woman. clause 8 of the utterance presupposes that she is not only worrisome but also warlike. disappointingly, this account of his sad experience with his wife is dismissed and termed as a “trial” by jero in utterance 9 clause 1. the audience is most likely to interpret this response to mean that jero is a true prophet who follows the biblical injunction of forgiveness and seeing sad experiences as trials that must be patiently endured. clause 2 is an unfinished statement which may be seen as an ellipsis that can be filled as “…patiently endured.” this seems to lead to a pause as a result of jero’s sudden realization of the fact that the woman whom chume refers may actually be the sinful woman whom he owes and who had earlier assaulted him in his house. thus clause 1 presupposes that jero is a true prophet while clause 2 presupposes his suspicion of who chume’s wife is. as a result of this suspicion, jero asks chume a direct question in clauses 3 to 6. chume’s affirmative response in utterance 10 clearly confirms jero’s suspicion to be true which presupposes that jero is not the man of god that chume regards him to be. the presuppositions of shock and surprise are expressed in the following utterance 11 in which jero deduces correctly that that woman is chume’s wife in the first clause and asks a question in the second to confirm his initial suspicion that she is a trader to whom he owes money. this is the “someone”, chume is not sure of in utterance 9 clause 6, “who owes her”. socially and contextually, chume’s ignorance is presupposed in two ways. one, he is ignorant of the identity of the man who owes his wife money; two, he is ignorant of the fact the man is brother jero. but jero, through his subtle interrogation of chume in utterance 9 clause 6 and utterance 11 clause 2, is able to deduce and confirm that the woman is chume’s wife and a trader. in spite of this deduction and confirmation, jero wants to be doubly sure. so he asks further probing questions in utterance 13 to ascertain the exact location of the debtor’s house. chume’s answer in utterance 14 makes jero certain that that woman is actually brother chume’s wife. this knowledge, in a way, seems to give jero leeway because, earlier, chume had complained about his ungracious, ungrateful and combative wife to him. this is perhaps why he mutters the clause, “so that is your wife….” in utterance 15 to himself but loud enough for chume to notice. thus this utterance presupposes that jero is now aware that the “sinful woman” is chume’s wife. naturally, it is impossible for him, as a self-acclaimed prophet, to suggest that a man should seek revenge for an evil done to him whether justly or osoba, joseph. “a linguistic analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 34-49. unjustly. little wonder, before now, he had counselled chume to accept his predicament as “a trial” which presupposes that both jero and chume belong to the christian faith. and, perhaps, this is why when chume then asks in utterance 16, “did you speak, prophet?” he quickly, in the first three clauses of utterance 17, denies speaking claiming that he, jero, “… was only thinking of how little women have changed since eve, since delilah…” but the audience and jero, himself, know that he has told a lie. thus, to the audience, utterance 16 presupposes that jero is not the true christian he claims. the presuppositions of insincerity, lust and charlatanism become visible as jero, in utterance 17 clause 9, begins to narrate his encounter, “this morning alone i have been thrice in conflict with the daughters of discord.” socially, we can interpret his utterance as mumbo jumbo, a deliberate attempt to deceive chume. this is because he lumps a trader who makes legitimate efforts to collect the money he owes her with two other young women who are passersby after whom he lusts. he wants chume to believe that these are trials and crosses and that is why, in utterance 18, chume says he will be glad to exchange crosses with the prophet. this might presuppose that chume had other things in mind. this, as contextually expected, is promptly denied when jero questions him in utterance 19. chume’s response in utterance 20, “i was only praying”, is not surprising. both the prophet and his assistant are now confirmed as liars and charlatans because, earlier, jero had attempted to deceive chume and, now, chume attempts to deceive jero. the presupposition of insincerity is further heightened and buttressed by subsequent utterances of brother jero. for instance, in the first two clauses of utterance 21, jero concurs with chume that the only solution to their trials and crosses is “…praying.’ but from the third clause of the same utterance, he is no longer sure or certain what the will of god would be. this perhaps prepares the leeway for him awkward, who initial adverb needed, initially preaches tolerance, endurance, forgiveness and prayerfulness, to now advocate punishment for the “sinful woman” who has now become a “willful sinner”. thus insincerity and hypocrisy are both presupposed here because jero simply demonstrates here that he does not want to pay the money he owes chume’s wife but also wants her punished, though indirectly, for daring to ask for her money. this is why he counsels chume, in the last clause of utterance 29, to “take her home and beat her.” his reason for suggesting that is “never show the discord within you family to the world.” this is because he wants to cover up his indebtedness to chume’s wife. up to this point, chume is unaware of the relationship between brother jero and his wife. his assumption is that jero has given a sincere instruction as a prophet of god. chume’s simplicity and idiocy are presupposed in his own utterances that describes jero as the “holy one…” (utterance 24) and “prophet” (utterance 28). this is the height of callousness demonstrated by many so-called prophets in our society. conclusion our examination of presuppositions in the 29 utterances of the extract from wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero points to the fact that it is possible to explicate literary/dramatic discourses from a linguistic perspective. just as in real life, presuppositions abound in the dramatic text that we examined. the initial utterances of the interlocutors trigger in the reader or audience positive presuppositions that are appropriate in light of their religious setting. thus the social background of the characters helps in our understanding and interpretations of the presuppositions inherent in their utterances. for instance, the presuppositions of appreciation, meekness and prayerfulness are initially portrayed. but gradually, the presupposition that women are evil is expressed. chume’s ignorance of the true relationship osoba, joseph. “a linguistic analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 34-49. between jero and his wife is offered to the audience for them to construct a presupposition. jero’s ignorance that the woman he had had an encounter with earlier that is chume’s wife is also presupposed. in the end, after his knowledge of the fact that the “sinful woman” is chume’s wife, jero’s callousness is presupposed. all in all, an insightful interpretation of the dramatic text is provided, by this linguistic analysis of the excerpt of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero, showing a subtle interface between linguistic and literary methods. references boer, s.g. and w.g. lycan. 1978. “a performadox in truth-conditional semantics”, pragmatic microfiche; 3.3, a3-c12 (revised version printed in linguistics and philosophy 1986). cambridge: cambridge university press. boulton, m. 1977. the anatomy of drama. london: routledge and kegan paul. elam, k. 1980. the semiotics of theatre and drama. london: methuen and company. fabb, n. 1997. linguistics and literature. oxford: blackwell publishers ltd. fairclough, n. 2001. language and power. london: longman. gill, r. 2006. mastering english literature. united kingdom: palgrave macmillan. grice, h.p. 1975. “logic and conversation” in: syntax and semantics eds. p. cole and j.l.morgan, vol. 3, speech acts, new york: academic press, 41-54. halliday, m.a.k. 1973. explorations in the functions of language. london: edward arnold. jianmin, d. 1999. “business writing: using interactional language” in: teaching english forum vol. 37, (3) july – sept. 1999. keenan, e.l. 1971. “two kinds of presupposition”, in: fillmore and langendoen (eds.), studies in linguistic semantics. new york: holt, rinehart winston pp. kempson, r.m. 1975. presupposition and the delimitation of semantics. cambridge: cambridge university press. levinson, s. 2003. pragmatics. cambridge: cambridge university press. mey, j.l. 2001. pragmatics: an introduction. oxford: blackwell publishing. palmer, f. r. 1996. semantics. cambridge: cambridge university press. sellar, w. 1954. “presupposing”, philosophical review vol. 63, 197 – 215. stalnaker, r.c. 1974. “pragmatic presuppositions”, in: rogers, wall & murphy 1997. proceedings of the texas conference on performatives, presupposition & implicature washington: centre for applied linguistics. strawson, p.f. 1952. introduction to logic theory. london: methuen. wilson, d. 1975. presupposition and non-truth conditional semantics, london: academic press yule, g. 1996. the study of language. cambridge: cambridge university press. osoba, joseph. “a linguistic analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 34-49. appendix (brother jero has just come in view. they all rush to help him back into the circle. he is a much altered man, his clothes torn and his face bleeding.) jero (slowly and painfully): thank you, brothers, sisters. brother chume, kindly tell these friends to leave me. i must pray for the soul of that sinful woman. i must say a personal prayer for her. (chume ushers them off. they go reluctantly, chattering excited.) prayers this evening, as usual. late afternoon. chume (shouting after): prayers late afternoon as always. brother jeroboam says god keep you till then. are you alright, brother jero? jero who would have thought that she would dare lift her hands against a prophet of god! chume women are a plague, brother. jero i had the premonition this morning that a woman would be my downfall today. but i thought of it only in the spiritual sense. chume now you see how it is, brother jero. jero from the moment i looked out of my window this morning, i have been tormented one way or another by the daughters of discord. chume (eagerly): that is how it is with me, brother. every day. every morning and night. only this morning my wife made take her to the house of some poor man, who she says owes her morning. she loaded enough on my bicycle to lay a siege for a week, and all the thanks i got was abuse. jero indeed it must be a trial, brother chume…and it requires… (he becomes suspicious.) brother chume, did you say that your wife went to make camp only this morning at the house of a …of someone who owes her money? chume yes, i took her there myself. jero er…indeed. (coughs.) is …your wife a trader? chume yes. petty trading, you know. wool, silk, cloth and all that stuff. jero indeed. quite an enterprising woman. (hems.) er…where was the house of this man…i mean, this man who owes her money? chume not very far from here. ajete settlement, a mile or so from here. i did not even know the place existed until today. jero (to himself): so that is your wife…. chume did you speak, prophet? jero no. no. i was only thinking of how little women have changed since eve, since delilah, since jezebel. but we must be strong at heart. i have my own cross too, brother chume. this morning alone i have been thrice in conflict with the daughters of discord. first there was ... no, never mind that. there is another who crosses my path every day. goes to swim just over there and then waits for me to be in the midst of my meditation before my eyes…. chume (to himself, with deep feeling): i’d willingly change crosses with you. jero what, brother chume? osoba, joseph. “a linguistic analysis of wole soyinka’s the trials of brother jero”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 4 (1/2014), 34-49. chume i was only praying. jero ah. that is the only way. but er …i wonder really what the will of god would be in this matter. after all, christ himself was not averse to using the whip when occasion demanded it. chume (eagerly): no, he did not hesitate. jero in that case, since, brother chume, your wife seems such a wicked, willful sinner, i think…. chume yes, holy one…? jero you must take her home tonight…. chume yes…. jero and beat her. chume (kneeling, clasps jero’s hand in his): prophet! jero remember, it must be done in your own house. never show the discord within you family to the world. take her home tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. anna maria tomczak the university of bialystok rushdie affair revisited abstract: the article discusses the controversy surrounding the 1988 publication of salman rushdie’s novel the satanic verses from today’s perspective, drawing on the writer’s memoir joseph anton. it provides an overview of rushdie’s career, a brief resumé of the events that followed the ayatollah khomeini’s edict calling for the murder of the novelist, as well as a critical assessment of rushdie’s latest book. published in september 2012, the memoir fails to shed any new light on the debate concerning freedom of expression and a writer’s social responsibilities. it mostly focuses on the singular plight of a novelist forced to live in hiding. the opportunity to bring out some important links between politics, literature and history, which rushdie’s autobiographical account might have provided, seems to have been wasted. keywords: salman rushdie, the satanic verses, fatwa, joseph anton, memoir, novel, khomeini. february 2013, the time of writing these words, marks the twenty-fourth anniversary of the fatwa – khomeini’s proclamation of a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british writer of indian origin. almost a quarter of a century has passed since the dispatch of this “unfunny valentine” from “the lethal old man dying in his room” (rushdie 2012:11), the news that hit the headlines in 1989 and condemned an active writer to a life in hiding, transforming him into a state-protected individual constantly surrounded by police officers of the special branch of the metropolitan police. a period of twenty-four years in the life of a man counts as a long time, but in the history and development of humanity it may seem a mere trice. and yet the world of 2013, in which the memory of 9/11 is still fresh, and in which the word ‘jihad’ has entered the everyday lexicon for good, is a different world from that of 1989. militant islam, al-qaida activities and the social unrest in a number of arab countries have become daily occurrences. the year 1989 has gone down in the annals of history as the climactic moment of the downfall of communism and the dismantling of the berlin wall, but for rushdie it was the year when his private world collapsed. from today’s perspective the lot of a single author may demand less attention than the upheavals in central europe and their social and political consequences, while the growth of religious fundamentalism and nationalism most certainly continues to invite serious discussion. yet the 2012 publication of joseph anton: a memoir, rushdie’s autobiographical record of his life under the fatwa, rekindles the ashes of what became known as the rushdie affair, calling for reflection and a brief resumé of facts and opinions, especially in the new socio-political context. the phrase “rushdie affair” – written either with or without quotation marks – is a popular term which refers to the controversy over the publication of the satanic verses and its aftermath: violent mass protests, heated public debates on the issues of freedom of expression and the nature of blasphemy, attempted and conducted killings, muslim anger and wounded assertiveness. as both rauwerda (2008) and pipes (2003) stress, for the first time in the modern era a government (the political leader and head of state of iran) called for the killing of a private individual who was citizen of a foreign country. for the first time a work tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. of fiction caused an international diplomatic crisis and the official severing of international relations. and for the first time muslim rage resulted in such large-scale public rallies, firebombed bookshops, and innocent civilians attacked, seriously injured or killed. “the rushdie controversy raised important questions about the many millions of muslims now living in the west and their relationship to the civilization around them” (pipes 2003: 16). some of these questions have remained unanswered. 1. salman rushdie: life and work sir ahmed salman rushdie was born in bombay (today known as mumbai) in 1947, the year when india became independent, the only son in a muslim family, the eldest among three sisters. islam did not play a significant role in the children’s upbringing or education. as he recalls in joseph anton, he hardly ever participated in religious ceremonies and never learnt to pray. recitations in arabic were for him “mumbling” unknown words in a language he could not speak (2012: 8). in a sketchy portrait of his family presented in the memoir, what comes to the fore is the father’s alcoholism with bouts of “unprovoked, red-eyed rage” (2012: 21) and his most cherished gift for future generations – a changed surname, his father’s own idea and invention. the name ‘rushdie’ comes from ‘ibn rushd’, the name of the twelfth century muslim philosopher of spanish-arab background who translated the works of aristotle. the old indian name of ‘din khaliqi dehlavi’ was changed to ‘rushdie’ when salman was still a child. the real significance of this fact was understood by the boy much later. in the opinion of his son, rushdie senior was “a true scholar of islam who was entirely lacking in religious belief”, and “a godless man who knew and thought a great deal about god” (2012: 23). the name was chosen “because he respected ibn rushd for being at the forefront of the rationalist argument against islamic literalism in his time” (2012: 23). in 1961, at thirteen, salman rushdie was sent to rugby, a prestigious english public school, where he felt profoundly sad and alienated. he recalls: at an english boarding school in the early 1960s […] there were three bad mistakes you could make, but if you made only two of the three you could be forgiven. the mistakes were: to be foreign; to be clever; and to be bad at games […]. he made all three mistakes. he was foreign, clever, non-sportif. and as a result his years were, for the most part, unhappy, though he did well academically and left rugby with the abiding feeling of having been wonderfully well taught (2012: 26-27). it was at rugby that rushdie fully rejected faith. when he writes about it, as he does in joseph anton and in imaginary homelands, the tone is invariably jocular or even flippant: in the matter of god: the last traces of belief were erased from his mind by his powerful dislike of the architecture of rugby chapel […] ‘what kind of god,’ he wondered, ‘would live in a house as ugly as that?’ an instant later the answer presented itself: obviously no self-respecting god would live there – in fact, obviously, there was no god, not even a god with bad taste in architecture. by the end of the latin lesson he was a hard-line atheist, and to prove it, he marched determinedly into the school tuckshop during break and bought himself a ham sandwich. the flesh of the swine passed his lips for the first time that day, and the failure of the almighty to strike him dead with a thunderbolt proved to him what he had long suspected: that there was nobody up there with thunderbolts to hurl (2012: 31-32). then came his studies at king’s college, cambridge, his father’s old alma mater. initially, he was very reluctant to leave india and return to the uk and pleaded with his father “not to send him to cambridge, even though he had already won his place. he didn’t want to tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. go back to england […] to spend more years of his life among all those cold, unfriendly fish” (2012: 35). there were days when he would sit alone in his room and weep in loneliness. but studying history proved fulfilling. in the academic year of 1967-8, king’s college offered among its special subjects in history one entitled “muhammad, the rise of islam and the early caliphate”. college regulations were such that a subject could not be cancelled even if there was only one student who wished to take it up. rushdie was this single student and, under the supervision of professor arthur hibbert, embarked on a journey of intellectual discovery and analytical study of the birth of islam and the life of the pro phet. after graduation he worked briefly in advertising as a freelance copy-writer. rushdie’s first novel, grimus, appeared in 1975 and did not impress either the critics or the reading public. the book’s bad reception “shook him profoundly” (2012: 51) and he had to fight off despair. spectacular success came with midnight’s children (1981), often considered rushdie’s masterpiece and “a landmark in late twentieth-century fiction” (bradford 2007: 195). the title of the novel refers to the birth of one thousand and one children endowed with magical properties, all born on the 15 th of august 1947, between midnight and one a.m., the first hour of indian independence. the subject matter of the book is india itself, its history and destiny. midnight’s children was showered with prizes. it won the james tait black memorial prize for fiction, an arts council writers’ award, the english-speaking union award, and, most importantly, the coveted booker prize in the year of its publication. in 1993, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the creation of the booker prize, it was judged to be “the booker of bookers”, the best novel among those which had ever been awarded the title. rushdie is a great erudite and a prolific author, a tireless exponent of the themes of migration and cultural hybridity, “a writer of prodigious if uneven talent who deserves his international reputation” (shakespeare 2012). especially praised for his contribution to the tradition of magic realism and the development of the postmodern novel, he merits recognition as an ingenious postcolonial story-teller who has not only become widely read but is also regularly assessed by academia. critical studies of his life and work – in the form of dissertations, articles and full-length books – can be counted in the hundreds. steeped in the cultural memory of the indian subcontinent and in european heritage, rushdie’s fiction takes inspiration from multiple sources: historical records, contemporary cinema, and popular culture, peopled by a rich and varied cast of characters. his “textual pyrotechnics and verbal exuberance” (procter 2009) have earned him admiration and high regard world-wide. bradbury (1989: 360) asserts that rushdie expanded the english language “with the narrative freedoms afforded by the myths, the folklore, and the storytelling rituals of the indian narrative tradition”. a number of rushdie’s uniquely brilliant metaphors have often been cited as examples of his linguistic inventiveness that has added a completely new flavour to the english language, as was the case with his “chutnification of history”. his best known novels bring together the miraculous and the mundane, the sacred and the profane, the lofty and the pedestrian, the east and the west, fact and fiction, mixing and co-mingling disparate elements. they include the ground beneath her feet (1999), fury (2001), shalimar the clown (2005) and the enchantress of florence (2008). rushdie has also published short stories and non-fiction: the jaguar smile: a nicaraguan journey (1987), imaginary homelands: essays and criticism 1981-1991, and step across this line: collected nonfiction 1992-2002, works that demonstrate his great argumentative skills and admirable intellectual discipline and control in handling the brevity and precision of the genre. engaging in a critical assessment of rushdie’s oeuvre invariably stimulates debate on literature as a medium of cultural memory. astrid erll (2009: 219-222) argues that the ‘cueing function’ of various works of artistic expression consists in their ability and power to recall the past and engender memories, both on the individual level of a particular reader and the tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. collective level of a group – a group that shares culture, nationality, ethnic or religious identity. although literature’s ‘cueing’ function does not require social agreement about the content of reflection, a similar reaction may ensue from the readers’ shared knowledge and cultural background. when rushdie (1992: 74) admits: “i have never been able to read kipling calmly”, it is a statement that challenges kipling’s view of india which was passed on to the british, a view predicated on the imperial ideology of the day. reading kipling, as edward said maintains, one is bound to encounter the “orientalized india of the imagination” (1994: 181), very different from the india which many indian readers may know or remember. it is precisely because of literature’s appeal on the level of collective memory of a group that particular texts, or their fragments, resonate differently with different readers. for example, in rushdie’s novel the ground beneath her feet, two short passages evoke the cultural memory of the poles. although their significance in the context of the story seems negligible, yet they may unsettle or even disturb. one fragment concerns the driver of the polish pope john paul ii when the pope was “plain cardinal woytyla” (2000: 502); the other uses the name of a polish actor in a description of an iconic movie scene presented as a real event. we read: apparently this driver had been with him for years, and when it was time to elect a new pope the two of them drove down from cracow in some little beat-up polish pollutionwagon […] the future pope and his workingman sidekick strikin’ out for glory. anyway, they get to the vatican, the driver waits and waits, the smoke goes up, habemus papam, and finally he hears the news, it’s his good buddy, his road pal, his boss. then a messenger comes to see him. drive the car back to cracow and then find yourself another job, says the messenger. your ass is fired (2000: 502). and earlier: a polish patriot, zbigniew cybulski, has been murdered in a back yard, amid sheets blowing from washing lines. blood spread across a white sheet held against his midriff. a battered tin mug that fell from his hand has become a symbol of resistance. no: it is a holy relic, worthy of worship. bow down. (2000: 322). it is only to those who have seen andrzej wajda’s film “ashes and diamonds” that the above excerpt rings with deception. even though the ground beneath her feet is “about the permeable borderline between the imaginary and the real worlds” (2012: 553), the easy use of proper names of real people, rather than dramatis personae, calls into question the ethical nature of such a literary contrivance. subjected to fantasy and speculation, recognizable men and women transform into characters as puppets in the author’s larger scheme. rushdie has often stressed the writer’s absolute freedom of expression and argued for recognition of the power of literature and its right to provoke. “artistic freedom had been the air he breathed” (2012: 196). “he had always written presuming that he had the right to write as he chose […] and knowing, too, that countries whose writers could not make such presumptions invariably slid towards, or had already arrived at, authoritarianism and tyranny” (2012: 117). in imaginary homelands he asks: “what is freedom of expression? without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist” (1992: 396). no other book has offended as profoundly as the satanic verses. no other book has been called an insult so often. no other book has touched the chord of muslim sensibilities so tragically. 2. the satanic verses: facts and opinions tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. before the satanic verses controversy, rushdie had already been condemned for his treatment of india and pakistan in midnight’s children (1981) and shame (1983), both texts having been deemed offensive: the former because of the thinly disguised and extremely negative portrayal of indira gandhi, the latter due to its harsh criticism of the pakistani ruling elite. the publication of the satanic verses in 1988 was the most immediate reason for the ayatollah khomeini’s fatwa, on the grounds that the novel was a blasphemy against islam. when today people recall the moment of the book’s appearance on the market and in the public consciousness, they often erroneously think of 1989. this common mistake made, for example, by melanie phillips (2008: 45), results from the assumption that british muslims ’ angry reaction to the book was immediate, sparked off directly by its release. this was not the case. the satanic verses was published in september 1988 and the first street protests, which took place in britain in december of the same year, did not arouse much interest. it was only in january 1989, when the novel was publicly burnt in bradford, that the british media started to give the issue extensive coverage. bradford, a large city in yorkshire (today inhabited by over 500,000 people), with a substantial muslim minority, is sometimes treated as a symbolic place. presently, according to the 2011 census statistics 1 , nearly a quarter of the population of bradford are muslim (24.7%). in the previous census of 2001 the figure stood at 16%, with a marked increase to over 25% in the group of 16 to 24-year-olds. the city has the highest concentration of pakistanis in the uk, a figure which rose over the period of 2001-2011 from 14.5% to 20.4%. sometimes called ‘the curry capital of britain’, bradford provides the location for a number of british feature films which engage with the presence of the uk’s south asians, notably udayan prasad’s “my son the fanatic”, based on hanif kureishi’s short story, and “east is east” – an adaptation of ayub khan-din’s drama. it is in the latter movie that the road sign ‘bradford’ becomes so meaningfully changed to ‘bradistan’, alluding to the importance of islam. in popular belief, the sheer concentration of muslims in bradford accounts for the city’s fame as a centre of islamic fanaticism, turning it into “a city in which ideas carry knives” (kureishi 1986: 165). in 1986, three years before the fatwa, hanif kureishi wrote an essay about bradford for the granta special issue of travel writing, claiming that it was in bradford that: [s]o many important issues, of race, culture, nationalism, and education, were evident in an extremely concentrated way […]. these were issues that related to the whole notion of what it was to be british and what that would mean in the future. bradford seemed to be a microcosm of a larger british society that was struggling to find a sense of itself, even if it was undergoing radical change (kureishi 1986: 149-150). today kureishi’s words sound prophetic. the 1989 anti-rushdie demonstrations in bradford started an avalanche. british muslims’ protests against the satanic verses were preceded by a strong negative reaction outside the uk, especially in india. prior to the novel’s publication, following a few interviews with the author and the inclusion of the book’s extracts in the 1 statistical data released by the office of national statistics, available on http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/rptethnicity.html#tab-ethnicity-across-the-english-regions-and-wales tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. indian press, a campaign for banning the novel started. what rushdie said to indian journalists at that time reveals his awareness of a possible problem. asked whether he feared a backlash from the mullahs, he answered: “even shame was attacked by fundamentalist muslims. i cannot censor. i write whatever there is to write” (quoted in jain 1988: 32); and later: “i guess some people might get upset because it [the satanic verses] is not reverent, but the point is it is a serious attempt to write about religion and revelation from the point of view of a secular person” (quoted in basu 1988: 33). both interviews appeared in the indian press in september 1988. a fortnight later, on the 5 th october, india “earned the dubious distinction […] of being the first country in the world to have banned the book” (mitta 2012). pakistan, bangladesh, sri lanka, south africa, syria, lebanon, kenya, brunei, thailand, tanzania, indonesia, and sudan followed suit. events came in quick succession. in the early days of february 1989, seven people were killed during demonstrations in pakistan and india, and on the 14 th of the same month the head of state of iran, ayatollah khomeini, called on muslims all over the world to execute the author of the blasphemous novel. rushdie was proclaimed guilty of apostasy and defamation. an iranian businessman offered a $3 million bounty for his head. khomeini’s edict reads: i inform all zealous muslims of the world that the author of the book entitled the satanic verses – which has been compiled, printed, and published in opposition to islam, the prophet, and the qur’an – and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, are sentenced to death. i call on all zealous muslims to execute them quickly, whenever they may be found, so that no one else will dare to insult the muslim sanctities. god willing, whoever is killed on this path is a martyr (quoted in pipes 2003: 27). the novel’s alleged anti-islamicism rests on several pillars. at the centre stands a story that some of the verses of the koran had been originally dictated to the prophet muhammad by satan (hence the term ‘satanic verses’), and later removed from the holy book. in joseph anton rushdie explains that among a number of historical sources which deal with the life of the prophet muhammad there are important and trustworthy biographical accounts, compiled by ibn ishaq, waquidi, ibn sa’d, bukhari and tabari, which refer to “the incident of the satanic verses” (2012: 43), and which constituted the basis of his novel. as argued in the essay “in good faith”, the described incident is “the quasi-historical tale of how muhammad’s revelation seemed briefly to flirt with the possibility of admitting three pagan and female deities into the pantheon” (rushdie 1992: 399). other contentious points include the fact that one of the protagonists, gibreel farishta, described in the novel as sex-obsessed and engaging in adultery, is believed to be a representation of archangel gabriel (“farishta” being an urdu word for “angel”). mecca, muslims’ most sacred city, is called “the city of jahlia”, which means “the city of ignorance”. the names of the prophet muhammad’s wives are taken by prostitutes in a brothel to arouse their clients. muhammad himself is referred to by the insulting name mahound, which was used by the crusaders in the middle ages, and presented as a businessman striking deals with god. additionally, the novel includes a dream sequence which is a thinly veiled portrayal of khomeini. equally important is the question of form. tariq modood (1992: 70) writes about “the passages which reduce islam to a sexual appetite: the vulgar language, the sexual imagery”, and the “cheap and offensive ways” of raising important ideas. in the opinion of muslims, the novel spreads lies about islam, is abusive in its treatment of the holy prophet, demeaning and degrading their faith. the antinovel multi-pronged campaign concerned accusations of an inaccurate portrayal of islam, the use of foul language, the author’s derisive attitude toward religion, the abusive nature of both content and form, the defamation of the koran, and staining the honour of muslims tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. worldwide. thus, rushdie was pronounced guilty of blasphemy and of committing libel against the community. although most protesting muslims have never read the book, they believe it to be an assault on the collective cultural identity of the whole umma. the satanic verses is a work of fiction alternating dream and reality, written in a comic tone and often classified as a carnivalesque novel. it concerns the issues of the immigrant experience, alienation, transformation, and cultural crisis. in the words of the author, “it is a migrant’s-eye view of the world [...] written from the very experience of uprooting, disjuncture and metamorphosis (slow or rapid, painful or pleasurable) that is the migrant condition” (rushdie 1992: 394). it is also “a work of radical dissent and questioning and reimagining” (rushdie 1992: 395). critics have called it “a late twentieth-century version of joyce’s ulysses, a dynamic leviathan that both bemoans and magnificently represents the state of humanity – a dream of lost faith mired in heartless consumerism” (bradford 2007: 197). interpretations and assessment differ, though. for pankaj mishra, the satanic verses “is less about the immigrant condition than a helplessly anglophilic indian’s profound ambivalence about a british ruling class that regards him as a wog” (mishra 2012). significantly, at the time of the publication rushdie did not consider himself a muslim. in his 1990 essay entitled “in good faith” we read: it feels bizarre, and wholly inappropriate, to be described as some sort of heretic after having lived my life as a secular, pluralist, eclectic man. i am being enveloped in, and described by, a language that does not fit me. i do not accept the charge of blasphemy, because, as somebody says in the satanic verses, ‘where there is no belief, there is no blasphemy.’ i do not accept the charge of apostasy, because i have never in my adult life affirmed any belief, and what one has not affirmed one cannot be said to have apostasized from (1992: 405). moreover, rushdie has always claimed that writing controversial texts is an author’s right or even a calling, perhaps a solemn duty. it is through novels that ‘newness’ can enter the world. it is through literature that dissent and rebellion can gain ground and inspire. it is through fiction that the boundaries and limitations of language and form get expanded and open up the universe. therefore, there should be no restrictions on the writer’s freedom in the choice of content and ways of presentation. rushdie’s belief in his ‘freedom to offend’ echoes in all his books. the above-quoted passages from the ground beneath her feet exemplify his non-discriminatory nature of ridicule. the satanic verses, besides the alleged slur on islam, contains a scathing critique of the uk in the decade of the 1980s, the time of margaret thatcher’s premiership, alluded to through the figure of mrs. torture. as procter (2009) claims, the book is “as critical of thatcherism as it is of islam, with both 1980s london and ancient jahilia/mecca becoming parallel universes associated with emergent cultures of intolerance and fundamentalism”. in the discussion that followed the satanic verses controversy and khomeini’s fatwa, various important issues were hotly debated and public opinion in britain became split. many literary luminaries unreservedly took rushdie ’s side arguing for freedom from censorship. in joseph anton, he gratefully acknowledges the support, help and friendship offered by harold pinter, ian mcewan, martin amis, edward said, nadine gordimer, vaclav havel, bono of u2, and many more. regrettably, the defence of the novel focused entirely on the issue of freedom of speech, not the book’s merit. what the author hoped for was a more particular vindication, like the quality defence made in the cases of other assaulted books, lady chatterley’s lover, ulysses, lolita; because this was a violent assault not on the novel in general or on free speech per se, but a particular accumulation of words […] and on the intentions tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. and integrity and ability of the writer who had put those words together (rushdie 2012: 115). this has never happened. many years after ‘the affair’, margaret drabble revealed in her review of joseph anton: i would have been more than happy to offer evidence in court for the literary merit of the satanic verses, a defence salman would have appreciated. like michael foot, i had greatly admired the novel, particularly the passages about thatcher’s subversive, divided multicultural london. but this defence was never required. and, in the long run, it wasn’t needed. rushdie’s work has rightly won worldwide recognition (drabble 2012). the public debate proved grossly disappointing also because it steered clear of some vital concerns of a more general character, namely the public role of religion and the nature of a modern multicultural society. as parekh notes, the discussion in the media “largely concentrated on the threat to rushdie’s life, and when it discussed muslim demands, it conceptualized the issue as one of conflict between freedom and fundamentalism, the former central to and the latter representing a mortal threat to the british way of life” (parekh 2000: 303). instead of engendering an informed rational polemic, it polarized society. although many british muslims disapproved of death-sentences for writers, very few dissociated themselves from fatwa. the rushdie affair boosted their assertiveness and self-awareness. after khomeini’s extraterritorial murder order, rushdie remained in hiding for over ten years, the blackest and the bleakest time in his life. as a constantly protected captive, he found a security which could not be extended to everybody involved in the publication of his novel. after the iranian leader’s death in june 1989, fatwa was not revoked and violent protests did not subside. the american center in islamabad was attacked, collet’s and dillons bookshops in london firebombed. rauwerda (2008: 431) writes that, in total, twentytwo people died “as a result of the novel’s publication”. professor hitoshi igarashi, the japanese translator of the satanic verses, was stabbed to death in 1991. the italian translator, dr ettore capriole, barely survived a similar attack. and a norwegian publisher, william nygaard, was shot three times and badly wounded. rushdie notes that “[h]e thought every day of william nygaard and his bullet holes, of ettore capriolo kicked and stabbed, of hitoshi igarashi dead in a pool of blood by a lift shaft” and that such attacks meant that literature itself “had been vilified, shot, kicked, knifed, killed and blamed at the same time” (2012: 428). whenever somebody asks rushdie whether he would still have written the satanic verses, knowing the tragic toll, he feels hurt about such “shifting the blame from the men of violence to the target of their attacks” (2012: 226), and constantly repeats that “the consequences of violence were the moral responsibility of those who committed the acts of violence; if people were killed, the fault lay with their killers, not with a faraway novelist ” (2012: 229). 3. joseph anton joseph anton is rushdie’s pseudonym used during the thirteen years of his sequestered life, a false name by which he would be known to the people around him, including the policemen who protected him. ‘joseph’ was taken from joseph conrad and ‘anton’ from anton chekhov, two writers whom rushdie holds in high esteem. the period between 1989 and 2002, during which he lived as joseph anton, was a time of frustration, agony over his lost freedom, psychological trauma from his life in captivity, and constant attempts to reclaim his tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. normal life. the book illustrates it very well. written in the third person, rushdie’s memoir painfully records his ordeal – repeatedly moving houses, negotiating with various officials and politicians, acute awareness of the danger to which his family was exposed (both in and outside britain), unrelenting threats and hate mail. it is a very long book. on over six hundred pages the reader often finds information and comments he/she would gladly do without – details of the author’s infidelities and the problems of his four marriages, quarrels with agents and publishers, squabbles over money, drunken parties with various celebrities. bringing up intimate particulars of the private lives of public figures – their diseases and medications, fits of anger, home addresses, even the look of their genitals – strikes the reader as both tactless and out of place. when in chapter four, entitled “the trap of wanting to be loved”, the author speaks of his yearning for understanding and acceptance, it seems deeply unfair that he himself so hastily denies such a wish to others. too many people will not love him for what he has written about them. the muslim leaders of bradford are called “the bradford clowns” (441), the writer roald dahl described as “a long unpleasant man with huge strangler’s hands” (101), and kalim siddiqui named “the malevolent gnome” (488). there is a graceless comment about the singer cat stevens (today, after his conversion, known as yusuf islam), who “bubbled up in the guardian like a fart in a bath” (436). fellow writers, journalists, and one ex-wife in particular receive very cruel treatment. the use of third person narration, meant as a distancing device between salman rushdie the writer and his alias – joseph anton – whom he became involuntarily, suggests an attempt at objectivity and reining back emotion. however, as noticed by wilson (2012), by adopting this technique the author puts himself beside julius caesar and general charles de gaulle. they too published memoirs in which they spoke of themselves as if of their devolved selves and may seem highly appropriate company for a person often accused of vanity, arrogance, and even self-canonization. but the divided identity revealed in the title is much more than a literary ploy. at moments it becomes an intolerable burden. there is a two-tier division between ‘joseph anton’ and ‘salman rushdie’, as well as between ‘salman’ and ‘rushdie’. the author notes: “the gulf between the private ‘salman’ he believed himself to be and the public ‘rushdie’ he barely recognized was growing” (2012: 131). and later: he was aware that the splitting in him was getting worse, the divide between what ‘rushdie’ needed to do and how ‘salman’ wanted to live. he was ‘joe’ to his protectors, an entity to be kept alive […] ‘rushdie’ was much hated and little loved. he was an effigy, an absence, something less than human. he – it – needed only to expiate (2012: 251-252). rushdie writes about ‘joe’ as his “hated pseudonym” (2012: 466) and ‘joseph anton’ as “a sort of fictional character” (2012: 165), “the person he both was and was not” (2012: 177). he remembers and salutes each small step which could take him “back towards his real life”, “[a]way from joseph anton, in the direction of his own name” (2012: 458), and writes how he wanted to detach himself “from the body of the man scuttling from vehicle to vehicle” (2012: 466). the day when joseph anton, an international publisher of american origin, died and salman rushdie, the novelist of indian origin, was re-born, would become one of the happiest and most celebrated moments of his life. there is also a revolting figure of ‘satan rushdy’, “the horned creature on the placards carried by demonstrators” (2012: 5),with a protruding red tongue, an effigy of himself as hanged, displayed by hostile cheering crowds in faraway cities. all major british newspapers published reviews of the book and the opinions of critics, as was to be predicted, vary greatly. wilson (2012) calls it “a most peculiar book” and “an artless ramble”, which unfolds “galumphingly” and “conveys a bewildering emptiness”. for nicholas shakespeare (2012), it is “awfully long, solipsistic and of necessity selfserving”, but also “funny, painfully moving and absolutely necessary to read”. mishra (2012) tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. asserts that the use of the third-person narration “frequently makes for awkward self-regard”. and the writer margaret drabble (2012) finds joseph anton full of both “telling trivia and profound insights”. admittedly, large sections of the book provide a candid and earnest account of a fugitive’s secret life, “with its cringings and crouchings, its skulkings and duckings” (2012: 241). particularly moving is a scene describing rushdie as a broken person re-embracing islam. on christmas eve 1990, the writer met a group of muslim leaders who demanded that he prove his sincerity. believing that his statement of faith might put an end to ‘the affair’, he signed a provided document. later, he would look on the event with horror and shame, bitterly regretting his action, believing that: “he should have turned his back then and gone home, away from degradation, back towards self-respect” (2012: 274). proclaiming shahadah, the first pillar of islam, was a lie. he had survived this long because he could put his hand on his heart and defend every word he had written or said. he had written seriously and with integrity and everything he had said about that had been the truth. now he had torn his tongue out of his own mouth, had denied himself the ability to use the language and ideas that were natural to him. until this moment he had been accused of a crime against the beliefs of others. now he accused himself, and found himself guilty, of having committed a crime against himself (2012: 276). considerable attention is devoted to the activities and help provided by article 19, the human rights organization set up in 1986, which promotes freedom from censorship, the name having been taken from article 19 of the international covenant on civil and political rights, which asserts the human right to freedom of opinion and expression. the organization started the rushdie defence campaign and proved instrumental in finding support and facilitating rushdie’s public appearances in many european countries as well as in the united states. thanks to the work of the members of article 19, those courageous, selfless and determined people who devoted their lives to a noble cause, rushdie could hope that his ordeal would come to an end. he acknowledges this with gratitude. however, most of the memoir, regrettably, lacks quiet and sober reflection. drowned in petty concerns, submerged in the details of the publishing business, overwhelmed by the mood of hurt dignity, it laboriously re-enacts meetings, conversations, and journeys, suffering from its author’s obvious need to make the public know ‘everything’, ‘the whole truth’. being a pawn in someone else’s game, feeling powerless and disenfranchised, having to accept that for every public appearance he needed official permission and security measures, injured his self-respect and bruised his honour. especially painful were various public pronouncements about his monumental egotism, megalomania and assertions that he was “a social irritant” (2012: 550), “a troublemaker [who] didn’t merit […] assistance”, “that he had done nothing of value in his life” (2012: 455). accusations that his special protection cost the british taxpayer huge sums of money also grieved him deeply. it is especially rushdie’s lack of forgiveness which creates the impression of smallmindedness and an ungenerous spirit, his holding a long-standing grudge against all those people who turned their backs on him in times of crisis, wrote unflattering reviews, or criticized his refusal to apologize. borrowing an idea from a grace nichols poem, one may re-title rushdie’s book as “he is a long-memoried man”, wishing at the same time that the author, like his mother, had been able to develop the technique of ‘forgettery’ which helped negin rushdie survive an unhappy marriage. it might have proved therapeutic again. a high point and much welcome diversion comes in the form of several enclosed letters. addressed to both real people and some fictional personae, they show rushdie’s wry humour and determination. in a missive addressed to robinson crusoe he asks: “suppose you tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. had four man fridays to keep you company, and they were all heavily armed. would you feel safer, or less safe?”(2012: 187, original italics). turning to bernie grant, the legendary black mp elected to parliament in the 1980s as one of four non-white politicians, rushdie expresses his disappointment when grant refused to support him and accuses the black leader of representing “the unacceptable face of multiculturalism, its deformation into an ideology of cultural relativism” (2012: 187, original italics), finishing his message on an ironic note: “to quote the great monochrome philosopher michael jackson, it don’t matter if you’re black or white” (2012: 187, original italics). unfortunately, such inclusions become badly counterbalanced by fragments of actual letters and statements which rushdie received in support, as in: “we should really be grateful to rushdie for having opened up the imaginary for muslims once again” and “the only truly free man today is salman rushdie […] he is the adam of a library to come: one of freedom” (2012: 410-411, original italics). all traces of humour suddenly leave the writer when the topic becomes his historical role and his selfimage. in such instances he seems incapable of detachment. the book also suffers from redundancy and too heavy a reliance on the author’s journal. to rushdie’s readers, many passages echo his earlier statements, interviews, and essays too closely, incidentally giving the impression of calculated manipulation. for example, the memory of princess diana’s death elicits a comment: “[a]s she died, the last thing she saw would have been phallic snouts of the cameras coming towards her through the smashed car windows, clicking, clicking. he was asked to write something for the new yorker about the event and he sent them something of this nature” (2012: 520). the original text appeared in the american magazine on 15 th september 1997. rushdie compared the circumstances of princess diana’s death to j. g. ballard’s novel crash and david cronenberg’s subsequent film adaptation. both the tragic accident in paris which killed the princess of wales and cronenberg’s movie are for rushdie “a cocktail of death and desire” and he writes: “the object of desire, in the moment of her death, sees the phallic lenses advancing upon her, snapping, snapping. think of it this way, and the pornography of diana spencer’s death becomes apparent. she died in a sublimated sexual assault” (rushdie 1997). the remark in joseph anton about ‘something of this nature’ seems an understatement. the reason why rushdie mentions his new yorker article at all is not so much a wish to modify or rephrase his original crass formulations, or to mellow the tone, but to complain about the response of the british press. the media’s reaction to his text takes priority over the event itself. joseph anton: a memoir deals with the tragic period between 1989 and 2002 when salman rushdie was forced by circumstances to leave the limelight and had to lead the secluded life of a hunted person. the book was published in 2012, a full decade after the official information released by the intelligence services that the threat level had been drastically reduced and the protection no longer necessary. technically, rushdie had stopped hiding several years earlier when he moved to the us. the years 2002 – 2012 are not covered in the book, although sporadically there are some references to the events after 2002, for example the death of robin cook, the foreign secretary in tony blair ’s government, and the failure of rushdie’s last marriage to padma lakshmi, which ended in divorce in 2007. one might have hoped that the considerable lapse of time which passed between the announcement of fatwa and the moment of the publication of joseph anton would encourage some critical reflection and careful reconsideration, that the sheer passage of time would create a new perspective, and that the occasion of speaking through a memoir would provide a chance for telling the audience something really important. especially so, because, as rushdie rightly points out, during the furore that accompanied the publication of the satanic verses “his voice had been too small to be heard above all the other voices bellowing from every corner of the globe, above the howling winds of bigotry and history” (2012: 227). contrary to tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. the reader’s expectations and disappointingly so, the potential of a memoir does not get fully exploited and the author fails to uncover any new dimension of the old battle which he was always fighting, the battle between secularism and religion, or shed some new light on debates of long-standing. the predominant tone of joseph anton is that of grave injustice, the focus – on the writer’s singular individual plight and the evil of others. not for a moment can the reader wonder who the good and who the bad guys are. the division into ‘our’ camp (rushdie and the people who helped or expressed support) and the ‘enemy’ camp (fundamentalists as well as writers, politicians and other public figures who argued against the satanic verses, or, generally speaking, all his adversaries) seems very straightforward, the dividing line clearly drawn. however, the us/them dichotomy, although always present, momentarily makes room for a more inclusive, though hugely imprecise, ‘we’. rushdie states: the fundamentalist believes that we believe in nothing. in his world, he has his absolute certainties, while we are sunk in sybaritic indulgences. to prove him wrong, we must first know that he is wrong. we must agree on what matters: kissing in public places, bacon sandwiches, disagreement, cutting-edge fashion, literature, generosity, water, a more equitable distribution of the world’s resources, films, music, freedom of thought, beauty, love. these will be our weapons. not by making war, but by the unafraid way we choose to live shall we defeat them. how to defeat terrorism? don’t be terrorized. don’t let fear rule your life. even if you are scared (2012: 624). the category ‘we’ pitted against ‘the fundamentalist’ and ‘the terrorist’ seems to envelop the neo-liberal western world with its values and personal freedom, affirming the collective identity of the enlightened ones. but the mood and style of the passage seem to carry undertones of superiority. and no allowances are made for the fact that on both sides of the divide there might be some shared experience and thought. joseph anton gives hope, though. towards the end of his memoir rushdie writes: this in the end was who he was, a teller of tales, a creator of shapes, a maker of things that were not. it would be wise to withdraw from the world of commentary and polemic and re-dedicate himself to what he loved most, the art that had claimed his heart, mind and spirit ever since he was a young man, and to live again in the universe of once upon a time […] and to make the journey to the truth upon the waters of make-believe (2012: 629-630). nothing would please rushdie’s readers more than his withdrawal from the world of polemic and his return to the world of fiction. joseph anton’s generic classification and disciplinary belonging is revealed in the second part of its title. being a memoir, it can be approached as an act of self-representation rooted in a social context, and also “a tool for re-writing reality” (buss 2002: xxii). unlike autobiography, considered to be “the writing of one’s own history” (oed 1991, vol. i: 801), and traditionally concerning a whole life, often becoming a way to chronicle various achievements and accomplishments, memoir tends to focus on “one moment or period of experience rather than on entire life span” (smith and watson 2010: 3), “a single theme or emotional arc” (larson 2007: 17), creating “a chamber-sized scoring of one part of the past” (larson 2007: 19). hart asserts that although memoirs are “of a person”, “they are ‘really’ of an event” (in buss 2002: xi). in the case of joseph anton, this event is the rushdie affair, the claim justified by the book’s title and its time bracket. thus, we can read rushdie’s memoir as his intended contribution to the debate on the satanic verses and a chance to reveal a new self. being “a mix of the personal with the contextual” (adams in buss 2002: 1), memoir is tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. expected by its readers to offer “an author as guide, an informant whose presence lends a unique perspective to the historical moment or event” (adams in buss 2002: 1). memoirs always give primacy to the viewpoint of the narrator and do not purport to be impartial, but they also demonstrate how their author/narrator relates to their community and the world, and how the self-reflexivity of the writing process gives strength to remembering and recollecting. the writing persona changes, repossessing the past and revisioning the selected historical moment, while the provided account is meant to bear witness to inner transformations, as well as serving as testimony to socio-political developments. life-writing involves narrating the past “in such a way as to situate the experiential history within the present” (smith and watson 2010: 22). but the present which emerges from joseph anton lacks new knowledge and fails to reveal the world beyond the personal. 4. concluding remarks looking back on the events following the publication of the satanic verses from today’s perspective, we may argue that although the controversy over rushdie’s novel had serious social and political repercussions, the debate which it engendered did not lead to any deep and long-lasting soul-searching. twenty-four years on, we find the world polarized and antagonistic on the same issues that divided public opinion in 1989. although the present-day power of the internet with its easy access to information creates a situation when banning or censoring news proves difficult, it is still paramount to consider whether there should be limits to artistic provocation and who has the ultimate decision on the publication of any material deemed to be of an offensive nature. if the rushdie affair teaches us anything, it shows the fragility of intellectual discussion and the strong possibility of unprecedented and damaging fallout as a consequence of a literary event. a book, not addressed to the average reader, written in english and published in the west, and mostly known through hearsay, mobilized masses. its author, who valued freedom over fame, paid a very high price for his decisions, losing what he cherished most. his memoir reveals his suffering but it does not offer a voice strong enough to be heard “above the howling wind of history”. references: basu, shrabani. 1988. interview with salman rushdie. in: lisa appignanesi and sara maitland (eds.). 1990 [1989]. the rushdie file. 32-33. syracuse, n.y.: syracuse university press. bradbury, malcolm. 1989 [1987]. no, not bloomsbury. london: arena. bradford, richard. 2007. the novel now. contemporary british fiction. oxford: blackwell publishing. buss, helen m. 2002. repossessing the world: reading memoirs by contemporary women. toronto: wilfrid laurier univeristy press. drabble, margaret. 2012. joseph anton by salman rushdie – review, observer, 23 sept. 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/sep/23/joseph-anton-salman-rushdie-review (12 feb. 2013). erll, astrid. 2009. literatura jako medium pamięci zbiorowej [trans. magdalena saryuszwolska]. in: magdalena saryusz-wolska (ed.) pamięć zbiorowa i kulturowa. współczesna perspektywa niemiecka. 211-247. kraków: universitas. jain, madhu. 1988. my theme is fanaticism. interviews with salman rushdie. in: lisa appignanesi and sara maitland (eds.). 1990 [1989]. the rushdie file. 30-32. syracuse, n.y.: syracuse university press. tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. larson, thomas. 2007. the memoir and the memoirst. ohio: swallow press/ohio university press. mishra, pankaj. 2012. joseph anton by salman rushdie – review. guardian, 18 sep. 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/sep/18/joseph-anton-salman-rushdiereview?intcmp=srch (19 feb. 2013). mitta, manoj. 2012. reading ‘satanic verses’ legal. times of india. 25 jan. 2012. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-25/india/30662344_1_import-banbook-satanic-verses (17 feb. 2013). modood, tariq. 1992. not easy being british:colour, culture and the citizenship. runnemede trust and trentham books. office of national statistics. http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/keystatistics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/rpt-ethnicity.html#tab-ethnicityacross-the-english-regions-and-wales. oxford english dictionary, second edition. 1991. oxford: clarendon press. parekh, bhikhu. 2000. rethinking multiculturalism. houndmills: palgrave. pipes, daniel. 2003. the rushdie affair: the novel, the ayatollah and the west. second edition. new brunswick: transaction publishers. phillips, melanie. 2008. londonistan. how britain has created a terror state within, updated and revised new edition. london: gibson square. procter, j. 2009. salman rushdie: critical perspective. literature matters. http://literature.brit ishcouncil.org/salman-rushdie (17 feb. 2013). rauwerda, antje m. 2008. rushdie affair. in: prem poddar and david johnson (eds.) a historical companion to postcolonial literatures in english, 431-432. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. rushdie, salman. 1992. imaginary homelands. london: granta books. ——. 1997. reflections: crash. new yorker, 15 sept. 1997. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1997/09/15/1997_09_15_068_tny_cards_000379701 (24 feb. 2012). ——. 2000 [1999]. the ground beneath her feet. london: vintage. ——. 2012. joseph anton. london: jonathan cape. said, edward. 1994 [1993]. culture and imperialism. london: vintage. shakespeare, nicholas. 2012. joseph anton by salman rushdie: a review. daily telegraph. 20 sep. 2012. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/9555430/josephanton-by-salman-rushdie-review.html (13 feb. 2013). smith, sidonie and julia watson. 2010. reading autobiography. a guide for interpreting life narratives. second edition. minneapolis: university of minnesota press. wilson, a. n. 2012. joseph anton by salman rushdie: review. telegraph, 21 sep. 2012. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/biographyandmemoirreviews/9558297/josephanton-by-salman-rushdie-review.html (12 feb. 2012). tomczak, anna maria. “rushdie affair revisited”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 69-84. 38 crossroads. a journal of english studies discussion forum in this issue, we present an email discussion between two translators, małgorzata semil and krzysztof puławski on the translation of anthroponyms in theatrical plays. both participants are experienced translators of anglophone literature into polish. małgorzata semil is one of the editors of dialog, a polish monthly devoted to contemporary theatre, cinema, radio and tv plays, and a co-author of słownik wspólczesnego teatru [a dictionary of modern theatre]. krzysztof puławski is a frequent contributor to dialog. he also teaches translation courses at the university of bialystok, poland. the discussion was conducted in polish. we present it in its original language version. antroponimy w teatrze w 2012 roku przygotowywałem referat, który początkowo miał dotyczyć wyłącznie sztuk teatralnych, a konkretnie tłumaczenia (lub nie) występujących w nim imion, nazwisk, pseudonimów etc, czyli ogólnie antroponimów. w ramach przygotowań skontaktowałem się z małgorzatą semil, nie tylko znaną tłumaczką i redaktorką dialogu, ale też współautorką słownika współczesnego teatru. owocem tego kontaktu była prawdziwa burza mózgów, dotycząca wykorzystania antroponimów w teatrze. i chociaż wielokrotnie przy różnych okazjach wykorzystywałem wątki tej korespondencji, to kusiło mnie, żeby zaprezentować ją w całości, w takiej roboczej formie, w jakiej się odbywała. myślę, że po trzech latach nie straciła ona nic ze swojej aktualności. krzysztof puławski 39 discussion forum szanowna pani, dostałem pani adres od joanny krakowskiej z dialogu. chciałbym przygotować referat na temat sposobów traktowania przez tłumaczy imion, nazwisk i przydomków bohaterów w tłumaczeniach sztuk teatralnych (na konferencję imago mundi na uw) i skierowano mnie do pani jako osoby najbardziej kompetentnej w tej kwestii (i w ogóle sprawach tłumaczeniowych). robiłem jakiś czas temu dla dialogu redakcję dawnych tłumaczeń sztuk yeatsa i synge’a i  zauważyłem tam parę dziwnych rzeczy. na przykład imię patrik (takie skrzyżowanie patryka i patricka) czy używanie w tym samym tekście imion polskich i obcych, co zresztą zdarza się i współcześnie. zastanawiam się: 1. czy dialog miał od początku lub jakiegoś momentu zalecenia dotyczące imion, nazwisk i  pseudonimów? 2. w jakim stopniu była to jednak kwestia indywidualnego wyboru? 3. co się działo ze znaczącymi przydomkami? 4. czy były (a jeśli tak, to kiedy) jakieś zmiany w ogólnym podejściu do imion i nazwisk? 5. skąd pochodzi zasada, by shakespeare’a pisać tak jak w oryginale (co w zapisie może dziwić, kiedy na przykład rozmawiają dwaj chłopcy albo jacyś prości ludzie)? będę wdzięczny za wszelkie informacje i wskazówki, a sam czekam na ferie, żeby dać nura w stare numery dialogu. łączę pozdrowienia, krzysztof puławski p.s. może pamięta też pani jakieś gafy związane z imionami, etc. niezbyt to przyjemne dla tłumacza, ale jakie ciekawe. szanowny panie, dziękuję za miły list i spróbuję odpowiedzieć na pana pytania, choć nie jest dla mnie do końca jasne, czy pyta pan o politykę dialogu, czy o moją własną praktykę. 1. czy dialog miał od początku lub jakiegoś momentu zalecenia dotyczące imion, nazwisk i pseudonimów? żadna zasada nie była nigdy i nigdzie zapisana, ale było zawsze ogólnie przyjęte, że imion się nie tłumaczy. czasem opór (albo upór) tłumacza był niemożliwy do pokonania i podejrzewam, że w przypadku synge’a czy yeatsa tak właśnie było. adam tarn był bardzo światowy i tej światowości pilnował, do tego stopnia, że obstawał przy pisaniu new york. również to on pilnował shakespeare’a i moliere’a. dopiero w latach siedemdziesiątych – już po osiero40 crossroads. a journal of english studies ceniu nas – odstąpiliśmy od new yorku ale pozostaliśmy przy oryginalnej pisowni nazwisk – tyle że shakespeare w wersji przymiotnikowej piszemy szekspirowski. nazwijmy to naszą specyfiką (obok kilku innych) 2. w jakim stopniu była to jednak kwestia indywidualna? 3. co się działo ze znaczącymi przydomkami? nie potrafię tego prześledzić i myślę, że pytanie nr 2 zawiera odpowiedź: rzecz zawsze zależała (i w moim przekonaniu zależy) od konkretnego tekstu, od roli, jaką znaczenie imienia czy nazwiska gra w tekście, a ostatecznie od inwencji i talentu tłumacza. z reguły drukowaliśmy zawsze przekłady, a nie adaptacje. tylko, jak wiadomo, granica między jednym a drugim bywa cienka. na przykład, czy dzieło ireny tuwim kubuś puchatek kwalifikuje się jako przekład czy jako adaptacja? myślę, że gdyby tej jakości przekład dramatu do nas trafił, nie mielibyśmy wątpliwości, że należy drukować. w końcu drukowaliśmy jakieś „spolszczenia”, bodajże rymkiewicza. myślę, że gdyby w sztuce pojawił się tom, dick i harry na bezludnej wyspie, to coś by z tym należało zrobić. ale co konkretnie, zależałoby od kontekstów. pamiętam sytuację, w której tłumaczka była dość bezradna wobec postaci o imionach bee, dee, vee, jay i kay. skończyło się na molly, polly, bella, stella i della. 4. czy były (a jeśli tak, to kiedy) jakieś zmiany w ogólnym podejściu do imion i nazwisk? dyrektyw żadnych nie było. główną zasadą jest zdrowy rozsądek i konsekwencja. kundle w rodzaju patrika by dzisiaj nie przeszły. 5. skąd pochodzi zasada, by shakespeare’a pisać tak jak w oryginale (co w zapisie może dziwić, kiedy na przykład rozmawiają dwaj chłopcy albo jacyś prości ludzie)? ja sama staram się pozostać a) przy imionach oryginalnych, chyba że powodują zbyt wielkie problemy fonetyczne. jeśli to możliwe, staram się to skonsultować z autorem. tak było w przypadku jakiegoś bohatera u labute’a. imię zastępcze było też angielskie i starałam się, żeby miało podobne usytuowanie kulturowo-społeczne, ale po polsku brzmiało lepiej. nie pamiętam, co to było za imię. wiem, że gdyby postać miała na imię guy, to bym szukała zamiennika. przed ślubem stulecia zastanawiałabym się nad użyciem imienia pippa. ze studentami pracowałam nad sztuką, w której występował chłopak, który się nazywał trout stanley i była mowa o tym, że rodzice „dali mu rybie imię”. po długich deliberacjach zdecydowaliśmy się go nazwać carp/karp stanley. rozumowanie było następujące: pstrąg stanowił zbyt dużą przeszkodę w kwestiach; szukaliśmy ryby, która  istnieje po angielsku i po polsku, (odrzucając  m.in. halibuta i turbota), a karp nam się w tekście sprawdzał. 41 discussion forum pozostał tylko problem, jak go odmieniać: carpie, czy carpiu. przez semestr problem pozostał nierozstrzygnięty. łączę wyrazy szacunku, małgorzata semil szanowna pani, dziękuję za błyskawiczną i bardzo obszerną odpowiedź. oczywiście głównie chodziło mi o tendencje „ogólnodialogowe” i takie będę starał się wyśledzić, chociaż z tego, co pani pisała, wynika, że często decydowało wyczucie naczelnego. zresztą „wyczucie” to pewnie złe słowo, bo chyba chodziło o odcięcie się w ten sposób od siermiężnego komunizmu. jak pani pisała: światowość. natomiast doświadczenia osobiste są zawsze bardzo ciekawe, zwłaszcza że sam podchodzę do tekstu bardziej wzrokowo. dlatego raziłyby mnie imiona takie jak jeb, albo bo (od beauregard) – w tym drugim wypadku trudno do tego imienia dostosować składnię zdania i w ogóle trzeba je chyba zmieniać w większości tłumaczeń. dopiero ostatnio zacząłem przy okazji tłumaczenia dramatów czytać tekst polski na głos, żeby sprawdzić, jak będzie brzmiał ze sceny. stąd na przykład (co prawda w prozie) zamiana imienia beccah na rebeka – bo bohaterka wcale nie była „beką”. ze spolszczeń sztuk pamiętam to, co robił sito, ale nie wydaje mi się, żeby te teksty były drukowane w dialogu. grywano je chyba co jakiś czas, bodaj w dramatycznym, ale głowy nie dam. to oczywiście kolejny wątek, bo z całą pewnością pojawiali się w dialogu tacy tłumacze, którzy robili to, co chcieli, o czym zresztą również pani wspomina. wydaje mi się, że byłoby bardzo interesujące wyłowienie tych osób. bardzo ciekawy jest też problem trout/carp. można by się zastanowić, czy nie dać tu wyjątkowo polikarpa (odpadłby problem z odmianą). sam się czasami zastanawiam, czy u wilde’a nie powinno być np. szczęsnego zamiast ernesta. no i chciałoby się coś zrobić z krappem z „ostatniej taśmy”, chociaż zamiana na kaua byłaby zbyt gruba. znalazłoby sie jeszcze więcej przykładów... i ostatnia rzecz: mam wrażenie, że jednak w teatrze jest tendencja do spolszczania imion i mieszania ich z obcymi. przypominam sobie na przykład „opowieści o zwyczajnym szaleństwie” zelenki w dramatycznym, gdzie główny bohater był piotrem, ale inni nosili już bardziej czeskie imiona czy „marata/sade’a” z supraśla (gdzie nb. mieszkam) z karoliną (sic!) corday. nie wiem, czy ten tekst weissa nie był drukowany w dialogu... raz jeszcze bardzo dziękuję za pomoc. mam nadzieję, że mogę wykorzystać pani uwagi, oczywiście z podaniem źródła. łączę pozdrowienia, krzysztof puławski 42 crossroads. a journal of english studies szanowny panie, odpowiadam na czerwono. z ukłonami, malgorzata semil szanowna pani, dziękuję za błyskawiczną i bardzo obszerną odpowiedź. oczywiście głównie chodziło mi o tendencje „ogólnodialogowe” i takie będę starał się wyśledzić, chociaż z tego, co pani pisała wynika, że często decydowało wyczucie naczelnego. zresztą „wyczucie” to pewnie złe słowo, bo chyba chodziło o odcięcie się w ten sposób od siermiężnego komunizmu. jak pani pisała: światowość. w dużym stopniu ma pan rację. natomiast doświadczenia osobiste są zawsze bardzo ciekawe, zwłaszcza że sam podchodzę do tekstu bardziej wzrokowo. dlatego raziłyby mnie imiona takie jak jeb, albo bo (od beauregard) – w tym drugim wypadku trudno do tego imienia dostosować składnię zdania i w ogóle trzeba je chyba zmieniać w większości tłumaczeń. dopiero ostatnio zacząłem przy okazji tłumaczenia dramatów czytać tekst polski na głos, żeby sprawdzić, jak będzie brzmiał ze sceny. stąd na przykład (co prawda w prozie) zamiana imienia beccah na rebeka. ze spolszczeń sztuk pamiętam to, co robił sito, ale nie wydaje mi się, żeby te teksty były drukowane w dialogu. grywano je chyba co jakiś czas, bodaj w dramatycznym, ale głowy nie dam. to oczywiście kolejny wątek, bo z całą pewnością pojawiali się w dialogu tacy tłumacze, którzy robili to, co chcieli, o czym zresztą również pani wspomina. wydaje mi się, że byłoby bardzo interesujące wyłowienie tych osób. może i tak, ale wiele z tych osób nie ma już wśród żywych – np. cecylii wojewody. nie ma już także jerzego s. notabene – z pewnością w rozlicznych dziełach nt teorii tłumaczenia z pewnością są jakieś reguły opisane i uzasadnione. niestety, albo stety, ja ich nie znam. jak już powiedziałam, kieruję się wyłącznie pragmatyką (doskonały przykład z jeb i beccah) oraz zdrowym rozsądkiem. bardzo interesujący jest też problem trout/carp. można by się zastanowić, czy nie dać tu wyjątkowo polikarpa (odpadłby problem z odmianą). sam się czasami zastanawiam, czy u wilde’a nie powinno być np. szczęsnego zamiast ernesta. no i chciałoby się coś zrobić z krappem z „ostatniej taśmy” chociaż zamiana na kaua byłaby zbyt gruba. znalazłoby sie jeszcze więcej przykładów... 43 discussion forum obawiam się, że na kaua – zamiast krappa – nie pozwoliłby polski wice beckett, ale pomysł mi się podoba. co do polikarpa, chyba byłoby to za mało „rybne” a przez to za mało absurdalne. chociaż wtedy znikłby problem z odmianą. marat/sade był drukowany w dialogu (nr 1/1965), ale w owym czasie tłumaczy z niemieckiego było niewielu i byli bardzo różnej jakości. niestety, jest tam właśnie karolina corday. i tu pojawia się dodatkowy problem: jak nazywać postaci dramatu, które są zarazem postaciami historycznymi, np. król karol czy król charles (zupełnie hipotetyczny przykład) i ostatnia rzecz, mam wrażenie, że jednak w teatrze jest tendencja do spolszczania imion i mieszania ich z obcymi. i tu się z panem zgadzam, tylko dodam, że w teatrze panuje totalny bałagan i każdy reżyser, a już nie daj boże „dramaturg” wszystko wie najlepiej, zwłaszcza, jeśli odbył kurs angielskiego dla początkujących. wie przecież, że blue to znaczy niebieski, a sweet znaczy słodki – na przykład. kłopoty zaś mają ze słuchem językowym i ze znajomością kultury czy realiów. nie dziwią mnie te kontaminacje – bo wszystkowiedztwo plus ogólne niechlujstwo. miałam ostatnio takie oto frustrujące doświadczenie. przetłumaczyłam dawno, dawno temu sztukę, która nosiła tytuł sweet phoebe i opowiadała historię małżeństwa japiszonów, które szuka zagubionego psa imieniem phoebe, a przy tej okazji traci kontakt emocjonalny i ich związek ulega erozji. pies w sztuce nie występuje; jest tylko katalizatorem. zatytułowałam utwór po polsku febe, wróć. i  pod takim tytułem ukazał się on drukiem i w teatrze tv. teraz jednak, młodzi aktorzy, obyci z angielszczyzną, wzięli się do realizacji i nazwali sztukę słodka fibi. bo przecież phoebe się czyta fibi (jaka głupia ta tłumaczka!) a sweet – no, wiadomo. argumenty, że ludzie, którzy psa nazywają imieniem mitycznym, imieniem szekspirowskim, to nie ci sami, którzy nazywają psa na przykład fifi, mimi, pipi etc. – a do tego sprowadza się nazwanie go fibi – nie docierały. podobnie nie docierały argumenty, że „słodki” to wyraz z repertuaru jakiejś cioci-kloci, a nie ostrych japiszonów i że słowo może znaczy to samo w jednym i drugim języku, ale w sensie niedosłownym funkcjonuje inaczej. skończyło się niezbyt przyjemnie dla obu stron, ale my, tłumacze, wobec tendencji w dzisiejszym teatrze stoimy na przegranej pozycji, niestety. szanowna pani, dziękuję za przykład z febe. znakomity! a jednocześnie pomyślałem, że to też jest problem, jak ze sceny się słyszy imiona i nazwiska obce w obcej wymowie. to jest trochę tak, jakby się miało do czynienia z kolejnymi wersjami mariusza maksa kolonko. sam się do tego kiedyś przyczyniłem, bo jak zadzwonił do mnie reżyser z pytaniem o prawidłową wymowę imion, to 44 crossroads. a journal of english studies podałem mu angielską, zamiast powiedzieć normalnie albo odesłać do słownika bartmińskich. potem dzwoniłem i to odkręcałem, ale bez większych rezultatów. zdaje się, że aktorzy przywiązali się do takiej wymowy. odnośnie do książek z translatologii (bo tak się to teraz nazywa), które muszę ostatnio czytać, to oczywiście bywa różnie. po pierwsze samych teorii jest bez liku i czasami sobie przeczą. a poza tym jakość tych prac zależy od doświadczeń autora. bardzo dobre rzeczy napisali praktycy (tabakowska, hejwowski, jarniewicz), ale teoretycy mają czasami zupełnie pokręcone pomysły, których często gotowi są bronić jak niepodległości. raz jeszcze dziękuję za pomoc i przepraszam za mało składny mail, ale mam za sobą dwadzieścia godzin zajęć (weekend i poniedziałek). łączę pozdrowienia, krzysztof puławski 45 discussion forum tak właśnie prezentuje się ta wymiana mailowa. wydaje mi się, że warto ją jeszcze podsumować i napisać o paru zupełnie podstawowych sprawach, które z niej wynikają: 1. antroponimy w sztukach teatralnych (i szerzej, w literaturze) są ważne i rzadko bywają przypadkowe. 2. tłumacze zwykle zdają sobie z tego sprawę i nawet jeśli ich nie zmieniają, to nie znaczy, że o nich nie myślą. wszelkie tłumaczenia i zmiany wynikają więc z naprawdę poważnych przemyśleń (małgorzata semil pisała, że przy zamianie imienia brała pod uwagę jego społeczne umocowanie.) 3. antroponimy stanowią integralną część tekstu i tak właśnie trzeba je traktować. nie można ich od niego oddzielić, ani uważać za jedynie „doczepione” do całości. małgorzata semil podała tu doskonały przykład z psem febe, który jest febusem, słońcem swoich właścicieli (a wiec mogą być na jego punkcie zaślepieni i tak dalej). mój przykład z krappem-kauem jest chyba mniej fortunny, bo angielskie „crap” w tym wypadku znaczy „bzdury” czy „głupoty” – czyli od razu stanowi podsumowanie tego, co ma do powiedzenia bohater sztuki. może więc jakiś bzdett? 4. tłumacz powinien mieć istotny wpływ na ostateczne formy antroponimów w sztukach teatralnych. nikt nie odmawia reżyserowi prawa do adaptacji tekstu, nawet w formach skrajnych (co swoją drogą nie znaczy, że my jako widzowie nie możemy tego rodzaju przeróbek ocenić), ale przy okazji warto, by skonsultował się w tej sprawie z tłumaczem. krzysztof puławski 11 articles łukasz zarzycki university of nizwa socio-lingual phenomenon of the anti-language of polish and american prison inmates abstract. the aim of this paper is to compare polish and american prison slang terms as well as their inmate codes. this paper is devoted to the phenomenon of prison subculture from the perspective of the polish prison slang so called the secret grypserka language (from gryps – a slang word meaning a letter smuggled into or out of a jail). grypserka is the anti-language of polish prison inmates. prisoners are people, too, like doctors, policemen and undertakers but when being in prison they lose their friends or often family and then there is nothing left for them but to learn words (grypserka slang) in order to communicate secretly with one another. perhaps, nobody wants to be sentenced to prison apart from those who are broken-down. a lot of people regard imprisonment as the end of the world. in spite of their dislike or even fear of prisons, they do not close the way to experience power, wealth, sex and addiction. in order to gain so many conveniences, prisoners have to develop their language skills and learn grypserka which allow many desires to be met in their “second world” relieving the pains and inconveniences of incarceration. all in all, it was agreed that “the distinctive argot of inmates gives an insight into the institutions, preoccupations, and style of prison life” (michaels and ricks, 1980: 525). unfortunately, the prison slang has a negative effect on the rehabilitation process because it carries subculture “essence” – rules and norms. it is due to unique expressions, words and phrases that the way of thinking and outlooks of the group members are shaped. when penetrating such a composite phenomenon as the prison slang one should take into consideration its specific attribute – secrecy – and, moreover, the fact that its chief goal is to fight against law. keywords: prison slang, grypserka, polish prison subculture, anti-language, american and polish prison terminology. the concept of “prisonization” first of all, the difference between socialization and prisonization needs to be explained at this point. socialization refers to the process whereby one adopts the values, behaviours, and norms of the subculture, prisonization may be referred to as the process whereby inmates become so acclimated to prison life that the free world becomes strange and the prison becomes normal (pollock, 2005: 102). there are different types of adaptations among inmates. goffman (1961: 61-63) divided them into situational withdrawal, intransigent line, colonization and conversion. “situational withdraw12 crossroads. a journal of english studies al” was characterized by a removal and alienation from prison life. clemmer (1958) first described “situational withdrawal” inmates and labeled them “ungrouped” – those who play a solidary or semisolidary role in the prison environment. przybylski (2005: 28) calls them “niegrypsujący” or  “nieludzie” meaning “non-humans”. “intransigent line” inmates were those who bucked the system and intentionally challenged the institutional regime by flagrantly refusing any and all cooperation with staff members. schrag (1944) calls them “outlaw” inmates, giallombardo (1966) “jive bitches”. “colonized” inmates were described by goffman as those who maximized the perks allowed in prison and created their whole world out of them. przybyliński’s (2005: 28) “grypsujący, ludzie, git-ludzie” meaning “humans” or “cool humans” seem to come close to this role. schrag (1944) calls them “con-politicians”. colonized inmates may be considered the most prisonized because it appears that they have come to accept prison as home. at last “converted inmates” are those that had completed the institutional role and were described as the “perfect inmate” by staff, jailers and administrators, but not by inmates (goffman, 1961: 63). the colonized inmates are called by other prisoners a “suck ass” or a “led rider” and are equivalents to przybyliński’s (2005: 28-34) “poszkodowani” or “cwele” meaning “victims” or “faggots”. the colonized inmates are called by giallombardo (1966) “inmate cops” and by sykes (1958) “centermen”. in the polish prison history, the term “grypserzy” – those who accepted the rules of prison life, has many different names. from 1965 to 1966 the most popular term for “grypserzy” was “urkowie”. urkowie came from warsaw and used to be treated as those having power over other prisoners. they were considered dangerous and disruptive. in 1965-1966 the word “urkowie” faded and was replaced by “charakterniak” describing a person having a strong character. in 1967 there appeared a new word “ludzie” or “git-ludzie” meaning “humans” or “cool humans” and these terms are still in use (przybyliński, 2005: 29) clemmer (1958: 301) cites the following factors affecting prisonization: “long sentences, unstable personality, few positive relations with outside people, readiness to join prison primary groups, a blind acceptance to the mores of the primary group, chance placement with similar others in prison, and readiness to participate in gambling and “abnormal” sexual behavior”.2 the prison subculture has been described as an underground organization replete with its own codes of rules and terminology and, therefore, one more factor affecting the process of prisonization should be mentioned. that is readiness to learn prison argot or grypserka. defining prison subculture the field of subcultural research has been subject to wide number of methodological, theoretical and ideological debate. in reading subcultural research one must be aware not only of biases inherent in the research but also the prejudices the reader brings to the reading. subcultural research calls on a variety of sociological theory; from early studies of deviance to the post-modern 2 pollock j.m. (2005) prisons today and tomorrow, p.103 13 articles to conceptions of a networked society. the exploration of subcultures often commences with particular definition of subculture. although the validity of such a task is questionable, it nonetheless provides a means to begin exploration of the topic. subculture can be understood as a group of individuals having distinctive attributes that is distinguishable from others within the same society (fowler, 1964). such an ambiguous definition provides a reasonable launching point at which to address such a complex subject matter. on reading such a definition one may be provoked to consider a number of counter definitions that essentially negate the properties of the original definition. the definitional problems of subculture can be recognised in many research projects undertaken in the field of subcultural research. becker (1963) undertook the study of jazz musicians to understand the conflicts that arose between musicians, employers and the audience. stallybrass et al. (1986) reconceptualised the festival of canivale from being defined as a popular festival to a subcultural dialectic between the conventional and the unconventional. jenkins (1992) on television fan culture, crimp et al. (1990) on aids activism and fonarow (1995) on live music events all demonstrate how broad conceptions of subcultures may be. thornton (1997: 1) introduces the question of subculture by comparing it to relating concepts such as “the masses”, “the public”, “society” and “culture”. thornton’s (1997: 5) comparison sheds light on the practice of subcultural research as being a process of construction, which labels, frames and demarcates, relying heavily on ill-conceived concepts as a definitional base. early research projects on the nature of subcultural deviance tend to deploy this problematic most seriously (thornton, 1997: 6). early investigations into subcultures tended to engage in a broad descriptive process, often appearing to be lost in the complexities and never-ceasing questions that developed from their observations. hebdige (1979: 75) traces subcultural research as far back as the nineteenth century to urban ethnographies, written by the likes of mayhew (1851), archer (1985) dickens (1984) and morrison (1946), which employed descriptive methodologies without scientific orientations. the earliest sociological investigation of subcultures can be found in the works of thrasher (1963), who investigated 1,313 gangs of chicago to comprehend “gangland” environment, patterns of gang behaviour and problems of delinquency control. research was undertaken through participant observation which produced a fantastic depth of description. however, hebdige (1979: 75) has criticized such works as lacking “any analytical or explanatory framework.” although the accuracy of thrasher’s research is certainly debatable hebdige’s criticism may be too harsh for such an early, insightful piece of sociological research. chicago university carried out similar work to thrasher (1963). notable researchers that engaged in subcultural research at chicago university included park (1925), cohen (1955), cressey (1932), becker (1963) and young (1971). park (1925) outlined the major theoretical direction that would be undertaken by chicago university in subcultural research. such explorations were to include “customs, beliefs, social practices, conceptions of life and the manners of urban life” (thornton, 1997: 11). an early article produced by park (1925) called on other sociologists to ex14 crossroads. a journal of english studies plore the urban environment in a similar way to anthropologists like franz boas, robert lowie and emile zola. park’s “the city” draws out the complexities of subculture and sets out over fifty speculative questions and queries for his readers to consider. a less appealing yet more succinct theoretical direction was produced by albert cohen (1955). cohen (1955: 59) suggested that subcultural investigation investigate subcultures as if they were “a series of effort to solve problems.” cohen (1955) argued that subcultures were the product of cultural formations that involved a number of actors interacting in order to solve problems of adjustment. cohen excluded any empirical undertakings from this postulation and tended to rely on preconceived notions of human nature to form his argument. most incredible is the significant departure cohen takes from the imaginative work of park. cohen attempts to construct a grand narrative for subcultures that typically eroded the complexities to be investigated and focused on deterministic operators such as subculture as “problem solvers”. unfortunately, such reductive theoretical frameworks only increase after cohen (1955) publication. phil cohen (1972) was a participant at birmingham universities centre for contemporary cultural studies who produced a similar yet more influential work on subcultural theory. the research undertaken at this centre was largely influenced by the earlier work of chicago university however the centre soon moved well beyond these influences to construct an elaborate re-thinking of subcultural theory that was able to incorporate theories of capitalism into the analysis of subculture (thorton, 1997: 15; gelder, 1997: 83). research at the centre focused on the relationship between ideology and structure found predominantly within working-class youth subcultures (gelder, 1997: 83). the latter works of the centre, especially those of dick hebdige (1979), specifically focused on subcultural structures of style as a means to demonstrate the relationships between youth subcultures and conflict, contradiction and the complexities of working-class. this relationship between youth subculture and working-class culture is explored by phil cohen (1972) in his work “subcultural conflict and working-class community”. cohen begins his exploration by analysing the work of the planning authority of east london in 1955. cohen (1972: 90) noted that the overall plan for the community was to redevelop slumping real-estate into high density apartments. the desired effect of this change was supposed to elevate the community beyond their current material limits. however, cohen (1972: 91) argued that this specific change led to the ultimate destablisation of the community. cohen (1972: 92-93) explored how break-downs in the material structure of the neighborhood left individual families isolated from extended kin-networks, evaluated industrial changes to demonstrate the removal of traditional patterns of socialisation, and argued that the ultimate culmination these changes was the development of a generational battleground between parent and child. cohen (1972: 94) described a generational conflict as the movement of interpersonal conflict from a family setting into a collective environment as means to diffuse tension and anxiety that may develop directly between family members. in other words, cohen (1972: 94) believed that generational conflicts lead directly to the creation of subcultures. for cohen, youth subcultures can be seen as being involved in a generational conflict as they contain generational specific sym15 articles bols that functions to “express and resolve the contradictions hidden in a parent culture”. cohen argued that the contradictions found in the east end included a double bind between a protestant work-ethics and consumption values and a similar bind between aspirations for mobility and class identification. in east end youth subcultures, such as “mods”, “skinheads” and “crombies”, cohen (1972: 95) argued that symbolic systems and rituatualised activities functioned to either draw out or overcome contradictions found within working-class culture. generally, the majority of cohen’s work can be seen as emphasising symbolism, ritualised forms of resistance and how these relate to working-class parent-culture and mass culture (gelder, 1997: 145). instead of addressing specific attributes of subculture as his primary source of data cohen analyses economic infrastructure and concludes that class-conflict must be the major force in constructing subculture. the major problem with this approach is that the research unknowingly imparts ideological biases onto a subculture which may not contain such ideological interests. cohen often describes particular subcultures as uniform structures that play out an almost scripted narrative of resistance. through valuing the structural institutions over and above individual agency and interest cohen defines an individual as being the exclusive product of class while paying little attention to other social and personal attributes. clarke (1981: 176) argues that cohen’s insight into subcultures often lack a significant comprehension of how subcultures are initially formed, “transformed, appropriated, disfigured and destroyed.” cohen’s (1972: 94) analysis often abstracts the agency of an individual to simply bearing and supporting the predefined outcomes of the subculture. and cohen’s work has been widely critiqued for being unable to provide a complete picture of various forms of subculture. however, cohen himself has provided alternatives to the narrow framework he constructed earlier in his research. during the 1980s cohen reworked a large body of his subcultural framework to allow for the incorporation of external entities, such as the media, into the construction of subcultures. such reconceptualisation allowed for the introduction of (subculture-specific) structural influences into subcultural theory and acted as a catalyst to further the constitution a subculture while allowing for a broader scope of analysis that captured the complexities of subcultures. significant alternatives have arisen since cohen’s publication in 1972. the general thrust of many of these theorists has been towards treating subcultures as fluid and mobile entities, although theorists have even returned to early chicago school models (gelder, 1997: 148). the work of maffesoli (1996), for instance, has been largely adopted as a platform to construct a framework for the study of subcultures that is able to overcome the deterministic qualities of cohen’s work. these works typically focus on the consumption patterns, levels of access and mobility and the configuration of individuals in subcultures as related to other entities within society. for example, ueno (2003: 112) examines “trans-local contexts” found in rave culture to demonstrate how subcultures relate to locality, foreignness, space and the other. or valdivia’s (2003: 151) placement of subculture as a “fluidity, hybridity and collaboration located between a ‘substream’ and ‘mainstream’ of commercialised culture.” and finally, the advent technological environments have focused some subcultural research on the properties of communication and the relationships 16 crossroads. a journal of english studies formed within technological mediums (hodkinson, 2003). essentially, these groups have been able to move beyond the deterministic models of researchers, provided by the like of cohen (1972), to capture and comprehend the complexity that may be found in within subcultures. the problem of definition catapults subcultural research towards an ambiguous area. the research boundaries of a subculture become blurred and the notion of a subculture itself is difficult to distinguish from other groups in society. early subcultural researchers, such as thrasher (1963) and park (1925), attempted to devise a research model that was capable of grasping the complexities of urban life. however, this task was soon undermined as researchers began to impart specific ideological interests upon subculture. this is not to wholly negate the value of theorists such as cohen (1955) and cohen (1972) but rather just to indicate the problem that ideological approaches bring to research. in cohen (1972) we can recognize how a top-down theoretical framework removes a number of complexities found within individuals and subcultures. however, these theoretical problems are overcome in more “post-modern” works that focus on networks, relationship and the notion of fluidity. we can recognize that these works are able to capture the nuances of subcultures while also providing a theoretical scope that is slightly ideological but mostly descriptive. data collection methods have located within the works of some theorists discussed in this article have orientated my empirical leanings towards a framework that will be able to capture the complexities of a subculture starting from local contexts and examining what wide forces intersect within those contexts. a number of the progressive articles that were briefly mentioned in this article demonstrate the need for a carefully devised research model that will be able to gain access to the very sensibilities of subcultural participants and a firm understanding of the vast number of structural influences that may coincide. the research model must also be aware of what ideological terms, frames and preconceptions are imparted on the subject matter. to this extent, it appears that the comprehension of subcultures will be a difficult undertaking, particularly in devising a thorough research model that will be able to capture a vast variety of subcultural elements. the ultimate solution would be to limit the investigation of subcultures to one specific attribute, such as style, networks, or consumption, yet i am sure even these seemingly simplified topics would be laden with an expansive complexity and an unending source of intrigue. apart from the public norms and ways of behaviour issued by a superior there is also another lifestyle in prison opposed to the aims of rehabilitation. these are norms controlling behaviour in prison called “second life”. jedlewski (1971) defines the term “second life” as “some forms of behaviour that are behind regulations determined in the process of interaction between prisoners.” “second life” is a set of uncontrolled norms. these norms specify how to behave in certain situations and live in isolation. moczydłowski (1988: 163) claims that “the appearance of a subcultural regulator was necessary. we do something in secret so that the new culture must be created” the prison subculture or also “grypsera” is defined by morawski (1968: 39-44) as a “special language (prison argot)”. stępniak (1973: 213) analyses the terms “grypsera” (also “grypserka”) in the criminal environment in different parts of poland and defines them as a “prison argot and youth slang”. it is very difficult to define the origin of “grypsera” due to the complete lack of any men17 articles tions of this term in penitentiary literature. śliwowski (1972: 104) states that “the issue of second life was noticed at the end of the forties and at the beginning of the fifties not only in poland but also around the world”. grypsera derived from warsaw and the location of the origin used to be a prison called “gęsiówka”. after a few years grypsera was spread all over poland, especially in big prisons for young people in warsaw, łódź, wrocław. data and method the data for comparing polish and american inmate codes is from the inmate social system (sykes and messinger, 1960), the mix: the culture of imprisoned women (owen and mackenzie, 2004) and life without parole: living in prison today (hassine, 1999). data relating to polish inmate codes is taken from tajemnice grypserki (szaszkiewicz, 1997). samples for analyzing the difference in meaning between polish and american prison terminology were taken from the prison community (clemmer, 1958), texas prisons: the largest hotel chain in texas (glenn, 2001) and tajemnice grypserki (szaszkiewicz, 1997). the research is based on a comparative method as a way to compare two forms of prison slangs (american prison slang and polish “grypserka” slang) and the meaning of inmate codes. comparing different inmate codes the inmate code is a set of rules by which prisoners should run their lives in the prison setting. not all inmates followed such a code because it is impossible for a group of most dangerous and violent criminals who were unable to follow public rules to follow an inmate code. however, most of them subscribed to these rules. the inmate code as well as special terminology is a part of prison subculture. giallombardo (1966) conducted research of alderson, a prison for women to find that such a code did exist. sykes and messinger (1960) introduced the following inmate code: don’t interfere with inmate interests. never rat on a con. don’t be nosy. keep off a man’s back. don’t put a guy on the spot. be loyal to your class. be cool. do your own time. don’t bring heat. don’t exploit inmates. don’t cop out. be tough. be a man. never talk to a screw. have a connection. be sharp. (sykes and messinger, 1960) 18 crossroads. a journal of english studies some additional features of the female uncovered by owen and mackenzie (2004: 159) are: mind your own business. the police are not your friend; stay out of their face. if asked to do something (by staff), you do not tell. do not allow rat-packing –fight one on one only. take care of each other. (owen and mackenzie, 2004: 159) the inmate codes have changed from when early researchers began writing about prisoner subcultures. one result seems to be that inmate solidarity has eroded considerably. hassine (1999) talks about a code that has changed as a result of younger and more violent offenders entering prisons. such a code that has changed throughout time is connected with prescriptions such as: don’t gamble. don’t mess with drugs. don’t mess with homosexuals. don’t steal. don’t borrow or lend, and you might survive. (hassine, 1999: 42) special norms of behaviour exist also in polish prison subculture. in some prisons these norms are harder, in the others they become weaker. in polish literature the inmate codes are described and labeled by a number of authors (see braun, 1955; kosewski, 1977; wawszczyk, wawrzyniak, różański, 1994). szaszkiewicz (1997) divides the inmate codes into three groups, these are: 1. norms formulated in order to condemn particular groups of people. examples: don’t make friends with jailers. you can’t become “human” if your father is a police officer or a jailer. don’t shake hands with “victims” 2. norms protecting group solidarity. examples: don’t shake hands with anybody who is not in “human” group. “human” must share any goods such as cigarettes or tea with other humans. “humans” eat together at the table and “victims” (also “faggots”) eat apart. 3. norms protecting the honour of “humans” don’t pick up rubbish with hands. 19 articles don’t rob “humans” don’t clean lavatory with hands. you can use only a brush. (szaszkiewicz, 1997: 49-60) to sum up, prisoners are dependent on and in some way determined by all kinds of norms (formal and informal norms). in prison everything is predetermined and a prisoner is not allowed to do anything by himself. if he breaks the rules, there are other rules formulated in order to show how to punish for breaking the rules of “grypserka”. according to einat and einat (2000: 309) “this code is directly linked to the process of socialization and adaptation to prison life”. the inmate code has universal elements that cut across all correctional facilities because the normative society, its attributes, and its delegates are inherent opponents of prisoners (hensey, tewksbury, castle, 2003: 290). there is a significant connection between the behavioural aspect of the above codes and the linguistic aspects. the exemplified codes help to emphasize unity of prisoners against correctional workers. such norms are taught using “grypserka” antilanguage and both terms are inseparable since the ability to speak “grypserka” is one of many norms to study in prison. prison terminology: comparing the polish and american case hargan (1934) stated in his early study that the prison slang had a purpose. it was a secret code against outsiders and prison officials and, therefore acted to reinforce solidarity. however, guards usually know the meaning of prisoner slang as well as the prisoners do, and may use it to a significant degree (lerner 2002). garabedian (1964) and sykes (1958) claim that prisoner argot serves as a symbolic expression of group loyalty, the use of which serves as a measure of integration and allegiance to the inmate subculture. one may define prison slang as a variation of street jargon because a number of the terms can be found in any street slang. prison slang is a language of prisoners and is regarded as an important part of the prison subculture. prison slang terms tend to change over time and they vary between institutions, and across different regions of the countries. according to dumond (1992: 138), “the terms may have changed somewhat over the decades, prison slang defines sexual habits and inmates’ status simultaneously, using homosexuality as a means of placing individuals within the inmate caste system”. prison slang is a dynamic, constantly evolving entity. some of the earliest examples of prison slang may have very different meanings today, if they are used at all. prison slang is used in all prison subcultures around the world, with special terms designated for everything from prison food to guards, and especially the different types of inmates and roles in the prison setting (pollock, 2005: 96). there is evidence that prison argot is still evolving. clemmers’ (1958) contribution to prison argot terminology is one of the earliest. he labeled some prison slang terms and provided their definitions. in 2001 glenn provided a long list of slang terms in his time when he used to work as a prison warder. let us compare those two lists of prison slang terms provided by clemmer (1958) and glenn (2001) in order to estimate how their meanings have changed over time. their contributions are listed below. 20 crossroads. a journal of english studies clemmer (1940) glenn (2001) policeman clown chota to masturbate hand jig kill drug junk chiva prison warder hack (especially a night warden) boss it should be noted that prison slang terms vary by place and institution as well. moreover, there are a number of prison terms for one word such as “crap”, “h”, “smack” and “brown” for cocaine. perhaps, argot for marijuana might be the most numerous starting with traditional “grass”, “mary jane” or “aunt mary” and ending with “mutha” and “lubage”. now, i would like to compare some terms of american prison argot and polish “grypserka” to investigate what are the names of different slang terms in polish and american argot and to what extent they are different. american prison argot3 polish “grypserka”4 literal meaning a child molester tree jumper majciarz the one who wears panties one newly arrived to prison fish noworodek infant a doctor croaker piguła pill a prison warden boss fortepian piano tattoo ink dziara edging prostitute canteen punk ćma moth 3 glenn, lon b. (2001) “texas prisons: the largest hotel chain in texas”. eakin press. 4 szaszkiewicz, maciej (1997) „tajemnice grypserki”. kraków: wydawnictwo instytutu ekspertyz sądowych 21 articles the special terminology of prison inmates is largely different from that of non-inmates or “nonhumans” in polish “grypserka”. the prison slang provides parameters of understandings for constructing a social and cultural environment. nowhere is this clearer than in correctional institutions, where inmates live, think, and function within the framework defined by the argot (bondesson 1989). therefore, einat and einat (2000: 310-311) labeled several functions of the prison slang: • the need to be different and unique • alleviation of feelings or rejection and refusal • facilitation of social interactions and relationships • declaration of belonging to a subculture or social status • a tool of social identification leading to a sense of belonging to a group • secrecy these argot functions “ help to define the treatment which an inmate is likely to receive from other inmates and corrections officers” (dumond 1992: 138). conclusions the prison argot and the secret polish “grypserka” as well which characterize prison subcultures are inseparable parts of the concept of prisonization as well as the development of different inmate codes. the earlier research and the present study on argot functions are clear. they reflect and consolidate organization, hierarchy in prison milieu and language of the prison subculture. the research reveals that american and polish inmate codes are different from each other. american prisoners follow their own codes and prison rules. polish grypserka assigned different naming for various words. for example, a doctor is called a croaker in american prison slang and a pill in grypserka. to coexist in prison, inmates must learn prison argot terms in order to communicate with each other, declare belonging to “humans” or facilitate of social interactions. slang is 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life, offers an answer to the questions why religion is one of the most prominent themes in fantasy fiction. the analysis of a selected group of fantasy novels (the works of j.r.r. tolkien, j. k. rowling, c. s. lewis, guy gavriel kay, celia s. friedman, jack vance, poul anderson, philip pullman, dave duncan, george r. r. martin, and brandon sanderson) presents various ways in which a fantasy narrative may approach religious themes: by inventing secondary religions that enrich the imaginary realm, by reworking particular religious themes and turning them into an axis of the narrative, and by supporting, promoting, or criticizing a certain faith through the means of fantasy fiction. keywords: fantasy literature, religion, secondary religion. the debate on the relationship between fantasy literature and religion has greatly developed after the immense popularity (and box-office success) of j.r.r. tolkien’s the lord of the rings and j.k. rowling’s harry potter series (dan brown’s the da vinci code also significantly added to the growing controversy, but since brown’s novel is not a pure fantasy narrative – perhaps only the author’s fantastic perspective on certain religious dogmas – it will not be included in this article). suddenly, when the entire world was watching the screen version of tolkien’s trilogy and children around the globe were potter-fans, people realized how greatly a work of fantasy can capture human imagination and this recognition was followed by general questions about the fantasy genre. several of those questions were and are concerned with the spiritual and religious qualities of fantasy narratives. readers and viewers of all backgrounds (people of different faiths, religious authorities, atheists, even those who consider themselves neo-pagans, as well as scholars and academics) expressed their thoughts and concerns about the transcendent nature of fantasy literature. are books containing magic, witches, demons and generally “the supernatural” suitable for religious (christian) people who fear that such works might lead them and their children to the occult? do works of fantasy really possess the power to waver people’s faith or lure them to the occult? where is god in the fantasy worlds? – if there is any god at all. what values are promoted by fantasy novels? the fact that people are raising such questions and have become so involved in the discussion is evidence of fantasy literature’s ability to transgress the borders of imagination and touch upon issues that people consider important, in this case religion and spiritual life. of course, the lord of the rings and harry potter have become the center of the debate, but the treatment of these two works has been remarkably different. in the case of tolkien’s trilogy, most people generally agree that despite the lack of god’s direct presence in the narrative (tolkien introduces a creator figure in the silmarillion), the work is an unquestionable repository of christian morality. this opinion is based, first of all, on the recognition of tolkien’s devotion to the catholic faith, which permeates his personal letters to publishers, colleagues, family and friends (carpenter 2010: 113-4, 167-8, 183-5, 550-2). łaszkiewicz, weronika. “finding god(s) in fantasylands: religious ideas in fantasy literature”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 24-36. secondly, critical analyses of the trilogy and of other works describing tolkien’s imaginary middle-earth point to certain correspondences between tolkien’s creation and christian (catholic) faith: the genesis of middle-earth; the recurring motifs of temptation, sin, and selfsacrifice; the presence of a benevolent providence, and the angel-like existence of the elves to name just a few (see bruner and ware 2001). in contrast, the harry potter series has been frequently and heavily criticized. of course, rowling’s creation has also been praised by some critics who argue, for example, that the series teaches children about the importance of courage, friendship, and responsibility (dalton 2003: 60-73, 82-97; dickerson and o’hara 2006: 227-260), but two claims against rowling’s work are particularly serious and cannot be easily dismissed. the first concern voiced by some people is that despite their courage and loyalty, the heroes of the series are not the best role models for children. even though harry and his friends manage to save their world, during their adventures they lie, cheat, and notoriously break the rules. secondly, it is pointed out that the work contains some occult symbolism that might increase children’s unhealthy interest in witches and magic, which might lead them to real-world occultism (see abanes 2002: 132-140, 150-164). opponents of this last claim frequently object by arguing that books like the lord of the rings also contain magic, but are not criticized for its presence as with harry potter. however, this defense seems inaccurate for two reasons. the magic in the lord of the rings is a gifted power accessible only to a few figures: the protectors of the land and the angel-like elves. tolkien’s magic bears no resemblance to occult practices; it is inaccessible to humans (and hobbits), and appears only as an additional help, not the driving theme of the story; in addition, the destructive power used by the evil forces is clearly different from the power of elves or wizards, because it is corrupted by the hunger for domination. in contrast, rowling based harry’s magic on “real-life” magical practices (e.g. learning spells and their intonation, preparing potions, using divination) and in her imaginary world this magic is widely accessible to humans who possess magical abilities. the only difference between the heroes and the enemies in terms of power is their personal choice of spells: while tolkien’s good and evil are clearly separated by their natures, rowling’s magic is an indifferent entity that can be used by both good and evil characters. secondly, tolkien’s and rowling’s depiction of magic cannot be compared because even though both works belong in general to the fantasy genre, they represent various sub-categories of fantasy (for different attempts at classifying fantasy literature, see tuttle 2005: 10-13). tolkien’s trilogy is called high/epic fantasy which is set in a completely imaginary realm, while rowling’s wizards are neighbors of ordinary british citizens. the real-life setting of rowling’s narrative is another reason why children’s interest in witches and magic as developed through her books might be transformed into a real interest in the occult (while perhaps only a few people will be tempted to go out and search for hobbits after they finish tolkien’s trilogy). in time, the discussion revolving around tolkien and rowling (unfortunately, while rowling may support or refute some claims about her works, tolkien – who died in 1973 – may be “consulted” only through his non-fictional writing) has encompassed other works. before we can concentrate on the religious and spiritual quality of some other fantasy books, it is necessary to ask about the reasons for the presence of religious ideology within the structures of the fantastic. 1. religious ideology within the structures of fantasy the creation of a fantasy narrative rests upon the author’s imagination, so it is true that the worlds and creatures depicted by fantasy are alive only thanks to the language – outside the pages of a book (and outside human imagination) they simply do not exist. but this does not łaszkiewicz, weronika. “finding god(s) in fantasylands: religious ideas in fantasy literature”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 24-36. mean that everything in fantasy literature is fleeting, ephemeral, and devoid of significance for the real world. the fantasy genre uses its own fantastic devices (witches, dragons, elves, kings, magic, etc.) to comment on real-world issues such as love and loss, joy and despair, freedom and oppression, life and death. as richard mathews puts it, fantasy literature is “a literature of liberation and subversion. its target may be politics, economics, religion, psychology, or sexuality. it seeks to liberate the feminine, the unconscious, the repressed, the past, the present, and the future” (mathews 2002: xii). in other words, writers use the structures of fantasy literature – just as any other type of literature – to express their comments on all of these (and other) topics, including religion. one reason why religious themes and motifs so frequently appear in fantasy literature is because the genre greatly relies on the world’s mythological heritage. myths from around the world have long been a source of inspiration and a repository of ideas for writers of fantasy who indiscriminately use the various fantastic images and themes. certain mythic patterns have even become standard within the structures of fantasy, e.g. the cosmic struggle between good and evil, the figure of a savior, the rites of passage, and the pattern of the hero’s quest, called by joseph campbell ‘the monomyth’ (in the hero with a thousand faces). writers of fantasy do not purge these borrowed themes and images of religious/spiritual significance and that is one of the ways by which fantasy fiction is saturated with religious issues. for instance, the cosmic struggle between good and evil requires the presence of gods or other divine figures to form the basis for such a conflict, and an array of heroes that will have to choose sides and who are, as a result, entangled in a web of serious moral choices. the conflict frequently requires a savior figure, i.e. someone to suffer and sacrifice himself for the benefit of the community; this savior figure can be easily related to various myths and religions of the world, including christianity. the rites of passage are also spiritually significant: they prepare the hero for a particular challenge, make him/her a member of the community, and grant him/her the extraordinary power and wisdom that brings the hero closer to the sphere of otherworldly events. a quest fraught with several dangers and challenges is usually one of the driving themes of a fantasy novel. the quest’s stages are often those identified by campbell within various myths and are also related to otherworldly issues: the hero frequently encounters gods and goddesses, enters a land of the dead, and even undergoes the process of divinization before (s)he is able to achieve the final goal. the monomyth is in essence the journey of one’s spiritual transformation. whether authors of fantasy incorporate the monomyth and other mythological elements into their stories consciously or not, the patterns have been used so frequently that at time the works based on them tend to be formulaic and even predictable. but this is only one of the dangers of having fantasy literature rely on mythological heritage. scholars of the genre have observed that fantasy has granted itself the right to transform and adapt mythological material according to its own needs – a process which might be beneficial for fantasy, but not entirely so for the mythological traditions (see attebery 2007, trocha 2009). furthermore, fantasy fiction is filled with religious ideas because the genre has inherited from mythology not only its various themes and images, but also the sphere of sacrum (latin “sacred”). the spheres of sacrum and profanum (the sphere devoid of religious entities and manifestations) within mythologies has been extensively studied by mircea eliade who, in his research, points out that together with rites, ceremonies, religious symbols and activities, myths once allowed people to preserve their sacred beliefs (eliade 2008). in contrast to their ancestors, modern people have changed (or blurred) the boundaries between their own sacred and profane spheres to the point that they have created (or attempted to create) for themselves a desacralized world (eliade 2008: 9-14). nevertheless, eliade claims that elements of sacrum can be preserved unconsciously even in such a desacralized world, for instance, in the celebration of birth, marriage, and the new year (2008: 100-103, 220-232; łaszkiewicz, weronika. “finding god(s) in fantasylands: religious ideas in fantasy literature”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 24-36. 2009a: 20-23). moreover, eliade has no doubts about the presence of sacrum within the boundaries of art, including contemporary books and movies (2008: 222-223). eliade acknowledges the fact that the form of a myth can be transformed or even corrupted when the myth becomes part of a new medium of expression, but he argues that despite such distortion (and degradation), the core message of the myth might still be preserved and transmitted thanks to the new form (2009b: 15-17). as a result, fantasy literature, which greatly relies on mythological heritage, can also be treated as one of those modern forms that preserve the sacrum once found in mythology. the growing readership of fantasy and its recognition among academics can be treated as a sign that modern people, who have surrounded themselves with high-tech devices, still want to read about good winning over evil, still want to experience the marvelous and other-worldly, and still want to find spiritual sustenance (the forgotten or dismissed sacrum). fantasy literature can fulfill the above-mentioned expectations and address religious issues in a few ways. firstly, authors of fantasy invent their own secondary religions (frequently derived from religions existing in the real world) to enrich their secondary reality and place their heroes in a web of meaningful moral choices and obligations. this invention of secondary religions can be taken a step further when religious/spiritual motifs become indispensable elements for the entire quest/adventure and are situated in the center of the plot. finally, the secondary religion may become the author’s personal comment on, or criticism of, existing religious systems. this paper will give specific examples for each of the abovementioned categories. however, as their boundaries are rather fluid than clear-cut, the three proposed categories cannot be treated as entirely separate groups; the difference between them frequently lies only within the degree to which an author emphasizes the religious/spiritual themes in the plot – and that degree may change even in a single work which consists of several volumes. to successfully illustrate the different ways in which authors of fantasy approach the topic of religion and to demonstrate that the presence of religious themes within fantasy is not simply a recent phenomenon, the selection here consists of books that are popular at the moment and of those that are a couple of decades old. each category will be exemplified by two or three independent works/cycles, but of course several more examples could be added. 2. secondary worlds and secondary religions religious/spiritual issues are present in fantasy books when writers of fantasy invent secondary religions which might either simply enrich their imaginary lands or become a central theme in the narrative. these imaginary religions frequently come fully equipped with gods, venerated figures, holy places, dogmas, codes of conduct, mythologies and prophecies; they are well-established and believable within the boundaries of the imaginary realms. dave duncan, for instance, in his series a man of his word (magic casement, faery lands forlorn, perilous seas, emperor and clown; 1990-92) presents an original way to link religion with magic. people of duncan’s world can gain power by learning very rare magical words. throughout the work it is repeated that knowing four words is the maximum and anyone who has tried to obtain a fifth was destroyed by the power. however, at the end of the story it is revealed that when two people – who share in total five magic words – are in love, a new god is created from their union; the lovers become one immortal entity. so the words are powerful not because they offer magic, but because they lead people closer to the state of divinity in which nothing is beyond reach; and for duncan love is the key to divinity. though such a divine union of a man and a woman does not happen often, duncan’s world possesses several gods who display both male and female features. but duncan’s łaszkiewicz, weronika. “finding god(s) in fantasylands: religious ideas in fantasy literature”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 24-36. protagonists, rap and inosolan, do not want to be immortal; they do not want to judge human existence, punish people who do not worship them enough, or play with human lives (this is rap’s accusation against the gods). so in the end they find a way to reduce their powers and live together without the threat of unwanted divinity. a greater diversity of competing denominations and ways to worship the gods exists in the world created by george r. r. martin in the multi-volume, on-going series the song of ice and fire (started in 1996). martin’s characters resemble real people because they ask questions about the spiritual life, respect or disregard the faiths of other people, or do not believe in any kind of god(s) at all. in westeros the majority of people believe in the seven, which seems to be an extended version of the catholic doctrine of the holy trinity. the seven represent seven divine aspects of one god: father, mother, maiden, crone, smith, warrior, and stranger (who represents the mystery of death). another reference to catholicism comes with the hierarchy of this faith (the leader is the high septon elected by a council) and with the existence of orders devoted to serving the seven. however, some parts of westeros worship other gods. people of the northern parts, for instance, pray to the old (nameless) gods who had been worshipped long before the faith of the seven appeared in westeros. the belief in the old gods was established by the children of the forests (an ancient race inhabiting the lands before the first people came from the east) and focused on the forces of nature (a form of animism). contemporary people of the north do not need scriptures or spiritual leaders; following ancient practices, they pray before weirwood trees: white trees with red leaves and red sap. the trees have faces carved in the bark and the red sap creates an illusion of bleeding (or bloody tears). the tree’s colors and the atmosphere of otherworldliness that surrounds them create a sacred sphere that links people of the north to the ancient mysteries and forces (though christian imagery is present also in this case: the tree and bleeding are an echo of christ’s crucifixion). the people of the iron islands also have their own faith: they believe in the drowned god who rules the seas. the iron people are thus portrayed as ruthless seamen who never fear the open waters. martin presents a ritual (which might be an echo of christian baptism) in which a person is drowned in sea water and brought back to life by a priest of the drowned god to become stronger. so while for the people of the north the sacred sphere is associated with the forests and the weirwood trees, the iron people worship the sea. martin also invents the cult of r’hllor, who is called the red god and whose attributes are fire and light. r’hllor’s divine opponent is called the “great other” who is the god of ice and death. the cult of r’hllor claims that the cosmic battle between the two gods will be resolved by the reincarnation of azor ahai, a messianic figure destined to saved mankind (the motif of a messianic savior figure is still not fully developed in martin’s series, but might become more significant for the entire plot in future volumes). however, despite the religion’s messianic character, the worship of r’hllor is quite disturbing: priests of r’hllor engage in cruel and dark rituals, for instance, bringing the dead to life (which does not resemble resurrection, but rather creating zombies), sacrificing people in fire to obtain the god’s favor, and creating shadows that follow the creator’s every command. apart from these religions, the song of ice and fire frequently has short references to other exotic or forgotten cults. still, none of the invented religions seems to be the dominant one or the one most accurately reflecting the sphere of the divine (manifestations of power appear on every side), though melisandre frequently states that only belief in r’hllor is the true religion that can bring salvation (and perhaps she is right, because westeros is threatened by an invasion of ice-cold, blood-thirsty creatures appearing during winter). readers may thus speculate about the relations between the different faiths, their followers, and their displays of “magic”. the religious variety offered by martin enriches his secondary world and makes it more believable. łaszkiewicz, weronika. “finding god(s) in fantasylands: religious ideas in fantasy literature”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 24-36. guy gavriel kay develops his own secondary sacrum in fionavar tapestry (the summer tree, the wandering fire, the darkest road; 1984-86). kay’s fionavar is a blend of mythological borrowings (particularly from celtic and norse mythologies) and christianity. the supreme being is called the weaver and his antagonist is evil rakoth maugrim, but fionavar has also other, lesser gods: mörnir of thunder, dana the mother, cernan of the beasts, and liranan the sea god just to name a few. though for most of the time the gods are hidden somewhere in the background of the story (particularly the weaver who is only worshipped as the creator), they sometimes become active participants in the adventures, displaying very human emotions and behavior. kay’s heroes – five people transported from modern-day toronto to fionavar – become immersed in the land’s sacrum by participating in sacred rituals, acquiring divine-like power, and coming into close contact with the gods, which are all very important moments for the development of the entire narrative. on such occasions it becomes clear that, despite its mythological borrowings, kay’s sacrum is interwoven with christian ideas. for instance, the significance and power of self-sacrifice is strongly highlighted when paul, one of the five visitors, volunteers to hang for three days and nights on the sacred summer tree – a scene which strongly resembles the crucifixion. the results of his decision are the redemption of the land (the dying kingdom is saved by long awaited rain) and of paul himself, because the man – who is spiritually reborn after the event and called “twiceborn” – is able to reconcile with the death of his girlfriend. another theme recurring throughout the trilogy is the significance of one’s free will. kay’s heroes (diarmuid, kim, darien) struggle against fate, make their own moral choices, and deal with the painful consequences. kay shows that acting according to one’s own conscience and making individual choices will in the end lead to success: diarmuid’s sacrifice for a fellow warrior, kim’s refusal to use her power, and darien’s choice of light instead of darkness ultimately contribute to the final victory. kay clearly elevates the freedom of will above other divine gifts and praises people’s ability to choose good over evil according to their own conscience (which is also a virtue emphasized by the christian tradition). in brandon sanderson’s mistborn series (the final empire, the well of ascension, the hero of ages, the alloy of law; 2006-2011) the invented secondary religion is, from the very beginning, one of the central themes of the plot. sanderson’s final empire is a world of red skies and constant ashfalls, dominated by the apparently immortal and divine lord ruler and a nobility (the descendants of his early supporters), while thousands of humans are slaves called skaa. a half-skaa, kelsier, attempts to end the lord ruler’s reign and free the skaa with the help of his companion, including a young girl, vin. kelsier devises a clever plan how to make the apparently immortal and indestructible enemy weaker and more vulnerable. but his companions do not know about the central element of the plan: kelsier’s sacrifice. at the end of the first volume, the man attempts to rescue one of his companions from a public execution. however, when the lord ruler comes to the scene, kelsier is unable to harm him; instead of running away, he allows the tyrant to kill him. that is because kelsier had analyzed several religions and come to the conclusion that only unyielding courage and self-sacrifice for a good cause could give an enslaved people the hope and determination required for a rebellion against the ruler. that is why his martyr-like death (and the subsequent appearances of a man physically resembling him) pushes the slaves into revolution. vin manages to kill the lord ruler, but learns that in fact he was not the one destined to rule at all. he was a usurper who unrightfully gained divine power at the well of ascension, which allowed him to secure his evil reign, but also somehow kept the destruction of humanity at bay. with lord ruler’s death, the people are again threatened by destruction. as the story unravels, the cosmic battle between two gods (preservation and ruin) and vin’s struggle to save the world become the central elements of the plot. sanderson’s formula is łaszkiewicz, weronika. “finding god(s) in fantasylands: religious ideas in fantasy literature”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 24-36. simple: to dethrone the old god a new one is needed, and the revolution in his secondary world is of both a social and religious nature. another series which revolves around religious/spiritual issues and reinterprets christian themes is the coldfire trilogy (the black sun rising, when true night falls, crown of shadows; 1991-95) by celia s. friedman. friedman introduced two protagonists: damien vryce and gerald tarrant, whose world is a planet called erna, colonized by humans hundreds of years ago. damien is a warrior priest of the church of human unification (which promotes faith in one god) and gerald was once the prophet of that church before he had committed a sin in his pursuit of power and had been cursed by the church. the main adventure revolving around the battle to save erna forces these two men to cooperate despite their mutual hatred. this cooperation has a great impact on damien’s and gerald’s existence, and through their dilemmas friedman addresses some questions of morality and faith. damien, for instance, has to decide whether good goals justify bad means. in his quest to save erna, he neglects his duty to kill gerald (who is no longer a human, but an immortal creature feeding on humans), believing that gerald might help him rescue erna’s community. his faith in gerald is one of the reasons why damien is expelled form his beloved church, but the priest continues to do what he deems right to the point of rescuing gerald from his private hell. damien’s friendship and sacrifice are the reasons why the selfish and power-obsessed gerald slowly begins to care about other people and in the end decides to sacrifice his immortal existence to save erna from evil reign. through gerald, friedman shows that even the worst sin is no stronger than the power of self-sacrifice in the name of good. apart from reworking the themes of sin, sacrifice and redemption, friedman addresses some issues connected with religious institutions, because her church of human unification seems to be a descendant of the catholic church. the leader of the church, the patriarch, is a complex character troubled by the same question as damien: are bad means justified by good goals? the patriarch’s answers are different from damien’s and he decides to protect erna according to his own religious beliefs (without resort ing to fae – the magic-like power of the planet). in the end, the old man also sacrifices his own life for a greater cause: to show his followers that violence is never a justifiable solution to problems, and to cleanse his people of the sin of violence with his own death (the scene is skillfully constructed as a distant echo of christ’s baptism and crucifixion). 3. religion in fantasy: allegory or criticism? the works mentioned so far have – to a various degree – developed their secondary religions on elements borrowed from existing religions and turned them into a more or less significant part of the narrative. the authors of the works to be studied in this section use their secondary worlds and secondary religions to make comments about the primary world and real religions; in some cases, the religious comment is one of the most explicit messages of the fantasy story. such is the case with, for instance, c. s. lewis’s the chronicles of narnia (1950-56), which is often called “religious fantasy”, because of the distinctly christian message running throughout the narrative, e.g. the motifs of treason, self-sacrifice, forgiveness, redemption, and the ultimate glory of the narnian savior figure. lewis’s narnia has even been called an allegory of christianity to emphasize the impact of the spiritual/religious message present in the story. but reconciling fantasy writing with the notion of (religious) allegory might be troublesome, because “in fantastic literature, the allegories, if they are there, always serve the story, and not the other way around. their presence in the story is only part of the story’s richness” (dickerson and o’hara 2006: 59). thus, elevating the religious message over other qualities of the fantastic narrative is perhaps not the most desirable option, and interpreting a fantasy book only for the religious message might be equally wrong, because łaszkiewicz, weronika. “finding god(s) in fantasylands: religious ideas in fantasy literature”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 24-36. once we find the allegorical, we feel that we have done our jobs as readers and needn’t think any more. ‘aslan is christ,’ we say, much as we’d say 1 + 1 = 2, and we cease to wrestle with what lewis might be showing through aslan’s complex character. thus, when a reader focuses on the allegory, . . . the reader ceases to learn. (dickerson and o’hara 2006: 59) after all, a fantasy novel cannot be equated to nor become a substitute for biblical revelation, so the work should be acknowledged also for its other merits, not only for its reconstruction and promotion of religious dogmas. a completely different approach to addressing religious issues through a fantasy narrative is adopted by philip pullman in his dark materials (the golden compass – originally published in england as northern lights, the subtle knife, and the amber spyglass; 1995-2000), a series which is pullman’s means of criticizing the christian faith. the trilogy revolves around a battle between the evil authority (god) which rules the kingdom (and is worshipped by the church), and the republic which wants to overthrow him. pullman also creates dust, a mystical force that is associated with the rebellious angels and that has influence on human existence. the central characters – lyra and will – are children entangled in the cosmic struggle, with lyra being the prophesized new eve (who succeeds with certain tasks mostly thanks to her ability to lie convincingly). by means of this fantastic reality, pullman attempts to develop his critique of christianity and god. however, this critique might not be very successful. dickerson and o’hara, for instance, point out that the story lacks in several departments: the concept of the transcendent dust is not well-developed as if the author was not sure how to define it, the final battle proves to be mildly significant and provides no real solution to the divine conflict despite the authority’s death, and lyra’s positions as the new eve and her supposed temptation to love will are unreasonably significant for the battle (2006: 194-199). in addition, all the questions about human freedom and submission to objective morality serve one purpose: to portray t he authority as an usurper who unrightfully claimed the position of creator, and as a liar who promised his believers heaven after death, while all they get is a barren land of the dead. as a result, the trilogy might seem too didactic, and it becomes clear that the author has an unrelenting animosity toward god, church, religion in general, and especially christianity. every dialogue, every moment of revelation, every speech from a wise character, and every portrayal of an evil character becomes yet another chance for pullman to rail and preach against the evils of the church. everything that has ever gone wrong in any of the universes, it seems, is the fault of the church or of those who believe in god. (dickerson and o’hara 2006: 199-200) however, in contrast to dickerson and o’hara, kurt bruner and jim ware claim that even despite the author’s obvious attempts to discredit christianity, the works correspond to certain truths of the christian tradition. one of their most interesting arguments focuses o n the descriptions of the authority; bruner and ware state that the figure hidden behind that name does not resemble the christian god, but the rebellious lucifer who desired power for himself (2007: 78-80). in addition, though pullman continuously criticizes the authority and magisterium (the church that promotes the rule of the authority), he never criticizes jesus christ who, in fact, does not even appear as a figure in his vision of religious tyranny (bruner and ware 2007: 86). and in the end, pullman’s heroes choose good, not evil: lyra, the consummate liar, eventually has to face the fact that truth is her only viable option. that’s why will, the strong, self-reliant hero, is forced to admit his need for łaszkiewicz, weronika. “finding god(s) in fantasylands: religious ideas in fantasy literature”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 24-36. companionship, assistance, and grace. that’s why mary, the atheistic rationalist, feels such a desperate need for purposeful “connection” with the rest of the universe. (bruner and ware 2007: 155) the heroes’ search for truth, support and love does not point to an evil god (the authority invented by the author), but to a god – the heavenly father – who is painfully absent from the story. bruner and ware argue that the visible absence of true god, paired with the presence of love, courage, and sacrifice, points to pullman’s own quest to understand god, paradoxically expressed by his claims against christianity (2007: 153-164). all in all, even though his dark materials presents the quest for religious answers and spiritual truths in a disturbing way (the fight against the evil authority and the corrupted church), the trilogy shows that even a genre based on imagination can be deeply involved in addressing the problems and dilemmas of human existence. while his dark materials is a very explicit critique of christianity, in some fantasy books christianity is incorporated into the secondary reality to be presented as something antagonistic to the imaginary world. for example, one of the despicable characters of jack vance’s lyonesse trilogy (suldrun’s garden, the green pearl, madouc; 1983-89) is father umphred, a missionary who comes to lyonesse to build a church and convert the pagan people. umphred finds an avid supporter in queen sollace who, encouraged by the priest, pesters the king for money in order to build the church and to buy some holy relics (there is even a hint at the holy grail). but the queen does not see that despite his magnificent proclamations about a holy mission, the priest is a cowardly egoist interested only in his own glory. when evil king casmir is finally overthrown and queen sollace sent into banishment, umphred tries to sneak away from lyonesse with some gold. in the end, he his captured and punished for his lies and hypocrisy with death. of course, umphred’s presence in the narrative should not be treated as vance’s critique of christianity in general. but intentionally or not, the characters that support the christian faith are either unappealing or morally disputable, while the good and kind protagonists seem not to really care about the new religion (as long as they do not have to deal with umphred). as a result, vance’s lyonesse is portrayed as a legendary and mythic land where christianity is not yet established (and apparently not needed). a similar idea appears in poul anderson’s the broken sword (1954), a dark fantasy novel immersed in norse mythology. through orm and his warriors readers learn that christianity is slowly setting in among the danes, and in order to marry an english woman orm decides to convert to christianity. however, he continues to worship the norse gods and quite soon gets rid of the christian priest. that is why his first-born son cannot be instantly baptized and is consequently stolen by a capricious elf. this is only the first of many scenes showing the clash between the old realm of legend and the new era of christianity: elves, trolls and other creatures of legends speak about “the white christ” with fear and contempt (but the greatest evil is represented by the figure of sathanas and his witch-servant). the stolen child, skafloc, becomes a great elfish warrior and gets entangled in battles between trolls, giants, and the evil valgard (the child left to orm in his place); he becomes a part of the legendary realm that is so clearly separated from christianity. but at the same time, skafloc enters into an incestuous relationship with his mortal sister, freda (not knowing they are related by blood). when the truth is revealed, freda and skafloc’s conversation reflects the difference in her and his perception of the world based on their morality and (lack of) religious faith: ‘come – freda, come, forget the damned law–’ ‘it is god’s law,’ she said tonelessly. ‘i cannot disobey it, my sins are too heavy already.’ łaszkiewicz, weronika. “finding god(s) in fantasylands: religious ideas in fantasy literature”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 24-36. ‘i say that a god who would come between two that love is an evil creature, a demon – i would smite such a god with my sword if he should come near. surely i would not follow him.’ ‘aye – a heathen you are!’ she flared. (anderson 2008: 154) their parting – the result of freda’s adamant faith and skafloc’s refusal to share it – is clearly the beginning of skafloc’s downfall. he becomes blood-thirsty and obsessed with war, while freda is tormented by sorrow and remorse. she also loses her newborn child to odin to pay her debt for his past help. as a result, grief-stricken and extremely lonely, freda decides to forsake her faith: “she took the crucifix from about her neck and kissed it. ‘forgive me,’ she breathed. ‘forgive me if you can, that i love him more than you or your laws. evil am i, but the sin is mine, not his.’” (anderson 2008: 219) her love is greater than her faith and freda is able to reunite with skafloc before his death. despite the final victory, the ending is grim: skafloc is dead, freda has no prospects for the future, and the elf lord fears that gods and creatures of folktales will eventually disappear because of the advent of human civilization and its “white god”. like vance, anderson creates a world in which the mythical and christian spheres cannot coexist, but in contrast to vance, for anderson the opposition ‘christianity – realm of folk tales’, expressed partially by skafloc and freda’s relationship, is one of the main axes of the narrative. summing up, the analysis of the novels selected for this article provides an outline of how fantasy literature addresses religious and spiritual themes. authors of fantasy invent secondary religions which are, to a various degree, saturated with references to existing religions (duncan, martin); they turn religious/spiritual issues into a more or less significant part of the narrative (kay, sanderson, friedman) or an antagonistic element (vance, anderson); they also imbue the narrative with allegory or criticism of a particular faith (lewis, pullman). each of these categories might be studied separately, because there are still many more novels awaiting analysis (the category of secondary religions seems particularly interesting, because it offers a glimpse into the authors’ imaginations). the writers’ endeavors to address religious themes in their fiction not only enrich the secondary realities, but also prove that fantasy literature – by asking questions about the religious/spiritual quality of life and by inventing a fantastic sphere of sacrum for the literary heroes – is interested in connecting its readers, and the authors as well, with the sacrum present in the primary world. references: abanes, richard. 2002. fantasy and your family. exploring the lord of the rings, harry potter and modern magick. camp hill: christian publications. anderson, poul. 2008. the broken sword. london: gollancz. attebery, brian. 2007. exploding the monomyth: myth and fantasy in a postmodern world. in: justyna deszcz-tryhubczak and marek oziewicz (eds.), considering fantasy. ethical, didactic and therapeutic aspects of fantasy in literature and film, 207-220. wrocław: oficyna wydawnicza atut. bruner, kurt and jim ware. 2001. finding god in the lord of the rings. wheaton: tyndale house publishers. ——. 2007. shedding light on his dark materials. wheaton: tyndale house publishers. campbell, joseph. 2004. the hero with a thousand faces. princeton: princeton up. carpenter, humphrey (ed.) 2010. j.r.r. tolkien. listy. warszawa: prószyński i s-ka. dalton, russell w. 2003. faith journey through fantasy lands. a christian dialogue with harry potter, star wars, and the lord of the rings. minneapolis: augsburg books. łaszkiewicz, weronika. “finding god(s) in fantasylands: religious ideas in fantasy literature”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 24-36. dickerson, matthew and david o’hara. 2006. from homer to harry potter. a handbook on myth and fantasy. grand rapids: brazospress. eliade, mircea. 2008. sacrum a profanum. warszawa: wydawnictwo aletheia. ——. 2009a. obrazy i symbole. warszawa: wydawnictwo aletheia. ——. 2009b. traktat o historii religii. warszawa: wydawnictwo aletheia. mathews, richard. 2002. fantasy. the liberation of imagination. new york: routledge. trocha, bogdan. 2009. degradacja mitu w literaturze fantasy. zielona góra: oficyna wydawnicza uniwersytetu zielonogórskiego. tuttle, lisa. 2005. writing fantasy and science fiction. london: a & c black. mugford, gerrard. “face, linguistic (im)politeness and polyphony in thomas hardy’s far from the madding crowd”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 54-68. gerrard mugford universidad de guadalajara face, linguistic (im)politeness and polyphony in thomas hardy’s far from the madding crowd abstract. thomas hardy’s novel far from the madding crowd provides a stark contrast in how the characters project their face (goffman 1967) and how they seek approval from others. such a contrast can be analysed in terms of bakhtin’s polyphony – the many voices found in a text which includes the author’s portrayal of his protagonists and how they interact with each other. in order to highlight this contrast and its way of coming across, i examine how three key characters in the novel, gabriel oak, sergeant frank troy and william boldwood, present themselves interpersonally. i use the concept of linguistic (im)politeness to demonstrate how the protagonists try to further themselves, especially in their pursuit of bathsheba everdene. i argue that a linguistic (im)politeness approach can also be applied to other novels of thomas hardy and indeed to a wider range of literature. keywords: impoliteness, polyphony, face, thomas hardy. 1. introduction traditional rational social behaviour is pitted against the discursive and evolving construction of relationships in far from the madding crowd as protagonists present contrasting conceptions of their self (cupach & metts 1994: 3) or what goffman terms face (1967). face potentially reflects three aspects of interpersonal interaction: how a participant wants to come across, how a participant interacts with others and how a participant expects to be treated by others. an author has the choice of conveying the face that his/her protagonists want to project and highlight how they seek to come across or, alternatively, he/she can let the characters speak for themselves and claim their own face. the latter choice reflects bakhtin’s concept of polyphony as the protagonists find their own voice and thus enabling “characters and narrator speak on equal terms” (vice 1997: 6). hardy’s far from the madding crowd offers a wide range of contexts for studying face and polyphony. the concept of face is intimately related to linguistic (im)politeness. (im)politeness, the accepted term for referring to politeness and impoliteness, is a key concept and refers to those strategies that aim to enhance, preserve, undermine or damage the face of other interactants. whether intentional or unintentional, (im)politeness involves interpersonal work as interactants construct, develop, maintain or terminate a given relationship. a writer can allow the protagonists to engage in (im)politeness and facework – “the actions taken by a person to make whatever he is doing consistent with face” (goffman 1967: 12) by allowing them to speak for themselves (without authorial interference) or he or she can explain the characters’ motives, pretensions and objectives to his/her reader. in this paper, the concepts of face, polyphony and linguistic (im)politeness are examined to see whether they help the reader understand both authorial intent and protagonists’ motives in the novel. 2. positioning the novel the novel’s title supposedly portends a quiet pastoral narrative, but as kramer argues “[t]he opening chapters of the first of the major wessex novels, far from the madding crowd mugford, gerrard. “face, linguistic (im)politeness and polyphony in thomas hardy’s far from the madding crowd”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 54-68. (1874), present a pastoral world and simultaneously invalidate the myth” (1979: 20). any possible idea of rustic tranquillity is quickly undermined by bathsheba’s rejection of oak’s marriage proposal, the dramatic loss of his flock of sheep and his subsequent unemployment. also referring to possibly dashed reader expectations, nemesvari notes that “a novel like far from the madding crowd, with its allusive title and early, literal representation of a shepherd and flock, prepares its audience for a pastoral idyll but then juxtaposes this with the harsh materialism of agricultural economics and a sensational love triangle resulting in murder and madness” (2009: 102). focusing on changing economic realities, page argues that “the contrast is between worlds and epochs, the industrial age represented by the steam-train, the agrarian age that has preceded it: in other words it embodies an idea as well as an image” (2001: 111). on a symbolic level, oak represents tradition and stability whilst troy reflects change, manipulation and new ways of interacting. at an interpersonal level, far from the madding crowd portrays contrasting norms and patterns of behaviour as gabriel oak, sergeant frank troy and william boldwood attempt to woo bathsheba everdene. regan argues that: [a]t one level, the narrative structure of far from the madding crowd seems very bold and simple. three suitors compete for the affections of bathsheba everdene: a shepherd, a gentleman farmer, and a soldier. the narrative progresses according to three aspirations of each of these lovers, and much of the drama in the novel ensues from the overlapping and competing interests of the three, as well as from bathsheba’s fluctuating responses. (2009: 249) therefore, the whole plot of far from the madding crowd reflects a continual sea of change. regan goes on to argue that “this stark outline, however, is given a highly elaborate design by the repeated emphasis on visual codes of conduct and by the shifting degrees of visual attention and discrimination with which the principal characters regard each other” (2009: 249). i wish to further pursue this idea of ‘codes of conduct’ by arguing that the suitors reflect three contrasting ways of presenting their face and interacting with others in terms of linguistic (im)politeness. 3. putting on a good face before discussing ‘codes of conduct’ regarding key protagonists from far from the madding crowd, i examine the concepts of face, facework and linguistic (im)politeness as part of a possible framework for understanding how hardy himself describes and portrays the protagonists and also how they express themselves. the term face is a key concept when trying to understand interpersonal behaviour. goffman argues that in a given interaction a participant will act out a line “that is a pattern of verbal and nonverbal acts by which he [sic] expresses his view of the situation and through this his evaluation of the participants, especially himself” (1967: 5). as participants express their view of the situation, they want to present themselves in a positive light which is achieved through face which goffman argues: may be defined as the positive social value a person effectively claims for himself by the line others assume he has taken during a particular contact. face is an image of self delineated in terms of approved social attributes – albeit an image others may share, as when a person makes a good showing for his profession or religion by making a good showing for himself. (goffman 1967: 5) mugford, gerrard. “face, linguistic (im)politeness and polyphony in thomas hardy’s far from the madding crowd”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 54-68. participants want to establish a face that makes them ‘feel good’ as they seek support and approval from others which in the context of this paper means other protagonists in the novel. in contrast, if an interactant’s “ordinary expectations are not fulfilled, one expects that he will ‘feel bad’ or ‘feel hurt’” (goffman 1967: 6). the concept of face therefore reflects an interactant’s identity in a given interaction as he/she attempts to come across in socially sanctioned ways. in a novel, this will often mean a character presenting himself or herself in a recognisably acceptable way to other characters and also to the reader and subsequently following established norms and patterns of behaviour. gabriel oak, sergeant frank troy and william boldwood, the three suitors in far from the madding crowd, try to make a positive showing by highlighting their ‘approved social attributes’ especially in the eyes of bathsheba everdene, the object of their love. gabriel oak projects himself as responsible and dependable. he is self-effacing as he quickly gives up his attempt to marry bathsheba on hearing that she had other suitors: “i’m only an every-day sort of man, and my only chance was in being the first comer... well, there’s no use in my waiting, for that was all i came about: so i’ll take myself off home” (chapter 4). and, after being rejected by bathsheba, he finally says “then i’ll ask you no more” (chapter 4). in contrast, boldwood is persistent and tries to project himself in a positive light: “i am now forty-one years old,” he went on. “i may have been called a confirmed bachelor, and i was a confirmed bachelor. i had never any views of myself as a husband in my earlier days, nor have i made any calculation on the subject since i have been older. but we all change, and my change, in this matter, came with seeing you. i have felt lately, more and more, that my present way of living is bad in every respect. beyond all things, i want you as my wife.” (chapter 19). he attempts to make a good showing for himself as reflective and flexible by saying he is willing to change his lifestyle in order to accommodate a wife. his persistence continues throughout the novel through to his eventual killing of troy. meanwhile, troy does not court in any conventional or expected way: “i’ve seen a good many women in my time” continued the young man in a murmur, and more thoughtfully than hitherto, critically regarding her bent head at the same time; “but i’ve never seen a woman so beautiful as you. take it or leave it – be offended or like it – i don’t care.” (chapter 24) troy presents the face of someone who speaks their mind and supposedly does not care what the other person thinks about him. in reality, he very much cares as his facework is a carefully crafted strategy to entice his intended ‘victim’. the process or result of facework may either help or undermine a character’s attempt to portray himself or herself in a positive light, as shimanoff argues: facework may be defined as behaviors which establish, enhance, threaten, or diminish the images/identities of communicators. the images/identities of communicators have been linked to the basic needs of approval and autonomy (brown and levinson, 1978). facework may be directed toward oneself or another. (1994: 159-160) in the case of oak, he diminishes his face by withdrawing from his pursuit of bathsheba. whilst only focusing on his own face, boldwood persistently undermines bathsheba’s face by only considering his needs rather than her feelings. meanwhile, troy focuses on the face of his victim making her feel special and consequently enhances his own mugford, gerrard. “face, linguistic (im)politeness and polyphony in thomas hardy’s far from the madding crowd”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 54-68. face in her eyes. this politeness strategy has variously been described as face boosting acts (fbas) (bayraktaroğlu, 1991, 2001), intimacy enhancement (aston, 1989), face enhancement (sifianou, 1995) and rapport enhancement (spencer-oatey, 2008). they all roughly cover the same area of usage. 4. linguistic (im)politeness linguistic (im)politeness is closely related to the concept of face, and brown and levinson (1987) argue that polite behaviour tries to avoid attacking the face of other interactants or refraining from face threatening acts (ftas) (1987: 60). lakoff (1973: 298) argues that there are rules of politeness for participants to follow (don’t impose; give options; and make a feel good – be friendly) and leech (1983) outlines maxims that should be adhered to such as those of tact and modesty. however, in this paper, politeness is studied from the point of view of expected and unexpected behaviour. consequently, i adopt watts’s (2003) terms: politic and polite behaviour. politic reflects accepted forms and codes of conduct whilst polite behaviour reflects behaviour that goes beyond expected behaviour. politic behaviour is predictably courteous and respectful as can be seen in oak’s abandonment of the idea of marrying bathsheba as he complies with her wishes. in contrast, polite behaviour reflects the unexpected and reflects interpersonal risk-taking when interacting with others as reflected by troy’s attempt to win over bathsheba e.g. take it or leave it -be offended or like it -i don’t care (chapter 24). watts distinguishes between politic and polite conduct in the following way: linguistic behaviour which is perceived to be appropriate to the social constraints of the ongoing interaction, i.e. as non-salient, should be called politic behaviour. linguistic behaviour which is perceived to be beyond what is expectable, i.e. salient behaviour, should be called polite or impolite depending on whether the behaviour itself tends towards the negative or positive end of the spectrum of politeness. (watts 2003: 19) since linguistic (im)politeness is a way of initiating, advancing, upholding or ending a given relationship, interactants face choices regarding how they want to come across or be evaluated by others. they can follow pre-determined, stereotypical and appropriate norms of interaction as outlined by politic behaviour i.e. “that behaviour, linguistic and non-linguistic, which the participants construct as being appropriate to the ongoing social interaction” (watts 2003: 20). such behaviour can be seen in gabriel oak’s conduct and his way of being and his actions reflect traditional norms and practices. in the following extract, wotton contrasts oak with joseph, a farm worker: it is with oak that the reader identifies, oak who here represents the voice of respectability, duty, the work ethic. he is the responsible subject, the centre of initiatives, author of and responsible for, his actions, who works by himself and wishes that joseph would also show himself ‘a man of spirit’. (1985: 66) by contrast, polite behaviour “will therefore be behaviour beyond what is perceived to be appropriate to the ongoing social interaction, which says nothing about how members evaluate it” and “the definition implies that linguistic structures are not, per definitionem, inherently polite” (watts 2003: 21). for instance, troy takes a risk when courting bathsheba with his outspoken, potentially rude and discourteous language which may be evaluated as either polite or impolite by her. on the surface, bathsheba appears to see troy’s behaviour as impolite but immediately asks liddy, her trusted servant, for information about him. mugford, gerrard. “face, linguistic (im)politeness and polyphony in thomas hardy’s far from the madding crowd”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 54-68. there are occasions when girls like bathsheba will put up with a great deal of unconventional behaviour. when they want to be praised, which is often, when they want to be mastered, which is sometimes; and when they want no nonsense, which is seldom. just now the first feeling was in the ascendant with bathsheba, with a dash of the second. (chapter 24) just as troy shows, watts’ category of polite behaviour can come across as impolite, e.g. “i’ve never seen a woman so beautiful as you. take it or leave it – be offended or like it – i don’t care”. whilst complimenting bathsheba on her beauty and presumably wanting her to feel good, troy displays impoliteness by saying that he does not really care how she feels. boldwood also demonstrates that politic can also have the same impoliteness effect, especially as he relentlessly pursues bathsheba after she turns down his offer of marriage: “say then, that you don’t absolutely refuse. do not quite refuse?” “i can do nothing. i cannot answer. “i may speak to you again on the subject?” “yes.” “i may think of you?” “yes, i suppose you may think of me.” “and hope to obtain you?” “no -do not hope! let us go on.” “i will call upon you again to-morrow.” “no -please not. give me time.” “yes -i will give you any time,” he said earnestly and gratefully. “i am happier now.” (chapter 19) whilst following the protocol of courting with “i may speak to you again on the subject?, i may think of you?” and “i will give you any time”, boldwood comes across as facethreatening and potentially impolite. this can especially be seen when he renews his attempt to marry bathsheba after troy’s disappearance on a beach on the south coast and despite her reluctance to admit that her husband may be dead: “bathsheba, suppose you had real complete proof that you are what, in fact, you are -a widow -would you repair the old wrong to me by marrying me?” “i cannot say. i shouldn’t yet, at any rate.” “but you might at some future time of your life?” “oh yes, i might at some time.” “well, then, do you know that without further proof of any kind you may marry again in about six years from the present -subject to nobody’s objection or blame?” (chapter 51) boldwood’s superficial demonstration of politeness, e.g. “you might at some future time”, indirectness, e.g. “would you repair the old wrong”, and conjecture, e.g. “suppose you” hides his underlying insensitiveness to bathsheba’s loss of her husband and boldwood’s self-serving motivation. his supposed politic behaviour demonstrates, as watts argues, how polite behaviour can be evaluated as rude: positively marked politic behaviour is open to an overt interpretation as polite. hence only a relatively small subsection of politic behaviour is likely to be explicitly evaluated by participants as ‘polite’. marked behaviour, however, can be noticed in two difference ways. it may be perceived as negative either if it is open to an interpretation as impolite (or as downright rude), or if it is perceived as over-polite, i.e. both kinds of negatively mugford, gerrard. “face, linguistic (im)politeness and polyphony in thomas hardy’s far from the madding crowd”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 54-68. marked non-politic behaviour tend towards similar kinds of affective reaction on the part of co-participants. (watts 2005: xliiixliv) to reiterate, boldwood’s use of formulaic politic language such as “suppose you” and “but you might” thinly veil his true intentions, i.e. pressuring bathsheba into remarrying. just as behaviour may be categorised as being politic and polite, i will argue that behaviour may also be impolitic and impolite within watts’s framework. impolitic behaviour reflects explicit and expected ways of being impolite. meanwhile impolite patterns of interacting can be categorised as unexpected and salient examples of impoliteness or rudeness. 5. polyphony face can be seen as individual possession or a negotiated position as interactants support each other in the way they want to come across. in the process they may lose a degree of independence as they accommodate to others. bakhtin’s concept of polyphony restores individuality and independence to the protagonists: “the essence of polyphony lies precisely in the fact that the voices remain independent and, as such, are combined in a unity of a higher order” (bakhtin 1984: 21). the author has a choice when conveying linguistic (im)politeness, especially when it is analysed in terms of politic and polite behaviour. he or she can speak for the protagonists and explain their motives or they can be allowed to speak for (and between) themselves. bakhtin describes this choice in terms of polyphony: polyphony “refers to the ‘many-voicedness’ of texts in which characters and narrator speak on equal terms” (vice 1997: 6). therefore, a reader of far from the madding crowd needs to balance hardy’s authorial voice and the voices of the protagonists. morson and emerson argue that polyphony is bakhtin’s “most original and counterintuitive concept” (1997: 258) as “the reader is asked to engage directly with the ideas of characters, much as the reader engages with the ideas of the author” (1997: 259). therefore, polyphony potentially liberates the reader from only following the writer’s interpretation of the text and allows him/her to construct his/her own understanding free from the monologic narrative of the author. the novel far from the madding crowd may not be considered to be a polyphonic novel since the author as narrator attempts to maintain full control of the story or, as mallett argues, “hardy’s narrator typically retains the telling voice of the traditional story” (2004: 10). however, the protagonists’ voices, to varying degrees, come through in their interactions with each other. therefore, polyphony may still emerge as the reader navigates his/her way through the author’s interpretation of events and the actions and dialogues o f the characters themselves or, as bakhtin argues: “novels usually present completely final arguments summarized from the author’s standpoint (if there are arguments at all) [...] but any novel is generally filled with dialogic overtones (not always with its heroes, of course)” (1986: 112). therefore a novel is filled with different characters’ revelations regarding their motives, their perspectives and their justifications. to fully appreciate the characters’ motivations in far from the madding crowd, the reader needs to understand, for instance, the primordial importance of troy’s undying love for fanny, who dies carrying his baby. in the same vein, boldwood’s obsession with bathsheba can only fully be understood in terms of the total abandonment of the economic wellbeing of his farm whereas before, his whole character was built on “dignity” (chapter 12) since he “was tenant of what was called little weatherbury farm, and his person was the nearest approach to aristocracy that this remoter quarter of the parish could boast of” (chapter 18). mugford, gerrard. “face, linguistic (im)politeness and polyphony in thomas hardy’s far from the madding crowd”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 54-68. bakhtin would argue that polyphony goes much further than just revealing the author’s descriptions vis-à-vis characters’ own version of events since it provides a “unity of higher order” (morson and emerson 1997: 261). morson and emerson add that we might explain [polyphonic unity] this way: because each character is in a position to the author of a monologic work, each could in principle supply a monologic order to the whole. hence the polyphonic unity of all these characters is a unity of potential unities, which is to say, is unity of a second (or higher) order. in this sense, the “unity of the event” is a unity of co-being (1997: 261) therefore polyphony is not an optional extra which provides an alternative reading of a text. it is a fundamental part of appreciating and valuing the novel. the author and the characters, whether they be heroes or villains, all contribute to the overall cohesiveness and coherence of the text. 6. codes of conduct the reader is faced with two codes of conduct, politic and polite, in far from the madding crowd which are displayed by the author and in the interaction between the protagonists. the reader engages directly with the (im)politeness of the protagonists, just as much as he or she does with the author’s descriptions of (im)politeness. far from the madding crowd reflects both hardy’s perceptions of gabriel oak, sergeant frank troy and william boldwood and the protagonists’ own inner speech and thoughts. hardy maintains full control of the story and his voice ‘tells’ the story but his characters display their own thought processes. 6.1. oak: politic behaviour hardy strongly underscores gabriel oak’s face and says that he should be seen as ‘a young man of sound judgment, easy motions, proper dress, and general good character’ (chapter 1). however, this description is possibly contradicted later on in the chapter, when hardy physically describes him as follows: he had just reached the time of life at which “young” is ceasing to be the prefix of “man” in speaking of one. he was at the brightest period of masculine growth, for his intellect and his emotions were clearly separated: he had passed the time during which the influence of youth indiscriminately mingles them in the character of impulse, and he had not yet arrived at the stage wherein they become united again, in the character of prejudice, by the influence of a wife and family. in short, he was twenty-eight, and a bachelor. (chapter 1) whether oak should be described as a young man or not, he is portrayed as sound, proper and guarded. in terms of face, oak does not appear to be interested in gaining the approval of others since he speaks his mind throughout the novel and does not mind upsetting others. for instance, he tells off joseph poorgrass, jan coggan and mark clark for getting drunk instead of making sure that fanny robin’s corpseis taken directly to weatherbury for burial: “upon my soul, i’m ashamed of you; ‘tis disgraceful, joseph, disgraceful!” said gabriel, indignantly. “coggan, you call yourself a man, and don’t know better than this.” (chapter 42) mugford, gerrard. “face, linguistic (im)politeness and polyphony in thomas hardy’s far from the madding crowd”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 54-68. page describes him as a working man who will turn out to be the hero of the story, but this time he is presented as a solitary figure rather than a member of a group (2001: 41 42). at the same time, page argues that hardy’s description of oak reflects a stereotypical character: though gabriel is depicted as an individual, there is in this passage a strong sense of community[...] he is defined partly in terms of his status as a farmer, with the social and economic implications carried by that status; this is a point of considerable importance since gabriel’s’ fortunes in the course of the novel are to fluctuate dramatically and his status and occupation will undergo dramatic changes. (page 2001: 44 45) the question then arises concerning what oak stands for. as page indicates, oak’s usefulness throughout the novel is largely connected with his knowledge, skills and experience of farming rather than in any ability at successfully undertaking interpersonal relationships. this assertion can be seen in his original marriage proposal as he calls at bathsheba’s house and talks to her aunt, mrs hurst: “yes, i will wait,” said gabriel, sitting down. “the lamb isn’t really the business i came about, mrs. hurst. in short, i was going to ask her if she’d like to be married.” “and were you indeed?” “yes. because if she would, i should be very glad to marry her. d’ye know if she’s got any other young man hanging about her at all?” (chapter 4) oak is only willing to do the proper and correct thing if she has no other suitors. this is a display of politic behaviour which can be seen throughout the novel since “life and work for most of the characters embody continuity and tradition” (page 2001: 85). however, the reader may decide that gabriel does not always conform to the politic behaviour that hardy carefully projects. his interactions with other characters do not always reflect the face that the author intended. oak occasionally engages in watts’ polite unexpected and salient behaviour. for instance, when he playfully hints about marriage with bathsheba “my name is gabriel oak.” “and mine isn’t. you seem fond of yours in speaking it so decisively, gabriel oak.” “you see, it is the only one i shall ever have, and i must make the most of it.” “i always think mine sounds odd and disagreeable.” “i should think you might soon get a new one.” “mercy! -how many opinions you keep about you concerning other people, gabriel oak.” “well, miss -excuse the words -i thought you would like them. but i can’t match you, i know, in napping out my mind upon my tongue. i never was very clever in my inside. but i thank you. come, give me your hand.” (chapter 3) oak can be seen to be playing with language e.g. “it is the only one i shall ever have” and hints at her possibly getting married i.e. “i should think you might soon get a new one” and breaks politic behaviour by saying “come, give me your hand”. mugford, gerrard. “face, linguistic (im)politeness and polyphony in thomas hardy’s far from the madding crowd”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 54-68. in certain passages, gabriel comes across in very rustic ways as opposed to one that shows ‘proper dress’. for instance, in the following dialogue which takes place at the malthouse, oak, who has just been hired as the new shepherd on bathsheba’s farm, gets to know the other farm labourers, including jacob smallbury: “a clane cup for the shepherd,” said the maltster commandingly. “no -not at all,” said gabriel, in a reproving tone of considerateness. “i never fuss about dirt in its pure state, and when i know what sort it is.” taking the mug he drank an inch or more from the depth of its contents, and duly passed it to the next man. “i wouldn’t think of giving such trouble to neighbours in washing up when there’s so much work to be done in the world already.” continued oak in a moister tone, after recovering from the stoppage of breath which is occasioned by pulls at large mugs. “a right sensible man,” said jacob. (chapter 8) gabriel conveys a practical and unassuming attitude regarding politeness and interacting with others. he does not maintain his sense of decorum and demureness that characterise his behaviour in much of the novel. he is quite willing to drink from a dirty cup that the others are drinking from rather than from a ‘clane’ one. his down-to-earth behaviour gains approval from jacob, who calls gabriel ‘a right sensible man’. 6.2. boldwood: impolitic behaviour boldwood is another loner in far from the madding crowd and, like oak, hardy projects him as aloof and distant: he saw no absurd sides to the follies of life, and thus, though not quite companionable in the eyes of merry men and scoffers, and those to whom all things show life as a jest, he was not intolerable to the earnest and those acquainted with grief. (chapter 18) hardy portrays boldwood as someone who can easily become focused on one desire: “his equilibrium disturbed, he was in extremity at once. if an emotion possessed him at all, it ruled him; a feeling not mastering him was entirely latent. stagnant or rapid, it was never slow. he was always hit mortally, or he was missed” (chapter 18). indeed, the only object of his desire is bathsheba whom he relentlessly pursues and who becomes his obsession which eventually puts him in prison and “confinement during her majesty’s pleasure” (chapter 55). boldwood employs both politic and polite behavioural strategies to try to achieve his objectives. as watts points out, politic and polite behaviour may be linguistic and nonlinguistic. boldwood engages in a range of non-linguistic strategies to win over bathsheba including trying to bribe troy into not marrying bathsheba and his eventual murder of the sergeant when he surprisingly returns after being presumed drowned, thus thwarting boldwood’s wedding plans. he tries to bribe troy in the following way: “so all i ask is, don’t molest her any more. marry fanny. i’ll make it worth your while.” “how will you?” “i’ll pay you well now, i’ll settle a sum of money upon her, and i’ll see that you don’t suffer from poverty in the future. i’ll put it clearly. bathsheba is only playing with you: you are too poor for her as i said; so give up wasting your time about a great match you’ll never make for a moderate and rightful match you may make to-morrow; take up your carpet-bag, turn about, leave weatherbury now, this night, and you shall take fifty pounds with you. fanny shall have fifty to enable her to prepare for the wedding, when mugford, gerrard. “face, linguistic (im)politeness and polyphony in thomas hardy’s far from the madding crowd”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 54-68. you have told me where she is living, and she shall have five hundred paid down on her wedding-day.” (chapter 34) boldwood engages in direct and unambiguous (bald on record) impoliteness which culpeper defines as impoliteness “in the most direct, clear, unambiguous, and concise way possible” (brown and levinson, 1987: 69)’ (1996: 355). boldwood attacks troy’s “reputation, prestige and self-esteem” (culpeper 2011: 24) which culpeper closely associates with offence and loss of face. so whilst boldwood appears to reflect politic behaviour, his interaction with other protagonists reveals that he is willing to use a wide range of impolitic and impolite resources to achieve his goals. 6.3.troy: dangerous politeness hardy claims that “idiosyncrasy and vicissitude had combined to stamp sergeant troy as an exceptional being” (chapter 25) as he paints a negative picture of bathsheba’s future husband who seems to be constantly changing course: troy was full of activity, but his activities were less of a locomotive than a vegetative nature; and, never being based upon any original choice of foundation or direction, they were exercised on whatever object chance might place in their way. hence, whilst he sometimes reached the brilliant in speech because that was spontaneous, he fell below the commonplace in action, from inability to guide incipient effort. (chapter 25) troy’s casual ways also appear to extend to his treatment of women: he had been known to observe casually that in dealing with womankind the only alternative to flattery was cursing and swearing. there was no third method. “treat them fairly, and you are a lost man.” he would say. (chapter 25) just as boldwood uses politic and polite behavioural strategies to achieve his objective, troy uses (im)politeness to satisfy himself and to not cater to the needs of his women: fanny and bathsheba. with regards to stereotypes, troy contrasts strongly with oak: oak, the farmer and shepherd, represents tradition and predictability. troy, the soldier, reflects the opposite: aggression and change. as page argues, “the glamorous and somewhat exotic figure of sergeant troy is a disturbing factor. but at the outset the emphasis is on stability and conformity” (2001: 45). troy upsets this emphasis with his demonstrations’ of military prowess and seductive way with words. troy also represents a different way of engaging in social relations and boosting the face of others (bayraktaroğlu, 1991, 2001) as can be seen in the following excerpt when his military attire becomes caught up in bathsheba’s dress and he tries to untangle his spurs: his unravelling went on, but it nevertheless seemed coming to no end. she looked at him again. “thank you for the sight of such a beautiful face!” said the young sergeant, without ceremony. mugford, gerrard. “face, linguistic (im)politeness and polyphony in thomas hardy’s far from the madding crowd”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 54-68. she coloured with embarrassment. “‘twas un-willingly shown,” she replied, stiffly, and with as much dignity -which was very little -as she could infuse into a position of captivity. “i like you the better for that incivility, miss,” he said. “i should have liked -i wish -you had never shown yourself to me by intruding here!” she pulled again, and the gathers of her dress began to give way like liliputian musketry. “i deserve the chastisement your words give me. but why should such a fair and dutiful girl have such an aversion to her father’s sex?” “go on your way, please.” “what, beauty, and drag you after me? do but look; i never saw such a tangle!” (chapter 24) troy’s use of language contrasts heavily with the self-effacement of oak and boldwood’s direct face-threatening act i.e. bald on record impoliteness. he can react to (im)politic and (im)polite remarks through face boosting acts (bayraktaroğlu, 1991, 2001), which aim to make the addressee feel good. for instance, troy deftly deals with bathsheba’s reprimands and reproaches by employing humour (e.g. “thank you for the sight of such a beautiful face” when bathsheba cannot untangle herself), language play (e.g. the use of drag and tangle), and enjoyment (“i like you the better for that incivility, miss”). in one sense troy adds a breath of fresh air and a certain degree of comic relief to the staid and predictable interactions of the protagonists of far from the madding crowd but it turns out to be a dangerous and destructive breath of fresh air. 7. conclusion an understanding of face offers the reader a way of appreciating how hardy as the author and the protagonists, such as gabriel oak, sergeant troy, and boldwood attempt to engage in interpersonal relationships in far from the madding crowd. in projecting their face, the protagonists demonstrate how they want to come across in the novel and they interact with others. linguistic (im)politeness offers one way to appreciating how the protagonists project their face and undertake facework in far from the madding crowd and can be described in terms of politic and polite behaviour: politic representing ordinary manners and conduct and polite reflecting behaviour that goes beyond the expected. the analysis shows how the protagonists use politic and polite behaviour to come across in their own way and to achieve their interpersonal aims: the courting of bathsheba oak and boldwood reflects politic behaviour and gives each man different results; troy, on the other hand, uses polite and potentially impolite behaviour to win bathsheba’s hand. an understanding of both politic and polite and impolitic and impolite behaviour allows the reader to examine not only the author’s portrayal of the characters but, through polyphony, to examine for himself or herself how the protagonists interact with one another. this approach helps the reader develop multiple interpretations of the novel. as regan argues: what hardy’s novel repeatedly suggests is the fallible, tentative nature of human perception. this abiding interest in multiple perspectives and different angles of vision has a powerful impact on hardy’s understanding of what constitutes realism. instead of an authoritative, single-minded account of what is true or real, we are much more likely to encounter a conflicting and competing series of impressions (2009: 249). mugford, gerrard. “face, linguistic (im)politeness and polyphony in thomas hardy’s far from the madding crowd”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 54-68. this paper has tried to demonstrate that the author may have extreme difficulty in controlling how the reader interprets events and the characters involved in them. the reader will often make his/her own judgements and therefore reach his/her own conclusions regarding how the protagonists of the novel, gabriel oak, sergeant frank troy and william boldwood construct, develop, maintain or even destroy their interpersonal relationships. references: aston, guy. 1989. learning comity: an approach to the description and pedagogy of interaction speech. ph.d. dissertation, institute of education, university of london. bakhtin, mikhail. 1981. the dialogic imagination: four essays, ed. holquist, michael, tr. emerson caryl and michael holquist. austin: university of texas press. ——. 1984. problems of dostoevsky’s poetics, edited and translated by caryl emerson, minneapolis: university of minnesota press ——. 1986. speech genres & other late essays, austin: university of texas press. bayraktaroğlu, arin. 1991. politeness and interactional imbalance. international journal of the sociology of language, 92, 5-34. ——. 2001. advice-giving in turkish: “superiority” or “solidarity”? in bayraktaroğlu, arin and maria sifianou, (eds.). linguistic politeness across boundaries: the case of greek and turkish. 177 208. amsterdam: john benjamins. brown, penelope and stephen levinson. 1987. politeness: some universals in language usage, cambridge: cambridge university press. culpeper, jonathan. 1996. toward an anatomy of impoliteness, journal of pragmatics 25: 349 367. ——. 2011. impoliteness: using language to cause offence, cambridge: cambridge university press. cupach, william and sandra metts. 1994. facework, thousand oaks, california: sage. goffman, erving. 1967. interactional ritual: essays on face-to-face behaviour, garden city, ny: doubleday. kramer, dale (ed.). 1979. critical approaches to the fiction of thomas hardy. london: macmillan. lakoff, robin. 1973. “the logic of politeness; or minding your p’s and q’s”. papers from the 9 th regional meeting of the chicago linguistic society, chicago: chicago linguistic society, 292 305. leech, geoffrey. 1983. principles of pragmatics, london: longman. mallett, phillip. 2004. introduction in mallett phillip (ed.), palgrave advances in thomas hardy studies, 1 13. basingstoke, hampshire, uk: palgrave macmillan, morson, gary saul and caryl emerson. 1997. extracts from a heteroglossary. in macovski michael (ed.). dialogue and critical discourse, 256 272. oxford: oxford university press. nemesvari, richard. 2009. “genres are not to be mixed. . . . i will not mix them”: discourse, ideology, and generic hybridity in hardy’s fiction in wilson keith (2009) a companion to thomas hardy, 102 116. malden, ma: wiley-blackwell. page, norman. 2001. thomas hardy: the novels, basingstoke: palgrave. regan, stephen. 2009. the darkening pastoral: under the greenwood tree and far from the madding crowd in wilson keith a companion to thomas hardy, 241 253. malden, ma: wiley-blackwell. shimanoff, susan. 1994. gender perspectives on facework: simplistic stereotypes vs. complex realities. in ting-toomey stella (ed.)(1994), the challenge of facework: mugford, gerrard. “face, linguistic (im)politeness and polyphony in thomas hardy’s far from the madding crowd”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 2013/1, 54-68. crosscultural and interpersonal issues. 159 207. albany: state university of new york press, sifianou, maria. 1995. do we need to be silent to be extremely polite? silence and ftas. international journal of applied linguistics, 5(1), 95-110. spencer-oatey, helen (ed.). 2008. culturally speaking: managing rapport through talk across culture. london: continuum. vice, sue. 1997. introducing bakhtin, manchester: manchester university press. watts, richard. 2003. politeness. cambridge: cambridge university press. watts, richard, sachiko ide and konrad ehlich (eds.). 2005. politeness in language: studies in its history, theory and practice(second edition), berlin and new york, mouton de gruyter. wotton, george. 1985. thomas hardy: towards a materialist criticism, gill and macmillan, ireland. davis, boyd h, ralf thiede, mary k. smith. “cross-cultural socialization into a common profession: exploring how nursing students in taiwan and in the u.s. narrate professional identity”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 6-23. boyd h. davis the university of north carolina, charlotte ralf thiede the university of north carolina, charlotte mary k. smith central piedmont community college, charlotte cross-cultural socialization into a common profession: exploring how nursing students in taiwan and in the u.s. narrate professional identity abstract. this discussion will draw on a series of written stories and commentaries on professional values in nursing for a cross-cultural pragmatics study of us nursing students in north carolina and chinese nursing students in kaohsiung, taiwan. we explore cultural differences in salience as a pragmatics construct for a professional construct important in nursing, that of caring. the nursing students were not in direct contact with each other except through written stories and commentaries:the chinese nurses first wrote their thoughts in mandarin and then translated them into english, after which the us students read and responded to them. the nursing students from both countries assumed that they shared constructs of what constituted professional values in nursing. however, our discussion will question the degree to which they shared common ground and assigned similar salience to the construct. we conclude that the chinese and the us student nurses erroneously assumed that they shared each other’s understanding of ‘caring,’ underestimating the differences in work environment and cultural expectations. we also propose that they are readily capable, through communication, of recalibrating their reference frames once made aware that they differ. keywords: salience, socialization, intercultural, pragmatics, oral narrative, professional identity, personal identity, nursing. 1. background the process of acquiring the pragmatic skills of language use in varying situations has been described for novice lawyers and medical students (hobbs 2003). novice nurses begin to acquire pragmatic skills for professional socialization in their early training experiences, and again through interaction and observation when they enter the workplace (messersmith 2008). however, there is frequently a mismatch between real-world experience and training demonstrations of valued ways of speaking/critical thinking. that mismatch reveals needs based on register: the new nurse has to identify functions for patterns of speaking to and about patients, peers, and supervisors, without necessarily sharing the same interactional styles (li 2000). at a time when western universities propose collaboration with asian nursing programs in china, korea, taiwan, thailand, and japan, differences in caring theory and davis, boyd h, ralf thiede, mary k. smith. “cross-cultural socialization into a common profession: exploring how nursing students in taiwan and in the u.s. narrate professional identity”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 6-23. caring practices within either cultural milieu may cause misattribution of inner states (rosen 1995), conflicts in intention, and varying interpretations of the meaning of crucial constructs. this discussion will use a series of written stories and commentaries on professional values in nursing, elicited from us nursing students in north carolina and from chinese nursing students in kaohsiung, taiwan. we explore cultural differences in salience for an important professional construct in nursing, that of caring. because the nursing students were not in situations of direct contact with each other except through written stories and commentaries, and because the chinese nurses first wrote their thoughts in mandarin and then translated them into english, the two groups of students were in what kecskés calls “the first phase of the communicative process”. in that phase, they “articulate their own thoughts with the linguistic means that are easily available to them”, an egocentric behavior “rooted in speakers’ and listeners’ relying more on their own knowledge than on mutual knowledge” (kecskés & mey 2008: 3). partly because the notion of caring is multiply layered, and partly because chinese nursing has to some extent a western framework, the nursing students from both countries assumed that they shared constructs of what constituted professional values in nursing. however, our discussion will question the degree to which they shared common ground and assigned similar salience to the construct. we first review findings from studies of socialization of nurses in the u.s. and provide an overview of the development of nursing education and new emphases on professional socialization in taiwan. next, we look at short narratives by chinese nurses in response to a longer narrative by an american nurse-educator, and subsequent reflections by chinese and american student nurses on how their narratives evidenced professional values. both sets of reflective reviews identified caring for patients as a primary value; each framed that value slightly differently, however, identifying culturally different ways both in speaking about the profession and about the development of clinical judgment, and in negotiating intercultural practices. we close with implications and suggestions keyed to our findings. 2. professional socialization of nurses in western or western-oriented countries research on socialization into the professions has grown over the last two decades; in linguistics, it “focuses primarily on the linguistic socialization of learners at work or preparing for work by means of education activities and apprenticeship” (duff 2008: 257). other disciplines offer additional perspectives. boyle et al. (1996) draw on contingency theory of role socialization (feldman 1976) to identify experiences supporting job satisfaction and high commitment for nurses. etheridge (2007) interviews new nurses to discover how they learned to “think like nurses” and to develop belief in ability and competence; see macintosh (2003) for further discussion of professional nursing identity. as was done in a number of previous studies, deppoliti (2008) emphasizes the notion that the nurse’s professional identity is constructed gradually. for example, fagerberg & kihlgren (2001) claim that swedish nurses settle into their professional identity in the third year after their degree, when they are able to take charge and show leadership. macintosh (2003) identifies phases in how beginning nurses adjust identity as they move from educational program to workplace, keyed both to their development of reflection and to the impact of mentoring. messersmith (2008) studies the development of the role of nursing, commenting that nurses develop a sense of their role first in nursing school and then in the professional workplace, through interaction developing communicative competence. vågan (2009) adds the importance of teacher-doctors as role models for developing a professional identity with medical students, which is similar to the impact of nursing preceptors on nurses davis, boyd h, ralf thiede, mary k. smith. “cross-cultural socialization into a common profession: exploring how nursing students in taiwan and in the u.s. narrate professional identity”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 6-23. in clinical practice (carlson et al. 2010): preceptors use occupational language or institutional jargon to offer explicit, experience-based explanations that help students develop competence. however, looking at professional identity and developing a timeline for its construction is not the only way to examine professional socialization within nursing. holmes & meyerhoff claim that a community-of-practice construct is more useful than socialidentity theory in developing “a shared repertoire of joint resources for negotiating meaning” (1990: 176). this emphasis on community is applied to nursing in the discussion by andrew et al. (2008: 247; andrew et al. 2009), who, like other authors working with this construct, comment that situated learning facilitates collaboration based on shared values. similarly, reybold (2008) explains that the community of practice “represents both the local milieu and larger ethos of the profession”. as we shall see, the very effort to balance both the local situation and the larger ethos can occasion cross-cultural confusion, miscomprehension, or stereotyping. professional socialization begins when a prospective nurse first enters a program, and it extends into joining the workforce (melrose et al. 2013). this socialization may occur during clinicals that are designed to promote key concepts such as caring, or it may not occur until the novice nurse, newly graduated from a nursing program, can fully enter the workforce. in the us, nursing education began within hospital contexts. during the midnineteenth century, the impact of clara barton’s work during the american civil war and that of florence nightingale in the crimea led to new approval of nursing and its need for training in the west. the first american nursing school opened at bellevue hospital in new york city in 1873, and two others opened that same year (connecticut training school at new haven hospital, and the boston training school at massachusetts general hospital) although a number of nurses had graduated from various hospital programs over the previous 15 years. nightingale established the nightingale training school for nurses at st. thomas' hospital in 1860. all three of these u.s. nursing schools were based on nightingale’s principles, which include the individuation of the patient, the value of teamwork, and the combination of theory with practical application for the never-ending growth of the nurse as a specialist in care. 1 3. socialization studies and nursing education in china and in taiwan western-based nursing as an occupation for women outside the family was formally introduced into china not long after its institutionalization in the us, though it faced greater difficulties in becoming a respected vocation. a brief review of the history of nursing first in china (prc) and then in taiwan (roc) highlights cultural issues that are still influential on what nurses think nursing to be. according to liu (1991: 319-20), medical knowledge was part of a largely confucian outlook, though buddhists introduced institutions of hospitals. male doctors treated men; women were treated by ‘old wives’ or san gu liu po, who practiced different crafts associated with health and healing. western medicine in china begins with smallpox vaccinations, first administered in 1808; the first hospital was established in 1835, and foreign missionaries began in the 1830s to establish hospitals and to train aides. nightingale’s influence sent the american nurse elizabeth mckechnie to shanghai in 1884, where she introduced the nightingale system of nursing (chan & wong 1999). chen (1996) adds that missionaries 1 both text and audio for nightingale’s notes on nursing (1859) may be found at http://goddessnike.com/library/nightingalenotesonnursing/. davis, boyd h, ralf thiede, mary k. smith. “cross-cultural socialization into a common profession: exploring how nursing students in taiwan and in the u.s. narrate professional identity”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 6-23. were highly important in china during the last 20 years of the 19th century, with an emphasis throughout 1887-1914 on establishing nursing schools. however, confucian-based attitudes about roles for women made it difficult to attract nursing students, a difficulty compounded by suspicion of foreign teachers. a similar situation existed in taiwan: western medicine was introduced to taiwan by missionaries (liu 1998). liu adds that the first british presbyterian doctor, james l. maxwell, came to taiwan in 1865 and that others followed. the earliest hospitals were established by missionaries, and missionary medical work continues to exist in taiwan. however, historians of medicine in china remind us that china had a medical tradition before the western missionaries arrived. as liu (1998) observes, western medicine in taiwan competes with an ancient healing system that is still a deeply rooted part of the culture, linked to profoundly valued religious and philosophical traditions, and in turn to the intense chinese feeling of nationalism: “having to adjust itself to chinese culture, western medicine has had to justify its existence by efficiency and a quick cure rate” (liu 1998: 7). the retention of traditional values combined with traditional practices is frequently mentioned in both anecdote and story. in fall, 2010, anthropologist joel stocker asked his nursing students in taiwan to talk about their nursing experience of death and dying, building from a guest lecture and assigned reading. he comments: the stories were amazing, most of them about the student or someone she knows seeing a ghost in a hospital, having an out-of-body experience, going to a spirit medium (danggi ) or going to a temple for guidance… nurses in taiwan participate in many traditional and non-biomedical health practices, often medico-religious ones… (stocker, 2010). traditional or confucian values are maintained by many chinese nurses. according to a survey by pang et al. (2000: 27-28), nurses in beijing, china “articulate two versions of caring practices within the clinical context as their ideal of service. one version is grounded in traditional caring values that require nurses to treat patients as their family members”. this compassionate, familial care is called cheng. “the other version is grounded in emerging professional values that require nurses to realize the therapeutic value of nursing work” – that is, proficiency in bodywork skills, which pang calls jing (excellence in practice). in their survey, pang et al. asked nurses to write definitions with examples of the concept of caring: 41 were grounded in traditional values, such as treating the patient as a family member, or cheng ; 29 were grounded in ‘emerging professional values’ or jing. the retention of traditional values can also be seen in the study by lee-hsieh et al. (2005) about the development of an instrument to measure patient perceptions of car ing behaviors, the results of which could be used to train student nurses. patient-reported behaviors fell into two factors, with items in the first factor measuring sincerity, empathy, and respect, such as “make me feel like i have a sincerely caring nurse. for example, avoid making me feel i am part of a routine or a cog in a machine” (which had the highest factor loading, .974). the second factor measured professional behavior, such as “explain to me what my medicine is supposed to do and what side effects i might expect”. when the same group of scholars, headed this time by kuo, initiated the measurement of a student-training curriculum on caring, they identified key divergences from the western measurement tool typically used to measure caring, “keyed to differing cultural practices in education, caring and behavior” (110). one example: the importance of ‘classmate’ in chinese nursing training. in chinese nursing education, the entering student is assigned to a cohort; one is expected to listen to and offer help to classmates, for this is a long-term relationship within a relational network, not just a manifestation of curriculum. kuo et al. conclude: “[ w]hile caring may be universal among humans, its expression is entirely local” (2007: 112). turale et al. (2010: 2602) come to a similar conclusion, quoting the english-language abstract of the davis, boyd h, ralf thiede, mary k. smith. “cross-cultural socialization into a common profession: exploring how nursing students in taiwan and in the u.s. narrate professional identity”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 6-23. chinese article by liu (2006): “modern nursing was introduced to taiwan over a century ago. it is now a complex mix of cultural borrowings from the west, anti-imperialist experiences, colonialist influences, ethical and gender issues and chinese culture and traditions”. the problem for the researcher, then, is to identify salient cultural issues that surface in the language used to describe what a professional learns to do. the two-phase innovation we devised, a seminar and follow-up reflective writing, was intended to elicit language about professional socialization into nursing in both cultures. 4. the innovation: phase 1 fifty practicing nurses in taiwan joined a day-long english-language seminar on developing professionalism through narrative techniques as part of their own advanced training. the objective of the seminar was to explore ways in which reflective narratives could develop empathy and professionalism and promote intercultural competency. supported by partial oral translation into mandarin by the chinese host, they analyzed components in “nurse mary’s story,” a practicing american nurse educator’s english narrative of her earliest experiences. following that, they interviewed each other in mandarin for brief recounts of important early experiences on the job and translated their interviews into english, as part of the seminar’s requirements. sharing their work was consented and voluntary. their translations have not been changed: they are preliminary drafts not yet polished into a standard written format, but are easily understandable. indeed, their rough-draft translations furnish a more direct glimpse into their nursing culture. the chinese nurses’ brief stories and a recap of nurse mary’s story formed the content of phase 2: responses by chinese / u.s. nursing students, as displayed in figure 1. figure 1: phases in the study phase 1 phase 2 the seminar had three sections, each comprised of a didactic presentation followed by group discussion and activities: 1. goal, objectives, and definitions: cultural competence, community of practice, narrative analysis 2. socialization into a healthcare community of practice 3. the nurse’s story: a personal story about professional socialization. in taiwan research context nurse mary’s story 15 pairs: bilingual interviews 40 chinese nursing students respond: nurse mary’s story and bilingual interviews 40 us nursing students respond: nurse mary’s story and bilingual interviews davis, boyd h, ralf thiede, mary k. smith. “cross-cultural socialization into a common profession: exploring how nursing students in taiwan and in the u.s. narrate professional identity”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 6-23. section 1 presented the seminar’s goal: demonstrate how writing/reading reflective narratives can promote cultural competency by increasing the empathy and professionalism essential for caring. brief definitions of narrative were based on hymes (1972) and labov (1972); the definition for community of practice referenced eckert’s website. 2 the group as a whole discussed frameworks for cultural competence, including whether western training can be effective in non-western countries. section 2, on socialization, presented a brief literature review of chinese and american discussions and added examples of contemporary use of narratives in medicine and nursing, such as dasgupta et al. (2006) and swift and dieppe (2005), who link narrative to training in cultural competence and improved understanding of patient concerns. 4.1. the nurse’s story nurse mary’s story, recounted by the third author, introduced section 3. her narrative responded to a prompt that asked her to talk informally “about things you were told on the job by other nurses, that you think helped make you be a better nurse, or indeed put you in touch with what you were supposed to be doing.” to her own surprise, mary’s earliest lessons were in way finding and in the importance of tacit knowledge in the culture of a big new york city hospital: i really just didn’t even know to get to – the name of the place was babies 11, which you would think was on the 11th floor, but it wasn’t. and so that, that was my first shock on my very first day, was to find out that babies 11 was not on the 11th floor, it was uh, a re-redone hospital, and trying to find my way around was very confusing. so my socialization to nursing began just from a direction point-of-view and learning not to trust the signs that were written, you had to ask somebody, because what was written was never checked. because the people that lived there, they knew where babies 11 was… an older unlicensed nurse assistant, a twenty-year veteran of work in the hospital, mentored all the new nurses on the floor on how to organize tasks and where to find things. for nurse mary, learning to deal with patients came from three sources: first, interaction with my classmates… there were maybe 8 of us that lived together in one apartment and we would come back after a day and share our problems with different patients and learning how to deal with that. a second source was a host of experiences in the city and the hospital with ethnicities different from her own, necessitating learning in order to identify their unspoken rules and expectations: the people in the neighborhood as well as the people in the hospital would teach me different things but not until i stepped over the boundary… what i learned from that first two years of working as a new nurse was um to ask. a third source was her willingness to ask, to be laughed at for asking, and to seek collaborative participation from co-workers and supervisors: 2 www.stanford.edu/~eckert/csofp.html; cf. eckert & wenger 2005 http://www.stanford.edu/~eckert/csofp.html davis, boyd h, ralf thiede, mary k. smith. “cross-cultural socialization into a common profession: exploring how nursing students in taiwan and in the u.s. narrate professional identity”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 6-23. mostly i followed other people and saw how they did it and became a partner and said “if you will show me how to do this, i will help you with yours, if you’ll help me with mine” nurse mary returned at the end of her narrative to the importance of interaction with her classmates: we shared at the end of the day, all kinds of things, whether it be from patients or just generally how the organization worked, liked who said what to who, how the doctors perf… uh… expected uh… a certain thing to be done, even though we didn’t deal with the same group of people, we did find very much uh… similarities and started to make our own… ideas about um different groups of people. 4.2. the bilingual stories like pang et al. (2000), we sought written responses to nurse mary’s story and found the construct of caring to be a crucial component in them. thirty of the seminar participants, who were taking a course in advanced english for nurses for a master’s degree, talked about nurse mary’s story and decided that a key component was being advised by a more experienced colleague. with the seminar leader (the first author), they developed several interview prompts, which are illustrated in the excerpted interviews. they interviewed each other in mandarin and translated their interviews, as illustrated in tables 1 and 2. in story 1, claire identifies early nervousness, her concerns about the possibility of harming a patient, and the need to seek advice from her elder. another elder teaches her skills and shows warmth, acting as both teacher and friend. in tuan-i’s response to claire, tuan-i shares a similar anxiety, since clinical work differs from school. she adds that her moving away from her hometown added to her concerns, but that she has a model who teaches her “how to become a good nurse” through deep study and sincere caring for patients. table 1: claire’s interview-story davis, boyd h, ralf thiede, mary k. smith. “cross-cultural socialization into a common profession: exploring how nursing students in taiwan and in the u.s. narrate professional identity”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 6-23. 1. please tell me about your experience when you first started working as a nurse. i entered my work at pediatric ward in a hospital, when i had graduated from junior college school. i felt nervous and fear at first, as a result of i never have the clinical experience. i always didn’t sure this is right or not when i to act and must ask for advice with elder nurse. worry the carelessness of myself to harm the patient. but three months later, i had done skillfully little by little. this was also to increase pleasures that can contact lovable children in the work. for this reason i have worked as a nurse up to now. 2. did one of the other nurses at your job help you become a better nurse by telling you things you really needed to know, things you wouldn’t find out from at textbook or formal training? i never forget an elder nurse lily, she reminded me to take notice of details in the work and taught me many skills to make things faster and better. beside the way to work, it was important that her smile with sweet and warm. that releases my mood of nervous and fear. she is my good teacher and helpful friend. so many years so far, i deeply appreciated her kindness and remember the time that we work together. table 2 displays the turn-by-turn interview that joanne and joyce conducted with each other. each faced a specific challenge to her ability to offer caring. joanne worried about facing terminal patients and their families without the support of senior nurses. joyce became nauseous at the sound of the ambulance, since it was the harbinger of severe problems and massive bleeding in the emergency room. for joanne, a “senior colleague” showed “how to treat every patient by your own heart” with her comforting voice. joyce met a “good older sister” who taught her skills. table 2: joanne and joyce exchange early experiences davis, boyd h, ralf thiede, mary k. smith. “cross-cultural socialization into a common profession: exploring how nursing students in taiwan and in the u.s. narrate professional identity”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 6-23. the inspiration to be a new nurse: joyce: joanne, please tell me about your experience when you first started working as a nurse? joanne: when i was a new nurse, the first station is the oncology surgical department. patients are almost under cancer treatment or terminal stage of cancer. i felt difficult to face these patient and family. joanne: and you? tell me about your experience when you first started working as a nurse? joyce: when i was a new nurse. i was worked in emergency department. i was afraid of ambulance coming. it had the loud warning sound and the delivery severe patient to the urgent department. i felt nervous and anxious. owing to the patients was active bleeding. my experience was very poor. i felt dizziness and nausea. joyce: joanne, did other nurse help you to become a better nurse by telling you things you really needed to know? joanne: a new nurse was almost pushed out from senior colleagues. but, one of my senior colleagues is very kindness and affability. she took to me: don’t worry! i think you would soon as good as them when you get used to these affairs. in that time, through her way to care patient. i realized how to treat every patient by your own heart, even the terminal stage patients. her voice could comfort patients and family’s anxiety. so, a lot of patients and family liked her. it can not be learned from our textbook. from that time, i decided to become a nurse like her. joanne: joyce, and you? did other nurse help you to become a better nurse by telling you things you really needed to know? joyce: you are a luck girl. i faced unfamiliar environment of work. i met rigor doctor and head nurse. i had a lot of stress. fortunately, i met good older sister in my work unit. she taught skill and knowledge to me for take care of the patient. i learned textbook ever day. it can improve my davis, boyd h, ralf thiede, mary k. smith. “cross-cultural socialization into a common profession: exploring how nursing students in taiwan and in the u.s. narrate professional identity”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 6-23. knowledge. let me increase confidence to care patients even allowing for a tendency to follow the storyline modeled by nurse mary, in which an anxious novice is helped by a kindly expert, and for the occasional use of questions derived directly from the seminar interaction (“did someone help you to become a better nurse by telling you things you really needed to know?”), the pairs of interviews nonetheless highlight similar experiences, and their descriptions of early experiences are suggestive of several discussions of chinese nursing history. 5. the innovation: phase two two new groups, this time of novice nurses, reviewed the bilingual stories and wrote reflections identifying how those stories evidenced professional values. one group was comprised of 40 chinese nursing students, and the other group was composed of 40 u.s. nursing students. while both sets of reflective reviews identified caring for patients as a primary value, not surprisingly, each framed that value slightly differently, identifying culturally different ways in speaking about the profession and about the development of clinical judgment. the chinese nurses seeking advanced degrees referred to senior nurses as seniors and as sisters in their interviews. the chinese nursing students also consistently cited the models set by seniors, the desirability of good character, the importance of inspiration, and the need to listen to patients: “giving your patients more opportunities to express themselves, and listening to them true-heartedly. as you guide the expressions in their minds, you will get to know their stories so that you can solve their problems more efficiently”. in their responses, we can see the maintenance of traditional values such as cheng as well as new awareness of best technical practices, or jing. we would assume that, at least for now, chinese nursing students abstract salient features of best practices, as they dovetail with and fit into a traditional perspective on caring for people as if they were one’s family members. table 3: two examples of chinese nursing student responses to bilingual stories what the nurse learns: she gained many things, such as knowledge and experience, from the instructor instead of the textbooks. also, she got inspired from all these things. what i learn from the nurse: when coming across problems, you have to ask for advice from seniors or notice how they deal with difficulties. learn it as an outsider. what the nurse learned: (1) the fun at work. (2) thankfulness. what i learn about nursing: in nursing, using your heart to feel everything around you, observing keenly and sympathetically people and things in order to create the fun and passion toward nursing. u.s. nursing students were strongly focused on finding common ground with chinese nursing students around being nervous when entering post-graduation clinical situations. for the chinese nursing student, an admission of anxiety in such situations no doubt reflects the davis, boyd h, ralf thiede, mary k. smith. “cross-cultural socialization into a common profession: exploring how nursing students in taiwan and in the u.s. narrate professional identity”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 6-23. situation; however, it is also a cultural expression of humility, which is not quite required but is nonetheless expected. the u.s. students have no cultural obligation to present themselves as deferent and humble, and they are more interested in personalizing the chinese interviews to themselves and their own emotional reactions. table 4 displays two typical u.s. responses. table 4: two examples of u.s. nursing student responses to bilingual stories what the nurse learns: each of these chinese nurses learned something from a senior nurse. the similarity in each of the stories was that something was learned when the situation was not turning out as planned. for example, one of the nurses learned to include the family in the patients’ care after she had an experience trying to give a child a shot who was not cooperating. another nurse learned how to prioritize her patient care… what i learn from the nurse: it is important to remember that it is okay for us to ask questions or ask for help. we are not expected to know everything when we first start working. even some of the more experienced nurses have to ask for help. what the nurse learns: in each one of the three interviews, the new nurses explain how they were really anxious and nervous during the first few weeks at their job. in all three of their stories, they mention a mentor who taught them crucial aspects of their job and made them better nurses. what i learn from the nurse: once again, these stories highlight how common it is for new nurses to enter the workforce feeling inadequate and anxious. the stories encourage new nurses to acknowledge these feelings and realize that their more experienced co-workers are there to help. 6. implications this short study hopes to add to the growing conversation about cross-cultural pragmatics, particularly as associated with language expectations and language teaching, and to converse with other linguists who are focused on looking at constructs such as ‘caring’ from a metaphorical or idiomatic viewpoint. we construe the construct of ‘caring’ in this way: 1. innate propensity (close to ‘denotation’ or ‘literal’ or ‘prototypical’) in the sense of instinctive altruism. an illustration: when a toddler gets his mommy on the playground to comfort another child, or when a newborn cries when hearing recordings of other babies’ crying (but not her own). 2. associated with any event that conforms to a script: individual a, knowing that individual b is suffering and would not resent the attention, feels or expresses that sympathy through words or action, in good faith that b will not come to harm through a’s actions. 3. idiomatic, as we see in advertising, such as a hospital or a boarding school advertising itself as a ‘caring environment’; the script is extrapolated here, not associated with an event, though the understanding is that events conforming to that script occur all the time. davis, boyd h, ralf thiede, mary k. smith. “cross-cultural socialization into a common profession: exploring how nursing students in taiwan and in the u.s. narrate professional identity”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 6-23. 4. metaphoric, such as a robot in a hospital or nursing home ‘caring’ for patients by delivering medication and transmitting video images from a doctor elsewhere; this would be the case if the agent credited with ‘caring’ is not capable of satisfying the condition in 1. above. there are additional implications for the field of nursing from studying cross-cultural differences in socialization into the profession, particularly given the global migration of nurses and the need for certification of nurses coming from one country to practice in another. accordingly, we asked dr. mary kotsakalis, an american nursing program director with experience in training students and new nurses from a variety of cultures, to review the american and the chinese responses to the bilingual stories, looking for co mmonalities and dissimilarities that could affect training delivery. for example, chinese nurses focus on elders and seniors and are encouraged to memorize medication errors; geographical location and initial department may well have more bearing on chinese nurse retention than on american nurses. dr. kotsakalis (2010) identified salient distinctions around ‘respect.’ these features are shown in table 5: table 5: review of bilingual stories by american nursing director chinese – us differences chinese – us similarities references to mentor / preceptors as elders. feeling of not enough clinical experience to do the job reason for entering nursing is love of children and wish to help learned better ways of working encountered feelings of accepting attitude from mentor and has fond memories of same the discussion of how the change in geographic location and different work department influenced career. got degree and friend for good nursing life. school experience different from what work turns out to be. anxious, hesitant in the beginning. encouraged to memorize the medication error. nervous, difficulty adapting, stress, fear found a mentor, learned good work techniques, assessment skills made a medication error and felt guilt. encouraged by mentor to pay attention to detail. learning english in order to emigrate and make a better life. unable to finish work. nightmares about work. nurse mentor to help learn skills. emphasis on respecting parent / child as own family involve parents in care of child for best results. emphasis on communication, attention to detail. davis, boyd h, ralf thiede, mary k. smith. “cross-cultural socialization into a common profession: exploring how nursing students in taiwan and in the u.s. narrate professional identity”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 6-23. is the resistance to incorporate new models for healthcare delivery an ‘inability to accept change’ in models for nursing, as one colleague suggested? or is the resistance an insistence on culturally and linguistic appropriate use of language in adjusting the model to differing cultural contexts? and what do we mean by culturally and linguistically appropriate use of language in health and medical situations? in the example we have been using, is the problem in achieving consensus keyed to the literal ‘meaning’ of this complex and polysemic construct, or to its idiomatic sense, or to its metaphoric sense? is it that one culture prefers one set of meanings to another, and neither has stopped to interrogate either set? the readers of each other’s commentaries in this study think they understand each other, and each is confident not only that they believe the construct, they also attribute a similar belief to the other. once either group – in this case, the chinese – notices metapragmatic contradictions, they then realize that they might not understand and that they might not believe all of what the other is saying. their common ground is only partial. moeschler (2007: 73) claims that “context and its content (a set of implicated premises) are the core issue for explaining intercultural misunderstanding,” which he sees as very different from ordinary misunderstanding. his data would seem to support his assumption that “intercultural misunderstandings are caused by the triggering of erroneous higher-level explicatures by the hearer” (75) – that is, an “erroneous evaluation of the communicator’s abilities and preferences” (82). disambiguation in our example has not taken place, because the participants reading each other’s commentaries are not aware that such is needed; the implicated premises and eventually the implicated conclusions are faulty (85). the readers have each attributed to the other the notion that they shared the same beliefs and knowledge. identifying salience in the cultures of other people is as difficult as is finding it in one’s own. perhaps only in comparisons can we begin to tease out the different ways in which we narrate ourselves into becoming professionals and start to hear the differences as resources. in a recent comprehensive systematic review, jayasekara and schulz (2006) examined whether, and under what conditions, it is appropriate to introduce western nursing curricula into developing countries. 3 findings were limited because research in this area is just beginning; however, “direct applicability of a curriculum model from another country is not appropriate for different cultural context(s) without first assessing its cultural relevancy”. in taiwan, as in china, the cross-cultural model for care most often adapted – not adopted – from the west is that of leininger (2002); another frequently adapted model for caring is that by watson (2002). the models differ in crucial ways; both their cultural and their linguistic appropriateness are now frequently discussed by chinese nursing researchers in taiwan. in professional collaborations across international boundaries, ideas and practices that educators and researchers think to be common ground warrant careful study and a commitment to teasing out linguistic practices that account for pragmatic differences. in reviewing the interviews and the subsequent commentaries, we do not see evidence to suggest that american and chinese nurses are unable to come to an understanding of each other’s notion of caring on account of linguistic or socialization constraints. rather, we interpret the difference in how nurses on both continents frame their discourse on ‘caring’ as a reflection of what is salient in each nurse-patient environment. we see the notions of cheng ‘familial compassion’ and jing ‘excellence in practice’ as scalar rather than polar, and we can readily project such a scale onto the four levels of meaning of the english word caring above. by default, we assume that all nurses can feel compassion at the most instinctive level of altruism (level 1). how they frame ‘care’ in their narratives must therefore depend on context. in each speech situation, speakers adopt a 3 while taiwan is not a developing country, china was so classified at the time in terms of healthcare. davis, boyd h, ralf thiede, mary k. smith. “cross-cultural socialization into a common profession: exploring how nursing students in taiwan and in the u.s. narrate professional identity”, crossroads. a journal of english studies 1/2013, 6-23. persona that responds to norms. in a hospital, the nurse’s caretaker persona will adjust to the roles of their discourse partners: the status and expectations of doctors, superiors/ elders, and patients. chinese patients may have expectations of their nurses that prompt them to emphasize cheng, whereas american patients are cast as active participants in their care – by giving informed consent, following a regimen (such as managing medication), and pushing the button to call a nurse only as a last resort since the nurse efficiently takes care of many other patients. such a patient elicits a caretaker persona that emphasizes jing. in each discourse situation from either country, whether with a doctor or with a patient, the nurse has to bring about an equilibrium of interests and demands to bring about a satisfactory outcome of care. the practiced social norms that achieve equilibrium have linguistic expressions, but they are also discoverable without them. while language may, as boroditsky (2011) contends, “shape thought” to some degree, it does not determine or constrain thought. a personal anecdote may illustrate this. the second author learned to drive in his native germany, where directions on the interstate system (autobahn) are given in terms of major cities closest to the destination, e.g. “take a right on ramp 88 onto a1 towards münster”. after moving to the us, he tried to adapt to directions given by hemispheres by mounting a compass on the dashboard of his station wagon, only to find out that it is quite possible to turn east on exit 58 in order to go north on i-85. the task of navigation is the same, but the language used to describe (give, ask for) directions can emphasize either the largest city closest to the destination, ‘left’ and ‘right’ turns relative to the direction of driving, or terms such as ‘north’ and ‘east’ relative either to the current direction of the driver or the final destination of the highway itself. none of these frames have improved or harmed his sense of direction, but he can readily adopt and talk about each framework depending on the country in which he is driving. postema (2008) would contend that this kind of reference-frame recalibration needs no special instruction or training, claiming that as social human beings, we have an aptitude for “salience reasoning”. linguists study pragmatics precisely because the linguistic expression must be interpreted within context. we propose that potential misunderstanding of a professional construct, caring, between nurses across two continents more probably reflects unfamiliarity with each other’s work environments, including cultural expectations for nurses and patients. greater understanding can begin when training for the nurses in any country includes a greater focus on local and foreign contexts for major professional constructs 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